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 Ik LibriB 
 C. K. OGDEN 
 
 THE HISTORY 
 
 OK THE 
 
 CONSULATE & THE EMPIRE 
 
 OF FRANCE 
 
 UNDER 
 
 NAPOLEON. 
 
 BY 
 
 M. A. THIERS. 
 
 TRANSLA TED FROM THE LAST PARIS EDITION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 H. o n tj o u : 
 
 CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1875.
 
 Uniform with the present volume, royal Svo, cloth extra, price 1 5*. 
 
 THIERS' 
 HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 
 
 Translated from the last Paris Edition, with Notes.
 
 X- 
 
 LBBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 SANTA BAKBAKA 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Book 1. Constitution of the Year vm. 
 
 II. Government of the Interior 
 
 III. Ulm and Genoa . 
 
 IV. Marengo 
 
 V. Heliopolis 
 
 VI. The Armistice . 
 
 VII. Hohenlinden 
 
 VIII. The Infernal Machine . 
 
 IX. The Neutral Powers 
 
 X. Evacuation of Egypt 
 
 XI. The General Peace 
 
 XII. The Concordat . 
 
 XIII. The Tribunate . 
 
 XIV. The Consulate for Life . 
 XV. The Secularizations 
 
 XVI. Rupture of the Peace of Amiens 
 
 XVII. The Camp of Boulogne . 
 
 XVIII. The Conspiracy of Georges 
 
 XIX. The Empire 
 
 XX. The Coronation . 
 
 XXI. The Third Coalition 
 
 PAGE 
 1 
 
 27 
 
 55 
 
 85 
 
 119 
 
 136 
 
 171 
 193 
 207 
 231 
 260 
 282 
 305 
 336 
 377 
 418 
 466 
 506 
 536 
 575 
 604 
 
 VOL II. 
 
 XXII. Ulm and Trafalgar t 
 
 1 
 
 XXIII. Austorlitz ..... 
 
 . 46 
 
 XXIV. Confederation of the Rhine . . . 
 
 . 93 
 
 XXV. Jena ...... 
 
 . 143 
 
 XXVI. Eylau 
 
 . 194 
 
 XXVII. Friedland and TiWt .... 
 
 . 251 
 
 A '2
 
 HISTORY OF THE CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. 
 
 ENTRANCE OF THE PROVISIONAL CONSULS UPON THEIR FUNCTIONS. — DIVISION OF DUTY BETWEEN SIEVES AND 
 BONAPARTE. — BONAPARTE TAKES UPON HIMSELF THE ACTIVE ADMINISTRATION, AND LEAVES S1EYES TO 
 PLAN THE CONSTITUTION. — STATE OF FRANCE IN BRUMAIRE, YEAR VIII. — DISORDER IN THE FINANCES — DESTI- 
 TUTION OF THE ARMIES. — TROUBLES IN LA VENDEE. — MOVEMENTS OF THE REVOLUTIONISTS IN SOME OF THE 
 SOUTHERN TOWNS. — FIRST STEPS OF THE PROVISIONAL CONSULS FOR RESTORING ORDER IN THE VARIOUS 
 DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. — NOMINATION OF CAMBACERES TO THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE ; LA PLACE 
 TO THE HOME OFFICE; FOUCHE TO THE POLICE; TALLEYRAND TO FOREIGN AFFAIRS; BERTHIER TO WAR; 
 FORFAIT TO THE MARINE, AND GAUDIN TO THE FINANCES. — FIRST FINANCIAL MEASURES. — THE PROGRESSIVE 
 FORCED LOAN SUPPRESSED. — CREATION OF AN AGENCY" OF DIRECT CONTRIBUTIONS, AND COMPLETION OF THE 
 LISTS OF ASSESSMENT LEFT IN ARREAR. — INSTITUTION OF THE BILLS OF THE RECEIVER-GENERAL. — CONFIDENCE 
 BEGINS TO BI RE-ESTABLISHED: THE BANKEP.S OF PARIS ADVANCE A LOAN TO THE STATE. — SUCCOUR SENT TO 
 THE ARMIES. — POLITICAL ACTS OF THE CONSOLS. — REVOCATION OF THE HOSTAGE LAW; DISCHARGE OF THE 
 IMPRISONED PRIESTS, AND OF THOSE SHITWRECKED AT CALAIS. — COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE CHIEFS OF THE 
 ROYALIST PARTY. — A SUSPENSION OF ARMS IN LA VENDEE AGREED UPON 'WITH BOURMONT, AUTICHAMP, AND 
 CHATILLON.— COMMENCEMENT OF RELATIONS WITH FOREIGN CABINETS. — STATE OF EUROPE. — AUSTRIA AND 
 ENGLAND RESOLVE TO CONTINUE THE WAR — PAUL OF RUSSIA, IRRITATED AGAINST HIS ALLIES, SHOWS AN 
 INCLINATION TO WITHDRAW FROM THE COALITION, AND ATTACH HIMSELF TO THE SYSTEM OF NEUTRALITY 
 ADOPTED BY PRUSSIA. — IMPORTANCE OF PRUSSIA AT THAT MOMENT. — BONAPARTE SENDS HIS AID-DE-CAMP 
 DUROC TO BERLIN. — RUMOURS OF A PEACE. — SENSIBLE AMELIORATION IN THE MATERIAL AND MORAL STATE 
 OF FRANCE, IN CONSEaUENCE OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE PROVISIONAL CONSULS. — THE FORMATION OF THE 
 NEW CONSTITUTION TAKEN IN HAND. — PROJECT OF SIEYES LONG MEDITATED. — LISTS OF NOTABILITY, THE CON- 
 SERVATIVE SENATE, THE LEG ISLATIVE BODY', THE TRIBUNATE, THE GRAND ELECTOR. — DISAGREEMENT BETWEEN 
 SIEYES AND BONAPARTE, RELATIVE TO THE ORGANIZATION OF THE EXECUTIVE POWER. — DANGER OF A RUrTURE 
 BETWEEN THE TWO CONSULS. — RECONCILEMENT THROUGH THEIR FRIENDS.— THE GRAND ELECTOR IS REPLACFD 
 BY THE TnREE CONSULS. — ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII., AND ITS OPERATION FIXED 
 FOR THE 4TH NIVOSE, IN THE YEAR VIII. 
 
 The 18th of Brumaire had terminated the existence 
 of the Directory. 
 / The men who, after the stormy times of the 
 Convention, had conceived a republic of this nature 
 were not thoroughly convinced of the solidity and 
 Hence of their work ; but in the transition from 
 the sanguinary path they had traversed, it was 
 difficult for them to have done otherwise or better. 
 Thus it whs impossible for them to have looked 
 towards the Bourbons, who were repudiated by 
 the universal feeling ; it was equally impossible for 
 them to have flung themselves into the arms of a 
 great general; because at that epoch, nunc of our 
 soldiers had acquired sufficient glory to lead cap- 
 tive the popular mind. Besides this, all illusions 
 were not yet dissipated by experience. After 
 escaping from the Committee of Public Safety, no- 
 thing had hei n tried hut the ferocious republic of 
 170:;, consisting of ;i single assembly, exercising at 
 once every species of authority. It remained to 
 make a last attempt, that of a moderate republic, 
 the powers of which should be wisely separate. 1, 
 and the administration confided to new men. 
 
 strangers to the excesses that had filled France 
 with dismay. Under these circumstances the Di- 
 rectory was conceived. 
 
 This new essay at forming a republic lasted four 
 years, from the 13th Brumaire, year iv. to the 
 18th Brumaire, in the year VIII. It was under- 
 taken with good faith and a hearty will, by men of 
 
 whom the greater part were honest, and animated 
 by right intentions. Some men of a violent charac- 
 ter <>r of suspected probity, as the director liarras, 
 had managed to mingle in the list of rulers, who 
 during these four years transmitted the authority 
 
 [•i each other; but Rewbell, La, Reveilliere Le- 
 peaux, l.e Tourneur, Cannot, Barthelemy, Roger- 
 
 Ducos, Sieves, were upright citizens, all men of 
 ability, and the last. Sieves, possessed of a. w\-\ 
 superior intellect. Notwithstanding this, the dic- 
 tatorial republic soon exhibited grievous contusion ; 
 less of cruelty, but more of anarchy : — such bad 
 
 been the character of the new government. The 
 
 Directory did not guillotine, but it, transported. It 
 
 ilid not oblige assignats to be received as currency 
 
 under the penalty of death ; bu1 it paid nobody.
 
 The consuls enter on 
 their functions. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Sieyes. — Public notions 
 about the constitution. 
 
 1799. 
 Nov. 
 
 Our soldiers, without arms and without bread, were 
 vanquished in place of being victorious. To terror 
 had succeeded intolerable public uneasiness ; and 
 as feebleness has its passions, this republic of mild 
 intentions had finished by two measures altogether 
 tyrannical, the progressive forced loan, and the law of 
 the hostages. This last measure, above all, although 
 it carried nothing sanguinary in its character, was 
 
 c of the must odious vexations invented under the 
 
 cruel and fertile imagination <>f parties. 
 
 Is it astonishing that France, to which the Bour- 
 bons could not be presented in 1799; alter the ill suc- 
 of the directorial constitution, began to have no 
 faith in a republic! Is it astonishing that France 
 flung itself into the arms of a young general, the r 
 conqueror of Italy and Egypt, a stranger to every 
 party, affecting to disdain all, endowed with an 
 energetic will, exhibiting for both military and 
 civil business an equal aptitude, and leaving to 
 conjecture an ambition which, far from inspiring 
 people with apprehension, was greeted then as a 
 hope I Less glory than he had acquired might have 
 Millie I any one to seize the government, since 
 Borne time before General Joubert had been sent 
 t ' Novi, that he might acquire the titles lie wanted 
 for operating the revolution, now called in our 
 annals the 18th Brumaire. The unfortunate Jou- 
 bert was conquered and slain at Novi ; but young 
 Bonaparte, then always fortunate ami victorious, 
 not less so in escaping the dangers of the sea than 
 those of battle, had returned from Egypt to France 
 iii a manner almost miraculous; and at his first 
 appearance the Directory had succumbed. Every 
 party ran to meet him, and demanded from him 
 order, victory, and peace. 
 
 II it was not in one day that the authority of 
 a single man could replace that demagogue rule in 
 which all tin' world, alternately the oppressors or 
 the oppressed, had possessed for a time the chief 
 authority. It was necessary to regard appearances, 
 and iii order to bring fatigued France beneath 
 absolute power, to make her pass, by regular gra- 
 dation, through a government of glory, reparative 
 and <l. nil republican. It wanted, in one word, the 
 ('•insulate, to lead the way to the Empire. 
 
 It is this portion of our contemporary history 
 that I enter upon at present. Fifteen years are 
 rolled away Since 1 traced the annals of our first 
 
 revolution. These fifteen years I have passed in the 
 public life; 1 have seen an ancient throne 
 ml a in w throne elevated; I have seen the 
 French revolution pursue its invincible career. 
 Although tie.- : , which I have borne a part 
 
 have surprised mi little, 1 have not the presump- 
 tion to believe that my experiences of men and 
 public affaire have taught lie- nothing. On the 
 
 contrary, 1 believe 1 have acquired much, 
 
 that I am thus perhaps better qualified to seize 
 
 ■nd delineate tin- great things which our fatlu rs 
 
 iiind during those heroic times. I am sure 
 
 that experience has not cooled the gen ion 
 timenta of my youth; I am certain I love, as I 
 have ev< r loved, the liberty ami glory of Frai 
 
 1 re-uni my narration at the 1 ,'fih' Brumaire, in 
 
 the year \ in. (Nov, ml, r !», lyiiu.) 
 
 The law of the 1 !>t 1 1 Brumaire, which established 
 the nrovi ional consulate, being perfected, the 
 ''"'• ' " naparte, Sieyes, and Roger- 
 
 Due.*, quitted St. Cloud for Paris. S 
 
 Roger-Ducos, former members of the Directory, 
 were already inhabitants of the palace of the 
 Luxembourg. Bonaparte left his house in the 
 street de la Victoirc, and with his wife, his adopted 
 children, and his aids-de-camp, took up his resi- 
 dence in the little Luxembourg. There surrounded 
 by the fragments of the last government, and the 
 elements of the new, and approximating to his two 
 colleagues, he set. his hand at work, with that just 
 and rapid intelligence, that wonderful activity, 
 which signalized his mode of action in war. 
 
 With him were associated as his colleagues 
 Ducos and Sieyes, both formerly of the Directory; 
 both had been busily employed in destroying the 
 government they contemned. Sieyes particularly 
 had been placed at the side of Bonaparte, because 
 he was the second personage of the republic, au- 
 thor of the greatest and best conceptions of the 
 revolution, such as the union of the three orders, 
 the division of France into departments, and the in- 
 stitution of the national guard. Sieyes, destitute of 
 eloquence, had rivalled Mirabeau in the first days 
 of our revolution, at the time that oratory was 
 esteemed the highest endowment ; and now when 
 universal war assigned the first place to military 
 genius, Sieyes, who never had borne a sword, was 
 nearly the equal of Bonaparte himself; so great is 
 the power of mind, even without the talents that 
 render it useful or applicable. But now that he 
 must put his hand to business, Sieyes, who was 
 idle, morose, imperious in his notions, irritated or 
 upset by the slightest contradiction, was not able 
 long to rival in influence his young colleague, who 
 could work day and night, who was annoyed by no 
 contradiction, who was blunt, but not morose ; 
 who knew how to succeed by pleasing when he was 
 inclined, and when he did not see fit to give him- 
 self that trouble, had always the resource left of 
 carrying his object by force. 
 
 There was still one function appropriated in the 
 general way to Sieyes. This was the preparing 
 the new constitution, which the provisional consuls 
 bad been charged to frame and to propose to the 
 country at the earliest possible moment. People 
 were at this time still somewhat imbued with the 
 notions of the eighteenth century ; they believed 
 less, generally, but they still believed, that human 
 institutions might be purely an operation of the 
 mind, and that a constitution, adapted for the public 
 rule, might start ready-made from the head of the 
 legislator. Most assuredly if the French revo- 
 lution had required a Solon or Lycurgus, Sieves 
 was worthy of being the man ; but in modern 
 times there is but one real legislator, and that is 
 ■ sperience. They did not think so then, though we 
 think so now; and it was universally agreed that 
 s should be the maker of the new constitu- 
 tion. This was hoped, and reported. It was pre- 
 tended that he was in possession of a plan long 
 reflected upon, a profound and admirable work; 
 that, disembarrassed from the obstacles which 
 revolutionary passions had opposed to him before, 
 he would now be able to bring it forward ; that he 
 would be the legislator, Bonaparte the adminis- 
 trator of the new government, and that between 
 the two, France would be made powerful and happy. 
 livery epoch of the revolution had its illusions ; 
 the present is not without its own ; it is true, these 
 probabh, be the last.
 
 1799. 
 Nov. 
 
 Different factions. 
 State of La Vendee. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. 
 
 Wants of the armies. — 
 Financial position of 
 France. 
 
 It was agreed, then, by common accord, that 
 Sieyes should be employed in framing the consti- 
 tution, ami Bonaparte in the government. It was 
 urgent, in effect, that the country should be go- 
 verned by some one, because under every aspect 
 its situation was deplorable. Mural and material 
 disorder was at its height. 
 
 The ardent revolutionists, beaten at St. Cloud, 
 had still partizans in the society called the Ma- 
 weyd'jand in analogous societies scattered abroad 
 throughout France. They had at their head few 
 I leaders from the two assemblies, but they num- 
 bered among them several officers who were much 
 ined by their brethren in arms. Bernadotte, 
 an ambitious man, who carried pretensions which 
 his standing in the army did not justify ; Augereau, 
 a true soldier, very unreasonable, brave, but with- 
 out influence ; lastly. Jourdan, a good citizen, and 
 a good general, whom his military disasters had 
 soured and flung into increased opposition. It was 
 to be feared that the fugitives From the Council of 
 Five Hundred would unite together in some con- 
 siderable place, form there a legislative body and 
 directory, and rally around them the individuals 
 who still preserved all their fervour of attachment 
 to revolutionary sentiments ; the first, because 
 they were compromised by excesses, or were pos- 
 sessed of national property ; the last, because they 
 loved republican system on its own account, and 
 1 to see it fall under the power of a new- 
 Cromwell. Such a movement would have been a 
 great embarrassment in a situation already full of 
 difficulty ; and some inquietude was felt lest it 
 should be attempted in Paris itself. 
 
 On the part of the opposite faction, it was also 
 natural to feei serious fears, because La Vendee 
 was on fire anew. Chatillon was on the right bank 
 of the Loire, Autichamp on the left, Georges Ca- 
 di. tidal in the Morbihan, Bourmont in the Maine, 
 Frotte" on the coast of Normandy ; all these were 
 excited and sustained by tin- English, thus renew- 
 ing the civil war. The law of hostages, the feeble- 
 m aa of the government, the defeats of the armies, 
 were the motives that again urged them to take 
 up arms. Chatillon suddenly occupied Nantes ; 
 he had not fixed his quarters there, but enter* d it 
 and retired. This sufficed to make the larger com- 
 munes in the disturbed country cover themselves 
 with entrenchments hastily constructed, or sur- 
 round themselves with palisades when they were 
 unable to construct walls. Some of them, in order 
 to provide for their own defence, retained the scanty 
 funds that the insurgent provinces had paid into 
 the public coffers, saying that whin the govern- 
 in :it did not think of protecting diem, tiny wire 
 bound to take that care upon themselves. 
 The Directory, although resolved to guard against 
 s ol tin- Convention, hail not been able to 
 all the violent propositions that the renewi d 
 war in La Vendee might naturally inspire in the re- 
 volutionary party. Drawn in by the movement of 
 
 feelings, the Directory had made the law of 
 
 hostages, in virtue of which all those who were rela- 
 tions or supposed acoomplici s of the Vendeans, 
 were confined and rendered liable to certain pen- 
 alties for tie- suppression of tie- acts of the insur- 
 rectionists committed in tin localities for which they 
 
 ' T ';.- oftlic III :: . c." 
 
 bad been thus made answerable. This unjust and 
 violent law had only irritated the passions without 
 disarming a single hand in La Vendee, and it had 
 roused against the Directory unappeasable inceuse- 
 ment. 
 
 The war beyond the borders had been a little 
 less unfortunate towards the close of the last eam- 
 paign. The victory of Massena at Zurich, and that 
 of Brune at the Texel, had repulsed the enemy 
 from the frontiers, but our soldiers found them- 
 selves in a state of utter destitution. They wove 
 neither paid, clothed, nor fed. The army in Hol- 
 land which had vanquished the Anglo-Russians, 
 having the advantage of being supported by the 
 Batavian Republic, was less unfortunate than the 
 others. The army of the Rhine, which had lost the 
 battle of Stokach, and that of Helvetia, which had 
 gained the battle of Zurich, were in the deepest 
 misery. The army of the Khine, on the soil of 
 France, practised without limit and without suc- 
 cess the system of requisitions. That of Helvetia 
 lived by means of war contributions upon Bale, 
 Zurich, and Berne ; contributions badly received, 
 badly employed, insufficient for the nourishment of 
 the soldiery, and mortifying to the independence 
 and spirit of economy remarkable among the Swiss. 
 The army of Italy, since the disasters of Novi and 
 the Trebia, had fallen back upon the Apennines, 
 on a sterile country, ravaged by war, and was a 
 prey to disease and the most dreadful suffering. 
 Those soldiers, who had sustained the greatest re- 
 verses with unshrinking heroism ; they who had 
 shown amidst misfortune unshaken constancy, co- 
 vered with rags, consumed by fever and hunger, 
 demanded alms upon the roads in the Apennines, 
 and were reduced so low as to devour the indiges- 
 tible fruits which are borne by the arid soil of that 
 sterile region. Many deserted, or swelled the bands 
 of robbers that in the south and west of France 
 infesUd the high roads. Entire corps were seen 
 quitting their posts without the orders of their 
 generals, to occupy others where they hoped to 
 sustain life with less misery. The sea, guarded by 
 the English, showed no flag but that of an enemy ; 
 in this mode they received no resources. Cer- 
 tain divisions were deprived of all pay for eighteen 
 months. Some requisitions were levied in the way 
 of food; but of muskets, cannon, and munitions of 
 war, which could not be procured in this way, the 
 soldiers were in total want. The horses, already 
 insufficient for the cavalry and artillery services, 
 were m arly all destroyed by famine and disease. 
 
 Such were the results of a feeble, disordered, and 
 frightful financial derangement. The armies of 
 the republic had been sustained upon assignatsand 
 victory for several years. The assignats were 
 now no more, and victory having all at once aban- 
 doned us, came just to show itself to our legions, 
 without opeuing to them again the abundant plains 
 of < iiTinany and Italy. 
 
 It is here necessary to give an idea of our finan- 
 cial position, the principal cause of the suffering in 
 our armies. The present ill situation of the finances 
 far surpassed any that, had been witnessed at an 
 anterior epoch. The constituent assi mbly had com- 
 mitted two faults, which had been meiidi d as far as 
 a ei rtajll pi in t by means of assignats ; but for which 
 remained no palliative after the depreciation 
 of that paper money. These two faults were, firstly, 
 li 2
 
 Deficiency of taxes and 
 uaessments. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Revenue abuses. 
 Paper currency. 
 
 J 799. 
 No*. 
 
 the suppression of the indirect taxes imposed upon 
 liquors, salt, and articles of general consumption ; 
 secondly, the leaving to the municipal administra- 
 tions the power to assess the contributions upon 
 lands, houses, and objects of direct taxation. 
 
 By the suppression of the indirect contributions 
 the treasury lost, without compensation, a third of 
 its revenues, The produce of the state domains 
 being nearly destroyed by bad management, that 
 of the registration through a deficiency in private 
 transactions, and that of the customs owing to the 
 war, the direct contributions formed nearly the sole 
 resource of the treasury ; but their receipts, which 
 represented about :500,000,000f. in a budget of 
 .100,000.0001'., were in an extraordinary state of 
 arrear. There were debts outstanding for the years 
 v., vi.. and Til. The assessments for the year vi. 
 were not perfected ; for the year Til. there re- 
 mained a third to be completed ; and for the 
 current year, that is to say, for the year Till. (1799), 
 they rcely begun. Owing to this delay in 
 
 the completion of the assessments, it was not pos- 
 sible to collect the current taxes, and the accumu- 
 lation of those in arrear gave birth to new diffi- 
 culties in collecting, because the taxes of successive 
 yean must too often be demanded of the payers at 
 the same time. This state of things arose from the 
 adoption of a principle, just in appearance, but in 
 reality unfortunate, — the conceding to the local ad- 
 ministrations the imposition of the public burdens, 
 and to a certain extent permitting them to assess 
 themselves. The departmental and municipal ad- 
 ministrations were at that time united, as is well 
 known. In the place of prefects, sub-prefects, and 
 mayors, who were instituted at a later period, there 
 were joined with all these administrations, commis- 
 sioners of the government, having a consulting 
 voice, directed to request and urge the acceleration 
 of the labours of the administrations, but not to 
 execute these labours themselves. The system of 
 cantonal munici| alities, uniting the 44,000 com- 
 munes of France into 5000 collective communes, 
 had add' d to the disorder. Every local business 
 WES abandoned, while that which made the misfor- 
 tune the greater was, that the two main objects, 
 the recruiting of the army and the tax collections, 
 wholly neglected. To remedy this defect in 
 the administrative action, 5000 Commissioners were 
 attached to the municipalities of the cantons, whose 
 business was to hasten the completion of the lists 
 
 lent ; but they did not possess the power 
 which could have alone made them efficient, that of 
 .' themselves. Besides, divided between vari- 
 icnpations, they only gaTe a Blight degree of 
 attention to the completion of the lists of assess- 
 ment The sum paid them for their labours, much 
 more expensive than it has been since the establish- 
 ment of the administration of direct contributions, 
 
 . heavy drain upon the treasury, without any 
 -pen. ling return. 
 Thus the direct taxes, the principal branch of 
 
 the state revenue, were not r ived. Besides this 
 
 permanent deficiency, proceeding from a default 
 in the receipts, there was another, which arose from 
 ttenl oi the expenditure at this time being 
 greater than the revenue : the ordinary <• x [ ■• 
 were c I to cover the return of a revenue of 
 
 about 500,000,000f., but the war had carried them 
 to 700,000,0001'. There remained as a resource 
 
 nothing but the national property, the larger part of 
 which was already absorbed ; besides, it was ex- 
 tremely difficult to sell this property to advantage, 
 because the definitive triumph of the revolution was 
 still very doubtful. 
 
 This state of things had caused revolting abuses, 
 and led to a situation which ought to be known for 
 the instruction of every people and government. 
 
 The assignats, we have said, had ceased to be in 
 existence for a good while. The notes which re- 
 placed them had also disappeared. The paper 
 money was thus completely abandoned, and how- 
 ever great the void might be, it was still 
 better not to fill it yet, than to fill it as be- 
 fore with a forced paper issue, barely admitted 
 even in forced payments, and thus give place 
 uselessly for the rigors of the law in order to 
 enforce its being circulated at all. The paper 
 money thus suppressed was replaced in the following 
 manner : First, the payment was dispensed with, 
 even in paper, of the public functionaries, so that 
 in Brumaire in the year vm. they had not re- 
 ceived anything for ten months. Still something 
 must be given to the fundholders, and to the 
 pensioners of the state; and these received " bills of 
 arrear 2 ," of which the only value was that they 
 were always received in payment of the taxes. 
 They did not pay the troops at all, but they ac- 
 quitted the value of what the armies took on the 
 spot for subsistence, by means of " bills of requisi- 
 tion," which were equally receivable in payment of 
 taxes. The companies charged to provide for the 
 wants of the soldiers, executed their duty ill, and 
 sometimes not at all; and they received, in place 
 of cash, orders upon the first l'eceipts of the 
 treasury, under this species of claim, given very 
 arbitrarily, obtaining nearly all the money which 
 got into the public exchequer. Finally, " inscrip- 
 tions'' or orders on the national domains, receivable 
 in payment for the same, were' another kind of 
 paper added to those which have been enumerated, 
 and contributed to the most fearful stockjobbing. 
 
 These various notes had not in effect a forced 
 currency, as the assignats had before them ; but 
 thrown into circulation, and endlessly bought and 
 sold in the Paris market, they became elevated or 
 sed in value upon every good or bad rumour, 
 and were thus the subject of a ruinous speculation 
 for the state, and of lamentable demoralization with 
 the public. The men of business, the depositories of 
 all the wealth in specie, were able to procure them at 
 a very advantageous rate. They purchased them from 
 the fundholders, the contractors, and others, at the 
 lowest cost, and got them presented at the treasury 
 in payment ol the taxes, turning for a hundred 
 francs what had cost them eighty, or sometimes 
 only fifty or sixty. The collectors gave themselves 
 to this kind of speculation ; and while they received 
 money (rum one part of the tax- payers, they turned 
 at par into the state-coffers the paper which they 
 had acquired at the lower price. Therefore few 
 payed their taxes in specie ; there was a much 
 greater advantage in acquitting them with paper. 
 In this mode the treasury did not receive the real 
 value to which it was entitled, and its distress daily 
 augmented. 
 
 In the same way that anger against the Vendeans 
 
 2 Bons d'arrerage.
 
 1799. 
 Nov. 
 
 Hopes of the enemies 
 of France. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. 
 
 France still strong. 
 Military resources. 
 
 produced the hostage law, that against the dealers 
 iti money gave the idea of the progressive forced 
 loan, designed to reach the larger capitalists, and 
 make them bear a part in the expenses of the war. 
 This tax was called in France during the days of 
 terror, the tax upon the rich, being analogous to 
 that called the '• income-tax " in England — imposed 
 by Pitt in order to sustain the remorseless war 
 which he was waging against France. This tax, 
 not proportioned to the extent of fixed property, 
 which affords a certain basis, but to the supposed 
 wealth of individuals, was practicable in England, 
 although under much discontent — a state where 
 order prevailed, and where the fury of party did not 
 make t lie estimate of incomes an instrument of venge- 
 ance But it was impracticable in France, because 
 in the midst of the disorders of the time the assess- 
 ing jury was a species of revolutionary committee, 
 imposing wealth or poverty upon individuals as 
 its caprices' or its passions inclined; and never 
 credited to be just even when it was so, which 
 is nearly equivalent to its not being just at any 
 time. They did not dare to present this measure 
 to the country as formerly, under the simple shape 
 ■ if a tax; dissimulating its true nature; it bore the 
 name of a " forced loan 3 ," repayable, it was said, 
 in national property, and imposed, according to the 
 supposed ability of those who were to pay, by a 
 jury of assessors. Thus the measure became one 
 of the calamities of the day, and formed with the 
 hostage law the two heavy grievances afterwards 
 alleged against the Directory. This was not the 
 cause, as some asserted, of the straitness of the 
 treasury, an evil owing to a complexity of circum- 
 stances; it drove away the wealthy speculators, 
 whose help was indispensable to the government, 
 and through whom it should have aided itself, if 
 only for the moment, in order to be able to do 
 without them at a later period. 
 
 This financial situation was, as already said, the 
 principal cause of the distress and the reverses 
 of our armies. Perfectly well understood by foreign 
 powers, it filled them with the confidence of van- 
 quishing us by a little perseverance. Without doubt 
 the two victories of the Texel and Zurich re- 
 moved further off the object which they sought, 
 but it did not turn them aside from the pur- 
 suit. Austria, proud to have reconquered Italy, 
 decided to combat to the uttermost sooner than 
 m it again. She already conducted herself 
 there as an absolute sovereign. Occupying Pied- 
 mont, Tuscany, and the Roman st;it< s, she nei- 
 recalled the king of Sardinia to Turin, the 
 grand-duke of Tuscany to Florence, nor the ponti- 
 fical government to Rome. The defeat of Korsakoff 
 
 and Suwaroff at Zurich affected her less than might, 
 be 1" lieved. It was in her view a cluck for the 
 Russian arms, not for those of Austria; a fault of 
 the generals Korsakoff and Suwaroff; a military 
 mischief easily reparable, and only vexatious in 
 ease it disgusted the Russians with the war. But 
 the hop* d, with the influence of British subsi- 
 de 8, to recal them again to the field of battle. As 
 
 . to England, enriched by the income-tax, which 
 
 ' produced already more than 200,000,000f. a-year; 
 blockading Malta, which sic- so.in hoped to take 
 
 by famine; intercepting the conveyance of suc- 
 
 liinprunt force. 
 
 cour to our army in Egypt, that she hoped soon to 
 subdue by privation and by force — England was 
 resolved to follow out all these results, which her 
 policy flattered itself with gaining, before she laid 
 down her arms. Moreover she counted upon a 
 sort of social dissolution in France, which would 
 soon change it into an open country, accessible to 
 whoever might choose to enter it. Prussia, the 
 only one of the northern powers that had taken no 
 part in the war, observed a cold reserve in regard 
 to the French government. Spain, obliged by the 
 treaty of alliance of St. Ildefonzo to make common 
 cause with France, appeared to be mortified at their 
 community of interests. None seemed to care much 
 about keeping up relations with a government 
 ready to fall. The victories of Zurich and the 
 Texel had conferred upon it the show of external 
 respect, but not the confidence of the cabinets with 
 which it was at peace or in alliance. 
 
 Thus at home La Vendee anew in insurrection, 
 and abroad the principal powers of Europe in 
 arms, made the peril of the war doubly pressing 
 and onerous. It was necessary, by the creation of 
 some financial means, to supply the first neces- 
 sities of the famished armies. It was necessary to 
 re-organize them, to carry them in advance, to 
 command them ably, to add new victories to those 
 which had been gained at the end of the last cam- 
 paign ; above all, it was necessary to take away 
 from foreign cabinets the idea of the approaching 
 social dissolution of France, which rendered some 
 so confident in the result of the war, others so 
 guarded in their relations with her. All this could 
 only be obtained through a strong government, 
 perfectly able to restrain party, and impress upon 
 the general mind that oneness of impulse, without 
 which, in its efforts to save itself, there could 
 neither be unity, energy, nor success. 
 
 The disease had arrived at that point of access 
 which often brings the return of health, on the con- 
 dition, it is true, that the strength of the sick man 
 is sufficient to last out the cure. Happily the 
 strength of France was still great. The revolution, 
 although decried by those that it had wounded, or 
 whose illusions it had not realized, was not the less 
 after all the cause of justice and reason, and it still 
 inspired that attachment which a grand cause is 
 always sure to do. It had, besides, numerous in- 
 terests bound up in its fate, in all those who had 
 acquired new situations, purchased the property 
 of emigrants, or played any character in it that 
 compromised them. Finally, the nation was not 
 so exhausted, morally and physically, as to see 
 with resignation the Austrian* and Russians in- 
 vade its territory : on the contrary, it was indig- 
 nant at the idea. Its armies abounded with 
 soldiers, experienced officers, and excellent gene- 
 rals, who bad only need of a good direction. All 
 these forces were ready to unite spontaneously in 
 the grasp of a single hand, if that hand were ca- 
 pable of directing them. These circumstances 
 favoured the man of genius who was about to pre- 
 sent himself, for even genius itself has need of 
 the aid of circumstances. 
 
 Had young Bonaparte, in 1789, for example, of- 
 fered himself with his talents ami glory to seize 
 upon social France, then tending in all parts to 
 dissolve, because its elements were become incom- 
 patible, and had he attempted to restrain it with
 
 Powers of the Consuls. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Qualifications of Bona- 
 parte for governing. 
 
 1799. 
 Nov. 
 
 owerful arm, a human arm could have ef- 
 fected nothing against the power of nature. _ At 
 this time, on the contrary, when an old society, 
 broken up, as it was necessary it should be, before 
 it was reconstructed upon a new model, presented 
 no more than scattered elements, but tending in 
 themselves to approximate, it was ready to lend 
 to the efforts of the able hand that knew how 
 isp it. Bonaparte had with him, then, both 
 nins and the favour of circumstances. He 
 had an entire society to organize, a society that 
 > be organized, and willing it should 
 
 me by him, because in him it had the limitless 
 confidence inspired by unequalled success. 
 
 The law which decreed the provisionally consul- 
 ship, conferred great powers on the three consuls. 
 This law invested them with the plenitude of the 
 " directorial power ;'' especially charging them to 
 "re-establish order in all branches of the adminis- 
 tration; to re-establish interior tranquillity, and to 
 procure for France a peace solid and honourable." 
 This law also joined with them two legislative com- 
 missions, of twenty- five members each, chosen out 
 of the Council of tin- Audi nts and that of the Five 
 Hundred, in ord^r to replace the legislative body, 
 
 •_;ive a legal character to the acts of the 
 
 ills. It authorized these two commissions to 
 all needful measures on the proposition of 
 the executive authority. It confided to them, be- 
 sides, the important duty of preparing the new 
 constitution. Nevertheless, as it was not possible 
 to confer such powers for an unlimited time, the 
 same law enacted that on the 1st of Ventose next, 
 the two councils of the Ancients and of the Five 
 Hundred should in full right meet together 
 
 :, if a new constitution were not promulgated 
 and accepted in the mean time. In this case the 
 
 ibers of the actual legislative body should be 
 
 lend re-invested with their powers, save 
 
 sixty of their number erased from the list of the 
 
 councils by an extraordinary provision. The re- 
 
 j evi ntually being fixed for the 1st Ven- 
 
 . the dictatorship confided to the provisional 
 
 ills was limited to three months. It was in effect 
 a true dictatorship which had been conceded, be- 
 
 ■ ■ these commissions deliberated with closed 
 doors; divided into different sections of finances, of 
 
 station, of the constitution; only meeting to 
 legalize what the government propi Bed to them ; 
 they were the surest and most facile instruments 
 for acting with promptitude. There was no ground 
 to fear that they would alms.- these powers, because 
 when then- is much good to be done quickly, p 
 
 do not la i doing ei il. 
 
 The day of their entry into the Luxembourg, the 
 three provisional consuls assembled to delibe- 
 on the more pressing affairs of the state. It 
 the 1 1 tli of November 17*J!) (the 20th Bru- 
 maire). It became necessary to choose a presi- 
 dent, and the age and situation of Sieyes seemed 
 to demand that distinction. Dncos, although his 
 friend, as it operated upon by tin- feeling of the 
 moment, said to Bonaparte, " Take the chair, and 
 Bonaparte took the chair at 
 th" moment. Still the appointment of the pro- 
 visional consuls made no mention of a president. 
 A fintt examination, in summary, of the situation of 
 the country was then made. Young lionaparte 
 was ignorant of many things, but he readily divined 
 
 what he did not before know. He had made war, 
 provided for numerous armies, governed conquered 
 provinces, negociated with Europe : his was the 
 best apprenticeship in the art of government. For 
 superior minds, but for superior minds alone, war is 
 an excellent school : command is learned there, 
 decision, and above all, government. Thus the new 
 consul appeared to have in all things an opinion 
 ready-formed, or an opinion that was formed with 
 the rapidity of lightning ; particularly after having 
 heard practical men, who were the only men he 
 would hear, and those upon the subject alone which 
 was connected with their special calling. 
 
 A species of knowledge, the deficiency of which 
 is to be regretted in one who exercises the supreme 
 authority, was at this time wanting to him — not the 
 knowledge of men, but of individuals. As to men 
 in general, Bonaparte knew them profoundly ; but 
 having always lived with the armies, he was a 
 stranger to those who had figured in the revolution. 
 He therefore asked and was aided by the testimony 
 of his colleagues ; and owing to his quick penetration 
 and prodigious memory, he soon came to know the 
 individuals belonging to government offices as well 
 as he knew those of his army. 
 
 At this first conference, the parts were chosen 
 and accepted. The young general, without attend- 
 ing to the opinions of his colleagues, gave his own 
 at the moment, taking up and regulating every 
 point of business with the decision of a man of 
 action. It was evident the impulse would come 
 from himself. They retired after having settled 
 on the things most urgent to be done. Sieyes, 
 with a resignation which did honour to his sense 
 and patriotism, said in the evening to Talleyrand 
 and to Roederer, " We have a master who knows 
 how to do every thing, is able to do every 
 thing, and who will do every thing." He there- 
 fore wisely concluded that it was better to per- 
 mit him to act, because at that moment personal 
 rivalry in the consuls would have ruined France. 
 It was agreed anew by a kind of voluntary division 
 of duty, that during the dictatorship, which must 
 be short and busy, Bonaparte should govern, and 
 Sieyes employ himself in preparing the constitution. 
 This was, as has been already said, a duty that 
 public opinion adjudged to Sieyes, and in the ac- 
 complishment of which his colleague was not dis- 
 posed to give him much contradiction, — one point 
 excepted, the organization of the executive power. 
 
 The most urgent object was the composition of 
 the ministry. In a monarchy the first men of the 
 country are called to office : in a republic the 
 chief men having themselves become the heads of 
 the government, there remains for the ministry 
 only men of the second class in ability, mere 
 clerks ; officials without responsibility, because the 
 real responsibility is seated higher. When such 
 persons as Sieves and Bonaparte were consuls, a 
 class of persons very distinguished for talent like 
 I'ou.he, Cambaecres, Reinhart, and Talleyrand, 
 could not be real ministers. Their choice had no 
 other weight attached to it than a certain public 
 effect and a good despatch of official business. In 
 this linlit only the choice offered an interest. 
 
 The lawyer Cambace'res, a learned and philoso- 
 phic man, as will be seen hereafter, was retained 
 without opposition as minister of justice. Fouche", 
 after a lively discussion among the consuls, re- 
 
 I
 
 1799. 
 Ncv. 
 
 Mini-:, rial appoint- 
 ments. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. 
 
 The secretary of state. 
 Military changes. 
 
 mained minister of police. Sieves was against him, 
 because lie said Fouche' was a man not to be relied 
 upon and the creature of tlie director Barms. 
 Bonaparte supported bis cause and kept him in '■ 
 bis post. He engaged thus in his behalf from j 
 a regard to services Fouche had rendered him | 
 during the events of the 18th Brumairc. More 
 than this, Fouche joined to an acute mind a pro- 
 found knowledge of men anil things connected with 
 the revolution. He was marked out for minister 
 of police ; as Talleyrand, with bis court-habits, 
 practised in important state-business, his mind 
 subtle and conciliatory, was the minister indicated 
 as best fitted for foreign affairs. Though Fouche 
 continued in his office, the anger of the revolution- i 
 ists was so great against Talleyrand, whether 
 because of bis connexions among the moderate 
 party, or on account of the part he had played in 
 the late events, that he was obliged to defer for 
 some weeks his return to the ministry for foreign 
 affairs. Reinhart was for a fortnight longer con- 
 tinued in bis post. General Berliner, the faithful 
 companion of the conqueror of Italy and of Egypt, 
 his inseparable chief of the staff, who so well 
 understood and delivered his orders, received the 
 war portfolio, in place of Dubois-Crance', who was 
 judged to be too strong in his opinions. In the 
 ministry of the interior, Quinette was replaced by 
 an illustrious man of science, De la Place. This 
 was a great and just homage paid to science, but it 
 was of no service to the government ; his noble 
 and elevated genius being little fitted for the petty 
 details of state business. Forfait, an able engineer, 
 well skilled in naval construction, replaced Bour- 
 don, of the Oise, as minister of the marine. 
 
 At this time, perhaps, the most important selec- 
 tion to be made was that of the minister of 
 finance. To the departments already indicated, the 
 consuls were able to supply by themselves two of the 
 considerable, those of war and foreign affairs. 
 Bonaparte himself could perform the duties both 
 of Berthier and Reinhart. It was not so with the 
 finances. This was a department of the state in 
 which experience and knowledge were indispensa- 
 ble. There had not been in the kit' Directory 
 any person who was able to labour usefully at the 
 ganization of the finances, though so urgent 
 and necessary. There was, however, a first clerk, 
 with a mind not BO brilliant as si. lid, and of long 
 experience, who had n ndetf 1 under the old go- 
 rernment, ami during the early days of the revo- 
 ! , thi. si- administrative services little known, 
 but extremely valuable, which tin- heads of affairs 
 cannot do without, and consider of great im- 
 portance. The first clerk, of whom mention is 
 thus made, was Gaudin, afterwards Duke of 6ae*te. 
 
 SieyCS, Well able to judge Of men, although little 
 capable of controlling them, had known Gaudin 
 1). fore, and had willingly offered him the portfolio 
 of finance towards the end of the Directory. 
 
 Gaudin, an excellent financier, but a timid citizen, 
 
 was unwilling to accept tin- office thus tendered 
 
 to him nnder an expiring government, wanting 
 the joint conditions uf credit, strength, and the 
 aspect ol stedfastness. But when power appeared, 
 
 without emit, sf nr opposition, to fall into able ami 
 
 strong hands, he no longer felt tin.' sane- repug- 
 nance to office. Bona| arte, having a decidi d predi- 
 lectiuu for practical nun, partook at once in the 
 
 opinion of his colleague Sieves, and offered to 
 Gaudin the administration of the finances; which 
 be accepted, and in which office for fifteen years 
 he rendered the state the most important ser- 
 vices. 
 
 The ministry was thus complete. One only 
 nomination was added to those already recorded, 
 it was that of Maret, afterwards Duke of Bassano, 
 who became secretary to the consuls under the 
 title of " Secretary of State." Ordered to prepare 
 for the consuls the elements of their labours, often 
 to put in order their resolutions, to communicate 
 them to the heads of the different departments, 
 and to keep all the state secrets, he held a species 
 of ministry, destined at times to supply, complete, 
 and control all the others. A cultivated mind, 
 a certain knowledge of Europe, with which he bad 
 already conducted negociations, principally at Lille 
 with Lord Malmesbury, an accurate memory, a 
 fidelity above all proof, formed him to become 
 near Bonaparte, one of his companions in labour 
 the most serviceable, and the most constantly em- 
 ployed. Bonaparte preferred near him those who 
 displayed in service exactness and intelligence, 
 rather than brilliancy of mind. This is the taste 
 of superior genius, ever desiring to be compre- 
 hended and obeyed, not to be supplanted. Such 
 was the cause of the great favour of Berthier 
 during twenty years. Claret, not equalling Berthier 
 on the whole, had, in the civil line of duty, most of 
 the merits of that illustrious chief of the staff in 
 the military career. 
 
 General Lefebvre was placed in command of the 
 seventeenth military division. It will be recol- 
 lected that at first he had shown hesitation on the 
 morning of the 18th Brumaire, and that afterwards 
 be blindly threw himself into the arms of the 
 new dictator. He was recompensed by the seven- 
 teenth military division, and by the government of 
 Paris. His fidelity might afterwards be safely 
 counted upon. 
 
 Members of the two councils, who were sig- 
 nalized by their co-operation on the 18th Bru- 
 maire, were sent into the provinces, to explain and 
 justify that event ; and in case of necessity, to re- 
 place those agents in authority who might show 
 themselves refractory or inefficient. The result of 
 the 18th Brumaire was every where received with 
 joy ; still the revolutionary party bad, in men 
 compromised by their excesses, friends that might 
 become dangerous ; above all, in the direction of 
 the southern provinces. There when they showed 
 themselves, the youth who were styled the ''gilded 
 youth," or dora , weie ready to come to blows with 
 them. The defeat or victory of one or the other 
 party would have- produced serious inconveni nces. 
 Certain changes were brought about in the 
 distribution of the great military commands. Mo- 
 
 reau, deeply angry at the Directory, which had SO 
 ill recompensed his patriotic devotion during the 
 Campaign of 1799, had consented to act as the lieu- 
 tenant of Bonaparte, in aiding him to consummate 
 the revolution of the 18th Brumaire. At the In ad 
 of three hundred men, he descended to the cha- 
 racter of guardian of the Luxembourg, in which 
 palace the directors found themselves prisoners, 
 whilst their doom was decided at St. Cloud. Bona- 
 parte, who, in Battering with skill the pride and 
 
 resentment of Mown, thus led him to accept so
 
 Moreau and Massena ex- 
 change commands. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Conduct of M. Gaudin. 
 Loan to the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 1799. 
 Not. 
 
 singular a part, owed him an indemnity. He, 
 therefore, united the two armies of the Rhine and 
 of Helvetia in one, and conferred upon Moreau the 
 command. It was the most numerous and finest 
 army of the republic, and it was impossible to 
 be placed in better hands. Moreau had gained little 
 Fame in the last campaign. His sterling services, 
 above all, when with a handful of men he stopped 
 the victorious march of Suwaroff, were, notwith- 
 standing, deemed no victories, and had not been 
 appreciated at their just value. At this epoch the 
 battle of Zurich effaced every other deed. Again, 
 the political conduct of Moreau in the affair of the 
 18th Fruetidor, when he denounced Pichegru, 
 either too soon or too late, had cast a cloud upon 
 him in the general opinion, and caused him to be 
 esteemed a feeble character every way unworthy of 
 himself, when he was absent from the field of bat- 
 tle. Bonaparte re-elevated him in giving him so 
 extensive a command, which besides involved 
 another very wise determination. The legions of 
 the Rhine and of Helvetia comprehended in their 
 ranks the warmest republicans of the whole army, 
 very jealous of the glory acquired in Italy and 
 Egypt. Massena, who commanded them, had little 
 love for Bonaparte, although he was subdued by 
 his g< nius. He passed by turns from admiration 
 to ill humour in regarding him. Some vexatious 
 demonstration too was to be feared on the part of 
 M i-sjna, in consequence of the 18th Brumaire. 
 The choice of Moreau cut short every possible 
 chance of this nature, and took from a discon- 
 tent! d army an ill-disposed general. The choice 
 was equally good in a military sense, because this 
 army of the Rhine and Helvetia was destined, in 
 case of the renewal of hostilities, to operate in 
 < rermany, and no one had so well studied as Moreau 
 that part of the theatre of the war. 
 
 Massena was sent to the army of Italy, to the 
 places and among the soldiers that were perfectly 
 well known to him. It was also honourable to 
 himself that he should be chosen to repair the 
 faults committed in 17!'!'. and be the continnator of 
 the exploits of Bonaparte in 179C. Separated from 
 the army iir the midst of which he had conquered 
 and obtained supporters, he was now transported 
 to the midst of a new army, to which the Directory 
 was odious, and where none were found who did 
 init approve of the 18th Brumaire. This selection, 
 like the preceding, was perfectly wise in a military 
 point of view. The Apennines were to be disputed 
 With the AustrianS, and for a war of such a nature 
 OD this theatre of operations Massena had no where 
 bis equal. 
 
 After having agreed upon these indispensable 
 appointments, the consuls continued to apply them- 
 selves to h business not le^s argent, that of the 
 (inane. ■-. Before obtaining money from capitalists, 
 it wa' ry to afford them satisfaction, by sup- 
 
 ing the forced progressive loan, which, like the 
 hostage law, bad incurred universal reprobation. 
 The Forced loan, as well as the hostage law, was 
 far from having produced all the evil attributed to 
 it. Kut these two measures, scanty in utility, bore 
 the mischief, under a moral sense, that they re- 
 called the most odious recollections of the reign of 
 terror. Every body agreed in condemning them. 
 The revolutionists themselves, who in their pa- 
 triotic ardour had demanded them of the Directory. 
 
 by a reaction, very common to party, suddenly de- 
 nounced the measures of which they saw the bad 
 success in the unpopularity. 
 
 Only just installed in office, the minister Gaudin, 
 at the command of the consuls, presented to the 
 legislative commissions a resolution, the object of 
 which was the suppression of the law of the forced 
 progressive loan. This suppression gave rise to 
 universal plaudits. The loan law was replaced by 
 a war tax, consisting of an addition of 25 centimes 
 to the principal of the "foucial " taxes, or those on 
 land, moveable, and personal property. This was 
 payable in the same way as the other taxes, in 
 money or paper of any kind ; but in consequence 
 of the exigency of the moment, it was settled 
 that half the amount should be paid in specie. 
 
 The war tax, thus substituted for the forced pro- 
 gressive loan, could not yield immediate returns, be- 
 cause it could not be collected but through the lists 
 of assessment of the direct contributions, to which 
 contributions, at the same time, it was in reality no 
 other than an augmentation of one-fourth. For 
 the current service — above all, for the use of the 
 armies — it was necessary to have funds in the 
 treasury immediately. Gaudin, under the new 
 measures, that pleased in a particular manner the 
 great capitalists, made an appeal to the principal 
 bankers of Paris, soliciting that aid, the necessity 
 of which struck every body. Bonaparte himself, 
 too, intervened with them directly, and the sum 
 of 12,000,000f. in specie was immediately advanced 
 to the government. The debt was to be repaid 
 out of tlie first receipts of the war tax. 
 
 This aid was a great advantage, and did honour 
 to the public spirit of the bankers of the capital ; 
 but it was no more than a subsistence for a few 
 days ; more durable resources were necessary. 
 
 It has been seen at the commencement of this 
 chapter, how the suppression of the indirect con- 
 tributions, decided upon at the beginning of the 
 revolution, had reduced the treasury to the sole 
 revenue derived from the direct taxes ; how this 
 revenue was itself nearly annulled by the retarda- 
 tion of the completion of the lists of assessment ; 
 how, in fine, the assignats, the ordinary means 
 adopted to cover all deficiencies, having totally 
 disappeared, their service was replaced with paper 
 of different kinds, which, though not having in 
 currency the power of money, did not straiten pri- 
 vate transactions more than the paper which was 
 in use before, but left the government without 
 resources, and gave birth to the most hideous 
 stock-jobbing. It was necessary to get out of such 
 a state of things, and to reorganize the collection, or, 
 what is the same thing, to re-open with the sources 
 of the revenue those of public credit. 
 
 In every country where taxes exist on property 
 and person, named in France " direct contribu- 
 tions," there must be a list of property returned 
 with an estimate of its product, and a list nominat- 
 ing individuals, with the value of their pecuniary 
 ability. Every year this list or statement must be 
 modified, according to the transmission of pro- 
 perty from hand to hand, or according to accidents 
 in birth, death, or removal. Every year there 
 must be repartitioned between property and per- 
 son the amount decreed as the impost ; and lastly, 
 there must be a collection made exact andprudent 
 at the same time ; exact to insure the receipts,
 
 1799. 
 Nov. 
 
 Disorders in collec- 
 tion. — Vingtiemes 
 re-established. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. 
 
 Mode of receiving and 
 paying in the taxes. 
 
 prudent to spare the persons taxed. Nothing of all 
 this existed in the year vm. (1/99-) 
 
 The cadastre, or register of property, the lahour 
 of forty years, had not then been commenced. There 
 were in some communes old roll-books, and a 
 general statement of their property, undertaken 
 in the time of the Constituent Assembly. These, 
 given with little correctness, were still turned to 
 some account. But the operations, which consist 
 in revising the lists of property and of persons fol- 
 lowing tin ir incessant changes, and in repartition- 
 ing annually between them the taxation decreed 
 under each impost — these operations, which pro- 
 perly constitute that which is denominated the 
 making up of the assessment lists, were delivered 
 over to the municipal administrations, of which the 
 disorganization and inefficiency have been already 
 explained. 
 
 The collection was not in less disorder. The 
 office was adjudged by abatement of the charge, 
 that is, to those who would collect at the smallest ex- 
 pense. The persons appointed gave the money coi- 
 lected into the hands of receivers, who acted 
 intermediately between them and the receiver- 
 general. They were both one and another in 
 arrear. The disorder that governed every thing, 
 at the time, permitted but a slight examination 
 into their accounts. Moreover, the non-comple- 
 tion of the lists of assessment always furnished a 
 plausible excuse for retarding the payments, and 
 stock-jobbing gave a means of acquitting them 
 in depreciated paper. In a word, they received 
 little and paid in less. 
 
 On the advice of Gaudin the consuls were not 
 fearful of returning to certain practices under the old 
 ii, which experience had proved to be sound 
 and useful. Upon an ameliorated model of the old 
 administration of the twentieths ( Vingtiemes), there 
 was an agency for direct taxes formed, a plan al- 
 ways until now rejected, from the unhappy idea of 
 Inning to the local administrations the care of 
 taxing themselves. A director and inspector in 
 cadi department, eight hundred and fifty comp- 
 trollers spread in a larger or smaller number 
 over tli'.> arrondissements, were themselves to 
 frame the lists of assessment, or, in other words, 
 draw up the lists of properties and persons, stating 
 the changes occurring annually, and charging the 
 proper proportions of the impost. Thus in place 
 of five thousand cantonal commissioners, who were 
 obliged to solicit from tin' communes the perfect- 
 ing m|' tie- assessments, there were to be ninety-nine 
 unety-nine inspectors, and eight hundred 
 and forty comptrollers, doing the duty themselves, 
 anil costing tin' state but 3,000,000 f. in place of 
 6,000,000 f. It was hoped that in six weeks this 
 administration would be perfectly organized, and 
 
 that in tWO OT three months it would achieve 
 
 the remaining third, yet unmade, of the lists of the 
 
 year vn., or tin- past year, all those of the year VIII., 
 thecurriiit year, and lastly all those of the year ix., 
 the next year. 
 
 Courage was demanded to overcome certain pre- 
 judice; Bonaparte was not a man to stand still 
 before any prejudices. The legislative commis- 
 sioners, debating with closed doors, adopted the 
 
 proposed scheme after a few observations. Guaran- 
 tees were granted to those of the tax-payers who 
 had reclamations to urge,— guarantees since ren- 
 
 dered more secure by means of the institution of 
 the councils of the prefecture. The base of every 
 regular constitution being thus well re-established, 
 and this task completed, it was required to organize 
 the collection, and to carry the product into the 
 treasury. 
 
 Now, thanks to the perfect order that the em- 
 pire and the subsequent governments have suc- 
 cessfully introduced into the finances, the collection 
 of the treasury funds is executed with a facility 
 and regularity which leave nothing to wish. The 
 collectors receive, month by month, the "direct'' 
 contributions, that is, the taxes levied upon lands, 
 houses, and persons. They hand them over to the 
 particular receiver in each chief place of the ar- 
 rondissement, and he to the receiver-general in the 
 chief town of the department. The collectors of 
 " indirect" taxes, composed of the produce of the 
 customs established on the frontiers, arising out of 
 foreign merchandise, the duties of registry on the 
 transfer of property or on judicial acts, lastly, the 
 dues payable upon articles of consumption of all 
 kinds, such as liquors, tobacco, salt, &c. — the 
 collectors of these pay, as fast as they are taken, 
 to the particular receiver, and this last into the 
 hands of the receiver-general, who is the real state 
 banker. It is his office to centralize the public 
 money, and set it in movement, according to the 
 orders he receives from the treasury. 
 
 The equal re-partitions of public duties, and the 
 general prosperity, have rendered the acquittance 
 of the taxes easy at the present time ; and still 
 more the accountability, which is but the sum- 
 mary of the operations of receipt and disbursement. 
 The last are become so clear, that the taxes are 
 : paid on the given day, often sooner, and besides 
 this the precise date of the receipt and appropria- 
 tion is known. It was time to establish a system 
 founded on the truth of facts, as they are them- 
 ' selves accomplished. It is in the nature of the 
 "direct taxes,'" raised upon property and person, 
 to be as a species of rent, fixablc in advance both 
 in amount and term of payment. They are de- 
 manded in monthly twelfths. The collectors or 
 receivers are debited or made debtors for them 
 every month. But it is presumed that they have 
 not received the amounts due for two or three 
 months alter each twelfth payment thus due has 
 expired, in order to leave the collectors a means 
 to spare the payers, and also to create in them- 
 selves a motive for getting the impost paid early. 
 Thus, if they received it before the term when the 
 tax was due, they gathered by interest a profit pro- 
 portioned to the celerity of the payment. It is on 
 the contrary in the nature of the '• indirect" taxes, 
 that they are known and paid as fast, and in the 
 same proportion, as the entry into France of foreign 
 productions, and the amount of the duties on the 
 property, or on the goods of all kinds for consump- 
 tion that arrive irregularly ; and they follow the 
 movement of that on which they are dependent. 
 Tin; receivers are debited ; that is to say, they are 
 constituted debtors, accountable at the moment 
 when the goods arrive, and not by twelfth payments 
 monthly, as is practised in case of the " direct" 
 taxes. Every ten days the receiver-general is 
 Constituted debtor for the amount entered in tho 
 ten days just expired. 
 
 From the time that he is debited, no matter for
 
 Bills of the receiver- 
 \q general* and their 
 
 operation. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Securities and credit 
 system. 
 
 1799. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 what kind of contribution, the receiver-general pays 
 interest upon the sums for which he is debited, 
 until the day when he converts them for the ac- 
 quittal of the public service. The day when he 
 pays, on the contrary, any sum whatever on ac- 
 count of the state, and before he is in debt to it, 
 the state in turn allows a credit for the interest. 
 The interests due by the receiver-general and 
 treasury are afterwards balanced upon the sums 
 left in his hands beyond the time prescribed, and 
 the interest due by the treasury on the sums which 
 have been advanced to it by him. This is done 
 in such a mode as that not a day's interest is lost 
 either by one or the other; and the receiver-gene- 
 ral becomes a real banker, in account current with 
 the treasury, obliged to keep always at the disposal 
 of the government the funds which the necessitii a 
 of the state may require, no matter to what amount. 
 Such is the system that experience on one part, 
 and growing ease among the tax-payers on the 
 other, have successively wrought out in collecting 
 and applying the money of the public. 
 
 But at the period of which the history is now 
 narrating, the imports were most irregular in re- 
 turn, ana the accounts obscure. The collector who 
 had not paid up, was able to allege delay in per- 
 fecting the lists of assessment, or the distresses of 
 the tax-payers ; he could deceive in the amount of 
 his receipts, owing to the confusion in the returns 
 of the operations. The government never knew 
 then, as it knows now, what passes every hour in 
 the coffers of several thousand receivers composing 
 the great exchequer of the nation. 
 
 Gaudin proposed, and Bonaparte adopted, an in- 
 genious system, in a great part borrowed from that 
 under the old monarchy, which led almost in- 
 sensibly to the organization actually in existence. 
 This system was that of the bills of the receivers- 
 general. The receivers, the real bankers of the 
 treasury, as we have already styled them, were 
 bound to give bills, which fell due monthly, for the 
 entire value of the direct taxes, or for 300,000,000 f. 
 upon 500,000,000 f., which then composed the state 
 budget. Win i) these bills became due they were paid 
 at the receiver-general's office. In order to meet the 
 delay conceded to the tax-payer, each twelfth part 
 was supposed to be paid about four months after it 
 ie due. Thus the bills for the taxes due 
 January 31, were drawn payable on May 31, in 
 such a way that the receiver-general, having before 
 him a term of lour mouths, had at the same time a 
 means to indulge the payer, while he was himself 
 Stimulated, lor the sake of the interest, to collect it 
 in earlier. Thus if he could get in the tax at the 
 end of two mouths, he Secured the two additional 
 months' interest. 
 
 This system had not only the merit of sparing 
 the payer and interesting the collector in obtain- 
 ing the payment; but it had the advantage of pre- 
 venting the receiver-general from delaying the 
 payment to the state, because the treasury had in 
 bests the hills of exchange to be paid at a 
 fixed period, obliging them to he taken up under 
 the penalty of being protested, if not regularly 
 met. Such a combination as this was not to be 
 contemplated, it is true, until after the lists of 
 it were rendered perfect as well as the 
 collection. The receivers-general could not pav 
 with exactitude if they did not receive. That being 
 
 done in the mode already stated, the system of 
 giving bills was of easy fulfilment, and had the 
 advantage, independently of those already enu- 
 merated, of putting, on the first day of the year, at 
 the disposal of the treasury 300,000,000 f. in bills 
 from the direct taxes, which it was not difficult to 
 get discounted. 
 
 To establish credit tfor this paper, designed to 
 fulfil the office of the royal notes in France and the 
 exchequer bills in England, the sinking fund 4 was 
 invented. This, which was before long to receive the 
 contents of the whole of the public debt, had at 
 first no other object to answer than to guarantee 
 the bills of the receivers-general. It was thus 
 managed. The collectors of taxes, as a security 
 for their trust, gave it in immoveable property. 
 This sort of guarantee, in case of default, placing 
 the state in the difficulties of enforcing an eject- 
 ment, when it was obliged to come upon the security, 
 was found not to fulfil satisfactorily the object of 
 its institution. Security in money was therefore 
 required to be given. The receivers-general were 
 making so great a profit by jobbing with the tax 
 itself, that they submitted most willingly to the 
 condition rather than lose their posts. 
 
 These securities paid into the sinking fund were 
 devoted as a guarantee to the bills of the receivers- 
 general. Every bill on falling due was to be paid 
 at his office, or, in case of non-payment there, at 
 the office of the sinking fund, the moment it was pro- 
 tested, and paid out of the security of the defaulter. 
 Such a bill, therefore, was rendered, in this way, as 
 valuable as the best commercial paper. This was not 
 the sole advantage of the plan. It was probable 
 that a very small amount of the security monies 
 would suffice to support the credit of the bills, 
 because few indeed of the receivers-general would 
 ever suffer their paper to be protested; the surplus, 
 therefore, would remain at the disposal of the trea- 
 sury, which might arrange for its use with the 
 sinking fund, by ceding to it immoveable or funded 
 property. 
 
 By this institution the advantage was obtained 
 of giving a secure currency to the bills, and of 
 realizing at any moment a certain sum of money, — 
 a resource at that period most seasonable. 
 
 Such was the mode of collection and payment 
 which placed the treasury in a short time at per- 
 fect ease. It consisted, as shown above, in perfect- 
 ing the lists of assessment and putting them in 
 collection with rapidity and exactness ; next, in 
 drawing upon the principal receivers for the total 
 amount of the tax bills easily discounted through 
 the means devised to enable the receivers-general 
 to discharge their responsibilities themselves, or 
 which the sinking fund would discharge for them. 
 
 We have only spoken of the direct taxes. As to 
 the indirect, which neither came in regularly nor 
 by twelfths, the receivers-general, after their re- 
 ceipt, but not until then, were to forward to the 
 treasury bills payable at sight at their office. Thus 
 the indirect taxes were not available until the 
 amounts had been received. This part of the service, 
 which left in the receiver-generals' hands too large 
 an enjoyment of the funds, was afterwards ren- 
 dered more perfect. 
 
 There are naturally, upon the introduction of any 
 
 4 Caisse d ainortissement.
 
 1799. 
 Nov. 
 
 Modes of paying the 
 debts c" the state. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. 
 
 Council of finances held 
 weekly. 
 
 11 
 
 new system, difficulties of transition, arising from 
 the labour of adjusting the present state of things 
 to that which is about be created. Thus the bills 
 of arrear delivered to the fundholders, those of 
 requisition to the farmers, from whom their goods 
 had been taken off the premises, and, lastly, the com- 
 mission on the funds to be paid into the cotters, 
 delivered with culpable license to contractors, it 
 was possible might derange all the calculations. 
 Different modes were taken to meet such incon- 
 veniences as might result from the pressure of all 
 these kinds of paper in circulation. The bills of 
 arrear paid to the fundholders had alone the favour 
 to be received still in payment of the taxes; but 
 the amount of them for the current year being 
 ascertained, by that amount the sum which the 
 receivers-general were to pay was diminished. 
 
 The bills of requisition and of commission, paper 
 of doubtful origin and unknown amount, were all 
 suhmitted to a peculiar liquidation. They were 
 paid later than the former, part out of the national 
 property, and part in value received of a different 
 nature, but with a proper regard to equity. 
 
 In paying the fundholders in money, as it was 
 proposed to do as soon as the receipt of the taxes 
 was secured ; in providing for the army and dis- 
 pensing with the system of requisitions ; in firmly 
 refusing to contractors the irregular commissions 
 which they had received on the treasury receipts ; 
 the" sources of the paper issues could not fail to be 
 quickly dried up, and the collection of the taxes to 
 be every where re-established in specie. 
 
 To these means, thus had recourse to for se- 
 curing the state revenues, were joined certain 
 measures, some legitimate at all times, but others 
 carrying only the character of expediency or the 
 excuse of necessity. Those who had acquired any 
 of the national domains, doing what every body 
 did at that time, namely, without regarding the 
 law, holding back the price at which they had made 
 their purchases, were compelled to pay up in four 
 months under the penalty of forfeiture. This ne- 
 cessity could not fail to bring in a great part of 
 the out-standing paper which was specially re- 
 ceivable in payment for the national domains. 
 There were classes of purchasers who were bound 
 to acquit their debts in specie, who for this pur- 
 pose were forced to subscribe negotiable obliga- 
 tions. Such paper was good and easy to dispose 
 
 of, became it was issued by persona who were me- 
 
 i with the loss of their purchases in ca 
 their paper being protested. 
 
 There still existed unsold national domains to the 
 ralue of 800,000,000 !'. or <00,000,000f. This vain" 
 
 was founded bypothetically on the estimates mad'' 
 in 1790, and would, if more flourishing times were 
 awaited, 1.': doubled, tripled, and still more aug- 
 d in value It would have been better n< I 
 to dispose of them, had not the necessities of the 
 momeni obliged that step to he taken. It was 
 
 settled that bills of reSCTiptiOn, representing the 
 
 sum at which it was proposed tu tender the gale of 
 the property, should he negotiated among those 
 inclined to speculate in them to the extent of 
 150,000,000 f. It was fortunate that only a small 
 part of this amount was put into circulation. 
 
 A plan was conceived, lastly, to represent by paper 
 
 of the same nature, the capital of certain ground* 
 rcnts belonging to the public, of which the former 
 
 laws had permitted the redemption by the debtor. 
 This resource amounted to about 40,000,0001'. in 
 value. The holders of the property still owing 
 the rents, had left off paying them, although they 
 had not effected their redemption. There was 
 made, in consequence, a paper issue representing 
 this capital of 40,000,000f., negotiable, like that 
 upon the national domains, through the agency of 
 money-brokers. 
 
 These creations of artificial wealth were the last 
 concessions to the necessities of the hour. Cir- 
 culated among speculators, they were applied to 
 procuring resources until the re-establishment of 
 the finances, which there was reason to hope would 
 take place upon the accurate completion of the 
 lists of assessment and the bill system of the re- 
 ceivers-general. This paper was issued with great 
 caution, and had not, as we shall see, the common 
 inconvenience of depreciation and the alienation at 
 a low value of the state resources. 
 
 These different schemes, although good in them- 
 selves, depended for their benefit upon the strength 
 of the government itself. Established upon the 
 supposed return of order, they could only answer 
 their expected end, if order were really restored ; 
 if the executive displayed vigour and constancy in 
 following out its plans; if it organized quickly and 
 well the new administration of the direct taxes; if 
 it directed constant care to the accuracy of the 
 assessment lists within the time prescribed for the 
 collection, in order that the bills of the receivers- 
 general might be subscribed and paid when they 
 fell due ; if the securities promptly paid in should 
 be deposited in the sinking fund coffers in sums 
 sufficient to sustain the credit of the bills ; if, finally, 
 it for ever abandoned those ruinous expedients, 
 the bills of arrear, bills of requisition and com- 
 missions, which it now proposed to renounce — if 
 all this were realized the state was certain of a 
 happy result awaiting the new financial system. 
 It was further reasonable to hope much from the 
 personal intelligence and firmness of Bonaparte. 
 All the foregoing plans ho had himself discussed, 
 approved, and frequently modified and ameliorated ; 
 he was sensible of their merit and importance, and 
 was fully determined to watch over their strict 
 execution. As soon as they were agreed upon 
 they were sent to the legislative commissions, 
 which formed them into laws without the loss of 
 a moment. Twenty days sufficed to project, con- 
 sider, and give them the full legal character, so as 
 that they might commence to be in force. Bona- 
 parte himself worked with the minister of the 
 finances several times a week, thus taking the best 
 method of putting an end to those mischievous 
 commissions which were too often granted at the 
 instance or through the corrupt influence of the 
 contractors. Every week he made the ministers 
 bring him a statement of their required expendi- 
 ture, which he compared himself with the probable 
 
 receipts of the treasury, and made in proportion to 
 
 the necessities of each a distribution of the actual 
 Bets, lie thus disposed of that only which was 
 certain to lie received, and by this firmness of pur- 
 pose, the principal abuse, that <f the contractors' 
 commissions, was soon seen to disappear. 
 
 In awaiting the completion of the assessments, 
 the time of their collection, and until the bills 
 of the receivers-general could be remitted to the
 
 Results of new system. 
 12 Succours to the army. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Law of hostages abrogated, j y g g 
 Enlargement of the im- jj " 
 prisoned clergy. 
 
 treasury and discounted, the government had for 
 present use, besides the 1 2,000,000 f. lent by the 
 bankers, the payment of the new securities, the 
 negotiation in the market of the resources recently 
 created, and the current collection of the taxes, 
 which last, imperfect as it was, had sufficed the 
 state until that time. The confidence imparted by 
 
 order threatened by the armed Vende'ans here,— 
 there by the revolutionists exasperated at the affair 
 of the 18th Brumaire. 
 
 The first political measure of the new consuls re- 
 lated to the law of the hostages. This law, which 
 made the relations of the Vende'ans and of the 
 Chouans responsible for the deeds committed in 
 
 the provisional consuls satisfied the men of busi- the revolted provinces, inflicted on some imprison- 
 
 ncss; and means were taken to negotiate among 
 them new securities, at which a few days before 
 nobody would have looked. 
 
 By the union of such means it was that the go- 
 vernment was able to relieve the naked and starv- 
 ing armies, and to procure them the first supplies, 
 of which they were in such urgent need. The dis- 
 order that reigned was so great in the office of the 
 minister-at-war, that he had no returns of the con- 
 dition of the soldiers, their number, or quarters. 
 The artillery alone possessed such returns as far as 
 related to its own particular corps. As the army 
 was neither clothed nor fed ; as the battalions of 
 conscripts, raised in the departments and fitted out 
 by means of bills of equipment, had been often 
 organized without the intervention of the principal 
 authority, the last knew next to nothing about them. 
 Bonaparte was obliged to send staff-officers to the 
 different armies to procure the documents which 
 he required. At the same time he sent a few 
 supplies to the suffering corps, but too small in the 
 aggregate to meet their great necessities; and he 
 addressed them in a proclamation, couched in those 
 terms which he so well knew how to render im- 
 pressive to the soldiers, conjuring them to have 
 patience but for a few days longer, and to display 
 amid their sufferings the. same fortitude which they 
 had shown in battle. He said to them : — 
 
 "Soldiers, your necessities are great — measures 
 are taken to supply them. The first quality of a 
 soldier is fortitude in supporting fatigue and pri- 
 vation ; valour is but the second. Corps have 
 quitted their posts; they have been deaf to the 
 voices of their officers. The 17th light infantry 
 is of the number. Are they then all dead ! the 
 es of Castiglione, of Rivoli, of Newmarck! 
 They would have perished sooner than quit their 
 colours — they would have recalled their young 
 comrades to honour and duty. Soldiers ! Say you 
 your rations are not regular? What would you 
 have done, if, like the 4th and 22nd light, and the 
 18th and 32nd of the line, you found yourselves in 
 a desert, without bread and water, feeding upon 
 - and mules ; 'Victory Will give U8 bread," 
 
 they exclaimed ; but you — you quit your colours! 
 - ildiers of Italy ! a new general commands 
 
 youj he was ever, in the blighter days of your 
 glory, in the vanguard. Surround him with your 
 
 confide) ; he will restore you to victory ! 
 
 " A daily account will be sent me of the conduct 
 
 of each corps, and more especially of that of the 
 
 17th light, and of the 63rd of the- line ; they will 
 n member the confidence I once had in them !"' 
 
 The administration of the finances and also of the 
 army were not the only branches of the govern- 
 ment uhieh pressingly demanded the attention of the 
 nc-w consuls. It was necessary to recal the severe 
 measures, so unworthy a wise and humane adminis- 
 tration, which had been snatched by the violence 
 of party-feeling from the weakness of the expiring 
 directory. It was also needful to maintain the 
 
 ment, on others transportation. It partook of the 
 public censure, with the law of the forced progres- 
 sive loan, though with a better title. It could only 
 be under the influence of the blind passions of the 
 time, that men could have dared to render the re- 
 lations of revolters responsible for acts of which 
 they had not been guilty, even if they had wished 
 them success. The consuls treated this law as 
 they treated that of the forced loan; they proposed 
 its repeal to the legislative commissioners, and it 
 was directly decreed. Bonaparte went himself to the 
 prison of the Temple, where many of the hostages 
 were in captivity, to break their chains with his 
 own glox-ious hands, and to receive those reiterated 
 benedictions which the healing acts of the consul- 
 ship so constantly and so justly effected. 
 
 To this measure were joined others of the same 
 kind, which marked with a parallel character the 
 policy of the provisional consuls. Many priests, 
 although they had taken the oath required to their 
 civil constitution, which became the cause of the 
 schism, had nevertheless been persecuted. These 
 priests, who were distinguished by the epithet of 
 "sworn," were some of them fugitives or con- 
 cealed, others were imprisoned in the islands of 
 Re' and Ole'ron. The consuls ordered the enlarge- 
 ment of all that remained in custody. This step 
 caused the return to France or the re-appearance 
 in open day of all the priests of that class who had 
 sought security in flight or concealment. 
 
 Certain emigrants, shipwrecked in the neighbour- 
 hood of Calais, had been for some time past objects 
 of lively public interest. These unfortunate men, 
 placed between the horrors of shipwreck and those 
 of the law of emigration, had flung themselves 
 upon their native shore, little thinking that their 
 country could be less merciful to them than the 
 tempest. The supporters of rigorous measures 
 said, that these emigrants were going into La 
 Vendee to take a part in the renewal of the civil 
 war, — the fact was nearly certain, — and that thence 
 it was perfectly right to enforce against them the 
 terrible emigration laws. Public humanity, happily 
 revealed at that moment, opposed this mode of 
 reasoning. The question had been several times 
 reversely decided. The new consuls determined 
 that these emigrants should be enlarged, and con- 
 veyed out of the territory of the republic. Among 
 them were members of the greatest families in 
 France ; one was the Duke de Choiseul, whom we 
 have always found since in the number of those 
 attached to a rational freedom, the only freedom 
 that good men can love and uphold. 
 
 These acts were universally applauded. Let 
 us admire the difference between one government 
 and another. Had such acts as these emanated 
 from the directory, they would have been esteemed 
 unworthy concessions to the emigrant party. 
 Emanating from the new consulate, at the head of 
 which stood a great general, whose presence, 
 wherever he appeared, indicated strength and
 
 1799. 
 Nov. 
 
 The Maneee. — Errors of the 
 
 consulate towards the re- CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. 
 volutionary party. 
 
 Prompt submission of the 
 revolutionists. — Their 
 sentence revoked. 
 
 13 
 
 power ; such actions were taken for symptoms of 
 a strong, but moderate policy. Thus true is it, that 
 to be moderate with honour and good effect, it is 
 necessary to be powerful. 
 
 At the first moment it was alone in regard to the 
 revolutionary party, that the policy of the pro- 
 visional consuls was wanting in moderation. It 
 was with this party that the contest had occurred 
 on the Uitli and 19th of Brumaire. Against it 
 very naturally a degree of mistrust and anger might 
 be felt ; still amidst acts of conciliation and repa- 
 ration, that only was destined to feel the severity 
 of the new rulers. The news of the 18th Bru- 
 maire struck into the patriots of the south a deep 
 sensation. The societies affiliated to the mother 
 society in Paris, or the Manege, exhibited still 
 stronger indignation. It was reported that the 
 deputies, deprived by the law of the 19th Bru- 
 maire of the rank of members of the legislative 
 body, had determined to meet at Toulouse, there 
 to reinstall a species of directory. Bonaparte, now 
 he had the supreme command of the army, was not 
 afraid of any thing. He had shown on the 13th 
 Vendemiaire, that he knew how to suppress an in- 
 sr.rr ction ; and he did not trouble himself about 
 all that a few hot-headed patriots were able to do 
 without soldiers. But his colleagues, Sieyes and 
 Roger-Ducos, did not feel his confidence. Several 
 of the ministers joined them in opinion, and per- 
 suaded the first consul to adopt precautions. In- 
 clined himself, for that matter, to energetic mea- 
 sures, although moderate from motives of policy, 
 he consented to pronounce a decree of banishment 
 against thirty-eight members of the revolutionary 
 party, and to the detention at Rochelle of eighteen 
 others. Among this number there were some vile 
 wretches; one of them had been heard to boast of 
 having been the assassin of the Princess de Lam- 
 balle : but in the number there were good men as 
 well, members of the two councils, and above all a 
 distinguished and respectable personage in General 
 Jourdan. His public opposition to the 18th Bru- 
 maire had. at the moment, inspired some degree 
 of fear. To include the name of such a man in 
 BUCh a list was a fault upon a fault. 
 
 Public opinion, although not well disposed to- 
 wards the revolutionist-, received this proceeding 
 with coldness, almost with censure. It feared 
 so much rigour and re-action ; the step was dis- 
 approve,! even when exerted against those who 
 bad been guilty of the' same rigour. Remonstrances 
 lent from all pans, some of them in a very 
 high tone, in favour of names that were found on 
 
 tin- li-t of tin' proscribed. The Court of Cassation 
 remonstrated regarding one- of its members, named 
 Xavier Ardouin, who had not deserved that Buch a 
 precaution should \»- taken against him, Talley- 
 rand, always mild in character, always adroit in 
 his conduct — Talleyrand, whom the revolutionary 
 party had, from 1;-. aversion, contributed to 
 out of thr ministry for foreign affairs, had the 
 good feeling to remonstrate in favour of one Jorry, 
 
 who had publicly insulted bin), lie did it, he' said, 
 
 for fear they should attribute to his own revengeful 
 motives tin' insertion of this vulgar man's name 
 upon the proscribed 1m. His published letter on 
 
 the subject did him high honour, and saved the 
 
 indiviilu.il from the sentence. In compliance with 
 the public, feeling, tin: name of General Jourdan 
 
 was also erased. Fortunately the turn taken by 
 public affairs permitted the revocation of an act, 
 which was but an accidental deviation from a 
 march otherwise just and straightforward. 
 
 Bonaparte had sent General Lannes, his most 
 devoted lieutenant, to Toulouse. At the simple 
 appearance there of this officer, all the prepara- 
 tions for re-action disappeared at once. Toulouse 
 was tranquillized, and the societies attached to that 
 of the Manege in the capital, were silenced in the 
 south. The ardent revolutionists saw that public 
 opinion was in opposition to them, having ceased to 
 favour their views ; and they saw too at the head 
 of the government one whom nobody had the means 
 to resist. The most reasonable among them could 
 not forget that he was the same man who, on the 
 13th Vendemiaire, had dispersed the royalists of 
 the Paris sections, who were armed against the 
 convention, and who, under the directory, in lend- 
 ing his strong hand to the government, had fur- 
 nished it with the means to bring about the 18th 
 Fructidor. They, therefore, submitted : the more 
 violent, venting their rage in exclamations, were 
 soon silenced ; the others hoping that at least under 
 the military government of the new Cromwell, as 
 they styled him, the revolution and France would 
 not be vanquished for the gain of the Bourbons, 
 the English, the Austrians, and the Russians. 
 
 One act of resistance, not by force, but by legal 
 means, was offered to the 18th Brumaire. The 
 president of the criminal tribunal of the Yonne, 
 named Barnabas, imitated the example of the old 
 parliaments, and refused to register the law of the 
 19th Brumaire, constituting the provisional govern: 
 nient. This president's audacity was brought be- 
 fore the legislative commisioners ; he was accused 
 of having refused to execute his duty, suspended, 
 and then removed. He submitted to his sentence 
 with resignation and dignity. 
 
 The speedy end of every attempt at resistance 
 enabled the government to abrogate a measure 
 which was in opposition to its prudent course of 
 policy. Upon the report of Cambace'res, the minis- 
 ter of justice, that order was re-established in the 
 departments, and that the laws were every where 
 executed without any obstacle, the sentence of 
 transportation pronounced against the thirty-eight 
 revolutionists, and the detention of the eighteen 
 others at Rochelle, was altered to a simple sur- 
 veillance. Soon afterwards this surveillance was 
 removed. 
 
 This act of indulgence was speedily eclipsed by a 
 series of others, wise, able, and vigorous, sig- 
 nalizing in a particular manner the bias of the 
 new government. Ln Vendue had, in turn, at- 
 tracted its whole attention. A rising had been 
 lately attempted, just at the close of the reign of 
 
 tie- 'directory. The elevation of flotiapari,- to 
 
 power changed the tare of things there altogether, 
 as well as the direction of the public mind in every 
 part of the republic. The chiefs of the new royalist 
 insurrections had been excited to take up arms as 
 much by the later severity of the directory, as by 
 the hop.- i.f the approaching overtures of the 
 government : but on one side the revocation of the 
 
 hostage law, tie- sotting the priests at liberty, the 
 -rant of their lives to the shipwneked emigrants at 
 
 Calais, tended to oause a reoonciliatory spirit; while 
 
 on the other side, the presence and power of Bona-
 
 State of La Vendee. 
 1* Overtures of the chiefs. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Their interview with Bo- 
 naparte. — Suspension 
 of arms in La Vendee. 
 
 1799. 
 Nov. 
 
 parte tended more than ever to stifle all hope 
 of seeing the dissolution of that order of things 
 effected which had been caused by the revolution. 
 The 18th Bramure had modified the ideas in La 
 18 well as elsewhere, and given birth to 
 new inclinations. 
 
 The loyalist party, some of whom combated in 
 La Vendee, while others were .in Paris occupying 
 themselves with political intrigues, delivered itself, 
 vety party which seeks to overturn a govern- 
 in. nr, to continual mental activity, and, without 
 cessation, went in quest of new combinations to 
 ensure the triumph of their cause ; it now imagined 
 that perhaps there was some means in its power of 
 coming to an understanding with Bonaparte. Its 
 chiefs thought that one so eminent had no great 
 taste for figuring for a few days in the changing 
 scenes of the French revolution, to disappear, like 
 his predecessors, in the abyss opened before their 
 steps ; and that he would prefer to take his place 
 under a peaceable and regularly constituted mon- 
 archy, of which he might be both the support and 
 ornament. They were, in one word, credulous 
 enough to imagine that the character of Monk 
 suited a personage who did not think the character 
 of Cromwell great enough for his ambition. They 
 in consequence obtained the mediation of one 
 of those ministers of the foreign diplomacy, who, 
 under the pretext of studying the country where 
 they arc accredited, have a hand in every party 
 intrigue, and they thus obtained an introduction to 
 Bonaparte. Hyde de Neuville and D'Andigne' 
 were the parties that took this step. 
 
 It is not needful to show how very erroneous was 
 the judgment thus formed of Bonaparte. This won- 
 derful man, sensible now of his own power and 
 greatness, would not be servant to any party. If he 
 had no love for disorder, he loved the revolution ; 
 if he did not credit freedom to its full extent 
 for all it had promised, he desired in entirety 
 ili it Bncial reform, which it was his object to ac- 
 complish. Therefore he desired to sec the revolu- 
 tion triumphant ; he desired the glory of terminat- 
 ing it, and to make it lead to a quiet and regular 
 course of things ; he desired to be its head, no 
 matter under what name nor what form of govern- 
 ment — but he did not di sire to he the instrument of 
 any other power save Providence ; he had already 
 too much glory and too much conscious strength 
 t.c osent to that ! 
 
 lb- received De Neuville and D'Andigne*, heard 
 their insinuations, more or le<s clear, and declared 
 to them frankly his intentions, which were to put 
 
 an end to persecution, to rally all parties around 
 
 tie- government, but to Buffer none save that of 
 the revolution, to be master — of the revolution un- 
 derstood in its better Bense. He declared to them 
 
 his willingness to treat with the Vend Can chiefs on 
 
 rms, or his determination to i 
 minite them to a man. This interview effected 
 nothing, except that it made the royalist party 
 I" tter instructed in the character of Bonaparte. 
 Whilst these negotiations were proceeding ill 
 
 Paris between Bonaparte and the friends of the 
 
 Bourbons, there were Others begun in La Vendee 
 
 itself, between the chiefs of the revolt and those of 
 
 the republic. Towards the end of tin; directory, 
 when nobody knew who they were to obey, a kind 
 of relaxation, very closely approximating to treason, 
 
 had crept into the army occupying that country. 
 More than one officer of the republican forces, 
 imagining the republic could not much longer 
 exist, had turned his eyes towards the party of 
 the royalists. The elevation of Bonaparte to the 
 state changed this position of things, which was 
 about to become very dangerous ; but now, upon 
 the contrary, the communications to which they 
 gave rise, and the interchanges between parties, 
 took a new direction. The royalist chiefs, who drew 
 to them at first the officers of the republican army, 
 were themselves attracted in their turn to the side 
 of the republican officers and their government. 
 It was represented to them how slight a chance 
 they had of overcoming the conqueror of Italy and 
 of Egypt, and the hope they might indulge of ob- 
 taining under the first consul a mild and restora- 
 tive system of government, which would render the 
 condition of every party agreeable and peaceable. 
 This language was not destitute of use. There was 
 at that moment at the head of the army of the 
 west, a conciliatory, judicious, and trustworthy 
 officer, general Hedouville, who had seen much 
 service under general Hoche, at the time when the 
 first peace was brought about in La Vendee. He 
 mastered all that was proceeding between the two 
 parties, saw its worth, and offered to send the re- 
 sult to the new consul. 
 
 Bonaparte instantly availed himself of this open- 
 ing for a negotiation, confiding full powers to 
 general Hedouville for treating with the chiefs of 
 the insurgents. These chiefs felt the strength of 
 Bonaparte in office, and showed a disposition to 
 come to terms. It was not easy to sign a capitula- 
 tion at once, and to agree in a moment upon ar- 
 ticles for such a purpose; but a suspension of arms 
 did not include the same obstacles. The insurgent 
 chiefs offered to sign one immediately. The offer 
 was accepted on the part of the government, and in 
 a few days, De Chatillon, D'Autichamp, and De 
 Bourmont, signed a suspension of arms for La 
 Vende'e and a part of Brittany. It was settled that 
 Georges Cadoudal and De Frotte should be invited 
 to adopt the same course in the Morbihan and in 
 Normandy. 
 
 This act of the new government was not long 
 delayed, for it was accomplished at the com- 
 mencement of Frimaire, in twenty days alter the 
 installment of the provisionally consuls. It in- 
 spired general satisfaction, and made the entire 
 pacification of La Vendee be thought nearer than 
 it was possible to be. 
 
 Rumours of the same kind, relative to foreign 
 powers, led to the hope that, under the fortunate 
 star of Bonaparte, there would be seen the prompt 
 ! bblishment of European peace. 
 
 As before observed, at the commencement of 
 this book, Prussia and Spain alone were in bends 
 of amity with France ; the first always showing 
 coolness, the second embarrassed by its commu- 
 nity of interests with her. Russia, Austria, Eng- 
 land, and all the little powers in their train, whe- 
 ther in Italy or in Germany, sustained an unre- 
 lenting contest with the Republic of France. Eng- 
 land, with whom the war was merely a question of 
 finance, had resolved that question for herself in 
 the establishment of the income-tax, which already 
 produced a great revenue. She wished for the con- 
 tinuance of hostilities, in order to have time to gain
 
 1799 
 Nov. 
 
 First European nego- 
 tiations. — Paul I. 
 of Russia. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. 
 
 Importance of Prussia. 
 Frederick-William. 
 
 14 
 
 Malta, which she had blockaded, and also to re- 
 duce the French army of Egypt to surrender by 
 the same means. Austria, in possession of all Italy, 
 was determined to risk everything rather than re- 
 sign the conquest ; but the chivalrous Paul I. 
 who had thrown himself into the war under the 
 impulse of a foolish enthusiasm, saw his arms 
 humbled at Zurich, and from thence imbibed a 
 feeling of lively resentment against everybody, I nit 
 above all against Austria. He had been persuaded 
 that tliis power was the sole cause of his misfor- 
 tune; because the Austrian army, bound, in virtue 
 of a concerted movement, to advance to the Rhine, 
 and cede Switzerland to the Russians, had too 
 quickly abandoned the position of Zurich, leaving 
 Korsakoff exposed to Massena's attack, who having 
 beaten him, had afterwards given a good account 
 of Suwaroff. Paul I. saw in tliis as lie imagined 
 an act of treachery on the part of a faithless 
 ally, and suspicion being once excited, every thing 
 appeared in a mistrustful light. He had only 
 taken up arms, he said, to protect the feeble 
 against the strong, and to replace on their thrones 
 those princes who had been hurled from them by 
 the French republic. Austria too bad kept her flag 
 every where flying in Italy, and had not recalled 
 to their places any of the dethroned princes, lie 
 asserted, that having acted out of pure gene- 
 rosity he was made the dupe of the allied powers, 
 who were moved solely by self-interest. Fickle in 
 the extreme, he gave himself up entirely to his 
 new opinions as violently as he had before delivered 
 himself to those opposite. A recent occurrence ex- 
 a.-perated him to the highest pitch: this was the 
 pulling down the Russian flag at Ancona, and its 
 replacement by that of Austria. The circumstance 
 arose from the error of an inferior officer: but that 
 did not matter, the act was keenly felt, however it 
 originated. 
 
 '1 lie si ntiroents of absolute sovereigns, despite 
 their efforts at secresy, explode as quickly as those 
 of a free people ; the one will not be much longer 
 repressed than the other. Tliis new consequence 
 of the battle of Zurich got wind all over Europe, 
 and was not unfortunate for France. 
 
 Austria and England at the news redoubled 
 their attentions to Paul I. They loaded Suwaroff, 
 the "invincible Suwaroff,'' as he was called before 
 In- was encountered by Massena, with all sorts of 
 distinctions. But tiny had no more soothed the 
 ;_■!!• f of the Russian general than they had dis- 
 armed tin- czar's resentment. An entirely new 
 incident on the- part of Paul I. gave reason for 
 the apprehension that he would soon abandon the 
 coalition. 
 
 In the first glance of bis zeal for the coalition 
 ho had declared war against Spain, because she 
 
 made a common cause with France, ami he had 
 vi rv nearly declared against Sweden, Denmark, 
 
 and Prussia, because those powers had remained 
 
 Deuter. He had broken off his relations with 
 
 Prussia entirely. Since the n a nl events be ap- 
 peared to be much mollified in his disposition 
 towards the courts against which he so lately felt 
 a bitter animosity ; and bo now sent M. Krudener 
 to Berlin, an envoy in whom he had great con- 
 fidence. Krudeni r was desin d to proceed thither 
 as a simple traveller, but had a secret mission to 
 tablish relations between the two courts. 
 
 France had then at Berlin an able and clever 
 agent in M. Otto, who was subsequently connected 
 with the more important proceedings of that pe- 
 riod. He apprised his government of the new 
 state of affairs. It was evident, that if we were 
 inclined to peace rather than war, the key of the 
 position for that end was Berlin. Spain, flung 
 to the extremity of Europe by her geographical 
 position, and to that of politics by the feebleness 
 of her government, could be of no utility. But 
 Prussia, placed in the centre of the belligerent 
 powers, remained neuter in spite of their liveliest 
 solicitude: thought ill of at first by all the cabinets 
 in the heat of the coalition, but thought better of 
 when that became cooler, Prussia grew into a 
 centre of influence, above all when Russia appeared 
 to court her alliance. That which had been denomi- 
 nated pusillanimity on her part now appeared to 
 be wisdom. If she were to adopt energetically 
 the character which events seemed to assign her, 
 she might serve for the link connecting France 
 and Europe ; she might be able to appear in 
 season among weary opponents intermediately ; 
 a method subsequently employed with great suc- 
 cess, and thus to gather the fruits of the war which 
 one party had not made, and of the peace which 
 the other had dictated. If Prussia had ventured 
 to do this, the character she would have played 
 would have been the most important since the time 
 of the great Frederick. 
 
 There was then upon the throne of Prussia a 
 young king, sincere, and possessing good intentions, 
 loving peace as a passion, and never ceasing to 
 lament the fault which his father had committed 
 in scattering upon a foolish war against the French 
 republic, the military fame and treasures accumu- 
 lated by the great Frederick. Replaced at this 
 time in pacific relations with the French republic, 
 the king availed himself of the opportunity to re- 
 lieve by economy the losses of the treasure left by 
 his great uncle and squandered by his father. He 
 possessed near his person an aide and wise minister, 
 experienced in a high degree, with the skill of 
 evading difficulties; a partisan, like his master, of a 
 pi..fific policy, but more ambitious than he wits, in 
 believing that a neutrality well directed would ob- 
 tain /or Prussia greater aggrandisements than war 
 itself. At that time this might have been correct. 
 He urged on his sovereign, therefore, to take upon 
 himself the character of an active mediator «and 
 pacificator of the continent. To play this part was 
 no doubt a very grand one for the young and timid 
 Frederick- William ; but this prince was able to 
 fill, more or less, a portion of the character, if he 
 wryr unequal to the whole. 
 
 Bonaparte, perceiving all this, immediately di- 
 rected his attention to please the court of Prussia. 
 It had formerly been convenient for him to be a 
 member of the institute, that he might appear by 
 
 thai title at some particular ceremonies where lie 
 Could not be seen in his political character, more 
 ei pecially at the fetes given on the 2lst of Ja- 
 nuary : it was now equally convenient for him to be 
 a gi neral, and to have aids -de-camp to send wher- 
 ever he saw it was required. This idea was de- 
 rived from the example of princes, who on mounting 
 the throno ami ced the event by sending dig- 
 nitaries as envoys lor that purpose. Hi' did the 
 
 same thing, though with less parade, ami dispatched
 
 Duroc sent to Berlin. 
 \Q Talleyrand takes ac- 
 
 tive office. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Treatment of the knights 
 of Malta, and the Canes. 
 
 1799. 
 Dec. 
 
 to Berlin one of his aids-de-camp, which, as mili- 
 tary head of a state, most assuredly was a proper- 
 act without going out of his character. Among 
 those who bore the title there was one, wise, dis- 
 . and prudent, joining to an agreeable exterior 
 of person perfectly good manners; this was Duroc, 
 who returned from Egypt with his general, and 
 bore a reflection around his brow of the glory of 
 the Pyramids. The first consul ordered him to 
 proceed immediately to Berlin, to compliment the 
 king and queen of Prussia, and present himself as 
 bearing a mission of respect and compliment; while 
 at the same time he was to profit by the occasion 
 to explain the result of the last revolution in 
 Prance, to represent it as a return to order, to a 
 healthy state of things, and, above all, to pacific- 
 ideas. Duroc was directed to flatter the young 
 king, and to show him, that if he pleased he might 
 become the arbitrator of peace. The republic, re- 
 posing upon the victories of the Texel and Zurich, 
 and on all those for which the name of Bonaparte 
 was a pledge in future, was well able, without 
 wounding her dignity, to present herself with the 
 olive-branch of peace in her hand. 
 
 While he dispatched Duroc to Berlin, Bonaparte 
 performed several acts under the provisional^ 
 consulship calculated to produce an effect abroad. 
 Having for some time delayed the entry of Talley- 
 rand upon the ministry for foreign affaire, he at 
 bfa placed him in that office. It was impossible to 
 place there a more conciliatory person, more proper 
 to treat with the European powers, more willing to 
 please, even to flatter them, without depressing the 
 dignity of the French cabinet. We shall have 
 Other opportunities for painting this singular and 
 remarkable character ; it suffices to say now, that 
 the choice of this minister alone clearly proves, 
 without passing from strength to weakness, that 
 the policy of the passions was moving into that of 
 calculation. There was nothing, down to that 
 elegance of manners peculiar to Talleyrand, which 
 was not of some advantage in the new aspect 
 which the government wished to assume towards 
 foreign powers. 
 
 Bonaparte made other diplomatic arrangements, 
 conceived in the same spirit. Although M. Otto, 
 charge* d'affaires at Berlin, after Sieves had quitted 
 that post, was an excellenl envoy, he was no more 
 than a simple charge d'affaires in rank. To him 
 was assigned another destination, in which he soon 
 made himself very useful. The appointment of 
 minister at Berlin was given to General Beurnon- 
 ville, the old friend of La Payette, long imprisoned 
 in Austria, and om.' of those members of the mi- 
 nority of French nobles, who had in 1789 embraced 
 with sincerity the side of the revolution. Gem pal 
 Beumonville was a franlc soldier, loyal, above all 
 uise, of moderate opinions, and perfectly well 
 adapted to represent the nen government. Austria, 
 where he had been so long detained a prisoner, 
 filled him with the hatred which was a sort of 
 passport to Berlin, where, towards that power, 
 there- was the same feeling prevalent which had 
 existed iii the time of the gnat Frederick, 
 
 The representative of France at Madrid was an 
 old demagogue, destitute of all influence, and who 
 having no name in the diplomatic career, had been 
 flung where he was by the chance of events. He 
 was replaced by one of the Constituent Assembly, 
 
 M. Alquier, a clever man, lively and intelligent, 
 who had begun with credit in the diplomacy of f 
 that time. Finally, at Copenhagen, where the 
 principles of maritime neutrality, openly violated 
 by England, were likely to work out our advan- 
 tage upon being cultivated, M. Bourgoing was 
 nominated in place of a creature of the directory, 
 named Grouvelle. Each of these selections was 
 excellent, and perfectly indicative of that spirit of 
 moderation and prudence which had begun to pre- 
 vail in the relations of France with foreign powers. 
 
 To the choice of these individuals the consuls 
 wished to make the addition of some acts which 
 might serve as an answer to a reproach widely 
 circulated throughout Europe, that the French 
 republic violated incessantly the rights of nations 
 and the treaties they concluded with them. Most 
 assuredly France had been guilty of less violation 
 of the rights of nations than the Austrians, the 
 English, and all the courts at war with her. It 
 was the custom to pretend that it was not possible 
 to have any relations with an unstable, passionate 
 government, represented continually by new men, 
 who never regarded themselves as bound by any 
 treaty or by the traditions of European public law. 
 This reproach might have been returned with 
 more justice upon the cabinets of Europe, that 
 had done so much worse, without the excuse either 
 of revolutionary passions or of continual changes 
 in government. To give a better idea of the policy 
 of the consuls, Bonaparte performed a first act of 
 justice towards the unfortunate knights of Malta, 
 to whom he promised, on taking possession of the 
 island, that they should not be treated in France 
 as emigrants, at least those among them who be- 
 longed to the French language. They had not 
 until now been benefited by this article in their 
 capitulation, neither in respect of goods nor person. 
 Bonaparte gave to them the full and entire terms 
 to which they were entitled. 
 
 In respect to Denmark, the first consul adopted 
 a measure both excellent in itself, kind, and equit- 
 able. There were in the ports of France a num- 
 ber of Danish vessels, stopped by the directory 
 in consequence of reprisals under the law of neu- 
 trals. They were accused of not respecting the 
 law of maritime neutrality, of submitting to be 
 searched by the English, and of permitting goods 
 that were French property to be seized on board 
 of them. The directory had declared that it would 
 make them subject to the same violence which 
 they suffered from the English, in order that they 
 might uphold with more energy the principles of 
 the rights of nations, under virtue of which they 
 run igated. This would have been but just, if they, 
 having the power to make themselves respected, 
 submitted to it ; but these unfortunate men did all 
 they could do, and it was hard to punish the 
 violence of one party by the violence of another. 
 In consequence of this system, a number of their 
 merchant-vessels being detained, Bonaparte re- 
 leased them, in order to exhibit the sign of a more 
 equitable and moderate policy. 
 
 Duroc arrived promptly at Berlin, and was pre- 
 sented by M. Otto, who was still there. According 
 to rigorous etiquette, Duroc, a simple aid-de-camp, 
 could not be put in immediate communication with 
 the court, but these regalations were laid aside to 
 receive an officer attached to the person of Bona-
 
 1799. 
 Dec. 
 
 Rumours of Peace. 
 Armistice of the 
 Rhine. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIIT. 
 
 Bonaparte's influence 
 upon those around 
 him. 
 
 17 
 
 parte. He was well received by the lung and queen, 
 and immediately invited to Potsdam. Curiosity 
 had as much todo as policy with these attentions, 
 since glory has, in addition to its own brilliancy, 
 a considerable advantage in affairs of state. To see 
 and hear the aid-decamp Duroc, resembled an 
 approach, though distant, to the extraordinary man 
 of whom the world was full. Duroc had taken 
 a part in the battles of the Pyramids, Mount 
 Tabor, and Aboukir. A thousand questions were 
 addressed to him, which he answered without ex- 
 aggeration, in truth and simplicity. He appeared 
 polished, mild, modest ; profoundly submissive to 
 his superior, and gave a most advantageous idea of 
 the manner of bearing which that officer imposed 
 upon those nearest him. The success of Duroc at 
 Berlin was complete. The queen testified for him 
 the greatest kindness; and people began to talk 
 afterwards in a much better strain of the French 
 republic. Duroc found the young king was pleased 
 to discover that a strong and moderate government 
 was at last established in Paris, and felt flattered to 
 be at the same time courted both by Russia and 
 France. He desired much to act the part of a 
 mediator, but had more the wish than the talent 
 for such a purpose, without being at all deficient in 
 the ardour and zeal requisite for its performance. 
 
 The success of Duroc engaged the attention of 
 Europe, and was re-echoed to Paris itself. The 
 idea of an approaching peace soon took posses- 
 sion of every mind. A specious circumstance, in 
 itself of small moment, singularly contributed to 
 propagate this ilea. The French and Austrian 
 armies were in presence of each other along the 
 Rhine and on the coasts of the Alps and Apen- 
 nines. On the Rhine they were stayed by an 
 obstacle sufficient to hinder any serious operations,! 
 since the passage of that river was a task too great 1 
 for either army unless for the purpose of opening 
 the campaign. It was now Frimaire or December,' 
 the passage could not therefore be contemplated;! 
 skirmishes along the river became under such cir- 
 etunstancea a useless effusion of blood, and there- 
 fore on that frontier an armistice was agreed 
 upon. In the Aips and Apennines circumstances 
 were different; there, where the country was so 
 varied, a movement well combined might procure 
 to the- successful party a good position for the 
 Commencement of operations. The belligerents, 
 therefore, would not bind themselves there in a 
 similar manner, and no armistice took place, lint 
 the public attention was directed to that si 
 upon the Rhine ; and among the number of ior- 
 tunat s which attended the course of the 
 
 new government, people classed die possibility and 
 ev<-n probability of an approaching peace. 
 
 There are always in public evils one that is real 
 and one that is imaginary, while one contributes to 
 render the other insupportable, it is a main point 
 to do away with tin; imaginary evil, because by 
 that mean- the sentiment of the real evil is di- 
 minished, and In- who Buffers from it is inspired 
 witli the hope of a cure, or, above all, with the dis- 
 position to accept it. Under the directory, it was 
 decided that there was nothing to be expected of 
 a feeble, disreputable government, which to repri - 
 faction adopted violence without attaining any of 
 the effects ot energy. Every thing it did m 
 garbled as bad; nobody would credit good of it, 
 
 nor believe it when by chance some little good was 
 done. Even victory, which seemed to return to 
 it near the close of its existence — victory, which 
 to others would have brought glory, conferred no 
 honour upon it. 
 
 The elevation of Bonaparte, of whom the world 
 was in the habit of expecting every thing suc- 
 cessful, changed this disposition. The evil in 
 imagination had ceased; confidence was abroad; 
 every thing was understood in good part. Most 
 assuredly the tilings performed were good in them- 
 selves, since it was good to release the hostages, to 
 set the priests free, to show pacific dispositions to 
 Europe ; but people, above all, were inclined to 
 consider that they were good. A token of approach 
 in feeling, such as the welcome given to an aid-de- 
 camp, an armistice signed that really meant no- 
 thing, such as that upon the Rhine, passed already 
 as pledges of peace. Such is the prestige of con- 
 fidence ! It is every thing with a beginning go- 
 vernment, and to that of the consuls it was of 
 immense advantage. Thus money came into the 
 treasury, from the treasury it went to the armies, 
 that, content with the first succours, waited with 
 patience for those that were to come afterwards. 
 In presence of a power, the strength of which was 
 reputed superior to all resistance, parties submitted: 
 the oppressor party without any power to oppress 
 again ; the party oppressed, with the confidence 
 that oppression would no more be exercised upon 
 it. The good accomplished was thus great, and 
 hope added all that time had not yet permitted to 
 be done. 
 
 One thing was already rumoured in all quarters, 
 on the daily report of those who transacted business 
 with the young consul. It was said that this 
 soldier, above whom no general of modern times 
 can be ranked, and but few in those which are 
 passed, was a consummate ruler, a profound poli- 
 tician. All the practical men by whom he was sur- 
 rounded, whom he heard with attention, whom he 
 even enlightened by the justness and promptitude 
 of his views, and whom he protected from opposi- 
 tion of all kinds, never left him without being 
 subdued and filled with admiration. They said 
 this the more willingly, because it became the 
 fashion to think and say so. Sometimes false 
 merit is seen to captivate the public for a time, 
 and command extravagant praise ; but it also some- 
 times happens that true merit, even genius itself, 
 inspires this sort of popular caprice, and then the 
 caprice becomes a passion, ft was only a month 
 since Bonaparte had taken the direction of affairs, 
 and the impression around him, produced by his 
 powerful intellect, was deep and general. The 
 good-tempered Roger-Ducos Bpoke i f nothing else ; 
 the humoursome Sieyes, little inclined to stoop to 
 the fashion of the hour, especially when he was not 
 its favourite, acknowledging the superiority, the 
 
 universality of the governing genius, paid it the 
 purest homage, by conceding to it the entire power 
 of action. Those who were panegyrists from con- 
 viction joined those who were such only from in- 
 terest, and all seeing in Bonaparte the evident head 
 of the new republic, set no limit to the measure of 
 their enthusiasm. Bonaparte had ai g his ad- 
 mirers, and in truth very sincere admirers, Talley- 
 rand, Regnault de St. dean d'Angely, Rosderer, 
 I Boulay (de laMeurthe), Defermon, Real, Dufresne, 
 
 C
 
 Sieves' long-meditated 
 18 project of the consti- 
 
 tution. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. It is at last promulgated. 
 
 1799. 
 Dec. 
 
 and others, who every where said that they had 
 never seen any one of such promptitude, such 
 decision, such extent of mind, such prodigious 
 activity. It is true, the business he had accom- 
 plished in one month in every branch of the 
 government was enormous, and, which seldom hap- 
 pens, that the flattery bestowed did not, in this 
 instance, exceed the reality. 
 
 It was every where considered that he was the 
 man on whom the new constitution must bestow 
 the larger part of the executive power. A Crom- 
 well was not desired by the people, for this must 
 be conceded in honour of the men of that time. 
 The friends of Bonaparte said aloud that the 
 parts of Caesar and Cromwell were wholly " played 
 out," and were not worthy of the genius and 
 virtues of the young saviour of France. Still, they 
 desired that there should be a sufficient autho- 
 rity placed in his hands, to secure their heads, or 
 the national property which they had obtained : 
 and that fie might have time enough left him to 
 repel the Bourbons and Austrians. The royalists 
 hoped he would save them from the revolutionists, 
 and re-instate the old absolute power, with a wild 
 wish that alter he had reinstated it, he would hand 
 it over to them ; in which case they were disposed to 
 make him a good bargain for the restitution; they 
 would even go so far as to confer upon him the 
 dignity of constable to Louis XVIII., if it were 
 positively necessary. 
 
 Thus, every body awarded to him the supreme 
 power, in more or less of integrity, for a longer or 
 shorter term, though with different object?. The 
 new legislator, Sieyes, thus had to make a place for 
 him in the new constitution which he was preparing; 
 but Sieyes was a dogmatical legislator, working on 
 behalf of the nature of things, at least he conceived 
 so, and not according to existing circumstances, 
 still less for any single man, no matter whom. This 
 may easily be judged from what followed. 
 
 Sieyes, while his indefatigable colleague governed, 
 was occupied with his own assigned task. To give 
 to France hot one of those ephemeral constitutions, 
 provoking ridicule from ignorance of passions and 
 parties, but a wise constitution, founded on obser- 
 vations of society, and on the lessons of past expe- 
 rience ; this had been the waking dream of his 
 whole existence. Amid his solitary ami morose 
 meditation's he laboured without cessation. He 
 bad weighed it in the midst of the sincere and 
 inconsiderate proceedings of the constituent as-' 
 ■ly, in the midst of the frantic gloom of the 
 convention, and in the midst of the feebleness of the 
 directory. At each period he had new-modelled his 
 labour; at last it was lixed, and once fixed he 
 would not alter his plan. He would sacrifice nothing 
 to the circumstances of the moment, to the prin- 
 cipal of these circumstances, to Bonaparte, for 
 whom'it'was evidently necessary to find a post, 
 adapted) to the genius and character of him who 
 was to lill it. 
 
 This singular legislator, always meditating, al- 
 ways writing, hut not writing much more than 
 acting, had never yet written out the schi me of his 
 
 Constitution. It was la Lis head, and he must now 
 bring it out. This was to him a task by no means 
 easy, however much he wished to see it produced 
 and embodied as a law. lie was much pressed 
 to niakC it known, and at last decided to com- 
 
 _ 
 
 municate bis ideas to one of his friends, M. Boulay 
 de la Meurthe, who took upon himself the trouble 
 of transcribing it as fast as it was delivered in the 
 conversations they might have with each other. 
 It was thus that this remarkable conception was 
 correctly obtained, and preserved for that posterity 
 of which it was worthy. 
 
 Sieyes made a powerful mental exertion to unite 
 the republican and the monarchical principles, in 
 order to borrow what was useful or necessary from 
 each ; but in borrowing he showed a strong distrust 
 of both. He had taken great precautions against 
 the demagogue spirit on one hand, and against the 
 power of the crown on the other. He had thus 
 i produced a clever and complicated work, but one 
 in which every thing was balanced ; so that if this 
 constitution, modified by and for Bonaparte, were 
 deprived of one or the other of its counterpoises, 
 it might, against the intentions of its framer, lead 
 on to despotism. 
 
 The first care of Sieyes was, amid his combina- 
 tions, to guard against the influence of demagogue 
 passions. Without denuding the nation of that large 
 I participation in public affairs, which unhappily for 
 ; itself it had before enjoyed, he wished to leave it a 
 power which it could not abuse. A phrase, which, 
 for the first time, perhaps, was in every body's 
 mouth, that of "a representative government," 
 gives an exact idea of the state of the public mind 
 at the moment. By that word was understood 
 that the nation ought to have a share in its own 
 government, only through intermediate means, 
 that is to say, that it should be represented ; and, 
 as we shall see, it was, indeed, very indirectly that 
 such a representation was intended. 
 
 The elections under the directory had been 
 drawn by degrees into the hands of the royalists at 
 one time, and of the Jacobins at another, and 
 violence had been deemed expedient to exclude the 
 first of these on the Ib'th Fructidor, the second, on 
 the 22nd Floreal. Thus the election system, and, 
 above all, that of the direct elections, had become 
 highly suspicious in the public view. Perhaps, had 
 they dared to reduce the number of the electors to 
 a hundred and fifty or two hundred thousand, the 
 attempt to meet again the agitation of the elections 
 might have been ventured upon ; but the electoral 
 body, reduced to about the present proportion, 
 would have imparted offence rather than security. 
 Two hundred thousand electors only attached to a 
 nation, which so recently possessed universal suf- 
 frage, would have appeared an aristocratic allow- 
 ance; at the same time that the electors, however 
 small their number, nominating directly their repre- 
 sentatives, with the power to yield to the passions 
 of the hour, would have borne the appearance of 
 being but the renewal of the continual reactions 
 which had been witnessed under the directory. 
 Direct election restricted, such as exists at present 
 was thus out of all the combinations, Sieyes, with 
 his habitual dogmatism, had made the maxim for 
 himself, that "confidence should come from below, 
 and power from above." He therefore conceived, 
 in order to realize this maxim, the system of 
 national representation which is about to be de- 
 scribed. 
 
 EVery individual of the age of twenty-one, having 
 a French birthright, was obliged, if he desired to 
 enjoy his rights, to inscribe his name in a register
 
 J79y. 
 Dec. 
 
 List of notables. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. 
 
 Formation of the powers 
 
 of tile slate. 
 
 VJ 
 
 called the- "civic register." This list might hold 
 five or six millions of citizens' names admitted to 
 the exercise of political rights. The persons thus 
 inscribed were to meet in their arrondisscments ; 
 this limit, which did not then exist, was to be pro- 
 posed ; they were then to choose a tenth of their 
 number. This tenth would produce a primary list 
 of five or six hundred thousand; and these numbers, 
 meeting in turn in their departments, and again 
 choosing a tenth among themselves, would form a 
 id list of fifty or sixty thousand. These last 
 proceeded to a third and last list limited to five or 
 Bix thousand, and the three lists were denominated 
 the " lists of notability." 
 
 The first list of five or six hundred thousand 
 individuals was called that of the communal nota- 
 bility; from it were to be taken the members of 
 the municipal bodies, those of the councils of the 
 arrondissements, and others on a par in equality 
 with them ; such were the mayors, the offic* rs 
 styled sub-prefects, the judges of the first 
 instance, and others. The second list of fifty or 
 sixty thousand citizens, was denominated the list 
 of the departmental notability; and it was from 
 it that the members of the councils of the depart- 
 s the functionaries since styled prefects, the 
 judges of appeal, and similar officials, were taken; 
 in a word, all of that class. Finally, the last and 
 third list of five or six thousand persons, con- 
 stituted the list of national notability, from whence 
 all the members of the legislative body must be 
 taken, all the higher functionaries, counsellors of 
 staff, ministers, judges of the tribunal of cassation, 
 and the like. Sieves, borrowing a geometrical 
 figure to give an idea of the national represen- 
 tation, called it a pyramid, broad at the base, 
 and narrow at the apex. 
 
 Jt is thus seen, that without conceding to the 
 nation the riffht to select itself the national dele- 
 
 ■ CI' 
 
 . or the government functionaries, bieyes re- 
 duced himself to tlie formation of a list of candi- 
 
 . from which were to be selected the repre- 
 sentatives of the nation and the agents of govern- 
 ment. Every year the mass of citizens was to 
 meet for the purpose of excluding from the lists 
 
 unes which were not deemed worthy to con- 
 tinue there, an 1 to replace them with others. It 
 is observable, that if, on one part, the power of 
 
 nation was very indirect; on the other it era- 
 
 id not only the members of the deliberative 
 
 -., but the functionaries of the executive 
 
 themselves. It was at once more and lees than 
 
 ordinarily exists in the system of a representative 
 
 rchy. The agents designed for special offices, 
 and who \ tuppoeed to pa tbay of the 
 
 public confidence, such as those; belonging to the 
 finances, for example, or persons called to fulfil 
 offic is ho difficult, that merit, when it could lie 
 
 net with, ought to be eh,, sen, no matter where 
 
 ' -such als or ambassadors ; such 
 
 i it was not obligatory to -■ I ct from the lists 
 
 of notability. 
 
 We have shown how alized his maxim 
 
 of making "confident I Come from below," we will 
 now show how he made u power Come from above." 
 
 II • dreadi d elections, under the influence of the 
 feeling of tie- timi he had witnessed how 
 
 b adstrong as 
 1 themselves, lie therefore renounced electioi 
 
 di cided, that out of those on the lists of notability 
 fram d by public confidence, the legislative and 
 \ e powers should be enabled to choose their 
 own members, and thus to constitute themselves. 
 1 le laid no otherobligation upon them, than that they 
 should select from the lists of notability. But before 
 stating the mode in which the powers were formed, 
 it is necessary to describe their organization. 
 
 The legislative power was to be organized thus : 
 First, the legislative body, properly speaking, placed 
 between the tribunal and the council of stale : se- 
 condly, above and apart, the conservative senate. 
 
 The legislative body was to lie composed of three 
 hundred members, designed to hear the discussion 
 of the laws, not to discuss them itself, and to vote 
 silently. How and among whom the discussion 
 was to take place, will be here shown. 
 
 A body of one hundred members, styled the 
 tribunate, empowered to represent in this consti- 
 tution the spirit of free, innovating examination, 
 received the communication of the laws, discussed 
 (hem publicly, and put them to the vote, merely to 
 decide whether or not it should support their 
 adoption or rejection. It then appointed three 
 members of its number to support its private 
 opinion before the legislative body. 
 
 The council of state, the origin of that which 
 now exists, but more considerable in its importance 
 and duties, was connected with the government 
 for the purpose of embodying proposed laws ; it 
 was to present them to the legislative body, and to 
 send three of its number to discuss them in oppo- 
 sition to the speakers in the tribunate. Thus the 
 council of state pleaded for, the tribunate against, 
 the proposed law, if the last disapproved it. The 
 itive body then voted silently either on one 
 side or the other, as to the rejection or acceptance 
 of the measure. Its vote alone gave the cha- 
 racter of a law to the proposition of the govern- 
 ment. The council of state besides had the duty 
 of completing the laws by attaching to them the 
 regulations necessary for their execution. 
 
 Last of all came the senate, composed of one 
 hundred members, that took no part in the legis- 
 lative labour. It was deputed on the denunciation 
 of the tribunate, or of its own accord, to cancel 
 every law or act of the government to which, in its 
 own view, any thing unconstitutional might be at- 
 ]. It, was on this account that it bore the 
 name of the "conservative senate." It was to be 
 composed of individuals who were of ripe years, 
 deprived from the circumstance of belonging to the 
 senate of all active functions, being exclusively con- 
 fined to their character of conservators, and being 
 interested in attending well to their duties, because 
 
 Sieyes intended that a good income should be 
 
 ■lied to the place. 
 
 Such were the offices of the deliberative func- 
 tionaries. The mode of their formation was as l'ol- 
 
 : — 
 
 The senate completed itself by electing its own 
 
 members, out of the list of notability formed by the 
 nation. It. named also the members of the tribunate, 
 of the legislative body, 'and of the tribunal of cas- 
 sation, choosing them by the scrutiny or ballet 
 from the same list of national notability. 
 
 'I he executive power was thus the author of its 
 own formation, from choosing ail its agents out ol 
 tree lists of notability, which corresponded to 
 C '2
 
 20 
 
 The grand elector. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Analogy of Sieyes' and 
 other constitutions. 
 
 1799. 
 Dec 
 
 the functions which were to be executed. It took 
 the ministers, the councillors of state, and all the 
 superior officers from the list of national notability. 
 It took from the list of the departmental notability, 
 first, the councillors of the department, who, the 
 same as with the council of state, were considered 
 purely administrative authorities ; it took from them, 
 besides these, the prefects and all the functionaries 
 of the same particular order; and lastly it searched 
 in the list of communal notability for the municipal 
 councillors, the mayors, and the functionaries be- 
 longing to their class. 
 
 Thus, as Sieyes would have it, " Confidence came 
 from below, power came from above." 
 
 But as above the legislative power there was a 
 head or creator in the senate, so there was wanting 
 above the executive power a supreme creator to 
 name the ministers of state, who were then to no- 
 minate the subordinate officials down to the lowest 
 in the hierarchy. At the head of the executive 
 power there must also be a generative power. 
 .Sieves had given the holder of this power a name 
 analogous to his function, he had entitled him the 
 grand elector. This supreme magistrate's duty was 
 reduced to one single exclusive act; he was to elect 
 two superior agents, alone in their species and rank, 
 one called the peace, the other the war consul. These 
 nominated the ministers immediately; they, under 
 their personal responsibility, selected from the list of 
 notability all the agents of power, governed, admi- 
 nistered, directed in a word all the affairs of state. 
 
 A great and brilliant career was destined for the 
 grand elector. He was the generative principle of 
 the government, and he was also its external re- 
 presentative. That inaction, to which Sieyes desired 
 to confine the senators in order to secure the just 
 and impartial fulfilment of their duties, and to whom 
 he assigned an annual revenue of lOO.OOOf. from 
 the national domains ; that inaction imposed also 
 upon the grand elector from a similar motive, was 
 yet more richly endowed, because he represented 
 the entire republic. Sieyes, therefore, assigned to 
 him a revenue of G,00(),000fs. and sumptuous 
 palaces, such as those of the Tuilcries at Paris, 
 and Versailles in the country, with a guard of three 
 thousand men. In his name justice was to be ad- 
 ministered, the taxes promulgated, and the acts of 
 the government executed. To him the foreign mi- 
 nisters were to be accredited, anil the signatures to 
 all treaties between France and foreign states were 
 to be his execution. In a word, he joined to the 
 important act of observing the two more active 
 heads of the' government, the e"clat, vain though it 
 might he, of external pomp. In him was to glitter 
 personified all the luxury of an elegant, polished, 
 and magnificent people. 
 
 The grand elector himself, was he to be an elected 
 or an hereditary potentate ? In the last case he 
 must he in every sense a king, and thus would 
 monarchy lie re-established in France. This, whe- 
 ther or not he wished it, Sieves would nut dare 
 openly to propose. He, therefore, assigned to the 
 senate, the most impartial of the public bodies in 
 the government, the choice of that supreme magis- 
 trate, who was himself thus elevated that lie might 
 be as impartial as possible in his selection of the 
 two heads whom h" was to appoint. 
 
 A last and most extraordinary provision finished 
 this complex labour. 
 
 The senate, which had the power of abrogating 
 any unconstitutional act or law of the government, 
 received, besides, the power to deprive the grand 
 elector of his functions by nominating him a senator 
 in despite of his own will. This Sieyes denominated 
 "absorption." The senate had the power to do the 
 same thing in respect of any citizen, of whom the 
 talents might cause a jealousy in the republic. 
 Thus there was given to the citizen, that had been 
 reduced to forcible inactivity by absorbing him into 
 the senate, the penalty of the importance, of the rich 
 idleness, of the members of a body, which could 
 not act by itself, but still was able, by its veto, to 
 t -stop every kind of action in others. 
 
 In this singular but profound idea, who does not 
 recognise the image in design, obscure and indis- 
 1 tinct as it may be, of a representative monarchy? 
 The legislative body, the senate, the grand elector, 
 are but commons, peers, and king ; all reposing 
 upon a sort of universal suffrage, but with such 
 precautions, that democracy, aristocracy, and 
 royalty, admitted into the constitution, are ad- 
 jmitted, then annulled by its operation. The lists 
 of notability, from which the deliberative bodies 
 and the executive functionaries are to be chosen, 
 are universal suffrage, nullified, because they 
 formed a circle of candidateship so extensive that 
 the obligation to choose in such a circle is an 
 absolute power of election conferred upon the 
 government and senate. The dumb legislative 
 body, listening to the discussion of the law, and not 
 discussing the law itself, having by its side the 
 tribunate, that is to oppose it in the council of 
 state, is but a species of house of commons cut 
 in two, one-half having the vote, the other half the 
 debate, and both annulled by the separation ; for 
 the first is exposed to the chance of falling 
 asleep amid its own silence, the second to waste 
 itself in a useless agitation of the question. The 
 senate nominating itself and all the deliberative 
 bodies, appointing the bead of the executive power, 
 and, when necessary, absorbing him into its bosom ; 
 the senate being able to do this, but deprived of 
 active functions, taking no part in making a law, 
 but bound to cancel it if unconstitutional ; the 
 senate reduced thus to a sort of inaction, that it 
 may be more disinterested, and solely animated 
 with the idea of conservatism, this senate is 
 but a clever exaggerated imitation of an aristo- 
 cratical peerage, taking little part in the progress 
 of affairs, stopping it sometimes by its veto, and 
 receiving into its bosom those who, after a wild 
 career, come voluntarily to repose in the midst of 
 a grave, influential, and honoured body of men. 
 The grand elector, lastly, is no more than royalty 
 reduced to the inactive, but considerable office, of 
 choosing the chief actors in the government ; it 
 is royalty, but with wonderful precautions against 
 its origin and duration, since it issued from the 
 senatorial urn, into which, upon occasions, it may 
 be returned. In a word, this universal suffrage, 
 this legislative body, this tribunate, this senate, 
 this grand elector, thus constituted, weakened, 
 neutralized tile one by the other, attested a pro- 
 digious labour of the human mind, to unite in one 
 constitution all the known forms of government, 
 only to annul them all afterwards by the energy of 
 its precautions. 
 
 It must be admitted that representative raon-
 
 1799. 
 Dec. 
 
 T ™lsu a tu a tio e n. 0fSiey6S ' CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. 
 
 The plan communicated 
 to the legislative com- 
 missions. 
 
 21 
 
 archy, with less trouble and effort, by trusting 
 more to human nature, has procured for two cen- 
 turies a lively liberty, not subversive, for one of the 
 first nations in the world. Simple and natural in 
 its means, the British constitution admits of 
 [royalty, aristocracy, and democracy; and these being 
 admitted, leaves them to act freely, imposing upon 
 them do other condition than to act in unison with 
 the common will. It does not limit the king to 
 such and such an act ; it does not advance him by 
 election to swallow him up afterwards ; it does not 
 interdict to the peerage its active functions, nor 
 does it deprive of speech the elective assembly ; it 
 does not grant universal suffrage to annul it by 
 rendering it indirect ; it permits royalty and aris- 
 tocracy to take their natural hereditary course; it 
 admits of a king, and of a succession in the peer- 
 ago, but it leaves the nation, in return, the care of 
 selecting directly, according to its own taste and 
 the feelings of the day, an assembly, that, master of 
 the power of giving or refusing to royalty the 
 means of governing, obliges it to take for ministers 
 the nun who possess the public confidence. All 
 that the legislator Sieyes sought was here almost 
 infallibly accomplished. Royalty and aristocracy 
 do no more than he wished them to do ; they are 
 merely the moderators of a too rapid progress ; 
 the elective assembly, full of the feeling of the 
 country, but restrained by the other two powers, in 
 reality chooses the heads of the government, car- 
 ries them into their post, maintains them there, or 
 overturns them, if they cease to respond to its 
 sentiments. Here is a simple, true constitution, 
 because it is the product of nature and time ; and 
 not, like that of Sieyes, the clever artificial work of 
 a mind disgusted at monarchy from the reign 
 of the later Bourbons, and fearful of a republican 
 Igovernment from ten years of storms. 
 
 But supposing a period more calm, and imagining 
 the constitution of Sieves to be put quickly into 
 practice at a time when a powerful hand, such as 
 that of Bonaparte, was not wanted, and therefore 
 did not overrule all other motives ; supposing that 
 enormous notability established, the senate freely 
 giving out from its own body the other governing 
 bodii s and tlf head of the state, what would then 
 happen I Before long the nation would get to feel 
 httle interest in the renewal of the lists, which 
 could very inefficiently express its sentiments; the 
 beta would become nearly permanent ; the senate 
 would have chosen from them the state bodies, and 
 the grand elector, and naming the chief of the 
 .live power,being able at any moment to remove 
 him, would keep him in dependence : the senate 
 would be every thing — it would be what '. — the 
 
 aristocracy of Venice, w ith its book of gold, its weak 
 and pompous doge, < very year bade to many the 
 Adriatic -a curious .light, and worthy of being con- 
 templated ! Sieves, with an elevated and deeply 
 reflective mind, sincerely attached to his country's 
 freedom, had, in ten yean, run round the entire 
 circle of political agitation, of terror, and disgust) 
 which led most of the republics of the middle agi J, 
 
 and that of V( nice, the more celebrated of them, to 
 
 the golden book and the nominal chief, Se bad al 
 arrived at the Venetian aristocracy, consti- 
 tuted for the advantage df the men of the revo- 
 lution, as it gave for ten years to those, who had 
 exercised political functions since 17H1J, the privi- 
 
 lege and right of being upon the lists of notability ; 
 and he proposed to keep for himself, and the three 
 or four of the more noted individuals of the day, 
 the power of making, for the first time, all the 
 bodies that were to exercise the state govern- 
 ment. 
 
 An aristocracy is not to be made off-hand; des- 
 potism alone is to be improvised. The tortured 
 social state could only find ease in the arms of a 
 powerful man. I '.very thing was admired, and every 
 thing admitted in this excellent constitution, — 
 every thing except the grand elector, so richly 
 endowed and so idle in his post. The grand elec- 
 tor's place was supplied by one sufficiently energetic 
 imd active in Bonaparte; and by a single change this 
 constitution was doomed, without any participation 
 |in the result on the part of its author, to lead to 
 the imperial despotism, that, with a conservative 
 senate and a dumb legislative body, we saw govern 
 France for fifteen years in a glorious but despotic 
 1 manner. 
 
 When Sieyes, with great effort on his part, had 
 drawn these combinations from the profound of his 
 mind, where they had long lain buried, he ex- 
 plained them to his friend M. Boulay de la 
 Meurthe, who wrote them down, and to members 
 of the two legislative commissions; they communi- 
 cated them to others around. The two legislative 
 commissions were divided into sections, and in 
 each of the two there was a constitutional section. 
 It was to these sections in union that Sieyes, when 
 he had become master of his idea, explained his 
 system. It seized upon every mind by its novelty, 
 its singularity, and the infinite art of its combi- 
 nations. 
 
 In the first place, the interests of the auditors 
 of Sieyes were fully met ; for he had, as will be 
 seen, adopted a transitory disposition of things 
 which was in every respect necessary. With the 
 object of preserving the revolution, by keeping in 
 power those who had been its actors, he proposed 
 a resolution, much resembling that by which the 
 national convention had perpetuated itself in the 
 two councils of the ancients and of the five 
 hundred, lie desired that all who since 1789 had 
 exercised public functions, who had been members 
 of different assemblies, legislative, departmental, 
 or municipal, should have a right to inscription on 
 the lists of notability ; and that these lists should 
 not be made up for ten years. !• urther, that Sieyes, 
 Roger-Ducos, and Bonaparte, were to nominate 
 for the first tune the various members of the state 
 bodies, in virtue of the right which they attached 
 to themselves of framing the new constitution. 
 This was a bold but requisite provision, because it 
 must be remarked, that all the new men who would 
 come in through the (lections, moved by the spirit 
 of reaction then abroad, and yielding to the com- 
 mon inclination to blame that which they had not 
 done themselves, would openly exhibit hatred both 
 against tin; acts and actors in the revolution, even 
 when they partook of the same sentiments. Sieves, 
 
 therefore, had taken these precautions against the 
 necessity for any renewal of the Utth Fructidor, 
 
 by thus for ten years keeping the working of his 
 Constitution in hands of which he was sure. The 
 ideas of Sieyes were thus suited to every interest. 
 
 Kvery body thought that he was himself certain ot 
 hi ing a senator, legislator, counsellor of state, or
 
 22 
 
 Praises bestowed upon 
 Sieyes' constitution. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Disapprobation of 
 Bonaparte. 
 
 1799. 
 Dec. 
 
 of the tribunate, for to these duties liberal appoint- 
 ments were attached. 
 
 Leaving out interest, the combinations appeared 
 to be skilful as well as new. Men enthusiasti- 
 cally imbued with admiration for military genius, 
 discover an enthusiasm with equal readiness for 
 what seems to arise from profound mental re- 
 search. Sieyes had his enthusiasts as well as 
 Bonaparte his. The lists of notability appeared 
 the happiest of all combinations, and yet more from 
 the state of discredit into which the elective sys- 
 tem had fallen since the elections in which the 
 " Clichyens 5 " were returned, who were excluded 
 by the revolution of Fructidor, and the Jacobins 
 excluded by means of the " scissions " (sections of 
 Paris). The counsel of state and the tribunate 
 pleading i>vo and con before a dumb legislative 
 body, were amusing to those whose minds were 
 fatigued witli discussions and pressing!}- in need of 
 repose. The senate, placed so high and so useful 
 for the preservation of unity, getting rid by ostra- 
 cism of eminent or dangerous citizens, — all these 
 things found admirers. 
 
 The grand elector alone appeared a singularity 
 to the men who, not having reflected much on the 
 English constitution, could not comprehend a ma- 
 gistracy reduced to the single function of choosing 
 the superior agents of the government. They 
 found he possessed too little power for a king, and 
 too much state for the simple president of a re- 
 public. Nobody in fact could find the place 
 adapted for him who should fill it, or in other words, 
 for Bonaparte. The elector had too much of the 
 appearance without the reality of power : too much 
 of appearance, because it was necessary to avoid 
 awaking public apprehension, and rendering too 
 manifest the return to monarchy : not enough of 
 real power, because an authority almost without 
 limit was required by the man who had the task of 
 re-organizing France. Some persons, — incapable 
 of comprehending the impartiality of a profound 
 thinker, who never dreamed but of making his 
 ideas accord with themselves, not binding up the 
 objects of a constitution in personal interest, — some 
 affirmed that the grand elector could never have 
 been invented to suit a character so active as 
 Bonaparte, and that therefore Sieyes had invented 
 it for himself, and that he reserved the place of 
 war consul for his young colleague. This was a, 
 malevolent and pitiful conjecture. Sieyes joined 
 to gnat Btrengtb of thought a remarkable acute- 
 ness of observation, and he too well judged his 
 own personal position and that of the conqueror 
 of Italy, to believe that he was able to be, himself, 
 this species of elective king, and Bonaparte simply 
 his minister, lie had obeyed merely the spirit 
 of his system. Other interpreters, less malevo- 
 lent, believed in their turn, that Sieves destined 
 the place ot grand elector for Bonaparte, with the 
 view of tying up his hands, and above all making 
 him speedily become"absorbed" in the conservative 
 senate. The friends of freedom did not on that 
 account regard him with ill will. The partisans 
 of Bonaparte were unable to speak of the charac- 
 ter of the grand elector without crying out loudly 
 against it, and among them was Lucien Bonaparte, 
 who by turns served or opposed the bead of his 
 
 » The members of the club of that name. 
 
 family, as he was prompted by caprice, without 
 discretion or measure ; playing at one time the 
 brother, passionately anxious for the aggrandise- 
 ment of his relative, at another the citizen who 
 was opposed to all despotism. Lucien declaimed 
 violently against the project of Sieyes. He de- 
 clared loudly that a president of the republic was 
 wanted, with a council of state, and very little 
 besides ; that the country was tired of vain talkers, 
 and wanted men of action alone. These incon- 
 siderate speeches were of a nature to produce a 
 very ill effect ; but happily few attached any im- 
 portance to the sayings of Lucien. 
 
 Bonaparte, in the midst of incessant toils, 
 thered up the rumours circulated around res 
 ing the project of Sieyes. He had left his colleague 
 to proceed, according to a species of division of 
 their duties between them, declining to interfere 
 with the constitutional scheme, until the time should 
 arrive when it came to be definitively considered, 
 no doubt promising himself to adapt his taste to 
 the place it assigned him. Nevertheless the ru- 
 mours which reached him from every side at 
 length irritated him, and he expressed his dis- 
 pleasure with his ordinary warmth of language, a 
 warmth to be lamented, but of which he was not 
 always the master. 
 
 The disapprobation he expressed at some parts 
 of the constitutional scheme reached its author, 
 who was much hurt by it. He was afraid, in fact, 
 that having lost, by the ignorance and violence of 
 past times, the occasion of being the legislator of 
 France, he should again lose it through the despotic 
 humour of the colleague he had given himself in 
 effecting the 18th Brumaire. Although destitute 
 of intrigue, and inactive, he made himself busy to 
 gain over one by one the members of the two 
 legislative sections. 
 
 In the interim, his friend Boulay de la Meurthe, 
 and two intimate friends of Bonaparte, Rcederer 
 and Talleyrand, were desirous of maintaining 
 harmony between men of such importance, and 
 employed themselves actively to bring about ac- 
 cord. Boulay de la Meurthe had accepted the 
 office of transcriber of the ideas of Sieyes, and 
 he was thus become the confidant of his scheme. 
 Rcederer was one of the old constituent assembly, 
 a man of sound mind, a true politician after the 
 fashion of the eighteenth century, fond of reasoning 
 on the organization of social bodies, and of framing 
 projects of constitutional government, joined to 
 very decided monarchical predilections. Talley- 
 rand, capable of comprehending and judging of 
 minds the most opposite to his own, was equally 
 affected by the genius of young Bonaparte for 
 action, and the speculative mind of the philosophic 
 Sieyes, and he had a great regard for both. He 
 besides believed that each had need of the other; 
 all three strove with sincerity to promote the 
 success of the new government. All three, there- 
 fore, employed themselves in reconciling the soldier 
 and the- legislator. An interview was planned to 
 take place at the residence of Bonaparte, in pre- 
 sence of Roederer and Talleyrand. It took place, 
 hut did not at first succeed. Bonaparte was under 
 the influence of the reports which had been made 
 to him of a grand elector, inactive, and liable to be 
 absorbed by the senate. Sieyes was full of the ex- 
 pressions attributed to Bonaparte, condemning his 
 
 -
 
 1799. 
 Dec. 
 
 Vexatious differences 
 between Sieyes and 
 Bonaparte. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. 
 
 The legislative sections 
 determine to make the 
 constitution. 
 
 23 
 
 plan — expressions no doubt greatly exaggerated. 
 They parted in bad humour, using bitter language. 
 Sieyes, who required calmness to express his ideas, 
 did not explain them in the lucid manner and 
 order of delivery which was most adapted to his 
 purpose. Bonaparte was, on the other side, im- 
 patient and blunt. They inveighed against each 
 other, and parted very nearly enemies. 
 
 The mediators were alarmed, and now set to 
 work to remedy the ill success of this interview. 
 They told Sieyes that he ought to have had patience 
 in the discussion, and taken some trouble to con- 
 vince Bonaparte, and above all, made him some 
 concessions. They told Bonaparte that he wanted 
 in the matter more caution than he had shown ; 
 that without the support of Sieyes and his authority 
 in the Council of the Ancients, he would not have 
 obtained, on the 18th of Brumaire, the decree 
 which had placed the power in his hand ; that 
 Sieyes, as a political character, had an amazing 
 influence over the public feeling; and that in case 
 of a conflict between the legislator and himself, a 
 great many persons would pronounce themselves 
 for the legislator, as the representative of the revo- 
 lution, and of liberty endangered by the man of the 
 sword. The first moment was not favourable for 
 effecting a reconciliation ; it was better to wait a 
 little. Boulay dc la Meurthe and Rcederer planned 
 fresh schemes for the fulfilment of the executive 
 power, that might remove the two difficulties 
 upon which Bonaparte appeared inflexible — the 
 inaction of the grand elector, and the menace of 
 ostracism suspended over his head. They first 
 imagined a consul with two colleagues for his as- 
 sistance ; then a grand elector, as Sieyes wished, 
 who named the peace and war-consuls, assisted at 
 their deliberations, and decided between them. 
 This was not enough for Bonaparte's satisfaction, 
 and it was too much for Sieves, whose plan was 
 thus reversed. Every time it was proposed to 
 Sieyes to make the chief of the executive par- 
 ticipate in the government, he said, " That is the 
 old monarchy which you would give, — I won't 
 have it." He would hear of no royalty but that of 
 England without the title of king, immobility, and 
 hereditary succession. This was not the thing; 
 and Sieyes, with that promptitude of discourage- 
 ment attached to speculative minds when they 
 encounter obstacles which are placed in their way 
 by the very course of things, Sieyes said he would 
 give up the whole, quit Paris for the country, and 
 young Bonaparte with his budding despotism 
 to every eye. "He means to go," said Bo- 
 naparte; "lei him ; I will go and get a constitution 
 planned by Rcederer, propose it to the two legis- 
 ■ sections, and satisfy public opinion that 
 ads the settlement of the question." Here 
 he deceived himself by speaking in such a mode, 
 for it was yet too early to exhibit his drawn sword 
 to France; In; would have met on every side an 
 unforeseen resistance. 
 
 Nevertheless these two men, who, despite their 
 
 instinctive repugns , bad agreed for a moment, 
 
 in order to consummate the L8th Brumaire, were 
 still design id to meet again to draw up a constitu- 
 tion, 'lie- report ; in circulation had awakened the 
 
 legislative commission; they knew well what doc- 
 trine Lucien held, what a decided tone Bonaparte 
 took in the' matter, and what a disposition Sieyes 
 
 showed to abandon the whole affair. They said 
 with reason that, after all, the care of framing a 
 constitution belonged to them definitively, being 
 specially confided to them ; that they would accom- 
 plish their duty, prepare the plan, present it to the 
 consuls, and force them to agree, after bringing 
 about a rational compromise between them. 
 
 They set to work in consequence ; and many of 
 the members composing their body having had 
 communicated to them the ideas of Sieyes, they 
 adopted his scheme as the basis of their plan. The 
 man who works upon a system, feels that the 
 adoption of all his ideas save one, occasions him as 
 much vexation as if the entire system were re- 
 jected. The adoption of the scheme of Sieyes for a 
 basis of the new constitution was still an import- 
 ant point gained by himself. He grew a little 
 calmer, and Bonaparte, seeing the commissions 
 proceed right earnestly and resolutely, became 
 sensibly milder in his expressions upon the sub- 
 ject. The moment was seized in order to attempt 
 a reconciliation between the two <rreat men. 
 A second interview took place between Bona- 
 parte and Sieyes, in presence of Boulay de la 
 Meurthe, Rcederer, and Talleyrand. This time 
 the two interlocutors were less passionate and 
 more disposed to mutual comprehension. In place 
 of annoying each other by dwelling upon those 
 points on which they disagreed, and placing their 
 differences foremost, they tried, on the contrary, to 
 reconcile their differences, and to show where they 
 agreed in their opinions. Sieyes was moderate and 
 full of tact ; Bonaparte displayed his great good 
 sense, and his ordinary originality of mind. The 
 subjects of the conversation were the state of 
 France, views of the former constitutions, and the 
 precautions to be taken in a new constitution, to 
 prevent the recurrence of the disorders of the past. 
 On all this they could not fail to be in accord. 
 They retired satisfied, and promised, as soon as the 
 sections had completed their labours, to unite their 
 own, and adopt or modify the propositions, and to 
 abandon, as soon as possible, the provisional*} - sys- 
 tem, which began to displease the public. Sieyes 
 had from that time the certain knowledge, that ex- 
 cept the grand elector, and some attributes attached 
 to the conservative senate, his constitution would 
 be adopted in entirety. 
 
 In the ten first days of Frimaire, or between the 
 20th of November and the first of December, the 
 sections had finished then* project. Bonaparte then 
 summoned them to his house, to a meeting at which 
 till the consuls were present. Some of the mem- 
 bers of the sections thought this proceeding was 
 little in conformity with their dignity ; and yet, 
 having determined to overlook many difficulties, 
 and to concede much to a man who was so neces- 
 sary to them, they attended on the occasion. 
 
 The sittings immediately commenced) Sieyes 
 was in tlie first instance requested to disclose his 
 plan, as that was the foundation of what had been 
 clone by the commissions. lie did this with a 
 
 strength of thought and of language, which pro- 
 duced a strong impression on his hearers. " All this 
 
 is very fine and very profound," said Bonaparte, 
 
 ■■ yet there are some points which deserve verj 
 
 serious discussion. Lot us proceed in an 01 
 manner, and treat each part of the project l 
 
 cutively,firat choosing a secretary. Citizen Daunou,
 
 24 state powers designated. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Discussions on the 
 constitution. 
 
 1799. 
 Dec. 
 
 take the pen !" Thus it happened that M. Daunou 
 became the drawer up of the new constitution. 
 The work was continued for numerous sittings, and 
 the resolutions following were immediately agreed 
 upon. 
 
 The lists of notability, communal, departmental, 
 and national, were adopted successively. They were 
 hut too well fitted to suit the apprehensions of the 
 moment and the ideas of Bonaparte, by negativing 
 the popular influence, from rendering it indirect. 
 Two accessory resolutions, one agreeable to, the 
 other contrary to the ideas of Sieves, were agreed 
 upon. It was settled that the functionaries of all 
 kinds should not be necessarily chosen from the 
 lists of notability, save when the constitution should 
 have nominally 'designated them. No objection was 
 made to the selection of the deliberative bodies, of the 
 consuls, ministers, judges, and administrators, from 
 the lists, but that of the generals and ambassadors 
 seemed to be going too far. This point was con- 
 ceded. The second provision or resolution bore re- 
 lation, not to the main ground of the plan, but to 
 the necessity of its adaptation to the present state of 
 things. In place of putting off the reformation of 
 the lists for ten years, it was postponed to the year 
 ix. or only for one year, and it was resolved that all 
 the members of the great bodies of the state should, 
 by an act of constituent power, be nominated at 
 once, and that those who were so nominated should 
 have the right of being entered upon the lists. The 
 revision of the lists, instead of being annual, was to 
 be triennial. 
 
 The organization of the great powers came next 
 to be considered. Sieves' maxim, " that confidence 
 ought to come from below, power from above," pre- 
 vailed every way. On high was placed the right 
 to elect, but with the obligation to choose from the 
 lists of notability. The senate of Sieyes was adopted, 
 as well as the legislative body placed between the 
 council of state and the tribunate. The senate was 
 to choose from the lists of notability ; first the se- 
 nators themselves, next the members of the legis- 
 lative body, of the tribunate, of the court of cas- 
 sation, of the commission of accounts, since called 
 the court of accounts, and finally the head or heads 
 of the executive power. The senate was to nomi- 
 nate the members of its own body only upon the 
 presentation of three candidates, presented respec- 
 tively by the consuls, the legislative body, and the 
 tribunate ; this was a considerable limitation of its 
 attributes. The council of state, being a part of the 
 executive power, was to be nominated by that power. 
 Independently of possessing the right to make the 
 more important nominations, the senate received 
 the supreme attribute of abrogating any laws or 
 acts of the government that might be deemed un- 
 constitutional. In no respect was it to have any 
 part in making the laws, nor could its members 
 exercise any active function. 
 
 The duty of the legislative body, silent, agreeably 
 to the plan of Sieyes, was to listen to the opposing 
 arguments of the three councillors of state and 
 three tribunes, and to vote afterwards, without 
 debate, upon the propositions of the government. 
 
 The tribunate alone had the faculty of publicly 
 discussing the laws, but it could only vote for the 
 purpose of deciding what opinion it should sustain 
 before the legislative body. In case of its nega- 
 tive vote, it could not prevent the passing of a law 
 
 if it were adopted by the legislature. The tribunate 
 had not the power of initiating any legal propo- 
 sition, but might express its desires, and receive 
 petitions, which it might transmit to the different 
 authorities with which they were more imme- 
 diately connected. The members of the senate 
 were to be eighty, in place of one hundred, as 
 Sieyes had at first designed ; and sixty were to be 
 immediately nominated, the other twenty in the 
 course of the following ten years. The legislative 
 body was to consist of three hundred members, 
 and the tribunate of one hundred. The senators 
 were to have a fixed salary of 25,000 f. each, the 
 legislators 10,000f., and the members of the tri- 
 bunate 1 5,000 f. Thus far, therefore, the oi'iginal 
 plan of Sieyes might be considered, with a trifling 
 difference, respecting the more limited power of 
 the senate, as having been adopted. In the or- 
 ganization of the executive power, the alteration 
 made was, on the other hand, very considerable. 
 
 Here was the great point upon which Bonaparte 
 was inflexible. Sieyes, who was fully prepared to 
 meet the rejection of this part of his plan, was 
 asked nevertheless to state his ideas. He in con- 
 sequence proposed the institution of the grand 
 elector. Nobody, it must be granted, not even 
 Bonaparte himself, had at that time sufficiently 
 reflected on the nomination and organization of 
 the head or chief power in a free government, to 
 understand the depth of the character conceived, 
 or to discover the analogy it exhibited with the 
 king at the head of the English monarchy. Bona- 
 parte, had he considered and perfectly understood 
 the character thus conceived, would on no account 
 have assented to its adoption, from motives easy 
 to be comprehended, and altogether personal. He 
 criticised the grand elector severely. He said of his 
 wealthy idleness as all kings would say, only with 
 less wit than he spoke and less ground to go upon, 
 because amid an upturned society to be organized, 
 sanguinary factions to subdue, and a world to con- 
 quer, the wish was perhaps excusable to have the 
 exercise of his talents and genius unfettered. But 
 if in those first days of the consulate he were right 
 when he had reason to wish his genius unfettered, 
 there being so much to be done ; afterwards, the 
 sublime victim of St. Helena, he might have re- 
 gretted the power that was thus conceded to him 
 to exercise it so freely. More confined in the 
 employment of his faculties, he might not have 
 accomplished such great things ; but he would 
 have been pi-evented from attempting those of so 
 much extravagance, and his sceptre and his sword 
 would have most probably rested in his own 
 glorious hands until his death. " Your grand 
 elector," he said to Sieyes, " is a lazy king, and 
 the time for lazy kings has passed away. What 
 man of spirit and intellect would submit to a do- 
 nothing life for 6,000,000f. and a habitation in the 
 Tuileries! What, nominate those who act, and do 
 nothing oneself ! It is inadmissible. Then you 
 imagine by this means that your grand elector will 
 be prevented from interfering in the government. 
 Were I your grand elector, I would be bound, not- 
 withstanding, to do all you desired me not to do. 
 I would say to the consuls of peace and war, ' If 
 you do not choose such a person, or if you do not 
 perform such or such an act, I will turn you out !' 
 I would soon oblige them to act as I desired. I
 
 1799. 
 Dec. 
 
 First cc 
 upor.. 
 tions. 
 
 sol agreed 
 His func- 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. 
 
 Arroncliss«ment divi- 
 sions. — Council of 
 state. 
 
 would make myself master again only by going 
 roundabout to my end.'' 
 
 I' napaxte, with his wonted sagacity, penetrated 
 here into the truth, discovering as lie did that 
 the grand elector was not an absolute nonentity, 
 since, as supreme magistrate, he had the power 
 and means, at certain times, of appearing again all 
 potent upon the arena, where party was squabbling 
 for power, and of taking it from one that he 
 might confer it upon another. This lofty surveil- 
 lance of English royalty over the administration 
 was not adapted for the ardour of young Bonaparte ; 
 he may be pardoned for it, because this was neither 
 the time nor place for constitutional royalty. 
 
 Thus the grand elector fell under the sarcasm 
 of the young general, and under a power still 
 greater than that of his sarcasm ; that of the 
 existing necessity. £/ft dictatorship was at the 
 time really required, and the authority to be con- 
 ferred upon a grand elector was very inadequate to 
 meet the necessities of the moment. 
 
 Another part of the plan of Sieyes was objected 
 to by Bonaparte in the most decided manner, be- 
 cause he regarded it as a snare, it was the power 
 of "absorption" attached to the senate, not only 
 as it affected the grand elector, but every citizen 
 of note, whose greatness might give offence. 
 
 Bonaparte would not consent that, after years of 
 toil and service, any one should have the right to 
 bury him alive in the senate, and for a pension of 
 2."i, 000 f. constrain him to idleness. This point was 
 conceded, and the executive power was organized 
 in the following manner : 
 
 The adoption of a first consul was decided 
 upon, and he was to be accompanied by two others; 
 in order to conceal somewhat the great power of 
 the first functionary. The first consul had the 
 direct and only nomination of the members of the 
 republican administration generally ; of the mem- 
 bers of the councils of departments and munici- 
 palities ; of the official persons since called pre- 
 fects, sub-prefects, municipal agents, and the like. 
 He nominated all the officers in the naval and 
 military services, the counsellors of state, and the 
 ambassadors, the judges, civil and criminal, except 
 the justices of the peace, and those of the court of 
 cassation. He could not remove the judges who 
 were once appointed ; their immutability being 
 substituted in place of election as a guarantee for 
 their independence. 
 
 Besides the nomination of the administrative 
 
 -, judicial and military, the first consul held 
 
 the hid and entire government of the country, the 
 
 direction of war and of diplomacy ; he signed 
 
 treaties, without prejudice to their discussion and 
 
 adoption by the legislative body, according to the 
 
 I D his various functions lie was to be 
 
 aided by the other two consuls, who had only a 
 
 Consulting voice in the matter, but who could 
 
 place their opinions in a register kept for the pur- 
 
 of recording their deliberations. The other 
 
 two consuls were eh ally appointed for the purpose 
 
 of masking tie- enormous authority confided to 
 
 Bonaparte. This authority, given for a term of 
 
 Considerable duration, it was possible might lieco 
 
 perpetual after the ten years, for which the consul 
 was at first elected, should expire ; the consuls, too, 
 
 were all perpetually re-eligible. One vestige alone 
 of the "absorption" of Sieves remained. The 
 
 first consul, on vacating office, from whatever 
 cause, became a senator in plenitude, and was 
 thenceforward excluded from public functions. 
 The other two consuls, not having attained the 
 highest office in the state, were free to accept, on 
 retiring, this well-endowed neutralizing appointment, 
 but they were not obliged to become senators 
 against their inclinations. 
 
 The allowance made to the first consul was 
 500,000 f., and to each of the others 150,000 f. 
 They were all to reside ia the Tuileries, and to 
 have a consular guard. 
 
 Such were the principal provisions of the cele- 
 brated constitution of the year vm. Thus Sieycs 
 saw the attributes of the senate abridged, and a 
 powerful head of the state substituted for his idle 
 grand elector, a circumstance which a few years 
 afterwards caused his constitution, in place of 
 leading to the rule of an aristocracy, to become the 
 instrument of a despotism. 
 
 No declaration of rights distinguished this consti- 
 tution, although by means of certain provisions of 
 a general character it guaranteed individual liberty, 
 the inviolability of the citizen's house, the respon- 
 sibility of ministers, and that of their inferior 
 agents, except, without prejudice in the case of the 
 last, to the previous approbation of the council of 
 state. The constitution stipulated that a law in 
 any department, under extraordinary circum- 
 stances, might suspend the constitution in its re- 
 gard, a proceeding now denominated " putting in a 
 state of siege." Pensions were secured to the 
 widows and children of soldiers ; and finally, by a 
 species of return to ideas for a long time pro- 
 scribed, it acknowledged as a principle that national 
 rewards might be accorded to those who had ren- 
 dered eminent services to their country. This 
 was the dawn of the institution once so celebrated 
 — the legion of honour. 
 
 The constitution of Sieyes contained two strong 
 and excellent ideas, which have been both retained 
 in our administration, namely, the division of the 
 country into arrondissements, and the council of 
 state. 
 
 Sieyes was thus the author of all the boundaries 
 adopted in France for the purposes of the govern- 
 ment. He had before invented the departmental 
 divisions, and obtained their adoption ; and on the 
 present occasion he desired that the cantonal 
 governments, which were no less in number than 
 five thousand, should be superseded by those of 
 arrondissements, which, less numerous, were far 
 more convenient, from being intermediate between 
 the commune and the department. No more than 
 the principle of this change was to be traced in the 
 constitution ; but it was agreed that before long 
 a reform of the existing law in the administrative 
 principle of Prance should take place upon this 
 point, and terminate the anarchy of the communes, 
 of which a painful picture litis been given above. 
 A tribunal of the first instance was to be fixed in 
 
 each arrondissement, and tor a certain number of 
 
 united departments then: was to be a tribunal of 
 
 appeal. 
 
 The second of Sieycs' creations, and belonging 
 to himself exclusively, was the council of state, 
 a deliberative body attached to the executive 
 power, preparing the laws, and sustaining them 
 before the legislature, adding to them the rcgu-
 
 Bonaparte first consul. 
 >(i Cambaceres and Lebrun 
 second consuls. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Constitutional arrange- 
 ments submitted to 
 the public. 
 
 1.99. 
 Dec. 
 
 lations that must accompany the laws, and render- 
 ing t\..^ laws administrative. It is the most practi- 
 cal of his inventions, and with the preceding just 
 described, must survive the present and pass into 
 future times. To the honour of this legislator, be 
 it spoken, time has swept away all the ephemeral 
 revolutionary constitutions, and the only fragments 
 of those constitutions which have survived have 
 been the work of his hands. 
 
 But to settle the distribution of the new consti- 
 tution was not enough, it was indispensable to add 
 to it those who were to wield its powers, to seek 
 for them in the men of the revolution, and to 
 designate the whole in the constitutional act. It 
 was necessary also, after completing all the dispo- 
 sitions that have been stated, to direct attention to 
 the selection of the individuals. 
 
 Bonaparte was nominated consul for ten years. 
 It was impossible to say that he was chosen, so 
 forcibly did the situation indicate the person who 
 was best fitted to fill it ; he was accepted from the 
 hands of victory and necessity. His appointment 
 fixed, the next thing to do was to find one for 
 Sieves. This great personage had not much love 
 for business, and still less for playing a secondary 
 part. He did not feel himself inclined to become 
 the assistant of young Bonaparte, and he in conse- 
 quence refused to be the second consul. It will be 
 seen presently what place more suitable to his cha- 
 racter was assigned to him. Cambaceres was 
 chosen second consul, a lawyer of eminence, who 
 had acquired great importance among the political 
 personages of the time by his deep knowledge, 
 prudence, and tact. He was at that moment 
 minister of justice. Lebrun, a distinguished writer, 
 who was editor of the Maupeou edicts, and be- 
 longed under the old government to the party that 
 was disposed to reform ; attached to the cause of 
 moderate revolutions, well versed in matters of 
 finance, and too mild to contradict in any trouble- 
 some degree, Lebrun was made third consul. 
 Cambaceres was an able assistant to Bonaparte in 
 the administration of justice, and Lebrun was 
 equally useful in the administration of the finances, 
 being of essential aid to him without crossing 
 any of his intentions'. The men intended to form 
 the new government could not have been better 
 associated, while from these appointments all others 
 in the organization of the executive were neces- 
 sarily to now. 
 
 Proceeding next to tlio appointment of the de- 
 liberative bodies, the part for Sieves indicated it- 
 self. It was written down in the constitution that 
 the members of all the deliberative bodies were to 
 lected by the senate. The point now to be 
 arranged was who should compose the senate for the 
 first time. It was settled by a particular article of 
 the constitution, that Sieves and Roger- Ducos, who 
 were about to cease from being consuls, unitedly 
 with Cambaceres and Lebrun, who were about to 
 become so, should nominate the absolute majority 
 of the senate, or thirty-one members of the sixty 
 of which it was composed. The thirty one senators 
 elected in this mode were afterwards to elect by 
 ballot the twenty-nine senators wanting to complete 
 the total number. The- senate, when completed, 
 was to nominate the legislative body, the tribunate, 
 and the court of cassation. 
 
 By these various combinations Bonaparte found 
 
 himself at the head of the executive power, while 
 at that moment a proper delicacy was observed, by 
 his exclusion from the formation of the deliberative 
 bodies called upon to control his acts. This care 
 was left mainly to the legislator of France, Sieves, 
 whose active duties then ceasing, he would receive 
 the presidency of the senate as his retiring post. 
 Appearances were thus preserved, and the re- 
 spective positions of each individual conveniently 
 arranged. 
 
 It was decided that the constitution should be 
 submitted to the national sentiment, through re- 
 gisters opened at the mayoralties, at the offices of 
 justices of peace, the notaries' offices, and those of 
 the registers of the tribunals; and that till its ac- 
 ceptance, which was not doubted, the first consul, 
 the consuls going out of office, and the two coming 
 in, should proceed to make the required appoint- 
 ments, in order that, on the 1st Nivose, the great 
 powers of the state might be ready to put in force 
 the new constitution. It had become absolutely 
 needful to put a termination to the dictatorship of 
 the provisional consuls, which began to cloud the 
 minds of some persons, and also in order to satisfy 
 the general impatience to see a definitive govern- 
 ment. In fact, every body now wished to see a 
 just and stable administrative system established, 
 which might insure strength and unity of power 
 without extinguishing all freedom, and under 
 which honest and capable men of every rank and 
 party might find the place which was their due. 
 Those desires, it must be acknowledged, it was 
 not impossible to gratify under the constitution of 
 the year vni. That constitution might even have 
 given them perfect satisfaction, but for the violence 
 which was done to it at a later period by an extra- 
 ordinary genius, that, favoured as it was by circum- 
 stances, could have overturned far stronger barriers 
 than those which the labour of Sieyes could oppose 
 to it, or any other which it was possible to imagine 
 for such a purpose. 
 
 This constitution, decreed in the night of the 
 12th and 13th of December (21 and 22 Frimaire), 
 was promulgated on the 15th of December, 1799 
 (24 Frimaire, year Till.), to the high satisfaction 
 of its framers and of the public. 
 
 It charmed the minds of all by the novelty of 
 the conceptions and the artificial skill it displayed. 
 Every body began to feel confidence in it, and in 
 those who were about to carry it into execution. 
 
 It was preceded by the following preamble: — 
 
 " Citizens ! A constitution is now presented to 
 you. It terminates the uncertainty caused by the 
 provisional government in regard to foreign rela- 
 tions, and the interior and military situation of the 
 republic. 
 
 " It places in the institutions which it establishes 
 the first magistrates, of whom the devotedness has 
 appeared necessary to its activity. 
 
 " The counstitution is founded on the three 
 principles of representative government, on the 
 sacred rights of property, equality, and liberty. 
 
 " The powers which it establishes will be strong 
 and durable, as they must be, in order to guarantee 
 the rights of the citizens and the interests of the 
 state. 
 
 " Citizens ! The revolution is fixed to the prin- 
 ciples which commenced it; if is finished!" 
 
 Men like Bonaparte and Sieyes proclaiming in
 
 1799. 
 Dec. 
 
 Establishment of the 
 constitution. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 
 
 Honour conferred on 
 Sieyes. 
 
 1800, " the revolution is finished !" What a sin- 
 gular proof does it disclose of the illusions of the 
 human mind ! Still it must be acknowledged that 
 something was finished, and that was anarchy. 
 
 The pleasure felt by all those who had a hand 
 in that work, when they saw it terminated, was in- 
 deed great. It is true some of the ideas of Sieves 
 had been rejected, yet nearly his entire constitu- 
 tion had been adopted. Without absolute power, 
 such as Solon, Lycurgus, or Mahomet possessed, 
 a power that in our times of distrust, by which 
 every individual prestige is destroyed, no man can 
 obtain — without absolute power, it was hardly pos- 
 sible to infuse a larger part of any individual con- 
 ception into the constitution of a great people. If 
 the victor of Marengo had not subsequently made 
 two very considerable changes in it, the imperial 
 hereditary accession, in addition, and the excision 
 of the tribunate, such as it was, this constitution 
 would have had a career which might not have 
 ended in the triumph of absolute power. 
 
 Sieves having put the sword which had over- 
 thrown the directory into the hands of Bonaparte, 
 
 and having framed a constitution, was about to 
 deliver France to the activity of the young consul, 
 and, as far as lie was himself concerned, to retire 
 into that meditative state of idleness, which he 
 preferred before the turmoil and stir of business. 
 The new first consul, wishing to confer on the 
 legislator of France some testimonial of the na- 
 tional gratitude, the consideration of the estate of 
 Crosne as a gift, was, by his proposition, laid 
 before the legislative commissions for their sanc- 
 tion. The estate was decreed, and the an- 
 nouncement of the gift made to Sieyes with noble 
 expressions of the national gratitude. Sieyes ex- 
 pressed high gratification, for, despite incontestable 
 probity, he had a regard for the enjoyments of 
 fortune, and he could not but be affected with the 
 delicate and dignified way in which this national 
 recompense was awarded to him. 
 
 Every thing was now disposed so as to put the 
 constitution in the full vigour of activity during 
 the first days of January, 1800 (Nivdse, year vin.), 
 that is, in the first days of the year which was 
 about to close that wonderful centuxy. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 
 
 THE CONSULAR GOVERNMENT DEFINITIVELY ESTABLISHED. — COMPOSITION OF THE SENATE, OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY, 
 OF THE TRIBUNATE, AND OF THE COUNCIL OF STATE. — MANIFESTO OF THE FIRST CONSUL TO THE EUROPEAN 
 POWERS. — PUBLIC TENDERS OF PEACE TO ENGLAND AND AUSTRIA. — PROCLAMATIONS ADDRESSED TO LA VENDEE. 
 — OPENING OF THE FIRST SESSION. — RISING OPPOSITION IN THE TRIBUNATE. — SPEECHES OF THE TRIBUNES 
 DUVEYR1ER AND BENJAMIN CONSTANT. — A CONSIDERABLE MAJORITY APPROVES THE MEASURES OF THE CONSULS. 
 — NUMEROUS LAWS FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF PUBLIC BODIES. — INSTITUTION OF PREFECTURES AND SUBPRE- 
 FECTURES. — CREATION OP TRIBUNALS OF THE FIRST INSTANCE, AND OF APPEAL. — CLOSE OF THE LIST OF EMI- 
 GRANTS. — ESTABLISHMENT OF THE RIGHT OF MAKING WILLS AND DISPOSING OF PROPERTY. — LAW OF INCOME 
 AND EXPENDITURE.— BANK OF FRANCE. — SEQUEL TO THE NEGOTIATIONS WITH EUROPE. — REFUSAL OF ENGLAND 
 TO LISTEN TO NEGOTIATIONS FOB PEACE. — WARM DISCUSSION ON THE SUBJECT IN THE BRITISH TARLIAMLNT. 
 — AUSTRIA REFUSES IN MILDER BIT NOT LESS POSITIVE TERMS THAN THOSE OF ENGLAND. — NECESSITY FOR 
 RECOMMENCING HOSTILITIES. — UNABLE TO SUCCEED WITH THE BELLIGERENT POWERS IN BRINGING ABOUT 
 PEACE, THE FIRST CONSUL ENDEAVOURS TO ATTACK PRUSSIA TO FRANCE, AND EXPLAINS HIS VIEWS TO HER 
 IN A FRANK MANNER. — HE APPLIES HIMSELF TO TERMINATE THE WAR IN LA VENDEE BEFORE OPENING THE 
 CAMPAIGN OF 1800.— SITU ATION OF PARTIES IN LA VENDEE. — CONDUCT OF THE ABBE BERN IER. — PEACE OF 
 MOSTPAUCON.— AITII IIAMP, CHATILLON, BOIRMONT, AND GEORGES CADOUDAL, PROCEED TO PARIS AND SEE 
 THE FIRST CONSUL. — DF, FROTTE IS SHOT. — FINAL SUBMISSION OF LA VENDEE. — TROOPS PUT IN MOTION FOR 
 THE FRONTIERS. — THE SESSION OF THE YEAR VIII. CLOSES IN TRANQUILLITY. — REGULATIONS OF THE POLICE 
 IN REGARD TO THE PRESS. — FUNERAL CEREMONY ON Till: OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF WASHINGTON. — THE 
 FIES1 ■ iiin residence IN THL PALACE or THE Tl [LEHIES. 
 
 Tin. day appointed for the entrance of the consuls 
 upon their functions, and for the first silling of the 
 
 eoneervative lemU . waa tin- 4th Nivdse in the 
 
 year vin., or the 25th of December, 17!)!J. It 
 
 being necessary to organize both the executive 
 power ami the senate I" fore they could perform 
 their duties, numerous public appointments d 
 sarily tool, plac i before that day. 
 
 Bonaparte, « bote business it was to nominate the 
 •gents of the executive power, and Sieves, Roger- 
 Due. i,, Cambaceres, and Lebrun, entrusted with 
 the choice; of the members of the senate, thai in its 
 own turn had to select the' members of the le^is- 
 la'ive body and of the tribunate, were besieged 
 
 with solicitations from all quartan. Appointments 
 
 were sought to the senate, to the legislative body, 
 
 the tribunate, tin; council of state, and the pre- 
 fecture. D must be confessed that such offices, 
 yielding no slight emoluments, all to he filled up at 
 one time, were well calculated to tempt ambition. 
 
 Many of the more ardent revolutionists, enemies 
 of thi' 1 Jit 1 ■ Brnmaire, were already become won- 
 derfully reconciled to the new state of things. 
 
 WavererS, of whom there were many that took 
 this side as soi.n as success hail declared itself, 
 
 began to express their opinions aloud. An expres- 
 sion at that time current, as particular expressions 
 at such times are certain to be, depicted perfectly 
 the state of the public mind. '• We must show 
 ourselves," was the phrase in every month. " We 
 must, prove, that far from desiring to create ob- 
 stacles in the way of the new government) wo are
 
 Ambitious candidates for 
 28 ollice. — Censures of the 
 
 Muniteur. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Composition of the dif- 
 ferent orders. 
 
 1799. 
 Dec. 
 
 ready to assist in overcoming those which encircle 
 it ;" thus signifiying how much they wished to 
 attract towards themselves the attention of the 
 five personages who possessed the power of nomi- 
 nation to the good things of the state. There were 
 some among the applicants who, in order to obtain 
 an appointment tu the tribunate, promised their 
 devoted support to the consular government, 
 having already resolved to direct towards it the 
 most annoying opposition. 
 
 When in a revolution the flame of the passions 
 begins to lower itself, cupidity succeeds to vio- 
 lence, and fear is suddenly metamorphosed into 
 disgust. If actions of the greatest virtue, and if 
 heroic deeds, did not cover by their brightness the 
 melancholy details,— above all, if the great and 
 beneficial results which nations obtain from social 
 revolutions, did not compensate the present evil by 
 the immensity of the future good, it would become 
 us to turn away our eyes from the spectacle they 
 offer to mankind. They are the trials to which 
 providence submits human society in order to 
 effect its regeneration. It is, therefore, our duty 
 to study with care, profitably if we can, the picture, 
 repulsive and sublime by turns, which is thus pre- 
 sented to us. 
 
 The impulse at this moment imparted to the 
 ambition of all classes was, it appears, very con- 
 siderable indeed, fully strong enough to attract the 
 attention of the writers of the day, and to afford a 
 subject for their animadversion. The Moniteur, 
 not at that moment the official organ, though in a 
 few days afterwards, on the 7th Nivose, it became 
 such, stigmatized the baseness of the period. It 
 said : " Since the constitution has created a num- 
 ber of well paid places, how people bestir them- 
 selves ! How many unfamiliar visages are now 
 forward in showing themselves ! How many for- 
 gotten newly-revived names bustle about amid the 
 dust of the revolution ! How many fierce republi- 
 cans of the year \n. humiliate themselves, that 
 they may be heard by the man of power, who can 
 bestow places upon them ! How many Bruti are 
 begging appointments ! How many men of small 
 abilities are extolled to the skies ! What trivial 
 services are exaggerated ! What stains of blood 
 are concealed from view ! This astonishing shift 
 of scenery has happened in an instant. It is to be 
 hoped that the hero of liberty, who has been 
 hitherto marked in the revolution by the benefits 
 which he has conferred, will see these manoeuvres 
 with tin' disgust they must excite in every lofty 
 mind, anil that he will not tolerate, in a crowd of 
 obscure or disreputable persons, their envclope- 
 ment in the rays of his glory 1 ." 
 
 But let tin: good be separated from the evil ; let 
 us not believe that such a picture was exhibited by 
 the whole' nation. If there were persons who de- 
 graded themselves, there were others who, without 
 self-degradation, came forward, waiting not un- 
 worthily the appeal that the government would 
 make to their zeal and intelligence. If Benjamin 
 Constant, for instance, sought admission to the 
 tribunate, with great earnestness and assurances of 
 devotion to the family of Bonaparte, l)e Tracy, 
 Volney, Monge, C'arnot, Ginguene", and Ducis 
 made no such applications, but left to the free will 
 
 1 MoniletlT, 3d Nivose. 
 
 of the constituent power the act of including them 
 or not in that extended nomination of public 
 functionaries. 
 
 On the 24th of December, being the 3rd Nivose, 
 the new consuls met for the purpose of proceeding 
 to the composition of the council of state, so that 
 the installation of the government might be effected 
 on the day following, fir on the 25th of December, 
 the 4th Nivose. Sieyes, Roger-Ducos, the retiring 
 consuls, with Cambaceres and Lebrun, who were 
 about to enter upon office, proceeded to the Luxem- 
 bourg in order to nominate the half, and an addi- 
 tional one of the members of the senate, so as to 
 constitute the majority ; this being done, it enabled 
 the portion of the senate elected to complete itself 
 on the morrow, and proceed to the composition of 
 the great deliberative bodies of the state. 
 
 The council of state was divided into five 
 sections, namely, those of the finances, of civil and 
 criminal legislation, of war, of the marine, and of 
 the interior. Eacli section had a councillor of 
 state for president, and over all the first consul 
 presided in person, or when absent, one of his 
 colleagues, Cambace'rcs or Lebrun, took his place. 
 
 Each of the sections was to draw up the pro- 
 posed bills and the regulations which might belong 
 to matters within its own competency. These bills 
 and regulations were to be afterwards discussed in 
 a general assembly of the united sections. The 
 council of state was charged besides with the de- 
 cision of all the points in those administrations 
 which might chance to be contested, and also was 
 to settle questions of competency, whether between 
 the civil tribunals and the administration, or among 
 the tribunals themselves. These are the self-same 
 powers which it exercises at the present time, 
 but it then possessed alone the privilege of drawing 
 up the laws, as well as the exclusive right to dis- 
 cuss them before the legislative body ; and still 
 further, the great questions that arose in the 
 government were communicated to it, sometimes 
 even to the extent of those involving foreign 
 policy, of which instances will appear hereafter. 
 At this time, therefore, the council of state was not 
 merely a council of administration, but, in the full 
 sense of the term, a council of government. 
 
 Some of the members of the council were charged 
 in the different departments of the ministry with 
 any special services to which more than common 
 importance was attributed, or that required more 
 than extraordinary attention. These departments 
 were those of public instruction, of the national 
 domains, the treasury, the colonies, and the public 
 works. The counsellors of state, to whom the 
 charge was committed of the management of these 
 different branches, were placed under the control 
 of the proper minister. The members of the 
 council of state were well paid, receiving each 
 25,000 f. annually, and their president 35,000 f. 
 These sums, it should be recollected, were more 
 considerable at that time than they would lie now. 
 The post of a councillor of state was an object of 
 higher ambition than a senatorial seat, because, 
 with emoluments equal to those of senators, and 
 with equal public consideration, the members of 
 that body were admitted as fully as the ministers 
 themselves to the management of the most im- 
 portant public business. 
 
 The principal members of the council of state
 
 1799. 
 Dec. 
 
 Election of the senate. GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 
 
 Legislative body and tri- 
 bunate elected. — Places 
 of meeting. 
 
 29 
 
 were, for tii'- Bection or department of war: Brunc, 
 Lacue'e, and Marniont ; for that of the marine, 
 De Champagny, Ganteanme, and Fleurieu; that of 
 finances, Defermon, Duchatel, Dufresne; of justice, 
 Boulay de la Meurthe, Berlier, Real; of the in- 
 terior, Rcederer, Cretet, Chaptal, Regnault St. Jean 
 d' Anger/, Fourcroy. The rive presidents were: 
 Brune,Gantcaunie, Defermon, Boulay de la Meurthe, 
 and Rcederer. It would not have been possible 
 to select individuals of greater note, nor possessing 
 more various and sterling talents. Here it is but 
 just to remark, that the French revolution showed 
 itself wonderfully prolific in nun of ability of 
 every kind; and that if no attention were paid 
 to exclusions dictated by party feeling, either on 
 one side or on the other, there were the means at 
 hand for composing a most able, varied, and it 
 may be said, glorious government, as far as con- 
 cerned individual talent. The course pursued by 
 the first consul was marked by this feeling. M. 
 Devaisncs, censured loudly for his royalism, but 
 professionally a man of practical knowledge in 
 finance, was appointed to office, in which he 
 proved himself afterwards highly useful. 
 
 On the same day, December 24th, or 3d Nivose, 
 Sieves, Roger-Ducos, Cambace'res, and Lebrun, 
 met together in order to nominate the twenty-nine 
 senators, who, with the consuls about to vacate 
 office, should number in all thirty-one of the mem- 
 bers. As may be supposed, the list had been 
 drawn out previously, and continued names of 
 high repute, such as those of Berthollet, Laplace, 
 who had recently quitted the ministry of the in- 
 terior, Monge; Tracy, Volney, Cabanis, Kellertnan, 
 Garat, Lacepede, and Dueis, but the last declined 
 accepting the honour. 
 
 Upon the morrow, December 25th, or Nivose 4th, 
 the council of state met fur the first time, the con- 
 suls being present, accompanied by the ministers. 
 The subject of their deliberations was a proposed 
 law to settle the relations of the great bodies of 
 th'- state towards each other. Various projected 
 ics to be presented to the legislative body 
 in the approaching session were also agreed upon. 
 
 On the other hand, the senate met at the palace 
 of the Luxembourg, and elected twenty-nine new 
 members, which carried up the senators to sixty. 
 It will be remembered that this number was after- 
 wards to be increased to eighty. In this additional 
 list were comprehended very distinguished names: 
 Dge, Darcet, Francois de Noufchateau, Dau- 
 benton, Bougainville, Perregaux, the banker, ami 
 M'.iseul-l'raslin, an individual of very ancient 
 family. 
 
 Tie- formation of the legislative body and of the 
 
 tribunate by the senate, occupied several sucee -is e 
 
 days. Tie- men of the most moderate character 
 
 prefern d for the- legislative body, out of 
 
 who bad been u distinguished in the con- 
 stituent and legislative assemblies, in tie- national 
 
 convention, and oounci] of five hundred. Care 
 
 was taken to choose front these different bodies 
 men who bad been regardless of making a stir in 
 public affairs, who bad not sought popularity too 
 much, and had shown little inclination to be- distin- 
 guished; those of a contrary character wen- re- 
 served for the tribunate. In consequence, the 
 names that were enrolled in the legislative body 
 not n markable for brilliancy, so that it 
 
 would be a difficult task to point out in the three 
 hundred of which that body consisted, only two or 
 three names known at the present time. The 
 modest and brave Latour d'Auvergne was, it is 
 true, one of them, a hero worthy of antiquity for 
 his virtues, his actions, and his noble end. 
 
 The hundred individuals of the tribunate were 
 selected with the natural object of affording active, 
 stirring minds, emulous of renown, an opportunity 
 for the display of their abilities, an object after- 
 wards bitterly repented of. Some of their names 
 may be laded a little in remembrance, but are not 
 forgotten at the present time. Among them were 
 Chenier, Andrieux, Chauvelin, Stanislas de Girar- 
 din, Benjamin Constant, Daunou, Riouffe, Be'ren- 
 ger, Ganilh, Gingucne, Laromiguiere, Jean-Baptiste 
 Say, and others. 
 
 As soon as the formation of these bodies had 
 terminated, the places for their meeting were as- 
 signed. The Tuileries was reserved for the three 
 consuls ; the Luxembourg was appropriated to the 
 senate ; the Palais Bourbon to the legislative body, 
 and the Palais Royale to the tribunate. 
 
 The Tuileries was rendered habitable at the 
 expense of some hundred thousand francs; and 
 while this was achieving, the consuls lived in the 
 Petit-Luxembourg. 
 
 Since his return from Egypt, Bonaparte had al- 
 ready effected a good deal. He had overthrown 
 the directory, and had acquired an authority infe- 
 rior in appearance, but in reality superior to a con- 
 stitutional monarchy. But scarcely was he in pos- 
 session of this authority before it was necessary for 
 him to legitimatize its possession by useful labours, 
 and the performance of great actions. He had 
 still avast deal to accomplish; his first essays at 
 re-organization were but as a single effort, beyond 
 doubt fortunate so far, but they left the nation still 
 in great disorder, suffering grievously with a strait- 
 ened treasury, misery in the armies, and the flame 
 of civil war in La Vendee, hesitation among the 
 neutral powers, and a relentless struggle determined 
 upon on the part of the belligerent powers. Never- 
 theless, the possession of authority, coming after 
 his first labours, and preceding the mighty task 
 which he felt a confidence of very soon performing, 
 gratified his ambitious spirit. 
 
 In order to celebrate his installation in the govern- 
 ment, he performed a series of acts accumulated 
 with that design, in which deep policy may be per- 
 n mil, heartfelt pleasure, and that generous feel- 
 ing which satisfaction affords to every benevolent 
 and sensitive mind. These were made known in 
 succession, between the 2oth of December, the 
 4th id' Nivose, the day id' the installation of the 
 consular government, and January 1st, 11)00, the 
 11th Nivose, the day of the opining of the first 
 
 legislative session. 
 
 A judgment of the council of state in the first 
 place, under date of the 27th December, or 6th Ni- 
 \ose, decreed that the laws which excluded the 
 
 relations of emigrants and the former nobility from 
 public functions, should die as a thing of course, be- 
 cause they were contrary to the principles of the 
 new constitution. 
 
 A number of persons attached to the revolution- 
 ary party, had been sentenced, as already stated, to 
 
 transportation or imprisonment, in consequence oi 
 
 a Step taken under too little reflection, shortly alter
 
 30 
 
 Directorial victims re- 
 called.— The priests' 
 oath modified. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Obsequies of Pius VI. 
 Revolutionary festival 
 abolished. 
 
 IT3S. 
 Dec. 
 
 the 18tli Brumaire. The transportation and im- 
 prisonment had been before changed to a surveil- 
 lance of the high or political police. A decree was 
 now issued, dated the 5th of Nivose, for the termi- 
 nation even of this surveillance. Having made re- 
 paration thus far to those who were so near expe- 
 riencing his severity, the first consul fulfilled a 
 more important and necessary act of justice to- 
 wards the victims of the directory and the govern- 
 ments which preceded it. These unfortunate per- 
 sons, who had been sent off without a trial, were 
 permitted to return home under the obligation of 
 residing in the places assigned to them. This permis- 
 sion included individuals proscribed at every period, 
 but in a particular manner those banished on the 
 Kith Fructidor. Boissy d'Anglas, Dumolard, and 
 Pastoret, thus recalled, were authorized to reside, 
 the first at Annonay, the second at Grenoble, and 
 the third at Dijon. Carnot, Portalis, Quatremere- 
 Quincey, Simeon, Villaret-Joyeuae, Barbe-Marbois, 
 and Barrere, were also recalled, and ordered to re- 
 side in Paris. The care to place in the capital, which 
 was net their native place, such men as Carnot, 
 Simeon, and Portalis, plainly showed that the 
 government had its eyes upon them, and intended 
 to make use of their talents. 
 
 Other measures were taken relative to public 
 worship and its free exercise. On the 28th of De- 
 cember, or 7th Nivose, it was decreed that the 
 buildings devoted to the ceremonies of religion 
 should continue to be set apart for that purpose, or 
 should be again appropriated to that use, in case 
 they had not been restored already to the minis- 
 ters of the various persuasions. Some of the local 
 authorities having a desire to obstruct the Catholic 
 worship, forbade the opening of the churches ex- 
 cept upon the "decadi" in place of the Sunday. 
 The consuls reversed these decisions of the munici- 
 palities, and in addition to the free use of the re- 
 ligious edifices, they added the right of opening 
 them on the days customary in the particular form 
 of worship to which they belonged. They did not 
 yet venture to interdict the ceremonies of the Theo- 
 philanthropists, which took place in the churehes 
 on particular days of the week, and were regarded 
 by the Catholics as profanations. 
 
 The firm of the civil engagement required from 
 the priesthood or clergy, was modified by the con- 
 suls. They had been compelled before to take an 
 especial oath to a civil constitution of the priesthood, 
 an oath which obliged them to acknowledge a le- 
 gislation at variance, as some of them contended, 
 with the lav.:; of their church. It was conceived 
 best to impose upon them only a simple assevera- 
 tion of obedience to the state, which could no< raise 
 a just scruple in any of them, unless indeed they 
 refused that "obedience to Caesar," which is so ri- 
 gorously commanded by the Catholic religion. Tiiis 
 was afterwards styled, " the promise," as contra- 
 distinguished from "the oath,"' and it recalled to 
 their religious duties, almost immediately, a great 
 number of the priesthood. Those who had taken 
 theoath before, styled the " sworn ',"' were already 
 reconciled with the government ; the others who 
 were Btyled "unsworn 1 ," were now in their turn 
 ived into favour. 
 
 To measures similar with the preceding, the 
 
 1 Assermentes. 
 
 2 Non-assermenti'^. 
 
 first consul added one which in a peculiar manner 
 attached to himself, because i? recalled things which 
 were in some sort personal to him. He had nego- 
 ciated with the defunct Pope Pius VI., and signed 
 the treaty of Tolentino, at the gates of Rome. From 
 the year 1797, he had affected to show great regard 
 for the head of the Catholic church, having re- 
 ceived marked testimonies of the kindness of his 
 holiness. Pius VI. died at Valence, in Dauphine, 
 but had not at that time received the rites of se- 
 pulture. His mortal remains were deposited in a 
 sacristy. Bonaparte, on his return from Egypt, 
 met Cardinal Spina, at Valence, became acquainted 
 with the circumstances, and determined to make 
 early compensation for the unseemly neglect which 
 had occurred. 
 
 On the 30th of December, 9th Nivose, lie got 
 the consuls to join in a decree founded on the high- 
 est considerations. 
 
 The decree was as follows : — 
 
 " The consuls reflecting that the body of Pius VI. 
 has been left in the city of Valence without having 
 had granted to it the rites of sepulture : — 
 
 " That though this old man may have been the 
 enemy of France for a moment, from being misled 
 by the counsels of those who were around him in 
 ills advanced age : — 
 
 " That it is worthy the dignity of the French na- 
 tion, and in conformity with its character, that re- 
 spect should be shown to him who occupied one 
 of the first offices upon earth : the consuls there- 
 fore decree," &c. Then followed the provisions, 
 ordering at the same time funeral honours to the 
 pontiff, and that a monument should be erected as 
 a record of the dignity and rank of the deceased. 
 
 This demonstration of respect for the mortal 
 remains of the Pope, produced, perhaps, a greater 
 effect than the most humane measures would have 
 done, because it struck the public mind habituated 
 to different spectacles. A vast number of persons 
 flocked in consequence to Valence, to take advan- 
 tage of the authority thus given for a manifestation 
 of a religious character. 
 
 The catalogue of the revolutionary festivals con- 
 tained one conceived in the worst possible spirit, 
 celebrated on the 21st of January 3 . Whatever 
 might be the opinions of men of every party in re- 
 gard to the tragical event which connected itself 
 with that date, it was a barbarous festival, kept to 
 commemorate a sanguinary catastrophe. Bonaparte 
 had exhibited a gnat dislike to attend it in the 
 time of the directory, not that by doing so he had 
 any notion of paying honours to the royalty he was 
 afterwards to establish for his own advantage, but 
 because he was fond of publicly defying similar 
 feelings in which he did not share. Now become 
 the head of the government, he obtained the deci- 
 rion of the legislative commission, that there should 
 be no more than two festivals, that of the first day 
 of the revolution kept on the 14th of July, and the 
 festival of the 1st Vendemiaire, the anniversary of 
 the first day of the republic. " These days," said 
 he, "are imperishable in the minds of the citizens ; 
 they have been greeted by every Frenchman with 
 unanimous transports, and arouse no recollect ioirs 
 ti nding to carry divisions among the friends of the 
 republic." 
 
 3 Death of Louis XVI.
 
 1799. 
 Dec. 
 
 Marshal Ausereau sent 
 to Holland. — Veiidean 
 truce. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 
 
 Army sent to La Vendee. 
 Consular proclamation. 
 
 ol 
 
 It required all the power and resolution of the 
 chief of the new government to hazard a Berii of 
 measures, which, though in themselves juat, moral, 
 and politic, appeared to hot-headed persons but as 
 so many precursory acts to a counter-revolution. 
 But, in effecting all this, Bonaparte took care to 
 give himself the foremost example of the forgetful- 
 ness of political animosity, to awaken at times with 
 eclat that sentiment of glory by which he led cap- 
 tive the men of that time, and snatched them away 
 from the base fury of party feeling. Thus he ap- 
 pointed general Augereau, who had offended him 
 by his conduct on the 18th Brumaire, to the com- 
 mand of the army in Holland. "Show," he wrote 
 him in a Utter, which was published, "show in all 
 the acts that your command will give you occasion 
 to perform, that you are above all these wretched 
 party dissensions, the recoil of which has been so 
 unfortunate for ten years past in tearing France to 
 If circumstances force me to take 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 piec 
 
 the field in person, you may rest assured that I 
 shall not leave you in Holland, and that I can 
 never forget the glorious day of Castiglione." 
 
 At the same time he instituted the presentation 
 of '• arms of honour," the prelude to the establish- 
 ment of the legion of honour. French democracy, 
 after having displayed a horror of personal dis- 
 tinctions, could barely tolerate at that time rewards 
 for military exploits. In consequence of an article 
 of the constitution, the first consul caused a reso- 
 lution to be passed, that for every distinguished ac- 
 tion, a musket of honour should be presented to the 
 infantry soldier, a carabine of honour to the ca- 
 valrv, grenades of honour to the artillery, and 
 swords of honour to the officers of all ranks. The 
 first consul carried out this resolution, which was 
 decreed on the 25th December, or 4th Nivosc, by 
 positive acts. On the following day he presented a 
 sword to general St. Cyr, for a brilliant affair by 
 which that general distinguished himself in the 
 Apennines; "Receive," said he, "as a testimony 
 of my satisfaction, a handsome sabre, which you 
 will wear on the day of battle. Make known to the 
 soldiers under your command, that 1 am satisfied 
 with them, and that I hope to lie so still more." 
 
 By these acts that announced the taking posses- 
 sion of power, he marked the character of his 
 government, ami showed his determination to be 
 above the feelings of party. The first consul added 
 immediately to these, proceedings of still more im- 
 portance in regard to La Vendee and the foreign 
 : - of Europe. 
 
 A truce had been signed with the Yendeans, 
 conferences had < un -need, and yet peace had 
 
 not been concluded. Bonaparte bad left no doubt 
 in tie- minds of the royalists, who had applied to 
 htm with the view ol' discovering his intentions as 
 
 to Whether he would be satisfied with being the 
 
 .Hid supporter of the house of Bourbon. 
 
 He b ol undeceived tlieni by showing himself irre- 
 
 bly attached to the cause of the revolution) 
 
 and this frankness in hi-, declarations had not 
 
 ten led to aid tin- work of conciliation which had 
 
 begun. The Vendean chiefs hesitated, being 
 
 l between the bar inspired by the rigour of 
 
 the new government and the instances of the 
 
 emigrants in London, authorized by Pitt to promise 
 
 them anus, money, and men. 
 
 It was on a new insurrection in I. a Vi nd< e that 
 
 England particularly calculated. She proposed 
 making upon this part of our coast an attempt 
 similar to that which she had attempted in Hol- 
 land. The ill success of the last attempt did not 
 discourage her, and she requested, with great 
 earnestness, of the emperor Paul, the assistance 
 of his troops, though without much chance of ob- 
 taining it. Prussia, which began to testify a 
 species of interest for the consular government, 
 never ceased repeating to the aid-de-camp Duroc, 
 and M. Otto, charge d'affaires of France, " Finish 
 the business of La Vende'e, for it is there that you 
 will receive the most serious blow." 
 
 Bonaparte was well aware of this. Independ- 
 ently of the mischief that was done by La Vende'e 
 occupying a part of the military force of the 
 republic, a civil war seemed in his view not only 
 a misfortune, but a species of dishonour to the 
 government, as it bespoke a deplorable internal 
 condition of the country. He had therefore taken 
 the most effectual measures to put an end to it. 
 lie had recalled from Holland a part of the army, 
 that under general Brune had beaten the Anglo- 
 Russians, and had joined to that force a part of 
 the garrison of Paris, which he was able to di- 
 minish considerably without any apprehension, 
 supplying the diminution by the influence of his 
 own name. By this means he was able to assemble 
 in the west an army of 60,000 men. General 
 Brune was placed at its head, with the recommen- 
 dation to retain as his principal lieutenant the 
 wise and conciliatory Hedouville, who held all 
 the threads of the negociation with the royalists. 
 The name of general Brune was a reply to those 
 who counted upon a new Anglo-Russian descent. 
 But before striking the decisive blow, if the con- 
 ditions of the pacification were not finally accepted, 
 the first consul believed it his duty to address the 
 Yendeans on the very day of his installation. 
 
 On the 29th of December, 8th Nivose, h 
 dressed to the departments of the west a decree of 
 the consuls, accompanied by a proclamation, to the 
 following effect: — 
 
 "An impious war threatens for the second time 
 to set the western departments on fire. The duty 
 of the supreme magistrates of the republic is to 
 hinder the spreading of the conflagration, and to 
 extinguish it in its focus ; but they are unwilling 
 lo use force until they have exhausted the means 
 of persuasion and justice." 
 
 Distinguishing between guilty men sold to the 
 foreigner, for ever Irreclaimable with the republic, 
 and the misguided who had joined in the civil war 
 to resist cruel persecution, the first, consul recalled 
 evi ry thing which was likely to gain the confidence 
 of tin: last, and bring them beneath the rule of the 
 new government; such as the revocation of the 
 law of the hostages, the restoration of the churches 
 to the priesthood, the liberty granted to all for the 
 observation of Sunday; he promised, lastly, a full 
 and entire amnesty to those who submitted, and 
 delivered up the arms furnished them bj England. 
 
 lie added, that the most Bevere measures would 
 he taken against those who persisted in the insur- 
 rection, lie announced tin' suspension of the 
 
 constitution; in other words, the employment of 
 
 extraordinary jurisdictions in those places where 
 
 insurgent bodies continued to show themselves in 
 arms. "The government," said the conclusion of
 
 Foreign relations of France. 
 
 Mission of envoys to foreign THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 states. 
 
 Letter of Bonaparte to 1799. 
 George III. Dec. 
 
 the proclamation of the consuls, " will pardon, it 
 will show favour to the repentant; its forgiveness 
 shall he entire and absolute ; but it will strike 
 down whoever after this proclamation shall dare 
 to resist the national sovereignty. But no, we will 
 acknowledge only the sentiment — the love of our 
 country. The ministers of a God of peace will be 
 the first means of conciliation and concord. Let 
 them speak to all hearts the language which they 
 learned in the school of their Master ; let them 
 visit those temples which are re-opened for them 
 to offer the sacrifice which shall expiate the crimes 
 of the war and the blood which has been spilled !" 
 
 This manifesto, having at its back a formidable 
 force, was calculated to produce an effect, above 
 all, as proceeding from a new government, a per- 
 fect stranger to the faults and excesses which had 
 served as the pretext for civil war. 
 
 Having acted thus in regard to the enemy within, 
 the first consul next addressed himself to the 
 enemy without the frontiers, fully resolved to take 
 a formal step towards the only two powers that 
 had not shown any sign of desiring amicable 
 relations with France, but, on the contrary, were 
 obstinately bent upon war, namely, Austria and 
 Great Britain. 
 
 Prussia, it has been seen, had received Duroc in a 
 very flattering manner, and daily gave fresh testi- 
 monies of her sympathy with the first consul. Satis- 
 fied as to her existing relations with his government, 
 Prussia wished him success against anarchy, suc- 
 cess against the forces of Austria. As to offering 
 herself as a mediatrix, she still nourished the 
 thought, but dreaded to take the first step, think- 
 ing that peace was yet far off, and unwilling too 
 soon to engage herself in a course of which it was 
 impossible to foresee the tendency. In fact, who- 
 ever at that time observed closely the state of 
 things in Europe, might easily see that to unloose 
 the ties between England and Austria would re- 
 quire another campaign. The court of Madrid 
 had seen with equal satisfaction the accession of 
 Bonaparte to the consulship, since with him the 
 alliance between Spain and France seemed both 
 more honourable, as well as more profitable. But 
 the horizon was not completely clear. Bonaparte 
 resolved, therefore, on the same day that the con- 
 stitution invested him officially with new authority, 
 to address himself to those powers who were de- 
 cided enemies, to offer them peace, and thus to 
 place them in the wrong if they refused it. After 
 that he could appeal to arms, with the opinion of 
 the world upon his side. 
 
 First he gave orders to all the agents of France, 
 already appointed, who had not quitted Paris, 
 because it was deemed right they should be ac- 
 credited from the government definitively consti- 
 tuted ; General Beurnonville to set out for Berlin, 
 M. Alquier for Madrid, M. de Se"monvillc for the 
 Hague, M. Bourgoing for Copenhagen. General 
 Beurnonville was ordered to compliment adroitly 
 the king of Prussia, by requesting from him a bust 
 of the great Frederick to place in the grand gal- 
 lery of Diana in the Tuileries. The first consul 
 was at this time arranging there the busts of the 
 great characters whom he held in particular admi- 
 ration. M. Alquier, in bearing to Madrid the 
 kindest assurances to the lung and queen, was 
 charged to add to them a present for the Prince of 
 
 Peace, who exercised considerable influence in the 
 court, although he was no more minister. The 
 present consisted of some beautiful arms from the 
 manufactory of Versailles, then noted all over 
 Europe for the perfection to which the manu- 
 facture there was carried. 
 
 This being done, the first consul took the step he 
 had projected in regard to the two courts of Eng- 
 land and Austria. It is the general custom to dis- 
 guise such proceedings by previously making side- 
 long overtures, in order to spare the humiliation of 
 a refusal. Bonaparte, in communicating thus with 
 England and Austria, intended to address the 
 whole world ; for which purpose he wanted a 
 serious overture out of the way of accustomed 
 forms, addressed to the hearts of the sovereigns 
 themselves, and thus either to flatter or embarrass 
 them. In consequence, he did not transmit a note 
 to Lord Grenville or M. Thugut, but he wrote two 
 letters directly to the king of England and the 
 emperor of Germany, which the ministers at those 
 courts were requested to present to their respective 
 sovereigns. That addressed to the king of England 
 was as follows : — 
 
 Paris, 5th Nivose, vear Till. 
 (Dec. 2C, 1709.) 
 
 " Sire, — Called by the desire of the French nation 
 to fill the chief magistracy of the republic, I think 
 it fitting, on entering upon office, to make a direct 
 communication on the subject to your majesty. 
 
 " Is the war which, for eight years, has ravaged 
 the four quarters of the globe, to be eternal ? Is 
 there, then, no mode of coining to an under- 
 standing ? 
 
 " How can the two most enlightened nations of 
 Europe, stronger and more powerful than their 
 safety and independence require, sacrifice to ideas 
 of vain greatness the blessings of commerce, in- 
 ternal prosperity, and domestic happiness ? How 
 can they help feeling that peace is the first of 
 wants, as well as of glories ? 
 
 " These sentiments cannot be strange to your 
 majesty, who governs a free nation, with the sole 
 aim to render it happy. 
 
 " In this overture, your majesty will discover 
 only my sincere desire to contribute efficaciously, 
 for the second time, to the general pacification by 
 a prompt procedure, entirely confidential, and di- 
 vested of those forms which, necessary perhaps 
 for disguising the dependence of weak states, be- 
 tray only in strong states a mutual desire to deceive 
 each other. 
 
 " France, England, by the abuse of their strength, 
 may, for a long time to come, to the misfortune of 
 all nations, retard its exhaustion ; but I dare as- 
 sert, the lot of all civilized nations is attached to 
 the termination of a war which has thrown the 
 whole world into a conflagration. 
 
 (Signed) " Bonaparte, 
 
 " First consul of the French republic." 
 
 On the same day the first consul addressed the 
 following letter to the emperor of Germany : — 
 
 " On returning to Europe, after an absence of 
 eighteen months, I find the war rekindled between 
 the French republic and your majesty. 
 
 " The French nation calls me to occupy the 
 chief magistracy.
 
 The opposition in the tribu- 
 1S00. Meeting of legislative and GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. nate.— Madame de Stael 
 
 Jan. executive bodies. an ^ t ] le jj rst C0I i SU l. 
 
 33 
 
 " A stranger to every feeling of vain-glory, the 
 first of my wishes is to stop the effusion of the 
 blood that is about to be spilt. Every thing pro- 
 claims that, in the next campaign, numerous and 
 ably directed armies will triple the number of the 
 victims hitherto sacrificed, by the resumption of 
 hostilities. The known character of your majesty 
 leaves me no doubt respecting the wish of your 
 heart. If that wish alone is consulted, I perceive 
 a possibility of reconciling the interests of the two 
 nations. 
 
 " In the communications which I have pre- 
 viously had with your majesty, you have personally 
 testified some regard for me. I request you to 
 consider the step which I am taking as proceeding 
 from a wish to make a return for it, and to con- 
 vince you more and more of the very high respect 
 which I entertain for your majesty. 
 
 (Signed) " BoNArARTE, 
 
 " First consul of the French republic." 
 
 Such was the mode in which the first consul 
 announced his accession, both to the domestic 
 parties that divided France, and to the foreign 
 cabinets which coalesced against her. In offering 
 to make peace, he was prepared to secure it by con- 
 quest if it could not be got by amicable negociation. 
 His intention was to employ the winter in making 
 a short and decisive campaign in La Vendee, that 
 hi the following spring he might be able to send 
 over the Rhine and Alps the troops which at the 
 termination of the war at home might become dis- 
 posable for foreign operations. 
 
 While awaiting the result of these proceedings, 
 he opened the legislative session on the 1st of 
 January, 1800, the 11th Nivose, year Till., and he 
 determined to devote this session of four months to 
 perfect the administrative organization of France, 
 which had scarcely commenced, by means of whole- 
 some legislation. He substituted his brother Lucien 
 for the scientific La Place, in the ministry of the 
 interior ; and M. Abrial for the ministry of justice, 
 in place of Cainbaceres, now become consul. The 
 new minister of justice was an upright man, much 
 attached to business. 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1800, the senate, legis- 
 lative body, and tribunate assembled. The senate 
 elected Sieves president ; the legislative body Per- 
 rin dea Vosges ; the tribunate Daunou. Nume- 
 ontlines of proposed laws were immediately 
 laid before the legislative body. 
 
 A sort of anxiety was exhibited to witness the 
 new meeting of these deliberative assemblages. The 
 people were tired of agitation, and desired repose ; 
 they possessed no more that strong lo\ e for politi- 
 cal oratory which they showed in 17'!!', when 
 Miraliea.il, I'arnave, .Maury, and Ca/.ales, opened 
 
 a new career of glory —that of the tribune. The 
 
 animosity against the bar was universal, and men 
 
 of action alone fo 1 favour, who were capable of 
 
 procuring victory and peace for the country. Still 
 the public had ii'. I yel decided upon the establish- 
 ment of absolute power, nor did they desire that all 
 freedom, all rational discussion, should cease. II' 
 
 tie- power of action which a new legislator had 
 
 planted in tie constitution by creating the first 
 consul, and by choosing for the magistracy the 
 
 greatest captain of tin- age, if this power were in- 
 compatible with freedom, they were ready to sacri- 
 
 fice it ; although every body would have been 
 pleased at the reconciliation of freedom with sub- 
 stantial strength, if it were possible. Those who 
 thought so were not the vulgar agitators and obsti- 
 nate republicans ; for there were eminent men, of 
 enlightened, sober minds, who would have felt pain 
 to see the revolution belie itself so soon, and so 
 completely. 
 
 Meanwhile the neutral party inquired with 
 curiosity, — the well-disposed with real anxiety, — 
 how the tribunate, the only body which had the 
 power of speaking, would conduct itself towards 
 the government, and how the government would 
 bear an opposition, if any resulted from it. 
 
 When a reaction comes on, however general it 
 may be, it cannot carry every one along with it; 
 while it irritates as well as annoys those whom it 
 does not. Chenier, Andrieux, Ginguene, Daunou, 
 and Benjamin Constant, who had seats in the 
 tribunate, De Tracy, Volney, and Cabanis, who 
 were members of the senate, while they all de- 
 plored the crimes of the reign of terror, were 
 not disposed to think that the French revolu- 
 tion was wrong in its conduct towards its adver- 
 saries. 
 
 The monarchical and religious doctrines, which 
 were beginning to show themselves once more, 
 nettled them, the more especially from the pre- 
 cipitancy and want of moderation with which this 
 return to ancient ideas was coming into action ; 
 and they felt a discontent which they were at no 
 pains to conceal. The majority of them were 
 sincere. Strongly attached to the revolution, they 
 desired to preserve it nearly entire, save its blood 
 and rapine ; and they by no means desired what 
 they thought they could discover in the secret 
 intentions of the first consul. To stop the per- 
 secution of the priests was well ; but to favour 
 them to the extent of restoring them to their altars, 
 was too much for these faithful followers of the 
 philosophy of the eighteenth century. Again, it 
 was good to give greater unity and strength to the 
 government ; but to push the wisli for this to the 
 extent of re-establishing a monarchical unity for 
 the advantage of a soldier, was also, in their 
 eyes, going too far. For the rest, as always hap- 
 pens, their motives were different. If these were 
 the opinions of Che'nier, Ginguene, Daunou, 
 Tracy, and Cabanis, such could not be those of M. 
 Constant, who certainly, in the society of the 
 Necker family, in which he lived, had imbibed 
 neither an aversion to religion, or a special taste for 
 the French revolution. Placed in the tribunate 
 at the solicitation of his friends, he became in a 
 lew days the most active and talented of the new 
 opposition, a course to which he was inclined by 
 the natural bent of his disposition towards raillery, 
 but more (specially by the discontent of the 
 Necker family, of which he himself partook. Ma- 
 dame de Staid, who then represented in herself 
 alone that illustrious family, had been a great 
 admirer of Bonaparte ; nor would it have cost 
 him much trouble to make a conquest of one, 
 
 whose imagination was sensibly alive to all that 
 
 was great; but, though endowed by nature with a 
 mind as noble as his genius, by some expression 
 not too delicate, he had offended a woman, whose 
 pretensions beyond her sex displeased him ; and 
 had thus excited in her Inart an angry feeling 
 
 I)
 
 First sittings of the 
 34 tribunate. — Its 
 
 effects. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 First sittings of the 
 tribunate. — Its 
 effects. 
 
 1800. 
 Jan. 
 
 against himself, wliicli, even if not formidable, 
 might be annoying. Every fault, however slight, 
 has its fruits; and the first consul was soon to reap 
 the fruits of his, in meeting with an inconvenient 
 opposition from those who were placed under the 
 attractive influence of Madame de Stael — of this 
 number was Benjamin Constant. 
 
 The tribunate had been located at the Palais 
 Royal, certainly without any intention, and solely 
 from necessity ; the Tuileries had been restored to 
 the head of the government ; the Luxembourg, in 
 former times belonging to the council of ancients, 
 had naturally been given to the senate ; the Palais 
 Bourbon was set aside for the legislative body ; 
 there remained then only the Palais Royal to be ap- 
 propriated to the tribunate. Such was the disposition 
 in certain minds to take in had part, acts the most 
 simple, that they complained bitterly of a wish to 
 depreciate the tribunate, by placing it in this gene- 
 ral haunt of disorder and debauchery. In the dis- 
 cussion of some formal matters on the 2nd and 
 3rd of January, one of the members, M. Duveyrier, 
 suddenly rose to speak, and complained of certain 
 measures, which he said were injurious to many 
 proprietors of establishments that had for years 
 existed in the Palais Royal. Now the interest of 
 these claimants was but trifling, and more than 
 this, they had already been indemnified; neverthe- 
 less, the tribune, Duveyrier, eagerly inveighed 
 against this pretended injustice, and said that the 
 national representatives ought not to be rendered 
 unpopular by being made responsible for acts of 
 severity committed in their name. Then passing on 
 to the choice of situation, " I am not," he said, " of 
 the number of those who are offended that it has 
 been chosen to place the tribunate here, in a place 
 usually the theatre of disorders and excesses of 
 every kind. I see in this neither danger nor dis- 
 respect to us; on the contrary, I give its due to the 
 patriotic intention of those who desire that the 
 tribunes of the people should hold their sittings in 
 the midst of the people ; that the defenders of li- 
 berty should be placed in a place which witnessed 
 the first triumph of that liberty. I thank them 
 that they have given us to see from this very tri- 
 bune, the spot where the noble-spirited Camille 
 Desmoulins gave the signal for our glorious move- 
 ment, and displayed the national cockade, that 
 most glorious of our trophies and our rallying sign 
 for ever ; that cockade which lias given birth to so 
 many prodigies, to which so many heroes owe the 
 honour of their arms, anil which we never will lay 
 down but with life. I thank them that we can see 
 that spot, where, if we wished to raise an idol of 
 fifteen days, we could call to mind the fall of an 
 idol of fifteen centuries." 
 
 So rough an attack naturally created a lively 
 sensation in the assembly, and quickly after in 
 Paris. The tribunate passed i n to tin- order of the 
 day, the majority of the members disapproving 
 Buch a sally, but its effect was not thereby lessened. 
 It was a bad beginning for an assembly, which, 
 if desirous. of preserving liberty from the dangers 
 by which it was menaced in so general a re- 
 action, Deeded to use much circumspection, both 
 in regard to the readiness of many minds to take 
 alarm, and to the head of a government easily 
 irritated. 
 
 A scene like this could not fail of consequences. 
 
 The first consul was much enraged, and the humble 
 worshippers of his rising power were loud in 
 their exclamations. Stanislas de Girardin, de 
 Chauvelin, and some others, who, without wishing 
 to surrender their independence to the new govern- 
 ment, yet disapproved of so ill-timed an opposition, 
 spoke at the next sitting; and, to correct the effect 
 of the discourse of the tribune Duveyrier, they pro- 
 posed the taking a kind of oath to the constitution. 
 " Before we proceed to our labours," said M. de 
 Girardin, " 1 think that we ought to give the nation 
 some striking evidence of our attachment to the 
 constitution. I do not propose to you that we 
 swear to maintain it; I know, and so do you, the 
 inutility of oaths; but I believe it to be useful that, 
 when we assume duties, a promise should be given 
 to perform them faithfully. Let us follow the ex- 
 ample of the conservative senate, and of the council 
 of state : in so doing, we shall confirm the opinion 
 that should be entertained of us, and silence the 
 malevolence which now gives out that the tribunate 
 makes an organized resistance to the government. 
 No ! the tribunal is no focus of opposition, it is a focus 
 of intelligence. No ! it is not the wish of the tri- 
 bunate to be ever attacking the measures of the 
 government; on the contrary, it is ready to wel- 
 come with pleasure whatever may be conformable 
 to the interests of the public. The tribunate will 
 apply itself rather to calm passions than seek to 
 irritate them. Its moderation will place itbetween 
 all the factions, to reunite and break them up. It 
 was the moderate party who brought about the 
 18th Brumaire, that day of safety aud of glory 
 which preserved France from domestic anarchy 
 and foreign invasion. Let us return, in order to 
 save the republic, to the principles on which it was 
 founded; but let us avoid a return to those excesses 
 which have too often brought it to the verge of 
 destruction. If we can see from this place the spot 
 where, for the first time, was displayed the signal 
 of liberty, from hence, too, we can equally see the 
 place in which were conceived those crimes which 
 have fixed the stain of blood on our Revolution. 
 Myself, I am far from applauding the choice that 
 has been made of this palace for our sittings; on 
 the contrary, I regret it; but, for the rest, the me- 
 mories which it recalls are happily far away from 
 us. The time has gone by for vehement harangues 
 or appeals to the seditious groups of the Palais 
 Royal ; nevertheless, if a certain style of declamation 
 can no longer destroy us, it may retard our pro- 
 gress towards prosperity ; resounding from this 
 tribunate through Paris, from Paris through all 
 Europe, it may awaken alarm, and furnish a 
 pretext for delaying that peace which we all de- 
 sire Peace," added M. de Girardin, " peace 
 
 should occupy our minds unceasingly; and when 
 this great interest shall be always present, we shall 
 not permit ourselves any more expressions such 
 as the other day escaped one of our colleagues, 
 and which none of us took up, since there was no 
 one to apply them to, for we know of no idol in 
 France." 
 
 The speaker concluded by moving, that each tri- 
 bune should make a declaration as follows : " I 
 promise to perform with fidelity the functions which 
 the constitution has assigned to me." 
 
 This proposition was adopted ; and M. Duveyrier, 
 annoyed at the scandal his speech had excited,
 
 1800. 
 Jan. 
 
 TBe government plan foi the 
 method of discussing the GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 
 laws. — Attacks on the plan. 
 
 Speeches of M. Con- 
 st int and (he tri- 
 bune Riouffe. 
 
 35 
 
 attempted to excuse it, expressing his wish to be 
 
 the first to make the declaration suggested 1 
 
 de Girardin. All the members of the tribunate 
 
 ued to repeat it after him. 
 The effect, then, of the first scene, was some- 
 what remedied ; nevertheless, the first consul con- 
 ceived an insurmountable aversion to the tribunate, 
 which, indeed, he would have equally felt for any 
 free assembly using and abusing the liberty of 
 
 •!i : he caused, therefore, the insertion in the 
 Moniteur of some very bitter remarks on the tri- 
 bunes of France and Rome. 
 
 The sittings that followed were distinguished by 
 fresh manifestations, as much to be regretted as 
 the preceding. The first measure proposed by the 
 government had for its object the regulation of the 
 forms to be followed on the introduction, the debating, 
 and the passing of the laws. This had been one of 
 the subjects neglected in the constitution of the y< ar 
 vin., and had been left to the legislature. In the 
 proposed arrangem -tit, not much regard was had 
 to the tribunate. The plan of the government 
 settled that the laws were to be brought in to the 
 legislative body by three counsellors of state; that 
 they were to be thence communicated to the tri- 
 bunate ; and that, on a day fixed by the govern- 
 ment, the tribunate was to be prepared to discuss 
 them by its three orators before the legislative 
 body : the tribunate, however, might require a 
 delay from the ive body, whose duly it was 
 
 to decide whether such delay should be accorded. 
 It must be confessed, that a great slight was here 
 shown towards the tribunate, since the government 
 wished it to fulfil its task by a day fixed, a thing 
 which it dared not have required of a section of the 
 council of state or a ministerial department. No 
 one, at this day, would venture to fix a day for a 
 
 ssembly so as to limit its disous 
 this is a point which is left to its own understand- 
 ing, and in case of urgency to its zeal. But the 
 courtesies of parliament, like politeness, are the 
 growth of usage, and could not with us precede the 
 actual practice of representative government. From 
 the violence of the revolution we passed almost 
 without transition to military roughness. The com- 
 missi' ii- which, during a month, exercised the 
 
 ttive power, by their discussions with closed 
 
 i an 1 ih if carrying laws through in four and 
 twenty hours, had fully shown the taste of the first 
 
 ii, which desired to be served and satisfied at 
 This may suffice to explain, though not to 
 le otherwise singular details of the go- 
 it plan. 
 The new-born opposition in the tribunate was 
 right, then, in combating this proposition ; but it 
 was unfortunal • its indecorous oomm 
 
 ni'iit, that it should have to oppose the first pro- 
 position emanating from the consuls, as it gave 
 
 ■ a notion that it was ever on the watch to 
 
 . ; while to this misfortune was added the 
 • of the vexatious manner of the epp isition. 
 i :.i «t viol, ut attack same from Com 
 who, in one of those witty and ironical speeches 
 for which he was famous, demanded that tho tri- 
 bunate should hav iii-- time allowed it for an 
 
 examination of what laws were submitted to it, 
 nor be expected to go through tbera at a gallop. 
 II- recalled to the consideration of this subject, 
 the memory of tho if urgency " which were 
 
 brought in during the revolution, and which had 
 led to most disastrous results: he demanded 
 why there was stub an anxiety to have done with 
 j the tribunate; why was it already considered as so 
 hostile, that the passage of the laws through it must 
 be cut as short as possible? " All this," added he, 
 '•' is in accordance with the false idea that the tri- 
 bunate is only a body in opposition, destined to 
 do nothing more than unceasingly run contrary to 
 the government ; this is what it is not, this is what 
 it shall not be, this it is which lowers us in the 
 opinion of the public. This false idea has stamped 
 on every article of this bill a restless and un- 
 reasonable impatience ; we shall have bills pre- 
 
 '. to us, as it were, on the wing, in the hope 
 that we may not catch them ; they will traverse 
 our examination like an enemy's army, to be 
 made into laws before we can come up with 
 them." 
 
 Many such cutting reflections were in this long 
 speech ; and it produced a sufficiently great sen- 
 sation. Constant took great pains to maintain 
 that the tribunate was not a body especially de- 
 voted to contradiction, and that it only opposed 
 when compelled to do so by the public interest; 
 but these protestations were delivered in a manner 
 and a tone which gave them little credit, and ren- 
 dered it evident that he all the while intended that 
 
 .iatic opposition which he took such pains to 
 -I 
 
 tribune Riouffe, conspicuous for his faithful 
 and generous friendship to the proscribed Girond- 
 ists, was one of those whom the horrors of 1793 
 had so powerfully affected, that they were ready to 
 throw themselves blindly into the arms of a new 
 government, whatever that government might do. 
 He was, therefore, desirous of repelling the attacks 
 of Benjamin Constant, which, in his opinion, were 
 indecorous. 
 
 "Suspicions," said he, "so injurious as those 
 shown here yesterday, would be enough to break 
 off all further communication in the relations be- 
 tween man and man ; and it will be impossible for 
 authorities, destined to live and act together, long 
 to have intercourse with each other, if mutual 
 
 st be not regarded as a sacred duty with 
 they must never dispense." 
 
 went on to say that he had, as far as he was 
 concerned, an absolute confidence in the govern- 
 ment ; and here he undertook to deliver an eulo- 
 gium on the first consul, which, though true, was too 
 long, and couohed in too strong terms: "When this 
 orator," said he, "praises Camille Desmoulins, and 
 that, the national convention, 1 will not shut myself 
 up in the silence of conspiracy ; I, too, will praise 
 him, whom the whole world praises ; and having 
 hitherto confined myself in this place to celebrating 
 proscribed virtue, I will assume a boldness of a 
 different kind, and speaking the praises of genius 
 in the bosom of power and victory, 1 will con- 
 gratulate myself on seeing at the head of the re- 
 public the man who has obtained for the French 
 nation the title of the Great Nation ; I will pro- 
 claim him grand, clement, just." M. EUouffa went 
 
 on to compare Bonaparte to Cesar .and Hannibal; 
 and by these expressions of an admiration, just, 
 but unreasonable, provoked a manifestation suf- 
 ficiently vexatious. He was frequently inl 
 by cries of "question." — "I wish, replied M. 
 D 3
 
 Speech of M. de Chauvelin. The bills for the adminis- lsnn 
 
 36 Majorities in the tribunate THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Native and judicial or- 
 and legislative bodies. ganization of France. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 Riouffe, "to speak of the man whom all the world 
 admires." — " Speak of the law," repeated his in- 
 terrupters ; and he was compelled to return to the 
 subject. 
 
 Whether this lengthy and ill-timed, though sin- 
 cere, expression of Riouft'e's sentiments provoked 
 the impatience of his interrupters, or whether 
 the admiration he showed, was not shared in the 
 same degree by the tribunate, the effect of this 
 speech was by no meaus happy. Chauvelin en- 
 deavoured to remove it, by a speech in favour of 
 the bill before them. 
 
 He confessed its faults, but "the circumstances," 
 said he, "the circumstances which surround us, 
 the condition of many of the departments, which 
 require prompt as well as urgent measures; power- 
 ful political considerations ; the calumny which 
 watches our every action ; the divisions which it is 
 pleased to find amongst us ; the pressing need of 
 union between the powers of the state ; all call 
 upon us to pass the bill which is brought before us." 
 The bill was, in fact, put to the vote, and passed 
 by a majority, which ought to have assured and 
 tranquillized the government : a majority of fifty- 
 four against twenty-six, decided that the orators of 
 the tribunate should be commissioned to speak in 
 the legislative body, in support of the proposed 
 law. The legislative body- received it with still 
 greater favour, and passed it by a majority of two 
 hundred and three against twenty-three. Nothing 
 more could be wished, since, after all, a majority of 
 two-thirds of the tribunate (a body whose oppo- 
 sition decided nothing, as they did not pass the 
 laws), and a majority of nine-tenths of the legis- 
 lative body, the only body whose vote was decisive, 
 ought to have satisfied the first consul and his 
 adherents, and have inclined them, by this ex- 
 hibition of a spirit of liberty, to look with in- 
 dulgence on these faults of manner, which, after 
 all, were merely a right of that same liberty. But 
 the first consul, though he could not be seriously 
 alarmed, seemed, nevertheless, sorely mortified, 
 and expressed himself in no measured terms. He 
 began to make a frequent use of the press, which 
 though by no means partial to, he yet knew how 
 to turn to his own advantage. He caused to be 
 inserted in the Moniteur of the 8th of January, the 
 18th Nivose, a highly improper article, in which 
 he undertook to show the little weight of this oppo- 
 sition, and to make it appear as no part of a 
 settled plan to run counter to the government; 
 imputing it to that desire, in some minds, of a 
 perfection impossible in human laws, and to a 
 wish in others to make a noise. " Thus," added 
 the official journal, "every thing allows us to con- 
 clude that there does not exist hi the tribunate an 
 opposition combined and systematic; in a word, a 
 real opposition. But every one has his thirst for 
 glory ; every one wishes to commit his name to the 
 hundred tongues of fame ; ami some persona have 
 yet to learn that they arrive less surely at dis- 
 tinction by an ambition of fine speeches, than by a 
 perseverance in duties useful, though obscure, 
 which the public applauds and values." 
 
 This maimer of treating a great body of the 
 state was by no means decorous, and evinced, on 
 the part of the first consul, an intention to do as he 
 pleased ; while, on the part of France, it showed 
 an inclination to put up with it. 
 
 These impressions, however, soon gave place to 
 others. The vast labours of the government, in 
 which the legislative body and the tribunate were 
 called upon to take their share, soon attracted the 
 attention of all minds, and occupied them to the 
 exclusion of all other considerations. The first 
 consul caused two bills of the greatest importance 
 to be brought into the legislative body. One had 
 for its object the departmental and municipal ad- 
 ministration, and became the famous law of the 
 28th Nivose, year vm., which established an ad- 
 ministrative centralization in France ; the object 
 of the other was an organization of justice, an 
 organization which exists to the present time. To 
 these two bills others were added — on the emi- 
 grants, whose condition it was pressing to settle ; 
 on the right of bequeathing by will, of which all 
 families called for the re-establishment ; on the 
 tribunal of prizes, which it was necessary to erect 
 from our relations with the neutral powers ; on the 
 creation of new officers of account, who were known 
 to be required ; and, lastly, on the receipts and 
 expenses of the year vni. 
 
 The administration of France, as we have shown 
 above, found itself, in the year 1799, in a state of 
 frightful disorder. There are in all countries two 
 kinds of business to be dispatched : that of the 
 state, which consists in recruiting, taxation, works 
 of general utility, and the application of the laws ; 
 that of the provinces and communes, which consists 
 in the management of the local interests of all 
 kinds. If a country be left to itself, that is to say, 
 if it be not ruled by a general administration at 
 once strong and intelligent, the first part of this 
 business, that of the state, is not done at all ; the 
 second meets with, in the provincial or communal 
 interest, a principle of zeal, but of a zeal capricious, 
 unequal, unjust, and seldom intelligent. The pro- 
 vincial or communal administrations, assuredly, sel- 
 dom fail in inclination to busy themselves in what 
 concerns them particularly ; but they are extra- 
 vagant, meddling, and always opposed to the com- 
 mon rule. The tyrannical peculiarities of the middle 
 age in Europe, had no other origin. From the time 
 that the central authority withdraws itself from a 
 country, there is no kind of disorder to which the 
 local interests will not give themselves up, even to 
 their own ruin. In 1789, wherever the communes 
 enjoyed any liberty, they were in a state of bank- 
 ruptcy; and most of the free cities of Germany, 
 when suppressed in 1803, were completely ruined ; 
 thus, without a strong general administration, the 
 business of the state is not done at all, and local 
 business is badly done. 
 
 The constituent assembly and the national conven- 
 tion, after they had successively re-modelled the 
 administrative organization of France, arrived at a 
 state of things which was anarchy itself. Collective 
 administrations, at every step, perpetually delibera- 
 ting and never acting, having at their side commis- 
 sioners of the central government, charged to urge 
 them, either to the dispatch of the business of the 
 state, or the execution of the laws, but deprived of the 
 power of acting themselves, — such was the depart- 
 mental and municipal regime on the 18th Brumaire. 
 As to the municipal regime in particular, there had 
 been devised a kind of cantonal municipalities, which 
 added still further to this administrative confusion. 
 The number of the cantonal municipalities was
 
 T800. 
 Jan. 
 
 Ill success of the cantonal 
 municipalities. — Insti- 
 tution of prefects, sub- 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 
 
 prefects, and mayors. — Sup- 
 pression of the cantonal mu- 37 
 nicipalities. 
 
 found to be too large, as it amounted to forty 
 thousand ; and certainly the superintendence of 
 such a number of small local governments, in itself 
 sufficiently difficult at all times, became impossible 
 for authorities constituted as they were at that 
 time. At present, the prefects, with the assistance 
 of the sub-prefects, are adequate to it, provided 
 they be sufficiently assiduous. But let any one sup- 
 pose the prefects without sub-prefects, and in their 
 place petty deliberative assemblies, and it will be 
 easy to see the disorder which must reign in such 
 administrations. These forty and odd thousand 
 communes were reduced to five thousand cantonal 
 municipalities, composed of a re-union of several 
 communes into one. It was thought that this 
 uniting several communes under the same govern- 
 ment would, besides giving them a governing power, 
 place them nearer to the central authority, and more 
 under its superintendence ; but it resulted in a 
 disorder eveu more frightful than that to which it 
 sought to put an end. These five thousand can- 
 tonal municipalities were too numerous, and too far 
 removed from the central authority, to be under 
 its eye, and were vexatiously placed at a distance 
 from the population they were intended to rule, 
 without being brought sufficiently near to the go- 
 vernment. A communal administration is made to 
 be placed as near as possible on the spot : the ma- 
 gistrate who takes account of the births, deaths, 
 aud marriages, who watches the police and the 
 health of a city, who has the care of the fountains, 
 the church, the hospital of a village, should reside 
 in the village or the town itself; in short, live in the 
 midst of hivjellow-citizens. These cantonal muni- 
 cipalities, then, had resulted in uselessly displacing 
 the domestic authority, without bringing the local 
 affairs sufficiently near for the eye of the govern- 
 ment to observe them : add to this, (thanks to 
 the disorder of the times,) that nothing was done 
 properly, and it will be understood how much con- 
 fusion was brought about by the vice of the institu- 
 tion, added to the vice of circumstances. 
 
 A last cause of disorder was added to all the 
 others. There is not only a necessity for an ad- 
 ministration on account of the state and the com- 
 munes, but also of a court for judgment; since the 
 citizens may have reason fur complaint, either that 
 their property has been encroached upon in mark- 
 ing out a road or way, or that in rating them to 
 the taxes, the rating has been made unjustly. 
 Under the old regime, the ordinary justice °, then 
 ■lily restraint on the executive authority — 
 which well explains the resistance of tin- parlia- 
 ment! to tin; court — the ordinary had claimed for 
 itself authority in all eases that art; called disputes 
 wiih the administrative justice 7 . This was a grave 
 inconvenience; as civil judges, from their want of 
 
 knowledge on the Subject, an- bad dispensers of 
 
 administrative justice. Our first legislators of the 
 revolution, rightly appreciating this inconvenience, 
 thought they could resolve the difficulty by aban- 
 doning all administrative disputes to the petty local 
 nblies, to which they had handed over the 
 
 administration. When we imagine, then, these 
 collective administrations in the place of those whom 
 we now call prefects, sub-prefects, and mayors, 
 
 8 Justice ordinaire. 
 
 " t'ontcnticux administrative*. 
 
 and charged with the duties of all these, with the 
 jurisdiction besides of the councils of prefecture, 
 we can form an idea of something approaching to 
 the confusion which then reigned. Even with the 
 spirit of order which prevails at this day, the result 
 would be a chaos ; add to this the passions of the 
 revolution, and what an extra chaos would ensue ! 
 It was thus that the returns of the contributions 
 were never completed, that the receipt of the taxes 
 was many years in arrear, that the finances were 
 in ruin, and the armies in misery. The recruiting 
 alone was occasionally carried out, — thanks to the 
 passions of the revolution, which, having done the 
 mischief, contributed in part to repair it ; for 
 having as its principle a love, disorderly but ar- 
 dent, of France, its greatness, and its liberty, it 
 forcibly urged on the population to arms. 
 
 It was in such a state of things that the first 
 consul was, it may be said in truth, an envoy from 
 Providence. His mind, simple and just, under the 
 guidance of a character active and resolute, was 
 formed to lead him to the right solution of these 
 difficulties. The constitution had placed at the 
 head of the state a legislative power and an 
 executive power ; the executive concentered almost 
 in a single chief, and the legislative, divided 
 amongst many deliberative assemblies. It was 
 only following the natural order of things, to place 
 at each degree of the administrative scale one who 
 should represent the executive power, specially 
 charged to act, and at his side, to control or to furnish 
 him with information only, — not to act in his place, 
 — a small deliberative assembly, such as the council 
 of the department, of the arrondissement, or of the 
 commune. We have in this simple, clear, fruitful 
 idea, — the excellent administration which exists 
 to this day in France. It was the wish of the first 
 consul to have in each department a prefect 
 charged, not with urging on a collective adminis- 
 tration to despatch the business of the state, but to 
 do it himself ; he was also to be charged with car- 
 rying on the departmental business, but jointly 
 with the council of the department, and with re- 
 sources to be voted by that council. As the 
 system of cantonal municipalities was universally 
 condemned, and as Sieycs, the author of all the 
 local divisions of France, had in the new con- 
 stitution laid down the principle of the division 
 by arrondissement, the first consul determined to 
 employ it as a means of doing away with the can- 
 tonal administrations. The communal adminis- 
 tration was first of all replaced where it ought to 
 be, that is, in the commune itself, town, or village ; 
 and between the commune and the department, an 
 intermediate administrative degree, that is to say, 
 the arrondissement. Between the prefect and the 
 mayor it was thought necessary to have the sub- 
 prefect, charged, under the superintendence of the 
 prefect, with the direction of a certain number of 
 communes, sixty, eighty, or a hundred, more or 
 less, in proportion to the importance of the depart- 
 ment. Lastly, in the commune itself, there was to 
 be a mayor, who was also an executive power, 
 having at bis side a deliberative power in a mu- 
 nicipal council, — a mayor, the agent for the de- 
 Bpatch of the business of t lie state, directly dependent 
 on the general authority, — an agent of the com- 
 mune as regarded its local affairs, managing its 
 interests in conjunction with it, under the super-
 
 Councils of the prefecture es- 
 38 tabiished. — The nomina- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 tion of all the agents of 
 
 administration, and all the .g.. 
 members of the local courts, j""' 
 is left to the first consul. 
 
 intendence, however, of the prefect and the sub- 
 prefect, and by consequence of the state. 
 
 Such is this admirable hierarchy to which France 
 is indebted for an administration incomparable for 
 its energy, the precision of its working, and the 
 exactness" of its accounts, and which is so excellent, 
 that it was sufficient, in six months, as we shall 
 soon see, to restore order in France, under the im- 
 pulse, it is true, of the extraordinary genius of the 
 first consul, and favoured by circumstances as ex- 
 traordinary; for there was every where a horror 
 of disorder, a thirsting after order, a disgust with 
 idle babbling 8 , a taste for prompt and positive 
 results. 
 
 There remained still the question of the admi- 
 nistrative disputes, — that is to say, the administra- 
 tive justice 9 , charged with the care, that those 
 liable to be taxed should not be rated beyond their 
 means; that those holding property on a river-bank 
 or on the side of a street, should not be exposed 
 to encroachments, and that the contractor for the 
 works of a town or of the state might not find a 
 judge of his contract with the commune or the 
 government a difficult question, as the ordinary 
 tribunals were known to be improper for dispens- 
 ing justice of this kind. The principle of a wise 
 division of power was again employed here with 
 great advantage. The prefect, the sub-prefect, 
 and the mayor, charged with the actual admi- 
 nistration, were open to the suspicion of partiality, 
 as if inclined to enforce their own will, for it was 
 usually of their own acts that those seeking justice 
 would have to make complaint ; the councils of the 
 department, the arrondissement, and the commune, 
 were also properly liable to suspicion of the same 
 kind, as their interest too often ran contrary to 
 that of the complainant. The administration of 
 justice is, besides, a long and continuous operation, 
 and there was no desire to see the councils either 
 of the department or the commune made perma- 
 nent,since the first consul only required their attend- 
 ance for fifteen days in the year, just time enough 
 for them to go through their business, give their 
 advice, and vote their expenses. On the other 
 hand, there was need of a tribunal to sit without 
 interruption. A special court of justice was there- 
 fore established, a tribunal of four or five judges, 
 having their seats by the side of the prefect, and 
 judging conjointly with him ; a species of council 
 of state assisting the administration of the laws 
 by the prefect, as the council of state enlightens 
 and supervises that of the ministers; and subject, 
 moreover, by way of appeal, to this supreme 
 council. These are the tribunals now called the 
 councils of prefecture, whose equity has never been 
 disputed. 
 
 Such was the principal and communal govern- 
 ment of France — a single head, in a prefect, a sub- 
 prefect, or mayor, for the despatch of all business; 
 a deliberative council, in the council of the depart- 
 ment, of the arrondissement, or of the commune, 
 to vote the local expenses; next, a small judicial 
 body, placed by the side of the prefect only to 
 carry on the administrative justice; a government 
 entirely subordinate to the general government in 
 all matters of state, and under its supervision and 
 direction, but having its own proper views, in the 
 
 * Bavardage. 
 
 » Justice administrative. 
 
 management of the affairs of the departments and 
 the communes. Order has never ceased to reign, 
 as well as justice, during the time this excellent 
 institution has existed among us, that is to say, for 
 nearly half a century ; it being well understood 
 that the expressions order and justice, like all other 
 words of human language, have only a relative 
 meaning, and signify that there has been in France, 
 in the administrative department, as little of dis- 
 order, and as little of injustice, as it is possible to 
 hope for in a great state. 
 
 It was naturally the wish of the first consul that 
 the nomination of the prefects, sub-prefects, and 
 mayors, should rest with the executive power ; for 
 since they were its direct agents, they ought to be 
 endowed with its spirit; and as regarded local mat- 
 ters, which they had to conduct according to local 
 views, that they should conduct them in accord- 
 ance with the general spirit of the state. But it 
 would not have been in due course of the nature 
 of things for the executive to name the members 
 of the councils of departments, of arrondissements, 
 and of communes, whose duty it was to control 
 the agents of administration, and to vote their 
 expenses. The constitution led to this preten- 
 sion, and also justified it. " Confidence must come 
 from below," said Sieyes; "power must come from 
 above." According to this maxim, the nation 
 showed its confidence by the inscription on the 
 lists of notability; the superior authority conferred 
 the power, by choosing its agents from these lists. 
 The senate was charged with the election of all the 
 political deliberative bodies ; but as the councils 
 engaged in the conduct of local interests were 
 reckoned part of the general administration of the 
 republic, it devolved upon the executive power, 
 according to the constitution, to nominate them by 
 a choice from the lists of notability. By virtue, 
 then, of the spirit as well as of the letter of the con- 
 stitution, it devolved upon the first consul to choose, 
 from the lists of notability of the departments, 
 the members of the councils of the departments; 
 from jthe lists of the notability of the arrondisse- 
 ments, the members of the councils of the arrondisse- 
 ments ; and, lastly, from the lists of the notability 
 of the communes, the members of the municipal 
 councils. This power, in ordinary times excessive, 
 was at that moment necessary. An election, in 
 fact, for the formation of these local councils was 
 altogether as impossible as for the formation of 
 great political assemblies. It would only have 
 given rise to the most dangerous agitations, to 
 petty triumphs to the extreme parties, alternately, 
 on one side or the other, in place of a peaceable 
 and hopeful fusion of all moderate parties — a fusion 
 which was indispensable in thus founding a new 
 society from the reunited fragments of the old. 
 
 The judicial organization was equally well- 
 planned. It had the double object of placing 
 justice near those who required it, and of giving 
 them an assurance, nevertheless, beyond the local 
 justice, if they desired to have recourse to it, of a 
 court of appeal, at some distance certainly, but in 
 a high position, and possessed of enlightenment 
 and impartiality by reason of that very height of 
 position. 
 
 Our first legislators of the revolution, from the 
 aversion they were inspired with against parlia- 
 ments, suppressed all the tribunals of appeal, and
 
 1800. 
 Jan. 
 
 The tribunals of tlie first 
 instance and of appeal 
 are established. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 
 
 Passing of the laws fnr the 
 administrative and judi- 39 
 cial organization. 
 
 placed one tribunal only in a department, to afford 
 the first degree of jurisdiction to complainants in 
 the department ; and a second degree of jurisdiction, 
 a tribunal of appeal for the neighbouring depart- 
 ments. This appeal took place, then, not from an 
 inferior tribunal to one superior, but front one 
 neighbouring tribunal to another. Below were 
 the justices of the peace, the tribunal of cassation 
 above. The single tribunal for each department 
 being found to be too far from those seeking 
 redress, the jurisdiction of the justices of the peace 
 had been extended so as to dispense with the 
 citizens having to travel too often to the chief 
 town. There had also been created three or four 
 hundred correctional tribunals, charged to repress 
 small crimes. The criminal jury held its sittings 
 at the principal town near the central tribunal. 
 
 This judicial organization had very slight success 
 in the municipal cantonments. The justices of the 
 peace, whose jurisdiction had been extended, were 
 not competent to the task. The justice of the first 
 degree found itself placed too far off by residing in 
 the chief town ; the justice of appeal had become 
 nearly illusory ; for appeal docs not hold, unless it 
 be made to men of superior minds. The supreme 
 courts, like the parliaments formerly, and like the 
 royal courts of our day, numbering amongst them 
 eminent magistrates, and about them a renowned 
 bar, exhibit a superiority of knowledge, to which a 
 man might be tempted to have recourse ; but no 
 one would think of appealing from one tribunal of 
 the first instance to another tribunal of the first 
 instance. The tribunals of correctional police were 
 also too numerous, and limited, moreover, to a sin- 
 gle object. It was in :ssary to reform this judicial 
 organization. The i .st consul, adopting the ideas 
 of his eolleague Carnbaceresj to which he gave the 
 support of his own good sense and courage, caused 
 that organization to be adopted, which exists to 
 this day. 
 
 The limit of the arrondissement planned for 
 the departmental administration, offered great con- 
 venience for the judicial administration. It pre- 
 sented a means of establishing a primary local 
 justice, placed sufficiently near to litigants, without 
 interfering with the recourse to tribunals of appeal 
 placed far froi it, ami much higher. There was 
 established, t.i refore, a tribunal of the first in- 
 stance for the arrondissement, forming the first 
 step of jurisdiction ; next, without the dread of 
 seeming to re-establish the old parliaments, it was 
 resolved to establish a tribunal of appeal. One 
 for each department would be too many in Dumber, 
 too l ittl e for the importance and elevation of the 
 jurisdiction. Twenty-nine wore established, which 
 gave them nearly tin- importance of the old parha- 
 
 ; and they WeTti placed in spots which bad 
 formerly enjoyed the presence of those supreme 
 
 courts. Then was an advantage in rest, ring 
 thiin to places which had been thus deprived : they 
 tie- old depositories of judicial traditions, the 
 ruins of which desi rved to bo collected. The bars 
 of Aix, «f Dijon, of Toulouse, of Bordeaux, of 
 
 Renties, and of Paris, WON the In arths of science 
 and of talent which it was m cessary once mora lo 
 kindle. 
 
 The tribunals of the first instance, already I B- 
 
 tablished in each arrondissement, were chai 
 
 at the same time, with the correctional police; a 
 
 plan which, while it doubled their usefulness, placed 
 in the arrondissement the administration of civil 
 justice, and that of the repressive in the first 
 degree. The criminal justice was always to be 
 confided to a jury, and have its seat only in the 
 chief town of the department, by means of jr. 
 coming from the tribunals of appeal, whose office 
 it was to direct the jury ; in a word, to hold 
 assizes. This part it took some time to complete. 
 
 In accordance with these arrangements, it be- 
 came necessary to reduce within more restricted 
 limits the department known as the justice of the 
 peace ; but, as it was impossible to do all at once, 
 the law for the remodelling of these courts was 
 postponed until the following session. The wish of 
 the legislature, however, was to preserve, while 
 it improved, the paternal spirit of a system, so 
 especially popular, so expeditious, and so cheap. 
 
 As the crown and coping-stone of this edifice 
 of justice, there was maintained, with some 
 modifications, and a restraining jurisdiction over 
 all the magistrates, the tribunal of cassation, 
 one of the finest institutions of the French revo- 
 lution ; a tribunal, whose scope is not the judging 
 a third time what the tribunals of the first instance 
 and of appeal have already twice given their 
 judgments upon, but which, putting on one side 
 the facts of the case, interposes only when a doubt 
 has been raised in the meaning of the law, de- 
 termines that meaning by precedents, and thus 
 ad'ds to the unity of the text as emanating from the 
 legislature, a unity of interpretation as issuing 
 from the supreme jurisdiction, and so common to 
 the whole country. 
 
 It is, therefore, from this year 1800, a year so 
 fruitful in events, that we date our judicial organi- 
 zation ; since which time it has consisted of nearly 
 two thousand justices of the peace 1 , a magistracy 
 fortlie people, rendering justice, at a small exp 
 to the poor; of nearly three hundred tribunals 
 of the first instance, one for each arrondissement, 
 that administer civil and correctional 2 justice, in 
 the first degree ; of twenty-nine supreme 3 tribu- 
 nals' 1 administering the department of civil justice 
 as courts of appeal and criminal justice by judges 
 sent out from it who hold assizes at the chief town 
 of each department ; lastly, of a supreme tribunal, 
 placed at the bead of this judicial hierarchy, to in- 
 terpret the laws, and complete the unity of the 
 legislature by the unity of jurisprudence; 
 
 The two la\v.s for these purposes were of too 
 pressing a necessity, and too complete in their 
 plan, to meet with any serious obstacles ; yet 
 they nevertheless had to sustain more than one 
 attack in the tribunal. Objections the most tii 
 were raised against the proposed system of admi- 
 nistration. There was not much complaint of the 
 authority placed in tin? hands of the prelects, sub- 
 prefects, or mayors, as that was in accordance with 
 the notions of the time, and was in imitation of the 
 
 constitution, which placed one person as chief al 
 
 the head of the state; but a grievance was found in 
 
 1 Juees dc paix. 2 Police. 3 Souvcrains. 
 
 * We give lure only round nuinlirrs-, as the Dumber Of the 
 
 tribunal* bai constantly varied, In accordance with the dif- 
 fer nt chaugec of territory which France lias undergone; si 
 
 i. for instance, tin re are no more than twent) 
 cours roi/ales, or tribunal-. Of appeal.
 
 Appointment of the ad- 
 4Q ministrative and ju- 
 
 dicial officers. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The closing of the pro- 
 scription list. 
 
 1800. 
 Jan. 
 
 the creation of three degrees in the scale of admi- 
 nistration — the department, the arrondissement,and 
 the commune. The opposition went so far as to assert 
 that the communes must he reconstituted, as it 
 would not be possible to find men of sufficient en- 
 lightenment for mayors. It was, however, a resto- 
 ration of self-government, of domestic authority, 
 and in this view the plan was more popular than 
 can even be imagined. As regarded the judicial 
 organization, some cried out against it as a resto- 
 ration of the parliaments; others complained of the 
 jurisdiction over the inferior magistrates which was 
 given to the tribunal of cassation, with other such 
 objections; all of the mnot worthy of mention, since, 
 in spite of all, the two proposed laws were passed. 
 
 Twenty or thirty votes, the main body of the 
 opposition in the tribunate, were given against 
 those laws, but three-fourths voted in their favour. 
 The legislative body adopted them almost unani- 
 mously. The law relating to the departmental admi-' 
 nistration bore the date since celebrated, of 28th 
 Pluviose, year Till, that relating to the judicial 
 organization was dated 27th Ventose, year vm. 
 
 The first consul, determining not to leave them a 
 dead letter in the list of laws, appointed forthwith 
 the prefects, sub-prefects, and mayors. 
 
 He was liable of course to many mistakes, as 
 generally happens where a number of functionaries 
 have to be appointed at once ; but an enlightened 
 and vigorous government can speedily rectify any 
 error of its first choice. It is enough that the 
 general intention of it be good, and in this instance 
 the intention shown in the choice was excellent; it 
 was at once firm, impartial, and conciliatory. The 
 first consul sought out in all parties men of reputed 
 honour and capacity, excluding none but the vio- 
 lent, and even adopting some of these last, if expe- 
 rience and time had reduced them to such a mo- 
 derate tone as then formed the essential charac- 
 teristic of his policy. 
 
 To the prefectures, offices of importance and 
 high salary, — the prefects then received 12,000, 
 15,000, and up to even 24,000f. of income, being in 
 value double what these amounts now are, — he ap- 
 pointed personages who had figured with honour in 
 the great political assemblies, and whose appoint- 
 ment would most clearly show the intention of his 
 choice; for men, though they be neither actions nor 
 principles, yet represent them in the eyes of the 
 people. To Marseilles, for instance, the first consul 
 named M. Charles Lacroix, ex-minister of foreign 
 affairs ; to Saintes, M. Francais, of Nantes ; to 
 Lyons, M. Verninhac, formerly an ambassador; to 
 Nantes, .M. Lctourneur, formerly a member of the 
 Directory ; to Brussels, M. de Pontecoulant ; to 
 Rouen, M. Beugnot ; to Amiens, M. Quinette ; to 
 Ghent, M. Faypoult, formerly minister of finance. 
 All these men, and others, who were found in the 
 Constituent Assembly, the Legislative Assembly, the 
 Convention, and the Five Hundred, and who were 
 taken from amongst the ministers, the directors, 
 and the ambassadors of the republic, were ready to 
 give a fair start to the new administrative func- 
 tions, andlo confer on the government of the pro- 
 vinces the importance which it deserved. The 
 greater part of them retained their offices during 
 the reign of the first consul and of the emperor. < >ne 
 of them, M. de Jessaint, was a prefect within the 
 last four years. For the prefecture of Paris, the 
 
 first consul made choice of Frochot, and gave 
 him for a colleague at the prefecture of police, M. 
 Dubois, a magistrate whose energy was useful in 
 purging the capital of those ill-doers whom fac- 
 tion had thrown within its bosom. 
 
 The judicial appointments were made in the 
 same spirit. Men of honoured name, acquired in 
 the former bar and the former magistracy, were as- 
 sociated, wherever it could be done, with new men 
 of renown and probity. Wherever he could throw 
 a lustre on these offices by noble names, the first 
 consul failed not to do so, for he liked eclat in all 
 things ; and the time had come when, without 
 danger, something might be borrowed from the 
 past. A magistrate named Aguesseau headed the 
 list of judicial appointments, as the chief of the 
 tribunal of appeal of Paris, now the " Royal Court." 
 These functionaries received instructions, imme- 
 diately on their appointment, to depart on the 
 instant, for the purpose of taking possession of 
 their seats, and of contributing their part to that 
 work of re-organization which formed the constant 
 occupation of the young general, out of which he 
 wished to create his fame, and which, after so 
 many prodigies of victory, has remained, in fact, 
 the most stable of his glories 
 
 Where society had been turned so completely 
 topsy-turvy, it became necessary to handle every 
 matter at the same time. The emigration, at 
 once so blameable and so pitiable, — a just object 
 alike of sympathy and aversion, since in its ranks 
 were to be found men cruelly persecuted, and 
 bad Frenchmen who had conspired against their 
 country, — the emigration required the earnest 
 attention of the government. According to the 
 last law, a decree, either of the directory or of 
 the administration of the department, was in itself 
 sufficient to place any absent individual on the list 
 of emigrants, from which moment his goods be- 
 came confiscated, and the law pronounced his 
 death if he were again found on the territory of 
 the republic. A great number of individuals, who 
 were actually emigrants, or had only secreted 
 themselves, and who had not been inscribed on the 
 fatal list, either because they had escaped notice, 
 or no one had been found to denounce them, were, 
 however, still liable to be placed upon it ; and thus 
 there were numbers of Frenchmen who were living 
 in a continual anxiety. It wanted but an enemy 
 to meet them, and they might be instantly on the 
 list, and subject to the laws and penalties of pro- 
 scription. As regards those who had been already 
 placed on the list, justly or not, they were arriving 
 in great numbers to have their names struck off. 
 Their eagerness, and their very rashness, showed 
 their confidence in the humanity of the govern- 
 ment ; but was rather annoying to certain of the 
 revolutionists, some of whom were conscious of 
 excesses committed against the returning emi- 
 grants, others of having obtained possession of their 
 property. This was a new source of difficulty in 
 the arrangements ; for while it was necessary that 
 proscription should cease, it was also necessary not 
 to expose to continual uneasiness those who had 
 taken a part, especially a violent one, in the con- 
 flicts of the revolution, which owed to those who 
 had compromised themselves for it a complete 
 security ; since, unfortunately, men in general are 
 either cold and selfish, or passionate partisans of
 
 1800. 
 Jan. 
 
 Some emigrants still 
 proscribed. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 
 
 Right of bequeathing by 
 will re-established. 
 
 41 
 
 the cause they take up ; in which latter case they 
 ean ordinarily claim little merit for their mode- 
 ration. 
 
 To such a state of things it was urgent to apply 
 a remedy ; and the government introduced a bill, 
 whose first enactment was to close the famous list 
 of emigrants. On and after the 4th Nivose, 
 year vin., or December 25, 1799, the day on which 
 the constitution came in force, the list of emigrants 
 was declared to be closed ; that is to say, the fact of 
 absence posterior to that date was no longer to be 
 construed as emigration, or to be liable to the same 
 Banishment : liberty was granted to come and go, 
 to travel from France to a foreign country, and 
 from a foreign country to France, without com- 
 mitting a punishable offence ; for it is a fact, that 
 for ten years absence had been a crime. The 
 liberty, then, of coming and going was thus restored 
 to every citizen. 
 
 To this first enactment a second was added : 
 individuals more or less liable to the charge of 
 emigration, whether from having left the country 
 for a short time, or simply concealed themselves, to 
 keep out of the way of persecution, and who by good 
 fortune had been omitted in the proscription list, — 
 were now no longer to be placed upon it but by au- 
 thority of a decision of the ordinary tribunals ; that 
 is to say, of a jury. This was tantamount, in some 
 measure, to closing the list for them also, as there 
 was little risk that many names would be added 
 to it in the then spirit of the tribunals. 
 
 Lastly, while the handing them over to the tri- 
 bunals insured to those whose names had not been 
 inscribed, the guarantees of the common law, those 
 who had been unjustly placed on the list, or who 
 pretended to be so, in their wish to have their 
 names struck off, were referred to the administra- 
 tive authority. The intended indulgence of the 
 new government in favour of these parties was 
 evident in this ; for the new administrative autho- 
 rities, created by it, and imbued with its spirit, 
 could not fail to lend a ready ear to claims of this 
 nature : the presenting a certificate of residence 
 in any part of France (and there was no difficulty 
 about false certificates) was all that was necessary 
 to prove that the party had been wrongfully de- 
 clared absent, and to cause him to be erased from 
 the li>t of emigrants. With the general good- 
 natured inclination to violate tyrannical laws, this 
 means of obtaining their erasure seldom failed 
 right it. More than this, emigrants 
 who Wished to procure their erasure, were allowed 
 -enter franco " under surveillance" of the 
 chief police; in the language of the times, this was 
 called K obtaining surveillances;" they were given 
 in great numbers, so that those of the emigrants 
 who had most need of it, were enabled thus to an- 
 ticipate tie- mom en t of their erasure; and, indeed, 
 many of them went no further, but made use of 
 these '" butvi illanees" as a definitive recall. 
 
 Emigrants, however, there were, whose nam. a 
 could no) be cat oat from that fatal list, because of 
 
 the notorious scandal of tin-it- emigration. In 
 
 ct of these the existing laws were still main- 
 tained. The spirit of the times was such, that it 
 was not possible to do otherwise. For the unfor- 
 tunate tlere was pity; but anger only for the 
 guilty who had quitted t lie- territory of France to 
 bear arms against their country, or invite against 
 
 her the arms of the foreigner. For the rest, whether 
 erased or not, no man could recover his property 
 if sold. All sales were irrevocable, both by virtue 
 of the constitution, and the enactments of the new 
 law ; those only who, after their erasure, found 
 their property had not been sold, though seques- 
 tered, were enabled to indulge the hope of recover- 
 ing it for themselves. 
 
 Such was the law as proposed and adopted by 
 an immense majority, despite objections made in 
 the tribunate, on the part of some, who found shown 
 in it either too much or too little favour towards 
 the emigrants. 
 
 Among the legal enactments then in force, there 
 was one which appears insupportably tyrannical — 
 a restraint on the power of bequeathing by will. 
 As the laws stood, no man at his death could dis- 
 pose of more by will than a tenth portion of his 
 property if he had children; of a sixth if he had 
 none. These enactments resulted from the first 
 indignation of the revolution against the abuses 
 of the old state of French aristocratic society, 
 where paternal vanity, sometimes from a desire 
 to aggrandize an elder son, sometimes to force 
 the affections of children to ill-assorted mar- 
 riages, would despoil some for the benefit of others. 
 Under the natural influence of anger thus aroused, 
 in place of reducing the power of a father within 
 due limits, the revolution completely fettered it. 
 It was no longer in the power of a parent to re- 
 ward or punish. If he had children, there was 
 nothing, or little more than nothing, which he 
 could leave in favour of the child that merited all 
 his affection; and, what is more extraordinary, if 
 he had only nephews, whether nearly or distantly 
 related to him, he could only leave them a portion 
 of his property the most insignificant, that is to 
 say, a sixteenth. This was in truth an attack on 
 the rights of property, and, of all the rigorous en- 
 actments of the revolution, the one most keenly 
 felt; for the hand of death strikes down every day 
 its victims; and thousands who died, breathed their 
 last sigh in regret at an inability to obey the last 
 dictates of their hearts towards those who had 
 served them, cared for them, and consoled them 
 in their old age. A reform like this could not 
 possibly wait the drawing up of the civil code. A 
 law to re-establish the right of bequeathing by will, 
 within certain restrictions, was at once brought in. 
 By virtue of this law, a father who had less than 
 four children was empowered at his death to be- 
 queath a fourth of his property; if less than five, 
 a fifth ; and so on in the same proportion. He 
 might dispose of a half if he had neither ascending 
 nor collateral relations, and of the whole when he 
 had no kindred qualified to succeed him. 
 
 This measure \\;is much attacked in the tri- 
 bunate ; above all, by the tribune Andricux, a 
 man of honesty and sincerity, but with more en- 
 thusiasm than judgment lie spoke of it as a return 
 to the abuses of primogeniture, to the violent in- 
 justice of the cmoien rlgime, in the ease of the chil- 
 dren of men of rank; but this law, like the others, 
 was passed by an immense majority. 
 
 By another law the government instituted a 
 tribunal of prizes, which had become indispensable 
 for rendering impartial justice to the neutral 
 powers, and conciliating them towards franco by 
 better treatment. The attention of the two nsscm-
 
 42 
 
 Laws relating to finance. 
 Budget of 1800. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Special receivers of taxes 1800. 
 appointed. Jan. 
 
 blies was, lastly, invited to the laws respecting 
 the finances. 
 
 The government had but little to address to the 
 legislative body on this subject, as the two legis- 
 lative commissioners had already returned the 
 necessary laws. "What had been done by the 
 government in working out the administration of 
 those laws, was scarcely a matter for discussion. 
 It was, however, necessary to decree, if only as a 
 matter of form, the budget of the year vm. Had 
 the taxes been regularly collected, had the regu- 
 lar imposts been exactly paid, and not only regu- 
 larly paid by the contributors, but duly handed 
 over by those who received the public monies, the 
 finances of the state would have been in a tolerable 
 condition. The ordinary taxes would give about 
 430,000,000 f., to which amount the government 
 hoped to reduce the public expenses in time of 
 peace ; indeed they promised themselves to bring 
 them down still lower. Experience soon proved 
 that this was not possible even in time of peace, but 
 it has also shown that it was easy to bring up the 
 receipts from the taxes to this amount, without in- 
 creasing the rate of taxation. We exclude from 
 this calculation the expense of collection, and local 
 expenses, which, reckoning them as they are reck- 
 oned now, would bring the budget of this date up 
 to 600,000,000 f. or 620,000,000 f. 
 
 The great and certain insufficiency of the re- 
 ceipts was only apparent in the expenses of the war 
 — a result not to be wondered at, as it always must 
 be the case. In no country can a war be supported 
 on the ordinary revenues of peace. If this were 
 the case, it would sufficiently prove that the taxes 
 were too great in a time of tranquillity. But, 
 thanks to the disorder of the past, no one could 
 tell, whether with a war the budget would rise to 
 600,000,000 f., 700,000.000 f , or 800 000.000 f. 
 One party said 600,000,0001'., the other 800,000,000f. 
 Every one had a different conjecture on this sub- 
 ject. Experience here also proves that about 
 1 50,000,000 f. added to the ordinary budget, are 
 enough to furnish the expenses of a war, especially 
 with an army always victorious, and living on the 
 enemies' country. The budget for the year was, 
 therefore, made out at 600,000,000f. of expences and 
 receipts ; and as the ordinary revenues amounted 
 to 430,000,000 f., there was, therefore, a deficiency 
 of 1 70,000,000 f. This, however, was not the real 
 difficulty. It would have been too much to pre- 
 tend, on just emerging from a financial chaos, to 
 aim at an immediate equalization of the receipts 
 with the expenditure. What was first necessary 
 was to get in the ordinary taxes. If this first 
 result could be reached, the government was sure 
 to have resources soon to meet the most pr 
 wants ; for credit would quickly feel the effect ; 
 and with the different bills and securities, the 
 creation of which wo have elsewhere enumerated, 
 it would have, in its hands, means of obtaining from 
 capitalists the necessary funds for every depart- 
 ment. Fortius M. Graudin worked unremittingly; 
 seconded, in all the difficulties which he met, by 
 the firm and sustained purpose of the first consul. 
 The board of direct constitution, recently esta- 
 blished, displayed the greatest activity. The as- 
 sessment papers were well Bent out, and already in 
 course of collection. The bills of tin; receivers- 
 general began to find their way into the treasury, 
 
 and were discounted at a rate of interest not too 
 usurious. The difficulty in establishing this sys- 
 tem of bills consisted always in the amount of 
 paper in circulation, which it is difficult to fix, 
 especially as regarded each general receipt. A re- 
 ceiver, for instance, who should collect 20,000,000 f. , 
 could not sign bills for that amount, if he was 
 liable to be called upon for six or eight millions of 
 dead securities, either bonds of arrearage, bonds 
 of requisition, or similar obligations. 
 
 The minister applied himself to retiring these 
 obligations, and when he had made an estimate how 
 much they would enter into of each general receipt, 
 he drew upon the receivers-general for the amount 
 which he calculated would come into their coffers. 
 There were created, in the same session, a new 
 class of accountable officers, whose duty it was to 
 bring about greater exactness in the transmission 
 of monies to the treasury; these were the receivers 
 for the arrondissement. Hitherto there had been 
 no intermediate officer between those who collected 
 from the tax-payers, and the receiver-general placed 
 in each chief town, than the clerk of the receipts, 
 the receiver-general's own agent, dependent upon 
 him, and telling the truth to him alone. This was 
 exactly one of the points at which the entry of the 
 money into the public coffers could be best noted 
 and ascertained, and this very point was miserably 
 neglected. Special receivers were now appointed 
 to each arrondissement, who were dependent on 
 the state, owing to it an account of what they re- 
 ceived and handed over to the receivers-general; 
 they were thus well-informed and disinterested 
 witnesses as to the progress of the sums collected, 
 since to them no advantage could arise from a stag- 
 nation of the public monies in the coffers of the 
 accountable officers. By these appointments the 
 government obtained the advantage of knowing the 
 exact state of the receipts, and of having in its 
 hands new securities in cash ; a matter of indif- 
 ference now, but not so just then ; it had, lastly, 
 the advantage of finding a new employment for the 
 lately devised division into the arrondissements. 
 The courts of civil and correctional justice, and 
 a great portion of the communal administration, 
 had already been established in the centre of the 
 arrondiESement; by fixing also a part of the financial 
 administration in the same place, a still further 
 usefulness would be given to this division, which 
 the malicious were attempting to disparage as 
 being only an arbitrary subdivision of the country. 
 And since for particular reasons it had been con- 
 sidered a necessary step, there could be nothing 
 hotter than to multiply its uses, and so render real 
 what was charged with being artificial. The prefects 
 and sub-prefects received orders to visit the re- 
 ceivers, and themselves to watch, by an inspection 
 of the books, over the exactitude of their trans- 
 actions. Fortunately it is not so in our time ; but at 
 that moment, when the whole plan was but as it 
 were a rough sketch, the sending a prelect and 
 Bub-prefect to inspect their accounts, was by no 
 means a use less stimulant to employ with account- 
 able officers. 
 
 The rc-organization of the finances thus went on 
 with all possible rapidity ; but assemblies can only 
 understand results when they are realized. They 
 could not perceive how much that was actually 
 useful was doing in the interior of the administra-
 
 1800. 
 Jan. 
 
 The bank of France 
 established. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 
 
 Reply of the British ca- 
 binet to the first con- 
 sul's letter. 
 
 43 
 
 tion. In the tribunate they were eloquent without 
 end on the great question of the equalization of 
 receipts with expenses ; they complained of the 
 deficit; they brought forward a thousand plans; 
 and there were some persons so senseless as to 
 incline to a* rejection of the finance laws until the 
 government should propose some means of bringing 
 the expenses And receipts to a balance. But all 
 these propositions led to no result ; the proposed 
 laws wire passed by a great majority in the tri- 
 bunate, and almost unanimously by the legislative 
 body. 
 
 An institution, worthy of mention in history, 
 was added next to those of which we have just 
 recounted the foundation ; this was the bank of 
 France. The old establishments for discount had 
 fallen in the midst of the disorders of the invo- 
 lution ; it was impossible, however, that Paris 
 could remain without a batik. In every centre of 
 commerce, where any activity exists, there must 
 be a money convenient for payments, or, in other 
 words, a paper-money, and an establishment to 
 discount on a large scale the drafts of commerce. 
 These two branches afford to each other a mutual 
 .nice ; for the funds deposited against bills 
 in circulation, serve at the same time to aid com- 
 mercial transactions in the way of discount. In 
 fact, where any business is stirring, however in- 
 considerable, a bank cannot fail to make a profit, 
 if it discount good bills only, and do not issue 
 more notes than are required; in a word, if it pro- 
 portion its operations to the true wants of the 
 place where it is established. This is what was 
 wanted in Paris, and its success was certain if it 
 were properly constituted. The new bank, be- 
 sides transactions with private individuals, was to 
 have transactions with the treasury, and conse- 
 quently, while making profits, it had to give ser- 
 vices in return. The government consulted the 
 principal bankers of the capital, at the head of 
 whom M. Perregaax placed himself, a financier 
 whose name connects itself with all the great ser- 
 vices rendered at that time to the state ; and there 
 was soon formed an association of rich capitalists 
 for the creation of a bank, called the bank of 
 France, the same which is in existence at this day. 
 Its capital was settled at 30,000,000f. ; it was to 
 be governed by fifteen directors and a managing 
 committee of three persons, which committee after- 
 wards gave place to a governor. It was, by its 
 statutes, to discount commercial bills representing 
 irnate not fictitious transactions, to issue notes 
 circulating as money, and was interdicted from 
 engaging in any business foreign to discounts and 
 dealing in bullion. Faithful to its statutes, it 
 prawn up into the finest establishment of this 
 kind in the world. It will be seen presently what 
 was dose by the government to push on the ope- 
 ratioiis of this bank with a speed which made it 
 proap roua in tin- earliest days of its existence. 
 
 Pending these great operations for die improve* 
 iih nt of the- internal administration, to which the 
 oonsular government, in eonoert with the legis- 
 lative body, sedulously applied itself, negotiations 
 with foreign powers, friendly or belligerent, were 
 oarried on without interruption. The letter of the 
 Rial consul to the king of England was followed 
 by an immediate answer. The Brat eonsul had 
 written on the 20th December, the 6th Nivose ; he 
 
 was answered on the 4th January, the 14th Ni- 
 vose : indeed, the resolution of the English cabinet 
 had been taken beforehand, and it had no neces- 
 sity for deliberation. England, in 1797, when her 
 finances were in a state of embarrassment, and when 
 Austria had been compelled to sign the treaty 
 of Campo Formio, had been inclined to think of 
 treating, and sent Lord Malmesbury to Lille ; but 
 now that the income-tax had restored ease to her 
 exchequer, — now that Austria, placed again in a 
 state of war with us, had carried her arms to our 
 very frontiers, — now that England was strenuously 
 occupied in wresting from us our important positions 
 in Malta and Egypt, and in avenging the affront of 
 the Texel, — peace was but little to the taste of that 
 power. She had, besides, another reason for this 
 refusal, which was, that war was suited to the 
 passions and the interests of Mr. Pitt. This illus- 
 trious head of the British cabinet had made a war 
 with France his object, his glory, and the basis of 
 his political existence. If peace were necessary, 
 possibly he must retire. He brought to the con- 
 flict that firmness of character, which, united to his 
 talent as an orator, had made him a statesman, 
 powerful, though not enlightened. The answer 
 could not be a matter of doubt ; it was dis- 
 courteous, and in the negative. The English cabinet 
 did not do the first consul the honour of addressing 
 the answer directly to him, but keeping up the 
 custom, in most respects an excellent one, of com- 
 municating from minister to minister, they replied 
 in a note addressed by Lord Grenville to M. de 
 Talleyrand. 
 
 In this note, with some want of skill, the chagrin 
 was allowed to be seen which this challenge to 
 peace, not to war, addressed to England by the first 
 consul, had occasioned to Mr. Pitt. It contained a 
 recapitulation of the original causes of the war, eter- 
 nally reproduced, year after year. It imputed the 
 first aggression to the French republic; reproached 
 it in violent terms for the ravages committed in 
 Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and Italy, making 
 especial mention of the rapine carried on by the 
 generals in the latter country; it added to this 
 charge that of a desire to overthrow the throne 
 and the altar every where ; and then, coming to 
 the last overtures of the French consul, the English 
 minister said that those feigned demonstrations of 
 pacific intentions were not the first of the same 
 kind, for that the different revolutionary govern- 
 ments, successively raised up and pulled down 
 within ten years, had more than once made similar 
 proposals; that his majesty the king of Great Bri- 
 tain could not yet observe, in what was passing in 
 France, any change of principles capable of giving 
 satisfaction and tranquillity to Europe; that the 
 only change which could thoroughly re-assure it, 
 would be the restoration of the house of Bourbon, 
 sine'' thm only would social order appear to lie no 
 
 longer endangered; that, nevertheless, the re-esta- 
 blishment of that family was not made an absolute 
 condition of peace with the republic of France; but 
 that until there were new symptoms moro signifi- 
 cant ami more satisfactory, England would continue 
 the contest, as well for her own safety as that of 
 her alliis. 
 
 This discourteous note was disapproved of by Sen- 
 sible men in all enuntries,:md reflected little honour 
 on Mi. Pitt) as showing him more in anger than
 
 Fruitless correspondence be- 
 44 txveen the first consul and 
 lord Grenville. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Communications with 
 
 Austria. 
 
 1800. 
 Jan. 
 
 he was wise. It showed that many indeed are 
 the victories required by a new government before 
 it cau be respected; since, though the government 
 then existing had already won victories both nu- 
 merous and brilliant, it was evident that more 
 were still wanted. The first consul was not dis- 
 concerted, and in his desire to profit by the good 
 position which the moderation of his conduct gave 
 him in the eyes of the world, he prepared an an- 
 swer at once mild and firm, not in the form of a 
 letter to the king, but as a despatch addressed to 
 the minister of foreign affairs, Lord Grenville. 
 Recapitulating in a few words the first events of 
 the war, he proved, in very guarded language, that 
 the sole object of France in taking up arms had 
 been to resist an European conspiracy directed 
 against her safety ; granting the misfortunes which 
 the revolution had brought upon the whole world, 
 he insinuated, in a passing way, that those who had 
 persecuted the French republic with such eager 
 hate, might possibly reproach themselves de- 
 servedly with being the true causes of the vio- 
 lences so often deplored. " But," added he, " to 
 what good are these remembrances ? Behold, now, 
 a government disposed that war should cease.^ 
 Shall this war have no end, because the one party 
 or the other was the aggressor ? and if it be not 
 to endure for ever, should we not put an end to 
 these incessant recriminations ? Surely there can 
 be no hope of obtaining from France the re-esta- 
 blishment of the Bourbons; is it then suitable to 
 the purpose to throw out hints such as those which 
 have been allowed? Nay, what would be said if 
 France in her communications were to call upon 
 England to re-establish on the throne that family 
 of the Stuarts, which only left it in the last cen- 
 tury? But to pass over such irritating questions," 
 added the note dictated by the first consul, " if you 
 deplore, as we do, the evils of war, let us agree to 
 a suspension of arms; let us fix a town, Dunkirk 
 for instance, or any other of your own choice, 
 where negotiations may be carried on; the French 
 government will place at the disposal of Great 
 Britain passports for the ministers she may invest 
 with proper powers." 
 
 The very calmness of this attitude produced the 
 usual effect which coolness has upon angry men. 
 It provoked a reply from Lord Grenville, more 
 angry, more bitter, and even worse in reason than 
 his first note. In this answer, the English mi- 
 nister, seeking to palliate the fault which he had 
 committed in speaking of the house of Bourbon, 
 responded, that it was not for that family the 
 war was carried on, but for the safety of all go- 
 vernments ; and he declared anew that hostilities 
 would be continued without relaxation. This last 
 communication bore the date of the 20th January 
 or 30th Nivose. Nothing more could be said. Bo- 
 naparte had done enough ; confiding in his glory, 
 he had not feared to offer peace ; he had made the 
 offer with not much of hope, but in good faith ; 
 and had gained by this step the double advantage 
 of unveiling to the eyes of France, as well as to 
 those of the English opposition, the unreasonable 
 passion of Mr. Pitt. Fortunate would it have been, 
 if at all times he had united with his power, so skil- 
 fully calculated, the same moderation of conduct. 
 
 The communications of Austria were more cour- 
 teous, but gave no greater hope of peace. This 
 
 power, convinced that the intentions of the first 
 consul, however pacific, would not go to the extent 
 of abandoning Italy in her favour, was resolved to 
 continue the war ; but, having some experience of 
 the conqueror of Castiglione and of Rivoli, and 
 knowing that with such an antagonist victory could 
 not altogether be considered a certainty, she was 
 desirous of not closing every path to ulterior nego- 
 tiation. 
 
 As if Austria and England had an understand- 
 ing about formalities, the answer of the emperor to 
 the first consul was by a despatch from M. de Thugut 
 to M. de Talleyrand, dated 15th January, 1800, or 
 25 Nivose. In substance it was the same as the 
 English notes. Both only made war, they said, 
 to guaranty Europe against a general overturn ; 
 there was nothing they more desired than to see 
 France disposed towards peace : but what gua- 
 rantee could be given of this new disposition ? The 
 cabinet of Vienna admitted that there was hope, 
 under the first consul, of greater moderation at 
 home and abroad, more stability in purpose, and 
 greater fidelity to engagements entered into, and 
 that from these might in time result the chance of 
 a solid and lasting peace. This happy change they 
 expected from his great talents; but without saying 
 it in words, they gave him to understand that when 
 the change was completely brought about, it would 
 be time enough to negotiate. 
 
 Dealing with Austria as he had done with Eng- 
 land, the first consul did not let the matter rest 
 with this evasive exposition. Not discouraged by 
 the vagueness of the answer, he felt inclined to 
 put the cabinet of Vienna under the necessity of 
 explaining itself positively, and of either refusing 
 or accepting peace in a categorical manner. On 
 the 28th February, or 9th Ventdse, Talleyrand was 
 instructed to write to M. Thugut, and to offer 
 him the adoption, as the basis of a negotiation, of 
 the treaty of Campo Formio. This treaty, he 
 observed, was an act of great moderation on 
 the part of Bonaparte towards the emperor of 
 Austria, since — when in 1797 he had it in his 
 power, from the menacing position of the French 
 army at the gate of Vienna, to require from that 
 prince great sacrifices — he had, in the hope of a 
 lasting peace, preferred moderate advantages to 
 those of a more extensive nature ; he had even, 
 added the French minister, incurred, by his con- 
 duct to the imperial court, the blame of the direc- 
 tory. Lastly, M. de Talleyrand declared that the 
 house of Austria should receive in Italy the in- 
 demnification which, by the treaty of Campo For- 
 mio, had been promised to it in Germany. 
 
 To comprehend the bearing of these proposals 
 of the first consul, we must recah^ to mind that 
 the treaty of Campo Formio ceded to France, 
 Belgium and Luxemburgh ; to the Cisalpine Re- 
 public, Lombardy, Mantua, and the Legations ; 
 and that Austria received as an indemnification, 
 Venice and a great portion of the Venetian states. 
 As regards the line of the Rhine, embracing be- 
 tween Belgium and Luxemburgh the country com- 
 prised within the Meuse, the Moselle, and the 
 Rhine, — in a word, those we now call the Rhenish 
 Provinces, — Austria was to use her mediation to 
 have them ceded to France by the Germanic em- 
 pire. Austria, at the time, ceded, on her own 
 part, the countship of Falkenstein, lying between
 
 1800. Reply of Austria to the 
 Jan. first consul's proposals. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. Further correspondence. 45 
 
 Lorrain and Alsace, and engaged to open to the 
 French troops the gates of Mayence, which she 
 occupied as a count of the empire. As a com- 
 pensation, Austria was to receive the bishopric of 
 Saltzburg, contiguous to Bavaria, as soon as the 
 ecclesiastical provinces were secularized. These 
 different arrangements formed the subject of ne- 
 gotiations at the congress of Rastadt, which ter- 
 minated so tragically in 1/1)9, by the assassination 
 of the French plenipotentiaries. Such was the 
 treaty of Campo Formio. 
 
 In offering this treaty as the basis of a new ne- 
 gotiation, the first consul did not surrender the 
 question of the frontier of the Rhine, as far as 
 concerned the Rhenish provinces : he only decided 
 the question of Belgium, which had been irre- 
 vocably conceded to France, while he left that 
 of the Rhenish Provinces to ulterior negotiation 
 with the empire ; and by offering in Italy the in- 
 demnification formerly stipulated for in Germany, 
 he insinuated that the success obtained in Italy by 
 Austria might be taken into consideration, and 
 place her in a more advantageous position in that 
 country. He added, that for the secondary powers 
 of Europe there should be stipulated a system of 
 guarantees, proper to re-establish in all its force that 
 law of nations on which the security and well-doing 
 of nations so essentially depend. This was an allu- 
 sion to the invasion of Switzerland, of Piedmont, of 
 Tuscany, the Papal States, and Naples, which had 
 afforded matter for a heavy charge against the 
 directory, and had been taken as the pretext for the 
 second coalition ; it was a sufficiently clear offer to 
 re-establish those states, and to give Europe an 
 assurance against the pretended usurpations of the 
 French republic. To such offers no addition could 
 be made ; and the necessity of peace for France 
 could have alone induced the first consul to make 
 them. Not to do things by halves, he addressed to 
 Austria, as well as to England, a formal proposal 
 for a suspension of arms, not only on the Rhine, 
 where Bach a suspension already existed, but also 
 on the Alps and the Apennines, where it was not 
 yet in being. 
 
 On the L»4th of March, the 3rd Germinal, M. 
 Thngut replied in tqrms, otherwise very moderate, 
 that the treaty of Campo Formio, which had been 
 violated as soon as concluded, did not comprise a 
 system of pacification, which could give assurance 
 to tin- belligerent parties ; that the true principle 
 adopted in all negotiations was to take as a basis 
 th<; position in which tin- success of their arms had 
 lift each power, and this was the sole basis to 
 which Austria could agree. M. Thngut added, that 
 prerioua to going any further, he had to demand an 
 explanation relative to the form of the negotiation ; 
 that it bt bored him to know if France were willing 
 to admit negotiations from all the states engaged 
 in the war, for the purpose of arriving at a general 
 peace, — the only peace; which would be fair and 
 prudent, and to which alone Austria would accede. 
 
 This language proved two things. Firstly, that 
 Austria, by wishing to take as a starting-point 
 
 the actual position ', that is to say, tho situation in 
 
 which the list campaign had left each power, fos- 
 tered great pretensions in regard to Italy. Secondly, 
 that she would not separate herself from England, 
 
 • L'etat actucl. 
 
 to whom treaties of subsidy closely bound her. 
 This fidelity to England was, on her part, a duty 
 made necessary by her position ; and influenced, 
 as will be seen before long, the fate of the nego- 
 tiations and the war. 
 
 Such an answer, however civil its terms, left 
 little hope of an understanding, especially as it 
 made the conduct of a power disposed to listen to 
 some mention of peace, dependent on that of an- 
 other, resolved not to listen to any. Neverthe- 
 less, Bonaparte sent a new reply, in which, while 
 offering in Italy the compensation before stipu- 
 lated in Germany, he proposed implicitly to take 
 the starting-point of the treat)', not from the status 
 ante helium, but from the status post bellum; that 
 is to say, to take into account the success of Austria 
 in Italy. He further observed, that the overtures 
 he had made to England showed his desire for a 
 general peace ; that there was little to be hoped 
 from a negotiation common to all the belligerent 
 powers, since England would not hear of an accom- 
 modation; that he had admitted plainly and simply 
 the proposals of Austria ; that he waited, in con- 
 sequence, the fixing a place where they might 
 treat ; but that, as they wished to go on fighting, 
 it must be settled for some place beyond the theatre 
 of war. 
 
 Austria declared, that as such were the inten- 
 tions of the French cabinet, she must communi- 
 cate with her allies, but that, until she had consulted 
 them, it was impossible for her to name any place 
 positively. This was postponing the negotiations to 
 an indefinite period. 
 
 In making these overtures to England and Aus- 
 tria, the first consul never deceived himself as to 
 the result ; but he was inclined to try pacific steps, 
 firstly, because he had a desire for peace, regard- 
 ing it as necessary to the organization of his new 
 government ; secondly, because he judged such a 
 step would place him better in the public mind of 
 France and Europe. 
 
 His calculations were completely justified by 
 what passed in the parliament of England. Mr. Pitt, 
 by his brutal 2 manner of replying to the overtures 
 of France, had brought upon himself attacks the 
 most vehement, as well as justly grounded. The 
 opposition of Fox and Sheridan had never felt a 
 nobler inspiration, never had shed such glory, or 
 more justly deserved tho esteem of honourable 
 men in all countries. 
 
 There was, in fact, a great dearth of motives for 
 the continuance of the war; since England was then 
 in a position to obtain all she could reasonably desire. 
 She would certainly not have obtained the abandon- 
 ment of Egypt; but as she, four months later, offered 
 to resign it altogether and leave us to do as we liked 
 with it, as tho subsequent negotiations will prove, 
 sin- might have consented to this at once, and at 
 that price have preserved herconqucsts, the Indies 
 
 included, she would thus have been spared the 
 immense danger to which her obstinacy after- 
 wards exposed her. It was therefore, at bottom, 
 nothing but the interest of the ministers which 
 induced the British cabinet to support the war with 
 
 such eagerness, The remonstrances of tl ppoBi- 
 
 tion were strong and unceasing. They demanded 
 and obtained the papers relating to the negOtia- 
 
 '-' lirutalc.
 
 4G 
 
 Vehement debates in the 
 British parliament on 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 the rejection of the over- 1800. 
 tures for peace. Jan. 
 
 tions, and these led to the most violent debates. 
 The ministers maintained that it was not in their 
 power to negotiate with the French government, 
 since there could be no certainty in entering into a 
 treaty with it ; that it had drawn upon itself, by 
 its breach of faith, a war with the whole world, 
 Denmark and Sweden alone excepted, and that 
 even with the latter of these two countries its 
 relations were much impaired ; that peace with 
 such a government would be treacherous and fatal, 
 as evidenced in the Italian States; that, after having 
 been the aggressor against every sovereign in 
 Europe, it desired to dethrone them all, devoured 
 as it was by an incessant craving after destruction 
 and conquest ; that Bonaparte offered no more 
 guarantees than his predecessors; that if the new 
 French government were no longer terrorist, it 
 was equally revolutionary, and that with the French 
 revolution neither truce nor peace could be boped 
 for ; and that if it could not be totally annihi- 
 lated, it might at least be so worn out, as to be- 
 come at last, from Us weakness, no longer an ob- 
 ject of terror. In regard to the first consul the 
 English ministers, and especially lord Grenville, 
 made use of language the most outrageous; indeed 
 they spoke of him as they might of Robespierre. 
 
 Fox, Sheridan, Tierney, the duke of Bedford, 
 and Lord Holland, replied with much reason to all 
 these allegations, — " Do you ask who was the 
 aggressor V said they ; " of what importance is 
 that? You say France; France says England. 
 Must we go on destroying each other until this 
 historical point is settled ? And what matters it 
 who was the aggressor, if he, wbom you call so, 
 offers first to lay down bis arms? You say it 
 is impossible to treat with the French govern- 
 ment ; you sent, yourselves, Lord Malmesbury to 
 Lille, to treat with the directory! Prussia and 
 Spain have had treaties with the French republic, 
 and make no complaint of it. You talk of the 
 crimes of this government ; but your all}', the 
 court of Naples, commits crimes which are more 
 atrocious than those of the convention, while it has 
 not the excuse of popular fury. You talk of am- 
 bition ; but Russia, Prussia, and Austria have 
 shared Poland amongst them, and Austria is 
 aiming to reconquer Italy, without restoring their 
 states to the princes whom France has dispos- 
 sessed of them; for yourselves, — you have made 
 yourselves masters of India, of a part of the colo- 
 nies of Spain, and of all the Dutch colonies. Who 
 will have the audacity to proclaim himself more 
 disinterested than the n .-■;■ in the struggle of 
 anger and greediness, in which all the states are 
 engaged 1 Either -you will never treat with the 
 French republic, or you will never find a moment 
 more favourable than the present, since a man of 
 power and authority has taken the reins of govern- 
 ment, and seems disposed to use it with justice 
 and moderation. Is it worthy of the English go- 
 vernment to heap abuse on an illustrious personage, 
 the head of one of the first nations of the world, 
 and who, at least, is a great soldier, whatever may 
 be the vices or virtues which time may bring to 
 light in him ? Unless we are prepared to say that 
 we will exhaust Great Britain, her blood, her 
 treasures, her most precious resources, in re- 
 establishing the house of Bourbon, it will not be 
 easy to assign a good reason for refusing to treat 
 
 at this time." To arguments so pressing and so 
 true there was no replying. Mr. Tierney, taking 
 advantage of the fault committed by the English 
 minister, in speaking, in his note, of the re- 
 establishment of the house of Bourbon, made a 
 special motion against that family. He proposed 
 the adoption of a formal resolution, declaring that 
 the cause of England was distinct from that of the 
 Bourbons, — a family so fatal to the two countries, 
 " to Great Britain," exclaimed he, " as well as to 
 France." "I have heard," he continued, " many 
 partisans of the administration of Mr. Pitt say, 
 that as the French government had not proposed a 
 joint negotiation, there was good reason for re- 
 fusing to negotiate separately, as it would weaken 
 us, by alienating our allies ; but I have not 
 seen the man who has not severely blamed thus 
 fixing the termination of the war at the date 
 of the re-establishment of the Bourbons on the 
 throne ! " It is true, as Mr. Tierney said, that 
 every one blamed this error; and that the cabinet 
 of Vienna, less actuated by passion than that of 
 Great Britain, took care not to follow its example. 
 The English ministers replied, that they had never 
 proposed this condition as one absolute and indis- 
 pensable; but they were met with the rejoinder, 
 that the very mention of it was a sufficient viola- 
 tion of the rights of nations, and an outrage on 
 their freedom. " And what would you say," ex- 
 claimed Mr. Tierney, repeating here the argu- 
 ment of the French cabinet, " what would you 
 say, if general Bonaparte, in an hour of victory, 
 were to declare to you, that he would not treat but 
 with the Stuarts? Moreover," added he, "is it 
 from gratitude to the house of Bourbon that you 
 are thus prodigal of our blood and treasures ? Do 
 you remember the American war ? Or rather, is it 
 for the principle which that house represents ? Are 
 you then about to let loose against yourselves those 
 passions which raised up all France against the 
 Bourbons ? Are you about to have upon your 
 hands all those wdio desire no more nobles, who 
 wish for no more tithes nor feudal rights; all 
 those who have purchased national property ; all 
 those who for ten years have borne arms for the 
 French revolution ? Do you then wish to drain 
 France of her blood to the very last drop, before 
 you think of peace ? I make a formal motion,'' 
 said Mr. Tierney, in conclusion, " that England do 
 separate her cause from that of the house of 
 Bourbon." 
 
 On another motion, the celebrated Sheridan, 
 always the boldest and most sarcastic of orators, 
 turned the debate on a very tender point for the 
 British cabinet, the expedition to Holland, at the 
 (•lose' of which the English and Russians, after a 
 defeat by general Brune, had been reduced to 
 capitulate. 
 
 " it would seem," said Sheridan, " that our go- 
 vernment, if it cannot conclude treaties of peace 
 with the French republic, can at any rate conclude 
 capitulations. I ask it to explain to us the motives 
 of that which it has signed for the evacuation of 
 Holland." Mr. Dundas, thus called upon, assigned 
 three reasons for the expedition to Holland. The 
 first, to detach the united provinces from France ; 
 the second, to diminish the maritime resources of 
 France and to increase those of England, by taking 
 the Dutch fleet ; the third, to create a diversion
 
 1800. 
 Jan. 
 
 Sheridan's speech. — 
 Pitt obtains ample 
 - supplies. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 
 
 France and Prussia. 
 
 47 
 
 which might be useful to the allies ; and he added, 
 that the British cabinet had succeeded in two 
 objects out of three, as it had taken the fleet, and 
 had contributed to the gaining the battle of Novi, 
 by drawing upon Holland the forces destined for 
 Italy. The minister had scarcely ended, when 
 Sheridan, rushing to the attack, retorted with un- 
 equalled point, " Yes, you have listened to the ac- 
 counts of emigrants, and you risked on the conti- 
 nent an English army to cover it with disgrace ; 
 you wished to detach Holland from France, and 
 you have attached it just so much the more, by 
 filling the whole country with indignation at your 
 iniquitous robbery of its fleet and its colonics. You 
 have seized, as you say, the Dutch fleet, but by 
 what unheard of, by what odious proceedings '. by 
 exciting their crews to revolt, and presenting the 
 most terrible of all spectacles, that of sailors in 
 mutiny against their officers, in violation of that 
 discipline which constitutes the strength of naval 
 power and the greatness of our own nation. Yon 
 hare carried off this fleet, to the disgrace of the 
 name of Britain ; not for England, but in any 
 case for the stadtholder ; for you were obliged to 
 declare it was for him, and not for England. 
 Lastly, you rendered a service to the Austrian army 
 in Italy. It may be so; but do you, the minis- 
 •■I' the king of Great Britain, boast of having 
 saved an Austrian army by giving up an English 
 army to slaughter 1" 
 
 These attacks, however virulent, did not prevent 
 Pitt from obtaining immense financial resources, 
 about 1 100,000,(100 f. 1 , or nearly double the budget 
 of France at that period; with an authorization for 
 subsidizing Austria and the states of the south 
 of Germany ; important additions to the income- 
 tax, which" already produced 180,000,000 f. 2 a 
 year ; a new suspension of the habeas corpus 
 act ; and, lastly, the grand measure of a union 
 with Ireland. But the public mind of Eng- 
 land was deeply excited by so much reason and 
 eloquence. All reasoning men throughout Europe 
 wen .struck with the wrong done towards France; 
 and victory ere long siding with justice, Pitt 
 was destined to expiate, by cruel humiliations, 
 the haughtiness of his policy towards the first 
 consul. Meanwhile l'itt had to furnish the coali- 
 tion with means for a new campaign, — the last 
 campaign, it is true, for all the parties were 
 exhausted ; but the more fiercely fought, for the 
 hi that it was the last. 
 In this grave conjuncture, the first consul was 
 desirous of making as much use of the court of 
 
 m as was to bo expected at tie- moment. It 
 
 not in the jiower of this court, in the face 'if 
 such powerful adversaries, to bring about a pi ace, 
 
 - through an armed intervention ; a part not 
 impossible for it to play, but at present unsuited 
 to the views of the young king, who applied himself 
 to recruiting his treasury and his army, while all 
 the nation- around him win- exhausting themselves. 
 This prince had already sounded the beiligerenl 
 
 re, and, as he found them ho out of reason, 
 had given up all idea of Interposing between them. 
 Tie- Prussian cabinet Itself, moreover, had its own 
 interested views. It had a great desire to see 
 Austria Weakened by France, and that she should 
 
 ' £M,000,000. 
 
 5 £7,500,000. 
 
 exhaust herself in the long struggle ; it also 
 wished that France should renounce a part of the 
 frontier of the Rhine, and that, contenting herself 
 with Belgium and the Luxemburgh on that side, she 
 should not require the Rhenish provinces. Prussia 
 strongly pressed this advice upon the first consul, 
 dropping a hint, that France and Prussia would 
 agree the better for not being too close to each 
 other ; and that the cabinets of Europe, feeling 
 ured by this moderation, would be the more 
 inclined towards peace. But though the first con- 
 sul was very reserved in explaining his intentions 
 on this point, there was at the bottom but little 
 hope of inclining him to such a sacrifice ; and the 
 Prussian cabinet could not see, in all this, a peace 
 which would satisfy it for meddling too much in 
 the question. It continued, therefore, to give a 
 quantity of advice, clothed in a dogmatic style, 
 yet in a very friendly manner ; but it did nothing. 
 
 But still this cabinet might be useful in main- 
 taining the neutrality of the north of Germany, 
 in obtaining the association of as great a number 
 possible of the German princes in that neutrality ; 
 lastly, in entirely detaching the emperor Paul from 
 the coalition. As far as this, it acted with zeal, 
 especially as its own wish was to preserve and 
 aggrandize the neutrality of northern Germany; 
 and, above all, bring over Russia to this system. 
 Paul, who carried every feeling to excess, grew 
 more irritated every day against Austria and 
 England ; he declared loudly that he would compel 
 Austria to replace the Italian princes on their 
 thrones in Italy, which she had reconquered with 
 the arms of Russia ; and oblige England to replace 
 the order of Malta on that island fortress, of which 
 she was just about to make herself master : he 
 showed a remarkable affection for this ancient 
 order, and caused himself to be made grand mas- 
 ter. He blamed the manner in which the over- 
 tures of the first consul had been received in Vienna 
 and London ; and in his despatches to Prussia, 
 now grown confidential, he allowed it to be seen 
 that he wished similar overtures had been ad- 
 dressed to himself. The first consul, in fact, had 
 not ventured to do so, from distrust of the conse- 
 quences with such a character as the czai\ Prus- 
 sia, advised of all these particulars, gave informa- 
 tion to the French cabinet, which made advan- 
 tageous use of them. 
 
 Before opening the campaign, as the season for 
 military operations was approaching, the first con- 
 sul sent for M. ile Sandon, the minister of Prussia, 
 and had with him, on the 5th March, or 14th Veu- 
 tdse, a positive and complete explanation. After 
 recapitulating at length all that he had done to 
 re-establish peace, and the discourtesy and in- 
 vineible obstacles that had been brought to bear 
 against him, be stated in their full extent his 
 military preparations, ami, without disclosing the 
 secret ol his profound combinations, he suffered 
 the Prussian minister to obtain an insight into the 
 greatness of the resourci s yet remaining to Prance. 
 The first consul also told M.de Sandon that he had 
 lull confidence in Prussia, and expected it to make 
 new efforts to reconcile tie- belligerent powers, while 
 
 tiny should be engaged in lighting ; that in default 
 Of 8 general peace, of which there was little pro- 
 bability before a new campaign, he hoped for two 
 Services from King Frederic-William, — the re-
 
 Agreement between France 
 4° and Prussia. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Affairs of La Vendee. 
 
 1800. 
 Jan. 
 
 conciliation of the republic with Paul I., and an 
 effort made in regard to the elector of Bavaria 
 to break away that prince from the coalition. 
 " Bring about an accommodation between us and 
 Paul," said Bonaparte ; " decide, at the same time, 
 the elector of Bavaria to refuse his soldiers and 
 his territory to the coalition, and you will render 
 us two services which we will not forget. If the 
 elector accede to our proposals, you may promise 
 him that all the consideration he desires shall be 
 shown him during the war, and the best treatment 
 at the peace." 
 
 The first consul now laid before the Prussian 
 envoy his ulterior views. He told him that as the 
 treaty of Campo Formio was offered as the basis of 
 future negotiation, the Rhenish frontier would 
 afterwards form a question for a treaty -with the 
 empire ; and that the independence of Holland, of 
 Switzerland, and of the Italian states, should be 
 formally guarantied. Without entering into ex- 
 planations as to the point where the Rhine would 
 cease to be the French frontier, he only said, that 
 no person could imagine that France would require 
 less than as far up as Mayence ; but that down from 
 Mayence, the Moselle or the Meuse might possibly 
 serve her as a boundary. Belgium and Luxem- 
 burgh he considered as beyond all question. He 
 added, in conclusion, that if Prussia rendered 
 France the services which she was in a position 
 to render, he would pledge himself that the cabinet 
 of Berlin should exercise a considerable influence 
 in the negotiations for peace. This, in fact, was 
 the point which Prussia held most in regard, as 
 she was desirous of taking a part in any such ne- 
 gotiations, for the purpose of having the German 
 frontiers defined in the manner which best agreed 
 with her own views. 
 
 A communication, so frank and well-timed, had 
 the best effect at Berlin. The king replied, that as 
 respected the emperor Paul, he had already em- 
 ployed his good offices, and would do so still to 
 reconcile him to France ; that as regarded Ba- 
 varia, surrounded as it was on every side by Aus- 
 tria, he could do nothing ; but that if the emperor 
 Paul should declare himself, it might be possible, 
 with the double assistance of Prussia and Russia, 
 to withdraw the elector from the coalition. 
 
 After these prudently concerted steps, there 
 remained nothing but to commence hostilities with 
 all possible promptitude. However, as the season 
 for them had not yet arrived, and was likely to 
 be later than usual, since France had to x-e-orgau- 
 ize her armies, in part disbanded, and Austria to 
 fill up the chasm left by Russia, in the ranks of the 
 coalition, the first consul thought the time had 
 arrived when the war in La Vendue was to be 
 finished : in order, firstly, to put an end to the 
 odious spectacle of a civil war; secondly, to render 
 disposable, and transport upon the Rhine and the 
 Alps, those excellent troops which La Vendee de- 
 tained in the interior of the republic. 
 
 The intimations which he had caused to be ad- 
 addressed to the insurgent provinces, concurrently 
 with his overtures for peace to the foreign powers, 
 had produced amongst them a very great effect, 
 supported as they were by an imposing force of 
 nearly sixty thousand men brought together from 
 Holland, from the interior, and from Paris itself. 
 The first consul ventured so far as to leave Paris, 
 
 which at that moment was crowded by the refuse 
 of all the factions, with a garrison of two thousand 
 three hundred men ; and he even went to the ex- 
 tent of making this fact public. As an answer to 
 the English ministers, who pretended that the con- 
 sular government was not more stable than those 
 which preceded it, he caused a comparative state- 
 ment of the forces in London and Paris to be 
 printed, the result of which showed that London 
 was guarded by fourteen thousand six hundred 
 men, Paris by two thousand three hundred, — a 
 number scarcely sufficient to furnish the guards, 
 which for merely police purposes are stationed at 
 the great public establishments, and the residences 
 of the chief officers of the state. It could be plainly 
 seen that in Paris the name of Bonaparte was suf- 
 ficient guard. 
 
 But however this was, the insurgent provinces 
 found themselves on a sudden surrounded by a for- 
 midable army, and placed between the option of a 
 peace immediate and generous, or a war of exter- 
 mination. In such a choice there could be no 
 delay. D'Andigne and Hyde de Neuville, after 
 an interview with the first consul, had entirely 
 got rid of their illusions, and no longer believed 
 that he had any inclination to x'estore the Bour- 
 bons, or supposed any more that they could con- 
 quer such a man. Hyde de Neuville, who had been 
 commissioned by the Count d'Artois to give an 
 opinion on the state of affairs, decided on return- 
 ing to London; not that he wished to abandon the 
 cause of the Bourbons, but that he saw the impos- 
 sibility of continuing the war. He left his advice 
 with the chiefs to do what the necessity of time or 
 place might urge them. D'Andigne" returned to 
 La Vende'e, to report what he had seen. 
 
 The duration of the cessation of arms was on the 
 point of expiring, and it became incumbent on the 
 royalist chiefs either to sign a definitive peace, or 
 at once to enter upon a war to the death, against a 
 formidable army. In 1793, in the first enthusiasm 
 of the insurrection, they had not been able to 
 conquer sixteen thousand men of the garrison of 
 Mayence, nor had they obtained any results save 
 those of engaging in combats, certainly heroic, but 
 bloody, only to succumb at last. What, then, could 
 they effect at this period against sixty thousand of 
 the first troops in Europe, one-half of whom had 
 sufficed to drive the Russians and the English 
 into the sea ? Clearly nothing ; and this opinion 
 was general in the insurgent provinces, or in any 
 case, more or less, in each of them. On the left 
 bank of the Loire, between Saumur, Nantes, and 
 Sables, — in a word, in old La Vende'e, — they felt 
 wearied of the war, from the exhaustion of men 
 and means; while they regarded as a folly, its 
 right value, the late taking up arms, which never 
 would have happened but for the weakness and 
 severity of the directory. On the right bank, 
 about Mans, which had been the theatre of a 
 desperate struggle, these sentiments predominated. 
 In Lower Normandy, where the insurrection was 
 of recent date, and where de Fx'otte', a young chief, 
 active, subtle, and ambitious, was the leader of 
 the royalists, they showed moi^e disposition to coxx- 
 tinue the war. This was the case also in Mor- 
 bihan, where the distance from Paris, the vicinity 
 of the sea, and the natux'e of the country, gave 
 them greater resources, and where Georges Ca-
 
 1800. 
 Jan. 
 
 State of opinion in La 
 Vendee. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 
 
 The abbe Bernier, cure of 
 Saint-Laud. — The peace 49, 
 of Montfaucon. 
 
 doudal. a chief of a ferocious and indomitable 
 energy, kept up their courage. In these two last 
 countries a very frequent communication with the 
 English contributed to render their resistance more 
 obstinate. 
 
 From one end of La Vendee and Britany to the 
 other, they were discussing what part they should 
 take. The emigrants in the pay of England, whose 
 devotion consisted in continually coming and going, 
 and who had not to suffer all the consequences of 
 the insurrection, were in angry dispute with the 
 people of the country, on whom the burden of the 
 civil war fell without relief. The former contended 
 that the struggle must be continued; the latter, on 
 the contrary, that it must be brought to a close. 
 These representatives of an interest rather English 
 than royalist, declared that the consular govern- 
 ment would come to an end like all the other 
 revolutionary governments after some days of 
 imposing appearance ; that it would fail from the 
 disorder of the funds and the administration ; that 
 detachments of the Russian and English armies 
 would be sent to La Vendue to give a helping hand 
 to the French royalists ; that it only required a 
 few days' patience to reap the fruits of eight years' 
 labour and fighting ; and that by holding out they 
 would probably have the honour of conducting the 
 Bourbons in victory to Paris. The insurgents, 
 men who did not go habitually to seek refuge in 
 London and live there upon English pay, who re- 
 mained in the country with their peasantry, who 
 beheld their lands ravaged, their houses burnt, 
 their wives and children exposed to famine and 
 hunger, — these said that Bonaparte had never 
 yet failed in what he had undertaken ; that at 
 Paris, in place of thinking that all was going to 
 pieces, they believed all was reorganizing under 
 the fortunate hand of the new chief of the re- 
 public, the consul Bonaparte ; that this republic, 
 which was said to be exhausted, had just sent them 
 an army of G0,000 men ; that the Russians and the 
 English, of whom there was so much boasting, had 
 just laid down their arms before the half of this very 
 army; that it was easy for the emigrants in London 
 to lay down fine plans, and talk of devotion and of 
 constancy, when they were far from the country, 
 from events and their consequences; that on this 
 account they should use some restraint in what 
 they said before men, who, for eight years, had en- 
 don d alone the ills of civil war in all their horrors. 
 Amongst the worn-out royalists, there were some 
 who went so far as to insinuate, that Bona- 
 , in his inclination towards the good cause, 
 would, aft. :• ' ■• had re-established peace, put 
 an end to tion, and restored weir altars, 
 
 raise op tin- throne again. They repeated these 
 fabulous tah-, which after the interviews of 
 Andigne 1 and Hyde de Neuville with the first con- 
 sul no longer found admission amongst the prin- 
 cipal royalists, but which still hail some credit in 
 the lower ranks of the insurgent populace, and 
 contributed to draw them towards tin- government. 
 
 There livid in tin- bear! of old l. a Vendee, a 
 simple priest, the abbf Bender, cure' of Saint- 
 Land, destined ere long to take a part in the affairs 
 of the republic and tin- empire. The abbe, from 
 
 his great intelligence and natural capacity, had ac- 
 quired a powerful influence over the royalist chiefs. 
 
 From attentive observation of that protracted in- 
 
 surrection, which had resulted only in calamities, 
 he regarded the cause of the Bourbons as lost, for 
 a time at least, and was of opinion that out of the 
 general confusion of the French revolution, nothing 
 more could be saved than the ancient altar of 
 Christianity. Feeling clear on this point from the 
 acts of the first consul and frequent communica- 
 tions with general He"douville ; he no longer 
 hesitated, but calculated that by submission they 
 would obtain peace, an end to their persecutions, 
 and toleration at least, if not protection, for public 
 worship. He advised, therefore, all the chiefs on 
 the left bank to submit, and he silenced by his in- 
 fluence the harangues of those who came back- 
 wards and forwards between London and La 
 Vendee. A meeting took place at Montfaucon, at 
 which in a council of the officers the abbe Bernier 
 decided M. D'Autichamp, a gentleman young 
 and full of bravery, but open to conviction from 
 superior minds, to lay down his arms on the part 
 of the province. The capitulation was signed on 
 the 18th January, or the 28th Nivose. The republic 
 promised an entire amnesty, respect for religious 
 worship, an abandonment of taxation on the ravaged 
 provinces for some years, and that the names of 
 the chiefs should be erased from the list of pro- 
 scriptions ; the royalists on their part undertook 
 for a complete submission, and an immediate sur- 
 render of their arms. 
 
 On the same day, the 18th January, the abbe 
 Bernier wrote to general He'douville : " Your wishes 
 and mine are accomplished. At two o'clock this 
 day the peace has been accepted at Montfaucon 
 with thankful acknowledgment by all the chiefs 
 and officers of the left bank of the Loire. The 
 right bank without doubt will follow this example ; 
 and the olive of peace will replace on both sides of 
 the Loire the mournful cypress, planted there by 
 war. I charge MM. de Baurollier, Duboucher, 
 and Reuou, with the bringing to you these happy 
 tidings, and recommend them to the kindness of 
 yourself and of the government. Falsely inscribed 
 on the fatal list of 1793, they have seen themselves 
 despoiled of all their property. They make this 
 sacrifice to the necessity of circumstances, and are 
 not the less desirous of peace. This peace is your 
 work : maintain it then, general, by justice and 
 good deeds ; your glory and your happiness are 
 combined with it. I will do all in my power to 
 carry out your excellent views ; prudence com- 
 mands it, humanity wills it : my heart is with tho 
 country in which 1 dwell, and its happiness is tho 
 first of my wishes. Bernibb." 
 
 This example produced its effect. Two days 
 .afterwards, the insurgents on the right bank, who 
 were commanded by an old and brave gentleman, 
 M. de Cbatillon, and disgusted, like him, with 
 serving England more than the cause of royalism, 
 surrendered. All of tho old La Vendee was thus 
 in a state of peace. The joy was extreme, whether 
 in the country places where royalism reigned, or 
 in the towns where reigned, on the other hand, 
 the spirit of the revolution. In many towns, such 
 as Nantes and Angers, the royalist chiefs, bearing 
 the tricolor cockade, were received in triumph, 
 and feasted ;is brothers. ( In all sides they began to 
 give up their arms, and to submit in good faith, 
 under the influence of an opinion, which was gra- 
 dually becoming general, that the war, without 
 
 E
 
 50 
 
 The war still carried on 
 in Britany. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Surrender of Georges Ca- .„-« 
 doudal. — Arrest and P .' 
 death of M. de Frotte. ° - 
 
 bringing back the Bourbons, would have no other 
 end than bloodshed, and the ravaging of the coun- 
 try, while submission, on the contrary, would 
 procure for them repose, security, and the re- 
 establishment of their religion, which, beyond all 
 other things, they desired. 
 
 The obstacles to pacification were greater in 
 Britany and Normandy. In these places the 
 war, as we lately observed, was more recent, and 
 had less exhausted their courage ; moreover, in 
 these parts, it brought with it certain infamous 
 emoluments, while in La Vende'e it produced 
 nothing but suffering. The Chouans, a set of 
 scoundrels whom insurrection had accustomed to 
 robbery, and who knew no other method of getting 
 a living, had all of them taken refuge in the centre 
 of Britany, and towards Normandy. These men 
 always made war on the tax-gatherer's chest, on 
 the diligences, or on those who had possessed 
 themselves of the national domains, and were in 
 communication with a party of bad characters at 
 Paris, receiving from them intelligence which 
 served to guide them in their expeditions. In 
 Morbihan, lastly, where the insurrection had the 
 most obstinate hold, Georges, the only implacable 
 chief of the Vendeans, received money and supplies 
 from the English, which seconded his resistance, 
 and he was thus little disposed to submission. 
 
 But preparations were made to crush the chiefs 
 who still held out. On the 24th of January or 1st 
 Pluviose, general Chabot broke the suspension of 
 arms, and marched upon the bands in the centre 
 of Britany, under the command of Bourmont 
 and De la Prevalaye. Near the commune of Me'- 
 lay he came up with Bourmont, who, at the head 
 of a thousand Chouans, defended himself vigorously, 
 but was nevertheless compelled to give way to 
 the republican soldiers, accustomed to conquer 
 far different troops to peasantry. He himself 
 escaped with great difficulty, after incurring the 
 greatest danger ; and being soon after obliged to 
 acknowledge that he could do no more for his 
 cause, he gave up his arms on the 24th of January 
 or 4th Pluviose. 
 
 General Chabot next marched upon Rennes, on 
 his way thence to the extremity of Britany, where 
 General Brune was concentrating a great force. 
 On the 25th January or 5th Pluviose, a number of 
 columns, despatched from Valines, D'Auray, and 
 D'Elven, under generals Harty and Gency, met 
 with the bands of Georges at Grandchamp. The 
 two republican generals were escorting to Vannes 
 convoys of grain and cattle, raised in the insurgent 
 country ; and the Chouans, while endeavouring to 
 retake these convoys, were surrounded by the co- 
 lumns of the escort, who, in spite of their vigorous 
 resistance, slew four hundred men and many of 
 the chiefs, putting them completely to the rout. 
 Two days after, on the 27th, a very smart engage- 
 ment at Hennebon caused the slaughter of three 
 hundred Chouans, and served completely to destroy 
 all the hopes of the insurgents. Off the coast were 
 lying an English eighty -gun ship and some frigates, 
 which could see how chimerical were all those 
 hopes with which the British government had been 
 deluded. As far as this, both parties had mutually 
 cheated each other ; the British government in 
 promising another new expedition like that to Hol- 
 land, the Bretons in announcing a general rising. 
 
 The royalists, so recently landed, had much trouble 
 in getting back to the English squadron in a small 
 vessel, where they met with the reception of emi- 
 grants who have promised much and performed 
 little. Georges found himself reduced to lay down 
 his arms, and delivered up twenty thousand mus- 
 kets and twenty pieces of artillery, which he had 
 just received from the English. 
 
 In Lower Normandy, De Frotte", a young chief 
 strongly devoted to his cause, had been, like 
 Georges, very resolute in continuing the war. He 
 was followed up by generals Gardanne and Cham- 
 barlhac, with detachments from the garrison at 
 Paris. Many sharp engagements took place be- 
 tween them on different points. On the 25th Ja- 
 nuary, or the 5th Pluviose, general Gardanne came 
 up with De Frotte at the forges of Cosse", near De 
 la Motte-Fouquet, and destroyed great part of his 
 force. On the 26th or 6th Pluviose, one of the 
 chiefs, named Duboisgny, was attacked at his 
 chateau of Duboisgny, near Fougeres, and sus- 
 tained, like De Frotte, a considerable loss. Lastly, 
 on the 27th, or the 7th Pluviose, general Cham- 
 barlhac, in the environs of Saint Christophe, not 
 far from Alenfon, surrounded some companies of 
 Chouans, and put them to the sword. 
 
 De Frotte" saw, like the others, but unfortu- 
 nately too late, that all resistance was vain against 
 the numerous columns which were thrown upon 
 the country, and thought it time to surrender. He 
 wrote to general Hedouville to ask for peace, and 
 proposed, while awaiting an answer, a suspension 
 of arms to general Chambarlhac. This officer 
 replied, that as he had no power to treat, he would 
 apply to the government for them, but that he 
 could not take upon himself to suspend hostilities 
 in the interval, unless De Frotte would consent 
 immediately to deliver up the arms of his troops. 
 This was exactly what De Frotte most dreaded. 
 He readily consented to submit, and to sign a pacifi- 
 cation for the moment, but on condition of remaining 
 armed, so as to seize without delay the first favour- 
 able occasion for recommencing the war. He even 
 wrote to his lieutenants letters, in which, while 
 enjoining them to surrender, he advised them to 
 keep their muskets. In the mean while, irritated 
 by the obstinacy of De Frotte", the first consul 
 had given orders that no quarter should be shown 
 him, and that an example should be made in his 
 person. De Frotte, uneasy at not receiving an 
 answer to his proposals, was desirous of placing 
 himself in communication with general Guidal, 
 who was in command of the department of the 
 Orne ; and, while seeking an interview with him, 
 was arrested with six of his companions. The 
 letters found upon him, containing the order to his 
 officers to surrender but to preserve their arms, 
 sufficed for a charge of treason. He was con- 
 ducted to Verneuil, and handed over to a military 
 commission. 
 
 When the news of his arrest reached Paris, a 
 crowd of intercessors surrounded the first consul, 
 and obtained from him a suspension of the pro- 
 ceedings, which was equivalent to a pardon. But 
 the courier who earned the order of the govern- 
 ment, arrived too late : for, as the constitution 
 was suspended in the insurgent departments, De 
 Frotte" had been tried summarily, and by the time 
 the order to suspend the proceedings had arrived,
 
 1800. 
 Feb. 
 
 End of the civil war. 
 
 The chiefs' interview 
 
 with Bonaparte. 
 
 GOVERNMEiXT OF THE INTERIOR. 
 
 Close of the session of the 
 year vm. 
 
 51 
 
 this young chief had already Buffered the penalty of 
 his obstinacy. The duplicity of his conduct, how- 
 ever clearly proved, nevertheless is not sufficiently 
 culpable to prevent our deeply regretting such an 
 execution, — the only one, it must be stated, which 
 stained with blood that fortunate termination of 
 the civil war. 
 
 By this time the departments of the west were 
 entirely pacified. The prudence of general H£- 
 douville, the vigour and promptitude of the means 
 employed, the exhausted condition of the insur- 
 gents, the mixture of confidence and fear which 
 the first consul inspired, effected this rapid pacifi- 
 cation. It was brought to a perfect termination 
 by the end of February 1800 or 1st Ventose. The 
 disarming was complete ; there remained only 
 highway robbers, whom justice, active, and without 
 mercy, would quickly overtake. The troops who 
 had been employed in the west, began their march 
 towards Paris, to take their part in the great 
 designs of the first consul. 
 
 The constitution, which had been suspended in 
 four departments, the Loire-InfeYieure, the Ille-et- 
 Vilaiue, Morbihan, and the C6tes-du-Nord, was 
 again put in force ; and the majority of the chiefs, 
 who had just laid down their arms, were, in suc- 
 cession, induced to visit Paris, and report thorn- 
 selves to the first consul. He well knew that 
 it was not enough to pluck arms from their hands, 
 but that he must make himself master of minds so 
 enthusiastic, and direct them towards some noble 
 object. He desired to carry these royalist chiefs 
 along with him, in the extensive career at that 
 moment opened to all Frenchmen ; to lead them to 
 fortune, and to glory, by that path of danger which 
 they were accustomed to tread. He invited them 
 to an interview. His renown, which made all, 
 who had an opportunity, desirous of approaching 
 him, and his beneficence, so celebrated at that 
 time throughout La Vendee, which they had to 
 invoke in favour of many victims of the civil war, 
 were honourable motives for the royalist chiefs to 
 pay him this visit. The first consul graciously 
 received, first, the Abbe Bernier, next Bour- 
 mont, D'Autiehamp, and Chatillon, and, lastly, 
 ges Cadoudal himself. He paid marked at- 
 tention to the Abbe Bernier, and determined to 
 attach him to himself, and employ him in difficult 
 affairs connected with the church. He held fre- 
 quent conversations with the military chiefs, whom 
 Ins lofty language affected, and some of them he 
 decided to e rve in the armies of France. Hesuc- 
 ceeded even in gaining the heart of Chatillon, 
 who retired from public life, took to himself a 
 wife, and became the ordinary and successful 
 mediator for his fellow-citizens, whenever they 
 
 had :niy act of justice or humanity to solicit from 
 
 the first consul. Thus it is by glory, clemency, and 
 beneficence, that men must put an end to revo- 
 lutions. 
 
 alone bore np against this high influence. 
 
 When he was con lucted to the Tuileries, the aid- 
 
 de-earup, who bad to introduce- bim, conceived 
 
 such alarm at his looks, that be would not close 
 ili'- door of the first consul's cabinet, and went in 
 every now and lien to steal a glance at what was 
 
 passing. The interview was a Ion,' one. The consul 
 Bonaparte tried vainly on tic- cars of Georges 
 
 Cadoudal the words "country" and "glory;" in 
 
 vain he essayed even the bait of ambition on the 
 heart of this savage soldier of the civil war; lie 
 made no impression, and felt himself convinced 
 that he had not, when he looked on the counte- 
 nance of him whom he addressed. On quitting 
 him, Georges departed for England with Hyde do 
 Neuville, and often, while recounting this inter- 
 view to his travelling companion, he held out his 
 vigorous arms, exclaiming, " What a blunder I 
 made in not strangling the fellow within these 
 
 arms 
 
 t» 
 
 This prompt pacification of La Vende'e produced 
 a great effeel on the public mind. Certain of the 
 evil-disposed, who did not wish to explain it by 
 natural causes, the energetic physical means em- 
 ployed, the prudence of the policy, and, above all, 
 the influence of the great name of the first consul, 
 pretended that there was a secret connexion with 
 the Vende'ans, in which a promise was given them 
 of some important satisfaction. They did not say 
 pla'nly, but insinuated, that there might possi- 
 bly be something, even more than a restoration of 
 the principle of the old regime, than even of the 
 Bourbons themselves. These ridiculous fables were 
 spread about by the newsmongers of the revolu- 
 tionary party. But men of sense, with a better ap- 
 preciation of the acts of Bonaparte, said that no 
 man would do such great deeds for another to 
 reap the fruits ; and expressed their belief, that if 
 his labours were not solely for France, they were 
 at least for himself, and not for the Bourbons. 
 For the rest, the pacification of La Vende'e was, 
 in the eyes of all, a very fortunate event, as pre- 
 saging that peace, the most important and difficult 
 — a peges with Europe. 
 
 Before opening the campaign of this year the 
 consul, in his haste to close the session of the 
 legislative body, pressed on the passing of the 
 numerous bills which had been introduced. Some 
 of the members of the tribunate complained of the 
 rapidity with which they were called upon to dis- 
 cuss and vote. " We are," said the tribune Sedil- 
 lez, a man of impartiality and moderation — " we 
 are carried along in a whirlwind of hurry, which 
 moves rapidly in the direction of our wishes. Is it 
 not better to yield to the impetuosity of this move- 
 ment, than to risk impeding its progress ? We can 
 next examine with more mature deliberation the 
 bills presented to us, and correct them where it 
 may lie necessary." In fact, all went rapidly on, 
 as the first consul wished. The laws were pnt 
 into operation as soon as passed ; the functionaries 
 appointed repaired to their posts. The new pre- 
 fects entered on their charge, and the administra- 
 tion assumed, in every part, a unison of action and 
 an activityjntherto unseen. The taxes in arrears 
 Came into the treasury, since the completion of 
 
 the assessment enabled the collectors to call up'on 
 
 the tax-payers with a legal right. livery day 
 some new measure gave clearer evidence of the 
 
 direction of the government policy. A second list 
 of the proscribed obtained the benefit of a recall. 
 A great number of writers who figured on Ibis list. 
 He I'ontanes, Do la llariie, Suard, Sicard, .Mi 
 
 (diaud, and Fie*vee, were either recalled from their 
 
 exile, or authorized to come forth from their re 
 (reals. The members of the constituent assembly, 
 known for having voted the abolition of feudal 
 rights, were exempted from all the severities which 
 
 ■ 2
 
 Carnot becomes minister of 
 52 war. — Last opposition in 
 the tribunate. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Regulations regarding 1800. 
 the periodical press. March. 
 
 had been inflicted on them by the convention and 
 the directory. A famous proscript of the 18th 
 Fructidor, Barthelemy, the ex-director, who nego- 
 tiated and signed the first treaty of peace for the 
 republic, was named a senator at the instance of 
 the consuls ; and, lastly, another of the proscribed 
 of the same date, Carnot, but recently brought 
 back from exile, and appointed inspector of re- 
 views, was called to the office of minister of war, 
 in place of general Berthier, then on the point of 
 departing to take the command of one of the 
 armies of the republic. The name of Carnot was, 
 at that day, one of great military reputation, to 
 which attached the recollection of the victories 
 under the convention in 1793 ; and while the name 
 of general Bonaparte was sufficient alone to make 
 the coalition tremble, the addition to it of that of 
 Carnot produced, in truth, a remarkable sensation 
 in the foreign staffs. 
 
 As the session was tending to ite close, the op- 
 position in the tribunate made a last effort, which 
 created some excitement, though defeated by a 
 large majority. The legislative body sat for four 
 months only, but no term had been assigned to the 
 sittings of the tribunate. The latter might thus 
 assemble, though the vacation of the legislative 
 body left it without business. It was proposed 
 that it should make some employment for itself 
 out of the petitions, which it was alone empowered 
 to receive, and the expression of its wishes on 
 matters of public interest, for which it had au- 
 thority. Benjamin Constant moved that the 
 petitions should be handed over to separate com- 
 mittees, that they should be kept constantly at 
 work, and should contrive by this means, not only 
 a discussion of all the acts of the government (a 
 thing in itself legitimate), but their permanent dis- 
 cussion through the twelve months of the year. 
 All that was really important in this proposition 
 was negatived. It was decided that the tribunate 
 should meet once a fortnight to receive petitions, 
 and that this should be done through a bureau of 
 the assembly, composed of a president and secre- 
 taries. Reduced within these limits, the propo- 
 sition no longer gave occasion for uneasiness. 
 
 Saving this last effort, the end of the session was 
 perfectly peaceable, even in the tribunate. So 
 large had been the majority in favour of the go- 
 vernment, that it required some touchiness to be 
 displeased with an opposition not numbering more 
 than twenty members. The first consul, though 
 little disposed to put up with it, determined to 
 make no account of it ; and thus this first session 
 of the year vm. by no means corresponded with 
 the fears to which certain propagators of bad news 
 affected to give utterance. If, at a latpr period, 
 matters had remained in this state, people would 
 have accommodated themselves to this last sem- 
 blance of a deliberative assembly, and it would 
 have been supported equally by that alarmed gene- 
 ration, and the chief whom it had chosen. 
 
 A short time before the closing of the session, the 
 first consul adopted a measure in regard to the 
 periodical press, which at present would be little 
 else than an impossible phenomenon, but which, at 
 that time, from the silence of the constitution, was 
 a measure perfectly legal, and, from the spirit of 
 the time, was almost insignificant. The constitu- 
 tion, in fact, said nothing of the press. It may 
 
 seem surprising that so important a point of liberty 
 as that of writing was not even specially men- 
 tioned in the fundamental laws of the state ; but at 
 that time the tribune, as well of the assemblies as 
 of the clubs, was, owing to the passions of the 
 revolution, the favourite means of publishing opi- 
 nion ; and there had been so much use made of 
 the right of speaking, that there was no thought of 
 that of writing. At the epoch of the 18th Fruc- 
 tidor, the press had been rather more made use of, 
 but as it was so by the royalists in particular, it 
 created an irritation against itself among the revo- 
 lutionists, which afterwards sunk into indifference. 
 They suffered it, therefore, to be proscribed at the 
 18th Fructidor ; and when the constitution was 
 framed in the year vm., it was omitted, and 
 thenceforth left to the pleasure of the government. 
 
 The first consul, who had endured with much im- 
 patience the attacks of the royalist journals, while 
 he was merely a general of the army of Italy, 
 began now to feel annoyed at the indiscretions 
 committed by the press respecting his military 
 operations, and the virulent attacks which it 
 permitted itself to make on some foreign govern- 
 ments. Applying himself specially to reconcile 
 the republic with Europe, he feared that the bitter 
 invectives of the republican press against the 
 cabinets, particularly since the refusal of the over- 
 tures made by France, would render vain all his 
 efforts for an arrangement. The king of Prussia, in 
 particular, had made a complaint against some of 
 the French journals, and expressed his displeasure 
 at their attacks. The first consul, in his desire 
 to efface completely all traces of violence, and, 
 moreover, unrestrained in regard to the liberty of 
 the press by a firm and established public opinion, 
 such as at this day exists, came to a resolution by 
 which he suppressed a great number of journals, 
 and pointed out those which should have the privi- 
 lege of appearing. The journals allowed to remain 
 were thirteen in number. These were, the Moni- 
 teur Universd, the Journal des Dibats, the Journal 
 de Paris, the Jikn-informe , the Publiciite, the 
 Ami des Ijo'is, the Clef du Cabinet, the Citoyen 
 Franca'ts, the Gazette de France, the Journal des 
 Homines Libres, the Journal du Soir, the Journal 
 des Defeneewrt de la Patrie, the Decade Philoso- 
 phique. 
 
 These favoured journals moreover received 
 notice, that whichever of them should publish 
 articles against the constitution, or the armies, 
 their glory or their interests, or promulgate in- 
 vectives against foreign governments, the friends or 
 allies of France, would be immediately suppressed. 
 
 This measure, which now-a days would appear 
 so extraordinary, was received without murmur or 
 surprise, so true is it that the value of things 
 de] lends on the spirit of the times. 
 
 The votes required from the citizens on the 
 subject of the new constitution were taken and 
 counted, and the result of the casting up com- 
 municated to the senate, the legislative body, and 
 the tribunate by a message from the consuls. No 
 one of the former constitutions had been accepted 
 by so great a number of suffrages. 
 
 In 1793, for the constitution of that epoch, there 
 had been given one thousand eight hundred suf- 
 frages in its favour, eleven thousand against it ; in 
 1 795, for the constitution under the directory, one
 
 1800. 
 March. 
 
 Funeral ceremony 
 in honour of 
 Washington. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. Eulogium by De Fontancs. 53 
 
 million fifty-seven thousand suffrages in its favour, 
 and forty-nine thousand against it. On this occa- 
 sion more than three millions of voters presented 
 themselves, of whom three millions voted in favour 
 of the constitution, and only one thousand live 
 hundred opposed it 1 . 
 
 It is true, that such empty formalities have no im- 
 port with thinking men : it is not from such vulgar 
 and often counterfeited demonstrations, but from 
 its moral aspect, that we form a judgment of the 
 feeling of society ; yet the difference in the number 
 of the voters bore, in this instance, an incontes- 
 table signification, and proved, at least, how general 
 the sentiment which called for a strong and 
 restorative government, competent to give assu- 
 rance of order, victory, and peace. 
 
 Before departing for the army, the first consul 
 decided upon an important step: he established 
 himself at the Tuileries, With the disposition of 
 some minds to see in him a Caesar or a Cromwell, 
 whose destiny it was to terminate a reign of 
 anarchy by one of absolute power, this taking up 
 his abode in the palace of the Kings, was a step of 
 boldness and delicacy, Dot because of the resistance 
 it might provoke, but from the moral effect which 
 it might perhaps produce. 
 
 The first consul caused this to be preceded by 
 an imposing' and well-imagined ceremony. Wash- 
 ington had just died ; and the decease of this illus- 
 trious personage, who had filled with his glory the 
 close of the last century, formed a subject of regret 
 to all the friends of liberty in Europe. The first 
 consul, judging that some manifestation on this 
 subject would be opportune, addressed to the army 
 the following order of the day : — 
 
 " Washington is dead! That great man fought 
 against tyranny, and consolidated the independence 
 of his country. His name will be always dear to 
 the people of France, as well as to all free men of 
 the two worlds, and especially to the soldiers of 
 France, who are fighting, like him and the soldiers 
 of America, for equality and liberty." 
 
 Ten days of mourning were directed in conse- 
 quence, which consisted in all the colours of the 
 republic In ling hung with black crape; nor did 
 the first consul stop here, lie directed a fete, at 
 once simple and noble, to be got up in the church 
 of the Invalides, a church named, in the fugitive 
 nomenclature of the time, the temple of Mars. 
 The colours taken in Egypt had not yet been pre- 
 I to tli'- government. General Lannes was 
 charged to receive them on this occasion, by direc- 
 tion of the minister of war, under the magnifici at 
 dome raised by the great king for his aged warriors. 
 
 <»n th.- 0th of February or 20th Pluviose ail the 
 authorities being assembled at the Invalides, gene- 
 oeral Lannes presented to tin- minister of war, 
 Berthier, ninety-six flags, taken at the Pyramids, 
 
 at Mount Tabor, and at Aboukir; and pronounced 
 
 a brief and martial harangue, to which Berthier 
 responded in the same style. The latter was seated 
 between two invalids, each a hundred years old, 
 and hail in front of him a bust of Washington, 
 
 • The exact numbers were : In 1793, 1,801,918 in favour, 
 and 11,610 against; in 1795, 1,057, :;:>n in (at our, and 48,9M 
 against, in 1800, of 3,012,589 voters, 3,011,007 in favour, 
 and 15G2 against. 
 
 over-shadowed by a thousand flags, won from 
 Europe by the armies of republican France. 
 
 Not far from this spot a tribune was erected, 
 and this was ascended by one of the proscribed, 
 who owed his liberty to the policy of the first 
 consul. This was De Fontanes, a pure and bril- 
 liant writer, the last who made use of that French 
 language, once so perfect, but which in the 
 eighteenth century has gone into the abyss of the 
 past. De Fontanes, in studied and profound lan- 
 guage, pronounced the funeral oration of the hero 
 of America. He celebrated the warlike virtues 
 of Washington, his valour, his wisdom, his disin- 
 terestedness; he placed far abeve the military genius, 
 whose knowledge is that of gaining victories, the 
 genius which can restore, which knows how to put 
 an end to civil war, to close the wounds of a 
 country, and give peace to the world. By the 
 side of the shade of Washington he evoked those 
 of Turenne, of Catinat, and of Conde ; and speak- 
 ing alter a figure, in the names of these great 
 men, he gave utterance to encomiums which were 
 as full of noble spirit, as they were replete with 
 lessons of wisdom and prudence. 
 
 " Yes," he exclaimed at the close of his speech, 
 "yes, thy counsels shall lie attended to, Wash- 
 ington, warrior, O legislator, O citizen without 
 reproach ! He who, while yet young, surpasses thee 
 in war, like thee, shall close, with his triumphant 
 hands, the wounds of his country ; soon — we have 
 assurance in his will, and his genius for war, should 
 it unhappily be necessary ,— soon shall the hymn of 
 peace resound in this temple of war ; then shall 
 one universal sentiment of joy efface the memory 
 of all injustice and oppression, then may even the 
 oppressed forget their wrongs, and look forward 
 with confidence to the future. The applause of 
 every age will accompany the hero who confers 
 this blessing upon France, and upon that world 
 which she has too long thrown into commotion." 
 
 At the close of this discourse, black crape was 
 attached to all the colours, and the French repub- 
 lic was considered to be in mourning for the founder 
 of the American republic, as monarchs put them- 
 selves in mourning for each other. 
 
 And what was there wanting in this ceremony 
 that was present to those funeral scenes where 
 Louis XIV. came to listen to an eulogium on one 
 of his warriors, from the lips of Flechicr or of 
 Bossuetl Certainly not the grandeur of the oc- 
 casion or the men, for the speech was of Wash- 
 ington, in the presence of Bonaparte, and delivi red 
 in tic- midst of men who had seen a. Charles I. 
 ascend the scalt'old, and even crowned women fol- 
 lowing him tin re. The words Fleurus, Areola, Ri- 
 vnli, Zurich, the Pyramids, could at that time be 
 
 pronounced ; and those magnificent words would 
 assuredly shed as great a lustre on the discourse as 
 those of Dunes and Rocroy ! What tin 11 was want- 
 ing in Ibis ceremony to make it completely gnat | 
 There wanted what the greatest of nun could not 
 
 bring there, there wanted especially religion ; not 
 such as men labour to affect, but what they really 
 feel, and without which a funeral is but a cold 
 
 solemnity: there wanted also the genius of Bossuet; 
 
 for there is a greatness which comes not again in 
 nations, and if Turonno and Comic have had tin ir 
 successors, Mossuet has not: there wanted, lastly, 
 a certain sincerity; for this homage to a hero,
 
 The consuls resolve 
 54 to occupy the Tui- 
 
 leries. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Their installation. 
 Household of the 
 palace. 
 
 1800. 
 March. 
 
 renowned especially for the disinterestedness of 
 his ambition, was too visibly an affectation ; yet let 
 us not believe, with the vulgar crowd of thinkers, 
 that all in this instance was mere hypocrisy ; 
 doubtless there was some, but there were also the 
 ordinary illusions of the time, ay, and of all times ! 
 Men cheat themselves oftener than they cheat 
 others. There were many Frenchmen, who, like 
 trie Romans under Augustus, believed still in the 
 republic, because they heard its name diligently 
 pronounced ; and it is by no means certain, that 
 he who directed this funeral ceremonial, that even 
 Bonaparte did not deceive himself in celebrating 
 Washington, and that he did not imagine, that 
 it was possible to be the first man in France 
 as in America, without becoming a king or an 
 emperor 
 
 This ceremony was the prelude to the installa- 
 tion of the three consuls at the Tuileries. The 
 necessary repairs had been for some time going on 
 at this palace ; the traces left there by the con- 
 vention were effaced, and the red caps, which it 
 had placed in the centre of the gilded ceilings, 
 removed. The first consul was to occupy the 
 apartments on the first floor, the same as the royal 
 family, now reigning, occupy for evening parties. 
 His wife and her children were to be lodged over 
 him, in the entresol. The gallery of Diana was, as 
 now, the vestibule which leads to the apartment of 
 the head of the state. The first consul caused it 
 to be decorated with busts, representing a suc- 
 cession of great men, and endeavoured to mark in 
 his choice of these busts the bent of his own 
 genius ; there were Demosthenes, Alexander, Han- 
 nibal, Scipio, Brutus, Cicero, Cato, Caesar, Gustavus 
 Adolphus, Turenne, Conde", Duguai-Trouin, Marl- 
 borough, Eugene, Marshal Saxe, Washington, Fre- 
 derick the Great, Mirabeau,Dugommier,Dampierre, 
 Marceau, Joubert, — in a word, warriors and orators, 
 the defenders of liberty and conquerors, heroes of 
 the ancient monarchy and of the republic, — lastly, 
 four generals of the revolution, who had fallen on 
 the field. To assemble round him the glories of 
 every time, of every country, in the same manner 
 as he desired to assemble round his government 
 men of all parties, such was on every occasion the 
 inclination he loved to manifest. 
 
 But he was not to occupy the Tuileries alone. 
 His two colleagues were to reside there with 
 him. The consul Lebrun was lodged in the pa- 
 vilion of Flora. As for the consul Gambaceres, 
 who ranked with the consul Lebrun, he refused to 
 take up his quarters in the palace of the kings. 
 This personage, a man of consummate prudence, 
 possibly the only man of his time who did not give 
 himself up to any illusion, remarked to his col- 
 • Lebrun, '" We must not go and settle our- 
 selves in the Tuileries; it is not at all suitable for 
 us ; and, as for me, I shall not go. Bonaparte 
 will soon want to live there by himself, and we 
 shall have to go out ; it is better not to go in at 
 all." Nor did he go, but had a handsome house 
 given him in the Place du Carrousel, which he 
 kept as long as Napoleon kept the empire. 
 
 When all was jn order, and some days after the 
 funeral ceremony at the Invalides, the first consul 
 resolved to take possession publicly of the Tuileries, 
 and did so in great state. 
 
 On the 19th February, the 30th Pluviose, he left 
 
 the Luxembourg to repair to his new palace, pre" 
 ceded and followed by an imposing cortege. The 
 fine regiments which had passed from Holland to 
 La Vendee, from La Vendee to Paris, and which 
 were about to render themselves illustrious for the 
 hundredth time on the plains of Germany and 
 Italy, led the way under the command of Lannes, 
 Murat, and Bessieres. Next came, in carriages 
 (almost all of them hired), the ministers, the coun- 
 cil of state, and the public authorities ; lastly, in a 
 splendid carriage, drawn by six white horses, the 
 three consuls themselves. These horses were es- 
 pecially appropriate, from the circumstance of their 
 having been presented to Bonaparte by the em- 
 peror of Germany, on the occasion of the peace of 
 Campo-Formio. He had also received from the 
 same prince a magnificent sabre, which he took 
 care to wear on this day. He had thus about him 
 all that recalled to mind the warrior and peace- 
 maker. The crowd collected in the streets and on 
 the quays leading to the Tuileries greeted his pre- 
 sence with loud cheers. These acclamations were 
 sincere, for in him they hailed the glory of France 
 and the commencement of her prosperity. On its 
 arrival at the Carrousel, the carriage of the consuls 
 was received by the consular guard, and had to 
 pass between the two guard-houses, erected the 
 one on the right, the other on the left of the court- 
 yard of the palace. On one of these yet remained 
 this inscription, "Royalty is abolished in France, 
 
 AND SHALL RISE UP NO MORE." 
 
 On entering the court-yard, the first consul 
 mounted a horse, and passed in review the troops 
 drawn up in front of the palace. When he came 
 in front of the colours of the 96th, the 43rd, and 
 the 30th demibrigades, all blackened as they were 
 with smoke, and torn by balls, he saluted them, 
 and was saluted in his turn by loud huzzas from 
 the soldiers. Having gone through the ranks, he 
 took up a position in front of the pavilion of Flora, 
 and saw them defile before him. Over his head, 
 in the balcony of the palace, were the consuls, the 
 principal authorities, and, lastly, his own family, 
 who now began to hold a rank in the state. The 
 review over, he proceeded to his apartments, where 
 the minister of the interior presented to him the 
 civil authorities ; the minister of war, the mili- 
 tary authorities ; and the minister of marine, all 
 the officers of the navy then in Paris. In the 
 course of the day entertainments were given at the 
 Tuileries and at the houses of the ministers. 
 
 The service of the consular palace was regulated 
 as follows : Be'nezcch, a councillor of state, and 
 formerly minister of the interior, was charged 
 with the general administration of this palace. 
 The aids-de-camp, and especially Duroc, were 
 to do the honours, in place of that multitude of 
 officers of every kind, who ordinarily throng the 
 vast apartments of European royalty. Every fort- 
 night, on the 2nd and 17th of each month, the first 
 consul received the diplomatic corps. Once in the 
 de'cade_ en different days but at certain fixed hours, 
 he received the senators, the members of the 
 legislative corps, the tribunate, and the tribunal of 
 cassation. Functionaries desirous of an audience 
 had to address themselves to the ministers of their 
 department, to be presented. On the 2nd Ventose 
 or 24th February, two days after his installation at 
 the Tuileries, he gave audience to the diplomatic
 
 1800. 
 March. 
 
 Preparations for war. 
 
 ULM AND GENOA. 
 
 Errors of the Austrian government. 
 The archduke Charles. 
 
 55 
 
 body. Surrounded by a numerous staff", and with 
 the two consuls at his side, he received the envoys 
 of the states who were not at war with the republic: 
 having been introduced by Beriezech, and pre- 
 sented by the minister for foreign affairs, they 
 delivered their credentials to the first consul, who 
 handed them to the minister, somewhat in the 
 Manner of a sovereign in a monarchical government. 
 The foreign agents who figured in this audience 
 were If. de Musquiz, ambassador of Spain ; M. dc 
 Sandoz-Rollin, minister of Prussia ; M. de Schim- 
 melpenninck, ambassador from Holland ; M. de 
 Serbelloni, the envoy of the Cisalpine republic ; and 
 lastly the chari/is d'affaires of Denmark, of Sweden, 
 of Switzerland, of Hessc-Cassel, of Rome, of Genoa, 
 and others. (Moniteur, 4 Ventosc, year vm.) 
 
 After this presentation the different ministers 
 were presented to madame Bonaparte. 
 
 Every five days the first consul passed in review 
 
 the regiments marching through Paris on the route 
 
 to the frontiers. It was here that he could be 
 
 by the tronps and the multitude, who were 
 
 :• to run after him. Thin, pale, stooping 
 
 on his horse, he impressed and interested them by 
 
 ere and melancholy beauty, and by an ap- 
 
 pearance of ill-health, which began to occasion 
 much anxiety; for never was the preservation of 
 any existence so much to be desired as his. 
 
 After these reviews the officers of the troops 
 were admitted to his table. To these repasts, where 
 reigned a decent luxury, were invited also the 
 foreign ministers, the members of the assemblies, 
 the magistrates, and the functionaries. There were 
 not yet at this nascent court either ladies of honour 
 or chamberlains. The tone of it was severe, but 
 yet somewhat refined : it purposely avoided the 
 usages of the directory, under which a ridiculous 
 imitation of antique costume, united to a disso- 
 luteness of manners, had banished all dignity from 
 the external representation of the government. 
 Silence was observed, and men regarded and fol- 
 lowed with their eyes the extraordinary personage 
 who had done such great things, and who gave 
 hope of still greater. They waited his questions, 
 and replied to them with deference. 
 
 The day which followed his establishment at the 
 Tuileries, Bonaparte, while going over the palace 
 with his secretary De Bourrienne, said to him, 
 " Well, Bourrienne, here we are at the Tuileries 1 
 and we must now stop here." 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 ULM AND GENOA. 
 
 PREPARATION'S FOR WAR — FORCES OF THE COALITION IN 1S00. — ARMIES OP THE BARON DE MELAS IN LIGURIA, 
 OF MARSHAL KRAY IN SWABIA. — AUSTRIAN PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. — IMPORTANCE OF SWITZERLAND IN THIS 
 WAR. — PLAN OF BONAPARTE. — HE RESOLVES TO MAKE USE OF SWITZERLAND TO COME DOWN ON THE FLANK OF 
 KRAY, AND IN THE REAR OF MELAS.— WHAT PART HE INTENDED FOR MOREAU, AND WHAT FOR HIMSELF. 
 — CREATION OF THE ARMY OF RESERVE.— INSTRUCTIONS TO MASSENA. — COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES.— THE 
 BARON MELAS ATTACKS THE ARMY OF LIGURIA ON THE APENNINES, AND DIVIDES IT INTO TWO PARTS, 
 THE ONE OF WHICH IS DRIVEN BACK ON THE VAR, THE OTHER ON GENOA. — MASSENA BEING SHUT UP IN 
 GENOA PREPARES I OR AN OBSTINATE DEFENCE THERE.— A DESCRIPTION OF GENOA.— HEROIC ENGAGEMENTS 
 OF MASSENA.— THE FIRST CONSUL URGES MOREAU TO SET ABOUT COMMENCING OPERATIONS IN GERMANY, TO 
 BE ABLE THE SOONER TO SUCCOUR MASSENA.— PASSAGE OP THE RHINE AT FOUR POINTS. — MOREAU SUCCEEDS 
 IN UNITING THREE DIVISIONS OF HIS ARMY OUT OF FOUR, AND FALLS UPON THE AUSTRIAN? AT ENGEN AND 
 STOCKACH.— BATTLES OP ENGEN AND MttSSKIRC'H.— RETREAT OF THE AUSTRIAN'S ON THE DANUBE.— AFFAIR 
 OF ST. CYR AT B1BERACH. — KRAY - ESTABLISHES HIMSELF IN AN ENTRENCHED CAMP AT ULM. — MOREAU 
 MANOEUVRES TO DISLODGE HIM. — MANY FALSE MOVEMENTS OF MOREAU, WHICH HAPPILY ARE ATTENDED BY 
 NO BAD RESULTS. — MOREAU SHUTS UP MELAS IN ULM, AND TAKES UP A STRONG POSITION IN ADVANCE OF 
 SBURG, INTENDING TO AWAIT THE EVENTS IN ITALY. — A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ACTIONS OF MOREAU. — 
 IIIARACTER OF THAT GENERAL. 
 
 a all the earnest solicitations he had ad- 
 
 for peace — solicitations hardly 
 
 I from a general covered as he was 
 
 with glory, nothing was ]. ii to the first consul hut 
 
 to make war, for which he had been preparing 
 during the whole of the winter" of 1799—1800 
 (year vni). This war was at once the m 
 mate, and the loot glorious of all in those I 
 
 Austria, all the while she observed in matters 
 of form i iore moderation th;ui England, had n 
 Lhelese arrived at the same conclusion, and r 
 
 The vain hope of preserving in Italy the 
 advantageous position which she owed to the 
 victories of Suwarrow, the English subsidies, the 
 erroneous impression thai France waaexhausted of 
 men and money, and could not furnish means for 
 
 another campaign, but, above all, the fatal obsti- 
 nacy of Thugnt, who represented the war party at 
 Vienna with as great a degree of prejudice as Pitt 
 did in London, and who brought to this question 
 much more of personal feeling than of true patri- 
 otism ; all these causes combined, led the Austrian 
 cabinet into committing one of the gravest political 
 faults,— that of not profiting by a good position to 
 ! I required a great degree of blindness 
 pi Ct that the successes whiell it owed to the 
 incapacity Of the directory, it COUld again obtain 
 
 in the gtce of a new government, already completely 
 
 reorganized, active to a prodigy, and under the 
 direction of the first captain of the age. 
 
 archduke Charles, who united with his truo 
 
 rv talents mucfa moderation and modesty, 
 
 had pointed out the danger attached to a con-
 
 German princes subsi- 
 st dized. — The imperial 
 armies. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Distribution of the 
 troops of the coali- 
 tion. — Their plan. 
 
 1800. 
 March. 
 
 tinuance of the war, and the difficulty of making 
 head against the celebrated adversary who was 
 about to enter the lists. His only answer was the 
 withdrawal of the command of the Austrian 
 armies, by which they deprived themselves of the 
 only general who was able to direct them with any 
 chance of success. His disgrace was masked under 
 the title of governor of Bohemia. The imperial 
 army bitterly regretted this prince, even though 
 there was given them as his successor baron Kray, 
 who had greatly distinguished himself in the last 
 Italian campaign. Kray was an officer of bravery, 
 competency, and experience, and showed himself 
 not unworthy of the command with which he was 
 entrusted. 
 
 To fill up the void left by the Russians in the 
 ranks of the coalition, Austria, by the aid of sub- 
 sidies from England, obtained a sufficiently large 
 supply of forces from the states of the empire. A 
 special treaty, signed on the 16th of March, by Mr. 
 Wickham the British minister, with the elector of 
 Bavaria, bound that prince to furnish a supple- 
 mentary corps of twelve thousand Bavarians be- 
 yond his legal contingent as a member of the 
 empire. A treaty of the same kind, signed on the 
 20th of April, with the duke of Wurtemberg, 
 procured another corps of six thousand Wurtem- 
 bergers for the army of the coalition. Lastly, on 
 the 30 th April, the same negotiator obtained from 
 the elector of Mayence a corps of from four to 
 six thousand Mayencais on the same financial 
 conditions. Beyond the expenses of recruiting, 
 equipping, and maintaining their troops, England 
 guarantied to the princes of the German coalition, 
 not to treat with France without them, and pledged 
 herself that their states should be restored to them, 
 whatever might be the result of the war, making 
 them promise in return not to listen to any pro- 
 posal for a separate peace. 
 
 Of these German troops the best were the 
 Bavarians ; next to those came the Wurtem- 
 bergers ; but the troops of Mayence were militia, 
 without discipline or valour. Independently of 
 these regular contingents, the peasantry of the 
 Black Forest had been roused to arms by the terrible 
 accounts of the ravages committed by the French, 
 who at that time caused much less devastation 
 than did the imperial armies, on the cultivated 
 plains of unhappy Germany. 
 
 The imperial army of Suabia, all the auxiliaries 
 included, amounted very nearly to one hundred 
 and fifty thousand men, of whom thirty thousand 
 were in garrison, and one hundred and twenty 
 thousand present on active service. It was pro- 
 vided with a numerous artillery, good, though in- 
 ferior to that of France ; and, above all, with 
 a superb cavalry, as is usual in the armies of 
 Austria. The emperor had above one hundred 
 and twenty thousand men in Lombardy under 
 Melas. A great number of English ships assem- 
 bled in the Mediterranean, and, cruising incessantly 
 in the gulf of Genoa, supported all the operations 
 of the Austrians in Italy. They were to transport 
 an auxiliary corps consisting of English and emi- 
 grants, already assembled at Mahon, and amount- 
 ing, as wa3 said, to twenty thousand men ; it 
 was arranged that this corps should even be 
 landed at Toulon, in case the imperial army, 
 charged with the operations against the Apennine 
 
 frontier, should succeed in forcing the line of the 
 Var. 
 
 There had been a hope of a junction of some 
 Russian troops with those of England, to be 
 landed on the coast of France, for the purpose of 
 exciting insurrections in Belgium, Britany, and 
 La Vendee; but an inaction on the part of Russia, 
 beyond doubt voluntary, and the pacification of La 
 Vendee, caused a failure of this plan, on which the 
 allies had greatly counted. 
 
 It was, then, a mass of three hundred thousand 
 men, or thereabouts ; one hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand in Suabia, one hundred and twenty thousand 
 hi Italy, and twenty thousand at Mahon, seconded 
 by the marine power of England, which was to 
 prosecute the war against France. Such a force, 
 it must be confessed, would have been exceedingly 
 insufficient against France, reorganized, and in 
 possession of all her resources : but against France 
 just emerging from the chaos into which she had 
 been cast by the weakness of the directory, it was 
 a considerable force, and one with which great 
 results might have been achieved, had the enemy 
 known how to use it. It must be added, that this 
 was the actual force, liable to very little deduction, 
 since the three hundred thousand men who com- 
 posed it were inured to hardships, and were al- 
 ready upon the very frontier they were to attack ; 
 a circumstance of importance, inasmuch as every 
 army, at its first campaign, can with difficulty 
 endure the early trials of war ; and if it has a long 
 march to make before joining battle, grows less in 
 number, in proportion to the distance it has to 
 traverse. 
 
 We have now to ascertain the distribution of the 
 troops of the coalition, and the plan on which they 
 were about to act. 
 
 Kray, at the head of the one hundred and 
 fifty thousand men under his command, occupied 
 Suabia, taking up a position in the middle of the 
 angle formed by the Rhine in that country, when 
 after running from east to west, from Constance 
 down to Basle, it turns sharply towards the north, 
 running from Basle to Strasburg. In this position 
 Kray, having Switzerland on his left flank, and 
 Alsace on his right, could watch all the passes 
 of the Rhine by which the French army might 
 penetrate into Germany. He made no show of 
 forcing the line of this river, and invading the 
 territory of the republic ; the part he had to play in 
 opening the campaign, was to be of a less active 
 kind. The commencing operations was reserved 
 for the army of Italy, one hundred and twenty 
 thousand strong, and already, in consequence of 
 the advantages which it gained in 1799, almost at 
 the foot of the Apennines. It was to blockade 
 Genoa, to carry it if possible, then cross the Apen- 
 nines and the Var, and show itself before Toulon, 
 where the English and the emigrants of the south, 
 under the command of general Willot, one of those 
 proscribed in Fructidor, had arranged to meet 
 the Austrians. Another invasion of that province 
 of France which contained our greatest marine 
 establishment, was so especially agreeable to the 
 English, that it is to them we must, in great part, 
 attribute this plan, that was afterwards so severely 
 criticised. When the Austrian army of Italy, 
 which, owing to the climate of Liguria, could com- 
 mence the campaign before that of Suabia, should
 
 1800. 
 March. 
 
 Description of the Alps. 
 
 ULM AND GENOA. 
 
 Importance of the neutrality 
 of Switzerland. 
 
 57 
 
 have penetrated into Provence it was supposed 
 that the first consul would withdraw his troops 
 from the Rhine to cover the Var, and that Kray 
 would then have an opportunity for action. Switzer- 
 land, when she found herself thus outflanked, and, 
 as it were, strangled between two victorious armies, 
 would fall, as a matter of course, without there 
 t any necessity to renew against her the fruit- 
 less efforts of the preceding campaign. The ex- 
 ploits of Lecourbe and Massena in the Alps had 
 given Austria a strong distaste for any great ope- 
 ration specially directed against Switzerland, and 
 they were desirous to confine themselves to a mere 
 observation as regarded that country. The ex- 
 treme left of Kray was charged with this duty 
 in Suabia ; the cavalry of Me"Ias, useless in the 
 Apennines, was to undertake the same duty in 
 Lombardy. The plan of the Austrians consisted, 
 then, of temporizing in Suabia, and carrying on the 
 operations with all speed in Italy; to advance on 
 this side as far as the Var, and then, as soon as the 
 French being drawn upon the Var should leave the 
 Rhine unprotected, to cross the river, and thence 
 advance in two great divisions, the one upon Basle, 
 the other to the south by Nice, and so reduce, with- 
 out attack, the formidable barrier of Switzerland. 
 
 Practical judges of military operations have 
 greatly blamed Austria for its neglect of Switzer- 
 land, which allowed Bonaparte to open a way 
 there for himself, and fall on the flank of Kray, 
 and on the rear of Melas. We believe, as will 
 soon appear from the facts, that it was impossible 
 for any plan to be quite certain in the presence of 
 Bonaparte, and with the irreparable inconvenience 
 of Switzerland being in the hands of the French. 
 
 To form a just comprehension of this memorable 
 campaign, and a sound judgment on the plans of 
 the belligerents, we must figure to ourselves ex- 
 actly the position of Switzerland, and the influence 
 which it must have on the military operations, 
 especially at the point to which they had arrived. 
 
 Towards the eastern frontier of France, and in 
 the centre of the European continent, the Alps 
 take their rise; whence stretching towards the east, 
 they separate Germany and Italy, throwing from 
 the one Bide the Danube and its tributaries, from 
 the other the Po and all the rivers of which that 
 noble stream is composed. That part of the Alps 
 i France forms Switzerland ; further on 
 they constitute the Tyrol, which for ages has be- 
 1 to Austria. 
 
 When the Austrian armies are advancing to- 
 wards France, they are compelled to ascend the 
 valley of the Danube on one side, the valley of the 
 Po on the other, being separated in two masses, 
 acting on the long chain of the Alps. So long as 
 they are- iii Uavaria and in Lombardy, these two 
 ii communicate across the Alps, by the 
 Tw-ol, which belongs to the emperor; but when 
 they i' ach Suabia, on the upper Danube, and 
 Piedmont, em the upper I'o, they find themselves 
 separated one from the other, without the power 
 mmunicatiofi across the Alps; since Switzer- 
 land, being independent and neuter, is usually to 
 them forbidden ground. 
 
 This neutrality of Switzerland is an obstacle 
 which the policy of Europe lias wisely placed be- 
 tween Prance and Austria, to diminish the points 
 of attack between thou two formidable powers. 
 
 Thus, if Switzerland be open to Austria, the latter 
 can advance her armies, with a free communica- 
 tion between them from the valley of the Danube 
 to the valley of the Po, and menace the frontiers 
 of France from Basle as far as Nice. This, a 
 serious danger for France, would oblige her to 
 be always in readiness from the mouths of the 
 Rhine to those of the Rhone ; whereas, whilst the 
 Swiss Alps are closed, she may concentrate all her 
 forces on the Rhine, careless of attack from the 
 south, seeing that no operation on the Var has 
 ever been successful with the Imperialists, because 
 of the length of the circuit. There is, then, a great 
 advantage to France in the neutrality of Switzer- 
 land. But it is not the less important to Austria, 
 perhaps even more so ; in fact, if Switzerland be- 
 came the theatre of hostilities, the French army 
 can invade it the first ; and as its foot-soldiers are 
 intelligent, agile, and brave, and as well adapted 
 to a mountain warfare as to that of plains, it 
 has every chance of being able to maintain itself 
 there, as was proved in the campaign of 1799. 
 If, in fact, the Alps are attacked by the great 
 chain from the side of Italy, they oppose a resist- 
 ance such as Lecourbe showed to Suwarow in 
 the passes of St. Gothard; if attacked on the side of 
 Germany, by the lower ridge, they oppose, behind 
 their lakes and rivers, a resistance such as that of 
 JMasse'na behind the lake of Zurich, which ended 
 in the famous battle of that name. Thus, when- 
 ever the French army is master of Switzerland, 
 it commands a very threatening position, and one of 
 which it can take advantage to bring about results 
 the most extraordinary, as we shall soon see in 
 reciting the operations of Bonaparte. In fact, 
 when two Austrian armies are the one in Suabia, 
 the other in Piedmont, separated by the massive 
 rocks of Switzerland, they have no means of com- 
 munication between them; while the French, mak- 
 ing their way by the lake of Constance on the one 
 side, and the great Alps on the other, can throw 
 themselves either on the flank of the army of 
 Suabia, or the rear of the army of Italy. This 
 danger it is impossible to avoid, whatever be the 
 plan adopted, without going back for fifty leagues, 
 by retrograding as far as Bavaria on the one side, 
 and, on the other, to Lombardy. 
 
 It was, then, necessary for the Austrians to do 
 one of these things; cither that, losing their advan- 
 tages in their last campaign, they should abandon 
 to us at one time both Suabia and Piedmont ; or 
 that, refusing to make such sacrifices, they should 
 endeavour to carry Switzerland by a main attack — 
 in which they could not hope for success, as it was 
 to attack in front an obstacle almost insurmount- 
 able, before which they had already been baffled ; 
 or, lastly, that they should divide themselves into 
 two grand armies, as they did, being separated by 
 Switzerland, which was thus placed on their flank 
 and rear. They were thus enabled, it is true, by 
 following this last course, to diminish to some 
 extent one of their two armies for the purpose 
 of increasing the other; to leave, for instance, 
 Melas with but small means, sufficient merely to 
 keep Masse'na in check, and to raise the army of 
 Suabia to two hundred thousand men ; or to do 
 the contrary, by uniting their principal forces in 
 Piedmont. Hut, in the one case, this was to desert 
 Italy — Italy, the only object and the so ardently
 
 Erroneous views of the 
 
 58 Austrians concerning 
 
 the French resources. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Vast plans of Bonaparte. 
 
 1800. 
 March. 
 
 desired prize of the war ; — in the other, it was to 
 abandon, without a battle, the Rhine, the Black 
 Forest, and the Sources of the Danube, and to 
 shorten, besides, the road of the French to Vienna: 
 it was, lastly, in both cases, to do that which was 
 most to our advantage; since, by bringing up either 
 one of the two armies to the number of two hun- 
 dred thousand men, the victory was given to that 
 one of the two powers which had Bonaparte on 
 its side ; for he was, in fact, the only general who 
 could, at that day, command two hundred thousand 
 men at one time. 
 
 There was then no plan for Austria which could 
 be perfectly sure of success, so long as the French 
 were masters of Switzerland, which, to speak in 
 passing, is a proof that the Swiss neutrality is a 
 most important device for the interest of these two 
 powers. It adds, in fact, to their means of defence, 
 while it diminishes their means of offence ; that is, 
 it gives to their safety what it takes from their 
 powers of aggression. Nothing could be better 
 conceived for the interests of a general peace. 
 
 The Austrians then had little choice in taking 
 their course; and whatever may be said, they took 
 perhaps the only possible one, of deciding to tem- 
 porize in Suabia, and carry on active operations in 
 Italy, remaining separated by the obstacle of Swit- 
 zerland, which it was impossible for them to dis- 
 place. But there was even in this position, more 
 than one manner of conducting their operations, 
 and it must be acknowledged that they did not 
 adopt the best, nor even cast a glance before them 
 at the dangers with which they were menaced. 
 Obstinate in believing the French armies ex- 
 hausted ; not supposing that of Germany was 
 capable of assuming the offensive and passing the 
 Rhine in the face of the one hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand Austrians posted in the Black Forest; think- 
 ing still less that they could cross the Alps, without 
 a road, and in the season of snow-storms ; not see- 
 ing, moreover, the third army which might be 
 tempted to cross them ; they gave themselves up 
 to a confidence which proved fatal. In jus- 
 tice to them, it must still be acknowledged, that 
 most men would have been deceived as they were, 
 since their security was based on obstacles appa- 
 rently insurmountable. But experience soon dis- 
 closed to them, that before such an adversary as 
 Bonaparte, all security, though founded on barriers 
 insurmountable, rivers, or mountains of ice, was 
 deceitful, and might become fatal. 
 
 France had two armies; that of Germany, which 
 amounted, by the junction of the armies of the 
 Rhine and Helvetia, to one hundred and thirty 
 thousand men ; and that of Liguria, reduced to 
 forty thousand at most. In the troops of Holland 
 and La Vendee she had the scattered and disjointed 
 elements of a third army. None but a capacity 
 for administration of the very highest order could 
 bring this together in time, and, above all, unexpect- 
 edly, at the point where its presence was required; 
 These were the means which it was the plan of 
 Bonaparte to employ as follows : — 
 
 Massdna, with the army of Liguria, not aug- 
 mented, but with fresh stores only of provision and 
 ammunition, was ordered to maintain his position 
 on the Apennines, between Genoa and Nice, and 
 to maintain it like a Thermopylae. The army of 
 Germany, under Moreau, augmented as much as 
 
 possible, was to make pretended demonstrations on 
 the banks of the Rhine from Strasburg to Basle, 
 from Basle to Constance, as if about to pass over ; 
 then to march rapidly forward in a parallel course 
 with the river, ascend it to Schaffhausen, throw 
 over it four bridges at the same moment, open at 
 once on the flank of Kray, take him by surprise, 
 drive him back in disorder on the upper Danube, 
 outstrip him if possible, cut him off his road to 
 Vienna, surround him if practicable, and cause him 
 to suffer one of those memorable disasters of which 
 there is not more than one example in the present 
 age. If the army of Moreau did not succeed so far 
 as this, it would at any rate drive Kray upon Ulm 
 and Ratisbon, constrain him thus to descend the 
 Danube, and separate him from the Alps, so that it 
 would be out of his power to send succours in that 
 direction. This done, it was ordered to detach its 
 right wing towards Switzerland, to second there the 
 perilous operation, the execution of which Bona- 
 parte reserved for himself. The third army, called 
 the reserve, the very elements of which could scarce- 
 ly be said to exist, was to form itself between Geneva 
 and Dijon, and await the issue of these first events, 
 in readiness to succour Moreau if there was ne- 
 cessity. But if Moreau succeeded, in one part at 
 least of his plan, this army of reserve, marching 
 under Bonaparte to Geneva, from Geneva to the 
 Valais, joining there the detachment taken from 
 the army of Germany, and next passing the St. Ber- 
 nard over the ice and snow, was by a prodigy 
 greater than that of Hannibal, to fall on Piedmont, 
 take Melas in the rear, while he was occupied 
 with the siege of Genoa, surround him, engage him 
 in a decisive battle, and, if it won the victory, com- 
 pel him to lay down his arms. 
 
 Assuredly, if the execution did but correspond 
 with such a plan, never had a finer conception re- 
 flected honour on the genius of a soldier of ancient 
 or modern days. But it is the execution only 
 which gives their value to grand military combi- 
 nations; for, deprived of this merit, they arc no- 
 thing but vain chimeras. 
 
 The execution here lay in conquering an infinity 
 of difficulties, in the reorganization of the armies 
 of the Rhine and Liguria, in the creation of the 
 army of reserve, in keeping the secret of its crea- 
 tion and destination ; finally, in the double passage 
 of the Rhine and the Alps, the second equal to the 
 most extraordinary efforts ever attempted in the 
 art of war. 
 
 The first care of Bonaparte was especially to 
 recruit the army. Desertion to the interior, sick- 
 ness, and battle had reduced it to two hundred and 
 fifty thousand men, a number scarcely credible at a 
 time when France had to make head against a 
 general coalition, were it not proved by authentic 
 documents. Happily, these two hundred and fifty 
 thousand men were seasoned warriors, all of them 
 able to contend against an enemy double their 
 number. The first consul had demanded one hun- 
 dred thousand conscripts from the legislative body, 
 and it had granted them with an enthusiasm truly 
 patriotic. The war was so legitimate, so evidently 
 necessary, after the rejection of the offers of peace, 
 that merely to hesitate would have been criminal. 
 
 But there was nothing of this kind to fear, and 
 the eager haste of the legislative body and the 
 tribunate amounted to enthusiasm. These one
 
 1800. His appeal to the volunteers. 
 
 March. Important mJitary reforms. 
 
 ULM AND GENOA. 
 
 Unfortunate state of the aimy of 
 Liguria. 
 
 69 
 
 hundred thousand young conscripts, combined with 
 two hundred and fifty thousand old soldiers, would 
 form the materials of an excellent army. The pre- 
 fects newly appointed, and first arrived at their 
 9, impressed an activity on the recruiting 
 department hitherto unseen. But these conscripts 
 could not be with their regiments, drilled and 
 ready to serve under the period of six months. The 
 first consul adopted the plan of retaining in the in- 
 terior the regiments which had been exhausted. 
 and employing them as skeletons, which he filled 
 up with the new levy. ' He moved, on the other 
 hand, towards the frontier the regiments which 
 were competent to the field, taking care to transfer, 
 from the ranks of those which were to stop in the 
 interior, to the ranks of those which were about to 
 march to the field all the soldiers who were in a 
 fit state for service. By so doing, he could scarcely 
 muster two hundred thousand men to place im- 
 mediately in line. But in powerful and competent 
 hands these were sufficient. 
 
 He appealed at the same time to the patriotic 
 sentiment of Fiance. Applying himself to the 
 soldiers of the first requisition, whom the general 
 discouragement, consequent on our reverses, had 
 drawn back to their homes, he compelled by force 
 to rejoin their regiments all those who had left 
 them without permission; he laboured besides to re- 
 awaken the zeal of those who had regular furloughs. 
 He tasked himself to arouse a military spirit among 
 the young, whose imagination was inflamed by the 
 name of Bonaparte. Greatly as the enthusiasm of 
 the first days of the revolution had cooled down, 
 the sight of the enemy on our frontiers reanimated 
 all hearts; and the succour which might possibly 
 be again procured from the devotion of the volun- 
 teers was by no means to be despised. 
 
 To the attention bestowed on recruiting, Bona- 
 parte added other useful reforms in respect to 
 the administration and composition of the army. 
 He first created inspectors of reviews, whose 
 duty it was to keep account of the number of 
 men present under arms, and to take care that the 
 ury did not pay for soldiers who were only 
 it upon paper. In the artillery he made a 
 change of very great importance. The carriages 
 of the artillery were at that day under the conduct 
 of drivers belonging to the waggon train, who not 
 being under any restraint from a feeling of honour, 
 the othi r soldiers, cut the traces of their 
 i, at the Very first danger, and Bed, leaving 
 their guns in the hands of the enemy. The first 
 I considered, that the conductor charged to 
 bring a piece to the place of battle, was rendering 
 the cannoneer chargi d to lire it 
 off; that In- ran the same dangi r, and stood in 
 of the sane- moral motive the sane- honour. He 
 therefore com i f the artillery in- 
 
 | Idii rs, wearing the uniform, and forming a 
 portion of that arm. There were thus ten or 
 twelve thousand horsemen who were to show as 
 much seal in bringing their guns up to the 
 enemy, or rapidly carrying them off, as those whose 
 
 duty it was to load, point, and fire them. This re- 
 form bad been onlyjusf made, and all its useful 
 quences wen; not developed until a later 
 period. 
 
 The artillery and the cavalry were thus in want 
 jf horses. The first consul having neither time 
 
 nor means to make purchases, decreed a forced 
 and extraordinary levy of every thirteenth horse. 
 This was a hard but inevitable necessity. The 
 armies were to provide themselves from their 
 own vicinity in the first instance, and then, go 
 further and further, from the surrounding pro- 
 vinces. 
 
 The first consul had sent to Masse'na what funds 
 he had at his disposal, to succour the unhappy 
 army of Liguria. From sixty thousand men, of 
 which it was composed by the junction of the 
 army of Lombardy with that of Naples, after the 
 bloody battle of Trebia, it was reduced, by pri- 
 vation, to forty thousand at the most, not muster- 
 ing more than about thirty thousand fighting men. 
 Corn, as it could not come either from Piedmont, 
 which the Austrians occupied, or by the sea, which 
 the English guarded, was very scarce. The un- 
 happy soldiers had nothing for their support but 
 the crops of the Alps, which, as every body knows, 
 are next to nothing. They would not go into the 
 hospitals where there was a want of the chief articles 
 of food, and were to be seen along the road from 
 Nice to Genoa, devoured by famine and fever, pre- 
 senting the most pitiable of all spectacles, that of 
 brave men left to die of want by the country they 
 Are defending. 
 
 Masse'na, when furnished with the funds sent 
 him by the government, made some purchases at 
 Marseilles, bought up all the corn in that town, 
 and sent it to Genoa. Unluckily, during this 
 winter, the winds, as rigorous as the enemy, blowing 
 contrary without cessation, prevented their arrival 
 at Marseilles, and replaced in some sort the block- 
 ade which the English could not keep up at that 
 bad season. Nevertheless, as some cargoes suc- 
 ceeded in getting in, the troops of Liguria had 
 bread once more dealt out to them. Arms, shoes, 
 some clothing, and — hopes were sent to them. As 
 for military energy, there was no need to inspire 
 them with that ; for, never had France seen her 
 soldiers endure such reverses with so much firmness. 
 These conquerors of Castiglione, of Areola, and of 
 Rivoli had borne, without being staggered, the 
 defeats of Cassano, of Novi, and of Trebia ; the 
 temper (hey had acquired could not be changed 
 by the strokes of fortune. Moreover, the presence 
 of Bonaparte at the head of the government, and 
 of Masse'na at the head of the army, would have put 
 them in heart again, if there had been necessity. 
 They wanted but food, clothing, and arms, to per- 
 forin the greatest services. In this respect the 
 best that was in their power was done by the 
 government. Masse'na, by some acts of severity, 
 re-established discipline, which was shaken amongst 
 them, and assembled above thirty thousand men, 
 impatient to march once more under his orders 
 on the road to fertile Italy. 
 
 The fin t consul prescribed to this general an 
 ably conceived plan for the conduct of his ope- 
 ration:. Three narrow p id across the Apen- 
 nine from tin- inland side to the maritime: these 
 
 are that of the Bocchetta, opening upon Genoa; 
 
 that of Cadibona, upon S.ivmia; that, of 'iVmle, 
 
 upon Nice. The first consul enjoined Masse'na to 
 leave only weak detachments in the pass of Tends, 
 ami that of Cadibona— altogether just enough to 
 watch them — and to concentrate his force-of twenty- 
 five thou: and or thirty thousand men upon Genoaj
 
 60 
 
 1800. 
 
 The army of the Rhine. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Characterof its generals. M ^°™ 
 
 This town being strongly occupied, an invasion of 
 the south of France became less probable, and in 
 any case less to be feared ; since the Austrians 
 would not be so rash as to advance beyond the 
 Var upon Toulon and the mouth of the Rhone, 
 with Masse'na left hi their rear. Besides, Masse'na 
 could, with his thirty thousand men in one body, 
 fall upon any corps which was crossing the denies 
 of the Apennines. It would be difficult for him, 
 seeing the narrow and steep nature of the country, 
 to meet with more than thirty thousand at one 
 time. He had, then, the means of making head 
 every where against the enemy. This excellent 
 plan was unhappily not capable of execution but 
 by a general who had the prodigious dexterity of 
 the conqueror of Montenotte. For the rest, the 
 first consul felt assured of having in Masse'na an 
 obstinate defender of the heights of the Apennine, 
 and of preparing employment for Melas, which 
 would detain him in Liguria during all the time 
 necessary for the skilful combinations of his plan 
 for the campaign. 
 
 Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged, that the 
 army of Liguria was in some little degree treated 
 as a sacrificed army ; not one man more was sent 
 to it, only supplies, and, as respects these, no more 
 than was just necessary. The principal efforts of 
 the gavernment were directed to another quarter, 
 for it was in another quarter that the grand blow 
 was to be struck. The army of Liguria was ex- 
 posed to the risk of perishing, that others might 
 gain time to be victorious. Such is the stern fatality 
 of war, which passes from one head to another, 
 compelling these to die that those may live and 
 triumph. 
 
 The army to which the most special car* was 
 devoted was that, which, under the orders of 
 Moreau, was destined to act in Suabia. All the 
 men and materiel possible were sent there. The 
 greatest efforts were made to ensure it a complete 
 artillery, and large means of passage, that it 
 might find itself in full possession of resources for 
 crossing the Rhine on a sudden, and, if possible, 
 at one point. Moreau, of whom men said the first 
 consul was so jealous, was to have under his 
 orders the finest and most numerous army of the 
 republic, about one hundred and thirty thousand 
 men, while Masse'na was to have thirty-six thousand, 
 and the first consul forty thousand at the most. 
 This was not, however, an empty compliment ad- 
 dressed to the pride of Moreau. Such a distribu- 
 tion of the forces had been decided upon the most 
 serious motives. The operation, whose object 
 was to drive Kray upon Ukn and Ratisbon, was 
 of the very highest importance to the general 
 success of the campaign ; since, in the presence of 
 the two powerful armies of Austria which were 
 advancing upon our frontiers, it was necessary first 
 to drive one off, before being able to cross the Alps 
 to fall upon the rear of the other. The first ope- 
 ration, then, must be carried out by decisive means, 
 which placed its success beyond doubt. The first 
 consul, with all his estimation of Moreau, esteemed 
 himself still higher ; and if one of the two could 
 dispense with great means, he thought that he 
 could do better without them than Moreau. The 
 feeling that actuated him on this occasion is better 
 in great affairs of state than generosity itself, it 
 was a love of the public weal ; this he placed 
 
 above all private interest, whether that of others 
 or his own. 
 
 This army of the Rhine was a superb one, 
 though, like the other armies of the republic, it 
 wore the tatters of privation. The few conscripts 
 who had joined were just enough to give it the 
 spirit of youth. It was composed of an immense 
 number of veterans, who, under the orders of 
 Pichegru, Kle'ber, Hoche, and Moreau, had con- 
 quered Holland and the banks of the Rhine, had 
 crossed full many a time this river, and had shown 
 themselves on the Danube. It would be an in- 
 justice to say that they were braver men than 
 those of the army of Italy ; but they exhibited all 
 the qualities of accomplished troops. They were 
 prudent, sober, observant of discipline, well-drilled, 
 and intrepid. The chiefs were worthy of the 
 soldiers. The formation of this army into detach- 
 ments, complete hi every branch of the service, 
 and acting in separate corps, had, by that means, 
 developed in a greater degree the talents of the 
 generals of division. These generals were men 
 of a merit equal, yet different. There was Le- 
 courbe, the most able officer of his time in moun- 
 tain warfare — Lecourbe, whose glorious name the 
 echos of the Alps still repeat; there was Riche- 
 panse, who united with an audacious bravery a 
 rare intelligence, and who to Moreau, soon after, 
 rendered on the field of Hohenlinden the greatest 
 service that a lieutenant ever rendered to his gene- 
 ral ; there was St. Cyr, cold in disposition, but 
 profound, a character of little social feeling, but 
 endowed with all the qualities of a general-in- 
 chief ; there was, lastly, the youthful Ney, whom 
 his heroic courage, directed by a happy instinct of 
 war, afterwards rendered popular in all the armies 
 of the republic. At the head of these lieutenants 
 was Moreau, a man of a slow mind, occasionally 
 indecisive, but solid, and one whose indecisions 
 ended in a wise and firm resolution as soon as he 
 was face to face with danger. Practice had, to a 
 singular extent, formed and extended his military 
 glance. But while his warlike genius every day 
 grew greater under the trials of war, his civil 
 character weak, and open to every influence, had 
 already succumbed, and would yet succumb still 
 more, to the trials of politics, which minds truly 
 elevated alone soar above. For the rest, the un- 
 happy passion of jealousy had not yet altered the 
 purity of his heart, and corrupted his patriotism. 
 From his experience, from his habit of command, 
 his high renown, he was, after Bonaparte, the only 
 man then competent to the command of one hun- 
 dred thousand men. 
 
 The details of the plan which the first consul 
 had prescribed for him, consisted in entering 
 into Suabia at a point which would allow him 
 best to act on the extreme left of Kray, so as to 
 outflank him, to cut him off from Bavaria, and to 
 enclose him between the Upper Danube and the 
 Rhine; in which case the Austrian army in Suabia 
 was destroyed. To succeed in this, the Rhine was to 
 be crossed, not at two or three points, but at one 
 only, as near as possible to Constance ; an operation 
 of singular boldness and difficulty, since it con- 
 sisted in transporting across a river, and in the 
 presence of an enemy, one hundred thousand men 
 at one time with all their materiel: and it must be 
 granted that, previous to Wagram, no general had
 
 1800. 
 March. 
 
 Creation of the army of reserve. 
 
 ULM AND GENOA. 
 
 Its organization. 
 
 61 
 
 passed a river under such an assemblage of circum- 
 stances and with such resolution. It wanted also 
 much address to deceive the Austrians as to the 
 place chosen ; with great address, much bold- 
 ness in the execution of the passage over; and, 
 lastly, what is always necessary, great good for- 
 tune. The first consul had directed the collecting 
 together on the rivers flowing into the Rhine, es- 
 pecially on the Aar, of a great quantity of boats, 
 that three or four bridges might be thrown across 
 at once, at a distance of a hundred fathoms from 
 each other. It remained to find admission for 
 these combinations into the cold and cautious mind 
 of Moreau. 
 
 After this attention to the troops of Liguria and 
 Germany bestowed with unremitting zeal, the first 
 consul applied himself to form, almost out of no- 
 thing, an army which, under the title of the "army 
 of reserve," afterwards accomplished the greatest 
 achievements. 
 
 That it might fulfil its object, it was necessary not 
 only to create this force, but to do so without any 
 one crediting the possibility of its being effected. 
 It will be shown what mode Bonaparte took to 
 obtain that double result. 
 
 The first consul had found in Holland, and in the 
 troops accumulated in Paris by the directory, the 
 means to pacify La Vendee in good season : and he 
 also contrived to discover in La Vende'e, as soon as 
 it was restored to peace, the necessary resources 
 for creating an army, which, thrown on a sudden 
 upon the theatre of military operations, might 
 change the destiny of the campaign. In writing to 
 general Brune, who had the chief command in the 
 he addressed him in these beautiful words, so 
 well expressing his own manner of operating, and 
 that of other grand masters in the art of adminis- 
 tration and of war : " Let me know if, indepen- 
 dently of those five demi-brigades which I have 
 requested from you by my last courier, you will be 
 able t of one or two more, on the condition 
 
 of their being sent back in three months. We must 
 resolve to stride over France as we did formerly 
 over the valley of the Adige ; it is only bringing 
 cade into a day 1 ." 
 
 Although the English must have felt a distaste 
 for new expeditions upon the continent, since their 
 adventure at the Texel, and more than all since 
 i paration of tin- Russians from the coalition, 
 the vast extent of our coasts, from the Zuyder-Zee 
 to the gulf of Gascony, could not he abandoned 
 without some means of defence; the pacification of 
 La Vendee had been too recent. The' first consul 
 left in Holland a force, half French, half Dutch, to 
 i this valuable country, and gave the com- 
 mand "f it to Augercau. It was formed into divi- 
 sions for active service, ready-armed and prepared 
 to march. When it seemed certain that by the 
 course of operations there was no descent to he 
 feared, this force under Augereau'i command was 
 t>> march op the Rhine, and cover the rear of 
 Iforeau in Germanyi Out of the sixty thousand 
 men drawn from the coasts of Normandy and 
 Britany, the first consul chose the weakest demi- 
 brigades, and left them to watch the country of the 
 Insurrection. He reduced their strength yet further 
 
 1 From tl taircrie d'Ltat, 14 Ventose, 
 
 an viii. (5th March, 1800 ) 
 
 by sending to the army in actual service the sol- 
 diers best capable of duty; thus rendering them 
 fitter for receiving conscripts, whom they were to 
 instruct, while they guarded the coast. He formed 
 of these men five small encampments, uniting ca- 
 valry, infantry, and artillery, ready to march at 
 the first signal, and commanded by good officers. 
 There were two of those encampments in Belgium, 
 one at Liege, another at Maestricht, both designed 
 to secure the country kept in disturbance by the 
 priests, and, if required, to aid in the defence of 
 Holland, Another of those camps was formed at 
 Lisle, ready to fling itself upon the Somme and 
 Normandy, a second at St. Lo, and a third at 
 Rennes. The last was the most numerous, and 
 numbered from seven thousand to eight thousand 
 men ; the others from four thousand to five thou- 
 sand, and all the camps together about thirty 
 thousand. These would soon be doubled, at least, 
 by the arrival of the conscripts, and all were in- 
 tended to do the duty of police in the countries 
 recently subdued, such as Belgium, and the pro- 
 vinces of Normandy, Britany, and Poitou. The first 
 consul ordered a search to be made for arms con- 
 cealed in the woods, and began to form, through the 
 attraction of high pay, three or four battalions out of 
 the men who had contracted adventurous habits in 
 the civil war, intending them for the army in Egypt. 
 Their leaders had residences assigned them at a dis- 
 tance from the scene of civil war, and received pen- 
 sions amply sufficient to maintain them in comfort. 
 
 The arrangements completed, there remained 
 about thirty thousand excellent soldiers out of 
 sixty thousand, collected for the pacification of the 
 interior of the country ; they were embodied in 
 the demi-brigades which had suffered least. Some 
 had returned to Paris after the operations were 
 completed in Normandy against De Frotte" ; others 
 were in Britany and La Vende'e. They were formed 
 by the first consul into three fine war-divisions, two 
 in Britany, at Rennes and Nantes, and one in 
 Paris. These divisions were to prepare them- 
 selves for service with the utmost speed, providing 
 themselves with such appointments as were at 
 hand, and procuring the rest on their march, by 
 means which will be presently explained. They 
 had orders to repair to the eastern frontier, with 
 rapid " strides," to use the words of the first con- 
 sul "as the army of Italy once strode over the 
 Adige." Their arrival in Switzerland in the month 
 of April was certain. 
 
 There was yet another resource in the depots of 
 the army of Egypt stationed in the south of France, 
 which had never been able to forward recruits to 
 their corps, it having been impossible for them 
 to pass the sea in consequence of its being conti- 
 nually watched by the English. Fourteen line bat- 
 talions ready for service were drawn from those 
 depots by adding a few conscripts to them. The 
 order was given for them to march to Lyons, where 
 they would he completed. This was a fourth and a 
 
 capital division, capable of performing rood sen ice. 
 The most difficult and longest task in the form- 
 ation of an army 18 the organization of the ar- 
 tillery. The first consul having resolved to form 
 the army of reserve iii the east, had in the depots 
 
 of Auxerre, Besancon, and Briancon, the means 
 
 of collecting in men and appointments a force 
 equal to sixty pieces of cannon. Two able artillery
 
 62 
 
 Measures taken by the 
 first consul to con- 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 ceal the object of the 
 army of reserve. 
 
 1800. 
 
 March. 
 
 officers, who were greatly attached to him, Mar- 
 mont and Gassendi, were sent from Paris, with 
 orders to get ready sixty pieces of cannon in the 
 different depots, without saying where they were 
 to be united or concentrated. 
 
 It was necessary to point out some place where 
 all these corps we're to be collected together. If 
 an attempt had been made to conceal the pre- 
 parations by silence about them, it would have 
 had a wrong effect, and spread an alarm. The 
 first consul deceived the enemy by the very bustle 
 of his preparations. In the Moniteur, a decree of 
 the consuls was inserted by his orders, for the 
 formation of an army of reserve at Dijon, to be 
 composed of sixty thousand men. Berthier went 
 post-haste to Dijon, for the purpose of commen- 
 cing its organization, his duty now drawing less 
 upon his time by the entry of Carnot upon the 
 ministry of war. An exciting appeal was made 
 to the old volunteers of the revolution who after 
 one or two campaigns had retired to their homes, 
 beseeching them to repair to Dijon. A small 
 quantity of the munitions of war, and a few con- 
 scripts, were sent there with much parade. The 
 old officers despatched to that city gave the idea 
 of being sent to commence the instruction of the 
 skeleton battalions of conscripts. The newspaper 
 writers, who were only permitted to interfere with 
 military matters in the most circumspect mode, 
 had full liberty to write what they pleased about 
 the army at Dijon, and to detail in their columns 
 whatever concerned it. This was enough to attract 
 all the European spies to that quarter, where 
 there was no want of them, since they repaired 
 thither in great numbers. 
 
 If the divisions formed at Nantes, Rennes, and 
 Paris, and the troops drawn from La Vendee; and 
 if the division formed at Toulon, Marseilles, and 
 Avignon, with the depots of the army of Egypt; 
 and the artillery prepared at Besancon, Auxerre, 
 and Briancon, with the materials in their arsenals, 
 had been united at Dijon, the secret of the first 
 consul would have been out ; all the world would 
 have believed in the existence of the army of 
 reserve. But he took good care not to act in that 
 manner. The divisions were sent towards Lau- 
 sanne and Geneva by different roads, in such a 
 way that the public attention was not particularly 
 attracted to any point. They passed for reinforce- 
 ments going to the army of the Rhine, which, 
 being spread over the country from Strasbuig 
 to Constance, might well appear to be the point 
 to which they were all proceeding. The muni- 
 tions for the war, ordered from the arsenals of 
 Auxerre and Besancon, passed for supplemental 
 artillery destined for the same army. Those col- 
 lecting at Briancon were in the same way supposed 
 to be for the army of Liguria. The first consul sent 
 a quantity of spirits to Geneva; but this did not 
 indicate its real destination, since the Germ;in 
 army of France had its base of operations in Swit- 
 zerland. Four millions of rations of biscuit were 
 ordered to be made in the departments on the 
 banks of the Rhone, destined to feed the army of 
 reserve, amid the sterility of the Alps ; and one 
 million eight hundred thousand were secretly sent 
 up the Rhone to Geneva, while two hundred thou- 
 sand were ostentatiously sent down to Toulon, in 
 order that it might be supposed they were intended 
 
 for the naval service at that port. Lastly, the di- 
 visions were marched slowly, and without fatiguing 
 them, in the direction of Geneva and Lausanne. 
 They had the half of March and the whole of 
 April to complete the distance, receiving as they 
 proceeded shoes, clothes, muskets, horses, and 
 the necessaries of which they might stand in need. 
 The first consul having arranged in his own mind 
 the route which the troops were to follow, and 
 having carefully made himself acquainted with 
 the nature of whatever they wanted, sent to 
 every place through which they were to inarch, 
 sometimes one thing, and sometimes another, of 
 such kinds as were necessary, taking care not to 
 raise suspicion by too large a collection of stores 
 at one place. The correspondence relating to 
 these preparations was kept back from the war 
 office, and confined between himself and the com- 
 mander of the troops, being sent by trustworthy 
 aids-de-camp, who travelled backwards and for- 
 wards by post, saw every thing themselves, and 
 did every thing immediately, possessing the irre- 
 sistible order of the first consul, ignorant them- 
 selves all the time of the general plan which they 
 were carrying out. 
 
 The real object, confined to the first consul, 
 Berthier, and two or three generals of engineers 
 and artillery, to whom it was absolutely needful to 
 communicate the plan of the campaign, was kept a 
 profound secret. None of them would betray it, 
 because secrecy is an act of obedience that govern- 
 ments obtain in proportion to the ascendancy which 
 they possess. Upon this ground the first consul 
 had no indiscretion to fear. The foreign spies who 
 flocked to Dijon, seeing only a few conscripts, 
 volunteers, and old officers, thought themselves 
 wonderfully acute in discovering that there was 
 nothing serious to be apprehended ; that the first 
 consul evidently made all the stir to terrify Melas, 
 and prevent him from penetrating the Jura by the 
 mouths of the Rhone, under the belief that he 
 would find in the south an army of reserve capable 
 of stopping him. This was the comprehension of 
 the business by such as deemed themselves ex- 
 cellent judges ; and the English newspapers were 
 soon filled with thousands and thousands of jests 
 upon the subject. Among the caricatures designed 
 on the occasion, was the army of reserve repre- 
 sented by a child leading a wooden-legged invalid. 
 
 The first consul desired nothing better than to 
 be jested upon at such a moment. In the mean 
 time his divisions were marching, and his warlike 
 stores were preparing on the eastern frontier. In 
 the beginning of May, an army formed in a mo- 
 ment would be ready either to second Moreau, or 
 to throw itself over the Alps, and change the face 
 of events in that quarter. 
 
 The first consul had not neglected the navy. 
 After the cruise which had been made, during the 
 preceding year, in the Mediterranean by Admiral 
 Biuix, with the combined fleets of France and 
 Spain, this fleet had entered Brest. It was com- 
 posed of fifteen Spanish and about twenty French, 
 in all, nearly forty sail. Twenty English men-of- 
 war blockaded it at the moment. The first consul 
 availed himself of the first financial resources 
 which he had succeeded in creating, to send some 
 provisions and a part of the pay that was in arrear 
 to this fleet. He urged it not to suffer itself to be
 
 1800. Resistance of Moreau to the 
 
 March. plan proposed. 
 
 ULM AND GENOA. 
 
 His own plan. — Mediation of 
 general Dessoles. 
 
 63 
 
 blockaded, but if it had only thirty sail against 
 twenty, to put to sea at the first moment, even if it 
 were forced to give battle; and, if unable to keep at 
 sea, to pass the straits, sail to Toulon, assemble 
 there some vessels charged with stores for Egypt, 
 and then go and raise the blockade of Malta and 
 Alexandria. The way thus cleared, commerce 
 would of itself victual the French garrisons ou the 
 coasts of the Mediterranean. 
 
 Such were the attentions he directed to military 
 affairs, at the same time that with Cambaceres, 
 Sieves, Talleyrand, Gaudin, and others, who shared 
 in his labours, he was employed in the reorganiza- 
 tion of the government, in re-establishing the 
 finances, in creating a civil and judicial adminis- 
 tration, and in negotiating with Europe. But it 
 was not sufficient to conceive plans and prepare 
 fur their due execution ; it was necessary to im- 
 print his own ideas on the minds of his lieutenants, 
 who, though answerable to his consular authority, 
 were not then so perfectly subordinate as they 
 afterwards became, when under the title of "mar- 
 shals of the empire" they obeyed him as emperor. 
 The plan prescribed to Moreau more particularly, 
 had upset his cold and timid head ; he was alarmed 
 at the boldness of the operations he was ordered to 
 perform. The country has been spoken of already 
 in which he was about to operate. The Rhine, 
 we have said, runs east and west from Constance 
 to Basle, and turns to the north at Basle, passing 
 by Brisach, Strasburg, and Mayence. In the 
 angle which it thus describes, is situated the tract 
 called the Black Forest, — a woody and mountainous 
 region, intersected by defiles, which lead from the 
 valley of the Rhine to that of the Danube. The 
 French and Austrian army occupied, to a certain de- 
 gree, the three sides of a triangle. The French army 
 held two sides, from Strasburg to Basle, and from 
 Basle to Schatt' hausen. The Austrian army occu- 
 pied one side only, or from Strasburg to Constance. 
 The last had therefore the advantage of a more 
 easy concentration. General Kray had his left, 
 under the prince de Reuss, in the environs of 
 Constance, his right in the defiles of the Black 
 t, in ally as far as Strasburg, his centre at 
 Donau-Eschingen, at the point where all the roads 
 int meet, and thus could concentrate his army 
 rapidly before the very spot where Moreau wished 
 m the Rhine, either between Strasburg and 
 Basle, or between Basic ami Constance. This 
 position was the subject of uneasiness to the 1'ivmli 
 general i I • - feared that Kray, presenting his 
 whole' force at the place where hi; crossed, would 
 !•■ leb r the passage impossible, perhaps disastrous. 
 
 'lie- first eoii-ul thought nothing of the kind, 
 
 ring, on the contrary, that the French army 
 
 would be abb' to concentrate itself with ease on the 
 hit. Bank of Kray and overwhelm it. To that end 
 he wished, as we tuiVC already seen, that profiting 
 by the 1 mr curtain, or in other words, by the Rhine, 
 
 which covered the French army, he should ascend 
 
 that river on a sudden, should unite his forces be- 
 tween Basle and Schaffhansen, and with boats pro- 
 vided secretly in the tributary waters of that river, 
 throw over four bridges the same morning, by which 
 
 be might pa • aero - ighty thousand or one hun- 
 dred thousand men between Stoekaeh and Donau- 
 Eschitlgen, coming upon the Hank of Kray, cut- 
 ting him off from his reserves and his left wing, and 
 
 driving him in confusion upon the upper Danube. 
 The first consul thought that by this operation, 
 executed with vigor and promptitude, the Austrian 
 army of Germany might be destroyed. That 
 which he proposed at a later period around Ulm, 
 and that which he did the same year, by Mount St. 
 Bernard, showed that this plan had nothing in it 
 but what was practicable. He thought that the 
 French army not having to move in an enemy's 
 country, as it would ascend the Rhine by the left 
 bank, having only to move without fighting, might 
 steal two or three marches upon Kray, and be at 
 the point of crossing before that general could 
 assemble means sufficient to prevent it. 
 
 This was the plan that troubled so much the 
 mind of Moreau, little habituated to such bold 
 combinations. He was fearful that Kray, learning 
 his object time enough, would bring down the mass 
 of the Austrian army to encounter him, and drive 
 the French into the Rhine. Moreau preferred to 
 avail himself of the bridges already existing at 
 Strasburg, Brisach, and Basle, to pass in several 
 columns over to the right bank. In this manner 
 he should divide the attention of the Austrians, 
 and drive them principally towards those defiles of 
 the Black Forest which were correspondent to the 
 bridges of Strasburg and Brisach ; then, after 
 having lured them into the defiles, he proposed to 
 steal away of a sudden, pass parallel with the 
 Rhine those of his columns that had crossed the 
 river, and post himself before Schaffhauseu to 
 cover the passage of the rest of the army. 
 
 This plan of Moreau was not destitute of merit, 
 nor was it without serious inconveniences. Although 
 it might tend to the escape of the danger following 
 a passage in one place executed with the whole 
 body ot the army, it had, by dividing the operation, 
 the inconvenience of dividing his forces, of throw- 
 ing upon an en°my's territory two or three de- 
 tached columns, and of making them perform a 
 hazardous flank march as far as Schaffhansen, 
 where they would have to cover the last and most 
 dangerous passage of the river. Lastly, the plan 
 had the disadvantage of giving few or no results, 
 because it did not throw the French army entire 
 and at one time upon the left flank of Kray, which 
 would have been the only means to overthrow the 
 Austrian general and cut him off from Bavaria. 
 
 It is a spectacle well worthy of historical regard, 
 to sec two men, thus opposed to each other on 
 a question of great moment, bringing out so well 
 their differences in spirit and character. The plan 
 of Moreau, as it often happens with the plans of 
 second rate men, had only the appearance of pru- 
 dence. It might succeed in the execution' ; for it 
 is right to repeat continually that the execution 
 redeems all — sometimes causing the best combina- 
 tions to fail, and the worst to succeed. Moreau 
 persisted iii bis own idea. The first consul wishing 
 
 to act upon him by persuasion, through an inter- 
 mediate agent, carefully selected, summoned gene- 
 ral Uessoles to Paris. This officer was chief of 
 
 the staff in the army of Germany, and possessed 
 
 an acute, penetrating intellect, well worthy of 
 serving as a link between two susceptible and 
 powerful men, having thai desire to conciliate his 
 superiors not always found in subordinate officers, 
 Tin- first consul sent for him to Paris about the 
 middle of March, the end of Ventose, and kept
 
 64 
 
 The first consul yields 
 to Moreau. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Positions of the army 
 in Liguria. 
 
 1800. 
 April. 
 
 him there some days. Having explained his ideas 
 to general Dessoles, he made him perfectly under- 
 stand them, and prefer them even to those of 
 Moreau. The general did not in consequence less 
 persist in advising the first consul to adopt the plan 
 of Moreau; because, in his opinion, it was better to 
 leave the general who was to act, to do so agreeably 
 to his own character and ideas, especially when he 
 is worthy of the command with which he is entrusted. 
 " Your plan," said general Dessoles to the first 
 consul, " is grander, more decisive, probably more 
 certain ; but it is not adapted to the genius of 
 him who is to execute it. You have a mode of 
 making war which is superior to any other, and 
 Moreau has his, which, without doubt, is inferior 
 to yours, but yet excellent. Let him act; he will 
 act well ; slowly, perhaps, but surely ; and he will 
 obtain all the results which you will require for the 
 success of your general combinations. If, on the 
 other hand, you impose your ideas upon him, you 
 will annoy him ; you will offend him, and will 
 obtain nothing from him by the desire of obtaining 
 too much 1 ." 
 
 The first consul, as deeply versed in the know- 
 ledge of men as in his own profession, appreciated 
 the soundness of the advice given by general 
 Dessoles, and yielded. " You are in the right," he 
 observed; " Moreau is not capable of catching and 
 executing the plan which I have conceived. He may 
 do as he sees fit, provided he will throw Kray 
 upon Ulm and Ratisbon, and then send back his 
 left wing in seasonable time upon Switzerland. 
 The plan which he does not understand, and dares 
 not execute, I will carry into effect in another 
 part of the theatre of war. What he will not dare 
 on the Rhine, I will do on the Alps. He may 
 possibly, by-and-by, regret the glory which he 
 abandons to me." Proud words, of deep meaning, 
 containing a whole military prophecy, as it will 
 soon be easy to discover. 
 
 The mode of crossing the Rhine thus left to 
 Moreau himself, there still remained another point 
 to arrange. The first consul had a strong desire 
 that the right wing, commanded by Lecourbe, 
 should remain in reserve on the Swiss territory, 
 ready to second Moreau if he required it, but not 
 to penetrate into Germany unless its presence there 
 was indispensable, in order that it should not have 
 to retrograde for the purpose of co-operating in the 
 Alps. Still he knew how difficult it is to take 
 from a general-in-chief a detachment of his army, 
 when operations have commenced. Moreau in- 
 sisted on having Lecourbe, engaging to send him 
 back to Bonaparte as soon as he had driven Kray 
 upon Ulm. The first consul agreed to his request, 
 determined to concede every thing to promote 
 harmony ; but he requested that Moreau should 
 sign an agreement, by which he promised, after 
 driving back the Austrians upon Ulm, to detach 
 Lecourbe, with twenty thousand or twenty-five 
 thousand men, towards the Alps. This agreement 
 was signed at Basle between Moreau and Berthier, 
 the last being considered as acting officially in his 
 character of general-in-chief of the army of reserve. 
 
 General Dessoles left Paris, after having settled 
 completely every point of discussion with the first 
 
 1 In my youth I had the honour to receive this recital 
 from the mouth of general Dessoles himself. 
 
 consul. All was in accord, and every thing ready 
 to open the campaign, and it was of importance to 
 commence operations immediately, in order that 
 Moreau having executed as early as possible that 
 part of the plan arranged in which he was con- 
 cerned, the first consul might be able to throw 
 himself on the other side of the Alps, and disen- 
 gage Masse'na before he was crushed, fighting with 
 only thirty-six thousand men against one hundred 
 and twenty thousand. The first consul wished 
 that Moreau should commence operations by the 
 middle of April, or at the latest by the end of that 
 month. His wishes were vain ; Moreau was not 
 ready ; he had neither the activity nor the mind 
 capable, out of its own resources, of supplying the 
 insufficiency of his means. While he thus deferred 
 commencing operations, the Austrians, faithful to 
 their plan of taking the initiative in Italy, flung 
 themselves upon Masse'na, and commenced a strug- 
 gle with that general, which the disproportion of 
 strength between the two renders worthy of im- 
 mortal remembrance. 
 
 The army of Liguria at most numbered about 
 thirty-six thousand men, in a fit state for active 
 service, distributed in the following manner : — 
 
 Thirteen or fourteen thousand men under gene- 
 ral Suchet formed the left of that army, occupying 
 the Col de Tende, Nice, and the line of the Var. A 
 detached corps from this wing, of about four thou- 
 sand men, under the orders of general Thureau, 
 was posted on Mount Cenis. Consequently there 
 were eighteen thousand men engaged in guarding 
 the French frontier, from Mount Cenis to the Col 
 de Tende. 
 
 Ten or twelve thousand men under general Soult, 
 forming the centre of the army, defended the two 
 principal passes of the Apennines, — that which 
 coming down from the Upper Bormida, descends 
 on Savona and Finale, and that of the Bocchetta, 
 which comes down upon Genoa. 
 
 About seven or eight thousand men, under the 
 intrepid Miollis, kept Genoa, and a pass which 
 opens near that city on the side opposite to that of 
 the Bocchetta. Thus the second moiety of this army, 
 in number about eighteen thousand men or nearly, 
 under the generals Soult and Miollis, defended the 
 Apennines and Liguria. The danger of a separa- 
 tion between these two portions of the army, that 
 occupying Nice, and that which held Genoa, was 
 very evident. 
 
 These thirty-six thousand French had opposed 
 to them Me'las, the Austrian general, with one 
 hundred and twenty thousand men, refreshed, well- 
 fed, and re-victualled, owing to the abundance of 
 everything in Italy, and to the subsidies which Aus- 
 tria received from England. General Kaim, with 
 the heavy artillery, the cavalry, and a body of in- 
 fantry, in all thirty thousand men, had been left in 
 Piedmont to serve as a rear-guard and watch the 
 approaches from Switzerland. Me'las, with seventy 
 thousand men, the greater part consisting of infan- 
 try, had advanced towards the openings in the 
 Apennines. Besides his superiority in numbers, he 
 had the advantage of a concentrical position ; Mas- 
 sena was obliged to occupy thirty thousand men in 
 guarding the semicircle, forty leagues in extent, 
 formed by the maritime Alps and the Apennines, 
 from Nice to Genoa, the surplus of his force occu- 
 pying Mount Cenis. Me'las, on the contrary, placed
 
 1800. 
 April. 
 
 Bonaparte's instructions to 
 Massena. 
 
 ULM AND GENOA. 
 
 Commencement of hostilities. 
 The French line divided. 
 
 65 
 
 on the other side of the mountains, in the centre 
 of this semicircle, between Coni, Ceva, and Gavi, 
 had but a short distance to go before he could 
 rcaeli any point of his opponent's line which he 
 might choose to attack. He was also able to make 
 false demonstrations upon any one of these points, 
 and then, rapidly moving upon another, act against 
 it with his whole force. Masse'na, menaced in this 
 way, had no less than forty leagues to march from 
 Nice to the succour of Genoa, or from Genoa to 
 succour Nice. 
 
 It was upon considering all these circumstances 
 that the first consul grounded the instructions he 
 had given to Masse'na, — instructions already alluded 
 to in a general manner, but which it is now neces- 
 sary to re-state in a more particular way. Three 
 roads, adapted for artillery, led from one side of the 
 mountains to the other : that which by Turin, 
 Coni, and Tende, opened upon Nice and the Var ; 
 that which ascending the valley of the Bormida 
 conducted by the defile of Cadibona to Savona ; 
 lastly, that of the Bocchetta, which byTortona and 
 Gavi descended on the left of Genoa into the 
 valley of Polcevera. The danger to be appre- 
 hended was, lest Me'las should be seen bringing 
 down his whole force by the second of these open- 
 , :id thus, by cutting the French army in two 
 parts, fling one half upon Nice, and the other half 
 upon Genoa. Seeing this hazard, the first consul 
 wrote Masse'na instructions in a correspondence 
 displaying admirable foresight, under date of the 
 5th and 12th of .March, instructions of which the 
 following is the substance: "Take care not to 
 have a line too extended. Keep few men upon the 
 Alps and the Col de Tende; the snow will defend 
 you there. Leave detachments near Nice and in 
 the surrounding forts. Have four-fifths of your 
 troops at Genoa and its environs. The enemy will 
 march upon your right towards Genoa, upon your 
 centre towards Savona, very probably upon both 
 points at once. Refuse one of the two attacks, and 
 Hin^ yourself with your whole force upon one of 
 the enemy's columns. The ground will not allow 
 him to avail himself of his superiority in cavalry 
 and artillery ; he can only attack you with his in- 
 fantry ; yours is infinitely superior to his, and, 
 favoured by the nature of the ground, that will 
 supply the place of numbers on your Bide. In this 
 1 country, if you manoeuvre well, you will be 
 able with thirty thousand men to beat sixty thou- 
 sand. To carry into Liguria sixty thousand infan- 
 try, M tikis must have ninety thousand, which sup- 
 ■ total army of at least one hundred and 
 twenty thousand ; Melae has neither your activity 
 n«.r your talents ; yon have- no reason to fear him. 
 [f he appear towards Nice, while you are at Genoa, 
 let him march on; be will not dare to advance, 
 while you art- in Liguria, ready to fall upon his 
 rear, or upon the forces he will have kit behind in 
 
 Piedmont." 
 
 More than on'- cause operated to prevent .Mas- 
 se'na from following tins sagacious advice. First, 
 lie was surprised by a sudden irruption of the Aus- 
 trian-, !»• fore he had time to perfect the disposal of 
 his troops and effect hi-- definitive arrangem 
 secondly, he had not sufficient provisions in Genoa, 
 to concentrate his whole army there. Fearful of 
 lining those of which tie- city stood in need in 
 , he rather desired to secure tin- re- 
 
 sources of Nice, which were much more abundant, 
 finally, Masse'na did not appreciate sufficiently 
 the deep wisdom of the instructions of his superior, 
 to disregard the real inconveniences of a concen- 
 tration upon Genoa. Masse'na, on the field of battle, 
 was, perhaps, the first of his contemporary gene- 
 rals ; in character equal to the most resolute sol- 
 dier of any age : but though he had a great deal 
 of natural talent, the extent of his views by no 
 means equalled his mental energy and the promp- 
 titude of his visual glance. 
 
 Thus, for want of time, provisions, and a suffi- 
 cient impression of the importance of the measure, 
 he did not concentrate Ids forces upon Genoa with 
 sufficient rapidity, and he was surprised by the 
 Austrians. Me'las opened the campaign on the 
 5th of April, or 15th Germinal, which was much 
 earlier than it was expected active hostilities would 
 be resumed. Me'las advanced with seventy thou- 
 sand or seventy-five thousand nun, in order to 
 force the chain of the Apennines. His lieutenants, 
 Ott and Hohenzollern, directed twenty-five thou- 
 sand men upon Genoa. Ott, with fifteen thousand 
 ascending the Trebia, approached by the defiles of 
 Scoffera and Monte-Creto, which open upon the 
 right of Genoa. Hohenzollern, with ten thousand 
 men, threatened the Bocchetta. Me'las himself, with 
 fifty thousand, ascended the Bormida, and attacked 
 simultaneously all the positions of what has been 
 called above the " middle road," which led by Cadi- 
 bona to Savona. His intention, as the first consul 
 had foreseen it would be, was to force the French 
 centre and separate general Suchet from Soult, who 
 were in communication at this point. .V violent 
 struggle ensued, from the sources of the Tanaro and 
 of the Bormida, as far as the scarped hill-summits 
 that overlook Genoa. The Austrian generals, Me'las 
 and Elsnitz, carried on a fierce encounter with 
 Suchet at Rocca-Barbena, Sette-Pani, Melogno, and 
 Santo- Jacobo; and with Soult at Montelogino, Stella, 
 Cadibona, and Savona. The republican forces, 
 profiting by the mountainous nature of the country, 
 and covering themselves well by the rugged and 
 broken character of the ground, combated with 
 incomparable courage, and caused to the enemy a 
 loss three times greater than they themselves sus- 
 tained, by reason that their lire plunged into dense 
 and deep masses of men ; hut they were obliged to 
 fight ceaselessly against numbers continually re- 
 newed, and were worn out by fatigue at last, 
 rather than beaten by the Austrians Suchet and 
 Soult were constrained to separate, the first re- 
 tiring upon Borghetto, the second upon Savona. 
 
 As was easy to ho foreseen, the French line was 
 broken, one half of the Ligurian army being thrown 
 upon Nice, the other half compelled to shut itself 
 up in Genoa. 
 
 On the side of Genoa the success hail been ba- 
 lanced with tolerable equality. The attack of Ho- 
 henzollern on the Bocchetta was made with too [fw 
 
 troops to overcome the French, there being but ten 
 
 thousand Austrians against five thousand French. 
 
 The Austrians were repulsed by Gazan'a division. 
 On the right of Genoa, towards the positions of 
 Monte-Creto and Scoffera, which afford access to 
 the valley of Bisagno, general <»t», having beaten 
 the division of Miollis, who had but four thousand 
 men to oppose to his fifteen thousand, descended 
 the rever : the Apennines, and surrounding 
 
 F
 
 66 
 
 Description of Genoa. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Its defences. — Measures 
 of Massena. 
 
 1800. 
 April. 
 
 all the forts which cover the city, displayed the 
 Austrian colours to the terrified Genoese. The 
 English squadron at the same time hoisled the 
 British fla.^. If the inhabitants of Genoa itself were 
 patriots and partisans of the French, the peasantry 
 of the valleys, attached to the aristocratic party, 
 like the Calahrians of Naples were to queen Caroline, 
 or the Vende'ans in France to the Bourbons, rose 
 at once at the sight of the soldiers of the coalition. 
 The alarm-bell was rung in the villages. A certain 
 baron, named D'Aspres, attached to the imperial 
 service, and having some influence in the country, 
 excited the revolt. In the evening of the 6th of 
 April, the unfortunate people of Genoa, seeing the 
 Austrian fires on the hills around them, and on the 
 sea the flag of England, began to fear lest the oli- 
 garchy, already full of joy, should again quickly 
 establish its detestable power. 
 
 But the intrepid Masse'na was among them. Se- 
 parated from Suchet by the attack directed upon 
 his centre he had still from fifteen thousand to 
 eighteen thousand men ; and with such a force he 
 could defy any enemy whatever to force the gates 
 of Genoa in his presence. 
 
 In order to understand perfectly the operations 
 of the French general during this memorable siege, 
 it is needful to describe the theatre where it hap- 
 pened. 
 
 Genoa is situated at the bottom of a beautiful 
 bay, which bears its name, at the foot of a spur 
 of the Apenninc mountains. This spur projecting 
 from north to south down to the sea, before it 
 plunges in, separates into two ridges, one turning 
 to the east, the other to the west, and thus forming 
 an inclined triangle, of which the summit is in 
 connexion with the Apennines, while the base 
 rests upon the sea. It is at the base of this tri- 
 angle, and be it understood, with the usual natural 
 irregularity, that Genoa displays itself in long 
 streets, lined with magnificent palaces. Both 
 nature and art have done much to aid in its de- 
 fence. On the side next the sea, two moles carried 
 out in a direction that nearly cross the one with 
 the other, form the port, and defend it against a 
 naval attack. On the side of the land, a rampart 
 with bastions surrounds the part of the city which 
 is built upon and peopled. An outer rampart of 
 great extent, and bastioned like the first, is carried 
 along the heights, which, as before observed, de- 
 scribes a triangular figure around the city. Two 
 forts, disposed in terraces, one above the other, 
 called the Spur and the Diamond forts, are placed 
 at the apex of this triangular configuration of the 
 hill summits, and cover with their fire the centre 
 of the fortified works. 
 
 But this was not all that had been done to keep 
 an enemy at a distance. On turning the back to 
 the sea, and regarding Genoa, the east will be on 
 the right hand, and the west on the left. Two 
 small rivers, the Bisagno on the right hand or 
 east, and that of Polcevera on the left or west, 
 bathe the two sides of the exterior ramparts. The 
 Bisagno descends from the mountain heights of 
 the Monte-Creto and of Scoffera, which must be 
 passed when coming from the back of the Apen- 
 nines in ascending the Trebia. The side of the 
 valley of the Bisagno which is opposite to the city 
 is called Monte-Ratti, and presents several posi- 
 tions from which much injury might be inflicted 
 
 upon Genoa, if they were not occupied. Care 
 had been taken, therefore, to crown them with 
 three forts, namely, those of Quezzi, Richelieu, 
 and St. Tecle. The valley of Polcevera, on the 
 contrary, lying on the left of Genoa, offered no 
 dominant position which it was necessary to oc- 
 cupy in order to protect the city. A large suburb 
 on the sea-shore, that of San Pietro d' Arena, pre- 
 sented a mass of building useful and easy to defend. 
 
 The fortifications of Genoa thus presented a tri- 
 angle, inclined to the horizon about 15°, being 
 about nine thousand fathoms in extent, connected 
 by its summit with the Apennines, its base washed 
 by the sea, and bordered upon its two sides by the 
 Bisagno on the east, and the Polcevera on the 
 west. The Spur fort, and above that Fort Diamond, 
 covered the summit. The forts of Richelieu, St. 
 Tecle, and Quezzi prevented a destructive fire 
 being poured from Monte-Ratti on this city of 
 marble palaces. 
 
 Such was Genoa then, and such were its de- 
 fences, which art, time, and contributions imposed 
 upon France have since greatly improved. 
 
 Masse'na had still under his command about 
 eighteen thousand men. If with such a garrison, 
 in so strong a place, he had possessed a sufficiency 
 of provisions, he would have been impregnable. 
 It will lie seen how much charae r can . fifect in 
 warfare towards repairing a fault iu foresight, and 
 combination. 
 
 Masse'na was resolved to oppose to the enemy a 
 most energetic resistance, and he proposed imme- 
 diately to execute two very important things ; the 
 first was to drive back the Austrians who had 
 pressed too closely upon Genoa beyond the Apen- 
 nines; the second was to effect a junction with 
 Suchet by a combined movement with that general 
 along the line of the Corniche. 
 
 To execute his first design it was necessary that 
 he should drive the Austrians from the Bisagno 
 on the one hand, and from the Polcevera on the 
 other, and that he should drive them by the Monte- 
 Creto and the Bocchetta to the other side of the 
 mountains, from whence they had come. Without 
 the loss of a day, on the very morrow of their first 
 appearance, being the 7th of April, or 17th Ger- 
 minal, Masse'na sallied forth from Genoa, and 
 traversed the valley of the Bisagno, followed by 
 the brave divisions of Miollis, which ten days be- 
 fore had been obliged to retire before the very 
 superior force of general Ott. He was now re- 
 inforced with a part of the reserve, and marched 
 in two columns. That of the right, under general 
 Arnaud, marched by the sea towards Quinto; that 
 of the left, under Miollis, directed itself towards 
 the declivities of Monte Ratti. A third column, 
 under general Petitot, followed, marching up the 
 bottom of the valley of Bisagno, which winds at 
 the foot of Monte Ratti. The precision in move- 
 ment of the three columns was such, that the fire 
 of all three was heard upon every point at the 
 same moment. General Arnaud by one slope, and 
 general Miollis by another, forced their way with 
 great vigour to the heights of Monte-Ratti. The 
 presence of Massena himself, and the desire to 
 revenge the surprise of the preceding day, ani- 
 mated the soldiers. The Austrians were driven 
 into the torrents, and lost all their positions. Ge- 
 neral Arnaud marched on, following the mountain
 
 1800. 
 April. 
 
 His success. — He endeavours to 
 unite with Suchet. 
 
 ULM AND GENOA. 
 
 Soult's struggle with Melas. 
 
 67 
 
 crest, and reached tlie extreme summit of the 
 Apennines at the pass of Scoffera. Masse'na fol- 
 lowed with some reserve companies, and descended 
 into tlte valley of Bisagno, to join the column of 
 general Petitot. The last thus reinforced repulsed 
 the enemy upon every point, and, remounting the 
 river, seconded tlie movement of Arnaud upon 
 Seutt'era. Precipitated into these tortuous valleys, 
 the Austrians left Masse'na one thousand five hun- 
 dred prisoners, and at their head tlie instigator of 
 the revolt of the peasantry at Fonte-Buona, tlie 
 baron d'Aspres. On entering Genoa in the evening, 
 Masse'na was heartily welcomed by the patriotic 
 Genoese, whom he had delivered from the sight of 
 the enemy. Bringing with him as a prisoner the 
 very officer whose speedy triumphant announce- 
 ment had been before made to the population, it 
 could not conceal its joy, and the commander of 
 the French was received with loud acclamations, 
 while the inhabitants provided litters to carry the 
 wounded, and wine and broth for their refresh- 
 ment, the citizens disputing the honour of receiving 
 them into their houses. 
 
 After this energetic action on the left, by far the 
 most important to be performed, because upon 
 that side alone the city was closely pressed by the 
 enemy, Masse'na determined, after the respite he 
 had obtained by his recent success, to make an 
 effort on the left towards Savona, and thus to re- 
 establish his communication with Suchet. In order 
 to secure Genoa from attack during his absence, 
 he divided his forces into two bodies, the one on 
 the right under Miollis, the other on the left under 
 Soult. The corps of .Miollis was to guard Genoa 
 in two divisions. The division of Arnaud was to 
 defend the cast facing Bisagno, and that of Spital 
 the west, facing Polcevera. The corps upon the 
 left under Soult was ordered to take the field with 
 the two divisions of Gardanne and Gazan. With 
 this last force of about ten thousand men, Masse'na 
 proposed to approach Savona, to open his commu- 
 nication wiih .Suchet, to whom he had secretly sent 
 notice of his intention, with orders to attempt a 
 similar movement simultaneously upon the same 
 point. Gardarme'8 division proceeded by til 
 shire, and that of Gazan along tlte crests of the 
 Apennines, with the intention to induce the enemy, 
 at the sight of the two separate columns, to divide 
 his own forces. Manoeuvring with great rapidity 
 directly afterwards upon ground of which he had 
 a perfaet knowledge, Mas-u'ua intended, according 
 to arcamstaoces, to unite his two divisions in such 
 a manner u to destroy, either on the heights of the 
 
 Apennines or by the- sea-shore, that division of the 
 enemy which might he most exposed to his attack. 
 M ie" n:i was in person with Gardarme's division, 
 and confided that of Gazan to Soult. His design 
 to follow the coast by Voltri, Varaggio, and 
 Savona ; his lieutenant Soult had orders to ascenU 
 
 by Aqua-Bianca and San Pietro del Alba, upon 
 
 llo. 
 
 On the 9th of April, in th.- morning, the troops 
 
 commenced their march. Melas, ait r dividing 
 
 the French army into two parts, intended to shut 
 
 Up Masse'na in Genoa, and contract bis own line, 
 
 which was too extended, it embraced from the 
 valley of the Tanaro to that of tie- Trebia, a space 
 of no [ess than fifteen leagues at least. The 
 two armies met in their respective movements 
 
 upon ground very rugged and broken ; a des- 
 perate but confused conflict ensued. Masseua had 
 marched in two columns, Me'las in three, while 
 Hohenzollern, with a fourth, made an attack upon 
 the Bocchetta, ten thousand French being opposed 
 to above forty thousand Austrians. Soult, filing 
 by Voltri, perceived the Austrians upon his right. 
 They had passed the Bocchetta, and crowned the 
 surrounding heights. On reaching a place called 
 Aqua Santa, it was in their power to threaten the 
 rear of the French columns, and cut off their 
 return to Genoa. Soult thought it would be the 
 most prudent step to drive them back ; a brilliant 
 combat ensued, in which Colonel Mouton, since a 
 marshal, and count Lobau, commanding the third 
 demi-brigade, were greatly distinguished. Soult 
 took some cannon and prisoners ; and, despite his 
 numerous enemies, gained the mountain-road to 
 llo. The time consumed in this action, which 
 could not prevent the advance of the Austrians 
 upon the rear of the French columns, prevented 
 Soult from arriving at Sassello, on the other side 
 of the Apennines, at the moment that Masse'na 
 waited for his junction. The last had marched by 
 the sea-side, and on the following day, April 10, 
 he was at Varaggio, in two columns, endeavouring 
 to form a communication with Soult, whom he sup- 
 posed to be at Sassello. The Austrians, whose 
 force was ten times as great as his, endeavoured to 
 envelope his two little columns, particularly the 
 left, which he commanded in person. Masse'na, 
 trusting to his right column and the movement 
 of Soult towards Sassello, resisted for a good 
 while a corps of eight or ten thousand men with 
 no more than twelve hundred, displaying extra- 
 ordinary firmness. He was, at last, obliged to 
 retreat, having lost sight of his right column, which 
 had fallen behind in consequence of a tardy de- 
 liverance of provisions ; but he went in search of it 
 among fearful precipices and bands of peasants in 
 revolt, lie found it, and, ordering it back, united 
 it with the rest of Gardanne's division, which had 
 not quitted the sea-side by Varaggio and Cogo- 
 letto. The difficulty of combining movements in 
 th ■ midst of such a crowd of enemies in so rugged 
 a country, having hindered the junction in time 
 with Soult, Masse'na resolved to rally his troops, to 
 ascend the crest of the Apennines, rejoin his lieu- 
 tenants, and fall upon the Austrian corps dispersed 
 about the valleys. But the harassed troops had 
 dispersed upon the roads, and could not be collected 
 in time. Masseua then resolved to send to Soult 
 Such of his forces as were able to march, to serve 
 nun as a reinforcement, and with the remainder, 
 composed of wounded and exhausted men, to re- 
 gain, by following the sea side, t lit- approaches to 
 Genoa, in order to cover the retreat of the corps, 
 ami insure an entrance into the place. With only 
 a handful men he had to sustain several most dis- 
 
 proportioned actions, and in < I them, a French 
 
 battalion having given way before a charge of the 
 
 hussars ol Secklcr, he charged the hussars with 
 only thirty horse, and drove them oil', lie posted 
 himself at hist in Voltri, to await the return of 
 Soult. This officer was in tin- mountains among 
 tin- enemy's detachments live or six times bu] i 
 in number to himself. He there encountered great 
 hazards, and must have finally surrendered but 
 
 for the help so seasonably sent to him by MsSSeUK. 
 
 r 2 
 
 _
 
 C8 
 
 Massena's preparations to 
 defend Genoa. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Sufferings of the gar- 
 rison. — Austrian at- 
 tack repulsed. 
 
 1800. 
 April. 
 
 Being thus reinforced at the critical moment, he 
 was able to regain the road to Genoa, having main- 
 tained, without disadvantage, an arduous and most 
 unequal contest. Rejoining the commander-in- 
 chief, they both entered Genoa, bringing in four 
 thousand prisoners. Suchet had on his part en- 
 deavoured to rejoin his commander, but found it 
 impossible to force his way through the enormous 
 mass of the Austrian army. 
 
 The Genoese were delighted to see the French 
 general enter the city again, preceded by columns 
 of prisoners. The ascendency of Masse'na became 
 all-powerful, both the army and population obeying 
 him with perfect submission. 
 
 From this moment, Masse'na might consider 
 himself shut up in Genoa, but he had no intention 
 to suffer the enemy to press him too closely. His 
 intention was to keep Me'las at a distance from the 
 walls, to fatigue him with continued combats, and 
 so to occupy his attention that he should not force 
 the Var, enter Lombardy, nor oppose the march of 
 the first consul over the Alps. 
 
 No sooner had he entered the city, on the 18th 
 April or 28th Germinal, than he organized a police 
 for the purpose of provisioning the place. Appre- 
 hensive of treachery from the Genoese nobles, he 
 took his measures so as to guard against a surprise 
 from them. The national guard, composed of Li- 
 gurian patriots, supported by a French force, was 
 encamped in the principal square of the city, with 
 matches ready lighted at their guns. The national 
 guard was to assemble whenever the drums should 
 beat to ai'ms. Such of the inhabitants as did not 
 belong to it were ordered at the signal to return 
 to their homes. Armed troops alone were per- 
 mitted to traverse the streets. At ordinary times 
 the inhabitants were commanded to be at home by 
 ten o'clock at night ; and assemblages at any hour 
 were strictly forbidden. 
 
 Masse'na gathered together all the corn to be 
 found in the city, promising to pay for it when it 
 was brought voluntarily, and paying on such occa- 
 sions. When it was only obtained by domiciliary 
 visits, the owners refusing to give it up, it was seized. 
 The corn being all secured, both the population 
 and army were supported upon rations ; and what 
 was thus procured was sufficient to sustain the 
 army and poor inhabitants during the first fifteen 
 days of the siege. These fifteen days being nearly 
 passed, provisions were still left, which many of 
 the rich procured for themselves, at a high rate 
 of payment, from stores that had been concealed 
 for their sole use. By order of Masse'na a second 
 search was made, and enough of the common kind 
 of grain, such as rye and oats, were found for a 
 fortnight's supply more of coarse bread to the army 
 and population. It was hoped that a gale of wind 
 might arise and drive off the English fleet, and 
 thus a few cargoes of provisions might enter the 
 harbour. Assistance was expected from Corsican 
 and Ligurian privateers, which had received letters 
 of marque for the capture of vessels laden with 
 corn. In the mean while, Masse'na was resolved to 
 hold out to the last extremity. It was determined, 
 rather than submit, to feed the troops with cacao, 
 with which the warehouses of Genoa were well 
 provided. Having at his command some money 
 sent him by the first consul, Masse'na hoarded it 
 for extreme cases, or made use of it for affording 
 
 occasional relief to his unfortunate soldiers under 
 their cruel sufferings. Already, in the different 
 encounters, several thousand men had been killed 
 or disabled, and a great number were in the hos- 
 pitals. In the forts, upon the two ramparts, and 
 in the reserve, there was an active force of about 
 twelve thousand men still left. 
 
 In this horrible position Masse'na exhibited every 
 day a calm and serene countenance, communicating 
 to others that courage which animated himself. 
 His aid-de-camp, Franceschi, embarked in a small 
 boat to proceed by the coast to Nice, in order to 
 repair to the first consul and make known to him 
 the hardships, exploits, and danger of the Ligurian 
 army. 
 
 On the morning of the 30th of April or 10th 
 
 Floreal, a 
 
 general 
 
 cannonade was heard on all 
 
 points at the same time ; on the east towards the 
 Bisagno, on the west in the direction of the Pol- 
 cevera, and, lastly, along the coast itself, from a 
 division of gun-boats, all announcing some general 
 attempt of the enemy. The Austrians on that day 
 displayed themselves in great force. Count Hohen- 
 zollern attacked the little plain of the Two Brothers, 
 on which fort Diamond stood. After a fierce 
 struggle the Austrians gained the ground, and sum- 
 moned the fort. The officer in command replied, 
 that he would not surrender a post entrusted to 
 his honour until compelled by main force. This 
 fort was of great importance, since it commanded 
 that of the Spur, and, in consequence, the entire 
 ramparts. The Austrian camp of Coronata, si- 
 tuated on the banks of the Polcevera towards the 
 west, opened a heavy fire upon the suburb of San 
 Pietro d'Arena, and several attacks were at the 
 same time made for the purpose of narrowing the 
 space which the French still possessed in that 
 quarter. On the opposite side of the city, towards 
 the Bisagno, the enemy surrounded fort Richelieu, 
 and unfortunately took fort Quezzi, which was not 
 completely finished when the siege commenced. In 
 the last place, he took the village of San Martino 
 d'Albaro, under the fort of Mount Tecle, and was 
 very near getting that formidable position the Ma- 
 dona del Monte, from which Genoa might be com- 
 manded. The soldiers of general d'Arnaud had 
 already quitted the last houses of the village of 
 Albaro ; they scarcely any of them kept in their 
 ranks, many having dispersed in parties, and some 
 were scattered like tirailleurs. Masse'na hastened 
 to the spot, rallied them, renewed the fight, and 
 dispersed the enemy. 
 
 Half the day had gone by ; it was high time to 
 repair the mischief. Masse'na entered Genoa in- 
 stantly and made proper dispositions. He confided 
 to Soult the 73rd and lOfith demi-brigrades, and 
 ordered him to retake the plain of the Two Brothers; 
 but first wishing to recapture fort Quezzi and 
 force the enemy to evacuate the village of Albaro, 
 he himself led the division of Miollis against those 
 points, after it was reinforced by battalions bor- 
 rowed from the 2nd and 3rd of the line. 
 
 D'Arnaud's division coming to the charge turned 
 San Martino d'Albaro, and repulsed the enemy 
 who had occupied it into the ravine of Sturla, took 
 some prisoners, and thus covered the right of the 
 French columns advancing from fort Quezzi, while 
 the brave colonel Mouton, at the head of two 
 battalions of the 3rd, attacked fort Quezzi in front
 
 1800. 
 April. 
 
 Great exertions of the garrison. 
 Suchet retreats to the Var. 
 
 ULM AND GENOA. 
 
 Bonaparte strongly urges Moreau to 
 commence hostilities. — Reasons for 69 
 Moreau's delay. 
 
 Adjutant-general Hector was directed to turn the 
 Monte-Ratti by the heights of fort Richelieu. 
 But, despite every effort, colonel Mouton was re- 
 pulsed ; though he did not yield until a ball pierced 
 through his chest, and he was left for dead on the 
 full of battle. Massena, who had only two bat- 
 talions remaining, pushed one on the right Hank of 
 the position of the enemy, and directed the other 
 upon the left. A tierce combat now took place round 
 fort Quezzi. Too near one another to fire, the 
 combatants fought with stones and the butt-ends of 
 their muskets. The French were on the point of 
 giving ground before numbers, when Massena led 
 up a demi-battalion that remained with him, and 
 decided the victory ; the fort was captured. The 
 Austrians, driven from position to position, left a 
 great number of killed, wounded, and prisoners. At 
 this moment Massena. who had deferred the attack 
 on the little plain of the Two Brothers, profiting 
 by the effect of this success, commanded Soult to 
 take it. General Spital was induced to make the 
 attack; the ground was warmly disputed, but taken 
 by the French at last. 
 
 "Thus after a whole day's fighting the fort of 
 Quezzi was taken, the posts of San Martino and of 
 the .Madonna del Monte, as well as the plain of the 
 Two Brothers, in fine, all the decisive positions, 
 without which the siege of the city by the Austrians 
 could never be successful. Massena entered the 
 city in the evening, bringing in with him the 
 scaling-ladders which the enemy had prepared for 
 mounting the walls. The Austrians lost in that 
 day one thousand six hundred prisoners, and two 
 thousand four hundred killed or wounded,— about 
 four thousand men, in all. Including these last, 
 Massena had killed or taken from twelve thousand 
 to fifteen thousand men subsequent to the opening 
 of hostilities, and, what was of far more consequence, 
 he had depresai 1 the moral courage of their army 
 by the great efforts which he forced them to make. 
 Not a moment was lost in putting fort Quezzi 
 into repair. The work which seemed likely to 
 occupy a month, was finished in three days, by 
 means of five or six hundred barrels of earth 
 which wore brought by the soldiers, and served for 
 the formation of the intrenchmente. On the 5th of 
 "i- 16th Floreal, a small vessel entered the 
 port with a supply of grain for five days. This 
 was a valuable addition to the stock of provisions, 
 whirl) had become very low. Still it was necessary 
 to p 1 i i ■ v < - the city, otherwise it could not hold out 
 much longer, for it was likely in a short time to be 
 entirely destitute of bread. 
 
 i.' aeral Suchet on his side finding himself over- 
 powen d from the rri'sts of the Apennines, was 
 
 obliged to quit his position at Borghetto, to abandon 
 even the Roya, no longer tenable, as the enemy 
 inarched fn ely by the Col de 'fond'- and threatened 
 Nice and til'- Var. Even Nice was occupied by 
 
 Mclas, who entered the place in triumph, proud to 
 triad the soil which had been declared a part id' the' 
 
 I h territory by the republic. Suchet rallied 
 behind the Var, in a position long studied by the 
 French officers of engineers. The bridge of St. 
 Laurent over tie- Var, covered by a fortified work, 
 
 nted a defile of four hundred fathoms to be 
 
 traversed, and was considered an insurmountable 
 
 icle to an enemy. The whole right bank was 
 
 covered with battalions, and guarded by the French 
 
 from the mouth of the river to the mountains. The 
 forts of Montalban and of Vintimille, placed in 
 advance of the Var, had been garrisoned by French 
 at the moment Nice was evacuated. The fort of 
 Montalban, situated in the rear of the Austrians, at 
 such an elevation that it was visible from the 
 French camp, was surmounted by a telegraph, 
 through which means Suchet was made acquainted 
 with every movement of the Austrians. All the 
 disposable troops from the neighbouring depart- 
 ments had been concentrated under Suchet, so 
 that his army numbered fourteen thousand men, 
 sheltered behind good entrenchments, in a position 
 very difficult to be taken by storm. 
 
 On receiving intelligence of what was "joins: on in 
 Liguria, the first consul addressed the most pressing 
 communications to Moreau, urging him to com- 
 mence active hostilities. A month had passed 
 since every thing had been settled between them, 
 and no further difficulties attaching to the French 
 government impeded the movements of Moreau in 
 that quarter. But this general was by nature 
 somewhat slow, and would not compromise himself 
 on an enemy's territory without a certainty of suc- 
 Ci 98 ; thus delaying, until it was mischievous, the 
 commencement of operations. Every delay in his 
 commencing the campaign was a delay in the 
 entry of the army of reserve upon another cam- 
 paign, and a cruel prolongation of the sufferings of 
 Massena and his brave soldiers. " Hasten, hasten," 
 wrote the first consul to Moreau from Paris, 
 " hasten, that by your success the moment may 
 arrive when Massena may be relieved. That 
 general wants provisions ; for fifteen days he has 
 sustained with his exhausted soldiers a despairing 
 conflict. I address myself to your patriotism, to 
 your own self-interest ; because if Massena sur- 
 renders, it would be necessary to take from you a 
 part of your army, and hurry to the Rhone, to the 
 aid of the southern departments." At last a formal 
 telegraphic order was given him to pass the 
 Rhine. 
 
 The reasons which hindered Moreau from enter- 
 ing upon action had been valid in circumstances 
 less urgent. Alsace was exhausted. Switzerland, 
 as badly off, had been for two years crowded with 
 the armies of all Europe, am! was entirely destitute 
 of resources. The inhabitants, unable to feed their 
 children, were obliged to emigrate with them in 
 troops from the poor into the rich cantons ; and 
 the ruined families there delivered them over to 
 
 the charity of the families that had still some means 
 
 of subsistence left. Nothing in the way of pro- 
 visions could be got out of BUCh a country, of 
 
 which to make an enemy would not be provident, 
 because it was the point of support to two of the 
 French armies. Moreau, as we have before said, 
 lived upon the stores provided in the French for- 
 tresses of the Rhine for use in case of siege. This 
 was, however, not the real motive of his delay ; it 
 might have been a motive, on the contrary, to 
 hasten as soon as possible into an enemy's country, 
 that be might support himself upon it ; the truth 
 was, both his artillery and cavalry were in want of 
 horses. lie bad no camp equipages, no imple- 
 ments ; if be bad enough materials to throw a 
 bridge over a river, it. was (he utmost. Still, con- 
 sidering how urgent rireumstanees at that moment 
 were, he at last consented to do the best he COUld
 
 70 
 
 Moreau begins his march. 
 Division of his army. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Strength of the Aus- 
 trians. — Their posi- 
 tion. -Moreau's plan. 
 
 1800. 
 April. 
 
 with what he possessed, in the hope of procuring 
 what he wanted as he proceeded. His army was so 
 well composed, that it would be able to supply itself 
 with what it required as it passed along, or else to 
 do so by conquest. By the end of April, the first 
 days of Flore'al, the general had decided to com- 
 mence the campaign, the finest in his life, and one 
 of the most memorable in the annals of France. 
 
 Moreau had at his disposal, as we have seen, 
 about one hundred and thirty thousand men, 
 rather more than less : of these, thirty thousand 
 were occupied as garrisons in Strasburg, Landau, 
 Mayence, at the bridge-forts of Basle, Brisach, 
 Kehl, and Cassel. Of these thirty thousand, too, six 
 or seven under general Moncey guarded the village 
 of the St. Gothardand the Simplon in order to close 
 them against the Austrians. With Moreau there- 
 fore there remained one hundred thousand men fit 
 for the field. The infantry, above all, was superb, 
 numbering eighty-two thousand ; the artillery 
 mustered five thousand, having one hundred and 
 sixteen pieces of cannon ; the cavalry was thirteen 
 thousand. As will be seen, the artillery and the 
 cavalry were below the usual proportions ; but they 
 were excellent of their kind, and the character of 
 the infantry enabled the commander the better to 
 accommodate himself to his deficiency in the 
 auxiliary services. 
 
 Moreau divided his army into four corps. 
 Lecourbe commanded the right, twenty-five thou- 
 sand strong. It was stationed from the lake of 
 Constance as far as Schaffhausen. The second 
 corps, denominated the reserve, consisted of thirty 
 thousand men, or nearly that number. It was 
 directly under the command of Moreau himself, and 
 occupied the territory of Basle. The third, con- 
 sisting of twenty five thousand men, forming the 
 centre under St. Cyr, was quartered about Old and 
 New Brisach. Lastly, general St. Suzanne, at the 
 head of about twenty thousand, after ascending 
 from Mayence nearly to Strasburg, occupying 
 Strasburg and Kehl, formed the left of the 
 army. 
 
 Moreau had a long while before adopted this 
 kind of arrangement, dividing his army into sepa- 
 rate corps, eacli complete in infantry, cavalry, and 
 artillery. Thus each corps was able to act by 
 itself, under whatever circumstances it might be. 
 This mode of formation had the inconvenience, as 
 experience soon demonstrated, of leading the corps 
 to separate too readily, and to act by themselves, 
 more especially when the commander-in-chie!' did 
 not exercise a sufficient authority, so as at all times 
 to enforce their co-operation in one common end. 
 This inconvenience was yet more aggravated by a 
 particular step which Moreau adopted in this cam- 
 paign. This was the assuming to himself the 
 immediate command of one of the corps of the 
 army, under the appellation of " the reserve." St. 
 Cyr, who had served with Moreau a good while, 
 and who possessed much influence over him, 
 strongly opposed this combination 1 . St. Cyr al- 
 leged that it absorbed the attention of the com- 
 mander-in-chief, and made him lower himself to a 
 duty foreign to his post ; more than all, that it was 
 an injury to the other corps of the army, who 
 were seldom so well treated as those more im- 
 
 1 See the Memoirs of St. Cyr, Campaign of 1800. 
 
 mediately under the general staff. These objections, 
 the justice of which was proved more than once in 
 the course of this campaign, had no weight, Mo- 
 reau continuing to persist in his resolution out of 
 complaisance to the interests of a party. Having 
 already conferred the direction of his staff upon 
 general Dessoles, and still desirous of making an 
 appointment for general Lahorie, one of the dan- 
 gerous friends who subsequently contributed to his 
 ruin, he gave him the second command of the 
 reserve. This circumstance caused a coolness be- 
 tween Moreau and St. Cyr, which at length came 
 to an open quarrel. 
 
 Kray, the Austrian general, opposed to Moreau, 
 had, as we have before said, one hundred and fifty 
 thousand men under his command, of which num- 
 ber forty thousand were in fortresses upon the 
 Rhine and Danube, and one hundred and ten 
 thousand in the field. The infantry, mingled with 
 Bavarians, Wurtembergers, and Mayeneais, was 
 ordinary ; the cavalry was fine, and numbered 
 twenty-six thousand ; the artillery, numerous 
 and well-appointed, numbered three hundred 
 pieces of cannon. The right of the Austrians, 
 which was commanded by general Sztarray, ob- 
 served the course of the Rhine, between Mayence 
 and Rastadt, connecting itself with the levies of 
 the Mayence peasantry, under the baron d'Albini. 
 General Kienmayer covered the opening upon 
 Strasburg in advance of Kinzig. Major Giulay, 
 with one brigade, held the Val d'Enfer, and ob- 
 served Old Brisach. The main body of the Aus- 
 trian army was encamped behind the defiles of the 
 Black Forest, at Donau-Eschingen and Willingen, 
 at the junction of the roads conducting from the 
 Rhine to the Danube. On this point forty thou- 
 sand men were collected. Kray had placed in the 
 forest- towns a strong advance-guard under the 
 archduke Ferdinand, with orders to watch the 
 Basle road ; and he left a numerous rear-gnard, 
 under prince Joseph of Lorraine at Stockach, to 
 cover his magazines established in that town, to 
 guard the roads of Uhn and Munich, and to keep 
 up his communication with the Lake of Constance, 
 where Williams, an Englishman, commanded a 
 flotilla. In the last place, prince de Reuss, at the 
 head of thirty thousand men, partly Austrians, and 
 partly Tyrolese militia, were in occupation of the 
 Rheinthal, from the Grisons to the Lake of Con- 
 stance. This was considered the left of the im- 
 perial army. Kr.iv, in the centre of this web 
 extending around him, flattered himself that he 
 should be informed of the least movement on the 
 part of the French. 
 
 The plan of Moreau, before stated, consisted in 
 passing over the three bridges of Strasburg, Bri- 
 sach, and Basle, and then in stealing away and as- 
 cending theRhineas far as Schaffhausen; headopted 
 it without modification 2 . Moreau set his troops in 
 motion on the 25th of April. He proceeded him- 
 self to Strasburg, where he joined the corps of 
 St. Suzanne, in order to make it more readily be 
 supposed, by his presence there, that his intention 
 was to act by the direct road from Strasburg 
 
 * Here St. Cyr in his Memoirs seems to he in error. The 
 first consul adopted the plan entire. This is attested by a 
 letier of general Dessoles, contained in the Memoiret de la 
 Guerre, and by manuscript correspondence.
 
 1800. 
 April. 
 
 The false movements 
 of Mureau's army, 
 
 ULM AND GENOA. 
 
 by which he deceives the 
 Austrian general. 
 
 71 
 
 across the Biack Forest. He took another pre- 
 caution for masking his objects still further, for he 
 did not unite his forces beforehand. The demi- 
 brigades marched out of their cantonments to the 
 place where they were to cross the Rhine, joining 
 in their march the corps of which they formed a 
 part. Every tiling being thus arranged, three im- 
 posing heads of columns, acting simultaneously, 
 over a space of thirty leagues, passed the bridges 
 of Strasburg, Old Brisach, and Basle at the same 
 moment, on the 25th of April. 
 
 General St. Suzanne, who commanded the ex- 
 treme left at Strasburg, drove all before him that 
 he found in his way. Here and there he fell in 
 with detached corps ; they made but a slight re- 
 sistance. Not wishing to involve himself in any 
 serious affairs, he halted between Renchen and 
 Offenburg, menacing, at the same time, the two 
 valleys of Renchen and of Kinzig, but endeavouring 
 to make the Austrians believe that he was trying 
 to reach the Danube by the Black Forest in follow- 
 ing the valley of the Kinzig. At the same time as 
 St. Suzanne had advanced from Strasburg, St. Cyr 
 marched from Old Brisach upon Friburg, driving 
 the enemies' detachments rapidly before him ; but, 
 like St. Suzanne, taking care not to push on too far 
 in advance. He met some resistance before Fri- 
 burg. The Austrians had entrenched the heights 
 surrounding the town, and placed behind them a 
 number of the peasantry raised in the moun- 
 tains of Suabia, under the plea of defending their 
 homes against the ravages of the French. They 
 could not maintain their ground, and Friburg was 
 taken possession of in a m tment. Sora i of the un- 
 fortunate peasantry were sabred, and no more was 
 seen of any of them during the remainder of the 
 campaign. St. Cyr took up his ground in such 
 a manner as to induce a belief that he intended to 
 ge in the Val d'Eufer, or, as the Germans 
 it, the Hollengrund. 
 
 The reserve oa the same day passed over the 
 je of Basle without meeting any obstacle, and 
 Bent a division, that of Riehepanse, towards Schlien- 
 gen and Kandern, to communicate with St. Cyr's 
 corps, which was to ascend the Rhine in two days' 
 time. 
 
 During the whole of the 2Cth of April, or Ctli 
 
 Floreal, St. Suzanne remained in his position before 
 
 burg, and St. Cyr in advance of Brisach. 
 
 The reserve, which had passed over the Rhine at 
 
 . completed its development; awaiting the 
 
 :n nt of the two corps, intended to ascend the 
 
 • until they were in a line with itself. Moreau 
 
 quitfa : .eh the head-quarters, which 
 
 I in in- middle of the reserve. 
 
 •-'7th of April was still employed in deceiving 
 
 the enemy as to the direction of the French 
 
 columns. The Austrians might well exp 
 
 . d movemenl by tin.' Val d'Enferand Kinzig. 
 defiles are the most direct road tor an army 
 
 marching on the- Danube from the Rhine, since 
 
 they open at some distance one from the other, 
 running in the same direction, and at length uniting 
 between Donau-Eschingeu and rllifingen, nyt far 
 
 from Schaffhaosen, at which point was ill'- corps 
 Of gem ial LeOOUrbe. It was natural to suppose 
 
 that these two strong columns, from twenty thou- 
 to twenty-five thousand men each, present- 
 ing themselves at the entrance of these defiles, 
 
 were going in reality to communicate with Le- 
 courbc. In order, therefore, to guard them more 
 securely, Kray detached twelve squadrons and nine 
 battalions from Willingen, as a reinforcement for 
 general Kienmayer. He was thus obliged to weaken 
 Stockach, to replace in Willingen the troops he had 
 sent away from that place. 
 
 In the night of the 27th and on the 28th of 
 April, while Kray was thus ensnaring, the di- 
 rection of the French columns was suddenly 
 changed. St. Suzanne fell back upon Strasburg, 
 repassing the Rhine with his entire corps, and 
 ascending the river by the left bank, in order not 
 to expose himself on an enemy's ground by a flank 
 movement too much prolonged. Upon reaching 
 New Brisach, he crossed again to the right bank, 
 and occupied the position of St. Cyr before Fri- 
 burg, as if with the intention of entering the Val 
 d'Enfer. St. Cyr, on his part, turned off to the 
 right without quitting the German side of the river, 
 which he coasted with his artillery, cavalry, and 
 baggage ; and thus, as his heavy materiel followed 
 the level country, a large proportion of his infantry 
 marched along the Hank of the mountains, by St. 
 Hubert, Neuhof, Todnau, and St. Blaise. By this 
 course Moreau avoided encumbering the banks of 
 the Rhine, cleared the heights of the Black 
 Forest, full of Austrian detachments, and was able 
 to pass the rivers nearer their sources, that from 
 these heights descending into the Rhine traverse 
 the territory of the forest towns. These rivers 
 are called the Wiesen, the Alb, and the Wutach. 
 Unfortunately roads were supposed to exist where 
 there were none. St. Cyr was obliged to traverse 
 a horrible country, without artillery, and almost 
 always near the enemy. Still his delay was not so 
 great as to prevent the possibility of his arrival at 
 St. Blaise, on the Alb, upon the appointed day. 
 
 Moreau, at the same time, ascended the Rhine 
 with the reserve, remaining, like St. Cyr, on the 
 German side. Riehepanse, who commanded the 
 advance-guard, after he had seen the artillery 
 and cavalry of St. Cyr pass by, which had followed 
 the bank of the Rhine, set out himself for St. 
 Blaise, in order to connect himself with the in- 
 fantry of the same corps. Generals Dchnas and 
 Leclerc, who commanded the two extreme divisions 
 of the reserve, were marched upon Sockingcn. and 
 then upon the Alb, before the bridge of Albruck. 
 This bridge was covered by entrenchments. The 
 adjutant-general Cohorn, at the head of a battalion 
 of the 14th light, and two battalions of the 50th 
 and the 4th hussars, advanced in columns upon the 
 entrenchments, and carried them. Cohorn jumped 
 upon the shoulders of a grenadier, and crossed the 
 A Hi, not leaving the enemy time to destroy the 
 bridge. Some cannon and prisoners were cap- 
 tured. 
 
 On the 29lh of April, or 9th Floreal, the centre 
 under St. Cyr, and the rest C\ B under .Moreau, were 
 in line on the Alb, from the abbey of St. Blaise as 
 far as tie' union of the Alii and Rhine. St. Suzanne 
 arrived at New Brisach by the left bank. On the 
 
 French extreme right Lecourbe assembled his 
 
 whole corps between Diesiuhol'en and Schalf- 
 bauseii, ready to pass across as soon as St. Cyr 
 
 and Mnreaii should have ascended the Rhine to a 
 
 parallel height with himself. On the 30th of April 
 St. Suzanne passed the Rhine at New Brisach,
 
 Kray discovers his error. 
 72 The whole French army 
 pass the Rhine. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Success of Moreau's plan. 
 — Lecourbe advances on 
 Stockach. 
 
 18C0. 
 May. 
 
 and showed himself at the entrance of the Val 
 d'Enfer. St. Cyr remained in the vicinage of St. 
 Blaise, and Moreau marched in advance towards 
 the Wutach. 
 
 On the 1st of May, the 11th of Floreal, the 
 army successfully made its more decided and final 
 movement. Kray now hegan to see his error, and 
 recalled those of his corps which had advanced too 
 far into the Black Forest. St. Suzanne, who had 
 to pass through the Val d'Enfer, which opens upon 
 the positions the French army was to occupy when 
 it had completed its movement, found the troops of 
 Kienmayer in retreat, and closely followed them. 
 St. Cyr hung on the rear of the corps of the arch- 
 duke Ferdinand, and pushed it from Bettmaringen 
 to Stiihlingen on the Wutach, where he arrived 
 in the evening. The troops of Moreau crossed 
 the Wutach without meeting much resistance, 
 repaired the bridge, which wanted scarcely any 
 thing but a few planks to make it good; and tried 
 to connect themselves by the right with Schaff- 
 hausen, where they fouud Lecourbe, and by the 
 left with Stiihlingen, where they found St. Cyr. 
 This was the moment that Lecourbe, already upon 
 the Rhine, was to cross that river. On the 1st of 
 May thirty-four pieces of artillery were placed on 
 the heights upon the left bank of the river, so as 
 to command, by their fire, the environs of the 
 village of Richlingen. Twenty-five boats carried 
 general Molitor across to the right bank, with two 
 battalions, to protect the establishment of a bridge 
 some time before prepared in the Aar. In an 
 hour and a half this bridge was thrown across, 
 General Vandamme passed over with a great part 
 of the corps of Lecourbe, and instantly occupied 
 the roads leading to Engen and Stockach, two 
 points of importance on the enemy's line. He 
 took the little town of Stein and the fort of Hohent- 
 wiel, reputed impregnable, and well furnished with 
 provisions and stores. Goulu's brigade, crossing at 
 the same moment towards Paradis, encountered in 
 the village of Busingen an obstinate resistance, 
 which it soon overcame. In the last place the 
 division of Lorges entered Schaffhausen in the 
 evening, and effected a junction with the troops of 
 Moreau. 
 
 On the 1st of May, in the evening, the entire 
 army had thus passed the Rhine. The three prin- 
 cipal corps, under St. Cyr, Moreau, and Lecourbe, 
 forming in all a body of seventy-five thousand or 
 eighty thousand men, occupied a line which passed 
 through Bondorf, Stiihlingen, Schaffhausen, Radolf- 
 zell, to a point on the lake of Constance. They 
 were ready to march upon Engen and Stockach, 
 threatening at the same time the line of retreat 
 and the magazines of the enemy. St. Suzanne, 
 with the left, of twenty thousand men, followed 
 the Austrians in the defile of the Val d'Enfer, 
 waiting to march upon the Upper Danube, and 
 to unite himself to the main body of the French 
 army, as soon as it should have cleared the mouth 
 of the defile by its advance. 
 
 The entire movement was thus effected in six 
 days in the most successful manner. Moreau, pre- 
 senting three heads of columns, by the bridges of 
 Strasburg, Brisach, and Basle, had attracted the 
 enemy towards those three openings ; then stealing 
 off suddenly, and marching by the right along the 
 Rhine, two of his corps on the German side, he 
 
 had ascended the river to the height of Schaff- 
 hausen, where he had covered the passage of 
 Lecourbe. He had made one thousand five hun- 
 dred prisoners, taken, six field-pieces, with their 
 horses, and forty pieces of heavy cannon in the 
 fort of Hohentwiel, together with several magazines. 
 The troops had in all instances shown a firmness 
 and resolution which was worthy of veterans, full 
 of confidence in their leaders and in themselves. 
 
 All the objections made to the plan of Moreau 
 on this occasion are hushed by its success. It is 
 seldom, indeed, that such complicated movements 
 succeed so well, that an enemy falls into a snare 
 with such credulity, or that the heads of different 
 corps co-operate with so much exactness. Still 
 this plan of the prudent Moreau carried with it 
 as much of danger as that of the first consul, 
 which he rejected as being too full of temerity. 
 St. Cyr and Moreau had exposed their flanks for 
 several days in their march along the Rhine, shut 
 in between mountains and the river; St. Cyr had 
 been separated from his artillery ; and St. Suzanne 
 was at last left alone against the enemy in the Val 
 d'Enfer. If marshal Kray, inspired by a sudden im- 
 pulse, had flung himself upon St. Cyr, Moreau, or 
 St. Suzanne, he must have crushed one of these 
 detached corps, and hence forced a retrograde 
 movement upon the whole French army. Moreau, 
 on the other hand, had two evident advantages; 
 first, he had acted on the offensive, which always 
 disconcerts an enemy; and secondly, he had ex- 
 cellent troops, which were adequate to repair any 
 unforeseen accident by their firmness, and who 
 actually did repair by their steadiness, as we shall 
 soon see, more than one fault of their commander- 
 in-chief. 
 
 The moment now approached when the two 
 armies, after having manoeuvred, the one to pass 
 the Rhine, the other to impede the passage, were 
 to meet beyond that river. On the 2nd of May, 
 the 12th Floreal, Moreau prepared himself for the 
 struggle ; but not imagining it was so near as it 
 really proved to be, he omitted to take measures 
 sufficiently prompt and perfect for the concentra- 
 tion of his forces. He determined to send Lecourbe 
 with his corps of twenty-five thousand men upon 
 Stockach, where the rear-guard of the Austrians 
 was, together with their magazines, and by which 
 they had their communications with the Vorarlberg 
 and prince de Reuss. The vigorous execution of this 
 attack had been concerted with the first consul; 
 because Kray, cut off from Stockach, would be 
 separated from the lake of Constance, and, in con- 
 sequence, from the Alps. Moreau ordered Le- 
 courbe to march on the 3rd of May in the morning, 
 or on the 13th of Floreal, to take Stockach from 
 the prince of Lorraine -Vaudeniont, who with 
 twelve thousand men held that important post. 
 Moreau himself advanced with all the reserve 
 upon Engen, keeping Lecourbe in view, and ready 
 to afford him aid if necessary. St. Cyr was di- 
 rected to advance and occupy a position extending 
 from Bettmaringen and Bondorf as far as Engen, 
 in such a manner as to be in connexion with him 
 on the one part, and to hold himself, on the other, 
 ready to communicate with St. Suzanne as soon as 
 he sliould issue from the Val d'Enfer. 
 
 Moreau thus proceeded in order of battle with 
 his back to the Rhine, his right to the lake of
 
 1800. 
 May. 
 
 Approaching rencontre between 
 tlie two armies. — Nature of 
 the country. — Two ways of 
 
 ULM AND GENOA. 
 
 defending the Danube. — 
 March of Moreau and 
 Lecourbe. 
 
 73 
 
 Constance, and his left to the openings of the 
 Black Forest; presenting a front of fifteen leagues 
 in extent, parallel to the line on which the Aus- 
 trian* must retreat if they retired from Donau- 
 Eschingen to Stockach, where many reasons seemed 
 to demand their presence. It was a position very 
 extended, and, in particular, so near to the enemy, 
 that before an active and enterprising fire the 
 French might have been exposed to considerable 
 danger. Fortunately, the Austrian army under 
 Kray was less concentrated than the French. 
 K ray's primary position had been better than that 
 of the French for a rapid concentration, since he 
 occupied from Constance to Strasburg, the base 
 of a triangle, of which the French held the two 
 Bides. Kray, surprised by the movement of 
 Moreau, having already on his left flank the 
 united French forces to two-thirds of their total 
 number, all having passed over the river, felt him- 
 self in a situation of difficulty. He had given to 
 the detachments of his army hurried orders to 
 fall back upon the Black Forest, upon the higher 
 Danube; but a prompt and well-concerted opera- 
 tion could alone extricate them. This may be 
 better understood, as well as the accompanying 
 mameuvres, by a survey of the theatre of these 
 operations. 
 
 The wooded and mountainous territory culled 
 the Black Forest, around which runs the Rhine, 
 for, without entering it, that river pursues a north- 
 erly course ; this territory contains a small spring, 
 very insignificant at its head, although destined to 
 become one of the larger rivers on the globe ; that 
 river is the Danube. It sends forth its stream 
 eastward, and so continues to flow, except with a 
 alight inclination to the north for a short distance, 
 occasioned by the foot of the Alps, which it borders 
 all the way to Vienna, collecting in its course the 
 waters descending from a long mountain-chain, the 
 of its sudden increase so soon after its in- 
 significant origin. 
 
 The Austrian generals who defend the valley of 
 the Danube against the French, the common road 
 as it is to their country, have two plans to follow. 
 They are able, if the French succeed in penetrating 
 into it by Switzerland and the Black Forest, to 
 along the foot of the Alps, resting their left 
 on the mountains, and their right on the Danube, 
 
 thus defending su< saively all the rivers which 
 
 fall into it, such as the [Her, Lech, Isar, and Inn ; 
 or they may abandon tin' Alps, place themselves 
 on each ride of tin; Danube, and descend with its 
 course, making a resistance at all the good posi- 
 tions which it otters, such as those of Ulm, Ratis- 
 bon, and others, ready to cover themselves with 
 ream, which gradually widens, or to fall upon 
 the imprudent adversary who shall make a false 
 manoeuvre. This last course has generally been 
 that preferred by the Austrian*. 
 
 Kray was able to choose either the one or the 
 other of these model, to sustain his left on the 
 
 Alps, or to manoeuvre on the Danube. By sus- 
 taining himself upon the Alps, he would unknow- 
 ingly have contravened the scheme of the first 
 consul, who, in descending in safety from those 
 lofty mountains upon the par of general Mc'las in 
 Italy, wished to keep the Austrian army in Suabia 
 away from Switzerland ami tin- Tyrol. But here 
 he would sacrifice his right wing, too far advanced 
 
 upon the Rhine, without knowing what would be- 
 come of it. By manoeuvring on the Danube he 
 would assuredly rally his right wing, but become 
 separated from his left under the prince de Reuse; 
 though not sacrificing it, because it would find in 
 the Tyrol a place of security and employment. 
 Kray would fall in with the designs of the first 
 consul by moving far from the Alps ; but this 
 was a minor evil ; for even if he were to support 
 himself upon them, it was not probable he would 
 think of throwing himself into Lombardy to save 
 Melas. The plan which presented the fewest 
 inconveniences, and that most in unison with 
 the course previously pursued by the Austrian 
 armies, was to concentrate his forces upon the 
 Upper Danube, although, in order to succeed it 
 was necessary to act promptly and resolutely. 
 Unhappily for himself, Kray had immense maga- 
 zines at Stockach, near the lake of Constance, with 
 a strong rear-guard of twelve thousand men, under 
 the prince of Lorraine- Vaudemont. It was neces- 
 sary that he should recall his rear-guard imme- 
 diately from Stockach to the higher Danube, and 
 that he should march thither himself, sacrificing 
 his magazines, which he would not have, in any 
 case, the time to remove. He did not do this ; 
 but still, with the intention of afterwards man- 
 oeuvring on the Danube, he sent general Nauen- 
 dorff with the centre of the Austrian army upon 
 Engen, to succour Stockach. He ordered prince 
 Ferdinand, who was in the Black Forest, to repair 
 to the same place; and his right, under the generals 
 Sztarray and Kienmaycr, to quit the Rhine and 
 rejoin him with all speed. 
 
 A vast inconvenience attaches to the enormous 
 magazines of provisions customary among the Ger- 
 mans, in that the army must be regulated by them 
 in its movements. The French dispe2ise with ma- 
 gazines altogether, and, by spreading themselves 
 over the country, procure subsistence without the 
 discipline of the troops suffering from the practice. 
 They are active, industrious, and know how to be 
 marauding and at the same time remain near their 
 colours. The German troops are rarely exposed to 
 the same practice without becoming disorganized 
 and dispersed. There is the advantage in pos- 
 sessing magazines, that the war presses with less 
 severity upon a country that is the seat of hostilities, 
 and thus they prevent the people from becoming 
 exasperated against the invaders. 
 
 Moreau, marching with his right upon Stockach 
 and his reserve upon Engen, while the corps of St. 
 Cyr extended itself to communicate with St. Su- 
 zanne, was therefore very likely to meet with the 
 rear-guard of Kray at Stockach, his centre at 
 Engen, and to be on the heels of prince Ferdinand, 
 who was on his way to rejoin the main body of the 
 Austrian army. An unexpected combat must be 
 the result of such a meeting, — a circumstance often 
 occurring in war, when its [dans have not been 
 conducted by superior minds capable of foresight 
 
 as well as direction. 
 
 Lecourbe bad been on his march to Stockach 
 
 since the morning, having thrown out on his lilt 
 the division of LorgeS to communicate with Moreau, 
 
 pushing straightforward before him the division of 
 Dfontrichard with the reserve cavalry of Nansouty, 
 
 on the high road from Schaff hausen to Stockach. 
 
 Lastly, sending the divisions of Yandamme to the
 
 Battle of Engen. — Lecourhe 
 74 takes Stockiich — Hesults 
 thereby obtained. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Moreau's attack on Engen. 
 Nature of the country. 
 Movements of Lorges. 
 
 1800. 
 May. 
 
 right, between Stockach and the lake of Constance. 
 The force of the last was divided into two brigades: 
 one, manoeuvring in such a manner, under general 
 Leval, as to cut off the Austrian communication 
 by Bodmann and Sernadingen witli the Like of 
 Constance, met with no obstacle, because the prince 
 of Reuss, who might have appeared there, gave 
 himself little trouble about keeping up a commu- 
 nication with his commander-in-chief ; the other 
 brigade, under general Molitor, directed by Van- 
 damine in person, marched to the rear of Stockach 
 by a cross road, while Montrichard and Nansouty 
 proceeded by the high road from Schaffhausen. 
 In the thick of the woods infantry was perceived 
 falling back as well as cavalry, the lust reconnoitring 
 as tliey retired. At last the troops arrived at the 
 ground, which the Austrians seemed determined 
 to defend. Montrichard found them in order of 
 battle beyond the village of Steusslingen, covered 
 by a strong body of cavalry. The French infantry 
 passed through the village in two columns, opening 
 out to the left and right, and threatening the ene- 
 my's flanks. At the same moment the cavalry of 
 Nansouty, coming out of Steusslingen, charged 
 vigorously, and overthrew the Austrians, who re- 
 treated upon Neuzingen. This was the second and 
 principal position covering Stockach ; it was sup- 
 ported upon that of Wahlwyes, which at the same 
 moment Vandamnie threatened with Molitor's bri- 
 gade. A numerous infantry were seen barring the 
 extremity of the village of Neuzingen, resting its 
 right and left on the woods, and covered by cannon. 
 A vigorous effort was required to dislodge the 
 enemy ; Montrichard, however, was successful in 
 turning it, by a height called the Hellemberg, while 
 Vandamme, having passed Wahlwyes, opened upon 
 the rear of Neuzingen. The position was carried, 
 and the whole corps of Lecourhe, being now united, 
 poured ia a mass upon Stockach, which was in- 
 stantly taken. The Austrians endeavoured to make 
 a resistance beyond Stockach, and thus to check 
 the French. They exhibited about four thousand 
 infantry in order of battle, and covered by all their 
 cavalry. The regiments of Nansouty, charging the 
 enemy's horse, threw them into disorder back upon 
 their infantry, which now only thought of surren- 
 dering. Lecourhe made four thousand prisoners, 
 captured eight pieces of cannon, five hundred 
 horses, and the immense magazines of Stockach. 
 It could not have terminated otherwise. Lecourhe, 
 with soldiers capable of fighting an enemy having 
 numbers greatly superior, had on the ground twice 
 the number of men that the prince of Lorraine 
 had, although he had detached the division of Lor- 
 ges to form a connexion with Moreau. Lecourhe 
 finished his task at an early hour; and if a direc- 
 tion equally vigorous had marked the whole of the 
 operations, together with proper unity of design, 
 he miyht and ought to have been employed else- 
 where, as will be seen presently. 
 
 The division of Lorges, destined to serve inter- 
 mediately between Lecourhe and Moreau, was di- 
 vided into two brigades. That of Goulu bad 
 marched upon Aach to scour the country between 
 Stockach and Engen, but, finding no enemy in sight, 
 had turned off towards Stockach, where it was of 
 no use. General Lorges, with the rest of his 
 division, having joined Moreau's corps, accompanied 
 it towards Engen. 
 
 Moreau, with what was styled the corps of re- 
 serve, had been all the morning marching upon 
 Engen. Kray, at the same time, was traversing 
 that place on his way to Stockach, to save his 
 magazines. He soon saw that, from the French 
 force displayed before him, there would be a battle 
 in place of a reconnoitring, and he halted for the 
 purpose of giving it, relying upon his superior 
 force of forty thousand men at hand, and the 
 strength of the position to which he had been by 
 chance conducted. 
 
 Leaving towards Schaffhausen the banks of the 
 Rhine for those of the Danube, in a rugged, broken, 
 irregular country, where the declivities are un- 
 certain, the small valley of the Aach is met with, 
 which conveys to the lake of Constance those waters 
 which neither fall into the Rhine nor Danube. In 
 this valley is the small town of Engen. To descend 
 to Engen it is necessary first to climb a number of 
 wooded heights very difficult of access. Those 
 heights were occupied by the Austrian infantry ; 
 their cava! ry was in the plain of Engen. Moreau 
 would be obliged to dislodge the Austrians from 
 those heights before he could descend into the 
 plain and attack the cavalry. He marched, him- 
 self, at the head of the divisions of Delmas and 
 Bastoul, and half of that of Lorges. He directed 
 Richepanse's division, the left, along the Blumen- 
 feld road. This road led through a series of val- 
 leys, and the division was to turn the enemy's 
 position by less defended approaches ; all, being 
 successful, were then to descend in a body upon 
 Engen. 
 
 Lorges, who had got a little in advance of the 
 reserve, found a large body of troops near Water- 
 dingen, and, before attacking them, awaited the 
 division of Delmas, which cjuickly arrived. They 
 then charged and dislodged the Austrians. Arx-ived 
 at this point, they had next to surmount the heights 
 which surround Engen, and for that purpose it was 
 required to cross some steep-sided table-ground, 
 commanded on the right by a position called the 
 Maulberg, and on the left by a very elevated peak 
 having the name of the Peak of Hohenhewen. 
 Lorges was ordered to attack the Maulberg. After 
 a slight cannonade he advanced, and the enemy 
 gave way. Then Delmas, passing to the left, di- 
 rected his force upon a wood which encircled the 
 peak of Hohenhewen, occupied by eight of the 
 enemy's battalions of infantry.' Two battalions of 
 the 4Gth advanced upon this wood without firing, 
 while general Grandjcan and adjutant-general Co- 
 horn turned it with a detachment. As soon as the 
 46"th had received the fire of the enemy, they rushed 
 upon him with fixed bayonets. The eight Austrian 
 battalions, finding themselves so vigorously at- 
 tacked in front and turned on the right, abandoned 
 the wood. The French, having taken the principal 
 positions which defended the approaches to the 
 valley of Engen, had no more to do than to descend 
 into that valley, which was traversed by a con- 
 siderable rivulet. The enemy had retired to the 
 peak of Hohenhewen, placed his artillery and in- 
 fantry on the declivities, and drawn up his cavalry, 
 twelve thousand men, in the plain of Engen. Mo- 
 reau had the intention at first to take the peak, 
 and ordered Delmas to attack it. His division, on 
 leaving the wood, was exposed to a very destructive 
 fire, which it sustained bravely. General Jocopin,
 
 1800. 
 May. 
 
 Progress of the battle.— Dan- 
 gerous situation of Riche- 
 panse. 
 
 ULM AND GENOA. 
 
 Decisive movements of Moreau. — 
 Results of the battle of Engen. 
 — Faulis committed by Moreau. 
 
 75 
 
 placing himself at the head of the infantry, re- 
 ceived a ball in the thigh ; but general Graudjean 
 turned the position. The adjutant-general Cohorn, 
 who, as before mentioned, had crossed the Alb 
 on the shoulders of a grenadier, mounted to the 
 summit with a battalion, and the Austrians were 
 driven down. The troops of Moreau were now in 
 possession of all the heights commanding Engen 
 and its plain, and were able to open out unmolested, 
 the enemy having retired to the other side of the 
 plain beyond the rivulet, which passes through 
 it, to the foot of a chain of hills which form the 
 opposite boundary. Here the Austrians were drawn 
 up : in front was their numerous cavalry and the 
 greater part of their artillery ; and in their rear, in 
 the hollow part of a valley, at the entrance of which 
 stands the little village of Ehingen, was a strong 
 reserve of grenadiers. Such was the mass of force 
 to be overcome before the battle could be decided 
 to the advantage of .Moreau. 
 
 During this time a sharp fire was heard on the 
 other side of the peak of Hohenhewen, and a good 
 distance beyond along the girdle of woody heights 
 which surround Engen. This proceeded from the 
 division of Richepanse engaged with the troops 
 that Kray had placed on that part of the field of 
 battle. Richepanse had been obliged to separate 
 his division into two brigades to take two different 
 positions, one called Leipferdingen,the other Water- 
 dingen at the extremity of the valleys into which 
 lie had entered. There he was obliged to maintain 
 a very obstinate conflict with varied success, when 
 very fortunately for him the advance-guard of St. 
 Cyr's corps began to appear. These troops arrived 
 very late in consequence of a want of unity in the 
 di-positions of Moreau. St. Cyr ought to have 
 aided St. Suzanne with one of his divisions, but he 
 had been obliged to wait for Ney, who was hindered 
 by want of provisions, and lie was even delayed for 
 his artillery, which had been in the rear ever since 
 the passage of the Rhine ; moreover he had been 
 in an incessant encounter with prince Ferdinand 
 during his march, and had been obliged to advance 
 with the utmost caution, having only one of his 
 divisions, out of three, present to oppose to his 
 enemy. At last he had come up to the assist- 
 ance of Richepanse at the moment when Kray 
 was making a vigorous effort to prevent him 
 from marching upon Engen. Moreau, judging 
 from the vivacity of the fire that Richepanse was 
 in danger, determined to draw the Austrian at- 
 tention towards their left, and for this purpose 
 thought i; light to attack the village of Ehingen, 
 which formed the chief support of their position 
 
 on the other aide of the plain. Here it has been 
 seen that the am my had posted at the foot of a 
 chain of hills his artillery, cavalry, and yet more a 
 reserve of grenadiers, the last in the valley of 
 which Ehingen formed the entrance. General 
 Bontemps proceeded then- with the 67tb demi- 
 brigade, two battalions of the 10th light, and two 
 
 squadrons of the 6 h unseam General HantpouJ 
 
 followed with the r< serve of cavalry. These troops, 
 marching in column on the plain under the tin- of 
 a battery of twelve pieces of cannon, arrived and 
 took the village of Ehingen in a gallant manner. 
 On a sodden eight battalion-, of grenadiers, in re- 
 Serve-, charged thi m in turn, and obliged them 
 to give- op the village. Ilautpoul's cavalry was 
 
 repulsed by that of the Austrians, and the brave 
 general Bontemps was severely wounded in the 
 confusion that ensued. At the same moment the 
 firing on the left beyond the peak of Hohenhawen 
 redoubled in activity, announcing the danger of 
 Richepanse's position, who persisted, but so far 
 vainly, in attempting to force that belt of heights. 
 
 Moreau, who in difficult movements had the 
 firmness of the truly martial soul, saw in a moment 
 the seriousness of his situation, and determined upon 
 a vigorous effort to be master of the field. He 
 made the remnant of Bastoul's division advance, 
 placed himself at the head of some companies of 
 grenadiers that were near at hand, inflamed their 
 courage by his example, led them forward to the 
 charge, and restored Ehingen to the French army. 
 While Moreau was thus deciding the day on the 
 field, Richepanse was, on his part, performing pro- 
 digies of courage. St. Cyr, rejoined by marshal 
 Ney, and definitively delivered from the attacks of 
 the archduke Ferdinand, sent forward Roussel's 
 brigade, which vied in courage with the troops that 
 had been so long and vainly engaged, and aided 
 them in storming the heights thus long and vigor- 
 ously disputed. The action was over every where 
 against the Austrians, but thus decided at the price 
 of much labour and bloodshed. The 4th demi- 
 brigade lost in this combat from five hundred to 
 six hundred men. Night came on ; the ardour 
 of the French increased, as the courage of the 
 Austrians fell, wdien they learned the news of the 
 ruin of the prince de Lorraine- Vaudemont at 
 Stockach. Kray, fearing to be turned by Stockach, 
 ordered a retreat. He then hastened to regain the 
 Danube by Tuttlingen and Liptingen. 
 
 The loss of the French army in this succession of 
 obstinate combats was considerable, not less than 
 two thousand men killed and wounded. That of the 
 Austrians was three thousand, but four thousand or 
 five thousand prisoners remained in the hands of the 
 French. The French troops by dint of extraordinary 
 bravery had corrected the defects in the plan of th ir 
 general. This plan was by no means perfect, and 
 its weak points can now be fully appreciated. The 
 results themselves show, in the first place, how in- 
 convenient it was to pass the Rhine at several 
 points. Owing to this mode of operation no more 
 than three corps were ready to march together. 
 Then the third or St. Cyr's was paralyzed by the 
 necessity of waiting to open the communication 
 with the fourth, which remained in the rear. To 
 this system was attributable the delay in bringing 
 up St. Cyr's artillery, which not a little contributed 
 to delay succour reaching Richepanse. Then, as 
 to the main battle' ; Moreau with twenty-five 
 thousand men was obliged to combat forty thou- 
 sand at Engen, while Lecourbe with twenty thou- 
 sand had only twelve thousand to fight at Stockach, 
 and St. Cyr was nearly unoccupied or confined 
 to the duty of observation. St. Cyr, accused of 
 having arrived too late, affirmed that he did not re- 
 ceive a single aid-de-camp from bead-quarters 
 during the whole day. We shall never Bee SUCll 
 things occur, or very rarely indeed, on battle-fields 
 win-re the first consul commanded. Still a general 
 
 to act as Moreau did must possess high merit. 
 
 Once ni the presence of danger he comported him- 
 self with an energy and calmness which never 
 abandoned him, and, seconded by the valor of his
 
 Kray retires upon the Da- 
 76 nube, and resolves to try 
 another battle. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Battle of Mbsskirch. 
 New errors of Moreau. 
 Movements of Lecourbe. 
 
 1800. 
 May. 
 
 troops, he, after all, bore away the victory, and 
 acquired a decided superiority over the enemy. 
 
 Moreau encamped upon the field of battle. If on 
 the following day he had closely pursued Kray, 
 on the road' from Stockach to the Danube, it is 
 probable he would have thrown him into disorder. 
 But he had not enough ardour of character, and 
 was too sparing of his troops, to execute rapid 
 movements, which are no doubt fatiguing to the 
 soldiers at the moment, but in reality save both 
 their blood and strength by an acceleration of the 
 results. The 4th of May, the 14th Flore'al, was em- 
 ployed in rectifying the position of the army, and 
 in marching slowly upon the Danube. St. Cyr 
 marched by Tuttlingen, Moreau and Lecourbe by 
 Moskirch, looking sharply to their right and to 
 the openings of the Vorarlberg, by which the prince 
 de Reuss might make his appearance. 
 
 Kray was not yet resigned to cpjit the ground 
 without a battle. His army, lessened by nearly ten 
 thousand men, was also disheartened. It was an 
 error in him to persist in exposing himself to a new 
 encounter with the French, before he had passed 
 the Danube and been joined by genei'als Kienmayer 
 and Sztarray, who, returning from the Rhine, were 
 traversing the Black Forest, at the same time with 
 the French corps of St. Suzanne. He required the 
 shelter of a great river, some days' rest, and re- 
 inforcements, that the moral power of the Austrian 
 army might recover itself. The position of Mbss- 
 kirch, which Moreau allowed him time to occupy, 
 inspired Kray with the imprudent but bold resolu- 
 tion to risk another battle. 
 
 The situation of Mb'sskirch is a very strong one. 
 The high road, going to the Danube by Engen and 
 Stockach, passes a short distance, before arriving at 
 Mbsskirch, under the fire of some large and elevated 
 table-land, called the plain of Krumbach. This is on 
 the left of the road which now enters a long woody 
 defile. It opens afterwards upon cleared ground, 
 at the extremity of which, on the right, the little 
 town of Mb'sskirch is perceived, and on the left 
 the village of Heudorf. Behind Mbsskirch rises a 
 line of heights which continue from Mbsskirch to 
 Heudorf, then from Heudorf they connect that 
 place in the rear, and on the left with the table-land 
 of Krumbach, so that the road, going at first under 
 the table-land, buries itself in a wood, and opens at 
 last under fire of the heights extending from Mbss- 
 kirch to Heudorf. 
 
 Kray crowned this position with a formidable 
 artillery. The prince of Lorraine, commanding the 
 Austrian loft, occupied Mbsskirch and the sur- 
 rounding eminences. Nauendorf, commanding their 
 centre, was drawn up above Heudorf, having a 
 reserve of grenadiers in his rear. Baron Wrede 
 with the Bavarians, the archduke Ferdinand, and 
 general Giulay united, composed the right of the 
 imperial army, on the table-land of Krumbach. 
 
 Moreau did not much more calculate upon a 
 battle at Mbsskirch than lie had done at Engen. 
 Having some expectation of meeting with resist- 
 ance at Mbsskirch, he acquainted Lecourbe with 
 his suspicion, by saying it was probable an effort 
 would be made there, without giving any precise 
 orders for that concentration which indicated the 
 near chance of a great battle. Lecourbe kept at 
 the head of the army, and marched in three divi- 
 visions, having thrown off Vandamme's division 
 
 some distance to the right, in order to watch the 
 movements of prince de Reuss towards the Vorarl- 
 berg. A part of this division, under general Molitor, 
 was to direct itself by the road of Pfullendorff and 
 Klosterwald, on the flank of Moskirch. Lecourbe, 
 with the divisions of Montrichard and Lorges, 
 with the reserve of cavalry, was to advance by 
 the high road that has been described, and which, 
 after passing under Krumbach, upon traversing 
 the woods, opens in face of Mbsskirch. Moreau 
 followed the same road, keeping some distance in 
 the rear. St. Cyr, at a considerable distance, flanked 
 the left of Moreau, occupying both banks of the 
 Danube towards Tuttlingen. Such were not, surely, 
 the dispositions for a great battle. Vandamme 
 ought not to have been thrown with his half divi- 
 sion upon the flank of the position of Mbsskirch. 
 Lecourbe ought to have been sent with his whole 
 force upon that point. Moreau should not have set 
 out so tardily, nor have crammed himself and Le- 
 courbe on the same road into a woody defile. St. Cyr, 
 lastly, ought not to have been left so far off. 
 
 However this may be, Lecourbe went forward in 
 the morning conformably to the arrangements made 
 previously. On reaching the height of Krumbach 
 he kept the table-land upon his left, and entered 
 the woody defile, Some advance-guards, met with 
 in this defile, were driven back, and Lecourbe ar- 
 rived at the opening. It was then seen that the 
 naked ground which reached from the opening of 
 the road out of the wood all the way to Mbsskirch 
 was on every side bordered with heights crowned 
 with Austrian artillery. As soon as the heads 
 of the columns appeared, five pieces of artillery 
 fired from the front towards Mbsskirch, while 
 twenty pieces on the flank, from the side of Heu- 
 dorf, vomited forth a shower of balls and grape. 
 Two battalions of light infantry posted themselves 
 on the skirts of the wood, and three regiments of 
 cavalry, the 9th hussars, the 12th chasseurs, and 
 the 11th dragoons, passed rapidly to the front, in 
 order to protect the placing of the artillery; hut 
 under the fire of those twenty-five pieces, which 
 thundered upon them in every possible sense of 
 the word, these squadrons were obliged to retreat. 
 Fifteen pieces of cannon that general Montrichard 
 had opposed to the Austrian artillery were partly 
 dismounted. The light infantry were obliged to 
 cover themselves in the woods. The Austrian 
 cavalry attempted to charge in turn, but were 
 quickly repulsed ; yet as often as general Mont- 
 richard attempted to come out of the wood, a 
 terrible fire stopped his columns. It soon became 
 evident that this was not the true point for an 
 attack upon Mbsskirch; that, on the contrary, this 
 point was upon the right, following the cross-road 
 of Klosterwald, by which Vandamme advanced. 
 He had not yet arrived, on account of the distance 
 of ground he had to pass over. In the mean time 
 Lecourbe resolved to attack Heudorf, by filing 
 on his left along the edge of the wood. The 10th 
 light, despite a heavy fire of musketry and ar- 
 tillery, entered the village of Heudorf, but was 
 repulsed by superior numbers; and while the cavalry 
 was moving forward to sustain it, the Austrian ar- 
 tillery behind Heudorf compelled it to move back. 
 Thus the second attempt to open upon the left was 
 not more successful than that made more directly 
 upon Mbsskirch.
 
 1800. 
 May. 
 
 The Austrian?, acting on the de- 
 fensive, are repulsed. — Brigades 
 of Molitor and Moutrichard. 
 
 ULM AND GENOA. 
 
 Gallant conduct of the 57th.— Com- 
 plete success of Moreau. • — In- 
 action of St. Cyr. 
 
 77 
 
 Encouraged by the check thus given to the 
 French, the Austrians now took the offensive, and 
 tried to move from the village of Heudorf upon 
 Lorges' division. This was taking too great a free- 
 dom with such brave troops. The 38th formed in 
 column ami advanced. Eight pieces of artillery 
 poured grape-shot upon them. Onward they 
 d with admirable coolness into the village of 
 Heudorf, bayonets at the charge. On a steep 
 rising ground behind Heudorf were woods filled 
 with dense masses of Austrian infantry. Superior 
 numbers rushed upon this gallant demi-brigade ; 
 overwhelmed by them it fell back ; the 67th came 
 to its assistance, and it quickly rallied. Both regi- 
 ments then charged. The entire division hastened 
 to the spot, carried the village, and mounted the 
 formidable heights whence the enemy had poured 
 upon them such a terrific fire. Whilst this was 
 proceeding upon the left around the village of 
 Heudorf, Vandamme on the right opened at last 
 upon Mosskirch, at the head of Molitor's brigade, 
 lit; skilfully arranged it for the attack, in spite of 
 the Austrian infantry, which made a destructive 
 fire from the suburbs of that town upon the French 
 column. The brave men of .Molitor's division 
 • ■d forward and made a furious charge into 
 Mosskirch, while two battalions turned the Aus- 
 trian position on the heights. Montrichard, still 
 shut up in the woods, chose the same moment for 
 moving out upon the open ground, which had been 
 so fatal to him at the commencement of the affair. 
 He threw himself upon four columns in the face 
 of the Austrian artillery, somewhat disconcerted 
 at the sight of these simultaneous attacks. His 
 own four columns came up, and, passing a ravine 
 at the foot of the heights, gained the table-ground 
 of Mosskirch at the moment when Vandamme's 
 troops, which had entered Mosskirch, were be- 
 ginning to come out of it. The Austrians were 
 every where put to the rout. Their reserve, 
 placed a little in the rear of Rohrdorf, would now 
 have acted in its own turn, but was kept in check 
 by the divisions of Vandamme and .Montrichard 
 that had united. 
 
 Prom this moment we were masters of thf whole 
 
 of the Austrian line, from Mosskirch to Heudorf. 
 
 Kray, then, judging with admirable correctness 
 
 of eye the vulnerable point of the French posit iclii, 
 
 moved part of his army in the direction of the 
 
 table-ground of Krumbach, on the left of the 
 
 ■h, where he could threaten both their flank 
 
 ear. The division of Lorges, which occupied 
 
 lorf, was in danger of being overpowered. 
 
 The whole of the Austrian reserve of grenadiers 
 
 bad attacked that utiforl unate division, which, after 
 
 having taken and retaken Heudorf several times, 
 rorn out with fatigue. It was crushed under 
 the mass of Austrian infantry and the fire of their 
 artillery. Fortunately Moreau, apprised by the 
 violence of th cannonade, hastened bis march, 
 and arrived al I tigth at the entrance of the wood 
 with his corps, formed of Delmas', Bastoul's, and 
 
 Rich divisions. He sent, instantly to the 
 
 left npon Heudorf, Delmas' division to the aid 
 of that of Lorges. Thai brave body of men soon 
 changed the face of things, routed the Austrian 
 grenadiers, and retook Heudorf as well as the 
 woods above it. Mut if the French bad their re- 
 inforcements, so hud Kray. His right, composed 
 
 of the archduke Ferdinand and of general Giulay, 
 that St. Cyr had followed step by step since the 
 commencement of operations, but at too great a 
 distance — his right brought rapidly upon the field 
 of battle was directed against Heudorf and Krum- 
 bach, on the very flank of Delmas' division, which 
 was in danger of being surrounded. A part of the 
 latter immediately faced to the left. The 57th, 
 which had earned in Italy the name of "the 
 terrible," formed in order of battle, and for more 
 than an hour fought against the Austrian masses, 
 exposed to the fire of sixteen pieces of cannon, to 
 which general Delmas could only reply with five, 
 which were soon dismounted. This heroic regi- 
 ment, undismayed under the merciless fire, suc- 
 ceeded in stopping the enemy, until Moreau, 
 hastening from one corps to another, to place or 
 support them, brought Bastoul's division to the 
 help of that of Delmas. He arrived at the moment 
 when the Austrians, unable to defeat the division 
 of Delmas, sought to deprive it of the aid of Bas- 
 toul's, by opening out upon the level of Krumbach, 
 in order to intercept the communication, and they 
 were already descending for the purpose to the road, 
 and beginning to mingle with the waggon column. 
 Thus the battle, after beginning at Mosskirch, ex- 
 tended itself to Heudorf, and from Heudorf to 
 Krumbach, embracing the entire angle of this vast 
 position, and covering it with blood, fire, and de- 
 vastation. At this important moment the division 
 of Bastoul worthily supported the efforts of Delmas' 
 division; but it was likely to be surrounded, if the 
 enemy should succeed in descending from the table- 
 kind of Krumbach, and should get possession of the 
 high road by which the French troops were ar- 
 riving. Richepanse's division, most fortunately 
 brought up at the moment to the decisive point, 
 formed in columns of attack, climbed the heights 
 of Krumbach under a plunging fire, and over- 
 whelmed the archduke Ferdinand. After this 
 effort Kray had no force left to meet Biche- 
 pansc, and was forced to give the order to retreat. 
 From Krumbach to Heudorf, and from Heudorf 
 to Mosskirch, the French were victorious. 
 
 At this time the corps of St. Cyr was at some 
 leagues' distance, at Neuhausen-ob-Eke. If he bad 
 appeared, the Austrian army would have been 
 wholly undone; and in place of an ordinary vic- 
 tory, one of those brilliant successes would have 
 been gained which terminate a campaign. What 
 fatal inaction, then, kept him useless, so near the 
 place where be might have decided the destiny of 
 the war ? This is a question difficult to answer. 
 St. Cyr pretended the next day that he had received 
 no order. Moreau replied, that he had sent orders 
 by several aids-de-camp. St. Cyr replied, he was 
 so near the field of battle, that if a single officer 
 bad been sent to him, the officer could not fail to 
 have arrived where he was. The coterie who sur- 
 rounded Moreau declared that St. Cyr, a bad com- 
 panion iu arms, bad left bis comrades to be crushed 
 at MSsskirch, as be had at Kugeii. 
 
 Thus in the military as in civil life there is 
 
 jealousy, calumny, and hatred. Human passions 
 
 are every where the same, and war is not very 
 likely to be tie- state most capable of cooling them, 
 or giving them a sense of justice. The truth is, 
 that St. Cyr, discontented witli the coterie which 
 had the ear of Moreau, affected to confine himself
 
 St. Cyi's excuses. 
 7" Further errors of Moreau. 
 
 Dangerous position of the , ann 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Ausirians— They escape """J- 
 
 through Moreau's neglect. J>1 *' - 
 
 to the command of his own corps, at the head of 
 which he operated in great perfection; but he 
 never made amends for any oversight in the com- 
 mander-in-chief, and waited, before he acted, for 
 orders, which a lieutenant ought to be able to 
 anticipate, especially when he hears cannon. St. 
 Cyr, in alleging his proximity, in order to prove 
 that orders bad not been sent to him, or he must 
 have received them, accuses himself; since that 
 very proximity made his not arriving inexcusable, 
 at least with one division of his corps, to a spot 
 where a tremendous cannonade indicated a violent 
 combat, and, it was not improbable, great danger to 
 the rest of the army. But the faults he committed 
 upon this occasion were soon to be redeemed by 
 most essential services. 
 
 French and Austrians alike were, at the close of 
 the day, completely exhausted. In the confusion 
 of battle the number of the killed and wounded is 
 never accurately known, but at Mosskirch the 
 number must have been great ; three thousand of 
 the French, and nearly double that number of 
 Austrians. But the French army was full of con- 
 fidence; for it was victor upon the field of battle, 
 which it intended to quit the next day, to follow 
 up the series of combats which, without having 
 yet produced a decided result, had still sustained 
 its superiority over the enemy. The Austrian 
 army, on the other hand, was incapable of support- 
 ing such a contest much longer. 
 
 Every body may guess, after the recital just 
 given, what censures were passed upon the ope- 
 rations of Moreau l . He had marched upon the 
 field of battle without reconnoitring in advance; he 
 had directed too small a part of his force upon the 
 true point of attack, which was on the road from 
 Klosterwald to Mosskirch, opening upon the flank 
 of that small town. He had marched late, and 
 made all his divisions follow each other through a 
 wood, out of which it was impossible to come forth 
 without losing a great many men ; finally, he did 
 not bring St. Cyr upon the ground where his 
 presence would have decided every thing. Kray, 
 on his part, after having well directed his strength 
 upon the left, which was the vulnerable point, had 
 committed the error of suffering Mosskirch to be 
 taken; though it may be said in his behalf, that 
 his troops were far from equalling the French in 
 intelligence and firmness. Besides this, they began 
 to lose confidence, and it was no longer easy to 
 make them bear the sight or sustain the attack of 
 their enemies. 
 
 On the morrow, May 6, or 16th of Flore'al, 
 Kray Bet out to get behind the Danube, that he 
 might connect himself with the great line of ope- 
 rations at last. This was the moment to follow 
 him up closely, so as to render the passage of the 
 river impracticable or very difficult. Moreau 
 marched in line with his left to the Danube, very 
 near the spot where the Austrians were crossing, 
 so that he had it ill his power to crush them by 
 suddenly wheeling to the left. St. Cyr formed at 
 the same moment the wing which rested upon the 
 Danube. St. Cyr, not having been engaged on the 
 preceding day, wa9 ready to act, and desirous of so 
 doing. He himself saw distinctly the imperial 
 
 > See the Memoirs of St. Cyr, p. 215 et seq., torn. vii. 
 campaign of 1800. 
 
 troops precipitately crowding upon the point of 
 Sigmaringen. There the Danube, by making an 
 elbow, formed a sort of promontory, upon which 
 the Austrians had crowded together, pressing for- 
 ward to pass over to the other bank. St. Cyr 
 perceived it at the distance of a short cannon- 
 range, crowded in a space scarcely sufficient for a 
 single division, and so much surprised at the sight 
 of the French, that before Ney's brigade alone it 
 suspended its passage across, drew up in oi'der of 
 battle, and covered itself with the fire of sixty- 
 pieces of cannon. St. Cyr, observing it thus alarmed 
 and huddled together, was certain he could have 
 driven it into the Danube by a single charge of 
 his corps. He ordered forward a few pieces of 
 cannon, every discharge of which swept off whole 
 files, but these could not be expected to remain 
 in battery before Kray's sixty pieces. St. Cyr 
 hoped by his cannonade to excite the attention 
 of Moreau, and so bring him from the corps of 
 reserve to the left wing. On finding he did not 
 come, St. Cyr sent an officer to him, to state what 
 was going on, and obtain leave to attack the enemy. 
 But union no longer existed between these two 
 officers. The officers of the staff believed that 
 St. Cyr had a wish to move to the left, in order 
 still further to detach himself, and to act alone. 
 The reply given to him was an order to move to 
 the right, and connect himself more closely than 
 was his custom with the right of the army and 
 corps of reserve, which formed the centre. He 
 was told, the measure was indispensable, that the 
 general might, in ease of necessity, have it in his 
 power to dispose of the troops in case of necessity 2 . 
 The nature of this order exhibited very plainly 
 the feeling of the general -in-chief and of those who 
 surrounded him. It was evident that Moreau had 
 suffered himself to be taken up wholly with a 
 single corps, and that the feebleness of his cha- 
 racter had given birth to intestine divisions, bad 
 enough any where, but worse in armies than in any 
 other place. 
 
 Kray was thus enabled to retreat without clanger, 
 and to rally his army on the other side of the 
 Danube. Kienmayer joined him there again with 
 the troops arriving from the shores of the Rhine, 
 and Stzarray followed him very closely. 
 
 The army of Moreau had discovered immense 
 magazines at Stoekach and Donau-Eschingen, so 
 that it wanted for nothing. It was in high spirits 
 from its successes, and from continually acting 
 upon the offensive. The 7th and 8th of May, or 
 17th and 18th of Flore'al, Moreau continued his 
 march with his left to the Danube, presenting too 
 extended a line, and frequently halting to give 
 time for the corps of St. Suzanne to rejoin him. 
 
 On the 9th of May, the 19th of Flore'al, Moreau, 
 knowing that St. Suzanne, who, coming by the left 
 bank of the Danube, was at length opposite to the 
 army, quitted the head-quarters for a day, and 
 crossed the Danube to inspect the troops just 
 arrived. These now formed his left wing, St. Cyr 
 became the centre, and the reserve corps was kept 
 conformably to its denomination as the real re- 
 serve. 
 
 In all probability Kray, retiring his army, would 
 continue beyond the Danube, and the French 
 
 * St. Cyr, torn. vii. p. 201.
 
 1800. 
 May. 
 
 Affair of Biherach.— The place 
 described.— St. Cyr's hesitation. 
 
 ULM AND GENOA. 
 
 Richepanse arriving, St Cyr resolves 
 
 to attack the Austrians. — His sue- 79 
 cess. 
 
 might safely make on the 9th another march with- 
 out encountering the enemy. Moreau commanded 
 Lecourbe, with the right wing, to proceed on the 
 9th between Wuraach and Ochaenhaasen ; the re- 
 serve to advance to Oehsenhausen, while the centre, 
 under St. Cyr, was to pass Biberach, the left being 
 in observation on the Danube. In this order the 
 army advanced near the Iller, in a line parallel 
 with this tributary of the Danube. Morean set 
 out on the morning of the 9th, believing he should 
 be able to devote the whole day to the corps of 
 - izanne. 
 Kray had, in the mean while, been induced to 
 adopt a new and unexpected resolution through 
 the advice of the council of war, which had judged 
 it proper to preserve the immense magazines of 
 Biberach, and not abandon them to the French, 
 as was done at Engen and Stokach. He there- 
 fore crossed over to the right bank of the Danube 
 by Riedlingen with his whole force, and posted 
 himself in front and behind Biberach. This place 
 had already been the scene of a battle gained 
 by Moreau in 1796, thanks to St. Cyr more par- 
 ticularly, and it was now about to witness again 
 the success of our troops and of St. Cyr himself. 
 
 Biberach is situated in a valley inundated by the 
 Riess. This valley is so fidl of marshy ground, 
 that a person on horseback cannot pass through it 
 without being lost, so that people arc obliged to go 
 through the town itself, and over the little bridge 
 contiguous to it. Penetrating into the valley, a 
 species of defile, between the heights of Galgenberg 
 on one side and Mittelbiberach on the other, must 
 be passed. This defile being cleared, Biberach 
 suddenly comes upon the view. On crossing the 
 marsh of the Riess over the bridge adjoining the 
 town, and beyond the marsh, a superb position is 
 seen, called the Mettenberg, upon which an army, 
 provided with artillery, may make a firm 
 ance. Kray could not place himself in ad- 
 vance of the defile, having so narrow an outlet by 
 which to effect a retreat; he could only place linn- 
 s' If behind Biberach, beyond the Riess on the 
 Mettenberg; but then he could not leave Biberach 
 uncovered. In consequence of this he placed a 
 corps, consisting of eight or ten battalions and a 
 •I /.• -n squadrons, in advance of the defile of Mittel- 
 biberach, to retard the march of his opponents, 
 and at the- same time to have leisure for evacuating 
 or destroying die larger part of his magazines. 
 
 It was a perilous step, more than all with an 
 army demoralized as his was. St. Cyr, having re- 
 ceived an order to go and pass the night a little 
 beyond Biberach, soon discovered the position the 
 
 Austrians had taken. He was mneh hurt not to 
 bad mar him the commander-in -cllii f, or at 
 the bead of bis staff, that he might obtain the 
 needful orders, and make something of bis dis- 
 covery. Moreau was absent; general Dessoles 
 
 was not 011 tin- spot. If St. Cyr bad had with him 
 
 his whole corps, be would not have hesitated to 
 
 •ttack the Austrians with that alone. Unhappily 
 
 bis own corps was dispersed. Being obliged to 
 
 watch the Danube on In. left, he had devoted to 
 
 that object tli'- beat of bis divisions, that com- 
 manded by Ney, of whom bo despatched several 
 offici is in search ; but in consequence of Ney 
 
 having followed the winding shores of tin- river, 
 and from the bad stale of the road-, it v.. is not 
 
 easy to reach and bring him back. St. Cyr, to 
 attack a mass of sixty thousand men at least, had 
 but the two divisions of Thareau and Baraguay- 
 d'Hilliers, and the cavalry of reserve of general 
 Sahuc, attached to his corps. The demoralized 
 state of the enemy was a great temptation to attack 
 him, but the disproportion of force made him 
 hesitate. All at once the firing of general Riche- 
 panse was heard, who having orders to maintain 
 his communication with St. Cyr, and to cross the 
 Riess by the bridge of Biberach, had arrived at 
 the same point by a transverse road, or that of 
 Reichenbach. St. Cyr, having thus at his disposal 
 the fine division of Richepanse, and being enabled 
 to fill the void left in his corps by the absence of 
 Ney and his division, no longer hesitated. He 
 thought that if the detachment left in advance of 
 the defile which was before Biberach were over- 
 thrown, the defeat of this body of eight thousand 
 or ten thousand men would be something more 
 serious than the defeat of a simple advance-guard, 
 and that by its effect the moral courage of the 
 enemy would be deeply shaken. Therefore, with- 
 out as much as halting to form his troops for 
 the attack, he gave orders to the eighteen bat- 
 talions and twenty-four squadrons under his com- 
 mand to advance at quick time, and charge the 
 Austrians who barred up the defile. Overthrown 
 by the sudden shock, the Austrians rushed pell- 
 mell into Biberach and the valley of the Riess. It 
 would have been no difficult matter to take almost 
 all of them, but St. Cyr would not attempt it, fearing, 
 if he permitted his soldiers to pursue the enemy, 
 he might not be able to rally them, and thus be 
 deprived of their services in the main operation. 
 He was, therefore, content to enter Biberach, 
 establish himself, and secure the safety of the 
 magazines. Having strongly occupied the town, 
 and taken steps to provide a retreat in case of 
 necessity, he crossed the Riess. 
 
 Richepanse had just arrived on his right by the 
 Reichenbach road. Reinforced by this division, 
 St. Cyr crossed the river by the bridge of Biberach, 
 and advanced himself to observe the enemy's posi- 
 tion. At the same moment the Austrians, who had 
 been so suddenly thrown into the Reiss, were 
 mounting through the ranks of their own army, 
 which opened to let them pass. At the sight of 
 St. Cyr it was easy to discover how much the 
 army of the enemy was alarmed. St. Cyr ordered 
 forward a number of skirmishers, who approached 
 and insulted the enemy, none of whose force; came 
 to meet them, and fiing them into the ravine. 
 These detached men wire answered by general 
 dischargi s, evidently from men in alarm, who 
 endeavoured to regain their courage by the noise. 
 St. Cyr was, when upon the held, one of the ablest 
 tacticians of whom we have ever been able to 
 boast. Observing this state of the Austrian army, 
 he decided in a moment his course of action. lie 
 drew up Thareau's and Baraguay's divisions in two 
 Columns, formed a third id' Ri<hepanse\s,and placed 
 
 bis cavalry in tehelon on the wings. These ar- 
 rangements being completed, he set all his columns 
 
 in motion at once. They ascended the acclivity of 
 
 the Mettenberg with unparalleled steadiness. The 
 Austrians, at the sight of the French climbing the 
 formidable position with such coolness, whence an 
 army three times their number might have pre*
 
 Kray retires upon Ulm. 
 80 Grand results of the action. 
 State of the two armies. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Moreau's army about to 
 be reduced. — Carnot's 
 mission to Moreau. 
 
 1800. 
 May. 
 
 cipitated them into the marshes of the Reiss, were 
 struck with astonishment and fear. Kray ordered 
 a retrograde movement; but his troops did not 
 execute the order as he intended they should do; 
 for after some firing they abandoned the field of 
 the Mettenberg, and finished in a disorderly flight, 
 leaving to St. Cyr many thousand prisoners and 
 immense magazines, which served the French army 
 for a long time afterwards. Night stopped the 
 pursuit. In the midst of the affair Moreau arrived; 
 and, notwithstanding the coolness between him and 
 St. Cyr, on the morrow, in presence of Carnot, the 
 minister of war, he stated to him his high satisfaction 
 at his conduct. Moreau, disembarrassed for a mo- 
 ment from the mischief-making friends who sur- 
 rounded him at head-quarters, could thus be just 
 to a lieutenant who had fought and conquered in 
 his absence and without orders. 
 
 The French army completely victorious, the 
 Austrians were no more able to resist, and it 
 might now march forward without opposition. 
 Kray had sent — it is difficult to comprehend for 
 what reason — a detachment to defend the maga- 
 zines of Memmingen. Memmingen was in the 
 route of Lecourbe. That place was taken, the de- 
 tachment routed, and the magazines secured. This 
 was on the 10th of May, or 20th Flore'al. The 11th 
 and 12th, Kray definitively retired upon Ulm. 
 Moreau continued his march in a long line, nearly 
 .perpendicular to the Danube. The 13th of May 
 he was beyond the Iller, without encountering any 
 serious resistance to the passage of that river. The 
 right and the reserve were at Ungerhausen, Kell- 
 miintz, Iller-Aiclieim, Illertissen. St. Cyr was 
 placed at the confluence of the Iller and Danube, 
 across the Iller, occupying the bridge of Unter- 
 kirchberg, and connecting himself with St. Suzanne, 
 who was advancing along the left bank of the 
 Danube. From the head-quarters of St. Cyr, 
 where Ney's division was placed, in the abbey of 
 Wiblingen, the Austrian troops might be distinctly 
 seen afar off, in their vast intrenched camp of 
 Ulm. 
 
 The two armies were now rejoined by all their 
 detached corps. Kray had recalled to himself 
 Kienmayer but a few days before, and afterwards 
 Sztarray. Moreau, having close at hand the corps 
 of St. Suzanne, was now in full strength. Both 
 armies had sustained losses, but those of the Aus- 
 trians were far more considerable than those of the 
 French. They were estimated at thirty thousand 
 men, killed, wounded, and prisoners. Upon this 
 matter history is reduced to conjecture, because, 
 on days of battle, generals always diminish their 
 losses; and when they want reinforcements from 
 their governments, they constantly exaggerate the 
 numbers of the dead, the sick, and the wounded. 
 No one knows with perfect accuracy the total num- 
 ber of soldiers really present under arms. Kray 
 commenced the campaign with one hundred and 
 ten or one hundred and fifteen thousand efficient 
 men ; and reckoning thirty-five or forty thousand 
 in fortresses, he could have now but eighty thou- 
 sand at most, these worn out with fatigue, and 
 completely demoralized. 
 
 The loss of the French army was estimated at 
 four thousand killed, six or seven thousand wounded 
 or dead of fever, and some made prisoners; in the 
 whole, twelve or thirteen thousand rendered unfit 
 
 for service, four or five thousand of whom might 
 again return to duty after a little rest. This cal- 
 culation reduces Moreau's active force for the mo- 
 ment to ninety thousand men, or somewhat less. 
 But he was soon about to part with a considerable 
 detachment, consonant to an agreement with general 
 Berthier at the opening of the campaign. It was 
 stipulated in that agreement, that as soon as Kray 
 was driven to the distance of eight or ten marches 
 from the Lake of Constance, Lecourbe should fall 
 back upon the Alps, to join the army of reserve. 
 The position of Masse'na rendered the fulfilment of 
 this engagement urgent ; and it was not any silly 
 desire to check Moreau in the midst of his suc- 
 cesses, that caused the demand to be made for the 
 corps of Lecourbe, but the most legitimate of rea- 
 sons — that of saving Genoa and Liguria. The army 
 of reserve, collected with so much labour, consisted 
 of no more than forty thousand men iDured to war. 
 It needed a reinforcement in order to place it in a 
 condition to attempt the extraordinary operations 
 beyond the Alps in which it was about to be em- 
 ployed. 
 
 The first consul, impatient to act in the direction 
 of Italy, and wishing at the same time to avoid 
 offending Moreau, and yet to secure the due execu- 
 tion of his orders, made choice of Carnot, the war 
 minister himself, for that purpose, sending him 
 to the head- quarters of the army of the Rhine, 
 with the formal injunction to detach Lecourbe to- 
 wards the St. Gothard. The letters accompanying 
 this order were cordial in manner and irresistible 
 in argument. The first consul well knew that it 
 was not Lecourbe and twenty-five thousand men 
 that would be sent to him; but if he obtained fifteen 
 or sixteen thousand he would feel satisfied. 
 
 Moreau received Carnot with chagrin; still he 
 executed faithfully the orders which were brought 
 him by the war minister, who took care to remove 
 any feeling of dissatisfaction on the part of the 
 feeble-minded general, who was easily deceived ; 
 and that confidence in the first consul was thus 
 revived which detestable mischief-makers were 
 striving to destroy. 
 
 Some historians, who flatter Moreau, but only his 
 flatterers since 1815, have elevated the detachment 
 taken from the army of Germany to twenty-five 
 thousand men. Moreau himself, in his reply to the 
 first consul, did not estimate it at more than seven- 
 teen thousand eight hundred, and this number was 
 exaggerated; not more than fifteen or sixteen thou- 
 sand entered Switzerland to climb mount St. Go- 
 thard. After that, Moreau had about seventy-two 
 thousand men left; and soon afterwards, by the 
 recovery of the sick and wounded, seventy-five 
 thousand '. This number was more than sufficient 
 to beat eighty thousand Austrians. Kray had no 
 more, and those were dispirited and incapable of 
 standing the least serious rencounter with the 
 French. 
 
 1 It is from Moreau's own correspondence that I state 
 these numbers. All the calculations are exaggerated on the 
 side of Moreau. He estimates the battalions retained by 
 him at G50 men, and those sent to Italy at 700 each. This 
 calculation cannot be correct ; for if he sent the corps just as 
 they were, and the battalions in his army were reduced to 
 G50 men, there could not be 700 in those which were detached 
 from him.
 
 1S00. 
 May. 
 
 Lorges, with a detachment, marches 
 towards the Alps. — Kray's posi- 
 tion at Ulm. 
 
 ULM AND GENOA. 
 
 St. Cyr's bold proposal to storm 
 the Austrian camp, refused by 
 Moreau. 
 
 81 
 
 In order that the enemy might remain ignorant 
 of this diminution of his force, Moreau determined 
 not to alter the position nor the existing distribu- 
 tion of Ids battalions. He took the sixteen thou- 
 sand men which lie designed for the first consul 
 out of all the existing corps. Each of these corps 
 furnished its contingent; and thus the diminution of 
 his force was concealed in the best mode possible. 
 Moreau wished to keep Lecourbe, who was worth 
 in value more than some thousands of men. Le- 
 courbe was accordingly left to him, and the brave 
 general Lorges had the command of the detach- 
 ment which marched for Switzerland. Carnot im- 
 mediately set out for Paris after lie had seen on their 
 way the troops destined to pass the St. Gothard. 
 
 This operation occurred on the 1 1th, 12th, and 
 13th of May, being the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd of 
 Floreal. Moreau's army was now seventy-two 
 thousand strong, or nearly so, without counting the 
 garrisons in the different fortresses, the Helvetian 
 divisions, or those who might return to service 
 from the hospitals. It was still of the same strength 
 as before the arrival of the corps of St. Suzanne, a 
 strength which had sufficed to make it uniformly 
 victorious. 
 
 Kray had established himself at Ulm, where 
 for a long time an entrenched camp had been pre- 
 pared as a stronghold for the imperial troops. Of 
 the two modes of defence of which mention lias 
 been made, that of retreating by the foot of the 
 Alps, thus covering the army by the tributary 
 waters of the Danube, or keeping on both sides of 
 that river in order to operate on both banks, the 
 Aulic council of Vienna decided for the last, and 
 Kray followed his orders with considerable skill. 
 The first mode would have been the best, had it been 
 necessary to keep up a permanent communication 
 between the two armies of Germany and Italy. In 
 the first stages of retreat its positions offered no 
 great strength, because the Iller, the Lech, the Isar, 
 and the Inn, are the only obstacles of moment 
 coming in succession; and the Inn alone offers very 
 considerable impediments, for invincible obstacles 
 no longer present themselves in war. But an army 
 which is tree from every communication with Italy 
 should be- placed upon the Danube itself, having 
 all the bridges at its command, destroying them in 
 . as it retires, while still possessing the 
 means of crossing from one hank to the other, the 
 
 enemy being confined to one bank. It is thus able, 
 if the enemy go forward direct upon Vienna, to 
 follow him under the shelter of tin; Danube, and 
 fling itself upon the invader's rear, to punish him 
 for the first fault he may commit. Thus placid, 
 an army has been generally thought in the best 
 •••' ring Austria. 
 Kray was posted at L'hn, where extensive works 
 
 had been carried on for his support. At this 
 
 point it is well known that the left bank of the 
 Danube is form d by the fust declivities of the 
 mountains of Suabia, which are always dominant 
 over the right bank. Ulm is on the left, aide of the 
 river at the fool of those heights, and upon the 
 
 Danube itself. The walls had been repaired, and 
 
 aredoubt had been constructed, to defend the bridge 
 
 on the opposite or right bank. All the heights 
 behind Ulm, more especially the Michelsberg, had 
 
 been covered with artillery. If the French ap- 
 peared cm the right bank, the Austrian army 
 
 having one of its wings resting upon Ulm and the 
 other upon the lofty convent of Elehingen, covered 
 by the Danube, and its artillery sweeping the low- 
 level ground on the right shore, it was in a positron 
 impossible to be assailed. If the French presented 
 themselves on the left bank, the Austrians were in 
 a position equally strong. In order to comprehend 
 this, it is right to recollect that the position of Ulm 
 is covered on the left hank by the river Blau, 
 which descends from the mountains of Suabia, and 
 falls into the Danube close to Ulm, its bed forming 
 a deep ravine. If the French crossed the Danube 
 to attack the Austrians by the left bank, they 
 would change their position, and, in place effacing 
 the Danube, would turn their back upon that river, 
 and cover their front by the Blau. Their left wing 
 would be in Ulm, their right at Lahr and Jungingen, 
 and their centre at Michelsberg. It would require 
 several marches on the Danube to turn this po- 
 sition, abandoning wholly the right bank, which 
 might frustrate all the previous combinations for 
 the campaign, since it would uncover the Alps, and 
 leave the road open to Italy. Into such a secure 
 camp Kray now marched his exhausted army. 
 
 St. Cyr was at the convent of vViblingen, and 
 from its windows could distinctly see the Austrian 
 position without the aid of a telescope. Relying 
 upon the confidence and boldness of the troops, he 
 offered, and several generals offered with him, to 
 storm the enemy's camp. They would, they said, 
 answer for the success of the effort with their lives; 
 and it must be acknowledged that if the daring of 
 some of them, such as Ney and Richepanse, excited 
 some doubts of the success of such an effort, the 
 opinion of St. Cyr, a cool methodical tactician, me- 
 rited regard. But Moreau was too prudent to ven- 
 ture upon an assault of such a nature, and give 
 Kray the choice of winning a defensive battle. It 
 was true that if the French were victors, the Aus- 
 trian army Hung into the Danube would be half- 
 destroyed, and the campaign would be ended. On 
 the other hand, if the attack failed, Moreau would 
 be obliged to fall back ; the campaign in Germany 
 would be endangered, and, worse than all, the 
 decisive Campaign in Italy would be rendered im- 
 practicable. Moreau acted in war with safety 
 rather than boldness. He suffered the brave sol- 
 diers who offered to throw the Austrians into the 
 Danube, to talk on about it, but he refused to suffer 
 such an attempt to be made. A war of manoeuvres 
 alone remained. It was possible to pass the Da- 
 nube to the left bank above- Ulm, as already de- 
 scribed ; but then, in order to turn the Austrian 
 position, the French would be obliged to proceed 
 so far along the left bank, that Switzerland would 
 be opened, and the detachment sent towards the 
 
 Alps, would be endangered. By remaining on the 
 right bank, they might descend the Danube some 
 way below Ulm, cross it out of the way of the 
 
 Austrians, and master their position by cutting 
 
 them oir from the Lower Danube. By descending 
 
 the river, tin- rear of the army would be exposed, 
 
 and the road to Switzerland. Moreau therefore 
 
 gave up all idea of dislodging Kray from Ulm. 
 Though with such an army as his he might, have 
 hazarded any attempt, against the em my, he was 
 right in bis caution, and fully justified in pursuing 
 tin' plan which securely covered the operations 
 
 of tin first consul, bis superior and rival. 
 
 G 
 
 _j
 
 Moreau manoeuvres before 
 82 mm. -Serious error.— THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 Danger of St. Suzanne. 
 
 Gallant conduct of Levas- 
 seur.— St. Cyr succeeds 
 in rescuing at. Suzanne. 
 
 1800. 
 May. 
 
 Moreau resolved to execute a manoeuvre, which 
 was very right under his circumstances. This was 
 to march upon Augsburg, or, in other words, to 
 abandon the course of the Danube, \o cross its tri- 
 butary waters, and render useless all the Austrian 
 lines of defence by a direct march into the heart 
 of the empire. This movement would inevitably 
 oblige Kray to leave the Danube and his camp at 
 Ulm, and draw him after the French army. The 
 idea was a bold one ; and it did not uncover the 
 Alps, Moreau being constantly at tlteir foot. He 
 had, under the circumstances, no half^ measures to 
 pursue. He must either remain inactive before 
 Ulm, or march boldly upon Augsburg^and Munich. 
 A single demonstration would not deceive Kray, 
 and only expose to danger the corp^ of observa- 
 tion necessarily left at Ulm. Here M <>reau com- 
 mitted an error which was nearly productive of 
 serious consequences. 
 
 On the 13th, 14th, and 15th of May, Moreau 
 crossed the Iller, leaving St. Suzanne alone on 
 the left bank of the Danube, and St. Cyr at the 
 confluence of the Iller and Danube : he pushed 
 forward a corps of reserve on the Guntz, towards 
 Babenhausen. Lecourbe he pushed beyond the 
 Guntz to Erkheim, and sent out a corps of flankers 
 to Kempten, on the road to the Tyrol. In this sin- 
 gular position, extending twenty leagues, touching 
 Ulm on one side and menacing Augsburg on the 
 other, he could not instil into Kray the smallest, 
 apprehension of his marching upon Munich, nor do 
 more than tempt him to throw himself in full force 
 upon St. Suzanne, whose corps remained alone 
 on the left bank of the Danube. Had Kray given 
 way to the temptation, and attacked St. Suzanne 
 with his entire masses, the French would have 
 been entirely destroyed. 
 
 The orders given to St. Cyr on the 15th or 25th 
 Flore'al were executed on the morning of the lGth, 
 when St. Suzanne was attacked at Erbach by an 
 enormous muss of cavalry. His right division, 
 commanded by general Legrand, was at Erbach 
 and Papelau, along the Danube ; his left division, 
 commanded by Souham, was at Blaubeureh, on both 
 sides of the Blau ; the reserve, under general 
 Colaud, was a little in rear of the two divisions. The 
 action begad by a vast number of horse surround- 
 ing the French columns on every side. While the 
 troops of St. Suzanne were charged by numerous 
 scjuadrons, masses of infantry, sallying out of Ulm, 
 and ascending the Danube, gave fears of a still 
 more serious attack. Two columns of infantry and 
 one of cavalry advanced, the one upon Erbach, to 
 attack and surround the two brigades, which com- 
 posed Legrand's division; the other upon Papelau, 
 to separate the division of Legrand from, that of 
 Souham. Legrand made his troops fall back. They 
 retired slowly through the woods, and then had to 
 come out on the level ground between Donjyurieden 
 and Ringengen. The troops executed this, retreat 
 with great steadiness. They were some, hours 
 yielding a small space of ground, halting every 
 moment, forming in squares, and annoying the 
 cavalry sent in pursuit of them with a tremendous 
 fire. Souham's division, attacked on both, flanks, 
 was obliged to execute a similar movement and to 
 concentrate itself upon Blaubeuren, behind the 
 Blau, driving into the deep ravine of thai river 
 euch of the Austrians as pressed them too closely. 
 
 It was the division of Legrand which encoun- 
 tered the greatest danger, from its having been 
 placed nearest the Danube ; and for that reason 
 the Austrians wished to overwhelm it, in order to 
 intercept all succour that might arrive from the 
 other side of the river. The two brigades of 
 which it was composed defended themselves with 
 great resolution, until at the moment when the 
 infantry was retreating, and the light artillery was 
 replacing its guns on the fore part of the carriages 
 to retreat also, the enemy's cavalry, returning 
 to the charge, dashed suddenly upon the unfor- 
 tunate division. The brave adjutant-general Le- 
 vasseur, who had been dismounted in a charge, 
 sprung upon a horse, gallopped to the 10th regi- 
 ment of horse, which was some distance from the 
 field of battle, brought it up against the enemy, 
 charged the Austrian squadrons ten times their 
 number, and checked them. The artillery had 
 thus time to carry off their guns, take a position 
 in the rear, and protect in turn the cavalry which 
 had rescued it. 
 
 During this interval, general St. Suzanne had 
 arrived with a part of the division of Colaud to 
 the aid of Legrand. General Decaen, with the 
 remainder, had gone to Blaubeuren to succour 
 Souham's division. The action was renewed, but 
 it might still end in a disastrous manner, since 
 there was every reason to fear that the Austrian 
 army would fall in a body upon the corps of St. 
 Suzanne. Fortunately, St. Cyr, who was posted 
 on the opposite side of the Danube, did not leave 
 his comrades to be routed as he had before been 
 accused of doing ; he hastened to them with all 
 speed. Hearing the cannonade on the left bank of 
 the river, he sent off aids-de-camp on aids-de-camp 
 to bring his divisions from the banks of the Iller 
 to those of the Danube. He ordered not a mo- 
 ment to be lost in making the advanced corps fall 
 back immediately, and the main body of the troops 
 to be despatched without waiting for their out-posts, 
 a corps being left behind to collect them. He 
 placed himself on the bridge of Unterkirchberg, 
 upon the Iller, and as soon as one corps arrived, 
 infantry, cavalry, or artillery, as it might chance 
 to be, he sent it towards the Danube as quickly as 
 possible, preferring the disorder of a moment to a 
 loss of time. He then went himself to the banks 
 of the Danube. The Austrians, not doubting but 
 that St. Suzanne would receive assistance, if prac- 
 ticable, destroyed all the bridges as high up as 
 Disehingen. Seeing St. Cyr endeavouring to cross 
 by a ford, or to re-establish a bridge, the enemy 
 drew up a part of his forces facing those of St. 
 Cyr on the right hank, and commenced a heavy 
 cannonade, to which St. Cyr lost no time in re- 
 sponding. The fire of artillery on both sides the 
 river made the Austrians who had sallied out of 
 Ulm begin to fear that their retreat would be cut 
 off, and caused them to fall back some distance; 
 this disengaged St. Suzanne a little, and diffused 
 a feeling of joy in his ranks as soon as it was known, 
 as for twelve hours they had kept up a contest almost 
 hopeless; their ardour revived once more. They 
 cried out for permission to advance, which was 
 granted them. All the French divisions then moved 
 on together, and drove the Austrians under the 
 batteries of Ulm; but in traversing the field of 
 battle, which they were so overjoyed to recover,
 
 i 
 
 May. 
 
 Movements of More .u. — He 
 refuses to attack the Aus- 
 trian camp. 
 
 ULM AND GENOA. 
 
 Moreau's position while 
 awaiting news fiom 
 
 the lirsi consul. 
 
 S3 
 
 they found it covered witli their own dead and 
 wounded. The loss of the Austrians had not hem 
 less than that of the French. Only fifteen thou- 
 sand of the Litter had fought all day against thirty- 
 six thousand Austrians, of whom twelve thousand 
 were cavalry. Kray was himself present the whole 
 time on the field of hattle. 
 
 But for the extraordinary courage of the troops, 
 with the energy and talent of the officers, the fault 
 which Moreau had committed would have been 
 punished by the loss of his left wing. Moreau 
 immediately went to that wing himself, and, as if 
 his thoughts had been only drawn to that quarter 
 by pure accident, he resolved to pass his entire 
 army over to the left hank of the Danube. 
 
 On the 17th, or 27th Floreal, leaving St. Suzanne 
 to rest in the position of the day before, he led the 
 corps of St. Cyr back between the Iller and the 
 Danube. The reserve, under his own command, 
 he suit in advance to Unterkirchberg; •on the I Her, 
 and commanded Lecourbe to fall bftek between the 
 GunU and Weissenhom. On the 18th, the army 
 made a second movement to the left. St. Suzanne 
 moved beyond the Blau, St Cyr beyond the Da- 
 nube, and the reserve to Gocklingen, on the Danube 
 itself, ready to cross ov. r. On the l!)tli the man- 
 oeuvre was still more developed, St. Suzanne had 
 turned Ulm completely,'* having his head-quar- 
 ters at Ursprinir ; St. Cyr was on both banks of 
 the Blau, with his bead-quarters at Blaubeurcn ; 
 the reserve had passed the Danube between Erbaeh 
 and the Blau ; and Lecourbe was ready to cross 
 that river. 
 
 Every thine; now denoted an attack upon the 
 entrenched camp of Ulm. In this new position 
 Kray had his left at Ulm, his centre on the Blau, 
 and his right at Elchiiigeu. Thus he had his back 
 to the Danube, ;m d defen led the reverse of the 
 position of Ulm. Moreau, having reconnoitred 
 the whole attentively, disappointed his lieutenants, 
 who imagined that they saw in the movement of 
 the left a serious operation in progress, and were 
 desirous of a bold attack on the camp of Kray, 
 because they believed the success of such an 
 attempt was certain. St. Cyr insisted again upon 
 its practicability, but he was not heard. .Moreau 
 mined to retire, unwilling to risk an attack by 
 hard fighting along the Blau, and not willing to 
 turn the position by the left, for fear of uncovering 
 SwUserland too much. He ordered the army there- 
 fore to return once more to the right hank of the 
 Danube. On the 20th of May and the following 
 rojy d camped, to the great displeasure 
 of tli n and men, who calculated upon the 
 
 made, and equally to the astoniah- 
 ■m nt of the Au-tiians, who were in dread of it. 
 
 These (ahu movements were atl nded with the 
 great inconvenience that they elevated the courage 
 of the Austrian army, although they did not shake 
 that of the I reach, which Celt too conscious of its 
 own superiority. Moreau might then have at- 
 tempted tie- movement which baa been already 
 mentioned, and which, alt. rwarde executed, ob- 
 tained for him sueii a signal triumph. Tins move- 
 ment was to descend by the Danube, tin 
 Kray to pass below Ulm, and thus oblige bind to 
 decamp by disquieting lum about the line of his 
 communications; but Moreau was always fearful of 
 uncovering the road ol the Alps. He had thought 
 
 of making a second demonstration upon Augsburg, 
 and thus once more of endeavouring to deceive the 
 Austrians and to persuade them, that leaving Ulm 
 behind him he was going definitively upon Bavaria, 
 probably upon Austria. On the 22nd of May, or 
 2nd l'rairial, all the French army repassed the 
 Danube. Lecourbe with the right wing threatened 
 Augsburg by Landsberg ; St. Suzanne with the 
 left wing kept himself at some distance from the 
 Danube, between Dellmensingen and Achstetten. 
 The same day prince Ferdinand with twelve thou- 
 sand men, half of whom were cavalry, either with 
 the view of keeping the French near Ulm, or to 
 discover their iuteutions, made an attack upon St. 
 Suzanne, which was warmly repulsed, the troops 
 with their customary vigor, and general 
 Deeaen distinguishing himself greatly. The follow- 
 ing days Moreau continued his movements. On 
 -7th May, or 7th Prairial, Lecourbe with 
 equal skill and courage made himself master of the 
 bridge of Landsberg, over the Lech, and on the 
 28th entered Augsburg. Still Kray was not to be 
 iin. Mil by this operation, and remained immovable 
 in Ulm. This was the best of all his resolutions, 
 and did most honour to his firmness and judgment. 
 From that time Moreau remained inactive, cal- 
 culating events in Italy. He rectified his position, 
 and greatly improved it. In place of forming a 
 line, one extremity of which touched the 
 Danube, a position which exposed his left corps to 
 unequal conflicts with the entire of the Austrian 
 forces, he executed afterwards a change of front 
 facing the Danube, ranging himself parallel with 
 that river, but at a considerable distance, his left 
 resting upon the lller, his right upon the Guntz, 
 his rear-guard in Augsburg, and a corps of flankers 
 observing the Tyrol. Thus his army formed a 
 mass sufficiently dense to fear nothing from any 
 isolated attack upon either of his wings, and it had 
 nothing to risk but a general engagement, which 
 was all that it desired, because such a contest 
 could not fail to terminate in the utter ruin of the 
 Austrian army. In this unapproachable position, 
 Mi r au determined to await the result of the 
 operations which Bonaparte was at the same 
 moment carrying on upon the other side of the 
 Alps. His lieutenants pressed him to abandon his 
 inaction, but he persisted in replying that it would 
 be imprudent to do more until lie r csived intelli- 
 gence from Italy ; but if Bonaparte succeeded in 
 that part of the theatre of war, they would then 
 try a decisive movement against Kray; lor that if 
 the French army on the other side of the Alps was 
 not fortunate, they would be greatly embarrased 
 by tiny progress they should now make in Ba- 
 varia. The enterprise of Bonaparte, the secret 
 
 of which was known to Moreau, carried something 
 
 very extraordinary in it to a mind constituted like 
 his; and there Ion- it is not at all improbable thai he 
 felt inquietude, or that he was unwilling to advance 
 without knowing for a certainty the fortunes of tho 
 army of reserve. 
 
 Moreau, in consequence of those resolutions, had 
 
 warm altercations « ith some of his lieutenants, and 
 
 more immediately with St. Cyr. This officer coin 
 
 plained of the inactivity in which mean while they 
 W( re kept, and still more ol' the partiality that was 
 
 prevalent in the distribution of the rations to the 
 
 different corps of the army. He communicated to 
 
 a 2
 
 Misunderstandings among the 
 g4 French generals. — Moreau's 
 letter to Bonaparte. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Moreau's character com- 
 posed of weaknesses 
 and great qualities. 
 
 1800. 
 May. 
 
 Moreau that his division was frequently without 
 bread, while that of the commander-in-chief close 
 by it was in want of nothing. There was no lack 
 of resources since the capture of the enemy's 
 magazines, but only of the means of conveyance. 
 St. Cyr had upon the same subject more than one 
 dispute ; there was evidently a difference between 
 him and the staff that surrounded Moreau ; and 
 this was the real cause of these unfortunate dis- 
 putes. General Grenier had just joined the army, 
 and St. Cyr wished moreover to give him the com- 
 mand of the reserve, that Moreau might be free 
 from the occupations and partialities which are the 
 inevitable consequences of holding so particular 
 a command. Moreau unfortunately would do no- 
 thing of the sort. St. Cyr then retired, and thus 
 the army was deprived of the ablest of its general 
 officers. St. Cyr was himself made more to com- 
 mand than obey another. General St. Suzanne 
 retired too in consequence of similar misunder- 
 standings. The last was sent to the Rhine to 
 form a corps, designed to cover the rear of the 
 army of Germany, and to keep the forces of baron 
 D'Albini in check. Grenier succeeded to the place 
 of St. Cyr, and Richepanse to that of St. Suzanne. 
 Moreau, who was strongly established in his new 
 position, and whose troops wanted for nothing, 
 determined to wait where he was, and wrote to the 
 first consul, well expressing his situation and inten- 
 tions, as follows : — 
 
 Babenhausen, 7 Prairial, an vm. 
 (May 27, 1800.) 
 
 8 We wait with impatience, citizen consul, for the 
 tidings of your success. Kray and I are groping 
 about here — he to keep near Ulm, I to make him 
 quit that post. 
 
 " It would have been dangerous for you in par- 
 ticular, if I had transferred the war to the left 
 bank of the Danube. Our present position has 
 forced the prince de Reuss to move off to the 
 openings of the Tyrol and to the sources of the 
 Lech and Uler ; so that he cannot inconvenience 
 you, 
 
 " Give me, I beg you, news of yourself, and let 
 me know how I can serve you .... 
 
 " If M. Kray moves in advance, I shall fall back 
 as far as Memmingen ; there I shall make general 
 Lecourbe join me, and we shall fight. If he 
 marches upon Augsburg, I shall do the same ; he 
 will lose his support of Ulm, and then we shall see 
 what is to be done to cover you. 
 
 " It would be more advantageous to make the 
 war upon the left bank of the Danube, and to 
 force Wurtemberg and Franconia to contribute 
 to our support ; but this would not suit you, since 
 the enemy might send detachments into Italy, 
 while leaving us to ravage the territory of the 
 empire. 
 
 " Be assured of my attachment. 
 
 " (Signed) Moreau." 
 
 A month and two days had now elapsed, and if 
 Moreau had not obtained those prompt and de- 
 cisive results which terminate a campaign at a 
 blow, as he might have done by passing the Rhine 
 
 at a single point towards Schaffhausen, throwing 
 his entire force upon the left of Kray, and fighting 
 the battles of Engen and Mosskirch with undivided 
 forces ; or as he might have done by throwing the 
 Austrian army into the Danube at Sigmaringen, 
 dislodging it by main strength from the camp at 
 Ulm, or obliging it to decamp by a decided move- 
 ment upon Augsburg; still he had fulfilled the 
 more essential conditions of the plan of the cam- 
 paign, — he had passed the Rhine without accident, 
 in presence of the Austrian army ; he had fought 
 two great battles, and, though the concentration of 
 his forces had been defective, he had gained both 
 battles by his firmness and good generalship on 
 the field of action ; lastly, despite his "gropings" 
 about Ulm, he had, notwithstanding, shut up the 
 Austrians around that place, and kept them block- 
 aded there, cutting them off from the route to the 
 Tyrol and Bavaria, still having himself the power to 
 await in a good position the result of events in Italy. 
 If we do not find in him those superior talents and 
 that decision which distinguish the greatest soldiers, 
 we discover a calm, prudent mind, repairing by 
 its coolness the faults of an intelligence too nar- 
 rowed, and of a character somewhat irresolute: we 
 find, in fact, an excellent general, such as nations 
 often wish to possess, and such as Europe had 
 none to equal. It was the fortune of France to 
 possess at this time — of France which already pos- 
 sessed Bonaparte — to possess also Moreau, Kle"ber, 
 Dessaix, Masse'na, and St. Cyr, in other words, 
 the best second-rate generals ; and it must be re- 
 collected that she had already produced Dumou- 
 riez and Pichegru. Time of wondei'ful recollec- 
 tions ! which ought to inspire us with some kind 
 of confidence in ourselves, and prove to Europe 
 that all our glory in the present century is not due 
 to a single man, that it is not the result of that 
 rare fortune which produces such men of genius as 
 Hannibal, Ceesar, or Napoleon. 
 
 What might be chiefly alleged against Moreau 
 was a want of vigour in commanding ; above all, 
 his suffering himself to be surrounded and con- 
 trolled by a military circle, his permitting mis- 
 understandings to have birth around him, thus 
 depriving himself of his best officers ; and his not 
 correcting, by the force of his own will, a bad or- 
 ganization of the army, which tended to make his 
 lieutenants isolate themselves, and be guilty of 
 acts importing bad military brotherhood. Moreau 
 erred in character, as we have before observed 
 several times, and as we shall too often have to 
 repeat. We would there were a veil to hide from 
 us, and as well conceal from others, the sad sequel 
 time discloses ; and that we might be permitted 
 to enjoy, without any thing to make the feeling 
 painful, the noble and prudent achievements of 
 the soldier, whose heart jealousy and exile had not 
 yet altered. 
 
 We must now transport ourselves to a different 
 theatre, to witness a scene of a very different kind. 
 Providence, that is exuberant in contrasts, will 
 there exhibit another mind, a different character, 
 and a different fortune; and, for the honour of 
 France, soldiers still the same, that is to say, always 
 intelligent, devoted, and intrepid.
 
 1800. 
 May. 
 
 The first consul impatient to march. 
 — Massena's distress. — Ott's bra- 
 vado revenged. 
 
 MARENGO. 
 
 Disastrous sally of the garrison 
 of Genoa. 
 
 85 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 MARENGO. 
 
 THE FIRST CONSUL IMPATIENT FOR NEWS FROM GERMANY. — RECEIVES INTELLIGENCE OF MOREAU's SUCCESS, AND 
 RESOLVES TO DEPART FOR ITALY. — EXTREME SUFFERINGS OF THE GARRISON OF GENOA. — MASSENA'S FORTI- 
 TUDE. — THE FIRST CONSUL nASTENS TO HIS I1ELIEF, AND EXECUTES HIS GRAND DESIGN OF CROSSING THE 
 HIGH ALPS. — BONAPARTE SETS OUT AND MAKES A FEINT OF APPEARING AT DIJON, ARRIVES AT MARTIGNY, IN 
 THE VALAIS. — CHOOSES ST. BERNARD TO PASS OVER THE ALPINE CHAIN. — .MEANS ADOPTED FOR TRANSPORTING 
 ARTILLKRY, AMMUNITION, PROVISIONS, AND MATERIEL OF THE ARMY. — COMMENCEMENT OF THE PASSAGE. — 
 THE GREAT DIFFICULTIES SURMOUNTED BY THE SPIRIT OF THE TROOPS. — UNFORESEEN OBSTACLE IN THE FORT DU 
 BARD. — SURPRISE AND GRIEF OF THE ARMY AT THE SIGHT OF THE FORT. — THOUGHT AT FIRST TO BE IMPREG- 
 NABLE. — THE INFANTRY AND CAVALRY MAKE A CIRCUIT, AND AVOID THE OBSTACLE. — THE ARTILLERY DRAWN 
 BY BAND UNDER THE FIRE OF THE FORT. — IVREA TAKEN, AND THE ARMY ARRAYED IN THE PLAINS OF PIED 
 MONT BEFORE THE AUSTRIANS ARE AWARE OF ITS EXISTENCE OR MARCH. — PASSAGE SIMULTANEOUSLY OF THE 
 ST. GOTHARD BY THE DETACHMENT 1'RoM GERMANY - . — PLAN OF BONAPARTE WHEN DESCENDED INTO LOMBARDY. 
 — HE DETERMINES TO PROCEED TO MILAN, TO r.ALLY ME TROOPS FROM GERMANY, AND ENVELOPE MELAS. — 
 THE LONG ILLUSIONS OF MELAS DESTROYED AT A SINGLE BLOW. — MORTIFICATION OF THE OLD GENERAL. — 
 ISSUES ORDERS FOR EVACUATING THE BANKS OF THE TAB AND THE ENVIRONS OF GENOA. — LAST EXTREMITY 
 OF MASSES A. — ABSOLUTE IMPOSSIBILITY OF SUPPORTING LONGER THE SOLDIERS AND PEOPLE OF GENOA: HE IS 
 PORCED TO SURRENDER. — HONOURABLE CAPITULATION. — THE AUSTRIANS, GENOA BEING TAKEN, CONCENTRATE 
 IN PIEDMONT. — IMPORTANCE OF THE ROAD FROM ALEXANDRIA TO PIACENZA. —EAGERNESS OF THE HOSTILE 
 ARMIES TO OCCUPY PIACENZA. — THE FRENCH ARRIVE THERE FIRST. — POSITION OF LA STRADF.LLA CHOSEN BY 
 THE FIRST CONSUL FOR ENVELOPING MELAS. — HALT IN THAT POSITION FOR SOME DAY'S. — BELIEVING THAT THE 
 AUSTRIANS HAVE ESCAPED, THE FIRST CONSUL GOES TO FIND THEM, AND ENCOUNTERS THEM UNEXPECTEDLY' 
 IN THE PLAIN OE MARENGO.— BATTLE OF MAI'.ENGO LOST AND GAINED. — HATPY IMPULSE OP DESSAIX, AND 
 DEATH. — REGRET OF THE FIRST CONSUL. — DESPAIR OF THE AUSTRIANS, AND CONVENTION OF ALEXANDRIA, BY 
 WHICH ALL ITALY AND ITS FORTRESSES ARE DELIVERED OVER TO THE FRENCH ARMY'. — THE FIRST CONSUL 
 REMAINS SOME DAYS AT MILAN, TO REGULATE AFFAIRS. — CONCLAVE AT VENICE, AND ELEVATION OF PIUS VII. 
 TO THE FATAL CHAIR. — RETURN OF THE FIRST CONSUL TO PARIS. — ENTHUSIASM EXCITED BY HIS PRESENCE. — 
 SEQUEL OF OPERATIONS ON THE DANUBE. — PASSAGE OF THE RIVER BELOW ULM. — VICTORY OF HOCHSTF.DT. — 
 MOREAU CONQUERS ALL BAVARIA AS FAR AS THE INN. — ARMISTICE IN GERMANY AS WELL AS IN ITALY. — 
 COMMENCEMENT OF NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE. — ST. JULIEN SENT BY THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY TO PARIS. — 
 FETE OF THE 14TH OF JULY AT THE INVALIDES. 
 
 Tut: first consul waited only for news of the suc- 
 cess of the army of the Rhine, in order to descend 
 into the plains of Italy; for, unless Morean were 
 fortunate, he would not he able to spare the de- 
 tachment of his troops ; besides, Kray was not so 
 far separated from Me'las, as to make it safe to 
 manoeuvre freely on the rear of the last. The 
 impatience of the first consul was great, being re- 
 Bolved to quit Paris, and take the command of the 
 army of reserve the moment he was certainly 
 assured of the success of the army of Morean. 
 Time pressed, Beeing that Masse'na, in Genoa, was 
 reduced to the mosl cruel suffering. We left him 
 there, contending against the whole Austrian force, 
 with an army worn out by fatigue, yet daily inflict- 
 ing considerable l"ss upon the enemy. On the 
 10th of May gem ml Ott indulged in an unseemly 
 bravado, informing Massena thai lie should fire his 
 guru lor over Suchet — a piece of 
 
 i utterly destitute of truth ; the gallant defender 
 of Genoa replied to some purpose, lie sallied 
 
 out of tie- city ill two Columns. The column on 
 the left, commanded by Soult, ascended the Bi- 
 , and turned tip- Monte-Ratti ; that under 
 Miollia attacked Mont.-. Haiti in front. The Aus- 
 trians, thus vigorously assailed, were precipitated 
 into the ravines, and lost that important position, 
 witli fifteen hundred men made prisoners. Mas- 
 se'na entered Genoa triumphant the same evening, 
 and the next morning wrote to genera] Ott, that In; 
 would fire his cannon for the victory of the pre- 
 
 ceding day ; an heroic revenge, worthy a great 
 soul. 
 
 This was the last of his successes : his soldiers 
 could scarcely sustain the weight of their arms, 
 they were so debilitated by famine. On the 13th 
 of May, or 23 1 Floreal, this energetic officer, yield- 
 ing to the advice of his generals, consented, in 
 spite of himself, to an operation, the result of which 
 was exceedingly disastrous. This was, to storm 
 the Monte-Creto, an important post, which it would. 
 no doubt, have been most desirable to take from 
 the Austrians, because they would, by this means, 
 be removed to a considerable distance from Genoa. 
 Unhappily, there was lint little chance of BUCCess 
 
 in such an undertaking. Masse'na, who had the 
 greatest confidence in his army, for he daily re- 
 quired and obtained from it the most strenuous 
 efforts, did not think it was capable of carry- 
 ing a position which the enemy could defend with 
 all his strength. He would have preferred an 
 
 expedition to l'orto Fino, along the coast, to seize 
 
 a considerable quantity of provisions, which were 
 known to be in that quarter, lie gave way, 
 
 however, contrary to his custom, and 00 the 
 morning Of the 13th inarched upon the Monte 
 
 Creto. The battle at first was brilliant : but, un- 
 fortunately, a violent storm, which lasted for some 
 hours, broke down the strength of the soldiers. 
 The enemy had concentrated upon this point a large 
 
 body of troops, and drove back the I n inch, who 
 were dying Ox fatigue and hunger, into the valleys.
 
 Soult a prisoner.— The Genoese The first consul prepares to IRfm 
 
 86 women riotous.-Massena'sex- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. march.— His address to 
 ertions to procure subsistence. the legislative bodies. 
 
 May. 
 
 Soult, making it a point of honour to succeed in an 
 expedition which he had advised, rallied the third 
 denti-brigade, and led it back against the enemy. 
 He had, perhaps, been successful, but a ball, having 
 fractured his leg, extended him on the field. His 
 men would have carried him off, but they had not 
 time. Thus the general, who had so well seconded 
 Masse'na throughout the whole siege, was left in 
 the hands of the enemy. 
 
 The troops entered Genoa witli deep mortifica- 
 tion, bringing in some prisoners. While they were 
 absent, the women in the city had become riotous. 
 These unhappy creatures, driven by want, ran 
 through the streets, ringing bells and calling for 
 bread. They were very quickly dispersed ; but 
 the French commander whs thenceforward almost 
 wholly occupied in providing support for the popu- 
 lation of Genoa, which showed, in all other respects, 
 the most devoted conduct. There had been corn 
 procured, as already said, for a fortnight at first, 
 and afterwards for a second term of the same 
 length. After this a vessel brought in enough to 
 last for five days : thus supplies had been obtained 
 for more than a month. Blockaded from the 5th 
 of April, these resources had lasted to the 10th of 
 May. Seeing the provisions diminish, the daily 
 rations had been reduced both to the military and to 
 the inhabitants. Soup made with herbs and a little 
 meat still left in the city, were substituted for bread. 
 The richer inhabitants found means to supply them- 
 selves with victuals at an enormous price, out of 
 those which had escaped the search of the police 
 for the purpose of applying them to the general 
 use. Thus Massena had only to trouble himself 
 about the poor, by whom the famine was severely 
 felt. He had imposed a contribution upon the rich 
 in their behalf, and had thus won the hearts of the 
 poor to the French side. The majority of the 
 population, dreading the Austrians, and the political 
 system of which they were the supporters, deter- 
 mined to second Masse'na in this emergency. Struck 
 with the energy of his character, their obedience 
 to him was equal to their resignation. Still the 
 aristocratieal party endeavoured, by every possible 
 means, to embarrass and annoy him, by making 
 tools of some hungry wretches for that purpose. 
 To overawe them, he made his troops pass the 
 night in the principal streets at their guns, with 
 matches lighted. But the bread on which they still 
 supported themselves, made of oats, beans, and any 
 grain that could be procured, was very nearly 
 exhausted ; of meat, too, the city was as near 
 being destitute. On the 20th of May there would 
 be only such things as it would be almost impossible 
 to use for human sustenance. It was therefore 
 necessary to relieve the place before the 20th of 
 May, unless Massena and his whole army were 
 allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy, when 
 Me'las would thus bo able to dispose of thirty thou- 
 sand men more, who might return into Piedmont, 
 and block up the passages of the Alps. 
 
 The aid-de-camp Franceschi, who had gone to 
 state to the government the position of the garri- 
 son, had succeeded by boldness and address in 
 passing through the Austrians and the English, 
 and he had communicated to the first consul the 
 deplorable situation of the city. The first consul, 
 in consequence, neglected nothing to put the army 
 of reserve in a state to cross the Alps. It was for 
 
 this end he had sent Carnot to Germany with the 
 formal order of the consuls, to send the detach- 
 ment forward which was to pass over Mount 
 St. Gothard. For himself, he laboured night and 
 day with Berthier, who organized the divisions of 
 cavalry and infantry, with Gassendi and Marmont, 
 who organized the artillery, and witli Marescot, 
 who was busy reconnoitring along the whole line 
 of the Alps. He urged them all forward with that 
 power of persuasion which enabled him to lead the 
 French from the banks of the Po to those of the 
 Jordan, and from the banks of the Jordan to those 
 of the Danube and Borysthenes. He did not mean 
 to quit Paris until the last moment, being unwill- 
 ing to relinquish the political government of France 
 longer than he could help, and thus leave free quar- 
 ters for intriguers and plotters. In the mean time 
 the divisional troops from La Vendee, Brilany, 
 Paris, and the banks of the Rhone, were traversing 
 the whole extent of the republican territory. Al- 
 ready the heads of the columns had made their 
 appearance in Switzerland. There were always at 
 Dijon, the depots of different corps, certain con- 
 scripts and volunteers, who had been sent there to 
 spread abroad the opinion, that the army of Dijon 
 was a mere fable, solely destined to alarm Me'las. 
 Thus far, then, all had succeeded to admiration — 
 the delusion of the Austrians was complete. The 
 movement of the troops towards Switzerland was 
 scarcely noticed. In consequence of these troops 
 being widely dispersed, they passed for no more 
 than reinforcements intended for the army of 
 Germany. 
 
 At length every thing was ready, and the first 
 consul made his final arrangements. He received 
 a message from the senate, the tribunate, and the 
 legislative body, conveying to him the wishes of the 
 nation, that he might soon return as " conqueror and 
 peace-maker." He replied to them with studied 
 solemnity. His reply was intended to agree with 
 the articles in the Moniteur, proving that his 
 journey, about which so much parade was made, 
 like the army of reserve, was a feint, and nothing 
 better. He charged Cambaceres, the consul, to 
 preside in his place over the council of state, which 
 was at that time in a good measure the entire 
 government. Lebrun was commissioned to super- 
 intend the administration of the finances. He said 
 to each of them : " Be firm; if any event happens, 
 be not troubled. I will come back like lightning, 
 to crush the audacious persons who shall dare to 
 lay their hands upon the government." He par- 
 ticularly charged his brothers, who were bound to 
 him by a more personal interest, to make known 
 every thing to him, and to give him the signal to 
 return, should his presence be required. While 
 he was thus publishing his departure with so much 
 ostentation, the consuls and ministers, on the con- 
 trary, were to let the newsmongers know that the 
 first consul had quitted Paris for some days, merely 
 to review the troops ready to take the field. 
 
 He himself set off, full of hope and highly satis- 
 fied. His army contained a good many conscripts, 
 but it contained soldiers inured to war in a far 
 greater number, accustomed to conquer, and com- 
 manded by officers formed in his own school. He 
 had also, in the deep conception of his plan, a full 
 and entire reliance. 
 
 According to the latest information, Me'las ob-
 
 1800. 
 May. 
 
 Bonaparte's confidence. — Feint at Dijon. 
 — Interview with Marescot. — Why St. 
 Bernard preferred as the route. 
 
 Preparations for the march. — Dis- 
 MARENGO. position of the anuy. — Nature 
 
 of the country. 
 
 87 
 
 stinately continued to push his troops deeper into 
 Liguria, half towards Genoa, the other half towards 
 the Var. The first consul at this moment doubted 
 less than ever the success of his enterprise; already 
 seeing, in his ardent imagination, the very place 
 where he should meet and destroy the Austrian 
 armv. One day, before he set out, laying open his 
 maps, and placing upon them marks of different J 
 colours, *.o represent the positions of the French 
 and Austrian corps, he said, in the presence of his 
 secretary, who heard him with curiosity and sur- 
 prise, " That poor Me'las will pass by Turin — will 
 fall back upon Alexandria : I shall pass the Po — ' 
 encounter him on the road to Piacenza, in the j 
 plains of the Scrivia, and I shall beat him then — 
 there !" On saving this he placed one of his marks ; 
 on San-Giuliano. It will soon be easy to appre- 
 ciate what an extraordinary glance into futurity 
 prompted these words. 
 
 Bonaparte quitted Paris on the Cth of May before 
 daybreak, taking with him his aid-de-camp Duroc 
 and 'vis secretary Bourrienne. On arriving at 
 Dijon he passed the conscripts in review, assem- 
 bled there without stores, or any of the appoint- 
 ments necessary to take the field. After this, 
 which was only intended to confirm the spies in the 
 belief that the army of Dijon was no more than a 
 fiction, he proceeded to Geneva, and from thence 
 to Lausanne, where every thing bore a serious 
 aspect. There was sufficient to undeceive the most 
 incredulous there, but too late for the information 
 to be sent off and made available at Vienna. 
 
 On the 13th of May Bonaparte reviewed a part 
 of the troops, conferr ;ig with the officers, who 
 received orders to :.ieet him, in order to state 
 what they had dor. , and receive his final com- 
 mands. To general Marescot had been committed 
 the duty of reconnoitring the Alps, and the first 
 consul was most impatient to hear him. On a 
 comparison of all the passes, that of St. Bernard 
 was considered the moat favourable by this en- 
 . hut even here the operation he. 
 thought would be extremely difficult. "Difficult! 
 is it possible I" inquired Bonaparte. "I think so," 
 replied the general of engineers, " but with extra- 
 ordinary efforts." " Then let us start !" replied 
 the first eonsi'.li 
 
 It is proper to explain the motives which decided 
 the first consul in choosing the passage by Mount 
 St. Bernard. The St. Gothard pass was reserved 
 for the troops that were on the march from Ger- 
 many, of which general Money had tin: command. 
 This passage lay in their way, and was only capable 
 of furnishing subsistence at most lor fifteen thou- 
 sand men, beCSUSe the higher Swiss valleys had 
 been entirely ruined by the' presence of belligerent, 
 
 armies. The | of the Simplon,of the Great 
 
 St. Bernard, ami of Mount Cenis ware left, hut 
 
 tie -■■ were not, as in the- present time, crossed bj 
 high roads. It was necessary to dismount the 
 
 can ia- - at the foot of tin; mountain, and to send 
 
 Ibem forward upon sis Iges, r* mounting them on 
 the other side. These passa ated all three 
 
 nearly the same difficulties. .Mount Cenis, being 
 more- frequently a ■ I and the track better, 
 
 beaten than on the others, was perhaps the mo I 
 
 easy of access of all three; hot then the road by 
 that mountain opened upon Turin, in the midst 
 of the Austrians, and consequently was not well 
 
 adapted to the plan for enveloping them. The 
 Simplon, on the other hand, was the furthest of the 
 three from the point of departure, presenting re- 
 verse inconveniences : it opened, it is true, the 
 road to Milan, in a fine, rich country, far from the 
 Austrians, — in fact, quite in their rear ; but the 
 distances were too great ; and even to yet to it the 
 assent of the whole Valais would have been neces- 
 sary, together with conveyances for the stores of 
 the army, none of which could be obtained. Amid 
 solate and ice-covered valleys to be travelled 
 every individual must carry his own baggage, and 
 a score of leagues more to march was a matter of 
 great consideration. In regard to the passage by 
 the St. Bernard, there was only the distance to 
 pass from Villeneuve to Martigny, or from the ex- 
 treme end of the lake of Geneva, the point where 
 navigation ceases, to the foot of the mountain. The 
 distance across was very small. The St. Bernard 
 road, besides, opened into the valley of Aoata upon 
 Ivre'a, between the roads of Turin and Milan, in a 
 very favourable direction for coming upon the 
 Austrians. More difficult, and perhaps more dan- 
 gerous, it deserved the preference on account of 
 the shortness of the passage. 
 
 The first consul determined therefore to lead 
 the main body of his army over the St. Bernard. 
 He took with him the best men of the army of 
 reserve, in all, about forty thousand, five thou- 
 sand being cavalry and thirty-five thousand ar- 
 tillery and infantry. Wishing, at the same time, 
 to distract the attention of the Austrians, he con- 
 ceived the idea of sending some detachments 
 through other passes, that could not be connected 
 with the main body of his army. Not a great way 
 from the Great St. Bernard is the passage of the 
 Little St. Bernard, which opens also into the valley 
 of Aosta from the heights of Savoy. The first 
 consul directed the 70th demi-brigade to proceed 
 by that pass, and some battalions from the west, 
 consisting principally of conscripts, all under the 
 command of general Chabran. This division mus- 
 tered five or six thousand men, and at Ivre'a it was 
 to rejoin the principal column. Lastly, general 
 Thureau, who with four thousand men defended 
 the pass of Mount Cenis, had orders to attempt to 
 penetrate to Turin. Thus the French army was to 
 descend from the Alps by four passes at one time, 
 by the St. Gothard, the Great and Little St. Ber- 
 nard, and .Mount Cenis. The principal body, forty 
 thousand Btrong, acting in the centre of this semi- 
 circle, was certain of being joined by the fifteen 
 thousand men coming from Germany, as well as by 
 the troops of general Chabran, and perhaps those 
 of general Thureau, which would compose a total 
 force of about sixty-live thousand nun, — a force 
 that would not fail to disconcert the enemy, who 
 
 could not know, from the appearance of all these 
 corps, on what point to direct his means of re- 
 sistance. 
 
 The choice of the passes Over the mountains 
 being fixed upon, it became necessary to attend to 
 the operation itself — an operation which consisted 
 in throwing sixty thousand men with all their ap- 
 pointments, to the other side of tie- Alps, destitute 
 
 ol beaten paths, over forks ami glacil TO, at the worst 
 n of the year — on the thawing of the snows. 
 1 1 is never a pleasant thing to have a park of artil- 
 lery to drag along, since every gun requires several
 
 Great difficulties to be en- The monks of Great St. Ber- *". snn 
 
 88 countered. - Means of THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. nard.-Review of the army """• 
 
 conveying the materiel. at the foot of the mountain. •""*/• 
 
 waggons after it ; thus, for sixty pieces three hun- 
 dred waggons were required : but in those high 
 valleys, many of them sterile from the reign of an 
 eternal winter, others scarcely extensive enough to 
 furnish the means of livelihood to their scanty in- 
 habitants, it is necessary to carry the bread for 
 the troops, as well as the forage for the horses. 
 The difficulty therefore was enormous. From 
 Geneva to Villeneuve all was easy, thanks to Lake 
 Leman and a navigation of eighteen leagues equally 
 speedy and commodious. But from Villeneuve, the 
 extremity of the lake to Ivre'a, the opening by 
 which the rich plains of Piedmont are entered, 
 there are forty-five leagues to pass over, of which 
 ten are over the rocks and glaciers of the great 
 chain. The route to Martigny, and from Martigny 
 to St. Pierre, was good for carriages. At St. Pierre 
 they would begin to ascend paths covered with 
 snow, and bordered by precipices scarcely more 
 than two or three feet, wide, exposed in noon-day 
 heat to the fall of frightful avalanches. There was 
 nearly ten leagues to be travelled over these paths, 
 to arrive on the other side of the St. Bernard, at 
 the village of St. Remy, in the valley of Aosta, 
 where a road practicable for carriages would be 
 found, leading through Aosta, Chatillon, Bard, and 
 Ivrea, to the plain of Piedmont. Of all these 
 points there was but one supposed likely to offer 
 a difficulty — it was Bard, where it was said there 
 was a fort of which some Italian officers had been 
 heard to speak, but which was not supposed ca- 
 pable of offering any serious obstacle. There were 
 then, as we have said, forty-four leagues to be passed 
 over, the troops carrying every thing with them, 
 from the lake of Geneva to the plain of Piedmont, 
 and of these forty-five leagues, ten were destitute 
 of roads, and not practicable for carriages. 
 
 The following were the dispositions made by the 
 first consul for the transport of the materiel of the 
 army, and carried into effect by generals Marmont, 
 Marescot, and Gassendi. Immense stores of 
 grain, biscuit, and oats, had been sent to Ville- 
 neuve, by the lake of Geneva. Bonaparte, well 
 knowing that for money the assistance of the hardy 
 mountaineers of the Alps might be easily obtained, 
 had sent to the spot a considerable sum in specie. 
 All the chars-a-banc of the country, all the mules, 
 had been drawn at a high price to the spot, but 
 only during the last days. By these means bread, 
 biscuit, forage, wine, and brandy, had been conveyed 
 from Villeneuve to Martigny, and from thence to 
 St. Pierre, at the foot of the pass. A sufficient 
 quantity of live cattle had also been conducted 
 thither, and the artillery with its waggons. A com- 
 pany of workmen, established at the foot of the pass 
 of St. Pierre, was employed in dismounting the guns, 
 and taking the carriages themselves to pieces, that 
 they might be carried by mules, the pieces being 
 marked with numbers. The guns, separated from 
 their carriages, were placed upon a species of sledge 
 with low wheels, previously prepared for the purpi ise 
 at Auxonne. For the convenient carriage of the am- 
 irmnition of the infantry and artillery, there had 
 been provided a great number of small boxes, easily 
 placed upon mules, for the purpose of transporta- 
 tion by the beasts of burden used in that country, 
 in the same way as the other articles were to be 
 conveyed. A second company of workmen, pro- 
 vided with camp forges, was to pass the mountains 
 
 with the first division, and establish itself in the 
 village of St. Remy, where the beaten track on the 
 route began again. There the guns and carriages 
 were to be re-united. Such was the enormous task 
 that had been undertaken. There had been united 
 to the army a ponton company, who, though destitute 
 of materials for the construction of bridges, were 
 ready to avail themselves of such as might be 
 obtained from the enemy in Italy. 
 
 The first consul had besides taken care to obtain 
 the assistance of the monks resident in the hospital 
 of the Great St. Bernard. It is well known that 
 this pious cenobitical community had been es- 
 tablished for ages in that fearful solitude, above 
 the habitable region of the earth, in order to give 
 their aid to travellers overtaken by storms or 
 buried in the snow. The first consul, at the latest 
 moment, had sent them a sum of money, in order 
 that they might collect together a large quantity of 
 bread, cheese, and wine. A hospital was got 
 ready at St. Pierre, close to the foot of the pass, 
 and another on the reverse side of the mountain, 
 at St. Remy. These two hospitals were to receive 
 and forward the sick or wounded, if there should 
 happen to be any, to larger hospitals at Martigny 
 and Villeneuve. 
 
 These arrangements being completed, the troops 
 began to make their appearance. Bonaparte placed 
 himself at Lausanne, to inspect the men ; he spoke 
 to them, infused into them a portion of the ardent 
 spirit which animated himself, and prepared them 
 for that immortal enterprise which will be ranked 
 in history with that of the grand expedition by 
 Hannibal. He had taken care to appoint two 
 inspections, the first at Lausanne, the second at 
 Villeneuve. There every soldier of the infantry 
 and cavalry was passed in review, and by means of 
 magazines temporarily formed in those places, they 
 were furnished with such clothing, shoes, and 
 arms, as were required. This was a good pre- 
 caution ; because, in spite of the trouble he had 
 already taken, the first consul often saw old soldiers 
 arrive, whose clothes were worn out, and their 
 arms unfit for service. He made heavy complaints 
 upon this head, and caused the omissions, arising 
 from the haste or negligence of the agents, always 
 to a certain extent inevitable, to be supplied. He 
 carried his foresight to such an extent, that he 
 placed saddlers' workshops at the foot of the pass 
 to repair the artillery harness. He himself wrote 
 letters upon a subject apparently of such small 
 moment : the incident being mentioned here for 
 the instruction of those generals and governments 
 to whom men's lives are confided, and who often, 
 from idleness or vanity, neglect similar details. 
 Nothing that can contribute to the success of the 
 operations or the safety of the soldiers is beneath 
 the genius or rank of officers who command. 
 
 The divisions marched in echelon from the Jura 
 to the foot of Mount St. Bernard, in order to avoid 
 embarrassment. The first consul was at Martigny 
 in a convent of Bernardins. From thence he 
 directed every thing, and continued in constant 
 correspondence with Paris and with all the armies 
 of the republic. He received intelligence from 
 Liguria, by which he found that Me'las, always 
 under the greatest illusions, directed all his efforts 
 to take Genoa, and force the bridge of the Var. 
 Well satisfied upon this important subject, he gave
 
 1800. 
 May. 
 
 Lannes passes the mountain 
 without accident.— Passage 
 of other divisions. 
 
 MARENGO. 
 
 Their manner of proceeding. 
 Zeal of the soldiers. 
 
 80 
 
 orders at last for the passage to begin. He himself 
 remained upon this side of the St. Bernard, in 
 order to correspond as long as possible with the 
 government, and to expedite every thing himself 
 across the mountain. Berthier, on the other hand, 
 proceeded to the opposite side of Mount St. Ber- 
 nard, to receive the provision and mat&rid which 
 were sent over. 
 
 Lannes went first at the head of the advance- 
 guard, in the night between the 14th and 15th of 
 May, or 24th and 25th of Floreal. He commanded 
 six regiments of chosen men, that, perfectly armed, 
 gaily set out on their adventurous march under 
 their fiery leader, who was sometimes insubordinate, 
 but always valiant and able. They set out between 
 midnight and two in the morning, in order to pass 
 before the time when the sun's heat dissolving the 
 snow brings down mountains of ice on the heads of 
 the rash travellers who enter among these frightful 
 gorges. It required eight hours to reach the 
 summit of the pass as far as the hospital of St. 
 Bernard, but only two to descend to St. Remy. 
 There was time enough, therefore, to escape the 
 greatest danger. The troops surmounted with 
 spirit all the difficulties of the road. They were 
 heavily laden, being obliged to carry biscuit for 
 some days, and in addition a large quantity of 
 cartridges. They climbed the steep rocks, singing 
 amid the precipices, dreaming of the conquest of 
 Italy, where they had so often tasted the pleasures 
 of victory, and having a noble presentiment of the 
 immortal glory they were on the point of acquiring. 
 For the infantry the toil was not so great as for 
 tli. - cavalry. These last walked, leading their 
 horses by the bridle. In ascending there was no 
 danger ; but in the descent, the path being very 
 narrow, they were obliged to go before their horses, 
 and thus, if the animal made a false step, they were 
 exposed to be dragged with him down the preci- 
 pices. There were a few accidents of this kind, 
 but very few ; some horses were lost, but scarcely 
 any of the men. Towards the morning they reached 
 the hospital, and there a surprise, provided by the 
 first consul, renewed the strength and good temper 
 of the soldiers. The monks, furnished before with 
 the necessary provisions, had prepared tables, and 
 served out to every soldier a ration of bread, 
 •, and wine. After a momentary rest tiny 
 proceeded on their route, reaching St. Remy with- 
 out any disagreeable accident. Lannes instantly 
 established himself at the foot of the mountains, 
 and made all the needful disposition for the recep- 
 tion of the other divisions, and more particularly 
 for tin- munitions and stores. , 
 
 Ever day one of the divisions of the army passed 
 over ; an operation which occupied many days, be- 
 cause "I the matirid which it was necessary to take 
 OTer «ith each division. While the troops were 
 ascending in succession, others were set at work. 
 The provisions and ammunition were first sent off; 
 as this part of what was to pass could be divided 
 and placed in boxes upon mules, the difficulty was 
 not so great as lor some other tilings. Then there 
 was not a sufficiency of the means of conveyance ; 
 
 for, notwithstanding the money prodigally expended, 
 
 the mules required for the conveyance of the 
 enormous weights to he transported over, could not 
 he procured in a sufficient number. Still the pro- 
 visions and ammunition having crossed along with 
 
 the divisions, by the help of the soldiers, the 
 artillery was the last to occupy attention. The 
 gun-carriages, taken to pieces, as already said, were 
 placed on the backs of mules. The guns them- 
 selves remained, and their weight could not be 
 lessened by dividing the burden. With the twelve- 
 pounders and the howitzers the difficulty was still 
 greater than had been imagined. The sledges, 
 constructed partly upon wheels, could not be used. 
 A mode was thought of, and directly adopted on 
 being found to answer. It consisted in splitting the 
 trunks of fir-trees in two, hollowing them out, and 
 encasing between every two demi-trunks a single 
 gun, which might, thus encased, be drawn along the 
 ravines. By this means the gun was secured from 
 harm ; no shock could injure it. Mules were 
 harnessed to this odd burden, and thus drew 
 several pieces to the summit of the pass. But the 
 descent was more difficult, and could only be 
 effected by strength of arm, running at the same 
 time great danger, because it was necessary to hold 
 the gun back, that it might not fall over the pre- 
 cipices. Unfortunately the mules began to get 
 weak, and the muleteers, of whom a large number 
 were required, became equally exhausted. Other 
 means were then had recourse to. The peasants 
 were offered a thousand francs for every gun 
 which they would agree to draw from St. Pierre to 
 St. Remy. It required a hundred men to every 
 gun ; one day to draw it up, and another to make it 
 descend. Some hundreds of the peasantry came 
 forward and transported several pieces of cannon 
 across, directed by the artillerymen; but even the 
 stimulus of gain was not powerful enough to make 
 them renew their labour. They all disappeared ; 
 and notwithstanding officers were sent in search of 
 them, and large offers of money made to induce 
 them to return, it was in vain. It was then found 
 necessary to request of the soldiers themselves to 
 drag the artillery of the divisions. From such 
 devoted men any thing was obtainable. In order to 
 encourage them, they were promised the money 
 which the disheartened peasantry declined to earn ; 
 but they refused it, saying it was the duty of the 
 troops to save their guns, and they took hold of the 
 forsaken pieces. Bodies of a hundred men came 
 successively out of the ranks, and each dragged 
 them in turn. The music struck up animating 
 airs in the most difficult passes, and encouraged 
 them in surmounting obstacles of such a novel 
 nature. On arriving at the summit of the moun- 
 tain, they found refreshments prepared for them by 
 the monks of St. Bernard, and took rest, before com- 
 mencing the descent which required their greatest 
 and most perilous efforts. Thus it was that 
 ( lhambarlhac'e and Mourner's division dragged their 
 artillery themselves; and as the day was too far ad- 
 vanced to permit them to descend, they preferred 
 to pass the night in the snow, rather than separate 
 themselves from their cannon. Happily the sky 
 was serene, and they had not to sustain besides that 
 of the place, the additional rigor of bad weather. 
 
 During the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th of May, 
 
 the divisions continued to cross with provisions, 
 
 ammunition, and artillery. The first consul, still 
 
 stationed at Martigny, pushed on the convevaiu f 
 
 the matiriel, which was received by Berthier on 
 the other side of St. Bernard, and put in order by 
 
 the workmen. The lirst consul, whose foresight
 
 Their progress stopped by the 
 90 fort of Bard, found to be 
 impregnable. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The news transmitted to 
 the first consul. — His 
 energetic reply. 
 
 1800. 
 May. 
 
 never rested, thought immediately of pushing 
 forward Lannes towards the opening from the 
 plain, in order to secure it ; his division being 
 united, and having some four-pounders all ready to 
 move. He ordered that officer to advance as far 
 Ivre'a, and to take that town in order to secure 
 the entrance into the plain of Piedmont. Lannes 
 moved on the lu'th and 17tli of May, upon Aosta, 
 where lie found some Croats, whom he drove into 
 the bottom of the valley, after which lie marched 
 towards the little town of Chatillon, where he 
 arrived on the 18th. A battalion of the enemy, 
 which he found there, was routed, and lost a 
 number of men, who were made prisoners. Lannes 
 then entered the valley, which, as the troops de- 
 scended, enlarged considerably, and exhibited to 
 the delighted eyes of our soldiers, habitations, trees, 
 and cultivated fields, all the forerunners of Italian 
 fertility. These brave fellows marched along in 
 high spirits, when the valley, again becoming 
 narrower, presented a contracted gorge, closed in 
 by a fort bristling with cannon. This was the fort 
 of Bard, already mentioned as an obstacle by 
 several Italian officers, but still as an obstacle that 
 might be overcome. The engineer officers attached 
 to the advance-guard went forward, reconnoitred 
 the place, and, after a short examination, declared 
 that it completely obstructed the road through the 
 valley, which could not be passed without forcing 
 it, a task that seemed impossible to execute. 
 The intelligence circulated through the division 
 caused a painful surprise. The nature of this un- 
 foreseen obstacle was as follows : 
 
 A river flows through the valley of Aosta, which 
 receives all the waters of the St. Bernard, and 
 under the name of the Dora Baltea falls into the 
 Po. In approaching Bard the valley becomes 
 more narrow; the road running along between the 
 foot of the mountains and the bed of the river 
 gradually contracts, and a rock, which appears to 
 have fallen from the neighbouring heights into the 
 middle of the valley, closes it up almost entirely. 
 The river runs on one side of this rock, the road 
 passes on the other. This road, lined with houses, 
 constitutes the whole town of Bard. On the sum- 
 mit of the rock a fort, impregnable from its posi- 
 tion, although badly constructed, commands with 
 its fire, on the right the course of the Dora Baltea, 
 and on the left the long street which forms the little 
 town of Bard. Drawbridges close the entrance 
 and the outlet of this solitary street. A garrison, 
 not numerous, but well commanded, occupied the 
 fort. 
 
 Lannes, who was not a man to be thus stopped, 
 immediately sent a few companies of grenadiers, who 
 let fall the drawbridge, and entered the town in spite 
 of a brisk fire. The commandant of the fort then 
 poured a shower of balls, and particularly shells, 
 upon the unfortunate town; but at last stopped, out 
 of consideration for the inhabitants. Lannes sta- 
 tioned his division outside the place. It was clearly 
 evident, that under the fire of the fort it would be 
 impossible to pass the materiel of the army, as its 
 fire swept the road in all directions. Lannes in- 
 stantly made his report to Berthier of the circum- 
 stance, and the latter hastened to the spot, and saw 
 with apprehension how difficult the object thus 
 suddenly disclosed would be to overcome. General 
 Marescot was sent for; he examined the fort, and at 
 
 once pronounced it to be impregnable, not on ac- 
 count of its construction, which was very indiffer- 
 ent, but from its being wholly insulated. The 
 steepness of the rock almost forbade an escalade, 
 ami the walls, although not covered by earth-works, 
 could not be battered in breach, because there was 
 no means of establishing a battery in a place where 
 the guns could be effective. Still it was possible to 
 haul by main strength a few guns of small weight 
 of metal upon a neighbouring height, and orders 
 were given by Berthier to that effect. The soldiers, 
 who were made for difficult enterprises, laboured 
 hard to haul up two four and two eight-pounders. 
 They succeeded at last in getting them on the 
 mountain of Albaredo, which commands the rock 
 and fort of Bard, and a downward fire suddenly 
 opened, and caused great surprise in the garrison. 
 Still it was not discouraged; it replied, and dis- 
 mounted one of our guns which was of small weight 
 of metal. 
 
 Marescot declared he had no hope of taking the 
 fort, and that it would be necessary to find some 
 other mode of overcoming the obstacle. The long 
 sinuosities of the mountain of Albaredo on the left 
 were reconnoitred, and at last a path was found, 
 which having many difficulties, much more than 
 the St. Bernard itself presented, led to the high road 
 of the valley, which it rejoined at St. Donaz below 
 the fort. After traversing a mountain of the 
 secondary order as difficult to pass as the St. Ber- 
 nard, if it should be required to perform the opera- 
 tions a second time, which the army had gone 
 through on Mount St. Bernard, by again dismounting 
 and remounting the artillery, and dragging it along 
 with the same efforts, the strength of the army 
 might not be adequate to the performance, and this 
 mattriel itself, so many times taken to pieces and put 
 together again, might be rendered unserviceable. 
 Berthier, in a state of alarm, immediately issued 
 counter-orders to the columns, which were arriving 
 in succession, to suspend the forward movements 
 every where, both of troops and stores, in case of 
 its being ultimately necessary to return. The alarm 
 immediately spread over the rear, and all believed 
 that they were stopped in their glorious enterprise. 
 Berthier sent off' several couriers to the first con- 
 sul, to make known to him their unforeseen disap- 
 pointment. 
 
 The first consul was still at Martigny, not having 
 an intention of crossing the St. Bernard, until he 
 had himself seen the last of the stores belonging 
 to the expedition sent forward. The announce- 
 ment of an obstacle deemed insurmountable stag- 
 gered him at first ; but soon recovering himself, he 
 refused, in the most determined manner, to admit 
 the thought of a retrograde movement. Nothing 
 upon earth should make him submit to such an 
 extremity. He thought that if one of the highest 
 mountains on the globe had not arrested his design, 
 a secondary rock could not overcome his genius 
 and courage. " They will take the fort," he ob- 
 served, " by a bold dash ; or if not taken, they will 
 turn it. Besides, if the infantry and cavalry can 
 pass with a few four-pounder guns, they will pro- 
 ceed to Ivre'a, at the entrance towards the plains, 
 and halt there until the heavy artillery can follow 
 them.' If the heavy guns cannot pass free of the 
 obstacle thus presented, and if to replace them 
 that of the enemy must be captured, the French
 
 1800. 
 May. 
 
 He himself passes Mount St. 
 Bernard — His benevolent 
 act to his guide. 
 
 MARENGO. 
 
 He proceeds to examine the 
 fori of Bard. — Fruitless 
 attack. 
 
 01 
 
 infantry is both sufficiently bravo and numerous 
 to fall upon the Austrian artillery and supply 
 themselv' 
 
 Bonaparte then studied his maps anew, ques- 
 tioned ft great many Italian officers, and finding 
 from them that other roads led from Aosta to the 
 surrounding valleys, he wrote again and again to 
 Berthier, forbidding tlie interruption of the for- 
 ward movement of the army, and indicating to 
 him, with wonderful precision, the observations 
 necessary to be made around the fort of Bard ; 
 satisfied that no serious danger could arise except 
 from the arrival of a body of the enemy. To close 
 up the outlet at Ivrea, lie enjoined it upon Berthier 
 to send Lanues to Ivrea, by the way of Albaredo, 
 and to make him take una strong position, covered 
 from the Austrian artillery and cavalry. " If 
 Lannes," added the first consul, " will guard the 
 entrance of the valley, it little matt rs what may 
 happen; it can only be a small loss of time at most. 
 We have provisions in a sufficient quantity to allow 
 of waiting ; and we shall come round in the end, 
 either by turning or vanquishing the impediment 
 which delays us at this moment." 
 
 These instructions being sent to Berthier, he 
 addressed his last orders to general Moncey, who 
 was to cross by the St. Gothard ; to general Cha- 
 bran, who, taking the pass of the Little St. Bernard, 
 would come direct upon the fort of Bard, and then, 
 at last, he determined himself to cross the moun- 
 tain. Before he departed, he received news from 
 the Var,thaton the 14th of May, or 24th of Floreal, 
 Me'las was still at Nice. As it was now the 20th 
 of .May, it was not to be imagined that the Aus- 
 trian geueral could have hurried from Nice tolvre'a 
 in six days. lie therefore set out to cross the moun- 
 tains on the 20th, before daybreak. His aid-de-camp 
 Duroc, and his secretary Bourrienne, accompanied 
 him. The artists have painted him clearing the 
 Alpine mows upon a fiery charger. The truth is, that 
 he crossed the St. Bernard mounted upon a mule, 
 dressed in the grey groat-coat which he commonly 
 wore, couducted by a guide belonging to the coun- 
 try. Be exhibited, even in the most difficult passes, 
 the abstraction of a mind otherwise occupied; then 
 conversing with the officers on the road, then ques- 
 tioning his guide, and making him relate the his- 
 tory of his life, of his joys and troubles, just as an 
 idle traveller would do who had nothing better 
 with which to beguile the time. The guide, who 
 was young, gave him ■■< simple narrative of the 
 
 particulars of his obscure existence, ami, more 
 than all, of hi .. because, from want of the 
 
 small means, be was unable to marry one of the 
 girls of the valley. The first consul, listening at 
 one time, and at another questioning the passen- 
 gers with whom the mountain was eo\ i red, arrived 
 at the hospital, where the good monks gave him 
 a warm reception. Scarcely had he descended 
 from his mule, when he wrote a note, which he 
 gem to his guide, di siring him to be very careful 
 
 of its delivery to the quarter-master of tin- army, 
 who remained on the die r side of the St. Bernard. 
 In the evening, tie- young guide, on returning to 
 St. Pierre, discovered with surprise who the great 
 traveller was whom he hail escorted in the morn- 
 ing, and that, Bonaparte had ordered that a house 
 ami piece of ground should lie immediately given 
 to him, with the means of marrying and realizing 
 
 all the dreams of his modest ambition. This 
 mountaineer died recently in his own country, 
 proprietor of the land bestowed upon him by the 
 ruler of the world. This singular act of kindness, 
 at a moment when his mind was filled with such 
 weighty occupations, is worthy of remark. If it 
 were no more than the caprice of a conqueror, 
 flinging good and evil about at random, by turns 
 oversetting an empire or building a cottage, such 
 a caprice it may be useful to record, if only to 
 t' nipt the lords of the earth to imitate similar 
 actions : but actions such as this reveal something 
 besides. The heart of man in those moments, 
 when it experiences strong desires, tends to kind- 
 ness, doing gootl in the way of meriting that which 
 it solicits of Providence. 
 
 The first consul stayed a little time with the 
 monks, thanked them for their attentions to his 
 army, and made them a magnificent present towards 
 the relief of the poor and of travellers. 
 
 He descended the mountain rapidly, and following 
 the custom of the country, he suffered himself to 
 slide down over the snow. The same evening he 
 reached Etroubles. On the following day, after 
 having directed his attention for a short time to the 
 park of artillery and the stores of provisions, he 
 departed for Aosta and Bard. Having found that 
 all he had been told was correct, he determined to 
 send on his infantry, cavalry, and four-pounders, 
 by the way of Albaredo, which was possible, if the 
 path were made good. All the troops were to 
 march forward, and to take possession of the moun- 
 tain opening in advance of Ivre'a, the first consul in 
 the mean time intending to make an attempt to 
 take the fort, or find some means of turning it, by 
 getting his artillery over the neighbouring passes. 
 He ordered general Lecchi, at the head of the 
 Italians, to- mount on the left, and penetrate by the 
 way of Grassoney into the valley of the Sesia, 
 which terminates near the Simplon and Lago Mag- 
 giore. 
 
 The object of this movement was to keep open 
 the Simplon road, communicate with the detach- 
 ment which was descending from thence, and, 
 finally, to observe all the roads that were capable 
 of admitting carriages to pass over them. 
 
 The first consul then directed his attention to 
 the fort of Bard. The army was in possession 
 of the only street composing the town, hut they 
 must pass through it under such a shower of balls, 
 that there was scarcely any possibility of getting 
 along with artillery, though the distance was not 
 more than two or three hundred fathoms. The 
 Commander was summoned, but he firmly replied, 
 as fully sensible of the importance of his post, that 
 force alone should make the French masters of the 
 Tie' artillery, which had been placed upon 
 the mountain of Albaredo, produced no important 
 effect. An escalade was attempt) il on the outer- 
 work of the fort, but some bra\e grenadiers and 
 
 an excellent officer, Dufour, were uselessly killed or 
 
 wounded. At the same time the troops had I.e. u 
 moving forward o\ er the path on the Alliaredo. Fif- 
 teen hundred workmen having completed the most 
 UTgeill repairs, enlarged the places that were too 
 narrow, by removing hanks, diminishing the slopi s 
 that were too rapid, cutting slops for the teet, an i 
 in some places throwing the trunks of trees in the 
 way of bridges over ravines too difficult to cross
 
 They succeed in conveying the 
 92 artillery before the fort.- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 Ivrea carried by Lannes. 
 
 Engagement at Chiusella. 
 — The passage of the 
 Alps completed. 
 
 1800. 
 May. 
 
 without. The troops advanced in succession, one 
 after another, the cavalry leading their horses. The 
 Austrian officer commanding in the fort of Bard 
 began to despair at seeing the columns pass, without 
 power to stop their march, and wrote to Melas, that 
 he had seen a whole army, cavalry and infantry, 
 march on, without being able to obstruct them ; but 
 he would engage his head for it, that they would 
 arrive without a single piece of cannon. The artil- 
 lery, in the mean time, made the bold attempt to 
 take on a piece of cannon in the night, under the 
 fire of the fort. Unluckily, the enemy, discovering 
 by the noise what was passing, threw light-balls, 
 which made the road as visible as if it had been 
 noon-day, and enabled them to cover the ground 
 with a hail-shower of projectiles. Of thirteen gun- 
 ners, who were so adventurous as to draw the piece, 
 seven were killed or wounded. This was enough 
 to put out of heart the boldest men, until an inge- 
 nious mode, but still exceedingly dangerous, was 
 conceived. The street was covered with straw and 
 stable dung, and bands of tow were placed round 
 the gun in such a manner as to prevent the least 
 clash of the mass of metal upon the carriage. The 
 horses were detached, and bold artillerymen dragged 
 them by main strength, venturing to pass under the 
 batteries of the fort, along the street of Bard. The 
 plan perfectly succeeded. The enemy, who occa- 
 sionally fired in a precautional way, struck some of 
 the gunners ; but in no long time, in spite of the 
 fire, the heavy artillery was removed to the other 
 side of the defile, and this formidable difficult}', 
 which had caused the first consul more anxiety 
 than the passage of the St. Bernard itself, was thus 
 overcome. The artillery horses had been taken 
 round by the Albaredo path. 
 
 While this bold plan was in execution, Lannes, 
 marching in advance at the head of his infantry, 
 had, on the 22d of May, carried the town of Ivrea, 
 that had not been repaired since the wars of the 
 time of Louis XIV., but which, from a presenti- 
 ment much too late, the Austrian staff had just 
 began to arm. Tlie defensive works of Ivrea con- 
 sisted of a citadel unconnected with the body of 
 the place, and of bastioned walls. The brave 
 general Watrin, at the head of his division, as- 
 saulted the citadel, while Lannes advanced against 
 the body of the place, and both were taken by 
 ■ escalade. There were about five or six thou- 
 sand Austrians in the town, half of which were 
 cavalry, who retreated in a great hurry. Lannes 
 made some prisoners, drove the Austrians out 
 of the valley, and took up a position at the 
 opening upon the plains of Piedmont, at the point 
 designated by the first consul. A few days later, 
 Ivr<?a, defended by the Austrians, would have be- 
 come, though not an insurmountable obstacle, a 
 serious embarrassment. Cannon and provisions 
 were found in the town. Lannes completed its 
 armament, and victualled it in such a manner, 
 that, in case of a check, it might become one of the 
 supports of the line of retreat. 
 
 While these things were performing, general 
 Chabran descended with his division by the Little 
 St. Bernard. As his division contained a good 
 many conscripts recently incorporated, the blockade 
 of the fort of Bard was confided to his hands; for it 
 could not be long before it surrendered when it 
 saw itself cut off from all resources, and the artil- 
 
 lery, which it could not stop, gone beyond its 
 reach. General Thureau, at the head of a corps 
 of four thousand men, carried the outlet of Suza, 
 making one thousand five hundred prisoners, and 
 taking several cannon. He was obliged to halt at 
 the entrance of the valley between Suza and Bus- 
 solino. General Lecchi, with the Italians, turned 
 the valley of the Sesia, repulsed Rohan's division, 
 taking some hundreds of prisoners, disengaged the 
 outlet of the Simplon, and connected itself to a 
 detachment of the division left in Switzerland at 
 the commencement of the campaign. Finally, the 
 corps of general Moncey, in echelon over a great 
 length of the valley of St. Gothard, clambered up 
 the heights to the summit. 
 
 Thus the general movement of the army was 
 every where effected with perfect success. It was 
 at last necessary to quit the valley of Aosta : 
 Lannes, always in the advance-guard, left the 
 valley on the 26th of May, or the Cth of Prairial, no 
 longer hesitating to show himself in the plain. 
 The Austrian general Haddick had the charge of 
 closing this outlet of the Alps, with some thou- 
 sand infantry and his numerous cavalry ; he was 
 covered by the little river Chiusella, which falls 
 into the Dora Baltea. A bridge crossed this 
 stream, to which Lannes briskly pushed with his 
 infantry. The fire of artillery, well-pointed and 
 sudden, greeted the French, but did not stop their 
 advance. The gallant general Macon entered the 
 bed of the river with his demi-brigade, and crossed 
 both above and below the bridge, clambering up 
 the opposite bank. The Austrian cavalry, com- 
 manded by General Palfy, charged the demi- 
 brigade ; but the general fell dead, and his cavalry 
 were dispersed. The French, rejoined by the rest 
 of Lannes' division, advanced in pursuit of the 
 enemy with their accustomed spirit. General 
 Haddick, profiting by the disorder of the pursuit, 
 pushed on his squadrons at a very favourable mo- 
 ment : the Cth light was obliged to halt ; but the 
 22d, in close column, repulsed solely by its fire this 
 new charge of the Austrian cavalry. Some thou- 
 sand horse then dashed on at once to make a last 
 effort against the French infantry. The 40th and 
 22d demi-brigades, formed into a square, sustained 
 the formidable charge with wonderful firmness ; 
 they were thrice charged, and as many times they 
 repulsed the cavalry with their bayonets. Haddick, 
 finding himself incapable of resisting the advance- 
 guard of the French, gave the order to x - etreat, 
 after losing a great many men, killed and wounded, 
 and others made prisoners ; thus relinquishing 
 the plains of Piedmont to Lannes, and retiring 
 behind the Oreo. Lannes continued his march, 
 and on the 28th of May, or 8th of Prairial, he ad- 
 vanced towards Chivasso on the banks of the Po. 
 The Austrians, alarmed at this unexpected inva- 
 sion, quickly evacuated Turin. Lannes seized a 
 numerous convoy of barques descending the Po, 
 having on board corn, rice, ammunition, and 
 wounded men. The abundance designed by the 
 Austrians for their army was thus soon affording 
 resources to the French. 
 
 Thirteen days were now over, and the stupendous 
 enterprise of the first consul had fully succeeded. 
 An army of forty thousand men, infantry, cavalry, 
 and artillery, had passed by unbeaten paths over 
 the highest mountains in Europe ; dragging its
 
 1800. 
 May. 
 
 Bonaparte harangues his troops, 
 and lays aside all disguise. — 
 Conduct of Melas. 
 
 MARENGO. 
 
 His illusions gradually dis- 
 pelled. — His critical situa- 
 tion and consequent alarm. 
 
 93 
 
 artillery by main strength along the snow, or 
 pushing it forward under the murderous fire of a 
 fort, almost close to the muzzles of its guns. One 
 division of five thousand men had descended the 
 Little St. Bernard ; another of four thousand bad 
 passed over Mount Cenis ; a detachment occupied 
 the Simplon ; and lastly, a corps of fifteen thousand 
 men, under general Moneey, was on the summit of 
 St. Gothard. There were thus sixty thousand 
 soldiers and more ahout to enter Italy, still, it is 
 true, separated from each other by considerable 
 distances, but assured of soon rallying round the 
 principal mass of forty thousand, who had come by 
 Ivre'a, in the centre of the semicircle of the Alps. 
 Nor was this extraordinary march the whim of a 
 general who. in order to turn his enemy, exposed 
 himself to be turned in a like manner. .Master of 
 the valley of Aosta, of the Simplon, and of St. 
 Gothard, Bonaparte had the certainty, that if lie 
 lost- a battle, he should be able to return to the 
 point whence he had set out, at the utmost by the 
 sacrifice of some part of his artillery, in case of 
 being closely pressed on his retreat. Having now 
 no movement to conceal, the first consul went to 
 Chivasso, harangued the troops, congratulated them 
 upon their firmness before the Austrian cavalry, 
 announced to them the great results which he saw 
 approaching, and showed himself, not only to his 
 own troops, but to the Italians and Austrians, that 
 he might alarm, by the knowledge of his own for- 
 midable presence, the enemy whom a little before 
 he wished to remain in the profound repose of 
 their own self-assured security. 
 
 What in the mean while was Melas about ? 
 Continually by the cabinet of Vienna and by his 
 own generals made easy on the subject of the 
 fabulous army of reserve, he pushed the siege of 
 Genoa and the attack of the bridge of the Var. 
 He had Buffered considerable losses at both these 
 points, hut still persisted in thinking that the levies 
 a" mbledat Dijon were composed of no more than 
 a body of conscripts, destined to fill up the vacancies 
 in tin; regimental skeletons of the two armies of the 
 Rhine and of Liguria. Some news that reached 
 him ahout the middle of May was calculated to cre- 
 ate an uneasiness about the position of affairs in his 
 rear, hut he BOOB recovered from his apprehensions, 
 and cherished the notion, that the troops collected 
 at Dijon were intended to descend the Rhone 
 directly, in order to join the corps of Suchet on 
 the Vat. In iilac- of Bending his forces by the Col 
 deTeudi- into Pi< dniont he kept them all with him 
 before the bridge of the Var. Nevertheless, the 
 French columns issuing from all the valleys of tin- 
 Alps at once, seen and recognised with pi rfect 
 certainty b j general Wukassowish, at length roused 
 him from his illusions, but still without wholly con- 
 vincing him. lb: left general Ott with thirty thou- 
 sand loin before Genoa, and general Elsnitz with 
 
 twenty thousand before the bridge of the Var. The 
 last win- to In- reinforced by the troops under 
 genera] .>t. Juhen, which had become disposable 
 by the reduction of Savon. Melas now returned 
 
 with ten thousand nun across theCol de Tende to- 
 ward (oni. On tin- 23d of May In- entered that, 
 place, and, until that moment, really believed that 
 the French troops which had shown themselves 
 were only conscripts employed to make a demon- 
 stration in the rear of his army, in order to induce 
 
 him to raise the siege of Genoa, and he could 
 scarcely credit even now that it was Bonaparte 
 at the head of a great army. But this illusion 
 was soon dissipated. One of his officers, who knew 
 the person of the French commander-in-chief per- 
 fectly well, was sent to Chivasso on the banks of 
 the l'o. There he saw with his own eyes the con- 
 queror of Castiglione and Rivoli, made his com- 
 mander acquainted with the whole extent of his 
 danger, and that it was not an assemblage of con- 
 scripts of which the first consul had deigned to 
 take the command. This was not all; for, it having 
 been doubted whether the French had cannon, the 
 noise of their artillery was now distinctly heard at 
 Chiusella. This estimable old officer, Me'las, who 
 had displayed superior military qualities in the 
 preceding campaign, was thus subjected to the 
 most cruel anxieties. Every day added to his 
 troubles, since he soon learned that the heads of 
 the columns of general Moneey were descending 
 the St. Gothard. 
 
 Me'las was in an extremely critical situation. Of 
 one hundred and twenty thousand men he recently 
 commanded, he had lost at least twenty-five thou- 
 sand before the Var and Genoa. Those which he 
 had left were dispersed ; Otto, with thirty thou- 
 sand, was before Genoa ; Elsnitz, with twenty-five 
 thousand, before the bridge of the Var ; general 
 Kaim, guarding the outlets of Suza and Pignerol 
 with about twelve thousand men, had lost Suza, 
 and retired upon Turin. Haddick, who had about 
 nine thousand, watched the valleys of Aosta and 
 Sesia, and was now retiring before Lannes; Wu- 
 kassowich, who had ten thousand men, was in 
 observation of the valleys of the Simplon and 
 St. Gothard ; what would be his fate before Mon- 
 eey? Me'las himself was at Turin with ten thou- 
 sand falling back upon Nice. Was it not Bona- 
 parte's intentions to throw himself among all these 
 dispersed corps, and beating them one after an- 
 other, to destroy them ? There was yet time, per- 
 haps, to take safe steps, provided they had been 
 executed as soon as they were conceived ; but the 
 Austrian general lost some days in coming to him- 
 self, and forming a definitive opinion regarding the 
 plans of his opponent, then in forming his own, 
 and, last of all, in resigning himself to the sacrifices 
 attending the concentration of his forces ; since 
 it was necessary for him to abandon at the .same- 
 time the Var, probably Genoa, and, most as- 
 suredly, the larger part of Piedmont. 
 
 While Melas was deliberating, Bonaparte had 
 made his determinations with his customary 
 promptness and resolution. His determinations 
 were not less grave than those of his enemy. If 
 i he Austrians were dispersed, tin- French were so 
 too, since they descended by Mont Cenis, the Great 
 
 and Little St. Bernard, the Simplon, and the St. 
 
 Gothard. It was afterwards necessary they should 
 
 unite and cut oil' all retreat from Melas, or, lastly, 
 
 set Masseiia free, who at this lent was reduced 
 
 to tin- last extremity. 
 
 Having descended the St. Bernard, Bonaparte 
 
 had upon his right mount Cenis and Turin, on his 
 
 left the St. Gothard and Milan, fifty leagues in 
 his front Genoa and Massena, What course would 
 he now take 1 Inclining to the right upon mount 
 ( 'nls, to rally the lour thousand men under gi neral 
 Thureau, would be of little moment. He would
 
 Determinations of the first 
 94 consul as to his future 
 proceedings. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Further illusions of 
 Melas. — Passage 
 of the Tessino. 
 
 1800. 
 May. 
 
 thus expose himself to an encounter with Melas 
 immediately, though in the present dispersed state 
 of his forces this would not he very hazardous; 
 hut hy inclining to the riglit he must relinquish 
 to the Austrian general on the left, the roads of 
 Milan or Piacenza, hy which he might effect a 
 retreat. It was little worth his while, having made 
 such great efforts to cross the Alps and throw 
 himself upon the communications of the enemy, 
 if after thus occupying them, he were to leave 
 them free. To proceed straightforward, pass the 
 Po, v fly to Genoa among the dispersed corps of the 
 Austrian army, neglecting general Thureau on 
 his right and general Moncey on his left, and com- 
 promising every one of his own communications, 
 was not consistent with that great prudence which 
 had combined all the parts of the plan thus far 
 followed with so much reflection and boldness. 
 He was ignorant what number of troops might be 
 met with upon that route; he would sacrifice his 
 line of retreat upon the Alps, by abandoning gene- 
 rals Thureau and Moncey to themselves, and, 
 in all probability, reducing them to the alternative 
 of falling back upon Mount Cenis and St. Gothard, 
 Who shall say after what adventures! It would 
 have been better to succour Masse'na direct by 
 Toulon, Nice, and Genoa. Under all these cir- 
 cumstances, there evidently remained but one part 
 to take; and this was to incline to the left towards 
 St. Gothard and Milan, and form a communication 
 with the fifteen thousand men commanded by gene- 
 ral Moncey. In this mode he would unite him- 
 self to the principal detachment of the army, which 
 would cany up the number to sixty thousand 
 fighting men ; he would occupy the capital of 
 upper Italy ; he would raise the population in the 
 Austrian rear; he would take all their magazines ; 
 he would become master of the line of the Po, and 
 of all the bridges on that great river; and, finally, 
 by thus putting it in his power to attack the enemy 
 upon either bank, he would stop Melas by which- 
 ever road lie might attempt an escape. It was 
 true, that by this plan no succour could, for eight 
 or ten days, be sent to Masseua, which was to bo- 
 regretted ; but Bonaparte thought that his own 
 presence in Italy would suffice to disengage the 
 army of Liguria, because he supposed Melas would 
 lose no time in hastening to collect around him the 
 corps that were investing Genoa and the bridge of 
 the Var. In any case, the generals Masse'na and 
 Suchet had fulfilled the object which was assigned 
 to them, had retained Melas on the Apennines, 
 fatiguing and exhausting him, above all, prevent- 
 ing his closing up the outlets of the Alps. If the 
 defender of Genoa must yield, it would but con- 
 summate the long series of sacrifices imposed upon 
 the noble and unfortunate army of Liguria for the 
 success of a vast combination. 
 
 His resolution formed, Bonaparte made his ar- 
 rangements with the greatest promptitude, direct- 
 ing his entire army on the left bank of the Po. He 
 assembled his park of artillery which had just been 
 put in an efficient state ; he enjoined Lannes to 
 collect all the boats taken at Chivasso, to dispose 
 of them in such a manner as if he was about to 
 throw a bridge across, and to pas3 into Piedmont. 
 His object was a second time to deceive Melas 
 in regard to his intentions, and in this he was as 
 successful as he had been before. On observing the 
 
 movements of Bonaparte, Me'las, trying to flatter 
 himself to the last moment, indulged the hope that 
 the French had only descended the Alps in a small 
 number. He believed that Bonaparte, as every 
 thing induced him to think-, had only passed the 
 Poto enter Turin, and communicate towards Mount 
 Cenis with general Thureau, and imagined he 
 could make head against him, by destroying the 
 bridges and disputing the passage of the Po with 
 about thirty thousand men. He had thus the hope 
 that he should be able to defend himself on this 
 line, without making the double sacrifice of the 
 positions occupied on the Var, and the advantages 
 obtained before Genoa. In consequence, Me'las 
 united general Haddick, who had returned from 
 the valley of Aosta, general Kaim before posted 
 at the outlet of Susa, the ten thousand men he had 
 himself brought from Nice, with a new detachment 
 from the Var, thus forming, together, a force of 
 thirty thousand men, and, thinking the French 
 were not more numerous, he trusted to dispute 
 with this number, the river which separated the 
 two armies. 
 
 The first consul did not seek to destroy this new 
 illusion of his enemy, and leaving him to employ 
 himself towards Turin, in this partial concentra- 
 tion of his forces, fell back suddenly himself upon 
 Milan. Lannes, who was apparently about to 
 ascend the Po in order to march from Chivasso 
 upon Turin, on the contrary suddenly descended 
 the river. He advanced by Crescentino and Trino 
 on Pavia, where the Austrians possessed immense 
 magazines of provisions, ammunition, and artillery, 
 and still more the most important of their commu- 
 nications, for it commanded at the same time the 
 passage of the Po and the Tessino. Murat marched 
 by Verceil on the point of Buffalora. The whole 
 army followed the general movement upon Milan. 
 On the 31st of May it arrived at the Tessino. This 
 river is large and deep ; there were no boats to 
 pass over ; and on the opposite side a numerous 
 cavalry appeared, belonging to the corps of Wukas- 
 sowich, which guarded the Simpler, and that part of 
 the opening of the Alps. Behind the Tessino ran 
 the Naviglio-Grande, a broad canal which crosses 
 the country as far as Milan. This canal for some 
 distance runs a parallel course with the river from 
 which it branches, and approximates to it very 
 closely. The enemy's cavalry, cooped up on a 
 narrow tongue of land between the Tessino and the 
 canal, was extremely confined in its movements, 
 and could scarcely make use of its strength. The 
 adjutant-general Girard took some of the small 
 boats which the peasantry of the vicinity had con- 
 cealed near Galiate, with which they were desirous 
 of furnishing the army, crossed with a few troops, 
 and fell upon the Austrian advance-guard. Suc- 
 cessively reinforced by these boats, which were 
 kept continually passing and repassing, and sup- 
 ported by the fire of the artillery, the general re- 
 pulsed the cavalry, which dared not advance upon 
 a ground so unfavourable, and obliged it to repass 
 the Naviglio-Grande at a place called the bridge of 
 Turbigo. Thus he cleared at once the Naviglio 
 and Tessino. But general Wukassowich brought 
 up Laudon's infantry-brigade, and attempted to 
 penetrate into the village of Turbigo. The adju- 
 tant-general Girard had but a few hundred men to 
 oppose to this force. He defended himself for
 
 1800. 
 June. 
 
 The approach of Bonaparte on 
 Milan.— Surprise and joy of 
 the Milanese. 
 
 He enters Milan, and re-establishes 
 MARENGO. the republic/in government. — Fur- 
 
 ther movement* of the army. 
 
 95 
 
 several successive hours with great spirit and 
 courage, filially succeeding in saving the bridge of 
 Turbigo, the loss of which might have thrown the 
 French on this side of the Naviglio-Grande. anil 
 perhaps of the Tessino itself. While he thus gal- 
 lantlv defended himself, general Monnier, who had 
 contrived to cross a little below, came to his aid, 
 fell upon the troops ot Laudon, and drove them 
 from Turbigo. The line which was to check the 
 French army was thus passed at the cost of a 
 simple skirmish of the advance-guard. 
 
 The next day, the 1st of June, or 12th Prairial, 
 Boudet's division crossed near Buffalora, and the 
 whole army advanced upon Milan. Wukassowich, 
 fearful of being entrapped between the main army 
 while advancing in Lombardy, and the corps of 
 Moncey descending from the St. Gothard, retired 
 with great haste, and commanded Dedovich's 
 brigade, which was at the foot of the mountains, to 
 fail back behind the Adda at Cassano. He himself 
 went to seek shelter behind the Adda by Milan 
 and Lodi, after leaving a garrison of two thousand 
 ei^ht hundred men in the citadel of Milan, 
 
 There was now nothing to impede the progress 
 of the French army. It could enter freely into 
 the capital of Lombard/, which had groaned for 
 above a year under the yoke of the Austrians. 
 Thus far the unhappy Italians had heard of nothing 
 but the successes of Mclas and the distress of the 
 French. Caricatures of the army of reserve had 
 been circulated in Milan as well as in London and 
 Vienna. They represented it as a rabble of boys 
 ami old men, armed with sticks, mounted upon 
 , and having for their artillery a couple of 
 blunderbusses. At the same time the derision of 
 the French republic, inoffensive enough, was thus 
 poured out, the Italians were the victims of 
 grievous oppression. All the men in Lombardy, 
 any way distinguished by talents or fortune, were 
 imprisoned or exiled, particularly if they had been 
 at all concerned in the affairs of the Cisalpine 
 republic. It was not a little remarkable that the 
 persecution fell less heavily upon the infuriated pa- 
 triots who corresponded with the French Jacobins, 
 than upon moderate men, whose examples might 
 be more catching among the people. Excepting a 
 few who were the creatures id' the Austrian go- 
 vi rtrment, and some of the nobles attached to the 
 oligarchy, every body sighed for the return of the 
 French. Yet for this they could scarcely venture 
 to hope, particularly when they saw Mclas advanced 
 so far in Ltguria, so near the capture of Genoa 
 and the passage of the Var, and the first consul so 
 Occupied, at least as far as appearances witit, with 
 the dangers of the invasi< h which threatened 
 Fran- the side of the Rhine. A report had 
 
 In i n circulated among the people, that Bonaparte, 
 so well-known in Italy, bad died in Egypt; that, 
 a new Pharaoh, he had been engulfed in the Red 
 and that he who figured in Paris, hearing the 
 same name, was one irf his brothers. 
 
 The surprise of the Italians, when they were 
 suddenly told that a French army had shown 
 itself at [vrea, may be easily divined ; that it was 
 Ig forth below that town, that it was in march 
 for the Tessino; and, lastly, that it bad ] 
 that river. It may be imagined what agitation 
 prevailed in Milan ! The affirmations, the contra- 
 dictions, thai lor forty-eighl bonis succeeded each 
 
 other ; and, last of all, the delight that appeared 
 when the news was confirmed by the presence of 
 Bonaparte himself, marching with his staff* at the 
 head of the advance-guard. On the 2nd of June, 
 or the 13th Prairial, the entire population came 
 out to meet the French army, and recognise the 
 illustrious general, whom they had so often seen 
 within their walls, welcoming him in transports of 
 enthusiasm, and receiving him like a saviour from 
 heaven. The feelings of the Italians, always 
 lively and demonstrative, had never broken out 
 with such force, because so many circumstances 
 had never, until now, concurred to render the joy 
 of the people so quick and deep. The French 
 general, on entering Milan, hastened to open the 
 prisons, and to restore the government of the 
 country to the friends of France. He gave a pro- 
 visional administration to the Cisalpine republic, 
 and composed it of the most respected men. Still 
 faithful to the same principles in Italy to which he 
 adhered in France, he would neither allow violence 
 nor re-action ; and in restoring the power to the 
 Italians of his own party, he aid not permit them 
 to exercise it against those who were of the con- 
 trary side. 
 
 After having thus first taken care of the 
 Milanese, he made haste to push out columns in 
 every direction, on the lakes, on the Adda, and on 
 the Po, so as to extend the rising in favour of the 
 French, seize the enemy's magazines, cut off their 
 communications, and shut up every road in their 
 retreat. Up to this point every thing went well, 
 as Lannes, who had been ordered upon Pavia, had 
 entered that town on the 1st of June, and carried 
 off immense magazines. This general found in 
 Pavia, the Austrian hospitals, a large- store of 
 grain, forage, ammunition, arms, and especially 
 thri e hundred piec s of cannon, one-half being field- 
 pieces. He was able also to procure thence many 
 materials for making bridges, which the pontoon 
 companies, who had been started oif without 
 unite rid, could usefully employ on the Po. The 
 division of Chabran, which had been left before the 
 fort of Bard, captured it on the 1st of June, and 
 found there eighteen pieces of cannon. General 
 Chabran, leaving a garrison there, as well as at 
 I vrea, went on to occupy the course of the Po from 
 the Dora Baltea to the Sesia, beyond which poiut 
 to Pavia it was occupied by Lannes. 
 
 The Corps of general de Bcthoncourt, which had 
 
 marched from the Simplou, took up a position be- 
 
 \rona, towards the point of Lago Maggiore. 
 
 The Italian legion was despatched from Brescia to 
 
 follow ui) ''"' Austrians who were retreating iii all 
 
 haste. At the same time the Duhesine and Loison 
 
 divisions passed the Adda, ami appeared at Lodi, 
 Crema, and Pizzighittone. General Wukassowich, 
 giving up till pretence of guarding the Adda, re- 
 treated behind the Mincio, under the cannon of 
 Mantua. 
 
 There was nothing to check the progress of 
 general M □ ey, always excepting the difficulty of 
 finding subsistence in the barnn valleys of upper 
 
 Switzerland. His first columns Were just making 
 their appearance, but it was necessary to wail some 
 days yet for the others, and this, as things stood, 
 was a most convenient point, for it became im- 
 portant to press on, lest Genoa should fall into tho 
 
 hands of the Austrians. I'onaparto was now certain
 
 Melas, thoroughly undeceived, 
 96 relinquishes half measures.- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 Dreadful state of Genoa. 
 
 In all their sufferings the 
 garrison hope for rescue 
 from Bonaparte. 
 
 1800. 
 June. 
 
 of bringing all his columns together, with the ex- 
 ception of one only, that of general Thureau, which, 
 in entrenchment at the fort of mount Cenis, was un- 
 able to proceed. In all other respects, the army 
 was strongly posted iu the centre of the Milanese, 
 having its retreat assured by mount Cenis, the St. 
 Bernard, the Simplon,and St.Gothard, in possession 
 of the Adda, the Tessino, and the Po, victualled from 
 the magazines of the Austrians, whom it cut off on 
 every road, and could bring to a decisive engage- 
 ment, after which they would have no other re- 
 source, if beaten, than to lay down their arms. 
 The surrender of Genoa, if it took place, would be a 
 vexatious circumstance; vexatious, first, because 
 of the brave army who were its defenders, and 
 secondly, because the body of Austrians engaged at 
 present in the siege would not fail to re-inforce 
 Me'las, and so render more arduous the great 
 battle which was to put an end to the campaign. 
 But if Bonaparte carried off the victory, Genoa 
 and Italy were reconquered at the same blow. 
 Nevertheless he placed a high value on the pre- 
 servation of Genoa ; but there was scarcely a hope 
 of assembling the corps of Moncey before the 5th 
 or 6th June, and no one could flatter himself that 
 Genoa would hold out to that time. 
 
 Me'las, whom the last news had thoroughly en- 
 lightened, and who saw his adversary entering into 
 Milan and joining all his columns as they succes- 
 sively came down from the Alps, now comprehended 
 the vast plan which had been projected against 
 him. To increase his misfortune, he just now re- 
 ceived intelligence of the ill-fortune of Kray, and 
 his retreat upon Ulm. He threw away at once his 
 system of half measures, and issued imperative 
 orders to general Elsnitz to abandon the bridge of the 
 Var,and to general Ott to give up the siege of Genoa, 
 and concentrate both their forces at Alexandria. 
 It was in this that Bonaparte had placed his hope 
 for the safety of Genoa. But it was fated that the 
 noble and unfortunate army of Liguria should pay 
 to the last, with its blood, its sufferings, and finally 
 with the mortification of a surrender, for the 
 triumphs of the army of reserve. 
 
 Masse'na to the last supported his great reputa- 
 tion. " He will make us eat his very boots," said 
 the soldiers, " before he surrenders." When the 
 butchers' meat was consumed, they ate their horses, 
 and when these had gone they fed upon animals the 
 most unclean. The sorry bread, made of oats and 
 beans, had been already devoured. From the 23d 
 May, or 3d Prairial, Masse'na had collected the 
 starch, linseed, and cacao which were in the maga- 
 zines of Genoa, and caused them to be made into 
 a bread, which the soldiers could hardly swallow, 
 and very few digest. Nearly all of them crowded 
 into the hospitals. The people, reduced to soup of 
 herbs for their only aliment, experienced all the 
 agonies of famine. The streets were strewed with 
 the bodies of men dying from inanition, and 
 emaciated women, who exposed to charity the 
 children whom they could no longer nourish. A 
 spectacle of another kind created terror in the city 
 and the army ; it was that of the numerous pri- 
 soners whom Ma&sena had made, and to whom he 
 had no food to give. He was not inclined to dis- 
 miss them on- their parole, since he had seen those 
 to whom lie did so again appear in the ranks of 
 the enemy. He proposed to general Ott, and then 
 
 to admiral Keith, to furnish the provisions neces- 
 sary for their daily consumption, on his giving his 
 word of honour that they should not be misapplied 
 for the support of the garrison. The word of such 
 a man might certainly have been taken ; but so 
 inveterate were the enemy, that they resolved to 
 impose upon Masse'na the charge of supporting his 
 prisoners. The enemy's generals had thus the 
 barbarity to condemn their soldiers to the horrible 
 sufferings of famine, for the purpflse of augmenting 
 the dearth in Genoa by leaving him some thousand 
 more mouths to provide for. Masse'na supplied 
 these prisoners with the herb-soup which he gave 
 the inhabitants ; but this was not sufficient for 
 robust men accustomed to the plenty of the rich 
 plains of Italy. They were cotitinually on the 
 point of breaking out into revolt ; and to prevent 
 any fear of this, Masse'na had them shut up in 
 the old hulks of some vessels, which he placed in the 
 middle of the port, and on which a numerous 
 artillery was constantly pointed, in readiness to 
 pour forth death. These wretched men kept 
 uttering a hideous howling, which deeply moved 
 the population of the city, even in the midst of 
 their own sufferings. 
 
 The number of our soldiers each day diminished. 
 They might be seen expiring in the streets; and 
 such was their weakness, as to render it necessary 
 to allow them to sit while mounting guard. The 
 Genoese were too discouraged to perform any 
 longer_ the duties of a national guard, believing 
 that they would be compromised, as the Austrians 
 would soon restore the aristocratic party. From 
 time to time vague rumours gave token that the 
 despair of the inhabitants was about to break out ; 
 and to prevent an explosion, the principal places 
 were occupied by battalions with loaded cannon. 
 
 Masse'na imposed awe on the people and the 
 army by his imperturbable attitude. The respect 
 which this hero inspired — eating the vile bread 
 of the soldiers, living with them under the fire of 
 the enemy, and enduring, besides their physical 
 sufferings, with undaunted firmness the anxieties 
 of his command — the respect which he inspired 
 controlled all men ; and in the midst of desolated 
 Genoa he exercised the ascendancy of a great mind. 
 
 Yet a feeling of hope still supported the be- 
 sieged. Several aids-de-camp from the general, 
 by efforts the most courageous, had passed the 
 enemy's lines, and brought in news. Colonels 
 Reille, Franceschi, and Ortigoni had passed in 
 and given information : at one time that the first 
 consul was on his way; at another, that he was 
 passing the Alps ; one of them, Franceschi, had 
 left him descending the St. Bernard. But since 
 the 20th of May there had been no more news. Ten 
 or twelve days passed in such a situation appeared 
 like ages, and men began to ask in despair, how 
 it could be possible, that in ten days Bonaparte 
 had not crossed the space between the Alps and 
 the Apennines. "They knew the man," they said; 
 " and by that time he was either victor or van- 
 quished ; if he had not arrived, it was because he 
 had failed in this daring enterprise. If he had 
 succeeded in coming out upon Italy, he would 
 have already pounced upon the Austrian general, 
 and forced him from the walls of Genoa." Others 
 asserted that Bonaparte had regarded the army of 
 Liguria in the light of a corps to be sacrificed to a
 
 1800. 
 June. 
 
 Masst-m's proclamation to the 
 soldiers. — Be is reduced to 
 the last extremity, and com- 
 
 MARENGO. 
 
 pelled to surrender tlie city, 
 but on the most honourable 
 
 terms. 
 
 97 
 
 grand operation; that all he wanted was to detain 
 Melas on the Apennines; and that, this effected} he 
 himself no further care to raise the siege, 
 but march d on to carry out grander objects. 
 ■ Well," ad. ltd the Genoese, and our soldiers also, 
 have been sacrificed to the glory of France: 
 it ; but now that object is attained, are we to 
 . the last man ! It' it were in battle, with arms 
 in onr hands, we should give death a welcome ; but 
 of famine, of sickness, — we cannot bear it ! The time 
 for a surrender." Many of the soldiers in 
 their desperation went so far as to break their 
 muskets. About the same time information was 
 riven of a conspiracy of several persons who were 
 irritated by suffering. Masse'na addressed them in 
 a line proclamation, in which he reminded them 
 that the duties of a soldier consist as much in the 
 endurance of privations and of sufferings, as in the 
 braving of danger ; he also pointed out to them 
 the example of their others, who ate the same 
 food, and were killed or wounded each day at their 
 head. He told them that the first consul was ad- 
 vancing with an army to their deliverance, and 
 that to capitulate now would be to lose in one in- 
 stant the result of two months of exertion and 
 devotion. " A lew days more, perhaps a few hours,'-" 
 said he, "and you will be delivered, and have ren- 
 dered eminent service to your country." 
 
 Accordingly, at every sound, every echo in 
 the air, they thought they heard the cannon of 
 Bonaparte, and ran towards it with enthusiasm. 
 One day they persuaded themselves of the sound 
 of cannon at the Bocchetta ; a madness of joy 
 broke out on all sides. Masse'na himself went to 
 imparts. Vain illusion ! it was the sound of 
 ■in in the gorg s of the Apennines, and they 
 reiapsed into a still deeper depression. 
 
 At last, on the 4th June, there remained no 
 more than two ounces for each man of the 
 died bread, made of starch and cacao. The 
 I must be surrendered; for it was impossible 
 
 to reduce our unfortunate soldiers to devouring 
 each other, and there was thus, in the actual iin- 
 | bility of subsisting, an inevitable limit to the 
 • nee. Moreover, the army had a feeling 
 that it had done all that could be expected from 
 its bravery. It felt an internal conviction, that it 
 was no longi r covering the Thermopylae of France, 
 but that it was subservient to a manoeuvre which 
 
 must, at the time, have- either succeeded or failed. 
 
 It began to suspect, in addition, that the first consul 
 thought more of extending bis combinations than 
 of affording them succour. In these sentiments 
 na shared, though be did not avow them; 
 but he regarded his duty as not entirely completi >l 
 until he had reached the last possible limit of re- 
 sistance. When ties- two miserable ounces of 
 bread which remained for each man were consumed, 
 
 he was loii' d to surrender. He resigned himself 
 to this at last with bitter sorrow. 
 
 General <>tt sent a flag of truce to him; for the 
 Austrians were as mncb pressed to terminate the 
 riege as the French themselves, ott had re- 
 ceived the most peremptory orders to raise the 
 and fall back upon Alexandria. These offers 
 coming from an enemy, some historians say, ought 
 to have opened the eyes ol Massena. There is do 
 doubt that the general knew if he waited a day or 
 two more he might perchance be relieved, but 
 
 those two days were not at his disposal. " Only 
 give me," he said to the Genoese, " two days' pro- 
 vision — only one day's — and I shall save you from 
 the yoke <d' the Austrians, — I shall save my army, 
 too, from the mortification of surrendering." 
 
 At last, on the 3rd of June, Massena was obliged 
 to negotiate. His enemies spoke of a capitulation, 
 but he rejected the proposal in such a manner as 
 did not allow them to renew it. He would have 
 for his army the permission to retire freely, with 
 arms and baggage, their colours flying; he would 
 be at liberty to commence active service the mo- 
 ment lie should have passed beyond the lines of 
 the besieging army. '• If this cannot be," said 
 
 sena to the Austrians, " 1 will sally from Ge- 
 noa, sword in hand, with my eight thousand famished 
 men, I will come to your camp, and will fight until 
 I shall force my way through." The Austrians 
 then permitted the garrison to inarch out, but de- 
 sired that tin ir commander should himself remain 
 a prisoner, fearing lest, with such a leader, the 
 garrison proceeding from Genoa to Savona might 
 unite itself with the troops of Suchet, and then 
 make a formidable attack upon the rear of Me'las. 
 To tranquillize the indignation such a wish must 
 excite, they stated to him the motive of the con- 
 dition, which was in every way so honourable to 
 himself. lie would not listen to it : they then in- 
 sisted that the garrison should retire by sea, that 
 it might not have time to join the corps of Suchet ; 
 to this he still replied that he would cut his way 
 through them. At last they agreed to suffer eight 
 thousand men to depart by land, or, in other words, 
 all who were not too enfeebled to support the 
 weight of their arms. The convalescent were to 
 be successively embarked and conveyed to the 
 head-quarters of general Suchet. There were left 
 behind four thousand sick', whom the Austrians 
 agreed to supply with provisions, to take care of, 
 and restore to the French army. Of these general 
 Miollis was left in the command. Massena also 
 stipulated, in behalf of the Genoese, that none 
 should be molested for the expression of opinions 
 exhibited during the French occupation of the 
 city, and that persons and property should be 
 faithfully respected. A distinguished citizen of Ge- 
 noa, M. Corvette, subsequently minister of France, 
 was admitted to the conferences, that he might 
 witness the efforts made in favour of his country- 
 men. Massena wished to obtain for them the 
 existing form of government, lor which they were 
 
 Iden to the French revolution, but on this 
 head the Austrian generals refused to concede any- 
 thing. " \vr\ well," replied .Masse'na, u do as you 
 ; but before fifteen days are past, 1 assure 
 you that 1 siiall again return to Genoa;" a pro- 
 phetic speech, to which an Austrian officer, M. St. 
 Jnlien, made the delicate and noble reply: "You 
 will leave in this place, ",, mral, men whom you 
 have taught how to defend it." 
 
 The definitive conference took place on the morn- 
 ing of the 4th of June, in a chapel at the bridge of 
 Cornegliano, The article which provided that a 
 
 part of the army should retire by land gave place 
 to a last difficulty. Massena having the Austrian 
 generals the alternative to consent to what be de- 
 ■ ired, or to expect a desperate battle the next day, 
 
 they gave up the point. It was stipulated that this 
 ntion of evacuation, from which the word 
 
 11
 
 Massena and the French quit 
 98 GenoH.-Mutualiosse*. in- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 curred during the siege. 
 
 Retreat o." the Austrians 
 from the V&r. — Move- 
 ments 01 Suclicv 
 
 1S00. 
 June. 
 
 capitulation liad been carefully excluded, should 
 be carried into effect the same evening. The 
 officers of the Austrian forces, struck with ad- 
 miration for the French general, showed him marks 
 of the highest respect and attention. 
 
 Evening came ; Massena still felt reluctant to 
 sign, indulging to the last moment the hope of de- 
 liverance. At last, when without breaking his word 
 it was impossible to avoid doing so, he set his sig- 
 nature to the document. On the morrow the 
 French troops marched out with general Gazan at 
 their head, and found rations provided for them at 
 the advanced posts. Massena embarked in order 
 •'to reach the head-quarters of Suchet more ex- 
 peditiously. He left Genoa in a vessel carrying 
 the tricoloured flag, and within reach of the guns 
 of the English squadron. 
 
 Thus finished this memorable siege, during 
 which the French army distinguished itself by 
 such important services and such distinguished 
 victories. This army bad taken more prisoners 
 and killed more of the enemy than the amount of 
 its own numbers. With fifteen thousand men, 
 more than eighteen thousand Austrians had been 
 killed or taken. It had more particularly destroyed 
 the confidence of the imperial army in itself, and 
 constrained it to make continual and extraordinary 
 efforts. But at what cost did the brave garrison 
 of' Genoa perform all these things? Of fifteen 
 thousand soldiers it had lost three thousand killed; 
 four thousand were lightly or severely wounded ; 
 eight thousand only remained fit for service. The 
 second in command, general Soult, remained in the 
 hands of the enemy with a broken leg. Out of 
 three generals of division, one had died of an epi- 
 demic disease, general Marbot; another, general 
 Gazan, was severely wounded : out of six generals 
 of brigade, four were wounded, Gardanne, Petitot, 
 Fressinet, and Arnaud : of twelve adjutants- 
 general, six were wounded, one taken, and one 
 killed. Two officers of the staff were killed, seven 
 taken, and fourteen wounded ; eleven colonels out 
 of seventeen were killed or made prisoners, and 
 three-fourths of the officers had met the same 
 fate. Tints it may be seen that it was by giving 
 an example of their own devotion that the leaders 
 of this brave army supported it in the midst of 
 such severe trials. It proved how worthy it was 
 of those who led it ; the French soldier never on 
 any occasion displaying greater constancy or he- 
 roism. Let there be honour, then, given to that 
 unfortunate courage which, by a devotedness with- 
 out limit, contributed to the triumph of that more 
 successful courage, the exploits of which it will be 
 our province to recount. 
 
 While thus urged to raise the siege of Genoa, 
 and while general Ott was granting to Massena the 
 honourable conditions just recounted, general Els- 
 nitz, recalled by the order of Me'las, abandoned 
 the bridge of the Var. The Austrian attacks upon 
 this point bad been tardy, because their heavy 
 artillery had been long on the passage.. Attempts 
 had' been" successively made on the 22nd and 27th 
 of May to carry this object. The last attack was 
 a despairing effort on the part of general Elsnitz, 
 who was de-irons before he retreated not to spare 
 aaiy efforts. These attacks were bravely repulsed; 
 and- general Elsnitz, knowing he had no chain- ■■ of 
 success, began to think of crossing the mountains. 
 
 Suchet, judging promptly and rightly the intentions 
 of the Austrian general, made his arrangements so 
 as not to permit him to retire in security. He saw 
 plainly enough, that by manoeuvring with his left 
 wing along the mountains, he could place the Aus- 
 trians in a perilous situation, and probably might 
 be able to cut off from them some of their detach- 
 ments. In fact, beyond the line of the Var which 
 had stopped the invaders, the line of the Roya ran 
 in a parallel, the source of which river is in the 
 Col de Tende itself. If the French went beyond 
 the Var, and preceded the Austrians at the sources 
 of the Roya, they would oblige them to avoid the 
 Col de Tende, and force them to move along the 
 coast of the Apennines to find a passage. This 
 happy idea, vigorously executed, was productive to 
 general Suchet of the happiest results. He began 
 by dispossessing general Gorupp of Ronciglione; 
 then continuing to march rapidly by his left on the 
 right of the Austrians thus shaken, he took in suc- 
 cession the Col de Rauss, which affords a passage 
 from the valley of the Var into that of the Roya, 
 the famous camp of Mille Fourches ; and being 
 master of the Col de Tende, found himself on the 
 1st of June upon the line of retreat of general 
 Elsnitz. General Gorupp, thrown in confusion upon 
 the Upper Roya, had yet time to gain the Col de 
 Tende, but left on the way a number of dead and 
 of prisoners. General Elsnitz, with the rest of his 
 army, had no other resource than to follow the 
 turn of the maritime Apennines as far as Oneglia, 
 and to return by Pieva and St. Jacobo into the 
 valley of Tanaro. He had to traverse frightful 
 mountains with troops already demoralized by this 
 kind of flight, and having close behind him an 
 enemy full of joy at passing from the defensive to 
 the offensive. During five entire days the Austrians 
 were pursued without intermission, receiving con- 
 tinual checks. At length, on the 6th of June, 
 general Elsnitz arrived at Ormea, his force not 
 numbering more than ten thousand men. On the 
 7th he was at Ceva, and general Gorupp had re- 
 tired upon Coni with a very weak division. The 
 loss sustained by the Austrian forces since they 
 left the Var was considered to be not less than ten 
 thousand men. » 
 
 General Suchet, so long separated from Mas- 
 se'na, found him once more in the environs of 
 Savona. The twelve thousand French from the 
 Var, united with those from Genoa, eight thousand 
 in number, composed a body of twenty thousand 
 men, very well placed for falling upon the rear of 
 Me'las. But Massena had received upon landing a 
 very severe wound, so that he was unable to mount 
 his horse ; the eight thousand men who were with 
 him were worn out with fatigue; and it must be 
 admitted, that all the defenders of Genoa felt a 
 secret irritation against the first consul, who was 
 known to have been triumphant in Milan, while 
 the army of Li^uria was so reduced as to be 
 obliged to capitulate. Massena was not willing 
 that general Suchet should run the risk of a descent 
 into Italy, while in ignorance of the movements 
 about to be made beyond the Apennines by the 
 two generals opposed to each other. Me'las, joined 
 by his lieutenants, Haddick, Kaim, Elsnitz, and 
 Ott, at the head of a very formidable force, might 
 fling himself upon general Suchet, .and crush him 
 before he went to engage Bonaparte. Massena,
 
 1S00. 
 June. 
 
 Suchet occupies a threatening 
 position. — Critical situation 
 of the Austrians. 
 
 Melas endeavours to concentrate li is 
 MARENGO. forces.— Bonaparte intercepts the 
 
 Austrian despatches. 
 
 99 
 
 therefore, permitted Sachet, his lieutenant, to pass 
 the Apennines, and place himself in advance of 
 Aoqui, but to remain in that position, observing, 
 disquieting the Austrian army, and hanging over 
 
 its head like the sword of Damocles. It will pre- 
 sently be seen what service the army of Liguria 
 rendered merely by its presence on the summit 
 of the Apennines. 
 
 Ma-scna thought, this brave army, in terminating 
 by a menacing movement the memorable defence 
 of Genoa, had done enough for the triumph of 
 the first consul; and that without great impru- 
 dence it could do no more. This great soldier was 
 correct, lie had delivered over to Bonaparte the 
 exhausted Austriaus reduced one-third. Of seventy 
 thousand men who had passed the Apennines, 
 there returned no more than forty thousand, in- 
 cluding the detachment brought back to Turin by 
 
 -. The fifty thousand that remained in Lom- 
 bardy were much reduced, and dispersed about. 
 
 :als Haddick and Kaim, who guarded the one 
 the valley of Aosta, the other that of Suza, had 
 sustained considerable losses. General Wukasso- 
 wieh, thret n beyond the Mincio, and separated 
 from his commander-in-chief by the French army 
 which descended from Mount St. Bernard, was 
 paralyzed for the rest of the campaign. A corps 
 of some thousand men had ventured into Tuscany. 
 By uniting at once with the troops of generals 
 Haddick and Kaim, who were conrhig from the 
 valleys of Aosta and Suza, those of generals Elsnitz 
 and Ott, who were returning from the banks of 
 the Var, Melas might form a body of seventy-live 
 
 and men. But it was necessary to leave 
 garrisitns in the fortresses of Piedmont and Liguria, 
 such as Genoa, Savona, Gavi, Acqui, Coni, Turin, 
 
 indria, and Tortona. There would remain to 
 him after this no more than fifty thousand men, 
 a thousand or two more perhaps to place in line on 
 V of battle, if it be supposed that he did not 
 sacrifice too many to keep the fortresses; and that 
 the generals formed a junction without accident. 
 
 • situation of the Austrian general, therefore, 
 
 very critical, even after the surrender of 
 G '.. It was so not only by reason of the dis- 
 
 .11 and diminution of his forces, but under the 
 aspect of the route hi' must follow to L, r et clear of 
 
 mfined limits of Piedmont in which Bonaparte 
 ed him. He would lie obliged to cross 
 tie- I'o ill the face of tin.' I'r -ueli, and to regain, by 
 : Lombardy, which tiny occupied, the 
 great read of the Tyrol, or of Priuli. Tin? diffi- 
 culty was enormous, from the presence of an ad- 
 1 in war principally in the art 
 rent movements. 
 
 rred the Upper I'o from the 
 
 source a- far as Valenza. It was easy for him to 
 
 that liver at Turin, (,'hivasso, Qasale, or 
 
 : was no matter which ; but in passiugal 
 
 one ,,t | ;,:. would fall upon the Tcsshio, 
 
 which i by Bonaparte, and upon , Milan, 
 
 ■ntro of all the French forces. He had but 
 little chance for • in that direction. He 
 
 still incline to his right in order to pn 
 towards the lower part oi the I'o; in other words, 
 to march on Piacenza and Cre mo na in order to 
 
 gain the great road to Manilla. II he did thus, 
 
 I nza would become tor both the eoatending 
 parties the grand point to occupy. 'is it 
 
 was almost the only way of escape from the Cau- 
 dine Forks; for Bonaparte it would be the means 
 of gathering up the price of his audacious march 
 across the Alps. If Bonaparte suffered the Aus- 
 triaus to escape, though he had delivered Pied- 
 mont, the result would be little, compared to the 
 perils which he had braved : he would even incur 
 ridicule in the eyes of Europe, that were so 
 attentive to this campaign, since his manoeuvre, 
 the intention of which was at present so manifest, 
 would be defeated. Piacenza was consequently 
 the key of Piedmont. It was necessary equally 
 for him who wanted to get out of that country, and 
 for him who desired to shut up his enemy there. 
 
 Under these motions Melas fixed two points for 
 the concentration of his troops ; Alexandria, for 
 the troops stationed in Upper Piedmont, and 
 Piacenza, for those that were in the vicinity of 
 Genoa, He commanded generate Kaim and Had- 
 dick to march from Turin by Asti upon Alex- 
 andria; general Elsnitz, retiring from the banks of 
 the Var, was to proceed by Leva and Cherasco. 
 These three corps, when united, were to march 
 from Alexandria to Piacenza. General Ott, re- 
 turning from Genoa, was ordered to descend 
 directly by the Boochetta and Tortona to Piacenza. 
 A body of infantry, disembarrassed of all the in- 
 cumbrances of a military body, was ordered to 
 proceed more directly still by the route of the 
 io, which runs along the valley of the Trebia. 
 Lastly, general O'Reilly, who was already about 
 Alexandria with a strong detachment of cavalry, 
 received instructions not to wait for the concen- 
 tration of the troops of Upper Piedmont, but to go 
 to Piacenza at the utmost speed of his horses. 
 The small corps which had ventured into Tuscany 
 was commanded to repair to the same place 
 through the duchy of Parma, and by the route of 
 Fiorenzuola. Thus as the principal part of the 
 Austrian army was concentrating itself at Alex- 
 andria, to march from thence to Piacenza, the 
 corps nearest to that place had orders to march 
 thither immediately on a direct line. 
 
 It was doubtful whether it could be possible to 
 anticipate Bonaparte in so important an object, 
 lie had lost five or six days in Milan, to wait for 
 the troops coming by the St. Gethard; a time most 
 valuable, seeing that in the interval Genoa had 
 surrendered. But now that general Moneev, with 
 the troops drawn from the army of Germany, had 
 passed the S\ Gothard, he was not to lose another 
 moment. Placed on the road of the couriers that 
 came from Vienna to Melas at Turin, and from 
 - at Turin to the imperial government, he 
 ha l become well acquainted with all the ideas of 
 the court of Vienna, lie had read, for example^ 
 
 singular despatches, in which M. de ThugUt iv- 
 
 aesnred the Austrian general, recommending him 
 
 v in mind, and not to he tunic I aside 
 from his objects by the fable of the army of 
 
 reserve; to take Gvnoa as quickly as possible, as 
 
 well as the line of the Var, that he might be able 
 to s;>are a detachment for the ;ii<| of marshal Krav, 
 driven back upon Ulm. Bonaparte had also read 
 the despatches Of .Mela-, al ln-1 brimful of con- 
 fidence, ami soon afterwards of anxiety and in- 
 quietude. The pleasure he felt at this news was 
 
 troubled, when In- found on the 8th of dune, 
 
 01 correspondence, that Masseiia bad
 
 Plans of Bonaparte. — Lannes 
 
 100 crosses the Po. — O'Reilly 
 
 leaves Piacenza, which is 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 taken by Murat. — Move- 
 ments of the Austrian 
 generals. 
 
 1800. 
 June. 
 
 been obliged to surrender Genoa on the 4th. This 
 intelligence, however, did not change in any thing 
 the plan of the campaign. Having fixed to get 
 into the rear of the enemy, in order to envelope 
 him and make him lay down his arms, Italy and 
 the city of Genoa would he reconquered at a single 
 blow. The real inconvenience that arose from the 
 surrender of Genoa was the setting free the troops 
 of general Ott, whom lie should have in addition to 
 contend with. But the intercepted despatch car- 
 ried with it the consolation that Massena's forces 
 were not prisoners of war. So that if on one part 
 a more considerable body of Austrian troops were 
 about to descend from the Apennines; on the other, 
 the French troops, on which he could not at first 
 calculate, were to descend too at the heels of the 
 Austrians. 
 
 Now that Genoa had fallen, the first consul was 
 in a less harry to encounter Me'las. But he was 
 extraordinarily pressed to occupy the line of the 
 Po from Pavia as far as Piacenza and Cremona ; 
 he therefore made his dispositions with as much 
 activity as Me'las, in order to possess himself of 
 points of such importance. While he was occupied 
 at Milan in collecting the troops which had come 
 from the different points of the Alps, he placed 
 upon the Po the forces which had come with him 
 by the St. Bernard. Lannes had already taken 
 possession of Pavia with Watrin's division. That 
 general was ordered to pass the Po a little below 
 its union with the Tessino, or, what is the same 
 thing, at Belgiojoso. Murat, with the divisions of 
 Boudet and Monnier, had orders to pass at Pia- 
 cenza ; Duhesme, with the division of Loison, to 
 cross at Cremona. 
 
 On the Cth of June, Lannes, having assembled at 
 Pavia on the Tessino all the disposable boats, 
 brought them into the Po, and on arriving between 
 Belgiojoso and San Cipriano commenced the pass- 
 age. General Watrin, who was placed under his 
 orders, crossed with a detachment. He was no 
 sooner arrived on the right bank than he was 
 attacked by the Austrians which had come from 
 Valenza and Alexandria, and were hastening to 
 Piacenza. He was in danger of being thrown into 
 the river, but he held firm until the boats, passing 
 and repassing, brought him reinforcements, and he 
 remained at last master of the field. The remain- 
 der of Watrin's division, led by Lannes, passed the 
 Po afterwards, and took a position a little further 
 on, menacing the high road from Alexandria to 
 Piacenza. 
 
 Murat arrived before Piacenza the same day. 
 All the Austrian stores, guarded by some hundreds 
 of men, together with the different army adminis- 
 trators, were in the town. On the approach of 
 danger the Austrian commander there ordered 
 cannon to be planted at the head of the bridge on 
 the left bank of the Po, and endeavoured to defend 
 himself until the troops, which were advancing 
 from all sides, should arrive to his support. The 
 advanced guard of Mourner's division, which con- 
 ceived it was moving upon an undefended position, 
 was received with a horrible fire of grape-shot, 
 and could make no impression on the post by a 
 front attack. The further attempt upon it in form 
 was postponed until the next day. 
 
 On the 7th of June, the following day, general 
 O'Reilly, who had received orders from Me'las 
 
 to ride full speed to Piacenza, arrived with his 
 cavalry. The other Austrian corps, that which 
 ascended from Parma by Fiorenzuola, that which 
 descended with general Gottesheim by Bobbio, 
 and that which was coming with general Ott by 
 Tortona, were not yet arrived. General O'Reilly 
 was scarcely equal with his squadron alone to 
 defend Piacenza. The few hundreds of men who 
 had offered resistance at the head of the bridge 
 had lost one-fourth of their strength. Under these 
 circumstances the Austrian commandant ordered 
 the artillery to be taken away, and the bridge, 
 which was of boats, to be divided; thus when gene- 
 ral Uoudet attempted to remedy his repulse of the 
 day preceding, he found the work at the bridge 
 head evacuated and the bridge destroyed. A part 
 of the boats of which it had been constructed yet 
 remained. Murat took possession of these, and 
 made use of them for transporting Monnier's 
 brigade to the other side of the Po, at Nocetto, 
 a little lower down, by repeated trips across. This 
 brigade then attacked Piacenza, and got in after 
 a sharp contest. General O'Reilly retrograded in 
 haste, that he might be in time to save the park 
 of artillery in its way from Alexandria; because 
 if it came on to Piacenza, it would be in danger 
 of falling into the hands of the French. He pro- 
 ceeded with such speed as to effect his object, 
 and thus prevented the park from getting into the 
 possession of Murat or Lannes. He had to make 
 more than one charge of cavalry against the ad- 
 vanced troops of Lannes, which had passed the Po 
 at Belgiojoso ; but he disengaged himself from it, 
 and giving counter-orders to the park, it sought 
 refuge in Tortona. While general O'Reilly, almost 
 untouched in passing through the French advanced 
 posts, was on his way to Alexandria, the advanced 
 guard of general Gottesheim, which had descend- 
 ed the Trebia by Bobbio, appeared before Pia- 
 cenza. It was the regiment of Klebeck which 
 thus came upon Boudet's entire division, and was 
 severely handled. This unlucky regiment, at- 
 tacked by superior numbers, lost a good many 
 prisoners, and fell back in disorder upon Got- 
 tesheim's principal corps, of which it was in ad- 
 vance. General Gottesheim, taking alarm at this 
 rencontre, ascended the slope of the Apennines 
 in great haste, in order to reach Tortona and 
 Alexandria, which caused him to lose his way for 
 several days. Lastly, the regiment returning from 
 Tuscany, by the route of Parma and Fiorenzuola, 
 arrived the same day in the suburbs of Piacenza. 
 Here happened another rout of a detached corps, 
 which fell on a sudden into the midst of an enemy's 
 army, and was repulsed in disorder upon the road 
 to Parma. Of four corps, three which marched 
 upon Piacenza, those the least important, it is true, 
 had been overthrown, had fled, and left prisoners 
 behind them. The fourth, that of general Ott, 
 having a longer circuit to march, was still behind, 
 and was about to encounter Lannes in front of 
 Belgiojoso, near Pavia. From this time the French 
 were masters of the Po, and had in their possession 
 the two principal passages of Belgiojoso, near 
 Pavia, and that of Piacenza itself. They very 
 Boon too got possession of a third; for on the fol- 
 lowing day, general Duhesme, at the head of 
 Loison's division, took Cremona from a detach- 
 ment that general Wukassovich had left in retiring.
 
 J800. 
 June. 
 
 The French, masters of Melas' 
 line of retreat. — Plans of 
 Bonaparte to cut olf the 
 
 MARENGO. 
 
 Austrians' retreat. — Forces 
 at the disposal of the French. 
 
 101 
 
 Ho took two thousand prisoners and a good many 
 military stor 
 
 Bonaparte directed all these operations from 
 
 Milan. He had sent Berthier to the banks of the 
 
 Po ; and day by day, often hour after hour, he 
 
 ribed, in a continual correspondence, the 
 
 meats to be executed. 
 
 Though he was master <>t' the line of retreat that 
 
 Melas would most probably be tempted to follow, 
 
 in possessing himself of the Po from Pavia to 
 
 nza, still all was nut yet considered, since 
 
 that which made the route of Piacenza the true 
 
 f retreat for the Austrians, was the presence 
 
 of the French behind the Tessino and around 
 
 Milan. The French, in fact, from their position, 
 
 shut up close the passage which the Austrians 
 
 would have been able to open in crossing the Po 
 
 between Pavia and Valenza ; but if now the 
 
 French, for the purpose of going to meet Melas, 
 
 ' between Pavia and Piacenza, and 
 
 thus abandoned Milan and weakened the T< 
 
 they might again tempt Melas to cross at Turin, 
 
 at Casale, or at Valenza, traverse our undefended 
 
 rear, cater the city of Milan itself, and serve the 
 
 French jus y had served him in descending 
 
 from the Alps. 
 
 It was not impossible cither for Melas, de- 
 termining to sacrifice a part of his baggage and 
 avy artillery, which indeed he might leave 
 in the fortresses of Piedmont, to retire upon Genoa, 
 then again remounting by Tortona and Novi, as 
 ijv as the Bocchetta, and there throwing himself 
 into the valley of the Trebia, to fall upon the Po 
 below Piacenza, in the vicinity of Cremona or 
 Parma, and thus reach Mantua and the Austrian 
 by a round-about way. This march across 
 Liguria, and along the projections of the Apen- 
 . was the same as that which had been 
 i out for general Gottesheim, and was the 
 likely to be attempted, because it offered 
 extraordinary difficulties, and would cost the 
 sacrifice oi leal of the matSrid of the army; 
 
 but it was still pof itrictly speaking, audit 
 
 was needful therefore to provide against its exe- 
 cution, as well as against other plans. The entire 
 . ■!! "f Bonaparte was now employed against 
 chances. There is not perhaps in all history 
 . dispositions more able, more pro- 
 found: \ed, than those which he devised 
 upon this decisive occasion. 
 
 It was nee. ssary, to resolve this triple problem, 
 
 by a barrier of iron the principal road, 
 
 or that which goes directly from Alexandria to 
 
 1 ./.a; to occupy that which, by passing along 
 
 tlie Upper l'o, falls upon tin: Tessino in such a 
 
 i lo bfl able to hasten there' in case it be 
 
 requisite ; lastly, to have- the power of descending 
 
 in tune upon the Lower Po, if the Austrians, 
 
 ■wiling to fly by the reverse side of the Apennines, 
 
 should try to cross that river In-low Piacenza, 
 
 towards Cremona or Parma. Bonaparte me- 
 ditating in i' the map of Italy, to find 
 
 a point where all th se three- conditions might be 
 fulfill* d, madi a choice worthy of high admiration. 
 
 If the direction of the A pi amine chain be ex- 
 amined, it will be seen that in virtue of the curve 
 
 that it forms to embrace the gulf of Genoa, it 
 remounts to tin- northward, and throws out but- 
 
 i, which approach to th'- l'o very closely, 
 
 from the position of Stradclla to the vicinity of 
 Piacenza. In all this part of Piedmont and of the 
 duchy of Paruia, the base of the heights advances 
 so near the river, as to leave a narrow place only 
 for the high road to Piacenza. An army stationed 
 in advance of Stradella, at the entrance of a sort 
 of defile many leagues in length, the left to the 
 heights, the centre on the road, and the right 
 the Po and the marshy ground on its bank", 
 would be difficult to dislodge. It must be added, 
 that the road is thickly strewn with hamlets and 
 villages, built of stone and capable of resisting 
 cannon. Against tin- imperial forces, strong in 
 cavalry and artillery, this position, independently 
 of its natural advantages, afforded that of render- 
 ing null those two military arms. 
 
 It had yet other peculiar advantages. It is near 
 this position that the: tributary streams on the other 
 side of the Po, the most important to occupy, such 
 as the Tessino and the Adda, form their junction. 
 Thus the Tessino falls into the Po a little below 
 Pavia, and above Belgiojoso, nearly opposite to 
 Stradella, or, at most, not more than two leagues 
 off. The Adda, running beyond a long way before 
 it unites with the Po, falls into that river between 
 Piacenza and Cremona. It will be at once under- 
 stood, that placed at Stradella, and master of the 
 bridges of Belgiojoso, of Piacenza, and Cremona, 
 Bonaparte would be in possession of the most 
 decisive points; because he would thus bar the 
 principal road, or that from Alexandria to Pia- 
 cenza, and he would at the same time have it in 
 his power, by a long march, either to hasten to 
 the Tessino, or to redescend the Po as far as Cre- 
 mona, and to fly towards the Adda, which covered 
 his rear against the corps of Wukassowich. 
 
 It was in this sort of net, formed by the Apen- 
 nines, the Po, the Tessino, and the Adda, that he 
 distributed his forces. He at first resolved to 
 proceed to Stradella himself, with the thirty thou- 
 sand best soldiers of his army, the divisions of 
 Watrin, Chambarlhac, Gardanne, Boudet, and 
 Monnier, placed under Murat, Victor, and Lannes, 
 in the position already described, the left to the 
 mountains, the centre on the great road, and the 
 right along the Po. The division of Chabran, 
 which came by the Little St. Bernard, and was 
 first ordered to occupy Ivrea, was afterwards 
 d to Verceil, but commanded to retreat 
 upon the Tessino in ease of the approach of the 
 enemy. Lapoype'a division, which descended the 
 St. Gothard, was posted upon the Tessino itself, 
 in tin- environs of Pavia. These numbered from 
 nine thousand to ten thousand men, who were to 
 fall back one upon the other, to dispute the passage 
 of the Tessino to the last, and thus afford Bona- 
 parte one day to conn- to their assistai The 
 
 detachment of the Simplon, under general Btfthen- 
 i-ourt, guarded the route of the St. Gothard towards 
 
 the Arona, the retreat of the French army in 
 of a reverse. The division of Gilly WU to guard 
 Milan, rendered necessary by the presence of an 
 Austrian garrison in the citadel. Then- were 
 
 three or four thousand nun appropriated to this 
 
 double purpose, finally, the division of Loispn, 
 
 which made a part, of the army of reserve, coming 
 
 from Germany, had a commission under tl - 
 
 .i general Dubesme, to defend Piacenza and 
 Cremona; there was another corps, from ten to 
 
 I .IIIIC IRY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
 
 Orders sent in anticipa- 
 102 ,ioM ''>' BouMiarte to 
 liis officers. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The Austrians preparing 
 to attack Piacenza, en- 
 counter Lannes. 
 
 1800. 
 June. 
 
 eleven thousand strong, employed on these two last 
 points. 
 
 Such was the distribution of the fifty and some 
 thousand more soldiers, which Bonaparte had at 
 that moment at his disposal : thirty-two thou- 
 sand were at the central point of Stradella ; nine 
 or ten thousand on the Tessino ; three or four 
 thousand at Milan and Arona ; finally, ten or 
 eleven thousand on the inferior course of the Po 
 and of the Adda, all placed in such a manner 
 as to sustain each other reciprocally with ex- 
 treme promptitude. Thus in effect, on a no- 
 tice from the Tessino, Bonaparte could in a day 
 fly to the succour of the ten thousand French 
 who guarded it. On an alarm from the Lower 
 Po, he was able in the same space of time to de- 
 scend on Piacenza and Cremona, while general 
 Loison, in defending the passage of the river, 
 would give him time to come to his aid. Each 
 and all of these, on their part, could march upon 
 Stradella, and thus reinforce Bonaparte in as small 
 a space of time as it cost him to proceed to them. 
 
 In this case Bonaparte seemed to abandon his 
 usual custom of concentrating his troops on the eve 
 of an important battle. If such a concentration 
 pass for a great performance in the art of war, 
 when it is executed properly at the moment of a 
 decisive action, in the circumstance of two adver- 
 saries marching one against the other, it is a dif- 
 ferent affair, one of the two being desirous of 
 escaping, and the chief skill consisting in stopping 
 him before fighting. Such was the case here. It 
 was necessary that Bonaparte should extend a net 
 around the Austrian army, and that this net should 
 he strong enough to hold it ; because if there had 
 been on the Tessino and Lower Po advanced guards 
 only, as most proper to give notice, but not to close 
 a road against an enemy, the object would have 
 wholly failed. There must be on all points posts 
 capable at the same time of giving notice and of 
 checking the enemy, while a principal body is re- 
 tained in the centre, ready to hasten to any quarter 
 with adequate means. It was impossible to com- 
 bine with deeper art the employment of his force, 
 and to modify more skilfully the application of his 
 own principles, than Bonaparte did upon this occa- 
 sion. It is in their manner of the application of a 
 just but general principle according to circum- 
 stances, that we acknowledge the men of superior 
 power in action. 
 
 The plan settled, Bonaparte issued corresponding 
 orders. Lannes, with the division of Watrin, had 
 been moved to Stradella by Pavia and Belgio- 
 joso. It was of moment that Chainbarlhac's, Gar- 
 danne's, Monnier's, and Boudet's divisions should 
 support him with their strength before the Aus- 
 trians, who, repulsed from Piacenza, joining general 
 Ott towards Tortona, should be able to press upon 
 him. This had been foreseen by Bonaparte with 
 wonderful sagacity. Not able himself to quit Milan 
 before the 8th, to reach Stradella by the 9th, he 
 sent to Berthier, Lannes, and Murat the following 
 instructions : " Concentrate at Stradella. On the 
 8th or 9th, at the latest, you will have fifteen 
 or eighteen thousand Austrians on your backs 
 coming from Genoa. Encounter and rout them. 
 There will be so many the less to fight in the de- 
 cisive battle which awaits us with the whole army 
 of Melas." Having issued these orders he left 
 
 Milan on the 8th, to cross the Po in .person, in 
 order to be at Stradella the next day. 
 
 It was impossible to divine with more exactness 
 the movements of the enemy. We have just before 
 said that three Austrian detachments had useks !v 
 shown themselves before Piacenza ; that the de- 
 tachment arrived from Tuscany by Fiorenzuola 
 had been driven back; that the corps of general 
 Gottesheim, which had descended with infantry by 
 the valley of the Trebia, had been repulsed into 
 that valley; finally, that general O'Reilly, hasten- 
 ing from Alexandria with his cavalry, had Lien 
 forced to return towards Tortona. But general 
 Ott, on his side, marching with the principal corps 
 by the road of Genoa upon Tortona, arrived at 
 Stradella on the 9th of June, in the morning, as 
 had been foreseen by Bonaparte. He brougin in 
 his advance generals Gottesheim and O'Reilly, 
 whom he had met on their retreat ; and lie deter- 
 mined in consequence to make a very vigorous 
 attack upon Piacenza, not dreaming that the French 
 army could be almost entirely stationed in echelon 
 in ihe defile of Stradella. He had, counting the 
 troops that had joined him, seventeen or eighteen 
 thousand men. Lannes was unable to unite on the 
 morning of the 9th more than seven or eight thou- 
 sand ; but in consequence of the reiterated orders 
 of the commander-in-chief five or six thousand 
 were to join him during the day. The field of 
 battle was that which we have described. Lannes 
 presented himself, with his left, on the heights of 
 the Apennines, his centre in the high road towards 
 the little town of Casteggio, and his right in the 
 plains of the Po. He committed the error of pro- 
 ceeding a little too much in advance of Stradella 
 towards Casteggio and Montebello, where the road 
 ceases to form a defile owing to the extent of the 
 plains. But the French, full of confidence, although 
 inferior in numbers, were capable of doing great 
 service under such a leader as Lannes, who had 
 the art of drawing his troops any where after 
 him. 
 
 Lannes, pushing Watrin's division upon Casteggio 
 with vigour, drove back the advanced posts of 
 O'Reilly. His plan was to take the hamlet of Cas- 
 teggio, situated on the road before him. either by 
 attacking it in front or turning it by the declivities 
 of the Apennines. The numerous artillery of the 
 Austrians, in position on the road, commanded the 
 ground in all directions. Two battalions of the 6th 
 light endeavoured to capture this murderous ar- 
 tillery by turning to the right, while the 3rd bat- 
 talion of the 6th and the entire 40th tried to gain 
 the neighbouring hills on the left ; the division of 
 Watrin marched upon Casteggio itself, where it 
 met with the main body of the enemy. A fierce 
 combat ensued on every point. The Fi'ench were 
 near carrying the positions they had attacked, 
 when general Gottesheim hastened with his in- 
 fantry to support O'Reilly, and overthrow the bat- 
 talions which had surmounted the heights. Lannes, 
 ;mii<lst a tremendous fire, supported his men, and 
 prevented their yielding to numbers. Still they 
 were on the point of giving way when the division 
 of Chambarlhac arrived, and a part of the corps of 
 general Victor : general Rivaud, at the head of the 
 43rd, climbed the heights anew, rallied the French 
 battalions on the point of being repulsed, and, after 
 unheard-of efforts, succeeded in maintaining him-
 
 1800. Battle of Montebello : conse 
 
 June. quences of the victory. 
 
 MARENGO. 
 
 Desaix joins the army. — Wel- 
 comed by the first consul. — 
 Plain of Marengo described. 
 
 103 
 
 self. At the centre on the high road, the Ob'th 
 went to the assistance of general Watrin in his 
 attack upon Casteggio ; and there the 24th, ex- 
 tending itself to the right on the plain, attempted 
 to turn the enemy's left, in order to stop the fire of 
 his artillery. During this combined effort on the 
 wings, the gallant Watrin had to sustain an ob- . 
 stinate conflict in Casteggio ; he took and lost the 
 place several times. But Lannes, present every 
 where, gave the decisive impulse. By his orders, 
 general Rivaud on the left, having become master 
 of the heights, crossed them, and descended in the 
 rear of Casteggio. The troops, sent on the right 
 into the plain, turned the place so hotly contested, 
 and both marched to Montebello; while general 
 Watrin, having made a last effort on the enemy's 
 centre, broke through, and at last proceeded past 
 ggio. The Austrians, finding themselves thus 
 repulsed at all points, fled to Montebello, leaving 
 in the hands of the French a considerable body of 
 pri-oners. 
 
 The conflict lasted from eleven o'clock in the 
 morning until eight in the evening. The Austrians 
 were the Bame troops that had besieged Genoa, 
 and had been hardened by Masse'na to the most 
 furious fighting, as they showed by their despera- 
 tion in the plains of Piedmont, when endeavouring 
 to force their way through. They were supported 
 by a numerous artillery, and displayed more than 
 ordinary bravery. The first consul arrived at the 
 moment when the battle was concluding, the time 
 and place of which he had so well foreseen. He 
 found Lannes covered with blood, but intoxicated 
 with delight, and the troops overjoyed at their 
 success. They had, as be afterwards said, the con- 
 sciousness that they had admirably comported 
 themselves. The conscripts showed that they were 
 worthy to rival the older soldiers. Four thousand 
 prisoners were taken, and three thousand of the 
 enemy killed and wounded. The victory was dif- 
 ficult to gain, since twelve thousand combatants 
 had to encounter eighteen thousand. 
 
 Such was the battle of Montebello, that gave to 
 Lannes and his family the title which to this day 
 distinguishes it among the French people, — a glo- 
 rious title, that its sous may well be proud to 
 
 bear. 
 
 This rencontre was a good commencement, and 
 announced to Me'las that the road would not be 
 easily opened to him. General Ott, weakened to 
 xtent of seven thousand men, retired in con- 
 sternation upon Alexandria. The courage of the 
 French was now elevated to its highest point. 
 
 The first consul hastened to unite his divisions, 
 in order to occupy the road from Alexandria to 
 Piacenza, which it was probable Melas would take. 
 
 Lannes being too much advanced, the first consul 
 fell back a little to the point called Stradella, be- 
 the defile, narrower in that place by the 
 approximation of the- heights to the river, ri Qi 
 tie- position more safe. 
 
 The 10th and 11th of June were passed in watch- 
 ing the Austrian movements, concentrating tin: 
 army, giving it rest after its hasty marches, an I 
 organizing, as well as it was possible, the artillery, 
 
 . till now, no more than torty held] 
 could lie reunited on the spot. 
 
 On the llih there arrived at head-quarters one 
 of the most distinguished generals of that period, 
 
 Desaix, who, perhaps, equalled Moreau, Masse'na, 
 Kleber, or Lannes, in military talents, but in the 
 rare perfection of his character surpassed them all. 
 He had quitted Egypt, where Kleber had com- 
 mitted political errors that we shall shortly have 
 the irksomeness of detailing. Desaix had in vain 
 endeavoured to prevent them, and had fled to Eu- 
 rope to avoid the painful sight. These errors he 
 afterwards gloriously repaired. Desaix, stopped 
 by thp Ejiglish on the coast of France, had been 
 treated by them in a disgraceful manner. He ar- 
 rived full of indignation, and asked for the oppor- 
 tunity of .avenging himself sword in hand. He 
 loved the first consul with a sort of passion; and 
 Bonaparte, touched by the attachment of such a 
 noble heart, returned it in the warmest friendship 
 which he ever felt in his life. They passed a 
 whole night in relating to each other the events 
 which had occurred in Egypt and France, and the 
 first consul immediately gave him the command of 
 the divisions of Monnier and Boudet united. 
 
 The next day, which was the 12th of June, Bo- 
 naparte was surprised to see no appearance of the 
 Austrians, and could not help being under some 
 apprehensions. Astonished that in such a situation 
 Melas should waste time and suffer every outlet to 
 be closed against him, judging his opponent too 
 much by his own feelings, he said that Melas could 
 not have wasted hours so precious, and that he 
 must surely have made his escape, either by re- 
 mounting towards Genoa, or by crossing the Upper 
 Po under the notion of forcing the Tessino. Tired 
 of waiting for him, he left his. post at Stradella on 
 the afternoon of the 12th, and advanced, followed 
 by his entire army, to the height of Tortona. He 
 ordered that fortress to be blockaded, and esta- 
 blished his head- quarters at Voghera. On the 
 13th, in the morning, he passed the Scrivia, and 
 marched forth on the immense plain which stretches 
 between the Scrivia and the Bonn i da, that at the 
 tt time has no other name than the plain of 
 Marengo. It was the very same place on which, 
 but a few months before, his prescient imagination 
 had represented to him a great battle with Melas. 
 On this plain the Po runs at a distance from the 
 Apennines, and leaves large open spaces, across 
 which the Bormida and Tanaro roll their waters 
 less rapidly, mingling near Alexandria, and then 
 flowing into the bed of the Po together. The, road 
 that skirts the foot of the Apennines as far as 
 Tortona, separating from it at that place, turns oil' 
 to the right, passing the Scrivia, and, opening on a 
 vast level, goes across this to a first village called 
 San Giuliano, to pa^s a second called Marengo ; 
 finally, it crosses the Bormida, and leads to the 
 celebrated fortress of Alexandria. " If the enemy 
 intended to follow the high road from Piaeeu/.a to 
 Mantua, it is here he would wait for me,'! said 
 Bonaparte to himself; "here his numerous artillery, 
 his line cavalry, would have great advantages, and 
 he would fight with his united means." .Making 
 this reflection, and in order to judge of the cor- 
 rectness; of his conjecture, hi' ordered his light 
 cavalry to scour the country*, but not a single 
 ,\ustrian soldier was s en. Towards the fall of 
 day he sent on Victor's corps, composed of the 
 divisions of Oardanne and Chambarlhac, as far as 
 
 .Marengo. A detael 'lit of Austrians was found 
 
 there, the corps of O'Reilly, which at the mo
 
 Bonaparte at Torre di 
 104 Garofolo. — The Aus- 
 trians in despair. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The Austrians resolve to 
 give battle. — Delibera- 
 tions of the generals. 
 
 1800. 
 June. 
 
 ment defended the village of Marengo, but imme- 
 diately abandoned it and repassed the Bormida. 
 Reconnoitring before, without proper care, it was 
 believed that the Austrians had not passed the 
 bridge over the Bormida. 
 
 From all these circumstances Bonaparte had no 
 doubt, to use his own expression, "that Me'las had 
 escaped." He would not have abandoned the 
 plain, and, above all, the village of Marengo, which 
 is its entrance, if he intended to give battle, and 
 acquire by conquest the road from Alexandria to 
 Piacenza. Cheating himself by a reflection so well 
 founded, Bonaparte left Victor with his two divi- 
 sions at Marengo ; he placed Lannes in echelon on 
 the plain, with the division of Watrin,and hastened 
 to his head-quarters at Voghera, to obtain some 
 intelligence of general Moncey, who was stationed 
 on the Tessino, and of Duhesme on the Lower Po; 
 and to discover whether they knew any thing of 
 Me'las. Officers of the staff, setting out from all 
 points, were directed to come to him at head- 
 quarters. But the Scrivia had overflowed, and he 
 was fortunately obliged to stay at Torre di Garo- 
 folo. The intelligence from the Tessina and Po, 
 intelligence of the same day's date, announced that 
 all was tranquil in that direction. Me'las had at- 
 tempted nothing upon that side: what had become 
 of him ? Bonaparte thought that he had marched 
 back to Genoa by Novi, in order to pass into the 
 valley of the Trebia, and so fall upon Cremona. It 
 seemed that if he were not in Alexandria, nor on 
 the march for the Tessino, he could not have taken 
 any other direction. It was possible that, follow- 
 ing the example of Wurmser at Mantua, he had 
 gone and shut himself up in Genoa, where, fed by 
 the English, and having a garrison of fifty thousand 
 men, he would have the means of protracting the 
 war. These ideas had taken a strong hold upon 
 the mind of the first consul. He ordered Desaix 
 to march upon Rivalta and Novi, with the division 
 of Boudet only. It was by Novi that Me'las must 
 pass to march on Genoa from Alexandria. 
 
 However, by a happy presentiment, he kept the 
 division of Monnier, Desaix's second, in reserve at 
 head-quarters; and he provided, as far as possible, 
 for every thing, by leaving Victor at Marengo with 
 two divisions, Lannes with one on the plain, and 
 Murat at his sides with all his cavalry. If the dis- 
 tribution of the French force at this time be re- 
 flected upon, their dispersion is very striking ; 
 scattered, a part on the Tessino, a part on the in- 
 ferior Po and Adda, and another part on the route 
 to Genoa. This was the necessary consequence of 
 the general situation, and of the circumstances of 
 the moment. 
 
 On the evening of the 13th, that preceding one 
 of the grandest days in history, Bonaparte, in the 
 village of Torre di Garofolo, lay down and fell 
 asleep, expecting to receive news of the Austrians 
 on the morrow. 
 
 In the mean time confusion prevailed in Alexan- 
 dria. The Austrian army was in despair. A coun- 
 cil of war was held ; but none of the resolutions of 
 which the French commander was fearful, were 
 adopted. There had been some conversation about 
 retreating by the Upper Tessino and the Po, and 
 also of .shutting themselves up in Genoa; but the 
 Austrian generals, brave men as they were, had 
 preferred following the dictates of honour. " We 
 
 have been fighting for these eighteen months like 
 good soldiers, after all," they said ; " we have re- 
 conquered Italy; we were in march on the frontiers 
 of France ; our government urged us onwards ; it 
 gave us those orders but yesterday ; it ought to 
 have advised us of the dangers which threatened 
 our rear. If any blame belongs to our position, it 
 is the fault of our government. It was the duty of 
 that government to announce the danger which 
 threatened us. All the means of evading an en- 
 counter with the French army are complicated, 
 difficult, and hazardous; there is but one fair and 
 honourable way, that is, to break through. To- 
 morrow we must open a road at the expense of our 
 blood. If we succeed, we shall rejoin, after a vic- 
 tory, the route from Piacenza to Mantua ; if not, 
 after having clone our duty, the responsibility of 
 our disaster will press on other shoulders than 
 ours." The first consul never conceived that they 
 would have lost so much time in deliberation in a 
 similar conjuncture. But no one equalled him in 
 promptitude of determination ; and Me'las was in a 
 situation sufficiently unfortunate to obtain pardon 
 for the cruel perplexity which retarded his defini- 
 tive resolutions. Tn his decision to fight, the Aus- 
 trian general conducted himself like a soldier of 
 honour; but he is to be censured for leaving twenty- 
 five thousand men in the fortresses of Coni, Turin, 
 Tortona, Genoa, Acqui, Gavi, and Alexandria ; 
 more than all, after the loss that general Ott sus- 
 tained at Montebello. With twenty-five thousand 
 men in these places, three thousand in Tuscany, 
 twelve thousand between Mantua and Venice, he 
 had at most but forty thousand to bring into the 
 field where the issue of the war was to be decided. 
 To this number had fallen the fine army of one 
 hundred and twenty thousand men, which, at the 
 commencement of the campaign, was to force the 
 southern frontier of France. Forty thousand had 
 perished, forty thousand were scattered, forty thou- 
 sand were about to fight in order to escape the 
 Caudine Forks; but among the last was a powerful 
 cavalry, and two hundred pieces of cannon. 
 
 It was agreed upon, for the following day, that 
 the entire army should issue forth by the bridges 
 of the Bormida ; for there were two bridges pro- 
 tected by the same redoubt, despite the false 
 account given of them to Bonaparte : general Ott, 
 it was also decided, should, at the head of ten 
 thousand men, half cavalry and half infantry, leave 
 the Bormida, and, taking the left, direct himself 
 upon the village called Castel Ceriolo ; that gene- 
 rals Haddick and Kaim, at the head of the main 
 body of the army, about twenty thousand men, 
 should carry the village of Marengo, which affords 
 the entrance to the plain ; and that general 
 O'Reilly, with five or six thousand men, should 
 take the right, and ascend the Bormida ; a power- 
 ful artillery sustaining the movement. A con- 
 siderable detachment, principally cavalry, was left 
 in the rear of Alexandria upon the road of Acqui, 
 to observe the troops of Suchet, of the arrival of 
 which they had heard some floating rumours. 
 
 The vast plain of Marengo has been described; 
 the great road from Alexandria to Piacenza tra- 
 verses through its entire length, inclosed between 
 the Scrivia and Bormida. The French, marching 
 from Piacenza and the Scrivia, came in the first 
 instance to San Giuliano, and in three quarters of
 
 1800. 
 June. 
 
 The Austrians pass the Bormida. 
 Occupation of the ground. 
 Content : the Fontanone. 
 
 MARENGO. 
 
 General Haddick mortally 
 wounded. — Battle of Ma- 
 rengo begun. 
 
 103 
 
 a league further to Marengo, which nearly touched 
 the Bormida, ami formed the principal outlet that 
 the Austrians had to acquire in coming out of 
 Alexandria. Between San Giuliano and Marengo 
 there proceeded in a right line the road which was 
 about to be contested, and on both sides extended 
 a plain covered with vineyards and cornfields. 
 Below Marengo on the right of the French and on 
 the left of the Austrians was Caste] Ceriolo, a 
 large hamlet, by which general Ott would pass, to 
 turn the corps of general Victor that was stationed 
 in Marengo. Upon Marengo there was to be di- 
 i tli-: principal attack of the Austrians, since 
 that village commanded the entrance to the plain. 
 
 At break of day the Austrian army passed over 
 the two bridges of the Bormida, but its movement 
 was slow, because it had but one issue in the work 
 that covered the bridges. O'Reilly went first, and 
 encountered Gardanne's division, that general Vic- 
 tor, having occupied Marengo, had placed in ad- 
 vance. The division consisted of the 101st and 
 44th demi-brigades only. O'Reilly, supported by 
 a numerous artillery, and having double the num- 
 ber of men, obliged the division to retreat anil shut 
 up in Marengo. Fortunately O'Reilly did 
 not follow it into the place, but waited until he 
 was supported by the centre under general Had- 
 dick. The slowness of their march in passing the 
 defile caused by the bridges, made the Austrians 
 lose two or three hours. At length generals Had- 
 dick and Kaim formed in the rear of O'Reilly, 
 and general Ott crossed the bridges to proceed to 
 Oastel Ceriolo. < General Victor immediately united 
 his two divisions for the defence of Marengo, and 
 sent off to inform the first consul that the Austrian 
 army was advancing in its entire force with the 
 clear intention of giving battle. 
 
 An obstacle in the nature of the ground seconded 
 very appropriately the courage of the French 
 soldiers. In advance of Marengo, between the 
 Austrians and French, there was a deep and 
 muddy rivulet called Fontanone. It ran between 
 Marengo and the Bormida, and emptied its con- 
 tents a little lower down into the Bormida itself. 
 Victor placed towards his right, that is, in the 
 village of Marengo, the 101st and 44th demi- 
 brigades, under general Gardanne; on the [< 
 the village the 21th, 4'M-d, ami 96th, under general 
 Chambarlhac; a little in the rear, general Keller- 
 inann with the 20th, 2nd, and 3th cavalry, and one 
 squadron of tin- 12th. The rest of the 12th was 
 on th>- Higher Bormida observing the distant 
 movements of the enemy. 
 
 oeral Eladdiok advanced to the rivulet, covered 
 by twenty-ftvi | caiiie.ii, which opened upon 
 
 the French. He threw himself gallantly into the 
 bed of the Fontanone at tin: head of Bellegarde'e 
 division. General Etivaud, leaving the shelter of 
 the village with the 44th and ]01st, opened a direct 
 fire upon tin- Austrians, who were trying to issue 
 
 out. A violent conflict ensued along tie- Fonta- 
 none, Haddick making many attempts; but Rivaud ', 
 holding himself firm under the Austrian battery, 
 stopped, by tie' lii'- of his musketry, riven at a 
 short distance, the corps of Haddick, and 
 repulsed it in disorder to the other side of the 
 rivulet. The- unfortunate general Had lick re- 
 
 • Oliver Rivaud. 
 
 ceived a mortal wound, and his soldiers retreated. 
 Melas then made the troops of general Kaim ad- 
 vance, and ordered O'Reilly to proceed along the 
 Bormida, and ascend it as far as a place called 
 Stortigliona, in order to execute a charge on the 
 French left with the cavalry of Pilati. But at the 
 same moment general Kellermann was mounted at 
 the head of his division of cavalry, observing the 
 motion of the Austrian squadrons; while Lannes, 
 who had remained the night before on the left of 
 Victor, in the plain, placed himself in line between 
 Marengo and Caste! Ceriolo. The Austrians then 
 made another effort. Gardanne's and Chambarl- 
 hac's divisions, drawn up in a semi-circle along 
 the semi-circular bed of the Fontanone, were 
 placed in such a manner as to be able to pour a 
 converging tire on the point of attack. They 
 made dreadful work with their musketry among 
 the troops of general Kaim. During this time 
 general Pilati, ascending higher, succeeded in 
 crossing the Fontanone at the head of two thousand 
 The brave Kellermann, who on this day 
 added greatly to the glory attached to his name at 
 Valniy, dashed upon the scpaadrons of Pilati as 
 soon as they attempted to open out, sabreing and 
 precipitating them into the muddy bed of that 
 stream, which could not have been better traced 
 by art for covering the French position. 
 
 Up to this moment, though the French, surprised, 
 had only the two corps of Victor and Lannes in 
 line, or about fifteen or sixteen thousand men 
 to resist thirty-six thousand ; still owing to the 
 fault of the Austrians, in not on the day before 
 taking possession of Marengo, a fault which gained 
 for them some advantage, by leading Bonaparte 
 into error, the French had gained time to wait the 
 arrival of the commander-in-chief and of the 
 reserves remaining behind or despatched on the 
 road to Novi. 
 
 Such was the state of things, when Melas de- 
 cided on making the last effort to save the honour 
 and freedom of bis army; and bravely seconded 
 by his soldiers, who were all veterans, whose 
 victories in the preceding campaigns had height- 
 ened their courage, he made another attack 
 upon the French line. General Ott, who had 
 taken much time to file off, now began to be able 
 to aet towards the Austrian left. He maiueuvred 
 with the design to turn the French, and, travers- 
 ing Caste] Ceriolo, attacked Lannes, who being 
 
 placed beside Victor, between Marengo and Castel 
 
 Ceriolo, formed the right of the French line. 
 While Ott occupied the attention of Lannes, the 
 corps of O'Reilly, Haddick, and Kaim united, were 
 anew directed on the Fontanone, in front of -Ma- 
 rengo. A formidable artillery supported all their 
 movements. The grenadiers of l.attermann en- 
 tered the rivulet, and, passing it, gained the other 
 Bide. The division id' Chambarlhac, placed on the 
 left of Marengo, began a most destructive lire 
 upon them, yet. still a battalion of these grenadiers 
 continued to keep its ground beyond the Foiita- 
 none ; Melas redoubled his cannonade on the 
 
 division of Chambarlhac, which was not com rid 
 
 by the houses of the village, as those that defended 
 
 -Manngo were. In the mean time tin- Austrian 
 
 pioneers hastily constructed a bridge of trestles. 
 The gallant Itivaud, at the head of the 44th, 
 sallying from the village of Marengo, and march-
 
 Progress of the battle. 
 106 Bonaparte hastens to, 
 the field. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 He rallies the troops, , finft 
 and makes a new T 
 disposition." June - 
 
 ing upon the enemy in spite of the grape-shot, was 
 on the point of driving them into the Fontanone, 
 but the murderous discharge of artillery stopped 
 the 44th, thinned by this obstinate struggle, and 
 Rivaud was himself wounded. Seizing the oppor- 
 tune moment, Lattermann's grenadiers advanced 
 in a body and penetrated into Marengo. Rivaud, 
 covered with blood, placed himself again at the 
 head of the 44th, and, making a vigorous charge 
 on the grenadiers, drove them out of Marengo ; 
 but, on leaving the shelter of the houses, they were 
 received with such a dreadful fire of artillery, that 
 he was unable to force them back over the brook, 
 which had so far well protected the French army. 
 Enfeebled by loss of blood, this brave officer was 
 obliged to submit to be carried off the field. The 
 Austrian grenadiers remained masters of the posi- 
 tion which they had carried. At this instant the 
 division of Chambarlhac, which, as has been ob- 
 served, was unprotected by any shelter from the 
 grape-shot, and wholly uncovered, was nearly de- 
 stroyed. General O'Reilly repulsed the 96th, 
 placed at the extreme left of the French, and then 
 began to assume the offensive. Towards the right, 
 Lannes, who at first had only the single corps 
 of general Kaim to oppose, was on the point of 
 driving it into the bed of the Fontanone, when he 
 discovered that he was suddenly turned by general 
 Ott, who was issuing from Castel Ceriolo with a 
 large body of cavalry. Champeaux's brigade of 
 cavalry, drawn up in the rear of Lannes' corps, as 
 Kellermann's was in rear of Victor's, made in vain 
 several brilliant charges, while the unfortunate 
 Champeaux himself received a mortal wound. 
 Our army, on both wings severely handled, separated 
 itself from Marengo, by which it had so tenaciously 
 held, and then had nothing to sustain it. It ran 
 the hazard of being forced into the plain in the 
 rear, without any support, against two hundred 
 pieces of cannon and an immense cavalry. 
 
 It was now ten o'clock in the morning; the car- 
 nage had been horrible. A considerable number 
 of wounded encumbered the road between Marengo 
 and San Giuliano. Already a part of Victor's 
 corps, overpowered by numbers, was retreating, 
 crying that all was lost. All must have been lost 
 too, without a reinforcement of troops which had 
 not been wearied out, and, more than all, without a 
 great soldier capable of regaining the victory 
 wrested from his troops. 
 
 Bonaparte, in receiving intelligence that the 
 Austrians, who he feared would escape him, had 
 taken his army by surprise in the plain of Marengo, 
 so deserted on the previous day, hastened from 
 Torre di Garofolo, congratulating himself upon 
 the lucky inundation of the Scrivia, which had 
 prevented his going on to Voghera to pass the 
 night. He brought with him the consular guard, 
 a body of men not numerous, but of unequalled 
 courage, which subsequently became the imperial 
 guard : he also brought Monnier's division, com- 
 posed of three excellent demi-brigades, and was 
 followed at a short distance by a reserve of two 
 regiments of cavalry : he, lastly, sent orders for 
 Desaix to march in all haste upon San Giuliano. 
 
 The first consul, at the head of the reserve, 
 proceeded in a gallop to the field of battle. He found 
 Lannes attacked on the right by the cavalry and 
 infantry of general Ott, endeavouring still to sup- 
 
 port himself on the left about Marengo. Gardanne 
 was defending himself in the hedges of that village, 
 the object of such a furious contest ; and on the 
 other side, Chambarlhac's division, thundered upon 
 by the Austrian artillery, was dispersing. 
 
 Over this scene he judged, with a military glance, 
 what was most needful to be done, to re-establish 
 the state of affairs. The broken left was in a state 
 of utter rout, but the right still maintained its 
 ground, being only threatened, — and that was the 
 point, therefore, which it was proper to reinforce. 
 By holding firmly on Castel Ceriolo, he would have 
 a point of support in the middle of that vast plain ; 
 he would be able to pivot upon that point his 
 strengthened wing, and bring his beaten wing into 
 the rear out of reach of the enemy. If he should, 
 by this movement, lose the high road from Ma- 
 rengo to San Giuliano, the mischief would be re- 
 parable; because behind the new position there 
 passed another road, which led to Sale", and from 
 Sale" to the banks of the Po. Thus his line of retreat 
 to Pavia would still be secure. Placed besides 
 on the right of the plains, he would be on the 
 Austrian flank, since they would take the great 
 road from Marengo to San Giuliano, if they in- 
 tended to turn their victory to any profit. 
 
 These reflections were made with the rapidity of 
 lightning : Bonaparte instantly put into execution 
 the resolution he conceived in consequence. He 
 sent forward in the plain to the right of Lannes 
 the eight hundred grenadiers of the consular 
 guard, and ordered them to stop the Austrian 
 cavalry, until the arrival of the three demi-brigades 
 of Monnier. These brave men formed themselves 
 into a square, and received with admirable cool- 
 ness the charges of the Lobkowitz dragoons, stand- 
 ing unbroken by the reiterated assaults of a multi- 
 tude of horse. A little to their right, Bonaparte 
 ordered two of Monnier's demi-brigades, that ar- 
 rived at that moment, to direct themselves upon 
 Castel Ceriolo. These two demi-brigades, the 70th 
 and 49th, conducted by general Carra St. Cyr, 
 marched in advance, aud sometimes formed in a 
 square to resist the cavalry, sometimes in columns 
 to charge the infantry. They at length succeeded 
 in regaining the ground lost, and posted themselves 
 in the hedges and gardens of Castel Ceriolo. At 
 the same moment Bonaparte, at the head of the 
 72nd, went to the support of the left under Lannes, 
 while Dupont, the chief of the staff, set out to rally 
 in the rear the wrecks of Victor's corps pursued 
 by O'Reilly's horse, but protected by Murat with 
 the cavalry reserve. The presence of the first 
 consul, and the sight of the main corps of the horse- 
 guards, reanimated the troops, and the battle was 
 renewed with great fury. The gallant Watrin, of 
 Lannes' corps, with the 6th of the line and the 
 22nd, drove the soldiers of Kaim at the point of 
 the bayonet into the Fontanone. Lannes, infusing 
 into the 40th and 28th the fire of his own heroic 
 soul, pushed forward both regiments upon the 
 Austrians. Over the immense extent of that plain 
 of Marengo the battle raged with intense violence. 
 Gardanne endeavoured to retake Marengo ; Lannes 
 to make himself master of the rivulet, that on the 
 commencement of the battle had so well covered 
 the French troops ; the grenadiers of the consular 
 guard, continuing in square, a living citadel in the 
 middle of the battle-field, filled up the void be-
 
 1600. 
 June. 
 
 The Austrians carry all before them. 
 
 The French retreat. 
 
 Gallantry of the consular guard. 
 
 MARENGO. 
 
 Desaix, hearing the cannon of 
 Marengo, returns thither. 
 
 107 
 
 tween Lannos and the columns of Carra St. CjT, 
 which were in possession of the first houses of 
 I Ceriolo. Melas, with the courage of de- 
 spair, bringing his united masses upon Marengo, 
 issued at length from the village, driving back the 
 worn-out soldiers of Gardanne, who in vain took 
 advantage of every obstacle to aid their resistance. 
 O'Reilly continued to overwhelm with grape-shot 
 the division of Chambarihac, so long exposed to the 
 tiro of his immense artillery. 
 
 But there was no longer any possibility of 
 making head ; they must yield up the ground. Bo- 
 naparte ordered them to fall back by little and 
 little, at tlie same time keeping up a firm front. 
 Then, while his left, separated from Marengo, and 
 thus deprived of support, fell back rapidly as far 
 as San Giuliano, where it went to seek a shelter, he 
 continued to keep the right of the plain, and to 
 maintain himself in slow retreat, — thanks to Caste] 
 Ceriolo, the bravery of the consular guard, and, 
 above all, to Lannes, who made unequalled efforts. 
 If he could not support the right, the first consul 
 had still a certain line of retreat by Sale towards 
 the banks of the Po ; and if Desaix, who was sent 
 on the preceding day upon Novi, should return in 
 time, the field of battle might yet be reconquered, 
 and victory come back to the side of the French. 
 
 At this moment it was that Lannes and his 
 four demi-brigades exhibited efforts worthy of the 
 plaudits of posterity. The enemy, who had issued 
 out of Marengo upon the plain in one solid mass, 
 poured forth from eighty pieces of cannon a con- 
 tinued Bhower of round and grape shot. Lannes, 
 at the head of his demi-brigades, was two hours in 
 retreating three-fourths of a league. When the 
 enemy, coming too near, pressed upon him, he 
 halted and charged him with the bayonet. Although 
 ins were dismounted, a few light field-pieces, 
 drawn by the better horses, were brought up and 
 inaiueuvred with the same skill and boldness, as- 
 sisting by their fire the demi-brigades that were 
 • iiuch pressed; and they even dared to place 
 themselves in batt ry against the Austrian ar- 
 tillery. The consular guard, which the Austrians 
 were unable to break by their charges of cavalry, 
 was now smarted by cannon. The Austrians strove 
 Met it in breach like a wall, and then it was 
 d by Frimont'a horse. It sustained con- 
 siderable loss, but retreated unbroken. Carra St. 
 Gyratae retreated, and abandoned Castel Ceriolo, 
 but he still bad a last support in the vineyards in 
 the rt ar of that village. The French also remained 
 natton of the road from Ceriolo to Sale*. Every 
 the plain exhibited ■ vast pile of carnage, 
 
 upon uliii-h continual I xplosions were added to the 
 thunder of the artillery; for Lannes, in his retreat, 
 blew up such of the artillery-waggons as he was 
 unable to bring away. 
 
 Half the day was over. Melas made sure of the 
 victory which be had purchased so dearly. The 
 old soldier, who at I' n^t for courage showed him- 
 self worthy <-f his adversary on that memorable 
 day, re-entered Alexandria worn out with fatigue. 
 tt general Zach, the chief of his staff, in com- 
 mand, and si nt off couriers to all parts of Europe 
 to announce the defeat of general Bonaparte at 
 Marengo. The chief of the stall', then in full com- 
 mand, formed the greater part of the Austrian 
 army in a marching column on the great road 
 
 from Marengo to San Giuliano. He placed at the 
 head two regiments, then a column of Lattcrmann's 
 grenadiers, and after them the baggage. He dis- 
 posed on the left general O'Reilly, on the right the 
 corps of generals Kami and Haddick, and in this 
 order he sought to train the great road to Piacenza, 
 the object of so many efforts, and of the safety 
 itself of the Austrian army. 
 
 It was three o'clock : if no new event occurred, 
 the contest might be considered lost to the French, 
 unless they could, the next day, with the troops 
 drawn from the Tessino, the Adda, and the Po, 
 repair the misfortunes of that hour. Desaix was 
 still absent with the entire division of Boudet, — 
 would he come up in time \ Upon this depended 
 the fate of the battle. The aids-de-camp of the 
 first consul had been all the morning in search of 
 him. But before these messengers could reach 
 him, Desaix, on the first sound of a cannon in the 
 plain of Marengo, had instantly stopped his march. 
 The sound of distant cannon, tints heard, made him 
 conclude that, the enemy, of whom he was going in 
 search at Novi on the Genoa road, was at Ma- 
 rengo itself. He had instantly sent Savary with 
 some hundred " cavalry to Novi, to observe what 
 passed there, and with his division had awaited the 
 result, continually hearing the cannon of the French 
 and Austrians, which always resounded in the di- 
 rection of the Bormida. Savary having seen no 
 one in the direction of Novi, Desaix was more 
 than ever confirmed in his conjectures; and with- 
 out waiting a moment longer, he marched upon 
 Marengo, preceded by aids-de-camp, whom he 
 sent forward to announce his arrival to the first 
 consul. He had marched all the day, and at three 
 o'clock the heads of his columns began to show 
 themselves in the vicinity of San Giuliano. Ad- 
 vancing himself at full gallop, he came up to the 
 first consul, — happy impulse of a lieutenant so in- 
 telligent, and so full of devotedness, — happy fortune 
 of youth ! If, fifteen years afterwards, the first 
 consul, so well seconded here by his generals, had 
 found a Desaix on the field of battle at Waterloo, 
 lie would have preserved the empire, and France; 
 have kept her dominant position among the powers 
 of Europe. 
 
 The presence of Desaix went to change the 
 face of things. He was surrounded, and the for- 
 tunes of the day related to him. The generals 
 formed a circle about him and the first Consul, and 
 the seriousness of their situation was warmly dis- 
 i. The grt ater part of those present advised 
 a retreat. The first consul was not of that opinion, 
 and pressed hesaix forcibly to state what his might 
 be. Desaix glanced over the devastated field of 
 battle, then taking out his watch, and looking at 
 the hour, replied to Bonaparte, in these Bne yet 
 simple terms : '• Yes, the battle is lost: but it is 
 only three o'clock; there is yet time enough to gain 
 one." Bonaparte, highly pleased at the decision 
 
 Oi Desaix, so disposed affairs as to profit by the 
 
 resources which the general had brought with 
 him, and of the- advantages insured to bun by the 
 
 i s.n.iry himself sayi only fifty horse. M. Thian differs, 
 
 too, with the saniu writer about a bridge mi the Bormida, 
 
 • which, lower dawn than Alexandria, ought t" ha»a 
 
 beea destroyed, but was aoi »ary's Memoirs, voL L) 
 
 — Translalnr.
 
 Bonaparte addresses the re- Grand charge of Kellermann. ]snn 
 
 108 pulsed troops: they renew THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. —Lannes drives the Aus- j 1 ™"" 
 the attack.-Death ot Desaix. trians back to Marengo. 
 
 position taken in the morning. He was in the plain 
 on the right, whilst the enemy were on the left in 
 marching columns on the great road to San Giu- 
 liano. Desaix arriving at San Giuliano with six 
 thousand fresh men, and presenting his front to 
 the Austrians, might stop them, while the main 
 body of the army might throw itself on their flank. 
 The dispositions were instantly made in conse- 
 quence. 
 
 The three demi-hrigades of Desaix were formed 
 in advance of San Giuliano, a little to the right of 
 the high road ; the 30th formed in line ; the 9th 
 and 59th in close columns on its wings. A small 
 undulation of the ground concealed them from the 
 enemy. On their left were the wrecks of Cham- 
 barlhac's and Gardanne's troops under general 
 Victor, a little recovered. On their right in the 
 plain was Lannes, whose retreat was suspended, 
 then the consular guard, then Carra St. Cyr, who 
 had kept as near as possible to Castel Ceriolo ; and 
 between Desaix and Lannes, but a little in the 
 rear, the cavalry of Kellermann was placed in an 
 interval. A battery of twelve cannon, all that re- 
 mained of the artillery of the army, was placed 
 along the front of Desaix's corps. 
 
 These dispositions being made, the first consul 
 rode through the ranks of the soldiers, and spoke 
 to the different corps. " My friends," said he, 
 " we have retreated far enough ; do you recollect 
 that I am in the habit of lying on the field of 
 battle." After reanimating the soldiers, who had 
 gathered fresh spirits from the arrival of the re- 
 inforcements, and were burning with impatience to 
 conquer, he gave the signal. The charge was 
 beaten along the whole line. 
 
 The Austrians, rather in the order of march 
 than the order of battle, were proceeding along the 
 high road ; the column led by general Zach, the 
 ■ commander, being in front ; a little behind that, 
 the centre partly formed on the plain, and showing 
 its front to Lannes. 
 
 General Marmont at the same moment suddenly 
 unmasked twelve pieces of cannon. A shower of 
 grape-shot fell upon the head of the surprised 
 Austrian column, that expected no more resistance, 
 because they thought the French were in full 
 retreat. It had scarcely recovered from this sud- 
 den alarm, when Desaix moved on the 9th light, and 
 said to his aid-de-camp, Savary, " Go, and tell the 
 first consul that I am charging, and shall want to 
 be supported by the cavalry." Desaix, on horse- 
 back, led on the demi-brigade. He ascended with 
 it the slight rising ground which concealed his 
 advance from the view of the Austrians, and re- 
 vealed himself to them at once by a discharge of 
 musketry at the distance of only a few paces. The 
 Austrians returned the fire, and Desaix fell, a ball 
 having entered his breast. " Conceal my death," 
 he exclaimed to general Boudet, the chief of his 
 division, " for it may disconcert the troops," — a 
 useless caution of the hero ! He was seen to fall ; 
 and his soldiers, like those of Turenne, demanded 
 vengeance for the loss of their chief with loud 
 shouts. The 9th light, which gained that day the 
 title of the "incomparable," and bore it to the 
 end of our wars, — the 9th light, after pouring in 
 their fire, formed in column, and rushed upon the 
 solid Austrian mass. At this sight, the two first 
 regiments that stood in their way, in consternation 
 
 fell back disordered upon the second line, and dis- 
 appeared in its ranks. The column of Lattermanu's 
 grenadiers then became alone in the front, and 
 received the shock of the light troops. They kept 
 firm. The battle extended to both sides of the 
 high road. The 9th light was supported on the 
 right by the rallied troops of Victor, on the left by 
 the 30th and 59th demi- brigades of Boudet's di- 
 vision, which had followed the movement. The 
 grenadiers of Lattermann defended themselves 
 with difficulty ; when on a sudden an unforeseen 
 storm burst upon their heads. General Keller- 
 mann, who at the demand of Desaix had received 
 orders to charge, set off at a gallop, and, passing 
 between Lannes and Desaix, placed a part of his 
 squadrons en potence to face the Austrian cavalry 
 which he saw before him; with the rest he dashed 
 upon the flank of the grenadiers that were already 
 attacked in front by Boudet"s infantry. The 
 charge, executed with extraordinary force, cut the 
 column into two parts. Kellerniann's dragoons 
 sabred to the right and left; so that, pressed on all 
 sides, the unfortunate grenadiers were obliged to 
 lay down their arms. Two thousand of them were 
 made prisoners. At their head, general Zach him- 
 self was obliged to deliver up his sword. The 
 Austrians were thus deprived of direction at the 
 conclusion of the battle ; for Me'las, as we have 
 seen, believing the victory certain, had entered 
 Alexandria. Kellermann did not halt here ; he 
 darted upon the dragoons of Lichtenstein, and 
 put them to flight ; they fell back upon the Aus- 
 trian centre, which was formed in the plain in face 
 of Lannes, and put it into disorder. Lannes then 
 advanced upon the Austrian centre, while the 
 grenadiers of the consular guard and Carra St. 
 Cyr moved anew upon Castel Ceriolo, from which 
 they were not far off. On all the fine from San 
 Giuliano to Castel Ceriolo the French had adopted 
 the offensive ; they marched forward intoxicated 
 with joy and enthusiasm at seeing victory return 
 to them. The surprise and discouragement had 
 gone over to the Austrians. 
 
 How admirable is the power of the determined 
 will, that by perseverance in determination brings 
 back fortune ! The oblique line of the French 
 from San Giuliano to Castel Ceriolo advanced at 
 the charge, driving back the Austrians, who were 
 astounded at having a new battle to fight. Carra 
 St. Cyr soon reconquered the village of Castel 
 Ceriolo; and general Ott, who had been the first to 
 advance beyond that village, fearing to be over- 
 powered, thought of retrograding, to prevent his 
 communication from being cut off; a panic seized 
 upon his cavalry, which fled at full gallop, crying, 
 " To the bridges !" All tried to reach the bridges 
 of the Bormida. General Ott, repassing by Castel 
 Ceriolo with the troops of Vogelsang, was obliged 
 to force through the French. He succeeded, and 
 regained in a hurry the bank of the Bormida, where 
 all the Austrians hurried with headlong precipi- 
 tation. 
 
 The generals Kaim and Haddick strove to keep 
 the centre firm in vain. Lannes did not permit 
 them the means, but drove them into Marengo, 
 proceeding to push them into the Fontanone, and 
 from the Fontanone into the Bormida. But the 
 grenadiers of Weidenfeld made a momentary re- 
 sistance, to give O'Reilly time to return, he having
 
 1800. 
 
 June. 
 
 Consequences of the victory. 
 Bonaparte's regret for the 
 death of Desaix. 
 
 Exultation of the French and depres- 
 MARENGO. B i° n of tne Austrians, who send a 
 
 flag lit' truce. 
 
 109 
 
 advanced as far as Cassina Grossa. The Austrian 
 cavalry, too, attempted several times to stop the 
 advance of the French. It was driven back by the 
 horse grenadiers of the consular guard, led by 
 young Beauharnois and Bessieres. Lannes and 
 r, with their connected forces, fell at last 
 upon Marengo, and threw O'Reilly's, as well as 
 Weidenfeld's grenadiers into disorder. 'J'he con- 
 fusion on the bridges of the Bormida every moment 
 increased. Infantry, cavalry, artillery, were all 
 crowded together there. The bridges could not 
 hold them ; and numbers threw themselves into 
 the Bormida to ford it. An artillery conductor 
 endeavoured to cross with his gun, and suc- 
 ceeded. The entire artillery tried to imitate his 
 example, but a part of the carriages remained 
 in the bed of the river stuck fast. The French, in 
 hot pursuit, captured men, horses, cannon, and 
 ige. The unfortunate Me'las, who, two hours 
 before, had left his army victorious, hurried out at 
 the news of the disaster, and could scarcely credit 
 what he saw. He was in utter despair. 
 
 Such was the sanguinary conflict of Marengo; 
 which, as will soon be seen, exercised a vast influ- 
 ence upon the destiny of Fiance, and of the world; 
 it gave peace to the republic at the moment, and a 
 little later the empire to the first consul. This bat- 
 tle was cruelly contested, and it was worth the 
 contest ; since no result was ever of more im- 
 portance to one or the other of the combatants. 
 Me'las fought to avoid a fearful capitulation; Bona- 
 parte staked on that day his entire fortunes. The 
 number lost, considering the total of the combat- 
 ants, was immense, and out of the usual proportion. 
 The Austrians lost eight thousand killed and 
 wounded, and more than two thousand prisoners. 
 : r staff was cruelly decimated. General Had- 
 dick was killed ; generals Vogelsang, Lattennann, 
 Bellegarde, Lamarsaille, and Gottesheim were 
 wounded; and with them a great number of offi- 
 cers. They lost in men killed, wounded, or taken, 
 one-third of their army; if this army was thirty- 
 six thousand, or forty thousand strong, as was 
 generally Baid. Then, as to the French, they had 
 six thousand killed and wounded, and about one 
 thousand made prisoners, which shows a loss of 
 one-fourth of their fore.- out of twenty-eight thou- 
 sand present in the field. Their staff was as badly 
 treated as the Austrian. Generals Mainony, Ri- 
 vaud, Malhc-r, and Champeaux were wounded, the 
 mortally ; hut the greatest loss was Desaix. 
 Franc- hail not lost oik- more regretted during ten 
 years of war. Jn flu- view of the first consul this 
 •_Teat enough to diminish the pleasure of 
 the victory. His seeretary, Bourienne, congratu- 
 lating him upon his miraculous Buccess, said to 
 him : " What a glorious day !" " Yes,'' replied 
 
 Bonaparte, " it would have- boon indeed glorious, 
 if I could have embraced Desaix this evening on 
 
 thfl field of battle. I was going to make him 
 
 ministi r of war," In- added. " I would have made 
 him a prince if I could." The conqueror of 
 Marengo had yet no idea that ho should, at a 
 time' not distant, be able to pre crowns to those 
 
 who served him. 
 
 The body of the unfortunate Desaix was lying 
 near San Giuliano, amidst the vast field of slaugh- 
 ter. His aid-de-camp, Savary, who was a long 
 time attached to him, searched for his body among 
 
 the dead ; and, recognizing it by the abundance of 
 the hair, removed it with great care, wrapped in 
 a hussar's cloak, and, placing it on his horse, took it 
 to the head-quarters at the Torre di Garofolo. 
 
 Although the plain of Marengo waB inundated 
 with French blood, joy reigned in the army. 
 Soldiers and generals felt how meritorious had 
 been their conduct, and appreciated fully the great 
 importance of a victory gained on the rear of an 
 enemy. The Austrians, on the contrary, were in a 
 consternation; they knew that they were enveloped 
 and forced into submission to the will of the victor. 
 Me'las, who had two horses killed under him during 
 the day, conducted himself, in spite of his age, as 
 well as it was possible for the youngest and most 
 valiant soldiers in his army to have done ; he was 
 plunged in the deepest sorrow. lie had gone into 
 Alexandria to take a little rest, believing himself 
 tli- conqueror. Now he saw his army half de- 
 stroyed, flying by every outlet, abandoning its 
 artillery to the French, or leaving it in the 
 marshes of the Bormida. To finish his misfor- 
 tune, the chief of his staff, Zach, who enjoyed his 
 entire confidence, was a prisoner with the French. 
 He went from (tie of his generals to the other in 
 vain; none of them would give ;m opinion; while all 
 cursed the cabinet of Vienna, which had kept them 
 under such fatal illusions, and precipitated them 
 into an abyss. Still, something must be decided 
 upon — but what? To cut his way through the 
 enemy — that had been attempted, and had not 
 succeeded. Should he retire upon Genoa, or pass 
 the Upper Po, in order to force the Tessino ? 
 These resorts, difficult before a battle, were impos- 
 sible, since battle had been given and lost. General 
 Suchet was only some leagues in the rear, towards 
 Acqui, with the army of Liguria. Bonaparte was 
 in front of Alexandria, with the victorious army of 
 reserve. Both might form a junction, and cut off 
 the road to Genoa. General Moncey, who, with 
 the detachment from Germany, guarded the Tes- 
 sino, could be succoured by Bonaparte in as little 
 time as it would require to march upon Moncey. 
 He had no hope of safety on any side; and it was 
 ' necessary to adopt the idea of a capitulation, happy 
 if, in abandoning Italy, he insured the liberty of 
 the Austrian forces, and attained from the gene- 
 rosity of the conqueror, that this unfortunate army 
 should not be prisoners of war. It was in conse. 
 quence resolved, to send a Hag of truce to Bona- 
 parte, in order to commence a negotiation. The 
 prince of Lichtenst' in was chosen to proceed on 
 the following morning, being the 15th of June or 
 ■_'i; Prairial, to the French head-quarters. 
 
 On the other side, the first consul had many 
 reasons for treating with the Austrians. His prin- 
 cipal end was gained, for Italy was delivered by a 
 
 Millie battle. 
 
 After the victory which he had thus gained, 
 
 that enabled him to invest the Austrians on 
 
 every side, he was certain of obtaining the evacua- 
 tion of Italy. He might also rigorously demand 
 that flu' vanquished should lay down their arms 
 and surrender themBi Ives prisoners. Itut in 
 
 wounding the honour of brave nun he might per- 
 chance force them info some desperate . -let. This 
 would occasion a useless effusion of blood, and 
 Would more particularly lie attended with a loss 
 of time. Absent from Paris above a month, it
 
 Convention of Alexandria 
 \\Q signed by Melns and Bo- 
 naparte. — Its articles. 
 
 Reflections on the results 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. of the battle of Ma- 
 rengo. 
 
 1800. 
 June. 
 
 was important that he should return there as soon 
 as possible. There was a prisoner in the hands of 
 the French, general Zaeh, who might be made 
 a valuable intermediate agent. The first consul 
 opened his mind to him, and expressed in his pre- 
 sence how sincerely he felt desirous of peace ; that 
 he felt every wish to spare tbe imperial army 
 and to grant it the most honourable terms. The 
 Austrian flag of truce having arrived, he manifested 
 to the officer thus sent the same disposition that 
 he had exhibited to general Zaeh, and requested 
 them to return with Berthier to general Me'las to 
 arrange the basis of a capitulation. Following his 
 usual custom under similar circumstances, he de- 
 clared the irrevocable conditions under which he 
 Would treat, these being already settled in his own 
 mind, and announced that no modification of them 
 could happen. He consented that the Austrian 
 army should not be declared prisoners of war ; he 
 was willing that it should pass out with the honours 
 of war ; but he insisted that all the fortresses of 
 Liguria, Piedmont, Lombard}', and the Legations 
 should be immediately given up to France, and 
 that the Austrians should evacuate Italy as far as 
 the Mincio. The negotiators immediately pro- 
 ceeded to the Austrian head-quarters. 
 
 Although rigorous, the conditions were such as 
 were but natural, it may be said, generous. One 
 alone was painful, almost humiliating ; it was the 
 surrender of Genoa, after so much blood spilled, 
 and after an occupation of only a few days ; but 
 this was a point from which the conqueror would 
 not depart. Still Me'las sent his principal nego- 
 tiator to remonstrate against some of the conditions 
 in the proposed armistice. "Sir," said the first 
 consul with a little warmth, " my conditions are ir- 
 revocable. I did not begin my military life yester- 
 day; your position is as well known to me as to 
 yourselves. You are in Alexandria, encumbered 
 with dead, wounded, and sick, destitute of pro- 
 visions, deprived of the best soldiers in your army, 
 surrounded on every side. I am in a position to 
 demand any thing ; but I respect the grey hairs 
 of your general and the courage of your soldiers. — 
 I demand nothing that is not justified by the pre- 
 sent situation of affairs. Return to Alexandria ; 
 do as you please, you will have no other conditions." 
 
 The convention was signed on the same day, the 
 15th of June, at Alexandria, on the basis proposed 
 by Bonaparte. It was in the first place arranged 
 that there should be a suspension of arms in Italy 
 until the reception of a reply from Vienna. If the 
 terms of the treaty were sanctioned, the Austrians 
 were to be free to retire with the honours of wax* 
 behind the line of the Mincio. They engaged upon 
 retiring to give up into the hands of the French 
 all the strong places which they occupied. The 
 citadels of Tortona, Alexandria, Milan, Arona, and 
 Piacenza were to be remitted between the 16th 
 and 20th of June, or 27th of Prairial and 1st of 
 Messidor ; the citadels of Cevi, Savona, the for- 
 tresses of Coni and Genoa, between the ICth and 
 24th, and that of Urbino on the 2Gth. The Aus- 
 trian army was to be divided into three columns, 
 to retire one after another as fast as the places 
 were delivered up. The immense stores of pro- 
 visions accumulated by Me'las in Italy were to be 
 equally divided between the French and the Aus- 
 trians ; the artillery of the Italian foundries to go 
 
 to the French, that of the Austrian foundries to 
 the imperial army. The Austrians, after the 
 evacuation of Lombard}' as far as the Mincio, 
 were to retire behind the following boundary : — 
 the Mincio, the Fossa-Maestra, the left bank of 
 the Po, from Borgo- Forte as far as its mouth in the 
 Adriatic, Peschiera, and Mantua remained in pos- 
 session of the Austrians. It was verbally agreed 
 without any explanation, that the detachment of 
 the army at that time actually in Tuscany should 
 continue to occupy that province. Respecting the 
 states of the pope, and those of the king of Naples, 
 nothing was stipulated, as those princes were 
 foreign to the events in the north of Italy. If 
 this convention should not be ratified by the em- 
 peror, ten days were allowed for the resumption of 
 hostilities. In the meanwhile neither party was 
 to send any detachments into Germany. 
 
 Such are the main points of the celebrated con- 
 vention of Alexandria, which in one day obtained 
 for France the restitution of Upper Italy, and in- 
 volved the restitution of the whole. Me'las was 
 afterwards too much censured for the campaign 
 and treaty. It is proper to be just towards the 
 unfortunate, when, more than all, it is redeemed by 
 honourable conduct. Me'las was deceived regard- 
 ing the existence of the army of reserve by the 
 c.ibinet of Vienna, which never ceased to mislead 
 him with the most fatal illusions. When he was 
 undeceived, he may perhaps be justly reproached 
 for not having united his troops quickly and com- 
 pletely enough, and with having left too many men 
 in the fortresses. It was not behind the walla of 
 fortresses, but on the battle-field of Marengo, that 
 these were to be defended. This being admitted, 
 it must be acknowledged that Me'las conducted 
 himself as a brave man should do when he is sur- 
 rounded, he endeavoured to cut his way out sword 
 in hand. He attempted it bravely, and was de- 
 feated. After that he had but one thing left to do, 
 which was to secure the liberty of his army, because 
 Italy was irrevocably lost to him. He was unable 
 to get better terms than he obtained ; he might 
 have been obliged to submit to worse humiliations 
 had it been the desire of his conqueror. The con- 
 queror himself did well not to require more, since 
 had he determined on more, he would have run 
 the chance of driving brave men to sanguinary 
 extremities, and himself to lose most precious time, 
 his presence in Paris being indispensable. Me'las 
 deserves pity, and the conduct of the victor ad- 
 miration, who owed the result of the campaign not 
 to hazard, but to the most profound combinations, 
 most marvellously executed. 
 
 Some, fond of detraction, have pretended that 
 the victory of Marengo was due to general Keller- 
 mann, and that all the consequences were but 
 natural results. Why then, if Bonaparte must be 
 robbed of his glory, not attribute it to that noble 
 victim of a happy impulse, Desaix ; who guessing, 
 before having received them, the orders of his 
 commander, came to bring him victory and his 
 life ? Why not attribute it to the intrepid de- 
 fender of Genoa, who, in retaining the Austrians 
 on the Apenninc, gave Bonaparte time to descend 
 the Alps, and delivered them up to him half 
 destroyed ? Some say that generals Kellermann, 
 Desaix, and Masairta arc the real conquerors c«f 
 Marengo, any one except Bonaparte. But in this
 
 1800. 
 June. 
 
 Bonaparte, well seconded by his 
 lieutenants, the real conqueror 
 ut' -Marengo. 
 
 MARENGO. 
 
 His letter to the emperor of 
 Austria from the field of 
 battle. 
 
 HI I 
 
 world the voice of the public always decrees glory, 
 and the voice of the public has proclaimed the 
 conqueror of Marengo t<> be him wbo, with the 
 quick glance of nonius discovered die use that 
 might be made of the Higher Alps to pour down 
 on the rear of the Austria ns, having for three 
 months together deceived their vigilance; to be 
 him who created an army that did not before. exist; 
 rendered its creation incredible to all Europe, 
 traversed the St. Bernard over an unbeaten track, 
 appeared unexpectedly in the midst of Italy that 
 was confounded with astonishment, enveloped with 
 wonderful skill his unfortunate adversary, and 
 having fought a decisive battle with him, lost it in 
 the morning ami regained it in the evening. The 
 battle was certain to be regained on the following, 
 if it had not on the same day ; for besides the six 
 thousand men u:i ler Desaix, ton thousand on the 
 way from the Tcssino, and ten thousand posted on 
 the Po, presented infallible means to destroy the 
 army of the Austrians. Let us suppose the Aus- 
 trians victors on the lldi of June, entering into 
 the defile of Stradella, finding at Piacenza generals 
 Duhesme and Loisou with ten thousand men ready 
 to dispute the passage of the Po, having behind 
 them Bonaparte reinforced by the generals Desaix 
 and nfoncey — what could the A-ustrians have done 
 in such a dangerous place, stopped by a river well 
 defended, .and pursued by an army superior in 
 number ! They must have fallen more disastrously 
 than they fell in the Held of the Bormida. The 
 real conqueror of Marengo then was he who 
 mastered fortune by combinations, so profound, so 
 admirable, as to be without, equals in the history of 
 the greatest soldiers. 
 
 in other respects he was well served by his 
 lieutenants, and there is no need to sacrifice the 
 glory of any to construct his. Masse'na by an 
 heroic defence of Genoa, Desaix by the most 
 happy resolve, Lannes by incomparable firmness 
 on the plain of Marengo, Kellermann by his fine 
 charge of cavalry, concurred towards bis triumph. 
 He recompensed all in the most signal mode; and 
 in regard to Desaix, he- felt lor him the greatest 
 .sorrow. The first consul ordered the most mag- 
 nificent honours to be paid to the man who had 
 rendered Prance Buch eminent services. He even 
 took care of his military family, and placed about 
 his own person the two aids de-camp id' Desaix, 
 thrown out of employment at the generi l's de< 
 Rapp and Savary. 
 
 B !• ho quitted the battle-field of Marengo, 
 the lirst consul wrote another letter to the emperor 
 rmany, although he only obtained an indirect 
 answer to tin: first, addressed by -M. Thugut to 
 rand. Bonaparte cone ived that hie vietory 
 permitted him to renew his repelled advances. 
 At that moment be v. bed ardently lor j 
 
 tcify Prance without, ai li bad 
 pacified her within, wba his real vocation, and that 
 having accomplished this to!;, Ins pre ent autho 
 rity wool i tiinatized better than it would 
 
 be by new victories. Susceptible, besides, of the 
 npreseions-, he was deeply affected at the 
 sight of the plain ol Marengo, on which lay a fourth 
 of two armii ; and under Mi,, influence of these 
 feelings he wrote to the emperor of Austria a 
 lingular letter : 
 
 " It is oil the field of battle, amid the Bufferings 
 
 of a multitude of wounded, and surrounded by 
 
 fifteen thousand dead, that I conjure your majesty 
 to listen to the voice of humanity, and not to per- 
 mit two brave nations to slaughter each other for 
 interests to which they are strangers. It is for me 
 to urge your majesty; since I am nearer than you 
 to the theatre id' war, your heart cannot be so 
 strongly impressed as mine." 
 
 This letter was long ; the first consul discussed, 
 with an eloquence which was peculiar to himself, 
 and in language winch was not that of diplomacy, 
 the motives which France and Austria could have 
 for continuing still to arm against each other. " Is 
 it for religion that you combat I" said he, "in that 
 case make war upon the Russians and English, 
 who an; the enemies of your faith ; be not their 
 ally. Is it to guard against revolutionary prin- 
 ciples ? The war has extended them over one-half 
 of the continent in extending the conquests of 
 France, and it must extend them still further! Is 
 it for the balance of power in Europe > The En- 
 glish threaten more than we do that equilibrium, 
 because they have become the masters and the 
 tyrants of commerce, and no body can now control 
 them ; whereas Europe will always be able to 
 control France, if she desires to threaten seriously 
 the independence of nations," a proposition un- 
 fortunately but too well founded, as fifteen years 
 of war fully proved. " Is it,'.' added the soldier- 
 diplomatist, " is it for the integrity of the German 
 empire \ But your majesty has given up to us 
 Mayence and the German suites on the left bank 
 of the Rhine — besides, the empire is demanding 
 peace of you. Is it, lastly, for the interests of the 
 house of Austria? Nothing is more natural : but 
 let us carry out the treaty of Campo Formio, which 
 secures to your majesty large indemnities in com- 
 pensation for the provinces lost in the Netherlands, 
 and insures them to you where you would rather 
 obtain them — in Italy. Let your majesty send 
 negotiators wherever you wish, and we will add 
 to the treaty of Campo Formio stipulations capable 
 of satisfying you in relation to the existence of the 
 secondary states, which the French republic is 
 charged with bavins disturbed." 
 
 The first consul alluded lore to Holland, Swit- 
 zerland, Piedmont, the Roman states, Tuscany, 
 and Naples, which the directory had revolutionized. 
 " On these conditions,'' he continued, '' peace is 
 made; let us extend the armistice to both armies 
 and enter into immediate negotiations." 
 
 M. Si. Julien, one of the generals in (he em- 
 peror's confidence, was to be the bearer of the 
 letter and of the convention of Alexandria to 
 Vienna. 
 
 Some days afterwards, when his former impres- 
 sions were somewhat blunted, the lirst consul felt 
 
 a little of (hat regret which he often experii need 
 when he wrote an important dooumenl at the lirst 
 impulse, and without consulting, colder minds than 
 his own. (living an ace. Hint to the consuls of the 
 
 step ho had thus taken, ho said, "I have sent a 
 courier to tie- emperor with a letter that the 
 minister for foreign relations wall communicate 
 to you. Vjji v. ii. i. iimi it \ i.i iii.i. oi.n.iN \i. ; but 
 it i i written on thu field of battle, dun- 22nd." 
 
 Alter taking leave id' his army lie Bet OUl lei- 
 Milan, on the Ijih of .Ion.-, or 28lh of Prairial, in 
 (In- morning, three' days after die victory of Ma-
 
 Bonaparte institutes a pro- 
 U2 visional government at 
 Milan. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Proceedings respecting 
 the election of the 
 new pope. 
 
 1800. 
 June. 
 
 rengo. He was expected there with the greatest 
 impatience. He arrived in the evening at dark. 
 The population of the city, aware of his coining, 
 were in the streets, to see him pass. They raised 
 shouts of joy and threw flowers into his carriage. 
 The city was illuminated with that brilliancy 
 which the Italians alone know how to display in 
 their fetes. The Lombards who had been ten or 
 twelve months under the yoke of the Austrians, 
 rendered more grievous by the war and the vio- 
 lence of circumstances, trembled to be replaced 
 under their insupportable authority. They had, 
 during the various chances of this short campaign, 
 experienced the most painful anxiety, through the 
 contradictory reports which they had received, 
 and they were now delighted to see their deliver- 
 ance secured. Bonaparte immediately proclaimed 
 the re-establishment of the Cisalpine republic, and 
 hastened to restore order in the affairs of Italy, of 
 which his last victory had completely changed the 
 aspect. 
 
 We have already said that the war undertaken 
 between the Russians, the English, and the Aus- 
 trians, to re-establish in their states the princes 
 overthrown by the encroachments of the directory, 
 had not restored one of them. The king of Pied- 
 mont remained at Rome, the grand duke of Tus- 
 cany in Austria ; the pope had died at Valence, 
 and his territories were invaded by the Neapolitans. 
 The royal family of Naples, delivered entirely into 
 the hands of the English, was alone in its domi- 
 nions, where it permitted the most sanguinary re- 
 actions. The queen of Naples, the minister Acton, 
 and lord Nelson, allowed, if they did not command, 
 the most abominable cruelties. The victory of the 
 French republic changed all this : humanity was 
 as much interested in the matter as policy. 
 
 The first consul instituted a provisional govern- 
 ment at Milan, until the Cisalpine could be reor- 
 ganized, and definitive limits assigned to it, which 
 was not possible to be done until the peace. He 
 did not consider that he was bound to regard the 
 king of Piedmont more than Austria had done, 
 and he was in consequence in no hurry to re-esta- 
 blish him in his dominions. He substituted a provi- 
 sional government, and named general Jourdan the 
 commissioner charged with its directions. For a 
 good while the first consul wished to employ and 
 separate from his enemies an honest and clever 
 man, little fitted to be at the head of the French 
 anarchists. Piedmont was thus kept in reserve 
 with the intention of disposing of it .at the peace, 
 to the advantage of the French republic, or as the 
 price of reconciliation with Europe, in constituting 
 the secondary states destroyed under the directory. 
 Tuscany was occupied by an Austrian force. The 
 first consul had watched, ready to seize it if the 
 English landed there, or it continued to raise men 
 for the service of the enemies of France. As for 
 Naples, he said and did nothing, waiting to see the 
 effect of his victory upon the court. Already the 
 queen of Naples, in fear, was about to set out for 
 Vienna, to ask the support of Austria, and more 
 particularly of Russia. 
 
 The court of Rome remained ; there temporal 
 were complicated with the most serious spiritual 
 interests. Pius VI., as already seen, had died in 
 France, the prisoner of the directory. The first 
 consul staunch to his political system, had rendered 
 
 funeral honours to his remains. A conclave had 
 assembled at Venice, and with much trouble had 
 obtained from the Austrian cabinet the permis- 
 sion to nominate a successor to the deceased head 
 of the church. Thirty-five cardinals attended the 
 conclave. A prelate was secretary, Gonsalvi, a 
 Roman priest, young, ambitious, remarkable for 
 the suppleness, penetration, and agreeable qualities 
 of his mind, who has since mingled in most of the 
 more important public affairs of the time. The 
 conclave, as usual on every political or religious 
 question was divided. Twenty-two of the members 
 took the side of cardinal Braschi, nephew of the 
 last pope, and supported cardinal Bellisomi, bishop 
 of Cesena, in his pretensions. Those who were 
 against supporting at Rome the domination of the 
 family of Braschi, supported cardinal Antonelli. 
 This cardinal was for bringing in cardinal Mattei, 
 who signed the treaty of Tolentino, but he only 
 obtained thirteen votes. For many months the 
 contest had been silently but obstinately carried 
 on. Neither of the two candidates had as yet gained 
 over the vote of an opponent. At last the learned 
 cardinal Gerdil was thought about ; he had figured 
 in the controversies of the last century. This new 
 candidate was a Savoyard, who had be come, through 
 the late victories of the republic, a subject of France. 
 Austria put in force against him her right of ex- 
 clusion. To put an end to the affair, two of the 
 voices detached themselves from cardinal Mattei, 
 and promised to support cardinal Bellisomi, which 
 assured to him twenty-four voices, the number 
 required, or two-thirds of the suffrages, as rigor- 
 ously demanded by the ecclesiastical laws to make 
 the election valid. As it was in the dominions of 
 Austria that the conclave was held, it was thought 
 proper in the first place to submit to her the nomi- 
 nation in order to obtain her tacit agreement. The 
 court of Vienna had the want of courtesy to suffer 
 a month to pass away without returning any an- 
 swer. The sensitiveness of the princes of the 
 church was wounded, while at the same time all 
 the parties were put out of joint, and the election 
 of cardinal Bellisomi became impossible. It was 
 this moment of disorder and fatigue that the able 
 secretary of the conclave had awaited to start a 
 new candidate, the object of his long and secret 
 meditations. Speaking to all parties the language 
 most likely to move them, he demonstrated to some 
 the inconvenience of the domination of the Braschi, 
 to others the small reliance that could be placed on 
 Austria or any of the Christian courts; then address- 
 ing himself to the old profound and sagacious Ro- 
 man interest, he uncovered before their astonished 
 eyes a perspective view wholly new to them. " It 
 is from France," said he, " that we have for ten 
 years seen persecution proceeding — very well, it is 
 from France that we may be able to derive succour 
 and consolation. France, ever since Charlemagne, 
 has been for the church the most useful and the 
 least annoying of protectors. A most extraordi- 
 nary young man, very difficult at present to judge 
 of, governs there now. He will, no doubt, very 
 soon reconquer Italy (the battle of Marengo had not 
 tlun been fought). Recollect that in 17U7 he pro- 
 tected the priests, and that he has rendered formal 
 honour to Pius VI. Singular speeches which he has 
 been heard to make on religion, and on the court 
 of Rome, have been repeated to us by persons who
 
 1300. 
 June. 
 
 Conduct of cardinal Maury. 
 Cardinal Chiaramonti elected 
 pope. 
 
 The first consul friendly to the church. 
 MARENGO. He attends the Te Deu'iu at Milan. 
 
 Distribution of the army. 
 
 113 
 
 heard them, well worthy of credit. Neglect not the 
 resources which offer on that side. Let us make a 
 choice that cannot be considered hostile to France, 
 or that may, to a certain extent, be agreeable to 
 her, and we shall perhaps do a thing more useful 
 to the Church than in demanding candidates of all 
 the Catholic courts of Europe. 
 
 This was undoubtedly a coruscation from the 
 genius of the Roman court, which subsequently 
 iut other bright flashes at the commencement 
 of the century. Cardinal Gousalvi then brought 
 forward cardinal Chiaramonti, a native of Cesena, 
 fifty-eight years, a relation of Pius VI., and 
 by him elevated to the purple, who enjoyed by his 
 intellect, learning, and mild virtues, the general 
 esteem. To these attractive qualities he added 
 great firmness. He had been seen struggling at 
 an anterior period against the bickerings of his 
 order, that of St. Benedict, and against the perse- 
 cutions of the holy office, with victorious fortitude. 
 His more recent and more noted act was a homily, 
 made in his character of bishop of Imola, when his 
 diocese was united to the Cisalpine republic. He 
 had then spoken of the French revolution with a 
 moderation which had pleased the conqueror of 
 Italy, and scandalized the fanatics of the old order 
 of things. Stiil, respected by everybody, he was 
 able to the Braschi party, and not disliked by 
 his opponents; he suited all the cardinals who were 
 wearied by the protracted length of the conclave; 
 and he was deemed a fortunate selection by those 
 who hoped much from the good-will of France in 
 future. The adhesion, totally unexpected, of an 
 illustrious personage, decided his election, which 
 was met by no real difficulty, except in his own 
 personal reluctance to accept the honour. The 
 adhesion alluded to was that of cardinal Maury. 
 This celebrated champion of the old French mon- 
 archy had retired to the Roman court, where he 
 lived, recompensed with a cardinal's cap for his 
 contests with liarnave and Mirabeau. He was an 
 emigrant, but an emigrant endowed with a remark- 
 able mind and extraordinary intellect; entertaining 
 with secret satisfaction the idea of again attaching 
 himself to the government of France, since glory 
 had redeemed the novelty of that government. 
 lie had six votes at his disposal, and gave them to 
 cardinal Chiaramonti, who waa elected pope a little 
 the arrival i arte at Milan by the 
 
 route of tin; St. Bernard. 
 
 The new pontiff was at Venice, having been un- 
 able to obtain of the court of Vienna permission to 
 be crowned at St. Mark's, or from the court of 
 Naples th ion ol' Rome. Having gone sud- 
 
 denly to Aifona, he negotiated in that city the 
 evacuation of tin- states ot the Church, and his own 
 
 return to the capital of tie' Christian world. In 
 this precarious situation, France, that had become 
 
 friendly towards the holy see, was able to render 
 
 him useful support; and the singular foresight of 
 cardinal Gonsalvi received its accomplishment in 
 
 a very sudden maimer. The meeting of cardinal 
 
 Chiaramonti and the first consul, the one' raised lo 
 
 the pontificate, and tie- other to the republican 
 
 dictatorship, nearly at the same time, was not ono 
 of the least extraordinary events of the century, 
 
 nor the least fertile in results. 
 
 Young Bonaparte, .11 \~i'.Hi, the submissive gene- 
 ral of the directory, unable yet to daro every thing, 
 
 and not having the assumption to give lessons 
 :.i the French revolution, had maintained the pope 
 by the treaty of Tolentino, and had taken from him 
 only the Legations for the purpose of transferring 
 them to tin- Cisalpine republic. Become now first 
 consul, and able to do as he pleased, he determined 
 to put in order a large part of the measures accom- 
 plished at the French revolution, and could not 
 hesitate in his conduct towards the pope just elected. 
 Scarcely had he returned to Milan when he saw 
 cardinal Martiniana, bishop of Venice, the friend of 
 Pius VII., and declared to him that he desired to 
 live in a good understanding with the holy see, to 
 reconcile the French revolution to the Church, and 
 to support it against its enemies, if the Church 
 showed itself reasonable, and well understood the 
 actual position of France and of the world. This 
 conversation in the ear of the old cardinal was not 
 lost, and soon brought forth abundant fruit. The 
 bishop of Verceil sent off to Rome his own nephew, 
 count Alciati, for the purpose of opening a nego- 
 tiation. 
 
 To this overture Bonaparte joined an act yet 
 more bold, that he dared not indulge in Paris ; but 
 he was pleased to make it reach that city at a dis- 
 tance, as an earnest of his future intentions. The 
 Italians had prepared a solemn Te Deum in the old 
 cathedral of Milan. He resolved to assist at the 
 ceremony ; and on the 18th of June, or 29th Prai- 
 rial, he wrote in these terms to the consuls : — 
 
 " To-day r , in spite of all that may be said by our 
 Paris atheists, I shall go with great ceremony to 
 the Te Deum that they are going to chant in the 
 metropolitan church of Milan 1 ." 
 
 After having given these attentions to the general 
 affairs of Italy, he made some indispensable ar- 
 rangements for distributing the army in the con- 
 quered country, its provision, and reorganization. 
 Massena had just joined him. The ill humour of 
 the defender of Genoa was dissipated before the 
 flattering reception given him by the first consul; 
 and he received the command of the army of Italy, 
 that in every way he so well merited. This army 
 was composed of the corps that had defended 
 Genoa, of that which had defended the Var, of the 
 troops that descended the St. Bernard, and of those 
 which, under general Moncey, had arrived from 
 Germany. The whole formed an imposing mass of 
 eighty thousand tried men. The first consul quar- 
 tered them in the rich plains of the Po, in order 
 that they might repose after their fatigues, and 
 make up for their former privations by the abun- 
 dance they enjoyed. 
 
 With his accustomed foresight, the first consul 
 
 ordered the forts and citadels which closed the 
 
 - between Franco and Italy, to be destroyed. 
 
 in consequence, the demolition of the forts of 
 
 Arena, Hard, and Scravalle, and of the cita<l< 
 I vree and (Vva, was ordered and executed, lie fixed 
 the mode and extent of the contributions to be 
 Ie> ied for the sustenance of the army ; sent off the 
 consular guard for Paris, calculating the inarches 
 
 it would require to be in Paris at the time of the 
 
 festival of the 14th of July, which, agreeably to Ins 
 
 intentions, was to be Celebrated with great pomp. 
 He even took care, at Milan, to regulate the details 
 of the festival : — 
 
 ' Dcp6t of the Secretary of State's Office. 
 
 I
 
 Delay in surrendering Genoa. 
 
 U4 — Honourable conduct of 
 
 Melas. — Bonaparte's recep- 
 
 THIERS* CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 tion at Lyons. — Arrival at 
 Paris. -Parisian intrigues. 
 — Injustice to Carnot. 
 
 1800. 
 June. 
 
 " It is necessary," he wrote, " to study to render 
 as brilliant as possible the solemnity of the 14th of 
 July ', and to take care that it does not ape the 
 rejoicings which have recently taken place. Cha- 
 riot-races might have been very well in Greece, 
 where they fought in chariots; they are out of 
 place and unmeaning in France *." 
 
 He forbade triumphal arches to be erected fop 
 him, saying, he desired " no other arch of tri- 
 umph THAN THE PUBLIC SATISFACTION." 
 
 The first consul, in spite of all that called for his 
 presence in Paris, remained twelve days in Milan. 
 His reason was, that he might be certain of the 
 exact execution of the convention of Alexandria. 
 He had fears of the Austrian honour, and fancied 
 that lie saw some delay in giving up certain for- 
 tresses. He cried out against the weakness of 
 Berthier, and ordered the detention of tlie second 
 and third columns of the army of Me'las. The first 
 column liad already passed. There was some rea- 
 son to fear for the delivery of Genoa, which the 
 Austrians might easily be tempted to deliver over 
 to the English, before the French should enter. 
 The prince of Hohenzollern, ill fact, either spon- 
 taneously or urged by the English, refused at the 
 moment to deliver up to Massena a place they had 
 acquired with so much labour. Me'las, informed of 
 the difficulty, insisted, in the most honourable 
 manner, that his lieutenant should fulfil the con- 
 vention of Alexandria, and threatened him, if he 
 resisted, to give him up to the consequences of such 
 a dishonourable act. The order of Me'las was 
 obeyed, and Genoa was delivered up to the French 
 on the 24th of June, to the great joy of the Ligu- 
 rian patriots, who were freed in so short a space of 
 time from the Austrians and the aristocratical 
 dominion that oppressed them. Thus the spirited 
 words of Massena were verified, " I swear to you 
 that I shall re-enter Genoa before fifteen days are 
 over." 
 
 All these things being completed, the first consul 
 departed from Milan on the 24th of June, in com- 
 pany with Duroc, his favourite aid-de-camp, Bes- 
 sieres, who commanded the consular guard, Bour- 
 rienne, his secretary, and Savary, one of two 
 officers whom he had attached to his person out of 
 regard to the memory of Desaix. He stopped 
 some hours at Turin, to examine the works at the 
 citadel, and give orders. He traversed Mount Cenis, 
 and entered Lyons under arches of triumph, in the 
 midst of a population astounded at the prodigies 
 which he had accompli'-.he I. The Lyonnese, who 
 were equally struck with his policy and his glory, 
 surrounded the Hotel of the Celestins, where he had 
 set down, and absolutely demanded to see him. He 
 was obliged to go out before them, and unanimous 
 acclamations burst forth at his appearance. They 
 earnestly requested him to lay the first stone of 
 the Place Bellecour, of which the reconstruction was 
 about to be commenced; and he was obliged to 
 consent. He passed a day at Lyons in the midst 
 of a vast concourse of all the population of the 
 environs. After addressing to the Lyonnese, in 
 terms which much pleased them, a speech relative 
 to the approach of peace, commerce, and order, 
 he proceeded to Paris. The inhabitants of the 
 
 > At the storming of the Bastile. in 1 789. 
 
 2 Dated Milan, June 22nd.— State Paper Office. 
 
 provinces thronged to greet him at every place 
 through which he passed. The man then so well 
 treated by fortune enjoyed gloi"y, yet conversing 
 continually with his travelling companions, he 
 made this fine remark, so expressive of his in- 
 satiable love of fame : " Yes, I have conquered in 
 less than two years Cairo, Milan, and Paris ; yet if 
 I were to die to-morrow, I should not have half a 
 page in a universal history." He arrived in Paris 
 in the night between the 2nd and 3rd of July. 
 
 His return was necessary, because, absent from 
 the capital nearly two months, his absence, and 
 more particularly the false statements about Ma- 
 rengo, had caused several intrigues. It was be- 
 lieved, for a short time, that he was either dead or 
 vanquished, and the ambitious set themselves at 
 work. Some thought of Carnot, others of La 
 Fayette, who from the dungeons of Olmutz had 
 re-entered France, through the kindness of the first 
 consul. They would have Carnot or La Fayette 
 for president of the republic. La Fayette had no 
 hand in these intrigues ; Carnot no more. But 
 Joseph and Lucien Bonaparte both had an unjust 
 misgiving about Carnot, which they planted in 
 their brother's mind. Thence came that unfortu- 
 nate resolution, which the first consul executed at 
 a later period, of taking from Carnot the ministry 
 of war. There were some who fancied they 
 could see in Talleyrand and Fouche, who hated 
 each other, a tendency notwithstanding to a recon- 
 ciliation, no doubt for the purpose of concert, and 
 profiting together by the concatenation of events. 
 Nothing was perceived at this time about M. 
 Sieyes, the man most expected to figure, iu case 
 Bonaparte had disappeared from the scene. He 
 was the only personage who exhibited so much 
 reserve. All these things had scarcely time to 
 .show themselves, before the bad news was effaced 
 by the good. What really did take place was 
 greatly exaggerated in the relation, and the first 
 consul conceived against some persons a resent- 
 ment which he had the good sense to conceal, and 
 soon to forget entirely in regard to all who had 
 been pointed out to him, except the illustrious 
 Carnot. The first consul besides, full of delight at 
 his success, would not have the slightest shade 
 thrown over the public joy. He received everybody 
 kindly, and was himself received in return with 
 transports, more especially by those whom there 
 was ground to reproach. The people of Paris, on 
 hearing of his return, ran under the window of the 
 Tuileries, and during the day filled the courts and 
 garden of the palace. The first consul was obliged 
 to show himself several times to the people. In 
 the evening the city of Paris was spontaneously 
 illuminated. They celebrated with delight a 
 miraculous victory, the certain presage of a peace 
 ardently wished. That day affected so deeply him 
 who was the object of this homage, that twenty 
 years afterwards in loneliness, exiled, a prisoner in 
 the midst of the Atlantic Ocean, he counted it, in 
 recalling the scenes of other times, as among the 
 most delightful of his life. 
 
 On the following day the various bodies of the 
 state waited upon him, and gave the first example 
 of those felicitations, of that distasteful spectacle, 
 which has been renewed so many times under every 
 reign. There were seen at the Tuileries, the se- 
 nate, the legislative body, the tribunate, the great
 
 1300. 
 June. 
 
 Proceedings of Moreau on the 
 Danube. 
 
 Arrangements of tlie army. — Oaring 
 MARENGO. movements of Lecourbe. — Gallantry 
 
 of Quenot. 
 
 IK 
 
 tribunal-;, the prefecture of the Seine, the autho- 
 rities civil and military, the directors of the bank 
 of France, finally, the institute and the learned 
 societies. These great bodies attended to com- 
 pliment the victor of Marengo, and addressed him 
 as they formerly spoke, and as they have spoken 
 since to kings. But it must be said, that the lan- 
 . although uniformly full of praise, was dic- 
 tated by a Bincere enthusiasm. In fact, the aspect 
 of things had changed in a few months; the security 
 that had succeeded to great troubles, a victory un- 
 paralleled had replaced France at the head of the 
 European powers, the certainty of approaching 
 peace putting an end to the anxieties of a general 
 war; in fine, the prosperity already showing itself 
 every where, — how should such great results, so 
 soon realized, fail to transport every spirit ! The 
 president of the senate terminated his address as 
 follows, and this may serve as an idea of all the 
 others : — 
 
 " We are pleased to acknowledge that the country 
 owes its safety to you ; that to you the republic owes 
 its consolidation, and the people a prosperity which 
 in one day you have made succeed to ten years of 
 the most stormy of revolutions." 
 
 While these things were passing in Italy and 
 France, Moreau, on the banks of the Danube, con- 
 tinued his fine campaign against Kray. We left 
 him manoeuvring before Ulm to oblige the Aus- 
 trians to quit that strong position. He had placed 
 hini-elf between the lller and the Lech, support- 
 ing his left and his right on these two rivers, his 
 front to the Danube, his rear to the city of Augs- 
 burg, ready to receive marshal Kray if he chose 
 to fight, and, in waiting where he was, barring the 
 road to the Alps, the essential condition of the 
 ral plan. If the success of Moreau had not 
 prompt or decisive, it had been sustained and 
 fully sufficient to allow the first consul to accom- 
 plish in Italy all he had himself proposed to 
 .in. But the moment was now come when 
 the general of the army of the Rhine, emboldened 
 by time and by the success of the army of re 
 was tempted to try a serious manoeuvre to dislodge 
 Kray from the position of Ulm. Now, that with- 
 out a knowledge of the battle of Marengo, he 
 knew the fortunate success of the passage of the 
 Alps, Moreau had no fear about uncovering the 
 mountains, having full freedom for all his move- 
 ts. Of all the various manoeuvres possible to 
 reduce the position of Ulm, he prefi rred that which 
 : in passing the Danube below that po- 
 sition, and forcing Kray to decamp by menacing 
 the line of his retreat. This manoeuvre was really 
 th • best. That which consisted in pushing on 
 straight to Vienna by Munich was too bold for the 
 eharacfc r of Moreau, and perhaps it was pre- 
 matui iBtiug state of affairs. The 
 
 plan which consisted in passing the Danube below 
 and very near I'lm, to storm the Austrian camp, 
 was hazardous, as every .attack by main force must 
 be ; but to pass ImIow Ulm, and by threatening 
 Kray's line of retreat to oblige him to regain it, 
 
 was, at the same time, tin- wisest and suresi 
 manoeuvre. 
 
 From the Iftth to the 1 8th of June, Moreau set 
 himself in movement to execute bis new resolve. 
 
 The organization of his army, as before observed, 
 bad received certain changes in com iquenoe of the 
 
 departure of generals St. Cyr and St. Suzanne. 
 Lecourbe always formed the right, and Moreau the 
 centre at the head of the body of reserve. The 
 corps of St. Cyr, under the orders of general Gre- 
 nier, composed the left. The corps of St. Suzanne, 
 reduced to the proportions of one strong division, 
 and confided to the command of the audacious 
 Richepanae, had to perform the duty of a corps of 
 flankers, that at the moment had the charge of 
 observing Ulm, while the army manoeuvred below 
 that city. 
 
 There had been some fighting before Ulm, more 
 particularly on the 5th of June, when two French 
 divisions made head against forty thousand Aus- 
 trian*. This was part of the object of Kray, in 
 order to detain the French before Ulm, by con- 
 tinuing to keep them employed. On the 18th of 
 June Richepanse was in sight of Ulm ; Grenier, 
 with the left, at Guntzburg ; the centre, composed 
 of the corps of reserve, at Burgau ; and Lecourbe, 
 with the right, extended as far as Dillingen. The 
 enemy had destroyed the bridges from Ulm as far 
 as Donauwerth. But an observation made by Le- 
 courbe decided Moreau to choose the points of 
 Blindheim ' and Gremheim to cross the Danube, 
 because at these two places the bridges were im- 
 perfectly destroyed, and might be easily repaired. 
 Lecourbe was charged with this dangerous ope- 
 ration. In order to facilitate, general Boyer was 
 reinforced with five battalions and the entire re- 
 serve of cavalry under the orders of general 
 Hautpoul. The centre, under the general-in-chief, 
 moved from Burgau to Aislingen, to be at hand to 
 support the passage. Grenier, with the left, was 
 ordered to make an attempt on his side, in order 
 to attract the attention of the enemy. 
 
 On the ll)th of June, in the morning, Lecourbe 
 posted his troops between the villages of Blindheim 
 and Gremheim, the bridges of which were only 
 partially destroyed, and he took care to shelter 
 himself behind some chimps of trees. He had no 
 bridge equipage, and possessed only a quantity of 
 boards. He supplied by his courage the want of 
 every thing else. General Gudin directed, under 
 L' courbe, this attempt at a passage. Some guns 
 were placed on the bank of the Danube to keep off 
 the enemy ; and at the same time, Quenot, the 
 adjutant, threw- himself courageously into the 
 water, in order to seize upon two large boats that 
 were lying on the other side. This gallant officer 
 brought them over under a shower id' balls, and 
 unhurt, save by a slight wound in the foot. The 
 best Bwinimers of the division were chosen; they 
 placed their clothes and arms in the two boats, and 
 plunged mto the Danube under the enemy's lire. 
 
 On reaching the opposite bank, and without taking 
 time to put on their clothes, they seized their 
 arms and Hew upon some companies of the Aus- 
 
 triana protecting that part of the river, dispersed 
 them, and took two pieces of cannon with the 
 ammunition waggons. This being achieved, the 
 
 soldi rS hastened to the bridges, the piles of whicll 
 were still standing ; they worked hard on both 
 banks, placing ladders and planks, to establish a 
 
 communication. Some artillery soldiers availed 
 themselves of it to cross to the other aide of the 
 
 Danube, in order to employ against the enemy tin; 
 
 • Blenheim t -Translator. 
 
 i -2
 
 Bold charge of Lecourbe- 
 116 Passage of the Danube. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Battle of Hochstedt. 
 The French, masters 
 of the field. 
 
 1800. 
 June. 
 
 two guns which had been thus taken from him. 
 The French were soon masters of both banks of 
 the river, and had sufficiently established the 
 bridges to afford a passage to the greater part of 
 the troops. The infantry and cavalry began to 
 pass over. It was expected that numerous Aus- 
 trian reinforcements would promptly ascend from 
 Donauwerth, and descend from all the upper posi- 
 tions, Gundelfingen, Guntzburg, and Ulm. Le- 
 courbe, who bad himself repaired to the spot, 
 placed all the infantry he could spare, with some 
 cavalry troops, in the village of Schwenningen, 
 which is situated on the road to Donauwerth. 
 This was an important point, because by that road 
 it was that the Austrians who ascended the Danube 
 must arrive. It was not long, in consequence, be- 
 fore four thousand infantry, five hundred horse, 
 and six pieces of cannon showed themselves, and 
 attacked the village, which, for the space of two 
 hours, was several times taken and retaken. The 
 superiority of the Austrians in numbers, and their 
 determination to retake so important a post, had 
 nearly given them the victory over the French, 
 and obliged them to abandon the village, when 
 Lecourbe was seasonably reinforced by two squa- 
 drons of carabiniers. To these he joined some 
 troops of the 8th hussars, that happened to be at 
 hand, and sent them upon the enemy's infantry, 
 which extended itself on the vast plain towards 
 the bank of the Danube. The charge was exe- 
 cuted with so much vigour and promptitude, that 
 the Austrians were routed, leaving to the French 
 their artillery, two thousand prisoners, and three 
 hundred horses. Two battalions of Wurtem- 
 bergers, who endeavoured to resist by forming 
 themselves into squares, were broken like the rest. 
 After this brilliant action, fought by the brigade 
 of Puthod, Lecourbe had no more to fear on the 
 side of the Lower Danube. But it was not on that 
 side from which he had to fear the greatest dangers. 
 The main body of the Austrians being posted above, 
 or at Dillingen, Gundelfingen, and Ulm, it was 
 necessary to turn himself to that side in order 
 to face the enemy, who was about to descend. 
 Happily the divisions of Montrichard, Gudin, and 
 the reserve of Hautpoul had passed over the re- 
 established bridges of Gremheim and Blindheim, 
 and bordered upon the famous plain of Hochstedt, 
 rendered so sadly celebrated for the French in the 
 time of Louis XIV., on the 13th of August, 170-1. 
 The enemy, having hurried from all the nearest 
 points to Dillingen, at some distance from Hoch- 
 stedt, was drawn up near the Danube, the infantry 
 upon the French left, along the marshes of that 
 river, and behind some clumps of wood, the cavalry 
 on their right in great force. Thus they presented 
 themselves in good order, awaiting the reinforce- 
 ments which were approaching, and slowly retiring 
 to draw nearer to them. The 37th demi-brigade 
 and a squadron of the 9th hussars followed, step 
 and step, the retrograde movement of tin; Austrians. 
 Lecourbe, disembarrassed, by the combat of Schwen- 
 ningen, of the enemy who might have come from 
 the Lower Danube, arrived at a gallop at the head 
 of the 2nd regiment of carabiniers, of the cuiras- 
 siers, the 6th and 9th cavalry, and the 9th hussars: 
 this was nearly all the reserve cavalry of general 
 Hautpoul. They were upon a plain, separated from 
 the enemy by a little water-course, called the Egge, 
 
 on which was the village of Schrezheim. Lecourbe, 
 at the head of the cuirassiers, crossed the village 
 at full gallop, formed as they issued out of it, and 
 rushed upon the Austrian cavalry, who, surprised 
 at the suddenness and rapidity of the charge, fell 
 back in disorder, and left uncovered nine thousand 
 infantry, whom it was designed to protect. The 
 infantry thus abandoned would have thrown them- 
 selves into the ditches that burrow the banks of 
 the Danube towards Dillingen ; but the cuirassiers, 
 well directed, cut the column, separating one thou- 
 sand eight hundred men, who were made prisoners. 
 
 This was the second fortunate act in the day 
 due in part to the cavalry, but it was not the last. 
 Lecourbe placed himself on the Egge, waiting for 
 the rest of his resources that was coming by the 
 bridge of Dillingen, which had fallen into the hands 
 of the French. Kray's cavalry hurried forward 
 with all expedition, outstripped the infantry, and 
 arranged itself in two grand lines in the plain at 
 the rear of Lauingen. This was an excellent op- 
 portunity for the French cavalry to take advantage 
 of the spirit which had inspired them through the 
 successes of the morning, and to measure them- 
 selves in the plain, with the numerous and bril- 
 liant squadrons of the Austrian army. Lecourbe, 
 having occupied Lauingen with his infantry, united 
 with Hautpoul's all the cavalry of his divisions, 
 and formed it on the plain, offering to the enemy 
 that kind of challenge which was likely to tempt 
 him on account of the numbers and quality of his 
 horse. The first of the Austrian lines charged the 
 French at full speed with the steadiness and order 
 natural to a well-trained cavalry. It drove back 
 the 2d regiment of carabiniers, which had con- 
 ducted itself so well in the morning, and the squa- 
 drons of hussars which had charged along with it. 
 The French cuirassiers then advanced, rallied the 
 hussars and carabiniers, who faced about on seeing 
 they were supported; and the whole united dashed 
 forward upon the Austrian squadrons, which they 
 in turn drove back. On seeing this, the second line 
 of the enemy's cavalry advanced, and having the 
 advantage of the impulse over the French, whom 
 the former charge had separated, obliged them to 
 fall back with precipitation. The 9th was in re- 
 serve, and, manoeuvring with skill and steadiness, 
 attacked the Austrian flank by surprise, threw 
 it into confusion, and secured to the victorious 
 French squadrons the plains of Hochstedt. 
 
 The losses in killed, wounded, and prisoners, 
 could not be great, since it is only the encounters of 
 cavalry with infantry that are serious in this re- 
 spect. But the plain remained in possession of the 
 French, whose cavalry now claimed a real advan- 
 tage over that of the Austrians, which it never 
 before exhibited. Each French military arm had 
 a decided superiority over that of the enemy. 
 It was eight o'clock, and in the long days of June, 
 there was still time for the imperialists to dispute 
 the left hank of the Danube, so gloriously con- 
 quered in the morning. Eight thousand infantry 
 advanced to the assistance of the corps already 
 beaten, followed by a numerous artillery. Moreau 
 arrived at the head of the reserve. A new and 
 more obstinate contest then commenced. The 
 French infantry in turn attacked the Austrian 
 under a fire of round and grape shot. The soldiers 
 of Kray, who fought for a great stake — the preser-
 
 1S00. 
 July. 
 
 Kray quits Ulm, and marches rapidly 
 to Nordlingen. — Moreau pursues 
 
 him in vain ; recrosses the Danube 
 
 MARENGO. 
 
 and enters Munich. — Encounter 
 at Neuburg.— Death of Latour 
 d'Auvergne. 
 
 117 
 
 ration of Ulm, displayed great energy. Moreau 
 fonnd himself several times engaged in person in 
 the midst of the fray; and his infantry, supported 
 by the cavalry, which returned ti> the charge, re- 
 mained victorious at eleven o'clock at night. At the 
 same moment the 37th demi-brigade entered into 
 Gundeltingen, from which time all the positions on 
 the plain were in the power of the French. They 
 had crossed the Danube, taken five thousand pri- 
 rs, twenty nieces of cannon, twelve hundred 
 hones, three hundred carriages, and considerable 
 magazines at Donauwerth. The lighting had lasted 
 for eighteen hours successively. This affair, which 
 changed the unfortunate recollection of Hocbstedt 
 into one equally glorious, was, after Marengo, the 
 finest operation of the campaign, and was alike 
 honourable to Lecourbe and .Moreau. The last 
 had slowly acquired hardihood : stimulated by 
 tli«' examples which Italy afforded, he had entered 
 upon more enlarged views, and had culled a laurel 
 of that tree from which the first consul had ga- 
 thered such evergreen wreaths, — a rivalry noble 
 and happy, had it never extended further. 
 
 After a manoeuvre so hardy and decisive on the 
 of his adversary, Kray could not much longer 
 remain in Ulm, without being cut oft' from bis com- 
 munications with Vienna. To march up directly to 
 the French, and offer them battle, would be too 
 hazardous a measure, with forces in whom the 
 enrage had been so damped by the late combat. He 
 hurried himself for the purpose of decamping the 
 same night. He sent off in advance his pari;, con- 
 sisting of several thousand carriages, and the next 
 morning followed it with the main body of his army 
 on the route to Nordlingen. He marched in fright- 
 ful weather over roads that the rain had entirely 
 torn up. Nevertheless, the rapidity of his retreat 
 was such, that in twenty-four hours he arrived at 
 Neresheim. In order to support his dispirited 
 ti'oops, he gave out that a suspension of arms had 
 I" en signed in Italy, and that it would be extended 
 into Germany ; peace not failing to succeed. This 
 news diffused joy among his soldiers, and gave 
 them some energy. They arrived at Nordlingen. 
 
 Mori an was apprised too late of the departure 
 of tin: enemy. Richepanse had not perceived the 
 nation of Ulm until the last detachments were 
 retiring. He immediately made known the circum- 
 stance to his commander-in-chief. But during the 
 
 interval the' Austrians had gained the ad vanee ; and 
 
 th" bad weather, which had existed for two days, 
 did not permit him to overtake them, even by a 
 
 forced march. Still Moreau arrived at Nordlingen 
 
 on the 83d of June, in the evening, and pressed 
 upon the rear-guard of Kray, who continued to 
 retire. Seeing, that from the bad state of the 
 
 . he could not gain upon the Austrian army so 
 it, and th.it he might not he drawn 
 
 on into a fruitless pursuit for an unseen distance, 
 Moreau determined to halt, and choose a position 
 adapted t" the present state of things. Kray, eon- 
 
 |g tie- good neWS of the battle of .Marengo, 
 
 • was nut then known to tin- French army, 
 sent to announce tin- suspension of arms, concluded 
 in Italy, and proposed a like stipulation for Ger- 
 many. Moreau, Buspecting from this that some 
 
 great events had occurred "ii the other side of the 
 Alps, did not doubt their being propitious, and ex- 
 pecting every instant a i'miii. r, who would put 
 
 him in possession of the information, he would eon- 
 elude nothing before he learned the particulars, 
 and, above all, before lie had secured better can- 
 tonments for his army. lie therefore took the re- 
 solution of re-passing the Danube, confiding to 
 Richepanse the investment of the two principal 
 places on that river, Ulm and Ingoldstadt, and pro- 
 ceeding with the main body of his army to the 
 other side of the Lech, in order to occupy Augs- 
 burg and Munich, and to secure a part of Bavaria 
 fi i- provisions; in fine, to conquer all the bridges of 
 the Isar, and acquire all the roads leading to the 
 Inn. 
 
 Moreau accordingly repassed the Danube and 
 the Lech, by Donauwerth and Rhain, moving his 
 different corps by Pottmess and Pfaffenhofen, as far 
 as the banks of the Isar. On that river he occu- 
 pied the points of Landshut, Moosburg, Freisingen, 
 anil detached Decaen upon Munich, which he en- 
 tered, as if in triumph, on the 28th of June. Whilst 
 he executed this movement, the armies encountered 
 each other for the last time, and fought a battle 
 without an object. This took place at Neuburg, on 
 the right bank of the Danube, while both were 
 inarching on the Isar. A French division having 
 separated itself at too great a distance from the 
 rest of the army, had to maintain a long and obsti- 
 nate contest, in which it was at last successful, 
 after sustaining a severe loss in that of the 
 brave Latour d'Auvergne. This illustrious soldier, 
 honoured by Bonaparte with the name of the first 
 grenadier of France, was killed by the thrust of a 
 lance through his heart. The army shed tears 
 upon his tomb, and did not quit the field of battle 
 until tluy had raised a monument over his re- 
 mains. 
 
 On the 3d of July, or 14th Messidor, Moreau was 
 in the midst of Bavaria, blocking Ulm and Ingold- 
 stadt, on the Danube, and occupying on the Isar, 
 Landshut, Moosburg, Freisingen, and Munich. It 
 was now time to think of the Tyrol, and to take from 
 the prince de Reuss the strong positions of which 
 he was master along the mountains, at the sources i f 
 the I Her, the Lech, and the Isar — positions through 
 which he was always able to annoy the French. 
 He was not very dangerous to encounter, but his 
 presence obliged the French to make considerable 
 detachments, and he became the subject of con- 
 tinual occupation for the right wing. To this end, 
 general Molitor was reinforced, and put in posses- 
 sion of the means for attacking the ( Jrisons and the 
 Tyrol. The positions of Fussen, Reitti, tmmen- 
 stadt, and Feldkirch, were taken in succession, in 
 a prompt and brilliant manner; and our establish- 
 ments on I he Isar were thus perfectly consolidated. 
 
 Kray had repassed the Isar, and placed himself 
 behind the [nn, occupying, in advance of the river, 
 
 the camp of Ampfing, and the bridge heads of 
 WaSSerburg and of Miihldorf. It was the middle 
 
 of July, or end of Messidor. The French govern 
 
 Hunt had left to general Moreau the lil,erl\ of 
 acting as he pleased, and to lay by his arms when 
 
 he thought it convenient, lb- imagined, with 
 
 Some reason; that it was not right he alone should 
 
 remain lighting. The rest which the soldiers of 
 
 the army of Italy enjoyed, WBS envied by the 
 
 soldiers of Germany; further, the army of the 
 Rhine, between tin- [sar and the Inn, had a much 
 more advanced position than the army of Italy, 
 
 .
 
 Armistice concluded be- 
 1 18 tween Moreau and the 
 Austrians 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Grand fete at Paris. — 
 Arrival of count St. Ju- 
 lien to treat of peace. 
 
 1800. 
 July. 
 
 and had thus one of its flanks uncovered. Al- 
 though an article in the treaty of Alexandria inter- 
 dicted both Austrians and French from sending 
 detachments into Germany, it was possible that 
 this stipulation might not be scrupulously kept, 
 and that the army of the Rhine might soon expect 
 an increase of enemies upon its hands. Moreau, 
 who had received several propositions from mar- 
 shal Kray, determined at last to listen to them; 
 and on the 15th of July, or 26th Messidor, he con- 
 sented to sign at Parsdorf, a place in advance of 
 Munich, a suspension of arms nearly conformable 
 to that of Italy. 
 
 Both armies were to retire, each behind a line 
 of demarcation, which, parting from Balzers in the 
 Grisons, passed along the Tyrol, ran between the 
 Isar and the Inn at an equal distance from both 
 rivers, and fell to Wilshofen on the Danube, as- 
 cending that river as far as the mouth of the Alt- 
 Miihl, and following the Alt-Miihl, the Rednitz, and 
 the Mayn, as far as Mayence : the fortresses of 
 Philipsburg, Ulm, and Ingoldstadt, remaining 
 blockaded ; but every fifteen days they might re- 
 ceive a quantity of provisions in proportion to the 
 strength of their garrisons. The two armies had 
 to give twelve da^s' notice before the commence- 
 ment of hostilities. The French army had Franconia 
 from which to draw its provisions, as well as 
 Swabia, and a large part of Bavaria. The French 
 troops posted upon the Mincio on one side of the 
 Alps, and on the other upon the Isar, were now 
 about to receive, for their toils and privations, a 
 compensation from the rich plains of Italy and 
 Germany. These brave men had merited it by 
 the greatest exploits that had yet signalized the 
 arms of France. The army of the Rhine, although 
 it had not cast so bright a lustre as the army of 
 Italy, had still distinguished itself by a campaign 
 conducted with as much sagacity as energy. The 
 last great event of the campaign, the passage of the 
 Danube at Hochstedt, might take a place by the 
 side of the finest feats of arms in the military 
 history of France. Public opinion, which in 1700 
 had not been favourable to Moreau, had, in 1800, 
 become almost partial in his behalf. After the 
 name of Bonaparte — it is true at a great distance, 
 but such a distance as that the distinction was 
 flattering — was heard without cessation the name 
 of Moreau ; and as public opinion is fluctuating, 
 this year he had completely occupied the place of 
 the conqueror of Zurich, by whom the preceding 
 year he had been eclipsed. 
 
 The news of the brilliant success of the army of 
 the Rhine completed the public satisfaction pro- 
 duced by the extraordinary success of the army of 
 
 Italy, and changed into certainty the hopes of 
 peace with which every mind was filled. There 
 was general joy. The public funds, the five per 
 cents., which sold at thirteen francs before the 
 18th Brumaire, mounted to forty. A decree of the 
 consuls announced to the fundholders, that in the 
 first half year of the year ix. the dividends falling 
 due on the 22nd of September, 1800, would be 
 wholly paid in specie. Agreeable tidings, such as had 
 not for a long while been imparted to the unfortu- 
 nate state creditors. All these benefits were at- 
 tributed to the armies, to the generals who had 
 led them to victory, but principally to young 
 Bonaparte, who knew well how at the same 
 time to govern and to fight in a superior manner. 
 Therefore the fete of the 14th of July, one of the 
 two republican solemnities preserved by the con- 
 stitution, was celebrated in the most splendid man- 
 ner. A very magnificent ceremony was prepared 
 at the Invalides. The musical composer, Mehul, 
 prepared some fine pieces ; and the first Italian 
 singers of Italy, that about this period became de- 
 prived of its master-pieces and its artists, were 
 brought to Paris to execute them. After hearing 
 the performances under the dome of the Invalides, 
 the first consul, accompanied by a numerous staff, 
 went to the Champ de Mars to review the con- 
 sular guard. It had arrived that same morning, 
 covered with dust, its clothes in tatters, not having 
 stopped on the march from the day alter the battle 
 of Marengo, in order to be punctual at the meeting 
 appointed with the first consul for the 14th of 
 July. The consular guard brought the colours 
 taken in the late campaign, to be placed in the 
 general depository of the French military trophies. 
 The crowd, which lined both sides of the Champ 
 de Mars, rushed forward to obtain a nearer view 
 of the heroes of Marengo. The intoxication of the 
 public joy was carried to such an extent as well 
 nigh to produce accidents. The first consul was a 
 long while pressed up in the crowd. He entered 
 the Tuileries surrounded by the multitude that 
 pressed upon his steps. The entire day was de- 
 voted to public rejoicing. 
 
 Siime clays afterwards, upon the 21st of July, or 
 2nd Thermidor, the arrival of count St. Julien in 
 Paris was announced, an officer in the confidence 
 of the emperor of Germany, charged to carry to 
 Paris the ratification of the convention of Alex- 
 andria, and to confer with the first consul upon the 
 conditions of the approaching peace. No doubt 
 was then entertained of the conclusion of the paci- 
 fication so much desired, which should put an end 
 to the second coalition. France, it may be said, 
 had never before seen such delightful days.
 
 1799. 
 Aug. 
 
 Bonaparte leaves Egypt for France. 
 
 HELIOPOLIS. 
 
 Deep gTief of the army, which desires 
 to return home. 
 
 119 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 HELIOPOLIS. 
 
 STATE OF EGYTT AFTER THE DEPARTURE OE BONAPARTE. — DEEP GRIEF OF THE ARMY, AND DESIRE TO RETURN 
 TO FRANCE. — KLEBER INCREASES, IN PLACE OF REPRKSSING, THE FEELING. — HIS REPORT ON THE STATE OF 
 THE COLONY. — THE REPORT DESIGNED FOR THE DIRECTORY IS RECEIVED BY THE FIRST CONSUL. — FALSEHOODS 
 IT CONTAINED. — GREAT RESOURCES OF THE COLONY, AND FACILITY OF ITS PRESERVATION TO FRANCE. — KLEBER 
 DRAWN ON BY THE FtELINGS HE HAD ENCOl RAGED, IS BROUGHT TO TREAT WITH THE TURKS AND ENGLISH. — 
 l TLTABLE CONVENTION OF EL AR1SCH, STIPULATING FOR THE EVACUATION OF EGYPT. — REFUSAL OF THE ENG- 
 LISH TO EXECUTE THE CONVENTION, THEY CALCULATING THAT THE FRENCH MUST LAY DOWN THEIR ARMS. — 
 NOBLE INDIGNATION OF KLEBER — RUPTURE OF THE ARMISTICE AND BATTLE OF HELIOPOLIS. — DISPERSION OF 
 THE TURKS. — KLEBER PURSUES THEM TO THE FRONTIERS OF SYRIA. — TAKES THE CAMP OF THE VIZIER. — RE- 
 PARTITION OF THE ARMY IN LOWER EGYrT. — RETURN OF KLEBER TO CAIRO, IN ORDER TO REDUCE THE CITY, 
 BROKEN OUT INTO INSURRECTION DURING HIS ABSENCE. — HAPPY TEMPORIZING OF KLEBER. — HAVING COLLECTED 
 HIS MEANS, HE ATTACKS AN!) RETAKES THE CITY— GF.N ERA L SUBMISSION. — ALLIANCE WITH MURAD BEY. — 
 KLEBER, WHO THOUGHT IT IMPOSSIBLE TO KEEP EGYPT WHEN SUBDUED, RECONQUERS IT IN THIRTY'-FIVE DAYS 
 FROM THE TURKISH FORCES AND THE REVOLTED EGYPTIANS.— HIS FAULTS ALL GLORIOUSLY EFFACED. — EMO- 
 TION OF THE MUSSULMAN PEOPLE IN LEARNING THAT EGYPT REMAINS IN THE HANDS OF THE INFIDELS. — 
 A FANATIC TRAVELS FROM PALESTINE TO CAIRO, TO ASSASSINATE KLEBER. — UNFORTUNATE DEATH OF THE 
 LATTER, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR THE COLONY. — PRESENT TRANQUILLITY. — KLEBER AND DESAIX BOTH 
 KILLED ON THE SAME DAY. — CHARACTERS AND LITF.S OF THOSE TWO CELEBRATED WARRIORS. 
 
 In August, 1799, Bonaparte, upon receiving in- 
 telligence from Europe, decided that he would 
 quit Egypt suddenly, and ordered Admiral Gan- 
 teaume to send to sea from the port of Alexandria 
 the Muiron and the Carere frigates, the only ships 
 which remained after the destruction of the flotilla, 
 and to bring them to an anchor in the little road of 
 Marabout. It was there that he intended to em- 
 bark, about two leagues west from Alexandria. He 
 took with him the generals Berthier, Lannes, 
 Mur.it, Andreossy, Marmont, and two learned men 
 of whom he waa most fond, Monge and Berthollet. 
 On the 2"2nd of August, or 5th Fructidor, year vn., 
 he went to Marabout, and embarked precipitately, 
 continually in fear that the English squadron 
 would appear. The horses that had served to 
 bring his party to the spot were Fit upon the 
 shore, and went on" full gallop towards Alexandria. 
 The sight of the horses ready saddled, and de- 
 prived of their riders, occasioned considerable 
 alarm. It was believed that indent had 
 
 happened to the officers of the garrison, and a body 
 "I cavalry was detached in pursuit. Soon after- 
 wards a Turkish groom, who h id n sted at the 
 embarkation, explained all as it had really oc- 
 curred; and Men, ,u, who was alone acquainted with 
 the secret from the beginning, announced in Alex- 
 andria tin- departure' ol Bonaparte, and the appoint- 
 ment which he had made ol Kle"b i- as his successor. 
 Klc'ber had an appointment with Bonaparte at Ro- 
 
 teita for tie- 23rd of AngU8l ; but Bonaparte, 
 anxious to embark, had gone without attending to 
 it. Besides, in imposing upon Klc'ber the leavy 
 
 burthen ol the command, he was spared the trouble 
 
 Of either objection or refusal, by leaving him the 
 
 absolute' order. 
 
 'Ibis intelligence caused a sorrowful surprise to 
 
 the army. At fust nobody credited it: general 
 I>ugua, commanding at Rosette, made- a contra- 
 diction of the statement, not believing it him • If, 
 and fearing for the bad effect it might produce. 
 
 All doubt upon the subject soon became impossible, 
 and Klc'ber was officially proclaimed the successor 
 of general Bonaparte. Officers and soldiers were 
 in a state of consternation. The ascendency exer- 
 cised by the conqueror of Italy over the soldiery- 
 was required for the purpose of drawing them after 
 him into distant and unknown lands ; it would soon 
 require that ascendency to retain them in due 
 subordination. The regard for home is a passion 
 which becomes violent when the distance and 
 strangeness of the place, and fears of the impos- 
 sibility of return, increase the irritation of the 
 feeling. Often, in Egypt, this passion caused mur- 
 murings, and sometimes suicides. But the presence 
 of the general-in-chief. his address, and his incessant 
 activity, expelled all gloomy feelings. Always 
 knowing how to occupy himself and to occupy 
 others, he captivated to the highest pitch, and dis- 
 sipated around him those irksome sensations, or 
 prevented their having birth, to which he himself 
 was utterly foreign. The troops often said, that 
 I hey should never return to France, — that they 
 should never more recross the Mediterranean, — 
 now more than ever since the fleet of Aboukir was 
 destroyed; but general Bonaparte was there, and 
 with him they would go any where, and find a way 
 home again, or make a new country for themselves. 
 Bonaparte being gone, the face of every thing was 
 changed. Thus the news came upon them like a 
 thunderbolt. The worst epithets were made descrip- 
 tive of his act of departure. They did not consider 
 that irresistible impulse of patriotism and ambition 
 which, at the news of the disasters of the republic, 
 had induced him to return to France. They saw 
 
 nothing but the abandonment of the unfortunate 
 army which had so much confidence in his genius 
 
 as to induce it to follow him. They said to them- 
 selves, that he himself must be convinced of the 
 hopelessness ol the enterprise, <>f the Impossibility 
 
 of making it succeed, since he liad eloped and 
 given up to others that which he himself con-
 
 State of feeling in the army of 
 120 E^ypt. — The discontent of 
 Kleber affects the array. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Kleber's popularity. — He 
 assumes the command ; 
 reports to the directory. 
 
 1793. 
 Aug. 
 
 sidered to be altogether impracticable. But thus 
 to start oft' alone, leaving beyond the sea those 
 whom he had thus compromised, — it was a cruelty, 
 even a cowardice, according to certain slanderers ; 
 for he always had some, that were even very near 
 his person, throughout the most brilliant epochs 
 of his career. 
 
 Kle'ber was not attached to Bonaparte, and bore 
 his ascendency with a species of impatience. If 
 he restrained this feeling in his presence, he showed 
 it elsewhere by improper remarks. Fanciful, and 
 given to grumble, Kle'ber had greatly desired to 
 take a part in the expedition to Egypt, in order to 
 get himself out of that state of disfavour in which 
 he was suffered to live under the directory, and 
 now he was regretting his having quitted the banks 
 of the Rhine for those of the Nile. With a feeble- 
 ness unworthy of his character, he permitted his 
 feelings to display themselves ; and this man, so 
 great in danger, gave way to them as much as the 
 lowest of his soldiers could have done. The com- 
 mandership-in-chief did not balance in him the 
 necessity of living in Egypt, because he was not 
 fond of command. Pushing on the discontent 
 against Bonaparte, he committed the fault, that 
 might be called criminal, if heroic acts had not 
 repaired them, of himself contributing to produce 
 a dissatisfaction in the army which very soon be- 
 came general. Following his example, every body 
 began to declare that they would not stay any 
 longer in Egypt, and that it was necessary at any 
 cost to return to France. Other sentiments min- 
 gled with this passion for returning, calculated to 
 subvert the spirit of the army, and give occasion to 
 the most mischievous resolutions. 
 
 An old spirit of rivalry then and for a good while 
 before had divided the officers who once belonged 
 to the armies of Italy and of the Rhine. They were 
 jealous of each other, one party pretending against 
 the other, that it carried on warlike operations in 
 a superior manner ; and although this rival feel- 
 ing was repressed during the presence of Bona- 
 parte, it was in reality the principal cause of the 
 difference of their opinions. All those who came 
 from the army on the Rhine, had little attachment 
 fur the Egyptian expedition; while the officers who 
 had composed part of the army of Italy, though 
 feeling melancholy at being so far from France, 
 were in favour of the expedition, because it was the 
 work of their commander-in-chief. After his de- 
 parture all restraint disappeared. They tutnul- 
 tuously ranged around Kleber, and repeated loudly 
 with him, what began to take hold of every body's 
 mind, that the conquest of Egypt was an insensate 
 expedition, which should be abandoned at the ear- 
 liest possible moment. Nevertheless, there were 
 some of an opposite way of thinking; several gene- 
 rals, such as Lanusse, Menou, Davout, Desaix, 
 more particularly, manifested different sentiments. 
 Hence there were two parties, one called the colo- 
 nist, the other the anti-colonist. Unhappily Desaix 
 was absent. He had accomplished the conquest of 
 Upper Egypt, where he had fought several brilliant 
 actions, and governed with great ability. His in- 
 fluence could not, therefore, be opposed at that 
 moment to Kle'ber's. To complete the misfortune, 
 he was not to remain in Egypt : Bonaparte, wishing 
 to have him near his person, had committed the 
 error of not nominating him commander-in-chief, 
 
 but left an order for him to return to Europe as 
 soon as possible. Desaix, whose name was univer- 
 sally cherished and respected in the army, and 
 whose talents for government equalled his mili- 
 tary ability, would have administered the govern- 
 ment well, and would have avoided all those weak- 
 nesses to which Kle'ber delivered himself over, at 
 least for the moment. 
 
 Still Kle'ber was the most popular general among 
 the soldiery. His name was hailed by them with 
 the utmost confidence, and it consoled them in 
 some degree for the loss of the great general who 
 had quitted them. The first impression once 
 passed, their minds, though they had not perfectly 
 recovered their usual equilibrium, were become 
 more calm and sensitive to justice. A different 
 kind of conversation was held: they said, that, after 
 all, Bonaparte was obliged to fly to the aid of 
 France when in danger; and that besides, the army 
 once established in Egypt, the best thing he could 
 do for it was to go to Paris, in order to explain 
 there its situation and necessities, and to demand 
 the succours which he alone would be able to extort 
 from the negligence of the government. 
 
 Kleber returned to Cairo, took the command 
 with a species of ostentation, and placed his quar- 
 ters in the Ezbekyeh, in the fine Arab house which 
 had been inhabited by his predecessor. He dis- 
 played a degree of pomp, less to satisfy his own 
 taste, than to present an imposing appearance be- 
 fore the orientals, and determined to make his 
 authority felt by exercising it with vigour. But it 
 was not a long while before the cares of the com- 
 mandership-in-chief became unbearable to him: 
 the new dangers with which the Turks and English 
 threatened Egypt, and the grief of exile, which was 
 general, filled his heart with the most gloomy dis- 
 couragements. After having received a report of 
 the state of the colony, made at his order, he ad- 
 dressed to the directory at home a despatch full of 
 errors, and with it sent a report of the administra- 
 tor of the finances, Poussieigue, in which things 
 were represented under a false aspect, and more 
 particularly accusatory of Bonaparte himself. 
 
 In this despatch and the report, dated the 26th of 
 September, or 4th Vendemiaire, year Till., general 
 Kleber and the commissary, Poussieigue, said that 
 the army, already diminished one-half, found itself 
 at that moment reduced to about 15,000 men; that 
 it was nearly naked, which in that climate was ex- 
 tremely dangerous, on account of the difference of 
 the temperature between the day and night ; that 
 they were in want of cannon, muskets, projectiles, 
 and powder, all which things it was difficult to 
 replace there, because iron for casting, lead, and 
 timber for building, and materials for making 
 powder, were not to be obtained in Egypt: then 
 there was a large deficiency in the finances, as the 
 stun of 4,000,000f. was due to the soldiers for pay, 
 and 7,000,000 or 8,000,000f. to contractors, for 
 various services ; that the resources for establish- 
 ing contributions were already exhausted, the 
 country being ready to revolt if new ones were laid 
 on ; that the inundation not being great that year, 
 and the crops likely to be deficient, the means and 
 the will to pay the impost were equally unavailable 
 with the Egyptians; that dangers of every kind 
 threatened the colony; that the two old chiefs of the 
 Mamelukes, Murad-Bey and Ibrahim-Bey, main-
 
 1799. 
 Aug. 
 
 Errors in Kleber's despatches. — Bona- 
 parte censured in them. — They fall 
 into the hands of the English. 
 
 I1EL10POLIS. 
 
 Kleber's misstatements rectified. 
 Salubrity and fertility of Egypt. 
 
 121 
 
 tained their ground, one in Upper, the other Lower 
 Egypt. That tlie celebrated pacha of Egypt, Djezzar, 
 was about Bending to the Turkish army a reinforce- 
 ment of 30,000 excellent soldiers, the former de- 
 fenders of St. Jean d'Acre against the French; that 
 the grand vizier himself had left Constantinople, 
 and had already arrived in the neighbourhood of 
 Damascus with a powerful army ; that the Rus- 
 sians and the English had united a regular force 
 with the irregular Turkish soldiers; that in this 
 extremity there remained but one resource, which 
 was to treat with the Porte ; that Bonaparte, in 
 having given the example and express authority in 
 the instructions left for his successor, an attempt 
 was about to be made to stipulate with the grand 
 vizier, for a sort of mixed government, by which 
 the Porte should occupy the open part of Egypt, 
 and levy the miri, or land-tax, while the French 
 should occupy the towns and forts, and receive the 
 revenue of the customs. Kleber added, that the 
 general-in-chief had seen the crisis approaching, 
 and that it was the real cause of his precipitate de- 
 parture. I'oussielgue finished his report by a gross 
 calumny, saying that 15 maparte, in quitting Egypt, 
 had taken with him 2,000,000 f. It must be added, 
 that Bonaparte had heaped benefits upon the head 
 of Poussielgue. 
 
 Such were the dispatches sent to the directory 
 by Kleber and Poussielgue. Bonaparte was treated 
 in them as an individual supposed to be lost, and 
 to whom no regard need be had. He was believed 
 to be exposed to the double danger of capture by 
 the English, and of condemnation by the directory, 
 for having quitted his army. What would have 
 been the embarrassment of those who wrote 
 these communications, if they had known that they 
 were to be opened and read by him who was the 
 object of their calumny, become in the interim the 
 absolute head of the government ? 
 
 Kleber, too can less to assure himself of the true 
 of tilings, did not think of examining whether 
 the statements thus sent were in accordance with 
 his own assertions. Kleber did not imagine he was 
 stating what was untrue; he transmitted, through 
 »ence or ill-humour, the sayings that excited 
 feelings had multiplied around him, so far as to 
 establish for them a species of public notoriety. 
 These despatches were confided to a cousin of the 
 director lianas, and were accompanied by a nuVti- 
 tude of letters, in which the officers of the army 
 expressed their despair to a degree equally im- 
 prudent and unjust. This cousin of Ban-as was 
 taken by the English. He threw overboard the 
 despatch e s, of which he was bearer, in a great hurry; 
 but the packet -warn, was seen, recovered, and 
 sent to the British cabinet. The effect of these 
 mischievous communications will be soon seen; 
 the despatches, in the hands of the English, were 
 soon published all over Europe. 
 
 At ili name time Khfber and Poussielgue had 
 their despatches to Paris in duplicate. The 
 
 last arrived safe, and was handed over to the first 
 consul. 
 
 What truth was then in these pictures drawn 
 
 by diseased fancies | This may soon be judged in 
 a certain manner, bj the events themselves; but 
 in the interim it is proper to rectify the false 
 assertions which have been just stated. 
 
 The army, according to Kleber, was reduced to 
 
 fifteen thousand men, yet the returns to the di- 
 rectory made them twenty-eight thousand five 
 hundred. When two years afterwards it was 
 brought back to France there were still twenty- 
 two thousand soldiers in its ranks, and it had 
 fought several great battles and innumerable 
 actions. In 1798 there left France thirty-four 
 thousand men ; four thousand remained at Malta, 
 thirty thousand therefore arrived at Alexandria. 
 At a later period three thousand seamen, the rem- 
 nant of those of the fleet destroyed at Aboukir, 
 reinforced the army, which raised the number to 
 thirty-three thousand. It had lost four or five 
 thousand soldiers from 1798 to 17!'9 ; it was 
 then reduced in 1800 to twenty-eight thousand 
 men at least, of whom twenty-two thousand were 
 fighting men. 
 
 Egypt is a healthy country, where wounds heal 
 with wonderful rapidity ; there were this year 
 very few sick, and there was no plague. Egypt 
 was full of Christians, Greeks, Syrians, and Copts, 
 soliciting to enter into the French service, and 
 it might have furnished excellent recruits to the 
 number of fifteen or twenty thousand. The blacks 
 of Darfour, bought and made free, supplied five 
 hundred good soldiers to one of the demi-brigades. 
 Moreover, Egypt had submitted. The peasants 
 who cultivated the land, habituated to obedience 
 under every master, never dreamed of taking up 
 arms. Except some tumults in the towns, there 
 were none to fear save the undisciplined Turks 
 coming from a distance, or English mercenaries 
 brought by sea with great trouble. Against such 
 enemies the French army was more than sufficient, 
 if it was commanded not with genius, but merely 
 with common judgment. 
 
 Kleber said, in his despatches, that the soldiers 
 were nearly naked ; but Bonaparte had left cloth 
 for clothing them, and a month after the despatches 
 were sent off the men were actually clothed anew. 
 In any ease Egypt abounded in cotton, which it 
 produced for all Africa. It could not be difficult 
 to procure them the stuffs by purchase, as they 
 might have been levied in part of the imposts. 
 As to provisions, Egypt is the granary of the coun- 
 tries that produce no corn. Grain, rice, beef, 
 mutton, fowls, sugar, and coffee, were at a price 
 there ten times less than in Europe. The markets 
 were so low, that the army, although its financi a 
 were not over rich, was able to pay for every thine 
 which it consumed; in other words, it conducted 
 itself in Africa much better than Christian armies 
 conduct themselves in Europe, because there, it is 
 well-known, they live on the conquered country, 
 and pay nothing. Kleber said that he wanted 
 arms ; there remained in his stores eleven thou- 
 sand sabres, fifteen thousand muskets, fourteen or 
 fifteen hundred cannon, of which one hundred and 
 eighty were field pieces. Alexandria, thai he said 
 had been stripped of its artillery for the siege of 
 St. Jean d'Acre, had more than three hundred 
 
 pieces <>f cannon in battery. Then as to ammu- 
 nition, there remained three millions of musket car- 
 tridges, twenty-seven thousand cannon cartridges, 
 filled, and resources for making more, as there 
 were still in the magazines two hundred thousand 
 projectiles and eleven hundred thousand pounds of 
 gunpowder. Subsequent events demonstrated the 
 truth of these allegations, for the army continued
 
 Kleber's misstatements con- 
 122 cerning the finances rec- 
 tified. 
 
 Culpability of the heads of 17 „ q 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. the army—Bonaparte's ^ 
 
 instructions. 6 ' 
 
 to fight for two years longer, and left to the English 
 considerable stores. What, in fact, could have 
 become in so short a time of the immense materiel, 
 so carefully accumulated by Bonaparte on board 
 the fleet which transported the army to Egypt ? 
 
 Then in respect to the finances, the report of 
 Kle'ber was equally untrue. The soldiers were 
 paid up to the day. It is true, that nothing had 
 yet been done in fixing the system of finance best 
 adapted for provisioning the army without press- 
 ing upon the country ; but the resources were in 
 existence, and in maintaining only the imposts 
 already established it was easy for the troops to 
 live in abundance. There was money from the im- 
 posts of the year enough to pay all the current ex- 
 penses, or more than 1 6,000,000 f. There was conse- 
 quently no necessity for driving the population to 
 revolt, by the establishment of fresh contributions. 
 The accounts of the finances, made at a late period, 
 prove that Egypt, well managed, could supply 
 25,000,000 f. per annum of revenue. At this rate 
 she would not pay the half of what was taken, with 
 a thousand vexations, by the numerous tyrants 
 who oppressed the country, under the name of 
 Mamelukes. At the price of things in Egypt, the 
 army might live very well upon 18,000,000 f. or 
 20,000,000 f. As to the chests, so far was Bona- 
 parte from having diminished them, that he had 
 scarcely touched them, and at his departure had 
 not even drawn the whole of his own pay. 
 
 In regard to the dangers with which the colony 
 was threatened, this is the truth : Murad Bey, 
 discouraged, was a fugitive in Upper Egypt, with 
 a few Mamelukes. Ibrahim Bey, who under the 
 government of the Mamelukes, partook the sove- 
 reignty with Murad, was in Lower Egypt, towards 
 the frontiers of Syria, with less than four hundred 
 horse in place of some thousands. Djezzar Pacha 
 was shut up in St. Jean d'Acre. So far was he 
 from succouring the army of the vizier with thirty 
 thousand men, that, on the contrary, he saw with 
 displeasure the approach of this new Turkish 
 army, now more than ever that his pachalic was 
 freed from the French. As to the grand vizier, 
 he had not yet passed the Taurus. The English 
 had their troops at Mahon, and were at the mo- 
 ment thinking of employing them in Tuscany, 
 Naples, or on the coast of France. In regard to a 
 Russian expedition, that was a pure fable. The 
 Russians had not yet thought of taking so long a 
 voyage for the purpose of supporting the policy of 
 England in the east. 
 
 The inhabitants were not, as was said, inclined 
 to revolt. By managing the sheiks as Bonaparte 
 had prescribed, the sheiks, who are the priests 
 and lawyers of the Arabs, their good-will might 
 soon be gained. We had commenced already to 
 have a strong party among them. We had with 
 us, besides, the Copts, the Greeks, and the Syrians, 
 who being all Christians, behaved in regard to the 
 French as friends and useful auxiliaries. Thus 
 there was nothing imminent from this quarter to 
 fear. It is not to be doubted that if the French 
 had met with reverses, the Egyptians would do as 
 the Italians themselves had done, with the fickle- 
 ness of a conquered people. They would join the 
 victors of to-day against the victors of yesterday. 
 Still they felt the difference of the government that 
 pressed upon them, robbed them, and was never 
 
 without the sabre in its hand, and the French who 
 respected their property, and very rarely struck 
 off their heads. 
 
 Kleber had given way to these dangerous ex- 
 aggerations, the melancholy result of hatred, ennui, 
 and exile. By his side general Menou, observing 
 every thing under the most favourable colours", 
 believed the French in Europe to be invincible, 
 and regarded the expedition as the first appear- 
 ance of a considerable revolution in the commerce 
 of the world. Men are unable to divest themselves 
 sufficiently of their personal impressions in these 
 kind of appreciations. Kle'ber and Menou were 
 upright men, both honest ; but one wanted to go 
 away, the other to remain in Egypt. The clearest 
 and most authentic statements signified opposite 
 things in their views ; misery and ruin for one, 
 abundance and success for the other. 
 
 Whatever might be the situation of the country, 
 Kle'ber and his party rendered themselves seriously 
 culpable in thinking of an evacuation ; because 
 they had no right to do so. It is true that Bona- 
 parte, in his instructions, full of sagacity, examin- 
 ing every possible case, had provided for that 
 which might occur if the army should be obliged 
 to evacuate Egypt. "I go," said he, "to France, 
 either as a private or a public man ; I will get 
 succours sent to you. But if in the approaching 
 spring," (he wrote in 17^9,) "you have received 
 neither succours nor instructions ; if the plague 
 should carry off above fifteen hundred men in- 
 dependently of losses by war ; if a considerable 
 force, which you will not be capable of resist- 
 ing, should press you vigorously, negotiate with 
 the vizier ; even consent, if it must be so, to 
 the evacuation, under one condition, that of re- 
 course to the French government ; and in the 
 meantime continue the occupation. You will thus 
 gain time; and it is not possible but that, in the in- 
 terval, you will be succoured." These instructions 
 were wise; but the case provided for was far from 
 being realized. In the first place it was necessary 
 to wait for the spring of 1800 ; it was necessary 
 at that time for no succours, no orders to reach 
 Egypt ; it was necessary to have lost by the 
 plague a part of the effective strength ; and lastly, 
 to have been pressed by superior forces : but no- 
 thing of the kind had occurred nor did occur. An 
 open negotiation without these conditions was an 
 act of real offence. 
 
 In September, 1790, Vcnde'miaire, year vii., 
 Desaix, having completed the conquest and secured 
 the submission of Upper Egypt, had left two move- 
 able columns in pursuit of Murad Bey, to whom 
 he had offered peace, on condition of his becoming 
 the vassal of France. He had come back to Cairo 
 by order of Kle'ber, who wished to have his name 
 in the unfortunate negotiations into which he was 
 about to enter. While these proceedings wire 
 going forward the army of the vizier, so long an- 
 nounced, was slowly advancing. Sir Sidney Smith, 
 who convoyed with his vessels the Turkish troops 
 dest'ned to proceed by sea, had arrived at Da- 
 mietta with eight thousand janissaries. On the 1st 
 of November, or 10th Brumaire, year vin., the first 
 disembarkation of four thousand janissaries took 
 place, towards the Bogaz of Damictta, that is, at 
 the entrance of the branch of the Nile which passes 
 before that city. General Verdier, who had but
 
 1799. 
 Aug. 
 
 A Turkish reinforcement routed 
 
 at Damietta. Sir Sidney 
 
 Smith's exertions to induce 
 
 HELIOFOLIS. 
 
 the French to evacuate Egypt. 
 Overtures made by Kleber. 
 
 123 
 
 one thousand men at Damietta, went out with tliat 
 number, and proceeded above the fort of Lesbeh, 
 on a narrow tongue of land, on the shore of which 
 the Turks had disembarked ; and before the four 
 thousand janissaries on the way could arrive, he 
 attacked the four thousand that had already Ian le I. 
 In spite of the fire of the English artillery, placed 
 advantageously on an old tower, he beat them, and 
 killed or drowned more than three thousand, making 
 the rest prisoners. The gun-boats, seeing (lie whole 
 scene, returned to their vessels, and landed no 
 more of the troops. The French had only twenty- 
 two killed, and one hundred wounded. 
 
 At the news of this disembarkation Kleber sent 
 Desaix with a column of three thousand men ; but 
 these, on arriving at Damietta, found the victory 
 gained, and the French full of boundless confidence. 
 This brilliant feat of arms ought to have encou- 
 1 Kleber; unluckily, he was ruled at the time 
 by his own chagrin and that of the army. He had 
 1 .1 the minds, that led him in turn, to the fatal 
 resolution of an immediate evacuation. Bonaparte 
 w;ls made the subject of new invectives. "This 
 headstrong young man,'' said he," who has exposed 
 the French army to danger, and himself to other 
 perils, in braving the seas and the English cruizers, 
 to return to France, — this rash young man has not 
 escaped the dangers of the passage. The wise 
 generals, educated in the school of the army of the 
 Rhine, ought to give up this wild scheme, and take 
 back to Europe brave soldiers indispensable to the 
 republic, threatened on all quarters. 
 
 In this disposition of mind Kleber sent one of 
 his officers to the vizier, who had entered Syria, to 
 make overtures of pi ace. Already Bonaparte, to 
 embroil the vizier with the English, had had an 
 idea of nth mptint: to ni gotiate ; though on his own 
 part it was no more than a feint. His overtures 
 wi n 1 with a haughty defiance. Those of 
 
 Kleber obtained a better reception, by the influence 
 of Sir Sidney Smith, who prepared to play a pro- 
 minent character in the affairs of Egypt. 
 
 'Ibis English officer of the navy had greatly con- 
 tributed to prevent the success of the siege of St. 
 Jean d'Acre; he was proud of what he had done, 
 and conceived a /•,/::, de guerre, according to the 
 expression of the English agents. It consisted in 
 profiting, by a moment of weakness, to snatch from 
 the French this pri cious conquest. As all die in- 
 pted letters of the French officers showed 
 clearly enough their ardent desire to return to 
 France, .sir Sidney Smith wished to induce the 
 army to negotiate, by subscribing a capitulation ; 
 and before the French government had time to 
 give bm( nt to or refuse tin- ratification, to embark 
 
 it and throw it upon the Coast of Europe. It was 
 with this view that he disposed the grand vizier to 
 listen to the overture s of Kleber. As to himself, 
 he loaded the French officers with civilities; lie 
 allowed the news from Europe to reach them, but 
 took care onlj to . ■ such intelligence as was an- 
 terior to the Huh Brumalre '. Kleber, on his side-, 
 
 1 [It would have been singular had Sir Sidney Smith com- 
 tnunir.it' d to general Kleber what had not then occurred. 
 The 18th of Brumaire was the Pto of November, 1709. 
 i 'a correspondence with Sir Sidney began, Kltbei him- 
 ■elf says, | ee bl* letter to the directory dated 10th PluvIOie, 
 or January 30thj nfew dayt fte/orethe disembarkation of the 
 
 sent a negotiator to Sir Sidney Smith, the English 
 being masters of the sea, and he wishing to have 
 them as parties to the negotiation, so that the 
 return of the army to France might be rendered 
 practicable. Sir Sidney listened willingly to this 
 message, and showed himself disposed to enter into 
 an arrangement, adding, besides, that in virtue of a 
 treaty dated the 5th of January, 17«10, of which lie 
 had been the negotiator, there existed a triple 
 alliance between Russia, England, and the Porte; 
 that these powers were bound to make a common 
 cause; and that, in consequence, no arrangement 
 executed with the Forte would be binding, if it 
 was not made in concurrence with the agents of the 
 three courts. Sir Sidney Smith took, in these com- 
 munications, the tide of " minister plenipotentiary 
 frmn his Britannic majesty to the Ottoman Forte, 
 commanding his squadron in the waters of the 
 Levant." 
 
 Sir Sidney Smith here gave himself a title which 
 he once had, but which he had ceased to hold after 
 the arrival of lord Elgin as ambassador at Con- 
 stantinople; and in reality he had at the moment 
 no other power than such as belongs always to 
 a military commander — that of signing military 
 conventions, suspensions of arms, and similar docu- 
 ments. 
 
 Kleber, without closer examination, without 
 knowing whether he was treating with agents 
 accredited sufficiently, engaged in a blind manner 
 in this perilous affair, into which he was drawn by 
 a feeling common to the whole army, and which 
 would have terminated ignominiously if, happily 
 for him, Heaven had not endowed him with an 
 heroic soul, which could not fail to recover him 
 with glory, as soon as he became sensible of the 
 extent of his error. He entered into the nego- 
 tiations, and offered Sir Sidney Smith as well as 
 the vizier, who had advanced as far as Gaza in 
 Syria, to nominate oflieers furnished with full 
 powers to treat. Feeling repugnant to the admit- 
 tance of Turks into his camp, and unwilling, on the 
 other hand, to risk his officers in the midst of the 
 undisciplined army of the grand vizier, he con- 
 ceived the place best to choose lor the conferences 
 w< old be the Tigre, Sir Sidney Smith's vessel. 
 
 Sir Sidney was cruising with only two vessels — 
 which, by the way, sufficiently proved the possi- 
 bility of communicating bet wien France and Egypt; 
 Sir Sidney had no more than one at that time; the 
 other, the Theseus, being under repair at Cyprus. 
 Rough weather frequently obliging him to stand 
 off the coast, and bis communications being neither 
 prompt nor regular witll the land, it took some 
 time to receh S hi* assent. At last his reply came; 
 it intimated that lie would appear successively oil' 
 
 Alexandria and Damietta, to receive onboard such 
 
 officers as Kleber might send. 
 
 Kleber appointed Desaix and Poussielgue the 
 
 Janissaries at Damietta. The Janissaries were disembarked 
 ami routed on the Inst of Novi ruber. Bli Bidnej could not 
 thru have known what occurred lubaequently in Paria, 
 therefore ( on the 9th of that month. The negotiations went 
 
 (.n in a more si limis manner on the 22nd of December; nt 
 Which 'I. ile. cviii, it is probable Sir Sidney himself knew 
 
 nothing ni what must have gone from Tans to London, and 
 
 WOUld, in those (lavs, have tak. n live (ir six weeks tu re* li 
 
 Alexandria from London, at the usual eatlmate.— ZVom- 
 
 l,il;r.]
 
 Desaix received by 
 
 124 Sir Sidney Smith. — 
 
 Kleber's unreasonable 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 demands. — Sir Sidney's 
 answer.- — The grand vi- 
 zier at El-Arisch. 
 
 1799. 
 Aug. 
 
 commissary, who had so heavily slandered Bona- 
 parte, and whom the Egyptians, in their Arabic 
 phraseology, had denominated " sultan Kleber's vi- 
 zier." Poussielgue was the advocate of the evacua- 
 tion, Desaix was opposed to it. The last had made the 
 utmost exertion to resist the torrent, and elevate 
 the spirits of his companions in arms; and he had 
 only charged himself with the negotiation com- 
 menced by Kle'ber, with the hope of protracting it, 
 and gaining time for the arrival of orders and 
 succoui's from France. Kle'ber, in order to excuse 
 himself in the sight of Desaix, told him that Bona- 
 parte was the first who had commanded treating 
 with the Turks; that besides he had provided him- 
 self and authorized the advance of a treaty of 
 evacuation in case of imminent danger. Desaix, 
 ill-informed, hoped continually that the first vessel 
 which arrived from France would clear up all 
 obscurities, and perhaps change the deplorable 
 state of the staff of the army. He parted with 
 M. Poussielgue, and unable to join Sir Sidney 
 Smith off Alexandria, found him before Damietta, 
 and went on board the Tigre on the 22nd of De- 
 cember, 17^0, or 1st of Nivose, the year vm., the 
 same moment that Bonaparte was invested with 
 the supreme power in France. 
 
 Sir Sidney Smith, who was delighted to have on 
 board such a plenipotentiary as Desaix, treated 
 him in the most flattering manner, and sought by 
 every means of persuasion to bring him into the 
 idea of evacuating Egypt. 
 
 Desaix knew perfectly well how to defend him- 
 self, and stuck to the conditions which his com- 
 mander had instructed him to ask. These con- 
 ditions, unacceptable to the English commander, 
 were very convenient to Desaix, who wished to 
 gain time ; they were too, on the part of Kle'ber, 
 very ill calculated, because they were so extrava- 
 gant as to render agreement impossible. Kle'ber 
 sought in the extended nature of the demand itself 
 an excuse for his error. He demanded, for ex- 
 ample, to be landed on any point of the continent 
 he might choose, in order to afford the republic the 
 aid of his army wherever it might be deemed of 
 most service, retiring from Egypt with the honours 
 of war, with arms and baggage. He demanded 
 that the Porte should restore to France imme- 
 diately the Venetian Islands, which by the treaty 
 of Campo Formio had become subject to France ; 
 that is Corfu, Zante, Ccphalonia, and others, at that 
 moment occupied by Turco-Russian garrisons; that 
 these islands, and above all Malta, a much more 
 important one, should be given up to France; that 
 the possession of these should be guaranteed to 
 her by the persons signing the treaty of evacuation ; 
 that the French army, on retiring, should have the 
 right to reinforce and revictual the garrisons ; 
 lastly, that the treaty which united Turkey, Austria, 
 and England, should be instantly annulled, and 
 the triple alliance of the East dissolved. 
 
 These conditions were unreasonable it must be 
 said; not that they were an exaggerated equivalent 
 for what was given up in giving up Egypt, but 
 because they were impossible to execute. Sir 
 Sidney made Kleber sensible of this, — that officers, 
 treating for a suspension of arms only, could not 
 include objects of such a wide latitude in their 
 negotiations. Zante, Cephalonia, and Corfu, were 
 occupied by Turkish and Russian troops ; it was 
 
 required, therefore, to communicate with St. Pe- 
 tersburg as well as Constantinople. Malta was 
 held under the king of Naples as lord paramount 
 of the order ; it could not be disposed of without 
 the consent of that prince, who had always refused 
 to cede it to France. To place French troops on 
 the island at that moment was, in a manner, suf- 
 ficient of itself to settle the question. There were 
 to be found the cruizers of all the allied powers, 
 that would not retire upon an order of Sir Sidney 
 Smith or of the grand vizier. England, besides, 
 would never consent to any condition which placed 
 Malta in the hands of France. To land the French 
 army on a point of the continent, where it would 
 be able to change the combinations of the war by 
 its unexpected appearance, was a piece of hardihood 
 that a single commodore commanding a naval 
 station would not take upon himself to permit. In 
 fine, to abolish the treaty of the triple alliance, was 
 to demand that Sir Sidney Smith should abrogate, 
 on board his own ship, a treaty ratified by three 
 great powers, which was of great importance for 
 the East. Supposing that all these stipulations 
 should be accepted by all the courts whose consent 
 would be required, it was necessary to send to 
 Naples, London, St. Petersburg, and Constan- 
 tinople ; this, then, could be no longer a military 
 convention of evacuation, such as that signed at 
 Marengo and executable at the instant. If it were 
 referred to London, it must be referred to Paris, 
 which Kleber had no desire should be done. All 
 this, then, was evidently far beyond the limits of 
 a military capitulation. 
 
 Sir Sidney Smith had no difficulty in making 
 the French negotiators feel the cogency of these 
 reasons. But he was urgent to settle two objects 
 immediately, — the departure of the wounded and 
 of the learned men attached to the expedition, for 
 whom Desaix demanded a safe-conduct, and a sus- 
 pension of arms ; because the army of the grand 
 vizier, although marching slowly, would soon find 
 itself in presence of the French army. It had ar- 
 rived, in fact, before the port of El Arisch, the first 
 French port on the Syrian frontier, and had already 
 summoned it to surrender. Kle'ber, made ac- 
 quainted with this circumstance, had written to 
 Desaix, and prescribed to him, as an indispensable 
 condition of the conference, that the Turkish army 
 should halt on the frontier. 
 
 The first point, the departure of the wounded 
 and the scientific men, rested with Sir Sidney 
 Smith. He at once assented to it with great cheer- 
 fulness and much courtesy. As to the armistice, 
 Sir Sidney said that he would demand it, but that 
 the obtaining it did not depend upon himself ; for 
 the Turkish army was composed of barbarous and 
 fanatical hordes, and it was extremely difficult to 
 make a regular convention with it, and, above all, 
 secure the execution. To remove this difficulty, 
 he determined to proceed himself to the camp of 
 the grand vizier, which was near Gaza. The ne- 
 gotiation had been proceeding for a fortnight on 
 board the Tigre, while floating at the mercy of the 
 winds off the coasts of Syria and Egypt. The 
 parties had said all they had to say, and the nego- 
 tiation could no longer continue to be useful, 
 unless it wore carried on near the grand vizier 
 himself. Sir Sidney Smith therefore proposed to 
 repair to the vizier's camp, and to conclude a sus-
 
 1799. 
 Dec. 
 
 Armv of Mussulman fanatics. 
 The fort of El- Arisen. 
 
 HELIOPOLIS. 
 
 Conduct of the garrison ther.t. 
 The fort taken. 
 Massacre of the French. 
 
 125 
 
 pension of arms, and prepare for the arrival of the 
 French negotiators, if lie thought that lie could 
 procure for them respect and security. The pro- 
 position was accepted. Sir Sidney, profiting by a 
 favourable moment, got off in a boat, which landed 
 him on the coast, not without incurring some 
 dangers, ordering the commanding officer of the 
 t» meet him in the port of Jaffa, where 
 
 ix and Poussielgue were to be lauded, if the 
 place of conference should be changed to the camp 
 of the grand vizier. 
 
 At the moment when the English commodore 
 arrived at the grand vizier's camp, a horrible 
 event had occurred at El-Arisch. The Turkish 
 armv, composed the smaller part of janissaries, 
 and the larger of Asiatic militia, that the Mussul- 
 man laws place at the disposition of the Porte, 
 presenting a confused and undisciplined body, was 
 very formidable to those who wore the European 
 drees. It had been levied in the name of the 
 prophet, the Turks being told that this was the 
 last effort to be made for driving the infidels out 
 of Egypt; that the formidable "sultan of fire" 
 (Bonaparte) bad gone away from them ; that they 
 
 enfeebled and discouraged; that it only suf- 
 ficed for them to show themselves and to conquer; 
 that all Egypt was ready to revolt against their 
 domination. These, and other things, repeated 
 every where, had brought seventy or eighty thou- 
 sand Mussulman fanatics around the vizier. To the 
 Turks were united the Mamelukes under Ibrahim 
 Bey, that had for some time retired into Syria ; and 
 Murad Bey, who, by a long circuit, had descended 
 from the cataracts to the vicinity of Suez, all be- 
 came auxiliaries to their former adversaries. The 
 English had made for this army a sort of field 
 artillery drawn by mules. The Bedouin Arabs, 
 in the hope of soon pillaging the vanquished, no 
 matter of which side, placed fifteen thousand camels 
 at the disposal of the grand vizier, to aid him in 
 
 ng tb>' desert which separates Palestine from 
 Egypt. Tin- Turkish commander-in-chief had in 
 his half barbarous staff some English officers and 
 many of those culpable emigrants who had taught 
 Djezzar Pacha how to defend St. Jean D'Acre. 
 It will now be seen of what those miserable refugees 
 became tb 
 
 'J'le- fort of El-Arisch, before which the Turks 
 
 at that moment, was, according to Bonaparte, 
 one of the two keys of Egypt ; the other was Alex- 
 andria. On the same authority an army coming by 
 could not land in any great number except 
 upon the beach mar Alexandria. An army coining 
 by land, and bavin- to cross the desert of Syria, 
 
 buged to pate by El-Arisch, in order to ob- 
 tain water at tin- wells situated there. Bonaparte 
 had in consequence ordered works of defence to be 
 constructed about Alexandria, and that El-Arisch 
 
 I Id be put into a state of defence. A body 
 
 of three hiindn d men, well provided with ammuni- 
 tion and provisions, garrisoned the fort, and an able 
 officer, named Cazals, commanded it. The Turkish 
 advanced guard appearing before El-Arisch, it 
 
 ummoned to surrender by colonel Douglas, an 
 English officer in the Turkish service. A disguised 
 French emigrant was tie- bearer of the summons 
 to the commandant, <a/.aK A parley took place, 
 and the soldiers wire told that the evacuation of 
 
 t would be immediate; that it was already an- 
 
 nounced as resolved upon; that it would soon be 
 inevitable; and that it would be cruel to wish they 
 should defend themselves. The culpable sentiments 
 which the officers had too much encouraged in the 
 army, then broke out. The soldiers garrisoning El- 
 Arisch, having the same desire to leave Egypt as the 
 real of their comrades, declared to the command- 
 ant, that they would not fight, and that he must 
 surrender the fort. The gallant Cazals called them 
 togetherindignantly,addressedthemin manly terms, 
 told them that if there were cowards among them 
 they had leave to quit the garrison and go over to 
 the Turks, lie giving them full license to do >o; but 
 that he would resist to the last with those French- 
 men who continued to be faithful to their duty. 
 This address recalled for a moment the feeling of 
 honour into the hearts of the men. The summons 
 was rejected, and the attack begun. The Turks 
 were not able to carry a position even tolerably de- 
 fended. The batteries of the fort silenced their 
 artillery. Directed by English and emigrant offi- 
 cers, notwithstanding this, they pushed their 
 trenches to the salient angle of a bastion. The 
 commandant ordered a sortie to be made by some 
 grenadiers, in order to drive the Turks from the 
 first branch of the trench. Captain Ferray, who 
 was ordered on the duty, was only followed by 
 three grenadiers. Seeing himself abandoned, he 
 returned towards the fort. Meanwhile the muti- 
 neers had struck the colours, but a sergeant of 
 grenadiers rehoisted them. A contest ensued. 
 During this struggle, the scoundrels who insisted 
 upon surrendering, threw ropes to the Turks, and 
 these ferocious enemies, once hoisted up into the 
 fort, fell sword in hand upon those who had ad- 
 mitted them, and massacred the larger part. The 
 rest, coming to their senses, united with the re- 
 mainder of the garrison, and, in despair, defending 
 themselves with the utmost courage, were the 
 larger part cut to pieces. Some few in number ob- 
 tained quarter, thanks to colonel Douglas, owing 
 their lives entirely to the intervention of that 
 officer. 
 
 Thus fell the fort of El-Arisch. This was the first 
 effect of the unhappy disposition of the mind of 
 the army; the first fruit that the commanders ga- 
 thered through their own errors. 
 
 It was the 30th of December, or Dili Nivdse : 
 the letter, written by Bir Sidney Smith to the grand 
 vizier, to propose a suspension of arms, bad not 
 arrived in time to prevent the sad Occurrence of 
 El-Arisch. Sir Sidney Smith was a man of gene- 
 rous sentiments, and this barbarous massacre of a 
 
 French garrison was revolting to bis feelings, and 
 made iii in fear, in a more particular manner, the 
 rupture of the negotiations, lie sent in haste ex- 
 planations of the affair to K lebor, as well in his 
 own name as in that of the grand vizier ; and 
 be added the formal assurance that all hostilities 
 should cease during the liegol iat ions. 
 
 At the sijjht of these hordes, who resembled 
 more an emigration of savages, than an army 
 
 going to combat, actually fighting among them- 
 selves over their provisions at night for the pos- 
 session Of a well, sir Sidney Smith felt alarmed 
 
 for the security of the French plenipotentiaries. 
 He insisted that the tents destined for their recep- 
 tion should be situated in the same quarter as that 
 of the grand vizier and rcis ellendi, who were both
 
 Sir Sidney Smith and the 
 ]-2G French plenipotentiaries THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 visit the gran,, vizier. 
 
 Conditions of the conven- 
 tion. — Errors of the 
 French commissioners. 
 
 1800. 
 Jan. 
 
 present with the army ; that a chosen body of 
 troops should be placed around their tents ; he 
 placed his own near them, and, lastly, provided a 
 body of English seamen, to secure from violence 
 both himself and the French officers committed to 
 his honour. Having taken these precautions, he 
 sent to Jaffa in search of Desaix and Poussielgue, 
 in order to bring them to the place of conference. 
 
 Kle'ber, when he heard of the massacre of El- 
 Arisch, was not so indignant as he should have 
 shown himself, being aware that if he were too 
 warm about the affair, all negotiation might be 
 broUen off. He was more than ever urgent for a 
 suspension of arms ; and by way of prevention, as 
 well as to be nearer the p.ace of conference, he 
 transferred his head-quarters to Salahieh, on the 
 frontier of the desert, within two marches of El- 
 Arisch. 
 
 In the meanwhile Desaix and Poussielgue, 
 having the wind contrary, were not able to land 
 at Gaza until the 11th of January, or 21st of 
 Nivose, nor to arrive at El-Arisch before the 13th. 
 The conferences began upon their arrival ; and 
 Desaix nearly broke off the negotiation by his 
 indignation. The Turks, barbarous and ignorant, 
 put their own construction upon the conduct of 
 the French; and from their disposition to treat, 
 imagined they were afraid to fight, in place of 
 desiring so immediately to return to France. They 
 required, therefore, that the French army should 
 surrender and become prisoners of war. Desaix 
 was for terminating at that moment every kind of 
 parley ; but sir Sidney interposing, brought back 
 both parties to more honourable terms, if there 
 could be such for a convention of this character. It 
 was no longer possible to put forward the first 
 propositions of Kle'ber. Of this he had been in- 
 formed by letters written from on board the Tigre, 
 and lie had ceased to speak of the Venetian islands, 
 of Malta, and of the revictualling of those places. 
 Still, to colour his negotiation, he held fast to the 
 retirement of the Porte from the triple alliance. 
 This point might in strictness have been negotiated 
 at El-Arisch, because the reis effendi and the 
 grand vizier were there; but it could hardly be 
 required of the English negotiator, whose inter- 
 vention was indispensable. The condition was 
 therefore set aside with the others. It was a vain 
 artifice that Kle'ber and his advisers employed 
 towards themselves, to disguise in their own eyes 
 the disgraceful nature of their conduct. 
 
 In a short time the simple and pure evacuation 
 and its conditions became the sole subject. After 
 long discussions it was agreed that hostilities 
 should cease for three months ; and that for these 
 three months the grand vizier should employ him- 
 self in collecting in the ports of Rosetta, Aboukir, 
 and Alexandria, the vessels required for the con- 
 veyance of the French army; that general Kle'ber 
 should employ himself in evacuating Upper Egypt, 
 Cairo, and the surrounding provinces, and in con- 
 centrating his troops for the purpose of embarka- 
 tion ; that the French should embark with arms 
 and baggage, in other words, with the honours of 
 war, taking with them such stores as they might 
 require, and leaving the rest ; that from the day 
 of the signature of the treaty, they should cease to 
 impose contributions, and abandon to the Porte 
 those which remained due ; but iu return, that the 
 
 French should receive three thousand purses of 
 the value of 3,000,000 f., representing the sum 
 necessary for their subsistence during the evacua- 
 tion and the passage. The forts of Katieh, Sala- 
 hieh, and Belbe'fs, to be given up ten days after 
 the ratification of the treaty, and Cairo in forty 
 days afterwards. It was agreed that the ratifica- 
 tion of the treaty should be returned by general 
 Kleber alone in eight days, without having recourse 
 to the French government. Lastly, sir Sidney 
 Smith agreed, in his own name and that of the 
 Russian commissioners, to furnish passports to the 
 army, in order that it might sail free of the 
 English cruisers. 
 
 The French commissioners here committed a 
 grievous error. The signature of sir Sidney Smith 
 was indispensable, because without his signature 
 the sea would remain closed. They ought to have 
 required this of sir Sidney Smith, as he was the 
 negotiator of the convention. Then the mystery of 
 his powers would have been cleared up. It would 
 then have been seen, that the English commodore, 
 having had formerly the power to treat with the 
 Porte, had none at that moment, lord Elgin 
 having arrived as minister at Constantinople; that 
 he had no special instructions for the present case; 
 and that he could alone have had a strong pre- 
 sumption that his conduct would be approved in 
 London. Little versed in diplomatic usages, the 
 French plenipotentiaries believed that sir Sidney 
 Smith, in offering them passports, had the power 
 to give them, and that such passports would be 
 valid. 
 
 The conditions of the convention being thus 
 terminated, nothing remained but to sign them. 
 The noble heart of Desaix revolted at what he was 
 obliged to do. Before he put his name to the 
 paper, he sent for Savary, his aid- de-camp, and 
 directed him to proceed to the head-quaricrs at 
 Salahieh, where Kle'ber was, to communicate to 
 him the draft of the convention, and to declare 
 that he would not sign it until he had a forma] 
 order for that purpose. Savary went to Salahieh 
 and acquitted himself of his commission to Kle'ber. 
 That general, who had a confused feeling of his 
 error, in order to cover it, called a council of war, 
 to which all the generals of the army were sum- 
 moned. 
 
 This council assembled on the 1st of January, 
 1800, or 1st Pluviose, year vm. The minutes 
 still exist. It is painful to see brave men, who 
 had spilled their blood and were going again to 
 spill it in their country's service, accumulate 
 miserable falsehoods to hide their criminal weak- 
 ness. The example may well serve as a lesson to 
 military officers, that it does not alone suffice to be 
 firm in combat, but that the courage that braves 
 balls and bullets is the least of the duties imp' a i 
 upon their noble profession. Great weight was 
 laid in this council of war upon the intelligence, 
 then well known in Egypt, that the grand French 
 and Spanish fleets had gone out of the Mediter- 
 ranean into the ocean, from which it was inferred 
 that all hope of aid from France was cut off. 
 Five months had elapsed since the departure 
 of Bonaparte, during which no despatch had been 
 received. The discouragement of the army was 
 also used as an argument which they had them- 
 selves contributed to produce. They citea what
 
 1800. 
 Jan. 
 
 Council of war summoned. — The con- 
 vention ratified. — Conduct of Da- 
 vout and Desaix. 
 
 HELIOPOLIS. 
 
 Kleber's despatclies reach London and 
 Paris. — KesolUtioiM of Bonaparte 
 and the British government. 
 
 127 
 
 had occurred recently at Rosetta and A'exandria, 
 where the garrisons had threatened mutiny, be- 
 having like that Of El-Arisch, if they were not 
 immediately sent back to Europe ; they pretended 
 further that the active force was reduced to eight 
 thousand men ; the force of the Turks was ex- 
 aggerated beyond possibility; a pretended Russian 
 expedition for the purpose of joining the grand 
 vizier, an expedition existing only in the heated 
 imagination of those who wished to quit Egypt at 
 any cost ; the impossibility of resistance was posi- 
 tively established — an assertion which was soon to 
 be proved false, in a manner the most heroic, by 
 tlie very persons who now advanced it ; finally, 
 to keep as near as possible to the instructions of 
 Bonaparte, they alleged a few cases of plague, of 
 very doubtful character, and absolutely unknown 
 in the army. 
 
 In spite of all that was said, the partisans of the 
 evacuation were far from conforming to the in- 
 structions left by Bona] arte. He had laid down 
 four conditions : namely, if no succours, no orders, 
 should arrive before the spring of 1800 ; if the 
 plague should have carried off one thousand five 
 hundred men, besides those lost in battle ; if the 
 danger was so great as to render all resistance im- 
 possible; and these events being realized, then he 
 recommended, lastly, the gaining time by negotia- 
 ting, and the admission of the evacuation only under 
 the condition of its being ratified by Franc?. It 
 was still only January, 1800; there was no plague, 
 no pressing danger; yet still an immediate evacua- 
 tion was on the point of taking place, without any 
 recourse to France. One who has shown in war 
 something superior to courage — in other words, 
 character — general Davout, afterwards prince of 
 Eckmuhl, dared to oppose this culpable impulse. 
 He did not fear to oppose Kleber, to whose influ- 
 ence all the rest submitted; and he combated with 
 energy the idea of a capitulation. He was not lis- 
 tened to; and by an unhappy condescension, he 
 uted to sign the resolution of the council of 
 war, and left it to remain an entry in the minutes, 
 that it had been adopted unanimously. 
 
 Davout, notwithstanding, took Savary aside, and 
 told him to inform Desaix, that if he were willing 
 to break off the negotiation, he would not want 
 supporters in the army. Savary returned to El- 
 Aiiseh, and stated what had occurred, and what he 
 had been desired by Davout to say on bis part. 
 it, seeing in the minutes of the deliberation 
 tin- Bams of Davout, answered warmly to Savary, 
 '• In whom do yon desire I should confide, when he 
 who disapproves of the convention dors not make 
 aformable to his opinion '. 1 1 « - would have- me 
 disobey, and yet he dares not support to the en I 
 the opinion which be has expressed." Desaix, 
 although deeply hurt upon seeing the torrent, suf- 
 fered himaell to be carried away with it, and sub- 
 scribed his name, on the 2I!th of January, to this 
 unfortunate convention, since so well known as the 
 treaty of El-Arisch. 
 
 The thing being completed, every body began to 
 feel tin; importance attached to it. Desaix returned 
 to the camp, expressed himself with deep sorrow, 
 not dissimulating bis chagrin, that be bail been 
 appointed Cor such a mission, and (breed to fulfil it 
 by the order of the commander-in-chief. Davout, 
 ilenou, and some others broke out into bitter 
 
 expressions, and divisions existed in all parts of 
 the camp of Salahieh. 
 
 Neverthi less, preparations were made for the 
 departure of the army, the main body of which was 
 full of delight at the prospect of quitting those 
 distant shores and of soon returning to France. 
 Sir Sidney Smith had returned on board. The 
 vizier approached and took possession, one after 
 another, of the entrenched posts of Katieh, Sala- 
 hieh, and Belbeis, that Kleber, pressed to carry 
 out the convention, faithfully gave up. Klebcr 
 returned to Cairo to make his dispositions for de- 
 parture, to recall his troops guarding Upper Egypt, 
 concentrate his army, and direct it upon Rosetta 
 and Alexandria, at the times specified for the em- 
 barkation. 
 
 While these events were taking place in Egypt, 
 the unhappy consequences of a sentiment which 
 the leaders of the army had strengthened in place 
 of combating, other events, consequences of the 
 same error, were taking place in Europe. The 
 letters and despatches sent in duplicate had, as we 
 have seen, arrived at the same time both in Lon- 
 don and Paris. The despatch accusatory of Bona- 
 parte, and designed for the directory, had been 
 delivered into the hands of Bonaparte himself, 
 become the head of the government. He was dis- 
 gusted at such weaknesses and falsehoods; but he 
 was well aware how much the army stood in need 
 of Kleber ; he appreciated the great qualities of 
 that officer, and not imagining that his discourage- 
 ment could proceed to so great a length as to 
 induce him to abandon Egypt, he concealed his own 
 feelings. He then hastened to transmit instructions 
 from France, and to announce that he was pre- 
 paring to send great succours. 
 
 On the other side, the British government 
 having also a duplicate of Kleber's despatches, and 
 a vast number of letters written by French officers 
 to their famines, published them all, with the object 
 of exhibiting to Europe the situation of the French 
 in Egypt, and to raise a quarrel between Bona- 
 parte and general Kleber. This was a calculation 
 quite natural on the part of a hostile power. In 
 the mean while the English cabinet had received 
 notice of the overtures made by Kleber to the 
 grand vizier and Bir Sidney Smith. Believing that 
 the French army was reduced to the last ex- 
 tremity, it hastened to send mil a formal order to 
 grant no capitulation to the French unless they 
 surrendered prisoners of war. Mr. Dundas in 
 parliament made use of odious expressions. He- 
 said — "' An example must be made of this army, 
 that, in a time of profound peace, dared to attack 
 the dominions of one of our allies ; the interests of 
 mankind demand thai it be destroyed." 
 
 This language was barbarous; il displays the 
 
 violent passions which then raged in the breasts of 
 the two nations. The English cabinet bad under- 
 stood to the letter the exaggerations of Kleber and 
 of tin- French officers. It considered that the 
 French were in a state to accept any terms it 
 might choose to impose; and without being aware 
 of what had passed, committed the folly of giving 
 
 to lord Keith, commander-in-chief in the Levant, 
 a positive order not to sign bis name lo any capitu- 
 lation unless it expressly constituted the French 
 
 prisoners of war. 
 
 This order, sent from London on the I7lh of
 
 Sir Sidney Smith receives 
 128 fresh instructions. — His 
 honourable conduct. 
 
 Indignant reply of Kleber , onn 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. to Lord Keith's letter.- 
 
 He prepares for action. 
 
 Feb. 
 
 December, reached lord Keith in Minorca, about 
 the first week in January, 1800 ; and on the 8 th of 
 the same month that admiral hastened to com- 
 municate the instructions to sir Sidney Smith, 
 which he had just received from his government. 
 It took time at that season of the year to sail 
 across the Mediterranean. The despatches of lord 
 Keith did not reach sir Sidney Smith until the 
 20th of February. Sir Sidney was deeply morti- 
 fied. He had acted without instructions from the 
 government, counting that his acts could not fail 
 to be approved ; he found himself compromised in 
 regard to the French, because he felt he might be 
 accused by them of a breach of faith. Best aware 
 of the true state of things, he well knew that 
 Kle'ber would never consent to surrender himself a 
 prisoner of war ; and he saw the convention of 
 El-Arisch, so cleverly wrung from the weakness 
 of the moment, wholly compromised. He hastened 
 to write to Kleber, expressing his sorrow, and to 
 apprise him candidly of what' was going forward, 
 advising him immediately to suspend the delivery 
 of the Egyptian forts to the grand vizier, and to 
 conjure him to wait for fresh orders from England 
 before taking any definitive resolution. 
 
 Unfortunately, when these despatches from sir 
 Sidney Smith reached Cairo, the French army 
 had already executed a part of the convention of 
 El-Arisch. It had given up to the Turks all the 
 positions on the right bank of the Nile, Katieh, 
 Salahieh, Belbeis, and every one of the positions of 
 the Delta, particularly the city of Damietta and 
 the fort of Lesbeh. The troops were already on 
 their march for Alexandria, with their baggage 
 and stores. The division of Upper Egypt had 
 given up Higher Egypt to the Turks, and fallen 
 back upon Cairo, to join the rest of the army near 
 the sea. Desaix, taking advantage of the order he 
 had received to return to France, would not take 
 any part in the arrangements of this disastrous 
 retreat, and had gone away with Davout, who, on 
 his part, would not remain near Kleber. Kle'ber, 
 forgetting his differences with Davout, was anxious 
 to retain him, and offered him the rank of general 
 of division, which it was in his power to bestow as 
 governor of Egypt. This Davout refused, saying 
 that he did not wish his promotion to bear the 
 date of an event so deplorable. When Desaix and 
 Davout embarked, Latour-Maubourg arrived from 
 France with despatches from the first consul; he 
 met them on the beach, and informed them of the 
 revolution of the 18th Brumaire, and of the eleva- 
 tion of Bonaparte to the head of the state. Thus 
 Kle'ber found, at the moment when he had given up 
 his fortified places, the refusal of the fulfilment of 
 the treaty of El-Arisch, and the important intelli- 
 gence to him of the elevation of Bonaparte to the 
 consular government. 
 
 There had been sufficient weakness shown for 
 any great character to exhibit ; an ignominious 
 offer was about to recal Kleber to himself, and to 
 prove him, as he was, a hero. He must surrender 
 himself a prisoner, or defend himself in a far 
 worse position than that which he had declared 
 untenable in the council of war at Salahieh. He 
 must either submit to dishonour, or engage in a 
 desperate conflict. He did not hesitate; and it will 
 be seen, that, despite his impaired position, he 
 knew well how to do that which he had judged im- 
 
 possible some days before, and thus he gave to 
 himself the finest of contradictions. 
 
 Kle'ber countermanded immediately all the orders 
 he had previously issued to the army. He recalled 
 to Lower Egypt, as far as Cairo, a part of the 
 troops which had already descended the Nile ; he 
 sent up his ammunition ; he pressed the division 
 from Upper Egypt to rejoin him, and to signify 
 to the grand vizier he must stay his march upon 
 Cairo, unless he chose to commit immediate hos- 
 tilities. The grand vizier replied that the conven- 
 tion of El-Arisch was signed, and that it must be 
 executed ; that in consecpience he should advance 
 upon the capital. At the moment, an officer with 
 a letter from lord Keith at Minorca, to Kleber, 
 was received at head-cpaarters. Among other 
 expressions this letter contained the following 
 passage : — " I have received the most positive 
 orders from his Britannic majesty not to consent 
 to any capitulation with the army which you com- 
 mand, except the troops lay down their arms, 
 surrender themselves prisoners of war, and give 
 up all the vessels in the harbour of Alexandria." 
 
 Kleber, indignant, had this letter copied into 
 the order of the day, adding to it the simple 
 words : — 
 
 " Soldiers, to such insults there is no other an- 
 swer than victory — prepare for action !" 
 
 This noble language was echoed from every 
 breast. His situation was greatly changed since 
 the 28th of January, the day on which the con- 
 vention of El-Arisch was signed. Then the French 
 possessed all the fortified positions of Egypt, and 
 governed the Egyptians, who were quiet and sub- 
 missive ; the grand vizier was on the other side 
 of the desert. Now, on the contrary, the more 
 important posts had been given up, and the plain 
 was all that was in the possession of the French. 
 The population was every where awake; the people 
 of Cairo, excited by the presence of the grand 
 vizier, who was within five hours' march, only 
 awaited the first signal to revolt. The gloomy picture 
 drawn by the council of war in the treaty of El- 
 Arisch had been debated: the picture, false then, 
 was now rigorously correct. The French army 
 was about to combat in the plains of the Nile, with 
 the vizier in front having eighty thousand men; 
 and in the rear, Cairo with three hundred thousand 
 i-eady to rise ; and it was without fear. — Glorious 
 reparation of a great error ! 
 
 The agents of sir Sidney Smith had hastened 
 up to interpose between the French and the Turks, 
 and to propose new terms of accommodation. 
 Letters were written to London, and when the 
 convention of El-Arisch was known there it would 
 certainly be ratified ; in this situation it would be 
 right to suspend hostilities and wait. The grand 
 vizier and Kleber consented, but on conditions 
 that could not be admitted. The grand vizier 
 insisted on the delivery of Cairo ; Kle'ber, on the 
 other hand, would have the vizier fall back even 
 to the frontier. In such a state of things, to fight 
 was alone the alternative. 
 
 On the 20th of March, 1800, or 29th Ventose, 
 in the year vin., before break of day, the French 
 army left Cairo, and formed in the rich plains 
 which border the Nile, having that river on the 
 left, the desert on the right, and in front, but afar 
 off, the ruins of ancient Heliopolis. The night,
 
 1800. 
 March. 
 
 Arrangement of the French army. 
 Kleber addresses the soldiers and 
 attacks the Turks. 
 
 HELIOPOLIS. 
 
 Battle of Heliopolis. — Village 
 of El - Matarieh taken by 
 the French. 
 
 129 
 
 almost luminous in that climate, facilitated the 
 manoeuvres, without rendering them distinctly 
 visible to the enemy. The army was formed into 
 four squares ; two on the left under general 
 Reynier, and two on the right under general 
 Front. They were each composed of two demi- 
 brigades of infantry ranged in several lines. At 
 
 ngles and outside were companies of gre- 
 nadiers with their hacks to the squares, serving 
 to reinforce them during the march, or under 
 charges of cavalry, and detaching themselves to 
 go to the attack of positions where the enemy 
 attempted to make a stand. In the centre of the 
 line of battle, that is, between the two squares of 
 the left and the two squares of the right, the 
 cavalry was disposed in a dense mass, having light 
 artillery on the wines. At some distance in the 
 rear and on the left, a filth square, less than the 
 others, was designed to serve as a reserve. The 
 number of troops which Kle'ber had been able to 
 collect in the plain of Heliopolis was about ten 
 thousand. They were firm and tranquil. 
 
 Day began to break ; Kleber, who since he had 
 been commander-in-chief, hail displayed a species 
 of magnificence in order to impose upon the Egyp- 
 tians, was dressed in a rich uniform. Mounted 
 upon a lofty horse, he showed to his soldiers that 
 noble figure which they were so fond of beholding, 
 ami the bold beauty of which filled them with 
 confidence. " My friends," said he, riding through 
 their ranks, "you possess in Egypt no more ground 
 than is under your feet. If you recoil a single 
 Step yon are lost." The greatest enthusiasm every 
 where greeted his appearance and address. As 
 soon as it was day he gave the order to march. 
 
 Only a part of the grand army of the Turks was 
 in sight. On the plain of the Nile, which extended 
 before the French, was seen the village of EI- 
 Matarieh, which the Turks had entrenched. An 
 advanced guard of five or six thousand janissaries 
 was there, good soldiers, escorted by several thou- 
 sand horse. A little beyond, another body of the 
 enemy appeared, as if about to glide between the 
 river and the left wing of the French, in order to go 
 and obtain the revolt of Cairo in the rear. In front, 
 but much further off, the ruins of ancient Helio- 
 polis, a wood of palms, and considerable uneven- 
 
 of the ground, hid the main body of the 
 Turkish army from the view of the French soldiers. 
 The- total number of all these forces, including 
 the principal body, the corps placed at El-Matarieh, 
 
 an 1 the detachment marching to penetrate into 
 Cairo, might be estimated at seventy or eighty 
 thousand men. 
 
 Kleber ordered first a squadron of mounted 
 guides to charge the detachment manoeuvring on 
 his left for the purpose of entering into Cairo. The 
 guides dashed up at a gallop upon this confused 
 
 'flu' Turks, who never fear cavalry, received 
 and returned the charge. They completely sur- 
 rounded the French bone, which was in danger of 
 being cut to pieces, when Kle'ber sent the 22nd 
 regiment of chasseurs, and the 14th dragoons to 
 
 (heir aid, who charging the close mass that sur- 
 round' d the guides, dispersed them with the sabre, 
 and put them U flight. Tin; Turks then retired 
 
 out of view. 
 
 This being done, Kleber hastened to attack the 
 
 entrenched village of El-] Matarieh, before the 
 
 larger part of the enemy's arrny had time to ar- 
 rive, and committed this duty to general Reynier, 
 with the two squares on the left; he himself, to make 
 a diversion, taking up a position between El-Mafa- 
 rieh and Heliopolis, in order to hinder the Turk- 
 ish army from succouring the attacked position. 
 
 Reynier arrived at El-Matarieb, detached the 
 companies of grenadiers that doubled the angles of 
 the' squares and ordered them to storm the village. 
 The companies advanced in two small columns. 
 The brave janissaries would not wait for them, 
 but marched out to the encounter. The grenadiers 
 received them firmly, gave them a discharge of 
 musketry when almost close to the ends of their 
 pieces, and brought down a great number, after 
 which they charged them with fixed bayonets. 
 While the first column was attacking the janis- 
 saries in front, the second took them in Hank, and 
 completed their rout. Then the two columns re- 
 united, attacked El-Matarieh, amidst a hail shower 
 of balls, rushed on the Turks wdio resisted, with 
 the bayonet, and after a great slaughter of them re- 
 mained masters of the position. The Turks, flying 
 to the plain and joining those whom the guides, 
 chasseurs, and dragoons had just before dispersed, 
 they fled in confusion towards Cairo, under the order 
 of Nassif Pacha, the lieutenant of the grand vizier. 
 
 The village of El-Matarieh, full of oriental spoils, 
 was a rich booty for the French soldiers. But they 
 could not stay there; the generals and soldiers both 
 knew too well how important it was not to be sur- 
 prised in the midst of a mass of Turkish troops. 
 The army, resuming by degrees the order observed 
 in the morning, advanced upon the plain, always 
 formed in squares, with the cavalry between. It 
 [Kissed the ruins of Heliopolis, and saw beyond 
 them a cloud of dust ascending in the horizon, and 
 moving rapidly onwards. On the left the village of 
 Seriaqous appeared; on the right, amid a grove of 
 palms, the village of El-Merg, situated on the shores 
 of a little lake, called the Lake of the Pilgrims. A 
 slight elevation of ground ran from one of these vil- 
 lages to the other. All at once the moving cloud 
 of dust stopped; then it was dispersed by the wind, 
 and the Turkish army was seen forming a long float- 
 ing line from Seriaqous to El-Merg. Placed on more 
 elevated ground, it commanded, in a slight degree, 
 the ground upon which the French troops were 
 formed. Kleber then gave the order to advance. 
 Reynier, with the two squares on the left, marched 
 towards Seriaqous. Friant, with the two columns 
 on tin; right, directed himself upon El-Merg. The 
 enemy had scattered abroad, in advance of the 
 palm-trees on the shore of the lake, a, good number 
 of tirailleurs. But a combat, with tirailleurs could 
 Scarcely be successful against the French soldiers 
 
 opposed to them. Friant sent out Borne companies 
 
 of light-infantry, which soon made the Turks, thus 
 detached, re-enter into the confused mass of their 
 
 army. The grand vizier was there in the midst of 
 
 a troop of horsemen, whose arms glittered brilliantly 
 in the sun. Some shells soon dispersed this group. 
 
 The enemy moved forward his artillery in the way of 
 reply ; but his bullets, ill-directed, passed over the 
 heads of the French soldiers. His guns were 
 
 dismounted by those oi the French, and rendered 
 s, The thousand colour- of the Turkish army 
 
 were then seen waving in the air. A part of his squa- 
 dron dashed oul of El-Merg, upon the squat 
 
 K
 
 General attack. — Grand vi- 
 130 zit-r l )ut t(1 fliglit.— Small 
 loss of the French. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Conduct of Murad Bey. 
 — Kleber marches to 
 Belbeis. 
 
 MOO. 
 Maich. 
 
 Friant's division. The deep openings in the ground, 
 the common effect of a hot sun upon a soil a good 
 while inundated, fortunately retarded the impe- 
 tuosity of the horses. General Friant, suffering 
 the Turkish horse to arrive pretty near, ordered a 
 fire of grape shot to be suddenly opened upon them 
 as they advanced nearly to the mouths of the guns, 
 and overturned them by hundreds. They then 
 retired in disorder. 
 
 This was but a prelude to a general attack. 
 The Turkish army was visibly preparing for it. 
 The French squares awaited it with firmness, two 
 on the right, and two on the left; the cavalry be- 
 tween facing both to the front and rear, and co- 
 vered by two lines of artillery. At the signal given 
 by the grand vizier, the mass of the Turkish ca- 
 valry moved forward together, rushed upon the 
 French squares, opened out upon their wings, 
 turned them, and soon surrounded the four fronts 
 of the French order of battle. The French infan- 
 try, whom the cries, the movement, and the tumult 
 of the Turkish horse did not at all trouble, remained 
 calm, with bayonets at the charge, continuing a 
 well-directed fire. In vain those thousand groups 
 of horse wheeled round it ; tliey fell under the 
 grape-shot and balls, seldom arriving as far as the 
 bayonets, expiring at the feet of the infantry, or 
 turning and flying, never more to appear. 
 
 After a protracted and frightful confusion, the 
 heavens, before obscured by the smoke and dust, 
 became clear ; the sun came forth, and the vic- 
 torious French saw before them a mass of men and 
 horses dead and dying, and at a distance, as far as 
 the view could extend, bauds of fugitives running 
 away in all directions. 
 
 The main body of the Turks retreated towards 
 El-Kanquah, where they had encamped on the 
 preceding night upon the road to Lower Egypt. A 
 few groups only joined the detachments, which in 
 the morning were directed upon Cairo, led by 
 Nassif Pacha, the lieutenant of the grand vizier. 
 
 Kleber would not allow the enemy the least rest. 
 His squares, preserving the order of battle, crossed 
 the plain at a rapid pace. Passing Seriaqous and 
 El-Merg, they advanced as far as El-Kanquah, 
 where they arrived at night ; the enemy seeing 
 himself pursued, fled again in disorder, leaving the 
 French army the baggage and the provisions, of 
 which it had great need. 
 
 Thus, in the plain of Heliopolis, ten thousand 
 soldiers, by the ascendancy of discipline and calm 
 courage, dispersed seventy or eighty thousand ene- 
 mies. But to obtain a more important result than 
 that already gained in the few thousands killed and 
 wounded, it was necessary to pursue the Turks, to 
 drive them into the desert, and leave them to 
 perish there by hunger, thirst, and the swords of 
 the Arabs. Kle'ber, therefore, allowed the army a 
 little repose, and then gave orders for the pursuit 
 on the following day. 
 
 There were scarcely more than two or three 
 hundred French killed and wounded, for in sueli a 
 species of contest, soldiers in a square, preserving 
 themselves unbroken, sustain little loss. Kle'ber, 
 hearing cannon in the direction of Cairo, had no 
 doubt that the corps which had turned his left, 
 had gone to second the revolt of that city. Nassif 
 Pacha, lieutenant of the vizier, and Ibrahim Bey, 
 one of the two Mameluke chiefs, had in fact 
 
 entered it, with two thousand Mamelukes, eight or 
 ten thousand Turkish horse, and some of the re- 
 volted villagers of the vicinity, in all about twenty 
 thousand men. Kle'b r had left scarcely two thou- 
 sand men in this large capital, divided between the 
 citadel and the forts. He ordered general Lagrange 
 to go off at midnight with four battalions to their 
 aid. He directed the officers of the troops left in 
 Cairto to occupy strong points, and keep up com- 
 munications with each other, but not to attempt 
 any decisive attack before his return. He feared 
 some false manoeuvre might take place on their 
 part, that would uselessly compromise the lives of 
 soldiers, every day becoming more valuable now 
 they were condemned to remain in Egypt. 
 
 During the whole time of the battle, Murad Bey, 
 who had formerly partaken with Ibrahim Bey in 
 the government of Egypt, and was distinguished 
 from his colleague by his brilliant courage, chival- 
 rous generosity, and much intelligence, remained 
 on the wings of the Turkish army, immoveable, at 
 the head of six hundred superb horsemen. The bat- 
 tle over, he rushed into the desert and disappeared. 
 It was in consequence of a promise given to Kle'ber 
 that he thus behaved. Murad Bey had arrived at 
 the head-quarters of the vizier, and discovered, still 
 prevalent, the old jealousy which had so long di- 
 vided the Turks and Mamelukes. Murad soon saw 
 that the Turks desired to recover Egypt, not to 
 return it to the Mamelukes, but to possess it them- 
 selves. He then thought of making terms with the 
 French, in the view of becoming their ally if they 
 were successful, or of succeeding them if they were 
 vanquished. Still, he acted with great circumspec- 
 tion ; he would not declare until hostilities were 
 definitively renewed, and promised Kle'ber that 
 after the first battle he would ally himself with the 
 French. The battle was fought, and proved glorious 
 for the French, and his regard towards them could 
 not but be much augmented by it. There was reason 
 to hope that, after a few days were elapsed, he 
 would declare his alliance. 
 
 At the hour of midnight following the battle, 
 after a few hours of rest to the troops, Kle'ber beat 
 the reveille, and marched upon Belbeis, in order to 
 allow the Turks no rest. He arrived there at an 
 early hour in the day. It was the 21st of March, 
 or 30th of Ventose. The vizier had already in his 
 rapid flight, passed Belbe'is. He had left in the 
 fort and town a body of infantry, and in the plain 
 a thousand horse. On the approach of Kleber's 
 army the horse fled. The Turks were driven out of 
 the town, but they shut themselves in the fort, 
 where, after the exchange of a few cannon-shot, 
 want of water, and the fear of being stormed, in- 
 duced them to surrender. The fanaticism of some 
 of them was so great that they chose rather to be 
 put to death than give up their arms. In the mean- 
 time the cavalry of general Leclerc, scouring the 
 plain, fell in with a long caravan of camels march- 
 ing towards Cairo, and carrying the baggage of 
 Nassif Pacha and Ibrahim Bey. This capture 
 revealed more fully to Kleber the real object of 
 the Turks, which consisted in raising an insurrec- 
 tion, not only in the capital, but in the large cities 
 of Egypt. Thus aware of the design, and discover- 
 ing that the Turkish army made no resistance any 
 where, Kle'ber detached five battalions upon Cairo, 
 under general Friant, to support the four batta-
 
 1800. 
 
 March. 
 
 Kleber panties the vizier to the 
 desert.— Capture of ilie Turk- 
 ish camp. 
 
 IIELIOrOLIS. 
 
 Immense spoils — Kleber's 
 arrangements after the 
 victor - . 
 
 131 
 
 lions sent off on the preceding evening, from El- 
 Kanquah, under the orders of genera) Lagrange. 
 On the following day. the 22nd of March, or 1st 
 
 of Germinal, Kle'l>er marched upon Salahieh. Gene- 
 ral Reynier preceded him at the head of the left 
 division ; he himself marching after at the head 
 of the guides and the 7th hussars; last of all came 
 general Belliard with his brigade, the remainder 
 of Friant's division. During the march a message 
 was received from the grand vizier, offering to 
 negotiate, but a positive refusal was returned. 
 On arriving at Koraim, about half-way to Salahieh, 
 a cannonade was heard, and soon afterwards the 
 division of Reynier was seen formed in a square, 
 and in combat with a multitude of horse, Kleber 
 sent an order to Belliard to hasten forward, while 
 with the cavalry he set out in all speed towards 
 Reynier's square. At the sight of Kleber and his 
 i, the Turks, who were much more partial to 
 a conflict with the French cavalry than with the 
 infantry, attacked the guides and 7 1 ' 1 hussars. 
 They charged them so suddenly that the light ar- 
 
 . had not time to (dace itself in battery. The 
 gunner-drivers were sabred on the guns. Kieber 
 with the guides and the hussars found themselves 
 on the instant in great danger; particularly when 
 tli • inhabitants of Koraim, believing that so few 
 French must be destroye 1, hastened out witli 
 scythes and pitchforks to finish them. But Reynier 
 sent the 14th dragoons to their assistance imme- 
 diately, who disengaged Kleber in time. Belliard, 
 
 had quickened his pace, arrived with his 
 infantry directly afterwards, ami cut some hundred 
 men to pieces. 
 
 Kleber, desirous to reach Salahieh, hastened his 
 march, delaying until his return the punishment 
 of Koraim. The heat of the day was insufferable; 
 
 ind blew from the desert, and they respired 
 with the burning air a fine penetrating dust. 
 ad men were overcome with fatigue. 
 I arrived at Salahieh at the close of day. 
 
 They were now on tin; frontier of Egypt itself, 
 at the entranc • upon the desert of Syria ; and here 
 
 r expected, the next morning, a last conflict 
 wi h the gran 1 vizier. But on the following day 
 early, being the 23rd of March, or 21 of Germinal, 
 th" inhabitants of Salahieh came to meet him, and 
 
 them he learned that the grand vizier was con- 
 tinuing his (light in great disorder. Kleber hastened 
 onward-, and saw himself the proof how much he 
 bad ited the danger of a Turkish army. 
 
 ■i I vizier, taking with him live hundred 
 of Ins best horse, had plunged with some baggage 
 into lie- d -',-t. ili,- r, st ,,!' |,j s army had II- d in 
 
 direction ; < part fled towards tin- D 
 
 another asked quarter on its knees at Salaliii h ; 
 ing an asylum in the desert, 
 
 ied under the sabres of the Arabs. These 
 i mveyed the Turkish army to the frontiers 
 
 -vpt, remained there, knowing tliat one party 
 
 or tl tie r must be vanquished, and from that 
 
 party booty might be obtained. They had judged 
 
 ctly; and find ing tie- Turkish army completely 
 
 ralizcd and incapable of d< fending itself, even 
 against them, they butchered the fugitives for the 
 
 of pillaging them. At the moment of Kllber'a 
 
 arrival, they had own upon the vizier's 
 
 camp like so many birds of prey. At the 
 
 sight of the French they flew oil' on their swift 
 
 horses, and left an abundance of plunder for the 
 French soldiers. Here, in the midst of an en- 
 trenched camp, covering a square league, were a 
 vast quantity of tents, saddles, harness of all kinds, 
 forty thousand horseshoes, provisions in plenty, 
 rich garments, boxes already broken open by the 
 Arabs, but full of perfumes, of aloes, silk stuffs, 
 and all the objects which contribute to the glitter- 
 ing and barbarous luxuries of oriental armies. At 
 the side of twelve litters of wood, carved and 
 gilded, was found a carriage bung upon springs, 
 in the European mode, and of English manufac- 
 ture; and pieces of cannon with the motto, " Honi 
 soit qui mal y pense:" it certain evidence of the 
 very active intervention of the English in the war. 
 
 The soldiers, who had brought nothing with 
 them, found in the Turkish camp provisions, am- 
 munition, a rich booty, and some things, the 
 singularity of which made them laugh, as they 
 were always disposed to do after a short period of 
 dejection. Strange power of the mind upon men! 
 To-day victorious, they no longer wished to quit 
 Egypt ; for they no longer thought themselves con- 
 demned to perish in a far-distant banishment. 
 
 When Kleber bad witnessed himself the utter 
 disappearance of the Turkish army, he determined 
 to return and bring back to obedience the towns 
 of Lower Egypt, and more particularly Cairo. 
 He then made the following dispositions : Generals 
 Rampon and Lanusse were ordered to scour the 
 Delta. Rampon to march upon the important town 
 of Damietta, which was in the power of the Turks, 
 and to retake it. Lanusse was to keep up a com- 
 munication with Rampon, to sweep the Delta from 
 the city of Damietta as far as Alexandria, and to 
 reduce successively the revolted villages. Belliard 
 was to support these operations generally ; was 
 more especially to second Rampon in his attack 
 upon Damietta, and to retake the fort of Lesbeh 
 himself, commanding one of the mouths of the 
 Nile. Kleber left Reynier at Salahieh to prevent 
 the return of the wrecks of the grand vizier's 
 army, gone into the Syrian desert. He was to 
 remain on the frontier in observation, until the 
 Arabs bad finished the dispersion of the Turks, 
 and then to return to Cairo. Kleber himself de- 
 parted the next day, the 24th of March, or 3rd of 
 Germinal, with the 88th demi-brigade, tun com- 
 panies of grenadiers, the 7th hussars, and the 3rd 
 and 14th dragoons. 
 
 Kleber arrived at Cairo on the 27th of March. 
 
 Serious events hail occurred there since his de- 
 parture-. The population of this large city, num- 
 bering nearly three hundred thousand, fickle, pas- 
 sionate, prone to change, as every multitude is 
 
 found to he, had given way to the suggestions of 
 
 the Turkish emissaries, and attacked the French 
 
 as soon as I hey heard the cannon of lhliopolis. 
 Running without the walls of tin' city during the 
 battle, and seeing Nasmf Pachaand Ibrahim Bey 
 
 with some thou,;. nd horse and janissaries, they 
 
 thought them the conquerors. Careful not to un- 
 
 .e the people, the Turks asserted, on the con- 
 trary, that the French were exterminated, and 
 that the grand vizier had obtain) l a complete 
 
 victory. At. this news fifty thousand men had 
 
 at Cairo, Boulaq, and Gyzeh. Armed with 
 sabres, lances, and old! muskets, they pro 
 put to death all the French that remained among 
 
 K 2
 
 Massacres in Cairo.- — The 
 
 Klebet's return to Cairo. 
 
 132 
 
 1800. 
 
 Turks' attack on the head- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Prudentmeasurestosup- """■ 
 quarters repulsed. press the insurrection. 
 
 them. But two thousand men, entrenched in the 
 citadel and the forts which commanded the city, 
 supplied with provisions and ammunition, offered 
 a resistance difficult to overcome. Having nearly 
 all fallen back in good time, they had succeeded in 
 shutting themselves up in the fortified places. 
 Some had run great hazards; they were those 
 who, to the number of two hundred only, composed 
 the guard of the house occupied as head-quarters. 
 This fine house, formerly inhabited by Bonaparte, 
 and afterwards by Kle'ber, and the principal ad- 
 ministratives, was situated at one of the extremi- 
 ties of the city. On one side it looked upon the 
 square of Ezbekyeh, the finest in Cairo, and on the 
 other, upon the gardens that were backed by the 
 Nile. The Turks and the populace in revolt 
 wished to take this house, and to kill all the French 
 who occupied it, two hundred in number. This 
 appeared the more easy to do, as general Verdier, 
 who was in the citadel at the other end of the city, 
 could not come to their assistance. But the brave 
 men who were in the house, as much by a well 
 sustained fire as by bold sallies, defended them- 
 selves so well, that they kept off the ferocious 
 mob, and thus gave time to general Lagrange to 
 arrive. He had been detached, as has been seen, 
 already in the evening from the field of battle with 
 four battalions. He arrived at noon the next day, 
 entered by the gardens, and thenceforth rendered 
 the head-quarters impregnable. 
 
 The Turks, having no means to overcome the 
 resistance of the French, revenged themselves upon 
 such unfortunate Christians as were at hand. 
 They began by killing a part of the inhabitants of 
 the European quarter, and some of the merchants, 
 pillaged their houses, and carried off their wives 
 and daughters. They sought out those of the 
 Arabs who were accused of being on good terms 
 with the French, and of having drunk wine with 
 them. These they murdered, and, as customary, 
 rapine succeeded to slaughter. They impaled an 
 Arab, who had been chief of the janissaries under 
 tire French, and who had the charge of the police 
 of Cairo ; they treated in the same manner one 
 who had been secretary of the divan instituted by 
 Bonaparte. From thence they proceeded to the 
 quarter of the Copts. These, as it is well-known, 
 are the descendants of the ancient inhabitants of 
 Egypt, and have persisted in Christianity, in spite 
 of all the Mussulman governments that have suc- 
 ceeded each other in this country. Their wealth 
 was great, arising from the collection of the imposts 
 delegated to them by the Mamelukes. The object 
 was to punish them for being friends of the French, 
 but more than all to plunder their houses. Hap- 
 pily for the Copts, their quarters formed the lift of 
 the Place Ezbekyeh, and adjoined the head quar- 
 ters. Their chief was besides both rich and brave; 
 he defended himself well, and succeeded in saving 
 them. 
 
 In the midst of these horrors, Nassif Pacha and 
 Ibrahim Bey were ashamed at what they did, and 
 suffered to be done by others. They saw lost, with 
 regret, the riches which would have been theirs if 
 they had become masters of Egypt. But they 
 allowed every thing to be done by a populace of 
 which they were no longer masters, and wished 
 besides by those massacres to continue to nourish 
 a hatred of the French. 
 
 During these transactions general Friant ar- 
 rived, detached from Belbeis ; finally, came Kle'ber 
 himself. Both entered the head-quarters from 
 the gardens of the house. Although victor over 
 the army of the vizier, Kle'ber had a serious diffi- 
 culty to surmount here, in conquering an immense 
 city, peopled by three hundred thousand inhabitants, 
 part of them in a state of revolt, and occupied by 
 twenty thousand Turks. Constructed in the oriental 
 style, that is to say with narrow streets, divided 
 into masses of buildings that were real fortresses, 
 receiving light from within, showing nothing ex- 
 ternally but high solid walls, having terraces in 
 place of roofs, whence the insurgents could pour 
 down a plunging and murderous fire — to all this it 
 must be added, that except the citadel and Place 
 Ezbekyeh, the Turks were masters of all. The 
 latter was in a manner blockaded, the streets that 
 ran into it being closed up by the Turks witii 
 crenelled walls. 
 
 The French had only two modes of attack ; 
 either to open from the citadel a destructive fire of 
 shells and shot until the place was reduced, or to 
 attack by the Place Ezbekyeh, and overturning all 
 the barriers raised at the ends of the streets, to 
 take the houses one and one by assault. The first 
 mode would cause the destruction of a great city, 
 the capital of the country, of which too the French 
 had need for the supply of necessaries ; the second 
 mode exposed them to the risk of losing more 
 soldiers than in ten such battles as that on the plain 
 of Heliopolis. 
 
 Here Kle'ber exhibited as much pruderjee as he 
 had shown energy in the field. He resolved to 
 gain time, and to suffer the insurrection to exhaust 
 itself. He had sent nearly all his materiel into 
 Lower Egypt, believing that he was on the eve of 
 embarkation. He ordered Reynier, as soon as the 
 army of the vizier had crossed the desert, and 
 Damietta and Lesbeh were taken, to ascend the 
 Nile with his entire division, and the stores that 
 were wanted at Cairo. In the interim he caused 
 all the outlets, by which Cairo could communicate 
 with the country, to be blocked up. Though the 
 insurgents should procure provisions by pillaging 
 the Egyptian houses, commonly well supplied with 
 them ; though they forged bullets and cast cannon, 
 it was impossible they should not soon suffer from 
 want. They could not be long so unacquainted 
 with the real state of tilings in other parts of 
 Egypt, as not to discover that the French were 
 every where victorious, and the army of the vizier 
 dispersed ; finally, they were likely to have differ- 
 ences among themselves before long, because their 
 interests were opposite. The Turks of Nassif 
 Pacha, the Mamelukes of Ibrahim Bey, and the 
 Arabs of Cairo, could not long be in accordance 
 together. For all these reasons Kle'ber determined 
 to temporize and to negotiate. 
 
 While he thus gained time he completed his 
 treaty of alliance with Murad Bey, through the 
 agency of the wife of that Mameluke prince, who 
 was universally respected, endowed with beauty, 
 and a superior intellect. He granted to Murad 
 the province of Said, under the sovereignty of 
 France, on condition of paying a tribute, equal in 
 amount to a good part of the taxes of that province. 
 Murad Bey engaged, on the other hand, to fight for 
 the French ; and the French engaged, in case of 
 
 L
 
 1800. 
 April. 
 
 Treaty with Murad-Bey. — 
 The Turks attacked in 
 the Place Ezbekyeh. 
 
 IIELIOPOLIS. 
 
 Assault upon Boulaq : afterwards 
 upon the city. — Cairo submits 
 to Kleber. 
 
 133 
 
 evacuating Egypt, if they ever should do so, to 
 facilitate as much as possible his occupation of the 
 country. Murad Bey, as will be seen hereafter, 
 was faithful to the treaty which he had subscribed, 
 and began by driving out of Upper Egypt a Turkish 
 corps, which had occupied it. 
 
 Through Murad Bey and the sheiks, who were 
 friends of France, Kle'ber opened a negotiation 
 with the Turks who had entered Cairo. Nassif 
 Pacha and Ibrahim Bey began to fear being shut 
 up in the city, and treated in the Turkish mode. 
 They knew besides that the army of the vizier was 
 completely dispersed. They lent themselves with 
 good will to the proposal of a conference, and con- 
 sented to a capitulation, in virtue of which they 
 were to be permitted to retire safe and sound. 
 But at the moment when the capitulation was to 
 be concluded, the insurgents in Cairo, seeing them- 
 selves left to the vengeance of the French, were 
 seized with terror and rage, broke off the parley, 
 threatened to murder those who should abandon 
 them, and gave money to the Turks to engage 
 them to tight. An attack by main force, therefore, 
 become necessary to reduce the city to subjection. 
 
 Lower Egypt having returned to its duty, Rey- 
 nier had ascended to Cairo with his corps and a 
 convoy of stores. lie took a part in the invest- 
 ment of the works of Cairo to the north and east, 
 or from Fort Camin to the citadel. General 
 Friant encamped on the west in the gardens and 
 house of the commander-in-chief, between the city 
 and the Nile ; Le Clerc's cavalry was placed be- 
 tween the divisionsof Reynier and Friant, scouring 
 the plains ; general Verdier occupied the south. 
 
 On the 3rd and 4th of April general Friant 
 began the first attack, directed immediately to dis- 
 engage the Place Ezbekyeh, which was the princi- 
 pal inlet for the French. The beginning was made 
 at the Copt quarter, which formed the left of the 
 square. The troops penetrated with the greatest 
 courage into the streets which crossed that quarter 
 in every direction, while several detachments blew 
 up the iiouscs around the Place Ezbekyeh, in order 
 to make openings to the interior of the city. During 
 this operation the citadel threw some shells to in- 
 timidate the population. These attacks succeeded, 
 and made the French masters of the issues of all 
 the streets which terminated in the Place Ezbe- 
 kyeh. On the following days an eminence near 
 Snlkouski, which the Turks had entrenched, 
 commanding the (opt quarter, was taken. Every 
 disposition was now made for a general simul- 
 taneous attack. Before the order was given, 
 Kle'ber, for the but time, summoned the insurgents 
 ler, but they refused to listen t<> the 
 offer. Still attaching great importance to the 
 rvation of the city, which besides was inno- 
 cent of the crimes committed by fanatics, Kleber 
 
 determined to appeal to their si^-lit by means of a 
 
 terrible example-. II.- ordered Boulaq, a detached 
 suburb on the; bank of the Nile, to be attacked. 
 
 On the Ifith of April, or 25th of Germinal, the 
 division of Friant encircled Boulaq, and rained 
 
 upon thai miserable suburb a shower of shells ami 
 
 shot. Favoured by the Are the soldiers pushed on 
 
 to the .- 1 — :i iilt, but found, on tbi- part of the in- 
 habitants ami of the Turks, a \ery obstinate 
 me-. Every street, and every boose, became 
 the see IP.- oi' an obstinate contest Kle'ber sus- 
 
 pended the horrible carnage for a moment in order 
 to offer pardon to the insurgents; but his otter was 
 repelled. The attack was renewed. The fire flew 
 from house to house, and Boulaq in a blaze im- 
 parted a double horror to the flames and the 
 assault. The heads of the population then threw 
 themselves at Kleber's feet ; he stopped the ef- 
 fusion of bind, and saved the rest of that unfor- 
 tunate suburb, it was the quarter where the 
 warehouses of the merchants were situated, and 
 an immense quantity of goods was found there; 
 the goods were preserved for the use of the army. 
 
 This horrible spectacle had been seen by all the 
 population of Cairo. Profiting by the effect which 
 it ought to produce, Kleber then attacked the 
 capital itself. A house near the head -quarters, 
 still held by the Turks, had been undermined, and 
 the Turks and insurgents were blown into the air 
 together. This was the signal for the attack. The 
 troops of Friant and Belliard assaulted the city by 
 all the inlets from the Place Ezbekyeh, while gene- 
 ral Reynier entered at the north and east, and 
 general Verdier from the lofty citadel showered 
 down shells. The combat was obstinate. The 
 troops of Reynier entered by the gate of Bab-el- 
 Charyeh, at the extremity of the grand canal, 
 and driving before them Ibrahim Bey and Nassif 
 Pacha, who defended it, crowded them both up 
 between the 9th demi-brigade, which had pene- 
 trated from the opposite point, and had driven 
 back all they encountered in their victorious march. 
 The French corps met after making a fearful 
 carnage. Night parted the combatants. Several 
 thousand Turks, Mamelukes, and insurgents had 
 fallen; and four hundred houses were in flames. 
 
 This was the last attempt made at resistance. 
 The inhabitants, who had so long retained the 
 Turks, now conjured them to leave the city and 
 give them the opportunity of negotiating with the 
 French. Kle'ber, to whom these scenes of slaughti r 
 were repugnant, and who wished to spare his 
 soldiers, desired nothing more. The agents of 
 Murad Bey served as mediators. The treaty was 
 soon concluded. Nassif Pacha and Ibrahim Bey 
 wir. to ntirc into Syria, under escort of a de- 
 tachment of the French army. They obtained no 
 other terms than that their lives should be spared. 
 Tin y quitted Cairo on the 23th of April, or 5th of 
 Floreal, leaving to the mercy of the French the 
 miserable people whom they had stirred up to 
 
 revolt. 
 
 Thus terminated this sanguinary conflict, which 
 
 bad commenced by the battle of rleliopolis, on tin; 
 20th of March, and finished on the 25th of April, 
 by the departure of the last lieutenants of the 
 vizier, after thirty-live days of fighting, between 
 ten thousand French on one side and (he whole 
 power of the ( H toman empire on the other, seconded 
 
 by the revolt of the Egyptian towns. Great faults 
 caused this revolt and provoked this horrible ef- 
 fusion of blood. If the French had not put on the 
 
 appearance of departure, tin- Egyptians would nei sr 
 have dared to revolt. The i test would have 
 
 been limited to a combat, brilliant indeed, but 
 little beyond, between the In nch squares and the 
 
 Turkish cavalry. But a commencement of the 
 evacuation raising a popular commotion in some 
 
 cities, it was necessary t<> retake tin in by an as- 
 sault, much more destructive than a battle. The
 
 All the cities of the Delta sub- 
 134 mit, Kleber's clemency.- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 Financial arrangements. 
 
 Conciliatory measures. — A 
 
 1800. 
 
 young fanatic resolves to . 
 assassinate Kleber. 
 
 faults of Kle'ber must be forgotten in doing honour 
 to his fine and energetic conduct. He had imagined 
 that he could not defend Egypt, when peaceful and 
 subdued, against the Turks, and he had made the 
 conquest in thirty-five days, against the Turks and 
 the Egyptian insurgents, with as much energy as 
 humanity and prudence. 
 
 In the Delta all the cities were in complete sub- 
 mission. Murad By had driven the Turkish 
 detachment of Dervish Pacha from Upper Egypt. 
 Every where the vanquished trembled before the 
 victor, and expected a terrible punishment. The 
 inhabitants of Cairo particularly, who had com- 
 mitted frightful cruelties on the Arabs attached 
 to the Fx'ench service, and on the Christians of all 
 nations — they were filled with terror. Kleber was 
 humane and wise ; he took care not to repay 
 cruelty with cruelty. He knew that conquest must 
 be odious to every people, and could only become 
 tolerable in the view of those upon whom it falls, 
 at the price of good government, while it cannot 
 become legitimate in the eyes of great nations but 
 by contributing to the accomplishment of grand 
 objects. He hastened therefore to use his suc- 
 cesses with moderation. The Egyptians were 
 convinced he would treat them with severity. 
 They thought that the loss of their goods and 
 their heads could alone expiate the crime of their 
 revolt. Kleber assembled them together, exhibited 
 a severe countenance towards them, then pardoning 
 them, satisfied himself by imposing a contribution 
 upon the insurgent cities. 
 
 Cairo paid 10,000,000 f., not an onerous burthen 
 for so large a city, the inhabitants regarding them- 
 selves lucky to get off so well. Eight millions, 
 besides, were imposed upon the other insurgent 
 cities of Lower Egypt. 
 
 This sum immediately paid all the arrears that 
 were due, as well as for the provisions of which 
 the army had need, the care of the wounded, and 
 the completion of the fortifications begun. It was 
 a precious resource until the system of taxation 
 could be ameliorated and put into execution. 
 Another resource, altogether unexpected, offered 
 at the moment. Sixty-six Turkish ships had en- 
 tered the ports of Egypt to transport the French 
 army. The recent hostilities gave the French the 
 right of detaining them. They were laden with 
 merchandize, which was sold to the profit of the 
 military chest. From these different sources an 
 abundance of every thing required was obtained, 
 without any requisition in kind. The army found 
 itself in the midst of plenty ; and the Egyptians, 
 who had not hoped to get clear so easily, submitted 
 with perfect resignation. The army was proud of 
 its successes, confident in its strength; and know- 
 ing that Bonaparte was at the head of the govern- 
 ment at home, did not doubt that he would soon 
 come to their succour. Kle'ber had conquered, 
 the noblest of excuses for his momentary fault, in 
 the fields of Heliopolis. 
 
 He assembled the commissaries of the army and 
 the persons best acquainted with the country, and 
 set them to organize the finances of the colony. He 
 gave to the Copts, to whom it had formerly been 
 confided, the collection of the direct contributions. 
 He imposed new duties on the customs, and on 
 articles of consumption. The total of the revenue 
 was to be carried to 25,000,000 f. It sufficed for all 
 
 the wants of the army, if the amount did not exceed 
 eighteen or twenty million francs. He admitted 
 into the ranks of his army, Copts, Syrians, and even 
 blacks, bought in Darfour, whom some of his subal- 
 tern officers, beginning to speak the language of the 
 country, commenced to teach the military exercise. 
 These recruits, placed in the more reduced regi- 
 ments, fought there as well as the French, at whose 
 sides they had the honour to serve. Kleber ordered 
 the forts round Cairo to be finished, and set work- 
 men upon those at Lesbeh, Damietta, Burlos, and 
 Rosetta, situated on the coast. He pushed forward 
 the works at Alexandria with rapidity, and im- 
 pressed fresh activity on the learned researches 
 of the Institution of Egypt. Every thing, from the 
 cataracts to the mouths of the Nile, assumed the 
 aspect of a solid and durable establishment. For 
 months afterwards, the caravans of Syria, Arabia, 
 and Darfour, began to re-appear at Cairo, where 
 their hospitable reception insured their return. 
 
 If Kleber had lived, Egypt would have been 
 preserved to France, at least until the day of her 
 great misfortunes. But a' deplorable event took 
 away that general in the midst of his exploits and 
 most judicious government. 
 
 It is not without danger that the great principles 
 of human nature can be deeply shaken. The en- 
 tire of Islamism had been affected by the presence 
 of the French in Egypt. The sons of Mahomet 
 had experienced somewhat of that enthusiasm, 
 which in old time amused them against the cru- 
 saders. On every side was heard, as in the twelfth 
 century, the cries of a holy war ; and there were 
 Mussulman devotees who vowed to accomplish the 
 "sacred combat," which consisted in killing an un- 
 believer. In Egypt, where the French were seen 
 more closely, where their humanity was duly valued 
 and comprehended, where they were able to com- 
 pare them to the soldiers of the Porte, or more 
 particularly to the Mamelukes ; in Egypt, finally, 
 where they witnessed their respect for the prophet, 
 (a respect ordered to be shown by Bonaparte,) the 
 aversion towards them was less; and when at a later 
 time they quitted the country, fanaticism had al- 
 ready sensibly cooled. There were perceived in 
 some places, during the last insurrection, real signs 
 of attachment for the French soldiers, to such a 
 degree that the English agents were surprised at it. 
 But, throughout the rest of the east, there was 
 only one thing that appeared striking to all the 
 natives, the invasion, by infidels, of an immense 
 Mussulman country. 
 
 A young man, a native of Aleppo, named Sulie- 
 man, who was the prey to great fanaticism, who 
 had made journeys from Mecca to Medina, who 
 had studied at the mosque, El-Azhar, the wealth- 
 iest and most renowned in all Cairo, where the 
 Koran and Turkish law were taught, and who 
 wished to join the body of doctors of the faith, 
 happened to be wandering in Palestine when the 
 remnant of the grand vizier's army passed through 
 that country. He was an eye-witness to the suffer- 
 ings and despair of those of his own religion, and 
 this sight strongly affected his diseased imagina- 
 tion and moved his sensibility. The aga of the 
 janissaries, who saw him by chance, inflamed his 
 fanaticism yet more by his own suggestions. This 
 young man offered to assassinate " the French sul- 
 tan," general Kle'ber. They furnished him with a
 
 ISOO. 
 
 June. 
 
 Kleber assassinated.— Grief 
 of the army — Menou a«- 
 sumes the command. 
 
 HELIOPOLIS. 
 
 Comparison of the characters of 
 Kleber and Desaix. 
 
 135 
 
 dromedary, and a sum of money to pay his journey. 
 He reached Gaza, crossed the desert, came to 
 Cairo, and shut himself Dp for several weeks in the 
 great mosque, into which students and poor tra- 
 vellers arc admitted at the cost of that religious 
 foundation. The rich mosques are, in the east, 
 what the convents formerly were in Europe; there 
 are found prayer, hospitality, and religions instruc- 
 tion. The young fanatic disclosed his intention to 
 four of the principal sheiks of the mosque, who 
 were at the head of the department of instruction. 
 They were alarmed at his determination, and the 
 consequences which might ensue; they told him that 
 he would not succeed, that he would occasion great 
 mischiefs to Egypt; but still they did not make the 
 French authorities acquainted with the circumstance. 
 
 When this wretch was fully confirmed in his re- 
 solution, he armed himself with a poignard, fol- 
 lowed Kle'bcr for several days, and not being able 
 to get near him, conceived the design of pene- 
 trating into the garden of the head-quarters, there 
 to conceal himself behind an old cistern. On the 
 14 tli of June he suddenly presented himself before 
 Kle'ber, who was walking with the architect, Pro- 
 tain, showing him what repairs were necessary to 
 be done to the house, in order to obliterate the 
 marks left by the bullets and shells. He approached 
 close, as if to solicit alms, and, while Kle'ber was in 
 the act of listening to him, he rushed upon his vic- 
 tim and plunged the poignard several times into 
 his heart. Kle'ber sank under the blows The archi- 
 tect, Protain, fell upon the assassin with a stick 
 which he had in his hand, and struck him vio- 
 lently on the head, tut was, in his turn, struck 
 down by a stab of the poignard. At the cries of 
 Kle'ber and his companion, the soldiers ran to the 
 ■pot and raised up tb ir expiring commander; then 
 Marching! found Hie assassin, who was concealed 
 behind a pile of rubbish. 
 
 In a few minutes after this tragic scene Kle'ber 
 00 more. rhe army shed bitter tears over 
 him. The Arabs, who admired his clemency to 
 them after their r< volt, united their regrets with 
 those of tli'- French soldiery. A military commis- 
 sion was instantly formed to try the assassin, who 
 avowed all. He was condemned to be impaled, 
 according to lie law of the country. The four 
 sheik-, who ere in his confidence, lost their 
 heads. Tl e sanguinary sacrifices were believed 
 necessary I . insure the security of the chiefs of the 
 army. Vain precautions ! In Kleber the army 
 had li nil, and the coll ny a founder, whom 
 
 ii', in- of the officers in the army of Egypt could 
 replace. With Kleber, Egypt was lost for France. 
 Idi dou, who rj him iii the order of se- 
 
 niority, was an ardent partisan of the expedition ; 
 but, in spite ol bis zeal, he was altogether below 
 Men a task. One man alone could equal Kle'ber, 
 or surpass him, in the government of Egypt; be had 
 three month- before embarked in the port ol 
 odria to reach Italy, and he fell at Marengo, 
 
 tin- sane day, and nearly at tin; same instant that 
 
 Kleber fell at Cairo — it was Desaix ! Both died 
 
 on the Nth of June, l Hot), in the accomplishment 
 
 of the vast designs < I Bonaparte. Singular, in- 
 deed, was the fate of these two men, continually side 
 by side in life, undivided in death, and yet so very 
 different in their qualities both of mind ami body. 
 Kle'ber was the finest man in the army. His 
 
 stature lofty and commanding ; his countenance 
 noble, and expressive of the pride of his spirit ; his 
 courage at once cool and intrepid; his prompt and 
 sure intelligence making him on the battle-field 
 the most formidable of commanders. His mind 
 was original and brilliant, but uncultivated. He 
 read Quintus Curtius and Plutarch continually and 
 exclusively, and searched for the food of great 
 souls in the history of the heroes of antiquity. He 
 was capricious, indocile, and a grumbler. It was 
 said of him that he would neither command nor 
 obey, and this was said truly. He even obeyed the 
 orders of Bonaparte murmuringly. He sometimes 
 commanded, but in the name of another, under 
 that of general Jourdan, for example, assuming the 
 command by a species of inspiration in the middle 
 of the battle, and exercising it like a great soldier ; 
 then, after the victory, resuming his character of 
 lieutenant, which he preferred to every other. He 
 was licentious in his manner and language, but of 
 strict integrity ; disinterested, as men were in his 
 days, before the conquest of the world had cor- 
 rupted their characters. 
 
 Desaix was in every respect the reverse of 
 Kle'ber. Simple, bashful, even a little awkward, 
 he had not the aspect of a soldier, his face being 
 hid by his ample head of hair. Heroic in battle, 
 kind to the soldiers, modest among his companions, 
 generous to the vanquished, he was adored by the 
 army, and the people whom he had subdued by 
 the French arms. His mind was solid, and had 
 been well cultivated; while his intelligence in war, 
 his disinterestedness, and his attention to his duties, 
 made him the accomplished model of all the mili- 
 tary virtues. Kle'bcr, unsubmissive, indocile, could 
 not endure a superior authority. Desaix was as 
 obedient as if he had never known how to com- 
 mand. Under a coarse exterior, he concealed an 
 animated soul, very susceptible of enthusiastic feel- 
 ings. Although brought up in the severe school 
 of the army of the Rhine, he felt a strong admi- 
 ration for the campaigns of Italy. and had a wish to 
 see himself the fields where the battles of Cas- 
 tiglione, Areola, and Rivoli had been fought. 
 While he was visiting those fields, the scenes of 
 immortal glory, he fell in by accident with the 
 commander-in chief of the amy n1 Italy, who BOOD 
 felt a strong attachment for him. What an honour- 
 able homage was the friendship of such a man ! 
 Bonaparte was deeply affected by it. He cste. ineil 
 Kle'ber for great military talents; but lie placed no 
 one either lor talent or character on a level with 
 Desaix. lie loved him besides; in that, having 
 around him companions in arms who had not y< t 
 
 paid d his ascendancy, though they affected 
 
 towards him an obsequious submission, he the 
 more valued Desaix'a pure and disinterested de- 
 votion, founded upon deep admiration. At the same 
 time keeping secret, his preference, and pretending 
 ignorance of Kleuer's fault-, he treated both him 
 and Desaix alike, anil wi-lied, as will he seen soon, 
 
 to join in the Mine honours two men, whom 
 
 fortune had mingled in one e II D destiny. 
 
 For the rest, every thing remained tranquil in 
 Egypt after Khiber'» death. General Menou, on 
 taking the chief command, despatched the Osiris 
 from Alexandria with all i |>e< d, to carry to Franca 
 Intelligence of the flourishing state of the colony, 
 
 and ol the deplorable . ml ol Its B COUd loom!'
 
 Chagrin of British govern- 
 13(j merit at the French re- 
 covering Egypt. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Bonaparte's regret at 1800. 
 Kleber's death. June. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 THE ARMISTICE. 
 
 VAST PREPARATIONS FOR THE SUCCOUR OF THE EGYPTIAN ARMY. — ARRIVAL OF M. ST. JULIEN IN PARIS. — IMPA- 
 TIENCE OF THE FRENCH CABINET TO TREAT WITH HIM. — DESPITE THE INSUFFICIENT POWERS OF M. ST. JULIEN, 
 TALLEYRAND INDUCES HIM TO SIGN PRELIMINARY ARTICLES OF PEACE. — M. JULIEN SIGNS THEM, AND SETS 
 OFF WITH DUROC FOR VIENNA. — STATE OF PRUSSIA AND RUSSIA. — ADROIT EXPEDIENT OF THE FIRST CONSUL 
 IN REGARD TO THE EMPEROR PAUL. — HE SENDS SIX THOUSAND RUSSIAN PRISONERS BACK WITHOUT RANSOM, 
 AND OFFERS HIM THE ISLAND OF MALTA. — ENTHUSIASM OF THE EMPEROR PAUL FOR BONAPARTE, AND MIS- 
 SION GIVEN TO M. SPRENGPORTEN FOR PARIS. — NEW LEAGUE OF THE NEUTRAL POWERS. — THE FOUR GREAT 
 QUESTIONS OF MARITIME LAW. — RECONCILIATION WITH THE HOLY SEE.— THE COURT OF SPAIN, AND ITS 
 INTIMACY WITH THE FIRST CONSUL. — INTERIOR STATE OF THAT COURT. — GENERAL BERTHIER SENT TO MADRID. 
 — THAT ENVOY NEGOTIATES A TREATY WITH CHARLES IV., BY WHICH TUSCANY WOULD BE GIVEN TO THE 
 HOUSE OF PARMA, AND LOUISIANA TO FRANCE. — ERECTION OF THE KINGDOM OF ETRURIA. — FRANCE RE- 
 INSTATES HERSELF IN THE FAVOUR OF THE EUROPEAN POWERS. — ARRIVAL OF M. ST. JULIEN AT VIENNA. — 
 ASTONISHMENT OF THE COURT OF VIENNA AT THE NEWS OF THE PRELIMINARY ARTICLES BEING SIGNED 
 WITHOUT POWERS. — EMBARRASSMENT OF THE CABINET OF VIENNA, WHICH HAD ENGAGED NOT TO TREAT 
 WITHOUT ENGLAND. — DISAVOWAL OF M. ST. JULIEN. — ATTEMPT AT A NEGOTIATION COMMON TO BOTH ENGLAND 
 AND AUSTRIA. — THE FIRST CONSUL, TO ADMIT ENGLAND INTO THE NEGOTIATION, REQ.UIRES A NAVAL ARMIS- 
 TICE, WHICH WILL PERMIT HIM TO SUCCOUR EGYPT. — ENGLAND REFUSES, NOT TO TREAT, BUT TO ACCORD THE 
 PROPOSED ARMISTICE. — THE FIRST CONSUL THEN REQ.UIRES A DIRECT AND IMMEDIATE NEGOTIATION WITH 
 AUSTRIA, OR A RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES. — MANNER IN WHICH HE PROFITED BY THE SUSPENSION OF ARMS, 
 TO PLACE THE FRENCH ARMIES ON A FORMIDABLE FOOTING. — APPREHENSION OF AUSTRIA, AND THE REMIS- 
 SION OF THE FORTRESSES OF PHILIPSBURG, ULM, AND INGOLDSTADT, TO PROCURE A PROLONGATION OF THE 
 CONTINENTAL ARMISTICE. — CONVENTION OF HOHENLINDEN, GRANTING A NEW SUSPENSION OF ARMS FOR 
 FORTY-FIVE DAYS. — DESIGNATION OF M. COBENTZEL, AS ENVOY TO THE CONGRESS OF LUNEVILLE. — FETE OF 
 THE 1ST VENDEMIAIRE. — TRANSLATION OF THE BODY OF TURENNE TO THE INVALIDS. — THE FIRST CONSUL 
 GIVES UP THE TIME LEFT TO HIM BY THE INTERRUPTION OF HOSTILITIES, TO OCCUPY HIMSELF WITH THE 
 INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION.— SUCCESS OF HIS FINANCIAL MEASURES. — PROSPERITY OF THE BANK OF FRANCE. 
 — PAYMENT OF THE STOCKHOLDERS IN SPECIE. — REPAIR OF THE ROADS. — RETURN OF THE PRIESTS. — DIFFI- 
 CULTIES RESPECTING THE SUNDAY AND DECADE IN THEIR CELEBRATION. — NEW MEASURES RESPECTING THE 
 EMIGRANTS. — SITUATION OF PARTIES. — THEIR DISPOSITION TOWARDS THE FIRST CONSUL. — THE REVOLUUTION- 
 ISTS AND ROYALISTS. — CONDUCT OF THE GOVERNMENT TOWARDS THEM. — DIFFERING INFLUENCES ABOUT THE 
 FIRST CONSUL. — PARTS TLAYED NEAR HIM BY TALLEYRAND, FOUCHE, AND CAMBACERES. — THE BONAPARTE 
 FAMILY. — LETTERS OF LOUIS XVIII. TO THE FIRST CONSUL, AND THE REPLY MADE. — PLOT OF CERACCHI AND 
 ARENA. — AGITATION OF THE PUBLIC ON HEARING OF THE PLOT. — THE IMPRUDENT FRIENDS OF THE FIRST 
 CONSUL WISH TO PROFIT BY' IT, FOR THE PURPOSE OF ELEVATING HIM TOO SOON TO THE SUPREME POWER. — 
 PAMPHLET WRITTEN WITH THIS VIEW BY M. FONTANES. — NECESSITY FOR DISAVOWING THAT PAMPHLET. — 
 LUCIEN BONAPARTE DEPRIVED OF THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR, AND SENT AS ENVOY TO SPAIN. 
 
 While the Osiris was conveying to Europe the 
 news of what had occurred on the banks of the 
 Nile, there left England orders altogether con- 
 trary to those which had been sent before. The 
 observations of sir Sidney Smith had been favour- 
 ably received in London. The government had 
 been fearful of disavowing the acts of an English 
 officer who had represented himself as invested 
 with powers from his government ; it had, more 
 than all, discovered the falsity of the intercepted 
 despatches, and better appreciated the difficulty of 
 taking Egypt out of the hands of the French army. 
 It therefore ratified the convention of El-Arisch, 
 and desired lord Keith to see it executed. But 
 there was no longer time, as has been already 
 seen ; the convention was at that moment torn in 
 pieces, sword in hand; and the French re-esta- 
 blished in the possession of Egypt, would not now 
 abandon the country. The English ministry were 
 destined to reap the fruit of their levity in bitter 
 regret, and to sustain violent attacks in parliament 
 for their conduct. 
 
 The first consul, upon his part, received with 
 joy the tidings of the consolidation of his conquest. 
 Unhappily the news of the death and exploits 
 of Kl^ber arrived nearly at the some moment. 
 His regrets were deep and sincere. He rarely 
 dissimulated, and only when forced to do so by 
 some duty or great interest, but it was always 
 done with effort, because his vivacity of temper 
 rendered dissimulation difficult. In the narrow 
 circle of his family and counsellors, he never dis- 
 guised any thing ; he exhibited his affection and 
 aversion with extreme violence. It was among 
 his intimate friends he betrayed the grief caused 
 by the death of KlCber. He did not regret in 
 him a friend, as he did in Desaix ; he regretted 
 a great general, an able commander, more capable 
 than any other man to secure the establishment of 
 the French in Egypt — an establishment which he 
 regarded as his finest work, of which (lie defini- 
 tive success alone could change from a brilliant 
 essay into a great and solid undertaking. 
 
 Time, like a river, carries along with it all that
 
 1800. 
 June. 
 
 Active preparations for the succour 
 of the Egyptian army. 
 
 THE ARMISTICE. 
 
 Blockade of Malta.— Character of Rey- 
 nier, Menou, ami Lanusse. — Menou 
 confirmed in the command. 
 
 J 37 
 
 man flings into its rapid waters — time has swal- 
 lowed up the odious falsehoods invented by party 
 malice. Still there is one of them which it is 
 instructive to mention here, although long since 
 completely forgotten. The royalist agents reported, 
 and the English newspapers circulated, that Desaix 
 and Kle'ber, having given umbrage to the first con- 
 sul, they had been both assassinated by his orders, 
 one at Marengo, the other at Cairo. There were 
 not wanting miserable fools who believed this, 
 while to-day people are almost ashamed to recall 
 such base imputations. Those who fabricate such 
 infamous falsehoods, should sometimes place them- 
 selves before posterity; they would then blush, if they 
 could, at the denial that time had prepared for them. 
 
 The first consul had already given pressing 
 orders to the fleets of Brest and Rochfort, to pre- 
 pare to sail into the Mediterranean. Although 
 the finances were in an improved state, still obliged 
 to make great efforts on land, the first consul was 
 not able to do at sea all that he had judged neces- 
 sary. At the same time he omitted nothing to 
 place the great Brest fleet in a state to put to 
 sea. He urged the court of Spain for the neces- 
 sary orders to admirals Gravina and Mazzaredo, 
 commanding the Spanish division to concur in 
 the movements of the French. By the united 
 squadrons of the two nations, blockaded in Brest 
 for a year past, a force of forty sail of the line 
 would be formed. The first consul wished that, 
 profiting by the putting to sea of this large naval 
 force, the French vessels disposable at L'Orient, 
 Rochefort, and Toulon, and the Spanish vessels dis- 
 ble at Ferrol, Cadiz, and Carthagena, should 
 join the combined fleet, so as to augment its 
 strength. These different movements were to be 
 conducted in Buch ;i mode as to deceive the English, 
 and throw them into great perplexity, during 
 which admiral Ganteaurae, talcing with him the 
 best sailers, was to slip off and carry to Egypt six 
 thousand chosen men, numerous workmen, and an 
 immense m Ueriel. 
 
 Spain consented very willingly to this com- 
 bination, which for her had at least the advantage 
 of recalling into the .Mediterranean, and conse- 
 quently into her own ports, the squadron of Gra- 
 vina, uselessly blockaded in Brest harbour. She 
 saw no other objection than that arising from the 
 bad condition of the two fleets, and their wretched 
 equipment. The first consul did his best to re- 
 move this objection, and the vessels of both nations 
 were quickly provided with the stores that were 
 most In the mean time he was anxious 
 
 that the army of Egypt should receive intellige I 
 
 from him every five or six days. He gave orders 
 that, from all the ports in the Mediterranean, 
 Spain and Italy included, brigs and small vi 
 mere merchantmen, should sail with balls, Bhells, 
 lead, powder, muskets, sabres, timber for car- 
 riages, medicines, bark, grain, wine,. -ill in fact thai 
 i be wanted in Egypt He ordered further, 
 that each of these small vessels should carry 
 workmen masons, smiths, gunners, or picked 
 bom men. He liad chartered for this pur- 
 
 at Carthagena, Barcelona, Port-Vendre , 
 Marseilles, Toulon, Antibes, Savona, Genoa, Bastia, 
 St. Flprent, and other parts. He bargained with 
 the merchants of Algiers to send cargoes of wine 
 
 to Egypt, of which the army was destitute. ]$y 
 
 his order a troop of comedians was provided with 
 all that was required for a theatre, the whole to 
 sad for Alexandria. The best Paris journals were 
 ordered to be sent to the principal officers of the 
 army, that they might know all that was going on 
 in Europe. Nothing was neglected, in one word, 
 of all that would be expected to sustain the spirit 
 of the excited soldiers, and to keep them in con- 
 stant communication with the parent country '. 
 
 Several of these vessels were of course likely to 
 be captured; but the larger number had the chance 
 of arriving safe, and did actually arrive, because 
 the extended coasf of the Delta could not be strictly 
 guarded. The same success did not attend the 
 attempts made to revictual Malta, which the Eng- 
 lish kept in a state of rigorous blockade. They 
 made it a most important object to take this second 
 Gibraltar, knowing that here the blockade was 
 certain of proving effective ; because Malta is a 
 roe!; that can only be supplied by sea, while Egypt 
 is a large country that supplies its neighbours and 
 itself. They persevered, therefore, with great 
 strictness in the investment of the island, and in 
 inflicting upon it the horrors of famine. The gal- 
 lant general Vaubois having at his disposal four 
 thousand men, had no fear from being attacked ; 
 but he saw, hour by hour, the diminution of the 
 provisions required for the sustenance of his 
 troops, and, unfortunately, did not receive from 
 the ports of Corsica sufficient supplies to replace 
 the daily consumption. 
 
 The first consul directed his attention to select a 
 commander capable of replacing Kle'ber in Egypt. 
 The loss of this officer was painful, more par- 
 ticularly in consideration of those who might be 
 called to succeed him. If Desaix had remained 
 in Egypt the mischief would have been easily re- 
 paired ; but Desaix had come back, and was no 
 more. Those who remained in Egypt were not 
 equal to such a command. Reynier was a good 
 officer, brought up in the school of the army of the 
 Rhine, skilful and experienced, but cold, irresolute, 
 and having no ascendancy over the men. Menou 
 was well-informed, brave, enthusiastic in favour 
 of the expedition, but not capable of managing an 
 army; and rendered ridiculous from having mar- 
 ried a Turkish woman and professed the Maho- 
 metan faith. He ctilled himself Abdallah Menou, 
 which became a subject of jesting to the soldiers, 
 
 and much diminished the respect with which a 
 commander-in-chief should be ever invested. Ge- 
 neral Lanusse was brave and intelligent, full of a 
 
 warmth which he knew how to communicate to 
 others. He appeared to the first consul to merit 
 the preference, although he was deficient in pru- 
 dence. But general Motion had taken the com- 
 mand from seniority. It was difficult to secure 
 the arrival of an order in Egypt ; the English 
 
 might intercept it j and by not publishing it word 
 for word, raise a suspicion of its real meaning 
 
 in such a way as to render tie- maud uncertain, 
 
 to raise divisions among the generals, and to dis 
 tract the colony, lie left things, therefore, in the 
 same State, and confirmed Menou, not believing 
 
 him, indeed, as incapable as he really proved 
 
 himself to be. 
 
 1 These particular! arc .ill extracted from the voluminous 
 correspondence of tin- lint consul «itii the department! of 
 
 war ami <>f the marine. 
 
 I
 
 European affairs. — Conduct 
 138 of the Austrian govern- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 meat. 
 
 The emperor's letter to 
 Bonaparte. — Instruc- 
 tions to St. Julien. 
 
 1800. 
 July. 
 
 It is necessary now to return to Europe, in 
 order to see what is passing in the theatre of the 
 great events of the world. The letter which tlie 
 first consul had addressed from Marengo itself to 
 the emperor of Germany, was brought to him with 
 the news of the loss of that battle. The court 
 of Vienna was now aware of the fault it committed 
 in repelling the offers of the first consul at the 
 beginning of the winter'; in obstinately crediting 
 that France was so reduced as not to be able to 
 continue the war ; in refusing to believe in the 
 existence of the army of reserve ; and in pushing 
 Me'las so blindly into the gorges of the Apennines. 
 The influence of M. Thugut was considerably 
 diminished, because it was to him alone that were 
 to be imputed all these errors in conduct and fore- 
 sight. Still to these faults, already so great, he 
 added another, not less so, in forming a closer 
 alliance with England than ever, under the im- 
 pression of the disaster of Marengo. Until now 
 the cabinet of Vienna had declined the English 
 subsidies 1 ; but it thought right to obtain as 
 suon as possible the means of repairing the losses 
 of the campaign, whether to enable it to treat 
 more advantageously with France, or to place 
 itself in a better condition to renew the struggle 
 with her, if her demands were too exorbitant. 
 Austria therefore accepted 2,500,000£. sterling, or 
 62,000,000 f. 2 In return for this subsidy, Austria 
 agreed not to make peace with France before the 
 month of February following, unless the peace was 
 common both to Austria and England. The treaty 
 was signed on the 20th of June, 1800, the same 
 day that the disastrous news arrived from Italy. 
 Austria was thus bound up to the fortunes of 
 England for seven months to come; but she hoped 
 to pass the summer in negotiating, and to see 
 winter arrive before hostilities recommenced. 
 In other respects the cabinet of Austria was in- 
 clined to peace; and only wished to negotiate in 
 common with England, and above all, not to be 
 obliged to make too many sacrifices in Italy. On 
 this condition she desired nothing better than to 
 conclude it. 
 
 The emperor employed to be bearer of his letter 
 to the first consul the same officer who had brought 
 
 1 [If the difference between a loan never to be repaid and 
 sum of money given directly, can be defined; M. Thiers is 
 undoubtedly correct. Austria got £1,600,000 from England 
 in 1795 ; in 1797, £1,600,000, undtr the name of loans: not 
 one shilling of which advances she ever returned. The first 
 mon y given under the name of '• subsidy" was sent, as M. 
 Thiers o^erves, in 1800. The present thus made to renew 
 defeats similar to that of Marengo, was £I,066,G6G. Thus 
 England paid towards the continued reverses of Austria 
 alone, up to 1800, or in five years, no less than £7,266,660.] 
 — Translator. 
 
 * [This sum is erroneous. The whole of the subsidies pre- 
 sented by England to different European states in 1800, ac- 
 cording to our own returns, were — 
 
 Germany, or Austria £l,0G6,GGG 
 
 German princes 500,000 
 
 Bavaria 501,017 
 
 Russia 545,494 
 
 £2,613,177 
 
 M. Thiers seems to imagine that all was presented to Aus- 
 tria, or about £2,500,000.]— Translator. 
 
 him the letter from Italy, written at Marengo, 
 M. St. Julien, in whom he reposed great con- 
 fidence. The reply was this time directed and 
 addressed personally to general Bonaparte. It 
 contained the ratification of the double armistice, 
 signed in Germany and Italy, and an invitation to 
 explain confidentially, and with perfect frankness, 
 the basis of a future negotiation. M. St. Julien 
 had a special order to sound the first consul about 
 the conditions on which France would be willing 
 to sign a peace; and, on the other side, to explain 
 enough of the intentions of the emperor to induce 
 the French cabinet to discover its own. The 
 letter of which M. Julien was the bearer, full of 
 flattering and pacific protestations, contained a 
 passage in which the object of his mission was 
 clearly specified. 
 
 " I am writing to my generals," said his imperial 
 majesty, " to confirm the two armistices and re- 
 gulate their details. In regard to other matters, 
 I have sent to you the major-general of my armies, 
 count St. Julien; he is in possession of my instruc- 
 tions, and commanded to call to your attention, 
 how essential it is not to enter into public nego- 
 tiations, likely to deliver so many nations to hopes, 
 perhaps illusory, until after having known, at least 
 in a general way, if the bases which you would 
 propose for peace are such as will enable us to flatter 
 ourselves with an arrival at so desirable an object. 
 —Vienna, July 5, 1800." 
 
 The emperor let fall, towards the conclusion of 
 his letter, the engagements which connected him 
 with England, and which made him desire a peace 
 common to both the belligerent powers. 
 
 M. St. Julien arrived in Paris on the 21st of 
 July, or 2nd Thermidor, in the year Tin., and was 
 received with the greatest cordiality and attention. 
 He was the first envoy, for a long while, sent from 
 the emperor, who had made his appearance in 
 France. People welcomed him as the representative 
 of a great sovereign, and as the messenger of peace. 
 We have already spoken of the lively desire the 
 first consul felt to put an end to the war. No one 
 contested with him the glory of battles; he now 
 wished for glory of another kind ; less brilliant, 
 but more novel, and, at that moment, more advan- 
 tageous to his authority — that of pacifying France 
 and Europe. In his ardent mind desires were 
 passions. He sought peace then as he afterwards 
 sought war. Talleyrand desired it as much as the 
 first consul, for he was already; fond of assuming 
 the part of moderator about Bonaparte. It was 
 an excellent part to play, particularly at a later 
 period; but now to press the first consul to peace 
 was to add one impatience to another, and to 
 compromise the result by hastening the event too 
 much. 
 
 The day after his arrival, July 22nd, or 3rd of 
 Thermidor, M. St. Julien was invited to a confer- 
 ence with the minister for foreign affairs, They 
 conversed on the reciprocal desire felt to terminate 
 the war, and on the best mode to succeed in that 
 object. M. St. Julien listened to all that was said 
 to him upon the conditions under which peace 
 might be concluded, and, on his side, hinted at all 
 that the emperor his master desired. Talleyrand 
 too hastily imagined that M. St. Julien had secret 
 and sufficient instructions to treat, and proposed, 
 in consequence, that they should not confine them-
 
 1800. Conference between St. Julien 
 
 July. and Talleyrand. 
 
 THE ARMISTICE. 
 
 Minutes of the preliminary treaty 
 signed by St. Julien. 
 
 13D 
 
 selves to a mere convention, but reduce to writing 
 preliminary articles for a peace. M. St, Julien, 
 who was not authorized to commit himself in so 
 serious an affair, because the engagements between 
 Austria and England were absolutely in opposition 
 to it; — .M. St. Julien objected, that he had no 
 power to conclude a treaty. Talleyrand replied, 
 that the letter of the emperor completely authorized 
 him; and that if he would agree to some prelimi- 
 nary articles, and sign them, with the reservation 
 of their ulterior ratification, the French cabinet, 
 upon the simple letter of the emperor, would con- 
 sider him sufficiently accredited. M. St. Julien, 
 who was a soldier, and had no experience in diplo- 
 macy, was simple enough to make Talleyrand ac- 
 quainted with his ignorance of forms and his 
 embarrassment, and to a-k him what he would do 
 in his place. " I should sign," said Talleyrand. 
 "Very well, then; let it be so," replied M. St. Julien; 
 " I will rign the preliminary articles, which shall 
 not be esteemed valid until they have received the 
 ratification of my sovereign." " Most undoubtedly 
 not," replied Talleyrand ; " no engagements are 
 valid between nations but such as have been 
 ratified." 
 
 This strange manner of communicating their 
 powers to each other, is to be found specified at 
 full length in the protocol of the negotiation still 
 in existence. The minutes are dated the 23d, 24th, 
 27th, and 28;h of July, or 4th, 5th, 8th, and 0th of 
 Tiiermidor in the year vin. All the important sub- 
 jects for arrangement between the two countries 
 were discussed, and the treaty of Campo Formio 
 adopted as the basis of the negotiation, with a few 
 modification.-. Tims the emperor abandoned to the 
 republic the boundary of the Rhine, from the point 
 where that river leaves the Swiss territories, to 
 that where it enters upon the Batavian limits. 
 Under that article M. St. Julien required and ob- 
 tained a change in the language. He wished the 
 expression, •■ The emperor concedes the line of the 
 Rhine," to be changed into " The emperor does not 
 oppose the conservation of the limits of the Rhine 
 by the French republic." This mode of expression 
 for its object to answer the reproaches which 
 might be mad- by the Germanic body, that had 
 accused the einperor of delivering up to France 
 the territory of the confederation. It was agreed 
 that France should not retain on the right bank of 
 the Rhine any of the fortified posts, such as Kohl, 
 Ehrenbreitstein, or Cas iel, that the works should be 
 
 !; but that, on the other hand, the Germans 
 should not throw up any works of earth, or ma- 
 sonry, within three leagues of the river. 
 
 Thus far for th ■ boundary limits b 'tween France 
 and Germany. It remained to settle those that be- 
 longed to Austria and [taly. The filth secret ar- 
 ticle of the i r-:i ' % of Campo Formio, had stipulated 
 that Austria should reo ivein Germany, an indem- 
 nity f>r certain Lordships which she bad conceded 
 on the hit bank of the Rhine, independently of the 
 
 Countries, which she had long before given up 
 
 ranee.' The bishoprick of Salzburg was to 
 comprise this indemnity, The emperor would have 
 
 better pleased to have had the indemnity in 
 Italy, because the acquisitions which he obtained 
 in Germany, particularly tin ecclesiastical princi- 
 palities, were hardly new acquisitions, the court of 
 Vienna having already in those principalities u 
 
 influence and privileges which were nearly equiva- 
 lent to a direct sovereignty. On the contrary, the 
 acquisitions that it obtained in Italy had the ad- 
 vantage of giving the emperor countries over which 
 he had not before the slightest influence or power; 
 above all, extending its frontier and its influence in a 
 country, the object of the continued ambition of the 
 emperor's family. From the same motives France 
 preferred that Austria should indemnify herself in 
 Germany rather than Italy. Nevertheless, this last 
 point was given up. The treaty of Campo Formio 
 threw Austria upon the Adige, and gave to the 
 Cisalpine republic, the Mincio and the celebrated 
 fortress of Mantua. The desire of Austria, at this 
 time, was to obtain the Mincio, Mantua, and the 
 Legations, which was an exorbitant demand. The 
 first consul was willing to go as far as the Mincio 
 and Mantua, but he would not yield the Legations 
 at any rate. He would do no more than consent 
 that they should be given to the grand duke of Tus- 
 cany, on condition that in return Tuscany should 
 be bestowed upon the grand duke of Parma, and 
 the duchy of Parma on the Cisalpine. The grand 
 duke of Farina would be a considerable gainer by 
 this exchange, which would be a satisfaction ac- 
 corded to Spain, in what respect will be shown 
 hereafter. 
 
 M. St. Julien replied, that on this last point his 
 sovereign was not prepared to give a definitive re- 
 solution. That the translations of sovereign powers 
 from one country to another were little conform- 
 able to his political views ; and that it was, in fact, 
 a point to be regulated at a later period. In order 
 to evade the difficulty, the negotiators were con- 
 t "lit to say, in the preliminary articles, that Austria 
 should receive in Italy the territorial indemnities 
 previously granted to her in Germany. 
 
 The Austrian officer, thus metamorphosed into 
 a plenipotentiary, testified, in his sovereign's name, 
 great interest for the independence of Switzerland, 
 but little for that of Piedmont, and insinuated that 
 Fiance could pay herself there, for what she gave 
 up in Lombardy to the house of Austria. 
 
 Thus they stayed their proceedings at very 
 general points; the limits of the Rhine for France, 
 with the demolition of the fortresses of Kohl, Cas- 
 sel, and Ehrenbreitstein ; particular indemnities 
 for Austria taken in Italy in place of Germany, 
 which signified that Austria would not he reduced 
 within the limits of the Adige. Rut it must be said, 
 that not only was it vain to treat with a powerless 
 
 plenipotentiary, but that there was something yet 
 more vain in considering articles preliminary to 
 peace, articles in which the sole questionable part, 
 
 for which the emperor bad gone to war, namely, 
 the frontier of Austria in Italy, as resolving that 
 point even in the most general manner. As to 
 the boundary of the Shine, nobody had for a long 
 
 tini" before thought seriously of contesting that 
 frontier. 
 
 To the foregoing articles were added some ne- 
 cessary arrangements; it was, for example, agreed 
 that a congress should be immediately held; thai 
 
 during this congress, hostilities should be sus- 
 pended, the levies en mauet making i" Tuscany be 
 disbanded, and the disembarkation threatened in 
 Italy by the English lie delayed. 
 
 M. St Julien, Whom the desire to play an im- 
 portant character had carried beyond all reason-
 
 St. Julien exceeds his powers. Bonaparte's instructions to lsoo 
 
 140 He returns to Vienna, ac- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Duroc.-Views or Prus- 
 companied by Duroc. sia and Kussia. 
 
 July. 
 
 able bounds, had felt, from time to time, scruples 
 upon the bold and singular step which he had per- 
 mitted himself to take. In order to make him 
 easy upon the matter, Talleyrand agreed to give 
 him a promise, upon his word of honour, that the 
 preliminary articles should remain a secret, and 
 that they should not be considered as possessing 
 any value whatever until they were ratified by the 
 emperor. On the 28th of July, 1800, or 9th 
 Thermidor, year vin., these famous preliminaries 
 were signed at the hotel of Talleyrand, being the 
 office for foreign affairs, to the great delight of Tal- 
 leyrand, who seeing M. St. Julien so well prepared 
 to answer every question, seriously believed that 
 officer had secret instructions for the purpose. Such 
 was not, however, the case; and if M. St. Julien was 
 so well-informed, it was only because they desired 
 at Vienna to put him in a position to provoke and 
 to receive the confidential communications of the 
 first consul, relative to the articles of the future 
 treaty. The French minister had. not been able 
 to penetrate into this circumstance, and by the 
 desire to fulfil an act bearing a resemblance to a 
 treaty, he had committed a serious fault. 
 
 The first consul, not occupying himself with the 
 forms observed by the two negotiators, and trust- 
 ing entirely in that regard to Talleyrand, never 
 thought for his own part of doing more than of 
 making Austria explain her own objects, to ascer- 
 tain if she wished for peace, and to force it from 
 her by a new campaign if she appeared to have 
 no desire to make it. But for this purpose it 
 w-ould have been better to call upon her for an 
 explanation within a given period of time, than to 
 enter into an illusory and puerile negotiation, in 
 which the consequence might be a compromise of 
 the dignity of the two nations, and thus a final 
 reconciliation be rendered more difficult. 
 
 M. St. Julien did not think it right to wait in 
 Paris for the reply of the emperor, as he had been 
 requested to do, but wished to carry the pre- 
 liminaries to Vienna himself, without doubt for the 
 purpose of explaining to his master the motives 
 of his singular conduct. He left Paris on the 30th 
 of July, or 11th of Themidor, accompanied by 
 Duroc, whom the first consul sent into Austria, as 
 he had been before sent into Prussia, to observe 
 the court narrowly, and give it an advantageous 
 idea of the moderation and policy of the new 
 government. Duroc, as we have elsewhere ob- 
 served, by his good sense and excellent bearing, 
 was well fitted for similar missions. The first 
 consul had, besides, given him written instructions, 
 in which he had provided for every thing with the 
 most minute attention. In the first instance, upon 
 any circumstance occurring which might lead to 
 an inference of the intentions of Austria in respect 
 to the preliminaries, he was to send off a courier 
 to Paris immediately. Until the ratification he 
 was recommended to keep a perfect silence, and 
 to appear ignorant in every respect of the in- 
 tentions of the first consul. If the ratification was 
 conceded, he was authorized to say, in a positive 
 manner, that the peace might be signed in twenty- 
 four hours, if it was sincerely desired. He was to 
 make it known, in some way, that if Austria con- 
 tented herself with the Mincio, the Fossa-Maestra, 
 and the Po, which was the line marked out by the 
 convention of Alexandria ; that if, further, she 
 
 admitted the translation of the duke of Parma to 
 Tuscany, and of the duke of Tuscany to the Le- 
 gations, there was no obstacle to an immediate 
 conclusion. Those instructions contained further 
 rules respecting the language to be used for all 
 the subjects which might arise in conversation. 
 Duroc was forbidden to lend himself to any jokes 
 against Prussia and Russia, which were then little 
 loved at Vienna, because they were not parties in 
 the coalition. He was recommended to maintain 
 a great reserve in regard to the emperor Paul, 
 whose character was a subject of raillery at every 
 court; he was to speak well of the king of Prussia; 
 to visit the grand duke of Tuscany, to let none of 
 those passions be visible which the revolution had 
 excited, neither on one side nor the other. Royalists 
 and Jacobins in France were to be spoken of as if 
 they were as ancient as the Guelphsand Ghibelines 
 in Italy. He was desired to show no dislike 
 towards the emigrants, except, indeed, to such as 
 had borne arms against the republic. He was 
 ordered to say, upon every occasion, that France 
 was, of all the countries of Europe, the most at- 
 tached to its government, because it was that of 
 all the European governments which had afforded 
 its government an opportunity of doing the most 
 good. Lastly, he was to represent the first consul 
 as having no prejudices, neither of the old times 
 nor of the present, and as being indifferent to the 
 attacks of the English press, because he did not 
 understand English. 
 
 Duroc set off with M. St. Julien, and although 
 the secret of the preliminaries had been kept, still 
 the numerous conferences of the envoy of the 
 emperor with Talleyrand had been remarked by 
 every body, and people said loudly that he was the 
 bearer of the conditions of a peace. 
 
 The prodigious success of the French in Italy 
 and in Germany naturally exercised a considerable 
 influence, not only in Austria, but in all the courts 
 of Europe, friendly or inimical to France. 
 
 At the news of the battle of Marengo, Prussia, 
 still ruled by the neutral system, was kindly in- 
 clined to France according to the turn of events; 
 Prussia had expressed a warm admiration of the 
 first consul, and never said again, from that 
 moment, a single word which could put in doubt 
 the assignment to France of the entire line of the 
 Rhine. The only thing she now considered was, 
 that justice might be done in the partition of the 
 indemnities due to all those who had lost territory 
 on the left bank of that river, and that discretion 
 might be preserved in settling the limits of the 
 great states. She added, that it was right to be 
 firm towards Austria, and to repress her insatiable 
 ambition. Such was the language held every day 
 to the French ambassador at Berlin. 
 
 M. Haugwitz, ami particularly the king, Frede- 
 rick William, whose kindness was sincere, informed 
 general Beurnonville daily of the rapid progress 
 the first consul made in the regard of Paul I. As 
 has been Been already, this prince, fickle and en- 
 thusiastic, passed during a few months from a 
 chivalric passion against the French revolution, to 
 an admiration beyond all limit for the man who 
 was now its representative. He had begun to 
 bear a downright hatred towards Austria and 
 England. Although through this change a great 
 result had been obtained in the inactive position of
 
 1S00. 
 July. 
 
 Bonaparte sends back the Russian 
 prisoners, and gives up Malta to 
 the emperor. 
 
 THE ARMISTICE. 
 
 Effect of these actions on Paul. 
 Mediation ot'M. Haugwitz. 
 
 141 
 
 
 the Russians on the Vistula, the first consul as- 
 pired to something better still. He wished to 
 enter directly into relations with the emperor Paul, 
 who was suspicious that Prussia prolonged the 
 existing equivocal state of things, that she might 
 be the only intermediate party in our relations 
 with the most weighty of the northern powers. 
 
 He hit upon the means which obtained complete 
 success. There remained in France six or seven 
 thousand Russians taken prisoners the preceding 
 year, not having been exchanged because Russia 
 had no prisoners to offer for that purpose. The 
 first consul had proposed to England and to 
 Austria, that having in his hands a great number 
 of Russian soldiers and seamen, they should be 
 exchanged, Russians against French. Both nations 
 certainly owed to Russia such a courtesy, because 
 the Russians had been made captives in serving 
 the designs of the English and Austrians. Still 
 the proposition was refused. Immediately on this, 
 the first consul conceived the happy idea of re- 
 turning to Paul, without any conditions, all the 
 prisoners in his possession. This was a generous 
 and dexterous action, little onerous for France, that 
 had nothing to do with the prisoners, since French- 
 men were not to be procured in exchange. The 
 first consul accompanied the act with proceedings 
 the most likely to act upon the susceptible heart of 
 Paul I. He had the Russians armed and clothed 
 in the uniforms of their sovereign ; he even gave 
 up to the officers their colours and their arms. 
 He next wrote a letter to count Panin,the Russian 
 minister for foreign affairs at St. Petersburg, inform- 
 ing him, that as Austria and England had refused 
 to give their liberty to the soldiers of the czar, who 
 iiad become prisoners of war in serving the cause 
 of these powers, the first consul would not in- 
 definitely detain these brave men, but send them 
 bark to the emperor unconditionally ; this being, 
 upon his part, a testimony of consideration for the 
 Russian army, an army of which the French had 
 acquired the knowledge and esteem upon the field 
 of battle. 
 
 This letter was sent by the way of Hamburg, 
 and transmitted by M. de Bourgoing, the French 
 minister in Denmark, to M. Muraview, the minis- 
 ter of Russia in that city. But such was the 
 fear of Paul I. among his own agents, that M. 
 Muraview refused to receive the letter, not daring 
 to break the anterior order of his own cabinet, 
 which interdicted all communication with the 
 repreai ntativea of France. M. Muraview con- 
 tented himself with reporting to the court of St. 
 Pen raburg what had occurred, and made known 
 to it the existence and contents of the letter of 
 which he had refused to take charge. Upon this 
 
 the first consul added another and still more effi- 
 cacious advance towards the Russian monarch. 
 Seeing plainly that Malta could not hold out much 
 r, and that the island, rigorously blockaded, 
 would soon be obliged to surrender to the English 
 for want of provisions, he conceived tin- idea of 
 making it a pies, nt to the emperor Paid. It was 
 
 well known that this prince was an enthusiastic 
 
 admirer of the old orders of chivalry, and of that 
 
 of Malta more particularly, having got. himself to 
 
 1 under the title of grand master of St. 
 
 John of Jerusalem ; that he had determined to 
 
 establish that religious and Chivalrio institution, 
 
 and that he held in St. Petersburg frequent chap- 
 ters of the order, for the object of conferring the 
 decoration upon the princes and great perso l 
 of Europe. It was impossible to captivate his 
 heart more completely than by pffering him this 
 island, which was the seat of the order of which he 
 wished to be the head. The thing was admirably 
 conceived under every point of view. Either the 
 English, who were on the eve of its capture, would 
 consent to its restitution, and thus it would be out 
 
 of their hands ; or they would refuse, and Paul I. 
 was capable for such an object to declare war 
 against them. M. Sergijeff, a Russian officer, who 
 was detained in France as a prisoner of war, was 
 this time charged to proceed to St. Petersburg, 
 carrying the two letters relative to the prisoners 
 and to Malta. 
 
 When these different communications arrived in 
 St. Petersburg, they produced their inevitable 
 effect. Paul was greatly touched, and from this 
 time gave himself up without reserve to his ad- 
 miration for the first consul. He selected im- 
 mediately an old Finland officer, once a Swedish 
 subject, and a very respectable man, exceedingly 
 well disposed towards France, and much in favour 
 at the Russian court. He was nominated governor 
 of Malta, and ordered to put himself at the head 
 of the six thousand Russian prisoners who were in 
 France, and to go with that force well organised, 
 and take possession of Malta, to be delivered up to 
 him by the hands of the French. Paul ordered 
 him to go by Paris, and to thank the first consul 
 publicly. To this demonstration Paul added a 
 step of much greater efficiency. He enjoined M. 
 Krndener, his minister at Berlin, who had some 
 months before been charged to renew the con- 
 nexion between Russia and Prussia, to enter into a 
 direct communication with general Beurnonville, 
 the French ambassador, and furnished him with 
 necessary powers to negotiate a treaty with France. 
 
 M. Haugwitz, who perhaps found that the re- 
 conciliation proceeded too rapidly, since Prussia 
 would lose her character of a mediator the first 
 moment that the cabinets of Russia and France 
 were in direct communication, arranged so as to 
 
 be himself the ostensible agent of this reconcilia- 
 tion. Thus far M. Krudener and M. de Beurnon- 
 ville had met, at Berlin with the ministers of the 
 different courts without speaking. M. Haugwitz 
 invited both to dinner one day : after dinner be 
 brought them together, and then left them by 
 themselves in bis own garden, that they might 
 have the means of the more perfect explanation. 
 M. Krudener expressed bis regret to general 
 Beurnonville that he had never been able before 
 to enjoy tin' society of the' French legation; made 
 
 an excuse for the refusal given at Hamburg te> 
 
 the- receipt of the first consul's letter, because of 
 the existence of the anterior order ; and last of all 
 entered into a- long explanation of tin' rfew dis- 
 position of his sovereign. He announced to gene- 
 ral Beurnonville, that .M. Sprengporten had been 
 
 s. nt an envoy t < > Paris ; ami Stated to him tin' 
 
 lively satisfaction that Paul I. had fell in learning 
 
 the' restitution of the prison' rs, and the' offer t" 
 
 restore Malta to tl rderof St. John of Jerusa- 
 lem. He passed at last from these subjects to the 
 
 more important one of all; in Other Words, to the 
 
 conditions of a peace. Russia and France bad no
 
 Interview hetween tlie Rus- 
 
 foetween France and Russia. 
 
 142 sian and French ministers THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. —Reflections upon Bona- 
 at Berlin. — Reconciliation parte's genius and success. 
 
 1800. 
 July. 
 
 quarrel between themselves. Tliey were not at 
 war for any interest connected with commerce or 
 territory; but on account of a dissimilarity in their 
 forms of government. They had nothing more to 
 do, therefore, ill regard to what immediately con- 
 cerned themselves, but to write one article, de- 
 claring that peace was re-established between the 
 two powers. This fact alone indicated how un- 
 reasonable the war had been. But the war bad 
 brought alliances in its train, and Paul, who 
 piqued himself upon fidelity to bis engagements, 
 demanded only a single condition, which was, that 
 his allies should be taken care of. They were 
 four in number, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Piedmont, 
 and Naples; for these four he asked the integrity 
 of their territories. Nothing was more facile than 
 to introduce an explanatory clause to this effect, 
 that the conditions should be regarded as fulfilled, 
 if those princes obtained an indemnity for the 
 provinces which the French republic might take 
 from them. This point was thus understood and 
 admitted by M. Krudener. The secularisation of 
 the ecclesiastical estates in Germany, and their 
 proportional partition amongst the lay princes, 
 who had lost a part or all of their territories in 
 consequence of the abandonment of the left bank 
 of the Rhine to France, was in effect a matter 
 long assented to by every body. It had been ad- 
 mitted in the congress of Rastadt under the 
 directory. The arrangement was not less easy as 
 regarded the Italian princes, the allies of Paul I. 
 Piedmont lost Nice and Savoy ; she might be 
 indemnified in Italy, if the ambition of Austria 
 in that country was kept under due restraint, and 
 not permitted to extend itself too far. On this 
 subject Paul I., greatly irritated against the cabinet 
 of Vienna, said, like Prussia, that Austria must be 
 kept down; and was not inclined to grant her that 
 which it was possible to refuse. In regard to the 
 kingdom of Naples, France had nothing to take 
 from it, but France had offensive conduct to 
 punish and outrages to avenge. Still the first 
 consul was willing to pardon her upon one con- 
 dition, which was of a nature to please Paul L, 
 as ill-disposed towards the English as towards the 
 Austrians; it was that the cabinet of Naples should 
 expiate its faults by a formal rupture with Great 
 Britain. On all these topics there was a pretty 
 near agreement, and every day there must have 
 been a closer approximation, from the active 
 movement of affairs, and from the impatient 
 character of Paul I., who from a state of discon- 
 tent with his former allies, was about to pass, 
 without transition, into a state of open hostility. 
 
 The reconciliation of France with Russia was 
 thus nearly accomplished, and even made public, 
 because the departure of M. Sprengporten from 
 Paris had been officially announced. Paul I., the 
 furious enemy of Fiance, thus became its friend, 
 against the powers of the old coalition. The glory 
 and the pr found dexterity of the first consul had 
 produced this singular change. A circumstance 
 at once fortuitous and important was about to 
 make it more complete; this was the quarrel of the 
 neutral powers, increased by the violence of Eng- 
 land upon the high seas. It seemed as if every 
 thing at that time united to favour the designs of 
 the first consul ; and we are induced to admire at the 
 same moment his good fortune as well as his genius. 
 
 On regarding the affairs of this lower world, one 
 is almost tempted to say, that Fortune loves youth, 
 it so wonderfully seconds the early years of great 
 men. But let us not, like the ancient poets, make 
 her blind and capricious. If she favours so often 
 the youth of great men, as she did of Hannibal, 
 Caesar, and Napoleon, it is because they have not 
 yet abused her favours. 
 
 Bonaparte was then happy, becausehe was worthy 
 to be so; because he had reason on bis side against 
 all the world : at home against party, abroad against 
 the powers of Europe. At home he would have 
 nothing but justice and order; abroad, peace, but 
 a peace advantageous and glorious, such as he has 
 a right to desire who was not the aggressor, and 
 who had himself known how to be victorious. 
 Thus the world would reconcile itself with France 
 represented by a great man, at once just and 
 powerful ; and if this great man had met with 
 fortunate circumstances, there was not one of 
 which he had not himself been the cause, and by 
 which he had not profited with skill. It was but 
 a little before, that one of his lieutenants, antici- 
 pating his commands, hastened at the sound of 
 cannon to give him victory at Marengo; but what 
 had he not done to prepare the way for that vic- 
 tory \ Now a prince, struck with insanity, seated 
 upon one of the first thrones in the world, became 
 an easy prey to his diplomatic talents; with what 
 clever condescension had he net flattered his folly? 
 England, by her conduct on the ocean, was soon 
 about to recall to France all the maritime powers; 
 it will soon be seen with what art he set about 
 managing them, and casting upon England the 
 charge of all the violence. Fortune, the capricious 
 mistress of great men, is not so capricious then as 
 some would lain represent her. All is not caprice 
 when she favours them, or caprice when she aban- 
 dons them. In these pretended infidelities the 
 errors are, in general, not upon her side. Let us 
 speak a more correct language, more worthy of 
 an important subject: Fortune, the pagan name 
 given to the power which regulates all sublunary 
 things, is but Providence befriending genius when 
 it walks in the path of rectitude, or, in other words, 
 in the way designated by infinite wisdom. 
 
 The fortunate circumstance which was about to 
 rally definitively the powers of the north around 
 the policy of the first consul, and to procure him 
 auxiliaries upon the element where he had the 
 greatest necessity for finding them, in other words, 
 upon the sea, happened thus. The English had 
 committed fresh outrages upon neutrals. They 
 would not suffer the Russians, the Danes, the 
 Swedes, and the Americans, to enter freely all 
 the ports of the world, and to lend their flags to 
 the trade of France and Spain. They had already 
 violated the independence of the neutral flag, more 
 particularly in regard to America ; and it was 
 because the Americans had not sufficiently de- 
 fended it, that the directory showed its anger by 
 subjecting them to treatment almost as rigorous 
 as that they received from the English. Bona- 
 parte had repaired this error by annulling the 
 harshest of the regulations enforced by the direc- 
 tory ; by the institution of the tribunal of prizes 
 charged with administering better justice to cap- 
 tured vessels ; by rendering homage in the person 
 of Washington to the whole of America ; and,
 
 1800. 
 
 July. 
 
 Conditions of maritime neutrality. THE ARMISTICE. 
 
 Arguments advanced l>y England 
 
 lor I lie right of search. 
 
 143 
 
 finally, by calling to Paris negotiators, in order to 
 establish with her relations of amity and com- 
 merce. It was at tli is very moment that England, 
 as if irritated by the bad success of her policy, 
 ted to become more oppressive towards neu- 
 trals. Already the most offensive acts bad been 
 committed by her upon the high seas; but the last 
 exceeded all bounds, not only of justice, but of the 
 commonest prudence. 
 
 This is not the place for entering upon all the 
 details of that serious dispute ; it will suffice to 
 mention its maij points. The neutrals asserted 
 that the war, which the great nations chose to wage 
 with each other, ought not in any manner to cramp 
 their trade, that they had even a right to carry on 
 the commerce of which the belligerent parties had 
 voluntarily deprived themselves. They claimed, in 
 consequence, the right of entering freely ail the ports 
 of the world, and of navigating between the ports of 
 the belligerents; of going, lor example, from France 
 and Spain to England, and from England to Spain 
 and France, and, what was less reasonable, of going 
 from the colonies to the mother-country, as from 
 Mexico to Spain, for the purpose of carrying the 
 precious metals, which, but for their interference, 
 could not reach Europe. They maintained that tin; 
 Bag covered the merchandise, or, in other words, 
 that the Bag of a nation, not concerned in the war, 
 covered against every species of search the mer- 
 chandize conveyed iii such vessels ; that on board 
 of them French merchandise could not be seized 
 by the English, nor English merchandise by the 
 French ; as a Frenchman, for instance, would have 
 been inviolable on the quays of Copenhagen, or of 
 St. Petersburg, for the British power : in short, 
 that the vessel of a neutral nation was as sacred 
 as the quaya of iis capital. 
 
 The neutrals only consented to one exception. 
 They acknowledged that they ought not to carry 
 goods used for purposes of war; because it was con- 
 trary to the idea of neutrality itself, that they 
 should furnish one belligerent power with arms 
 against another. But they understood that ibis 
 interdiction should be limited solely to objects 
 fabricated for warlike purposes, such as muskets, 
 cannon, powder, projectiles, and articles of equip- 
 ment of every kind ; as to provisions, they would 
 imit the interdiction of any, except such as 
 prepared for the usage ol armies, as biscuit 
 
 If they admitted an exception as to the nalure 
 
 of transportable merchandise, tbey admitted of 
 
 another, in respect to the place iub< I, on 
 
 that it shomd be strictly defined. 
 
 .•option wis, as io the ports really 
 and truly blockaded, and guarded by a naval force 
 capable of laying siege to, or reducing them by 
 (amine, under a state ,,i blockade. In such a case 
 it was admitted that, to run into a blockaded port, 
 ireateniug one of the two nations in the at 
 right, l>y preventing it from taking the p 
 
 of its enemy by tannic- or attack ; that, it was con- 
 sequently affording aid io one of the two against the 
 other. Hut iln-y demanded that the blockade should 
 be preceded by formal declarations, thai the block- 
 ade be real, and executed by Mich a force that there 
 
 would bo i iuent danger in violating it. They 
 
 Would not admit thai bj a simpl'- declarati if 
 
 blockade, either party should be able to interdict at 
 
 pleasure, by means of a pure fiction, the entry of 
 Buch ami such a port, or to exclude from the entire 
 extent of certain coasts. 
 
 Lastly, it was necessary to discover whether a 
 vessel really belonged to the nation whose flag she 
 hoisted, whether or not she carried merchandise 
 
 qualified as contraband of war. The neutrals con- 
 sented to be searched, but it was required that the 
 Search should be made with a certain regard to 
 civility, to be agreed upon and faithfully kept. In 
 particular, it was considered essential that mer- 
 chant-ships should not be searched if convoyed by 
 a man-of-war. The military, or royal flag, must, 
 according to them, have the privilege of being cre- 
 dited on its word, when it affirmed, upon the honour 
 of its nation, that the vessels under convoy, wire 
 of the nation in the first place; and, in the second, 
 
 that they carried no interdicted ", Is. If it were 
 
 different, they said, a brig only while cruizing, 
 might stoj) a convoy, and with that convoy a fleet- 
 of war, perhaps an admiral. Who could know? 
 Even a privateer might stop M. De Suffren, or 
 Lord Nelson ! 
 
 Thus, the doctrine sustained by the neutrals, 
 might be resolved into four main points. 
 
 The flag covered the merchandise; that is to say, 
 it interdicted the search for an enemy's merchan- 
 dise on board a neutral vessel, a stranger to the 
 belligerents. 
 
 No merchandise to be interdicted, but such as is 
 contraband of war. The contraband confined wholly 
 to the objects fabricated for the use of armies. 
 Corn, for example, and naval stores not included. 
 
 Access could not be interdicted to any port, un- 
 less such a port be really blockaded. 
 
 Lastly, no vessel under convoy could be visited. 
 Such were the principles supported by France, 
 Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, and America, 
 in other words, by the immense majority of na- 
 tions; principles founded upon a respect for the 
 rights of others, but absolutely contested by England. 
 She maintained, in effect, that, under those re- 
 gulations, the commerce of her enemies would he 
 carried on without, any obstacle by means of neu- 
 trals (which, by the by, was not correct, for that 
 commerce could not be continued by means of neu- 
 trals, without giving up to them the greater part of 
 the profits, and causing the nation obliged to have 
 recourse to them, an immense less). She insisted 
 on seizing French or Spanish property wherever 
 itmight.be. She maintained that certain merchan- 
 dises, such as corn, and naval Stores, were real suc- 
 cours (o a country at war ; she desired thai a de- 
 claration of blockade should be sufficient without 
 
 the preseiu f a naval force Io interdict tie 
 
 trance to certain ports or <jl asls ; lastly, that neu- 
 trals, under the pretext of convoy, should not. 
 cape the examination of the belligerent powers. 
 
 If it. be desirable to know what was the founda- 
 tion of the important intere I cue, aled under this 
 
 sophism <d' the public writers of England, here it 
 may be found. England wished to hinder the car- 
 riage to the Spaniards of the rich metals of Mexico, 
 
 the great, source of Spanish opulence ; to the 
 
 French, the sugar and coffee, without which they 
 are unable to live ; io tl ic and the otlii r, the 
 
 timbi r, ii , and III mp of the north, necessary For 
 
 their sliips. She would have wishid to be able to 
 starve them in case of deficient harvests, as she
 
 League of neutrality 
 144 of Catherine of 
 
 Russia. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 English attack upon neu- 
 tral convoys. — Affair of 
 Barcelona. 
 
 1800 
 July. 
 
 did, for example, in 1793 ; she wished for the 
 power of closing the ports of entire countries with- 
 out the obligation of a real blockade ; lastly, she 
 desired, by means of searches, vexations, and ob- 
 stacles of all kinds, to ruin the trade of every na- 
 tion; so that war, which, for commercial countries, 
 is a state of distress, should become for her mer- 
 chants, what it truly was, a time of monopoly and 
 of extraordinary prosperity. In regard to the 
 Americans, she had an intention still more ini- 
 quitous ; it was to take from them their seamen, 
 under the pretext that they were English ; a con- 
 fusion easy to make, owing to the uniformity of the 
 language. 
 
 In 1780, during the American war, Catherine 
 the Great had formed a league of neutrals, to resist 
 these pretences. The first consul, profiting by the 
 new-born friendship of Paul, the irritating wrongs 
 of neutrals, and the outrageous violence of the 
 English, set every effort at work to form a similar 
 league in 1800. 
 
 At this moment the dispute presented itself only 
 under one form, in the right of search. The Danes 
 and Swedes, to escape the vexations of the English 
 cruizers, had devised the plan of sailing in numer- 
 ous convoys, escorted by frigates carrying the royal 
 flag. It must be added, that they never dishonoured 
 this flag, and took good care not to escort false 
 Danes or Swedes, to cover the contraband of war, 
 as it is denominated; they studied only how to 
 escape vexations which were become unbearable. 
 But the English, seeing in this only a manner of 
 eluding the difficulty, and continuing the trade of 
 neutrals, determined to continue the right of search, 
 without regard to the convoying vessel. 
 
 The preceding year two Swedish frigates, the 
 Troya and the Hulla-Fersen, accompanying some 
 Swedish vessels, were stopped by the English 
 squadrons, and obliged to submit to the search of 
 the convoy under their charge. The king of Sweden 
 sent the two captains of the frigates to trial by a 
 court-martial, for not defending them. The ex- 
 ample had for a moment stopped the English, who 
 feared they might be exposed to -a rupture with the 
 northern powers. They had, in consequence, been 
 somewhat less rigorous with Swedish ships. But 
 two recent examples had renewed the difficulty, 
 and forced Sweden and Denmark to the utmost 
 pitch of exasperation. 
 
 In the winter of 179!) 1800, the Danish frigate 
 the Haufersen, captain Vandockum, who convoyed 
 a fleet of merchantmen in the Mediterranean, was 
 stopped by order of lord Keith ; he attempted to 
 resist, was fired upon, and carried into Gibraltar. 
 A very violent dispute followed upon the subject 
 between the English and Danish cabinets. It was 
 still in progress when, in the month of July, a 
 Danish frigate, the Freya, escorting a convoy of its 
 own nation, was met in the channel by an English 
 squadron. The latter insisted on the right of 
 search ; the commander of the Freya, captain 
 Krabe, nobly resisted the summons of the English 
 admiral, and refused to permit the search of his 
 convoy. Force was employed with unnecessary 
 violence; captain Krabe defended himself until he 
 was crippled, and he was obliged to surrender to 
 the superiority of the enemy, as he had but a single 
 ship to oppose to six men-of-war. The Freya was 
 taken into the Downs. 
 
 This event was soon followed by another of a 
 different nature, but more odious and more serious. 
 Two Spanish frigates 1 were at anchor at the en- 
 trance of the road of Barcelona. The English 
 formed a scheme for capturing them. Here there 
 was no question about the right of neutrals, but 
 the committal of a complete piece of knavery, for 
 the purpose of entering with impunity into an 
 enemy's port without being recognized. They per- 
 ceived in the roads a Swedish galliot, the Hoflhung, 
 and resolved to make use of it for the act of bri- 
 gandage which they had meditated. They manned 
 their boats, boarded the galliot, clapped a pistol to 
 the breast of the Swedish captain, and obliged him 
 to sail quietly towards the Spanish frigates, which, 
 having no mistrust of the Swedish flag, suffered 
 her to come alongside. The English immediately 
 rushed on board, surprised the two frigates, which 
 had few hands on board, took, and left the harbour 
 of Barcelona with their prey so dishonestly ac- 
 quired. 
 
 This circumstance produced an extraordinary 
 sensation in Europe, and rendered every maritime 
 nation indignant, whose rights the English were no 
 longer satisfied with violating, but whose flag they 
 outraged, by making them unconsciously serve the 
 purpose of a most infamous piracy. Spain was 
 already at war with Great Britain, she could do no 
 more ; but she had recourse to Sweden, whose 
 flag had been usurped, to denounce the odious 
 fact, as well for Sweden as for Spain 2 . It needed 
 
 1 [In this statement there is not one syllable of fact. 
 True it is, that the English and French alike, in those days, 
 stated the most extraordinary things of each other, without 
 regard even to probability; and history will pass many of 
 them to posterity as facts. The Conception and La Pas, 
 nearly four hundred tons each, and carrying twenty-two 
 guns, were in the port of Barcelona, laden with provisions 
 and stores ready for sea, on the sixth of September, 1800. 
 The port was blockaded by the Minotaur and Niger, English 
 ships of war, the boats of which, five or six in number, 
 attacked the Spanish vessels and carried them. The cap- 
 tain of the Conception fought well ; three of his men were 
 killed and twenty-three wounded. The English had two 
 killed and six wounded. The cowardly commander of the 
 La Pas got into his boat on the other side of his vessel from 
 that attacked, and pulled away. To cover his cowardice, he 
 gave out that he was boarded in the way slated by M. Thiers, 
 to shelter himself from the anger of bis government. The 
 fort of Mont Jouc fired on the English boats. Captain Louis, 
 of the Minotaur, says, ''The firing began from all quarters 
 at nine; about ten o'clock I had the pleasing satisfaction to 
 see the two ship3 dropping out of the road, under a heavy 
 fire from the vessels, four batteries, ten gun-boats, two 
 schooners, with two forty-two pounders, the fort of Mount 
 Jouc at the same time throwing shells." The Hoffuung, a 
 Swedish galliot, was in the harbour at the time. Under the 
 circumstances, such a use of that vessel would have been, 
 in a naval sense, not possible.] — Translator. 
 
 - [The Spanish minister, Ue Iluerta, complained of this 
 affair to the Swedish chancellor, Ehrenheim, who remarked 
 pithily in his reply, that the Spaniards must be negligent, in 
 permitting violence to bedoneto neutrals in theirown ports. 
 De Huerta actually accused the Swede of coolness in the 
 affair. In the mean time, it does not appear that any com- 
 plaint was ever made of such an outrage by the master of 
 the Hoffnung. The point to be gained was to excite Sweden 
 against England, upon a circumstance that never did occur, 
 on the strength of the story of a cowardly Spaniard. The 
 king of Sweden's reply to one remonstrance on the subject — 
 a remonstrance most probably urged by France — ran, that
 
 1800. 
 Autr. 
 
 Conduct of England to Denmark. 
 —Lord Whitworth sent to Co- 
 
 TIIE ARMISTICE. 
 
 penhagen. — British convention with 
 Denmark.— Affairs of Spain. 
 
 145 
 
 no more to envenom the quarrel between England 
 ami the neutral powers, especially at this moment 
 above all, when the moderation of the first consul 
 towards them was of such a nature as to exhibit in 
 a strange light the violence of England. Sweden 
 demanded satisfaction ; Denmark had already made 
 the same demand. Behind the two courts was 
 
 ia, which from 17«0 regarded itself as bound 
 up with the powers of the Baltic in all the ques- 
 tions which involved their maritime freedom. 
 
 M. Bcrustorff, on the side of Denmark, kept up 
 a lively controversy with the cabinet of London, by 
 means of notes, which France published, and 
 which reflect equal honour on the minister who 
 wrote them and the government that signed 
 them, and which was soon called to support its 
 signature by arms. " A mere gun-boat," the En- 
 glish remarked, " carrying the flag of a neutral, is 
 to have the right of conveying the commerce of 
 the world, and of keeping out of our view the trade 
 of our enemies, which may be carried on as easily 
 during war by this means as during peace." " An 
 entire squadron then,"' answered M, Bernstortf, 
 " would be obliged to obey the summons of the most 
 wretched cruizer, to stop upon her demand, and 
 suffer the convoy she is escorting to be examined 
 before his eyes. The word of an admiral, making 
 a declaration upon the honour of his country, is 
 not to weigh against the doubt of the captain of a 
 privateer, who is to possess the right of verification 
 by search." One of these hypotheses is much more 
 admissible than the other. 
 
 In order to support these opinions by fear, the 
 English cabinet, which had just sent lord Whitworth 
 to Copenhagen, ordered him to be followed by a 
 squadron of sixteen sail of the line, which at that 
 ooment was cruising at the entrance of the Sound. 
 Tin; presence of this squadron produced a strong 
 feeling among the Baltic powers, and not only 
 alarmed Denmark, against which it more immedi- 
 ately pointed, but Sweden, Russia, and even Prussia 
 trade was interested in the navi- 
 gation of the Baltic. The four signatures to the 
 old neutrality of l"!'0 began a negotiation, with 
 the avowed end of forming a new league against 
 the maritime tyranny of England. The cabinet of 
 Loud on, which was still in apprehension of such an 
 event, insisted strongly at Copenhagen upon ar- 
 ranging tin.' dispute ; but so far from offering satis- 
 
 ■ n, it had tin 1 singular audacity to demand it. 
 It wished, by alarming, to detach Denmark from 
 the league before it was consummated. Unfortu- 
 nately Denmark had been surprised, the Sound 
 not defended, Copenhagen was not Becure 
 against bombardment. In this state of things it 
 t'. j ill for tie- moment, in order to 
 gain tie- advantage of tin? winter season, during 
 which tie- ice defends the Baltic, and thus give 
 all tin- neutral powers time to make preparations 
 mce. ' 'o tin- 27tb of August, or 1 Ith 
 Fructidor, in the year \m., Denmark was obliged 
 
 m a convention, in which the question of the 
 law of nations was adjourned,and the last difference 
 
 above, winch hail an- D i- pi Cting tie- 1'n-ya, was 
 
 "he could not take upon himself any nharc of r< 
 for the i 1 1 1 which t;. illicit 
 
 make of tin- Swedish veueli ttac| may Mil Nun, 
 
 or l.nui • in im ]— Translator. 
 
 adjusted. The Freya was repaired in an English 
 dockyard, and restored; and for the moment Den- 
 mark gave up convoying her merchant ships. 
 
 This convention decided nothing. The storms, 
 in place of being dissipated, soon gathered again, 
 use the four northern powers felt greatly irri- 
 tated. The king of Sweden, whose honour was 
 not yet satisfied, prepared for a voyage to St. Peters- 
 burg, in order to renew the ancient neutrality. 
 Paul I., who was not fond of middle measures, 
 began by a most energetic action. Learning the 
 dispute with Denmark, and that an English fleet 
 was off the Sound, he ordered the sequestration of 
 all the property belonging to the English, as. a 
 security for the injury which might accrue to Rus- 
 sian commerce. This measure was to be con- 
 tinued until the intentions of the English govern- 
 ment were completely cleared up. 
 
 Thus in the courts of the north every thing 
 occurred to favour the objects of the first consul; 
 and events turned out according to his wishes. 
 Things did not go on less prosperously in the south 
 of Europe, that is in Spain. There was seen one 
 of the first monarchies in Europe sinking into disso- 
 lution, to the great injury of the balance of Europe, 
 and the great sorrow of a generous people; indig- 
 nant at the character which they had been made 
 to play in the world. The first consul, whose in- 
 defatigable intellect embraced every object at once, 
 had already directed to the side of Spain* his 
 political efforts, and sought to obtain as much ad- 
 vantage as possible for the common cause from 
 that degenerate court. 
 
 We should not here retrace the sad picture which 
 follows, if, in the first place, it were not true, and if 
 it were not necessary afterwards to comprehend the 
 great events of the age. 
 
 The king, the queen of Spain, and the prince of 
 peace had occupied for many years the attention 
 of Europe, and offered a spectacle dangerous for 
 royalty, already so much compromised in popular 
 esteem. One would have said that the illustrious 
 house of Bourbon was destined, at the end of the 
 century, to lose its power in France, Naples, and 
 Spain, because in these three kingdoms three kings 
 of extreme feebleness handed over their sceptres 
 to the contempt, and ridicule of the world, by 
 leaving them in the hands of three queens, either 
 giddy, violent, or dissolute. 
 
 The Bourbons of France, whether from their 
 own fault or by misfortune, had been swallowed up 
 
 by the French revolution; by foolishly provoking 
 
 it, those of Naples had hern driven, for the first 
 time, from their capital; those of Spain, before 
 they l't their sceptre fall into the hands of the 
 crowned soldier which the revolution had produced, 
 had Been no better step to take than to pay their 
 
 court to him. They had already become the allies 
 
 of Prance during the convention, they could now 
 
 much more willingly be in i lexion with her, 
 
 when the revolution, in plan- of a Banguinarj 
 anarchy, offered to them a great man disposed to 
 protect tin in if tiny followed his advice. Happy 
 
 d it bave been lor these princes had they fol 
 
 lowed the counsels of this gnat man, at that time 
 bo excellent. Happy for himself, had he done no 
 
 more than give it to them ! 
 
 The l^ing of Spain, Charles [V., was an bo 
 
 man; not hard and blunt like Lotlifl XVI., hut 
 
 L
 
 Character of the royal family prince of the peace. — Dis- . R(ln 
 
 146 of Spain -Scandalous con- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, graceful favouritism, 
 duct of the queen and the Fatuity of the king. 
 
 Aug. 
 
 more agreeable in his person, less informed, and 
 exceeding him in weakness. He rose very early, 
 not to attend to his royal duties, but to hear seve- 
 ral masses, and then descend into his workshops, 
 where, mingled with turners, smiths, and ar- 
 mourers, he stript off' his clothes like tliem, and in 
 their company laboured at all kinds of work. 
 Loving hunting a good deal, he liked better to 
 manufacture arms. From his workshops he went 
 to his stables, to assist in taking care of his horses, 
 and gave himself up to the most incredible fa- 
 miliarities with his grooms. After having thus 
 employed the first half of the day, he partook of a 
 solitary meal, to which neither the queen nor his 
 children were admitted, and gave up the remainder 
 of the day to hunting. Several hundred horses 
 and domestics were set in motion for his daily 
 pleasure, his dominant passion. After having rode 
 like a young man, he re-entered the palace, gave a 
 quarter of an hour to his children, a half hour to 
 the signature of the papers submitted to him by 
 his minister, sat down to play with some of the 
 grandees of his court, and sometimes took a siesta 
 with them until the time arrived for his last meal, 
 which was immediately followed by his retiring to 
 bed, always at the same fixed hour. Such was his 
 life, without one single change during the whole 
 year, except in Passion-week, which he devoted 
 entirely to religious duties. In other respects he 
 was an honest man, faithful to his word, mild, 
 humane, religious, of exemplary chastity, though 
 not cohabiting with his wife, ever since his phy- 
 sician had, by her order, requested him to abstain 
 from it ; he had no other concern in the scandals 
 of his court or the errors of his government than 
 in allowing them to be committed, without seeing 
 or believing them during his lung reign. 
 
 At his side the queen, sister of the duke of 
 Parma, a pupil of Condillac, who composed for her 
 and her brother excellent works for their educa- 
 tion, led a totally different life. She would have 
 done little honour to the celebrated philosophical 
 instructor of her youth, if philosophers were com- 
 monly able to answer for their disciples. She was 
 about fifty years of age, and possessed some re- 
 mains of beauty, which she took pains to perpetuate 
 with infinite care. Attending mass, as the king did, 
 every day, she passed in corresponding with a 
 great number of persons, and more particularly 
 with the prince of peace, that time which Charles IV. 
 gave to his workshops and stables. In this correspon- 
 dence she made the prince of the peace acquainted 
 with all the affairs of the court and the state, and 
 she received from him, in return, all the scandal 
 and puerilities of Madrid. She finished her morning 
 by giving an hour to her children, and another to 
 the cares of government ; not an act, not an ap- 
 pointment, not a pardon, went to receive the royal 
 signature, before the contents were seen by her. 
 The minister who allowed himself to commit such 
 an infraction of the conditions of her favour, would 
 have immediately been displaced) .She took her 
 dinner alone, like the king, in the middle of the 
 day ; the rest of the afternoon was devoted to re- 
 ceptions, in which she acquitted herself with great 
 grace, and to the prince of peace, on whom she 
 bestowed daily several hours of her time. 
 
 At the period now spoken of, it is well known 
 the prince of the peace was no longer minister. 
 
 M. Urquijo, who will shortly be introduced, had 
 succeeded him ; but the prince was not less the 
 first authority in the kingdom. This singular per- 
 sonage, incapable, ignorant, full of levity, but of a 
 handsome appearance, as it is necessary to be in 
 order to succeed in a corrupt court, was the arro- 
 gant ruler of queen Louisa, and had reigned for 
 twenty years supreme over her empty and fri- 
 volous mind. Weary of his exalted favour, he 
 shared it at last voluntarily with obscure favourites, 
 and resigned himself to a thousand disorders and 
 debaucheries, which he repeated to his crowned 
 slave, whom he found pleasure in rendering mise- 
 rable by his tales ; he even ill-treated her, it was 
 said, in the grossest way. Still he retained an ab- 
 solute influence over the princess, who was wholly 
 unable to resist him, and could not live happily 
 unless she saw him every day. She committed the 
 government to him for a long time, under the 
 official title of prime minister, and afterwards, 
 when he had the title no longer, he remained so in 
 fact, for nothing was done in Spain without his 
 consent. He disposed of all the state resources, 
 and he had in his own possession enormous sums 
 in specie, while the treasury, reduced to the great- 
 est want, sustained itself upon paper-money depre- 
 ciated one-half in value. The nation was well nigh 
 accustomed to this spectacle, and exhibited its in- 
 dignation only when some new and extraordinary 
 scandal made the cheeks of those brave Spaniards 
 blush, whose heroic resistance soon afterwards 
 proved that they were worthy of a better govern- 
 ment. At the time when Europe resounded with 
 the great events which were passing on the Po and 
 the Danube, the court of Spain was the scene of an 
 unparalleled scandal, which had nearly destroyed 
 the patience of the natives. The prince of peace, 
 from one disorder to another, completed all by 
 marrying a relation of the royal family. A child 
 was the offspring of this marriage. The king and 
 queen themselves determining to become sponsors 
 for the new-born infant at the baptismal font, 
 proceeded to the completion of the ceremony, with 
 all the usages customary at the baptism of a royal 
 child. The grandees of the court were obliged to 
 fulfil the same duties that would have been exacted 
 of them if the child bad been the issue of royalty 
 itself. Upon that babe in swaddling-clothes, the 
 great orders of the crown, and the most magnifi- 
 cent presents, were conferred. The grand inquisi- 
 tor officiated at the religious ceremony. It is true, 
 that this time public indignation arose to the high- 
 est point, and that every Spaniard thought himself 
 personally outraged by this odious affair. Things 
 had come to such a head, that the Spanish minis- 
 ters opened their minds upon the matter to the 
 foreign ambassadors, and particularly to the am- 
 bassadors of France, who were generally their re- 
 sort in most of their embarrassments, and who 
 heard from their own tongues the frightful details 
 which are here related. 
 
 In the midst of these disgraceful actions, the 
 king alone, who was kept under a continual obser- 
 vation by Ins wife, was ignorant of all, nor had he 
 the least suspicion of what was passing. Neither 
 the voices of his subjects, nor the revolt of some of 
 the Spanish grandees, who were indignant at the 
 services required of them, nor even the inexplica- 
 ble assiduity of the prince of the peace, could make
 
 1800. 
 Aug. 
 
 Regard of Charles IV. for the 
 tir>t consul. — Character of 
 the minister Urquijo. 
 
 THE ARMISTICE. 
 
 Mutual present* between Bo- 
 naparte and the court of 
 
 Spain. 
 
 14/ 
 
 him see. The poor and good-tempered king was 
 sometimes heard to mate tins singular observation, 
 which embarrassed all those who were condemned 
 to hear it, " .My brother of Naples is a fool, who 
 suffers his wife to govern him !" It must be ob- 
 served, thai the prince of Asturias, afterwards 
 Ferdinand VII., brought np at a distance from 
 the court', with incredible strictness, detested the 
 favourite, of whose criminal influence he was well 
 aware, and that this just hatred of the favourite 
 finished by being converted into an involuntary 
 hatred for his father and mother. 
 
 What a sight at the close of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, and the beginning of the nineteenth, when 
 the throne of Franc ■ had just fallen with a crash, 
 ami when upon its ruins a young soldier, simple, 
 austere, indefatigable, full of genius, had just ele- 
 vated himself. How long could the Spanish monar- 
 chy resist the dangerous example of the contrast '. 
 
 The house of Spain, amidst these disorders, 
 was struck sometimes with confused presentiments, 
 and was often under the apprehension of a revolu- 
 tion. The old attachment of the Spaniards for 
 royalty and religion, without doubt, in some degree 
 reassured it, but it feared to see a revolution come 
 by the way of the Pyrenees, and endeavoured to 
 avert the danger by an entire deference towards 
 the French republic. The incredible violence of 
 the English cabinet, and the angry outbreakiiigs of 
 Paid I. in i:s regard at the moment of the second 
 coalition, had thrown it completely into the arms 
 of France. She found this conduct advantageous, 
 even honourable, since Bonaparte had ennobled, by 
 his presence at the head of power, all the relations 
 of tin; cabinets with the government of the republic. 
 The good king, Charles IV. hail imbibed, though 
 at a distance, a sort of friend-hip for the first 
 con-ul. This sentiment every day augmented, and 
 it is sorrowful to reflect how this friendship was 
 destined to end, without any perfidy on the side 
 of France, by an inconceivable chain of circum- 
 stances. " What a great man is that general Bona- 
 parte," laid Charles IV. continually. The queen 
 also said the same, hut with more coolness; because 
 the prince of the peace censured sometimes what 
 was done by the court of Spain, of which he was 
 no longer the minister, and appeared to blame the 
 partiality it testified towards the French govern- 
 ment. Still, the first consul informed by M. Al- 
 qtrier) the Fn itcli ambassador, a man of compre- 
 hensive mind and great sagacity, that be must ab- 
 solutely seem- at Madrid the good will of the 
 prince of tie' peace, sen! to the favourite some 
 magnificent anna, mad- in the Versailles manufac- 
 tory. This attention, on the part of the- most famous 
 Europe, touched the vanity of the 
 
 prince of tie i . . A lev. attentions from the 
 
 French ambassador completely gained him over, 
 
 and from that time the court of Spain Beeined to 
 
 itself up entirely to France without reserve. 
 
 From the minister Urquijo alone was the slight- 
 
 sistance ever experienced, lie was a man of 
 
 oild character, naturally the enemy of the prince 
 
 of the peace, of whom he was die bu< sor, and 
 
 he bad little love lor Bonaparte, M. Urquijo, of 
 plebeian extraction, endowed with a certain d 
 of energy, had attracted the enmity of the clergy 
 and court, through some insignificant reforms that 
 
 he had attempted in the government of the king- 
 
 dom ; and was inclined, in a manner somewhat 
 extraordinary for a Spaniard of the time, towards 
 revolutionary ideas. He was in connexion with 
 many French demagogues, and partook, in a cer- 
 tain degree, of their dislike to the first consul. 
 He possessed the merit of wishing to reform the 
 mere glaring abuses, of desiring to reduce the 
 revenues of the clergy and the jurisdiction of the 
 agents of the court of Rome. Towards these 
 measures he was endeavouring to obtain the con- 
 sent of the llojy See, and even in this attempt 
 he had exposed himself to serious dangers. Having 
 against him in tact the prince of the peace, he 
 was utterly undone, if the influence of Rome should 
 join that of the prince to destroy his influence in 
 the palace. Affected by som-e attentions which 
 were paid him by M. Alquier, and witness, besides, 
 of the inclinations of tile king and queen, M. 
 Urquijo became in his turn the admirer of Bona- 
 parte, whom it was not only natural, but every 
 way the fashion, at that time, to admire. 
 
 The king's partiality soon became unbounded; 
 it was impossible to be more manifested, llaviug 
 Been the arms which had been sent to the prince 
 of the peace, he conceived and expressed a desire 
 to possess some of the same kind. Some magni- 
 ficent specimens were immediately manufactured 
 and sent to him, and he received them with great 
 delight. The queen wished to have some dresses, 
 and Madame Bonaparte, whose taste was re- 
 nowned, sent to her all that Paris could produce 
 of the most elegant and tasteful character. Charles 
 IV., generous as a true Castilian, would not re- 
 main behind in the career of civility, and he 
 acquitted himself in a manner truly royal. Know- 
 ing that horses would be an agreeable present for 
 the first consul, he took the most beautiful animals 
 lie possessed from the studs of Aranjuez, Medina- 
 Cieli, and Altamira, to find first six, then twelve, 
 and then sixteen, the finest in the peninsula. No 
 one could tell where he would have stopped, if his 
 ardour had not been moderated. He employed him- 
 self two months in the selection ; and no one was 
 belter able to acquit himself of such a task, because 
 he was a perfect judge of horses, lie composed 
 a numerous train of persons to conduct them to 
 France, taking for the mission the best of his 
 grooms, and clothing them in magnificent liveries; 
 and on all this fine cavalcade he laid but one 
 positive order, which was, that while travelling 
 
 through France they should attend mass ever] 
 Sunday. The promise was given l.im that what 
 he desired should be attended to; and his delight 
 
 at making his handsome pivsi nt to the first consul 
 
 waa then unalloyed. Though loud of France, this 
 
 kind prince really believed that it was not possible 
 for a man to live in that COUIItry many days with- 
 out forsaking the religion of his lathers. 
 
 Tie- noise made by these demonstrations well 
 suited the objects of the first control. Whilo it 
 -ratified him, he thought il was useful to show to 
 Europe and to France itself, the successors of 
 
 Charles V., the dei o ndants'ni Louis X I V., taking 
 honour to themselves from their personal relations 
 
 Willi him. Rut he sou-lit much more solid ad- 
 vantages in bis diplomatic n latinos, and aimed a', 
 one important object. 
 
 The King and queen of Spain were fond of one 
 of their children, the infanta Maria Louisa, the 
 
 l. 2 
 
 .
 
 General Berthier sent to 
 ]48 Madrid.— Mutual de- 
 mands of France and 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Spain upon each other. 
 — The concession of 
 
 Louisiana. 
 
 1800. 
 Aug. 
 
 wife of the hereditary prince of Parma 
 queen, sister, as we have said, to the 
 
 The 
 
 reigning 
 duke of Parma, had united her daughter to her 
 nephew, and concentrated upon their heads her 
 hest affections ; because she was extremely at- 
 tached to the house from whence she descended. 
 She contemplated for that house some aggrandize- 
 ment in Italy ; and as Italy depended upon the 
 conqueror of Marengo, it was from him she hoped 
 to obtain the accomplishment of all her wishes. 
 The first consul, aware of the secret desire of the 
 queen, took care not to neglect this means of 
 carrying out his views, and sent to Madrid his 
 faithful Berthier, in order to profit by the existing 
 circumstance. If he had sent one of his aids-de- 
 camp to Berlin and Vienna, he wished to do more 
 for the court of Spain, and resolved to send thither 
 the man who had the larger share in his glory, 
 because Berthier was then Parmenio to the new 
 Alexander. 
 
 At the same moment that the first consul was 
 negotiating with M. St. Julien the preliminaries 
 of peace, while he was winning over the inflam- 
 mable heart of Paul I., and fomenting in the north 
 the quarrel of the neutral powers, it was at that 
 moment he despatched general Berthier in haste 
 to Madrid. He set off towards the end of August, 
 or commencement of Fructidor, without any of- 
 ficial title, but with the assurance that his presence 
 would alone produce a very great effect, and with 
 secret powers to negotiate upon very important 
 subjects. 
 
 His journey had several objects. The first was 
 to visit the principal ports in the Peninsula, and 
 to examine into their state, and their resources, and 
 to urge forward, with the money in his hand, 
 expeditions to Malta and Egypt. Berthier per- 
 formed this part of his mission with great rapidity, 
 and then hastened to Madrid to fulfil the more 
 important part of his duty. The first consul was 
 willing to grant an accession of territory to the house 
 of Parma; he was willing to join to this increase 
 of greatness the title of king, which would have met 
 fully the desires of the queen : but he demanded 
 to be paid for these concessions in two ways, 
 namely, by the return of Louisiana to France, and 
 by Spain assuming a threatening attitude towards 
 Portugal, for the purpose of getting that country 
 to treat with the French republic and break with 
 England. 
 
 The motives of the first consul for exacting such 
 conditions were these : since Kle'ber's death he had 
 felt uneasy about the preservation of Egypt, for he 
 shared, in common with his contemporaries, the de- 
 sire of possessing distant colonies. The rivalry of 
 France and England, which countries, for a century 
 past, had fought solely about the East and West In- 
 dies, had raised to the highest pitch the desire to pos- 
 sess colonial territories. If Egypt were taken from 
 France, the first consul still wished to do some- 
 thing for her colonial interests. He looked over 
 the map of the world, and saw a magnificent pro- 
 vince, placed between Mexico and the United 
 States, formerly possessed by France, but ceded 
 in a time of abasement by Louis XV. to Charles 
 III., always threatened by the English and 
 Americans as long as it remained in the impotent 
 hands of the Spaniards, to whom it was of little 
 value, though possessing half of the American 
 
 continent. Of great value to the French, who had 
 no possession in that part of America, and capable 
 of being rendered productive, when their active 
 labour could be concentrated there, he wished to 
 possess the territory, which was that of Louisiana. 
 If Egypt, being lost, could no more be a substitute 
 for St. Domingo, the first consul hoped to find 
 what he desired in Louisiana. 
 
 He, therefore, demanded it formally of Spain, 
 as the price of the Italian acquisition ; he also 
 asked in addition that part of the Spanish fleet 
 which was blockaded in Brest. In regard to 
 Portugal, he wished to profit by the geographical 
 position of Spain as it affected her, and also to 
 turn to advantage the relationship of the two 
 houses reigning in the peninsula, in order to detach 
 that country from English alliance. The prince of 
 Brazil, who governed Portugal, was, in fact, the 
 son-in-law of the king and queen of Spain. They 
 therefore possessed at Madrid, besides the in- 
 fluence exercised by the vicinity, that of the 
 family, and it was a fit time to employ those 
 double means for expelling the English from that 
 part of the continent. The English once excluded 
 from Portugal, when the courts of Prussia, Den- 
 mark, Russia, and Sweden were about to be closed 
 against them, when Naples, forced into submission 
 to the will of France, received orders to exclude 
 them from her ports, would thus, in a little time, 
 be altogether shut out of the entire continent. 
 
 Such were the proposals which Berthier had 
 orders to carry to Madrid. He was perfectly well 
 received there by the king, the queen, the prince 
 of the peace, and by all the Spanish grandees, who 
 were curious to see the man whose name always 
 figured by the side of that of Bonaparte in the 
 details of the wars of the time. The conditions of 
 the bargain thus tendered by France appeared 
 hard, and yet no serious resistance could be 
 offered to them. The minister Urquijo alone, 
 having fears what effect the cession might produce 
 upon the Spanish people, showed somewhat more 
 opposition than the court. Reasons, deemed in- 
 contestably sound, were brought forward to make 
 him quiet. He was informed that it would take 
 a large territory on the uninhabited borders of the 
 Mississippi, to balance, as an equivalent, a small 
 possession in Italy. That the Spaniards stood in 
 need, in the gulf of Mexico, of such allies as the 
 French, against the English and Americans; that 
 if Louisiana was of value to France, deprived of 
 her colonial possessions, it was of very small value 
 to Spain, that was already so rich in the new 
 world, that an accession of influence in Italy would 
 be of more consequence to her than a territory so 
 far off, placed in a region where she had already 
 more than she was able to defend; finally, that it 
 was an old French possession, torn away through 
 the feebleness of Louis XV., and that Charles 111. 
 himself, with a true spirit of integrity, as was well 
 known to the world, had at one time refused it, 
 so convinced was he that it was not his due. These 
 reasons were excellent, and Spain certainly, in 
 this instance, was asked to give no more than she 
 received. But that which decided M. Urquijo 
 more than all the better arguments in behalf of 
 the measure, was the fear of offending France, 
 and of opposing a combination to which his court 
 clung fast with a kind of passion.
 
 1800. 
 Aug. 
 
 A treaty signed. — Spain urged 
 to break lier alliance with 
 Portugal. The American 
 
 THE ARMISTICE. 
 
 envoys arrive at Paris. — 
 Reconciliation with the 
 United States. 
 
 149 
 
 A treaty was eventually agreed upon, in which 
 the first consul promised to procure for the duke 
 of Parma ao augmentation of his dominions in 
 Italy to the extent of one million two hundred 
 thousand souls, or thereabouts, to assure to him 
 the title of king, and the acknowledgment of the 
 new title by all the sovereigns of Europe at the 
 period of a general peace. In return, Spain, as 
 soon as a part of these conditions was fulfilled, was 
 to cede back to France Louisiana, with the same 
 extent of territory as that province possessed when 
 it was ceded by Louis XV. to Charles III., and to 
 give besides six sail of the line full-rigged, armed, 
 and ready to receive their crews. This treaty, 
 signed by Berthier, filled the queen with delight, 
 and elevated the infatuation of the court of Spain 
 for the first consul to the highest degree. 
 
 The last condition, which had, fur its object, to 
 force Portugal to break her alliance with England, 
 was easy to be performed ; for it was as much in 
 accordance with the interests of Spain as it was 
 with those of France. Spain, in fact, was as much 
 interested as France, that England should be ex- 
 cluded from the continent, and her power reduced. 
 In this the first consul did nothing more than 
 awaken her from her unpardonable apathy, and 
 force her to make use of an influence which it was 
 her duty long ago to have employed. He went 
 still further in the matter ; he proposed to 
 Charles IV., that if the court of Lisbon did not 
 immediately obey the injunction given to it, a 
 Spanish army should pass the frontier of Portugal, 
 and keep one or two of the Portuguese provinces 
 as pledges, in order to oblige England afterwards 
 to restore the Spanish colonies which she had cap- 
 tured, and to save the dominions of her ally. If 
 Charles IV. did not feel himself' Btrong enough to 
 undertake such an enterprise, he offered to second 
 the object with a French division. The good king 
 did not desire so much as was thus offered. The 
 prince of Brazil was his own son-in-law ; he had no 
 wish to take his provinces from him, though they 
 were to be pledges tor the restitution of Spanish 
 provinces. But he addressed to him most urgent 
 exhortations, and even menaced him with war, if 
 his advice was not regarded. The court of Lisbon 
 promised to send an envoy immediately to confer at 
 Madrid with the French ambassador. 
 
 Berthier returned to Paris from Spain, loaded 
 with the favours of the court, and gave the first 
 consul the assurance, that he had at the court of 
 Madrid persons wholly devoted to him. The fine 
 - given him by Charles IV. arrived about 
 tie- .same- time, and were presented to the first 
 consul in the Place Carrousel, at one of thuse grand 
 i as where be was always pleased to exhibit 
 
 to the Parisians and to strangers the soldiers that 
 
 had conqnen d Europe. An immense crowd of 
 
 • ns came to see thoM beautiful animals ; the 
 grooms were BO splendidly attired, that they re- 
 called the tiiie ' i i, Id monarchical pomp, and 
 
 Droved the consideration in which the new chief of 
 the French republic was held by the oldest courts 
 of Europe. 
 At this moment three negotiators from the 
 
 United States of Ami ilea to France arrived in 
 Paris, Mr. Oliver Ihlsworth, Mr. Richardson 
 Davie, and Mr. Van Murray. That republic, 
 governed by interest much more than by gratitude. 
 
 ruled above all by the policy of the federal party, 
 had approximated nearer to Great Britain during 
 the late war, and had been wanting, not only to 
 France, but to itself, in deserting the principles of 
 the maritime neutrality. In spite of the alliance 
 of 1/78, to which the states owed their existence, 
 a treaty which obliged them not to concede to 
 others the commercial advantages which were not 
 also conceded to the French, they had granted to 
 Great Britain peculiar and exclusive privileges. 
 Abandoning the principle that " the flag covers the 
 merchandise," they had admitted that an enemy's 
 property might be searched for in a neutral vessel, 
 and seized, if its origin were ascertained. This 
 conduct was as dishonourable as it was impolitic. 
 The directory, naturally exasperated, had recourse 
 to a system of reprisals, by declaring that France 
 would treat neutrals as they were suffered to be 
 treated by England. From one harshness to an- 
 other, a state of things existed between France 
 and America very little different from that of open 
 war, without active hostilities. 
 
 It was this state of things to which the first 
 consul wished to put an end. It has been seen 
 what honours were given to the memory of Wash- 
 ington, with the double object of producing an 
 effect at home and abroad. Bonaparte now ap- 
 pointed three individuals to negotiate with the 
 Americans — Joseph, his brother, and the two 
 counsellors of state, Fleurieu and Rcederer ; they 
 were to urge on the conclusion of the negotiation, 
 for the purpose of soon giving a new adversary to 
 England, and placing a new power on the list of 
 those that had bound themselves to observe strictly 
 the true principles of maritime neutrality. The 
 first obstacle to a reconcilement was the article by 
 which America had promised France the partici- 
 pation in commercial advantages accorded by the 
 states to every nation. This obligation to give 
 nothing to others which others would not give to 
 lis, caused the Americans very great embarrass- 
 ment. Their negotiators did not exhibit the least 
 disposition to give way upon this point; but they 
 showed themselves ready to acknowledge and de- 
 fend the rights of neutrals, and to re-establish, in 
 their stipulations with France, the principles which 
 they had abandoned in treating with England, 
 The first consul, who was much more anxious to 
 hold fast tin; principle' of an armed neutrality than 
 
 the commercial advantages of the treaty of 1778, 
 become illusory in practice, enjoined his In-other to 
 pass that over, and to conclude an arrangement 
 with the American envoys, if It wen- possible to 
 obtain from them a perfect recognition of the prin- 
 ciples "I the rights of nations, which it was of the 
 utmost importance to enforce. This difficulty re- 
 moved, the rest, DUght soon lie arranged, and at 
 
 tin- moment a treaty of reconcilement was pre- 
 paring with America. 
 
 Another reconciliation, niueh more important, 
 
 that between France ami the Holy See, began now 
 to produce its effect. Tin- new pope, elected in 
 tie- vague hope of an acoommodation with France, 
 
 had seen tin, hope realized, to which he owed his 
 
 elevation. Bonaparte, as we have said, returning 
 
 from MarengO, bad sent some overtures to Fins VII. 
 by cardinal Martiniana, bishop of Vcro-lli, as- 
 suring bfan that he had no intention of W < lablish- 
 
 ing the Roman Parthenopean republics, the works 

 
 Negotiations with the Holy government -Anger of the .g.. 
 
 150 See.— The acts of St. Julien THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, first consul.- Meeting of A ' 
 disavowed by the Austrian 
 
 the council of state. 
 
 of the directory. He had certainly enough in 
 Italy to constitute, direct, and defend against the 
 policy and interests of all Europe the Cisalpine 
 republic. Bonaparte had, in turn, demanded that 
 the new pontiff should use his spiritual influence in 
 France to aid in the establishment of concord and 
 peace. The pope received with pleasure count 
 Alciati, the nephew of cardinal Martiniana, charged 
 to curry the overtures of the first consul ; he sent 
 him back instantly to Vercelli to declare, in his 
 name, that, disposed to second the intentions of the 
 first consul relative to an object so important and 
 so dear to the church, he wished, in the first 
 place, to become acquainted in a more precise 
 manner with the views of the French cabinet. 
 The cardinal wrote in consequence from Vercelli 
 to Paris, to make known the disposition and wish 
 of the new pope. The first consul, in reply, asked 
 for a negotiator with whom he would be able to 
 explain himself directly, and the pope designated 
 immediately monsignor Spina, bishop of Corinth, 
 nuncio of the Holy See at Florence. This nego- 
 tiator, after having repaired first to Vercelli, re- 
 solved to set out for Paris at the pressing instance 
 of the first consul, who, by bringing this nego- 
 tiation under his own superintendence, thought to 
 make more sure of success. Upon the side of the 
 first consul, it was a delicate matter to bring to 
 Paris a representative of the Holy See, above all in 
 the existing state of the public mind, which was 
 hardly yet prepared for such a spectacle. It was 
 agreed that monsignor Spina should not have any 
 official titic, and that he should style himself bishop 
 of Corinth, ordered to treat with the French go- 
 vernment npon the affairs of the Roman cabinet. 
 
 While these negotiations, so ably and actively 
 conducted with all the powers, were in progress, 
 M. St. Julien, who had signed the preliminaries of 
 peace, and wafl the bearer of them, proceeded with 
 Duroc to Vienna. Sensible of the imprudence of 
 his conduct, he had not dissimulated with Talley- 
 rand, that he was not sure whether he should be 
 able to take Duroc as far as Vienna. The illusion 
 of Talleyrand had not permitted him to believe in 
 the existence of such a difficulty; and it was agri ed 
 that M. St. Julien and Duroc should pass the head- 
 quarters <>l general Kray, then established near 
 the Inn, at Alt-CEttingen, in order to obtain from 
 that general a passport that should permit Duroc 
 to pass into Austria. They arrived at the head- 
 quarters of Kray on the 4th of August, 1800, or 16th 
 Thermidor, year VIII. ; but Duroc was detained, 
 not being Buffered to pass the limits fixed by the 
 armistice. This was a first, and by no means a 
 favourable si^u of the reception destined for the 
 preliminaries. M. St. Julien then proceeded to 
 Vienna all , saving to Duroc that he would de- 
 mand passports for him there, and send them to 
 the head-quarters, if he obtained them. M. St. 
 Julien then went to the emperor, and delivered to 
 him the articles which he had signed at Paris, 
 under conditions of secresy. The emperor was 
 much surprised and dissatisfied at the singular 
 latitude which M. St. Julien had given to his in- 
 structions. It was not precisely the conditions 
 contained in the preliminary articles which dis- 
 pleased him, l.ut the fear of compromising himself 
 with England, that had aided him with money, and 
 was exceedingly suspicious. He was willing to 
 
 make known a part of his own intentions, in order 
 to become acquainted with those of the first consul ; 
 but he would on no account have a signature affixed 
 to any document whatever, because it implied an 
 open negotiation concluded without consulting the 
 British cabinet. Then, in spite of the danger of 
 provoking a storm on the side of France, the im- 
 perial cabinet took the step of disavowing M. St. 
 Julien. That officer was very ill treated in public, 
 and sent into a species of exile, in one of the re- 
 mote provinces of the empire. The preliminaries 
 were considered as void, having been signed, though 
 provisionally, by an agent without powers or cha- 
 racter. Duroc received no passports ; and having 
 waited until the 13th of August, or 25th Ther- 
 midor, he was obliged to return to Paris. 
 
 All these things, independently of causing a delay 
 in the conclusion of a peace, were very disagreeable 
 to the first consul ; and Austria had reason to 
 dread the effect of such a communication upon his 
 irritable character. It was very probable that he 
 would quit Paris immediately, put himself at the 
 head of the armies of the republic, and inarch 
 upon Vienna. The court of Austria resolved, 
 therefore, in disavowing the preliminaries, not to 
 make that a cause of rupture. Lord Minto, the 
 representative of England at the court of the 
 emperor, consented that Austria should negotiate, 
 but only on condition that England should be in- 
 cluded in the negotiation. It was arranged with 
 him to propose diplomatic conferences, in which 
 England and Austria should take an equal part. 
 In consequence, M. Thugut wrote to Talleyrand, 
 under date of the 11th of August, or 23rd Ther- 
 midor, that, while disavowing the imprudent con- 
 duct of M. Julien, the emperor had not a feeling 
 less warm for peace ; that he proposed the imme- 
 diate opening of a congress in France itself, at 
 Sehelestadt or Luneville, whichever was deemed 
 preferable ; that Great Britain was ready to send 
 a plenipotentiary ; and that if the first consul 
 agreed, a general peace might soon be given to the 
 world. This offer was accompanied with expres- 
 sions the best calculated to soothe the impetuous 
 character of the man who at that time was ruler of 
 France. 
 
 When the first consul received the intelligence 
 of what had occurred, he was exceedingly angry. 
 He was first offended at the disavowal of an officer 
 who had treated with him, and next mortified that 
 peace was still distant. He perceived, more particu- 
 larly, in the presence of England in the midst of the 
 negotiation, the cause of interminable delays, because 
 a maritime peace was much more difficult to con- 
 elude than one that was only continental. On the 
 moment, and under the influence of a first impres- 
 sion, he was about raising an outcry, and recom- 
 mencing hostilities at once, denouncing the bad 
 faith of Austria. Talleyrand, knowing well that he 
 had done wrong in negotiating with a plenipoten- 
 tiary who had no powers, endeavoured to calm the 
 first consul. The whole matter was submitted to 
 the council of state. That great body, which is 
 now nothing more than an administrative tribunal, 
 was then a real council of government. The min- 
 ister addressed to it a detailed report. 
 
 " The first consul," said the report, "has judged 
 it proper to convoke an extraordinary meeting of 
 the council of state, and, confiding in its discretion,
 
 1800. 
 Aug. 
 
 Results of the meeting. — Attempts 
 to negotiate in London through 
 M. Otto. 
 
 THE ARMISTICE. 
 
 Requisites for a treaty between 
 France and England. 
 
 151 
 
 as in its wisdom, has charged me to make known 
 to it the more minute details of the negotiation 
 which has been carried on with the court of Vien- 
 na." After having laid open the negotiations, as 
 might have been clone before a council of minis- 
 ters, Talleyrand acknowledged that the Austrian 
 plenipotentiary had no powers, and that in nego- 
 tiating with him, the chance of a disavowal ought 
 to have been seen; that, in consequence, it was im- 
 possible to make a laboured controversy 1 about the 
 matter; and that, therefore, a violent outcry should 
 be avoided. But recalling the example of the 
 negotiations for the peace of Westphalia, which 
 had gone before the signature of the treaty of 
 Monster a good while, during which the parties 
 continued to fight and to negotiate, he proposed 
 that the opening of the congress should be assented 
 to. ami, at the same time, that hostilities should be 
 recommenced. 
 
 This was, in fact, the wisest course that could be 
 taken. It was necessary to treat, since the opponent 
 powers, in addressing themselves to France, had 
 made the offer; but it was equally right to profit 
 by the state of the French armies, which were 
 ready to take the field anew, and by that of the 
 Austrian armies, which had not yet recovered from 
 their defeats, in order that Austria might be forced 
 to negotiate seriously, and separate herself from 
 England. 
 
 It was possible to take one step besides, which 
 might have its advantages, and that the first con- 
 sul seized upon with his customary sagacity. Eng- 
 land proposed a common negotiation. By admit- 
 ting that power into the congress, there was the 
 danger of introducing a contracting party that was 
 in very little hurry to conclude; and more than that, 
 the danger of complicating the continental peace, 
 with all the difficulties of one that was maritime. 
 Tin; time consumed in these negotiations, insin- 
 eer i or difficult as they might be rendered, would 
 permit the fine season for fighting to pass 
 away, and would give to the Austrian armies the 
 rest of which they had so great a need. These 
 were great inconveniences ; but it WAS possible to 
 find a compensation to balance them. England, c:: 
 demand, might be admitted to the negotiation, but 
 on one condition, namely, that she should conclude 
 a naval armistice. If England consented to such a 
 thing, the benefit of a naval armistice would far 
 surpass the inconveniences of the continental one ; 
 because the French fleets, at liberty, would be able 
 : • provision Malta, and to take soldiers and wnti- 
 i the army in Egypt. For a like advantage the 
 first consul would most willingly have exposed him- 
 self to the chances of an extra campaign upon the 
 aontinenti A maritime armistice was undoubtedly 
 Something new, altogether unusual in the law of 
 nations: yet, it, mm inn just that tie- Anglo-Aus- 
 trian alliance should in some mode indemnify 
 France for the sacrifice she would make in suspend- 
 ing the march of her armies upon Vienna. 
 
 There was resident in Loudon, on the French 
 
 side, an able, clever, and shrewd negotiator, M. Otto, 
 who was kept there far the porpose of treating on 
 
 matters relating to prisoiiers-ol-war. lie had been 
 selected by the French cabinet on purpose to make 
 use of him on the first occasion that overtures of 
 
 1 Polemiquc d'appar it. 
 
 peace might occur on the side of France, or over- 
 tures be made by England. He was especially 
 charged to address himself to the British cabinet, 
 and at once make the proposal of a naval armi- 
 stice. In this mode of proceeding the first consul 
 saw the advantage of moving with more rapidity, 
 and of treating directly respecting such affairs, 
 which he always preferred to employing interme- 
 diate agents. On the 24th of August, or 6th Fruc- 
 tidor, in the year vin., instructions, in agreement 
 with this new plan of negotiation, were transmitted 
 to M. Otto. Upon the same day the communica- 
 tions from Vienna wei-c answered in a very severe 
 tone. In the French communications, the refusal 
 to admit the preliminaries was attributed to the 
 treaty for a subsidy, signed on the 2Cih of June 
 preceding. The French government deplored the 
 state of dependence in which the emperor was 
 placed in regard to England. A congress at Lune- 
 ville was assented to ; but it was added that, while 
 the negotiations proceeded, the war must be con- 
 tinned : because, in proposing a joint negotiation, 
 Austria had not taken care to provide, as a natural 
 consequence, a suspension of arms by land and sea. 
 This was said for the object of engaging the Aus- 
 trian diplomatists to interfere themselves in Lon- 
 don, in order to obtain a naval armistice. 
 
 Communications were established in London, 
 between M. Otto and Captain George, the head of 
 the transport-board. They lasted during the whole 
 of the month of September. M. Otto proposed, on 
 the side of France, that hostilities should be sus- 
 pended by sea and land ; that all vessels, both of 
 trade and war, belonging to the belligerent na- 
 tions, should navigate freely ; that the ports be- 
 longing to France, or occupied by her armies, such 
 as Malta and Alexandria, should be assimilated to 
 the fortresses of Ulm, Philipsburg, and Ingoldstadt, 
 in Germany, which, though blockaded by the French 
 armies, were nevertheless, to be victualled and sup- 
 plied. M. Otto freely admitted that France would 
 derive great benefit from such an arrangement ; 
 but he stated that her advantages ought to be 
 great to compensate for the concessions which she 
 rnuGO roake, in letting the summer pass away with- 
 out completing the destruction of the Austrian 
 armies. 
 
 The sacrifice thus demanded of England was one 
 which nothing was capable of snatching from her 
 hands. It was, in fact, giving permission to re* 
 victual Malta and Egypt, and perhaps give over 
 those two possessions to France for ever ; it was 
 to permit the combined French and Spanish fiesta 
 to leave Brest and sail up the Mediterranean) 
 taking possession of a place which would render 
 it anew master of the sea for a longer or shorter 
 time. England could not assent to such a pro* 
 posal, though the danger threatening Austria 
 touched her very nearly ; she had a great interest 
 in preventing! Austria from being crushed; because 
 if Austria fell, Bonaparte, having all his resources 
 at liberty, might be able to make some formidable 
 attempt upon the British isles. In consequence, 
 she behoved it was needful to make some sacrifices 
 for an interest of this nature; and while crying 
 mi! against the novelty of a naval armistice, she 
 presented a counter-project, dated the 7th of Scp- 
 
 tember, 1800, or 20tb of Fructidor, year rm. To 
 commence, she agreed to Luneville as the place
 
 Demands of the English go- 
 152 vernment. — Final proposi- 
 tions of the first consul. 
 
 Military proceedings. — Con- 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. dition of the armies of the 
 
 Rhine and Italy. 
 
 1800. 
 
 Sept. 
 
 for the meeting of the congress, and appointed 
 Mr. Thomas Grenville, the brother of the minister 
 for foreign affairs, to treat of a general pacification. 
 England then proposed the following system in 
 respect to the naval armistice. All hostilities 
 shall be suspended by land and sea ; the suspen- 
 sion of arms shall be not only common to the three 
 belligerent parties, Austria, England, and France, 
 but also to their allies. This arrangement had for 
 its object to deliver Portugal from the threatening 
 attitude of Spain. The maritime places which are 
 blockaded, such as Malta and Alexandria, shall 
 be assimilated to those in Germany, and be pro- 
 visioned every fifteen days, in proportion to the 
 consumption of the provisions, which has taken 
 place in the same interval of time already elapsed. 
 The ships of the line in Brest and the other ports 
 were not to be at liberty to change their stations 
 during the armistice. 
 
 This counter-project on the part of England was 
 rather an evidence of good will towards Austria, 
 than an effective concession on the important point 
 of the negotiation. Malta might no doubt gain 
 something by being provisioned for a short time ; 
 but Egypt had no need of provisions. Soldiers, 
 muskets, and cannon were wanted there; not corn, 
 with which she could supply the whole world. 
 
 Still France, yielding in some things, might find 
 in the naval armistice advantages sufficiently great 
 to admit of its execution with certain modifications. 
 
 On the 21st of September, being the 4th com- 
 plementary day of the year mi., the first consul 
 made a last proposition. He consented that the 
 vessels of the line should not change their stations, 
 which condemned the combined squadrons of 
 France and Spain to remain blocked up in Brest 
 harbour; he demanded that Malta should be re- 
 victualled every fifteen days, at the rate of ten 
 thousand rations a-day ; he consented that Egypt 
 should remain blockaded, but required that six 
 frigates should pass free to Egypt from Toulon, 
 to go and return from Alexandria without being 
 visited. 
 
 His intention was here very clear; and he was 
 right not to disguise an interest which all the 
 world must discover at first sight. He intended 
 to arm three frigates en Jlute, to load them with 
 men and munitions of war, and to send them to 
 Egypt. He hoped they might have been able to 
 carry six thousand men, a great quantity of mus- 
 kets, swords, bombs, shells, and similar articles. 
 He therefore sacrificed every thing to obtain his 
 essential object, the victualling of Malta and the 
 recruiting of the army in Egypt. 
 
 But the difficulty, whatever efforts might have 
 been made on either side to remove it, continued 
 the same. The object was to preserve Malta and 
 Egypt to France; to her interest in these England 
 would not give way. There was no means of 
 coming to an understanding upon the matter, and 
 the negotiation was abandoned, on the refusal in 
 London to allow the last plan for a naval armistice. 
 
 Before entirely breaking off the negotiation, the 
 first consul, in the way of courtesy, made a last 
 proposition to England. He offered to renounce 
 the naval armistice, and to treat with her in a 
 separate negotiation from that about to commence 
 with Austria. 
 
 It was now September, 1800; several months 
 
 had been passed in vain negotiations, since the 
 victories of Marengo and of Hochstedt, and the 
 first consul would lose no more time without action. 
 
 Austria, when threatened, replied that she could 
 not force England to sign a naval armistice; that 
 she offered for herself to negotiate immediately ; 
 that she had appointed M. Lehrbach to go to 
 Luneville, and that he was about to proceed there 
 immediately ; that Mr. Thomas Grenville was only 
 waiting for his passports ; that they could thus 
 negotiate without any waste of time; but that it 
 was not necessary to renew hostilities during 
 negotiations, and shed more torrents of human 
 blood. The first consul, who knew well the secret 
 intention of dragging on the affair until winter 
 should arrive, determined at last upon the renewal 
 of hostilities, and gave orders in consequence. He 
 had perfectly well employed the two months that 
 were gone, and had put a finishing hand to the 
 organization of the armies. His new dispositions 
 thus made were as follow : — 
 
 Moreau, as already has been said, had been 
 obliged to send general St. Suzanne on the Rhine, 
 with some detachments, for the purpose of uniting 
 the garrisons of Mayence and Strasburg, and 
 making head against the peasant levies made by 
 the baron Albini in the centre of Germany. This 
 was a weakening of Moreau's force, and still an 
 insufficient means of covering his rear. The first 
 consul, in order to prevent any damage in that 
 quarter, hastened to complete the Batavian army, 
 placed under the orders of Augereau. He formed 
 it of eight thousand Dutch and twelve thousand 
 French, both one and the other taken from the 
 troops that guarded Holland and the departments of 
 the north. The battalions most worn out or fatigued 
 by the preceding campaigns, restored by rest and 
 completed with recruits, were now excellent corps. 
 Augereau marched to Frankfort, and there by his 
 presence restrained the Mayence levies of the 
 baron Albini and the Austrian detachments left 
 in the neighbourhood. This precaution taken, the 
 corps of St. Suzanne, re-organized and very nearly 
 eighteen thousand strong, had again marched to 
 the Danube, and formed once more the left wing 
 of Moreau's army. His return raised the active 
 army of Moreau to very nearly one hundred 
 thousand men. 
 
 When the army of reserve had thrown itself 
 into Italy, it had left in the rear a part of the 
 corps designed to complete it; but for its complete 
 formation there had not been time to wait. In 
 place of an effective force of sixty thousand men, 
 as was originally designed, it had only amounted 
 to forty and a few thousand men. The first consul 
 formed these into a second army of reserve, about 
 fifteen thousand strong, and placed it in the Gri- 
 sons, in face of the Tyrol, which thus allowed 
 Moreau to draw closer to him his right wing, com- 
 manded, as is well-known, by Lecourbe, and to 
 unite at hand the entire mass of his forces, if it 
 was required to force the barrier of the Inn. 
 
 On its own side the army of Italy, established on 
 the banks of the Mincio by the convention of 
 Alexandria, delivered from all care about the 
 Tyrol and Switzerland by Macdonald, had been 
 enabled to bring its wings nearer to its centre, and 
 to concentrate in such a manner as to be fit for 
 immediate action. Composed of troops that had
 
 1S00. 
 Sept. 
 
 Massena removed from the LigU- 
 rian army. — Brune appointed 
 to his command. 
 
 THE ARMISTICE. 
 
 Activity of (he emperor of 
 Austria. — Changes in his 
 army. 
 
 153 
 
 passed the St. Bernard, and those which had heea 
 drawn from the German army by the St. Gothard, 
 lastly, of the troops of Liguria, which had defended 
 Genoa ami the Var, recruited, rested, and re- 
 freshed, it presented a total mass of about one 
 hundred and twenty thousand men, of which num- 
 ber eighty thousand wore united on the Mineio. 
 Maasena was ;u first the general-in-chief, and the 
 only one capable of commanding it well. Unhappily 
 disseusions arose between the commissariat of the 
 army and the Italian governments. The army, 
 although transported into the midst of fertile Italy, 
 and in possession of the rich magazines left by the 
 Austrians, had still not enjoyed all the good things 
 to which it had a right. It was alleged that the 
 officers of the commissariat had sold a part of these 
 magazines. The governments of Piedmont and of 
 the Cisalpine complained that they were crushed 
 under war contributions, and refused to pay them. 
 Iu the midst of this confused state of affairs, very 
 heavy charges were made against the French ad- 
 ministrators, and they reached even to Maasena 
 himself. The clamour soon became so loud, that 
 the first consul found himself obliged to recal Mas- 
 se'na, and replace him by general Brune. Brune, 
 with much courage and mind, was in reality but an 
 indifferent general, and in politics still less able. 
 He was one of the most zealous chiefs of the dem- 
 agogue party, which did not prevent his being 
 strongly attached to the first consul, who was 
 much pleased at knowing it to be the case. Not 
 having been able to give him an active command 
 during the spring, the first consul gave him one 
 during the autumn. The victory in Holland strongly- 
 recommended him in public opinion ; but the recal 
 of Masse'na was a misfortune for the army and for 
 the first consul himself. Massena got soured, and 
 was on the point of becoming, despite himself, a 
 subject of hope for a crowd of intriguers, who at 
 that particular moment happened to be busy. The 
 first consul was not ignorant of this, but he would 
 not permit irregularities any where, and he was 
 not to be blamed. 
 
 To the four armies above-mentioned, the first 
 / consul joined a fifth, consisting of troops assembled 
 around Amiens. He detached from demi-brigades 
 remaining in the interior, the skeletons of various 
 companies of grenadiers ; he had them filled up 
 with fine men, and formed a superb corps of nine 
 or ten thousand choice soldiers, who were designed 
 to do duty on the coasts, if the English should 
 effect a disembarkation on any part, or they were 
 to pass into Italy, to fill the place occupied by 
 Augereau in Germany — that of covering the wings 
 and rear of the principal army. Marat was nomi- 
 nated to the chief command. 
 
 All this was done, as far as the recruiting was 
 Concerned, by means of the levy ordered by the 
 
 legislative body, and, in regard to the expenses, 
 
 by means of the linaneial resources recently created. 
 Nothing was now wanting to the three different 
 corps; they were will-fed, well-armed, and their 
 horses and materiel were complete. 
 
 It may be supposed that the first consul was im- 
 patient to make use of these means to forcea peace 
 
 from Austria before the winter came on. Ho 
 ordered Moreau and I '.ruin- iu consequence to re- 
 pair to their respective head-quarters, and to pre- 
 pare to recommence hostilities. He enjoined upon 
 
 Moreau to give the Austrian general proper notice, 
 under the time stipulated in the armistice, and not 
 to permit him to prolong the suspension of arms 
 but on one sole condition, that the emperor should 
 give up to the French army the three places actually 
 blockaded, Philipsburg, Ulm, and Ingoldstadt. 
 On this condition five or six weeks' respite longer 
 might be given. These places were worthy of the 
 sacrifice. By occupying them, an excellent base 
 for operations on the Danube would be obtained. 
 The French would be strengthened by the corps 
 thus employed in the blockade ; they would thus 
 have time to push a wing of the army of Italy 
 upon Tuscany and the kingdom of Naples, coun- 
 tries in which the levies en masse were continued at 
 the instigation of Austria with English money. 
 Such were the orders sent to the head-quarters of 
 Moreau. 
 
 On his side the emperor of Germany, profiting 
 by the time gained, employed with the greatest 
 activity the subsidy furnished him by England. He 
 urged forward the new levies ordered in Bohemia, 
 Moravia, Hungary, Styria, and Carinthia. The 
 English minister, Wickham, established offices of 
 a peculiar sort in various German towns, in order 
 to purchase the services of soldiers to go and fight 
 for the coalition. By means of a new subsidy, the 
 Bavarian and Wurtemberg corps were considerably 
 augmented. Independently of the sums given to Aus- 
 tria, the recruiting agents had taken into the direct 
 pay of the English government two regiments com- 
 posed of boatmen raised from the rivers of Ger- 
 many, and designed to facilitate the passage over 
 them. Ten thousand peasants were hired to exe- 
 cute, under the direction of engineers, formidable 
 entrenchments along the line of the Inn, from the 
 Tyrol to the union of that stream with the Danube. 
 Every thing was in movement from Vienna to 
 Munich. The staff of the Austrian army had been 
 entirely changed. Kray, despite his experience 
 and his activity on the field of battle, had partaken 
 in the disgrace of Me'las. The archduke Ferdinand 
 himself, who served under his orders, had been 
 removed. The archduke John, a young prince, 
 brave and well-educated, but wholly without expe- 
 rience in war, his head lull of theories, his imagina- 
 tion smitten with the manoeuvres of Bonaparte, 
 and wishing at any cost to imitate them, was called 
 to the chief command of the imperial forces. This 
 was one of those novelties which people willingly 
 attempt in desperate circumstances. The emperor 
 himself repaired to the army, tore-animate it by his 
 presence, and by passing it in review. 
 
 He spent several days with the troops, accompa- 
 nied by M. Lehrbach, the negotiator appointed to 
 attend the congress at Luneviile, and by the young 
 archduke John. After having seen and cxaniiu. d 
 every thing in company with his counsellors, he 
 discovered that nothing was ready; that the army 
 was not yet sufficiently established, either in point 
 of confidence or materiel, to commence immediate 
 hostilities. M. Lehrbach was then charged to pro- 
 ceed to the head-quarters of Moreau, to learn 
 whether he was able to obtain again a prolongation 
 of the armistice, for a few days, from the French 
 
 government. Moreau informed M. Lehrbach what 
 
 the conditions were upon which the first consul 
 would agree to a new suspension of arms. The 
 emperor consented regretfully to these conditions j
 
 Ulm. Philipsburg, and In- 
 154 goldstadt, surrendered to THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 the French. — Thugut dis- 
 
 missed. — Festival of Sep- 
 tember 22. — Obsequies 
 of Turenne. 
 
 1800. 
 Sept. 
 
 and on the 20th of September, or third comple- 
 mentary day of the year vin., a new prolongation 
 of the armistice was concluded between M. Lehr- 
 bach and general Lahorie, in the village of Hohen- 
 linden, destined soon to become so celebrated. 
 The fortresses of Philipsburg, Ulm, and Ingold- 
 stadt, were to be delivered up to the French army, 
 to be disposed of as it might see fit. In return, 
 the armistice was prolonged for forty-five days 
 from the 21st of September, comprising fifteen 
 days' notice of the resumption of hostilities, if 
 afterwards they were to recommence. 
 
 The emperor returned to Vienna very ill-satisfied 
 with the visit he had made to his army, since that 
 event had been attended with no other results 
 than to give up to the French army the three 
 strongest places in his dominions. He was 
 deeply mortified. His people partook in his feel- 
 ings, and accused M. Tliugut of being entirely 
 in the interest of England. Queen Caroline of 
 Naples had just arrived with lord Nelson and lady 
 Hamilton, to support the war party in Vienna. 
 But the public clamour was great. M. Thugut 
 was charged with serious errors, such as his re- 
 fusal, at the beginning of the winter, to listen to the 
 pacific propositions of the first consul ; the bad 
 direction of ihe military operations ; his obstinacy 
 in not admitting the army of reserve, even when 
 it was passing the St. Bernard ; the concentration 
 of the principal forces of the empire in Liguria, to 
 please the English, who flattered themselves that 
 they should get possession of Toulon ; and lastly, 
 the engagement entered into with the English 
 government not to treat without it — an engagement 
 Bigned on the 20th of Juno, when he ought, on the 
 other hand, to have preserved his freedom of 
 action. These reproaches were in a great degree 
 well-founded. But well-founded or not, they were 
 sanctioned by events ; for nothing had succeeded 
 under the auspices of M. Thugut, and people only 
 jud^e according to results. M. Tliugut was then 
 obliged to bend to circumstances, and to retire, but 
 still retaining a great influence over the Austrian 
 cabinet. M. Lehrbach was appointed to succeed 
 him in the foreign office; and to succeed M. 
 Lehrbach at the congress of Luneville, a well- 
 known negotiator, M. Louis Cobentzel, was up- 
 pointed, who was well-known personally to Bona- 
 parte, and was particularly agreeable to him, having 
 negotiated together the treaty of Campo Formio. 
 It was hoped that M. Cobentzel would be a person 
 better ad;ipted than any other for establishing a 
 good understanding with the French government ; 
 and that, placed at Luneville, at some distance 
 from Paris, he would sometimes visit that city, in 
 order to have more communication with the first 
 consul. 
 
 The delivery to the French army of the three 
 fortresses of Ulm, Inj;oldstadt, and Philipsburg, 
 happened very seasonably for the celebration of 
 the fete of the 1st Vende'miaire. It revived the 
 hopes of peace, because it displayed very clearly 
 the extreme situation of Austria. The annual fete 
 was founded to celebrate the foundation of the re- 
 public, and was one of the only two which the con- 
 stitution had established. The first consid deter- 
 mined that it should not be less splendidly cele- 
 brated than that of the 14th of July, which had 
 betn so happily increased in attraction by the pre- 
 
 sentation of the colours taken in the preceding cam- 
 paign, to the Invalides; he determined that it should 
 be distinguished by a character as patriotic, but 
 more serious than any of those which were given in 
 the course of the revolution, and, more than all, 
 that it should be freed from that ridicule attached 
 to the imitation, in modern times, of the customs of 
 the ancients. 
 
 It must be confessed that religion leaves a great 
 vacancy in being excluded from the festivals of 
 nations. Public games, theatrical representations, 
 fires that make the night brilliant with illumina- 
 tions, may occupy the popular attention for some 
 time, upon any public occasion of the kind, but 
 cannot fill up the whole day. In past times, na- 
 tions have ever been disposed to celebrate their 
 victories at the foot of the altar, and have made 
 their public ceremonies an act of thankfulness to 
 the divinity. But France had then no altar but 
 that which had been elevated to the goddess of 
 reason during the reign of terror ; those, which 
 the theophilanthropists innocently strewed with 
 flowers, during the licentious reign of the directory, 
 were now covered with ineffaceable ridicule, be- 
 cause, in regard to altars, those only are respect- 
 able which are ancient. The old Catholic altar of 
 France had not then been restored, and nothing 
 remained in consequence but certain ceremonies 
 in some degree academic, under the dome of the 
 Invalides ; elegant orations, such as those made by 
 M. Fontanes, or patriotic music composed by Mehul 
 or Lesueur. The first consul was sensible of this, 
 and endeavoured, therefore, to supply the deficiency 
 in religious feature, by giving the fete something 
 that should possess a deeply moral character. 
 
 The homage paid to Washington, and the pre- 
 sentation of the colours taken at Marengo, had 
 already supplied subjects for the two festivals yet 
 celebrated under his consulship : he contrived for 
 the present to find, in a great act of reparation, 
 the subject for the fete of the 1st of Vende'miaire, 
 year ix., or 23d of September, 1800. 
 
 At the time when the tombs of St. Denis were 
 rifled, the body of Turenne had been found in per- 
 fect preservation. In the midst of the excesses of 
 the people, an involuntary respect had saved these 
 remains from the common desecration. At first 
 deposited in the Jardin des Plantes, they were 
 subsequently committed to the care of M. Alex- 
 ander Lenoir, a man whose pious zeal, worthy of 
 being honoured in history, preserved a multitude 
 of old monuments, which he collected in the mu- 
 seum of the Petits Augustins. There lay the re- 
 mains of Turenne, exposed rather to the curious 
 feelings of visitors, than to their respect. The first 
 consul thought of depositing the remains of this 
 great man under the dome of the Invalides, and the 
 guard of our older soldiers. In honouring an illus- 
 trious general and servant of the old monarchy, ho 
 was bringing into union the glories of Louis XIV. 
 and those of the republic ; it was an act re-esta- 
 blishing the respect for the past without doing 
 outrage to the present time; it was, in a word, the 
 entire political object of the first consul, under a 
 noble and touching aspect. The translation was to 
 take place on the last complementary day of the 
 year vin. or the 22d of September, and on the fol- 
 lowing day, or 1st of Vende'miaire. in the year ix., 
 or 23d of September, the first stone was to be laid
 
 1800. 
 Sept. 
 
 Obsequies of Turenne. 
 — 1'rocession to the 
 Invalides. 
 
 THE ARMISTICE. 
 
 Announcement of the armistice 
 of Hohenlindcii — Rise of the 
 public funds. 
 
 155 
 
 of the monument to Kle'ber and Desaix. Thus, at 
 the moment when the earth, in obedience to the 
 laws which impart motion to it, was completing 
 one great century, and giving birth to another, not 
 less renowned in its turn if it proved in future 
 worthy of its commencement, — at such a moment 
 the first consul determined to pay a double homage 
 to one hero of the past time, and to two of the pre- 
 sent. In order to make the ceremonies the more 
 striking, he imitated, to a certain extent, the same 
 proceedings which had been practised at the fede- 
 ration of 1790, and he requested all the depart- 
 ments to send representatives, who, by their pre- 
 sence, might give a character to the scene not only 
 Parisian, but national. The departments answered 
 readily to the call, and selected dist nguished citi- 
 zens, that curiosity, the desire to see for themselves 
 tranquillity succeed to trouble, prosperity to the 
 miseries of anarchy, the wish, above all, to see and 
 converse with a great man, attracted to Paris in 
 considerable numbers. 
 
 Upon the 5th complementary day of the year Till,, 
 or 22d of September, the public authorities went 
 to the museum of the Petits AugUStins, to fetch the 
 car upon which lay the body of Turenne. On this 
 car, drawn by four while horses, was placed the 
 sword of the hero of the monarchy, preserved in 
 the family of Bouillon, and lent to the government 
 for that striking ceremony. Four old generals, 
 mutilated in the service of the republic, held the 
 tassels of the car, which was preceded by a pie- 
 bald horse, such as that which Turenne rode, 
 harnessed after the fashion of his time, and led by 
 a negro, all an accurate representation of some of 
 the scenes of a day belonging to the times of the 
 hero to whom the homage was paid. Around the 
 car marched the invalids, followed by some of 
 those fine troops which had returned from the 
 banks of the Po and the Danube. This singular 
 and noble procession traversed Paris to the Inva- 
 lides in the midst of an immense assemblage. 
 There the first consul waited its arrival, surround- 
 ed by the envoys from the departments, both those 
 of the old France and those of the new France ; 
 these last representing Belgium, Luxemburg, the 
 Rhenish provinces, Savoy, and the county of Nice. 
 The precious relic which was carried by the* pro- 
 e -.-ion, was placed under the dome. Carnot, the 
 ininister-at-war, delivered a simple and appropriate; 
 ad Irera, and then, while solemn music resounded 
 through the vaulted building, the body of Turenne 
 was deposited in the' monument which it nowoccu- 
 and where it was soon to be rejoined by his 
 companion in glory, the illustrious and virtuous 
 Vauban; where, to >, he was destined to he one day 
 joined by tip- author of the great achievements 
 we are recounting, and where he will most assu- 
 redly rest, surrounded by this august company, 
 throughout the ages which heaven may have re- 
 served lor France. 
 
 If in days like our own, when faith is become 
 cold, any thing can fill iu place, and perhaps 
 equal the purposes of religion, it is such a spectacle; 
 as this. 
 
 On the evening of the same day a gratuitous 
 representation of th.- " Tartulle - ' and of the " Cid " 
 was given to tin: people, with the view of offering 
 them an amusement Less COBTte than had been 
 customary upon such occasions. The first consul 
 
 attended the performance. His presence, his in- 
 tention, instinctively guessed by a sensitive and 
 intelligent people, all concurred to maintain upon 
 the occasion, in a tumultuous assemblage, a thing 
 not usual at gratuitous exhibitions — the most com- 
 plete decorum. The order was interrupted only 
 by cries a thousand times repeated — '' Long live 
 the republic ! — Long live general Bonaparte !" 
 
 On the following day, the first consul, as before, 
 accompanied by the public authorities and envoys 
 from the departments, repaired to the Place des 
 Victoires. There a monument was about to be 
 erected in the Egyptian style, intended to receive 
 the mortal remains of Kle'ber and Desaix, whom 
 the first consul wished to repose side by side. He 
 then went on horseback to the Invalides, where the 
 minister of the interior, his brother Lucien, de- 
 livered a speech on the state of the republic, which 
 made a powerful impression. Some passages were 
 very strongly applauded ; this, among othei's, re- 
 lative to the present age and to that of Louis XI V. 
 " It may be said that at the present moment 
 these two great ajres have met to salute one an- 
 other over that august tomb !" The orator, in 
 delivering these words, mounted upon the tomb of 
 Turenne. Unanimous plaudits responded, showing 
 that every heart, without derogating from the 
 present, was willing to receive from the past what- 
 ever deserved revival. And that the scene might 
 be complete — that the common illusions of human 
 nature might do their part, the orator further ex- 
 claimed — "Happy the generation which sees 
 finished, in a republic, the revolution which it com- 
 menced under a monarchy !" 
 
 During this ceremony the first consul received a 
 despatch by telegraph, announcing the armistice of 
 Hohenlinden and the cession of Philipsburg, Ulm, 
 and Ingoldstadt. He sent a note to his brother 
 Lucien, which was read to all those present, and 
 welcomed with greater applauses than the speech 
 of the minister of the interior. Despite all respect 
 for places, the cries of " Long live Bonaparte ! — 
 Long live the republic !" shook the arches of that 
 noble edifice. The immediate publication of this 
 intelligence produced deeper satisfaction than all 
 the amusements destined to please the multitude. 
 The people were not afraid of war; they had lull 
 confidence in the talents of the first consul, and in 
 the courage of their armies, if it was necessary 
 that war should be continued ; but after so many 
 battles, so many troubles, they wished to enjoy in 
 peace the glory acquired, and the prosperity which 
 was beginning to appear. 
 
 This prosperity was making a rapid progress. I 
 the sole presence of Bonaparte sufficed, on the 1,'fth 
 of Brumaire, to calm, soothe, re-assure, and give 
 back hope, the matter must be changed now when 
 (he BUCcess of the armies, the earnest advances 
 made by Europe towards France, the prospect of 
 an approaching and brilliant peace, — in line, the 
 tranquillity every where established, — had realized 
 the hopes conceived in the first moment of con- 
 fidence. 
 
 These hopes were become nahties. It might bo 
 said, that in tin: tin months past, from November, 
 ll'.i'J, to September, 1800, the asp,,:', of franco 
 bad changed. The public funds, the vulvar but 
 certain expression of tin state of the public mind, 
 had risen from twelve francs on the real price at
 
 Returns of the public contri- Return to cash pay- 
 
 15G bullous. — Success of. the THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. merits. — Financial 
 measure adopted. prosperity. 
 
 1800. 
 Sept. 
 
 which the five per cents, were sold the day before 
 the 18th Brumaire, to forty francs — they promised 
 to reach fifty. 
 
 The stockholders had received half a year's 
 dividend in specie, a thing which had not happened 
 since the commencement of the revolution. This 
 financial phenomenon had produced a great effect, 
 and appeared not to be the least of the victories of 
 the first consul. How had he been able to effect 
 such a success ? It was an enigma which the 
 mass of the people explained by that singular 
 power which he was said already to possess, of 
 doing whatever he pleased. 
 
 But it was not the smallest miracle ; there is no 
 other cause for real successes than good sense 
 seconded by a powerful determination, and such 
 was the sole cause of the happy results obtained 
 under the administration of the first consul. He 
 had, at first, sought to remedy the real evil exist- 
 ing, which arose from the slowness with which the 
 imposts were collected ; he had, with this view, 
 established a special agency for perfecting the lists 
 of assessment, left too complaisantly before to the 
 communes. This special agency, stimulated by 
 the prefects, another creation of the consular go- 
 vernment, had corrected the assessments in arrear 
 for the years vn. and vnr., and had terminated 
 those for the year ix., that which had just begun, 
 or from September, 1800, to September, 1801. 
 Thus, for the first time since the revolution, the 
 lists of the current year were placed in a train for 
 collection from the first day of the year. The re- 
 ceivers-general, having the taxes punctually paid 
 to |them, were enabled to be punctual in their 
 monthly acquittal of the obligations which they had 
 accepted, and had paid them in constantly at the 
 end of every month. It has been said before, that 
 in order to guaranty the credit of these obligations 
 or bills, the treasury had required of the receivers- 
 general security in specie, which security, being 
 deposited in the sinking fund, served to pay any of 
 the obligations that might be protested. Out of the 
 sum of 20,000,000 f., being the total amount of the 
 securities, 1,000,000 f. sufficed to pay the dis- 
 honoured bills. From this circumstance they ac- 
 quired a credit equal to that of the best commercial 
 paper. At first they could not be discounted under 
 three-fourths per cent, per month, or nine per cent, 
 per annum ; now they were discounted at eight, 
 and many were willing to discount them at seven 
 per cent. This was very moderate interest in com- 
 parison with that which the government had before 
 been obliged to pay. Thus, as the direct contri- 
 butions in a total budget of 500,000,000 f. repre- 
 sented about 300,000,000 f., the treasury had, at 
 the first day of the year, 300,000,000 f. of value in 
 its hands, very nearly realized ; for in place of re- 
 ceiving nearly nothing, as formerly, and receiving 
 the little paid very slowly, it had, on the 4th of 
 Vcndemiaire, the best part of the public revenues 
 at its disposal. Such had been the result of the 
 completion of the assessment lists in good time, 
 and of the system of monthly bills, drawn under 
 the title of obligations upon the chests of the re- 
 ceivers-general, by preventing the last from having 
 any pretext for delaying their receipts, the govern- 
 ment was able to impose upon them the condition 
 of paying in upon a fixed day. 
 
 The year vnr., which had just terminated, from 
 
 September, 1799, to September, 1800, had not 
 been provided for with such facility as the year ix. 
 promised to be. It had been necessary to with- 
 draw all the paper emitted before, such as the 
 bills of arrear, of requisition, the delegations, and 
 others. The different paper had been withdrawn, 
 either by the acquittal of the anterior contribu- 
 tions, or by means of certain arrangements agreed 
 upon with the holders. The revenue of the year 
 vni. had, in consequence, been so much diminished, 
 there was a deficiency too in that year's receipts. 
 But the victories of the French armies having 
 taken them into the enemies' country, the treasury 
 was relieved from the burden of their support ; and 
 with some of the national domains, which had begun 
 to fetch good prices in the market, the deficiency 
 of that year might be made good. The expenditure 
 of the year ix. would not offer any similar diffi- 
 culty. No more bills of arrear were issued, because 
 the stockholders were paid in specie ; no more 
 bills of requisition, because the army was either 
 fed by the treasury itself, or by the treasury of 
 the foreigner ; no more delegations were issued, 
 because, as before observed, the first consul 
 adopted an invariable rule in regard to those who 
 had claims upon the state : he paid them specie 
 or nothing ; and in specie he paid them already 
 more than the preceding governments had done. 
 Every week he held a council of finance, when he 
 required a statement of the resources to be laid 
 before the council, and also one of the money 
 wanted by each minister ; he chose the most 
 urgent demands, and divided them with exactness; 
 he distributed the assets certain to be paid, but 
 no more than those. In this mode, with a firm 
 conduct, there was no more need for issuing paper 
 money ; and having no fictitious paper abroad, 
 there was none to be redeemed. The receipts of 
 the year ix. were certain to be in specie. 
 
 The stock or fund- holders were paid by the bank 
 of France. The bank had only been in existence 
 for six months, and was already capable of issuing 
 notes to a large amount, taken by the public as 
 readily as specie itself. The necessities of trade, 
 and the conduct of the government in regard to 
 the new establishment, had caused this rapid suc- 
 cess.^ This was the mode in which the matter was 
 managed. Of the securities in specie, one million 
 in twenty millions sufficed to sustain the credit of 
 the obligations. The remainder was without em- 
 ployment; and however pressing was the tempta- 
 tion to employ those 19,000,000 f. to meet urgent 
 necessities, the government did not hesitate to 
 impose upon itself the severest hardships, that it 
 might lay out 5,000,000 f. in purchasing shares in 
 the bank, the amount of which it immediately 
 paid. It did not stay there, but deposited with 
 it in current account the surplus of the disposable 
 funds. The account current was composed of 
 sums paid in, on condition that they might be 
 drawn out accordingly as they were wanted, day 
 by day. Having such resources suddenly placed 
 at its command, the bank lost not a moment in 
 discounting, and in issuing notes which, always 
 paid in money, if desired, had acquired in a few 
 months the value of cash. To-day such a thing would 
 not appear extraordinary, because in the smallest 
 towns the same operation is seen performing in 
 the easiest way, and many banks prosper from the
 
 1800. The bank of France.— State of 
 
 Sept. the landed proprietary. 
 
 THE ARMISTICE. 
 
 The first consul repairs the 
 public roads. 
 
 157 
 
 time of their starting. But in that day, after so 
 many bankruptcies, after the dislike which the 
 assignats had created for paper, it was a species 
 of commercial wonder, worked out by a govern- 
 ment which bad, above all other things, the gift of 
 inspiring confidence. 
 
 The treasury then thought of confiding to the 
 bank divers services, advantageous to itself as well 
 as to the state, especially that of paying the stock- 
 holders. This it effected by means perfectly simple. 
 The bills of the receivers-general were as good as 
 bills of exchange. The treasury offered the bank 
 these bills, to the amount of 20,000,000 f., for dis- 
 count, — an operation highly advantageous to the 
 bank", because discount was at six and seven pet- 
 cent.; and the operation was perfectly secure, since 
 the bills had become of undeniable value. The 
 bank undertook, in Gonsequence, to pay the half- 
 yearly dividends to the stockholders, who received 
 money or notes, as they might prefer. 
 
 Thus in some months the government, in know- 
 ing how to impose privations upon itself, had 
 already procured a powerful instrument, which 
 for an aid of 10,000,000 f. or 1 2,000,000 f., that 
 it had received at a moment's notice, could make 
 a return of service to the extent of hundreds of 
 millions. 
 
 Financial ease was therefore every where re- 
 newed. The only sensible suffering remaining 
 was that of the landed proprietary. In the worst 
 time of the national troubles, the proprietor" of 
 estates and houses had the advantage of not paying 
 any taxes, owing to the delay in the making up 
 the assessment lists; or of paying next to nothing, 
 owing to the assignats. To-day it was otherwise. 
 The landed proprietors were now forced to pay 
 up their arrears and their current taxes, all in 
 cash. For the small proprietors the charge was 
 heavy. At first an allowance had been made in 
 the budget of 5,000,000 f. for assets not available, 
 in order to exempt such payers as were too 
 severely pressed ; but it was found necessary to 
 devote a much larger sum to this purpose. It 
 was a sort of profit and loss account opened with 
 the payers, by which the past was given up in 
 order to secure tin- exact acquittal of the present. 
 The landed proprietary alone cannot pay all the 
 public burdens of a state. Some must be nut by 
 duties imposed upon articles of consumption. The 
 revolution, by abolishing the taxes imposed upon 
 liquors, upon salt and different articles of the kind, 
 had closed up one of the two necessary sources of 
 public revenue. Time had not yet opened it again. 
 This was one of tin; glories destined, at a later 
 period, for the return of order and of society in 
 France to effect. Bonaparte had at first many 
 prejudices to overcome. By establishing an excise 
 or "octroi" at the gates of the towns, to provide 
 for the necessities of the public hospitals, he had 
 made a first useful essay, which accustomed people 
 to the restitution of a tax sooner or later indis- 
 pensable. 
 
 Though the landed property was for the moment 
 heavily taxed, still a general feeling of prosperity 
 
 was diffused among all classes of persons. On all 
 
 sides the people felt themselves regenerated, and 
 found they had courage to labour and speculate. 
 
 Hut there were other efforts to lie nude in that 
 upturned state of society, to bring every thing 
 
 right, if not to so perfect a state as time might do, 
 to such a state as was supportable for all. It has 
 been seen what was done for the finances; there 
 was another branch of the public service fully 
 as much disorganized as the finances had been, 
 namely, that of the roads. These had become nearly 
 impassable. As everybody knows, not years of 
 negligence, but a few months only, are sufficient 
 to change into bogs the artificial roads that man 
 makes upon the surface of the earth for the trans- 
 port of heavy loads. It was nearly ten years since 
 the roads in France had been left almost without 
 repair. Under the old government, the roads were 
 repaired by " corve'es," or tenant labour; and sub- 
 sequently to the revolution, by means of a sum of 
 money, which appeared in the general budget, but 
 had not been more punctually paid than the sums 
 destined for other services. The directory, seeing 
 how matters stood, had contemplated a particular 
 resource for the purpose, which should not be 
 alienated, and could never be diminished; and, to 
 arrive at this object, had established a toll, and 
 created barriers for its collection. This toll had 
 been fanned out to the contractors for the mad 
 themselves, who being negligently surveyed, cheated 
 both in the collection of the toll and in the applica- 
 tion of the product. Besides, the sum was in- 
 sufficient that was thus obtained. It returned 
 13,000,000 f. or 14,000,000 f. per annum at most, 
 and 30,000,000 f. was necessary. In the years VI., 
 vii., and viii., no more than 32,000,000 f. had been 
 expended upon the roads, and at least 100,000,0001'. 
 would have been required to repair the ravages 
 which time had made, and to preserve them in 
 repair annually. 
 
 The first consul, postponing the adoption of a 
 perfect system, had recourse to the most simple 
 means — the general funds of the state ; applying 
 them to the purpose of the roads, a service so 
 important in every respect. He suffered the toll 
 to continue in the old mode of being levied and 
 in its application, taking care that its outlay was 
 carefully superintended; and he added 12,000,000f. 
 in the year ix., a considerable sum for that time. 
 This sum was intended to repair the main roads 
 going from the centre to the extremities of the 
 republic, from Paris to Lille, to Strasburg, to 
 Marseilles, to Bordeaux, and to Brest. He pro- 
 posed afterwards to proceed to other roads with 
 the funds thus devoted, and to augment the sums 
 in proportion to the improved state of the treasury, 
 employing them concurrently with the toll, until 
 tlie roads were restored to such a state as they 
 ought to be in every civilized land. 
 
 The canals of St. Quentin and of Ourcq, under- 
 taken towards the close of the regal government, 
 exhibited every where to the sight mere ditches 
 half-filled, hills partly cut through, and utter ruins; 
 in a word, they seemed any thing but works of art. 
 Bonaparte sent engineers to survey them imme- 
 diately, and went himself and ordered the definitive 
 plans, that by labors of puUie utility the first, 
 movements of the approaching peace might be 
 signalized. 
 
 The bad stab" of the roads was not the only 
 thing which rendered them impassable; then' were 
 robbers infesting them, in a great many of the 
 provinces. The (lioiians and the Vende'ans, re- 
 maining without employ from the end of the civil
 
 Publx robbers suppressed. — 
 158 Differences of tlie priest- 
 hood regulated. -Monsignor 
 
 Spina arrives at Pans from . Rf)( , 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, tbeboly see -Regulations * 
 
 for the Sunday and decadi. 
 
 Sept. 
 
 war, having contracted habits of life which were 
 irreconcileable with a state of peace, ravaged the 
 great roads in Britanv, Normandy, and the environs 
 of Paris. Refractory persons who wished to escape 
 the conscription, and some of the soldiers of the 
 Ligurian army that misery had driven to desertion, 
 were committing robberies upon the highways of 
 the south and centre of France. Georges Cadoudal, 
 who had come back from England with plenty 
 of money, concealed in the Morbihan, secretly 
 directed these new Chonan depredations. It was 
 necessary to have a number of moveable columns, 
 with military commissions following them, to sup- 
 press these disorders. The first consul had already 
 Formed some of these columns, but he was in want 
 of men. The directory had kept too many troops 
 at home; he had kept too few; but ho said, with 
 sound reason, that when he had beaten the enemies 
 without, he would soon put an end to those within. 
 " Patience," he replied to those who spoke to him 
 fearfully of this species of disorder; "give me a 
 month or two; I shall then have conquered peace, 
 and I will do prompt and complete justice upon 
 these highway robbers." Peace was, then, the 
 indispensable condition of good in all things. Still 
 he did not the less employ the interim in applying 
 remedies to the more urgent disorders. 
 
 It has been before observed, that he had con- 
 sented to substitute for an oath formerly exacted 
 from the priesthood, a simple promise of obedience 
 to the laws, which could in no way wound their 
 consciences. They had immediately availed them- 
 selves of this concession in considerable numbers., 
 and the clerical duties were at once seen to be dis- 
 puted by the constitutional priests who had taken 
 the oath to the civil constitution of the clergy, the 
 unsworn priests who had only given a verbal pro- 
 mise of obedience to the laws, and, lastly, those 
 who had neither given a promise to obey the laws, 
 nor taken any oath at all. The priests belonging 
 to the first two classes were alike agreed in the 
 endeavour to obtain churches, which were con- 
 ceded to them with greater or loss facility, accord- 
 ing to the very variable humour of the local autho- 
 rities. Those who had refused to make any kind 
 of oath or promise, performed the duties clan- 
 di stinely in the interior of private houses, and 
 passed, in the eyes of many of the faithful, for the 
 only true ministers of religion. Lastly, to add 
 to the confusion, came the Iheophilauthropists, 
 who replaced tin; Catholics in the churches, 
 and on certain days deposited flowers on the 
 altars, where the priests who preceded them 
 had just said mass. These ridiculous sectarians 
 held festivals in honour of all the virtues, — of tem- 
 perance, courage, charity, and similar qualities. 
 Upon All Saints' day, they celebrated, for example, 
 a festival in honour of ancestors. In the view of the 
 strict Catholics this was a profanation of a reli- 
 gious edifice, and good sense as well as respect for 
 dominant creeds demanded that it should bo dis- 
 continued. 
 
 In order to put an end to the prevailing chaos, 
 it was necessary to have an agreement with the 
 holy see — an agreement by means of which, those 
 who had taken the oath, and those who had only 
 given the promise, and those who had refused to do 
 either the one or the other, should be reconciled. 
 But Monsignor Spina, the envoy from the holy 
 
 see, had just arrived in Paris, and kept out of 
 sight, feeling surprised to find himself there. The 
 business upon which he had come was as delicate 
 for him as for the government. The first consul, dis- 
 cerning, as he did, with rare tact, the characters of 
 men, and the employment for which they are best 
 adapted, opposed to the wary Italian the individual 
 most fitted to cope with him, the Abbe Bernier, 
 who, having for a long while directed the affairs of 
 La Vendee, had, ultimately, reconciled it with the 
 government. The first consul, having brought the 
 abbe' to Paris, attached him to himself by the most 
 honourable of all relations, a desire to contribute to 
 the public good, and to be a partaker of the honour 
 of the task. To re-establish a good understanding 
 between France and the Roman church was, with 
 the abbe' Bernier, but a continuance and comple- 
 tion of the pacification of La Vendee. The inter- 
 view with Monsignor Spina had scarcely begun, 
 and the government was unable to promise itself 
 any immediate result. 
 
 It was important to arrive as speedily as possi- 
 ble at a settlement of these religious affairs. Peace 
 with the holy see was not less desirable for 
 calming the minds of the people, than peace with 
 the great European powers. In the mean while 
 there remained a number of irregularities, singular 
 or mischievous, to provide against, which the first 
 consul did by the best means he was able to use, 
 by consular decrees. Already by his ordinance of 
 the 7>h Nivose, year vm., or 28th of December, 
 17!W> he had prevented the local authorities, fre- 
 quently favourable to the priesthood, from thwart- 
 ing them in the performance of their religious 
 duties. Disposing, as already observed, of tiie 
 churches of which they had the care, they would 
 often refuse permission to the priests to use them 
 on the Sunday in place of the decadi, asserting 
 that the last was the only holiday recognized by 
 the laws of the republic. The ordinance before 
 referred to had provided against this difficulty, 
 and obliged the local authorities to deliver the 
 places of religious worship to the priests on the 
 days indicated by each religious denomination. 
 But this ordinance had not. resolved all the diffi- 
 culties relative to the Sundays and de'eadis. Upon 
 this point the manners an 1 laws were opposed to 
 cacji other; a matter necessary to explain, in order 
 to give an idea of the state of French society at 
 that time. 
 
 In the passionate taste for symmetry and uni- 
 formity attached to the revolution, it bad not con- 
 fined itsell to the introduction of uniformity in the 
 measures of length, superficies, and weight, and to 
 reducing them to natural and immutable unities, 
 such as a fraction of the meridian, ( r the specific 
 gravity of distilled water; it had introduced the 
 same kind of regularity into the measurement of 
 time. It had divided the year into twelve equal 
 months, of thirty days each, and had completed it 
 by five complementary days. It bad divided the 
 month into three decades, or weeks, of ten days 
 each, thus reducing the days of rest to three in 
 each month, and substituting for the four Sundays 
 of the Gregorian calendai*, the three deVadis of 
 the republican. Beyond contradiction, and under 
 the mathematical view of the question, this last 
 calendar was much better than the old one; but 
 then it hurt religious feeliugs ; it was not that of
 
 1S00. 
 Sept. 
 
 Sunday again observed. — 
 Anxiety of the emigrants 
 to return. 
 
 THE ARMISTICE. 
 
 Decree concerning the proscription 
 list. 
 
 159 
 
 the generality of nations nor that of history, and it 
 could hot overcome inveterate habit. The metrical 
 system, after forty years of effort and legislative 
 enactment, notwithstanding its incontestable com- 
 mercial advantages, has scarcely been yet defini- 
 tively established ; how then could it be expected 
 that the republican calendar could be maintained 
 after the usage of twenty centuries, against the 
 custom of the whole world, and against the power 
 of religion itself I It is necessary when we reform, 
 to content ourselves with reformation so far as to 
 destroy real suffering — to establish justice when 
 it is required; but to reform for the mere pleasure 
 of the sight and fancy, for the purpose of putting a 
 straight line where none exists, is exacting too 
 much of human nature. The habits of a child 
 may be formed at pleasure, but not so those of a 
 grown man. It is the same with nations ; the 
 habits of a people, after an existence of fifteen 
 centuries, cannot lie changed. 
 
 In consequence Sunday was again kept every- 
 where. In some towns the shops were closed on 
 Sundays, in others on decadis ; often in the same 
 town and street the contrast was exhibited, and 
 presented a picture of a mischievous conflict be- 
 tween manners and ideas. Sunday would have 
 everywhere been observed, but for the intervention 
 of some of the authorities. The first consul, by a 
 new decree of the 7th Thermidor, year Viir., or 
 July 26, 1800, declared that every one should be 
 free to keep holiday when he pleased, and to adopt 
 for a day of rest that most agreeable to his taste 
 and religious notions; and that the authorities, con- 
 strained to adhere to the legal calendar, should 
 alone be obliged to choose the de'cadi for the sus- 
 pension of their business. This was at once to 
 insure the triumph of the Sunday. 
 
 The first consul was acting with judgment, in 
 aiding this return to old and general habits, es- 
 pecially if he inclined to the restoration of the 
 Catholic religion, as indeed he did, and which he 
 had good reason lor desiring. 
 
 His attention was engaged anew by the emi- 
 grants. We have already made nieniion of their 
 anxiety to return during the first days of the con- 
 sulate : this eagerness continued to increase, as 
 they saw the repose enjoyed by France, and the 
 security in which the inhabitants of her soil were 
 living. IJut however great the wish to put an 
 end to the proscription against these people, it was 
 necessary, in putting an end to one disorder — 
 for such was the proscription — to guard against 
 giving birth to another ; for a precipitate reaction 
 is a disorder^ and one of the gravest character. 
 'I'hi- emigrants, on their return, met with either 
 
 llleir former proscribers who had contributed to 
 their persecution, or persons who had Obtained 
 possession of their property for assignuts; and to 
 the one or the other they were either rest- 
 less enemies, or at hast troublesome people to 
 meet; nor were they by any means discreet 
 enough to avoid abusing the clemency shown to- 
 ward- them by the government. 
 They availed themselves eagerly of the laws 
 
 passed a few months before, by which the pro- 
 scription-list was closed. Those wdio had been 
 omitted on this list, hastened to profit by the 
 clause referring to their ease ; and as they could 
 no longer be put upon that list but by the authority 
 
 of the ordinary tribunals (of which, in their opinion, 
 the danger was but slight) ; they felt tranquillized 
 on this score, and had almost all returned. Those 
 who had been on the list, and whom the law sent be- 
 fore the administrative authorities to claim their 
 erasure, profited by the spirit of the times to get 
 themselves erased. They first of all made applica- 
 tion for nurreUlances, that is to say, as we have already 
 explained, the privilege of returning temporarily 
 under the surveillance of the high police; and then 
 they went on to deliver in, either through friends 
 or complaisant persons, false certificates, showing 
 that they had not quitted France during the reign 
 of terror, but had only been concealed to avoid 
 the scaffold ; thus they obtained their erasure 
 with an incredible facility. The lists, as made up 
 by the local authorities, with all the cold reck- 
 lessness of persecution, comprehended one hundred 
 and forty-five thousand individuals, and formed 
 nine volumes. At this time there was as much 
 recklessness shown in erasing as there had been in 
 inscribing, and the emigrants were restored by 
 thousands to their civil rights. That part of them 
 whose effects had not already been sold, addressed 
 themselves to the members of the government to 
 have the sequestration removed ; they importuned, 
 as is usual, the very men whom they had vilified 
 yesterday, and were ready to vilify again to- 
 morrow; and not unfrequently Madame Bonaparte 
 herself, who had been, to some extent, formerly 
 allied to the French nobility, in consequence of 
 the rank which she held in society. 
 
 That the emigrants, whose effects had not been 
 sold, should recover them at the expense of certain 
 proceedings, followed by ingratitude, was no great 
 evil; but others, whose effects had been alienated, 
 betook themselves to the provinces, addressed them- 
 selves to the new proprietors, and successively, by 
 the force of threats and importunities, or by re- 
 ligious suggestions at the bed of the dying, caused 
 them to give back, at a low price, their family 
 estates, by proceedings hardly more creditable than 
 the means by which they had been themselves 
 despoiled of them. 
 
 The uproar was at this moment so general as to 
 attract the attention of the first consul. His de- 
 sire was to repair the cruelties Of the revolution, 
 but, beyond all, it was his wish not to alter any of 
 the interests it had created, and to which time had 
 given the sanction of law. Consequently he thought 
 it his duty to adopt a measure, which was only a 
 part of what he afterwards did, but which gave 
 some slight order to the chaos of claims, precipi- 
 tate returns, and attempts, fraught with danger. 
 After a profound consultation in the council of 
 state, a decree to the following effect was issued 
 20th of October, 1800, 28th Vende*miaire,year ix. 
 
 In the first place, all persons erased anterior to 
 the decree, no matter by what authority, or what 
 carelessness had been shown in conducting the 
 proceedings in their regard, were validly Struck 
 out of the list of emigrants. Certain collective 
 inscriptions, under the designation of the children 
 or heirs id' emigrants, were to be considered as not 
 having taken place. Wives under the command 
 
 of their husbands when they left France, minors 
 sixteen years of age, the priests who lelt the 
 
 country in obedience to the law for their banish- 
 ment, poisons comprised under the description of
 
 Who retained on the pro- 
 \Q0 scription list. — Politi- 
 cal success of the first 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 consul. — All parties be- 
 come attached to him. — 
 La Fayette. 
 
 1 800. 
 Sept. 
 
 labourers, day-labourers, workmen, artisans, and 
 domestics, persons whose absence dated anterior 
 to the revolution, and the knights of Malta, who 
 were at Malta during the troubles, all these were 
 definitively erased. The government also struck 
 off the list the names of the victims who had 
 perished on the scaffold — a reparation due to their 
 families and to humanity. After these had been 
 erased from the list, there were kept on it, without 
 exception, all who had borne arms against France, 
 those who held offices in the household, civil or 
 military, of the exiled princes, those who had 
 received rank or titles from foreign governments 
 without authorization from the government of 
 France, and others. Nine commissioners were to 
 be named by the minister of justice, and nine by 
 the police, to which eighteen commissioners the first 
 consul was to add nine counsellors of state ; and 
 these twenty-seven personages were collectively 
 charged to draw up a new list of the emigrants 
 upon the basis indicated. The emigrants who 
 were definitively erased were under an obligation 
 to make a promise of fidelity to the constitution, 
 if they wished to remain in the country, or obtain 
 a removal of the sequestration on their effects, if 
 not sold. They were adjudged to remain under 
 the surveillance of the high police until the con- 
 clusion of a general peace, and for one year after- 
 wards, — a precaution taken in favour of those who 
 had purchased property from the nation. As 
 regarded those emigrants who were definitively 
 kept on the list, nothing could be determined at 
 present on their account ; what concerned them 
 \v;is left to a later period. 
 
 Under the actual circumstances, this decree was 
 all that could be done in reason. It struck from 
 the proscription list the great mass of those in- 
 scribed, and reduced it to the small number of 
 the declared enemies of the revolution, whose fate 
 even it postponed to a future time. So that when 
 the republic should be definitively victorious over 
 Europe, universally recognized, and solidly esta- 
 blished; when the firm intention of the first consul 
 to protect the holders of national property should 
 have sufficiently reassured them, it would probably 
 be possible to complete this act of clemency, and 
 recal at last all the proscribed, even those who 
 had been criminal towards France. For the 
 present it went no further than deciding some 
 embarrassing questions, and putting an end to a 
 multiplicity of intrigues. 
 
 It will be seen that the government had diffi- 
 culties of all kinds to contend against, in restoring 
 order where society had been overthrown, in being 
 clement and just towards one party without being 
 alarming and unjust to the other. But if it had 
 its troubles, France rewarded them by a support 
 which we may call unanimous. In the first period 
 that succeeded the 18th Brumaire, the state threw 
 itself into the arms of Bonaparte; because it sought 
 for strength wherever that might be, and because, 
 after the acts of the young general in Italy, it 
 had hopes that strength would be given in aid of 
 good sense and of justice. One doubt alone still 
 remained, and to some extent weakened the con- 
 fidence with which this self-abandonment was 
 made : — " Would he maintain himself longer than 
 the governments which had preceded him? Would 
 he know how to govern as well as he did to fight; 
 
 Would he make the troubles, the persecutions, to 
 cease? Would he be of this or that party?" The 
 past eleven or twelve months had, however, cleared 
 up these doubts. His power consolidated itself 
 every hour, and especially when, since Marengo, 
 France and Europe bent under his ascendency. 
 Upon his political genius there was but one opinion 
 amongst those who approached him ; he was the 
 great statesman no less than the great soldier. 
 As to the tendency of his government, it was as 
 evident as his genius. He was of that moderate 
 party, which was disinclined to persecution of any 
 kind; which, though disposed to retrace many of 
 the steps of the revolution, desired not to go back 
 on all points, but, on the contrary, was resolute in 
 maintaining its principal results. The removal of 
 these doubts brought over all men to him with 
 eagerness and joyful gratitude. 
 
 There are in all parties two portions : the one 
 numerous and sensible, which he who carries into 
 accomplishment the wishes of his country, can 
 always bring over to himself ; the other small in 
 numbers, inflexible and factious, who by such ac- 
 complishment of a country's wishes are chagrined 
 rather than contented, inasmuch as they are thereby 
 shorn of all their pretexts. Except this latter 
 portion, all parties were satisfied, and gave them- 
 selves frankly to the first consul, or, at least, re- 
 signed themselves to his government, if their cause 
 was irreconcileable with his, as, for instance, that of 
 the royalists. The patriots of 1789, (and, ten years 
 before, these would have comprised all France,) 
 carried away at first by an enthusiasm towards the 
 revolution, then quickly driven back by the sight 
 of the bloody scaffold, were now disposed to think 
 that they had been deceived in almost all things, 
 believing that in the consular government they had 
 at last found all of their wishes that could be accom- 
 plished — the abolition of the feudal royalties, civil 
 equality, the power of the country to exercise some 
 influence in its own affairs, not much of liberty, 
 but much of order, the brilliant triumph of France 
 over Europe. All these, however different from 
 what they had at first hoped for, but sufficient for 
 their desires — all these seemed assured to them. 
 La Fayette, who, in many respects, bore a resem- 
 blance to men of this class, except that he was less 
 disabused of former notions — La Fayette, released 
 from the dungeons of Olmutz by the act of the first 
 consul, gave full proof, by his truly disinterested 
 assiduities towards him, of the esteem in which he 
 held his government, and the adhesion of those 
 who thought with him. As to the more ardent 
 revolutionists, who, without being connected with 
 the revolution by a participation in its culpable 
 excesses, yet adhered to it from conviction and 
 feeling, these were delighted with the first consul, 
 as being the opposite of the Bourbons, and assuring 
 their definitive exclusion. The holders of national 
 property, thrown a little in the shade at times by 
 his indulgence towards the emigrants, doubted not 
 his resolution to maintain the inviolability of their 
 now properties, and held by him as an invincible 
 sword, which guarantied them from their only real 
 danger — the triumph of the Bourbons and the 
 emigrants through the arms of Europe. 
 
 As to the timid and well-disposed portion of the 
 royalist party, who desired, before all, to have no 
 longer a dread of the scaffold, of exile, or confis-
 
 1800. State of parties —The royalists. — 
 Sept. Ultra-republicans. 
 
 THE ARMISTICE. 
 
 Their chimerical schemes. — 
 Conciliatory measures of 
 the first consul. 
 
 161 
 
 cation, wlio, for tlie first time within ten years, 
 began to have it no lunger before their eyes; it was 
 almost happy; for this party no lunger to fear, was 
 indeed in itself happiness. It fondly, if I may so 
 express myself, expected from him, all that he had 
 not yet given. To see the people at their work- 
 shops, the tradesmen at their counters, the nobi- 
 lity in the government, the priests at their altars, 
 the Bourbons at the Tnileries, and Bonaparte at 
 their side, in the very highest fortune imaginable 
 for a subject to attain, would have been, for these 
 royalists, the perfection of their wishes. Of these 
 things there were three or four which they could 
 already clearly discern in the acts and projects of 
 the first consul; as to the last, that of the return of 
 the Bourbons to the Tuileries, they were disposed, 
 in their kind credulity, to expect it from him, as 
 one of the marvels of his unparalleled genius; anil, 
 if some who had more clearsightedness found an 
 obstacle in the difficulty of believing that any man 
 would give a crown to others, while he could keep 
 it for himself ; they took up their position thus : 
 " Let him make himself king," said they, " but let 
 him save us, since nothing but a monarchy can 
 save us;" in default of a legitimate prince, a great 
 man would have been acceptable to them ; but at 
 any rate a king they must have. 
 
 Thus, by assuring to the patriots of 1789, civil 
 equality; to the holders of national property, to the 
 more especial patriots, the exclusion of the Bour- 
 bons ; to the more moderate royalists the security 
 and the re-establishment of religion ; to all, order, 
 justice, and the greatness of the nation, he had 
 gained over the mass of the honest and dis- 
 interested of all parties. 
 
 There remained, what always remains, the im- 
 placable portion of these parties, which time can 
 never induce to change, but by carrying it to the 
 grave ; it is generally composed of those who are 
 most convinced they are right, or those who are 
 most wrong, and they are generally the last upon 
 the breach. 
 
 The men, who, in the course of the revolution 
 had stained themselves with blood, or signalised, 
 being noted for some excess impossible to be for- 
 gotten ; others, who, without any thing to reproach 
 themselves with, had been hurried along as dema- 
 gogues by the violence of their character, or -the 
 nature of their minds ; tin.' furious portion of the 
 mountain, the few survivors of the commune, all 
 these were irritated in proportion to the success of 
 tin' new govt rnment, They called the first consul 
 a tyrant, wlwme de-ire it was to effect a complete 
 counter revolution in France, to abolish liberty, 
 and to bring back the emigrants, the priests, and, 
 ibly it might lie, the Bourbons, to make him- 
 self on'' of their lowest servants. Others, less 
 blinded by auger, said that he was trying to make 
 
 himself a tyrant for his own sake, aiel that it was 
 ill his own interest that he wished to strangle li- 
 berty. Here wan a Cesar who called for the dagger 
 of a Brutus. They spoke of daggers; but they did 
 no more than speak of them, tor the energy of 
 these nan. greutbj exhausted by ten years' ex© 
 began to lean towards violence in language. We 
 shall see, in fact, that it was not amongst their 
 ranks, that assassins Wen to la- found. Tin- police 
 
 was on their track unceasingly, penetrating into 
 
 their Secret councils, and watching them with con- 
 
 tinual attention. There were some who only 
 wanted bread ; with which the first consul, acting 
 under the advice of his minister, Fouche, supplied 
 them of his own accord ; or, if they were good for 
 any thing, did what was better, gave them em- 
 ployment. After this they were no more, to use 
 the language of the rest, than wretches sold to the 
 tyrant. Those too, who had grown a little more 
 quiet from sheer fatigue, Santerre for instance, and 
 many others, came under the same title, as men 
 who had sold themselves. According to the custom 
 of parties, these incorrigible demagogues searched 
 amongst the real or supposed malcontents of the 
 time, for the imaginary few who could realize their 
 views. It is not easy to say by what indications 
 Moreau had appeared to them to be jealous of the 
 first consul ; it may be because he had acquired 
 sufficient glory to be the second personage in 
 the state. They elevated him, at once, to the 
 clouds. But when Moreau happened to arrive in 
 Paris, and the first consul, after giving him a most 
 flattering reception, had presented him with a pair 
 of pistols, enriched with pearls, and the titles of 
 his battles, he was then to them no more than a 
 valet. The demagogue Brunc, at first dear to 
 their hearts, attracted the attention of the first 
 consul, obtained his confidence, and received the 
 command of the army in Italy : he also was imme- 
 diately a valet. But on the other baud, Massena, 
 unceremoniously deprived of his command of this 
 army, was discontented, and could scarcely con- 
 tain himself. On the instant he was declared the 
 future saviour of the republic, and was to place 
 himself at the head of the true patriots. Thus it 
 was that Carnot, whom they called a royalist on the 
 18th Fructidor, whose proscription they had de- 
 manded and obtained, but who, now deprived at 
 the time of the portfolio of war, became again 
 in their eyes a great citizen. So also was it with 
 Lannes, who, it is true, was attached to the first 
 consul, but who was a decided republican, and at 
 times used rather violent language about the re- 
 turn of the priests and the emigrants : thus also 
 was it with Sieyes himself; Sieyes, at one time 
 odious to the republicans, for being the chief 
 accomplice in the 18th Brumaire; next, tin object 
 of their raillery on account of the trifling return 
 with which the first consul had repaid his services; 
 and lastly, just then most agreeable in their eyes, 
 because, di-satisfied at being a cipher, he showed 
 the same face of coldness and disapprobation at 
 acts ol the present government, as be had done to 
 all others. Lastly, a touch which will finish the 
 picture of the silly credulity of this expiring fac- 
 tion; the minister, Fouche*, who was one of the two 
 principal counsellors of the first consul, and who 
 bail nothing to wish for — the minister, Fouche', be- 
 cause be well knew the patriots, feared them little, 
 and occasionally assisted tlieni, fr a knowledge 
 
 that their tongues needed silencing more than their 
 hands disarming — the minister Fouche' was to 
 
 join with Massena, Carnot, Lames, ami >icyes, to 
 throw down the tyrant, and rescue liberty from his 
 nnna. 
 'lb royalist faction, like the revolutionary, had 
 
 its implacable sectarians ; equally credulous as 
 
 reasonem, but as plotters re to he dreaded. 
 
 'lies,- were the great lords of Versailles, who had 
 returned, or were about to return; intriguers, 
 
 M
 
 162 Character and language THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. of the royalist nobles. 
 
 1800. 
 Sept. 
 
 charged with the pitiable affairs of tlie Bourbons, 
 coming and going between France and foreign 
 countries to weave puerile plots, or to gain money ; 
 and, lastly, men of action, soldiers devoted to 
 Georges, and ready for every crime. 
 
 These first, being great noblemen, accustomed to 
 fashionable conversation, confined themselves to 
 talking against the first consul, his family, and his 
 government. They lived in Paris, somewhat after 
 the fashion of foreigners in France, scarcely deign- 
 ing to notice what was passing, and occasionally 
 soliciting their erasure from the list of pro- 
 scription, or that the sequestrations be taken off 
 their unsold property. For this purpose they 
 visited niadame Bonaparte ; those at least who had 
 been in her circle when she was the wife of M. de 
 Beauharnais. They visited her in the morning, 
 in vi r in the evening, and were received in the 
 entresol of the Tuileries, where were her private 
 apartments. Urgent suitors while in her pre- 
 sence, they excused themselves strongly when they 
 left for having made their appearance there, put- 
 ting it off upon their desire to be of service to 
 some unfi rtunate friend. Madame Bonaparte was 
 weak enough to permit these equivocal relations ; 
 and her husband, though it exposed him to fre- 
 quent importunities, put up with them nevertheless 
 out of complaisance to his wife, as well as from 
 a desire of knowing every thing, and being in com- 
 munication with all parties. There were few of 
 these askers of favours, who, whether by them- 
 selves or by their connexions, were not under 
 obligations to the government; but their freedom of 
 speech was none the less diminished. All that was 
 done for them, was, in their opinion, only their 
 due; they had been despoiled of their property; 
 and if it were restored to them, it was an act of 
 repentance, for which no gratitude was necessary. 
 They jested at every tiling and every bod;,, i v n 
 the embarrassment of madame Bonaparte; who, if 
 she was proud of her connexion with the first man 
 of the a^e, seemed almost ashami d of belonging to 
 the head of the government, and was indeed at once 
 too Kind and too weak to crush them by that 
 haughtiness which she ouyht legitimately to have 
 felt. They railed, as we have said, at all the 
 world, except, however, the first consul, whom 
 they regarded as a great soldier, but a mediocre 
 politician, with no settled plan; one day favouring 
 the Jacobins, on another the royalists; with no 
 disposition but for war, as war Wi s his profession; 
 and even in that, in more than one respect, in- 
 ferior to Moreau. Without doubt his sue- 
 had been brilliant ; th utlemen could not 
 
 deny them ; up to this time till bad gone pros- 
 peroi sly with him : but how long would this last ( 
 Europe, it is true, was now no longer able to with- 
 stand him ; but conqueror abroad, would he be so 
 at h me over all the difficulties which lav around 
 him? The finances wore a better appearance to 
 be sure; but paper, which had been the ephemeral 
 resource of all the governments of the revolution, 
 . gain the resource of the present ; and uo- 
 thing was to be seen but bonds of the receivers- 
 general, bills of the bank of France, and the like. 
 Would ii^t this new paper end as paper had 
 always ended. They got on tolerably at present, 
 for tin- armies supported themselves on the eiiemii s' 
 country ; but at a peace, when they came back 
 
 within their own country, how would they then be 
 able to keep them ? Landed property was weighed 
 down by taxation; and, in short, those liable to the 
 taxes, neither could, nor would, pay the imposts. 
 They spoke, it is true, of the satisfaction of certain 
 classes, the priests and emigrants, who are well 
 treated by the existing government ; but this go- 
 vernment recals the emigrants without restoring 
 their property. Here then are enemies whom it 
 transports from without to within, and makes them 
 only the more dangerous. It recalls the priests 
 without restoring them to their altars. Thus to 
 concede by halves, is to oblige a man one day in a 
 manner which must make him ungrateful the 
 next. Bonaparte, as these royalists styled him, 
 for they disdained to give him his legal title, Bona- 
 parte only knew how to do things in an incomplete 
 manner. He permitted the observation of the 
 Sunday, but had not dared to abolish the de'eadi, 
 or observance of the tenth day ; France, how- 
 ever, when left to herself, returned altogether to 
 the Sunday. This was not the only thing of the 
 past to which she would return, if she had once 
 but the example and the liberty of so doing. 
 Bonaparte, by re-establishing one thing and an- 
 other, was, in fact, himself commencing a counter 
 revolution, which would lead him further than he 
 intended to go. Through his resuscitation of so 
 much, might he not go the length of setting up the 
 monarchy again, and even of setting it up for 
 himself, by making himself king or emperor I He 
 would thereby only the more certainly bring about 
 a counter revolution, by undertaking to do it on 
 his own account. Soon would this restored throne 
 demand the princes who alone were worthy to 
 occupy it ; and, in re-establishing the institution, 
 he would have established it for the Bourbons '. 
 
 Hatred is not mi frequently a correct prophet, 
 for it usually supposes faults, and, unhappily, faults 
 are always the most probable supposition; only in 
 the ardour of its impatience it antedates the time 
 of their commission. These trifling talkers knew 
 not to what extent they were saying what was 
 true; but they did not also know that before their 
 predictions would be accomplished, it was ordained 
 that the world should be for fifteen years in com- 
 motion; it was ordained that this man, of whom 
 they held such language, should do the noblest 
 deeds, and commit gigantic faults; and that before 
 the end of all this should come, they would have 
 time to declare then. selves false prophets, to prove 
 renegades to their cause, to abandon their only 
 legitimate princes, in their opinion, to enter into 
 rvice of this ephemeral master, to serve him 
 and to adore him ! They knew not that if France 
 must one day come again to the foot of the Bour- 
 bon, she would come there as if thrown by a 
 tempest at the foot of some tree of ages, and be 
 prostrate there but for a moment. 
 
 1 I have painted, not drawn, this picture of the emigrants 
 of that period from imagination. The language I make 
 them use is literally extracted from the voluminous corre- 
 spondence addressed to Louis XVIII , and brought over to 
 Fiance by that prince. Left at the Tuileries during the 
 hundred days, and afterwards deposited in the archives of 
 the foreign ollice, they comprise a singular evidence of the 
 illusions and passions of the period. Some of them are ex- 
 ceedingly clever, and all of them very curious.
 
 ISOl). 
 Sept. 
 
 Georges Cadouilal and the 
 Chouans. Inuifference 
 of Bonaparte. 
 
 THE ARMISTICE. 
 
 State of the police. 
 Character of Fouche. 
 
 1G3 
 
 In a lower sphere, then were men who con- 
 spired otherwise than in words, the intriguers in 
 the service of the Bourbons; and in one still lower. 
 yet more dangerous, the agents of Georgi b, whose 
 buds w. re full with money sent from England. 
 Sine.- his return from London, Georges kept in 
 the Morbiuan, concealing himself from all eyes, 
 playing the part of a man who resigns himself to 
 what has happened, and returns to cultivate his 
 fields : but in reality implacable; for he had sworn 
 ID his heart, he had sworn to the Bourbons, to 
 destroy the first consul or fall in the attempt. To 
 try the chances of battle with the grenadiers of 
 the consular guard was impossible; but among the 
 men of the Clwuanerie there were bands always 
 ready for the last resource of a vanquished faction; 
 for assassination itself. Amongst them could be 
 found a hand ready for every thing, for crimes the 
 blackest or attempts the most rash. These, Georges, 
 not yet knowing what time or place he ought 
 to choose, kept to their object, communicating 
 with them by trusty friends, while he let them 
 find their subsistence on the high roads, or upon 
 a portion of the money he was profusely supplied 
 witli by the British cabinet. 
 
 The first consul, satisfied with the homage of 
 France, and the unanimous adhesion of the sincere 
 and disinterested of all parties, felt little inquietude 
 at the scandal of some royalists, or the plots of 
 others. Closely applying himself to his occupation, 
 he thought little of the vain discourse of idlers, 
 though Ear from being insensible to it; but he was 
 actually too much absorbed by his task to give 
 much attention to such language. Nor did he pay 
 more regard to the plots directed against Iks per- 
 son ; he considered it as one of the chances which 
 lie braved every day on the field of bat lie with 
 the indifference of fatalism. Nevertheless, lie .1 — 
 ! himself in the nature of his danger. He 
 had attained the 18th " Brumaire by snatching 
 power from the party of the revolution, and re- 
 garding it at the time as his principal enemy, lie 
 imputed to this party all that happened, and 
 seemed to feel displeasure at that alone. The royal- 
 p his eye, were no more than a. party under 
 ■ution, which it was his wish to preserve 
 from oppression. Amongst them lie well knew 
 
 were some bad lieu; bu from his intercourse with 
 the moderate party, it had grown habitual with 
 him to look for no violence' but from the revolu- 
 tionists, Ono of hi counsellors, however, en- 
 deavoured to correct this error in his mind; this 
 Fouche", the minister of police. 
 In tiiis government, reduced nearly to one man, 
 all the ministers wire- eclipsed except two. Fouche 
 and Talleyrand. They alone have preserved the 
 privilege of being sometimes visible in the halo 
 surrounding Bonaparte, in which all figures dis- 
 appear but his ov.ii. General Berthier had just 
 : Carnot in the war department, as 
 being more pliable, and mon; resigned to the 
 modest pari ■ I coinpr< bending and carryin 
 tie- id as of his chid, which h • did with a clear 
 and preci ion truly wonderful. It was no 
 small merit to till worthily the pari of tin- chief of 
 tie- staff to i ildier of the age, and 
 
 i,|y () f ali Bui Berthier, by the side of 
 
 the i. tild not have- any importance as r 
 
 director of military operations. The navy at thin 
 
 epoch, drew very little attention. The finance 
 merely required a firm ami persevering, though 
 unnoticed, application of certain principles of 
 order laid down once for all. The police, on the 
 contrary, was of great importance, from the vast 
 arbitrary power with which the government was 
 armed ; and with the police, the department of 
 foreign affairs, from the re-establishment of re- 
 lations with all the world. For the police there 
 was necessary to the first consul a man who had 
 a perfect knowledge of ail parties, and of the in- 
 dividuals who composed them; this was the reason 
 of the influence acquired by the minister Fouche. 
 In regard to foreign affairs, however the first 
 consul might lie the most competent person to 
 offer to Europe, he wanted an ntermediate agent 
 for all occasions, with more mildness and patience 
 than he himself possessed; and this was the cause 
 of the influence acquired by Talleyrand. Fouche", 
 then, and Talleyrand shared between them the 
 only portion of political credit which the ministers 
 of tiiat time enjoyed. 
 
 The police of this epoch was not, what it has 
 happily since become, a simple surveillance with- 
 out power, charged only with the prevention of 
 crime, and the capture of the culprit. It was the 
 depository of an immense arbitrary power in the 
 hands of one man alone. The minister of police 
 bad power to banish these as revolutionaries, 
 those as returned emigrants; to assign to one or 
 the other their place of residence, or even throw 
 them into a temporary prison, without fear of the 
 disclosures of the press or of the tribune, then 
 powerless and decried ; it was in his power to take 
 off" or keep on the sequestration upon the effects of 
 the proscribed of all periods ; to restore or take 
 away his church from the priest; to suppress or 
 reprimand a journal which displeased him, and, 
 lastly, to mark out every individual to the mistrust 
 or to the favour of the government, which had at 
 this moment an extraordinary number of places 
 to distribute, and the wealth of Europe to be- 
 stow profusely on its creatures. The minister, 
 on whom the laws conferred such powers, how- 
 ever he might be placed under tin- superior and 
 at: authority of the first consul, had yet a 
 f rmidable power over evi ry relation of life. 
 
 Fouche*, the man charged with the exercise of 
 this power, an old oratorian and an old conven- 
 tionalist, was a person of intelligence and crafti- 
 ness; tilled with no love of good <>r inclination to ill, 
 
 hi- had a thorough knowledg mankind, espe- 
 
 ciallv the bad portion, and despised them without 
 distinction, tie employed the rev< nuesof the police 
 in supporting the fosterers of sedition, as much 
 as ill watching them ; always ready to give bread 
 
 or a place to such individuals as were tired of 
 political agitations: he thus procured friends for 
 the government, and, above all, procured (hem for 
 him elf ; malting them far superior to credulons or 
 treacherous spies, dependents who never failed to 
 furnish him with inti lligi nee oi w hal it was his in- 
 terest to be informed. Thus In- had in every party, 
 but especially among tie- royalists, his dependents 
 whom he- kiww how to manage .and control to bis 
 purpose. Always forewarned in lime, ami never 
 (•rating a danger either to himself or to his 
 lie could di tingi 1 1 n an Impru- 
 
 dent man and one I, knowing how
 
 164 
 
 Character of Fouche. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 and Talleyrand. 
 
 1800. 
 Sept. 
 
 to restrain the one and proceed against the other ; 
 in a word, conducting the police better than it had 
 ever been before, since this consists in disarm- 
 ing as much as in repressing hatred : a minister 
 of a high order, if his extreme indulgence had had 
 any other principle than an indifference most ex- 
 treme to good or evil ; if his incessant activity had 
 been actuated by any other motive than an anxiety 
 for meddling in all things which rendered him an 
 inconvenient person, and exposed him to be sus- 
 pected by the first consul, giving him moreover 
 the appearance of an intriguing subaltern ; for the 
 rest, his countenance, intelligent, vulgar, and equi- 
 vocal, well represented the qualities and defects of 
 his soul. 
 
 Jealous of his confidence, the first consul did not 
 grant it freely, at least to those for whom he had 
 not a perfect esteem ; he made use of Fouche, but 
 distrusted him while he did so. Thus he sought 
 how to supply his place or to control him, by giv- 
 ing money to his secretary, Bourrienne, or to 
 Murat, the commandant of Paris, or to his aid-de- 
 camp, Savary, thus making up several opposition 
 polices. But Fouche" always found a way to con- 
 vict these secondary police departments of clumsi- 
 ness and puerility; while he showed that lie alone 
 was well informed: so that all the time he was run- 
 ning counter to the first consul, he inclined him 
 nevertheless the more to himself, by his manner ot 
 treating men, into which neither love nor hatred 
 found admission, but simply an application directed 
 to wrest individuals, one by one, from a life agitated 
 by faction. 
 
 Fouche", with a half fidelity to the revolutionary 
 party, willingly undertook the management of his 
 old friends, and ventured, on this point, to contra- 
 dict the first consul. Well acquainted with their 
 moral position, appreciating moreover the scoun- 
 drels of royalism, he incessantly repeated that if 
 there was any peril, it was to be looked tor from 
 the side of the royalists, not of the revolutionists ; 
 and that there would soon be an opportunity of 
 seeing this. He hail also the merit, though lit- had 
 it not long, of insisting that it would he better 
 not quite so much to desert the revolution and its 
 principles. Hearing, at that time, the flatterers of 
 the epocli say, that the reaction must he carried on 
 more quickly, that no account must be made of the 
 prejudices of the revolution, and that it was time 
 to go back to something that resembled a monar- 
 chy, but without the Bourbons, he had daring 
 enough to blame, if not the object, at least the im- 
 prudence by which it was endeavoured to be at- 
 tained. While all the time admitting the justice 
 of his advice, given as it was without frankness, 
 and without dignity, the first consul was struck, but 
 not satisfied. He could not but acknowledge, while 
 he did not relish, the services of this personage. 
 
 Talleyrand played a part altogether the con- 
 trary; he bore neither affection nor resemblance 
 to Fouche". Both of them alike having been for- 
 merly priests, and come out the one from the high 
 clergy, the other from the low, they had nothing in 
 common, but that they had both taken advantage 
 of the revolution, the one to strip off the robes of 
 a prelate, the other the humble gown of an orato- 
 rian professor. It is a strange spectacle, it must lie 
 avowed, a spectacle which admirably paints a so- 
 ciety in which order has been completely revi 
 
 to see this government, composed of a soldier and 
 two priests, who had abjured their profession, 
 though thus composed, have none the less of glorv, 
 grandeur, and influence in the world. 
 
 Talleyrand, a man of the highest extraction, 
 destined to the profession of arms from his birth, 
 condemned to the priesthood by an accident which 
 deprived him of the use of one foot, having no 
 taste for the profession imposed upon him, be- 
 coming successively prelate, courtier, revolutionary 
 emigrant, then, at last, minister of foreign affairs 
 to the directory ; Talleyrand had preserved some- 
 thing of all these conditions, and one might find in 
 him the bishop, the nobleman, and the revo- 
 lutionist, without any fixed opinion, but merely a 
 natural moderation, which felt a repugnance to all 
 exaggeration ; accommodating himself in an in- 
 stant to the ideas of those whom iir may be his 
 inclination or interest to please; expressing him- 
 self in an unique language, peculiar to the society 
 of which Voltaire was the founder ; fertile in re- 
 partee, lively, yet so cutting as to render him 
 equally as formidable as he was attractive ; by 
 turns caressing or disdainful, open or impenetrable, 
 careless or dignified, lame without any loss of 
 grace ; a personage, lastly, the most singular, and 
 such as a revolution only could produce, he was 
 the most seducing of negotiators, but at the same 
 time incapable of directing the affairs of a state as 
 its head ; since to guide a state requires purpose, 
 piinciple, and close attention, not one of which he 
 possessed. His purpose confined itself to pleasing 
 his principles consisted in the opinions of the 
 moment, application he had none. He was, in a 
 word, an accomplished ambassador, but not a 
 directing minister ; it being understood, however, 
 that this expression is to lie taken only in its highest 
 acceptation. Besides this, he held no other office 
 under the consular government. The first consul, 
 who allowed to no person the right of giving him 
 advice in war or diplomacy, never employed him 
 but in carrying on negotiations with foreign minis- 
 ters according to his own directions ; and this 
 Talleyrand did with a skill which will never be 
 surpassed. Once for all too lie had a moral merit, 
 that of being a lover of peace under a master who 
 was fond of war, and of allowing this inclination to 
 be perceived. Ulited with an exquisite taste, of a 
 sure taet, and even a useful indolence, he was able 
 to render true service, if only in opposing to the 
 abundance of the speech, pen, and action of the 
 first consul, his own sobriety, his perfect mode- 
 ration, his inclination to do nothing. But he had 
 little influence on his imperious master, on whom 
 he made no impression enller by his genius or by 
 conviction. Thus he had no more power than 
 Fouche", evi n less, though always equally employed, 
 and more agreeable. 
 
 For tie- rest, Talleyrand expressed opinions 
 quite contrary to those of Fouche' ; a lover of the 
 ancient regime, minus the persons and ridiculous 
 prejudices of other times, he counselled the recon- 
 stitutioii of the monarchy, or an equivalent for it, 
 by making the glory of the first consul serve in 
 the place of a blood royal ; add.ng, that if it were 
 wished to make a speedy and lasting peace with 
 Europe, it was necessary to lose no time in assimi- 
 lating ourselves to her institutions : so that while 
 Fouche, in the name of the revolution, advised not
 
 1800. 
 Sept. 
 
 Character of Cambac6res 
 
 THE ARMISTICE. 
 
 and Lebrun. 
 
 165 
 
 to go too fast ; Talleyrand, in the name of Europe, 
 counselled that we should not go so Blow. 
 
 The first consul prized the good common sense 
 of Fouche", but liked the graces of Talleyrand, 
 without absolutely believing either the one or the 
 other on every subject ; and as for his confidence, 
 he had given it — given it entirely, but not to 
 cither of these two persons — to his favourite col- 
 league Cambace'res. This personage, though not 
 very brilliant in talent, had a rare good sense, and 
 an unbounded devotion to the first consul. Having 
 trembled for ten years of his life under proscribers 
 of every kind, he loved with a species of tenderness 
 the powerful master who gave him at last the 
 faculty of breathing at ease. He cherished his 
 power, his genius, and his person, from which he 
 had never received, and hoped to receive nothing 
 but benefits. Knowing the weakness even of the 
 greatest men, he gave his advice to the first consul 
 as those ought to advise who wish to be attended 
 to, with perfect good faith, and infinite manage- 
 ment, never for the sake of showing off his own 
 wisdom, but always to be useful to a government, 
 which he loved as himself, expressing his appro- 
 bation of it in public, in every respect, nor permit- 
 ting himself to disapprove it but in secret, in an 
 absolute tite-a-ttte with the first consul ; silent, 
 where there was no longer a remedy, and when all 
 criticising could only be the vain pleasure of finding 
 fault ; always speaking out, and with a courage the 
 more meritorious in one who was the most timid of 
 men, when there was time to prevent a fault, or to 
 influence the general conduct of affairs. Yet, as 
 it must be, a character which restrains itself 
 unci asingly, is certain to escape on some one side, 
 the consul Cambace'res allowed himself to exhibit 
 with his inferiors a puerile vanity ; he had with 
 him constantly some subaltern courtiers, who paid 
 him their gross homage; promenaded the Palais 
 Royal almost every day, in a costume ridicu- 
 lously magnificent, and sought in the gratification 
 of a gourmandue, now proverbial, pleasures which 
 suited the man at once vulgar and wise. But 
 of what consequence, on the whole, are a few ec- 
 centricities when they are accompanied with a 
 superior reason. 
 
 The first consul willingly pardoned these eccen- 
 tricities m his colleague, and held him in great 
 consideration. He valued at its worth that supe- 
 rior good sense, which never wished to shine but 
 only to be useful, which made all things clear in 
 a true and tempi rate light. He appreciated, 
 moreover, the sincerity of his attachment; smiled 
 at his foibles, yet always with regard; and paid 
 him tie- greatest of homages — that of saying all to 
 no one but him, nor ever giving himself any con- 
 cern but about his judgment. Thus he was sus- 
 ceptible of no influence but his alone ; an influence 
 hardly suspected, and, for that reason, very gnat. 
 
 The consul ( 'aiiihacci es was, moreover, just 
 
 adapted to temper his quickness in regard to per- 
 sons and his precipitation in action. Amidst the 
 
 conflict of two oppoMio tendencies, the one pushing 
 forward to a precipitate reaction, the other, on the 
 contrary, combating this reaction, Cambace'res, in- 
 flexible when acting for the maintenance of order, 
 was, in every thing else, always in favour of not 
 
 going tOO last. He did not oppose the end to 
 
 which things were visibly tending. " Let them 
 
 decree some day, to the first consul, all the power 
 they please :" he would repeat, " so be it ; but not 
 too soon." His wish was, moreover, that reality 
 should be always preferred to appearance ; true 
 power, to that which was nothing but ostentation. 
 A first consul, with full power to do all he wished 
 in effecting good, seemed to him worth much more 
 than a crow ned prince limited in action. To act 
 and not to be seen, moreover never to act too 
 quickly, constituted the whole of his wisdom. This 
 is not genius, certainly, but it is prudence ; and in 
 laying the foundation of a great state there must 
 be both. 
 
 Cambace'res was also useful to the first consul in 
 another way than that of giving him counsel ; this 
 was in governing the senate. That body, as we 
 have already mentioned, had an immense import- 
 ance, inasmuch as the gift of offices was vested in 
 it. In the beginning this was, in some measure, 
 left to Sieyes, as an equivalent for the executive 
 power, which was entirely handed over to Bona- 
 parte. Sieyes, at first content to abdicate, and 
 living on his estate at Crosne, began to feel a slight 
 vexation at his insignificance ; for there never was 
 an abdication without regret. If he had possessed 
 purpose and consistency, he might have been able 
 to wrest the senate from the influence of the first 
 consul, and then no other resource would have 
 been left him but a covp d'etat. But Cambace'res, 
 without noise and without ostentation, insinuated 
 himself by degrees into this body, and occupied 
 there the territory which the negligence of Sieyes 
 abandoned to him. People knew that it was 
 through him that the first consul, the source of 
 every favour, was to be got at ; and it was to him, 
 in fact, that men addressed themselves. Of this he 
 took advantage with infinite, yet always concealed, 
 skill, to restrain or gain over the opposition. But 
 with such discretion was this done, that no person 
 thought of complaining. At a time when re- 
 pose was become the true wisdom, when the same 
 repose was necessary to give some day new birth 
 to a taste for liberty, we dare not blame — we dare 
 not call by the name of corrupter, the man who, on 
 one side, tempered the master imposed on us by 
 events, and, on the other, arrested the imprudences 
 of an opposition which had neither aim, nor fitness 
 of season, nor political intelligence. 
 
 In regard to the consul Lebrun, Bonaparte 
 treated him with regard, and even with affection ; 
 yet as a personage who mixed little in affairs, the 
 administration excepted, lie gave him the charge 
 of watching over the detail of the finances, and of 
 keeping himself well acquainted with what the 
 royalists were doing or thinking ; and by these the 
 third consul was frequently surrounded. He 
 had thus an ear or eye amongst them; attaching 
 to it no other importance than a simple interest or 
 curiosity, to know what was doing or hatching in 
 that quarter. 
 
 To have an idea of the first consul's circle, we 
 must say a word of his family. He had four 
 brothers, Joseph, Lucien, Louis, and Jerome. We 
 shall, in their proper time, make acquaintance 
 with the two last. Joseph and Lucien alone were 
 then of any importance. Joseph, the eldest of the 
 family, had married the daughter of a wealthy and 
 honourable merchant of Marseilles. Ho was of 
 gentle disposition, of tolerable talents, agreeable in
 
 Family of the first consul. 
 »M> Joseph and Lucien. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Character of Madame 
 Bonaparte. 
 
 1800. 
 Sept. 
 
 person, and caused his brother much less annoy- 
 ance than any of the others. It was for him the 
 first consul reserved the honour of negotiating 
 peace for the republic with the states of the old 
 and new world, lie had charged him with the 
 conduct of the treaty which lie was preparing with 
 America, and had just named him plenipotentiary 
 to Lur.e'viile, endeavouring thus to give him a part 
 to play which would bo pleasing to France. 
 Lucien, at that time minister of the interior, was 
 a man with much cleverness, but of an unequal, 
 restless, and ungovernable mind, and though he 
 had talent, not having sufficient to make up for 
 his deficiency as regards good sense. Both of 
 these encouraged the inclination of the first consul 
 to raise himself to the supreme power; as can be 
 easily conceived. The genius of the first consul 
 and his glory were things personal to himself ; the 
 only quality which could be transmissible to his 
 family would be the princely quality, if he should 
 some day assume it, by preferring himself to the 
 chief magistracy of the republic. His brothers 
 were of the party who said, with little reserve, that 
 the present form of government was only one of 
 transition, designed to quiet the prejudices of the 
 revolution, but that it was necessary to make a 
 choice; that if it were wished to lay the foundation 
 of any thing really stable, it was impossible to do 
 so without giving to power more of concentration, 
 unity, and solidity. The conclusion of all this 
 could easily be drawn. The first consul, as all the 
 world knew, had no children, and this was a great 
 embarrassment to those who already had their 
 dreams of the transformation of the republic into 
 a monarchy. It was, in fact, difficult to pretend 
 that there was a wish to assure the regular and 
 natural transmission of power, in the family of a 
 man who had no heirs. Thus, though at a future 
 time this want of heirs might possibly be a per- 
 sonal advantage to the brothers of the first consul, 
 it was at the moment an argument against their 
 plans, and they frequently reproached Madame 
 Bonaparte with a misfortune, of which they said 
 she was the cause. Having quarrelled with her 
 from jealousy of her influence, they used little 
 reserve respecting her before her husband, and 
 persecuted her with their observations, repeating 
 incessantly and even loudly, that the first consul 
 ought to have a wife who would bring him chil- 
 dren ; that this was a matter not of private but 
 of public interest, and that a resolution to this 
 effect became indispensable, if he had any desire 
 to assure the future to France. These fatal words, 
 full of so sinister a conclusion for her, they caused 
 to I "• repeated from every lip, and the wife of the 
 first consul, in appearance so fortunate, was thus 
 at that moment far from being happy. 
 
 Josephine Bonaparte, married at first to the count 
 of Beauharnais, then to the young general, who 
 had saved tin' convention on the 13th Veiidcmiaire, 
 and now sharing with him a. place which began to 
 assume some resemblance to a throne, was a Creole 
 by birth, and had all the graces, all the deficiencies, 
 usual in women of such an origin. Kind, prodigal, 
 and frivolous, not beautiful, but the perfection of 
 elegance, gifted with infinite power of charming, 
 iiad t'ne skill of pleasing much more than 
 women who were her superiors in wit and beauty. 
 The levity of her conduct, depicted to her husband 
 
 in the most odious colours on his return from 
 Egypt, filled him with anger. He was inclined to 
 separate from a spouse, whom, whether right or 
 wrong, he considered culpable. She wept a long 
 time at his feet; her two children, Hortense and 
 Eugene de Beauharnais, who were both of them 
 very dear to Bonaparte, wept also : he was con- 
 quered, and yielded to a conjugal tenderness which, 
 during many years, was with him victorious over 
 political considerations. He forgot the faults, real 
 or supposed, of Josephine, and loved her still; but 
 never as at the early period of their union. Her 
 extravagancies without limit, her annoying im- 
 prudencies, every day brought under his notice, 
 frequently excited iu her husband emotions of im- 
 patience, which he could not control; but he par- 
 doned all with the kindness prompted by successful 
 power, and knew not how to be long angry with 
 a wife, who had shared the first moments of his 
 nascent greatness, and wdio seemed, from the day 
 she took her scat by his side, to have brought 
 fortune along with her. 
 
 Madame Bonaparte was a true woman of the 
 old re'gime, a devotee, superstitious, and even a 
 royalist, detesting those she called the Jacobins, 
 who fully returned her hate ; nor seeking any 
 society but the men of the past, who returning in 
 crowds, as we have said, came to pay their visits 
 to her in the mornings. They had known her as 
 the wife of an honourable man, of sufficiently high 
 rank, and of military dignity, the unfortunate 
 Beauharnais, who died on the revolutionary scaf- 
 fold; they found her the wife of a parvenu, hut of a 
 parvenu more powerful than any prince in Europe; 
 they had no hesitation in going to her to ask 
 favours, while all the while they affected to look 
 upon her with disdain. She took pains in making 
 them share in her power, and rendering them 
 services. She ever studied to foster an opinion 
 amongst them, which they willingly adopted, that 
 Bonaparte was, secretly, only waiting an occasion 
 to recall the Bourbons, and restore to them the 
 inheritance which was their right. And, singular 
 as it is, this illusion, which she took a pleasure in 
 exciting amongst them, she was almost inclined 
 herself to share in; for she would have preferred 
 to see her husband a subject of the Bourbons, — 
 but a subject, the protector of his king, and sur- 
 rounded by the homage of the ancient. French aris- 
 tocracy, — much rather than as a superior monarch 
 crowned by the hand of the nation. She was a 
 woman of weak heart ; yet whatever her levity, 
 she loved the man who covered her with glory, 
 and loved him the more now that she was less 
 loved by him. Never imagining that he could 
 plant his audacious foot on the steps of the throne 
 without falling, alike by the daggers of the re- 
 publicans and the royalists, she saw confounded in 
 one common ruin, her children, her husband, and 
 herself. But, supposing that he should arrive 
 safe and sound upon that usurped throne, another 
 fear tore her heart ; she could not sit there with 
 him. If ever they made Bonaparte king or em- 
 peror, it would evidently be under the pretext of 
 giving to France a fixed government, by rendering 
 it hereditary; and, unhappily, the physicians al- 
 lowed her no hope of having children. On this 
 subject she called to mind the singular prediction 
 of a woman, a kind of Pythoness then in vogue,
 
 1800. 
 Sept. 
 
 Character of Madame 
 Bonaparte. 
 
 THE ARMISTICE. 
 
 Letters to the first consul 
 from Louis XVIII. 
 
 167 
 
 who had said to her : " You will occupy the first 
 position in the world ; but for a short time only." 
 She had already heard the brothers of the first 
 consul give utterance to the fatal word — divorce. 
 This unfortunate lady, whom, it they judged of 
 her condition by the continued brilliancy with 
 which she was surrounded, the queens of Europe 
 might have regarded with envy, lived in the most 
 terrible anxiety. Every advance of fortune added 
 to the appearance of her happiness and to the re- 
 gretsof Iter life; and if she continued to escape from 
 her heart-piercing anxieties, it was from a levity 
 of character, which preserved her from prolonged 
 thought. The attachment of Bonaparte, bisabrupt- 
 of passion when he gave way to it, made 
 up on the instant by emotions of the most perfect 
 kindness, served also to reassure her. Hurried 
 on, moreover, like all persons of that time, by a 
 whirlwind which took away their senses, she 
 counted on chance, the god of revolutions; and, 
 after the most painful agitations, returned to her en- 
 joyments. She strove to divert her husband's mind 
 from his notions of exceeding greatness, ventured to 
 speak to him of the Bourbons, at the risk of storms; 
 and, in spite of her tastes, which should have led 
 her to prefer Talleyrand to Fouche', she took the 
 latter into her favour, because, as she said, all 
 Jacobin though he was, he yet ventured to speak 
 the truth to the first consul ; since, in her eyes, to 
 make the consul hear the truth was to advise the 
 preservation of the republic, with an augmentation 
 of the consular power at the same time. Talley- 
 rand and Fouche', thinking they should strengthen 
 their position by penetrating into the family of the 
 first consul, introduced themselves by flattering 
 each side as it liked to be flattered. Talleyrand 
 sought to please the brothers, by saying that it 
 was necessary I i devise for the first consul some 
 position difFere it from that which he held by the 
 constitution. Fouche: endeavoured to make him- 
 self agreeable to .Madame Bonaparte, by saying 
 that to pu b ■ n too fast would be to commit the 
 gravest imprudence, and would, in fact, risk 
 the loss of all. This manner of insinuating them- 
 selves into his family circle was singularly dis- 
 pleasing to the first consul. He gave frequent 
 evident lis feeling; and when he had any 
 
 communication to make to his relatives, entrusted 
 it to 1 igue Cambace'res, who, with his ac- 
 
 customi I prudence, heard till and said nothing 
 but what he was directed, and thus acquitted him- 
 self of this class of commissions with as much 
 skill as exactni 
 
 A circumstance, sufficiently strange, occurred 
 at this moment to give to all these internal agi- 
 tations an immediate and positive object. The 
 prince, who w; ( s afterwards Louis XVII I., then 
 an exile, attempted a singular step, and one 
 
 which showed little reflection. Many of the- royal- 
 ists, to explain and excuse their return towards 
 the new government, feigned to believe, or actually 
 did blieve, that Bonaparte was desirous of re- 
 calling the Bourbons. These men, who bad title r 
 Dpi read, or did not know how to read, the history 
 of the English revolution, and to discover there 
 
 the terrible lessons with which it was full, en all 
 
 at once to a discovery of an analogy in it which 
 was propitious to their hopes: this was the bring- 
 ing back of the Stuart-, by 'J leral .Monk. They 
 
 suppressed all consideration of Cromwell, whose 
 part nevertheless was quite great enough not to 
 be overlooked. They ended by getting up a fac- 
 titious opinion, which had reached as far as Louis 
 XVIII. This prince, gifted with tact and some 
 sense, had the great weakness to write to Bona- 
 parte himself, and forwarded to him several letters, 
 which he considered well-timed, but which were 
 by no means so, and proved but one thing — the 
 ordinary illusions of the emigrants. Here is the 
 first of these letters : 
 
 "20th February, 1800. 
 " Whatever appearance their conduct may as- 
 sume, men like you, sir, inspire no inquietude. 
 You have accepted a post of eminence, and I am 
 rej iced that you have done so. You, better than 
 any person, know how much strength and power 
 are wanting to make the happiness of a great nation. 
 Save France from her own frenzy, and you will 
 fulfil the first wish of my heart ; restore her king 
 to her, and future generations will bless your 
 memory. You will always be too necessary to 
 the state to admit of my acquitting, even by the 
 most important posts, the debt of my ancestors 
 and my own. " Louis." 
 
 On receiving this letter the first consul was 
 much surprised, and remained undecided, not 
 knowing whether he ought to reply to it. It had 
 been transmitted to him by the consul Lebrun, 
 who received it himself from the abbe' Mon- 
 tesquieu. Absorbed in the multiplicity of affairs 
 at the commencement of his government, the first 
 consul allowed the time for answering it to pass 
 by. The prince, with the impatience of an emi- 
 grant, wrote a second letter, still more strongly 
 impressed with the credulity of his party, and 
 still more to be regretted for the sake of his own 
 dignity. It was as follows : — 
 
 " For a long time, general, you must have 
 known, that you have acquired my esteem. If 
 you doubt whether I am Busceptible of gratitude, 
 mark out your own place, fix those of your 
 friends. As for my principles, 1 am a Frenchman; 
 clement by disposition, I shall be still more so 
 from reason. 
 
 "No, the victor of Lodi, of Castiglione, of Ar- 
 eola, the conqueror of Italy and of Egypt, can nev< r 
 prefer a vain celebrity to true glory. Neverthe- 
 less, you are losing valuable time; we can assure 
 the repose of France ; I say mv, because 1 have 
 need of Bonaparte for this purpose, and he cannot 
 effect it without me. 
 
 "General, Europe observes yon, glory awaits 
 you, and I am impatient to restore peace to my 
 people. " LOOIS." 
 
 This time the first consul thought he could 
 not dispense with replying. In reality, he had 
 never any doubt as to the course to be pursued 
 in regard to the deposed princes. Independently 
 of all ambitii n, he looked upon the recall of the 
 Bourbons as an impracticable and fatal step. 
 Whatever might be otht rwise bis desire to be 
 
 master of France, it was from < viction that he 
 
 repulsed them. His wife had been informed of 
 the Secret, as also his secretary ; and though he 
 did not do them tin' honour of admitting them to his 
 deliberations on such a matter, he informed them
 
 168 Answer of the first consul. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Conspiracy of Ceracchi 
 and Arena. 
 
 1800. 
 Oct. 
 
 of his motives. His wife had thrown herself at 
 his feet, supplicating liim to leave the Bourbons 
 at least some hope ; he repulsed her with some 
 temper, and addressing himself to his secretary, 
 " You do not know these people," said he ; " if I 
 were to restore their throne to them, they would 
 believe they had recovered it by the grace of God. 
 They would be quickly surrounded, and drawn on 
 hy the emigrants ; tliey would upset every thing, 
 in their wish to restore even what cannot be 
 restored. What would become of the numerous 
 interests created since 1789 ? What would become 
 of them, and of the holders of national property, 
 and of the chiefs of the army, and of all the men 
 who have engaged their lives and fortunes in the 
 revolution ? Next to men, what would become of 
 things ? What would become of the principles 
 for which we have fought ? All would perish, 
 but would not perish without a conflict : there 
 would be a fearful struggle ; thousands of men 
 would fall. Never, never, will I adopt so fatal 
 a resolve." He was right. All personal interest 
 apart, he acted properly. His own dictatorship, 
 which retarded the establishment of political liberty 
 in France, a liberty, be it said, at that time sur- 
 rounded with great difficulties; his own dictator- 
 ship achieved the triumph of the French revo- 
 lution, which Waterloo itself, because it happened 
 fifteen years later, could not destroy. 
 
 His answer was of course conformable with his 
 opinion, and left no more hope than lie meant to 
 give. It is only from the text itself of the letter 
 that we can form an opinion of the grandeur of 
 expression with which he replied to the imprudent 
 advances of the exiled prince. 
 
 " Paris, the 20th Fructidor, year vin. 
 "7th September, 1800. 
 
 " I have received your letter, sir ; I thank you 
 for the polite expressions you make use of in 
 regard to myself. 
 
 " You must not wish for your return to France; 
 you would have to march there over five hundred 
 thousand corpses. 
 
 "Sacrifice your own interest to the repose and 
 happiness of France ; history will give you credit 
 for it. 
 
 " I am not insensible to the misfortunes of your 
 family ; and I will contribute with pleasure to the 
 ease and tranquillity of your retreat. 
 
 " Bonaparte." 
 
 Some part of this was made known, and thus 
 the personal designs of the first consul became 
 only the more evident. 
 
 It is often the attempt of parties against a 
 rising power that hastens its progress, and en- 
 courages it to dare all it meditates. An attempt, 
 more ridiculous than criminal, of the republicans 
 against the first consul, hastened a demonstration, 
 altogether as ridiculous on the part of those who 
 wished to precipitate his elevation ; neither the 
 one nor the other attained the object. 
 
 The patriot declaiiners, more noisy and much 
 less formidable than the agents of royal ism, met 
 frequently at the house of an old employe of the 
 committee of public safety, then out of office. 
 He was called Demerville; he spoke much, carried 
 from one place to another pamphlets against the 
 
 government, and was scarcely capable of doing 
 more than this. To his house resorted the Corsican 
 Arena, one of those members of the five hundred 
 who had escaped through the window on the 18th 
 Brumaire ; Topino-Lebrun, a painter of some 
 talent, a pupil of David, who shared in the re- 
 volutionary enthusiasm of the artists of that time; 
 and also many of the Italian refugees, who 
 were exasperated against Bonaparte because he 
 protected the pope, and had not established a 
 Roman republic. The principal and most noisy of 
 these last was a sculptor named Ceracchi. These 
 hot-headed fellows usually assembled at Demer- 
 ville's, and held the most foolish discourse. It 
 was necessary, they said, to bring matters to an 
 end ; they bad most of the world with them — 
 Masse'na, Carnot, Lannes, Sieyes, and Fouche him- 
 self. They had but to strike the tyrant, and all 
 the true republicans would at once declare them- 
 selves ; all would reunite to raise up once more the 
 expiring republic. But it was requisite to find a 
 Brutus to strike this new Csesar — and no one 
 offered himself. A soldier without employ, named 
 Harrel, who was living in idleness and misery, with 
 these declaimers, indigent and discontented as them- 
 selves, appeared to them the man of action of whom 
 they stood in need. They made proposals to him 
 at which he was terrified. In his agitation 
 he disclosed the matter to a commissary of war 
 with whom he had some connection, and who 
 advised him to impart what he knew to the go- 
 vernment. Harrel next went and found Bour- 
 rienne, the secretary to the consul, and Lannes, the 
 commandant of the consular guard. The first 
 consul, forewarned by them, caused money to be 
 given by the police to Harrel, as well as an order 
 for him to undertake every thing that his accom- 
 plices might propose. These wreU-hed conspirators 
 believed themselves to have met in this individual 
 with the right man to execute their purpose; but 
 they found that one was not sufficient. Harrel 
 proposed to them to introduce others ; they con- 
 sented, and he introduced some of Fouehe"s agents. 
 After they had fallen into this snare, their next 
 care was to procure poignards, wherewith to arm 
 Harrel and his companions. This time they un- 
 dertook the care themselves, and brought poignards 
 purchased by Topino-Lebrun. At last they made 
 choice of a place to assassinate the first consul, and 
 that was the opera, then styled the theatre of arts. 
 They fixed the time, it was to be the 10th October, 
 or 18th Venil(?fniaire, year ix., the day when the 
 first consul was to be present at the first represen- 
 tation of a new opera. The police, forewarned, 
 had taken precautions. The first consul went 
 to the theatre of the opera, followed by Lannes, 
 who, watching over him with the greatest solici- 
 tude, had doubled the guard, and placed about the 
 box the bravest of his grenadiers. The pretended 
 assassins came in fact to the rendezvous, but not 
 all, and not armed. Topino-Lebrun was not there, 
 no more was Demerville. . Arena and Ceracchi 
 alone presented themselves. Ceracchi approached 
 nearer than the others to the box of the first consul, 
 but he was without a poignard. There were 
 no bold men of all those present on the spot, nor 
 armed, except the conspirators placed by the police 
 on the scene of crime. They arrested Ceracchi, 
 Arena, and all the others in succession, but the
 
 1800. 
 Oct. 
 
 Great sensation thereby occasioned. 
 Addresses to the first consul. 
 
 THE ARMISTICE. Indiscreet pamphlet by M. Fontanes. 
 
 169 
 
 most part at their own dwellings, or in houses 
 where they had gone to seek refuge. 
 
 This affair created a great sensation, which it 
 did not deserve. Assuredly the police — which igno- 
 rant men, strangers to any knowledge of public 
 affairs, accuse in general of itself fabricating the 
 plots which it discovers — the police had not in- 
 vented this, though it might be said to have taken 
 too great* share in it. The conspirators without 
 doubt meditated the death of the first consul, but 
 they were incapable of striking the blow with the r 
 own hands ; by encouraging them, and by furnish- 
 ing them with what it was their greatest difficulty 
 to find, hands to execute their purpose, they had 
 been drawn into crime further than they would 
 have been engaged in it had they been left to 
 themselves. If all this were to have ended in a 
 severe but temporary punishment, such as is in- 
 flicted on madmen, it would have been well ; but 
 to lead them to their death by such a road is more 
 than is right, even when we are acting for the 
 preservation of a valuable life. Men did not look 
 at matters so nicely at that time. They instituted 
 proceedings directly which rendered the scaffold 
 inevitable to these unhappy offenders. 
 
 This attempt caused general alarm. Until now 
 there had only been seen during the revolution 
 what were called the journees, in other words, 
 attacks by armed men ; but against assaults such 
 as these there was security in the military power 
 of the government. No one had thought about as- 
 sassination, and the possibility of the first consul 
 being suddenly struck down and killed, notwith- 
 standing he might he surrounded by his grenadiers. 
 Tin- attempt of Ceracchi, the ridiculous character 
 of which was not known, was a piece of intelligence 
 that frightened the public. The dread to see so- 
 ciety plunged again into a chaos dwelt upon every 
 mind, and gave birth to a species of passion. The 
 crowd ran to the Tuileries. The tribunate was the 
 only public body of the state which happened at 
 that moment to be sitting, from its habit of holding 
 its meetings every fortnight during the interval of 
 the sessions; and that body went there collectively. 
 All the public authorities followed the example. A 
 vast number of addresses were presented to the 
 firs! consul. Their sense may be collected from the 
 contents of that drawn up by the municipal body 
 of Paris : — 
 
 " General, we come in the name of the citizens of 
 Paris to express to you the deep indignation which 
 they feel at hearing of the new attempt meditated 
 against your person. Too many interests are at- 
 tached to your existence for the plots which have 
 threatened it not to become a subject of public 
 sorrow, as all that protects it is a subject of ac- 
 knowledgment and national gratitude. 
 
 " Providence, whk h in VendCmiaire, year vnr., 
 brought you back from Egypt, that at Marengo 
 rved you from all the perils of the field ; that 
 lastly, on the 18th Vende'miaire, in the year ix., saved 
 you from the rage of the anmnnhm. permit us to 
 say bo, is tin- providence of Prance much more than 
 yours. The same providence will not allow that a 
 year so important, so full of glorious events, and 
 destined to occupy so grand a place in human me- 
 mory, should terminate all at once by a detectable 
 crime. <) that the enemies of France would cease 
 to desire evil to you and to us, that they would but 
 
 submit themselves to that, destiny which, more 
 powerftd than all their plots, will assure your 
 preservation and that of the republic ! We do 
 not speak to you of the guilty : they belong to 
 the law." 
 
 These addresses, all cast in the same mould, con- 
 tinually repeated to the first consul that he had no 
 right to be merciful, that his life belonged to the 
 republic, and ought to be placed under the same 
 safeguard as the public goed, of which it was the 
 pledge. It is proper to state that these manifesta- 
 tions were sincere. Every one thought himself in 
 danger from the first consul being in that situation. 
 All who were not of the factious wished for his pre- 
 servation. The royalists believing, that if anything 
 happened to him they would be turned back to the 
 scaffold or to exile; the revolutionists believing they 
 should have a counter-revolution, rendered trium- 
 phant by means of foreign armies. 
 
 The first consul took particular care, it is worthy 
 of remark, to diminish the idea of the danger to 
 which he had been exposed. He would not have 
 it believed that his life depended upon the first 
 comer, and he regarded that belief as equally 
 necessary for his safety and his dignity. Speaking 
 to the authorities commissioned to compliment him, 
 he told them that the danger about which they 
 were so much alarmed really had nothing in it 
 very serious ; he explained to them how, sur- 
 rounded by officers of the consular guard and a 
 picket of grenadiers, he was completely secured 
 against all that seven or eight miserable wretches 
 could have intended to effect. He believed much 
 more than his words would seem to imply, in the 
 peril which had threatened his life; but he judged 
 it useful to impress upon all minds, that surrounded 
 by the grenadiers of Marengo he was inaccessible 
 in the midst of them to the attempts of an assassin. 
 
 Plots as serious as that which made all this stir, 
 and directed by other hands, were preparing in dark- 
 ness. A vague feeling prevailed of such being the 
 case, and people said that these attempts would be 
 renewed more than once. This gave the partizaus 
 of the first consul a reason for repeating that 
 something was wanting more stable than an ephe- 
 meral power, resting in the hands of one man, that 
 might disappear beneath the blow of an assassin's 
 poignard. The brother of the first consul, Rosderer, 
 RegnaultdeSt.Jeand'Angely, Talleyrand, Fontanes, 
 and many others held these notions, some from a 
 conviction of their truth, others to please their mas- 
 ter; all, as it commonly happens, mingled with sen- 
 timents sincere or interested. At this moment a 
 pamphlet appeared anonymously, a singular and 
 very remarkable production. It hail for its author, 
 according to report, Lucien Bonaparte; but from 
 
 its rare beauty of style, and its knowledge of clas- 
 sic history, it should only have been ascribed to 
 its real author, M. Fontanes. This pamphlet, as 
 the cause of a great sensation in the public mind, 
 deserves to be noticed lure. It marked one of the 
 steps that advanced Bonaparte in his career to the 
 supreme power. The title was, " A Parallel between 
 
 Cceear, Cromwell, Monk, and Bonaparte." The 
 author first compared Bonaparte with Cromwell, 
 but was unable to trace any resemblance between 
 the principal personage in the English revolution 
 and the first consul. Cromwell was a fanatic, the 
 chief of a sanguinary faction, the assassin of his
 
 Bonaparte compared with 
 170 Cromwell, Monk, and 
 Cajsar. 
 
 The pamphlet extensively 1Rftft 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. circulated by Lucien Bo- "™- 
 
 naparte. 
 
 king, a victor only in a civil war, conquering a few 
 cities and provinces of England, a mere barbarian, 
 who ravaged the universities of Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge. He was a very able scoundrel, not a hero. 
 The parallel of Cromwell in the French revolution 
 would be Robespierre, if Robespierre had been 
 possessed of the courage, and if France bad only 
 La Vendee to conquer, and he had been the con- 
 queror. General Bonaparte, on the contrary, a 
 stranger to the evils of the revolution, had covered 
 with astonishing glory the crimes in which he had 
 no concern. He had abolished the barbarous festival 
 instituted in honour of the regicide; he had put an 
 end to the horrors of revolutionary fanaticism ; he 
 had honoured learning and science, reestablished the 
 schools, and opened the temple of the arts. He bad 
 not made a civil war; he had conquered, not cities 
 but kingdoms. As to Monk, what had he in com- 
 mon with that wavering man, the deserter from all 
 parties, not caring whither he went, having wrecked 
 the vessel of the republic on the monarchy, as he 
 would have wrecked that upon the republic, — what 
 had that vulgar and miserable personage in com- 
 mon with general Bonaparte, and his stedfast 
 mind acquiring whatever it desired ? The title of 
 duke of Albemarle had satisfied the wretched vanity 
 of Monk. "But can it be credited, that the baton 
 of a marshal or the sword of a constable sufficed 
 for a man before whom the universe is confounded I 
 Was it not felt that he was one of those destined to 
 fill a first place 3 Besides, if Bonaparte were ever 
 able to imitate Monk, would not France be seen 
 again plunged into the horrors of a new revolu- 
 tion ? storm in place of calm being every where 
 renewed. 
 
 After having repelled these comparisons, the 
 author could find no one analogous to Bonaparte 
 in history but Csesar. He recognized in that cha- 
 racter the same military glory, the same political 
 greatness; and lie also discovered one dissimilarity. 
 Csesar at the head of the demagogues of Rome had 
 trampled upon the good men and destroyed the re- 
 public; Bonaparte, on the contrary, had elevated 
 the party of good men, and crushed only the base. 
 
 All this was true ; the work undertaken by 
 Bonaparte was much more upright than that of 
 Csesar. 
 
 After these comparisons the writer concluded, 
 "Happy the republic, if Bonaparte were immortal." 
 "But where," he adds. — "where are bis heirs." 
 Where are the institutions that can adequately 
 maintain his good deeds and perpetuate hie genius! 
 The fate of thirty millions of men only hangs upon 
 the life of one ! Frenchmen, what would becom 1 
 of you, if at this moment a melancholy cry an- 
 nounced to you that this man was dead 1" 
 
 Here the author examined the different chances 
 which would present themselves on the death of 
 general Bonaparte. "Shall we fall under the yoke 
 of an assembly ? But the remembrance of the con- 
 vention was there to drive the minds of every body 
 from sue!) a supposition. Shall we throw ourselves 
 into the arms of a military government ? But whin; 
 was the equal of Bonaparte! The republic, there 
 was no doubt, possessed great generals, but which 
 of them was so superior to all the rest, as to be 
 above rivalry, and able to hinder the armies from 
 combating each other for the interest of this par- 
 ticular leader I in default of a government of 
 
 assemblies, in default of a government of preto- 
 rians, should recourse be had to a legitimate dynasty, 
 that was upon the frontier holding out its arms to 
 France ? But that would be a counter revolution, 
 the return of Charles II. and of James II. to 
 England; blood had flowed at their appearance: 
 they were sufficing examples to open the eyes of 
 nations, and if there was need of more recent ex- 
 amples, the return of the queen of Naples and her 
 imbecile husband to that unhappy kingdom was a 
 lesson written in characters of blood ! Frenchmen, 
 you sleep on the edge of an abyss! " Such were the 
 last words of this singular piece of writing. 
 
 All which it contained, except the flattering lan- 
 guage, was true; but the truths were premature, 
 to judge by the impression which they produced. 
 Lncien, minister of the interior, employed every 
 means in his power to scatter this pamphlet all 
 over France. He filled Paris and the provinces 
 with it, having taken good care to conceal its 
 origin. It produced a great effi ct. At the bottom 
 it disclosed that which every body thought ; but it 
 demanded from France an avowal which a very 
 legitimate pride did not yet permit her to make. She 
 had abolished eight years previously a monarchy 
 of fourteen centuries, and she must so soon after- 
 wards come forth and acknowledge at the feet of a 
 general thirty years old, that she had played the 
 fool, and pray him to revive, in his own person, 
 that very monarchy ! She was willing to give him 
 a power equal to that of monarchs, but it was ne- 
 cessary, at least, to preserve appearances, were it 
 only for the sake of the national dignity. Besides, 
 the young warrior had gained great victories, and 
 alreadv given the beginning of services to the 
 country; but he had scarcely commenced the re- 
 conciliation of parties, the reorganization of France, 
 the arrangement of the laws; above all, he had not 
 yet given peace to the world. There remained to 
 him these and many titles to conquer, which he 
 was very certain in addition to place soon over his 
 glorious head. 
 
 The impression was general and painful. On all 
 sides, the prefects stated the pamphlet produced a 
 mischievous effect; that it gave some reason to the 
 factious demagogues to say, that the Ctesars pro- 
 duced the Brutuses, that tin; pamphlet was impru- 
 dent and to be regretted. In Paris the impression 
 it produced was similar. In the council of state, 
 the disapprobation was not concealed. The first 
 consul, whether be had known anything of the 
 pamphlet, whether he had been compromised un- 
 knowingly by impatient and awkward friends, still 
 believed the disavowal necessary, above all, in the 
 sight of the revolutionary party. He sent for 
 Foodie, arid publicly demanded of him why he suf- 
 fered the circulation of such writings. The minister 
 replied, " I know the author." " 1 1' you know him," 
 replied the first consul, "he must be sent to Vin- 
 ci lines." "I am not able to send him to Vincennes," 
 replied Fondle - , " because he is your own brother." 
 At this Bonaparte complained bitterly of his bro- 
 ther, who had already more than once compromised 
 him. His sourness towards Lucien increased. One 
 day, Lucien not being exactly in time at the coun- 
 cil of ministers, a thing that often occurred, and 
 many complaints being made against his official 
 conduct, the first consul testified great discontent 
 towards him, and appeared determined to revoke
 
 1800. 
 Oct 
 
 Peace signed 
 
 HOHENLINDEN. 
 
 with the United States. 
 
 171 
 
 Its appointment immediately. Bat the consul Cam- 
 baceres urged him not to take from Lucien the 
 portfolio of the home department without giving 
 him an equivalent. 
 
 The Hist consul consented ; Cambace'res devised 
 an embassy to Spain, and was instructed to otter it 
 to Lucien* who accepted it without difficulty. 
 Lucieu went off, and there was soon no more 
 thought of the imprudent pamphlet. 
 
 Thus a first attempt at assassination directed 
 against the first consul had called forth in his 
 
 favour a first attempt to elevate him ; but the one 
 was as foolish as the other was badly managed. It 
 was necessary for Umiaparte to attain by new ser- 
 vices an augmentation of authority, which no one 
 could yet precisely define, but all could confusedly 
 foresee in the future, and to which he or his 
 friends made no secret of his aspiring ; at any 
 rate, his fortune was about to furnish him, in ser- 
 vices rendered, and in dangers avoided, great titles 
 to similar demands, such as France could no longer 
 resist. 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 HOHENLINDEN. 
 
 PEACE WITH THE UNITED STATES AND THE BARBAKY REGENCIES. — MEETING OF THE CONGRESS OP LUNEVILLE. — 
 M. COEENTZEL REFUSES A SEPARATE NEGOTIATION, AND WISHES AT LEAST FOR THE I'RESENTE OK AN ENGLISH 
 PLENIPOTENTIARY, TO COVER THE REAL NEGOTIATION BETWEEN AUSTRIA AND FRANCE. — THE FIRST CONSUL, 
 TO HASTEN THE CONCLUSION, ORDERS THE RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES. — PLAN OF THE WINTER CAMPAIGN. — 
 JIOREAU COMMANDED TO PASS THE INN, AM) MARCH IPOS VIENNA. — MACDONALD, WITH THE SECOND ARMY 
 OF RESERVE, ORDERED TO PASS THE GRISONS INTO THE TYROL. — BRUNE, WITH EIGHTY THOUSAND MEN, IS 
 DESTINED TO FORCE THE MINCIO AND ADIGE. — PLAS OF THE YOUNG ARCHDUKE JOHN, NOW BECOME GENERAL- 
 ISSIMO OF THE AUSTRIAN ARMIES. — HIS TLAN TO TURN MOREAU FAILS FROM DEFECTS IN THE EXECUTION. — 
 HE HALTS IN HIS WAY, AND WISHES TO ATTACK MOREAU IN THE FRONT OF HOHENLINDEN. — FINE MANOEUVRE 
 OF MOREAU, EXECUTED IN AN ADMIRABLE MANNER BY RICHEPANSE. — MEMORABLE BATTLE OP HOHENLINDEN. 
 
 GREAT CONSEQUENCES OF THE BATTLE. — PASSAGES OF THE INN, SALZA, TRACN, AND ENS. — ARMISTICE OF 
 
 STEYER. — AUSTRIA PROMISES TO SIGN AN IMMEDIATE PEACE — OPERATIONS IN THE ALPS AND IN ITALY. — 
 PASSAGE OF THE SPLUGEN BY MACDONALD IN THE MIDST OF THE HORRORS OF WINTER. — ARRIVAL OF MAC- 
 DONALD IN THE ITALIAN TYROL. — DISPOSITIONS OF BRUNE FOR PASSING THE MINCIO AT TWO PLA( ES. — ERROR 
 OF HIS DISPOSITIONS.— GENERAL DUPONT MAKES THE FIRST PASSAGE AT POZZOLO, AND DRAWS UPON HIMSELF 
 THE WHOLE AUSTRIAN ARMY. — THE MINCIO IS FORCED AFTER A USELESS WASTE OF BLOOD. — PASSAGES OF THE 
 MINCIO AND ADIGE. — LUCKY ESCAPE OF GENERAL LAUDON, BY' MEANS OF A FALSEHOOD. — THE AUSTRIAN'S 
 BEING ROUTI D, DEMAND AN ARMISTICE IN ITALY. — SIGNATURE OF THE ARMISTICE AT TREVISO.— RENEWAL OF 
 THE NEGOTIATIONS AT LUNEVILLE. — THE PRINCIPLE OF A SEPARATE PEACE ADMITTED BY M. ColsbNTZI I.. — 
 THE FIRST CONSUL INSISTS UPON AUSTRIA PAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE SECOND CAMPAIGN, AND IMPOSES 
 CONDITIONS HARDER THAN THOSE OF THE PRELIMINARIES OF M. JUL1EN.— HE (.IVES FOR AN ULTIMATUM THE 
 LIMITS OF THE RHINE IN GERMANY, AND OF THE ADIGE IN ITALY. — BOLD RESISTANCE OF M. COBENTZ1L. — 
 THIS ASSISTANCE, ALTHOUGH HONOURABLE TO HIM. MAKES AUSTRIA LOSE VALUABLE TIME. — WHILE THE 
 NEGOTIATION PROCEEDS AT LUNEVILLE, THE EMPEROR PAUL, TO WHOM THE FIRST CONSUL HAD CEDED THE 
 ISLAND OF MALTA, III! I.AlMS IT OF THE ENGLISH, WHO REFUSE IT. — ANGER OF PAUL I.— HE INVITES THE 
 KING- OF SV, E EN TO PETERSBURG, AND RENEWS THE LEAGUE OF 1 <\S0. — DECLARATION OF THE NEUTRAL 
 POWERS. — RUPTURE OF ALL THE NORTH! UN POWERS WITH ENGLAND — THE FIRST CONSUL PROE1TS BY IT TO 
 FORCE HARDER TERMS UPON AUSTRIA— HE INSISTS, BESIDES THE LIMITS OF THE ADIGE, UPON THE EXPUL- 
 SION OF ALL THE PRINCES OF THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA FROM ITALY.- THE GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY, AS WELL 
 AS THE DUKE OF MODENA, TO BE REMOVED INTO GERMANY.— M. Colli NTZEL AT LAST GIVES WAY, AND SIGNS 
 WITH JOSEPH BONAPARTE, ON THE NINTH OF FEBRUARY, 1801, THE CELEBRATED TREATY OF LUNEVILLE. — 
 PRANCE, FOR THE SECOND TIME, OBTAINS IHE RHINE FOR A BOUNDARY THROUGHOUT ITS WHOLE LENGTH, 
 AM> REMAINS MISTRESS OF NEARLY ALL ITALY. — AUSTRIA IS FORCED BACK BEHIND THE ADIGE. — THE CISAL- 
 PINE REPUBLIC IS TO INCLUDE THE MILANESE, MANTUA, THE DUCHY OF MODENA. AND THE LEGATIONS. — 
 TUSCANY IS D] l OR THE HOUSE OP PARMA, WITH THE TITLE OF KINGDOM OV ITIURIA — THE PRIN- 
 
 CIPLE OF Till SECULARISATIONS IMPOSED lull GERMANY. — IMPORTANT RESULTS GAINED BY THE FIRST CONSUL 
 IN THE COURSJ 01 Mill ! . MONTHS. 
 
 Josf.pic Bonaparte had signed, at Rfforlbntaine, the 
 treaty which established peace between Prance 
 and America, with the American negotiators, Ells- 
 worth. Davie, and Van Murray, It was the first 
 I concluded b) the consular government. It 
 wa Datura! thai the reconciliation of Prance with 
 the different powers of the ((lobe, should commence 
 with that republic, to which, in a certain Bl use, 
 
 she had given birth. The first consul had per- 
 mitted the adjournment of the difficulties relative 
 to the treaty of alliance of the 6th of February, 
 177IS ; but, in return, he had required the adjourn- 
 ment of the American claims, relative to captured 
 wuelsi He judged, with reason, that be ought to 
 be satisfied with the acknowledgment of the rights 
 of neutrals, 'fins gave to Prance another ally, and
 
 172 Conditions of the treaty. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Negotiations with Austria. 
 
 1800. 
 Oct. 
 
 to England an enemy more on the ocean ; it was a 
 new fermentation in the maritime dispute, which 
 was rising in the north, and daily becoming 
 more serious. Inconsequence of this, the princi- 
 pal articles of the neutral rights, such at least as 
 they are laid down liy France and all the mari- 
 time states, were integrally in the new treaty. 
 
 These articles were the same as we have already- 
 stated. 
 
 1. The flag covers the merchandise; in conse- 
 quence, the neutral can carry the goods of any 
 enemy without being searched. 
 
 2. There is no exception from this rule, unless 
 for the contraband of war; and that contraband 
 does not extend to alimentary substances, or to 
 naval stores, timber, pitch, and hemp, but solely to 
 manufactured arms and munitions of war, such as 
 powder, saltpetre, petards, matches, balls, bullets, 
 bombs, grenades, carcasses, pikes, halberts, swords, 
 sword-belts, accoutrements, pistols, scabbards, ca- 
 valry-saddles, harness, cannon mortars with their 
 
 •carriages, and generally arms, munitions of war, 
 and implements for the use of troops. 
 
 3. Neutral bottoms can sail from any port to 
 any port; there is no exception to their freedom of 
 navigation, except in regard to ports blockaded 
 bona fide, and those ports alone are bona fide block- 
 aded, which are guarded by such a force that there 
 would be serious danger in attempting to break the 
 blockade. 
 
 4. The neutral is bound to submit to be visited 
 for the purpose <>f discovering her real character ; 
 but the visitor vessel must remain out of cannon- 
 shot distance, and send a boat and three men; 
 and if the neutral is convoyed by a ship-of-war, the 
 visit shall not take place, the presence of the mili- 
 tary flag being a sufficient guarantee against every 
 species of fraud. 
 
 The treaty contained other stipulations in detail; 
 but the four principal articles which truly constitute 
 the law of neutrals, were an important victory, since 
 the Americans, in adopting them, were obliged to 
 insist upon their application in their commerce with 
 the English, or to go to war with them. 
 
 The signature of the treaty was celebrated with 
 rejoicing at Morfontaine, a fine estate that Joseph 
 Bonaparte, who was richer than his brothers 
 through his marriage, had acquired some time be- 
 fore. The first consul attended, accompanied by a 
 numerous and brilliant party. Elegant decorations, 
 placed in the house and gardens, exhibited every 
 where the union of France and America. Toasts 
 were given in honour of the occasion. The first 
 consul proposed this: " To the manes of the French 
 and Americans, who died on the field of battle for 
 the independence of the new world." 
 
 Lebrun proposed : "To the union of America 
 with the powers of the north to enforce the liberty 
 of the seas." 
 
 Finally, CambaceVes proposed the third: "To 
 the successor of Washington." 
 
 The French government waited with impatience 
 for the arrival of M. Cobentzel at Luneville, to dis- 
 cover if his court was disposed to conclude a peace. 
 The first consul, if he were not satisfied with the 
 march of the negotiations, was determined to re- 
 sume hostilities, although the season was ever so 
 far advanced. Since he had passed the St. Bernard, 
 he made no account of obstacles, and imagined that 
 
 men could fight just as well upon snow and ice, 
 as when the ground was covered with verdure or 
 harvests. Austria, on the other hand, wished to 
 gain time, because she had engaged with England 
 not to make a separate peace before the coining 
 month of February,! 801, or Pluviose, in the year ix. 
 Fearing greatly the resumption of hostilities, she 
 applied for a third prolongation of the armistice. 
 The first consul had refused it peremptorily, from 
 the motive that M. Cobentzel had not yet arrived 
 at Lune'ville. He was resolved not to yield the 
 point until the Austrian plenipotentiary should 
 reach the place fixed upon for the negotiation. At 
 last, M. Cobentzel arrived at Lune'ville on the 24ih 
 of October, 1800. He was received on the fron- 
 tier and along the whole way by the sound of can- 
 non, and with great testimonies of consideration. 
 General Clarke had been nominated to the gover- 
 norship of Lune'ville, in order to do the honours 
 of the city to the members of the congress, and 
 that he might acquit himself of the duty in a con- 
 venient manner, funds were placed at his disposal 
 as well as some prime regiments. Joseph Bona- 
 parte, on his own side, had repaired there, accom- 
 panied by M. Laforet as his secretary. M. Cobent- 
 zel had scarcely arrived before the first consul, 
 wishing to be convinced of the disposition of the 
 Austrian negotiator, addressed to him an invita- 
 tion to come to Paris'. M. Cobentzel dared not 
 refuse, and proceeded with great deference to that 
 city. He arrived there on the 29th of October. A 
 new extension of the armistice was then granted 
 him for twenty days. The first consul conversed 
 with him respecting the peace and the conditions 
 upon which it might be concluded. M. Cobentzel's 
 answers were not very satisfactory on the matter 
 of a separate negotiation, and in regard to the con- 
 ditions, he put forward pretensions that could not 
 be tolerated. Austria had, in regard to Italy, ob- 
 jects that it was not possible to satisfy ; she was in 
 the expectation that if the indemnities promised 
 her in Italy, by the treaty of Campo Formio, were 
 to be given in Germany, she should receive very 
 large grants of territory, either in Swabia, Bavaria, 
 or the Palatinate. The first consul gave way to 
 some exhibitions of temper. This he had before 
 done with M. Cobentzel, at the treaty of Campo 
 Formio ; but advancing age, and more power than 
 formerly, made him restrain himself less. M. Co- 
 bentzel complained in the bitterest manner, saying 
 that he had never been so treated, neither by 
 Catherine, Frederick, nor by the emperor Paul 
 himself. He demanded leave in consequence to re- 
 turn to Luneville ; and the first consul suffered 
 him to go, thinking it would be better to negotiate 
 with him foot by foot, through the medium of his 
 brother Joseph. The last, mild, calm, and suffi- 
 ciently intelligent, was a better person than his 
 brother for an operation requiring so much for- 
 bearance. 
 
 M. Cobentzel and Joseph Bonaparte having met 
 together at Luneville, exchanged their full powers 
 on the 9th of November, or 18th of Brumaire. 
 Joseph had orders to address to him the three fol- 
 lowing questions. Had he authority to treat 1 Was 
 
 • Napoleon said at St. Helena, that M. Cobentzel wished 
 to come to Paris lo gain time. This was an error of memory. 
 The diplomatic correspondence proves the contrary.
 
 1800. 
 Nov. 
 
 The French and Austrian armies 
 set in motion. 
 
 HOHENLINDEN. 
 
 Terms of ppace demanded by the 
 first consul. 
 
 173 
 
 lie authorized to treat separately from England ? 
 Was he to treat for the emperor in the name of 
 Austria alone, or in the name of the whole Ger- 
 manic empire ? 
 
 The powers being exchanged and recognized to 
 be valid, for which object they were scrutinized 
 very minutely, on account of the misadventure of 
 M. St. Julien, they discussed the extent of their 
 mutual powers. M. Cobentzel did not hesitate to 
 declare that he was unable to treat without the 
 presence of an English plenipotentiary. As to the 
 question if he would treat for the house of Austria 
 alone, or for the whole empire, he said that he 
 must refer to Vienna for new instructions. 
 
 These replies were sent to Paris. Immediately 
 afterwards the first consul announced to M. Co- 
 bentzel, that hostilities should be renewed as soon 
 as the armistice was concluded, or in the last days 
 of November ; that the congress need not break 
 up; that while hostilities were going forward, they 
 might negotiate; but that the French armies would 
 not halt until the Austrian plenipotentiary had con- 
 sented to treat without England. 
 
 While these proceedings were in hand, the first 
 consul had taken, in respect to Tuscany, a precau- 
 tion become indispensable. The Austrian general 
 Somma-Riva had remained there with a few hundred 
 men, conformably to the convention of Alexandria, 
 but he continued to raise levies en masse, with the 
 money of England. At the very moment a disem- 
 barkation at Leghorn was announced of those same 
 English troops, that for a long while had been on 
 their way from Mahon to Ferrol, and from Ferrol 
 to Cadiz. The Neapolitans on their side were 
 marching upon Rome, and the Austrians spreading 
 themselves over the Legations beyond the limits 
 marked by the armistice, were endeavouring to aid 
 the Tuscan insurrection. The first consul, seeing 
 that the object of the Austrians was to gain time, 
 and that they were preparing to place the French 
 between two fires, ordered Dnpont to march upon 
 Tuscany, and Murat, who commanded the camp at 
 Amiens, to go immediately to Italy. He had several 
 times informed the Austrians of what he intended 
 to do if they did not suspend the movements of the 
 troops begun in Tuscany ; and seeing that they did 
 not regard his notice, he gave orders accordingly. 
 General Dnpont, with the brigades of Pino, Mal- 
 her, and Carra St. Cyr, crossed the Apennines 
 rapidly, and occupied Florence, while general Ge- 
 nu nt inarched from Lucca to Leghorn. No re- 
 sistance was experienced there. Still the insur- 
 gents resisted in the city of Arezzo, which had 
 already shown itsel. hostile to tin- French during 
 the retreat of Macdonald in 17!)!). They wire 
 obliged to take it by assault, ami to punish it, 
 though much less severely than it merited from its 
 Conduct towards the French soldiers Tuscany was 
 from that time wholly suhmissive. The Neapolitans 
 were stopped in their march, and the English 
 driven from tin- soil of Italy, at the moment when 
 
 they were about to enter Leghorn. Two days 
 afterwards they landed twelve thousand men. 
 
 All the armies Were every where in motion, 
 from the banks of the Mayn to the shores of the 
 Adriatic, from Frankfort to Bologna. Notice of 
 
 tin: co eocement of hostilities had been given. 
 
 Austria, in apprehension, made a final attempt 
 through the mediation of M. Cohentzel, an attempt 
 
 which showed her good-will to terminate matters, 
 and as well her unfortunate embarrassment with 
 England. M. Cohentzel, addressing himself to 
 Joseph Bonaparte, and putting on a tone of confi- 
 dence, demanded from him several times whether 
 he might calculate upon the discretion of the 
 French government. Assured that he might by 
 Joseph, he showed him a letter from the emperor, 
 in which that personage testified the same in- 
 quietude that he, M. Cobentzel, felt himself, relative 
 to the danger of an indiscretion; but relying upon 
 his knowledge of men and things, he authorized 
 him to make the following proposal. Austria at last 
 consents to separate herself from England, and to 
 treat separately upon two conditions, on which she 
 must in the most ahsolute manner insist : 'first, 
 inviolable secrecy to he preserved, until the 1st of 
 Fehruary, 1801, the time that her engagements 
 terminated with England, with a formal promise, if 
 the negotiation did not succeed, to return all the 
 documents both on one side and the other. Se- 
 condly, the admission of an English plenipotentiary 
 at Lune'ville, to cover by his presence the real nego- 
 tiation. Upon these two conditions Austria con- 
 sented to treat immediately, and desired a fresh 
 prolongation of the armistice. 
 
 The proximity of Paris allowed an immediate 
 reply. The first consul would not admit, at any 
 price, an English negotiator at Lv.neville. He 
 would consent again to suspend hostilities on con- 
 dition of a treaty of peace signed secretly, if that 
 would be convenient to Austria ; hut it must be 
 signed in forty-eight hours. The conditions of 
 such a peace were already nearly settled hy the 
 discussion on the preliminaries. They were these: 
 The Rhine for the frontier of the French republic 
 towards Germany ; the Mincio for the Austrian 
 frontier in Italy, in place of the Adige, which it 
 had in 17i'7, but with that the cession of Mantua to 
 the Cisalpine ; the Milanese, Valteline, Parma, 
 and Modeua to the Cisalpine ; Tuscany to the duke 
 of Parma ; the Legations to Tuscany ; finally, as 
 general conditions, the independence of Piedmont, 
 of Switzerland, and of Genoa. Such were the 
 ground of the St. Julien preliminaries, with the 
 difference of the abandonment of Mantua to the 
 Cisalpine, to punish Austria for her refusal of the 
 ratification. But the first consul demanded that 
 the treaty should he signed in forty-eight hours, 
 otherwise he proclaimed war to the last extremity. 
 In case of acceptance, he bound himself to secresy 
 until the 1st of February, and to a new suspension 
 of hostilities. 
 
 Austria was not inclined to proceed too quickly, 
 nor to agree to so many sacrifices in Italy. She 
 deceived herself regarding the conditions she might 
 he able to obtain, and rejected the proposals of 
 fiance. Hostilities were the immediate' result. 
 M. Cobentzel and Joseph Bonaparte remained :it 
 Lune'ville, waiting to make new communications, 
 according to the events which might happen on 
 the Danube, the Inn, the Higher Alps, or the 
 Adige. 
 
 The resumption of hostilities had been an- 
 nounced for the 28th of November, or 7 1 '' Fri- 
 maire, year IX. All was ready for this winter 
 
 campaign, one of the most celebrated and decisive 
 
 in the annals of France. 
 
 The first consul had displayed five armies upon
 
 174 JE f u r « , s rati0n0ftheFrenCh THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Disposition of the French 
 armies. 
 
 1800. 
 Nov. 
 
 the vast theatre of war. His intention was to 
 direct them from Paris, without putting himself at 
 their head. He had still not renounced the idea 
 of proceeding to Germany or Italy, and taking the 
 command <»i' one of them upon any unforeseen 
 reverse occurring, or should any other cause ren- 
 der his presence necessary. His equipages were 
 at Dijon, ready to take him to any point where it 
 might be necessary to transport himself. 
 
 The five armies were those of Augereau on the 
 Main, of Moreau on the Inn, of Macdonald in the 
 Grisons. of Brune on the Mincio, and of Murat 
 marching towards Italy with the grenadiers of 
 Amiens. Augereau had under his command eight 
 thousand Hollanders and twelve thousand French, 
 in all twenty thousand men. Moreau one hundred 
 and thirty thousand, of whom one hundred and 
 twenty thousand belonged to the active army. The 
 army of the last had been raised to this consider- 
 able strength by recruiting, by the return of sick 
 and wounded, and by the union of the corps of 
 St. Suzanne The surrender of Philiusburg, Ulm, 
 and Ingoldstadt, had besides permitted Moreau 
 to concentrate all his forces between the Isar and 
 the Inn. Macdonald had at his disposal fifteen 
 thousand men in the Grisons. Brune in Italy was 
 at the head of one hundred and twenty-five thou- 
 sand soldiers, eighty thousand of whom were on 
 the Mincio, twelve thousand in Lombardy, Pied- 
 mont, and Liguria, eight thousand in Tuscany, ami 
 twenty-five thousand in the hospitals. Murat's 
 corps was composed of ten thousand grenadiers. 
 If to this number bo added forty thousand men in 
 Egypt and the colonies, and sixty th tusand in the 
 interior and on the coasts, it will appear that during 
 the administration of the first consul, the republic 
 had nearly four hundred thousand men underarms. 
 The three hundred thousand placed in the theatre 
 of war, of which two hundred and fifty thousand 
 were effective, and capable of immediate action, 
 were provided With every thing, owing to the 
 unit d resources of the treasury and contributions 
 in the conquered countries. The cavalry was well 
 mounted, more especially that in Germany. The 
 artillery was numerous, and perfectly well served. 
 Moreau hail two hundred pieces of cannon, and 
 Brune one hundred and eighty. The French were, 
 therefore, better prepared than in the spring, and 
 the armies had, in themselves, a confidence beyond 
 bounds. 
 
 Enlightened hut severe judges have asked why 
 the first consul, in place of dividing into five corps 
 the- whole of his active force, had not, following 
 his owi, principles, formed two grand masses, one 
 of one hundred and seventy thousand men, under 
 Moreau, marching on Vienna, through Bavaria; 
 the other of one hundred and thirty thousand men, 
 under Brune, passing the Mincio, the Adige, the 
 Alps, and threatening Vienna and Friuli. This 
 was, in fact, the plan which he adopted in 1805 ; 
 hut an examination of facts will show how well and 
 iindly he was acquainted with men and things, 
 and how he was able to vary, according to cireum- 
 Btanci s, the great principles of war. 
 
 The two principal armies, those of Moreau and 
 Brune, were placed on the two sides of the Alps, 
 and nearly at the same height, the first along the 
 Inn, the second along the Mincio. Moreau hail to 
 force the line of the Inn; Prune that of the Min- 
 
 cio. Those two armies were, at least, equal in 
 numerical, and greatly superior in moral force, 
 to those" that were opposed to them. Between the 
 two arose the chain of the Alps, forming in this 
 part what is calied the Tyrol. The Austrians had 
 the corps of general Iller in the German Tyrol, 
 and that of general Davidovich in the Italian 
 Tyrol. General Macdonald, with the fifteen thou- 
 sand men placed under his command, styled "the 
 second army of reserve," was to occupy the atten- 
 tion of these two corps entirely, by keeping them 
 uncertain where he would make an attack ; since, 
 placed in the Grisons, be was at liberty to throw 
 himself directly into the German Tyrol, or by the 
 Spliigen into the Italian. The title which his 
 army bore, and the doubts circulated regarding 
 its strength, gave out the belief of some extra- 
 ordinary blow being about to be struck, and it 
 was ready to profit by the prestige which the army 
 of St. Bernard had produced. Too little credit 
 had been given to the existence of the first 
 army of reserve, and people were ready to give 
 too much to the second. Moreau and Brune, 
 having no more anxiety en the side of the Alps, 
 were thus able, without being in apprehension 
 about their flanks, to push forward with all their 
 forces. 
 
 The little army of Augereau was destined to 
 watch over the levies en masse in Franconia and 
 Suabia, supported by the Austrian corps of fciinib- 
 schen. It thus covered the left and rear of 
 Moreau. Finally, Murat, with ten thousand gre- 
 nadiers and a powerful artillery, performed for 
 Brune what Augereau did for Moreau. He 
 covered the right and rear of Brune against the 
 insurgents of central Italy, the Neapolitans, English, 
 and others. 
 
 These prudent precautions are such as it is 
 proper to take when confined within the conditions 
 of ordinary warfare. But the first consul was 
 necessarily confined within them, when he had 
 to carry out his designs two such generals as 
 Moreau and Brune. Moreau, the best of the two, 
 and one of the best in Europe, still was not the 
 man to do what the first consul did himself in 
 1J105, after he became emperor, when he collected 
 a considerable force on the Danube, and leaving 
 a smaller force in Italy, marched thundering on 
 upon Vienna, not disturbing himself about his 
 flanks or bis rear, and placing his security in the 
 crushing vigour of his blows. But Moreau and 
 Brune were not men to comport themselves in 
 this manner. It was necessary that in directing 
 them he should keep within the limits of metho- 
 dical warfare ; it was necessary to guard their 
 flanks and rear, to secure them against what 
 might occur around them ; for neither the one 
 nor the other were equal to the control of acci- 
 dents by the grandeur and vigour of their resolu- 
 tions. It was lor this that Macdonald was placed 
 in the Tyrol, Augereau in Franconia, and Murat 
 in central Italy. 
 
 These dispositions did not admit of being 
 changed, unless the internal affairs of France had 
 permitted the first consul to make war in person; 
 but all the world agreed that at such a moment 
 he ought not to quit the centre of his government. 
 His absence during the short campaign of Ma- 
 rengo hail produced inconveniences great enough
 
 1800. 
 Nov. 
 
 Disposition of the Austrian army. 
 Commencement of hosii.itieb in 
 
 HOIIENL1NDEX. 
 
 Germany, 
 described. 
 
 -Theatre of the war 
 
 175 
 
 to prevent his exposing himself to them again 
 without an absolute necessity. 
 
 The dispositions of the Austrian army wer 
 every way, inferior to those of the French. Their 
 armies, nearly equal in numbers to the French, were 
 in mi way equal to them in other respects. They 
 were not yet recovered from their recent defeats. 
 The archduke John commanded in Germany ; 
 marshal Bellegarde in Italy. The corps of Simb- 
 Bchen, destined to form the nucleus of the 
 of the levies of Suahia and of Franconia, was sup- 
 ported on general Klenau. The last commanded 
 an intermediate corps, placed on both sides the 
 Danube, connecting itself, on the right, with the 
 corps of Simbschen, and on the left, with the prin- 
 cipal army of the archduke. Generals Simbschen 
 and Klenau had between them twenty-four thou- 
 sand men, exclusively of the partizan troops raia 1 
 in Germany. General Klenau was destined to 
 follow the movements of general St. Suzanne; to 
 approach the archduke if St. Suzanne approach- ' 
 Moreau, or to join Simbschen's corps if St. Suzanne 
 should join the little army of Augereau. 
 
 The archduke John had eighty thousand men 
 under his command, of which force sixty thousand 
 Austrians were in advance of the Inn and twenty 
 thousand Wurtembergers, or Bavarians, behind 
 the entrenchments on that river. General Iller 
 commanded twenty thousand men in the Tyrol, in- 
 dependently of ten thousand Tyroleans .Marshal 
 Bellegarde, in I taly, v. as at the head of eighty thou- 
 sand men, well stationed behind the Mincio. Lastly, 
 ten thousand Austrians, detached towards Ancona 
 and Romagna, were ready to second the Neapoli- 
 tans or English, in case the last should make an 
 attempt on central or southern Italy. Here, then, 
 Was a force of two hundred and twenty-four thou- 
 sand men, that, with the Mayencais, the Tyroleans, 
 the Neapolitans, the Tuscans, and the Em, r ish, 
 amounted to about three hundre I thousand men. 
 The first consul, in disarming the Tuscans, closing 
 Leghorn against the English, and restraining the 
 Neapolitans, had taken a useful precaution, very 
 well adapted to hinder the augmentation of the 
 enemy's means of off< i 
 
 Under a kind of common resolution, the two bel- 
 ligerents isposed to settle their quarrel in 
 <l rmany, between the [nn and the [sar. The 
 operations commenced on tie- 28th of November, 
 or 7th Fritnaire, in very severe weather, which 
 produced a cold rain in Suabia, and an intense frost 
 in the' Alps. While Augereau, advancing by Frank- 
 fort, A icbaffemberg, Wurtzburg, and Nuremberg, 
 fought a brilliant action at Burg-Eberach, sepa- 
 i tie- Mayence levies of the corps of Simbschen, 
 
 and neutralized the last for the remainder of the 
 campaign ; while Macdnnald, after having lor a 
 long tine.' occupied the Austrians towards the 
 sources of the Inn, was getting ready, despite the 
 ■ ty of th t, to cross tin- great Alpine 
 
 chain, in order to throw himself upon the Italian 
 Tyrol, for tie- purpose of facilitating tin- attach of 
 lb une upon the lino of tin- Mincio; Moreau, with 
 the principal part of his forces, advanced between 
 
 the [sar and th ■ Ian, 0V< r a fii Id id' battle which 
 
 he had Ion i -;\ e engagement 
 
 with the grand army of the AuHtrians. 
 
 It is !,ece--a y\ eli arly to under I ind the nature 
 of the country over which the French ami Aus- 
 
 trians went to the encounter, in one of the most 
 important battles duriBg our long wars. YVc have 
 elsewhere described the basin of the Danube, com- 
 posed of that great river and a number of tributa- 
 ries, which descend rapidly from the Alps, and in 
 slice. Bsion go to increase the body of its stream. 
 These tributaries, we have before said, are the 
 lines which an Austrian army should defend to 
 eovi r Vienna, and which must be forced by a 
 French army that seeks to march upon that capital. 
 .Moreau, as will be remembered, in the summer 
 campaign, after having penetrated from the valley 
 of the Rhine into that of the Danube, and having 
 passed the Iller. Lech, and Isar, had halted bc- 
 iw en the Isar and the Inn. lie was master of 
 the course of the Isar, of which he occupied all the 
 principal points. Munich first, then Freising, 
 Moosburg, Landshut, and Other places. lie had 
 advanced beyond that river, and was in face of the 
 Inn, occupied in force by the Austrians. 
 
 The Isar and the Inn both flow from the Alps, 
 running together into the Danube, and are sepa- 
 rated by a distance, almost continually the same, of 
 ten or twelve leagues. At first they direct them- 
 selves nearly north, the Isar as far as Munich, the 
 Inn to Wasserburg ; then both rivers fall off to the 
 east, until they flow into the Danube, the Isar at 
 Deggendorf, the Inn at Passau. The French ware 
 rs of the Isar ; it was necessary they should 
 force the Inn. This river, broad, deep, defended 
 at its outbreak from the mountains by the fort of 
 Kufstein, and in the lower part of its course by the 
 fortress of Braunau, covered between these two 
 points with a great number of entrenchments — this 
 river was a difficult obstacle to pass over. To 
 force the Isar in the upper part of its course, be- 
 tween Kufstein, Rosenheim, and Wasserburg, loeal 
 difficulties presented themselves nearly insurmount- 
 able ; and besides these, the army of the Tyrol 
 would be upon the right flank. If Moreau at- 
 tempted to force the Jsar in the lower part of its 
 course, between Braunau and 1'assau, mar where it, 
 tails into the Danube, he would be exposed, during 
 a long march upon the left, in a difficult country, 
 woody, marshy, and his Hank bare to the Austrian 
 army, which by Muhldorf and Braunau, had the 
 means of throwing itself upon his right wing. 
 These inconveniences were thought to be of a very 
 serious nature. If the Austrians, taking care to 
 guard themselves, and to watch with vigilance all 
 the passages of the Inn, kept upon the defei 
 
 Moreau would encounter obstacles well nigh ill- 
 
 surmountable. Such was not their scheme : the 
 Austrian staff resolved upon assuming the i 
 sive. The young archduke John, his head full of 
 new theories inv< nted by the Germans, and i agi v 
 to emulate some of the great movements of ; 
 parte, conceived a very extensive plan, not on the 
 whole a bad conception, according to good judges; 
 but it was unluckily vain, because it was not. 
 founded upon a correct view of existing circuin- 
 
 Btancee. As well as can be ascertained, this plan 
 
 was as follows. 
 
 Moreau occupied the ground which separated 
 ili- Isar from the Inn. Between Munich and 
 erburg the land forms an elevated level, 
 . d with a thick forest, subsiding as it ap- 
 proaches the Danube. As it thus subsides it is 
 broki n into numerous ravines, some parts still
 
 The archduke assumes the 
 17C offensive. — His plan to 
 turn Moreau's rear. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Motions of the two 
 
 armies. 
 
 1800. 
 Nov. 
 
 continuing to be covered with wood, other parts 
 marshy, and everywhere presenting great difficul- 
 ties of access. Moreau was in possession of this 
 level, of the forest, and the roads tliat passed over 
 it. From Munich, where his head-quarters were 
 situated, two roads lead to the Inn, one going 
 directly by Ebersberg on Wasserburg, the other 
 hading obliquely to the left, passing by Hohenlin- 
 den, Haag, Ampfing, and Miihldorf. Both one 
 and the other cross the sombre forest of pines 
 which covers that elevated region. It was in this 
 formidable retreat, formed by a mountainous and 
 wooded country, to be approached only by two 
 roads of which Moreau held possession, that the 
 archduke must seek him in order to give battle. 
 The other roads consisted only of straight, narrow 
 ways, principally. used for the conveyance of wood, 
 and wholly impracticable for the heavy trains that 
 accompany an army. 
 
 The young archduke projected a grand man- 
 oeuvre. He had no idea of attacking the front 
 of Moreau's position, but of turning it by the bridge 
 of Miihldorf, New-CErting, and Braunau. Leaving 
 twenty thousand men, Bavarians, Wurtembergers, 
 and the emigrants of Guide - to guard the Inn, he 
 proposed to himself to assume the defensive with 
 sixty thousand Austrians, and to march upon the 
 left of Moreau, through that woody, marshy dis- 
 trict which extends between the Inn and Isar near 
 to the points where they unite with the Danube. 
 If the archduke rapidly passed over this difficult 
 country by Eggenfelden, Neumarkt, Vilsbiburg, 
 and arrived in time at Landshut upon the Isar, he 
 would be able to ascend the Isar in the French 
 rear, as far as Freising, pass over the Isar there, 
 and take up his ground upon a chain of heights 
 which commencing at Dachau overlook the plains 
 of Munich. Placed there he would dangerously 
 threaten the line of Moreau's retreat, and oblige 
 him to evacuate the country between the Inn anil 
 the Isar, and to traverse Munich in great haste, in 
 order to take up a retrograde position upon the 
 Lech. But to ensure him the success of this man- 
 oeuvre he must have accurately calculated the 
 means of execution ; and after having engaged in 
 the operation, great firmness was requisite to en- 
 counter the chances of danger, for it was necessary 
 to cross a country almost impracticable, in a dread- 
 ful season, the whole time upon the skirts of the 
 enemy, who was not prompt and daring it is true, 
 but intelligent, firm, and not easily disconcerted. 
 The armies of the two nations were in movement 
 on the 2f»;h or 27th of November, or the 5th and 
 (Mi of Frimaire, to commence hostilities on the 
 28th or 7tb of Frimaire. The Austrian general 
 Klenau, stationed upon the Danube to support 
 Simbschen against the little army of Augereau, 
 had attracted the attention of general St. Suzanne, 
 commanding the 4th corps of Moreau. Drawn 
 both one and the other far from the principal 
 theatre of events, they were upon the Danube, 
 general St. Suzanne towards Ingoldstadt, and ge- 
 neral Klenau towards Ratisbon. 
 
 Moreau had moved his left wing, twenty-six 
 thousand strong, and placed it under the orders of 
 general Grenier on the great road from Munich to 
 Miihldorf by Hohenlinden, Haag, and Ampfing; 
 thus it occupied the slopes of that species of lofty 
 level which extends between the two rivers. His 
 
 centre, which Moreau commanded in person, and 
 which amounted to about thirty-four thousand 
 men ', occupied the direct road from Munich to 
 Wasserburg by Ebersberg. The right wing 
 under Lecourbe consisting of about twenty-six 
 thousand men, was placed along the upper Inn, 
 in the vicinity of Rosenheim, observing the Tyrol 
 with one division. Moreau had only at hand 
 therefore his left and centre, or about sixty thou- 
 sand men. He had set his army in movement to 
 make a strong reconnoissance from Rosenheim as 
 far as Miihldorf, to force the enemy to discover his 
 intentions. Moreau knew not, like Bonaparte, how 
 to divine the plans of his adversary, still less to 
 dictate them, as the last did, by taking the initia- 
 tive boldly himself. Moreau was forced to grope 
 in order to find out that which he could not guess 
 or command; but he advanced prudently, and if 
 he was surprised, quickly repaired with great cool- 
 ness the mischief tints occasioned. 
 
 The 29th and 30th of November, or 8th and 9th 
 Frimaire, the year ix.. was employed by the French 
 army in reconnoitring the line of the Inn ; and by 
 the Austrian army in passing that line, and tra- 
 versing the low country between the Inn, the 
 Danube, and the Isar. Moreau forced the Aus- 
 trian advanced posts to fall hack, moved his right 
 under Lecourbe to Rosenheim, his centre under 
 himself to Wasserburg, and his left under Grenier 
 to the heights of Ampfing. From the heights a 
 command is obtained of the banks of the Inn, 
 though at a great distance. The left of the French 
 army was somewhat compromised, because in fol- 
 lowing the channel of the Inn as far as Miihldorf 
 it was no less than fifteen leagues from Munich, 
 while the rest of the army was more than ten. 
 Moreau in consequence took tare that it should be 
 supported by a division of the centre, under the 
 command of general Grand jean. But it was a 
 fault to advance in this way in three corps, so far 
 one from another, in place of marching in a strong 
 body upon the Inn, presenting himself at a single 
 opening, and making false demonstrations at several 
 other places. This error was very near being pro- 
 ductive of serious consequences. 
 
 The Austrian army had passed by Braunau, Neu- 
 Giltting, Miihldorf, and traversed the low country, 
 of which mention has been already made. A part 
 of the troops of the archduke, recently arrived, had 
 scarcely had time to rest. They were marching 
 with labour in that woody district, crossed by small 
 rivers, such as the Vils, the Rott, and the Isen, 
 which descended from the table land occupied by 
 the French army. The narrow paths which they 
 were forced to take were broken up ; the heavy 
 waggons had much difficulty in moving. The 
 young archduke and his advisers, who were not 
 prepared for any of these circumstances, were 
 frightened at the undertaking now it was com- 
 menced. The French left wing, advanced nearly 
 to Miihldorf and Ampfing, made them fear being 
 cut off from the Inn. They designed to turn 
 Moreau, and were now in fear of being turned 
 
 1 The centre consisted of thirty thousand men; but the 
 Polish division of Kniacewitz, which had rejoined general 
 Decaen, and the reserve of the artillery, must have inereased 
 the number to about Ihiity-four or thirty-live thousand 
 men.
 
 1S0O. 
 Dec. 
 
 Errors of the nrchduke John. 
 Combat at Ampfing. 
 
 HOHENLINDEN. 
 
 Moreau advances on the Inn. _ 
 
 Position of the French army. ' 77 
 
 themselves. They ought to have foreseen sucli 
 a danger, and formed on the Danube, between 
 Ratisbon and Passau, a new base of operation in 
 ease of their being separated from the Inn. But 
 they had done nothing. In every bold operation 
 it is proper to provide for the difficulties of the 
 execution. Then, the execution once commenced, 
 to persevere with firmness in the intention once 
 begun; since it is rare that we do not ourselves 
 risk the very dangers which we have prepared for 
 our adversary. The Austrian start' was afraid, 
 from the first setting out, of that which it had 
 planned itself, and suddenly changed its design. 
 Instead of persisting in gaining the Isar to ascend 
 into the French rear, it stopped short, determined 
 to fall upon the French left and to give battle at 
 once. This was to face the difficulty in full force, 
 and without the least diminution; for it was neces- 
 sary, in ascending by the beds of the rivers, to climb 
 to the elevated ground which the French occupied, 
 : nd to penetrate into the forest, where they had 
 for a long time well established. The Aus- 
 trians might be able at commencing to obtain an 
 advantage over the 1. ft wing of the French, which 
 was somewhat endangered; but that success gained, 
 the French would be found concentrated in a real 
 labyrinth, of which they well knew and commanded 
 all the outlets. 
 
 On the 1st of December, or 10th of Frimaire, in 
 the year ix., the archduke John moved the larger 
 part of his army upon the left of the French at 
 once by three roads ; the valley of the Isen, the 
 h'ghway from Muhldorf to Ampfing, and by the 
 fridge of Krayburg on ihc Inn. The valley of the 
 I - in, opening on the flanks of the woody table-land 
 already described, allowed the lengthened position, 
 too much lengthened as it was, to be turned. A 
 corps of fifteen thousand men ascended the eleva- 
 tion. Another corps marched right on upon the 
 highway of Muhldorf, which, after mounting the 
 In ijits of Ampfing, conducts through the forest to 
 Hohenlinden and Munich. Lastly, a detachment 
 iug the Inn at Kraiburg, and passing through 
 Aschau took in flank the left wing of the French, 
 which had unfortunately adventured as far as 
 Ampfing. Forty thousand men were in a moment 
 about lo fall upon twenty thousand. Thus the con- 
 test was severe and difficult for the twenty thou- 
 sand men tints situated, who were commanded by 
 general- Grenier. Ney, who defended the heights 
 of Ampfing, displayed <n th.it day the incompa- 
 rable t^ui-^y and courage for v. Inch he was so dis- 
 tinguished in war. He exhibited the most won- 
 derful efforts of valour, and managed to effect his 
 
 retreat with no very serious loss. Being me- 
 naced by the troops of the • nemy that bad passed 
 the Inn at Krayburg, and that had penetrated into 
 the di tile ot' Asehau, ho was happily disengaged 
 from bis hazardous situate n by lie- division of 
 general Qrandjean, that Moreau, as we have said, 
 bad detached from his centre to support his left; 
 The division of Legrand, which was in the valley 
 of the Isen, ascended tli.it vallej in retrograding 
 upon Dorfen. Mnreau, so ing the superiority of 
 
 the Austrians, had the good feelil g to restrain liim- 
 
 self, and effected his retreat in go.,. I order. 
 
 It is clear from these movements that Moreau 
 bad been enable to penetrate tin- design of the 
 enemy, and that by advancing upon ail the open- 
 
 ings of the Inn at once, in place of making an 
 attack upon a single point, he had compromised his 
 left. The extraordinary courage of the troops, the 
 activity of his lieutenants, who in execution were 
 accomplished generals, had repaired every over- 
 sight^ 
 
 This was only an insignificant commencement. 
 -Moreau had abandoned the borders of bis position, 
 and withdrew to the centre of the extensive forest 
 of Hohenlinden. The Austrians would find it ne- 
 cessary to force him from this formidable retreat. 
 His coolness and energy were here about to be 
 confronted with the archduke's inexperience, in- 
 fatuated by a first success. 
 
 We have already said that two roads traversed 
 the forest, one on ihc right, which led directly to 
 the Inn by Ebersberg and Wasserburg ; the other 
 on the left, which passed by Hohenliuden, Matten- 
 boett, Haag, Ampfing, and joined the Inn at Muhl- 
 dorf, a longer distance than the former. It was 
 upon this last road that the Austrians were pro- 
 ceeding in a body. Some were following the defile 
 which it forms through the forest, others, ascend- 
 ing with labour by the beds of the rivulets which 
 gave access to the Hank of the French position. 
 Moreau at once judged of the situation of things, 
 judgi d correctly, and became at once possi 
 with an idea productive of great results. This was 
 to suffer the Austrians that were already in con- 
 flict with Iris left, to engage themselves in the forest, 
 and when they were pretty far advanced into it, to 
 move his centre from the Ebersberg to the Hohen- 
 linden road, surprise them in that dangerous posi-l 
 tion, and beat them there. He made all his dispo- 
 sitions with that view. 
 
 The road on the left, or that of Hohenlinden, 
 adopted by the Austrians, after having quitted the 
 banks of the Inn, and mounted the heights of 
 Ampfing, passed as far as Matteiiboett, over hills 
 alternately wooded or open, then from Matteiiboett 
 to Hohenlinden through a dense wood, forming a 
 long defile, bordered by tall pines. At Hohenlinden 
 itself the forest suddenly disappeared. A small 
 plain then appeared, without wood, covered with 
 scattered hamlets, and in the middle of the plain 
 were situated the post-house and village. There 
 the Austrian army must pass, and not only the 
 principal column marching in the defile of the 
 forest, but the detachments: ascending the river 
 Isen, in order to open out by different issues upon 
 the left of the French position. 
 
 Moreau formed, in this little plain of Hohenlin- 
 den. his left wing under Grenier and the division 
 of Grand jean already detached from the centre; in 
 fact, all Ins reserve of artillery and cavalry. 
 
 To the right of the road and village of Hohen- 
 linden, .Moreau placed Grandjenn's division, com- 
 manded that day by general (irourhs ; to the left 
 the division of Ney; more still to the left on the 
 border of the wood, at the head of the road by 
 which the Austrian columns would ascend from 
 the valley id' the Isen, he station, il the divisions id' 
 
 Legrand and Bastoul, both one ami the other 
 
 drawn up in front of the villages of l'n iscndorf 
 and llarlhotell. The n serves ot en vain andarlil- 
 
 lery were in the rear of these lour divisions of 
 infantry, formed in the middle of the plain. The 
 centre, reduced lo ill'- two divisions of liichepanse 
 
 and Heeaen, were some leagues distan I on ihc right 
 
 N
 
 .„_ Order of battle at Hohen- 
 i/o linden. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Advance of the Aus- 
 trians. 
 
 lgfW. 
 lice. 
 
 hand road in the vicinity of Ebersberg. Moreau 
 sent orders to those two divisions, rather vaguely 
 expressed, but of the must positive character, to 
 throw themselves from the right hand road upon 
 that on the left, to get upon the last in the environs 
 of Mattenboett, and there to take the Austrian army 
 entangled in the forest by surprise. This order 
 was not given with precision, clearness, nor mi- 
 nuteness, as all orders should be that are well con- 
 ceived and well given, as those of Bonaparte uni- 
 formly were. It neither indicated the road to be 
 followed, nor did it provide for any possible con- 
 tingencies, but left all to be done by the intelligence 
 of generals Decaen and Richepanse. They might 
 be entrusted, it is true, to supply themselves with 
 all that the commander-in-chief had omitted. Mo- 
 reau directed Lecourbe who commanded his righl 
 towards the Tyrol, and St. Suzanne who formed 
 his left toward the Danube, to approach by forced 
 marches towards the spot where the decisive event 
 of the campaign was about to happen. But one 
 was at least fifteen leagues off, and the other 
 twenty-five, and both were in consequence be\ond 
 reach. Bonaparte never acted thus upon the eve 
 of his great battles; he never left, at similar times, 
 half his forces at such distances. But to bring up 
 at one time on the point where the destiny of the 
 war is to be decided, every detachment composing 
 a numerous army, demands that superior foresight 
 which the greatest commanders alone possess, and 
 destitute of which it is very possible to be an excel- 
 lent general. Moreau was on the point of fighting 
 seventy thousand Austrians with less than sixty 
 thousand French ; yet this number was more than 
 sufficient witli the soldiers which then composed 
 the French army. 
 
 The archduke John, ignorant of all these things, 
 was intoxicated with Ins advantage gained on the 
 1st of December, or 10th Frimaire. He was young, 
 and had seen the redoubtable army of the Rhine, 
 that for many years the Austrian generals had not 
 possessed the skill to stop, fall back before himself. 
 He remained idle on the 2nd of December, which 
 gave Moreau time to make the dispositions of his 
 army which have been just described. He prepared 
 every thing for inarching through the vast forest 
 of Hohenlinden on the 3rd of December, or 12h 
 Frimaire. The archduke, a novice in his profession, 
 did not imagine that the French army could make 
 any resistance to him in the route he was about to 
 take. He thought only that he might fall in with 
 it in advance of Munich. 
 
 He divided his army into four corps. The prin- 
 cipal, that of the centre, composed of the reserve, 
 the Hungarian grenadiers, Bavarians, the greater 
 part of the cavalry, the baggage, and a hundred 
 pieces of cannon, was to take the high road from 
 Muhldorf to Hohenlinden, clear the defile through 
 which it passes in crossing the forest, and then 
 open upon the little plain of Hohenlinden. General 
 Riesch, who had crossed the Inn at Krayburg, on 
 the 1st of December, with about twelve thousand 
 men, was to flank this centre, and to come upon 
 the open ground at Hohenlinden, on the left of the 
 Austrians and right of the French. At the other 
 extremity of the field of battle, the corps of Baillet- 
 Latour and Kiellinayer, that were in the valley of 
 the Isen. were to continue their ascent, and to 
 issue forth at some distance from each other, the 
 
 first by Isen upon Kronaker and Preisendorf, the 
 second by Lendorf upon Harthofen, both in the 
 unwooded plain of Hohenlinden. They were or- 
 dered not to lose time, but to leave even their 
 artillery behind, the corps of the centre taking 
 with it a large quantity by the principal road; they 
 were to take no more necessaries than were suffi- 
 cient to make soup for the soldiers. 
 
 Thus then the four corps composing the Austrian 
 army marched at a great distance from one another, 
 in a thick forest : while only one of the four passed 
 over a high paved road, the other three went along 
 roads employed solely for the carriage of timber. 
 All were, however, to meet together in the cleared 
 ground which extended between Hohenlinden and 
 Harthofen, subject to the hazard of not arriving 
 together, and of meeting during the march many 
 unforeseen obstacles. The Bavarians having re- 
 joined the Austrians, the army of the archduke 
 numbered at the time seventy thousand men. 
 
 On the morning of the 3rd of December, the 
 French were formed in order of battle between 
 Hohenlinden and Harthofen. Moreau was on 
 horseback before break of day at the head of his 
 staff", and at some little distance Richepanse and 
 Decaen had begun the movement which they had 
 been commanded to execute between the roads of 
 Ebersberg and Hohenlinden. 
 
 The four Austrian corps advanced simultaneously. 
 They marched as fast as they were able, well aware 
 of the value of time, at a season when there is so 
 little daylight either to march or to fight. A thick 
 snow-shower fell and darkened the air, so as to 
 render it difficult to distinguish objects distant but 
 a short way off. The archduke John, at the head 
 of the centre, had got into the defile of the forest 
 between Mattenboett and Hohenlinden, and had 
 nearly cleared it, long before general Riesch on his 
 left, and generals Baillet-Latour and Kienmayer on 
 his right, were able to arrive at the field of battle, 
 embarrassed as they were amidst the horrible roads 
 they had taken. The young archduke at last ap- 
 peared on the skirt of the wood in front of Grand- 
 jean's and Ney's divisions, drawn up in order of 
 battle in advance of the village of Hohenlinden. 
 The 108th demi-brigade of Grandjean's division 
 was in line, having upon its wings the 46th and 
 57th in close coloumns ; the 4th hussars and 6th 
 of the line supported them in the rear. On both 
 sides a brisk fire of artillery commenced the action. 
 The Austrians attacked the 108th, which made a 
 determined resistance. Eight battalions of Hun- 
 garian grenadiers were then ordered to file through 
 the wood to turn the French by the right. Upon 
 observing this movement, generals Grouchy and 
 Grandjean went with the 4fith to the assistance of 
 the 108. h, which, disordered, had begun to give 
 ground. The 40th penetrated into the wood, and 
 a desperate combat ensued there, almost man to 
 man, among the pine trees, with the Hungarian 
 grenadiers. A battalion of the 57th, pushing into 
 the wood still deeper, tinned the Hungarians, and 
 obliged them to seek for safety in the recesses of the 
 forest. Tims th" division of Grandjean remained 
 victorious, and hindered the Austrian column from 
 opening out upon the plains of Hohenlinden. 
 
 After a few moments' cessation, the archduke 
 John directed a new attack to be made upon 
 Hohenlinden and the division of Grandjean. This
 
 1800. 
 Dec. 
 
 Battle of Hohcnlinden. 
 Gallant charge of Kichepanse. 
 
 HOHENLINDEN. 
 
 Meeting of Ney and Richepanse. 
 
 179 
 
 second attack was repulsed as tlie first had been. 
 At this moment there was discovered, on the side 
 of Kronaker, the Austrian troops of Baillet-Latour, 
 who showed themselves upon the left, ready to 
 issue out upon the plains of Hohenlinden. The 
 snow for a few minutes having ceased to fall, per- 
 mitted them to be distinctly seen, though they 
 were not yet in a condition to act, and then the 
 divisions of Bastoul and Legrand were prepared to 
 give them a warm reception. On a sudden a sort 
 of unsteadiness, a wavering, an agitation, was seen 
 along the centre of the Austrian armv, which had 
 not yet been disengaged from the forest defile. 
 Something unaccountable seemed to be taking 
 place in their rear. Moreau, with a sagacity 
 which did honour to his military glance, remarked 
 it. and said to Ney, " This is the moment to charge; 
 Richepanse and Decaen must be on the rear of the 
 Austrians." He immediately commanded the di- 
 visions of Ney and Grand jean, which were on the 
 ri_;ht and left of Hohenlindeu, to form themselves 
 in columns of attack, to charge the Austrians 
 drawn up on the skirts of the forest, and to drive 
 them back upon the long defile in which until 
 then they had been enclosed. Ney charged them 
 in front, Grouchy with Grandjean's division took 
 them in flank, and then both drove them furiously 
 into the defile, where they were crowded together 
 pell-mell with their cavalry and artillery. 
 
 At this very moment, near the other end of the 
 defile, at Mattenboett, that event was happening 
 for which Moreau had prepared, and which he had 
 just now foreseen. Richepanse and Decaen, in 
 obedience to the orders which they had received, 
 had started across from the road of Ebersberg into 
 that of Hohcnlinden. Richepanse, who was nearest 
 to Mattenboett, had proceeded without waiting for 
 Decaen, and had plunged deeply and audaciously 
 into that country of wood and ravine which sepa- 
 rates the two roads, marching while the battle 
 was fighting at Hoheiiliuden, and making incre- 
 dible efforts to drag with him over that inundated 
 ground six light guns. He had already passed 
 through the village of St. Christopher with one 
 brigade, when the corps of general Riesch, that 
 was designed to flank the Austrian centre, arrived 
 there. Drouet, with the second brigade, was left 
 engaged with the enemy; Richepanse making sure 
 that Decaen would soon come up to his assistance 
 and disengage him, he himself marched upon 
 Mattenboett as fast as possible, for there his mili- 
 tary instinct told him he would find the decisive 
 point. There only remained with him two deini- 
 brigadea of infantry, the 8;h and 48th, a single 
 1. -lit of cavalry, the 1st chasseurs, and six 
 guns, in all about six thousand men. He pushed 
 forwards, dragging his artillery by hand, con- 
 tinually in quagmires. Having arrived at Matten- 
 boett, at the other end of the forest defile, of which 
 they had just, attacked the head, lie encounter* d a 
 
 troop of cuirassiers on foot, their bridles on their 
 arms ; be attacked them and took them prisoners. 
 Then forming on the little space of open ground 
 
 that surrounds Mattenboett, In- ranged the 8th on 
 
 right, the 48th on tin? left, and Sent the 1st chas- 
 upon eight, squadrons of cavalry, which on 
 seeing the French prepared to charge. The chas- 
 seurs charged home, but were driven baek, and 
 rallied behind the 8th demi brigade. This last cross- 
 
 ing bayontts stopped the advance of the Austrian 
 cavalry. At this moment the position of Richepanse 
 was very critical. Having left his second brigade in 
 the rear, to keep head against the corps of general 
 Riesch, himself surrounded on all sides, he thought 
 it best not to let the Austrians perceive his weak- 
 ness. He confided to general Walther the 8th 
 demi-brigade and the 1st chasseurs, in order to 
 restrain the rearguard of the enemy, which seemed 
 disposed to attack. He himself, with the 48th 
 alone, moved to the left, and boldly determined to 
 attack the Austrians in the forest defile. Perilous 
 as this resolution seemed, it was not, less wise than 
 courageous, because the column of the archduke 
 must have before it the whole of the French army, 
 and by flinging himself desperately upon the rear, 
 it was more than probable he would produce great 
 disorder and obtain important results. Riche- 
 panse, therefore, formed the 48th into two columns, 
 and marching sword in hand in the midst of his 
 grenadiers, penetrated into the forest, receiving, 
 without yielding an inch, a severe discharge of 
 grape-shot ; there he met two Hungarian battalions 
 that disputed his passage. Richepanse would have 
 animated his men both by voice and gesture; but 
 they had no need of either. " These men are our 
 prisoners," they shouted; "let us charge !" They 
 immediately charged, and completely routed the 
 Hungarians. They next came upon heaps of bag- 
 gage, artillery, and infantry, all accumulated in 
 confusion in that narrow pass. Richepanse by his 
 appearance struck them with indescribable terror, 
 and they were thus flung into disorder, at the same, 
 moment that confused cries were heard at the 
 other extremity of the defile On arriving there 
 the shouts became more distinct, and discovered 
 the presence of the French. They came from 
 Ney, who, leaving Hoheiiliuden, had penetrated by 
 the head of the defile, driving before him the Aus- 
 trian column that Richepanse was now forcing 
 back upon him from the rear. 
 
 Ney and Richepanse then met, recognized each 
 other, and embraced full of joy at the glorious 
 result they had obtained. Their soldiers rushed 
 upon those Austrians on every side, who had sought 
 she Iter in the woods, and were now asking for 
 quarter. Thousands of prisoners were taken, the 
 whole of the Austrian artillery and baggage. Riche- 
 panse abandoned to Ney the care of gathering up 
 the trophies of their victory, returning to Matten- 
 boett, where lie had left, general Walther. and 
 the rest of his brigade, with one regiment of ca- 
 valry, lie found the gallant general struck by a 
 ball, and carrying off in the arms of his men, his 
 Countenance beaming with joy, and repaid in his 
 sufferings by the satisfaction of having contributed 
 to the decisive manoeuvre. Richepanse disengaged 
 his troops ami returned to Si. Christopher's, where 
 he hail left Drouet and bis brigade alone in combat, 
 with the corps of Riesch. All his hopes had been 
 fulfilled on tins fortunate day. General Decaen 
 had arrived in time, bad disengaged the corps of 
 Drouet, anil made a number of prisoners. 
 
 Ry this time it was 1 11-day. The centre of the 
 
 army of ihe archduke had hern enveloped and 
 utterly routed. The left, under general Hi 
 
 having arrived loo lute to step Richepanse, at- 
 tacked and driven towards the Inn by Decaen, 
 was in full retreat, after suffering considerable 
 
 N 2
 
 Operations on the left. 
 180 Error ol Moreau. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 His brilliant success. — 
 This the greatest of 
 his battles. 
 
 1800 
 Dec. 
 
 From such results iu regard to the centre and left 
 of the Austrians, the termination of the battle could 
 not be doubtful. 
 
 During tin se events the divisions of Bastoul and 
 Legrand, placed on the left of the open plain of 
 Hobenuhden, found upon their hands, the infan- 
 try of generals Baillct-Latour and Kienmayer, 
 Tliese divisions had enough to do, being illferi r in 
 number to the enemy by one-half, and were pushed 
 hardly in consequence. They had too the disad- 
 vantage of the ground, since the head of the wooded 
 ravines, by which the Austrians issued upon the 
 little plain of Hohenlinden, being somewhat higher 
 than tin' plain itself, permitted a plunging lire to 
 be directed upon it. Still, generals Bastoul and 
 Legrand, under the command of general Grenier, 
 were seconded by the courage of their brave sol- 
 diers, fortunately, also, Hautpoul's ca airy was 
 present to support them, as well as Ney'-s second 
 brigade, he having taken but one with him into 
 the defile. 
 
 These two French divisions, at first borne down 
 by numbers, lost ground. Abandoning the edge of 
 the wood, they fell back into the plain, but with a 
 steady front they displayed to the enemy the most 
 heroic firmness. Two demi-brigades of Legnind's 
 division, the 5 1st and 42d, falling back to Harthofen, 
 had to engage Kienniayer's infantry, as well as a 
 division of cavalry attached to that corps. Some- 
 times keeping up a st ady fire on the infantry, 
 sometimes repulsing the cavalry with the bayonet, 
 tiny opposed an invincible resistance to every 
 assault. At this time general Grenier, gaining 
 intelligence of the suceess obtained over the Aus- 
 trian centre, formed Lcgrand's division into co- 
 lumns, supporting the movement by some charges 
 of Hautpoul's cavalry, and thus repulsed the corps 
 of Kienmayer, as far as the skirt of the wood. On 
 his own side general Bonnet, with the division of 
 Bastoul, charged the Austrians, and overthrew 
 them into a valley, from whence they were at- 
 tempting to issue. The grenadiers of Jota's brigade, 
 part of .Ney's second, rushed up to Baillet-Latour 
 and repulsed him. The impulse of victory, com- 
 municated to these bold troops, redoubled their 
 str iil.mIi and courage. They alternately drove 
 back the two corps of Baillet-Latour and Kien- 
 mayer, the one towards the Isen, the other towards 
 Lendorf, in that low and difficult country, out 
 of which they had vainly attempted to come, in 
 order to possess themselves of the plain of Hohen- 
 linden. 
 
 Moreau at this moment returned from the depth 
 of the forest, with a detachment of Grandjeau's 
 division, in order to succour the left, which was so 
 briskly attacked. But there, as on all the other 
 points, he found the soldiers victorious, transported 
 with joy, and felicitating their general upon his 
 signal victory. The triumph was, indeed, very- 
 great. The Austrian army had slid more difficulty 
 to encounter in getting out of the Woods than it 
 had to penetrate into them. Every where strag- 
 gling corps were observed, that not knowing whi- 
 ther to fly, fell into the hands of the victors and 
 laid down their arms. It was live o'clock, and 
 night covered with its shadows the field of battle. 
 From seven thousand to eight thousand Austrians 
 were killed, and twelve thousand made prisoners, 
 three hundred waggons, and eighty-seven pieces of 
 
 cannon, were the results of a battle not usual in 
 warfare. The Austrian army lost that day nearly 
 twenty thousand men, almost all its artillery, its 
 baggage, and, what was worse than all, nearly the 
 entire of its spirit. 
 
 This battle was the finest ever gained by Moreau, 
 and most assuredly one of the greatest fought 
 during the present century, in which so many ex- 
 traordinary battles have taken place. It has been 
 wrongfully said, that there was another conqueror 
 of Marengo besides Bonaparte, that it was general 
 Kellermann. With much greater force might it be 
 said, that there was another conqueror at Hohen- 
 linden than Moreau, and that it was general Riche- 
 panse; because this last, upon a vague order, exe- 
 cuted a very fine manoeuvre. But, although less 
 unjust, this assertion wotdd stdl be unjust. To 
 every man should be left the property of his own 
 labours, not supporting the miserable efforts of 
 envy, which at all times would fain seek any other 
 conqueror than the real conqueror himself. 
 
 Moreau, in advancing along the Inn, from Kuf- 
 stein to Muhldorl, without having selected a precise 
 point of attack, without having concentrated on that 
 point all his strength, to make only simple demon- 
 strations, Moreau had thus exposed his left on the 
 1st of December. But this could only be pro- 
 ductive of a momentary advantage to an enemy ; 
 and in withdrawing himself into ;i,u labyrinthian 
 recesses of Hohenlinden, attracting the Austrians 
 there after him, bringing down his centre upon his 
 left at the Opportune moment from Ebersberg up- 
 on Mattenboett, he executed one of the happiest 
 manoeuvres known in the history of war. It has 
 been asserted that Richepanse marched without 
 orders 1 , this is an error; the orders were given, 
 as has been stated here, but they were too general, 
 or not sufficiently detailed. No obstacle that might 
 have happened had been provided against. Mo- 
 reau merely directed Richepanse and Decaen to go 
 off from the Ebersberg road upon St. Christopher's, 
 without designating his route, without warning 
 him of the corps of Riesch being present there in 
 all probability, nor designatiiiL; any of the possible 
 or probable accidents he might meet with' in the 
 midst of a forest full of enemies. Without an 
 officer as vigorous as Richepar.se, he might have 
 reaped a defeat in place of a victory. But for- 
 tune always has a part in military successes. All 
 that can be said is, that it was good in this in- 
 stance, and much better too than usual. 
 
 Moreau has been censured, bee use while he 
 was fighting with six divisions out of twelve, he 
 had left St. Suzanne with three upon the Danube, 
 and three under Lecourbe on the Upper Inn ; by 
 which he exposed his left, under Grenier, to the 
 chance of fighting under the difference of one to 
 two. This censure is assuredly more grave and 
 r merited ; but let not so great a triumph be 
 tarnished ; and let it be added, in order to be just, 
 that, as in the finest works of man, there are de- 
 lects, so in the finest victories there are faults — 
 faults which fortune repairs, and which must be 
 admitted as the ordinary accompaniment of great 
 military actions. 
 
 1 Napoleon erroneously asserted this at St. Helena. The 
 iv-itten orders still exist, and have been printed in the 
 ial of the war.
 
 1800. 
 Dec. 
 
 Moreau marches upon Vienna. 
 
 IIOIIENLINDEX. 
 
 Lecourbe forres the Inn, and marches 
 upon the Salza. 
 
 181 
 
 After tliis important victory, it was right to fol- 
 low up vigorously the pursuit of the Austrian army, 
 
 to march upon Vienna, to throw down the 
 of tlu- Tyrol by pushing forward, and in this man- 
 ner to determine a retrograde movement along the 
 whole line of tin- Austrians from Bavaria to Italy. 
 Thus the retreat of the troops of the Inn would 
 have made those of the troops of the Tyrol a 
 necessary consequence, and the retreat of these 
 last would have made inevitable the ahandoum: nt 
 of the Miucio. But to obtain all these results, it 
 was necessary to force the Inn. and then the Salz:;, 
 which falls into the Inn, forming a second line to 
 be parsed after the former. At the moment all 
 this might have been achieved from the strong im- 
 pulse given to the army by the victory of Hohen- 
 hnden. 
 
 Moreau, when ho had allowed rest to his tr 
 moved his left and a part of bis centre on the road 
 t<i Miihldorf, thus threatening at the same time the 
 bridges of Krayburg, .Miihldorf, and Braunau, in 
 order to make the enemy believe that he intended 
 to cross the Inn in the lower part of its course. In 
 the mean time Lecourbe, who some months before 
 I had so gloriously passed across the Danube on the 
 day of the battle of Hochstedr, was ordered to pass 
 the Inn in the vicinity of Rosenheim. The general 
 had discovered a place near Neubeurn, where the 
 right bank occupied by the French, commanded 
 the left occupied by the enemy, and where it was 
 practicable to place his artillery with advantage, 
 in order to protect the passage. This point was 
 chosen in consequence. Several days were most 
 unfortunately lost in collecting the materiel neces- 
 sary, and it was not until the II th of December, six 
 days after the gnat battle of Ilohenlinden, that 
 Lecourbe was ready to act. 
 
 .Moreau had suddenly taken up a position upon 
 the Upper Inn. The throe divisions of the centre 
 had been directed from Wasserburg upon Aibling, 
 a short distance from Rosenheim, ready to succour 
 Lecourbe. The left had replaced them in their 
 positions, and general Collau i, with two divisions 
 of the corps of St. Suzanne, had been moved in 
 advance of the I.-ar to Erding. 
 
 On the morning of the 9th of December, or 18th 
 Frimaire, Lecourbe began his operations for the 
 ge of the river at Neubeurn. Montrichard's 
 division was to be the first to pass the Inn. Gene- 
 ral Lemaire placed on tin- heights commanding the 
 right bank a battery of twenty-eight! pieces of cannon, 
 and drove off the troops thai presented themselves 
 Upon this part of the liver Austria bad 
 only the corps of Conde, which was too feeble to 
 
 offer any serious resistance. After having driven 
 
 off, by the Continued fire of the artillery, all the 
 enemy's detachments, the pontonuiers placed them- 
 selves in their boats, followed by some light bat- 
 talions designed to protect their operations. In 
 two hours and a half the bridge was finished, and 
 the division of Montrichard began the passage. It 
 advanced upon the Austrians, who retreated, de- 
 scending the right bank of the river until they 
 wire opposite Rosenln im. They then took up a 
 strong position at Stephenekirohen. During this 
 movement, tin- divisions of tin- French centre, 
 placed before Rosenheim itself, exerted themselves 
 in preventing the Austrian-, from completely de- 
 stroying the bridge at that town. Being unsuc- 
 
 cessful, they ascended the Inn, and crossed over at 
 Neubeurn, in order to support Lecourbe. The 
 corps of Condd having been reinforced, supported 
 itself on one side upon the ruined bridge of Rosen- 
 heim, upon the other on the little lake of Chiem-see. 
 Lecourbe Bent a detachment to turn the lake, and 
 thus obliged the enemy to retreat after no very 
 sanguinary n sistanee. 
 
 Tims the Inn was crossed, and that formidable 
 obstacle, which it was declared would stop the 
 French army, was overcome. Lecourbe thus 
 gained another laurel in the winter campaign. The 
 march was not retarded. The next day a bridge 
 was thrown over at Rosenheim for the passage of 
 the rest of the centre. Grenier, with the hit, 
 crossed the Inn over the bridges of Wasserburg 
 and Miihldorf, which the Austrians had left un- 
 destroyed. 
 
 It was necessary to hasten forward and drive 
 the Austrians as far as the banks of the Sal/.a, 
 which flows behind the Inn, and falls into that 
 river a little below Braunau. The Salza is a 
 second arm of the Inn in itself. If it is crossed 
 near the mountains, it must, in a certain respect, 
 be twie ■ crossed, while on passing it in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Braunau after its union with the 
 Salza, there is only one ] issage to be performed. 
 But in the last case the volume of the water is 
 doubled, and the difficulty of crossing by main 
 force is proportionally augmented. This reason, and 
 the wish to surprise the enemy, who did not expect 
 to see the French attempt to cross above Rosen- 
 heim, decided Moreau in the choice. 
 
 Lecourbe, supported by the divisions of 
 centre, advanced with great rapidity, in spite I>1 
 the difficulties presented by a mountainous conn- 
 try, covered w itii woods, rivers, and hikes, a country 
 at all times difficult, but much more so in tin; 
 middle of December. The Austrian army, although 
 stricken by so many reverses, so far maintained 
 itself in the field. The feeling of honour, awakened 
 by the danger of the capital, occasioned it still to 
 make noble efforts to Stop the progress of the 
 French. The Austrian cavalry covered the re- 
 treat, charging with vigour the French corps that 
 advanced with too much temerity. The Austrians 
 i d tiie Alz, which conveys the water of the 
 Chiem-si e to the Inn ; they also passed Traun- 
 stein, ami at last arrived near the Salza not far 
 from Salzburg itself. 
 
 There they remained before Salzburg, a strong 
 position to occupy, ami there the archduke John 
 i bought he should be able to concentrate his troops. 
 hoping to obtain for them some kind of success 
 that would restore their courage, and at least 
 render the daring pursuit of tin- French less rapid. 
 The archduke then concentrated himself before 
 Salzburg on the Kith of December, or 22nd Fri- 
 maire, 18(10. 
 
 The city of Salzburg is seated upon the Salza. 
 In advance of this river there runs another smaller 
 stream, called the Saal, which desci nds from the 
 neighbouring mountains, ami joins the Salza below 
 Salzburg. The ground beneath these two rivers is 
 
 level, marshy, and covered with dumps of w 1, 
 
 being everywhere difficult of access. It was tie re 
 the archduke John had taken up his position, hia 
 
 right on the Sal/.a, his hit to the mountains, his 
 front covered by the Saal, his artillery swept the
 
 Lecourbe folds t!;e Saal. — 
 182 Rescued from danger by 
 Decaen. 
 
 The archduke Charles called 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, to the command.-Armis- 
 
 tice agreed upon. 
 
 1800. 
 Dec. 
 
 whole level. His cavalry stationed on the un- 
 covered and solid portion of the ground, was 
 ready to charge any French corps that took the 
 offensive. His infantry was well supported on the 
 city of Salzburg itself. 
 
 On the 14th, in the morning, Lecourbe, drawn 
 onwards by his ardour, forded the Saal, received 
 several charges of cavalry on the bank bordering 
 the river, and sustained them with bravery. Pre- 
 sently a dense fog clearing up, he discovered in 
 advance of Salzburg a formidable line of cavalry, 
 artillery, and infantry. This was the whole Aus- 
 trian army. In presence of such a danger he con- 
 ducted himself with much steadiness, but did not 
 escape without loss. 
 
 Most fortunately the division of Decaen had 
 crossed the Salza at this moment near Laufen in a 
 manner almost miraculous. On the preceding day 
 the advanced guard of the division, finding the 
 bridge of Laufen destroyed, had coasted the banks 
 of the Salza, everywhere covered with the Austrian 
 tirailleurs, and continued to hunt out a passage. A 
 boat was seen upon the opposite side of the river. 
 At the sight, three chasseurs of the 14th threw 
 themselves into the water, and swam to the other 
 side, in spite of the intense cold, and a current 
 more rapid than that of the Inn. After fighting 
 hand to hand with several Austrian tirailleurs, they 
 succeeded in getting t ie boat, and bringing it over. 
 By this means the French, to the extent of some 
 hundreds, crossed successively to the opposite 
 bank, occupied a village close to the bridge of 
 Laufen, which had been destroyed, and there 
 barricaded themselves in such a manner as that a 
 small number were able to defend it. The rest 
 rushed upon some Austrian artillery, got posses- 
 sion of it, seized all the boats on the right bank of 
 the Salza, and thus supplied with the means of 
 coming over the whole of the division on the left 
 side of the river. The following morning, the 14th, 
 the whole of Decaen's division had passed over, 
 and ascended nearly to Salzburg at the very mo- 
 ment when Lecourbe was engaged with the entire 
 Austrian army. It was impossible for it to arrive 
 at a better moment. The archduke, informed of 
 the passage of the French, and of their inarch 
 upon Salzburg, decamped in a hurry, and Lecourbe 
 was thus disengaged from a very hazardous situa- 
 tion, to which his own ardour and daring courage 
 had exposed him. 
 
 Thus the defences of the Inn and Salza had fallen 
 before the French. From that moment there was 
 no obstacle to cover the Austrian army, or enable 
 it to resist the French. There remained, it is 
 true, twenty-five thousand men in the Tyrol, who 
 had it in their power to threaten the French rear; 
 but it is not when an enemy is victorious, and de- 
 moralization pervades the ranks of an army, that 
 bold attempts are likely to be made. Moreau, 
 having left the corps of St. Suzanne in the rear, 
 to invest Braunau, and to occupy the country 
 between the Inn and Isar, emboldened by the 
 success of every step he had taken, marched upon 
 the Traun and Ens, which were not capable 
 of arresting his march. Richepanse commanded 
 the advanced guard, sustained by Grouchy and 
 Decaen. The retreat of the Austrians was con- 
 ducted in great disorder. At every instant the 
 French took men, carriages, and cannon. Riche- 
 
 panse gained several brilliant actions at Frank- 
 enmarkt, Voeklabruck, and Schwanstadt. Con- 
 tinually engaged with the Austrian cavalry, he 
 made prisoners of twelve hundred horse at a time. 
 On the 20th of December, or 29th of Frimaire, he 
 had passed the Traun, and was marching upon 
 Steyer in order to pass the Ens. 
 
 The young archduke, whom so many disasters 
 had completely put out of heart, was now suc- 
 ceeded by the archduke Charles, who had at last 
 been recalled from disgrace, to perform the task, 
 now become impossible, of saving the Austrian 
 army. When he arrived he saw with deep pain 
 the spectacle presented to his sight by the soldiers 
 of the empire, who, after they had nobly resisted 
 the French, demanded that they should not be 
 sacrificed to an unhappy s\ stem of policy univer- 
 sally reprobated. The archduke sent M. Meer- 
 feld to Moreau to propose an armistice. Moreau 
 willingly granted it for forty-eight hours, on con- 
 dition that, during the delay, that officer should 
 return from Vienna with full powers from the 
 emperor; but he stipulated, at the same time, that 
 during the interval, the French army should have 
 the right to advance as far as the Ens. 
 
 On the 21st he passed the Ens at Steyer, and 
 his advanced posts were upon the Ips and Erlaf. 
 He was, in fact, at the gates of Vienna, and might 
 feel the temptation to enter the city, and thus 
 bestow upon himself the glory which no French 
 general ever before had, of penetrating to the 
 capital of the empire. But the moderate mind of 
 Moreau had no desire to push fortune to the ex- 
 treme. The archduke Charles gave his word, that 
 if hostilities were suspended, the Austrians would 
 immediately treat for peace, on the conditions that 
 France had always demanded, more especially 
 upon the basis ol a separate negotiation. Moreau, 
 feeling a well-founded esteem for the archduke 
 Charles, showed a disposition to give him full credit. 
 
 Several of Moreau's lieutenants endeavoured to 
 excite him to march upon Vienna. " It will be 
 better," he answered, " to secure peace. Of Mac- 
 donald and Brune 1 have no intelligence. I know 
 not if one has succeeded in penetrating the Tyrol, 
 or if the other has been able to pass the Mincio. 
 Augereau is a great way off from me, in a hazard- 
 ous situation. I should, perhaps, drive the Aus- 
 trians to despair, it I insisted on humiliating them 
 yet more. It is better for us to halt, and content 
 ourselves with peace, because that is all for which 
 we are fighting." 
 
 These were wise sentiments, well worthy of 
 praise. On the 25th of December, or 4th Nivose, 
 year IX., Moreau consented to sign, at Steyer, a 
 new suspension of arms, upon the following con- 
 ditions : — 
 
 There is to be a cessation of hostilities in Ger- 
 many between the Austrian and the French armies, 
 commanded by Moreau and Augereau. The ge- 
 nerals Brune and Macdonald are to be invited to 
 sign a similar armistice for the armies of the 
 Orisons and of Italy. The entire valley of the 
 Danube, comprising also the Tyrol, with tlie for- 
 tressee of Braunau and Wurizburg, and the forts 
 of Scharnitz, of Kulstein, and others, and the 
 magazines of the Austrians, to be placed at the 
 disposal of the French. No detachment of troops 
 to be sent into Italy, if it should appear that no
 
 1800. 
 Dec. 
 
 Great abilities of Moreau. — 
 Danger of Aueereau : re- 
 lieved by the umifctice. 
 
 HOH EN LINDEN. 
 
 Marrlonald passes the Grisons, and 
 enters the Valteline. 
 
 18:$ 
 
 suspension of arms has been consented to by the 
 general commanding in that country. This sti- 
 pulation to be common to both armies. 
 
 Moreau was content with these stipulations, as 
 he had full reason to be, calculating upon peace, 
 and preferring it to more signal, but more hazard- 
 ous triumphs, A brightness of glory surrounded 
 his name, because his winter campaign had sur- 
 passed that of the spring. After crossing the 
 Rhine in the spring campaign, having driven the 
 Austrians to the Danube, while Bonaparte was 
 crossing the Alps, and alter dislodging them from 
 their camp at Ulm, by the battle of lloehstedt, 
 thus pushing them back to the Inn, he had taken 
 breath during the fine season. He had com- 
 menced his march in winter, during the most 
 severe cold; he had overthrown the enemy at Ho- 
 henlinden, flung them back from the Inn upon 
 the Salza, from the Salza upon the Traun and 
 Ens, pushing them in confusion to the very gates 
 of Vienna. Lastly, he had granted them, in stop- 
 ping his victorious march a few leagues from the 
 capital, time to sign a treaty of peace. There had 
 been " gropings," delays, and faults, that severe 
 judges have keenly censured since, as if to revenge 
 upon the memory of .Moreau the injustice committed 
 upon the memory of Napoleon; but Moreau had 
 a continued cnain of successes justified by his own 
 prudence and firmness. All true glory should be 
 respected; we ought not to darken the glory of 
 one to avenge the other. Moreau proved himself 
 capable of Commanding one hundred thousand 
 nun with prudence and courage ; no one, except 
 Napoleon, has manoeuvred such a force in the 
 present age so well ; and if the place of the victor 
 of Hoheulinden be at an immense distance from 
 that of the victor of Rivoli, Marengo, and Auster- 
 litz, his place is still great, and would have con- 
 tinued great, if criminal conduct, the unfortunate 
 production of jealousy, had not later in life sullied 
 a character until then pure and exalted. 
 
 The armistice in Germany took place very op- 
 portunely for rescuing the Gallo-Batavian army, 
 commanded by Augereau, from its hazardous situ- 
 ation. The Austrian general, Klenaii, who always 
 remained far enough away from the archduke 
 John, suddenly formed a junction with Simbschen, 
 and by thus uniting their forces, placed Augereau 
 in imminent danger. But the last defended Rad- 
 nilz with great skill and courage, and supported his 
 ground until the conclusion of hostilities. The 
 retreat of the Austrians into Bavaria relieved him 
 from his peril, and the armistice saved him from 
 tin- dangers of a situation in which he was destitute 
 of support, seeing Moreau was at the gates of 
 Vienna. 
 
 During these events in Germany, hostilities were 
 Continued in the Alps and in Italy. The first 
 COllHUl, seeing in the opening of the campaign, that 
 Moreau could spare the army of tint Grisons, had 
 
 ordered Macdonald to pass over the Spliigen, and 
 
 throw himself from the gn at chain of the Alps 
 
 into the Valteline, from the Valteline into the 
 [talian Tyrol, and then moving upon the Trent, 
 to turn the line of the Mincio; by this manoeuvre 
 putting an end to the resistance of the Austrians 
 in the plains of Italy. No objection arising from 
 the height of the Spliigen or the rigour of the 
 
 season could change the detern. illation of the first 
 
 consul. He had constantly answered, that where- 
 ever two men could place their feet, an army pos- 
 sessed the means of passing, and that the Alps 
 were easier to cross in frost than when the snow 
 was melting, the season in which he had himself 
 crossed the St. Bernard. This was the language 
 of a mind altogether absolute, determined at any 
 cost to attain its end. The event proved, that in 
 the mountains the winter presents dangers at least 
 equal to those of spring; besides which, it condemns 
 those who brave it to the most horrible sufferings. 
 
 General Macdonald prepared to obey the order 
 of the first consul, with all the energy natural to 
 his character. After having left Morlot's division 
 in the Grisons, to guard the openings which form 
 the communication between the Grisons and the 
 Engadine, or superior valley of the Inn, he moved 
 towards the Spliigen. For some time before, the 
 division of Baraguay d'llilliers had been in the 
 high or upper Valteline, threatening the Engadine 
 from the side of Italy, while Morlot menaced it 
 from the side of the Grisons. With the main body 
 of his army, about twelve thousand men, Mac- 
 donald commenced his march, and clambered up 
 the first declivities of the Spliigen. The pass of 
 this lofty mountain, narrow and winding, during 
 many leagues of the ascent, offered the severest 
 perils, more particularly at that season, when fre- 
 quent storms encumbered the roads with enormous 
 drifts of snow and ice. The artillery and ammu- 
 nition were placed on sledges, and the soldiers 
 were loaded with biscuits and cartridges. The first 
 column, composed of artillery and cavalry, com- 
 mencing the passage in fine weather, on a sudden 
 was overtaken by a frightful storm. An ava- 
 lanche carried away half a squadron of dragoons at 
 once, and filled the soldiers with terror at the 
 sight. Still they did not lose their courage, and, 
 alter a delay of three days, another attempt was 
 made to cross this redoubtable mountain. The 
 snow had encumbered all. Oxen were driven before 
 the troops to tread down the snow, into which they 
 sank up to their bellies ; labourers beat it down 
 hard ; the infantry in passing over rendered it 
 harder : and lastly, the sappers widened the passes 
 where they were too narrow, by cutting away the 
 ice with hatchets. These exertions were all need- 
 ful to make the road practicable lor cavalry and 
 artillery. Thus the first days of December were 
 employed in effecting the passage of the three first 
 Columns. The soldiers endured the most terrible 
 Bufferings with great fortitude, living upon biscuit 
 with a small quantity of brandy. . The 4th and 
 last column had nearly reached the summit of the 
 pass, when another storm came on and again 
 closed up the passage, dispersed the 104tll demi- 
 brigade entirely, and buried a hundred men. Ge- 
 neral Macdonald was there, and rallied the sol- 
 diers, cheered them amid their pains and Bufferings, 
 made the road be cleared a second time, that was 
 thus closed with blocks of frozen snow, and with all 
 the rest of his forces entered the Valteline. 
 
 This enterprise, so justly wonderful, carried 
 the greater part of the army of the Grisons 
 across tint great mountaiii-eha in, to the very en- 
 trances of the Italian Tyrol. General Macdonald, 
 
 as he had been commanded, sought, as s as he 
 
 had passed tin: Spliigen, to act in concert with 
 iJrnne, in order to move upon the sources of the
 
 Macdonald attacks the 
 184 Austrians at mount 
 Tonal. 
 
 Brune advances to cross 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. the Mincto.-Descrip- 
 
 tion of that river. 
 
 1800. 
 Dec. 
 
 Mineio and Adige, thus overturning the whole de- 
 fensive line of the Austrians, which extended from 
 the Alps to the Adriatic. 
 
 Brune would not deprive himself of an entire 
 division to aid Macdonald, but he consented to 
 detach the Italian division of Lecchi, which was to 
 ascend the valley of the Chiesa, as far as Rocca 
 d'Anfo. 
 
 Macdonald now determined to ascend the Valte- 
 line and attack mount Tonal, which commanded 
 the entrance into the Tyrol, and the valley of the 
 Adige; but there, though the height was inferior to 
 the Sjiltigen, the ice was as deeply collected; and 
 further, general Wukassowich had covered with 
 intrenchmehts the principal approaches. On the 
 22nd and 23rd of December, general Vandamme 
 led an attack upon them at the head of a body of 
 grenadiers, and several times renewed it unsuccess- 
 fully with tlie most heroic courage. These brave 
 men made incredible but useless exertions to gain 
 their object. Several times they marched over the 
 ice entirely unprotected, and under a murderous 
 fire. They reached the palisadoes of the entrench- 
 ment, endeavouring in vain to force them. The 
 ground was frozen, and it was impossible to pull 
 them up. There was no use in persisting further; 
 and it was in consequence resolved to move into the 
 valley of the Oglio, and descend that river to Pi- 
 • , in order to proceed into the valley of 
 Chiesa. The object was to cross the mountains in 
 a less elevated region, and by passes not so effec- 
 tually defended. Macdonald, having descended to 
 Pisogno, crossed the passes which separated him 
 from the valley of the Chiesa, formed his junction 
 with Leech i's brigade towards Rocca d'Anfo, and 
 then found himself beyond the obstacles which 
 separated him from the Italian Tyrol and the 
 Adige. Thus he was enabled to reach Trent before 
 general Wukassowich had made his retreat from 
 the heights of mount Tonal, ami to take up a p >si- 
 tion between the Austrians who defended in the 
 middle of the Alps the sources of the different 
 rivers, and the Austrians who defended the in- 
 ferior parts of the streams in the plains of Italy. 
 
 Brune, before he forced the pas-age of the Min- 
 eio, had waited until Macdonald had made sufficient 
 progress for the attack t > be nearly simultaneous 
 in the mountains and in the plains. Out of one 
 hundred and twenty-five thousand men spread 
 over Italy, he had, as we have already observed, 
 one hundred thousand effective men, tried soldiers, 
 recruited alter tin ir sufferings and privations ; an 
 artillery perfectly organized by general Marmont, 
 and an excellent ea\ airy. 
 
 Twenty thousand men, or nearly that number, 
 protected Lombardy; Piedmont, Liguria, and Tus- 
 cany. A feeble brigade, commanded by general 
 Petitot, watched the Austrian troops thai allied 
 out of Ferrara, and menaced Bologna. The na- 
 tional guard uf ihis last city was ready, in addition, 
 to defend it against the Austrians. The Neapoli- 
 tans were crossing the new Roman state, in order 
 to march upon Tuscany; but Murat, with ten thou- 
 sand nun from 'he camp of Amiens, had inarched 
 to encounter them. 
 
 Brune, after having provided for the protection 
 of the differ nl places in Italy, had about seventy 
 thousand men to direct upon the Mineio. Bona- 
 parte, perfectly acquainted with the theatre of 
 
 operations, had recommended him to concentrate 
 his troops with care; and as much as possible in 
 Upper Italy, to pay no attention to what the Aus- 
 trians might attempt in the direction of the Po, in 
 the Legations, or even in Tuscany; but to remain 
 steady, as he himself had formerly done, near the 
 openings of the Alps. He repeated to Brune in- 
 cessantly, that when the Austrians were beaten 
 between the Mineio and Adige, in other words, on 
 the line by which they enter Italy, all those who 
 had passed the Po, to penetrate into central Italy, 
 would only be the more exposed to danger. 
 
 The Austrians really put on the face of attacking 
 Bologna, by sallying from Ferrara for that purpose; 
 but general Petitot knew how to restrain them, and 
 the national guards of Bologna exhibited upon their 
 own side the firmest attitude. 
 
 Brune, conforming at once to the instructions 
 which he had received, advanced to the Mineio 
 from the 20th to the 24th of December, or 29th 
 Frimaire to 3rd Nivose, took the positions which 
 the Austrians had occupied in advance of that 
 river, and made his dispositions for passing it on 
 the morning of the 25th. General Delmas com- 
 manded his advanced guard; general Moncev the 
 left; general Dupont the right; and general Mi- 
 chaud the reserve. Beyond the cavalry and artil- 
 lery distributed in his divisions, he had a consider- 
 able reserve of both. 
 
 In recounting the first campaigns of Bonaparte ', 
 we have already described the theatre of so many 
 memorable events. It will be necessary still to re- 
 trace in a few words the configuration of the places. 
 The great mass of the waters of the Tyrol are con- 
 veyed by the Adige into the Adriatic: thus it is that 
 the line of the Adige is one of great strength. But 
 before the line of the Adige is obtained, a less im- 
 portant one is encountered, that of the Mineio. 
 The waters of several of the lateral valleys of the 
 Tyrol, which first accumulate in the lake of 
 Garda, deliver themselves from thence into the 
 Mineio, remain some time around Mantua, where 
 they form an inundation, and last of all fall into the 
 Po. In consequence there was a double line to 
 cross, first that of the Mineio, and next that of the 
 Adige, this last being much more considerable, and 
 much the strongest id' the two. It was necessary 
 to cross both these rivers; and if this was done so 
 promptly as to act in immediate concert with Mac- 
 donald, who was moving by Rocca d'Anfo and 
 Trent upon the Upper Adige, it would be possible 
 to separate the Austrian army which defended the 
 Tyrol, from that defending the Mineio, and to take 
 the former. 
 
 The line of the Mineio, in length not more than 
 seven or eight leagues, was supported on one flank 
 by the lake of Garda, and by Mantua, bristling 
 with artillery, upon the other ; and was defended 
 by seventy thousand Austrians, under the com- 
 mand of count Bellegarde, nor was it easily to he 
 forced. The Austrians had at Borghetto and Val- 
 legio a bridge will entrenched, and this enabled 
 Bellegarde to act upon both banks. The river 
 uas not fordable at that season, and the mass of its 
 waters was yet more augmented by closing all the 
 canals it fed. 
 
 Brune, after having united his columns, con- 
 
 1 History of the French Revolution.
 
 1803. Dupont crosses the Mincio 
 
 Dec. unrestrained by Brune. 
 
 llOHENLINDEN 
 
 Combat at Pozzolo. 
 The Austrians retreat. 
 
 185 
 
 ceived the singular idea of crossing the Mincio in 
 two places, both at the same moment, at Mozzem- 
 bano and Pozzolo. Between these two points the 
 river formed a bend, the convex point of which 
 turned towards the French army. The right bank, 
 which Brune occupied, commanded the left, occu- 
 pied by the Austrian*, so that at Mozzembano, as 
 well as at Pozzolo, a converging tire could be 
 opened from higher batteries upon the Austrian 
 bank, and the operation of the passage be covered. 
 Still, at both points the Austrians were found to be 
 firmly posted behind the Mincio, covered with solid 
 entrenchments, that were supported either on 
 Mantua or Pechiera. The advantages and incon- 
 veniences were therefore nearly the same, either at 
 Pozzolo or Mozzembano; but what should have 
 decided Brune to prefer one of these two points, no 
 matter which, while he made a false demonstration 
 on the other, was, that between these two points 
 there was an entrenched bridge, then occupied by 
 the enemy. The Austrians therefore could pass 
 over by this means, and throw themselves upon 
 one of the two operations, in order to prevent it 
 from being effected : it was proper, therefore, that 
 only one shoul 1 have been attempted, and that 
 with the entire of his army. 
 
 Still Brune persisted in his double plan, appa- 
 rently for the purpose of distracting the attention 
 of the enemy; and on the 25th of December he 
 arranged every thing to effect this double passage. 
 But obstacles intervened in respect to carriage, 
 obstacles very great at that season of the year, and 
 prevented every thing being ready at Mozzembano, 
 the point where Brune was himself, together with 
 the larger part of his army, and the operation was 
 deferred until the next day. It would then appear 
 that the order to attempt the second passage should 
 have been countermanded ; but Brune, having 
 always considered the attempt on tin- Bide of Poz- 
 zolo as merely a diversion, thought that tin: diver- 
 sion would more surely produce its effect it' i: pre- 
 1 the principal operation twenty-lour hours. 
 
 Dupont, who commanded at Pozzolo, was an 
 officer lull of ardour; he advanced on the morning 
 of the 25th to the bank of the Mincio, crowned 
 with artillery the heights of Molino-'della-Voita, 
 which overlooked tin; opposite bank, threw over a 
 bridge in a short time, mi ler favour of a dense fog, 
 and succeeded in conveying over Wattrin's division 
 to the right bank. During this time Bruue re- 
 mained immoveable with the left and the reserve 
 at Mozzembano. General Suchet, placed between 
 the two with the centre, masked the Austrian 
 bridge of Borghetto. Thus general Dupont was on 
 the left bank with a single corps before the whole' 
 Austrian army. The result it is easy to disc iver. 
 Count Bellegarde, without losing a moment, directs I 
 the whole ina-^s of his forces upon Pozzolo. Dupont 
 Bent to apprise Suchet bis neighbour, and also the 
 commander-in-chief, of his md of the dan- 
 
 ger to which he wa I. Suchet, a brave and 
 
 faithful fellow-soldier, hastened to the assistance 
 of Dupont; but on quitting 15 irghetto, sent to urge 
 Brune to provide for the guard of the intrenched 
 bridge, which he left open by bis movement upon 
 Pozzolo. Brune, in place of hurrying with all his 
 to the point where a fortunate incident had 
 opened for his army the passage of the Mincio, 
 never moved from bis position, being engrossed by 
 
 his operations at .Mozzembano, which were to take 
 place on the following day. He approved of the 
 movement of Suchet, but recommended him, at the 
 same time, not to endanger himself on the opposite 
 side of the river, sending Boudet's division alone 
 to mask the bridge of Borghetto. 
 
 General Dupont, impatient to profit by his suc- 
 cess, was absolutely engaged. He had passed the 
 Mincio, taken Pozzolo, which is situated on the 
 U ft bank, and successively carried over the divi- 
 sions of Wattrin and Monier. One of his wings 
 was supported on Pozzolo, the other on the Mincio, 
 under the protection of the elevated batteries upon 
 the right bank. 
 
 The Austrians marched upon the position W 
 all their reinforcements. They were preceded by a 
 number of pieces of cannon. Happily, the French 
 artillery placed upon Molino-della- Volta, in sweep- 
 ing from one bank to the other, protected the 
 French by the superiority of their fire. The Aus- 
 trians flung themselves with great fury upon the 
 divisions of Wattrin and Mcnier. The sixth light, 
 the twenty-eighth, ami the fortieth of the line, were 
 nearly overwhelmed, but still they resisted with 
 wonderful courage the repeated attacks of the 
 Austrian cavalry and infantry. Monier's division, 
 surprised in Pozzolo by a column of grenadiers, 
 was driven out. At this moment the corps of Du- 
 pont, detached from its principal pant of support, 
 was mi the eve of being driven into the Mincio. 
 General Suchet, arriving on the right bank with 
 the division of GaZaii, and perceiving, from the 
 height of Molino-della- Volta, the serious danger of 
 Dupont, engaged with ten thousand men against 
 thirty thousand, hastened to reinforce him. i re- 
 strained by the orders of Brune, he dared not send 
 him the whole of Gazan's division, and he threw 
 Clauzel's brigade over to the other side of the river. 
 This brigade was insufficient, and Dupont must 
 have succumbed, despite this aid, but the rest of 
 Gazan's division, crowning the opposite bank, from 
 which the Austrians could be reached with grape- 
 shot, and even by musketry, poured upon them a 
 murderous fire, and thus stopped them. Dupont's 
 division, being supported, resumed the offensive, 
 and made the Austrians fall hack. Such 
 tlie danger that every moment increased, d 
 mined to send over the whole of Gazan's division 
 to the opp site bank'. The important point, Poz- 
 zolo, was fiercely disputed; SIX times it was taken 
 ami retaken. At nine o'clock at. night the contest 
 still continued by moonlight, under a severe frost. 
 Tiie French finally remained masters of tin 
 bank, but they had lost the (lower of four divisions. 
 \ustriiuis left six thousand killed and wounded 
 on the field of battle, and the French nearly the 
 same number. But lor the arrival of general 
 Suchet, the left wing would have been utterly de- 
 stroyed; as it was, he dared not engage fully, his 
 hands being tied up by the order, of the com- 
 
 mander-in-cnief. If count Bellegarde hid dii ted 
 
 his whole force upon that point, or if he had passed 
 over tin' bridge of Borghetto, while Brune re 
 mained immoveable at Mozzembano, he would have 
 inflicted a fearful blow upon the centre and left of 
 the French army. 
 
 Fortunately, be did nothing of the kind. The 
 Mincio was thus crossed at one point. Brune per- 
 sisted in his plan of passing the next day, the iJu'th
 
 Dishonourable act of general 
 18G Laudon. -The Austrian* THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 beg an armistice. 
 
 Bonaparte receives the 
 news of the victory 
 with great joy. 
 
 1800. 
 Jan. 
 
 of December, towards Mozzembano, thus newly 
 exposing himself to the chances of an operation by 
 main force. He covered the heights of Mozzem- 
 bano with forty guns, and, favoured by the fogs of 
 that season, succeeded in placing a bridge. The 
 Austrians fatigued with the fight of the pre- 
 ceding day, and doubting the intention of the 
 second passage, made less resistance than the day 
 before, and permitted the positions of Sallionzo 
 and of Vallegio to be taken from them. 
 
 The whole army passed in this way beyond the 
 Mincio, and was thus enabled to march with its 
 united divisions upon the Adige. The entrenched 
 bridge of Borghetto must have fallen naturally from 
 the offensive movement of the French columns. A 
 first fault was committed, and several hundreds of 
 brave men's lives sacrificed to complete the con- 
 quest of a point that was not tenable : twelve hun- 
 dred Austrians were made prisoners there. 
 
 The French were victorious, but at the cost of 
 valuable blood, which generals Bonaparte or Moreau 
 would not have failed to spare the army. Lecourbe 
 passed the German rivers in a very different man- 
 ner. Brune, having forced the Mincio, advanced 
 towards the Adige, which he ought to have crossed 
 immediately. He was not ready to effect the pas- 
 sage before the 3lst of December, or ]0th Nivose. 
 On the 1st of January, general Delmas, with the 
 advanced guard, successfully crossed that river 
 above Verona at Bussolengo. General Moneey, 
 with the left, was to ascend to Trent, while the rest 
 of the army again descended to invest Verona. 
 
 Count Bellegarde at this moment found himself 
 in the greatest danger. A part of the troops of 
 the Tyrol, under general Laudon, were retiring 
 before Macdonald and falling back upon Trent. 
 General Moneey, with his corps, was also marching 
 there in ascending the Adige. General Laudon 
 must have succumbed, being hemmed in between 
 Macdonald and Moncey's corps, unless he had time 
 to save himself in the valley of the Brenta, which, 
 flowing beyond the Adige, terminates in many 
 windings near Bassano. Brune, if he passed the 
 Adige quickly, and pushed Bellegarde beyond 
 Verona, to Bassano itself, might anticipate at this 
 List point the corps of the Tyrol, and take it en- 
 tirely by closing the ouening of the Brenta. 
 
 An act of general Laudon, not very honourable, 
 and the dilatoriness of general Brune, excused in 
 some degree, perhaps, by the season, disengaged 
 the corps of the Tyrol from its peril. 
 
 Macdonald had in effect arrived near Trent, 
 while the corps of general Moneey was proceeding 
 thither at its side. General Laudon placed be- 
 tween these two corps, had recourse toa falsehood, 
 lie announced to general Moneey that an armis- 
 tice had been signed in Germany, and that this 
 armistice was common to both armies. This was 
 false, because the treaty signed at Steyer by Moreau 
 only applied to the armies operating on the Danube. 
 General Moneey, in an excess of honourable feel- 
 ing, believed what Laudon stated, and opened a 
 passage for him to the valley of the Brenta. He 
 was thus enabled to rejoin count Bellegarde in 
 the vicinity of Bassano. 
 
 But the disasters of Austria in Germany be- 
 come known. The Austrian army beaten in Italy, 
 pressed by a mass of ninety thousand men after the 
 junction of Macdonald with Brune, was no longer 
 
 able to hold out. An armistice was proposed to 
 Brune, who hastened to accept it, and it was signed 
 on the lG'th of January at Treviso. Brune, eager 
 to settle affairs, was contented to demand the line of 
 the Adige, with the fortresses of Ferrara, Pechiera, 
 and l'ortolegnago. He did not dream of demand- 
 ing Mantua; still his instructions were not to halt 
 until he had entered Isonzo, and made himself 
 master of Mantua. This was the only place that 
 was worth the trouble, because all the others must 
 full naturally and as a thing of course. It was of 
 great importance to occupy it, that there might be 
 a claim for demanding its co.-sion to the Cisal- 
 pine republic at the congress of Luneville. 
 
 While these events were happening in Upper 
 Italy, the Neapolitans entered Tuscany. The count 
 Damas, who commanded a body of sixteen thousand 
 men, eight thousand of whom were Neapolitans, 
 had advanced as far as Sienna. General Miollis, 
 obliged to protect all the posts in Tuscany, had 
 only three thousand five hundred disposable men, 
 the larger part Italians. Notwithstanding this, he 
 marched upon the Neapolitans. '1 lie gallant sol- 
 diers of the division of Pino threw themselves upon 
 the advanced guard of count Damas, overthrew it, 
 forced their way into Sienna, and put to the sword 
 a number of the insurgents. Count Damas was 
 obliged to retreat. Murat was advancing with his 
 grenadiers to force from him a signature to a third 
 armistice. 
 
 The campaign was thus every where terminated, 
 and peace insured. On every belligerent point the 
 French had been successful. The army of Moreau, 
 flanked by that of Augercau, had penetrated nearly 
 to the gates of Vienna; that of Brune, seconded by 
 Macdonald, had passed the Mincio and the Adige, 
 and marched to Treviso. Though it had not en- 
 tirely driven the Austrians beyond the Alps, it had 
 taken from them a sufficiency of territory to furnish 
 the French negotiator at Lune'ville with powerful 
 arguments against Austrian pretensions in Italy. 
 Murat was about to compel the court of Naples to 
 submission. 
 
 Upon receiving intelligence of the battle of Ho- 
 henlinden, the first consul, who was said to be jea- 
 lous of Moreau, was filled with hearty delight 1 . 
 This victory lost nothing of its value in his eyes 
 because it was gained by a rival. He deemed him- 
 self so superior to all his companions in arms, in 
 military glory and in political influence, that he felt 
 no jealousy towards any of them; wholly devoted to 
 the object of pacifying and reorganizing France, 
 he learned with lively satisfaction every event 
 which contributed to facilitate his labour, although 
 such events might aggrandize men who were 
 afterwards set up as rivals to him. 
 
 That which most displeased him in this campaign 
 was the useless effusion of French blood at Pozzolo, 
 and above all, the serious fault committed in not 
 demanding Mantua. He refused to ratify the con- 
 vention of Treviso, and declared that he would 
 give orders for the renewal of hostilities, if the 
 fortress of Mantua were not immediately delivered 
 over to the French army. 
 
 1 Bourrienne says that " he leaped for joy ;" and this bio- 
 grapher is not to be suspected, for, though he owed every 
 thing to Napoleon, he seems not to have remembered that 
 lie dill so in his memoirs.
 
 1801. Negotiations renewed at Luneville. 
 Jan. Determination of Bonaparte. 
 
 HOHENLINDEN. 
 
 Terms fixed by Bonaparte for 
 the peace. 
 
 187 
 
 At this moment, Joseph Bonaparte and M. Co- 
 hentzel were at Luneville, awaiting events on the 
 Danube and Adige. These uegotiatnrs were placed 
 in a Bingular situation, treating while the tight was 
 going on, and being in Borne sort witnesses of the 
 duel between two great nations, expecting every 
 moment the news, though not of the death, vet of 
 tli ■ exhaustion of one or the other. M. Cobentzel 
 exhibited upon the occasion a vigour of character 
 which miirlit serve as an example for those men 
 who are called upon to serve their country in such 
 important circumstances. He never suffered hint- 
 self to be disconcerted, neither by the defeat of the 
 Austrian* at Ilohenlinden, nor by the pa-sage of 
 the Inn, the Salza, or the Tratin. To all these dis- 
 astrous events he replied, with imperturbable self- 
 :, that all th. se tilings wore no doubt very 
 vexatious, but that the archduke Charles had reco- 
 vered from his chagrin, and that he had arrived at 
 the head of the extraordinary levies of Bohemia 
 and Hungary; that he had brought to the assist- 
 ance of the capital twenty-live thousand Bohemians 
 and seventy-five thousand Hungarians ; that, in 
 advancing further, the French would encounter a 
 resistance which they could little expect to find. 
 11" supported at the same tune all the Austrian 
 demands, particularly that of not treating without 
 an English plenipotentiary, who would at least 
 cover by his presence the real negotiations which 
 it might be possible to establish between the two 
 nations. Sometimes he threatened to return to 
 Frankfort, and thus put an end to all the hopes 
 of peace of which the first consul had need, 
 for composing the minds of the people. At this 
 threat, the first consul, who was never guilt}' of 
 tergiveraation, when any one attempted to intimidate 
 him, answered M. Cobentzel, that if he quitted 
 Luneville, all chance of accommodation would be 
 for ever lost, that the war should be pushed to the 
 utmost, even to the entire downfall of the Austrian 
 monarchy. 
 
 In the midst of this diplomatic contest, M. Co- 
 bentzi 1 received intelligence of the armistice con- 
 cluded at Steyer, the orders of the emperor to treat 
 at any price, and above all, to extend to Italy the 
 armistice already agreed upon in Germany, be- 
 cause nothing would be gained, if, having stopped 
 one of two armies marching upon Vienna, the 
 oilier should be permitted to take the same direc- 
 tion, by Friouli and Carinthia. In consequence, 
 It. Cobentzel declared, on the 31st of December, 
 that he was ready to treat without the consent of 
 
 England, that he would agree t<> sign preliminaries 
 of peace, or a definitive treaty, whichever was 
 
 desired by France; but before he committed him- 
 self decidedly, in separating from England, lie 
 wished that an armistice, common to Germany 
 and Italy, should be concluded, and some explana- 
 tions regarding the terms of the peace should be 
 made, at hast in a general manner. For his own 
 
 part, he would propose as conditions, that the Oglio 
 
 should be the limit of Austria in Italy, with the 
 Legations, and at the Bam time, that the dukes of 
 
 Modena and Tuscany should be reinstated in their 
 former dominions. 
 
 These conditions were unreasonable, the first 
 consul would not have admitted them before the 
 triumphs of the winter campaign had been achil Ved, 
 and much less afterwards. 
 
 The preliminaries of M. St. Julien have not been 
 forgotten here. The treaty of Campo-Formio was 
 adopted for the basis, with this difference, that cer- 
 tain indemnities promised to Austria for small ter- 
 ritories, were to be taken in Italy in place of Ger- 
 many. We have already indicated the substance of 
 them; the treaty of Campo-Formio. assigned to the 
 Cisalpine republic and to Austria the boundary of 
 the Adige ; in promising indemnity to Austria in 
 Italy, she was given to hope for the Mincio, for 
 example, in place of the Adige, as a boundary, but 
 the Mincio at most, and the territory of the Lega- 
 tions not at all, of which the first consul intended 
 to make a different disposition. 
 
 The ideas of the first consul were thus deter- 
 mined. He insisted that Austria should pay the 
 expenses of the winter campaign ; that her Italian 
 limits should be the Adige, and nothing more,' and 
 that she should receive no indemnity, neither in 
 Germany nor in Italy, for the small territories 
 ceded on the left bank of the Rhine. The Legations 
 he intended to reserve, and make them subservient 
 to divers combinations. Until now they had belonged 
 to the Cisalpine republic. His design was rather 
 to leave them to that republic, or to devote them 
 to the aggrandizement of the house of Parma, as 
 promised by treaty with the court of Spain. In 
 this last case he would have given Parma to the 
 Cisalpine, Tuscany to the house of Farina, which 
 would have been a great aggrandizement, and the 
 Legations to the grand duke of Tuscany. As to the 
 duke of Modena, Austria had promised, by the 
 treaty of Campo-Formio, to indemnify him for his 
 lost duchy by means of the Brisgau. It was for 
 her to keep her engagements towards that prince. 
 
 The first consul wished for another thing that 
 was well understood, but very difficult to make 
 Austria consent to. He did not wish, as he was 
 bound to do, after the treaty of Campo-Formio, to 
 hold a congress with the princes of the empire, to 
 obtain from each individually the formal abandon- 
 ment of the left bank of the Rhine to France. He 
 recollected the congress of Rastadt, which termi- 
 nated in the assassination of the French plenipoten- 
 tiaries. He recollected the trouble he had been at 
 to treat with each prince individually, and to come 
 to an agreement with all those who had lost terri- 
 tories, upon a system of indemnity which should 
 be satisfactory to them. The first consul demanded, 
 in consequence, that the emperor should sign, as 
 chief of the house of Austria, for what concerned 
 the house, and as emperor for what concerned the 
 empire. In a word, he wanted to have at a single 
 stroke the acknowledgment id' the French con- 
 quests, whether on the part of Austria or on the 
 part of the Germanic confederation. 
 
 I! inaparte therefore ordered his brother Joseph 
 to signify to M. Cobentzel, as definitively settled, 
 the following conditions: — The left bank of the 
 Rhine to France. The limits of the Adige to 
 Austria and the Cisalpine, without abandoning the 
 Legations. The Legations to the duke of Tuscany. 
 Tuscany to the duke of Parma, I'arma to the 
 Cisalpine. Brisgau to the duke of Modena. Finally, 
 the peace to he signed by the emperor, as much 
 for himself as for the empire. As for the armistice 
 
 in Italy, he was willing to grant it on < dilion 
 
 that Mantua be immediately given up to tin- French 
 army.
 
 Message of the legislative Policv of Paul I towards 1801 
 
 188 ta^-Orders of the first THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. ^gland Jan. 
 
 consul to his brother. 
 
 As the first consul well knew the mode of treat- 
 ing common to the Austrian*, and in particular 
 that of M. Cohentzel, he wished to cut short many 
 difficulties, and much opposition, and menaces of 
 simulated despair ; he therefore thought of a new 
 mode of signifying his ultimatum. The legislative 
 body had just assembled ; it was proposed to it on 
 the 2d of January, or 12th Nivose, to declare that 
 the four, armies commanded by Moreau, Brune, 
 Macdonald, and Augereau, had merited the thanks 
 of their country. A message added to this propo- 
 sition announced that M. Cobentzel at last con- 
 sented to treat without the concurrence of Great 
 Britain, and the definitive conditions of the peace 
 were, the Rhine for France, the Adige for the Cis- 
 alpine republic. The message added, that in case 
 these conditions should not be accepted, the peace- 
 should be signed at Prague, at Vienna, and at 
 Venice. 
 
 This communication was received with great joy- 
 in Paris, hut it caused a deep emotion at Lunevilie. 
 M. Cobentzel raised a great outcry against the 
 hardness of these conditions, above all against their 
 form. He complained bitterly, that France seemed 
 to he making the treaty herself, without negotiating 
 with any one. Still he kept firm, and declared 
 that Austria could not give way upon all these 
 points; she would rather fall with arms in her 
 hands than concede such conditions. M. Cobent- 
 zel consented to retire from the Oglio to the 
 Chiesa, which runs between the Oglio and the 
 Mincio, on the condition of having Peschier.i, 
 Mantua, and Fcrrara, without the obligation to 
 demolish the fortifications. He consented to in- 
 demnify the duke of Modena with Brisgau, but in- 
 sisted on the restitution of the territory of the duke 
 of Tuscany. He spoke of formal guarantees to be 
 given for the independence of Piedmont, Switzer- 
 land, the Holy See, Naples, and other states. As 
 to peace with the empire, he declared that the 
 emperor was about to demand powers of the Ger- 
 manic Diet, hut that this monarch would never take 
 upon himself to treat tor it without being authorized. 
 M. Cobentzel insisted upon an armistice in Italy, 
 stating that as far as regarded Mantua, if Austria 
 were to surrender that place into the' hands 
 French army, she would put Italy at once into 
 the hands of the French, and deprive herself of all 
 the means of resistance if hostilities should he re- 
 commenced. M. Cobentzel joined blandishments 
 to firmness, endeavouring to touch Joseph in speak- 
 ing to him of the favourable dispositions of the 
 emperor towards France, and more particularly 
 towards the first consul ; even insinuating that 
 Austria might probably ally herself with the 
 French republic, and that such an alliance would 
 be very useful against the concealed but real ill- 
 will of the northern courts. 
 
 Joseph, who was of a very mild disposition, 
 could not but be affected to a certain extent by the 
 complaints, the threats, and the blandishments of 
 M. Cobentzel. The first consul awakened his bro- 
 ther's energy by numerous dispatches. " You are 
 forbidden," ho wrote to Joseph, '' to admit of any 
 discussion on the principle laid down as the ulti- 
 matum : the RHINE and the ADIGE. Hold to these 
 two conditions as irrevocable. Hostilities shall 
 not cease in Italy, but with (he surrender of Man- 
 tua. If they commence again, the middle of the 
 
 Adige shall be carried back to the crest of the 
 Julian Alps, and Austria shall be excluded from 
 Italy. Should Austria speak of her friendship and 
 alliance, reply that those who have just shown 
 themselves so attached to the English alliance can- 
 not care about ours. Assume, while you are ne- 
 gotiating, the attitude of general Moreau, and 
 make M. Cobentzel take that of the archduke 
 John." 
 
 At last, after a resistance of some days, intelli- 
 gence more alarming continuing to arrive every 
 hour from the banks of the Mincio, where it must 
 not be forgotten hostilities were much more pro- 
 longed than in Germany, M. Cobentzel consented 
 that the Adige should be adopted for the boundary 
 of the Austrian possessions in Italy. This assent 
 took place on the 15th of January, 1801, or 25th 
 of Nivose. M. Cobentzel ceased to allude to the 
 duke of Modena, but renewed the formal demand 
 for the re-establishment of the duke of Tuscany in 
 his estates. . He agreed yet further to a decla- 
 ration, that the peace of the empire should be 
 signed at Lunevilie, after the emperor had obtained 
 power to do so from the Germanic diet. In the 
 same protocol this plenipotentiary asked for an 
 armistice in Italy, but without the condition that 
 Mantua should be immediately given up to the 
 French troops. He feared that in abandoning this 
 point of support, France would exact still harder 
 conditions ; and however alarming the resumption 
 of hostilities appeared to be, he would not consent 
 to part with this pledge so soon. 
 
 This pertinacity in the defence of his country, 
 when in so difficult a position, was honourable, 
 but it terminated at last by becoming imprudent, 
 and brought with it consequences M. Cobentzel 
 had never foreseen. 
 
 That which at this time was passing in the north, 
 contributed as much as the victories of the French 
 armies to augment the pretensions of the first 
 consul. He had pressed forward as much as lav in 
 his power a peace with Austria, in the first instance 
 to have peace, and in the second to secure, himself 
 against those caprices of character so common with 
 the emperor Paul. For some months past that 
 sovereign had exhibited a bitter feeling of resent- 
 ment against Austria and England ; but a ma- 
 noeuvre of the Austrian or English cabinet might 
 recal him to the arms of the coalition, and then 
 France would again have all Europe upon her 
 hands. It was this apprehension which made the 
 first consul brave the inconveniences of a winter 
 campaign, in order to crush Austria while she 
 was deprived of the assistance of the other forces 
 of the continent. The recent change of events in 
 the north had removed all apprehensions upon 
 that score, and he became immediately much more 
 patient and move exacting. Paul had broken 
 formally with his old friends and allies, and had 
 flung himself altogether into the arms of France', 
 with that warmth which attached to ah his actions. 
 Already very much disposed to act thus, the effect 
 produced in his mind by the victory of Marengo, 
 the restitution of the Russian prisoners, the offer 
 of the island of Malta, and, lastly, the adroit and 
 '! ilicate Battery of the first consul, had been 
 definitively disclosed by a late event. It will be 
 remembered that the first consul, despairing of the 
 preservation of Malta, strictly blockaded by the
 
 
 1801. 
 Jan. 
 
 Policy of Paul towards England. 
 
 HOHENLINDEN. 
 
 Russia and Prussia support France. ] ,'!0, 
 
 English, had struck upon the happy idea of offer- 
 ing the island to Paul I.; that the czar had received 
 the offer with delight, and had commanded M. 
 Sprengporten to l;o to Paris, and thank the head of 
 the French government. There lie was to receive 
 the Russian prisoners, and to conduct them to 
 Malta t<> hold it as the garrison. But in the interval, 
 general Vaubois, reduced to the last extremity, had 
 surrendered the island to the English. This event, 
 which under other circumstances would have been 
 a subject of deep regret to the first consul, cha- 
 grined him very little. " I have iost Malta,"' lie 
 observed, " Lut I have placed the apple of discord 
 in the hands of my enemies." In fact, Panl 
 hastened to demand of England the seat of the 
 order of St. John of Jerusalem, but the Engli 
 ki pt the island, and gave him a fiat refusal, lie 
 could restrain himself no longer, but immediately 
 laid an embargo upon nearly three him dred English 
 
 Is, then in the ports of Russia, and even 
 ordered any of them, endeavouring to save them- 
 selves by flight, to be sunk. This circumstance, 
 joined to the dispute respecting neutral vessels, 
 before explained, could not fail to produce war. 
 The czar placed himself in front of the battle, and 
 calling Sweden, Denmark, and even Prussia to his 
 assistance, proposed to them the renewal of the 
 armed neutrality of 1780. He sent an invitation 
 to the king of Sweden to visit Petersburg, to 
 confer with him upon so important a subject. 
 King Gustavus accepted the invitation, and was 
 magnificently received. Paul, full of the mania 
 which at that time possessed him, held in Peters- 
 burg a ".rand chapter of the order of Malta, ad- 
 mitting as knight the king of Sweden, and those 
 persona who had accompanied him, lavishing be- 
 yond till sober limits the honours of the order. 
 But he affected something more serious still, he 
 renewed immediately the league of 1780. On the 
 2fith of December, 1800, there was signed by the 
 ministers of Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, a 
 
 ration, by which the three maritime powers 
 engaged to maintain even by force of arms the 
 principles of neutral law. They enumerated all 
 tie- principles in their declaration, without (he 
 omission of one of those which we have mentioned, 
 and which France had prevailed upon the Unit d 
 Stat'-s to acknowledge also. They engaged them- 
 selves to unite their forces, and to use them against 
 any power, whatever it might be, that should at- 
 tempt to assail the rights which they asserted be- 
 longed to them. Denmark, although very zealous 
 for the rights of neutrals, was not quite willing to 
 proceed with such rapidity ; but the ice defended 
 her for three months, and she hoped that before the 
 return of the line season England would yield, or 
 that the preparations made by the neutral parties 
 in the Baltic would be sufficient to prevent the 
 English licet from approaching before the Sound, 
 
 as it had done in the month of August previously. 
 
 Prussia, that would rather negotiate than proceed 
 with such promptitude, was drawn into the treaty, 
 as rell as Sweden and Denmark. Two dayB after- 
 wards she adhered to the declaration of Si. Peters- 
 burg. 
 
 Tin si- were events of serious importance, and 
 insured to Fiance tie- alliance of all the northern 
 powers of Europe against England; lot this whs 
 not all the diplomatic success of the first < 1. 
 
 The emperor Paul had proposed to the court of 
 Prussia to have a common understanding with 
 France on what was passing at Luneville, and that 
 all three should atrree to the bases of a jreneral 
 peace. Now the privileges which these two powers 1 
 communicated to the French government were pre- 
 cisely those that France was desirous of carrying 
 at Luneville. 
 
 Prussia and Russia granted the left bank of the 
 Rhine to France without the necessity of a dis- 
 putation; they only required an indemnity for such 
 princes as lost, by that means, a portion of their 
 territories; but only for hereditary princes, by 
 means of the secularization of the ecclesiastical 
 estates. This was just the principle that Austria 
 opposed and France admitted. Russia and Prussia 
 required the independence of Holland, Switzerland, 
 Piedmont, and Naples, which at that moment were 
 in no way opposing themselves to the interests of 
 the first consul. Tile emperor Paul interfered with 
 the interests of Naples and Piedmont on the ground 
 of a treaty of alliance, concluded with these states 
 in 1798, when it had been seen needful to involve 
 them in the war of the coalition; but he did not 
 mean to protect Naples, save on the conditions that 
 she should break with England. In respect to 
 Piedmont, he only claimed for her a slight indemnity 
 for the cession of Savoy to France. He deemed it 
 right, and so did Prussia with him, that France 
 should restrain the ambition of Austria in Italy, 
 and confine her within the limits of the Adige. 
 
 Paul was so ardent at last, that he made a pro- 
 posal to the first consul that both should ally them- 
 selves more strictly against England, and not make 
 peace with her until after the restoration of Malta 
 to the order of St. John of Jerusalem. This was 
 more than the first consul would consent to do, who 
 was by no means fond of making such positive en- 
 gagements. Paul, desirous of reconciling the show 
 of things with their real state, in place of clandes- 
 tine communications with M. Krudener and general 
 Beurnonville at Berlin, opened a public negotiation 
 in Paris itself. He nominated as a plenipotentiary 
 M. Kalitscheff to treat ostensibly with the French 
 cabinet, and that personage had orders to go to 
 France immediately. He was bearer of a letter to 
 the first consul, and what was more, written by the 
 emperor Paul with his own hand M. Sprengporten 
 was already in Paris, and M. Kalitscheff was about 
 to be there. It was not possible to wish for a more 
 signal proof of the reconciliation of Russia with 
 France. 
 All was thus changed in Europe in the north as 
 
 well as the south. The maritime powers in open 
 war with England endeavoured to league with 
 
 France against that country by engagements alto- 
 gether absolute. In tin' south, Spain was already 
 bound to France by the closest ti< s; and she threat- 
 i in id Portugal in order to force her to br ak with 
 Ureal Britaiir. Finally, Austria, beaten in Germany 
 and I taly, abandoned l>.\ the other powers of Eu- 
 rope to the mercy of France, had Do other di ft nee 
 than the obstinacy of her negotiators at Luneville. 
 
 These events, which the ability of the first consul 
 had wrought out, made a great noise one alter the 
 
 Other in rapid succession, during the first days of 
 
 1 Lrtterof the ki"K of Prussia, of the Hlh of January, 
 communicated by M. de Luccheilni.
 
 Bonaparte delays the 
 190 negotiations — and 
 
 the reason. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Progress of the nego- .... 
 tiiitions. — lndemiii- 
 
 ticatoiy stipulations. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 January. Russia and Prussia manifested their 
 wishes "for the peace of the continent, and Paul 
 with his own hand announced t<> the first consul 
 the mission of M. Kalitecheff at the very time when 
 M. Cobentzel, giving w;iy as to the limit of the 
 Adige, obstinately held out in regard to the rest, 
 and refused the delivery of Mantua as the price of 
 the Italian armistice. 
 
 The first consul wished immediately to suspend 
 the progress of the negotiations at Luneville. He 
 had instructions given to Joseph l , and wrote to 
 him, prescribing a new line of conduct to the French 
 legation. In such a crisis as had thus occurred in 
 Europe he now thought it not to be convenient to 
 press too forward. It was possible that something 
 might be ceded which might be opposed to the 
 views of the northern courts, or something might 
 be contrary to their wishes in the stipulations. 
 Thinking besides that M. Kalitscheff would arrive 
 in a few days, he wished to see him before making 
 a definitive engagement. Orders were then sent to 
 Joseph to temporize at least for ten days before 
 signing, and to exact conditions still harder than 
 those which had preceded. 
 
 Austria consented to limit herself to the Adige. 
 The first consul intended to understand by that, the 
 absence of the duke of Tuscany from Italy, and his 
 reception of an indemnity like the duke of Modeiia 
 in Germany. His ultimate object was, not to leave 
 an Austrian prince in Italy. To leave the duke 
 of Tuscany in Tuscany was in his sight to give 
 Leghorn to the English. To place him in the Le- 
 gations was giving Austria a hold beyond the Po. 
 In consequence he adopted the plan of giving Tus- 
 cany to the house of Parma, as he had stipulated 
 at Madrid; to confide Leghorn in consequence to the 
 Spanish navy, and of thenceforward including the 
 whole valley of the Po in the Cisalpine republic : 
 for after this plan it would consist of the Mila- 
 nese, Mantua, Piacenza, Parma, Modena, and the 
 Legations. Piedmont, situated at the opening of the 
 valley, would in future be only a prisoner to France. 
 Austria, gone back to the Adige, was thrown to one 
 extremity of Italy; Rome and Naples confined to 
 the other; France, placed in the centre, through 
 Tuscany and the Cisalpine, would sway and direct 
 the whole of that superb country. 
 
 Joseph Bonaparte had, therefore, for his new in- 
 structions to exact that the duke of Tuscany, as 
 well as the duke of Modena, should be transferred 
 to Germany : that the principles of the, seculari- 
 zation of the ecclesiastical states should be car- 
 ried out in order to indemnify the hereditary Ger- 
 man princes, as well as the Italian princes, dispos- 
 sessed by France ; that peace with the empire 
 should be signed at the same time as pence with 
 Austria, without wailing for powers from the diet ; 
 that nothing should be stipulated respecting Na- 
 ples, Rome, or Piedmont, because France, desirous 
 to preserve these states, wished first to arrange 
 with them the conditions of their preservation; 
 finally, that Mantua be given up to the French 
 armies under the threat, without, of the immediate 
 renewal of hostilities. 
 
 Nothing is more common when a negotiation has 
 not terminated, and when a treaty has not been 
 signed, nothing is more usual than to modify the 
 
 • Letter dated 1st Plmiose, or 21st January, in the State 
 Paper Office. 
 
 proposed conditions. The French cabinet was con- 
 sequently justified in altering the first conditions ; 
 but it must be acknowledged that here the altera- 
 tions were abrupt and very considerable. 
 
 M. Cobentzel, by lingering on, demanding too 
 much, and being obstinately blind to his position, 
 had lost the favourable minute. According to his 
 custom, he complained bitterly, and threatened 
 France with Austria in desperation. He was still 
 pressed to obtain an armistice for Italy, and deter- 
 mined to concede Mantua ; though he feared that 
 after delivering up this bulwark, he should find 
 himself at the mercy of France, and see himself 
 exposed to new demands. In this disposition of 
 mind, he showed himself mistrustful and peevish. 
 He would not yield Mantua until the last moment. 
 At length, on the 26th of January, or 6th Pluviose, 
 he signed the order for the surrender of that place 
 to the French army, in order to obtain an armi- 
 stice in Italy, and a prolongation of that in Ger- 
 many. The negotiators sent off couriers from 
 Lune'ville itself, to prevent an effusion of blood; of 
 which there was imminent danger. 
 
 The discussions that followed this event at Lune'- 
 ville were exceedingly warm. M. Cobentzel said, 
 that Joseph had promised the re-establishment of 
 the grand duke — promised it too the same day that 
 he had consented to the boundary of the Adige. 
 Joseph Bonaparte replied, that such was the fact, 
 but that the re-establishment of this prince was to 
 be in Germany; that every state profited of its ex- 
 isting situation to treat more advantageously ; that 
 France, in thus acting, applied the very principles 
 expressed by M. Thugut in his letter of the last 
 winter ; that moreover the grand duke, respect- 
 ing whom they were in discussion, would be iso- 
 lated completely from Austria in Tuscany, and thus 
 be unsupported. That in the Legations, on the con- 
 trary, he would be too well placed, as he would 
 thus be a connexion between Austria, Rome, and 
 Naples, or, in other words, between the enemies of 
 France, to which she would never consent. He 
 must, therefore, resign all hope of being placed 
 either in Tuscany or in the Legations. 
 
 After some warm controversies, M. Cobentzel 
 appeared at length to consent that the indemnities 
 for t lie grand duke should be taken in Geimauy ; 
 but he refused to admit the absolute principle of 
 the secularization of the ecclesiastical states. The 
 ecclesiastical states remained devoted to Austiia, 
 more especially the three electoral archbishoprics 
 of Treves, Cologne, and Mayence, while the here- 
 ditary princes were often opposed to her influence 
 in the Germanic Diet. Austria consented to the 
 secularization, on the understanding that the small 
 ecclesiastical states should serve not only to indem- 
 nify the hereditary princes of Bavaria, Wurtem- 
 burg, and Orange, but the great ecclesiastical 
 princes, such as the archbishops of Treves, Cologne, 
 and Mayence ; since by them her influence would 
 have been partly supported in Germany. Joseph 
 Bonaparte had directions to refuse this proposition 
 determinately. He was not to admit the principle 
 of secularization but for the advantage of the 
 hereditary princes alone. Finally, M. Cobentzel 
 would not sign the peace for the empire without 
 power from the Diet. His refusal arose, according 
 to his own account, from his repugnance to violate 
 forms : in reality it was from his dislike to make
 
 1-301. Conditions of the treaty. — Difficulties 
 Feb. in agreeing on the indemnities. 
 
 HOHENLINDEN. 
 
 Signature of the treaty of 
 Luneville. 
 
 191 
 
 too evident the game commonly played in regard 
 to the members of the Germanic body, by compro- 
 mising them with France, whenever it was the 
 interest of Austria to <lo so ; and afterwards, when 
 the war became unfortunate, to abandon them. In 
 1797 she delivered over Mayence to the French, a 
 proceeding severely censured by all Germany; and 
 now t«i sign on the part of the empire according to 
 M. Cobentzel was a perfect novelty, grievous indeed, 
 added to all the anterior acts with which the Ger- 
 man princes had to reproach their sovereign. Jo- 
 seph Bonaparte replied to these arguments, that it 
 was easy to discover the real motives of Austria ; 
 she was afraid of committing herself with the Ger- 
 manic body, but that it was not for France to enter 
 into such considerations ; that, as to the point of 
 form, there was an example in the peace of Baden 
 in 17N, signed by the emperor, without power 
 from the Diet. There was nothing more de- 
 manded of him now, than to sanction that which -he 
 deputation from the empire had already assented 
 to at Rastadt, — that was, the abandonment of the 
 left bank of the Rhine to France; that his refusal 
 would be a poor service rendered to German}-, 
 for the French armies would continue in the ter- 
 ritory they occupied until a peace was concluded 
 with the empire, whereas, if the peace was com- 
 mon to all the German princes, the evacuation of 
 their territories would follow immediately upon the 
 ratifications. 
 
 These discussions continued for several days. 
 M. Cobentzel was now anxious to terminate the 
 affair. On its own side the French legal ion, lately 
 desirous of delaying the negotiations for a few 
 days, finding that M. Kalitscbeff would not arrive 
 in Paris as soon as was expected, saw that nothing 
 was to be gained by further delay, and wished the 
 matter to be brought to a conclusion. An order 
 was received by both plenipotentiaries to arrive 
 at an agreement; and, in order to force M. Co- 
 bentzel to determine quickly, Joseph Bonaparte 
 had orders to make a concession of the character 
 of those which serve, at the last moment, to make 
 a worn-out negotiation conclude with honour. 
 The middle of the Khine was the limit assigned 
 as the boundary to France and to Germany. In 
 Consequence, Dusseldorf, Ebrenbreitsteiu, Philips- 
 burg, Kehl, and old Breisach, situated on the right 
 bank, though attached to the left by many ties, 
 remained to the Germanic confederation. But 
 I, a suburb of Mayence, on the right bank, 
 was a contested subject, because it was difficult to 
 
 detach it from Mayence itself. Joseph was au- 
 thorized to cede it, on condition that it be dis- 
 mantled, in consequence, Mayence was no longer 
 a fortified bridge, affording a passage to the right 
 
 bank of the Rhine at all tunes. 
 
 On the Dili of February, 11101, or 20th of Plu- 
 vio.M-, year ix., the lasi conference took place. 
 According to custom, they were never more near 
 a rupture than on the day when they met for 
 a definitive agreement. M. Cobentzel warmly 
 insisted upon the maintenance of the grand duke 
 of Tuscany in Italy; on kite indemnity designed 
 for the German prince*— an indemnity which he 
 
 desired to render coi n to the ecclesiastical 
 
 princes of the higher order; on the incoiivenh nee, 
 lastly, of signing without having powers from the 
 Diet. An article relating to the Belgic debt gave 
 
 birth to great difficulties. Upon all these heads 
 he declared that he dared not sign without a 
 reference to Vienna. Joseph then informed him 
 that his own government authorized him to close 
 the negotiations, unless they brought them to a 
 conclusion before they broke tip; he added, that in 
 another campaign, Austria would be repelled be- 
 yond the Julian Alps. Finally, he ceded Cassel 
 and all the fortified positions upon the right bank 
 of the Rhine, on the condition that France should 
 demolish the works before she evacuated them, 
 and that they should not be repaired. 
 
 Upon this concession M. Cobentzel gave way, and 
 the treaty was signed on the 9ih of February, 
 1801, at half-past five o'clock in the evening, to 
 the great joy of Joseph, and the great grief of 
 M. Cobentzel, who still had nothing with which to 
 reproach himself, because if he had hazarded the 
 interests of his court, it was through having de- 
 fended them too well. 
 
 Such was the celebrated treaty of Lune'ville, 
 which terminated the war of the second coalition, 
 and a second time conceded the left bank of the 
 Rhine to France, with a dominant position in 
 Italy. The following were the more essential 
 conditions. 
 
 The middle of the Rhine, from its issue out of 
 the Helvetic to its entry info the Batavian terri- 
 tory, formed the limits of France and of Germany. 
 Dusseldorf, Ehrenhreitstein, Cassel, Kehl, Philips- 
 burg, Old Breisach, situated on the right bank, 
 remained to Germany, after being dismantled. 
 The hereditary princes who lost territory on the 
 left bank were to be indemnified. No allusion was 
 made to the ecclesiastical princes, nor to their 
 mode of indemnity; hut it was well understood, on 
 each side, that ecclesiastical territories would fur- 
 nish them also with indemnities. The emperor, 
 at Lune'ville as at Campo-Formio, ceded the Belgic 
 provinces to France, and also the small territories 
 belonging to him on the left bank, such as the 
 county of Falkenstein and the Fricdthal, which 
 was cooped up between Zurzach and Basle. He 
 abandoned also the Milanese and the Cisalpine. 
 For these he received no other indemnity than 
 the Venetian states as far as the Adige, which had 
 been before insured to him by the treaty of Campo- 
 Formio. He lost the bishopric of Salzburg, which 
 had been promised him by a secret article in the 
 treaty of Campo-Formio. His house was, besides, 
 deprived of Tuscany, ceded to the house of Parma. 
 An indemnity in Germany was promised to the 
 duke of Tuscany. The duke of Modena preserved 
 still the promise made to him id' Brisgau. 
 
 Thus the Italian territory was placed on a basis 
 much more advantageous for France than at the 
 conclusion of the treaty of Campo-Formio. Aus- 
 tria continued her limits of the Adige, but Tus- 
 cany was taken from her house, and given to one 
 dependent upon France. The English were 
 excluded from Leghorn ; all the valley of the Po, 
 from Sesia and the Tanaro as tar as the Adriatic, 
 
 belonged to the Cisalpine republic, a dependent 
 child of the French ; Piedmont, confined to the 
 
 sources of the l'o, d< pemled u| France. Thus 
 
 master of Tuscany and of the Cisalpine, France 
 
 occupied the entire of central Italy, and - the Aus- 
 trian connexion was prevented between Piedmont) 
 
 the Holy See, and Naples.
 
 Sacrifices made by 
 192 AuMri.1 in the treaty 
 
 of Luneville. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The treaty arrives in 
 Paris, and rejoicings 
 there. 
 
 1801. 
 Feb. 
 
 Austria lost by the first coalition Belgium and 
 Lombardy, besides Modena from her house. She 
 m the second, the bishopric <>f Salzburg from 
 herself", and Tuscany from her house. This placed 
 her in a position little inferior in Germany, but 
 very greatly so in Italy; yet it was not, assuredly, 
 too much for all the bloodshed and efforts made by 
 France. 
 
 The principle of the secularizations was not ex- 
 plicitly, though it was implicitly determined, since 
 being for the indemnification of the hereditary 
 princes, it made no allusion to ecclesiastical ones. 
 The indemnity could only be demanded of the 
 ecclesiastical princes themselves. 
 
 The peace was declared to be common to the 
 republics of Batavia, Helvetia, Liguria, and the 
 Cisalpine. Their independence was guarantied ; 
 nothing was said in regard to Naples, Piedmont, or 
 the Holy See. Those states depended upon the 
 goodwill of France, which was bound, in regard to 
 Piedmont and Naples, by the interest that the 
 emperor Paul felt towards those courts; and in 
 regard to the holy see by the religious objects of 
 the first consul. 
 
 Still the first consul, as we have seen, had not 
 yet deemed it right to explain himself to any one 
 relative to Piedmont. Not pleased with the king of 
 Sardinia, who delivered up his ports to the English, 
 he wished to preserve his freedom of action 
 tin anls a country placed so near to France, and 
 ot such great importance to her. 
 
 The emperor signed the treaty of peace for him- 
 self, as the sovereign of the Austrian states, and 
 for the Germanic body, as emperor of Germany. 
 France secretly promised to employ her influence 
 
 with Prussia, to gain her sanction to the emperor's 
 mode of procedure in respect to his thus signing for 
 the Germanic body. The ratifications were to be 
 exchanged within thirty days by Austria and 
 France. The French armies were not to evacuate 
 Germany until after the ratifications were ex- 
 changed at Luneville, but they were to evacuate it 
 entirely within a month after that exchange. 
 
 In this treaty, as in that of Campo-Formio, the 
 freedom of all persons confined for political offences 
 was expressly stipulated. It was agreed that the 
 Italians, incarcerated in the dungeons of Austria, 
 and particularly Moscati and Caprara, should be 
 released. The first consul insisted upon this act of 
 common humanity from the opening of the congress. 
 
 Bonaparte attained the supreme power on the 
 9th of November, 1799, cr U!th Brumaire, year 
 viii., it was now the 9th of February, 1801. or 20th 
 Pluviose, year ix., and not fifteen months had passed 
 since. In this time, France, reorganized in part at 
 home, was completely victorious abroad, and allied 
 with the south and north of Europe against En- 
 gland. Spain was ready to march against Portugal; 
 the queen of Naples had thrown herself at the feet 
 of France, and the court of Rome negotiated at 
 Paris the arrangement of religious affairs. 
 
 General Bellavene, appointed to carry the treaty, 
 left Luneville on the 9th of February, in the even- 
 ing, and arrived as an extraordinary courier in 
 Paris. The treaty which he brought was imme- 
 diately inserted, word for word, in the Moniteur. 
 Paris was illuminated immediately; joy was upon 
 every countenance ; and countless thanks were 
 given to the first consul for this happy result of 
 his statesmanship and his victories.
 
 1800. 
 Dec. 
 
 Increase of highway robbers. THE INFERNAL MACHINE. Outrages committed by them. ]Q3 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
 THE INFERNAL MACHINE 
 
 PLOTS DIRECTED AGAINST THE LIFE OP THE FIRST CONSUL.— THREE AGENTS OF GEORGES, NAMED CARBON, ST. 
 REJANT, AND LIMOELAN, FORM A PLAN TO DESTROY THE FIRST CONSUL BY THE EXPLOSION OF A BARREL 
 OF POWDER. — CHOICE MADE OF THE STREET ST. NICAISE, AND OF THE 3RD NIVOSE, FOR THE EXECUTION OF 
 THE CRIME. — THE FIRST CONSUL SAVED BY TOE DEXTERITY OF HIS COACHMAN. — GENERAL SENSATION PRO- 
 DUCED. — THE CRIME ATTRIBUTED TO THE REVOLUTIONISTS, AND TO THE INDULGENCE SHOWN TO THEM BY 
 FOUCHE, THE MINISTER. — DISLIKE OF THE NEW COURTIERS TO THAT MINISTER. — HIS SILENCE AND COOLNESS. 
 — HE D1SCOVLRS A PART OF THE FACT, AND MAKES IT KNOWN; BUT STILL MEASURES ARE TAKEN AGAINST THE 
 REVOLUTIONISTS. — IRRITATION OF THE FIRST CONSUL. — AN ARBITRARY MEASURE CONTEMPLATED. — DISCUSSIONS 
 ON THE SUBJECT IN THE COUNCIL OF STATE. — AFTER LONG DELIBERATION, A RESOLUTION IS PASSED FOR 
 BANISHING A CERTAIN NUMBER OF THE REVOLUTIONISTS WITHOUT A TRIAL. — SOME RESISTANCE MADE, BUT 
 VERY SLIGHT, TO THIS DESPOTIC ACT. — EXAMINATION WHETHER IT SHALL BE EFFECTED BY A LAW, OR BE 
 THE SPONTANEOUS ACT OF THE (.OVERNMENT. — ONLY REFERRED TO THE SENATE FOR THE SAKE OF BEING 
 CONSISTENT WITH THE CONSTITUTION. — THE LAST COURSE IS ADOPTED. — A DECREE OF TRAN SPORTATION 
 AGAINST ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY ALLEGED TERRORISTS. — FOUCHE, WHO KNEW THEM TO BE INNOCENT OF 
 THE ATTEMPT ON THE 3RD NIVOSE, CONSENTS NOTWITHSTANDING TO THEIR PROSCRIPTION. — DISCOVERY OF THE 
 REAL AUTHORS OF THE INFERNAL MACHINE. — PUNISHMENT OF CARBON AND ST. REJANT. — UNJUST CONDEMNA- 
 TION OF TOPINO-LEBRUN, ARENA, AND OTHERS. — SESSION OF THE YEAR IX. — NEW MANIFESTATIONS OF OPPO- 
 SITION IN THE TRIBUNATE. — INSTITUTION OF SPECIAL TRIBUNALS FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF ROBBERIES ON 
 THE HIGH ROADS — FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE RESOURCES FOR THE YEARS V., VI., VII., AND VIII. — 
 BUD3ET OF THE YEAR IX.— DEFINITIVE ARRANGEMENT OF THE PUBLIC DEBT.— REJECTION BY THE TRIBUNATE, 
 AND ADOPTION BY THE LEGISLATIVE BODY, OF THIS PLAN OF FINANCE. — SENTIMENTS OF THE FIRST CONSUL — 
 CONTINUATION OF HIS ADMINISTRATIVE LABOURS. — ROADS.— CANAL OF ST. QUINTIN. — BRIDGES OVER THE 
 SEINE. — WORKS ON THE SIMTLON. — THE MONKS OF ST. BERNARD ESTABLISHED ON THE SIMPLON AND ON 
 MOUNT CENIS. 
 
 While the situation of France externally became 
 day by day more brilliant, ami Austria as well as 
 Germany was signing a treaty of peace; while 
 the northern powers were leaguing with France to 
 resist the maritime domination of England, Naples 
 and Portugal closing their ports against her ; while, 
 in short, every thing succeeded according to the 
 wishes of a victorious and moderate government, 
 the internal situation of France presented a spec- 
 tacle, sometimes fearful, of the last struggles of 
 expiring parties. It has been already seen, that in 
 spite of the prompt reorganization of the govern- 
 ment, robbers infested the highways, and fac- 
 tions in despair attempted to assassinate the first 
 consul. These were the inevitable consequences 
 of past discords. The men that civil war had 
 trained to erimi .and could not return to peaceable 
 occupations, endeavoured to find employment on 
 the highroads. The beati n factions, that despaired 
 of vanquishing thegrenadiersof the consular guards, 
 attempted, by means the most atrocious, to destroy 
 
 the invincible author of their defeat. 
 
 Highway robbery increased on the approach of 
 winter. It was not possible to travel the roads 
 without being exposed to pillage and assassination. 
 The departments of Normandy, Anjou, Maine, 
 Britany, and Poitou, were, as formerly, the scenes 
 
 of these depredations. Theevil, too, had extended 
 itself. Several departments of the south ami 
 centre, such as those of tin: Tarn, Lozere, Avey- 
 run, Haute-Garonne, Herault, Gard, Ardeche, 
 Drome, Vaucluse, Bouchea du Rhone, High and 
 
 Low Alps, and Var, had in their turn been in- 
 fested. In these departments the bands of robbers 
 were recruited from the assassins of the south, who, 
 under the pretence of hunting out the Jacobins, 
 killed for the purpose of robbery the purchasers 
 of the national domains. They were augmented 
 too by young men who would not submit to the 
 conscription, and by soldiers whom misery had 
 driven away from the army of Liguria during the 
 cruel winters of 1799 and 1U00. These miserable 
 men having once engaged in criminal courses, had 
 imbibed a taste for them ; and nothing but the 
 force of arms, and the rigor of the law, could turn 
 them aside from their bad habits. They stopped 
 the public conveyances; they took from their 
 homes the purchasers of the national domains, and 
 frequently wealthy landed proprietors as well, 
 Carrying them into the woods, as for example the 
 senator (lenient de Ris, who was detained for 
 twenty days ; and they made their victims submit 
 to horrible tortures, sometimes burning their feet 
 until they advanced considerable sums of money 
 for their ransom. They more especially plundered 
 the public chests, and frequently seized the public 
 money in the houses of the collectors, under the 
 pretext of making war upon the government. 
 
 Vagabonds who, in the midst of troubled times, 
 
 bad quitted those provinces, to deliver themselves 
 
 up to a wandering life, acted as their spies, and 
 
 appeared in the towns under the character of 
 mendicants. These scoundrels, obtaining ever} 
 
 kind of information while they were begging, gave 
 
 <>
 
 194 
 
 Extermination of the 
 banditti. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Plots against the life of 
 first consul. 
 
 1800. 
 JJec. 
 
 it to the robbers their accomplices, as well as what 
 carriages they were to stop, or what houses to 
 rob. 
 
 Small bodies of soldiers were required to sup- 
 press these banditti. But when any of them were 
 captured, justice could not be done ; because the 
 witnesses were afraid to give evidence against 
 them, and even the juries were fearful of convicting 
 them. Extraordinary measures are always to be 
 regretted in such cases, less from the severities 
 which they are sure to bring in their train, than 
 by the shock they give to the constitution of the 
 country, and particularly when the constitution is 
 new. But here measures of this kind were become 
 indispensable, because the ordinary course of 
 justice, after having been tried, was found to be 
 altogether powerless. The project of a law had 
 been prepared for the institution of special tri- 
 bunals, destined to repress highway robbery. This 
 plan or project, presented to the legislative body, 
 at that moment sitting, became an object of a 
 Strong attack upon the part of the opposition. The 
 first consul, exempted from all those scruples of 
 legality which have only existence in quiet times, 
 and which even when they are narrow and petty, 
 are a happy sign at least of respect for the law — 
 the first consul did not hesitate to have recourse to 
 martial law until the projected enactment under 
 discussion could be adopted. As it was necessary 
 to employ bodies of troops to repress these bands 
 of robbers, the gendarmerie not being in sufficient 
 strength to cope with them, he thought such a 
 situation of things approximated so closely to a 
 state of real war, that it authorized the laws 
 peculiar to that position. He formed a number of 
 small bodies of soldiers, which traversed in all 
 directions the departments infested, and these were 
 followed by military commissions. All the robbers 
 taken with arms in their hands, were tried and 
 shot within forty-eight hours. 
 
 The terror inspired by these villains was so 
 general and so powerful, that nobody dared to 
 raise a doubt of the regularity, or of the justice 
 of the executions. In the mean while some mis- 
 creants of another character meditated by different 
 means, and still more atrocious, the ruin of the 
 consular government. While Demerville, Ceracchi, 
 and Are"na were under a judicial instruction, their 
 adherents of the revolutionary party continued to 
 plan a thousand schemes, one more insane than 
 another. They planned the assassination of the 
 first consul in his box at the opera, and hardly 
 dared, as has been seen, to seize their poignards. 
 Now they were planning something different. At 
 one time they proposed to raise a disturbance at 
 the rising of one of the theatres, and to destroy the 
 first consul in the midst of the confusion ; at an- 
 other they were to seize him on his way to Mal- 
 maison, and to carry him off and murder him. All 
 this they talked about openly, like club-orators, 
 and so loudly, that the police were hourly informed 
 of all their designs; though while they thus de- 
 claimed, not one of them was bold enough to put 
 his hand to the work. Fouche", though he had 
 little fear from them, yet watched them most 
 attentively. Still among their numerous schemes, 
 there was one which was more formidable than the 
 rest, and which had much attracted the attention 
 of the police. A man named Chevalier, a work- 
 
 man employed in the manufactory of arms esta- 
 blished in Paris during the time of the convention, 
 had been discovered at work upon a most terrible 
 machine. It consisted of a cask full of powder 
 and missiles, to which a musket barrel with a 
 trigger was appended. This was clearly intended 
 to destroy the first consul by blowing him up. The 
 inventor was arrested, and put into prison. This 
 new invention made a noise, and contributed to 
 concentrate the public attention upon those deno- 
 minated Jacobins and Terrorists. Their character 
 in 1793 made them more feared by far than they 
 deserved. The first consul, as has been remarked 
 before, partook in the common error indulged in 
 their regard ; and having always had to deal with 
 the revolutionary party, often with honest men of 
 the party discontented with a reaction too rapid, 
 often with miscreants pi-ojecting crimes which they 
 had not courage to commit, he threw the blame of 
 every thing upon the revolutionists, was incensed 
 against them alone, and only talked of punishing 
 that party. Fouche persisted in vain in attempting 
 to fix his attention upon the royalists. It would 
 have required very strong proofs to change the 
 first consul's opinion, as well as that of the public, 
 on this subject. Unfortunately, facts of a most 
 atrocious nature were in progress to set the matter 
 at rest. 
 
 Georges, returned to the Morbihan from London, 
 with plenty of money, (thanks to the English!) se- 
 cretly directed the robbers of the public vehicles. 
 He had sent to Paris some of his cut-throat instru- 
 ments, with a commission to assassinate the first 
 consul. Among these were two persons named 
 Limoelan and St. Rejant, both well practised in the 
 horrors of civil warfare ; the last had been a naval 
 officer, having a considerable knowledge of the 
 artillery service. To these two were added a third, 
 named Carbon, a subordinate to them, and a very 
 worthy instrument of such great criminals. One 
 arrived alter the other in Paris towards the end of 
 November, 1800, or the first days of Frimaire. 
 They set about the consideration of the best mode 
 of destroying the first consul ; and they made in 
 the environs of Paris more than one experiment 
 with air-guns. Fouche, aware of their presence 
 and of their objects, bad them watched very closely, 
 but, owing to the bad management of the two spits 
 emplojed upon that, service, they lost sight of the 
 conspirators. Whilst the police were making efforts 
 to re-find them, these villains had involved them- 
 selves in complete obscurity. They made no de- 
 clamations like the Jacobins ; they communicated 
 their secret to no one ; but prepared for a horrible 
 deed, which has had its equal but once in the pre- 
 sent times. The machine of Chevalier had given 
 them the idea of destroying the first consul by 
 means of a barrel of powder charged with missiles. 
 They determined to put this barrel into a cart, 
 and to place it in one of the narrow streets leading 
 to the Carrousel, which the first consul often passed 
 through in his carriage. They bought a horse, a 
 cart, and hired a cart-house, passing themselves 
 for country traders. St. Rejant, who was, as ob- 
 served above, an officer of the marine and artillery, 
 made the necessary experiments, went a number of 
 times to the Carrousel to see the carriage of the 
 first consul come out from the Tuileries, to calcu- 
 late the time it would take to reach the neighbour-
 
 1S00. 
 Dec. 
 
 Explosion of the machine. 
 Escape of the tint consul. 
 
 THE INFERNAL MACHINE. 
 
 Indignation agaiust the revolu- 
 tionary party. 
 
 105 
 
 ing streets, and to arrange every thing in such a 
 manner that the barrel should explode at the pro- 
 per moment. These three persons chose for the 
 fulfilment of their plot, a day when the first consul 
 was to go to the Opera, to hear Haydn's oratorio, 
 "•The Creation," which was then to be executed 
 for the first time. It was the 3rd of Nivose, or 
 24th of December, 1800. They selected for the 
 scene of their crime the street St. Nicaiae, which 
 ran from the Carrousel towards the Rue de Riche- 
 lieu, that the first consul was often in the habit of 
 passing through. In this street, successive turn- 
 ings rendered necessary a slackening of his pace 
 by the most adroit coachman. The day having 
 arrived, Carbon, St. Rejant, and Limoelan con- 
 ducted the cart into the Rue St. Nioaise, and then 
 they directly separated. While St. Rejant was to 
 set fire to the barrel of powder, the other two were 
 to place themselves in sight of the Tuileries, in 
 order to give notice when they saw the carriage of 
 the first consul appear. St. Rejant had the bar- 
 barity to give the horse of this horrible machine 
 to a girl of fifteen years of age to hold. He him- 
 self kept in readiness to set fire to the powder. 
 
 At this precise moment, the first consul, worn 
 down with his labours, was in some doubt about 
 going to the opera in consequence. He was filially 
 prevailed upon to attend, by the earnest per- 
 suasions of those who happened to be present at 
 the time, and he left the Tuileries at about a 
 quarter past eight o'clock. General Lannes, Ber- 
 thier, and Lauriston accompanied him; and a de- 
 tachment of mounted grenadiers followed, in place 
 of preceding the carriage. It arrived in the 
 narrow part of the street St. Nicaise, without the 
 guard announcing its approach to St. Rejant, or 
 even his accomplices, the last never coming to ap- 
 prise him of it, either through fear, or perhaps 
 from the non-recognition of the carriage. St. Re'- 
 jant himself diil not perceive the carriage until it 
 had passed the machine a trifling distance. He 
 w.is violently jostled by one of -the horse grena- 
 dier-.; but not disconcerted, he set fire to the 
 machine and instantly fled. The coachman of the 
 first consul, who was exceedingly adroit at his 
 business, and who commonly drove at a great rate, 
 had by that time passed one of the turnings of the 
 
 si i t, when- the explosion took place. The shock 
 
 was terrible ; the carriage was nearly overturned, 
 all the windows were broken, and the fronts of 
 the neighbouring houses were defaced with the 
 missiles. One of the horse grenadiers was Blightly 
 wounded ; and a number of persons, lulled or 
 wounded, were instantly prostrated in the BUT* 
 
 rounding streets. The first consul and those who 
 
 with him thought first that they had been 
 
 fire. | upon with grape-shot; they stopped fur a 
 
 moment, and, learning the truth, continued on their 
 
 way to the opeva, whither the Bust consul insisted 
 
 upon proceeding. He exhibited a calm, impassive 
 countenance, in the midst of a most extraordinary 
 tion pervading (.'very part of the house. It 
 was reported th< e that a whole quarter of Paris 
 had been blown up by banditti in order to destroy 
 him. 
 
 lie remained only a lew moments at the opera, 
 ;n I the, i returned to the Tuileries, where, in mu- 
 se pi' ue ■ of the news of the attack, an immense 
 crowd of persons had assembled, rlisang r, which 
 
 until then had been restrained, now burst forth. 
 " These are the Jacobins, the Terrorists," he cried 
 out ; ?■ it is those miscreants in a permanent re- 
 volt, formed in square against every government ; 
 they are the assassins of the 2nd and 3rd of Sep- 
 tember, the authors of the 23rd of May, the con- 
 spirators of Prairial ; they are those miscreants 
 who, to assassinate me, do not regard immolating 
 thousands of lives. I will do signal justice upon 
 them." 
 
 There was little need to arouse public opinion 
 against the revolutionists after so high an autho- 
 rity. Their exaggerated reputation, and their at- 
 tempts for two or three months before, were of a 
 nature to cause all sorts of crimes to be charged 
 upon them. In the saloon, where a number of 
 persons were assembled, anxious to exhibit their 
 attachment as much as possible, there could but 
 be a united cry against the Terrorists as they were 
 called. The numerous enemies of Fouche* hastened 
 to profit by the event, and pour out against him 
 the bitterest invectives. His police, they said, saw 
 nothing, and did nothing ; he exhibited a criminal 
 indulgence towards the revolutionary party. This 
 comes from his feeling towards his old accomplices. 
 The life of the first consul will no more be secure 
 in his hands. In a moment the hatred against the 
 minister rose to its full elevation ; the same even- 
 ing his disgrace was proclaimed. As to Fouche' 
 himself, he retired into one corner of the saloon of 
 the Tuileries with some individuals who did not 
 experience the general excitement, where he heard, 
 with great composure, all that was preferred against 
 him. His incredulous air yet more excited the 
 anger of his enemies. He would not tell that with 
 which he was well acquainted, for fear of marring 
 the success of the researches on foot. But re- 
 collecting the agents of Georges, for some time 
 under the observation of the police, and of whom 
 the traces had been lost, he did not himself hesitate 
 to impute the crime to them. Some members of 
 the council of state, addressing observations to the 
 first consul, implying doubts as to the real authors 
 of the attempt in the street of St. Nicaise, he 
 warmly replied: " I am not to be cheated in this ; 
 they are neither Chouaiis, nor emigrants, nor old 
 noliles, nor old priests. I know the authors ; I 
 shall soon reach them, to indict upon them the 
 most exemplary punishment." In uttering these 
 words, his tone was most vehement, and his gesture 
 threatening. His flatterers approved of till he 
 said, exciting his anger still more, in place of re- 
 straining it, after the horrible event which had so 
 shocked the feelings of all the world. 
 
 The next, day the same scenes were renewed. 
 Aeenriling to the custom lately established, the 
 senate, the legislative body, the tribunate, the 
 Council of state, the tribunals, the administrative 
 authorities, and the military staffs wailed upon the 
 first consul to testify tin ir sorrow and indignation 
 at what had occurred; sentiments sincere and 
 very largely partaken — for never, in fact, had a 
 similar thing been seen. The revolution bad 
 habituated the minds of the people to the cruelties 
 of the victorious party, but never vet with the 
 
 plots of those that hail been vanquished. Every 
 
 mind was struck with surprise and dismay. They 
 dreaded the repetition of these base attempts ; and 
 each inquired of the other what would happen, if 
 
 <> 2
 
 190 ^KwiSS?. 41 * 886810 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Debates on a law for 
 punishing the as- 
 sassin. 
 
 1800. 
 Dec. 
 
 the only man who could alone restrain these wretches 
 should be taken off. All the public bodies, ad- 
 mitted at the Tuileries, expressed their ardent 
 attachment to the hero-pacificator, who had pro- 
 mised to give, and had, in effect, given, peace to 
 the world. The language of these addresses was 
 of the common stamp, but the sentiment they ex- 
 pressed was as sincere as it was deep, The first 
 consul replied to the municipal council of Paris : — 
 
 " I have been much touched with the proofs of 
 affection which the people of Paris have given to 
 me on this occasion. I deserve them, because the 
 only ol >ject <>f my thoughts and of my actions is to 
 increase the prosperity and glory of France. As 
 far as this troop of banditti directed its attacks 
 upon myself, I could leave to the laws the task of 
 their punishment ; but when they have, by an 
 unparalleled crime in history, endangered part of 
 the population of the capital, the punishment shall 
 be as prompt as terrible. Assure, in my name, 
 the people of Paris, that this handful of miscreants, 
 the crimes of whom almost dishonour liberty, will 
 be soon deprived of the power to effect mischief." 
 
 Every one applauded these revengeful words, be- 
 cause there was nobody who had not himself made 
 use of the same expressions. Reflecting minds 
 foresaw with apprehension that the angry lion 
 might possibly overleap the barrier of the law. The 
 multitude called out for punishment. In Paris 
 the agitation was very great. The royalists cast 
 the crime upon the revolutionists ; the revolution 
 ists upon the royalists. The one and the other 
 were equally in earnest, since the crime remained 
 a profound secret except to its originators. Every 
 one discoursed upon the subject; and, according to 
 the bias of bis feelings, condemning this or that 
 party beyond any other, discovered reasons equally 
 plausible to accuse royalists or revolutionists. The 
 enemies of the revolution, old and new, declared 
 that the Terrorists were alone capable of forming 
 so atrocious a plot, and, in conclusive proof of their 
 opinions, quoted the machine of Chevalier, the 
 armourer, recently detected. Wise heads, on the 
 contrary, who stedfastly clung to the revolution, 
 asked why the robbers on the high road, the chauf- 
 feurs, who committed so many crimes, and every 
 day exhibited a refinement iu cruelty, without 
 example, who, in particular, had carried off the 
 senator Cle'ment de Ris; why these men might not 
 be the authors of the horrible explosion in the 
 street St. Nicaise, as well as those pretended 
 Terrorists. It must be observed, that calm minds 
 were unable, at that moment, to obtain a hearing, 
 80 deeply was the public mind agitated, and so 
 prejudiced was it against the revolutionary party. 
 But, will it be credited ? in the midst of this con- 
 flict of varied imputations, there were some persons 
 inconsiderate or obstinate enough to speak very 
 differently. Certain factious loyalists longed fur 
 the destruction of the first consul, cost what it 
 might; and in supporting the general notion, which 
 attributed the crime to the Terrorists, they ad- 
 mired the atrocious energy and the profound 
 secresy which must have been put in practice to 
 perform such a deed. The revolutionists, on the 
 contrary, appeared as if they were covetous of the 
 merit for their party ; and there were among them 
 certain boasters in crime, who would have been 
 almost proud of the imputation of such an ex- 
 
 ecrable act. It is in times of civil troubles alone, 
 that such unreflecting and wicked language is heard 
 among men, who, themselves, would be wholly 
 incapable of performing the actions they thus affect 
 to approve. 
 
 The minister of police, Fouehe, alone had a sus- 
 picion of the real criminals; all besides, who talked 
 or conjectured as to its authors, were entirely 
 wrong. 
 
 While he was occupied in their detection, every 
 one inquired what was to be done for the future 
 prevention of similar attempts. People were then 
 so habituated to violent measures, that they thought 
 it was but natural to arrest the men once known 
 under the appellation of Terrorists, and to treat 
 them as they treated their victims in 1793. The 
 two sections of the council of state, to whom the 
 matter more immediately belonged, the sections of 
 legislation and of the interior, assembled two days 
 after the event, on the 26th of December, or 5th 
 of Nivose, to examine, among the different plans 
 that presented themselves, which it was most ad- 
 visable to adopt. As the proposed law for the 
 purpose of instituting special tribunals was under 
 discussion, it was proposed to add to it two clauses. 
 The first, for the institution of a military commis- 
 sion, to try all crimes committed against the mem- 
 bers of the government ; the second, to invest the 
 first consul with the power to remove from Paris 
 the individuals whose presence in the capital might 
 be deemed dangerous, and to punish them with 
 transportation, if they should attempt to evade their 
 first exile. 
 
 After the preliminary examination of the subject 
 in two sections of the legislative and interior, the 
 entire council of state met under the presidency of 
 the first consul. M. Portalis made a report of what 
 had taken place in the morning in the two sections, 
 and submitted the propositions to the assembled 
 council. The first consul in his impatience thought 
 the proposals insufficient for the end. He was for 
 arresting the Jacobins in a body, shooting those 
 who should be found guilty of the crime, and trans- 
 porting the rest. He wished to accomplish this end 
 by an extraordinary measure in order to make sure 
 of the result. "The proceedings of a special tribu- 
 nal," he said, "were slow, and would not reach the 
 true criminals. It is not now the question to frame 
 a system of judicial metaphysics ; metaphysical 
 minds have destroyed every thing in France for 
 these ten years past. It is necessary to judge in our 
 situation of statesmen, and to apply a remedy like 
 determined men. What is the evil that torments 
 us ? There are ten thousand scoundrels in France, 
 spread over the entire country, who have perse- 
 cuted every honest man, and who are drenched in 
 blood. All are not in the same degree culpable; 
 very far from it. Many are susceptible of repent- 
 ance, and are not irreclaimable criminals ; but 
 wh'le they sec the head quarters established iu 
 Paris, and their chiefs forming plots with impunity, 
 they keep hope alive, and hold themselves in good 
 breath; strike boldly at the leaders, and the soldiers 
 will disperse. They will return to those labours from 
 which they were driven by a violent revolution; 
 they will soon forget that stormy period of their 
 lives, and become peaceable citizens. Honest men, 
 kept in continual fear, will lose all apprehension, 
 and attach themselves to the government which
 
 1800. 
 Dec. 
 
 An intemperate speech of 
 Bonaparte censured by 
 admiral Truguet. 
 
 THE INFERNAL MACHINE. 
 
 Boldness of Truguet. — 
 Angry reply of Bona- 
 parte. 
 
 197 
 
 lias known how to protect them. There is no mid- 
 dle way; we must either pardon all like Augustas; 
 or vengeance, prompt and terrible, proportionate to 
 the crime, must overtake them. As many of the 
 guilty must be sacrificed as there have been vic- 
 tims; fifteen or twenty of these villains must be 
 shot, an 1 two hundred of them transported. By 
 this means the republic will be disembarrassed of 
 pertui ba ion that disturbs it; we shall purge it of the 
 sanguinary lees.'' At every sentence the first con- 
 sul became more and more animated and irritated 
 by the disapprobation which he saw expressed upon 
 some countenances. "I am," he cried, "I am so 
 convinced of the necessity and justice of some 
 strong measure to purity France, and at the same 
 time to calm her, that I am ready to make myself 
 the sole tribunal, to have the culprits brought 
 before me, to investigate their crimes, to judge them, 
 and order sentence to be executed. All France 
 would applaud me, because it is not my own pri- 
 vate vengeance that I seek. My good fortune 
 which has preserved me so many times on the 
 field of battle will secure me still. I do not think 
 of myself; I think of the social order which it is my 
 duty to re-establish, and of the national honour, 
 from which I am commissioned to wash out this 
 abominable stain." 
 
 This scene struck with surprise and fear a part 
 of the council of state. Some of the members, par- 
 taking in the sincere but intemperate warmth of 
 the first consul, applauded his arguments. A large 
 majority regretfully heard in his words the same 
 language which had been held by the revolutionists 
 themselves, when they prescribed thousands of vic- 
 tims. They had said in the same way, that the aris- 
 tocrats placed the republic in danger; that it was 
 necessary to be rid of tlicm by the most prompt 
 and certain means; and that the public safety was 
 worth some sacrifices. The difference was most 
 assuredly great; because in place of sanguinary 
 miscreants, who in the blindness of their fury had 
 taken each other for aristocrats and destroyed one 
 another, a man of genius was here seen, proceed- 
 ing with energy towards a noble end, in restoring 
 to its place a disorganized society. Unhappily, he 
 wished to proceed, not by the slow observation of 
 rnhs, but by direct and extraordinary methods, 
 such as those employed who had been the cause of 
 the evil. His good sense, his generous heart, and 
 the horror of shedding blood then prevalent, were 
 sufficient guarantees against sanguinary executions; 
 but with this exception he was disposed to have 
 recourse to every kind of severity towards the men 
 at that time known as Jacobins and Terrorists. 
 
 Objections wen; raised in the council of state, 
 though timidly, because of the indignation every 
 where excited at the crime in the Rue St. Nicaise, 
 which cheeked the courage of those who would 
 bare opposed a stronger resistance to acts so arbi- 
 trary. Still there was one individual who did not 
 fear to make head against the first consul, and who 
 mad': it boldly and with perfect freedom, — this 
 was admiral Truguet, who seeing that the intention 
 was to strike at the revolutionists in a body, ex- 
 i d doubts in regard to the rial authors of the 
 crime. " Government," said the admiral, "is desi- 
 rous of getting rid of the base men who trouble the 
 republic ; be it so ; but there are villains of more 
 than one class. The returned emigrants threaten 
 
 the holders of national property; the Chouans infest 
 the high-roads ; the reinstated priests in the south 
 jnfiame the passions of the people; the public mind 
 is corrupted by pamphlets." Admiral Truguet 
 made an allusion here to the famous pamphlet 
 of M. Fontanes, of which mention has been already 
 made. 
 
 At these words the first consul, stung to the 
 heart, and advancing directly to the speaker, asked 
 — "To what pamphlets do you allude?" " Pam- 
 phlets publicly circulated," the admiral replied. 
 " Designate them," replied the first consul. "You 
 know them as well as I do," retorted the bold man 
 who dared defy in this way the anger the first 
 consul exhibited. 
 
 Such a scene as this had never before been seen 
 in the council of state. The circumstance was 
 a specimen of the impetuous character of the man 
 who then held the destinies of France in his hand. 
 Upon this reply he displayed all the eloquence of 
 his anger. " Do people take us for children? " — he 
 exclaimed, — "do they think to draw us away by 
 declamations against the emigrants, the Chouans, 
 and the priests ? Because there are still some par- 
 tial disturbances in La Vende'e, do they demand, as 
 formerly, that we shall declare the country in dan- 
 ger ? Has France ever been in a nobler position, — 
 the finances ever in a better way, — the armies more 
 victorious, — peace ever so near at hand ? If the 
 Chouans commit crimes, I will have them shot. 
 | Must I recommence proscription because of the 
 titles of nobles, priests, and royalists ? Must I send 
 into exile ten thousand old men who only desire to 
 live in peace and obey the established laws ? Have 
 you not known Georges himself put to death in 
 Britany four ecclesiastics, because he saw they 
 were likely to be reconciled to the government ? 
 Must I proscribe again merely for rank and title? 
 Must I strike some because they are priests, others 
 because they are ancient nobles ? Do you not know, 
 gentlemen of the council, that except two or three, 
 you all pass for royalists? You, citizen Defermon, 
 are you not considered a partisan of the Bourbons? 
 Must I send citizen Devaisne to Madagascar, and 
 then constitute myself a council d la. Baboeufl No, 
 citizen Truguet, I am not to be blinded ; there are 
 none who threaten our peace but the Septembrians. 
 They would not spare yourself ; in vain would 
 you tell them how well you defended them to-day 
 in the council of state, — they would immolate you 
 as they would me — as they would all your col- 
 leagues." 
 
 There was only one word to he said in reply to 
 this vehement apostrophe, that it was not just to 
 proscribe any individual on account of his quality; 
 neither the one party for being royalist, nor the 
 other for being revolutionist. The first consul hail 
 no sooner finished his last words than he arose 
 suddenly and concluded the sitting. 
 
 The consul Cambacercs, always calm, had won- 
 derful skill in obtaining thai object by gentle 
 means which his fiery colleague would, if possible, 
 obtain by the power of his own will. (In the 
 following day he assembled the sections at his own 
 house, endeavoured to excuse, in a few words, the 
 warmth of the first consul, asserted what was tin- 
 fact, that he had no antipathy to contradiction, 
 when it was unaccompanied by spleen or person- 
 ality, and then endeavoured to incline their minds
 
 Interference of Cambaceres. 
 198 — Convocation of the sec- 
 tions. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Plans proposed.— Progress .„.. 
 of inquiry concerning the , ' 
 real delinquents. an- 
 
 to take some extraordinary step. This was un- 
 worthy of the usual moderation of Cambace'res ; 
 but although he was accustomed to give prudent 
 advice to the first consul, he yielded when he saw 
 him resolute, and particularly when the point at 
 issue was to repress the Terrorists. M. Portalis, 
 who had the merit of never desiring the pro- 
 scription of any man, though he had been himself 
 proscribed, assented to the idea of the two sections, 
 which added two articles to the law for special 
 tribunals. Despite of these, Cambace'res insisted, 
 and gained a majority in favour of an extraordinary 
 measure, upon the agreement that it should have a 
 fresh discussion before the two sections united. 
 In this species of secret meeting warm words took 
 place. Roederer clamoured loud against the Ja- 
 cobins, imputed their crimes to the indulgence of 
 Fouclie', and even proceeded to move the council of 
 state to join in a declaration for the dismissal of 
 that minister. 
 
 Cambace'res repressed all these over-zealous dis- 
 plays, and convoked the sections at the residence of 
 Bonaparte, in whose presence a sort of privy coun- 
 cil was held, composed of the consuls, the two 
 sections of the interior and of legislation, the minis- 
 ters for foreign affairs, the interior, and justice. 
 The prejudice shown against Fouche' was so great, 
 that he was not even summoned to these con- 
 ferences. 
 
 The proposition for an extraordinary resolution 
 was then presented anew, and discussed a good 
 while. There were many sittings of the privy 
 council before the members could be got to agree. 
 At last it was decided that some general measure 
 should be carried into effect against the party de- 
 nominated Terrorists, but the form of the measure 
 became a weighty question. The main point to be 
 settled was whether the measure should be carried 
 into effect by the spontaneous act of the govern- 
 ment or by means of a law. The first consul, 
 generally so bold, wished it should be by law. He 
 did not like to compromise the great bodies of the 
 state upon such an occasion, and openly declared, 
 that " the consuls were irresponsible, but the 
 ministers were not so ; and that any of them who 
 Signed such a resolution might, on some future 
 day, have to answer for it. Not a single individual 
 should be compromised ; the legislative body must 
 share in the responsibility of the proposed act. 
 The consuls themselves," he said, " knew not what 
 might occur. As for myself, while I live I am not 
 afraid that any one will call me to a reckoning for 
 my actions. But I may be killed, and then I shall 
 not be able to answer for the security of my two 
 colleagues. It would be your turn to govern," he 
 added, laughing, to the second consul Cambace'res, 
 " and you are not rery firm in the stirrups. It will 
 be better to have a law for the present as well as 
 for the future." 
 
 There was passing at this moment a very singu- 
 lar scene. Those who were repugnant to the 
 measure desired to see it adopted not as a law but 
 as the spontaneous act of the government. They 
 wished to throw upon the government the entire 
 responsibility of the measure, not perceiving that 
 as so doing they were suffering it to acquire the per- 
 nicious habit of acting alone upon its own arbitrary 
 authority. Jt was said in support of this opinion, 
 that the law could not pass, that sentiments were 
 
 divided upon the real authors of the crime, that 
 the legislative body recoiled before a list of pros- 
 cription, and that the government would expose 
 itself to the danger of incurring a very serious 
 defeat. Rcederer and Regnault de St. Jean 
 d'Angely declared themselves of this opinion. The 
 first consul said to the last, " Since the tribunate 
 rejected one or two laws, you are seized with a 
 panic. There are some Jacobins in the legislative 
 body, it is true, at most ten or a dozen. They 
 alarm the others, who know that but for me, on the 
 18th Brumaire they would have been murdered. 
 These last will not be wanting upon this occasion, 
 the law will pass." 
 
 They persisted, and Talleyrand agreed in opinion 
 with those who, fearing the chance's were against 
 the passing of a law, for which he gave a reason to 
 the first consul the most likely to produce an 
 effect, namely, that out of France the act would 
 appear the more imposing. " Foreigners will see," 
 said he, " a government that knows and dares to 
 defend itself against the anarchists." The first 
 consul gave way to this argument, but devised 
 in consequence a middle course, and this was fol- 
 lowed ; namely, to refer it to the senate, that the 
 senate might examine whether the act was or was 
 not an attack upon the constitution. It will, 
 doubtless, be remembered that according to the 
 constitution of the year Tin., the senate did not 
 pass the laws, but had the power of annulling them, 
 if it deemed them contrary to the constitution. 
 With respect to the measures of the government it 
 did not possess the same power. The idea of the 
 first consul was approved in consequence, and M. 
 Fouche' was commanded to draw up a list of the 
 principal terrorists, with the design of transporting 
 them to the deserts of the New World. The two 
 sections of the council of state were charged to 
 make a declaration of the reasons for the proceed- 
 ing. The first consul was to sign the decree, and 
 the senate to declare whether it was contrary to 
 the constitution or not. 
 
 This measure against the terrorists, in itself 
 illegal and arbitrary, had not even the justice upon 
 its side which arbitrary measures sometimes have, 
 when they fall upon those who are really guilty ; 
 because the terrorists were not the authors of the 
 crime. About this time the truth began to be sus- 
 pected. The minister Fouche', and the prefect of 
 police, Dubois, had continued to make researches 
 incessantly into the affair, nor had their exertions 
 been unavailing. The violence of the explosion 
 had destroyed, almost to annihilation, nearly all 
 the instruments used. The young girl to whom 
 St. Rejant had given the horse to hold, had been 
 torn in pieces; nothing of the unfortunate creature 
 was left but her legs and feet. The iron of the 
 cart-wheels was thrown to a great distance. Frag- 
 ments of the articles employed in committing the 
 crime could alone be found, the only things likely to 
 lead to a discovery ; and these were scattered at a 
 great distance off in every direction. There were 
 htill some remains of the cart and horse. These 
 remains were all collected together, and a descrip- 
 tion of them was written and made public through 
 the newspapers, and all the horse dealers in Paris 
 were asked to inspect them. By a fortunate chance, 
 the original owner of the horse identified the animal 
 at once, and named a dealer in seeds to whom it
 
 1801. 
 Jan. 
 
 Traces of the assassins 
 discovered. 
 
 THE INFERNAL MACHINE. 
 
 Weakness of Fouche. — Trans- 
 portation of the Terrorists 
 resolved on. 
 
 199 
 
 had been sold. This dealer, on being summoned, 
 declared with the most perfect frankness every- 
 thing he knew about the matter. He had sold the 
 borse to two men, who passed for foreign traders. 
 He had had several interviews with them, and was 
 able to describe them with great exactness. A 
 man who kept carriages to let, and who had let the 
 cart-house for some dais in which the cart had 
 been kept, made a very precise declaration. He 
 described the same individuals, and gave the same 
 indications ;us to their persons, as the dealer in 
 seeds had done. The cooper who had sold the I 
 barrel, and had put iron hoops upon it, gave de- 
 scriptions concurring exactly with those of the 
 other two. The descriptions exactly tallied in 
 respect to features, stature, dress, and general 
 appearance, with the parties suspected, When all 
 this evidence had been taken, recourse was had to 
 decisive proof. Above two hundred revolutionists, 
 apprehended upon suspicion, were made to appear 
 before them. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of Janu- 
 ary, or 1 L tli, 12th, 13th, -and 14th of Nivose, were 
 consumed in confronting these prisoners with the 
 witnesses, and concluded in the conviction that 
 none of the revolutionists arrested were authors of 
 the crime, because not one was recognized. There 
 was no doubt could be entertained of the honesty 
 and veracity of the witnesses who had furnished 
 the evidence, almost all of whom had come forward 
 spontaneously to state what they knew, showing the 
 greatest zeal in seconding the efforts of the police. 
 It was thus proved, almost to a certainty, that the 
 revolutionists were innocent ; but the absolute fact 
 could not be made clear until the discovery of the 
 real criminals. An important circumstance directed 
 attention to the agents of Georges, who had been 
 sent to Paris nearly a month before, and who had 
 always been considered by Fouche' to be the guilty 
 parties. Though all trace had been lost, yet down 
 cently as the 3rd of Nivose they had been 
 sometimes in one place, sometimes in another, 
 though the police had been unable to seize them. 
 After the 3rd of Nivose they had entirely disap- 
 I, so wholly, that it might be thought they 
 bad been buried under the earth. This disappear- 
 ance, so complete and sudden, from the very day 
 of the crime, was a striking fact. To this it must 
 be added, that one of the descriptions given by 
 every witness corresponded with the person of 
 Carbon. M. Fouche, alter all these indications, 
 believing more than ever that the real authors of 
 tli • plot were the Chonans, lost no time in despatch- 
 in_' an emissary to observe Ge trges, and obtain in- 
 formation respecting St. Kcjant, Carbon, and Li- 
 moclan. While this was doing, he obtained enough 
 evidence to shake the previous opinions of many 
 
 persons, and even those of the first consul himself ; 
 but who still would not yield his first opinion 
 unless the matter was clearly ami certainly ascer- 
 tained. 
 
 Such was the state ( ,f the proceedings on the 
 4th of January, or 14th of Nivose, the day on 
 
 winch the decree that condemned so many of the 
 irists was di fmitively settled '. 
 
 1 1 have compared the dates of the documents in this 
 ■ itli the date* of the measure* paSMd against the re- 
 volutionary parly; tin- result is. that between the 11th and 
 I tth N'isov. or It and -Itli of January, only one thing was 
 
 known, namely, that the examination* of ih. person* ol the 
 
 Thane was at last, on the part of the government, 
 an accordance upon all the points discussed. It 
 had never at any time seriously thought of a sum- 
 mary tribunal, which should try the terrorists, and 
 Sentence them to be shot ; it had always stopped 
 its measures at the idea of transporting a certain 
 number of them. After numerous debates upon 
 the subject, it was agreed upon that the} - should 
 be transported by the act of the consuls, first sub- 
 mitted for the sanction of the senate. All having 
 been settled with the principal members of the 
 council and senate, the rest could be only a mere 
 formality. 
 
 M. Fouc1il : . without knowing all the truth, 
 and yet knowing a part) assailed upon all sides, 
 had the weakness to lend himself to a measure, 
 directed, it is true, against men who had been 
 stained with blood, but were not the authors of the 
 crime, the perpetrators of which were then awaiting 
 detection and punishment. Of all who had a share 
 in this act of proscription, he was, therefore, the 
 most inexcusable ; but he was attacked upon every 
 side. He was accused of forbearance towards the 
 revolutionists, and he had not the courage to re-ist. 
 He drew up himself the report of the council of 
 state upon which the decree of the consuls was 
 grounded. 
 
 In this report, presented to the council of state 
 upon the 1st of January, 1801, or 11th Nivose, 
 numbers of men were denounced who for ten years 
 had participated in every kind of crime, who had 
 spilled the blood of the prisoners in the Abbaye, 
 invaded and done violence to the convention, 
 threatened the directory, and who, reduced now to 
 despair, had armed themselves with the poignard 
 to strike at the republic in the person of the first 
 consul. "All these persons," it was said, "have not 
 taken the dagger in their hands; but all are uni- 
 versally known to be capable of sharpening and of 
 using it." It was added, that the tutelary forms of 
 justice were not made for them ; it was therefore 
 proposed to seize and transport them beyond the 
 territory of the republic. 
 
 The examination of the report raised the ques- 
 tion as to whether the Jacobins ought not to be 
 denounced as the authors of the 3rd Nivose. The 
 first consul opposed the proposal earnestly. " We 
 may believe so," said he, " but we do not know it." 
 He began, it is probable, to be shaken in his con- 
 victions. "They are transported for the 2nd of 
 September, for the 31sl. of May, the days of 1'rairial, 
 the conspiracy of llahtcuf, for all which they have 
 done, and for all which they might still do." 
 
 Terrorists had not led to the recognition of any one of them : 
 there was, consequently, every just reason to believe that 
 the revolutionary party was entirely unacquainted with the 
 crime in the Rue St. Nicaise. It was not possible to have 
 I certainty upon this point until much later, or until 
 the 2Stli Nivose, or 18th of January, the day of the arrest of 
 Carbon, and his complete identification by ihe parties that 
 told him the horse, the cart, and the barrel. The act de- 
 creed against the revolutionists is dated the Hth of Nivfise, 
 or January 4ih. It is not true, therefore, as souie have 
 ventured to assert, that the proscription took place with a 
 .■ ot the real authors ol Ihe Crime; and that 
 
 the government struck at the revolutionists, well knowing 
 
 thai (hey were innocent of the olieiue ohSWjart upon them. 
 The ait was not the less arbitrary for all that; Still it is 
 I to nive the real fact, without extenuation or vxagge- 
 latiou.
 
 Conduct of the council of state 
 200 -Decree of transportation THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, 
 carried into effect. 
 
 Hatred shown towards the 
 terrorists. — Condemnation 
 of Ceracchi and others. 
 
 1801. 
 Jan. 
 
 A list of one hundred and thirty individuals, 
 condemned to transportation, followed the report. 
 The government did not confine itself to transport- 
 in.' the persons named, but, what was more cruel, 
 if possible, added to the names of many of them 
 the description of " Septembriseur," with no other 
 proof for so stamping them than mere common 
 report. 
 
 The council of state showed a visible repugnance 
 on hearing the hundred and thirty names, because 
 it might be said to be employed in drawing up a list 
 of proscription. Thibaudeau the counsellor said 
 that such a list could not be prepared by the coun- 
 cil. " I am not so foolish," rejoined the first consul, 
 with some temper, "to make you pronounce the 
 doom of these individuals; I only submit to you 
 the principle of the measure." The principle was 
 approved, but not without some opposing voices. 
 
 The next question was, whether the measure 
 should be an act of the high police on the part of 
 the government, or be passed in the customary 
 form of a law. This had been arranged previously; 
 the resolutions already secretly decreed were con- 
 firmed; and it was decided that the measure should 
 be a spontaneous act of the government, only 
 referred to the senate to pronounce upon the ques- 
 tion of its being constitutional. 
 
 On the 4th of January, or 14th Nivose, the first 
 consul having had the definitive list prepared, 
 issued a decree by which he transported beyond 
 the territories of the republic the individuals in- 
 scribed upon it, and without any hesitation placed 
 his signature to the decree. 
 
 On the 5th of January, or 15th Nivose, the 
 senate met and advanced further than the council 
 of state had done, by declaring that the decree of 
 the first consul was a measure necessary to the 
 preservation of the constitution. 
 
 The unfortunate persons thus named were col- 
 lected together on the dav following, and sent on 
 their way to Nantes, there to be placed on board 
 ship, to embark for distant countries. There were 
 of the number several deputies of the convention, 
 some members of the old commune, all those that 
 remained of the assassins of September, and the 
 well-known Rossignol, formerly a general of the 
 revolutionary army. These men, it is true, merited 
 no pity as regarded themselves, or at least but few 
 of them ; yet were all the forms of justice violated 
 in their persons, and what proved the danger of 
 violating such sacred forms was, that many of the 
 designations made by the police were contested 
 with great appearance of truth. It required, at 
 such a moment, no small decree of moral courage 
 to appear in the behalf of these proscribed persons; 
 yet there were some who, on the recommendation 
 of courageous men, were erased from the list of 
 the proscribed, and saved at Nantes from the fatal 
 embarkation. 
 
 That upon an influential recommendation an 
 individual should be able to obtain, or net to ob- 
 tain, the favour of a government — be it so; but 
 that a recommendation should suffice to exclude or 
 not from a proscription list, according as a man 
 has a friend bold or influential enough to command 
 it, causes every sentiment of justice to revolt, and 
 proves that when forms are once violated there 
 only remains for society the horrors of arbitrary 
 power. Yet this period may be radient with glory ; 
 
 it was remarkable for the love of order and a 
 hatred of bloodshed. But the country was rising 
 out of a revolutionary chaos ; it had no regard for 
 rules, and found them inconvenient and insupport- 
 able. If this arbitrary proceeding was spoken of, a 
 single word was sufficient to justify it. It was said 
 that these miscreants were drenched in blood, and 
 would be so again if they had their own way ; that 
 they were treated much better than they had 
 treated their victims; and if, in effect, this act, under 
 the aspect of a violation of forms, equalled those 
 which had been witnessed at anterior epochs, it 
 presented two points of difference ; it fell for the 
 most part upon villains, and their blood was not 
 spilled : — a very miserable excuse, it must be 
 allowed, to offer in mitigation, but it may stiil be 
 urged to show that the year 1800 had no common 
 feature with 1793. 
 
 While these miserable men were on their way 
 to Nantes, it was with great difficulty they were 
 preserved from the fury of the populace, in all the 
 towns through which they travelled, so much was 
 the public sentiment against them. Under the in- 
 fluence of this sentiment, there was something still 
 more deplorable occurred, in the condemnation of 
 Ceracchi, Arena, Demerville, and Topino-Lebrun. 
 It will be remembered that in the month of Octo- 
 ber preceding, or Vendemiaire, these discontented 
 fellows entered into a plot for the purpose of assas- 
 sinating the first consul at the opera. But neither 
 of them had the boldness, perhaps never the real 
 determination, to carry the plot into execution. 
 The police agents sent in spies among them, gave 
 them poignards, and pushed them on to a degree 
 in crime greater than they contemplated them- 
 selves, or had the courage to commit. In any case 
 they did not make their appearance at the place 
 where they were to execute their design, save 
 Ceracchi, who was arrested alone at the opera, and 
 was not even armed with a single poignard of those 
 given to them. They were no more than empty 
 talkers, who certainly wished for the destruction of 
 the first consul, but would never have dared to 
 attempt the deed themselves. They were tried on 
 the 9th of January, or 19th of Nivose, at the very 
 moment when the events were occurring which 
 have just been narrated. Their counsel, aware of 
 the terrible influence exercised upon the minds of 
 the jury, by the event of the 3rd of Nivose, made 
 vain efforts to combat it. The influence upon 
 their minds was irresistible; for of all jurisdictions 
 a jury is that most governed by public opinion, 
 having all the advantages and disadvantages of the 
 disposition. Four of these unhappy men were con- 
 demned to death, Ceracchi, Arena, Demerville, and 
 Topino-Lebrun. The last merited some sympathy, 
 and was a striking instance of the cruel mutations 
 of fortune during the revolution. Young Topino- 
 Lebrun had been a pupil of the celebrated David, 
 and was a young artist of some talent. Participating 
 in the wild notions of artists at that time, he had 
 been one of the jury of the revolutionary tribunal, 
 and had shown himself much more merciful than 
 his brother officials. He produced upon his trial 
 the advocate Chauveau-Lagarde, the respectable 
 defender of the victims before that tribunal, to 
 give evidence of his humanity. What an extraor- 
 dinary change of fortune ! The former juryman of 
 the revolutionary tribunal, accused in his own turn
 
 1S01. 
 Jan. 
 
 Arrest of Carbon and St. 
 lU'jant.— Their condem- 
 nation and execution. 
 
 THE INFERNAL MACHINE. 
 
 General joy at the peace of 
 Luneville. 
 
 231 
 
 and calling to his assistance the old defender 
 of the victims of that sanguinary judgment scat ! 
 But the aid thus generously given could not save 
 him. All four were condemned on the 9th of 
 January, or 19th of Nivdse, and after a useless 
 appeal to the court of cassation, were executed on 
 the 31st of that month. 
 
 In the meanwhile, the horrible mystery of the 
 infernal machine was clearing up by little and little. 
 Fouche' had sent, to be near Georges, certain 
 agents, who were to make inquiries about Carbon, 
 what had become of him and where he lived. He 
 learned, through this medium, that Carbon had 
 sisters, who were residents in Paris, and lie found 
 out their abode. This was searched by the police, 
 and a barrel of powder discovered. From the 
 youngest sister the police obtained a knowledge of 
 the new lodgings where he had concealed himself. 
 It was with very respectable persons, the ladies 
 De Cice', sisters of M. de Cice', once archbishop of 
 Bordeaux, anil minister of justice. The ladies took 
 him for a returned emigrant, whose passport was 
 not rectified, and they procured him a place of 
 refuge with some old religious sisters, living in 
 company in a retired part of Paris. These unfor- 
 tunate sisters, who every day thanked Heaven that 
 the first consul had escaped death, because they 
 considered themselves all lost if he was no more, 
 had given an asylum, unconscious what they did, 
 to one of his intended assassins. The police went 
 to their house on the 18th of January, or 28th of 
 Nivdse, and apprehended Carbon, together with 
 all those who had thus received him. The same 
 day he was confronted with the w itnesses already 
 mentioned, and recognized at once. At first he 
 denied every thing ; but at last confessed he was 
 a (participator, but an innocent participator only, 
 in the crime, because, from his own statement, he 
 was not aware of the object for which the cart 
 and barrel were intended. He denounced Limoe- 
 lan and St. Rejant. Limoclan had found time to 
 escape into a foreign country ; but St. Rejant, 
 thrown down by the explosion, and for some 
 minutes half dead, had only just time and strength 
 left to change his lodgings. An agent of Georges, 
 employed to attend upon him, who had been left 
 at liberty for the purpose, as it was hoped, of 
 finding St. Rejant, by tracking him, was the means 
 of discovering his residence. The police found 
 him stid ill in consequence of his wounds, lie 
 was soon confronted, recognized, and convicted 
 by SUoh a crowd of witnesses, as left no room for 
 doubt. A letter to Georges was found under his 
 
 lull, iii which he detailed, in an ambiguous m; ir, 
 
 tlio principal circumstances of the crime, and made 
 a sort of justification of himself to his employer 
 because he had not Succeeded. Carbon and St. 
 Rejant were sent before the criminal tribunal, 
 which sentenced these execrable ruffians to lose 
 their beads. 
 
 Winn all the particular facts of the case were 
 published, tie obstinate accusers of the revolution- 
 ary party, and the complacent defenders of the 
 royalists, were surprised and confounded. The 
 enemies of Fouche", too, found themselves embar- 
 i. 'lie- correctness of his judgment was re- 
 cognized, and he was again well established in the 
 favour of the first consul, lint In- had furnished his 
 enemies with a weapon of which they took ad- 
 
 vantage with some justice. " Why," said they, 
 " if he was so certain of the fact, did he suffer the 
 revolutionists to be proscribed?" He well de- 
 served upon this point a bitter reproach. The 
 first consul, who did not regard a violation of 
 forms, caring for nothing but the results obtained, 
 showed no regret about the matter. He thought 
 that what had been done was well done, in every 
 point of view; that he was disembarrassed of those 
 whom he called the "staff of the Jacobins," and 
 that the 3rd of Nivose only proved one thing, 
 which was, the necessity for watching the royalists 
 as well as the Terrorists. " Fouche," said he, 
 " judged better than most other persons ; he is 
 right ; it is necessary to have an eye open upon 
 the returned emigrants, upon the Chouans, and 
 over all who are of that party." 
 
 This event much diminished the interest felt in 
 behalf of the royalists, who had been complacently 
 styled the victims id' terror: it also greatly lessened 
 the antipathy felt against the revolutionists, while 
 M. Fouche, though he did not increase in public 
 esteem, gained in credit. 
 
 The painful sentiments of which the infernal 
 machine had been the cause, were soon removed 
 by the joy inspired at the treaty of Luneville. 
 Every day under the most prosperous government 
 is not fortunate. That of the consulate had this 
 unequalled advantage, that if sad impressions at 
 one moment occupied the minds of the people, 
 they were dissipated the next instant by some 
 great, new, and unforeseen result. Some short 
 and mournful scenes there were in which the first 
 consul appeared as the saviour of France; these 
 every faction was desirous of obliterating ; after 
 these scenes, victories, treaties, acts of reparation, 
 came healing deep wounds and reviving public pros- 
 perity — such was the spectacle which he thus un- 
 ceasingly presented — Bonaparte constantly emerged 
 from them, greater, dearer to France, more evi- 
 dently destined for the supreme power. 
 
 The second session of the legislative body had 
 commenced. It was at this moment engaged in 
 the discussion and adoption of many laws, of which 
 the principal, that of the special tribunals, was of 
 no real importance after what had just before been 
 done. But the opposition m the tribunate opposed 
 these laws against the government, which was a 
 sufficient inducement to their being carried out. 
 The first of these related to the archives of the 
 republic. It had become necessary, since the 
 abolition of the ancient provinces had consigned 
 to disorder a great number of old titles and of 
 documents, either very useful or very curious, to 
 decide where they should deposit such a mass of 
 records, laws, treaties, and similar instruments. 
 This was a measure of order only, having no 
 political character. The tribunate voted against 
 the law; and after having, according to custom, 
 sent its three orators to the legislative body, it 
 
 obtained a rejection of the measure by a large 
 majority. The legislative body, though strongly 
 attached to the government, as assemblies bo at- 
 tached generally are, uas jealous of sometimes 
 exhibiting its independence in measures of detail, 
 
 and it was assuredly able to do this without danger, 
 under the proposal of a law, the object of which 
 was mi rely to decide upon the deposit, in this or 
 that place, of certain papers and ancient records.
 
 Discussions relative to Objections. — The law 
 
 202 the law of special tri- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. passed.-Strong lan- 
 
 bunals. 
 
 guage of Bonaparte. 
 
 1801. 
 Feb. 
 
 The two assemblies were occupied at the same 
 moment with the consideration of a more important 
 law, but equally a stranger with the preceding to 
 politics. It related to the justices of the peace, of 
 which the number was acknowledged to be too 
 great. Six thousand having been appointed at 
 their first institution, they had not answered the 
 purpose for which they were created. Men capable 
 of fulfilling the functions of the office could not be 
 found in many cantons ; they had failed, too, in 
 another point. It had beeu judged proper to 
 assign to them the judicial police, but they had 
 performed the duty very indifferently, and the 
 paternal and benevolent character of their juris- 
 diction had been in some degree injured by it. The 
 proposed measure of the government included two 
 modifications to be introduced relative to these 
 officials. In the first instance, then* reduction 
 from six thousand to two thousand six hundred 
 was contemplated; and next, the duty of the judi- 
 cial police was to be performed by other magis- 
 trates. The proposed measure was very rational, 
 and made with the best intentions; but it en- 
 countered a strong opposition in the tribunate. 
 Several members spoke against it, more particularly 
 Benjamin Constant ; notwithstanding this, it was 
 adopted in the tribunate, by fifty-nine to thirty-two, 
 and in the legislative body by two hundred and 
 eighteen to forty-one. 
 
 Another law, more likely to become a subject of 
 discussion, and of a character wholly political, was 
 presented at this time : the law for the institution 
 of special tribunals. This law had lost its chief 
 utility, since the first consul had instituted military 
 commissions, to follow the moveable columns which 
 were in the pursuit of the robbers upon the high- 
 ways; and since, above all, he had not hesitated to 
 proscribe, in the most arbitrary manner, the re- 
 volutionists who were deemed dangerous to the 
 state. The military commissions had already pro- 
 duced very salutary effects. The judges, in mili- 
 tary uniforms, who composed them, had no fear 
 of the accused ; they encouraged the witnesses 
 who gave evidence, and not unfreqnently these 
 witnesses were the soldiers themselves, who had 
 arrested the robbers, having surprised them with 
 arms in their hands. Prompt and vigorous justice 
 following the employment of a very active force, 
 had singularly contributed to re-establish the se- 
 curity of the high roads. The escorts placed on 
 th ■ imperials of the diligences, often obliged to 
 engage in murderous conflicts, had intimidated the 
 robbers. Attacks were less frequent; and security 
 began again to be felt, thanks to the vigour of the 
 government and the tribunals, and to the con- 
 clusion of the winter. The proposed law was, 
 therefore, introduced when the mischief was al- 
 ready much diminished ; but it had the useful 
 object of regulating the military dispensation of 
 justice upon the high roads, and it applied to high- 
 way robbers a permanent and legal punishment. 
 The projected organization was this : — 
 
 The special tribunals were to be composed of 
 three ordinary judg B, all members of the criminal 
 tribunal, of three military officers, and of two 
 assessors, the last chosen by the government, and 
 duly qualified to act as judges. The military 
 members could not, therefore, have the majority. 
 The government was to have full power to es- 
 
 tablish these tribunals in the departments where it 
 might believe them to be necessary. They were 
 empowered to take cognizance of all offences com- 
 mitted upon the high roads and in the country by 
 armed bands ; of all assaults against the purchasers 
 of national property ; and, finally, of murder di- 
 rected with premeditation against the heads of the 
 government. This last provision comprehended 
 the infernal machine, the plot of Ceracchi and 
 Arena, with the like offences. The court of cas- 
 sation was authorized to decide in cases of doubtful 
 competency, all other business before the court 
 being suspended for that purpose. These special 
 tribunals were to be abolished as a matter of right, 
 two years after a general peace. 
 
 Every thing might be objected to these tribunals 
 which could be objected to exceptional justice. 
 But there was this to be urged in their favour, 
 that society never so deeply convulsed, at no 
 time demanded more prompt and extraordinary 
 means to restore it to tranquillity. Under the plea 
 of fidelity to the constitution, use was made of that 
 article belonging to it, which permitted the legis- 
 lative body to suspend it in those departments 
 where it might be judged necessary. The case of 
 extraordinary jurisdictions was evidently com- 
 prised in tiiis article, because the suspension of the 
 constitution of necessity led to the establishment of 
 martial law. Besides the discussion was super- 
 fluous in a country, and at a moment when one 
 hundred and thirty persons had been proscribed 
 without a trial, and military commissions had beeu 
 established in several departments without the 
 least censure of public opinion. It must still be 
 allowed that, compared with these acts, the pro- 
 posed law was a return to legal government. But 
 it was warmly and acrimoniously attacked by the 
 usual opposition members, by Daunou, Constant, 
 GinguenCf, and other's. In the tribunate it only 
 passed by a majority of forty-nine to forty-one 
 voices. In the legislative body the majority was much 
 more considerable, the law obtaining one hundred 
 and ninety-two m its favour, to eighty-eight against 
 it. But a minority of eighty-eight surpassed the 
 ordinary number of the minority in that assembly 
 entirely devoted to the government. The great 
 number of negative suffrages then obtained was 
 attributed to a speech made by M. Francis of 
 Nantes, in which he addressed the legislative body 
 in language considered too intemperate. " M. 
 Francis of Nantes has done well," said the first 
 consul, in reply to one of his colleagues Camba- 
 ce'res or Lebrun, who expressed disapprobation of 
 his speech. "It is better to have fewer votes, and 
 to show that feeling insults, we are determined 
 not to tolerate them. 1 ' 
 
 The first consul held stronger language to a 
 deputation of the senate which presented him with 
 a resolution of their body. He expressed himself in 
 the boldest way, and in several instances said, 
 without disguise, that if he was much incommoded, 
 and prevented from restoring peace and order to 
 France, he would trust to the opinion which the 
 country held of him, and govern by consular ordi- 
 nances. Every moment his ascendancy increased 
 with his success, and his boldness with his as- 
 cendancy, and he gave himself no more trouble to 
 dissemble the entire of his intentions. 
 
 He encountered a stronger opposition upon the
 
 1801. 
 Feb. 
 
 Financial measures of the 
 year ix. 
 
 THE INFERNAL MACHINE. Scheme for meeting deficiencies. 203 
 
 question of the finances, which constituted the 
 last business of the session. This was the most 
 praiseworthy of all the labours of the government, 
 and must particularly due to the personal interven- 
 tion of the first consul. 
 
 We have several times explained the means 
 taken to secure the regular collection and pay- 
 ment of the revenues of the state. These means 
 had perfectly succeeded for the year vin., or 1799- 
 1800; the sum of 518,000,000 f. 1 had been re- 
 ceived, which equalled the total sum of the taxes 
 for one year ; for at that time the revenue and 
 expenditure in the budget did not exceed 
 500,000,000f. Of these 518,000,000f., 172,000,000f. 
 belonged to the years v., vi., and VII., and 
 346,000,000 f. to the year tiii. All liabilities for 
 these four years were not acquitted. It was neces- 
 sary that there should be a complete liquidation, 
 in order that the year ix., or 1800-1801, which 
 was the current year, might proceed with com- 
 plete regularity. The income of the year ix. was 
 certain to meet its own expenses, because the t:ixes 
 would produce from 500,000,000 f. to 520,000,000 f., 
 and this was adequate to the expenses in a time of 
 peace. A practical system of accounts having 
 been established, from that date the receipts of 
 the year IX. would be applied exclusively to the 
 expenses of the year ; the receipts of the year x. 
 to the expenses of the year x. and so on ; thus the 
 future was secure. In regard to the past, or for 
 the years v., vi., vn., and vin., there remained a 
 deficit' to be covered. To this object the daily 
 receipts from the arrears of taxes for those years 
 were respectively applied. These arrears, which 
 were principally due from the landed proprietors, 
 reduced them to a situation of considerable de- 
 pression. At the meeting of the councils-general 
 of the departments, held then for the first time, 
 eighty-seven councils-general out of one hundred 
 and six. remonstrated against the excessive burdens 
 of the direct contributions. The government was 
 obliged in consequence, as has been before stated, 
 to remit a part of the taxes in arrear, for the pur- 
 pose ol' securing the punctual payment of the entire 
 tax in future. A law was proposed for the pur- 
 pose of authorizing the local administrations to 
 relieve those persons who were taxed too heavily, 
 and the measure passed without opposition. In 
 consequence there was a deficiency of resources 
 QOted, as attaching to the years v., vi., VII., and 
 vin. The amount was estimated for the three 
 , v., vi., and Til., at 90,000,000 f., and for the 
 year vin. alone at 30,000,000 f. The year Till., 
 1 T'*-* 1800, was distinguished from the years v., 
 vi., vii., because the year vin. was under the 
 consulship. 
 
 It became necessary, therefore, to discover how 
 these deficiencies were to bo met. There remained 
 
 about 400,000,000 !'. of national property dispos- 
 able ; and it was here that the first consul exer- 
 i the- most fortunate influence upon the finan- 
 cial system, and made the best employment pos- 
 sible of tin- public rosouiv 
 
 Not being able to dispose of the national pro- 
 perty at pleasure, the value- had always been 
 
 received by anticipation, through the means of a 
 paper emitted under different nanus, receivable in 
 
 ' About £21,000,000 sterling. 
 
 payment for that species of property. After the 
 fall of the assignats, the later name devised for 
 this kind of paper was that of " inscription." In 
 the course of the year vin. some of the Pre- 
 scriptions" had been negotiated to a less disad- 
 vantage than in the time gone by, but with too 
 little advantage still for it to be prudent to have 
 recourse to them as a resource. This paper had 
 been circulated at a loss; for from the first day of 
 its issue it fell into discredit, and soon passed into 
 the hands of speculators, who, by this means, pur- 
 chased the national domains at a very trifling 
 price. Thus it was that a valuable resource had 
 been foolishly wasted to the great injury of the 
 state, and the great benefit of stock-jobbers. The 
 400,000,000 f. in value remaining, if they could be 
 successfully preserved from the disorder by which 
 so many other millions had been lost down to this 
 time, would not fail to acquire, with peace and 
 time, a value three or four times greater. The 
 first consul was resolved not to expend them in 
 the mode in which several thousand millions had 
 been already Hung away. 
 
 But resources were immediately required, and 
 the first consul endeavoured to find them in the 
 issue of stock, which already, since his accession to 
 power, had obtained considerable value. The 
 funds had risen from the rate of ten and twelve, 
 to that of twenty-five and thirty, after the battle of 
 Marengo. Since the peace of Luneville they had 
 risen above fifty, and at a general peace it was 
 expected they would reach as high as sixty. At 
 this rate the government might begin to deal in 
 them, as there was less loss in selling stock than in 
 selling the national property. The first consul, 
 unwilling to raise a regular loan, proposed to pay 
 with stock cei'tain state creditors, and to devote to 
 the sinking fund an equivalent sum in landed 
 property, which that fund might afterwards sell, 
 but slowly, at its full value, so as to compensate in 
 this mode for the increase about to be made to the 
 public debt by the stock. This was the principle 
 of the financial law now proposed for the year. 
 
 The unpaid debts which remained to be liqui- 
 dated for the last three years of the directory, or 
 the years v., vi., and TIL, passed for bad debts. 
 These were the remnant of disgraceful contracts 
 made under the directory, and amounted to 
 800,000,000 f. On beginning a new system it was 
 proper to have a due regard to these debts, what- 
 ever might be their nature or origin. The sum 
 due was 90,000,000 f.; nearly the whole being in 
 the hands of speculators, they were at a discount 
 of seventy-live per cent, in the market, it was 
 proposed to acquit these by means of stock 
 bearing an interest of three per cent. The total 
 of these debts being 90,000,000 f., a sum of 
 2,700,000 f. would be required to pay the divi- 
 dend. This sum, at the existing prices of the 
 
 public funds, represented a real amount of 
 
 27,000,000 f. or :ilt,(l()l).(l(l(» I'., and could not repre- 
 sent less than 40,000,000 f. in the eight or ten 
 
 months that must elapse before the liquidation 
 
 could be completed. The debts which it was to 
 
 acquit being at a discount of seventy-five per cent. 
 
 in the market, anil the capital o"f 00,000,000 f. 
 
 being thus reduced in reality to one of 22,000,000 f. 
 or 23,000,000 f., more would be paid for them than 
 
 their value, if tin- government were to pay divi-
 
 204 
 
 Financial measures. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Regulation of the public 
 debt. 
 
 1801. 
 Feb. 
 
 deads for them at the rate of 27,000,0001'., be- 
 cause such an interest immediately sold would 
 produce 27,000,000 f. or 30,000,000 f., and was 
 very soon likely to produce more. 
 
 The debts of the year vni., still in arrear, were 
 of a totally different character. They were the 
 obligations for services executed during the first 
 year of the consular government, when order had 
 been perfectly established in the administration. 
 These services, executed at a time when the public 
 distress was still great, had been paid for at a dear 
 rate without doubt ; but it was against the honour 
 of the consular government to treat its engage- 
 ments so recently contracted, which had not like 
 those of the directory taken the character of dis- 
 credited debts, and been so negotiated — to treat 
 such engagements in the same manner as those 
 which belonged to the years v., vi., and Til. The 
 government did not hesitate, therefore, to pay in 
 full, and at its nominal worth, the excess of the 
 expenditure of the year vm. Its actual amount 
 was estimated at 00,000,000 f., but the payment of 
 the arrears of taxes in the year Till, reduced the 
 sum to 30,000,000 f. It was determined to pay a 
 part of this debt, amounting to 20,000,000 f., by 
 constituting stock at five per cent., which would 
 amount to a million interest. It will presently be 
 explained how the remaining part of the debt was 
 provided for. 
 
 The year ix., or 1800 -1801, promised to meet 
 its own expenses, upon the very probable hypo- 
 thesis of the approaching termination of the war, 
 because the continental peace concluded at Lune'- 
 ville must soon bring about a maritime one. The 
 budget was not then voted a year in advance, but 
 was voted the same year during the time that the 
 expenses were incurring. The budget of the year 
 ix., for example, was brought forward and dis- 
 cussed in Ventose of the year ix., that is to say, 
 the budget of 1801 in the month of March, 1801. 
 The expenses and receipts of this year were esti- 
 mated at the moment at 41 5,000.000 f., exclusively 
 of the expenses of collection and divers local ser- 
 vices, which may be taken at about 100.000,0001'. 
 more, and raised it to 5 15,000 000 f. in place of 
 4 1 5,000,000 f. But the estimate of receipt and 
 expenditure was inferior to the real amount, be- 
 cause then, as now, the real expenses were always 
 beyond the estimates. It will by and by be clearly 
 shown that the sum of 415,000,0001'. was increased 
 to 500,000,000 f Happily the product of the taxes 
 exceeded the estimate as well as the expenditure. 
 The double excess thus produced there is no doubt 
 had been foreseen ; but fearing that in future the 
 receipts would not equal the excess of the ex- 
 penditure, the government determined to assure 
 itself of a supplementary resource. Ten millions 
 still remained to be met, as we have before said, 
 in order to complete the payments of the yearvui.; 
 it was supposed that 20,000,000 f. would be wanted 
 for the payments of the year ix., 30,000,000 f. 
 would thus have to be raised in two years. It was 
 decided for this sum alone to have recourse to an 
 alienation of the national property. Fifteen mil- 
 lions of this property sold in each year would not 
 surpass the amount of alienation which it was 
 possible to effect with advantage, and without dis- 
 order in the course of the year. By placing this 
 business in the hands of the managers of the sink- 
 
 ing fund, who had already very ably acquitted 
 themselves of the duty, the government was certain 
 to obtain an advantageous price for the portions of 
 the domains of the stale thus sold. In this way 
 the past debt would be liquidated, and the present 
 account be balanced. There only remained one 
 operation to execute in order to terminate the 
 re-organization of the state finances ; this was the 
 regulation of the public debt definitively. 
 
 The moment was in effect come for determining 
 its amount, for arranging the resources of the 
 sinking fund with the recognized amount of the 
 debt, and for making a convenient use with this 
 object of the 400,000,0001'. of national property 
 which still remained at the disposal of the state. 
 
 The public debt was, as it had been left, in a 
 state of bankruptcy, being so declared by the di- 
 rectory for which the convention and constituent 
 assembly had prepared the way. A third of the 
 debt had been placed in the great book, and it was 
 this third, which, in the language of that time, had 
 been called the " consolidated third." Interest at 
 five per cent, had been allowed upon this third, 
 saved from the bankruptcy. The amount insci-ibed 
 in the great book was 37,000,000 f. interest, not 
 capital, and there remained a considerable sum 
 still to be inscribed; two-thirds of the sum had been 
 erased from the great book, or had been "mobi- 
 lised," another expression used at that time, and 
 declared to be receivable in payment for the na- 
 tional domains, thus they were no more in fact 
 than real assignats. A posterior law had com- 
 pleted their depreciation by reducing them to one 
 only purpose, that of paying exclusively for the 
 buildings, but neither for the woods nor the land, 
 that made a part of the national property. 
 
 It was absolutely necessary to put a term to 
 such a state of things as this, and for that purpose 
 to carry into the " great book" the remainder of 
 the consolidated third, which the anterior govern- 
 ment had delayed inscribing, that it might escape 
 paying the interest. Justice, and the good order of 
 the finances, required that such a state of things 
 should terminate. It was proposed to carry into 
 the " great book," a million and a half of the con- 
 solidated thirds, but only to bear interest from the 
 beginning of the year XII. This portion of the debt, 
 though the enjoyment of the interest was delayed 
 for two years, acquired instantly, from the mere 
 circumstance of its inscription, a value nearly 
 equal to that already entered ; and a much higher 
 value was thus conferred on all which remained of 
 the provisional third, by this appearance of punc- 
 tuality. A considerable sum remained to be en- 
 tered, either in " consolidated thirds," properly so 
 called, or in the debts of emigrants, of which the 
 state had taken the responsibility when it confis- 
 cated their property, or in the debts of Belgium, 
 which had been the condition of the conquest. 
 Finally, there were the " two-thirds mobilised," 
 extremely depreciated, and which it was but equi- 
 table to give the holders the means of realising. 
 The conversion of the " consolidated thirds" w as 
 offered by funding them at the rate of five for a 
 hundred capital. It was likely that the holders 
 would eagerly accept this offer. For this purpose 
 it was proposed to create a million stock, and if the 
 project succeeded, it was imagined that the "mo- 
 bilised two-thirds" would be speedily absorbed. A
 
 1801. 
 Feb. 
 
 Regulation of the public 
 debt. 
 
 THE INFERNAL MACHINE. 
 
 Provision for public instruction 
 and invalid hospitals. 
 
 205 
 
 final period was fixed for the payment of debts due 
 for national property, after which, the" two-thirds" 
 bonds were to be do longer received in payment. 
 The time thus allowed having expired, the pro- 
 perty not paid for lapsed to the state. 
 
 It was estimated that on adding the 20,000 000 f. 
 of stuck to the sum of 37,000,000 f. of consolidated 
 thirds, already entered in the great book, it would 
 be sufficient to meet the amount of the consolidated 
 third remaining to be entered, the mobilised two- 
 thirds, of which the conversion was contemplated, 
 and, lastly, the debts of the emigrants and of Bel- 
 gium. The total of the permanent public debt 
 would then consist of a charge of 57,000,000 f. In 
 addition to this permanent charge there were 
 20,000.000 f. in life-annuities, 1 9,000,000 f. in civil 
 and religious pensions, the last paid to the clergy 
 who had lost their property, and, finally, 30,000,0001'. 
 of military pensions, in all 09,000,000 f. of termi- 
 nable annuities, of which about 3,000,000f would 
 annually terminate. It was possible to hope in 
 a few years, by means of the extinction of the 
 terminable debt, that the savings would cover the 
 sensible augmentations to which the perpetual 
 debt was liable, in consequence of new entries in 
 the great book. It followed that the whole 
 charge, making provision for the old claims, could 
 not exceed the amount of 100,000,0001'. for the 
 service of the public debt, of which one-half 
 would be a perpetual charge, and one-half be ter- 
 minable. The position of the finances, therefore, 
 Btoodthos: a public debt of 100,000,0001'.; a budget 
 of 500,000.000 f. ; equal in receipt and expenditure, 
 or altogether of 000,000,0001'., including the ex- 
 penses of collection. This was a situation certainly 
 much better than that of England, which had an ab- 
 sorbing debt of 500.000,000 f. annually, upon a reve- 
 nue of between 1000,000,0001. and i 100.000.000 f. 
 In addition to this there remained still to Fiance 
 the resource of the indirect contributions; that is to 
 say, of the tax upon liquors, tobacco, salt, and simi- 
 lar articles ii"t then re-established, and which fur- 
 nished, at a future time, a very large revenue. 
 
 The first consul was desirous of proportioning 
 the resources of the sinking fund to the income of 
 the debt. He decided upon the creation of stork 
 involving a charge of 2,700,000 f. to cover the de- 
 ficiency of the years v., VI., and Til., of 1,000,000 f. 
 for that of the _\ear viii., and of several millions 
 more for the inscription of the consolidated thirds, 
 for the conversion of the two-thirds mobilised, and 
 similar exigencies, lb- devoted to the sinking fund 
 a capital of 911,000,000 f. in national property, which 
 might he sold as convenience required, and em- 
 ployed in the purchase of stock. The first consul 
 also bad a transfer made to it of 5,400,000 f. of stock 
 belonging to the funds of public instruction, which 
 was replaced in a i le that will be shortly seen. 
 
 Tin- national domains were thus preserved from 
 being wasted; because by the sinking fund they 
 were alienated slowly, at tin- times most beneficial, 
 or wen; kept back if it was found convenient; thus 
 being protected from the renewal of those dilapida- 
 tions which had beea before so much lamented. 
 In order to Kcun lbs reat with greater certainty, 
 the first consul determined to apply a considerable 
 part to other services, respecting which be fell 
 great solicitude, such as public instruction and the 
 invalids. Public instruction appeared to him the 
 
 most important service of the state, and that for 
 which an enlightened government, such as his own, 
 was bound to make a provision in all haste, having 
 a new state of society to form. As to the invalids, 
 in other words, the wounded soldiers, they com- 
 posed in some sort his own family; they were the 
 supporters of his power, and the instruments of his 
 glory; he owed them all his cares, and be was in- 
 debted to them some portion at least of the thou- 
 sand millions formerly promised by the republic 
 to I he defenders of their country 
 
 The first consul disliked to see these important 
 objects liable to the variations and deficiencies 
 of the budget. In consequence, he devoted 
 120 OOil.OOO f. of national property to public in- 
 struction, and 40,000,000 f. to the support of the 
 invalids. Here he had ample means to endow 
 richly the noble institutions which it was his inten- 
 tion some day to devote to the instruction of the 
 youth of France, and also to endow several hos- 
 pitals for invalid soldiers, similar to that which 
 had its origin in the time of Louis XIV. Whether 
 these allotments were or were not maintained after- 
 wards, there were, for the moment, 100, 000,000 f. 
 preserved from irregular sale, and made a relief 
 to the annual budget 
 
 Thus, of 400.000 000 f. remaining of the national 
 property, 10,000,0001'. were devoted to the expen- 
 diture of the year viii., and 20,000,000 f. to that of 
 the year ix. 'The sinking fund had 90,000,000 f. ; 
 public instruction, 120.000,000 f., and the invalids, 
 40.000,000 f. This was a sum total of 280,000.000 f. 
 out of 400,000.0001'., for which a very useful 
 employment was found, without having recourse 
 to the svstem of alienation. Of this sum of 
 280.000,0001'., 1 0,000.000 f. only were for the year 
 viii., and 20,000,000 f. for the year ix., which was 
 to he disposed of in two years, and, therefore, was 
 attended with little inconvenience; the 90,000,000 f. 
 designed for the sinking fund, would only be sold if 
 the fund required money, and then very slowly, per- 
 haps not at all. The 12O,000,000f. devoted to public 
 instruction, and the 40,000 000 f. for the invalids, 
 were never to be sold. Out of the 400,000,000 f., 
 therefore, hut 120.000,000f. would remain unappro- 
 priated and disposable, while, in reality, only about 
 30,000,000 f. out of 400,000,000 f. were to be parted 
 with by the state. The remainder was for divers 
 services, or as a disposable reserve, with the cer- 
 tainty of soon acquiring a value double or triple, 
 at least, in advantage to the state. 
 
 To recapitulate : the government took the ad- 
 vantage of the return of credit to substitute the 
 resource of the creation of stock for that of the 
 alienation of the national property. By disposing 
 of a very small portion of this property, and by a 
 
 creation of stock, it paid oil' the debts arising upon 
 the years v., vi., vn., and viii. It completed 
 means for the acquittal of the public debt, and 
 assured the payment of the interest in a certain 
 and regular manner. Having thus regulated the 
 paat, saved tin- rest of the state- eloiiiains, anil fi\. el 
 
 the amount of the debt, there were 1 00,000.000 f. of 
 interest annually to be paid, with an ample- sink- 
 ing fund ; and, lastly, a budget of balance', in receipt 
 and expenditure, id 600,000,000 f. without, and 
 
 000.000,000 1'. with the expenses e.f collection. 
 
 Such a distribution of die- public property, eon 
 
 Ceived with as much equity as good sense, ought
 
 206 
 
 Opposition made to the 
 financial measures. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Public undertakings. 
 Canals. — The Simp- 
 Ion road. 
 
 1801. 
 Feb.' 
 
 to have met general approbation. Notwithstand- 
 ing this, a strong opposition was raised in the 
 tribunate. The 415,000,000 f. demanded for the 
 current year, or year ix., were accorded without 
 opposition ; but its enemies complained that the 
 budget was not voted in advance ; a very unjust 
 reproach, for nothing had been arranged at that 
 time for such a proceeding. It was not yet prac- 
 tised in England, and among financiers was still a 
 matter of disputation. The same opposition mem- 
 bers reproached the government that the regulation 
 of the arrears was an act of bankruptcy towards 
 the creditors of the years v., vi., and VII., and con- 
 solidated their debts at 3 per cent, in place of 5, 
 as was the case with those of the year viu. They 
 censured the regulation of the debt for depriving 
 the holders of the consolidated third of the interest 
 of their stock for two years, because that interest 
 was only to commence with the year XII. These 
 two reproaches were very ill founded ; because, as 
 has been seen, the creditors of the years v., vi., 
 and vn., iu obtaining stock carrying an interest 
 of 3 per cent., received more than the value of 
 their debts; ami as to the portion of the consoli- 
 dated thirds, of which the inscription was ordered, 
 a great benefit was done to the holders by the 
 mere circumstance of the inscription. If, in effect, 
 the inscription had been deferred for a year or two 
 more, as had been done by the former government, 
 not only would the holders have been deprived of 
 the interest, but of the benefit of the definitive 
 consolidation. It was a great advantage to them 
 so soon to resume the mere work of consolidation. 
 The tribunate got warm upon these petty objec- 
 tions, paid no regard to the answers which were 
 addressed to it, and rejected the plan of finance by 
 a majority of fifty-six to thirty, in the sitting of the 
 19th of March, or 28th of Veutose. Some cries of 
 "Long live the Republic!" were heard, raised in 
 the tribunes, which had not been heard for a long 
 time, and recalled the unhappy times of the conven- 
 tion. On the motion of MM. Riouffe anil Chauveliu, 
 the president ordered the tribune to be cleared. 
 
 On the 21st of March, or 30th of Ventose, two 
 days after, being the last day of the session of the 
 year ix., the legislative body heard the discussion 
 of the bill. Three of the tribunate attacked and 
 three of the counsellors of state defended it. Ben- 
 jamin Constant was one of the three tribunes. 1 It- 
 urged, in an eloquent and brilliant manner, the 
 objections to the government scheme. The legis- 
 lative body, notwithstanding, voted for its adoption 
 by a majority of two hundred and twenty-seven 
 against fifty-eight. The first consul ought to have 
 been satisfied with this result. But he did not 
 know, any more than those who surrounded him, 
 that we ought to do good without being surprised 
 or annoyed by the injustice with which it is too 
 frequently repaid. What man had ever so much 
 glory to repay him for such unjust ami indiscreet 
 attacks? Besides, in spite of these attacks, the 
 measures of the government were really sound and 
 excellent. The majority in the legislative body 
 was, at least) five-sixths, and in the tribunate, 
 where nothing was decided, it was only two-thirds. 
 There was nothing to be alarmed at or to astonish 
 in such feeble minorities. But although he was 
 the object of universal admiration, the man that 
 governed Franca knew not how to bear the puny 
 
 censures dealt out upon his administration. The 
 time for a real x-epresentative government was not 
 then come ; the opposition had not more of prin- 
 ciples and maimer's than the government itself. 
 That which achieves the portraiture of the op- 
 ponents of the measure in the tribunate is, that 
 the odious act agninst the revolutionists was not 
 the subject of a single observation. They availed 
 themselves of the circumstance of that act not 
 being referred to the legislative, to remain silent 
 about it. Upon matters far less important, and 
 even irreproachable, they declaimed aloud, and 
 suffered to pass, without observation, an unpardon- 
 able infraction of all the rules of justice. Thus it 
 fares, at nearly all times, with men and parties. 
 
 The sterile agitation, produced by a few oppo- 
 nents in complete error about the general move- 
 ment, the public mind, and the necessities of the 
 times, occasioned but little sensation. The public 
 was entirely occupied with the spectacle of the im- 
 mense labours which had procured for France 
 victory and a continental peace, and which were 
 soon to procure for her a maritime one. 
 
 In the midst of his military and political occu- 
 pations, the first consul, as has been several times 
 observed, did not cease to give his attention to the 
 roads, the canals, the bridges, and to whatever 
 concerned manufactures and commerce. 
 
 The miserable state of the roads has been already 
 described, as well as the means employed to make 
 up the deficiency of the tolls. He had ordered an 
 ample inquiry to be made into the subject, but as 
 too often happens, the difficulty lay more in the 
 deficiency of funds than in the selection of a good 
 system. He went directly to the object; and in the 
 budget of the yearix. appropriated fresh sums from 
 the treasury out of its general funds to continue the 
 extraordinary repairs already commenced. Canals 
 were also much talked about. Men's minds, wearied 
 with political agitation, willingly directed them- 
 selves towards all that concerned commerce and 
 manufactures. The canal now known under the 
 name of the canal of St. Quentin, joining the navi- 
 gation of the Seine and the Oise with that of the 
 Somme and the Escaut, iu other words connecting 
 Belgium with France, had been abandoned. It 
 had not been found possible to agree upon the mode 
 of executing the excavation, by means of which a 
 passage was to be afforded from the valley of the 
 Oise into that of the Escaut. The engineers were 
 divided in opinion. The first consul repaired to the 
 spot in person, heard the difficulty explained, de- 
 cided it, and decided it rightly. The excavation 
 was determined upon, and continued in the best 
 direction, that which has succeeded. The popula- 
 tion of St. Quentiu received him with great joy, 
 and scarcely had he returned to Paris when the 
 inhabitants of the Seine Inferieure addressed him 
 by a deputation, to solicit him to grant them in turn 
 forty-eight hours of his time. He promised them 
 an early visit to Normandy. He then decided upon 
 the erection of three new bridges in Paris; that at 
 tlit- termination of the Jardin des Plantes ; that 
 denominated Austerlitz, which joins the island of 
 the City to the island of St. Louis ; and lastly, that 
 which connects the Louvre with the palace of the 
 Institute. At the same time he turned his attention 
 to the road of the Simplon, the first of his youthful 
 proji cts, always the nearest to his heart, and wor-
 
 1801. 
 Feb. 
 
 Hospitals of St. Bernard 
 
 established. 
 
 THE NEUTRAL POWERS. 
 
 Formation of the civil code. 
 
 207 
 
 thv, in future aires, of taking its place anions the 
 recollections of Hivoli and of Marengo. It will bo 
 remembered that lite first con-ul. :is soon as be had 
 founded the Cisalpine republic, wished to connect 
 it with France by a road, which from Lynns or 
 Dijon, passing Geneva, should traverse the Valais, 
 and going bj Lago Maggiore to .Milan, enable an 
 army of fifty thousand nun and a hundred pieces 
 of cannon to proceed at any time into the midst of 
 Upper Italy. For want of such a road be had been 
 obliged to cross Mount St. Bernard. Now the Cis- 
 alpine republic had been reconstituted at the con- 
 gress of Luneville, it was more than ever needful 
 to establish a great military communication between 
 Lombardy and France. The first consul imme- 
 diately gave the necessary instructions for the 
 work. General Tureau, whom we have already 
 seen descending the Little St. Bernard with his 
 legions of conscripts, while Bonaparte descended 
 the greater mountain with his more seasoned forces, 
 the same genera! Tureau received orders to make 
 Domo d'Ossola his head-quarters, at the foot (.1' the 
 Simplon itself. The general was to protect the 
 workmen, and his soldiers were to assist in the 
 labour of the undertaking. 
 
 To this magnificent work the first consul desired 
 to add another in commemoration of the passage of 
 the Alps. The fathers of the Great St. Bernard had 
 rendered real services to the French army. Being 
 supplied with money, they had lor ten days sup- 
 ported the vigour of the soldiers by means of wine 
 and food! The first consul, retaining a grateful 
 sense of these services, resolved to establish two 
 similar hospitals, one upon Blount Cenis, the other 
 at the Simplon, both to be subsidiary to the convent 
 of the Great St. Bernard. They were each to con- 
 sist of fifteen brothers, and to receive from the Cis- 
 alpine republic an endowment in land. The republic 
 was unable to refuse any thing to its founder. But 
 as that founder loved promptness of execution 
 before all things, he had the works for the first 
 named establishment executed at the expense of 
 France', in order that no delay might occur in for- 
 warding these memorable establishments. Thus 
 magnificent roads and noble benevolent foundations 
 destined to attest to future generations the 
 passage of the modern Hannibal across the Alps. 
 
 With these great and beneficent objects those of 
 another character occupied his attention, having 
 for their object a creation of a different, but equally 
 useful character — the compilation of the civil code. 
 The first consul had charged Messrs. Fortalis, Tron- 
 chet, and Bijot de l're'ameneu, eminent lawyers, 
 with the task of digesting the code, and their la- 
 bour was completed ; the result was then commu- 
 nicated to the court of cassation, and to twenty- 
 nine tribunals of appeal, afterwards denominated 
 royal court-. The opinions of all the chief magis- 
 trates were thus collected. The whole was now to 
 be submitted to the council of state, and carefully 
 discussed under the presidency of the first consul. 
 After this it was proposed to lay it before the legis- 
 lative body in the approaching sessions, or that of 
 the year x. 
 
 Always ready to support great undertakings, and 
 equally as ready to recompense their authors mu- 
 nilicently, the first consul had just employed his 
 influence to raise M. Tronchct to the senate. He 
 rewarded in him a great lawyer, one of the authors 
 of the civil code, and — what was not an indifferent 
 matter in his eyes, under a political signification — 
 the courageous defender of Louis XVI. 
 
 Every thing, therefore, was organized at one 
 time, with that harmony which a great mind is 
 able to introduce into his labours, and with a ra- 
 pidity which a determined will is alone able to 
 effect, under a punctual obedience to its authority. 
 The genius which effected these things was, beyond 
 doubt, great ; but it must be remarked, that the 
 situation was not less extraordinary than the 
 genius. Bonaparte had France and Europe to 
 move, and victory for his lever. He had to digest 
 all the codes of the French nation ; but, in the 
 mean while, every one was disposed to submit to 
 his laws. He had roads, canals, and bridges to 
 construct ; but nobody contested with him the re- 
 sources for these objects. He had even nations 
 ready to furnish him with their treasures ; the 
 Italians, for example, who contributed to the 
 opening of the Simplon, and the endowment of the 
 hospitals on the summit of the Alps. Providence 
 does nothing by halves ; for a great genius it finds 
 a mighty operation, and for a mighty operation a 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 Tin: NEUTRAL POWERS. 
 
 COWTIXUANCP. Of TIIF. NEOOTI ATIONS WITH Till. DIFFERENT COURTS OF EUROPE. — TREATY WITH THE COURT OF 
 
 KAPLER. — EXCLUSION OF THE ENG 1. 1 s II I )l Till: I'OKTS OF THE TWO SICILIES. AND AG R 1. 1 M I! N T CONTRACTED 
 
 ■WITH THE NEAPOLITAN GOV I UN M ENT TO RECEIVE A I1IVISION IIP FRENCH TIOIOP.S AT o I R A N TO — .'. P A I S PRO- 
 MISES TO FORCE THE I'OIUPGI I !. To I \. I.I III. TBI ENGLISH PROM THE COASTS OP PORTUGAL. VAST NAVAI. 
 
 PLANS IIP THE FIRST CONIL. I O 11 I S II I NO IMP. NAVAI. FORCES OP SPAIN, HOLLAND, AND PRANCE. — MEANS 
 DEVOID HOI HUCCOURI ! . — ADMIRAL GANII.ACME, AT THE HEAD III ONE DIVISION, LEAVES IIKEsr 
 ll'BIM. A STORM, AKD SAIL* TOWARDS TIIK STRAITS OF GIIIRALTAR, UPON 111-- « A \ TO THE MOUTH OP THE 
 KILE —GENERAL COALITION OS ALL THE MARITIME COUNTRIES AGAINST I M. LAND. I' II I : P A K AT I o\ | or TIIF. 
 NE1 HIAI.s IN HIE BALTIC — WARLIKE ARDOUR OF PAUL I. — DISTRESS OF ENGLAND III I VISITED III A 
 
 FEARFUL FAMINE.— HER P1NANIIAI. Rill I.I lulll. AMI MM 1 THE 11IMMINI! I]M OF THE WAR— Mill 
 EXPENDITCEE AND II I ol II' IS A I.I I. I. D'MIII.ED. 1 spoil I. Ml 1 T\ OP PI IT.— HIS DISAGREEMENT WITH GEORGE 111.
 
 Negotiations for peace 
 20o continued. 
 
 Murat marches towards 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Naples.-An armistice 
 
 signed. 
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 AND HIS RETIREMENT. THE MINISTER ADDINGTON. — ENGLAND, DESPITE HER DIFFICULTIES, FACES THE 
 
 STORM, AND SENDS ADMIRALS PARKER AND NELSON INTO THE BALTIC, TO BREAK UP THE NEUTRAL COALI- 
 TION PLAN OF NELSON AND PARKER. — THEY DETERMINE TO FORCE THE PASSAGE OF THE SOUND. — THE 
 
 SWEDISH SIDE REING BADLY DEFENDED, THE ENGLISH FLEET PASSES THE SOUND WITHOUT ANY DIFFICULT*. — 
 IT APPEARS BEFORE COPENHAGEN. — THE OPINION OP NELSON IS, BEFORE ENTERING THE BALTIC, TO GIVE 
 BATTLE TO THE DANES. — DE-CRIPTION OF THE POSITION OF COPENHAGEN, ANU OF THE MEANS ADOPTED FOR 
 THE DEFENCE OF THIS IMPORTANT MARITIME FORTRESS. — NELSON EXECUTES A BOLD MANOEUVRE, AND SUC- 
 CEEDS IN ANCHORING IN THE KING'S CHANNEL, IN FACE OF THE DANISH SHIPS. — SANGUINARY ENGAGEMENT. 
 
 VALOUR OF THE DANES, AND DANGER OF NELSON.— HE SENDS A FLAG OF TRUCE TO THE CROWN PRINCE OF 
 
 DENMARK, AND THEREBY OBTAINS THE ADVANTAGES OF A VICTORY. — SUSPENSION OF HOSTILITIES FOR FOUR- 
 TEEN WEEKS.— THE DEATH OF PAUL I. IS MADE KNOWN. — EVENTS WHICH TOOK PLACE IN RUSSIA. — EXASPERA- 
 TION OF THE RUSSIAN NOBLES AGAINST THE EMPEROR PAUL, AND DISPOSITION TO RID THEMSELVES OF THAT 
 PRINCE BY ANY .MEANS, EVEN BY A CRIME. — COUNT PAHLEN. — HIS CHARACTER AND TLANS. — HIS CONDUCT 
 •WITH THE GRAND DUKE AI.EXAN PER.— THE SCHEME OF ASSASSINATION CONCEALED UNDER THAT OF A FORCED 
 ABDICATION. — FRIGHTFUL SCENE IN THE MICHEL PALACE DURING THE NIGHT OF THE 23RD OF MARCH. — 
 TRAGICAL DEATH OF PAUL I. — ALEXANDER'S ACCESSION. — THE COALITION OF THE NEUTRAL TOWERS DISSOLVED 
 BY THE DEATH OF THE EMPEROR PAUL— REAL ARMISTICE IN THE BALTIC — THE FIRST CONSUL ENDEAVOURS, 
 BY OFFERING HANOVER TO PRUSSIA, TO RETAIN HER IN THE LEAGUE. — ENGLAND, SATISFIED AT HAVING 
 BROKEN THE LEAGUE BY THE BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN, AND BEING RID OF PAUL I., SEEKS TO PROFIT BY' THE 
 OCCASION TO TREAT WITH FRANCE, AND RETAIR THE ERRORS OF PITT— THE ADDINGTON MINISTRY OFFERS 
 PEACE TO THE FIRST CONSUL THROUGH THE INTERMEDIATE MEANS OF M. OTTO. — THE PROPOSITION IS ACCEPTED. 
 AND A NEGOTIATION BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND IS OPENED IN LONDON. — PEACE BECOMES GENERAL, 
 BOTH ON LAND AND SEA. — PROGRESS OF FRANCE AFTER THE 1STH OF BKUMAIRE. 
 
 Peace with the emperor and empire having been 
 signed at Lune'ville, in February, 1801, the first 
 cnnsul was impatient to reap the benefit of the 
 consequences. These were to conclude a peace 
 with thuse continental states which had not yet 
 become reconciled with the republic; to force them 
 to shut their ports against England ; and to turn 
 against that country the united forces of the neutral 
 powers, in order to combine some great operation 
 against its territory and commerce, and by this union 
 of means to force a maritime peace, indispensable 
 to that of the continent. Every thing announced 
 that the great and happy consequences could not 
 be delayed for a long time. 
 
 The Germanic diet had ratified the signature of 
 the emperor to the treaty of Lune'ville. There 
 was no apprehension that it would be otherwise ; 
 because Austria held the power of influencing the 
 ecclesiastical states, the only states really opposed 
 to the treaty. In regard to the secular princes, as 
 they were to be indemnified for their losses from 
 the estates it was proposed to secularize, they had 
 an interest in seeing the stipulations promptly ac- 
 cepted between Austria and France. Besides, they 
 were placed under the influence of Prussia, which 
 power France had disposed to give her approval of 
 what was done by the emperor at Lune'ville. Be- 
 sides this, all the world at that time wished for 
 peace, and was ready to contrihute to that end 
 even by making some sacrifices. Prussia alone, in 
 ratifying the signature of the emperor without 
 powers given to him from the diet, was rather de- 
 sirous of according to the ratification the character 
 of her tolerance, than of her approbation ; thus re- 
 serving tor the future the rights of the empire. But 
 this proposition on the part of Prussia, as it im- 
 plied a censure upon the emperor, while she ratified 
 the treaty, did net obtain the support of the ma- 
 jority. The treaty was ratified, in its pure and 
 simple form, by a conchuum, on the !)th of March, 
 1801, the 18th of Ventose, in the year ix. The 
 ratifications were exchanged in Paris on the 16th 
 of March, or 25th Ventose. Nothing more remained 
 to be regulated but the plan of indemnification, 
 which was to be the subject of ulterior negotiations. 
 
 Peace was thus concluded with the greater part 
 of Europe. It had not yet been signed with Russia ; 
 but France was leagued with her and the northern 
 courts, as will be seen, in one great maritime coali- 
 tion. There were at Paris two Russian ministers 
 at once, M. Sprengporten, relative to the Russian 
 prisoners, and M. Kalitscheff, for the regulation of 
 general business. The last had arrived in the 
 beginning of March, or middle of Ventose. 
 
 The courts of Naples and Portugal it still re- 
 mained to coerce, in order to shut out England 
 entirely from the continent. 
 
 Murat was marching towards southern Italy with a 
 choice body of men, drawn from the camp at Amiens. 
 Reinforced by several detachments taken from the 
 army of general Brune, he had reached Foligno, in 
 order to oblige the court of Naples to yield to the 
 will of France. Had it not been for the interest 
 testified in behalf <jf Naples by the emperor of 
 Russia, the first consul would most likely have 
 given to the house of Parma the kingdom of the 
 Two Sicilies, in order to keep that fine country out 
 of an enemy's family. But the wishes of the em- 
 peror Paul did not admit of such a proceeding. 
 The first consul, too, was very desirous of con- 
 ciliating public opinion throughout Europe ; and, 
 upon this ground, it was expedient to avoid, as 
 much as possible, the overthrow of the older king- 
 doms. He was willing to grant a peace to the 
 court of Naples, if it would consent to break its 
 alliance with England ; but to induce it to do 
 this, was a task exceedingly difficult of accomplish- 
 ment. Murat advanced as far as the frontiers of 
 the kingdom, taking great care to avoid the papal 
 dominions, and lavishing upon the pope the highest 
 marks of his respect. The court of Naples no 
 longer hesitated, and signed an armistice, which 
 contained a stipulation, in consonance with the 
 views of the first consul, securing the exclusion of 
 the English from the ports of the Two Sicilies. 
 The armistice was short, being only for the space 
 of thirty days; these being expired, a definitive 
 treaty of peace was to be signed. The marquis of 
 Gallo, one of the negotiators of the treaty of 
 Campo Forniio, who had the advantage of being
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 Treaty with Naples signed at 
 Florence. 
 
 THE NEUTRAL POWERS. 
 
 Affairs of Spain .- 
 Urquijo 
 
 Disgrace of 
 
 209 
 
 acquainted with the first consul, and of having 
 over him as much influence as M. Cobentzel, re- 
 paired to Paris. He relied on these personal re- 
 commendations, on the protection of the Russian 
 legation, and on the recommendation of Austria, 
 for obtaining the conditions desired by the court 
 of Naples, which were included in a simple neu- 
 trality. This was a ridiculous pretension; because 
 B court which had given the signal for the second 
 coalition, which had waged war obstinately against 
 France, and, in fact, treated her with great indig- 
 nity, could hardly expect, now it lay at the mercy 
 of France, to get off upon the pure and simple 
 condition of separating itself from England. The 
 least that France could insist upon would be to 
 compel Naples, by good will or by force, to act as 
 hostilely against England as she had before acted 
 in hostility to France. 
 
 M. Gallo, having shown some marks of self- 
 suttieieney in Paris, and having exhibited his de- 
 pendence — more than, indeed, was decent — upon 
 the Russian embassy, an end was quickly put to 
 his negotiation. Talleyrand informed him that a 
 French plenipotentiary had departed for Florence; 
 that the negotiation was consequently adjourned to 
 that city ; and that, besides, he would not be able 
 to treat with a negotiator who was not empowered 
 to consent to the sole condition considered essential; 
 namely, the expulsion of the English from the ports 
 of the Two Sicilies — a condition which the emperor 
 Paul had demanded as well as the first consul him- 
 self. In consequence, M. Gallo found himself 
 obliged to leave Paris immediately. M. Alquier 
 had, in fact, been despatched to Florence ; lie had 
 been recalled from Madrid at the time when Lucien 
 Bonaparte was sent there. M. Alquier was fur- 
 nished with full powers and instructions to nego- 
 tiate with Naples. 
 
 tin reaching Florence as expeditiously as possi- 
 ble, M. Alquier found there the Chevalier Miche- 
 roux, the minister who had signed the armistice 
 with Murat; he had received full powers from his 
 court. The negotiations carried on in that ci:y 
 under the bayonets of the French army, met with 
 none of the difficulties they had encountered in 
 Paris. The treaty of peace was signed on the 18th 
 of March, 1801, or 27th of Ventose, year ix. The 
 stipulations of the treaty were moderate, upon 
 comparing the situation of the court of Naples with 
 that of the French republic. To this branch of 
 the house of Bourbon was left the integrity of its 
 States. The only territory demanded was a small 
 portion of the island of Elba, Porto Longone, and 
 the surrounding district ; tin; rest of the island 
 belonging to Tuscany, and having been divided 
 
 between the two countries. The intention of the 
 
 first eoiisul «as to attach the entire island to 
 
 Prance. An historian of these treaties baa loudly 
 attacked this as a violent act, whereas it was no 
 
 Dlore than the simple right of the victor ; with the 
 exception of this very trifling sacrifice, Naples lost 
 
 nothing. She was obliged to shut her ports against 
 the English, and to make over to France three 
 frigates, ready tinned, in the port of Ancona. 
 These the first consul designed for Egypt. The 
 most important stipulation ot the treaty was secret. 
 It obliged the- Neapolitan government to receive a 
 
 division of twelve or lift' en thousand men iii the gull 
 of Tarento, and to find ih-ni provisions 'hiring their 
 
 stay. The object of the first consul was to send 
 them without reserve to the succour of Egypt. At 
 that place they would be half way on their road to 
 Alexandria. The last article stipulated for the 
 objects of art which had been chosen at Rome for 
 France. These having been packed in cases when 
 the Neapolitan army had penetrated into the 
 estates of the pope in 179!), had been seized by the 
 court of Naples, and appropriated by that govern- 
 ment. An indemnity of 500,000 f. was granted to 
 the French who had been pillaged or harassed by 
 the undisciplined bands belonging to Naples. 
 
 Such was the treaty of Florence; which must be 
 considered an act of clemency, when the anterior 
 conduct of the court of Naples is reflected upon, 
 but which was perfectly well adapted to the objects 
 of the first consul, almost wholly occupied with the 
 object of closing the ports of the continent against 
 England, and with securing the most advantageous 
 points from whence he could communicate with 
 Egypt- 
 Nothing was yet arranged with the pope, whose 
 plenipotentiary was at Paris still negotiating the 
 most important question of all, that relating to 
 religion. He was dissatisfied with the king of Sar- 
 dinia, who had given up that island to the English, 
 and as well with the inhabitants of Piedmont, who 
 had shown feelings not very amicable towards 
 France. He was, therefore, anxious to free him- 
 self from any engagement respecting that important 
 part of Italy. 
 
 Turning to Spain and Portugal ; every thing 
 in these countries proceeded successfully. The 
 court of Spain, delighted with the stipulations of 
 the treaty of LuneVille, which secured Tuscany to 
 the young prince of Parma, with the title of king, 
 showed itself, day by day, more at the devotion of 
 the first consul and his views. The fall of M. 
 Urquijo, an event wholly unexpected, far from 
 being injurious to the relations of France, only 
 served to render them more intimate. This was 
 not at first believed, because in Spain M. Ur- 
 quijo was thought to be a sort of revolutionist, 
 from whom towards France more favour was to be 
 expected than from any other minister. But the 
 result showed ibis idea to be erroneous. M. Ur- 
 quijo had only been prime minister a very short 
 time; desiring to correct certain abuses, he had 
 prevailed upon the king, Charles IV., to address a 
 letter to the pope, written in the royal hand till 
 through, which contained a series of propositions 
 for the reform of the Spanish clergy. The pope, 
 
 alarmed to find a spirit of reformation introducing 
 itself into Spain of all countries, addressed himself 
 to the old duke of Parma, the queen's brother, 
 complaining of M. Urquijo, and representing him 
 as a bad catholic. This was of itself sufficient to 
 ruin M. [Jrquijn in the king's opinion. The prince 
 of the peace, the open enemy of M. Urquijo, took 
 advantage of the occasion to strike the final blow 
 during a journey taken by the <■ int. By these 
 united influences M. Urquijo was disgraced, and 
 treated with a brutality beyond example. He was 
 Carried away from his own h use, ami banished 
 from Madrid as a slate criminal. M. Covallos, 
 the relative and creature of the prince of the 
 
 peacej was Dominated his success* r, and die prince 
 became again from that moment the real minister 
 
 ol ti.e court ol ,'spain. As he bail .sometimes shown
 
 Lucien Bonaparte at Madrid. 
 210 —Spain gladly accepts the THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 alliance of France. 
 
 The court of Lisbon has 
 to decide between Eng- 
 land and Spain. 
 
 1801. 
 Jan. 
 
 an opposition to a close alliance with France, 
 probably that lie might be able to make it a charge 
 against the Spanish minister, it was feared that 
 this ministerial revolution might be prejudicial to 
 the objects of the first consul. But Lucien Bona- 
 parte, who had recently arrived in Madrid, dis- 
 covering at once how matters stood, paid no atten- 
 tion to M. Cevallos, who he saw was a powerless 
 subordinate, and placed himself in immediate com- 
 munication with the prince of the peace himself, 
 whom he made to comprehend that he was re- 
 garded in Paris as the real prime minister of 
 Charles IV.; that to him alone would be attributed 
 all the difficulties which the policy of France 
 might meet with in Spain, and that it depended upon 
 himself whether France regarded Spain as a friend 
 or an enemy, according to his conduct. The prince 
 of the peace, who had drawn upon himself nume- 
 rous animosities, and, above all, that of the heir 
 presumptive, who was deeply irritated at the state 
 of oppression in which he was condemned to live — 
 the prince of the peace thinking himself utterly lost 
 if the king and queen should die, looked upon the 
 friendship of Bonaparte as most valuable to him, 
 and promptly accepted the alliance of France in 
 place of its hostility. 
 
 From this period business was transacted directly 
 between the prince of the peace and Lucien Bona- 
 parte. M. Urquijo, finding himself too weak to 
 bring the question of Portugal to a settlement, had 
 continually deferred any positive explanation upon 
 the subject. He bad made France a thousand pro- 
 mises, followed by no result. The prince of the 
 peace avowed in his interviews with Lucien, that 
 thus far they had felt no inclination to act ; that M. 
 Urquijo bad amused France with fine words, but 
 declared himself that he was ready, as far as he 
 was concerned, to concoct measures with the first 
 consul for the purpose of acting effectively against 
 Portugal, provided it were possible to agree upon 
 some particular points. He demanded, first, the 
 assistance of a French division of twenty-five thou- 
 sand men, because Spain was not able to raise a 
 larger force than twenty thousand ; to such a 
 wretched state was this fine monarchy reduced. 
 The presence of a French force would alarm the 
 king and queen, therefore, in order to quiet their 
 fears, he proposed that the force thus supplied 
 shuuld be placed under the command of a Spanish 
 general ; that this general should be the prince of 
 tlie peace himself ; lastly, that the provinces of 
 Portug.il of which the conquest might be made, 
 should remain in trust in the hands of the king of 
 Spain, until a general peace ; in the interim the 
 ports of Portugal were to be closed against 
 England. 
 
 These propositions were eagerly accepted by the 
 first consul, and were sent back for the acceptance 
 of king Charles IV. This prince, governed by the 
 queen, as she was herself governed by the prince 
 of the peace, consented to make war upon his son- 
 in-law, on condition that he shoul I not be de- 
 prived of any part of his territories; that lie should 
 only be obliged to break with the English, and to 
 enter into an alliance with Spain and France. 
 These objects did not altogether correspond witli 
 those of the prince of the peace, who wished, so it 
 was said in Madrid, to procure for himself a princi- 
 pality in Portugal. However that might have been 
 
 he was obliged to submit, and received in due 
 course the rank of generalissimo. 
 
 A summons was now sent to the court of Lisbon, 
 and a demand made that it should, within fifteen 
 days, enter into an explanation, and make its selec- 
 tion between England and Spain, the last being 
 supported by France. In the meanwhile, on both 
 sides of the Pyrenees, preparations were made for 
 war. The prince of the peace became generalissimo 
 of the Spanish and French troops, and took away 
 even the king's guards in order to complete his 
 army. He then amused the court with reviews 
 and warlike exhibitions, giving himself up to il- 
 lusions of military glory. The first consul, on his 
 side, hastened to march upon Spain a part of the 
 troops which were returning to France. He formed 
 a division of twenty-five thousand men, well armed 
 and equipped. General Lecler, had the command 
 of the advanced guard, and general Gouvion St. Cyr, 
 whom with reason he regarded as one of the most 
 able generals of the time, was to command the 
 entire force, and make up for the perfect incapacity 
 of the prince generalissimo. 
 
 It was settled that these troops, put in move- 
 ment in the month of March, should be ready to 
 enter Spain in April following. 
 
 The whole of Europe concurred in aiding the 
 objects of the French government. Under the 
 influence of the first consul, the southern states 
 had shut their ports against England, and the 
 northern states were in active league against her. 
 In this situation it was necessary that England 
 should have forces every where. In the Mediter- 
 ranean to blockade Egypt; in the Straits of Gibral- 
 tar to arrest the movements of the French fleets in 
 both seas to help her threatened ally; before Brest 
 and Rochefort to blockade the grand French and 
 Spanish fleets, which were ready to set sail; in the 
 north to keep the Baltic in restraint, and overcome 
 the neutral powers ; and in India as well, to main- 
 tain her authority and conquests in that quarter of 
 the globe. 
 
 The first consul was desirous of seizing the mo- 
 ment when the British forces, obliged to be every 
 where, should necessarily be much scattered, in 
 order to attempt a great expedition. The principal, 
 and that which he bad most at heart, was the suc- 
 cour of Egypt. He had a great duty to fulfil 
 towards that army, which he had himself led 
 beyond the sea, and then left alone that he might 
 himself come back to the aid of France. He consi- 
 dered the colony he had thus formed upon the 
 banks of the Nile the most glorious of all his works. 
 It was important that he should prove to the 
 world, that in transporting thirty-six thousand men 
 to the east, he had not yielded to the impulses of a 
 young and ardent imagination, but had attempted 
 a grave enterprise, susceptible of being conducted 
 to a successful end. His efforts have already been 
 seen for concluding a naval armistice, which should 
 permit six frigates to enter the port of Alexandria. 
 This armistice, as it will be remembered, had not 
 been concluded. Not having had financial resources 
 sufficient for completing armaments by sea and 
 land, the first consul had been unable to carry into 
 effect the great operation which he had projected 
 for the succour of Egypt. At present, from absence 
 of tlie pressure of a continental war, he was able to 
 direct his resources exclusively towards naval war-
 
 1801. 
 Jan. 
 
 Great naval and mili- 
 tary preparations 
 
 THE NEUTRAL TOWERS. 
 
 for the succour of 
 
 Egypt. 
 
 211 
 
 fare. Having nearly the whole extent of the coasts 
 of continental Europe at his disposal, he contem- 
 plated, for the preservation of Egypt, projects as 
 bold and extensive as those which he had executed 
 in making its conquest. The winter season ton was 
 near, which would render impossible the continua- 
 tion of the English cruisers upon the coasts. 
 
 Meanwhile vessels of every kind, both of war 
 and commerce, from the smallest barks up to those 
 of trade and war, sailed from different ports of 
 Holland, France, Spain, Italy, and even from the 
 Barbary coast, carrying to Egypt, with intelligence 
 from France, luxuries, European goods, arms, and 
 warlike stores. Some of these vessels were taken, 
 but the greater part entered Alexandria. Not a 
 week passed without news being received at Cairo 
 from the government at home, — proofs of the in- 
 terest which tli'' colony inspired there. 
 
 The first consul projected a species of line-of- 
 battle ship, adapted to the inland navigation of 
 Egypt. He had the model of a seventy-four exe- 
 cuted, combining great strength with the advantage 
 of being aide to navigate the shallow channels of 
 Alexandria with her guns on board '. Orders 
 were given to build a certain number of ships upon 
 that model. 
 
 While he was taking such great care to sustain 
 tin- spirit of the Egyptian army, transmitting men 
 to it frequently as well as partial relief, he had at 
 the same moment in the course of preparation a 
 great expedition in order to convey there at once a 
 powerful reinforcement of troops and munitions of 
 war. The armies had returned home to the French 
 soil. They were about to press heavily, by their 
 cost, upon the national finances; but in return they 
 offered to the government a great means of dis- 
 turbing, if not of striking a blow at England. Thirty 
 thousand men remained in the Cisalpine republic, 
 ten thousand in Piedmont, six thousand in Switzer- 
 land ; fifteen thousand were on their march to the 
 gulf of Tarentum ; twenty-five thousand were 
 marching upon Portugal ; twenty-five thousand 
 w< re quartered in Holland. There were thus one 
 hundred and eleven thousand men that were to be 
 supported by foreign powers. The remainder were 
 io In' maintained by the IY< neh treasury, but they 
 were at tin; disposal of the first consul. A camp 
 was formed in Holland, another in French Flan- 
 ders, and a third at Brest ; a fourth was already 
 established in the Gironde, either for Portugal, or 
 to furnish such troops as were to embark at Roche- 
 fort. The corps returning from Italy were to be 
 collected near Marseilles and Toulon. The division 
 of fifteen thousand mi n designed lor the gulf of 
 Tarentum was to occupy Otranto, in virtue of the 
 I article in the treaty with Naples, to cover 
 thi' neighbouring harbours with numerous bat- 
 teries, and to lay down moorings, where a fleet 
 
 might co and take on board a division of ten or 
 
 twelve thousand nun, to transport, them into 
 
 Egypt Admiral Villi mine went thither in order 
 to superintend the prepara ti o ns necessary for such 
 mi embarcation. 
 
 The naval forces of Holland, Prance, and Spain, 
 with some remains of the Italian navy, stationed 
 near these different assemblages of troops, gave 
 
 I Letter of the 1st of Nivosc, year ix., in the Secretary of 
 State's Office . 
 
 England reason to fear several expeditions directed 
 upon different points of attack at the same time, 
 on Inland, Portugal, Egypt, and the Ea-st Indies. 
 
 The first consul concerted measures with Spain 
 and Holland relative to the employment of the 
 three naval armaments. By uniting the wrecks of 
 the old Dutch navy, five sail of the line and a few 
 frigates might be rendered fit for service. Thirty 
 sail of the line were at Brest, fifteen French, and 
 the same number of Spanish, detained two years in 
 that harbour. With Spain the arrangements made 
 by the first consul were as fellow : — five Dutch, 
 combined with five French and Spanish vessels 
 lying at Brest, were to sail for the Brazils, in order 
 to protect that fine kingdom, and prevent the En- 
 glish from indemnifying themselves for the occu- 
 pation of Portugal by the Spanish ami French 
 forces. By this arrangement twenty French and 
 Spanish vessels would remain in Brest, and be 
 ready at any moment to throw an army upon 
 Ireland. A French division, under admiral (Jan* 
 teaume, was organized in the same port of Brest, 
 to sail, it was said, I'm- St. Domingo, for the pur- 
 pose of re-establishing in that island the French 
 and Spanish authority. Another French division 
 was equipped at Rochefort, and a Spanish division 
 of five vessels was at Ferrol, with the object of 
 carrying troops to the Antilles, and of recovering 
 Trinidad, or, for example, Martinique. Spain, by 
 the treaty which secured Tuscany to her in ex- 
 change for Louisiana, had promised to give France 
 six vessels, armed and equipped, and to deliver 
 them in Cadiz ; she also engaged to employ the 
 resources of that ancient arsenal in order to reor- 
 ganize a portion of the naval force which she 
 formerly had in that port. 
 
 The first consul, in making these arrangements, 
 did not explain to the Spanish cabinet his real de- 
 sign, because lie was in dread of its indiscretion. He 
 wished to send a part of the combined forces to 
 Brazil and the Antilles, in order to effect the objects 
 which he stated, and to attract after them the Eng- 
 lish fleets. For the Brest fleet he contemplated one 
 expedition alone, under Ganteaume, announced as 
 for St. Domingo, but in reality destined for Kgypt. 
 1 1 e ordered the selection of seven vessels ol the squa- 
 dron, the finest sailors, as well as two frigates and 
 a brig. These vessels were to transport five thou- 
 sand men, munitions of every kind, timber, stores, 
 iron, medicines, and the European commodities 
 which were most desirable in Egypt. The first 
 consul ordered the lading of the vessels, which 
 was nearly completed, to be stopped, and recom- 
 menced in a different mode which he had himself 
 determined Upon. He wished that i-wry vessel 
 should contain a complete assortment of the articles 
 required for the colony, and not one entire lading 
 of the same article, in order that if one of the ves- 
 sels should be captured, the expedition should not 
 be entirely deficient in the article Contained in the 
 
 captured ship. This arrangement, contrary to the 
 custom of the naval service, rendered i he steerage 
 
 Of the vessels more complicated and difficult; but 
 
 the absolute will of the first consul vanquish* 6 all 
 
 such obstacles ; Lauriston, his aid de-camp, re- 
 mained at Brest, and joined to tin- letters of which 
 
 he was the bearer, the influence of his presence 
 and earnest exhortations to complete the duty re* 
 
 quired. 
 
 p2
 
 Naval armaments. — 
 212 Admirals Bruix and 
 Ganteaume. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Departure of Ganteaume. 
 
 1801. 
 
 — Critical position of 
 England. Jan - 
 
 The Rochefort expedition, announced to be for 
 the Antilles, also had Egypt for its destination. 
 They laboured at its equipment with all possible 
 expedition. Savary, the aid-de-camp, pushed for- 
 ward its departure, and urged the arrival of the 
 troops detached from the army of Portugal. The 
 division of twenty-five thousand men, which was 
 going to pass across the Pyrenees, was assembled 
 in the Gironde, and thus furnished an excellent 
 disguise for the real object of the expedition from 
 Rochefort. There were a few battalions borrowed 
 from this force without exciting the least suspicion 
 that they were got ready to embark on board 
 the squadron. This squadron was trusted to the 
 command of the most remarkable of the sea- 
 men, perhaps, that France at that time possessed. 
 He joined to a superior intellect, rarely equalled 
 among men in civil or military life, a perfect know- 
 ledge of seamanship, and was distinguished in a 
 particular manner by his successful cruise in the 
 Mediterranean, in 1799, which was frequently 
 alluded to in his praise. When, at the last mo- 
 ment, Bonaparte intended to disclose his secret 
 object to the cabinet of Madrid, admiral Bruix was 
 to sail into Ferrol, and strengthening himself by 
 uniting his vessels to the squadron in that port, 
 proceed from thence to Cadiz, where he was to be 
 joined by the division furnished by Spain. Pro- 
 ceeding from thence to Otranto, he was to em- 
 bark the troops collected there, and sec sail for 
 Egypt. 
 
 The division at Cadiz, furnished by Spain, was 
 composed of six capital vessels, which were got 
 ready for sea with great expedition. Admiral Du- 
 manoir had set out by post for Cadiz, in order to 
 urge forward this equipment. Bodies of seamen 
 proceeded by land towards that port ; and at the 
 same time small vessels filled with seamen were 
 sent coastwise that they might be turned over to 
 the ships of war. 
 
 Such numerous expeditions could not fail to 
 attract the attention of the English to all the points 
 at once, dividing and distracting her operations; 
 during which, some one of them availing itself 
 of such a state of things, had nearly a certain 
 chance of arriving safely in Egypt. Desirous of 
 profiting by the bad season, which rendered the 
 cruising of the enemy off Brest, both difficult and 
 liable to interruption, the first consul intended that 
 the sailing of admiral Ganteaume should take place 
 before the commencement of the spring. His 
 orders were explicit ; but he was unable to com- 
 municate to his naval commanders the boldness 
 which animated those on land. Admiral Gan- 
 teaume appeared to the first consul to be bold and 
 successful, because it was that officer who hail al- 
 most miraculously brought him from Alexandria 
 to Fr^jus. But this was an illusion. This expe- 
 rienced naval officer, knowing well the navigation 
 of the Mediterranean, and possessing undaunted 
 bravery, was of a wavering character, and in- 
 capable of supporting the burden of a heavy 
 responsibility. The expedition was ready; several 
 families of workmen were on board, under the 
 idea of their being about to sail for St. Domingo ; 
 still there was a hesitation about sailing Savary, 
 having the orders of the first consul, silenced all 
 difficulties, and obliged Ganteaume to set nail. 
 The enemies' cruisers discovered them, and made 
 
 signals to the blockading squadron that the French 
 fleet was leaving the port. Ganteaume was obliged 
 to return and moor in the outer road. He then 
 feigned to enter the inner road, in order to induce 
 the belief in the English that he had no other 
 object in view than to exercise and manoeuvre his 
 squadron. 
 
 At last, on the 23rd of January, or 3d of Plu- 
 viose, when a frightful storm had dispersed the 
 enemies' cruisers, admiral Ganteaume set sail, and 
 in spite of the greatest danger, fortunately suc- 
 ceeded in getting out of the port of Brest, and 
 sailing towards the straits of Gibraltar. The suc- 
 cours of Ganteaume were the more desirable in 
 Egypt, since the famous English expedition, con- 
 sisting of fifteen thousand or eighteen thousand 
 men. said one day to be destined for Ferrol, another 
 for Cadiz, or it might be for the south of France, 
 was at that moment upon its way to Egypt. It 
 was in the road of Macri, opposite the island of 
 Rhodes, awaiting the season for landing, and the 
 completion of the Turkish preparations. 
 
 Orders were issued to all the newspapers of the 
 capital to say nothing of any naval movements 
 which might be remarked in the ports of France, 
 unless the intelligence was taken from the Mon%~ 
 ieur 1 . 
 
 Before detailing the operations of the French 
 squadrons in the south, it will be right to revert 
 to the north, and observe what passed between 
 England and the neutral powers. 
 
 The greatest dangers at this moment were ac- 
 cumulating over England. War had broken out 
 between her government and the Baltic powers. 
 The declaration of the neutrals, similar to that 
 entered into in 1780, being simply a declaration 
 of their rights, England might have dissembled 
 with them for a time, taking this declaration, 
 which was addressed in a general way to all the 
 belligerent parties, as addressed in particular to 
 herself, and might have avoided for a moment the 
 chance of a collision, by taking care to respect the 
 vessels of the Danes, Swedes, Prussians, and Rus- 
 sians. She had, in fact, much more interest in 
 keeping herself in peace with the north, than in 
 annoying the trade of the smaller maritime powers 
 with France. Besides, at this moment, she was in 
 great want of foreign corn, which, for her own 
 interest, rendered the liberty of the neutrals useful 
 to her for a time. In strictness, she was not fully 
 justified in taking measures of reprisal against any 
 but Russia ; because among all the members of 
 the league of neutrality, it was only the emperor 
 Paul who had added the measure of an embargo 
 to the declaration. Moreover, here the question 
 of Malta was much more the motive of the em- 
 bargo, than any of the points at issue concerning 
 maritime rights. 
 
 But England, in her pride, had responded to an 
 
 l« Here is a curious letter relating to this subject : — 
 "The first consul to tin; minister of general police. — Have 
 the goodness, citizen minister, to address a short circular to 
 the editors of the fourteen journals, forbidding the insertion 
 of any article calculated to afford the enemy the slightest 
 knowledge of the different movements taking place in our 
 squadrons, unless derived from the official journals. 
 " Paris, 1st Ventose, year ix." 
 
 From the State Paper Office.
 
 1901. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 Stale of England.— Fa- 
 mine. — Deficient)' in 
 the taxes. 
 
 THE NEUTRAL POWERS. 
 
 The riches of England increase 
 with tier burdens. — The na- 
 tional debt. 
 
 213 
 
 exposition of principles by an net of violence, and 
 placed an embargo upon all Swedish, Danish, and 
 Russian vessels. The commerce of Prussia alone 
 she had exempted from these rigorous proceedings, 
 because she wished still to have an understanding 
 with that country ; she hoped to detach it from 
 the northern coalition; and, above all, because she 
 knew that Hanover lay at the mercy of that 
 country. 
 
 England found herself at one time involved in a 
 war with France and Spain, her old eneiyies, and 
 with the courts of Russia, Sweden, and Prussia, 
 her old allies. She had been abandoned by Aus- 
 tria since the treaty of Lune'ville, and by the court 
 of Naples since the treaty of Florence. Portugal, 
 her last hold upon the continent, was also about to 
 be lost to her. Her situation was become similar 
 to that of France in 1793. She was obliged to 
 fight alone against all Europe, exposed to less 
 danger it is true than France, and also with 
 the less merit in defending herself, because her 
 insular position preserved her from the perils 
 of invasion. To render the similarity of their 
 situations more remarkable and singular, England 
 was tin' prey to a frightful famine. Her people 
 wanted food of the first necessity. This state of 
 affairs was entirely owing to the obstinacy of Pitt 
 and to the genius of Bonaparte. Pitt refused to 
 treat for peace before the battle of Marengo; and 
 Bonaparte, disarming a part of Europe by his 
 victories, turned the other part against England 
 by his policy ; both were incontestably the authors 
 of this wonderful change of fortune. 
 
 The situation of England was at that moment 
 very alarming; but it must be acknowledged that 
 she did not become dispirited. The corn harvest 
 of the preceding year, 1799, had been one-third 
 less than a common average, and all the last year's 
 corn had been consumed. The harvest of 1800 
 had fallen short a fourth part, and a scarcity was 
 the consequence. This deficiency was aggravated 
 doubly by the general war, and by the war in the 
 north with the maritime powers, more especially 
 because her supplies of grain were commonly ob- 
 tained from the Baltic. If, therefore, the bad 
 crop was the first cause of the famine, it was 
 equally true that the war was a great cause of its 
 aggravation. If the war had only raised the price 
 of corn by interrupting the commerce of the Baltic, 
 it must have already exercised a very disastrous 
 influence upon the public distress. All the taxes 
 this year presented very alarming deficiencies. 
 The income tax and the excise caused an appre- 
 hension of a deficit iu the revenue of 75,000,000 f. 
 to 100,000,000 f. 1 The expenditure for that year 
 was enormous. In order to meet the necessity, a 
 loan was neceBSary, amounting to 025,000,000 f. or 
 860,000,000 f - The total of the expenses of the 
 three kingdoms for that year, Ireland being then 
 united to England, amounted, including the interest, 
 of the d( bl created by Mr. Pitt, to the enormous 
 sum of 1,723,000,000 f. ', a sum enormous at any 
 time, but more so in 1800; for at that period the 
 budgets had not yet received the increase of 
 
 amount to which a subsequent period of forty 
 • £3,000.000 or £t.ooo,ooo. 
 
 2 £2.0,000,110(1 or £20,000,000. 
 1 £69,000,000. 
 
 years has raised them in all the European states. 
 France, as before seen, had then to support no 
 more than an expenditure of 000,000 000 f. The 
 amount of the English debt was, as usual, disputed; 
 but taking the amount stated by the government 4 , 
 it was 12.109,000,0001. 5 This demanded for the 
 annual interest and sinking fund an expense of 
 504,000,000 f. 6 , not reckoning the debt of Ireland, 
 and the loans guaranteed on account of the em- 
 peror of Germany. Pitt was accused of having 
 increased the public debt, in or er to carry on the 
 war of the revolution, more than 7,500,000,000 f. 7 
 According to the government statement, the amount 
 was 7,454,000,000 f. 8 
 
 But it must be admitted that England presented 
 a singular phenomenon in the improvement of her 
 resources of all kinds, and that her riches increased 
 in proportion to the public burdens. Besides the 
 conquest of India, achieved by the destruction of 
 Tippoo Saib ; besides the conquest of a part of the 
 French, Spanish, and Dutch colonies, to which 
 must be added the acquisition of the island of 
 Malta, England had engrossed the commerce of 
 the entire world. According to the official returns, 
 her importations, which had been in 1781, towards 
 the close of the American war, only 31 8,U 00,000 f.' J , 
 and in 1702, at the commencement of the war of 
 the revolution only 491,000,0001'.'°, had risen in 
 1709 to 74K,000,000 f. » 1 The exportation of the 
 manufactured productions of England, which in 
 1T31 had been 190,000,000 f. !2 , were, in 1792, 
 622.000,000 f. 13 , and in 1799 had reached 
 849,000,000 f. l < Thus, from the date of the ter- 
 mination of the American war all had tripled; and 
 since the commencement of the war of the revolu- 
 tion had doubled. 
 
 In 1788 the commercial navy of England em- 
 ployed 13,827 ships, and 107,925 seamen ; in 1801 
 it employed 18,877 ships, and 14.VJG1 seamen. The 
 excise and customs had risen from 183,000,000 f. 15 
 to 389,000,000 f.' 6 The sinking fund, which, in 
 1784, was 25,000,000 f. 17 , was 137,000,000 f. 18 in 
 1800. 
 
 All the forces of the British empire had re- 
 ceived a double or triple increase within twenty 
 years ; and if the pressure was great at the mo- 
 ment, it was still a pressure upon wealth. It was 
 very true that England was loaded with a debt of 
 more than 12,000,000,0001'., and an annual charge 
 upon that debt of 500,000,0001'.; that she had to sup- 
 port, in that year, an expenditure of 1,700,000,0001'., 
 and to make a loan of b'00,000,000 I. to meet her 
 outlay. All this was, beyond doubt, enormous iu 
 amount, especially if the value of money at this 
 time be taken into consideration ; but England 
 contained within herself means to meet these 
 charges. Although she was not a continental 
 
 * These amounts are taken from the budget presented to 
 parliament by Mr. Addington, successor to Pitt, in June, 
 1801. 
 
 » In sterling money, £184,365,474. 
 
 " Or £20,144,000. 7 Or £300,000,000. 
 
 8 Or £298,000,000. • £12,721,000. 
 
 "o £l<J.(;. r >!t,000. " £30,945,000. 
 
 '2 £7,688,000. " £84.908,000. 
 
 M £88 991,000. u £7,320.000. 
 
 >« £18,687 ,M0. 17 £1,000,000. 
 
 u £8,500,000.
 
 British army and navy. — Ad- Great reaction. -Combina- 
 
 214 mini Nelson.— Resources THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, tion of European powers 
 of England and France. against England. 
 
 1801. 
 Feb. 
 
 power, she had one hundred and ninety-three thou- 
 sand regular troops, and one hundred and nine 
 thousand militia or fencibles, in all three hundred 
 and two thousand men '. She possessed eight 
 hundred and fourteen 2 ships of war of all sizes, 
 building, repairing, in ordinary, or at sea. In this 
 number were one hundred vessels of the line and 
 two hundred frigates, spread over every latitude; and 
 twenty vessels with forty frigates in reserve, ready 
 to come out of port. Her effective force could not 
 then be taken at less than one hundred and twenty 
 ships of the line and two hundred and fifty frigates, 
 manned by one hundred and twenty thousand 
 seamen. To this colossal strength in materiel, 
 England added a crowd of naval officers of the 
 greatest merit, at the head of whom was the great 
 admiral Nelson. He was an eccentric, violent 
 man, not well adapted for a command where 
 diplomacy and war were intei'mingled. He had 
 but too recently given a proof of that at Naples, 
 by suffering his renown to be sullied by female 
 intrigues, during the sanguinary executions com- 
 manded by the Neapolitan government. But in 
 the midst of danger he was a hero ; he displayed, 
 too, as much genius as courage. The English were 
 justly proud of his glory. 
 
 England and France have filled the present age 
 with their formidable rivalry. The period at which 
 we have just arrived is one of the most remarkable in 
 the renowned contest which they sustained against 
 one another. They had continued the war for 
 eight years. France with financial resources much 
 less, but perhaps more solid, because they were 
 founded upon territorial revenue, with a population 
 nearly double, and with the enthusiasm a good 
 cause inspires, had resisted all Europe, extended 
 her territory as far as the Rhine and the Alps, 
 obtained dominion in Italy, and a decisive influence 
 over the continent. England, with the wealth 
 arising from the commerce of the world, and with a 
 powerful navy, had acquired the .same preponde- 
 rance upon the ocean which Fiance had obtained 
 on the land. England, by subsidizing the Eu- 
 ropean (lowers, had incited them to fight even to 
 their own destruction. But while she thus ex- 
 posed them to be crushed in her service, she seized 
 the colonies of every nation, oppressed neutral 
 powers, and avenged herself for the successes of 
 France upon the land by her overbearing tyranny 
 upon the ocean. Still although victorious upon 
 this element, she had not been able to prevent 
 France from forming a magnificent maritime es- 
 tablishment in f Egypt, threatening even her East 
 India dominions. 
 
 A strange reaction of opinion, as we have else- 
 where observed, had resulted from this alteration 
 of circumstances. France admirably governed, ap- 
 peared in the sight of the world humane, tranquil, 
 
 1 Besides the Indian army. — Translator. 
 
 2 in all, 819 : viz., 197 of the line, 29 fifties, 251 frigates, 
 332 sloops and other vessels, in October, 1801. Of these 
 there were at sea, 11 1 ships of the line, 10 fifties, 185 frigates, 
 2:',0 sloops and smaller vessels. Of this naval force there 
 were in the Channel, 42 of the line and 35 frigates; North 
 Sea stations, 14 of the line, 3 fifties, and 31 frigates; the 
 Mediterranean, 31 of the line, 4 fifties, and .;(> frigates; on 
 the coasts of Spain and Portugal, II of the line and (i frigates; 
 while 9 sail of the line, 7 fifties, and 8 frigates, were in 
 India. — Translator. 
 
 wise, and, what is not common, amid her victories 
 actuated by moderation. Whilst the various cabi- 
 nets of Europe were becoming reconciled to her, 
 they at the same time perceived how much they 
 had played the dupe to the political objects of 
 England. Austria had fought for England as much 
 as she had for herself. For this same England 
 the Germanic empire hail been dismembered. The 
 powers of the north, with Russia at their head, 
 acknowledged at last, that under the pretext of 
 pursuing a moral end, in fighting against the 
 French revolution, they had only served as the 
 instruments to procure for England the commerce 
 of the universe. Thus all the world turned at the 
 moment against the mistress of the seas. Paul I. 
 had given the signal with the natural impetuosity 
 of his character ; Sweden followed his example 
 without hesitation ; Denmark and Prussia had 
 equally done so, though with less resolution. 
 Austria vanquished, and recovered from her de- 
 lusion, nursed her chagrin in silence, and, at least 
 for the time, promised herself a long resistance to 
 the temptation of British subsidies. 
 
 England reaped the consequences of the policy 
 which she had pursued. She had doubled her 
 colonies, her commerce, her revenue, and her 
 navy, but she had at the same time doubled her 
 debt and its expenses, her enemies, and her entire 
 expenditure* She presented, in the midst of im- 
 mense wealth, the frightful spectacle of a people 
 dying with hunger. France, Spain, Russia, Prus- 
 sia, Denmark, and Sweden were leagued against 
 her. France, Spain, and Holland could reckon 
 upon eighty ships of the line, and were able to arm 
 more. Sweden had twenty-eight, Russia thirty- 
 five, and Denmark twenty-three. Here then was 
 a total of one hundred and sixty-six ships of the 
 line, a force superior to that of England. On the 
 other hand, she had a great advantage in contend- 
 ing against a coalition ; and what was more in her 
 favour, her armaments surpassed in quality those 
 of all the coalition. There were only the Danish 
 and French vessels which were able to cope with 
 Iter's ; and there was still the greater difficulty in 
 fighting in large fleets, that the English navy ex- 
 celled those of all the world in manoeuvring. Still 
 the danger was threatening, because if the contest 
 lasted long, Bonaparte was well capable of under- 
 taking a formidable expedition ; and if he suc- 
 ceeded in passing the Straits of Dover with an in- 
 vading army, England was lost. 
 
 The long good fortune of Pitt began, like the for- 
 tune of M. Thugut, to be on the decline, before 
 that of the young general Bonaparte. Pitt's was 
 the most brilliant destiny of his time, after that of 
 the gnat Frederick ; he was only forty-three years 
 of age, and had held the government seventeen 
 years, possessing a power almost absolute in a free 
 country. But his good fortune was growing old; 
 and that of Bonaparte, on the contrary, was still 
 young, merely in its infancy. The fortunes of 
 men succeed each other in the history of the world, 
 like the races of the same universe ; they have 
 their youth, their decrepitude, and their dissolu- 
 tion. The more prodigious fortune of Bonaparte 
 was one day to decline also ; but in the mean- 
 while, he was destined to see the fall, under his 
 own ascendency, of that of England's greatest 
 minister.
 
 1801 
 Feb. 
 
 Unpopularity of Pitt. — Riots. 
 Strength of the opposition. 
 
 THE NEUTRAL TOWERS. 
 
 Pitt's reply to his opponents' 
 arguments. 
 
 215 
 
 England seemed at this time to be threatened 
 with a species of social convulsion. The people, 
 under the suffering of great scarcity, were rising in 
 different places, and pillaging the tine habitations 
 of the British aristocracy, and, in the towns, attack- 
 ing the shops of the batchers and dealers in food. 
 There were in London in 1801, as in Paris in 179'-, 
 ignorant friends of the people, who encouraged 
 attacks against supposed engrossers, and insisted 
 upon some measure analogous, in fact, though not 
 in name, to a maximum for the price of bread. 
 Neither the government nor the parliament ap- 
 peared disposed to grant this foolish demand. Pitt 
 was reproached with being the cause of the suffer- 
 ings of the time ; they asserted that it was he who 
 had loaded the people with taxes, doubled the debt, 
 and raised to an exorbitant price all the articles of 
 the first necessity in existence ; that it was he who 
 was so obstinate in pursuing a senseless war ; and 
 he who, in refusing to treat with France, had 
 concluded by turning the other maritime nations 
 against England, thus depriving the people of the 
 indispensable resource of the Baltic corn. The 
 opposition, seeing, for the first time during seven- 
 teen years, the power of Pitt shaken, redoubled its 
 ardour. Fox, who had for a long while neglected 
 tn attend in parliament, reappeared there. Sheri- 
 dan, Tierney, Grey, and Lord Holland, renewed 
 their attacks ; and, that which does not always 
 happen on the side of a warm opposition, they had 
 the reason of the argument against their opponents. 
 Pitt, despite his accustomed self-assurance, had 
 little to urge in reply, when he was asked why lie 
 had not treated with France, when the first consul 
 proposed peace after the battle of Marengo 1 why 
 recently, and before the battle of Hohenlinden, he 
 had not consented, if not to a naval armistice, — 
 which would have given the French a chance of 
 maintaining themselves in Egypt, — at least to the 
 separate negotiation which had been offered ? why 
 had he, with so much want of shrewdness, suffered 
 the opportunity to escape of the evacuation of 
 Egypt, by refusing to ratify the treaty of El Arisen! 
 why had he not negotiated with the northern 
 powers, in order to gain time ! why had he not 
 imitated Lord North, who, in 1780, avoided reply- 
 ing to the manifesto of the northern powers, by a 
 declaration of war? why had he thus drawn all 
 Europe upon him, on account of some very doubt- 
 ful question in the law of nations, about which 
 every nation had a different opinion, and in which, 
 at the moment, England had little interest { why 
 not, in order to prevent, France from obtaining 
 mmim; building timber, iron, and hemp, which were 
 not capable of making a navy, — why had England 
 been exposed to be cut off from the importation of 
 foreign Born '. why was an English army paraded 
 from .Mahon to l'errol, and from Fermi to Cadiz, 
 without any useful result! The opposition com- 
 pared the conduct of the affairs of England with 
 
 these of Franca and their management, asking 
 
 Pitt, with cutting irony, what he had to say of 
 young Bonaparte, of tin' rash young man, who, ac- 
 cording to the ministerial language, would only like 
 his predecessors have an ephemera] existence ; so 
 ephemeral, that he did not merit they should con- 
 descend to treat with him. 
 
 Pitt had gnat trouble in maintaining himself 
 
 against Fox, Sheridan, Tierney, Grey, anil Lord 
 
 Holland, wdio put to him these forcible questions in 
 the face of all England. He became alarmed at 
 the number of his enemies, and was disconcerted 
 at the cries of a half-famished people demanding, 
 without obtaining, bread. 
 
 To their questions Pitt replied with great feeble- 
 ness. He continued to repeat his favourite argu- 
 ment, that if he had not made war upon France 
 the English constitution would have perished. He 
 cited as examples Venice. Naples, Piedmont, Swit- 
 zerland, Holland, and the ecclesiastical states of 
 Germany; as if it were possible to make anyone 
 believe that what had occurred in a few Italian or 
 German states of the third order, could happen to 
 England, with, her liberal constitution. He replied, 
 too, and with more reason on his side, that if 
 France had aggrandized herself on the land, Eng- 
 land had done the same by sea ; that the navy 
 was covered with glory ; that if the debt and taxes 
 were doubled, the wealth of the country was dou- 
 bled also, and that under every point of view England 
 was more powerful now than before the war began. 
 All this could not be denied. Pitt added that the 
 first consul, appearing to be established in a stable 
 manner, he felt every disposition to treat with him. 
 That as to what regarded the right of neutrals, he 
 should remain inflexible. "If," said he, "England 
 agrees to the proposed doctrines of the neutral 
 powers, a single armed sloop may convoy the com- 
 merce of the whole world. England will be shut 
 out from proceeding in any way against the com- 
 merce of her enemies; she will be unable to do any 
 thing to prevent Spain from receiving the treasures 
 of the new world, or to prevent France from re- 
 ceiving the naval stores of the north." "We must," 
 lie said, " wrap ourselves in our own flag, and find 
 our grave in the ocean sooner than admit the cur- 
 rency of such principles in the maritime law of 
 nations." 
 
 Two sessions of parliament succeeded each other 
 without an adjournment. In November, 1800, the 
 last parliament denominated the parliament of 
 England and Scotland, assembled for the last time. 
 In January, 1801, the united parliament of the 
 three kingdoms held its first assemblage. During 
 these two sessions, the discussions were continued 
 without cessation, and with the most vehement 
 warmth. Pitt was evidently weakened, not only in 
 the number of the majorities in parliament, but in 
 general influence and moral power out of doors. 
 Every body perceived that in obstinately continuing 
 the war against France, he had gone beyond the 
 mark, and bad missed on the eve of .Marengo ami 
 on that of Hohenlinden the opportunity of treating 
 advantageously. To miss the opportunity is lor the 
 statesman, as it is for the soldier, an irreparable 
 mischief. The moment for peace once passed over, 
 
 fortune turned round upon Pitt, lie Pelt himself, 
 anil the public felt, that he was vanquished by the 
 genius of the young general Bonaparte. 
 
 The justice must be done to Pitt, and also to Eng- 
 land, of acknowledging that during this fearful 
 want of food, the measures adopted wire those of 
 
 great moderation. The maximum price was re- 
 pelled. The government was content to give consi- 
 derable bounties upon the importation of corn, to 
 prohibit the use of grain in distilleries, and not to 
 give any more parochial relief in money, lest it 
 .should tend to raise the price of bread, relief being
 
 Measures to reduce the price tion. — Pitt's resignation.— ,„». 
 
 o)C, of corn.— Union with Ire- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Causes of that step.-His *"'• 
 land— Catholic emancipa- 
 
 successors. 
 
 afforded, in place of money, with food, such as salt 
 meat, vegetables, and similar sustenances. A royal 
 proclamation, addressed to all persons in easy cir- 
 cumstances, who had it in their power to vary their 
 diet, recommended them to adopt a system of great 
 economy in the consumption of bread in their fami- 
 lies. Lastly, numerous vessels were sent to obtain 
 rice in the East Indies, and corn in America and 
 in the Mediterranean. Some even endeavoured to 
 procure it from France, by means of a contra- 
 band trade, along the coasts of La Vendue and 
 Britanv. 
 
 Still in the midst of this distress so courageously 
 supported, Pitt neglected no means for the prose- 
 cution of the war, and made every arrangement 
 for a bold demonstration in the Baltic as soon as 
 the season would permit. He wished to strike the 
 first blow at Denmark, then at Sweden, and to go 
 even to the bottom of the gulf of Finland, for the 
 purpose of threatening Russia. It is not known, 
 even in his own country, whether he really wished 
 or not at this time to continue at the head of 
 affairs in England. There were two questions 
 raised by him in the cabinet, one of which, most 
 inopportune at that moment, led to his retirement 
 from office. Alter great exertions the year pre- 
 ceding, it has been seen that he carried into effect 
 what was called the " union with Ireland," or in 
 other words the union of the parliaments of Eng- 
 land, Scotland, and Ireland, into on eimperial legis- 
 lative body. This measure seemed like a species of 
 political victory, more particularly in the face of 
 the reiterated attempts of the French republic to 
 raise an insurrection in Ireland. But England had 
 only succeeded in depriving Ireland of her inde- 
 pendence, by giving the Irish catholics the formal 
 promise of their " emancipation" from the restric- 
 tions under which they laboured. They had in 
 effect said to the catholics that they would never 
 obtain their freedom, owing to the prejudices of an 
 Irish parliament, and the assertion was most un- 
 doubtedly correct. It appeared, too, that the pro- 
 mises given weir equivalent to a positive engage- 
 ment, which must be regarded as a political error, 
 if it be true that l'itt was obliged, by the nature of 
 his own personal pledge, either to grant emancipa- 
 tion or to retire, because it was a pledge it was not 
 possible to fulfil. However this might have been, 
 in the month of February, 1801, on the first meet- 
 ing of the united parliament, Pitt asked the consent 
 of George III. to the measure of catholic emanci- 
 pation. This prince, at the same time a protestant, 
 was a complete devotee, and asserting that his coro- 
 nation oath would lie affected by such a measure, 
 he obstinately refused his assent. Pitt made a 
 second request, which was a very reasonable one, 
 namely, that the occupation of Hanover by Prussia 
 should not be considered an act of hostility to this 
 country, that England might keep up relations with 
 that court, in order, at least, to possess one friendly 
 power upon the continent. This sacrifice was too 
 great for a prince of the house of Hanover to 
 make. The quarrel between the king and minister 
 became wanner, and on the 8th of February, 1801, 
 Pitt gave in his resignation for himself and his 
 colleagues, Dundas, Windham, Grenville, and others. 
 This resignation, after a ministry of seventeen 
 years, caused much surprise in such extraordinary 
 circumstances. People were unable to ascribe it to 
 
 natural events, and attached a secret motive to 
 Pitt, which at last became the public opinion, since 
 zealously propagated by historians ; this motive 
 was, that Pitt seeing the necessity for a momentary 
 peace, consented to retire for a few months, in 
 order to let it be negotiated by others rather than 
 himself, intending to return to the management of 
 public affairs when the necessity of the moment 
 should be passed. Such are the reasons that the 
 multitude ascribe to public men under similar 
 circumstances, which ill-informed writers repeat, 
 as they pick them up from rumour. Pitt neither 
 foresaw the peace of Amiens, nor its short duration; 
 nor did he believe that peace was at all incompati- 
 ble with his position at the head of affairs. He had 
 consented to the well-known negotiation at Lille in 
 17^7, and had recently named Mr. Thomas Gren- 
 ville to proceed to the congress of Luneville. But 
 Pitt had gone considerable lengths with the catho- 
 lics ; he had been guilty of a fault which public 
 men often commit, that of sacrificing the interest 
 of to-day to that of to-morrow. Having promised 
 too much, he felt embarrassed at not being able to 
 fulfil his promises, and in a very anxious position in 
 which the addition of a few more enemies would 
 suffice to overwhelm him. It is true that he sub- 
 sequently denied his having contracted any positive 
 engagement in regard to the emancipation of the 
 catholics ; the denial was wanting to justify him 
 from so imprudent a charge. Whatever may be 
 thought upon this matter, there was never a period 
 when the perils of any country permitted and even 
 demanded to the same extent the adjournment of 
 the execution of existing engagements, because in 
 1801, England had famine at home, and abroad was 
 at war with all Europe. Still Pitt withdrew from 
 office; and his retirement can only be considered as 
 having arisen from the weakness of a superior 
 mind. It is clear, that surrounded by fearful em- 
 barrassments, Pitt was not sorry to escape from 
 such a situation under the honourable pretext of 
 inviolable fidelity to his engagements. The resigna- 
 tion was accepted, to the great sorrow of the king, 
 and the discontent of the ministerial party, as well 
 as to the apprehension of all England, which saw 
 with deep anxiety men, inexperienced men, take 
 the helm of affairs. Pitt was replaced by Mr. 
 Addington, who was his creature 1 , and had for 
 many years held the post of speaker of the house of 
 commons. Lord Hawkesbury, afterwards lord Li- 
 verpool, replaced Grenville at the foreign office. 
 They were prudent, moderate men, but of.littlo 
 capacity for office ; both had been friends of Pitt, 
 and for some time followed his system. This it was 
 more than any thing else which made it reported, 
 and believed, that the retirement of Pitt was only 
 simulated. 
 
 1 I ohtained these details from several of the cotempora- 
 ries of Pitt, who were on intimate terms with him, mingled 
 in the ministerial negotiations of the period, and fill, even 
 in the present day, eminent situations in England. — Note of 
 the Author. 
 
 The author should rather have said, "the creature of 
 George III ," with whom he was a favourite, partaking the 
 bigoted notions of that monarch in regard to religion, anil 
 holding the same arbitrary ideas in politics ; while his feeble 
 ni'ss of mind made him a jest with the friends of Pitt, as weJI 
 as witli those who had been the opponents of that minister. 
 — Translator.
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 Illness of Georpe III. — Great 
 pow«r of Pitl. — Recovery 
 of the king. 
 
 THE NEUTRAL POWERS. 
 
 Character of Pilt and his suc- 
 cessors.— NeUon's plai: for 
 actinir in the Baltic. 
 
 217 
 
 The feeble intellects of George III. were unable 
 to bear up against the political agitations of the 
 crisis. He was seized with a fresh attack of insa- 
 nity, and lor a month was unable to fulfil the royal 
 functions. Pitt had given in his resignation. Ad- 
 dingtoD and llawkesbury were the designated mi- 
 nisters, but had not yet entered upon their duties. 
 Pitt, although he had ceased to be minister, was at 
 this time the real king of England, during a 
 crisis of nearly a month, and was so by the consent 
 of the whole nation. Explanations upon the sub- 
 ject were asked in the house of commons. These 
 were of a very delicate nature. When thus de- 
 manded in the house they were answered in the 
 noblest manner by Sheridan and Pitt. All motions 
 common in England respecting the state of the 
 country, were postponed; and it is probable that it 
 occurred to some mistrustful persons, that Pitt 
 voluntarily prolonged the species of royalty which 
 he enjoyed. " He trusted, it would be believed," 
 to use his own language at that time, " that in the 
 event of ministers being no longer able to receive 
 the commands of his majesty from his own mouth, 
 they would propose measures to which it was unne- 
 cessary to allude more distinctly, but which they 
 would not delay for a single day. They found 
 themselves placed by their duty in an extraordi- 
 nary situation, which they did not wish, upon any 
 ground, should endure a moment beyond the strict 
 necessity." Sheridan, in reply, testified his entire 
 confidence, that neither Pitt, nor any other mi- 
 nister, would seek to profit by the state of the 
 king's health to prolong for one moment the pos- 
 session of a power equal to that of the sovereign 
 himself. 
 
 The most delicate reserve wab kept upon the 
 subject. The word " madness" characterizing the 
 real condition of the king, was not once pronounced; 
 but all waited with anxiety, yet with perfect com- 
 posure, the termination of this extraordinary crisis. 
 In the interim Pitt voted subsidies which were not 
 opposed; the English fleets were prepared in the 
 different porta, and admirals Parker and Nelson 
 set sad from Yarmouth for the Baltic with forty- 
 seven vessels. 
 
 About the middle of March the king's health 
 was re-established, and Pitt handed over the 
 reins of government to Mr. Addington and Lord 
 Hawkeebury. The new ministers, according to 
 custom, entered into explanations upon their 
 taking office. They did not fail to declare to the 
 house that they felt sentiments of the greatest 
 mi for their predecessors, and that they con- 
 sidered the line of policy they had adopted as 
 
 highly salutary, and the Balvatiou of England. 
 They affirmed in consequence, that they should 
 follow the same principles, and tread exactly in the 
 same steps. '' Wherefore, then, have you taken 
 office !'' inquired Sheridan, Grey, and Pox. " If 
 you mean to follow the same course of policy, the 
 ministers who have go t are much more ca- 
 pable of directing the affaire of the country than 
 
 you are !" 
 
 Impartial persons, members of parliament, blamed 
 Pitt tor abandoning the government of l he country 
 at s.i difficult a moment, and lor resigning without 
 valid reasons. The Opposition itself was in the 
 Wrong 80 far as to reproach him with making his 
 
 retreat at the expense of the king's character, by 
 
 declaring that the Icing refused to allow "emanci- 
 pation," a measure at the time extremely popular. 
 This reproach was unreasonable, and at variance 
 with true constitutional principles. Pitt, in retiring, 
 was naturally obliged to state the reason, and if the 
 king refused him " emancipation," he had a perfect 
 right to declare that sucli was the fact. He made 
 it known in language extremely well-suited to the 
 circumstances, but it remained very evident that 
 the refusal was rather a pretext than a real motive, 
 and that Pitt withdrew from a state of affairs with 
 which he had not the courage to contend. His star 
 was growing pale before one that was then ascend- 
 ing, destined to cast a brighter lustre than his 
 own. Although he afterwards reappeared at the 
 head of affairs, to die at the post, his political ex- 
 istence may be said to have terminated from that 
 day. Pitt, after governing for seventeen years, 
 leit his country loaded with debt and wealth both 
 alike increased and alike burthened. He was an 
 accomplished orator, regarded as the organ of go- 
 vernment, and a very able and influential head of 
 a party; but, as a statesman, he possessed very un- 
 enlightened views, had committed great errors, 
 and was continually overborne by the worst pre- 
 judices of his countrymen. No native of England 
 entertained so deep a hatred to France. But this 
 consideration must not rwake us unjust towards 
 him, knowing as we do how to honour patriotism 
 in others, even when it was employed in a contest 
 with our own. 
 
 Neither Lord Hawkesbury nor Mr. Addington 
 were to be compared for talent to Pitt ; the im- 
 pulse being given, the vessel of the state moved 
 onwards for a time under the momentum imparted 
 to it by the head of the fallen ministry. The sub- 
 sidies were demanded and obtained ; the English 
 fleets were launched towards the Baltic, to settle 
 the great question about neutral rights ; and an 
 army, embarked in the fleet of lord Keith, was 
 upon its voyage to the East to dispute the posses- 
 sion of Egypt with the French. 
 
 Admiral Parker, an old and experienced naval 
 officer, who understood how to act under difficult 
 circumstances, was the commander-in-chief of the 
 English fleet, and sent to the Baltic. Nelson was 
 at his side, in case it should become necessary to 
 fight ; he was, in fact, only qualified for battles, 
 endowed as lie was with a happy instinct for war, 
 and perfectly master of every thing connected with 
 his profession. Nelson proposed that, without 
 waiting for the divisions of the fleet, they should 
 pass the Sound, and bearing directly up for Co- 
 penhagen, detach Denmark from the coalition by 
 a vigorous blow ; then repair to tin' Baltic, in the 
 midst of the coalesced fleets, prevent their junction, 
 and thus give them all the law. This plan was 
 happily arranged, because in the month of March, 
 the ice still covered those northern seas, and was 
 of its.-lf sufficient to prevent their junction ; which, 
 indeed, Nelson had some reason for dreading, as, 
 in that case, the British squadron would be ex- 
 posed to great danger. 
 
 This squadron, consisting of seventeen sail of 
 
 the line and thirty frigates, or smaller vessels, ap- 
 peared, on the 30th of March, in the Cattegat. 
 
 The ('.•illegal is the first gulf, formed by the land 
 
 of Denmark approaching the opposite coast of 
 
 Sweden.
 
 The northern powers prepare 
 218 for war. — Prussia declares 
 against England. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The Danes prepare 
 to defend the 
 Soi-nd. 
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 The neutral powers were making their prepara- 
 tions with great activity. The emperor Paul, full 
 of ardour, stimulated Sweden, Denmark, and 
 Prussia, and threatened with his enmity those who 
 did not exhibit as much zeal as himself. Den- 
 mark and Prussia would have preferred commenc- 
 ing with a negotiation ; but the menaces of Paul, 
 the earnest, but not menacing, remonstrances of 
 the first consul, accompanied with the formal pro- 
 mise of French assistance, brought into the same 
 system those two courts. Denmark, besides, see- 
 ing the English reply to a declaration of principles 
 was by a declaration of war, thought that it was her 
 place to receive and prepare for resistance with 
 all her energies. Prussia, pressed between Russia 
 and France, had been deprived of her character of 
 mediatrix, since Paul I. and the first consul had 
 commenced to be upon friendly terms with each 
 other. In place of leading, as before, she was now 
 reduced to the situation of being a follower, and 
 could only rely in future upon their good-will 
 alone, for that part of the German indemnity ad- 
 vantageous to her interests. Prussia was, there- 
 fore, anxious to please by her firmness in the cause. 
 She declared against England, and to overtures 
 from that power, avowed her adherence to the side 
 of the neutrals. She interdicted to the English 
 all the coast of the north sea from Holland to 
 Denmark ; she closed the mouths of the Elbe, the 
 Ems, and the Weser, and placed batteries, with 
 troops, at those principal outlets. Finally, she 
 occupied Hanover with a body of troops ; which 
 was the most serious and most decisive of her 
 measures. The first consul recompensed her by 
 marked proofs of his satisfaction, and by the 
 strongest and most positive promise of an advan- 
 tageous partition in her behalf of the German in- 
 demnities. 
 
 Denmark, on her side, occupied Hamburg and 
 Lubeck. The little port of Cuxhaven, which be- 
 longed to Hamburg, and which was the only 
 place where the English could land, had already 
 been occupied by Prussia. Thus, then, the English 
 had nothing left to them but their vessels and the 
 ocean. They had not a single port where they 
 could east anchor. They had now the alternative 
 of recovering by force their access to the conti- 
 nent. • 
 
 In order to reach the Baltic through the Catte- 
 gat, it is necessary to pass through the noted strait 
 called the Sound. This strait is formed by the 
 approach of the coast of Denmark to that of Swe- 
 den. Between Elsinore and Helsingburg, it is about 
 two thousand three hundred fathoms broad. The 
 batt lies placed on the two opposite shores are 
 enabled to cross their fire, but not sufficiently 
 near to cause much damage to a fleet. Notwith- 
 standing this, the channel is deeper on the Swedish 
 side, and very large ships are obliged to approach 
 nearer that shore in consequence ; so that by 
 strengthening it with batteries, the passage might 
 have been rendered difficultfor the English. But the 
 Swedish side was not fortified, and had no batteries, 
 nor indeed had it ever possessed them. In fact, it 
 has no port which merchant ships would be likely 
 to visit. There is none in the Sound, except that 
 of Elsinore, which belongs to Denmark, ami upon 
 that account batteries were erected there only, 
 and scarcely any upon the Swedish coast. On the 
 
 Danish side was constructed the fort of Kronen- 
 burg, regularly fortified. From this came the 
 custom of paying the Danes dues for the passage, 
 and not the Swedes. In this state of things it 
 was necessary to construct fortified works on the 
 Swedish side, of which they were in want. The 
 king, Gustavus Adolphus, who, after Paul I., was 
 the most earnest of the coalition, had conversed 
 with the czar upon this subject, when he was at 
 St. Petersburgh ; but they were aware of the im- 
 possibility of executing any work there at such a 
 season, when the soil, during the winter frost, was 
 as impenetrable as iron. Gustavus Adolphus had 
 also an interview with the prince of Denmark, 
 then regent of the kingdom ; the same who died 
 in 1841, after a long and honourable reign. They 
 conversed upon the subject ; and the prince-regent, 
 for some particular reason which influenced Den- 
 mark, appeared to attach very little importance to 
 the fortification of the Swedish shore 1 . The Sound, 
 then, was feebly defended on the Swedish side. 
 They were obliged to be contented with an old 
 battery of only eight guns, long ago established 
 upon the most salient point of the shore. Besides, 
 though this disregard of the defence has been 
 much blamed since, it is very certain that the 
 Sound, if well fortified upon both sides, could not 
 have presented any very serious obstacle to the 
 English ; because the width of the passage being 
 about three miles, ships in mid-channel would be 
 a mile and a half from the batteries, and would, 
 consequently, sustain no other damage than a little 
 injury inflicted upon their sails or rigging. 
 
 There are, besides the Sound, other entrances 
 into the Baltic ; these are formed by the two arms 
 of the sea which separate the Isle of Zealand from 
 that of Funen, and the Isle of Funen from the 
 coast of Jutland, passages known under the names 
 of the Great and Little Belts. The English were 
 but little inclined to attempt these straits where 
 they were likely to meet with more than one 
 Danish battery, but above all from fear of the 
 shallows, which render the navigation very dan- 
 gerous for ships of the line. The passage of the 
 Sound was, therefore, that which they would most 
 probably choose. 
 
 The Danes concentrated all their means of de- 
 fence not immediately in the Sound, but lower 
 down in the channel into which the Sound opens, 
 in reality before the city of Copenhagen itself. 
 The two shores of Denmark and Sweden, after 
 approximating towards the Sound, retire from each 
 other again, and form a channel twenty leagues 
 long and from three to twelve wide, over which 
 reels and sandbanks are thickly strewn, and in 
 which navigation must be effected by following the 
 
 i Erroneous assertions have been circulated upon this sub- 
 ject. I have had recourse to the most authentic evidence 
 possible; the archives of France, Denmark, and Sweden con- 
 tain proofs of what is here stated. Those stating otherwise, 
 Napoleon among them, have only repeated the rumours and 
 assertionsof the time. The second passage of the Sound, which 
 took place .in 1807, at a time when Sweden and Denmark were 
 at war, and Sweden saw with pleasure the triumphs of the 
 English, lias contributed to attach to Sweden the charge of 
 perfidy. But at the time of the first passage, that is to say, 
 in 1801, Sweden acttd with perfect good faith; she wished 
 heartily for the common success, and would have ensured it 
 had she been capable of so doing. — Note of the Author.
 
 1801. 
 
 March. 
 
 Swedish and Russian prepara- 
 tions.- Mr. Vansittarfs pro- THE NEUTRAL POWERS. 
 posals indignantly rejected 
 
 by the prince of Denmark. — Eng- 
 lish council of war. — Nelson and 219 
 Parker enter the Sound. 
 
 narrow channels, and by incessantly sounding. 
 The city of Copenhagen is situated on one of the 
 important of these channels about twenty 
 leagues from the Sound, towards the south. There 
 it was that tin- Danes had made their greatest 
 preparations, and there they awaited the approach 
 of their enemy. The post which they thus held did 
 not precisely close up the passage into the Baltic, 
 as will presently he explained, but it obliged the 
 English to make an attack upon a position exceed- 
 ingly well defended, and prepared beforehand for 
 their reception. The prince royal had promptly 
 made numerous strong measures of defence. In front 
 of Copenhagen he had placed a number of vessels 
 of war cut down and armed with cannon, making 
 of them very formidable floating batteries ; he had 
 also armed ten sail of the line, which were only 
 waiting for seamen from Norway to complete: their 
 complement of men. It is well known that the 
 Danes are the best seamen in the north of Europe. 
 
 To these Danish preparations were joined those 
 of Swcdt-n and Russia. The Swedes had disposed 
 of their troops along the coasts from Gottenburg to 
 the Sound, and had fortified Karlscrona in the 
 Baltic, as well as all the accessible points of that sea. 
 '1 h • king, Gustavus Adolphus, was pushing forward 
 the equipment of the Swedish fleet, and urging 
 admiral Cronstedt to its completion. This fleet 
 Consisted of seven sail of the line and two frigates, 
 wliich would be ready to sit sail as soon as the sea 
 was clear of the winter ice. The Russians had 
 twelve sail of the line ready at Revel, which, like 
 those of Sweden, were only embarrassed by the ice. 
 The coalesced powers had not completed all, with- 
 out doubt, wliich would have been possible if they 
 had possessed at their head a government as active 
 a.s that of France at the same period ; hut by 
 uniting in time seven Swedish and twelve Russian 
 vessels to the ten Danish ships before Copenhagen, 
 they would have possessed a fleet of thirty sail of 
 the line and of ten or twelve Frigates, established in 
 a very formidable position, which the English could 
 not have approached without danger, while still 
 ould they have sailed by and disregarded it. 
 To have sailed by without attacking it, in order to 
 carry on any operations in the Baltic, would have 
 been to leave in their rear a most imposing force, 
 capable of blocking up the outlet to the sea, and 
 preventing their passage out in case of a reverse. 
 But to unite- in time these naval squadrons de- 
 manded a celerity of movement of which these 
 three neutral governments were not capable. They 
 made all the haste they could there is little doubt ; 
 but calculating too much upon the prolongation of 
 the bad season, they had not begun their prepa- 
 rations early enough, and the energetic promptitude 
 of the English was far too much in advance of 
 them. 
 
 On the 21st of March an English frigate touched 
 at Elsinore, and put on shore Mr. Vansitlart, who 
 
 chargi d to make a last communication to the 
 
 Danish government. Mr. Vansittart delivered to 
 
 Mr. Drummond, the English charge d'affaires, the 
 
 ultimatum of the British cabinet. The terms ot the 
 
 ultimatum were- the withdrawal 1 1 Denmark from 
 the maritime confederation of the neutml powers, 
 that Denmark should open bet porta to the- Eng- 
 lish, and adhere to the provisional engagement en- 
 tered into in the preceding month of August, by 
 
 which they had engaged no longer to convoy their 
 trading- vessels. The prince royal of Denmark 
 rejected the idea of such a defection, with indigna- 
 tion, and answered that neither Denmark nor her 
 allies had made a declaration of war, having con- 
 fined themst Ives to the publication of their prin- 
 ciples of maritime law ; that the English wire the 
 aggressors, because they had replied to the mere 
 tien of a thesis, in the law of nations, by an 
 embargo; that Denmark would not commence hos- 
 tilities, but would energetically meet force by 
 force. The brave population of Copenhagen sup- 
 ported by its loyalty and adhesion the prince who 
 represented it with so much dignity. The entire 
 population took up arms, and, on the appeal of the 
 prince royal, formed militia and volunteer corps. 
 Eight hundred students took up the musket ; all 
 who could handle a pick-axe aided the engineers 
 in executing the works of defence, and intrench- 
 ments were every where cast np. Messrs. Drum- 
 mond and Vansittart left Copenhagen abruptly, 
 threatening this unhappy city with all the thunders 
 of England. 
 
 On the 24th, Messrs. Drummond and Vansittart 
 went on board the licet, and the English imme- 
 diately made their preparations for commencing 
 hostilities. 
 
 Nelson, and the commander-in-chief, Parker, 
 held a council of war on board ship. The plan of 
 operations was discussed. One was for passing 
 through the Sound, another was for sailing through 
 the Great Belt : Nelson declared that it was of no 
 consequence by which mode the passage was made; 
 that it was necessary as soon as possible to enter 
 the Baltic, and appear before Copenhagen, in order 
 to prevent the junction of the coalesced fleets. 
 Once in the Baltic, the English fleet should be 
 directed, a part upon Copenhagen to strike a blow 
 at the Danes, and a part upon Sweden and Russia, 
 to destroy the northern squadrons. They had 
 twenty sail of the line, and twenty-five or thirty 
 frigates and vessels of all descriptions. He him- 
 self would undertake, with twelve sail of the line, to 
 destroy the Swedish and Russian fleets, the rest of 
 the English force should attack and bombard Co- 
 penhagen. As to which passage they should make, 
 he would prefer braving a few cannon shots in 
 forcing tin; Sound, to encountering the dangerous 
 shoals of the Great and Little Belt. 
 
 Barker, far less enterprising, made an attempt 
 by the Great Belt, on the 26th of March. Several 
 
 small \' -.Is of his fleet having taken the ground, 
 the commander-in-chief recalled the squadron, and 
 inned to force a passage. Early in the morn- 
 ing of the 30th of March, he entered this renowned 
 Btrait. It blew at the moment a fresh breeze 
 from the- north-west, very much in favourfor pass* 
 i g through the Sound, which runs from north- 
 west to BOUth-east, as far as Llsinore, after which, 
 it continues nearly due north and south. The 
 Beet, under the favourable breeze, boldly ad- 
 vanced, keeping at an equal distance from both 
 shores. Nelson led the advanced aqnadron, Parker 
 the centre, and admiral Graves the rear. The 
 line-of-battle ships formed a single column in 
 the middle of tin- channel. Upon each side a 
 
 flotilla of gun and bomb-Vessels passed nearer to 
 the shores both of Denmark and Sweden, in I niel- 
 lo return the enemies' fire closer to their batfc riea.
 
 220 
 
 Position of Copenhagen. 
 — Its defences. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE 
 
 The English admirals 
 determine to attack 
 Copenhagen. 
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 When the fleet came in sight of Elsinore, the 
 fortress of Kronenborg instantly opened, and a 
 hundred pieces of heavy cannon, vomited forth at 
 once a storm of shells and red-hot balls. The Eng- 
 lish admiral, seeing that the battery upon the Swe- 
 dish shore scarcely fired at all, because that old bat- 
 tery of eight guns was almost useless, steered 
 nearer to that side, and the English in passing on 
 jeered at the Danes, whose proiectiles did not 
 reach their ships by four or five Hundred yards. 
 The bomb-vessels which had approached the Da- 
 nish shore, gave and received a great number of 
 shells, but very little bloodshed ensued, as only 
 four men were hurt on the side of the Danes, 
 two of whom were killed, and two wounded. In 
 Elsinore only one house suffered injury from the 
 English fire, and that, remarkably enough, was the 
 house of the English consul. 
 
 The whole fleet anchored about noon in the mid- 
 dle of the gulf, near the island of Huen. 
 
 This gulf, as before observed, descended from 
 north to south fur the distance of about twenty 
 leagues; irregular in width, from three to twelve 
 leagues, as the shores recede or advance, and pos- 
 sessing but few navigable channels. About twenty 
 leagues towards the south stands the city of Copen- 
 hagen, situated on the west of the gulf upon the 
 side of Denmark, at a very small elevation above 
 the sea, forming a plane slightly inclined from 
 whence a cannon-ball would just skim over the 
 surface of the sea. The gulf, very wide and broad 
 at this place, is divided by the low island of Salt- 
 holm into two navigable channels; one of which, 
 called the passage of Malmo, stretching along the 
 coast of Sweden, is scarcely accessible for large 
 vessels ; the othei", which is called Drogden, 
 stretches almost parallel with the coast of Den- 
 mark, and is commonly preferred for the purpose 
 of navigation. This last passage is itself divided by 
 a sand-bank, called the Middel Grund, into two 
 passages ; one named the King's Channel, borders 
 the city of Copenhagen; the other the Dutch Chan- 
 nel, is situated on the opposite side of the Middel 
 Grund. It was in the King's Channel that the 
 Danish force was placed, leaving the other, or that 
 of the Dutch, open to the English, the Danes think- 
 ing more of the defence of Copenhagen than of pre- 
 venting the entrance of the English into the Baltic. 
 But it was very obvious that Parker and Nelson 
 would not have ventured into the Baltic until they 
 had destroyed the defences of Copenhagen, together 
 with any naval force of the neutrals which might 
 be there united. 
 
 The means of defence which were possessed by 
 the Danes consisted in batteries on shore, situated 
 to the right and left of the entrance of the port, 
 and of a line of floating batteries, or vessels cut 
 down and moored in the middle of the King's 
 Channel, for the whole length of Copenhagen, in 
 such a manner as to protect the city from the fire 
 of the enemy. Commencing on the north of the 
 position, there was placed a work called the Three 
 Crowns, constructed in masonry, nearly closed up 
 at the gorge, commanding the entrance into the 
 port, and connecting its fire with that of the citadel 
 of Copenhagen. It was mounted with seventy 
 pieces of cannon of the largest calibre. Four ships 
 of the line, of which two were at anchor, and two 
 under sail, and also a frigate under sail, closed the 
 
 entrance of the channel which led into the port. 
 From the fort of the Three Crowns, in going south- 
 wards, twenty hulks of large vessels were strongly 
 moored, carrying heavy guns, and filling up the 
 middle of the King's Channel, being also connected 
 with land batteries on the v s)and of Amack. Thus 
 the Danish line of defence was supported on the 
 left by the Three Crown batteries, and on the right 
 by the isle of Amack, occupying lengthways and 
 completely blockading up the middle of the King's 
 Channel. The fort of the Three Crowns could not 
 be forced, defended as it was by seventy cannon 
 and five vessels, three of which were under sail. 
 The line of defence, on the contrary, composed of 
 immovable hulks, was too long and not sufficiently 
 close, besides being incapable of manoeuvring ', 
 and in the object of obstructing the middle of the 
 passage they were placed too far in advance of the 
 point of support on the right, or in other words, of 
 the fixed batteries upon the isle of Amack. This 
 island is only a continuation of the land upon which 
 Copenhagen stands, the line of defence might there- 
 fore be attacked on the right. If it had been com- 
 posed of a division of vessels under sail, capable of 
 moving, or if it had been more closely united and 
 more strongly supported on the shore, the English 
 would not have come safe and sound out of the 
 attack. But the Danes thought a good deal of their 
 ships of war, which they were not rich enough to 
 replace if they should be destroyed ; and besides, 
 they had not yet received their complement of men 
 from Norway ; they were consecpuently shut up in 
 the interior of the port, thinking that unservice- 
 able vessels were sufficient to answer the purpose 
 of floating batteries against the English fleet. 
 
 Their bravest seamen, commanded by intrepid 
 officers, served the artillery in those old floating 
 batteries, thus moored in line. 
 
 The English arrived at Copenhagen long before the 
 junction, at that city, of all the vessels of the neutral 
 powers could take place. They might have passed to 
 the east of the middle ground, and disregarding the 
 floating batteries moored in the Royal Channel, 
 have gone through the Dutch Channel into the 
 Baltic. They might have done all this out of reach 
 of the guns of Copenhagen ; but they must have 
 left behind them a very imposing force, capable of 
 cutting off their retreat in case of any untoward 
 event occurring which might oblige them to return 
 by the passage of the Sound, weakened and in 
 want of resources. It was much better to profit 
 at once by the isolation of the Danes, to strike a 
 decisive blow at them, detach them from the con- 
 federation; and after having, by this means, seized 
 upon the keys of the Baltic, proceed, as quickly as 
 possible, to attack the Swedes and Russians. This 
 plan was at the same time bold and wise, and ob- 
 tained the concurrence of both Nelson and Parker, 
 a thing that rarely happens between two such com- 
 manders. 
 
 The 31st of March and 1st of April were em- 
 ployed in reconnoitring the Danish line, sounding 
 the channels, and arranging the plan of attack. 
 Nelson, Parker, the older captains of the fleet, 
 
 1 This " manoeuvring" in a narrow and intricate channel, 
 shows that the author does not understand naval affairs, or 
 he would not have made a disadvantage of what in such a 
 place was impossible. — Translator.
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 Battle of Copenhagen. 
 
 THE NEUTRAL TOWERS. 
 
 Daring courage of Nelson. 
 
 221 
 
 and the commandant of the artillery, reconnoitred 
 in person the position of the enemy, in the midst 
 of ice, and sometimes of the Danish balls. Nelson 
 maintained, that with ten sail of the line he would 
 attack and break the right line of the Danes. His 
 plan was to proceed along the entire length of the 
 Middle Ground, passing through the Dutch Chan- 
 nel, then doubling back immediately, to enter the 
 King's Channel, and place ship against ship, a 
 hundred fathoms from the Danish line. He wished 
 at the same time, that some vessels of the fleet, 
 under captain Riou, should attack the Three Crowns 
 battery, and having silenced the guns, disembark 
 a thousand men and carry it by storm. The com- 
 mander-in-chief, admiral Parker, with the re- 
 mainder of the fleet, was not to engage in this 
 bold attack; lie was to remain in the rear, cannon- 
 ade the citadel, and cover any disabled vessel 
 that might retire out of action. 
 
 This manoeuvre, as bold as that of Aboukir, 
 could only succeed by great ability in the execu- 
 tion, and great good fortune as well. Admiral 
 Parker consented, upon condition that the enter- 
 prise should not be carried too far if the difficulties 
 were found not likely to be surmounted. He gave 
 Nelson twelve ships in place of the ten he de- 
 manded. On the 1st of April, in the evening, 
 Nelson sailed through the Dutch Channel, and 
 came to anchor some way below Copenhagen, off 
 a point of the isle of Amack, called Drago. In order 
 to get into the King's Channel, and to sail through 
 it, a different wind was required from that which 
 the day before had enabled him to pass through 
 the Dutch Channel. On the following day, in the 
 morning, the wind blew just opposite to the point 
 whence it blew on the preceding night. He sailed 
 into the King's Channel, steering between the 
 Danish line and the Middle Ground. All the 
 channels had been sounded ; but in spite of this 
 precaution three l vessels got fast upon the Middle 
 Ground, and Nelson took up his post with only 
 nine. He did not suffer himself to be disheartened, 
 but anchored very close to the Danish line, at a 
 distance that must have rendered the effect of the 
 cannonade most horrific. The want of the three 
 vessels aground was much felt, more particularly 
 for the attack on the batteries of the Three Crowns, 
 which now could only be answered by frigates. 
 
 At ten in the morning the whole of the British 
 squadron was in line. It received and returned 
 a dreadful fire. A division of bomb-vessels, 
 which drew little water, was placed upon the 
 shoal of the Middle Ground, and threw shells into 
 Copenhagen, passing over both Bquadrons. The 
 Danes had eight hundred pieces of artillery in 
 play (.11 tlnir batteries, which inflicted consider- 
 able damage upon the English. The officers 
 
 commanding the filiating batteries and hulks dis- 
 played uncommon bravery, and found in these 
 uniler their command the most devoted courage. 
 Tin- commander of the Proveaten in particular, 
 
 which was the southernmost of the Danish line, 
 behaved with heroic courage. Nelson, seeing the 
 importance of depriving their line of the support 
 of the batteries on the isle of Amack, directed the 
 fire of four vessels upon the Proveaten alone. 
 
 • Two only were aground ; one wa» anchored, from 33l 
 beinj; able to weather the shoal. — Translator. 
 
 M. Lassen, the commander, defended his ship 
 until he had lost five hundred out of six hundred 
 of his gunners; he then threw himself into the 
 sea with the remainder, and swam on shore, leav- 
 ing his vessel in flames. He had thus the glory 
 of not striking his flag. Nelson then directed all 
 his efforts against the other floating batteries and 
 rafts, and succeeded in silencing several. In the 
 meanwhile, at the other end of the line, the English 
 suffered considerably, and captain Riou was very 
 roughly handled. Three English vessels were still 
 on shore on the middle ground, and be had none 
 but frigates to oppose to the batteries of the Three 
 Crowns. He had received a terrible fire, without 
 the hope of silencing it, or storming the work. 
 Parker, observing the resistance made by the 
 Danes, and fearing the English vessels, much in- 
 jured in their rigging, would be exposed to getting 
 aground, gave orders for the battle to cease. 
 Nelson, perceiving the signal at the mast-head 
 of Parker, gave way to a noble expression of in- 
 dignation. He had lost one eye, and to that 
 applying his spy-glass, he coolly said, " I cannot 
 see Parker's signal for ceasing action ;" and or- 
 dered his own signal for close action to be kept 
 flying. This was a noble act of imprudence upon 
 his part; and as often happens to audacious im- 
 prudence, it was followed by complete success. 
 
 The Danish hulks, which could not be moved 
 to find shelter under the land batteries, were ex- 
 posed to a most destructive fire. The Danebrog 
 blew up with a terrible explosion; several others 
 were disabled and driven from their moorings, 
 with an enormous loss of men. But the English, 
 on the other side, did not suffer less, and found 
 themselves in great danger. Nelson, endeavour- 
 ing to take possession of the Danish ships which 
 had struck their colours, was exposed, on ap- 
 proaching the batteries 2 upon the isle of Amack, 
 to several deadly discharges from their guns. At 
 this moment two or three of his vessels were so com- 
 pletely cut up as to be incapable of manoeuvring; 
 and on the side of the Three Crowns, captain Riou, 
 who had been obliged to retire, from these for- 
 midable batteries, was cut in two by a chain-shot. 
 Nelson, nearly beaten, was not disconcerted, and 
 struck upon the idea of sending a flag of truce to 
 the prince-royal of Denmark, who, from one of the 
 batteries, was a spectator of the terrible scene. 
 
 1 Being moored, the Danish line was stronger, and could 
 fire on the EnglUll ships coming to an anchor, that had to 
 anchor and furl their sails under a heavy fire. Though the 
 Dams fought nobly, it was the rapidity of t l.e English fire 
 that gave Nelson the victory. The Danish force south of 
 the Crown batteries was all destroyed! burned or taken. It 
 COMla(ed of MX sail ol the line, eleven Boating batteries, 
 mounting ea- h twenty six 24-pOUIlders, or eighteen 18- 
 pounders. each flanked by the batteries which in dieted the 
 princii al loss. Nelson sunk, burned, took, or drove on shore, 
 
 the whole line; and Copenhagen, at the clone of the day, 
 
 was open to bom 1 arclnient, and I he vessels placed for that 
 purpose. One seventy-four, one sixty four, 'our two-decked 
 bulks, two fiigates. a Boating battery, four pontons or 
 praams of twenty-four guns each, wen- taken, a frigate and 
 a brljl sunk, the Danish commodore WU blown up, one or 
 two were driven on shore under the butteries; all this was 
 achieved without the loss of a single vessel. Per. but OUT 
 author could deem such a protended or dubiout ilr'ery — 
 Translator.
 
 222 ^nnt'-^^rsioTo-f THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 hostilities. 
 
 Nelson lands for the 
 purpose of nego- 
 tiating. 
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 In his letter, Nelson stated, that if the prince did not 
 stop the fir.; which prevented his taking possession 
 of his prizes, which by right belonged to him, having 
 struck their colours, he should be obliged to blow 
 them up with all on board; that the English were 
 the brethren of the Danes ; that both had fought 
 enough to show their valour, and that any further 
 effusion of blood ought to be avoided l . 
 
 The prince, stricken by the appalling spectacle, 
 ana fearing for the city of Copenhagen, deprived 
 of the support of the floating batteries, ordered the 
 firing to cease. This was a fault, because in a few 
 moments the fleet of Nelson, nearly disabled, would 
 have been obliged to retire half destroyed. A sort 
 of negotiation was commenced, and Nelson took 
 advantage of it to quit his place of anchorage. As 
 he retired three of his vessels got aground If at 
 this moment the fire of the Danes had but con- 
 tinued, these three vessels must have been lost 2 . 
 
 On the following day Nelson and Parker, after 
 great labour, got the three vessels afloat that had 
 been aground, and entered into a negotiation with 
 the Danes with the object of stipulating for a suspen- 
 sion of hostilities. They stood as much in need of 
 this as the Danes, because they had twelve hundred 
 men killed and wounded, and in six vessels a horrible 
 slaughter a . The loss of the Danes was not much 
 
 l Nelson did not -want to approach the isle of Amack for 
 such a purpose. When he wrote the note to the crown- 
 prince the Danish line was irrecoverably ruined, but the fire 
 was still hot. The Danehrog had just before struck her 
 colours ; and the boats going to take possession of her, Nel- 
 son's ship having ceased to fire for that purpose, the Danebrog 
 fired upon the boats, most likely from ignorance of the usage 
 of war , and they were obliged to return. The Elephant then 
 opened again upon the Danebrog with grape-shot from her 
 36-pounders, killing and wounding many in that vessel, but 
 making a far more horrible slaughter in two praams, feebly 
 resisting, full of men, ahead and astern of her. The sight 
 was most abhorrent to Nelson ; and he had no choice but to 
 burn the Dane with all on board, including numbers of 
 wounded. With the same humane feelings as those with 
 which he rushed on deck at the battle of the Nile, to save 
 the crew of l'Orient, hut with a different feeling as to the 
 quarrel, and a desire, ever uppermost, to detach the Danes 
 from the confederacy by the impression produced,— for Nel- 
 son was a man of genius as well as courage, -he wrote the 
 letter to the crown prince. Some have said there was a 
 third motive ; but as the Danes had nothing to do with that 
 motive, it is immaterial to mention it here. The battle was 
 over in the afternoon, about a couple of hours before dark. 
 Early the nex' morning Nelson went on shore, and was re- 
 ceived with acclamation^ by the people, not with "murmurs ;'■' 
 th»y knew his object was peace, and they did not harmonize 
 Willi the ile Ignl of Paul I. and the first consul. — Translator. 
 2 This was not true. The Desiree frigate, the Defiance, 
 and Elephant, got on shore only at the close of the action. 
 They had anchored so close to the Middle Ground, under 
 the mistaken idea that there was shoal water between the 
 Danisli line and them, that the Elephant had only four feet 
 water under her keel when the battle began. These ships 
 had no enemy opposed to them, the Danish line being de- 
 stroyed, and bomb-vessels moored in a position ready tor the 
 bombardment. The Monarch and Isis were the only ships 
 that required serious repair, and they were sent home for 
 that purpose, with one of the Danish prizes containing the 
 wounded. Not half the fleet had been engaged. The line 
 of defence gone between Amack and the Crown batteries, 
 Parker's division might have moved up and cannonaded the 
 city the next day, if the bomb-vessels were not of themselves 
 sufficient to destroy it.— Translator. 
 9 The English had 20 officers and 231 men killed, and 48 
 
 greater ; but they had relied too much upon their 
 line of floating batteries, and now that these bat- 
 teries were destroyed, the lower part of the city, 
 that which was open to the sea, was exposed to a 
 bombardment. Above all, they were apprehensive 
 for their vessels in the basin, in which were their 
 ships of war, but half equipped ; immovable, and 
 locked up in the basin, they might have every one 
 been burned. This was a most alarming subject of 
 solicitude. They regarded their fleet, in fact, as 
 they did their maritime existence itself ; because if 
 it were lost they had not the means of fitting out 
 another. Under the irritation of suffering and 
 danger at the moment, they complained of their 
 allies, without making any allowance for the diffi- 
 culties they had to encounter, and which had 
 obstructed their arrival under the walls of Copen- 
 hagen. The contrary winds, the ice, and want of 
 time, had retained the Swedes and Russians with- 
 out any fault of their own. It is true, that if they 
 had arrived with twenty vessels and joined the 
 Danish fleet in the straits where the engagement 
 took place, Nelson would have failed in his daring 
 enterprise, and the cause of maritime neutrality 
 would have triumphed that day. But time was 
 necessary for them to prepare, and the promptitude 
 of the English changed the destiny of the war. 
 
 Parker, who had been alarmed at the temerity 
 of Nelson, in the battle of the 2nd of April, was now 
 able to form a tolerably correct opinion of the ac- 
 tual position of the Danes, and understood all the 
 results which could be drawn from the battle that 
 had taken place. He required that the Danes 
 should withdraw from the neutral confederacy, 
 that they should open their ports to the English, 
 and should receive an English force, under the 
 pretence of protecting them against the resent- 
 ment of the neutral powers. Nelson had the cou- 
 rage to land on the 3rd of April, and to carry these 
 propositions to the crown-prince. He went iu a 
 boat to Copenhagen, and heard himself the mur- 
 murs of this brave population, indignant at his 
 appearance ; but he found the crown-prince was 
 inflexible. The prince, more alarmed the evening 
 before than the actual danger of Copenhagen jus- 
 tified, would not consent to the shameful defection 
 which was proposed to him. He replied, that he 
 would sooner bury himself under the ruins of his 
 capital than he would consent to betray the com- 
 mon cause. Nelson returned on board his ship 
 without having obtained any concession. During 
 this interval, the Danes seeing themselves exposed 
 to the dangers of a second battle, set themselves at 
 work to add new defences to those already exist- 
 ing. They made the battery of the Three Crowns 
 much stronger, and covered with cannon the isle 
 pf Amack and the lower part of the town. They 
 brought their ships, the great objects of their care, 
 into basins, as far as possible from the sea, cover- 
 ing ther.i with earth and dung, in order to preserve 
 them as much as possible from fire : and became 
 in a certain degree more confident when they saw 
 the hesitation of the English, who did not seem in 
 
 officers and 641 men wounded ; in all 943. Three ships sus- 
 tained nearly half the loss, the rest had to be divided be- 
 tween sixteen vessels of all classes. The English accounts 
 gave the Danish loss at 2000 men ; the Danish accounts at 
 18U0.— Translatur.
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 An armistice signed : its 
 terms. 
 
 THE NEUTRAL POWERS. 
 
 Death of Paul I. of Russia : his 
 
 character. 
 
 223 
 
 a harry to recommence khe terrible straggle. One 
 part of tlie population capable of assisting, lent 
 their aid in the defensive works ; the other part 
 was employed in preparing means to prevent the 
 conflagration. 
 
 Finally, after five days of delay, Nelson returned 
 to Copenhagen notwithstanding the threatening 
 aspect of the Danish people. The discussion was 
 lively, and Nelson took upon himself to concede 
 more than Parker authorized. He concluded an 
 armistice which was no more virtually than a statu 
 quo. The Danes did not retire from the confede- 
 ration 1 , but all hostilities were to be suspended 
 between them and the English for fourteen weeks, 
 after which time they were to return to the same 
 position as on the day of the signature for the sus- 
 pension of arms. The armistice comprehended only 
 the Danish isles and Jutland, but not Holstein, so 
 that hostilities might continue in the Elbe, and that 
 river be still interdicted to the English. The Eng- 
 lish were to keep at cannon-shot distance from all 
 the Danish ports and armed vessels, except in the 
 King's Channel, which they had the liberty to pass 
 and repass for the purpose of entering the Baltic. 
 They were not to establish themselves on any part 
 of the Danish territory, and were only to touch at 
 the ports for the purpose of getting such things as 
 were necessary for the health and refreshment of 
 the crews. 
 
 Such were all the terms which Nelson could ob- 
 tain, and it must be acknowledged they were all 
 his victory gave him a right to demand. But as he 
 was upon the point of quitting Copenhagen, a very 
 unfortunate event was currently reported, of which 
 the crown-prince, who had been induced by it to 
 enter into negotiations, succeeded in keeping from 
 him the knowledge. It was rumoured at the same 
 moment that Paul 1. had died suddenly. Nelson 
 set sail without knowing this, or it would no doubt 
 have made him advance in his demand. The ar- 
 mistice was immediately ratified by admiral Parker. 
 The prince-royal of Denmark hinted to the Swedes, 
 that it would beof no use to expose themselves to the 
 
 1 Nelson landed on the 3rd of April. Sir Hyde Parker 
 was at some distance, with whom conference was to be held. 
 Notwithstanding delays and exchanges of powers, the sus- 
 pension of arms was executed for fourteen weeks on the 9th. 
 The stipulations were as stated by the author, except that he 
 has disengenuouslv omitted to notice the most important of 
 
 all: " The treaty of aimed neutrality shall, at lar as relates 
 tn the co-operation Iff Denmark, be fed while the armis- 
 
 tice it in force" Nelson had gained all he required — to 
 proceed against Sweden and Russia with no feat of an enemy 
 in his rear. In ten 01 twelve days after the battle, thi 
 li-h II et had arrived— SO far from being seriously injured — 
 within two days' sail ol St. Petersburg. Count Pablen's 
 
 letter to Admiral Parker, written on the 20th of April, was 
 answered hy Admiral Par <i on hoard the London, at sea, 
 on the 22 1 d. Count Pahlen'i letter put an end to the con 
 foderacy. It announced that, on Alexander's accession, one 
 of the first event, bad been, the acceptance of "the offer 
 which the Hritish court had made to his illustrious prede- 
 cessor," to tciniiiia'c the dispute "by an amicable conven- 
 tion/" This letter, and ace. tan..- by Alexander of what 
 Paul had refused, suspend, d Parker h proceedings, The 
 Hritish court had no pari in that act, beyond orders pre- 
 viously e;iven to its admirals, in case Russia consented to 
 the convention, that hostilities should be suspended. Parker 
 sailed back to EUoge Hay, in Denmark, immediately re- 
 signed, and Nelson took the chicl Command. — Translator. 
 
 attack of the English, whom they would find them- 
 selves incapable of resisting. Nor was the advice 
 unnecessary, for Gustavua Adolpbus had got his 
 
 fleet ready for sea. In the desire to get his fleet 
 forward, he had dismissed one rear-admiral from 
 his service, and sent an admiral before a court- 
 martial, to punish him for his delay in getting for- 
 ward, though very unjustly. 
 
 All these efforts were vain. Paul I. had died at 
 St. Petersburg on the night between the 23rd and 
 24th of March. This event terminated much more 
 certainly than the incomplete victory of Nelson, 
 the maritime confederation of the northern powers. 
 Paul I. had been the author of the confederation, 
 and had applied towards its success all the impe- 
 tuosity of temper which he threw into every action 
 of his life, and he would most certainly have dis- 
 played similar earnestness in repairing the disaster, 
 nearly of equal disadvantage to each, of the battle 
 of Copenhagen. He would have sent his land forces 
 to Denmark, and the whole of the neutral fleet to 
 the Sound, and probably have made the English 
 repent of their cruel enterprise against the Danish 
 capital. But this prince had pushed to the utmost 
 the patience of his subjects, and had just become 
 the victim of a tragical revolution in his own 
 palace. 
 
 Paul I. was a spirited and not a bad man; but he 
 carried his opinions to extremes, and like all others 
 who are of the like character, was capable of good 
 or evil actions, according to the disordered im- 
 pulses of a violent and feeble mind. If such an 
 organization is unfortunate in private individuals, 
 it is much more so in princes, and still worse in 
 absolute sovereigns. With such it very frequently 
 approaches to madness, at times putting on a san- 
 guinary complexion of mind. Thus every person in 
 St. Petersburg was in dread for his own destiny. 
 Even the best treated favourites of Paul were by 
 no means sure that the favour they enjoyed would 
 terminate out of Siberia. 
 
 This prince, sensitive and chivalrous, had felt a 
 lively sympathy for the victims of the French revo- 
 lution, in consequence a vengeful hatred to that 
 event. Thus while the able Catherine had con- 
 trived, during her whole reign, to excite all Europe 
 against France without marching against her a sin- 
 gle soldier, Paul, on arriving at the throne, had 
 sent Suwarrow, with one hundred thousand Rus- 
 sians, into Italy. In the warmth of his zeal, he 
 interdicted even French books, manners, and cus- 
 toms. This could not fail to offend the Russian 
 nobility, who, like the whole of the European aris- 
 tocracy, were fond of reviling France, with the 
 reservation of enjoying her wit, her manners, and 
 her advanced civilization. The Russian nobles 
 found the antirevolutionary zeal unbearable when 
 pushed to such an excess. 
 
 Paul had been seen to alter these opinions, and 
 
 to run into the opposite extreme, contracting a 
 hatred for his allies, taking his enemies to his 
 bosom, and filling his apartments with portraits of 
 
 Bonaparte, drinking to his health in public, and 
 acting bo much upon contra tie.-, as to declare war 
 
 against England. This last step made him not only 
 
 distasteful to the Russian nobility, but odious; be- 
 cause it touched not merely their tastes but their 
 
 interests. The vast extent ol his empire, occupying 
 nearly tin- whole of the northern part of Europe,
 
 Disaffection of the Russian 
 224 aristocracy.— Contrast be- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, 
 tween England and Russia. 
 
 Count Pahlen.— Plot 
 against the life of 
 Paul I. 
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 fertile in grain, timber, liemp, and minerals, stands 
 in need of tlie aid of foreign merchants to take 
 their productions, and give money or manufactured 
 goods in exchange. The English furnish to Russia 
 for the raw produce of her soil, the articles which 
 are the product of their own labour, and thus the 
 Russian farmers are able to pay their landlords the 
 rents of their land. The English possess in conse- 
 quence most of the trade with St. Petersburg; and 
 that is, in a great degree, the bond which so con- 
 nects the policy of Russia to that of England, 
 retarding a rivalry which sooner or later must 
 arise between those two great copartners of Asia. 
 
 The Russian aristocracy was exasperated at the 
 new system of policy adopted by the emperor. If 
 it had blamed in this prince his excess of hatred 
 towards France, it yet more censured his excess of 
 attachment, more particularly when it went the 
 length of resolutions fraught with ruin to the great 
 landed proprietors. To these annoyances against 
 their tastes and interests, Paid joined cruelties that 
 were not natural to his heart, which was rather 
 good than evil. He had sunt a multitude of unfor- 
 tunate people into Siberia ; he afterwards recalled 
 them in consecpuence of being moved by their suf- 
 ferings, but he never gavt» them back their pro- 
 perty. These unhappy beings filied St. Petersburg 
 with their miseries and their complaints. Annoyed 
 by this he sent them anew into banishment. Daily 
 becoming more awake to the sense of hatred borne 
 towards him by his subjects, he grew more dis- 
 trustful, and threatened every life around him. He 
 formed the most sinister designs, now against his 
 ministers, then against his wife and children, and 
 at length with his madness assumed all the conduct 
 of a tyrant. He rendered the Michel palace in 
 which lie resided a complete fortress, surrounding 
 it with bastions and ditches. It might be thought he 
 was in dread of an unforeseen or sudden attack. 
 Every night he barricaded the door which sepa- 
 rated his apartments from those of the empress, 
 and thus, without being aware of it, prepared him- 
 self for his tragical fate. 
 
 Tlii.s state of affairs could not continue long, and 
 terminated — as, in this empire which approaches 
 fast, it is true, towards civilization, but where 
 barbarism was the starting point, as it had termi- 
 nated before more than once. The notion of get- 
 ting quit of the unfortunate Paul by the customary 
 mode, in other words, by a revolution in the palace 
 — there where the palace is the nation — was upper- 
 most in every mind. Let a proper value be set 
 upon national institutions. At. another extremity 
 of Europe, upon one oi the first thrones in the 
 world, there was also a prince. George III., in a 
 state of madness, a headstrong prince, good, and 
 religious. This prince, occasionally deprived of his 
 reason for wliole months, bid just experienced 
 a return of the same disorder, at oik; of the most 
 serious periods in the 1 1 in lory of England. Not- 
 withstanding which things proceeded in the most 
 simple and regular manner. The constitution placed 
 at the king's side iniui»ters who conducted the 
 government on bis behalf, and this eclipse of the 
 royal reason did not in any mode affect the public 
 business of the country. Pitt governed in behalf 
 of George III. as he had done before for seventeen 
 years : the idea of an atrocious crime in such a 
 case entered into no man's imagination. In St. 
 
 Petersburg, on the contrary, the sight of a prince 
 on the throne in a state of insanity gave origin to 
 the basest designs. 
 
 There was at that time in the court of Russia 
 one of those formidable men who never resile upon 
 any extremity, who, under a regular government, 
 would perhaps become great and distinguished 
 citizens, but under a despotic government become 
 criminals, if crime is in particular situations, 
 though not actually countenanced by the govern- 
 ment, incidental to its administration on certain 
 occasions. Crime must be condemned in every 
 country ; but the institutions that produce it must 
 be still more a matter of reprobation. 
 
 Count Pahlen had served with distinction in the 
 Russian army. He was of a very imposing person, 
 and concealed under the rough and sometimes 
 familiar manner of a soldier a shrewd and pene- 
 trating intellect. He was endowed with singular 
 boldness ami imperturbable presence of mind. 
 Governor of St. Petersburg, entrusted with the 
 police of the whole empire, initiated, for which 
 thanks were due to his master's ci nfidence, into all 
 the great affairs of the state, he was in reality more 
 than by the title of his office the principal person 
 in the Russian government. His ideas upon the 
 policy of his country were of a decided character. 
 He deemed the crusade against the French revo- 
 lution as very unreasonable, and the new zeal 
 against England as intemperate. A prudent re- 
 serve, an able neutrality, in the midst of the 
 formidable rivalry between England and France, 
 appeared to him the most profitable political situa- 
 tion for Russia. Neither English nor French, but 
 Russian in his political views, be was also Russian 
 in his manners — Russinn as it was understood in 
 the time of Peter the Great. Convinced that all 
 would be lost in Russia if the reign of Paul were 
 not abridged ; having even felt himself some fore- 
 bodings for his own personal safety, from certain 
 signs of dissatisfaction he had remarked in the 
 emperor, be resolutely determined upon his course 
 of action, and communicated it to count Panin, the 
 vice-chancellor and minister for foreign affairs. 
 They both agreed that it had become absolutely 
 needful to put an end to a situation as alarming 
 for the empire as it was for individual security. 
 Count Pahlen accordingly took upon himself to 
 execute the terrible design upon which they had 
 mutually agreed '. The heir to the throne was the 
 
 1 The following details are the most authentic that can be 
 obtained regarding the death of Paul I. The source from 
 which they are derived is as follows. The court of "Vussia was 
 much affected at the deaih of Paul I., and tht ...ore indig- 
 nant at the effrontery w iih which certain accomplices in the 
 crtrie were heard to boast about it in Berlin. The court 
 obtained by different ways, and above all through a person 
 well informed on the matter, some very curb us particulars, 
 which were col ected into a memoir, and communicated to 
 the first consul. These are the particulars of which M. 
 lii.'iioii, then secretary of the French embassy at the court 
 of Prussia, was able to obtain the knowledge, and which he 
 has detailed in his work. Still the more secret circum- 
 stances attending the event remained wholh unknown, when 
 a singular incident placed Fra ice in possession of the only 
 a -count worthy of credit, which perhaps at this moment ex- 
 ists, of the death of Paul I. A French emigrant, who had 
 passed bis life in the service of Russia, and who acquired a 
 degree of military renown, bad become the friend of count 
 Pahlen and general Benningsen. Being with them at the
 
 1S0I. 
 March. 
 
 The prand duke Alex- 
 ander consents to 
 
 THE NEUTRAL POWERS. 
 
 his father's deposition. — The 
 conspirators. 
 
 225 
 
 grand duke Alexander, whose reign belongs to our 
 time, a young prince who gave a promise of 
 superior qualities, and who then appeared, which 
 he did not afterwards prove, easy to be led. He it 
 was whom count Pahlen wished to place upon the 
 throne by a catastrophe sudden and free from 
 alarm. It was indispensable to have an under- 
 standing with the grand duke and heir to the 
 crown, in the first place, in order to have his con- 
 sent, and then not to be after the event treated as a 
 common assassin, who is sacrificed while the ad- 
 vantage of his crime is secured. It was difficult to 
 break such a matter to the prince, full of kindly 
 feeling, and utterly incapable of lending himself to 
 an attempt against the life of his father. Count 
 Pahlen, without laying open his mind, and without 
 avowing the design lie intended, discussed the 
 affairs of the government with the grand duke, 
 and at each fresh extravagance of Paul that was 
 dangerous to the empire, communicated it to him, 
 but remained silent without commenting upon what 
 he had said. Alexander, upon receiving these 
 communications, cast down his eyes with grief, but 
 said nothing. These dumb but expressive scenes 
 were many times renewed. At last clearer ex- 
 planations became necessary. Count Pahlen finished 
 by making the young prince comprehend that 
 such a state of things could not be much longer 
 protracted without causing ruin to the empire; and 
 taking good care not to speak of a crime of which 
 Alexander would not have tolerated the propo- 
 sition, he intimated to him that it would be neces- 
 sary to depose Paul and ensure him a quiet retreat, 
 but in any case to take out of his hands the chariot of 
 the state, which he was driving towards a precipice. 
 Alexander shed a good many tears, protested 
 against any idea of disputing the government of the 
 empire with his father, and then gave way by 
 degrees, before fresh proofs of the danger into 
 which Paul was throwing the affairs of the state, 
 and even the imperial family itself. In fact, Paul, 
 dissatisfied with the sluggishness of Prussia in 
 the quarrel of the neutral powers, spoke of march- 
 ing eighty thousand men upon Berlin. Besides 
 this, in the delirium of his arrogance, he wished 
 the first consul to take him for arbitrator in every 
 thing ; and that even this powerful personage 
 should neither make peace with Germany, nor the 
 courts of Piedmont, Naples. Rome, or the Porte, 
 except upon bases laid down by Russia ; in such a 
 
 country-house of count Pahlen, he one day obtained from 
 their own lips the circumstantial account of all that passed 
 in St Petersburg in the tragical night of the 23rd and 24ih 
 of March. As the emigrant was very careful to commit to 
 writing all which he saw or heard, he immediately wrote 
 down the narrative of the two principal actors in that event, 
 and Inserted them in the memoirs which he left behind him 
 
 ': manuscript memoirs arc now French property. They 
 rectify many vague or incorrect assertions; and, in other 
 respects, do not commit, more than they were previously 
 committed, the names already connected with this dark in- 
 cident; Ihey only give more precise and correct details in 
 place of those falsified or exaggerated which were already 
 known. After comparing this account, emanating from tes- 
 timony so valid, with the details furnished hy the court of 
 Prussia, we have put together the historical recital which 
 follows, and which seems to us the only one worthy of belief, 
 perhaps the only perfect one in existence, or that posterity 
 will ever he able to obtain, of a catastrophe so 
 A'ote of the Author. 
 
 way it was soon reasonable to think he would 
 not long have kept terms with France, whose side 
 he had < mbraced with so much ardour. To these 
 arguments count Pahlen added an expression of 
 inquietude on his own part for the security of the 
 imperial family itself, of which he said Paul began 
 to be suspicious. 
 
 Alexander at length consented, but exacted a 
 solemn oath from count Pahlen that he should not 
 attempt any thing that might affect the life of his 
 father. Count Pahlen swore to every thing desired 
 by the inexperienced son, who thought a sceptre 
 could be snatched from the hand of an emperor 
 without first taking his life. 
 
 The actors were yet to be found for the tragedy; 
 in his conception of the design, count Pahlen 
 deemed it beneath him to be a personal partaker 
 in the execution. He had the actors in view, but 
 reserved the secret according to the confidence 
 each seemed to merit, making them sooner or later 
 acquainted with the part which he had reserved 
 for them to perform. The Soubow brothers, who 
 had been raised from nothing by Catherine's fa- 
 vour, were chosen for carrying out this catastrophe. 
 Count Pahlen only opened his design to them at a 
 late period. Plato Soubow, the favourite of Cathe- 
 rine, restless and supple, was well worthy to make 
 a figure in a palatial revolution. His brother 
 Nicolas, solely distinguished by his great bodily 
 strength, was well fitted for a subaltern part. Vale- 
 rian Soubow, a brave and good soldier, a friend of 
 the archduke Alexander, deserved from his merits 
 to have been omitted from so unworthy a project. 
 They had a sister closely allied with all the English 
 faction, the friend of lord Whitworth, the English 
 ambassador, who poured into their ears her own 
 zeal for the policy of England. Count Pahlen 
 secured many other confederates, and brought 
 them under different pretences to St. Petersburg, 
 without disclosing to them his secret. There was 
 one individual whom he had summoned to St. Pe- 
 tersburg, whose concurrence he did not doubt any 
 more than of his redoubtable energy, — that in- 
 dividual was the celebrated general Benningsen, 
 an Hanoverian belonging to the Russian service, 
 the first officer in the Russian army at that time, 
 and who had the honour at a later period, in 1807, 
 to stop the victorious march of Napoleon. His 
 hands, worthy of bearing a sword, should never 
 have been tinned with a poignard. 
 
 Benningsen had sought a refuge in the country 
 from the Mnger of Paul, whom he had displeased. 
 Count I 'allien drew him from his retreat, made 
 him acquainted with the plot, hut only spoke, if 
 general Benningsen is to he credited, of the depo- 
 sition of the emperor. Benningsen gave his word, 
 and kept it with frightful determination. 
 
 It was resolved to choose for the time of exe- 
 cuting the plot, some day when the regiment of 
 Semenourki, which was entirely devoted to the 
 grand duke Alexander, should he ( u guard at tho 
 Michel palace. They were obliged to wait. But 
 tune pressed, for Paul's illness made a rapid pro- 
 gress, every day becoming more alarming for the 
 interests of the empire, ami placing the safety of 
 his atti ndantS in greater peril. One day he seized 
 the imperturbable Pahlen by the arm, and singu- 
 lurly addressed him in [hese words: — "You were 
 in St. Petersburg in 1763 !"
 
 Singular behaviour of 
 226 Paul. — Calmness of 
 
 count Pahlen. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The emperor Paul 
 assassinated. 
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 This was the year when the emperor, the father 
 of Paul, was assassinated, that Catherine might 
 mount the throne. 
 
 " Yes," replied Pahlen, with great coolness, " I 
 was there." 
 
 "What part did you take in the event which 
 then happened?" 
 
 " That of a subaltern officer in a cavalry regi- 
 ment, — I was a witness, not an actor, in , that 
 catastrophe." 
 
 " Very well," replied Paul, casting a look of ac- 
 cusation and of suspicion at his minister, "they 
 want to recommence to-day the revolution of 1762." 
 
 "I know it," replied count Pahleji, without (emo- 
 tion; "I know the plot and am in it." 
 
 " What you ! " exclaimed Paul,, " vou in the 
 plot?" 
 
 " Yes, in order to become well acquainted with 
 it, and to be better able to watch over your 
 security." 
 
 The calmness of this redoubtable conspirator 
 disconcerted all the suspicions of Paul, who ceased 
 to be jealous of Pahlen, but continued to be still 
 agitated and restless. 
 
 A curious circumstance very nearly of public 
 interest, if such a phrase may be employed in con- 
 nexion with so great a crime, hastened, among 
 other causes, the contemplated event. Paul ordered, 
 on the 23rd of March, a despatch to be written and 
 sent off to M. Krudener, his minister at Berlin, in 
 which he commanded him to declare to the Prus- 
 sian court, that if it did not immediately decide to 
 act against England, he would march eighty thou- 
 sand men upon the Prussian frontier. Count Pahlen 
 wishing, without discovering his reason, that M. 
 Krudener should not attach any importance to the 
 despatch, added with his own hand the following 
 postscript : — 
 
 "His imperial majesty is indisposed to-day; this 
 may have serious consequences J ." 
 
 The 23rd of March was chosen by the chiefs of 
 the conspiracy for the execution of the fatal plot. 
 Count Pahlen, under the pretext of a dinner party, 
 had united at his house, the Soubows, Benningsen, 
 and a number of generals and officers on whom he 
 well knew he could rely. The bottle was profusely 
 circulated with wine of every kind. Pahlen and 
 Benningsen drank nothing. When dinner was over 
 the design for which they were then assembled 
 was unfolded to the conspirators, and to nearly all 
 of them for the first time. They were not informed 
 that the intention was to assassinate the emperor; 
 from such a crime they would have recoiled with 
 horror. They were told that they must all proceed 
 to the palace in order to compel Paul to abdicate 
 the imperial dignity. That Urns they should deliver 
 the empire from very imminent peril, and save a 
 vast Dumber of innocent persons whose lives were 
 threatened by the sanguinary insanity of the empe- 
 ror. Finally, in order more completely to secure 
 their assent, it was affirmed to them that the grand 
 duke Alexander, convinced himself of the necessity 
 of preserving the empire, was well aware of the 
 design, and approved of it. Soon after this the 
 party, flushed with wine, no longer hesitated, and 
 
 1 Tliis despatch was shown to general Beurnonville, the 
 French ambassador, who communicated the contents to his 
 own government immediately. 
 
 all, three or four excepted, went to the palace, 
 believing that they were going merely to depose a 
 mad emperor, not to shed the blood of their unfor- 
 tunate master. 
 
 The night appearing to be sufficiently advanced, 
 the conspirators, to the number of sixty or there- 
 abouts, separated, dividing themselves into two 
 parties. Count Pahlen took the direction of one, 
 general Benningsen of the other. Both those 
 officers were in full uniform, wearing sashes and 
 orders, and proceeding sword in hand. The palace 
 Michel was built and guarded like a fortress, but 
 the bridges were lowered and the gates opened to 
 the two heads of the conspiracy. The party of 
 Benningsen went first straight forwards to the 
 apartment of the emperor. Count Pahlen remained 
 behind, with a reserve of conspirators. He who 
 had organized the plot, disdained to aid in the exe- 
 cution, and was there solely to make provision for 
 any unexpected events. Benningsen penetrated to 
 the apartment of the sleeping monarch. Two hey- 
 dukes were the emperor's body guard, and like 
 faithful servants attempted to defend their sove- 
 reign. One of them wis struck down with a blow 
 from a sabre ; the other fled, crying out for assist- 
 ance, a very useless cry in a palace guarded almost 
 wholly by accomplices in the crime. A valet, who 
 slept near the emperor, ran to the spot, and he was 
 made to open his master's door. The unhappy 
 Paul would fain have found a refuge in the apart- 
 ments of the empress, but amid his dark suspicions, 
 he had been accustomed, with great care, to barri- 
 cade the door that led to them every night. He 
 had therefore no way of escape, and flinging him- 
 self out at the bottom of the bed, concealed himself 
 behind the folds of a screen. Plato Soubow, run- 
 ning to the imperial bed, found it empty, and cried 
 out in alarm, " The emperor has saved himself; — 
 we are lost." 
 
 At that instant Benningsen saw the emperor, 
 went to him sword in hand, and presented him 
 with the act of abdication. " You have ceased to 
 reign," cried he ; " the grand duke Alexander is 
 emperor. I summon you in his name to resign 
 the empire, and sign this act of abdication; on this 
 condition alone will I answer for your life." Plato 
 Soubow repeated the same summons. The em- 
 peror, struck with dismay, and in. utter confusion, 
 asked of what he had been guilty to merit such 
 treatment. " You have not ceased to persecute 
 us for years," replied the half-drunken assassins. 
 They then pressed close upon the unfortunate 
 Paul, who urged and implored for mercy in vain. 
 At this moment a noise was heard, — the footsteps 
 only of some of the conspirators who had remained 
 behind. The assassins, believing it was assistance 
 coming to the emperor, Med immediately. Ben- 
 ningsen alone, but with fearful determination, re- 
 mained in the monarch's presence, and advancing 
 with his sword pointed at Paul's breast, prevented 
 him from moving. The conspirators, recognizing 
 each other, re-entered the theatre of their crime. 
 They surrounded anew the unfortunate monarch, 
 in order to force him to sign his abdication. The 
 emperor for a moment tried to defend himself. 
 In the scuffle, the lamp, which cast a light upon 
 the horrible scene, was overturned. Benningsen 
 went to seek for another, and on entering found 
 Paul expiring under the blows of two of the con-
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 Grief of the royal family. — 
 Alexander proclaimed em- 
 
 THE NEUTRAL TOWERS. 
 
 peror. — Public opinion upon 
 the assassination. 
 
 227 
 
 spirators ; cue had fractured his skull with the 
 pumrael <>4' his sword, the other was in the act of 
 strangling him with his sash. 
 
 While this terrible scene was going forward 
 within, count Pahlen, with the second hand of con- 
 spirators, had remained outside. When he was 
 informed that all was over, he had the body of the 
 emperor placed upon his bed, and set a guard of 
 thirty men at the door of the apartment, with 
 orden to forbid any one. even of the imperial 
 family, from entering. Ke then set out to find 
 the grand duke, to announce to him the frightful 
 occurrence of the night. 
 
 The grand duke Alexander, agitated most 
 violently, as might be expected, demanded of the 
 count, when he arrived, what had become of his 
 father. The silence of count Pahlen soon taught 
 him how fatal were the expectations he had 
 cherished, when he persuaded himself that nothing 
 but an act of abdication was contemplated. The 
 sorrow of the young prince was very great; the 
 act became, it was said, the secret torment of his 
 life, because nature had given him a kind and 
 generous heart. lie iltuig himself upon a seat, 
 burst into tears, and would listen to nothing, load- 
 ing count Pahlen with bitter reproaches, while the 
 count bore them all with imperturbable composed- 
 ness, 
 
 Plato Soubow went to find the grand duke Con- 
 stantino, who had no knowledge of what had oc- 
 curred, though he has been unjustly accused of 
 having been implicated in the horrible deed. He 
 came tremblingly to the spot, thinking that all his 
 family were to be sacrificed. He found his brother 
 overwhelmed with despair, and then became aware 
 of what had happened. Count Pahlen sent a lady 
 of the palace, who was on very intimate terms with 
 the empress, to inform her of the event of her 
 tragical widowhood. The empress ran in haste to 
 her husband's apartment, and attempted to reach 
 his bed of death, but was prevented by the guards. 
 Having 1 I for a moment from her first 
 
 grief, she felt within her heart, mingling with the 
 emotions of sorrow, strong impulses of ambition. 
 She recalled Catherine to her recollection, and at 
 once felt a desire to mount the throne. She sent 
 several messengers to Alexander, who was about 
 to be proclaimed, to say to him that the throne 
 was hers, and that Bhe, not he, ought to be pro- 
 claimed sovereign. Here was anew embarrass- 
 ment, and a new trouble for the wounded heart of 
 her son, who, about to mount the steps of the 
 throne, had to pa b, in order to ascend it, between 
 the body of a murdered father and a mother in 
 
 . demanding, alternately, either her husband 
 or a crown. The night departed upon these ap- 
 palling scenes ; morning dawned; it was necessary 
 that no time should be allowed for reflection ; the 
 death of Paul it was most important should be 
 made known, and that, the acC4 --ion of his sne- 
 
 r should, at the same time-, be promulgated. 
 Count Pahlen went, to the young prince, and said, 
 " Vow have wept enough as a child ; now come 
 
 and reign." He snatched young Alexander from 
 the place of his Borrow, and followed by He oning- 
 
 sen, went, to present him to the troops. 
 
 '1 he . iment tin >t. red was that of 
 
 Preobrajensky. Being devoted to Paul [.,jtgave 
 tli' in a very cool reception ; but the Others, that 
 
 were much attached to the grand duke, and were, 
 besides, under the influence of Pahlen, who pos- 
 sessed a great ascendancy in the army, did not 
 hesitate a moment to shout " Long live Alexander!" 
 Their example was followed by others of the troops; 
 the young emperor was speedily proclaimed, and 
 put in possession of the throne. He returned and 
 took up his residence with his spouse, the empress 
 Elizabeth, in the winter palace. 
 
 All St. Petersburg heard with dismay of this 
 sanguinary catastrophe. The impression which 
 it made, proved that the manners of the people 
 had begun to change in that country, and that since 
 17'>2, Russia had been influenced by the example 
 of civilized Europe. It may be observed, to her 
 honour, that if she had then advanced since 17o'2, 
 she has now advanced equally far from what she 
 was in 1800. On this occasion, the Russians 
 exhibited feelings which did them honour. They 
 feared Paul I. and his madness much more than 
 they hated him, because he was not of a sanguinary 
 disposition. The horrible circumstances of his 
 death were immediately known, and inspired every 
 bosom with pity. The body of Paul was exposed 
 in state, according to custom, but with infinite 
 care to concetti his wounds. Military gloves con- 
 cealed the mutilations of his hands, and a large hat 
 covered his head. His face was deformed by in- 
 juries; but it was promulgated that he had died of 
 apoplexy. 
 
 This barbarous act made an extraordinary sen- 
 sation throughout Europe. The intelligence flew 
 like lightning to Vienna, Berlin, London, and 
 Paris, producing consternation and horror every 
 where. Some years before, it was Paris that had 
 shocked Europe by spilling royal blood : but now 
 Paris gave an example of order, humanity, and 
 peace ; they were the old monarchies which, in 
 their turn, had become the scandal of the civilized 
 world. Only a year before, Neapolitan royalty 
 had bathed itself in the blood of its subjects; and 
 now a revolution in a palace ensanguined the im- 
 perial throne of Russia. 
 
 Thus, in this age of, agitation, every country 
 -sively gave sad examples, and furnished 
 lamentable subjects for the censures of their ene- 
 mies. If nations desire to revile each other, they 
 have certainly enough in their several histories to 
 yield deplorable materials for? such a purpose : let 
 us take care not to employ similar recollections for 
 such ends. If we recount these horrible narra- 
 tives, it is because truth is the first quality of 
 history, — it is because truth is the most useful and 
 
 the most powerful of teachers; (he most effective 
 for the prevention of similar seems ; and without 
 meaning wdiat is offensive to any nation, let us say 
 once more, that the institutions are more in the 
 wrong than the people; and, that if, in St. Peters- 
 burg, an emperor was assassinated, in order to 
 bring about a change of policy, in London, on the 
 contrary, without any sanguinary result, the policy 
 of peace succeeded that of war by the simple sub- 
 stitution of Addington for Pitt. 
 
 The more minute particulars of this catastrophe 
 were soon made public by the indiscreet conduct 
 of the assassins themselves. At Berlin, more 
 particularly, the courl of which was BO I 
 allied to that of St. Petersburg, the details of the 
 crime were circulated with great rapidity. The 
 Q2
 
 228 Th . e J5S B t d h Cab ' net unjustly THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Consequences of the 
 death of Paul. 
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 Bister of the Soubows had taken refuge there, and, 
 it was said, had shown symptoms of disquietude 
 and anxiety, such as a person would exhibit that 
 had been in expectation of some great event. She 
 had a son, who was the very officer commanded 
 to announce to Prussia the accession of Alexander. 
 This young man, with the indiscretion natural to 
 youth, disclosed some of the particulars connected 
 with the assassination, and caused at Potsdam a 
 rumour which much offended the young and 
 virtuous king of Prussia. The court made the 
 young man sensible of the impropriety of his con- 
 duct ; and from thence originated a disgraceful 
 calumny. The sister of the Soubows was on in- 
 timate terms of friendship with the English 
 ambassador, Lord Whitworth, who some time 
 afterwards figured at Paris, where he played a 
 remarkable part. The death of the emperor Paul, 
 of great advantage to the English, coming so op- 
 portunely to perfect the incomplete victory of 
 Copenhagen, was attributed by the vulgar through- 
 out Europe to the influence of British policy. The 
 intimacy of the English ambassador with a family 
 so deeply implicated in the murder of Paul, gave 
 ground for strong presumption in confirmation of 
 the calumny, and presented new arguments to 
 those who were unable to perceive that such 
 events may arise from general and very natural 
 causes. 
 
 None of these conjectures were well-founded. 
 Lord Whitworth was an honourable man, incapa- 
 ble of being concerned in such an attempt. His 
 cabinet had committed many unjustifiable actions 
 for some years, and was soon afterwards guilty of 
 others which it would be more difficult to justify, 
 but it was as much taken by surprise at the death 
 of the czar, as the rest of Europe. Yet the first 
 consul himself, in spite of the perfect impartiality 
 of his judgment, could not keep entertaining sus- 
 picions, and he caused many more by the manner 
 of announcing in the Moniteur the death of Paul. 
 "It is for history," said the official journal, "to 
 clear up the mystery of his tragical end, and to say 
 what cabinet in the world was most deeply inter- 
 ested in bringing about this catastrophe." 
 
 The death of Paul delivered England from an 
 unrelenting enemy, and deprived the first consul 
 of a powerful ally, but one at the same time that 
 was embarrassing, and in his later days nearly as 
 dangerous as he was useful. It is clear that the 
 defunct emperor, believing that the first consul 
 would refuse him nothing as the price of his al- 
 liance, had exacted conditions in regard to Italy, 
 Germany, and Egypt, which France could not pos- 
 sibly have agreed to, and that must have proved 
 great obstacles in the establishment of a general 
 peace. The first consul made choice of Duroe, his 
 favourite aid-de-camp, to go to Russia, the same 
 who had already been sent to Berlin and Vienna. 
 Duroc carried a Niter, written in the first consul's 
 own hand to congratulate the new emperor upon his 
 accession to the throne, and to try all that the 
 powers of flattery and persuasion could do in order 
 to fill his mind, if possible, with just ideas in re- 
 gard to the relations between Russia and France. 
 
 Duroc set off immediately, with orders to go 
 through Berlin. He was to visit a second time the 
 court of Prussia, and to collect the most correct 
 information upon the late occurrences in the north, 
 
 that he might arrive in St. Petersburg better pre- 
 pared to manage the men and things with which 
 he was about to come in contact. 
 
 England was much pleased, as might be expected, 
 to learn at the same time the victory of Copen- 
 hagen, and the death of the formidable adversary 
 who had formed the neutral league against her. 
 They exalted the heroism of the British hero 
 Nelson, with a natural and legitimate enthusiasm ; 
 nations act well in the first excess of their joy to 
 celebrate and even exaggerate their victories. Still, 
 when the first enthusiasm was over, and when the 
 popular imagination became more calm, the pre- 
 tended victory of Copenhagen was better appre- 
 ciated. The Sound, people said, was not difficult to 
 force; the attack upon Copenhagen, in a narrow 
 channel where the English vessels could not move 
 without great hazard, was a bold act, worthy of 
 the conqueror at Aboukir. But the English fleet 
 had been seriously disabled. If it had not been 
 that the crown-prince too eagerly listened to lord 
 Nelson's truce, probably he would have been beaten. 
 The victory had then been very near a defeat, and, 
 moreover, the result obtained was not very import- 
 ant, because only a simple armistice had been ob- 
 tained of the Danes, after which the contest must 
 be renewed. If the emperor Paul had not died, 
 this novel campaign, which the English must have 
 carried on, in the midst of an enclosed sea, where 
 they could not put into any port, for all the ports 
 were shut against them, presented great and fear- 
 ful chances. But the blow, struck so opportunely 
 at the very gates of the Baltic against the Danes, 
 was decisive ; Paul was no longer alive to take up 
 the gauntlet and continue the fight. This is another 
 proof added to a thousand others in history, that 
 there are many favourable chances on the side of 
 boldness, especially when its blows are directed by 
 commanding ability. 
 
 The English immediately sought to avail them- 
 selves of this fortunate change of government to 
 relax the rigour of their maxims in maritime law, so 
 as to arrive at some honourable adjustment with 
 Russia, and after her with all the other powers. 
 They well knew the kind and amiable character of 
 the young prince who had mounted the Russian 
 throne, because at that time it was reported to be 
 almost bordering upon feebleness : moreover, they 
 flattered themselves that they should regain a con- 
 siderable degree of influence at St. Petersburg. 
 They sent Lord St. Helen's to that capital with the 
 necessary powers to negotiate an arrangement. 
 M. Woronzoff, the ambassador of Russia at the 
 court of George III., entirely devoted to British 
 interests, had incurred even the sequestration of 
 his property, on account of his not quitting London, 
 which was his usual pkice of residence. Count Wo- 
 ronzoff was invited to take upon himself again his 
 former official duties. The vessels belonging to the 
 neutral powers in the English ports which had 
 been laid under an embargo were released. Nelson, 
 by orders of his government, continued inactive in 
 the Baltic, and was instructed to declare to the 
 northern courts that hs should abstain from every 
 act of hostility, while they refrained from sending 
 their fleets to sea, in which case he should attack 
 them. If, on the contrary, their fleets remained in 
 port, and did not attempt the junction long threat- 
 ened with the Danes, he was interdicted from any
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 Disposition of the northern 
 courts. 
 
 THE NEUTRAL POWERS. 
 
 Peace between England and 
 France meditated. 
 
 229 
 
 hostile act upon the coasts of Denmark, Sweden, 
 and Russia; and that lie should permit to all mer- 
 chant-vessels a free passage, the relations between 
 the countries being placed upon the same footing 
 as before the rupture. 
 
 The blow thus struck at Copenhagen had un- 
 happily produced its effect. The smaller neutrals, 
 such as Denmark and Sweden, although irritated 
 against England on their own account, had been 
 only forced into the league by the threatening in- 
 fluence of Paid I. Prussia, that regarded her ma- 
 ritime interests as only secondary to those of the 
 nation at large, and that was greatly inclined to 
 peace, had not entered into the quarrel at all but 
 for the double influence of Paul I. and the first 
 consul ; she therefore felt a great pleasure in being 
 extricated from her embarrassing position. She 
 was, as the rest all were, very well-disposed to the 
 re-establishment of her commercial interests. 
 
 In a very short time the flags of commercial 
 vessels were seen again in the Baltic, English, Swe- 
 dish, Danish, and Russian ; and the navigation 
 there once more resumed its former activity. 
 Nelson permitted them all to pass freely, and 
 received in return, along the northern coasts, 
 the refreshments of which he stood in need. 
 This state of the armistice was, therefore, univer- 
 sally assented to. The Russian cabinet, governed 
 by count Pahlen, without giving way before Eng- 
 lish influence, showed itself well inclined to termi- 
 nate the maritime quarrel by such an arrangement 
 as should, up to a certain point, secure neutral 
 rights. It was announced that lord St. Helens 
 would be received ; M. Woronzoff had already 
 been authorized to return to London, and M. Bern- 
 sturfl' was sent to England by Denmark. 
 
 The first consul, who had by his skill formed 
 this redoubtable coalition against England, founded 
 as it was upon the interest of all the maritime 
 powers, saw its dissolution with regret, through 
 the feebleness of the confederates. He endeavoured 
 to make them ashamed of the haste with which they 
 withdrew; but each excused its conduct by that of 
 its neighbour. Denmark, justly proud of her bloody 
 engagement at Copenhagen, said that she had ful- 
 filled her duty, and that they ought to fulfil theirs. 
 Sweden declared that she was ready to fight, but 
 added, that as the Danish, Prussian, and above all 
 the Russian flags, were; sailing freely over the 
 ocean, she could not discover a reason why her 
 subjects should not partake the benefit of naviga- 
 tion as well as the rest, l'russia excused her inac- 
 tion from the change that had occurred at St. Pe- 
 tersburg, and repeated to France new protestations 
 of firmness and constancy. She declared that her 
 rerance might he best judged, when the ne- 
 cessary time came to conclude an arrangement, and 
 articles should he definitively agreed upon for re- 
 gulating maritime rights. Russia affected to sup- 
 port neutral rights, but protended to have in view 
 Only one main object, that of putting an end to 
 hostilities commenced without sufficient grounds. 
 
 'Jin- first consul, whr> wished to retard as long as 
 possible any accommodation between Prussia and 
 
 England, devised a clever expedient to prolong 
 their differences. He had offered Malta to Paul, 
 be now offered Hanover to Prussia. It has been 
 
 seen that Prussia had occupied that province, so 
 
 dear to the heart of Qeorge 111., as a reprisal for 
 
 the violence committed by England upon the rights 
 of neutrals. Prussia had reconciled herself with 
 difficulty to this aggressive action ; but the secret 
 longing which she always felt to possess that pro- 
 vince, the most desirable for her that could be, 
 coming so well in for enlarging and rounding off 
 her dominions — this feeling decided her, in spite of 
 her desire for repose and peace. Prussia had a 
 claim to an indemnity in Germany, because it was 
 one of those secular principalities which were to be 
 indemnified for their losses on the left bank of the 
 Rhine, by the secularization of the ecclesiastical 
 states These pretensions were very considerable; 
 and in the hope that the first consul would favour 
 these views, she was anxious to secure his good 
 will by occupying Hanover. Bonaparte at once 
 said, that if she were inclined to keep Hanover, and 
 consider it as her indemnity, though it was ten 
 times more than was her due, he would consent to 
 it, without any jealousy on the part of France, on 
 account of so large a portion of territory being 
 granted to a power bordering upon that country. 
 This proposition was most welcome, and yet it 
 troubled the heart of the young monarch of Prussia. 
 The offer was seductive; but the great difficulty in 
 the way was the light in which it would be viewed 
 by England. Still, without accepting the proposal 
 in a definitive manner, the cabinet of Berlin re- 
 plied, that the king, Frederick-William, was touched 
 with the kindness of the first consul; that without 
 positively accepting the proposal, it was better 
 to delay the consideration of the question of terri- 
 tory until general negotiations for peace took place 
 throughout Europe ; and he added, that grounding 
 his conduct upon the present state of things, which 
 was that of a tacit armistice rather than one 
 formally stipulated, he should continue to keep 
 possession of Hanover. 
 
 The first consul did not wish for more than this, 
 being perfectly satisfied with having created be- 
 tween the courts of London and Berlin a very 
 complicated difficulty, and placed in the hands of a 
 power devoted to him a precious pledge, of which 
 he should be able to make a great advantage in 
 negotiating with England. 
 
 The period of such negotiations at last drew 
 near. England had seized with some degree of 
 eagerness the opportunity of softening the harsh- 
 ness of her maritime principles, in order to dispel 
 the danger which threatened her in the north. 
 She was now anxious to conclude the existing state 
 of things, and have peace, not only with the neu- 
 trals, but with a power which had been much 
 more formidable than they — with France, that for 
 the last ten years had shaken all Europe, and had 
 begun to threaten the English soil with serious 
 dangers. At one moment, thanks to the obstinacy 
 of Pitt and the talents of Bonaparte, she had found 
 herself alone engaged in a contest with all the world: 
 escaped from this position by a successful act of 
 boldness, by a stroke of good fortune, she was un- 
 willing to fall again into the same hazards through 
 a repetition of similar errors. England, too, could 
 now negotiate with honour ; and it was wise, after 
 so many lost opportunities, not to suffer that which 
 at present offered itself anew to escape. Where- 
 fore — reasoned the more sensible people in Eng- 
 land- - wherefore prolong the war l We have taken 
 all the colonics that are worth the trouble ; France
 
 George III. becomes favour- 
 230 ably disposed towards Bo- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 naparte. 
 
 Lord Hawkesbury and 
 M. Otto treat for 
 peace. 
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 has vanquished all the allies to which v.e were 
 hound ; she has aggrandised herself at their ex- 
 pense, and has become the most formidable power 
 in the universe. Every day in addition to the con- 
 test renders her stronger, more particularly so by 
 the successive conquests of all the coasts and 
 harbours of Europe. She has subjugated Holland 
 and Naples, and she is now marching upon Portu- 
 gal. We must not add to her power by obstinately 
 continuing the war. If it was for the support of 
 the most salutary principles that we had been 
 fighting for years,— if it was for social order 
 threatened by the French revolution, — these are no 
 longer the question, since France gives at this 
 moment the best examples of prudence and order. 
 Do we think to re-establish the Bourbons ? but 
 that was Pitt's great fault, the mistake of his 
 policy; and if we have lost his powerful influence and 
 the assistance of his great talents, we must at least 
 obtain the sole advantage of his retirement from 
 office ; in other words, we must renounce that in- 
 flexible and malicious hatred, which between him 
 and Bonaparte originated insults and personalities 
 of the grossest nature. 
 
 All the more sensible minds in England were, 
 therefore, directed to peace. Two great sources of 
 influence were exerted on the same side — the king 
 and the people. The king of England, the obstinate 
 and religious, who refused " emancipation" to Pitt 
 from his fidelity to the protestant cause, did not the 
 less rejoice to see Catholicism re-established in 
 France, a re-establishment which was already an- 
 nounced to be near. He saw the triumph of re- 
 ligious principles, and that was sufficient. He had 
 a great aversion to the French revolution ; and 
 although Bonaparte had been the means of giving 
 severe and terrible checks to the policy of England, 
 he was much pleased with his conduct in acting 
 against that revolution, and in reinstating true 
 social principles in his own country. France, 
 which in so great a degree possessed the faculty of 
 communicating to every people her own sentiments 
 and feelings, having become tranquil, had returned 
 to sound ideas : George III. regarded the blessings 
 of social order as being by this means preserved to 
 mankind. If for Pitt the war had been one of 
 national ambition, for George III. it had been a 
 war of principles. So far George III. might be 
 considered a friend to Bonaparte of a very different 
 character from Paul I. Recovered from the 
 access of disorder that for some months had ob- 
 scured his reason, he was perfectly well disposed to 
 peace, and urged his ministers to its conclusion. 
 Tin' English people, loving novelty, regarded a 
 peace with France as the very first of novelties to 
 them, for they had been slaying each other for 
 ten years over the whole world. Attributing alone 
 the scarcity of bread to the sanguinary contest 
 which was desolating sea and land, they loudly de- 
 manded peace with France. At last the new minis- 
 ter, Mr. Addington, very unequal as a rival to the 
 glory of Pitt, to whom in talents he was infinitely 
 inferior, as he was in character and political im- 
 portance — Mr. Addington had only one clear and 
 intelligible duty, that of making peace. He, ac- 
 cordingly, was anxious to conclude it. Pitt, still 
 powerful in Parliament, advised him, on his own 
 part, to follow so expedient and judicious a step. 
 The events in the north, far from exalting British 
 
 pride, furnished her, on the contrary, with a more 
 facile and honourable opportunity for negotiation. 
 The new minister had determined upon this step 
 the day on which he accepted office, and he was only 
 the more confirmed in this opinion, when he learned 
 what had passed at Copenhagen and St. Petersburg. 
 Proceeding still further, he determined to make a 
 direct tender to the first consul, which might serve 
 as a return to that made by the first consul to 
 England upon his acceptance of power. 
 
 Lord Hawkesbury, who was in the cabinet of 
 Mr. Addington, as secretary of state for foreign 
 affairs, sent for M. Otto. This gentleman fulfilled 
 in London, as we have already shown, certain 
 diplomatic functions relative to prisoners of war, 
 and had been entrusted six months before with the 
 negotiations which took place regarding the naval 
 armistice. He was thus very naturally become the 
 intermediate agent of the new communications be- 
 tween the two governments then about to com- 
 mence. Lord Hawkesbury stated to M. Otto that 
 the king had charged him with an agreeable com- 
 mission, which without doubt would be heard of 
 with as much pleasure in France as in England, a 
 commission for the proposal of a peace. He de- 
 clared that the king was ready to send a pleni- 
 potentiary to Paris itself, or to any other city that 
 the first consul might choose. Lord Hawkesbury 
 added, that the conditions he intended to offer were 
 such as were honourable to both nations, and to 
 show the perfect frankness of the reconciliation, he 
 affirmed that reckoning from the selfsame day, 
 every design directed against the present govern- 
 ment of France should be discountenanced in the 
 British cabinet, and he expected the same return 
 from that of the French republic. 
 
 This was disavowing the anterior political system 
 of Pitt, who had always pretended to endeavour to 
 effect the re-establishment of the house of Bourbon, 
 and had never ceased to uphold the attempts of 
 the emigrants and Vende'ans with English money. 
 The proposed negotiations could not have been 
 commenced in a more dignified manner. Lord 
 Hawkesbury required an immediate answer. 
 
 The first consul, who, at this moment, did not 
 aspire at more than completely fulfilling his pledge 
 to France, of restoring to her order and peace, 
 was much pleased with this solution of the ques- 
 tion, that he had, it may be said, commanded by 
 his successes and political ability. He received 
 the overtures of England with as much earnest- 
 ness as they had been offered. A negotiation of 
 formal diplomacy appeared to him, under such 
 circumstances, to be tedious and ineffective. The 
 recollection of that of Lord Mahncsbury, in 1797, 
 which had proved only a vain demonstration on 
 the part of Pitt, had left a distasteful impression 
 upon his mind. He thought, that if there was 
 r< al sincerity in London, as there appeared to be, 
 it would suffice to confer directly, and without 
 noise, at the foreign-office, there to treat of the 
 conditions of a peace with frankness and good 
 faith. He regarded it as easy of arrangement, if 
 a reconciliation were truly intended ; " because," 
 said he, " England has taken the Indies, and we 
 have taken Egypt. If we agree to keep, each of 
 us, these valuable conquests, the rest is of small 
 importance. Of what importance, in effect, are 
 a lew islands in the West Indies or elsewhere,
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 Instructions given to M. Otto. EVACUATION OF EGYPT. Prospect! of a general peaoe. 231 
 
 which England retains from us or our allies, com- 
 pared to the vast possessions we have conquered ? 
 Perhaps she refuses to restore them, when Hano- 
 ver is in our hands, when Portugal must soon be 
 so; and we offer to evacuate those kingdoms for 
 a few American islands. Peace is, therefore, easy 
 to conclude." So he wrote to M. Otto: "If the 
 English desire it, I authorize you to treat; but 
 directly, and only with lord Hawkesbury." 
 
 Powers were sent to M. Otto, with a recommen- 
 dation to make nothing public, to write as little as 
 possible, to negotiate verbally, and to exchange 
 written notes only upon the most important points. 
 It was impossible to keep perfectly secret such a 
 negotiation ; but the first consul desired him to 
 request, and upon his own part to observe, the 
 utmost possible discretion relative to the questions 
 which must arise and be discussed on both sides. 
 
 Lord Hawkesbury consented to this mode of 
 proceeding, in the name of the king of England; 
 and it was agreed that the conferences should 
 begin at once in London, between him and M. 
 Otto. They, therefore, really commenced in the 
 early part of April, 1801, or middle of Germinal, 
 year ix. 
 
 From the lb'th of Brumairc, year vin., or 9th 
 of November, )J90, to the month of Germinal, 
 year ix., or April, 1JS01, eighteen months had 
 elapsed, and France had now peace with the con- 
 tinent, was engaged in a frank and sincere nego- 
 tiation with England, going, finally, to obtain, for 
 the first time for ten years, a general peace on 
 land and sea. The condition of this general peace, 
 admitted by all the contracting parties, was the 
 preservation of her brilliant conquests. 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 EVACUATION OF EGYPT. 
 
 THE NEGOTIATIONS IN LONDON EXCITE THE GENERAL ATTENTION. — REMARKS UPON THE INFLUENCE THAT THE 
 DEATH OF PAUL I. WOULD EXERCISE UPON THIS NEGOTIATION. — STATE OF THE COURT OF RUSSIA. — CHARACTER 
 OF ALEXANDER. — HIS YOUNG FRIENDS FORM WITH HIM A SECRET GOVERNMENT, WHICH DIRECTS THE WHOLE 
 BUSINESS OF THE EMPIRE. — ALEXANDER CONSENTS TO DIMINISH, IN A CONSIDERABLE DEGREE, THE PRETEN- 
 SIONS BORNE TO PARIS BY M. KALITCHEFF IN THE NAME OF PAUL I. — HE RECEIVES DUROC WITH MUCK 
 FAVOUR. — REITERATES HIS PROTESTATIONS OF A DESIRE TO BE UPON GOOD TERMS WITH FRANCE.— COMMENCE 
 MEST OF THE NEGOTIATION SET ON FOOT IN LONDON. — PRELIMINARY CONDITIONS BOTH ON ONE SIDE AND THE 
 OTHER. — CONQUESTS OF TnE TWO COUNTRIES BY LAND AND SEA. — ENGLAND CONSENTS TO RESTORE A PART OF 
 HER MARITIME CONQUESTS, BUT MAKES EVERY OTHER QUESTION SUBORDINATE TO THE EVACUATION OF EGYPT 
 BY FRANCE. — THE TWO GOVERN M F.NTS TACITLY AGREE TO TEMPORIZE, IN ORDER TO AWAIT THE PROGRESS OF 
 MILITARY EVENTS. — THE FIRST CONSUL, APPRIZED THAT THE NEGOTIATION DEPENDS UPON THESE EVENTS, 
 I'K .ES ON SPAIN TO MARCn RAPIDLY UPON PORTUGAL, AND MAKES FRESH EFFORTS TO SUCCOUR EGYPT. — ■ 
 EMPLOYMENT OB THE NAVAL FORCES. — DIFFERENT EXPEDITIONS PROJECTED. — COURSE FOLLOWED BY GAN- 
 TEAUME ON SAILING FROM BREST.— THE ADMIRAL PASSES THE STRAITS. — READY TO GO ON TO ALEXANDRIA, 
 HE IS ALARMED AT IMAGINARY DANGERS, AND ENTERS TOULON. — STATE OF EGYPT AFTER THE DEATH OF 
 KLEBER. — SUBMISSION OF THE COUNTRY, AND PROSPEROUS SITUATION OF THE COLONY" IN RESPECT TO ITS 
 RESOURCES. — INCAPACITY AND GENERAL ANARCHY AMONG THE COMMANDERS. — DEPLORABLE DIFFERENCES 
 BETWEEN THE GENERALS. — B A DLY- DE V I S EI) MEASURES OF MENOU, WHO WISHES TO EFFECT EVERY OBJECT AT 
 THE SAME TIME. — IN SPITE OF REPEATED WARNINGS RESPECTING THE ENGLISH EXPEDITION, HE TAKES NO 
 PRECAUTIONARY STEPS — DI SEM PARK ATION OF THE ENGLISH IN THE ROAD OF ABOUKIR, ON THE 8TH OF 
 MAR' II. — GENERAL I RIANT, WITH FORCES REDUCED TO FIFTEEN HUNDRED MEN, MAKES INEFFECTUAL 
 ATTEMPTS TO PREVENT THEIR LANDING. — A REINFORCEMENT OF TWO BATTALIONS TO THE DIVISION WOULD 
 HAVE 8AVED EGYPT. — TARDY CONCENTRATION OF THE FORCES ORDERED BY MENOU. — ARRIVAL OF THE 1>]\I 
 SIoN OP LAWUSSE, AND SECOND BATTLE WITH INEFFICIENT STRENGTH, ON THE [STB OF MARCH. — MENOU 
 ARRIVES AT LENGTH WITH THE MAIN BOOT. OF I II E ARMY. — SAD CONSEQUENCES OF THE DIVISIONS AMONG 
 THE GENERALS. — PLAN OF A DECISIVE BATTLE. — THE INDECISIVE BATTLE OF OANOFUt FOUGHT ON THE 2IST 
 OF MARCH — THE ENGLISH REMAIN MAST! US OF THE PLAIN OF ALEXANDRIA. — LONG DELAY, HIRING WHICH 
 MENOU MIGHT HAVE RETRIEVED THE FRENCH FORTUNES, BY MANO'.I VllING AGAINST THE DETACHED CORPS 
 OP THE ENEMY. — MENOU DOES NOTHING. THE ENGLISH MAKE AN ATTACK UPON ROSETTA, AND SUCCEED IN- 
 TAKING POSS ONE OF THE MOUTHS OX THE NILE.— THEY ADVANCE INTO THE INTERIOR.— THE LAST 
 CHANCE OF SAVING EGYPT AT RA.MANIEH IS LOST BY THE INCAPACITY OF GENERAL MENOU. — THE ENGLISH 
 SEIZE UPON RAMAMEII, AND CUT oil THE DIVISION OF CAIRO FROM THAT OF ALEXANDRIA.— THE FRENCH 
 ARMY, THUS DIVIDED, HAS NO CHOICE BUT TO CAPITULATE. — SURRENDER OF CAIRO BT GENERAL BSLLIARD. 
 — MENOU IS SHUT UP IN ALEXANDRIA, AND DREAMS OF A DEFENCE SIMILAR TO THAT OF GENOA.— EGYPT IS 
 FINALLY LOST TO I II « 
 
 TilF. object of the first consul in assuming tl.. 
 
 direction of the affairs of state was now nearly 
 attained. Tranquillity prevailed throughout the 
 French dominions ; there wae satisfaction ani n 
 
 i i /• _ _ .... „*.. . r • . i 
 
 Luneville with Austria, Germany, and the Italian 
 
 powers, anil peace \v;is re-established, in foot, with 
 
 Russia, and negotiating in London with England, 
 Once formally signed with these last, two powers, 
 
 i .i... ' ..:n:* i.i L. : i i.. .1... 
 
 . »' iiv.ii i.w -I,.. , .■■.... ...... ....v .v.wi'.ii it i .. ii ■ Vfll\.»; iwilllilll, .-l[;in.u "nil in' .-iv, MMBH I, ill iiiiiii ,q. 
 
 every mind, for a treaty Of peace was signed at and the tranquillity would be universal. In the
 
 232 
 
 General policy of the 
 Russian court. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Embarrassing position of 1801. 
 M. Kalilclieff. April. 
 
 space of twenty-two months, young Bonaparte 
 would have accomplished liis noble task, and have 
 made his country the grandest and happiest on the 
 globe. It was necessary, therefore, in order to 
 complete this mighty task, to conclude the peace 
 with England; because, while that power was in 
 arms, the sea was closed to France; and, what was 
 of more serious consequence, the continental war 
 might be renewed, under the corrupting influence 
 of English subsidies. The universal exhaustion, 
 it is true, left but a small chance for England to 
 arm the continent anew against France; while she 
 had even recently seen the greater part coalesced 
 with France against her maritime power : and had 
 not the death of Paul so opportunely occurred, 
 she might have paid dearly for her violence 
 towards the confederated neutrals. But his sud- 
 den decease was a new and serious event, which 
 could not fail to alter the existing situation of 
 affairs. What influence, then, would the cata- 
 strophe at St. Petersburg exercise upon European 
 politics ? This was the question which the first 
 consul was impatient to discover. He had sent 
 Duroc to St. Petersburg, in order to obtain this 
 information as early and as correctly as possible. 
 
 A little before the decease of Paul, the relations 
 of Russia with France had presented very con- 
 siderable difficulties, owing to the excessive arro- 
 gance of Paul, and an arrogance in his representa- 
 tive, M. Kalitcheff, not less than that of his master. 
 The defunct czar, as already stated, wished to 
 dictate to France the conditions of a peace with 
 Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Piedmont, and the Two 
 Sicilies, states of which he was made the protector, 
 either spontaneously of his own accord, or by 
 obligation, arising out of treaties which had been 
 managed under the second coalition. At the same 
 time, lie was for regulating the relations of France 
 with the Porte, and pretended that the first consul 
 was bound to evacuate Egypt, because that pro- 
 vince belonged to the sultan, and that there were 
 no just grounds for depriving him of his territory. 
 
 This ally, full of ardent hatred as he was against 
 England, was still a very dangerous friend ; be- 
 cause a misunderstanding with him might easily 
 arise. That, too, which only appeared to be a 
 fruit of madness in the emperor Paul, was a sin- 
 gular indication of the progress of Russian ambi- 
 tion during three-quarters of a century. There 
 were scarcely eighty years elapsed, since Peter the 
 Great attracted the attention of Europe for the 
 first time, limiting the extent of his influence to 
 the north of the continent, in contesting against 
 Charles XII. the honour of the election for a king 
 of Poland. Forty years afterwards, Russia, already 
 pushing her ambitious designs into Germany, fought 
 against Frederick, with France and Austria, in 
 order to prevent the formation of the Prussian 
 power. Some years later, in 1772, she partitioned 
 Poland. In 1778 she took another step, and on 
 an equality with France, regulated the affairs of 
 Germany ; she interposed her mediation between 
 Prussia and Austria, that were ready to make war 
 about the Bavarian succession; and had the dis- 
 tinguished honour to guarantee, at Teschen, the 
 Germanic constitution. Lastly, before the end of 
 the century arrived, in 1799, she sent one hundred 
 thousand Russians into Italy, not to contest a 
 question of territory, but a moral question — for 
 
 the preservation, she said, of social order, threat- 
 ened by the French revolution. 
 
 Never, in so short a time, is there exhibited in 
 history so great a degree of aggrandizement ac- 
 cruing to any single state. Paul, who would fain 
 be the arbitrator of every thing, as the price of his 
 alliance with the first consul, was only, therefore, 
 the unconscious tool of a policy which was the re- 
 sult of profound design in the Russian cabinet. 
 His ambassador at Paris requested, in cold and 
 unvarying haughtiness, that which his master de- 
 manded with his accustomed excitement, when 
 he desired to have his will. He even affected, 
 clumsily enough, to institute himself the protector 
 of the smaller states, which, after having offended 
 her, were now at the mercy of France. The 
 court of Naples had sought to place itself under 
 Russian protection : but this had not met with 
 success, because M. Gallo had been sent from 
 Paris, and his court obliged to submit, at Florence, 
 to the terms of the first consul. M. St. Marsan, 
 who was invested with the same powers from the 
 house of Savoy to the French republic, having 
 attempted the same thing as M. Gallo, had been 
 sent away in a similar manner. 
 
 M. Kalitcheff hastened to support the claims of 
 the courts of Naples and Turin, to whom his 
 master had guaranteed their territories ; and he 
 understood, in signing a treaty with France, that 
 he was not to confine himself to the condition of 
 the re-establishment of a friendly understanding 
 between the two empires, which, indeed, had no 
 dispute by land or sea to settle, but to regulate the 
 affairs of Germany and Italy, in nearly all their 
 details, and even those of the East, if he persisted 
 in demanding the restoration of Egvpt to the 
 Porte. 
 
 In spite of the desire of France to be on an 
 amicable footing with the emperor Paul, his am- 
 bassador was answered with firmness. A public 
 treaty had been agreed upon by France, which 
 simply re-established amity and peace between 
 the two countries ; but a secret convention was 
 added, in which it was undertaken to concert with 
 Russia the regulation of the Germanic indemnities, 
 and to favour, in particular, the courts of Baden, 
 AVurtemberg, and Bavaria, which were either in 
 Russian relationship or alliance ; and to reserve 
 an indemnity to the house of Savoy, if not re- 
 instated in its dominions; but without stipulating 
 when, where, or to what extent, because the first 
 consul had already harboured the design of keep- 
 ing back Piedmont for France. This was all that 
 could be yielded. As to Naples, the treaty of 
 Florence was declared to be irrevocable; and in 
 respect to Egypt, the resolution was adopted not 
 to listen to a word upon that subject. 
 
 M. Kalitcheff" having insisted in a tone and 
 manner altogether unaccountable upon these points, 
 the matter was terminated by making no more 
 replies to his questions, and by leaving him at 
 Paris, tolerably embarrassed in his official cha- 
 racter, and in the engagements he had entered 
 into with the smaller states. Matters were in this 
 situation when the intelligence arrived of the 
 tragical end of Paul I. M. Kalitcheff', without 
 waiting for the commands of his new sovereign, 
 was anxious to get out of the false position in 
 which he had placed himself, and, therefore, ad-
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 His communications with 
 Talleyrand. 
 
 EVACUATION OF EGYPT. 
 
 Character of the emperor 
 
 Alcxaik.tr. 
 
 233 
 
 •dressed a peremptory note to M. Talleyrand, on 
 the 2Cth of April, to which he requested an im- 
 mediate reply upon all the points of the negotiation, 
 complaining that the things accorded in Berlin 
 between general Beurnonville and M. Krudener 
 were disputed at Paris. He seemed to insinuate, 
 that if the weaker states were not better treated 
 by France, the glory of the first consul would 
 suffer, and that his government would come to be 
 confounded with the revolutionary governments 
 that had preceded it. 
 
 M. Talleyrand answered immediately that his 
 communication was very much out of place; that 
 it was very deficient in the respect due from in- 
 dependent powers to one another ; that he could 
 not place it under the eyes of the first consul 
 without offending his dignity ; that M. Kalitcheff 
 might, therefore, consider it as not having been 
 forwarded; and that the reply it solicited, in the 
 name of his cabinet, would not be made, until the 
 request should be renewed in other terms, and in 
 another despatch. 
 
 This severe lesson had its due effect upon M. 
 Kalitcheff. He appeared to feel alarmed at the 
 consequences of his own act. Already the petty 
 states that had sought a shelter behind him, 
 felt apprehensive of his protection, and began to 
 regret that they had confided their interests to his 
 hands. M. Kalitcheff, reduced to the necessity of 
 reproducing his demands in a better form, or re- 
 maining without a reply, wrote a second despatch, 
 in which he reiterated his request for an explana- 
 tion, but confined himself to an enumeration of 
 each head, without any remark, or without com- 
 plaints or compliments. The despatch was cold; 
 but not objectionable. He was then duly informed 
 by M. Talleyrand, that in this new form his ques- 
 tions should be submitted to the first consul, and 
 should receive their due reply. It was added by 
 M. Talleyrand, that the last despatch only should 
 be preserved in the archives of the foreign-office, 
 and that the first should be destroyed. 
 
 A few days afterwards, M. Talleyrand answered 
 If. Kalitcheff in polite, but very decided terms. 
 He went over all the points settled by the French 
 cabinet, and added the very natural reflection, 
 that if France had consented, in regard to many 
 of the most important affairs of Europe, to concert 
 
 them amicably with Russia, and had appeared 
 disposed to do that which she had desired, it was 
 iii consideration of the intimate alliance contracted 
 with Paul I. against the policy of England ; but 
 that since the accession of the czar Alexander, it 
 was needful to understand whether the new em- 
 peror would ent. r into the same views, and afford 
 the- same certainty that France would find in him 
 an ally equally as constant as the deceased em- 
 peror. 
 
 After that day If. Kalitcheff remained perfectly 
 inactive, awaiting instructions from his new master. 
 
 'I'll'- prince, who had just ascended the throne 
 
 of the czars, was a singular character, — singular, as 
 the greater part of the princes have been who, for 
 a century past, hare governed in Russia. Alex- 
 ander was twenty five yean of age, till of stature, 
 having a mild and noble countenance, though his 
 features were not perfectly regular; he possessed 
 
 an acute mind, a generous heart, and complete 
 
 grace of manner, still there might be perceived 
 
 about him traces of paternal infirmity. His mind, 
 lively, changeable, ami susceptible, was continually 
 impressed with the most contrary ideas. But this 
 remarkable prince was not always led away by 
 such momentary impulses ; he joined with his 
 extensive and quickly-changing comprehension, a 
 depth of mind that escaped the closest observation. 
 He was well-meaning, and a dissembler at the same 
 time, capable of acting with deep subtilty; already 
 sune of these excellencies and defects had begun 
 to exhibit themselves in the tragical events which 
 had preceded his arrival at the throne. Let care 
 be taken, however, not to calumniate this illus- 
 trious prince ; he had been under a complete de- 
 lusion in regard to the design of count Pahlen; he 
 had believed, with the credulity natural to his age, 
 that the abdication of his father was the only ob- 
 ject in view, and would be the sole result of the 
 conspiracy, the secret of which had been entrusted 
 to him. He had believed, that in aiding it, he 
 should save the empire, his mother, his brothers, 
 and himself from unknown violence. Become well 
 acquainted with that event, he detested the error 
 of which he had been guilty, as weU as those who 
 had led him into it. 
 
 This young emperor, in short, of noble aspect, 
 gracious manners, witty, enthusiastic, changeable, 
 artificial, difficult to penetrate, was endowed with 
 the charm of great personal attraction, and was 
 destined to exercise over his contemporaries the 
 most seductive influence. He was even destined 
 to exercise this seductive influence upon the extra- 
 ordinary man, so difficult to deceive, who then 
 governed France, and with whom he was one day 
 to have such great and terrible animosities. 
 
 The education of this young prince was a strange 
 one. He had been a pupil of colonel La Harpe, 
 who hail inspired him with the feelings and notions 
 of Swiss republicanism. Alexander had given way 
 to the influence of his teacher with his customary- 
 flexibility, and the effect was visible when he as- 
 cended the throne. While he was yet an imperial 
 prince, subjected to the severe rule, first of Cathe- 
 rine, and then of Paul I., he formed an intimate 
 acquaintance with some young prisons of his own 
 age, such as Paul Strogonoff, Nowosiltzoff, and above 
 all, prince Adam Czartorisky. This last descended 
 from one of the most ancient families in Poland, 
 and much attached to his native land, was at St. Pe- 
 tersburg as a species of hostage: he served in the 
 regiment of guards, and lived at court with the 
 young grand dukes. Alexander, drawn towards 
 him by a Bpecies of analogy in sentiments and ideas, 
 communicated to him all the dreams and hopes of 
 his youth. Both in secret deplored the misfortunes 
 of Poland, a thing very natural in a descendant of 
 
 the Czartoriskys, but rather surprising in the 
 grandson of Catherine. Alexander solemnly vowed 
 
 to his friend that when he ascended the throne, he 
 would restore her laws and libi rty to unhappy 
 Poland. 
 
 Paul, who had observed this intimacy, felt of- 
 fended at it, and exiled prince Czartorisky, by 
 naming him his minister to the King of Sardinia, a 
 king without a realm. Scarcely was Alexander 
 seated upon the throne, when he sent oil' a courier 
 
 to his friend, then resident at Koine, and recalled 
 
 him to St. Petersburg. He also united near his 
 
 person, Nowosiltzoff and Paul Strogonoff. These
 
 l,. Associates of the emperor. mTj T T?T>c' rr> mcttt a T17 A\n pkiptpi? Duroc's reception at St. 
 231 His ostensible ministers. 1HIERS COlSSULAiE AiND LML IRE. Petersburg. 
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 formed a sort of occult government, composed of 
 young men without experience, animated by the 
 most generous feelings, and full of illusions, little 
 proper, it must be said, to direct a great govern- 
 ment, in a difficult conjuncture of the times. They 
 were impatient to free themselves from the old 
 Russians, who had, until then, held the reins of 
 government, and with whom they had no kind of 
 sympathy. One personage alone, older and more 
 serious than themselves, the prince Kotschoubey, 
 mingled in this young society, and tempered by a 
 riper reason their youthful vivacity. This prince 
 had travelled all over Europe, acquired a vast deal 
 of knowledge, and engaged his sovereign's attention 
 upon every opportunity with the ameliorations 
 which he believed it would be very useful to effect 
 in the interior government of the empire. All alike 
 censured the course of policy which led at first to 
 the making war upon France on account of her 
 revolution, and afterwards in carrying it on against 
 England in behalf of a thesis about the law of na- 
 tions. They were against a war of principles upon 
 France, or a naval war upon England. The great 
 empire of the north, according to them, was best 
 employed in holding the balance between the two 
 powers, that threatened to swallow up the world in 
 their quarrel, and by this means to become the 
 arbitrator of Europe, and the support of the feeble 
 states against the strong. More generally, how- 
 ever, they directed their attention much less to 
 exterior politics than to the interior regeneration 
 of the empire. They did not do less than meditate 
 giving her new institutions, modelled in part upon 
 those they had seen in civilized countries ; they 
 had, in a word, the generosity, inexperience, and 
 vanity of youth. 
 
 The ostensible ministers of Alexander, were the 
 old Russians, prejudiced against France, and warm 
 in behalf of England, besides which they were 
 much disliked by the sovereign. Count Pahlcn 
 alone, thanks to his firm judgment, did not share 
 the prejudices of his colleagues, and wished that 
 Russia should be free from every influence, re- 
 maining neuter between France and England. In 
 this view his ideas agreed with those of the new 
 emperor and his friends. But count Pahlcn com- 
 mitted the mistake of treating Alexander as a 
 youthful prince, whom he had Bet upon the throne, 
 directed, and would fain still direct. The sensitive 
 vanity of his young master was thus frequently 
 wounded. Count Pahlen behaved too with great 
 harshness towards the dowager empress, whoshowed 
 much ostentatious sorrow, and a deadly hatred to 
 her husband's murderers. In a religious establish- 
 ment of her own foundation, she placed an image 
 of the Virgin Mary, with Paul at her feet, implor- 
 ing the vengeance of Heaven upon his assassins. 
 Count Pahlen ordered the image to be removed, 
 in spite of the cries of the empress, and the dis- 
 pleasure of her son. An ascendancy, exercised in 
 such a manner as this, could not be of very pro- 
 longed duration. 
 
 At the commencement of the reign of Alexander, 
 count Paiiiu continued to preside as foreign mi- 
 nister ; count Pahlen still remained the most in- 
 fluential, holding a share in all the branches of the 
 government. Alexander, after taking the advice 
 of his friends, went and transacted business after- 
 wards with his ostensible ministry. Under these 
 
 different influences, sometimes in opposition to 
 each other, they determined to treat with England, 
 and to commence by taking off the embargo on 
 British commerce, an embargo, according to Alex- 
 ander, which was a most unjust measure. It was 
 then decided that such a maritime treaty should 
 be formed through lord St. Helens with England, as 
 should, if not protect the rights of neutrals, at least 
 secure the interests of Russian navigation. Alex- 
 ander, ranking among his father's irrational notions 
 the pretension to the grand-mastership of the order 
 of St. John of Jerusalem, announced that he would 
 merely be the protector of that order, until the dif- 
 ferent languages of which it was composed should 
 be able to reassemble and to choose a new grand- 
 master. This resolution easily got rid of all the dif- 
 ficulties, whether with England, who set a great 
 value upon Malta on the one hand, or France upon 
 the other, that was not inclined to carry on a war 
 for ever, in order to restore the island to the knights, 
 or with Rome and Spain, who had never consented 
 to acknowledge for the grand-master of St. John 
 of Jerusalem a schismatic prince. 
 
 In order to put an end to another contested sub- 
 ject, it was resolved that the evacuation of Egypt 
 should no longer be insisted upon with France, since 
 in reality Russia was as little interested in seeing 
 that country in the hands of the French as of the 
 English. As to Naples and Piedmont, Russia was 
 bound to these states, so it was said, by solemn 
 treaties, and Alexander, on commencing his reign, 
 was desirous of exhibiting to the world a grand 
 idea of his good faith. It was agreed that he 
 should no longer stipulate in behalf of Naples for 
 the abrogation of the treaty of Florence, but for 
 the guarantee of her present dominions, and at a 
 peace for the evacuation of the Gulf of Tarentum 
 by the French. As to Piedmont, Russia was re- 
 solved to demand for the house of Savoy either 
 Piedmont itself, or a proportionate indemnity in 
 case of default. Alexander also had the intention 
 of regulating, in concert with France, the indem- 
 nity promised to the German princes, that had 
 been deprived of territory on the left bank of the 
 Rhine. Nothing here presented any difficulty, the 
 first consul having given his consent to those 
 points already. M. Kalitchcff was recalled, and 
 M. Markoff was chosen to be his successor; a man 
 of considerable talent, but in respect to a know- 
 ledge of official forms, in no way superior to his 
 predecessor. 
 
 Duroc, sent to congratulate the new emperor 
 upon his accession, on his arrival at St. Peters- 
 burg, found that all these questions had been 
 determined ; he obtained from the ministers as 
 well as the monarch himself a very favourable 
 reception. His intelligence and elegance of man- 
 ner succeeded in Russia as they had done in 
 Prussia, and he secured for himself both the esteem 
 and confidence of the Russians. After his formal 
 audiences were over he obtained several private 
 interviews, during which Alexander made a sort of 
 display in the revelation of his sentiments to the 
 representative of the first consul. On ono par- 
 ticular occasion in a public garden at St. Peters- 
 burg, the prince perceived Duroc, went up to him, 
 addressed him with a graceful familiarity, bade his 
 attendants remain at a distance, and conducting 
 him to a retired spot, appeared to open his mind
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 Conversation between the 
 emperor and Duroc 
 
 EVACUATION OF EGYPT. 
 
 Negotiations between England 
 and France. — Territories ac- 
 quired by England. 
 
 235 
 
 with perfect freedom : "I am," s:ii<l lie, "a friend 
 of France in my heart, and for a long while have 
 admired your new chief: I appreciate what he 
 has performed for the peace of Europe and for the 
 maintenance of social order. He need not .appre- 
 hend from me a new war between the two coun- 
 tries. But let him second ray sentiments, and 
 
 t > furnish pretexts to those who are jealous 
 of his power. You see I have made concessions. 
 1 siv do more about Egypt; I had rather it be- 
 longed to France than to England ; and if, un- 
 happily, the English should take it, I will join 
 with you to snatch it out of their hands. 1 have 
 given up Malta, in order to remove one of the diffi- 
 culties which was in the way of a European peace. 
 I am in alliance with the kings of Naples and 
 Piedmont : I know that their conduct to France 
 has not been correct ; but how could they act 
 differently, surrounded and governed as they have 
 been by 'England ! I shall see, with great morti- 
 fication, the first consul seize upon Piedmont, as 
 some recent acts of his administration tend to make 
 me believe is his intention. Naples complains of 
 being deprived of a portion of her territory. This 
 is all unworthy of the first consul, and dims his 
 glory. He is not charged, like the governments 
 which have preceded him, with threatening social 
 oithr, but he is accused of wishing to invade every 
 state. This is injurious to him, and exposes me, 
 myself, to the clamours of the minor states, by 
 whom I am besieged. Let him cease to suffer 
 these difficulties to exist between us, and we shall 
 live in future under a perfectly good understanding." 
 Alexander, unbosoming himself still more, added : 
 " Say nothing of all this to my ministers ; be dis- 
 creet ; employ none but trustworthy couriers. Tell 
 general Bonaparte to send me men upon whom I 
 can rely. The most direct relations will be found 
 the best for establishing a good understanding be- 
 tween the two governments." Alexander added a 
 few words more relating to England. He affirmed 
 that he would not yield up to her the dominion of 
 the seas, the common property of all nations ; that 
 if he had removed the embargo on English vessels, 
 it was.from a sense of justice. Preceding treaties 
 had stipulated, that in case of a rupture, a year 
 should be allowed to the English merchants for 
 the purpose of settling their affairs ; it was, there- 
 
 i gross injustice to seize upon their property. 
 " 1 will not be guilty of such an act," Alexander 
 exclaimed strongly; "my sole motive was to do 
 justice. I do not intend to deliver myself up to 
 England. It di pends i atirely upon the first 
 sol whether 1 shall continue to be his allv, — his 
 
 friend." 
 
 During this conversation the young emperor 
 appeared to hare ■ confiding spirit, devoid of pre- 
 
 , di Mien, evidently to make little of his in in is- 
 ; 1 1 1 . 1 to show tliat lie had his own views, and a 
 j Dal J l tm Of policy. 
 
 Duroc left Bt. Petersburg loaded with the favours 
 and proofs of regard he had received from the 
 emperor. 
 
 It was clear from tie w communications thai 
 
 ia would no longt r be any great help against 
 
 and, but still that there would in future be a 
 
 much less difficulty in arranging the genera] affairs 
 
 id Europe. The Brsl consul, now being certain of 
 
 coming to a good understanding with the K 
 
 court, did not hasten to terminate the negotiation, 
 because time seemed every day to smooth the diffi- 
 culties that had subsisted between the two nations. 
 England, in fact, exhibited at the moment but 
 little interest in the houses of Naples and Pied- 
 mont ; and if, as there was ground to believe, she 
 no longer made their concerns one of the conditions 
 of the peace, it would be much more easy for 
 France to act as she saw fit in regard to these two 
 houses, when England herself had given them 
 over to the first consul. 
 
 The negotiation with England now became the 
 main question, and, indeed, almost the only one 
 left to arrange. In order to conduct it correctly, 
 it was not only necessary to negotiate in London 
 with ability, but also to push forward with alacrity 
 the war in Portugal, and as well as to dispute Egypt 
 with the British forces; because the issue of events 
 in those two countries could not fail to exercise 
 a great influence upon the future treaty. The 
 first consul also, wishing to throw more weight 
 into the scale, made additional preparations with 
 much ostentation at Boulogne and at Calais, in 
 order that it might be thought that the extreme 
 measure of an invasion of England, long meditated 
 by the directory, was neither beyond his calcu- 
 lations nor his means. Numerous bodies of troops 
 were put in march towards that part of France, 
 and on the coasts of Normandy, Flanders, and 
 Picardy, a great number of gun-boats were assem- 
 bled, strongly built and well-armed, capable of 
 carrying troops, and of crossing the channel at 
 Calais. 
 
 In consequence of their arrangements previously 
 made, lord Hawkesbury and M. Otto were em- 
 ployed about the middle of April, 1801, or Germi- 
 nal, year ix., in diplomatic conferences. Accord- 
 ing to customary usage, the first demands were 
 excessive. England proposed a simple arrange- 
 ment as a basis, namely, the uti possidentis ; that is 
 to say, that each should retain whatever acqui- 
 sitions the chances of war had thrown into their 
 hands. England, in fact, profiting by the long 
 contest of Europe against France, was herself en- 
 riched while her allies were exhausted, and had 
 captured the colonies of every other nation. She 
 had seized the entire continent of India, as well as 
 the most important commercial positions in the 
 four quarters of the globe. From the Dutch she 
 had taken Ceylon, that targe and rich island, placed 
 at the extreme of the Indian peninsula, and form- 
 ing to it so desirable a pendant. She had acquired 
 the other Dutch possessions in the Indian seas, 
 except, it is true, the large colony of .Java. She 
 
 had taken from them between the two oceans the 
 Cape of Good Hope, one of tile best situated mari- 
 time stations on the globe. Her continued efforts 
 had not succeeded in wresting the Mauritius 
 from France, which she had never ceased to 
 hold. In South America she had deprived the 
 
 unfortunate Dutch, the most ill-treated power of 
 all during the war, of the territory of Guiana, ex- 
 tending between the Ania/.ons anil Orinoko, con- 
 taining Surinam, Berbice, I ►emerara,and Bseequibo; 
 magnificent countries, the agricultural and com- 
 mercial development of which were not then and 
 have not yet been developed, but which are one 
 
 day destined to attain wonderful prosperity ; and 
 
 w liicli presented besides the advantage of being the
 
 „„ Conquests made by Eng- 
 2oo ] aI ]d an ^ France. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Basis of negotiation pro- 
 posed hy England. — 
 Bonaparte's answer. 
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 first step gained towards the great Spanish colonies 
 on the American continent. England coveted these 
 colonies. She had entertained the design of aid- 
 ing them in the attainment of their independence, 
 in order to avenge herself for what had happened 
 in North America ; and she flattered herself be- 
 sides, reasonably enough, that, being independent, 
 they would soon become the prey of her commerce. 
 It was for this reason tliat she set a great value 
 upon the conquest of one of the West India islands 
 from the Spaniards, one of the Antilles, the fine 
 island of Trinidad, situated close to South America, 
 a sort of footing, as well disposed for contraband 
 trade as for aggression upon the Spanish posses- 
 sions. She had made another grand and valuable 
 acquisition in the Antilles, in the French island of 
 Martinique. The manner in which she captured 
 this island had not been very legitimate, because 
 the colonists, dreading an insurrection of the 
 slaves, had placed themselves, for a temporary 
 purpose, in her hands ; and of a voluntary deposit, 
 she had made them a property. England held fast 
 Martinique on account of the fine harbour belong- 
 ing to that island. She had taken besides in the 
 Antilles St. Lucien and Tobago, islands of far less 
 consequence than the others, and towards the fish- 
 ing station, St. Pierre, and Miquelon. Lastly, in 
 Europe she had taken the best of the Balearic 
 islands from Spain ; and from the French, who 
 had captui'ed it from the knights of St. John of 
 Jerusalem, Malta, the queen of the Mediterranean. 
 
 After these conquests, it may be well said that 
 there was little left for her to dispute about with 
 the maritime nations, the continental possessions of 
 the Spaniards in the two Americas excepted. It 
 is true that the English threatened, if the French 
 persisted in marching into Portugal, she would 
 recompense herself by the seizure of Brazil. 
 
 To balance these vast maritime acquisitions, 
 France had taken the finest portions of the Eu- 
 ropean continent, much more important than all 
 those distant maritime territories. But she had 
 restored all with the exception of that portion com- 
 prised between the great lines of the Alps, the 
 Rhine, and the Pyrenees. She had conquered 
 besides a colony, which to her alone was a compen- 
 sation for all the colonial greatness which England 
 had obtained — that was Egypt. No other posses- 
 sion was of equal value to that. If it was thought 
 necessary to shake the new empire of England in 
 India, Egypt was the most certain road to arrive at 
 it. If it were only contemplated which was the 
 wiser plan, to bring to the ports of France a part 
 of the commerce of the East, Egypt was still the 
 natural road of that commerce. For peace as for 
 war, then, it was the most precious colony in the 
 world. If at that moment the head of the French 
 government had considered alone the interests of 
 France, and not that of his allies, he might have 
 accepted the terms proposed by England ; since 
 Martinique itself, the sole direct loss worthy of 
 attention that France suffered during the war, was 
 of little or no moment compared to Egypt, the real 
 empire placed between the east and west, com- 
 manding, and, at the same time, shortening the 
 communications between the seas. But the first 
 consul considered himself bound in honour to re- 
 store to the allies of France a great part of their 
 possessions. It did not depend upon him to spare 
 
 Holland for all the sacrifices to which she was con- 
 demned by the defection of her navy, which had, 
 as is well known, followed the stadtholder to Eng- 
 land ; but it was the duty of the first consul to 
 restore the Cape and Guiana. He wished that 
 Spain, which had acquired nothing during the war, 
 should lose nothing ; and that Trinidad and the 
 Balearic islands should be restored to her ; lastly, 
 it was determined, at no price, to cede Malta ; 
 because that would weaken the conquest of Egypt, 
 and render its possession precarious in the hands of 
 France. 
 
 The intention of the first consul was to leave 
 Indostan to the English undisturbed, including the 
 small factories of Chandernagore and Pondicherry, 
 which were of no moment to France; even to give 
 up Ceylon, the property of the Dutch: but to de- 
 mand the restoration of the Cape, Guiana, Trinidad, 
 Martinique, the Balearic islands, and Malta ; and 
 to retain Egypt as an equivalent for the conquest 
 of India by the English. It will be seen how he 
 conducted himself to attain this end, during a 
 
 a m a * O 
 
 negotiation which continued for five entire months. 
 To the idea of adopting the uti pvssideatis as the 
 basis of the future peace, the French negotiator 
 was ordered to reply by the most explicit argu- 
 ments : " Would you lay down the principle," he 
 said to lord Hawkesbury, " that each nation should 
 keep its conquests ; in that case France should 
 keep, in Germany, Baden, Wurtemberg, Bavaria, 
 and three-fourths of Austria; she should keep in 
 Italy, the whole country, the ports of Genoa, Leg- 
 horn, Naples, and Venice. She should keep 
 Switzerland, which she intends to evacuate as soon 
 as she has established a proper order of things 
 there; she should keep Holland, occupied by her 
 armies, where she might build and fit out the most 
 powerful navy. She should take Hanover, and be- 
 stow it as a compensation to certain powers upon 
 the continent, and by this means attach them to 
 her for ever. She could, finally, push on the cam- 
 paign against Portugal, and indemnify Spain out 
 of that country, securing new ports for herself. 
 How important would these naval stations be, ex- 
 tending from the Texel to Lisbon and Cadiz, from 
 Cadiz to Genoa, from thence to Otronto, and from 
 Otronto to Venice. If abstract principles were to 
 be laid down as the basis of the negotiations, peace 
 would be impossible. France had restored the 
 greater part of her conquests to their respective 
 governments : to Austria she had given back a 
 part of Italy; to the court of the Two Sicilies the 
 kingdom of Naples; to the pope the Roman states 
 entire; she had given Tuscany, which it was easy 
 for her to have kept, to the house of Spain; she 
 had re-established Genoa in her independence; she 
 had confined herself to making Lombardy a 
 friendly republic ; and was preparing to evacuate 
 Switzerland, Holland, and even Hanover. It was 
 necessary, therefore, that England should give up 
 a part of her conquests. Those which France de- 
 manded did not affect herself directly, but her 
 allies. France held it her duty to get them back, 
 in order to give them to their real owners. Be- 
 sides, if India and Ceylon were conceded to Eng- 
 land, the possessions demanded to be restored 
 could be of little consequence. If England would 
 make no concession, she should say as much, and 
 declare that the negotiation was only a deception.
 
 1S01. 
 April. 
 
 Negotiations between 
 
 EVACUATION OF EGYPT. 
 
 England and France. 
 
 237 
 
 The world should know through whose fault it was 
 that peace became impossible. France would then 
 make a last effort, a difficult and perilous effort, 
 but which would, perhaps, be fatal for England; 
 because the first consul did ant despair of being 
 able to cross the straits of Calais at the head of a 
 hundred thousand men." 
 
 Lord Hawkesbury and Mr. Addington nego- 
 tiated with the desire to make an advantageous 
 peace for themselves, which was perfectly natural; 
 and they wished it to be speedy. They were 
 aware of the force of the arguments used by the 
 French cabinet, and felt the stern resolve con- 
 tained in its words. They set themselves at once 
 to lower their pretensions, and to open the way to 
 a reconciliation. They first answered the argu- 
 ments of the first consul, respecting the conquests 
 given back by France, that if she had abandoned 
 a part of her conquests, it was because she was 
 unable to retain them; while no navy in the world 
 was able to take from the English those colonies 
 which she had acquired. That if France did re- 
 store a portion of the territory occupied by her 
 armies, she kept Nice, Savoy, the banks of the 
 Rhine, and, above all, the mouths of the Schelde 
 and Antwerp, which were a considerable aggran- 
 dizement, not only by land, but sea ; that it was 
 necessary tore-establish the equilibrium of Europe, 
 if not wholly on the continent, at least upon the 
 ocean; that if France desired to preserve Egypt, 
 India was no longer a sufficient compensation for 
 England; and that the British cabinet would then 
 retain a great part of its new acquisitions. Still, 
 added lord Hawkesbury, we nave only made the 
 first proposition ; we are ready to give way upon 
 any point which may be shown to be too rigorous. 
 We will restore some of our conquests; only state 
 to us those of which the restitution appears to you, 
 at least, most desirable. 
 
 The first consul replied in an animated manner 
 to these arguments of the English ministry. It 
 was not correct to say, according to him, that Eng- 
 land could keep all her maritime conquests, while, 
 on the other hand, France was unable to retain hers 
 on the continent of Europe. The continental war 
 being closed, either by the complete exhaustion of 
 the allies of England, or by the distaste which others 
 had formed for her alliance, France, aided by the 
 resources of Holland, Spain, and Italy, might have 
 done whatsoever she desired upon the continent ; 
 and six- was in a state to do much more upon the 
 OCean than the British ministers would believe. 
 France, without doubt, could not have kept the 
 centre of Qermany ami three parts of Austria 
 without a convulsive overturn of all Europe; but 
 
 she could have made a much less moderate peace 
 than that of Luneville; she would have been able, 
 Austria being so exhausted after Hohenlinden, to 
 have kepi all Italy and Switzerland, without the 
 slightest opposition from any quarter. In respect 
 to a continental equilibrium, that had been de- 
 stroyed upon the day when Prussia, Russia, and 
 Austria partitioned the large and fine kingdom of 
 Poland among themselves, without the slightest 
 equivalent for any other power. The banks of the 
 Rhine and the dopes of the Alps were scarcely an 
 equivalent to France for what these, her rivals, 
 had acquired upon the continent. Over sea, 
 Egypt was scarcely a compensation to her for the 
 
 conquest of the Indies. It might be doubted, if, 
 even with that colony, France could keep her an- 
 cient maritime proportions in regard to England. 
 
 These arguments had reason on their side, and 
 fortunately the arm of strength, for both one and 
 the other arc necessary in a negotiation. The basis 
 of the treaty was soon agreed upon. It was settled 
 that England in having undisturbed possession of 
 India, should restore a part of the conquests she 
 had made from France, Spain, and Holland. The 
 detail of the particular territories she was to keep 
 or restore will be next considered. 
 
 Without granting the formal possession of Egypt 
 to France, a point which the English negotia- 
 tor reserved as doubtful, he proposed two hypo- 
 theses, one in which France preserved Egypt, and 
 another in which she renounced it, whether she 
 lost it by force of arms or voluntarily gave it up. 
 On the first hypothesis, that of the retention of 
 Egypt by France, England, retaining India and 
 Ceylon, as well as Chandernagore and Pondicberry, 
 would require in addition, the Cape of Good Hope, 
 a part of the Guianas, that is to say, Berbice, De- 
 merara, Essequibo, Trinidad, and Martinique in 
 the Antilles; finally, and above all, Malta, in the 
 Mediterranean. She would give up the smaller 
 Dutch possessions of India, Surinam, the insignifi- 
 cant islands of St. Lucia, Tobago, St. Pierre, Mi- 
 quelon, and finally, Minorca. Under the second 
 hypothesis, in which the French were not to remain 
 masters of Egypt, England demanded India and 
 Ceylon, but consented to give up the small colo- 
 nies of Pondicberry and Chandernagore, the Cape 
 of Good Hope, Martinique or Trinidad, whichever 
 France might prefer, she keeping the other. Lastly, 
 she demanded Malta, but not peremptorily. 
 
 These restitutions, in the opinion of the first 
 consul, were not sufficient. The negotiation not- 
 withstanding approximated at last towards an ac- 
 commodation, and after a month of discussion, 
 arrived at the following propositions, which were 
 at bottom the real views of both governments. 
 
 England insisted in any case upon India and 
 Ceylon. If the French evacuated Egypt, she was 
 to leave them the small factories of Pondicberry 
 and Chandernagore. She restored the Cape to the 
 Dutch upon the condition of its being declared a 
 free port. She restored to Holland also Berbice, 
 Demerara, and Essequibo, on the American con- 
 tinent; and the colony of Surinam : she restored 
 one of the two great islands in the Antilles, Mar- 
 tinique or Trinidad ; and rendered back St. Lucia, 
 Tobago, St. Pierre, and Miquelon, and lastly, 
 Malta and Minorca. Thus, as the result of the 
 war she gained, if 1'ianee did not keep Egypt, 
 the continent of India, Ceylon, ami one of the 
 two principal Antilles, Trinidad or Martinique. 
 
 If the French kept Egypt, she obtained besides 
 
 Chandernagore a"nd Pondicberry, the (ape, Mar- 
 tinique, Trinidad, and finally* Malta. That is 
 to say, England, in the second case, deemed it a 
 necessary precaution to deprive France of ber 
 footing at Chandernagore and Pondicberry, places 
 
 in the peninsula of India, and as an indemnity, 
 Trinidad, which threatened Spanish America, 
 
 Martinique, which has the best port in the An 
 tides, ami finally, Malta, the best port in the 
 Mediterranean. 
 
 In regard to the Cape, Martinique, or Trinidad,
 
 238 Degraded state of Spain. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Preparations for the in- 
 vasion of Portugal. 
 
 1801. 
 
 April. 
 
 and Malta, demanded over and above in case the 
 French possessed Egypt, they were far from being 
 as valuable as that important possession; and al- 
 though it would have been most expedient to con- 
 sent at once had this condition been unavoidable, 
 the first consul had still the hope to keep Egypt, 
 and pay less dearly for its possession. He hoped 
 that if the English army sent towards the Nile 
 should fail, and that if the Spaniards pushed with ra- 
 pidity the war against Portugal, he should be able 
 to obtain the Cape for the Dutch, Trinidad for the 
 Spaniards, and Malta fur the order of St. John of 
 Jerusalem, thus obliging England to remain con- 
 tent with India, Ceylon, a part of the Guianas, and 
 one or two of the lesser Antilles. 
 
 Every thing therefore depended upon the events 
 of the war ; and the English, hoping it would ter- 
 minate to their advantage, were not reluctant to 
 avert the issue which could not remain long un- 
 settled, because it rested only upon the knowledge 
 whether the Spaniards would venture to march 
 upon Portugal, and whether the English troops on 
 board lord Keith's fleet in the Mediterranean 
 could make good their landing in Egypt. In order 
 to be acquainted with these two results, a month or 
 two was all the time necessary. Thus, on both one 
 side and the other great care was taken not to break 
 off the negotiation, which both were sincerely 
 anxious should terminate in peace. Each took the 
 step of gaining time; to this end the numerous and 
 complicated nature of the subjects which they had 
 to discuss, furnished a very natural means, without 
 having recourse to much of the finesse of diplo- 
 macy. 
 
 "All depends," wrote Otto, "upon two things — 
 will the English army be beaten in Egypt i Will 
 Spain march freely against Portugal ? Hasten; ob- 
 tain these two results, or one of them, and you will 
 make the finest peace in the world." " But I must 
 inform you,"' he added, "that if the English minis- 
 ters have a dread of the soldiers in our army of 
 EL r ypt, they have very little of the resolution of the 
 court of Spain." 
 
 The first consul made continual efforts to arouse 
 to action the old court of Spain, and to obtain its 
 concurrence in his two great designs, which on 
 one part consisted in seizing upon Portugal, on the 
 other, in directing towards Egypt the naval forces 
 of the two countries. Unluckily the resources 
 of the Spanish monarchy were nearly exhausted. 
 A good-hearted king, but blinded and absorbed by 
 the most vulgar cares, little worthy of a monarch, 
 a queen given up to the most shameless debauch- 
 eries, a, vain, frivolous, incapable favourite, wasted 
 in reckless excesses the last resources of the mon- 
 archy of Charles V. Lucien Bonaparte, despatched 
 as ambassad r to Madrid, for the purpose of in- 
 demnifying him for the loss of the ministry of the 
 interior, Lucien. eager to rival the diplomatic success 
 of his brother Joseph, laboured in Spain to serve 
 the cause of the first consul with credit and bril- 
 liancy. It is true that he obtained some influence, 
 thanks to his name, and to the successful boldness 
 with which he neglected the ostensible ministers, 
 and put himself in communication with the real 
 head of the government, the prince of the peace. 
 Placing before the prince the resentment or favour 
 of the first consul as a choice, he had excited in 
 him a more than common zeal for the interests of 
 
 the alliance, and had made him adopt to the fidl 
 extent the plan for the invasion of Portugal. 
 Lucien had said to the court of Spain : " You wish 
 for peace, and you wish it to be of advantage to 
 yourselves, or at least not injurious; you desire 
 that it shall terminate without the loss of any of 
 your colonies ; aid us then in securing pledges, 
 of which we will make use to obtain from Eng- 
 land the larger part of her maritime conquests." 
 These reasons were good; but they were not the 
 most convincing to the prince of the peace. Lucien 
 had devised others much more efficacious. " You 
 are every thing here," he said to the favourite ; 
 "my brother knows that well; he will lay at your 
 door alone the failure of the plans of the alliance. 
 Would you have the Bonapartes friends or ene- 
 mies 1" These arguments, first employed to push 
 the war with Portugal, were every day used to 
 hasten the preparations. Still, whatever arguments 
 were used to urge forward the prince of the peace, 
 he did not betray the interests of his country. He 
 was, on the contrary, in no way better enabled to 
 serve them than by the war against Portugal, be- 
 cause that was the sole mode of obtaining from 
 England the restitution of the Spanish colonies. 
 
 The preparations were therefore accelerated as 
 much as possible, and the last resources of the 
 monarchy were applied to its completion. Who 
 could believe that this great and noble nation, the 
 glory of which has filled the world, and of which 
 the patriotism was soon to appear with great lustre, 
 unhappily for France, — who could believe that it 
 was with great difficulty she was able to assemble 
 twenty-five thousand men? — she, with her mag- 
 nificent harbours and ports and her numerous 
 vessels, the relics of the fine reign of Charles III. 
 — who could believe she was even embarrassed to 
 pay a few workmen in the arsenals to set afloat a 
 man of war or two ? and more, that it was out of 
 her power to victual her fleet ? Who could credit 
 that her fifteen ships/ blockaded in Brest for two 
 years, were the whole of her navy, at least, of her 
 navy fit for service? The want of the precious 
 metals, in consequence of the interruption of her 
 trade with Mexico, had reduced her to a paper 
 currency, and that paper currency was at the lowest 
 point of depreciation. An application was now 
 made to the clergy, who did not possess at the 
 moment the funds for which there was an imme- 
 diate necessity; but possessing a credit which was 
 accorded to the crown, and applying it to the ob- 
 ject, the preparations that had been begun were 
 completed. 
 
 Twenty-five thousand men, not very badly 
 equipped, were at length sent on the march to- 
 wards BadajoZj but they were not sufficient. The 
 prince of tin' peace had declared that without a 
 division of French troops he would not dare to 
 enter Portugal. The first consul had united such 
 a division in haste at Bordeaux. They had soon 
 traversed the Pyrenees, and were in rapid inarch 
 upon Ciudad Rodrigo. The prince of the peace 
 wished to enter Portugal with the Spaniards by 
 Alentejo, while the French divisions penetrated 
 by the provinces of Tras-os-Montes and Beira. Ge- 
 neral St. Cyr, who commanded the French, had 
 gone to Madrid to arrange the operations with the 
 prince of the peace ; and although that officer was 
 not well fitted to humour the temper of others,
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 Portugal resists the demands 
 of Spain and France. — The 
 
 E\ ALUAJ.10JN VI jbuill. Naval preparations at Cadiz; 
 
 2.^9 
 
 having none himself, he succeeded in concerting 
 with the prince a proper plan of operation. 
 
 Portugal, seeing itself thus pressed, had suit 
 M. Aranjd to .Madrid, to which place he had been 
 refused liberty to proceed. He then went to France, 
 and met there with the same refusal. Portugal 
 was ready to submit to any conditions rather than 
 shut her ports against the English merchant ships. 
 These offers were repelled. It was determined 
 that Portugal should exclude all English vessi Is. 
 both of war and trade ; that three of her provinces 
 should be occupied as a security until a general 
 peace; and that she should pay the expenses of the 
 expedition. 
 
 The troops of the two nations set out on their 
 march, and the prince of the peace quitted Madrid, 
 his head tilled with wild visions of glory. The 
 court, and even Lucien Bonaparte, were to accom- 
 pany him. The first Ci nsul had ordered the most 
 exact discipline to be preserved among the French 
 troops ; he had ordered that they should attend 
 mass on Sundays, that the bishops should he visited 
 upon passing through the chief towns of the dio- 
 ceses, and, in a word, that the French should 
 conform to all the Spanish customs. He was 
 anxious that the sight of the French in place of 
 estranging them from the Spaniards, should cause 
 them to approximate more closely in feeling. 
 
 Every thin- in this quarter, therefore, prospered 
 according to the wishes of the first consul in aid of 
 the negotiation then going forward in London. 
 But there yet remained much to he done relative 
 to the employment of the naval forces. It has 
 been already shown in what manner the three 
 navies of Holland, France, and Spain had heen 
 directed to one common purpose. Five French, 
 Dutch, and Spanish vessels, fifteen in all, filled 
 with troops, were intended to threaten Brazil or 
 retake Trinidad. The rest of the united naval 
 force was designed lor Egypt. Ganteaume sailed 
 from Brest with seven vessels, conveying consider- 
 ahle succour-, and was on the voyage to Alexandria. 
 The other remained still at Brest, in order 
 
 to keep alive the continual threat of an expedition 
 to Ireland, while a Becond expedition sailed from 
 Rochefort uniting with five Spanish men-of-war at 
 Ferrol, and six other men-of-war from Cadi/., that 
 to follow Ganteaume to Egypt. 
 
 This last design had heen concealed from Spain 
 f.r fi ar of her indiscretion. It was only requested 
 of her to Buffer the ships in Ferrol to proceed to 
 Cadiz. The- court of Spain remonstrated in warm 
 terms against the passage, on account of danger 
 from the English ships of war which were nu- 
 merous about the straits and in the neighbourhood 
 of Gibraltar. The vessels in Ferrol were besides 
 scarci ly in a tit state to j nit to sea, so much had 
 their equipment been retarded. Lucien, without 
 ing of ill' 1 Egyptian design, hinted at the 
 iiv lor a commanding force in the Medi- 
 terranean, of tin- possibility of attempting some- 
 thing that might he of use to both nations ; an ex- 
 pedition, perhap . to ri take Minorca. At- last, he 
 obtained the requisite orders, and tin- Spanish fleet 
 at Fermi was to I,.- joined by the Fren'ob ships 
 from Rochefort, which were to conduct, them to 
 
 Cadiz. This was not all. Spam, as it will ho 
 
 rememhered, agr ed to present six v ssela to Prance 
 
 as a -ift. The time win u this condition was to he 
 
 carried into effect had been disputed; hut as Tus- 
 cany was about to he delivered up to Spain when 
 Louisiana was placed in the hands of France.it 
 was hut proper that the ships of war should be 
 give n immediately. The Spanish minister, finally, 
 decided to choose six then lying in the arsenal at 
 Cadiz, and to give them tip immediately ; 1 ut they 
 would not give them armed and victualled. It 
 was impossible to send to France for guns and 
 biscuit. These were very trivial things to contest 
 in the face of the common enemy, that it was ne- 
 cessary by all means to combat, if his pretensions 
 were to be lowered. The difficulties were at last 
 overcome in the mode the first consul wishedi 
 
 It has heen stated that the French admiral, 
 Dumanoir, had gone first to Cadiz in order to 
 watch over the equipment of the Spanish vessels 
 now become French property, and to take the com- 
 mand of them. This admiral had visited the ports 
 of Spain and found them all in disorder, the whole 
 exhibiting a scene of reckless opulence and disor- 
 ganized destitution. Though still in possession of 
 the remnants of magnificent establishments, of 
 stores, and of materials' tor building vessels, and of 
 numerous fine but dismantled ships, there was not 
 at Cadiz, for want of pay, a single Bailor, or a work- 
 man to get the ships ready for sea. Every thing 
 was given up to waste ami pillage 1 . The French 
 minister sent admiral Dumanoir letters of credit 
 upon some of the richer houses in Cadiz, and by 
 means of ready money that officer contrived to 
 overcome the principal obstacles. After choosing 
 from the vessels those which had suffered least 
 from time and Spanish neglect, he armed them by 
 taking guns and stores from those which remained; 
 and he procured French sailors, some of whom 
 were emigrants in consequence of the revolution, 
 and others escaped from English prisons; he re- 
 ceived a certain number from France, sent in small 
 vessels, and got leave to enter some Spaniards, and, 
 by offers of high wages, some Danes and Swedes. 
 The tlag and other officers, required to organize 
 the whole, came by post across the peninsula. 
 Detachments of French infantry were marched 
 from Catalonia to complete the complements. This 
 division, those of Ferrol and Uochefort, formed 
 about eighteen sail, and were designed to proceed 
 to Egypt, after touching at Otranto to embark ten 
 
 thousand men at that placet The objects, already 
 
 mentioned, were now putting into execution. 
 
 To force Spain to the feeble efforts which were 
 
 obtained with so much trouble, the first consul had 
 fulfilled all he had promised with remarkable 
 
 fidelity, and hail even gone beyond. The house of 
 
 Parma had received, in pla< I' its duchy, the line 
 
 country of Tuscany, which had for so long a time 
 been the ardent wish of the court of Madrid. It 
 was necessary to obtain for that the consent of 
 Austria, ami it had been procured. The duchy of 
 Tuscany had further been erected into the kingdom 
 of Ktruria. The old reigning duke of Carina, a reli- 
 gious devotee, an enemy to till the novelties of the 
 (lav, was the brother, as before stated, of the queen 
 of 'Spain. His son, a young man very ill educated 
 
 i The repnrts of die admiral, which exist iii tin archives, 
 not of tin- navy, bat of the office i"'- foreign affaire, niter a 
 
 ■,,,,• o< what maj btfU a lai 
 fided to Improper hands.
 
 Affairs of Parma and Tus- 
 240 cany. — Proceedings of 
 admiral Ganteaume. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 He sails from Brest 
 during a storm. 
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 and brought up, had married an infanta, and lived 
 at the Escurial. For this young couple the kingdom 
 of Etruria was designed. Still the first consul 
 having promised this kingdom only in exchange 
 for the duchy of Parma, was not bound to deliver 
 up the one until the other was vacant. This could 
 not happen until the death or abdication of the old 
 reigning duke ; but he would neither die nor abdi- 
 cate. Notwithstanding the interest which the first 
 consul had in getting quit of such a guest in Italy, 
 he consented to tolerate him in Parma, and to 
 place the infants upon the throne of Etruria. He 
 only required that they should come to Paris to 
 receive the crown from his hands, as of old time 
 vassal monarchs came to ancient Rome to receive 
 the crown from the hands of the people-king. It 
 was a singular and grand spectacle which he thus 
 wished to give to republican France. The young 
 princes quitted Madrid on their way to Paris at the 
 same moment that their parents were travelling 
 towards Badajoz, in order to afford the favourite 
 the pleasure of beholding him at the head of an 
 army. 
 
 Such were the complaisant means by which the 
 first consul hoped to secure the zeal of the court of 
 Spain, and to make it concur in his designs. 
 
 At this moment all eyes were directed towards 
 Egypt. It was to this point the efforts, the regards, 
 the fears, and the hopes of the two great belligerent 
 nations, France and England, were now directed. 
 It seemed as if, before laying down their arms, 
 these two nations wished for the last time to ter- 
 minate as gloriously and advantageously as possible 
 for each, that terrible war which for ten years had 
 been ensanguining the whole earth. 
 
 Ganteaume was left endeavouring to sail from 
 Brest, on the 23rd of January, 1801, or the 3rd of 
 Pluviose, during a furious storm. The wind had 
 been for a good while contrary or too light for his 
 purpose. At last, during a gale from the north-west 
 which blew on the coast, he had set sail in obedience 
 to the aid-de-camp of the first consul, Savary, who 
 was at Brest with orders for him to overcome every 
 resistance. This perhaps was imprudent ; but how 
 was it possible to put to sea in presence of the 
 enemy's fleet, which continually blockaded Brest 
 roads, and never withdrew except when the weather 
 rendered keeping the station impossible. It was 
 necessary, therefore, not to sail out at all, or to sail 
 in bad weather when the English had withdrawn. 
 The squadron consisted of seven ships of the line, 
 two frigates, and a brig, all good sailers, carrying 
 four thousand men, an immense mass of stores, 
 and numerous workmen, who with their families 
 imagined they were bound for St. Domingo. They 
 extinguished all the fires on board the squadron 
 that they might not be perceived, and set sail with 
 the greatest apprehensions. A north-west wind was 
 the most dangerous of all for working out of Brest. 
 The wind blew at the moment with extreme force, 
 but fortunately did not reach its utmost violence 
 until they had cleared the passages and were fairly 
 on the ocean. They then encountered terrific squalls 
 and a fearfully heavy sea. The squadron saiied in 
 order of battle, the Indivisible, being the admiral's, 
 led the van, and was followed by the Formidable, 
 which bore the flag of rear-admiral Linois. The rest 
 of the squadron were in line ; each vessel cleared 
 for action in case the enemy should heave in sight. 
 
 They were scarcely at sea before the wind increas- 
 ing carried away the three topsails of the For- 
 midable, and the main-top-mast of the Constitution. 
 The Dix-Aout and the Jean-Bart, which were 
 near aft, took tip their stations larboard and star- 
 board of the Constitution, and kept her in sight 
 until the morning, in order, if needful, to render 
 her assistance. The Vautour brig took in water so 
 fast, that she was on the point of foundering had 
 she not received timely assistance. During the 
 storm and darkness of the night the squadron had 
 dispersed; the next morning, at break of day, the 
 Indivisible lay to, admiral Ganteaume remaining 
 on the look-out for the purpose of rallying his 
 squadron; but fearing the return of the English 
 fleet, which up to this time had not shown itself, 
 and relying upon the rendezvous appointed for all 
 the vessels, he set sail for the place agreed upon. 
 The place of meeting had been fixed for fifty leagues 
 west oft* Cape St. Vincent, one of the most salient 
 capes on the western coast of Spain. The other 
 ships of the squadron, after having buft'etted the 
 gale, repaired their damages at sea by means of 
 the stores on board, and they all subsequently 
 rejoined each other, except the admiral's ship, 
 which after lying to for them had sailed to the 
 place of rendezvous. The only incident on the pas- 
 sage was an encounter of the French frigate the 
 Bravoure with the English frigate the Concord, 
 which was watching the course of the division. 
 Captain Dordelin, who commanded the Bravoure, 
 liore up to the Concord and offered her battle. He 
 ran alongside of her and poured several broadsides 
 into her, which caused a frightful execution upon 
 her decks.- Captain Dordelin was preparing to 
 board her, when the English frigate manoeuvring 
 on her side to escape the danger, got clear by 
 making all sail 1 . 
 
 The French frigate rejoined the squadron, and 
 all the vessels became again united under the 
 admiral's flag at the meridian indicated. In this 
 manner they steered for Gibraltar, after escaping 
 by a miracle the enemy and the dangers of the 
 sea. The squadron was highly animated, and those 
 on board began to guess where they were bound, 
 each desiring to have a share in the glorious mis- 
 sion of saving Egypt. 
 
 It became important to use all speed, as the 
 fleet of admiral Keith, assembled in the Bay of 
 Macri upon the coast of Asia Minor, was only 
 awaiting the last preparations of the Turks, who 
 are always slow to set sail, and then to carry an 
 English army to the mouths of the Nile. It was 
 necessary to hasten before them, and circumstances 
 seemed to aid the attempt in the most fortunate 
 manner. The English admiral, St. Vincent, who 
 commanded the fleet, blockading Brest, hearing too 
 late of the sailing of Ganteaume, sent admiral 
 Calder in pursuit with a force equal to the French 
 squadron, seven sail of the line and two frigates. 
 The English, who did not imagine the French 
 would dare to penetrate into the Mediterranean in 
 the midst of so many of their vessels, deceived 
 
 1 The English pretend that it was the French frigate which 
 withdrew from the action. I received the information from 
 two superior officers who still survive, and were in the 
 squadron; they leave me no reason to doubt of the truth of 
 the recital which 1 have here given. — Note of the Author.
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 Anxiety of admiral Gan- 
 it-aume. — Krrors in 
 consequence. 
 
 EVACUATION OF EGYPT. 
 
 Dreadful action between two 
 frigates. — Uanieaume tn- 
 ters Toulon. 
 
 241 
 
 besides by tlic reports in circulation, believed that 
 the French had .sailed towards St. Domingo. Ad- 
 miral Calder went to the Canaries, intending to 
 sail from thence to the West Indies. During this 
 Ganteaume had arrived at the straits, and was 
 steering along the coast of Africa to keep out of 
 Bight of the English cruisers about Gibraltar. The 
 wind was not sufficiently favourable, but the 
 moment was highly promising for the success of 
 his object. Admiral Warren, who was continually 
 on the watch, cruising between Gibraltar and Port 
 Mabon, had only four ships, all the remainder of 
 the British force being engaged in transporting 
 t ninps destined for the landing in Egypt, under 
 admiral Keith. Unfortunately Ganteaume was not 
 cognizant of all this, and the serious responsibilities 
 which weighed upon him, caused him an anxiety 
 which all the cannon-balls of the enemy would 
 never have kindled in his intrepid bosom. An- 
 noyed by two enemy's vessels, the Sprightly cutter 
 and Success frigate, which approached him too 
 near ; he gave them chase, and captured both. 
 He passed the straits, and entered the Mediter- 
 ranean. He had now nothing more to d<> than to 
 spread all sail towards the east. Admiral Warren, 
 iu fact, was shul; in the harbour of Port Mabon, 
 and admiral Keith, embarrassed with two hundred 
 transports, had not yet quitted the coast of Asia 
 Minor. The shores of Egypt were, therefore, per- 
 fectly open, ami the succour, for which the French 
 were waiting impatiently, and which had been so 
 long promised, might have been landed. But Gan- 
 teaume, always disquieted about the fate of his 
 squadron, anil still more about that of the nume- 
 rous soldiers whom he had on hoard, was appre- 
 hensive at the sight of the smallest vessel that 
 com • in his way. He constantly imagined there 
 was an enemy's fleet between himself and Egypt, 
 which in reality was not the fact. Above all, he 
 was apprehensive of the state of his vessels, and 
 feared that if it should he necessary to carry all 
 sail before a superior force, he should not he able 
 to do it with Ins masts damaged by the storm, and 
 only hastily repaired at sea Dissatisfied with the 
 Bravoure frigate, which did not sail as he wished, 
 he desired to get rid of her, and sent her into 
 Toulon. But in place of sending her alone to port, 
 and proceeding himself from the westward to the 
 east along tin- African coast, he committed the 
 error of standing to the northward, and getting 
 nearly in si^ht of Toulon. His intention being to 
 escorl the Bravoure a part of the way to prevent 
 lor falling into tin- hands of the enemy's cruisers ; 
 certainly a very poor reason, because it was a hun- 
 dred timi to expose the frigate to hazard 
 than the entire object of the expedition. In con- 
 sequence of this fault he was discoverd by admiral 
 Warren, who immediately left Port Mahon. Gan- 
 teaume, to deceive him, at once gave chase. The 
 gallant captain Bergeret, commanding the Dix- 
 Aout, sailing faster than the rest of the squadron, 
 reconnoitred the English within a very short dis- 
 tance, and saw th.it then: w re enly four li if 
 
 battle ships and two frigates. Highly phased at 
 
 this discovery, he thought, that 1 npiriorlo 
 
 the English, Ganteaume would have borne down 
 
 upon them, and given battle, but on a sudden he 
 
 saw the signal made to give up the pursuit, and to 
 
 rejoin the squadron. That brave officer, much 
 
 L 
 
 mortified, immediately communicated to Gan- 
 teaume that he was deceived by his watch, and 
 that there were only four vessels of the line. It 
 was in vain ; Ganteaume thought he saw seven or 
 eight, and determined to make sail northwards. 
 N vertheless it was certain, as the reports of ad- 
 miral Warren afterwards proved, that there were 
 only four of the enemy's vessels in sight 1 . Gan- 
 teaume then approached the gulf of Lyons, in order 
 to protect the Bravoure, and again getting in sight 
 of the English squadron, he ran into Toulon in 
 consternation. There he was alarmed by the fear 
 of having incurred the displeasure of the first con- 
 sul, indignant at discovering that the object of the 
 expedition had been thus compromised at the 
 moment when it promised complete success. This 
 fatal resolution was the cause of the loss of Egypt, 
 which at that moment might have been saved 3 . 
 
 While Ganteaume was beating up between the 
 coast of Africa and Port Mahon, two frigates, the 
 Justice and Egyptienne, sailed eastward from 
 Toulon with four hundred soldiers ami munitions 
 of war, and reached the port of Alexandria without 
 seeing an English vessel. Two other frigates, the 
 Rggeneree and the Africaine, left Rochefort, 
 crossed the sea, and passed through the straits into 
 the Mediterranean without any accident. Unhap- 
 pily they were separated. The Re'ge'ne'ree arrived 
 before Alexandria on the 2nd of March, 11501, or 
 Ven lose, year ix. The Africaine fell in with an 
 English frigate in the night, and stopping to en- 
 gage, was taken. She had three hundred troops 
 on hoard, who, anxious to take a part in the battle, 
 occasioned a frightful disorder that, after an heroic 
 defence, became the cause of her defeat 3 . Thus, 
 as was seen, out of four frigates which left Toulon 
 and Rochefort, three arrived without accident, and 
 found the coast of Egypt free from the enemy, and 
 so easily accessible, that they entered the port of 
 Alexandria without firing a shot : thus difficult is it 
 for vessels to meet on the immensity of the ocean, 
 and so greatly does courage stand in aid of a brave 
 officer who ventures to risk his flag in the achieve- 
 ment of a great duty. 
 
 Ganteaume entered Toulon on the 19th of Feb- 
 ruary, or 30th Pluviose, worn down with fatiguo 
 and anxiety, experiencing, as he wrote to the first 
 consul, every kind of torment at the same moment' 1 . 
 
 ' See the report of admiral "Warren of the 23rd of April, 
 1801, inserted in the Moniteurot the 27tli Messidor, year ix., 
 double number, 296 ami JU7. 
 
 > If possible at all, not possible unless Ganteaume had 
 arrived then- before the end of February. Ganteaume 
 arrived at Toulon only on the 19th of February. The Eng- 
 lish were (ilf the Egyptian coast en the 28th, and in sigsit of 
 Alexandria on the 1st of March, though the weather per- 
 mitted no landing until tlic 8th. They were at anchor in 
 Abouk'r Buy on the 2nd. Ganteaume had to run to Alex- 
 andria from Toulon in nine days to lie there before thi 
 llsh : he could scarcely have got through the distance unless 
 with a very lair wind. — Translator. 
 
 ' it was a slaughter, net a battle, a i>r.i\c and useleai de- 
 f, nee, arising from the erowdi d »tat< <>f the Africaine, with 
 71.', en hoard, she had 200 killed and 143 wounded. TheEng- 
 l sh frigate, tlic Phoebe, one killed and twelve wounded. The 
 h Died al the rigging, the English at the hull. Nothing 
 mi fearful in frigates occurred during the war. Translator, 
 
 4 S,v In || 1 1 , r wi itleii on the 19th of February, 01 
 
 Plui lose, 'in- day "! his entrj Into Toulon, presi rved in the 
 archives of the navy. 
 
 R
 
 242 
 
 Errors of Ganteaume. 
 Forbearance of the 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 first consul.- 
 Egypt. 
 
 State of 
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 This might well be after thus committing interests 
 of great importance. The first consul, naturally 
 irritable, could little restrain his feelings, when 
 his plans were thus thwarted through those em- 
 ployed to carry them into effect. But he knew 
 man ; he knew human nature ; he knew that it 
 was not wise at the moment when action was every 
 thing, to exhibit marks of his dissatisfaction too 
 strongly, because it was more necessary to animate 
 than to* dishearten : he knew that Ganteaume stood 
 in need of encouragement to be sustained, and 
 not reduced to despair by those ebullitions of rage 
 which at that time were feared by all as the great- 
 est possible misfortune. Far, therefore, from re- 
 proaching the admiral, he sent his aid-de-camp, 
 • Lacuee, to comfort and reanimate him, to place 
 funds in his hands, troops, and provisions, and to 
 urge him to proceed to sea without a moment's 
 delay. The rebuke he received was limited to a 
 mild censure for having quitted the coast of Africa 
 for the Balearic Islands, and for having drawn 
 admiral Warren in pursuit of him. 
 
 Ganteaume was a brave man, a good sailor and 
 officer ; but the situation of his mind at that 
 moment shows how much more responsibility will 
 weaken the spirit, than even the dangers of can- 
 non. This is honourable to such men ; and proves 
 how much more they fear to commit the interests 
 trusted to their hands, than to hazard their own 
 lives. Ganteaume, thus encouraged by the first 
 consul, went to work, but lost time in repairing 
 his vessels, or waiting for a favourable wind. More 
 than one propitious opportunity happened. Ad- 
 miral Warren had sailed towards Naples and 
 Sicily. Admiral Keith was, it is true, approach- 
 ing Abonkir with the English army ; but it was 
 not impossible to deceive his vigilance, and to dis- 
 embark the French troops, either beyond Damietta, 
 or more on this side, twenty or twenty-five leagues 
 from Alexandria, which would have enabled them 
 to reach Egypt by a march or two across the 
 desert. 
 
 While the exertions of the first consul were 
 thus directed to hasten the second departure of 
 Ganteaume, fresh letters were sent from Paris, 
 pressing the organization of the squadrons at 
 Rochefort, Ferrol, and Cadiz, in order to convey 
 succour to Egypt by several different channels at 
 once. At last, Ganteaume, encouraged by the 
 exhortations of the first consul, together with 
 numerous marks of his kindness, set sail again on 
 the 19th of March, or 28th of Ventdse ; but at the 
 moment of going out, the Constitution got aground, 
 and two days wire required to get her afloat. 
 On the 22nd of March, or 1st of Germinal, this 
 squaflron, consisting of seven sail of the line and 
 several frigates, again hoisted sail for the coast of 
 Sardinia, without being perceived by the English. 
 
 It was very desirable that these attempts should 
 be crowned with success, at least in part, because 
 the French army in Egypt, left to its own re- 
 sources, was threatened by the united forces of 
 the East and West. Still, although reduced in 
 strength, it could have conquered the multitude 
 of its enemies, (as it had done on the plains of 
 Abonkir and Ileliopolis,) if it had been well com- 
 manded. Unhappily, Bonaparte was no longer 
 at its head ; Desaix and Klelx-r were uoiv. 
 
 The state of Egypt must now be described from 
 
 the time when the blow of the poignard laid low 
 the noble figure of Kleber, of which, the appear- 
 ance alone, on the shores of the Rhine as well as 
 of the Nile, sufficed to inspire the hearts of our 
 soldiers with courage, to make them forget past 
 perils, the misery, and the suffering of their exile. 
 The prosperous state of the colony must be ex- 
 plained, as well as the sudden disaster which over- 
 took it. This is demanded ; because it is highly 
 useful to offer to the eyes of a people the spectacle 
 of its reverses as well as its successes, that it 
 may become a wholesome lesson. Certainly, in 
 the midst of the unequalled prosperity of the 
 consulate, the fruit of a most admirable and 
 sagacious course of conduct, a single disaster can- 
 not obscure the brilliancy of the picture which has 
 been delineated ; but it is necessary to give our 
 warriors and generals, yet more than to our sol- 
 diers, the painful lesson contained in the latter 
 period of the French occupation of Egypt. May 
 it occasion them to reflect upon their too common 
 tendency to disunion, more particularly, when 
 there is no powerful hand to ensure subordination, 
 and to direct against the common enemy their 
 mental energy, and the impetuosity of them natural 
 temperament. 
 
 When Kle'ber expired, Egypt appeared in entire 
 submission to the French arms. Having seen 
 the army of the grand vizier dispersed in the 
 twinkling of an eye, and the revolt of three hun- 
 dred thousand of the inhabitants of Cairo sup- 
 pressed in a few days, by a handful of soldiers, 
 the Egyptians regarding the French as invincible, 
 considered their establishment upon the banks of 
 the Nile as the decree of irresistible destiny. 
 Moreover, they began to get more familiar and 
 more accustomed to their European guests, and to 
 feel that the new yoke was much lighter than the 
 old one had been. They paid fewer taxes than under 
 the Mamelukes, and did not receive the blows of 
 the bastinado at the time of the collection of the 
 miri, as they did when under the dominion of their 
 co-religionists, whom the French had dispossessed. 
 Murad Bey, that Mameluke prince of so chival- 
 rous and brilliant a character, and who had, at 
 last, become attached to the French, held Upper 
 Egypt of them in fief. He showed himself a faith- 
 ful vassal, paid his tribute punctually, and ad- 
 ministered, with great care, the police government 
 of the Upper Nile. He was an ally that might be 
 depended upon. One single brigade of two thousand 
 five hundred men, placed in the neighbourhood of 
 Beni-Souef, and for whom it was always easy to 
 fall back upon Cairo, was sufficient to keep Upper 
 Egypt in subjection ; a great advantage, consider- 
 ing the very limited number of effective troops. 
 
 The army having, on its own side, shared in the 
 mistake of its general at the time of the conven- 
 tion of El-Arisch, and having repaired the error 
 as well as he had done in the plains of Heliopolis, 
 had preserved a sense of this fault, and was not 
 disposed to fall into it again. Well aware that they 
 had to give an account to the republic of so noble 
 a possession, the soldiers no more dreamed about 
 its evacuation. Besides, Bonaparte, being at this 
 time the supreme chief of the republic, that fact 
 explained easily the motive of his departure, and 
 they no more regarded him as one who had de- 
 serted them. They thought themselves continually
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 Egypt advances in prosperity. EVACUATION OF EGYPT. 
 
 Financial resources. 
 
 243 
 
 in presence of their former general, and had no 
 more any disquietude about their future fortunes. 
 Thanks to the foresight of the lirst consul, which 
 had made him charter sailing-vessels in even- 
 port, there did not pass a single week without 
 some vessels, small or large, entering the port 
 of Alexandria, bringing stores, the products of 
 Europe, newspapers, correspondence from families, 
 and government despatches. In consequence of 
 this continual intercourse, their country was for 
 ever present in the imagination of the troops. 
 Without doubt regret was soon awakened in their 
 minds, whenever any peculiar circumstance arose 
 to toueh their feelings. At the death of Kleber, for 
 example, when Menou took the command, every 
 eye was directed at once towards France. A ge- 
 n ral of brigade, in presenting his officers to 
 
 iu, asked him whether he intended, at last, 
 to take them back to their country. .Menou gave 
 him a reproof, and proclaimed, iu the order of the 
 day, his formal resolution to conform to the in- 
 tentions of his government, which were to retain 
 the colony for ever ; and every rank at once sub- 
 mitt d. But more than all, general Bonaparte 
 held the reins of power ; this was, for the old 
 soldiers of Italy, the best ground both of hope and 
 confidence. 
 
 The pay was regularly issued, while every thing 
 was at a low price. In place of settling with the 
 troops in rations they were paid in cash. They 
 were merely provided with corn. Thus they had 
 th'- benefit of a low market, and lived in the midst 
 of an abundance of every thing, often eating poultry 
 in place of butcher's meat. Cloth was deficient, 
 but the warmth of the climate was great, and they 
 supplied that want for the principal part of their 
 with calico, of which in Egypt there was 
 always a great plenty. For the rest of their cloth- 
 ing they took all the cloth brought into the east in 
 tin- course of traffic without regarding the colour : 
 there was variety enough in their uniforms. 
 .;■• regiments, for example, the men were seen 
 
 ed in blue, red, or green ; but they were all 
 clothed, and presented a fine soldierly appearance. 
 The learned colonel Conte rendered great services 
 to tli • army by the fecundity of his inventive 
 
 ra, He had brought with him to Egypt a 
 company of aerostiers, the remnant of the aerostiers 
 of Pleurus. It was a union of all trades organized 
 mi ler military discipline. By their aid be esta- 
 blished at Cairo machinery for weaving, fulling, 
 and carding cloth ; and as wo >1 was not deficient, 
 
 be woidd soon hi' aide to supersede 
 the supply of cloth from Europe. It was the 
 same with gunpowder. The manufactories of that 
 article at Cairo, by M. Champy, had already sup- 
 plied as much as was demanded for all the neces- 
 sities of th The 'or raal trade was visibly 
 increasing The caravans, well guarded, began to 
 arrive from fit hear) of Africa. The Arabs of the 
 tied Sea visited the ports of Sue/, and C 
 where ' coffee, perfumes, and dates 
 for the corn and rice of Egypt, The Greeks, avail- 
 ing them if the Turkish Hag, ami better 
 sailers than the English crui ers, brought to I'a- 
 mietta, Rosetta, and Alexandria, oil, wine, ami 
 ■ similar productions. In a word, nothing 
 was wanting for-the present; while great n ources 
 preparing for the future. The officers, seeing 
 
 that the definitive occupation of Egypt was deter- 
 mined upon, took the best steps possible to establish" 
 themselves in the most comfortable manner they 
 were able as permanent residents. Those who 
 lived at Alexandria or at Cairo, and they were by 
 far the larger number, found very commodious 
 quarters. Syrian, Creek, and Egyptian women, 
 some purchased of the dealers in slaves, others out 
 of their own inclination, came and partook of their 
 accommodations* Melancholy was banished. Two 
 engineers erected a theatre at Cairo, and the of- 
 ficers themselves got up French pieces, playing the 
 characters themselves. The soldiers did not live 
 worse than their officers, and, thanks to the facility 
 of the French character that enables it to familiarize 
 itself with every nation, they were soon seen 
 smoking and drinking coffee with the Turks anil 
 Arabs. 
 
 The financial resources of Egypt, carefully ad- 
 ministered, were adequate to all the necessities of 
 the army. Egypt had paid under the sway of the 
 Mamelukes, as the taxes were more or less rigor- 
 ously levied, from 30,000,000 to 40,000.000 f. x 
 She now paid no more than from 20,000,000 f. to 
 25,000,000 f. 2 , and the collection was therefore less 
 oppressive. This 20,000,000 f. to 25,000,000 f. suf- 
 ficed for the expenses of the colony, because all the 
 expenses united seldom exceeded 1,700,000 f. 3 per 
 month, or 20,400,000 f. l per annum. The collec- 
 tion improved as time drew on, and became more 
 regular, and at the same time the burdens became 
 more easy to the people. The resources of the 
 army were thus gradually augmented, and it was 
 not erroneous in consequence to calculate upon a 
 surplus of 3,000,000 f. or 4,000,000 f. 5 per annum, 
 which would have formed a small fund applicable 
 to extraordinary circumstances, or to construct 
 works of defence or utility. The army still amounted 
 to twenty-five or twenty six thousand individuals, 
 including those attached, whose duties were not 
 strictly military, the women and children of the 
 troops, and persons in the army employ. Of this 
 number, twenty-three thousand might be counted 
 as soldiers, of whom six thousand, less efficient, 
 Were still in a state to defend the fortresses, and 
 seventeen or eighteen thousand were capable of 
 
 the most active service. The cavalry was superb ; 
 it equalled the Mamelukes iu bravery, and far sur- 
 passed them in discipline. The Hying artillery 
 was rapid in its motions, and well served. Tho 
 dromedary regiment had been brought to the 
 highest degree of perfection. It scoured the desert 
 with extraordinary speed, and completely sickened 
 the Arabs' desire of pillage. The loss of men was 
 very small in the common average id' mortality; 
 there were only six hundred sick out of twenty-si.\ 
 tllOU and individuals. Still, iu (he supposition of a 
 war long protracted, there would, perhaps, have 
 
 been a want of men ; but, the Greeks were • 
 
 to Serve, the ''opts were the same. The negroes 
 themselves, purchased at a low price and rcinark- 
 
 aiile for their faithfulness, formed excellent re- 
 cruits. The army in time might have received 
 
 i I'ruin 61,4 10,000 iterllng i<> £1,600,0 
 "- From £800,000 iterllng t.> £1,000,000. 
 
 3 About fJos.ooo. 
 < Or £816,000. 
 
 » Or from X'120,000 to £IG0,00O. 
 it 2
 
 Character of Menou, eom- 
 -« maiider-in-chief. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Character of general 1801. 
 
 Reynier. April. 
 
 into its ranks ten or twelve thousand brave soldiers. 
 Confident even to excess in its bravery and mili- 
 tary experience, it did not doubt itself capable of 
 driving the Turks or the English into the sea, sent 
 against them out of Asia or Europe. It is certain 
 that, well commanded, these eighteen thousand 
 men, properly concentrated, and bearing down 
 upon a mass of troops just landed, might have re- 
 mained, whatever opposition was made, the masters 
 of the Egyptian shore. But it was requisite they 
 should have been well commanded ; it was as 
 requisite for this same army as it would be for any 
 other. 
 
 Suppose Kle'ber, or who would have been better 
 still, Desaix, the sagacious, the brave Desaix, left in 
 Egypt, from whence, unfortunately, he was with- 
 drawn by the kind regard of the first consul : sup- 
 pose Kle'ber, escaped from the poignard of the 
 Mussulman, administering the government of the 
 country for several years ! Who can 'doubt but he 
 would have converted it into a flourishing colony, — 
 that he would have founded there a magnificent 
 empire ! A healthful climate, without a single 
 fever, a country of inexhaustible fertility, a sub- 
 missive peasantry attached to the soil, voluntary 
 recruits, — what a vast superiority of elements over 
 the establishment we are at this day founding in 
 Africa ! 
 
 But in place of Desaix, in place of Kle'ber, it 
 was Menou who had become the general-in-chief 
 of the army by right of seniority. This was an 
 irreparable misfortune for the colony, and it was a 
 fault on the part of the first consul not to have 
 replaced him. Not certain of his orders arriving 
 in Egypt at the proper destination, the first consul 
 was afraid that if the order containing the nomi- 
 nation of the new general fell into the hands of the 
 English, it would only serve to disorganize the exist- 
 ing command. They would have stated that Menou 
 was deprived of his command, but would not have 
 transmitted the order which appointed his suc- 
 cessor. The command would have been kept more 
 or less long in a state of uncertainty. Still this 
 motive does not excuse the first consul, if he were 
 cognizant of the incapacity of Menou in a military 
 point of view. One reason decided in favour of 
 that general was his known zeal for the preserva- 
 tion and colonization of Egypt. Menou, in fact, 
 resisted in the strongest manner the scheme of 
 evacuation, combated the influence of the officers 
 of the army of the Rhine, and, in fact, made him- 
 self the head and chief of the colonist party. He 
 had pushed his enthusiasm so far as to become a 
 convert to Islamism, and had married a Turkish 
 woman. He called himself Abdallah Menou ; and 
 these eccentricities made the soldiers, naturally 
 given to raillery, very merry at his expense ; but 
 they did no mischief to the colony in the sight of 
 the Egyptians. Menou was possessed of intelli- 
 gence, much acquired knowledge, great application 
 to business, a taste for colonial establishments, and 
 all the qualities required for administrative duties, 
 but none of the qualities of a general. Destitute 
 of experience, quick perception, and determination, 
 he was, besides, very unfortunate in his personal 
 appearance. He was short-sighted, corpulent, and 
 looked miserably on horseback. He was a com- 
 mander, on the whole, very ill selected for soldiers 
 as alert and well-seasoned as the French were. 
 
 More than all, he wanted strength of character, 
 and under his feeble authority the heads of the 
 army, being divided among themselves, soon be- 
 came the prey of the most fatal discord. 
 
 Under Bonaparte, there was but one will and 
 one mind in Egypt. Under Kleber, there were 
 two, the colonists and anti-colonists, or those who 
 wished to remain in Egypt, and those who wished 
 to depart. But, after the affront which the Eng- 
 lish attempted to inflict upon the French soldiers, 
 an affront gloriously avenged at Heliopolis, after 
 the necessity for remaining became known, every 
 thing became orderly. Under the imposing autho- 
 rity of Kle'ber there was order and union. But the 
 time between the victory of Heliopolis and the 
 death of Kleber was too short — far too short. 
 From the moment Menou took the command order 
 and union ceased to exist. 
 
 General Reynier, a good staff-officer, having 
 served with credit in that capacity in the army of 
 the Rhine, but cold, with no personal appearance, 
 or ascendancy over the soldiers, was still generally 
 esteemed. He was considered as one of the officers 
 best qualified to appear at the head of the army. 
 He was the oldest officer next to Menou. The same 
 day on which Kle'ber died, a lively altercation en- 
 sued between Menou and Reynier, not as to which 
 should take the command, but which should de- 
 cline the burden. Neither of them would accept it, 
 and for that day the situation of affairs was most 
 alarming. They were both under the belief that 
 the blow of the poignard which had struck down 
 general Kle'ber, was but the signal for an exten- 
 sive insurrection, organized throughout Egypt by 
 the influence of the English and Turks. The heavy 
 duty of the command at such a critical moment, 
 might have been reasonably dreaded. Menou gave 
 way at last to the entreaties of general Reynier, and 
 the other generals, and consented to become chief 
 of the colony. But the French were soon set right 
 upon the actual state of things, by the perfect 
 tranquillity that continued after Kleber's death, 
 and the command, just refused, became afterwards 
 a subject of regret. Reynier now wished for that 
 which he had begun by declining. Under his cold, 
 modest, and even timid bearing, he concealed ex- 
 cessive vanity. The authority of Menou was in- 
 supportable to him. Until then quiet and submis- 
 sive, he became thenceforth a grumbler and a 
 fault-finder. He discovered a fault in every thing. 
 Menou accepted the command at the request of 
 his companions in arms, and assumed the title of 
 commander-in-chief ad interim. Reynier criticized 
 the title Menou had adopted. At the funeral of 
 Kleber, Menou had assigned the four corners of 
 the coffin to the generals of division, and placed 
 himself behind, at the head of the staff; Reynier 
 charged him with playing off the viceroy. Menou 
 had requested the illustrious Fourier to pronounce 
 a eulogy over the grave of Kle'ber ; Reynier pre- 
 tended that it was a slight to the memory of Kle'ber, 
 to suffer it to be done by another. A delay in a 
 subscription opened to raise a monument to the 
 memory of Kleber, difficulties in the succession or 
 administration to the general's property — very tri- 
 vial indeed, as the property was of the noble war- 
 riors of that period; these and other puerilities 
 were interpreted by Reynier, and by those who 
 followed his example, in the most factious manner.
 
 iSOI. 
 
 . April. 
 
 Administration of Menou 
 ia Egypt. 
 
 EVACUATION OF EGYPT. 
 
 His system of taxation. 
 
 245 
 
 These miserable incidents would not be cited, un- 
 worthy of history as they aiv, it their very little- 
 ness were not instructive by showing to what paltry 
 meannesses motiveless discontent will sometimes 
 descend. Reynier now became an insubordinate, 
 culpable, and foolish lieutenant. He was joined by 
 general Dumas, the friend of Kle'ber, and chief of 
 the general staff, who bore in his heart all the 
 jealousies of the army of the Rhine against the 
 army of Italy. The spirit of opposition had its 
 abode in the staff itself. Menou would not suffer it 
 so near him, and resolved to take from Dainas the 
 post which lie had occupied under Kle'ber. 
 
 The opponents of Menou being thus disconcerted, 
 endeavoured to parry the blow by sending the 
 In-ave and clever general Friant to negotiate on 
 their behalf with their commander-in-chief. Friant, 
 absorbed in his military duties, a stranger to all 
 their divisions, interfered only for the purpose of 
 healing them. Menou, firmer than was customary, 
 would not yield, and appointed general Lagrange 
 in place of general Dainas. By this step he found 
 himself less encumbered than before by his oppo- 
 nents ; but they were not the less irritated ; on 
 the contrary, the dissensions among the chiefs of 
 the army only became more disgraceful and more 
 alarming. Men of reflection saw with pain, the 
 shock which must result to the chief authority ; 
 lamentable enough any where, but far more lament- 
 able at a far distance from the supreme power, in 
 a position surrounded with continual danger. 
 
 Menou, a bad general, but a laborious administra- 
 tor of a government, worked day and night at what 
 he denominated the " organization of the colony." 
 He effected many good measures, and s ime that 
 were bad ; but, above all, he attempted to effect 
 too much. First, he employed himself in settling 
 the arrears of pay, and employed for this purpose 
 the contribution of 10,000,0001'. which Kle'ber had 
 exacted from the Egyptian cities as the penalty for 
 their late revolt. This was one mode of keeping 
 up peace and subordination in the army ; for at the 
 time of the convention of El-Ariseh, some marks of 
 insubordination had manifested themselves, arising 
 in part from the pay being in arrcar ; Menou, in 
 consequence, regarded the regular pay of what was 
 due to the soldier as a security for good discipline, 
 and he had reason upon his side. But he took the 
 bold step of paying the soldier always, before any 
 other expense, forgetting what urgent circum 
 stances war might originate. He employed him- 
 self in improving the soldiers' bread, and he ren- 
 dered it of excellent quality. He put the hospitals 
 in perfect order ; and very carefully applied him- 
 self to introduce clearness and order into the public 
 accounts. Menou was a man of the most strict in- 
 tegrity, given a little to lecturing. He so often 
 expressed in the order of the day his intention to 
 establish strict honesty in the army, that he hurt 
 the feelings of the generals. They asked, with 
 some bitterness, if nothing but pillage hail existed 
 
 before Menou, and if integrity dated from his com- 
 mand of the army. It was very true, that but few 
 malversations had been committed during the oc- 
 cupation of Egypt. The army had taken, after the 
 dissolution of the treaty of El- Arisch, a very con- 
 siderable prize in the port of Alexandria; it con- 
 sisted of numerous vessels that bad come, under 
 the Turkish flag, to transport the French army to 
 
 its own shores ; and they were nearly all filled with 
 merchandise. A commission was appointed to sell 
 them for the profit of the colonial treasury. Menou 
 appeared discontented with the operations of the 
 commission, and with general Lanusse who com- 
 manded at Alexandria. He recalled Lanusse, in a 
 manner that seemed to cast a reflection upon his 
 character, and appointed general Friant in his 
 place. General Lanusse was deeply wounded at 
 this, and, upon his return to Cairo, increased the 
 number of the disaffected. Menou did not rest 
 here ; he tried to change the system of contribu- 
 tions, and in this committed a great mistake. It 
 was not to be doubted that, in time, a reform might 
 have been operated in the Egyptian finances. By 
 means of a fair repartition of the land revenues, 
 with a few taxes levied judiciously upon articles 
 of consumption, it would have been easy to relieve 
 the Egyptian people, and increase the receipts of 
 the treasury. But at the moment when the French 
 were exposed to attacks from without, it was not 
 politic to increase the difficulties within, and to 
 make the people suffer from changes of which they 
 would not at first be convinced of the benefit. The 
 collection of the former taxes justly and in due 
 course, was enough to establish a comparison be- 
 tween the Mamelukes and the French — a compa- 
 rison greatly to the advantage of the last, and to 
 increase considerably the funds applicable to the 
 army. Menou conceived the idea of a general 
 valuation of property, a new system of land-tax, 
 and, above all, the exclusion of the Copts, who, in 
 Egypt, are the farmers of the revenue, and act 
 nearly the same part there which the Jews do in 
 the north of Europe. These designs, very proper 
 for future consideration and use, were at that mo- 
 ment very ill-advised. Menou, most fortunately, 
 had not time to put his plans into execution ; but 
 he carried into effect the creation of new taxes. 
 The sheiks, El-Bcled, or municipal magistrates of 
 Egypt, at certain times were invested with the 
 municipal power, and obtained as presents either 
 pelisses or shawls from the investing authorities. 
 They returned, for these presents, gifts of horses, 
 camels, or cattle. The Mamelukes renewed this 
 ceremony as frequently as possible, for the sake of 
 the profit which they obtained. Some of them had 
 commuted the gift into one of money ; Menou 
 thought of making the measure general all over 
 Egypt. He levied upon the sheiks, El- Ikied, a 
 tax of about 2,500,0001'.' They were generally 
 rich enough to pay this sum, and to some it was a 
 lightening of the existing burthen. But the sheiks 
 had great interest in the two thousand five hun- 
 dred villages that were under their authority ; and 
 the French ran the chance of turning the opinion 
 of the people against them, if they levied an abso- 
 lute, uniform, uncompensated tax, involving in it 
 the suppression of a usage of which the effect was 
 morally useful. 
 Menou possessed the idea of assimilating Egypt 
 
 to France, which he styled "chili iug " it, by 
 establishing an octroi or Bpeciefl of excise upon the 
 town consumption of various articles. Egypt had 
 already a duly upon articles of consumption, col- 
 lected in the okcls, a sort of warehouses, iu the 
 east, when- merchandise is deposited iu the course 
 
 i Or £100,000 sterling.
 
 Alterations of Menou. 
 24G — Malcontents in the 
 army. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Menou confirmed in his 
 command. 
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 of its transport from one place to another. This 
 mode of collection was simple and facile. Menou 
 wished to change it into a tax collected at the town 
 gates, which were very numerous in Egypt. Inde- 
 pendently of the derangement this occasioned to 
 the inhabitants of the country, the effect was to 
 raise the price of provisions upon the French 
 garrisons, to throw by this means a considerable 
 part of the charge upon the army, and to excite 
 new murmurings. Lastly, Menou resolved to levy 
 contributions upon the rich merchants, who escaped 
 the payment of the public taxes, such as the Copts, 
 Greeks. Jews, Damascenes, Franks, and others. He 
 imposed upon them a capitation tax of 2,500,000 f. 
 per annum. The burden was not too weighty, at 
 least for the Copts, who had been enriched by the 
 farming of the revenue, but the Copts had been 
 very ill-treated during the revolt of Cairo. Besides 
 the French had need of them; because it was to 
 them alone that recourse must be had for a loan, 
 or for any sum of money wanted upon an emer- 
 gency. It was not prudent, therefore, to alienate 
 them from the French any more than the Greek 
 or European merchants, who, approximating to the 
 French in manners, usages, and mental qualities, 
 should have been intermediate agents between 
 them and the Egyptians. Lastly, Menou created a 
 duty on successions or upon bequeathed property, 
 which was to extend to the army; and this became 
 a fresh cause of discontent for the grumblers. 
 
 This mania for assimilating a colony to the mo- 
 ther country, in the belief that arousing the preju- 
 dices of a people is the act of their civilization, 
 Menou had in common with all those who colonize 
 with narrow views, more eager to travel quickly 
 than well. To achieve this object, Menou esta- 
 blished a private council. This body was not com- 
 posed of five or six military chiefs, but of about 
 fifty civil and military officers taken from different 
 grades of society. It was a real parliament, that 
 ridicule prevented from assembling. He, lastly, 
 established an Arabic newspaper for the purpose 
 of making officially known to the army and the 
 Egyptians, the acts of the French authorities. 
 
 The soldiers paid little attention to these altera- 
 tions ; they lived well, laughed at Menou, and 
 applauded his good-nature and solicitude for their 
 benefit. The Egyptians were submissive, and found 
 after all that the yoke of the French was much 
 more easy than that of the Mamelukes. But amidst 
 all this there were some who were irritable, and 
 these were the malcontents in the army. By doing 
 absolutely nothing, Menou would alone have had a 
 chance of escaping their envenomed criticisms, and 
 then he would have been censured for his inaction. 
 But Menou was too much occupied with his 
 schemes of organization not to supply ample mat- 
 ter for their critical censures. Of these schemes 
 they took advantage, and went so far as to project 
 the deposition of the commander-in-chief; an insen- 
 sate act which would have destroyed the colony, 
 and turned the army of Egypt into an army of 
 praetorians. The officers in the different regiments 
 were actually sounded for this purpose. For- 
 tunately, they were found to be so prudent and so 
 little inclined to revolt, that the idea of the deposi- 
 tion of Menou was given up. Reynier and Damas 
 had gained Lanusse ; all together they had drawn 
 in Belliard and Verdier. General Friant excepted, 
 
 all the generals of division became united in their 
 unhappy opposition. Two of the old members of 
 the convention, whom Bonaparte had taken with 
 him to Egypt for the sake of giving them employ- 
 ment, Isnard and Tallien, returned to their old 
 habits, and became most violent agitators. The 
 plan of deposing the commander-in-chief being 
 recognized as impracticable, these general officers 
 determined to present themselves to Menou in a 
 body, and to make their observations upon certain 
 of his measures which there could be no doubt me- 
 rited censure. They went to him without giving 
 him the least notice of their intention, and he was 
 naturally much surprised at their sudden appear- 
 ance. They laid before him the grievances of which 
 they thought they had reason to complain, and he 
 heard them; but not without great displeasure, and 
 at the same time not without showing considerable 
 dignity. He gave them a promise to consider seve- 
 ral of their observations, but he had not the strength 
 of mind to reprimand them at the moment for the 
 great impropriety of their conduct. This proceed- 
 ing caused a great mischief to the army, and was 
 severely censured. The result was that Isnard and 
 Tallien had the blame placed upon their shoulders, 
 and were embarked for Europe in consequence. 
 
 Just at this critical conjuncture the order of the 
 first consul arrived, confirming Menou in his post, 
 and invested him in a very decided manner with 
 the office of commander-in-chief in Egypt. This 
 expression of the will of the supreme head of the 
 government at home came at a very opportune 
 moment, and had the effect of recalling a part of 
 the malcontents to their duty. Unfortunately new 
 disputes arose, and things very soon got again into 
 their previous state. It was in such miserable 
 squabbles, that these discontented persons, soured 
 by exile, and encouraged by the feebleness of the 
 commander-in-chief, employed their time, from the 
 battle of Heliopolis up to the present day, the space 
 of an entire year; a precious period of time, which 
 should have been passed in perfect unity, and in 
 making preparations by that unity to conquer the 
 formidable enemy that was about to land in Egypt. 
 
 The waters of the Nile were retiring to their 
 bed, and the inundated land was beginning to dry 
 up. The time for landing had arrived. The month 
 of February, 1801, or Ventose, year ix., was close 
 at hand. The English and the Turks were pre- 
 paring to make a new attack upon the colony. The 
 grand vizier, whom Kle'ber had beaten at Helio- 
 polis, was at Gaza between Palestine and Egypt, 
 not having dared to appear at Constantinople from 
 the day of his defeat ; and having with him no 
 more than ten or twelve thousand men of his whole 
 arn iv, devoured by plague, living upon plunder, 
 and having every day to fight the mountaineers of 
 Palestine, who had risen against such visiters. 
 That enemy could be no cause of apprehension for 
 a good while to come. The capitan pacha, the foe 
 of the vizier and a favourite of the sultan, was 
 cruising with a squadron between Syria and Egypt. 
 He was desirous of renewing: the convention of El- 
 Arisch, placing little reliance upon conquering 
 Egypt by force of arms, and having a distrust of 
 England, that he much suspected of a desire to 
 seize upon this fine country from the French for 
 themselves. Lastly, eighteen thousand men were 
 assembled at Macri in Asia Minor, partly English,
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 Projected invasion of Egypt. EVACUATION OF EGYPT. 
 
 Incapacity of Menou. 
 
 247 
 
 others Hessians, Swiss, Maltese, and Neapolitans, 
 commanded by officers exclusively English, and in 
 a fine state of discipline, were about to be em- 
 barked on board lord Keith's squadron, to be 
 landed in Egypt under an excellent general, sir 
 Ralph Abercromby. 
 
 To these eighteen thousand European soldiers, 
 six thousand Albanians were to be added, whom 
 the capitan pacha was at that moment conveying 
 in his squadron, and six thousand sepoys wire 
 crossing from India by the Red Sea. About twenty 
 thousand bad soldiers of the east were to join the 
 ten thousand Turks under the grand vizier in Pa- 
 lestine. Thus there were above sixty thousand 
 men whom the army of Egypt was likely to have 
 upon their hands. Still there were enough, and 
 even more than were wanted, if they had been 
 commanded by a skilful and judicious leader. 
 
 First, there was no danger of a surprise, be- 
 cause the intelligence was received from all parts. 
 It came from the Archipelago by Greek vessels, as 
 well as from Upper Egypt through Murad Bey, 
 and from Europe itself by the despatches of the 
 first consul. All these accounts gave notice of an 
 approaching expedition, composed both of Euro- 
 peans and Orientals. Menou, with a deaf ear to 
 the warning, took no steps at the most critical 
 moment, neglecting every thing necessary in the 
 existing state of his position. 
 
 Sound policy naturally counselled the keeping up 
 a good understanding with Murad Bey by treating 
 him with cautious regard, because he commanded 
 Upper Egypt, and also preferred the French to 
 the English or the Turks. Menou neglected all 
 this, and replied to the information which he re- 
 ceived from Murad Bey, in a manner calculated to 
 alienate him from the French if it had been pos- 
 sible to do so. Good policy demanded that Menou 
 should avail himself of the distrust of the Turks 
 towards the English, and without repeating again 
 the disgraceful convention of EUArUch, delay their 
 tiona by a pretended negotiation, which, by 
 o cupying their attention, might relax their efforts. 
 Menou neither thought of this mode of proceeding, 
 nor of any other. 
 
 In regard to the administrative and military re- 
 sources required under such circumstances, he. 
 was wholly unable to imagine any that were to the 
 purpose. II" ought to have collected at Rosetta, 
 Damietta, Ramauieh, and Cairo, in short, at every 
 place where the army was likely to assemble, a 
 magazine of warlike supplies, always easy to 
 obtain in a country as abundant as Egypt. Menou 
 refused to do this, not being willing to divert the 
 money from the payment of the soldiers which be 
 bad promised them they Bhould punctually receive 
 on the day it was- due,— a thing which the difficulty 
 
 of collecting the new tax<s barely enabled him to 
 do at tie- moment. It wai ry to remoun< 
 
 the cavalry and artillery, as they were the most 
 efficacious means of opposing an army just dis- 
 embarked, and most commonly destitute of these 
 
 two am.-. Ho I'll:- I to do this on the -aim- 
 financial grounds as before. So far did In- carry 
 his want of foresight, that he sell eted the same 
 moment to cut tin- artillery horses, which were 
 entire, and by tin ir spirit very troublesome to 
 govern. 
 
 Lastly, Menou was opposed to the concentration 
 
 of the troops, which the health of the soldiers at 
 that season rendered very desirable, even if no 
 danger had threatened Egypt from without. Some 
 cases of plague had already appeared. To encamp 
 the men and take them out of the towns was 
 urgently required, besides keeping them more dis- 
 posable in case of a sudden demand for their ser- 
 vices. The army, scattered in garrison, uselessly 
 congregated in Cairo, or employed in the collection 
 of the miri, was in a condition to act no where with 
 effect. Still by the good disposal of twenty-three 
 thousand men, of whom seventeen or eighteen 
 thousand were capable of active service, Menou 
 had the means in his power to defend Egypt at 
 every point. He might be attacked by the side of 
 udria, because it was situated near the roads 
 of Aboukir, and always, therefore, preferred as a 
 landing-place ; by the side of Damietta, another 
 place fit for a landing, though less favourable than 
 that of Aboukir; or, thirdly, by the way of the 
 Syrian frontier, where the grand vizier was sta- 
 tioned with the remains of his army. Of these 
 three, there was only one point seriously threatened, 
 namely, Alexandria and Aboukir roads, — a cir- 
 cumstance easy to be foreseen, because every one 
 was of that opinion, and it was openly expressed 
 in the army. The shore of Damietta was, on the 
 other hand, of difficult access, and so little united, 
 by a few narrow points to the Delta, that an in- 
 vading army, if it disembarked, could be easily 
 blocked up and forced to re-embark. It was not 
 at all probable that the English would approach by 
 the way of Damietta. On the side of Syria there 
 was but little serious danger to be apprehended 
 from the vizier. He was too weak, and too full of 
 the recollection of Heliopolis, to take the lead in 
 an attack. He would only venture to advance 
 upon the successful landing of the English. Under 
 any circumstances it would not be imprudent to 
 suffer him to advance, as the nearer to the French 
 he did so the more certain he would be to commit 
 himself. The main subject for the consideration 
 of the commander-in-chief, in fact that which 
 should have wholly occupied his attention, ought 
 to have been the English army, the landing of 
 which was expected to take place very shortly. In 
 the existing posture of affairs, a strong division of 
 four or five thousand men should have been left 
 around Alexandria, independently of the sailors 
 and the depots necessary to guard the fortified 
 places. Two thousand would have been sufficient 
 for Damietta. The dromedary regiment would 
 have sufficed to keep guard upon the Syrian fron- 
 tier. A garrison of three thousand men at, Cairo, 
 which would have been joined by two thousand 
 
 from Upper Egypt, and reinforced several thou- 
 sands from the depots, would have been ample to 
 lei i p in subjection the population of Cairo, even if 
 the vizier had appeared under the walls. These 
 various duties absorbed eleven or twelve thousand 
 
 nun out of seventeen or eighteen thousand ell'ee- 
 
 There would then remain six thousand 
 chosen troops in reserve, of which a large camp 
 ought to have been formed exactly between Alexan- 
 dria and Damietta. Tin re did, in fact, exist such a 
 point, uniting every objeel required, and that was 
 at Etamanieh, a healthy site on the border of the 
 
 Nile, not far from the sea, easy lo be provisioned, 
 at the distance of a day's march from Alexandria,
 
 248 
 
 Activity of general 
 
 Fnant. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 English expedition enters 
 Aboukir Bay. 
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 and three or four from the frontiers of Syria. If 
 Menou had established at Ramanieh his reserve of 
 six thousand men, he would be able at the first 
 alarm to be in Alexandria in twenty-four hours, 
 and in Damietta in forty-eight; and, if it had been 
 necessary, in three or four days on the frontiers of 
 Syria. Such a force would have rendered vain all 
 the attempts of the enemy. 
 
 Menou did not think of any of these modes of 
 action; and not only was he thoughtless of them, 
 but rejected the advice of those who urged others 
 upon his attention. Good advice came upon him 
 from every side, and more especially from the 
 generals who were in opposition to him. To do 
 them justice, these last, and with them Reynier, 
 more accustomed than the others to great military 
 dispositions, informed him of his peril, and pointed 
 out to him the measures best to be adopted ; but 
 they had all lost their influence over the com- 
 mander-in-chief by their late intemperate oppo- 
 sition to his measures; and now, when they had 
 reason upon their side, they were not more regarded 
 than when they had been in the wrong. 
 
 The brave Friant, a stranger to these disastrous 
 bickerings, zealously set about putting Alexandria 
 in a state of defence. He had already organized 
 the sailors, and the troops in the depots, with the 
 object of intrusting to them the defence of the 
 forts; but this being completed, he had scarcely 
 more than two thousand effective men, whom he 
 could collect at the place of disembarkation, 
 wherever it might be. It was necessary to employ 
 a part of these to garrison the different points upon 
 the coast, such as the fort of Aboukir, the Maison 
 C'ure'e, and Rosetta. After placing garrisons in 
 these posts, he had about twelve hundred men 
 left. Fortunately, a frigate, from Rochefort, the 
 Re^dne're'e, brought three hundred men from 
 Ruchefort, with a considerable supply of military 
 stores. Owing to this unexpected circumstance, 
 the disposable force of general Friant was raised 
 to fifteen hundred men. It may be imagined what 
 assistance, at such a moment, the squadron of 
 admiral Ganteaume would have been, if, trusting 
 a little more to fortune, that admiral had landed 
 here just at this moment the four thousand chosen 
 men which were embarked on board his fleet. 
 
 General Friant, although his force was so de- 
 ficient, applied for only two battalions more, and 
 a regiment of cavalry. In fact, this force would 
 have sufficed ; but it was a step of too much 
 temerity, in such a conjuncture, to trust to a re- 
 inforcement of only one thousand men. It is too 
 true, that the self-confidence of the army con- 
 tributed greatly to its defeat. The French troops 
 in Egypt had been in the habit of fighting one 
 against four, sometimes one against eight; and they 
 had formed no correct idea of the means by which 
 the English would effect a landing. They believed 
 that they would only land a hundred or two of 
 men at a time, without artillery or cavalry; and 
 they imagined, too, that the English could not 
 withstand a charge of the bayonet. This was a 
 fatal illusion. Still, this reinforcement, requested 
 by Friant, weak as it might be, would have saved 
 the colony : subsequent events prove this '. 
 
 1 This is a singular illusion of our author, even under his 
 very incorrect statement of the proceedings of the English 
 army. — Translator. 
 
 On the 28th of February, 1801, or 9th of Ven- 
 tose, year ix., there was perceived, not far from 
 Alexandria, an English pinnace 2 , which appeared 
 to be reconnoitring. Some boats were sent in 
 pursuit of her, and she was captured with the 
 officers who were on board. The papers found 
 upon them left no longer any doubt of the inten- 
 tion of the English. Almost immediately after- 
 wards the English fleet of seventy sail of vessels 
 appeared in sight of Alexandria; but owing to the 
 badness of the weather, it was obliged to stand out 
 to sea again. Fortune still left another chance for 
 the preservation of Egypt from the English, since 
 it was not likely their landing would be attempted 
 for several days to come. The intelligence trans- 
 mitted by Friant to Cairo reached that place on 
 the 4th of March, or 13th of Ventose, in the after- 
 noon. If Menou had, without losing time, taken 
 a decisive and prompt resolution, all might still 
 have been repaired. If he had ordered the entire 
 army to fall back towards Alexandria, the cavalry 
 would have arrived there in four days, the infantry 
 in five; that is to say, between the 8th and 9th of 
 March, or 17th and I8th of Ventose, from ten to 
 twelve thousand men might have been assembled 
 on the sands of Aboukir. It was possible that 
 by this time the English would have been dis- 
 embarked; but it was impossible for them to have 
 got their artillery, ammunition, and stores on shore, 
 or to have strengthened their position ; and our 
 troops would have arrived in time to have driven 
 them into the sea. Reynier, who was at Cairo,, 
 wrote to Menou, on that day, a letter of the most 
 convincing character. He advised him to dis- 
 regard the vizier, who would not take the lead in 
 offensive operations, and also Damietta, which was 
 not the point threatened, and to push the great 
 mass of his force upon Alexandria. Nothing was 
 better than this advice. In any case, there could 
 be no harm done by marching upon Ramanieh,. 
 since, on his arrival there, if the danger were in 
 Damietta or Syria, he could, with perfect ease, 
 direct himself upon either of these two points. 
 Not a day would be lost in such a case, and he 
 would be so much closer to Alexandria, where the 
 real danger was threatening; but it was absolutely 
 necessary to decide that moment, and to set out 
 on the march that night. Menou was deaf to this 
 reasoning, and became peremptory in his orders; 
 while, at the same time, he was unsettled how he 
 should act. Not being able to distinguish, to his 
 own satisfaction, the point that was threatened, 
 he sent a reinforcement to general Rampon, at 
 Damietta. He sent general Reynier, with his 
 division, towards Belbeis, to oppose the vizier 
 upon the Syrian border. He sent the division of 
 Lanusse towards Ramanieh ; yet he did not send 
 all that division, but kept at Cairo the 88th demi- 
 brigade. At the moment he merely sent off the 
 17th chasseurs. General Lanusse was ordered to 
 proceed to Ramanieh, and, according to the in- 
 formation he might there obtain, he was, if needful, 
 
 * This took place in Aboukir Bay, not off Alexandria. 
 The officers were majors M'Karras and Fletcher of the royal 
 engineers, who, some time before the expedition, sailed from 
 Marmora, having gone down in the Penelope frigate to survey 
 the coast. They were surprised in a very small boat. Major 
 M'Karras was killed by the French. — Translator.
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 Description of the country. EVACUATION OF EGYPT. Landing of the British troops. 249 
 
 to march from tliat place upon Alexandria. Me- 
 nou remained in Cairo, with a large proportion of 
 his forces, awaiting later intelligence, in a position 
 at sucli a distance from the coast. It was impos- 
 sible for incapacity to proceed further. 
 
 During this time, events rapidly succeeded each 
 other. The English fleet was composed of seven 
 sail of the line, a great number of frigates, brigs, 
 and large vessels belonging to the East India com- 
 p&ny, in all seventy sail. They had on board 
 a great many Hat-bottomed boats. As has al- 
 ready been observed, lord Keith commanded the 
 naval forces; sir Ralph Abercromby those of the 
 land. The place which they chose for their dis- 
 embarkation was that which had always been 
 selected before, — the road of Aboukir. It was 
 there that the French squadron was moored in 
 1798: there that it was discovered and destroyed 
 by Nelson; it was there that the Turkish squadron 
 landed the brave janissaries, thrown into the sea 
 by Bonaparte, on the glorious day of Aboukir. The 
 English fleet having been obliged to keep off" for 
 some days, — a delay, fatal for them, and fortunate 
 for the French, if Menou had known how to profit 
 by it, — came to an anchor in the Aboukir roads on 
 the Gth of March ', or 15th Veutose, about five 
 leagues from Alexandria. 
 
 Lower Egypt resembles Holland and Venice, in 
 being a country of marshes and pools. Like all 
 countries of the same nature, it presents a cha- 
 racter, which it is necessary to examine closely, if 
 i'ii' desires to comprehend the military operations 
 of which it may become the scene. At the place 
 where all the great rivers enter the sea, they form 
 banks of sand in their estuaries ; these the sea 
 drives back, and thus driven by two opposite forces, 
 they extend themselves parallel with the shore. 
 They form those bars so much dreaded by navi- 
 gators, always so difficult to pass upon entering or 
 leaving rivers. They rise, scarcely perceived, in 
 succession, to the level of the water, and in time 
 get above it, presenting a long bank of stind, 
 beaten, from without, by the arms of the sea, 
 while, within side, they are perpetually washed by 
 the rivers whose currents they impede in their 
 progress. The Nile, in flowing into the Mediter- 
 ranean, has formed, before its numerous mouths, 
 a vast semicircle of these sand- banks. This semi- 
 circle, which has an arch of seventy leagues at 
 least, from Alexandria to I'elusiutn, is scarcely 
 
 interrupted near Rosetta, Bourloz, Damietta, and 
 
 I'elusium, by some channels, passing through 
 which, the waters of the Nile flow into the sea. 
 On one side bathed by the Mediterranean, it is 
 washed on the other by the lakes Mareotis, 
 
 Madieb, Edko, Bourloz, and Menzaleh. Every 
 disembarkation in Egypt must be necessarily ef- 
 fected upon one of tle-e sand-banks. Led by 
 
 example and by necessity, the English chose that 
 which forms the' bank or plain of Alexandria. 
 
 This bank, about fifteen leagues long, runs between 
 ihe Mediterranean, on one side, and the lakes 
 Mareotis and Madieb on the other, and has, at 
 one of its extremities, the city of Alexandria, ami 
 at the other, forms a re-entering semicircle, which 
 terminates at Kosetta. It is this re-entering seini- 
 
 1 It came to anchor there on the 2nd, not the cth. The 
 ■ea was too high to land until the 8th. — Translator. 
 
 circle which makes the road of Aboukir. One of 
 the sides of this roadstead was defended by the 
 fort of Aboukir, built by the French, and com- 
 manded, by its fire, the surrounding sands. A 
 number of small sand-hills skirted the entire shore, 
 and were lost in the distance on the other side of 
 the road, in a level sandy plain. Bonaparte had 
 ordered a fort to be constructed on these hills. 
 Had his orders been carried into effect, to disem- 
 bark here would not have been practicable. 
 
 It was in the midst of this roadstead that the 
 English squadron came to an anchor in two lines. 
 They waited at anchor until the swell becoming 
 less, permitted them to land. At length, on the 8th, 
 in the morning, or 17th Ventose, the weather 
 being calm, lord Keith distributed five thousand 
 men 2 in three hundred and fifty boats. These 
 boats, disposed in two lines, and led by captain 
 Cochrane, advanced towards the shore, having on 
 each of their wings a division of gun- boats. These 
 boats exchanged with the shore a vigorous can- 
 nonade. 
 
 General Friant had gone to the spot and formed 
 at some distance from the shore, in order to shelter 
 his men from the English artillery. He had thrown 
 between the fort of Aboukir and the ground which 
 he had taken up, a detachment of the 25th demi- 
 brigade, with several pieces of cannon. On his 
 left he had stationed the 7oth,two battalions strong, 
 concealed by the sandhills ; in the centre, two 
 squadrons of cavalry, one the 18th, and the other 
 the 20th dragoons; lastly, upon his right he placed 
 the Gist demi-brigade, also two battalions strong, 
 which was ordered to defend the lower part of 
 the beach. His whole force was fifteen hundred 
 men. An advanced party occupied the landing- 
 place, and the French artillery, placed at the 
 salient points of the shore, swept the plain with 
 their fire. 
 
 The English pulled towards the land, the sol- 
 diers lying down in the bottoms of the boats, and 
 the sailors standing up 3 working their oars with 
 vigour, and taking with perfect coolness the fire 
 of the artillery. When the sailors fell they were 
 instantly replaced by others. The mass moved on 
 as if by one impulse, and approached the land. At 
 length the boats touched the beach. The Eng- 
 lish soldiers arose from the bottoms of the boats 
 and sprang on shore. They formed, and rushed up 
 the sandy slope which bordered the sea. General 
 Friant, discovering this from his outposts falling 
 back, came up a little late. He, notwithstanding, 
 
 2 They were six thousand, not five thousand, in each 
 division; and two divisions of that number were landed the 
 same day, and in the same manner. Their artillery was 
 taken in the launches with each division, under. 'In 1 care of 
 mx naval captains, who conducted the covering gun-boats on 
 the flanks. — Translator. 
 
 3 The want of information of our author upon naval affairs 
 is visible again here. The soldiers did net lie down in the 
 bottoms of the boats, nor did the seamen Stand to low. The 
 outermost transports were from live to fix miles ill; and to 
 reach the rendezvous, a mile from the shore, some had bai D. 
 in the boats from three in the morning, The soldiers, in 
 such a case, must have been packed like bales upon each 
 other. Seamen Handing to row fol live lioiiis i^ a thing 
 
 out of the question. The soldiers sal with their mutkel 1 hi 
 rween thelx knees, placed perpendicularly; the stamen sat 
 
 as usual. — Translator.
 
 „ Engagement between the 
 -°" two armies. — Retreat of 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 the French.— Losses on 
 both sides. 
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 directed the 75th to the left, against the sand-hills, 
 and the 61st to the right, towards the lower part 
 of the shore. This last regiment rushed upon the 
 English with bayonets at the charge, as they 
 were on that side without support. They pushed 
 them with vigour, drove them into their boats, and 
 even got into the boats with them. The grena- 
 diers of the same demi-brigade seized upon twelve 
 of the boats, and used them to pour a murderous 
 fire upon the enemy. The 75th, which received 
 their orders too late, had given the English time 
 to seize upon the position on the left, and advanced 
 to dislodge them. Exposed by this movement to 
 the fire of the gun-boats, it received a terrific dis- 
 charge of grape-shot, which killed thirty-two men, 
 and wounded twenty. It at the same moment re- 
 ceived the terrible fire of the English infantry. 
 This brave demi-brigade surprised for an instant, 
 and not fighting upon firm ground, advanced to the 
 attack in some confusion. General Friant, wishing 
 to support it, ordered a charge of cavalry upon the 
 English centre, which was now forming in the 
 plain, having overcome the first obstacles that pre- 
 sented themselves. The commander of the 18th 
 dragoons was several times sent for by the general 
 to receive his orders, after having made him wait. 
 General Friant, in the midst of a hailstorm of balls, 
 pointed out to him the precise point of attack. 
 Unfortunately the irresolution of the officer caused 
 him, in place of advancing directly against the 
 enemy, to lose time in making a circuit; the charge 
 was badly made, and the lives of many men and 
 horses sacrificed without making any impression 
 on the English, and without disengaging the 75th, 
 that was struggling to retake the sand-hills on the 
 left. There was a squadron of the 20th remaining, 
 commanded by a brave officer, named Boussart; 
 he charged at the head of his dragoons, and over- 
 turned all that were opposed to him. At this in- 
 stant the Cist, which towards the right had been 
 masters of the shore, though unable of themselves 
 to overpower the mass opposed to them, now in- 
 vigorated, followed the 20th dragoons close, and 
 pushed the left of the English upon its centre, soon 
 forcing them to re-embark. The 75th on its own 
 side, under a dreadful fire, fought with renewed 
 courage. If at that moment general Friant had 
 had the two battalions of infantry, and the regi- 
 ment of cavalry which he so many times requested, 
 the battle had been won, and the English had been 
 driven into the sea. But a troop of twelve hun- 
 dred chosen men, composed of Swiss and Irish, 
 turned the sand-hills, and attacked the 75th in 
 flank. This regiment was obliged to give way 
 anew, leaving the Gist on the right, determined to 
 conquer, but endangered by its own excess of 
 courage. 
 
 General Friant, seeing that the 75th was obliged 
 to retreat, and that the Gist would be surrounded, 
 ordered its retreat, which was effected in good 
 order. The grenadiers of the Cist, animated by 
 the carnage and by the success, reluctantly obeyed 
 the order of their general, and in retiring kept 
 back the English by several vigorous charges. 
 
 This unfortunate combat of the 8th of March, or 
 17th of Ventose, decided the loss of Egypt. The 
 gallant general Friant had taken up his position, 
 perhaps, a little too far from the shore ; he had 
 also, perhaps, counted too much upon the supe- 
 
 riority of his men, and supposed that the English 
 could only disembark a few at a time. But this 
 confidence was very excusable, and, after all, it 
 was justified; because if he had had but one or 
 two battalions more, the English would have been 
 repulsed, and Egypt saved. But what can be said 
 in behalf of the commander-in-chief, who, for two j 
 months aware of the danger through many chan- 
 nels, neglected to concentrate his troops at Ra- 
 manieh, which would have enabled him to unite 
 ten thousand men before Aboukir on that decisive 
 day ? who, informed again on the 4th of March, 
 in the most positive terms, which reached Cairo on 
 that day, did not send any troops ? They would 
 then have arrived on the morning of the 8th, and 
 would, in consequence, have been in time to repel 
 the English. What can be said of admiral Gan- 
 teaume, who could have landed four thousand men 
 in Alexandria the same day that the Re'ge'nere'e 
 frigate brought three hundred, who fought at 
 Aboukir ? What can be said of this timidity, neg- 
 ligence, error of every kind, unless that there are 
 some times when every thing accumulates to con- 
 tribute to the loss of battles and the ruin of em- 
 pires ? ( 
 
 The battle was sanguinary. The English com- 
 puted their loss at eleven hundred killed and 
 wounded out of five thousand that had landed l . 
 We had four hundred killed and wounded out of 
 fifteen hundred. The troops had then fought well. 
 General Friant retired under the walls of Alex- 
 andria, and sent off the state of affairs to Menou 
 and the generals stationed near him, pressing them 
 to come to his assistance. 
 
 Still, all might have been repaired, if the time 
 that remained had been profitably employed in 
 bringing up the disposable force, and had advantage 
 been taken of the difficulties in which the English 
 found themselves placed, having taken up their 
 position upon the sandy plain. 
 
 In the first place, they had to disembark their 
 army, then to land their guns, ammunition, and 
 baggage, which would be a labour of some time. It 
 was then necessary for them to advance along the 
 sand-bank in order to approach Alexandria, with 
 the sea on the right, and the lakes Madieh and 
 Mareotis on the left ; supported, it is true, by 
 
 1 The English did not compute their loss in the amount 
 the author states ; but it was as follows : seamen, 22 kilUd ; 
 7 officers, 65 men wounded, 3 missing; total navy, i)7. The 
 return of the army loss was 4 officers, 4 Serjeants, i)i privates, 
 killed; 26 officers, 34 Serjeants, 455 privates, wounded; 
 1 officer and S3 privates missing. Of these last, 14 were of 
 the Corsican rangers made prisoners ; these were probably 
 the "Swiss" alluded to above, because there was no other 
 foreign regiment in the British service in the landing of the 
 Iir>t division. The total, therefore, was 124 killed, and 625 
 wounded. The action was warmly contested at the moment. 
 The French cavalry charged the British left as it came out 
 of the boats, and before it could form, causing a confusion 
 impossible to avoid, and instantly remedied. The combat 
 was never for a moment doubtful. The 23rd and 40th, that 
 ascended the sand-hills in the centre, carried all before them, 
 and were never once checked. The French force was rated 
 by good judges, who were able to observe the proceedings, 
 at from 2500 to 3000. General Abercromby estimated them 
 at 2500. Eight French pieces of cannon out of fifteen were 
 taken, a waggon with ammunition, and a number of horses. 
 — Translator.
 
 1S0I. 
 
 April. 
 
 Delay of Menou. — 
 Movements of the 
 British. 
 
 EVACUATION OF EGYPT. 
 
 Friant and Lanusse re- 
 solve to fight. — They 
 are repulsed. 
 
 251 
 
 their gun-boats, but without cavalry, ami having 
 no other artillery than they were able to drag by 
 hand. These operations, it was clear, would be 
 tedious, and soon become very difficult when they 
 bad arrived before Alexandria, reduced to the 
 necessity either of taking that city, or marching 
 over narrow dykes, by which alone they could com- 
 municate with til.- interior of Egypt, and got out of 
 the confined promontory upon which they had 
 landed. If the French wished to check their ad- 
 vance, they ought to have avoided partial and un- 
 equal battles, which only inspired their enemies 
 with confidence, made the troops lose their cus- 
 tomary reliance upon themselves, and reduced 
 their numbers, already too few. Without fighting 
 at all the French were certain, by choosing good 
 positions, to obstruct the English inarch com- 
 pletely. One useful thing alone, therefore, re- 
 mained to be undertaken, and that was to wait until 
 Menou, whose blindness to his own danger bad 
 now been overcome by facts too strong to be re- 
 Bisl d, had concentrated his forces under the walls 
 of Alexandria. 
 
 But general Lanusse had been sent to Ramanieh 
 with his division. Having then learned what had 
 passed on the side of Aboukir, he at once marched 
 upon Alexandria. He brought with him three 
 thousand men ; Friant had lost four hundred out of 
 fifteen hundred who were in the battle of the 8th 
 of March ; but having called in his small outposts, 
 extending from Alexandria to Rosetta, he had still 
 seventeen or eighteen hundred men. The forts of 
 Alexandria were garrisoned by the seamen and 
 soldiers of the depots. With the division of La- 
 coming up, a force of about five thousand 
 men could be mustered. The English had landed 
 sixteen thousand exclusive of two thousand seamen. 
 it would have been wiser not to have engaged vet 
 iii a Becond battle; but the two generals were hur- 
 ried into action by extraordinary circumstances. 
 
 Tie- long bank of Band upon which the English 
 had landed, separated by the lakes Madieh and 
 Mareotis from the- interior of Egypt, is only joined 
 to it by a Ion,' dyke passing between the two lake's, 
 and terminating at Ramanieh. This dyke carries, 
 at the same time, the canal which supplies the 
 city of Alexandria with fresh water from the Nile, 
 and the high road leading from Alexandria to 
 Ramanieh. At this moment there was great dan- 
 ger of its being occupied by the English, as they 
 had very nearly reached the place where it joins 
 the Kind-bank npon which Alexandria is situated, 
 'I'll.' English were busy on the 9th, 10th, and I lth 
 of March, or 18th, 19th, and 20th of Ventose, in 
 disembarking and organizing their troops. On the 
 12th their army began to advance, inarching slowly 
 
 and heavily through the sands, the artillery being 
 drawn by the sailors of the squadron, and sup- 
 ported right and left by gnn-boats. <»n the night 
 
 of the 12th they were very near the point where 
 
 the dyke and canal form a junction with the site 
 
 upon which Alexandria stands, 
 
 lerala friant and Lanusse- thought there was 
 great danger in permitting the English to occupy 
 
 that point, and thus place in their possession the 
 road to Ramanieh, ljy which Menou must arrive. 
 Still, if that road were lost,th< re remained another 
 
 long one, it is true, and very difficult for artillery 
 
 to pass, that was the bed itself of lake Mareotis. 
 
 This lake, more or less in a state of inundation, 
 according to the rise of the Nile, and the season of 
 the year, left uncovered a large space of marshy 
 ground, through which an army might be certain 
 to track out a sinuous march. There was, in coii- 
 tice, no sufficient reason for fighting with 
 every chance against success. 
 
 Generals Friant and Lanusse, nevertheless, ex- 
 aggerated the danger to which their communi- 
 
 On © 
 
 cations were exposed, and determined to fight. 
 They had the means of diminishing very consider- 
 ably the error thev thus committed, bv remaining 
 upon the sand-hills, which rise across the whole 
 width of the bank upon which the battle was 
 fought, these very hills abutting upon the head of 
 the dyke itself, and commanding it. By remaining 
 in this position, and making a wise use of their 
 artillery, with •which they were much better pro- 
 vided than the English, they had the advantage of 
 acting upon the defensive, of compensating for | 
 their inferiority of number ; and would have suc- 
 ceeded, it is probable, in protecting the point, for 
 the preservation of which they were about to give 
 a second battle, deeply to be regretted. 
 
 It was then agreed upon to give battle between 
 generals Friant and Lanusse. The last was an 
 officer of good natural abilities, of great bravery, 
 and even audacity. Unhappily he was too little 
 disposed to attend to the dictates of prudence. He 
 had mingled too in the dissensions prevalent in the 
 army, and was full of delight at the prospect of 
 gaining a victory before the arrival of Menou. 
 
 On the 13th of March, or 22nd of Ventose, in the 
 morning, the English appeared. They were divided 
 into three corps; that on the left followed the shore 
 of lake Madieh, thus threatening the head of the 
 dyke, supported by gun-boats ; that of the centre 
 advanced in the form of a square, having battalions 
 in close columns upon its Hanks in order to resist 
 the French cavalry, which the English much feared; 
 the third corps marched on the side of the sea, 
 supported also by gun-boats. 
 
 The corps destined to take the head of the dyke 
 was in advance of the two others. Lanusse, seeing 
 the left wing of the English venture alone along 
 the side of the lake, could not resist the desire of 
 throwing himself upon it. He descended the heights 
 below which he was to attack it ; but at the same 
 moment the formidable square forming the English 
 centre, before concealed from view by some of tin; 
 sand-hills which it had cleared, appeared suddenly 
 upon that side. Lanusse was thus obliged to turn 
 from his original object ; he marched directly to- 
 wards the square, which at some distance was pre- 
 ceded by an advanced line of infantry. He ordered 
 up the 22nd chasseurs, which charged the line of 
 infantry at full gallop, cut it into two parts, and 
 forced "two battalions to lay down their arms. The 
 
 •lth light drag is advancing to sustain the 22nd, 
 
 completed this first success. While this was going 
 
 forward, the square which had arrived within mus- 
 
 l.rt shot, commenced that tire of well-sustained 
 musketry, by which the French army Buffered BO 
 much upon the landing at Aboukir. The 111th light 
 next came up, but was received with the same 
 
 murderous volleys, which threw its ranks into con- 
 fusion. At this moment the right body of the 
 English was seen advancing from the sea-shore 
 upon its way to sustain the centre. Lanusse, who
 
 252 
 
 Menou marches towards 
 Alexandria. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Preparations for a deci- 
 sive engagement. 
 
 1801. 
 AprU. 
 
 had only the 69th to support the 13th, then ordered 
 a retreat, fearing to engage in so unequal a contest. 
 Friant on his side, astonished to see Lanusse de- 
 scend to the plains, followed in order to support 
 him, and pushed forwards to the head of the dyke, 
 against the English left. He was exposed a long 
 while to a very animated fire, which he returned 
 with equal spirit, when he perceived the retreat of 
 his colleague. He then retreated in his turn, to 
 prevent being left to contend alone against the 
 entire English army. Both after this short engage- 
 ment regained the position which they had com- 
 mitted the error of quitting. 
 
 This was on the whole but a mere reconnoissance, 
 although a very useless one, because the army 
 ought to have been spared, and the result was a 
 new loss of live or six hundred men ; a loss very 
 much to be regretted, because the French had not, 
 like the English, the means of obtaining reinforce- 
 ments, and were reduced to the necessity of giving 
 battle with a force not exceeding five thousand or 
 six thousand men. If the losses of the English 
 could have compensated for those of the French, 
 they were sufficiently great to satisfy them. They 
 lost thirteen or fourteen hundred men *. 
 
 It was now resolved to await the arrival of 
 Menou, who had at last determined upon direct- 
 ing the army on Alexandria. He had ordered 
 general Rampon to quit Damietta, and march upon 
 Ramanieh, and he brought with him the main body 
 of the troops. Yet there still remained in the pro- 
 vince of Damietta, and in the vicinity of Belbeis 
 and of Salahieh, in Cairo itself, and in Upper 
 Egypt, troops which were not as useful in the 
 places where they were left as they would have 
 been before Alexandria. If Menou had ordered 
 the evacuation of Upper Egypt, and had confided it 
 to Murad Bey, and if he had left the city of Cairo, 
 but little inclined to insurrection, to the soldiers in 
 the depots, he would have had two thousand men 
 more with which to face the enemy. Such an addi- 
 tional force was not surely to be despised, because 
 the all-important object was to beat the English. 
 The Egyptians were very far from the idea of 
 revolting, and did not require that any precautions 
 should be taken against them. They were only to 
 be feared in case of the French being decidedly 
 vanquished. 
 
 Menou, having reached Ramanieh, discovered 
 the whole extent of the danger threatening him. 
 General Friant had sent forward two regiments of 
 cavalry. The general thought, with good reason, 
 that being for some days shut up within the walls 
 of Alexandria, he had no great need of those regi- 
 ments, and that, on the contrary, they would be 
 highly useful to Menou to clear the country upon 
 his march. 
 
 Menou was obliged to make long circuits in the 
 hed of lake Mareotis, in order to gain the plain of 
 Alexandria. He succeeded with some trouble, 
 
 ' The exact loss of the English was 6 officers, 150 men, 
 and 21 horses, killed-, 66 officers, 1015 men, and 5 horses, 
 wounded; 1 man alone was missing: total, 1231. The 
 French continually underrate their losses. The English 
 army continued their advance, and the French retired under 
 the protection of the fortified heights of Alexandria, while 
 genera] Hutchinson, with the reserve, occupied a position 
 with his right to the se:i, and his left on the canal of Alex- 
 andria, about a league from the city. — Translator. 
 
 above all with his artillery. The trropa arrived 
 on the lfjth and 20th of March, or 28th and 29th 
 Ventose. He arrived himself on the 19th, and was 
 then able to appreciate with his own eyes the great 
 fault that had been committed in allowing the 
 English to effect a landing. 
 
 The English had received several reinforcements 
 and a good di al of materiel. They had taken up 
 their position upon the same sandy heights which 
 had been occupied by generals Lanusse and Friant 
 on the 13th of March. They had thrown up some 
 redoubts, and mounted them with heavy guns. To 
 drive them from their position would have been a 
 difficult task. 
 
 The English were besides very superior in num- 
 bers. They had seventeen thousand or eighteen 
 thousand men against fewer than ten thousand. 
 Friant and Lanusse, after the affair of the 22nd of 
 Ventose, had barely four thousand five hundred 
 effective men. Menou did not bring with him more 
 than five thousand. The French had therefore but 
 ten thousand men to oppose eighteen thousand in 
 an intrenched position. All the chances which 
 might have been on the French side in the first, 
 and even in the second affair, were now against 
 them. After having attempted in vain to drive the 
 English into the sea with fifteen hundred men, and 
 afterwards with five thousand, it would have been 
 extraordinary not to have attempted it with ten 
 thousand, or in other words, with all the force we 
 could collect at the same point. 
 
 It is not to be disguised that there was another 
 part to play, which should have been followed 
 after the first landing, before the useless battle 
 which generals Lanusse and Friant fought. This 
 was to leave the English upon the tongue of land 
 which they occupied, and to throw up works rapidly 
 around Alexandria, which would have made it ex- 
 tremely difficult to take that place; to have confided 
 the defence to the seamen and the soldiers of the 
 depot, reinforced with two thousand good men 
 taken from the active army. To evacuate all the 
 posts except Cairo, where three thousand men 
 might have been left in garrison, having the citadel 
 for a stronghold. Then to have kept the field with 
 nine thousand or ten thousand men, in the view of 
 falling upon the Turks if they should make their 
 appearance hy way of Syria, or upon the English if 
 they should advance into the interior along the 
 narrow dykes traversing Lower Egypt. The French 
 had the advantage over their enemies, in that they 
 were able to avail themselves of every arm, cavalry,. 
 infantry, and artillery, with the exclusive benefit 
 of commanding all the provisions in the country. 
 The English might thus have been blockaded, and 
 probably forced to re-embark. But for such a mode 
 of proceeding a much more able general was re- 
 quired than Menou, much hetter versed than lie 
 was in the art of animating his troops. In short, 
 there was necessary a commander different from 
 him, who, having all the chances of the campaign 
 in his favour upon its commencement, had com- 
 ported himself in such a manner, that he had turned 
 them all to his own disadvantage. 
 
 Still to fight the English, now they were in the 
 country, was but a natural resolution, consequent 
 upon all that had been done since the campaign 
 opened. But having determined to make a decisive 
 exertion, it was proper to attempt it as quickly as
 
 1801. 
 
 "Much. 
 
 Position of the two armies. EVACUATION OF EGYPT. 
 
 Battle of Canopus. 
 
 253 
 
 possible, in order not to give the Turks, oil their 
 way from Syria, the opportunity to press the French 
 forces too closely. 
 
 In order to fight a battle it was necessary to 
 agree upon some plan of operations. Menou was 
 not competent to invent such a plan, and his situa- 
 tion with his generals scarcely admitted of his 
 meeting them in consultation upon the subject. 
 Notwithstanding this, Lagrange, the chief of the 
 staff, requested Reynier and Lanusse to furnish 
 one, which should be laid before Menou for his 
 approbation. This they did, and it was adopted by 
 him almost mechanically. 
 
 The two armies were in presence of each other, 
 occupying a bank of sand about a league broad and 
 fifteen or sixteen long, upon which the English had 
 landed at first. The French army was posted in 
 front of Alexandria, upon elevated ground. Before 
 their position extended a sandy plain, and here and 
 there sand-hills, which the enemy had carefully 
 intrenched, in such a manner as to form a con- 
 tinued chain of positions from the sea to the lake 
 Mareotis. i hn the French left, over against, the sea, 
 an old Roman camp stood ; it was a square species 
 of construction, still entire ; at a little distance 
 in front of this camp was a small sand-hill, on 
 which the English had thrown up a work. There it 
 was that they had stationed their right, supported 
 by the double fire of this work and a division of 
 gun-boats. In the centre of the field of battle, at 
 an equal distance from the sea and lake Mareotis, 
 there was another sand-hill, larger than the pre- 
 ceding, more elevated, and crowned with an in- 
 trenchment. This the English had constructed for 
 the support of their centre. To the full extent of 
 our right, on the side of the lakes, the ground 
 slanted downwards to the head of the dyke, about 
 which the battle had taken place some days before. 
 A succession of redoubts connected the central 
 position with the head of the dyke. The English 
 had protected their left, as well as their rij;ht, with 
 a division of gun-boats, introduced into lake Mar- 
 eotis *. The front of attack presented in its whole 
 length the space very nearly of a league; it was 
 defended by heavy artillery, which men had drag- 
 ged to tin: spot, and by a part of the English army. 
 The larger part of this army was disposed in order 
 of battle in two lines behind the works. 
 
 It was agreed to move forward on the morning 
 of the 21st of March, or 30th of Ventose, before 
 daybreak, in order to conceal the movements of 
 the troops, and expose them less to the enemy's 
 fire from the intreiichments. The intention of 
 tin- French was to attack and carry the works by 
 a sudden dash forward, then to pass them by, in 
 order to attack the front of the English army, 
 
 ranged in order of battle behind them. In con- 
 sequence, the right, under Lanusse, was to move 
 down in two columns upon the right wing of the 
 English, which was supported by the sea. The 
 first of the two columns was to advance directly 
 
 and rapidly against the work erect, d upon the 
 sand hill in front of the old Roman camp. The 
 second, passing as quickly as possible between this 
 work ami the sea, was to attack the Roman camp, 
 
 and take it by assault. The centra of the French 
 army, commanded by general Rampou, bad orders 
 
 1 Qucre, Lake Madii.li?— Tramlnlur. 
 
 to advance some way beyond the place of this 
 attack, to pass between the Roman camp and the 
 great redoubt in the centre, and to attack the 
 English army beyond the works. The right wing 
 was composed of the divisions of Reynier and 
 Friant, but under the command of Reynier, and 
 that wing was ordered to open out in the plain upon 
 the right, and to make a feint of a formidable at- 
 tack on the side of lake Mareotis, to deceive the 
 English into a belief that the grand danger was 
 upon that side. In order to strengthen this belief, 
 the dromedary corps was to make an assault on 
 the head of the dyke, by traversing the bottom of 
 the lake Mareotis for that purpose. It was hoped, 
 too, that this division would render the sudden at- 
 tack intended by Lanusse on the side of the sea, 
 more facile of execution. 
 
 On the 24th, or 30ih of Ventose, before day- 
 break, the army was in motion. The dromedary 
 regiment performed the duty which was assigned 
 to it with perfect success. It rapidly passed over 
 the dry parts of the bed of the lake Mareotis, 
 alighted before the head of the dyke, took the re- 
 doubt, and turned the artillery against the enemy. 
 This was sufficient to deceive the English, and 
 draw their attention towards the lake Mareotis. 
 But to execute the plan agreed upon, on the side 
 of the sea, demanded a precision very difficult to 
 obtain, when the operation was to be executed in 
 the dark; and still more difficult, when, at the head 
 of the enterprise, there was no single ruling mind 
 to direct the whole, competent to calculate time 
 and distance with precision. 
 
 The division of Lanusse, manoeuvring in the 
 obscurity of the night, advanced without order, 
 and threw into confusion the troops in the centre. 
 The first column, under the orders of general 
 Silly, marched up resolutely to the redoubt placed 
 in advance of the Roman camp. Lanusse directed 
 it in person, and led it on to the redoubt. He now 
 discovered, on a sudden, that the second column 
 had missed its way, and that in place of proceeding 
 along the seashore, to attack the Roman camp, it 
 had approached too near to the first. He went 
 towards it for the purpose of directing it to the 
 point designed. Unfortunately, at the same mo- 
 ment, he received a wound in the thigh, which 
 proved mortal ; a fatal event, which was attended 
 with the most deplorable consequences. The 
 ti ps suddenly deprived of their active and ener- 
 getic officer, the spirit of the attack decreased. 
 Day began to dawn, and indicated to the English 
 towards what point they should direct their fire. 
 The French, attacked at once by the fire from the 
 gun-boats, the Roman camp, and the redoubt, 
 showed admirable patience and courage. But 
 very soon, all their superiors being wounded, they 
 were left without leaders, and fell back behind 
 some sand- hills, scarcely high enough to shelter 
 them. While this was occurring, the first column, 
 which Lanusse had left to proceed towards the 
 second, had carried tin; first redan of the redoubt, 
 thrown up on the hill towards the right. It then 
 pushed on against the principal work, intending to 
 
 storm it; but being defeated in the attempt upon 
 the front, wheeled ronnd to attack it in Hank. The 
 centre of the army, under Kampon, seeing the 
 column thus baffled in the assault, turned from 
 its own object, in order to tender support. The
 
 _, . The French compelled to 
 254 retreat. — Loss on both 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 sides. — Death of Aber- 
 cromby, Lanusse, and 
 other generals. 
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 32nd demi-brigade, detached from the centre, 
 came up also to storm this fatal redoubt. These 
 concurrent efforts caused a species of confusion. 
 They strove against this obstacle; and thus the rapid 
 operation which, at first, was intended to carry, in 
 succession, the line of works, became changed into 
 a long.and obstinate attack, in which much precious 
 time was consumed. The 21st demi-brigade, which 
 belonged to the centre, leaving the 32nd occupied 
 before the redouht so warmly contested, executed, 
 by itself, the original plan, passed the line of in- 
 trenchments, and boldly advancing, opened out in 
 the face of the whole English army. It received 
 and returned a most dreadful fire. It required 
 support ; but Menou, during this time, incapable 
 of commanding, rode up and down the field of 
 battle, ordering nothing, and leaving Reynier to 
 extend his line uselessly in the plain on the right, 
 with a considerable force wholly unemployed. 
 
 Menou was now advised to make an attempt 
 with his cavalry, which was twelve hundred strung, 
 and of incomparable courage, upon the mass of the 
 English infantry, that the 24th had advanced to 
 encounter by itself. Menou, adopting the advice, 
 gave the order to charge. The gallant Roize 
 placed himself at the head of the twelve hundred 
 horse, passed with rapidity the destructive lines of 
 the enemy's fire, crossing right and left, from the 
 guns of the two redoubts, which the French infantry 
 vainly tried to carry by storm, opened on the other 
 side, fuund the 21st demi-brigade closely engaged 
 with the English, and at once charged home. This 
 gallant cavalry first leaped a ditch which sepa- 
 rated them from the enemy, and then dashed, with 
 high courage, upon the first line of the English 
 infantry, overturned and sabred a great number, 
 forcing them back in disorder. The enemy was 
 thus obliged to give way. If Menou, at this mo- 
 ment, or better still, Reynier, in his commander's 
 place, had taken the right wing to the support of 
 the cavalry, the centre of the English army, thus 
 disordered and repulsed beyond their works, had 
 left the French a certain victory. The works, 
 isolated, would have fallen into our hands. But 
 the case was very different. The French cavalry, 
 after having broken the first line of the enemy, 
 seeing other lines yet to be overcome, and having 
 only the support of the 21st demi-brigade, fell 
 back, repassing the exterminating fire of the 
 redoubts. 
 
 From this moment it was impossible that the 
 battle could have had a successful termination. 
 The left, deprived of all spirit by the death of its 
 leader, gave out a useless tire upon the intrenched 
 positions, which returned it with a more murder- 
 ous effect. The right formed in the plain to make 
 a diversion near lake Mareotis, which had now no 
 more any object, since the engagement, become 
 general, had fixed every one in his post — the right 
 rendered no service. An energetic general, there 
 is no doubt, would have recalled it to the centre, 
 and with such an additional force, renewing by 
 that means the attack of general Roize, have 
 attempted a second dash at the English mass. The 
 result might have changed the fate of the battle. 
 But general Menou gave no commands ; and Rey- 
 nier, who would have' been, on this occasion, able to 
 take the initiative, that he so often took, when he 
 should not, in civil affairs, confined himself to 
 
 lamenting that he had no orders from the com- 
 mander-in-chief. The only thing to be done in 
 such a situation was to retreat. Menou gave the 
 order; and his divisions fell back, keeping up a bold 
 front, but sustaining fresh losses from the fire of 
 the redoubts. 
 
 What a spectacle is war, when the lives of men, 
 and the fate of empires, are thus entrusted to in- 
 capable or divided leaders, and when blood flows 
 in proportion to the incapacity or the dissensions 
 of those who wield the chief authority in directing 
 its operations ! 
 
 It cannot be said that the battle was lost, the 
 enemy not having made a single step in advance ; 
 but it was virtually lost, inasmuch as it was not 
 completely gained : for it was essential that the 
 success should be so complete as to drive back the 
 English towards Aboukir, and constrain them to 
 re-embark. The loss was great on both sides. The 
 English had about two thousand men killed and 
 wounded ', among others the brave general Aber- 
 cromby, who was carried on board the fleet in 
 a dying state. The loss of the French was pretty 
 nearly upon an equality. Exposed during the 
 whole action to a downward fire in front and flank, 
 they suffered severely. The spirit with which the 
 cavalry charged filled the English with surprise 
 and admiration. The number of officers and gene- 
 rals wounded was far more than is commonly the 
 case. Generals Lanusse and Roize were killed ; 
 the general of brigade, Silly, commanding one of 
 the columns of Lanusse, had his thigh shot away ; 
 and general Baudot was so severely wounded as to 
 leave no hope of his recovery ; general Destaing 
 was badly wounded, and general Rampon had his 
 uniform riddled with bullets. 
 
 The moral effect of the battle was still more 
 mischievous than the physical. There was no 
 longer any cLnmce of forcing the enemy to re- 
 embark. Soon the French would have upon their 
 hands, besides the English who had landed at Alex- 
 andria, the Turks from Syria ; the capitan pacha, 
 who would arrive with a Turkish squadron, bring- 
 ing six thousand Albanians to the coast of Aboukir, 
 and six thousand sepoys brought from India by 
 the Red Sea, and ready to land at Cosseir in Upper 
 Egypt. What was to be done in the midst of so 
 many enemies, with troops whose courage was 
 no doubt undiminished when called into action ; 
 but who, when the affairs of the colony did not 
 proceed well, were too ready to exclaim that 
 the expedition had been a brilliant act of folly, 
 and that they were uselessly sacrificed to a wild 
 chimera ? 
 
 In the three engagements' of the 8th, 13th, and 
 21st of March, nearly three thousand five hundred 
 men had been lost to the service, of whom a third 
 
 1 In all 1305. The English general, Hutchinson, who stir 
 ccccicil .sir Ralph Abercromby, stated that the French wert 
 not pursued because the English had no cavalry; and that 
 they retreated so quickly within their fortified lines, that 
 it would have been useless. Sir Ralph Abercromby died of 
 his wound seven days afterwards. Four other British gene- 
 rals were wounded, but not seriously; 10 officers, 283 men, 
 and 2 horses, were killed; GO officers and 1133 men were 
 wounded ; and 2!) missing ; belonging to the army : 24 sailors 
 were killed and wounded. The English made 200 prisoners, 
 not wounded ; captured the colours of a distinguished French 
 neat, and two field-pieces. — Translator.
 
 UOI. 
 
 April. 
 
 Unfortunate delay of Gan- 
 teaume. 
 
 EVACUATION OF EGYPT. 
 
 Death of Murad Hey. 
 Intentions of the English. 
 
 255 
 
 were killed, and another third seriously wounded, 
 while the remainder would be incapable of duty 
 for weeks to come. Although the army was much 
 weakened, it could even now, as at the 1 egiuning 
 of the campaign, manoeuvre rapidly between the 
 different bodies of the enemy that were tending to 
 form a junction, beat the vizier if he entered by 
 way of Syria, the capitan pacha if he tried to pene- 
 trate to Rosetta, the English if they attempted to 
 march along the narrow tongues of land which 
 communicate with the interior of Egypt. The 
 three thousand five hundred nun lost made this 
 plan now more difficult than ever of execution. If 
 three thousand men were left in Cairo, and two or 
 three thousand in Alexandria, there remained 
 scarcely seven or eight thousand to manoeuvre in 
 the field, even supposing that all the disposable 
 
 was united, and the secondary posts, without 
 exception, were evacuated. With a very resolute 
 and able general, the success of such an operation 
 would still be uncertain, though possible — but what 
 was to be expected from Menou and his lieu- 
 tenants I 
 
 I here remained one hope of retrieving the for- 
 tunes of the war — it was not to be despaired of, 
 for it was announced day after day. This resource 
 was Ganteaume with his vessels, and the troops 
 which he had embarked on board. Four thousand 
 men arriving at this moment would have saved 
 Egypt. A despatch-boat had been sent to the 
 admiral for the purpose of informing him where lie 
 miu'lit disembark his men out of sight of the Eng- 
 lish on a point of land upon the coast of Africa, 
 twenty or thirty leagues west of Alexandria. 
 Three thousand men might then have been left in 
 that city ; and uniting those who could be spared 
 with those that were in Cairo, ten or twelve thou- 
 sand might have manoeuvred in the open country. 
 But Ganteaume, though far superior to Menou, did 
 not, in the present circumstances, act much better. 
 Aiter having repaired at Toulon the injury his 
 
 had sustained in sailing from Brest, he had, 
 as already seen, sailed from Toulon on the 19th of 
 March, or 28th of Ventose, re-entered tin; port a 
 
 I time in consequence of the Constitution, 
 a ship of the line, getting on shore; and he had 
 again '.'one to s. a on the 22nd of March, or 1-: of 
 Germinal. This time he made sail towards Sar- 
 dinia. The wind was favourable ; a bold impulse 
 of mind would have taken him to the coast of 
 
 t, because he had succeeded in adroitly es- 
 c:iping admiral Warren by altering his course. 
 already only fifteen leagues from Cape 
 Carbonara, the extreme point of Sardinia, ready 
 to ent, r tin; channel which separates Sicily from 
 Africa. Unfortunately on the evening of the 26th 
 of March, or 5th Germinal, one of the captains 
 commanding the Dix-Aout, in the absence of cap- 
 tain 15' r_'e|-et, who was ill, had the uiiskill'ulness 
 to run foul of the [ndomptable, to receive consider- 
 able injury, and to inflict as much upon the other 
 
 i as that ship herself received. Alarmed at 
 the damage thus sustained, Ganteaume did not think 
 himself in a condition to keep at. sea any longer, 
 and put back to Toulon again on the- Bth of April, or 
 
 16th Germinal, just fifteen days after the battle 
 
 Ol I \iIlopllS. 
 
 The French in Egypt were ignorant of the details 
 
 of tie it this date, and in spite of 
 
 the time that had passed, they preserved a rem- 
 nant of hope. At the appearance of the smallest 
 sail they ran to see if it were not Ganteaume. In 
 this anxious state they took no decisive step, but 
 waited in fatal inaction. Menou caused some works 
 to be thrown up around Alexandria, in order the 
 better to resist any attack from the English, but 
 he did no more. He had given an order for the 
 evacuation of Upper Egypt, from whence he with- 
 drew Donzelot's brigade as a reinforcement for 
 the other troops in Cairo. He had sent some 
 troops from Alexandria to Ramanieh to watch the 
 movements taking place on the side of Rosetta, To 
 complete the misfortune, Murad Hey, whose fide- 
 lity to the French was unshaken, had been taken 
 ill of the plague, and had just expired, his Mame- 
 lukes coming under the command of Osman Bey, 
 upon whom no reliance was to be placed: The 
 plague began its ravages at Cairo. Thus every 
 thing went on as ill as possible, and seemed tend- 
 ing towards an unfortunate conclusion. 
 
 The English on their side, fearful of the army 
 before them, would not risk any thing. They pre- 
 ferred moving onward slowly but surely. They 
 were waiting too until their allies, the Turks, in 
 whom they had little confidence, were in a condi- 
 tion to second them. They had now been landed 
 a month, without having attempted any thing more 
 than the capture of the fort of Aboukir, which, 
 gallantly defended, had sunk under the crushing 
 tire of their vessels. At last, about the beginning 
 of April, or middle of Germinal, they determined 
 to abandon their state of inactivity, and that spe- 
 cies of blockade in which they had been obliged to 
 live. Colonel Spencer was ordered with a corps of 
 some thousand English, ami the six thousand Alba- 
 nians of the capitan pacha, to cross by sea the 
 roads of Aboukir, and to disembark before Ro- 
 setta. Their intention was to open by this means 
 an access to the interior of the Delta, and thus to 
 procure the fresh provisions of which they stood in 
 need, and, in addition, to form a connexion with 
 the vizier, who was advancing at the other extre- 
 mity of the Delta, by tin; frontier of Syria. There 
 were no more at Rosetta than a few hundred 
 i r Dch, who could oppose no resistance to thai 
 force, and falling back they ascended the Nile. Th y 
 joined, a little way in advance, a small body of 
 troops sent from Alexandria. This body was com- 
 posed of the 21st light, and a company id" artillery. 
 The English and lurks, masters of one of the 
 mouths of the Nile, by which provisions could 
 reach them, and having the way open to them into 
 
 the interior of Egypt, began t<> think of profiting 
 by their BuccesB, but without being iii too great a 
 hurry, because they waited still twenty days before 
 they marched in advance, for an army sagacious 
 
 and prompt it was an excellent opportunity to 
 
 attack tin m. General Hutchinson, the successor of 
 Abercromby, had no) dared to diminish tip' num- 
 ber of his troops before Alexandria. Ho had sent 
 
 scarcely six thousand English ami six thousand 
 Turks 'to Rosetta, although he had received rein- 
 forcements to cover his losses, and had twenty 
 
 thousand men at his disposal. If General Menou, 
 employing his time well, bad devoted the past 
 month' to construe! around Alexandria the works 
 which were indispensable, had Ik- thus frugally 
 managed his means, so as to have; left few troop-- 
 
 _J
 
 Further errors of Menou. 
 
 256 — Occupation of Rama- 
 
 nieh.— Loss of Rama- 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 nieh. — Communications 
 cut off between Cairo and 
 Alexandria. Ma y- 
 
 1801. 
 
 there, then he might liave directed six thousand men 
 upon Ramanieh, and drawn upon that point all 
 the troops not necessary at Cairo, lie might have 
 brought into the field eight or nine thousand men 
 against the English, who had just penetrated to 
 Rosetta. This was force enough to drive them back 
 to the mouth of the Nile, to elevate the spirit of 
 the army, to secure the submission of the Egyp- 
 tians, to retard the march of the vizier, to replace 
 the English in their real state of blockade on the 
 plains of Alexandria, and to bring back fortune. 
 This was the last chance. He was advised to un- 
 dertake this movement ; but, always timid, he 
 never followed but half the advice that was given 
 to him. He sent general Valentin to Ramanieh 
 with a force pronounced inefficient. Then he sent 
 a second, under the chief of his staff, general La- 
 grange. The whole united force did not amount to 
 four thousand men. He never commanded the 
 march of the troops down from Cairo, and general 
 Lagrange, who was besides a brave officer, was not 
 a man equal to sustain himself with four thousand 
 men before six thousand English, and the same 
 number of Turks. Menou ought to have united at 
 least eight thousand men under his best general. 
 He was able to do this by a strong concentration 
 of his forces, and by every where making a sacri- 
 fice of the accessory to the principal. 
 
 General Morand, who commanded the first de- 
 tachment sent to Rosetta, had posted himself at 
 El-Aft, on the banks of the Nile, near the town of 
 Foueh, in a position which possessed some defen- 
 sive advantages. At that spot general Lagrange 
 joined him. The English and the Turks, masters of 
 Rosetta and the mouth of the Nile, had covered 
 that river with gun-boats, and would have quickly 
 taken the small undefended town of Foueh. It be- 
 came necessary, therefore, to fall back upon Ra- 
 manieh, during the night of the 8th of May, or 
 18th of Floreal. The site of Ramanieh did not 
 offer any great defensive advantages, the strength 
 of the place being scarcely sufficient to counter- 
 balance the numerical superiority of the enemy. 
 Still, if it were required to offer any where a des- 
 perate resistance, Ramanieh was the place for that 
 purpose : because that position lost, the detached 
 corps of general Lagrange would lie separated from 
 Alexandria, and compelled to fall back on Cairo. 
 Thus the French army would be divided in two, 
 one-half being shut up in Alexandria, the other 
 half in Cairo If, when it was united it was not 
 equal to disputing the field with the English, it was 
 impossible, cut in two, that it should oppose any 
 effectual resistance. In such a case it had no alter- 
 native but to sign a capitulation. The loss of Ra- 
 manieh, therefore, would be the definitive hiss of 
 Egypt. Menou wrote to general Lagrange that he 
 would conic to his succour with two thousand men, 
 which at least proves that he had that number at 
 his disposal. There were not less than three thou- 
 sand at Cairo ; in consequence nine thousand, 
 or at least ei^ht thousand men, might have been 
 assembled at Ramanieh. Thus, in an open 
 country, with an excellent cavalry, and a fine light 
 artillery, and with the resolution to conquer or 
 die, success was certain. But Menou never came, 
 and Belliard, who commanded at Cairo, received 
 no orders. General Lagrange, at the head of four 
 thousand men under his command, supported his 
 
 rear upon Ramanieh, and the Nile, which washes 
 with its current the houses of that little town. In 
 that position he had at his back the English gun- 
 boats, which were upon the river, and fired a 
 shower of bullets into the French camp ; and he 
 had in front on the plain, without any thing for a 
 cover but some' field-works, the main body of 
 the English and Turks. There were twelve thou- 
 sand against four thousand. The danger was con- 
 siderable; still it was better to fight, and if over- 
 powered, to surrender at evening on the field of 
 battle, after fighting the whole day, than to abandon 
 such a position without a struggle. Four thousand 
 men, all seasoned troops, had still some chances of 
 success. But the chief of Menou's staff, though 
 devoted to his general's views, and to the preser- 
 vation of the colony, did not weigh the conse- 
 quences of his retreat. He evacuated Ramanieh, 
 and fell back upon Cairo, on the 10th of May, or 
 20th of Floreal. He arrived in the city on the 14th, 
 in the morning, or on the 24th of Floreal. He 
 sacrificed at Ramanieh a convoy of immense 
 value, and what was more serious still, the ammu- 
 nition of the army. 
 
 From that day nothing more that happened in 
 Egypt is worthy of record, and scarcely of notice. 
 The men thus descended with their fortunes, even 
 below themselves; they exhibited in every thing the 
 most shameful weakness, with the most deplorable 
 incapacity. But in speaking of the men, it is only 
 to the commanders that these terms are intended 
 to apply ; because the soldiers and the inferior 
 officers, always admirable in their behaviour before 
 an enemy, were, from the first to the last man, ready 
 to die in the field. They never were seen, in a sin- 
 gle instance, to do any thing unworthy of their 
 former reputation and glory. 
 
 At Cairo, as at Alexandria, there remained no- 
 thing more to be done than to capitulate. They had 
 no other merit to acquire than to retard the capitu- 
 lation as long as possible. Sometimes we seem in 
 appearance only defending our homes, when wc 
 really save our country. Masse'na, in prolonging 
 the defence of Genoa, had made the victory of Ma- 
 rengo practicable. The generals who occupied 
 Cairo and Alexandria, in protracting a resistance 
 beyond hope, were still able to second very usefully 
 the serious negotiations then proceeding between 
 France and England. They did not know of their 
 existence, that is very true ; but then when un- 
 aware of the services men may render to their 
 country by prolonging a defence, it is proper to 
 listen to the voice of honour, which commands 
 them to hold out to the last extremity. Of the two 
 generals now blockaded, the most unfortunate was 
 Menou, because he had committed the greater 
 faults; yet even lie, by his obstinate protraction of 
 the defence of Alexandria, was still useful, as it 
 will be seen, to the interests of France. This was 
 his consolation at a later period, and his main 
 excuse to the first consul. 
 
 When the troops detached from Ramanieh had 
 entered Cairo, there was an immediate consultation 
 upon the conduct to be pursued. General Belliard 
 was commander-in-chief, from his superior rank in 
 the service. He was a cautious man, more cautious 
 than resolute. He called a council of war. There 
 were seven thousand effective men left, more than 
 five thousand or six thousand sick, invalids, and
 
 1801. 
 May. 
 
 Rash conduct of general 
 Belliard. 
 
 EVACUATION OF EGYPT. 
 
 Council of war. — Dissension 
 among the officers. 
 
 25/ 
 
 persons employed about the army '. The plague 
 was at that time raging ; there was but a small 
 stock of money or provisions, and a city of im- 
 mense extent to defend. Seven thousand men were 
 too few to guard the whole extent. Id no part of 
 the circuit was there any work fit to make a resist- 
 ance to European engineers. The citadel, it is true, 
 was a defended work, but wholly insufficient to hold 
 out against the heavy artillery of the English. Such 
 a post was only calculated to make a successful de- 
 fence against the population of Cairo. There evi- 
 dently remained but two things to do ; either to 
 endeavour, by a bold march, to descend into Lower 
 Egypt, accomplish the passage of the Nile by sur- 
 prise, and rejoin Menou in Alexandria; or to retire 
 upon Damietta, which would have been the surest 
 and easiest course to pursue, more especially on 
 account of the multitude of persons who, attached 
 to the army, must have been taken with it. There 
 it would have been found, that in the midst of the 
 lagoons, communicating with the Delta by narrow 
 tongues of land, seven thousand men of the army of 
 Egypt mi^'lit defend themselves against an enemy 
 three or four times superior in number. There, too, 
 an abundance of every thing was certain of being 
 procured ; the province w;is covered with cattle, 
 the town of Damietta overflowed with corn, and 
 the lake Menzaleh abounded with the best fish, 
 well adapted food for the troops. As it was simply 
 a question when to capitulate, the city of Damietta 
 permitted the retardation of that melancholy result 
 for six months. The officer of engineers, Hautpoul, 
 proposed having recourse to this wise step; but in 
 order to undertake it, the difficult question of the 
 evacuation of Cairo was to be decided upon. Gene- 
 ral Belliard, who was capable a few days afterwards 
 of giving up the city to the enemy, by means of a 
 lamentable capitulation, would not consent to do it 
 that day voluntarily, as the consequence of a forci- 
 ble and clever military opinion. He accordingly 
 determined to remain in the Egyptian capital, 
 without knowing what he should do. By the left 
 bank of the Nile the English and Turks were 
 ascending from Ramauich to Cairo; by the right 
 bank the grand vi/.i< r, with twenty-five thousand 
 or thirty thousand followers, collected from all 
 sorts of miserable oriental troops, was coming 
 from the side of Syria, by the road of Belbe'is, upon 
 Cairo. General Belliard, remembering the trophies 
 of Heliiipolis, wished to march out and meet the 
 grand vizier, up ti the route followed by Kleber. 
 He left Cairo at the head of six thousand men. and 
 advanced towards the heights of Elmenair, about 
 two days' march distant. Sometimes enveloped by 
 a cloud of cavalry, he sent his light artillery after 
 them, thai \fvt- and there reached a few of them 
 
 with ils balls; but this was the utmost result which 
 
 he cmild obtain. The Turks, this time well com- 
 manded, would' not hazard a second battle of II'- 
 
 1 The number in Cairo for which embarkation to Europe 
 was required of the Bullish commander — an exact criterion 
 — was 18,000, of uliimi 8000 Wen lit t..r duty, lt/OU were -irk. 
 
 and the remainder Invalided, per»oni In the employ of the 
 
 army or civil service, including: followers The military wire 
 in all 10,000; not more than BOO Were Creeks or Copts. 
 There were embarked on lake Bourloa 700. being the 
 son uf Damietta; and soon loldlen and 1800 sailors from 
 Alexandria; besides upwards of a thousand made prisoners 
 in the forts and oilier places.— Tranitulor. 
 
 liopolis. There was but one mode of coming at 
 them, and that was to attack their camp at Belbe'is. 
 But general Belliard, received in every village by 
 the fire of musketry, saw the number of his 
 wounded increase every step of his advance, the 
 distance, too, widening that separated him from 
 Cairo. He began to fear that the English and the 
 Turks might enter the city in his absence. He 
 ought to have foreseen all this danger before he 
 quitted Cairo, and have asked himself if there was 
 time to reach Belbe'is. Having left Cairo without 
 knowing what he would finally undertake, he re- 
 turned in the same mind, after an operation with- 
 out a result, which made it appear to the eyes of 
 the inhabitants of Cairo as if he had been beaten. 
 As with all the inhabitants of countries recently 
 subjugated, the Egyptians turned with fortune, and 
 though not discontented with the French, were 
 much inclined to abandon them. Still there was no 
 fear of an insurrection, unless the city had been 
 condemned to sustain the horrors of a siege. 
 
 The French army, sickened at the humiliations 
 to which it was exposed through the incapacity of 
 its generals, became wholly possessed with the old 
 feelings which induced the convention of El-Arisch. 
 It consoled itself under its misfortunes with the 
 idea of a return to France. If a resolute and skilful 
 general had given the example which was given to 
 the garrison of Genoa by Massena, the troops 
 would have followed it ; but a similar course was 
 not to be expected of general Belliard. Pressed on 
 the left bank of the Nile by the Anglo-Turkish 
 army from Ramanieh, and on the right by the 
 grand vizier, who had accompanied it step by step, 
 he offered the enemy a suspension of arms, which 
 was eagerly accepted, because the English were 
 more eager to obtain useful advantages than mere 
 renown. That for which they were most anxious 
 was the evacuation of Egypt, no matter by what 
 means it was brought about. General Belliard then 
 assembled a council of war, at which the discussions 
 were very stormy. Grievous complaints were di- 
 rected against his conduct as commander of the 
 Cairo division. He was told that he had not under- 
 stood when to evacuate Cairo in time to take up a 
 position at Damietta, nor to maintain the capital of 
 Egypt by well-concerted operations ; that he had 
 only made a ridiculous sally to fight the vizier, 
 without succeeding in getting near him ; and that 
 now, not knowing which way to turn, he took the 
 ad\ ice ol his officers, whether he must negotiate or 
 fight to the last, when he had previously resolved 
 the question for himself, by the spontaneous open- 
 ing of the negotiation. All these reproaches were 
 made with much bitterness, more particularly by 
 general Lagrange, the friend of .Menou, and a warm 
 advocate for the preservation of Egypt. Generals 
 
 Valentin, Durantcau. and DupaS, all three asserted 
 that, for the honour of their colours, it was abso- 
 lutely ueceraan to fight. Unhappily, this was no 
 longer possible, without cruelly to the troops, and 
 mor • particularly, without cruelty to the numerous 
 sick, and to the persons attached tO the army. 
 They bad before them not less than forty thousand 
 enemies, without counting the sepoys, who, dis- 
 embarked at CoBSel'r, were descending the Nile 
 with the Mameluk.s, that no longer owned alle- 
 giance to tin- French, since Murad Bey was no 
 
 more. There was in till t t C a semi-barbarous
 
 258 Capitulation of Cairo. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Siege of Alexandria. 
 Arrest of Reynier 
 and Damas. 
 
 1801. 
 June. 
 
 population of three hundred thousand souls, in- 
 fected with the plague, threatened with famine, and 
 to the last man ready to rise against the French. 
 The lines around the city were too extended for 
 defence with seven thousand men, and too feeble to 
 resist European engineers. The place might be 
 carried by assault, and every Frenchman put to 
 the sword. It was in vain that some of the officers 
 raised their voices against a surrender that would 
 dishonour the French arms; there was then no 
 alternative. General Belliard, wishing to show 
 himself ready for any thing, again raised the ques- 
 tion whether a retreat to Damietta was practicable, 
 a step now become too late to adopt; and to this he 
 added another question, equally singular, as to 
 whether a refuge might not be found by a retreat 
 into Upper Egypt. The last proposition was per- 
 fect folly. It was only a ruse of his own mental fee- 
 bleness, seeking to conceal its confusion under the 
 false semblance of boldness. It was then determined 
 to capitulate; nothing else could be effected, unless 
 they all desired to be put to the sword after a 
 ferocious assault. 
 
 Commissioners were sent to the Anglo-Turkish 
 camp for the purpose of negotiating a capitulation. 
 The enemies' generals accepted the proposition 
 with much gratification : so much even then did 
 they dread a turn of fortune. They acceded to the 
 most favourable conditions for the army. It was 
 settled that the French should retire with the 
 honours of war, with their arms and baggage, their 
 artillery *, horses, in fact all they possessed ; that 
 they should be transported to France, and fed 
 during the voyage. Such of the Egyptians as de- 
 sired to follow the army, and there were a certain 
 number compromised by their relations with the 
 French, were to be allowed to join them, and to 
 have the liberty of disposing of their property. 
 
 This capitulation was signed on the 27th of 
 June, 1801, ami ratified on the 28th, or 8th and 
 9th of Messidor, in the year ix. The pride of the 
 old soldiers of Italy and Egypt was deeply wounded 
 by it. They were about to re-enter France; not 
 as they had entered it in 1798, after the triumphs 
 of Castiglione, Areola, and Rivoli, proud of their 
 glory, and of the services rendered to the republic. 
 They were now to return almost conquered ; but 
 still they were going to return, and for hearts 
 suffering after a long exile, there was an involun- 
 tary pleasure, which almost overcame them, even 
 amid their reverses. There was, at the bottom of 
 every heart, a satisfaction that was not avowed, 
 but which still displayed itself in their coun- 
 tenances. Their commanders alone appeared 
 thoughtful, from imagining the judgment which 
 the first consul would give upon their conduct. 
 The despatches which accompanied the capitula- 
 tion were impressed with the most humiliating 
 anxiety. There were chosen for the bearers of 
 these despatches, such persons as, by their conduct 
 and actions, had been most free from blame. 
 These were Hautpoul, the officer of engineers, and 
 Champy, who made himself so useful to the colony. 
 
 Menou was shut up in Alexandria, and, like 
 
 1 This refers only to field-pieces, two 12-pounders to each 
 battalion, and one to each squadron, with the carriages and 
 ammunition belonging to them. The horses and camels 
 were to be given up, at the place of embarkation, to the 
 British. — Translator. 
 
 Belliard, he had nothing to do but to surrender. 
 There could be with neither the one nor the other, 
 more than the difference of the time in the way 
 of question. The plague had already taken off 
 several persons in Alexandria ; provisions were 
 wanting, in consequence of the fault committed in 
 the beginning of the siege, by not laying in a suffi- 
 cient supply. It is true, that the Arab caravans, 
 attracted by interest, still brought them some 
 meat, butter, and grain. But they wanted wheat, 
 and were obliged, in part, to make their bread of 
 rice. Scurvy every day diminished the number 
 of men capable of doing duty. The English, in 
 order to isolate them completely, devised the 
 emptying of the lake Madieh into that of Mareotis, 
 which was half dried up, thus surrounding Alex- 
 andria with a continued sheet of water, and then 
 to encircle it with gun-boats. To this end they cut 
 the dyke which runs to Ramanieh from Alex- 
 andria, forming the separation between the two 
 lakes. But as the difference of the level was 
 only nine feet, the flowing of the water from one 
 lake into the other proceeded slowly; and, in fact, 
 the operation, desirable for the object of separating 
 general Belliard from Menou, was no longer of the 
 same utility, since the late events at Cairo. If it 
 extended the space of action for the gun-boats, it 
 had, for the French, the advantage of narrowing 
 the front of attack; because the long plain of sand 
 upon which Alexandria is built, communicates, by 
 its western extremity, with the Libyan desert. 
 The English were, therefore, desirous of com- 
 pleting the investment of the place; for this pur- 
 pose, about the middle of August, or end of 
 Thermidor, they embarked troops in their gun- 
 boats, and landed not far from the town of Mara- 
 bout. They also besieged the fort of the same 
 name. From this moment the place, completely 
 invested, could not hold out long. 
 
 The unfortunate Menou, thus reduced to idle- 
 ness and inactivity, had ample leisure to ponder 
 over his faults, with censures showered upon him 
 from all parties. He consoled himself, notwith- 
 standing, with the notion of an heroic resistance, 
 like that of Masseua at Genoa. He wrote to the 
 first consul, and assured him that a memorable 
 defence should be made. Generals Damas and 
 Reynier were shut up in Alexandria without troops. 
 They made use of the most offensive language, and 
 even in these last scenes of all, could not keep 
 themselves under becoming restraint. One night, 
 Menou had them arrested, in the most public 
 manner, and ordered them to be embarked for 
 France. This act of vigour, coming so late, pro- 
 duced but little effect. The army, with its usual 
 good sense, severely censured Reynier and Damas; 
 but did not esteem Menou the more. The only 
 favour which they conferred upon him was that of 
 not hating him. Hearing with coldness his pro- 
 clamations, in which he announced his determi- 
 nation to die sooner than surrender, they were 
 still ready, if needful, to fight to the last extremity, 
 but did not believe it was worth doing in the 
 existing state of circumstances. The army too 
 well understood the result of what had occurred 
 at Cairo, not to foresee the approach of a capitu- 
 lation; and in Alexandria, as in Cairo, they con- 
 soled themselves for their reverses by the hope of 
 speedily returning to France.
 
 1801. 
 Aug. 
 
 Reflections on Napoleon's 
 
 EVACUATION OF EGYPT. 
 
 scheme for colonizing Egypt. 259 
 
 From that time, nothing more of importance 
 signalized the presence of the French in Egypt ; 
 and the expedition may be said, in a certain sense, 
 to have terminated. Praised as a prodigy of talent 
 and boldness by some persons, it was condemned 
 by others as a Bhowy chimera, more particularly 
 by Mich as affect to weigh every thing in the 
 balance of frigid impassive reasoning. 
 
 The last opinion, with the appearance of wisdom, 
 was, at bottom, but little founded in good sense or 
 justice. 
 
 Napoleon, in his long and wonderful career, 
 never devised any scheme more grand nor more 
 likely to be eminently useful. Without doubt, if 
 we feel that France has not preserved the Rhine 
 nor the Alps, it must be granted, that Egypt, sup- 
 posing we had held it for fifteen years, would at 
 last have been taken from us, as well as our con- 
 tinental frontiers, or as that old and fine possession, 
 the Isle of France, for which France was not in- 
 debted to the wars of the revolution. But to 
 judge thus of these things, we might go so far as to 
 . hether the conquest of the line of the Rhine 
 was not itself a folly and a chimera. In order 
 to judge properly of such a question, it must be 
 supposed, for a moment, that the protracted wars 
 of France were differently terminated from the 
 mode in which they actually were, and then inquire 
 whether, in such a ease, the possession of Egypt 
 was possible, desirable, and of great importance 
 or not. To the question thus put, the reply can- 
 not be doubtful. In the first place, England was 
 very nearly resigned, in 1801, to consent to the 
 retention of Egypt by France, upon receiving 
 equivalent compensations. These compensations, 
 with which the French negotiator was made ac- 
 quainted, had nothing in them unreasonable nor 
 extravagant. It is not to be doubted, that during 
 the maritime peace which followed, of which the 
 conclusion will shortly be stated, the first consul, 
 foreseeing the brevity of the peace, would have 
 Bent to the mouth of the Nile immense reinforce- 
 ments in men and materiel. It is clear, that the 
 splendid army sent to St. Domingo, where it was 
 despatched to find an indemnity for the loss of 
 Egypt, would have served to protect the new 
 colony for a long time from any hostile attack. 
 Such a general as Decaen or St. Cyr, who joined 
 military skill and experience with talents for ad- 
 ministrative governing, having, besides the twenty- 
 two thousand men which remained in Egypt of the 
 
 first expedition, the thirty thousand which perished 
 so uselessly in St. Domingo; thus established with 
 fifty thousand French, and an immense ma&lrid, 
 under a climate perfectly healthy, and a soil of ex- 
 haustions fertility, cultivated by a peasantry submis- 
 sive to every master, and never keeping a musket by 
 the side of the plough;— a general, it may be said, 
 like Decaen or St. Cyr, would have been able, with 
 such means, to defend Egypt triumphantly, and 
 to found there a superb colony. 
 
 The success was incontestable - attainable. We 
 may add, that in the maritime and commercial 
 contest that France and England maintained against 
 one another, the attempt was in a certain sense 
 required. England had just conquered the con- 
 tinent of India, and had thus gained a supremacy 
 in the Eastern seas. France, until that time her 
 rival, was she to yield up without dispute a similar 
 supremacy ? Did she not owe it to her glory, to 
 her destiny, to contend for it ? The politician can 
 give no other answer to this question than the 
 patriot. Yes, it was the duty of France to attempt 
 a struggle in the region of the East, that vast field 
 of ambition to maritime nations ; it was proper 
 France should strive to obtain some acquisition 
 that would counterbalance that of England. This 
 truth admitted, let the whole world be searched 
 over, and who will say there is any where an 
 acquisition better adapted than Egypt to the end 
 proposed ? It is of more value in itself than the 
 finest countries ; it borders upon the richest and 
 most fertile, and those which are furnished with 
 the fullest means for foreign trade. It would 
 bring back into the Mediterranean, which would 
 then be our sea, the commerce of the East; it 
 would be, in one word, an equivalent for India, 
 and, in any case, was the road to it. The conquest 
 of Egypt was then for France, for the independence 
 of the seas, and for general civilization, an immense 
 service. Thus too, as will be seen soon, the suc- 
 cess of France was desired more than once by the 
 cabinets of Europe, in the short intervals of time 
 when mutual hatred did not trouble tho peace 
 of cabinets. For such an object it was worth 
 while to lose an army, and not only that which 
 was sent the first time to Egypt, but those that 
 were sent to perish uselessly at St. Domingo, in 
 Spain, and in the Calabrias. Would to Heaven, 
 that in the flashes of his vast imagination., Na- 
 poleon had projected nothing more ill-advised nor 
 imprudent ! 
 
 «s
 
 260 La*t attempt of Ganteaume. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Further misfortune*. 
 
 1801. 
 May. 
 
 BOOK XI. 
 
 THE GENERAL PEACE. 
 
 1ST UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT OF GANTEAUME TO PUT TO SEA. — HE TOUCHES AT DERNE, BUT DARES NOT LAND TWO 
 THOUSAND MEN WHOM HE HAS ON F.OARD. — HE PUTS BACK TO TOULON. — CAPTURE OF THE SWIFTSURE ON THE PAS- 
 SAGE. — ADMIRAL LINOIS, SENT FROM TOULON TO CADIZ, IS OBLIGED TO ANCHOR IN THE BAY OF ALGESIRAS. — BRIL- 
 LIANT ENGAGEMENT OFF ALGESIRAS. — A COMBINED FRENCH AND SPANISH SQUADRON SAILS FROM CADIZ, TO ASSIST 
 LINOIS' DIVISION. — RETURN OF THE COMBINED FLEET TO CADIZ. — ACTION BETWEEN THE REAR DIVISION AND 
 ADMIRAL SAUMAREZ. — EREADFUL MISTAKE OF TWO SPANISH SHIPS, WHICH, IN THE NIGHT, TAKING EACH OTHER 
 FOR ENEMIES, FIGHT WITH DESPERATION, AND ARE BOTH BLOWN UP. — EXPLOIT OP CAPTAIN TROUDE. — SHORT 
 CAMPAIGN OF THE TRINCE OF THE PEACE AGAINST PORTUGAL. — THE COURT OF LISBON SENDS A NEGOTIATOR 
 IN HASTE TO BADAJOZ, AND SUBMITS TO THE UNITED WILL OF FRANCE AND SPAIN. — EUROPEAN AFFAIRS IN 
 GENERAL SINCE THE TREATY OF LUNEVILLE. — INCREASING INFLUENCE OF FRANCE. — VISIT TO PARIS OF THE 
 INFANTS OF SPAIN DESTINED FOR THE THRONE OF ETRURIA. — RENEWAL OF THE NEGOTIATION IN LONDON 
 BETWEEN M. OTTO AND LORD HAWKESBURY. — THE ENGLISH PRESENT THE QUESTION IN A NEW FORM. — THEY 
 DEMAND CEYLON IN INDIA, MARTINIQUE AND TRINIDAD IN THE WEST INDIES, MALTA IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. — 
 THE FIRST CONSUL REPLIES TO THESE PRETENSIONS, THREATENS TO CONQUER PORTUGAL, AND, IN CASE OF NEED, 
 TO INVADE ENGLAND. — WARM DISPUTE BETWEEN THE " MONITEUR " AND THE ENGLISH JOURNALS. — THE 
 BRITISH CABINET GIVES UP MALTA. — RENEWS ALL ITS DEMANDS, AND REQUIRES THE ISLAND OF TRINIDAD. — 
 THE FIRST CONSUL, TO SAVE THE POSSESSIONS OF AN ALLY, OFFERS TOBAGO — IT IS REJECTED BY THE 
 BRITISH CABINET. — FOOLISH CONDUCT OF THE PRINCE OF THE PEACE, WHICH FURNISHES UNEXPECTEDLY A SOLU- 
 TION OF THE DIFFICULTY : HE TREATS WITH THE COURT OF LISBON, WITHOUT ACTING IN CONCERT WITH 
 FRANCE, AND THUS DEPRIVES THE FRENCH LEGATION OF THE ARGUMENT DRAWN FROM THE DANGER OF POR- 
 TUGAL. — IRRITATION" OF THE FIRST CONSUL, AND THREAT OF WAR AGAINST SPAIN. — TALLEYRAND PROPOSES 
 TO FINISH THE WAR AT THE EXPENSE OF THE SPANIARDS, BY GIVING UP THE ISLAND OF TRINIDAD TO THE 
 J'.XGLISH. — M. OTTO IS AUTHORIZED TO MAKE THAT CONCESSION IN THE LAST EXTREMITY. — DURING THE 
 NEGOTIATION, NELSON MAKES THE GREATEST EFFORTS TO DESTROY THE FRENCH FLOTILLA OFF BOULOGNE. — 
 SPLENDID ACTIONS OFF BOULOGNE BY LATOUCHE TREVILLE AGAINST NELSON. — DEFEAT OF THE ENGLISH. — JOY 
 IN FRANCE, ALARM IN ENGLAND, IN CONSEQUENCE OF THESE TWO ENGAGEMENTS. — RECIPROCAL TENDENCY TO 
 A RECONCILIATION. — THE LAST DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME, AND PEACE CONCLUDED IN THE FORM OF PRELIMI- 
 NARIES, BY THE SACRIFICE OF THE ISLAND OF TRINIDAD. — UNBOUNDED JOY IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE. — 
 LAURISTON, SENT TO LONDON WITH THE RATIFICATION OF THE TREATY BY THE FIRST CONSUL, IS DRAWN 
 ABOUT IN TRIUMPH FOR SEVERAL HOURS. — MEETING OF A CONGRESS IN AMIENS, TO CONCLUDE A DEFINITIVE 
 .'EACE. — SERIES OF TREATIES SUCCESSIVELY SIGNED. — PEACE WITH PORTUGAL, THE OTTOMAN PORTE, BAVARIA, 
 AND RUSSIA — FETE IN CELEBRATION OF THE PEACE FIXED ON THE 18TH BRUM AIRE. — LORD CORNWALLIS, 
 PLENIPOTENTIARY TO THE CONGRESS AT AMIENS, IS PRESENT AT THE FETE. — HIS RECEPTION BY THE PEOPLE 
 OF PARIS. — BANQUET IN THE CITY OF LONDON. — EXTRAORDINARY DEMONSTRATION OF SYMPATHY GIVEN AT 
 THIS TIME BY BOTH COUNTRIES. 
 
 While the army in Egypt succumbed for the want 
 of an able commander and seasonable reinforce- 
 ments, admiral Ganteaume made a third attempt 
 to leave the port of Toulon. The first consul had 
 scarcely allowed the necessary time for the repair 
 of the Dix-Aout and of the Indomptable, and Gan- 
 teaume was forced to put to sea almost immediately. 
 Admiral Ganteaume sailed on the 25th of April, or 
 5th Florcal. He had orders to pass close to the 
 island of Elba, in order to make a demonstration 
 before Porto Ferrajo, to facilitate its occupation by 
 the French troops. The first consul intended to 
 take this island for the purpose of annexing it to 
 France, to which it was secured by treaties with 
 Naples and Etruria ; there was a small garri- 
 son in the island half Tuscan and half English, 
 The admiral obeyed his orders, fired a few guns 
 at Porto Ferrajo, and passed on lest he might 
 hazard, by exposing himself to injury, the great 
 end of his expedition. Had he proceeded at once 
 to Egypt, he might have still hern useful to the 
 army there; because, as has been shown, the po- 
 
 sition of Ramanieh was not lost until the 10th of 
 May, or 20th Floreal. He had yet time, therefore, 
 departing on the 25th of April, to hinder the army 
 from being cut in two, and obliged to capitulate 
 one division after another. To do this he ought 
 not to have lost a moment. But a species of 
 fatality attached to all the operations of admiral 
 Ganteaume. He has been seen coming out suc- 
 cessfully from Brest, entering more fortunately 
 still into the Mediterranean, suddenly losing con- 
 fidence, taking four vessels for eight, and entering 
 Toulon. He has been seen sailing again from that 
 port in March, escaping admiral Warren, passing 
 the southennost point of Sardinia, and stopped 
 once more by the Dix-Aout and Indomptable run- 
 ning foul of each other. This was not the end of 
 his misfortunes. Scarcely had he quitted the sea 
 around the isle of Elba, when a contagious disorder 
 broke out on board his squadron. Judging it im- 
 prudent and useless to carry to Egypt such a num- 
 ber of sick, he divided his squadron, confiding 
 three vessels to rear-admiral Linois, and placing
 
 1801. Vain attempt to land. 
 
 June. Capture of the 5*if:s.ire. 
 
 THE GENERAL PEACE. 
 
 Proceedings of admiral 
 Linois. 
 
 261 
 
 his sick soldiers and seamen in those tliree vessels, 
 he sent them back to Toulon. He continued his 
 voyage to Egypt with four sail of the line and two 
 frigates, carrying only two thousand soldiers. But 
 he was no longer in time to be of service, because 
 it was near the middle of May, and at that time 
 the French army was lost. Generals Belliard 
 and Menou were separated from each other, in 
 consequence of the abandonment of Ramanieh. 
 Of this admiral Ganteaume was ignorant. He- 
 passed Sardinia and Sicily, showed himself in the 
 channel of Candia, contrived several times to elude 
 his enemies, sailing even into the Archipelago to 
 escape them, and finally moored on the coast of 
 Africa at Deme, a few marches distant from Alex- 
 andria to the westward, designated in his in- 
 structions as the place proper for disembarkation. 
 It was thought that by giving the troops pro- 
 visions and money for the hire of camels from the 
 Arabs, they might be enabled to cross the desert, 
 an i reach Alexandria in a few marches. This 
 was only a ha/.ardous conjecture. Admiral Gan- 
 teaume cast anchor at this place for some hours, 
 and hoisted out a part of his boats. But the 
 inhabitants came down to the shore, and opened 
 npon them a fire of musketry. Jerome Bonaparte, 
 the brother of the first consul, was with the troops 
 about to disembark. Vain efforts were made to 
 gain over the natives, and conciliate them. The 
 little town of Deme must have been destroyed, 
 and the troops must have marched to Alexandria 
 without water, and almost without provisions, fight- 
 ing the whole distance. It would have been a 
 foolish attempt without an object, because but one 
 thousand at most of two thousand would reach the 
 end of their journey. It was not worth while 
 to sacrifice so many gallant men for the sake of so 
 small a reinforcement. Besides an event, very 
 easy to be foreseen, terminated all doubts. The 
 admiral believed he saw the English fleet ; he then 
 deliberated no longer, took his boats on board, did 
 not allow himself time to weigh his anchors, but 
 cut his cables, not to be attacked at anchor, and 
 then set sail ; he escaped being overtaken by the 
 enemy. 
 
 Fortune, which had behaved ill before, because 
 she seconds, as has been often said, only adven- 
 turous spirits who repose confidence in her — fortune 
 had in stme some compensation for him. In 
 ing the channel of Candia, he fell in with an 
 English ship of the line ; it was the Swiftsure. To 
 pre ehaae to her, to surround, cannonade, and 
 take her, was the work of a few moments '. It 
 
 1 The extreme inaccuracy of our Parisian author in what 
 relates to naval affairs, must stand excused hy the English 
 reader. If. Thiers observes most justly, in his chapter on 
 " the neutrals," to apologize for his revelations of that scene 
 ofltnsaian liarharism, the assassination of Paul I., " C'est 
 que la verite est le premier devoir da I'hisioirc." Such a 
 Just sentiment will, therefore, excuse a quotation from the 
 statement of the gallant captain Hallowed of the Swiftsure, 
 74, respecting this reocontr* with the high minded, fine- 
 spirited Ganteaume, of whom captain Hallowell spoke in 
 the highest terms, as well as of his officers. The Swiftsure 
 had on board fifty-nine sick of a bad fever, caught from the 
 army in Egypt. She was eighty-six short of her complement 
 of men, and was going to Malta with all speed. The Swift- 
 cure was only seven leagues from Deme when she distin- 
 guished an enemy's squadron, and endeavoured to escape, 
 
 was the 24th of June, or 5th Messidor, that this 
 fortunate rencontre took place. Admiral Gan- 
 teaume entered Toulon with this species of trophy, 
 a poor compensation for his bad success. The 
 first consul, inclined towards indulgence for those 
 who had run great risks with him, was willing to 
 accept this compensation, and published it in the 
 Momtewr. 
 
 However, all these naval movements terminated 
 in a mode less annoying to the French navy. 
 While admiral Ganteaume was returning to Toulon, 
 admiral Linois, who had gone into that port to kind 
 his soldiers and sailors sick of the fever, had sailed 
 again, according to the express orders of the first 
 consul. Linois, as quickly as possible, got on board 
 fresh seamen, and embarked more troops, after 
 white-washing the interior of his vessels, and then 
 he got under weigh for his new destination. A 
 despatch, which he was only to open at sea, com- 
 manded him to proceed to Cadiz, to form a junction 
 with six more vessels at that port, fitted out under 
 the orders of admiral Dumanoir, and five Spanish 
 vessels from Ferrol, which, with the three of admi- 
 ral Linois', would form a squadron of fourteen sail 
 of the line. It was possible that the squadron from 
 Rochefort, under admiral Bruix, might have arrived 
 there, in which case a fleet of more than thirty sail 
 of the line would be collected ; and this fleet, for 
 some months mistress of the Mediterranean, would 
 take the troops from Otranto, and carry immense 
 succours to Egypt. They were at this time unaware 
 in France that it was too late, and that Alexandria 
 was the only place left to defend; but to preserve 
 that place was no indifferent matter. 
 
 Admiral Linois, in perfect obedience to his or- 
 ders, set sail for Cadiz. On his passage he gave 
 chase to several English frigates, which he was 
 nearly capturing. He met with contrary winds at 
 the entrance of the straits; but at length, about the 
 beginning of July, or middle of Messidor, he was 
 enabled to enter them. The English Gibraltar 
 fleet was watching Cadiz; and this being made 
 known to him by signal, he put into the Spanish 
 port of Algesiras, on the 4th of July, or 15th Mes- 
 sidor, in the evening. 
 
 Near the straits of Gibraltar, in other words, 
 towards the southernmost cape of that peninsula, 
 the mountainous coast of Spain opens, and taking 
 the form of a horse-shoe, forms a deep bay, the 
 
 but found the ships were superior sailers ; the Swiftsure prac- 
 tised every manoeuvre, in vain to get clear of them. At half- 
 paet three p.m. the Indivisible of eighty guns, and the Dix- 
 Anut, seventy-four, were within gun shot. They soon 
 opened their (ire, and a warm action ensued, the Swiftsure 
 still in vain trying to get to leeward of them, and escape. At 
 half-past four, p. m. the Jean Bart and Constitution, of 
 seventy-four guns each, closed fast. The Indivisible on her 
 larboard bow, and the Dix-Aout on her larboard quarter, 
 were soon warmly engaged. "Our fore-yard and forctopsail- 
 yard were shot away, all our running, and part of our stand- 
 ing rigging cut to piece*, the fore-mast, mizzen-mnst, and 
 main yard badly wounded, the deck lumbered with wreck 
 and sails, all hope of succour cut off. I thought further re- 
 sistance, in our crippled state, would be exposing the lives 
 or valuable men without advantage. I ordered his m 
 colours to be struck, after an action oj one hour an 
 minuttl." The ship was obliged to be taken in tow, and, 
 with all haste made to repair her, it was six days before -he 
 could be got under sail. — Translator, 

 
 262 Action between Saumarez THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, and Linois off Algesiras. 
 
 1801. 
 July. 
 
 opening of which is towards the south. On one of 
 the sides of this bay stands Algesiras, and on the 
 other Gibraltar ; in such a manner that Algesiras 
 and Gibraltar are opposite to each other, at about 
 four thousand fathoms distance, or about a league 
 and half. From Algesiras all that passes at Gib- 
 raltar may be distinctly seen with a common 
 telescope. There was not a single English vessel 
 lying in the bay ; but the English rear-admiral, 
 Saumarez, was not far off, as he was watching the 
 port of Cadiz, with seven sail, where there were at 
 that moment several naval squadrons, French and 
 Spanish. Advertised of what had occurred, he 
 hastened to avail himself of the opportunity of 
 destroying the squadron of Linois, because he was 
 able to oppose his seven vessels to three ; he had 
 detached one, the Superb, to watch the mouth of 
 the Guadalquiver ; he made the signal for her to 
 join him, but the weather being unfavourable, he 
 sailed for Algesiras with only six. 
 
 Admiral Linois, on his side, had received notice of 
 his danger from the Spanish authorities; and there- 
 fore had recourse to all the precautions which the 
 nature of the circumstances permitted him to take. 
 On the side of Algesiras, in the bay of that name, 
 situated as has already been said, right over against 
 Gibraltar, the coast appears rather a roadstead 
 than a port. It consists of a shore with scarcely 
 any projection; but running quite straight, from 
 south to north, without any point or shelter for ves- 
 sels. At the two extremities of the anchorage alone, 
 there were two batteries ; the one to the north of 
 Algesiras, on an elevated spot upon the shore, was 
 known under the name of the battery of St. Jago. 
 The other battery, to the south of Algesiras, was 
 on an island, called Isla Verde. The battery of St. 
 Jago was mounted with five eighteen -pounders, 
 and that of the Isla Verde with seven eighteens. 
 This was no great help; more particularly because 
 of the negligence of the Spaniards, who had left all 
 the forts on their coasts destitute of ammunition and 
 artillery-men. Nevertheless, admiral Linois placed 
 himself in communication with the local authorities, 
 who did the best they were able to succour the 
 French. The admiral ranged his three ships and 
 his frigate along the shore, supporting the extremi- 
 ties of his short line by the two batteries of St. 
 Jago and the Isla Verde. The Formidable was 
 placed first to the north, supported by the St. Jago 
 battery ; next was the Desaix ; in the centre and 
 southernmost was the Indomptable, towards the 
 battery on the Isla Verde. Between the Isla Verde 
 and the Desaix, the Muiron frigate was stationed ; 
 a number of Spanish gun-boats were intermingled 
 with the French ships. 
 
 On the 6th of July, 1801, or 17 Messidor, year ix, 
 about seven o'clock in the morning, rear-admiral 
 Saumarez, coming from Cadiz with the wind west- 
 north-west, approached tho bay of Algesiras, 
 doubled Cape Carnero, entered the bay, and bore 
 towards the line of the French anchorage. The 
 wind, which was not favourable to the English 
 vessels, separated them one from the other, and 
 fortunately did not permit them to act together in 
 the way most desirable. The Venerable, which 
 took the lead, dropped astern, and the Pompe'e 
 took her place, running along the whole French 
 line, passing under the battery of the Isla Verde, 
 the Muiron frigate, the Indomptable, the Desaix, 
 
 and Formidable, giving each of them her broad- 
 sides, and taking up her station within musket-shot 
 of the Formidable, bearing the flag of admiral 
 Linois. An obstinate action took place between 
 these two vessels almost within point-blank dis- 
 tance. The Venerable, unable to beat up to her 
 place in the line, still endeavoured to assist the 
 Pompe'e. The Audacious, the third of the English 
 ships, destined to attack the Desaix, could not 
 fetch so high, dropping anchor before the Indompt- 
 able, and commenced a heavy cannonade against 
 that ship. The Caesar and Spencer, the fourth and 
 fifth English ships, were one of them behind and the 
 other forced into the bottom of the bay by the wind, 
 which was blowing from the west to the east. 
 Lastly, the sixth, the Hannibal, was driven at first 
 towards Gibraltar; but after much manoeuvring to 
 approach Algesiras, endeavoured to turn the flag- 
 ship, the Formidable, and so get between her and 
 the land. The engagement, with such ships as 
 could come up, was very obstinate. In order not 
 to drift towards Gibraltar from Algesiras, the 
 English cast anchor. The French admiral, in the 
 Formidable, had two enemies to fight, the Pompee 
 and the Venerable, and would soon have had a 
 third, if the Hannibal had succeeded in getting 
 between her and the shore '. The captain of the 
 Formidable, the gallant Lalonde, was killed by a 
 cannon shot. The action continued with great 
 spirit amid cries of " The republic for ever ! Long 
 live the first consul !" Admiral Linois, who was on 
 board the Formidable, brought the broadside of 
 that ship to bear upon the Pompe'e, at a lucky 
 moment, when she presfnted only her bow to him, 
 and was successful in raking, dismasting, and very 
 near disabling her. Taking advantage of a change 
 of the breeze at the moment, which had veered 
 round to the east, and blew upon Algesiras, he 
 made the signal to his captains to cut their cables 
 and suffer their ships to run aground, so as to pre- 
 vent the English from passing between the vessels 
 and the shore, and placing the French between 
 two fires, as Nelson did at the battle of Aboukir. 
 This grounding was attended with no inconve- 
 nience to the French ships, as it was ebb tide, and 
 they were sure to be got off again at high water. 
 The order given at the proper moment saved the 
 squadron. The Formidable, after having dismantled 
 the Pompe'e, took the ground without any shock of 
 moment; for the wind, as it had changed its direc- 
 tion, had died away. In avoiding the danger by 
 which she was threatened from the Hannibal, the 
 Formidable gained, in respect to that ship, a most 
 advantageous position. Moreover, the Hannibal in 
 manoeuvring had got aground herself and remained 
 immovable under the fire of the Formidable, and 
 the battery of St. Jago. In this perilous situation 
 the Hannibal made every effort to get off ; but as 
 the tide ebbed she became irremediably fixed in 
 
 1 On the trial of captain Ferris, by a court-martial, for the 
 loss of his ship, it was deposed that he was endeavouring to 
 take up a position to rake the Formidable, when the Han- 
 nibal grounded. He had made no attempt to get between 
 the Formidable and the shore, and thus expose himself so 
 close to the fire of the batteries, of the Formidable, and even 
 of the British ship the Pompee, which lay outside the For- 
 midable, the shot of which must have reached him. Captain 
 Ferris was most honourably acquitted. — Translator,
 
 1801. 
 July. 
 
 Capture of the Hannibal. 
 
 THE GENERAL PEACE. 
 
 The French sail for Cadiz. 
 
 263 
 
 her position, and received a tremendous discharge 
 of artillery, as well from the shore as from the 
 Formidable, and from the Spanish gun-boats. She 
 sunk one or two of the gun-boats; but the lire she 
 returned was not equal to that which was poured 
 into her. Rear-admiral Linois, not thinking that 
 the battery of St. Jago was well served, disem- 
 barked general Devaux with a detachment of 
 French troops which he had on board 1 . The lire 
 of this battery was then redoubled, and the Han- 
 nibal was overcome. But a new adversary com- 
 pleted her defeat. The second French ship, the 
 Desaix, which was near the Formidable, in obeying 
 the order to run on shore, and executing the order 
 but slowly, in consequence of the slight breeze, 
 thus found herself somewhat out of the line, and 
 equally in reach of the Hannibal and Pompee, 
 which the Formidable, until her going on shore, 
 had covered from her fire. The Desaix, profiting 
 by her new position, poured in a first broadside, and 
 so handled the Pompee as to oblige her to strike her 
 colours. The Desaix then directed her guns upon 
 the Hannibal. The balls grazing the sides of the 
 Formidable, made dreadful havoc on board the 
 Hannibal, which being no longer able to sustain 
 she struck her flag. Thus were two English vessels 
 out of six forced to surrender. The four others, by 
 dint of manoeuvring, got into line once more, 
 near enough to engage the Desaix and Indompt- 
 able. The Desaix, before she went on shore, had 
 ted them ; while the Indomptable and the 
 Muiron frigate, in going slowly towards the shore, 
 had replied with a well-directed fire. These two 
 last vessels had placed themselves under the bot- 
 tom of the Isla Verde, the guns of which were 
 worked by French soldiers who had been landed 
 for the purpose. 
 
 The action lasted for several hours with great 
 fierceness. Admiral .' aumarez, having lost two 
 ships out of six, and laving no hope of any result 
 from the action, for be could not get closer to the 
 I'n neb without r\i ming the risk of grounding, as 
 they did, hoisted the signal for retreat, leaving the 
 French in the possession of the Hannibal, but de- 
 termined to carry off the Pompee, which, quite 
 dismasted, lay like a hulk on the scene of action. 
 Admiral Saumarez, having sent to Gibraltar for 
 boats, towed a iy the hull of the Pompee, which 
 the French ve aels, being on shore, could not pre- 
 vent. The Hannibal remained a prize. 
 
 Such was le battle of Algesiras, in which three 
 1'nnch vessels fought six English, destroyed two, 
 and kept one as their prize. The French were 
 filled with joy, although they had sustained a 
 serere I"--. Captain Lalonde, of the Formidable 
 was killed ; captain Moncousu, of the Indomptable, 
 also perished gloriously. Upwards of two hundred 
 men were killed, and three hundred wounded ; in 
 
 1 Here the author is at variance with the first consul's 
 account of the alf.iir in the Mo nita ur, which stated that 
 Devaux an'l Ills trOOJM were landed in lit,- iiiyht, — the night, 
 it is to be presuned, baton lie- notion ; the natural i 
 after the French admiral bad found the deficiency <>f defen< 
 
 sive means in possession of the Spaniard-,. The Pompee 
 never struck her flag. Her rlggi] tcbOUl up by the 
 
 well-directed fire from the batterer, and she was partly dis- 
 masted, or her masts so injured, that it became necessary to 
 replace them. — Tran s lator. 
 
 all, five hundred officers and men out of two thou- 
 sand in the squadron. But the English had nine 
 hundred men struck down by the French fire; and 
 their ships completely riddled 2 . 
 
 However glorious this action was, the business 
 was not yet completed. It was urgently necessary, 
 under the injury which the French ships had 
 sustained, to withdraw from the anchorage of 
 Algesiras. Admiral Saumarez was enraged, and 
 swearing to avenge himself as soon as Linois left 
 his anchorage to proceed to Cadiz, made great 
 preparations. He employed all the vast resources 
 of the port of Gibraltar to get his squadron ready, 
 and even prepared fire-ships to burn the French 
 vessels if he could not draw them out to sea. Ad- 
 miral Linois had nothing wherewith to repair his 
 damages, than such supplies as Algesiras could 
 furnish, which were next to nothing. The arsenal 
 of Cadiz, it is true, was close by ; but it was no 
 easy matter to bring what was wanted by sea, on 
 account of the English, nor by land from the diffi- 
 culty of transport ; yet the yards of the French 
 vessels were carried away, and some of their masts 
 were gone, or otherwise much injured. Hardly 
 any thing necessary for dressing the wounded 
 could be obtained, and the French consuls in the 
 ports near were obliged to send surgeons and 
 medicines by post overland to them. 
 
 There happened to be at this moment in the 
 harbour of Cadiz, just arrived from Ferrol, a 
 Spanish squadron, besides the six ships given to 
 France, and hastily equipped by admiral Dumanoir. 
 The strength of these two divisions in regard 
 to number was, no doubt, great enough ; but the 
 Spanish navy, always worthy by its bravery of the 
 illustrious nation to which it appertains, had par- 
 taken of the general negligence. The squadron of 
 admiral Dumanoir was ill-manned with seamen of 
 all kinds, and was not capable of inspiring much 
 confidence. None of the ships which composed it 
 equalled those of Linois' division, exercised by 
 long cruises, and elevated by its recent victory. 
 
 It was necessary to make the most urgent ap- 
 peals to induce admiral Mazzaredo, the Spanish 
 commander at Cadiz, ill disposed towards the 
 French, to afford aid to admiral Linois. On the 
 9th of June, or 20th Mcssidor, he detached to 
 Algesiras admiral Moreno, an excellent officer, full 
 of courage, and well experienced, with live Spanish 
 ships from Ferrol, one of the six vessels which 
 Spain had given to France, and three frigate-. 
 The squadron took with it all of which Linois 
 stood in need, and reached in one day the an- 
 chorage' at Algesiras. 
 
 They worked day and night in repairing the three 
 vessels which had foughl so glorious a battle. They 
 were all three again afloat on the first high water. 
 
 Their rigging was niitted in the quickest mod • 
 
 possible. Topmasts were made for them out of the 
 
 - Our author's faith is of a most conflictinK character, ns a 
 naval historian, to give such returns as these. The 1 
 must have well known the loss of the Hannibal, bavin 
 her as a p.iz>' ; and she lost thrice any Other English step 
 She had 7. r > killed and f>8 wounded ; the Audacious, Skilled 
 
 and 32 wounded i the \ i ui rable, 8 killed and 25 wounded ; 
 the Spencer, t; killed and 27 grounded i the Caear, skilled 
 and 34 wounded ; the Pompee, 1j killed and 00 irounded. 
 
 Total, .M:>.—Tianihitur.
 
 2G4 Admiral Saumarez pursues THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, the French and Spaniards. 
 
 1801. 
 July. 
 
 gallant-masts, and on the 12th they were ready for 
 sea. They bestowed the same care upon the Eng- 
 lish prize, the Hannibal, which was also to be taken 
 to Cadiz. 
 
 On the morning of the 1 2th the combined squa- 
 dron put to sea with the wind east-north- east, 
 which carried it out of the bay of Algesiras into 
 the straits. The squadron sailed in order of battle, 
 the two largest of the Spanish vessels, the San 
 Carlos and San Hermenegilda, each of one hundred 
 ami twelve guns, bringing up the rear. The two ad- 
 mirals, after the Spanish custom, were in a frigate, 
 the Sabina. At nightfall the wind fell. They would 
 not sail back to the anchorage at Algesiras, because 
 it was a dangerous position to occupy in presence 
 of an enemy's squadron, and the more, as it was 
 feared the English squadron might be reinforced, 
 which it was well known they expected. It was 
 determined to leave the Hannibal behind, because 
 she made no way although towed by the Indienne 
 frigate, and she was sent back to the anchorage 
 at Algesiras. The squadron then lay to in the 
 hope that during the night the wind might rise. 
 Admiral Saumarez, on his side, had ordered his 
 squadron to set sail. He had but four vessels, for 
 lie had lost the Hannibal, and the Pompee was un- 
 fit for service. But he was now joined by the 
 Superb, which made his division five vessels, be- 
 sides many frigates, and some light vessels filled 
 with combustibles 1 . He had carried his malice so 
 far as to put on board his ships furnaces for heat- 
 ing red-hot shot. Though he had but five ships of 
 
 1 Sir James Saumarez had with him only the Caesar 80, 
 Spencer 74, Audacious 7-1, Venerable 74, and Superb 74; 
 total, 376 guns. He had also the Thames frigate. The rig- 
 ging of the Pompee was not yet completed. He had no 
 vessels with combustibles, no furnaces for red-hot shot,— a 
 thing impossible to be used on board any ship; this report 
 ■was invented by the French. They had nine sail of the line, 
 viz. the San Carlos 11 2, San Hermenegilda 112, San Fernando 
 84, Argonauto 80, San Augustino 74 (Spanish); the Formid- 
 able 84, Indomptable 84, Desaix 74, St. Antoine 74 (French : 
 total, 778 guns; four frigates, and the Wanton lugger of 12 
 guns. The French, our author says, were elated with vic- 
 tory, and yet they dared not come about and engage Sauma- 
 rez. The British came up with the Franco-Spanish squa- 
 dron in the evening. The Superb was the headmost ship, 
 followed closely by the Caesar; the other British ships were 
 still behind. The Superb attacked the San Carlos about 
 eleven o'clock, others of the allied vessels firing on the 
 Superb, and striking each other. The Superb passed on, and 
 engaged the St. Antoine, a French 74, which very quickly 
 hauled down the tricolored flag; the Superb having only fifteen 
 men wounded in the action. In the meanwhile the Caesar 
 came up to the San Carlos, which the Superb left to her 
 care, and had scarcely opened her guns when it was seen 
 that the Spanish vessel was on fire ; the Caesar at once ceased 
 firing. In a short time the San Carlos was in a blaze, and 
 the flames communicating to the San Hermenegilda, which 
 was near and to leeward of the San Carlos, she took fire too, 
 and both blew up. A very few men only were saved in a 
 boat, and got on board the Superb. The other three British 
 ships were by this time come up ; but it began to blow hard, 
 and in the morning the Venerable 74 and Thames frigate 
 were the only ships seen ahead of the Caesar, together with 
 one of the French ships, the rest having made their escape 
 into Cadiz. The Venerable was the only British ship near 
 enough to chase the Formidable with a chance of success. 
 The imaginative affair about combustibles and red-hot shot, 
 reported by M. Thiers, is best answered by the following 
 communication, for which history is indebted to the present 
 
 the line, and the allies nine, he determined to brave 
 them to make up for his humiliating check at Alge- 
 
 lord Saumarez. In a letter dated "Cheltenham, May 19th, 
 1845," lord Saumarez, after denying that the Pompee ever 
 struck, or any thing of the kind, answers the slander about 
 the red-hot shot by stating that his father, then sir James 
 Saumarez, wrote to the Spanish naval commander at Cadiz, 
 contradicting in the fullest way the malignant charge. Ad- 
 miral Mazzaredo replied like an honourable man and high- 
 minded officer : — 
 
 "Isle of Leon, August 17, 1801. 
 " Esteemed Sir — The reports which have been current that 
 the burning of the two royal ships on the night of the 12th and 
 13th of July, arose from the use of red-hot balls which were 
 fired at them, have existed only among the ignorant public, 
 and have not received credit from any persons of condition, 
 who well know the manner of combating in the British navy. 
 At the same time, they give the greatest credit to the asser- 
 tion of your excellency, that nothing could be more foreign 
 from the truth, from the characteristic humanity of the Bri- 
 tish nation, and from what I have myself experienced of the 
 particular conduct of your excellency. I will avail myself of 
 every occasion to assure your excellency of the esteem and 
 consideration which I profess for your person. 
 " God grant you may live a thousand years. 
 
 " Your most obedient servant, 
 (Signed) "Joseph Mazzaredo. 
 
 " To his excellency rear-admiral Saumarez." . 
 The author's ignorance of naval matters, and his reliance 
 upon unfounded statements in consequence, is very unfortu- 
 nate. A friend to the freedom of the press, M. Thiers has him- 
 self shown (see p. 212) that the government dictated to the 
 Moniteur all that was to be said on military and naval affairs. 
 As to England, where the liberty of the press flourished, the 
 false statements of naval and military commanders — any 
 thing wrong that came before the notice of those serving under 
 them — would be sure to reach home, and they would be cor- 
 rected in the newspapers A false return of killed or wounded 
 on board ship, for example, would be detected and told. 
 In France the Moniteur was the unchallenged authority 
 for every thing, true or false, that could be made to serve an 
 end. It will not be amiss to see how the first consul dic- 
 tated the affair of Algesiras, and the flight into Cadiz. The 
 following is the government report from the Moniteur, car- 
 rying fraud upon its face. It was read at the theatres, and 
 made Paris alive with joy : — 
 
 " On the 4th of July rear-admiral Linois had anchored in 
 the Bay of Algesiras, expecting to be attacked the next 
 morning. In the night he landed the general of brigade 
 Devaux, with a part of the troops, to man the batteries of 
 the harbour. On the 5th, at 8 a. m., the cannonade com- 
 menced against the six English ships, which came without 
 delay, and brought their broadsides to bear within gun-shot 
 of the French ships ; the battle then began to be warm. 
 The two squadrons appeared to be equally animated with 
 the desire of conquering. If the French squadron had some 
 advantage from its position, the English had double the 
 force, and several ninety-gun ships. The Hannibal 74 placed 
 herself between the French squadron and the land. It was 
 half-past eleven ; this was the decisive moment. For two 
 hours the Formidable, on board of which rear-admiral Linois 
 was, made head against three English ships. One of the 
 ships of the English squadron, which was stationed with her 
 broadside to one of the French ships, struck her flag at three- 
 quarters past eleven. An instant after, the Hannibal, ex- 
 posed to the fire of the batteries and of three French ships, 
 which poured broadsides upon her from both sides (J J, also 
 struck her flag. At half-past twelve the English squadron 
 cut their cables, and made sail. The Hannibal was towed 
 by the Formidable. Of her crew of six hundred, three hun- 
 dred uere killed. The first English ship of the line which 
 had struck her flag was disengaged by a great quantity of 
 gun-boats and other embarkations sent from Gibraltar. The 
 battle covers the French with glory, and proves what they
 
 '1801. Dreadful explosion of two 
 
 July. Spanish vessels. 
 
 THE GENERAL TEACE. 
 
 Bravery of Captain Troude. 
 
 2G5 
 
 siras, and save himself from the much dreaded 
 censure of the English admiralty. He followed 
 closely the Franco-Spanish squadron, waiting for 
 the first favourable moment to fall upon the rear 
 ships with his refitted vessels. 
 
 Towards the middle of the night the wind blew 
 fresh, and the combined squadron made sail again 
 for Cadiz. The order of sailing was a little changed. 
 The rear division of the Beet was formed of three 
 ships in a single line, the .San Carlos to the right, 
 the San Hermenegildo in the middle, and the St. 
 Antoine, a seventy-four, the last a French ship, on 
 the left. They Bailed at but a small distance from 
 each other. The darkness of the night was very 
 great. Admiral Saumarez ordered the Superb, a 
 good sailer, to make all haste and attack the French 
 rear ships. The Superb soon came up to the 
 Franco-Spanish squadron. She had extinguished 
 her lights, that she might be less liable to be per- 
 ceived, keeping a little astern of the San Carlos, 
 but on one side, she gave that ship the whole of 
 her broadside ; then repeating it without any in- 
 terval, a second and a third time, firing red-hot 
 shot. The flames instantly took the San Carlos. 
 The Superb perceiving this remained astern, taking 
 in sail. The San Carlos, a prey to the flames, ill- 
 managed in the confusion, went to leeward, and in 
 place of remaining in the line fell astern of two of 
 her neighbours. She fired in all directions ; her 
 balls reached the San Hermenegildo, the crew of 
 which taking her for the English leading vessel, 
 poured all her fire into their own ship. Then a 
 fearful mistake was committed by the two Spanish 
 crews taking each other for enemies. They both 
 ran up alongside each other, so close as to en- 
 tangle their rigging, and engaged in an obstinate 
 contest. The fire, become more violent on board 
 tin' San Carlos, communicated itself soon to the 
 San Hermenegildo, and the two vessels in that state 
 continued to cannonade each other with fury. The 
 opposing squadrons were equally ignorant in the 
 darkness of the night as to what was proceeding 
 around them, and, except the Superb, that must 
 have known of the fatal error, because she had 
 earned it, no vessel dared to approach another, not 
 knowing which was Spanish or which English, 
 which they ought to assist or attack. The St. An- 
 toine, a French ship, had moved away from the 
 dangerous neighbourhood. The mass of flame soon 
 ne immense, and east a dull light over the 
 whole surface of the sr:i. It would sn in as if the 
 fatal illusion which armed these brave Spaniards 
 against each oth'-r was now dissipated, though too 
 late. The San Carlos blew up with a terrible explo- 
 sion, and in a few minutes afterwards the San Her- 
 menegildo followed, and struck terror into the two 
 Squadrons, that won- utterly ignorant to what ves- 
 sels tin- disaster had occurred. 
 
 The Sup. ib, perceiving the' St. Antoine sepa- 
 rated from the* others, bore up, and boldly attacked 
 le-r. This vessel, hot recently fitted out, defended 
 •If without that coolness and order which are 
 indispensable to the movement of those vast en- 
 
 can do. Rear-admiral Linois it at Cadiz with the Hannibal, 
 to repair it," 
 
 Not a syllable of the flight to Cadiz of the nine sail from 
 five, nor of the St. Antoint'l loss, nor of the burning of the 
 Spanish thipi, is here told '. — Translator. 
 
 gines of war. She suffered most severely ; and 
 two new adversaries, the Csesar ami Venerable, 
 coming up at the moment, made her defeat in- 
 evitable. She struck her flag after being a com- 
 plete wreck. 
 
 Admiral Saumarez was thus cruelly avenged 
 without much glory to himself, but with a great 
 loss to the Spanish navy. The two admirals, 
 Linois and Moreno, on board the Sabina, kept 
 themselves as near as possible to this frightful 
 scene, but were unable to distinguish, in the dark- 
 ness, what was passing, or to give an order. At 
 break of day, they found themselves not far from 
 Cadiz, with their squadron rallied, but lessened by 
 three ships, the San Hermenegildo and San Carlos, 
 which were blown up, and the St. Antoine, which 
 had been captured. 
 
 A fourth vessel of the combined squadron re- 
 mained in the rear, the Formidable, admiral 
 Linois' vessel, which was covered with glory in 
 the battle of Algesiras, and which still felt the 
 effects of that engagement. Compelled to carry 
 diminished sail in consequence of the loss of her 
 masts, and sailing slowly, being near two of the 
 burning vessels, and dreading the fatal mis- 
 takes of the night, she had kept in the rear, not 
 believing it in her power to be of use to any of the 
 vessels in action. It was thus, that in the morn- 
 ing she found herself alone, surrounded by the 
 English, and attacked by a frigate and three 
 vessels. Admiral Linois, having gone on board 
 the Sabina, had left the command to one of his 
 officers, captain Troude, of the Formidable. This 
 able and valiant officer, judging with rare presence 
 of mind, that if he tried to escape by making sail, 
 he should be overtaken by vessels that sailed better 
 than his own, resolved to find his safety in a skilful 
 manoeuvre, and in a courageous engagement. 
 His crew shared in his feelings, not one of them 
 would consent to the loss of the laurels of Alge- 
 siras. They were old sailors, well trained by long 
 service at sea, and well accustomed to fighting, 
 a thing much more necessary at sea than on land. 
 The worthy captain Troude did not wait until his 
 enemies, who pursued him, should be united 
 against the Formidable; he bore down upon that 
 which was nearest, namely, the Thames frigate, 
 and poured such a terrible fire into her that he 
 soon sickened her of the unequal contest. The 
 Venerable, an English seventy-four, was coming up 
 at full sail, the captain, thinking he was BUperior 
 to her, his ship carrying eighty guns, waited until 
 she came up, while tin- two other English vessels 
 endeavoured to gain the advantage* of her upon 
 the wind, and cut her oft' from entering Cadi/.. 
 Ably manoeuvring, and making his redoubtable 
 broadside, thick with guns, to Bear upon the un- 
 armed bow of the Venerable, joining to his su- 
 perior weight of metal, sent home with full effect, 
 he riddled her with his shot, fust struck down ono 
 mast, and then another, then a third, and made a 
 mere hulk of her, lodging many shot between 
 wind and water, which put her in danger of sink- 
 ing, 'flu? unfortunate ship, horribly mauled, ex- 
 cited the alarm of the. r< si of the English squadron. 
 
 The Thames frigate brought her help, and the 
 
 two other English vessels, which had endeavoured 
 to place themselves between Cadiz and the For- 
 midable, soon came about. They were desirous of
 
 266 
 
 Glory acquired by th» 
 French navy. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Campaign in Portugal. 
 
 1801. 
 July. 
 
 saving the crew of the Venerable, which they were 
 afraid would go down, and, at the same time, of 
 overwhelming the French ship, which made so 
 noble a resistance. The latter, confident in his 
 seamanship and his good fortune, fired successively 
 into them the most rapid and well-directed broad- 
 sides; he discouraged them, and sent them off to 
 the succour of the Venerable, ready to turn bottom 
 upwards, if they did not come to her assistance 
 speedily 1 . 
 
 The brave captain Troude having disembarrassed 
 himself of his numerous foes, sailed triumphantly 
 into Cadiz. A part of the Spanish population, 
 attracted by the cannonade and the explosions 
 during the night, had gone down to the shore. 
 They had seen the danger and triumph of the 
 French vessel, and in spite of the sorrow naturally 
 felt, for the loss of the two Spanish vessels was 
 well known, they sent forth the most joyous accla- 
 mations at seeing the Formidable enter the harbour 
 victorious. 
 
 The English could not deny that the glory of 
 these engagements was upon the French side. If 
 the French had lost one vessel, and the Spaniards 
 two, the English had left one vessel in our power, 
 and had had two so ill treated that they were quite 
 unfit for further service. The battle of Algesiras and 
 the return of the Formidable were among the num- 
 ber of the finest feats known to the French naval 
 history. But the Spaniards were downcast; al- 
 though admiral Moreno had behaved well, they 
 were not indemnified by a brilliant action for the 
 loss of the San Carlos and San Hermenegildo. 
 
 Still the events in Portugal were of some conso- 
 lation to them. We left the prince of the peace pre- 
 paring to commence hostilities against Portugal, at 
 the head of the combined forces of the two nations, 
 
 1 The fact was as follows. The Venerable 74, at daybreak, 
 found herself a great way ahead of the English squadron, 
 and approaching a ship the last of the combined nine line of 
 battle ships and frigates not destroyed, taken, or escaped 
 into Cadiz. She gave chase. Captain Hood said in his 
 letter to Sir James Saumarez, " I could perceive her to be 
 an 80-gun ship. At half-past 7 a. m., being within point- 
 blank shot, the enemy commenced firing his stern chase- 
 gum, which I did not return, for fear of retarding our pro- 
 gress, until light and baffling airs threw the two ships broad- 
 side to, within musket-shot, when a steady and warm con- 
 flict was kept up for an hour and a half, and we had closed 
 witliin pistol-shot, the enemy principally directing his fire at 
 our masts and rigging. I had at this time the misfortune 
 to see the main-mast go overboard, and fore and mizzen-mast 
 nearly in the same state," &c. The Venerable now got on 
 shore, the affair being close in land, near the castle of San'e 
 Petre, and the Formidable made her escape. So that they 
 were the stern chase-guns of the Formidable that were 
 brought to bear on the Venerable's bows, as she endeavoured 
 to get away, not her redoubtable broadside. The Thames 
 frigate was never hurt, man or timber, by the Formidable ; 
 and the well-directed broadsides given as a caution to the 
 other two English line of battle ships, were fired in the air, 
 if fired at all, for the other English vessels were not come up 
 within range. Our author seems ill informed in matters con- 
 nected with maritime affairs, or he would have asked him- 
 self— as those who read his work must do— why, with nine 
 powerful lin; 0f battle ships, and four fine frigates, Linois did 
 not engage and capture five English ships of inferior rates, 
 and one frigate ; this would be the sensible mode of such 
 a victorious commander as Linois in treating with an enemy 
 not half as strong. — Translator. 
 
 in the design, long ago explained, of influencing the 
 negotiations that were carrying on in London. 
 
 According to the plan agreed upon, the Spaniards 
 were to operate on the left of the Tagus, and the 
 French upon the right. Thirty thousand Spaniards 
 were assembled before Badajoz, on the frontier of 
 Alentejo ; fifteen thousand French were marching 
 by way of Salamanca upon Tras-os-Montes. Thanks 
 to the speedy efforts made, and to the loans ad- 
 vanced by the clergy, as well as the general sacri- 
 fices offered from all branches of the public service, 
 provision was made for the equipment of thirty 
 thousand Spaniards. But the train of artillery was 
 very backward. The prince of the peace, calculating 
 with reason upon the moral effect of the union 
 between the French and Spaniards, was eager to 
 proceed to hostilities at once, being anxious to 
 gather his first laurels. He wanted to carry away 
 all the honours of the campaign, and keep the 
 French as a reserve, upon whom he could fall back 
 in case of his meeting with a reverse. The French 
 could well afford to leave the prince the pleasure of 
 such a gratification. The French at that moment 
 were not seeking for glory, but only to bring about 
 useful results ; and these results consisted in occu- 
 pying one or two provinces of Portugal, in order to 
 have new securities against England. Easy as the 
 war appeared to be in regard to its object, there 
 was still a danger to be feared, and that was lest it 
 might become national. The hatred of the Portu- 
 guese against the Spaniards might have produced 
 the most unpleasant results, if the approach of the 
 French, placed a few marches in their rear, had 
 not dissipated these dawning desires at resistance. 
 The prince of the peace hastened to pass the fron- 
 tier, and to attack the fortified places in Portugal, 
 with field artillery in place of a battering train. He 
 occupied Olivenca and Jurumenha without diffi- 
 culty. But the garrisons of Elvas and Campo- 
 Mayor, shut themselves up and made a show of 
 defence. The prince of the peace ordered those 
 places to be invested, and during the interval 
 marched forth to meet the Portuguese army, com- 
 manded by the duke d'Alafoens. The Portuguese 
 made no resistance, and fled towards the Tagus. 
 The blockaded towns opened their gates. Campo- 
 Mayor surrendered ; and the siege of Elvas was 
 undertaken in a regular manner, a park of artillery 
 having arrived from Seville. The prince of the peace 
 followed the enemy triumphantly, traversing rapidly 
 Azuniar, Alegrete, Portalegre, Caste] lo deVide, Flor 
 de Rosa, and arrived at last on the Tagus, behind 
 which the Portuguese had hastened to seek a re- 
 fuge. He succeeded in making himself master of 
 nearly the whole province of Alentejo. The French 
 had not yet passed the frontier of Portugal, and it 
 was plain enough, that if the Spaniards succeeded 
 alone in obtaining such results, the Spaniards and 
 the French united must, in a few days, be masters 
 both of Lisbon and Oporto. The court of Portugal, 
 which had always refused to believe that an attack 
 upon that country was seriously meditated, now 
 saw that it had taken place, and hastened to ten- 
 der its submission, and sent M. Pinto de Souza to 
 the Spanish head quarters, to accept any conditions 
 which it pleased the two combined armies to impose 
 upon it. The prince of the peace, desiring that his 
 master and mistress should be witnesses of his 
 gloi'y, influenced the king and queen of Spain to
 
 1801. 
 July. 
 
 Consequences of the foregoing 
 events. 
 
 THE GENERAL PEACE. 
 
 French ascendancy in European 
 politics. 
 
 2G7 
 
 come to Badajoz to distribute rewards to the army, 
 and to hold there a species of congress. Thus 
 this court, once so great and haughty, was dis- 
 honoured by a dissolute queen, and by an incapa- 
 ble but all powerful favourite, who was endeavour- 
 ing to indulge in the illusion that he was directing 
 the weightiest affairs. Lucien Bonaparte had fol- 
 lowed the king and queen to Badajoz. Such were 
 the events that had occurred up to the end of June 
 or beginning of Jul v. 
 
 The battles of Algesiras and Cadiz, which were 
 achievements calculated to give confidence to the 
 French navy, the short campaign in Portugal, 
 which proved the decisive influence of the first 
 consul in the peninsula, and the power that he pos- 
 sessed of treating Portugal like Naples, Tuscany, 
 or Holland, compensated, up to a certain point, for 
 the events so far known relative to Egypt. Neither 
 the battle of Canopus, nor the capitulation signed 
 at Cairo, nor the inevitable capitulation of Alexan- 
 dria, had then been heard of. News was not at that 
 time conveyed by sea with the same rapidity that 
 it is at present. It was a month, and sometimes 
 more, sometimes less, before an event taking place 
 in the Nile was known at Marseilles. The only 
 fact heard respecting Egypt, was the landing 
 of the English, and the first battle on the plains 
 of Alexandria ; no notion could then be formed of 
 what had afterwards occurred, and the ultimate 
 termination of the struggle was still involved in 
 doubt. The weight of France in the negotiations 
 depending had in no way diminished ; on the con- 
 trary, it was increased by the influence which day 
 by day she acquired in Europe. 
 
 The treaty of Lune'villc produced its inevitable 
 consequences. Austria, disarmed and become 
 powerless in the eyes of other countries, left France 
 free to pursue her own objects. Russia, since the 
 death of Paul I., and the accession of Alexander, 
 was not disposed to act energetically against Eng- 
 land, it is true, but she was not inclined, upon the 
 other hand, to resist the objects of France in the 
 west. Therefore the first consul took no pains 
 to conceal his views. He determined to convert 
 Piedmont into a French department, without trou- 
 bling, himself about the remonstrances of the Rus- 
 sian negotiators. He had declared that as to 
 Naples, the treaty of Florence should remain the 
 rule by which affairs with that country should be 
 regulated. Genoa had submitted her constitution 
 to him, that it might receive certain alterations, 
 which were calculated to strengthen the executive 
 authority. The Cisalpine republic, composed of 
 Lombardy, the duchy of Modena, and the Lega- 
 tions, so constituted for the first time by the treaty 
 of Campo-Formio, and a second time by the treaty 
 of Luneville, was now newly organized into an 
 allied state, dew odent upon France. Holland, 
 after the example of Liguria, submitted her con- 
 stitution to the lir-i consul, in order that more 
 strength might be given to the government, a spe- 
 cies of reform, which was at that time effected in 
 all the republics thai sprung from that of France. 
 
 Lastly, the minor negotiators, who not long before 
 Bought support from M. Kalitehelf, the arrogant 
 minister of Paul I., were now sorry they had 
 sought his protection, and demanded only of the 
 first consul the favour of his ameliorating their 
 condition. More particularly the t* presentatives 
 
 of the German princes, showed in this regard the 
 most pressing eagerness. The treaty of Luneville 
 had arranged the secularization of the ecclesiastical 
 estates, and their division among the heredi- 
 tary princes. The ambition of all was kept awake 
 to their future participations. The great as well as 
 the smaller powers, each aspired to obtain for itself 
 the most advantageous portions. Austria and 
 Prussia, although they had lost little on the left 
 bank of the Rhine, wished to participate in the 
 promised indemnities. Bavaria, Wurtemberg, 
 Baden, the house of Orange, all besieged the new 
 chief of France with their solicitations; because, 
 being the principal party to the treaty of Lune'ville, 
 he would have the greatest influence in the execu- 
 tion of that treaty. Prussia herself, represented 
 in Paris by M. Lucchesini, did not disdain to 
 descend to the part of a solicitor, and to give a 
 higher character to the first consul by the mean- 
 ness of her solicitations. Therefore, although the 
 six months passed since the treaty of Luneville had 
 been distinguished by reverses in Egypt, it was 
 true but imperfectly known in Europe, the ascend- 
 ancy of the French government had supported 
 itself, and time had only rendered that government 
 more clear and effective. This concatenation of 
 circumstances could not but have its influence 
 upon the negotiations which had been left to lan- 
 guish for a moment, but which were about to be 
 renewed, as if by common consent, with increased 
 activity, through a singular conformity of ideas in 
 the two governments. The first censul, upon 
 learning the past, proceedings of Menou, had 
 looked upon Egypt as being lost, and he wished, 
 before that result happened, which he clearly fore- 
 saw, to sign the treaty of peace in London. The 
 English ministers, incapable of seeing, as clearly as 
 he did, the termination of these events, and not 
 less fearing some stroke of vigour on the part of 
 the Egyptian army, so renowned for its valour, 
 were desirous of profiting, by the first appearance 
 of success, to push forward the treaty, in such a 
 manner, that as both had been at one time inclined 
 to temporize, so they were now equally inclined to 
 conclude the negotiation. 
 
 But before again entering anew into the laby- 
 rinths of this great negotiation, wherein the most 
 important interests of the universe were about to 
 become the subjects of discussion, an event must 
 be narrated which at the same moment occupied 
 the attention of Paris, and completed the singu- 
 larity of the spectacle which the consular govern- 
 ment of France presented to the world. 
 
 The infants of Parma, destined to reign over 
 Tuscany, quitted .Madrid at the same time that the 
 royal family of Spain left that city for Badajoz, and 
 they had just reached the frontiers of the Pyre- 
 nees. The first Consul considered it was of great 
 importance that tiny should vi>,it Paris before they 
 went to Florence to take possession of the new 
 throne of Etruria. All sorts of contrasts wero 
 agreeable to the lively and expanded imagination 
 of Bonaparte. He greatly enjoyed this truly 
 Roman scene, a king formed by himself with his 
 own republican hands ; he also liked to show that 
 he had no apprehensions from the presence of a 
 Bourbon, and that his own glory placed him above 
 all comparison with the ancient dynasty in the 
 place of which he stood. Ho enjoyed also in the
 
 Their reception. — Enter- 
 
 268 ^iVi ■ °, S andqueen THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. tainment given by 
 oi i^iruna. Talleyrand. 
 
 1801. 
 July. 
 
 sight of all the world, even in Paris, so recently 
 the scene of a sanguinary revolution, the display of 
 a pomp and an elegance worthy of monarchs. All 
 this must lead still further to an observation of the 
 sudden change which had been operated in France 
 under his restorative government. 
 
 The minute and exact foresight which he knew 
 so well how to apply to a great military operation, 
 he did not disdain to employ in these magnificent 
 pageantries, in which lie himself and his glory 
 were to be displayed. He took the trouble to regu- 
 late the smallest details, to provide every thing 
 applicable to the occasion, to arrange every one in 
 his proper place ; since all this was required to be 
 done in a state of social order entirely new, created 
 out of the wrecks of a world destroyed. Every 
 thing to be re-edified again, even to matters of 
 etiquette, of which there must be some forms even 
 in a republic. 
 
 The three consuls deliberated for a long while 
 upon the mode in which the king and queen of 
 Etruria should be received in France, and what 
 ceremonies should be observed towards them. In 
 order to obviate many difficulties, it was agreed 
 they should be received under the assumed titles 
 of the count and countess of Livorno, and that they 
 should be treated as guests of distinction, in the 
 same way as had been done in the last century in 
 regard to the young czar, afterwards Paul I., and 
 the emperor of Austria Joseph II.; thus by means 
 of an incognito, there was avoided the embarrass- 
 ment to which the official rank of a king and queen 
 would have given birth. Orders, consonant with 
 this arrangement, were given, in consequence, 
 over all the route of the expected personages, to 
 the civil and military authorities in the depart- 
 ments. 
 
 Novelty delights the people of every age. This 
 was a novelty, and one of the most surprising, to 
 see a king and a queen, after twelve years of a 
 revolution, which had overturned and threatened 
 so many thrones ; it was one, more particularly, 
 that highly flattered the French people, because 
 this king and queen were the fruit of their vic- 
 tories. Every where the infants were received 
 under the liveliest acclamations; with infinite regard 
 and respect. No disagreeable circumstance on their 
 journey led them to feel that they travelled in a 
 country that just before had been wholly con- 
 vulsed. The royalists, who were in no way flattered 
 by this monarchical piece of workmanship of the 
 French revolution, were the only individuals who 
 seized upon the opportunity to exhibit their ma- 
 lignity. At the theatre of Bordeaux they shouted 
 loudly, with affected emphasis, " Long live the 
 king!" and they were answered by the cry of 
 " Down with kings !" 
 
 The first consul himself moderated, by letters 
 from his own cabinet, the over excessive zeal of 
 some of his prefects, because he did not wish too 
 much noise to be made about the appearance of 
 the royal couple. They arrived in Paris in June, 
 to remain an entire month; and they were to take 
 up their residence at the mansion of the Spanish 
 ambassador. The first consul, although but the 
 simple temporary magistrate of the republic, re- 
 presented the French people ; before this preroga- 
 tive, all the privileges of the blood-royal gave way. 
 It was agreed, that these two young sovereigns, 
 
 making the first consul acquainted with their ar- 
 rival, should visit him, and that he should return 
 the visit on the following day. The second and 
 third consuls, who could not be said to be, to the 
 same extent, the representatives of France, were 
 to pay the first visit to the infants. Thus, with 
 respect to the last, the honours of birth and rank 
 were fully established. On the day following that 
 of their arrival, the count and countess of Livorno 
 were conducted to Malmaison by count Azara, the 
 Spanish ambassador. The first consul received 
 them at the head of that exclusively military 
 household which he had established there. The 
 count of Livorno, feeling a little youthful embar- 
 rassment, flung himself into the first consul's arms 
 like a child, who, in consequence, embraced him 
 with warmth. He treated the young couple with 
 parental kindness and the most delicate attention, 
 at the same time supporting all that superiority 
 which belonged to difference of years and to his 
 own power and glory. On the following day, the 
 first consul returned the visit at the hotel of the 
 ambassador. The consuls, Cambaceres and Le- 
 brun, fulfilled, on their parts, the duties prescribed, 
 and obtained from the young princes the attentions 
 to which they were entitled. 
 
 It was arranged that the presentation of the 
 young princes, by the first consul, to the people, 
 should take place at the opera. On the day ap- 
 pointed for that purpose the first consul was in- 
 disposed. The consul Cambaceres supplied his 
 place, and attended the royal infants to the opera. 
 On entering the consuls' box, he took the young 
 count of Livorno by the hand, and presented him 
 to the audience, who answered by unanimous ac- 
 clamations, wholly unmingled with any thing ma- 
 licious or offensive. Still the idle part of the 
 public, accustomed to give out their own wise 
 interpretations to the commonest events, put a 
 hundred different constructions upon the journey 
 of these princes. Those who were only for show- 
 ing their wit upon the subject, declared that Cam- 
 baceres had just made a present of the Bourbons 
 to France. The royalists, who were obstinate in 
 their expectations, that Bonaparte would do that 
 which he neither could nor would effect, declared 
 that all this was, upon his part, only a mode of pre- 
 paring the public mind for a return to the old dynasty. 
 The republicans, on the other side, asserted that 
 by such royal pageantry he was preparing France 
 for the re- establishment of the monarchy, but only 
 for his own benefit. 
 
 The ministers were ordered to be lavish of fetes 
 and entertainments to the royal visiters. Talley- 
 rand did not require the hint to be given to him. 
 Considered a model of good taste and elegance 
 under the old regime, he was still better entitled 
 to that claim under the new. He gave, at his 
 chateau of Neuilly, an entertainment of a most 
 magnificent character, at which all the best society 
 of France attended, the names of many of whom 
 had long ceased to be announced in the circles of 
 the capital. When night came on, in the midst of 
 a most brilliant illumination, the city of Florence 
 appeared all at once, represented with uncommon 
 skill. The Tuscans were seen dancing and singing 
 in the celebrated plaza of the Palazzo Vecchio, 
 and offering flowers to the young sovereigns, and 
 garlands of triumph to the first consul. This
 
 1801. 
 Julv. 
 
 Fetes. — Incapacity of the 
 young prince. 
 
 THE GENERAL PEACE. 
 
 Renewal of the negotiations 
 for peace. 
 
 ■2(0 
 
 magnificent spectacle cost a large sum of money. 
 It uuited the prodigality of the directory to the 
 elegance of other times, and that decorum in 
 manner, which a severe master laboured to im- 
 press upon revolutionary France. The minister 
 at war imitated the minister for foreign affairs, 
 and gave a military fete, in commemoration of 
 the battle of Marengo. The minister of the in- 
 terior and the second and third consuls received 
 the royal visiters in a most magnificent manner ; 
 and for a whole month the capital bore the aspect 
 of a continued rejoicing. The first consul did not 
 wish the royal couple to be present at the re- 
 publican ceremonies in the month of July, and he 
 therefore made the necessary dispositions tor their 
 departure from Paris before the anniversary of the 
 1 4th of that month. 
 
 In the midst of these brilliant representations, 
 the first consul attempted to give some advice to 
 the royal couple, who were about to ascend the 
 throne of Tuscany. But he was struck with the 
 utter incapacity of the young prince, who, when at 
 Malmaison, gave himself up, in the waiting-room 
 of the aids-de-camp, to amusements that were 
 scarcely worthy the most ignorant boy. The 
 princess seemed to possess some intelligence, and 
 to be attentive to the advice offered by the first 
 consul. He accordingly judged very indifferently 
 of the future career of these new sovereigns, who 
 were thus designed to govern a part of Italy, and 
 easily foresaw that he should be obliged to inter- 
 meddle too often in the affairs of their kingdom. 
 " You see," said he, publicly enough to several 
 members of the government ; " you see what these 
 princes are, sprung from old blood, and more par- 
 ticularly those who have been educated in southern 
 courts. How can we trust them with the govern- 
 ment of nations ! No matter; we have done no 
 harm in exhibiting to the French people this 
 Bpecimen of the Bourbons. They will be able to 
 judge from them, whether the members of these 
 ancient dynasties are up to the level of the diffi- 
 culties connected with such an age as the present." 
 
 Every one who had seen the young prince had 
 made- the same observation as the first consul. 
 General Clarke was given to the young couple, to 
 ;et js their .Mentor, under the title of the minister 
 of Prance at the court of Etruria. 
 
 In the- midst of such pressing occupations, amidst 
 . which in themselves were almost public busi- 
 
 the great object of a maritime peace had not 
 been neglected. The negotiations carrying on in 
 London between lord llawkesbury and M. Otto 
 were become public. They were kept the less 
 
 r now, as both parties were more desirous of 
 Miming to a conclusion. As already observed, to 
 the wish of temporizing had succeeded the desire 
 of terminating the business; because the first con- 
 sul augured ill of the events which were passing 
 on tie- ii.uiUs of the Nile, and the English govern- 
 ment dreaded some unexpected exploit by the 
 army of Egypt. The new English minister, mure 
 particularly, wished for peace, because it was the 
 
 Hole reason for his going into office. If the war 
 ■hould be continued, I'itt was iniieh more lit than 
 Addington to be at the helm of affairs. All the 
 events which hail occurred, whether in tip- north 
 or the east, though they might have improved the 
 
 position of England, were only viewed by the 
 
 minister as so many means for the attainment of 
 a peace, more advantageous, more easy to be jus- 
 tified in parliament, than from any increased desire 
 for the peace itself. They regarded, on the con- 
 trary, the occasion as most favourable, and were 
 desirous of not imitating the fault with which Mr. 
 Pitt was reproached — of not treating prior to the 
 battles of Marengo and Hohenlinden. The king 
 of England, as already shown, had come round to 
 pacific views, through esteem for the first consul, 
 and, it is probable, a little anger against Pitt. The 
 people, suffering from want, and fond of change, 
 hoped to see, with the termination of the war, 
 some amelioration of their existing condition. 
 Reasonable people, without exception, found that 
 ten years of sanguinary warfare was enough, and 
 that an obstinate continuance of the war would 
 only furnish France with an opportunity for still 
 further aggrandizement. Besides, they were not 
 free, in Loudon, from all apprehension on the score 
 of invasion, the preparations for which were visible 
 in the ports of the channel. One only class of 
 men in England, who were absorbed in great 
 maritime speculations, and who had subscribed to 
 the enormous loans of Pitt, seeing that peace, 
 opening the seas to the flags of all nations, and to 
 that of France more particularly, would take from 
 them the monopoly of commerce, and put a stop to 
 the great financial operations by which they had 
 gained — these were little inclined to support the 
 peaceful policy of Addington. They were all de- 
 voted to Pitt and his policy; they all encouraged 
 a feeling for war when Pitt began to consider 
 peace as necessary. But these rich speculators of 
 the city were obliged to be silent before the cries 
 of the people and of the farmers, and above all, 
 before the unanimous opinion of the reasonable 
 men of the country. 
 
 The English ministry, therefore, was resolved 
 not only to negotiate, but to do so promptly, in 
 order to be able to present the result of the nego- 
 tiations at the approaching meeting of parliament 
 in the autumn. They had concluded a treaty with 
 Russia upon very advantageous conditions. Eng- 
 land had only a simple question of maritime law to 
 arrange with that court. She had made some con- 
 cessions to the new emperor, and obtained some 
 from Russia, which this young inexperienced 
 prince, anxious to satisfy the party which had 
 placed him upon the throne, and more anxious to 
 give his attention tranquilly to the idea of an 
 interior reform, bad the weakness to suffer to be 
 extorted from him. Of the four essential princi- 
 ples of maritime law Russia had abandoned two, 
 and established two. By a convention signed on 
 the 17th of June between count Panin, the vice- 
 chancellor, and lord St. Helens, the following 
 articles were agreed upon : — 
 
 First, neutrals might navigate freely between 
 till ports in the world, even those of belligerent 
 nations. They Were able to import every thing 
 according to usage except articles contraband of 
 war. The definition of this contraband was de- 
 cidedly favourable to Russian interests) inasmuch 
 as grain and naval stores, formerly prohibited to 
 
 neutral vessels, Wife not to be treated SB 00n- 
 
 traband of war. This was of gnat consequence t" 
 
 Russia, which produces hemp, tar, pitch, iron, 
 masts, and corn. Upon this point, one of the most
 
 270 
 
 British convention with 
 Russia 
 
 Propositions of the Eng- 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. U»h and French nego- 
 tiators. 
 
 1801. 
 July. 
 
 important in maritime law, Russia had defended 
 the freedom of general commerce in defending the 
 interests of her own. 
 
 Secondly, the flag was not to cover the goods, 
 unless such goods had been acquired on account 
 of, and thus become the property of a neutral 
 trader. Thus coffee, coming from a French colony, 
 was not to be seized if it had become Danish, or 
 Russian property. It is true, that in practice this 
 reservation saved a part of the neutral commerce ; 
 but Russia sacrificed the first principle of maritime 
 law — " the flag covers the merchandise ;" and did 
 not sustain the noble character which she had 
 borne under Paul I. and Catharine. This pro- 
 tection of the feeble, which Russia was so am- 
 bitious to display upon the continent, she sadly 
 abandoned upon the ocean. 
 
 Thirdly, the neutrals, although permitted to 
 navigate freely, were not, according to usage, to 
 enter a blockaded port, that is a port so bona fide, 
 the blockade of which it would be really dangerous 
 to force. On this head, the great principle of a 
 real blockade was rigorously maintained. 
 
 Lastly, the right of search, the origin of so many 
 disputes, and the cause of the formation of the last 
 league in the north, was to be understood in a way 
 little honourable to the neutral powers. Thus it 
 had always been contended that merchant vessels 
 convoyed by a ship of war of the state to which 
 they belonged, that by its presence attested their 
 national character, and, above all, there being 
 nothing contraband on board, should not be visited. 
 The dignity of the military flag did not, in fact, 
 admit that the captain of a ship, perhaps an ad- 
 miral, should lie stopped by a privateer provided 
 only with a simple letter of marque. The Russian 
 cabinet thought to preserve the dignity of its flag 
 by means of a distinction here. It was decided 
 that the right to visit in relation to vessels under 
 convoy, should not be exercised by all vessels in- 
 discriminately, but solely by vessels of war. A 
 privateer furnished only with a simple letter of 
 marque, had not longer the right to stop and 
 examine a convoy escorted by a ship of war. The 
 right of search could only, therefore, be exercised 
 by one equal upon another equal. There was no 
 doubt that in this mode of proceeding some incon- 
 venience was escaped, but the foundation of the 
 principle was sacrificed. This was the more dis- 
 creditable to the court of St. Petersburg, as it was 
 the particular principle of the four in dispute for 
 which Copenhagen had been bombarded three 
 months before, and for which Paul I. had tried to 
 stir up all Europe against England. 
 
 Russia had thus sacrificed two great principles 
 of maritime law, and had gained two. But England, 
 it must be acknowledged, had made concessions, 
 and in her desire to make peace, had desisted from 
 enforcing a part of the arrogant pretensions of 
 Pitt. The Danes, the Swedes, and the Prussians 
 were invited to give their assent to this convention. 
 Delivered from any anxiety about Russia, and 
 having obtained a first success in Egypt, England 
 desired to obtain for an amelioration of her situa- 
 tion, a more speedy peace with Prance. Lord 
 Hawkesbury sent for M. Otto to the foreign-office, 
 and authorized him to make to the first consul the 
 following proposition : — Egypt is at this moment 
 invaded by our troops ; considerable reinforce- 
 
 ments must soon join them; their success is very 
 probable. The struggle is not over, we are ready 
 to admit. Stay this effusion of blood ; let us agree 
 on both sides not to attempt the permanent occu- 
 pation of Egypt, which we will mutually evacuate, 
 and restore to the Porte, 
 
 To this proposition lord Hawkesbury added the 
 right to keep Malta ; because, he said, Malta was 
 not to be evacuated by England, but in the event 
 of the voluntary evacuation of Egypt by France. 
 The abandonment of Egypt by France being no 
 longer a voluntary concession upon her part, but a 
 forced consequence of the events of the war, there 
 was no longer any reason for England handing 
 over Malta as an equivalent. 
 
 In the East Indies the English minister in- 
 sisted upon Ceylon, but was content with that only. 
 He offered to restore the Cape of Good Hope to 
 the Dutch, and beyond that the territories taken 
 from Holland in South America — Surinam, De- 
 merara, Berbice, and Essequibo. But he de- 
 manded a large island in the West Indies, Mar- 
 tinique or Trinidad, either the one or the other, as 
 France might prefer. 
 
 Thus the definitive result of the ten years of 
 war would be for England, independently of Hin- 
 dostan, and the isle of Ceylon in the East Indies, 
 the isle of Trinidad or Martinique in the Antilles 
 or West Indies, and the isle of Malta in the Medi- 
 terranean. The French cabinet had, in this mode, 
 to make a free grant to England's pride in each of 
 the three most important seas. 
 
 The first consul answered at once to the British 
 offer thus tendered, that much was made of the 
 events in Egypt to elevate the English demands ; 
 to oblige them to lower their pretensions, he dwelt 
 upon the events which were going forward in 
 Portugal. " Lisbon and Oporto," he replied to 
 lord Hawkesbury, " will soon fall into our hands, 
 if we are inclined to take them. They are at this 
 moment negotiating a treaty at Badajoz, having 
 for its object to save the provinces of the most 
 faithful ally of England. The Portuguese propose 
 to redeem their territory, but they will exclude 
 England from their ports, and pay besides a heavy 
 war contribution ; and Spain is willing enough to 
 agree to this concession. But every thing depends 
 upon the first consul. He is able to accept or 
 reject this treaty; and he is about to reject it, and 
 will take possession of the chief provinces of Portu- 
 gal, unless England consents to a treaty upon 
 reasonable and moderate terms. The English re- 
 quire the evacuation of Egypt by the French; let 
 it be so, but let England, upon her side, abandon 
 Malta; let her no more require Trinidad nor 
 Martinique, but content herself with the island of 
 Ceylon, a fine acquisition, forming a grand ap- 
 pendage to the superb empire of India/' 
 
 The English negotiator replied in a manner that 
 could be but little satisfactory for Portugal, con- 
 firming, what was already well known, that Eng- 
 land had very little regard for the allies whom she 
 had compromised. " If the first consul should in- 
 vade Portugal in Europe," lord Hawkesbury 
 answered, " England will invade the territory of 
 Portugal beyond the seas. She will capture the 
 Azores and Brazil, and will take to herself se- 
 curities, which in her hands are worth much more 
 than the Portuguese continental possessions in the
 
 1301. 
 
 July. 
 
 Political papers in the Moniteur THE GENERAL PEACE. 
 
 written by the first consul. 
 
 271 
 
 hands of France." This plainly signified, that in 
 place of defending her ally, England sought to 
 avenge herself upon Portugal for the new acqui- 
 sitions that France might make at her expense. 
 
 The first consul perceived that upon this occa- 
 sion he must assume an energetic tone, ami show 
 what me passing at the bottom of his heart ; in 
 other words, his determination to struggle foot to 
 with England, until he had brought her to 
 more moderate terms. He declared that he would 
 l consent to give up Malta upon any con- 
 dition ; that Trinidad belonged to an ally, whose 
 interests he would sustain equally with his own, 
 and he would not abandon this colony to the 
 English ; that they ought to be content with Cey- 
 lon, which made so perfect the conquest of the 
 Indies; that none of the points contested, Malta 
 excepted, were to be put into the scale with the 
 suffering that would be inflicted on the world by 
 the shedding a single drop of the blood which was 
 about to flow. 
 
 To these diplomatic explanations he added public 
 declarations in the Moniteur, and the recital of the 
 armaments which he was preparing on the coast of 
 Boulogne. Divisions of gun-boats, in fact, sailed 
 from the ports of Calvados, the Seine Inferior, 
 the Somme, and the Escaut or Schelde. They 
 
 d along the shore to Boulogne, and many 
 succeeded in reaching that port in spite of the 
 English cruisers. The first consul had not then 
 fixed, as he did at a later period, on the plan of a 
 descent upon England l ; he only wished to iutimi- 
 
 iiat power by the noise and extent of his pre- 
 parations ; in short, he had made up his mind to 
 complete his arrangements, and to carry his threats 
 into effect if the rupture should definitively happen. 
 He went into a long explanation of his views upon 
 the subject during a deliberation of the council, at 
 which the consuls alone were present. Placing 
 full confidence in the devotion of his colleagues, 
 CambaceYes and Lebrun, he opened his whole 
 mind to thiin. He told them, that with the arma- 
 ments actually in existence at Boulogne, he had 
 not yet the means of attempting, with a chance of 
 success, a descent upon England, an operation in 
 war full of difficulty; that his object in making 
 th M preparations was to let England know what 
 he contemplated doing; in other words, that he 
 intended a direct invasion ; upon the success of 
 which he, Bonaparte, should not hesitate to risk 
 his life, his glory, and his fortune : that if be did 
 not succeed in obtaining from the British cabinet 
 some- reasonable concessions, bis part was taken — 
 he should complete the Boulogne flotilla so as to 
 receive one hundred thousand men, and embarking 
 with them himself, run all the chances of a terrible 
 
 but decisive blow. 
 
 I) -iron-, of gaining over public opinion to his 
 side in Europi . and i ven in England itself, he 
 attached to tie- not. s of his minister, negotiating 
 
 in England, addressed to the British ministry, a 
 number oi in the M,,i.ii< ur, which were 
 
 designed for the entire European public. These 
 
 articles, which were models of m at and forcible 
 
 1 The tirst flotilla attempted In 1801 rnunt not be confused 
 with the great nav.ii tnd military organization known under 
 the celebrated nun': at the " esmp of Boulogne," which hap- 
 pened in 1804. 
 
 argument, were written by himself, and devoured 
 by the readers of all stations, whose attention was 
 fixed upon this singular scene, he flattered the 
 English ministers then in office, whom he repre- 
 sented as wise, reasonable, well-intentioned men, 
 too much intimidated by the violence of the ex- 
 ministers, Pitt, and, more particularly, Windham, 
 lie heaped sarcasms upon these last, more par- 
 ticularly upon Windham, because he regarded him 
 as the head of the war party. In these articles 
 he sought to quiet Europe upon the subject of 
 French ambition, and to ahow that his own con- 
 quests were scarcely equivalent to the acquisitions 
 Prussia, Austria, and Russia had made in the par- 
 tition of Poland; that France had restored three 
 or four times the extent of territory she had re- 
 tained; that England, in like manner, was bound 
 to restore a large part of her conquests; that in 
 keeping possession of the continent of India, she 
 remained in possession of a superb empire, to 
 which the islands in dispute were nothing worthy 
 of notice; that it was not worth the cost, for such 
 islands, to continue to shed human blood; that if 
 France, it was true, appeared to insist so strongly 
 upon them, it was from a principle of honour in 
 supporting her allies, and to preserve some few 
 harbours in distant seas ; that, on the other hand, 
 if England was determined to continue the war, 
 she might, most certainly, conquer more colonies, 
 but that she had more already than her trade re- 
 quired; that France had made around her entire 
 frontiers, acquisitions of great value, which, with- 
 out designating, were obvious enough to all the 
 world, since her troops occupied Holland, Switzer- 
 land, Piedmont, Naples, and Portugal ; that, in 
 fact, the contest might be more simplified, and 
 rendered less burthensome to other countries, by 
 confining it to a contest between France and Eng- 
 land alone. The first consul, in writing, took 
 great care not to wound the national pride of 
 England; but he did not fail to let his last resource 
 of a descent be understood, and that, if the English 
 ministry desired that the war should terminate by 
 the destruction of one of the two nations, there 
 was not a Frenchman who was reluctant to make 
 a last and strenuous effort to decide this long dis- 
 pute, in a manner that should end in the eternal 
 glory and advantage of France. " But why put 
 the matter upon this desperate ground? Why not 
 terminate the misfortunes of humanity? Why 
 thus risk the destiny of two great nations \" The 
 first consul finished one of those articles by these 
 beautiful and singular words, which, at a later 
 time, were so sadly applicable to himself : — 
 " Happy, most happy, are those nations, that, ar- 
 rived at a high degree of prosperity, are blessed 
 with wise rulers, who will not expose the many 
 advantages they possess to the caprices and vicis- 
 situdes of a single Stroke of fortune ! "' 
 
 These articles, remarkable for powerful logic 
 and a vigorous style, attracted general attention, 
 and produced a deep sensation upon the public 
 mind. Never had any government held such open 
 and startling language. 
 
 The language of the first consul, accompanied 
 by very serious demonstrations along the coasts of 
 France, was calculated to produce, and did pro- 
 duce a grtal effect on the opposite side of the 
 channel. 'I'l'-' formal declaration that France
 
 272 
 
 Progress of the negotia- 
 tions. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Conduct of the prince 
 of the peace. 
 
 1801. 
 Aug. 
 
 would never give up Malta to England, made a 
 great impression, and the British government 
 stated its willingness to renounce the island, upon 
 its being restored to the knights of St. John of 
 Jerusalem; but, in that case, they demanded the 
 Cape of Good Hope. They would also give up 
 Trinidad, and even Martinique, if they obtained 
 a part of the Dutch continent of America, of De- 
 merara, Berbice, or Essequibo. 
 
 The abandonment of Malta was a step gained 
 in the negotiation. The first consul would not 
 cede either Malta, the Cape, or the Dutch posses- 
 sions on the continent of America. In his view, 
 Malta was to be considered as the equivalent for 
 Egypt, if France retained that conquest ; when 
 the occupation of Egypt ceased to be a question 
 for the French, that of Malta could not be ad- 
 mitted for the English, nor any similar equivalent. 
 
 The English cabinet finally gave up insisting 
 upon Malta, but revived its demand for one of the 
 great West India islands; and as it could no longer 
 dare to speak of the French isle of Martinique, it 
 demanded the Spanish island of Trinidad. 
 
 The first consul was as little inclined to cede 
 Trinidad as Martinique. It was a Spanish colony, 
 which furnished England with a dangerous footing 
 upon the vast continent of South America. He 
 kept his good faith so far towards Spain, as to 
 offer the small French island of Tobago, in place 
 of Trinidad. It was not an important colony; but 
 England had an interest in it, because all the 
 planters were English. With a feeling of exalted 
 pride, only to be allowed to one who had raised 
 his country to the highest pitch of glory and great- 
 ness, he added : " It is a French colony; this ac- 
 quisition must please the pride of the English, 
 which will be flattered thus to obtain, as a prize, 
 one colonial spoil belonging to us ; and the con- 
 clusion of the peace will thus become more easily 
 effected 1 ." 
 
 By this time it was about the end of July or 
 commencement of August, 1801. The preparations 
 making in France were imitated in England. The 
 militia were exercised; and cars were constructed 
 
 1 "The minister of foreign affairs to M. Otto, commis- 
 sioner of the Frencli republic in London. 
 
 " 20th Thermidor, year ix., or 8th of Aug. 1801. 
 " In regard to America, as affects the peremptory instruc- 
 tions contained in the nole, I further add here : The British 
 government wishes to retain in the West Indies one of the 
 newly-acquired islands, and this under the plea that it will 
 be necessary to the preservation of tier former possessions. 
 This can in no way apply to the island of Trinidad Avoid, 
 therefore, any discussion upon that topic. Trinidad, by its 
 situation, would be, not a means of defence for the colonies 
 of England, but a position fur the attack of the Spanish con- 
 tinent. The acquisition of the island would, besides, be for 
 the British government of an importance and value scarcely 
 conceivable. The discussion can only take place about Cu- 
 racoa, Tobago, St. Lucia, or route other island of that class. 
 Though these two latter are French Elands, still this govern- 
 ment might be induced to abandon one, and perhaps the 
 national pride of England be flattered, by thus retaining 
 some one nf our colonial spoils. You will not fail, citizen, 
 to praise highly the value of the islands to the cession of 
 which we give consent, and particularly Tobago. This 
 island not long back belonged to the tnglish, and is still 
 inhabited by English planters ; all its relations are English. 
 The soil is unbroken, and the commerce of the island is 
 susceptible of great increase." 
 
 for the conveyance of troops, to enable them to 
 reach more rapidly the points threatened by hostile 
 attack. The English journals of the war party 
 were filled with the most outrageous language. 
 Supposed to be encouraged by Windham, some of 
 them proceeded so far as to excite the people 
 against M. Otto, and the French prisoners. M. 
 Otto at once demanded his passports ; and the 
 first consul caused the insertion in the Moniteur 
 of the most threatening articles. 
 
 Lord Hawkesbury went to M. Otto, and insisted 
 upon his not going away. With some difficulty he 
 succeeded, by giving him reason to expect a speedy 
 conclusion to their negotiation. Still the national 
 animosity seemed awakened so, that a rupture was 
 anticipated. All the moderate persons in England 
 deprecated and wished to prevent it. They almost 
 despaired of success, because the first consul would 
 not give way in surrendering the possessions of his 
 allies, which the English persisted in keeping. 
 
 While the first consul was fighting the battle of 
 Spain's noble colonies, the prince of the peace, 
 with the thoughtlessness of a vain and frivolous 
 favourite, made the king, his master, adopt the 
 most unhappy step, and disengaged the first consul 
 from every tie of friendship towards Spain. 
 
 It has not been forgotten that M. Pinto, envoy 
 of Portugal, had arrived at the Spanish head- 
 quarters, to submit to the law laid down by Spain 
 and France. The prince of the peace was anxious 
 to terminate a campaign, of which the beginning 
 had been so brilliant and easy of achievement; but 
 of which the continuance might be attended with 
 difficulties, which, without the aid of the French, 
 might become insurmountable. If he desired to 
 get possession of Lisbon or Oporto, the aid of the 
 French would be indispensable. The enterprise, 
 now a simple ostentatious display, would then be- 
 come a serious affair, and require another body of 
 French troops. Foreseeing this necessity, the first 
 consul had spontaneously made ten thousand men 
 in addition march upon Spain, which increased 
 the total number to twenty-five thousand. But 
 the prince of the peace, who needlessly demanded 
 this auxiliary aid, was now alarmed at what he 
 had done, when he saw the troops arrive. Still 
 they had preserved the most exact discipline, and 
 shown towards the clergy, the churches, and the 
 ceremonies of public worship, a respect which was 
 by no means among them a common occurrence; 
 Bonaparte alone had been able to inspire them with 
 such a course of conduct. But now they were 
 really on the soil of Spain, the people were ridicu- 
 lously alarmed at seeing them. Either Spain 
 should have abstained from inviting them there, 
 or having invited them herself, she should have 
 employed them in the object for which they came. 
 This object could not have been merely the dis- 
 persion of a few bands of Portuguese, to obtain 
 some millions in a contribution, or even to shut the 
 ports of Portugal against the English. It evidently 
 consisted in obtaining valuable pledges, which 
 might serve to force from England the restitutions 
 which she would not otherwise make. In order to 
 do that it was necessary to occupy some of the 
 provinces of Portugal, particularly that of which 
 Oporto was the capital. This was the surest means 
 to influence the British cabinet, by influencing the 
 great city merchants too, who were deeply con-
 
 1S01. 
 Aug. 
 
 Treaty hastily signed between 
 France, Spain, and Portugal. 
 
 THE GENERAL PEACE. 
 
 Anger of the first consul. 
 
 273 
 
 eerned in the Oporto trade. Thus it was ; the 
 Blatter had heen previously arranged in Madrid 
 
 between the governments of France and Spain. 
 Still, despite all which had been stipulated, the 
 prince of the peace determined to accept the con- 
 ditions of Portugal, and to be satisfied on behalf of 
 Spain with the cession of Olivenca, a fortified 
 place, adding a contribution of 30,000,000 f. or 
 40.(100,0001'. to be paid to France, and for the two 
 allied powers the exclusion of all English vessels 
 of war and commerce. For such stipulations the 
 campaign thus begun was perfectly childish. It 
 was no more than idling away time ; a thing got up 
 to amuse a favourite overloaded with royal boun- 
 ties, ami seeking military glory in the most ridicu- 
 lous mode possible, completely on a level with his 
 own culpable and foolish levity. 
 
 The prince of- the peace awakened in the breast 
 of his royal superiors paternal feelings not difficult 
 to excite. But it must be said they were excited 
 too late or too soon. He contrived to fill their 
 bosoms with alarm at the presence of the French ; 
 an alarm tardily experienced, and in every view 
 wholly groundless. It was impossible to be sup- 
 posed by any human being that fifteen thousand 
 Frenchmen could conquer Spain, Or protract their 
 stay there in a mode to create uneasiness. To 
 suppose such an intention was to suppose that, of 
 which the minutest germ never entered into the 
 head of the first consul ; it had nothing to do with 
 projects conceived at a later period, subsequently 
 to events wholly unparalleled, which at this time 
 neither the first consul nor any one else could 
 foresee. At this moment he thought of one thing 
 only, which was to extort from England another 
 island, and that island a Spanish colony. 
 
 In accepting the conditions proposed by the 
 court of Lisbon, which consisted merely of the 
 cession of Olivenca to Spain, 20,000,000 f. to 
 France, and the exclusion of the English from the 
 Spanish ports, care had been taken to provide two 
 copies, one to be signed by Spain, and the other by 
 France. The prince of the peace affixed his sig- 
 nature to that destined for his own court, which 
 was dated from Badajoz, because all the affair 
 had been completed in that city. He then pro- 
 cured the ratification of the treaty by the king, 
 who was on the spot. Lucien Bonaparte signed 
 on his part the copy that was destined for France, 
 and sent it away immediately to receive his 
 brother's ratification. 
 
 The first consul received the communication at 
 the moment when the negotiations of London were 
 in their mosl 1 Kcited state of discussion. The irri- 
 tation which they caused him it is not difficult to 
 conceive. Though his natural affection lor his 
 family was carried at times to weakness, he had a 
 less command over Ins temper with his relations 
 than with other persons ; ami most assuredly 
 
 if he had cause lor anger he- might be pardoned 
 for its exhibition upon the present occasion. In 
 this particular instance be broke out into a passion 
 almost without bounds at the conduct of his brother 
 Lucien. 
 
 But the first consul hoped that the treaty might 
 not yet lie ratified, and sent off extraordinary 
 couriers to Badajoz to announce the refusal of the 
 
 ratification by France, and to intimate the fact to 
 Spain. IJut the couriers found the treaty ratified 
 
 by Charles IV.. and the engagement became irre- 
 vocable. Lucien was mortified and confounded at 
 the embarrassing and humiliating character re- 
 served for him to play in Spain. His brother's 
 anger he answered by an access of ill-humour, 
 which was not uncommon with him, and he sent in 
 his resignation to the minister for foreign affairs. 
 On his side the prince of the peace became arro- 
 gant, and allowed himself the use of language 
 which was senseless and ridiculous towards such a 
 man as at that time governed France. He first 
 announced that all hostilities against Portugal had 
 terminated, and then dem.mded the withdrawal of 
 the French troops ; adding, that if fresh forces 
 passed over the frontier of the Pyrenees, their 
 passage would be considered a violation of the 
 Spanish territory. He demanded further the re- 
 turn of the Spanish fleet blockaded in Brest, and 
 an early conclusion of a general peace, in order to 
 put a stop as soon as possible to an alliance that 
 was become burdensome to the court of Madrid '. 
 This conduct was highly improper, and contrary to 
 the true interests of Spain. It must be observed, 
 on the other hand, that the frightful misfortune 
 which had befallen the two Spanish shins had 
 struck the nation with grief, and contributed to the 
 angry bearing that manifested itself in a manner 
 at once so intemperate, and so adverse to the 
 interests of both cabinets. 
 
 The first consul, in the highest state of irritation, 
 replied instantly, that the French should remain 
 in the peninsula until peace was concluded be- 
 tween Portugal and France in particular ; that if 
 the army of the prince of the peace made a single 
 step of approach to the fifteen thousand French 
 who were stationed at Salamanca, he would con- 
 sider it as a declaration of war ; and that if in 
 addition to unbecoming language, they added 
 any act of hostility, the last knell of the Spanish 
 monarchy should sound 2 . He ordered Lucien to 
 
 > Note of July 26th. 
 
 2 The first consul wrote s-hort and animated notes, de- 
 signed to furnish the leading ideas of tlie instructions he 
 intended for his ministers, when they transmitted orders to 
 the ambassadors abroad. The following is a note sent to the 
 Office for foreign affairs, to serve for ihe ground of a despatch 
 which was to lie forwarded to Madrid. Talleyrand, who had 
 gone to take the waters, had bt<.n replaced by M. Caillard : — 
 
 "To the minister for foreign affairs. 
 
 "21 Me>sldor, year ix., or 10th July, 1801. 
 
 " Make known, citizen minister, to the ambassador of the 
 republic at Madrid, that he is to repair to that court, and to 
 assume the character necessary under the circumstances, 
 lie will state — 
 
 "That 1 have read the note of the general prince of the 
 peace; that it is so ridiculous, it does not merit a serious 
 answer; but that if this prince, bought over by England, 
 ■ the kin;: and queen to take measures contrary to 
 the honour and to the Interests of the republic, the last 
 knell of the Spanish monarchy h.is sounded. 
 
 " That my intention It, that the French troops shall re- 
 main in Sj.ain until the moment when the republic lias 
 made peace with Portugal. 
 
 " That the least movement of the Spanish troops v, iih the 
 object of approaching nearer to the French forces, will bo 
 considered as a declaration of war. 
 
 "That still I desire to do all that Is possible to rat 
 the Interests of the republic with the conduct and inclina- 
 tions of his catholic majesty. [That 
 
 T
 
 274 Correspondence relative THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. to the Spanish in aty. 
 
 1801. 
 Aug. 
 
 return to Madrid, there to await ulterior orders in 
 his character of ambassador. This was enough to 
 intimidate and restrain the worthless courtier, who 
 with so much recklessness compromised the most 
 important interests in the world. Soon afterwards 
 he wrote most cringing letters in order to be again 
 regarded with favour by the man whose influence 
 and authority over the court of Spain he so much 
 feared. . . 
 
 Still it was necessary to take some decisive 
 course in consequence of this strange and un- 
 accountable conduct on the part of the cabinet of 
 Madrid. Talleyrand was at the moment absent 
 on account of ill health, having gone to take the 
 waters. The first consul sent him all the papers 
 which had passed, and received in reply a sen- 
 sible letter containing his opinion upon this very 
 serious matter. 
 
 In tlie opinion of Talleyrand a paper war would 
 produce no satisfactory conclusion of the difference, 
 however triumphant might be the arguments ad- 
 duced on the side of France, grounded upon the 
 engagements so plainly laid down and the promises 
 mutually entered into. A war against Spain would 
 postpone the desirable object of a European peace; 
 it was besides at utter variance witli the sound 
 policy of France, and ridiculous in the present 
 
 "That come what may, I will never consent to the 
 articles 3 and 6. 
 
 " That I do not object to the negotiations being renewed 
 between M. Pinto and the ambassador of the republic, with 
 a protocol of the negotiations drawn up day by day. 
 
 " That the ambassador must endeavour to make the 
 prince of the peace clearly comprehend, and the king and 
 queen as well, that words and offensive notes, where friend- 
 ship subsists to the extent it does between us, may be passed 
 by as m-re family differences ; but that the smallest act, or 
 the least demonstration, will be without a remedy. 
 
 " Tbat In respect lo the king of Etruria, a minister was 
 tendered to him on account of his having no one near him ; 
 and to govern men, some knowledge is necessary. That in 
 the hope be will find at Parma men capable of advising him, 
 I do not longer insist upon that point. 
 
 " That relative to the French troops in Tuscany, it is 
 proper to let them remain there for two or three months, 
 until the king of Etruria can himself organize his army. 
 
 " That stale affairs can be carried on without falling into 
 excitement; and that in other respects, my wishes to do 
 something agreeable to the court of Spain would be ill re- 
 turned, if the king suffered the corrupting gold of England, 
 at the moment when, after so much toil and anxiety, we are 
 about entering the port, to disunite two great nations ; that 
 the consequences must be fatal and terrible. 
 
 " That at this moment, less precipitation in making peace 
 with Portugal, would have been the means of accelerating 
 very considerably a peace with England, &c. 
 
 " You know the cabinet; you will therefore say in your 
 despatch every thing that may serve to gain time, to hinder 
 precipitating measures, to procure a renewal of the negotia- 
 tion, and. at the same time, to produce an effect, by placing 
 in their view the serious state of the affair, and the inevitable 
 consequences of inconsiderate proceedings. 
 
 " Make the ambassador of the republic understand, that 
 if Portugal would consent to leave the province of Alentejo 
 in the hands of Spain until the peace, that would be a mezzo 
 termine, because by that means Spain would sac that the 
 preliminary treaty was executed to the letter. 
 
 " I would as soon accept of nothing as 15,000,000 f. in 
 fifteen months. 
 
 " Despatch the courier whom I send you with this directly 
 to Madrid. Bonaparte." 
 
 pitiable state of the Spanish monarchy, with the 
 French troops in the heart of Spain, and her fleet 
 at Brest. That there was a much better mode of 
 punishing her, which would be to concede the 
 island of Trinidad to England, the sole and last 
 difficulty through which the peace of the world 
 had been withheld. Spain had clearly absolved 
 France from all obligation to her or devotion to 
 her interests. In this case we must lose time in 
 Madrid and gain it in London, accelerating the 
 negotiation with England by the cession of Trini- 
 dad i. 
 
 1 The following is the curious letter of Talleyrand : — 
 " 20th Messidor, year ix., or 9th of July, 1801. 
 
 " General — I have read with all the attention of which 
 I am capable the letters from Spain. If we desired to make 
 it a matter of controversial dispute, it is very easy for us to 
 prove we are in the right, simply by referring to the literal 
 meaning of three or four treaties which we have this year 
 entered into with that power ; for these documents would 
 establish our case de factum *. We must try whether this 
 is not a favourable moment for the adoption of some defini- 
 tive plan respecting the conduct of this our shabby ally. 
 
 " I start with the following data : Spain, to quote her own 
 words, has made an hypocritical war against Portugal ; she 
 desires to make a peace definitively. The prince of the peace 
 is, by what we learn, — and I can readily credit, — carrying on 
 conferences with England; the directory thought he was 
 bought over by that power. The king and queen are wholly 
 dependent upon the prince's will. He was before only a 
 favourite; now, in their opinion, he is a perfect statesman, 
 and a great military character. Lucien is in an embarrass- 
 ing position, from which it is absolutely necessary to free 
 him. The prince makes a clever use of the words : ' The 
 lint/ has decided to ma/ce war upon his children,' This mode 
 of expression will produce an effect upon public opinion. A 
 rupture with Spain is a ridiculous threat when we have her 
 vessels in Brest, and our troops in the heart of the kingdom. 
 It seems to me that such is our position with Spain ; that 
 granted, then, what are we to do? 
 
 " At this moment I feel that, for the last two years, I 
 have not been accustomed to think by myself ; and being no 
 longer with you, my judgment and imagination are without 
 any guidance. Thus I am probably about to write poor 
 stuff; hut it is not my fault; I am no longer perfectly myself 
 when I am apart from you. 
 
 " It appears to me that Spain, upon the conclusion of 
 every peace, has been a weight upon the cabinet of Ver- 
 sailles, through her enormous pretensions ; she has in the 
 present instance greatly relieved us. She has herself di- 
 rected how we should proceed ; we are now able to act with 
 England as she has acted about Portugal. She has sacrificed 
 the interest of her ally; which is placing at our disposal the 
 island of Trinidad in the stipulations with England. If you 
 should adopt this opinion, the London negotiation must, be 
 pushed onwards, while at Madrid we must have recourse to 
 diplomacy, or rather to wrangling, being careful to maintain 
 throughout all a mild tone of discussion, amid amicable ex- 
 planations; making them easy respecting the position of the 
 king of Tuscany, and speaking only of the interests of the 
 alliance, &c. In fact, lose time at Madrid, and hurry it on- 
 wards in London. 
 
 " To change our ambassador under existing circum- 
 stances would be to attract an attention that should be 
 avoided, if you would temporize as I propose. Why not 
 permit Lucien to pay a visit to Cadiz, to inspect the arma- 
 ments there, and also in the other ports ? During his journey 
 the business with England would proceed. You would not 
 allow England to make conditions for Portugal ; and Lucien 
 
 * Whether this be the diplomatic Latin of Talleyrand, or 
 the Franco-Latin of the author, it stands thus in the French 
 
 edition. — Translator.
 
 1801. 
 Aug. 
 
 Nelsou's attack upon 
 
 THE GENERAL PEACE. 
 
 the Boulogne flotilla. 
 
 275 
 
 This advice was grounded in Bound reason, and 
 appeared in tbat light to the first consul. Still, 
 deeming it a matter of honour to defend an ally as 
 loni; as possible, though that ally had broken his 
 faith, lie informed M. Otto of the new view of 
 France respecting Trinidad, exhibiting his dis- 
 position to sacrifice thai island, not immediately, 
 but only at the last extremity. The first consul, 
 therefore, ordered M. Otto again to induce Eng- 
 land to accept Tobago if possible. 
 
 Most unfortunately the strange conduct of the 
 prince of the peace had much weakened the argu- 
 ments of the French negotiator in London. News 
 recently received of the surrender of general Bel- 
 liard in Cairo, had weakened them more. Still 
 the resistance of general Menou in Alexandria, 
 supported a doubt favourable to French pretension. 
 To the flotilla at Boulogne the honour was due 
 of terminating the difficulties of this protracted 
 negotiation. 
 
 The minds of the people of England had never 
 ■ 1 to he occupied with the naval preparations 
 made upon the shores of the channel. In order 
 to calm the public, the English admiralty had 
 recalled Nelson from the Baltic *, and given him 
 the command of the naval forces along the coasts. 
 These were composed of frigates, brigs, corvettes, 
 and light vessels of every dimension. The en- 
 terprising spirit of this celebrated English seaman 
 led him to hope, that he should be able to destroy 
 them by some bold stroke. On the 4th of August, 
 or Kit It of Thermidor, he appeared, at break of 
 day, before Boulogne, with about thirty small 
 s. He hoisted his flag in the Medusa frigate, 
 and took up a position about two miles from the 
 French line; that is, out of reach of our artillery, 
 and only within range of our heavy mortar;:. His 
 object was to bombard the flotilla. This flotilla 
 had for its commander a brave seaman, full of the 
 natural genius and ardour for war, and destined, 
 if he had lived, to rise to tin: highest honours in 
 his profession ; this was the- admiral Latouche- 
 Tre'ville. lie exercised the gun-boats everyday. 
 and accustomed our soldier.-, and sea:m n to em- 
 bark and disembark at a moment's notice, with 
 celerity and precision. On the 1th, the French 
 flotilla was formed in three divisions, in a single 
 line, at anchor, parallel with the shore, from which 
 it was distant about five hundred fathoms. It 
 was composed of large gun-boats, supported at 
 intervals by brig-. Tine,, battalions of infantry 
 
 would ;id in time sufficient to treat definitively of 
 
 the peace with ! 
 
 "II lit that you will find my opinion smells not 
 
 a little oi the ihowei rs which I take with 
 
 great regularity, [n seventeen days I am certain to in- In 
 
 better health, and shail then DC must happy tu renew to you 
 snee of my respect am! attachment. 
 
 " < ii. Mach. Tai.i.i.yuand." 
 
 ailed for this purpose -, he came home 
 witli part of the Baltic Beet, in consequence of their pre- 
 no longer required in the north. Sweden ba\ ing 
 admit'' ill hi fei ling 
 
 to ha Vi en the 20th of May, two ir three 
 
 afterwards the ihlps returned, The Si t bombardment of 
 the Boulo oi,- flotilla was on tin- 4th of .\ ugust, «t hen sei era! 
 were d ,id N'clnon, 
 
 "it of no further eotutguenee than in (Auto //,, 
 eatmoi with impunity corns i i."—Trantlator. 
 
 were embarked in these vessels, to second the 
 bravery of our seamen. 
 
 Nelson arranged a division of bomb-vessels in 
 front of his squadron, and opened his tire about five 
 o'clock in the morning. He hoped, by showering 
 his bombs, to destroy the flotilla, or, at least, oblige 
 the boats to enter the port. He threw an amazing 
 quantity during the entire day. These projectiles, 
 thrown from heavy mortars, passed, for the most 
 part, over the French line, and fell harmless upon 
 the sands. The French soldiers and seamen, im- 
 moveable under this incessant fire, which was 
 more alarming than dangerous to life, showed 
 wonderful coolness, and much gaiety of spirit. 
 Unfortunately, they had no means of returning the 
 fire. The bomb-vessels, built in a hurry, could 
 not resist the recoil of the mortars, only firing 
 some ill-directed shots. The powder, taken from 
 the old stores in the arsenals, was destitute of 
 strength, and did not send the projectiles the 
 proper distance. The crews eagerly desired that 
 they might be allowed to advance within gun- 
 shot, or to board the enemy. But the gun-boats, 
 awkwardly built, without the experience exhibited 
 at a later period in their construction, were not 
 easily manoeuvred, with the wind, at that moment, 
 blowing from the north-west. They would have 
 thus been driven, by wind and current, upon the 
 English line, and obliged, in order to rejoin the 
 coast, to present their sides to the enemy, when 
 the guns were placed in their bows. They were, 
 therefore, obliged to remain under this shower of 
 projectiles for sixteen hours. The troops and sea- 
 men bore it all courageously, and laughed at the 
 shells that passed over their heads. The brave 
 commandant, Latouehe-Treviile, was in the middle 
 of them, with colonel Savary, the aid-de-camp of 
 the first consul. Thousands of shells were thrown 
 among them, and, by a sort of miracle, no one was 
 seriously wounded. Two of the boats were sunk, 
 without losing a man. One gun-boat, the Me'ehante, 
 commanded by captain Margoli, was shot through 
 in the middle. This brave officer put his crew on 
 board the other boats, and then, keeping two 
 sailors with hint, made for the land as sue was 
 sinking, and ran her on shore, before that event 
 could occur. 
 
 The English, in spite of the disadvantage of the 
 French position and the bad quality of their pow- 
 der, had suffered more than the French. They 
 had three or four men killed or wounded, by the 
 explosion of the French shells '. 
 
 Nelson retired, threatening to return in a few 
 days with more certain means of destruction. He 
 was accordingly expected to re-appear, and the 
 French admiral prepared to give him a warm re- 
 ception. He reinforced tin: line, provided the 
 best ammunition, animated the soldiers and sailors, 
 who, besides, were lull of ardour, and quite proud 
 
 of having braved the English iq their own 
 
 ment. Three picked battalions, selected from the 
 46th, 57th, and HiHih demi-brigades, were placed 
 
 on board the flotilla, to serve in the same manner 
 as in the battle of the 4th. 
 Twelve days alter, on the 16th of August, or 
 
 1 Captain Fyera, of the royal artillery, was vary slightly 
 wounded, as well as two seamen) by the bursting of a shell. 
 There was m> other casualty.— Translator. . 
 
 ■1 2
 
 27G Nelson's second attack upon THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. the Boulogne flotilla. 
 
 1801. 
 Aug. 
 
 28th Thermidor, Nelson made his appearance with 
 a naval division, much more considerable than the 
 former. Every thing indicated his intention to 
 make a serious attack by boarding ; the French 
 desired nothing better. 
 
 Nelson had thirty-five vessels, many boats, and 
 two thousand chosen men. About sunset he ar- 
 ranged his boats around the Medusa, distributed 
 his men, and gave the necessary instructions. 
 These boats, manned by English marines, were, 
 during the night, to advance under oars, and make 
 themselves masters of our line by boarding. They 
 were formed into four divisions. A fifth, com- 
 posed of bomb-vessels, was to be stationed, not in 
 front of the French flotilla, as before, a position 
 which showed such little execution during the 
 bombardment of the 4th of August, but on one 
 side of the flotilla, in order to attack it in flank. 
 
 About midnight, these four divisions, commanded 
 by four intrepid officers, — captains Somerville, 
 Parker, Cotgrave, and Jones, — pulled rapidly 
 towards the shore at Boulogne. A small French 
 vessel, manned by eight hands only, had been left 
 as an advanced post. She was surrounded and 
 boarded; the sound of her musketry, as she bravely 
 defended herself before she submitted, served to 
 give notice of the presence of the enemy. 
 
 The four English divisions approached as fast as 
 their oars could pull. As soon as they were per- 
 ceptible, a fire of musketry and grape was opened 
 upon them. The division that came foremost was 
 taken away to the eastward by the tide, out of its 
 course, and beyond the right wing, which it was 
 designed to attack. The two divisions of the 
 centre, under captains Parker and Cotgrave, row- 
 ing at once against the middle of the line of de- 
 fence, were the first to reach it, about one o'clock 
 in the morning, and they attacked it manfully. 
 The division of captain Parker, after exchanging 
 a sharp fire with the French line, attacked one of 
 the large brigs, which had been stationed among 
 the boats to support them. This was the brig 
 Etna, under the command of captain Pevrieu. 
 Six boats surrounded her, with the intention of 
 taking her by boarding. The English boldly 
 mounted her sides, headed by their officers, and 
 were received by two hundred infantry soldiers, 
 and driven into the sea at the point of the bayonet. 
 The brave captain Pevrieu, having engaged, in 
 succession, with two English sailors, killed them 
 both, although wounded, first with a poignard, and 
 then with a pike. In a short time, the attacking 
 party were thrown overboard, and a fire com- 
 menced upon the boats, which killed the greater 
 number of those who were in them. The French 
 boats resisted, with the same courage, those who 
 attacked them, with bayonets and axes. A short 
 way off, the division of captain Cotgrave bravely 
 attacked the French line without success. A large 
 gun-boat, the Surprise, surrounded by four English 
 boats, sunk the foremost, took the second, and 
 obliged the others to retreat. The soldiers rivalled 
 the sailors in this manner of fighting, so well suited 
 to their lively and audacious characters. 
 
 While the second and third English divisions 
 were thus received, the first, which had attempted 
 the assault on the right of the French, carried 
 away to the eastward by the tide, could not get 
 to the scene of action until a very late period. 
 
 Making every effort to get from the east towards 
 the west, it seemed to threaten the extremity of 
 the French line of defence, and to be endeavouring 
 to get between the land and the French vessels, 
 a very common manoeuvre of the English. This 
 was, in the present case, rather an effect of their 
 position than of their calculation. Some detach- 
 ments of the lOilth, posted along the shore, opened 
 upon them a very effective fire. The English 
 seamen, not at all discouraged, attacked the Vol- 
 cano gun- boat, which protected the left of the 
 French line. The ensign commanding it, whose 
 name was Gueroult, an officer full of courage, met 
 the boarders, at the head of his sailors and 
 some infantry soldiers. He had an obstinate 
 combat to sustain. While he was defending him- 
 self on the deck of his boat, the English, who were 
 around her, endeavoured to cut her cable, and 
 carry away the boat itself. Fortunately, it was 
 moored with a chain, which resisted every effort 
 to break it. The firing kept up from the shore 
 and the other French boats upon the English, 
 obliged to them quit her. This attack was suc- 
 cessfully repelled, as well as those upon the two 
 other points. 
 
 The day broke ; the fourth division of the enemy 
 which had been designed to attack the French left, 
 having to make a considerable way to the westward 
 in spite of the tide, which ran in the opposite 
 direction, did not arrive in time. The bomb ves- 
 sels of Nelson, thanks to the darkness of the night, 
 did not do much mischief. The English were 
 every where repulsed ; the sea was covered with 
 their dead bodies, and a considerable number of 
 their boats were taken or sunk'. Daylight be- 
 coming stronger rendered their retreat necessary. 
 They retired about four o'clock in the morning. 
 The sun arose to lighten up their flight. This 
 time it was not an unsuccessful attempt, but a posi- 
 tive defeat. 
 
 The crew were delighted. The French had not 
 lost many men, and the English, on the contrary, 
 had suffered considerably. That which added still 
 more to the joy occasioned by this brilliant action 
 was, that they had beaten Nelson in person, and 
 had rendered vain all the menaces of destruction 
 which he had publicly promulgated against the 
 French flotilla, 
 
 The contrary effect was produced on the other 
 side of the channel. Although this combat with 
 the French vessels at anchor did not prove what a 
 similar flotilla would be able to do on the sea when 
 it had on board one hundred thousand men, still 
 the confidence of the English in the enterprising 
 genius of Nelson was greatly diminished, and the 
 unknown danger which threatened them alarmed 
 them in a still greater degree. 
 
 Put the vicissitudes of the most important nego- 
 
 1 On the 15th, Nelson, thinking he could cut outa number 
 of the llolilla, made a serious attack. The French were ap- 
 prized of his intention. They had used chains in place of 
 rope for moorings, which could not be cut, and filled the boats 
 with soldiers, as well as lined the shore close to which the 
 boats lay, who fired upon the English boats, and often into 
 their own vessels. The English were repulsed, and lost 44 
 killed and 128 wounded, bringing away only 1G soldiers and 
 seamen and a lieutenant made prisoners. One boat in a 
 sinking state was abandoned, from the leakage owing to 
 the shot-holes. — Translator.
 
 
 1S01. Negotiations resumed. — 
 
 Oct. Trinidad given up. 
 
 THE GENERAL PEACE. 
 
 Preliminaries of the treaty of 
 peace. 
 
 !77 
 
 tiation between the two nations began to approach 
 their limit. Being decided by the conduct of the 
 Spanish cabinet, the first consul ordered M. Otto 
 to give up Trinidad. This concession and the two 
 
 'ements oil" Boulogne concluded the hesitation 
 of the British cabinet. It consented to the pro- 
 
 . bas a, with the exception of some difficulties 
 in detail which yet remained to be overcome. The 
 English cabinet, in giving u;> Malta to the order of 
 St. John of Jerusalem, stipulated that the island 
 should be placed under the protection of some 
 power which should secure its independence ; be- 
 cause they had very little belief in the power of 
 the order of St. John to defend it, even if the 
 knights were successful in re-establishing them- 
 selves. They did not agree with France as to 
 what state Bhould be the power having this 
 guarantee. The pope, Naples, and Russia, had 
 been ■ ly proposed, and rejected. In the 
 
 last place, the drawing up of the words of the 
 treaty exhibited some difficulty. As the effect of 
 the treaty upon public opinion would naturally be 
 considerable in both countries, upon both sides 
 there was ;is much attention to be given to the 
 appearance as to the reality. England made no 
 objection to enumerate in the treaty the numerous 
 
 Bsions which she restored to France and its 
 allies, but at the same time desired that those she 
 had definitively acquired should be stated also. 
 This was a just demand, more so than that of the 
 first consul, who wished that the objects restored to 
 Holland, France, and Spain, should be enumerated, 
 and that the silence which should be kept in regard 
 to the others should be for England the only man- 
 ner of her acquiring a title to them. 
 
 Besides these differences, not very important in 
 reality, there were others accessary, relative to 
 prisoners, to debts, sequestrations, and more par- 
 ticularly to the allies of the two contracting parties, 
 and the character they should assign to them in 
 the protocol. Nevertheless it was necessary for 
 the negotiators to conclude the matter, and thus 
 put an end to the anxieties of the world at large. 
 On one side the English cabinet wished to brine: 
 the affair to a conclusion before the meeting of 
 parliament ; on the other, the first consul feared 
 every moment to hear of the surrender of Alex- 
 andria, because the prolonged resistance of that 
 place still left open a doubt which was useful to 
 the negotiation. Impatient for great results, he 
 longed for the day when he should be able to make 
 
 France- listen to words so novel, so magical, not of 
 peace with Austria, with Prussia, or Russia, but of 
 a general peace with all the world. 
 
 In consequence it was agreed to secure im- 
 mediate!) the great results already obtained, and 
 to leave t., an ulterior negotiation any difficulties of 
 
 detail and form. To this end it was agreed at 
 
 once to draw up the pr» liminaries of peace, and to 
 
 sign them immediately afterwards, desiring the 
 
 plenipotentiaries t< > embody a definitive treaty at 
 [< isure. Every difficulty, ne>t of a fundamental 
 character, the settlement eel which might cause 
 delay, was to be left for arrangement under the de- 
 finitive treaty. In order to be- more certain of all 
 be-ing quickly finished, the first consul wished to 
 confine: th'.- negotiation t'e a fixed period. It was 
 then tin; mielelle- of Fructidor, the- year i\., or the- 
 
 middle of September, 1801 ; he- gave them until 
 
 the 2nd of October, or 10th of Vendemiaire, year 
 
 ix. At the end of that term he said lie was re- 
 solved to avail himself of the fogs of autumn in aid 
 of his designs against the coasts t < t Ireland and 
 England. This was uttered with ail the regard due 
 to the feelings of a great and proud nation, but with 
 that peremptory tone which left no doubt of the 
 intention. 
 
 The two negotiators, M. Otto and lord Hawkes- 
 bury, were sincere- men, and really wished for 
 peace-. They not only wished it for its own sake, 
 but also from the ambition, natural and legitimate, 
 of placing their names at the bottom of one of the 
 most renowned treaties in the history of the world. 
 Thus every facility compatible with their in- 
 structions was, on their part, bestowed to the ar- 
 rangement of the preliminaries. 
 
 It was agreed that England should restore- t <> 
 France and Iter allies, in either words, to Spain and 
 Holland, all the maritime- conquests she hail niaele-, 
 ici/li tl> exception of the islands of Ceylon and Triui- 
 diul, which glie Ian! definitively acquired. 
 
 Such was the form adopted to conciliate the self- 
 love of the two nations. In short, England re- 
 tained the continent of India, which she had con- 
 quered from the native princes; the island of 
 Ceylon, which she had taken from the Dutch, a 
 in e-e ssary appendage to that vast continent ; lastly, 
 the isle of Trinidad, taken from the Spaniards in 
 the West Indies. There was enough there to 
 satisfy the fullest national ambition. England 
 restored the Cape-, Demerara, Berbice, Essequibo, 
 and Surinam to the Dutch ; Martinique and Gua- 
 daloupe to the French ; Minorca to the Spaniards ; 
 and Malta to the order of St. John of Jerusalem. 
 As to the last, the guaranteeing power was to be 
 designated in the definitive treaty. England 
 evacuated Porto Ferrajo, which, with the isle of 
 Elba, was to be restored to France. In compensa- 
 tion for this the French were to evacuate the state 
 of Naples, in other words, the gulf of Tarentum. 
 
 Egypt was to be abandoned by the troops of beith 
 nations, ami t< > be restored to the Porte. The in- 
 dependence of Portugal was secured. 
 
 Thus if only the great points are consider! el, 
 putting aside all the minor restitutions so warmly 
 disputed, and yet neither diminishing nor augment- 
 ing much the advantages obtained, the following 
 may be considered the result of the- treaty. In 
 this contest of ten years England hail acquired the 
 
 empire of India, without the acquisition of Egypt 
 
 by France: to counterpoise it. But on the other 
 hand, France had changed te> her advantage- the 
 face of the European continent ; she had conquered 
 
 the- formidable- line- of the- Alps anil of tlie- Rhine, 
 and repelled Austria from her frontiers by tin- ac- 
 quisition of the Low countries ; she had snatched 
 from that power Italy, tin- object Austria con- 
 tinually coveted, anil which hail now nearly all 
 passed under French domination ; she- bad by the 
 principle established by the- secularization, con- 
 siderably enfeebled the- impi rial henise- in Germany 
 
 to the- gain of th.- house- of Brandenburg; she- bad 
 checked Russia for her interference- in tin- affairs 
 
 of the- west; she- was ali potent in Holland, Swit- 
 zerland, Spain, ami Italy, No power in tin- world 
 exercised an influence equal to ben ; ami if Eng- 
 land was aggrandized on the- ocean, France had 
 still added t'e hex coasts, those of Holland) Flan-
 
 „_„ Preliminaries signed. — Con- 
 ■~7o sequences of the peace. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Great joy of both 
 countries. 
 
 1801. 
 Oct. 
 
 ders, Spain, and Italy, countries completely under 
 her influence. These were vast means for the 
 attainment of maritime power 1 . 
 
 This was all secured to France by England, 
 when she signed the preliminaries of the peace in 
 London, at the expense, it is true, of the continent 
 of India. France was hardly able to consent to 
 this ; her allies, well defended by her, recovered 
 nearly all they had lost by the war. Spain was 
 deprived of Trinidad by her own fault; but she 
 gained Olivenca in Portugal, and Tuscany in Italy. 
 Holland abandoned Ceylon, but she recovered her 
 colonies in India, the Cape, and the Guianas ; she 
 was delivered from the stadtholder. 
 
 Such were the consequences of this peace, the 
 most noble and most glorious for France that her 
 annals can exhibit. It was but natural that the 
 French negotiator should have been impatient to 
 complete the treaty. The 30th of September had 
 arrived, and there were still some difficulties in 
 drawing up the document. All these were finally 
 overcome; and in the evening of the 1st of October, 
 the day before that fixed by the first consul as the 
 fatal term, M. Otto had the infinite satisfaction of 
 placing his signature beneath the preliminaries of 
 peace — a satisfaction so great as to be unequalled, 
 because no negotiator before him had ever the 
 happiness of securing, by such an act, equal ad- 
 vantage and glory to his country. It was arranged 
 that this news should be kept a secret in London 
 for twenty-four hours, in order that the courier of 
 the French legation might be able to be the first 
 to announce it to his government. This fortunate 
 courier quitted London in the night, on the 1st of 
 October, and arrived on the 3rd, or 11th Vende- 
 niiaire, at Malmaison, about four o'clock in the 
 afternoon. At the same moment, the three consuls 
 were holding a council. Upon opening the des- 
 patches, the sensation experienced was very great; 
 they left off their business, and embraced each 
 other. The first consul, who threw off all reserve 
 most heartily, when he was with those in whom 
 he placed full confidence, freely gave way to the 
 feelings of which his heart was full. So many 
 results obtained in so short a time, — order, victory, 
 peace, given to France by his genius and unflagging 
 efforts, — all this in two years ; these were benefits 
 from which he was most assuredly entitled to feel 
 himself very happy and very proud. Amid their 
 effusions of mutual satisfaction, Cambace'res said 
 to him, " Now that we have made a treaty of 
 peace with England, we have only to conclude a 
 treaty of commerce, and thus remove all cause of 
 dispute between the two countries." " Not quite 
 so quick," answered the first consul, with anima- 
 tion ; " political peace is made ; so much the 
 better ; we will enjoy it. As to a commercial 
 peace, we will make one, if we are able. But I 
 will not, at any price, sacrifice French industry ; 
 I can remember the distress of 17o"G." This sin- 
 gular and instinctive regard for the interests of 
 French industry must have been deeply rooted, to 
 
 1 Our author seems very much mistaken about the means 
 by which a formidable naval force is to be obtained. The pos- 
 session of ports, and even of ships in addition, will go but a 
 little way without seamen made by long habitude on the 
 ocean, througli the means of a great commercial navy. — 
 — Translator. 
 
 have displayed itself at such a time. But the 
 consul Cambace'res, with his usual sagacity, had 
 touched upon the difficulty which, at a little later 
 period, was again to embroil the two countries. 
 
 The intelligence was immediately sent to Paris 
 to be made public. Towards evening, the sound 
 of cannon resounded along the streets, and every 
 body inquired what fortunate event had occurred 
 to occasion the rejoicings thus manifested. People 
 ran to the public places, where commissaries of 
 the government had received orders to make 
 known the news, that the preliminaries of peace 
 were signed. The same night the intelligence was 
 announced in all the theatres, in the midst of a 
 general joy, without example, for a very long time. 
 This joy was perfectly natural, because peace with 
 England was in truth universal peace; it consoli- 
 dated the tranquillity of the continent, suppressed 
 the ground of the European coalitions, and laid open 
 the whole world to French commerce and industry. 
 Paris was illuminated the same evening. 
 
 The first consul immediately ratified the pre- 
 liminary treaty, and commissioned his aid-de- 
 camp, Lauriston, to proceed with it to London. 
 If the joy in France was great, in England it was 
 almost carried to a pitch of delirium. The news, 
 at first kept secret by the negotiators, at last 
 transpired, and they were obliged to notify it to 
 the lord mayor, by a special letter. This com- 
 munication produced the greater effect, because, 
 just before, there had been a rumour that the 
 negotiations were broken off. The people at once 
 gave themselves up to those violent transports of 
 joy, which are so peculiar to the passionate cha- 
 racter of the English. The public conveyances, 
 upon leaving London, were marked with chalk, in 
 large letters, " Peace with France." At every town 
 they were stopped, the horses were detached, and 
 they were drawn about in triumph. They thought 
 that all the misery, from the scarcity and dearness 
 of things, would at once be terminated. They 
 dreamed of unknown, immense, impossible benefits. 
 There are times when nations, like individuals, 
 become weary of mutual hate, and feel a strong 
 desire for a reconciliation, however illusive and 
 transient it may ultimately prove. At this mo- 
 ment, unhappily so short, the English people were 
 almost persuaded that they loved France ; they 
 praised the hero, the sage, who was at the head of 
 the government, and cried with transport, " Long 
 live Bonaparte !" 
 
 Such are the joys of humanity ; they are only 
 lively and intense in proportion to man's ignorance 
 of the future. Let us thank God, who, in his wis- 
 dom, has thus closed to our sight the volume of 
 mortal destiny ! How every heart would have 
 been chilled that day, if the veil which concealed 
 the future could have been suddenly withdrawn, 
 and the English and French could have been en- 
 abled to see in the future, fifteen years of atrocious 
 hate, an obstinate and wasteful war, the continent 
 and ocean inundated with the blood of both nations ! 
 How would France have been stricken with con- 
 sternation, if, at the moment, when she thought 
 herself at the summit of greatness — unchanging 
 greatness — she had then seen, in a page of the 
 terrible book of destiny, the treaties of 1815. The 
 hero so victorious and wise, who then governed, 
 how he would have been surprised and struck
 
 1831. 
 Oct. 
 
 Ratification by the first 
 consul. — Surrender of 
 Alexandria. 
 
 THE GENERAL PEACE. 
 
 Lord Cornwallis and Joseph 
 Bonaparte to meet at 
 Amiens. 
 
 279 
 
 with consternation, if, in the midst of his noblest 
 achievements, lie could have observed his enor- 
 mous errors; if, in the midst of the most merited 
 prosperity, he could have read his fearful fall — his 
 martyrdom ! Oh, yes, Providence, in the depth of 
 its mysterious workings, has done wisely to dis- 
 close to man no more than the present : full enough 
 for his weak heart to know ! We, who now know 
 all that then passed, and that has since been ac- 
 complished, we will endeavour to cover ourselves 
 in the ignorance of that day, in order to compre- 
 hend and partake in its lively and powerful 
 emotions. 
 
 A slight doubt still prevailed in London, and 
 somewhat troubled the public expression of pleasure, 
 because the ratification of the preliminaries by the 
 first consul had not yet arrived, and there was an 
 apprehension of some unforeseen and sudden re- 
 solution on the part of a character so prompt, 
 proud, and exacting in every thing relative to his 
 Country. This state of suspense was painful ; 
 until it was suddenly learned in London that one 
 of the first consul's aids-de-camp, one of his com- 
 panions in arms, colonel Lauriston, had arrived at 
 the house of M. Otto, and that he was the bearer 
 of the ratified treaty. The people, relieved from 
 the only doubt which they felt before, no longer 
 restrained themselves, and their delight was un- 
 bounded. They ran to the house of M. Otto, and 
 found him entering his carriage, with colonel 
 Lauriston, on his way to lord Hawkesbury, for the 
 purpose of exchanging the ratifications. The people 
 took out the horses, and drew the two French- 
 men all the way to lord llawkesbury's house. 
 
 From lord Hawkesbury "s the two negotiators 
 
 had to pro< d to Mr. Addington's, and from 
 
 thence to the admiralty, to pay a visit to lord St. 
 Vincent. The people were; still obstinate to draw 
 the carriage from the residence of one minister to 
 that of another, and last of all, to the admiralty, 
 where the crowd became so great, and the con- 
 iu-ioii so extraordinary, that lord St. Vincent, being 
 apprehensive of some accident occurring, placed 
 himself at the head of the procession l , fearing the 
 carriage would b • overturned, and this extravagance 
 of joy <nd in some painful accident. Several days 
 passed in this state of excitement, testifying the ex- 
 traordinary public satisfaction. 
 
 One fact worthy of remark is, that some hours after 
 the signature of the preliminary treaty, a courier 
 arrived in London from Egypt, bringing the news 
 of the surrend r of Alexandria, which took place on 
 the 30th of August, 1801, or 12th Fructidor. "This 
 courier," said lord Hawkesbury to M. Otto, " has 
 arrived eight hours after the signature of the treaty: 
 BO much me better. If he had arrived sooner, we 
 should have I e 11 (..reed to have been inure exacting 
 
 in deferei to public opinion-, and the negotiation 
 
 would very probably base been broken oil'. Peace 
 is of mure OOnseqaenoe than an island, more or 
 i This minister, a very excellent man, had 
 
 • Lord St. Vincent only went to tin- garden-gate of the 
 
 admiralty to receive colonel Lauriston and M. Otto; ami be 
 there addressed the mob, urtfini,' them to lie careful ; " Gen- 
 tlemen, gentlemen ! let me request you to he as orderly as 
 ile; and if you are determined to draw the gentleman 
 ipanled hy M. ottn, I requeet jrou to be caution 
 not to overturn the carriage." — Trantlal'r. 
 
 reason on his side. But this is a proof that the 
 resistance of Alexandria had been useful, and that 
 even in a desperate cause, the voice of honour 
 counselling the longest possible resistance, should 
 always be heard. 
 
 It was agreed that the plenipotentiaries should 
 meet in the city of Amiens, an intermediate point 
 between London and Paris, in order to draw up 
 the definitive treaty. The English cabinet selected 
 an old and distinguished military officer, lord Corn- 
 wallis, who had had the honour of commanding the 
 English armies in America and India, one of the 
 most celebrated men of his time. He had been 
 governor-general of Bengal, and viceroy in Ireland 
 at the close- of the last century. Lord Cornwallis 
 had arranged a visit to Paris, in order to pay his 
 compliments to the first consul, before he took up 
 his post at the scene of negotiation. 
 
 The first consul, on the other hand, made choice 
 of his brother Joseph, for whom he had a very 
 particular affection, and who, by the amenity of his 
 manners and mildness of his character, was singu- 
 larly well adapted for a peacemaker, an office 
 which had been constantly reserved for him. Jo- 
 seph had signed the treaty of peace with America 
 at Morfontainc ; with Austria at Lundville; aud 
 now was about to do the same with England at 
 Amiens. The first consul thus made his brother 
 gather the fruit which he had himself cultivated 
 with his own triumphant hands. Talleyrand, see- 
 ing all the ostensible honour of these treaties 
 devolve upon a personage who was nearly unac- 
 quainted with the arts of diplomacy, was unable to 
 repress a passing sense of his vexation, which, 
 though he made every effort to hide it, did not 
 escape the keen eyes and invidious observations of 
 the diplomatists resident in Paris, and it became 
 the subject of more than one despatch. But the 
 cautious minister well knew that it would be impo- 
 litic to make the family of the first consul his ene- 
 mies, and besides, after granting what was due 
 to the part acted by that great man, if any part of 
 the glory remained for another concerned in these 
 brilliant negotiations, the people of Europe would 
 decree it to the minister for foreign affairs. 
 
 The negotiations proceeding with different states, 
 and not yet concluded, were terminated almost im- 
 mediately. The first consul understood well the art 
 of producing striking effects upon the imaginations 
 of men, because he himself possessed a very power- 
 ful imagination. He settled every difficulty with 
 all the other courts, as if lie desired to overwhelm 
 France with all kinds of satisfaction in succession; 
 to raise her wonder, and even to intoxicate her by 
 ilie extraordinary results which he worked out for 
 her advantage. 
 
 lie settled the treaty with Portugal, and ordered 
 his brother Lucien to sign at. Madrid the condi- 
 tions which he had refused at Badajoz, with only a 
 few unimportant modifications. He no longer in- 
 sisted upon the occupation of one of the Portuguese 
 provinces, because the bases of the treaty of peace 
 
 with England having been settled, since Trinidad 
 had been relinquished, there was 1,0 reason for re- 
 taining the pledges with which at first he had been 
 so anxious to furnish himself. An agreement was 
 made regarding the expenses of the war ; s< ■ 
 
 commercial advantages were secured, sueh as (lie 
 introduction of French cloths, and French products
 
 280 Treaties with Bavaria THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 and Russia. 
 
 1801. 
 Oct. 
 
 were placed upon the footing of the most favom-ed 
 country. The exclusion of English vessels of all 
 kinds was formally stipulated until the conclusion 
 of the peace. 
 
 The evacuation of Egypt terminated all the dif- 
 ferences with the Ottoman Porte. Talleyrand con- 
 cluded at Paris the preliminaries of peace with the 
 minister of the sultan, which stipulated the restitu- 
 tion of Egypt to the Porte, the establishment of the 
 former relations between the two governments, and 
 the activity of all the anterior treaties of commerce 
 and navigation. 
 
 Similar conventions were signed with the regen- 
 cies of Tunis and Algiers. 
 
 A treaty was signed with Bavaria, by which that 
 country was replaced in regard to the French re- 
 public, in the same state of alliance which formerly 
 existed between the court and the old French mo- 
 narchy, when that monarchy extended her protec- 
 tion to all the German states of the second rank 
 against the ambition of the house of Austria. It 
 was but a renewal of the old treaties of Westphalia 
 and of Teschen. Bavaria abandoned to France 
 directly all that she had formerly held upon the 
 left bank of the Rhine. In return, France pro- 
 mised to employ her weight in the negotiations of 
 which the affairs of Germany would soon become 
 the subject, to procure for Bavaria a sufficient 
 indemnity conveniently situated. France also gua- 
 ranteed the integrity of the Bavarian territory. 
 
 Lastly, to achieve the great work of general 
 pacification, the treaty with Russia, which legalized 
 that peace to the letter which was already in exist- 
 ence, was signed, after a long discussion between 
 M. Markoff and Talleyrand. The new emperor 
 had shown, as before seen, less energy in his resist- 
 ance to the maritime pretensions of England, but 
 at the same time less ostentation, and less determi- 
 nation in the mode of protection extended to the 
 minor German and Italian states, that bad been 
 parties to the coalition against France. Alexander 
 never raised difficulties in regard to Egypt; but in 
 any case these would have ceased in consequence 
 of the late events in that country. He no more 
 pretended to the grand mastership of the knights 
 of Malta, which rendered easy the reconstitution 
 of the order upon its old footing, agreeably to the 
 arrangements which had been made with England. 
 The only differences of moment with Alexander 
 were relative to Naples and Piedmont. By per- 
 sisting in her views, and by gaining time, France 
 had vanquished the principal difficulties relative to 
 these two states. The evacuation of the road of 
 Tarentum had been promised to the English. Rus- 
 sia was satisfied upon this point, regarding it as the 
 accomplishment of a condition essential to her own 
 honour, in the integrity of the Neapolitan territory. 
 Of the isle of Elba, Russia had ceased to say any 
 thing. In regard to Piedmont, every day added to 
 the silence of England upon the subject during the 
 negotiations in London, had emboldened the first 
 consul to refuse this important province to the king 
 of Sardinia. Russia invoked the promise which 
 had been made to her upon that subject. The first 
 consul replied by saying, that Russia had promised 
 in the same manner to maintain inviolable the ma- 
 ritime law in all its tenor, and that she had aban- 
 doned a part of it to England. An article was 
 agreed upon, by which they bound themselves in a 
 
 friendly way to consider favourably the interests of 
 the king of Sardinia, and "to regard them so far 
 as might be compatible with the existing state of 
 things." This was taking a great freedom in rela- 
 tion to that prince, and particularly that of indem- 
 nifying him one day with the duchy of Parma or 
 Piacenza, as the first consul had then thought of 
 doing. The conduct of the king of Sardinia, and 
 his devotion to the English during the last cam- 
 paign in Egypt, had deeply irritated the head of 
 the French government. The first consul, however, 
 was governed by a better reason than his auger. 
 He considered Piedmont as one of the finest Italian 
 provinces for France its possessor; it always allowed 
 of an army entering Italy, and the keeping an 
 army continually there. It would be for France, 
 in fact, what the Milanese had for a long while 
 been for Austria. 
 
 The views of France had constantly been in 
 agreement with those of Russia respecting the 
 affairs of Germany; there was in consequence no 
 difficulty upon this last subject. 
 
 The treaty was drawn up, therefore, upon these 
 bases, in conjunction with M. Markoff, the new 
 negotiator recently arrived from St. Petersburg. 
 A public treaty was signed in the first instance, in 
 which it was plainly and simply stated, that a good 
 understanding was re-established between the two 
 governments, and that they would not permit emi- 
 grants, who were subjects of either nation, to com- 
 mit offences considered culpable in their former 
 country. This article struck at the Poles on one 
 hand, and at the Bourbons on the other. To this 
 treaty was added a secret convention, in which it 
 was declared that the two empires having acted in 
 unison in the affairs of Germany at the epoch of 
 the treaty of Teschen, now again united their in- 
 fluence to effect in Germany such arrangements of 
 territory as would be most favourable to the equili- 
 brium of Europe; that France should endeavour to 
 procure an advantageous indemnity for the elector 
 of Bavaria, the grand duke of Wurtemberg, and 
 the grand duke of Baden (this last had been added 
 to the proteges of Russia because of the new em- 
 press, who was a princess of Baden) ; that the 
 state of Naples should be evacuated at the mari- 
 time peace, and in case of a war enjoy a neutrality; 
 and that lastly, they should understand each other 
 respecting the interests of the king of Sardinia, 
 when it shall be needful, and " in the manner most 
 compatible with the existing state of things." 
 
 The first consul immediately sent his aid-de- 
 camp, Caulincourt, to St. Petersburg, to be bearer of 
 a clever and courteous letter, in which he congra- 
 tulated the czar upon the conclusion of peace, also 
 communicating to him, with a species of com- 
 plaisance, a multitude of details, appearing as if he 
 was ready mutually to unite with him in the direc- 
 tion of the more important affairs of the world. 
 Caulincourt was designed to fill the place of Duroc, 
 who had returned in too much haste from St. Pe- 
 tersburg, and he was to remain until an envoy 
 was appointed. The first consul had sent to Duroc a 
 considerable sum of money, with an order for him 
 to attend the coronation of the emperor, and to 
 represent France upon the occasion with becoming 
 brilliancy. Duroc, having departed, had not re- 
 ceived the order. He had been induced to return 
 from another cause. Alexander had sent him a letter
 
 1801. 
 Nov. 
 
 Lord CornwaUis arrives at Paris. THE GENERAL PEACE. Rejoicings at Paris and London. 281 
 
 inviting him to attend at his coronation; but count 
 Panin had not transmitted the invitation. At a later 
 period an explanation upon the subject having 
 taken place, the emperor, mortified at bis orders 
 not being executed, sent count Panin to his estates, 
 and he was replaced by M. Kotschonbey, one of 
 tin- members of the occult council. Thus the young 
 eaoperor began to disembarrass himself of the men 
 who had contributed to his coming upon the throne, 
 and who sought to draw him into a system of po- 
 licy exclusively English. Every thing now pre- 
 Baged an amicable state of affairs with Russia. The 
 delicate attention and flattery of the first consul 
 could not fail to render this result more certain. 
 
 The different treaties which thus completed the 
 peace of the world, were signed nearly at the same 
 time as the preliminaries of London. The satisfac- 
 tion of the public was at its height, and it was de- 
 termined to give a grand festival to celebrate the 
 general peace. The day fixed was the 18th of Bru- 
 maire. It was not possible to choose a better day, 
 because it was to the revolution of the 18ih of 
 Brnmaire that all these glorious results were to 
 be attributed. Lord CornwaUis was invited to be 
 present He arrived in Paris on the lGth Bru- 
 maire, or 7th of November, with a great number 
 of his countrymen. Scarcely were the prelimi- 
 naries signed, when the applications for passports 
 to M. Otto became exceedingly numerous. Three 
 hundred had be_n sent over to him, but they were 
 not sufficient, and it became necessary to furnish 
 him with an unlimited number. The owners of 
 vessels intended to be sent to France for French 
 commodities and to export those of England, were 
 alike eager to obtain the same permissions. All 
 these demands were granted with perfect good 
 will, as the relations between the two countries 
 were re-established immediately, with a prompti- 
 tude and an alacrity almost incredible. By the 
 18th of Brumaire, Paris was already full of Eng- 
 lish, impatient to sec the new France, that had 
 
 become at once so brilliant; above all, to see the 
 man, who at that moment was the admiration of 
 England, as he was of the whole world. The illus- 
 trious Fox was one of the first of the English who 
 started for France. On the day of the festival that 
 was rendered so fine by the peaceful and profound 
 joy of all classes of the citizens, carriages were 
 prohibited Gram passing along the public streets. 
 No exception was made except in the case of lord 
 Cornwallis. The crowd opened respectfully before 
 the honourable representative of the English 
 armies, .who came to make peace between France 
 and his own country. He was surprised to find this 
 same France so different from the hideous picture 
 which the emigrants had painted of it in London. 
 All his countrymen partook of the same feeling, 
 and expressed themselves to the like effect with un- 
 disguised admiration. 
 
 While this entertainment was celebrated at Paris, 
 a superb banquet was given in the city of London, 
 and there, amidst the loudest acclamations, the fol- 
 lowing toasts were given : — 
 
 " The king of Great Britain." 
 
 "The psince of Wales." 
 
 " The ftberty and prosperity of the United King- 
 dom of Great Britain and Ireland." 
 
 " The first consul, Bonaparte, the liberty and 
 happiness of the French republic.'' 
 
 Loud and unanimous applause accompanied the 
 last toast. 
 
 France had thus made peace with all the na- 
 tions of the world. There was still another peace 
 to conclude, more difficult perhaps than that just 
 made, because it demanded a different order of 
 genius from that which commands in battle-fields. 
 It was also very desirable, because it would esta- 
 blish peace in the minds of men, and unanimity in 
 families. This peace was that of the republic with 
 the church. The moment is now arrived to narrate 
 the laborious negotiations with the representative 
 of the holy see which had this for their object. 

 
 282 The first consul's desire for THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, peace with the church. 
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 BOOK XII. 
 
 THE CONCORDAT. 
 
 THE CATHOLIC CJIURCH DURING THE REVOLUTION. — THE CIVIL CONSTITUTION OF THE CLERGT DECREED BY THE 
 CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY. — THIS CONSTITUTION, IN ASSIMILATING THE ADMINISTRATION OF RELIGION TO THAT 
 OF THE REALM, ESTABLISHES A DIOCESE IN EACH DEPARTMENT, DECLARES THE BISHOPS ARE TO BE ELECTED 
 BY THE FAITHFUL, AND DISPENSES CANONICAL INSTITUTIONS. — OATH OF FIDELITY TO THE CONSTITUTION 
 EXACTED OF THE CLERGY. — REFUSAL OF THE OATH, AND SCHISM. — DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PRIESTS, THEIR 
 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE. — INCONVENIENCE OF THIS STATE OF THINGS. — MEANS THAT IT FURNISHED TO 
 THE ENEMIES OF THE REVOLUTION TO TROUBLE FAMILIES AND THE STATE. — DIFFERENT SYSTEMS PROPOSED 
 AS A REMEDY' FOR THE EVIL. — THE SYSTEM OF IN ACTION.— THE SYSTEM OF A FRENCH CHURCH OF WHICH THE 
 FIRST CONSUL SHOULD BE THE HEAD. — SYSTEM OF STRONG ENCOURAGEMENT TO PROTESTANTISM. — OPINIONS OF 
 THE FIRST CONSUL ON THE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS PROPOSED. — HE FORMS A SCHEME FOR THE RE-ESTaBLISH- 
 MENT OF THE CATHOLIC RELIOION, ADAPTING ITS DISCIPLINE TO THE NEW INSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE. — HE 
 WISHES FOR THE DEPOSITION OF THE ANCIENT TITULARY BISHOPS, AND A LIMITATION COMPRISING SIXTY 
 SEES IN PLACE OF ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-EIGHT; THE CREATION OF A NEW CLERGY, COMPOSED OF 
 RESPECTABLE PRIESTS OF ALL THE PARTIES ; THE STATE TO HAVE THE REGULATION OF THE FORMS OF 
 WORSHIP. — SALARIES FOR THE PRIESTS IN PLACE OF LAND ENDOWMENTS. — SANCTION BY THE CHURCH OF THE 
 SALE OF NATIONAL PROPERTY'. — AMICABLE RELATIONS BETWEEN POPE PIUS VII. AND THE FIRST CONSUL. — 
 MONSIGNOR SPINA, CHARGED WITH THE NEGOTIATION AT PARIS, RETARDS IT THROUGH THE TEMPORAL 
 INTEREST OF THE HOLY SEE. — SECRET WISH TO RECOVER THE LEGATIONS. — MONSIGNOR SPINA FINDS THE 
 NECESSITY OF PROCEEDING MORE RAPIDLY'. — HE CONFERS WITH THE ABBE BERNIER, WHO IS CHARGED WITH 
 THE BUSINESS ON BEHALF OF FRANCE. — DIFFICULTIES OF THE PLAN PROPOSED IN SIGHT OF THE ROMAN 
 COURT. — THE FIRST CONSUL SENDS HIS PLAN TO ROME, AND REfiUESTS THE POPE TO EXPLAIN IT. — THREE 
 CARDINALS CONSULTED. — THE POPE, AFTER THIS CONSULTATION, WISHES THAT THE CATHOLIC RELIGION BE 
 DECLARED THAT OF THE STATE; THAT HE SHOULD NOT BE REQUIRED TO DEPOSE THE ANCIENT TITULAR 
 BISHOPS, NOR OTHERWISE THAN BY' HIS SILENCE SANCTION THE SALE OF THE CHURCH PROPERTY. — DEBATES 
 WITH M. DE CACAULT THE FRENCH MINISTER AT ROME. — THE FIRST CONSUL, TIRED OF THE SLUGGISHNESS OF 
 THE PROCEEDINGS, ORDERS M. DE CACAULT TO O.UIT ROME IN FIVE DAYS, IF THE CONCORDAT IS NOT 
 ADOPTED AFTER THAT DELAY. — TERROR OF THE POPE AND CARDINAL GONSALVI. — M. DE CACAULT SUGGESTS TO 
 THE PAPAL CABINET THE IDEA OF SENDING CARDINAL GONSALVI TO PARIS. — THE CARDINAL SETS OFF FOR 
 PRANCE, AND HIS APPREHENSIONS — HIS ARRIVAL IN PARIS, AND KIND RECEPTION FROM THE FIRST CONSUL. 
 — CONFERENCES WITH THE ABBE BERNIER. — UNDERSTANDING UPON THE PRINCIPLE OF A STATE RELIGION. — 
 THE CATHOLIC RELIGION DECLARED TO BE THAT OF THE MAJORITY OF FRENCHMEN. — ALL THE OTHER CON- 
 DITIONS OF THE FIRST CONSUL, RELATIVE TO THE DEPOSITION OF THE ANCIENT TITULARS, TO THE NEW 
 BOUNDARIES, TO THE SALE OF THE CHURCH PROPERTY', ARE ACCEPTED, EXCEPT SOME ALTERATION OF TERMS 
 IN THE COMPILATION. — DEFINITIVE AGREEMENT UPON ALL THESE POINTS. — EFFORTS MADE AT THE LAST 
 MOMENT, BY THE OPPONENTS OF THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF WORSHIP, TO HINDER THE FIRST CONSUL FROM 
 SIGNING THE CONCORDAT. — HE PERSISTS, AND GIVES HIS SIGNATURE JULY 15, 1801. — RETURN OF CARDINAL 
 GONSALVI TO ROME. — SATISFACTION OF THE POPE. — THE RATIFICATIONS SOLEMNIZED. — CHOICE OF CARDINAL 
 CAPRARA AS LEGATE A LATERE. — THE FIRST CONSUL WOULD HAVE WISHED TO CELEBRATE PEACE WITH THE 
 CHURCH AT THE SAME TIME AS PEACE WITH ALL THE EUROPEAN POWERS. — NECESSITY OF APPLYING TO THE 
 FORMER TO OBTAIN THEIR RESIGNATIONS, CAUSES A DELAY. — A DEMAND FOR THIS RESIGNATION ADDRESSED 
 BY THE POPE TO ALL THE OLD BISHOPS, CONSTITUTIONAL OR NOT. — WISE SUBMISSION OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL 
 BISHOPS. — NOBLE RESIGNATION OF THE MEMBERS OF THE OLD CLERGY. — ADMIRABLE ANSWERS. — THE ONLY' 
 RESISTANCE IS FROM THE EMIGRANT BISHOPS IN LONDON. — EVERY THING READY FOR THE RE-ESTABLISH- 
 MENT OF WORSHIP IN FRANCE, BUT A WARM OPPOSITION IN THE TRIBUNATE CAUSES FRESH DELAY. — NECES- 
 SITY OF OVERCOMING THIS OPPOSITION BEFORE GOING FURTHER. 
 
 The first consul would have wished that on the 
 anniversary of the lUth of Brumaire, devoted to 
 the celebration of peace between France and the 
 rest of Europe; it bad also been possible to cele- 
 brate the reconciliation of France with the church. 
 He had made great efforts in order that the nego- 
 tiations with the holy see might terminate in due 
 time for the admission of religious ceremonies, 
 amid the national rejoicings. But it is much less 
 easy to treat with the spiritual powers than with 
 the temporal, because the winning of battles is not 
 sufficient : but it is to the honour of the human 
 
 mind that force cannot overcome it, unless that 
 force be accompanied by persuasion. 
 
 It was the difficult task of joining persuasiou 
 and force that the conqueror of Marengo and 
 Rivoli had attempted in regard to the Roman 
 church, in order to reconcile it with the French 
 republic. 
 
 The revolution, as has been already several 
 times said, had in many things passed the desirable 
 limit. To make it go back in these matters with- 
 out going beyond or stopping short of the object 
 in view, was a legitimate and salutary act which
 
 1801. State of the Catholic 
 
 March. clergy during the 
 
 THE CONCORDAT. 
 
 revolution.— The "sworn" 
 cleryy. 
 
 283 
 
 the first consul had undertaken, and which he ren- 
 dered admirable by the wisdom and ability he 
 employed for the purpose he had in view. 
 
 Religion was clearly one of those things respect- 
 ing which the revolution had exceeded all limits 
 that were just and reasonable. In no case was 
 there so much reparation demanded as here. 
 
 There had existed under the old monarchy a 
 clergy of great power and influence, in possession 
 of a large part of the land. It consisted of those 
 who supported no part of the public expenditure, 
 who presented such gifts as they pleased to the 
 royal treasury ; who were a constituted political 
 body, and formed one of the three orders that in 
 the states-general expressed the national will. 
 The revolution had swept away the clergy and 
 their fortunes, influence, and privileges ; it had 
 sent with them the nobility, the parliaments, and 
 the throne itself. It was impossible for it to have 
 done otherwise. A clergy, the members of which 
 were proprietors of land, constituting a political 
 power, might have been well enough adapted to so- 
 ciety in the middle ages, and at that time have been 
 useful to civilization; but it was inadmissible in the 
 eighteenth century. The constituent assembly had 
 done well in abolishing it, and substituting in its 
 place a clergy devoted solely to the functions of 
 religious worship, a stranger to political delibera- 
 tions, and salaried in place of being landowners. 
 But it was exacting too much from the holy see, 
 to request its approbation of all these changes. If 
 it was needful to obtain this consent, it would 
 have been proper to stop there, and not to furnish 
 the papal authority with a legitimate ground for 
 saying, that religion itself was attacked in all which 
 it held sacred and immutable. The constituent 
 lily, prompted by a desire for the regularity 
 of Bystem, so natural to a reforming spirit, assimi- 
 lated the administration of the church to that of 
 tin' state without hesitation. .Some of the dioceses 
 were too large, and others too limited ; that body 
 wished that the ecclesiastical boundaries should be 
 the same as those adopted in the civil adminis- 
 tration, and tli.it dioceses should be created de- 
 partmentally. Rendering elective all the civil and 
 judicial functions, the ecclesiastical functions were 
 to be rendered elective. This arrangement 
 appeared besides to be in conformity with, and a 
 retain to tin.' times of the primitive church, when 
 tin- bishops wire- elected by the faithful. The 
 blow struck down tin.' canonical institution, 
 or, in other words, tin' confirmation of the bishops 
 by the pope; with all these dispositions there was 
 Constituted what was denominated the civil con- 
 stitution of the clergy. The individuals who thus 
 i were animated by tin: most religions inten- 
 tions; they were trui' believers, fervent Jansenists, 
 but of narrow minds, their heads heated with 
 theological disputations, ami in consequence dan- 
 gerous persons to direct human affairs. To com* 
 plete this error, tiny exacted of tin- French clergy, 
 that they should take an oath of fidelity to the civil 
 titution, a measure which could only give birth 
 
 to a scruple of con cience among the mors sincere, 
 
 and a pretext to the badly disposed priests. It 
 was, in one word, to open the door to a schism. 
 
 Rome, already aggrieved by the misfortunes of the 
 
 throne, was now irritated at the infliction upon tin- 
 altar. She interdicted the oath. .\ part of the 
 
 clergy, faithful to the holy see, refused to take the 
 oath ; another part consented, and formed under 
 the name of the "sworn clergy y or the consti- 
 tutional, that part which was acknowledged by the 
 state, and almie admitted to the exercise of their 
 sacred functions. The priests were not yet pro- 
 scribed ; they were contented to interdict them 
 from the exercise of their professional duties, and 
 to invest with them those who had taken the oath. 
 Rut the discarded priests were the men who, for the 
 most part, were preferred by those faithful to the 
 doctrines of the church. For the conscience in 
 religious persons is susceptible, quickly alarmed, 
 and, above all, distrustful of arbitrary power. Here 
 it inclined towards those ecclesiastics who passed 
 for orthodox, and who appeared to be undergoing 
 persecution. It turned away instinctively from 
 those whose orthodoxy was in doubt, and who were 
 supported by the government. There was conse- 
 quently at the same time a public and a clandestine 
 worship, the last having more followers than the 
 first. Those whose sentiments were opposed to 
 the revolution, leagued themselves with the party 
 whose religious feelings had been outraged, and 
 precipitated it into the errors of the spirit of 
 faction. This schism soon led in the contest of La 
 Vende'e to a frightful civil war. The revolutionary 
 government did not remain behind it, and from the 
 simple privation of the ecclesiastical functions, it 
 in a little time proceeded to persecute. It pro- 
 scribed and transported the clergy. Then came 
 the abolition of every form of worship, and in its 
 place the proclamation of a Supreme Being. Then 
 priests, sworn or unsworn, were one and the other 
 treated alike, and all sent to perish upon the same 
 scaffold, where royalists, constituents, Girondins, 
 constitutionalists, and Mountains, all went to their 
 death together. 
 
 Under the directory these sanguinary pro- 
 criptions ceased. A variable course was pursued, 
 now inclining to indifference, now to rigour, and 
 keeping the church still in a state of great anxiety. 
 The first consul, by his power, and the continued 
 evidence of his reparatory intentions, inspired hope 
 in the ministers of religion who had suffered, on 
 whatever side they were, and made them leave their 
 places of concealment, or return home from their 
 exile. But in thus bringing them forth to day- 
 light, he rendered the schism more sensible to 
 observation, perhaps more distasteful. To abrogate 
 the difficulty about the oath, he ceased to exact it, 
 substituting in its place a simple promise of sub- 
 mission to the laws. This promise, which could 
 not alarm the conscience of the priests, had facili- 
 tated their return to France, but in some degree 
 had added new divisions to those already in ex- 
 istence, by creating in the body of the clergy an- 
 other and an additional class. 
 
 There were thus the constitutional or "sworn" 
 priests, legally invested with the sacerdotal functions, 
 and having tin- use ol'lhe edifices devoted to religion, 
 which had been given back to them in virtue of a 
 decree of the consul*. There were the " unsworn" 
 priests, who, not having taken any oath, and after 
 
 having lived in exile ox in prison, appeared once 
 
 more in a great number during the beginning 
 
 of the consulate, but who only officiated in the 
 
 1 Cll r^e asscrnii'iitr.
 
 284 
 
 The constitutional and 
 orthodox clergy. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Disturbed state of the 
 French church. 
 
 mpi. 
 
 March. 
 
 houses of private individuals, and declared the 
 worship performed in the churches to be of no 
 effect. Finally, the "unsworn" priests were divided 
 into those who had not promised to take the oath 
 and those who had. The last were not completely 
 approved by the orthodox. Rome was addressed 
 upon this subject; but out of deference to the first 
 consul she had declined giving any explanation. 
 Cardinal Maury, who had retired into the Roman 
 states, where he became bishop of Montefiascone, 
 and the intermediate agent between the pope and 
 the royalist party, having no desire at that moment 
 to favour the submission of the priests to the new 
 government, had interpreted the silence of the 
 pope in his own manner, and sent to France on the 
 subject of " the promise," disapproving letters, 
 which caused new troubles to scrupulous con- 
 sciences. 
 
 The priests, thus divided, had, each party, its 
 own peculiar hierarchy. The constitutional priests 
 obeyed the bishops elected under the civil consti- 
 tution. Among these bishops some had died by 
 violence, some by a natural death. Those who 
 died were replaced by bishops who, not having 
 been regularly elected, in the midst of the time 
 of the proscriptions which struck alike at all forms 
 of religion, had usurped their authority, or were 
 elected by the clandestine chapters, a species of 
 religious coteries, without any moral or legal au- 
 thority. Thus the authority of the constitutional 
 bishops themselves, regarded in their relation to 
 the civil constitution, was contested among their 
 own body, and brought into disrepute. There 
 were among this body of clergy a certain number 
 of respectable individuals; but in general they had 
 lost the confidence of the faithful, because they 
 were known to be at variance with Rome, and 
 because they had lost the dignity of the priesthood 
 by mingling themselves tip in the religious and 
 political disputes of the time. Some were, in fact, 
 violent club-spouters, destitute of moral worth. 
 The good among them were sincere men, whom 
 the fury of Jansenism had driven to be schismatic. 
 
 The pretended orthodox clergy had also their 
 bishops, who exercised a less public authority, but 
 one more real, and exceedingly dangerous. The 
 " unsworn" bishops were nearly all emigrants. 
 They had gone to Italy, Spain, Germany, and, 
 above all, to England, whither they were attracted 
 by the allowances afforded them from the British 
 government. Corresponding with their dioceses, 
 by means of grand-vicars, chosen by themselves, 
 and approved by Rome, they governed their Bees 
 in distant exile, under the impulses and passions 
 to which exile naturally gives birth, and often to 
 the advantage of the enemies of Fiance. Those 
 who were dead, and of these, in the course of ten 
 years, the number was considerable, were every 
 where replaced by concealed administrators, de- 
 riving their powers from the court of Rome. The 
 mode of administering to vacant sees by the chap- 
 ters, and not by the agents of the holy see, was 
 one of the wisest precautions, as well as the more 
 ancient, of the Gallican church ; it was now com- 
 pletely abandoned. The Gallican church was thus 
 robbed of its independence; because it came to be 
 governed directly by Rome when it ceased to be 
 under the bishops who had emigrated. In a little 
 time more, the emigrant bishops being all dead, 
 
 the entire of the French church would have been 
 placed under ultramontane authority. 
 
 There are some who regard but little the moral 
 aspect of a social community torn to pieces by a 
 thousand sects, who are of opinion that the govern- 
 ment should treat them with disregard, as strangers 
 to their policy, or else respect as sacred all religious 
 differences alike. There are grounds, however, 
 which forbid the display of this arrogant indif- 
 ference, as, in case of society being deeply troubled, 
 and, more particularly, when the disturbance is 
 ever ready to change into physical disorganiza- 
 tion. 
 
 Each of these divisions of the clergy endeavoured 
 to establish its power over the consciences of the 
 orthodox in its own view. The constitutional 
 clergy had very little power ; they were merely 
 subjects of recrimination for the Jacobins, who 
 were in the habit of declaring that the revolution 
 was every where sacrificed, more especially in the 
 persons of the only priests that had supported its 
 cause. In this, however, the government could 
 evidently do nothing; because it did not belong to 
 the rulers to dispose of the faithful, in favour of 
 one part of the clergy above another. But the 
 clergy reputed to be orthodox operated upon the 
 minds of their flocks, in a sense contrary, entirely, 
 to all established order. They endeavoured to 
 estrange from the government all those, w ho, 
 wearied out by the turmoil of civil dissension, felt 
 inclined to rally around the first consul. If it had 
 been possible to awaken the bad passions that had 
 led to the civil war in La Vendee, they would have 
 done it. Through their efforts, discontent and mis- 
 trust were sown all over the country. The south, 
 in a less submissive state to the government than 
 La Vendee, was kept in continual commotion; and 
 in the mountainous districts, in the centre of 
 France, the population gathered tumultuously 
 around the orthodox priesthood. Every where 
 the clergy alarmed the consciences and disturbed 
 the peace of families, persuading those who had 
 been baptized or married by the sworn priests, 
 that they were out of the pale of the orthodox 
 communion; that if they wished to be true Chris- 
 tians, they ought to be baptized and married over 
 again, or give up the state of concubinage. In 
 this mode the state of families, not indeed in any 
 legal point of view, but in a religious sense, was 
 brought into question. There were more than 
 ten thousand married priests, who, led on by the 
 rage of the time, or through terror, had sought in 
 marriage, the one the gratification of passions they 
 could not control, the others an abjuration of 
 their vows, to escape the scaffold. They were 
 husbands, the fathers of numerous families, and 
 yet had no refuge from public contempt, as long as 
 the pardon of the church was withheld from them. 
 
 The purchasers of national property, a body of 
 men whom the government had the deepest in- 
 terest in protecting, were living in a state of anxiety 
 and oppression. They were assailed on the bed 
 of death by the most sinister suggestions, and 
 threatened with eternal damnation, if they did not 
 consent to such an arrangement of their affairs as 
 would despoil them of all their property. Con- 
 fession thus became a powerful weapon in the 
 hands of the emigrant priests, for attacking the 
 rights of property, public credit, and, in a word,
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 Necessity of a national religious 
 belief. 
 
 THE CONCORDAT. 
 
 Enduring character of the Christian 
 religion. 
 
 285 
 
 one of the most essential principles of the revolu- 
 tion, the inviolability of the sale of the national 
 rty. The policy of the state and the power 
 
 of the law were alike inert against evils of this 
 eharaeter. 
 
 Such disorders as these it was impossible for 
 any government to regard with indifference. When 
 religi - produce no other effect than to mul- 
 
 tiply over a vast territory, like that of America, in 
 an endless succession, not leaving behind them 
 more than the passing remembrance of ridiculous 
 inventions or indecent practices, it maybe imagined, 
 that, to a certain extent, the state may continue 
 inactive and indifferent. Society presents a de- 
 plorable moral aspect, but public order is not 
 seriously affected. It was not thus in the midst 
 of the old French society of 1801. It was not 
 possible, without very great danger, to deliver 
 over the care of souls to factions that were inimical 
 to the state. It was not possible to abandon to 
 their hands the torch of civil war, with the liberty 
 of applying it, whenever they saw fit, in I. a Vendee, 
 Britany, or the Cevennes. It was not to be per- 
 mitted, that the repose of families should be 
 troubled, the bids of the dying be besieged, to 
 extort iniquitous conditions, to place in jeopardy 
 the credit of the government, and, finally, to shake 
 one class of property, which the revolution had 
 stamped with perpetual inviolability. 
 
 The first consul's mode of thinking, in regard to 
 the constitution of society, had too much depth as 
 well as justice, to permit his observation of the 
 religious disorders of France at this moment with 
 an indifferent eye. He had, besides, other reasons 
 of a more elevated nature than those already 
 mentioned, for his interference in the present cir- 
 cumstances, if indeed there can be more elevated 
 ns than public order and the tranquillity of 
 families. 
 
 'I here must be a religious belief ; and some kind 
 of worship must be extant in every state of human 
 society. Man, cast into the midst of the universe, 
 without a knowledge whence he comes or whither 
 he will go, why he suffers or wherefore he exists; 
 unknowing what rewards or what punishments 
 may await the long struggles of life; besieged by 
 tie- contradictions of his fellow-beings, some of 
 whom tell him that there is a God, the profound 
 anil wise author of all things, and some that there 
 is no God at all; one maintaining that there is a 
 law of right and wrong, by which his conduct is to 
 be regulated; another that there is neither good 
 nor evil, but that these are inventions of the great 
 and powerful and Selfish of the earth — man, in the' 
 midst of these Contradictions, finds the imperious 
 - it v of having home fixed standard of belief. 
 
 Whether true or false, sublime or ridiculous, be 
 must have a religion. Everywhere, in all times 
 
 and countries, in the days of antiquity as in those 
 
 more modern, in ciylized as in barbarous nations, 
 
 found a worshipper at some altar, either 
 
 venerable, ignoble, or sanguinary. Wherever 
 
 there is no dominant form of belief, a thousand 
 - I t ... given to obstinate disputations, as in America, 
 or a thousand shameful Superstitions, as in China, 
 agitate and degrade the human mind ; or thus, 
 as in France, in 17011, wlim a passing commotion 
 ■wept away the ancient religion of the country, 
 at the very moment that he vowed his belief 
 
 in nothing, man forswore himself directly after- 
 wards, by the insensate worship of the goddess of 
 on, inaugurated at the side of the scaffold, as 
 if to prove that his vow was as vain as it was im- 
 1 ions. 
 
 To judge man. therefore, by his constant and 
 ordinary conduct, he has need of a religious be- 
 lief ; and such being the fact, nothing can be more 
 desirable for a civilized society than a national 
 faith, founded on the real feelings of the human 
 heart, conformable to the regulation of a pure 
 morality, hallowed by time, and which, without 
 persecution or intolerance, can unite, at the foot 
 of a venerable and respected altar, if not the uni- 
 versality, at least the large majority of the 
 citizens. 
 
 A creed of this nature cannot he invented for 
 the purpose, it must be the growth of ages. Phi- 
 ihers, even the most sublime, may In- able to 
 create a new system, and may act, through science, 
 upon the age which they honour; but they can only 
 make men think, not believe. Warriors, covered 
 with glory, may be able to lay the foundations of 
 an empire, but they cannot found a religion. In 
 past times, sages and heroes, there is no doubt, 
 attributing to themselves celestial communications, 
 have enslaved the popular mind with systems of 
 belief. In modern days, the founder of a new re- 
 ligion would be regarded as an impostor; whether 
 surrounded by the terrors of Robespierre, or the 
 glory that encircled young Bonaparte, the attempt 
 would equally terminate in ridicule. 
 
 There was nothing to be invented in 1800. The 
 pure, moral, ancient faith existed; the old religion 
 of Christ — the work of God according to some, of 
 man according to others; but under all views, the 
 profound work of a sublime reformer, a reformer 
 commented upon for eighteen centuries, by coun- 
 cils, consisting of assemblies of eminent men of 
 every age, occupied in discussing, under the title 
 of heresies, every system of philosophy, adopting, 
 successively, on each of the great problems upon 
 the destiny of man, the most plausible opinions, 
 and those most suited to society, and adopting such 
 opinions by what might be called a majority of the 
 human race. Thus, at last, they arrived at the pro- 
 duction of that unvarying doctrine, often attacked, 
 and ever triumphant, the CatJwlio Unity, at the 
 foot of which the first men of genius prostrated 
 themselves. That religion still existed; it was the 
 
 same that had extended itself over every civilized 
 I pie, formed then manners, inspired their songs, 
 
 furnished the subjects of their poesy, their pictures, 
 
 and statues; whose traces were stamped upon all 
 
 national recollections, whose sign was emblazoned 
 
 upon their colours, alternately vanquished and vic- 
 torious. It bad for a moment disappeared, during 
 a raging tempest of the human mind ; but that 
 
 tempest blown over, the necessity of a religion 
 returned, and it was found deeply Beated in the 
 bottom of the soul, the natural and indispensable 
 faith of France and of Europe. 
 
 What more was indicated as necessary in 1800, 
 
 than to raise up again tin- altar of St, Louis, of 
 Charlemagne, and of Clovis, which had been for a 
 moment overturned 1 Bonaparte would have ren- 
 dered himself ridiculous if In- had set himself up 
 
 lor a prophet or a dealer in revelation ; he was in 
 the true sphere assigned him by Providence, for 

 
 op _ Bonaparte's opinions upon 
 -' " religion. — Heproposesto 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 re-establish the Catholic 
 religion. — Opposition to 
 his plan. 
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 elevating again their venerable altar with his own 
 victorious hands, and bringing back to the faith, by 
 his own example, the population that for a time 
 had wandered from its way. His glory alone was 
 equal to such a task. Men of the greatest genius, 
 not only among philosophers, but kings, Voltaire 
 and Frederic of Prussia, had thrown contempt on the 
 Catholic weligion, and by their example gave origin 
 to the railleries cast upon it for fifty years. General 
 Bonaparte, who had as much mind as Voltaire, 
 while he excelled Frederic in glory, was able of 
 himself, by his example and aspect, to put to 
 silence the jeers of the last century. 
 
 Upon this subject, he had in his mind not the 
 smallest doubt. The double motive of re-establish- 
 ing order in the state and in private families, of 
 satisfying the mere want of souls, inspired him 
 with the firm resolution to restore the Catholic 
 religion to its former footing, deprived, indeed, of 
 its political attributes, for he regarded these as 
 altogether incompatible with the existing state of 
 French society. 
 
 Is there then any necessity, with such motives 
 for his guide, to inquire whether he acted through 
 the inspiration of a religious faith, through 
 policy or ambition \ He acted under the influence 
 of wisdom, in fact, through a profound knowledge 
 of the human heart; that may suffice: the rest 
 remains a mystery, that curiosity, always natural in 
 observing the conduct of a great genius, may endea- 
 vour to penetrate, but which in reality imports 
 little. It must still be observed thus far, that the 
 moral constitution of Bonaparte inclined him to 
 religious ideas '. An intelligence of a superior cast 
 is always, in proportion to its innate superiority, 
 struck by the beauties of creation. It is intellect 
 which discovers and penetrates into the intellect of 
 the universe ; a great mind is more capable than 
 an inferior one, of seeing the Supreme Being 
 through his works. Bonaparte willingly entered 
 upon controversial discussions upon questions of 
 religion or philosophy with Monge, Lagrange, and 
 Laplace, men of learning whom he greatly honoured 
 and esteemed ; and he often embarrassed them in 
 
 1 Bonaparte, upon his own authority, was much touched 
 by early associations, as all men of genius are. This, if any 
 thing besides but the sound policy that directed his conduct, 
 will fully account both for the restoration of the Catholic 
 church — very different in constitution from that the Revolu- 
 tion destroyed, it must be admitted — without attributing to 
 him any participation in its peculiar doctrines. He was a 
 believer in a Supreme Cause, but not in the doctrines of a 
 Christian church, a8 the sense of our author would seem 
 distinctly to leave to be inferred. Bonaparte said at St. 
 Helena: "Every thing proclaims the existence of a God, 
 that cannot be questioned ; but all our religions are evidently 
 the work of men. Why are they so many ? Why has ours 
 not always existed ? Why does it consider itself exclusively 
 the right one? What becomes, in that case, of all the vir- 
 tuous men that have gone before us? Why do these religions 
 revile, oppose, exterminate one another? Why has this 
 been the case ever and every where? Because men are 
 ever men; because priests have ever and every where intro- 
 duced fraud and falsehood. However, as soon as 1 had the 
 power, 1 immediately re-established religion. I made it the 
 groundwork and foundation upon which I built," &c. 
 Again: "I am assuredly very far from being an atheist; 
 but I cannot believe all I am taught, in spite of my reason, 
 without being false and an hypocrite." Las Cases' St. 
 Helena. — Translator. 
 
 their incredulity by the clearness, originality, and 
 strength of his arguments. To this it must be added, 
 that he was brought up in an uncultivated and 
 religious country, under the eyes of a pious mother; 
 and the sight of an old catholic altar awakened in him 
 the recollections of his infancy, always so powerful 
 in a sensitive and lofty imagination. In respect to 
 ambition, to which certain detractors have ascribed 
 his conduct in this circumstance, he had no other 
 at the time than to act as was best for his object in 
 every thing; and without doubt if he saw that any 
 augmentation of power would accrue in the way of 
 recompense, for a work so well accomplished, he 
 may be well excused for indulging the feeling. 
 It is the noblest, most legitimate, ambition, which 
 seeks to ground its power in satisfying the real 
 necessities of a nation. 
 
 The task which he proposed to perform, though 
 apparently very easy, because it was directed to the 
 satisfaction of a public want, was a very hard one. 
 Those who surrounded him were, nearly all without 
 exception, very little inclined to the re-establish- 
 ment of the old system of worship. They were men 
 who, whether magistrates, soldiers, men of litera- 
 ture or science, had been among the founders of 
 the French revolution, the true and staunch de- 
 fenders of the revolution now decried, and they 
 were those with whom it was required to carry it 
 out to completion, by the reparation of its errors 
 and the definitive hallowing of its rational and legi- 
 timate results. The first consul was thus compelled 
 to act opposite to his colleagues, supporters, and 
 friends. These individuals, belonging to the ranks 
 of the moderate revolutionists, had never, with 
 Robespierre and St. Just, spilled human blood. 
 There was no difficulty in their disavowal of the 
 frantic excesses of the revolution; but they had 
 become involved in the errors of the constituent 
 assembly, and were accustomed to repeat, laugh- 
 ingly, the pleasantries of Voltaire. It was not easy 
 for them to be made to acknowledge that they had 
 mistaken, for so lung a time, the stronger truths of 
 social order. Men of learning, like Laplace, La- 
 grange, and above all, Monge, said to the first con- 
 sul, that he was going to lay at the feet of Rome all 
 the dignity of his government and of his age. 
 Rcederer, the most furious monarchist of the day, 
 who would have royalty restored in its most perfect 
 form as quickly as possible, saw with trouble the 
 project for the restoration of the old forms of wor- 
 ship. Talleyrand himself, the industrious promoter 
 of every thing that might make the present ap- 
 proximate to the past, and France to the other 
 Btates of Europe; Talleyrand, the second labourer 
 in, and a useful and zealous labourer too, at the work 
 of the general peace, even he regarded with great 
 coolness what was usually denominated the religious 
 peace. He was opposed to any further persecution 
 of the priests, but he felt chagrined at certain per- 
 sonal recollections, and was not at all desirous of 
 the re-establishment of the old Catholic church, 
 with its discipline and regulations. The comrades 
 in anus of the first consul, the generals who had 
 fought under him, destitute, as most of them were, 
 of the first rudiments of education, brought up 
 amidst the vulgar railleries of camps, some of them 
 dcclainiers in clubs, were repugnant to the restora- 
 tion of worship. Although covered with glory, 
 they appeared to apprehend the ridicule that would
 
 ISO ] . His arguments against his 
 
 March. opponents. 
 
 THE CONCORDAT. 
 
 Inaction in religious affairs 
 repudiated. 
 
 287 
 
 fall upon them at the foot of the altar. Lastly, the 
 brothers of the first consul, who associated a great 
 deal with literary men, and were yet more imbued 
 with the spirit of the writings of the preceding cen- 
 tury, were apprehensive on account of their brot Iter's 
 power, fearing every thing that bore the aspect of 
 offering a serious resistance, and not discovering 
 that beyond the interested or ignorant resistance ut' 
 those who were in opposition to the government, 
 there was a real want, already felt by the popular 
 masses — they endeavoured to dissuade their bro- 
 ther from what they deemed an imprudeut and 
 premature reaction. 
 
 The first consul was besieged with every kind of 
 advice. Some wished to dissuade him from touch- 
 ing upon religious matters at all, to limit him- 
 self to putting a stop to the persecution of the 
 priests, and leave the sworn and unsworn clergy to 
 arrange their own differences. Others, who were 
 aware of the danger of inaction and indifference, 
 urged him to seize the occasion, and by making 
 himself immediately the head of the French church, 
 prevent the immense influence of religion bi ing 
 used in France by a foreign authority. Many 
 proposed to him to urge on France to protestant- 
 ism, saying, that if he would set the example of 
 becoming a protesfant, France would quickly fol- 
 low bis example. 
 
 The first consul resisted, with the utmost efforts 
 of his reasoning and eloquence, these vulgar coun- 
 sels. He had formed, for his own use, a small 
 library of religious books, exceedingly well selected, 
 the greater part relating to the history of the church, 
 and above all to the relations of the church with 
 rate. He had the Latin works of Bossuet 
 upon this subject translated. He read all these 
 with great earnestness in the short intervals which 
 his public duties allowed him, and supplying with 
 his genius that of which he was ignorant, as he did 
 when he drew up the civil code, he astonish d 
 every body by the justice, variety, and extent of 
 his knowledge upon the different forms of worship. 
 According to his usual custom, when a thought 
 occupied his mind, he entered upon its discussion, 
 day after day, with his colleagues, the ministers, or 
 the legislative body, in fact with all and every one 
 with whom he believed it useful to regulate and 
 correct an opinion, lie successively refuted the 
 erroneous systems proposed to him, and he did so 
 with lucid, fair, and decisive arguments. 
 
 To the sytftem, which - in not meddline 
 
 with religions affairs, he answered that the indiffer- 
 ence so preached up by certain disdainful persous, 
 w:us of small account with a people whom they had 
 
 very recently seen, for example, lake possession of 
 a church by force, and threaten to pillage it be- 
 
 cans.- the rites of sepulture had been denied to an 
 
 actress, who had been a public favourite. How was 
 it possible to n main indifferent in a country where- 
 with the pretension of indifference to religion there 
 was sr> little indifference in reality ; The first eon- 
 mi asked besides, bow it was possible to avoid in- 
 terfering, when the priests, "•sworn - ' and "un- 
 sworn,'' were continually disputing with each 
 other for the religious edifices, and calling in 
 santly upon the government for its intervention to 
 eject these in p m, and put their opponents 
 
 in their places. He demanded what be was to do 
 
 when the constitutional clergy, akready little at- 
 
 > tended by the religious pari of the communitv, 
 should be entirely abandoned, and the party who 
 had refused to take the oath, should alone be lis- 
 tened to and followed, and should be exclusively in 
 possession of the privilege of performing duty, as 
 had happened already, and efiperforming it too in 
 the midst of clandestine congregations. Would it 
 not be an imperious duty to restore the temporal 
 part of the worship to those who could alone exer- 
 cise the spiritual '. Would not that be an interfer- 
 ence ? And then the priests, whose provisions in 
 land had been seized during the revolution, must 
 have the means of living, be placed on the list of 
 state pensioners in the budget, or be permitted to 
 organise, under the name of voluntary contribu- 
 tions, a vast system of taxation, the produce of 
 which would be ;{(>,000\000 f. or 40,000,000 f., the 
 entire distribution of which would remain in their 
 own hands, perhaps in the hands of foreigners, and 
 go some day, without the knowledge of the govern- 
 ment, to the support of the old soldiers of the civil 
 war in La Vendee. However, it might be consi- 
 dered, the government would be soon forced, 
 despite its inaction, to take some part either for 
 the support of good order or for the disposal of the 
 edifices of worship, for paying the priests itself, or 
 watching the mode in which they exacted their 
 remuneration. Thus, there would be incurred the 
 charge of governing without the advantages, with- 
 out being able, which it would he prudent to do, 
 by an arrangement with the holy see, to secure 
 to itself the religious administration, to bring back 
 the clergy to the government, associate them in 
 the work of reparation, re-establish the quiet of 
 families, tranquillize the minds of the dying, the 
 possessors of national property, the married priests 
 and others: indeed all who had been committed by 
 the part they had acted in the revolution. 
 
 Inaction, then, was a complete dream, according 
 to the first consul, and it was, besides, no more 
 than an excuse, devised by those who had no prac- 
 tical notion of the art of governing. 
 
 As to the plan of creating a French church free 
 of all foreign supremacy, like that of England, hav- 
 ing, in place of a spiritual head abroad, a temporal 
 head at home, which could be no other than the 
 government itself, or, in other words, the first con- 
 sul, that was equally vain and contemptible. What 
 he, a soldier wearing a sword and spurs, giving 
 battles — he the head of a church, a species of pope 
 regulating discipline and dogma ! They would not 
 Burely attempt to make him as odious as Itobes- 
 pierre, tin' inventor of the worship of the Supreme 
 Being, or as ridiculous as Lareveillere Lepeaux, 
 the inventor of the then-philanthropy ! Who, in 
 such a case was he to have for his disciples '. 
 Who would compose his flock of the faithful! 
 They would not, m08l assuredly, he orthodox Chris- 
 tians, to whom the majority of ( 'at Ik dies belonged, 
 
 but who had an aversion to following excellent 
 priests, wlio had no other fault than that of taking 
 
 the oath prescribed by the law. The only follow- 
 ers for whom he Could hope, WOUld be a few bad 
 priests, a few runaway monks out of the convent--, 
 
 habituated to clubs, that, having led bail lives. 
 
 wishing to continue in the same course, awaited 
 
 the head of the lew ohurofa to obtain for the 
 
 tB permission to marry I He could not, for bis 
 
 part) hope to number among his Bock the abbe
 
 288 
 
 Bonaparte rejects 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 protestantism. 
 
 1801. 
 March.. 
 
 Gre'goire, who, in demanding in all things a return 
 to the primitive church, still clung to continuing 
 in communion with the successor of St. Peter ! 
 He could not have Lare'veillere Lepeaux, who 
 wanted to confine republican worship to some reli- 
 gious staves, and a few flowers strewed upon an 
 altar ! Was such the church of which they desired 
 to make him the chief or head ! Was that the cha- 
 racter to which they were desirous he should be 
 reduced, the victor at Rivuli and Marengo, the re- 
 storer of social order \ Yet, was this scheme pro- 
 posed to him by friends jealous of liberty ! But in 
 supposing that such a scheme might succeed, which 
 was besides impossible to be the case, suppose it to 
 succeed, and that to his temporal power, already 
 so great, they should unite the spiritual, the first 
 consul would become the most formidable of 
 tyrants; he would be master of body and soul, not 
 less than the sultan at Constantinople, who is at 
 once the head of the state, of the army, and of the 
 faith ! Again the hypothesis was vain ; he could 
 only be a ridiculous tyrant, because he could only 
 he successful by producing the most foolish schism 
 of all. He who wished to be the pacificator of 
 France and of the world, to terminate all the reli- 
 gious and political divisions, was he to become the 
 founder of a new schism, only a little more absurd, 
 and not less dangerous, than those that had pre- 
 ceded it ? " Yes, without doubt," said the first 
 consul,'" a pope will be necessary for me; but a 
 pope who will reconcile in place of dividing men's 
 minds; who will reunite them, and gain them to 
 the government sprung from the revolution, as the 
 price for the protection which they will obtain. For 
 this purpose the real pope, catholic, apostolic, and 
 Roman, he, whose seat is in the Vatican, will suit 
 me. With the French armies and due considera- 
 tion, I shall always be sufficiently his master. 
 When I shall again raise up the altars, protect the 
 priests, feed them, and treat them as ministers of 
 religion deserve to be treated in every country, 
 he will do all I require of him for the interest of 
 the general tranquillity. He will calm men's minds, 
 reunite them under his own hand, and place them 
 under mine. Less than this is only a continuance 
 and an aggravation of the desolating schism which 
 is eating us up, and towards me points a great 
 ineffaceable ridicule." 
 
 The idea of urging protestantism upon France, 
 .appeared to the first consul beyond being ridiculous; 
 it was odious. First, he thought he should succeed 
 no better with it ; according to him, people were 
 wrong who fancied that in France it was possible 
 for him to do what he wished. It was an error by 
 no means honourable for those who fell into it, for 
 it implied that France was destitute of opinion and 
 conscience. He did what he wished, some said: — 
 " Yes," he would reply, " but only in the sense of 
 her real and sensible wants." France had been 
 in deep troubles, and he had conducted her to per- 
 fect peace ; he had found her the prey of anar- 
 chists, who even began to forget how to defend her 
 against foreigners, and he had dispersed those 
 anarchists, re-established order, sent at a distance 
 from the frontiers the Austrians and Russians ; 
 given the peace for which she was so earnest ; had 
 put a stop, in a word, to the scandals of a feeble 
 and dissolute government; was it at all astonishing 
 that France had permitted him to do these things ? 
 
 Again, recently the opposition in the tribunate had 
 desired to refuse him the means of clearing the high 
 roads of the robbers which infested them. Yet after 
 that there were some persons who pretended that 
 he could do what he pleased. It was a mistake. 
 He was able to do that which the necessities and 
 opinions predominant in France gave him power 
 to do, and no more. He could act better, more 
 powerfully than another, but he could do nothing 
 against the actual movement of opinion. That 
 movement pointed towards the re-establishment of 
 all things essential to society; and religion was the 
 foremost. " I am very powerful at present," cried 
 the first consul ; " very well — were I to wish to 
 change the old religion of France, she would array 
 herself against me and conquer me. Do you know 
 when the country was hostile to the catholic reli- 
 gion ? It was when the government, in conjunction 
 with it, burned books, and sent to the wheel Calas 
 and Labarre; but you may be sure, that were I to 
 become an enemy to religion, the entire country 
 would join her. I should change those who were 
 indifferent into staunch catholics. I should be a 
 little less jested upon, perhaps, for desiring to push 
 on protestantism, than if I set myself up for the 
 patriarch of the Gallican church; but I should soon 
 be an object of public hatred. Is protestantism the 
 old religion of Fiance ? Is that the faith which 
 after long civil wars, after a thousand contests, was 
 definitively fixed as the faith most in conformity to 
 the manners and genius of our nation ? Is it not 
 easy to be seen, that it is doing violence to desire 
 to force one's opinion upon a people, to create for 
 them usages, tastes, and recollections which they 
 cannot feel ? A principal charm of religion is in 
 the recollections it recalls." " For my part," said 
 the first consul one day in conversation, " when I 
 am at Malrnaison, I never hear the sound of the 
 bell from the neighbouring village without emotion; 
 who in France would be thus moved in those 
 chapels were no one had ever gone in his infancy, 
 and of which the cold and severe aspect accords so 
 ill with the manners and feelings of our country." 
 It may be thought advantageous, perhaps, not to be 
 dependent upon a foreign head of the church. It 
 is an error. Every where, and for all, there must 
 be a head. There is no more admirable institution 
 than that which maintains a unity of faith, and 
 prevents, as much as possible, religious disputes. 
 There is nothing more offensive than a crowd of 
 sects disputing together, dealing out invectives, 
 combating with arms in their hands, if in their 
 first excess of passion; or if they have acquired the 
 habit of living side by side, regarding eacli other 
 with a jealous eye, forming coteries in the state 
 which sustain each other, urging on their own par- 
 tizans, keeping rival sects at a distance, and giving 
 the government numerous embarrassments. The 
 quarrels of religious sects are insupportable. Dis- 
 putation is the province of science ; it animates, 
 sustains, and conducts it to discoveries. To what 
 do religious disputes lead, if not to the uncertainty 
 and ruin of all belief? Besides, when the spirit is 
 directed to theological controversy, the controversy 
 is so absorbing, that the mind of man is turned 
 away from all useful research. Rarely do we en- 
 counter theological controversy combined with any 
 great mental operation. Religious quarrels are 
 cruel and sanguinary, or dry, bitter, and unfruitful
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 Bonaparte's opinions 
 
 THE CONCORDAT. 
 
 concerning religious systems. 
 
 28a 
 
 — none are more odious. Inquiry in matters of 
 science; faith in matters of religion. Such is the 
 truly useful course. The institution which sup- 
 ports a unity of faith, that is to say the pope, as 
 the guardian of catholic unity, is an admirable 
 institution. This head of the church is reproached 
 for being a foreign sovereign. He is so, and it is 
 right to thank Heaven for it. What— can there be 
 imagined in any country a parallel authority by the 
 side of the temporal government of the state \ 
 Thus united, such an authority would be the sultan's 
 despotism ; separate, hostile perhaps, to the poli- 
 tical government, it must generate a fearful and 
 intolerable rivalry. The pope is out of Pari-: so 
 far it is well. He is neither in Madrid, nor in 
 Vienna; and it is on that account we support his 
 spiritual authority. At Vienna and Madrid they 
 congratulate themselves for the same reason. Do 
 you think that if he were in Paris, the Viennese, 
 the Spaniards, would pay attention to his decisions I 
 It is fortunate that he does not reside among us, 
 and that in residing away from us, he does not 
 dwell among our rivals ; that he inhabits the 
 ancient Rome, afar from the hands of the empe- 
 rors of Germany, afar from the kings of France or 
 Spain, holding the balance between the catholic 
 sovereigns, inclining a little always to the strongest, 
 but soon recovering from that position if the strong- 
 est becomes an oppressor. Centuries have brought 
 this about at last, and have done it well. For the 
 government of souls it is the best, the most benefi- 
 cent institution that one can imagine. 
 
 " I do not maintain these opinions," said the first 
 consul, " with the warmth of a devotee, but by the 
 rule of reason." " Listen," one day he said to 
 ge, whom he most highly esteemed of all the 
 learned of that day, and whom he had constantly 
 with him, "my religion, and such as mine, is very 
 simple. I look at this universe so great, so com- 
 plicated, so magnificent; and I say to myself, This 
 could not have been produced by chance, but is the 
 work, fur whatever i ml intended, of an all-power- 
 ful, unknown Being, as superior himself to man, as 
 tile universe is superior to man's noblest machines. 
 Search, Monge ; get the assistance of your friends, 
 the mathematicians and philosophers, you will not 
 find one more powerful or more decisive argument 
 than this ; and whatever you may do to combat it, 
 you cannot weaken its force. Yet this truth is 
 too succinct for man. He wishes to know all 
 about himself, about the future, and a whole crowd 
 of secrets which the universe does not disclose. 
 Allow religion, tie n, to inform him of all of which 
 lie feels the want of knowledge, and respect that 
 which she will disclose. It is true, that what one 
 
 en ed advan as infallibly correct, is contradicted 
 by anotln r. As for me, i come to a different con- 
 clusion from M. Volney. Inasmuch as there are 
 different creeds, which naturally draw conclusions 
 
 against each other, be concludes that all are bad. 
 I should rather find them all good, because all al 
 bottom Say tin- same thing. They are wrong only 
 
 when they wish to proscribe one another : that, 
 must be prevented by good laws. Tin- catholic 
 
 religion i- that of our country, that in which 
 we were born; it has a government wisely con- 
 ceived, which binders dispute s as much as it is 
 possible to do so under tie- disputing temper of 
 
 men ; this government is out of Pari--, that We 
 
 must applaud ; it is not at Vienna, it is not at 
 Madrid, it is at Rome ; therefore it is accept- 
 able. If, since the institution of the papacy, there 
 be any thing equally perfect, it is the relation of 
 the Galliean church with the holy see, submissive 
 and independent at the same time : submissive 
 in matters of faith, independent in the policy of 
 worship. The catholic unity and the articles of 
 Bossuet show the true form of religious govern- 
 ment. It is that we must re-establish. As to 
 protestantism, it has a right to the strongest pro- 
 tection of the government ; those who profess it 
 have an absolute right to an equal participation in 
 social advantages; but it is not the religion of 
 France: this centuries past have decided. In pro- 
 posing to make it the prevalent system, you propose 
 an act of violence, and an impossibility. Besides, 
 what is more frightful than a schism! What 
 is more enfeebling to a nation ? Of all civil wars, 
 that which enters most deeply into the heart, which 
 troubles families most painfully, is a religious war. 
 We must finish all chance of this. Peace with 
 Europe is concluded : let us maintain it as long as 
 we are able to do so ; but religious peace is the most 
 pressing of all. That once concluded we have no 
 cause for fearing any thing. It is doubtful if 
 Europe will leave us long at peace ; that she will 
 be satisfied to see us always as powerful as we 
 are now. But when France, as one man, shall 
 be united ; when the Vende'ans and the Bretons 
 shall march in our armies with the Burgundians, 
 the Lorrainese, and the Franc-Comptois, we shall 
 have no more to fear from Europe, though it be all 
 in union against us." 
 
 Such were the kind of conversations continually 
 held by the first consul with his more intimate 
 counsellors, Cambace'res and Lebrun, who were of 
 his opinion, and with Talleyrand, Fouche, and 
 Roederer, who were opposed to him on this ques- 
 tion, al-o with a number of the members of the 
 council of state, and of the legislative body, whose 
 ideas generally differed from his. He spoke, in these 
 discussions, with a warmth and perseverance of 
 purpose quite unexampled. He saw nothing that 
 appeared so useful, so urgent, as the putting an 
 end to those religious differences and divisions, and 
 he applied himself to the business with all the 
 ardour with which he was accustomed to regard 
 what was of pre-eminent importance. 
 
 He had decided upon his plan, which was simple, 
 and wisely conceived. It lias been successful in 
 terminating all the religious divisions of France. 
 The unfortunate disputes, which the first consul, 
 when he became emperor, had, at a later period, 
 with the court of Rome, occurred between him, 
 tie' pope, ami the bishops, and did not affect the 
 religions peace established among the population 
 of Fiance. There was never seen to arise, in 
 France, even when the pope was a prisoner at 
 I'ontainebleau, two different forms of worship, two 
 orders of the clergy, and two classes of the faithful. 
 
 The first consul devised a .scheme to reconcile 
 the French republic and tin- Koinan church, by 
 treating with the holy see, on the basis of the same 
 principles ;is were laid down by the revolution. 
 The clergy were no longer to constitute a poli- 
 tical power; there was to be ii- longer a clergy 
 endowed with landed property ; this, in 1800, lad 
 become an impossible thing. The plan of the fust 
 
 U
 
 290 Bonaparte's scheme to THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 re-establish the ca- 
 tholic church. 
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 consul consisted in a clergy devoted solely to their 
 professional duties, receiving their incomes from 
 the state— named by the state, but confirmed or 
 ratified by the pope ; a new boundary or circum- 
 scription of dioceses, which should consist of sixty 
 in place of a hundred and fifty-eight, existing for- 
 merly on the territory of old and new France ; the 
 regulations of the places of worship transferred to 
 the civil power, the jurisdiction over the clergy to 
 the council of state in place of the parliaments, no 
 longer in existence. This was the civil constitution 
 of 1/90, but modified so as to render it in some 
 degree more acceptable to Rome. In other words, 
 with the bishops nominated by the government and 
 instituted by the pope, in place of being elected 
 by their flocks. There was to be a general pro- 
 mise of submission to the laws in place of the oath 
 exacted from the different religious communities, 
 which served as a pretext to ill-disposed or timid 
 priests to raise up conscientious scruples. In fact, 
 it was the true reform in public worship, to which 
 the revolution should have confined its changes, in 
 order that they might have been rendered agree- 
 able to the pope, a thing not to be lost sight of, 
 because without the consent of Rome any effective 
 religious establishment would be impossible. 
 
 It has been asserted l that a point of great import- 
 ance was omitted; this was that the bishops nomi- 
 nated by the civil power should be accepted by the 
 pope, whether he were inclined to accept them or 
 not. In such a case the spiritual government of 
 Rome would have been seriously enfeebled, which 
 was a matter by no means desirable. The civil 
 power, in nominating a bishop, indicates a subject 
 in whom, with the good moral character of a mi- 
 nister of religion, it recognizes the political cha- 
 racter of a good citizen, who respects, and will 
 cause to be respected, the laws of his country. It 
 is for the pope to say, that in such a subject he 
 recognizes the orthodox priest, who will teach the 
 real doctrine of the catholic church. To desire to 
 fix a delay of some months, after which the insti- 
 tution of the pope should be considered as validly 
 accorded, would have been to force the institution 
 itself, to take from the pope his spiritual authority, 
 and to renew no less an evil than the memorable 
 and terrible quarrel of investitures. There are two 
 authorities in matters of religion ; the civil autho- 
 rity of the country in which the worship is per- 
 formed, charged to watch and maintain the laws 
 and established authority, and the spiritual autho- 
 rity of the pope charged to watch over and support 
 unity of faith. It is necessary that both should 
 concur in the choice of the clergy. The religious 
 authority of the holy see, sometimes, it is true, re- 
 fuses institution to the bishops selected by the 
 state; it was thus made to violate the civil power : 
 such cases have been seen to occur, but they are 
 no more than a floating inevitable abuse. The 
 civil authority may also, in its own turn, hang 
 back, and such cases have been seen to happen 
 under Napoleon himself, the most enlightened and 
 courageous restorer of the catholic church. 
 
 The plan of the first consul left nothing more to 
 be desired for the definitive establishment of pub- 
 lic worship ; but still it was necessary that he 
 should attend to the transition or the passage from 
 
 ' L'Abbe de Pradt, in " The Four Concordats." 
 
 the present state of things to that which he was 
 about to create. What was he to do in respect to 
 the existing sees ? How come to an understanding 
 with the ecclesiastics of every grade, bishops or 
 simple priests, the one sworn and attached to the 
 revolution, publicly performing worship in the 
 churches ; the others unsworn, emigrants, or newly- 
 returned ministers, clandestinely exercising their 
 functions, and most of them in hostility to the 
 government ? Bonaparte devised a system, the 
 adoption of which was a very great difficulty at 
 Rome; since, for eighteen centuries, during which 
 it had existed, the church had never done that 
 which was about to be proposed for her sanction. 
 This was a system which included the abolition of 
 all the existing dioceses. To effect this, the former 
 bishops, who were yet living, were to be applied to, 
 and their resignation demanded by the pope. If 
 they refused, he pronounced their deposition ; and 
 when a tabula rasa was thus effected, there were 
 to be traced upon the map of France sixty new 
 dioceses, of which forty-five were to be bishoprics, 
 and fifteen archbishoprics, in order to fill them, 
 the first consul nominated sixty prelates, taken in- 
 discriminately from the sworn and unsworn clergy, 
 but principally from the last class, which was the 
 most numerous, the most respected, and the most 
 highly esteemed among the faithful. He was to 
 choose both the one and the other from among the 
 ecclesiastics most worthy of the confidence of the 
 government, purest in morals, and well reconciled 
 to the changes brought about by the revolution. 
 These prelates, nominated by the first consul, 
 were to be instituted by the pope, and immediately 
 enter upon their functions, under the superinten- 
 dence of the civil authority and of the council of 
 state. 
 
 Salaries, in proportion to their wants, were to be 
 allotted them from the budget of the state. In 
 return, the pope was to acknowledge as valid the 
 alienation of the property of the church, inter- 
 dicting the suggestions which the priests were in 
 the habit of making at the beds of the dying, re- 
 conciling the married clergy to the church, assist- 
 ing the government, and, in a word, putting an end 
 to all the calamities -of the time. 
 
 This plan was complete, and, with a few excep- 
 tions, as excellent for the present as for the future. 
 It recognized the church, as nearly as possible, 
 upon the same model as the state ; it fused to- 
 gether differing individuals, by taking from all 
 parties the wiser and more moderate men, who 
 estimated the public good above revolutionary or 
 religious hot-headedness. But it will be quickly 
 seen how difficult it is to do that which is good, 
 even when necessary, and even when the necessity 
 of the case is most urgent ; because, unhappily, 
 although it be necessary, it does not follow upon 
 that account, that it shall be a clear ami evident 
 notion to others beyond the power of contestation. 
 
 In Paris there was still the party of scoffers, of 
 sectarists, still living in the philosophy of the 
 eighteenth century ; of old Jansenists become con- 
 stitutional priests; and lastly, of generals imbued 
 with vulgar prejudices: here were the obstacles 
 on the part of France. At Rome, there were the 
 adherence to ancient prejudices; the fear of affect- 
 ing dogmas if discipline were touched ; religious 
 scruples sincere or affected; above all, an antipathy
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 Character of Pius VII. 
 
 His impressions of Bonaparte. 
 
 THE CONCORDAT. 
 
 Mission of Monsignor Spina to 
 Paris. 
 
 291 
 
 to the French revolution ; and, more particularly, 
 a sort of complacence in respect to the French 
 
 royalist party, composed of emigrants, priests, and 
 nobles, some resident at Rome, others in corre- 
 spondence with her, and all bitter enemies of 
 France and the new order of things which had 
 begun to be established there : these were obstacles 
 mi the side of the holy see. 
 
 The first consul persisted in his plan with a 
 firmness and a patience altogether invincible, 
 during one of the longest and most difficult nego- 
 tiations ever known in the history of the church. 
 Never did the spiritual and temporal powers meet 
 under circumstances of greater moment, and never 
 were they more worthily represented. 
 
 That young man, so sensible, and with such 
 depth of view, but so impetuous in his determina- 
 tions, who governed France, — that young man, by 
 a singular dispensation of Providence, found him- 
 self placed on the stage of the world, in presence 
 of a pontiff of rare virtue, of a physiognomy and 
 character angelic, but of a tenacity capable of 
 braving martyrdom, where he believed that the 
 interests of the faith or those of the court of Rome 
 were compromised. His countenance, animated 
 and mild at the same time, well expressed the sen- 
 sibility, somewhat elevated, of his mind. Aged 
 about sixty, feeble in health, though he lived to a 
 considerable age, holding down his head, endowed 
 with a keen and penetrating glance, in language 
 graceful and affecting, he was the worthy repre- 
 sentative, not more of the imperious faith that under 
 Gregory VII. commanded, and deserved to com- 
 mand, European barbarism, than of that persecuted 
 ion, which, having no longer at command the 
 thunders of the church, was no longer able to 
 exercise over mankind any other power than that 
 of mild per " Lon. 
 
 A secret charm attached the pontiff to general 
 Bonaparte. They had already met, as elsewhere 
 observed, during the wars of Italy, and in place of 
 those bro.ious warriors generated by the French 
 lotion, that had been painted in Europe as 
 profaners of the altar, and assassins of the emi- 
 grant priests, Pius VII., then bishop of tmula,bad 
 I'. mid a young man, full of genius, speaking, like 
 
 Himself, the Italian language, exhibiting sentiments 
 
 of great moderation, maintaining order, keeping 
 the churohea 9aered, and, far from persecuting the 
 French priests, using all his influence to oblige the 
 Italian churches to receive and support them. 
 Surprised and delighted, the bishop of Imola re- 
 ■trained the insubord Date temper of the Italians 
 in bis diocese, and returned to general Bonaparte 
 
 the services which he hail rendered to the church 
 upon his part. The impression produced by this 
 first, acquaintance was never effaced from the 
 heart of the pontiff, and influenced all his conduct 
 towards the general when he became consul and 
 emperor: a striking proof that in every thing, 
 great, or small, a good action is never lost At a 
 later time, in fact, when the conclave had as- 
 sembled at Venice lo give a successor to Fills Vj., 
 who died a prisoner at Valence, the recollection of 
 the first acts of the general of (he army of Italy 
 bad influenced, in a manner that may be styled 
 providential, the choice of the new pope. 
 
 It will be in recollection, that at the same mo- 
 ment when Pius VII. was preferred by the con- 
 
 clave, in the hope to find in him a conciliator, who 
 would reconcile Rome with France, and thus, per- 
 haps, terminate the afflictions of the church, the 
 first consul gained the battle of Marengo, and had 
 thus become, by the same stroke of fortune, master 
 of Italy and ruler of Europe, and that he had sent 
 an emissary, the nephew of the bishop of Verceil, 
 to announce his intentions to the pontiff then newly 
 elected. He had sent the pope word that while 
 ulterior arrangements were pending, peace should, 
 in real fact, exist between France and Rome, on 
 the footing of the treaty of Tolentino, signed in 
 1797; that there should no more be spoken of the 
 Roman republic invented by the directory; that 
 the holy see should be re-established and recog- 
 nized by the French as in former times. As to 
 the cmestion of restoring to fhe church the three 
 great provinces which it had lost, namely, Bologna, 
 Ferrara, and Romagna, not a word was said. The 
 pope was replaced upon his throne, and had peace. 
 The rest he left to the care of Providence. The 
 first consul, moreover, commanded the Neapolitans 
 to evacuate the Roman states, which, in fact, they 
 had evacuated, except the environs of Benevento 
 and Ponte-Corvo. Besides, in all the movements 
 of his armies around Naples and Otranto, the first 
 consul had given orders to respect the Roman 
 territories. He had himself sent Murat, who com- 
 manded the French army in Lower Italy, to bend 
 his knee at the foot of the pontifical throne. M. 
 Gonsalvi had thus guessed correctly, and he was 
 amply recompensed, because upon his arrival at 
 Rome, the pope had named him cardinal-secretary 
 of state, first minister of the holy see, a post which 
 he preserved during the greater part of the ponti- 
 ficate of Pius VII. 
 
 It was in the train of these events, in some sort 
 partaking of the miraculous, that the pwpe, upon 
 the request of the first consul, had sent M. Spina 
 to Paris, a keen, greedy, devout, Genoese priest, 
 in order to treat of both religious and political 
 affairs. At first, M. Spina took no official title, so 
 much did the holy father, in spite of his partiality 
 for general Bonaparte, and his ardent desire for 
 a reconciliation, dread to avow any relation with 
 the French republic. But in a little time, seeing 
 come to Paris, in the train of the ministers of 
 Prussia and of Spain, who were already there, those 
 of Austria, Russia, Bavaria, and Naples, in fact, 
 of all the European courts, the holy father no 
 longer hesitated, and permitted I\I. .Spina to take 
 upon himself his official character, and to avow the 
 of his mission. The emigrant party raised 
 a great outcry, and made useless efforts to impede, 
 by their remonstrances, the approximation of the 
 Church to France, well knowing, that if they failed 
 to agitate the public mind under the plea of re- 
 ligious prejudices, the best offensive means would 
 be lust to them. But Pius VII., alt! gh mor- 
 tified, sometimes even intimidated by their remon- 
 strances, showed a firm determination to place the 
 inter, sis of religion and tin: church above all con- 
 siderations of party. One reason alone slackened, 
 in a slight degree, this excellent resolution, that 
 
 was the vague ami unwise hope of recovering the 
 
 Legations, lost under tin- treaty "I Tolentino '. 
 
 1 There is not in exitteuca B mora curious negotiation, or 
 one more wortliy of meditation, than tli.it of the concordat. 
 There is none in which the archives of France are richer, 
 u2
 
 292 
 
 Delusive expectations of 
 the priests. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The abbe Bernier's pro- 
 posals to M. Spina. 
 
 180?. 
 March. 
 
 Monsignor Spina, arrived in Paris, had orders to 
 gain time, that it might be seen if the first consul, 
 master of Italy, as he was, and able to dispose of it 
 at pleasure, might not entertain the fortunate idea 
 of restoring the Legations to the holy see. A word 
 that frequently dwelt upon the lips of the first con- 
 sul, had given birth to more hopes than he intended 
 it should bear--" Let the holy father only trust to 
 me, let him throw himself into my arms, and I will 
 be for the church a new Charlemagne." " If lie is 
 anew Charlemagne," said the priests, little versed 
 in the affairs of their own time, " let him prove it 
 by giving back to us the patrimony of St. Peter." 
 They were unfortunately far enough out in their 
 reckoning, for the first consul believed he had dene 
 much in the re-establishment of the pope at Rome, 
 and in giving up to him, with his pontifical throne, 
 the Roman state, besides offering to treat with him 
 for the restoration of the catholic worship. In 
 fact, considering the state of the public mind in 
 France and in Italy also, he had done a vast deal. 
 If the French patriots, still full of the ideas of the 
 eighteenth century, saw with little satisfaction the 
 approaching re-establishment of the catholic church, 
 the Italian patriots saw with despair the govern- 
 ment of the priesthood once more set up over 
 them. It was impossible therefore for the first 
 consul to push his complaisance towards the holy 
 see so far as to give up the Legations to its authority 
 again, which could not be of service in supporting 
 the government of the priesthood, and were besides 
 a promised portion of the Cisalpine republic. But 
 the court of Rome, finding itself much distressed 
 since it was deprived of the revenues of Bologna, of 
 Ferrara, and of Romagna, reasoned very differ- 
 ently. In other respects the pope, who lived in the 
 midst of the pomps of the Vatican like any an- 
 chorite, thought much less of terrestrial interests 
 than cardinal Gonsalvi, and cardinal Gonsalvi less 
 than monsignor Spina. This last moved with a 
 stealthy pace in the negotiation, listening to all that 
 was said to him relatively to the religious ques- 
 tions, having the appearance of attaching to them 
 an exclusive importance, and still, by some random 
 words let out from time to time about the misery 
 of the holy see, attempting to bring back attention 
 to the subject of the Legations. He did not succeed 
 in making himself understood, and protracted the 
 negotiations in order to obtain something which 
 would meet the false hopes imprudently indulged 
 by his court. 
 
 To treat with M. Spina the first consul had made 
 choice, as already said, of the celebrated abbe' 
 Bernier, the pacificator of La Vendee. This priest, 
 a simple curate in the province of Anjou, deprived 
 of the external attractions which are obtained by a 
 careful education, but endowed with a deep know- 
 
 because, besides the diplomatic correspondence of the Frenc h 
 agents, and, above all, the correspondence of the abbe Ber- 
 nier, there is the correspondence of M. Spina and of cardinal 
 Caprara wilh the pope and cardinal Gonsalvi. The last was 
 preserved by virtue of an article of the concordat, according 
 to which the archives of the Roman legation, in case of a 
 rupture, were to remain in France. The letters of M. Spina 
 and of cardinal Caprara, written in Italian, are some of the 
 most curious monuments of the time, and impart of them- 
 selves the secret of the religious negotiations of the period, — 
 a secret very little known at present, notwithstanding the 
 numerous works published relative to this subject. 
 
 ledge of human nature, of superior prudence, a 
 long time exercised in the midst of the difficulties 
 of a civil war, well versed in canonical affairs, had 
 been the principal author of the re-establishment 
 of peace in the western provinces. Attached to 
 this peace, which was his own work, he naturally 
 desire-1 every thing which would confirm it, and 
 regarded the approximation of France to Rome as 
 one of the more certain means of rendering his 
 labour definitive and complete. He did not cease, 
 therefore, in addressing to the first consul the most 
 earnest instances to hasten forward the negotiations 
 with the church. Furnished daily with his in- 
 structions, he made known to the archbishop of 
 Corinth the propositions of the French government 
 already spoken of, namely, the dismission imposed 
 upon all the former titular bishops ; the new dio- 
 cesan circumscription ; sixty bishoprics in lieu of a 
 hundred and fifty-eight ; the composition of the 
 new clergy formed of ecclesiastics of all the differ- 
 ent parties ; the nomination of the bishops by the 
 first consul, and their institution by the pope ; the 
 promise of submission to the established govern- 
 ment ; the salaries out of the state budget ; the 
 renunciation of the property of the church, and com- 
 plete acknowledgment of its sale ; the police of 
 worship conferred upon the civil power repre- 
 sented by the council of state ; Anally, the pardon 
 of the church for those priests who had married, 
 and their reunion with the catholic communion. 
 
 M. Spina was loud in his exclamations upon 
 hearing these conditions announced ; he declared 
 them exorbitant and contrary to the faith, assert- 
 ing that the holy father would never consent to 
 admit them. 
 
 First, he required that in the preamble of the 
 concordat, the catholic religion should be declared 
 the " state religion" in France ; that the consuls 
 should make a public profession of it, and that the 
 laws and acts contrary to this declaration of a state 
 religion should be abrogated. 
 
 As to the new circumscription of the dioceses, he 
 admitted the great number of the sees, but he pre- 
 tended that the pope had no right to depose a 
 bishop ; that never had any of his predecessors 
 daied to do so since the Roman church had existed, 
 and that if the holy father permitted such an inno- 
 vation he would create a second schism, directed 
 this time against the holy father himself ; that all 
 that he was able to do upon this subject was to 
 come to an amicable understanding with the first 
 consul ; those among the former bishops which 
 showed themselves well inclined in regard to the 
 French government, should be simply replaced in 
 their dioceses, or in the diocese corresponding to 
 that which they had formerly filled ; and those, on 
 the contrary, which had or were conducting them- 
 selves still in a manner not to merit the counte- 
 nance of the government, should be left aside, and 
 until their deaths, which, considering their age, 
 could not be long, administrators chosen by the 
 pope and the first consul should govern the sees in 
 the interim. 
 
 M. Spina, therefore, did not admit the idea of a 
 new clergy, taken from all classes of the priest- 
 hood, and from all parties, in order to fill the 
 vacant sees. Still, further, he did not wish that 
 the constitutionalists should share in it at all, unless 
 they should make one of those solemn recantations.
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 Proposals from the court of Rome. THE CONCORDAT. 
 
 The abbe Banner's reply. 
 
 293 
 
 which, a triumph for Rome, are also a recompense 
 for the pardon which she accords. 
 
 As to the nomination of the bishops by the head 
 of the republic, and their institution by the pope, 
 there was little difficulty. The negotiations natu- 
 rally commenced on the principle, that the new 
 government had at the court of Rome all the pre- 
 rogatives of the old, and that the first consul repre- 
 sented in every respect the king of France. On 
 that account the nomination of the bishops apper- 
 tained to him by right. Still the office of first 
 consul for the present at least was elective. Gene- 
 ral Bonaparte, actually invested with the dignity, 
 was of the catholic faith, but his successors might 
 not be of that creed ; and it was nut allowed at 
 Rome that protestant sovereigns should nominate 
 catholic bishops. M. Spina demanded that this 
 contingency should be provided for. 
 
 Tluy were in agreement regarding the cures. 
 The bishop was to nominate them with the agree- 
 ment of the civil authority. 
 
 The promise of submission to the laws was ad- 
 mitted without exactly expressing the terms. 
 
 The sanction of the pope to the sale of the church 
 property was a heavy task for the Roman ne- 
 gotiator. He acknowledged fully the utter im- 
 ]• Bsibilityof recalling those sales; but he demanded 
 that the holy see should be spared a declaration 
 which would imply the moral approbation of all 
 that had passed in their regard. He conceded a 
 renunciation of all ulterior examination, in refusing 
 the formal acknowledgment of the right of aliena- 
 tion. '"This property," said M. .Spina, "called 
 Uddiwn, patrbnonium pauperum, sacrificia pec- 
 eatorum, this property the church herself has no 
 power to alienate. Still she is able to renounce all 
 attempts to prosecute its recovery. - ' In return 
 she demands the restitution of such domains as are 
 not yet alienated, and the faculty granted to the 
 d\ ing of bequeathing in favour of religious establish- 
 ments, which implied the renewal of property in 
 mortmain, and recommenced the old order of 
 things, in other words, a clergy endowed with 
 lands. 
 
 Lastly, the pardon granted to the married clergy 
 and their reconciliation with the church, was a 
 matter of mere indulgence, easy to be granted on 
 tin- part of the court of Rome, which is always dis- 
 I to pardon, when the fault is acknowledged 
 by those who have committed it. Still, two classes 
 of priests were to be excepted, the old religious 
 belonging to orders who had taken vows of celi- 
 bacy and the bishops. This was no mode of con- 
 ciliating with the holy see the kind wishes of 
 Talleyrand, the minister of foreign affairs. 
 
 Tie ions of the court of Rome, although 
 
 they (Jid not imply an utter impossibility of coming 
 to an understanding with the' French government, 
 at the same time implied serious differences of 
 opinion. 
 
 The first consul perceived this, and exhibited 
 the greatest impatience. He had several times 
 M. Spina, and had declared to him that he 
 would never depart from the fundamental principle 
 of his design, which consisted in making a tabula 
 in forming a new circumscription, ami a new- 
 clergy, in deposing the old titularies, and taking 
 then- successors from every class of the priesthood. 
 He had told him that the- fusion of honest and able 
 
 men of every party was the principle of his go- 
 vernment; that he applied this principle to the 
 church as well as to the state; that it was the only 
 means he possessed to terminate the troubles of 
 Trance, and that he should invariably persist in the 
 same course. 
 
 The abbe Bernier, who, to an avowed ambition of 
 being the principal instrument in the re-establish- 
 ment of religion, joined the sincere love of doing 
 good, addressed the most earnest entreaties to M. 
 Spina, to level the difficulties which were opposed, 
 on the part of the church of Rome, to the measure of 
 the first consul. " To declare the catholic religion," 
 lie said, " to be the religion of the state is impossi- 
 ble; contrary to the ideas prevalent in France, and 
 will never be admitted by the tribunate and legis- 
 lative body in the wording of any law." It might 
 be possible, according to him, to replace such a 
 declaration by the substitution of the fact, that the 
 catholic religion was that of the majority of French- 
 men. The mention of that fact would be as useful 
 as the declaration desired by Rome. To insist on 
 what was impossible, more out of pride than prin- 
 ciple, was to compromise the real interests of the 
 church. The first consul might attend in person 
 at the solemn rites of the church, and the presence 
 of such a man as he was at these ceremonies 
 was an important thing ; but it was necessary 
 to renounce the demand of his going through 
 certain practical forms, such as confession and 
 communion, as being beyond the limits within 
 which it was proper he should confine himself 
 with the French public. It was necessary to gain 
 back opinion, not to shock it, and above all, not to 
 afford subjects for ridicule. The demand of the 
 resignation of their sees, addressed to the former 
 bishops, was quite simple, and was a consequence 
 of the step which they had taken in regard to 
 Pius VI. in 1790. At that period, the French 
 prelates, in order to make their resistance appear 
 to be on account of the interest of the faith, and 
 not their own peculiar interests, had declared that 
 they accepted the pt>pe for an arbitrator, and that 
 they resigned their sees into his hands ; that if he 
 believed it was their duty to abandon them in 
 favour of the civic constitution, tluy submitted. 
 There was now nothing more to do than to take 
 them at their words, and exact the accomplishment 
 of their solemn offer. 11' some among them, in- 
 fluenced by personal motives, stood iii the wav of 
 BO great a benefit as the restoration of public wor- 
 ship in France, they must no more be regarded as 
 titular bishops, but be considered as having re- 
 signed their sees iii 1790. TheaMic I'.ernier added, 
 
 that there was a precedent in point of the same 
 kind in the church, namely, the resignation of 
 three hundred bishops together ill Africa, agreed 
 to for the purpose of putting a termination to the 
 schism of tlie Donatists. It was true they bad not 
 been deposed. Then as to the new selections ; the 
 principle of the fusion must lie conceded to the 
 first consul. The principle the first consul applied 
 more particularly to the advantage of the unsworn 
 priests ; he would choose two or three who were 
 Constitutionalists, solely for the sake of example, but 
 in the main he would select only the orthodox. The 
 French negotiator here advanced on his own ac- 
 count more than he- was justified in doing. It is 
 true that the first consul had >ery little esteem for
 
 294 
 
 Embarrassment of 
 M. Spina. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The scheme for a con- 
 cordat sent to Rome. 
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 the constitutional bishops, who were for the larger 
 part bigoted Jansenists, or declaimers at the clubs; 
 it is true that he only esteemed in that portion of 
 the clergy the ordinary priests, who had in general 
 taken an oath of submission to the laws for the 
 purpose of pursuing the objects of their sacred 
 ministry, and had not sought to gain by the agita- 
 tion of the period, an elevation to the sacerdotal 
 dignity. Still, if he had but small respect for the 
 constitutional bishops, he adhered to his principle 
 of fusion, and did not sell quite so cheaply as the 
 abbe Bernier appeared to announce for him, the 
 claims of the sworn clergy. These things were 
 said by the abbe Bernier to favour the success of 
 the negotiation. In regard to the nomination of 
 the bishops by the first consul, it was needful only 
 to surmount, according to the abbe Bernier, a diffi- 
 culty very remote and very improbable, in having, 
 at some time or another, a first consul who should 
 be a protestant. There was no necessity, according 
 to him, to glance at an event so little probable. 
 In relation to the property of the clergy, it was 
 necessary to lose no time, in settling the form of 
 its disposal, as they were agreed upon the principle. 
 The restitution of the unsold church property and 
 testamentary bequests of houses and lands, were 
 totally at variance with the political principles pre- 
 valent in France, which were wholly opposed to 
 property in mortmain. The court of Rome must 
 be content, in this regard, with the single concession 
 of the validity of donations of annuities from the 
 public funds. 
 
 " The time," said the abbe, " is now come for a 
 conclusion, since the first consul is beginning to 
 appear discontented. He believed that the pope 
 had not strength of mind to break with the eini- 
 grant party in order to give every thing to France, 
 and he would end the matter by renouncing the 
 good which he had at first the idea of doing, and 
 without persecuting the priests, leave them to 
 themselves ; he would leave the church to become 
 what it could in France, without calculating that 
 he should be holding in Italy a conduct hostile to 
 the Roman court. It was," continued the abbe", 
 " to have lost all discernment, not to profit by the 
 dispositions of so great a man, the only man capa- 
 ble of saving religion. He had also great difficulties 
 to overcome in regard to the revolutionary party; 
 and for aiding him in vanquishing them, an oppo- 
 site conduct should be pursued, by making such 
 concessions as were needful to him for gaining over 
 opinions little disposed in France to favour the 
 catholic faith." 
 
 M. Spina began to be much embarrassed. He 
 was convinced, but his covetousness overcame his 
 convictions. Incessantly demanding wealth for his 
 court, his most ardent desires were to make her as 
 rich and prodigal as she was of old. The small 
 success of his insinuations about the lost provinces 
 singularly discouraged him. He perceived that 
 the first consul, as wily as Italian priests were, 
 would not explain himself to those who would not 
 explain themselves. He saw, besides, all the other 
 courts at his feet ; he saw M. Kalitscheff, the Rus- 
 sian negotiator, who had wished in such an insolent 
 mode to protect the petty Italian princes, depart 
 in disappointment ; all Germany dependent upon 
 France for the partition of the territorial indemni- 
 ties ; Portugal in submission, and England herself 
 
 fatigued into peace. In front of such a state of 
 things, he was convinced that he had no other 
 resource than to submit and to rely upon the will 
 of the first consul alone, for all of which he was 
 desirous. Disposed to concede, M. Spina was still 
 fearful to adhere to the absolute conditions of the 
 French cabinet, laid down with the evident reso- 
 lution of not departing from them, because they 
 were established upon the imperious necessities of 
 her existing situation. 
 
 The first consul, with his accustomed ability, 
 drew out the Roman negotiator from the em- 
 barrassment of his position. It was the moment, 
 already described a little way back, when all the 
 negotiations were proceeding together, especially 
 with England. Thinking with a species of joy on 
 the prodigious effect which a general peace must 
 produce, that should even comprehend the church 
 itself, he wished to finish all by a prompt and de- 
 cided step. He had the plan of a concordat drawn 
 up to be offered definitively to M. Spina. This bu- 
 siness was arranged by two ecclesiastics who had 
 thrown up holy orders, Talleyrand and Hauterive, 
 who were both in the office for foreign affairs. 
 Happily between these two was interposed the able 
 and orthodox Bernier. The plan drawn up by 
 Hauterive, and reviewed by Bernier, w r as simple, 
 lucid, and decided. It contained, in the style of a 
 law, every thing which the French legation had 
 proposed. It was then presented to M. Spina, who 
 was much troubled about it, and offered to send it 
 to his court, declaring be was not able to sign it 
 himself. " Why," they said to him, " do you refuse 
 to sign ? Can it be you have no powers ? If so, 
 what have you been doing in Paris lor six months ? 
 Why do you put on the character of a negotiator, 
 and yet cannot carry it out to the necessary term 
 of its conclusion ? Perhaps you think the condi- 
 tions inadmissible ? If so, be bold enough to tell 
 us ; and then the French cabinet, which can agree 
 to no other conditions, will cease to negotiate with 
 you. It may or may not break with the holy see, 
 but it will have done with M. Spina." 
 
 The cunning prelate knew not what to answer. 
 He affirmed that he possessed powers. Not daring 
 to state that he thought the French terms inadmis- 
 sible, he alleged that in matters of religion, the pope 
 surrounded by his cardinals was alone able to ac- 
 cept a treaty, and he in consequence renewed his 
 offer of sending the document to his holiness : 
 " Let it be so," some one said to him, " but declare 
 at least in sending your own approval of it." M. 
 Spina refused on his own part any approbatory for- 
 mula, and answered that he would impress upon 
 his holiness the adoption of a treaty which would 
 contribute to the restoration of the catholic faith in 
 France. 
 
 A courier Avas then sent off to Rome with the 
 scheme of the concordat, and an order to M. Ca- 
 cault, ambassador of France at the holy see, to 
 submit the document for the immediate and defi- 
 nitive acceptance of the pope. The same courier 
 was the bearer of a present which caused great 
 joy in Italy, the famous wooden virgin, the image of 
 our lady of Loretto, taken away in the time of the 
 directory from Loretto itself, and deposited as a 
 curiosity in the national library at Paris. The 
 first consul knew that, among many sincere and 
 irritable believers, the placing this famous relic in
 
 1801. 
 April. 
 
 Reception of the scheme by 
 Pius VII. 
 
 THE CONCORDAT. 
 
 Difficulty regarding the deposition 
 of the bishops. 
 
 295 
 
 the national library, was deemed a matter of great 
 scandal, and he ordered the pious restitution to 
 precede the concordat. 
 
 This present was received in Romagna with a 
 degree of joy difficult to be understood in France. 
 The pope received the concordat better than was 
 expected. This worthy pontiff, more occupied with 
 the interests of the faith than with his own tempo- 
 ral advantages, did not see in that instrument any 
 thing absolutely inadmissible, and believed that with 
 some changes i:i the drawing up, hcishould be able 
 to satisfy the first consul, an object which he re- 
 garded as of the utmost importance, since the re- 
 establishment of religion in France was, in his 
 view, the greatest and most essential part of the 
 affairs of the church. 
 
 He appointed the cardinals, Cavandini, Anto- 
 nelli, and Gerdil, to make a first examination of 
 the plan thus sent from Paris. The cardinals An- 
 tonelli and Gerdil passed for the two most learned 
 personages in the church. Cardinal Gerdil had 
 himself become French, because by birth he apper- 
 tained to Savoy. The pope enjoined it on all three 
 to hasten this proceeding. The first examination 
 over, they were to make their report to a congre- 
 gation of twelve cardinals, chosen from among 
 Chose who were at Rome, who best understood the 
 interests of the Roman church. They were required 
 to be secret by a promise made on the Evangelists. 
 The pope, tearing the plots and outcries of the 
 French emigrants, sought to keep from all party 
 influence the decision of the sacred college. Upon 
 his part the effort was made with perfect sincerity. 
 He had near him a French minister entirely to his 
 liking, in M. Cacanlt, a man of sensibility as well as 
 of understanding, partaking in the recollections of 
 the eighteenth century, to which he belonged by 
 age and education, and equally in the feelings 
 which Rome inspires in all those who live in the 
 midst of her ruined grandeur, and her religious 
 pomps. On leaving Paris, M. do Cacanlt asked the 
 first consul for h instructions. He received in 
 reply this noble remark : " Treat the pope as if he 
 had two hundred thousand soldiers." M. do Ca- 
 canlt loved l'iiis VII. and general Bonaparte ; and 
 by his kind offices disposed them to love one an- 
 other. " Confide in the first consul," said he to 
 tlie pope, "he will arrange your affairs: but do 
 what be asks of yon, lor he lias need of what he 
 asks of you in order to succeed." He said also 
 to the first consul, "Take a little patience. The 
 pope is the most holy, the most attaching of men. 
 Hi- has the wish to satisfy you, only give him time. 
 
 ! iry to habituate his mind, and those of 
 
 tie- cardinals, to the arbitrary proposals which you 
 send hither. They are at Rome much more con- 
 fiding than y u think. This court must be led by 
 gentle means. If we ruffle her, we shall confuse 
 her head. She will fix herself in the resolution 
 of martyrdom, the sole resource for one in her 
 situation." These wise counsels tern] Bred the im- 
 petuosity of tie- t il, and disposed him to 
 suffer patiently the fastidious examination of the 
 matter by tie- court of Rome, 
 
 Lastly, when the business was completed, the 
 pope, and cardinal < ronsalvi, had several interviews 
 with M. de Cacanlt Tiny communicated to him 
 the Roman scheme. Finding it too distant from 
 that of France, he made reiterated efforts to obtain 
 
 modifications. It became necessary a second time 
 to have reference to the congregation of the twelve 
 cardinals, which occupied much more time, in such 
 a manner that without obtaining any important 
 results, M. de Cacault contributed himself to the 
 loss of an entire month. The parties at length 
 came as near as possible to an agreement ; and all 
 ended in a plan, the differences of which with that 
 of the first consul were as follow : 
 
 The catholic religion was to be declared in 
 France the "religion of the state:" the consuls 
 were to profess it in a public manner : there was to 
 be a new diocesan reconstruction and only sixty 
 sees, according to the first consul's wish. The pope 
 was to address the former bishops, demanding 
 their voluntary resignation, on the ground of their 
 offer of resignation made to Pius VI. in 1790. It 
 was probable that a very great number would give 
 in, and then the sees vacant by death or resigna- 
 tion would furnish the French government with an 
 ample list of nominations to fill up. In regard to 
 those who might refuse, the pope would take con- 
 venient measures that the administration of the 
 sees should not remain in their hands. 
 
 The excellent pontiff said to the French consul, 
 in an affecting letter which he wrote to him : 
 " Spare me the public declaration, that I shall 
 depose the old prelates, who have suffered cruel 
 persecutions in the cause of. the church. First, my 
 right to do so is doubtful ; ar.d secondly, it grieves 
 me to treat in this manner ministers of the altar in 
 misfortune and in exile. What reply would you 
 give to those who might require you to sacrifice the 
 generals by whom you are surrounded, whose de- 
 votedness has rendered you so often victorious I 
 The result which you wish will be the same in the 
 end, because the gi'eatest part of the sees will be- 
 come vacant by death or by resignation. You will 
 fill them up, and as to the small number that may 
 remain occupied in consequence of refusing to re- 
 sign, we will not yet nominate bishops to them ; 
 but we will administer to them by vicars, worthy 
 of your confidence and our own." 
 
 Upon the other points, the Roman scheme was 
 very nearly conformable to that of France. It 
 granted the nominations to the first consul, except 
 the first consul should happen to be a protestant; 
 it contained the sanction of the sales of church 
 property ; but, while it persisted in demanding 
 that the clergy might receive testamentary gifts 
 of houses ami lands, it granted to the married 
 clergy the indulgence of the church. 
 
 Evidently the most, serious difficulty was in the 
 deposition of the former bishops, who might refuse 
 to resign. This sacrifice was heavy to the pope, 
 because it was no other than immolating, at the 
 feel of the first consul himself, the old French 
 clergy. Still this immolation was indispensable, in 
 order that the first consul might in his turn sup- 
 press the constitutional clergy, and out of the dif- 
 ferent sects of priests make only one, composed of 
 persons who were esteemed by all the sects. It was 
 one of these occasions wh( D upon e\crv such con- 
 juncture in every Bge, the papacy had never hesi- 
 tated to save the church by taking strong resolutions 
 for that end. But at the moment of resolving, the 
 benevolent and timorous mind of the pontiff was 
 a prey to the most grieVOUS perplexities. 
 
 Whilst the time was thus employed at Rome,
 
 Qft Impatience of the first 
 ""b consul. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Embarrassing position of 
 the Roman court. 
 
 1801. 
 May. 
 
 whether in conferences of the cardinals among 
 themselves, or in conferences of the secretary of 
 state with M. de Cacault, the first consul at Paris 
 had lost all patience. He began to fear that the 
 court of Rome might be carrying on an intrigue 
 either with the emigrants or foreign courts, more 
 particularly with Austria. To his natural mistrust 
 was joined the suggestions of the enemies of reli- 
 gion, who endeavoured to persuade him that he 
 was deceived, and that he himself, so far-seeing 
 and able, was the dupe of Italian cunning. He 
 was but little disposed to believe that this wariness 
 was greater than his own, but he wished to throw 
 the lead into that sea which they had told him was 
 so deep. On the same day that the courier, bearing 
 the despatches of the holy see, was leaving Rome, 
 he made at Paris a menacing demonstration. 
 
 He sent for the abbe Bernier, M. Spina, and M. 
 Talleyrand, to Malmaison. There he informed 
 them that he had no longer any confidence in the 
 dispositions of the court of Rome ; that the desire 
 of deferring to the emigrants was evidently over- 
 bearing the desire to be reconciled to France — the 
 interest of party being above the interest of reli- 
 gion ; that he did not understand why they con- 
 sulted courts that were known to be inimical, and 
 perhaps even the heads of the emigrants them- 
 selves, to know whether Rome ought to treat with 
 the French republic; that the church might receive 
 through him immense benefits, and was bound to 
 accept or refuse them at once, and not to retard 
 the good of the people by useless hesitations, or by 
 consultations still more out of place; that he would 
 do without the holy see, since his efforts were not 
 seconded by her ; that he certainly would not 
 expose the church to the persecutions of days gone 
 by, but would deliver the priests over to one 
 another, confining himself to the chastisement of 
 the turbulent, and leaving the rest to live as they 
 were best able ; that he considered himself rela- 
 tively to the Roman court as free of all engage- 
 ments towards her, even from those in the treaty 
 of Tolentino, since, in fact, the treaty was void the 
 day war was declared between Pius VI. and the 
 directory. In saying these words, the tone of the 
 first consul was cold, positive, and repellant. He 
 gave it to be understood, by the explanations fol- 
 lowing this declaration, that his confidence in the 
 holy father was always the same, but that he 
 imputed the delays which so annoyed him to car- 
 dinal Gonsalvi, and those who were more imme- 
 diately around the pope's person. 
 
 The first consul had obtained his end, but the 
 unfortunate Spina left Malmaison in a real disorder 
 of mind, and went with all haste to Paris, in order 
 to write to his own court despatches full of the 
 same fears which agitated himself. Talleyrand, on 
 the other hand, wrote to M. de Cacault a despatch, 
 conformable to the scene at Malmaison. He en- 
 joined upon him to visit the pope and cardinal 
 Gonsalvi directly, and declare to them that the 
 first consul, full of reliance upon the personal 
 character of the holy father, had not the same 
 feeling towards his cabinet ; that he was resolved 
 to break off a negotiation much too insincere, and 
 that he, M. de Cacault, had orders to quit Rome in 
 '• five days, if the plan of the concordat were not im- 
 mediately adopted, or were not adopted with cer- 
 tain modifications. M. de Cacault had instructions 
 
 to proceed to Florence without delay, and to wait 
 there until the first consul should make known to 
 him his future determination. 
 
 This despatch arrived at Rome about the end of 
 May. It much mortified M. de Cacault, who was 
 afraid, by the news of which he was the bearer, he 
 should disconcert, perhaps push the Roman court 
 to desperate resolutions. Above all, lie feared 
 to afflict a pontiff for whom he had been unable 
 to escape feeling a sincere attachment. Still the 
 orders of the first consul were so absolute, that 
 he had no means of evading their execution. He 
 therefore went to the pope and to cardinal Gon- 
 salvi, and showed them his instructions, which 
 caused to both very great distress of mind. Car- 
 dinal Gonsalvi, in particular, seeing himself clearly 
 designated in the despatches of the first consul, as 
 the author of the interminable delays in the nego- 
 tiation, was ready to die with affright. Yet he was 
 little to blame; and the superannuated forms of the 
 chancery, the oldest in the world, were the sole 
 cause of the slowness of which the first consul 
 complained, at least since the matter had been 
 transferred to Rome. M. de Cacault proposed to 
 the pope and to cardinal Gonsalvi, an idea which 
 at first troubled and surprised them, but which at 
 last appeared to them the only way to a safe con- 
 clusion. " You do not wish," said M. de Cacault, 
 "to adopt the concordat, with all its expressions as 
 it is sent from Paris. Very well : let the cardinal 
 himself go to France, furnished with full powers. 
 He will become known to the first consul, and will 
 inspire him with confidence ; he will then obtain 
 from him the indispensable changes required, and 
 which you desire. If any difficulty should occur, 
 the cardinal will be on the spot to obviate it. He 
 will prevent, by his presence there, the loss of 
 time, which so much irritates the impatient cha- 
 racter of the head of our government. You will 
 thus be extricated from great peril, and the inter- 
 ests of religion will be saved." 
 
 It was a great trouble thus to part with a minis- 
 ter with whom he could not well dispense, and 
 who alone gave him strength to bear the pain of 
 the chief government. He was plunged into great 
 perplexity, feeling the advice of M. de Cacault to 
 be wise, but the separation proposed a ci'uel hard- 
 ship. 
 
 That implacable faction, composed not only of 
 emigrants, but of all those in Europe who detested 
 the French revolution, that faction, which desired 
 to support an eternal war with France, which had 
 seen with sorrow the termination of the war in La 
 Vende'e, and which saw with no less sorrow the 
 approaching end of the schism, besieged Rome 
 with letters, filled it with absurd talk, and covered 
 its walls with placards. It was said, for example, 
 in one of these placards, that Pius VI., to preserve 
 the faith, had lost the holy see, and that Pius VII., 
 to preserve the holy see, had lost the faith '. These 
 invectives, of which he was the object, did not 
 move this sensible pontiff, who was devoted to his 
 duties, and his resolution to save the church, in 
 spite of any party ; but he suffered severely from 
 
 1 Pio VI., per conservar la fede, 
 Perde la sede ; 
 Pio VII., per conservar la sede, 
 Perde la fede.
 
 1801. 
 June. 
 
 Cardinal Gonsalvi reluctantly 
 quits Home. 
 
 THE CONCORDAT. 
 
 He arrives at Paris. 
 
 297 
 
 them. Cardinal Gonsalvi was his confidant and 
 friend, and to separate from him was a poignant 
 grief. The cardinal, upon the other hand, feared 
 his own presence in Paris, in that revolutionary 
 gulf, which had swallowed up, as lie had been told, 
 so many victims. He trembled at the idea only, 
 of finding himself in the presence of the formidable 
 general, the object at once of so much tear and 
 admiration, whom M. Spina had depicted to him 
 as most of all irritated against the Roman secretary 
 of state. These unfortunate and terror-stricken 
 priests had formed a thousand unfounded notions 
 in regard to France and her government ; and 
 ameliorated, even improved as it was, they trem- 
 bled only at the thought of remaining for a mo- 
 ment in its power. The cardinal decided to go, 
 but his decision was just that which any one 
 feels who is determined to brave his death. 
 * Since they must have a victim," said he, " I 
 will devote myself, and be all resignation to the 
 will of Providence." He had even the imprudence 
 to write letters to Naples, in conformity with these 
 notions, letters, which were communicated to the 
 first consul, who fortunately regarded them rather 
 as subjects for ridicule than anger. 
 
 But the journey of the secretary of state to Paris 
 was very far from removing ail the difficulties and 
 anticipating all the dangers. The departure of M. 
 de Cacault, and his retreat to Florence, where the 
 head-quarters of the French army were situated, 
 might be viewed perhaps as a fatal manifestation 
 for the two governments of Rome and Naples. 
 These two governments were, in fact, continually 
 threatened by the repressed but always ardent pas- 
 sions of the Italian patriots. That of the pope 
 «:i- always odious to men who were unwilling to 
 have priests any longer for their governors, and 
 the number of such persons in the Roman states 
 was very considerable ; the government of Naples 
 was detested for the blood which it had spilled. 
 The departure of M.de Cacault would, it was possible, 
 be considered as a species of tacit permission to the 
 evil-minded Italians to make some dangerous de- 
 monstration. This was feared also by the pope. 
 It was agreed, therefore, in order to prevent such 
 an interpretation being put upon his departure, that 
 If, de Cacault and cardinal Gonsalvi should set out 
 together, and be travelling companions as far as 
 Florence. M.de Cacault, on quitting Rome, left 
 there his secretary of ligation. 
 
 The cardinal and M. de Cacault left Rome on 
 Ith of June, or 17th of Prairial, and took the 
 road towards Florence. They travelled in the 
 same carriage, and wherever they stopped the 
 cardinal designated If, do Cacault to the people, 
 laying, M This is the French minister," so anxious 
 Was lie to avoid having it supposed then; was any 
 rupture between the two powers. The agitation in 
 Italy was fi \ .1 v enough upon the occasion ; but it 
 produced no vexatious consequences at the mo- 
 ment, because moat persona waited for a more dis- 
 tinct explanation of the dispositions of the French 
 government before tiny attempted to make a 
 change. Cardinal Gonsalvi ' separated from M. de 
 
 ' " Prancols Cacault, minister plenipotentiary of the 
 French republic at Rome, to the ettlsen iii in isic-r for 
 
 lorcigu alliiirs. 
 
 " Florence, 10 Prairial, year ix. 
 " Citizen minister— Here [ am at Florence. The car- 
 
 Cacault at Florence, and took the road towards 
 Paris with fear and trembling. 
 
 During this interval the first consul, on receiving 
 from Rome the amended scheme, and discovering 
 that the differences were more those of form than 
 essence, became more calm upon the affair. The 
 news that cardinal Gonsalvi was coining himself to 
 endeavour to place in harmony the court of Rome 
 with the French republic, completely satisfied him. 
 He now saw the certainty of the approaching 
 arrangement, and prepared accordingly to give the 
 best reception to the prime minister of the Roman 
 court. 
 
 Cardinal Gonsalvi arrived in Paris on the 20th 
 of June, or 1st Messidor. The abbe' Bernier and 
 M. Spina hastened to receive him, and to assure 
 him of the kindly disposition of the first consul. 
 
 dinal secretary of state left Rome along with me. He called 
 for me at my house. We have made the journey together in 
 the same carriage. Our servants followed after the same 
 fashion in a second carriage ; and the expenses were paid by 
 each of our separate couriers respectively. 
 
 " We were looked upon every where with an air of surprise. 
 The cardinal greatly feared that they would imagine I was 
 going away in consequence of a rupture. He said to every 
 body continually, ' This is the French minister I' This 
 country, crushed by the miseries of the past war, shudders 
 at the least idea of the movement of troops. The Roman 
 government has yet greater fear of its own discontented 
 subjects ; above all, of those who have been tempted to take 
 authority and to plunder by the sort of revolution gone by. 
 We have thus prevented, and, at the same time, dissipated, 
 mortal fears and rash hopes. I do not think that the tran- 
 quillity of Rome will be troubled. 
 
 " The cardinal spent here the 18th in great and manifest 
 friendship with general Murat, who gave him a residence 
 and a guard of honour. He offered me the same. I have 
 accepted nothing. I am accommodated at an inn. 
 
 " The cardinal set out this morning for Paris. He will 
 arrive shortly after my despatch, for he will travel with great 
 rapidity. The poor man feels that if he fails in his object he 
 will be lost beyond all hope, and all will be lost for Rome. 
 He is anxious to know his doom. I have made him under- 
 stand, that a great means of sa\ ing every thing is to use all 
 speed, because the first consul had the most serious and 
 weighty reasons for concluding quickly and executing 
 promptly. 
 
 " I tried at Rome to get the pope to sign the concordat 
 alone; and if he had conceded this point to me, I should 
 not have left Rome ; but this idea did not succeed with inc. 
 
 " You judge well that the cardinal is not sent to I'aris 
 to sign that which the pope has refused to sign at Home; 
 but he is his first minister and favourite; it is the soul 
 of the pope that is about to enter into a communication 
 with you. I trust t hatpin agreement will result respecting 
 these modifications. It is a question of phrases, of words 
 that may be turned in so many ways, that, in the end, a 
 good one may he seized upon. 
 
 " The cardinal bears to the first consul a confidential 
 letter from the pope, and the most ardent wishes for the 
 termination of the business. He is a man of a clear 
 mind. His person has nothing imposing; he is not made I. r 
 grandeur ; his elocution, somewhat verbose, is not attractive; 
 his character is mild, and his soul will open itself to an over 
 Bow, provided he is encouraged by mildness to repose con 
 lidence. 
 
 " I have written to Madrid, to the ambassador I.ncieii 
 Bonaparte, in OTdeT to explain the meaning of the noisy re- 
 ports of cardinal Gonaalvi's Journey to Paris, and of my retire 
 meiit to Florence. In like manner, I bavi made known to 
 
 the ministers Of the emperor and Of the king of Spain at 
 Home, that there is no likelihood of war with the pope 
 " 1 salute you respectfully. Cacault "
 
 298 
 
 Cardinal Gonsalvi's interview 
 with Bonaparte. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Progress of the negotia- 
 tions. 
 
 1801. 
 June. 
 
 The costume was settled in which he was to be 
 presented at Malmaison, and he went thither with 
 considerable emotion at the idea of seeing general 
 Bonaparte. The first consul, being aware of this, 
 would not add to the cardinal's uneasy feeling. He 
 displayed all that skill in language with which 
 nature had endowed him, to impress himself upon 
 the mind of his interlocutor, to explain to him his 
 whole intentions frankly, benevolent as they were 
 towards the church, to make him sensible of the 
 weighty difficulties attached to the re-establishment 
 of public worship in France, and particularly to 
 make him comprehend that the interest which 
 he himself had in yielding to French opinion, was 
 of muc'i more consequence than that which he 
 would have in administering to the resentments of 
 priests, of emigrants, or of deposed princes, despised 
 and abandoned by all Europe. He declared to 
 cardinal Gonsalvi, that he was ready to reconsider 
 certain details in the drawing up which were 
 obscure to the Roman court, provided in the 
 main she would accord that which he regarded 
 as indispensably needful to the creation of an 
 ecclesiastical establishment entirely new, which 
 might be his undertaking, and which might reunite 
 the wise and respectable priests of all parties. 
 
 The cardinal left the first consul greatly en- 
 couraged by this interview. He seldom exhibited 
 himself in Paris, supporting a very becoming re- 
 serve, equally distant from an overdone severity, 
 and from that Italian freedom, which is so much 
 the reproach of the Roman priesthood. He ac- 
 cepted a few invitations from the consuls and 
 ministers, but constantly refused to show himself 
 in public places. He went to work with the abbe' 
 Bernier to resolve the last difficulties of the nego- 
 tiation. There were two points Which more par- 
 ticularly formed an obstacle to the agreement of 
 the two governments : one relative to the title of 
 the " religion of the state," which was sought to lie 
 obtained for the catholic religion ; the second 
 regarded the deposition of the former bishops. 
 Cardinal Gonsalvi wished that to justify the great 
 concessions thus made in the face of all Christen- 
 dom, they might be able to allege a solemn de- 
 claration of the French republic in favour of the 
 catholic church ; he wished that at least the 
 catholic religion should be declared the " dominant 
 religion," and that an abrogation of all the laws 
 opposed to it should be proclaimed or promised ; 
 and, lastly, that the first consul should personally 
 profess it. His example would be regarded as 
 before all others puissant on the mind of the 
 multitude. 
 
 The abbe" Bernier, on the other side, replied, 
 that to proclaim a "religion of the state," or a 
 "dominant religion," would be to alarm the other 
 religious persuasions, and create the apprehension 
 of a return to an oppressive, intolerant, plundering 
 religion, and so on ; that it was impossible to go 
 beyond the declaration of the one plain fact, that 
 the majority of the French people were catholics. 
 He added, that to abrogate anterior laws, it was 
 necessary to have recourse to the agreement of the 
 legislative power, and that this would throw the 
 French cabinet into an inextricable embarrassment; 
 that the government, as a government or ruling 
 body, could not make a profession of any particular 
 faith ; that the consuls might individually profess 
 
 such, but that this circumstance could not appear in 
 a treaty, as it was an individual, and, in some 
 respects, a private act. That as to the personal con- 
 duct of the first consul, the abbe Bernier said in an 
 under tone, that he would attend at a " Te Deum" 
 or a mass ; but that as to the other practices of 
 religion, it was not necessary to require them 
 of him, and that there were things of which the 
 cardinal ought to abandon the exaction, because 
 they would produce an effect more vexatious than 
 salutary. At last a preamble was agreed upon, 
 which nearly met the views of the two legations, in 
 union with the first article. 
 
 It ran thus : 
 
 " The government recognizing that the catholic re- 
 ligion is the religion of the great majority of the 
 French " 
 
 " The pope, on his part, recognizing that this religion 
 had derived and still expected at this moment the greatest 
 good from the re-establishment of the catholic worship 
 in France, and from the particular profession which 
 the consuls of the republic made of it " 
 
 From this double motive, the two authorities, for 
 the good of religion and the maintenance of internal 
 tranquillity, laid it down: — 
 
 Article 1st. — That the catholic religion should be 
 exercised in France, and that its worship should be 
 public, in conformity to the regulations of the police, 
 judged necessary for the maintenance of tranquil- 
 lity " 
 
 Article 2nd. — That there should be a new arrange- 
 ment of dioceses " 
 
 This preamble sufficiently met the intentions of all 
 parties, because it proclaimed loudly the re-esta- 
 blishment of worship; rendered the profession of it 
 as public in France as it was formerly; made the 
 profession of this faith by the consuls an individual 
 act, personal to the three consuls in its exercise, 
 and placed the allegation in the mouth of the pope 
 and not in that of the chief of the republic. These 
 first difficulties then appeared to be happily over- 
 come. Next came the contested points relative to 
 the deposing of the former bishops. In the main 
 these were agreed to by both parties; but cardinal 
 Gonsalvi demanded that the pope should be spared 
 the pain of pronouncing the depositions by a public 
 act of the old bishops. He promised that those 
 who refused to give in their resignation should no 
 longer be considered titularies, and that the pope 
 would consent to give them successors ; but he did 
 not wish that this should be formally stated in the 
 concordat. The first consul wa3 inflexible upon 
 this point, and, without giving the precise terms, 
 required that it should be positively stated, that 
 the pope would address himself to the former 
 bishops, demanding from them the resignation of 
 their sees, which he expected with full confidence 
 from their love of religion, and that if they refused 
 the sees,— 
 
 " Should be provided with new titularies for their 
 government under the new circumscription." 
 
 These were the true expressions of the treaty. 
 
 The other conditions did not become a matter of 
 contest. The first consul was to name, and the 
 pope to institute the new bishops. Still cardinal 
 Gonsalvi required and the first consul conceded 
 one reservation, by which it was stated that in case 
 of a protestant first consul, a new convention should 
 be had in order to regulate the mode of nomination.
 
 1801. 
 June. 
 
 Opposition in France to the 
 concordat. 
 
 THE CONCORDAT. 
 
 Character of the abbe Gregoire. 
 
 299 
 
 It was stipulated that the bishops should nominate 
 the cure's, and that they should be chosen from 
 among such subjects as were approved of by the 
 government. The question of the oath was resolved 
 by the simple adoption of that formerly taken by 
 the bishops to the kings of France. The holy see 
 claimed with justice, and it was accorded without 
 difficulty, the right of establishing seminaries for 
 the supply of the clergy, but without the obligation 
 of any state endowment. The engagement that 
 the holders of national property should not be 
 troubled by the clergy was formed, and the owner- 
 ship of acquired property was distinctly acknow- 
 ledged. It was said that the government would 
 take measures that the clergy should receive 
 suitable incomes, and that the old religious edifices, 
 and all the parsoi ages not alienated, should be re- 
 stored to them. It was agreed that the permission 
 to make pious donations should be granted to the 
 faithful, but that the state should regulate the form 
 of them. Upon this form it was secretly agreed 
 that the payment should be out of the public funds, 
 since the first consul would on no account hear of 
 the re-establishment of property in mortmain. 
 This arrangement was to be found in the ulterior 
 regulations of the police for regulating the forms of 
 worship, which the government had the sole power 
 to make. 
 
 In regard to the married priests, the cardinal 
 gave his word that a brief indulgence should be 
 immediately published; but he requested that an 
 act of religious charity emanating from the clemency 
 of the holy father, should pursue its free and spon- 
 taneous character, and not pass as a condition 
 imposed upon the holy see, and this was conceded 
 accordingly. 
 
 Both parties had now finally agreed upon every 
 thing, and on reasonable bases, guaranteeing at the 
 same time the independence of the French church, 
 and a perfect union with the holy see. Never had 
 a more liberal convention, and at the same time 
 one more orthodox, been made with Rome; but it 
 must he acknowledged, that one weighty resolution 
 had been forced upon the pope, perfectly justifiable 
 under the circumstances, that of deposing the 
 former titularies who might refuse to resign. It 
 was necessary, therefore, to be satisfied, and to 
 conclude. 
 
 itation was at work all this time about the 
 first consul in order to defeat his definitive consent. 
 Men, who had access to him in the customary man- 
 ner, and who enjoyed the privilege of giving him 
 their advice, combated his determination. The 
 constitutional part of the clergy made a good deal 
 of strife for fear of being sacrificed to the unsworn 
 clergy. 1 1 had obtained the right of assembling and 
 of forming a sort of national council in Paris. The 
 
 first consul bad granted these powers for the purpose 
 of stimulating the seal of the holy see, and making 
 it feel 1 1"' danger of delay. In this assembly many 
 senseless things on the customs of the primitive 
 church were debated, to which the authors of the 
 civil constitution wished to bring back the French 
 
 church. They asserted that the episcopal functions 
 ought to be co nf e r red by election, and that if this 
 was not exactly possible, it was at least desirable 
 that the first consul should choose subjects from a 
 list presented by the faithful in each diocese; that 
 the nomination of the bishops should be Confirmed 
 
 by the metropolitans, in other words by the arch- 
 bishops, and that of these last only by the pope; 
 but that the papal institution should not be granted 
 to the holy see arbitrarily; but that after a certain 
 determined time it should be compelled to ratify 
 them. This was equivalent to a complete extinction 
 of the rights of Rome. Every thing which was 
 advanced in this sort of council, was not so destitute 
 as this of practical reason. Some sound ideas 
 were presented there upon the circumscription of 
 dioceses, and the emission of bulls, and on the ne- 
 cessity of not allowing any publication emanating 
 from the pontifical authority without the express 
 permission of the civil power'. They had an in- 
 tention of uniting all these different observations 
 in the form of votes, which should be presented 
 to the first consul for the purpose of explaining 
 their resolutions. That which they were fond of 
 repeating very frequently in this assembly was, 
 that during the reign of terror the constitutional 
 clergy had rendered great services to the proscribed 
 faith, that it had never fled nor abandoned the 
 churches, and that it was not just to sacrifice those 
 to them who, during the persecution, had assumed 
 the pretext of orthodoxy to evade the clangers of 
 the priesthood. All this was correct, more particu- 
 larly as respected the ordinary priests, of which the 
 larger part really possessed the virtues attributed 
 to them. But the constitutional bishops, some of 
 whom merited respect, were for the most part men 
 of disputation, true sectarists, that ambition in 
 some, and pride of theological arrogance in others, 
 had completely enchained, and they were far in- 
 ferior in worth to the simple and unostentatious 
 men who were their inferiors. The individual at 
 their head, who showed himself the most restless, 
 the abbe Gregoire, was the leader of a sect. His 
 morals were pure, but he was of a narrow spirit, 
 had excessive vanity, and his political conduct was 
 marked by a painful recollection. Without being 
 exposed to the impulses or the terrors which gained 
 from the convention a vote of death against Louis 
 XVI., the abbe' Gre'goire, then absent, and free 
 to hold his tongue, addressed a letter to the assem- 
 bly which bore sentiments very little conformable 
 to religion or morality. He was one of those to 
 whom a return tosound ideas was the least adapted, 
 and who endeavoured, though in vain, to combat 
 the tendency imprinted upon every thing by the 
 consular government. He had taken care to form 
 attachments in the family of Bonaparte, and thus 
 to lay before the head of that family a multitude of 
 objections against the resolution in the course of 
 preparation. The first consul allowed the constitu- 
 tionalists to talk and act, and was ready to arrest 
 
 their agitation if it proceeded to a scandal; but he 
 was not sorry to make their presence disagreeable 
 to the holy see, and apply that as a stimulant to its 
 slowness. Although he bad little taste for this part 
 of the clergy, because they were in general theo- 
 logical wranglers, he wished to uphold tin ir rights, 
 and to impose upon the pope as bishops, those who 
 wife known by their pure manners and humility 
 of Spirit. .More than this was not asked by tin- 
 greater number, for they were far from repugnant 
 to a re-union with the holy see. Tiny rather 
 
 desired it as the most sure and honourable means 
 
 for them to escape from a lite of agitation, and a 
 
 state of too little consideration with their flocks.
 
 Government discussion 
 300 upon the concordat. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 That important treaty 
 signed. 
 
 1801. 
 July. 
 
 The greater number did not, in fact, resist an ar- 
 rangement with Rome but through the fear of being 
 sacrificed in a body to the former bishops. 
 
 There was a yet more formidable opposition 
 near the first consul, produced in the ministry 
 itself. Talleyrand, wounded by the spirit of the 
 Roman court, which had shown itself less easy and 
 less indulgent than he had at first believed it, had 
 become cold and ill-disposed towards it. He evi- 
 dently acted counter to the negotiation, after be- 
 ginning with right good will, when he regarded it 
 as only another peace to be concluded. He had set 
 out to take the waters, as has been already mentioned, 
 leaving the first consul a plan completely laid down 
 — a scheme of an arbitrary form, beautiful without 
 utility,— which the court of Rome would not agree 
 to on any consideration. M. d'Hauterive was 
 charged to continue to fill Talleyrand's part, and 
 half engaged in holy orders, from which he had 
 freed himself at the time of the revolution, he was 
 but little favourable to the wishes of the holy see. 
 He opposed a thousand difficulties to the drawing 
 up of the plan agreed upon between the abbe' 
 Bernier and cardinal Gonsalvi. In his opinion, 
 there should be announced in it, in a manner far 
 more express and plain, the destitution of the old 
 bishops; there ought to be mentioned in it that 
 pious bequests could only be made through the 
 funds, and there should have been a formal article 
 to specify there-instatement of the married priests, 
 with similar matters. M. d'Hauterive thus re- 
 animated the very difficulties in the drawing up, 
 before which the negotiation had nearly failed. 
 Even on the day of the signing, he again sent, on 
 these different points, a memorial to the first 
 consul. 
 
 These discussions being all terminated, there 
 was an assemblage of the consuls and the ministers, 
 in which the question was definitively argued and 
 resolved upon. There the objections already 
 known were repeated ; great weight was laid upon 
 disturbing the French mind; upon adding to the 
 budget the new charges ; upon putting, they said, 
 the national property in peril ; upon awakening 
 amongst the old clergy to be established in their 
 functions more hopes than any one would be will- 
 ing to satisfy. A scheme of simple toleration was 
 spoken of, which should only consist in restoring 
 their edifices to the faithful, as well to the unsworn 
 as to the sworn clergy, and for the government to 
 remain a peaceable spectator of their quarrels, 
 except in any case in which they might materially 
 disturb the public peace. 
 
 The consul Cambace'res, a very strong advocate 
 for the concordat, expressed himself upon the sub- 
 ject with much warmth, and triumphantly met 
 every objection. He argued that the danger of 
 disturbing the French mind was only true in re- 
 gard to some of the livelier spirits among the 
 opposition; but that the masses would welcome 
 most willingly the re-establishment of public wor- 
 ship, and already felt a moral want of it ; that the 
 consideration of the expense was a very con- 
 temptible matter in such a case; that the national 
 property was, on the contrary, to be guaranteed 
 more sacredly than ever, by the sanction of the 
 sales obtained of the holy see. Cambace'res here 
 was interrupted by the first consul, who, always 
 inflexible when the national property became a ques- 
 
 tion, declared that he made the concordat precisely 
 for the interest of the holders of that property; that 
 he would crush, with all his weight, those priests 
 who were foolish or ill-disposed enough to abuse the 
 great act about to be carried into effect. The 
 consul Cambace'res, in continuation, observed how 
 ridiculous it was, and how difficult of execution, 
 was a scheme of indifference towards all religious 
 parties, that would dispute among each other for 
 the confidence of the faithful, the edifices of worship, 
 and the voluntary gifts of public piety; who would 
 give the government all the fatigue of active in- 
 terference and not one of its advantages, and would 
 end, perhaps, in the re-union of all the sects in one 
 single hostile church, independent of the state, and 
 dependent upon foreign authority. 
 
 The consul Lebrun spoke in much the same 
 language ; and, lastly, the first consul gave his 
 opinion in a few words, but in a lucid, precise, and 
 peremptory manner. He acknowledged the diffi- 
 culties, even the perils of the undertaking ; but 
 the depth of his views went beyond some few 
 momentary difficulties, and he was resolved. He 
 showed himself so by his words. Thenceforward 
 there was no more resistance, no more disap- 
 provals, except occasional grumblings at his re- 
 solution out of his presence. Submission followed, 
 and the order was issued to sign the concordat, 
 that the abbe Bernier and cardinal Gonsalvi had 
 definitively drawn up. 
 
 According to his custom to reserve for his elder 
 brother the conclusion of the more important acts, 
 the first consul designated as plenipotentiaries, 
 Joseph Bonaparte, Cretet, the councillor of state, 
 and lastly, the abbe" Bernier, to whom the honour 
 was so justly due, for the pains he had bestowed, 
 and the ability he had displayed, during this long 
 and memorable negotiation. The pope's plenipo- 
 tentiaries were the cardinal Gonsalvi, M. Spina, 
 and the father Caselli, a learned Italian, who had 
 accompanied the Roman legation with the view of 
 lending aid by his theological knowledge. They 
 met together out of form at the house of Joseph 
 Bonaparte; the documents were read over, some 
 petty changes were made in the details, always 
 reserved to the last moment, and on the 15th of 
 July, 1801, or the 26th of Messidor, this great act 
 was signed, the most important that the coui't of 
 Rome had ever concluded with that of France, or 
 perhaps with any Christian power, because it ter- 
 minated one of the most frightful tempests that 
 the catholic religion had ever encountered. For 
 France it put an end to a deplorable schism, and 
 brought about this end by placing church and 
 state in a suitable position of union and indepen- 
 dence. 
 
 Much remained to be done after the signature 
 of the treaty, which has since borne the title of 
 the Concordat. It was necessary to demand its 
 ratification at Rome, then to obtain the bulls which 
 must accompany the publication, as well .as the 
 briefs addressed to all the former bishops, calling 
 for their resignation ; it was needful, in the next 
 place, to trace out the new circumscription of the 
 dioceses ; to choose sixty new prelates, and in 
 every thing to proceed in full accordance with 
 Rome. It was still an uninterrupted negotiation, 
 down to the day when they were at last able to 
 chant a Te Deum in Notre Dame, to celebrate the
 
 1S01. 
 Aug. 
 
 Its cold reception by the council 
 of state. 
 
 THE CONCORDAT. 
 
 Cardinal Gonsalvi returns to Rome. 
 Satisfaction of the pope. 
 
 301 
 
 re-establishment of the catholic worship. The 
 first consul, eager to arrive at the result in every 
 thing, wished that all this should be promptly 
 perfected, to celebrate at the same time the peace 
 concluded with the European powers, and the 
 peace with the church. The accomplishment of 
 such a wish was difficult. The greatest haste 
 was made in expediting the details, in order to 
 retard as little as possible the great act of the re- 
 storation of public worship. 
 
 The first consul did not at first make public the 
 treaty concluded with the pope; it was previously 
 necessary to obtain the ratifications : but he com- 
 municated it to the council of state, in the sitting 
 of the 6'th of August, or 18th Thermidor. He did 
 not communicate the act in its tenor, but contented 
 himself with giving a substantial analysis, and ac- 
 companied this analysis with an enumeration of 
 the motives which had decided the government ill 
 its conclusion. Those who heard him on that day 
 were struck with the precision, vigour, and lofti- 
 ness of the language lie used. It was the eloquence 
 of a magistrate, the chief of an empire. _ Still, if 
 they were struck at his simple, nervous, elo- 
 quence, which Cicero styled in Caesar rim CoBsaris, 
 they were little reconciled to the proceeding of the 
 first consul '. They remained dumb and sullen, as 
 if they had seen perishing with the schism one of 
 the works of the revolution the most to be re- 
 gretted. The act was not then submitted to the 
 deliberations of the council; it neither discussed 
 nor voted upon it. Nothing broke the silent cold- 
 ness of the scene. They were dumb ; they sepa- 
 rated without saying a word, without expressing 
 a single suffrage. But the first consul had shown 
 what was his will, from thenceforth irrevocable, 
 and that was enough for a great number of per- 
 sons. It was, at least, the assumed silence of those 
 who would not displease him, and of those also 
 who, respecting his genius, and valuing the im- 
 mensity of the good that he had conferred upon 
 France, were decided to pass over even his errors. 
 
 The first consul, thinking that he had now sti- 
 mulated tin- court of Rome sufficiently, deemed it 
 necessary to put an end to the pretended council 
 
 1 Letter from Monsignor Spina to cardinal Gonsalvi, 
 secretary of stale : 
 
 " Paris, 8th August. 
 
 " Thursday last, the first consul being in the council of 
 state, and informed that in Paris the contention which he 
 had concluded with his holiness was the general lubject of 
 conversation; that every one, although ignorant of its pre- 
 nor, tpake of it and commented upon it, each after liis 
 own fancy, therefore took the opportunity of communicating 
 to the conncfl 1'ielf the whole detail*. I know for certain 
 
 that he ipoke for an liour and a half, showing the necessity 
 and advantage of it, and I have been told that he spoke most 
 admirably. ,A" '"' '"'' "" l as ^ ,or the opinion of the council, 
 all the ni> nr,. r, oi the council remained ittent. i have not 
 yet been able to learn what tmprenion was produced upon 
 the minds of, the councillor! In general. The good were de- 
 lighted at it, but tli'ir number is very limited. I shall en 
 OUT to lind out what impression wan made upon those 
 
 who wen advert* lo it. It appears that the lir.u consul is 
 
 desirous of preparing the minds of those who are hostile to 
 the measure, with the view of disarming their opposition; 
 but he will nut succeed, unless he adl more ener- 
 
 getic proceedings again- 1 lh* eon .titiitioiialisis, nor while he 
 leaves the catholic worship exposed to the I. eh of the minister 
 of police." 
 
 of the ecclesiastical clergy. In consequence, he 
 commanded them to separate, and they obeyed; 
 since not one among them would have dared to 
 offend an authority that had sixty bishopries to 
 be distributed, elevated, this time, by pontifical 
 institution itself. In separating, they presented to 
 the first consul an act of a suitable form, which 
 embodied their views relative to the new religious 
 establishment. It contained the propositions which 
 have been already detailed. 
 
 Cardinal Gonsalvi had left Paris to return to 
 Rome, and to bring back M. de Cacault to the 
 presence of the holy see. The pope was longing 
 for this double return, because Lower Italy was 
 dangerously agitated. The Italian patriots of 
 Naples and the Roman state awaited with im- 
 patience the opportunity of a new disturbance, 
 while the old Ruffo party, the cut-throats of the 
 queen of Naples, desired nothing better than some 
 pretext for falling upon the French. These men, 
 so different in their intentions, were ready to unite 
 their efforts to run every thing into confusion. 
 The news of the accordance between the French 
 and Roman governments, the certainty of the in- 
 tervention of general Murat, placed in the neigh- 
 bourhood, at the head of an army, restrained the 
 bad spirits, and prevented these sinister designs. 
 The pope was overjoyed at seeing cardinal GcUsalvi 
 and the French minister return to Rome. He 
 immediately convoked a congregation of cardinals, 
 in order to submit to them the new work ; and 
 he caused the bulls, the briefs, in fact, all the 
 acts necessary in consequence of the concordat, 
 to be prepared. The worthy pontiff was pleased, 
 but agitated. He felt the certainty of having 
 done well, and of immolating nothing but the in- 
 terests of a faction to the general good of the 
 church. But the censures of the old throne and 
 altar party broke forth at Rome with great vio- 
 lence, and although the holy father had put away 
 from his presence all the evil-disposed, he heard 
 their bitter language, and was disturbed by it. 
 Cardinal Maury, judging, with his usual superiority 
 of acuteness, that the cause of the emigrants was 
 lost, and already seeing, perhaps with a Becret 
 satisfaction, the moment when all in a state of 
 exile, far from their country, and sighing to return, 
 would be again restored, kept himself at a dis- 
 tance, in his bishopric of Monteliascone, solely 
 occupying himself in the care of a library, which 
 formed tin- charm of his solitude. The pope, in 
 order not to give umbrage to the first consul, had, 
 besides, made the cardinal understand, that his 
 absolute retreat at Montefiascone was, at, that mo- 
 ment, a convenience to the pontifical government. 
 
 The pope then was satisfied, but full of emotion 1 , 
 
 1 Letter of M. de Cacault, minister plenipotentiary of the 
 I'lein h republic at Rome, lo the minister lor foreign affair*. 
 " Home, Mb August, IKUl, or L'O Thcrmiilor, year ix 
 
 " Citizen MiNisTi.u, — To Inform you of tb* state Of the 
 affair of the pope's r.itiia.ition, expected at 1'aris, 1 can do 
 no better than transmit you an original letter which 1 have 
 
 Just red Ived from cardinal Oonialvl. 
 "The cardinal having been obliged to keep his bed, his 
 
 holiness came to work today at the house of his sccnlary 
 of state. 
 
 •■ The Mured college is to concur In the ratification ; all 
 the doctor* ol tie- Oral order are employed and In increment, 
 The holy hitler is in agitation tin- agitation and the da-
 
 Cardinal Caprara appointed 
 3"«* legate a latere. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. His reception at Paris. 
 
 1801. 
 Sent, 
 
 and pressed forward the completion of the business 
 so fortunately begun. The congregation of cardi- 
 nals was entirely in favour of the concordat, since 
 it had been revised, and accordingly pronounced 
 itself in an affirmative manner. The pope, thinking 
 that he must henceforward throw himself into the 
 arms of the first consul, to accomplish with eclat 
 an undertaking which had so noble an end as the 
 re-establishment of the catholic worship in France, 
 desired that the ceremony of the ratification should 
 be surrounded with splendour and great solemnity. 
 In consequence he gave the ratifications in a 
 grand consistory, and in order to add still more to 
 the brilliancy of this pontifical ceremony, he named 
 three cardinals. He received M. de Cacault in 
 full pomp, and displayed, in spite of the narrow- 
 ness of his finances, all the luxury that befitted the 
 occasion. Having to make choice of a legate to 
 send into France, he designated the most eminent 
 diplomatist in the court of Rome, the cardinal 
 Caprara, a personage distinguished by his birth, 
 being of the illustrious family of the Montecuculi, 
 remarkable by his intelligence, his experience, and 
 his moderation. Formerly ambassador to Joseph 
 II., he had witnessed the troubles of the church in 
 the last century, and had often by his ability and 
 his readiness of mind saved the holy see from 
 inconvenience. The first consul had himself ex- 
 pressed his desire of having near his person this 
 prince of the church. The pope hastened to satisfy 
 this wish, and made, on his own part, great efforts 
 to overcome the resistance of the cardinal, who 
 was old, ill, and little disposed to recommence the 
 laborious career of his early youth. At length his 
 repugnance was vanquished by the earnest solici- 
 tations of the holy father, and the overwhelming 
 interest of the church. The pope wished to confer 
 upon cardinal Caprara the highest diplomatic dig- 
 nity of the Roman court, that of legate a latere. 
 This legate has powers of the most extended cha- 
 racter ; the cross is always borne before him ; he 
 has power to do every thing able to be done afar 
 fi-om the pope. Pius VII., upon this occasion, 
 renewed the ancient ceremonies, in which was 
 remitted to the representative of the holy father, 
 the venerated sign of his mission. A grand con- 
 sistory was convoked anew ; and in presence of 
 all the cardinals and of all the foreign ministers, 
 
 sire of a young spouse, who dares not be merry on the im- 
 portant marriage-day. Never has the pontifical court been 
 seen more collected, more seriously and more secretly occu- 
 pied with the novelty which is on the point of breaking 
 forth, while France, for which all this is done, for whom 
 they labour, neither intrigues, promises, gives, nor shines 
 here in the way of ancient usage. The first consul will 
 soon enjoy the accomplishment of his views in regard to an 
 accordance with the holy see, and that will take place in a 
 novel, simple, and truly respectable mode. 
 
 " This will be the work of a hero and a saint, for the pope 
 is a man of real piety. 
 
 " lie has said to me more than once, ' Depend upon it, 
 that if France, in place of being a dominant power, were low 
 and fallen in the regard of its enemies, I should not do less 
 for her than I am granting to-day.' 
 
 " I do not think it can have ever happened, that so great a 
 result, on which the tranquillity of France and the welfare 
 of Europe will in future mainly depend, could have been 
 thus attained without violence and without corruption. 
 
 " I have the honour respectfully to salute you. 
 
 " Cacault." 
 
 the cardinal Caprara received the sacred cross, 
 which he was bound to have carried before him in 
 that republican France which had for so long a 
 time been a stranger to the pomps of Catholicism. 
 
 The first consul, sensible of the cordial conduct 
 of the pope, testified towards him in return the 
 kindest consideration. He enjoined it upon Murat 
 to spare the Roman States from the passage of 
 troops ; he made the Cisalpine republic evacuate 
 the little duchy of Urbino, which it had seized 
 upon under the pretext of some dispute respecting 
 boundaries. He announced the approaching eva- 
 cuation of Ancona, and pending that evacuation 
 remitted money there to pay the garrison, in order 
 to relieve the papal treasury from the expense. 
 The Neapolitans having persisted in keeping pos- 
 session of two of the territories bordering upon 
 their frontier belonging to the holy see, namely, 
 Benevento and Ponte Corvo, were ordered to eva- 
 cuate them. The first consul also caused one of 
 the fine hotels of Paris to be prepared and fur- 
 nished with every luxury for the purpose of lodg- 
 ing, at the expense of the French treasury, the 
 cardinal Caprara. 
 
 The ratifications had been exchanged ; the bulls 
 approved; the briefs were in course of being expe- 
 dited throughout all Christendom, to request the 
 resignations of the former titularies. Cardinal Ca- 
 prara hastened his journey to Paris, notwithstand- 
 ing his advanced years. Orders were every where 
 given to the authorities to receive him in a manner 
 fully consonant with his exalted dignity. They had 
 done so with solicitude ; the population of the pro- 
 vinces seconding their zeal, had given to the repre- 
 sentative of the holy see, such marks of respect as 
 proved the influence of the old religion over the 
 country population. There was some fear about 
 putting to the same proof the jeering people of 
 Paris ; every thing was arranged so that the car- 
 dinal should enter the capital at night. He was 
 received with every possible attention, and lodged 
 in the hotel prepared for him. He was also given 
 to understand, in the most delicate manner in 
 which it could be stated, that a part of the ex- 
 penses of his mission would be borne by the French 
 government ; and that this was a diplomatic cus- 
 tom it was intended to establish in favour of the 
 holy see. The first consul sent to the residence of 
 the legate two carriages drawn by his finest horses. 
 Cardinal Caprara was received as a foreign am- 
 bassador ; not yet as a representative of the 
 church. This last reception was adjourned until 
 the time of the definitive re-establisiiment of the 
 worship. To initiate the new bishops, chant the 
 Te Deum, and tender to the cardinal legate the 
 oath which was necessary to the first consul, was 
 i( served fur the same time. 
 
 The indispensable formalities which it was need- 
 ful should precede the concordat, had taken much 
 more time than it was thought they would occupy 
 at the commencement, and had lasted up to the 
 period when the preliminaries of peace were signed 
 in London. The first consul wished to be able to 
 establish coincidently the /tie of the 18th Brumaire 
 and the general peace with the great religious 
 solemnization of the restoration of worship. But 
 it was necessary that the resignations of the former 
 titularies should be received at Rome, before the 
 approval there of the new diocesan circumscription
 
 1801. 
 Oct. 
 
 The measure carried into effect. 
 
 THE CONCORDAT. 
 
 Resignation of the bishops. 
 
 303 
 
 could take place, together with the choice of the 
 new bishops. The resignations demanded by the 
 pope of the ancient French clergy, were at that 
 moment the object of general attention. There 
 was a desire in all quarters to see how this great 
 act of the pope and the first consul would be 
 received, holding each other by the hand, and thus 
 demanding of the old clergy, of the friends or 
 enemies of the revolution, scattered over Russia, 
 uany, England, and Spain, the sacrifice of their 
 position, their party affections, their pride of doc- 
 trine itself, that the unity of the church should 
 triumph, and peace be established in the interior of 
 France. How many of them would be found so 
 far influenced by this double motive as to immolate 
 so many personal feelings and sentiments at once. 
 The result proved the wisdom of the great act 
 which the pope and the first consul at that moment 
 executed ; it proved the dominion which the love of 
 
 g 1 can exercise over souls so nobly incited by a 
 
 saintly pontiff and a hero. 
 
 The briefs addressed to the orthodox bishops and 
 to the constitutionalist bishops were not alike. The 
 britl's addressed to the orthodox bishops who had 
 refused to acknowledge the civil constitution of the 
 clergy, considered them as the legitimate titularies 
 of their sees, demanded from them that they 
 should resign in the name and for the interests 
 of the church, in virtue of an offer made formerly 
 to Pius VI., and, ia ease of refusal, declared 
 them deposed. The language was affectionate, 
 melancholy, but full of authority. The brief ad- 
 dressed to the constitutional bishops was equally 
 paternal, and breathed the mildest indulgence of 
 spirit, but made no mention of resignation, seeing 
 that the church had never recognized the consti- 
 tutional as legitimate bishops. It requested them 
 to abjure their former errors, to enter into the 
 bosom of the church, and to terminate a schism, 
 which was at the same time a scandal and a 
 calamity. This was a maimer of inducing their 
 resignation without demanding it, since to demand 
 it would have been a recognition of their title by 
 the holy see, which it was unable to grant. 
 
 Equal justice should be rendered to all those 
 who facilitated this great act of unity. The con- 
 stitutional bishops, of whom some had an inclination 
 to resist, but of whom the majority, better advised, 
 sincerely desired to second the wishes of the first 
 consul, resigned in a body. The brief though 
 highly cordial was annoying to them, because it 
 only spoke of their errors, and not of their resigna- 
 tions. 'I'll' y devised a form of compliance with 
 the wishes of the pope, which, without involving 
 any retractation of the past, still implied their 
 submission and resignation. They declared that 
 they adhered to the new concordat, and as a con- 
 sequence deprived themselves of their episcopal 
 dignity. They were in number fifty ; and all sub- 
 I except bishop Saurine, a man of an ardent 
 imagination, and a zeal stronger than it was en- 
 lightened; but at the same time a priest of pure 
 morals, whom the first consul afterwards called to 
 the episcopal dignity alter he had been made 
 acceptable to the pope. 
 
 This part of the task was not the more difficult 
 It was besides that which it was the easiest to 
 realize immediately, because the constitutionalists 
 were nearly all in Paris under the arm of the first 
 
 consul, and the influence of the friends who had 
 constituted themselves their defenders and guides. 
 
 The unsworn bishops were scattered through all 
 Europe, but still a certain number of them were at 
 this time in France. The great majority gave 
 a noble example of piety and evangelical submis- 
 sion. Seven were resident in Paris, and eight in 
 the provinces, in all fifteen. Not one hesitated 
 about his answer to the pope, and to the new head 
 of the state. They replied in language worthy of 
 the best times of the church. The old bishop 
 of Bellov, a venerable prelate, who had replaced 
 M. de Belsunee at Marseilles, and who was the 
 model of the ancient clergy, hastened to give his 
 brethren the signal of abrogation. "Full," said 
 he, " of veneration for, and obedience to the decrees 
 of his holiness, and wishing always to be of one 
 heart and one spirit with him, I do not hesitate to 
 deposit in the hands of the holy father my resigna- 
 tion of the bishopric of Marseilles. It suffices that he 
 esteems it necessary for the preservation of religion 
 in France that I should give in my resignation." 
 
 One of the most learned bishops among the 
 French clergy, the historian of Bossuet and Fene- 
 lon, the bishop of Alais, wrote : " Happy to have 
 the will to concur by my resignation, as much as is 
 in my power, with the views of wisdom, peace, and 
 conciliation, which his holiness has adopted, I pray 
 God to bless his pious intentions, and to spare him 
 the contradictions which would afflict his paternal 
 heart." 
 
 The bishop of Acqs wrote to the holy father : 
 " I have not a moment hesitated to immolate 
 myself, as soon as I was aware that this painful 
 sacrifice was necessary to the peace of the country 
 and the triumph of religion. may she arise 
 glorious from her ruins ! May she be elevated 
 1 will not say alone upon the wrecks of my dearest 
 interests, of all my temporal advantages, but on 
 my ashes themselves, if I could serve as her ex- 
 piatory victim ! May my fellow-citizens return to 
 concord, to the faith, and to holy morals. Never shall 
 I form other desires during my life, and my death 
 will be too happy if I see them accomplished." 
 
 It must be confessed that it is a beautiful insti- 
 tution which commands such sacrifices and lan- 
 guage. The more ancient names of the old clergy 
 of France, the Rohans, Latours du Pin, Castellanes, 
 1'olignacs, Clermonts Tonnerre, Latours d'Au- 
 vergne, were found in the list of the bishops who 
 had resigned. There was a general enthusiasm 
 which recalled to recollection the generous sacri- 
 fices of the old French nobility on the night of the 
 4th of August. It was this wish to facilitate by a 
 great act of abrogation the execution id' the con- 
 cordat, that M. de Cacault had called the labour of 
 a hero and a saint. 
 
 The bishops that had taken refuge in Germany, 
 Italy, and Spain, for the most part followed their 
 examples. There remained the eighteen bishops 
 who had retired into England. These last were 
 waited for to sec whether they would escape the 
 influence of the enemies that sin rounded them. 
 
 The British government, at that time actuated by 
 
 no unfriendly spirit towards France, wished to 
 have nothing to do with their determination, lint 
 the princes id' the house of liourbon, the chiefs of 
 
 the Chouans, the instigators of the civil war, the 
 accomplices in the- infernal machine, Georges and
 
 304 
 
 General submission of the 
 clergy. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND ExMPIRE. 
 
 Bonaparte's anger at a 1801. 
 temporary delay. Nov. 
 
 his associates were in London, living on the means 
 given to emigrants. They surrounded the eighteen 
 prelates, determined to prevent them from giving 
 in their adhesion, and thus completing the union of 
 the French clergy around the pope and Bonaparte. 
 Long deliberations took place. Among the num- 
 ber of the refractory was numbered the archbishop 
 of Narbonne, to whom they attributed very tempo- 
 ral interests, because with his see he would be 
 deprived of immense revenues ; also the bishop of 
 St. Pol de Leon, who had carved out a post for 
 himself, reported to be lucrative, that of distributor 
 of the British subsidies among the exiled priest- 
 hood. These acted upon the bishops, and gained 
 over thirteen of them ; but they encountered a 
 noble resistance from the other five, at the head of 
 whom were two of the most illustrious and imposing 
 members of the old clergy. M. de Cice', archbishop 
 of Bordeaux, the old keeper of the seals under 
 Louis XVI., a person who possessed a superior 
 political mind ; M. de Boi.sgelin, a learned bishop, 
 and lord of great possessions, who had formerly 
 displayed the attitude of a worthy priest, faithful to 
 his religion, though by no means an enemy to the 
 enlightenment of the age in which he lived. These 
 sent in their adhesion with their three colleagues, 
 D'Osmond, De Noe', and Du Plessis d'Argentre'. 
 
 Nearly all the old clergy had submitted. The 
 work of the pope was accomplished with less bitter- 
 ness of heart than he had at first feared. All 
 these resignations successively inserted in the 
 ]\Joiiiteur, by the side of the treaties signed with 
 the European courts, with Russia, England, Ba- 
 varia, and Portugal, produced a great effect, of 
 which contemporaries retain a strong recollection. 
 If any thing made the influence of the new govern- 
 ment felt, it was this respectful, earnest submission 
 of the two inimical churches ; the one devoted to 
 the revolution, but corrupted by the demon of dis- 
 putation; the other proud, haughty in its orthodoxy, 
 and in the greatness of its names, infected with the 
 spirit of emigration, animated with sincere loyalty, 
 and besides thinking that alone would suffice to 
 render them victorious. This triumph was one of 
 the finest, most deserved, and most universally felt. 
 The lthli of Brumaire, fixed upon for the grand 
 festival of the general peace, was approaching. 
 The first consul was seized with one of those 
 personal feelings, which in man are too frequently 
 mingled with the noblest resolutions. He wished 
 to enjoy his labour, and to be able to celebrate the 
 re-establishment of religious peace on the 18th of 
 Brumaire. To do this, there were two things 
 needful : first, that the bull relative to the dio- 
 cesan arrangements should be sent from Rome; 
 and secondly, that cardinal Caprara should have 
 the faculty of installing the new bishops. If these 
 things had been done, the sixty bishops might 
 have been nominated and consecrated, and a so- 
 lemn Te Deuin been sung in the church of Notre 
 Dame, in their presence. At Rome they had 
 waited, most unfortunately, for the reply of the 
 five French bishops, retired into the north of Ger- 
 many ; and as to the faculty of canonical investi- 
 ture, it had not been imparted to cardinal Caprara, 
 because such a power had never been deputed, not 
 even to a legate a latere. It was now the 1st of 
 November, or 10th Brumaire, and there remained 
 but a few days. The first consul sent for cardinal 
 
 Caprara, and spoke to him in the bitterest manner, 
 and with a warmth neither becoming nor merited, 
 of the little iii-sistance he obtained of the pontifical 
 government towards the accomplishment of his 
 objects, and thus produced in the excellent cardinal 
 a deep emotion '. But he very quickly perceived 
 
 1 Letter from cardinal Caprara to cardinal Gonsalvi : — 
 " Paris, 22nd November, 1801. 
 
 " Returning from Jlalmaison about eleven o'clock at 
 night, I sit down to detail to you the result of an interview 
 I have had with the first consul. He did not utter a word 
 upon the five articles which I attached to my letter of the 1st 
 of November ; but with the proper vivacity attached to his 
 character, he broke out into the bitterest complaints against 
 all Romans, saying that they wished to lead him in a dance, 
 that they were trying to ensnare him by their eternal pro- 
 crastination in expediting the bull of circumscription, and 
 that they added to the delay by not sending the pope's letters 
 to the bishops in proper lime, and further, by not sending 
 them by couriers, as every government would do that felt an 
 interest in a negotiation of this kind ; that they were endea- 
 vouring to entrap him, for they tried to make a manikin of 
 him, to frighten the pope from agreeing to the nominations 
 which he might make of the constitutional bishops ; and 
 continuing to pour forth his words like a torrent, he repeated 
 every thing exactly that the councillor Portalis told me yes- 
 terday night in presence of Monsignor Spina. 
 
 " After an assault so vehement and in language full of 
 invective, I took upon myself the part of justifying the Ro- 
 mans whom he accused; when he said, interrupting me, ' I 
 will listen to no justification. I make but one exception, 
 ar.d that is the pope, for whom I feel respect and affection.' 
 As it appeared to me that he w;is now somewhat less trans- 
 ported than at the beginning of the conversation, I tried to 
 make him ;.ensible that, entertaining an affection for his 
 holiness, he ought to give him some proof of it, by sparing 
 him the pain of nominating the constitutional bishops. 
 Upon my making this suggestion, he put on again his former 
 aiijiry tone, ;ind answered me, ' The constitutional bishops 
 shall be appointed by me, and their number shall be fifteen. 
 I have yielded all in my power ; I will not deviate one par- 
 ticle from the determination to which I have come.' 
 
 " As to the chiefs of the sectarians, counsellor Portalis, 
 who was present, assured me that I might be at ease on that 
 head, as well as upon the matter of the subordinates. On the 
 subject of the submission being started, the first consul ex- 
 claimed, ' It is arrogance to demand such a thing, and it 
 would be cowardly to yield to it.' Then without waiting for 
 a reply, he entered into a wide space of discursive argument 
 upon canonical institutions ; and throwing aside entirely his 
 military character, lie discoursed for a long while in a mode 
 well worthy of a canon. I will not assert that he tried to 
 convince me, but only to keep me at a distance. At last he 
 concluded by the ohservation, ' But the bishops do not 
 make profession of faith, nor take the oath.' Counsellor 
 Portalis having replied, ' Ves, they do;' ' Well, ssid he, 'that 
 act of obedience to the pope is of more value than a thou- 
 sand submissions.' Then turning round to me, he said, 
 ' Endeavour to arrange that the bull of circumscription may 
 be here soon ; and that the other, respecting which I ad- 
 dressed you on a former occasion, may not meet at Home 
 with the same destiny which the pope's letters to the bishops 
 have experienced, and which I learn were not received by 
 any of the several parties in Germany until the 21st of last 
 month.' 
 
 " Here the interview closed. I ought still to add, that at 
 its conclusion, about one o'clock in the day, he took an airing 
 with madame, and was absent about an hour; but he insisted 
 previously that I should stay and dine, although I was 
 already engaged with his hrother Joseph, to whom, however, 
 he sent off word. Without tho smallest exaggeration, from 
 dinner time till ten at night, he npver ceased talking to me, 
 walking nearly all the time up and down the room, his cus- 
 tomary way, and discoursing on every imaginary topic in 
 politics and economy that concerned us."
 
 1801. 
 Nov. 
 
 Completion of the concordat. 
 
 THE TRIBUNATE. Opposition in France to that measure. 305 
 
 his errors, and as quickly sought to repair them. 
 He felt instantly that he had done wrong, and 
 (baring to soften the effect which his warmth and 
 vehemence had produced, he kept the cardinal at 
 Malmaison the whole day, charming him by his 
 grace and kindness, and consoling him for his 
 hastiness of conduct in the morning. 
 
 Despatches were written to Rome, and a respect- 
 able priest was sent off to Germany, the curate of 
 St. Sulpice, id. de Pancemont, since bishop of 
 Valines, for the purpose of obtaining the answer of 
 the five prelates, which was awaited so impa- 
 tiently. Nevertheless, the 18th Brumaire pa--< -<\ 
 without the arrival of the acts so much desired. 
 The brilliancy of that day was still great enough to 
 make the first consul forget what might have been 
 wanting in this addition. At hist the answer 
 arrived from Rome; the pope always inclined to do 
 what he, whom he styled his "dear son," requested, 
 sent the bull for the arrangement of the dioceses, 
 and the power of instituting the new bishops, con- 
 ferred upon the legate in an unprecedented man- 
 ner. As a compensation for so much condescen- 
 sion, the pope desired only one thing, which he 
 confided to the judgment of cardinal Caprara, 
 which was, that he might be spared the chagrin 
 of appointing constitutionists. 
 
 After this, nothing more opposed the proclama- 
 
 tion of the great religious act, thus laboriously 
 accomplished, but the propitious moment had been 
 permitted to slip by. The session of the year x. 
 was opened, according to usage, reckoning from 
 the 1st Frimaire, or 22nd of November, 1801. 
 The tribunate, the legislative body, and the senate 
 were assembled; a warm resistance was announced, 
 and scandalous speeches made, against the con- 
 cordat. The first consul did not like that such an 
 outbreak should trouble so august a ceremony, and 
 resolved to wait, in order to celebrate the re-esta- 
 blishment of public worship, until he had brought 
 back the tribunate to its senses, or crushed it 
 altogether. Now the delays were to come from 
 his side, and it was the holy see that was to show 
 itself urgent in going forward. However, the sud- 
 den obstacles which he was likely to encounter, 
 proved the merit and courage of his resolve. It 
 was not to the concordat alone that a warm oppo- 
 sition was expected, but to the civil code itself, as 
 well as to some of the treaties which had just 
 secured peace to the world. Proud of his labour, 
 strong in the public opinion, the first consul was 
 resolute in proceeding to the last extremities. He 
 spoke only of crushing those bodies that might 
 resist him. Thus human passions were about to 
 mingle their stimulants with the finest works of a 
 great man and of a great epoch. 
 
 BOOK XIII. 
 
 THE TRIBUNATE. 
 
 INTERIOR ADMINISTRATION. — THE GREAT ROADS CLEARED OF HIGHWAY ROBBERS, AND PUT INTO REPAIR. — REVIVAL 
 OP COMMERCE. — EXPORTS AND IMPORTS OF THE YEAR 1801. — MATERIAL RESULTS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AS 
 REGARDS AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, AND POPULATION. — INFLUENCE OF THE PREFECTS AND SUB-PREFECTS ON 
 THE ADMINISTRATION. — ORDKR AND SPEED IN THE DESPATCH OF BUSINESS. — COUNSELLORS OF STATE ON CIRCUIT. 
 — DISCUSSION OF THE CIVIL CODE IN THE COUNCIL OF STATE. — BRILLIANT WINTER OF 1801-2. — EXTRAORDINARY 
 INFLUX OP FOREIGNERS TO PARIS. —COURT OF Til E FIRST CONSUL. — ORG ANIZATIoN OF HIS CIVIL AND MILITARY 
 ESTABLISHMENTS.— THE CONSULAR GUA RD.— PREFECTS OF THE PALACE AND LADIES OF HONOUR. — SISTERS OF 
 THE FIRST CONSUL. — HORTENSE BEAUIIARNOIS MARRIES LOUIS BONAPARTE. — FOX AND DE CA LONNE VISIT PARIS. 
 
 — PROSPERITY AND LUXURY OF ALL CLASSES. — APPROACH OF THE SESsION OF THE YEAR X. — WARM OPPOSITION 
 TO SOME OP THE BEST PLANS OF THE FIRST CONSUL. — CAUSES OF THIS OPPOSITION SHOWN, NOT ONLY AMONG 
 THE MEMBERS OF THE DELIBERATIVE ASSEMBLIES, BUT AMONG THE DISTINGUISHED OFFICERS OF THE ARMY. 
 
 — CONDUCT OF GENERALS LANNES, AUGEREAU, AND MOREAU. — OPENING OF THE SESSION.— DUFUIS, AUTHOR OP 
 THE WORK ON THE ORIGIN OP ALL RELIGIONS, IS ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY. — BALLOT 
 FOR THE VACANT PLATES IN THE SENATE. — NOMINATION OF THE AIIIIC GKEGOIRE, CONTRARY TO THE PROPO- 
 SITIONS OF THE FIRST CONSUL. — VIOLENT EXPLOSION IN THE TRIBUNATE, ON ACCOUNT 111' THE WORD "SUB- 
 JECT" INTRODUCED INTO THE TREATY WITH RUSSIA. — OPPOSITION TO THE CIVIL CODE.- DISCUSSION IN THE 
 COUNCIL OF UTATE RESPECTING THE COURSE TO BE ADOPTED UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES. — IT IS RESOLVED TO 
 AWAIT Till. DltCDMIOl OF THE FIRST SECTION'S OF THE CIVIL CODE. — THE TRIBUNATE HEJECTS THE FIRST 
 SECTION!. — RESULT OF THE BALLOT FOR THE PLACES VACANT IN THE SENATE. —THE FIRST KftM'l PROPOSES 
 OLD GENERALS, NOT select, n FROM AMONG HIS CREATURES. — THE TRIBUNATE AND LEGISLATIVE BODY 
 REJECT THEM, AM) AGREE TO SUPPORT M. DAUNOU, KNOWN lull HIS OPPOSITION TO THE GOVERNMENT. — 
 VEHEMENT SPEECH MADE I>Y THE FIRST CONSUL TO A MEETING OF SENATORS. — THREATS OF AN ARBITRARY 
 MEASURE.— THE OI'HlM.SIl INTIMIDATED, SUBMIT, AND PLAN A SUBTERFUGE To ANNIHILATE Mil: EFFECT 
 OF THE FIRST BALLOTS— CAMIIAIEHES DISSUADES THE FIRST COMIUE I ROM ANY ILLEGAL MEASURE, AND 
 ADVISES HIM TO c,l I 1,1 Ml OF THE OPPOSITION MEMBERS BY MEANS OF ARTICLE XXXVIII OF TBS CONSTITU- 
 TION, WHICH PRESCRIBES THAT THE FIRST I I II II or THE LEG I S I. AT I V E BODY A M> THE TRIBUNATE SHOULD 
 GO OUT IN THE YEAR X — THE FIRST CONSUL ADOPTS THE IDEA. — SUSPENSION OF ALL THE LEGISLATIVE 
 LABOURS.— AN ADVANTAGE TAKEN OF THIS SUSPENSION TO ASSEMIILK AT LYONS AN ITALIAN DIET, UNDER THE 
 TITLE OF THE " CONSULTA." — BEFORE LEAVING PARIS, THE FIRST CONSUL DESPATCHES A FLEET WITH TROOPS 
 
 X
 
 306 
 
 Interior administration. 
 Suppression of robbery. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Improvement of the 
 roads. — Revival of 
 commerce. 
 
 1801-2. 
 Nov. 
 
 FOR ST. DOMINGO. — PLAN TO RECONQUER THAT COLONY. — NEGOTIATIONS AT AMIENS. — OBJECT OP THE CONSULTA 
 CONVENED AT LXONS. — VARIOUS CONSTITUTIONS PROPOSED FOR ITALY. — PLANS OF THE FIRST CONSUL RELATIVE 
 TO THIS POINT. — CREATION OF THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC. — BONAPARTE PROCLAIMED PRESIDENT OP THE RE- 
 PUBLIC. — ENTHUSIASM OF THE ITALIANS AND FRENCH AT LYONS. — GRAND REVIEW OF THE ARMY OP EGYPT. — 
 RETURN OF THE FIRST CONSUL TO PARIS. 
 
 We have seen by what persevering and skilful 
 efforts, the first consul, after overcoming Europe 
 by his victories, had succeeded in reconciling it to 
 France by his policy : we have seen by means of 
 what efforts, not less meritorious, he reconciled 
 the church with the French republic, and put an 
 end to the miseries of schism. His efforts to re- 
 establish the security and perfection of the roads, 
 to impart activity to commerce and industry, and 
 to restore ease to the finances, and order in their 
 administration, to draw up a code of civil laws 
 appropriate to French manners, to organize, finally, 
 every part of French society, had not been less 
 continued nor less fortunate. 
 
 That race of robbers, which was formed out of 
 deserters from the army and the licentious soldiers 
 of the civil war, who attacked the rich landed pro- 
 prietors in the country, the travellers on the high 
 roads, pillaged the public chests, and spread terror 
 through the country, had been repressed with the 
 utmost rigour. These robbers had chosen the 
 moment when nearly all the troops were beyond 
 the frontier, and the interior of the country was 
 deprived of the means of defence, to spread them- 
 selves over it. But since the treaty of Lune'ville, 
 and the return of a part of the troops to France, 
 the situation was no longer the same. Numerous 
 moveable columns, accompanied at first by military 
 commissioners, and afterwards by those special 
 tribunals of which the establishment has been 
 already stated, had scoured the roads in all direc- 
 tions, and chastised, with pitiless energy, those 
 who infested them. Several hundreds among them 
 had been shot during six months, without a single 
 voice having been heard in favour of those mis- 
 creants, the impure remains of civil war. The 
 others, completely discouraged, had sent in their 
 arms, and made their submission. Security was 
 established on the high roads, so that, though in 
 the months of January and February, 1801, it was 
 hardly possible to travel from Paris to Rouen, or 
 from Paris to Orleans, without running the chance 
 of being murdered, at the end of the year it was 
 possible to travel through the whole of France 
 without being exposed to such an accident. There 
 might still have been some remains of these ban- 
 dits in the remoter parts of Britany, and in the 
 interior of the CeVennes at the utmost ; but it 
 was not long before all these were completely dis- 
 persed. 
 
 It has already been seen how ten years of trou- 
 ble had nearly interrupted the passage of the roads 
 of France by their neglect ; how the ancient corvee 
 had been replaced by a toll at the different bar- 
 riers; how, under the system of this incommodious 
 and insufficient tax, at the same time, the mads 
 had fallen into a state of complete ruin ; how, 
 finally, the first consul, in the last Nivose, had 
 devoted an extraordinary subsidy to the repair of 
 twenty of the principal highways traversing the 
 surface of the republic. He had himself watched 
 the employment of this subsidy, and by continued 
 attention to the matter, had excited, in the highest 
 
 degree, the zeal of the engineers employed. Each 
 of his aids-de-camp, or of the great functionaries 
 who travelled in France, was questioned as to 
 whether his orders had been duly executed. The 
 funds this year had been voted rather late ; the 
 end of the year had been rainy, and there was also 
 a deficiency of hands. This was caused by the 
 bringing into cultivation at this time immense 
 tracts of land, and above all, by the civil war. 
 These various causes had retarded the progress of 
 the work ; but still the improvement already made 
 was obvious. The first consul devoted a new sub- 
 sidy, taken from the year x., or 1801-2, to the 
 repair of forty-two other roads. Reckoning two 
 millions not employed in the year ix., ten millions 
 extraordinary assigned to the year x., and sixteen 
 millions produced by the tax, the total sum devoted 
 to the roads for the current year, would be twenty- 
 eight millions. This was double or triple the sum 
 devoted to them in anterior periods. Thus the 
 repairs proceeded with great rapidity, and every 
 thing announced in the course of 1802, that the 
 roads of France would be restored to a state of 
 perfect convenience for travelling. Orders were 
 issued for making new communications between 
 different parts of old and new France. Four great 
 roads were in the course of formation between 
 Italy and France. That of the Simplon, several 
 times alluded to, advanced rapidly towards com- 
 pletion. The road designed to unite Savoy and 
 Piedmont, was begun, passing over Mount Cenis. 
 A third, by Mount Genevre, to connect the south 
 of France and Piedmont, was ordered to be made, 
 and the engineers were traversing the ground to 
 complete the plans. The repair of the great road 
 by the Col de Tende, traversing the maritime 
 Alps, was undertaken. Thus the barrier of the 
 Alps, between France and Italy, was about to be 
 lowered, by means of four roads, practicable for 
 the heaviest civil or military transport. The 
 miracle of the passage of the St. Bernard had 
 become useless for the future, whenever it should 
 be required to proceed to the succour of Italy. 
 
 The canal of St. Quentin was in course of execu- 
 tion. The first consul had been himself to see the 
 canal of Ourcq, and had ordered the resumption of 
 the work. The canal of Aigues-Mortes, at Beau- 
 caire, confided to the care of a company, was in 
 the course of execution. The government had 
 encouraged a company by making over to it large 
 grants of land. The new bridges over the Seine, 
 granted to an association of capitalists, were nearly 
 completed. These numerous and fine undertakings 
 attracted the public attention in a remarkable 
 manner. The minds of men, always lively in 
 France, now directed themselves with a species of 
 enthusiasm from the splendour of war to the splen- 
 dour of peace. 
 
 Commerce had already made great advances 
 during the year ix., 1800-1, although the naval 
 war had continued through the whole of that year. 
 The imports, which in the year vm. had been 
 only 325,000,000 f. amounted in the year ix. to
 
 1801-2. 
 Nov. 
 
 Exports and imports.— Population. THE TRIBUNATE. 
 
 Forests. — Rural administration. 
 
 307 
 
 417,000,000 f. An increase of nearly a fourth in 
 the space of a single year. This augmentation was 
 due to two causes: the rapid consumption which 
 had accrued of colonial products, and the introduc- 
 tion of a quantity of raw materials adapted to 
 manufactures, such as cotton, wool, and oil ; an 
 evident Bign of the revival of the manufacturing 
 interests. The exportation* had felt much less 
 this general movement towards increase, because 
 the foreign commerce of France was in the year 
 ix. 1800-1, not yet re-established, and because 
 the manufacture of productions must of necessity 
 precede their exportation. Still the sum total of 
 the exports, which in the year Fill, amounted to 
 DO more than 21 1 ,000,000 f., had arisen in the year 
 ix. to 305,000,000 f. This increase of 34,000,000 f. 
 was mainly owing to the extraordinary export of 
 wines and brandies, which had produced a con- 
 siderable mercantile activity at Bordeaux. Here 
 may be remarked also what a difference had 
 been produced between theexportsand imports by 
 the ten years of naval warfare, since the imports 
 amounted to 417-000,(101) !'., and the exports only to 
 the sum of 305,000,000 f. But the restoration of 
 the manufactures would soon make up for this 
 difference. 
 
 The silks of the south again began to flourish. 
 Lyons, the favourite city of the first consul, again 
 applied itself to the manufacture of its beautiful 
 productions. Of fifteen thousand looms formerly 
 employed in the weaving of silk, only two thousand 
 remained at work during the time of the late 
 troubles. Seven thousand were already re-esta- 
 blished. Lille, St. Quentin, Rouen, all participated 
 in the like movement; and the sea-ports, about to 
 be set free from blockade, were equipping nume- 
 rous vessels. The first consul, on his part, was 
 making preparations for the re-establishment of 
 the colonies to an extent which will be very shortly 
 exhibited. 
 
 It was desirable to discover the actual state in 
 which the revolution had left France as far as re- 
 1 agriculture and population. Statistical 
 researches, rendered impossible while collective 
 administrations managed provincial business, were 
 me practicable since the institution of prefec- 
 tures and sab-prefectures. Orders were given for 
 which returned very singular results, 
 confirmed in fact by the councils-general of the 
 department* which had met for the first time in the 
 year ix. The- returns of the population for sixty- 
 seven departments out of one hundred and two, 
 into which Prance was at that time di. 
 amounting in 17"!' to 21,170,243, had increased in 
 18(i(i to 22,297,443, being an increase of 1,100,000 
 soul-, or about a nineteenth. This result, scarcely 
 : not been confirmed by a number of 
 councils-general, proves that after all, the evil pro- 
 duced by great social revolutions is more apparent 
 tin ii real, i - far at least as material things are 
 concerned, and that, at any rate, (he mischief is 
 .1 with prodigious rapidity. Agriculture 
 found to be every where in advance. The 
 suppression of the rangi rshipsbad been exceedingly 
 beneficial in the greater part of the provinces. Lf 
 in destroying the game, il had destroyed the least 
 objectionable pleasun sot' the richer classes; it had, 
 upon the other hand, di livered agriculture from 
 ruinous vexations. The sale of a number of large 
 
 estates had caused considerable tracts of land to 
 be brought into cultivation, and made highly 
 valuable a part of the soil before nearly unproduc- 
 tive. Much of the landed property of the church, 
 which had passed out of the hands of a negligent 
 holder into those of an intelligent and active pro- 
 prietor, augmented every day the general mass of 
 agricultural produce. The revolution, which had 
 thus been made in landed property, and which, in 
 dividing it among a thousand hands, had so pro- 
 digiously augmented the number of landed pro- 
 prietors, as well as the extent of cultivated land; 
 this revolution was now accomplished, and was 
 already producing great results. Doubtless, the 
 process of culture was not yet sensibly improved, 
 but the extent of tillage was increased in an extra- 
 ordinary manner. 
 
 The forests, whether belonging to the state or to 
 the communes, had suffered from the disorder in 
 the administrative management of the times. This 
 was an object to which it was of the utmost im- 
 portance to attend ; lands planted with wood were 
 cleared, while neither the property of the state 
 nor of individuals was spared. The administra- 
 tion of the finances possessing a great quantity of 
 s by the confiscation of the property of the 
 emigrants, did not yet. know how to take care of 
 them, or manage them to advantage. Many pro- 
 prietors, absent or intimidated, abandoned the care 
 of the woods of which they were the possessors, 
 some really, others fictitiously, on account of the 
 proscribed families. This was the consequence of 
 a state of things which was, fortunately, about to 
 cease. The first consul had given great attention 
 to the preservation of the forest riches of France, 
 and had already begun to restore order and re- 
 spect for property. A rural code was every where 
 required, in order to prevent the injury done by 
 the cattle. 
 
 The new institution of prefects and sub-prefects, 
 created by the law of Pluviose, year vni., had pro- 
 duced immediate results. To the disorder and negli- 
 gence of the collective administration had succeeded 
 regularity and promptitude of execution, conse- 
 quences foreseen and necessary to the unity of power. 
 The affairs of state and of the communes had equally 
 profited, for they had, at last, found agents who 
 attended to them with continued assiduity. The 
 completion of the assessments and the collection 
 of the taxes, formerly so neglected, were now no 
 way retarded. Order began to be restored in the 
 revenues and expenses of the communes. Yet 
 many parts of their administration still required 
 correction. The hospitals, tor example, were in 
 a very deplorable condition. The deprivation of 
 
 a part of their revenues by the sale of their pro- 
 perty, and by the deprivation of many of the rates 
 now abolished, reduced them to extreme distress. 
 In several towns they had recourse to the octroi, 
 and attempted the ro-t stablislmient of the duties 
 of the indirect contributions upon a small scale. 
 
 But those duties, as yet badly placed, were neither 
 sufficiently nor generally enough employed. The 
 foundling department also partook of the general 
 disarrangement. Great numbers of deserted chil- 
 dren were to be seen, for whom public charily 
 made no provision, or who were committed to the 
 
 charge of unfortunate nurses, whose wages were 
 not paid. The re-establishment every whei 
 
 \ 1
 
 „ Counsellors of state on 
 60o circuit. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Instructions given to the 1801. 
 aids-de camp. Nov. 
 
 the former sisters of charity was desirable for the 
 service of the hospitals. 
 
 The civil registers, taken from the clergy and 
 given to the municipal officers, were very negli- 
 gently kept. It was necessary to set in order this 
 part of the administration, so important for the 
 state of families ; there were demanded not only 
 zeal and vigilance on the part of the administrators, 
 but improvements in the law, which was yet in- 
 sufficient and badly regulated. This was one of 
 the objects which it was necessary the civil code 
 should regulate, then actually under discussion in 
 the council of state. 
 
 The too great division of communes was much 
 complained of, as well as their infinite number, 
 and the union of several of them into one was de- 
 manded. This beautiful system of French admi- 
 nistration was then devised, which is now achieved, 
 and surpasses in regularity, precision, and vigour 
 every other European administration; it was or- 
 ganized rapidly under the healing and all-powerful 
 hand of the first consul. He had devised one of 
 the most efficacious means to be informed of every 
 thing, and for carrying into this vast machine those 
 improvements of which it was thought to be sus- 
 ceptible. He commissioned some of the more able 
 counsellors of state to travel through France, and 
 observe, on the spot, the mode in which the admi- 
 nistration worked. These counsellors, on arriving 
 at any given point, called together the prefects of 
 the neighbouring departments and the chiefs of 
 the different services, and thus held councils, in 
 which these officers made statements to them of 
 difficulties which could not have been foreseen, the 
 unexpected obstacles which arose out of the nature 
 of things, and the deficiencies in the laws or regu- 
 lations made during the preceding ten years. They 
 examined, at the same time, if this hierarchy of 
 prefects, sub- prefects, and mayors, fulfilled its 
 functions with order and facility; if the individuals 
 were well selected, and if they showed that they 
 were well impressed with the intentions of the 
 government, — if they were, like the government, 
 firm, laborious, impartial, free of all factious spirit. 
 These tours produced the best effect. The coun- 
 sellors thus sent stimulated the zeal of the func- 
 tionaries, and reported to the council of state many 
 useful matters, either for the decision of current 
 business, or the digesting and improving the ad- 
 ministrative regulations. More especially incited 
 by the energy of the first consul, they did not 
 hesitate to denounce to him the feeble or incapable 
 agents, or those who were animated by a wrong 
 spirit. 
 
 The solicitude of the first consul was not limited 
 to this review of the country by the counsellors of 
 state in turn. The numerous aids-de-eamp whom 
 he despatched, now to the armies, now to the sea- 
 ports, to communicate to them the energy of his 
 own will, had orders to observe every thing, and 
 to report every thing to their general. Colonels 
 Ladiee, Lauriston, Savary, sent to Antwerp, Bou- 
 logne, Brest, Rochefort, Toulon, Genoa, or Otranto, 
 had a commission, on their return to stop at every 
 place, to hear, see, and take notes of every thing 
 and to report on every thing, — the condition of the 
 highways, the progress of commercial affairs, the 
 conduct of functionaries, the wishes of the people, 
 and the public opinion. None of them hesitated 
 
 to obey, for none feared to speak the truth to his 
 just and powerful chief. This chief, who then 
 thought of nothing but good, because that good, 
 infinite in diversity an 1 extent, sufficed to absorb 
 the ardour of his soul, welcomed, with warmth, the 
 truth which he required, and turned, consequently, 
 to profit, whither he struck at a culpable function- 
 ary, repaired a defect in new institutions, or turned 
 his attention to an object which, until then, had 
 escaped his indefatigable observation *. 
 
 1 Here are some specimens of the instructions given to 
 his aids-de-camp on mission : — 
 
 " To citizen Lauriston, aid-de-camp. 
 " Paris, 7th Pluviose, year ix., January 27, 1801. 
 
 " You will proceed, citizen, to Rochefort. You will in- 
 spect most minutely the port and the arsenal, addressing 
 yourself for that purpose to the maritime prefect. 
 
 ,; You will bring back to me memorials on the following 
 subjects : — 
 
 " 1. The number of men exactly detailed on board the 
 two frigates which are about to sail, and the inventory of 
 every thing belonging to the artillery and other things which 
 those frigates have on board. You will stay at Rochefort 
 till they have sailed. 
 
 " 2. How many frigates are left in the road? 
 
 " 3. A report respectively of each of the three ships, 'the 
 Foudroyant,' the • Duguay-Trouin,' and the ' Aigle,' to- 
 gether with the time in which each of those ships will be 
 ready to sail. 
 
 " 4. A particular report respecting the frigates, ' La Vertu,' 
 'LaCybele,' ' La Volontaire,' ' La Thetis,' 'L'Embuscade,' 
 and 'La Franchise.' 
 
 " 5. A return of all the muskets, pistols, swords, and 
 cannon balls, which have arrived in that port formariliine 
 equipments. 
 
 " 6. Are there in the magazines provisions sufficient to 
 supply six ships of the line tor six months, independently of 
 the three above-mentioned? 
 
 •* 7. Lastly, have all measures been taken for recruiting 
 the sailors, and for obtaining from Bordeaux and Nantes, 
 provisions, cordage, and whatever is necessary for the equip- 
 ment of a squadron ? 
 
 " If you foresee that you shall have to stay at Rochefort 
 more than six days, you will send me your first report by 
 post. You will not tail to inform the prefect that I am of 
 opinion that the minister of marine has taken the necessary 
 measures to enable nine sail to put to sea from Rochefort at 
 the beginning of Ventose. You must observe that this must 
 be said to the prefect in great secrecy. 
 
 " You will avail yourself of every circumstance to collect, 
 in all places through which you pass, particulars relative to 
 the march of the administrations and on the state of public 
 feeling. 
 
 " If the departure of the frigates is delayed, I authorise 
 you to go to Bordeaux, and to return by Nantes. You will 
 bring me a report upon the frigates which are equipping. 
 " I salute you. Bonaparte." 
 
 " To citizen Lacuee, aid-de-camp. 
 
 " Paris, 9th Ventose, year ix., Feb. 23, 1801. 
 
 " You will go, citizen, with all speed to Toulon; you will 
 deliver the accompanying letters to rear-admiral Ganteaume. 
 You will inspect all the ships of the squadron, as we'.l as the 
 arsenal. You will take care to ascertain yourself the force 
 and the number of the English ships blockading the port of 
 Toulon. If less than that of rear-admiral Ganteaume, you 
 will urge him not to allow himself to be blockaded by an 
 inferior force. 
 
 " If circumstances decide general Ganteaume to continue 
 his mission, you will prevail upon him to take on board at 
 Toulon as many troops as he can carry. For this purpose 
 
 I
 
 1801- 
 Nov. 
 
 Instructions given to the 
 aids-de-camp. 
 
 THE TRIBUNATE. 
 
 Exertions of Bonaparte in pre- 
 paring the civil code. 
 
 309 
 
 A spectacle at this moment attracted universal 
 attention : this was the discussion upon the civil 
 code in the council of state. The necessity of such 
 a code was certainly the most urgent of the neces- 
 sities of France. The ancient civil legislation, 
 composed of the feudal law, the common, and the 
 Roman law, was no longer applicable to a society 
 completely revolutionized. The old laws respecting 
 marriage, and those which had been enacted re- 
 specting divorce and succession were not adapted 
 
 you will see the military commandant, to remove all ob- 
 stacles, so that the troops may be furnished for him. 
 
 •• You will give rear-admiral Uanteaume to understand 
 that he has been, in general, a little b'amed for his cruise to 
 M anon, because he has roused the attention of rear-admiral 
 Warren, whose only object was to defend Malum. 
 
 " If rear-admiral Ganteaume decides to complete his mis- 
 sion, you will slay at Toulon four days after his departure. 
 
 " If, on the contrary, news from sea should lead you to 
 think that he will remain too long, you will return to Paris, 
 after staying fifteen days in Toulon, six at Marseilles, four 
 at Avignon, and live or six at Lyons. 
 
 " You will take care to bring back to me a return of every 
 thing that has been put on board each ship: of the ships 
 and frigates that have sailed from Toulon since the first 
 Venderniaire, year ix. : of the state of the arsenal; and 
 notes relative to the public functionaries of the country 
 through which you will pass, and also to the feeling that 
 prevails there. 
 
 " You will take advantage of all the couriers despatched 
 by the maritime prefect, to give me news of the squadron, 
 of the sea, and of the English. 
 
 " You will encourage in your conversation all the captains 
 of the vessels, and point out to them of what immense im- 
 portance their expedition is to the general peace. 
 
 " 1 salute you. Boxaparte." 
 
 " To citizen Lauriston. 
 " Paris, 30th Pluviose, year IX., Feb. 19, 1S02. 
 
 " I have received, citizen, your different letters, and your 
 last of the 25th Pluvidte. I beg you to make secret in- 
 quiries concerning the administration of the provisions, the 
 service of which seems to excite complaints. 
 
 " Contrive to bring me, on your return, a detailed state- 
 ment of the northern merchandize furnished in the course 
 of the year x. by Lrchie and Co. They pretend to have, at 
 this moment, 1,700,000 francs' worth in store. 
 
 " What quantity of timber has arrived at Havre since the 
 peace; and are they at last at work finishing the five ships 
 that are building ? 
 
 " In repassing to L'Orient, see how many ships are build- 
 ing there, and the time when each will be ready for sea. 
 Inspect all the gunners and grenadiers of the coast guard, 
 that you may be able to give me an account whlft sort of 
 men they are, and what it will be possible to do with them 
 at the moment of the definitive peace. 
 
 '• Lastly, see at Nantes to ascertain what northern stores 
 have been received in the year x., and what hemp there is 
 left; and if the shipment of limber for Brest is going on. 
 Stop two day* at Valines, to make suitable observations on 
 the public feeling. 
 
 " In all these observations endeavour to see for yourself, 
 and without the advice of tin- authorities. 
 
 : mi- know what character one Charron has left at 
 [/Orient; and stop there three or four days, to observe the 
 conduct of the administration in that port. 
 
 " In short, miss no opportunity of seeing for yourself, and 
 fixing your opinion respecting the civil, naval, and military 
 administration. 
 
 " Inform yourself in every department what prospect there 
 is of the next harvest. 1 lappOM you will bring me I 
 relative to the manner in which the troops are pa ; d and 
 clothed, and of the state of the principal in il'als. 
 
 " I salute you. Box lpabti " 
 
 either to a new state of society, or to an order of 
 things regular and moral. A commission, com- 
 posed of Pnrtalis, Tronchet, Bigot de Preameneu, 
 and Malleville, had drawn up the plan of a civil 
 code. This plan had been sent to all the tribunals, 
 in order to be made the subject of their exami- 
 nation and observations. In consequence of their 
 examination, and these observations, the plan had 
 been modified, and finally submitted to the council 
 of state, which had to discuss it, article by article, 
 for several months. The first consul, present at 
 all these discussions, had displayed, while pre- 
 siding at them, a method, clearness, and often a 
 deptli of view, which was a matter of surprise and 
 astonishment to all. They were not surprised to 
 find one who had been accustomed to direct armies 
 and to govern conquered provinces, an adminis- 
 trator of civil government, because this quality is 
 indispensable in a great general; but to discover 
 that lie should possess the qualities of a legislator 
 appeared to them most extraordinary. His educa- 
 tion in this matter was rapidly acquired. He 
 interested himself in every thing, because he un- 
 derstood every thing. He asked the consul Cam- 
 bace'res for certain law books, and especially for 
 the materials prepared during the time of the 
 convention, for drawing up the new civil code. 
 He had devoured these documents, as he did the 
 books of religious controversy, with which be had 
 provided himself when he was busy with the con- 
 cordat. Classifying quickly iu his mind the great 
 principles of civil law, joining to these some ideas 
 rapidly collected, his own profound knowledge of 
 man, and his perfect clearness of understanding, 
 he had soon rendered himself adapted to direct 
 this important work, and he even furnished the 
 discussions with a great number of new, just, and 
 profound ideas. Sometimes a deficient acquain- 
 tance with the details made him support singular 
 notions; but he permitted himself to be led back 
 quickly to the truth by the learned men who were 
 around him ; but he was master of them all when 
 it became necessary to extract from their conflict- 
 ing opinions the most natural and rational con- 
 clusions. The principal service which the first 
 consul rendered, was that of bringing to this fine 
 monument a firm mind and a will for persevering 
 application, thereby conquering the two main diffi- 
 culties which had so far defeated preceding at- 
 tempts, — the infinite diversity of opinions, and the 
 impossibility of working uninterruptedly at the 
 task amidst the troubles and agitations of the time. 
 When the discussion, which often happened, had 
 been long, diffuse, and obstinate, the first consul 
 knew how to sum up and decide by a word; and 
 what was more, he obliged every body to toil by 
 toiling himself for whole days together. The 
 minutes of these remarkable meetings were printed 
 and published. Before they were sent to the 
 Moniteur, the consul Cambaceres revised them, 
 and suppressed what was not adapted for publi- 
 cation : either when the first consul expressed 
 opinions sometimes singular, or treated of ques- 
 tions relating to manners with a familiarity of 
 language, which ought not to go beyond the limits 
 
 of a privy council. There «;is left, th er efore, in 
 
 these minutes, nothing but the ideas of the first 
 
 consul, sometimes rectified, often discoloured, but 
 always striking. The public was struck, and came
 
 310 Ci of Bonaparte^ greatness THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The consular guard. 
 Court of the first 
 consul. 
 
 1801-2. 
 Nov. 
 
 to regard him as the sole author of every thing 
 preat and good that was done in France ; it even 
 took a kind of pleasure in seeing him as a legis- 
 lator whom it had seen as a general, diplomatist, 
 and ruler, and in those very different characters 
 constantly superior. 
 
 The first book of the civil code was completed, 
 and was one of the numerous measures which 
 were about to be submitted to the legislative body. 
 The pacification of France and its internal re-orga- 
 nization were in this mode proceeding at an equal 
 rate. Though all the evil of civil war was not repaired, 
 nor all the good accomplished, still the comparison 
 of the present with the past, filled the minds of men 
 with hope and satisfaction. All the good effected 
 was attributed to the first consul, and not unjustly; 
 for, according to the testimony of his fellow- 
 labourer Cambaceres, he directed the whole of the 
 proceedings, attended himself to the details, and 
 " effected more in every department than those to 
 whom it was especially committed." 
 
 The man who governed France from 1799 to 
 1815, had, in the course of his career, no doubt, 
 days of intoxicating glory ; but neither he nor 
 France, which he had seduced, ever saw days like 
 these, when greatness was accompanied by more 
 wisdom, and above all by that wisdom which gains 
 the hope of an enduring character. He had given 
 after victory a most glorious peace, and what he 
 never could again obtain, a maritime peace ; he 
 had given after chaos the most perfect order ; he 
 had still left a certain liberty, not all that was 
 desirable, but as much as was possible on the day 
 after a sanguinary revolution ; he had done nothing 
 but good to every party only excepting the trans- 
 portation of the hundred and odd proscribed revo- 
 lutionists, condemned without trial, after the affair 
 of the infernal machine ; he had respected the 
 laws ; and that act itself, culpable because of its 
 illegality, was not thought about in the immensity 
 of good effected. Finally, Europe reconciled to 
 the republic, feeling, yet not saying, she had been 
 wrong in her interference with a revolution which 
 did not concern her, and that the unparalleled 
 greatness of France was the just consequence of an 
 iniquitous aggression heroically repelled — Europe 
 came with eagerness to deposit her homage at the 
 feet of the first consul, happy to be enabled to say, 
 for the sake of her own dignity, that she had made 
 peace with a revolutionist full of genius, the 
 glorious restorer of social principles. 
 
 If it were possible to stop at the wonders of 
 these past times, most certainly history, in speak- 
 ing of this reign, would say that nothing greater or 
 more complete had been seen upon earth. All 
 this was written in the earnest admiring faces of 
 the men of all ranks and of all nations who pressed 
 around the first consul. An extraordinary influx 
 of strangers had arrived in Paris to see France 
 and Bonaparte ; and the greater part of them 
 were presented to him by the ministers of their 
 government. His court, for he had formed one, 
 was military and civil at the same time ; austere 
 and elegant. He had added to it somewhat since 
 the preceding year ; he had composed a military 
 household for himself and the other consuls, and 
 had given a princely establishment to madamc 
 Bonaparte. 
 
 The consular guard was formed of four bat- 
 
 talions of infantry, each consisting of twelve hun- 
 dred men, some grenadiers, others chasseurs, and 
 two regiments of cavalry, the first of horse grena- 
 diers, the second of horse chasseurs. Both the one 
 and the other were composed of the finest and 
 bravest soldiers in the army. A numerous and 
 well-served artillery completed the guard, and 
 formed a perfect war division of six thousand men. 
 A brilliant staff commanded these superb troops. 
 There was a colonel to each battalion, and a briga- 
 dier-general to every two united battalions. Four 
 lieutenants-generals, one of infantry, one of cavalry, 
 one of artillery, and one of engineers, commanded 
 alternately the entire corps for one decade, and did 
 duty about the consuls. The whole was a corps 
 composed of picked men only, wherein the best 
 soldiers found a recompense for their good con- 
 duct, and surrounded the government with a splen- 
 dour perfectly in conformity to its warlike charac- 
 ter, presenting on the day of battle an invincible 
 reserve. It will not be forgotten that the battalion 
 of grenadiers of the consular guard had nearly 
 saved the army at Marengo. To this particular 
 staff of the consular guard the first consul added a 
 military governor in the palace of the Tuileries, 
 accompanied by two officers of the staff with the 
 title of adjutants.* This governor was Duroc, the 
 aid-de-camp always employed in the more delicate 
 missions. No officer was better adapted to main- 
 tain in the palace of the government that order and 
 decorum which was so much in consonance with 
 the taste of the first consul and the spirit of the 
 time. But it was needful to temper this entirely 
 military appearance by that which should be of a 
 civil cast. A counsellor of state, M. Benezech, had 
 been appointed during the first year of the consul- 
 ship to preside at the receptions, and to receive 
 with their proper honours, either the foreign minis- 
 ters or the high personages who were admitted to 
 the presence of the consuls. Four civil officers, 
 who bore the appellation of " prefects of the 
 palace," were nominated successors to M. Benezech 
 in this duty. Four ladies of the palace were given 
 to madame Bonaparte, as assistants in doing the 
 honours of the first consul's drawing-room. When 
 it was known that this new organization of the 
 palace was in the course of preparation, numerous 
 candidates offered themselves even from among 
 the families attached to the ancient dynasty. They 
 were not yet the high nobility, those who formerly 
 filled the palace of Versailles, that thus offered 
 themselves as solicitous for place ; the moment for 
 their submission had not yet come. Still they 
 belonged to families of distinction that had figured 
 in past times, but not among the emigrants, who 
 thus were the foremost to approach a powerful 
 government, that by its glory rendered service 
 near it honourable for all the world. Bonaparte 
 chose four prefects of the palace, M. Benezech, 
 who had already performed the duties, M. Didelot 
 and M. de Lucay, who belonged to the old finance 
 department, and M. de Remusat, of the magistracy. 
 The four ladies of the palace charged with the 
 honours at the side of madame Bonaparte were 
 mcsdarnes de Lujay, de Lauriston, de Talhouet, 
 and de Remusat. The greatest slanderers among 
 the emigrants in the Paris drawing-rooms could 
 find no fault with the correctness of these selec- 
 tions ; and reasonable men, who require no more
 
 1801-2. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Sisters of Bonaparte : 
 Eliza, Caroline, and 
 Pauline. 
 
 THE TRIBUNATE. 
 
 Marriage of Hortense Beau- 
 hamois with Joseph Bona- 
 parte. 
 
 311 
 
 in courts than just what decorum may make neces- 
 sary, had no point for severe criticism m the mili- 
 tary or civil organization of the present. In a 
 republic, as in a monarchy, the palace of the chief 
 of the state must be guarded and surrounded by an 
 imposing display of the police force ; in the in- 
 terior of the palace there must be men and women 
 selected to do the honours of the residence, either 
 to illustrious strangers or to distinguished citizens 
 who are admitted to the first magistrate of the 
 republic. In this respect the court of the first 
 consul was imposing, and worthy of him. He 
 received from his wife and sisters a certain grace; 
 all being equally remarkable either for manners, 
 understanding, or beauty. The brothers of the 
 first consul have been before adverted to; the 
 present may be a proper place to notice his sisters. 
 The eldest sister of the first consul, madame Eliza 
 Bacciochi, not remarkable in person, was a woman 
 of a very superior understanding, and attracted 
 around her the most distinguished men of letters of 
 the time, such as Suard, Morellet, and Fontant s. 
 The second, Caroline Murat, who had married the 
 general of that name, was beautiful and ambitious ; 
 intoxicated with her brother's glory, she strove to 
 make the best use of it she could for herself and 
 her husband's advantage : she was one of the 
 females who gave to the new court the most 
 elegance and animation. The third sister, Pauline, 
 who had married general Leclerc, and afterwards 
 a prince Borghese, was one of the most conspicuous 
 beauties of her day. She had not then so much 
 provoked slander as she did subsequently, and 
 if her thoughtless conduct was sometimes a grief to 
 her brother, the great affection which she felt for 
 him touched his heart, and rendered his severity 
 powerless. Madame Bonaparte was above them 
 all as wife of the fir D consul, and she delighted 
 and charmed, by li u exquisite graces, both the 
 French and the str: ,igers admitted into the palace 
 of the government. Rivalries, inevitable and 
 already visible between members of a family so 
 near to the throne, were repressed by general 
 Bonaparte, who, though he loved his relations, 
 treated with military roughness those who were 
 troublers of the peace which he desired to see 
 reign around 1 
 
 An event of some importance had just passed 
 in the consul ■• family, and this was the marriage 
 of HortenM Beaaharnois with Louis Bonaparte. 
 The flnt l 'iisul, who tenderly loved the two 
 children of his wife, had wished to marry Hortense 
 to Dvroc, as he Imagined that a reciprocal attach- 
 ment existed between these young hearts ; but 
 this match being disapproved by madame Bona- 
 parte, was not t I be carried into effect. Madame 
 Bonaparte, always tormented by the fear of S 
 divorce, since she had no longer any hope of 
 having more children, was for marrying her 
 daughter to one of her husband's brothers, 
 
 thus flattering herself that the off spri ng of such 
 
 a marriage, bound to the new chief of Franco 
 by a double tie, at the Same time might serve 
 
 him for heirs, Joseph Bonaparte was married; 
 Lucien lived in a y<'f\ irregular manner, and conJ 
 
 ducted himself" to his sister-in-law like an enemy; 
 Jerome was on board ship, expiating some Youthful 
 faults; Louis was the only one- who suited the 
 views of madame Bonaparte, ami she selected 
 
 him. He was prudent, intelligent, but ill hu- 
 moured, and not matched in disposition \vith his 
 destined wife. The first -consul, knowing" this, 
 resisted the match at first, but finally yielded, 
 to a marriage, which was not to make the new 
 couple happy, but which seemed, for the*moment, 
 likely to give heirs to the empire of the worlds 
 
 The nuptial benediction was given by cardinal 
 Caprara, and in a private house, as was .then the 
 practice with all the ceremonies of religion, when 
 those priests officiated who had not taken the oath. 
 On the same occasion the benediction was given to 
 Murat and his wife Caroline, who had not yet 
 received it, as was the case with many other 
 husbands and wives of that time, whose marriages 
 had only been contracted before the civil magis- 
 trate. Bonaparte and Josephine were in the same 
 circumstances. The last pressed her husband 
 repeatedly to add the religious to the civil tie 
 which already united them ; but whether from 
 foresight, or the fear of avowing openly the incom- 
 plete obligations which united him to madame 
 Bonaparte, he would not consent. 
 
 Such was then the consular family, since become 
 the imperial. These personages, all on various 
 accounts remarkable, happy in the prosperity and 
 glory of the chief who made their greatness, con- 
 stituted by him, and yet not spoiled by fortune, 
 presented an interesting spectacle, which did not 
 pain the sight like that directorial court, the 
 honours of which were done for several years by 
 Barras the director. If a few envious or disdain- 
 ful Frenchmen, who were frequently under obliga- 
 tions to it, persecuted it with their sarcasms, 
 foreigners, more just, paid it a tribute of curiosity 
 and commendation. 
 
 Once in every decade, as elsewhere remarked, 
 the first consul received the ambassadors and the 
 foreigners, who were presented to him by the 
 ministers of their nation. He went down the 
 ranks of the assemblage, always numerous, fol- 
 lowed by his aids-de-camp. Madame Bonaparte 
 followed him, accompanied by the ladies of the 
 palace. It was the same ceremonial as was ob- 
 served in other courts, but with a less train of 
 aids-de-camp and ladies of honour, but here with 
 the incomparable brilliancy that surrounded the 
 name of Bonaparte. Twice in the decade 'he 
 invited to dinner the eminent personages of France 
 and of Europe, and once in the month he gave, 
 in the gallery of Diana, a banquet, at- which some- 
 times a hundred guests were invited. On such 
 days he held a drawing-room at the Tuilerics in 
 the evening, and admitted near him the high 
 functionaries, the ambassadors, and persona of the 
 highest French society, who were favourable to 
 the government. Always carrying calculations 
 
 into the minutest things, he prescribed to his 
 family certain dresses, with the object of getting 
 them generally worn through imitation. Ho 
 ordered silk to be worn, for the purpose of encou- 
 raging as much as possible the manufactures of 
 Lyons. He recommended to madame Bonaparte 
 
 the stuff called lawn (I'i/kih), in older to favour the 
 manufacture of St. (J.m-utiii '• A.S to himself, sim- 
 
 i Here is put of .i letter written from St. Quentin to the 
 coiimiI ( ainliac cow: — ■ 
 
 " St. QuaOtfD, SI I'luviuM-, year i\., or I'eli III, I so I 
 " The interestim; in uiufacturcs of St. Wuciitin and Itl
 
 312 
 
 Fox and Calonne at 
 Paris. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Interviews between Fox 
 and Bonaparte. 
 
 1801-2. 
 Nov. 
 
 pie in every thing, lie wore the plain dress of a 
 chasseur of the consular guard. He obliged his 
 colleagues to wear the embroidered dress of a 
 consul, and to hold drawing-rooms in their apart- 
 ments, for the purpose of repeating there, although 
 with less brilliancy, what was done at the 
 Tuileries. 
 
 The winter of 1801-2, or the year x., was 
 extremely brilliant, from the satisfaction which 
 prevailed among all classes, some happy to enter 
 France, others to enjoy perfect security, or to see 
 in the maritime peace the unbounded prospect of 
 commercial prosperity. The foreigners contributed, 
 by their influx, to the brilliancy of the winter fCtes. 
 Among the personages that appeared in Paris at 
 this epoch, there were two that excited general 
 attention ; the one was an illustrious Englishman, 
 the other an emigrant, whose name was formerly 
 much celebrated. 
 
 This illustrious Englishman was Fox, the most 
 eloquent of English orators ; the celebrated emi- 
 grant was M. de Calonne, formerly minister of 
 finance, whose ready and fertile mind in expe- 
 dients, continued to conceal for a few moments 
 from the eyes of the court of Versailles, the abyss 
 towards which it was rapidly hurrying. Fox dis- 
 played considerable impatience to see the first 
 consul, towards whom, in spite of his British 
 patriotism, he was attracted irresistibly. He arrived 
 in Paris immediately after the signature of the 
 preliminaries of peace, and was presented to the 
 first consul by the English minister. He came to 
 see France and its chief, and also to consult the 
 French diplomatic archives, because at that mo- 
 ment the great Whig orator was occupying his 
 leisure time in writing a history of the two last 
 Stuarts. The first consul gave orders for all the 
 archives to be thrown open to Fox, and gave 
 him such a welcome as would have been sufficient 
 to conciliate an enemy, but which charmed a friend 
 whom he had acquired by his glory alone. The 
 first consul threw aside all forms of etiquette on 
 his own side with the generous stranger, brought 
 him into close intimacy, and had with him long 
 and frequent interviews, as if he seemed desirous 
 to make in his person the conquest of the English 
 people themselves. They were often of a different 
 opinion. Fox was endowed with that warm ima- 
 gination which makes attractive orators, but his 
 intellect was neither positive nor practical. He 
 was full of those noble illusions which the first 
 consul, although he had as much imagination as 
 depth of mind, had either never partaken or par- 
 took no longer. The young general Bonaparte was 
 disenchanted, as any one is likely to be, after a 
 revolution, begun in the name of humanity, and 
 shipwrecked in blood. He had shaken off all the 
 first enchantments of the revolution, except one, 
 and that was greatness, which he pushed to an 
 excess. He was too little of a liberal to please the 
 
 environs, which employed seventy thousand persons, and 
 brought into France more than fifteen million francs, have 
 decreased five-sixths. It is desirable that our ladies should 
 bring lawn into fashion, without giving such an absolute 
 preference to muslins. The idea of reviving one of the 
 most interesting manufactures which we exclusively pos- 
 sess, and of giving bread to such a vast number of French 
 families, is, in fact, well calculated to bring lawn into fashion ; 
 besides, have nut lawns been long enough in disgrace ?" 
 
 chief of the Whigs, and too ambitious to suit the 
 English taste. Each, therefore, sometimes ruffled 
 the other, by contrary opinions. Fox made the 
 first consul smile by a simplicity, an inexperience, 
 which were singular in a man nearly sixty year's of 
 age l . The first consul sometimes learned the 
 British patriotism of Fox, by the vastness of his 
 designs, which he took no care to dissimulate. 
 They were still in perfect harmony, in heart and 
 understanding, and were enchanted with each 
 other. The first consul took infinite care to make 
 Fox acquainted with Paris, and sometimes was 
 pleased to accompany him to the public establish- 
 ments. There was then open an exhibition of the 
 products of French industry, the second since the 
 revolution. Every body was surprised at the pro- 
 gress of the French manufactures, which, amid 
 the general commotion, had still participated in 
 the impulse given to the public mind, and a num- 
 ber of new processes and improvements had been 
 invented recently, or had been introduced. Fo- 
 reigners, particularly the English, were particularly 
 struck, the English being good judges of these 
 things. The first consul took Fox to the halls 
 fitted up for these exhibitions in the court of the 
 Louvre, and sometimes enjoyed the surprise of his 
 illustrious guest. Fox, amidst the attentions of 
 which lie was the object, suffered a sally to escape 
 him which did honour to the sentiments and spirit 
 of this noble personage, proving that in him 
 justice towards France was joined to the most 
 susceptible patriotism. There was in one of the 
 halls of the Louvre a terrestrial globe, very fine 
 and large, constructed with great skill, and de- 
 signed for the first consul. One of the personages 
 who followed the first consul making the globe 
 turn round, and placing his hand upon England, 
 made this ill-timed remark, that England occupied 
 a very small space upon the map of the world. 
 " Yes," exclaimed Fox, warmly, " yes, it is in that 
 island which is so small that the English are born; 
 and it is in that island that they wish to die; but," 
 added he, extending his arms about the two oceans, 
 and the two Indies, "during their lives, they fill 
 the entire globe, and embrace it with their power." 
 The first consul applauded this reply, so proud and 
 appropriate as it was. 
 
 The personage next to Fox, who occupied public 
 attention, was M. de Calonne. The prince of 
 Wales had solicited and obtained permission for 
 him to visit Paris. M. de Calonne held, from the 
 time of his arrival, a language wholly unexpected, 
 and which made a sensation among the royalists. 
 He said he had no intention to serve the new 
 government. He could not do it, attached as he 
 had been to the house of Bourbon; it was his duty 
 to speak the truth to his friends. No man in 
 Europe was capable of making head against the 
 first consul ; generals, ministers, Kings, were his 
 inferiors and dependents. The English had passed 
 from hatred of him to enthusiasm in his favour. 
 This sentiment was now prevalent among all classes 
 of the English population, and was carried to the 
 extreme, as were all sentiments among the English. 
 Europe must, therefore, not be calculated upon for 
 overthrowing general Bonaparte ; nor ought they 
 to dishonour the royal cause by detestable plots, 
 
 1 Just turned fifty years, being born in 1*19. — Translator.
 
 1801-2. 
 Nov. 
 
 Unfounded reports concerning 
 M. de Caloune. 
 
 THE TRIBUNATE. 
 
 Rising opposition to the first 
 consul. 
 
 313 
 
 which filled honest men throughout the world with 
 horror. They must submit and hope every tiling, 
 from time, and from the double difficult}' of govern- 
 ing France without royalty, and of founding royalty 
 without the Bourbon family. The infinite vicissi- 
 tudes of revolutions could alone bring about the 
 claims which did not now exist in favour of the 
 exiled princes. But let whatever would happen, 
 it was necessary to await from France alone, from 
 France become enlightened, the return of better 
 feelings, and nothing from foreigners or conspira- 
 tors. This language, singular on account of its 
 wisdom, above all from the mouth of M. de 
 Caloune, caused real astonishment, and led to the 
 belief that M. de Calonne would not be long before 
 entering into relations with the consular govern- 
 ment. He had seen the consul Lebrun, who, with 
 the consent of the first consul, received royalists, 
 and had held a conversation with him upon the 
 affairs of Fiance. It was even asserted that he 
 was about to become in the finances what Talley- 
 rand was in diplomacy, a reclaimed noble, lending 
 his name ami experience to the first consul. The 
 surmise was unfounded; and besides, the first con- 
 sul had less need of a brilliant mind, than of that 
 application which M. de Calonne had never exhi- 
 bited, but which the first consul had found in M. 
 Gaudin, who had introduced the most perfect order 
 int.) the finances. Nevertheless, upon this vague 
 rumour a crowd of persons, recently entered into 
 France, surrounded M. de Colonue, wishing to help 
 out their fortunes by getting into office, and think- 
 ing that they could not find near the new govern- 
 ment a fitter person to introduce them, or one who 
 could better justify by his example their adherence 
 to the first consul '. 
 
 1 There were agents of some of the exiled princes in Paris, 
 and among these were men of talent and very well in- 
 formed. These agents sent almost diurnal reports, to 
 which allusion has been already made. The subjoined is an 
 extract from one of these reports, relative to M. de Calonne. 
 
 '• M. de Calonne returned to Paris about a month since. 
 He had an interview with the ministers before he left Eng- 
 land, and was perfectly well received by them. He was 
 asked if, in returning to Paris, lie did not intend to join the 
 administration. He answered, that his principles, his con- 
 duct during the revolution, and his attachment to the royal 
 family, all forbade him absolutely to accept a place at the 
 hands of the new government; but that, attached to France 
 by taste and by interest, he should not refuse to give his 
 advice if it were asked, and if he believed it were of advan- 
 tage to hii country. 
 
 •' Ilis arrival in Paris has made a great sensation. He 
 is every day beset by visiters and surrounded by creatures, 
 as at the most brilliant time of his fortune and credit. The 
 opinion thai be is about to he raised to the ministry brings 
 crowds of applicants to limi.and to rid himself of them he is 
 obliged to fly into the country. It dues not seem, however, 
 that this opini.fn is well founded ; and if it is ever realized, 
 it will not be at present. All that is known is, that he was 
 to be presented ■ few days ego to Bonaparte, and to have ■ 
 
 secret conference with him. 
 
 " He sees all his old friends, and opens himself to them 
 with perfect freedom. Having ben a witness of the weak- 
 ness and nullity of foreign powers, he does not believe that 
 there is to be found in them the smallest guarantee Bgalntl 
 revolutionary invasion, and still li . any efflcaele 
 tion for the cause of the king, lie repeat! that Which We 
 have a long time known, that the men who govern in 
 Europe are men without means and without character, who 
 are unacquainted with the times in which they live, who 
 
 Who could believe that in the presence of so 
 much good as was already effected, or was about 
 to be so, that an opposition, and a hot one, too, 
 would be raised I An opposition was nevertheless 
 in preparation, and one of the most violent possible, 
 against the measures of the first consul. It was 
 not among violent partisans radically opposed to 
 the government of the first consul, royalist or revo- 
 lutionary, that this opposition was formed, but 
 among the very same party that desired and 
 seconded the overthrow of the directory as in- 
 efficient, and called for a new government that 
 should be at the same time firm and able. The 
 subaltern revolutionists, men of disorder and of 
 bloodshed, were repressed, submissive, or trans- 
 ported, and were sinking daily deeper and deeper 
 into obscurity, never more to emerge. The mis- 
 creants of royalty had a pressing necessity for 
 drawing breath since the affair of the infernal 
 machine, and they kept quiet ; and besides that 
 portion of them which had infested the high roads, 
 had been put to death. The royalists of high rank, 
 while holding in the saloons of Paris the most 
 impertinent conversations, began, notwithstanding, 
 to exhibit already the disposition which led them 
 afterwards to play ; the men, the part of chamber- 
 lains, the women that of ladies of honour, in the 
 palace of the Tuileries, which the Bourbons no 
 longer inhabited. 
 
 But the moderate revolutionary party called to 
 compose the new government was divided, as is 
 almost always the case, with every victorious party, 
 which goes about to form a new government, and 
 disagrees about the manner of its constitution. 
 From the first days of the consulate, this party, 
 which had concurred in various ways in the 18th 
 of Brumaire, had appeared divided between two 
 contrary tendencies, the one consisting in making 
 the revolution terminate in a democratic and mode- 
 know not how to judge of the present or to foresee the fu- 
 ture, and who are alike destitute of the courage which incites 
 to undertake, and the firmness which qualifies for persever- 
 ance. ' He considers them as all delivered over to Bona- 
 parte, trembling before him, and ready to execute humbly 
 all his commands. Thus he is persuaded that in France 
 only is it possible to labour for the restoration of the mon- 
 archy, not by putting oneself forward and fomenting foolish 
 and ridiculous plots, — more adapted to dishonour a cause 
 than to prepare the way for real success,— but by striving, 
 without noise and show, to re-establish public opinion, to 
 destroy prejudice, to diminish fears, to unite all the servants 
 of the king, and to keep them in readiness to take advan- 
 tage of every thing in his favour, by all those events which 
 the natural course of things must effect. 
 
 " If. de Calonne asseits that in England the enthusiasm 
 for Bonaparte is not only general, but carried to a point of 
 excess of which it is difficult to form an adequate idea. The 
 court and city, the capital anil the country, all classes of the 
 citizens, from the minister to the artisan, are eager to pro- 
 claim his praises, and outvie each other in chanting his vic- 
 tories, and the splendour of his power. Moreover, this en- 
 thusiastic feeling is not peculiar to England; the whole of 
 Europe is, so to say, infected by it. From all parti people 
 hasten to Paris, that they may see the great man at least 
 once in their lives; and the police have been obliged to 
 threaten to apprehend certain Danes, who had publicly bent 
 the knee before him whenever they saw- him. 
 
 "'Ibis is one of the main causes of his strength and of 
 his enormous power. How i-oiihl the French dare to oppose 
 him, as long as they see the powers of Europe thus prostrate 
 at his feel .'"
 
 Agitation in the tribunate. 
 314 —Defects in the cousti- THIERS' 
 tution. 
 
 CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Opposition of the abbe 
 Sieyes and his 
 friends. 
 
 1801-2. 
 Nov. 
 
 rate republic, such as Washington had established 
 in America ; the other, in making it end in a 
 monarchy bearing more or less a resemblance to 
 that of England, or if it must be the old French 
 monarchy, divested of its old prejudices, without 
 the feudal system, but retaining its grandeur. The 
 consular government had now begun its third year, 
 and, as usual, these two tendencies continued to 
 exaggerate by the very contradiction of themselves. 
 Some became once more almost violent revo- 
 lutionists, upon seeing how things were going 
 forward, observing the authority of the first consul 
 on the increase, monarchical ideas spreading, a 
 court formed at the Tuileries, the catholic worship 
 restored, or nearly so, and emigrants returning in 
 shoals. The others, become almost the royalists of 
 the old time, were so eager to react and to re- 
 found a monarchy, that they were disposed to 
 tolerate an enlightened despotism for the result of 
 the revolution. In fact, an enlightened despotism, 
 such as that which was at the same moment arising 
 in France, had so much of genius in it, and insured 
 such a sweet repose, that its seduction was great. 
 Still the contradiction between the two was pushed 
 so far on one side and the other, that a crisis 
 might be soon expected to ensue. 
 
 The tribunate, during the preceding session, 
 much agitated, at one time on account of the law 
 of finance, at another on account of the special 
 tribunals, was much more so this year at the aspect 
 of all that was going forward, and at the sight 
 of the government marching so fast towards its 
 object. The concordat, above all, roused its in- 
 dignation, as the most counter-revolutionary act 
 that could well be imagined. The civil code was 
 not, according to that assembly, sufficiently con- 
 formable with equality. The treaties of peace 
 themselves, which comprehended the greatness of 
 France, gave umbrage at their wording, as will 
 very shortly be seen. 
 
 M. Sieyes, while endeavouring to prevent agi- 
 tation by means of his constitutional precautions, 
 as has been seen, had not prevented any ; because 
 constitutions do not create human passions, and 
 are powerless for their destruction : they are thus 
 only the stage upon which the passions appear. By 
 placing all the weight, all the activity of public af- 
 fairs, in the council of state, and the noise, declama- 
 tion, and idle animadversion in the tribunate ; in 
 reducing the last to the character of a pleader for or 
 against the acts of the government, before the legis- 
 lative body, which could only answer yea or nay; in 
 placing above an idle senate which, at long in- 
 tervals, elected the men who had the duty of play- 
 ing two vain characters in the legislative assem- 
 blies ; in selecting the individuals of the govern- 
 ment in the same spirit ; in placing men tit for 
 business in the council of state; men fit for public 
 speaking, inclined to noise, in the tribunate ; the ob- 
 scure and superannuated in the legislative body, and 
 the superannuated of a higher order in the senate — 
 M. Sieyes had hardly hindered the passions of the 
 time from exploding ; he had even added, it must 
 be confessed, a certain jealousy of these bodies 
 towards one another. The tribunate felt the de- 
 clamatory vanity of its character ; the legislative 
 body felt the ridiculous nature of its silence, and 
 contained besides many who were formerly priests, 
 who had quitted orders, organized by the abbe" 
 
 Gregoire, into a silent but vexatious opposition. 
 The senate itself, which M. Sieyes had intended 
 should represent an opulent quiet old man, was nut 
 so quiet as he had intended it to be. That body 
 was a little wearied of its idle dignity ; because the 
 senators were deprived of public functions, and 
 their electoral power, so seldom exercised, was far 
 from filling up their time. All of these were 
 jealous of the council of state, which alone partook 
 with the first consul the glory of the great things 
 that were daily accomplishing. 
 
 Thus this social body, which M. Sieyes had 
 thought he should lull into a species of aristocrati- 
 cal stupor, after the example of Venice and Genoa, 
 still restless, like one who has upon him the re- 
 mains of fervour, and might be calmed and con- 
 trolled by a master, could not be cast into a peace- 
 ful slumber as its maker had hoped. 
 
 It was singular that M. Sieyes, the inventor of 
 all these constitutional arrangements, by virtue of 
 which there was so much activity on one hand, 
 and so little on the other, — M. Sieyes began to 
 weary himself of his own inaction. Moderate, and 
 even monarchical in his opinions, he ought to have 
 approved the acts of the first consul ; but causes, 
 some inevitable, others accidental, commenced to 
 embroil them. That great speculative mind, limited 
 to seeing every thing and doing nothing, could not 
 but feel jealous of the active and puissant genius, 
 which was every day gaining the mastery of France 
 and of the world. M. Sieyes, in the magnificent 
 accomplishments of general Bonaparte, already 
 observed the germ of his future errors, and if he did 
 not yet indicate this openly, he sometimes showed 
 it by his silence, or by some phrase as profound as 
 his own thoughts. It is possible that if attention 
 had been constantly paid to him, they might have 
 calmed and attached him to the first consul. But 
 Bonaparte considered himself acquitted with M. 
 Sieyes somewhat too early by the gift of the estate 
 of Crosne ; and being, moreover, absorbed in im- 
 mense labour, he had neglected the superior man 
 too much, who had so nobly yielded to him the 
 first place on the 18th Brumaire. Sieyes, idle, 
 jealous, mortified, had faults to pick out even in 
 the vast mass of present good, and showed himself 
 a morose and chilling censurer. The first consul 
 was not master of his temper sufficiently to leave 
 all the wrong upon his adversaries. He spoke 
 cavalierly of the metaphysics of Sieyes, of his 
 impotent ambition, making a thousand remarks 
 upon the subject, which were immediately re- 
 peated and envenomed by the malevolent. Sieyes 
 had some friends at his side, such as M. de Tracy, 
 a man of superior mind, but not religious, an 
 original philosopher in a school that had but little 
 originality, and a very respectable character ; 
 M. Garat, an eloquent philosopher, more pretend- 
 ing than profound ; M. Cabanis, given to the study 
 of material man, and seeing nothing beyond the 
 limits of matter ; M. Lanjuinais, a sincere, pious, 
 vehement man, who had so nobly defended the 
 Girondins, and was now equally warm in resisting 
 the new Caesar. These surrounded Sieyes, and 
 already formed a perceptible opposition in the 
 senate. The concordat seemed to them, as to 
 many other persons, the strong proof of an ap- 
 proaching counter-revolution. 
 
 The first consul, seeing France and Europe en-
 
 1801-2. 
 Nov. 
 
 Opposition in the army. — In- 
 discretion of Lannes and 
 Augereau. 
 
 THE TRIBUNATE. 
 
 Moderation of the first consul. 
 
 315 
 
 chanted with his proceedings, could not understand 
 how it occurred that the only persons who ex- 
 claimed against these proceedings should he found 
 sely around him. Despite this opposition, he 
 called the members of the senate, from whom it 
 proceeded, ideologists, led on by a pouter, who 
 grieved for the exercise of the supreme power, of 
 which he was incapable ; he styled the members 
 of the tribunate busy-bodies, with whom he should 
 know how to break a lance, and prove he was 
 not to be frightened with noise ; he called the 
 discontented, more or less numerous of the legis- 
 lative body, priests unfrocked, Jansenists, whom 
 the abbe' Gre'goire, in accord with the abbe' Sieyes, 
 was striving to organize into an opposition against 
 the government ; he declared that he would break 
 down all these oppositions — that they should not 
 stop him, and prevent the good which he was 
 endeavouring to accomplish. Never having lived 
 among assemblies of men, he was ignorant of the art 
 of winning them over, which CsBSar himself, powerful 
 as he was, did not neglect, and which he learned 
 in the Roman senate. The first consul expressed 
 his displeasure boldly and publicly, with the full 
 sense of his strength and his glory, scarcely listen- 
 ing to the wise Cambaceres, who possessed great 
 skill in managing public assemblies, and urged 
 him to use soothing and moderation. " You must 
 prove to these people," replied the first consul, 
 " that you are not afraid of them ; and they will 
 he frightened, on condition that you are not 
 frightened yourself." Here were already, as may 
 be seen, the manners and ideas of genuine royalty 
 in proportion as the moment approached when 
 royalty became inevitable. 
 
 The opposition was not only seen in the bodies 
 of the state, but also in the army. The mass of 
 the army, like the ma.->s of the nation, sensible 
 of the great results obtained during the last two 
 years, was wholly devoted to the first consul. Still 
 among some of the chiefs there were discontented 
 mm, some really so, others merely jealous. The 
 sincerely discontented were the staunch revolu- 
 tionists, who saw with mortification the return 
 of tin- emigrants, and the obligation they were 
 under to go and exhibit their uniforms in the 
 churches. Tin- discontented out of jealousy, were 
 who saw with chagrin an equal, who having 
 in the first place surpassed them in renown, was 
 now on the eve of becoming their master. The 
 former belonged, tor tic most part, to the army of 
 Italy, which had always been completely revolu- 
 tionary ; the List to the army of tin- Rhine, calm, 
 moderate, but somewhat envious. 
 
 The chiefs of the army of Italy, for the most 
 pari devoted to the first consul, but ardent in their 
 Sentiments, had a dislike both to priests and emi- 
 grants; they complained that they were to be made 
 churchmen ; all this being spoken in tin- origi- 
 nal, and not very becoming manner of soldiers. 
 
 Augereau and I. amies, bad politicians but heroic 
 
 soldiers, especially the Second, who was a most 
 
 accomplished soldier, held the most singular con- 
 versations. I. ami ne commander-in-chief 
 of the consular guard, administered the military 
 chest with a prodigality known and authorized by 
 the first con-ill. A mansion was sumptuously fur- 
 nished for the accommodation of the staff of the 
 guard. There Lannes kept an open table for all 
 
 his brother officers, and delivered invectives against 
 the proceedings of the government. The first con- 
 sul had no fear that the devotion of these idle 
 soldiers towards himself personally was diminished. 
 At the first signal he was certain to recal them all 
 to him, and Lannes before the rest. Still it was 
 dangerous to suffer such heads and such tongues 
 to go on, and he sent for Lannes. Habituated to a 
 great familiarity with his general-in-chief, he gave 
 way to his passion, which was very soon suppressed 
 by the calm superiority of bearing of the first con- 
 sul. Lannes retired sorry for his fault, and 
 regretful of the displeasure he had caused. From 
 an honourable and susceptible feeling, he deter- 
 mined to liquidate the sums drawn from the chest 
 of the guard, though with the consent of the first 
 consul. But after all his campaigns in Italy, he 
 scarcely possessed any property. Augereau, almost 
 as inconsiderate as himself, but possessing an ex- 
 cellent heart, lent him a sum, being all which he 
 possessed in the world, saying, " Here, take this 
 money ; go to that ungrateful fellow for whom we 
 have spilled our blood ; give him back what is due 
 to the chest, and let neither of us be under any 
 obligations to him." The first consul could not 
 permit his old companions in arms, at once heroes 
 and children, to throw off their affections towards 
 him. He dispersed them. Lannes was destined 
 to a profitable embassy in Portugal ; Cambace'res, 
 the consul, being charged with the arrangement: 
 Augereau had orders to be more careful for the 
 future, and to return to his army. 
 
 These scenes, highly exaggerated by the malevo- 
 lence which propagated and disfigured them, pro- 
 duced a mischievous effect, more especially in the 
 provinces. No voice, it is true, was raised against 
 the first consul, whom every body was disposed to 
 think must be right in the teeth of even- opponent; 
 but they excited uneasiness and apprehension of 
 there being weighty difficulties in the way of the 
 supreme authority, the re-establishment of which 
 was so ardently desired 1 . 
 
 The differences with the officers of the army of 
 Italy, were scenes between friends who fall out one 
 day and the next embrace. They were of a more 
 serious character with the officers of the army of 
 
 1 Here is a passage in a letter of Talleyrand, who had 
 gone some time afterwards to Lyons, for the organization of 
 the Italian consulta: 
 
 "Lyons, 7th Nivflse, year x.,or Dec. 28th, 1801. 
 
 " General, — I have the honour to inform you of my 
 arrival at Lyons to-day, at half past one in the morning. 
 The road through Burgundy, with the exception of six or 
 eight leagues, is not very b;irl ; and the prefects of the line 
 of communication have availed themselves of the enthu- 
 siastic moral nt caused by the hope of your passage, to cause 
 the active repair of the roads. Whenever I came to com- 
 munes or habitations, 1 heard cries of ' Vive liounpartel ' 
 POT tin- last ten leagues which I travelled in the middle of 
 the night, every one came as I passed, light in hand, to 
 repeal these words. It is an expression which you are 
 destined continually to hear. 
 
 " The Story about general Lannes has spread, ami appears 
 to occupy much attention. The sub prefect of Aiitun and 
 a citizen of Avallon talked to me about it, but with different 
 circumstances, which letters from Paris had reported to 
 them as anecdotes. 1 have had occasion to remark anew to 
 
 what s degree ail that relates to youi person retains the 
 
 public attention, and is immediately the subject of conversa- 
 tion thioughoiit fiance."
 
 310 
 
 Rupture between Moreau 
 and Bonaparte. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Opening of the session 
 of the year x. 
 
 1801. 
 Nov. 
 
 the Rhine, who were more cool and malicious. 
 Unfortunately, a fatal division now began to ap- 
 pear between the general-in-chief of the army of 
 Italy, and the general-in-chief of the army of the 
 Rhine, or between Bonaparte and Moreau. 
 
 Moreau, since the campaign against Austria, the 
 success of which he owed at least in part to the 
 first consul, who gave him the command of the 
 finest army of France — Moreau was reputed the 
 second general of the republic. Really no one was 
 mistaken respecting his worth ; he was well known 
 to possess a mind of moderate power, incapable of 
 great combinations, and wholly destitute of political 
 knowledge ; but stress was laid upon his real 
 qualities of a wise, prudent, and vigorous general, 
 in order to make of him a very superior com- 
 mander, capable of meeting the conqueror of Italy 
 and Egypt. Parties have a wonderful instinct for 
 discovering the weak points of eminent men. They 
 abuse or flatter them alternately, until they have 
 found a way to penetrate into their hearts, and 
 infuse into them their own poison. They had soon 
 found out the weak side of Moreau, which was 
 vanity. While flattering him, they had inspired 
 him with a fatal jealousy of the first consul, which 
 was one day destined to be his destruction. The 
 females of the families of Bonaparte and Moreau 
 had quarrelled about some of the miserable mat- 
 ters for which women will fall out with one another. 
 The family of Moreau endeavoured to persuade him 
 that he ought to be the first and not the second ; 
 that Bonaparte was ill-disposed towards him ; that 
 he endeavoured to depreciate him, and make him 
 play a secondary part. Moreau, who was wholly 
 destitute of firmness of character, had listened too 
 much to this kind of dangerous suggestion. The 
 first consul, on his side, had never in any way done 
 him wrong ; on the contrary, he had loaded him 
 with distinctions of all kinds ; he had affected to 
 speak of him higher than he thought, above all, in 
 respect to the battle of Hohenlinden, which he in 
 public proclaimed a master-piece of military art, 
 whereas he considered it privately rather a piece 
 of good luck, than a deliberate scientific combina- 
 tion. But when Moreau had once the idea that he 
 was wronged, he would not be behindhand, and 
 with the ordinary promptitude of his character, he 
 promptly resented it. One day Bonaparte invited 
 Moreau to accompany him to a review ; Moreau 
 drily refused, that he might not be last in the first 
 consul's staff, alleging as an excuse that he had no 
 horse. The first consul, vexed at this refusal, soon 
 returned it in the same way. On one of the great 
 entertainments, which he was frequently obliged to 
 give, all the high functionaries were invited to dine 
 at the Tuileries. Moreau was in the country, but 
 returning the day before the dinner, upon some 
 kind of business, he called upon Cambace'res, to 
 speak to him about it. This consul, who continually 
 made his business to conciliate, received Moreau 
 with the utmost cordiality. Being surprised to see 
 him in Paris, lie ran to the first consul, and urged 
 him, with some warmth, to invite the commander 
 of the army of the Rhine to the grand dinner that 
 was to take place on the day following. " He has 
 given me one public refusal," replied the first con- 
 sul, " I will not hazard the risk of receiving a 
 second from him. " Nothing could Bhalce this 
 determination. The next day, while all the gene- 
 
 rals and high functionaries of the republic were 
 seated in the Tuileries, at the table of the first 
 consul, Moreau avenged himself for having been 
 neglected, by going publicly, in plain clothes, to 
 dine at one of the most frequented restaurants of 
 the capital, with a party of malcontent officers. 
 This circumstance was much noticed, and produced 
 a very mischievous effect. 
 
 From that clay, being in the autumn of 1801, 
 the generals Bonaparte and Moreau showed an 
 extreme degree of coldness towards one another. 
 The public were soon cognizant of this, and the 
 hostile parties lose no time in turning it to advan- 
 tage. They began by extolling Moreau at the 
 expense of Bonaparte, and laboured to fill the 
 hearts of both with the poison of hatred. These 
 details may appear below the dignity of history. 
 Yet whatever may serve to extend the knowledge 
 of men, and the lamentable littleness even of the 
 greatest, is not unworthy of history, since every 
 thing that is capable of imparting instruction 
 belongs to it. It is not possible too strongly to 
 warn personages of note against the frivolous 
 nature of the motives which too often embroil 
 them, more especially when these differences 
 become those of their country. 
 
 The opening of the session of the year x. took 
 place on the 1st Frimaire, or 22nd of November, 
 1801, in accordance with the command of the con- 
 stitution, which fixed that day for the purpose. 
 Certainly, if ever any man bad a right to feel 
 pride in presenting himself before a legislative as- 
 semblage, it was that which the consular govern- 
 ment carried with it. Peace concluded with 
 Russia, England, the German and Italian powers, 
 Portugal, and the Porte, and concluded with all 
 these powers upon such glorious conditions ; a 
 plan for conciliation with the church, which ter- 
 minated the religious troubles, and which, in re- 
 forming the church according to the principles of 
 the revolution, still obtained the adhesion of the 
 orthodox to the results of that revolution; a civil 
 code, a monument since admired by the whole 
 world ; laws of high utility respecting public in- 
 struction, the legion of honour, and an infinite 
 number of other important matters; financial plans 
 which placed the expenses and the revenues of the 
 state in perfect equilibrium — what more complete, 
 more extraordinary, than such an assemblage of 
 results to lay before the nation ! No matter, all 
 these things, as will soon be seen, were very thank- 
 lessly received. 
 
 The session of the legislative body was opened 
 this time with a certain solemnization. The minis- 
 ter of the interior was charged with the presidency 
 of the opening. Formal opening speeches were 
 made on both sides, and there appeared some in- 
 tention to imitate the forms customary in England 
 on the opening of parliament. The new cere- 
 monial, borrowed from constitutional royalty, was 
 commented upon malevolently by the opposition. 
 The tribunate and legislative body constituted 
 themselves, and then commenced that kind of 
 manifestation by which assemblies willingly reveal 
 their secret sentiments, the election of members. 
 The legislative body chose for its .president M. 
 Dupuis, author of the celebrated work, " Sur VOri- 
 gine de tons let Cultes." M. Dupuis was not so 
 strong an oppositionist as might be supposed from
 
 1801. 
 Nov. 
 
 The civil code presented to the 
 legislative bodies. 
 
 THE TRIBUNATE. 
 
 Election of three senators to 
 supply vacancies. 
 
 317 
 
 his work; he had acknowledged to the first consul, 
 in conversation, that the reconciliation with Rome 
 was needful: but his name liad a considerable sig- 
 nification at a moment when the concordat was 
 one of the principal grievances alleged against the 
 consular policy. The intention it was easy to infer; 
 and it was comprehended by the public, above all, 
 by the first consul, who, even in his own mind, 
 exaggerated] its importance. 
 
 The two assemblies exercising the legislative 
 power, in other words, the tribunate and the legis- 
 lative body, being constituted, three counsellors of 
 state presented an exposition of the situation of 
 the republic. This exposition, dictated by the first 
 consul, was simple, yet noble, in language, but in 
 regard to subject, magnificent. It made a strong 
 impression on the public mind. Or. the day fol- 
 lowing, a numerous train of counsellors of state 
 brought up such a. series of bills as any govern- 
 ment has rarely an occasion to present to its 
 assembled chambers. They were bills designed to 
 convert into laws the treaties with Russia, Bavaria, 
 Naples, Portugal, America, and the Ottoman Porte. 
 The treaty with England, concluded at London 
 previously, under the form of preliminaries of 
 peace, was on the point of receiving, at this mo- 
 ment, in the congress of Amiens, the form of a 
 definitive treaty, and could not yet be submitted 
 to the deliberations of the legislative body. As 
 for the concordat, it was not thought right to ex- 
 po^ li at once to the ill-nature of the opposition. 
 Portalis, the counsellor of state, then read an ad- 
 dress, which has ever since remained celebrated, 
 upon the entire of the civil code. The three heads 
 of that code were brought up at the same time 
 by three counsellors of state : the first related to 
 " the publication of the laws ;" the second, to " the 
 enjoyment and the privation of civil rights ;" the 
 third, to " the acts of the civil state." 
 
 It would seem that such a list of legislative la- 
 bours ought to have put to silence every opposi- 
 tion; but it did nothing of the kind. When, ac- 
 cording to usage, the bids were presented to the 
 tribunate, the communication of the treaty with 
 Russia produced a most violent scene. The third 
 article of the treaty contained an important sti- 
 pulation, which the two governments had devised 
 in order to secure each other, in case of the evil- 
 disposed working mischief reciprocally in either 
 country. They had mutually promised, according 
 to Article in., "not to suffer any of their subject* 
 to carry on any correspondence whatsoever, whe- 
 ther direct or indirect, with the internal enemies 
 of the governments of the two states, to propagate 
 therein principles contrary to their respective con- 
 stitutions, or to foment troubles." In this the 
 French government had the emigrants in view, 
 and tin- Russian government the Poles. Nothing 
 was more natural than such a precaution, more 
 particularly on the part of the French government, 
 which had to fear the Hourbons, and to watch 
 them continually. In alluding to the particular 
 class of individuals who might attempt to disturb 
 the repose of tin- two countries, the negotiators 
 had used the word which most naturally occurred, 
 
 as that oftenest adopted in the language of diplo- 
 matists, namely, the word " subjects." It had 
 been used without any intention, because it was 
 the word commonly employed in all treaties, as it 
 
 was as usual to say the " subjects" of a republic 
 as the "subjects" of a monarchy. Scarcely was 
 the reading of the treaty completed, than Thibaut, 
 a tribune, one of the opposition members, demanded 
 to speak. "There has slipped," he said, "into 
 the text of the treaty, an expression inadmissible 
 in our language, and which ought not to be tole- 
 rated. 1 mean the word 'subjects,' applied to 
 the citizens of one of the two states. A republic 
 has no ' subjects,' but ' citizens.' Doubtless it was 
 an error of the writer — it should be rectified." 
 These words produced a very great agitation, such 
 as is certain to be the case in an assembly pre- 
 viously excited, and in expectation of some event, 
 and which is electrified by every circumstance, no 
 matter how slight, that has pre-occupied the minds 
 of the members. The president cut short the ex- 
 planations about to be made, by the remark that 
 the deliberations were not at that moment opened, 
 and that such observations ought to be reserved 
 for the time when, on the report of a commission, 
 the treaty presented would be submitted for dis- 
 cussion. This appeal to the regulations hindered 
 the tumult from breaking out at the moment, and 
 a commission was immediately named. 
 
 This display increased the agitation which pre- 
 vailed in the great bodies of the state, and irritated 
 still more the first consul. These manifestations 
 were continued through the character of the per- 
 sons to be elected. There were several places in 
 the senate to be filled up. One was vacant by 
 the death of the senator Crassous. There were 
 two others to be filled up, in virtue of the consti- 
 tution. The constitution, as it will be remembered, 
 had at first provided but sixty places for senators 
 out of the eighty, which formed the total number. 
 To reach this last number, two were to be ap- 
 pointed every year for ten years. At this time 
 there were three places to be given away, counting 
 in that which was vacant by the death of the 
 senator Crassous. According to the rules of the 
 constitution, the first consul, the legislative body, 
 and the tribunate, were each to name a candidate, 
 and the senate were then to choose from among 
 the candidates thus presented. 
 
 The scrutiny was begun for this object as well 
 in the tribunate as in the legislative body. In the 
 tribunate the opposition supported INI. Daunou, 
 who had publicly quarrelled with the first consul, 
 on the matter of the special tribunals, so much 
 discussed in the preceding session. From that 
 time In- would not attend the meetings of the tri- 
 bunate, saying that he should remain B stranger to 
 any of the legislative proceedings, "as long as the 
 tyranny endured." In fact, he had kept his word, 
 and had not been seen there afterwards. The op- 
 position therefore had chosen M. Daunou, as being 
 
 the candidate the least agreeable to the first ( sill. 
 
 The decided partisans of the government, in the 
 same body, supported one of the framera of the 
 civil code, .M. Bigot de Preameneu. Neither the 
 one nor the other were elected. The majority of 
 the votes were united in favour of a candidate of 
 no note, the tribune I.)i smeiiniers, a moderate per- 
 son in his sentiments, and who, through his rela- 
 tions, was not a stranger to the first, consul. The 
 legislative body more decidedly spoke out its sen- 
 timents, and elected the abbe* Gregoire as its own 
 candidate to the senate. This choice, alter the
 
 318 
 
 Senators nominated by 
 Bonaparte. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The abbe Gregoire elected. 
 — Vio'ent opposition in 
 the tribunate. 
 
 1801. 
 Dec. 
 
 gift of the presidency to M. Dupuis, was a re- 
 doubled manifestation against the concordat. M. 
 Bigot de Preameneu had in the assembly a cer- 
 tain number of votes that neai-ly amounted to 
 two-fifths. 
 
 The first consul wished, on his side, to make a 
 significant proposition. He might have waited 
 until the two bodies, authorized to present can- 
 didates concurrently with the executive powers, 
 had chosen those for the two places which re- 
 mained to be filled up. It was probable that the 
 legislative body and the tribunate, not willing to 
 break definitively with a government so popular as 
 that of the first consul, liable also to the oscillating 
 movement of all assemblies, that ever fall back on 
 the morrow when they have advanced too far the 
 day before, would make a less obnoxious choice, 
 and even adopt, for the two remaining candidate- 
 ships, persons acceptable to the government. Thus 
 M. de Desmeuniers, for example, was a person 
 whom the first consul could perfectly approve, be- 
 cause he had promised to recompense his services 
 by the place of senator. It was probable that the 
 name of M. Bigot de Preameneu might issue in 
 one of the ballots of the legislative body or the 
 tribunate. The first consul would then be able 
 to present, on his own account, those candidates 
 adopted by the assemblies that would best suit his 
 views; and, in that case, a name presented by two 
 authorities out of three would almost have the 
 certainty of being chosen by the majority of the 
 senate. The consul Cambaceres advised this line 
 of conduct; but it partook of that kind of manage- 
 ment in its nature much used in representative 
 governments, to which the first consul had a sove- 
 reign repugnance. The magistrate-general, a 
 stranger to such a form of government, would not 
 thus place himself, as it were, behind the legisla- 
 tive body and the tribunate, and await their 
 opinion before he manifested his own. In con- 
 sequence, he immediately presented to them, not 
 one candidate alone, but three at once, and he 
 chose three generals. Notwithstanding the hopes 
 previously given to M. Desmeuniers, the first 
 consul, displeased with him, because he had not 
 pronounced his sentiments decidedly, left him out, 
 and presented generals Jourdan, Lamartilliere, and 
 Berruyer. It is true that these selections were well 
 suited to the moment. General Jourdan had ap- 
 peared an opponent of the 18th Brnmaire, but he 
 enjoyed general respect; ho had conducted himself 
 with prudence, and had received, subsequently, 
 the government of Piedmont. In presenting him 
 to the senate, the first consul proved the real im- 
 partiality which became the head of the govern- 
 ment. As to general Lamartilliere, he was the 
 oldest officer of artillery, and had made all the 
 revolutionary campaigns. General Berruyer was 
 an old officer of infantry, who, after having borne 
 a part in the seven years' war, had been wounded 
 in the republican armies. These were not, there- 
 fore, his own creatures, whom the first consul 
 thus determined to reward, but the old servants of 
 France under all the governments. This proud 
 and decided conduct adopted, it was impossible to 
 make a more worthy choice. A circumstance still 
 more singular is, that this choice was justified as 
 to motive, in a preamble. The sense of the pre- 
 amble had a strong meaning : — " You have peace," 
 
 the government said to the senate ; " you are in- 
 debted for it to the blood which your generals have 
 shed in a hundred battles ; prove to them, that in 
 calling them to your bosom, the country is not 
 ungrateful towards them." 
 
 The senate assembled, and was much agitated 
 by intrigues. Sieyes, who commonly lived in the 
 country, left it upon the present occasion, to mingle 
 himself up in them. Many persons very well dis- 
 posed, like old Kellermann for example, were 
 misled by being told that the legislative body, in 
 case the abbe Gregoire, its own candidate, were 
 preferred, would return the compliment, by pro- 
 posing for the second vacant place, general Lamar- 
 tilliere, one of the three candidates nominated by the 
 first consul, and that then, by choosing the general 
 a little later, it would satisfy the authorities at 
 once, the legislative body, and the government. 
 These manoeuvres succeeded ; the abbe Gregoire 
 was elected by a large majority. 
 
 While these elections were in agitation, and 
 causing great pleasure to the opposition, the dis- 
 cussions in the tribunate and legislative body as- 
 sumed a most mischievous character. The treaty 
 with Russia, on account of the word " subjects," 
 had become a ground of the most violent discus- 
 sions in the committee of the tribunate. M. Costaz, 
 the reporter of that committee, who did not belong 
 to the opposition party, had applied to the govern- 
 ment for certain explanations. The first consul 
 had received him, and explained to him the real 
 meaning of the article, so much attacked, and the 
 motive of its insertion in the treaty; and as to the 
 word "subjects," he proved to M. Costaz, by a 
 reference to the dictionary of the academy, that 
 the word in diplomacy, applied to the citizens of 
 a republic as well as of a monarchy. He recounted 
 to him, in order to his complete edification, the 
 different details relative to emigrants concerning 
 France and Russia. M. Costaz, convinced on the 
 evidence of these explanations, made' his report 
 favourable to the article in question ; but, intimi- 
 dated by the violence of the tribunate, he censured 
 the employment of the word "subjects," and 
 related these things in a manner sufficiently awk- 
 ward, and liable to give Russia the appearance of 
 a very feeble government, delivering up the emi- 
 grants to the first consul, and to the first consul 
 the appearance of a persecuting government, pur- 
 suing the emigrants into their most distant refuge. 
 M. Costaz, as often happens to circumspect men, 
 who wish to conciliate all parties, displeased the 
 first consul and his opponents in an equal degree, 
 and compromised the former with Russia. 
 
 The day of the discussion arrived, being the 7'h 
 of December, 1801, or 16th Frimaire, when the 
 tribune Jard Panvilliers moved that the debate 
 should take place in a secret committee, and this 
 very wise proposal was agreed to. The tribunes 
 were no sooner left to themselves by the public, 
 which was by no means favourable to them, than 
 they gave themselves up to the most inconceivable 
 rage. They absolutely wanted to reject the treaty, 
 and propose its rejection to the legislative body. 
 If there was ever a culpable act, it was this; 
 because for one word, right besides, and perfectly 
 innocent, they would reject a treaty of such a 
 nature, so long and so difficult to conclude, and 
 which secured a peace with the first continental
 
 1801. 
 Dec. 
 
 Debates in the tribunate. 
 — The treaty with Russia 
 ratified. 
 
 THE TRIBUNATE. 
 
 Ill consequences of th ; s opposi- 
 tion. — Discussions concern- 
 ing the civil code. 
 
 319 
 
 power — it was acting like fools and madmen. Che"- 
 nier and Benjamin Constant delivered the must 
 declamatory and violent speeches. Che'nier went 
 so far as to state, that lie had important tilings to 
 say upon this question, hut that lie could only state 
 them at a public Bitting, because he wished that all 
 France might hear them. He was answered that 
 it was better he Bhould communicate them to his 
 own colleagues. Hi- shrunk back from doing this, 
 and au unknown member of the tribune, a simple, 
 sensible man, restored the minds of his colleagues 
 to their senses, in a short speech. " 1 know no- 
 thing," said he, " of diplomacy; I am a stranger 
 alike to the art and the language ; but I see in the 
 proposed treaty a treaty of peace. A treaty of 
 peace is a precious thing, and must be adopted 
 entire, with all the words it contains. Do not 
 believe that France would ever pardon you tor its 
 rejection; the responsibility resting upon you would 
 rrible. I demand that the discussion termi- 
 nate, the sitting be declared public, and the treaty 
 be immediately put to the vote." After these few 
 words, delivered with simplicity and calmness, the 
 assembly was about to vote, when the opposition 
 members moved an adjournment until the next 
 day, on account of the lateness of the hour. The 
 adjournment was carried. The following day the 
 tumult was as great as it had been the day before. 
 Benjamin Constant delivered a written speech, 
 very lucid and very subtle. Che'nier declaimed 
 anew, with great vehemence, saying that five mil- 
 lions of Frenchmen had died that thev might cease 
 to be "subjects," and that this word ought to have 
 remained buried among the ruins of the Bastile. 
 The majority, wearied by these violent proceed- 
 in,'-, were about to terminate them, when a letter 
 from Fleurieu, councillor of state, addressed to the 
 reporter, M. Costaz, arrived. M. Costaz had 
 treated as official the explanations which he had 
 given in his report, and bad made the assembly 
 understand that they came from the first consul. 
 '• Furnish the proof positive of that!" was t lie answer 
 made to him. He had thus forced a declaration 
 from M. Fleurieu, who was the councillor of state, 
 appointed to support the bill or "project." M. 
 Fleurieu, after having received the orders of the 
 first consul, sent the deelaratiou desired, accom- 
 panied by many declarations, which the report of 
 M. Cost;,/, rendered indispensably needful ; this 
 revived the debate. Gingoene 1 terminated it by an 
 
 epigrammatic and not very fitting motion. Ac- 
 knowledging that it was difficult, on account of an 
 
 unpleasant word, to v jeel a treaty of peace, he 
 
 proposed a vote in these words: "For the love of 
 , the tribunate adopts the treaty concluded 
 with the court of Russia." 
 
 M. de Girardin, who was one of the most rea- 
 sonable and intelligent members of the tribunate, 
 
 induced th<- assi mbly to pass over all these propo- 
 sitions, and to go immediately to the vote. After all, 
 the majority of tlie tribunate intended to give the 
 first consul signs of dissatisfaction by the ohoi f 
 
 individuals ; it had no di sire to enter into a strug- 
 gle, above all, in relation to a treaty of which the 
 rejection would have drawn upon itself mucb 
 public remark. It. WBS adopted by seventy-seven 
 to fourteen. Its adoption in the legislative 
 body occurred without tumult, thanks to the forms 
 of the institution. 
 
 In Paris this scene produced a painful effect. 
 The first consul was not considered there as a 
 minister exposed to the law of a majority, and no 
 fear was in consequence felt for his political exist- 
 ence. He was considered a hundred times more 
 necessary than a king in an established monarchy. 
 But they saw with chagrin the least appearance of 
 new troubles, and the friends of a wise liberty 
 asked themselves how, with a character similar to 
 that of Bonaparte, how, with a constitution, in 
 which the framer had neglected to admit the power 
 of dissolution, such a contest would terminate if it 
 should be prolonged. 
 
 In effect, if a dissolution had been admitted, the 
 difficulty would soon have been cleared away, 
 since France, when convoked, would not have 
 re-elected one of the enemies of the government. 
 But obliged to live together until the renewal of 
 one-fifth, the different powers were liable, as they 
 were under the directory, to some violence, the one 
 from the other; and if such a thing occurred, it 
 was evidently neither the tribunate nor the legis- 
 lative body that could triumph. It needed but an 
 arbitrary action of the first consul to bring to 
 nothing, both the constitution and those who made 
 it serve such a purpose. Thus every wise man 
 trembled at this state of things. 
 
 The discussion of the civil code did but increase 
 these apprehensions. Now that time has obtained 
 the esteem of all the world for this code, it is 
 hardly possible to conceive all the objections at 
 that time urged against it. The opposition ex- 
 pressed at first great astonishment at finding the 
 code so simple, and that it had so little novelty. 
 "How," said they, "what is that all? — there is in 
 that no new conception, no great legislative crea- 
 tion, which is particularly adapted for French 
 society, or able to mark it with a peculiar and 
 enduring character ; it is only a translation from 
 the Roman and the common law. Its authors 
 have taken Domet, Pothier, the institutes of Jus- 
 tinian, and digested into French all that they con- 
 tain ; they have divided this into article:! by num- 
 bers more than by a logical deduction ; and then 
 they have presented this compilation to France, as 
 a monument which has a claim to its admiration 
 and respect." Benjamin Constant, Cheiiier, Gin- 
 giione, Andrieux, all id' them men who might have 
 employed their intellects to a better purpose, ral- 
 lied the councillors of state, saying they were 
 lawyers, under the direction of a soldier that had 
 made this mediocre compilation, so pompously 
 called the civil code of France. 
 
 M. Portalie and the men of sense, who were his 
 assistants, replied, that on the matter of legislation 
 the object was not to be original, but lucid, just, 
 and wise ; that here there was no new society to 
 be constituted as with LycurgUB or Moses, but an 
 old society to hi' reformed in some points, and ill 
 many others lo be restored ; that, the French law 
 had existed lor ten centuries : that it was, at the 
 same time, the product of Roman science, of the 
 feudal system, ..f the monarchy, and of the modern 
 
 mind, acting together for a long space of time upon 
 
 French ma is; that the ci\il law of France, 
 
 resulting from these different causes, it was neces- 
 sary to adapt in the present day to a society which 
 hail ceased |o he aristocratic, in order to become 
 democratic ; that it was necessary, for example, <"
 
 320 Discussions relative to THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 the civil code. 
 
 1801. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 review the laws upon marriage, upon paternal 
 authority, upon succession, in order to divest them 
 of every thing that was repugnant to the spirit of 
 the present time ; that it was necessary to purge 
 the laws upon property of all feudal services, to 
 draw up this mass of prescriptions in precise plain 
 language, which would allow no room for am- 
 biguities or for endless disputes, and to put the 
 whole in excellent order ; that this was the only 
 monument to be erected, and that, if contrary 
 to the intention of the authors, it should chance 
 to surprise by its structure, if it should please 
 a few scholars by new and original views, in place 
 of obtaining the cold and silent esteem of lawyers, 
 it would fail of its real object, though it might 
 suit a few minds more singular than judicious in 
 their sentiments. 
 
 All this was perfectly reasonable and true. The 
 code under this view was a master-piece of legis- 
 lation. Grave lawyers, full of learning and ex- 
 perience, knowing well the language of the law, 
 under the direction of a chief, a soldier, it is true, 
 but of a superior mind, able to decide their doubts, 
 and to keep them at work, composed this beautiful 
 digest of French law, purged of all feudal law. 
 It was impossible to do otherwise, or to do better. 
 
 It is true that in this vast code it is possible 
 to substitute here and there one word for another, 
 to transpose an article from one place to another — 
 this might be done without much danger, and also 
 without much utility ; and that it is which even 
 the best intentioned assemblies are fond of doing, 
 only to impress their own hand on the work which 
 is submitted to them. Sometimes, in fact, after 
 the presentation of an ifhportant bill, mediocre 
 and ignorant minds get hold of a legislative mea- 
 sure, the result of profound experience and lung 
 labour, alter this, and spoil it, making of a well- 
 connected whole, a formless incoherent thing, with 
 relation to laws already in existence, or to the real 
 facts of the case. They often act thus out of no 
 spirit of opposition, but only from a taste for 
 retouching the work of another. Only let it be 
 imagined of vehement tribunes, persons of little 
 information, exercising themselves in this sort of 
 way upon a code of some thousand articles ! It 
 was enough to make the authors renounce their 
 work. 
 
 The preliminnry essay had to sustain the first 
 assault of the tribunes. It had been sent before a 
 commission, of which the tribune Andrieux was the 
 reporter. This part contained, save in some few 
 and unimportant differences in the verbal part, the 
 same dispositions as were definitively adopted, and 
 which now form what may be styled the preface to 
 that fine monument of legislation. The first article 
 related to the promulgation of the laws. The 
 ancient system had been abandoned, in virtue of 
 which the law could not be executed until the 
 parliaments and tribunals had granted the regis- 
 tration. That system had produced formerly a 
 contest between the parliaments and royalty ; a 
 contest which had, in its day, been a useful cor- 
 rection of absolute monarchy, but which would 
 have been a great blunder at a time when repre- 
 sentative assemblies were in existence, commis- 
 sioned to grant or refuse taxes. There has been 
 substituted for this system the simple idea of the 
 promulgation of the law by the executive power, 
 
 rendering it in full force in the chief place of the 
 government twenty-four hours after its promul- 
 gation, and in the departments after a delay pro- 
 portioned to their distances. The second article 
 interdicts to the laws all retrospective effect. Some 
 great errors of the convention upon this point 
 rendered this article useful, and even necessary. 
 It was requisite to lay it down as a strong princi- 
 ple, that no law should be permitted to disturb the 
 past, but only to regulate the future. After having 
 limited the action of the law as to time, it was ne- 
 cessary to limit its action as to place ; to declare 
 what laws should follow Frenchmen out of the 
 territories of Fx-ance, and bind them in all places, 
 as those for example which regulated marriages 
 and successions ; and what laws should be obli- 
 gatory in the territory of France only, and on that 
 territory binding upon foreigners as well as natives 
 of France. The laws relative to police and to 
 property were to come under the latter category : 
 that was the object of article three. The fourth 
 article obliged the judge to try, even when the law 
 might appear insufficient. Tliis case had occurred 
 more than once in the transition from one lesis- 
 lation to another. Often, in fact, the tribunals, 
 from the fault of the laws, had been really em- 
 barrassed how to give judgment ; often, too, they 
 had fraudulently withdrawn themselves from the 
 obligation to render justice. The court of cassa- 
 tion and the legislative body were encumbered 
 with addresses, praying interpretations of the laws. 
 It was necessary to prevent this abuse, by obliging 
 the judges to decide in all cases ; but it was at the 
 same time needful to prevent them from con- 
 stituting themselves legislators. This was the 
 object of article five, which forbade tribunals from 
 deciding any thing but the especial case submitted 
 to them, and to pronounce in the way of a general 
 disposition. The sixth, and last article, limited 
 the natural faculty which all citizens have to 
 renounce the benefit of certain laws by particular 
 agreements. It rendered it absolute ami impossi- 
 ble to elude the laws relative to public order,, 
 to the constitution of families, and to good man- 
 ners. It decided that no one could withdraw 
 himself from them by any particular agreement. 
 
 These preliminary dispositions were indispensa- 
 ble, because it was necessary to declare somewhere 
 in legislation how the laws were to be promulgated, 
 at what moment they became in full force, and how 
 far their effects extended in regard to time and to 
 place. It was necessary to prescribe to the judges 
 the genernl mode in which the laws applied, to 
 oblige them to try, but to interdict their consti- 
 tuting themselves legislators ; it was necessary, 
 lastly, to render the laws immutable which consti- 
 tuted social order and morality, and to restrain 
 them from the variations of particular agreements. 
 If it was indispensable to write these things, where 
 was it more so than at the bend of the civil 
 code, the first, the most general, and the most 
 important of all the codes ? Would they have 
 been better placed, for example, at the head of the 
 code of commerce or of civil procedure ? Evidently 
 these general maxims were necessary, well written, 
 and well placed. 
 
 It would be difficult at the present time to form 
 an idea of the censures directed by M. Andrieux 
 against the preliminary title of the civil code,
 
 1801. 
 tec. 
 
 Discussions concerning 
 
 THE TRIBUNATE. 
 
 the civil code. 
 
 321 
 
 in the name of the commission of the tribunate. In 
 the first place, according to him, these dispositions 
 might be placed any where : they belonged no 
 more to the civil code than to any other. They 
 might, for example, be placed at the head of the 
 constitution as well as at the head of the civil code. 
 That was true ; but when no one had thought 
 of placing them at its head, which was natural, 
 because they had no political character, where 
 could they be better placed than iu the code which 
 might be denominated the social code ? 
 
 indly, the order of these six articles, ac- 
 cording to M. Andrieux, was arbitrary. It was 
 as easy to put the first last, as the last first. This 
 waa not exactly correct; for on a close examination 
 it was easy to discover a true logical deduction in 
 the manner in which they were disposed. But 
 in any case what matter is the order of the articles 
 if one order be just as good as another ? The last 
 order, is it not that which eminent lawyers, after 
 the most conscientious labour, have preferred I 
 Were there not natural difficulties enough in this 
 great work, without adding to them those which 
 were puerilel 
 
 Lastly, according to M. Andrieux, the maxims 
 were general, theoretic, appertaining move to the 
 science of law than to positive law, which disposes 
 and commands. This was false, because the form 
 of the promulgation of the laws, the limit given to 
 their effects, the obligation of the judges to judge 
 and not to make regulations, the interdiction of 
 certain particular agreements contrary to the laws, 
 — all that was imperative. 
 
 The critical censures, then, were as empty as 
 they were ridiculous. Nevertheless they made an 
 impression on the tribunate, which judged them 
 worthy of the greatest attention. The tribune 
 ThiessJ considered the disposition which inter- 
 dieted to the laws a retractive effect as extremely 
 dang -rous, and counter-revolutionary. It was, he 
 ■aid, up to a certain point, annulling the conse- 
 quence s of the night id' the 4th of August ; because 
 the individuals born under the system of the law 
 of primogeniture and of substitutions would be 
 able to say that the new law on the equality 
 of property was retracted as regarded them, and in 
 quence void as far as they were affected by it. 
 
 Such absurd objections wen- supported, and the 
 preliminary part was rejected by sixty-three votes 
 against fifteen. The opposition, delighted with 
 their commencement, determined to follow up this 
 first success. According to the constitution, the 
 tribunate; nominated three speakers or orators to 
 sustain against three councillors of state, tin; dis- 
 eustdon of the laws before the legislative body. 
 Tliiesse*, Andrieux, and Favard were, in conse- 
 quence, charged to demand the rejection of the 
 preliminary title. They obtained one hundred and 
 forty-two voices against > '".u^dred and thirty- 
 nine. 
 
 This result, together with the different votes at 
 the election "I tie- proposed members, and the 
 
 ■Cene upon the word "subjects" was \ivy serious. 
 It was reported as nearly certain that two oilier 
 parts already presented, that "On the enjoyment 
 of civd rights," and w On tie- form of the acts of 
 
 the civil state," would also In- rejected. The 
 report of M. Simeon "On the enjoyment ami 
 privation of civil rights," was in favour of its 
 
 rejection. M. Simeon, that ordinary-minded, dis- 
 creet person, had, among different animadversions, 
 stated that the proposed law had neglected to say 
 that the children born of French parents in the 
 French colonies were by right born Frenchmen. 
 This singular objection is quoted here because it 
 excited astonishment and anger in the first consul. 
 He convoked the council of state to advise with it 
 what was best to be done in such an emergency. 
 Was the government to go on in the course it had 
 adopted or not > Must it change the mode of 
 presentation to the legislative body ? Would it 
 not be best to put oft" this great work, so anxiously 
 and impatiently expected, until another time? The 
 first consul was exasperated. " What would you 
 do," he cried, "with persons who, before discus- 
 sion, say that the councillors of state and the con- 
 suls are nothing but asses, and that their labours 
 ought to be flung at their heads ( What will you 
 do when such an one as Simeon accuses the law of 
 being incomplete, because it does not declare that 
 infants born of Frenchmen in French colonies are 
 French ? In truth, one stands astounded in the 
 midst of these strange mental aberrations. Even 
 with all the good faith brought to this discussion in 
 the bosom of the council of state, we have had the 
 greatest difficulty to come to an agreement ; how 
 is it possible then to succeed in an assembly five or 
 six times more numerous, discussing with no sin- 
 cerity at all ? How is an entire code to be drawn 
 up under such circumstances ? I have read the 
 speech of Portalis to the legislative body, in reply 
 to the orators of the tribunate ; he has left them 
 nothing to say ; he has drawn their teeth. But let a 
 man be ever so eloquent ; let him speak twenty- 
 four hours in succession, he can do nothing against 
 an assembly which is prejudiced and determined to 
 listen to nothing." 
 
 After these complaints, expressed in bitter and 
 warm language, the first consul asked the advice 
 of the council of state on the best mode to be 
 adopted to ensure the passing of the civil code by 
 the tribunate and legislative body. The subject 
 was not a new one iu the council. It had already 
 been foreseen there, and different means proposed 
 for getting over the difficulty. Some had imagined 
 that general principles only should be presented, 
 on which the legislative body should vote, with the 
 understanding that the developments should after- 
 wards be added in the way of regulations. This 
 was hardly to be admitted, because to comprehend 
 the general principles of laws is difficult with the 
 developments separately drawn up. Others pro- 
 posed a more simple plan, which was to present 
 tin- whole code at once. " You would have no 
 more trouble, ' tiny said, " tins way, for the three 
 I mi >ks of the code than for one. The tribunes 
 would attack ill ■ first heads ; tiny would then get 
 fatigued, and let the rest pass. The discussion 
 
 would he shortened this way by its very im- 
 mensity." This was the most plausible and the 
 wisest course to take. Unhappily, in order to 
 make it succeed, there were many conditions want- 
 ing. The assemblies had not then the faonlfcv of 
 amending the propositions of the government, 
 which permits such small sacrifices, by means 
 
 of which the vanity of some is satisfied and the 
 
 scruples of others disarmed, during the ameliora- 
 tion of tin laws. There wauted also to the oppo-
 
 322 
 
 Opposition to the civil 
 code. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Disputes concerning the 
 election of senators. 
 
 1802. 
 Jan. 
 
 sition a little of that good faith, without which all 
 serious discussion is impossible ; and, lastly, there 
 wanted to the first consul himself that constitutional 
 patience, which the habit of contradiction imparts 
 to men fashioned under a representative govern- 
 ment. He would not admit that good, honestly 
 intended and toilingly prepared, should be delayed 
 or spoiled to please " the babblers," as he styled 
 them. 
 
 Some resolute spirits went so far as to propose 
 that the civil code should be presented as treaties 
 are presented, with a law of acceptance at its side, 
 thus to get it voted in the mass by a "yea" or 
 "nay." This method of proceeding was thought 
 too dictatorial, and not seriously debated. 
 
 Under the opinion of the most enlightened 
 members, more especially Tronchet, it was de- 
 termined to wait and see what would be the fate of 
 the other two heads presented in the tribunate. 
 " Yes," said the first consul, " we can hazard two 
 more battles. If we gain them, we shall continue 
 the march that has commenced. If we lose them, 
 we must go into winter-quarters, and consider 
 what course we shall adopt." 
 
 This plan of conduct was adopted, and the re- 
 sult of the two discussions was awaited. Public 
 opinion began to operate strongly against the tri- 
 bunate. Then the leaders bethought themselves 
 of a means to moderate the effect of these succes- 
 sive rejections, and that was to intermingle them 
 with an adoption. The head relative to "the 
 keeping of the acts of the civil state," pleased them 
 greatly in itself, because it more strictly sanctioned 
 the principles of the revolution in respect to the 
 clergy, and absolutely forbade them the registration 
 of births, deaths, and marriages, in order to attach 
 the duty solely to the municipal officers. The 
 head presented by the councillor of state, Thibau- 
 deau, was excellent, but that would not have saved 
 it had it not contained dispositions against the 
 clergy. They decided upon its adoption. But in 
 the order of presentation it should have come in 
 the third place. It was introduced second, and 
 voted without difficulty, to render more certain the 
 rejection of the head entitled, " On the enjoyment 
 and privation of civil rights." The last in its turn 
 coming on for discussion was rejected by an 
 immense majority of the tribunate. The rejection 
 of it by the legislative body was not to be doubted. 
 Thus the scries of difficulties foreseen reappeared 
 in enticrty. These difficulties could not fail to be 
 much increased when the laws upon marriage, 
 upon divorce, and iipon the paternal authority, 
 came to bo debated ; as to the concordat, and 
 to the bill relative to public instruction, there 
 was evidently no chance of success in getting them 
 adopted. 
 
 But that which pushed things to the extreme 
 was a new ballot for members, which put on the 
 character of direct hostility against the first consul. 
 The election of the abbe - Gregoire as senator, had 
 heen carried in opposition to the wishes of the 
 government, and to afford a sign of disapproba- 
 tion of its religious policy. There were, as just 
 seen, two places to fill, and not only were the 
 assemblies desirous of filling them, contrary to the 
 propositions already known as having been made 
 by the first consul in favour of three generals, but 
 they were determined to make the choice which 
 
 should be most disagreeable to him. This choice 
 was that of M. Daunou. They endeavoured to 
 force the obtainment of M. Daunou by the two 
 legislative authorities at once, by the tribunate and 
 legislative body, which rendered his nomination by 
 the senate nearly an inevitable consequence. 
 
 The greatest activity was displayed, and votes 
 were requested with a degree of boldness which 
 excited wonder in every body, when in opposition 
 to so formidable an authority as the first consul. 
 
 M. Daunou was balloted for in the legislative 
 body with general Lamartilliere, the government 
 candidate. There were repeated ballotings. At 
 last M. Daunou received one hundred and thirty- 
 five votes to one hundred and twenty-two for 
 general Lamartilliere. He was, accordingly, pro- 
 claimed the candidate of the legislative body for 
 one of the vacant places in the senate. In the 
 tribunate M. Daunou had again general Lamartil- 
 liere for an opponent, and he obtained forty-eight 
 voices in place of thirty-nine given to the general. 
 He was proclaimed the candidate. He had conse- 
 quently two presentations for one. The scrutiny 
 took place on the 1st of January, 1802, the 11th 
 Nivose, the same day as the rejection of the head 
 of the civil code on the "enjoyment and privation 
 of civil rights." 
 
 According to the ordinary rules of the repre- 
 sentative system, it ought to have been said that 
 the majority was lost. But in that case, the per- 
 son who must have retired was the first consul, 
 since he was the great object of the admiration of 
 France, as well as of the hatred of his enemies. 
 Still no one had come forward to exclude him, 
 because there was no one had the means of so 
 doing. It was, therefore, a real piece of trickery, 
 wholly unworthy of men in earnest. It was the 
 most puerile, and, at the same time, the most dan- 
 gerous piece of spite, because they were urging to an 
 extremity a violent character, full of the feeling of 
 his own strength, and capable of any thing. Cam- 
 bace'res himself, commonly so moderate, regarded 
 these proceedings as decidedly out of all order: he 
 repeated that such pointed hostility could not be 
 suffered; and that, for his own part, he could not an- 
 swer for his success in calming the anger of the first 
 consul. The anger of the first consul was, in fact, ex- 
 treme ; and he loudly announced his determination 
 to break down the obstacles which they were 
 endeavouring to place in the way of all the good 
 which he was desirous of effecting. 
 
 On the following day, the 2nd of January, or 
 12th Nivose, was the day of the decade, when 
 he gave an audience to the senators. A great 
 number attended, and among them many who had 
 acted against him. They came, the one party out 
 of curiosity, the other out of weakness, and to dis- 
 avow, by their presence, their participation in what 
 had happened. Sieyes was found in the number of 
 those who were present. The first consul was, 
 according to custom, in uniform ; his countenance 
 appeared animated, and all expected some violent 
 scene. A circle was formed around him. " You 
 are determined then to nominate no more gene- 
 rals 8" said he. " Yet you are indebted to them 
 for peace ; this would be a good time for showing 
 them your gratitude." After these introductory 
 words, the senators Kellermann, Francois de Neuf- 
 ehflteau, and others, were severely lectured, and
 
 1802. 
 Jan. 
 
 Violent measures of the first 
 consul repressed by Cam- 
 baceres. 
 
 THE TRIBUNATE. 
 
 Cambaceres" plan to dissolve 
 the opposition. 
 
 32:? 
 
 made pour defences. The conversation then be- 
 came general once more, and the first consul, look- 
 ing towai s 3 again began in a very loud 
 lone : •• There are people who want to give us 
 a grand elector, and who are thinking of a prince 
 of the house of Orleans. This system lias its sup- 
 
 ra 1 know, even in thesi aate." These words 
 had relation to a scheme truly or falsely attributed 
 to Sieves, and by his enemies reported to the first 
 consul. Sieves, upon hearing these offensive words, 
 retired blushing. The first consul, then addrt 
 the senators around him. said : "I declare to you, 
 that if you nominate M. Daunou a senator, I will 
 take it as a personal affront ; and yon know that I 
 have never vet put up with one.''" 
 
 This scene frightened most of the senators pre- 
 sent, and afflict d the wise portion. They saw 
 with pain, a man, so necessary and so great, with 
 such little command over himself when in a state 
 of irritation. The malevolent went away, saving 
 that never bad the members of any body in the 
 
 been treated with more insupportable inde- 
 -till the blow told home. Fear had pene- 
 
 1 into their spiteful but timid minds, and their 
 noisy opp isition was soon destined to humble itself 
 Badly, before the man it had attempted to brave. 
 
 The consuls debated among themselves upon the 
 cou-.-se which should be taken. General Bonaparte 
 seemed bent upon some act of violence. Had he 
 possessed the legal power of dissolving the tribunate 
 and legislative body, the difficulty would have been 
 easily overcome in a regular way by a general 
 election, and a majority would have been obtained 
 favourable to the ideas of the first consul. It is 
 true that a general election would have excluded 
 the mass of men belonging to the revolution, and 
 have brought forward new candidates, more or less 
 animated by royahst sentiments, such as those 
 against whom it had become necessary to act on 
 the 18th Fructidor, which would have been a mis- 
 fortune of another kind. Thus true it is that on 
 the morrow of a sanguinary revolution, which had 
 irritated men against each other, the free 
 play of constitutional institutions was impossible. 
 In or cape from the hands of the unreflect- 
 
 ing revolutionists, the government must fall into 
 the hands of bad-intentioned royalists. But here 
 in any ease th'- r -source of a dissolution was not to 
 be- found in the laws, and some other means must 
 be discovered. 
 
 The first consul wished to withdraw the- civil 
 code, and to let tie- legislative body and tin- tribu- 
 
 keep bolyday, submitting to them nothing but 
 
 the laws of finance; then when he had mad.- all 
 
 France feel that these ass* inblies were th 
 
 of the interruption experienced in the benefi- 
 cent operations of the government, to seize an 
 opportunity for breaking tie: inconvenient instru- 
 ments' which the constitution had imposed upon 
 bjm. I . a man skilful in expedients, 
 
 found mil li r means, and of a legality perfectly 
 . and iii (act the only means practicable 
 at the moment. He dissuaded the general, his 
 colleague, from every illegal and violent measure : 
 " Von can do any thing," said he; - people will put 
 up with it from you. They even allowed the 
 
 tore to do what it. lh" < I i : - 
 
 which had not the advantage of your -don, nor of 
 your moral ascendancy, uor "!' your immense mili- 
 
 tary and political successes. But the arbitrary 
 proceedings of the 18th Fructidor, necessary as 
 might have been, ruined the directory. It 
 rendered the directorial constitution so contempti- 
 ble, that no one would afterwards take it in earnest. 
 Ours is much better. For having the art to use it, 
 much good may be effected with it. Let us not 
 then deliver it up to public contempt, by its viola- 
 tion, on account of the first obstacle which it pre- 
 sents to us." 
 
 Cambaceres admitted that it would be right to 
 withdraw the civil code, interrupt the session, 
 place the deliberate bodies in idleness, and lay 
 upon their shoulders the weight of so grave a 
 reproach, the forced inaction to which the govern- 
 ment was reduced. But this inaction was an im- 
 possible strait, out of which they must get. Camba- 
 ceres found the means of escape in article 38 of the 
 constitution, which was thus conceived: ''The iirst 
 renewal of the legislative body and of the tribunate 
 will not take place until some time in the course of 
 the year x." 
 
 It was then the year w, 1JJ01-2. The govern- 
 ment had a right to choose any period of the year 
 it might select for the renewal. It was able, for 
 example, to proceed in the course of the winter, 
 in Pluvidse or Ventfise. Then to dismiss one-fifth 
 of the tribunate and of the legislative body, which 
 would be twenty members for the tribunate, sixty 
 for the legislative body: to remove in tins man- 
 ner the more hostile, and fill their places with pru- 
 dent, peaceable men ; anil next to open an extra- 
 ordinary session in the spring, in order to obtain the 
 adoption of the laws, the passage of which was now 
 arrested by the bad will of the opposition. This 
 was clearly the best way id' proceeding. By ex- 
 cluding twenty members of the tribunate, and sixty 
 of the legislative body, the government would dis- 
 place those restless men who drew in the inert 
 mass, and intimidate such as might be tempted to 
 resist. But if it wished to succeed in this plan, it 
 would be necessary to gain the consent of the 
 senate to two things. Firstly, as to the inter- 
 pretation of article 38, in tin- sense of the design 
 projected: secondly, the exclusion of the opponent 
 members, and the filling up of their places by men 
 devoted to the government. Cambaceres, well 
 knowing the senate, and that the mass was timid, 
 and the opposition of little courage, answered for it 
 that the senate, when it saw to what an extent it 
 was likely to be drawn in, In yond the limits of rea- 
 son and prudence, would lend its« If to all that the 
 government desired of it. Article 38, the interpre- 
 tation of which was l uch an important 
 
 point, did not specify the mode to be employed for 
 ilr- designation of the fifth part of the members 
 that were to go out. Under I !n- silinee upon that 
 point in the article, the senate charged to choose 
 
 might, if it pleased, pre!' r the U86 of the ballot to 
 
 ilia! of the int. Again ' n interpretation of 
 
 the- law, it might be urged that the i -taut u 
 
 when it was m -e.-ssary to renew an assembly par- 
 tially, was to have recourse to the lot, in ordi r to 
 decide the portion which should In- first excluded. 
 To this it ini^lit be answered, that recourse is had 
 to the lot when no other mod ■ can be adopted. It 
 is not possible, in fact, to d inand of several hun- 
 dred electoral collegi a the tion of a fifth 
 that into go out, lor t" address any one of such 
 v 2
 
 . The civil code withdrawn 
 324 f roln u )e legislature. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Disgraceful submission 
 of the senate. 
 
 1801. 
 Jan. 
 
 would be to designate oneself that fifth ; to address 
 all would be to have recourse to a general election, 
 and in a general election it is impossible to fix 
 beforehand on the number of those excluded, for 
 that would again be to designate oneself the fifth 
 to be removed. The lot, therefore, is the only 
 resource in the common system of election by the 
 electoral colleges. But having here the senate, 
 charged to elect, and easily able to designate, by 
 ballot, the fifth to be excluded, it was more natural 
 to have recourse to the clearsightedness of its votes 
 than to tlie blind authority of any hind of chance. 
 It made, for that is truth, the senate the arbiter of 
 the question ; but it conformed in this to the real 
 spirit of the constitution ; because in conferring 
 upon the senate all the prerogatives of the electoral 
 body, it would be rendered a judge of the conflicts 
 which might arise between the legislative majori- 
 ties and the government. In a word, it was re- 
 establishing by a subterfuge, the faculty of disso- 
 lution, indispensable in every regular government. 
 
 The most important reason in favour of the step 
 was, that the government got out of its embarrass- 
 ment without extensively violating the constitution. 
 The first consul said that he would admit this or 
 any other plan, if it only got rid of persons who 
 prevented him from pursuing measures that were 
 conducive to the interests of France. Cambace'ies 
 took the charge of drawing up a memorial upon 
 the subject. A message was prepared as well, 
 which should announce to the legislative body, that 
 the civil code was withdrawn. Bonaparte under- 
 took to draw it up himself, in a noble and austere 
 style. 
 
 Already they began to dread the outbreak of his 
 anger, a manifestation of which it was rumoured 
 would be speedily displayed. The day following 
 the scene with the senators, the 3rd of January, 
 or 10th Nivose, a message was sent, by the pre- 
 sident, to the legislative body. It was read in the 
 midst of a profound silence, which indicated a 
 species of terror. The message was couched in 
 these terms : — 
 
 " Legislators, — The government has resolved 
 to withdraw the bills of the law of the civil code. 
 
 " It is with pain that it finds itself obliged to 
 delay until another period, laws awaited with so 
 much anxiety by the nation ; but it is convinced 
 that the time is not yet come, when such important 
 discussions can be carried on with the calmness 
 and unity of purpose which they demand." 
 
 This deserved severity produced the strongest 
 effect. Every government was not able and ought 
 not to use such language ; but it must still be 
 permitted to do so when it has reason, when it 
 has conferred upon a country immense glory and 
 great benefit, and finds itself repaid by an incon- 
 siderate opposition. 
 
 The legislative body, recoiling from the blow, 
 fell at the feet of the government in a manner not 
 very honourable. They demanded, while still 
 sitting, that the ballot should take place for the 
 presentation of a candidate for the third and last 
 vacancy in the senate. Will it be credited ? the 
 same men who had so spitefully persisted in pre- 
 senting Gregoire and D.iunou, voted at the same 
 instant for genera] Lamartilliere, and he (jot two 
 hundred and thirty-three out of two hundred and 
 fifty-two votes. It was impossible for them to 
 
 comply more quickly with the desires of the first 
 consul. In consequence, general Lamartilliere was 
 declared the candidate of the legislative body. 
 
 This presentation furnished an expedient to the 
 senate to satisfy the first consul without too deep 
 a humiliation. They did not dream any more 
 about the choice of M. Daunou, subsequent to the 
 scene before the senators, at the audience of the 
 2nd of January. Still, M. Daunou had been pre- 
 sented by two of the state assemblies at the same 
 time, the legislative body and the tribunate. To< 
 prefer the candidate of the government to a can- 
 didate who had upon his side the double presenta- 
 tion of the two legislative assemblies, was throwing 
 themselves on their knees to the first consul a 
 little too openly. They had recourse to a paltry 
 subterfuge, which by no means preserved the dig- 
 nity of the senate, and which served only to put 
 their embarrassment in a clearer light. The senate 
 assembled on the following day, the 4th of January, 
 or 14th Nivose. The presentation of M. Daunou, 
 by the legislative body, had been determined upon 
 on the 30th of December, that of general Lamar- 
 tilliere on the 3rd of January. The senate affected 
 to suppose that the resolution of the 30th of De- 
 cember had not been communicated, while that of 
 the 3rd of January only had been, and that, there- 
 fore, general Lamartilliere was, in consequence, 
 the only recognized candidate of the legislative 
 body. It joined to this subterfuge a trick still 
 more base. It filled up the second of the three 
 places vacant. Now general Lamartilliere was the 
 first, and general Jourdan the second, on the first 
 consul's list. It affected, therefore, to consider 
 general Jourdan as the government candidate for 
 the place still vacant. The senate thus drew up 
 its decisions : — 
 
 " Having seen the message of the first consul of 
 the 25th of Frimaire, by which he presents gene- 
 ral Jourdan; having seen the message of the tri- 
 bunate of the 11th of Nivose, by which it presents 
 the citizen Daunou ; having, lastly, seen the mes- 
 sage of the legislative body of the 13th of Nivose, 
 by which it presents general Lamartilliere, the 
 senate adopts general Lamartilliere, and proclaims 
 him a member of the conservative senate." 
 
 By this mode the senate appeared to have 
 adopted, not the candidate of the first consul, but 
 that of the legislative body. This was adding to 
 the shame of submission the disgrace of a lie 
 which dec ived nobody. Certainly it was wise to 
 give place to an indispensable man, without whom 
 France would have been plunged into chaos, with- 
 out whom not one of his opponents was secure of 
 keeping a head upon his shoulders; but people who 
 knew that they were not able to carry out the 
 affront, should, at least, have taken care not to 
 affront him. 
 
 The opposition in the tribune uttered loud cries 
 against the weakness of the senate, — a weakness 
 which they were soon to imitate themselves, and 
 even surpass. 
 
 The plan adopted by the government was im- 
 mediately carried into execution. The legislative 
 labours were suspended, and it was publicly an- 
 nounced that the first consul quitted Paris to go 
 to Lyons, on a journey which would last nearly a 
 month. The object of this journey was marked 
 by the customary quietness of the acts of Bona-
 
 1802. 
 Jan. 
 
 Measures withdrawn by the 
 government. 
 
 THE TRIBUNATE. 
 
 Expedition to St. Domingo ■ 
 Toussuint l'Ouverture. 
 
 325 
 
 parte. It was undertaken in order to constitute 
 the Cisalpine republic; an. I five hundred deputies 
 of every age and rank, were about passing the 
 Alps, in that rigorous winter, to form at Lyons a 
 graud diet, under the name of a consulta, to receive 
 from the hands of general Bonaparte, laws, magis- 
 trates, and an entire government. It had been 
 agreed that they should meet him half way, and 
 Lyons had been deemed, next to Paris, the most 
 convenient place for such a rendezvous. Vast 
 preparations had already been made in tliis city 
 for an imposing public spectacle. He was also to 
 be surrounded by a great military display, since 
 twenty-two thousand men, the remainder of the 
 army of Egypt, disembarked at Marseilles and 
 Tool n by the English navy, were on their march 
 upon Lyons, to be there reviewed by their former 
 general. 
 
 Nobody now thought any thing more of the 
 legislative body anil the tribunate. They were 
 abandoned to a state of total inactivity, without 
 any sort of explanation of the plans which the 
 government might have conceived. The consti- 
 tution no more contained the faculty of prorogation 
 than that of dissolution. The two assemblies were 
 neither dismissed nor furnished with employment. 
 The government bad withdrawn, besides the bills 
 of the civil code, a law relative to the re-establish- 
 ment of branding for the crime of forgery. This 
 crime, in consequence of the circumstances of the 
 revolution, had increased to a frightful extent. 
 Such a number of papers were required by the 
 new regulations for the security of officers ac- 
 countable to the government ; so many certificates 
 of civism, formerly absolutely needful for those 
 who would not be considered suspected ; so many 
 certificates of presence demanded on the part of 
 emigrants, to clear themselves of the effect of 
 emigration ; so many verifications of every kind 
 required and furnished in writing, had given birth 
 to a detestable class of criminals, that of forgers. 
 They infested the avenues of business as bandits 
 infest the highways. The first consul designed to 
 have a special punishment for them, as he had 
 wished to have a special jurisdiction for the rob- 
 bers on the highway, and he had proposed brand- 
 ing. "The crime of forgery enriched," he said, 
 " a forger, who has undergone his punishment; 
 he returns into society, and his wealth causes 
 his crime to be forgotten. There ought to be an 
 indelible mark set upon him by the executioner's 
 hand, which would forbid those complacent per- 
 sons, who always pay their court to opulence, from 
 sitting at the tabic of the enriched forger." This 
 
 proposition had encountered tin- same difficulty as 
 
 the civil cod'-, ft was withdrawn, and there no 
 kmger remained any thing for deliberation, because 
 
 the laws relative to public instruction and there- 
 establishment of worship had not been presented. 
 As to the law of the finances, that was reserved 
 
 to form tin- pretext for an extraordinary sessi.ni 
 
 in tip- spring. This species of parliament there- 
 fore was bit, neither dissolved nor prorogued, idle, 
 
 useless, embarrassed by its inaction, ami carrying. 
 
 ill the sight of France, the responsibility of a com- 
 plete interruption of the good and useful labours of 
 
 the government. 
 
 It was arranged during the absence of the 
 first consul, that Cambaceres, who had a peculiar 
 
 skill in managing the senate, should take care to 
 get such an interpretation as was desirable put 
 upon article 38 of the constitution, and that he 
 should himself superintend the exclusion of the 
 twenty and sixty members, that it was the design 
 to remove from the tribunate and legislative bodies. 
 
 Before setting out, the first consul had to super- 
 intend two important affairs, the expedition to St. 
 Domingo, and the congress at Amiens. The second 
 detained him beyond the term fixed for his de- 
 parture. 
 
 The desire to hold possessions at a distance 
 was an old French ambition, that the reign of 
 Louis XVI., very favourable to the navy, had 
 aroused, and which the subsequent naval reverses 
 of France had not yet extinguished. Colonies were 
 then an object of ardent desire on the part of all 
 commercial countries. The expedition to Egypt, 
 conceived for the purpose of disputing with Eng- 
 land the possession of India, was a consequence of 
 that general wish, and its unsuccessful issue had 
 rendered very strong the desire of compensating 
 for the loss in some other manner. The first consul 
 had prepared two measures for that purpose : one, 
 the possession of Louisiana; the other of St. Do- 
 mingo. He had given Tuscany, that fine and 
 precious part of Italy, to the court of Spain, in 
 order to obtain Louisiana in exchange, and he was 
 at this moment pressing the execution of the en- 
 gagement entered into by that court. He was, at 
 the same time, determined to recover the island 
 of St. Domingo. This island was, before the re- 
 volution, the first and most important of the An- 
 tilles, or West Indies, and the most desired among 
 all the colonies which produce sugar and coffee. 
 It furnished the French ports and shipping with 
 the most important articles of traffic. The im- 
 prudence of the constituent assembly caused the 
 slaves to revolt, and led to those lamentable scenes 
 of horror by which the liberty of the blacks was 
 first signalized in the world. A negro, endowed 
 with real genius, had completed at St. Domingo 
 something similar to what Bonaparte had done in 
 France. He had quieted and governed the re- 
 volted population, and established a species of 
 order. Thanks to him, the negroes no longer 
 slaughtered each other in St. Domingo, and were 
 beginning to work. Toussaint conceived a con- 
 stitution, which he had submitted to the first 
 consul, and he showed for the mother country a 
 sort of national attachment. This negro had a 
 strong aversion to an English connexion; he de- 
 sired to be- free and to be French. The first consul 
 at first acquiesced in this state of things ; but 
 be soon conceived doubts of the fidelity of Tous- 
 saint l'Ouverture, and, without desiring to bring 
 back the negroes to slavery, he devised the pro- 
 filing by the maritime armistice resulting from 
 the preliminaries of peace signed in London, to 
 expedite a squadron of ships and an army to St. 
 Domingo. With regard to the blacks, the first 
 consul's plan was to retain them in tin? same situ- 
 ation as they had been placed in by the course of 
 events. He wished, in all the colonies, where the 
 revolt had not appeared, to continue the same 
 slavery, but, to relax its rigour ; at St. Domingo he 
 would allow the freedom which could not be again 
 constrained. Still he intended to establish the 
 authority of the mother country in the island, and
 
 32G 
 
 Objects of the expedition. 
 — Preparations. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Distrust of the British 
 ministry. — Negotia- 
 tions at Amiens. 
 
 1802. 
 Jan. 
 
 to keep an army there for the purpose. In the 
 event of the blacks, on remaining free, becoming 
 unfaithful subjects, or of the English renewing the 
 war, he intended, while respecting the freedom of 
 the blacks, to restore their old possessions to the 
 colonists, who filled Paris with their miseries, their 
 complaints, and imprecations against the govern- 
 ment of Toussaint l'Ouvcrture. A considerable 
 number of the French nobles, deprived already of 
 their property in France by the revolution, were, 
 at the same time, colonists of St. Domingo, de- 
 spoiled of the rich habitations which they had 
 formerly possessed in that island. Their estates 
 in France were refused them, from having become 
 national domains ; but it was possible to restore 
 them their sugar houses and coffee plantations in 
 St. Domingo, and this was a compensation that 
 might in some measure satisfy them. Such were 
 the various motives that governed the proceedings 
 of the first consul. To recover the finest of the 
 French colonies; to hold it, not by the doubtful 
 fidelity of a black raised to dictatorial power, but 
 by force of arms ; to keep possession of it against 
 the blacks and the English; to restore the ancient 
 colonists to their property, cultivated by free 
 labour; to join, finally, to that queen of the An- 
 tilles, the mouths of the Mississippi, by acquiring 
 Louisiana ; such were the combinations of the first 
 consul, combinations to be regretted, as will soon 
 be seen, but required, so to say, by a general dis- 
 position of the public mind, general in France at 
 that moment. 
 
 It was of importance to hasten, because although 
 the definitive treaty of peace, negotiating at that 
 moment in Amiens, was nearly certain to be con- 
 cluded ; yet it was necessary in all events, in case 
 the English should raise new and inadmissible 
 pretensions, to take advantage of the existing 
 interval, to despatch the fleet while the sea re- 
 mained open. The first consul caused a large 
 armament to be prepared at Flushing, Brest, 
 Nantes, Rochefort, and Cadiz, consisting of twenty- 
 six ships of the line and twenty frigates, capable of 
 embarking twenty thousand men. He gave the 
 command of the squadron to admiral Villaret 
 Joycusc, and the command of the army to general 
 Leclerc, one of the best officers of the army of the 
 Rhine, become the husband of his sister Pauline. 
 He insisted that his sister should accompany her 
 husband to St. Domingo. He loved her with the 
 tenderest affection ; he therefore sent thither one 
 of the objects dearest to him, and had no intention 
 at the time, as party rancour since charged him, 
 with transporting to an unhealthy climate, sub- 
 ject to dangerous fever, those soldiers of the army 
 of the Rhine who had given him offence. Another 
 circumstance shows the intention which directed 
 him in the corps sent to St. Domingo. As the 
 peace seemed likely to become general and solid, 
 military men began to fear that their professional 
 career would be terminated. A great number 
 applied to be employed in the expedition, and it 
 was a favour which he was obliged to bestow 
 among them with a sort of regard to justice and 
 equality. The brave Richepanse, that hero of the 
 German army, was given as a lieutenant to general 
 Leclerc. 
 
 The first consul applied himself to the prepa- 
 rations with his customary celerity, and pressed as 
 
 much as possible the departure of the naval di- 
 visions, in ports from Holland to the southern 
 extremity of the peninsula. Still, before the squa- 
 dron could set sail, he was under the necessity 
 of explaining to the English ministry, to whom this 
 large armament caused considerable mistrust. He 
 had some trouble to satisfy them on the point, 
 although they were rather desirous the expedition 
 should proceed. They were not then as ardent 
 for negro emancipation as British ministers have 
 since appeared. The sight of the freed negroes of 
 St. Domingo made them apprehensive for their 
 colonies, above all, for Jamaica. They therefore 
 wished success to the French enterprise ; but the 
 extent of the means disquieted them, and they 
 would have preferred that the troops had been 
 sent over in transports. They became accessible 
 to reason ; and were at last resigned to let this 
 vast armament pass, at the same time despatching 
 a squadron of observation. They even promised 
 to place all the provisions and ammunition, which 
 the resources of Jamaica commanded, at the service 
 of the French army, of course subject to payment 
 for whatever might be supplied. The chief naval 
 division, formed at Brest, set sail on the 14th 
 of December, the others followed at a short dis- 
 tance of time afterwards. At the end of Decem- 
 ber the whole armament was at sea, and would 
 consequently arrive at St. Domingo, whatever 
 might be the result of the negotiations at Amiens. 
 These negotiations, conducted by lord Cornwallis 
 and Joseph Bonaparte, proceeded slowly, without 
 giving any reason to fear a rupture. The first 
 cause of delay had been in the composition of the 
 congress, which it was necessary should consist 
 not only of French and English plenipotentiaries, 
 but also of plenipotentiaries from Holland and 
 Spain ; because, after the preliminaries, the peace 
 should be concluded between the two great bel- 
 ligerent nations and all their allies. Spain, which 
 from an extreme of friendship had nearly gone 
 into animosity, thwarted the first consul by not 
 sending a plenipotentiary to the congress. As, at 
 bottom, Spain knew that the peace was certain, 
 and that she would only figure ' in the protocol 
 as surrendering Trinidad, she was in no hurry 
 to send a negotiator. The English, on their side, 
 desired to see at the congress of Amiens a Spanish 
 plenipotentiary, in order to obtain a formal cession 
 of the island of Trinidad. She announced that 
 she would not negotiate, if a Spanish plenipoten- 
 tiary were not present. The first consul was 
 obliged to take with the court of Spain a tone 
 which should rouse it from its apathy. He ordered 
 general St. Cyr, the ambassador in place of Lucien, 
 to lay before the king and queen the extravagant 
 conduct of the prince of the peace, and to declare 
 to them, that if they " continued to conduct them- 
 selves on the same system, it would terminate in a 
 thunder-stroke 1 ." 
 
 1 Here is a letter very important in order to appreciate the 
 
 relations of France with Spain at this time : — 
 
 " 10th Frimaire, year x., or 1st December, 1501. 
 
 " I can understand nothing, citizen ambassador, of the 
 conduct of the court of Madrid. I specially charge you to 
 take every step to open the eyes of this cabinet, so that it 
 may adopt a regular and becoming conduct. The subject
 
 1802. 
 Jan. 
 
 Negotiations relative to 
 
 THE TRIBUNATE. 
 
 the peace of Amiens. 
 
 327 
 
 1 
 
 The Spanish minister designed to figure in the 
 congress of Amiens, M. Campo Arlange, was ill in 
 Italy. Spain finally decided to give to M. A/.aia, 
 ambassador in Paris, an order to proceed to the 
 congress. This difficulty over with the Spaniards, 
 there was another with the Dutch to overcome. 
 The Dutch plenipotentiary, M. Scbimmelpenninok, 
 would not admit the base of the preliminaries, 
 that is to say, the cession of Ceylon, before know- 
 ins how Holland would be treated with respect to 
 the restitution of the ships in the possession of 
 England ; how with regard to the indemnities laid 
 claim to on behalf of the stadtholder dispossessed ; 
 relative, finally, to some questions of limits on the 
 French side. Joseph Bonaparte was ordered to 
 
 has appeared to me so important, that I have thought it my 
 duty to write you myself upon the matter. 
 
 •• The most intimate union subsisted between France and 
 Spain when his majesty thought proper to ratify the treaty 
 of Badajoz. 
 
 '• The prince of the peace sent at that time to our am- 
 bassador a note, a copy of which I have ordered to be sent 
 to yon. This note was too full of offensive terms for me to 
 pay it the least attention. A few days afterwards he sent to 
 the French ambassador at Madrid a note, in which he de- 
 clared that his catholic majesty was about to make a sepa- 
 rate peace with England. I have also ordered a copy of that 
 note to be sent to you. I then felt how little I was able to 
 count upon the support of a power, the minister of which 
 expressed himself so unbecomingly, and exhibited so much 
 inconsistency in his conduct. Knowing well the intentions 
 of the king, I would have had him acquainted immediately 
 witli the ill conduct of his minister, if his majesty's illness 
 had not interfered with my intention. 
 
 ■■ 1 several times intimated to the court of Spain, that its 
 refusal to execute the convention of Madrid, in other words, 
 to occupy a fourth of the Portuguese territory, would lead to 
 the loss of Trinidad. No attention was paid to these re- 
 marks. 
 
 " In the negotiations which have taken place in London, 
 France discussed the interests of Spain as she would have 
 done her own; but as finally his Britannic majesty has 
 never refrained from insisting upon Trinidad, I could no 
 - retain it, more especially as Spain, in an official note, 
 threatened France with opening a separate negotiation : we 
 could then no longer rely upon her succour for the con- 
 tinuation of the war. 
 
 of Amiens is sitting, and a definitive peace 
 
 ■ promptly signed; still his catholic majesty has not 
 yet published the preliminaries, nor made known in what 
 
 lie is willing to treat with England. It becomes, 
 ■ iit-less, highly essential for his consideration in the 
 
 f Kurope, and for the interests of his crown, that he 
 1 immediately decide ; without doing which, the i 
 
 . v. ill be promptly signed, and he will not be a 
 
 ■ ator. 
 
 " It has been reported to me, that at Madrid they wish to 
 
 te th'ir bargain "n the cession of Louisiana. France 
 
 wanting in the fulfilment of any treaty 
 
 irill never allow any power to be 
 
 ng on that point towards her. The king of T 
 
 is upon his throne ami In : and his 
 
 catholl a well how to i ei p faith in his en- 
 
 lenli, to refute much longer our being put in ; 
 I. M i. 
 
 " I desire that you will make known to their majesties 
 my extreme discontent, and the unjust and inconsistent 
 conduct of the prince ofthi 
 
 " During the last month, that minister has not 
 cither intuiting I Ul that 
 
 b* it able to do agail ! has done. If this system 
 
 be proceeded In, t * - . 1 | ind the prune- of the pi ■ , 
 
 boldly, that it will end in some unexpected thunder -stroke." 
 
 notify to M. Schimmelpenninck, that he would only 
 be received at the congress on the condition of his 
 first admitting the preliminaries of London as the 
 basis of the negotiation. Lord Cornwallis having 
 expressed himself satisfied with this formality, the 
 congress thus became constituted. 
 
 Still the English were anxious to introduce Por- 
 . under the pretext that she was an ally of 
 England. The secret motive was to obtain an 
 exemption for the court of Lisbon, from the con- 
 tribution of 20,000,000 f., which had been imposed 
 upon her by one of the articles in the treaty of 
 Madrid. The first consul refused, by declaring 
 that peace had been made between Prance and 
 Portugal, and consequently there was nothing 
 more to be done. This pretension disposed of, the 
 congress set at work, and the basis was soon agreed 
 upon. 
 
 To avoid incalculable difficulties, it was agreed 
 that every demand out of the letter of the prelimi- 
 naries should be rejected. " Nothing more nor 
 lees than the articles of London/' was the recipro- 
 cal maxim admitted. The English had, in effect, 
 brought into the discussion the abandonment by 
 France of the island of Tobago. The first consul, 
 on his side, had demanded an extension of territory 
 in the region of Newfoundland, in order to benefit 
 the French fisherif s. 
 
 These claims were mutually rejected; and in 
 order to finish, it was agreed not to entertain any 
 claims in the way of concession, that were not con- 
 tained in the preliminary treaty. Otherwise, by 
 reviving difficulties, heretofore happily overcome, 
 peace itself might be hazarded. This principle 
 once adopted, it only remained to fix it, by the 
 drawing up formally the stipulations of London. 
 
 There were two important points to be resolved; 
 the payment of the expenses of the prisoners, and 
 the government to be imposed upon Malta. 
 
 England had maintained a great many more pri- 
 soners belonging to Prance than Prance held of 
 England, and she claimed to be reimbursed the 
 difference. Franco replied that the principle gene- 
 rally acknowledged was that each nation main- 
 tained the prisoners whom they took ; that if a 
 different principle were admitted, Prance would 
 have to demand reimbursement for the Russians, 
 Bavarians, and other soldiers in the pay of Eng- 
 land, whom she had taken and supported ; that 
 the combatants in the pay of England ought to 
 figure in the number of prisoners which sin- was 
 bound to maintain. "Besides,"' the French pleni- 
 potentiary added, "that is a mere question of 
 money, which can be Bettled by means of com- 
 missioners, especially appointed fur the liquidation 
 of such balanc 
 
 In regard to Malta, the question was of a more 
 serious import. The English and French were 
 here at open mistrust. Thej seemed to have a 
 glance into futurity, and to fear thai at some future 
 
 period, the island would fall into the hands of ono 
 
 or tin- other. 
 
 The first consul, by a singular instinct, proposed 
 to destroy the muitarj establishments of Malta to 
 
 tin- very foundations, and to Buffer nothing to 
 
 remain but tin' dismantled town ; t i create there a 
 
 sort, of neutral lazaretto, common to all nations, 
 
 and to convert the order into an hospital, order, 
 
 or foundation, wbi'-h would need mi mill
 
 328 Negotiations at Amiens. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 ourney of the first consul 1802. 
 to Lyons. Jan. 
 
 The English were not satisfied with this pro- 
 posal. They said that the rock was naturally so 
 strong a defence, that even deprived of the fortifi- 
 cations accumulated there by the knights, it would 
 still be a formidable place. They alleged the 
 resistance of the Maltese population to the total 
 destruction of their fine fortresses, and they pro- 
 posed the reconstitution of the order, on a new 
 and solid basis. They were willing to have a 
 French language, provided that there should be 
 instituted an English language, and also a Maltese, 
 the last being granted to the population of the 
 island, to give it a part in its government ; they 
 wished that this new establishment should be 
 placed under the guarantee of some great power, 
 Russia for example. The English hoped that with 
 an English and a Maltese language, each of which 
 would be devoted to them, they would thus get 
 strength in the island, and hinder the French from 
 having a hold upon it. 
 
 The first consul insisted upon the destruction of 
 the fortifications, saying that at present the order 
 would be very difficult to reconstruct; that Bavaria 
 had already seized upon their property in Ger- 
 many; that Spain, since Russia had extended her 
 protection to Malta, contemplated acting in the 
 same manner, and to take possession of the pro- 
 perty in her dominions ; that the institution of 
 protestant knights would be a decisive reason for 
 so doing in her eyes ; that the pope, already very 
 adverse to every thing which was done respecting 
 the order, would not consent, at any cost, to the 
 new arrangements, and that, finally, France was 
 unable to furnish a French language, in conse- 
 quence of her exisiing laws in no way admitting 
 the re-establishment of any institution of nobility. 
 The first consul was ready, if it were made a ques- 
 tion, to agree to the re-establishment of Malta, 
 upon its former footing, with the preservation of 
 the existing fortifications, but without either a 
 French or English language, and under the gua- 
 rantee of the nearest court, that of Naples. Rus- 
 sia he rejected as a guaranteeing power. 
 
 None of the continental arrangements had been 
 spoken about. The first consul had forbidden any 
 thing relating to them to be said by the French 
 legation. Still, as the king of England took a 
 warm interest in the house of Orange, now de- 
 prived of the post of stadtholder, the first consul 
 was not unwilling to secure to that prince a terri- 
 torial indemnity in Germany, when the question 
 of the German indemnities should come under 
 consideration. He demanded, in return, the 
 restitution, either in the ships or in money, of 
 the Batavian Heet, which had been taken away 
 by the English. 
 
 On the whole, there was in all this nothing 
 absolute, nothing irreconcilable, because the ques- 
 tion of the prisoners was one of money, always 
 easy to be settled by means of two arbitrators. 
 The question of Malta was the most difficult, 
 because it was a matter of reciprocal mistrust. 
 It was needful, and this was possible, to discover 
 a plan which should render all parties secure 
 against the contingency of a sudden occupation 
 by either of the two great maritime nations. As 
 to the affair of the stadtholder, nothing was more 
 easily settled, because both parties were in pretty 
 close agreement upon the subject. 
 
 The first consul wished to conclude affairs as 
 soon as possible. He wished to have the treaty 
 quite ready against his return from Lyons, seeing 
 that he proposed to present the state document of 
 the general peace, with the concordat, and the law 
 of finances to the renewed legislative body. He 
 therefore gave orders to his brother Joseph not to 
 place any difficulties of detail in the way of the 
 completion, but to get the treaty signed as quickly 
 as possible. 
 
 The first consul left Paris on the 8th of January, 
 or 18th Nivose, with his wife, and a part of his 
 military household, in order to reach Lyons. Tal- 
 leyrand had gone there before him, in order to 
 arrange evei-y thing in such a manner, that upon 
 his arrival he should have nothing more to do than 
 to give his sanction to the results by his presence. 
 The winter was very rigorous, and yet all the 
 Italian deputies were already assembled there. 
 They were impatient to see general Bonaparte, the 
 great object ot their journey to France. 
 
 The moment had arrived to regulate the affairs 
 of I taly, and to constitute, a second time, the Cis- 
 alpine republic. Talleyrand was very adverse to 
 such a constitution. He alleged the difficulty of 
 making the business of the government run on 
 smoothly in a republic, citing the republics of 
 Batavia, Helvetia, Liguria, Rome, and Parthenope, 
 and the embarrassments which had occurred and 
 were still occurring in their regard. He said there 
 were quite enough of these children of the French 
 republic, and that not one more was necessary ; and 
 proposed a principality or a monarchy, like that 
 of Etruria, which might be given to some friend or 
 dependent upon France. He would not have ob- 
 jected to give this state to a prince of the house 
 of Austria, — to the grand duke of Tuscany, for 
 example, who was about to be indemnified in Ger- 
 many, if he were not indemnified in Italy. This 
 arrangement, highly agreeable to Austria, would 
 attach her more strongly to the peace. It would 
 equally satisfy the German powers who, by this 
 plan, would have had one claimant less to in- 
 demnification with the lands of the ecclesiastical 
 princes. It would, above all, be pleasing to the 
 pope, who hoped that the Legations would be 
 restored to him, when France was relieved from 
 the promises made to the Cisalpine republic. This 
 combination, in one word, was in unison with the 
 taste of every body in Europe, because it extin- 
 guished a republic, left one territory more to be 
 appropriated, and made a correspondent diminu- 
 tion of one state the less under the direct dominion 
 of the French republic. 
 
 It was certainly a weighty reason for such a 
 measure to render the greatness of France more 
 supportable to Europe, and thus to give a better 
 chance of the duration of peace. Now that France 
 had the Rhine and the Alps for her frontier; now 
 that she had under her immediate influence, Swit- 
 zerland, Holland, Spain, and Italy; when she ex- 
 ercised her power directly upon Piedmont, by the 
 general, but-tacit, consent ot all the powers; when 
 she had arrived at that degree of greatness, the 
 more moderate policy was, from that moment, the 
 more prudent and rational. In this view of things 
 Talleyrand had reason upon his side. Still, alter 
 all that had been effected, France was compelled, 
 by her engagements, to reconstitute Italy ; and as
 
 1802. 
 Jan. 
 
 Establishment of 
 
 THE TRIBUNATE. 
 
 the Cisalpine republic. 
 
 329 
 
 Austria had been already deprived of it, there was 
 a necessity for irrevocably detaching it from her, 
 a result which could only be attained by consti- 
 tuting it in a mode that would render it strong 
 and independ 'it. By this act, the danger of a 
 collision with Austria alone was increased ; and 
 one of the hundred battles since fought to create 
 French kingdoms in Europe, would have sufficed 
 to secure the definitive existence in Europe of the 
 state of things which France chose to establish in 
 Italy. 
 
 Under this system, France must have renounced 
 the possession of Piedmont, because, if the Italians 
 preferred the French to the Germans, they loved, 
 in reality, neither the one nor the other, because 
 both the one and the other were strangers to them. 
 This was a natural and legitimate sentiment. The 
 French protecting Italy without keeping possession 
 of it, would have attached it for ever to them- 
 selves, and would not have prepared the way for 
 those sudden revulsions of opinion, of which it 
 has so frequently given the example ; since, ban- 
 died from one to another, the Italians have done 
 nothing but change masters. Under this arrange- 
 ment, Etruria ou^ht not to have been given to a 
 Spanish prince. Uniting Lombard}', Piedmont, 
 the duchies of Parma and Modena, Mantua, the Le- 
 gations, and Tuscany, a noble kingdom might have 
 been formed, extending from the maritime Alps to 
 the Adige, ami from Switzerland to the Roman 
 states. It was easy to detach, either in Tuscany 
 or Romagna, a portion of territory to indemnify 
 the pope, whose attachment to France could not 
 last long, unless, sooner or later, something was 
 done to relieve his poverty. It would be needful, 
 in such a case, to unite the different provinces 
 under one federal government, in which the exe- 
 cutive power should be strongly constituted, that 
 it should be able to assemble its forces promptly, 
 and give the French armies time to come to its 
 nice. The alliance, in fact, ought to he close 
 between this state and France, because it could 
 only sustain itself through her means; and Rome, 
 on her part, would always have an immense and 
 invariable interest in its existence. 
 
 An Italian state of ten or twelve millions of in- 
 habitants, possessing the finest frontiers, washed 
 by two rivers, having, on the first favourable war, 
 the chance of increasing its territory by the addi- 
 tion of the V. n linn states, ami of extending itself 
 along tip' natural frontiers of Italy, that is to say, 
 
 to the Julian Alps, would be able, subsequently, to 
 comprehend, by meant of a simple federative tie, 
 which left to each principality its own indepen- 
 dence, the Genoese republic newly constituted, the 
 pope, with the conditions necessary to his political 
 and religious existence, and the state of Naples, 
 delivered from an incapable and sanguinary court; 
 such a stale, n constituted, and with the accessions 
 which the future could not fail to prepare, would 
 be the foundation of Italian regeneration, and give 
 to Europe a third federation, which, added to the 
 two already in existence, the German and Swiss, 
 would not fail to render immense service to the 
 genera] balance of power. 
 
 In respect to the difficulty of governing Italy, 
 that could he resolved by its being placed under the 
 protectorate of France, which, if it extended over 
 her for one entire reign, would thus conduct her 
 
 by the hand in her first step to liberty and inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 The plan followed at this moment did not ex- 
 clude this bright future, because Piedmont might 
 be one day restored to the new Italian state, and 
 the duchy of Parma, at the decease of the duke, an 
 event in all probability then not far distant; Etru- 
 ria itself might be restored if it were found needful. 
 It was easy then to adopt this plan at an ulterior 
 period; and a firm and extensive foundation was 
 now laid, by making an independent republic of 
 the Cisalpine. Besides, it was, perhaps, better at 
 that moment, not to avow openly the entire [dan 
 of Italian regeneration, in order not to frighten 
 Europe. But to parcel out the fine provinces 
 actually in our possession, as was proposed by 
 M. Talleyrand, to construct a little Austrian mo- 
 narchy, for the advantage of an Austrian prince, 
 was to give Italy to Austria, because this prince, 
 however things might appear to be, would be al- 
 ways Austrian ; and the people themselves, whose 
 hopes would have been dishonestly betrayed, would 
 conceive towards France a well-merited hatred, and 
 turn back towards the Germans, incited by despair 
 and resentment. 
 
 Bonaparte, who had acquired his first, and per- 
 haps his greatest glory, in the deliverance of Italy 
 from the hands of Austria, would not permit him- 
 self the commission of this fault. He adopted a 
 middle course, which did not forbid at a later 
 time a vast system of Italian independence, and 
 which indeed might even now be at its commence- 
 ment. 
 
 He bestowed, therefore, upon the Cisalpine re- 
 public all Lombardy as far as the Adige, the 
 Legations, the duchy of Modena, all, in fact, that 
 it possessed at the treaty of Campo-Formio. The 
 duchy of Parma remained in suspense ; Piedmont 
 at the moment belonged to France. The Cisal- 
 pine, as thus constituted, counted nearly five mil- 
 lions of inhabitants. It could easily bo made to 
 produce a revenue of 70,000,000 f. or 80,000,000 f., 
 and to support an army of forty thousand men, 
 which would not absorb more than half the re- 
 venue, and leave resources sufficient to pay the 
 other expenses of the state very easily. It was 
 covered in front by the Alps and the Adige ; it 
 had on the left Piedmont, now become French, on 
 the right the Adriatic, in the rear Tuscany, placed 
 under the protection id' France. It was thus on 
 every side surrounded by her powerful protection. 
 Immense fortified works, ordered by general Bona- 
 parte, with a quickness and justness of view as to 
 the nature of the country, which no one possessed in 
 an equal degree, would render it impregnable 
 to the Austrians, and always afford time to render 
 French succour available. The Adige was fortified 
 from Rivoli to Legnago in such a maimer that it 
 was impossible to be forced. The environs of the 
 lake of Garda, and more especially the Uocca 
 d'Anfo, were so well closed, as to prevent the possi- 
 bility of the line of the Adige being turned. The 
 Mnieio formed a second line in the rear. I'esclneia 
 and Mantua, with a large augmentation of terri- 
 tory, added greatly in Strength to Ibis second line 
 <d' defence. Mantua more especially, improved 
 under every aspect both ol defence and healthiness, 
 might defend itself if the Adige were forced. 
 
 Other works erected had also for their object
 
 330 
 
 Constitution of 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. the Cisalpine republic. 
 
 1802. 
 Jan. 
 
 L 
 
 to gain time for the arrival of the French armies. 
 They were able to enter first by the Valais and 
 the Milanese, following the road of the Simplon ; 
 second^-, by Savoy, or Provence, and Piedmont, 
 following the routes of Mount Cenis, Mount Ge- 
 ne vre, and the Col de Tende. It has been seen 
 that works were ordered to render these four 
 roads, approaching the country, practicable for 
 every kind of transport. It was necessary also to 
 create solid points of support and vast military 
 establishments adapted both to receive the French 
 army, which might be suddenly forced to evacuate 
 the country, or, if necessary, to serve the same 
 army as an outlet when in a state to resume the 
 offensive. For this two places had been chosen, 
 and were become objects of great expense : the 
 one was the outlet of the road of the Simplon, the 
 other at the opening of the three roads of Mount 
 Cenis, Mount Genevre, and the Col de Tende. 
 The first, and the least of the two, was situated at 
 the extremity of Lago Maggiore. As it was marked 
 out, it was sufficiently ample to contain the sick, 
 the wounded, the materiel of the army in retreat, 
 as well as a flotilla on the lake, so as to be able to 
 defend itself for three or four weeks, until an 
 army, traversing the road of the Simplon, could 
 place itself in advance for its assistance. The 
 second and the largest work, designed to restrain 
 Piedmont, to receive all the resources of the 
 French armies, and to serve for a point of support, 
 and the means to descend at any time into Italy — 
 this second, as large as Mayence, Metz, or Lille, 
 capable of enduring a long siege, was constructed 
 at Alexandria itself. This point, bordering on the 
 field of battle of Marengo, was recognized as the 
 most favourable to the great military combinations 
 of which Italy might become the theatre. Turin 
 was too much under the influence of a numerous 
 population, in some cases hostile. Pavia was be- 
 yond the Po. Alexandria, between the Po and the 
 Tanaro, at the real outlet of all the roads, united 
 the greatest advantages, and was preferred upon 
 that account. Vast works were ordered. These, 
 being in Piedmont, were to be executed at the 
 expense of the French treasury ; all the others 
 were to be executed at the cost of the Cisalpine 
 government, because they belonged more imme- 
 diately to, and were intimately concerned with the 
 security of that state. 
 
 From these arrangements, France was always in 
 a position to succour the Cisalpine republic, having 
 under her hand middle and upper Italy, and by 
 her influence ruling over the south. She was able 
 to send to Rome and to Naples her less ostensible 
 commands, but they would be punctually obeyed, 
 as at Turin or Milan. 
 
 It was necessary to give a civil government to this 
 Cisalpine republic. A commencement had been 
 made by composing provisional authorities, con- 
 sisting of an executive council of three members, 
 M. de Somma-Riva, M. Visconti, and M. Ruga, 
 with a consulta, a species of legislative assembly, 
 not numerous, chosen from the wisest and most 
 devoted men. But such a state of things could 
 not be long continued. 
 
 The first consul had with him in Paris M. Ma- 
 rescalchi, and as well Messrs. Aldini, Serbelloni, 
 and Melzi, envoys in France for the affairs of 
 Italy. They were persons of the utmost considera- 
 
 tion in their own country. He consulted them 
 upon the organization to be given to the new 
 republic, and, in concurrence with them, he drew 
 up a constitution, resembling both the French and 
 the ancient Italian. 
 
 In place of the notables of Sieyes, which began 
 to be undervalued in France, the first consul and 
 his colleagues devised three electoral colleges, 
 permanent for life, and filling up their own vacan- 
 cies in case of death. The first to be composed of 
 great proprietors of land to the number of three 
 hundred ; the second of commercial persons to the 
 number of two hundred ; the third of literary and 
 scientific men, and the more distinguished ecclesi- 
 astics, to the number of two hundred. These 
 three colleges, or bodies, were to choose each from 
 its own body a commission of twenty-one members, 
 called the " commission of the censorship," whose 
 duty it was to elect all the bodies of the state, and 
 to perform the same electoral duty which the 
 senate fulfilled in France. 
 
 This creative authority was afterwards to nomi- 
 nate, under the title of the " state consulta," a 
 senate of eight members, charged, like the French 
 senate, to watch over the constitution, to deliberate 
 under extraordinary circumstances, to order the 
 arrest of dangerous individuals, to place out of the 
 pale of the constitution any department that might 
 require it, to deliberate upon treaties, and to name 
 the president of the republic. One of these eight 
 members was to be the minister for foreign affairs 
 by right. 
 
 There was to be a council of state under the 
 name of the legislative body, composed of ten 
 members, who were to draw up laws and regu- 
 lations, and, finally, to support them before the 
 legislative body, consisting of seventy-five mem- 
 bers ; which was to select from this number fif- 
 teen orators, whose ^duty it would be to discuss 
 before it the laws upon which it might be after- 
 wards required to vote. 
 
 Lastly, at the head of the republic there was to 
 be a president and vice-president, named for ten 
 years. They were, as has just been stated, to be 
 nominated by the " state consulta," or senate ; but 
 all the other authorities could only be made on the 
 choice of the " commission of censorship." 
 
 Considerable incomes were destined to the func- 
 tionaries of all ranlcs. 
 
 It may be seen that this was the French consti- 
 tution with certain corrections, which were emen- 
 dations of the work of Sieyes. For the list of 
 notables were substituted three electoral colleges, 
 which were constituted for life. The senate, or 
 "state consulta," had nothing to do with the 
 elections; it only nominated the head of the executive 
 power, but it deliberated upon treaties, which 
 by their means were withdrawn from tumultuous 
 examinations by the assemblies. The tribunate 
 was confounded with the legislative body, and iu 
 place of three consuls, there was no more than a 
 president. 
 
 When the first consul and Messrs. Marescalchi, 
 Aldini, Melzi, and Serbelloni, had agreed upon the 
 plan, it was necessary to occupy themselves with 
 the personal relations of the new government. The 
 choice of these was of the more importance, be- 
 cause the permanence of the principal bodies was 
 greater, and the good or evil resulting from their
 
 1802. 
 Jan. 
 
 Establishment of 
 
 THE TRIBUNATE. 
 
 the Cisalpine republic. 
 
 331 
 
 composition must be of the longer duration. Italy 
 too was divided, like France, into parties difficult 
 to conciliate. At one extremity were found the 
 partisans of the past, devoted to the Austrian 
 government ; at the other extreme the outrageous 
 patriots, ready, as every where else, for the most 
 it who had not yet shed blood, 
 from which they had been restrained hitherto by 
 the French armies. Lastly, between the two were 
 found the moderate liberals, charged with the 
 weight of the government, and the unpopularity 
 which attached to it, more especially in a time of 
 war, when heavy burdens unavoidably pressed 
 upon the country. With these different parties 
 the elections could not, any more than in France, 
 give very satisfactory results. The first consul, in 
 order to supply the place of the elections, hit upon 
 a plan which was not, on his part, the impulse of 
 ambition, but the inspiration of sound sense. This 
 was to nominate the personal portions of govern* 
 . in the same mode as he had decided 
 upon the structure, and for the first time to make 
 all the nominations of his own authority. He was 
 only impelled in the present case by a sentiment of 
 and, in any case, he had a perfect right 
 to act thus; because the new state had birth in his 
 own pure act and will, and in creating it in this 
 spontaneous manner, lie had a right to create it 
 conformably to his own idea, which, upon this 
 occasion, was just and elevated. 
 
 But among all these nominations the most diffi- 
 cult to make was that of the president. Italy, 
 always governed by priests or strangers, had never 
 iii a situation to produce statesmen ; she had 
 q luc d, of this class of men, one single name 
 ■ which the others would consent to give up 
 their pretensions. The first consul, therefore, had 
 the idea of conferring upon himself the title of pre- 
 sident, and of naming a vice-president chosen from 
 among the principal personages of Italy, to whom 
 he might d the detail of affairs, and reserve 
 
 to himself the superior directions. In the infancy 
 of the republic this was the sole practicable system 
 of government. If it had been handed over to its 
 own choice, and to an Italian president, it would 
 soon have bee. mi.', [ike a vessel without a com] 
 abandoned to the mercy of the waves. Governed, 
 on the contrary, by Italians, and directed from a 
 ice by the man who was its creator, and who 
 would be for a long time its protector, it had a 
 chance, under this system, to be at the same time 
 
 both independent and well governed. 
 
 For tie- foregoing end a solemn, imposing in- 
 auguration was neci Bsary, during which the con- 
 stitution should be given to the new state in proper 
 
 form, and all tin; authorities be proclaimed. This 
 
 creative act could not make too much noise. It 
 
 was neci BSary it should Speak at the same time to 
 
 Italy and to I. Hi-op.-. Tin- first consul devised the 
 plan of a great mo< ting of all the Italians at Lyons, 
 
 because it "as too far for them t<> come to Paris, 
 and too far for him to proceed to Milan. The city 
 of Lyons, placed at the . f tin- Alps, ami in 
 
 which Italy in former days bad assembled in coun- 
 cil, was the place most naturally indicated. More 
 
 ibis, the first e. in-iil took a real interest in 
 
 5 mingled together in society the French and 
 
 Italians, lie believed, at the same time, that he 
 
 .1 the re-establishment of the commerce of the 
 
 two countries, because it was at Lyons that, for- 
 merly, the produce of Lombardy was exchanged 
 for the produce of the eastern provinces of France. 
 
 Some portion of these views was communicated 
 by Talleyrand to the Italians in Paris, or, in other 
 words, to Messrs. Marescalchi, Aldini, Serbelloni, 
 and Melzi. He was silent only upon the project 
 of conferring the presidency upon the first consul. 
 This he wished to obtain from the consulta by an 
 outbreak of enthusiasm at the moment when it 
 should assemble together. The views of the first 
 consul were too conformable to the true interests 
 of the entire country of Italy not to be welcomed. 
 These individuals set out for Lyons accordingly, 
 accompanied by M. I'etiet, the minister of France 
 at Milan, a wise and influential person, to labour 
 at the accomplishment of the plan of organization 
 which had been agreed upon at Paris. 
 
 The plan of the constitution met with no objec- 
 tion. It was received with groat satisfaction, be- 
 cause the people were eager to leave the precarious 
 ■ice in which they had lived, and to acquire the 
 political existence which would be assured to them. 
 The executive committee of the consulate, charged 
 with the duties of the provisional government, 
 ited the plan with eagerness, save in some 
 slight modifications of detail, which were trans- 
 mitted to Paris, and accepted. But they were 
 much puzzled how to give the new constitution 
 vigorous motion, and as to the choice of the persons 
 who were to set it going. M. Petiet communicated 
 in secret to several influential personages the idea 
 of giving to the first consul the entire nomination 
 of the individuals who were to take a part in the 
 government, from the president to the three elec- 
 toral colleges. Scarcely was this idea of a supreme 
 arbitrator, so well situated as not to partake in any 
 of the passions which divided Italy, and having no 
 desire but for her happiness — scarcely was this idea 
 communicated to them, than it met instant success, 
 and the provisional government gave to the first 
 consul the power of selecting all the authorities. 
 
 A message was addressed to him for the purpose 
 of announcing the acceptance of the constitution, 
 and of expressing to him the wish of the Cisalpine 
 population, that the first magistrate of the French 
 republic should himself choose the magistrate of 
 that of Italy. 
 
 There was nothing more than this said — not a 
 word of the presidency. Hut it was necessary for 
 this purpose to induce the Italians to come to 
 Lyons, and that became tin- subject of a new com- 
 munication to the members of the provisional go- 
 vernment. They were made sensible of the great 
 difficulty of constituting the Cisalpine republic, 
 with the first consul remaining in Paris, and of 
 
 selecting Beveo or eight hundred persons far from 
 the individuals and their residences; the difficulty, 
 
 on the other hand, for the first consul to go from 
 Paris to Milan; the advantage, on the contrary, of 
 dividing the distance, of uniting the Italians at 
 Lyons in a body, and of the first consul meeting 
 
 them there ; tin- forming a sort of Indian diet, in 
 
 which the new republic should be constituted, with 
 :i pomp and brilliancy which would give more of 
 
 solemnity to the engagement made by the first con- 
 sul upon its formation, to maintain and defend it. 
 
 This idea bad in it M.niething great, which Could 
 not fail to please the Italian imagination. It sue-
 
 The consulta assemble at 
 """ . Lyons. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Arrival of the first consul 
 at Lyons. 
 
 1802. 
 Jan. 
 
 ceeded, as all the other ideas formed beforehand 
 had done, and it was immediately adopted. A plan 
 was prepared, and immediately converted into a 
 decree by the provisional government. Deputa- 
 tions were selected from the clergy, the nobility, 
 the great landed proprietors, commercial men, the 
 universities, the tribunals, and the national guards. 
 Four hundred and fifty-two persons were designated, 
 among the number of whom were found, venerable 
 prelates, weighed down with years, of whom some 
 might even succumb under the fatigues of the 
 journey. They left in the month of December, and 
 traversed the Alps during one of the most rigorous 
 winters that had for a long time been experienced. 
 All were anxious to attend at this proclamation of 
 the independence of their country by the hero who 
 had achieved it. The roads of the Milanese, of 
 Switzerland, and of the Jura, were literally en- 
 cumbered with travellers. The first consul, who 
 thought of every thing, had given orders that 
 nothing should be wanting, as well upon the roads 
 as in Lyons itself, to the representatives of Italian 
 nationality, who had come to recal by their pre- 
 sence the recollection of his first and most bril- 
 liant triumphs. The prefect of the Rhone had 
 made immense preparations to receive them, and 
 had fitted up grand and noble halls for the solem- 
 nities which were about to take place. A part of 
 the consular guard had been sent to Lyons. The 
 army of Egypt, formerly the army of Italy, and 
 recently disembarked on their return, were on 
 the point of arriving also. They hastened to clothe 
 them magnificently, and in a manner adapted to 
 the climate of France, which seemed quite new to 
 these soldiers, embrowned by the sun of Egypt, 
 and transformed into real Africans. The Lyonnese 
 youth had been collected, and formed a body of 
 cavalry, with the arms and colours of the ancient 
 city of Lyons. Talleyrand, minister for foreign 
 affairs, and Chaptal, minister of the interior, had 
 preceded the first consul to receive the members 
 of the consulta. General Murat and M. Petiet 
 had hastened from Milan, as well as M. Mares- 
 •calchi from Paris, to this common rendezvous. 
 The prefects and authorities of twenty departments 
 were collected at Lyons. The first consul kept 
 them all in attendance at Lyons, because of the 
 congress of Amiens, of which the negotiations had 
 required his presence in Paris for some days 
 longer. The Italian deputies began to be impa- 
 tient. In the view of occupying them, they were 
 divided into five sections, one for each province of 
 ■the new state, and the project or scheme of the 
 new constitution was submitted to them. They 
 made many useful observations, that Talleyrand 
 was requested to hear, to weigh, and to admit, 
 ■ unless they were calculated to affect the funda- 
 mental principles of the project. Except some 
 dispositions of detail, which were modified, the new 
 constitution obtained the general assent. It was 
 proposed to the Cisalpine deputies, in order to 
 beguile their impatience, to make out lists of can- 
 didates, with the view to aid the first consul in the 
 numerous selections which he had to make. This 
 turning over of names usefully occupied their 
 time. 
 
 The first consul arrived on the 11th of January, 
 .1802, or 21st Nivdae. The population of the country, 
 collected along the roads by which he passed, had 
 
 waited for him by day and night. They assembled 
 around immense fires, and ran in advance of all the 
 carriages coming from Paris, crying, "Long live 
 Bonaparte!" The first consul at length appeared, and 
 travelled the road to Lyons in the midst of continued 
 transports of enthusiasm. He entered the city in the 
 evening, accompanied by his wife, his adopted 
 children, and his aides-de-camp, and was received 
 by the magistrates, the civil and military authori- 
 ties, an Italian deputation, the Egyptian staff, and 
 the young Lyonnese cavalry. The city, all over 
 illuminated, was as resplendent as at noon-day. 
 He passed under an arch of triumph, that sur- 
 mounted a noble emblem of consular France, — a 
 sleeping lion. He descended at the Hotel de Ville, 
 which had been so fitted up as to serve him for a 
 very convenient residence. 
 
 On the following day the first consul was em- 
 ployed in receiving all the departmental deputa- 
 tions, and after them, the Italian consulta, which 
 reckoned four hundred and fifty members present, 
 out of four hundred and fifty-two, a rare example 
 of exact attendance, if the number of persons, the 
 season, and the distance are considered; and still 
 more, when it is known that one of the two ab- 
 sentees was the respectable archbishop of Milan, 
 who had died of an apoplectic attack at the resi- 
 dence of Talleyrand. The Italians, to whom the 
 first consul spoke their own language, were de- 
 lighted to see him again, and to find united in him 
 at once both the French and the Italian. 
 
 On the following days they all proceeded to the 
 last labours of the consulta. The modifications 
 prepared in the constitution having been agreed to 
 by the first consul, the lists of candidates were 
 stated. The plan was proposed of a committee of 
 thirty members, taken out of the entire consulta, 
 to discuss with the first consul the long series of 
 selections which were to be made. This labour 
 occupied several days, during which the first 
 consul, after having employed a part of the day 
 in seeing and entertaining the Italians, occupied 
 himself also with French business, received the 
 prefects, the departmental deputations, heard the 
 expression of their wishes and their necessities, 
 and thus learned, by seeing with his own eyes, the 
 true state of the republic. 
 
 The enthusiasm daily increased, and in the midst 
 of this general excitement it was, that the French 
 and Italians, communicating with each other, the 
 idea was promulgated of naming the first consul 
 president of the Cisalpine republic. MM. Petiet, 
 Marescalchi, Murat, and Talleyrand, saw, every 
 day, the members of the committee of thirty, anil 
 conferred with them on the choice of a president. 
 When they conceived that they were much em- 
 barrassed and greatly divided in their choice, 
 which was, in reality, a very difficult matter, it was 
 hinted to them in a manner as if to lead them out 
 of their embarrassment, that they might confer 
 the post of vice-president upon any Italian they 
 might select, and then cover his insufficiency by 
 the glory of the first consul, who might be named 
 president. This idea, so simple, and still more useful 
 to the Cisalpine, even more important to its exist- 
 ence and to the administration of its affairs, than 
 to the greatness of the first consul, was generally 
 approved, but still with the condition of an Italian 
 vice-president. They then decided that citizen
 
 1802. 
 Jan. 
 
 Bonaparte nominated president of 
 the Italian republic. 
 
 THE TRIBUNATE. 
 
 He returns to Paris. 
 
 333 
 
 Melzi should be charged with the vice-presidency 
 under the first consul. All being ready, one of the 
 members of the committee of thirty, made this 
 proposition to the committee. It was received 
 with joy, and in a moment turned into tlu> draft of 
 a decree. No time was lust ; and on the following 
 day, the "25th of January, or 5th Pluviose, the pro- 
 ject was presented to the assembled eonsulta. It 
 was welcomed with acclamation, and Napoleon 
 Bonaparte was proclaimed the president of the 
 Italian republic. This was the first occasion in 
 which the two names of Napoleon and Bonaparte 
 were used together. The general was now to add 
 to the title of first consul of the French republic, 
 that of president of the Italian republic. A depu- 
 tation was sent to him accordingly, in order to tx- 
 prera this desire. 
 
 While this affair was under deliberation, the 
 general of the armies of Italy and Egypt passed 
 his old soldiers in review. The demi-brigades of 
 the army of Egypt, which there had been time to 
 assemble, had been united with the consular guard, 
 numerous detachments of troops, and the Lyonnese 
 militia. On that day, the fogs of winter were in 
 a moment dissipated by a brilliant sun, amidst 
 intense cold. Bonaparte passed along the ranks 
 of his old soldiers, who received him with trans- 
 ports of joy almost inconceivable. The soldiers of 
 Egypt and Italy, delighted to find this child of 
 their labours grown so great, hailed him with their 
 shouts, and endeavoured to make him know that 
 they had never ceased to be worthy of him, al- 
 Lhough led for a moment by chiefs unworthy of 
 themselves. He called some of the old grenadiers 
 from the ranks, spoke to them of the battles iu 
 which they had fought, and of the wounds they 
 had received; he recognized here and there officers 
 whom he had seen in more than one battle, shook 
 hands with them all, filling them with a sort 
 ot intoxication, of which he himself could not 
 escape the contagion, in the presence of so many 
 brave men who had helped, by their devotedness, 
 to produce the marvellous good fortune which he 
 enjoyed, and which France enjoyed with him. 
 This scene occurred amid the ruins of the Place 
 Bellt-cour, and effaced the sad recollections of that 
 spot, as glory effaces those of unhappiuess. 
 
 It was (.n entering the Hotel de Ville after this 
 review, that the first consul found the deputation 
 of tin- eonsulta, received the expression of its 
 
 wishes, declared his assent, and intimated, that 
 the next day he would make his reply to this new 
 act of the Confidence of the Italian people. 
 
 The next day, being tin- 26tll of January, or o'th 
 Pluviose, the first consul proceeded to the place 
 when- the general sittings of the consults were; 
 
 held. It was a large church, disposed and de- 
 corated for the especial purpose. Every thing 
 r there in the same way of ceremony as is 
 observed in France or England, when the monarch 
 is present at a sitting. The first consul, sur- 
 rounded with his family, the French ministers, 
 and a greal number of generals and prefects, was 
 upon a dais. He spoke in the. Italian language, 
 wliicli he pronounced perfectly well, a speech, pre- 
 cise and simple, in which he announced his ac- 
 ceptance of tin- dignity, Ins views regarding the 
 government and prosperity of tin- new republic, 
 and then proclaimed the principal m li etioni which 
 
 he had made, conformably to the wishes of the 
 eonsulta. His words were drowned in cries of 
 "Long live Bonaparte!" "Long live the first 
 consul of the French republic ! " " Long live the 
 president of the Italian republic!" The consti- 
 tution was then read, as well as the list of citizens, 
 of all ranks, who were to carry it into effect. A 
 long-continued acclamation expressed the harmony 
 that prevailed between the Italian people and the 
 hero who had freed them. This sitting was very 
 imposing and solemn ; it commenced in a worthy 
 manner the existence of the new republic, which 
 was thenceforth to be called the Italian Republic. 
 On this occasion, as upon many others, there could 
 be only one thing to wish in favour of general 
 Bonaparte; namely, that the genius id' preservation 
 had accompanied, with this favourite of fortune, 
 the genius which created. 
 
 The first consul hat! now been twenty-one days 
 at Lyons. The government of France demanded 
 his presence in Paris, because he had given orders 
 for the signature of the definitive treaty of peace, 
 which was negotiating at the congress of Amiens. 
 During this interval of time, the consul Camba- 
 ceres and the senate were labouring to disem- 
 barrass themselves of the unruly members who 
 had so violently opposed the first consul at that 
 moment of his career when he least deserved 
 opposition. He was now about to be in a position 
 to resume the long series of works which consti- 
 tuted the grandeur and happiness of France. He 
 was therefore pressed to return to Paris, in order 
 to proceed with his customary occupations, and, 
 probably, to receive there, as the price of his 
 labours, a new greatness, the just and most noble 
 recompense of the most fertile ambition that ever 
 actuated the spirit of man. 
 
 He set off on the 2Hth of January, or 8th Plu- 
 viose, leaving behind him the enthusiastic Italians, 
 full of hope, leaving, too, the Lyonnese delighted to 
 have possessed, for a few days, the extraordinary 
 man whose name filled the world, and wdio ex- 
 hibited for their city such a marked predilection. 
 He had received from the emperor Alexander the 
 reply to a letter, in which he requested from that 
 monarch some advantages for the manufacturers 
 of Lyons. This letter, which announced the best 
 dispositions on the part of Russia, was published, 
 in substance, and produced the most lively satis- 
 faction. Upon his departure, the first consul pre- 
 sented three scarfs to the three mayors of the city 
 of Lyons, in memory of that glorious visit. The 
 inhabitants of Bordeaux sent a deputation to him, 
 requesting he would pass their city walls. He 
 made them the promise they desired as soon as 
 the definitive peace should allow him a little 
 leisure time '. 
 
 Passing by St. Ktienne and Novel's, he arrived 
 
 in Paris on the 31st of January, or 11th Pluviose. 
 
 1 The follow ing are some extracts from the correspondence 
 
 of the lirst consul during his stay at Lyons : — 
 
 To the consuls Cambaccres and Lcbrun. 
 " Lyons, 24th Nivosc, year x. (14th January, 1802.) 
 
 " I have received, citizen consult, your letter of the 21st. 
 The weather la excessively cold hart, and I psasthe moni 
 Ings, from noon till six o'clock, In receiving tin- prefects 
 .•mil ill l- notables of the neighbouring departments. Ifou
 
 334 Letters from the first consul THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. while at Lyons. 
 
 1802. 
 Jan. 
 
 know that at this sort of conferences one must talk a long 
 while. 
 
 " This evening the city of Lyons gives a concert and ball. 
 I am going there in about an hour. 
 
 " The labours of the consulta are in progress. 
 
 " The troops of the army of the east are now arriving in 
 strength at Lyons ; I am taking steps to have them clothed ; 
 I hope to review tliem on the 28th. 
 
 " I continue to be extremely satisfied with every thing I 
 see, both with the people of Lyons, and with those of the 
 south of France. 
 
 '■ The negotiations at Amiens appear to me advancing. 
 
 " I congratulate you on the manner in which every thing 
 in your hands proceeds. 
 
 '• Joseph writes me from Amiens that lord Cornwallis told 
 him that the British cabinet has received favourable news 
 about the French army at St. .Domingo, and that division 
 had manifested itself in Toussaint's forces." 
 
 To the same, 
 
 " Lyons, 26th Nivose, year x. (lGth of January, 1S02.) 
 
 " I have received, citizen consuls, your despatches of the 
 22nd and 23rd Nivose. The Lyonnese have given us a most 
 magnificent fete. Annexed you will find the details, with 
 the songs sung on the occasion. 
 
 " I proceed very slowly in my operations, because I 
 pass the whole of my mornings in receiving the deputations 
 of the neighbouring departments. 
 
 " It is very fine to-day, but very cold. 
 
 " The well-being of the republic, during the last two 
 years, is observable. The population of Lyons has increased 
 during the years vin. and ix. more than 20,000 souls ; and 
 all the manufacturers that I have seen from St. Etienne, 
 Annonay, &c, tell me that their works are in great activity. 
 
 " All minds seem to be full of activity,— not that which 
 disorganizes empires, but that which re-establishes them, 
 and conduces to their prosperity and riches. 
 
 " I shall, in a few days, review nearly six demi-brigades 
 of the army of the east." 
 
 To the consul Cambaceres. 
 " Lyons, 28th Nivose, year x. ( 1 8th of January, 1802.) 
 " I have just received, citizen consul, a deputation from 
 Bordeaux. It has presented me a petition, soliciting me to 
 visit their city, which I have promised to do, as soon as 
 their relations with the Antilles and the Isle of France shall 
 be in full activity. 
 
 " Your letter of the 25th communicates to me the deli- 
 berations of the senate. I beg you particularly to see that 
 the twenty, and the sixty unruly members whom we have 
 in the constituted authorities, are everyone got rid of. The 
 wish of the nation is, that the government should not be 
 obstructed in its endeavours to do well, and that the head 
 of Medusa shall not show itself any more, either in our 
 tribunes, or in "our assemblies. 
 
 " The conduct of Sieyes on the present occasion com- 
 pletely proves that, having contributed to the destruction of 
 all the constitutions since IT'.il, be wants now to try his 
 hand against the present. It is very extraordinary that he 
 cannot see the folly of it. He ought to burn a wax candle 
 to our Lady, for having got out of the scrape so fortunately, 
 and in so unexpected a manner ; but the older I grow, the 
 more I perceive that each man must fulfil his destiny. 
 
 " I take it for granted that you have taken the proper 
 measures for demolishing the Chatelet. 
 
 " If the minister of marine has need of the frigates of the 
 king of Naples, he may make use of them. Indeed, it will 
 be as well to despatch them to America as soon as possible. 
 Every thing shall be arranged afterwards with the king of 
 Naples. 
 
 " The cold is much diminished to-day. 
 
 " General Jourdan, who has arrived to-day from Pied- 
 mont, gives me a very satisfactory account of the state of 
 that province. 
 
 " The operations of the consulta are in an advanced state, 
 all their organic laws are arranging. 
 
 " I have been occupied part of the morning in a confer- 
 ence with the prefects. 
 
 " I recommend you to see the minister of marine, to 
 ascertain whether the provisions for St. Domingo have been 
 sent off." 
 
 To the consuls Cambaceres and Lebrun. 
 
 " Lyons, 30th Nivose, year x. (20th of January, 1S02.) 
 
 " I should wish, citizen consuls, the minister of the 
 public treasury to send Roger to the 16th military division, 
 to examine into the accounts of the paymaster, and of the 
 principal receivers of the departments composing that 
 division. 
 
 " I also wish the minister of the public treasury would. 
 send to Rennes some individual like citizen Roger, to per- 
 form the same duty in the 13th military division. 
 
 " Despatch also the councillors of state Thibaudeau and 
 Fourcroy, one to the "3th military division and the other to 
 the 16th, to inspect these divisions, in the same way as they 
 did on their preceding mission. One part of the complaint 
 is, that the minister of war has not caused the compensation- 
 money, in lieu of forage and lodging, for the first three 
 months of the year x., to be paid over to the officers; that 
 the receivers keep the funds a long time, and that the pay- 
 masters pay it as late as they can. The paymasters and the 
 receivers are the greatest plagues in the state." 
 
 To the same. 
 
 " Lyons, 30th NivSse, year x., or 20th Jan. 1802. 
 
 " I have received, citizen consuls, your letter of the 26th 
 and 27th. At Lyons, as at Paris, the weather has become 
 considerably milder. 
 
 " Yesterday I visited several factories. I was pleased 
 with the industry and with the severe economy which I 
 thought I perceived exercised by the manufacturers in the 
 employment of their workmen. 
 
 " I ought to-day to have held my grand review, but I 
 have postponed it till the oth Pluviose. The troops of the 
 army of the east have not yet been clothed anew; I am in 
 hopes that by the 5th they will be all ready, so that they 
 will present a satisfactory appearance. 
 
 " I perceive, with much pleasure, the decision you have 
 come to about the Chatelet. If the weather should become 
 severe. I do not think the step you have taken, of allowing 
 four thousand francs per month for the extraordinary work- 
 shops, will be sufficient. 
 
 " Besides the hundred thousand francs which the minister 
 of the interior grants monthly to the committees of bien- 
 faisance, it will be necessary to add twenty-five thousand 
 francs extraordinary for the distribution of wood; and if the 
 cold weather continues, it will be necessary, as in '89, to 
 light fires in the churches and other great buildings, to warm 
 a great many people. 
 
 " I calculate on being back in Paris in the course of the 
 decade. I beg you to consider whether it will not be ex- 
 pedient to insert in the Moniteur the last message to the 
 senate, and to add two lines at the end, to state that the 
 senate has appointed a commission, which made its report 
 in the sitting of the . . . , it is decided upon to proceed to a 
 renewal of the chamber, in conformity with the 38th article 
 of the constitution, &c. &c. 
 
 " Many rumours which have reached me lead me to be- 
 lieve that Caprara requires the priests to sign formula or 
 professions of faith, couched nearly in these words: 'We 
 rejoice, moreover, in hereby making a solemn profession of 
 filial respect, of complete submission, and perfect obedience 
 to,' Sic. 
 
 " This information has reached me, amongst the rest, 
 from Mae'stricht. I beg you to confer with Portalis. This 
 formula appears to me quite inconceivable."
 
 1802. 
 Jan. 
 
 Letters from the first consul 
 
 THE TRIBUNATE. 
 
 while at Lyons. 
 
 335 
 
 Tc the same. 
 " Lyons, 2nd Pluviose, year x., or 22nd Jan. 1802. 
 
 " I only received to-day, citizen consuls, your letter of the 
 29th Nivose, which reached me about three o'clock in the 
 afternoon. The thaw and the inundations retarded your 
 courier some hours. 
 
 " The forage department is entirely disorganized in the 
 department of the Drome. Ten thousand francs must be 
 retained out of the ordonnance of Pluviose until this branch 
 of the service is in due course. 
 
 " The civil hospitals which are allowed only fourteen sous 
 per day for the sick military, complain that they have not 
 yet received any thing for the year x. That of Valence de- 
 mands, besides the whole year x., an arrear for the month 
 of Fructidor. ix. 
 
 " The order issued for the organization of the Piedmontese 
 troops, which I signed more than a month ago, has not yet 
 reached Turin, which occasions uncertainty amongst the 
 troops. Generally speaking, there is a good deal of back- 
 wardness, and little activity, in the war department ; this is 
 the general opinion amongst all who have any thing to do 
 with that department. 
 
 " It is indispensable that the minister of war should send 
 a good and experienced commissary to Turin. 
 
 " All the most important arrangements of the consulta 
 are decided upon. I still depend upon reaching Paris in the 
 course of the decade. 
 
 " It would be desirable for the senate to name a dozen 
 prefects, either to the tribunate or to the legislative body. 
 The prefect of Mont Blanc should be amongst them. 
 
 " I should wish you to insert in the journals some articles 
 respecting the roguery of Fouilloux, to turn into ridicule the 
 foreign gulls who spread absurd reports founded on the 
 manuscript bulletin of a small rogue, who was in want of 
 a dinner, and duped them. It would be as well to recur 
 to this subject several times." 
 
 To the same. 
 " Lyons, 6th Pluviose, year x., or 2Gth Jan. 1802. 
 " I have received, citizen consuls, your letter of the 2nd 
 Pluviose. 
 " I had to-day a grand review on the place Bellecour. The 
 
 weather was superb ; the sun shone as if it were the month 
 of Floreal. 
 
 •• The consulta has appointed a committee of thirty indi- 
 viduals, which has made a report to the eifect that, consider- 
 ing the interior and exterior circumstances of the Cisalpine 
 republic, it was indispensable to leave me to perform the 
 duty of the chief magistracy, until circumstances should 
 permit, or I should deem it expedient, to appoint a suc- 
 cessor. To-morrow I calculate upon presenting myself to 
 the assembled consulta. The constitution will be read, with 
 the list of the appointments, and every thing will be con- 
 cluded. I shall be in Paris on decade." 
 
 To the same. 
 
 " Lyons, 6th Pluviose, year x., 26th Jan. 1S02. 
 
 " I have received, citizen consuls, your letter of the 3rd 
 Pluviose. I think it will be well to wait till the peace of 
 Amiens is signed before we raise the state of siege of the 
 city of Brest. 
 
 " At two o'clock I went to the hall of the sittings of the 
 extraordinary consulta. I delivered a short speech in 
 Italian, of which ynu will find enclosed a French translation. 
 The constitution was read, the first organic law, and one re- 
 lating to the clergy. The diflfereut nominations were pub- 
 lished. 
 
 " I will send you to-morrow a minute of the whole pro- 
 ceedings of the consulta, in which will be found a copy of the 
 constitution. The two ministers, four counsellors of state, 
 twenty prefects, with the general and superior officers, ac- 
 companied me. This sitting exhibited both majesty and 
 great unanimity ; and I hope from the congress of Lyons all 
 the results which I anticipated. 
 
 " I think it is useless, unless false reports are circulated 
 about the congress of Lyons, to publish any thing before the 
 arrival of the courier whom I shall send you to-morrow. 
 Only in case of its being rumoured that the consulta has 
 nominated me president, you can print the two papers en- 
 closed, which will make known the exact turn that matters 
 have taken. 
 
 " I shall be occupied to-morrow in bringing the whole 
 business to a close, and I shall start in the night. On 
 decade I shall be in Paris . . . ."
 
 336 Objects of Bonaparte's THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, journey to Lyons realized. 
 
 1802. 
 Jan. 
 
 BOOK XIV. 
 
 THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. 
 
 ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST CONSUL IN PARIS. — SCRUTINY OF THE SENATE, WHICH EXCLUDES SIXTY MEMBERS OF THE 
 LEGISLATIVE BODY AND TWENTY OF THE TRIBUNATE. — THE EXCLUDED MEMBERS REPLACED BY PERSONS 
 DEVOTED TO THE GOVERNMENT. — TERMINATION OF THE CONGRESS OF AMIENS. — SOME DIFFICULTIES ARISE AT 
 THE TERMINATION OF THE NEGOTIATION, IN CONSEQUENCE OF JEALOUSIES EXCITED IN ENGLAND.— THE FIRST 
 CONSUL OVERCOMES THESE DIFFICULTIES BY HIS MODERATION AND FIRMNESS. — THF. DEFINITIVE TREATY 
 SIGNED ON THE 25TH OF MARCH, 1S02.- — ALTHOUGH THE FIRST ENTHUSIASMS ABOUT PEACE ARE COOLED 
 BOTH IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND, THEY WELCOME WITH NEW JOY THE HOPE OF A SINCERE AND DURABLE 
 RECONCILIATION. — EXTRAORDINARY SESSION OF THE YEAR X., DESTINED TO CONVERT INTO LAWS THE CON- 
 CORDAT, THE TREATV OF AMIENS, AND DIFFERENT BILLS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE. — THE LAW REGULATING 
 WORSHIP ADDED TO THE CONCORDAT UNDER THE TITLE OF "ORGANIC ARTICLES" — PRESENTATION OF THAT 
 LAW AND OF THE CONCORDAT TO THE RENEWED LEGISLATIVE BODY AND TRIBUNATE. — COOLNESS WITH WHICH 
 THOSE DOCUMENTS ARE RECEIVED, EVEN AFTER THE EXCLUSION OF THE O PPOS1T10N. — THEY ARE ADOPTED. — 
 THE FIRST CONSUL FIXES UPON THE FIRST DAY OF EASIER FOR THE PUBLICATION OF THE CONCORDAT, AND 
 THE FIRST CEREMONY OF THE RE-ESTABLISHED WORSHIP — ORGANIZATION OF THE NEW CLERGY. — PART GIVEN 
 TO THE CONSTITUTIONALISTS IN THE NOMINATION OF THE BISHOPS. — CARDINAL CAPRARA REFUSES, IN THE 
 NAME OF THE HOLY SEE, TO INSTITUTE THfc CONSTITUTIONALISTS. — FIB MNEsS OF THE FIRST CONSUL, AND SUB- 
 MISSION OF CARDINAL CAPRARA.— OFFICIAL RECEPTION OF THE CARDINAL AS LEGATE A LATERE. — CONSECRA- 
 TION OF THE FIRST PRINCIPAL BISHOPS AT NOTRE DAME, <N PALM SUNDAY. — CUF.IOSITY AND EMOTION OF 
 THE PUBLIC. — THE VERY EVE BEFORE EASTER DAY, AND OF THE SOLEMN TE DEUM WHICH WAS TO BE 
 CHANTED IN NOTRE DAME, CARDINAL CAPBARA WISHES TO IMPOSE ON THE CONSTITUTIONALISTS A HUMILIAT- 
 ING RETRACTION OF THEIR PAST CONDUCT. — NEW RESISTANCE ON THE PART OF THE FIRST CONSl'L. — CAPRARA 
 DOES NOT YIELD UNTIL THE NIGHT IS ADVANCED BEFORE EASTER DAY. — REPUGNANCE OF THE GENERALS 
 TO PROCEED TO NOTRE DAME.— THE FIRST CONSUL OBLIGES THEM TO GO. — SOLEMN TE DEUM AND OFFICIAL 
 RESTORATION OF RELIGION. — ADHERENCE OF THE PUBLIC, AND JOY OF THE FIRST CONSUL ON SEEING THE 
 SUCCESS OF HIS EFFORTS. — PUBLICATION OF THE " GENIE DU CHRISTIAN 1SME." — PROJECT OF A GENERAL 
 AMNESTY WITH REGARD TO THE EMIGRANTS. — THIS MEASURE HAVING BEEN DISCUSSED IN THE COUNCIL OF 
 STATE, BECOMES THE OBJECT OF A SENATUS CONSULTUM. — VIEWS OF THE FIRST CONSUL UPON THE ORGANIZA- 
 TION OF SOCIETY IN FRANCE. — HIS OPINIONS ON SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS AND ON THE EDUCATION OF YOUTH. — 
 TWO PROJECTED LAWS OF HIGH IMPORTANCE, ON THE INSTITUTION OF THE LEGION OF HONOUR AND ON 
 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. — DISCUSSION OF THESE TWO PROJECTS IN A FULL COUNCIL OF STATE. — CHARACTER OF 
 THE DISCUSSIONS OF THAT GREAT BODY. — LANGUAGE OF THE FIRST CONSUL. — PRESENTATION OF THE TWO 
 PROJECTS TO THE LEGISLATIVE BODY AND TO THE TRIBUNATE. —ADOPTION, BY A LARGE MAJORITY, OF THE 
 PROJECT OF LAW RELATIVE TO PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. — A LARGE MINORITY PRONOUNCES AGAINST THE PROJECT 
 RELATIVE TO THE LEGION OF HONOUR. — THE TREATY OF AMIENS PRESENTED LAST, AS THE CROWNING WORK 
 OF THE FIRST CONSUL. — RECEPTION GIVEN TO THE TREATY. — THEY TAKE THIS OCCASION TO SAY - EVERY WHERE 
 THAT A NATIONAL RECOMPENSE OUGHT TO BE DECREED TO THE AUTHOR OF ALL THE BENEFITS WHICH 
 FRANCE THUS ENJOYS. — THE BROTHERS AND PARTIZANS OF THE FIRST CONSUL MEDITATE THE RE-ESTABLISH- 
 MENT OF THE MONARCHY.— THIS IDEA APPEARS TO BE PREMATURE.— THE IDEA OF THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE 
 MORE GENERALLY' PREVAILS. — THE CONSUL CAMBACERES OFFERS HIS INTERVENTION WITH THE SENATE. — 
 DISSIMULATION OF THE FIRST CONSUL, WHO WILL NOT AVOW THAT OF WHICH HE IS PESIROUS. — EMBARRASS- 
 MENT OF THE CONSUL CAMBACERES. — HIS EFFORTS TO INDUCE THE SENATE TO CONFK.R THE CONSULSHIP ON 
 BONAPARTE FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE. — THE SECRET ENEMIES OF BONAPARTE PROFIT BY* HIS SILENCE, TO 
 PERSUADE THE SENATE THAT A PROLONGATION OF THE CONSULATE FOR T£N YEARS SHOULD SUFFICE. — 
 VOTE OF THE SENATE UPON THIS CONSTRUCTION. — DISPLEASURE OF THE FIRST CONSUL. — HE THINKS OF 
 REFUSING. — HIS COLLEAGUE CAMBACERES DISSUADES HIM FROM SO DOING, AND PROPO^ES AS AN EXPEDIENT 
 TO APPEAL TO THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE NATION, AND TO PUT THE QUESTION TO FRANCE, *■ IF BONAPARTE 
 SHALL BE CONSUL FOR LIFE?" — THE COUNCIL OF STATE CHARGED TO DRAW UP THE OUESTION.— OPENING OF 
 REGISTRIES IN THE MAYORS' OFFICES, THE TRIBUNALS, AND OFFICES OF THE NOTARIES PUBLIC. — EAGERNESS 
 OF ALL THE CITIZENS TO TENDER AFFIRMATIVE VOTES. — CHANGE WROUGHT IN THE CONSTITUTION OF SIEYES. 
 — THE FIRST CONSUL RECEIVES THE CONSULSHIP FOR HIS LIFE, WITH POWER OF APPOINTING HIS SUCCESSOR. — 
 THE SENATE IS INVESTED WITH THE CONSTITUENT POWER. — THE LISTS OF NOTABILITY ARE ABOLISHED, AND 
 REPLACED BY ELECTORAL COLLEGES FOR LIFE.— THE TRIBUNATE REDUCED TO BE A SECTION OF THE COUNCIL 
 OF STATE. — THE NKW CONSTITUTION BECOMES COMPLET i LY MONARCHICAL. — CIVIL LIST OF THE FIRST CONSUL. — 
 HE IS PROCLAIMED SOLEMNLY BY THE SENATE. — GENERAL SATISFACTION AT HAVING FOUNDED AT LAST A 
 POWERFUL AND DURABLE GOVERNMENT. — THE FIRST CONSUL USES THE NAME OF NaPOLEON BONAPARTE. — 
 HIS "MORAL" POWER IS NOW AT ITS CULMINATING POINT. — RECAPITULATION OF THIS PERIOD OF THREE 
 YEARS. 
 
 The journey of the first consul to Lyons, bad for 
 its end the constitution of tlie Italian republic, and 
 to secure himself the government, for the interest 
 of Italy and that of France. He had also the 
 object in view to embarrass the opposition, and to 
 bring it into discredit, by leaving it idle ; thus 
 
 proving that it was impossible to carry out good 
 while it stood in the way ; finally, to give the con- 
 sul Cambaceres time to exclude from the legislative 
 body and from the tribunate the more restless and 
 troublesome members. 
 
 All thus desired was realized. The Italian
 
 1802. 
 Jan. 
 
 Measures taken for re- 
 newing the tilth of 
 
 THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. 
 
 the tribunate and legis- 
 lative body. 
 
 337 
 
 republic, constituted with pomp, found itself bound 
 
 to the course of French policy without losing 
 
 its own defined object The opponents in the tri- 
 
 bnnate and in the legislative body, struck by the 
 
 ige which withdrew the civil code, left in 
 
 Paris without a single projected law to discuss, 
 did not know how to extricate themselves from 
 their embarrassment. It was laid to their charge 
 every where, that they interrupted the best labours 
 of the government ; every where they were cen- 
 sured for imitating mischievously, and without 
 reasi n, the agitators of the old time ; and while 
 thus situated, Cambaceres gave them the last blow 
 by the ingenious combination which he had con- 
 ceived. He sent for M. Tronchet, the learned 
 lawyer, introduced into the senate by his influence, 
 and enjoying in that body the double weight of 
 wisdom and character. He communicated to him 
 his plan, and obtained his assent to it. It has 
 been seen in the preceding book what this plan 
 was ; it has been seen that it consisted in the in- 
 terpretation of article 38 of the constitution, which 
 fixed the year x. for the going out of the first fifth of 
 the tribunate and the legislative body, and pave to 
 the senate tire designation of the fifth which was 
 to retire. There were many reasons for and 
 against this mode of the interpretation of ar- 
 ticle 38. The best of all was the necessity of sup- 
 plying to the faculty of dissolution that which the 
 constitution had not attributed to the executive 
 power. M. Tronchet, a wise man and excellent 
 citizen, admiring and fearing at the same time the 
 first consul, but judging him indispensable, and 
 judging with Cambaceres, that if he were not 
 delivered from the importunate opposition of the 
 tribunate, he would have recourse to violent mea- 
 sures even from his anxiety to effect the good 
 which he was thus prevented from effecting — 
 M. Tronchet entered into the views of the govern- 
 ment, and charged himself with the task of pre- 
 paring the senate for the adoption of the projected 
 measures. He succeeded without trouble, because 
 the senate felt that it had been made the accom- 
 plice and dupe of tin- bad humour of the opposition. 
 This body bad already receded with great haste 
 and little dignity in the business of the candidate- 
 ships. Ruled by that love of repose and power, 
 which had seized upon evt ry body, it consented to 
 turn out the oppositionists, whose plans it had 
 at first approved and seconded. The scheme was 
 
 well received by the principal persons of tin: body, 
 Lacepede, Laplace, Jacqueminot, and others, and 
 
 they proceed, d without delay in its execution, 
 under a n lated the 7th of January, 1802. 
 
 or 17th Nivdse, y< ar x. 
 
 "Senators," -aid the message, "the article 38 
 of the constitution commands that the renewal of 
 the' first-fifth of the legislative body and of the 
 tribunate shall take place in the year x., and we 
 touch on the fourth month of that year. The 
 consuls have believed it their duty to call your 
 
 attention to tlii- circumstance. Your wisdom will 
 
 find in it. the necessity of taking into sideration, 
 
 without delay, the operations which will be neces- 
 sary to precede this renewal." 
 
 This message, the int< ntion of which it was easy 
 
 to divine, Struck with surprise the- opposition in tin- 
 two legislative assemblies, and naturally excited 
 among them a great degree of irritation. From 
 
 levity, or by impulse, they had thrown themselves 
 into the career of opposition without foreseeing the 
 result, and they were strangely surprised at the 
 blow which impended, a blow which would have 
 been more severe but for the intervention of the 
 consul Cambaceres. They met for the purpose of 
 drawing up a memorial, and they presented it to 
 the senate. Cambaceres, who knew nearly all of 
 them, addressed himself to those who were the 
 least compromised. He made them sensible that 
 in further distinguishing themselves by their re- 
 sistance, they would not fail to attract indi- 
 vidually the attention of the senate, and the 
 power of exclusion, with which that body was to be 
 invested. This observation quieted the greater 
 part of them, and they waited in silence the de- 
 cision of the supreme authority. In the sittings of 
 the loth and 18th of January, the 25th and 28th 
 of Nivose, the senate resolved the question arising 
 out of the message of the consuls. By a very 
 large majority it decided that the renewal of the 
 first-fifth in the two legislative assemblies should 
 immediately take place, and that the designation of 
 this fifth should be made by ballot and not by lot. 
 But a change of form was adopted, and in place of 
 balloting for those who were to go out, it was 
 decided that the ballot should be on the names 
 of those who were to remain members. The mea- 
 sure had thus the appearance of a preference in 
 place of that of an exclusion. By means of this 
 softening of the mode of proceeding, they set 
 about the designation of the two hundred and 
 forty members of the legislative body without 
 delay, and of the eighty-eight members of the 
 tribunate destined to continue in the legislature. 
 The senators more immediately under the influence 
 of the government, were in secret possession of the 
 names of the members who were to be preserved 
 from exclusion, and during the last days of 
 January, or the end of Nivose, and commencement 
 of Pluviose, the ballots constantly repeated in the 
 senate, effected the separation of the partisans and 
 adversaries of the government. Sixty members of 
 the legislative body, who had exhibited the greatest 
 resistance to the projected mi asures of the first 
 consul, above all, to the project for the re-establish- 
 ! ment of worship, and twenty of the most active of 
 the tribunate, were excluded ; or, according to tin- 
 term used at that time, were " eliminated." The 
 principal among these twenty were Chc'nier, Gin- 
 guene, Cliazal, Bailleul, Courtois, Ganiel, Daunou, 
 and Benjamin Constant. The others, less known, 
 men of letters, or business, ancient conventionale, 
 or priests, had no other title to enter the tribunate 
 than the friendship of .Sieves and his party ; the 
 same title Bent them out of it. 
 
 Such was the end not only of the tribunate, 
 which continued to exist for some lime longer, but 
 
 of the momentary importance which that body 
 
 had acquired. It was desirable that the first con- 
 sul so lull id' glory, so indemnified by the universal 
 adhesion of Prance for an unbecoming opposition, 
 COUld have resigned himself to bear lor a moment 
 
 with a few impotent detractors. This resignation 
 
 would have been more worthy of him, and also 
 
 1 ss hurtful to the species of liberty which lie 
 
 would have been able to leave to 1'ial al ihat 
 
 nine, in ord.r to prepare her at a later period for 
 a genuine liberty. But in this world wisdom is 
 
 /
 
 The senate replace the 
 •>38 fifths. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Lucien Bonaparte, 
 Carnot, aiulDaru, 
 selected. 
 
 1802. 
 Jan. 
 
 L 
 
 much more rare than ability, more perhaps than 
 even genius, because wisdom implies a victory 
 over our own passions, a victory of which the 
 great men are no more capable than the little. The 
 first consul, it must be acknowledged, wanted wis- 
 dom upon this occasion, and one single excuse can 
 alone be offered in his favour ; it is, that such 
 an opposition, encouraged by his patience, would 
 perhaps become more inconvenient, more danger- 
 ous, and even insurmountable, if the majority 
 of the legislative body and of the senate had at 
 last borne a part in it, which was very possible. 
 This excuse has a certain foundation, and it proves 
 that there are times in which a dictatorship is 
 needful even to a free country, or one destined to 
 be so. 
 
 As to this opposition of the tribunate, it did not 
 merit the praises which have been so frequently 
 given to it. Uncertain and shuffling, it resisted 
 the civil code, the re-establishment of the altars, 
 the best acts of the first consul, and regarded 
 in silence the proscription of the unhappy revo- 
 lutionists, banished without a trial, on account 
 of the infernal machine, of which they were not 
 the authors. The tribunes were silent then, be- 
 cause the terrible explosion of the 3rd of Nivose 
 had frozen them with fear, and they dared not 
 defend the principles of justice in the persons 
 of men, of whom the greater part were blood- 
 stained. The courage which they could not ex- 
 hibit to censure a flagrant injustice, they found too 
 sadly in order to impede excellent public mea- 
 sures. If, on the other hand, a sincere sentiment 
 of liberty inspired many of them, among others 
 there may be perceived the vexatious feeling of 
 envy which animated the tribunate against the 
 council of state, the men reduced to do nothing, 
 against those that had the power to do all things. 
 They committed then very serious faults, and un- 
 happily provoked those not less serious upon the 
 part of the first consul : a deplorable chain of 
 circumstances, that history so often obscures in 
 our agitated universe, the passions of which are in 
 eternal motion. 
 
 It was necessary to replace the excluded fifths 
 in the legislative body and the tribunate. The 
 majority of the senate which had pronounced tin- 
 exclusions, nominated the new admissions, and did 
 so in a manner the most satisfactory to the con- 
 sular government. They made use for the new 
 elections of the lists of notability, invented by 
 Sieyes as a principal basis of the constitution. 
 Despite the efforts of the council of state to dis- 
 cover a convenient manner of forming these lists, 
 none of the systems it devised had redeemed 
 the inconvenience of the principle. They were slow 
 and difficult to form, because they inspired little 
 zeal in the citizens, who could not see in this vast 
 mass of candidates, any very direct and immediate 
 means to influence the composition of the first au- 
 thorities. They were, in reality, only a mode of 
 saving appearances, and of dissimulating the neces- 
 sity then inevitable, for the composition of the great 
 bodies of the state through themselves ; since 
 every election turned out badly, in other words, 
 went to extremes. They had the greatest diffi- 
 culty in completing these lists; and out of a hun- 
 dred and two departments then existing, of which 
 two, those of Corsica, were beyond the reach of 
 
 the law ; those on the left bank of the Rhine were 
 not organized, eighty-three only had sent in their 
 lists. It was agreed, therefore, that the selections 
 should be made from the lists sent in, with a re- 
 servation of indemnity, by subsequent elections, to 
 the departments which had not yet executed the 
 law. 
 
 There were called to the legislative body a great 
 number of the larger proprietors of land in the 
 country, whom the new security, which they had 
 been recently made to enjoy, had brought to emit 
 the retirement in which they had hitherto en- 
 deavoured to live. There were also called to it 
 some prefects and magistrates, who had been, for 
 three years past, training to the practice of public 
 business, under the direction of the consular go- 
 vernment. Among those introduced into the tri- 
 bunate, was numbered Lucien Bonaparte, returned 
 from Spain, after an embassy more agitated than 
 useful, affecting to desire nothing more than a 
 quiet existence, employed to serve his brother in 
 one of the great assemblies of the state. With him 
 was introduced Carnot 1 , who had just quitted the 
 ministry at war, where he had not possessed- the 
 art of pleasing the first consul. The last was not 
 more favourable to the consular government than 
 the tribunes recently excluded; but he was a grave 
 personage, universally respected, whose opposition 
 could not be very active, and whom the revolution 
 could not have laid aside without odious ingratitude. 
 This nomination was a last homage to liberty. 
 After these two names the most noted was that of 
 M. Daru, a capable and upright administrator of 
 a sage and cultivated intellect. 
 
 During the time that these operations were in 
 execution, the first consul had reached Paris, after 
 an absence of twenty-four days. He arrived on 
 the 31st of January, in the evening, or on the 11th 
 of Pluviose. Every where there was submission, 
 and that singular movement of resistance, that had 
 not long before been seen in both legislative as- 
 
 1 " After the ISth Brumaire, Carnot was recalled by the first 
 consul " (he had fallen in Fructidor), " and placed in the war 
 department. He had several quarrels wiih the minister of 
 finance, Dufresne, the director of the treasury; in which, it 
 is but tair to say, that he was always in the wrong. At last 
 he left the department, persuaded that it could not longer 
 go on for want of money. When a member of the tribunate, 
 he spoke and voted against the establishment of the empire ; 
 but bis conduct, open and manly, gave no uneasiness to the 
 administration. At a later period he was appointed inspector 
 of reviews, and received from the emperor, on his retire- 
 ment from the service, a pension of twenty thousand francs. 
 As long as public affairs went on prospering, the emperor 
 heard nothing of Carnot ; but after the campaign of Russia, 
 at the time of the disasters of France, Carnot asked for em- 
 ployment. He was appointed to command the town of 
 Antwerp, and he behaved well in his post. On his return 
 in lSla, the emperor, after a little hesitation, made him 
 minister of the interior, and had no reason to repent of his 
 choice, having found him faithful, laborious, full of probity 
 and sincerity. In the month of June, 1815, Carnot was 
 named one of the commission of the provisional govern- 
 ment, but he was duped.'.' Such was Napoleon's account of 
 him. He wrote upon projectiles, and started a new theory, 
 which NapoledTi proclaimed to be fallacious in practice. 
 Carnot died in 1823, exiled by the Bourbons. He was one 
 of the comparatively few men, who figured during the whole 
 revolution, of whom France may be proud. He was a 
 scientific, cool, sincere, courageous, patriotic, and inde- 
 pendent man. — Translator.
 
 1802. 
 Jan. 
 
 Bonaparte returns to Paris. 
 — State of his projected 
 measures. 
 
 THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. 
 
 Negotiation at Amiens on 
 question of Malta. 
 
 330 
 
 semblies, was now completely ended. The new 
 authority with which the first consul was clothed 
 had itself acted strongly upon the public mind. It 
 was not much, most assuredly, in addition to the 
 power of the first consul, that the Italian republic 
 had been added to that of France, which could 
 thus vanquish and disarm the world; but it was 
 that example of deference given to the genius of 
 general Bonaparte by an allied people, which had 
 produced this great effect. The bodies of the state 
 all came eagerly to offer him their felicitations, 
 and to address to him speeches, in which was per- 
 ceptible, with that exaltation of language which he 
 commonly inspired, a tone of marked respect. It 
 O O omod as if there were already seen, on that do- 
 minating head, the double crown of France and 
 Italy. 
 
 II had all the power now for the organisation 
 of France, which was his first object, and for his 
 personal aggrandizement, which was his second. 
 He had no more to fear that the codes which he 
 had drawn up, and which he had again caused to 
 be revised, that the arrangements concluded with 
 the pope for the restoration of the altars, would be 
 defeated in intention by ill-will or the prejudices 
 of the great bodies of the state. These plans were 
 not the whole which he contemplated. For some 
 months ho had been preparing a vast system of 
 public education, in order to fashion the young, in 
 Some sort, to the system of the revolution. He 
 projected a plan of national recompenses, which, 
 under the military form, adapted to the time, and 
 to the warlike imagination of the French, might 
 
 serve to remunerate the great civil as well as 
 military actions of the French. This was the 
 legion of honour, a noble institution, for a long 
 time meditated in secret, and certainly not the 
 kWBt difficult of the labours that the first consul 
 would lain make agreeable to republican France. 
 He desired also to put an end to emigration, one 
 of the greatest and deepest maladies of the re- 
 volution. .Many Frenchmen were still living in 
 
 .u countries, imbibing there those bad senti- 
 ments which are inherent in exile, destitute of 
 family, fortune, and country. With the design to 
 efface tin- traces of the great discords el' France, 
 and tc> pi II that the revolution possessed 
 
 which was good, while discarding all which was 
 evil, emigration was not one of the results which 
 could be Buffered to remain in existence. Still, on 
 
 'ut of those who had acquired national pro- 
 perty, wiio were ever susceptible and distrustful, 
 this measure was on.- of the most difficulty and de- 
 Bsanded tie- most courage. Nevertheless, tin- time 
 approached when such an act was likely to b< me 
 
 hie. 1'inally, if, as it was said every where, it 
 to eon olidate the power in the 
 
 hands of tie- man who had exercised it in so ad- 
 mirable a manner ; if it was necessary to impart 
 to his authority a new character, more elevated, 
 more durable, than that of a magistracy, of which 
 lea years, three bad already passed away, the mo- 
 ment was again come ; for the public prosperity, 
 the fruit of order, victory, and peace, was at its 
 full ; it was felt, at the instant with a force that 
 
 tine- nrighl eool, but could not lessen . 
 
 Still tie-.- designs for the public good and per- 
 sonal aggrandizement, that he nourished at. the 
 tame tine-, needed lor their accomplishment a last 
 
 act, in the definitive conclusion of a maritime peace, 
 then negotiating in the congress of Amiens. The 
 preliminaries of London had laid down the basis of 
 the peace; but as long as those preliminaries re- 
 mained unconverted into a definitive treaty, the 
 alarmists interested in disturbing the public repose, 
 did not fail to report weekly, that the negotiation 
 was broken, and that the country would soon be 
 plunged into a maritime war, and by a maritime 
 war into a continental one. Thus, after his return 
 to Paris, the first consul impressed fresh activity 
 upon the negotiations at Amiens. "Sign," he wrote 
 every day to Joseph ; " because, since the pre- 
 liminaries are agreed upon, there is no more any 
 serious question to debate." That was true. The 
 preliminaries of London had settled the only ini-. 
 portant question, in stipulating the restitution of 
 all the maritime conquests of the English, except- 
 ing Ceylon and Trinidad, which the Dutch and 
 Spaniards were to sacrifice. The English had, 
 as we have seen, demanded, at the congress of 
 Amiens, the little island of Tobago; but the first 
 consul had held it fast, and they had renounced it. 
 From that time, there had been no further differ- 
 ences beyond questions altogether accessary, such 
 as the support of the prisoners, and the government 
 to be given to the isle of Malta. 
 
 The difficulty relative to the prisoners has 
 already been explained. It was a pure question 
 of money payment, always easy to arrange. The 
 government to be given to Malta presented a diffi- 
 culty more weighty, and a reciprocal mistrust 
 rendered the views of the two powers exceedingly 
 complicated. The first consul, by a singular pre- 
 sentiment, wished the fortifications of the island to 
 be demolished, to reduce it to a rock, and make it 
 a lazaretto common to all nations. The English, 
 who regarded Malta as a half-way step to Egypt, 
 said that the rock was of itself too important to be 
 left always accessible to the French, that from Italy 
 they might pass to Sicily, and from Sicily to Malta. 
 They wished the re-establishment of the order upon 
 its ancient basis, with the creation of an English 
 language and a Maltese language, the last composed 
 of the inhabitants of the island who were devoted 
 to them. The first consul had not admitted these 
 conditions, because, from the state of manners in 
 France, it was not possible to hope for the compo- 
 sition of a French sufficiently numerous to counter- 
 balance the creation of an English language. At 
 last this poittl was arranged. The order was to be 
 re-established without having any new language. 
 Another grand master Was to be named, because 
 M. de Ilompesch, who had in 17-'"! delivered up 
 Malta to general Bonaparte, would not do for a 
 governor again. During the time that the order 
 was re-organizing, it was decided to demand of tin; 
 king of Naples a garrison of Neapolitan soldiers, 
 
 who wen- to occupy the island on the evacuation 
 of it by the English. In the way of additional 
 
 precaution, it was desirable that some great power 
 should guarantee this arrangement, in order to 
 Shelter Malta from any of those cii I., riuises which 
 ill live years had made it fall at. one lime into the 
 
 power of France, at. another into that of England. 
 It. was at first though! <>f requesting this guaranti e 
 of Russia, founding the request upon the interest 
 
 which (his power had testified for the order under 
 Paul I. On all these points the two part; 
 z 2
 
 340 English jealousies aroused. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Conduct of Pitt. 
 
 1802. 
 Feb. 
 
 at the time of the departure of the first consul for 
 Lyons. The fisheries established on their for- 
 mer footing, the territorial indemnity promised 
 in Germany to the house of Orange for the loss of 
 the stadtholdership, the peace and integrity of ter- 
 ritory assured to Portugal as well as to Turkey, 
 only presented questions already resolved. Still, 
 since the return of the first consul to Paris, the 
 negotiation appeared to languish ; and lord Corn- 
 wallis, inquieted, seemed to draw back a step at 
 every movement made by the French negotiation 
 towards a conclusion. It was impossible to suspect 
 lord Corn wallis, a good and estimable soldier as lie 
 was, who only wished for an amicable termination 
 of the difficulties of the negotiation, joining to his 
 great military services a great civil service, by 
 giving peace to his country. But his instructions 
 were become all of a sudden more rigorous, and 
 the pain that he felt upon this account was very 
 clearly delineated in his visage. His cabinet had, 
 in effect, enjoined it upon him to be more par- 
 ticular and more vigilant in the wording of the 
 treaty, and had imposed upon him conditions in 
 detail, which he did not feel easy in submitting to 
 the haughty and distrustful humour of tiie first 
 consul. This brave soldier, who had thoughts to 
 crown his career by a memorable action, had rea- 
 son to dread the sight of his old renown being 
 tarnished by the part he might be forced to play 
 in a negotiation scandalously broken off. In his 
 mortification he opened his mind frankly to Joseph 
 Bonaparte, and made witli him the sincerest efforts 
 to vanquish the obstacles opposed to the conclusion 
 of the treaty. 
 
 It will be demanded what motive could have all 
 at once destroyed, or, at all events, cooled the 
 pacific disposition of Mr. Addington's cabinet. The 
 motive it is very easy to comprehend. It had 
 made a sort of tack about, an ordinary thing in 
 free countries. The preliminaries had been signed 
 for six months, and in that intermediate state, 
 which, save the sound of cannon, was near to war, 
 little of the benefit of peace had been perceived. 
 The greater commercial men who, in England, 
 were the class most interested in the renewal of 
 hostilities, because the war secured to them a uni- 
 versal monopoly, had been in hopes to repay them- 
 selves for what they were losing by making large 
 shipments to the ports of France. They had met 
 there with prohibitory regulations, which had ori- 
 ginated during a violent contest, and which there 
 had not been time to ameliorate. The people, who 
 hoped for a fall in the price of provision, had 
 not thus far seen their hopes realized, because it 
 required a definitive treaty to overcome the specu- 
 lators who kept the price of corn at a high standard. 
 Lastly, the great landowners, who wished a reduc- 
 tion of all the taxes, and the middle classes, who 
 demanded the repeal of the income-tax, had not 
 yet gathered the promised fruits from the pacifica- 
 tion of the world. A little disenchantment had 
 therefore succeeded to that infatuated desire for 
 peace, which six months before had so suddenly 
 seized upon the English people— a people as subject 
 to infatuation as the French. But, more than all 
 the rest, the scenes at Lyons had acted on its 
 jealous imagination. The taking possession of 
 Italy, thus made manifest, had appeared for France 
 and for her chief something so great, that British 
 
 jealousy had been warmly excited by it. It was 
 another argument for the war party, which already 
 did not miss saying, that France was always 
 aggrandizing herself, and England lessening in 
 proportion. The recent news spread abroad acted 
 equally upon their minds, namely, that of the con- 
 siderable acquisition made by the French in 
 America. Tuscany, it has been seen, was given 
 away, under the title of the kingdom of Etruria, to 
 an infant, without the price of this gift to Spain 
 being made known. Now that the first consul 
 claimed at Madrid the cession of Louisiana, which 
 was the equivalent stipulated for Tuscany, this 
 condition of the treaty was divulged ; and the fact, 
 joined to the St. Domingo expedition, revealed new 
 and vast designs in America. To all this was to 
 be added, that a considerable port was acquired 
 by France in the Mediterranean, that of the Isle 
 of Elba, exchanged for the duchy of Piombiuo. 
 
 These different rumours, spread abroad at once 
 while the consulta, assembled at Lyons, was de- 
 creeing to general Bonaparte the government of 
 Italy, had given some strength to the war party 
 in London, which had been before obliged to keep 
 itself in extreme reserve, and to greet with hypo- 
 critical welcome the re-establishment of peace. 
 
 Pitt, who had quitted the cabinet the year before, 
 but who was still more powerful in his retirement 
 than his upright and feeble successors were, when 
 in full possession of their power, was silent upon the 
 subject of the preliminaries. He had not said any 
 thing of the conditions, but he had approved of 
 the fact of the peace itself. His old friends, very 
 inferior to himself, and, consequently, less moderate, 
 Windham, Dundas,and Grenville, had censured the 
 weakness of the Addington cabinet, and declared 
 the preliminary conditions disadvantageous to Great 
 Britain. On learning the departure of the fleet, 
 carrying twenty thousand men to St. Domingo, 
 they cried out aloud at the dupery of Addington, 
 which had permitted a squadron to pass which 
 would not fail to re-establish the French power 
 in the Antilles, before the signature of the defini- 
 tive treaty of peace. They prophesied that he 
 would be the victim of his imprudent confidence. 
 At the news of the events at Lyons, of the cession 
 of Louisiana, and of the acquisition of the island of 
 Elba, they exclaimed still louder, and lord Carlisle 
 made a furious onset upon the gigantic ambition of 
 Fiance, and the feebleness of the new cabinet of 
 England. 
 
 Pitt continued silent, thinking that it was ne- 
 cessary to suffer this attachment to peace, with 
 which the London public appeared to be smitten, 
 to wear itself out, and that it became him to pro- 
 tect, at least for a time, the cabinet destined to 
 satisfy, in all probability, a passing taste. The 
 English cabinet itself appeared to be moved by the 
 effect thus produced upon public opinion ; but it 
 much more dreaded what would be said if the 
 peace should be broken as soon as it was entered 
 upon, and if a formal treaty were not to replace 
 the preliminary articles. It confined itself there- 
 fore to sending out some ships of war to the West 
 Indies, which had been prematurely re-called, in 
 order to observe the French fleet, which had sailed 
 to that quarter; and it sent to lord Corr.wallis in- 
 structions, which, without changing the foundation 
 of any thing, aggravated certain conditions, and
 
 1S02. 
 Feb. 
 
 New demands of the 
 English cabinet, 
 
 THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. 
 
 and the first consul's 
 reply. 
 
 341 
 
 overloaded the definitive treaty with precautions, 
 useless or disparaging to the dignity of the French 
 government. Lord Hawkesbury wished for a pre- 
 cise stipulation of the money to he paid to England 
 for the prisoners which she had to maintain; he 
 wished that Holland should pay the house of 
 Orange a money indemnity, independently of the 
 territorial indemnity promised in Germany; he 
 wished it to he formally stipulated, that the old 
 grand master should not he again placid at the 
 head of the order of Malta. He wished, above all, 
 that a Turkish plenipotentiary should figure at 
 the congress of Amiens, because always full of the 
 recollections of Egypt, the British cabinet held 
 itself determined to check the daring of the first 
 e .ns.iil in the East, lie- wished, in fine, to be an 
 instrument which might enable Portugal to escape 
 the stipulations of the treaty of Badajoz — stipula- 
 tions by virtue of which the court of Lisbon lost 
 Olivenza in Europe and a certain territorial space 
 in America. 
 
 Such were the instructions sent to lord Corn- 
 wallia; still there was one proposition which was 
 reserved to be made directly by lord Hawkesbury 
 to M. Otto. This related" to" Italy : "We see," 
 said lord Hawkesbury to M. Otto, " that there 
 is nothing to be got from the first consul touching 
 Piedmont. To make any demand on that head, 
 would be asking what is impossible. But let the 
 first consul grant to the king of Sardinia the 
 smallest territorial indemnity in any corner of 
 Italy that he pleases, and in return for this con- 
 e ission, we will acknowledge at the same moment 
 all that France has done in that country. We 
 will acknowledge the kingdom of Etruria and the 
 Ligorian republic." 
 
 The changes requested, whether by lord Corn- 
 wallis or by lord Hawkesbury, consisting more in 
 form than in substance, were neither vexatious to 
 the power nor to the pride of France. Peace was 
 too fine a thing not to accept it as it was offered. 
 But the first consul, unable to discover if these 
 new demands were only a pure precaution of the 
 English cabinet, with the intention of rendering 
 the treaty more presentable to parliament, or if in 
 effect this going back from points already con- 
 ceded, accompanied by maritime armaments, eon- 
 e. ale.l a secret idea of a rupture, acted, as he 
 always did, by going resolutely to the mark. He 
 conceded what he thought should be conceded, and 
 flatly refused the rest. Relatively to the pri- 
 soners, he repelled the stipulation of the precise 
 sum to be paid to England, but agreed to the 
 formation of a commission which was to regulate 
 the amount of the expenses, considering German 
 or other soldiers who had been in the English 
 service, as English prisoners. He would not agree 
 
 that Holland should pay the stadtholder a single 
 
 Horin. lb- com nted in a formal manner to the 
 
 nomination of a new grand master lor Malta, but 
 
 without any expression applicable to tl.de Hom- 
 pesch, which might induce the idea that Prance 
 allowed the abandonment of any who had done her 
 service to be imposed upon her. He wished that 
 tin- guaranU f Malta should be also demanded of 
 
 Austria, Prussia, and Spain '. Finally, without ad- 
 
 1 An the possession of the bland Of Malta was one of 
 
 (BOM points Upon which the two countries had the greatest 
 
 mitting a Turkish or Portuguese plenipotentiary, he 
 consented to an article in which the integrity of 
 
 difficulty in completing the treaty, that part which related 
 to it will make the subject better understood : — 
 
 " The islands of Malta, Gozo, and Coinino, shall be re- 
 stored to the order of St. John of Jerusalem, to he held on 
 the same condition on which it possessed them before the 
 war, and under the following stipulations : — 
 
 " 1. The knights of the order whose languages shall con-, 
 tinue after the exchange of the ratification of the present 
 treaty, are invited to return to Malta as soon as the ex- 
 change shall have taken place. They will there form a 
 general chapter, and proceed to the election of a grand 
 master, chosen from among the natives of the nation which 
 preserve their language, unless that election has been al- 
 ready made since the exchange of the preliminaries. It is 
 understood that an election made subsequent to that epoch, 
 shall alone be considered valid, to the exclusion of any other 
 that may have taken place at any period prior to that 
 epoch. 
 
 " 2. The governments of the French republic and of 
 Great Britain, desiring to place the order and island of 
 Malta in a state of entire independence with respect to 
 them, agree that there shall not be in future either a French 
 or English language, and that no individual belonging to 
 either the one or the other of these powers shall be admitted 
 into the order. 
 
 "3. There shall be established a Maltese language, which 
 shall be supported by the territorial revenues and commercial 
 duties of the island. This language shall have its peculiar 
 dignities, an establishment and an hotel. Proofs of nobility 
 shall not be necessary for the admission of knights of this 
 language; and they shall he moreover admissible to all 
 Offices, and shall enjoy all privileges, in the same manner as 
 the knights of the other languages. At least half of the 
 municipal, administrative, civil, judicial, and other employ- 
 ments depending on the government, shall be filled by in- 
 habitants of the islands of Malta, Gozo, and Comino. 
 
 " 4. The forces of his Britannic majesty shall evacuate the 
 island and its dependencies within three months from the 
 exchange of the ratifications, or sooner if possible. At that 
 epoch it shall be given up to the order, in its present state, 
 provided the grand master, or commissaries fully authorized 
 according to the statutes of the order, shall be in the island 
 to take possession, and that the force which is to be provided 
 by his Sicilian majesty, as is hereafter stipulated, shall have 
 arrived there. 
 
 " 5. One-half of the garrison, at least, shall be always com- 
 posed of native Maltese; for the remainder, the order may 
 levy recruits in those only \\ hieh continue to possess the lan- 
 guage (jpossider let langues). 'the Maltese troops shall have 
 Maltese officers ; the commander-in-chief of the garrison, as 
 well as the nomination of the officers, shall pertain to the 
 grand master; and this right he cannot assign, even tempo- 
 rarily, except in favour of a knight, and in concurrence with 
 the council of the order. 
 
 " G. The Independence of the isles of Malta, Gozo, and 
 Comino, as well as the present arrangement, shall be placed 
 under the protection and guarantee of France, Great Britain, 
 Austria, Spain, Russia, and Prussia. 
 
 " 7. The neutrality of the order, and of the island of Malta, 
 with its dependencies, is proclaimed. 
 
 " 8. The ports of Malta shall be opened to the commerce 
 and navigation of all nations, who shall there pay equal and 
 moderate duties; these duties shall he applied to the sup- 
 port of the Maltese language, as specified in paragraph 9 j 
 
 to that of the civil and military establishments of the 
 
 islands as well as to that of a general la/arctlo, open to all 
 ensigns. 
 
 •"j. The itatei of Barbary are excepted from the condition 
 
 of thfl preceding paragraphs, until, by means of an an 
 
 meat to be procured by tin- contracting parti**, the lystem 
 
 of hostilities which subsists between the states of ll.irhary 
 and the order of St. John, or the powers possessing the Ian
 
 342 
 
 Signature of the 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 treaty of Amiens. 
 
 1802. 
 March. 
 
 the Turkish and Portuguese territory should be 
 formally guaranteed. 
 
 As to the acknowledgment of the Italian, of the 
 Ligurian republic, and of the kingdom of Etruria, 
 he declared that lie would pass it by, and that 
 lie would not purchase it by any concession made 
 to the king of Piedmont, whose dominions he was 
 determined to keep definitively. 
 
 After having sent these answers to his brother 
 Joseph, with ample liberty as to the settlement, in 
 regard to the mode of drawing up, he recom- 
 mended him to act with great prudence, in order 
 to have a sufficient proof that the refusal to sign 
 the'peace came from England, and not from him. 
 He- caused it to be intimated, whether in London 
 or at Amiens, that if they would not accept what 
 he proposed, they ought to terminate the affair : 
 and that at the same moment he would instantly 
 re-arm the old Boulogne flotilla, and form a camp 
 opposite to the English coast. 
 
 The rupture was not more wished in London 
 than in Paris or Amiens. The English cabinet 
 felt that it must succumb under the ridicule, if 
 a truce of six months, following the preliminaries, 
 had only served to open the sea to the French 
 fleets. Lord Cornwallis, who knew that the English 
 legation was not to be justified, because it was that 
 which had raised the last difficulties, lord Corn- 
 wallis was highly conciliatory in the drawing up. 
 Joseph Bonaparte was not less so, and on the 25th 
 of March, 1802, in the evening, or 4th Germinal, 
 in the year x., the peace with Great Britain was 
 signed upon an instrument marked with all sorts of 
 corrections. 
 
 It took thirty-six hours for the translation of 
 the treaty into as many languages as there were 
 powers concerned. On the 27th of March, or 
 Gth Germinal, the plenipotentiaries met together 
 at the Hotel de Ville. The first consul wished 
 that all should take place with the greatest parade. 
 A good while before there had been sent to 
 Amiens a detachment of the finest troops newly 
 dressed ; he had all the roads from Amiens to 
 
 guages, or concurring in the composition of the order, shall 
 have ceased. 
 
 " 10. The order shall he governed, hoth with respect to 
 spirituals and temporals, by the same statutes which were in 
 force when the knights left the isle, as far as the present 
 treaty shall not derogate from them. 
 
 " 11. The regulations contained in paragraphs 3, 5, 7, 8, 
 and 10, shall be converted into laws and perpetual statutes 
 of the order, in the customary manner : and the grand mas- 
 ter, (or if he shall not be in the island at the time of its 
 restoration to the order, his representative,) as well as his 
 successors, shall be bound to take an oath for their punctual 
 observance. 
 
 "12. His Sicilian majesty shall be invited to furnish two 
 thousand men, natives of his states, to serve in garrison of 
 the different fortresses of the said islands ; that force shall 
 remain for one year, to bear date from their restitution to 
 the knights; and, if at the expiration of this term, the order 
 should not have raised a force sufficient in the judgment of 
 the guaranteeing powers to garrison the island and its de- 
 pendencies, such as is specified in the paragraph, the Nea- 
 politan troops shall continue there until they shall be replaced 
 by a force deemed sufficient by the said powers. 
 
 " 13. The different powers designated in the Gth paragraph, 
 viz., France, Great Britain, Austria, Spain, Russia, and 
 Prussia, shall be invited to accede to the present stipula- 
 tions." 
 
 Calais, and Amiens to Paris, newly repaired, and 
 sent relief to the labourers of the country deprived 
 of work, in order that nothing might inspire the 
 negotiator of England with an unfavourable idea 
 of France. He prescribed certain preparations in 
 the city of Amiens itself, in order that the sig- 
 nature might be given with a sort of solemnity. 
 On the 27th, at eleven o'clock in the morning, 
 detachments of cavalry went to the residences of 
 the plenipotentiaries, and formed an escort to the 
 Hotel de Ville, where an apartment had been pre- 
 pared for their reception. It took them a certain 
 time to revise the copies of the treaty, and about 
 two o'clock admittance was given at last to the 
 authorities and to the people, who were eager to be 
 present at the imposing spectacle of the two first 
 nations in the universe becoming reconciled in the 
 face of the world — becoming reconciled, alas ! for 
 too short a period ! The two plenipotentiaries 
 signed the peace, and then cordially embraced 
 each other amid the acclamations of those present, 
 full of emotion, and transported with joy. Lord 
 Cornwallis and Joseph Bonaparte were reconducted 
 to their residences in the midst of the loudest 
 acclamations of the multitude. Lord Cornwallis 
 heard his name blessed by the French people, and 
 Joseph entered his house hearing on all sides the 
 cry, which was to be for a long time, and which it 
 was possible might have always been the cry 
 of France, " Long live Bonaparte !" 
 
 Lord Cornwallis set out immediately for Lon- 
 don, in spite of the invitation which he had re- 
 ceived to visit Paris. He feared that the facilities 
 in drawing up the treaty, to which he had lent 
 himself, might not be approved by his government, 
 and he wished in secure the ratification of the 
 treaty of peace by his presence. 
 
 The happy issue of the congress of Amiens, if it 
 did not excite among the English people the same 
 transports of enthusiasm as the signature to the 
 preliminaries had done, still found them joyful and 
 elated. This time, they said, they were going to 
 enjoy the reality of the peace, the low price of 
 produce, and the abolition of the income-tax. 
 They believed it, and showed themselves truly 
 satisfied. 
 
 The effect was just the same on the side of 
 France. Less of external demonstration, but not 
 less of real satisfaction ; such was the spectacle 
 afforded by the French people. Finally, it was 
 felt that true peace, that of the seas, was procured, 
 the necessary and certain condition of a continental 
 peace. After ten years of the grandest, the most 
 terrible contest that was ever seen among men, 
 they had all laid down their arms ; the temple of 
 Janus was shut- 
 By whom had all this been performed ? Who 
 had rendered France so great and prosperous, 
 Europe so calm ? One sole man by the power of 
 his sword, and by the depth of his policy. France 
 proclaimed this, and the entire of Europe echoed 
 to her. He had subsequently conquered at Jena, 
 at Friedland, at Wagram, he had conquered in a 
 hundred battles, had dazzled, startled, subdued the 
 world ; but he was never so great as then, because 
 he was never so wise ! 
 
 Thus all the great bodies of the state came to 
 tell him anew, in speeches full of sincere enthu- 
 siasm, that he had been the victor, and that he was
 
 1802. 
 March. 
 
 Addresses of public 
 bodies to the first 
 consul. 
 
 THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. 
 
 Regulations of the police of 
 worship. — The "Organic 
 Articles." 
 
 343 
 
 now the benefactor of Europe. The young author 
 of so much good, the possessor of so much glory, 
 was very far from thinking he approached the end 
 of his labours. He hardly enjoyed what he had 
 done before he was impatient to do more. Devoted 
 passionately to the works of peace, without being 
 Certain that peace would last long, he was anxious 
 to oetnplete what he denominated the organiza- 
 tion of Fiance, and to reconcile what was good 
 Bad true in the revolution with what was useful 
 and necessary at all times in the old monarchy. 
 That which lie had most at heart at this time was 
 the restoration of the catholic worship, the organiza- 
 tion of public education, the recal of the emigrants, 
 and the institution of the legion of honour. These 
 not the only things that he contemplated ; 
 but they were, iii his view, the most urgent. Mas- 
 ter, for the future, of the minds of those who com- 
 :it bodies of the state, he used the 
 prerogatives of the constitution to order an extra- 
 ordinary session, lie had returned on the 31st of 
 January. 1802, or 11th of Pluviose, from the con- 
 Bulta held at Lyons ; the treaty of Amiens had 
 been signed on the 25th of March, or 4th of Ger- 
 initial; the promotions to the legislative body and 
 the tribunate were finished several weeks before, 
 and the newly-elected members had taken their 
 seats ; he therefore convoked an extraordinary 
 ii for the 5th of April, or 15th Germinal. It 
 was to last until the 20di of May, or 39th Floreal, 
 that is to say, about six weeks. This would suffice 
 for his plans, however great they might be, be- 
 cause the contradiction which he was likely to 
 encounter for the future would not occasion him 
 the loss of much time. 
 
 The first of these projects submitted to the 
 lative body was the concordat. It was still 
 the more difficult of them to get adopted, if not by 
 the popular masses, at least by the civil and 
 military individuals who surrounded the govern- 
 ment. The holy see, which had been so slow to 
 grant the principles of the concordat at one time, at 
 another the bull of the circumscriptions, and again, 
 acuity to institute the new bishops, had long 
 since sent all that was nea i cardinal 
 
 Caprara, that he might be able to display the full 
 powers of the holy see, at the moment that the 
 lirst consul should judge most opportune. The 
 ill himself had thought with reason that 
 the proclamation of the definitive treaty of peace 
 ii'- moment when he should be able, under 
 . rour of the public- joy, to afford, for the first 
 time, the spectacle of the republican government 
 prostrate at the foot of the altar, thanking Pro- 
 vidence for the blessings which bail been conferred 
 upon i'. 
 
 He made every disposition for the dedication of 
 the first day i to this important solemnity. 
 
 But the fifteen days which preceded ibis great act 
 ajere nol I critical nor less laborious than that 
 
 day was likely tO be. It, was, in the first, place, 
 
 ary, besides the treaty called the concordat, 
 which, under the name of a treaty, was to I"- voted 
 
 by the legislative body, it was i y to draw 
 
 op and to p re s en t a iaw which should regulate die 
 police of worship-, in unison with the principles of 
 th' concordat and of the Galilean church, It was 
 necessary to appoint the Dew clergy who wei 
 designed to replace the former bishops, whose re- 
 
 signation had been required by the pope, and 
 almost universally obtained. Sixty sees were to 
 be tilled up at one time, by the selection, from 
 priests of all parties, of the most respectable in- 
 dividuals, taking every precaution not to give 
 offence to religious opinions by those selections, nor 
 to renew schism through an excess of a similar 
 zeal to that used for its extermination. 
 
 Such were the difficulties that the tenacity, en- 
 veloped in mildness, of the cardinal Caprara, and 
 the passions of the clergy, as great as those of 
 other men, rendered very serious and very dis- 
 quieting, up to the latest moment, even to the 
 evening before tin; day when the great act of the 
 re-establishment of the altars was to be consum- 
 mated. 
 
 The first consul began with the law designed to 
 regulate the police of worship, or that wdiich, in 
 the French code, bears the title of '• Organic Ar- 
 ticles/' It was voluminous, and regulated the 
 relations of the government with all religions, 
 whether catholic, protestant, or Hebx-ew. It rested 
 on the principle of the liberty of worship, granted 
 to it security and protection, imposing on all re- 
 spect and toleration to each other, and submission 
 towards the government. As to the catholic re- 
 ligion, that which embraced nearly the totality of 
 the population of the country, it was regulated ac- 
 cording to the principles of the Roman church, 
 sanctioned in the concordat, and the principles of 
 the Gallican church, as proclaimed by Bossuet. 
 It was first established that no bull, brief, or 
 writing whatever of the holy see, could be pub- 
 lished in France without the authority of the 
 government; that no delegate from Rome, except 
 him whom she publicly sent as her official repre- 
 sentative, should be admitted, recognized, or tole- 
 rated : this caused the disappearance of the secret 
 mandatories that the holy see employed to govern 
 the French church clandestinely during the revo- 
 lution. Ever}' infraction whatsoever of the rules, 
 resulting either from treaties with the holy see or 
 from the laws of France, committed by a member 
 of the clerical body, was denominated an "abuse," 
 and referred to the jurisdiction of the council of 
 state, a political and administrative body, animated 
 by a sound spirit of government, which could not 
 feel towards the clergy the hatred which the 
 magistracy had avowed towards it under the an- 
 cient monarchy. No council, general or particular, 
 could be held in France without the formal order 
 
 of the government! There was to be one catechism 
 only, approved of by the public authorities; Every 
 
 liastic who devoted himself to the education 
 of the clergy was to make profession of the de- 
 claration <>f 1682, known miller the name of the 
 " Propositions of Bossuet." These propositions, 
 
 as it rs well known, contain those fine principles 
 
 of submission and independence, which so parti* 
 
 cularly characterize the Gallican church, while 
 she, always submissive to (he catholic unity, made 
 
 it triumphant in France, ami defended it in 
 Europe ; but independent in her internal govern- 
 ment, faithful to her sovereigns, .she has never 
 
 ended in protestantism, like the German and Eng- 
 
 lish churches, nor in the inquisition, like that of 
 Spain. Submissive to the In ail of the universal 
 church in spirituals, submissive to the head of the 
 state in temporals, such was (he double principle
 
 Alteration in the decade, 
 344 and Sunday acknow- 
 ledged. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Advances of cardinal 
 Caprara refused by 
 the first consul. 
 
 1802. 
 April. 
 
 upon which the first consul desired that the 
 French church should rest established. For this 
 reason he formally stipulated that the clergy should 
 be instructed in the propositions of Bossuet. It 
 was arranged, in consequence, in the organic ar- 
 ticles, that the bishops, nominated by the first 
 consul, and instituted by the pope, should choose 
 the cure's; but before installing them, they should 
 be obliged to submit them to the approval of the 
 government. Leave was granted to the bishops 
 to form chapters of canons in the cathedrals and 
 seminaries of the dioceses. Every appointment of 
 professors in these seminaries was to be approved by 
 the public authority. No pupil of these seminaries 
 could be ordained a priest until he was twenty-five 
 years of age, unless he brought forward proof that 
 he possessed property to the amount of 300 f. per 
 annum, and that was approved of by the admi- 
 nistration of public worship. This condition of 
 property could not, in reality, be carried out ' ; 
 but it was desirable, had it been practicable, be- 
 cause, in that case, the spirit of the clergy would 
 have sunk less than it has since been seen to do. 
 The archbishops received 15,000 f. of revenue; the 
 bishops, 10,000 f. ; the cures of the first class, 
 1500 f.; those of the second class, 1000 f., but 
 without the addition of ecclesiastical pensions, 
 which many priests enjoyed in compensation for 
 alienated ecclesiastical property. The casual, or 
 in other words, voluntary contributions of the 
 faithful, for the administration of certain sacra- 
 ments, was reserved, on condition of being re- 
 gulated by the bishops. In all other cases it was 
 stipulated that the offices of religion should be 
 gratuitously administered. The churches were 
 restored to the newly-appointed clergy. The pres- 
 byteries and the gardens attached, called, among the 
 rural population, the " cures' houses," were the 
 only portions of the former goods of the church 
 which were restored to the priests, on the under- 
 standing that this formed no precedent regarding 
 such a portion of the goods of the church as had 
 been sold. The usage of bells was re-established 
 for the purpose of calling the people to church ; 
 but they were forbidden to be used for any civil 
 purpose, at least, without permission from the au- 
 thorities. The sinister recollection of the tocsin 
 had caused this precaution to be adopted. No 
 f£te or holiday, except that of Sunday, could be 
 established without the authority of the govern- 
 ment. Worship was not to be performed exter- 
 nally, that is, outside the buildings, in towns 
 where there were edifices belongm;; to different 
 religious denominations. Lastly, the Gregorian 
 calendar was, in part, made to correspond with 
 the republican calendar. This was, certainly, the 
 most serious of the difficulties. It was impossible 
 to abolish completely the calendar, which r-ecalled, 
 more than any other institution, the remembrance 
 of the revolution, and which had been adapted to 
 the new system of weights and measures. But it 
 was not possible to establish the catholic religion 
 again without the re-establishment of the Sunday, 
 and with the Sunday, that of the week. In other 
 respects, manners had already done that which 
 the law dared not yet undertake, and the Sunday 
 had again become every where a religious holiday, 
 
 1 It was not abolished until February, 1810. 
 
 more or less observed, but universally admitted as 
 an interruption to the labour of the week. The 
 first consul adopted a middle term. He decided 
 that the year and the month should be named after 
 the republican calendar, and the day and week 
 after the Gregorian. That there should be said, 
 for example, for Easter Sunday, Sunday, 28th 
 Germinal, year x., which answered to April 18, 
 1802. Lastly, he exacted that no one should be 
 married in a church without the production, pre- 
 viously, of the writ of civil marriage; and as to 
 the registers of births, deaths, and marriages, that 
 the clergy had continued to hold from usage, he 
 caused it to be declared that these registers should 
 never be of any value in courts of justice. In the 
 last place, every testamentary or other donation, 
 made to the clergy, was to be constituted in the 
 public funds. 
 
 Such is the substance of the wise and profound 
 law which bears the name of " organic articles." It 
 was for the French government wholly an internal 
 act which regarded itself alone, and which, under 
 tli is title, was not to be submitted to the holy see. 
 It sufficed that it contained nothing contrary to 
 the concordat, so that the court of Rome had no 
 reasonable ground to complain. To submit it to 
 Rome would be to prepare insurmountable difficul- 
 ties — difficulties greater and more in number than 
 had been encountered in the concordat itself. The 
 first consul took care that he would not expose 
 himself to these difficulties. He knew that when 
 once religious worship was publicly re-established, 
 the holy see would not come to a rupture of the 
 peace between France and Rome on account of 
 matters which concerned the interior policy of the 
 republic. It is very true that, at a later period, 
 the^e articles became one of the grievances of the 
 court of Rome against Napoleon ; but they were 
 more a pretext than a real grievance. They had, 
 besides, been communicated to cardinal Caprara, 
 who did not appear to revolt at reading them l , if 
 a judgment can be formed of his opinion by what 
 lie communicated in writing to his own court. He 
 made some reservations, advising the holy father 
 not to afflict himself about them, hoping, he said, 
 that the articles would not be too rigorously exe- 
 cuted. 
 
 The law of the organic articles being drawn up 
 and discussed in the council of state, it was neces- 
 sary to give some attention to the individual ap- 
 pointments of the clergy. This was a task requiring 
 considerable labour, because there was a multitude 
 of selections to be made, each to be closely ex- 
 amined prior to a definitive decision. Portalis, 
 whom the first consul had appointed to take charge 
 of the administration of worship, and who was emi- 
 nently proper either to treat with the clergy, or to 
 represent that body in the council of state, and to 
 defend it with a mild, brilliant eloquence, impressed 
 with a certain religious unction, Portalis ordinarily 
 resisted the holy see with a respectful firmness. 
 On this occasion he made himself in some respects 
 an ally of the cardinal Caprara in a pretension of 
 the court of Rome, that of completely excluding 
 the constitutional clergy from the new sees. The 
 pope, affected still at an act as exorbitant in his 
 
 1 These assertions are founded upon the correspondence 
 of cardinal Caprara himself.
 
 1802. 
 April. 
 
 Speech of the first consul THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. 
 
 to cardinal Caprara. 
 
 345 
 
 own eyes as the deposition of the old titularies, wished 
 at least t>> indemnify himself for it by keeping from 
 the episcopacy the ministers of the worship that 
 hud made a compact with the French revolution, 
 and taken an oath to the civil constitution. Since 
 the concordat was signed, that is to say, for about 
 eight or nine months, cardinal Caprara, who was 
 filling incognito the functions of legate a latere, and 
 who was continually seeing the first consul, insinu- 
 ated to him with mildness, but constancy, the 
 desires of the Roman church, advancing with more 
 boldness when the first consul was in a humour to 
 let him speak on, and retiring precipitately, with 
 humility, when he was of a contrary humour. 
 Th se desires of the Roman church, did not solely 
 consist in excluding from the new composition of 
 the French clergy those priests whom lie denomi- 
 nated intruders, but were directed to the recovery 
 of the lost provinces of Bologna, Ferrara, and 
 Romagna. ''The holy father," said the cardinal, 
 "is very poor since he has been despoiled of his 
 fertile provinces; he is so poor that he can 
 neither pay troops to guard him, the administra- 
 tion of his states, nor the sacred college. He lias 
 lost even a part of his foreign revenues. In the 
 midst of his grievances, the re-establishment of 
 religion in France is the greatest of his consola- 
 tions ; but do not mingle bitterness with this con- 
 solation, by obliging him to institute priests who 
 have apostatized, thus depriving the faithful clergy 
 of the places already so much diminished by the 
 new circumscription." 
 
 " Yes," replied the first consul, " the holy father 
 is poor; I will assist him. All the boundaries of 
 Italy are not irrevocably fixed ; those of Europe 
 are definitively arranged, but I cannot now take 
 away the provinces from the Italian republic 
 which has made me its chief. Meanwhile, the 
 holy father is iii want of more money than he 
 He requires some millions, and I am 
 ready to give them to him. As to the intruders," 
 be added, " it is another affair. The pope pro- 
 mised, when the negotiations are sent in, to recon- 
 cile with the church all these without distinction, 
 who shall submit to the concordat. He has pro- 
 mised — he must keep his word. I shall remind 
 him of the matter; and he is neither a man nor a 
 pontiff if he break his word. Besides, my object 
 is not to make any one party triumph; my object 
 is to reconcile one party with another, holding the 
 balance equal between each. For a considerable 
 time you have obliged me to read the history 
 of the church. I have seen there that religious 
 quarrels do not differ materially from political 
 ones ; because you priests, and we military 
 men or magistrates, are all alike. They end 
 only by the intervention of some authority suffici- 
 ently Btrong to oblige the parties to draw together 
 and amalgamate. I shall therefore mingle some 
 constitutional bishops with those whom yon de- 
 nominate the faithful ; I will choose but a few, 
 and I will choose them well. You will conciliate! 
 tie in with the Roman church; I will oblige them 
 to submit to the concordat, and all will jo> on well. 
 This is a matter resolved upon — do not recur to it 
 again." 
 
 The " great Consul," as the cardinal called him, 
 because he admired, loved, and feared him in an 
 
 equal degree, said to the holy father, " l)o not let 
 
 us irritate this man ! he alone sustains us in this 
 Country, where every body is against us. If his 
 zeal be suffered to cool for a moment, or if unhap- 
 pily he should die, there would never more be a 
 religion in France." 
 
 The cardinal, when he did not succeed, obliged 
 himself to appear satisfied, because general Bona- 
 parte loved to see people content, and was out of 
 humour when any one presented himself with 
 chagrin in his countenance. The cardinal always 
 showed himself serene and mild, and had, through 
 this means, discovered the art of pleasing him. He 
 observed, besides, the troubles which beset Bona- 
 parte, and he was not willing to add to them. The 
 first consul, in his turn, endeavoured to make the 
 cardinal comprehend the susceptibility and jealousy 
 of the French feeling, and, notwithstanding his 
 power, he made as strong efforts to convince his 
 mind, as the cardinal could make on his own side 
 to bring the first consul to his views. One day, 
 impatient at the solicitations of the legate, he made 
 him cease them by these words, not less gracious 
 than profound: " Hold, cardinal Caprara ? Do you 
 still possess the gift of miracles? Do you possess 
 it ? In that case employ it to do me a very great 
 service. If you have it not, leave me alone ; and 
 since I am reduced to human means, permit me to 
 use them as I understand how, in order to save the 
 church 1 ! " 
 
 It was a picture very striking and curious, pre- 
 served entire in the correspondence of cardinal 
 Caprara, of this powerful warrior displaying by 
 turns a finesse, a grace, and an extraordinary 
 vehemence in persuading the old theological diplo- 
 matic cardinal to come into his views. Both had 
 thus reached the moment for the publication of the> 
 concordat without the one having worked conviction 
 upon the mind of the other. Portalis, who upon this 
 point alone agreed in opinion with the views of the 
 holy see, did not dare, as he would willingly do, to 
 exclude altogether the constitutionalists from the 
 propositions for filling the sixty sees, but he only 
 presented two of them. Having bad an under- 
 standing with the abbe Bernier for the selections 
 to be made among the orthodox clergy, he had 
 proposed the wisest and most eminent members of 
 the old episcopacy for that purpose, and a suffi- 
 cient number of estimable cures distinguished by 
 their piety, their moderation, and the continuance 
 of their services during the reign of terror. He 
 asserted with the abbe Bernier, that not to call 
 any member of the old episcopacy, and to design 
 
 • It was wli.it was called the faction of the "communes" 
 that wound up the crisis of materialism, and left the different 
 creeds the legacy of the last change. Thus during the 
 revolution, and prior to the above measure being effected by 
 Bonaparte, there was the ultramontane Catholicism followed 
 
 by the refractory clergy, or orthodox or unsworn clergy, 
 
 divided into the unsworn and those who had promised ; there 
 were the Jansenlst, or constitutional, or sworn clergy; tl ire 
 was deism, or the worship of the Supreme Being, instituted 
 by the committee of public safety; and there were, at list, 
 the itiatci i.ilisis, who would worship only reason and nature 
 —the creed Of the infamous "commune." There were thus 
 
 elements sufficiently discordant on the subject of religion, 
 to require all the courage and ability of Bonaparte to over- 
 come them, There were, more or less, numerous professoi • 
 
 of all these opinions al thai time in every part of France — 
 Trantlator,
 
 Arrangements regarding 
 34(5 the sees. — Ecclesiasti- 
 cal appointments. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Addresses to the first 1802. 
 consul. April. 
 
 nate none but cures, would be to create a clergy 
 too new, and too destitute of authority : that on 
 the contrary, to nominate the old bishops alone to 
 the sees would be to neglect loo much the inferior 
 clergy, who had rendered real services during the 
 revolution, and whose honest ambition would be 
 thus grievously wounded. These views were rea- 
 sonable, and were admitted by the first consul. 
 But as to the two constitutional prelates, he was 
 not at all satisfied about them. 
 
 " I mean out of these sixty sees," said the first 
 consul, " to give one-fifth to the clergy of the 
 revolution, or, in other words, to twelve. There 
 shall be two constitutional archbishops to ten, and 
 ten constitutional bishops to fifty, which is not too 
 much." After having consulted with Portalis and 
 Bernier, he made with them the best selections 
 which could be conceived, saving one or two. 
 M. de Belloy, bishop of Marseilles, the oldest and 
 most respectable of the old French clergy, and the 
 excellent minister of a religion of charity, who 
 joined to a venerable appearance the most highly- 
 endowed piety, was nominated archbishop of Paris. 
 M. de Cice', keeper of the seals under Louis XVI., 
 formerly archbishop of Bordeaux, an ecclesiastic 
 of a firm and politic mind, was promoted to the 
 archbishopric of Aix ; M. de Boisgelin, a noble by 
 birth, an enlightened priest, well- informed, and of 
 a mild temper, formerly archbishop of Aix, was 
 made archbishop of Tours ; M. de la Tour-du-Pin, 
 formerly archbishop of Audi, received the bishop- 
 ric of Troyes. This worthy prelate, as illustrious 
 by his knowledge as by his birth, had the modesty 
 to accept a post so inferior to that which he had 
 resigned. The first consul subsequently recom- 
 pensed him with a cardinal's hat. M. de Roque- 
 laure, formerly bishop of Senlis, one of the most 
 distinguished prelates of the former church, by his 
 union of amenity and pure morals, obtained the 
 archbishopric of Malines. M. Cambace'res, brother 
 of the second consul, was called to the archbishop- 
 ric of Rouen. The abbe' Fesch, uncle of the first 
 consul, a proud priest, who made it his glory 
 to resist his nephew, was made archbishop of 
 Lyons, in other words, primate of the Gauls. 
 M. Lecoz, constitutional bishop of Rennes, a priest 
 of good moral character, but an ardent and un- 
 accommodating Jansenist, was nominated arch- 
 bishop of Besancon. M. Primat, the constitutional 
 bishop of Lyons, formerly an oratorian, a well- 
 instructed and mild priest, having occasioned 
 sad scandal in regard to schisms, but none in 
 respect to morals, was promoted to the archbishop- 
 ric of Toulouse. A distinguished cure', M. de 
 Pancemont, much employed about the affair of the 
 resignations, was taken from the pai'ish of St. Sul- 
 pice to be sent to Valines as a bishop. Lastly, the 
 abbe" Bernier, the celebrated cure' of St. Laud 
 d' Angers, formerly the hidden plotter in La Ven- 
 dee, afterwards its pacificator, and under the first 
 consul the negotiator of the concordat, received 
 the bishopric of Orleans. That see was not com- 
 mensurate with the high influence which the first 
 consul had allowed him to take in the affairs of the 
 French church ; but the abbe" Bernier felt that 
 the recollections of the civil war attaching to his 
 name, did not permit an elevation too sudden and 
 too marked; that the real influence he enjoyed 
 was of more value than external honours. The 
 
 first consul had in view for him besides the hat of 
 a cardinal. 
 
 When these nominations were all arranged, 
 they were not to be published until after the con- 
 version of the concordat into a law of the state ; 
 they were communicated to cardinal Caprara, who 
 opposed to them a very warm resistance ; he even 
 shed tears, said that he was unprovided with 
 powers, though he had received from Rome an 
 absolute latitude, extending so far as to the extra- 
 ordinary faculty of instituting prelates without 
 having recourse to the holy see. Portalis and 
 Bernier declared to him that the will of the first 
 consul was irrevocable ; that he must submit or 
 renounce the solemn ceremony of the restoration 
 of the altar, announced to take place in a few days. 
 He submitted at last, writing to the pope that the 
 salvation of souls, deprived of religion, if he per- 
 sisted in his refusal, had in his mind obtained the 
 advantage over the interests of the faithful clergy. 
 " They will censure me," said the cardinal to 
 St. Peter, " but I have obeyed that which I be- 
 lieved was a voice from heaven." 
 
 He consented, therefore, but reserved to himself 
 the right of exacting from the newly-elected con- 
 stitutional clergy a recantation which might cover 
 this last condescension of the holy see. 
 
 All being in readiness, the first consul ordered 
 the concordat to be laid before the legislative 
 body, to be voted into a law, agreeably to the 
 prescribed rules of the constitution. To the con- 
 cordat were joined the "organic articles." It was 
 the first day of the extraordinary session, or 
 the 5th of April, 1802, or 15th Germinal, that the 
 concordat was presented to the legislative body by 
 the councillors of state, Portalis, Regnier, and 
 Reynault St. Jean d'Angely. The legislative body 
 was not in session when the treaty of Amiens, 
 signed the 25th of March, had become known 
 in Paris. It had not in consequence been among 
 the authorities which had gone up to congratulate 
 the first consul. At this first sitting it was pro- 
 posed to send a deputation of twenty-five members 
 to compliment the first consul upon the occasion of 
 the general peace. In their propositions there 
 was no mention of the concordat, which exhibits 
 the spirit of the time, even in the heart of the 
 renewed legislative body. The deputation was 
 presented on the 6th of April, or 16th Germinal. 
 
 " Citizen consul," said the president of the legis- 
 lative body, "the first necessity of the French 
 people, attacked by all Europe, was victory, and 
 you have conquered. Their next dearest wish was 
 for peace alter victory, and that you have given 
 them. What glory for the past — what hopes for 
 the future ! All this has been your work. Enjoy, 
 therefore, the eclat and hapj>iness which the re- 
 public is in your debt !" 
 
 The president terminated this address by the 
 warmest expression of gratitude, but upon the sub- 
 ject of the concordat he was perfectly silent. The 
 first consul seized the opportunity to give him 
 a species of lesson upon the subject, and to speak 
 to those who spoke only of the treaty of Amiens, 
 of the concordat alone. " I thank you for the 
 sentiments you express toward me," said the first 
 consul to the messengers of the legislative body. 
 " Your session begins with the most important 
 operation of all, that which has for its end to ap-
 
 1802. 
 April. 
 
 Ceremonies on the 
 
 THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. proclamation of the concordat. 347 
 
 pease all religious differences. The whole of France 
 is solicitous to sec an end to these deplorable dis- 
 putes, and to observe the re-establishnicnt of the 
 altar. I hope that in your votes you will be 
 unanimous upon this question. France will Bee 
 with lively joy that her legislators have voted 
 peace of conscience, peace in families, a hundred 
 times mure important for the happiness of a people, 
 than that upon the occasion of which you have 
 come to felicitate the government." 
 
 These line expressions produced the effect which 
 the first consul hoped; the projected law, carried 
 immediately from the legislative body to the tri- 
 bunate, was there seriously examined, even fa- 
 vourably, and discussed with warmth. On the 
 report of M. Simeon, it was declared to be carried, 
 venty-eight votes to seven. In the legislative 
 body it was carried by two hundred and twenty- 
 eight for to twenty-one against the measure. 
 
 It was on the Sth of April, or 13th Germinal, 
 that those two bills were converted into laws. 
 There were no more obstacles. It was Thursday, 
 and the Sunday following was Palm Sunday; the 
 next would be Easter-day. The first consul wished 
 to devote those solemn days in the catholic religion 
 to the great festival of the re-establishment of 
 public worship. lie had not yet received cardinal 
 Caprara officially as the legate of the holy see. He 
 assigned the following day, Friday, for this official 
 reception. The usage of legates a latere is to have 
 a gold cross carried before them. This is the sign 
 of the extraordinary power that the holy see dele- 
 to its representatives of this character. Car- 
 dinal Caprara wished, conformably to the views 
 of his court, that the exercise of worship might be 
 as public and pompous as possible in France, and 
 I that, according to usage, on the day 
 when he went to the Tuileries, the golden cross 
 might be carried before him, by an officer, dressed 
 I, on horseback. This was a spectacle which 
 there was some fear about exhibiting to the Pari- 
 sians. A negotiation ensued, in which it was 
 ■1 that tins cross should be carried in one of 
 the carriages which. were to precede that of the 
 legate. 
 
 On Friday, the Dili of April, the cardinal re- 
 paired in full pomp to the Tuilt ries, in the carriages 
 
 of thi' first consul, escorted by the consular guard, 
 and preceded by the cross, borne in one of the 
 
 carriages. Then the first consul received him at 
 the head of a nu rous circle of persons, con- 
 sisting of his colleagues, of many councillors of 
 state, and a brilliant stall'. Cardinal Caprara, 
 terior was mild and serious, addressed a 
 speech to the first consul, in which dignity was 
 mingled with the expression of gratitude, tie took 
 the oath agreed upon, that he would do nothing 
 contrary to the lav..-, of the state, and to vacate bis 
 
 function-, as soon as he should be requested so to 
 do. The first consul replied to him in elevated 
 language, de tined, particularly, to resound else- 
 where than in the palace, of tie- Tuilerii . 
 
 This external display was the first of all I 
 
 which were prepared, and it was but little noticed, 
 because, the people of Paris not being aware of it, 
 
 were unable to yield to their ordinary curiosity, 
 'lie- next 'lay but oil'' was Palm Sunday. The 
 first consul had already made the cardinal consent 
 to the nomination of sonic of the principal prelates 
 
 before agreed upon, lie wished that their con- 
 secration should- take place upon Palm Sunday, in 
 order that they might be able to officiate on the 
 Sunday following, which was Easter-day, in the 
 great solemnity which he had projected. These 
 were M. de Belloy, nominated archbishop of Paris, 
 M. dc Cambaeeies, archbishop of Rouen, M. Ber- 
 nier, bishop of Orleans, and M. de l'anceniont, 
 bishop of Yanncs. Notre Dame was still occupied 
 by the constitutional clergy, who kept the keys. 
 It recpuired a formal order before they would de- 
 liver them up. That fine edifice was found in a 
 sad state of dilapidation ; and nothing there was 
 prepared for the consecration of the four prelates. 
 They provided for this omission by means of a 
 sum of money, furnished by the first consul, and 
 it was done in such a hurry, that when the day 
 of the ceremony came, there was no place found 
 fitted up for a sacristy. A neighbouring house 
 was obliged to be applied to this purpose. There 
 the new prelates arrayed themselves in their pon- 
 tifical ornaments, and in this dress had to cross 
 the open space before the cathedral. The people 
 having been informed that a grand ceremony was 
 in course of preparation, repaired to the spot, and 
 behaved quietly and respectfully. The counte- 
 nance of the venerable archbishop Belloy was so 
 fine and noble, that it affected the simple hearts 
 of those who composed the crowd, and all of them, 
 both men and women, bowed respectfully. The 
 cathedral was full of that class of serious persons, 
 who had grieved over the misfortunes of religion, 
 and who, belonging to no faction, received with 
 thankfulness the present made them that day by 
 the first consul. The ceremony was affecting, even 
 from the very defect of pomp by the sentiments 
 which attached to it. The four prelates were con- 
 secrated in the customary manner. 
 
 From this time, it must be stated, that the 
 satisfaction among the mass was general, and the 
 approbation of the public was secured to the great 
 manifestation that was fixed for the following 
 Sunday. Except party men, revolutionists hotly 
 obstinate in their own systems, or factious royalists, 
 who saw with mortification the lever of revolt 
 slipped out of their hands, all approved of what 
 was passing; and the first consul was able to re- 
 cognize already, that his own views were more 
 com ct than those of his councillors. 
 
 The Sunday following being Easter Sunday, was 
 designed for a solemn Te Dam, in celebration, at 
 the same time, of the general peace, and of a re- 
 conciliation with the church. This ceremony was 
 announced by public authority, as a truly national 
 festival. The preparations and the programme of 
 
 it wire published. The first consul wished to pro- 
 coed to it in grand state, accompanied by all that 
 was most elevated in the government. Through 
 
 the ladies of the palace it was conveyed to the 
 wives of the higher functionaries, that they would 
 satisfy one of his most ardent, wishes, if they would 
 attend the metropolitan church upon the i!a\ of 
 
 '/".' Deum. The greater number did not require 
 
 to be pressed to attend. It is well known what 
 frivolous motives are joined to those which are 
 most, pious ill character, to augment the influx of 
 
 attendance upon those solemnities of religion. The 
 most brilliant women of Paris obeyed the wishes 
 
 of the fust consul, 'flic principal among them
 
 Objections of the military. 
 348 — New demand of cardi- 
 nal Caprara — The first 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 consul opposes the car- 
 dinal's demands. — Pro- 
 cession to Noire Dame. 
 
 1802. 
 April. 
 
 made the Tuileries the rendezvous, in order to 
 accompany Madam Bonaparte in the carriages of 
 the new court. The first consul had given a for- 
 mal order to his generals to accompany him. This 
 was the most difficult tiling of all to obtain, because 
 it was every where said that they held very un- 
 worthy and almost factious language. The con- 
 duct of Lannes has been already noticed. Auge- 
 reau, tolerated at Paris, was actually one of those 
 who spoke loudest. He was charged by his com- 
 rades to go to the first consul, and to express to 
 him their wish not to attend at Notre Dame. It 
 was at a consular sitting, in the presence of the 
 three consuls and the ministers, that Bonaparte 
 chose to receive Augereau. He stated his message, 
 but the first consul recalled him to a sense of his 
 duty, with that haughtiness of manner that he so 
 well knew how to assume, more particularly with 
 military men. He made him sensible of the im- 
 propriety of his conduct, and recalled to his re- 
 collection that the concordat was then the law of 
 the land, and that the laws were obligatory upon all 
 classes of citizens, as well upon the military as 
 upon the humblest and most feeble citizen ; that 
 he should watch their execution, in his double 
 capacity of general and chief magistrate of the 
 republic ; that it was not for the officers of the 
 army, but for the government, to judge of the 
 adaptation of the ceremonies ordered for Easter 
 Sunday; that all the authorities had orders to be 
 present, the military as well as the civil authorities, 
 and that all should obey; that as to the dignity of 
 the army, he was himself as jealous of it, and as 
 good a judge of it, as any of the generals his com- 
 panions in arms ; and that he was sure he did not 
 compromise it by assisting in person at the cere- 
 monies of religion ; that, to put an end to the 
 question, they had not to deliberate, but to execute 
 an order, and that he expected to see them all on 
 Sunday at his side in the metropolitan church. 
 Augereau made no reply, and carried to his 
 comrades only the embarrassment of having 
 done a thoughtless act, and the resolution to obey 
 orders. 
 
 Every thing was ready, when, at the last mo- 
 ment, the later thoughts of cardinal Caprara were 
 nearly defeating these noble designs of the first 
 consul. The bishops chosen from the constitu- 
 tional party had gone to the residence of cardinal 
 Caprara, for the pruces informntlf, which is drawn 
 out in behalf of every bishop presented to the 
 holy see. The cardinal had required from them a 
 retractation, by which they abjured their former 
 errors, characterizing in the most self-condemna- 
 tory way, their adhesion to the civil constitution 
 of the clergy. This was a very humiliating step, 
 not only for them, but for the revolution itself. 
 The first consul, upon hearing it, would not allow 
 it, and he enjoined the clergy not to yield, pro- 
 mising to support them, and to force the represen- 
 tative of the holy see to renounce such unchristian 
 pretensions. The cardinal had found no other 
 excuse for his condescension, if he instituted those 
 whom he called "intruders," than in a formal re- 
 cantation of their past errors. But the first consul 
 did not understand it in that point of view. " When 
 I accept for bishop," said he, " the abbe" Bernier, 
 the apostle of La Vendee, the pope may be satisfied 
 with Jansenists and oratorians, who have had no 
 
 other fault than that of abiding by the revolution." 
 He directed them to confine themselves to a simple 
 declaration, which consisted in saying that they 
 adhered to the concordat, and the wishes of the 
 holy see expressed in that treaty. He insisted, 
 with justice, that as the concordat contained the 
 principles upon which the French and Roman 
 churches agreed, no more was to be exacted, 
 without an intention to humiliate one party to the 
 advantage of another, which he declared lie would 
 never allow. 
 
 On the Saturday night, the eve of Easter, this 
 dispute was not terminated. M. Portalis was then 
 charged to go to the cardinal and announce that 
 the ceremony of the following day should not take 
 place, nor should the concordat be published, but 
 that it should remain without effect, if he continued 
 longer to insist upon the recantation thus demanded. 
 This resolution, furthermore, was serious, and the 
 first consul, in showing himself full of condescen- 
 sion for the church, would not give way upon such 
 points as appeared to compromise the end itself, 
 that is to say, the complete fusion of parties. He 
 knew that it was necessary to be energetic, to be 
 a conciliator, since it is nearly as costly to bring 
 the parties to agree as it is to conquer them. 
 
 At last, the cardinal gave way, but not until the 
 night was far advanced. It was agreed that the 
 prelates newly elected from among the constitu- 
 tional clergy, should go through the proces infor- 
 matif at the cardinal's house, and that they should 
 profess, viva voce, their sincere union to the church, 
 and that, as a consequence, a declaration should be 
 made that they and the church were reconciled, 
 without saying how, or on what terms. It is a fact 
 that the demanded recantation was not made. 
 
 The next day, being Easter Sunday, the 18th of 
 April, 1802, or 28th Germinal, year x., the con- 
 cordat was published in all quarters of Paris, with 
 grand parade, and by the principal authorities. 
 While this publication took place in the streets of 
 the capital, the first consul, who wished to solemnize 
 on the same day all that was for the good of France, 
 was exchanging at the Tuileries the ratifications of 
 the treaty of Amiens. This important formality 
 accomplished, he set out for Notre Dame, followed 
 by the chief bodies of the state, and a great num- 
 ber of functionaries of every class, a brilliant staff, 
 and a crowd of ladies of the highest rank, who 
 accompanied Madam Bonaparte. A long train of 
 carriages composed this magnificent assemblage. 
 The troops of the first military division, united in 
 Paris, formed a double line from the Tuileries to 
 the cathedral. The archbishop of Paris came in 
 procession to meet the first con.-.ul at the door of 
 the church, and presented him with the holy 
 water. The new head of the state was conducted 
 under a da'is, in a place reserved for him. The 
 senate, the legislative body, and the tribunate were 
 arranged on each side of the altar. Behind the 
 first consul were seen standing, the generals in 
 full uniform, more obedient than converted, and 
 some of them affecting a demeanour not very 
 becoming. As to himself, dressed in the red 
 uniform of the consuls, motionless, with a severe 
 expression of countenance, he displayed neither 
 the perplexity of some, nor the devout expression 
 of others. He was calm, grave, in the attitude of 
 the chief of an empire, who was performing a great
 
 1802. 
 
 April. 
 
 The first consul rebukes his 
 generals. — New work of 
 M. Chateaubriand. 
 
 THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. 
 
 Project for the return of the 
 emigrants. 
 
 340 
 
 act of his will, and commanded by his look submis- 
 sion from every body. 
 
 The ceremony was long and dignified, despite 
 the had humour of those whom it had been deemed 
 necessary to nasemble together there. In other 
 respects the effect of it was destined to be decisive, 
 because the example once given by the must im- 
 posing of men, the former religious habits would 
 be resumed, and all opposition to them would 
 subside. 
 
 There were two motives for this fete, the esta- 
 blishment of worship, and the general peace. The 
 satisfaction was naturally general, and all who 
 had not bad party feelings in their hearts, were 
 happy at the public welfare. On that day there 
 were grand dinners given by the ministers, at 
 which the principal members of the different 
 administrations attended. The representatives of 
 the foreign powers were the guests of the minister 
 for foreign affairs. There was a brilliant banquet 
 at the first consul's, to which were invited cardinal 
 Caprara, the archbishop of Paris, the principal of 
 the new elorjy just appointed, and the highest per- 
 BODages of the state. The first consul talked a long 
 while with the cardinal, and testified to him his 
 delight at having achieved so great a work. He 
 was proud of his courage and of his success. One 
 light cloud passed across his noble brow for an 
 instant, and that was when casting a glance at 
 certain of his generals, whose attitude and lan- 
 guage had not become the occasion. He expressed 
 his discontent to them, with a firmness of maimer 
 which admitted of no reply, and which left little 
 iiar of a return of such conduct. 
 
 To complete the effect which the first consul 
 had wished to produce on this day, M. de Fontanes 
 gave an account, in the Moniteur, of a new book, 
 which at that moment made a great noise ; — the 
 "Genius of Christianity." This book, written by a 
 young Breton gentleman, M. de Chateaubriand, 
 related to Malesherbea, and long absent from Ins 
 country, described, with infinite brilliancy, the 
 beauties of Christianity, and extolled the mora] 
 and poetical influence of religious practices, which 
 had been exposed, for twenty years, to the bitterest 
 raillery. Criticised severely by Cheuier and Gin- 
 guenc, who charged it with false and extravagant 
 colouring, and praised excessively by the party 
 attached to religious restoration, the "Genius of 
 Christianity,*' like all remarkable books, very much 
 
 praised and very much attacked, produced a deep 
 i mpress ion, because it expressed a real feeling, 
 
 general at that moment in French society ; this 
 was tin: singular indefinable regret for that which 
 no longer exists for that which in possession was 
 
 disdained or destroyed, and for which, when lost, 
 there i-i such a melancholy desire. Such is the 
 
 human heart ! That which exists fatigues and 
 
 Oppresses it, and that which has ceased to exist. 
 acquires suddenly a powerful charm. The social 
 and religious customs of the old lime, onions and 
 
 ridiculous in 17'!!', because then they were in all 
 their force, ami were also oftentimes oppressive, 
 now that, the eighteenth century, changing towards 
 
 its (dose into an impetuous torrent, had swept them 
 away in its devastating course, these now returned 
 
 to the recollection of an agitated generation, and 
 
 affected its heart, disposed to emotions by fifteen 
 years of tragic scenes. The work of a young 
 
 writer, strongly tinctured with this profound feel- 
 ing, acted at the moment on men's minds strongly, 
 and was marked with peculiar favour by the man 
 who then dispensed all the glories. If it did not 
 exhibit the pure taste, the simple and solid faith of 
 the writers of the age of Louis XIV., it painted, as 
 with a charm, the old religious manners that were 
 no more. There is no doubt but the work might 
 be censured as the abuse of a fine imagination; but 
 after Virgil and Horace, there remained in the 
 memory of mankind a place for the ingenious 
 Ovid, and for the brilliant Lucan ; and alone, 
 perhaps, among the books of its day, the "Genius 
 of Christianity" will live, strongly linked, as it is, 
 to a memorable era; it will live as an ornament, 
 sculptured upon the marble of a frieze, lives with 
 the edifice that bears it. 
 
 In recalling the priests to the altar, and in draw- 
 ing them out of their obscure retreats where they 
 practised their religion, and often conspired against 
 the government, the first consul had remedied one 
 of the most vexatious disorders of the time, and 
 satisfied one of its greatest moral necessities. But 
 there remained still another disorder of a very sad 
 character, which gave to France the aspect of a 
 country torn up by factions; this was the exile of a 
 considerable number of Frenchmen, living in fo- 
 reign lands in indigence, sometimes in hatred of 
 their country, and receiving from an enemy's hand 
 the bread that many among them paid for by un- 
 worthy acts towards France. Exile is a frightful 
 invention of civil discord ; it renders the banished 
 man unhappy; it denaturalizes his heart; it leaves 
 him to an alms doled out by a stranger, and exhi- 
 bits afar the afflicting picture of the troubles of his 
 native land. Of all the traces of a revolution, this 
 is that which should be the first effaced. Bona- 
 parte considered the recal of the emigrants as the 
 indispensable compliment to a general pacificator. 
 It was an act of reparation of which he was impa- 
 tient to brave the difficulties, and gather the glory. 
 There already existed for the emigrants a system 
 of recal very incomplete, partial, and irregular, 
 which had all the inconveniences of a general mea- 
 sure, and yet had not its high character, or its 
 eclat of beneficence ; this was the system of the 
 evasures, which were accorded to the emigrants best 
 recommended, under the pretence that they had 
 been unduly placed upon the lists. The amnesty in 
 this mode was not always given to the most excus- 
 able or the most deserving. 
 
 The first consul formed the resolution, therefore, 
 of permitting the return of the emigrants in the 
 mass, with certain exceptions. Serious objections 
 were made against this measure. At first all the 
 constitutions, and principally the consular consti- 
 tution, stated formally that the emigrants should 
 never be recalled. They said this more particu- 
 larly on account, of the acquirers of national pro- 
 perty, who were very suspicious, and regarded tin? 
 exile of the former possessors of this property BS 
 needful for their safety. The first consul considered 
 himself as the firmest supporter of these holders J 
 
 having always expressed ins determination to de- 
 lend them, the only i • t .- 1 1 having the power to do 
 
 so, he believed himself strong enough in that pub- 
 lic confidence with "Inch he had inspired all, to 
 he able to open the doors of Prance t<> the emi- 
 grants, lie, therefore, ordered a resolution to bo
 
 Difficulties of the question. 
 3ii0 — Resistance of the coun- 
 cil of state to the first 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 consul's measure re- 
 specting emigrants' 
 property. 
 
 1°02. 
 April. 
 
 prepared, of which the first clause purported 
 to be the new and irrevocable consecration of the 
 sales made by the state to the acquirers of the 
 national property. He then had inserted in the 
 same document a provision, by which all emigrants 
 were recalled in a body, on their submitting to the 
 surveyorship of the high police, and those who 
 should at any time have provoked such an applica- 
 tion, submitting to this surveyorship for the whole 
 of their lives. There were still some exceptions to 
 this general recal. The benefit was refused to 
 those who had commanded armies against the 
 republic, to those who had accepted rank in the 
 armies of the enemies of France, to the individuals 
 who had places or titles in the households of the 
 princes of the house of Bourbon, to the generals 
 or representatives of the people who had entered 
 into a compact with the enemy (this related to 
 Pichegru and certain members of the legislative 
 assemblies), and finally, to such archbishops and 
 bishops as had refused the resignations demanded 
 of them by the pope. The number of excluded 
 persons was, therefore, very inconsiderable. 
 
 The most difficult question to resolve was that 
 which related to the property of the emigrants 
 which had not yet been sold. If, with all reason, 
 the sales made by the state should be declared 
 irrevocable, it might appear hard not to restore to 
 the emigrants that portion of their property still 
 resting entire in the hands of the government. 
 " I do nothing," said the first consul, " if I restore 
 these emigrants to their country, and do not restore 
 to them their patrimony. I wish to efface the 
 traces of our civil wars, and in filling France with 
 returned emigrants, who will remain in poverty 
 while their property is under the sequestration of 
 the state, I create a class of discontented persons, 
 who will not leave us any rest. And these proper- 
 ti. s, kept under a state sequestration, who do you 
 think will purchase them in presence of their 
 former owners, now returned home J" The first 
 consul was, therefore, resolved to restore all the 
 unsold domains, except houses or edifices used for 
 the public service. 
 
 This resolution, thus drawn up, was submitted 
 to a privy council, composed of the consuls, minis- 
 ters, a certain number of councillors of state and 
 of senators. It was warmly discussed in this 
 assembly, and seemed to excite considerable jea- 
 lousies. ' Still, in the general bent towards repara- 
 tory measures, which tended to efface the traces of 
 past troubles, the prestige of the general peace, 
 the positive will of the first consul, ail these causes 
 in union led to the adoption of the principle of the 
 recal of the emigrants. But there was care taken to 
 insert in the resolutions the word "amnesty," in or- 
 der to attach to emigration the character of a crimi- 
 nal act, that a victorious and happy nation was will- 
 ing to forget. The first consul, wishing to do all 
 things in the most complete way, was repugnant to 
 the employment of the word "amnesty." He said 
 that they ought not to humiliate those whose 
 reconciliation with France they would fain bring 
 about, and to treat them as criminals receiving 
 pardon, would be to humiliate them deeply- He 
 was answered, that emigration had originally been 
 a crime, since it had for its principal object to 
 make war upon France, and that it was needful 
 it should remain condemned by the laws. The 
 
 warmest contest took place relative to the property 
 of the emigrants. The councillors called upon to 
 deliberate, obstinately refused the restitution of 
 the woods and forests, that the law of the 2nd 
 Nivose, year iv., had declared inalienable. It was 
 in their opinion, to remit immense riches into the 
 hands of the great emigration, depriving the state 
 of enormous resources, and above all, of forests 
 indispensable for the service of war and of the 
 navy. Notwithstanding all his efforts, the first 
 consul was obliged to give way ; and he thus kept, 
 without thinking of it, one of the most powerful 
 means of influence over the ancient French no- 
 bility, that which afterwards served to bring them 
 back to him almost wholly : this means was an 
 individual restitution, which at a later period he 
 made of their properties, to those of the emigrants 
 who submitted to his government. 
 
 The resolution thus modified, it remained to 
 know how a legal character should be conferred 
 upon it. It was the desire to make it a law, yet it 
 was intended if possible to give it the most elevated 
 character. The idea was suggested of making it 
 a senatiisconsultum. The resolution affected the 
 constitution itself, and in that sense it appeared 
 more particularly to appertain to the senate. Al- 
 ready that body, by two considerate acts, that 
 which had proscribed the Jacobins, falsely accused 
 of the infernal machine, and that which had in- 
 terpreted the 38th article of the constitution, and 
 excluded the oppositions in the two legislative 
 assemblies, had acquired a species of power superior 
 to the constitution itself, because it had made ex- 
 traordinary measures lawful, and new constitutional 
 dispositions, of which the government believed it 
 had need. After having performed these rigorous 
 acts, it could not be otherwise than agreeable to 
 the senate to be charged with an act of national 
 clemency. It was then decreed that the resolution 
 pronouncing the recal of the emigrants, should be 
 first discussed in the council of state, as were the 
 regulations, laws, senatorial consultations, and then 
 be submitted to the senate, to be there deliberated 
 upon as a measure affecting the constitution itself. 
 
 The thing was thus performed. The projected 
 amnesty, discussed in the council of state of the 
 16th of April, or 26th Germinal, two days before 
 the publication of the concordat, was carried ten 
 days afterwards to the senate on the 26th of April, 
 1802, or 6th of Floreal. It was then adopted 
 without any contest, and with some remarkable 
 reasons. 
 
 "Considering," said the senate, "that the pro- 
 posed measure is commanded by the actual state 
 of things, by justice, by the national interest, and 
 that it is in conformity to the spirit of the consti- 
 tution: 
 
 " Considering that at different epochs, when the 
 laws relating to emigration were enacted, that 
 France, torn by intestine divisions, sustained 
 against nearly the whole of Europe, a war of which 
 history offers no example, and which caused a 
 necessity for rigorous and extraordinary measures: 
 
 " That to-day peace being made abroad, it is of 
 importance to cement it at home, by every thing 
 which can rally Frenchmen, tranquillize families, 
 and cause to be forgotten the evils inseparable 
 from a long revolution: 
 
 •• That nothing is better to consolidate peace at
 
 1802. 
 April. 
 
 Reasons of the senate for 
 agreeing to the return 
 of the emigrants. 
 
 THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. 
 
 The first consul's reasoning on 
 honorary distinctions. 
 
 351 
 
 home than a measure which tempers the severity 
 of the laws* and causae to oeaae the uncertainty 
 and delay resulting from the forms established for 
 their erasures: 
 
 " Considering that this measure can only be an 
 amnesty which grants pardon to the greater num- 
 ber, alwaj misled than culpable, and that 
 may extend punishment to the principal culprits, 
 by keeping them definitively upon the list of 
 emigrants: 
 
 •• That this amnesty, prompted by clemency, 
 is, however, granted only upon conditions, just in 
 themselves, tranquillizing for the public safety, and 
 wisely combined with the national interest: 
 
 " That particular conditions of the amnesty, by 
 defending from all attack the acts performed by 
 the republic, consecrates anew the guarantee of 
 the sales of the national property, of which the 
 maintenance will be always a particular object of 
 the solicitude of the conservative senate, as it is 
 that of the consuls, the senate adopts the proposed 
 lution." 
 
 This courageous act of clemency was certain to 
 obtain the approbation of every wise man who sin- 
 y desired the end of the civil troubles of 
 Fiance. Thanks to the new guarantees given to 
 the acquirers of national property — thanks to the 
 confidence with which they were inspired by the 
 first consul, this last measure of the government 
 did not cause them too great an inquietude, and it 
 satisfied that honest mass, fortunately the most 
 numerous, of the royalist party, which received 
 with a murmur the benefit conferred upon it. It 
 encountered no inquietude but with the men of the 
 highest class of emigrants, who were living in the 
 saloons of Paris, and there paying in bad language 
 for the benefits they received from the government. 
 According to them, this act was insignificant, in- 
 complete, and unjust, because it made certain dis- 
 tinctions between the persons — because it did not 
 re the property of the emigrants, sold or un- 
 dike. The approbation of these idle talkers 
 could be well passed by. Still the first consul was 
 so greedy of glory, that these miserable censures 
 Bometimes disturbed the pleasure which he received 
 in tin- universal assent of France and of Europe. 
 
 But his ardour in doing well did not depend on 
 praise or censure, and scarcely had he eonsum- 
 mated the grand act which has just been stated, 
 when In- began to prepare others of tin; highest 
 
 i and political importance. Disemban 
 from the obstacles presented to his fertile activity 
 by the resistance of tin,- tribunate, be was resolved, 
 during this extraordinary Bession of Germinal and 
 Floreal, to terminate, or at hast to advance con- 
 siderably tin' re-organization of France. It is 
 right to relate his ideas in this respect. 
 
 first consul already known, 
 
 above, all, by the establishment of worship, it was 
 bo divine what was the ordinary tendency of 
 his mind, and his particular manner of thinking 
 upon questions of social organization, in general 
 ho was disposed to oppose the narrow or ex 
 rated systems of tin- revolution, or, to speak more 
 ctly, of some revolutionists, because in its firsl 
 movements the revolution had always been gene- 
 rous and true. It had desired to abolish tie- ir- 
 regularities, the caprices, the unjusl distinctions, 
 derived from tin- feudal system, in virtue of which, 
 
 for example, a Jew, a catholic, a protestant, a 
 noble, a priest, a citizen, a Burgnndian, a Pro- 
 vencal, a Breton, had not the same rights, the 
 same duties, did not support the same burdens, 
 nor enjoy the same advantages, in a word, did not 
 live under the same laws. To make them all French- 
 men, whatever was their religion, their birth, or 
 natal province, equal citizens in rights and duties, 
 eligible to every thing according to their individual 
 merit — here was what the revolution intended to 
 do in its first starting, before contradictions had 
 irritated it even to delirium; this is what the first 
 consul wished to do, since that delirium had given 
 place to reason. But that chimerical equality, of 
 which demagogues had been for a moment dream- 
 ing, that it was necessary to place all men upon the 
 same level, which scarcely admitted the natural 
 inequalities arising from a difference of mind or 
 talent, this equality he despised, either as a 
 chimera of the spirit of system, or as a revolting 
 sense of envy. 
 
 He wished then for a social hierarchy, on the 
 different grades of which all men, without dis- 
 tinction of birth, should place themselves accord- 
 ing to their merit, and in the grades of which 
 should remain fixed those whom their ancestors 
 had borne there, but without any obstacle what- 
 ever to the new comers, who tend to elevate them- 
 selves in their turn. 
 
 To this species of social vegetation, arising from 
 nature itself, observed in all countries, and at all 
 times, he intended to afford free play in the insti- 
 tutions that he occupied himself in founding. As 
 with all powerful minds that apply themselves to 
 discover in the sentiment of the masses the real 
 instinct of humanity, and are fond of opposing 
 that sentiment to the narrow views of the spirit 
 of system, he searched in the dispositions mani- 
 fested under his eyes, by the people itself, for the 
 arguments in support of his opinions. 
 
 To those who, in matters of religion, had coun- 
 selled indifference, he had opposed the popular 
 movement, which had been recently exhibited at 
 the door of a church to force the priests to give 
 the rights of sepulture to an actress. '• See," ho 
 said to the partizans of indifference, " mark how 
 indifferent the people are! And yourselves! — why 
 have you proclaimed the Supreme Being in the 
 midst of a great revolutionary paroxysm I because 
 at the bottom of the people's hearts there is some- 
 thing, no matter what, that inclines them to have 
 a God." 
 
 " In respect to the manner of classing men in 
 society,'' he said to those who would have no dis- 
 tinction," w herefore then have you decreed muskets 
 and sabres of honour; Is not this a distinction 1 
 
 an invention ridiculous enough, since men do not 
 carry a mittket or sabre of honour on the breast, 
 and in such cases men like what is seen at a dis- 
 tance.'' The first consul had observed a singular 
 
 fact, and would voluntarily remark upon it t" those 
 
 with whom he was in the lnl.it. of conversing. 
 
 Since France, the object of the W iped and atten- 
 tion of Europe, had become Idled with the minis- 
 ters of all the powers, or with Strang! rS of distinc- 
 tion, who had come as visiters, he was struck with 
 the curiosity with which tin- populace, and even 
 
 i,, i bove tic populace, followed these foreign' 
 ers, and were anxious to see their rich uniforms
 
 352 The first consul's reasoning THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, on honorary distinctions. 
 
 1802. 
 May 
 
 and brilliant decorations. There was often a crowd 
 assembled in the court of the Tuileries to attend 
 their arrival and departure. " See," he observed, 
 "these futile vanities that strong minds so much 
 disdain; the populace is not of their opinion. It 
 loves those many-coloured cordons as it loves reli- 
 gious pomps. The democratic philosophers call 
 that vanity idolatry, and let it be vanity and idola- 
 try. But that idolatry, that vanity, arc weak- 
 nesses common to the whole human race, and from 
 one and the other great virtues may be made to 
 spring. With these baubles, so much despised, 
 heroes are made! To the one as to the other of 
 these pretended feeblenesses external signs are 
 necessary ; there must be a worship for religious 
 sentiment, and there must be visible distinctions 
 to inspire the noble sentiment of glory." 
 
 The first consul determined to create an order 
 which should replace the old honour of arms, 
 which might have the advantage of being given 
 as well to the soldier as to the general, to the 
 learned as well as to the military man, which con- 
 sisted in decorations alike in form to those worn 
 throughout Europe; and, in addition, useful endow- 
 ments — useful, above all, to the simple soldier 
 when he should return to his rural home. This 
 was, in his view, another means of putting new 
 France in relation with other countries. Since it 
 was thus that in all Europe services were marked 
 out for public esteem, why not admit the same sys- 
 tem in France 1 ' " Nations," he said, "should not 
 seek to be singular any more than individuals. 
 The affectation of acting differently from the rest 
 of the world is an affectation reproved by sensible, 
 and, above all, by modest persons. Cordons are 
 in use in every country, let them therefore be 
 used in France," said the first consul, "it will be 
 one measure more established in common with 
 Europe. In France alone they were not given ; 
 among our neighbours they are only given to men 
 of birth; I will give them to the men who shall 
 have served best in the army or in the state, or 
 who shall produce the finest works." 
 
 A remark particularly struck the first consul, 
 and became with him an object upon which he 
 much meditated; it was, to what extent the men of 
 the revolution had become disunited, without any 
 bond between them, and without a bond of strength 
 against their common enemies. While the old 
 nobles gave the hand to each other — while the 
 Vendeans were, although weakened and subdued, 
 still secretly in coalition — while the clergy, although 
 re-constituted, still formed a powerful corporation, 
 
 1 " The emperor observed, that abroad they had the useful 
 effect of appearing io be an approximation lo the old man- 
 ners of Eur pe, while, at the same time, they served as a 
 toy for amusing the vanities of many individuals at home; 
 'for,' said he, "how mam really clever men are children 
 more than ome in their lives.' The emperor revived deco- 
 rations of honour, and distributed crosses and ribands; but 
 instead of confining them to particular and exclusive classes, 
 he extended them to society in geneial. as rewards lor every 
 description of talent and public service. By a happy privilege, 
 perhaps peculiar to Napoleon, it happened that the value of 
 these honours was enhanced in proportion to the number 
 (list itiuted. He estimated that he had conferred about 
 twenty-tive thousand ilecoiations of the legion of honour; 
 and the desire to obtain the honour, he said, increased, till 
 it became a kind of mania." — Les Casas' Nutes. 
 
 and very equivocal friends of the government — the 
 men who had formed this revolution were divided 
 and even disavowed, it must be said by ungrateful 
 and deceived opinion. Scarcely had the elections 
 gone on alone before there were seen starting up 
 new personages, to whom neither good nor evil 
 could be charged, or, on the other hand, furious 
 revolutionists, the recollection of whom inspired 
 terror. In the eyes of a new generation, which 
 bestowed no thanks for their efforts to those who, 
 from 1789 to lfil'O, had suffered so greatly to en- 
 franchise Fiance, the best claim was to have done 
 nothing. The first consul was convinced, and with 
 good reason, that if this movement were aided, there 
 would very soon not be one of the actors in the 
 revolution left upon the stage. That there would 
 be seen soon a new class produced, easy to incline 
 towards royalty, — that there would at some mo- 
 ment be a revolutionary reaction, which would 
 cause the reappearance of the men of blood, — that 
 the elections effected under the directory, alter- 
 nately royalist, after the mode of the club of Clichy, 
 or revolutionist, after the fashion of Baboeuf, were 
 a proof of it, and that from convulsions to con- 
 vulsions all would terminate in the triumph of the 
 Bourbons and of I he foreigners, or, in other words, 
 in a complete counter-revolution. 
 
 He regarded it, therefore, as indispensable to 
 retard the movement of tree institutions, and by so 
 doing to maintain in power the generation that 
 had worked out the revolution, to maintain them in 
 it, with the exception only of certain individuals, 
 stained with blood, and even to secure to these 
 oblivion for their past errors and a subsistence ; to 
 found with this generation a tranquil, regular, and 
 brilliant society, of which he should be the head, of 
 which his companions in arms and his civil col- 
 leagues should form the higher class, the aristo- 
 cracy, if people would have it so, but an aristocracy 
 always open to rising merit, in which they and 
 their children should be placed, the men who had 
 rendered the greatest services, and in which would 
 always be found to take their place, men capable of 
 rendering new services. The society thus formed, 
 after the eternal laws of nature, he would wish to 
 see surrounded with every kind of glory, and em- 
 bellished by the arts, to oppose with advantage to 
 the old order of things, existing as a living device 
 in the recollection of the emigrants, existing as a 
 reality in all Europe ; and he hoped to attach to 
 it the emigrants themselves, when time should 
 have corrected them, and the attraction of high 
 employments should tempt them ; yet only upon 
 the. condition that they should come, not as dis- 
 dainful protectors, but as useful and submissive 
 servants. What degree of political liberty would 
 he concede to a society thus constituted ? He did 
 not know. He thought that the present moment 
 was not much fitted for it, because all the liberty 
 conceded turned into cruel reactions; and he be- 
 lieved that liberty would arrest his own creative 
 genius. In other respects, he then thought little 
 of the matter ; and the country, only anxious for 
 the restoration of order, did not allow much time 
 to think of it. He wished then to found this 
 society upon the principles of the French revolu- 
 tion, to give it good civil laws, a powerful govern- 
 ment, wealthy finances, and exterior greatness, in 
 other words, every good, save one alone, leaving for
 
 1802. 
 May. 
 
 Constitution of the lesion 
 of honour. — Objects of 
 
 THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. 
 
 the institution. - 
 of the honour. 
 
 Endowments 
 
 353 
 
 others, at a subsequent period, the care of impart- 
 ing to it, or of lotting it take, as much public liberty 
 as was convenient. 
 
 It was according to these notions that he con- 
 ceived his system of civil and military recom- 
 penses, as well as his plan of education. 
 
 The arms of honour, devised by the convention, 
 had do) Bucceeded, because they wore not adapted 
 to the manners of the time. They had besides 
 attached to them administrative perplexities, on 
 account of the double pay attached to some, and 
 refused to others. The first consul imagined a 
 military order in form, but not destined for the 
 military only. He denominated it the "legion of 
 honour,"' wishing to impart the idea of a body of 
 nun devoted to cherish honour, and to the defence 
 of certain principles. It was to consist of fifteen 
 cohorts; each cohort of seven great officers, twenty 
 commanders, thirty officers, and three hundred 
 and fifty legionaries, in all six thousand individuals 
 of all ranks. The oath indicated to what course 
 the members were to devote themselves, when they 
 joined the legion of honour. Each member pro- 
 1 to devote himself to the defence of the 
 republic, the integrity of its territory, the principle 
 of equality, and the inviolability of the national 
 property. It was in consequence a legion which 
 would pledge its honour to make the principles and 
 interests of the revolution triumphant. Decora- 
 tions and endowments were attached to every 
 grade. The great officers had an income of 50001'.; 
 tho commanders, 2000 f.; the officers, lOOOf.; and 
 the simple legionaries, 250 f. An endowment in 
 the national domains sufficed to cover these ex- 
 pensea Each cohort was to have its seat in the 
 province where its particular possessions were 
 situated. The united cohorts were to lie governed 
 by a council, formed of seven members ; the three 
 consuls tirst, and then four of the great officers, of 
 whom the first was designated by the senate, the 
 second by the legislative body, the third by the 
 tribunate, and the fourth by the council of state. 
 Tli" c luncil of the legion of honour, thus composed, 
 was charged with the management of the property 
 of the legion, and with deliberating upon the choice 
 of tin- members. Lastly, that which aided to com- 
 plete the institution, and to indicate its spirit, was 
 that civil services of all kinds, su h as the adminis- 
 tration, government, sciences, letters, and arts, were 
 equally titles to admission with military service. 
 Starting from the existing stale of things, it was 
 decided that tin- military, who had arms of honour, 
 should be members of tho legion by right, and be 
 I in its ranks according to their grade in the 
 army. 
 
 This institution numbers now not more than 
 forty years of existence, and it is already as much 
 sanctioned as if it had boon ages old; to such a 
 degree has it become, in ihese forty years, the 
 ri i- impense of heroism, learning, and merit of 
 every kind ; so much has it been sought by the 
 great and tin- princi ■ "I Europe, tho proudest of 
 their origin. Time, the judge of institutions, has 
 therefore pronounced upon tin- dignity and the 
 utility of this. Leaving aside tho abuses winch 
 may have sometimes been made ol such a recom- 
 pense, by tin- different governments that have sue- 
 
 oeedi d each other, abuses inherent, in all ret i- 
 
 p ii s given by man to man, and recognizing what 
 
 was beautiful, profound, and new to the world 
 which it possessed, an institution which was to 
 place on the breast of the private soldier, of the 
 modest man of letters, the same decoration which 
 figured upon the breast of the heads of armies, of 
 princes, and of kings ; let it be acknowledged that 
 this creation of an honorary distinction, was the 
 triumph the most brilliant of equality itself, not of 
 that which equalized in degrading men to a level, 
 but that whicb equalized in elevating them ; let it 
 be acknowledged, finally, that if for the great men 
 of the civil or military orders, it might only be a 
 mere vain gratification, an empty satisfaction, it 
 was for the simple soldier, returned to his native 
 fields, an aid to the comforts of the peasant, at the 
 same time that it was a visible proof of his heroism 
 and good conduct. 
 
 After this fine system of recompense, the first 
 consul employed himself, with not less zeal, upon a 
 system of education for the youth of France. Edu- 
 cation, at that time, was nearly null, or abandoned 
 to the enemies of the revolution. 
 
 The religious corporations, formerly employed 
 in bringing up youth, had disappeared with the 
 ancient order of things. There was some tendency 
 towards their revival, but the first consul had no 
 intention of giving up the new generation to them, 
 as he considered them the secret workmen of his 
 enemies. The institutions by which the convention 
 had sought to replace them, had proved no more 
 than a chimera, which had already almost wholly 
 disappeared. The convention intended to give 
 primary instruction gratuitously to the people, and 
 secondary instruction to the middle classes, in such 
 a way as to make accessible, boih one and the 
 other, to every family. It had ended in doing 
 nothing. The communes had given dwellings to 
 the primary instructors, in general the parsonage- 
 houses of the old country cures, but they had given 
 them no salaries, or had done so in assignats. 
 Poverty soon dispersed these unfortunate teachers. 
 The central schools, in which secondary instruction 
 was dispensed, placed in each chief place of the 
 department, were, in a certain sense, academic 
 establishments, in which public courses of lectures 
 took place, at which youth might attend some 
 hours in the day, and return afterwards to their 
 families, or to the boarding houses established by 
 private speculation. The nature ol' their studies 
 was conformable to the Bpiril of the times. Classical 
 studies, considered as an old routine, had been 
 nearly abandoned in them. The natural and exact 
 sciences, and living languages, had taken tin; place 
 of the ancient tongues. A museum of natural history 
 was attached to each school. Such a mode of 
 
 instruction had little influence in forming youth ; 
 a course that endured but one or two hours in 
 the day, is not the mode to make an impres- 
 sion upon youth. Thus it was left for its mind to 
 be formed by the heads of the boarding-schools, 
 for the most part, at that time, enemies to the new 
 order of things, or greedy speculators, treating 
 youth as an object, of trading speculation, not as 
 a sacred deposit of the State or of families. Tho 
 
 central schools, hesiihs beiug placed in the hun- 
 dred and two departments, one in each chief place 
 
 were too numerous. There were not scholars 
 
 enough for so many schools. Thirty two only had 
 
 succeeded in attracting auditors, and in becoming 
 
 Aa
 
 Scheme of Bonaparte for 
 *S54 general education. 
 
 THTERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Composition of the school 1 802. 
 on the new plan. May. 
 
 nurseries of instruction. Some distinguished pro- 
 fessors had appeared in these, preserving still the 
 spirit of sound learning. But the political vicissi- 
 tudes, there as well as elsewhere, had made their 
 baneful influence felt. The professors, chosen by 
 the juries of instruction, had succeeded each other 
 as the different parties. in power had done, appear- 
 ing and disappearing in turn, and their profits with 
 them. In tine, these schools, without bond, without 
 unity, without a common direction, presented only 
 scattered fragments, and not a great edifice of pub- 
 lic instruction. 
 
 The first consul formed his design after the first 
 intention, with the resolution of mind which was so 
 natural to him. 
 
 At first, the finances of France did not permit 
 the furnishing every where, without charge, even 
 primary instruction to the people, who, on the 
 other hand, had not leisure to receive its benefits, 
 if the state had possessed money enough to bestow 
 them. It was as much as could be done to provide 
 for the expenses of the new clergy, and this it was 
 possible to do, owing to a particular circumstance 
 of. the time, namely, the mass of ecclesiastical pen- 
 sions, which were paid, in lieu of. salaries, to the 
 greater part of the cures. It was impossible to 
 pay a primary institution in each commune. They 
 were, therefore, contented to establish them amidst 
 those populations that were able of themselves to 
 defray their expenses. The commune gave a re- 
 sidence for the master, and a school-room, the 
 scholars paying a sum for their instruction, cal- 
 culated according to the wants of the teacher. This 
 was all that could be then done. 
 
 For the moment the most important was the 
 secondary instruction. The first consul suppressed, 
 in his plan, the central schools, which were no 
 more than public courses of lectures, without uni- 
 formity, and without effect upon youth. There 
 were thirty-two central schools, which had suc- 
 ceeded more or less. This was an indication of 
 the lack of instruction in the different parts of 
 France. The first consul projected thirty-two 
 establishments, which he named "Lyceums," a 
 name borrowed of antiquity. There were boarding- 
 schools, where the youth lived, and where it was 
 retained during the principal years of adolescence, 
 subjected to the double influence of a sound literary 
 instruction and of an education, severe, masculine, 
 sufficiently religious, altogether military, and mo- 
 delled upon the system of civil equality. He wished 
 to re-establish in them the old classical system, 
 which gave the first place to the ancient languages, 
 and only the second to the mathematical and 
 physical sciences, leaving to the special schools 
 the care of completing the education in these last. 
 He was right in that as in the rest. The study 
 of the dead languages is not only a study of words 
 but of things; it is the study of antiquity, with its 
 laws, its manners, arts, and history; so moral and 
 deeply instructive. There is one age in which to 
 learn these things, that of boyhood. Youth and 
 its passions overcome, its exaggerations and false 
 tastes, mature age, with its positive interests, life 
 passes without a moment having been given to the 
 Study of a world dead as the languages that open 
 the Bourcesof its knowledge. If a tardy inclination 
 leads us to it again, it is through the medium of 
 faint and insufficient translations that this beautiful 
 
 antiquity is to be explored. And in a time when 
 these religious ideas are weakened, if the know- 
 ledge of antiquity disappear also, there would be 
 formed only a society without a moral tie to the 
 past, informed and occupied only about the pre- 
 sent; an ignorant society, debased, and fitted ex- 
 clusively for the mechanical arts. 
 
 The first consul, therefore, wished, that in his 
 scheme, the classical studies should resume their 
 place. The sciences should come afterwards. So 
 much of them was to be taught as is useful in all 
 the professions of life, and as much as was re- 
 quired to pass from the secondary to the special 
 schools. Religious instruction was to be given by 
 the chaplains, military instruction by old officers 
 of the army. All the movements were to be made 
 in the military step to the sound of the drum. 
 This was necessary for a nation destined entirely 
 to handle arms, either in the army or the national 
 guard. Eight professors of ancient languages or 
 the belles lettres, a censor of the studies, a steward 
 charged with the care of the personal chattels, a 
 head -master, styled a proviseur, constituted these 
 establishments. 
 
 Such were the schools in which the first consul 
 wished to form the French youth ; but how was 
 it to be drawn to them. That was the difficulty. 
 The first consul provided for this by one of the 
 means, certain and bold, which he was accustomed 
 to employ when he wished seriously to obtain his 
 end. He devised the establishment of six thou- 
 sand four hundred gratuitous exhibitions, of which 
 the state should bear the expense, and which at a 
 moderate rate of from 700 to 800 f. 1 , would re- 
 present a total expense of five or six millions 2 , 
 at that time a very considerable sum. This esta- 
 blishment of six thousand four hundred scholars 
 would be sufficient to furnish a fund for the 
 nucleus of the population of the Lyceums. The 
 confidence of families, which it was hoped after- 
 wards to acquire, would, at some after-time, dis- 
 pense with the state continuing such a sacrifice. 
 The produce of these six thousand exhibitions 
 formed at the same time a resource sufficient for 
 covering the greater part of the expense of the 
 new establishments. 
 
 The first consul wished to distribute in the fol- 
 lowing manner the exhibitions which the govern- 
 ment had at its disposition : two thousand four 
 hundred were to be given to the children of such 
 retired soldiers as were most straitened in their 
 circumstances ; to those of civil functionaries who 
 had served the public usefully ; and to those 
 inhabitants of the provinces recently united to 
 France. The four thousand remaining were des- 
 tined for the establishments already in existence. 
 There were, in fact, a great number of these esta- 
 blished by private speculation. These the first 
 consul deemed it right to suffer to remain;, but he 
 bound them to his plan by the most simple and 
 efficacious means. These schools could not, in 
 future, subsist without the authorization of the 
 state; they were to be inspected every year by the 
 agents of the government ; they were obliged to 
 send their scholars to the courses at the Lyceums, 
 paying a trifling remuneration. Lastly, the four 
 
 i From £28 to £32 sterling. 
 2 From £200.000 to £250,000.
 
 1802. 
 May. 
 
 Resistance to tlie first consul's 
 
 measure in the council of THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE, 
 state. 
 
 Objections answered by the 
 first consul. 
 
 355 
 
 thousand exhibitions were, after an annual exami- 
 nation, to be distributed among the pupils of the 
 different schools, in proportion to the recognized 
 merit and good order of each school. Thus at- 
 tached to a general plan, these boarding-schools 
 made, in every sense, a part of it. 
 
 Going next to special instruction, the first consul 
 employed himself in completing that organization. 
 The Study of jurisprudence had perished with the 
 old judicial establishment ; he created six schools 
 of law. The schools of medicine, less neglected, 
 were three in number ; he proposed to increase 
 them to six. The polytechnic school existed; it 
 was attached to this organization. There was 
 added to these a school of public services, under 
 the name of the "School of Bridges and Roads;"' 
 a school for the mechanical arts, at that time fixed 
 at Compeigne, afterwards at Chalons-sur-Marne, 
 being the first model of the schools of arts and 
 tradi s at tlv present day judged to he so useful; 
 lastly, a school of military art, intended to occupy 
 the palace of Fontainbleau. 
 
 There still wanted one tiling to complete the 
 entire work, namely, a body of learned men, that 
 might supply these schools with instructors, which 
 should embrace them under its surveyorship; in 
 faei, what has since been denominated "the Uni- 
 y." But the moment for that had not 
 arrived. It was already doing much to save from 
 shipwreck the establishments for public instruc- 
 tion, and to create, all at once, with actual pro- 
 fessors, colleges dependent upon the state, where 
 the youth of all classes, attracted by gratuitous 
 education, should be formed on one common, re- 
 gular model, conformable to the principles of the 
 French revolution, and to sound literary doctrines. 
 The first consul said to the learned Fourcroy, 
 " This is only a beginning; by and by we will do 
 ter." 
 
 These two important projects were first taken 
 before the council of state, and were warmly dis- 
 1 in that enlightened body. The first consul, 
 who did not like public discussion, because it 
 agitate 1 those minds which had been too long in 
 . sought, and even provoked it, 
 in the council of state This was his representa- 
 tive government. There be was familiar and 
 eloquent : there he permitted himself every lati- 
 tude, and permitted the same to others; and by 
 the collision of his own mind on that of his oppo- 
 . there was struck out more brilliant corrus- 
 catious than can he attained in a 1 mbly, 
 
 where the solemnity of the tribune, and the in- 
 . of publicity, continually hinder and 
 
 i , true liberty of thought ThL form of dis- 
 
 il would ho the' host, for the elucidation of 
 public affairs, if it did not dep nd upon an abso- 
 lute master to confine it to the limits which his 
 
 own wHI may dictate. But tor an enlightened des- 
 potism, when it wold be itself enlightened, it is 
 the he a of ail possible institutions. 
 
 The council of state, composed of all the men of 
 the revolution, and ol some of thi so who had more 
 recently sprang up, offered in its ntirety the differ- 
 ent shades of public opinion \< ry little weakened, be- 
 eau - if, on ono part, there w< re Portalis, RxBderer, 
 Regnaud St. Jean d'Angely, and Devalues, repre- 
 senting in it the party inclim d to monarchical 
 reaction; Thibaudcau, Berlier, Truguet, Emmery, 
 
 and Berenger, represented the party staunch to 
 the r. rotation, so much as even to defend some- 
 times its very prejudices. But within the council 
 of state, with closed doors, the discussions were 
 sincere, and eminently useful. 
 
 The plan of the legion of honour was violently 
 attacked. Here, as in the concordat, the first 
 consul was in advance perhaps of the intelligence 
 of (lie day. That generation which very quickly 
 afterwards threw itself at the foot of the altars — 
 that soon covered itself with decorations in puerile 
 vanity, n :sist< d at the moment the re-establish- 
 ment of the altars and the institution of the legion 
 of honour ! 
 
 It was discovered, even in the council of state, 
 that the institution of the legion of honour would 
 give a wound to equality, that it renewed the 
 destroyed aristocracy, and that it was too avowedly 
 a return to the anci til system. The object ele- 
 vated and positive, di dared in the oath, in other 
 words, the maintenance of the principles of the 
 revolution, only slightly convinced its opponents. 
 They demanded if the obligations contained in the 
 oath were not common to every citizen, if all did 
 not agree to concur in defending the territory, 
 the principles of equality, the national property, 
 and the like; if to particularise this obligation 
 for the one. was not to render it less strict upon 
 the others. They inquired whether this legion 
 had not too exceptional an object, as, for example, 
 that of defending a power to which it was attached 
 by a bond of benefits '. Others alleging the con- 
 stitution, objected that it spoke only of a system of 
 military recompenses. They added, that the in- 
 stitution would be better understood, that it would 
 raise fewer objections, if it had for its object to 
 recompense warlike actions exclusively ; that these 
 actions were of a positive character, easily ap- 
 preciable, am! generally recompensed in all coun- 
 tries, so that no fault could he found if it were 
 limited to this clear definable object. 
 
 The first consul replied to all these objections with 
 the most forcible arguments. " What is there 
 aristocratic," he said, "in a distinction, merely 
 personal, given only for life, granted to a man who 
 has di civil or military merit, and to him 
 
 alone, not d BO nding to his children? Such a 
 distinction is contrary to aristocracy ; because it is 
 the property of aristocratic titles to be transmitted 
 from him who has earned them to one who has 
 ■ done any thing deserving of them. An 
 order is the most personal, th i li B i aristocri tic of 
 institutions. It may he said, 'After this some- 
 thing else will come.' That i: possible," continued 
 the first consul, " but let US see whal is now given 
 to us: we will judge of the rest by and by. It is 
 demanded what this legion, i d of six thou- 
 
 sand individuals, signifies 1 What are its duties 1 
 It is asked whether it has any other duties than 
 devolving upon the universality of citizens, 
 all equally bound to deft nd the territoryof Trance, 
 
 the c iitution, and equality) Firstly, to this 
 
 question it may be an iwi r* d, that ev< r\ citizen is 
 bound to defend the common country, and slill 
 there is an army upon which this duly is more 
 
 particularly imposed. Would it tin n he SO wry 
 
 astonishing if in that army there should be a choice 
 
 corps, from which more devotion to its dutieB 
 should be expected, more of a disposition to make 
 a a 2
 
 356 Objections answered by THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 the first consul. 
 
 1802. 
 May. 
 
 the great sacrifice of life ? But do you want to 
 know what this legion is to be ?" cried the first 
 consul, returning to his favourite idea; "here it is 
 — an attempt at an organization for the men, 
 authors, or partizans of the revolution, who are 
 neither emigrants, Vendeans, nor priests. The 
 anc'ien regime, so battered about by the revolution, 
 is much more entire than it is believed to be. All 
 the emigrants take each other by the hand ; the 
 Vende'ans are still covertly enrolled ; and with the 
 words, legitimate king and religion, there might 
 be assembled in a moment thousands of arms 
 which would be raised to strike, be sure of that, 
 if their fatigue and the strength of the government 
 did not restrain them. The priests form a body, 
 having at the core very little love for us all. It is 
 necessary that on their side the men who have 
 taken a part in the revolution should unite, bind 
 themselves together, form, on their part, a solid 
 body, and cease to depend upon the first accident 
 that might strike one single head. It was but 
 little that was wanting to fling you back into 
 chaos by the explosion of the 3rd of Nivose, and 
 deliver you without defence to your enemies. For 
 ten years we have made nothing but ruins; it is 
 now necessary to construct an edifice for ourselves, 
 in which we may establish ourselves and live. 
 These six thousand legionaries made up of all the 
 men who effected the revolution, who have de- 
 fended it after having made it, who wish to con- 
 tinue it in all which is just and reasonable — these 
 six thousand legionaries, military men, civil func- 
 tionaries and magistrates, endowed with the na- 
 tional property, that is to say with the patrimony 
 of the revolution, will be one of the strongest 
 securities which you can have for the new state of 
 tilings Then too, depend upon it, the contest in 
 Europe is not finished ; you may be certain that it 
 will recommence. Is it not well to have in our 
 hands so easy a means to sustain and to excite the 
 bravery of our soldiers ? In place of that chimeri- 
 cal thousand million of francs, which you would 
 not dare even to promise again, you may, with 
 only three millions of revenue in national property, 
 raise up as many heroes to uphold the revolution 
 as there were found for undertaking it." 
 
 Such were the arguments used by the first con- 
 sul. There were others which he had designed 
 for those who demanded that the new order should 
 be purely military, and only given to the army. 
 " I am not inclined," he replied, " to form an army 
 of pretorians ; I will not recompense the military 
 alone. My idea is, that the meritorious of all kinds 
 should be brethren ; that the courage of the presi- 
 dent of the convention resisting the populace*, 
 should rank with that of Kle'ber mounting to the 
 assault of St. Jean d'Acre. Some speak of the 
 terms of the constitution. People ought not to 
 sutler themselves to be so tied down by words. 
 The constitution wished to say every thing, and 
 lias not always been able to do so : it is for you to 
 supply the deficiency. It is right that civil virtues 
 should have their share of reward as well as mili- 
 tary ones. Those who oppose this, reason like 
 barbarians; they recommend to us the religion of 
 brute force. Intelligence has its rights before 
 force ; force itself is nothing without intelligence. 
 In the heroic times, the general was the strongest 
 and most dexterous man in body ; in civilized 
 
 times, the general is the most intelligent of the 
 brave. When we were at Cairo, the Egyptians 
 could not understand how it was that Klel)er, with 
 his imposing person, was not the commander-in- 
 chief. When Murad Bey had closely observed 
 our tactics, he comprehended that it was myself, 
 and not another, who must be the general of an 
 army so conducted. You reason like the Egyptians, 
 when you would confine recompenses to military 
 valour. The soldiers," added the first consul, 
 " reason better than you. Go to their bivouacs ; 
 listen to them. Do you think that among their 
 officers he who is largest and most imposing in 
 stature, inspires them with the highest considera- 
 tion ? No, it is the bravest. Do you believe that 
 it is even the bravest that is precisely the first 
 man in their minds ? No doubt they would despise 
 him of whose courage they were suspicious ; but 
 they would place above the bravest him whom they 
 believed most intelligent. Then as to myself, do 
 you suppose that it is only because I am reputed 
 an able general, that 1 command in France ? No, 
 it is because they attribute to me the qualities of 
 a statesman and a magistrate. France will not 
 tolerate a government of the sabre ; those who 
 believe it strangely deceive themselves. There 
 must be fifty years of subjection before it would 
 come to that. France is a country too noble, too 
 intelligent, to submit merely to a material power, 
 and to inaugurate with her the worship of brute 
 force. Honour, in a word, then, intelligence, virtue, 
 the civil qualities, in all the professions; recom- 
 pense them equally in all." 
 
 These reasons, stated with warmth and energy, 
 and coming from the greatest soldier of modern 
 days, enchained and charmed the entire council of 
 state. They were, it must be owned, sincere and 
 interested at the same time. The first consul was 
 desirous that it should be well understood, above 
 all, by the military, that it was not as a general 
 only, but as a man of genius and intellect that he 
 was the ruler of France. 
 
 As it was not possible to make him renounce his 
 project, he was exhorted to adjourn it, by telling him 
 that it was too soon ; that having advanced per- 
 haps before the public intelligence in regard to the 
 concordat, it would be needful to stop a moment, 
 and give to opinion some short respite. He would 
 listen to none of these counsels. His nature was 
 ever, in all things, to be impatient of results. 
 
 His project relative to a system of public educa- 
 tion, encountered also serious objections in the coun- 
 cil of state. The party that was for monarchial reac- 
 tion was not far from the desire of seeing religious 
 corporations again established. The opposite party 
 supported the central schools, and rather desired 
 the amelioration than the abrogation of the sys- 
 tem. This last party also discovered some dis- 
 trust on the subject of the six thousand four 
 hundred exhibitions left to the disposal of the 
 government. 
 
 "The ancient corporations do not belong to 
 these days," said the first consul ; "besides, they 
 are enemies. The clergy accommodate themselves 
 to the actual government, they prefer it to the 
 convention or the directory, but they would mucli 
 more prefer the Bourbons. As to the central 
 schools, they no longer exist ; they are a cipher. 
 A vast system of public education must be created
 
 1802. 
 May. 
 
 Opinion delivered by the first 
 consul on the lyceums. 
 
 THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. 
 
 Reception of the project of the 
 lesion of honour. 
 
 357 
 
 and organized in France. Some may imagine that 
 it was for the sake of influence these exhibitions 
 were created. This is to view the matter in a 
 very narrow way. The actual government lias 
 more influence than it desires ; there is nothing, 
 in fact, which it cannot do at this moment, espe- 
 cially if it proposes to act against the revolution — to 
 destroy what that created, and to re-establish that 
 which it destroyed. This is called for on all sides. 
 It is attacked by confidential writings of all kinds, 
 in which each proposes the restoration of some 
 part of the old system. It is needful to beware 
 of yielding to such an impulse. Here six thousand 
 exhibitions are necessary to organize a new society 
 and to imbue it with the spirit of the age. In the 
 first place it is needful to provide for the military 
 and their children, for to them we owe every thing. 
 They have not yet touched the thousand millions 
 promised them. The least that can be done for 
 them is to secure them the necessaries of life. The 
 exhibitions are an indispensable supplement to the 
 smallness of their pay. The civil functionaries 
 deserve, in their turn, to be rewarded and en- 
 couraged, when they shall have served well and 
 
 faithfully. They are, besides, as ] r as the 
 
 military. Both will give us their children to 
 educate, and fashion under the new system. The 
 five thousand exhibitions which we take in the 
 boarding-schools, will be a nursery of subjects, 
 which we shall secure for the same end. We are 
 bound to form a new society, upon the principles 
 of civil equality, in which every one finds his 
 place, neither presenting the injustice of the 
 feudal system, nor the confusion of anarchy. It i3 
 argent to lay the foundation of this society, he- 
 cause no such tiling exists. In order to found 
 it, materials are necessary ; the sole good ones are 
 the young. We must consent to take them ; and if 
 we do not draw them to us by the attraction of 
 gratuitous education, the parents will not give 
 them to us of their own accord. We are all sus- 
 pected as authors, accomplices, or defenders of 
 the revolution ; so much do people change — so 
 much are they fallen away from the illusions of 
 1 780. We shall not easily get the children of good 
 families unless we take the measures to attract 
 them. If we form lyceutns without exhibitions, 
 they will be yet more deserted than the central 
 schools — a hundred times more, for parents can 
 send their children without fear to a public course, 
 in which Latin ami mathematics are taught ; but 
 they would not be sent, without reluctance, to 
 boarding-schools, in which the supreme authority 
 wholly governed. There is but oik; way of attract- 
 ing them, and that is by exhibitions ; and then the 
 inhabitants of the departments recently united to 
 France will become French also. To accomplish 
 this end, there is again only one way, and that 
 is to take their children, even something against 
 their will, and to place tliem with the sons of your 
 officers, of your functionaries, and of your families 
 in narrow circumstances, that the advantage of a 
 gratuitous education shall have disposed (.. a Confi- 
 dence which they have not naturally. Then these 
 
 children will learn the lunch language ; and they 
 
 will imbibe the French spirit. We shall thus min- 
 gle together the French of the former time with 
 
 those of today : the French of the centre, the bur- 
 den of the Rhine, the Fscaut and the IV" 
 
 These sound reasons, repeated at more than one 
 sitting, and under a thousand different forms, of 
 which this repetition is only the substance, obtained 
 the acceptance of the projected law. M. Fourcroy 
 was commissioned to carry it to the legislative 
 body, and to support it in the discussion. 
 
 This project and that of the legion of honour, 
 were presented to the legislative body at nearly 
 the same time, because the first consul would not 
 Buffer this short session to pass over without having 
 laid the principal basis of his vast edifice. The 
 law of public instruction did not meet any great 
 obstacle, and supported by M. Fourcroy, who, after 
 the first consul, was half its author, it was adopted 
 by a considerable majority. In the tribunate it 
 obtained eighty wdiite balls to nine black; in the 
 legislative body, two hundred and fifty-one against 
 twenty-seven. But it was not thus with the law 
 relative to the legion of honour. This encountered 
 in the two assemblies a resistance equally warm. 
 Lucien Bonaparte was nominated reporter ; and 
 by the warmth with which he urged its defence, it 
 was but too evident that it was a family idea. The 
 institution was strongly attacked in the tribunate 
 by M. Savoie-Rollin and M. de Chauvelin, the last 
 making a species of pretension to defend the prin- 
 ciple of equality, in spite of the name which be 
 bore. Lucien, who bad the gift of public speaking, 
 but who had not sufficiently practised it, answered 
 with too little temper and moderation, which much 
 contributed to dispose the tribune unfavourably. 
 Notwithstanding the purgation to which the body 
 had been submitted, the project obtained only 
 fifty-six white balls to thirty-eight black. In the 
 legislative body, the discussion, although entirely 
 leaning one way, since the tribunate, having adopted 
 the proposition of the government, had sent only 
 orators to support it, was not successful in gaining 
 over many minds. There were there only a hun- 
 dred and sixty-six favourable votes to one hundred 
 and ten against it. The project of law was then 
 adopted; but it was rare that the majority had 
 been so weak and the minority so strong, even be- 
 fore the opposition members were expelled. This 
 arose from the shock which had been given to the 
 feeling of equality, which was the only one that 
 survived, and was still uppermost in the hearts 
 of the men of that time '. This sentiment was 
 
 1 The following remarks are stated by Mignet to he taken 
 from Thibaudeau's unpublished memoirs, and exhibit the 
 ideas of Bonaparte upon this measure. Thibaudeau was a 
 councillor of state. 
 
 " In discussing this project of law in the council of state, 
 he fearlessly made known his aristocratic intentions. Btr- 
 lier, a councillor or state, having disapproved of an institu- 
 tion so contrary to the spirit or the republic, said that ' dis- 
 tinctions were the baubles of monarchy.' ' 1 defy you,' re- 
 joined I he first consul, ' to show me a republic, ancient or 
 modern, in which there were no distinctions. You spoke of 
 baubles. Well, it is by baubles that we delude mankind. I 
 should not say this to a tribune, but in a council or sages 
 and statesmen we ought to say every thing. I do not believe 
 that the Frenob people hue liherty and equality, The 
 French are not changed by ten years of revolution; they 
 have only one sentiment— honour. Wc must, then-fore, 
 give aliment to this sentiment ; v..- mUSl Create dietlnctloni. 
 Do you see how the people prostrate themselves before the 
 ribbons and stars of tin- foreigners? they have been surprised 
 by it; neither do th.y rail to wear them. We have destroyed 
 everything; we must now rebuild. We have a government.
 
 358 Proposition to confer THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. the consulate for life. 
 
 1802. 
 May. 
 
 assumed erroneously, there can be no doubt, be- 
 cause there can be nothing less aristocratic than 
 an institution which has for its object to decree to 
 the soldiers and to the learned a distinction purely 
 for life, and the same that was to be borne by 
 generals and princes. But every feeling which is 
 too lively is susceptible and distrustful. The first 
 consul proceeded too rapidly, and he admitted this. 
 " We ought to have waited," he said; iC that is 
 true. But we were right; and when we are right 
 we ought to be able to venture something. Besides, 
 the project was badly supported, and the best ar- 
 guments were not well urged home. If they had 
 known how to urge them with truth and vigour, 
 the opposition would have yielded." 
 
 The end of this session, so abundant in business, 
 approached, and still the treaty of Amiens had 
 not been laid before the legislative body to be con- 
 verted into a law. This great act had been re- 
 served for the last. It was intended to be, in a 
 degree, the crowning measure of the first consul's 
 labours and of the deliberations of this extra- 
 ordinary session ; and, more, it was deemed a 
 fitting occasion for exhibiting the gratitude of the 
 public towards the author of the blessings which 
 were then enjoyed by the nation. 
 
 For some time, in fact, people had been asking 
 if there should not be given to the man who, in 
 two years and a half, had drawn France out of a 
 chaos, and had reconciled her with Europe, the 
 church, and herself, having already organized her, 
 some great testimony of the national gratitude. 
 This sentiment of gratitude was as universal as it 
 was well-merited. It was easy to make this feel- 
 ing subservient to the latent desires of the first 
 consul, which were bent towards the obtainment, 
 in perpetuity, of that power which had been en- 
 trusted to him for ten years only. The minds of 
 most people too were already made up upon the 
 subject, and except a small number of Jacobins 
 and royalists, no one wished to see the supreme 
 power lodged in any other hands than those of 
 general Bonaparte. The indefinite continuation 
 of his authority was regarded as a simple and 
 most inevitable thing. To convert this notorious 
 disposition of the popular mind into a legal act 
 was, therefore, an easy matter ; and if, eighteen 
 months before, when the famous "parallel between 
 Csesar, Cromwell, and general Bonaparte," too 
 early provoked the discussion of this question, 
 which then encountered considerable opposition, 
 this was now no longer the case. It required now 
 that only the word should be suddenly spoken, 
 offering to the first consul a real sovereignty, under 
 whatever title might be chosen. It was sufficient 
 
 we have powers; but the rest of the nation, what is it? — 
 grains of sand. We have in the midst of us ancient privi- 
 leges, organized from principles and interests, and which well 
 know what they want. I can reckon our enemies ; but as 
 for us, we are scattered without system, without union, 
 without contact. So long as I live I can answer for the 
 welfare of the republic ; but we must provide lor the future. 
 Do you believe the republic is finally settled? you would find 
 yourselves greatly mistaken. We are able to do it ; but we 
 have not, nor shall we, if we do not throw upon the soil of 
 France some masses of granite.' Bonaparte announced in 
 these declarations a system of government directly opposite 
 to that which the revolution proposed to establish, and which 
 the new itate of society demanded." — Miguel's History. 
 
 to choose any fitting occasion, and to announce 
 such a proposition, that it should be immediately 
 welcomed for adoption. 
 
 The moment when many memorable acts suc- 
 ceeded each other so rapidly, was that, in reality, 
 which the first consul, in his calculations, and his 
 friends, in their interested impatience, and minds 
 gifted with foresight, in their considerations, had 
 designated, and that the public, sincere and plain 
 in its sentiments, was ready to accept for a grand 
 manifestation. General Bonaparte wished for the 
 supreme power, which was natural and excusable. 
 In doing good he had followed the bent of his 
 genius, and in so doing he had hoped for his re- 
 ward. There was nothing blameable or curable 
 in such a desire; besides the conviction of the truth 
 that in fully achieving this good, an all-powerful 
 chief would be required for a long while to come. 
 In a country which could not dispense with a 
 strong and creative authority, it was perfectly law- 
 ful to aspire to the supreme power, when a man 
 was the greatest of his age, and one of the greatest 
 men of all ages. Washington, in the midst of a 
 democratic republican society, exclusively com- 
 mercial, and for a long while pacific — Washington 
 was just in exhibiting little ambition. In a society, 
 republican by accident, monarchical by nature, 
 surrounded by enemies, military in consequence, 
 and not able to govern or to defend itself, without 
 unity of action, Bonaparte had right upon his side 
 in aspiring to the supreme power, no matter under 
 what title. He was in error, not in taking the 
 dictatorship, then necessary, but in not having al- 
 ways employed it when he did take it, as in the 
 first years of his career. 
 
 General Bonaparte concealed in the profoundest 
 depths of his heart those desires which all the 
 world, even the simplest of the people, plainly per- 
 ceived. If he mentioned his wishes to his brothers, 
 it was as much as he ever did. He never said that 
 the title of first consul for ten years had ceased to 
 satisfy him. Without doubt, when the question pre- 
 sented itself under a theoretic form, when the neces- 
 sity of a strong authority was spoken of in a general 
 way, he came out, and spoke his thoughts fully upon 
 the matter; but he never concluded by asking for 
 a prolongation of his own power. At the same 
 time dissimulating and confiding, he communicated 
 certain things to one, certain things to others, 
 and concealed something from all. To his col- 
 leagues, above all to Cambace'res, of whose great 
 prudence he had a high opinion ; to Talleyrand 
 and Fouche", to whom he conceded a great share 
 of influence, he spoke out fully of all that con- 
 cerned public affairs, much more than to his 
 brothers, to whom he was far from entrusting the 
 secrets of state. Of those things which personally 
 concerned himself, he said little to his colleagues 
 or to his ministers, but much to his brothers. Still 
 he did not discover to them the secret ambition of 
 his heart ; but it was so easy to guess, and his 
 family were so anxious to bring it about success- 
 fully, that they spared him the trouble to be the 
 first to declare it. They spoke to him of it con- 
 tinually, and left him in the more commodious 
 position of having rather to temper than to excite 
 a zeal for his aggrandizement. They asserted to 
 him, therefore, that the moment was come to con- 
 stitute in his behalf something better than an
 
 1802. 
 May. 
 
 Proposition to confer the 
 consulate for life. 
 
 THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. 
 
 Apprehensions of Madam 
 .Bonaparte. — Advice of 
 Fouche. 
 
 359 
 
 ephemeral and fleeting power ; that he ought to 
 think of attaching to himself a solid and durable 
 authority. Joseph, with the peaceable mildness 
 of his character, and Lucien, with his natural 
 petulance, tended openly to the same object. They 
 had for confidants and co-operators the men with 
 whom they lived in intimacy, who, whether in the 
 council of state, or in the senate, partook their 
 sentiments, from conviction, or from the desire 
 to please. Regnaud, Laplace, Talleyrand, and 
 Rcederer, the last always most ardent in the cause, 
 were firmly of opinion that monarchy must be 
 restored as soon and as completely as was possible. 
 Talleyrand, the calmest, and not the least active 
 among them, was strongly attached to a monarchy, 
 as elegant and brilliant as it had been in the palace 
 of Versailles, but without the Bourbons, with whom 
 he believed it to be then incompatible. He re- 
 peated incessantly, with an authority which could 
 belong to no one but him, that to negotiate with 
 Europe it would be much easier to treat in the 
 name of a monarchy than in that of a republic; 
 that the Bourbons were, for kings, just like un- 
 accommodating and disesteemcd guests; that ge- 
 neral Bonaparte, with his glory, his power, his 
 courage in repressing anarchy, was the -most de- 
 sirable for them, and the most expected of all sove- 
 9 ; that as to himself, minister for foreign 
 affairs, he affirmed, that to add, no matter how, 
 to the existing authority of the first consul, was to 
 conciliate Europe in place of offending her. Those 
 intimate confidants of the Bonaparte family had 
 much debated among themselves the question of 
 the moment. Still, to leap at one spring into an 
 hereditary sovereignty, whether to royalty or to an 
 empire, would be too great a temerity. It would, 
 perhaps, be better to reach it by passing through 
 several intermediate stages. But without changing 
 
 O CO 
 
 the title of first consul, which was much more con- 
 
 ttt, it would be possible to give him an equi- 
 it for the royal power, and even an equivalent 
 for the hereditary succession : this was the con- 
 sulate for life, with the power to designate his 
 In making a few modifications in the 
 constitution, — modifications easy to obtain of the 
 senate, which bad become a sort of constituting 
 
 :■, it was possible to create a true sovereignty 
 un ler a republican name. There would even be 
 given to him the faculty of appointing a successor, 
 the only advantage of an hereditary succession 
 
 llv desirable ; because the first consul not 
 having children, and having only brothers and 
 nephews, it would be better to confide the right of 
 choice to those among them whom be should judge 
 most worthy of succeeding to the power. 
 
 This idea appearing the wisest and the most 
 prudent, seemed to be that adopted by consent in 
 the Bonaparte family as preferable. This family 
 
 t the moment in a state of singular agitation. 
 The brothers of the first consul, who bad on their 
 foreheads a ray of bis glory, but which they did 
 
 not deem sufficient, desired to see him beco a 
 
 real monarch, in order that they might be princes 
 by right of blood. They wen t mplatning 
 
 that they were nothing ; that tiny bad aided in the 
 elevation of their brother, and bad do rank in the 
 
 in proportion to their merits and seryiccs, 
 Joseph, more peaceable in character, satisfied be; 
 .sides with the character of ordinary negotiate* of 
 
 peace, wealthy, and held in consideration, was le^s 
 impatient. Lucien, who gave himself out for a 
 republican, was still of all the brothers he who 
 showed himself that he most desired to see the* 
 sovereign power of his brother elevated upon the 
 ruins of the republic. Very recently he had re- 
 fused to dine with Madam Bonaparte, saying that 
 he would go when there should be a place there 
 marked out for the brothers of the first consul. 
 In the bosom of that family, Madam Bonaparte, 
 the more worthy of interest, since she felt none of 
 those ambitious longings, and had her apprehen- 
 sions of them, she, on the contrary, was, according 
 to her usual custom, more afraid than satisfied at 
 the changes which were in preparation. She 
 feared, as has been already observed, that her 
 husband would be urged to ascend too soon the, 
 steps of the throne where she had beheld the; 
 Bourbons sit, and upon which it seemed incredible^ 
 to her that any other person should be seated. 
 She feared that his inconsiderate relatives, anxious 
 to partake the grandeur of their brother, would 
 imprudently hasten ou his elevation, and by making 
 him ascend too fast, precipitate her, him, and 
 themselves, all, in fact, together into an abyss. 
 In a certain degree relieved by the tenderness of 
 her husband from the apprehension of a speedy 
 divorce, she was haunted at the moment by one 
 image alone, that of a new Caesar, struck by the 
 blow of a dagger at the moment when he at- 
 tempted to place the diadem' upon his brow. 
 
 Madam Bonaparte honestly avowed her fears 
 to her husband, who made her hold her tongue by 
 imposing silence sharply upon her. Repulsed here, 
 she addressed herself to those who had some 
 influence over him, supplicating them to combat the 
 counsels of his ill-advised and ambitious brothers, 
 and thus she gave to her dislikes and apprehen- 
 sions a vexatious notoriety, which was displeasing 
 to the first consul. 
 
 Among the personages admitted to the interior 
 of the family, the minister Fouche' entered more 
 than any other into the views of Madam Bona- 
 parte. Not that he had more pride of feeling than 
 the other men by whom Bonaparte was sur- 
 rounded, or that he was the only one among 
 them all who was careless about pleasing his 
 inevitable master, it was not that ; but he was 
 endowed with great good sense, and observed with 
 apprehension the impatience of the Bonaparte 
 family, lie beard nearer than any other person 
 the sullen, stifled cries of the vanquished republi- 
 cans, few in number, but indignant at such a 
 prompt usurpation ; even he himself, amid the 
 agitation of the hour, felt some emotions on ac- 
 count of what, was about to be undertaken. Al- 
 though lie did not desire to lose the confidence of 
 the first consul, which he was more than ever 
 desirous of retaining, since the first consul was 
 more than ever to Income the arbiter of all 
 destinies, he still permitted others to guess a pari 
 of what he thought. Intimate as a friend with 
 .Madam Bonaparte, be had listened to her ex- 
 pression of the apprehensions with which she was 
 assailed and fearful of the resentment of her 
 husband, bad endeavoured to tranquillize them. 
 '• .\hoiam," hf said, " remain calm and quiet 
 You cross your hu.-diand to no purpose, lie will 
 
 be consul for life, king, or emperor, all that la
 
 360 Conduct of Cambaceres THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, on the consulate for life. 
 
 1802. 
 May. 
 
 very po?sible to occur. Your fears annoy him ; 
 my counsels would wound his feelings. Let us 
 remain in our places, and leave those events to 
 their accomplishment, which neither you nor I can 
 prevent." 
 
 The winding up of this agitated scene approached, 
 in proportion as the term arrived of the extraordi- 
 nary session of the year x., and the leaders of the 
 party for the measure were heard repeating oftener 
 and louder, that it was necessary to give stability 
 to power, and a testimony of acknowledgment to 
 the benefactor of France and of the world. Still 
 they would not have been able to bring about the 
 last act in a safe and natural manner, without the 
 aid of one man in particular, and that man was the 
 consul Cambace'res. His occult but real influence 
 and able management of the mind of the first con- 
 sul has been already alluded to. His power over 
 the senate was equally great. That body had a 
 real deference for the old lawyer, become the con- 
 fidant of the new Caesar. Sieves, creator in some 
 respect of the senate, had at first enjoyed there a 
 certain ascendancy. But soon his evident inten- 
 tion of turning that body into an opposition having 
 been detected and foiled, Sieyes was no more than 
 he had always been, that is to say, a superior 
 mind, chagrined, impotent, reduced at last to the 
 part of finding fault with every thing at his seat of 
 Crosne — the vulgar price of his great services. 
 Cambaceres, on the contrary, had become the 
 secret director of the senate. In the actual con- 
 juncture, Bonaparte was not able to proclaim him- 
 self consul for life or emperor, having need in con- 
 sequence of somebody that should take the initiative 
 — this was evidently the senate, and in the senate, 
 the person who directed it was evidently the man 
 of the greatest importance. 
 
 Cambace'res, although devoted to the first consul, 
 could not see with any great degree of pleasure 
 the change which tended to place him at yet a 
 greater distance from his illustrious colleague. 
 Still knowing well that things could not remain as 
 they were, that it would be trouble lost to throw 
 an obstacle in the way of general Bonaparte, and 
 that besides, within their actual limits, these de- 
 sires were legitimate, Cambaceres determined to 
 interfere spontaneously in order to cause all this 
 internal agitation to terminate in a rational result, 
 and to impart to the government a stable form, 
 which ought to satisfy the ambition of the first consul 
 without effacing too much the republican forms, 
 which were still cherished in many hearts. 
 
 While those who surrounded the first consul 
 were in lively conversation upon this subject, he 
 himself listening, and even affecting to keep silence, 
 Cambace'res put an end to the state of constraint, 
 by speaking the first to his colleague upon the sub- 
 ject of what was passing. He did not dissimulate 
 to him the danger of precipitation in an affair of 
 such a nature, and the advantage there would be 
 in preserving a modest and republican form alto- 
 gether, to a power as real and as great even as his 
 own. Nevertheless in offering him, in his own 
 name and in the name of the third consul Lebrun, 
 a devotedness without reserve, he declared to him 
 that they were ready, both one and the other, to do 
 whatever he wished, and to spare him the inter- 
 vention of his own person in the matter, particu- 
 larly under circumstances in which he ought to 
 
 appear to receive and not to take the title himself, 
 which it was in contemplation to give him. The 
 first consul expressed his gratitude for such an 
 overture and at such a moment ; he conceded the 
 danger that there would be in going too fast, and 
 doing too much ; he declared that he had formed 
 no particular desire, being content with his exist- 
 ing position ; that he had not pushed forward any 
 change, and should take no steps to quit it ; that 
 still the constitution of the supreme power of the 
 state was in his view precarious, and did not pre- 
 sent a character sufficiently solid and enduring ; 
 that in his opinion there were several changes which 
 ought to be effected in the form of the government, 
 but that he was too directly interested in the ques- 
 tion to mix himself up in it ; that he would, there- 
 fore, wait, and not take any initiative. 
 
 Cambaceres answered the first consul, that with- 
 out doubt his personal dignity demanded much 
 reserve, and interdicted him from ostensibly taking 
 the initiative, but that if he would fully and clearly 
 explain himself to his two colleagues, and make 
 them clearly acquainted with his innermost 
 thoughts, they would spare him, when once his 
 intentions were clearly understood by them, the 
 trouble of manifesting them, and would go to work 
 without delay. Whether he felt a certain degree 
 of embarrassment which prevented his saying what 
 he desired, or whether he desired more than was 
 then destined for him, perhaps the sovereignty, the 
 first consul covered himself with a new veil, and 
 was contented to repeat that he had no fixed idea 
 on the matter, but that he should see with pleasure 
 his two colleagues watch over the movement of the 
 public mind, and even direct it, in order to prevent 
 those imprudent actions which might be committed 
 by unskilful friends. 
 
 The first consul would never avow his thoughts 
 upon the matter even to his colleague Cambace'res. 
 To the natural restraint he felt in such a matter, 
 he added an illusion. He thought that without 
 any interference upon his own part, the people 
 would come and lay a crown at his feet. This was 
 an error. The public, tranquil, happy, and grate- 
 ful, was disposed to sanction whatever might be 
 done by the government ; but having in a certain 
 sense abdicated every participation in the affairs of 
 the state, it was not forward to mix itself up with 
 them even to testify the gratitude of which it was 
 full. The bodies of the state, save witli the ex- 
 ception of the interested leaders, were taken all at 
 once with a sort of modesty, at the idea of coming 
 in the face of heaven, to abjure the republican 
 forms, which they had again recently sworn to 
 maintain. Many individuals, little versed in politi- 
 cal secrets, went so far as to believe that the first 
 consul, satisfied with the omnipotence which he 
 possessed, above all, since lie had disencumbered 
 himself of the opposition of the tribunate, had con- 
 tented himself with the power to do all that he 
 pleased, and to assume to himself the easy glory of 
 a new Washington, with much more genius and 
 glory than he of America. Thus when the ma- 
 nagers and leaders in the matter asserted that 
 nothing had been done for the first consul, who 
 had done every thing for Prance, certain simple- 
 minded persons answered in this innocent way : 
 " What would you have us do for him ? What 
 would you have us offer him ? What recompense
 
 1802. 
 May. 
 
 Honours moved in the tri- 
 bunate to the first consul. 
 
 THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. 
 
 The proposition adopted. 
 
 361 
 
 would be proportioned to the services which lie 
 has rendered to us I His true recompense is his 
 glory." 
 
 Cambaee'res was too wise to revenge himself for 
 the dissimulate 1 of the first consul, by leaving 
 things in a Btaguant state. He felt it necessary to 
 finish the matter, and determined to set about the 
 task immediately. In his opinion, and in that of 
 many enlightened men, a prolongation of power 
 for ten years granted to the first consul, which 
 with seven years of the first term yet remaining, 
 would carry up to seventeen years the duration of 
 his consulship, was fully sufficient. This would, in 
 fact, whether in France or in Europe, be crossing 
 the enemies who had calculated on the existing 
 legal term of his power. But M. Cambaceres well 
 knew that this would not content the first consul, 
 that something more must be offered him, and 
 that with the consulship for life must be accom- 
 panied the right of naming his successor ; all the 
 advantages of an hereditary monarchy would be 
 thus attained without t lie inconvenience of a change 
 of title, and without the displeasure that this 
 change would cause to many persons of good in- 
 tentions and honest feelings. He, therefore, stopped 
 at this idea, and endeavoured to propagate it in the 
 senate, the legislative body, and the tribunate. But 
 if there were members ready to vote any tiling, 
 there were others that hesitated, and would go no 
 further than a prolongation for ten years. 
 
 The first consul bad deferred until now, with the 
 full intention of so doing, the presentation of the 
 treaty of Amiens to the legislative body, to be con- 
 verted into a law. Cambaee'res, comprehending 
 that this was the circumstance to use for drawing 
 out a species of general approval of the proposed 
 changes, disposed every tbing in order to bring 
 about such a result. The 6th of May, or 16th of 
 Floreal, had been chosen to carry up to the legis- 
 lative body the treaty which completed the general 
 peace. The president of the tribunate, who was 
 M. Chabot de I'Allier, was one of the friends of the 
 consul Cambaee'res. This hist sent for him, and 
 arranged with him the steps to be taken. It was 
 settled between them, that when the treaty 
 should be carried from the legislative body to the 
 tribunate, M. Simeon should propose a deputation 
 to the first consul, in order to testify the satisfac- 
 tion of the a-seinl.lv ; that then the president, M. 
 Chabot de l'Allier, should quit the chair, and should 
 propose the following vote : — 
 
 " The senate is invited to give to the consuls a 
 testimony of the national gratitude.' 
 
 Things being disposed in this manner, the pro- 
 ject of law was earned on the 6th of .May, or 16th 
 
 of Floreal. by three councillors of the legislative 
 
 body. These councillors were .M. Roaderer, ad- 
 miral Bruix, and .\l. Berlier. In the ordinary 
 course of things, the projects were communicated 
 
 purely and simply by the legislative body to the 
 tribunate ; this tune, seeing the importance of the 
 subject, the government determined to communi- 
 cate directly to the tribunate the treaty submitted 
 to the legislative deliberations. Three councillors 
 of state, Regnier, Thibaudeau, and Bigot Preame- 
 
 neu, were charged with this duly. Scarcely had 
 they finished making the communication, when the 
 tribune Simeon asked leave to speak. " Since the 
 government," said he, " lias communicated to us, in 
 
 a manner so solemn, the treaty of peace concluded 
 with Great Britain, it is our duty to answer this 
 proceeding by one of a similar nature. I propose 
 that a deputation he addressed to the government, 
 to congratulate it upon the re-establishment of the 
 general peace." This proposition was immediately 
 adopted. The president, M. Chabot de l'Allier, 
 having given up the chair, and been replaced by 
 M. Stanislaus de Girardin, and placing himself in 
 the tribune, spoke as follows ■ — 
 
 " Among all nations public honours have been 
 decreed to those men who, by their brilliant actions, 
 have honoured their country and saved it from 
 great dangers. 
 
 " What man has ever had a greater right than 
 general Bonaparte to the national gratitude 1 
 
 " What man, whether at the head of armies, or 
 at the head of the government, honours his country 
 more, or has rendered it more signal services ! 
 
 "His valour and his genius have saved the 
 French people from the excesses of anarchy and 
 the evils of war. The French people are too great, 
 too magnanimous, to suffer such benefits to remain 
 without some grand recompense. 
 
 " Tribunes ! be you its organs. It is to us, 
 above all others, that it belongs to take the lead, 
 when the object is to express, under circumstances 
 so memorable, the sentiments and will of the 
 French people." 
 
 At the conclusion of his speech, M. Chabot de 
 l'Allier proposed to the tribunate the vote of some 
 great manifestation of the national gratitude to- 
 wards the first consul. He proposed, besides, to 
 communicate this wish to the senate, the legislative 
 body, and to the government. The proposition was 
 unanimously adopted. 
 
 This deliberation was soon known in the senate, 
 and that body decided immediately upon forming a 
 special commission, in order to present its own 
 ideas respecting the testimony of national gratitude 
 which it would be suitable to give to the first 
 consul. 
 
 The deputation which Simeon, the tribune, had 
 proposed to send to the government, was received 
 on the day following, the 7th of May, or 17th Flo- 
 real, at the Tuileries. The first consul was sur- 
 rounded with his colleagues, a great number of 
 high functionaries and generals. His attitude was 
 modest and serious. M. Simeon spoke: he cele- 
 brated the gnat exploits of general Bonaparte ; 
 the marvellous things (fleeted by his government, 
 more great than those achieved by his sword. He 
 attributed to him the victories of the republic, the 
 peace which followed them, the re-establishment of 
 order, the return of prosperity j and terminated at 
 length with the following words : " I must break 
 off' in haste. I fear I shall appear to praise, 
 when I only endeavour to be just, and to express 
 in a few words a profound feeling, that ingratitude 
 could alone have stifled. We expect the first body 
 in the nation to become the interpreter of the 
 general sentiment, the expression of which it is 
 only permitted to the tribunate to desire and to 
 vote." 
 
 The first consul, after having thanked the tri- 
 bune Simeon for the sentiments which he had just 
 testified in his behalf; alter having said that he 
 saw iii it only the result of the more intimate com- 
 munications "established between the government
 
 362 
 
 The first consul's reply. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The consulship voted 
 for ten years by the 
 senate. 
 
 1802. 
 Way. 
 
 and the tribunate, — making tlius a direct allusion 
 to the changes operated in that body, — the first 
 consul finished in these noble words : — 
 
 " As for me, I receive with the deepest gratitude 
 the wish expressed by the tribunate. I desire no 
 other glory than that of having fulfilled to the 
 fullest extent the task imposed upon me. 1 have 
 no ambition for any other recompense than the 
 affection of my fellow-citizens ; happy if they are 
 well convinced that the evils which they may 
 encounter will always be to me the most serious of 
 misfortunes ; that life is dear to me only for the 
 services that it may enable me to render to my 
 country; that death itself has no bitterness for me, 
 if my last glances will but enable me to see the 
 happiness of the republic as well assured as its 
 glory." 
 
 It now only remained to fix upon the testimony 
 of national gratitude to be given to general Bona- 
 parte. No one was deceived about its nature ; 
 every body well knew that it was by an extension 
 of power that the illustrious general must be paid 
 for the immense benefits which had been received. 
 Some simple-minded persons imagined when voting 
 that the public testimony in contemplation was a 
 statue or monument. But those simple people 
 were few in number. The mass of the tribune 
 and senators perfectly well knew how it was to 
 express its gratitude. During that day and the 
 day following, the Tuileries and the hotel of Cam- 
 bace'res, who resided out of the palace, were 
 thronged with people. The senators came in 
 great numbers, eager to know how they should 
 act. Their zeal was very warm ; it was only 
 necessary to speak the word, and they were ready 
 to decree whatever was desired. One of them even 
 went so far as to say to the consul Cambace'res, 
 " What does the general wish 1 Does he wish to 
 be king ? Only let him say as much ; I and my 
 colleagues of the constituent body are quite ready 
 to vote the re-establishment of royalty, and more 
 willingly too for him than for others, because he is 
 more worthy the honour." Curious to know the 
 real sentiments of the first consul, the senators 
 approached as near to him as they were able, and 
 tried in a hundred ways, to have at least one word 
 from his mouth, however trifling and insignificant. 
 But he constantly refused to reveal his wishes, 
 even to the senator Laplace, who was one of his 
 particular friends, and who for that reason was 
 charged to fathom his secret wishes. He uniformly 
 answered, that whatever they did he should receive 
 witli gratitude, and that he had not fixed his mind 
 upon any thing. Some wished to know if a pro- 
 longation of ten years of his consulship would be 
 agreeable. He replied with affected humility, that 
 any testimony of the public confidence, that or any 
 other, would be sufficient for him, and satisfy his 
 wishes. The senators learning little from these 
 communications of the first consul, returned to the 
 consuls Cambace'res and Lebrun, to get informa- 
 tion as to the conduct which they had to pursue. 
 " Name the consul for life," they replied, " that is 
 the best step you can take." " But it is said he 
 does not desire it," replied the more eimple of the 
 enquirers, "and that a prolongation for ten years 
 will satisfy him — why go beyond his own wishes ?" 
 
 Lebrun and Cambace'res had difficulty to per- 
 suade them. The consuls apprized Bonaparte of 
 
 it. " You are wrong," they said, " not to explain 
 yourself. Your enemies, for you have enemies 
 left in spite of your services, even in the senate, 
 will abuse your reserve." The first consul neither 
 appeared surprised nor flattered by the officious- 
 ness of the senators. " Let them alone," he re- 
 plied to Cambace'res; "the majority of the senate 
 is always ready to do more than is demanded of 
 them. They will go further than you would 
 believe." 
 
 Cambace'res replied that he was mistaken. But 
 it was impossible to overcome this obstinate dis- 
 sembling, and as will be seen, the consequences 
 were singular. Despite the advice of Cambace'res 
 and Lebrun, many good people who deemed it 
 more convenient to give less than more, believed 
 that the first consul thought a prolongation of the 
 consulship for ten years a sufficient testimony of 
 the public confidence, and a grand consolidation of 
 his power considerable enough. The party of 
 Sieyes, always spiteful, awoke up on this occasion, 
 and acted secretly. The senators who were secretly 
 allied to his party, circumvented their uncertain 
 colleagues, and affirmed that the idea of the first 
 consul was well known, and that he was contented 
 with a prolongation of ten years, which he pre- 
 ferred to any thing else, that every body knew 
 besides that it was better in itself ; that by this 
 combination, the public power was consolidated, 
 the republic maintained, and the dignity of the 
 nation preserved. As in the affair of the elections 
 of the senate, the gallant Lefebvre was one of those 
 who listened to these persuasions, and who be- 
 lieved that in voting for a ten years' prolongation, 
 they were doing that which general Bonaparte 
 wished. They had been forty-eight hours de- 
 liberating, and it was necessary to conclude the 
 matter. The senator Languinais, with all the 
 courage of which he had given so many proofs, 
 attacked that which he styled the flagrant usurpa- 
 tion with which the republic was threatened. His 
 speech was heard with pain, and considered as 
 somewhat superfluous. More able enemies had 
 proposed a better manoeuvre. They had gained a 
 majority in favour of the plan for prolonging the 
 powers of the first consul for ten years. This reso- 
 lution was in fact adopted on the 8th of May, or 
 18th Floreal, towards the evening of the day. 
 Lefebvre ran one of the first to the Tuileries, to 
 announce what had taken place, believing that 
 he brought the most agreeable of intelligence. 
 It soon arrived from all quarters, and caused a 
 surprise as unforeseen as it was painful. 
 
 The first consul, surrounded by his brothers 
 Joseph and Lucien, learned this result with great 
 displeasure. At the first moments he thought of 
 nothing less than of refusing the proposition of 
 the senate. He sent for his colleague Cambace'res 
 immediately. He came to him forthwith. Too 
 discreet and prudent to triumph at his own fore- 
 sight and the fault of the first consul, he said that 
 what had occurred was without doubt very vexa- 
 tious, but it was easy to remedy ; that before all 
 things it was necessary not to exhibit any ill 
 humour; that in twice twenty-four hours all might 
 be altered, but that it was necessary in order to do 
 that to give the affair an entire new face, and that 
 he would take the matter upon himself. "The 
 senate offers you a prolongation of power," said M.
 
 ISO?. 
 May. 
 
 The expedient of Camhaceres 
 to uu»] the vote of the THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE, 
 senate. 
 
 Additional questions of 
 M. Koederer. 
 
 3G3 
 
 Cambaceres ; "answer that you are most grateful 
 for the proposition, but that it is not from the 
 senate, but from the suffrages of the nation alone 
 that you should hold your authority ; that it is 
 from the nation alone that you should receive 
 the prolongation ; and that you wish to consult 
 the nation by the same means which were cm- 
 ployed for the adoption of the consular constitution, 
 or in other words by registers opened all over 
 France. We will then have drawn up by the 
 council of state, the formula which shall be sub- 
 mitted to the national sanction. By thus making it 
 an act of deference to the popular sovereignty, 
 we shall obtain the substitution of one plan for 
 another. We will propose the question, not so as 
 to know if general Bonaparte ought to receive a 
 prolongation for ten years of the consular power, 
 but if he ought to receive the consulate for lit' >. 1 I 
 the first consul were to do such a thing himself," 
 continued M. Cambaceres, " decorum would he 
 wounded. But I, who am the second consul, and 
 wholly disinterested in the matter, am able to give 
 the impulse. Let the general set out in a public 
 manner for Malmaison ; I will remain alone in 
 Paris ; I will convoke the council of state, and by 
 the council of state it is that I will have the new 
 proposition drawn up, which shall afterwards he 
 submitted for the national acceptance." 
 
 This able expedient was adopted with great satis- 
 faction by general Bonaparte, and by his brothers. 
 Cambaceres was heartily thanked for his ingenious 
 combination, and the entire affair abandoned to 
 him. It was agreed that the first consul should 
 set out on the following day, after having himself 
 1 with Cambaceres upon the draft of the 
 answer to he made to the 
 
 The draft was made the next morning, being the 
 9th of May, or 19;h Florcal, by Cambacerea and 
 the first consul, and addressed immediately to the 
 senate, in reply to its message. 
 
 " Senators," said the first consul, "the honour- 
 able proof of esteem delivered in your deliberation 
 of the 18th, will remain for ever engraven in my 
 heart. 
 
 " In the three years which have just terminated, 
 
 fortune has smiled upon the republic: but fortune 
 
 is inconstant ; and how many men whom she has 
 
 1 with her favours have lived a few years too 
 
 long ! 
 
 •■ The interest of my glory, as well as that of my 
 happin ma to have marked the term of my 
 
 public uent when the peace of the 
 
 world is proclaimed. 
 
 •• Bui the glory and happiness of the citizen 
 ought ilent, when the interest of the state 
 
 and the public kindni ~s demand him. 
 
 '• Vim judge that I owe to the people a new 
 sacrifice; 1 will make it, ii the will of the people 
 otnaiid what your suffrages authorize." 
 The first consul, without an explanation, in- 
 dicated clearly enough that he did not exactly 
 accept such a resolution of the Benate. He set out 
 for Malmaison immi diately, leaving to hi 
 league Cambacerea to terminate the great business 
 irmably to Ins wishes Cambacerea summoned 
 those of the council of state- who were the most 
 
 habituated to second the views of the gover int, 
 
 and concerted with them the measnri i which it 
 i would he best to adopt at the meeting of the 
 
 council. The following day, being the 10th of 
 May, or 20th of Florcal, the council of state had an 
 extraordinary meeting. The two consuls and all 
 the ministers, except Fouchtf, attended. Camba- 
 cerea presided. He announced the object of the 
 meeting, and appealed to the understanding of 
 that grand body, under the important circum- 
 stances in which the government was placed. 
 Bigot de Pre'ameneu, luederer, Regnaud, and 
 Portalis, at once spoke in turn, and alleged that 
 the stability of the government was, at present, 
 the first necessity of the state ; that the foreign 
 powers, to treat with France, that public credit, 
 commerce, industry, and a return to prosperity, 
 had need of confidence ; that the perpetuity of tlie 
 power of the first consul was the most certain 
 means to inspire it ; that this authority, conferred 
 for ten years only, was an ephemeral authority, — 
 without solidity, without grandeur, because it was 
 without duration ; that the senate, limited by the 
 constitution, had not thought it possible to add more 
 than a prolongation of ten years to the power of 
 the first consul; but that in addressing the national 
 ignty, as had been done before for all the 
 anterior constitutions, there was no mere limiting 
 by the existing law, for then they should mount 
 to the source of all the laws, and that it was 
 necessary purely and simply to put this question, — 
 " Shall the first consul be consul ion life I " 
 
 The prefect of police, Dubois, a member of the 
 council of state, a man of a character independent 
 and decided, stated the opinion generally held by 
 the people of Paris. On all sides the proposition 
 of the senate was deemed ridiculous ; every body 
 said that it was necessary France should have a 
 government ; that one had been found at last, 
 strong, able, fortunate, and that such an one ought 
 to be preserved; that there ought to have been no 
 necessity for touching the constitution; but if it 
 were to he interfered with, it had better be done 
 once for all, and the government be so organized 
 as to be always preserved. That which was thus 
 stated by Dubois was true. Opinion was so fa- 
 vourable to the first consul, that the people were 
 for settling the question at once, ami giving to bis 
 power the duration of bis life. A ft. r having heard 
 the different speeches, Cambacerea inquired whether 
 any member had objections to make to the pro- 
 I step; but the oppositionists remaining silent, 
 being only five or six in number, as Bertier, Thi- 
 baudeau, Emmery. Dossoles, and Berehger, the 
 ution was put to the vote, and adopted by an 
 immense majority. It was then agreed that a 
 public vote should be taken upon the question, — 
 Shall Napoleon Bonaparte bb consul kmb i.m b! 
 
 This resolution being passed affirmatively, Ros- 
 derer, who was the boldest of all the members on 
 
 the monarchical side, propOSl d to add a second 
 question to the first ; it WAS the following : — Suu.i. 
 Tin: PIRST CONSUL HAVE THE FACULTY OF DBBIO- 
 NATINd in WBl 
 
 Upon this question M. Roaderer was extremely 
 
 tenacious, and with reason. If they acted with 
 
 good faith, if they con ealed no after-thought of 
 returning al some' future time to what they were 
 doing that day, if they wished to constitute de- 
 finitively a icw power, the faculty of designing a 
 successor was the best equivalent to hereditary 
 succession ; sometimes superior to the effec
 
 364 
 
 Decree of the consuls. 
 — The appeal 10 Hie 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 people in favour of the 1802. 
 consulship for life. May. 
 
 hereditary succession itself, because it was by that 
 means that the reign of the Antonines was given 
 to the world. A consul for life, with the power of 
 naming his successor, was a real monarchy under 
 a republican appearance. It was a fine and power- 
 ful government, which, at least, saved the dignity 
 of the existing generation, which had sworn to live 
 a republic or to die. M. Roederer, who was ob- 
 stinate in favour of his own ideas, insisted upon 
 the second question being put. It was put and 
 adopted as the preceding had been. 
 
 It was necessary, in consequence, to decide on 
 the form to be given to both. Some thought that 
 this appeal made to the French people by means 
 of registers opened in the communes, was an act 
 which should belong to the government, because 
 it was, so to say, a simple convocation; that it was 
 natural, therefore, that it should be debated in the 
 council of state; that the publication of this deli- 
 beration, which had taken place in presence of the 
 second and third consuls, and in absence of the 
 first, preserved all decent appearances, and that 
 it was only necessary to find a suitable form of 
 drawing up. A commission, composed of several 
 councillors of state, was charged, during the sitting, 
 with the drawing up of the result of the delibera- 
 tion. This commission proceeded immediately to 
 the task, and returned an hour after, with the act 
 destined to be published on the following day. 
 
 The following was the document : — 
 
 " The consuls of the republic, considering that 
 the resolution of the first consul is a striking 
 homage paid to the sovereignty of the people; that 
 the people, consulted upon their dearest Interests, ought 
 to know no other limit than its interests themselves ; 
 decree as follows :" &c. &c. " The French people 
 shall be consulted upon these two questions: — 
 
 " 1. Shall Napoleon Bonaparte be consul for 
 
 LIFE? 
 
 " 2. Shall he have the facultv of appointing 
 HIS successor? 
 
 " Registers will be opened to this effect at all 
 the mayoralties, at the offices of the clerks of all 
 the tribunals, at the houses of the notaries, and 
 these of all public offices." 
 
 The period allowed for giving the votes was 
 three weeks. 
 
 Cambace'res went off immediately to the first 
 consul, to submit to him the resolution of the 
 council of state. The first consul, from a disposi- 
 tion of mind difficult to account for, obstinately 
 resisted the second question. 
 
 " Whom," said he, " would you that I should 
 appoint for my successor ? my brother ? But 
 France, which lias so well consented to be go- 
 verned by me — would France consent to be 
 governed by Joseph or Lucien ? Shall I nominate 
 you consul, Cambace'res? Will you venture to 
 undertake such a task ? And then the will of 
 Louis XIV. was not respected; is it at all probable 
 that mine would be ? A dead man, let him be 
 whom he may, is nothing." The second consul could 
 not get over him upon this point ; he was even 
 angry with Roederer, who, without taking the 
 opinion of any one, and following the impulse of 
 his own mind, had put forward the idea. He, 
 therefore, ordered the second question, relative to 
 the choice of a successor, to be struck out. 
 
 The motive of the first consul in the fore£roin<j 
 
 matter is very obscure. Did he wish, by leaving 
 a vacancy in the organization of the government, 
 to manage so as to have a sure pretext to say 
 another time, and at a period a little later, that 
 the government was without a future, without 
 greatness, and it would be necessary to convert 
 it into an hereditary monarchy ? Did he dread 
 family rivalries, and the troubles that would come 
 upon him from possessing the faculty of choosing 
 a successor from among his brothers or nephews ? 
 To judge of his language upon the occasion, this 
 last conjecture appears to be the most probable. 
 However it was, he struck out the second question 
 of the act as it emanated from the council of state; 
 and as they would not lose time by assembling the 
 council a^ain, the resolution, thus shortened, was 
 sent to the official journal. 
 
 It appeared on the morning of the 11th of May, 
 or 2ist Flore'al, in the Moniteur, two days after 
 that of the senate. To announce that such a ques- 
 tion was put to France, was to announce that it 
 was determined upon. If public opinion become 
 passive, did not take the initiative of great reso- 
 lutions, it might be counted upon for sanctioning 
 every thing with interest that might be proposed 
 to it in favour of the first consul, it had for him 
 confidence, admiration, gratitude, all the senti- 
 ments that a lively and enthusiastic people is 
 capable of feeling for a great man, from whom it 
 has received at one time so many benefits. Doubt- 
 less, if the questions of form had preserved any 
 importance, at a time when constitutions had been 
 seen to be made and remnde so often, it would 
 have been deemed strange that the senate, having 
 proposed a simple prolongation of ten years, this 
 proposition emanating from the sole authority 
 which had the power to make it, should be con- 
 verted into a proposition of a consulship for life, 
 made by a body that was neither the senate, nor 
 the legislative body, nor the tribunate, but only a 
 council dependiint upon the government. It is 
 true that the council of state had at that time 
 a high degree of importance, which rendered it 
 nearly the equal of a legislative assembly ; that the 
 appeal to the national sovereignty was a species of 
 corrective, which covered all the irregularities of 
 this mode of proceeding, and gave to the council of 
 state the apparent character of a simple arranger 
 of the question to be submitted to France. Be- 
 sides, at that time people did not examine so 
 closely into matters. The result, that is to say, 
 the consolidation and perpetuation of the govern- 
 ment of the first consul was agreeable to all the 
 world ; and that which conduced to such a result 
 in the most direct way possible, appeared the most 
 natural and the best. The senate was exposed to 
 some raillery, in fact, it was tolerably confused and 
 ashamed, at not having been better acquainted 
 with the wishes of general Bonaparte; and it kept 
 silence, having nothing suitable to say nor to do, 
 because it was unable either to recall its determi- 
 nation or to appropriate to itself the resolution 
 of the council of state. ' As to offering any oppo- 
 sition, it had not the means, nor even the idea. 
 Without doubt, the torrent was not so general but 
 that censure was to be heard in some places; for ex- 
 ample, in the obscure retreats where the faithful re- 
 publicans hid their despair, in the brilliant hotels of 
 the faubourg St. Germain, where the royalists were
 
 1802. 
 May. 
 
 Tresentation of the financial 
 law. 
 
 THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. 
 
 State of the budget. 
 
 305 
 
 detesting the new power in the government which 
 they hail not yet began to serve. But this cen- 
 sure, nearly indistinguishable in the chorus of 
 praises that from all sides arose around the first 
 consul, ami mounted even to his own ear, was 
 of very little moment. Reflecting men only, and 
 these are always very few in number, were capable 
 of making Bingular reflections upon the vicissitudes 
 of revolutions, upon the inconsistency of this gene- 
 rati- u overturning a royalty of twelve centuries, 
 endeavouring in vain, amidst its delirium, to over- 
 throw all the monarchies of Europe, and then 
 reverting from its first enthusiasm to rebuild a 
 rained throne piece by piece, and eagerly seeking 
 some one on whom to bestow it. Happily it had 
 found for this purpose an extraordinary man. 
 Nations, under such a necessity, do not always en- 
 counter a master who ennobles in the same degree 
 their inconsistencies. The embarrassment of mo- 
 desty had at the moment seized upon every body ; 
 the master himself, net daring at first to avow his 
 wishes himself, the senate afterwards not daring to 
 guess, and hesitating to satisfy them, until the 
 council of state, throwing off ail its false shame, had 
 the courage to avow what was needful to be said 
 and done by all. 
 
 These temporary difficulties soon gave place to 
 a true ovation. The legislative body and the 
 tribunate determined to go to the first consul, 
 in order to give the signal of adhesion, by voting in 
 a body the power into his hands for a perpetuity. 
 The object to colour the step which they had 
 devised was, that the members of the legislative 
 body and of the tribunate being detained during 
 this extraordinary session in their seats as legis- 
 lators, were not able to be in their communes 
 to give their votes there. This was deemed a 
 valid reason, and they repaired to the Tnileries 
 accordingly in a body. M. de Vaublanc spoke in 
 the name of the legislative body, and M. Chabot 
 d'Allier in the name of the tribunate. To quote 
 her.' the speeches made upon this occasion would 
 be tedious. They all expressed alike the same 
 Confidence in the government of the first consul. 
 Such an example would not have failed to draw- 
 after it the citizens to the same vote had it been 
 at all needful ; but such a strong impulse was not 
 necessary. The people went with alacrity to the 
 mayoralties, to the notaries, and to the offices 
 of the clerkfl of the tribunals, to inscribe their 
 votes of approbation in the registers open lor their 
 reception. 
 
 The end of Floreal had arrived, and the govern- 
 ment made haste to close this short and memorable 
 n by the presentation of the financial law. 
 The budgel proposed was most satisfactory. All 
 : revenue were discovered ti> have 
 augmented, for which the peace must be assigned 
 as the Cause, while, at the same linn, the > Xpenses 
 of the army and na\y were mm h diminished. 
 The budget of the year x. amounted to5(io,ooo OOUI'., 
 or 26,000,000 f, less than that of tin- year i.\.'; it 
 was raised to b26flO0fl0Of. by the more recent 
 estimates; and if to this be added the additional 
 centimes lor the service of the departments, which 
 
 • The amount for the year ix. was at firpt fixed at 
 110,000,0001'., then at 520,000,000 f., and finally ut 
 •46,000,0001 
 
 at that time were separately calculated, and 
 amounted to b'0,000,000 f.; if there were added 
 the e\p uses of collection, which were not carried 
 to the general budget, because each department of 
 the taxes paid its own expenses, which amounted 
 to 70,000,000 f., the total might be estimated at 
 625,000,000 f. or 630,000,000 f., the definitive budget 
 ol France at that moment. 
 
 Peace brought with it an economy or saving in 
 some branches of the public service, and an increase 
 in others ; but by elevating considerably the 
 product of all the taxes, it prepared the way for 
 the re-establishment of an even balance between 
 the revenue and expenditure, a balance so much 
 desired, ami so far from being foreseen two years 
 before. The war administration, divided into two 
 branches, that of the personal, ami that of the 
 materiel, was to cost 210 000,0001'. in lieu of 
 250.0110,000 f. It will, no doubt, appear astonish- 
 ing that there should be here no more than 
 40,000,00;> f. between a slate of war and that of 
 peace ; but it must be recollected that the vic- 
 torious French armies had lived upon a foreign 
 soil, and that having returned home, with the 
 exception only of one hundred thousand men, they 
 were now supported out of the French treasury. 
 The navy, which it had at first been deemed right 
 to estimate at 00,000,0001'., had, since the conclusion 
 of the peace, been raised to 105,000,0001". by the 
 first consul, whose opinion it was that a time 
 id' peace was most advantageously employed in 
 organizing the navy of a great empire. Other 
 expenses considerably reduced, proved, by their 
 reduction, the fortunate advance of credit. The 
 obligations of the receivers-general, of which the 
 origin, utility, and success have been seen, had at 
 first been discounted at only one per cent, per 
 mouth, and afterwards at three-quarters. These 
 were now discounted at one-half per cent, per 
 month, or six per cent, per annum. Hence the 
 government had been able, without injustice, to 
 reduce the interest of the securities from seven to 
 six per cent. All these savings had operated to 
 the redaction of the costs of the treasury nego- 
 tiations from 32,000.000 f. to 15,000,000 f. There 
 was no reduction which did so much honour to the 
 government, nor better proved the high credit 
 which it enjoyed. The five per cents., which had 
 risen first from twelve to forty or fifty francs, 
 wire at that moment at sixty. 
 
 With these diminutions of expense there oc- 
 curred some augmentations, which were the conse- 
 quence of the wise financial arrangements pro- 
 posed in the year IX., and so unjustly censured in 
 the tribunate. The government had wished, as 
 has been said in the proper place, to complete the 
 inscription of the consolidated third, in other 
 words, the third of the old debt, the only one 
 excepted from the bankruptcy of the directory. 
 In regard to the " mobilized" two-thirds, that is to 
 say, the unliquidated portion of the debt, it had 
 
 wished to gi\e that a sort id' value, by admitting it 
 in payment for certain national properly, or b) 
 permission to convert it into five per cent, consoli- 
 dated, at the rate of one-twentieth of the capital 
 
 which corresponded with the actual currency. The 
 
 first consul, desirous ol terminating these arrange- 
 ments as s as posihle, had it d. sided under the 
 
 law of the finances lor the Near x., that the two-
 
 3CG Details of the budget. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Details of the budget. 
 
 1802. 
 May. 
 
 thirds, "mobilized," should be converted by com- 
 pulsion into the five per cent, stock, at the rate 
 fixed in the law of Ventose, year ix. The defini- 
 tive inscription of the consolidated thirds, the con- 
 version of the two-thirds, "mobilized," into five 
 per cent., other liquidations which remained to 
 make for the old credits of the emigrants, and for 
 the transfer into the great book of the debts of the 
 conquered countries, would carry the total amount 
 of the public debt to 59,000,000 f. or 60,000,000 f. 
 of five per cent, annuities. In the mean time 
 it was of importance to satisfy the public mind 
 regarding the sum to which these various liqui- 
 dations were likely to raise the public debt. It 
 was in consequence decided by an article of the 
 budget itself of the year x., that it should not be 
 carried, whether by loan, or whether in conse- 
 quence of terminating payments, beyond 50,000,000f. 
 of annuities. It was hoped that the redemption of 
 the sinking fund, largely endowed with national 
 property, would absorb, before it had time to be 
 produced, that foreseen excess of 9 ; 000,000f. or 
 10,000,000 f. But in any case, by an article of the 
 budget to be added, at the moment when the 
 inscriptions should exceed 50,000,000 f., such a 
 portion would be created for redemption, as should 
 in fifteen years absorb the sum exceeding the 
 amount thenceforward fixed for the national debt. 
 
 The title of this was also to be properly regu- 
 lated. The different denominations of " consoli- 
 dated thirds," " mobilized two-thirds," " Belgian 
 debt," and others, were abolished, and replaced by 
 the unique title of " five per cent, consolidated." It 
 was arranged that this debt should be the first in- 
 scribed in the budget; that the interest of it should 
 be paid before any other expense, and uniformly in 
 the month following every half year. It was esti- 
 mated that the life debt, at that instant amounting 
 to -.0,000,0001'., might ascend to 24,000,000 f.; but 
 it was imagined that the extinctions proceeding as 
 fast as the new liquidations, it would always be 
 kept on the level of 20,000,000 f. The expenses 
 which were susceptible of greater augmentation, 
 were those of the interior, for the roads and public 
 works ; those of the clergy, for the successive 
 establishment of new cures, — expenses rather to 
 be greeted than regretted. As for those of public 
 instruction and the legion of honour, they were 
 lately provided for, as before seen, by means of an 
 endowment out of the national domains. 
 
 In regard to these increasing expenses, the pro- 
 gress of the revenue afforded the prospect of an 
 income still more rapidly accruing. The customs, 
 the posts, the registration, the domains of the 
 state, gave a considerable surplus.' Besides these, 
 there remain d as a resource, the indirect taxes, 
 which had been re-established at this time only for 
 the advantage of the towns and the service of the 
 hospitals. Heavy complaints had been made in 
 the legislative body and in the tribunate this year, 
 of the burden of the direct contributions, and new 
 arguments bad been urged for the re-establishment 
 of taxes upon articles of consumption. Accurate 
 calculations had exhibited, in a stronger light than 
 ever, the enormous proportion of the direct con- 
 tributions. The tax Oil land and houses reached 
 210,000,0001'.; on personal and moveable pro- 
 perty, to .*>2,000,000 f. ; on doors and windows, to 
 16,000,000 f. ; on patents, to 21,000,0001'.; total, 
 
 2/0,000.000 f., more than one-half, consequent])', in 
 a budget of receipts of 502,000,000 f. The public 
 compared these sums with those paid during the 
 administration of Turgot and of Necker, and de- 
 manded the re-establishment of a more just pro- 
 portion between the different taxes. Before 1789, 
 in fact, the land and personal tax had produced 
 221,000,000 f. ; the indirect taxes, 294,000,000 f. ; 
 in all, 5 1 5,000,000 f. The natural conclusion from 
 all these complaints, was the re-establishment of 
 the old duties upon provisions, — tobacco, salt, and 
 the like. The first consul heard these remon- 
 strances with pleasure ; they furnished him with a 
 potent reason for a new financial creation, which 
 he had long secretly resolved upon in his mind, 
 but which was not yet fully matured. 
 
 The situation of the finances was, therefore, ex- 
 cellent, and it was every day becoming better regu- 
 lated. The 90,000,000 f. directed, by means of a 
 creation of stock, for clearing off the arrears of the 
 years v., vi., and til, before the consulate, were 
 found to be competent to that purpose ; the 
 21,000,000 f. devoted to the liquidation of the 
 debts of the year VIIL, the first year of the con- 
 sulate, sufficed equally for acquitting the entire 
 service for which that sum was designed. Lastly, 
 the service of the year ix., the first which bad 
 been regularly established, although amounting to 
 520,000,000 f.,in place of 415,000,000 f., was wholly 
 liquidated by the extraordinary increase in the 
 product of the revenue. It has been already seen 
 that the estimates of the current year, that of the 
 year x., exactly balanced in income and expen- 
 diture. 
 
 To sum up, a debt in perpetual stock of 
 50,000 ; 000 f., perfectly regulated, and reduced to 
 one denomination, provided for by a sufficient en- 
 dowment in the national domains; a debt in life 
 annuities of 20,000,000 f. ; in civil pensions, to the 
 amount of 20,000,000 f. ; 21 0,000,000 f; assigned to 
 the war department ; 105,000,000 f. to the navy ; 
 these composed, with other expenses less in amount, 
 a budget of 500,000,000 f.; not excluding the.addi- 
 tional centimes and expenses of the collection ; a 
 budget covered by a revenue, which was manifestly 
 increasing with rapidity, and that without reckon- 
 ing the re-establishment of the indirect contribu- 
 tions, left as a resource for new necessities that it 
 was possible might subsequently arise. 
 
 Thus after a war of ten years, and after splendid 
 conquests, the estimates returned a budget of 
 500,000,000 f., the budget of 1789, with this differ- 
 ence, that the debt composed a very small portion 
 in a comparison with the revenue ; and that this 
 amount of 500,000,000 f., raised to 625,000,000 f. 
 by the additional centimes and the cost of collec- 
 tion, represented the entire outgoing of the country, 
 in fact, all the charges ; while the revenue of 
 500,000,0(10 f. of the budget of Louis XVI. omitted, 
 not only the expenses, if the collection, but the re- 
 venues of the clergy, the feudal rights, the corvees, 
 that is to Bay, many hundreds of millions of charges 
 more. If in' 1802 France paid 625,000,000 f. equally 
 divided, France paid in 17<'I9 from 1 100,000,000 f. 
 to 1200,000,000 f., with a territory one-quarter less. 
 The revolution, without reckoning the benefits of a 
 complete' social reform, had therefore produced, at 
 least in a most important point of view, something 
 besides calamity. In all this prosperity in the
 
 1802. 
 June. 
 
 Result of the appeal to 
 the people. 
 
 THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. 
 
 Changes in the constitution 
 made by Bonaparte. 
 
 367 
 
 finances there was but one thing to be regretted, 
 this was the bankruptcy, the result of naper-mon y ; 
 but this was in no way imputable to the consular 
 government. 
 
 These financial propositions were not now re- 
 ceived as tlmse of the year IX. had been, by a vio- 
 lent opposition ; they were satisfactory to the two 
 legislative assemblies, and were voted merely with 
 some observations on the direct and indirect con- 
 tributions, — observations such as the government 
 itself would have dictated, if they had not 
 thus spontaneously elicited. 
 
 The foregoing was the last act of this session of 
 forty-live days, consecrated to these great and im- 
 portant objec 
 
 The tribunate and the legislative body separated 
 on the 20th of .May, or 30th of Floreal, leaving 
 France in a stat" in which she had never been 
 before, and perhaps never will be again. 
 
 At this time the population was flocking to the 
 mayoralties, to the offices of the clerks of the tri- 
 bunals, and to the notaries, for the purpose of 
 giving an affirmative reply to the question put to 
 the country by the council of state. The number 
 of votes which were or were about to be given, was 
 estimated at between three and four millions. This 
 is apparently but a small proportion out of a popu- 
 lation of thirty-six millions of souls; but it is a large 
 one, larger than is expected, and such as was not 
 obtained in the greater part of the known constitu- 
 tions, in which three, four, or five hundred thou- 
 sand votes at most expressed the national will. In 
 fact, of thirty-six millions of persons, one-half 
 belong to the sex which lias no political rights. Of 
 the remaining eighteen millions, there are old 
 people and children 1 , who reduce the valid popu- 
 lation of the country to twelve millions at most. It 
 is therefore an extraordinary number, if the men 
 who labour with their hands are considered mostly 
 illiterate, and scarcely knowing under what govern- 
 ment they live ; it is an extraordinary number, that 
 four millions out of twelve, were thus brought to 
 form an opinion, and not only to form an opinion, 
 but to express it. 
 
 It is true, there were republicans and royalists 
 who were dissentients, and came to express a nega- 
 tive to the question, while they attested by their 
 nee at Buch an act, the perfect freedom left to 
 the public upon the matter. Hut it was a small 
 and almost imperceptible minority. As to the rest, 
 whether voting pro or eon, they were tranquil, and 
 produced by their attendance upon the act no sen- 
 sible agitation, so satisfied and peacefully disposed 
 were the |» ■■■; 
 
 \ i Mind the government, on the other hand, there 
 existed a Bpecies of fermentation of mind, on ac- 
 eonnt of the changes which were sure to be made 
 in the constitution, in consequence of the prolonga- 
 
 1 According to the returns of the English population, of 
 10,000 I mid lie twenty years of age and 
 
 Under, 988 only bear,' in thiir twentieth year. If thi. pro- 
 portion be .e plied to I In Prance, who at 
 twenty yeai "Id liardly exerclie political 
 rights, tin- remit v. i,l be 9,000,000 above twenty yean old. 
 From these the Infirm, very aged, dlatc til nl politically, and 
 
 the lowest and n. 
 
 The Dumber doei then t n appi ar ver proving 
 
 the great popularity of Bonaparte at that moment— the mo- 
 ment of his brightest glory.— Translator. 
 
 tion of the consulship for life. A thousand different 
 rumours were spread abroad relating to the sub- 
 ject, having an origin in the wishes of each par- 
 ticular party. 
 
 The brothers of Iionaparte, Lueien in particular, 
 had not entirely renounced his idea of a regular 
 monarchy, which might immediately confer upon 
 the brothers the rank of princes, and place them 
 beyond a level with the great functionaries of the 
 state. Rcederer, the friend and confidant of 
 Lueien, was, of all others, the person who was 
 most ready to give his opinion, being the most 
 advanced in monarchical advocacy, much more 
 from his natural inclination than through any in- 
 terested suggestion. lie was a councillor of state, 
 who had the charge of public instruction, under 
 Chaptal, the minister of the interior ; and he made 
 use of his post in oiiler to address circular letters 
 to the prefects, which were totally in opposition to 
 the nature of his ofhee, and had a direct relation 
 to the questions which at that moment occupied the 
 attention alike of the government and the public. 
 These circulars, in which particulars of a certain 
 kind were contained, requiring a reply, and requir- 
 ing it in a truly monarchical sense, not emanating 
 from the minister himself, but still being issued by 
 a very distinguished authority, seemed to reveal 
 some concealed scheme, that perhaps had its origin 
 in a higher authority. They agitated the minds of 
 the people in the provinces, and gave place to a 
 thousand reports. 
 
 Roederer, and those who were of his opinion, 
 would, if possible, have raised in the departments 
 a sort of spontaneous wish, that would authorize 
 more boldness than had been recently exhibited. 
 They did not fail to address the first consul with 
 most earnest solicitations to arrange, in a more 
 courageous mode, the questions which had 
 mooted. But the first consul was fixed. He 
 believed with all the more discreet and prudent 
 friends of the government, that it was sufficient, 
 at least for the present, to establish the consulship 
 for life ; that it was perfect monarchy, more par- 
 ticularly if the power of designating a successor 
 was appended to it. A movement of opinion easily 
 enough perceptible among the men surrounding 
 tin- supreme power, and even among the most 
 d, had warned the first consul that no more 
 ought to he attempted, lie therefore determined 
 to halt; and he qualified as most indiscreet, till that 
 was .-aid and done by the ill judging friends about 
 him, whoso zeal was far from displeasing him, but 
 was not partaken enough by others to meet 
 
 approval. 
 
 in the mean time- he employed himself to make 
 certain changes in the constitution, which appeared 
 
 indispensable to him. Although he was per- 
 fectly disposed to censure the work of Sieves, he 
 though! it righl to preserve the groundwork of it, 
 adding to it merely some- conveniences lor the 
 government that wore new. 
 
 ingular disposition of mind was produced in 
 
 some persi Miami, d (hat the monarchy 
 
 should be I ! - sineo the force of circum- 
 
 stance: seemed to require it ; but that in return 
 there should In- granti d to France those lil 
 which in a monarchy are compatible with loyalty, 
 '.hat is to Bay, that" there should he given to it 
 purely and simply the English monarchy, with un
 
 368 Bonaparte's ideas on the THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. English constitution. 
 
 1802, 
 Jane. 
 
 hereditary royalty, and two independent chambers. 
 Upon this subject M. Camille Jordan had pub- 
 lished a work, very much a subject of remark by 
 the small number of persons who still intermingled 
 with political questions, because the large mass of 
 the people had no other mind in the matter than 
 to let the first consul do as he pleased. Thus this 
 idea of a representative monarchy, that at the 
 opening of the revolution had presented itself to 
 Lally Tollendal and to Mourner, as the form 
 necessary for the government of France, and 
 which fifty years later was designed to become 
 the last form, this idea again appeared to some 
 persons like one of those elevated and far-off 
 mountains, that in a long journey are perceived 
 more than once before they are reached. 
 
 The sincere royalists who wished for a monarchy, 
 even that of the Bourbons, if that of the Bourbons 
 were not discovered to be impracticable, and with 
 general Bonaparte, if it were not practicable with- 
 out him, were strongly of this opinion, so were 
 those also of the royalist party, but these last from 
 different motives. They hoped that with the 
 elections and a free press, every thing would soon 
 fall into confusion, as was the case under the 
 directory, and that from such a renewal of the 
 chaos, there would finally arise the legitimate mo- 
 narchy of the Bourbons, as the necessary term to 
 the calamities of France. 
 
 The first consul had no idea of adhering to such 
 a project, although it might bring with it royalty 
 to his own person. It was not only out of his dis- 
 like to resistance towards his objects that would 
 make him oppose such a form of government ; it 
 was from the sincere conviction of the impossibility 
 of such an establishment in the existing state of 
 things. 
 
 Those who are unwilling to see in him any 
 other than the soldier, or at most an administrator 
 of the government, not the statesman, imagine that 
 he had no idea of the English constitution. This is 
 a complete error. Seeing in England the only 
 formidable enemy France had in Europe, he 
 kept his eyes constantly fixed upon her, and he 
 had penetrated into the most secret relations of 
 her constitution. In his frequent conversations 
 upon matters of government, he reasoned with 
 rare sagacity. One thing much displeased him in 
 the English constitution, and he expressed his sen- 
 timents in its regard with that vivacity of language 
 which was peculiar to him ; this was, to see *he 
 great affairs of slate, such as demand, in order 
 to ensure success, long meditation, a great suc- 
 cession of views, profound secrecy in the execu- 
 tion, laid open to publicity and to hazard through 
 intrigue or eloquence. 
 
 "Let Fox, Pitt, or Addington," he said, "be 
 more clever one than the other in the management 
 of parliamentary intrigue, or more eloquent in one 
 sitting of parliament, and we shall have war in- 
 stead of peace ; the world will be on fire anew ; 
 France will destroy England, or she will be de- 
 stroyed by her. Give up," he exclaimed angrily, 
 "give up the fate of the world to such influences !" 
 That great mind, exclusively preoccupied with 
 the condition of a perfect execution in the affairs 
 of state, forgot that if those affairs are not sub- 
 mitted to parliamentary influences, which are only, 
 after all, the national influences, represented by 
 
 passionate men, fallible there is no doubt, as all 
 men are, they fall under influences, mischievous 
 enough in a different way, under those of a Madam 
 de Maintenon in an age of devotees, or of a Madam 
 de Pompadour in a dissolute age, and even if a 
 nation has the transient good fortune to possess a 
 great man, like Frederick or Napoleon, they fall 
 under the influence of ambitii n, which will waste 
 it to exhaustion in the chance of battles. 
 
 This error aside, an error very natural with 
 Bonaparte, he was struck', he agreed, with that 
 liberty, free from storms, that the British constitu- 
 tion conferred upon England. He appeared only 
 to doubt whether it would suit the French charac- 
 ter, so hasty and lively. In this point of view he 
 was in complete uncertainty. But he regarded it 
 as perfectly impossible to suit France under exist- 
 ing circumstances. 
 
 The first consul insisted that such a constitution 
 required in the first place a strong dose of heredi- 
 tary right; that it required hereditary peers and an 
 hereditary king; that in France these notions were 
 cast aside ; that the people in France were ready 
 to take him (Bonaparte) for a dictator, but that 
 they would not take him as an hereditary monarch, 
 (which at that moment was true enough,) that it 
 was the same thing with the senate, to which no- 
 body would agree to grant hereditary rank, although 
 ready to grant it an extraordinary constituent 
 power ; that the want of stability was felt so much 
 by France, as that she would readily grant to any 
 body the most extensive authority, but it must 
 only be for life ; that such was really the disposi- 
 tion of the public mind ; that France had not 
 within reach the elements of English royalty, 
 because it had neither king nor peers ; that the se- 
 nators of Sieves, aristocrats of \ esierday, the greater 
 part without fortune, living upon public salaries, 
 would become ridiculous if it were attempted to 
 convert them into English lords ; that if in default 
 of these the great landed proprietors should be 
 selected, that would be to fiing themselves into the 
 arms of their most formidable enemies, because 
 they were royalists in their hearts, more friends of 
 the English and the Austrians than the French, 
 thus they had not wherewith to make an upper 
 chamber ; that by taking the speakers from the tri- 
 bunate, and dumb members of the legislative body, 
 there might be found materials, in name at least, 
 for forming a lower chamber; but that to render it 
 seriously an imitation of England, there must be a 
 tribune, press, and elections free, all these would 
 recommence again the four years of the directory, 
 of which he had been a witness, and which would 
 never be blotted from his memory ; that there 
 were then seen formed in the electoral colleges a ma- 
 jority, which under the pretext of dispersing the 
 men stained with blood, would only elect royalists 
 more or less openly avowed ; that there hat! been 
 seen at the same time a hundred journals, all filled 
 with raging royalism. all moving in the same sense, 
 and that but for the 18th of Fructidor, without the 
 assistance lent to the directory by the army of 
 Italy, they would have aided in the triumph of 
 this disguised counter-revolution ; that soon, by an 
 inevitable reaction, those royalist elections were 
 succeeded by terrorist elections, which bad alarmed 
 till honest men, who demanded that they should be 
 annulled ; that if the way was again opened to
 
 1802. 
 June. 
 
 Bonaparte's conversations on 
 the government needful 
 for France. 
 
 THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. 
 
 Alteration of Sieves' con- 
 stitution. 
 
 .-5G9 
 
 these people, the country would go on from con- 
 vulsion to convulsion, to the ultimate triumph of 
 the Bourbon ami the Foreigner ; that it was neces- 
 sary to arrest the torrent and terminate the revo- 
 lution, by maintaining in authority the man who 
 had accomplished it, and by consolidating, in wise 
 laws, its just and necessary principles. 
 
 On this occasion, the first consul repeated Ins 
 favourite thesis, which consisted in his saying, 
 that in order to preserve the revolution, it was 
 necessary first to protect its authors, and place 
 them at the head of affairs; and that without his 
 aid they would, by this time, have all disappear d, 
 through the ingratitude of the existing generation. 
 " See," cried he, " what have become of Rewhell, 
 lianas, La ReVeillere ! where are they > Who 
 thinks of them ? None have been saved but those 
 I have taken by the hand, placed in power, and sup- 
 ported despite the movement that drags us along. 
 See Fondie, what labour 1 had to defend him ; 
 Talleyrand cries out loudly against Fouchc ; but 
 the Malouets, Talons, and Calonnes, who offered 
 me their places and aid, tiny would have quickly 
 got rid of Talleyrand, had I chosen to lend myself 
 to them. They spare military men a little because 
 they fear them, and because it is not easy to take 
 the place of Laniics or MasseTia at the head of an 
 army. But if they spare them to-day, they will 
 not do so much longer. As to myself, I cannot 
 tell what they would do with me. Have they not 
 proposed to get me named constable to Louis 
 XVI II.; Doubtless the spirit of the revolution 
 is immortal ; it will survive the men of the time. 
 The revolution will be completed triumphantly ; 
 but by the hands of the society of the Manege ? 
 No; fur there would be continually reactions, con- 
 vulsions, and, for the conclusion, counter-revolu- 
 tion ! 
 
 " At present," added the first consul, " it is 
 necessary to make a government first with the 
 men of the revolution, of those who have ex- 
 perience, and performed services ; of those wlwi 
 have no blood upon their garments, unless it be 
 the blood of the Russians and Austrian*; next, to 
 join with them a small number of men who have 
 newly arisen, experienced judges, or men of the 
 old times, if you will, taken from Versailles, pro- 
 vided they are men of capacity, provided they will 
 Come in as submissive adherents, not as disdainful 
 protectors. The constitution of Sieyes is good, 
 wish some modifications, for tin; attainment of this 
 object. It is necessary, above all. to consecrate 
 tip- ^'reat principle of tin; French revolution, which 
 is civil equality, that is to say, equal jusiice in 
 every thing, in legislation, the tribunals, the ad- 
 ministration, tin' taxes, tin- military service, the 
 distribution of employments, and so on. At pre- 
 sent, each department is on an equality with 
 another department; every Frenchman is on an 
 equality with any other Frenchman; every citizen 
 
 obeys the same law, appears before the suite 
 
 judge, submits to the same punishment, receives 
 the same recompence, pays the same taxes, fur- 
 nishes the same military service, arrives at the 
 same rank, whatever be his parentage, his religion, 
 or the place of his origin, lien- are the grand 
 
 BOCial results of the revolution, which are well 
 
 worth the trouble we have suffered m attaining 
 them, and which must be maintained invariably. 
 
 After these results there is yet another that must 
 be maintained with equal energy, and that is the 
 greatness of France. The efforts of the press, the 
 s|» eches of the tribune, do not now take our side; 
 in other times they may be turned round in our 
 favour. Now we must needs have order, repose, 
 prosperity, well conducted affairs, and the pre- 
 servation of our external greatness. To preserve 
 this greatness, the contest is not over, it will re- 
 commence; and to sustain ourselves, we shall have 
 need of great strength, and the utmost unity of 
 government." 
 
 Such is the substance of successive conversations 
 of the first consul, with those whom he admitted 
 to communicate to him their ideas, and with whom 
 he contemplated modelling anew the consular 
 constitution. 
 
 It is easy to recognize here his habitual manner 
 of thinking. Without gainsaying what the future 
 might present, and only disquieting himself about 
 the present, he saw that the welfare of France 
 consisted in the amalgamation of all parties, and in 
 the maintenance and completion of the social re- 
 form brought about at the revolution; and, finally, 
 in the development of the power acquired by the 
 French arms. In regard to liberty, he rejected it 
 as a return to the past troubles of France, and as 
 an obstacle to all the good he wished to perform. 
 It left in his mind the impression of a difficult 
 problem, to solve which was no business of his, 
 since twelve years of agitation had laid by the de- 
 sire and necessity of it for a long while to come. 
 Sieyes, with his aristocratic constitution, borrowed 
 from the republics of the middle age when in their 
 decline, with his senate clothed in the electoral 
 power, with his lists of notability, a sort of un- 
 changeable golden book, had discovered the con- 
 stitution best adapted to the situation. 
 
 The first consul took care not to touch the 
 senate; he wished, on the contrary, to render it 
 more powerful; but he projected a primary altera- 
 tion, which, in appearance at least, was a conces- 
 sion to the popular influence. 
 
 The lists of notability, which contained the five 
 hundred thousand persons, from amongst whom 
 it was necessary to choose the councils of the ar- 
 rondissemeuts and of the departments, and the 
 legislative body, the tribunate, and the senate itself, 
 which lists were never altered, save lor the pur- 
 pose ol filling up the places of those who had died, 
 or those caused by the names of parties struck out 
 as unworthy, such as bankrupts, for instance; the 
 lists of notability appeared too illusory, and left 
 the government, as would be remarked at the pre- 
 sent time, without any tie in common with the 
 country. They were, besides, very difficult to 
 form, because Lhe citizens took no interest what- 
 ever in a matter of such trilling importance to 
 themselves. 
 
 The first consul thought that the augmentation 
 of authority which he was destined to receive, and 
 some other modifications favourable to (be power 
 
 about to strengthen the constitution, ought to In; 
 
 repaid by some popular concession, at least in ap- 
 
 peurance. He therefore determined to establish 
 
 electoral colleges. 
 
 Ill Consequence, several kinds of colleges u i re 
 
 devised. At first, meetings of the cantons were 
 
 to be created, composed of all the inhabitants of 
 
 It B
 
 „_ n Changes in the constitution. 
 «»7" — Electoral colleges. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Changes in the senate. 
 
 1802. 
 July. 
 
 the canton that possessed the age and quality of 
 citizens, who were charged to choose two electoral 
 colleges, one of the arrondissement, the other of 
 the department. The college of the arrondisse- 
 ment was to he formed according to the popula- 
 tion, and to he composed of one individual out of 
 five hundred. The college of the department was 
 to be formed in the same mode, but of one only 
 in a thousand persons. But the number of electors 
 was not to exceed six hundred of those who were 
 rated highest to the public taxes. 
 
 These two electoral colleges of the arrondisse- 
 ment and the department were to be elected for 
 life by the central assemblies, which having once 
 performed the duty of a general nomination, would 
 have nothing more to do but to replace the de- 
 ceased or excluded members. 
 
 The government appointed the presidents of all 
 these assemblies, whether of those of the cantons 
 or of the electoral colleges. It was to possess the 
 power of dissolving an electoral college. In this 
 case, the assemblies of the canton were to be con- 
 voked, to compose anew the college that had been 
 dissolved. 
 
 These cantonal assemblies and the two electoral 
 colleges of arrondissement and department, were 
 to present candidates to the consuls, for the offices 
 of justices of the peace 1 , and the municipal and 
 departmental authorities. The college of arron- 
 dissement presented two candidates fur the vacant 
 places in the tribunate; the college of department 
 two candidates for the vacant places in the senate. 
 Each of these two -colleges presented two candi- 
 dates for the vacant places in the legislative body, 
 which made four together. Thus the tribunate 
 originated from the council of the arrondissement; 
 tile senate from the council of the department, and 
 the legislative body from both. 
 
 The senate still possessed the right of choosing 
 the members of the tribunate, the legislative body, 
 and also its own members, from the candidates 
 thus presented. 
 
 Thus the kind of change made in the constitution 
 may be easily perceived. In place of the various 
 lists of notability, completed or modified, as time 
 might render necessary, by the universal body of 
 citizens, electoral colleges, chosen for life by the 
 same universal body, were now to elect the candi- 
 dates, and from these the senate was to select 
 those whom it saw fit as being the body which 
 generated all the rest. The alteration thus effected 
 was not very considerable, because the electoral 
 colleges chosen for life, sometimes modified, it is 
 true, when death or bankruptcy might cause a 
 vacancy, were very nearly as immutable as the 
 lists of notability, but still they occasionally assem- 
 bled to elect candidates. Under this operation 
 the citizens might be said to have recovered some 
 part of the power of the composition of the de- 
 liberative assemblies. Electoral tumults there 
 was very little reason to apprehend with such 
 a composition of citizens. 
 
 The legislative body and the tribunate were to 
 be separated into five series of members, going 
 out in turn one after another every year. The 
 senate replaced the portion which went out, taking 
 those for selection from among the candidates pre- 
 
 1 Justices de Paix. 
 
 sented to them. The colleges for life replaced 
 afterwards the candidates that the election of the 
 fifth had absorbed out of their number. 
 
 After this concession, which at that time ap- 
 peared so exorbitant that all the colleagues of the 
 first consul went so far as to say, that he must 
 feel very conscious of his own power, and very 
 secure in his post, to yield so much to the popular 
 influence ; they went at work to complete the 
 various powers of the senate conformably to the 
 indications drawn from the recent events. 
 
 The senate was to retain at first the privilege of 
 electing all the bodies of the state. It was further 
 wished to confer upon it besides a more perfect 
 constituent power. Already the government had 
 made it exercise that power, by giving it the right 
 of interpreting the 38th article of the constitution, 
 in calling upon it to decide upon the recall of the 
 emigrants, and in making it demand a prolongation 
 of the authority of the first consul. It was ex- 
 ceedingly convenient to have at hand a constituent 
 power, always ready to create that for which there 
 might be any necessity. 
 
 It was then settled that the senate, at any time, 
 by means of a senatus-consultum, denominated " or- 
 ganic," should have the faculty of interpreting the 
 constitution for the purpose of completing it, and, 
 in short, to do every thing that was necessary 
 to make it work in its due course. 
 
 It was also arranged that by the senatus-consultum 
 simply, the senate might pronounce the suspension 
 of the constitution, and of trial by jury in certain 
 departments, and determine in what cases an indi- 
 vidual, confined on any extraordinary occasion, 
 should be sent before the judges for trial in the 
 ordinary way, or be detained in prison. Lastly, there 
 were delegated to this body two extraordinary attri- 
 butes, the one appertaining to royalty in a mo- 
 narchy, the other not attaching to any power in a 
 regularly constituted state ; the first was the 
 faculty of dissolving the legislative body and the 
 tribunate ; the second, that of cancelling the judg- 
 ments of the tribunals, whenever they might be 
 thought dangerous to the safety of the state. 
 
 The hist attribute would be inconceivable if the 
 circumstances of the times had not explained it. 
 Certain tribunals had, in fact, pronounced judg- 
 ments in cases relating to the national property, 
 which were sufficient to drive to despair the nume- 
 rous and powerful class of persons who had become 
 possessed of it. 
 
 It was next decided that the senate, which in 
 the course of ten years was to be increased from 
 sixty to eighty members by means of two nomi- 
 nations annually, should be at, once advanced to 
 eighty. There were fourteen nominations to be 
 made immediately. The first consul, in addition 
 to these, had the power of appointing forty new 
 senators, thus raising the number to a hundred 
 and twenty. By these means the government was 
 relieved from new inconveniences, such as those 
 which it sustained at the commencement of the 
 session of the year x. 
 
 The tribunate and the council of state were 
 equally modified in their organization. While the 
 council of state might be raised to fifty members, 
 the tribunate was to be reduced to fifty, by the 
 successive extinction of the members, and was to 
 be divided into sections, answering to the sections 

 
 1802. 
 July. 
 
 Question of a council of 
 state. 
 
 THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. 
 
 Regulations of the succession. 
 — Summary of the changes 
 in the constitution. 
 
 371 
 
 of the council of state. It was to make a first 
 examination in sections, with closed doors, of the 
 
 different laws preferred, which might be submitted 
 to them afterwards in a general meeting of the 
 
 whole body. These bills were still to be discussed 
 by the three orators before the silent legislative 
 body, opposed to three councillors of state, or on 
 the same side with them, according as the project 
 of the law might be approved or disapproved. 
 
 Henceforth, therefore, the tribunate was no 
 more than a second council of state, whose duty it 
 was to criticise with closed doors, and in conse- 
 quence without energy, such measures as the first 
 consul might prepare. 
 
 Finally, the prerogative of voting treaties was 
 taken away from the legislative body and from 
 the tribunate. The first consul recollected what 
 had happened to the treaty with Russia, and would 
 not again be exposed to a scene of the same kind. 
 He devised a privy council composed of consuls, 
 ministers, two senators, two counsellors of state, 
 and two members of the legion of honour, having 
 the rank of great officers, the one and the other 
 alike designated by the first consul for each im- 
 portant occasion. This privy council alone was to 
 insulted upon the ratification of treaties. It 
 was also empowered to draw up the organic settuliis- 
 
 COIISIlltlllll. 
 
 The creation of a privy council was a wrong 
 done to the council of state, because it touched 
 upon its duties; and of this that body appeared 
 sensible. By such means the first consul withdrew 
 from the cognizance of the council of state the 
 treaties which it had before been accustomed to 
 consider, because he began to think that thirty 
 or forty individuals were too many to receive com- 
 munications of this nature. 
 
 It remained to organize the executive power 
 upon the new basis of the consulate for life. The 
 first consul wished that the same power which was 
 given to him for life, should also be conferri dupon 
 his colleagues for the same term. " You have 
 dune enough for me," he said to the second consul 
 Cambaceres, " 1 ought now to assure to you your 
 position." The principle of the continuance for 
 life was then fixed in regard to the two other 
 consuls, as well fur the present as for the future. 
 I great question of the designation of a succes- 
 sor to the first consul, remained still to be ar- 
 ranged, for by this the right of hereditary siinvs- 
 simi was in the present case to he determined. 
 i ill Bonaparte wished at first to decline the 
 power which it was desired to cooler upon him of 
 designating hi or. At length he yielded, 
 
 and it was agreed that he should have the power of 
 such a designation during his life. In case of such 
 an appointment, the p i on named was to he pre- 
 sented in great state to the senate ; be was to take 
 an oath to the republic before the senate, in 
 usiils, the ministers, the legis- 
 lative body, the tribunate, the council of state, the 
 tribunal of cassation, tin' archbishops and bishops, 
 the presidi nts of the electoral colleges, the great 
 
 officers of the legion of honour, and the mayors of 
 
 twi nty-four great cities of the republic. After 
 this solemnity lie was adopted by tin- existing con- 
 sul and the French nation, lie was to take rank 
 in the senate with the consult* immediately all p 
 the third. 
 
 If, however, to spare the feelings of his family, 
 the first consul should not during his life-time 
 nominate a successor, and should only nominate 
 him by will, in such a case he was, lief ore his 
 decease, to remit his will, so nominating his suc- 
 cessor, sealed with his seal, to the other consuls, in 
 presence of the ministers and the presidents of 
 the counsellors of state. This will was to be 
 deposited in the archives of the republic. But in 
 that ease it was necessary that the senate should 
 ratify the voluntary testament which had. not been 
 produced during the life of the testator. 
 
 If the first consul should not have made his 
 adoption during his life, or if he should not leave a 
 will, or the will should not be ratified, then the 
 i Bond and third consuls were empowered to ap- 
 point a successor. They were to propose him to 
 the senate, whose duty it was to elect him. 
 
 Such were the forms employed for securing tflie 
 regular transmission of the consular authority. Jt 
 was a substitute in place of hereditary succession; 
 but there was nothing to prevent its being here- 
 ditary, because the chief of the state was left free 
 to select his own son if he had one. He was only 
 empowered to propose naming his heirs, or hhn 
 whom ho should deem to be most worthy. 
 
 The consuls were, by right, members of the 
 senate, and were to preside at the sittings. 
 
 One grand prerogative was added to the power 
 of the first consul. He received the right of grant- 
 ing pardon for offences. This was to assimilate as 
 much as possible his authority to that of royalty 
 itself. 
 
 On the accession of a new first consul, a law was 
 to fix his allowance, or, to speak more correctly, 
 his civil list. On the present occasion, the sum of 
 (5,000,000 f. 1 was fixed for the first consul, and 
 1,200,000 f. 2 for his two colleagues, both sums were 
 to be provided for in the budget. 
 
 To all these dispositions there were some new 
 ones added, which concerned the regulation of the 
 tribunals. The duties of the administrative govern- 
 ment were better conducted than those of justice, 
 because the former depended more immediately 
 upon a firm and impartial master; the officials 
 being revocable every moment by him, the 
 ministers went forward exactly in his spirit. B\it 
 justice used its independence, as all the liberty 
 conceded by the State was used, in delivering itself 
 over to the passions of the day. In some places it 
 persecuted the acquirers of national property, in 
 Others unjustly favoured them. lint no where did 
 it exhibit that discipline and regularity which hits 
 been seen since, and which gave to the great body 
 of tin- magistracy a dignified, but still a deferential, 
 authority. To the disposition conferred in parti- 
 cular cases upon the senate of reviewing the judg- 
 ments id' the tribunals, a disposition quite extraor- 
 dinary, and fortunately not permanent, a further 
 power of regulating them was added. The tri- 
 bunals of the first instance were placed under the 
 regulation of the courts of appeal, and the tri- 
 bunals of appeal under those of the tribunal of 
 Cassation. A judge who was wanting in his duty 
 might be called before a superior tribunal, and 
 
 reprimanded or suspended. At tin- bead of the 
 whole magistracy, a 'f grand judge" was to bo 
 
 ' About £250,000. 
 
 ;i]y £. r )0,000. 
 
 I. 1. 2
 
 372 
 
 The senate made a 
 mere instrument 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 of the first consul.' 
 Reflections. 
 
 1802. 
 July. 
 
 placed, having the power to preside at the tri- 
 bunals if ne saw fit, whose duty it was to watch 
 over them, and to regulate them. He was thus 
 minister of justice, while he was a public magis- 
 trate. 
 
 Such were the modifications introduced into the 
 consular constitution, some devised by tlie first 
 consul himself, others proposed by his councillors. 
 They were all collected in the form of an organic 
 tenatus-consuttum, which was to be presented to the 
 senate, and adopted by that body. 
 
 They consisted, as already seen, in substituting 
 for the lists of notability that vast, inert, and 
 deceptive candidateship, electoral colleges chosen 
 for life, which assembled at certain times to pre- 
 sent candidates to the choice, of the senate ; to 
 give to the senate already charged with electoral 
 functions, and the care of watching over the con- 
 stitution, the power of modifying that constitution, 
 of perfecting it, and of removing every obstacle in 
 its way; in fine, the power to dissolve the trihunate 
 and the legislative body ; to confer on general 
 Bonaparte the consulship for life, with the faculty 
 of designating his successor ; to give him besides, 
 the finest of the prerogatives of royalty, the right 
 of pardoning criminals ; to take from the tribunate 
 its numerical strength, and nearly that of all pub- 
 licity, making it in fact a second council of state, 
 charged with censuring the labours of the first ; to 
 carry away from the legislative body and the 
 council of state to a privy council, certain im- 
 portant public affairs, such for example as the 
 approbation of treaties; finally, to establish among 
 the tribunals a discipline and a hierarchy. 
 
 It was still the aristocratic constitution of Sieyes, 
 apt to turn round to aristocracy or despotism, 
 according to the hand which directed it ; at this 
 moment tinning towards absolute power, under 
 the hand of general Bonaparte, but after his 
 decease, as capable of being transformed into a 
 complete aristocracy, if before his death he did not 
 precipitate the whole into an abyss. 
 
 In conferring for his own convenience such high 
 attributes upon the senate, the first consul had 
 insured to himself for life a most devoted instru- 
 ment, by means of which he was able to do any- 
 thing which he desired ; but after his death, that 
 very instrument become independent, in its own 
 turn would be all-powerful. Under a successor 
 less great, less glorious, with the minds of men 
 awakened, after a long slumber, an entirely new 
 spectacle would present itself. The departmental 
 aristocracy, of which the electoral colleges for life 
 were composed, and the national aristocracy of 
 which the senate was formed, one presenting can- 
 didates to the other, would be very well able, by a 
 concurrence of objects, natural and even necessary, 
 to create in the legislative body and the tribunate 
 a majority which could not but be invincible to the 
 monarchical power qualified as first consul, and thus 
 to cause the renewal of a species of liberty, an 
 aristocratic liberty it is true, but which is one, 
 under ordinary circumstances, not less haughty, 
 nor less consistent, nor the least durable of all 
 others. Moreover, liberty is always secured when 
 the power is divided, and its exercise subjected to 
 the deliberations of an assembly. There cannot be, 
 in effect, more than two plausible opinions regard- 
 ing the important interests of a country. If the 
 
 executive power has in its front an authority 
 capable of resisting it, this last, aristocratic or 
 otherwise, embraces, by an irresistible propensity 
 for contradiction, the opinions which the former 
 has repelled. It tends to peace in the presence of 
 an executive which leans to war, and tends to- 
 wards war in presence of an executive power that 
 leans towards peace : it adopts a liberal policy 
 when the government is inclined to conservative 
 views. In a word, there exists contradiction, from 
 whence arise discussion and liberty ; as liberty in 
 all countries principally consists in the free and 
 bold discussion of the affairs of state, by the citi- 
 zens, pro or con, no matter how it originates. This 
 constitution of Sieyes, therefore, might, it is possi- 
 ble, at some future day, return to its primitive end, 
 but at this moment it was no more than a mask for 
 a dictatorship. A constitution, of whatever kind, 
 always yields results conformable to the existing 
 state of public opinion. There are times when 
 opposition is the prevalent bias ; there are others 
 when there is a general tendency to support the 
 governing power. At this time public opinion was 
 inclined to adhere to the government ; the form of 
 the government in reality at the moment, was a 
 matter of indifference. 
 
 It must be admitted that this nominal republic 
 possessed unusual greatness; it recalled, in some 
 respects, the Roman republic converted into the 
 empire. The senate had the power of the ancient 
 Roman senate, a power that it resigned to the em- 
 peror when he was strong, and took back for its 
 own purposes when he was weak or liberal. The 
 first consul had, in fact, the power of the Roman 
 emperors; he had the hereditary succession, that 
 is to say, the choice between the appointment of 
 his natural or adopted successors. It may be 
 added, that he enjoyed nearly the same power 
 over the world. 
 
 The new constitution, thus remodelled, was now 
 ready; the votes demanded of all the French citi- 
 zens were given. The consul Cambace'res, ever 
 Conciliatory, proposed to the first consul a very 
 wise step, which was, to confide to the senate the 
 duty of counting the collected votes, and of pro- 
 claiming the numbers. "It is," said he, with 
 sound reason, " a very natural mode of extricating 
 a great body from a false position, caused by a 
 mistake." The senate had, in fact, proposed a 
 prolongation of ten years, and the first consul had 
 assumed the consulship for life. Since that time 
 the senate had become silent, and had not taken, 
 because it could not take, any steps for giving that 
 body the task of proclaiming the result ; it would 
 be made a party to the measure, and would be 
 drawn out of the embarrassed state in whiih it 
 was placed. " Come," said Canibace'ics to the first 
 consul; " come to the assistance of nun who made 
 a mistake in endeavouring to guess your wishes." 
 The first consul smiled with a little more ol sar- 
 castic expression in his face than was customary, 
 at the prudence of his colleague, and quickly c< n- 
 sented to the politic proposal thus made to him. 
 
 The registers in which the votes had been en- 
 tered were sent to the senate, to be counted and 
 made up. A total of 3,577,259 citizens had vota d, 
 and out of that number, 3,5C8,8fi5 had voted for 
 the consulate for life. In this enormous mass of 
 approving voters, there were only eight thousand
 
 1802. 
 July. 
 
 Result of the popular voting. THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. Result of the popular voting. 373 
 
 and some hundred dissentients; an almost imper- 
 ceptible minority. Never had any government 
 obtained such an assent ; and none ever, in an 
 equal degree, deserved it. 
 
 This result being verified, the senate issued a 
 u-contultum, in three articles. The first of 
 these articles was thus stated : — 
 
 '• The French people nominate, and the senate 
 ''mis Napoleon Bonaparte first consul for 
 life." 
 
 It was from this period that the prenomen of 
 Napoleon began to appear in the public acts of 
 the government, together with the family name of 
 Bonaparte, which last was only, up to that mo- 
 ment, known to the world. This brilliant pre- 
 nomen, that the voices of nations have so often 
 rep ated since, had been, until this time, but once 
 employed, namely, in the constituent act of the 
 Italian republic. In approximating to the sove- 
 reignty, the prenomen, being gradually separated 
 from the family name, was soon to figure alone 
 anil couspicu >usly in the universal language of the 
 world; ami the general Bonaparte, called for one 
 moment Napoleon Bonaparte, was soon to be 
 called Napoleon, conformably to the manner of 
 designating monarchs. 
 
 The second article of the senatus-comultum de- 
 en 11I that a statue of peace, holding in one hand 
 tlie laurel of victory, and in the other the decree 
 of the senate, should attest to posterity the grati- 
 tud of the nation. 
 
 Finally, the third article declared that the 
 senate, in a body, should go and present to the 
 first consul, with this senatus-oonsultum, the ex- 
 pression of the "confidence, love, and admiration" 
 of the French people. These three expressions 
 are those of the decree itself. 
 
 A day for a grand diplomatic reception was 
 fixed upon, when the senate should proceed to the 
 Tiiileries. It was on the morning of the 3rd of 
 August, 1802, or loth of Therraidor. All the 
 ministers of the different courts of Europe, now at 
 peace, were assembled in a spacious hall, where 
 the first consul had been accustomed to receive 
 them, and where foreigners of distinction were 
 presented. The levee had hardly begun when the 
 senate was announced. At the same moment the 
 entire body was introduced, when the president 
 Barthelemy spoke as follows : — 
 
 " The French people," said he, addressing the 
 first consul, '" the French people acknowledge 
 with gratitdde the immense services which you 
 
 have rendered it, and is desirous that the first 
 
 magistracy should remain immoveably in your 
 hands. In securing that office to you during the 
 term of your life, it only expresses the desire of 
 
 tie- senal , as explained in the tenabu-contuitum of 
 
 tie- 18th Ploreal. The nation, by this solemn act 
 of gratitude, imparts to von the duly of consoli- 
 dating our institutions." 
 
 After this exordium, the president briefly enu- 
 merated the grand actions of general Bonaparte, 
 both in war and peace; predicted prosperity fop 
 the future, without the misfortunes that no one 
 
 then foresaw; and repeated, finally, that which, tit 
 the moment, was proclaimed by ihe utmost vnie, 
 "f fame. The president then read the le\t of the 
 
 decree; and the first consul, bowing to the senate, 
 replied in these fine words : — 
 
 " The life of 11 citizen is the property of his 
 country. The French people will that mine should 
 be entirely consecrated to its service. I am obe- 
 dient to its will. 
 
 "By my efforts, by your aid, citizens, by the 
 assistance of till the authorities, by the confidence 
 and the will of this great people, the liberty, the 
 equality, the prosperity of France, will be sheltered 
 from the caprices of fortune and the uncertainties 
 of futurity. The best of people will be the most 
 happy, as it is most worthy of being, and its hap- 
 piness will contribute to that of all Europe. 
 
 " Content thus to have been called by the com- 
 mand of that power from nhich all emanates, to 
 bring back to this land, order, just ice, and equality, 
 I shall attend my last hour without regret and 
 without inquietude, reposing upon the opinion of 
 future generations." 
 
 After receiving the affectionate thanks of the 
 senate, the first consul accompanied that body 
 back to the ante-chamber, and continued his re- 
 ception of strangers, who were presented to him 
 by the ministers of England, Russia, Austria, 
 Prussia, Sweden, Bavaria, Hesse, Wurtemberg, 
 Spain, Naples, and America, for the whole world 
 was, at that moment, at peace with France. On 
 the same day, lords Holland and Grey, the same 
 that are known to the present generation, were pre- 
 sented to the first consul, with a number of other 
 individuals of distinction. 
 
 On the following day, the 4th of August, the 
 new articles, containing the modification of the 
 constitution, were submitted to the council of state. 
 The first consul presided at this solemn sitting ; 
 he read the articles one after another, and ex- 
 plained the motives for each with energy and pre- 
 cision. He expressed his ideas upon each article, 
 as has been already stated. He even started ob- 
 jections to them, and answered them himself. On 
 the designation of a successor, there was a short 
 discussion, in which might be perceived still some 
 traces of the resistance which he had before offered 
 to the arrangement. Petiet and Roederer asserted 
 that the designation of a successor, made by will, 
 should be as binding as if it were made by a so- 
 lemn adoption, in presence of the great bodies of 
 the state. The first consul would not agree that 
 such a will was as binding upon the senate, for the 
 reason, that when a man was dead, however great 
 he had been, he was then nothing ; that his last 
 will might be set aside or disobeyed, and that in 
 submitting it for the ratification of the senate, he 
 should only yield to an unavoidable necessity. 
 Upon this occasion, there were some singular ex- 
 pressions which he let fall, which prove that, for 
 the instant, be thought nothing more of hereditary 
 
 succession, lie remarked, when speaking of it, at 
 least in Bubstauce, that it was not in accordance 
 
 with prevailing manners and opinions. His nature 
 diil not lead bun either to falsehood or h\ pocrisy ; 
 but placed as men always are under the influence 
 
 of the present moment, he repelled the idea of 
 
 hereditary succession, because lie perceived that 
 
 the minds of the people were very little disposed 
 
 towards its adoption; ami that, invested as he was, 
 
 besides, with a power altogether monarchical, be 
 was satisfied with the reality without the title. To 
 
 judge from his language in ibis respect, be had 
 frankly stated his mind upon the subji ft.
 
 374 
 
 Conduct of the Bonaparte 
 
 family. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Fouche loses his post. 
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 There were certain objections afterwards made 
 against the institution of the privy council, on the 
 part of the council of state, the power of which 
 was' somewhat diminished by that institution. 
 Upon this subject the first consul discovered a 
 little embarrassment, respecting a body which he 
 had always so far treated with a marked predilec- 
 tion, and that he thus seemed to despoil of a part 
 of! its importance. He said that the privy council 
 was only instituted for very rare cases, which re- 
 quired a rigorous secrecy, impossible to preserve 
 in a body of forty or fifty individuals; that still 
 the council of state would preserve continually the 
 sakne importance as before, and take cognizance of 
 all great affairs. 
 
 After some modifications of detail, the scnatus- 
 consultum was carried to the senate, and after a 
 species of homologue, converted into an organic 
 senatm-consuhiun. The following day, being the 
 5th of August, or 17th Thermidor, it was published 
 with the customary forms, and thus became the 
 supplement to the consular constitution. 
 
 France exhibited the deepest satisfaction. The 
 family of the first consul had seen neither all their 
 wishes nor all their fears accomplished ; yet still 
 it shared in the general contentment. Madame 
 Bonaparte began to be more tranquil, now all 
 thoughts of royalty seemed to have evaporated. 
 This species of hereditary succession, which left to 
 the chief of the state the care of choosing a suc- 
 cessor, was all which she desired, because she had 
 no child by general Bonaparte, and possessed a 
 beloved daughter, the wife of Louis Bonaparte, who 
 was about to become a mother. She wished to 
 have, and she flattered herself she should have, a 
 grandson. She thought to see in him the successor 
 to the sceptre of the world. Her husband shared 
 iii her views. The brothers of Napoleon — he will 
 henceforth be called by that name — were less satis- 
 fied, at least Lueien, whose continual activity of 
 mind nothing would keep quiet. But an arrange- 
 ment had been devised to please them, by an intro- 
 duction into the organic articles. The law of the 
 legion of honour had enacted, that the grand council 
 of the legion should be composed of three consuls, 
 and one representative from each of the great 
 bodies of the state. The council of state had no- 
 minated Joseph Bonaparte to this post ; the tribu- 
 nate, Lueien. A disposition of the senahis-consirftum 
 enacted, that the members of the grand council of 
 the legion of honc-xr should be senators by right. 
 The two brothers of Napoleon were then principal 
 personages in that noble institution charged with 
 the distribution of all the recompenses, and they 
 were, as members of the senate, naturally called to 
 exercise a great influence in that body. Joseph, 
 moderate in his wishes, seemed to desire nothing 
 more. Lueien was only half contented, and it was 
 not in his nature to be more so. The first consul, 
 in getting his colleagues Cambace'res and Lebrun 
 made consuls for lite, had endeavoured to keep 
 near his person individuals who were pleased at 
 his own elevation. He had succeeded. One per- 
 sonage alone at this period, so favourable to the 
 advancement of every other person, was rather 
 ill used ; this was Fouche, the minister of police. 
 Whether his advice, personal with regard to the 
 schemes of the Bonaparte family, was noticed, or 
 whether the efforts made to injure him with the 
 
 master were successful, or, which is more probable, 
 that the first consul wished to add to all his recent 
 acts of clemency and reconcilement, a measure 
 which had still more than others the aspect of con- 
 fidence and oblivion, the ministry of police was 
 suppressed. 
 
 This minister, as has been said elsewhere, then 
 possessed an importance which he could never 
 have had under a regular regime, thanks to the 
 arbitrary power with which the government was 
 invested, and thanks to the funds of which he 
 disposed without controul. Emigrants returned 
 or about to return, Vendeans, republicans, priests 
 unsworn, he had to watch all these agents of mis- 
 chief, and he performed his duty with no scrupu- 
 lous feelings. But although Fouche executed the 
 duties of his office with tact and a great deal of 
 intelligence, he was still odious to the parties whom 
 he thus kept under restraint. The first consul 
 suppressed the ministry, and contented himself 
 with making of the police merely a general direc- 
 tion attached to the ministry of justice. Re'al, the 
 councillor of state, was charged with that direction. 
 The administration of justice was taken from M. 
 Abrial, a clever man, wholly devoted to his busi- 
 ness, but whose slow and laboured method of ful- 
 filling his official duties was disagreeable to the 
 first consul. His place was given to M. Regnier, 
 afterwards duke of Massa, a learned and eloquent 
 magistrate, who had inspired the chief that dis- 
 posed of the fortunes of all with regard and con- 
 fidence. M. Regnier received with the adminis- 
 tration of justice the title of grand judge, a title 
 newly created by the organic senatus-cortsultum. 
 The nature of his qualifications rendered him little 
 proper to direct M. Re'al in the difficult investiga- 
 tions of the police ; and thus M. Re'al, transacting 
 business immediately with the first consul, became 
 well nigh independent of the minister of justice. 
 Unfortunately, with M. Fouche' was lost a know- 
 ledge of men, and of their relations with different 
 parties, which he alone possessed in the same 
 degree. This sacrifice, hastily made in subser- 
 vience to the ideas of the hour, was made with 
 too little reflection, and, as will soon be seen, 
 consequences followed to be regretted. Still it 
 must not be supposed that M. Fouche" was to 
 appear disgraced. A place was reserved for him 
 in the senate, as well as for M. Abrial. In the 
 act which nominated him a senator, M. Fouche" 
 obtained a flattering mention of his public ser- 
 vices. It was even stated in the document, that 
 if the necessities of the time should cause a re- 
 construction of the office, then suppressed, M. 
 Fouche' would be sought for to fill his old office 
 of police minister, even on the benches of the 
 senate. 
 
 There were some other changes in the personal 
 part of the government. Roederer, who did not 
 very well coincide with M. Chaptal, the minister 
 of the interior, in his views upon public instruc- 
 tion, which duty was confided to his care, gave up 
 the post to the learned Fourcroy, and received, as 
 Fouche' and Abrial had done, a seat in the senate 
 as an indemnity. The first consul also raised to 
 the senate the respectable archbishop of Paris, M. 
 de Belloy. In acting thus, he had no design to 
 give the clergy any influence in political affairs, 
 but he wished that all the great social interests
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 Celebration of the birtli-day 
 of the first consul. 
 
 THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. 
 
 Bonaparte inhabits St. Cloud. 
 — Summary of events. 
 
 375 
 
 should be represented in the senate, the interest of 
 religion as well as every other. 
 
 On the 15th of August, or '27th Thermidor, for 
 the first time, the birth-day anniversary of the 
 first consul was celebrated in France. This was 
 the progressive introduction of monarchical usages, 
 in making the birth-day of the sovereign a national 
 festival. On the morning of that day, the first 
 consul received the senate, the tribunate, the 
 council of state, the clergy, the civil and military 
 authorities of the 1 capital, the diplomatic bodies, 
 who came to congratulate him on the public joy, 
 and his own private happiness. A Te Deum was 
 sung at noon in the church of Notre Dame, and i:i 
 all the churches of the republic. In the evening, 
 there were brilliant illuminations, representing in 
 Paris, here a figure of victory, there one of peace, 
 and further on, upon one of the towers of Notre 
 Dame, the sign of the zodiac, under which was 
 born the author of all these benefits, for which the 
 nation had to be thankful to Heaven. 
 
 Some days afterwards, on the 21st of August, or 
 3rd Fructidor, the first consul went in great pomp to 
 take possession of the presidency of the senate. All 
 the troops of the division were formed < n //«<V, from 
 the Tuileriea to the palace of the Luxemburg. The 
 carriage of the new master of France, escorted by 
 a numerous staff, and by the mounted consular 
 guard, was drawn by eight magnificent horses, as 
 were formerly the carriages of the French kings. 
 No one partook with him tin- honour of its occupa- 
 tion. In the carriages which followed came the 
 second and third consuls, the ministers and presi- 
 dents of the council of state. On arriving at the 
 Luxemburg, the first consul was welcomed by a 
 deputation of ten senators. Seated upon a chair 
 very similar to a throne, he received the oaths of 
 his two brothers, Lucien and Joseph, become 
 irs by right, in their quality of members of 
 rrand council of the legion of honour. After 
 this formality was completed, the councillors of 
 state, chosen especially for that purpose, presented 
 five projects, eHch in the shape of a senatm-con- 
 tuUumf relative, the first to the menials to be 
 ted by the great authorities; the second, to 
 the renewal, by series, of the legislative body and 
 of the tribunate; the third, on the mode to !)•■ fol- 
 lowed in case of the dissolution of these two assem- 
 
 : the fourth, on the designation of tin: twenty- 
 four great cities of the republic ; and, lastly, the 
 filth, upon the union of the isle of Elba with the' 
 French territory. 
 
 in order to attach to the senate tie- influence 
 promised it, in the greater affairs of Btate, Talley- 
 rand read a report of great, moment, upon the 
 
 arrangements which were preparing in Germany, 
 under the direction of France, lor indemnifying 
 
 with the eeclesiastieal principalities the hereditary 
 princes who had been dispossessed of property on 
 the Kit hank of the Rhine. This was, as will sub- 
 sequently be Been in the coarse of this history, the 
 
 greatest affair of the time. That business being 
 
 once concluded, the world, it seemed probable, 
 
 would remain at rest for a considerable lime. In 
 
 publishing to the senate in this report the views of 
 France, the * 1 1 — t consul announced to Europe bis 
 upon this important Bubjecl ; or, to be more 
 explicit, he intimated his will, because it was well 
 known that he was not a man to withdraw from 
 
 giving effect to a resolution which he had once 
 publicly announced. The reading of the report 
 finished, Napoleon withdrew, leaving to the senate 
 the care of examining the five denatus-consulta 
 which had been submitted to them. 
 
 Accompanied back again by the ten senators 
 who had received him upon his arrival, and 
 greeted on his way by the acclamations of the 
 people of Paris, the first consul re entered the 
 palace of the Tuileries like a constitutional mo- 
 narch who had just held a royal sitting. 
 
 The summer was now far advanced, and the end 
 of August approaching. The first consul took pos- 
 11 of the chateau of St. Cloud, which he had 
 refused when it was first offered him for a country 
 residence. Having changed his determination upon 
 the matter, he had ordered repairs to be made in 
 the building, which, at first inconsiderable, soon 
 extended over the whole chateau. They had been 
 just finished. The first consul, therefore, profited 
 by .such a moment to take up his residence in that 
 beautiful edifice. There he received, on fixed 
 days, the great functionaries of the state of all 
 classes, foreigners, and ambassadors. On Sunday 
 mass was said in the chapel ; and those who had 
 opposed the concordat soon began to attend, as 
 in former times they had attended at Versailles. 
 The first consul, accompanied with his wife, 
 heard a short mass, and afterwards held conver- 
 sations in the gallery of the chateau with those 
 who were on a visit to him. These, arranged in 
 two lines, awaited him, and listened to his words as 
 they listened to those of royalty, or to those of men 
 of genius. In this circle no one was heard or re- 
 garded but him. No potentate upon earth ever 
 obtained or merited in the same degree the pure 
 homage of which he was at that time the object, 
 both on the part of France and of the whole world. 
 
 It was already the imperial authority which ho 
 subsequently assumed, but it was with the universal 
 consent of the people, with forms less regal, but 
 more worthy of that dignity, as there still remained 
 a certain republican modesty, which agreed well 
 with the new authority, and which reminded the 
 Spectator of Augustus, retaining, amidst the su- 
 premo power, the external habits of a Roman 
 citizen. 
 
 At times, after pursuing a long route over a very 
 extensive and beautiful country, the traveller stops 
 
 for a moment upon some 1 levated spot, in order to 
 Contemplate the district over which hi' has jour- 
 neyed : let us imitate his example here, let us 
 pause for a moment, and casting a glance at the 
 
 past, contemplate the prodigious labours of Bona- 
 subsequently to the 18th Brumaire. What 
 
 a profusion of events, what variety, what greatness 
 
 of achievement are displayed ! 
 
 After traversing the seas by a miracle and at- 
 taining Prance, Surprised ami delighted at his sud- 
 den re-appearance, he overthrew the directory, 
 
 took the reins of power, accepted the constitution 
 
 of Sieyes, modified in regard to the executive 
 
 power in some measure, and having introduced a 
 
 degree of order into the administration, re-esta- 
 blished on a fresh system the collection and pay- 
 ment of the taxes, he raised public credit, s< nt off 
 the first, relief to the armies then in a slate of pri- 
 vation, profited by the w inter season to overwhelm 
 1. a Vendee by a sudden union of troops, rapidly
 
 370 
 
 Summary of events. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Summary of events. 
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 brought these troops back to the frontier, and in 
 the midst of the apparent confusion of tliese move- 
 ments, created at the foot of the Alps, wholly un- 
 noticed, an improbable army, destined to fall 
 suddenly in the midst of the enemy that still re- 
 fused to credit its existence. Every thing being 
 ready to enter upon the campaign, he had offered 
 to Europe the choice of peace or war, and war 
 having been preferred by Europe, he had ordered 
 the passage of the Rhine to take place, sent Mo- 
 reau on to the Danube, placed Massena in Genoa, 
 there to stop and retain the Austrian forces ; then 
 Moreau having thrown general Kray upon Ulm, 
 Massena having upon the other side kept Melas 
 before Genoa by his heroic defence of that place, 
 he had himself on a sudden passed the Alps over 
 an unbeaten track, with his artillery drawn in the 
 excavated trunks of trees, appeared in the centre 
 of astonished Italy, cut off the retreat of the Aus- 
 trians, and in one decisive battle, several times 
 lost and gained, had taken their army, crushed all 
 the designs of the coalition, and extorted from 
 Europe, in a state of utter consternation, an ar- 
 mistice of six months' duration. 
 
 It was during these six months of truce that the 
 labours of the first consul became even more sur- 
 prising still. Negotiating and attending to the 
 government at the same time, he had changed the 
 political aspect of things, turned the affections of 
 Europe towards France and against England, gained 
 the heart of Paid I., brought the uncertain court of 
 Prussia to a decision, imparted to Denmark and 
 Sweden the courage to resist maritime violence, of 
 which their commerce was the object, united the 
 league of the neutral powers against Great Britain, 
 closed against her the ports of the continent from 
 the Texel to Cadiz and from Cadiz to tran to, and 
 prepared immense armaments for the succour of 
 Egypt. While performing all these things, he had 
 completed the re-organization of the finances, re- 
 stored credit, paid the obligations of the state in 
 hard coin, created the bank of France, repaired 
 the roads, repressed highway robbery, opened mag- 
 nificent communications over the Alps, founded 
 hospitals on their summits, undertaken the great 
 fortifications of Alexandria, improved Mantua, 
 opened canals, erected new bridges, and com- 
 menced the compilation of the codes of law. At 
 length, Austria still hesitating to conclude a peace, 
 he pushed Moreau in advance, and that general, 
 after destroying the power of Austria in the me- 
 morable battle of Hohenlinden, had forced the pro- 
 mise of that peace under the very walls of Vienna, 
 which was soon afterwards signed at Luneville. 
 
 It was at this moment that a frightful crime, in 
 the infernal machine, put into hazard the life 
 of the first consul, and having irritated his fiery 
 spirit, he was urged to the commission of the only 
 fault of which he was guilty during the time when 
 he exhibited such unequalled talent and mode- 
 ration, this was the transportation, without trial, of 
 the hundred and thirty revolutionists. Sad are 
 the vicissitudes of violent men in revolutionary 
 times ! The assassins of September, in their turn 
 thus struck down, neither found laws nor courage 
 for their defence ; while the tribunate, which 
 opposed itself to the best measures of the first 
 consul, did not dare to offer one word on behalf of 
 these proscribed persons. 
 
 All powerful on the continent, having thrown 
 into discredit and then expelled from office the 
 two ministers who had formed all the coalitions 
 against France, M. Thugut of Vienna, and Pitt of 
 London, the first consul had thrown upon Eng- 
 land the entire of Europe. Nelson, by the blow 
 inflicted on the Danes in Copenhagen, and the 
 Russians by assassinating their emperor, had 
 saved England from the disasters which threatened 
 her ; but in thus saving her from these disasters, 
 they had not imparted to her the courage or the 
 means to carry on the war. 
 
 The English nation, struck alike with fear and 
 admiration of the achievements of Bonaparte, had 
 finally consented to the peace of Amiens, the finest 
 ever concluded by France. 
 
 The temple of Janus was thus closed ; and then 
 the first consul wished to add to the peace with 
 the European powers a peace with the church. 
 He hastened, therefore, to negotiate the concordat, 
 to reconcile Rome with the revolution, to re-erect 
 the altars, to render to France all that was neces- 
 sary to civilized society ; and having arrived at the 
 third year of his consulship, he presented himself 
 to the two legislative assemblies, bearing peace in 
 his hand, both on land and sea, peace with heaven, 
 an amnesty to all proscribed persons, a magnificent 
 code of laws, an effectual system of public edu- 
 cation, and a glorious scheme of public honours. 
 Although he presented himself with his hands full 
 of these gifts, he had still encountered an unex- 
 pected, violent, and senseless opposition, arising 
 out of good and evil feelings, from envy in 
 some, and in others from the desire of a liberty 
 impracticable at that time. Delivered from this 
 by the cleverness of his colleague Cambace'res, 
 which, in his anger, he would else have violently 
 crushed, he had at this point attained the end of 
 his toils, and had succeeded in procuring the 
 national assent to the treaties concluded with 
 Europe, to the concordat, to his system of lay and 
 national education, and to the legion of honour, 
 and in receiving, as the recompense of his ser- 
 vices, the consular power for life, and the greatness 
 of a Roman emperor. At this moment he resumed 
 the labour of forming the codes of law, became 
 arbiter of all the clashing continental interests, 
 reformed the German constitution, and distributed 
 the territories to the different princes, with an 
 equity and justice acknowledged by all Europe. 
 
 Now, if forgetting all which has passed subse- 
 quently, we imagine for a moment this dictator, 
 then so necessary to France, remaining as discreet 
 as he was powerful, uniting those opposite qualities, 
 which God, it is true, has never yet united in the 
 same individual, that vigour of genius which consti- 
 tutes the great soldier, with that patience which is 
 the distinctive trait in the founder of an empire, 
 calming, .by a long peaqe, the agitated state of the 
 French social body, and preparing it by degrees 
 for that freedom which is both the honour and 
 necessity of modern nations ; then after having 
 made France so great, appeasing in place of irri- 
 tating the jealousies of the European nations ; 
 changing into permanency the general policy and 
 the territorial demarcations settled at Lune'ville 
 and Amiens, finally terminating his career by an 
 act worthy of the Antonines, by finding, no matter 
 where, the most worthy successor to himself, and
 
 1S02. 
 Aag. 
 
 Summary of events. 
 
 THE SECULARIZATIONS. 
 
 Summary of events. 
 
 377 
 
 leaving to him this organize)] France, prepared to 
 enjoy liberty, and for ever aggrandized ; what man 
 would have equalled him ! But this man. in war 
 great as Caesar, politic as Augustus, virtuous as 
 Marcus Aurelius, would have been more than man; 
 and Providence luis given the world no divinities 
 to be its rulers. 
 
 Yet still at this period he appeared so moderate 
 after having been so victorious ; be exhibited him- 
 self so profound a legislator after proving his 
 greatness as a soldier; he showed so much love 
 for the arts of peace, having so much excelled in 
 those of war, that he might well be able to raise 
 illusions in France and in the world. Duly a few 
 amoug those who were in his councils, and were 
 
 capable of observing the future through the pre- 
 sent, were affected with uneasiness as well as 
 admiration in observing the indefatigable activity 
 
 of his mind and body, the energy of his will, and 
 the impetuosity of his desires. They trembled 
 even at seeing him do good in the way be per- 
 formed it, so great was his impatience to accom- 
 plish it rapidly, and upon such an extended scale. 
 The wise Trunchet, notwithstanding, who at once 
 admired and loved him, regarding him as the 
 saviour of France, observed one day to Carnba- 
 ce'res, with melancholy feeling, " This young man 
 has commenced like Caesar ; 1 fear that he will end 
 like Ctesar." 
 
 BOOK XV. 
 
 THE SECULARIZATIONS. 
 
 CONGRATULATION'S ADDRESSED TO THE PIRST CONSUL BY THE FOREIGN CADINETS, UPON HIS ACCESSION TO THE 
 CONSULATE FOR LIFE. — FIRST EFFECTS OF THE PEACE WITH ENGLAND. — ENGLAND DESIRES A TREATY OF COM- 
 MKRCE WITH FRANCE — DIFFICULTY OF RECONCILING THE MERCANTILE INTERKSTS OF THE TWO COUNTRIES. — 
 PAMPHLETS WRITTEN IN LONDON BY THE EMIGRANTS AGAINST THE FIRST CONSUL. — RE-ESTABLISH M ENT OF A 
 GOOD UNDERSTANDING WITH SPAIN. — THE DUCHY' OF PARMA BECOMES VACANT, AND THE COURT OF MADRID 
 WISHES TO ADD THAT DUCHY TO THE KINGDOM OF ETRURIA. — THE NECESSITY OF ADJOURNING ANY RESOLU- 
 TION' UPON THE SUBJECT. — DEFINITIVE UNION OF PIEDMONT WITH FRANCE. — ACTUAL POLICY OF THE FIRST 
 CONSUL IN REGARD TO ITALY.— GOOD UNDERSTANDING WITH THE HOLY SEE.— MOMENTA RY DISPUTE ABOUT 
 THE PROMOTION OF FRENCH CARDINALS — THE FIRST CONSUL OBTAINS THE GRANT OF FIVE AT ONCE. — HE 
 MAKES A PRESENT TO THE TOPE OF TWO BRIGS OF WAR, CALLED THE "ST. PETER" AND "ST. PAUL." — 
 QUARREL WITH THE DEY OF ALGIERS PROMPTLY TERMINATED. — TROUBLES IN SWITZERLAND. — DESCRIPTION OF 
 THE COUNTRY AND ITS CONSTITUTION'. — THE UNITED AND THE OLIGARCHICAL PARTIES. — JOURNEY TO PARIS OP 
 THE LANDAMMAN REDING. — HIS PROMISES TO THE FIRST CONSUL SOON BELIED BY EVENTS. — EXPULSION OF 
 THE LANDAMMAN REDING, AND RETURN OF THE MODERATE PARTY TO POWER.— ESTABLISH MENT OF THE CON- 
 STITUTION OF THE 2'JTH OF MAY, a:-D DANGER OF NEW TROUBLES, IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE FEEBLENESS OP 
 THE HELVETIC GOVERN M ENT.— EFFORTS OF THE OLIGARCHICAL TARTY TO DRAW THE ATTENTION OF THE 
 GREAT POWERS TOWARDS SWITZERLAND. — THEIR ATTENTION DRAWN EXCLUSIVELY TO THE AFFAIRS OF GER- 
 MANY—STATE OF GERMANY AFTER THE TREATY OF LUNEVILLE. — PRINCIPLE OF THE S I ( I LA1I IZATIONS LAID 
 DOWN BY THAT TREATY. — Till: SUPPRESSION OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL STATES BRINGS WITH IT GREAT (MANGES 
 IN THE GERMANIC CONSTITUTION. — DESCRIPTION OF THIS CONSTITUTION.— THE PROTESTANT AND ( ITIIOLIC 
 PARTIES; PRUSSIA AND AUSTRIA; THEIR VARIOUS PRETENSIONS. — EXTENT AND VALUE OF THE TF.RRITo l; I I s 
 TO PE DISTRIBUTED. — AUSTRIA ENDEAVOURS TO OBTAIN INDEMNIFICATION FOR THE DOMAINS or Willi II l 11 i: 
 ARCHDCKES HAD BEEN DESPOILED IN ITALY', AND MAKES USE OP IT TO DISPOSSESS BAVARIA OF THE TER1II- 
 TORY FROM THE INN TO THE ISAR. — PRUSSIA, UNDER THE PRETEXT OF INDEMNIFYING HIKSKI.F Kill WHAT 
 SHE HAS LOST UPON THE RHINE, AND TO INDEMNITY THE HOUSE OF ORANGE FOR ITS LOSSES, IS IN HOPES TO 
 CREATE FOR ITSELF A CONSIDERABLE ESTABLISHMENT IN FRANt'ONIA. — DESPAIR OF THE SMAI.I.KR COURTS, 
 TBRBATXBBD SI TMK AMBITION OF THE GREATER ONES. — ALL IN GERMANY FIX THEIR Itlii.AKll I PUN IMF. 
 FIRST IDV.sn.-lli; DETERMINES TO INTERFERE, IN ORDER TO SEE THE PROPER l..\i:il HON OF THE Till. I 1 \ 
 OF J.INEVII.I.E, AND TERMINATE A BUSINESS Willi II MM. Ill IN A MOMENT EMBROIL ALL II MUM.. — HE 
 CHOOfXI TO AI.I.Y HIMSELF WITH PRUSSIA, AND SUPPORT TO A CERTAIN |:X1IM nil IK I II'. Moss up THAT 
 POWER — ■lilt. SI III. ME (IF INDEMNITY A(, 111. Ill ll'ON. IN COBCERT WITH PRUSSIA AND Till LS8MB i.l.RMVN 
 BRIBCBS. — Tills si in. mi. ( (iMMUNICATED TO RUSSIA. — AN OFFER MADE TO THIS COURT CO OOBCUB WITH 
 
 raavcB in tkb sbxai mediatory inteheerence. — the bmpbbob Alexander accebh tbb diiu — 
 
 PRAM i: I li III ssl \ pill, si NT TO THE DIET AT raTISIION, IN QUALITY OP MEDIATING POWERS, 1 II I si hi mi 
 OP INDEMNITY AGREED UPON AT PARIS. — DESPAIR OF AUSTRIA, ABANDONED BY ALL Till: OTHER (AlllMIs, 
 
 AND III resolution TO ui'i'ii.i. in mi: si in. mi. OB THB first (onsi'I,, TBB ILUOOIIRBBII 01 Till; i.iii 
 MINIC constitution 1 n i. PIBB1 ihnsi i. hi. teats this i \ i.i i LATIOB op AUSTRIA, and OBTAIBI Tin 4901 
 TION, BY AN EX IK lOHDIN A l( Y DEPUTATION, OB Till: P Hdl'iis |. D PLAN, Willi sii M 1 MoliIEK llloNS. — AUS- 
 TRIA, TO INTIMIDATE Til I: PRUSSIAN PARTY, THAT FRANCE SUPPORTS, (KM Ills I- l ss 1 1 - PIUI M IT IIESOEU- 
 TION OP THE PIRST CONSUL, AND Ills THREAT 1(1 HAVE llliol Use in ARMS. (.ENERAI. INTIMIDATION.- 
 TINUATION OF THE NEGOTIATION. — DI.IIAT is I ■, i n i mil , i, i i ii i m i: IBACKLXB JOB V Mi. MINI ll\ TUB
 
 _„ Congratulations of Europe 
 "7° to the first consul on 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. the consulate for life. 
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 AVIDITY OF PRUSSIA. — THE FIRST CONSUL, TO PUT AN END TO IT, MAKES A CONCESSION TO THE HOUSE OF 
 AUSTRIA, AND GRANTS TO IT THE BISHOPRIC OF A1CHSTEDT. — THE COURT OF VIENNA YIELDS, AND ADOPTS 
 THE TERMS OF THE DIET.— THE REGISTRY OF THE RESOLUTIONS OF FEBRUARY, 1803, AND DEFINITIVE REGU- 
 LATION OF THE AFFAIRS OF GERMANY. — CHARACTER OF THIS FINE AND DIFFICULT NEGOTIATION. 
 
 The elevation of general Bonaparte to the supreme 
 power, under the title of " consul for life," neither 
 surprised nor displeased the European cabinets. 
 The larger part among them, on the contrary, saw 
 in it a new pledge of repose for every state. In 
 England, where they observed with suspicious 
 attention every thing that passed in France, the 
 premier Addington expressed himself to M. Otto 
 the satisfaction of the British government, and the 
 entire approbation with which it saw an event 
 destined to consolidate order and government in 
 that country. Although the ambition of Bonaparte 
 began to inspire some fears, he was still so far 
 pardoned, because at that moment he was employed 
 in rendering dominant the French republic. The 
 re-establishment of the altars, and the recall of the 
 emigrants, had delighted the English aristocracy 
 and the pious George III. in particular. In Prus- 
 sia the evidences of the same thing had not been 
 less significant. This court, compromised in the 
 esteem of the European diplomacy for having con- 
 cluded a peace with the national convention, felt 
 itself proud to maintain relations of amity with 
 a government so full of genius, and esteemed itself 
 happy to see the affairs of France definitively 
 placed in the hands of a man of whom it hoped to 
 obtain the concurrence in its own ambitious objects 
 regarding Germany. M. Haugwitz addressed the 
 warmest congratulations to the French ambassa- 
 dor, and he went so far as to say, that it would 
 have been more simple to have finished at once, 
 and to have converted into an hereditary sove- 
 reignty that life dictatorship which had been con- 
 ferred upon the first consul. 
 
 The emperor Alexander, who affected to appear 
 a stranger to the prejudices of the Russian aris- 
 tocracy, and who carried on with the head of the 
 French government a frequent and amicable cor- 
 respondence, expressed himself, as far as regarded 
 the later changes, in terms of courtesy and appro- 
 bation. He complimented the new consul for life 
 with as much earnestness as frankness. The 
 ground of these congratulations was always the 
 same. They were as full of praises in Petersburg 
 as in Berlin or London, at seeing order secured in 
 France in a manner that promised to be durable 
 through the indefinite prolongation of the authority 
 of the first consul. At Vienna, where they were 
 fuller of resentful recollections, besides those arising 
 from the blow struck by the sword of the con- 
 queror of Marengo, a sort of good feeling seemed 
 to be generated towards him. The hatred to the 
 revolution had been so great in that capital of the 
 old Germanic empire, that the victories of the 
 general were pardoned to the energetic and obeyed 
 chief inagistate. They even affected to consider 
 his government as altogether opposed to the revo- 
 lution, when in reality it was no more than repara- 
 tion. The archduke Charles, who then governed 
 the war department, said to M. Champagny, that 
 the first consul had made himself, by his cam- 
 paigns, the greatest soldier of modern times ; that 
 by his administration of the government for three 
 years, he had shown himself the most able of 
 
 statesmen ; and that in thus joining the merit 
 of good government to that of arms, he had put the 
 seal to his glory. That which seemed more re- 
 markable still was, that the celebrated queen of 
 Naples, Caroline, mother of the empress of Austria, 
 a determined enemy of the French revolution, 
 being in Vienna, and seeing there M. Champagny, 
 charged him with her hearty congratulations for 
 the chief of the French republic. " General Bona- 
 parte," she said, " is a great man. He has done 
 me much mischief, but the mischief he has done 
 do s not prevent my acknowledgment of his ability 
 and genius. In repressing disorder in your coun- 
 try, he has rendered a service to us all. If he has 
 arrived to be the head of the state in his own 
 country, it is because he was most worthy of the 
 honour. I constantly hold him up as the model 
 for the young princes of the imperial family ; I 
 exhort them to study the conduct of that extraordi- 
 nary personage; to learn from him how to govern 
 nations — how, by the power of genius and glory, to 
 render "supportable the yoke of authority." 
 
 No suffrage in his favour could certainly be so 
 flattering to the first consul as that of this queen, a 
 vanquished enemy, as remarkable for her talent as 
 for the warmth of her passions. The holy father, 
 who had joined in common with the first consul in 
 putting a hand to the great work of re-establishing 
 public worship, and who, despite many things to 
 produce a contrary idea, deemed this the glory of 
 his reign — the holy father himself was delighted to 
 see mount, step b) r step, towards the throne, the 
 man whom he regarded as the most solid support 
 of religion against, the irreligious prejudices of the 
 age. He expressed his satisfaction with a feeling 
 of true paternal affection. Finally, Spain, where 
 the frivolous and disjointed policy of the favourite 
 had for a moment estranged France, did not 
 remain silent upon this occasion, and showed itself 
 satisfied at an event which she agreed with the 
 other courts in regarding as fortunate for all 
 Europe. 
 
 It was, therefore, in the midst of the applauses 
 bestowed upon him by all the world, that this 
 repairer of so many evils, this author of so much 
 good, laid hold of the new power with which the 
 nation was about to invest him. He was treated 
 as the real sovereign of France. The foreign 
 ministers spoke of him to those of France with 
 such forms of respect as are only employed when 
 speaking of monarchs themselves. The etiquette 
 already observed was nearly monarchical. The 
 French ambassadors had taken the livery of the 
 first consul, which was green. This was found a 
 simple, natural, and necessary thing. The unani- 
 mous adhesion to an elevation so sudden and pro- 
 digious, was sincere. Some secret apprehensions 
 mingled here it is true ; but they were in any case 
 prudently dissimulated. It was possible, in fact, 
 to discover in the elevation of the first consul his 
 ambition, and in his ambition the approaching 
 humiliation of Europe ; but they were only those 
 minds which were most gifted witli foresight that 
 were able to penetrate thus deeply into the future;
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 Discontent of the English 
 
 merchants. 
 
 THE SECULARIZATIONS. 
 
 Addington presses a commercial 
 treaty. 
 
 .,,: 
 
 but these were the minds that felt most strongly 
 the immensity of the benefit already received from 
 the consular government. Still congratulations 
 are but parang things ; real business, as in the 
 case of individuals, comes back to load the exist- 
 ence of gov rnmetits, with its uniform and heavy 
 pre ponder; 
 
 In England they began to be sensible of the 
 rial effects of peace. These effects, as almost 
 always happens in the world, did not answer to 
 the expectations formed of its benefits. Three 
 hundred British vessels arrived at once in the 
 French ports, but were not able to dispose of their 
 entire cargoes, because they brought over mer- 
 chandize prohibited by the laws of the revolution. 
 The old treaty of 17eb', having opened impru- 
 dently the French markets to the productions of 
 Great Britain, those of France, more particularly 
 the cotton manufacture, had in a little time been 
 •yed. Sine' the renewal of the war, the pro- 
 hibitory measures adopted by the revolutionary 
 government had operated as a principle of new 
 life to the manufactures of the country, that in the 
 midst of the most fearful political convulsions had 
 renewed their flight, and soared to a remarkable 
 elevation. Tli - first consul, as already noticed 
 . at the moment of the signature of the pre- 
 liminary treaty in London, had taken care not to 
 alter this state of things, nor to renew the evils 
 which had I from the treaty of 1780. Im- 
 
 portations from England were in consequence ren- 
 dered very difficult of entry, and the merchants of 
 the city of London made heavy complaints. Still a 
 contraband trade remained, which was carried on 
 to a great extent, either by the frontiers of Bel- 
 gium, which were III guarded, or by way of Ham- 
 burg. The merchants of this last place, while 
 introducing English merchandize on the continent, 
 and disguising its origin, managed as well to pene- 
 trate i t it-j France, as into the countries placed 
 under its power. Despite the legal prohibitions, 
 which attended the import of British goods into 
 French ports, the contraband trade was able to 
 discover inlets for itself. The manufactures of 
 Manchester and Birmingham were disposed of 
 with great activity. 
 
 This activity, the low price of bread, and the 
 announced suppression of the income-tax, were 
 subjects of satisfaction, which, to a certain point) 
 balanced ontent of the larger merchants. 
 
 But this discontent was considerable, because the 
 larger merchants profited little by speculations 
 founded upon contraband trade. They found the 
 sea covered with the flags of rivals or enemies; 
 they were deprived of thi monopoly of navigation, 
 
 which secured trade during the war, and had 
 BOW no longer an indemnity for themselves in the 
 financial op< rations of Mr. I'itt. Thus they e im- 
 piained loudly enough of the illusiom of the policy 
 that supported peace, us inconveniences for Eng- 
 land, and its exclusive advi or France. The 
 disarming of the fleets left idle an immense number 
 of seanen, to whom the commercial marine of 
 
 i not, tit that moment, give employ- 
 ment ; thi unfortunate men wei • -■ ■ u wandering 
 about on the "hails of the Thames, sometimes 
 even reduced to great misery; ■ ■peetaele as 
 afflicting to the English as it would be for the 
 
 French to Bee the victors of -Marengo and llo- 
 
 henlindcn begging their bread in the streets of 
 Paris. 
 
 Addington, always actuated by amicable feelings, 
 had made the first consul sensible of the necessity 
 of making some commercial arrangements which 
 should be satisfactory to the two countries, and 
 had pointed it out as the means most capable of 
 consolidating the peace. The first consul partook 
 in the disposition of Addington ; he had consented 
 to nominate an agent for the purpose, and to send 
 him to London, in order to seek, in concert with 
 the English ministers, what would be the best 
 manner to adjust the interests of both nations, with- 
 out sacrificing French industry. 
 
 But this was a problem difficult to solve. The 
 impression upon the public mind in London was 
 such regarding every thing which concerned the 
 commercial arrangements, that the arrival of the 
 French agent made a great noise. He was called 
 Coquebert ; they called him Colbert ; they said 
 he was a descendant of the great Colbert, and 
 much commended the suitableness of such a choice 
 for the conclusion of a treaty of commerce. 
 
 Despite the capacity and good will of this agent, 
 a happy result from his labours was hardly to be 
 hoped. Both on one side and the other, the sacri- 
 fices to be made were considerable, and nearly 
 destitute of compensation. The manufactures of 
 iron and cotton constitute, at this day, the better 
 portion of the riches arising from the industry 
 both of France and England, and are the principal 
 objects of commercial rivalry. The French have 
 succeeded in forging iron, in spinning and weaving 
 cotton, in an immense quantity, anil at a very low 
 price, and are naturally little disposed to sacrifice 
 these two branches of manufacture. The manu- 
 facture of iron was, at that time, not very con- 
 siderable. It was, above all, in the weaving of 
 cotton and in hardware that the two nations sought 
 to rival each other. The English demanded that 
 France should open her markets to their cotton 
 and iron goods. The first consul, sensitive to the 
 alarm of the French manufacturers, and impatient 
 to develop in France manufacturing wealth, refused 
 every concession which was contrary to these pa- 
 triotic intentions. The English, on their side, were 
 then no more inclined than they are now, to favour 
 the special products of France '. The wines and 
 silks of France were the articles which France 
 wished to introduce into England. They refused 
 to admit them for two reasons : the treaty binding 
 England to give a preference to Portuguese wines, 
 
 and the desire to promote the silk manufacture 
 in England, which had begun to develop itself 
 there. Whilst the interdiction of the communi- 
 cations between the two countries had made the 
 cotton manufacture valued in Fiance, the English, 
 in like manner, bad set a value upon the manufac- 
 ture of silk. It is true, that the development of 
 
 the manufacture of oottOfl in France had become 
 
 immense, because nothing hindered its complete 
 success; while that of silk in England, on the con- 
 trary, found only a middling •UOCSSB, in eon-. 
 
 l This is hardly correct. French wine SOW pays no more 
 duty than that of Othei countries. Then it paid a higher 
 duty than PortUglMMi under a treat) cxhiliiting a ilrpinr- 
 
 eble Ignorance of the Brrl prlndplM of commerce, happily 
 
 now no more. — Tr<tn*lnl»r.
 
 300 
 
 Scheme for a commercial 
 treaty. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Scheme for a commercial 
 treaty. 
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 quence of the climate, and because of a certain 
 inferiority of taste. Yet, still, the English would 
 not sacrifice to France either the Methuen treaty, 
 which bound them to Portugal, nor their be- 
 ginning silk manufacture, of which they had con- 
 ceived such exaggerated hopes. 
 
 To adjust such clashing interests was well-nigh 
 impossible. It had been proposed to establish, upon 
 the entry into both countries, on the merchandize 
 imported into either the one or the other, duties 
 equal to the benefits which the contrabandist re- 
 ceived, in such a mode as to render free and pro- 
 fitable to the treasury of the public a commerce 
 very beneficial to the smuggler. This proposition 
 alarmed the French and English manufacturers. 
 Besides this, the first consul, convinced of the ne- 
 cessity of great means to produce great results, 
 considering at this time the interests of the cotton 
 manufacturers to be the principal, the most de- 
 sirable of all, determined to insure to it the vast 
 encouragement of an absolute prohibition of the 
 rival manufacture. 
 
 To escape all these difficulties, the French agent 
 conceived a system very seducing at first sight, but 
 nearly impracticable. He proposed to suffer the 
 entrance into France of the productions of Eng- 
 land, whatever they might be, with moderate 
 duties, on the condition, that the ships which in- 
 troduced them should immediately export an equi- 
 valent value in French productions '. It was to be 
 the same for the vessels of France proceeding to 
 England. This was, in a certain manner, to en- 
 courage the national industry in the same propor- 
 tion as that of the stranger. There was, in this 
 combination, another advantage, it was to take 
 from the English a means of influence, of which they 
 made a formidable usage in some countries, thanks 
 to their vast capital — a means of influence which 
 consisted in giving credit to the nations with which 
 they traded, and thus rendering them creditors in 
 considerable sums, and in some sort make them- 
 selves masters of their commerce. This conduct 
 they had held in Russia and in Portugal. They 
 were become possessors of a part of the capital 
 circulating in these states. In giving this credit, 
 they encouraged the consumption of their mer- 
 chandize, and assured themselves besides of the 
 superiority of him who lends over him who bor- 
 rows. The impossibility that the trade of Russia 
 should pass out of their hands, an impossibility so 
 great, that the emperors were not free in the 
 choice of peace or war, unless they chose to die 
 under the poignard, sufficiently proves the danger 
 of this superiority. 
 
 The combination proposed, which tended to in- 
 close the commerce of England within certain 
 limits, presented, unfortunately, so many difficul- 
 
 1 A remarkable example of the ignorance of true com- 
 mercial principles existing at that time is found here. How 
 is all trade carried on but by the exchange of manufactures 
 in the same way, only the operation is less direct, and not 
 being perceptible, is on that account not credited? Wine 
 is even now Irequently exchanged for coals, directly con- 
 veyed from England to the souih of France, in the natural 
 course of trade, which is the same thing as if directly 
 brought about by a similar treaty. They did not acknowledge 
 this in 1802 ; and many do not think now, on the continent, 
 that all trade is but tiiis same exchange more indirectly 
 effected. — Translator. 
 
 ties in the execution, that it was not possible to 
 adopt it. But, in the meanwhile, it employed the 
 imaginations of the public, and left a certain hope 
 to spread itself abroad. This incompatibility of 
 commercial interests did not in itself suffice to 
 cause the renewal of the war between the two 
 countries, if their political views could be con- 
 ciliated, and above all, if Mr. Addington should 
 succeed in sustaining himself against the ministry 
 of Mr. Pitt. 
 
 Mr. Addington, regarding himself as the author 
 of the peace, well knew that it was his sole advan- 
 tage against Mr. Pitt, and he wished to preserve 
 the advantage. In a long conversation with M. 
 Otto, he had spoken upon the subject in the most 
 sensible and amicable manner. A treaty of com- 
 merce, lie said, would be the safest guarantee, and 
 the most lasting for the duration of the peace. In 
 the mean time, it must be understood, that some 
 management of the first consul, upon particular 
 heads, will be found necessary to keep up a good 
 disposition in the English public towards Fiance. 
 You have, in reality, taken possession of Italy by 
 uniting Piedmont to France, and in conferring upon 
 the first consul the presidency of the Italian repub- 
 lic; your troops occupy Switzerland; and yon re- 
 gulate the political affairs of Germany. Let us pass 
 over all these extensions of the power of France; 
 we leave to you the continent. But there are 
 countries about which, at certain times, the minds 
 of the English people are very apt to get into an 
 excitement ; as Holland and Turkey, You are 
 masters of Holland; this is a natural consequence 
 of your position upon the Rhine. But do not add 
 any thing ostensible to the real domination which 
 you actually exercise in that country. If you 
 would wish, for example, to do as you have already 
 done in Italy, by seeking to manage for the first 
 consul to obtain the presidentship of that republic, 
 the commercial men of England will see in that 
 a manner of uniting Holland to France, and will 
 become at once in a state of great alarm. As to 
 Turkey, any new manifestation whatever of the 
 ideas that produced the expedition to Egypt will 
 cause in England a sudden and a universal ex- 
 plosion. I pray you then, do not create for us 
 any difficulty of that nature; conclude an arrange- 
 ment upon the subject of our commercial affairs; 
 obtain the guarantee of the powers for the order of 
 Malta, so that we may be able to evacuate that 
 island, and you will see the peace consolidated, 
 and the last signs of animosity disappear 1 . 
 
 These words of Mr. Addington's were sincere, and 
 he gave a proof of it in making use of the utmost 
 diligence to obtain from the different powers the 
 guarantee of the new order of things constituted at 
 Malta by the treaty of Amiens. Unfortunately 
 M. Talleyrand, by a negligence which he suffered 
 sometimes to prevail in the most important busi- 
 ness, had omitted to give to the French agents the 
 proper instructions relative to the subject, and he 
 left the English agents to solicit by themselves the 
 guarantee which was the previous condition of the 
 evacuation of Malta. Hence there resulted the 
 most vexatious slowness, and still later the most 
 
 1 These words are an exact summary of several conversa- 
 tions given in the despatches of M. Otto. — Note of the 
 Author.
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 Conduct of Pitt and his party. THE SECULARIZATIONS. Conduct of the press in England. 381 
 
 disagreeable consequences. Mr. Addington was 
 therefore in good faith in his desire to maintain 
 peace. Provided lie was not overcome by the 
 ascendancy of Mr. Pitt, he was justified in hoping 
 for its preservation. But Mr. Pitt out of the 
 cabinet was as |>owerful as ever. While Dundas, 
 Wyndham, and Grenville, had publicly attacked 
 the preliminaries of London and the treaty iif 
 Amiens, he kept himself at a distance, leaving to 
 his friends the odium of these open provocations to 
 war, profiting by their violence, keeping an im- 
 posing silence, preserving uniformly (lie sympathies 
 of the old majority of which he had had the support 
 during eighteen years, and abandoning it to Mr. 
 Addington when lie believed the moment came for 
 his retirement. He did not allow himself to per- 
 form any act which could he construed into the 
 resemblance of an hostile bearing towards the 
 minister. He always called Mr. Addington his 
 friend, hut he knew at the same time he had only 
 to give the signal for the overthrow of parliament. 
 The king hated him, and wished him to remain 
 out, but the commercial men of England were de- 
 voted to him, and had confidence in him alone. 
 His friends, less prudent than he, carried i>n an 
 undisguised war against Mr. Addington, and they 
 were believed to be the true organs of Pitt's real 
 opinions. To this tory opposition there joined, 
 without any understanding with him, and even 
 while combating it, the old whig opposition of Fox 
 and Sheridan. These had constantly called for 
 peace, and s nee he had procured it. had obeyed 
 the common inclination of the human heart, always 
 tending to love that hast which it has in its pos- 
 session. They seemed to appreciate no longer this 
 peace, before so much cried up, and they suffered 
 the exaggerating friends of Mr. Pitt to talk as they 
 liked when they declaimed against France. Be- 
 sides, the French revolution, under the new and 
 less liberal form which it had assunv d, appeared 
 to have lost a part of the sympathy of the wlligs. 
 Mr. Addington hail therefore two species of adver- 
 saries, the tory opposition and friends of Mr. Pitt, 
 who had always complained of the peace ami 
 assailed it, and the whig opposition, which had 
 begun to assail it but little less. If the ministry 
 had been overturned, Pitt was the sole person who 
 
 could have become minister, and with him a return 
 
 to war would appear inevitable, an exasperated, cruel 
 
 war, without any other end than th ■ ruin ol one of 
 the two nations. liy a misfortune, one of those 
 faults which the' impatience of oppositions often 
 
 makes them commit, had procured for Mr. Pitt an 
 unheard-of triumph. Although attacking already 
 the- ministi r Addington, in common, though not in 
 
 concert, with tin- aggravating friends of Pitt, tin: 
 
 whig opposition had far tin- last an implacable 
 
 hatred. .Sir Francis Burdett made a motion tend- 
 ing to provoke an inquiry into tin actual situation 
 in which Pitt had left the country at the end of his 
 
 long administration. The friends of the minister 
 
 with great warmth, and lor this proposition 
 
 substituted another, which consisted mainly of a 
 
 motion to demand from the king some mark of 
 national gratitude lor the great statesman who had 
 saved the English constitution and doubled its 
 power. These- were lor going at once to the: rote. 
 Tin- opposing party then drew hack, and demanded 
 an adjournment of home days. Pitt agreed to 
 
 grant the adjournment with a sort of disdain. The 
 motion was ultimately resumed, and Pitt thought 
 proper to be absent, and in his absence, after a 
 very warm discussion, an immense majority re- 
 jected the motion of Burdett, and substituted one 
 which contained the finest possible expression of 
 national acknowledgment lor the ex-minister. In 
 the middle of the contest the minister Addington 
 disappeared. Pitt then became aggrandized by the 
 hatred of his enemies, and his return to the head 
 of affairs was at once a hazard lot- the repose of 
 the world. Still more was supposed than was real, 
 from the want of knowledge of his designs, while 
 he never let fall a wind from which it was possible 
 to infer that he intended peace or war. 
 
 The English newspapers, without returning to 
 their former violent language, were evidently more 
 cool towards the first consul, and began to declaim 
 anew against the ambition of France. They did 
 not, however, make any approach to the odious 
 violence to which tin y descended at a later period. 
 This character was left, it must be spoken with 
 sorrow, to the French emigrants, whom the peace 
 had deprived of all their hopes, and who Bought 
 in outrages upon the first consul and their country, 
 to revive the discord between two nations, whom 
 it was hut too easy to irritate against one another. 
 A pamphleteer, named Peltier, devoted to the 
 service of the Bourbon princes, wrote against the 
 first consul, against his wife, his sisters, and bro- 
 thers, the most abominable pamphlets, in which 
 he attributed to them all, every sort of vice. These 
 pamphlets, received by the English with a disdain 
 which a free nation, accustomed to the freedom of 
 the press, condemned for its excesses, produced 
 an effect in Paris totally different. They filled 
 with hitter resentment the heart of the first consul; 
 and vulgar writers, the instruments of the basest 
 passions, had the power of reaching, amidst bis 
 glory, the greatest of men; like those insects that, 
 by their nature, direct themselves to torment the 
 noblest animals in the creation. Happy is the 
 nation a long while accustomed to that freedom! 
 The vile agents of defamation are there deprived 
 of the means of effecting mischief; tiny are there 
 so known, BO despised, that they have no more 
 the power to annoy great minds. 
 
 With these outrages were joined the intrigues 
 of the famous Georges, and those of the bishops of 
 Arras and of St. Pol de Leon, who were at the 
 head of the recusant bishops. The police had sur- 
 prised the emissaries of the party i arrying about 
 pamphlets in La Vendee, and endeavouring to 
 arouse the hatred and animosity not yet quite 
 
 extinct. These causes, despicable as they were, 
 nevertheless produced a truly uneasy feeling, aud 
 finished liy a demand on the part of tin- French 
 cabinet, very embarrassing lor that of England. 
 
 Tin- first consul, too sensitive to these attacks, 
 
 more worthy of scorn than anger, requested, ill 
 virtue of tin- alien hill, tl apulsion of Peltier, 
 
 Georges, and the bishops of Arras and St. P.I 
 
 from England. Mr. Addington, placed in tbo 
 midst of adversaries ready to reproach him with 
 the smallest condescension towards Prance, did 
 leit, precisely re-fuse what was thus desired, and 
 was fully authorized by the English law; hut he 
 endeavoured to temporize, ami alleged the m 
 sity of managing public opinion, remarkably sua-
 
 382 
 
 Affairs of Spain. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Inconsiderate conduct 1802. 
 of Spain. Aug. 
 
 ceptible in England, and at the moment ready to 
 shift under the influence of party declamation. 
 The first consul, accustomed to despise parties, 
 but little comprehended such reasons, and com- 
 plained of the feebleness of Addington, the English 
 minister, in a way so haughty, as to be nearly 
 offensive. During all this time, the relations of 
 the two cabinets did not cease to be friendly. Both 
 did their utmost endeavour to prevent a renewal 
 of the war, scarcely just before terminated. Mr. 
 Addington attached to that his honour and his ex- 
 istence as a minister. The first consul saw in the 
 continuance of the peace, the ground of new glory 
 for himself, and the accomplishment of noble ideas 
 connected with the public prosperity. 
 
 Spain had begun to breathe after its long 
 misery. The galleons were, as formerly, the sole 
 resource of the government. Large quantities of 
 dollars, kept, during the warj in the captain gene- 
 ralship's treasuries in Peru and Mexico, had been 
 now brought into Europe. There had already 
 been near three hundred millions of francs re- 
 ceived. If any other government than that of an 
 incapable and careless favourite had been in charge 
 of her destiny, Spain had been able to redeem her 
 credit, to restore her naval power, and to place 
 herself in a state to appear in a manner worthy 
 of herself in the wars with which the world was 
 still threatened. But the metallic wealth of Ame- 
 rica, received and dispensed by the most unskilful 
 hands, was not employed for the noble purposes to 
 which it should have been directed. The smallest 
 part served to sustain the credit of the paper 
 money; the larger part to pay. the expenses of the 
 court. Nothing, or nearly nothing, was devoted 
 to the arsenals of Fermi, Cadiz, or Carthagena. 
 All that Spain knew how to do, was to complain of 
 the French alliance, to impute to it the loss of Trini- 
 dad, as if she had to impute to France the dis- 
 graceful part that the prince of the peace had 
 played her, whether in war or in negotiation. An 
 alliance is not profitable, unless it brings to an ally 
 a real strength, which the ally appreciates, and 
 which it is obliged to regard as of great conse- 
 quence. But Spain, when she made common cause 
 with France, drawn into a maritime war by the 
 clearest evidence of her own interests, did not 
 know how to support that cause in which she was 
 engaged; became almost an embarrassment rather 
 than a help to her ally, and so conducted herself 
 subsequently as to be always discontented with 
 herself and with others. It was thus that she 
 passed, by little and little, from a state of intimate 
 connexion to a state of hostility in regard to 
 Prance. The French division of the army s> ol 
 into Portugal, had been treated with indignity, as 
 lias been shown, and it had required one of the 
 thundering menaces of the first consul to put a 
 8top to the consequences of this insensate conduct. 
 From that time the relations between the two 
 Countries had become a little better. There had 
 been between the two powers, besides general in- 
 terests, which for a century were common to both 
 countries, certain interests of the moment, which 
 were strongly borne in the hearts of the king and 
 queen of Spain, and which were of a nature to 
 make them draw near to the first consul. These 
 were the interests arising out of the creation of the 
 kingdom of Etruria. 
 
 The court of Madrid complained of the tone of 
 superiority which the minister of France, general 
 Clarke, assumed at Florence. The first consul 
 had rectified this complaint, ordering general 
 Clarke to give fewer counsels and milder advice to 
 the young infants who had been called in to reign 
 there. In regard to the court of Spain, the first 
 consul had suffered the old grand duke of Parma, 
 the brother of queen Louisa, to die in full enjoy- 
 ment of the grand duchy. That prince being no 
 more, the grand duchy belonged to France, in 
 virtue of the treaty by which the kingdom of 
 Etruria was constituted. Charles IV. and the 
 queen, his wife, coveted Parma ardently for their 
 children, because by this addition Etruria would 
 become the second state in Italy. The first consul 
 did not absolutely oppose by a direct refusal the 
 wishes of the royal family of Spain, but he de- 
 manded time, not to give too much offence to the 
 greater courts by doing an all-powerful act. By 
 keeping this duchy in reserve, too, he left to 
 the cabinets, which protected the old rulers of 
 Piedmont, the hope of an indemnity for that un- 
 lucky dynasty ; he left the pope to see the hope of 
 an amelioration in his present condition, so painful 
 to him after the loss of the Legations; he left the 
 affairs of Italy, in fact, to their repose for a short 
 time, having been so much before the eyes of 
 Europe for many years past. Although differing, 
 the new transactions on the subject of Parma had 
 soon brought the two cabinets of Paris and Madrid 
 back again towards one another. Charles IV. had 
 gone to Barcelona with his queen and court in 
 great pomp to celebrate a double marriage, that of 
 the presumptive heir of the crown of Spain, Ferdi- 
 nand VII., with a princess of Naples, and that of 
 the heir of the crown of Naples with an infanta of 
 Spain. There was exhibited in the capital of 
 Catalonia upon this occasion the most extraordinary 
 luxury, much too costly for the existing state of 
 the Spanish finances. From this city the most 
 gracious professions of kindness were exchanged 
 with the consular government. Charles IV. was 
 impressed with the idea of announcing this double 
 marriage of his children to the first consul as to a 
 sovereign friend. The first consul had answered 
 with the same earnestness, and in a tone of the 
 most franlc cordiality. Always occupied with grave 
 interests, he had profited of that moment to ame- 
 liorate the commercial relations of the two coun- 
 tries. He had not been able to obtain the intro- 
 duction of the cotton goods of France, because the 
 government of Charles IV. wished to nurture the 
 incipient manufacturers of Catalonia, but he had 
 obtained the establishment of the old advantages 
 accorded in the peninsula to the larger part of the 
 productions of France. He was, above all, de- 
 sirous of succeeding in the introduction into France 
 of the fine races of Spanish sheep, an object in his 
 sight of ili greatest importance. Anterior to this, 
 the national convention had had the happy idea of 
 inserting in the treaty of Basle a secret article, by 
 which Spain should be obliged to permit to pass 
 out of that country, for five years, a thousand ewes, 
 a hundred merino rams per annum, with fifly 
 stallions, and a hundred and fifty Andalusian 
 mares. In the midst of the troubles of that time, 
 neither sheep nor horses had been purchased for 
 that purpose. By an order of the first consul, the
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 Negotiation with Algiers. 
 — The dey of Algiers 
 makes his submission. 
 
 THE SECULARIZATIONS. 
 
 State of Italy.— Union of 
 Piedmont to France. 
 
 ;»«3 
 
 minister of the interior was ordered to semi agents 
 into the peninsula, with the mission of purchasing 
 in one year that which it had been agreed to 
 execute in five. The government of Spain, always 
 jealous about the exclusive possession of these fine 
 animals, obstinately refused what had been thus 
 required of it, ami alleged as an exeuse the great 
 mortality of several preceding years. There were 
 still seven millions of these merino slice]) calculated 
 to be remaining, and live or six thousand it could 
 not be difficult to find. After a considerable re- 
 sistance, the Spanish government gave way to the 
 wishes of the first consul, stipulating for some 
 d lays in the accomplishment. The relations be- 
 tween the two courts had thus become all at once 
 amicable. General Beiirnonville, recently ambas- 
 sador at Berlin, quitted that city in order to take 
 up his residence at Madrid. lie was invited to 
 attend the festivities of the royal family given at 
 Barcelona. 
 
 The security of navigation in the Mediterranean 
 in a particular manner occupied at this time the 
 solicitude of the first consul. The dey of. Algiers 
 had been so ill advised as to treat France as he 
 d the Christian powers of the second order. 
 Two French vessels had been stopped on their 
 voyage, and conducted to Algiers. A French 
 officer had been molested in the road of Tunis 
 by an Algcrine officer. The crew of a vessel, 
 wrecked on the coast of Africa, had been retained 
 prisoners by the Arabs. The fishery for coral was 
 interrupted, and, in fact, a Neapolitan vessel had 
 Been captured by African corsairs, in the waters 
 of the Hyeres Isles. On being questioned upon 
 different occurrences, the Algerine govern- 
 ment dared to demand, in order to do France 
 common justice, the payment of the same tribute 
 as that exacted from Spain and the Italian powers. 
 The first consul, indignant, sent off instantly an 
 i- of his palace, the adjutant Ilullin, with a 
 letter for the dey. In that letter he reminded him 
 that he had destroyed the empire of the Mame- 
 lukes, and announced to him that he would send a 
 squadron and an army ; he threatened him with 
 the conquest of all that part of the coast of Africa, 
 if the French and Italians were detained, and the 
 captured vessels were not immediately restored, 
 ami if a promise were; not made to respect in 
 future the dags of Prance and Italy. "God has 
 1," lie wrote, '• that all those who are unjust 
 towards me shall be punished. I will destroy 
 your city and your port ; I will invade your shores 
 myself, if you do not respect France, of which I 
 am chief, and Italy, where | command." 
 
 That which be thus said, the first consul bad 
 thoughts of executing, because he had before made 
 the remark, that the north of Africa rasa country of 
 great fertility, ami was able to admit of cultivation 
 by the hands of Europeans, in place of serving for 
 the abode of a den of pirates. Tin- Is hit 
 
 Toulon, two were in the road, and five were 
 ordered from the ocean up the- Mediterranean. 
 But all the preparations wen useless. The dey 
 BO) n learning with what sort of power he was 
 dealing, threw himself at the feel of Lha conqueror 
 
 of Egypt, gave up all the Christian captives wh 
 
 be bad detained, the Neapolitan and French ves- 
 sels which had been taken, pronoune. r] s ul. nee of 
 
 death against the agents of whom tie- French had 
 
 to complain, and only granted them their lives 
 upon the demand made for mercy towards them 
 by the minister of France. He re-established the 
 coral fishery, and promised for the French and 
 Italian flags an equal and perfect respect. 
 
 Italy was quite tranquil. The new Italian re- 
 public bad begun to be organized under the direc- 
 tion of the president which it had chosen, and who 
 by his powerful authority repressed the disorderly 
 movements to which a new republican state is 
 always exposed. The first consul had at last de- 
 cided the official union of the Isle of Elba and 
 Piedmont with France. The Isle of Elba was ex- 
 changed with the king of Etruria for the princi- 
 pality of Piombino, that had been obtained of the 
 court of Naples, ami bad now been evacuated bv 
 the English. It had also been declared a part of 
 the French territory. The union of Piedmont, 
 consummated in fact two years before, was passed 
 over in silence during the negotiations of Amiens, 
 admitted by Russia herself, who was bound to de- 
 mand some kind of indemnity for the house of Sar- 
 dinia, it was suffered as an inevitable necessity by all 
 the great courts. Prussia and Austria were ready 
 to confirm it by their adhesion, provided they were 
 promised a good portion in the distribution of the 
 ecclesiastical states. This union of Piedmont. 
 officially announced by an organic unatus-GOteultum 
 of the 24th Fructidor, year x., or September 11, 
 1802, astonished nobody, and was scarcely noticed 
 as an event. Besides, the duchy of Parma was 
 left vacant, as a hope for all the interests that had 
 suffered in Italy. The fine country of Piedmont 
 was divided into six departments : the Po, the 
 Doire, Marengo, the Sesia, the Stura, and the 
 Tanaro. These sent six deputies to the legislative 
 body. Turin was declared one of the great cities 
 of the republic. This was the firs: step taken by 
 Napoleon beyond that limit which may be styled 
 the natural boundary of France, in other words, 
 beyond the Alps, the Rhine, and the Pyrenees. 
 In the eyes of the cabinets of Europe, an aggran- 
 dizement is never a fault, to judge at least by their 
 ordinary conduct. But there are still aggrandize- 
 ments which are real faults, and the sequel of the 
 present history will show this. They may be so 
 considered when they pass the limits thai are easy 
 to be defended, and when they injure respectable 
 ami resisting nationalities. But it must be ac- 
 knowledged, that of all the extraordinary acquisi- 
 tions made by I'ranee in a quarter of a century, 
 that of Piedmont was least to be censured. If 
 
 it. had been possible to constitute Italy immediately, 
 
 that which it would have been wisest to do was to 
 
 unite it entirely in one national body ; but however 
 powerful the first consul was at that time, he was 
 not then sufficiently master of Europe to permit 
 if the creation of such a kingdom. He had 
 been obliged to leave a part of Italy to Austria, 
 which possessed the ancient Venetian states as far 
 as the Adige ; another part belonged to Spain, 
 which had required for its two infants the forma- 
 tion of the kingdom of Etruria. lb' was bound to 
 support the papal existence lor tie- in ten 's| of re- 
 ligion, and the Bourbons of Naples for the interest 
 
 of the general peace. To organize Italy definitively 
 
 and completely, was therefore imp.- ibis at that 
 moment. All that the first consul was able to do, 
 
 was to manage things there m a transitory way,
 
 Relations of France with 
 
 384 the pop?. — Two ships 
 
 presented by France 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 to his holiness. — The 
 pope makes five French 
 cardinals. 
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 better than in the preceding times, and proper to 
 prepare for its future state. In constituting in the 
 heart of Italy a republic which occupied the midst 
 of the valley of the Po, he had there deposited the 
 germ of liberty and of independence. In taking 
 Piedmont, he had formed a solid basis for opera- 
 tions in combating the Austrians. He also gave 
 them rivals when he called in the Spaniards. In 
 leaving the pope and trying to attach him, and in 
 supporting the Bourbons of Naples, he fell in with 
 the ancient policy of Europe, yet without sacri- 
 ficing to it the policy of France. That which 
 
 he actually did was, in one word, 
 
 be<_ 
 
 which excluded nothing at a later period,, but 
 prepared, on the contrary, for a better and a 
 definitive state. 
 
 The relations of the first consul with the court 
 of Rome became every day better affected. The 
 first consul heard with great kindness the com- 
 plaints of the holy father upon the subjects which 
 grieved him. The sensibility of the venerable 
 pontiff was extreme in all that affected the affairs 
 of the church. The loss of the Legations had 
 much reduced the finances of the holy see. The 
 abolition of a number of dues formerly levied in 
 France, an abolition which threatened to extend 
 itself to Spain, had yet more impoverished his 
 holiness. Pins VII. complained bitterly of this, 
 not for himself, because he led the life of an. an- 
 chorite, but lor his clergy, whom it was with diffi- 
 culty he could support. Still, spiritual interests 
 were, in the eyes of this worthy pontiff, much 
 above temporal ones, and he complained with 
 mildness, but with a feeling of deep chagrin, of the 
 famous organic articles. It will be recollected, that 
 the first consul, having entered upon the treaty with 
 Rome, qualified, in the concordat, the general 
 conditions of the re -establishment of the altars, 
 and had thrown into a law all which related to the 
 police of worship. He had drawn up this law ac- 
 cording to the maxims laid down in the old French 
 monarchy. The prohibition to publish a bull or 
 writing without the permission of the public au- 
 thority ; the interdiction to every legate of the 
 holy see to exercise his functions without the pre- 
 vious acknowledgment of his powers by the French 
 government ; the jurisdiction of the council of 
 state in appeal for abuses of the laws ; the or- 
 ganization of seminaries under severe regulations; 
 the obligation to profess the declaration of 1C82; 
 the introduction of divorce into the French laws; 
 the prohibition to perform the religious rites before 
 the civil bond of marriage; the complete and de- 
 finitive attachment of trie registers to the civil 
 power and the municipal magistrates; were also 
 objects upon which the pope addressed remon- 
 strances, that the first consul heard without being 
 willing to admit their validity, considering those 
 subjects as regulated wisely and decisively by the 
 organic articles. The pope perseveringly remon- 
 strated, without yet having the desire to push his 
 remonstrances to a rupture. Lastly, the religious 
 affairs of the Italian republic, the secularizations 
 in Germany, in consequence of which the church 
 would lose a portion of the German territory, put 
 the finish to his troubles; and without the pleasure 
 which the re-establishment of the catholic religion 
 in France brought to him, his life would have 
 been no more, lie said, than a long martyrdom. 
 
 His language in other respects, breathed the sin- 
 cerest regard for the first consul. 
 
 This last suffered the pope to go on with his 
 complaints, showing an extreme patience under 
 them, foreign to his character. 
 
 As to the loss of the Legations and the impo- 
 verishment of the holy see, he thought of it fre- 
 quently, and nurtured a vague idea of increasing 
 the domains of St. Peter ; but he did not know 
 how to obtain them, placed as he was between the 
 Italian republic, which, far from being disposed 
 to part with the Legations, demanded, on the con- 
 trary, the duchy of Parma; between Spain, that 
 coveted the same duchy, and between the high 
 protectors of the court of Sardinia, who wished 
 to make it an indemnity to that house. Thus he 
 had offered money to the pope, until lie could 
 ameliorate his position by extending his territories, 
 — an offer which the pope would have accepted if the 
 dignity of the church had permitted him so to do. 
 In default of this kind of aid, the first consul took 
 good care to pay for the support of the French 
 troops during their passage across the Roman 
 states. He ordered Ancona to be evacuated at 
 the same time as Otranto, and all the south of 
 Italy; he had forced the Neapolitan government 
 to evacuate Ponte-Corvo and Benavente. Lastly, 
 in the affairs of Germany he showed himself dis- 
 posed to defend, to a certain extent, the ecclesias- 
 tical party, which the protestant party, or, in other 
 words, Prussia, wished to weaken, even to de- 
 struction. 
 
 To the foregoing efforts for the satisfaction of 
 the holy see, he joined actions of the most conde- 
 scending courtesy. He had made' the dey free all the 
 subjects of the pope detained at Algiers, and had 
 sent them to the holy father. As that sovereign 
 prince did not possess a single ship to keep his 
 coast clear of the African pirates, the first consul 
 had taken from the Toulon arsenal two fine brigs, 
 had them completely fitted out, armed, handsomely 
 decorated, named them the St. Peter and St. Paul, 
 and sent them as a present to Pius VII. As a 
 scrupulous mark of attention, a corvette followed 
 these vessels to Civiia Vecchia, to bring back the 
 crews to Toulon, and spare the pontifical treasury 
 the smallest kind of expense. The venerable pon- 
 tiff wished to receive the French seamen at Rome, 
 to show them the pomp of the catholic worship in 
 the great church of -St. Peter, and to send them 
 back loaded with the modest presents which the 
 state of his fortune permitted him to make them. 
 
 A wish of the first consul, prompt and strong as 
 were all those which he conceived, tended to raise 
 up a difficulty with the holy see, happily transient, 
 and soon passed away. He desired that the new 
 church of France should possess cardinals, as the 
 old church had done in past times. France had 
 formerly reckoned as many as eight, nine, and 
 even ten. The first consul wished to have at his 
 disposition as many hats as then, or even more, if 
 it were possible to obtain them, because he saw 
 through this means a valuable mode of influencing 
 the French clergy, greedy of high dignities, and 
 further, a means of influence, still more desirable, 
 in the sacred college which elects the popes, and 
 regulates the great affairs of the church. In 17<5!), 
 France counted five cardinals, de Bernis, la Roche- 
 foucauld, de Lome'nie, Rohan, and Montmorency.
 
 1802. 
 
 Auk. 
 
 The pope makes five French 
 cardinals. 
 
 THE SECULARIZATIONS. 
 
 Organization of the order of 
 Malta. 
 
 385 
 
 The three first of these were dead. M. de Rohan 
 had ceased to be a Frenchman, as his archbishopric 
 had become a German one. M. de Montmorency 
 was one of those who had resisted the holy Bee, 
 when the resignations were demanded. Cardinal 
 Maury, nominated since 1789, was an emigrant, 
 and then considered as an enemy. Belgium and 
 Savoy comprehended two others, cardinal Frank- 
 enborg, formerly archbishop of Malines, and the 
 learned Gerdil. The former archbishop of Ma- 
 lines was separated from his see, and thought no 
 more of repairing to it again. Cardinal Gerdil 
 had always resided at Rome, plunged deeply in 
 theological studies, and not attached to any country. 
 Neither the one nor the other could be considered 
 French. The firsl consul wished that seven car- 
 dinals should be immediately granted to France. 
 This was many more than it was possible for the 
 pope t.> giant at the moment. He had. it is true, 
 several vacant hats, but the promotion of the 
 crowns approached, and he had to provide for 
 that. 
 
 The promotion of the crowns was a custom, 
 become marly a law, in virtue of which the pope 
 authorized six Catholic powers to designate to him 
 a subject each, whom he might gratify with a hat 
 upon their presentation. These powers were 
 Austria, Poland, Venice, France, Spain, and Por- 
 tugal. Two of these no longer existed, namely, 
 Venice and Poland. Pat there still remained four, 
 comprising France, and be had not hats enough 
 vacant to till up these, and to meet the demands of 
 the first consul. The pope made this a valid rea- 
 son fir resisting what was thus required of him. 
 The first consul, imagining that he had, beside the 
 difficulty arising from the number vacant, which 
 was real, the fear of exhibiting too much conde- 
 scension towards France, earned himself warmly, 
 and declared that il ho refused him the hats which 
 he required, he should pass over France in the 
 promotion of the crowns, because he would not 
 have ono only ; it was not to be suffered that 
 the French church, if it had cardinals at all, 
 should have less than other Christian churches. 
 The pope, who did not like to make the first consul 
 discontented, agreed, and consented to grant him 
 five cardinals. But as there were hats wanting 
 to suffice for this extraordinary promotion and 
 that of the crowns at the same time, the pope 
 ed of the courts of Austria, Spain, and Por- 
 tugal, to consent to the adjournment of their just 
 pretensions, which they all three agreed to do with 
 much good feeling and grace. 'I liey were pi 
 thus to satisfy spontaneously those desires which 
 they would soon have been obliged to execute by 
 command. 
 
 The first consul consented to give the hat to M. 
 i\i- Bayanne, tor a long time auditor of the rota for 
 franco and dean of that tribunal. lie proposed 
 
 afterwards to the pope, M. de Belloy, archbishop of 
 Paris ; tie- abbC Fetch, archbishop of Lyons, ami 
 
 bis uncle ; M. Cambaceres, archbishop of l<< n, 
 
 brother of the second consul ; finally, M. do Bois- 
 
 gelin, archbishop of Tours. To those five be 
 
 would have joined a sixth, in the abbe! Bernier, 
 Bkctiuishop of Orleans and pacificator of I, a Vendee, 
 
 the principal negotiator of the i xjrdat. Hot the 
 
 Idea of Including in a promotion bo prominent ami 
 signal a man who had I n so much noted in tiie 
 
 civil war, much embarrassed the first consul. He 
 opened his mind upon the Bubjet t to the pope, and 
 begged him to decide, immediately, that the first 
 vacant hat should be given to the abbe Bernier, 
 but to keep this resolution in petto, as they say 
 at the court of Rome, and to write to the abbe 
 Bernier the reason of the adjournment. This was 
 done, anil it was this which became a matter of 
 much mortification to that prelate, so far very little 
 recompensed, considering the services he had ren- 
 dered; he knew the good-will of the first consul to- 
 wards him, but he Buffered cruelly from the dis- 
 tress he felt to avow it publicly : — the just punish- 
 ment for a civil war, fallen in other respects, upon 
 a man who by his services deserved more than any 
 other the indulgence of the government and of the 
 country. 
 
 The pope sent to France (he prince Doria, as 
 the bearer of the cap to the cardinals newly elected. 
 from that moment the French church, clothed 
 with so large a part of the Roman purple, became 
 one of the most favoured and most glorious of 
 Christian churches. 
 
 There still remained the task of organizing the 
 Italian church, and of placing it in perfect union 
 with the holy see. The first consul made a de- 
 mand of the pope for a concordat in the Italian 
 republic; but upon this occasion the pope was not 
 to be overcome, and maintained an inflexible re- 
 sistance to the request. The Italian republic com- 
 prehended the Legations, and having once been 
 the property of the holy see, to concede such a 
 point would have been, according to his holiness, 
 to acknowledge the abandonment of those pro- 
 vinces, because it would be entering into, a treaty 
 with the parties who had taken them away. It 
 was arranged, finally, to settle the business by 
 means of a succession of briefs, addressed to the 
 regulation of each separate ease in a special 
 manner. Lastly, pope fins VII. entered entirely 
 into the views of the first consul in regard to the 
 definitive constitution of the order of Malta. The 
 priors or liVads of the order were assembled in the 
 different parts of Europe, that they might pro- 
 vide ior the election of the new grand master, and 
 in order to facilitate tin- election, they agreed this 
 time to remit to the pope the power of choosing 
 their head. On the advice of the first consul, who 
 wished to organize the order as soon :is possible, 
 
 that the island of Malta might be placed under the 
 grand master's authority, the pope chose an Italian, 
 the bailiff Kuspoli, a Roman prince of a high and 
 ancient family. The first consul prefi i red that a 
 Roman should fill the office rather than a German 
 or Neapolitan. The person thus (boson was, be- 
 sides, a discreet and enlightened individual, «ell 
 worthy of the honour which was adjudged to him. 
 
 The only tear was, that his acceptance of tl ffice 
 
 did not appear a probable event. The gri 
 
 was made to ascertain this by writing to 
 England, where he lived in retirement. 
 
 The fi-ench troops had evacuated An. a and 
 
 the gulf of Tarentum. They had entered within 
 
 the limits of the Italian republic, which liny were 
 t -cupy until that republic bad formed its army. 
 
 The executii f the roads acn n tin- Alps, and of 
 
 the fortifications of Alexandria, Mantua, Legnagn, 
 Verona, and Peschiera, was in loll activity. Six 
 thousand men were kepi in Etruria, awaiting tin 
 
 Co
 
 58G 
 
 Change in the Swi«s 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. State of Switzerland. 
 
 1S02. 
 
 All!?. 
 
 arrival of a Spanish corps. All tlie conditions of 
 the treaty of Amiens relative to Italy had, there- 
 fore, beeii executed on the part of France. 
 
 While the public mind in the greater part of the 
 states of Europe began to be calmed down under 
 the beneficent influence of the peace, in Switzer- 
 land tranquillity was far from being established. 
 The inhabitants of the mountain country were 
 the last to be in a state of disturbance, and were 
 now in violent agitation. It might be said that 
 discord, driven from France and Italy by Bopa- 
 parte, had taken refuge in the inaccessible fast- 
 nesses of the Alps. Under the names of "Uni- 
 tarians" and " Oligarchs,"' two parties had come to 
 blows, the party of the revolution and that of the 
 old order of things. These two parties balanced 
 pretty evenly in regard to strength, did not rest 
 in equilibrium, but were in a continuous and un- 
 happy state of oscillation. During eighteen months 
 they were, by turns, in possession of the chief 
 power, and exercised it without wisdom, justice, 
 or humanity. It will be proper to state, in a few 
 words, the origin of these parties, and their con- 
 duct from the commencement of the Helvetic 
 revolution. 
 
 Switzerland was composed, prior to the year 
 17119, of thirteen cantons. Six of these were de- 
 mocratic, Schwitz, Uri, Unterwalden, Zug, Glaris, 
 and Appenzel ; seven oligarchic, Berne, Soleure, 
 Zurich, Lucerne, Friburg, Bale, and Sehaffhausen. 
 The canton of Neufehatel was a principality, de- 
 pendent upon Prussia. The Grisons, the Valais, 
 and Geneva, formed three separate republics, allied 
 to Switzerland, but living each under its own par- 
 ticular and independ nt government. The first of 
 these, that of the Grisons, by its geographical 
 position, was drawn into an attachment for Austria; 
 the two others, the Valais and Geneva, for the 
 same reason, were attached to France. 
 
 The French republic brought about a change in 
 this state of things. To indemnify itself for the 
 war, it seized upon the county of Bienne, and the 
 ancient principality of Porentruy,and made of them 
 the department of Mont Terrible, adding a por- 
 tion of the former bishopric of Bale. It also took 
 Geneva, of which it formed the department of the 
 Leman. It indemnified the Swiss by adding to 
 their territory those of the Grisons and Valais. 
 At the same time it reserved, in the Valais, the 
 right to a military road, which should pass from 
 the extremity of the lake of Geneva towards Ville- 
 neuve, ascend the valley of the Rhone, by Mar- 
 tigny and Sion, as far as Brigg, from which point 
 the celebrated road of the Simplon commenced and 
 opened upon the Lago Maggiore. After these terri- 
 torial changes, which were the act of the French 
 republic, followed those which were the natural 
 consequence of their ideas of justice and equality, 
 which the revolutionary party wished to see pre- 
 vail in Switzerland, in imitation of what had been 
 accomplished in France in the year 178!). 
 
 The revolutionary party in Switzerland was com- 
 posed of all the men who were opposed to the 
 oligarchical regimen, and these abounded as nu- 
 merously in the democratical as in the aristo- 
 eratical cantons, because they suffered as much 
 in the one as in the other. Thus in the small 
 cantons of Uri, Unterwalden, and Schwitz, where 
 the whole of the people assembled once a year, 
 
 chose their magistrates, and verified their admi- 
 nistration in a few hours, this universal suffrage, 
 destined to flatter for a moment the ignorant and 
 corrupt multitude, was nothing more than a de- 
 lusion. A small number of powerful families, 
 become masters of every thing through time and 
 corruption, arbitrarily disposed of every employ- 
 ment, and governed all public affairs. In Schwitz, 
 for example, the family of Reding, at its own 
 pleasure, distributed the commissions of rank in a 
 Swiss regiment in the service of Spain; 1 . These 
 were the great objects of solicitude in the canton, 
 because they were the sole objects of ambition 
 among all those who did not desire to remain 
 herdsmen or peasants. The small cantons hail, 
 besides, a dependence, in the way of the Italian 
 bail wicks, and they were governed in the most 
 arbitrary manner like the subject countries. These 
 democracies, therefore, were not, as other pure 
 democracies had come to be in the progress of 
 time, oligarchies disguised under popular forms: 
 and this it is which explains how it happened that 
 even in the democratic cantons, the popular mind 
 was deeply averse to the former state of tilings. 
 Provinces thus subjected in the mode of Italian 
 bailwicks. were found belonging to more than one 
 canton. Thus Berne harshly governed the Pays 
 de Vaud and Argovia. Finally-, in the aristo- 
 cratical cantons, the inferior citizens were ex- 
 cluded from all employments. Thus as soon as 
 the signal was given for the entry of the French 
 army into Switzerland in 1798, the insurrection 
 of the people was prompt and universal. In the 
 cantons that were subject provinces, the bailwicks 
 oppressed rose against the chief places that op- 
 pressed them ; while in the heart of the chief 
 governing cities, the middle class rose against t!.e 
 oligarchy. Of thirteen cantons they desired to 
 form nineteen, all equal, all uniformly administered, 
 and placed under a central single authority, re- 
 sembling the unity of the French government. 
 They were governed in this by the necessity they 
 felt for the even distribution of justice, and above 
 all, by the ambition to leave that state of nullity 
 peculiar to federal governments. The hope to 
 figure a little more actively on the world's stage, 
 was at that time very strongly felt in t lie hearts 
 of the Swiss, proud of their former fame as a 
 valorous people, and of the high character which 
 they had once sustained in Europe, wearied, too, 
 of that perpetual neutrality which had compelled 
 them to sell their blood to foreign nations. 
 
 In this application to Switzerland of the ideas 
 of the French revolution, arising as much from the 
 necessity as from the spirit of imitation, they 
 broke up some cantons in order to make others, 
 
 1 There were four Swiss regiments in the Spanish service. 
 The entire canton of Schwitz contained but thirty six thou- 
 sand souls, of which not a fourth pait were males ill posses- 
 sion of political rights. The larger part were indigent 
 peasantry. That two or three families, by the influence of 
 property and popularity, should possess considerable weight, 
 is not wonderful, without attributing corruption to this gal- 
 lant people. Another of the family in Spain, in 1808, de- 
 feated Dupnnt, the French general, at Baylen, anil captured 
 his entire army. The Uedings have ever been distinguished 
 for their patriotic conduct. The head of the family, Aloys 
 Reding, who died in 1818, was always opposed to Bonaparte. 
 — Truitslaior.
 
 )»02. 
 Aug. 
 
 State of Switzerland 
 
 THE SECULARIZATIONS. 
 
 Reasons for nnn-interference 
 by France. — Advice given 
 by the first consul. 
 
 387 
 
 as they bad joined several separate districts to 
 make a single canton. They divided the territory 
 of Berne, which, with Argovia and the Pays de 
 Vaud, formed a fourth of Switzerland, and made 
 of Argovia and the Pays de Vaud two separate 
 cantons. I'ri was detached from the Italian hail- 
 wicks, to create with these the canton of Tessin. 
 The canton of Appenzel was increased, by joining 
 to it St. (Jail, the Tokenburg, and the Uheinthal; 
 to tlie canton of Glaris the l>ailwicks of Sargans, 
 Werdenberg, Gaster, TJznach, ami Raperm-hwill, 
 were ailded. These additions granted to the can- 
 tons of Appenzel and Glaris had for their object 
 to destroy for ever the ancient democratic system 
 of ride, and to make tin m of such an extent as 
 should render a return to such a system impos- 
 sible. These nineteen cantons were constituted 
 dependent upon a legislative body, which pave 
 them uniform laws, and an executive power that 
 executed those laws for all and in all the cantons. 
 They had a ministry, tuo, in Switzerland, with pre- 
 fects and Bub-prefects. 
 
 The opposing party, against which all this uni- 
 formity was directed, adopted the contrary plan, 
 and Bought to establish the federative order of 
 things, in its most exaggerated character, with the 
 nio-t extraordinary irregularities, and a complete 
 isolation of the federal states, the one in respect 
 to the other. They desired it also, because, under 
 favour of these irregularities and of this isolation, 
 each little oligarchy would he ahle to retain its 
 own dominion. The aristocracies of Heme, Zurich, 
 and Bale, made an alliance with the democracies 
 of SchwitZ, Uri, and Unterwalden, and anion"; 
 themselves perfectly understood each other, be- 
 cause, at bottom, they all desired the same thing, 
 in other words, the domination of several powerful 
 families, as well in the little mountainous cantons 
 as in the more opulent cities. The one party was 
 known under the appellation of ' ; Oligarchs;" the 
 others, who desired to see justice and equality in 
 the uniformity of the government, received the 
 name of " Unitarians." Both the one party and 
 the other had been scummy for years, without 
 ever being ahle to govern the unfortunate Swi>s 
 with something of moderation and constancy. Con- 
 stitutions had succeeded each other as rapidly as 
 in France, and at this moment they were agitated 
 about the fabrication of a new one. 
 
 One circumstance rendered still more serious 
 the troubles in Switzerland, and that was, the 
 disposition of parties there to Beek for support 
 In in foreigners, — a circumstance which always oc- 
 curs in a country too feeble to elevate itself, and 
 too important, from its geographical position, to 
 be regarded with an indifferent eye by its m >igb- 
 bours. The oligarchical party bad considerable 
 connexions in Vienna, London, ami even St. 
 I raburgh, where a Swiss, colonel la Harpe, had 
 formed tie- mind ami inclined the heart of the 
 jroung emperor, and besieged all the courts, in the 
 most pressing manner, on their side, rle suppli- 
 cated i Inn) not to sutler that Prance, In consoli- 
 dating in Switzerland the revolutionary order of 
 tilings, should also make it submit to its influence, 
 
 a country which, in a military point of View, was 
 
 the most important upon the continent. The party 
 
 had also intimate connexions in England. The 
 
 •.m of Berne, and of several governing towns, 
 
 had lodged the capital of their municipal economies 
 in the bank of London, a step which did them 
 great honour, because while the free cities through- 
 out Europe, and more especially in Germany, were 
 irrecoverably in debt, the cities of Switzerland had 
 amassed considerable sums. The English govern- 
 ment, under pretext of the French occupation of 
 the country, had, without scruple, seized upon the 
 funds thus deposited. Since the peace, the money 
 had not been restored. The oligarchs of Berne 
 supplicated England, that if it did not come to their 
 aid, it would, at least, retain the money they had 
 remitted to the bank of London. They had con- 
 fided to the hank of England ten millions, and two 
 millions were lodged in that of Vienna. 
 
 The revolutionary party naturally sought its 
 support from France; and it was easy to avail itself 
 of this aid, when the French armies had not ceased 
 to occupy the Helvetic territory. But a similar 
 occupation could not lie continued for a long time. 
 Switzerland must soon he evacuated as Italy had 
 been. For though the obligation to evacuate it 
 was not as formally stipulated as the obligation to 
 evacuate Italy, still the treat) of Luncville gua- 
 ranteed the independence of Switzerland; and the 
 fulfilment of the treaties must be regarded as 
 imperfect and the peace as unsafe, until the French 
 troops had been withdrawn. Thus the political 
 observers of things had their eyes fixed upon 
 Switzerland most particularly as well as upon 
 Germany, where the division of the ecclesiastical 
 states was taking place, in order to discover if the 
 attempt at a general pacification just attempted 
 was likely to be durable. The first consul had 
 formed the resolution in the plainest manner not to 
 compromise peace, on account of what might hap- 
 pen either in one or the other of these countries, 
 at least while the counter-revolution, of which 
 he would have none on the French frontiers, did 
 not attempt to establish itself in the middle of the 
 Alps. He would have had no obstacle in getting 
 himself accepted as the legislator for Helvetia, as 
 he had been for the Italian republic, hut the con- 
 sulta of Lyons had produced such an effect in 
 Europe, particularly in England, that he dared not 
 repeat the same spectacle a second time. He kept 
 himself therefore to tendering his advice, which 
 had been heard, but was lit le followed, notwith- 
 standing the presence of the French troops. He 
 advised the Swiss to renounce the chimera of an 
 absolute unity ; a unity impossible in a country so 
 uncertain as theirs, insupportable besides to the 
 little cantons, that could neither pay heavy taxes, 
 like those of Sale and Berne, nor hind themselves 
 under the yoke of a common government. He 
 recommended them to create .a central govern- 
 ment for the exterior business of the confederation; 
 and as to the interior affairs, to leave to the local 
 governments the care of organizing them, bj ril- 
 ing to the soil, the maimers, and mind of the 
 
 inhabitants, lie advised them to take from the 
 French revolution that which was beneficial and 
 iitcontestably useful, equality between all classes ( f 
 the citizens, equality in all pan- of the territory; 
 to leave detached from each other those provinces 
 deemed incompatible, Buch as Vaud sna Berne, 
 ami the Italian bailwicka of I'ri, hut to renounce 
 certain junctions ol territory, which would de- 
 nationalize several cantons, such as those of Ap- 
 
 c c a
 
 Opposition of the lesser 
 3oo cantons. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Opposition of the lesser 
 cantons. 
 
 1802. 
 
 Aug. 
 
 penzel and Glaris ; to put a stop in tlie large 
 cities to the alternate domination of the oligarchs 
 and the populace, and to finish by a government of 
 the middle class of citizens without the systematic 
 exclusion of any class ; in fine, to imitate that 
 policy in action between all parties which had 
 given France tranquillity. This advice, understood 
 and felt by those of a clear comprehension, but 
 contemned by passionate persons, who always form 
 the largest number, remained without effect. 
 Meanwhile as this advice tended to leave the 
 revolution somewhat behind, the oligarchical fac- 
 tion, at that time oppressed, welcomed it with 
 pleasure, nourishing illusions very similar to those 
 made by certain French emigrants in Paris, and 
 believing, because he was moderate, the first con- 
 sul wished in reality to establish the old order of 
 things. 
 
 A question relating to territory added a serious 
 complication to this position of affairs. During 
 the revolution, Switzerland and France being to a 
 certain extent confounded one with another, had 
 passed from a system of neutrality to one of offen- 
 sive and defensive alliance. Under this system 
 she had not hesitated to concede to France, by the 
 treaty of 1798, the military road of the Valais 
 bordering upon the foot of the Simplon. In the 
 later treaties, Europe had not ventured to remon- 
 strate against this state of things, the result of 
 a long war ; it had limited itself to a stipulation 
 for the independence of Switzerland. The first 
 consul, preferring upon system the neutrality of 
 Switzerland to its alliance, intended to use the 
 road of the Simplon, without being reduced to 
 traverse the Helvetic territory, which was incom- 
 patible with its neutrality, and he therefore con- 
 ceived the design for that purpose of obtaining 
 possession of the property in the Valais. This was 
 no great demand, because it was through France 
 that Switzerland held the Valais, which had be- 
 fore been independent. But the first consul did 
 not ask it without a compensation : he offered in 
 exchange a province that Austria had ceded to 
 him by the treaty of Luneville. This was the 
 Frickthal, a small territory, very important as 
 a frontier, containing the road of the Forest Towns, 
 and extending from the confluence of the Aar with 
 the Rhine as far as the limit of the canton of 
 Bale, and connecting in consequence that canton 
 with Switzerland. This little country, fronting 
 the Black Forest, had besides its own value, a 
 value arising from convenience by no means of 
 small moment. By means of this exchange, France 
 become proprietor of the Valais, had no necessity 
 of the Helvetic territory for the passage of her 
 armies, and would be enabled to return from the 
 system of alliance- to one of neutrality. The Swiss, 
 as well the unitarians as the oligarchs, talked 
 loudly upon the subject, having both one and the 
 other the same wish. Tiny were not willing at 
 any price to cede the Valais for the Frickthal. 
 They demanded other concessions of territory, 
 along the Jura more particularly, the country of 
 Bienne, Erguel, and some detached portions of 
 the Porentruy. This was to give up to them a 
 part of the department of Mont Terrible, Even 
 under these conditions they were repugnant to 
 cede the Valais ; and as under the interests de- 
 nominated "general," there are often concealed 
 
 those which are very " particular," the little can- 
 tons, dreading the rivalry of the Simplon road 
 over that of the St. Gothard, positively refused the 
 proposed exchange. The first consul had pro- 
 visionally occupied the Valais with three batta- 
 lions, and would not take any further step until 
 the general arrangement of the Helvetic affairs. 
 
 In awaiting the definitive organization of Swit- 
 zerland, there had been formed a temporary go- 
 vernment, composed of an executive council and a 
 legislative body, small in number. Different pro- 
 jects for a constitution had been drawn up. and 
 secretly submitted to the first consul. He had 
 preferred one among the others, which appeared to 
 him conceived in the wisest way, and had sent it 
 to Berne accompanied with a species of recom- 
 mendation of its adoption. The provisional go- 
 vernment, composed of the more moderate patriots, 
 had themselves adopted this constitution, and had 
 presented it for the acceptance of a general diet. 
 The unitarian party increased, numbered a con- 
 siderable majority in the diet, or no less than fifty 
 votes out of eighty. It soon declared the diet 
 constituted, and drew up a new project after the 
 idea of an absolute unity, affecting even to brave 
 France, proclaiming the Valais an integral part of 
 the soil of the Helvetic confederation. 
 
 The representatives of the lesser cantons with- 
 drew, declaring that they would never submit 
 themselves to such a constitution. Masters of the 
 provisional government, the moderate patriots, 
 seeing how matters were proceeding, concerted 
 upon the subject with the French minister Ver- 
 ninac, and issued a decree, by which they dis- 
 solved the diet for having exceeded its powers, 
 and having made itself a constituent assembly 
 when it had not been called upon to become so. 
 They themselves placed in action the new consti- 
 tution of the 29th of May, 1801, and proceeded to 
 the election of the authorities which that consti- 
 tution instituted. These authorities were the 
 senate, the lesser council, and the landamman. 
 The senate was composed of twenty-five members ; 
 it nominated the lesser council, which was com- 
 posed of seven persons, and the landamman, who 
 was the chief of the republic. The senate not 
 only nominated these two authorities, but it also 
 advised them as a council. As the moderate 
 patriots had upon their hands the exalted uni- 
 tarians, who were dispersed upon the breaking up 
 of the diet, they wen; obliged to manage with the 
 opposite or oligarchical party. They chose from 
 among them the more sage and discreet, in order 
 to add them to their number and place them in the 
 senate. They mingled them with the revolutionists 
 in such a manner as to preserve a majority of the 
 last. But in their irritation, five of the revo- 
 lutionists refused to accept the offer made to them. 
 The majority on that account changed in a vexa- 
 tious manner, since when once formed, the senate 
 would proceed to complete itself. It did, in fact, 
 do this, and on the oligarchical side. Thus when 
 it came to nominate the landamman, and had the 
 choice of two candidates, M. Reding, who was the 
 chief of the oligarchical party, and M. Bolder, 
 who was at the head of the moderate revolutionists, 
 Reding carried the day by one vote. Dolder was 
 a discreet man, of considerable ability, but pos- 
 sessed only of a moderate degree of energy
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 Conduct of M. Reding and 
 the oligarchy. 
 
 THE SECULARIZATIONS. 
 
 The government of Reding „_ 
 
 overturned. *'"*» 
 
 Reding was an old officer, not very enlightened, 
 but energetic ; he had served in the Swiss troops 
 that were in foreign pay, and had carried on with 
 greet intelligence the mountain war against the 
 French army in 1708. He belonged to the little 
 canton of Schwitz, and was at the head of a privi- 
 faroily, which disposed of all the commis- 
 sions in the regimi at if Reding. The oligarchy 
 of Switzerland had adopted this head of a kind of 
 clan, and had given him its confidence. Rough as 
 he was, Reding did not want a certain degree of 
 He was flattered with his new dignity, 
 and endeavoured to pr< serve it. He knew that he 
 would not long be able to retain it against the will 
 of France. In accordance with his party, he de- 
 termined to proceed rapidly to Paris, to endeavour 
 to persuade the lirst consul, that the oligarchical 
 party was that of honourable men, whom he ought 
 to suffer in power, and permit to have their way, 
 and that on these conditions he would find Switzer- 
 land devoted to France. The lirst consul received 
 M. Reding with consideration, and listened to him 
 with some attention. Reding affected to exhibit 
 himself destitute of all partiality, and more of a 
 soldier than an oligarch ; he appeared flattered at 
 the approbation of the lirst general of mod >rn 
 
 . disposed as he was to place himself above 
 party passions. He offered to make certain ad- 
 justments, which were accepted in order to see 
 it his conduct answered to his promises. Accord- 
 ing to these adjustments, the senate was to be 
 
 ised to thirty members, and the choice of five- 
 new ones was to In- made exclusively among the 
 patriots. A second landamman was to be chosen 
 equally among that party, and to hold the reins of 
 power alternately with the first. Cantonal com- 
 missions, composed half by the senate, and half by 
 the cantons themselves, were to be charged with 
 tie- task "f giving to each the constitution which 
 best litted it. It was besides agreed, thatArgovia 
 and the Pays de Valid should remain detached 
 from Berne ; and in return, that the agglome- 
 rations of territories, which had disfigured certain 
 ■mul l cantons, should be revoked. Under these 
 
 vntions the first consul promised to acknow- 
 ledge tie- integrity of Switzerland, to replace it in 
 a sta:o <,!' perpetual neutrality, and to withdraw 
 the- French troops, in order to assure to France 
 the military road which was required, the Valais 
 was diamemb< red by ceding to France that por- 
 tion which is on the right bank of the Rhone. 
 
 France, in exchange, obliged herself to cede the 
 
 Fricktbal and an armndissoinent of the territory 
 
 on the side of the Jura. Reding left Paris full 
 of hope, beli.ving he bad acquired the favour 
 of the first consul, and would be enabli d to do in 
 Switzerland thenceforth just what be chose. 
 
 lint scarcely was the head of the oligarchical 
 party arrived at Berne, b fore, drawn in by his 
 friends, Reding became all that could and all 
 that might be expected under such influences, 
 and with ideas of government as little changed as 
 his own. There were Ave dom members added to 
 the senate, taken from the v. ry heart of the patriot 
 party, and a colleague was given to Reding, 
 charged to perform alternately with him the func- 
 tions of landamman. Thi oe was not M. 
 Holder himself, but M. Rugger, a considerable 
 onage among the moderate n volutionisto. Thi 
 
 newly chosen, that in the lesser council charged 
 with the executive power, procured a majority 
 for the revolutionary party, left the majority in 
 the senate to the oligarchs. Further, Reding, 
 being landamman for this year, selected the au- 
 thorities in the interest of his own party, lb- 
 sent, whether to Vienna or to other courts, agents 
 devoted to the cause of the counter-revolution, 
 with instructions hostile to France, which soon 
 e known to her. Reding more especially 
 demanded that then- should be accredited to him, 
 representatives of all the powers, in order to 
 second him against the influ nee of M. Verninac, 
 the charge d'affaires of France. The only agent 
 
 whom be did not venture to replace was M. Stap- 
 ler, the Swiss minister at Paris, a respectable man, 
 ed to his country, who had known how to 
 obtain the confidence of the French government, 
 and for that reason difficult to recall. Reding 
 bad promised to have independent the Pays de 
 Vaud and Argovia ; nevertheless, from every 
 part there came petitions to provoke the restitu- 
 tion of these provinces to the canton of Berne. 
 Despite tl.e promise to free the Italian bailwicks, 
 Uri demanded, in a high tone, and with threats, 
 the Levantine valley. The cantonal commissions 
 that were charged to draw up the particular con- 
 stitution of each canton, were, except two or three, 
 composed in a spirit contrary to the new order of 
 things, and favourable to the re-establishment of 
 the old. There was no more a question made of 
 the Valais, nor of the road promised to Trance. 
 Finally, the Vaudois, seeing a counter-revolution 
 imminent, were in a state of insurrection, and 
 sooner than submit to the government of Reding, 
 they solicited a reunion with France. 
 
 Thus unfortunate Helvetia, delivered over a 
 year before to the extravagances of the absolute 
 unitarians, was this year a prey to the counter- 
 revolutionary attempts of the oligarchs. The 
 first consul therefore took bis part in regard to 
 the Valais, and declared that In- detached it from 
 the confederation, and restored it to its former 
 independence. This was evidently tin- be! 
 lution of the difficulty, because giving one bank 
 of the Rhine to France and another to Switzer- 
 land, was clearly contrary to the natural course of 
 things. Jn having it entirely to Switzerland, and 
 in creating a road and French military establish- 
 ments, the Helvetic neutrality was rendered im- 
 possible. Winn he was apprised of this resolu- 
 tion, Reding made a noise about it, asserting that 
 the lirst consul had broken his promises, which 
 was untrue; and be proposed to tie- less* r council 
 a letter bo violent, that the council drew back 
 from it in fear. The situation of the oligarchs of 
 tin- large and small cantons was noi longer tenable, 
 
 labouring as tiny were to reconstruct tie- old ord< r 
 
 of things, and the revolutionists, arisen in the Pays 
 
 de Vaud, to obtain a union with France. M. Dol- 
 
 and his friends, in the lesser Council, united 
 
 themselves. Ill this lesser eoimeil, charged with 
 
 the executive power, tiny were six against three. 
 I bej profited themselves of tin- absence of Reding, 
 
 who bad gone for some days into tin- smaller can- 
 tons; the\ annulled all that had been done by biin; 
 they broke up lie- cantonal COmmiSI i.<n»,and called 
 
 together at Berne an assembly of notable.. 
 
 sisthig of fort} -even individuals chosen from
 
 390 
 
 Withdrawal of the French 
 troops. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Separation of the 
 Valais. 
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 among the most respectable and moderate men 
 of all opinions. They then submitted to them the 
 constitution of the 29th of May, recommended by- 
 France, making in it the modifications which were 
 judged indispensable ; and they immediately or- 
 ganized the public authorities according to that 
 same constitution. 
 
 To take from the oligarchical pnrty the support 
 of the senate, in which they had a majority, they 
 pronounced the suspension of that body. On re- 
 ceiving intelligence of this event, Reding hastened 
 to protest against the resolutions thus taken. But 
 deprived of the support of the senate, which had 
 been suspended, he retired, declaring that he did 
 not renounce his character of chief magistrate; 
 and he went into the smaller cantons in order to 
 foment the insurrection. They considered him 
 as having resigned, and confided to citizen Rutti- 
 mann the office of first landamman. Thus the 
 Swiss, pulled about, in turn by the hands of the 
 absolute unitarians and by those of the oligarchs, 
 found themselves, by a succession of small coups 
 d'etat, replaced in the power of the moderate 
 revolutionists. Unfortunately, these last had not 
 at their head, as the moderate French had when 
 they brought about the 18th Brumaire, a powerful 
 chief to give to their wisdom the aid of strength. 
 Still, enlightened by events, the partisans of the 
 revolution, whatever was their difference with each 
 other, were disposed to come to an understanding, 
 and to accept as a boon the constitution of the 29th 
 of May, introducing certain changes. But Reding 
 was at work in the small cantons to arouse them 
 into insurrection, and the necessity of having re- 
 course to some powerful external aid, because there 
 was none to be obtained in Switzerland, was at 
 last inevitable. However evident was this neces- 
 sity, no one dared to avow it. The oligarchs, who 
 saw in the intervention of France their assured 
 ruin, made it a crime in the revolutionists to desire 
 such an interference. These, in order not to supply 
 their adversaries with such a valid ground of com- 
 plaint, repelled the charge in lofty terms. Lastly, 
 the first consul himself, wishing to spare inquietude 
 to Europe, was decided, unless in case of any very 
 extraordinary event, not to compromise the French 
 troops in the troubles of Switzerland. Thus, al- 
 though thirty thousai.d French were spread over 
 the middle of the Alps, none of their generals 
 obeyed the requisitions of the different parties; 
 and the French soldiers were present, with arms 
 idle on their shoulders, amidst all these disorders. 
 Their immobility became a subject of reproach, 
 and the patriots said, with some appearance of 
 reason, that a general peace reigning in Europe, 
 the French army not having to defend them 
 against the Aunt rums, would not defend tin m 
 against internal insurrections, that they gathered 
 no other fruit from their presence, then the trouble 
 of sustaining them, and the disagreeable effect of 
 a foreign occupation. The retreat of the French 
 troops, therefore, became a sort of patriotic satis- 
 faction, that the moderate party thought them- 
 selves obliged to agree to with all the oilier 
 parties; and they demanded it of the first consul, 
 while Reding aroused the flame of insurrection 
 in the mountains of Schwitz, Uri, and [Inter- 
 walden It seemed the more necessary to grunt 
 the request thus made, because the separation of 
 
 the Valais, definitively resolved upon, was an act 
 that was a sensible displeasure to the Swiss pa- 
 triots. The first consul consented to the evacua- 
 tion, willing to give to the moderate party the 
 fullest and most entire moral support possible, but 
 in reality much doubting the soundness of the ex- 
 periment which he was going to make. Orders for 
 the evacuation were immediately sent. There re- 
 mained at the disposal of the new government 
 three thousand Swiss troops. But there were left, 
 besides, near the frontiers, the Helvetic dctni- 
 brigades in the service of France, and it was hoped 
 that recourse might be had to them if needful, 
 without any ulterior application to the French 
 army. A momentary calm succeeded to these 
 agitated scenes. The constitution of the 29th of 
 May, adopted with certain modifications, was every- 
 where accepted. The lesser cantons alone refused 
 to put it in force within their limits. Still they 
 appeared willing to remain tranquil, at least, for 
 the passing moment. 
 
 The separation of the Valais was accomplished 
 without difficulty. This country was anew con- 
 stituted an independent state, under the protection 
 of France and the Italian republic. France, as a 
 sole mark of sovereignty, reserved to herself a 
 military road, that she was to support at her own 
 expense, providing the magazines and barracks. 
 The road was declared to be exempt from every 
 kind of toll, a thing of immense benefit to the 
 country. In thus opening the Simplon, there was 
 created that grand highway which now traverses 
 it. France thus made to the Valais a magnificent 
 gift, equal in value, most assuredly, to the price 
 which was exacted from her in obtaining it. 
 
 Thus the affairs of Switzerland remained in a 
 sort of suspense. The oligarchs, at first, joyful 
 at the retreat of the French troops, soon became 
 alarmed. They dreaded in thus losing no very 
 agreeable masters, that they had lost a useful pro- 
 tection in the probable contingency of a revolu- 
 tionary convulsion. Those who thus reasoned were, 
 it is true, among the wiser and better informed. 
 The rest, flattering themselves that they should 
 again be able to overturn the rule of the moderate 
 patriots, ardently wished that the present evacua- 
 tion of the French should be final ; and through 
 the mediation of their secret agents, they requested 
 the different European courts not to consent that 
 the French troops should again enter Switzerland. 
 They had, they said, been able to tolerate their re- 
 maining as a consequence of the war ; but their 
 return could only be considered— in case it should 
 so happen — as the violation of an independent ter- 
 ritory, the integrity of which was guaranteed by 
 all Europe, 
 
 The first consul was well acquainted with their in- 
 trigues, because the correspondence of the landam- 
 man Reding had been discovered and forwarded 
 to Paris. It had little effect upon his feeling; he 
 even explained his intentions freely and uncon- 
 strained ly upon the matter, as had been his custom 
 upon such occasions. He said that he did not want 
 to possess Switzerland, that he preferred a general 
 peace to the conquest of such a territory ; but that 
 lie would not suffer a government there which 
 should be at enmity with France ; that upon this 
 point his resolution was irrevocable. 
 
 In England the solicitations of the oligarchical
 
 18«2. 
 Aug. 
 
 Austria endeavours to 
 repair her dilapidated 
 finances. 
 
 THE SECULARIZATIONS. 
 
 Conduct of Prussia and 
 Russia regarding Cier- 
 maiiy. 
 
 391 
 
 party were not applied without a considerable 
 effect; not, indeed, in the cabinet, but upon the 
 party of Grenville and Wyndham, which endea- 
 voured, out of every tiling, to raise up new grounds 
 of complaint against France. In Austria and 
 Prussia they were too much occupied with the ter- 
 ritorial arrangements of Germany to mingle them- 
 selves up with tin' affairs of Helvetia : they had 
 there too much need of the favour of the first 
 Consul to dream of giving him the least ground of 
 offence. Cobentzel, at Vienna, went so far in his 
 attention as to show to the French ambassador, 
 .M. de Champagny, all the correspondence which 
 had been forwarded to him by t lie party of Reding, 
 and the replies which he had sent, discouraging 
 tlie pressing entreaties of that party. Russia, per- 
 fectly aware of the views and intentions of the first 
 consul, comprehended clearly enough that the 
 troubles of Switzerland were a source of embarrass- 
 ment to him, from which he would have 1, ien 
 most willing to escape, much sooner than to find 
 in it an opportunity, artificially prepared, to pro- 
 cure for himself further influence or additional 
 
 iry. 
 However serious in themselves were the affairs 
 of Switzerland, however serious, more particularly, 
 they might become if the French troops were 
 marched back upou the Helvetian territory, they 
 had not the power at the moment to detach the at- 
 tention of iiie great powers from the affairs of Ger- 
 many. It has been before seen, that the cession of 
 the left 'bank of the Rhine to France, had deprived 
 of their states a crowd of princes, and that it was 
 agreed at Luneville to indemnify them by seculariz- 
 ing the ecclesiastical principalities, of which old 
 Germany was full. This was the necessary course 
 of a general remodelling of the Germanic territory. 
 Such an important question left no attention to be 
 
 I for any other in most of the northern 
 com 
 
 Austria, wasted by a long contest, endeavoured 
 to repair her dilapidate! finances, and to elevate 
 tie- credit of her paper money. The archduke 
 Charles had obtained all the influence which M. 
 Thugut had lost This prince, who had commanded 
 in war with great distinction, was the declared 
 partisan of peace. He had seen in a moment the 
 glory he had acquired on the' borders of the Rhine, 
 in combating tie' generals Jourdan and Moreau, 
 effaced en tin- hanks of the Tagiiamento, in cou- 
 Hieting with general Bonaparte, and he "as not 
 inclined to mafa any new attempt against this for- 
 midable adversary. Motives still more elevated hail 
 a, share in influencing his political predispositions, 
 tie saw his own reigning house mined by long and 
 sanguinary wars, which passion had more to do in 
 
 pr otillg than reason; and he said that Austria 
 
 was fortunate enough, although beaten, in finding 
 in tie- acquisition of the Venetian stales, an indem- 
 nity for the loss of the Low Countries and of the 
 Milanese, which, in case of a third war, would, in 
 all probability, be taken from her without compen- 
 sation. Tins prince, now In- was minister, set about 
 the formation of an army which should he better 
 organized, and be less expensive th in th.it which 
 Austria had po ,sed for I'll wars previously, and 
 
 opposed in vain to the troops of France. The 
 
 emperor, of a sober and more solid than brilliant, 
 intellect, partook in the opinions of the archduke, 
 
 and thought of nothing but of drawing the utmost 
 possible advantage from the business of the indem- 
 nities, hoping to find in that a favourable juncture 
 for repairing the later reverses of his house. 
 
 Prussia, that in 179o separated herself from 
 the coalition, in order to conclude at Bale a peace 
 with the French republic, ami which since that 
 time had re-establish, d her finances through the 
 medium of her neutrality, had gained new pro- 
 vinces in consequence of the- last division of Poland, 
 now endeavoured to obtain a share of the good 
 things belonging to the German church, and an 
 opportunity to aggrandize herself in Germany, — a 
 species of aggrandizement which she preferred to 
 any other. She had a very young and discreet sove- 
 reign, who made it a matter of moment to pass for 
 an upright man, and who was so in effect, but 
 was unboundedly fond of territorial acquisitions, on 
 condition, still, that they were not purchased by a 
 war; besides, they possessed in Prussia a singular 
 means of explaining every thing in the most ho- 
 nourable way in his regard. All equivocal acts, or 
 such the uprightness of which might be contested, 
 were attributed to M. Haugwitz, to whom they 
 ordinarily imputed every thing which they could 
 not tell how to justify, while M. Haugwitz suffered 
 himself to he immolated to the reputation of the 
 king his roaster, v. itli the utmost good grace. This 
 court having some degree of intellect and few pre- 
 judices, had known how to be on tolerable terms 
 with the 1'ivneh convention and directory, and on 
 very good terms with the first consul. On the 
 accession of the first consul, she had shown herself 
 willing for a moment to interfere between the bel- 
 ligerent powers, in order to force them to make 
 peace ; and when the first consul had effected this 
 without her aid, she put forth the value of her good 
 intentions at the least. She fawned upon him 
 incessantly, and glanced at a treaty of offensive 
 and defensive alliance at a future time, provided 
 he favoured her in partitioning the spoils of the 
 German church. 
 
 Russia, wholly disinterested in the territorial 
 question that then occupied Germany, was neither 
 required nor authorized to mix herself up with 
 them by the treaty of Luneville, but she would 
 willingly play a character in the scene. To be 
 required as an arbitrator flattered the vanity of the 
 young emperor — a vanity which began to appear 
 through his apparent modesty and ingenuousness. 
 This prince at first Buffered himself to be guided 
 by the two individuals who had placed him upon 
 tin; throne by means of a horrible catastrophe, the 
 counts l'ahlen and Tallin. But his integrity and 
 pride equally suffered under such a yoke. It cost 
 him much to have at his side continually the men 
 who recalled the most terrible recollections to his 
 mind ; and he felt humiliated to have ministers 
 who treated him as a prince that was still a minor. 
 It has been already said that he was surrounded 
 by the Companions of his early years, |)e Strogo- 
 
 noff, Nowosiltzoff, and Czartoryskij with a friend 
 of riper age in Al. Kotschoubey, hot In- delayed to 
 -s himself, in connexion with them, of the 
 management of public affair*, lb' took occasion 
 of an opportunity which presented itself, through 
 the imperious character of count l'ahlen, to send 
 
 him into Cuiirlund. lie did much the same thing 
 with count Panin, and he introduced M. KotS-
 
 39-: 
 
 The question of the German 
 indemnities. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The indemnities explained, 
 and paFties to be indem- 
 nified. 
 
 1802. 
 
 choubey into the cabinet. For his vice-chancellor, 
 he took a former member of the Russian govern- 
 ment, prince Kurakin, a statesman of an easy 
 temper, fond of the eclat of power, and willing 
 to lend his name, well known in Europe, with 
 perfect complacency to four or five young per- 
 sonages, who began to govern the empire in secret. 
 Under this singular association of a czar, twenty- 
 four years old, and some Russian and Polish 
 nobles of the same age, he indulged, as has been 
 already stated, very odd ideas about every thing. 
 Paul I. and Catherine herself were considered as 
 barbarous unenlightened sovereigns. The partition 
 of Poland was regarded as an outrage ; and the 
 war against the French revolution as the result of 
 blind prejudices. Russia in future was bound to 
 give her policy a new direction ; she was bound to 
 protect the ieeble, to restrain the powerful, to 
 oblige France and England to keep themselves 
 within the bounds of justice, to force both to 
 respect the rights and interests of other nations in 
 the midst of their disputes. Happy intentions — 
 noble ideas, if they had been real ; if they had not 
 resembled those liberal intentions of the French 
 nobility, brought up in the school of Voltaire and 
 Rousseau, ever expressing liberty and humanity, 
 up to the time when the French revolution re- 
 quired them to render their theory and their 
 actions conformable to each other ! Then these 
 philosophical nobles became the emigrants of Cob- 
 lentz. Thus too, as there had been in France a 
 minority of the nobility faithful to the end to the 
 sentiments they first avowed, it was the same with 
 these young rulers of Russia ; two distinguished 
 themselves by their stable upright principles, and 
 by characters more in earnest. These were 
 prince Adam Czartoryski and M. Strogonoff. The 
 last exhibited a mind equally sincere and solid. 
 Prince Czartoryski, steady, well instructed, and 
 serious, was twenty-five years old, having gained a 
 species of ascendancy over Alexander. He was full 
 of the hereditary feelings attaching to his family, 
 in other words, of the desire to restore Poland to 
 her rights, and he bent himself, as will soon be 
 seen, to make the combinations of the Russian 
 policy contribute to that end. These distinguished 
 youths, with the inclinations that moved them, 
 began to be anxious to commence in Germany 
 that equitable and decided arbitration which was 
 so strongly seducing in their view. Austria, with 
 her usual ability, had well known how to discover 
 what were their dispositions, and had thought of 
 serving herself through them. Clearly perceiving 
 the predilection of the first consul for Prussia, she 
 turned herself to the emperor Alexander: flattered 
 him, and offered him the part of arbitrator in 
 German affairs. There was no lack of ambition in 
 the czar to take upon himself such a character ; 
 but it was not easy to take it in presence of general 
 Bonaparte, that a formal treaty invested with the 
 right and duty of interfering in the question of the 
 German indemnities, and who was not the man to 
 leave that for others to do which it appertained to 
 himself to perform. But the emperor Alexander, 
 although impatient to figure upon the world's great 
 scene, exhibited a reserve meritorious at his age, 
 above all with the ambitious feelings of which his 
 heart was full. 
 
 It is necessary now to penetrate into the obscure 
 
 and difficult question of the German indemnities. 
 This question, entered upon at the congress of 
 Rastadt after the peace of Campo-Formio, aban- 
 doned in consequence of the assassination of the 
 French plenipotentiaries, and of the second coa- 
 lition, resumed after the peace of Luneville, often 
 begun, and never terminated, was a serious ques- 
 tion for Europe, a question it was impossible, when 
 placed before it, that it could know how to arrange. 
 It could not, in fact, be resolved but by the strung 
 will of the first consul, because it was impossible 
 that Germany was sufficient of herself to settle it. 
 
 By the treaties of Campo-Formio and of Lune- 
 ville, the left bank of the Rhine became French 
 property from the point where that fine river 
 leaves the Swiss territory, between Bale and 
 Huninguen as far as where it enters the Dutch 
 dominions, between Emerick and Nimiguen. But 
 by the cession of this bank to France, the German, 
 princes of every rank and state, as well hereditary 
 as ecclesiastical, had sustained considerable losses 
 in territory and revenue. Bavaria had lost the 
 duchy of Deux Pouts, the palatinate of the Rhine, 
 and the duchy of Juliers. Wurtemberg and Baden 
 had been deprived of the principality of Mont- 
 beliard and other domains. The three ecclesiastical 
 electors of Mayence, of Treves, and of Cologne, 
 remained nearly without any estates at all. The 
 two Hesses had lost several lordships ; the bishops 
 of Liege and of Bale had been completely dispos- 
 sessed of their bishoprics. Prussia had been 
 obliged to renounce, for the advantage of France, 
 the duchy of Gueldres and a part of that of Cleves, 
 as well as the little principality of Mceurs, terri- 
 tories situated on the inferior course of the Rhine. 
 Finally, a crowd of princes of the second and third 
 order had seen their principalities and fiefs disap- 
 pear. These were not all the losses brought about 
 by the war. In Italy two Austrian archdukes 
 had been forced to renounce the one Tuscany, and 
 the other Modena. In Holland the house of 
 Orange Nassau allied to Prussia, had lost the 
 stadtholdership, as well as a great quantity of 
 personal property. 
 
 According to the strict regulations of justice, 
 the German princes should alone be indemnified on 
 the German territory. The archdukes, uncles or 
 brothers of the emperor, having for a long time 
 had the rank of Italian princes, had no claim 
 to the obtainment of establishments in Germany, 
 save from being relations of the emperor. But it 
 was the emperor who had forced unhappy Ger- 
 many into the war, and thus exposed it to these 
 considerable losses of territory, and the emperor 
 now came to force it to indemnify his own re- 
 lations, thus drawn in, against their will, to take a 
 part in a foolish and badly-conducted war. The 
 same may be said of the claim of the stadiholder ; 
 for if this prince lost his estates, it was not for 
 Germany to pay for the faults which he had him- 
 self committed. But the stadtholder was the 
 brother-in-law of the king of Prussia, and that 
 king, not willing to do less for his own family than 
 the emperor had done for his, demanded an in- 
 demnification in Germany for the house of Orange 
 Nassau. It was therefore necessary besides the 
 German princes, to indemnify as well the arch- 
 dukes deprived of their Italian estates, and Orange 
 Nassau dispossessed of the stadtholdership. It
 
 1S02. 
 Aug. 
 
 The indemnities explained, 
 and parties to be indem- 
 nified. 
 
 THE SECULARIZATIONS. Value of the secularizations. 
 
 31)3 
 
 had been demanded of France at tlie treaty of 
 Luneville, and before that at the treaty of Campo- 
 Formio, to consent that the archdukes should 
 ive an indemnity in Germany. Prussia at the 
 congress of Bale, ami England at that of Amiens, 
 had exacted that the stadtholder should be in- 
 demnified without designating the place, but with 
 the avowed intention of choosing that place some- 
 where on the surface of the German territory. 
 France, that had only to consider the indemnities 
 in the point of view that affected the general 
 balance — France, to whom it imported little that 
 it was a bishop or a prince of Nassau who was 
 established at Inula, that it was an archbishop or 
 an archduke who might be indemnified at Salzberg, 
 
 had seen tit to i sent. 
 
 The treaty of Luneville being ratified by the 
 diet, the weight with which the emperor pressed 
 upon the German territory was accepted with 
 :, but in a formal maimer. The treaties of 
 and Amicus, that stipulated an indemnity for 
 the stadtholder, were, it is true, strangers to the 
 confederation ; but England, with the influence 
 which procured her the possession of Hanover, 
 Prussia with her power in the diet, assured besides, 
 both one and the other, of the concurrence of 
 France, had not a refusal to apprehend in re- 
 quiring a territorial indemnity for the stadtholder. 
 It was therefore agreed, by a consent almost 
 unanimous, that the stadtholder, as well as the two 
 Italian archdukes, should have a part of the 
 secularized bishoprics. To indemnify the German, 
 Italian, and Dutch princes, there were certainly 
 fine domains not wanting in Germany. There 
 W( iv many of these very considerable, under the 
 ecclesiastical order. In secularizing them, there 
 would be found a vast extent of country, covered 
 with inhabitants, and rich enough in revenue to 
 furnish states to all the victims of the war. 
 
 It would be difficult to tell the exact value in 
 territory, revenues, and inhabitants of the entire 
 of the German principalities susceptible of secu- 
 larization. The peace of Westphalia had already 
 secularized a great number; but those which re- 
 mained formed about one-sixth of Germany, pro- 
 perly so called, as well in regard to extent as to 
 population. In regard to revenue, if reported ac- 
 cording to th.- estimates of the day, very incom- 
 plete and much contested, it might amount to 
 thirteen or fourteen millions of florins. Hut it 
 would be ,in i it ■ .r to consider this sum as the total 
 
 revenue of the principalities in question here. It 
 was tin- revenue, making the deduction of the ex- 
 
 pensefl of collection and of administration; the 
 
 deduction also must lie made of a nunfber of ec- 
 clesiastical benefices, such as abbeys, canonicals, 
 sod the like, which are not comprised in the net 
 product thus announced, an 1 which would, by the 
 S' cularization, appertain to the new possessor ; 
 that is to say, if the produce of the country lie 
 calculated as it was calculated in France in 11103; 
 and as calculations are more accurately made in 
 the present day, it would lead to an estimate three 
 
 nr lour times ; liderable, and, consequently, 
 
 to forty or fifty millions id' florin-, or from a hun- 
 dred to a hundred and twenty millions of franca. 
 
 It is, therefore, impossible to value exactly the 
 ju-t amount of these' estates, otherwise than in 
 
 •Arming that they comprised about the aixth part 
 
 of Germany, properly so called. It suffices, besides, 
 to cite them, in order to show that several of them 
 are composed, at tin' present time, of flourishing 
 
 provinces, and some of them the finest of the con- 
 federation. Commencing on the east ami south of 
 Germany, there are, in the Tyrol, the bishoprics 
 of Trent and of lirixen, that Austria considered as 
 belonging to herself, and that for this reason, she 
 would not permit to figure in the mass of German 
 
 indemnities, but which had been arranged, in spite 
 of her opposition, in the number of the disposable 
 properties. The valuation of their product varied 
 from two hundred thousand to nine hundred thou- 
 sand florins. In passing from the Tyrol into Ba- 
 varia, the superb bishopric of Salzburg presented 
 itself, now one of the most important provinces 
 of the Austrian monarchy, comprising the valley 
 of the Salza, producing, by one account, one million 
 two hundred thousand florins, by another, two mil- 
 lion seven hundred thousand florins, and possessing 
 a race of excellent soldiers, as able tirailleurs as 
 the Tyrolians. In the bishopric of Salzburg was 
 comprised the prevota) of Hi rchtolsgaden, valuable 
 by the production of salt. Upon entering directly 
 into Bavaria, there were encountered, upon the 
 Lech, the bishopric of Augsburg; on the Isar that 
 of Freisingen, ami, finally, at the confluence of the 
 Inn ami the Danube, that of Passau, all three 
 much desired by Bavaria, the territory of which 
 they would very advantageously complete. The 
 produce together of these was valued at about 
 eight hundred thousand florins; but like the., rs, 
 differently valued, according to custom, by those 
 aspirants who disputed about them. On the other 
 side of the Danube, in other words, in r'ranconia, 
 was found the rich bishopric of Wurtzburg, the 
 bishops of which formerly arrived at the title of 
 dukes of Franconia, and were opulent enough to 
 build at Wurtzburg a palace almost as fine as that 
 of Versailles. The revenue of this benefice was esti- 
 mated atone million four hundred thousand florins, 
 and including the bishopric of Bamberg, which was 
 contiguous, at more than two million. This was the 
 lot which would best indemnify Bavaria for her im- 
 mense losses, and round oil' her territory exceedingly 
 
 well. Prussia had an eye upon these, because of their 
 value, ;iml their contiguity with the marquisates of 
 Auspach ami Bareuth. The bishopric of Aich- 
 stedt, in tin' same province, might be added, very 
 inferior to the two preceding, but still very con- 
 siderable. 
 
 There remained, too, the archbishoprics of May- 
 em e, Treves, and Cologne, situated on the right of 
 tin- Rhine, archbishoprics and electorates at the 
 same time, having a revenue very difficult to esti- 
 mate. There remained portions of the electorate 
 of Mayence, enclosed in Thuringia, such as Erfurth, 
 and the territory of Bischsfeld. Then in descend- 
 ing towards Westphalia, the same duchy of West- 
 phalia, the revenue of which was estimated at lour 
 
 or five hundred thousand florins ; the bishoprics of 
 Paderborn, Osnabruok, and Hildensheim, which 
 were each supposed able to return lour hundred 
 
 thousand lloiins. And lastly, the vast bishopric 
 ol .Minister, tli.' third in revenue of all Germany, 
 the most i Mended ill territory, bringing in at tlial 
 time one million two hundred thousand florins. 
 
 If to these archbishoprics, bishoprics, and 
 duchies, to the numbi r "i foiirtei n, 1 1 1< i • be joined
 
 The German constitution. 
 •»"•* — Constitution of ttie 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 electoral college. — Forms 
 adopted in collecting the 
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 tlte remains of the ancient ecclesiastical electorates, 
 and the fragments of tlte bishoprics of Spires, 
 Worms, Strasburg, Bale, Constance, a quantity of 
 rich abbeys, finally, forty-nine free towns, which it 
 was not wished to secularize, but to incorporate in 
 the neighbouring states, which was then styled "to 
 mediatise" them, an idea may be formed, somewhat 
 near exactness, of all the property which was dis- 
 posable, to make the secular princes forget the 
 misfortunes they had incurred by the war. It 
 must be added, that if there had been no intention 
 to indemnify the archdukes and the stadtholder, 
 who, among the three of them, would ask a quarter 
 part at least of the disposable domains, it would 
 not have been necessary to suppress all the eccle- 
 siastical principalities, and that they would have 
 been enabled to spare to the Germanic constitution 
 the destructive blow by which it was soon to be 
 laid low. 
 
 It was, in effect, to give to the Germanic con- 
 stitution a very deep wound, thus to secularize all 
 the ecclesiastical states at one time, because they 
 played in that constitution a very considerable 
 part. Some details are necessary here, to make 
 known this old constitution, the most ancient in 
 Europe, the most respectable after that of England, 
 .1 bunt to perish by the cupidity of the German 
 princes themselves. 
 
 The Germanic empire was elective. Although 
 for a long time the imperial crown had not been 
 borne out of the house of Austria, it was needful to 
 have a formal election at the commencement of 
 each reign. This had fallen to the heir of the 
 house of Austria, who was in his own right king of 
 Bohemia and Hungary, archduke of Austria, duke 
 of Milan, Cariutliia, Styria, &c, but not chief of 
 the empire. The election was formerly made by 
 seven, and at the epoch now alluded to, by eight 
 princes electors. Of these, five were lay princes 
 and three ecclesiastical. The five lay princes were 
 the house of Austria for Bohemia ; the elector 
 palatine for Bavaria and the palatinate ; the duke 
 of Saxony for Saxony : the king of Prussia for 
 Brandenburg; and the king of England for Hanover. 
 The three ecclesiastical electors were the arch- 
 bishop of Mayence, possessing a part of both banks 
 of the Rhine in the vicinity of Mayence, the city of 
 Mayence itself, and the banks of the Main as far 
 as above Aschaffenburg ; the archbishop of Treves, 
 possessing the county of Treves, in other words, 
 the valley of the Moselle from the frontiers of old 
 France as far as the junction of that river with the 
 Rhine towards Coblentz ; lastly, the archbishop of 
 Cologne, possessing the left shore of the Rhine, 
 from Bonn as far as the borders of Holland. These 
 three archbishops, following the general custom of 
 the church, every where when royalty had not en- 
 grossed the ecclesiastical nominations, were elected 
 by their chapters, save in canonical institution, 
 which was reserved to the pope. The canons, 
 members of the chapters and electors of their arch- 
 bishops, were chosen from among the highest of 
 the German nobility. Thus for Mayence, they 
 must be members of the " immediate" nobility, in 
 other words, of the nobility elevated directly by 
 the empire, and not by the territorial princes with 
 whom their domains might be situated. In such a 
 mode neither the archbishop nor the canons charged 
 •to elect, could be subjects dependent upon any prince 
 
 whatever, the emperor himself excepted. This pre- 
 caution was needful for so great a personage as the 
 archbishop elector of Mayence, who was chancellor 
 of the confederation. He it was who presided at the 
 Germanic diet. The archbishops electors of Treves 
 and Cologne had no other title than that cf an old 
 function, which had passed away with time. The 
 archbishop of Cologne was anciently chancellor of 
 the kingdom of Italy; the archbishop of Treves, 
 chancellor of the kingdom of the Gauls. 
 
 These eight princes decreed the imperial crown. 
 During the first half of the last century, and the 
 war of the Austrian succession, they were obliged to 
 choose for an emperor a prince of Bavaria; but they 
 soon returned, out of their old habits and a respect 
 for tradition, to the succession of the house of Ro- 
 dolphe of Hapsburg. Besides, the catholic electors 
 found themselves in a majority, that is to say, as 
 five to three ; and the preference of the catholics 
 for Austria was natural and secular. The empire 
 was not only elective, if was, — if it may be so ex- 
 pressed in regard to an era having no analogy with 
 our own, — it was representative. The electors de- 
 liberated in a general diet, which met at Ratisbon, 
 under the presidency of the chancellor, the arch- 
 bishop of Mayence. 
 
 This diet was composed of three colleges : the 
 electoral college, in which the eight electors sat 
 that have been just enumerated ; the college of 
 princes, in which all the lay and ecclesiastical 
 princes sat, each of them for the territory of which 
 lie was the immediate sovereign, some houses 
 having several votes, according to the importance 
 of the principalities which they represented in the 
 diet, others, on the contrary, having but a part of 
 a vote, as for example, the counts of Westphalia; 
 thirdly and lastly, the college of the cities, where 
 they sat to the number of forty-nine, the repre- 
 sentatives of the free cities, nearly all ruined, and 
 having only a very slight influence in the govern- 
 ment of old Germany. 
 
 The forms adopted in collecting the votes were 
 extremely complicated. When the protocol was 
 opened, each of the three colleges voted separately. 
 The electors, besides their representation in the 
 college of electors, had representatives in the col- 
 lege of princes, and thus they sat in two colleges at 
 once. Austria sat in the electoral college for Bo- 
 hemia, and in the college of princes for the arch- 
 duchy of Austria Prussia sat in the electoral 
 college for Brandenburg, and in the college of 
 princes for Anspach, Bareuth, &c. Bavaria sat 
 in the college of electors for Bavaria, and in the 
 college of princes for Deux Ponts, Juliers, &c, 
 and the like with the other powers. They dis- 
 cussed nothing in a particular manner; but each 
 state, called in hierarchical order, verbally gave 
 its opinion through the intermediate agency of a 
 minister. The votes were several times taken, so 
 that each had time to alter or modify its own. 
 When the colleges were of different opinions, they 
 held conferences for the purpose of coming to an 
 understanding. This was styled the "relative- 
 ness" and " correlativeness" between the colleges. 
 They then made concessions to each other, and 
 terminated by a common opinion, which was styled 
 a conclusion. 
 
 The importance of these three colleges was not 
 equal. That of the cities was scarcely reckoned
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 Constitution of the electoral 
 colleges. 
 
 THE SECULARIZATIONS. 
 
 Differences ocoasioned on the 
 
 division of the patrimony of 
 the church. 
 
 395 
 
 at all. Formerly, in the middle ages, when all the 
 wealth was centred in the free cities, they had the 
 means, in giving and refusing money, of being 
 i heard, and of maintaining their due influence. It 
 was no longer thus, since Nuremburg, Augsburg, 
 and Cologne, ceased to be the centre of commercial 
 and financial power. Besides, the forms employed 
 regarding them, forms which were humiliating, 
 made little attention be paid to their votes. The 
 electors, in other words, the great houses, with 
 their votes in the college of (lectors, and with 
 their votes and patronage in the college of princes, 
 decided nearly all the questions for deliberation. 
 
 This constitution cannot be entirely understood, 
 without it be further remarked, that independently 
 of the general government, there was also one 
 which was local, for tie- protection of particular 
 interests and a common partition of the charges 
 of the confederation. This local government was 
 that of circles. The whole of Germany was divided 
 into ten circles, of which the last, that of Bur- 
 gundy, was no more than an empty title, because 
 it comprehended provinces which, for a long space 
 of time, had been beyond the power or domination 
 of the empire. The most powerful prince of the 
 circle was the director. lie summoned theestal 
 which composed it to meet and deliberate ; he 
 executed the resolutions there agreed upon, and 
 eame forward to the succour of those that were 
 threatened with violence. Two tribunals of the 
 empire, one at Wetzlar, another at Vienna, ren- 
 dered justice among the members of a confedera- 
 tion so different from each other, — kings, princes, 
 bishops, abbeys, and republics. 
 
 As it was, this constitution existed a venerable 
 monument of perished ages. It offered every one 
 id' the characters which discriminate real liberty, 
 not that, indeed, which protects individuals in 
 modern society, but that which protects feeble 
 states against the aggressions of those which are 
 more powerful, by admitting of the defence, in the 
 midst of a confederation, of their existence, their 
 property, and their particular rights, and in ap- 
 pealing from the most powerful tyranny to the 
 sense of justice in all. 11 nice there was germinated 
 a certain development of opinion, a deep study of 
 the law of nations, a considerable skill in managing 
 embers in tie- assemblages, very much re- 
 sembling that, although with apparent differences, 
 which i^ practised in the representative govern- 
 ments existing in our time. 
 
 The secularizations could not but produce in 
 such a constitution changes very considerable. 
 
 At first they caused the disappearance from the 
 electoral culleg * of the three ecclesiastical electors, 
 and from the c dlege of priuces of a great number 
 of catholic members. The catholic majority, which 
 
 bad existed in tie- set I college, of fifty i 
 
 ■gainst forty-three, was thus changed into a. mi- 
 nority, because the princes who were called in to 
 
 repl; tie- ecclesiastical Vote* were marly all 
 
 protectants. This was a greaf grievance to the 
 
 constitution and to the balai of ntrength. There 
 
 is no doubt but the tolerance ol the age has talon 
 away from the words catholic and protectant party 
 their old religious signification ; but. these words 
 
 had acquired a political s;_'iniieiii if a very 
 
 grave character. The pi istanJ party signified 
 
 the party of Prussia, the catholic that of Austria. 
 
 These two influences had for a good while divided 
 Germany between them. It might be said that 
 Prussia was at the head of the opposition in the 
 empire, and that, Austria was at the head of the 
 government party. Frederick the Great, in raising 
 Prussia to he a power of the first rank, by means 
 of the spoils of Austria, had kindled between the 
 two great German states a violent animosity. This 
 animosity towards each other, a moment neutral- 
 ized in presence of the French revolution, was 
 quickly revived when Prussia, separating herself 
 from the coalition, had made peace with France, 
 and enriched herself by her neutrality, during the 
 time that Austria was weakening herself to sup- 
 port the war that had been undertaken in common. 
 .Now more particularly, the war being over, and 
 that it was necessary to divide the patrimony of 
 the church, the greediness of the two courts added 
 a new fermentation to the hatred which they 
 mutually partook. 
 
 Prussia naturally desired to profit by the occa- 
 sion of the secularizations to enfeeble Austria for 
 ever. Austria was, at the end ol the eighteenth 
 century, as she had been in the thirty years' war, 
 anil in the wars id' Charles Y., the great support 
 of the catholic party; not, indeed, that in all cases 
 the protestants had supported Prussia and the 
 catholics Austria ; the jealousies of too close a 
 vicinity, on the contrary, often altered such a re- 
 lation to each other. Thus Bavaria, fervently 
 catholic, but incessantly alarmed at the designs of 
 Austria upon her territory, commonly voted with 
 Prussia. Saxony 1 , although protestant, was often 
 opposed to Prussia, in consequence of the jealousy 
 of her neighbourhood, and voted with Austria; but 
 in general, the supporters of Austria were the 
 catholic princes, and above all, the ecclesiastical 
 
 ites. These last voted in its favour when the 
 question of the head <d' the empire was to be 
 settled; they also supported the same vote in the 
 assemblies, when the general affairs of Germany 
 were discussed. Not levying troops themselves, 
 they suffered the Austrian* to recruit for soldiers 
 in their dominions ; and further, they furnished 
 appanages to the younger children of the imperial 
 house. The archduke Charles, for example, had 
 received a rich benefice in the grand privilege of 
 the Teutonic order, which had recently been con- 
 ferred upon him. The bishop of .Minister and the 
 
 archbishop of Cologne being dead, the chapters of 
 
 the two sees had named the archduke Antony to 
 replace these defunct prelates. As in till the 
 aristocratic countries, the church in Germany was 
 devoted to furnish places for the younger sons of 
 the higher families. Prussia naturally bore no good 
 will to tin- ( cclesiastical Btati s, that thus furnished 
 Austria with soldiers, appanages) and votes in the 
 diet. 
 
 Once engaged in constitutional reforms, the 
 German princes were brought to effect other 
 
 changes still, more particularly the suppression of 
 
 the free cities and the " immediate" nobility. 
 The free cities owed their origin to the cm- 
 
 pcrors. In the same way as tin' Uine,s of France 
 had formerly freed the communes from the tyranny 
 
 i |, ,,,,, i it ti,,. isme tune bi ebasrved, thai it lhfi 
 moment the riectoi of Saxony wi ■ ■ oatholto, while ou 
 people *mn t stint, and m k 4 u Mob
 
 The free cities, their origin 
 39(J and state. — The " imme- 
 diate " nobility. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Austria wishes further to 
 indemnify the two arch- 
 dukes. 
 
 -1 
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 of the lords, the emperors had given to the Ger- 
 man cities, enriched by industry and commerce, 
 an independent existence, acknowledged rights, 
 and oftentimes peculiar privileges. It was thus 
 that there had been introduced into the vast Ger- 
 man feudality, by the side of feudal lords, and 
 sovereign priests carrying the coronets of counts 
 and dukes, democratic republics, known by their 
 wealth or their talents. Augsburg, Nuremburg, 
 and Cologne, for arts, manufactures, and com- 
 merce, had formerly well merited the praise of 
 Germany and of all mankind. All these cities had 
 fallen under the yoke of small local aristocracies, 
 and for the most part were very deplorably go- 
 verned. Those which had supported their trade 
 and commercial prosperity, had escaped the general 
 wreck of the past, and even presented republics 
 tolerably prosperous. But they became objects 
 of jealousy to the bordering princes, who coveted 
 them for additions to their territories. Prussia 
 particularly bad the desire to incorporate Nurem- 
 burg in her own state, and Bavaria, Augsburg. 
 Both these cities were much decayed from their 
 ancient splendour. 
 
 The " immediate'' nobility had its origin in a 
 mode very similar to that of the free cities, be- 
 cause its title accrued from the imperial protection 
 granted to the lords who were too feeble to defend 
 themselves. Thus this species of nobility abounded 
 more particularly in Franconia and Suabia, be- 
 cause at the time of the destruction of the bouse 
 of Suabia, the lords of that country, finding them- 
 selves without a sovereign, were attached to the 
 emperor. They were called " immediate," because 
 they held directly from the emperor, and not the 
 princes among whom their estates were situated. 
 The same title of " immediate" was given to every 
 state, city, fief, or abbey, holding directly of the 
 empire. They denominated "mediate" every 
 estate dependent directly upon the territory in 
 which it happened to be enclosed. This " imme- 
 diate" nobility, whose obedience was partaken 
 between the local lord and the emperor, whom 
 they acknowledged as their only sovereign, were 
 proud of their more elevated vassalage, served in 
 the armies and in the imperial chancelleries, and 
 gave over to the Austrian recruiting officers, the 
 population of the hamlets and villages which be- 
 longed to them. 
 
 The territorial princes, of whatever party they 
 were, desired the double incorporation into their 
 estates of the "immediate" nobility and of the 
 free towns. Austria, cool enough upon the main- 
 tenance of the integrity of the free towns, of which 
 she coveted a certain number for herself, was, on 
 the contrary, ardent in support of the "immediate'' 
 nobility, for which she showed the most particular 
 regard. Still she wished to preserve in its existing 
 state all that she was able to retain in that position. 
 
 In a modern point of view, nothing can appear 
 more natural and legitimate than the union of all 
 these and similar parcelled out territories, cities, 
 and lordships, with the body of every state. This, 
 there is no doubt, would have been still more 
 valuable, if, as in France in 1789, they had re- 
 placed in Germany these local liberties, by some 
 system of general freedom, guaranteeing at the 
 same time all the existences anil all the laws 
 belonging to such a state of things. But these 
 
 incorporations only went to increase the absolute 
 power of the kings of Prussia, the electors of 
 Bavaria, and the dukes of Wurtcmburg. For 
 that reason the world cannot fail to view them 
 with regret. 
 
 In the history of European monarchies there 
 are two revolutions very different both in date and 
 object ; the first, that by means of which royalty 
 conquered from feudality the smaller local sove- 
 reignties, thus absorbing, to form a single state, 
 numerous particular existing ones ; secondly, that 
 by means of which royalty, after having formed a 
 single state, is obliged to reckon in accordance 
 with the nation, and to grant a degree of general 
 liberty, uniform and regular in its character, most 
 assuredly very preferable to the liberties ex- 
 clusively afforded under a feudal system. France, 
 in 1780, after having achieved this first, revo- 
 lution, undertook the second. Germany, in 1803, 
 attempted the first, and she has not completed 
 even that at the present hour. Austria, without 
 any other object than to preserve her influence in 
 the empire, would defend the old Germanic consti- 
 tution, and with that the feudal privileges of Ger- 
 many. Prussia, on the contrary, eager for in- 
 corporations, wished to absorb the free cities and 
 the immediate nobility, became an innovator by 
 ambition, and aimed at giving to Germany the 
 forms of modern social life, or, in other words, to 
 commence, without the desire to do so, and without 
 the knowledge of the fact, the work of the French 
 revolution in the old Germanic empire. 
 
 Thus if the constitutional objects of these two 
 great powers were different, their territorial pre- 
 tensions were not less in uniformity. 
 
 Austria wished to indemnify largely the two 
 archdukes, and under that pretext to extend and 
 amend the frontier of her own states. She troubled 
 herself but little about the duke of Modena, a long 
 while indemnified by the treaties of Campo-Formio 
 and Lune'ville, with the Brisgau, a small province 
 of Baden, which he regarded little, as he pre- 
 ferred more to enjoy in quiet at Venice his im- 
 mense wealth, accumulated by sterling avarice. 
 But Austria occupied herself in good earnest about 
 the archduke Ferdinand, the former sovereign of 
 Tuscany. She coveted in his behalf the fine arch- 
 bishopric of Salzburg, which would again attach 
 the Tyrol to the main body of the Austrian 
 monarchy, and, further, she desired the provost of 
 Berchtolsgaden, enclosed in the archbishopric. 
 These two principalities were formally promised to 
 her, but she wished to obtain more. She wished 
 to get for the same archduke the bishopric of 
 1'assau, which would assure to her the important 
 fortified town of Passau, situated at the confluence 
 of the Inn anil Danube ; the superb bishopric of 
 Augsburg, extending lengthwise on the river Lech 
 even to the middle of Bavaria ; and, finally, the 
 county of Werdenfels' and the abbey of Kempten, 
 two possessions placed on the slope of the Tyrolese 
 Alps, dominating both one and the other over the 
 sources of the rivers which traverse Bavaria, as 
 the Inn, Isar, Loisach, and Lech. If to these be 
 added nineteen free towns in Suabia, twelve more 
 great "immediate" abbeys, and if it is recollected 
 
 : This county was dependent upon the bishopric of 
 Fretaingen.
 
 1802. 
 
 Aug. 
 
 Schemes of Austria upon 
 li.i\ aria. — Distribution 
 
 THE SECULARIZATIONS. 
 
 of the indemnities. — Of the 
 ecclesiastical electorates. 
 
 307 
 
 that Austria, independent of what she demanded 
 for the archduke in Suabia, had a number of old 
 
 .s in that country, it is easy from that 
 circumstance to judge of her designs. She wished 
 
 by means <>f the pretended indemnity of the arch- 
 duke Ferdinand, to take a position in the middle of 
 Bavaria by Augsburg, above by Werdenfels and 
 Kempttn, and in low by her possi ssions in Suabia, 
 and in thus grasping with the talons of the imperial 
 
 eagle, to obtain the cessi fa part of the estates 
 
 which she had for a long while coveted, that is to 
 say. the course of the Ion, and perhaps also that of 
 the [sax. 
 
 It was one of the oldest designs of Austria to 
 extend her territory in Bavaria, in order to secure a 
 better frontier, and at the same time to prolong her 
 posts iii the Tyrolean Alps as far as the frontiers 
 of Switzerland. The r i of the line of the 
 
 was the dearest of her wishes, and would not 
 have been the last had it been gratified. To have 
 
 gsion of tie- Inn, Austria would have to aban- 
 don to tlie house of Bavaria the bishopric ami eitj 
 of Augsburg, and, further, all her one in 
 
 Suabia. Under this plan the city of Munich, 
 situated on the [sar, would he found on the fron- 
 tier, and could no longer he the seat of the Ba- 
 varian government; Augsburg would have been the 
 new capital offered to the elector palatine. But 
 this was to absorb nearly one-half of the electorate, 
 and throw back the palatini/ house entirely upon 
 Suabia. In default of the nonl'ulfilment of this 
 too beautiful dream, the course of the hin would 
 console Austria for her misfortunes. She pos- 
 
 1 only the lower part of the Inn from Braunau 
 as far as Passau ; but above, between Braunau and 
 the Tyrolean Alps, Bavaria possessed both banks 
 of that river. Austria would have preferred to 
 - the Inn through its entire course, from its 
 entry into Bavaria at Kufstein as far as its union 
 with tin' Danube. This line would have embraced 
 -irface of country than that 01 the [sar, but it 
 was very much finer, and. Bpeaking in a military 
 
 . much more solid. It was in the mode of 
 exchange that Austria proposed to herself to ac- 
 quire one or the other of these frontiers. Thus 
 she did not cease, since the question of indemnities 
 had occupied tin- different cabinets, to besiege with 
 
 In r offers, and when she was not listened to, with 
 her threats, the unfortunate elector of Bavaria, 
 who immediately communicated his anxieties to 
 his two natural protectors, France anil l'rnssia. 
 The foregoing is the- mode' in which Austria 
 
 I in tin- distribution of the 
 
 'In- following is the mode in which 
 she intended to distribute those of the other 
 claimants. 
 
 I 'or tie- lott M of B ivaria on the left bank of the 
 Rhine, which surpassed those of all tin- other 
 German princes, because thai house bad lost the 
 duchy of Deux-Ponts, the palatinate of the Rhine, 
 tin: duchy of Julii i . tie- nmrquisate of Bergen-ap 
 Zoom, and a multitude of estati ) in Msace, A' 
 n< .| le r two bishoprics in Pranconia, tin 
 
 Wurtzburg and Bambut'g, very well placed iii 
 
 situation in regard to Bavaria, I they were 
 
 to the high palatinate, but scarcely equal in 
 value to two-thirds of what sin- had lo t. Perhaps 
 Austria would have added to tli - lot the bishopric 
 of Preisingen, situated on the Isar, very near to 
 
 Munich. To Prussia, Austria intended to give a 
 large northern bishopric, l'aderborn for example, 
 perhaps two or three abbeys besides, as Essen and 
 Werden ; lastly, to the Btadtholder a territory 
 somewhere in Westphalia, or, in other words, 
 about a quarter of what the house of Brandenburg 
 desired for itself and its relatives. After having 
 conceded to the two II esses, to Baden, and to 
 Wurtemburg, some of the spoils of the inferior 
 clergy, and a certain number of abbeys to a croud 
 of little hereditary princes, who, she said, would 
 think themselv. s happy to take what was tendered 
 to them, Austria wisiied with the three considera- 
 ble territories in the north and centre of Germany, 
 such as Minister, Osnabruck, Hildesheim, Fulda, 
 with the remains of the electorate of Cologne, 
 Mayence, and Treves, t<> preserve the three ( c- 
 clesiastical electors, and thus save her influence in 
 the empire. 
 
 Of these three ecclesiastical electorates, the first, 
 
 that of Mayence, had passed to the coadjutor of 
 the last archbishop. This new titulary, a member 
 of the house of Dalberg, was learned, ingenious, 
 and a man of the world. The electorate of Treves 
 1» longed to a Saxon prince, still alive, who had 
 retired into the bishopric of Augsburg, of which he 
 had the title, with that ol Cleves, forgetting, in the 
 assiduous observation of his religions duties, and in 
 the opulence that the pensions bestowed upon his 
 family had procured for him, his lost electoral 
 greatness. The electorate of Cologne was become 
 vacant by the death of the recent titulary. The 
 bishops of Minister, Freisingen, Ratisbon, and 
 the provost of Berchtolsgaden, were also become 
 vacant. Whether Austria was or was not an ac- 
 complice of the chapters, she had suffered the 
 nomination, in presence of an imperial commis- 
 sioner, of the archduke Antony, to the bishopric of 
 Monster and the archbishopric of Cologne. Prussia, 
 irritated, had complained loudly, saying that Aus- 
 tria, by this nomination of new titularies, wished to 
 create obstacles to the secularizations, and hinder 
 the free execution of the treaty of LuneA ille. These 
 complaints had for their object to hinder the tilling 
 up, in the same mann< r. of the benefic- s of l'rei- 
 singen, Ratisbon, and Berchtolsgaden, which were 
 at that moment vacant 
 
 An idea tolerably just may be form* d of the 
 designs of Prussia, by considering them exactly as 
 counter designs to those put forward by Austria. 
 At first she judged, with some reason, that the 
 of the archduke of Tuscany wen- exaggerated 
 to at 'east double the truth. It was pretended at 
 
 Vienna that he had sustained a loss of four millions 
 of florins iii revenue. This was an exaggerated as- 
 sertion, and was founded upon a confusion of the 
 
 rough with the net revenue. The n I lose sus- 
 tained by the grand duke was two millions five hun- 
 dred thousand florins, at most. Prussia asserted that 
 Salzburg, Passau, and Berchtolsgaden, equalled in 
 revenue, if the) did not surpass, Tuscan; ; without 
 the addition that Tuscany, detached from the Aus- 
 trian monarchy, had in thai relation no value of 
 
 -n, while Salzburg, Bi rohtolsgadcu, and I'.' 
 sau, were closely attached to the verj bod) of that 
 monarchy, gave it an exci II' nl frontier, and in the 
 mountains of Salzburg a numerous military popu- 
 
 It w.i- thought that Austria would be able 
 
 t,, levy tier- twenty-five thousand men. There
 
 Views of Prussia in reference 
 398 to the secularizations 
 Her claims. 
 
 ce . Prussia offers to a'ly herself 18n , 
 
 -THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, to France, if she will assist Ve- 
 rier in her claims. •»"{>• 
 
 was, therefore, no proper ground to add to tlic lot 
 of the archduke the bishoprics of Augsburg, Aich- 
 stadt, the abbey of Kempten, the county of Wer- 
 denfels, as well as all the free towns and abbeys 
 demanded by Austria in Suabia. Still Prussia not 
 less insisted on the exaggerated pretensions of 
 Austria, than she insisted on the lawfulness of her 
 own. She estimated at double their real value the 
 losses which she asserted that she had sustained, and 
 diminished a full half the value of the territory she 
 claimed as an indemnity. At first she partook in 
 one of the desires of Austria, — that of carrying 
 herself towards the centre and south of Germany. 
 She wanted to do that in Franconia which Austria 
 endeavoured to do in Suabia ; she would double 
 her territory there if possible. It was the constant 
 ambition of these two great powers to take advanced 
 positions in the midst of Germany, whether against 
 one another or against France, or whether to keep 
 under their influence the states in the centre of the 
 Confederation. Under the first impulse of ambition, 
 Prussia had not demanded less than the bishoprics 
 of- Wurtzburg and Bamburg, contiguous to the 
 marquisates of Anspach and Bareuth, and intended, 
 in the view of all the world, to indemnify Bavaria. 
 This demand met with so many objections, par- 
 ticularly in Paris, that she was obliged to re- 
 nounce it. 
 
 In default of Wurtzburg and Baniburg. Prussia, 
 which had only lost the duchy of Guildres, a 
 portion of the duchy of Cleves, the small princi- 
 pality of Moeurs, some tolls suppressed upon the 
 Rhine, and the enclosed territories of Savenaer, 
 Huissen, and Marburg, ceded to Holland, repre- 
 senting 700,000 florins of revenue according to 
 Uussia, and 1,200,000 according to trance, — 
 Prussia would have no less than a part of the 
 north of Germany, in other words, the bishop- 
 rics of Minister, Paderborn, Osnabruck, and Hil- 
 desheim, besides the remains of the electorate 
 of Mayence in Thuringia, such as Eichsfeld 
 and Erfurth ; then finally, Franconia, where she 
 had not given up her pretensions, the bishopric 
 of Aichstedt, and the celebrated city of Nurem- 
 burg. 
 
 Making in regard to the indemnity of the stadt- 
 holder the same kind of calculations as Austria in 
 regard to the indemnity for the duke of Tuscany, 
 she demanded for the house of Orange-Nassau an 
 establishment contiguous to the Prussian territory, 
 comprehending the following countries : — the duchy 
 of Westphalia, the country of Recklinghausen, and 
 the remains of the electorates of Cologne and 
 Treves (in the right of the Rhine. It therefore 
 resulted for the stadtholder. besides the advantage 
 lo be backed by Prussia, — a great advantage both 
 for her and himself, — that he was placed as well 
 close to Holland, with the power of profiting on 
 the turn of fortune. Now, if the falsity of the 
 Prussian valuation is considered, it it is considered 
 that after having exaggerated nearly double or 
 even triple the amount of her losses, she dissimu- 
 lated in the same proportion about the value of the 
 objects she demanded as an indemnification ; that, 
 for example, she valued at 350,000 florins the 
 bishopric of Minister, which in 1'aiis, alter the 
 most impartial calculations, was valued at 1 .200,000; 
 that she estimated at 150,000 florins value that 
 which at Paris was valued at 'AC>i),000, and thus of 
 
 the rest, an idea may be formed of the idle exag- 
 geration of her pretensions. 
 
 She showed herself a little more generous than 
 Austria towards the princes of the second and 
 third order, because they were all protestants to 
 be introduced into the diet. She was of opinion 
 that the ecclesiastical electors of Cologne and 
 Treves should be suppressed, but that of Mayence 
 was to be suffered to remain in existence, with 
 the wrecks of his electorate on the right bank 
 of the Rhine ; to replace the two ecclesiastical 
 electors thus suppressed by protestant electors, 
 taken from among the princes of Hesse, of Wur- 
 temburg, of Baden, or even of Orange- Nassau, if it 
 were possible. The support of her pretensions 
 which Austria endeavoured to gain from Russia, 
 Prussia sought to obtain from Fiance. She offered, 
 if the first consul would second her in her claims, 
 to unite her policy with that of the first consul ; to 
 engage herself to him by a formal alliance ; to 
 guarantee all the arrangements that had been 
 made in Italy, such as the kingdom of Etruria, the 
 new constitution given to the Italian republic, and 
 the union of Piedmont with France. She made, ut 
 the same time, the greatest efforts to bring the 
 negotiations to Paris, which Austria endeavoured 
 to carry to St. Petersburg. She knew that out of 
 Paris she would not be judged very favourably; 
 that in all the other courts, they reproached her 
 with having abandoned the cause of Europe for 
 that of the French revolution ; that if the preten- 
 sions of the emperor were criticised, hers would be 
 judged with much more severity, because she 
 wanted the excuse of the great losses sustained by 
 the house of Austria during the last war; she 
 knew, finally, that she had no hope of support but 
 on the side of France ; that to lend herself to the 
 displacing of the negotiation, would be to disoblige 
 the first consul, and to accept arbitrators ill dis- 
 posed towards his views. Thus had she refused 
 all the overtures of Austria, who in despair of the 
 cause, made the offer that they should come to an 
 understanding, take both one and the other the 
 lion's share, and sacrifice all the princes of the 
 second and third order, and then to address St. 
 Petersburg directly afterwards, in order to obtain 
 the sanction of the partition which they should 
 have made, with the object, before all others, 
 of delivering Germany from the yoke of the 
 French. 
 
 The German princes, following the example of 
 Prussia, addressed themselves to France. In 
 place of soliciting for their cause in London, 
 Petersburg, Vienna, or Berlin, they solicited in 
 Paris. Bavaria tormented by Austria; the dukes 
 of Baden, of Wurtemburg, and of Hesse, jealous 
 one of the other; the lesser families affrighted at 
 the avidity of the greater; the free towns threatened 
 with losing their privileges; the "immediate" 
 nobility exposed to the same danger as the free 
 towns; all, great and little; republics or hereditary 
 sovereigns; all pleaded their cause at Paris, the 
 one intermediately by their ministers, the others 
 directly and in person. The late stadtholder sent 
 his son there, the prince of Orange, since then 
 king of Holland, a distinguished prince, whom the 
 first consul regarded with much favour ; many 
 other princes came there as well. All of them 
 sedulously attended the palace of St. Cloud, where
 
 ISO? 
 
 Aug. 
 
 Conduct of the great 
 powers ami of the 
 first consul. 
 
 THE SECULARIZATIONS. 
 
 The views of the first consul 
 in reference to the alliance 
 with Prussia. 
 
 399 
 
 the general of a republic was courted as the equal 
 of kings. 
 
 Singular was the spectacle which Europe then 
 presented. — a striking proof of the uncertainty of 
 human passions, and of the depth of the designs of 
 Providence ! 
 
 Prussia and Austria had drawn Germany into 
 an unjust war against the French revolution, and 
 they had been vanquished. France, by the law 
 of victory, a law incontestable whet) the victorious 
 power has been attacked, had conquered the left 
 bank of the Rhine. A part of the German princes 
 thus found themselves deprived of their estates. 
 It was natural that they should be indemnified in 
 Germany, and that they only should liaye an in- 
 demnity. Nevertheless, Prussia and Austria, which 
 had compromised them, wished to indemnify, at the 
 expense of this same unfortunate Germany, their 
 own relatives, whether Italians, as the archdukes, 
 or Dutchmen, like the stadtliolder; and that which 
 is more Btrange still, under the name of their re- 
 latives, they wished to indemnify themselves, but 
 always at the expense of Germany, the victim of 
 their faults. Then these indemnifications — where 
 did they seek for them '. Why, in the property of 
 the Church itself! In other words, the defenders 
 of the throne and altar, returned home after being 
 themselves beaten, undertake to indemnify them- 
 selves for the unfortunate issue of the war by 
 despoiling the altar, which they went out to defend 
 in the battle-field, and by imitating the French 
 revolution, which they were come back from at- 
 tacking. And a more extraordinary thing yet, if 
 it be possible, they demanded of the victorious 
 representative of this very revolution upon which 
 they had been making war, to divide among them 
 the spoils of their altars, which they were not 
 capable of dividing honestly among themselves! 
 
 The first consul disturbed but little the move- 
 ment going on around him to draw the negotiations 
 to this or that place. He knew that it could take 
 place only in Paris, because it was his desire it 
 should do so, and that was the most decisive point. 
 Free in his movements since the signature of the 
 general peace, be listened successively to the 
 parties interested; to Prussia, which only d 
 to act with him and by llim; to Austria, which, 
 while endeavouring to carry the negotiation to the 
 arbitration of St Petersburg, neglected in the 
 meanwhile nothing to dispose him in her favour; 
 to Bavaria, which requested counsel and support 
 I8t the threatening offers of Austria; to the 
 of Orange, which had sent its heir to Paris; 
 
 to the houses of Baden, Wurteiuburg, and Hesse, 
 which proffered htm their entire devoteduess if he 
 would act for their advantage ; lastly, to the I 
 princes, who claimed from their old alliauce with. 
 France. After having heard the different pre- 
 tensions of the parties, the first consuls 
 
 that without the intervention of a powerful will, 
 the repose of < lermany, and, as a consequence, that 
 of tin.- whole continent, would remain indefinitely 
 in peril. He therefore decided to ofl r, and, in 
 reality, to impose ins mediation, by presenting 
 arrangements which might do justice to the wisdom 
 of France as well as her policy. 
 
 Nothing could be more sensible nor more ad- 
 mirable than the vn as of the tii.-t consul at this 
 he ppy period of his life, when with glory 
 
 as that with which he ever covered his name, he 
 had not enough nf material force to contemn 
 Europe, and to dispense with a systi in of policy 
 profoundly calculated. lie saw well that with 
 the dispositions of England so very uncertain, it 
 would be right to consider and to prevent the 
 r of s new and general war; that to this end 
 it was urgently necessary to manage for the pro- 
 vision of a solid continental alliance; that the al- 
 liance of Prussia was the most convenient; that 
 this court, :m innovator naturally, by origin and 
 by interest, hail with the French revolution certain 
 affinities, which no other court was likely to poe 
 that in attaching it seriously, coalitions would be 
 rendered impossible ; because, according to tile 
 degree of power which France had attained, would 
 be that, more or less, which would venture to 
 attack her, when all the powers should be united 
 against her; but if one power was wanting to the 
 coalition, and if the power so wanting was gone 
 over to the side of Fiance, the chances of a new 
 war would not be tempted. Still, in considering 
 about allying himself with Prussia, the first consul 
 comprehended with a rare correctness of judg- 
 ment, that he must not make her so strong as that 
 she might crush Austria, for then she would be- 
 come in her turn the more dangerous power, in 
 place of being a useful ally; that he must sacrifice 
 neither the lesser princes, the old friends of 
 France, nor the ecclesiastical .states, without ex- 
 ception, estates little consistent, little military, and 
 preferable as neighbours to lay princes and sol- 
 diers; nor, in line, the free cities, respectable by 
 the recollections attached to them, respectable 
 above all by the title of republics, for the republic 
 of France; that to sacrifice at the same time to 
 Prussia all the little states, hereditary, ecclesias- 
 tical, and republican, this was to favour the reali- 
 zation of that German unity, more dangerous for 
 the European equilibrium, if it were even con- 
 stituted, than all the Austrian power had been of 
 old; that in making the balance incline, in a word, 
 towards the innovating protestant party, it would 
 only be needful to incline, and not to overturn if, 
 Ik cause that woidd be to push Austria to despair, 
 perhaps to hasten it to a fall, to r. place one enemy 
 by another, and in some future time prepare tor 
 France a rivalry with the house of Brandenburg, 
 to the full as formidable as that which had caused 
 war with the' house of Austria during Beveral 
 centuries. 
 
 Full of these wis.- reflections, the firs! consul 
 endeavoured to bring Prussia into more moderate 
 views. Arrived at an understanding with her, 
 he wished to negotiate with the interests of the 
 second order, and to get them to be satisfied with 
 a just portion of the indemnity; he then designed 
 to open at once at St. Petersburg a negotiation 
 entirely courteous, to Hatter the pride of (lie young 
 emperor, which he had discovered clearly under a 
 
 feigned modesty, and to obtain Ins alliauce, by fair 
 proeei dings, to the territorial arrangements winch 
 should he decreed. W ith tin concurrence of Prus- 
 sia satisfied, and of Russia Battered, he hoped to 
 render inevitable the assent of Austria, if, at the 
 
 same time, cave were lake t to exasperate her 
 
 too in tnii by the Brrangi menta adopt, d. 
 
 In coinliinai s so very complicated, it was 
 
 lary to wait, and t • pad 0V«] .era! plans
 
 400 Different plans of action. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Mecklenburg refuses .gnn 
 the offers of Prussia . ' 
 and France. 
 
 before arriving at that which should be definitive. 
 The idea of the first consul relative to the distri- 
 bution of the German territory, had been, at first, 
 to separate one from the other of the three great 
 central powers of the continent, Austria, Prussia, 
 and France, and to place between them the entire 
 mass of the German confederation. In this view, 
 the first consul would have conceded to Austria, 
 not the total of her pretensions, that is, the course 
 of the Isar, because in that case it would be neces- 
 sary to transport the palatine house into Suabia 
 and Franconia; but he would have conceded the 
 Inn in its whole course, that is to say, the bishopric 
 of Salzburg, the provostship of Berchtolsgaden, the 
 country comprised between the Salza and the Inn, 
 and further, the bishoprics of Brixen and Trente, 
 situated in the Tyrol. Austria thus indemnified 
 on her own account and that of the two archdukes, 
 should have been bound to renounce all posses- 
 sions in Suabia; she would have been placed be- 
 hind the Inn entirely ; she would have been com- 
 pact, and covered by an excellent frontier ; she 
 would finally have found rest, and have given it to 
 Bavaria, through the solution of the old question 
 of the Inn. 
 
 At the same time that Austria would have re- 
 nounced her establishment in Suabia, Prussia 
 would have been made to renounce hers in Fran- 
 conia, by demanding her abandonment of the 
 margraviates of Anspach and Bareuth. With the 
 margraviates and the contiguous bishoprics of 
 Wurtzburg and Bam burg, and with the possessions 
 of which Austria had made the sacrifice in Suabia, 
 with the bishoprics of Freisingen and Aichstedt, 
 enclosed in the Bavarian dominions, there would 
 have been composed for the palatine house a terri- 
 tory well rounded, extending at once over Bavaria, 
 Suabia, and Franconia, capable of serving as a 
 barrier between France and Austria. At this 
 price the palatine house would have been enabled 
 to abandon the rest of the palatine on the Rhine 
 and the fine duchy of Berg, placed at the other 
 extremity of Germany, that is to say, towards 
 Westphalia. Prussia, separated from Franconia, 
 as Austria from Suabia, would have been carried 
 back entirely to the north. To be wholly carried 
 back it would be needful to remove the obstacle 
 which intervened, that is to say, the two branches of 
 the house of Mecklenburg; and these two families 
 might be established in the territories become 
 vacant in the centre of Germany. Prussia would 
 be found upon the shores of the Baltic; she having 
 received, besides, the bishoprics of Minister, Osna- 
 bruck, and Hildesheim. Indemnified thus for her 
 losses, new and old, she would have to abandon all 
 the duchy of Cleves, of which a part, situated on 
 the left of the Rhine, had passed to France, and 
 of which the part situated on the right bank would 
 have increased the mass of indemnities. Then, 
 already separated from Austria by the abandon- 
 ment of Franconia, she had been so from France 
 by her distance from the banks of the Rhine. 
 
 There would remain in the vacant duchies of 
 Cleves, of Berg, and of Westphalia, in the remains 
 of the electorates of Cologne, Treves, and Mayence, 
 in the enclosed dependencies of Mayence, Erfurth, 
 and Kichsfeld, in the bishopric of Fulda, and other 
 ecclesiastical properties, in the fragments of the 
 palatinate of the Rhine, in a great number of 
 
 " mediate" and also of " immediate" allies, spread 
 over all Germany — there would remain enough of 
 which to compose a state for the house of Meck- 
 lenburg and that of Orange ; to indemnify the 
 houses of Hesse, Baden, and Wurtemburg, and a 
 crowd of inferior princes. Finally, in the sees of 
 Aichstadt, Augsburg, Ratisbon, and Passau, there 
 would have been enough to keep two of the ecclesi- 
 astical electors out of three, a thing which had been 
 contemplated by the first consul, because be did not 
 wish to change too much the Germanic constitution, 
 and he was pleased besides to protect the church 
 in every country. 
 
 In this plan, profoundly conceived, Austria, 
 Prussia, and France, were established the one at a 
 distance from the other ; the Germanic confede- 
 ration was united in one sole body, and placed in 
 the midst of the great continental powers, with 
 a useful character, important and honourable, of 
 separating them, and preventing collisions between 
 them ; the German states thus acquiring a perfect 
 limitation, the Germanic constitution was usefully 
 reformed, and not destroyed. 
 
 The pian which the first consul at first proposed 
 to Prussia, was not immediately refused. It was an 
 advantage to this power to become as compact in 
 territory as possible, to border on the Baltic, and 
 to occupy all the northern part of Germany. Her 
 definitive consent depended upon the extent or 
 quantity of territory offered to her when the 
 details of the partition came to be settled. But if 
 the princes of the centre of Germany, wdiose states, 
 at that moment vested in them only upon the 
 changeable will of the negotiators, were able to be 
 moved with ease to the north or to the south, 
 the east or west, it became another matter for the 
 princes confined to the northern part of the con- 
 federation like the princes of Mecklenburg, strongly 
 established in the midst of their subjects, whose 
 affection they had possessed for many ages, stran- 
 gers to all the territorial vicissitudes brought 
 about by the war, and difficult to be persuaded 
 into a displacement so very considerable. Besides, 
 if they said a. word to England, she would not fail 
 to make a scheme miscarry which should deliver 
 over the shores of the Baltic to Prussia. 
 
 Spontaneously or not, the princes of Mecklen- 
 burg refused, in a, peremptory manner, the ex- 
 change which was offered to them. Yet Prussia, 
 which had been charged with the opening of the 
 negotiation, had clearly hinted to them that France, 
 in making neighbours of them, wished also to 
 make them her friends, and would show herself 
 liberal towards them in the distribution of the in- 
 demnities. 
 
 Howsoever important that part of the plan of 
 the first consul might have been which was thus 
 refused, it was still worth while to carry out the 
 realization of the rest. It was always a good 
 object if possible to keep Austria, behind the Inn, 
 and thus to concede to her for once the long con- 
 tinued object of her wishes; it was always bene- 
 ficial to concentrate Prussia in the north of Ger- 
 many, and to exclude her from Franconia, where 
 her presence was of no advantage to any body, and 
 might possibly become dangerous to herself in case 
 of a war, since the provinces of Anspach and 
 Bareuth lay directly upon the route of the French 
 and Austrian armies, and thus it would be difficult
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 Prussia renews her former pre- 
 tensions. — Her losses and 
 diminution of revenue. 
 
 THE SECULARIZATION: 
 
 Termination to tlie preten- 
 tions of Russia to the 
 indemnities. 
 
 401 
 
 to pay respect to her neutrality. The sequel of 
 this history will reveal the serious inconveniei.ee 
 of such a situation. 
 
 But Prussia and Austria were very exacting in 
 every thing that concerned themselves. Though 
 Austria found the frontier of the Inn exceedingly 
 attractive, she was unwilling to cede any thing in 
 Suabia ; she made demands of possessions there, 
 even after she might acquire the frontier of the 
 Inn. She demanded besides Salzburg and Berch- 
 aden, and besides the country between the 
 Salza and the Inn, the bishopric of Passau. The 
 bishnpa of Brixen and of Trent, which would be 
 given over to her, wire not in her view a gift, 
 because they were in the Tyrol, and to Austria all 
 which was in the Tyrol, all which was in that 
 country, appeared so much her own property, that 
 she affected to believe, in receiving them, she 
 ved nothing new. Prussia, on her side, would 
 not depart from any of her pretensions in Franeonia. 
 Under this aspect of things the 6rst consul 
 adopted the plan of abandoning the beneficial for 
 the possible, a painful necessity, but often needful 
 in great and important affairs of state. He di- 
 1 himself to the object of a clear understand- 
 ing with' Prussia, in order to concert measures 
 subsequently with Russia, reserving for the latter 
 part of the negotiation the agreement with Austria, 
 that exhibited a despairing obstinacy in the mat- 
 ter, which it was not possible to succeed in over- 
 coming but by the accession of united adhesions to 
 the side opposed to her. 
 
 He announced primarily his firm resolution not 
 to suffer any interest to be sacrificed ; to give 
 nothing to the greater states at the expense of the 
 smaller ; not to suppress all the free towns, not 
 utterly to destroy the catholic party. General 
 Beurnonville, the French ambassador at Berlin, 
 was at the same moment upon leave in Paris. He 
 had been ordered in the course of May, 1802, or 
 Floreal, year x., to hold a conference there with 
 M. Lueehesini, the minister of Prussia, and to 
 sign a convention, in which should be stipulated 
 the particular arrangements for the houses of 
 Brandenburg and Orange. 
 
 Prussia now reproduced all her former preten- 
 sions, but she had no chance of treating advan- 
 tageously with anybody but with Fiance. She 
 was then obliged to resign herself to an arrange- 
 ment, which, although much inferior to that she 
 desired to have, could not fail to appear to the 
 whole- of Germany an act of great partiality to- 
 wards her. 
 
 This power had lost, as already seen, the duchy 
 of Gneldn -, on the left bank of the Rhine, a part 
 of the duchy o . and the little principality of 
 
 Uffiurs; Bhe had ceded to Holland some estates 
 enclosi 1 in that territory ; ami lastly, she had 
 
 been deprived of the revenue arising iron; the 
 tolls on the Rhine, in consequence of a general 
 disposition relative to the navigation. These losses 
 united drew after them a diminution of reveiiie-, 
 which Prussia valued at 2,000,000 -l' florins, that 
 
 Austria estimated at only 760,000 fl., Russia at 
 
 1,000,000 fl., and France, wishing to favour ber 
 claim, at 1,200,000 fl. or 1 ,300,000 fl. By a con- 
 vent i signed on tie' 23rd ol May, 1802, or 3rd 
 
 Priarial, year x., France promised to obtain for 
 
 Prussia the bishoprics of Paderborn and Ilildcs- 
 
 heim, a part of the bishopric of Minister, the terri- 
 tories of Erfurtli and Eichsfeld, the remains of the 
 ancient electorate of ftfayence, and, lastly, some 
 abbeys and free cities, the whole representing in 
 value about 1,800,000 florins of revenue, or just 
 500,000 florins more than the estimated amount of 
 the losses they were intended to compensate. 
 Prussia obtained nothing in Franeonia, which was 
 to her a subject of deep regret, because her whole 
 ambition was perseveringly directed to that quar- 
 ter ; but Eichsfeld and Erfurth were intermediate 
 points, which might serve for stations towards her 
 arrival in the provinces of Franeonia. While 
 feigning to resign herself to enormous sacrifices, 
 she signed the treaty, satisfied at bottom with the 
 acquisitions which she had obtained. On the fol- 
 lowing day a particular convention w;is concluded 
 with her for the indemnity of the house of Orange- 
 Nassau. This house was not placed in the state of 
 Westphalia, as it wonld have wished, but in that of 
 Upper Hesse. The bishopric and abbey of Fulda, 
 the abbey of Corvey, at a little distance from 
 Fulda, that of Weingnrten and some others, com- 
 posed this indemnity. By this arrangement, without 
 being placed too near to Holland and the relations 
 of the stadtholderate, it was, notwithstanding, suffi- 
 ciently near the country of Nassau, where all the 
 branches of this family were or ought to be in- 
 demnified. 
 
 These advantages were granted to Prussia and 
 to her relative with the object of insuring their 
 alliance. Thus, too, the first consul designed to 
 profit by the opportunity — to obtain from her a 
 formal adhesion to all which he had done in 
 Europe. He demanded and obtained from the 
 head of the house of Orange-Nassau, the acknow- 
 ledgment of the Batavian republic, and the re- 
 nunciation of the stadtholderate; he demanded of 
 Prussia an acknowledgment of the Italian republic 
 and of the kingdom of Etruria, and an implicit 
 approbation of the union of Piedmont to France. 
 The king, Frederick William, thus found himself 
 bound to the policy of the first consul, in what 
 to all the rest of Europe was the most objec- 
 tionable. He still did not hesitate, but gave the 
 adhesions required in the same document which 
 assigned to him his own share of the German in- 
 demnities. 
 
 After having thus put a termination to the pre. 
 tensions of Prussia to the indemnities, the first 
 consul, faithful to his scheme of coming to an 
 understanding successively and individually with 
 
 the principals interested, signed oil tin- same day a 
 
 convention with Bavaria, He treated this country 
 
 in the convention as the old ally of France, lie 
 insured to it all the ecclesiastical principalities 
 enclosed in its own territory, the bishopric of 
 Augsburg, but without the town, which was to be 
 presefi ed as one of the free citii s, and the bishop- 
 ric of Freisingen ; the places bordering on tlm 
 Tyrol, much desired by Austria, such as the abbey 
 Of Kempten, and tie- "country of WYrdeiifels ■ the 
 
 fortress of Passau, without the bishopric, enclosed 
 in the Austrian territory, and destined for tha 
 archduke Ferdinand ; the bishopric of Aiehstndt, 
 on the borders of the Danube; the two grand 
 bishoprics of Wurtsburg and of Bamburg, forming 
 a noted part of Franconin ; finally, sevt ral free 
 towns and abbeys of Suabia, that Austria, in her 
 
 D D
 
 Participation of Russia 
 402 >" llle Germanic ue- 
 
 gutialiun. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Proposition of the first 
 consul to the em- 
 peror Alexander. 
 
 1802. 
 
 Aug. 
 
 ambitious dreams, had demanded for herself, par- 
 ticularly Uhn, Memmingen, Buchorn, and others. 
 The question of the Inn between Austria and 
 Bavaria was not determined ; the case was left to 
 the two powers interested to decide in the way of 
 exchange. The palatine house, concentrated in 
 Sua liia and Francouia, thus obtained a compact 
 territory. There was only the duchy < f Berg, 
 placed on the confines of Westphalia, which was 
 separated from the main body of the state. With 
 the view of agglomerating the Bavarian territory, 
 that state had been made to abandon all the pala- 
 tinate of the Rhine; but it was completely indem- 
 nified for ;ill which was thus taken away, because 
 if it lost 3 000.(100 of florins in revenue, it had 
 received 3,000,000 and several thousand florins 
 more in the way of compensation. 
 
 The indemnities of Prussia :md of Bavaria being; 
 thus fixed, the most difficult part of the labour was 
 concluded. Two of the friends of France were 
 contented, the two most considerable of the Ger- 
 man states after Austria. No insurmountable 
 opposition was afterwards to be apprehended. It 
 remained still to make the agreement with Baden, 
 Wurtenil u; - l', and the two Hesses. Baden and 
 Wurteiuburg were clients and relatives of Russia. 
 It was with Russia that their portion sin old be 
 arranged. 1 1 entered into the first consul's play, 
 as has been already observed, to give the emperor 
 Alexander a participation in the German arrange- 
 ments, to interest him by treating those he patron- 
 ized well, by fluttering his pride, and by appearing 
 to make a great account of his influence. First, 
 lie was obliged to follow this course by the secret 
 articles annexed to the last treaty of peace, by 
 which he was bound to enter into the affair of the 
 German indemnities in concert with Russia. The 
 first consul had thought it best not to leave the 
 emperor time to put forward his right of interven- 
 tion, and in his personal correspondence with the 
 young emperor, lie unbosomed himself with the 
 utmost confidence regarding all the great affairs 
 of Europe, and demanded his intentions in regard 
 to ihe houses of Wurteiuburg and Baden, which 
 had the honour of being allied tp the imperial 
 family. In fact, the dowager empress, widow of 
 Paul 1., mother of Alexander, was a princess of 
 Wnrtemhurg, and the reigning empress, the wife 
 of Alexander, was a prin'cess of Baden. This last 
 was one of the three brilliant sisters, born at ihe 
 little court of Carlsruhe, that were at this moment 
 seated upon the thrones of Bavaria, Sweden, and 
 Russia. 
 
 The czar, fluttered at these advances, voluntarily 
 accepted the offers of the first consul, and did not 
 for a moment think of entering into the idea of 
 Austria, that wished the negotiation to proceed at 
 St. Petersburg. However pleased he might have 
 been to see the most important business of Europe 
 transacted in the imperial city, he bad the good 
 sense not for a moment to pretend that he should be- 
 so. He authorized M. Markoff, his minister, to 
 negotiate the matter in Paris. Wurteiuburg and 
 Baden were for the emperor the last interests in 
 this negotiation. His essential interest was to par- 
 ticipate ostensibly in the entire work. The first 
 consul left the emperor Alexander nothing to desire 
 in respect to the exterior of the character he di sired 
 to play, and offered him a participation in a man- 
 
 ner which allowed him to figure upon an equality 
 with the cabinet of France, in proposing to him 
 that France and Russia should be constituted 
 mediating powers between the different states of 
 the Germanic confederation. 
 
 This idea was one of the most happy possible. 
 It was necessary, in fact, after having arranged 
 with the principals interested, the part which 
 should be made their own, to open a communica- 
 tion with the Germanic body assembled at liatis- 
 bon, and to bring it to ratify tins, engagements 
 individually subscribed. The first consul had the 
 idea of uniting these arrangements in a general 
 plan, and of presenting them to the diet at Ratis- 
 bnii, in the names of France and Russia sponta- 
 neously, constituting themselves mediating powers. 
 This loini of proceeding would spare the dignity of 
 the Germanic body, which would no nu re appear 
 to be dictalorially organized by France, but that in 
 ihe embarrassment into which it had betn cast by 
 the ambitious rivals raised up in its own bosom, 
 it accepted as arbitrators ihe two greatest powers 
 of the continent as the inos-.t disinterested. It was 
 not possible to conceal under a form more agree- 
 able to Germany, more flattering to the young 
 sovereign, yet scarcely entered upon the stage of 
 the world, the real will of Fiance. 1 he first 
 consul, in thus accepting an equality of character 
 with a prince who had yet done nothing, lniii.-clf 
 covered with glory, consummately versed in arms 
 and politics, had exhibited ihe most able conduct, 
 because owing to a little management he hail 
 brought Europe into his views. The character of 
 a true policy is always to place tin ital result 
 before the extern r effect. Besides this, the effect 
 is inevitably produced when ihe real result is 
 obtained. 
 
 The proposition of ihe first consul to the emperor 
 Alexander being accepted, it was agreed to present 
 a note to the Germanic diet, signed by the two 
 cabinets, and containing a fpontaneous offer of 
 their mediation. It then remained to ha\e an 
 understanding upon the arrangements to be stated 
 in the note itself. The first consul had much 
 trouble to make M. Markt.ff accept ihe Stipulations 
 already agreed upon with the principal German 
 powers, contrary to the views of Austria, without 
 being seriously prejudiced. Whilst the y< ung Alex- 
 ander affected to partake in none of the passions of 
 the European aristocracy, M. Markoff in Paris, 
 and M. Wumnznff in London, displayed without 
 any reserve all the passions that a French emi- 
 grant, an English tory, <>r a grandee of Austria 
 could have exhibited. M. Markoff was a Russian 
 full of stateliness, and wholly destitute of that 
 attractive flexibility which is so often met with 
 in the distinguished men of his own country, 
 having some mind, but more pride, and continually 
 giying of the power of his own cabinet a picture 
 at that lime altogether exaggerated. Ihe first 
 consul was not a man to tolerate the ridiculous 
 haughtiness of M. Markoff, and knew how to keep 
 the ambassador in his proper place, while observing 
 for the sovereign he represented the proper degree 
 of regard. The first consul offered for Wurtem- 
 burg, rJaden, and Bavaria, advantages cirtainly 
 superior to the iosses that these three houses had 
 sustained. But M. Markoff, indifferent to the im- 
 perial relationship, even to the Russian policy,
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 Particulars of the indemnities. THE SECULARIZATIONS. Particulars of the indemnities. 403 
 
 which begun after the peace of Teschen, to favour 
 the smaller German powers, in his zeal for the 
 cause of old Europe, exhibited himself not Russian 
 but Austrian. It was fop Austria that lie appeared 
 to interest himself exclusively. Prussia was odious 
 to him ; he contested all its statements, admitted 
 on the contrary those of Austria, and demanded 
 for that power as much as they would have asked 
 for in Vienna. The bishopric of Salzburg, the 
 prevost of Berchbdsgaden, accorded by general 
 consent to the archduke Ferdinand, produced very 
 nearly as much as Tuscany, or in other words, 
 2,500,000 florins. There were added further to 
 these two principalities the bishoprics of Trent 
 and Brixen. But M. Markoff would not admit of 
 this addition going into the account. These last 
 bishoprics were in the Tyrol, and on that account, 
 according to him, so much Austrian, that it was to 
 tike them away from the emperor to give them to 
 an archduke. This was answered by the statement 
 that Trent and Brixen were ecclesiastical prin- 
 cipalities, wholly independent, although enclosed in 
 the Austrian territories, and that they could not 
 become Austrian property until they should be 
 formally conferred upon her. 
 
 Austria wished to have besides the bishopric of 
 Passau, which would secure to her the important 
 fort ess of Passau, situated at the confluence of the 
 Inn and the Danube, and forming a fortified bridge- 
 head towards Bavaria. It was agreed to give 
 Austria the bishopric without the town, which was 
 very possible, and at the same time convenient, 
 because the territory of this bishopric is entirely 
 comprised within the dominions of Austria, anil the 
 fortified town of Passau in Bavaria. To give Pas- 
 sau to Austria would be to give up to her a threat- 
 ening offensive position in regard to Bavaria ; 
 nothing, therefore, was more consistent nor more 
 natural, than to grant the bishopric to the archduke 
 Ferdinand, and Passau to the elector palatine. 
 But Austria regarded Passau as a capital position, 
 and M. Markoff supported its grant to Austria with 
 extreme warmth. However, it became necessary 
 to terminate this long negotiation ; and M. Markoff 
 feeling the possibility that it might finish without 
 Russia, consented at list to agree, and went into 
 an arrangement with M. Talleyrand upon the de- 
 finitive plan. 
 
 The advantages already conceded by the first 
 eonsul to Prussia and the house of Orange, although 
 warmly contested hy M. Markoff, were inserted 
 entire in the definitive plan. These were, as has 
 
 been already stated, Utt Prussia the bishoprics of 
 
 Hildesheim, Paderborn, and .Minister; this took 
 only in part Eicbsfeld, Erfurth, and some abbeys 
 
 and fi towns besides : and for the house of 
 
 Orange- Nat au, Folda and Corvey. There was 
 inserted in the same plan the conditions already 
 stipulated fi»r Havana, in other words, the bishop- 
 rics of Freisingen and Augsburg, the county of 
 vWrdenfebs the abbey of Kemptea, the city of 
 mi without the bishopric, the bishoprics of 
 Aichstadt, Willi /.burg, and Hamburg, with several 
 free towns and abbeys of Suabia. 
 
 Austria was to rie, ive lor the archduke of Tus- 
 
 CailV, tin; bishoprics of Biixen, Tr.nl, Salzburg, 
 
 and Passau, the last without tin- lortress, and 1 1 » • - 
 prevost oi li rcbtolsgaden. This was a revenue of 
 :t odd iKio florins, as an indemnity lor a net revenue 
 
 of 2.500,000, with the advantage of a contiguity of 
 territory which was not ottered by Tuscany. Aus- 
 tria obtained nothing in Suabia, but she kept her 
 old possessions there. It was at her option to 
 exchange these for the frontier of the Inn. The 
 Brisgau was, as in anterior treaties, insured to the 
 duke of Modena. 
 
 The house of Baden was very well treated, a 
 matter that seemed to interest M. Markoff in a 
 very moderate degree. The house had lost various 
 lordships and estates in Alsace and Luxemburg, 
 representing in value a sum of 315,000 florins of 
 revenue St the utmost. Baden was secured terri- 
 tories at its own doors, such as the bishopric of 
 Constance, the i\ mnantsof the bishoprics of Spires, 
 Strasburg, and Bale, the bailwicks of Ladenburg, 
 Bretten, and Heidelburg, which amounted to 
 450,000 florins of revenue, without adding the 
 electoral dignity which it was destined to receive. 
 
 The house of Wurteniburg was not treated less 
 favourably. To this was conceded the prevost of 
 Ell wan gen and different abbeys, forming a revenue 
 of 380,600 florins, in compensation fur the 250,000 
 that it had lost. 
 
 The houses of Hesse and of Nassau were equally 
 indemnified by means of territories situated at 
 their own doors, and proportioned to their losses. 
 The inferior princes were carefully defended by 
 France, and preservtd revenues pretty nearly 
 equivalent to those of which they had been de- 
 spoiled. The houses of Areinburg and Solms were 
 placed in Westphalia. The counts of Westphalia 
 obtained the low bishopric of Minister. There was 
 little notice taken of England in this matter; she 
 did not seem to take any great interest in the ques- 
 tion of the German indemnities. Still it was not 
 forgotten that George III. was elector of Hanover, 
 and that he set a great value upon this ancient 
 inheritance of his family. He regarded it even as 
 a last resource in moments of melancholy, when he 
 believed that he saw England overturned by are- 
 volution. It was wished to dispose him favourably 
 to the measure : and as he was also requested to 
 abandon certain rights in favour of the cities of 
 Bremen and Hamburg, and to mala; some small 
 sacrifices in favour of Prussia, he received as an 
 indemnity the bishopric of Osnabruck, contiguous 
 to Hanover, an indemnity very superior to all that 
 he had lost, hut which bad tor its object to interest 
 bim in a strenuous way in the success of the nego- 
 tiation. 
 
 A certain number of the " mediate " abbeys was 
 res. rved to complete the indemnities of the princes 
 who might bave been ill treated in the first parti- 
 ii n, and also to furnish pensions to the members 
 of the suppressed clergy. In general, the princes 
 who received the ecclesiastical property were bur- 
 dened with the payment of the pensions to all the 
 living titularies, bisho] s, abbots, members of chap- 
 ters, ami officers attached to their service. It was 
 the most obvious duty of humanity towards the 
 incumbents from whom tiny look the property, and 
 ol whom they destroyed the princely rank. But if 
 lippressed clergy nil the right bank of the 
 Rhine were thus provided fur, there remained 
 dispossessed upon the hit lank; and these 
 being, in consequence ol treaties, without any re- 
 source against bra 1 ice, I bey were w it hunt the means 
 of a livelihood. 1 1 was lor the BUJ li nance of these 
 1. d ■>
 
 404 
 
 The division of the 
 indemnities. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Organization of the 
 colleges. 
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 that a good many of the " mediate " abbeys re- 
 served were destined. 
 
 Such were the territorial dispositions agreed 
 upon with M. Markoff. There had been distributed 
 nearly 14.000,000 of florins in indemnities, to meet 
 13,000,000 of loss. That which well exhibits the 
 greediness of the great courts, is the fact that 
 Austria took nearly 4,000,000 for the archdukes ; 
 Prussia two for herself and half a million for 
 the stadtholder ; Bavaria 3,000,000, the exact 
 equivalent of her loss ; Wurtemburg, Baden, the 
 two Hesses, and Nassau, about two; all the smaller 
 princes united, about two and a half. Austria and 
 Prussia therefore obtained the larger part for them- 
 selves, or for princes who made no part of the 
 Germanic confederation. 
 
 The constitutional dispositions still remained to 
 be made, and it was necessary to complete them. 
 The first consul was at first inclined to preserve 
 two ecclesiastical electors, but was afterwards 
 thwarted by the obstinacy of Austria ; deprived of 
 resources by the greediness of the great courts, he 
 found himself reduced to the preservation of only 
 one. The elector of Cologne was dead, and was 
 replaced, for form's sake alone, by the archduke 
 Antony, but without any intention on the part of 
 Austria to make the election valid. The elector- 
 archbishop of Treves, a Saxon prince, retired to 
 his second benefice, the bishopric of Augsburg, had 
 nothing of which to complain or regret. There 
 was adjudged him a pension of 100,000 florins. 
 The actual elector of Mayence was a prince of the 
 house of Dalburg, of whom mention has been 
 already made. He had, independently of his per- 
 sonal qualities, a claim to be maintained by the 
 importance of his see, to which was attached the 
 chancellory of the empire of Germany, and the 
 presidency of the diet. The quality of archchan- 
 cellor of the empire was therefore preserved to 
 him, as well as the presidency of the diet. The 
 bishopric of Ratisbon was given to him where the 
 diet held its sittings. Besides the bail wick of 
 Aschaffenburg, he had left him the remains of the 
 ancient electorate of Mayence ; and it was agreed 
 to make up for him, by means of reserved pro- 
 perty, a revenue of a million of florins. 
 
 There would in consequence remain out of the 
 three ecclesiastical electors, and with the five lay 
 electors, in all but six. The first consul wished to 
 augment the number, and to render it unequal ; 
 he proposed to have nine electors. The title was 
 conferred on the margrave of Baden, for the good 
 conduct of that prince towards France, and from 
 his relationship with Russia ; on the duke of Wur- 
 temburg and landgrave of Hesse, from their weight 
 in the confederation. These were three protectant 
 electors more, which made six protestants against 
 three catholics. The majority was thus changed 
 in the electoral college to the advantage of the 
 protestant side ; but it was not, on that account, 
 any way nearer taking away its legitimate influence 
 from Austria, because Austria was at all times 
 certain of the votes of Bohemia, Saxony, and May- 
 ence, most frequently of that of Hanover, and in 
 certain cases of those belonging to Baden and 
 Wurtemburg. 
 
 It was agreed upon, that the princes indemnified 
 with the ecclesiastical lands, should sit in the col- 
 lege of princes for the lordships of which they had 
 
 acquired the title. This step yet more changed 
 the majority in the college of princes to the advan- 
 tage of the protestant party ; but thanks to the 
 respect inspired by the house which had for so long 
 a time been imperial, and thanks to the interest 
 that the petty princes have in preserving the Ger- 
 manic constitution, the protestant votes newly in- 
 troduced were not all hostile votes to Austria. If 
 it be supposed that the protestant or Prussian 
 party, as it shall be called, had, in consequence of 
 the new arrangements, acquired a numerical ma- 
 jority in the colleges of electors and princes, Aus- 
 tria, with the old prestige with which she was 
 surrounded, with the prerogatives attached to the 
 imperial crown, with her influence directed on the 
 elector of Ratisbon, with the power of ratification 
 which she possessed in regard to all the resolutions 
 of the diet, would have still the means to counter- 
 balance the opposition of Prussia, and to remain 
 sufficiently powerful to prevent anarchy from in- 
 troducing itself into the Germanic body. It is esti- 
 mated that in taking from Austria the numerical 
 majority, there had been taken from her, in a 
 greater or less degree, the power to domineer over 
 Germany at her will, and to draw it into war on the 
 promptings of her pride or her ambition. This 
 was the opinion of the new archchancellor, who 
 was well versed in the practical knowledge of the 
 German constitution. 
 
 It was needful to organize, lastly, the colleges of 
 the cities, having little influence at any former 
 time, and destined not to have more in the time to 
 come. Although the treaty of Lune'ville had not 
 spoken of the suppression of the free towns, but 
 only of the suppression of the principal ecclesiastics, 
 still the existence of many of these towns was so 
 illusory, their administration so onerous for them- 
 selves, the exception that they formed in the midst 
 of the Germanic territory so troublesome and so 
 repeated, that it became necessary to suppress the 
 greatest number. The protection which they had 
 sought of old in their quality of "intermediate" 
 cities, that is to say, cities dependent only upon 
 the emperor, they now found in the sense of justice 
 belonging to the present day, and in the observa- 
 tion of laws much more punctually executed than 
 formerly. Still, to suppress all would have been 
 too rigorous; yet it may be affirmed, that but for 
 the first consul, the most celebrated would have 
 sunk under the ambition of the surrounding 
 governments. But he held it a matter of honour 
 to preserve the principal among them. He would 
 maintain the cities of Augsburg and Nuremburg, 
 because of their historical celebrity; Ratisbon, on 
 account of the presence of the diet; Wetzlar, from 
 the imperial chamber being held there; Frankfort 
 and Lubeck, because of their commercial impor- 
 tance. He devised the junction of two, which, 
 although considerable, even the most considerable 
 of all, Hamburg and Bremen, had not the rank of 
 imperial cities. Bremen depended upon Hanover. 
 It was detached at the price of a part of the 
 bishopric of Osnabruck. Hamburg enjoyed real 
 independence, but it had no voice in the college 
 of cities. It was now comprised among them, and 
 the first consul added some useful privileges to the 
 exceptional existence of the free towns left. They 
 were declared neutral for the future in the wars 
 of the empire, exempt from all military charges,
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 France combines with Russia 
 to perfect the seculariza- 
 tions. 
 
 THE SECULARIZATIONS. 
 
 Interview between the 
 sovereigns of Russia 
 and Prussia. 
 
 405 
 
 such as recruiting, financial contingents, and the 
 quartering of troops. This was a means of legiti- 
 matizing and rendering respected the neutrality 
 which had been granted to them. Another benefit 
 which they were to enjoy beyond any part besides 
 of the Germanic states, was the suppression of 
 the tolls, vexatious and onerous as they were, 
 established on the great rivers of Germany. The 
 feudal tolls on the Rhine, the Weser, and Elbe 
 were suppressed. The losses which resulted from 
 tiiis suppression by the states bordering on these 
 rivers had been calculated and compensated for 
 beforehand. Some princes who had a property in 
 certain free towns, such as Augsburg, Frankfort, 
 and Bremen, were obliged to renounce them at the 
 price of an augmentation of indemnity. It is to 
 France alone, and its obstinate efforts, that these 
 benefits were due. Thus the number of these 
 cities was reduced in regard to such as had lost 
 their importance, and augmented as to those that 
 wire richest, which until then had remained with- 
 out the like advantages. Their position was aggran- 
 dized and improved ; while they were placed in a. 
 situation to render great services to the freedom of 
 trade, and to gather the benefits. 
 
 This work when completed, was embodied in a 
 convention, signed on the 4th of June by M. Mar- 
 koff and by the French plenipotentiary. Austria, 
 informed day by day of the proceedings of M. 
 Markoff, held herself back. On his side, the first 
 consul having considered the matter a little, de- 
 termined, as he had done at the beginning, to 
 obtain the consent of the individual parties, in 
 order to overcome the reluctant, by the gather- 
 in:; together of the consenting voices. With this 
 view, direct conventions made with Wurtemburg 
 and the other states, finished the details of the 
 plan, as well as the particular or separate treaties 
 of Prance with the countries indemnified. 
 
 Ifl Markoff would only enter into a conditional 
 engagement, and refer it to his court. It was 
 agreed upon, that if his court accepted the proposed 
 plan, the note which should contain the acceptance 
 should be immediately taken to Ratisbon, and pre- 
 sented to tin- diet in tin; names of France and 
 Russia, constituting the mediators to the Germanic 
 body. Th'- Brst consul, in thus joining Russia to 
 his project, in accord besides on the same tiling 
 with Prussia, Bavaria, and the principal states of 
 tie- second and third order, would not fail to over- 
 come the resistance of Austria. Hut he was fearful 
 of the efforts she might make in St. Petersburg to 
 Stagger the- young emperor in his resolution, to 
 awaken hi^ scruples, and interest his justice against 
 his vanity, flatti red a-- it was by the part he had 
 bein offered to play. II'- therefore desired general 
 rIe*douville, tie- French ambassador at Petersburg, 
 to declare that In- could not wait longer than ten 
 days tor the consent of tin- Russian cabinet, and the 
 ratification of the convention of the 4th of June. 
 
 Ho was to make this declaration ID cautious hut 
 
 positive terms. It clearly signified, that if Russia 
 did not appreciate sufficiently tin- honour of regu- 
 lating, in common with Prance, the new state of 
 
 Germany, that thfl first consul would pass on, and 
 
 constitute himself tin- sole mediator. There had 
 not been less of ability than timeliness in the eon- 
 
 tision exhibited towards tin- court of Russia ; 
 and there had not been less in the- firmness which 
 
 was thus shown at the end of the negotiation 
 entered upon in conjunction with her. 
 
 At this moment, the emperor Alexander was 
 absent from St. Petersburg ; he had had an inter- 
 view at Memel with the king of Prussia. Although 
 the Russian diplomacy was entirely favourable to 
 Austria, and unfavourable to Prussia, of which it 
 severely criticised the ambition and condescension 
 towards France, the emperor Alexander did not 
 participate in these dispositions. He was per- 
 suaded, without well knowing wherefore, that 
 Frussia was a much more formidable power than 
 Austria; he believed that the secret of the great art 
 of war had remained, since the death of Frederick 
 II., in the ranks of the Prussian army, and he 
 remained of that opinion even up to the time of the 
 battle of Jena. He had heard the world speak of 
 the king who governed Prussia, of his youth, his 
 virtues, his enlightened opinions, and his resistance 
 to his ministers ; and he believed he saw between 
 that king's position and his own, more than one 
 analogy ; he had also conceived the wish to be 
 personally acquainted with him. In consequence he 
 had proposed an interview at Memel. The king of 
 Prussia had met the proposition with much eager- 
 ness, because he was ever full of his design of 
 being a mediator between Russia and France, and 
 always persuaded that he could exercise a useful 
 influence upon their relations, that he could make 
 them live in perfect harmony, that holding the 
 balance between them, he held that of Europe, and 
 that to the importance of such a character was 
 added that of the certainty of preserving peace, of 
 which the maintenance was become the most con- 
 stant of his occupations. This character, of which 
 he dreamed for a moment, under the emperor 
 Paul, became much more easy of attainment under 
 Alexander, of whom the age and inclinations 
 seemed to approximate to his own. Confirmed 
 in these ideas by M. Haugwitz, he went to Memel 
 with his head full of the most honourable illu- 
 sions. 
 
 Frederick William and Alexander having met, 
 appeared to agree well together, and they swore 
 eternal friendship for each other. The king of 
 Prussia was simple in his manners, and a little 
 awkward ; the emperor Alexander was neither 
 simple nor awkward ; he was, mi the contrary, 
 amiable, forward, ami prodigal of demonstrations. 
 He did not at all fear making some advances 
 towards the descendant of the great Frederick, and 
 
 to express towards him the kindliest affection. The 
 
 beautiful queen of Prussia was present at this in- 
 terview ; the emperor Alexander directed towards 
 her from that time an attention respectful and 
 chivalrous. They separated perfectly charmed 
 with each other, and fully convinced that they 
 loved one another not as kings, but as men. It 
 was, in fact, a known pretension of the emperor 
 Alexander to .appear a man upon the throne. 
 He returned, repeating to all those who came near 
 him, that he had at last found a friend worth) of 
 him. To all that was stated to him regarding the 
 I'ni- ian cabinet, its greediness and ambition, he 
 
 answered by the comn ixplanation constantly 
 
 employed when people spoke of Prussia, that what 
 
 was remarked was yny true of M. Ilaugwitz, but 
 falsr applied to the young and virtuous king. He 
 could not have desired a better thing than to see
 
 The emperor Alexander 
 406 unites with France in 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 regulating German 
 affairs. 
 
 180?. 
 Aug. 
 
 explained in the same mode all the actions of the 
 court of Russia. 
 
 At the moment when the two monarchs were on 
 the point of taking leave of each other, a courier 
 arrived at Meniel, ami brought a letter to the king 
 Frederick William from the first consul. This 
 letter contained a mention of the advantages 
 accorded to Prussin, and of the definitive plan 
 agreed upon witli M. Markoff. "All now depends," 
 added the first consul, " upon the consent of the 
 emperor of Russia." The king Frederick William, 
 delighted at such a result, wished to profit by the 
 occasion, and to speak of German affairs to his 
 voun" friend, whom he believed lie had secured for 
 life. Rut this friend evaded the topic, refused to 
 listen, yet promised to reply as soon as he had 
 received from his ministers a communication of 
 the plan agreed upon in Paris. 
 
 It was the middle of June, 1802, or the end of 
 Priarial, year x., and couriers awaited the emperor 
 Alexander in St. Petersburg, where general He'dou- 
 ville, very exact in his obedience, had already pre- 
 sented one note to announce, that if at the end of 
 the time fixed for the delay, there was no explana- 
 tion made to him, pro <>r con, he would consider 
 it a negative reply, and send word to Paris. The 
 vice-chancellor Kurakin, who was better disposed 
 towards France than his colleagues, requested 
 general Hedouville to recall his note, in order not 
 to offend the emperor Alexander, promising that 
 on the arrival of that monarch, the matter should 
 be immediately submitted to him, and a reply be 
 given without delay. The emperor, on his return 
 to the capital, heard what his ministers had to say, 
 and was much pressed by several ifmong them to 
 refuse his assent to the proposed plan. The cabinet 
 appeared divided, but still more disposed for Aus- 
 tria than for Prussia. Alexander, seeing well 
 enough with his precocious finesse, that the master 
 of the affairs of the west abandoned to him but 
 the appearance of a character of which he himself 
 kept the reality ; although he well understood that 
 the conditions whi.-h were to be dictated in com- 
 mon at Ratisbon, had arrived ready-made from 
 Paris, Alexander was moved by the external show 
 of respect observed towards his empire, and satis- 
 fied with a precedent, which, added to that of 
 Teschen, established in future the right of Russia 
 to mingle itself up in German affairs. He was 
 convinced that the first consul would go on without 
 him if the Russian cabinet hesitated longer ; fur- 
 ther, the pretensions of Austria, which made at 
 that moment their last efforts at St. Petersburg, 
 appeared to him entirely unreasonable; and finally, 
 the letters of the king of Prussia were every day 
 more pressing : from all these motives, he decided 
 in favour of the proposed plan, and ratified the 
 convention of the 4th of June, it may be said, in 
 spite of his ministers. While he gave his consent, 
 the prince Louis of Baden arrived in St. Peters- 
 burg, to invoke the cause of his relatives, and 
 obtain approval of a plan which augmented his 
 fortune and the titles of his house ; but he found 
 his wishes already granted. Some days afterwards 
 this unfortunate prince died in Finland, through 
 an accident to bis carriage, in going from visiting 
 his sister the empr.ss of Russia, to see his sister 
 the queen of Sweden. 
 
 The emperor Alexander, though he had given 
 
 his consent, had made two reservations, not ex- 
 pressly, but verbally, which he left to the courtesy 
 of the first consul to take into consideration. The 
 first was relative to the bishop of Lubeck, duke of 
 Oldenburg, and his uncle. This prince lost by the 
 suppression of the toll of Elsfleth on the Weser a 
 considerable revenue, and requested an augmenta- 
 tion of indemnity. There were some thousands of 
 florins to be made up. The second reservation of 
 the emperor was in relation to the electoral dignity, 
 which he wished to have conferred upon the house 
 of Mecklenburg ; he did not much regard the 
 course of events as to the other states. This was 
 more difficult, because the new favours bestowed 
 already, carried to six the number of electors, and 
 placed another protestant in the electoral college. 
 This was a point, however, to be rectified at an 
 ulterior time by the diet. 
 
 All had been disposed in such a way, that the 
 couriers returning from St. Petersburg, were to 
 make their route by Ratisbon, and remit the orders 
 of Russia and France to act immediately. Russia 
 had appointed as her minister-extraordinary for 
 this negotiation M. Buhler, her ordinary repre- 
 sentative at the court of Bavaria. The first consul, 
 on his side, had chosen for the same post M. de 
 Laforest, minister of France at Munich. M. de 
 Laforest, to his knowledge of German affairs and 
 his activity, united qualities well adapted to the 
 difficult functions with which lie was charged. 
 The note announcing the mediation of the two 
 courts had been drawn up beforehand, and sent to 
 the two ministers of France and Russia, that they 
 might be able to present them on the return of the 
 couriers from St. Petersburg. Both ministers bail 
 orders to quit Munich in order to proceed imme- 
 diately to Ratisbon. M. de Laforest executed the 
 order immediately, and M. Buhler engaged to 
 follow him without delay. 
 
 They arrived at Ratisbon on the ICthof August, 
 or 28th Therniidor. 
 
 Tlie diet had disburdened itself of the difficult 
 labour of the new Germanic organization, by an 
 extraordinary deputation composed from eacli of 
 the principal German states. This was in imita- 
 tion of that which had been done at other times 
 and ill similar circumstances, more particularly at 
 the peace of Westphalia. The eight state* chosen 
 were Brandenburg by Prussia ; Saxony, Bavaria, 
 and Bohemia, by Austria ; Wurtemburg, the Teu- 
 tonic order, by the archduke Charles ; Mayi-nce, 
 and Hesse-Cassel. These eight states were repre- 
 sented in the extraordinary deputation by the min- 
 isters transacting the business according to the 
 instructions of their respective governments. 
 
 All the ministers were not present ; M. de La- 
 forest had great efforts to make in order to induce 
 them to come to Ratisbon, — efforts the more labo- 
 rious, because Austria, reduced to despair, had 
 taken the determination to oppose to the vivacity 
 of French action, the delays available in the Ger- 
 manic constitution. The note before alluded to, in 
 the form of a declaration, was delivered, in the 
 name of the two courts of France and Russia, on 
 the 18th of August, or 30th Therniidor, to the 
 directorial minister of the diet, who had the duty 
 of presiding over all the official communications. 
 A copy was also given to the imperial plenipoten- 
 tiary, because there was placed in the grand depu- 

 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 Note of France and Russia. THE SECULARIZATIONS. 
 
 lustrta occupies Passau. 
 
 407 
 
 tatinn. as well as in the diet it-elf, a plenipotentiary 
 exercising the imperial prerogative, which preroga- 
 tive consisted in receiving communications of pro- 
 positions addressed to the confederation; in ex- 
 amining them, and in ratifying or rejecting tliem 
 on tlie emperor's behalf. 
 
 The note of the mediating powers, excellent, 
 amicable, but firm, staled simply ili.it the German 
 statis not having vet been aide to come to an un- 
 derstanding tor the execution of the treaty of Lune'- 
 ville, and the whole of Europe being interested that 
 the work of the ]>eaee should receive its last com- 
 pliment in the arrangement of the affairs of Ger- 
 many, France and Russia, powers friendly and 
 disinterested, had offered their mediation to the 
 diet, had presented it with a plan, and had de- 
 clared : — 
 
 " That the interest of Germany, the consolidation 
 of tlii- peace, anil the general tranquillity of Europe, 
 demanded that all which concerned the regulations 
 of the Germanic indemnities, should be terminated 
 within lite space of two months." 
 
 The lime to be thus fixed had in itself something 
 imperious, without doubt, but it made the proceed- 
 ings of the two courts more serious in aspect; and, 
 under all the bearings of the case, it appeared to 
 be indispensable. 
 
 This declaration must have produced a very 
 gre.it effect. The directorial minister, in other 
 words the president, immediately transmitted it to 
 the extraordinary deputation. 
 
 While tilings proceeded in this determined man- 
 ner at ltatisb'<n, an official proceeding took place 
 at Vienna on the part of the French ambassador, 
 in order In communicate to the Austrian court the 
 scheme of the mediating powers, to declare that 
 they had no intention willingly to hurt its feelings; 
 nor wished to do so now ; hut that the impossibility 
 of coining to an understanding with her had obliged 
 thetH lo take a definitive part, — a part imp riously 
 demanded f r the repose of Europe. It was in- 
 sinuated at the same time, that the plan did not 
 regulate every thing in an irrevocable manner ; 
 that there remained besides means enough to serve 
 ih • eoiirt of Vienna, whether in its negotiations 
 with Bavaria, or in its efforts for securing to the 
 grand duke the- succession of the Teutonic order 
 Mid of the last ecclesiastical electorate ; that in all 
 these things the condescension of the first consul 
 would In- proportioned to the condescension of the 
 emperor. As to the rest, M. de Champagny, the 
 lie <li ambassador, had orders not to go into any 
 detail, but to slate, so as to be clearly comprehended, 
 that all serious discussion should be exclusively 
 
 entered upon al Ralisbon. 
 
 In the mkblt of these inevitable delays of diplo- 
 macy, the indemnified princes were very impatient 
 to occupy ih'- territories which had devolved upon 
 them by virtu.- <.f tie- arrangements made ; and 
 they had demanded their immediate possession. 
 France had consented, in order to render the plan 
 proposed as nearly as possible irrevocable. Imme- 
 diately Prussia occupied Hiidesheiin, Pnderborn, 
 Monster, Eichsfeld, ami Erfniih. Wurtemburg 
 
 and Bavaria were not le ■ impatii nt than Prussia, 
 
 and sent detachments of troops into the eeolesiiis- 
 tical principalities which were assigned to them. 
 The resistance 011 I depart of the principalities could 
 
 not be considerable', because tiny were in tin- hands 
 
 of old prelates, or of chapters administering vacant 
 benefices, not having means nor will to defend 
 them. The hardship to these occupants was rec- 
 koned of no moment, — a hardship which, in a case 
 of a sim lar kind, was made a reproach formerly 
 against the French revolutionists. The natural 
 protector of these unhappy ecclesiastics was Aus- 
 tria, whose duty it was to exercise the imperial 
 power. But the greater part of those who suffered 
 were placed far away from the Austrian territory ; 
 and those that were near its frontiers, as the bishops 
 of Augsburg and Freisingeii, were not able to re- 
 ceive succour without a violation of the Bavarian 
 territory, which would have been an act of the 
 gravest character. In the mean time, there was 
 one of those bishoprics that it was easy enough to 
 protect from Bavarian occupation, — the bishopric 
 of Passau. To undertake its defence was an act of 
 vigour well adapted to elevate Austria from her 
 very abased situation. 
 
 The geographical position of this bishopric has 
 been already indicated. Entirely enclosed in Aus- 
 tria, it had only one point on the Bavarian terri- 
 tory, and that was the city of Passau. The court 
 of Vienna wished, as already shown, that this place 
 should be ;;iven to the archduke with the bishopric 
 itself. ■ The Austrian troops were at the gates of 
 Passau, and had only one step to take in order to 
 enter the city. The temptation was great, and the 
 pretext was not wanting. In fact, the unhappy 
 bishop, on seeing the Bavarian troops approaching, 
 had addressed himself to the emperor, the natural 
 protector of every state in the empire exposed to 
 such a violence. The plan which gave his bishopric 
 partly to Bavaria, and partly to the archduke 
 Ferdinand, was as yet only a project or scheme, 
 not a law of the empire; and until it was so, the 
 execution of the plan might be considered an 
 illegal act. Acts of a similar kind, it is true, were 
 committed throughout all Germany; but where it 
 was possible to prevent them, why not do so — why 
 not give some sign of spirit and vigour! 
 
 Austria had aroused herself to the highest pitch 
 of exasperation. She complained of every one ; 
 of France, that without saying a word had nego- 
 tiated with Russia the plan which changed the 
 face of Germany; of Russia herself, that, at St. 
 Petersburg, had kept secret her adoption of t lie 
 plan of mediation; of Prussia and her confederates, 
 who sought their support from foreign govern- 
 ments to overturn completely the German empire. 
 These complaints had very little foundation in fact. 
 She had no one to reproach but herself, her ex- 
 aggerated pretensions, and her own ill-managed 
 craftiness, for the state of abandonment in which 
 she was left at that moment. She had wished to 
 negotiate with Russia, concealing it from France, 
 and France had negotiated with Russia, <•< ncealing 
 it from her. She had been desirous of introducing 
 foreigners into the affairs of the empire, in having 
 recourse to the emperor Alexander of Russia; and 
 Prussis and Bavaria; imitating her example, hud 
 
 called ill Fiance; with ibis difference, that Prussia 
 and Bavaria had obtained (lie intervention of a 
 power friendly to the Germanic body, ami bound 
 to interfere by the obligations of treaties them- 
 selves. Then :is to the previous occupations, they 
 were premature measures, it is true, and in the 
 strictness of the law, illegal; but unfortunately for
 
 408 Austria occupies Fassau. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Conduct of the first consul 
 towards Austria. 
 
 1802. 
 Sept. 
 
 the logic of Austria, she had herself occupied Salz- 
 burg and Berchtolsgaden. 
 
 However these things might be, still Austria, 
 exasperated, determined to show that her courage 
 was not lowered by a coincidence of unfortunate 
 circumstances, and she did an act, in consequence, 
 little in unison with her ordinary circumspection. 
 She commanded her troops to pass the suburbs 
 of Passau, and to occupy that fortress ; at the 
 same time she accompanied her act with ex- 
 planations tending to extenuate their effect. She 
 declared that in acting thus, she answered only 
 the formal demand of the bishop of Passau; that 
 she did not intend to decide by force one of the 
 litigated questions submitted to the Germanic diet; 
 that she only intended to do an act purely con- 
 servative ; and that as soon after the decision 
 of the diet as possihle, she would withdraw 
 her troops, and leave the contested city to the 
 proprietor who might be legally invested with 
 it, by the definitive plan of the general indem- 
 nities. 
 
 The troops of Austria entered Passau on the 
 18th of August. While they were marching there 
 the Bavarian troops approached on the opposite 
 side. Little more was necessary to produce a 
 serious collision, which might have set all Europe 
 in a flame. Fortunately, the prudence of the 
 officers charged with the execution of this duty 
 prevented such a misfortune ; the Austrians re- 
 mained masters of the place. 
 
 This was rather bold conduct, the bolder in that 
 the place did not belong to Austria, and it was on an 
 important point, opposing a formal act of resistance 
 to the declarations of the mediating powers. The 
 effect produced by this act at Ratisbon was very 
 great, among the numerous public men of Ger- 
 many who were there assembled. There were in 
 that city representatives of all the states ; those 
 maintained or suppressed, satisfied or discontented, 
 searching, the one to support and carry into effect 
 the proposed plans, the others to change them in 
 relation to what concerned themselves. Magis- 
 trates of free towns, abbots, prelates, and "im- 
 mediate" nobles, were there in great abundance. 
 The immediate nobles, above all, who filled the 
 armies and the chancellories of the German courts, 
 figured in great numbers as ministers of the diet. 
 Even those who represented the courts which were 
 benefited by the change, and which, under the 
 circumstances, had appeared to be content, pre- 
 served notwithstanding their personal passions, 
 and like German nobles, were very far from being 
 perfectly satisfied. M. Goetz, for example, the 
 minister of Prussia at Ratisbon, was the partisan 
 of the plan of indemnities on account of his court; 
 but in his quality of an " immediate" nobleman, he 
 deeply regretted the loss of the old order of things. 
 Several other ministers of German courts were in 
 the same situation. These personages composed 
 in themselves an impassioned public body, leaning 
 strongly in favour of Austria. It was not from 
 France that they wished for more, because they 
 saw plainly that she was wholly disinterested 
 about the whole matter, and had no other end but 
 to put a term to the conflicting affairs of Germany; 
 but they cast the severest blame upon Prussia and 
 Bavaria. The greediness of these courts, their 
 connexion with France, their desire to destroy the 
 
 old Germanic constitution, of these they spoke in 
 terms of unqualified bitterness. 
 
 The news of the occupation of Passau produced 
 in the midst of such a public body the most lively 
 and grateful sensation. There was a necessity, 
 they said, for a vigorous step ; France had no 
 troops on the Rhine; the peace with England was 
 not so solid that France was able to engage herself 
 easily in the affairs of Germany; besides, the first 
 consul had received a sort of monarchical au- 
 thority, as a recompense for the peace procured 
 for the world; he would not so soon withdraw a 
 benefit for which so high a price had been paid. 
 They had only, therefore, to show energy, to pass 
 the Inn, and give a lesson to Bavaria, and thus 
 lower the numerous hands lifted up at the mo- 
 ment for the destruction of the Germanic consti- 
 tution. 
 
 The effect thus produced at Ratisbon was soon 
 spread over all Europe. The first consul, who 
 had been attentive to the progress of the nego- 
 tiations, was much surprised. Up to this time 
 he had carefully abstained from every step that 
 might have a chance of causing injury to the 
 general peace. His object had been to consolidate, 
 not to put into peril. But he was in no humour 
 to suffer himself lo be publicly braved, and above 
 all, to have a result compromised, which he had 
 pursued with so much labour and with the best 
 intentions. He felt what effect this hardihood of 
 Austria might possibly produce at Ratisbon, if he 
 did not repress it, above all, if he appeared to 
 hesitate. He immediately sent for M. Lucchesini, 
 the Prussian minister, and M. Cetto, the minister 
 of Bavaria. He made them both sensible of the 
 importance of a prompt and energetic resolution, 
 in presence of the new attitude which Austria had 
 thought fit to take, and the danger to which the 
 plan of indemnities would be exposed in conse- 
 quence, if, under the circumstances, the least hesi- 
 tation were exhibited. These two ministers felt, 
 as well as any person, that the interest of their 
 courts sufficed to enlighten their minds upon such 
 a subject. They adhered without a moment's 
 consideration to the ideas of the first consul. He 
 proposed to them to bind himself by a formal 
 agreement, in which it should be declared anew, 
 that he was disposed to employ all the necessary 
 means to carry into effect the plan of the mediation, 
 and that if in the sixty days assigned for the pur- 
 pose of the labours of the diet, the city of Passau 
 should not be evacuated, France and Prussia would 
 unite their arms to those of Bavaria, to secure to 
 the last the territory promised her in the plan of 
 indemnity. This convention was signed the even- 
 ing of the same day when it had been proposed, 
 that is to say, on the 5th of September, 1802, or 
 18th Fructidor, year X. The first consul did not 
 send for M. Markoff, because he would have raised 
 a thousand difficulties upon his own part, caused 
 by the interest lie felt for the house of Austria. 
 The first consul had not, besides, any need of the 
 assistance of Russia to perform an energetic act. 
 The convention itself became more threatening, 
 thus signed by two powers, the convention that 
 each of the two was seriously resolved to execute. 
 The first consul therefore contented himself with 
 communicating the fact to M. Markoff, and re- 
 quested him to transmit a copy to St. Petersburg,.
 
 1802. 
 Sept. 
 
 The extraordinary deputation THE SECULARIZATIONS. 
 
 assembles at Ratisbon. 
 
 4oa 
 
 in order that his cabinet might be able, if it saw- 
 fit, to adhere to the resolution. 
 
 On the following day the first consul sent off his 
 aid-de-camp, Lauriston, with tlie convention which 
 had been signed, and with a letter for the elector 
 of Bavaria. In this letter he requested the elector 
 to he assured, that he guaranteed to him anew all 
 that part of the indemnity which had heen pro- 
 mised him, and announced to him, that at the 
 time fixed a French army should enter Germany, 
 to make the faith of France and of Prussia re- 
 spected. The aiJ-de-camp, Lauriston, had orders 
 to visit Passau, to see things for himself, and to 
 judge with his own eyes what might be the number 
 of Austrians that hail been assembled upon the 
 frontiers of Bavaria. He was alter this to show 
 himself at Ratisbon, to go to Berlin, and to return 
 through Holland. He was the bearer of despatches 
 also for most of the German princes. 
 
 This was more than was necessary to operate 
 powerfully on the minds of the Germans. Colonel 
 Lauriston set off immediately, and arrived at 
 Munich without losing a moment. His presence 
 there was the occasion of great joy to the unfortu- 
 nate elector. All the details contained in the 
 despatch from the first consul were repeated from 
 mouth to mouth. Colonel Lauriston continued his 
 tour without delay, made certain with his own 
 eyes the ronviction that the Austrians were in too 
 few numbers upon the Inn, to do any thing more 
 than exhibit in bravado, and he then proceeded to 
 Ratisbon, and from Ratisbon to Berlin. 
 
 This promptitude of action surprised Austria ; 
 struck with alarm all the oppositionists in the diet, 
 and | roved to them that a power like France had 
 not publicly engaged herself with another power 
 like Prussia, in the success of a plan which she 
 did not seriously desire to effect. Besides, the 
 intention of the mediators was so evident, it had 
 so much for its aim the repose of the continent, by 
 terminating the disputed affairs of Germany, that 
 i must have united itself with the sentiment 
 of a superior force, to make futile all resistance. 
 There remained to be overcome, it is true, more 
 formal differences, of which Austria had availed 
 If to delay the adoption of the plan, at least 
 until she had obtained some concession which 
 might alleviate lor chagrin, and preserve the 
 dignity of the lnad of the empire, which had been 
 so much compromised upon this occasion. 
 
 The extraordinary deputation, which had been 
 charged by the diet to prepare a concliuum for sub- 
 mission to th<- body, was at the same moment 
 tnbled. The eight states which composed it, 
 Brandenburg, Saxony, Bavaria, Bohemia, Wur- 
 temburg, the Teutonic order, Mayence, and II 
 Cassel, were present in the persons of their minis- 
 ters. The protocol was opened, and each began 
 to give his opinion. Of the eight states, four ad- 
 mitted, without hesitation, the plan of the medi- 
 ating powers. Brandenburg, Bavaria, rIesse-( 
 ami Wurtemburg, expressed their gratitude to the 
 
 f;reat powers, which had been inclined to Cl to 
 
 tie- succour of the Germanic body, and to draw 
 them out of their embarrassment by a disinterested 
 arbitration ; declaring, besides, that the jdan pro- 
 posed was wise, acceptable in its contents, save in 
 some petty details, in regard to which, the grand 
 deputation would be able, without inconvenience, 
 
 to give its opinion, and to propose useful modi- 
 fications. They added, finally, relatively to the 
 di lay fixed, that it was urgent to finish as soon as 
 possible, as much for the peace of Germany as for 
 that of Europe. Still the four approving states 
 did not explain themselves in a precise manner 
 about the term of two months, which had been 
 fixed for limiting their proceedings. It would 
 have been a compromise of their dignity to recall 
 that rigorous term, or propose to submit them- 
 selves to it, but they were right in what they were 
 understood to intend, when they recommended to 
 their brother states to finish their proceedings as 
 soon as possible. 
 
 It was proper to await the approval of Mayence, 
 when that old ecclesiastical electorate was the only 
 one preserved, and provided with a revenue of 
 a million of florins. But the baron Albini, the 
 representative of the archbishop elector, a man of 
 mind, and very adroit, wishing from the bottom of 
 his heart full success to the mediation, was very 
 embarrassed to give his approval, in presence of 
 all the ecclesiastical party, to a plan which an- 
 nihilated the old feudal church of Germany, and 
 to approve it alone, because the electorate of his 
 archbishopric was preserved. More than this, the 
 archbishop was not perfectly satisfied at the com- 
 binations which related to himself. The baihvick 
 of Aschaffenburg, the last fragment of the electorate 
 of Mayence, formed the sole portion of the re- 
 venue secured to him, arising out of territorial 
 acquirement. The rest was to arise from different 
 assignments on the reserved goods of the church ; 
 and for this part of the promised million, by far 
 the most considerable portion, as the bailwick of 
 Aschaffenburg, scarcely reached 300,000 florins in 
 value, he was therefore not without much dis- 
 quietude. 
 
 M. Albini, for Mayence, therefore, gave in an 
 opinion somewhat ambiguous, thanking the high 
 mediating powers for their amicable intervention, 
 deploring at length the unhappy circumstances of 
 the German church, and distinguishing in the plan 
 two different heads, one comprehending the dis- 
 tribution of the territories, the other the general 
 considerations which accompanied it. As to the 
 distributions of the territory, except the smaller 
 indemnities, the minister of Mayence approved the 
 propositions of the mediating powers. In regard 
 to the general considerations, containing the indi- 
 cation of tin' regulations to be made, he thought they 
 wen- insufficient, and the pensions of the clergj in 
 a more particular manner did not Beem to him sufti- 
 ciently well secured. Under this head, it is propi t 
 to acknowledge that the observations of the repre- 
 sentative of Mayence were not destitute of reason. 
 His opinion, therefore, did not convey a formal 
 approbation. 
 
 Saxony requested to reserve her vote at present; 
 this was a step frequently adopted in tin 1 delibera- 
 tions of tin- Germanic diet. As the suffrages were 
 
 several times taken, it was possible for any mem- 
 ber to reserve the statement of his opinion until a 
 subsequent sitting. This slate, very disinterested 
 and discreet, commonly acting under the influence 
 of Prussia, but in iis In -art giving a preference to 
 
 Austria, being also catholic as respected the re- 
 ligion of its prince, although the people were pro- 
 of, suffered painful scruples, divided as it was
 
 410 
 
 Complaints made by 
 Austria. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Complaints made by 
 Austria. 
 
 1802. 
 Sept. 
 
 between reason and inclination — its inclination, 
 which clung to old Germany, and its reason, which 
 spoke strongly for the plan of the mediating 
 powers. 
 
 Bohemia, and the Teutonic order, were states 
 altogether Austrian. As to the first, it was more 
 suitable to its position, the emperor being king of 
 Bohemia ; and in relation to the second, the cause 
 was equally evident, when the archduke Charles, 
 the brother of the emperor, his generalissimo, and 
 his minister at war, was the grand master of the 
 Teutonic order. They affected, both at Vienna 
 and Ratisbmi, to make a difference between the 
 minister of Bohemia, for example, and the im- 
 perial minister. The minister of Bohemia, es- 
 pecially representing the house of Austria, was by 
 this enabled to deliver himself up freely to the 
 expression of the passions of that family ; thus he 
 was made to say the most cutting things regarding 
 the question under consideration. The imperial 
 minister, speaking in the name of the emperor, 
 affected a much more grave expression, and 
 made it a point of view to address himself to the 
 general interest of the empire. He was less faith- 
 ful to the truth, and much more pedantic. M. 
 Sehraut was the minister for Bohemia, M. Hugel 
 for the emperor. The last was the most consum- 
 mate of formalists ; he was besides this very 
 crafty, as most of those Germans are who have 
 grown old in the diet, and who under the ridicu- 
 le ius pedantry of these forms, conceal all the cun- 
 ning of the inmates of the palace. In respect to 
 the minister of the grand master of the Teutonic 
 order, M. Rabenau, he submitted entirely to the 
 Austrian deputation, that instructed him even in 
 his notes, in the sight and to the knowledge of the 
 diet ; from the character which this estimated 
 minister thus played he felt much, and complained 
 openly himself. M. Hugel, the minister for the 
 emperor, directed the Austrian votes ; he was 
 ordered to struggle with artifices and delays against 
 the Prussian party and the mediating powers. 
 
 During the first sitting, M. Sehraut, on the part 
 of Bohemia, complained in high terms of the con- 
 duct shown towards Austria, and answered with 
 bitterness the reproach which had been addressed 
 to his court, of never having drawn towards a 
 conclusion, a reproach on which was principally 
 grounded the interference of the mediating powers. 
 This minister declared that for nine months pre- 
 viously, the imperial cabinet had not been able to 
 obtain a s ; ngle reply on the part of the French 
 cabinet to the overtures it had proffered ; that it had 
 been left in the most complete ignorance of all that 
 had been treated of in Paris ; that its ambassador 
 had not been able to obtain an initiation into the 
 secret of the mediation, and that the plan of the 
 same mediation had not been known to Austria 
 until the same moment when the communication 
 had been made at Ratisbon. M. Sehraut after- 
 wards complained of the lot assigned to the arch- 
 duke Ferdinand, pretended that the treaty of 
 Lune'ville was violated, because the treaty secured 
 to the archduke an indemnity for the entire of his 
 losses, and he had been assigned as an equivalent 
 for the 4,000,000 of florins he had lost, 1.;{50,000H. 
 at most. Salzburg, according to M. Sehraut, pro- 
 duced no more than 000,(100 florins, Borchtols- 
 gadeu 200,000 fl., Passau 250,000 fl. This was a 
 
 pure falsehood. To finish, Bohemia did not concur 
 in the plan. 
 
 The Teutonic order, more moderate in its lan- 
 guage, would only admit the plan as a document 
 which the diet might discuss. 
 
 There were thus four approving votes, Branden- 
 burg, Bavaria, Hesse-Cassel, and Wurtemburg ; 
 one, that of Mayence, which at bottom was ap- 
 proving, but which it was necessary to bring round 
 to be so openly ; one, Saxony, which would follow 
 the majority, when that majority was clearly pro- 
 nounced ; lastly, Bohemia and the Teutonic order 
 opposed the plan wholly as far as concerned the 
 satisfaction given to Austria. 
 
 This result was immediately communicated to the 
 first consul. As soon as he became acquainted 
 with the sentiments put forth by Bohemia, which 
 imputed to the obstinate silence of France the 
 impossibility of putting an end to the negotiations 
 upon the affairs of* Germany, he became de- 
 termined not to remain silent under such an im- 
 putation. He replied immediately by a note, which 
 M. de Laforest was commanded to communicate to 
 the diet. In this note he expressed his regret 
 to be forced to publish any thing relating to nego- 
 tiations, which, from their nature, should have 
 remained secret ; but, he added, that he was 
 obliged to do so, because his intentions had been 
 publicly calumniated; he declared that the pre- 
 tended overtures of Austria to the French cabinet 
 had, for their object, not the general arrangement 
 of the affair of the indemnities, but the extension 
 of the Austrian frontier from the Isar as far as 
 the Lech, or, in other words, the suppression of 
 Bavaria from the number of German powers ; 
 that the pretensions of Austria, taken from Paris, 
 where they had not succeeded, to St. Petersburg, 
 where they had succeeded no better, finally, to 
 Munich, where they had become threatening, had 
 obliged the mediating powers to intervene, in order 
 to secure the peace of Germany, and with the 
 peace of Germany, that of the entire continent. 
 
 This reply, so well merited, but in one point 
 exaggerated, namely, the imputation that Austria 
 had endeavoured to extend herself to the Lech, she 
 having in fact spoken only of the Isar, very much 
 mortified the imperial cabinet. That cabinet now 
 saw clearly that it was doing business with an ad- 
 versary as resolute in politics as he was in war- 
 fare ' . 
 
 1 The following is a copy of the document itself,— a re- 
 markable one of the consular era : — 
 
 " The undersigned minister-extraordinary of the French 
 republic 10 the diet of ihe Germanic empire, has taken the 
 earliest opportunity of transmitting to his government the 
 rescript communicated tiy the sub-delegate of Bohemia to 
 the extraordinary deputation of the empire in the sitting of 
 the 24ih of August, and communicated also to the under- 
 signed on the 28th of the said month. He is charged to 
 transmit lo the deputation the following observations. The 
 first consul has been much affected to see that his inleniions 
 for securing the peace and prosperity of the Germanic bociy 
 have been misunderstood, since they reproai h him with not 
 having answered the overtures made by his imperial and 
 royal majesty since the conclusion of the treaty of Luneville, 
 and having thus retaided to Germany, that inieresting por- 
 tion of Europe, the advantages of the peace; be must de- 
 clare that the o\ enures which, though confidential and 
 secret, are at piesent publicly alluded to by the court of 
 Vienna, fur from being calculated to procure the execution
 
 1802. 
 Oct. 
 
 Mayence decides against Austria. THE SECULARIZATIONS. Mayence decides against Austria. 4] 1 
 
 Nevertheless, it was necessary to proceed with 
 the negotiations, and M. de Laforest, with the autho- 
 rity of his cahinet, employed the requisite means to 
 briii" about Mayence to give a decided vote. He 
 promised M. Albini, the representative of the elector 
 Of Mayence, to secure his revenue to the archbishop 
 chancellor, not in the stocks, but in the "immediate" 
 territories not taken from any of the princes. To 
 this promise, which was made in a formal maimer, 
 
 of the 9th article of the treaty of Luneville, could tend only 
 to remove, rather than to indicate, the means of providing 
 for the inilemuilicatioii of so many secular princes who had 
 sustained such considerable losses; their oniy object was to 
 regulate the indemnification of the archduke Ferdinand, by 
 employing lay and hereditary dominions. The project of the 
 court of Vienna tended to extend its territory beyond the 
 Lech, and their effect consequently would have been, to 
 erase Bavaria from the number of the powers. Justice and 
 generosity, which are always the first heaid in the heart of 
 the first consul, made it a law with him to forget what 
 wrong.-, the elector miglit have done to the republic, and not 
 to suffer to perish a state weakened and threatened, but, 
 however, hitherto secuted by the policy of the governments 
 interested in maintaining a just equilibrium in Germany. 
 For if the equilibrium of Europe requires that Austria should 
 be great and powerful, that of Germany requires that Bavaria 
 should be preserved entire, and protected from all further 
 invasion. What would become of the Germanic body if the 
 principal states which compose it should see their inde- 
 pendence every moment endangered .' And would not the 
 honour of that ancient federation suffer, by weakening a 
 prince whose house has concurred, in so honourable a man- 
 ner, to the establishment and support of the Germanic con- 
 stitution? It is not, then, at Pans that the insinuations of 
 the court of Vienna, in regard to the affairs of Germany, 
 could be received ; and though it has since renewed them at 
 St. Petersburg, they could not meet with better success; 
 the great and generous soul of the emperor Alexander could 
 not permit him to negUct the interests of Bavaria, which 
 were recommended to him also by the ties of blond, and by 
 every consideration of sound policy. Having been unable 
 to succeed cither at St. Petersburg or Paris, the court of 
 Vienna nevertheless pursued at Munich the execution of iis 
 projects; and it was the communication of bis uneasiness, 
 made by the elector to the French and Russian govern- 
 ments, which contributed above all to make them leel the 
 necessity of uniting their influence to protect the hereditary 
 princes, secure the execution of the 1 7ih article of the treaty 
 of Luneville, and not to suffer to fall to the lowest rank one 
 of the oldest, and not long ano one of the most powerful, 
 houses ol Germany. 'I he undersigned, therefore, is ch 
 to declare to the deputation, (hat the states of his sermc 
 highness the elector palatine of Bavaria, as well as the pos- 
 •is destined to him as indemnities, and as necessary 
 for re establishing the equilibrium of Germany, are naturally 
 and indispensably placed under the protection of the medi- 
 ating powers; that the first consul, personally, will nut 
 suffer the important place of PassBU to remain in the hands 
 of Austria, nor allow it to obtain any part of the territories 
 which Bavaria possesses on the right of the Inn; lor he con- 
 siders that there would In- no independence fur Bavaria the 
 moment when the troops 'if Austr.a should be neat its 
 capital. It remains to the undersigned to express to the 
 deputation the regret which i he hist n.hrf... feels lor divulging 
 negotiations which took pace only under the seal of con- 
 fidence, and the secrecy of which I U fhl I onsequi ntly to have 
 remained sacred ; but In- has barn constrained to it by just 
 reprisals, and by the value which in- attaches to the opinion 
 and esteem of the brave and loyal German people. 
 
 (Signed) I.Aiorir.8T. 
 
 fThe Russian document was shorter, nearly to the same 
 effi-'t. but h-siiri-iinisi.inti.il; it bON the same date, and 
 was signed by the baron De Buhler ] 
 
 were added certain threats, very intelligent in their 
 character, in case the plan should be rendered abor- 
 tive. Thus the vote of M. Albmi was decided. But 
 still it was not possible to obtain the pure and sim- 
 ple admission of the plan. The honour of the 
 Germanic body demanded that the extraordinary 
 deputation, in settling upon it as the basis of its 
 labours, should at least introduce some small altera- 
 tions. The interests of several of the petty princes 
 demanded many modifications in detail; and Prus- 
 sia besides, from motives scarcely avowable, was 
 of accord with Mayence in desiring to separate the 
 general considerations of the plan itself, and to 
 draw it up under a new form. In these considera- 
 tions there was in fact one discoverable, relative to 
 the "immediate" property of the church, which 
 had been reserved to serve either to complete 
 several of the compliments of the indemnity, or for 
 ecclesiasticn I pensions. Many of these particular 
 properties were enclosed in the Prussian territory, 
 and that power, already so favourably treated, 
 cherished the hope to preserve them to herself by 
 some new assignment, and thus exclusively appro- 
 priate them. She therefore entered into the ideas 
 of Mayence, and agreed with that state to remodel 
 the part of the plan which included these general 
 considerations; but she agreed at the same time to 
 adopt the principal basis of the territorial partition, 
 in a previous conclusum, stating that the charges 
 which were there made, were in common agree- 
 ment with the ministers of the mediating powers. 
 It was further to be understood, that the entire 
 labour was to be terminated by the 24th of Octo- 
 ber, 1802, or 2nd Brmnaire, year xt., which just 
 made two months, to be dated, not from the day of 
 the declaration of the powers, but the day when 
 their note had been dictated to the deputation, that 
 is to say, read and transcribed in the proces verbal 
 of the diet. 
 
 On the 8ih of September, or 21st Fructidor, this 
 previous conclusum was adopted in spite of all the 
 efforts of the imperial minister, M. Hugel. Bran- 
 denburg, Bavaria, Wurtentburg, Hesse-CaSSel, 
 Mayence, or five states out of eight, admitted the 
 previous conclusion, comprehending the whole of the 
 plan, and some accessory modifications, that were 
 introduced in accordance with the ministers of the 
 mediating powers. In this sitting, Saxony took a 
 step, and gave ail opinion between the two ex- 
 tremes. This state desired that the plan might be 
 received as a clue of directions in the labyrinth of 
 indemnities. 
 
 Bohemia and the Teutonic order were opposed 
 to the adoption of the conclusum. According to the 
 
 COIIBtitUtional forms, the minister was bound to 
 
 have communicated the conclusum thus voted to the 
 mediating ministers, M. Huge! was determined 
 
 to do nothing of the sort. In other respects, he 
 unceasingly endeavoured to excuse himself for the 
 obstacles, which he had caused in the negotiation, 
 ami made every possible effort to obtain an amica- 
 ble overture from the ministers of France and 
 Russia, every day repeating; to theili that the least 
 advantage conceded to the house of Austria, for 
 the purpose of saving its honour at least, would 
 decide it in suffering the labour to be concluded. 
 Tin- whole of its policy now consisted in tiring out 
 the two legations of France and Russia, in order to 
 wring from the first consul a concession of territory
 
 412 
 
 Provisions made for 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. the arch-chancellor. 
 
 1802. 
 Oct. 
 
 on the Inn, or a combination of votes in the three 
 colleges, which should secure to Austi-ia the preser- 
 vation of her influence in the empire. The con- 
 duct M. de Laforest, consummate in this species 
 of tactic, adopted, and that he made his cabinet 
 adopt, was to march deterrninately forward to the 
 end, in spite of the Austrian legation; to concede 
 nothing at Ratisbon, but to send the Austrian 
 minister to Paris, by saying that there perhaps 
 they might obtain something of what they desired, 
 not before, but after the facilities which might be 
 obtained from them in the future course of the 
 negotiation. 
 
 The imperial legation, in order to gain time to 
 negotiate in Paris, directed itself to the object of 
 passing a newly-modified conclusum, which should 
 be sent to the mediating ministers, in order to 
 cime to an understanding with them upon the 
 changes which it appeared most convenient to 
 adopt. This attempt ended in nothing, but to 
 impart a sort of ill-humour to the Saxon legation, 
 and to attach that member of the grand deputation 
 to the majority of six voices which had already 
 been given. 
 
 Although the imperial plenipotence interposed 
 itself "firm as a wall," according to the despatches 
 of M. de Laforest, between the extraordinary depu- 
 tation and the mediating ministers, because she 
 was still obstinate in not communicating to thern 
 the acts of the extraordinary deputation ; it was 
 nevertheless agreed that the reclamations addressed 
 to the diet by the petty princes, should be officiously 
 communicated to those two ministers, that all this 
 might be done by simple notes, and that the modi- 
 fications, admitted in consequence of such reclama- 
 tions, should be introduced into the resolutions, of 
 which the whole together would form the definitive 
 conclusum. 
 
 As soon as the road was open for reclamations, 
 they did not lag behind, as it may be well imagined; 
 but they came from the petty princes only, because 
 the greater houses had made them in Paris during 
 the time the general negotiations were proceeding. 
 These petty princes moved heaven and earth to 
 get themselves secured. Unhappily, and it was 
 the only thing to be regretted in this memorable 
 negotiation, the persons in the employment of the 
 French, individuals brought up amid the disorders 
 of the directory, suffered their hands to be soiled 
 by pecuniary gifts, that the German princes, impa- 
 tient to ameliorate their condition, lavished upon 
 tin in without discernment. For the most part, the 
 miserable agents who received those gifts, sold a 
 credit which they did not possess. M. de Laforest, 
 a man of the strictest integrity, and principal 
 representative of France at Ratisbon, listened 
 little to the recommendations that were addressed 
 to him in favour of such or such a house, and he 
 denounced them to his own government. The first 
 consul, made aware of it, wrote many letters to the 
 minister of police, in order to put a stop to so 
 odious a traffic, which could only make dupes, 
 because these pretended recommendations, paid 
 for in money, would not exercise the least influ- 
 ence over the arrangements concluded at Ratisbon. 
 
 The greatest difficulty to be encountered did not 
 by any means consist in regulating the supplemental 
 indemnities, but in burthening the reserved pro- 
 perty with them, which was designed for the pen- 
 
 sions of the clergy who had lost their places. The 
 efforts of Prussia, to save from this double charge 
 the property situated in her territory, caused great 
 eontests, and lowered exceedingly the dignity of 
 that court. It was necessary at first to find the 
 sums required to make up the revenue promised to 
 the prince arch-chancellor the elector of Mayence. 
 A means was devised to satisfy this demand. 
 Among the number of the free cities preserved, 
 were Ratisbon and Wetzlar, the last maintained in 
 its character of a free city, because of the imperial 
 chamber which met there. Badly governed, both 
 the one and the other, as the greater part of all 
 the free towns were, they had no very desirable 
 existence longer in that character. They were 
 assigned to the prince arch-chancellor. There was 
 in this a real convenience, because Ratisbon was 
 the place where the diet sate, and Wetzlar that 
 where the supreme court of the empire held its 
 meetings. It was natural to give this to the prince 
 director of the affairs of Germany. These two 
 cities, that of Ratisbon before all, were rejoiced at 
 their new distinction. The prince arch-chancellor, 
 possessing Aschaffenburg, Ratisbon, and Wetzlar, 
 had 650,000 florins of revenue secured in territory. 
 It was necessary to find him three hundred and 
 fifty thousand more. It was also required to have 
 fifty-three thousand for the house of Stolberg and 
 Isemburg; and ten thousand for the duke of Olden- 
 burg, uncle and ward of the emperor Alexander. 
 There was thus in all 413.000 florins to press upon 
 the reserved property of the church, independently 
 of the ecclesiastical pensions. Baden and Wnrtem- 
 burg had already accepted the part to be paid from 
 the reserved property situated in their states. 
 Prussia and Bavaria had each to support half the 
 charge of 413,000 florins remaining deficient. 
 Bavaria was heavily charged in her finances, both 
 by the number of pensions that had fallen to her, 
 and by the debts which had been transferred from 
 the old states upon the new. Prussia would not 
 even support the payment of 200.000 florins out of 
 the 413,000 still wanting. She had devised a means 
 of procuring them, which was to lay the burthen of 
 these 413,000 florins upon the free cities of Ham- 
 burg, Bremen, and Lubeck, of which she was 
 extremely, jealous. This greediness of spirit 
 caused much scandalous talk at Ratisbon, and 
 the minister of Prussia, M. Goertz, was so much 
 mortified at it, that he was very near giving in his 
 resignation. M. de Laforest only restrained him 
 on account of the interests of the negotiation itself. 
 The power of reclamation accorded to the petty 
 princes, renewed a number of almost forgotten 
 pretensions. Another cause had contributed to 
 the renewal : this was the rumour, already very 
 largely bruited abroad at Ratisbon, that Austria 
 was obtaining in Paris a supplementary indemnity 
 in favour of the archduke Ferdinand. Hesse- 
 Cassel, jealous of what had been done for Baden, 
 Hesse-Darmstadt, of all that had been done for 
 Hesse-Cassel, Orange-Nassau, of what was ru- 
 moured to be done for the former duke of Tuscany, 
 demanded supplementary indemnities to such an 
 extent, that the other claimants would have been 
 unable to obtain any. The occupation of the 
 different territories by force of arms, continuing 
 without interruption, added to the general confu- 
 sion. The Germanic body found itself exactly in
 
 1802. 
 Oct. 
 
 Efforts made by the 
 mediating mii:is- 
 
 THE SECULARIZATIONS. 
 
 ters to obtain the 
 conclutum. 
 
 413 
 
 the state which they had experienced in France 
 under the constituent assembly at the moment of 
 the abolition of the feudal regime. The margrave, 
 who inherited Manheim, formerly the property of 
 the house of Bavaria, was in dispute with the last 
 house about a collection of pictures. Detachments 
 of troops belonging to the two princes had just missed 
 coming to blows. To complete this sad spectacle, 
 Austria, having over a number of estates in Saabia 
 certain pretensions of feudal origin, had the posts 
 torn up with the arms, in the different towns and 
 abbeys assigned in the plan of the indemnities to 
 Baden, Wurtemburg, and Bavaria. Lastly, Prus- 
 sia seized the bishopric of Minister, and would not 
 put in possession the counts of the empire, co-part- 
 ners with herself in that bishopric. 
 
 In the midst of these disorders, Austria feeling 
 that she must ultimately agree, offered immediately 
 to adhere to the (dan of the mediating powers, if 
 the bank of the Inn was conceded to her, provided 
 she would abandon all her possessions in Suabia 
 in favour of Bavaria. She proposed anew to this 
 power the making Augsburg its capital. She de- 
 manded another thing in the creation of two new 
 electors, of which one should be the archduke of 
 Tuscany, now made the sovereign of Salzburg, and 
 the other the archduke Charles, the actual grand 
 master of the Teutonic order. Upon these condi- 
 tions, Austria w;ts ready to regard the archdukes 
 as sufficiently indemnified, and to give herself up 
 to (he wishes of the mediating powers. 
 
 The first consul was no longer able, after what 
 had passed in regard to Passau, to bring Bavaria 
 to consent to cede the frontier of the Inn ; and, 
 above all, it would be difficult for him to make 
 Germany accept three electors at once, token alone 
 from the house of Austria — Bohemia, Salzburg, and 
 the Teutonic order. He was not willing to sacrifice 
 the free town of Augsburg. He replied, that dis- 
 posed to demand some sacrifices of Bavaria, it was 
 impossible for him to exact from her the conces- 
 sion of the frontier of the Inn. He insinuated 
 that be might perhaps go as far as to propose to 
 Bavaria to abandon a bishopric like that of Aich- 
 stadt, but that it was impossible to go beyond that 
 ion. 
 
 The time passed away; it was now Vende'miaire, 
 or October, and the final term approached, fixed 
 for the 2nd Bromaire, or 24th of October. The 
 mediating powers were in a hurry to finish the 
 affair. They bad heard all the petty reclamations, 
 received all those which wire worthy of hearing, 
 and put all in order, as well as the' regulations 
 
 which were to accompany the distribution of the 
 
 territories. Tfie electoral dignity, requested by 
 tint emperor of Russia, bad not appeared to any 
 
 one proper to be granted, because it was a new 
 protectant < lectorafa aide.] to the six which .already 
 existed in a college of only nine. The dispropor- 
 tion was too neat to be increased yet further. 
 
 This reclamation was therefore discarded. A new 
 
 distribution bad been made o| the " virile votes," 
 
 for thus the votes ill the college of princes Were 
 denominated j and they bad transferred to the new 
 states the votes of the pruic. g dispossessed upon 
 the left bank of the Rhine. There resulted in tin: 
 College of the princes as in that of the electors, a 
 
 considerable change in favour of the protestants, 
 
 because they had replaced the prelates or abbots 
 
 by secular princes of the reformed religion. 
 Finally, to establish a sort of counterpoise, they 
 had attached new votes to Austria, Salzburg, 
 Styria, Carniola, and Carinthia. But the catholic 
 princes wanted the principalities, which might 
 serve them as a pretext for the creation of new- 
 voices in the diet. In spite of all that they had 
 done, the proportion which was formerly, as has 
 been said, fifty-four catholic voices against forty- 
 three protestants, was now actually thirty-one 
 catholics against sixty-two protestants. Still it 
 must not be concluded that Austria was inferior 
 in proportion to these numbers. All the protestant 
 suffrages, as before said, were not suffrages secured 
 to Prussia ; but with the imperial prerogatives 
 with respect to the house of Austria, which was 
 still in power, and with the fears that the house of 
 Brandenburg had begun to inspire, the balance 
 was able still to be kept up between the two rival 
 houses. 
 
 As to the college of the cities, it had been 
 organized in an independent manner, and had 
 attempted to render it less inferior to the other 
 two. The eight free towns were reduced to six, 
 when Ratisbon and Wetzlar had been granted to 
 the archbishop chancellor. Prussia wished to sup- 
 press the third college, and to attribute to each of 
 the six cities a voice in the college of princes. 
 This would have been a means of suppressing one 
 or two more, especially Nuremburg, of which 
 Prussia was ambitious to have possession. The 
 French legation refused to agree to this, and gave 
 a determined negative. 
 
 Nothing was said upon the state of the "imme- 
 diate" nobility, which remained in the most cruel 
 anxiety, because Prussia and Bavaria threatened 
 them openly. 
 
 At last, the term of the 2nd Brumaire approach- 
 ing, the new plan was submitted for deliberation in 
 the extraordinary deputation. Brandenburg, Ba- 
 varia, Hesse-Casscl, Wurtemburg, and Mayence, 
 approved of it. Saxony, Bohemia, the Teutonic 
 order, declared that they would take it into consi- 
 deration, but that before they pronounced defi- 
 nitely, they desired to wait the termination of the 
 negotiation going on in Paris on the part of Aus- 
 tria, because otherwise, they said, they should bo 
 exposed to vote for a plan that it would be needful 
 to modify subsequently. 
 
 The extraordinary deputation bad to deliver its 
 definite vote, and there remained only three or 
 four days to complete the term of the two months' 
 delay. It was needful for the honour of the great 
 mediating powers, to obtain the adoption of their 
 plan within the time fixed. M. de Laforest and 
 i\I. Bidder, who moved forward freely in accord- 
 ance, made the greatest efforts in order that on the 
 2!Jth Vende'miaire, or 2.1st of October, the conc/imiim 
 should be finally adopted. They encountered infi- 
 nite difficulties in consequence of M. rlugel report- 
 ing every where that a courier from Paris, bringing 
 important alterations, was every moment expected 
 
 to arrive; that at Paris even they wished for delay. 
 
 lb: went so far as to threaten M. Albini, telling 
 him that according to positive advices, orders 
 would be received by him from the elector of 
 Mayence, disavowing bis <■ luct, and enjoining it 
 
 upon him not. to vote. This was done to shake 
 one of the five favourable votes, and thus far one
 
 414 The co7.citt.Bm adopted. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Alteration of feeling 
 towards Austria. 
 
 1B0J. 
 Nov. 
 
 of the most faithful. These menaces were pushed 
 so far that M. Albiui became offended, and in cnn- 
 sequence became mure firm in the resolution he 
 had taken. To increase the embarrassment of the 
 time, Prussia commenced at the latest instant to 
 create new obstacles ; she desired such a digest of 
 the business as should dispense with her furnishing 
 out of the reserved properties her part of the 
 413,000 florins, which remained to be made up. 
 She even aspired to self-appropriate certain depen- 
 dencies of the ecclesiastical property enclosed within 
 her territories, and attributed to different, princes 
 by the plan of the indemnities. She had, in a 
 word, a thousand pretensions, more vexatious, more 
 nut of place the one than the other, which arising 
 in a most unexpected manner, at the conclusion of 
 the negotiations, were of a nature to make the 
 whole proceeding miscarry. It was not the minis- 
 ter of Prussia, M. Goertz, a very worthy personage, 
 who thus cast a blush upon the character which he 
 wms made to play, it was a financier whom they 
 had made his adjunct that caused these difficulties. 
 At length, M. de La forest and M. Bidder gave a 
 last impulse to the affair, and on the 2!Jth of Ven- 
 demiaire, or 21st of October, the definitive con- 
 elnsuta was adopted by the extraordinary deputa- 
 tion of the eight states, and the mediation might 
 be said in a certain sense to be accomplished, 
 within the term assigned by the mediating powers. 
 On the last day, Saxony voted with the five states, 
 forming the ordinary majority out of respect to 
 that majority. 
 
 There still remained a number of details to be 
 arranged. The partition of the territ' ries and the 
 regulations for the organization did not form the 
 same act. It was required that the two should 
 form but one resolution, which should take a title 
 already known in the Germanic protocol, as that 
 of the recez, a term applied by custom to I he regis- 
 iration of the resolutions of the imperial diet. 
 Afterwards, the labours of the deputation being 
 accomplished, it was necessary to carry the result 
 to the Germanic diet, of which the extraordinary 
 deputation was only a commission. The precaution 
 had been taken in the declaration of the definitive 
 couclusum, of stating that the recez would be directly 
 communicated to the mediating ministers. They 
 desired by this means to prevent the refusal of the 
 communication being made on the part of the im- 
 perial ministers to the mediating ministers, a re- 
 fusal which had already been the cause of the most 
 vexatious delays. 
 
 They now set to work immediately to resolve 
 into one sole digest the principal act and the regu- 
 lations. This was a new < pportnnity for M. Hugel 
 to raise up embarrassing questions. Thus, on the 
 proposal for the definitive digest being completed, 
 he obstinately demanded, if there was not to be 
 comprehended in the registry the charge on the 
 salary of 413.000 florins, due to 'he arch-chancellor, 
 to the duke of Oldenburg, and to the houses of 
 lsemburg and Stolburg ; he demanded if this was 
 not the moment to provide the pensions of the 
 archbishop of Treves, the bishops of Liege, Spires, 
 and Strasburg, the states of which had gone with 
 the left bank of the Rhine to France, and who did 
 not know to whom to address themselves to nbtaill 
 a provision ; if no indemnity was to be accorded to 
 the "immediate" nobiliiy for the loss of their feu- 
 
 dal rights, a loss for which they had an anterior 
 promise of an indemnity. 
 
 To all the demands of new allocations, Prussia 
 rej died by refusals, or by references to the free 
 cities. Bavaria said, and with reason, that she 
 was much in debt, and that she saw her resources 
 still further lessened by what would be accorded to 
 Austria, in the treaty carrying on at Paris. M. 
 Hugel replied, that it was not in this manner that 
 people should meet their sacred debts. 
 
 These disputes produced at Ratisbon an ex- 
 tremely vexatious effect. They complained there 
 above all things of the avidity of Prussia, and of 
 the complaisant conduct of France towards her ; 
 we no longer acknowledge, people said, the great 
 character of the first consul, which permits his 
 name and favour to be so abused. Every mind 
 reverted towards Austria, even those which did 
 not commonly lean towards her side. People said, 
 that in submitting to a preponderating influence in 
 the empire, it was better to submit to that of the 
 ancient house of Austria, that without doubt had 
 formerly abused its supremacy, but had at the 
 same time as often protected as oppressed the 
 Germans. There sprung up among the states of 
 the second order, such as Bavaria, Wurtemburg, 
 the two Hesses, and Baden, a disposition to form a 
 league in the centre of Germany, for resisting, as 
 well the power of Prussia, as that of Austria. 
 
 At length, in spite of every art to extend these 
 difficulties, the recez was digested and adopted by 
 the extraordinary deputation, on the 2nd Frimaire, 
 year xi., or 23rd November, 1802. No resource 
 was indicated to supply the payment of the 413,000 
 florins, which yet remained without assignment. 
 All wished also to know, before they put the last 
 hand to the work, the result of the negotiations 
 between Fiance and Austria. 
 
 The imperial legation saw itself, therefore, van- 
 quished at last, by the activity and constancy of 
 the mediating ministers, who proceeded invariably 
 on their way, supported upon their majority of five 
 votes, sometimes even of six out of eight, when 
 Saxony was brought back again to the majority by 
 the <distinate resistance of Austria. M. Hugel de- 
 cided to let things alone. It was necessary to 
 carry the recez of this special commission, called 
 the " extraordinary deputation," up to the diet 
 itself. In order to pass it from one to the other 
 of these bodies, the decision was taken to pass it 
 intermediately, if the ministers of the emperor 
 refused to transmit it. Nevertheless, the Ger- 
 mans, even those most favourable to the plan of 
 indemnity, were inclined towards the exact and 
 faithful observation of the constitutional regula- 
 tions. They thought that the empire was quite 
 sufficiently shaken, and besides, in the overturn 
 of the constitution, they discovered a new species 
 of domination, which was altogether more formid- 
 able than that which existed before. Even lin se 
 who were originally the partisans of Prussia, now 
 rallied with those who had always venerated Aus- 
 tria as the most perfect representative of the old 
 order of things. They had arrived at that point, 
 a point soon arrived at in revolutions, where the 
 new masters are distrusted, and the old ones a 
 little less hated. They did not wish, therefore, 
 that the imperial ministers should be passed over 
 in the matter, and the intelligence of a coid'ereuce
 
 1S02. 
 Dec. 
 
 The recez communicated 
 to the diet. 
 
 THE SECULARIZATIONS. 
 
 The first consul closes with 
 Austtia. 
 
 415 
 
 at Paris, between Austria and the first consul, 
 gave birth to tlie hope of an arrangement, whibli 
 would lie received with joy by every body. 
 
 M. Hngel, at last brought back to :i system of 
 condescension, consented to communicate the acts 
 of the extraordinary deputation to the mediating 
 ministers, to the end that the last should be able to 
 address, the diet, and require the adoption of the 
 . as the law of the empire. But with the 
 narrowness of mind of an old formalist, M. Huge! 
 refused to send the recez itself, invested in the 
 imperial colours : lie communicated a simple im- 
 pression, with a despatch guaranteeing its authen- 
 ticitv. 
 
 Without losing time, on the 4th of December, or 
 13th Frinmire, the two ministers of France and 
 li i — .ia communicated the recez to the diet, declar- 
 ing that they entirely approved of it in the name of 
 their respective courts; that they requested it 
 should be immediately taken into consideration ; 
 and, as soon as possible, that it be adopted as a 
 law of the empire. This promptitude to get hold 
 of the diet was a means to bring in the ministers of 
 tin- Germanic states that were absent, or the in- 
 structions of those who had not yet l'coeived 
 
 tin 111. 
 
 New precautions at this moment became neces- 
 sary in relation to the composition of the diet. To 
 admit to vote all the states on the left bank of the 
 Rhine suppressed by the French conquest, and on 
 the right bank by the system of secularizations, 
 was to expose the diet, on their part, either to an 
 invincible opposition, or else to condemn them to 
 pronounce themselves their own suppression. It 
 was agreed with the directorial minister, or ill 
 other words, wiih the arch-chancellor, to convoke 
 exclusively'tliose states which were preserved to 
 the empire, whether their title was changed or 
 whether it was not. Thus they did not convoke 
 the electors of Treves nor of Cologne to the college 
 of electors ; but they convoked Mayence, of which 
 the title was constituted ex jure voro. In the col- 
 of princes there were some suppressed whose 
 territories had been incorporated in the French or 
 Helvetian republics ; such, for example, as the 
 secular and ec lesiastical princes of Ueux-l'oiits, 
 Montbnlliard, Liege, Worms, Spires, Bale, and 
 btntabui'g. Those princes wen; provisionally main- 
 tained, who had gained new principalities, save in 
 the regulation of the titles, at a later time, and the 
 
 making them transfer themselves to the secularized 
 
 territories which had devolved upon them. There 
 
 Were rappvessed in the college of cities tin- whole 
 
 of incorporated places; only six titles were 
 
 preserved, — Augsburg, Nuremburg, Frankfort, 
 
 Bremen, Hamburg, anil Lubeck. 
 
 Thes ■ precautious were indispensable, and they 
 obia ned tin- result which they awaited. None of 
 
 lie- so pressed states made their appearance. in 
 tin: Aral days .if .Jauuars thai diet commenced tlnir 
 deliberations. The protocol was npeaed. The 
 in the three collegi -. were successively called. 
 The one gave tlnir opinions immediately, the others 
 reserved theirs until a later period, according to 
 
 the CUMtOBl ol the diet. They waited to pronounce 
 
 definitively on the last submission of the vote of 
 
 the proposal conclaxuin, until the negotiations tu- 
 tored into in Paris between l'Yance and the court 
 of Vienna should be completed. 
 
 Things had proceeded so far, that the first consul 
 it was wished should grant some satisfaction to 
 Austria. In strictness, they might have passed on 
 without her good wishes to the end of the business, 
 and made the three colleges vote in spite of the 
 Austrian opposition; The Germans, even those the 
 most mortified, felt clearly enough that it was 
 necessary to finish, and they were resolved to vote 
 for the recez, after which, the different occupations 
 already consummated would have been clothed 
 with a species of legality, and the refusal of his 
 sanction on the part of the emperor, would not 
 have been able to hinder those who had received 
 the indemnities from enjoying peaceably their new 
 territories. Still the opposition of the emperor to 
 the new constitution, however unreasonable it was, 
 would have placed the empire in a false, uncertain 
 position, little conformable to the pacific intentions 
 of the mediating powers. It was better worth to 
 come to an agreement, and to obtain the adhesion 
 of the court of Vienna. This was the intention of 
 the first consul. He would not have waited so 
 long, had it not been for the purpose of having 
 fewer sacrifices to make to Austria, and fewer to 
 exact of Bavaria ; because it was «f the last, it 
 would be necessary to demand all that should be 
 granted to the former. 
 
 In effect, towards the end of December the first 
 consul consented to hold a conference with M. 
 Cobentzel, and at last came to an agreement with 
 hiin upon some concessions in favour of the house 
 of Austria. Bavaria had shown an invincible re- 
 pugnance to cede the line of the Inn ; whether 
 because of the valuable salt mines which are found 
 between the Inn and the Salza, or whether on 
 account of the situation of Munich, which would be 
 then too mar the new frontier, it had been deemed 
 necessary to renounce this plan of arrangement. 
 Then the first consul was reduced to cede the 
 bishopric of Aichstedt, placed upon the Danube, 
 containing 70,000 inhabitants, with a rumoured 
 revenue of 350,000 florins, and primarily destined 
 for the palatine house. Provided this augmenta- 
 tion was acceded to the archduke Ferdinand, the 
 bishoprics of Brixeu and Trent wire to be taken 
 from bis indemnification among the secularizations 
 to the profit of Austria. This power avowed, in a 
 manner clear enough, the interest which she kept 
 concealed out of zeal for her relation. It is true, 
 for the price of this secularization, she took from 
 her own domains the little prefecture t>f Ortenau, 
 in order to increase the indemnity of the duke of 
 Modena, composed, as has been already said, of 
 the Brisgau. Ortenau was in the country of 
 Baden, and near the Brisgau. 
 
 Austria had required the creation of two new 
 electors in her own house ; one was conceded in 
 the archduke Ferdinand, thus destined to be the 
 elector of Sal/burg. Thus there were ten electors 
 in the room of nine, which was the number con- 
 tained in the plan el the mediating powers, in place 
 ol eight, which had been llie number under the old 
 
 Germanic aunstitution. This was an improvement 
 of tin; Austrian position in the electoral college. 
 There were now, in fact, four catholic electors — 
 Bohemia, Bttvaria, Mayer.ee, and Salzburg— against 
 the six pi otcstants of Bramh ■nburg, Hanover, 
 Saxony, Hesse Cassel, VViirteinbur^, and Baden. 
 These conditions were inserted in a convention
 
 416 
 
 The first consul 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 closes with Austria. 
 
 1802. 
 Dec. 
 
 signed at Paris on the 2Gth of December, 1802, or 
 5th Nivose, year xi., by M. Cobentzel and Joseph 
 Bonaparte. M. Markoff was asked to accede in 
 the name of Russia ; and there was no need of 
 begging it of him as a favour, devoted as he was to 
 Austria. Prussia remained cool, but offered no 
 resistance. Bavaria submitted herself, demanding 
 to be indemnified for the sacrifice which was 
 exacted of her ; and above all, not to be forced to 
 pay any part of the 413,000 florins that nobody 
 else would pay. 
 
 Austria had promised to oppose no further ob- 
 stacle in the way of the mediation, and she nearly 
 kept her word. Besides the concessions obtained 
 in Paris, she wished to obtain another, which she 
 was unable to negotiate any where but at Ratisbon 
 itself, with those who had drawn up the recez. This 
 concession related to the number of virile votes in 
 the college of princes. While the protocol was 
 open in the diet, and they there expressed their 
 opinions one after the other, the extraordinary 
 deputation was sitting at the same time, and re- 
 considering once more the plan of the mediation 
 since the convention agreed upon in Paris. The 
 diet thus delivered its opinion upon the plan that 
 the grand deputation was daily reconsidering at the 
 same time. The territorial changes agreed upon 
 in Paris were included. They had comprised in 
 their proceedings the creation of the new elector of 
 Salzburg ; they had, in line, introduced the new 
 virile votes, which changed the proportion of the 
 catholic and protestant votes in the college of 
 princes, carrying the votes to fifty-four catholics 
 against seventy-seven protestants, in lieu of thirty- 
 one against sixty-two. It was necessary to finish 
 all these questions, and particularly that which 
 related to the 413,000 florins. Bavaria, that had 
 lost 350,000 florins with Aichstedt, was not able to 
 pay 200,000. She had refused to pay this money, 
 and the refusal was but natural. But Prussia, 
 although she had lost nothing, was unwilling to 
 support her part of this light burden. " They will 
 not make war for 200,000 florins," said M. Haug- 
 witz ; sad words, which offended every body at 
 Ratisbon, and placed the character of Prussia far 
 beneath that of Austria ; which last, in her resist- 
 ance, at least defended her territories and her old 
 constitutional principles. 
 
 The first consul, in point of fact, ought to have 
 beaten down this avaricious spirit; but having need 
 of Prussia, even to the last, in order to secure the 
 success of his plans, he was obliged to humour her. 
 They knew not how to pay neither the arch-chan- 
 cellor, the pensions of the ecclesiastics, nor some 
 other debts formerly assigned upon the reserved 
 property. To repartition this charge, under the 
 form of iiiois romains 1 , on the totality of the Ger- 
 manic body, was impossible, seeing the difficulty, 
 almost insurmountable at till times on the part of 
 the confederation, to obtain the payment of the 
 common expenses. The state of the dilapidation 
 of the federal fortresses was a proof of this. They 
 were compelled to devise a means which somewhat 
 diminished the liberality of the first French plan 
 in regard to the navigation of the rivers. They 
 
 • Mois rnmnim was the name of the common expenses 
 divided over the wr ole of the confederation, after the old- 
 established proportions. 
 
 had suppressed all the tolls on the Elbe, the Weser, 
 and the Rhine, Still it was necessary to provide 
 for some indispensable expenses to keep things in 
 order ; such as the towing-paths, for example, 
 without which the navigation would have been 
 soon interrupted. It was agreed to establish upon 
 the Rhine a moderate octroi, or duty, very inferior 
 to all the tolls of a feudal nature under which the 
 river had formerly been oppressed ; and upon the 
 excess left of this duty to take 350,000 florins for 
 the prince arch-chancellor, the 10,000 for the duke 
 of Oldenburg, the 53,000 for the houses of Isem- 
 burg and Stolburg,and some thousand florins more 
 yet, to place in accordance different princes who 
 sent in assignments. In this way was satisfied the 
 avarice of Prussia. The 200,000 florins were thus 
 discharged from Bavaria, that she was bound to 
 furnish for her part of the 413,000, thus reducing 
 the loss which she had experienced in ceding Aich- 
 stedt ; and the promise made to the archduke 
 chancellor was fulfilled, securing to him an inde- 
 pendent revenue. All the Germans wished this to 
 be the case, because they judged that 1,000,000 of 
 florins of revenue was only just sufficient for the 
 prince who had the honour to preside at the Ger- 
 manic diet, and who was the last representing the 
 three ecclesiastical electors of the holy empire. 
 He was constituted the only administrator of this 
 duty, in concert with France, that had the right to 
 watch over the expenditure laid out on the left 
 bank. Under this point of view, France had not 
 to complain ol this arrangement, because from that 
 moment, the prince arch-chancellor had every in- 
 terest to maintain kindly relations with her. 
 
 Finally, the plan, revised for the last time, was 
 adopted on the 25th of February, or Cth Ventose, 
 year XL, as a final act, by the extraordinary depu- 
 tation, and sent immediately to the diet, where it 
 was voted, very nearly unanimously, by all three 
 of the colleges. It met with no opposition, except 
 on the part of Sweden, of which the monarch, 
 already beginning to exhibit the troubled mind 
 which precipitated him from the throne, astonished 
 Europe by his royal follies. He cast violent blame 
 upon the mediating and the German powers, who 
 had concurred in making an attack so serious upon 
 the ancient Germanic constitution. This ridiculous 
 freak of a prince, of whom nobody in Europe made 
 the least account, did not alter the general satisfac- 
 tion which was felt at seeing the long anxieties of 
 the empire terminated at hist. 
 
 The Germans, even those who regretted the old 
 order of things, but preserved some small remnant 
 of equity in their judgments, acknowledged that 
 they had gathered upon this occasion the inevitable 
 fruits of an imprudent war; that the left bank of 
 the Rhine having been lost, in consequence of that 
 war, it had become necessary to make a new parti- 
 tion of the Germanic territory ; that the partition 
 was, without doubt, more advantageous lor the 
 great than the small houses, but that without 
 France, this inequality had been much more in- 
 jurious still ; that the constitution, modified under 
 several heads, was still preserved in the base, and 
 could not be reformed in a clearer spirit of con- 
 servation. They acknowledged, in fact, that with- 
 out the vigour of the first consul, anarchy would 
 have been introduced into Germany, in consequence 
 of the pretensions of all kinds at that moment put
 
 1803. 
 
 Feb. 
 
 Austria seizes the funds 
 
 THE SECULARIZATIONS. 
 
 of the German princes. 
 
 417 
 
 forward. The circumstance which proves better 
 than mere words the sentiment thus indulged for 
 the chief of the French government is, that on the 
 consideration of several questions, still remaining in 
 suspense, they desired that his powerful hand 
 sli'iuld not be too suddenly withdrawn from the 
 affairs of Germany. They wished that France, in 
 the character of a guarantee, should be obliged to 
 watch over her work. 
 
 In point of fact, there remained more than one 
 question, general and particular, which the me- 
 diation had not settled. Prussia was in an open 
 quarrel with the city of Nuremburg, and acted 
 towards it in the most tyrannical manner. The 
 same grasping power would not place the counts of 
 Westphalia in possession of their part of the 
 bishopric of Minister which it had seized. Frank- 
 fort was involved in a contest with the neighbour- 
 in,' princes, about a charge which had been im- 
 I upon it in their favour, in the way of com- 
 pensation for certain properties ceded by them. 
 Prussia and Bavaria wished to tak- advantage of 
 the silence of the recez, in order to incorporate in 
 their estates the "immediate" nobility. Austria 
 turned to her advantage in Suabia a quantity of 
 feudal claims, of an obscure origin, being an inva- 
 sion of the jurisdiction of the sovereignty of the 
 dukes of Wurtemburg, Baden, and Bavaria. She 
 committed, more particularly, a violation of pro- 
 perty unheard of before. The ecclesiastical prin- 
 cipalities recently secularized, deposited their funds 
 in the bank of Vienna, funds belonging to, and 
 arising out of, those principalities, which were to 
 pass, with the principalities, to the princes whom 
 they indemnified. The Austrian administration 
 laid its hands upon these funds, amounting to no 
 li ss than 30,0(10,000 of florins, an act which nearly 
 reduced some of these princes to despair. All 
 these acts of violence made it a matter exceedingly 
 desirable that an authority should be instituted, 
 which should watch over the execution of the recez, 
 like- that which was set on foot after the peace of 
 Westphalia. The recomposition of the old circles, 
 charged to watch over the defence of particular 
 sts, was at this time much desired. It re- 
 mained, finally, to reorganize the German church, 
 which having been deprived of its princely exist- 
 
 need of receiving an organization alto- 
 
 ence, had 
 gether new. 
 
 The first consul had not been able to take upon 
 himself the solution of these difficulties, because to 
 have done so, it would have been necessary that he 
 should constitute himself the permanent legislator 
 of Germany. He had only deemed it his duty to 
 occupy himself with the preservation of the equili- 
 brium of the empire, which was a part of the 
 equilibrium of Europe, and for this purpose deter- 
 mining what property should revert to each state, 
 whether in territory or influence in the diet. The 
 remainder that was to be done could only in per- 
 formance belong to the diet itself, which was alone 
 charged to exercise the legislative power. This 
 was fully sufficient, seconded at times by France, 
 to guarantee the new Germanic constitution, as it 
 had been able to do the old. The feeble threatened 
 by the strong, already invoked this guarantee. It 
 was for the more powerful courts of Germany, to 
 prevent by their moderation a new intervention of 
 a foreign power. Unhappily, it was not long that 
 it was possible to calculate thus, on observing the 
 actual conduct of Prussia and Austria. 
 
 The emperor, after having delayed his ratifica- 
 tion, sent it at last, but with two reservations : one 
 had for its object the maintenance of the privileges 
 of all the "immediate" nobility; the other a new 
 distribution of the protestant and catholic votes in 
 the diet. This was to keep only half his word, as 
 given to the first consul, for the value received at 
 the convention of the 26th of December. 
 
 In other respects, the difficulties, which might 
 be truly denominated European, as those of terri- 
 tory, were overcome, thanks to the energetic and 
 prudent intervention of general Bonaparte. If any 
 thing had rendered evident his ascendancy in the 
 affairs of Europe at this time, it was a negotiation 
 thus ably conducted, in which, united with justice, 
 address, and firmness, the ambition of Prussia, and 
 the pride of Russia were made to serve by turns a 
 resistance to Austria, reducing her power without 
 pushing her to despair. Thus had the first consul 
 imposed his own will upon Germany, for the benefit 
 alike of Germany and the repose of the world ; the 
 sole case in which it is permissible and useful to 
 interfere iu the affairs of another country. 
 
 B B
 
 1802. 
 
 418 Remarks on the THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. European colonies. '|^' 
 
 BOOK XVI. 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 
 
 EFFORTS MADE BY THE FIRST CONSUL TO RE-ESTABLISH THE COLONIAL GREATNESS OP FRANCE. — THE SPIRIT OF 
 HER FORMER COMMERCE. — AMBITION OF ALL THE POWERS TO POSSESS COLONIES. — AMERICA, THE ANTILLES, 
 AND THE EAST INDIES. — MISSION OF GENERAL DECAEN TO INDIA.— EFFORTS MADE TO RECOVER ST. DOMINGO. 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. — REVOLUTION OF THE BLACKS. — CHARACTER, POWER, AND POLICY OF TOUSSAINT 
 LOUVERTURE. — HE ASPIRES TO BECOME INDEPENDENT. — THE FIRST <ONSUL SENDS OUT AN EXPEDITION IN 
 ORDER TO SECURE THE AUTHORITY OF THE MOTHER COUNTRY.— DI5EMBARKMENT OF FRENCH TROOPS AT ST. 
 DOMINGO, AT THE CAPE, AND AT PORT-AU-PRINCE. — BURNING OF THE CAPE. — SUBMISSION OF THE BLACKS. — 
 MOMENTARY PROSPERITY OF THE COLONY. — APPLICATION OF THE FIRST CONSUL TO THE RESTORATION OF THE 
 MARINE. — MISSION OP COLONEL SEBASTIANI TO THE EASt! — CARE DIRECTED TO INCREASE THE INTERNAL 
 PROSPERITY OF THE COUNTRY.— THE SIMPLON, MOUNT GENEVRE, THE FORTRESS OF ALEXANDRIA. — CAMP OF 
 VETERANS IN THE CONQUERED PROVINCES. — NEW TOWNS FOUNDED IN LA VENDEE. — ROCHELLE AND CHERFURG. 
 THE CIVIL CODE, THE INSTITUTF., AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE CLERGY.— JOURNEY TO NORMANDY OF 
 THE FIRST CONSUL. — ENGLISH JEALOUSY INSPIRED BY THE GREATNESS OF FRANCE. — THE MONEY MERCHANTS 
 OF ENGLAND MORE HOSTILE TO FRANCE THAN THE ARISTOCRACY. — OUTBREAK OF THE JOURNALS WRITTEN BY 
 THE EMIGRANTS. — PENSIONS GRANTED TO GEORGES AND THE CHOUANS. — REMONSTRANCES OF THE FIRST 
 CONSUL. — EVASIONS OF THE BRITISH CABINET. — ARTICLES IN REPRISAL INSERTED IN THE " MONITEUR." — 
 CONTINUATION OF THE AFFAIRS OF SWITZERLAND. — THE SMALLER CANTONS REVOLT UNDER THE CONDUCT OF 
 THE LANDAMMAN REDING, AND MARCH UPON BERNE — THE MODERATE PARTY IN THE GOVERNMENT OBLIGED 
 TO FLY TO LAUZANNE. — THE DEMAND OF AN INTERVENTION AT FIRST REFUSED, BUT SUBSEQUENTLY AGREED 
 TO, BY THE FIRST COVSUL. — NEY ORDERED TO MARCH WITH THIRTY THOUSAND MEN. — THE DEPUTIES CHOSEN 
 FROM ALL THE PARTIES ARE SUMMONED TO PARIS, TO FRAME A CONSTITUTION FOR SWITZERLAND. — AGITATION 
 IN ENGLAND; CRIES OF THE WAR PARTY AGAINST FRENCH INTERVENTION. — THE ENGLISH CABINET, ALARMED 
 BY THESE CRIES, COMMITS THE FAULTS OF COUNTERMANDING THE EVACUATION OF MALTA, AND OF SENDING 
 AN AGENT INTO SWITZERLAND, TO UPHOLD THE PARTY IN A STATE OF INSURRECTION. — PROMPTITUDE OF THE 
 FRENCH INTERVENTION. — GENERAL NEY MAKES THE SWISS SUBMIT IN A FEW DAYS. — THE SWISS DEPUTIES 
 INVIIED TO PARIS ARE PHESENTED TO THE FIRST CONSUL. — DISCOURSE WHICH HE HELD WITH THEM. — ACT 
 OF MEDIATION. — ADMIRATION OF EUROPE AT THE WISDOM OF THIS ACT. — THE ENGLISH CABINET IS EMBAR- 
 RASSED AT THE PROMPTITUDE OF THE PROCEEDING, AND AT THE EXCELLENCE OF THE RESULT. — WARM DIS- 
 CUSSION IN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT. — VIOLENCE OF THE PARTY OF GRENVILLE, WYNDHAM, AND THEIR 
 FRIENDS.— NOBLE SAYING OF FOX IN FAVOUR OF PEACE. — PUBLIC OPINION CALMED FOR A MOMENT. — ARRIVAL 
 OF LORD WHITWORTH IN PARIS, AND OF GENERAL ANDREOSSY IN LONDON.— GOOD RECEPTION OF THE AMBAS- 
 SADORS BY BOTH NATIONS RESPECTIVELY. — THE BRITISH CABINET REGRETS HAVING RETAINED MALTA, AND 
 WISHES, BUT DARES NOT, EVACUATE IT. — ILL-TIMED PUBLICATION OF THE REPORT OF GENERAL SEBAS- 
 TIANI ON THE STATE OF THE EAST. — MISCHIEVOUS EFFECT OF THIS REPORT ON ENGLAND.— THE FIRST CONSUL 
 WISHES TO HAVE A PERSONAL EXPLANATION WITH LORD WHITWORTH — LONG AND REMARKABLE CONVERSA- 
 TION. — THE OPENNESS OF THE FIRST CONSUL ILL COMPREHENDED AND BADLY INTERPRETED. — EXPOSE OF 
 THE STATE OF THE REPUBLIC, CONTAINING A PHRASE MORTIFYING TO THE PRIDE OF THE ENGLISH. — ROYAL 
 MESSAGE IN ANSWER. — THE TWO NATIONS ADDRESS TO EACH OTHER A SORT OF DEFIANCE. — IRRITATION OF 
 THE FIRST CONSUL, AND PUBLIC SCENE WITH LORD WHITWORTH IN PRESENCE OF THE DIPLOMATIC BODY. — 
 THE FIRST CONSUL PASSES SUDDENLY FROM IDEAS OF PEACE TO THOSE OF WAR — HIS FIRST PREPARATIONS. 
 — CESSION OF LOUISIANA TO THE UNITED STATES, FOR EIGHTY MILLIONS —TALLEYRAND SETS HIMSELF 
 TO CALM THE FIRST CONSUL, AND OPPOSES HIS EFFORTS CALCULATED ACCORDING TO THE INCREASING IRRITA- 
 TION OF THE TWO GOVERNMENTS. — LORD WHITWORTH SECONDS THE EFFORTS OF TALLEYRAND. — PROLONGATION 
 OF THIS SITUATION OF THINGS. — NECESSITY FOR TERMINATING IT.— THE BRITISH CABINET FINISHES IT BY 
 AVOWING THAT IT INTENDS TO KEEP MALTA. — THE FIRST CONSUL ANSWERS BY A SUMMONS TO EXECUTE 
 SOLEMN TREATIES. — THE MINISTER ADDINGTON, OUT OF FEAR OF BEING BEATEN IN PARLIAMENT, PEHSISTS 
 IN DEMANDING MALTA. — SEVERAL MEANS DEVISED TO ARRANGE WITHOUT SUCCESS. — OFFER OF FRANCE TO 
 PLACE MALTA AS A DEPOSIT IS THE HANDS OF THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. — REFUSAL OF THAT OFFER. — 
 DEPARTURE OF THE TWO AMBASSADORS. — RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. — PUBLIC ANXIETY IN LONDON 
 AND PARIS— CAUSES OF THE BREVITY OF THE PEACE.— TO WHOM THE FAULT OF THE RUPTURE IS TO BE 
 ASCRIBED. 
 
 While the first consul regulated, as supreme ar- 
 biter, the affairs of the European continent, his 
 ardent activity, embracing two worlds, extended 
 as far as America and both Indies, with the view 
 of re-establishing the former colonial greatness of 
 France. 
 
 At this day, when the nations of Europe are 
 become more of manufacturers than merchants ; 
 
 at this day, when they have arrived at the power 
 of imitating all they once sought beyond the seas, 
 if they do not surpass it ; at this day, in fine, that 
 the greater colonies, freed from the yoke of the 
 mother country, have arisen to the rank of inde- 
 pendent states; the aspect of the world is become 
 so altered, that it is difficult to recognize it. New 
 objects of ambition have succeeded to those which
 
 1812. 
 Ffeo. 
 
 Reigning taste 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. for manufacturing. 419 
 
 then divided it, and it is not without trouble that 
 it is now possible to comprehend the motives for 
 which, within a century, the hlood of man was 
 poured out so lavishly. England possessed North 
 America under the name of a colony ; Spain, 
 under the same name, possessed S> >utli America ; 
 France possessed the principal Antilles, or islands 
 of the West Indies, and, indeed, the finest of all, 
 in St Domingo. England and France disputed 
 for India. Each of these powers imposed upon its 
 colonies the obligation not to export, save to itself, 
 the tropical productions, nor to receive hut from 
 itself the productions of Europp, and only to admit 
 its vessels, ;iud bring up seamen solely for its own 
 marine. Each colony was thus a plantation, a 
 market, and a close pert. England wished to 
 draw exclusively from her provinces of America 
 the sugars, the timber, and the raw cotton which 
 she wanted ; Spain would only permit herself to 
 extract from Mexico and Peru the rich metals 
 so desired in all countries ; Kngland and Fiance 
 wished to domineer in India; to export thence 
 die cotton thread, the muslins, and the calicoes, 
 objects universally coveted ; they desired to fur- 
 nish their own productions in exchange, and to 
 carry on that trade solely under their own flags. 
 At this day these ardent desires of the nations 
 have given place to others. The sugar which it 
 was necessary to extract from a plant indigenous 
 to and cultivated iu a laud under the hottest sun, 
 is taken from a plant cuhivated on the Elbe and 
 Escaut. The cottons woven with such skill and 
 patience by Indian hands, are woven in Europe 
 by machines, which are set in movement by the 
 combustion of fossil coal. Muslin is woven in the 
 mountains of Switzerland and of Forez. Calicoes 
 woven iu Scotland, Ireland, Normandy, and Flan- 
 ders, printed in Alsace, fill America, and spread 
 over the world even as far as tin- Indies. Except 
 coffee anil tea, pr .deletions which art is unable to 
 Imitate, all these things an; equalled in excellence, 
 if not surpassed. European chemistry has already 
 replaced most of the colouring materials which 
 were once Bought for under tin; tropics. Metals 
 are produced from the sides of the European 
 mountains. Gold is brought from Oural ; and 
 Spain begins to find silver in her own bosom. A 
 great political revolution has formed a conjunction 
 with tlesc revolutions of industry. Fiance favoured 
 the insurrection of the English colonies of North 
 America ; England contributed in return to the 
 insurrection of the colonies in South America. 
 Doth the one and the other are either great 
 nations, or are destined to become so. Under the 
 Influence of the same causes an African society, 
 de of which IS hid in the future, has de- 
 veloped itself in St. Domingo. Finally, India, 
 under the sway of England, is no other than a 
 conquest ruined by the progress of European in- 
 dustry, and employed iu supporting a number of 
 off) era, clerks, and magistrates from the mother 
 country. In our days, nations desire to produce 
 every thing tor themselves. To make their neigh- 
 bours possessing less skill, accept the excess of 
 their productions, and not to be satisfied to borrow 
 more than the raw material, even searching to 
 obtain the material as near as possible to the. 
 limits of their own territory : witness the efforts 
 ■taking to naturalize cotton in Egypt ami Algiers. 
 
 To the grand spectacle of colonial ambition there 
 has succeeded, in this manner, a spectacle of 
 manufacturing ambition. Thus the world changes 
 without ceasing, and each stage stands in need of 
 some efforts of memory and of intelligence to com- 
 prehend that which preceded it. 
 
 This immense, industrious, and commercial re- 
 volution, commenced under Louis XVI. with the 
 American war, was completed under Napoleon by 
 the continental blockade. The long contest of 
 England and France had been the principal cause; 
 because, while the first wished to monopolize to 
 herself all the exeitic productions, the second 
 avenged herself by imitating them. The inspirer 
 of this imitation was Napoleon, of whom the 
 destiny was thus marked out to renew, under 
 every bearing, the face of the world. But befeire 
 throwing France upon the continental and manu- 
 facturing system, as he did at a later time, Na- 
 poleon, the consul, full of the ieleas of the ajje 
 which was just completed, more confident in the 
 French marine than he ever was afterwards, at- 
 tempted vast enterprises in order to restore the 
 colonial prosperity of France. 
 
 This prosperity had been formerly great enough to 
 justify the regrets and attempts of which it was then 
 the object. In 17^7, France drew from her colonies 
 to the value of 250,000,01)0 f. per annum, in sugar, 
 coffee, cotton, indigo, and similar productions. She 
 consumed herself from KO.OOO.OOOf. to 1 00, 000. 000 f., 
 and re-exported 1 50,000,000 f. This she disposed 
 of all over Europe, principally in the form of re- 
 fined sugar. It would be needful to double this 
 amount in value to find its correspondent worth 
 in the present day; ami most assuredly the Colonies 
 were deserving of esteem, and should be placed in 
 the first rank of the national interests, that thus 
 could furnish a sum of 500,000,000 f. to Commerce. 
 France discovered in this commerce a means of 
 attracting to herself a portion of the money of 
 Spain, that gave her silver in exchange for colonial 
 and manufactured productions. At the time of 
 which mention is now making, that is te> say, in 
 1802, France, deprived of colonial produce, and 
 more particularly of sugar and coffee, ne>t having 
 enough even for her own use-, demanded it of the 
 Americans, the Hanseatic towns, « > t Holland, Genoa, 
 and, after the peace, of the English. She paid 
 for them in bullion, not having as yet in her in- 
 d US try, scarcely re '-established, the means to pay 
 in tin' produce of her manufactures. Money having 
 never, since the assignatB, reappeared with its 
 former abundance, was often wanting; which was 
 shown by the continual efforts of the- new hank to 
 acquire the dollars which ge>t out <if Spain in a 
 contraband manner. Thus there was nothing more 
 common among the' merchants and commercial 
 
 classes, than te> hear complaints upon the rarity 
 
 of money, and on the inconvenii nee' eel purchasing 
 with money, the sugar and coffee formerly drawn 
 from the French colonies. This kind nf language 
 must, without doubt, he' attributed to some erro- 
 neous ideas about tin: mode of establishing the 
 balance: of commerce. But it must be attributed 
 alsei tei a real fact, naini'lv, the- difficulty of pro- 
 curing colonial produce, and the yel greater diffi- 
 culty of paying for either in money, become scarce 
 
 siue-e! the assignatB, en- m the still less abundant 
 
 produce of French industry. 
 
 B e 2
 
 420 The French West Indies THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. and their products. 
 
 180 J. 
 Feb. 
 
 Tf there be added to this, the numerous colonists 
 formerly rich, now ruined, who at that time filled 
 Paris, and joined their complaints to those of the 
 emigrants, it will be easy to have a complete idea 
 of the motives which moved the mind of the first 
 consul, and directed his attention towards great 
 colonial enterprises. It was under these powerful 
 influences, that he had given to Charles IV. 
 Etruria, in order to possess Louisiana. The con- 
 ditions of the contract were accomplished upon 
 his side, when the infants were placed upon the 
 throne of Etruria, and acknowledged by all the 
 continental powers; he now wished that the con- 
 ditions should be accomplished on the side of 
 Charles IV., and he demanded that Louisiana 
 should be immediately delivered to France. An 
 expedition of two vessels and of several frigates 
 was assembled in the waters of Holland, at Hel- 
 voetsluys, to carry troops to the mouth of the Mis- 
 sissippi, and place that fine country under the 
 dominion of France. The first consul, having to 
 dispose of the duchy of Parma, was ready to cede 
 it to Spain for the Floridas, and for the abandon- 
 ment of a small part of Tuscany, the Siennese, 
 which he wished to have as an indemnity for the 
 king of Piedmont. The indiscretion of the Spanish 
 government having suffered the knowledge of these 
 details of the negotiations to become known to the 
 English ambassador, the jealousy of England sup- 
 plied a thousand obstacles to the conclusion of this 
 new contract. The first consul at the same time 
 occupied himself with India, and had confided the 
 government of Pondicherry and of Chandernagore 
 to one of the most valiant officers of the army of 
 the Rhine, general Decaen. This officer, whose 
 intelligence equalled his courage, and who was 
 adapted to the greatest enterprises, had been 
 selected for the purpose, and sent to India, under 
 far-seeing and profound views. The English, the 
 first consul had said to general Decaen, in ad- 
 dressing to him his admirable instructions, the 
 English were the masters of the Indian continent; 
 they were restless and jealous in that country; he 
 must not give them any offence, but conduct him- 
 self with mildness and plainness, to support in 
 those countries every thing that honour allows to 
 be supported ; not to have with the neighbouring 
 princes any relations but what were indispensable 
 to the entertainment of the French troops, and 
 the objects of the factories. " But," added the 
 first consul, " it is necessary to observe the con- 
 duct of these princes and people, who resign 
 themselves \\ i'h grief to the English yoke ; to 
 study their manners, their resources, and the 
 means of communicating with them in case of a 
 war ; to inquire out what European army would 
 be necessary to aid them to shake off the domi- 
 nation of the English ; with what materiel such an 
 army should be provided; what, above all, should he 
 the means of subsisting it; to discover the port which 
 would be best adapted for the place of embarka- 
 tion of a fleet carrying troops ; to calculate the 
 time and means necessary to take such a port by 
 a coup de main ; to digest, after six months' re- 
 sidence in the country, a first memoir upon these 
 different questions; to send by an officer intelligent 
 and capable of being relied upon, who having seen 
 every thing, is capable of adding verbal explana- 
 tions to the written ones of which he will be the 
 
 bearer; six months afterwards to be able still to 
 throw light upon these same points, according to 
 the knowledge newly obtained, and to send this 
 other memoir by a second officer, equally sure and 
 intelligent; in order to recommence the same work 
 and the same kind of envoy every six months; to 
 weigh well, in getting up the memoirs, the value 
 of every expression, because a single word might, 
 it was possible, have an influence in forming the 
 gravest resolutions ; finally, in case of a war, to 
 act according to circumstances, either to remain in 
 Hindostan or to withdraw to the Isle of France, 
 sending several light vessels to the mother country, 
 to make known the determination come to by the 
 captain-general." 
 
 Such were the instructions given to general 
 Decaen, in the view, not of rekindling the war, but 
 to profit ably by war, if it should be declared anew. 
 
 But the greatest efforts of the first consul were 
 directed towards the Antilles, the principal seat of 
 the colonial power of France. It was with Mar- 
 tinique, Guadaloupe, and St. Domingo, that French 
 commerce had formerly kept up its most advan- 
 tageous relations. St. Domingo, above all, figured 
 for three-fifths, at least, in the 250,000,000 f. which 
 France formerly drew from her colonies. St. Do- 
 mingo was then the most desired, and most envied 
 of all the French possessions beyond the seas. 
 Martinique had been fortunate enough to escape the 
 consequences of the negro revolt ; but Guadaloupe 
 and St. Domingo had been overturned from the 
 foundation, and nothing less than an entire army was 
 necessary to establish there, not slavery again, 
 which was become impossible, at least in St. Do- 
 mingo, but the legitimate dominion of the mother 
 country. 
 
 In this island, a hundred leagues long and thirty 
 wide, happily situated at the entrance of the Gulf 
 of Mexico, resplendent in fertility, adapted to the 
 culture of sugar, coffee, and indigo ; on this 
 magnificent island twenty and some odd thousand 
 whites were proprietors of estates. Twenty and 
 some thousand free men of colour, and four hun- 
 dred thousand slaves cultivated the ground, and 
 drew from the soil an amazing profusion of 
 colonial produce, valued at 1 50,000,000 f., which 
 thirty thousand French seamen were employed to 
 transport to Europe, in order to exchange it for a 
 proportional value in the productions of the national 
 industry. What should we think at the present 
 day of a colony which should give France 
 300,000,000 f. in produce, and procure for the 
 country 3110. 000,000 f. in value of exports, since 
 150,1100.000 f. in 1789, answers at least to 
 300,000,000 f. in 1845 ? Unhappily, among these 
 whites, mulattos, and blacks, violent passions be- 
 came at work, owing to the climate, and to a state 
 of society in which the two social extremes met — 
 arrogant riches, and horrible slavery. There were 
 never seen in any colony whites so opulent and so 
 infatuated ; mulattos so jealous of the superiority 
 of the white races ; nor blacks so determined to 
 fling off the yoke both of one and the other. The 
 opinions professed at Paris in the constituent as- 
 sembly, being again repeated in the midst of the 
 passions natural to such a country, could not fail 
 to provoke a frightful tempest, like the stoums 
 which are caused in the sea by the sudden meet- 
 ing of contrary winds. The whites and mulattos
 
 1S02. 
 Feb. 
 
 The French West Indies RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. and their products. 421 
 
 were scarcely sufficient to defend themselves if 
 they had been united, they were divided; and after 
 having communicated to the blacks the contagion 
 
 of their passions, they had brought them to an 
 open insurrection. They had undergone at first 
 their cruelty, then their triumph, and, lastly, their 
 domination. There had then come to pass that 
 which happens in all societies where there arises a 
 war against classes ; tlie first had been vanquished 
 by the Becond ; the first and second l>y the third. 
 But there was the difference here, not seen in such 
 where, they all bore on their visages the 
 marks of their different origins; their hatred was 
 similar to that connected with the violence of 
 physical instinct, and their rage was as brutal and 
 ions as that of the most savage animals. Thus 
 the horrors of this revolution in St. Domingo had 
 far surpassed all thai had been seen in France in 
 1793, and despite the distance which commonly 
 attenuates sensation, Europe, so deeply stricken 
 by the spectacles which had been witnessed on the 
 continent, had been profoundly moved by the un- 
 paralleled atrocities, to which imprudent masters, 
 sometimes themselves cruel, provoked the fero- 
 cious slaves. The laws of society, every where the 
 same, gave birth here as elsewhere, after long 
 storms, to that fatigue, which calls for a master to 
 rule, a superior intelligence, proper to become a 
 leader. Such a master was found who wore the 
 black colour of the triumphant race. He was 
 called Toussaint Louverture. He was an old 
 slave, not having the generous audacity of Spar- 
 tacus, but possessing deep dissimulation, and a 
 talent for government, altogether of the most 
 extraordinary kind. A middling soldier, knowing 
 more or less of the art of laying ambuscades in a 
 country difficult of access, and even inferior to 
 some of his lieutenants in this respect, according 
 to report, had by his intelligence and skill in 
 directing the entire mass of public affairs, ac- 
 quired a prodigious ascendancy. This barbarous 
 race, which it had been the will of Europeans to con- 
 t> inn, was proud to have in its ranks a being of 
 whom the- whites themselves acknowledged the 
 powerful mental faculties. It saw in him a living 
 claim to freedom, and to the consideration of other 
 in. 11. Thus did he accept the iron yoke of toil, 
 a hundred times heavier than that of the old 
 colonists, and endure the hard obligation to labour, 
 an obligation which, in a state of slavery, was that 
 which he' had most detested. This black slave 
 In come dictator, had re-established at St. Do- 
 mingo a tolerable state of society, and accom- 
 plished things which one might venture to call 
 
 grand, if the theatre had been different, and if they 
 
 had been less ephemeral. 
 
 Upon this laud of St. Domingo, as in every 
 country that is a prey to a civil war, there was a 
 division made between tin- race of soldiers fit for 
 arms, and attached to the profession, and the 
 labouring race, let! givi u to conflicts, easy to 
 bring back to labour, and ready to fling itself 
 
 anew- upon danger if the public freedom should be 
 
 threatened. Very naturally the first class was ten 
 times less numerous than the second. 
 Toussaint Louverture composed with the first of 
 
 a permanent army of about twenty 
 
 thousand men, organised in demi-brigades, on the 
 model of the French armies, having black officers, 
 
 with some mulattos and whites. This force, well 
 fed and paid, sufficiently formidable under a 
 climate which they alone were able to sustain, and 
 upon a broken surface covered with brushwood, 
 tough and full of thorns, was formed into several 
 divisions, and commanded by generals of his own 
 colour, the greater part intelligent enough, but 
 more ferocious than intelligent ; such were Chris- 
 tophe, Dessalines, .Mease, .Maurepas, and Laplutne. 
 All were devoted to Toussaint ; they acknow- 
 ledged his genius, and submitted to his authority. 
 The rest of the population, under the name of 
 cultivators, had been recalled to labour. They 
 kept their musKets, which might serve them in 
 case of need, or if the mother country should make 
 an attempt upon their liberty ; but they were 
 constrained to return to the plantations abandoned 
 by the colonists. Toussaint had proclaimed them 
 free, but obliged them to labour five years more 
 upon the estates of their old masters, with a claim 
 to one-fourth of the raw produce. 
 
 The white proprietors had been encouraged to 
 return, even those who, in a moment of despair, 
 had associated themselves with the attempt of the 
 English upon St. Domingo. They had been well 
 received, and obtained their habitations again, 
 covered with negroes, who called themselves free, 
 to whom they abandoned, according to the regu- 
 lation of Toussaint, a fourth of the raw produce, 
 valued in usage in the most arbitrary manner. A 
 considerable number of the former rich proprietors 
 of estates, whether they had fallen in the troubles 
 of the colony, or whether they had emigrated with 
 the old French nobility, of which they had been a 
 part, had neither reappeared nor sent delegates. 
 Their property sequestered, as the national do- 
 mains had been in France, had been confirmed to 
 black officers, at a price which easily allowed them 
 to enrich themselves. Certain generals, as Chris- 
 tophe and Dessalines, had acquired in this manner 
 more than a million of francs in annual revenue. 
 
 These black officers had the quality given them 
 of inspectors of culture, in the arrondissement 
 where they happened to command. They made 
 continual turns id' inspection under this duty, and 
 they treated the negroes with a severity peculiar 
 to new masters. Sometimes they watched to see 
 that justice was rendered them by the colonists ; 
 but more commonly they condemned them to be 
 flogged for idleness or insubordination, and they 
 kept up a species of continued hunt, with the 
 object of making those return to culture who 
 had contracted a taste for vagabondage. Frequent 
 inspections in the parishes procured a knowledge 
 of what cultivators had hit their original habita- 
 tions, and thus was furniBhed the means to bring 
 them back. Often •■veil Christophe and Dessalines 
 had them hung under their own eyes. Thus the 
 culture of the land recommenced with incredible 
 activity under the new chiefs, who employed to 
 their own profit the submission of the blacks pre- 
 tending to be free; nor is it right to contemn such 
 
 a scene, because these chiefs knew how to im- 
 pose labour upon their own kind, even for their 
 own exclusive advantage ; the negroes knowing 
 how to submit, without any great benefit, to them- 
 selves, were indemnified solely by the idea that 
 they were free. This feeling inspires more esteem 
 than the sight id' an ignoble ami barbarous idle-
 
 422 Prosperity of St. Domingo THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 under the blacks. 
 
 1802. 
 Feb. 
 
 ness, given by the negroes left to themselves, in 
 tlif colonies recently emancipated. 
 
 Thanks to the order established by Toussaint, 
 the greater part of the forsaken habitations had 
 been again occupied, ami in 1801, after ten years of 
 trouble, the island of St. Domingo, watered with 
 so much blond, offered an aspect of fertility very 
 nearly equal to that which it presented in 1789. 
 Toussaint, independent of France, had given to the 
 colony a freedom of commerce very nearly perfect. 
 Such a state of liberty, dangerous in colonies of 
 only a middling fertility, that produce little at a 
 high cost, and therefore have an interest in taking 
 the produce of the mother country for the object 
 of her taking theirs — such a state of liberty is 
 excellent, on the contrary, for a rich and fertile 
 colony, having no need of any favour for the debit 
 of her productions, and interested from that circum- 
 stance in treating freely with all nations, and in 
 seeking objects of necessity or of luxury, where 
 they are best to be had, and at the lowest cost. 
 This was the case at St. Domingo. The island had 
 felt the effects of the free presence of foreign flags, 
 more particularly that of America, and found it of 
 infinite advantage. Provisions were abundant ; 
 the merchandise of Europe was sold there at a 
 good price ; and the productions of the island were 
 taken off by purchase the moment they appeared 
 in the market. In addition to this, the new colo- 
 nists, some black, become what they were by the 
 insurrection ; others, white persons reinstated, all 
 free from their engagements towards the capi- 
 talists of the mother country, were not, like the old 
 colonists of 1789, borne down Joy debts, and obliged 
 to deduct from their profits the interest of enor- 
 mous borrowed capitals. They were more opulent 
 with the less property. The towns of the Cape, 
 of Port-au-Prince, of St. Marie, and Caves, had 
 recovered a species of splendour. The traces of 
 the war were nearly obliterated ; there were seen 
 in most of them elegant dwellings, constructed for 
 the black officers, inhabited by them, and resem- 
 bling in all respects the fine houses of the old 
 white proprietors of the island, formerly so arro- 
 gant, so renowned by their luxury and their fall. 
 
 The chief black of the colony had put the finish 
 to the recent prosperity, by the bold occupation of 
 the Spanish part of St. Domingo. This island was 
 formerly divided lengthways into two parts, of 
 which one to the east, first presenting itself on 
 coming from Europe, belonged to the Spaniards ; 
 the other part, placed to the west, turning towards 
 Cuba and the interior of the Gulf of Mexico, be- 
 longed to the French. This western part, com- 
 posed of two advanced promontories, which formed 
 besides a vast interior gulf, a multitude of roads 
 and small ports, was better fitted for planta- 
 tions than the other, as they have need to be 
 situated near the places of embarkation. Thus it 
 was covered with rich establishments. The Span- 
 ish part, on the other hand, little mountainous, 
 presented few gulfs or inlets, and contained fewer 
 sugar and coffee plantations ; but in return, it fed 
 numerous herds, horses, and mules. United, these 
 two portions of the island were capable of render- 
 ing a great service to each other, while separated 
 by an exclusive colonial government, they were 
 like two isles far distant, one having that of which 
 the other stood in need, and yet not being able to 
 
 help each other from their want of proximity. 
 Toussaint, after having expelled the English, had 
 turned all his ideas towards the occupation of the 
 Spanish part of the island. Affecting a scrupulous 
 submission to the mother country, every thing was 
 conducted according to his sole will; he was armed 
 with the treaty of Bale, by which Spain ceded to 
 France the possession of the whole of the island of 
 St. Domingo, and he had summoned the authorities 
 of Spain to deliver up to him the province which 
 they had still retained. He found at the moment 
 a French commissioner at St. Domingo, because 
 since the revolution, the mother country had not 
 been represented in the island, except by such 
 commissioners, who were scarcely listened to. 
 This agent, dreading the complications which 
 might result in Europe from such a step, and 
 besides, not having received from France any 
 order upon the subject, had uselessly endeavoured 
 to combat this resolution of Toussaint. The last, 
 taking little account of the objections which were 
 addressed to him, had put in movement all the 
 divisions of his army, and had demanded from the 
 Spanish authorities, incapable of the smallest re- 
 sistance, the keys of Santo- Domingo. The keys 
 had been sent to him, and he- proceeded himself 
 at once to take possession of all the towns, under 
 no other title than that of the representative of 
 France, but comporting himself in reality as a 
 sovereign, and ma kill" himself be received in the 
 churches with holy water and the dais. 
 
 The union of the two different parts of the island 
 under one government had produced great and 
 instantaneous results in favour of trade and interior 
 good order. The French part, abundantly provided 
 with all the products of the two worlds, had given 
 a considerable quantity to the Spanish colonies, in 
 exchange for cattle, mules, and horses, of which it 
 had great need. At the same time, the negroes 
 who wished to withdraw from labour, by becoming 
 wandering vagabonds, no longer found in the Span- 
 ish part of the island an aaj lum against the unceas- 
 ing researches of the black police. 
 
 It was by these united means that Toussaint had 
 made the colony again Sourish in the space of two 
 years. No one could have had an exact idea of 
 his system of policy, if it had not been known at 
 the same time how he conducted himself between 
 France and England. This slave, become free and 
 a sovereign in power, preserved at the bottom of 
 his heart an involuntary sympathy for the nation 
 whose chains he had borne, and felt a great repug- 
 nance to see the English in St. Domingo. Thus he 
 made noble efforts to expel them, and in this he 
 succeeded. His political comprehension, profound, 
 though uncultivated, confirmed him in his natural 
 sentiments, and made him understand that the 
 English were the most dangerous masters, because 
 they possessed a maritime power which rendered 
 their authority over the island effective and abso- 
 lute. He would not, therefore, at any price, sub- 
 mit to their rule. The English, on evacuating 
 Port-au-Prince, had offered him the royal power 
 in St. Domingo, and the immediate acknowledg- 
 ment of that power, if he would consent to insure 
 to them the commerce of the colony. He had 
 refused this, whether because be still clung fast 
 to the mother country, or whether, affrighted at 
 the news of the peace, he feared a French expe-
 
 1802. 
 Feb. 
 
 Character of 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. Toussaint Louverture. 423 
 
 dition, capable of reducing liis royalty to a cipher, 
 is not known. Besides the vanity of belonging 
 to the first military nation in the world, the secret 
 
 ? ratification to be a general in the service of 
 'ranee, under the hand even of the first consul 
 himself, had taken away Toussaint from all the 
 offers of the English. He wished then to remain 
 French, to hold the English at a distance, but 
 to live peacefully with them ; to acknowledge the 
 nominal authority of France, and to obey her just 
 so tar as not to provoke any display of her forces ; 
 such was the policy of this singular man. He had 
 rec ived commissioners from the directory, and 
 they had sent him men, particularly general He- 
 douville, pretending that they had overlooked the 
 interests of tlie mother country, while they re- 
 quested of him things that could not be expected, 
 or that were unfortunate for her interests. 
 
 His policy within was not less worthy of atten- 
 tion than his policy out of the island. His manner 
 of acting towards all classes of inhabitants, blacks, 
 whites, or mulattos, answered to that about to be 
 described. He detested the mulattos, because they 
 bordered more upon his own race, and on the con- 
 trary, took extreme care to make much of the 
 whites, provided that he obtained a few testi- 
 monies of their esteem, which made him feel that 
 his genius caused his colour to be forgotten. He ex- 
 liibited in this regard the vanity of a blade upstart, 
 of which all the vanity of the white upstarts of the 
 old world cannot afford an idea. As to the blacks, 
 lie treated them with incredible severity, but still 
 with a due attention to justice ; he made use of 
 religion, which he professed with great energy, 
 and above all, he spoke of liberty, which he pro- 
 mised to defend, even to death. Of this indeed, 
 lie was for all men of his colour the glorious 
 image, because there was seen in him that which, 
 through liberty, a negro might become. His 
 lavage eloquence charmed his nation. From the 
 elevation of the pulpit, where be often mounted, 
 lie spoke to them of God, of the equality of the 
 human races, and in speaking of them, used the 
 Strangest and most happy similitudes. One day, 
 for i xample, wishing to give them confidence in 
 themselves, he filled a glass with grains of black 
 
 I, and mingling With them some grains of 
 
 white, he then shook the glass, and made them 
 remark how quickly the white grains disappeared 
 among the black ones: "There," he said, "are 
 the whites in the midst of you. Work; secure 
 your well-being by your labour; ami if the whites 
 of the mother country wish to take from US our 
 liberty, we will resume our muskets again, and we 
 sh.1,1 again vanquish them." Reverenced for these 
 motives, hi' was at the same lime feared for his 
 extraordinary vigilance. Endowed with a sur- 
 prising actuity for bis age, he had placed in the 
 interior of the island relays of extremely fleet 
 -, and thus he transported himself, followed 
 by several guards, with prodigious rapidity, from 
 one part of the island to another, sometimes 
 making forty leagues on horseback on tin- same 
 day, coining to punish, like a thunder-clap, tire 
 offence of which he hail receive, 1 ;iii account. 
 Par-seeing and avaricious, he made hoards of 
 
 .arms and money in the mountains of the interior, 
 
 where he hiirieil tleiii, it. is s;iid, in a pi: Called 
 
 the •* Monies du Chaos," near a habitation which 
 
 had become his ordinary dwelling. These were 
 resources for a coming time of combat, which he 
 did not cease to regard as probable and even ap- 
 proaching. Attached continually to imitating the 
 first consul, he gave himself a guard, and an enclosed 
 circle, with a sort of princely dwelling. He re- 
 ceived in this dwelling the proprietors of land of 
 all colours, above all the whites, and used the 
 blacks roughly who had not a bearing and manner 
 sufficiently good. Frightful to the Bight, even 
 under his dress of a lieutenant-general, he had 
 his flatterers, and his complaisant courtiers j and 
 a thing melancholy to state, he obtained more than 
 once the white females belonging to the oldest and 
 wealthiest families in the island, who gave up their 
 persons to him in order to benefit by his pro- 
 tection. His courtiers persuaded him that he was 
 in America the equal to Bonaparte in Europe, and 
 that he ought to occupy the same situation. At 
 the time when he heard of the signature of the 
 peace in Europe, and that he began to foresee the 
 re-establishment of the authority of the mother 
 country, he hastened to invoke a council in the 
 colony, for the purpose of digesting a constitution. 
 This council assembled, ami did, in fact, draw up 
 the scheme of a constitution, that was sufficiently 
 ridiculous. According to the dispositions id' this 
 crude work, the council of the colony decreed all 
 the laws, the governor-general sanctioned them, 
 and fulfilled the duties of the executive power in 
 full plenitude. Toussaint was naturally nominated 
 governor-general, governor for life, with the power 
 of designating his successor. This imitation of 
 what had been done in France could not be 
 plainer nor more puerile. As to the authority of 
 the mother country, that was no longer a question 
 of any moment. The constitution alone was to be 
 submitted to it for approval, but that approbation 
 being once given, the mother country had no longer 
 any power over the colony, because the laws were 
 enacted by the council. Toussaint governed, and 
 was able, whenever he saw fit, to deprive the 
 commerce of France of every advantage it might 
 possess at the time; thus the state of things, which 
 at that moment existed, and which the war had 
 rendered excusable, was that which could not be 
 tolerated for any longer time. When it was de- 
 manded of Toussaint what were the relations be- 
 tween St. Domingo and France, he replied, " The 
 first consul will send commissioners to have a 
 conference with me." All his wiser friends, and 
 more especially colonel Francis Vincent, who had 
 under his care the management of the fortifica- 
 tions, gave him advice in regard to the danger 
 incurred by this course of conduct, telling him that 
 he should defend himself from flatterers of every 
 colour, that he would provoke the sending of a 
 French expedition to the island, and that he would 
 fall before it. The self-love of this slave then be- 
 come his dictator, carried him away completely. 
 He would have it, as he said, that ifie first of the 
 blacks should be, both by right anil fact, nt St. 
 Domingo, that which the first of the whites was in 
 Prance, in other words, thai he should he chief for 
 life, with the power of naming his successor. He 
 despatched colonel Vincent to Europe, with the 
 view of explaining, and making the lirat consul 
 agree lo his new constilul ioual establishment. He 
 demanded besides, the Confirmation of all tin; mill-
 
 424 The expedition arrives THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 at St. Domingo. 
 
 1S02. 
 Feb. 
 
 tary grades which had been conferred upon the 
 black officers. 
 
 This imitation of his own greatness, and this pre- 
 tension to an assimilation with himself, made the 
 first consul smile, and had not, it may be supposed, 
 any effect upon his resolutions. He was ready to 
 let himself be called the first of the whites, by him 
 who called himself the first of the blacks, on the 
 condition, that the tie of the colony with the mo- 
 ther country should be that of obedience, and that 
 the ownership of the island, which had been French 
 for centuries, should be real, and not nominal. To 
 confirm the military grades that belonged to the 
 black officers, was, in the eyes of the first consul, a 
 point of no difficulty. He confirmed them all, and 
 made Toussaint a lieutenant-general, and com- 
 mandant of St. Domingo for France. But the first 
 consul would have there a captain-general, to whom 
 Toussaint should be the first lieutenant ; without 
 this condition St. Domingo could no longer be any 
 thing more to France than it was at that moment. 
 He resolved, therefore, to send out a general and 
 an army. The colony had begun to flourish again ; 
 and it was now worth all which it had been worth 
 in times gone by ; the colonists in Paris demanded 
 their property with loud entreaties; peace was at 
 present enjoyed, it might not be for a very long 
 time; there were plenty of idle troops, and of 
 officers full of spirit, who only wanted an occasion 
 to be on active service, no matter in what part of 
 the world; he could not therefore resign himself 
 to see such a fine possession slip out of the hands 
 of France, without some attempt to retain it by 
 means of the forces at his disposal. Sucli were the 
 motives of the expedition of which the departure 
 has already been stated. General Leclerc, the 
 brother-in-law of the first consul, received his in- 
 structions how to manage with Toussaint; to offer 
 him the post of lieutenant of France in the island, 
 the confirmation of the rank and property acquired 
 by his officers, a guarantee for the freedom of the 
 blacks, but all with the authority of the mother 
 country, represented by the captain-genei-al. In 
 order to prove to Toussaint the fair intentions of 
 the government, his two sons, who were educated 
 in France, were sent over to him at the same time, 
 together with their preceptor, M. Coisnon. To this 
 the first consul added a noble and flattering letter, 
 in which, treating Toussaint as the first man of his 
 race, he appeared to lend himself, in a kind way, 
 to a comparison between the pacificator of France 
 and him of St. Domingo. 
 
 But the first consul had provided against re- 
 sistance to his intentions, and every measure was 
 taken to conquer obstacles, if necessary, by main 
 force. If he had been less impatient to profit by 
 the signature of the preliminaries of peace, in 
 order to pass the seas, now become free, the 
 squadrons would have been obliged to wait for one 
 another in some convenient place, in order that 
 they might arrive altogether at St. Domingo, and 
 thus have surprised Toussaint before he could place 
 himself in a posture for defence. Unfortunately, 
 in the uncertainty in which they were at the mo- 
 ment of the expedition, about the signature of the 
 definitive treaty of peace, it was necessary to send 
 the vessels from the ports of Brest, Rochefort, Cadiz, 
 and Toulon, without obliging them to wait for each 
 other, and with an order to arrive as soon as pos- 
 
 sible at the place of their destination. Admiral 
 Villaret Joyeuse, sailing from Brest and l'Orient 
 with sixteen vessels, and a force of about seven or 
 eight thousand men, had received orders to cruise 
 some time in the Gulf of Gascony, in order to attempt 
 a junction, if possible, with admiral Latouche Tre- 
 ville, who was to sail from Rochefort with six ships, 
 six frigates, and three or four thousand men. 
 Admiral Villaret, if unable to meet and join admiral 
 Latouche, was to pass on to the Canary Islands, in 
 order to discover there, if possible, the division of 
 admiral Linois coming from Cadiz, and the division 
 of Ganteaume, which was to sail from Toulon, both 
 the one and the other, with a convoy of ti-oops. He 
 was, lastly, to visit the Bay of Samana, the first 
 presenting itself to a squadron arriving from Eu- 
 ro pe. 
 
 In conformity to the orders which they had thus 
 received, the different squadrons searching for 
 each other without losing time in uniting, arrived 
 at different periods at the common rendezvous at 
 Samana. Admiral Villaret appeared there on the 
 29th of January, 1802. Admiral Latouche followed 
 close after. The divisions which had sailed from 
 Cadiz and Toulon did not reach St. Domingo until 
 a very considerable time afterwards. But admiral 
 Villaret, with the squadrons from Brest and l'Orient, 
 and admiral Latouche Treville, with the squadron 
 from Rochefort, did not carry less than eleven or 
 twelve thousand men. After a conference with the 
 commanders of the fleet, the captain-general Le- 
 clerc thought that it was of the utmost importance 
 not to lose time, and that it was the best course to 
 present themselves before all the ports at once, in 
 order to seize upon the colony before giving Tous- 
 saint time to take measures upon his own part. 
 Moreover, many tidings coming from the Antilles, 
 gave the expedition ground to fear a reception by 
 no means of an amicable character. 
 
 In consequence of these impressions, general 
 Kerversau, witli two thousand men embarked in 
 frigates, was ordered to appear before the town of 
 Santo-Domingo, the capital of the Spanish part of 
 the islands. Admiral Latouche Treville, with his 
 squadron, which carried the division of general 
 Boudet, was to attempt Port-au-Prince ; lastly, 
 the captain-general himself, with the squadron of 
 admiral Villaret, was to make sail for the Cape, 
 and obtain possession of it. The French part 
 comprehends, with a considerable portion of the 
 island, the two promontories which, advancing 
 westwards, divide it into the departments of the 
 north, west, and south. In the department of the 
 north, the principal part was the Cape, as well as 
 the chief place ; in the department of the west it 
 was Port-au-Prince. The Cayes and Jacmel were 
 rivals in riches and influence in the south. In 
 occupying Santo Domingo for the Spanish part, 
 with the Cape and Port-au-Prince for the French, 
 nearly the whole island was kept in hand, except, 
 it is true, the mountains of the interior, a conquest 
 of which time alone could insure the achievement. 
 
 These naval divisions next quitted the bay 
 where they had been moored, in order to proceed 
 to their appointed destinations during the first 
 days of February. Toussaint, informed that a great 
 number of vessels were anchored in the hay of 
 Samana, proceeded thither in person, in order to 
 judge with his own eyes of the danger with which
 
 1802. 
 Feb. 
 
 The expedition lands RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 
 
 in St. Domingo. 425 
 
 he was thus threatened. No longer doubting, at 
 the sight of the French squadron, the lot which 
 
 had fallen to him, he took the resolution of having 
 recourse to the last extremities Booner than submit 
 to the authority »f the mother country. He was 
 assured that then groes would not be again dragged 
 into slavery ; he was not himself possessed with 
 such a belief ; but lie thought that they might 
 place themselves in allegiance to France, and 
 this motive sufficed him to decide upon resistance. 
 He resolved, in consequence, to persuade the 
 blacks that their liberty was in danger, to bring 
 them back from agriculture to war, to ravage the 
 maritime towns, massacre the whites, burn the 
 houses, and then retire to the .Moines, a name 
 given to mountains of a peculiar form, with which 
 tlie French part of the island was every where 
 covered, and to wait in those retreats until the 
 climate weakened the whites so, that they might 
 be able to fall upon them and complete their ex- 
 termination. Moreover, hoping to stop the French 
 army by simple menaces, perhaps also fearing, if 
 he too early commanded the performance of atro- 
 cious actions, he should not be punctually obeyed 
 by the black chill's, who, following his example, 
 had imbibed a taste for forming connexions with 
 the whites, he ordered his officers to answer to the 
 first summons of the squadron, that they had no 
 orders to receive those on board ; that then, if they 
 insisted on landing, to threaten them, in such a 
 case, with the total destruction of the towns, 
 and, finally, if the disembarkation was effected, to 
 destroy every thing, massacre all around them, 
 and retire into the interior of the island. Such 
 were the orders given to Christophe, who governed 
 in the north, to the ferocious Dessalines, chief in 
 the west, and to Laplume, a more humane black, 
 commanding in the south. 
 
 The squadron of Yillaret having arrived as far 
 as Monte Christo, demanded pilots to take the 
 ships into tin- road-, of Fort Dauphin and the Cape, 
 but bad great trouble to procure them. Detaching 
 the division of Magon towards Fort Dauphin, it 
 arrived on tin- 3rd of February, or 14ih Pluviose, 
 before the Cape. All the drawbridges were ele- 
 vated, the fortfl armed, and a disposition to resist 
 every where demonstrable. A frigate, sent to 
 effect a communication with the land, received the 
 answer which Toussaint had dictated. He had 
 no instructions, was the reply of Christophe; lie 
 must await an answer from the commander-in- 
 chief, who was at. that moment absent ; he would 
 resist by fire and massacre every attempt at dis- 
 embarkation by main force. The municipality of 
 tie- Cape, consisting of whites and men of colour, 
 went to express their t rror to the captain-general 
 Leelere. They were, at the same time, happy to 
 see the soldiers of the mother country arrive, 
 and yet full of fear in considering the fearful 
 threats of Christophe. The mind of the captain* 
 gem i-.il was much agitated, in finding himself 
 placed under the n< ci ity of fulfilling his mission, 
 ami at the same time exposing the white French 
 population to the furi of the blacks, tie reflected, 
 he must land at ail events, lie therefore pro- 
 mised the inhabitants of the Cape that he would 
 
 act with promptitude and vigour, in such a manner 
 
 as to surprise Christophe, and not have him time 
 
 to fulfil his horrible instructions, lie exhorted 
 
 them strongly to arm in order to defend their 
 persons and property, and lie sent on shore a pro- 
 clamation of tlie first consul, designed to make the 
 blacks acquainted with the object of the expe- 
 dition. 
 
 It became necessary afterwards to bear seawards 
 in consequence of the state of the wind, which in 
 that latitude is perfectly regular. The captain- 
 general, once out at sea, arranged a plan of dis- 
 embarkation with admiral Villaret-Joyeuse. This 
 plan consisted in placing the troops in the frigates, 
 and landing them in the environs of the Cape, 
 beyond the heights which command the town, near 
 a place called the embarking place of Limbe ; 
 then, while they attempted to turn the town of the 
 (ape, to penetrate with the squadron into the 
 passes, and thus to make at once a double attack 
 l>y sea and land. It was hoped, that in acting 
 with great celerity the town would be taken before 
 Christophe had time to realise his sinister threats. 
 Captain Magon and general Rochambeau, if they 
 succeeded at Fort Dauphin, which they were 
 ordered to occupy, were to second the movements 
 of the captain-general. 
 
 On the following day the troops were transferred 
 to the frigates and light vessels, and they were 
 landed near the embarking place of Limbe. This 
 operation took up the whole day. The day follow- 
 ing, the troops moved on their march to turn the 
 town, and the squadron became engaged in the 
 passages. Two vessels, the Patriot and Scipio, 
 anchored before the Fort Picolet, which fired red- 
 hot shot, were soon reduced to silence. The 
 day was advanced ; the land breeze, which in the 
 evening succeeded that from the sea, obliged the 
 squadron to move again to sea, not to approach the 
 land until the morning. While they thus stood 
 out they had the grief to see a red light rise above 
 the waves, and in a little time the flames had 
 destroyed the town of the Cape. Christophe, al- 
 though less ferocious than his commander, had still 
 obeyed his orders ; he had set fire to the principal 
 quarters, and limiting himself to the massacre of 
 a few whites, he obliged the others to follow him 
 to the Monies. While a part of these unfortunate 
 whites expired under tin- swords of the negroes, or 
 were carried away by them, the rest, following the 
 municipality in a body, had escaped from Chris- 
 tophe, and sought for security by throwing 
 themselves into the hands of the French army. 
 The anxiety was great during that horrible night 
 among the unfortunate persons exposed to so many 
 dangers, and among the troops on sea and land, who 
 saw the town on lire, and the frightful situation 
 of their countrymen, without the power of getting 
 to their succour '. 
 
 The day following, being the Cth of February, 
 while general Leelere marched from all parts upon 
 the Cape, turning the heights, tin- admiral set sail 
 towards the port, .and getting there, dropped 
 anchor. All resistance had ceased by the retreat 
 
 of the negroes, lie immediately disembarked 
 twelve hundred seamen under the command of 
 
 1 Nothing can exhibit mom the Inferiority of the French 
 in naval afl'.iirs than iiii-. landing at the Cipe. It li worthy 
 of being compared by the reader with tlie landing of the 
 
 English army in Egypt, see page 249, wi two divisions of 
 
 (iooo men each were landed In one day, with their artillery, 
 in face of a .French army, .a two disembarkation!. — Trans.
 
 426 Leclerc lands at the Cape. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Cape Tovm burned. 
 
 1802. 
 Feb. 
 
 general Humbert, in order to succour the town 
 and snatch the wrecks from the fury of the blacks, 
 while a connexion was thus kept up with the 
 captain-general. The last arrived on his side, 
 without being able to meet Christophe, who had 
 already taken flight. They found that part of the 
 inhabitants which had followed the municipality 
 wandering about and cast down, but they were 
 soon restored to joy on seeing themselves promptly 
 aided and definitively saved from the danger which 
 threatened them. They ran to the burning houses. 
 The marine force helped to extinguish the fire, 
 while the troops pursued Christophe into the 
 country. This pursuit, actively followed up, pre- 
 vented the blacks from destroying the rich dwell- 
 ings on the plains of the Cape, and enabled the 
 French to save from the enemy a number of whites 
 whom they had not time to carry away with them. 
 
 While these events were passing at the Cape, 
 the brave captain Magon had disembarked the 
 division of Rochambeau at the entrance of the bay 
 of Mancenille ; lie then penetrated with his ves- 
 sels into the same bay, to second the movement of 
 the troops. This vigorous conduct, which already- 
 presaged that which lie exhibited at Trafalgar, 
 concurred so well with the attack of Rochambeau's 
 division, that they were enabled to take Fort 
 Dauphin so suddenly, as to be masters of it before 
 the negroes were able to commit any ravages. This 
 second disenibarkment achieved the work of driving 
 the enemy from the environs of the Cape, and 
 obliging Christophe to retire at once into the 
 Monies. 
 
 The captain-general Leclerc was established in 
 the town of the Cape, where the fire had been ex- 
 tinguished. Happily the disaster had not corre- 
 sponded to the fearful menaces of the lieutenant of 
 Toussaint. The sole fact was that the houses bad 
 been burned. The number of whi es massacred 
 was not so grent as there was at first reason to 
 apprehend. Many of them came back again suc- 
 cessively accompanied by their servants, who had 
 remained faithful to them. The rage of the black 
 hordes was above all glutted by the plunder of the 
 rich magazines of the town. The troops and popu- 
 lation employed themselves in the best way they 
 were able to efface the traces of the ruin wrought 
 by the fire. An appeal was made to the husbandry 
 negroes, who were tired of the life of ravage and 
 bloodshed in which their countrymen would involve 
 them anew, and a number of them were now seen 
 to return to their masters and to their accustomed 
 labours. In a few days the town resumed a cer- 
 tain air of order and activity. The captain-gene- 
 ra! then sent vessels towards the continent of 
 America, to endeavour to procure provisions, and 
 replace the resources which had been destroyed. 
 
 During this interval the squadron of admiral 
 Latouche Treville, which had gone to the west, 
 had doubled the point of the island, and had come 
 before the bay of Port-au-Prince, in order to dis- 
 embark a division of the troops there. A white, 
 engaged in the service of the blacks, named Age", 
 an officer full of good feeling, commanded at that 
 place in the absence of Dessalines, residing at St. 
 Marc. His repugnance to execute the orders lie 
 had received, the vigour of admiral Latouche Tre- 
 ville, the promptitude of genera) Botidet, I he good 
 fortune, in fact, that favoured this part of the ope- 
 
 rations, saved the town of Port-au-Prince from the 
 misfortunes which had befallen that of the Cape. 
 Latouche Treville ordered rafts to be constructed 
 armed with artillery, then getting the troops dis- 
 embarked suddenly at the point of Lamentin, he 
 made sail in all haste towards Port-au-Prince. 
 During this quick movement of the vessels, the 
 troops on their side advanced upon the town. The 
 fort of Bizoton lay in their road. The,\ approached 
 it without firing: ''Let us kill without firing, if 
 possible," said general Boudet, "in order to pre- 
 vent a collision, and save if we are able our un- 
 happy countrymen from the fury of the blacks " 
 It was, in fact, the sole means to avoid the mas- 
 sacre with which the whites were threatened. The 
 black garrison of the Fort Bizoton, on seeing the 
 amicable and resolute attitude of the French 
 troops, surrendered, and took their place in the 
 ranks of the division of Boudet. They arrived at 
 Port-au-Prince at the same time as admiral La- 
 touche Treville approached it with his vessels. 
 Four thousand blacks formed the garrison there. 
 From the heights on which the army marched the 
 blacks were seen lining the principal forts, or 
 posted in advance of the walls. General Boudet 
 ordered the town to be turned by two battalions, 
 and with the main Iwdy of his force marched upon 
 the redoubts which covered it : " We are friends," 
 the nearest black troops cried out, " do not fire !" 
 Trusting in these exclamations, the French soldiers 
 advanced with their arms on their shoulders. But 
 a discharge of musketry and grape, given nearly 
 tit the muzzle, struck do"ii two hundred among 
 them, some killed, others wounded. The gallant 
 general Pamphile Lacroix was in the number of 
 the last. The French instantly sprung on these 
 miserable blacks with the bayonet, and immolated 
 all those that had not time to make their escape. 
 Admiral Latouche, who, during the passage had 
 said without ceasing to the generals of the army, 
 that a squadron was by its fire superior to any 
 land position, and that he would soon convince 
 them of it, placed himself under the batteries of 
 the blacks, and in a few moments succeeded in 
 silencing them. The blacks cannonaded so near, 
 and assailed in the streets by the troops of Bou- 
 det's division, fled in disorder, without setting fire 
 to the place, leaving the public chest full of money, 
 and magazines containing an immense quantity of 
 colonial produce. Unfortunately they took with 
 them numbers of whites, treating them without 
 pity in their precipitate flight, and marking its 
 traces by incendiarism and the pillage of the habi- 
 tations. Columns of smoke designated the line of 
 their retreat in the distance. 
 
 The ferocious Dessalines, on learning the dis- 
 embarkation of the French, had quitted St. Marc, 
 passed behind Port-au-Prince, and by a rapid 
 march occupied Leogane, in order to dispute with 
 the French the department of the South. General 
 Boudet sent there a detachment, which chased 
 Dessalines from Leogane. 
 
 Information was received that general Laplume, 
 less barbarous than bis friends, distrusting, besides, 
 a country full of mulattos, the implacable enemies 
 of the blacks, was disposed to surrender himself. 
 General Boudet, as soon as possible, despatched 
 emissaries to him, and Laplume surrendered him- 
 self, and gave over entire to the French troops
 
 1S02. 
 Feb. 
 
 Attack made upon 
 Toussaint. 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 
 
 Interview of Toussaint .„_ 
 with his sons. *"l 
 
 that rich department, comprehending Leoganc, the 
 great and little Goave, Tiburon, the Cayes, and 
 Jacmel. This was a fortunate event. The sub- 
 mission of the black chief Laplume saved a tliird 
 of the colony from the ravages of the barbarians. 
 
 In the meanwhile the Spanish part of the island 
 fell under the domination of the French troops. 
 General Kerversau, sent to Santo-Domingo with 
 some frigates and two thousand men, disembarked 
 there. Seconded by the inhabitants and by the 
 influence of the French bishop Mauvielle, he took 
 possession of one-half of the Spanish part, in which 
 Paul Louverture, the In-other of Toussaint, was 
 the governor. On the other coast, captain Magon, 
 established at Fort Dauphin, had succeeded, by 
 adroit negotiations, and the influence of the same 
 bishop Mauvielle, in gaining over the mulatto gene- 
 ra] Clervaux, and in securing the rich plain of 
 St. J.igo. 
 
 Thus, in the first six days of February, the 
 French troops occupied the flat country, the ports, 
 the chief places of the island, and the larger part 
 of the cultivated land. There remained in Tous- 
 saint's possession no more than three or four 
 black demi-brigades, the generals Maurepas, Chris- 
 toplie, and Dessalines, with their treasures, and his 
 collection of arms, bidden in the Monies of the 
 Chaos. But there were with him, most unfor- 
 tunately, a number of whites, carried away as 
 hostages, and cruelly treated, waiting until they 
 should either be massacred or surrendered. It 
 was necessary for the French to profit by the 
 se;ison, which was favourable, in order to complete 
 the reduction of the island. 
 
 The mountainous and upturned region in which 
 Toussaint had shut himself up, is placed to the 
 westward, between the s -a and mount Cibao, this 
 being the central knot to which are attached all the 
 mountain chains of the island. This region pours 
 forth its scanty waters by several streams into the 
 river of Artibonite, which falls into the sea, be- 
 tween Gona'ives and Port-au-Prince, very near St. 
 Marc. It was necessary to march there from all 
 points at the same time, in such a way as to place 
 the blacks between two fires, and to drive them on 
 Gouaives, in order to surround them there. But 
 to penetrate into the Monies, it was needful to 
 pass through narrow gorges, rendered nearly im- 
 paasable by the vegetation of the tropics, and in the 
 depths of which the blacks, lying close as tirailleurs, 
 presented a resistance difficult to surmount. Yet 
 the ol 1 loldiera of the lihine, transported from 
 thence across the Atlantic, bad nothing to fear 
 but tin; climate. That alone was able to overcome 
 them; that alone bad overcome them in this heroic 
 age; they in ver succumbed except under the sun of 
 St. Domingo, or upon the ice of Moscow. 
 
 The captain-general Lecl<rc was resolved to 
 profit, by the months of February, March, and 
 Apr, I, iii order to complete the occupation of the 
 island, because at a later period the extreme heat 
 and the rains mado military operations imprac- 
 ticable. Thanks to the arrival of the naval divi- 
 sions from the Mediterranean, commanded by 
 admirals (J inteau and l.iuois, the army dis- 
 embarked was now carried up to a Force of seven* 
 teen or eighteen thousand men. Some of the 
 
 ti ps wrri' ill, it is true ; but there remained 
 
 fifteen thousand in a state lit for duty. The cap- 
 
 tain-general, therefore, had all the means at hand 
 to accomplish bis task. 
 
 Before proceeding to the execution of his pur- 
 pose, be determined to send a summons to Tous- 
 saint. This black leader, who was capable of the 
 greatest atrocities in order to render his designs 
 successful, was, nevertheless, susceptible of the 
 natural affections. The captain-general, by the 
 orders of the first consul, had brought with him, 
 as already said, the two sons of Toussaint, grown 
 up in France, in order to try the influence of filial 
 solicitation upon his heart. The preceptor who 
 had charge of their education was designed to con- 
 duct them to their father, to take him a letter 
 from the first consul, and to try and attach him 
 to France, by promising him the second authority 
 in the island. 
 
 Toussaint received his two sons and their pre- 
 ceptor in bis habitation of Ennery, his ordinary 
 retreat. He pressed them for a long while in his 
 arms, and appeared for a moment to be subdued 
 by his emotion. His old heart, devoured by am- 
 bition, was moved. The sons of Toussaint and 
 the respectable man whose pupils they had been, 
 then described to him the power and the humanity 
 of the French nation, the advantages attached to 
 a submission, which would leave yet greater still 
 his situation in St. Domingo, and which secured 
 to his children a future prospect so brilliant ; the 
 danger of a ruin almost certain, on the contrary, 
 if he continued to resist. The mother of one of 
 the youths joined them in attempting to overcome 
 Toussaint. Affected by these pressing entreaties, 
 he wished to take some days to consider, and 
 during these days he appeared to struggle greatly, 
 now startled at the danger of the unequal contest, 
 now governed by the ambition to be the sole 
 master of the fine empire of Haiti, now revolting 
 at the idea that the whites would perhaps replunge 
 the blacks into slavery. Ambition and the love of 
 liberty obtained the victory over paternal tender- 
 ness. He sent for bis two children, he pressed 
 them in his arms again, he left to them the choice 
 between France, which was inhabited by civilized 
 men, and himself, who had given them being, and 
 he declared that he should continue to cherish 
 them, even if they belonged to the ranks of his 
 enemies. These unfortunate children, agitated 
 and affected like their father, hesitated as lie had 
 done. One id' them, nevertheless, flung himself 
 on his neck, and declared that he would die a free 
 block .it. his Bide; the other, uncertain, followed 
 his mother to one of the estates of the dictator. 
 
 The answer of Toussaint no longer left any 
 doubt of the necessity of the immediate resump- 
 tion of hostilities. The captain-general beclerc 
 made his preparations, ;md then commenced ope- 
 rations on the 17^h of February. 
 
 His plan was to attack at one time, by the north 
 and the west, the thicket covered country, nearly 
 iliaCCI isible, into which Toussaint had retired with 
 his black generals. Maurepas occupied the narrow 
 f »rge called Three Rivers, which opened towards 
 
 the sea at I'ort-de I'aix. Clnistophe was esla- 
 blislied on the sides of the Moines towards the 
 plain of tie- Cape. Dessalines was at. Si. Man-, 
 near the mouth of the Artibonite, with orders to 
 burn St. Marc, and to defend the Monies do Chaos 
 on the west ami south. He bad for support a
 
 428 
 
 Toussaint defeated, 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, and his artiller* vaken. 
 
 lf.02. 
 March. 
 
 fort, well-constructed and defended, full of the 
 munitions of war, amassed by the foresight of 
 Toussaint. This fort, called Crete-a-Pierrot, was 
 placed in the flat country that the Artibonite 
 traverses and inundates, forming there a thousand 
 sinuous windings before it falls into the sea. In 
 the centre of this region, between Christophe, 
 Maurepas, and Dessalines, Toussaint held himself 
 in reserve with a chosen band. 
 
 On the 17th of February the captain-general, 
 Leclerc, marched with his army formed in three 
 divisions. On the left, the division of Rocham- 
 beau, leaving Fort Dauphin, was to march upon 
 St. Raphael and St. Michel; the division of Hardy 
 was to march by the plain of the north upon Mar- 
 malade ; the division of Desfourneaux, by the 
 Limbe', was to reach Plaisance. These three 
 divisions had narrow gorges to pass, and steep 
 heights to escalade, in order to penetrate into the 
 region of the Monies, and to possess themselves 
 of the streams which form the upper course of 
 the Artibonite. General Humbert, with a detach- 
 ment, was charged to disembark at Port-au-Paix, 
 remount the gorge of the Three Rivers, and 
 drive back the black, Maurepas, on ilie Gros 
 Morne. General Boudet had orders, while these 
 five corps marched from north to south, to re- 
 mount from south to north, and leaving Port-au- 
 Prince, to occupy Mirebalais, the Verettes, and 
 St. Marc. Thus assailed on all sides, the blacks 
 had no other refuge than towards the Gonai'ves, 
 where the French had the hope to enclose them. 
 
 These dispositions would have been wise against 
 an enemy that it was desirable to surround and 
 pursue in front, rather than fight in a regular 
 way. Each of the French corps had, in fact, a 
 sufficiency of force to prevent it from receiving in 
 any part a serious check. But against an experienced 
 commander, having European troops, able to con- 
 centrate themselves suddenly upon a single corps 
 of their assailants, the plan would have been 
 defective. 
 
 Marching on the 17th, the three divisions of 
 Rochambeau, Hardy, and Desfourneaux, fulfilled 
 their task with great gallantry, scaling the most 
 frightful heights, they travelled through dense and 
 difficult thickets, and surprised the blacks by the 
 boldness of their march, scarcely firing at all on an 
 enemy that poured his fire upon them from all 
 parts. On the 18th, the division of Desfourneaux 
 was in the environs of Plaisance, the division of 
 Hardy at Dondon, that of Rochambeau at St. 
 Raphael. 
 
 On the 19th, the division of Desfourneaux occu- 
 pied Plaisance, which was given up to him by Jean 
 Pierre Dumesnil, a black tolerably humane, who 
 surrendered to the French, with all his troops. 
 The division of Hardy penetrated by main force 
 into Marmelade, overturning Christophe, who was 
 at the head of two thousand four hundred negroes, 
 half of them troops of the line, the remainder cul- 
 tivators. The division of Rochambeau carried St. 
 Michel. The blacks were surprised at so rough 
 an attack, not having before seen such troops 
 among the whites. One only of the black leaders 
 vigorously resisted the French. This was Maure- 
 pas, who defended the gorge of the Three Rivers 
 against general Humbert. This last, not having 
 troops enough, general Debelle had been sent by 
 
 sea to his aid, with a reinforcement of twelve or 
 fifteen hundred men. General Debelle was not 
 able to disembark until very late at Port-au-Paix, 
 and thwarted in his attacks by a frightful rain, he 
 gained but little ground. 
 
 The captain-general, after having remained two 
 days in the same place, in order to suffer the bad 
 weather to pass away, pushed forward the division 
 of Desfourneaux upon the Gonai ves, the division of 
 Hardy upon Ennery, and that of Rochambeau upon 
 the formidable position of the Ravine aux Col- 
 leuvres. On the 2P>rd of February, the division 
 of Desfourneaux entered into Gonai'ves, which they 
 found in flames; the division of Hardy took Ennery, 
 the principal habitation of Toussaint ; and the gal- 
 lant division of Rochambeau carried the Ravine 
 aux Colleuvres. To force this lust position, it was 
 necessary to penetrate into a close gorge, bordered 
 with heights, as if cut with a toot, bristling with 
 gigantic trees and thorny bushes, and defended by 
 blacks, who were good marksmen. Then it was 
 necessary to open upon a small plain, that Tous- 
 saint occupied with three thousand grenadiers of 
 his own colour, and all his artillery. The intrepid 
 Rochambeau penetrated boldly into the gorge, in 
 spite of a very annoying fire from the black tirail- 
 leurs, scaled two high banks, killing with the bayo- 
 net those blacks that were too late in retreat, and 
 then came out upon the plain. On arriving there, 
 the old soldiers of the Rhine completed the affair 
 by a single charge. Eight hundred blacks remained 
 on the field, and all the artillery of Toussaint was 
 taken. 
 
 During this contest, general Boudet, executing 
 the orders of the captain-general, had left in Port- 
 au Prince, general Pamphile Lacroix, with six or 
 eight hundred men for a garrison, and had marched 
 himself, with the rest of bis forces, upon St. Marc. 
 Dessalines was there, ready for the committal of 
 the greatest atrocities. He himself, torch in hand, 
 led the way in setting fire to a fine mansion, which 
 he possessed in St. Marc, and he was imitated by 
 his followers ; then, on retiring, they massacred a 
 party of whites, and dragged the rest after them 
 into the horrible refuge of the Monies. General 
 Boudet could only occupy ruins inundated with 
 human blood. While he pursued Dessalines, the 
 last, by a rapid march, appeared before Port-au- 
 Prince, which he imagined to be but feebly de- 
 fended, but it was effectively held by a very small 
 garrison. General Pamphile Lacroix united 
 his little troop, and warmly harangued them. 
 Admiral Latouche Tre'ville, learning the danger, 
 landed with his sailors, saying to general Lacroix : 
 "At sea, you are under my orders; on land I will 
 be under yours ; let us defend in common the lives 
 and properties of our countrymen." Dessalines, 
 repulsed, was thus unable to satiate his barbarity, 
 and flung himself into the Mornes du Chaos. Gene- 
 ral Boudet, returning in all haste to Port-au-Prince, 
 found it saved by the union of the land and sea 
 forces ; but in the midst of these marches and 
 counter-marches, he had found it impossible to 
 second the movements of the general-in-chief. 
 The blacks they had not been able to surround, 
 nor to push on to the Gonai'ves. 
 
 Nevertheless, the blacks were every whore beaten. 
 The capture of the Ravine aux Colleuvres from 
 Toussaint had completely discouraged them. The
 
 1802. 
 
 April. 
 
 Surrender of 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. Toussaint Louverture. 429 
 
 captain-genera] Leclerc, wished to put a finish to 
 this discouragement, by destroying the black gene- 
 ral Maui-, pas, who ably sustained himself against 
 generals Humbert and Debelle, at the bottom of 
 the gorge of the Three rivers. Assailed on all 
 sid.-, the black Maurepas had no other resource 
 than to surrender. He submitted, with two thou- 
 sand of the bravest blacks. This was the rudest 
 blow yet given to the moral power of Toussaint. 
 
 It yet remained to capture the fort of t'rete-a- 
 Pierrot, and the .Monies du Chaos, having forced 
 Toussaint in his last asylum, unless indeed lie 
 should jo> and, retiring into the mountains of the 
 interi >r of the island, live as a partizan, deprived 
 of all means of action, and despoiled of every pres- 
 tige of power. The captain-general ordered the 
 divisions of Rochambeau and Hardy on one side, 
 and that of Boudet on the other, to march upon 
 the fort and the Monies. Several hundred men 
 were lost in attacking with too much Confidence 
 the works of Crete-a-Pierrot, which were better 
 defended than could have been supposed. It was 
 sary to undertake a species of regular siege, 
 to execute works of approach, and to establish 
 batteries. Two thousand blacks, good soldiers, 
 commanded by some officers less ignorant than 
 the "the rs, guarded this depository of the resources 
 of Toussaint, who endeavoured, seconded by Dessa- 
 . to interrupt the siege by night attacks ; but 
 they did not succeed, and in a little time the fort 
 was pressed so near that an assault became pos- 
 sible The garrison in despair, then took the reso- 
 lution to make a nocturnal sally, to pass the lines 
 of the besiegers, and take to flight. At first, they 
 succeeded in deceiving the vigilance of the troops, 
 and in traversing the encampments ; but being 
 Boon recognized, assailed on all sides, one part was 
 driven back into the fort, and the other destroyed 
 by the French soldiers. On taking this species of 
 ial, there was found a considerable quantity 
 of anus and warlike munitions, and a good many 
 whites cruelly assassinated. 
 
 The captain-general immediati ly afterwards had 
 all the Mornes around scoured over, in order not 
 to leave any asylum to (lie fugitive bands of Tous- 
 saint, and to reduce them before' the great heats of 
 
 the season came on. At Verettes, the tinny was 
 the witness of a horrible spectacle. The blacks 
 had for a long time conducted with them troops of 
 
 white perBOUB, whom they forced by beating to 
 
 march as fasi as they did. Not hoping longer to 
 be able to I.e. p them from the army that was 
 pursuing them, and was then very near, they 
 cred eighl hundred, men, women, infants, 
 and aged persons. The ground was found covered 
 with this frightful hecatomb ; and the French boI- 
 diers, who were so generous, who had fought so 
 
 much in all parts of the world, who had been pre- 
 sent at so many scenes of carnage, but had never 
 before seen women and infants massacred, were 
 struck with the deepest horror, anil a degrei "i 
 anger from humanity, which became lata! to the 
 blacks whom they wire able to overtake. They 
 hunt' d them down to tin- last, giving no quarter 
 
 to any whom they encounter. -d. 
 
 It was April. The blacks had no more resources, 
 at least lor tin- present Their discouragement was 
 very great The chiefs, struck with the kind con- 
 duct of the captain-general towards those who had 
 
 surrendered, and to whom he had left their rank 
 and estates, thought of laying down their arms. 
 Christophe addressed himself to the captain- 
 general, through the medium of the blacks already 
 submitted, and offered to give in his submission, if 
 the general would promise the same treatment to 
 him as to generals Laplume, Maurepas, and Cler- 
 vaux. The captain-general, who was possessed of 
 as much humanity as good sense, consented with 
 all his heart to the propositions of Christophe, and 
 accept* d his offers. The surrender of Christophe 
 soon brought that of the ferocious Dcssalines, and 
 finally, that of Toussaint himself. He was left 
 nearly alone, or only followed by a few trusty 
 blacks attached to his person. To continue his 
 wandering career up and down the interior of the 
 island, without attempting any thing important 
 which could retrieve his credit with the negroes, 
 appeared to him a thing altogether useless, and 
 only adapted to weaken yet more the zeal of his 
 former parti/.ans. Besides, he was beaten, and 
 could preserve no hope of future success but such 
 as might be inspired by the fatal nature of the 
 climate. He had, in fact, been long accustomed 
 to see the Europeans, and before all others, the 
 military, disappear under the action of that de- 
 vouring climate, and he t'.attered himself that he 
 should soon find the yellow fever his frightful 
 auxiliary. He then said to himself that he must 
 await in peace the propitious moment, and that 
 when it arrived, perhaps a new attempt, by force 
 of arms, would give him the success he desired. 
 In consequence, he offered to come to terms. The 
 captain-general, who did not hope much that he 
 should be able to take him, even in pursuing him 
 to the utmost, throughout the numerous and re- 
 moter retreats of the island, consented to grant 
 him a capitulation, similar to that which he had 
 accorded to his lieutenants. He was restored to 
 his rank and his properly, upon condition that he 
 lived on a designated spot, and did not change his 
 residence, unless by the permission of the captain- 
 general. His habitation id' Ennery was the place 
 fixed upon for his retreat. The captain-general 
 Leclerc had great doubts that the submission of 
 Toussaint was honest ; but he kept, a good watch 
 upon him, ready to have him arrested on the very 
 first aet that implied upon his part a breach of faith. 
 To set off from this period of time, being the end 
 
 of April and commencement of .May, order was 
 re-established in the colony, and the revival of that 
 prosperity was seen returning which it had en- 
 joyed under the dictator. The regulations which 
 he had devised were put in force. The cultivators 
 had nearly all entered attain upon their plantations. 
 \ black gendarmerie pursued till idle vagabonds, 
 and brought them back to the estates to which, in 
 virtue of the anterior census, they had been at- 
 tached. The troops of Toussaint, reduced in num- 
 ber, and submitted to the French authority, were 
 tranquil, and showed no symptoms of any dispo- 
 sition to revolt, if they wen- bul preserved in their 
 existing state. Chrhnophe, Maurepas, Dessalines, 
 and Clervaux, maintained in their former rank and 
 property, were as ready to accommodate them- 
 selves to the new order of things as they had been 
 
 to that of Toussaint Louverture. It only sufficed 
 
 for that purpose to secure to them the preservation 
 
 of their riches ami their liberty.
 
 <30 Ge G , ^lS e epansereCovers THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. ^eE^f*"* ^ Maji 
 
 The captain-general Leclerc, who was a brave 
 soldier, mild and discreet, applied himself to re- 
 establish order and security in the colony. He 
 had continued to admit foreign flags, in order to 
 favour the introduction of provisions and neces- 
 saries. He had assigned them four principal ports 
 of entry, the Cape, Port-au-Prince, the Cayes, and 
 Santo-Domingo, forbidding them to touch else- 
 where, in order to impede the landing of arms 
 upon the coasts. He had not restrained importa- 
 tion, except so far as related to European produce, 
 of which he had exclusively reserved the monopoly 
 to the French merchants of the mother country. 
 There had, in fact, arrived a great number of 
 merchant vessels from Havre, Nantes, and Bor- 
 deaux, and there was reason to hope that soon the 
 prosperity of St. Domingo would be re-established, 
 not to the advantage of the English and the 
 Americans, as under the government; of Toussaint, 
 but to the profit of France, without the colony 
 being deprived of any of its advantages. 
 
 Still there was a double danger to be appre- 
 hended ; on one part there was the climate, 
 always fatal to European troops ; on the other, 
 there was the incurable mistrust of the negro 
 population, which it w;is impossible, do all that 
 might be done, to prevent from apprehending a 
 return to slavery. 
 
 To the seventeen or eighteen thousand men 
 already transported to the colony, new naval equip- 
 ments, sailing from Holland and France, had 
 added three or four thousand more, which raised 
 to twenty-one or twenty-two thousand tlie number 
 of soldiers sent upon the expedition. But four or 
 five thousand were already dead ; an equal num- 
 ber was in the hospitals, and only twelve thousand 
 and a few more remained to meet a new contest, if 
 the negroes should again have recourse to arms. 
 The captain -g neral took every care to procure 
 rest and refreshment for the troops, with salubrious 
 cantonments, neglecting nothing to render defini- 
 tive and complete the success of the expedition 
 which had been confided to his care. 
 
 At Guadaloupe the gallant Richepanse landed 
 with a force of three or four thousand men under 
 his command, had daunted the revolted negroes, 
 and had again subjected them to slavery, after 
 having destroyed the heads of the revolt. This 
 species of counter-revolution was possible, and was 
 effected without danger in an island of so small an 
 extent as that of Guadaloupe ; but it produced 
 this serious inconvenience, that it alarmed the 
 blacks of St. Domingo about the fate ultimately 
 reserved ff»r them. In other respects the affairs of 
 the French Antilles, or West Indies, went on as 
 prosperously as could be hoped for in so short a 
 space of time. In all parts vessels were preparing 
 to recommence the rich traffic that France had 
 formerly carried on with these islands; they were 
 principally fitted out in her great European com- 
 mercial ports. 
 
 The first consul, pursuing his task with great 
 perseverance, had sent to sea the depots of the 
 deini-brigades serving in the colonies. He con- 
 stantly forwarded recruits there, and availed him- 
 self of every Commercial or naval expedition to 
 send off* fresh detachments. He bad augmented 
 the credits accorded to the naval service, and had 
 carried to 130,000,000 f. the special budget of that 
 
 department a considerable sum in a budget, the 
 total of which was but 589,(100,000 f., which may 
 be reckoned equivalent to 720,000,000 1'. in the 
 present day. He ordered that 20,000,000 f. should 
 be expended annually in the purchase of naval 
 stores and materials in all countries where they 
 were procurable. He arranged besides for the con- 
 struction and launching of twelve vessels of the 
 line every year. He perpetually repeated, that it 
 was during the peace lie must create a navy, 
 because during peace, the sea, the field for ma- 
 noeuvring was free, and the road to provide all 
 things necessary was open. " The first year of the 
 minister," be wrote to admiral Decres on the 14th 
 February, 1803, " is your year of apprenticeship. 
 The second commences your ministry. You have 
 the French navy to re-establish : what a fine 
 career for a man in the full vigour of his age, and 
 yet finer, because our past misfortunes have been 
 stronger evidence for us of its necessity. Fulfil 
 your task without delay. Erery hour lost in the 
 epoch during which ice lice is irreparable." 
 
 From the Indies and America the active mind of 
 the first consul directed itself towards the Ottoman 
 empire, the approaching fall of which appeared 
 probable', and of which he was not inclined to see 
 the wrecks serve to extend the possessions of the 
 Russians and English. He had renounced all 
 thoughts ol Egypt while England respected the 
 peace ; but if the peace were broken on their part, 
 lie kept himself free to revert to his original ideas 
 about a country which he always regarded as the 
 road to India. In other respects, he projected 
 nothing at the moment ; his intention was solely 
 to prevent the English from taking an advantage 
 of the peace, to establish themselves at the mouth 
 of the Nile. A formal engagement obliged them 
 to evacuate Egypt within three months; but there 
 had passed twelve or thirteen from the signature 
 of the preliminaries of London, and seven or eight 
 from the signature of the treaty of Amiens, and 
 tlvey did not vet seem disposed to quit Alexandria. 
 The first consul then sent for colonel Sebastiani, 
 an officer endowed with great intelligence and 
 judgment, and ordered him to embark on board a 
 frigate, and to sail along the shores of the Mediter- 
 ranean, to visit Tunis and Tripoli, in order to make 
 those states acknowledge the flag of the Italian 
 republic, and then to proceed to Egypt to examine 
 the position of the Knglish there, and the nature of 
 their establishment ; to try and discover how long 
 this establishment was to continue; to observe 
 what was passing between the Turks and Mame- 
 lukes ; to visit the Arab sheiks, and to conipliniint 
 tlltm in the first consul's name; to go into Syria and 
 visit the Christians, and place them under French 
 protection ; to have an interview with Djezzar- 
 Piicha, who had defended St.. Jean d'Acre against 
 the French, and to promise him the good friend- 
 ship of France, if he would well treat and protect 
 the Christians, and show favour to French com- 
 merce. Colonel Sebastiani had orders, lastly, to 
 return by Constantinople, to renew to general 
 Bruiie, the French ambassador there, the in- 
 structions of his cabinet. These instructions en- 
 joined general Brune to display great magnificence, 
 to make much of the sultan, to give him hopes of 
 the continued support of France against all ene- 
 mies, whoever they might be, and, in one woid, to
 
 1802. 
 June. 
 
 Establishment of 
 mi itary colonies 
 in Piedmont. 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 
 
 Completion of the 
 navigation of 
 
 the Blavat. 
 
 431 
 
 neglect nothing to render France imposing and 
 respected in the East. 
 
 Although nuicli occupied with tlicsc distant 
 enterprises, the first consul did not cense hi give 
 all due care to the interior prosperity of France. 
 He had again taken up the digest of the civil code. 
 A Section of the council of slat* and one of the 
 trihniiate united themselves daily at the house 
 of the second consul CainbaceVes, to resolve the 
 difficulties natural to a work of such magnitude. 
 The reparation of the roads had been followed up 
 with the same degree of activity. The first consul 
 had distributed them, as has been already said, in 
 series of twenty each, reporting successively the 
 one to the other the extraordinary allocations 
 which they had been allotted. The execution of 
 the canals of Ourcq and of St. Qucntin, had not 
 been for a moment interrupted. The works or- 
 dered in Italy, as well those of the roads as of the 
 fortifications, had continued to attract the atten- 
 tion of the first consul. He wished if the mari- 
 time war should recommence, arid bring back a 
 continental war, that Italy should be definitively 
 allied to France by great public communications, 
 and by powerful defensive works. The possession 
 of the Valais having facilitated the execution of the 
 great road of the Simplon, that wonderful creation 
 was now very nearly completed. The works on 
 the Mont Cenis road had been slackened in order 
 to throw all the disposable strength possible upon 
 the road of Mount Gene vre, that at least one or the 
 other might be completed in 1803. As to the for- 
 tr< s^ of Alexandria, it had become a subject of 
 daily correspondence with the able engineer Chas- 
 Belonp. There were prepared in that place bar- 
 racks for a permanent garrison of six thousand 
 men, hospitals for three thousand sick or wounded, 
 and magazines for a large army. The recasting of 
 ail the Italian artillery had been commenced, with 
 the object to bring the calibre of the whole train 
 to six, tight, and twelve po'mds. The first consul 
 recommended to the president Melzi a great stock 
 of muskets to be made. " You have only fifty 
 th usand stand," he wrote to him, " that is nothing. 
 I have in France five hundred thousand, iude- 
 ntly of those in the hands of the army. 1 
 shall not stop until I am in possession of a million." 
 
 The first consul had begun to think of military 
 colonies, the idea of which was first borrowed 
 from the Romans. He had ordered a selection to 
 be made in the army of soldiers and officers who 
 had served long, and received honourable wounds, 
 in order that they might be conducted into Pied- 
 mont, and receive a dixtribution of the national 
 domains situated around Alexandria, in a value 
 proportionate to their situation, from the soldier up 
 to the officer, lie si veterans thus endowed, would 
 many Piedmonlese females. They would meel 
 twice a year to manoeuvre, and nt tin; first alarm 
 of hostile danger Ring themselves into '.he for- 
 ol A I ximdria with their most valuable 
 property. This was a mode of introducing at the 
 same time tin- blood and feelings of Frenchmi II 
 into Italy. The same kind of institution was de- 
 sign' (I t'i be , stabli lied in the new department! of 
 the Rhine, near Mayence. 
 
 The author of these line ideas meditated some- 
 thing of a similar kind in tin- provinces of the re- 
 public still infected with a bad lee ling of insubordi- 
 
 nation, such as La Vende'e and Britany. He wished 
 to found there at the same time both great esta- 
 blishments ami towns. The agents of Georges 
 coming from England landed from the isles of Jersey 
 and Guerns y. bordering on the northern coasts ; 
 traversed the peninsula of Britany by Loude"ac and 
 Pontivy, and spread themselves either over the 
 Morbihau or the Loiie lnferieure, in order to keep 
 up distrust among the population, and, if need be, 
 prepare it for revolt. 
 
 The first consul, corresponding with the gen- 
 darmerie, and himself directing the different 
 movements and researches that took place there, 
 foreseeing the possibility of new troubles, had 
 thought of constructing in the principal passages 
 of the mountains and of the forests, towers sur- 
 mounted with a piece of artillery turning upon a 
 pivot, and capable of containing a garrison of fifty 
 men, holding some provisions and ammunition, in 
 order to serve as a support to the moveable co- 
 lumns. Full of the idea that he must think of 
 civilizing a country as well as of retaining it, he 
 commanded the completion of the navigation of 
 the Blavct, in order to render the water-course 
 navigable as far as Pontivy. It was thus that he 
 formed the first design of that fine navigation 
 which passes along the coasts of Britany from 
 Nantes as far as Brest, penetrating by many na- 
 vigable channels into the interior of the country, 
 and assuring at all times the necessary provisions 
 and stores for the arsenal at Brest. The first 
 consul had determined to construct at Pontivy large 
 vessels to receive troops, a numerous staff, tribu- 
 nals, a military administration, and manufactories, 
 which he would create nt the expense of the state. 
 He had ordered researches to be made of places 
 most proper for the foundation of new towns, whe- 
 ther in Britany or in La Vendee. He made the 
 works proceed at the same time upon the fortifica- 
 tions of Quiberon, Belle Isle, and Isle Uieu. The 
 fort Bayard was begun, after his own plans, with 
 the object <d' ma. ing the basin comprised between 
 La Rochelle, Rochefort, the islands of Rhd and 
 Olel'On, one vast road, safe, and inaccessible to the 
 English. Cherburg naturally attracted all his no- 
 lice. Not hoping to be able to finish the dyke soon 
 enough, he ordered the execution to be pressed 
 more particularly upon three points, in order to 
 make them approach in the water as near as pos- 
 sible to each other ; and to establish three batte- 
 ries, capable of keeping an enemy at a respectful 
 distance. 
 
 Ill the midst of these works, undertaken for the 
 maritime, Commercial, and military greatness of 
 France, the first Ci IISul knew how to find time to 
 occupy himself with the business of the schools, ol' 
 the institute, the progress of science, and the ad- 
 ministration of the clergy. 
 
 His sister Eliza and his brother Lucion formed. 
 
 with Sicard, Morellet, and Fontanes, what has been 
 styled in the literary history of France, a bureau 
 
 d'egpr'U. They affected there a great taste for the 
 recollections of past time, above all for its literature; 
 and it, must be avowed, that if the taste ol the past 
 
 time is to be defended in any thing, it is above all 
 for this branch of knowledge. But with a truly 
 legitimate tai t< they mingled other and very puerile 
 ones. Tiny affected to prefer the older literary 
 bodies to the institute ; and they talked very largely
 
 The first consul changes 
 432 one class of the Insti- 
 tute. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Refractory conduct 
 of some of the 
 bishops. 
 
 1802. 
 Aug. 
 
 of a design to reconstruct the French Academy out 
 of the men of letters who had survived the revolu- 
 tion, and did not feel much love for it, such as 
 Sicard. La Harpc, Morellet, and others. The re- 
 ports upon this subject which got abroad produced 
 a very vexatious effect. The consul Cam ba ceres, 
 attentive to all the circumstances which might pre- 
 judice the government, made the first consul ac- 
 quainted with what was passing ; and in his turn, 
 the first consul made his brother and sister ac- 
 quainted, in a rough way, with the displeasure 
 which this kind of affectation had caused him. 
 
 On this occasion he himself took his place in the 
 Institute. He declared that every literary society 
 which took any other title than that of the Insti- 
 tute, — that would, for example, call itself "The 
 French Academy," — should be dissolved, if it af- 
 fected to give itself any public character. The 
 second class, that which then answered to the old 
 French Academy, remained devoted to the belles 
 lettres. But lie suppressed the class of moral and 
 political science, out of an aversion, before strongly 
 pronounced, not exactly against philosophy, — as it 
 will be seen hereafter what his mode of thinking 
 was upon the subject, — but against certain persons 
 who affected to profess the philosophy of the 
 eighteenth century, in that which it held most con- 
 trary to the ideas of religion. He merged this 
 class in that devoted to the belles lettres, saying 
 that their object was a common one ; that philoso- 
 phy, politics, morals, and the observation of human 
 nature, were the foundation of all literature ; that 
 the art of writing was no more than the form ; 
 that it was not necessary to separate that which 
 should remain united ; that a class consecrated to 
 the belles lettres would be futile indeed, a class 
 consecrated to the moral ami political sciences very 
 pedantic, if they were to be separated in good 
 earnest ; that the writers who were not thinkers, 
 and the thinkers who were not writers, would be 
 neither one thing nor another ; and that, in fine, 
 an age even affluent in talent was able scarcely to 
 furnish a single one of sucli establishments with 
 members worthy of it ; they must therefore descend 
 for them to mediocrity. 
 
 These ideas, true or false, were with the first 
 consul more of a pretext than a reason to defeat a 
 literary society which arose contrary to his political 
 views in regard to the establishment of public 
 worship. Of the two classes lie made only one, 
 adding to it Sicard, .Morellet, and Fontanes ; and 
 he declared it to be the second class of the Institute, 
 answering to the old French Academy. While he 
 effected this union, he requested of the learned 
 Haiiy an elementary work on physics, which was 
 yet wanting for public instruction ; and he replied 
 to Laplace, who had addressed to him the dedica- 
 tion of his great work, the Mecanique Celeste, in 
 these words, so proudly elevated : " I thank you 
 for your dedication. I wish that the coming gene- 
 ration, when reading your work, may not forget the 
 esteem and friendship 1 bore towards its author '." 
 
 The first consul marked with attention the con- 
 duct of the clergy since the restoration of public 
 worship. The bishops appointed were nearly all of 
 them established in their dioceses. Most of them 
 conducted themselves well; but some were still full 
 
 ■ Dated Nov. 2Gth, 1802. 
 
 of the sectarian spirit, and committed the error of 
 not carrying themselves with mildness in their new 
 functions, and with that evangelical kindness which 
 can alone put an end to schism . If de Belloy at Paris 
 de Boisgelin at Tours, Bernier at Orleans, Camba- 
 eeres at Rouen, and de Pancemont at Vannes,showed 
 themselves to be true pastors, pious and sage, there 
 were others who had suffered mischievous tenden- 
 cies to appear in the exercise of their ministry. The 
 bishop of Basaiiron, for example, a Jansenist and 
 old constitutionalist, wished to prove to the priests 
 that the civil constitution of the clergy was an in- 
 stitution truly evangelical and conformable to the 
 spirit of the primitive church. Thus troubles arose 
 in his diocese. It must still be acknowledged that 
 he was the only constitutionalist of whom there was 
 any reason to complain. The faults which were to 
 be complained of among the clergy principally, were 
 from the intolerance of the orthodox bishops. 
 Several of these affected the pride of a victorious 
 party, and harshly repelled the unsworn priests. 
 The bishops of Bordeaux, Avignon, and Rennes, 
 removed the priests from service in their parishes, 
 endeavoured to humiliate them, and thus came into 
 collision with that part of the population which was 
 personally attached to them. 
 
 Nothing could be more energetic upon this sub- 
 ject than the language of the hist consul. He wrote 
 himself to certain of the bishops, or obliged the 
 cardinal legate to write to them; he threatened to 
 take away their sees, and to call before the council 
 of state those prelates who thus troubled the repose 
 of the new church. " I am willing," he said, "to 
 restore the altars thrown down, to put an end to 
 religious quarrels, but not to sutler one party to 
 triumph over the other, above all, that party which is 
 the enemy of the revolution. When the constitutional 
 priests have been faithful to the regulations of their 
 estate, and observers of good morals ; when they 
 have caused no scandal, I prefer them to their ad- 
 versaries, because, after all, they are only decried 
 for having embraced the cause of the revolution, 
 which is our own cause;" so he wrote to the pre- 
 fects. Cardinal Fcsch, his uncle, seeming, ill the 
 diocese of Lyons, to forget the instructions of the 
 government, the first consul wrote to him in the fol- 
 lowing terms: — "To wound the minds of the con- 
 stitutional priests, to remove them, is to be wanting 
 to justice, to the interest of the state, to my inter- 
 est, to your own, M. le Cardinal; it is to be wanting 
 to my express wishes, and to displease me very 
 sensibly." 
 
 There was no limit in the extent of his gifts to 
 the bishops who conformed to his firm and concili- 
 atory policy. To one he gave ornaments for his 
 church; to others furniture for their hotels; and to 
 all considerable sums for their poor. He granted 
 two or three times in a single winter fifty thousand 
 francs to M. de Belloy, to distribute himself among 
 the indigent in his diocese. He sent to the bishop 
 of Valines, who was the model of ;m accomplished 
 prelate, mild, pious, and benevolent, ten thousand 
 francs to furnish his episcopal hotel; ten thousand 
 to remunerate the priests of whose conduct he ap- 
 proved; and seventy thousand to be given to the 
 poor. In the current year, that of the year xi., he 
 sent two hundred thousand francs to bishop Bernier, 
 for the purpose of secretly helping the victims of 
 the civil war in La Vendee, a sum of which that
 
 1802. 
 Sept. 
 
 Napoleon visits Nor- 
 mandy. 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 
 
 His reception there. 433 
 
 prelate made ;i humane and able employment. He 
 drew for these largesses upon tlie chest of the mi- 
 nister of the interior, aided by different sums that 
 did not then enter the treasury, and of which he 
 purified the source by devoting them to the noblest 
 j>ui|>oses. 
 
 It was in the autumn of 1802; the weather was 
 superb: nature seemed to dispense to this happy 
 year a second spring. Owing to a temperature of 
 extreme mildness the trees budded a second time. 
 At this period the first consul expressed a wish to 
 visit a district of which people had spoken to him 
 in many different ways, the province of Normandy. 
 Then, as at present, this fine country offered the 
 interesting spectacle of rich manufactures, existing 
 in the midst of the greenest and best cultivated 
 lands. Participating in the general activity which 
 at this time was awakened at once all over France, 
 it presented the most animated appearance. Still 
 some persons, and among them the consul Lebrun, 
 had endeavoured to persuade the first consul that 
 Normandy was royalist in feeling. It was easy to 
 imagine this, upon recollecting with what energy 
 i' declared itself against the excesses of the revolu- 
 tion in 1792. The first consul wished to proceed 
 there, to see things with his own eves, and to ob- 
 serve what effect his presence would have upon the 
 inhabitants on appearing in the ordinary way. 
 Madame Bonaparte was to accompany him. 
 
 lie employed fifteen days on his journey. He 
 passed through Rouen, Elbeuf, Havre, Dieppe, 
 Gisors, and Beauvais. He visited the open coun- 
 try and the manufacturing districts, examining 
 every thing himself, showing himself without any 
 guard to the population anxious to behold him. 
 'I be pressing attentions lie received delayed his 
 journey. Every moment on his route he found the 
 country clergy presenting him with the holy water; 
 the mayors offering him the keys of their towns, 
 and addressing to himself, and not only himself, 
 but to madame Bonaparte, speeches such as they 
 formerly addressed to the kings and queens of 
 
 Prance. He was delighted at his reception, and 
 above all, at the rising prosperity which he every 
 where p marked. The town of Elbeuf pleased him 
 much by the increase which it had received. 
 " Elbeuf," In- wrote to his colleague Cambace'res, 
 " is increasi d one-third since the revolution. It is 
 nothing else than one entire manufactory." Havre 
 struck him in a singular way ; he foresaw the 
 commercial destiny to which that port was 
 to bfl called. " I find every where," he still writes 
 to Cambace'res, M only the best spirit. Normandy 
 is not that which Ll brim repr< tented to me. It is 
 frankly devoted to the gov ernment. I discover 
 hen that unanimity of sentiment which rendered 
 
 so line the days of 1780." 
 
 What be thus laid "as perfectly, correct. Nor- 
 mandy wai well selected to express to him the sen- 
 tin ifii is 1.1 I ranee. She well represented the honest 
 
 and sii '■ population of '89, at i i i - - 1 enthusiastic 
 
 for i hi revolution, then fearful of its excesses, ac- 
 cused of royalism by the pro-consuls, whose mad 
 conduct she condemned, and now enchanted to Bnd 
 
 in a manner not hoped for, order, justice, equality, 
 
 glory, liberty, less, it is true, of the last, of which, 
 unhappily, she was out of cone. it. 
 The t "i i -■ t consul, by the middle ,,f November, 
 
 was on his return to St. (loud. 
 
 In imagining an envious person present at the 
 success of a formidable rival, an idea may be 
 gained approaching pretty near the truth, of the 
 sentiments which were at this time felt in England 
 at the spectacle of the prosperity of France. This 
 powerful and eminent nation had still enough left 
 of its own greatness to console it for the greatness 
 of another ; but a singular jealousy preyed upon it. 
 So far as the success of general Bonaparte had 
 been capable of use as an argument against Pitt, 
 they had welcomed it in England with a species of 
 applause. But since these successes, continued 
 and accumulating, were those of France, alone ; 
 since they had beheld her aggrandized by peace as 
 well as by war, through policy as well as arms; since 
 they had seen, in eighteen months, the Italian re- 
 public become, under the presidency of general 
 Bonaparte, a French province ; Piedmont added 
 to France with the agreement of the continent ; 
 Parma, Louisiana, added to the French possessions 
 by the simple execution of treaties ; Germany, in 
 fine, reconstituted by the sole influence of France ; 
 since they had seen all this peaceably accomplished, 
 and naturally enough, as a thing flowing from a 
 situation of affairs universally accepted, a manifest 
 vexation seized upon every English heart ; and 
 this vexation was not dissimulated, any more than 
 sentiments are ordinarily dissimulated among a 
 passionate people, proud and free. 
 
 The classes which partook least in the advan- 
 tages of the peace suffered more than any others, 
 their jealousy too became visible. It has been 
 already observed, that the manufacturers of Bir- 
 mingham and Manchester, recompensed by a con- 
 traband trade for the difficulties which they en- 
 countered in the French ports, complained very 
 little ; but the larger merchants, finding the seas 
 covered with rival flags, and the source of their 
 financial profits dried up with the loans which 
 were no longer necessary, regretted openly the 
 discontinuance of the war, and showed themselves 
 more discontented than even the aristocracy itself. 
 The aristocracy, ordinarily so proud and s6 pa- 
 triotic, that did not leave to any class in the nation 
 the honour of serving or loving more than it did 
 itself the greatness of England, was not displeased 
 upon this occasion to be distinguished from the 
 mercantile interest by more elevated and generous 
 views. It regarded Pitt .somewhat less than it 
 had done, since he was made so much of by the 
 commercial world ; it ranged itself with eagerness 
 around the prince of Wales, a model of the manners 
 ami licentiousness of the aristocracy, and more 
 than all around l'ox, who pleased them by the 
 
 nobleness of his sentiments and his incomparable 
 eloquence. But the mercantile interest, all power- 
 ful in London and the out-ports, having for its 
 
 organs in parliament, Windham, Grenville, and 
 Dundee, smothered the voices of the rest of the 
 
 nation, ami r< animated ;dl the passions of the 
 
 English press. Tims the London newspapers be- 
 gan to he hostile, and abandoned to the papers 
 edited by French emigrants the care of outraging 
 and maligning the first consul, his brothers, sisters, 
 ami all his family without reproof. 
 
 Unfortunately the minister Addington was des- | 
 
 tilnte of :i|| energy, and Buffered every thing to | 
 
 move before the tempestuous gale that had begun | 
 to blow, lie committed, through his feebleness, | 
 
 P B
 
 434 Conduct of the English. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Feebleness of Addington. 
 
 1803. 
 Nov. 
 
 acts of the grossest want of faith. He still paid 
 Georges Cadoudal, whose perseverance in con- 
 spiring against the government of France was 
 notorious; he placed at his disposition considerable 
 sums of money for the support of his dependents, 
 of whom a number passed incessantly from Ports- 
 mouth to Jersey, and from Jersey to the coast of 
 Britany. He continued to suffer in London the 
 presence of the pamphleteer Peltier, despite the 
 legal means which he possessed in the Alien Bill 
 "of silencing him ; he treated the exiled princes 
 with a respect very natural, but he did not confine 
 himself in bis conduct to mere respect, they were 
 invited to reviews of troops, and were received 
 there with all the insignia of the former royalty. 
 He acted thus, it is proper to repeat, out of real 
 feebleness of mind, because no one doubted the 
 probity of Addington. Had he been delivered 
 from party influence, he would have been repug- 
 nant to such conduct. He well knew that in pay- 
 ing Georges he was supporting a conspirator ; but 
 he did not dare in the face of the party of Wind- 
 ham, Dundas, and Grenville, to send away, and 
 perhaps to alienate these old tools of the policy of 
 the English cabinet. 
 
 The first consul was deeply hurt at such con- 
 duct. To the reiterated demands for a treaty of 
 commerce, he replied by demanding the suppress- 
 ing of certain journals, the expulsion of Georges 
 and Peltier, and the sending av.ay of the French 
 princes. Grant me, he said, the satisfaction which 
 is due to me, and which you cannot refuse me 
 without declaring yourselves the accomplices of 
 my enemies, and I will endeavour to find the 
 means to meet to your satisfaction the difficulties 
 which affect your commercial interests. But in 
 the demands of the first consul the English ministry 
 could find none which they had a right to make. 
 As to the suppression of certain journals both 
 Addington and Hawkesbury answered with reason, 
 the press is free in England ; imitate ns, despise 
 its licentiousness. If you wish we will institute a 
 prosecution, but it will be at your risk and peril in 
 running the chance of procuring a triumph to your 
 enemies. In regard to Georges, Peltier, and the 
 emigrant princes, Addington had no legal excuse 
 to make that was of any weight, because the Alien 
 Bill gave him the power to remove them whenever 
 he pleased to do so. He replied by observing 
 upon the necessity there was of managing public 
 opinion in England ; a very poor argument it 
 must be agreed, in regard to any of the parties 
 whose expulsion was thus requested. 
 
 The first consul would not allow himself to be 
 thus beaten upon the point; at first, he said, " the 
 counsel that you give me to despise the licentious- 
 ness of the press would be good, if it aided me to 
 despise the licentiousness of the French press in 
 France. It can be understood that in one's own 
 country it may be decided upon to support the 
 inconveniences of the freedom of the liberty of 
 writing, in consideration of the advantages that it 
 may procure. That is a question altogether of 
 interior policy, in which each nation is the best 
 judge of that which it is the most convenient for it 
 to do. But it ought never to be suffered that the 
 daily press should malign foreign governments, and 
 thus change the relations between state and state. 
 This is a serious abuse, a danger without any com- 
 
 pensation, and the proof of this danger is in the 
 actual relations of France with England. We 
 should be at peace without the journals, and here 
 we are very nearly in a state of war. Your legis- 
 lation is therefore bad in relation to the press. 
 You are at liberty to permit what you please 
 against your own government, but not against the 
 governments of foreigners. Nevertheless, I lay 
 aside the libels of the English papers. I respect 
 your laws even in that which they have in them 
 vexatious for other countries. It is a disagreeable 
 thing arising out of our vicinity to which I must 
 resign myself. But the French, who make in 
 London so odious a usage of your institutions, who 
 write such disgraceful and injurious things, where- 
 fore are they suffered to proceed in this way in 
 England ? You possess the Alien Bill, which 
 has justly for its object to prevent strangers from 
 doing mischief; why not apply that law to them ? 
 Then there are Georges and his accomplices, as 
 shown in the conspiracy of the infernal machine ; 
 there are the bishops of Arras and St. Pol de Leon, 
 publicly exciting to revolt the population of Bri- 
 tany, — why do you refuse to expel them ? What 
 thus becomes in your hands of the treaty of 
 Amiens, which stipulates in express terms that no 
 underhand practices should be suffered in either 
 one of the countries against the other ? You give 
 an asylum to the emigrant princes, that is without 
 doubt considerate and kind. But the head of the 
 family is at Warsaw, why not let them all go to 
 him ? Wherefore, above all, permit them to carry 
 those decorations which the French laws no longer 
 acknowledge, and which are the occasion of very 
 great inconvenience, when they are borne by the 
 side of the ambassador of France in his presence, 
 and too frequently at the same table ? You ask 
 from me a treaty of commerce and of close re- 
 lations between the two countries ; begin then by 
 showing a less antipathetic spirit towards France, 
 and then I shall be able to search out if there is 
 any mode of conciliating our mutual interests/' 
 
 There is nothing certainly that can be deemed 
 reprehensible in these reasonings, nothing but the 
 feebleness of a great man, who, governing in Eu- 
 rope, could give himself the trouble to put them 
 forth. Of what importance, in effect, to the all- 
 powerful victor of Marengo, were Georges, Pel- 
 tier, and the count d'Aitois with his royal decora- 
 tions? Against the daggers of the assassin he had 
 to oppose his <;ood fortune ; against the outrages of 
 pamphleteers he had to oppose his glory ; against 
 the legitimacy of the Bourbons he had to place 
 the enthusiastic love of France. Yet, the weak- 
 ness even of great minds ! this man, placed on 
 such a pinnacle, annoyed himself by what was 
 really so contemptible. H,s error in this respect has 
 been already deplored, and we are unable to pre- 
 vent ourselves from again deploring it on ap- 
 proaching the moment when it produced such 
 unhappy consequences. 
 
 The first consul could no longer keep his temper, 
 and be avenged himself by replies inserted in the 
 Monlteur, often written by himself, and when so, 
 easily recognised in their origin by their incom- 
 parable vigour of style. He complained of the com- 
 plaisance of the liritihh ministry for the conspirator 
 Georges and the libeller Peltier. He demanded 
 why such guests were suffered in England, why
 
 1802. 
 Nov. 
 
 Troubles in the 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 
 
 Swiss cantons. 
 
 435 
 
 such acts were permitted towards a friendly go- 
 vernment, when to remove them had become a 
 duty by treaties, and an existing law allowed the 
 means of repressing them ! The first consul went 
 yet further, and addressing the English government 
 himself, he demanded in the articles inserted in the 
 Muiiiteur, if the government approved, if it wished 
 e these odious practices continued, these in- 
 famous diatribes, when it thus tolerated them ; or 
 whether, if it did not wish to see them, it was too 
 feeble to hinder them '. And he concluded that 
 no government could exist, where they were not 
 able to repress calumny, prevent assassination, 
 ami protect social Europi an order. 
 
 Then the English ministry complained in its 
 own turn. They said that the journals in Eng- 
 land, the language of which was so offensive, were 
 not official ; we are unable to answer for them : 
 but the Moniti <ir is the avowed urgnn of the French 
 government, anil it is besid is easy to discover in 
 the language the si.urec that inspires it. It calum- 
 niates us every day; we also, — and with much 
 better ground, — we demand satisfaction. 
 
 These are the lamentable recriminations with 
 which, during many months, the despatches be- 
 tween the two governments were filled. But all 
 on a sudden events much more serious intervened, 
 which furnished to the irascible dispositions of 
 both a more dangerous subject it is true, but at 
 hast one much more worthy. 
 
 Switzerland, snatched from the hands of the 
 oligarch Reding, had fallen into those of the lan- 
 damman Dolder, the Ik a I of the party of the mo- 
 il rate revolutionists. The retreat of the French 
 troops was a concession made to this party in 
 order to confer upon it popularity, and to furnish 
 a proof of the impatience of the first consul to 
 disembarrass himself of the affairs of Switzerland. 
 Still in- did not gather the fruits of his good in- 
 tentions. Nearly all the cantons had adopted the 
 tew constitution, and welcomed the men who were 
 charged to carry it into vigorous execution ; but 
 in the little cantons of Scliwitz, Uri, Unterwalden, 
 Appenzell, fjlaris, and the GrisoilS, the spirit of 
 rev/oil . by Reding and his friends, had 
 
 soon aroused all the inhabitants of the mountains. 
 Tin- oligarchs Mattered themselves that they should 
 be able to carry every thing by force, since the 
 ill troops had left the Swiss territory. They 
 had ass* mbled the people in the churches, and had 
 led them to reject the proposed constitution. They 
 had spread the rumour abroad, that Milan was be- 
 i by an Anglo-Rnssian army, and the French 
 republic ar its rail as in I7!W. 
 
 The constitution being thus rejected, they had 
 Htill not In in able to push events forward so far 
 
 as to commit a civil war. 'I he little cantons 
 
 limited themselves to tending depnties to Berne, 
 to declare to tin- Fr» oclt minister there, Veniiuae, 
 that they had no intention to overturn the new 
 government, but that they wished to separate 
 themselves from the Heltetie ewitfedention, to 
 constitute their own government apart in tin- 
 
 mountains, and to return to their own suitable 
 
 system, which was a pure democracy, Tiny even 
 requested to regulate tie ir m w relations with the 
 central government established at Berne, under 
 tin- auspices of France. V< vy naturally the mi- 
 nister Verninac had thought it his duty to r 
 
 to listen to these communications, and to declare 
 that he knew no other Helvetic government than 
 that which sat at Berne. 
 
 In the Grisons there Mere passing scenes of 
 tumult, which revealed better than any thing else 
 the influences under which Switzerland was at that 
 time set in a state of agitation. In the middle of 
 the valley of the superior Rhine, that was culti- 
 vate! by the superior Grison mountaineers, is the 
 lordship of Bazuns, belonging to the emperor of 
 Austria. This lordship conferred upon the em- 
 peror the rank of a member of the Grison league, 
 and gave him a direct action upon the composition 
 of the government. He chose the landamman of 
 the country from three candidates that were pre- 
 sented to him. Since the Grisons had been united 
 by France to the Helvetic confederation, the em- 
 peror remained the proprietor of Bazuns, but 
 managed his property by a superintendent This 
 superintendent had placed himself at the head of 
 the Grison insurgents, and had taken a part in all 
 the meetings, in which they had declared that they 
 would separate themselves from the Helvetic con- 
 federation, in order to return to the ancient order 
 of things. He had received and accepted the 
 mission to bear their wishes to the feet of the 
 emperor, and with their wishes, the prayer to be 
 taken immediately under his protection. 
 
 Certainly nothing could more clearly show upon 
 what European party these Swiss endeavoured to 
 support themselves. To all this mental agitation 
 there was joined something still more serious ; 
 they took up arms; they repaired the muskets left 
 by the Austrians and Russians during the last 
 war; they offered and paid eighteen sous per day 
 to the old soldiers of the Swiss regiments which 
 were expelled from France, and gave them the 
 same officers they had before. The poor inhabit- 
 ants of the mountains, believing in their simple 
 minds that their religion and independence were 
 threatened, came tunmltuously to fill the ranks 
 of the insurgent troops. Money was scattered 
 about in abundance, advanced by the rich Swiss 
 oligarchs, out of the millions deposited in London, 
 and soon to be realized if they were triumphant. 
 The landamman Reding was declared the chief 
 of the league. .Moral and S mpach were (he re- 
 collections recalled by these new martyrs for 
 Helvetic independence! 
 
 It is scarcely possible to comprehend so great 
 an independence upon their part ; for the French 
 army lay bordering upon every side of the Swiss 
 frontiers. But liny had been persuaded that the 
 first consul had his hands tied ; that the great 
 powers would intervene, and that he would not be 
 able to send a regiment into Switzerland, without 
 exposing himself to a general war. a menace that 
 he certainly would not brave, merely to sustain the 
 landamman Dolder and his colleagues; 
 
 Meantime, in spite of this agnation, the poor 
 mountaineers of Uri, Scliwitz, and I'nti rwaldeii, 
 those most engaged in this sad adventure, had not 
 come forward as Fa«l as their chiefs ilcsiicd, and 
 they had declared that they would not leave their 
 cantons. The Helvetia government had at its 
 
 disposal about four or live thousand mi n, of vv horn 
 a thousand or twelve huiuiieil wen- employed to 
 guard Heine; mine hundreds were distributed in 
 different garrisons, and ihree thousand in the cau- 
 l' I 2
 
 436 The Swiss in open revolt. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 A truce agreed upon by 1802. 
 the government. Nov. 
 
 ton of Lucerne, upon the border of Unterwalden ; 
 the last were designed to watch the insurrection. 
 A troop of the insurgents was posted close in the 
 village of Hergyswil. In a little time they came 
 to firing at eacli other, and there were some men 
 killed and wounded on both sides. While this 
 collision took place on the frontier of Unterwalden, 
 general Andermatt, commanding the government 
 troops, wished to place some companies of infantry 
 in the city of Zurich, in order to guard the arsenal, 
 and preserve it from the hands of the oligarchs. 
 The aristocratical citizens of Zurich resisted this, 
 and shut the gates of the city against the soldiers 
 of general Andermatt. He fired some shells into 
 the city in vain ; the citizens answered him, that 
 they would sooner burn it than surrender, and 
 thus deliver Zurich to the oppressors of the inde- 
 pendence of Helvetia. At the same moment, the 
 partizans of the ancient aristocracy of Berne, in 
 the county of Argovia and in Oberland, became so 
 agitated, that there was reason to fear they were 
 on the point of open insurrection. In the Pays de 
 Vaud, the ordinary cry was heard for a union with 
 France. The Swiss government knew no means 
 of extricating itself from this perilous situation. 
 Combated with open force by the oligarchs, it had 
 neither on its side the ardent patriots, who desired 
 an absolute unity, nor the peaceable masses, who 
 were enough inclined for a revolution, but that 
 they knew nothing of such an event save the 
 horrors of war, and the presence of foreign troops. 
 It may hence be judged what was the value of the 
 popularity acquired at the price of the retreat of 
 the French army. 
 
 In this embarrassment the government con- 
 cluded an armistice with the insurgents, and then 
 addressed itself to the first consul, soliciting, in a 
 most pressing manner, the intervention of France, 
 which had been demanded by the insurgents in 
 like manner upon their side, when they wished 
 that their relations with the central government 
 should be regulated under the auspices of the 
 minister Verninac. 
 
 When this demand of an intervention was made 
 known in Paris, the first consul repented himself 
 of having listened too readily to the ideas of the 
 party of Dolder, as well as to his own wishes to 
 get clear of Swiss affairs, and thus prematurely 
 withdrawn the French troops. To make them 
 re-enter now in presence of England, so malevo- 
 lently disposed, complaining as she was already of 
 the action of France being too manifest upon the 
 continental states, was an act extremely serious. 
 Besides, he knew not yet all that had taken place 
 in Switzerland, nor to what an extent the pro- 
 vokers of the movement in the little cantons had 
 revealed their real designs, in order to show what 
 they really wen;, in other words, the actors in a 
 counter-European revolution and the allies of 
 Austria and England. He, therefore, refused an 
 intervention, universally demanded, of which the 
 inevitable consequences would have been the re- 
 turn of the French troops into Switzerland, and 
 the military occupation of a state, the independence 
 of \vl#eh was guaranteed by all Europe. 
 
 This reply threw the Helvetic government into 
 consternation. At Berne they knew not what to 
 do, threatened as they were by the approaching 
 rupture of the armistice, and an insurrection of 
 
 the peasants of Oberland. Some members of the 
 government proposed the sacrifice of M. Dolder, 
 the landamman, and head of the moderate party, 
 who under this title was detested equally by the 
 oligarchs and the unitarian patriots. Both the 
 one and the other promising to become tranquil 
 upon this condition. They went to citizen Dolder, 
 and committing a sort of violence upon him, ob- 
 tained his resignation, which he had the weakness 
 to give up to them. The senate, behaving with 
 more firmness, refused to accept his resignation; 
 but citizen Dolder persisted in giving it. Then 
 they had recourse to the means ordinarily adopted 
 in assemblies that know not what resolution they 
 shall come to. They named an extraordinary 
 commission, authorized to discover the best means 
 to be adopted. But at this moment the armis- 
 tice was broken ; the insurgents advanced upon 
 Berne, obliging general Andermatt to retire be- 
 fore them. These insurgents were composed of 
 peasants, to the number of fifteen hundred or two 
 thousand, carrying crucifixes and carbines, and 
 preceded by the soldiers of the Swiss regiments, 
 formerly in the service of France, old wrecks of 
 the 10th of August. They soon appeared at the 
 gates of Berne, firing some rounds of cannon with 
 the bad pieces they had drawn after them. The 
 municipality of Berne, under the pretext of saving 
 the city, interfered and negotiated a capitulation. 
 It was agreed that the government, in order not 
 to expose Berne to the horrors of being stormed, 
 should retire with the troops of general Andermatt 
 into the Pays de Vaud. This capitulation was 
 immediately executed; the government proceeded 
 to Lausanne, where it was followed by the French 
 minister. Its troops, concentrated since it had 
 ceded the country to the insurgents, were at Payern, 
 to the number of four thousand men, very well 
 disposed, encouraged, besides, by the dispositions 
 which prevailed in the Pays de Vaud; but they 
 were incapable of reconquering Berne. 
 
 The oligarchic party soon established itself at 
 Berne, and to make the state of things more com- 
 plete, reinstated the " avoyer," or magistrate, who 
 was on duty in 1798, at the same epoch when the 
 first revolution took place. This avoyer was M. 
 de Mulinen. There wanted nothing then to this 
 counter-revolution, neither the foundation, nor the 
 form ; and without the silly illusions of parties, 
 without the ridiculous reports, spread abroad in 
 Switzerland, on the unfounded want of power in 
 the French government, it is impossible to com- 
 prehend an attempt so exceedingly extravagant. 
 
 Still things being brought to this point, it was 
 not possible to count much longer upon the pa- 
 tience of the first consul. The two governments 
 sitting at Lausanne and Berne, both came to the 
 resolution of despatching envoys to him ; the one 
 party to supplicate for his intervention, the other 
 to conjure him to do nothing in their affairs. The 
 envoy of the oligarchical government was a mem- 
 ber of the same family of Mulinen. He was com- 
 missioned to renew those promises of good conduct 
 of which M. Reding had been so prodigal, and 
 which he had so badly kept, as to confer at the 
 same time with the ambassadors of all the powers 
 at Paris, and to put Switzerland under their special 
 protection. 
 
 Supplications to do or not to do, were henceforth
 
 1802. 
 Nov 
 
 Resolutions taken by 
 Bonaparte respect- 
 ing Switzerland. 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 
 
 The French troops 
 march towards 
 Switzerland. 
 
 437 
 
 useless, made to the first consul. In presence of a 
 flagrant counter-revolution, which had for its ob- 
 ject to deliver over the Alps to the enemies of 
 France, he was not the man to hesitate about 
 action. He refused to receive the agent of the 
 oligarchical government ; but he answered the 
 intermediate party, ordering him to say to the 
 agent of Berne, that his resolution was taken : " I 
 cease," said he, " to be neuter and inactive. I have 
 wished to respect the independence of Switzerland, 
 and to spare the susceptibilities of Europe; I pushed 
 my scruples to a real fault in the retreat of the 
 French troops. But that is condescension enough 
 for the enemies of France. As long as I have seen 
 in Switzerland any conflicts which could alone ter- 
 minate in rendering one party a little Btronger than 
 another, I have thought it my duty to leave it to 
 itself; but now, when a privileged counter-revolu- 
 tion is agitated, accomplished by soldiers for- 
 merly in the service of the Bourbons, and since 
 passed into the pay of England, I will not suffer 
 myself to be cheated. If these insurgents wish to 
 keep me under an illusion, they must let their con- 
 duct be marked with a little more dissimulation, 
 and not place at the head of their columns the 
 soldiers of the regiment of Bachmann. I will not 
 Buffer a counter-revolution any where, neither in 
 Switzerland, Italy, Holland, nor in France itself. 
 I will not deliver over to fifteen hundred mercena- 
 ries, paid by England, 'the formidable bastions of 
 those Alps,' that the European coalition was in two 
 campaigns unable to snatch from our toil-worn 
 soldiers. They speak to me of the will of the 
 Swiss people; I cannot see it in the will of two 
 hundred aristoeratical families. I esteem that 
 brave people too much to believe that they wish to 
 be under such a yoke. But in any case, there is 
 something which I place to more account than the 
 will of the Swiss people, and that is the safety of 
 forty millions of Bonis over whom I rule. I shall 
 go to declare myself the mediator of the Helve- 
 tie confederation, and jjive to it a constitution 
 founded upon equal rights and the nature of the 
 soil. Thirty thousand men will be on the frontier 
 to insure the execution of my beneficent intentions. 
 But if, contrary to my hope, 1 am not able to se- 
 cure the repose of this interesting people, to whom 
 I would fain do all the good which they merit, my 
 part is taken. 1 will unite to France all that part 
 w hich, by the soil and manners, resembles Franche- 
 Comte ; I will unite the rest to the mountaineers 
 of the- small cantons, giving them tin; same govern- 
 ment which they had in the fourteenth century, 
 
 and thus leave them to themselves. My principle 
 
 is hence forth fixed ; either Switzerland the friend 
 
 of Prance, or no Switzerland at all.'' 
 
 Tin- first consul enjoined npon Talleyrand to 
 order th'- envoy of Berne to leave Paris in twelve 
 
 hours, aud to inform him that lie was no better 
 
 able i hose who sent him any where than he 
 
 would he at Berne, by counselling them to separate 
 that moment, it they would not bring a 1'ivneli army 
 into Switzerland, lie then wrote with his own 
 
 h.oei a proclamation to the Helvetic people, short 
 and energetic, couched in the following terms : — 
 
 ■• Inhabitants of Helvetia, you have offered for 
 two yean an afflicting spec tac l e. Opposing (ac- 
 tions havi lively seized upon the govern 
 meat ; they have BgnaHzed their rule by a 
 
 of partiality which proves their feebleness and 
 incompetency. 
 
 " In the course of the year x., your government 
 desired that the small number of French troops 
 that were in Helvetia should be withdrawn. The 
 French government voluntarily seized upon the 
 occasion to do honour to yotir independence ; but 
 soon afterwards your different parties became agi- 
 tated with fresh fury : the blood of the Swiss 
 flowed by the hands of the Swiss. 
 
 " You have disputed among yourselves for three 
 years without understanding each other. If you 
 are left much longer to yourselves, you will de- 
 stroy each other for three years to come, without 
 coming to an understanding. Your history proves 
 besides, that your intestine wars you have never 
 been able to terminate without the intervention of 
 France. 
 
 " It is true that I had determined not to mingle 
 myself in your affairs ; I have seen constantly your 
 different rulers demand advice of me and not fol- 
 low it, and sometimes abuse my name, according to 
 their interests or their passions. But I am not 
 able, nor ought I to remain insensible to the mis- 
 chief of which you are a prey; 1 recall my deter- 
 mination. I will be the mediator of your differ- 
 ences ; but my mediation shall be efficacious, such 
 as will be consonant with the great people in the 
 name of which I speak." 
 
 To this noble preamble were joined certain im- 
 perative dispositions. Five days after the notifica- 
 tion of this proclamation, the government which 
 had taken refuge at Lausanne had transported 
 itself to Berne, the insurrectional government had 
 dissolved itself, all the assembled armies, except 
 that of general Andermatt, had dispersed them- 
 selves, and the soldiers of the old Swiss regiments 
 had deposited their arms in the communes to 
 which they belonged. In fine, till those men who 
 had exercised public functions for three years, to 
 whatever party they belonged, were invited to 
 come to Paris, in order to confer with the first 
 consul on the best means to terminate the troubles 
 of their country. 
 
 The first consul ordered his aide-de-camp, colo- 
 nel Rapp, to go immediately to Switzerland, in 
 order to carry the proclamation to all the legal or 
 insurrectionary authorities, to proceed first to Lau- 
 sanne, then to Berne, Zurich, and Lucerne; every 
 where, in fact, where he found there was any 
 resistance to be overcome. Colonel Rapp was 
 besides to concert measures for the movement of 
 the troops with general Ney, who commanded 
 them. Orders were already issued for the troops 
 to march. The' first detachment assembled at 
 Geneva, was drawn from the Valais, from Savoy, 
 and the departments of the Rhone, and consisted 
 of seven or eight thousand men. Six thousand 
 were united at Pontarlier, six thousand at llimiii- 
 guen and Hale. A division of equal force was 
 Concentrated in the Italian republic, in order to 
 be introduced into Switzerland by the Italian bail- 
 wicks. Genera] Ney was to wait at Geneva the 
 advices that he would receive from colon* I Rapp, 
 and at tin- first signal from the colonel, inarch into 
 
 the Pays de Vaud with tin- column formed at Ge 
 
 neva, joining in its march that which had pene- 
 trate, 1 by Pontarlier, and to t" march upon Berne 
 with twhe or fifteen thousand men. The troops
 
 The French army enters 
 *3o Switzerland. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 English intrigues with 
 Austria respecting 
 Switzerland. 
 
 1802. 
 Nov. 
 
 coming from Bale had orders to join in the smaller 
 cantons the detachment which would arrive by the 
 Italian bailwicks. 
 
 All these dispositions were arranged with extra- 
 ordinary promptitude, because in forty-eight hours 
 the resolution was taken, the proclamation drawn 
 up, and the order to march expedited to all the 
 different corps, in which time colonel Rapp had set 
 off for Switzerland. The first consul awaited with 
 audacious tranquillity the effect which would be 
 produced in Europe by so bold a resolution, which, 
 added to all that he had done in Italy and in 
 Germany, contributed to render yet more apparent 
 a power that already obscured all eyes. But let 
 what would result, even war itself, his resolution 
 was an act of wisdom, because he performed it for 
 the purpose of keeping the Alps out of the reach 
 of an European coalition. Energy employed in 
 the service of prudence, is the finest spectacle that 
 can be presented in the science of politics. 
 
 The agent of the Bernese oligarchy sent to Paris, 
 had not missed, seeing himself so rudely received, 
 addressing himself to the ambassadors of the courts 
 of Austria, Russia, Prussia, and England. M. 
 Markoff, although he every day declaimed against 
 the conduct of France in Europe, did not of himself 
 dare to reply. All the other representatives of the 
 powers were also silent, except Mr. Merry, the 
 minister of England. The last, after having a 
 conference with the envoy of Berne, immediately 
 despatched a courier, in order to inform his court 
 of all which had passed in Switzerland, and to 
 announce that the Bernese government formally 
 invoked the protection of England. 
 
 The courier of Mr. Merry arrived at lord 
 Hawkesbury's at the same time that the French 
 papers reached London. Immediately there was 
 nothing but a cry all over England in favour of the 
 brave people of Helvetia, who were defending, it 
 was said, their religion and liberty against a barba- 
 rous oppressor. This emotion, which we have seen 
 in our own days communicated to the whole of 
 Europe, in favour of the Greeks massacred by the 
 Turks, they affected to feel in England for the 
 Bernese oligarchy, that had been exciting the un- 
 happy peasants to arm in behalf of their aristocra- 
 tical privileges. They affected in England great 
 zeal for the Swiss, and opened subscriptions for 
 them. Still the emotion was too factitious to be 
 general ; it did not descend below the elevated 
 classes, who ordinarily set themselves in agitation 
 upon the political affairs of the day. Grenville, 
 Windham, and Dundas commenced in turn to 
 alarm the public mind, and attacked with fresh 
 vehemence that which they denominated the fee- 
 bleness of Addington. Parliament was about to be 
 dissolved and to be again assembled, in consequence 
 of a general election. The English cabinet, between 
 the Pitt party, which began sensibly to withdraw 
 its support from the measures of Addington, and 
 the Fox party that, somewhat milder since the 
 peace had been concluded, did not cease to be its 
 opponent, was at a loss to know where it should 
 look for support. It very much dreaded the first 
 meeting of the new parliament, and it deemed 
 itself bound to take certain diplomatic steps, that 
 might serve as arguments to be used against its 
 adversaries. 
 
 The first step thus undertaken was to transmit 
 
 a note to Paris, to remonstrate in favour of Swiss 
 independence, and to protest against all active 
 intervention on the part of France. This was not 
 a mode to put a stop to the proceedings of the 
 first consul, and was only a means of simply ex- 
 citing an exchange of disagreeable communica- 
 tions But the cabinet of Addington did not 
 stop here ; it. sent an agent to the spot, Mr. Moore, 
 with a commission to see and come to an under- 
 standing with the insurgent leaders, in order to 
 judge whether they were well resolved to defend 
 themselves, and to offer them in that case pe- 
 cuniary aid from England. He had an order for 
 the purchase of arms in Germany, that they 
 might be sent forward to them. This proceed- 
 ing was, it must be acknowledged, neither in good 
 faith, nor easy to be justified. Communications, 
 s'till more serious in import, were addressed to the 
 Austrian court, in order to awaken its old aversion, 
 and to irritate its recent resentment against 
 France in consequence of the affairs of Germany, 
 and, above all, to alarm it on account of the fron- 
 tiers of the Alps. It went so far as to offer Austria 
 a subsidy of 100,000,000 florins, or 225,000,000 f. 
 if she would take a decided part in behalf of 
 Switzerland. This is, at least, the information 
 which was sent to Paris by M. Haugwitz himself, 
 who had taken great care to observe every thing 
 passing which could in any way be of moment to 
 the maintenance of peace. A less open attempt 
 was made on the emperor Alexander, who was 
 well known to be deeply enough engaged in 
 supporting the policy of France, in pursuance of 
 the mediation which both had exercised at Ratisbon. 
 England took no account of the Prussian cabinet, 
 which was then notoriously attached to the first 
 consul, and which on that account was treated with 
 reserve and coldness. 
 
 These proceedings of the British cabinet, how- 
 ever little agreeable they were in a period of per- 
 fect peace, could not then have any material 
 consequence, because that cabinet had found all 
 the courts of the continent more or less leagued 
 in the policy of the first consul ; the one, as with 
 Russia, because they were at present associated in 
 his labours, the others, as Prussia and Austria, 
 because they were at the moment endeavouring to 
 obtain from him advantages altogether persunal. 
 It was, in fact, the moment when Austria solicited 
 and finished by obtaining an extension of indemni- 
 ties in favour of the archduke of Tuscany. But 
 the English cabinet committed a much more serious 
 act, and one which had at a later period the most 
 momentous consequences. The order to evacuate 
 Egypt had been sent out ; that for evacuating 
 Malta had not been yet forwarded. The delay so 
 far arose from excusable motives, and was more 
 imputable to the French than to the English 
 chancellory. Talleyrand, as must be borne in mind, 
 had neglected to complete the sequel to one of the 
 stipulations of the treaty of Amiens. This stipu- 
 lation purported that a demand was to be made on 
 Prussia, Russia, Austria, and Spain, for their con- 
 sent to guarantee the new order of things esta- 
 blished at Malta. From the first days of the 
 signature of the treaty, the English ministers 
 pressed to obtain this guarantee, before the evacua- 
 tion of Malta, had shown the greatest activity in 
 endeavouring to obtain it from all these courts.
 
 1302. 
 Nov. 
 
 Neglect respecting 
 guarantee of 
 Malta. 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 
 
 English ministry 
 remonstrate 
 with France. 
 
 439 
 
 But the French agents had received no instructions 
 from their government. M. de Champagny had 
 the prudence to act at Vienna as if he had re- 
 ceived the order, and the guarantee of Austria was 
 given. The young emperor of Russia, on the con- 
 trary, partaking very little in the passion of his 
 father for any thing which concerned the order of 
 St. John of Jerusalem, thought the guarantee 
 which had been demanded of him a burdensome 
 thing, because it might, sooner or later, draw him 
 into the obligation of taking a part against one 
 power or the other, against either France or Eng- 
 land, and he was not then well disposed to give 
 what was thus demanded of him. Tile ambassador 
 of France having no instructions to second the 
 English minister in the business, would not ven- 
 ture to act in the matter, and the Russian cabinet 
 was thus not pressed to explain itself, and took 
 advantage of that circumstance to give no answer 
 at ail. The same circumstance, and from the same 
 motive, occurred at Berlin. Owing to this negli- 
 gence, prolonged for many months, the question of 
 tlie guarantee had remained in suspense, and the 
 English ministers, without any ill intention, were 
 fully authorized to defer the evacuation. The 
 Neapolitan garrison, which, according to the treaty, 
 wns to be sent to Malta, to be there during the 
 time of the reconstitution of the order, had been 
 received and landed, but it remained wilhoutside 
 of the fortifications. The French chancellory was 
 at last set in motion, but it was too late. This 
 time the emperor of Russia, upon being pressed 
 for an explanation, refused his guarantee. An- 
 other embarrassment had supervened. The grand 
 master nominated by the pope, the bailly Ruspoli, 
 alarmed at the fate of his predecessor, M. Hum- 
 p<-'ii, seeing too that the charge of the order of 
 Malta no longer consisted in combating the in- 
 fidels, but in holding the balance in equilibrium 
 between two great maritime nations, with the cer- 
 tainty in the end to fall a prey either to the one or 
 the other, was unwilling to accept the onerous and 
 empty dignity which was thus tendered to him, 
 and resisted all the entreaties of the Roman court, 
 M well as the pressing invitations of the first 
 consul. 
 
 Such were the circumstances which had caused the 
 evacuation of Malta to be deferred until November, 
 1802. There then resulted the dangerous temptation 
 to the English cabinet of deferring it yet longer. In 
 point of fact, on tin; same day when its agent 
 Ho re left England for Switzerland, a frigate sailed 
 for the Mediterranean, to carry an order to the 
 
 garrison of Malta to remain there. This was a 
 BerinUS fault on the part of the English minister 
 
 who wished to preserve the peace, because it 
 went to . n cite in England a national eovetousness, 
 which no one would be able to resist after being 
 
 ted. What WSS mon, it was a formal 
 
 breach of the treaty of Amiens, in presence of an 
 adversary who had taken a pride in executing 
 it with punctuality, and who li;i>l set himself yet 
 hither upon seeing that it was executed by all 
 
 who had signed it. It was S conduct at tin- same 
 
 time imprudent and irregular. 
 The remonstrances of the British cabinet in 
 
 favour of the independence of Switzerland were 
 verv badly received in the French cabinet, and the 
 consequences of this bad reception it was ea j to 
 
 foresee ; the first consul was not for a moment 
 shaken. He persisted more than ever in his reso- 
 lution. He reiterated his orders to general Ney, 
 and prescribed to him the most prompt and de- 
 cisive execution of them. He desired to prove that 
 this pretended national movement of the Swiss was 
 no more than a ridiculous attempt, provoked 
 through the interest of certain families, and as 
 soon repressed as it was attempted. 
 
 He was convinced that he obeyed in this in- 
 stance a grand national interest ; but he was again 
 excited to it by a species of defiance which was 
 thrown at him in the face of Europe, because the 
 insurgents said loudly, and their envoys every 
 where repeated, that the first consul had his hands 
 bound, and that he would not venture to act. The 
 reply, addressed by his orders to lord Hawkesbury, 
 had something of the truth in it, which was very 
 extraordinary. It is here given in substance, 
 without imagining that it will be ever imitated : 
 " You are desired to declare," wrote Talleyrand to 
 M. Otto, " that if the British ministry, for the in- 
 terest of its parliamentary situation, has recourse 
 to any notification or any publication, from which 
 it may be inferred that the first consul has not 
 done such or such a thing, because he has been 
 prevented, at that very moment he will not fail to 
 do it. In other respects, as to Switzerland, what- 
 ever may be said or not said, his resolution is 
 irrevocable. He will not deliver the Alps to fif- 
 teen hundred mercenaries in the pay of England. 
 He will not have Switzerland converted into an- 
 other Jersey. The first consul has no desire for 
 war, because he believes that the French people 
 will find in the extension of their commerce as 
 much advantage as in the extension of their terri- 
 tory. But no consideration shall arrest it if the 
 honour or the interest of the republic demand that 
 he shall take up arms. You will not speak of 
 war," Talleyrand wrote to M. Otto, " but you will 
 not permit that it shall be spoken of to you. The 
 least menace, however indirect it may be, must be- 
 taken with the greatest haughtiness. With what 
 kind of war besides do you threaten us ? With a 
 maritime war '. But our commerce has as yet 
 scarcely had time to renew itself, and the prizes 
 which we shall thus resign to the English will be 
 of very small value. Our West India islands are 
 provided with acclimated soldiers ; St. Domingo 
 alone contains twenty-five thousand. They will 
 blockade our ports, it is true ; but at the same 
 instant that war is declared, England will find 
 herself blockaded in her turn. The coasts of 
 Hanover, Holland, Portugal, Italy, as far as Ta- 
 rentum, "id be occupied by our troops. Those 
 countries which we are accused of governing too 
 
 openly, Liguria, Lombardy, Switzerland, and Hol- 
 land, in place of being left in an uncertain situa- 
 tion, by which they occasion us a thousand embar> 
 rassments, will be converted into French provinces, 
 from which we shall draw immense resources; and 
 we shall thus be forced to realize that empire I 
 
 of tho Gauls, with which Europe will in ver 
 cease to be affrighted. And what would next hap- 
 pen if the Rrst consul, quitting Paris for the pur- 
 pose of establishing himself at Lille or St. Older, 
 uniting all the flat* bottomed boats of Flanders and 
 
 of Holland, preparing the means of transport for a 
 hundred thousand nun, should make England live
 
 Singular demonstra- 
 440 tion of the first 
 
 consul. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Angry reply of the 
 • first consul to 
 England. 
 
 1802. 
 Nov. 
 
 in the fear of an invasion, always possible, and 
 very nearly certain to be accomplished ? Can 
 England support a continental war ? But where 
 will she find allies ? Is it in Prussia or Bavaria, 
 who owe to France the justice which they have 
 obtained in the territorial arrangements of Ger- 
 many ? It is not surely in Austria, already worn 
 out by having volunteered to serve the cause of 
 British policy ? In any case, if the war on the 
 continent be renewed, it will be England that will 
 have obliged us to conquer Europe. The first 
 consul is but thirty-three, he has not yet destroyed 
 any states but those of the second order. Who 
 knows what he may be made to do in time, if 
 he is forced, to change anew the face of Europe, 
 and resuscitate the empire of the west !" 
 
 All the miseries of Europe, and all those of 
 France, were contained in these formidable words, 
 which it might be believed were written after the 
 blow was struck, they are so very prophetic '. 
 Thus it was that the lion become full grown, felt 
 his strength, and made himself ready to exert it. 
 Covered by the barrier of the ocean, England was 
 pleased thus to excite him. But this barrier it 
 was not impossible to pass over ; it wanted but 
 very little that it was not passed ; and if it had 
 been, England had bitterly mourned the excite- 
 ment to which she had been carried by an in- 
 curable jealousy. It was, besides, a cruel policy 
 in regard to the continent, because that had to 
 suffer all the consequences of a war provoked, on 
 its own part, without reason or justice. 
 
 M. Otto had orders neither to speak of Malta 
 nor of Egypt, because it was not to be even sup- 
 posed that England would violate a solemn treaty 
 signed in the face of the whole world. He was 
 limited to the circumscription of the whole of the 
 French policy in these words : " All the treaty of 
 Amiens ; nothing but the treaty of Amiens." 
 
 M. Otto, who was a very discreet individual, and 
 very submissive to the first consul, but capable, in 
 regard to a useful object, of putting a little of his 
 own discretion into the performance of the orders 
 he received, softened very considerably the haughty 
 words dictated by his government. Nevertheless, 
 even with this softened reply, he much embarrassed 
 lord Hawkesbury, who, alarmed at the approach- 
 ing meeting of parliament, wished to have had 
 something satisfactory to say. He therefore in- 
 sisted on having a note, which M. Otto had orders 
 to decline giving, and consequently refused him, 
 declaring, at the same time, that the meeting of 
 the principal citizens of Switzerland at Paris had 
 by no means for an object the imitation of the 
 ceremony which had taken place at Lyons, 
 where the Italian consulta was held there, but 
 merely to give to the Swiss a wise constitution, 
 based upon justice, and adapted to the nature of 
 the country, without suffering one party to triumph 
 over another. Lord Hawkesbury, who during 
 this conference with M. Otto was expected by the 
 English cabinet, assembled at this moment to re- 
 ceive the answer of France, felt himself much 
 troubled and discontented. To the declaration : 
 
 1 The despatch here spoken about, and of which the sub- 
 stance is thus given, is dated the 1st of Brumaire, year x.; 
 it is written by Talleyrand to M. Otto, under the dictation 
 of the first consul. 
 
 " All the treaty of Amiens, nothing but the treaty 
 of Amiens," of which lie well comprehended the 
 drift, because it made the allusion to Malta, he 
 replied by another maxim as follows: "The state 
 of the continent at the epocli of the treaty of 
 Amiens, nothing but that state." 
 
 This manner of placing the question provolced, 
 on the other side from the first consul, a reply 
 immediate and to the purpose. " France," said 
 Talleyrand, by his orders, " France is ready to 
 accept the conditions proposed by lord Hawkes- 
 bury. At the time of the signature <5f the treaty 
 of Amiens, France had ten thousand men in Swit- 
 zerland, thirty thousand in Piedmont, forty thou- 
 sand in Italy, and twelve thousand in Holland — is 
 it desired that all these shall be placed upon the 
 same footing again \ At this time the offer was 
 made to England to place her in an understanding 
 upon the affairs of the continent, but it was upon 
 the condition that she should acknowledge and 
 guarantee the states newly constituted. She re- 
 fused this ; she chose to remain a stranger to the 
 kingdom of Etruria, and to the Italian and Ligu- 
 rian republics. She had thus the advantage of 
 not giving her guarantee to the new states, but 
 then she lost also the right to mix herself up 
 afterwards in what concerned them. In other 
 respects, she knew all that was already done, all 
 that was to be effected. She knew of the presi- 
 dency conferred by the Italian republic upon the 
 first consul ; she was well aware of the design to 
 unite Piedmont to France, seeing that it had been 
 refused when an indemnity was demanded for the 
 king of Sardinia, and in the front of all she signed 
 the treaty of Amiens ! Of what then does England 
 complain \ She stipulated one single thing, the 
 evacuation of Tarentum in three months, and 
 Tarentum was evacuated in two. Then in regard 
 to Switzerland, it was well known that France had 
 laboured to constitute the government there, and 
 was it to be imagined by any one that France 
 would suffer a counter-revolution to be effected 
 in that country ? But in any case, even under the 
 view of strict right, what is there to object to it ? 
 The Helvetian government had claimed the media- 
 tion of France. The little cantons had also claimed 
 that mediation, by demaiiuing, under the auspices 
 of the first consul, the estal lishment of their rela- 
 tions with the central authority. The citizens of 
 all the parties, even those of the oligarchical party, 
 as M. de Mulinen and M. d'Affry, are in Paris 
 conferring with the first consul. Are the affairs of 
 Germany new to England ? Are they not the 
 literal execution of the treaty of Luneville, well 
 known to the world, having been published before 
 the treaty of Amiens ? Wherefoi - e has England 
 signed the arrangements adopted in regard to 
 Germany, if she thought it was a wrong step to 
 secularize that country ? Why did the king of 
 Hanover, who is also king of England — why did 
 he approve of the Germanic negotiation, by ac- 
 cepting the bishopric of Osuabruck ? Wherefore, 
 besides, was it that the house of Hanover was so 
 largely endowed out of the indemnities, if it was 
 not in consideration of England 1 The British 
 cabinet lias not for six months mingled itself up 
 in the affairs of the continent ; it chooses to do 
 so now ; let it do as it pleases. But has it more 
 interest in the affairs of the continent than Prussia
 
 1802 
 Nov 
 
 An jit reply of the 
 lit st consul to 
 England. 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 
 
 A French army enters 
 Switzerland. 
 
 441 
 
 Russia, or Austria? Very well, then these three 
 powers give in their adhesion at that moment to 
 all that is passing in Germany. How is England 
 more able to judge of the interests of the continent 
 than these states \ It is true that in the great 
 Germanic negotiations, the name of the king of 
 England has not appeared. There is no question 
 about that, and it may perhaps mortify his people, 
 who desire to hold, and who have a right to hold, 
 a great place in Europe. But whose fault was it, 
 if not that of England herself ? The first consul 
 desired nothing better than that friendship and 
 confidence should be exhibited, to resolve in 
 common with England the great questions that he 
 had settled in unison with Russia ; still for friend- 
 ship and confidence shown there must be some 
 return. But he finds shouted in England only 
 cries of hatred towards France. They say that 
 the English constitution is the reason why things 
 are so. So be it ; but that constitution does not 
 command that there be suffered to live in London 
 French pamphleteers, the inventors of the infernal 
 machine, or that the reception and treatment of the 
 Bourbon princes should be with all the honours 
 due to the sovereignty of the members of that 
 house. When England shall show better feelings 
 towards the first consul, he will be brought to 
 exhibit other feelings also, and to divide with 
 England that European influence which he has 
 hitherto partaken with Russia.'' 
 
 Unknowing whether or not our patriotic sen- 
 timents obscure our eyes, most assuredly, in 
 searching out the truth, without suffering national 
 considerations to prevail, it seems to us that there 
 is no reply to be made to the vigorous reasoning of 
 the first consul. England, when signing the treaty 
 of Amiens, was not at all in ignorance that the 
 influence of France domineered in the bordering 
 states, in Italy, Switzerland, and Holland, occupied 
 too by her troops, nor that France was about to 
 proceed to the settlement of the German indemni- 
 ties; England was not ignorant of these things, and 
 pressed to make peace, she signed it at Amiens, 
 without at all embarrassing herself with the inter- 
 1 the continent. Yet as soon as the peace had 
 attraction in her view than during the earlier 
 days after it was concluded ; now that her com- 
 merce found none- of the advantages which she 
 had at first hoped for ; now that the party of Pitt 
 began again to lift its head ; now, finally, that a 
 calm mi teding to the agitations of the war, per- 
 mitted her to perceive more distinctly the power 
 and the glory of France, England was seized with 
 a fit of jealousy, and without the power to produce 
 any single violation of the treat} of Amiens, she 
 ventured the thought of its violation upon her 
 
 own part, in the most audacious and unheard of 
 
 manner. 
 
 It would seem that M. I laugw itz, with his rare 
 
 oom ctni -- of judgmi at, had well appreciated the 
 
 British cabinet, when upon one occasion he re- 
 marked to tie- French ambassador, "That feeble 
 minister, Addington, was so pressed to conclude 
 
 a peace, that lie passed over every thing without 
 making any objection ; he now perceives that 
 France is gr eat ami powerful, that she draws 
 eonsequi noes from her greatness, and he would 
 tear to pieces the treaty which he signed." 
 
 During the interchange of such warm communi- 
 
 cations between France and England, Russia, that 
 had received the remonstrances of the Swiss insur- 
 gents, and the complaints of the English cabinet, 
 had written to Paris a very cautious despatch, in 
 which, without reproducing any of the recrimina- 
 tions of England, she insinuated, notwithstanding, 
 to the first consul, that it was necessary in order 
 to preserve the peace, to calm certain distrusts 
 excited in Europe by the increased power of the 
 French republic, and that it appertained to him, 
 by his moderation, and by his respect for the inde- 
 pendence of the neighbouring states, to do away 
 with those suspicions. This was very wise counsel, 
 that implied a hint at Switzerland, which had 
 nothing of a nature to wound the first consul, and 
 which suited well the character of the impartial 
 moderator, a character that the young emperor 
 seemed at that time willing to make the chief 
 glory of his reign. As to Prussia, she had declared 
 that she fully approved of the conduct of the first 
 consul, in not suffering. Switzerland to be made the 
 focus of English and Austrian intrigues ; that he 
 had reason for hastening, and for not permitting 
 his enemies to obtain time to profit by similar 
 embarrassments ; that he would thus have a better 
 reason still, if he took away from them every pre- 
 text to complain of him, and kept himself from 
 renewing in Paris the consulta of Lyons. As to 
 Austria, in the last place, she affected not at all to 
 mingle herself up in the question, and she did not 
 dare to do it, having need of France still, in order 
 to wind up the affairs of Germany. 
 
 The first consul was of the opinion of his friends: 
 he wished to act quickly, and not to imitate at 
 Paris the consulta of Lyons, that is to say, not to 
 make himself be proclaimed the president of the 
 Helvetian republic. As to the rest of the affair, 
 this desperate resistance, which the patriotism of 
 the Swiss might oppose to him, he said, had been 
 only that which might be expected, an extravagant 
 story of the emigrants. As soon as colonel Rapp 
 arrived at Lausanne, he presented himself before 
 the advanced posts of the insurgents, without being 
 followed by a single soldier, and bringing with him 
 only the proclamation of the first consul, he found 
 all the party very well disposed to submit. General 
 Bachmann expressed his regret not to have had 
 twenty-four hours more time left, in order to fling 
 the Helvetic government into the lake of Geneva; 
 nevertheless, he retired upon Berne. There, 
 colonel Rapp found some disposition to resistance 
 on the part of the oligarchs. This party wished 
 France absolutely to employ force, believing they 
 should thus compromise her with the other 
 European powers. Their desires were on the 
 point of being satisfied, since force now arrived in 
 
 great haste. In effect, the French troops placed 
 upon tin' frontiers, under the orders of general 
 Nev, entered tin 1 country, and from that moment 
 tin- insurrectional government no longer hesitated 
 
 to dissolve itself. The members of which it was 
 
 composed withdrew themselves, declaring that they 
 only gave way to force. They every where sub- 
 mitted easily, except in tilt; little cantons, where 
 the agitation was greater, and where, indeed, it 
 had begun. Still, as well as in the others, the 
 opinions of the reasonable people prevailed here at 
 
 the approach of the French troops, and all serious 
 resistance ceased in their presence. The French
 
 442 T1 >e Sjviss deputies assemble TR j ER g, C0NSULATE AND EMP ] RE . toTheVis" Tpu* 
 
 in raris. ties _ 
 
 1S02. 
 Nov. 
 
 general Serras, at the head of some battalions, 
 seized upon Lucerne, Stanz, Schwitz, and Altorf. 
 M. Reding was arrested with several other agita- 
 tors ; the insurgents suffered themselves to be 
 successively disarmed. The Helvetic government, 
 which had taken refuge at Lausanne, returned to 
 Berne, under the escort of general Ney, who went 
 thither in person, followed only by one demi- 
 brigade. For a few days, the town of Constance, 
 in which the English agent, Moore, had placed 
 himself, was full of emigrants belonging to the 
 oligarchical party, i-eturning after having uselessly 
 expended their money in England, and declaring 
 aloud the ridiculous character of the whole enter- 
 prise. Mr. Moore returned to London, to give an 
 account of the bad success of this Vende'an-Helvetic 
 insurrection, which he had endeavoured to support 
 among the Alps. 
 
 This promptitude of submission had one great 
 advantage, since it proved that the Swiss, of whose 
 courage there could be no doubt, even against very 
 superior forces, did not feel bound, either in honour 
 or interest, to resist the intervention of France. 
 There thus fell to the ground at once every reason 
 upon which the remonstrance of England was 
 grounded. It was necessary to achieve this im- 
 portant work of the pacification, by giving a con- 
 stitution to Switzerland; founding that constitution 
 upon reason, and upon the nature of the country. 
 The first consul, to take away from the mission 
 of general Ney the too military character which 
 it appeared to possess, conferred upon him, in 
 place of the title of general-in-chief, that of French 
 minister, giving him at the same time very precise 
 instructions to conduct himself with moderation 
 and mildness towards all the parties. He had, be- 
 sides, no more than six thousand men in Switzer- 
 land; the rest remained upon the frontiers. 
 
 The first consul assembled at Paris the indi- 
 viduals of all shades of opinion, ardent revolutionists 
 as well as decided oligarchists, provided they were 
 individuals of influence in the country, and en- 
 titled to some consideration. The revolutionists 
 of every colour, designated by the cantons, came 
 without hesitation. The oligarchs refused to name 
 representatives. They wished to remain strangers 
 to all that was passing in Paris, and thus to re- 
 serve the right to protest against the proceedings 
 there. It was needful that the first consul should 
 designate himself the parties that were to repre- 
 sent them. He chose several; three of those 
 chosen were very well known, M. de Mulinen, M. 
 d'Affry, and M. de Watteville, all distinguished by 
 their families, talents, and characters. These in- 
 dividuals persisted in not attending. Talleyrand 
 made them understand that it was, on their part, 
 only mistaken spite ; that their presence was 
 not requested with any view of making them 
 parties to the sacrifice of opinions which were 
 dear to them; that, on the contrary, they would 
 thus hold the balance equal between them and 
 their opponents; that they were good citizens, men 
 of understanding, and that they ought not to 
 recuse to contribute their aid to a constitution, 
 by which it was endeavoured, in good truth, 
 to conciliate all the legitimate interests, and by 
 which, besides, the fate of their country would be 
 settled for a long time to come. Moved by this 
 invitation, they were in a good disposition to re- 
 
 strain themselves from the influence of faction, 
 and they answered the honourable appeal thus 
 made to them, by setting out immediately for 
 Paris. The first consul received them with great 
 distinction, informed them what were his wishes, 
 that all the moderate men of every side ought to 
 be of his opinion, because he wished the constitu- 
 tion to be of such a character as nature herself 
 had designed for the Swiss, that was to say, the 
 old one, with less inequality between citizen and 
 citizen, canton and canton. After having en- 
 deavoured to encourage them, and particularly the 
 oligarchical party, because it was against that he 
 had been obliged to employ force, he designated 
 four members of the senate, Bartlielemy, Rcederer, 
 Fouche, and Demeunier, and charged them to 
 assemble the Swiss deputies, to confer with them, 
 separately or together, and to bring them back as 
 expeditiously as possible to reasonable views, re- 
 serving to himself always, it was to be clearly 
 understood, the decision of those questions, upon 
 which they had been unable to arrive at a mutual 
 agreement. 
 
 Before they commenced their labours, the first 
 consul gave an audience to the principal of those 
 deputies, who were chosen by their colleagues for 
 the purpose of being there presented, and he ad- 
 dressed them in an off-hand speech, which was 
 full of good sense, of depth, and of originality of 
 language. It was taken down at the instant by 
 several persons, in order to be transmitted entire 
 to the whole deputation. 
 
 " It is necessary," he told them in substance, 
 " to remain as nature designed you, that is to say, 
 in a union of petty confederated states, different 
 in the rule of your internal government as you 
 differ in soil, attached the one to the other by a 
 simple federal lien — a lion which shall neither be 
 onerous nor expensive. It is also necessary to put 
 a stop to the unjust domination of canton over 
 canton, which goes to render one territory subject 
 to another : the government of the aristocratic 
 citizens must be put an end to. This in the great 
 towns occasions one class to be subject to another 
 class. These are among the barbarisms of the 
 middle ages, that France, called upon to give you 
 a constitution, cannot tolerate in your laws. It is 
 more important that true and real equality, such 
 as that which is the glory of the French revo- 
 lution, should triumph among you, as it has done 
 among us ; that every territory, every citizen, 
 should be the equal of another in the sight of the 
 law and in his social duties. This being granted, 
 you will not admit inequalities, save the differences 
 that nature herself has established between you. 
 I do not imagine for you an uniform and central 
 government like that of France. None will per- 
 suade me that mountaineers, the descendants of 
 William Tell, are capable of being governed like 
 the rich inhabitants of Berne or Zurich. There 
 must for the former be an absolute democracy, and 
 a government without taxation. Pure democracy, 
 on the other hand, would be for the last class con- 
 trary to common sense. Besides, what good is a 
 central government ? Is it to possess greatness ? 
 It will no more come to you thus, than through the 
 dreams of ambition of your unitarians. Would 
 you have greatness after the mode of that in 
 France 1 It must then be a central government,
 
 1802. 
 Nov. 
 
 Address of TCona- 
 parie to the Swiss 
 deputies. 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 
 
 The new Swiss con- 
 stitution. 
 
 443 
 
 richly endowed, having a permanent army. Would 
 you pay for all this — would you be able to do so ? 
 And then by the side of France, that counts five 
 hundred thousand men ; by the side of Austria, 
 that reckons three hundred thousand ; or by that 
 of Prussia with two bandied thousand; what would 
 you do with fifteen or twenty thousand permanent 
 and regular troops ? You made a figure with great 
 brilliancy in the fourteenth century against the 
 dukes of Burgundy, because at that time all the 
 states of Europe were parcelled out, and their 
 disseminated. To-day Burgundy is but a 
 point in France. You must measure your strength 
 with France or with Austria entirely. Jt you 
 desire this species of greatness, do you know what 
 it will infallibly do — it will make you become 
 French, confound you with a great people, make 
 you participator in the cost to obtain its advan- 
 . and thru you will be associated in all the 
 chances of its high fortunes. But you do not wish 
 it ; and more, I am not willing it should be so. 
 The interest of Europe commands very differently. 
 You have a greatness of your own, and it is well 
 w«>rth any other. It is your duty to be a neutral 
 people, whose neutrality will be respected by all 
 the world, because it will oblige all the world to 
 pay it respect. To be in one's own home, free, 
 invincible, and respected, is the noblest mode of 
 human existence. To this end the federal system 
 is the most valuable. It has less of that unity 
 which dares, but it has more of that inertia which 
 resists. It is not to be vanquished in a day like a 
 central government, because it resides every where, 
 in every part of the confederation. For the same 
 reason a militia is better for you than a standing 
 army. You are bound to be all soldiers the 
 moment that the Alps are threatened. Then the 
 permanent army is the entire people, and in your 
 mountains your intrepid chasseurs are a force 
 respectable both by sentiments and numbers. You 
 need no soldiers paid and permanent like those you 
 see exist Huong your neighbours, in order to teach 
 you the military art, A confederation that leaves 
 to each his native independence, the difference of 
 his manner.-., and of his soil, such a confederation 
 is invincible in the- mountains ; here is your true 
 moral grandeur. If I was not a sincere friend to 
 Switzerland — if I thought to retain it dependant 
 
 upon myself, I should desire a central government, 
 
 which could unit'' every part in OHS entire whole. 
 In such a case 1 should say, ' do this' — 'do that,' 
 or I shall pass your frontiers in twenty-four hours. 
 A fadersJ government! on (he contrary, preserves 
 
 itself even by the impossibility of replying promptly ; 
 it saves itself by its very slowness of action, in 
 gaining two months of time, it escapes from all 
 rual exigency. But in wishing to remain in- 
 dependent, do 1 1 « > t forget that it is necessary you 
 be- the frit inls of France. Her friendship is neces- 
 sary to yon ; noii ba\e bad it for many centuries, 
 
 ami to her you are indebted for your independence. 
 
 It must not be allowed, at any price, that Switzer- 
 land should become a focus of intriguers, and 
 dumb hostility ; that she be to I'raiiche-Cnintc 
 and to Alsace that which the [ales of .Jersey and 
 Guernsey arc to Britany and La Vendee. She 
 neither owes it to h e r sai l dot to France. Besides, 
 
 1 will never suffer it. I speak now only of '.out- 
 general constitution : in that I have spoken what 
 
 I know. About your cantonal constitutions, it is 
 you who are to enlighten me, and to put me in 
 possession of what you stand in need. 1 will hear 
 you ; I will endeavour to satisfy you ; by re- 
 trenching at times in your laws the barbarous 
 injustice of days that are past. During all, do not 
 forget that you must have a just government, 
 worthy of an enlightened age, conformable to the 
 nature of your country, simple, and, above all, 
 economical. On these conditions it will endure, 
 and I wish that it should endure ; because, if Ihe 
 government which we are about to constitute to- 
 gether should fail, Europe will say either that 
 I have willed it, in order to seize upon Switzerland 
 myself, or that I did not know how to do better ; 
 but I am not willing to leave it the power to doubt 
 my good faith, any more than my knowledge 1 ." 
 
 Such was the exact sense of the words of the 
 first consul. AVe have not changed the language 
 except for its abridgment. It was impossible to 
 think with more strength, justice, or loftiness. 
 The hand was immediately set to the work. The 
 federal constitution was discussed at a meeting of 
 all the Swiss deputies. The cantonal constitutions 
 were prepared by the deputies of each canton 
 themselves, and then revised in the general as- 
 sembly of all. When the passions are cooled, and 
 good sense is supposed to prevail, the constitution of 
 any people is easy to form, because it only consists 
 in uniting some just ideas, which are found to 
 dwell in the minds of all the world. The passions 
 of the Swiss were far from being completely 
 appeased ; but their deputies at Paris were al- 
 ready much calmer. The change of place, the 
 presence of a supreme authority, beneficent, and 
 enlightened, had sensibly modified their feelings. 
 The more as this authority was there to impose 
 upon them just ideas, few in number, which would 
 subsist alone after the stormy passions of the time 
 hail subsided. 
 
 The following dispositions were agreed upon : — 
 The chimera of the unitarians was discarded ; it 
 was settled that each canton should have its own 
 constitution, its civil legislation, its judicial forms, 
 and its own system of taxation. The cantons were 
 confederated only for the common interests of all 
 the confederations, and more particularly for the 
 relations of the country with foreign states. This 
 confederation was to have for its representation a 
 diet, composed of an envoy from each canton ; and 
 this envoy was to enjoy one or two voices in the 
 deliberations, according to the extent of the popu- 
 lation which he represented. The representatives 
 of Heine. Zurich, Yaud, St. Gall, Argovia, and the 
 (irisons, of which the population was more than 
 ono hundred thousand souls, was to possess two 
 voices. The other cantons were only to possess 
 one each. Thus the diet consisted of twenty- five 
 members. It was bound to sit for one month in 
 every year, and each year to change its residence 
 alternately in the following cantons : Friburg, 
 
 Berne, Soleure, Bale, Zurich, and Lucerne. The 
 
 canton in which the diet sat was for the year the 
 
 l This speech was taken down by several persons; there 
 exist different versions of it. of which two an- found in the 
 ■rehires of foreign affair! I have pal together that which 
 
 was common t<> all. and that which agrees with the letters 
 written upon the suhject by the lirst consul.— Author'* note.
 
 444 The new Swiss constitution. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Division of the cantons. 
 
 1802. 
 Nov. 
 
 directing canton. The chief of that canton, avoyer 
 or burgomaster, as he might be, was for that year 
 landamman for the whole of Switzerland. He 
 received the foreign ministers, accredited the Swiss 
 ministers abroad, convoked the militia, exercised, 
 in one word, the functions of the executive power 
 of the confederation. 
 
 Switzerland was to have at the service of the 
 confederation a permanent force of fifteen thousand 
 men, carrying an expense of 490,300 f. The divi- 
 sion of the amount of this contingent for each can- 
 ton, both in men and money, was made by the con- 
 stitution itself upon all the cantons, in the due 
 proportion of their population and their riches. 
 But every Swiss of sixteen years of age was a 
 soldier, a member of the militia, and could, if 
 required, be called to defend the independence of 
 Helvetia. 
 
 The confederation had only one class of money 
 common to the whole of Switzerland. 
 
 It had no longer any tariffs or customs' duties, 
 save at the general frontiers, and the duties thus 
 levied must be approved by the diet. Each can- 
 ton placed to the account of its profits the sums 
 which it might have collected on its own frontier. 
 
 The tolls of a feudal character were wholly 
 suppressed. None remained but such as were 
 necessary to keep the roads in order and preserve 
 navigation. A canton which violated a decree 
 of the diet, could be brought before a tribunal, 
 composed of the presidents of all the criminal 
 tribunals of the other cantons. 
 
 The attributes of the central government were 
 very much restrained in power. The other attri- 
 butes of the sovereignty, not stated in the federal 
 act, were left to the care of the sovereignty of the 
 cantons. There were nineteen cantons formed 
 altogether, and the questions of territory, so much 
 debated and disputed between the former sovereign 
 states and the subject ones, were resolved into the 
 separation or advantage of the last. Vaud and 
 Argovia formerly subjects of Berne ; Thurgovia 
 formerly subject to Schaff hausen ; the Tessin 
 formerly subject to Uri and Unterwalden, were 
 constituted independent cantons. The small can- 
 tons, such as Glaris and Appenzel, which had been 
 enlarged in order to change their character, were 
 disembarrassed of the inconvenient additions which 
 had been made to them. The canton of St. Gall 
 was composed of all that territory which had been 
 bestowed upon Appenzel, Glaris, and Schwitz. 
 Schwitz alone retained some addition of territory. 
 If to the nineteen cantons which follow, viz., 
 Appenzel, Argovia, Bale, Berne. Friburg, Glaris, 
 Grisons, Lucerne, St. Gall, Schaff hausen, Schwitz, 
 Soleure, Tessin, Thurgovia. Unterwalden, Uri, 
 Vaud, Zug, and Zurich, Geneva be added, then a 
 French department, the Valais, constituted sepa- 
 rately, and Neufchatel, a principality belonging to 
 Prussia, there are the twenty-two cantons which 
 are at present in existence. 
 
 In regard to the particular system of govern- 
 ment imposed upon each canton, this was made 
 in all respects conformable to the former consti- 
 tution of each state, with the exception that it was 
 purged of all feudal and aristocratical abuses. The 
 landsgemeinde, or assemblage of all the citizens of 
 the age of twenty years, who met together once 
 annually, to determine all public matters, and to 
 
 nominate a landamman, was re-established in the 
 small democratic cantons of Appenzel, Glaris, 
 Schwitz, Uri, and Unterwalden. They could do 
 no otherwise than reject this assemblage during 
 the revolt. The government of the citizens was 
 re-established in Berne, Zurich, Bale, and the 
 cantons of the same character, but on condition 
 that it remained open to all ranks of citizens. 
 Provided that an individual possessed a property 
 of 1000 f. > income at Berne, and 500 at Zurich 2 , 
 he might become a member of the body of govern- 
 ing citizens, and eligible to all the public functions. 
 There were in the cities, as formerly, a great 
 council, to which the charge of making the laws 
 was committed, and a little council, whose duty 
 it was to see that they were properly carried into 
 execution, an avoyer or burgomaster being charged 
 with the executive functions, under the superin- 
 tendence of the lesser council. In the cantons in 
 which nature had given rise to particular adminis- 
 trative divisions, as the Rhodes interior and exterior 
 in Appenzel, and the Ligues in the Grisons, these 
 divisions were respected and maintained. The 
 whole was, in fact, the ancient Helvetic constitu- 
 tion, corrected after the principles of justice and 
 the superior knowledge of the time. It was old 
 Switzerland remaining federative, but having iu 
 addition, the subject-countries raised to the rank 
 of cantons, maintained in a state of pure demo- 
 cracy, in those places where nature had clearly 
 marked out that it should be so, and in the state 
 of citizen government, but not exclusive of rank, 
 where the nature of things seemed to require that 
 form. 
 
 In this undertaking, so just and so wise, each 
 party gained and lost something — gained what 
 it wished that was just, but lost that which it 
 desired if it were unjust and tyrannical. The uni- 
 tarians saw their chimera of unity and absolute 
 democracy disappear, but they gained the freedom of 
 the subject-territories, and the opening of the ranks 
 of the citizenship in the oligarchical cantons. The 
 oligarchs saw the subject-cantons disappear, Berne 
 particularly, losing Argovia and Vaud, they saw 
 the patrician pretensions put aside ; but they ob- 
 tained the suppression of the central government, 
 and the consecration of the rights of property in 
 the rich cities, such as Zurich, Bale, and Berne. 
 
 Still this work remained incomplete, inasmuch as 
 that, in arranging the form of the institutions, they 
 did not at the same time settle the choice of the 
 individuals who were to put it into action. In pre- 
 senting the French constitution to the country in 
 the year viii., and the Italian constitution in the 
 year x., the first consul had designated in the con- 
 stitution itself the individuals who were charged 
 with the great constitutional functions. This was 
 wise, because when he was acting for the purpose 
 of placing a country long agitated in a state of 
 peace, the men who were to contribute to that 
 object were not of less importance than the things. 
 
 The ordinary tendency of the first consul's con- 
 duct was to remit every thing immediately to its 
 own proper place. To recall the higher classes of 
 society to power, without making the men descend 
 who, by their merit, had elevated themselves in 
 the social body ; and to secure to all those who 
 
 1 About £41 \Zi. id. 
 
 2 About £20 16*. 8i. sterling.
 
 1802. 
 Nov. 
 
 M. Affry made Lan- 
 damman. 
 
 RUPTURE OF Till] PEACE OF AMIENS. 
 
 Tlie deputies sent back 
 to Switzerland. 
 
 445 
 
 should at a later time be worthy of it, the means to 
 elevate themselves in their turn, — here is the sys- 
 tem that he would have immediately followed in 
 France if he had been able. But he had not 
 attempted it, because the old aristocracy of France 
 had emigrated, was scarcely returned from emigra- 
 tion, and from haying been emigrant, was wholly 
 strange to the country, its feelings, and public 
 business. More than this, he was obliged to take 
 his points of support in France itself, out of one of 
 the parties into which the country was divided ; 
 and naturally he had chosen that point of support 
 in the revolutionary party which war. his own. In 
 France, then, he was exclusively surrounded, at 
 least during that time, by men belonging to the 
 revolution. But in Switzerland he was more free 
 to act ; he had not to search for support in an 
 exclusive party, because he acted from without, 
 and from the summit of French power ; he had 
 no more any thing to do with an emigrant aristo- 
 cracy. He did not therefore hesitate in giving way 
 to the natural bent of his inclination, and he called 
 into power, accordingly, an equal portion of the 
 partizans of the old and new order of things. 
 Commissions nominated in Paris were sent into 
 each canton, in order to carry into effect the can- 
 tonal constitution, and to choose there the indivi- 
 duals who were designated to take their place 
 among the new authorities. He had taken care to 
 place equal numbers in each, thus balancing in 
 equal strength the revolutionists and oligarchs. 
 Having finally to choose the landamman of the 
 Helvetic confederation, being the first who was to 
 execute that office, he boldly selected the most dis- 
 tinguished personage, but the most moderate of 
 the oligarchical party, M. Affry. 
 
 M. Affry was a discreet but firm man, devoted 
 to the profession of arms, formerly belonging to the 
 service of France, a citizen of the canton of Fri- 
 burg, at that time the least agitated of the cantons 
 of the confederation. In becoming landamman, 
 M. Affry elevated his canton to the dignity of can- 
 ton director. He was a man of the olden times, 
 rational, military in his habits, attached to France 
 by feeling, and the member of a tranquil canton. 
 These were in the sight of the first consul very 
 decisive reasons for the preference, and he nomi- 
 nated M. Affry. Besides, after having braved all 
 Europe by his intervention, it was not necessary to 
 multiply before it anymore painful impressions, by 
 ling in Switzerland the demagogues and their 
 turbulent chiefs, lie did not think it, needful to 
 do that, nor to attribute to himself the presidency 
 of the Helvetic republic, as he had attributed that 
 of the Italian republic. To settle Switzerland in a 
 state oi wise and discreet reform, to snatch it out 
 of the hands of the enemies of France, and to 
 leave it neuter and independent, such was the 
 
 problem to In- resolved, and it was resolved in a 
 
 few days, courageously and prudently. 
 
 When this line work, which, under the title of 
 the " Act of Mediation, ' had procured for the Swiss 
 a longer period of repose and good government 
 than they had i DJoyed for fifty years before — when 
 this great work was finished, the first consul as- 
 sembled the united deputies in Paris, and remitted 
 
 it to them in presence of tin- four senators who bail 
 
 pn tided over the progress of the undertaking ; 
 
 made to tin in a short and energetic address ; re- 
 
 commended to them union, moderation, impar- 
 tiality, the same conduct, in fact, which he had 
 adopted himself in France ; and then sent them 
 back to their own country, to replace the provi- 
 sional and impotent government of the landamman 
 Bolder. 
 
 In Switzerland there was astonishment enough ; 
 the feelings of some were deceived, distrust re- 
 mained with many ; but in the masses, uniformly 
 susceptible of the real truth, there was submission 
 and gratitude. This sentiment was more parti- 
 cularly conspicuous in the smaller cantons, that 
 having been defeated in their object, were not 
 treated as if they had been so. M. Reding and 
 his friends were immediately set at liberty. In 
 Europe there was as much surprise as of admira- 
 tion at the promptitude of the mediation, and at 
 its perfect equity. It was a new act of moral 
 power, similar to those which the first consul had 
 accomplished in Germany and in Italy, but much 
 more able, and more meritorious still, if it be pos- 
 sible, because Europe was braved and respected in 
 the performance of the act ; braved as far as that 
 act willed the interest of France, respected in its 
 legitimate interests, which were the independence 
 and the neutrality of the Swiss people. 
 
 Russia congratulated the first consul warmly on 
 having made so prompt and so good an end to an 
 affair so difficult. The Prussian cabinet, through 
 the medium of M. Haugwitz, expressed its opinion 
 to him in terms of the strongest approbation. Eng- 
 land was stupified and embarrassed at being de- 
 prived of a grievance about which she had made 
 such a great noise. 
 
 Parliament, so formidable to Addington and 
 Hawkesbury, had consumed in animated discussions 
 that time which the first consul had employed in 
 reconstituting Switzerland. These discussions had 
 been stormy, brilliant, and particularly worthy of 
 admiration, when Fox made the voice of justice 
 and humanity heard against the burning jealousy 
 of his countrymen. They had revealed beyond a 
 doubt the insufficiency of the Addington cabinet ; 
 but they had made reappear with fresh violence 
 the war party, which had been for the moment 
 much weakened in parliament, and that Adding- 
 ton now somewhat strengthened. According to that 
 minister, the peace had recovered every one of its 
 lost chances. 
 
 It was the speech from the throne, delivered on 
 the 23rd of November, which had become the 
 theme of these discussions. 
 
 " In my relations with foreign powers," his Bri- 
 tannic majesty had said, " I have been hitherto 
 animated with a sincere desire to maintain the 
 
 p ace. Hut still it is impossible, in my view, to 
 lose sight, for a single instant, of that wise and 
 ancient system of policy which so intimately hound 
 up our own interests with the interests of other 
 nations. I cannot therefore lie indifferent to any 
 
 change in this strength, and in this relative posi- 
 tion. My conduct will be regulated invariably by 
 a just appreciation of the actual situation of Eu- 
 rope, and by a vigilant solicitude for the permanent 
 good of my people*. You will, without doubt, think 
 
 with me, that it is our duty to adopt those mea- 
 sures of .security which are the most proper to give 
 
 to my subjects, the hope of preserving tin- advan- 
 tages of peace."
 
 446 
 
 Debates in the 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 British parliament. 
 
 1802 
 
 Nov. 
 
 To this speech, which designated the new posi- 
 tion taken by the British cabinet in respect to 
 France, there was found joined a demand for sup- 
 plies in order to carry out the peace armament to 
 the extent of fifty thousand seamen, an armament 
 which, in agreement with the previous statements 
 of Addington, was only to consist of thirty thou- 
 sand. The ministers asserted, that in less than one 
 month, on the first occasion that required it, they 
 should be able to send to sea from the ports of 
 England fifty sail of the line. 
 
 The debate was long and stormy, and the minister 
 was now well able to perceive how very little he 
 had gained by any of his concessions to the party 
 of Grenville and Windham. Pitt affected absence. 
 His friends took upon themselves, on his behalf, 
 that violent character which he disclaimed. " How," 
 cried Grenville and Canning, " how have the mi- 
 nistry come at last to discover that we have in- 
 terests upon the continent, and that the care of 
 those interests has ever been an important part of 
 English policy, and that those important interests 
 have not ceased to be sacrificed since the deceptive 
 and fraudulent peace has been signed with France ? 
 What! is it then the invasion of Switzerland which 
 has led the ministry at last to perceive this? Is it 
 only now that it has begun to discover that we were 
 excluded from the continent, and that our allies 
 were there immolated to the insatiable ambition of 
 this pretended French republic, Which had not 
 ceased to threaten the whole of European society 
 with a demagogical overturn, before it threatened 
 to govern it with a military despotism ? Your 
 eyes," they said to Addington and Hawkesbury, 
 " were your eyes closed to the truth during the 
 time that you negotiated the preliminaries of peace 
 — during the negotiation of the definitive treaty, 
 and during the time that treaty began to be 
 carried into effect? You had scarcely signed the 
 preliminaries of London, before our eternal enemy 
 seized openly upon the Italian republic, under the 
 pretext that it had decreed to him the presidency; 
 adjudged Tuscany to himself under the pretext that 
 it was conceded to the infant of Spain; and as the 
 price of this false concession, seized upon the finest 
 part of the American continent in Louisiana. Here 
 is what was openly done on the very morrow of the 
 preliminary treaty, while you were occupied with 
 your negotiations in the city of Amiens, and even 
 this never carried conviction to your sight. You 
 had scarcely signed the definitive treaty, the wax 
 with which you had stamped upon that treaty the 
 arms of England was hardly cold, when already our 
 indefatigable enemy withdrew from concealment 
 the intentions which he had so adroitly hidden 
 from you, united Piedmont to France, and de- 
 throned the worthy king of Sardinia, that constant 
 ally of England, who remained invariably faithful 
 to her during a contest of ten years; who, when 
 enclosed in his Capital by the troops of general 
 Bonaparte, was unable to save himself but by a 
 capitulation, which he was unwilling to sign, be- 
 cause it contained an obligation to declare war 
 against Great Britain! When Portugal and even 
 Naples closed their ports against us, the king of 
 Sardinia opened his, and he fell, because he was 
 willing to have kept them always open to our ves- 
 sels. But this is not all: the definitive treaty was 
 concluded in March; in June, Piedmont was united 
 
 to France; and in August the consular government 
 merely signified in plain and simple terms to Eu- 
 rope, that the Germanic constitution had ceased to 
 exist. All the German states were confounded, 
 shared out in the lots that France distributed to 
 whom she pleased; and Austria, the sole power, 
 upon the strength and perseverance of which we 
 had reason to count to restrain the ambition of our 
 enemy, has been so much enfeebled, abased, and 
 humiliated, that we scarcely know whether she will 
 ever be able to lift up her head again ! Then the 
 stadtholder, to whom you had promised an indem- 
 nity should be made equal to his losses, this stadt- 
 holder has been treated in a manner utterly 
 ridiculous towards himself— ridiculous on your 
 part, that constituted yourselves the protectors of 
 the house of Orange. This house received for the 
 stadtho I derate a miserable bishopric; it is the same 
 with the house of Hanover, which is seen disdain- 
 fully despoiled of its personal property: It has 
 been often said," repeated lord Grenville, "that 
 England has heretofore suffered on account of 
 Hanover; it need not be said this time, because it 
 is on account of England that Hanover has suffered. 
 It is because he is king of England that the king of 
 Hanover has been thus despoiled of his ancient 
 patrimonial property. They have not even ob- 
 served the forms of civility, which have been the 
 usage among all powers of the same rank; there 
 was no communication made to your sovereign, 
 that Germany, his former country, at this day his 
 associate in the confederation — that Germany, the 
 largest country on the continent, was about to be 
 overturned from the foundations. Your sovereign 
 knew nothing — nothing but what he was able to ac- 
 quire in the way of information through a message 
 from the minister Talleyrand to the conservative 
 senate! Germany is not therefore one of those 
 countries of which the situation is of any importance 
 to England. Omitting that, the ministers tell 
 us out of his majesty's mouth that they will not re- 
 main insensible to every considerable change in 
 Europe, having now quitted their stupor and in- 
 sensibility. Finally, within a few days, Parma 
 has disappeared from the list of independent 
 states— Parma is become a territory of which the 
 first consul of the French republic is free to do as 
 he pleases, or to dispose of at his own will. All 
 these things were accomplished under your own 
 eyes, and nearly without interruption. Not a 
 month since the fruition of this unhappy peace — 
 not a month has passed away without being marked 
 by the fall of an allied state, or friend of England. 
 You have seen nothing — perceived nothing of all 
 this! Now on a sudden you awaken — wherefore? 
 Why now? in favour of what object? In favour 
 of the brave Swiss — a deeply interesting people 
 most assuredly, and well worthy of all the sym- 
 pathy of England; but are they more interesting, 
 more worthy of sympathy, than Piedmont, Loin- 
 hardy, or Germany ? What have you discovered 
 there so very extraordinary, so very injurious, above 
 all which has been passed over during the last 
 fourteen months? What! nothing attracted your 
 attention on the continent, neither Piedmont, Lom- 
 bardy, nor Germany ? Why do the Swiss alone 
 bring you to think that England ought not to 
 remain insensible to the equilibrium of the Euro- 
 pean balance of power?" " You have shown your-
 
 1802. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Speech of Fox in the RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. British parliament. 447 
 
 selves," said Canning, " the must incapable of men; 
 since, in remonstrating about Switzerland, you 
 haw made England look ridiculous, you have ex- 
 posed your country to the contempt of your enemy. 
 At Constance there was an English agent well known 
 to everybody; will you favour us with an account of 
 what he did tin re, of what the character was 
 which he played ! It is publicly notorious that you 
 have addressed remonstrances to the first consul of 
 the French republic in favour of Switzerland ; will 
 you favour US with the answer which he made to 
 you ? What we all know is, that since your re- 
 monstrancee, the Swiss have laid down their arms 
 before the French troops; and that the deputies of 
 all the cantons, assembled in Paris, have received 
 laws from the lirst consul. You remonstrate then 
 in the name of England, without requiring that you 
 shall be listened to ! It would be better to have 
 been silent, as y»u were when Piedmont disap- 
 peared, and when Germany whs overturned, rather 
 than to remonstrate without being heard. And it 
 must be thus, when that is inconsiderately spoken 
 which should be concealed ; when people speak 
 without having prepared the means to be heard 
 — without having a fleet, an army, or an ally. It is 
 necessary to be quiet, or to elevate the voice with 
 a certainty of being heard and comprehended. The 
 dignity of a great nation ought not thus to be put 
 in hazard. You demand supplies from us; to what 
 purpose do you mean to apply them ? If they are 
 for p'aee, you a-k too much; if they are for war, 
 you do not ask for enough. We will, nevertheless, 
 grant them to y«»u; but it must be upon the condi- 
 tion, that you leave the care of employing them to 
 him whom you replaced, nnd who is alone able to 
 save England in the crisis into which you have so 
 imprudently brought Iter." 
 
 The English ministers did not obtain even 
 the price of their concessions to the party inimical 
 to the peaee, because it reproached them for their 
 remonstrances in favour of Switzerland ; and it 
 must b>- acknowledged, they had only that fault, but 
 then that fault was too well founded not to justify 
 thi- reproaclns of their adversaries. Their con- 
 duct under that head had been very puerile; 
 
 Still, in the midst of these declamatory speeches, 
 lord (Jn uville had advanced something of a serious 
 character, and particularly so for a former minister 
 of, foreign affairs. In reproaching Addington and 
 Hawkesbury for having laid up the fleet, dism 
 the army, evacuated Egypt and the Cape, lie 
 praised them f<* one point, which was, that of not 
 having yet withdrawn the English troops from 
 
 Malta. '' Be it by negligent r by fickleness that 
 
 you have acted in tins way, - ' he said; '■ fortunate- 
 fickleness, the only thing that we are able to ap- 
 prove in your conduct I Wo hope that you will 
 not l«t tliis, last pledge escape you, remaining by 
 
 accident in our h U, but that you will retain it, 
 
 in order to indemnify tie for all the infractions of 
 the treaties committed by our insatiable enemy." 
 
 It was impossible to proclaim mon openly or 
 
 boldly th" violation of any treaty. 
 
 In the midst of this ontrag.-ous language, the 
 eloquent and generous Fox made his voice be 
 
 heard on the side of good s e nse, modi-ration, and 
 
 the national honour, in the real acceptance of tins 
 but word. " I have Utile of n-lation with tin' 
 L.rmbers of the cabinet," said he, on addressing 
 
 himself in reply to Grenville and Canning; "and 
 I am, besides this, very little habituated to taking 
 up the defence of his majesty's ministers; but I 
 confess my astonishment at all that I now hear; 
 I am astonished still more at reflecting upon 
 the individuals who speak these things. I am 
 certainly sorry, more so than any of the honourable 
 colleagues and friends of Mr. Pitt, at the increasing 
 greatness of France, which every day extends, both 
 in Europe and America. I regret it, although I 
 do not partake in the prejudices of the honourable 
 members against the French republic. But, in 
 fact, this extraordinary increase of power, which 
 so surprises you, which so alarms you, when was 
 it produced I Was it under the ministry of Mr. 
 Addington and bn-d Hawkesbury, or under that 
 of Mr. Pitt and 1 >rd Grenville! Under the 
 ministry of Pitt and Grenville, had not France 
 acquired the line of the Rhine, overrun Holland, 
 Switzerland 1 , and Italy, as far as Naples \ Was 
 it because she had not been resisted, because she 
 had been suffered to act, through remissness on 
 the part of others, that she had thus extended her 
 vast arms ? It appears to me not; because Mr. 
 Pitt and lord Grenville had united the most for- 
 midable of coalitions, in order to put a stop to this 
 ambitious France ! They besieged Valenciennes 
 and Dunkirk, and had already designated the first 
 of these towns for Austria, the second for England. 
 'J'ln's France, which is so accused of interfering by 
 force in the affairs of another country, they en- 
 deavoured at that time to conquer themselves for 
 the purpose of imposing upon her a regime to 
 which she would not submit — to make her accept 
 the family of the Bourbons, whose yoke she re- 
 pelled : ami by one of those mighty movements, 
 of which history will preserve the eternal recol- 
 lection and advise the imitation of the example, 
 France drove out her invaders. They did not 
 succeed in seizing Valenciennes and Dunkirk ; 
 they did not dictate laws to France ; she, on the 
 contrary, dictates them to others! Very well; 
 we, although deeply attached to the cause of 
 England, we experienced an involuntary move- 
 ment of sympathy for that generous effort of 
 liberty and patriotism, :-\n<\ we are far from wish- 
 ing to conceal such a fact. Did not OUT fathers 
 applaud the resistance that Holland made to the 
 tyranny of the Spaniards ! Did not old England 
 applaud every noble effort of free inspiration in 
 every nation] And you, who to-day deplore the 
 greatness of France, is it not you yourselves who 
 have provoked her victorious career ; is it not 
 you, who, in endeavouring to take from her 
 Valenciennes and Dunkirk, brought her to con- 
 quer Belgium; you, who in wishing to impose laws 
 upon her, have made her give them to half the 
 
 continent? You speak of Italy; but was not that 
 in the power of Prance when you entered into a 
 treaty with her! Did you not Know it ! Was not 
 
 that one of your lamentations! Did this circum- 
 stance prevent your signing the treaty of peace I 
 And you, colleagues of Mr. Pitt, who then felt that 
 
 this peace was become necessary, from the suffer- 
 ings of a war of ten years' duration, how much it 
 WIS needful to heal the evils which were the Work 
 of your own bands, \ 011 were consenting parties 
 
 to all that which the existing ministers signed for 
 
 you ! Why did you not Oppose them then ! And
 
 448 Speech of Fox in the THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 British parliament. 
 
 1802. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 if you did not then oppose them, why not suffer them 
 now to carry out the stipulations, and to execute 
 the conditions which you approved \ The king 
 of Piedmont seems strongly to interest you ; be it 
 so ; but Austria, of whom he was a closer ally 
 than he was yours, Austria had given him up. 
 She did not even mention him in the negotiations, 
 for fear that the indemnity which would be 
 granted to that prince should diminish the portion 
 of the Venetian states, which she coveted for her 
 own use. England had no pretence for the main- 
 tenance of the independence of Italy to place by 
 that of Austria ! You speak of the overturn of 
 Germany; but what has been done in Germany? 
 They have secularized the ecclesiastical states to 
 indemnify the hereditary princes, in virtue of a 
 formal article in the treaty of Luneville, — a treaty 
 signed nine months before the preliminaries of 
 London, and more than twelve months before the 
 treaty of Amiens, — and signed at what period ? 
 Why, during the time that Mr. Pitt and lord 
 Grenville were ministers of England ; when Mr. 
 Addington and lord Hawkesbury came into power, 
 this pretended partition of Germany was arranged, 
 promised, decreed, in the sight and to the perfect 
 cognizance of all Europe. This, in your under- 
 standing, is the overturning of all Germany ; you 
 should complain also, in this instance, of Russia, 
 who with France consummated one-half of the 
 affair. The elector of Hanover, you say, because, 
 unhappily for him, he was king of England, has 
 been very ill-treated. I have never heard it said 
 before that he was very discontented with his lot 
 in Germany ; because, without any loss, he has 
 obtained a rich bishopric. As to the rest, I 
 strongly suspect that those who interest them- 
 selves so strongly for the elector of Hanover, who 
 show so much solicitude upon his account, are 
 seeking to obtain, by that intermediate means, the 
 confidence of the king of England, and by this 
 medium to worm themselves into his councils. 
 Without doubt France is great, much greater than 
 a good Englishman wishes to see her ; but her 
 greatness, of which the English ministers were the 
 authors, we all knew before the preliminaries of 
 London were signed, and before the negotiations 
 at Amiens, and that ought not to be a motive for 
 violating solemn treaties. Watch over the exe- 
 cution of those treaties; if they are violated, re- 
 claim against broken faith : it is your right and 
 your duty. But because France appears in your 
 view to-day to be too great, greater than you had 
 at first thought her to be, to break a solemn en- 
 gagement, to retain Malta, for example, it would 
 be an unworthy breach of faith, and would com- 
 promise the honour of England. If, in truth, the 
 conditions of the treaty of Amiens are not fulfilled, 
 and as far as it may be the case that they are not, 
 we may keep Malta ; but not a moment longer. 
 I hope that the ministry are not able to say among 
 themselves, that which was said by the French 
 ministers after the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, that 
 they signed it with the secret determination to 
 violate it upon the first opportunity. I believe 
 Mr. Addington and lord Hawkesbury incapable 
 of doing this ; it would be a blot on the honour of 
 England if they were. After all, these continual 
 invectives against the greatness of France, those 
 torrors which it is continually endeavoured to 
 
 excite, they can only serve to nourish troubles and 
 hatred between two great people. I am certain 
 that if there were in Paris an assembly similar to 
 that which meets for discussion here, it would 
 speak of the English navy, and of the dominion 
 of the seas, as we speak here in this place of the 
 French armies, and of their domination over the 
 continent. I comprehend well enough a noble 
 rivalry between two powerful nations ; but to 
 think of war, to propose it because any nation be- 
 comes great, because it prospers, would be sense- 
 less and inhuman. If it was announced to you 
 that the first consul had made a canal to bring the 
 sea from Dieppe to Paris, there are persons who 
 would believe it, and who, I doubt not, would im- 
 mediately propose a war on that account. The 
 manufactures of France and their progress are 
 spoken about. I have seen those manufactures, 
 and I have admired them; but if I must speak my 
 real sentiments, I fear them no more than I fear 
 the French navy. I am certain that the English 
 manufactures will bear off the prize when a con- 
 test is established between them and the French. 
 Let them then essay their strength ; let them but 
 sustain the combat at Manchester and St. Quentin. 
 It is in those places that the lists are open; it is 
 in those close fields that the two nations should 
 try their strength. To make war to ensure success 
 either for one side or the other, would be bar- 
 barous. We reproach the French that they in- 
 terdict our produce arriving in their ports ; but 
 is that not the right which you yourselves exer- 
 cise ? And you complain ; is there any nation 
 which issues prohibitions as actively as you have 
 done yourselves ? A part of our commerce may, 
 it is possible, suffer in consequence ; but that is 
 the result seen at every similar period, after the 
 peace of 1763, and after the peace of 1782. There 
 were then certain products of industry developed 
 by the war above their ordinary proportion, which, 
 at the peace, were found to enter within narrower 
 limits, and there were others which in their turn 
 partook of a more extended development. What 
 of all that? Should we, to gratify the ambition 
 of some of our merchants, shed torrents of Eng- 
 lish blood ? As for me, my side of the question is 
 taken. If it is necessary for the gratification of 
 the mad passions of men, that millions be immo- 
 lated, I will go back to the madness of antiquity; 
 because I prefer sooner that blood should be spilled 
 in the romantic expeditious of an Alexander, than 
 in gratifying the gross cupidity of a few traders 
 greedy of sordid gain/' 
 
 These few words, in which the most sincere 
 patriotism could not overshadow the dictates of 
 humanity, because the two sentiments should be 
 conciliated in every generous heart, produced a 
 great effect in the English parliament. They had 
 prodigiously exaggerated the French manufactures 
 and navy. Both the one and the other had no 
 doubt commenced flourishing ; but they spoke of 
 that as done and accomplished which was but just 
 commenced ; and these exaggerations, spread 
 abroad by the higher class of merchants, were 
 rumoured in a most unhappy manner among all 
 classes of the British people. The eloquent and 
 wise reasonings of Fox came at a proper moment 
 to weaken the force of such mischievous reports, 
 and they were accompanied with good effects, 

 
 1802. 
 Nov. 
 
 The affairs of 
 
 Jin-land. 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 
 
 The Addington ad- 
 ministiation. 
 
 449 
 
 while they wounded the national sympathies. Be- 
 side-, although discontented, and alarmed at the 
 greatness of France, they were not yet willing to 
 go to war. Thf party of Grenville and Windham 
 compromised itself by its violence. Fox w;>s 
 honoured by lending a support to the cabinet. 
 Some thought he was approximating to office by 
 this conduct, so entirely new. It was pretended 
 that he would soon support more openly the 
 feeble minister, who bad played in debate a eha- 
 
 r full of mediocrity and uncertainty, ap- 
 proving all that was said on behalf of the peace, 
 without daring to speak himself in its defence. In 
 other . the address proposed in answer to 
 
 the speech from the crown, was adopted without 
 any amendment ; and the supplies were voted in the 
 same way. For a certain time the ministry ap- 
 iv. (1, a thing which pleased Adding- 
 ton, although he had little ambition, but was more 
 pleasing to lord Hawkesbury, who earnestly de- 
 sired to keep a minister's place. This species of 
 
 as disposed these two statesmen to better 
 relations with France, because they desired peace, 
 knowing well that they had not come into office 
 without it, and that if it passed away they should 
 go out of office immediately. In fact, at the 
 firing of the first cannon, Pitt could not fail to be 
 called to take the reins of government by all classes 
 of the nation. 
 
 The Swiss business terminated wisely and 
 promptly, and removed the principal grievance. 
 Lord Hawkesbury too desired that general 
 Ar.dreossy, the French ambassador, might be 
 directed to proceed to London, offering at the 
 same time to send lord Whitworth to Paris, as 
 ambassador from Great Britain. The first consul 
 readily agreed to the request, because, not with- 
 
 ime feelings of anger which had been excited 
 in his mind by the bad Bpirit shown towards him 
 
 gland, and in spin- of the images of unequalled 
 greatness which he some tin* a foresaw in the event 
 of a war, his mind was entirely directed to peace. 
 Winn he was provoked or irritated, indeed, he 
 would bring himself, at times, to say, that after 
 all, war was his natural vocation, his original 
 calling, perhaps his only destiny; that lie knew 
 bow to rule in a superior way, but that before 
 
 niiig be had known how to fight ; that it was 
 In- profession, " par excellence ; " and that if Mo- 
 
 with a French army, had reached as far as 
 tie- gat> - of Vi. una, he could go beyond that. 
 Hi epeated these thin-- too often, and, in fact, at 
 this moment singular visions sometimes arose in 
 
 mind. II' saw empires destroyed, Europe 
 remodelled, and liis consular power changed into 
 
 wn, which should not in- less than the crown 
 of Charlemagne ; wbosoevi r threatened or irritated 
 him, raised, on'- alter another, in the vast extent of 
 hi- intellect, fatally seducing images of power and 
 grandeur tint become ascendant, It was easy to 
 
 in the- singular elevation of his 
 
 daily conversation, in tin despatches which he 
 dictated to Ins minister for foreign affairs, in the 
 thousand I' tters, in hot, which In- addressed to the 
 different agents of the government. At times be 
 would remark, thai tins greatness wonld oertainly 
 not be wanting to him, sooner or later; but he found 
 that the peace bad bei n oi too short a duration 
 that St. Domingo was not definitively eonqrj 
 
 that Louisiana was not occupied, that the French 
 marine was not re-established. According to his 
 own opinion, lie wanted, before war should be re- 
 commenced, four or five years to come of continual 
 efforts in the bosom of profound peace. The first 
 consul shared in that passion for constructing great 
 works, which has been deemed a part of the natu- 
 ral character of the founders of empires; he took a 
 great interest in the strong fortresses which he 
 constructed in Italy, in the extensive and grand 
 roads which he cut through the Alps, in the plans 
 of the new towns which he projected in Britany, 
 and in the canals, by means of which it was his 
 intention to unite the waters of the Seine and 
 Escaut. He enjoyed absolute power, and attracted 
 universal admiration, and all this in the midst of a 
 state of profound peace, which could not but be 
 acceptable to him after having fought so many 
 battles, traversed so many countries, and com- 
 mitted to so many hazards his fortune and his 
 life. 
 
 The first consul, then, was sincerely desirous of 
 the preservation of the peace, and he consented 
 readily to every thing which might contribute to 
 ensure its duration. In consequence of this wish, 
 he sent off general Andreossy to London, and 
 received lord Whitworth with great distinction 
 in Paris. This personage, designed to represent 
 George III. in France, was a true English gentle- 
 man, simple in himself, although magnificent in his 
 representative character, discreet, straightforward, 
 but stiff and proud, as his countrymen in general 
 are found to be, and wholly incapable of that nice 
 and delicate system of management which was so 
 necessary with a character, by turns passionate 
 and kind, as was that of the first consul. There 
 was wanted in such a position a man of ingenuity 
 and comprehension rather than a great lord, and 
 both one and the other blended, if it had been 
 possible, in order to act successfully, in contact with 
 a new government, which had need of being 
 flattered and managed. Still it was not at the 
 first instant that these defects of character exhi- 
 bited themselves in their relations with each other. 
 At the commencement, all passed oil* well. Lord 
 Whitworth was received with marvellous distinc- 
 tion 1 ; his wife, the duchess of Dorset, a high-born 
 
 i "Lord Whitworth'." presentation to the first consul took 
 peace on the 5th of December, 1802, and was marked by 
 the most distinguished honours, lie ».i> received with every 
 possible attention which could be paid to the representative 
 of the British lovereign. There were no less than eighty 
 rorei)inera presented the same day, among v. horn were thirty- 
 igllsh; but the English ambassador occupied nearly 
 tli- whole of the lirst consul's c.ire and KSpeetj and the 
 
 chief magistrate of the French republic seemed particularly 
 snxious to give the most public and satisfactory proofs of 
 1 1 i -> si: erve unimpaired the established 
 
 ins of peace and .unity between tin 1 two countries." 
 sin h is the arc-mint of his lordship's recepl on from a pi ri- 
 odical work published at the time in England, our author 
 is correct in his character of lord Whitworth, who was a 
 plain common tense English gentleman, sufficiently still', 
 aristocratical, ami well bred, but no more Lord Cornwallis, 
 or some man or ;, higher order of mind, ami moo- accus- 
 tomed to deal with newly-founded governments, wi 
 inured for such an embassy, a man of s large t* ops oi mind ; 
 a men English official gentleman was a nonentity in such n 
 position. — Trantldtot 
 
 (,' «.
 
 450 Russia and Prussia assent THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. to the guarantee. 
 
 1S03. 
 Jan. 
 
 English lady, was the object of the most distin- 
 guished and scrupulous attention. The first consul 
 gave to the ambassador ai.d his lady splendid en- 
 tertainments, both at Versailles and at the Tuileries. 
 Talleyrand, in order to do them the utmost honour 
 in his power, displayed for their reception all that 
 elegance and perfect good breeding for which he 
 was so distinguished. The two consuls, Caniba- 
 ceres and Lebrun, had orders to show every 
 attention to them, and they did the best that was 
 in their power. To all this was added the more 
 flattering mark of respect in publishing these 
 attentions. 
 
 There entered into the feelings of England in 
 regard to France, a great deal of wounded pride, 
 although interest had much to do in giving them 
 their bias. These attentions; lavished by the first 
 consul upon the British ambassador, produced the 
 most sensible effect upon the public mind in Lon- 
 don, and recalled for a moment better feelings 
 and sentiments in every heart. General Andreossy 
 felt the effects of the same momentary reaction, and 
 was reeeivid in a most flattering manner, in every 
 way similar to that with which lord Whitworth 
 had been received in Paris. The months of De- 
 cember and January renewed a species of general 
 tranquillity. The funds, which in both countries 
 had fallen, rose considerably, and stood at the 
 rate at which they had been during the time that 
 the greatest confidence had prevailed. The five 
 per cents, were at 57 f. and 58 f. in France. 
 
 The winter of UlO'.i was nearly as brilliant as 
 that of 1802. It even appeared to be more calm, 
 because within the limits of France every thing 
 went on in a smooth course, whilst in the preceding 
 year, the opposition of the tribunate, without caus- 
 ing any thing fearful, occasioned a certain degree 
 of uneasiness. All the high functionaries, consuls, 
 and ministers, hail orders to keep open their houses, 
 as much for the reception of those employed under 
 them as for that of the society of Paris, and for 
 foreigners who might be in the capital. The com- 
 mercial classes were well satisfied with the general 
 position and aspect of affairs. A sensation of well- 
 being was every where prevalent, and finished by 
 gaining over even the circles of the returned emi- 
 grants. Every day there was seen some personage 
 bearing a great name, detaching himself from the 
 idle, agitated, calumniating group of the ancient 
 French nobility, in order to go ami solicit a place, 
 either magisterial or financial, in the grave and 
 monotonous drawing-rooms of the consuls, Cam- 
 bacercs and Lebrun. Others went as far as to 
 solicit madam Bonaparte to ask places for them 
 in the new court. Those who had obtained them 
 were spoken of contemptuously by those who at the 
 bottom envied them, and were not very far behind 
 in following their example. 
 
 This state ul things had endured a part of the 
 winter, and would have lasted longer still, but for 
 a circumstance which began to make embar- 
 rassment be felt in the British cabinet ; this was 
 the delay which had occurred in the evacuation of 
 Malta. In committing the serious error of coun- 
 termanding the evacuation, there had been gene- 
 rated with the English people a temptation exceed- 
 ingly difficult to overcome, namely, that of keeping 
 a position which should domineer over the Mediter- 
 ranean, It was necessary to have either a powerful 
 
 ministry in England, or a concession on the part of 
 France, to render possible the abandonment of so 
 precious a pledge. But a powerful ministry did 
 not exist in England, and the first consul was not 
 inclined to be so accommodating as to create facili- 
 ties for that which did exist, by making sacrifices. 
 All that could be obtained from him, under exist- 
 ing circumstances, was, that he should not insist 
 Upon the execution of the treaty with a precipita- 
 tion too great for their position. 
 
 A new circumstance rendered yet more pressing 
 the danger of the present situation of things. Until 
 now there had been a pretext for deferring the 
 execution of the treaty of Amiens in regard to 
 Malta ; this was the refusal of the Russian cabinet 
 to become one of the guarantees of the new order 
 of things established in that island. But the Rus- 
 sian cabinet, appreciating the danger of its refusal, 
 and wishing sincerely to concur in the maintenance 
 of the peace, hastened to recall its first determina- 
 tion, by a movement of good feeling which did 
 honour to the voting Alexander. Solelv in order 
 to afford some motive for his change of opinion, he 
 had attached some insignificant conditions to the 
 guarantee, such as the acknowledgment by all the 
 powers of the sovereignty of the order of the island 
 of Malta, the introduction of natives into the go- 
 vernment, and tlie suppression of the Maltese lan- 
 guage. These conditions changed nothing in the 
 treaty, because they are found nearly all contained 
 in it '. Prussia being also equally impressed with 
 Russia upon the necessity of preserving peace, had 
 equally with her reviewed her first determination, 
 and gave her guarantee in the same terms as 
 Russia. The first consul was equally inclined to 
 adhere to the new conditions, added to the article 
 of the treaty of Amiens, and accordingly he formally 
 adopted them. 
 
 The English cabinet could no more keep back; it 
 must accept the guarantee as it was given, or it 
 would place itself in the position of evident bad 
 faith, because the new clauses devised by Russia 
 were in themselves so insignificant, that they were 
 not able, with any show of reason, to decline them. 
 Although embarrassed by the difficulties which 
 they had created themselves, they were still dis- 
 posed to seize upon this hist act of the Russian 
 government as a natural excuse for evacuating 
 Malta, save in exacting some apparent precautions 
 in regard to Egypt and the east, when there came, 
 all on a sudden, an unfortunate incident, which 
 served as a pretext for their bad faith, if it was 
 bad faith, and not a scarecrow to their feebleness, 
 if it was only feebleness. 
 
 It has been already seen, that colonel Sebastian! 
 had been sent to Tunis, and from Tunis to Egypt, 
 
 • If the reader will turn to page 241, he will find intro- 
 duced in a note by the translator, the stipulations regarding 
 Malta annexed to the article X. of the treaty. These stipu- 
 lations, signed by Joseph Bonaparte and lord Cornwall!*, 
 expressly state that a Maltese language shall be established, 
 to be supported out of the land revenues of the island. Vide 
 Stipulation 3 Alexander could have no right to change the 
 stipulations of a treaty as a reservation of bis guarantee, 
 unless France and England as.-cntid to the ..Iteration. The 
 guarantee thus profit red was therefore no guarantee at all, 
 without England's excess consent. How then can the 
 author say, that conditions changed nothing in a treaty which 
 violated its express stipulations t— Translator.
 
 1803. 
 Jan. 
 
 Colonel Sebastiani's 
 report. 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 
 
 Perplexity of the Eng- 
 lish ministry. 451 
 
 to examine whether the English were or were not 
 ready to evacuate Alexandria; to observe all that 
 was passing between the Mamelukes and Turks; 
 itablish a French protection to the Christians ; 
 and to take to general Brune, the French ambas- 
 sador at Constantinople, the new confirmation of 
 his former instructions. The colonel had properly 
 fulfilled bis mission; be had found the English still 
 established in Alexandria, and making no prepara- 
 tions to leave it; the Turks engaged in an obstinate 
 war with the Mamelukes ; and the French deeply 
 regn tted, since the inhabitants had now a com- 
 parison of their Bystem of government with that of 
 the Turks, the east resounded still with the name 
 of general Bonaparte, lie had stated all these 
 things to his government, and had added, that in 
 the present situation of Egypt, placed between the 
 Turks and Mamelukes, it would not require six 
 thousand French to reconquer it. This n 
 although made in measured terms, it was impos- 
 sible to publish without producing disagreeable 
 effects, because it had been written confidentially 
 and solely for the government, and there were 
 many things stated in it which it was only proper 
 should be said to the government itself. For ex- 
 ample, colonel Sebastiani complained bitterly of the 
 English general Smart, who then commanded in 
 Alexandria, and who, by his discourse respecting 
 him, had marly got him assassinated at Cairo. 
 This report showed that the English did not yet 
 think of evacuating Egypt 1 . The last circumstance 
 made the lirst c >n-u! come to the decision to insert 
 an article in the Moniteur which related to the sub- 
 ject. He found that the English had taken great 
 liberties in relation to the execution of the treaty of 
 Amiens; and although he had not yet w shed to 
 show himself pressing upon the subjects of Malta 
 and Alexandria, still he was not sorry to put the 
 English in their proper light, by making known a 
 document, showing tin ir sluggishness in fulfilling 
 their engagements, and the bad will their officers 
 bore towards those of France. This report was in- 
 I in the Moniteur Of the .'sOth of January. 
 little noticed iii France, it produced ill Etlg- 
 Isud a sensation as striking as it was unforeseen. 
 Tie- expedition to Egypt had left in the English 
 an extreme susceptibility for all that related to that 
 Country; and ihey OOlllillUall) believed they saw an 
 army of Frenchmen always ready to embark at 
 
 Ton on for Alexandria. The recital of an officer 
 exposing the miserable state of the Tori.- in 
 ' cility with which they might be ex- 
 
 i, and the- freslineaa of the recollection hit 
 behind them by tie- French, and above all, the 
 complaint of tie bail conduct of a British officer, 
 alarm- -d, hurt tin in, and took them out of that state 
 
 ,ni feeling into which they had beguu to re- 
 till this aspect would have been only a 
 
 ng thing it tie- spirit of party had nol i I 
 about tin- task of aggravating it. Windham, Dun- 
 das, and Granville, sel themselves more laboriously 
 at work than ever, and smother' k* s id the 
 
 1 Tl. i wen bound by Mio treaty of 
 
 evacuate I--') i" In llin n .u ,, 
 
 r the 27iii of Man !i '.v,ik m 
 
 thai i"pi Whliworth imiouni 
 having occurred p Ol tlic 
 
 treaty. — Traiulalor. 
 
 more generous and unprejudiced men, as Fox and 
 his friends were. These last wearied themselves 
 vainly in saying, that there was nothing in the re- 
 port so very extraordinary; and if the first consul 
 had designs upon Egypt, he would not thus make 
 them public to all the world. They would not hear 
 these truths; they declaimed only more violently ; 
 they said that the English army was insulted, and 
 that there must be a public reparation made to 
 avenge its outraged honour. The impression thus 
 produced in London returned to Paris, as if it had 
 resounded there by numberless echoes. The first 
 consul, wounded to see his intentii ns continually 
 misinterpreted, lost all patience at last. He found 
 it singular, that individuals, who were themselves 
 so behindhand upon two essential points of the 
 treaty, the evacuation of Egypt and Malta, were so 
 ready to complain when there were, on the con- 
 trary, any complaints to be preferred against them- 
 selves. He therefore ordered Talleyrand at Paris, 
 and general Andreossy at London, to conclude all, 
 and to have a categorical explanation upon the exe- 
 cution of the treaty deferred for so long a time. 
 The demand for an explanation came v 
 awkwardly at that moment. The English mini - 
 ii rs, scarcely daring to evacuate Malta before the 
 publication of colonel Scbastiani's report took 
 place, were still much less capable of effecting 
 it afterwards. They refused to inter into' any ex- 
 planation, resting their refusal upon motives that, 
 for the first time, suffered the suspicion of their 
 intentions to be perceived. Lord Whitworth was 
 ordered to state, that some compensation was due 
 to England for every advantage obtained by France; 
 that the treaty of Amiens had been founded upon 
 this principle, because it was in consideration of 
 the conquests made by one of these two powers in 
 Europe, that there had been granted to the other 
 numerous possessions both in America and India; 
 that France having been adjudged, since the peace, 
 new territories and a new extension of influence, 
 there were equivalents due to England; that from 
 this motive England would have been justified in 
 refusing to give up .Malta; but ihat from the de- 
 sire to presi rve peace, she was ready to evacuate 
 that island, without the idea of demanding any 
 
 such c pensation, when the report of colonel 
 
 Sebastiani made its appearanec; and that since the 
 publication of that repon, the British cabinet had 
 d< ;e, mined to agree to nothing in relation to 
 .Malta, but on the condition of receiving a double 
 satisfaction; first, for the outrage committed by it 
 upon the English army ; and secondly, on the 
 views of the lirst consul in regard to Egypt — views 
 
 which were expressed ill the report ill question in 
 such ii manner as to injure and disquiet his Bri- 
 tannie mil I 
 
 When this declaration was addressed to Talley- 
 rand, he discovered the nest extraordinary sur- 
 Alihough he well comprehended the dis- 
 trust which was certain to be caused in England 
 by all that related to Egypt, he was wholly unable 
 
 to imagine thai the inclination to k M( ' "|> Malta 
 
 being true, this ineliiiali 'Ould be changed fur 
 
 a motive so insignificant as the report of colonel 
 Sebastiani He communicated the matter to the 
 
 In t consul, u ho was. Iii his tUl'll, equally surprised, 
 
 and as well, after Ins natural character, greatly 
 lb- judged, ami Talleyrand with him, 
 i; ■> ->
 
 452 Conversation between lord THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Whitworth and Bonaparte. 
 
 1803. 
 Jan. 
 
 that he must remove himself from a situation so 
 intolerable, so painful, and so much worse than 
 war. The first consul at once said, that the 
 English wished to keep Malta, and that all their 
 recriminations were but pure pretexts, designed to 
 conceal that desire, that he must himself enter 
 into an explanation clearly and fully with them, 
 and give them to understand, that upon this sub- 
 ject to cheat him, tire him out, or move him, was 
 equally impossible; that if, on the contrary, the 
 inquietude which they stated they felt was really 
 sincere, he should be able to remove their fears by 
 making them acquainted with his intentions in 
 language so true, that they could not remain in the 
 least uncertainty upon the matter. He therefore 
 resolved to see lord Whitworth, and to speak to 
 the ambassador with unlimited frankness, in order 
 to convince him that his mind was made up upon 
 two points, the evacuation of Malta, which he was 
 determined to exact absolutely and imperatively, 
 and the peace, which he desired to maintain in 
 perfect good faith, when he once obtained the exe- 
 cution of the treaty. This was a new essay which 
 he was thus about to make; that of speaking out 
 all, absolutely all, even in that which he had not 
 otherwise ever said to an enemy, with a view to calm 
 their mistrust, if they were really mistrustful, or to 
 convict them of falsehood, if they were of bad faith. 
 From this resolution there resulted, as will be 
 observed, a very strange scene. 
 
 On the 18th of February, in the evening, he 
 sent an invitation to lord Whitworth to come to 
 the Tuilleries, and he received the ambassador 
 there with perfect kindness. A large writing- 
 table occupied the middle of his cabinet ; he made 
 the ambassador sit at one end of this table while 
 he took his seat at the other '. 
 
 Bonaparte observed to lord Whitworth, that he 
 had wished to see him in order to converse with 
 him directly, with the object of convincing him of 
 what were his real intentions and feelings, that 
 none of his ministers could so well express as he 
 could himself. He then immediately recapitulated 
 his relations with England from their commence- 
 ment, the care he had taken to make the tender of 
 peace the same day that he had come to the con- 
 sulate, the refusal with which his offer had been 
 met, the eagerness with which he had renewed the 
 negotiations as soon as he was able to do so with 
 honour, and, finally, lie spoke of the concessions he 
 had made in order to arrive at the conclusion 
 of the treaty of Amiens. He next expressed the 
 disappointment he experienced to see all his efforts 
 to live in amity with Great Britain meet with so 
 ill a return. He recalled to recollection the bad 
 proceedings which had immediately followed the 
 cessation of hostilities, the outrageous abuse in the 
 
 1 The first consul recited this conversation the same day 
 to the minister (or foreign affairs, in order that he might 
 make it known to the ministers of France at foreign courts. 
 He also spoke of it to his colleagues, and to many persons 
 ■who preserved it in memory. Lastly, lord Whitworth trans- 
 mitted it in its proper siate to his own cabinet. It was cir- 
 culated throughout all Europe, and was reported in many 
 different ways. It is from these versions, and by taking that 
 which was incontestably true, as far as I can judge, that I 
 have reproduced it here. I give not the exact words, but 
 the real sense of the passages, of which I guarantee the cor- 
 rectness. — Author's note. 
 
 English papers, the license given to the journals 
 of the emigrants, a license unjustifiable by the laws 
 of the British constitution ; he spoke of the pen- 
 sions granted to Georges and his accomplices, of 
 the continual descents of the Chouans from the 
 Isles of Jersey and Guernsey ; of the treatment 
 shown to the French princes, who were received 
 with the insignia of former royalty in France ; of 
 the sending agents into Switzerland and Italy, 
 in order every where to increase difficulties to 
 France. " Every breeze," said the first consul, 
 " every breeze that blows from England brought 
 me nothing but hatred and outrage. Now," he 
 added, " we are in a situation from which w^e must 
 absolutely get out. Will you or will you not 
 execute the treaty of Amiens ? I have tin my own 
 part executed it with scrupulous fidelity. The 
 treaty obliged me to evacuate Naples, Tarentum, 
 and the Roman states, in three months ; and in 
 less than two months the French troops had quitted 
 all these countries. There are ten months passed 
 away since the exchange of the ratifications, and 
 the English troops have not yet evacuated Malta 
 and Alexandria. It is useless to endeavour to 
 deceive us in these facts : will you have peace or 
 war ? If you will have war, it is only for you to 
 say as much ; we will make it with obstinacy until 
 one nation or the other is ruined. Do you desire 
 peace? then you must evacuate Alexandria and 
 Malta. Because," said the first consul in the ac- 
 cent of unshaken resolution, " this rock of Malta, on 
 which so many fortifications have been constructed, 
 has, there is no doubt, a very great maritime 
 importance; but it has in my view a much greater 
 importance than that — it is the interest it has 
 connected with the highest point of French honour; 
 what would the world say if we suffered the vio- 
 lation of a solemn treaty entered into with us ? 
 It would cast doubts upon our strength, upon our 
 energy. As to me, my part is taken ; I would 
 much sooner see you in possession of the heights of 
 Montmartre than of Malta !" 
 
 Portentous words ! Unfortunately but too truly 
 realized to the misfortune of France. 
 
 Lord Whitworth, silent, and fixed to his seat, 
 not understanding sufficiently the scene in which 
 he was a performer, replied briefly to these decla- 
 rations of the first consul. He alleged the im- 
 possibility of calming in a few months the feelings 
 of hatred that a long war had generated between 
 the two nations ; he made much of the impedi- 
 ment of the English laws in not giving the means 
 of repressing the licentiousness of writers ; he ex- 
 plained, lastly, that the pensions given to the 
 Chouans were a remuneration for past services, 
 but not as rewards for those to come (a singular 
 avowal in the mouth of an ambassador !) ; that the 
 reception given to the emigrant princes was an act 
 of hospitality towards the unfortunate, an hos- 
 pitality customary with the British nation. All 
 this did not justify the toleration afforded to 
 French emigrant pamphleteers, the pensions al- 
 lotted to assassins, nor the insignia of the old 
 regime permitted to be worn by the Bourbon 
 princes upon public occasions. The first consul 
 remarked to the ambassador how little tenable his I 
 reply was upon all these points, and then returned 
 to the more immediate object, the deferred evacua- 
 tion of Egypt and Malta. In regard to the evacua-
 
 1S03. 
 Feb. 
 
 Conversation oflord RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. Whitworth and Bonaparte. 453 
 
 tion of Alexandria, lord Whitworth asserted, that 
 it hail taken place while it was the subject of the 
 present conference. In regard to .Malta, he ex- 
 plained that the retardation had arisen from the 
 difficulty of obtaining the guarantees of the great 
 powers, and through the obstinate refusal of the 
 grand master Ruapoli ; but, he added, that they 
 were on the point of finally evacuating the island, 
 when changes, aniooked for in Europe, and, above 
 all, the report of colonel Sebastiani, had raised 
 n iw difficulties. Here the first consul interrupted 
 the English ambassador by saving : " Of what 
 changes do you speak — surely not of the presi- 
 dency of the Italian republic, which was conferred 
 npon me before the signature of the treaty of 
 Amiens >. It cannot be the erection of the kingdom 
 of Etruria, which was well known to you before 
 that same treaty, because it was asked of you, and 
 you gave hopes of your approaching acknow- 
 ledgment of that kingdom ; it cannot be of that 
 which you Bpeak ! Is it. of Piedmont 1 Is it of 
 Switzerland! In truth, it can scarcely be these, 
 since these two incidents have added little to the 
 reality of existing things. But, however, it may 
 be, you have not the right to complain, because, 
 as regards Piedmont, even before the treaty of 
 Amiens, I stated to all the world what it was my 
 intention to do ; I stated it to Austria, to Russia, 
 to you. I have never consented, when it has been 
 requested of me to promise the re-establishment of 
 the house of Sardinia to its states ; I have never 
 even been willing to stipulate in its behalf for a 
 determinate indemnity. You were then well ac- 
 quainted with my intention of annexing Piedmont 
 to France ; and besides, this arrangement changes 
 nothing in my influence upon Italy, which is 
 absolute : I wish it should be so, and so it will 
 remain. In regard to Switzerland, you must be 
 well aware that I will never suffer a counter- 
 revolution to take place in that country. But all 
 the-.' allegations can never be seriously intended. 
 Mv power in Europe, since the treaty of Amiens, 
 is n, itlier more nor less than it was at that time. 
 I should have called upon you to have taken a 
 part in the affairs of Germany, if you had exhibited 
 
 towards me different sentiments. You well know 
 
 that in all which I have done, 1 have ever wished 
 to COmplet ■ the fulfilment of the treaties, and to 
 secure the general peace. Now look,. examine} is 
 there any part of any state that I have threatened, 
 or of which I am contemplating the invasion ? 
 There is Done, you are aware there is none. That 
 of which you speak in relation to colonel SebaS- 
 tiani, is not worthy of mention in the' relations of 
 
 two great nations with each other. If >ou have 
 
 suspicions regarding my vie.-..; upon Egypt, my 
 lord, I will attempt to remove your apprehensions. 
 Yes, I have thought much upon Egypt, and I 
 shall yet think about it, if you oblige me to eom- 
 
 ne He.- war. Bat I shall not commit the peace 
 which we have enjoyed for so short a time, in 
 order to attempt the re-conquest of that country. 
 The Turkish empire is threatened with ruin; for 
 myself, I shall contribute to make it, endure as 
 
 long as possible ; bat if it gives way, I shall wish 
 that Prance should have her share. For all that, 
 be yon sure that I shall not precipitate events. If 
 
 I had wished it, the extensive armament which I 
 sent to St. Domingo, I could have directed upon 
 
 Alexandria. The four thousand men which you 
 have there would have been no obstacle in my 
 way. They might have been, upon the contrary, 
 my valid excuse. I might have invaded Egypt 
 on a sudden, and this time you would not have been 
 aide to snatch it from me any more. But I never 
 imagined any thing of such a character. Do you 
 b.lieve that 1 deceive myself in regard to the 
 power which I exercise at present upon the opinion 
 of France and Europe ? No, that power is not 
 sufficiently great to allow me to commit with impu- 
 nity any motiveless aggression. The public opinion 
 of Europe would immediately turn against me if 
 I did ; my political ascendancy would be lost ; 
 then as to France, I am under the necessity to 
 prove to her that war has not been made by 
 me, that I have not provoked it, in order to obtain 
 from her that impulse, that enthusiasm which I 
 should wish to excite against you, if you bring me 
 back to the contest. It is necessary that you carry 
 all the wrong, and that I have not a single one to 
 answer for. I do not meditate a single aggression. 
 All that I had to do in Germany and Italy is 
 done ; and I have done nothing that I had not 
 announced, avowed, or arranged beforehand by 
 treaty. Now if you doubt my desire to preserve 
 peace, hear me, and judge how far I am sincere. 
 Still tolerably young, I have arrived at a degree of 
 power, at a degree of renown, to which it will be 
 difficult to add any thing. This power, this re- 
 nown, do you believe I am waiting to risk in a 
 desperate contest? If I have a war with Austria, 
 I know very well how to find the way to Vienna. 
 If I go to war with you, I shall take from you 
 every continental ally ; I shall interdict your ac- 
 cess from the Baltic to the gulf of Tarentum. You 
 will blockade us, but I will blockade you in turn ; 
 you will make the continent a prison for us, but I 
 shall make one for you upon the extent of the 
 ocean. Nevertheless, to end the matter, more 
 direct means are necessary. I must assemble a 
 hundred and fifty thousand men, an immense 
 flotilla, attempt to pass the straits, and perhaps 
 bury at the bottom of the ocean my fortunes, my 
 glory, and my life. It is a singular temerity, my 
 lord, to attempt a descent upon England !" After 
 thus speaking, the first consul, to the great as- 
 tonishment of his interlocutor, begun to enumerate 
 himself the difficulties and the dangers of such an 
 enterprise ; the quantity of material, of men, of 
 vessels which he must, throw upon the Straits, 
 which he would not fail to throw there to attempt, 
 the destruction of England ; and always at the 
 same time insisting more, always showing that the 
 chance of perishing was superior to the chance of 
 success. Then he added, with an accent of extra- 
 ordinary energy, '' This temerity, my lord, is so 
 great a temerity, that if you oblige me, I am re- 
 Bolved (o tempt it. I shall thus expose to loss my 
 
 army and myself; but with mi; this great enterprise 
 
 will obtain chances of success which it would not, 
 have with another. 1 have passed tin- Alps in 
 winter ; I know how to render that possible which 
 appears impossible to men in general ; and if I 
 succeed, your latest descendants will deplore ill 
 tears of blood the resolution which you have forced 
 me to take. Consider, if it be probable, powerful, 
 
 • t.nted, peaceable as I now am, that I should 
 
 desire to risk power, happiness, and quiet, in such
 
 Opening of the session of 
 454 the legislative body by 
 the first consul. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Annual expose of the 
 state of the French 
 
 republic. 
 
 1803. 
 Feb. 
 
 an enterprise, and if when 1 say that peace is my 
 desire, 1 must not be sincere ?" 
 
 Then in a calmer tune the first consul added, — 
 " It will be best for you and for me, to give the 
 satisfaction prescribed by treaty. Let Malta be 
 evacuated ; do not suffer those who attempt my 
 assassination to have an asylum in England ; let 
 me be libelled if you will by the English news- 
 papers, but not by the miserable emigrants who 
 so dishonour the protection which you have ac- 
 corded to them, and whom the alien bill permits you 
 to expel from England. Act cordially towards 
 me, and I promise you, on my part, the most cor- 
 dial and entire return : I promise you continual 
 efforts to conciliate our interests wherever they 
 are reconcileable. Consider what a powerful in- 
 fluence we might exercise over the world, if we 
 could attain the nearer approximation of the two 
 nations! You have a navy that in ten years of 
 consecutive efforts, and in employing all my re- 
 sources, 1 should not be able to equal; but I have 
 five hundred thousand men ready to march under 
 my orders, wherever I choose to lead them. If 
 you are masters of the sea, I am master of the 
 land. Think, then, sooner of our becoming united 
 than of making war upon each other, and we may 
 at will regulate the destinies of the world. Every 
 thing is possible within the interest of humanity 
 with our double power, — France and England in 
 union." 
 
 This language, so extraordinary by its frankness, 
 surprised as well as troubled the English ambas- 
 sador, who, unfortunately, though a very polite, 
 obliging man, was not capable of appreciating the 
 greatness and the sincerity of the language of the 
 first consul. It would have been necessary for the 
 two assembled nations to have heard a similar 
 conversation and to have replied to it. 
 
 The first consul had not failed to inform lord 
 Whitwortli that he was going, in two days, to open 
 the session of the legislative body, conformably to 
 the prescription of the consular constitution, that 
 fixed this opening for the 1st of Venlose, or 20th 
 of February ; that according to usage, he pre- 
 sented upon that occasion an annual expose of the 
 state of tha republic, and that they must not feel 
 surprised in England, if they saw expressed 
 therein, as freely, the intentions of the French 
 government, as they had been expressed to the 
 ambassador himself. Lord WhilWorth then with- 
 drew to send an account to his own cabinet of all 
 he had just seen and heard. 
 
 The fact was, that the first consul had himself 
 drawn up the statement of the situation of the 
 republic; and it must be acknowledged, that the 
 government never had to make so fine a statement 
 of its situation, and never made it in terms and 
 language so noble. The calm which had entered 
 into every grade of the public mind ; the re- 
 establishmeiU of public worship, completed with 
 wonderful promptitude, and without any disturb- 
 ance ; the traces of civil discord every where 
 effaced ; commerce resuming its activity ; agri- 
 culture making great progress; the revenue of the 
 state increasing to the sight; the public works 
 developing themselves with prodigious rapidity ; 
 the defensive works upon the Alps, on the Rhine, 
 on all sides, moving forward with equal rapidity; 
 Europe directed entirely by the influence of 
 
 France, and without being under a difference with 
 any power except England : such was the picture 
 which the first consul had to present, having 
 traced it with the hand of a master. The day 
 following the opening, the 21st of February, or 
 2nd of Vcntose, three of the government orators 
 took the document to the legislative body, accord- 
 ing to the custom under the consulate, and the 
 reading produced that startling effect which it pro- 
 duced every where else. But the passage relative 
 to England, the object of the general curiosity, 
 was pregnant with haughtiness little softened, and, 
 above all, was marked with a precision so cate- 
 gorical, that it could not fail to bring a quick 
 explanation. After having retraced the happy 
 conclusion of the affairs of Germany, the pacifica- 
 tion of Switzerland, the conservative policy of 
 Turkey in relation to the Turkish empire, the 
 document added, that British troops still occupied 
 Alexandria and Malta; that the French government 
 had a right to complain; that it had, nevertheless, 
 heard that the vessels charged to transport the 
 garrison of Alexandria to Europe were in the 
 Mediterranean. That as to the evacuation of 
 Malta, it did not say if that event was approaching 
 or not; but it added these significant words : — 
 
 " The government guarantees to the nation the 
 peace of the continent, and it allows itself to hope 
 for the continuation of a maritime peace. Such a 
 peace is required and wished by every people. 
 In order to preserve it, the government will do 
 whatever is compatible with the national honour, 
 essentially connected with the strict execution of 
 treaties. 
 
 " But in England two parties dispute for power. 
 One has concluded the peace, and appears de- 
 cidedly inclined to maintain it ; while the other 
 has sworn an implacable hatred to France. From 
 this arises that fluctuation in opinion, and in the 
 councils that attitude which is at once pacific and 
 threatening. 
 
 " As long as this contest of parties continues, 
 there are certain prudential measures necessary 
 on the part of the government of the republic. 
 Five hundred thousand men must and will be 
 ready to defend and avenge it. 
 
 " What a strange necessity is imposed by 
 miserable passions upon two nations, whose at- 
 tachment arises from the same interest, and an 
 equal inclination attaching them to peace ! 
 
 " But whatever may be the success of intrigue 
 in London, it will not succeed in drawing other 
 nations into new leagues ; and the government 
 informs it, with well-founded pride, that alone, 
 England cannot now contest against France ! 
 
 " But let us entertain better hopes, and rather 
 believe, that in the British cabinet there will be 
 nothing heard but the counsels of wisdom and the 
 voice of humanity. 
 
 " Yes ; without doubt the peace will be con- 
 solidated, and the connexion between the two 
 governments will assume that character of good- 
 will, so congenial to their mutual interests ; a 
 happy repose will cause the long calamities of a 
 disastrous war to be utterly forgotten, and France 
 and England, by contributing to their reciprocal 
 happiness, merit the approbation of the whole 
 world." 
 
 To judge well the character of this document,
 
 1803. 
 Feb. 
 
 ilessase of George III. 
 to the- British house RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 
 
 of commons. 
 
 Dilemma of (he Eng- 
 lish ministry. 
 
 455 
 
 we must not compare it with what is called in the 
 nt day, hot!-, in France ami England, the 
 '"speech from the crown," but rather with the 
 "message" of the president of tin- United States. 
 In that were explained ami justified the different 
 details of public business into which the first con- 
 sul had entered. He had wished to speak abso- 
 lutely of the parties which divided England, to the 
 end of having the means of expressing himself 
 freely to his enemies, without it being possible to 
 apply his words to the English government itself. 
 It was a manner of acting, both hold and dai 
 
 ihus to intermeddle himself in the affairs of 
 a neighbouring country; above all, it was to inflict 
 Upon British pride a wound equally severe and 
 useless, by advancing the pretension, in such 
 haughty terms, that England was not able, re- 
 duced to her own forces, to combat France. The 
 first consul thus inflicted tin injury, in form, at 
 I tast, although it was really nothing at bottom. 
 
 When this document, describing the situation 
 of the republic, fine as it was in display, but too 
 !ity, arrived in London, i; produced a far greater 
 than the report of colonel Sebastiani had 
 , much more too than the acts which the first 
 .1 was reproached with having done in Italy. 
 Switzerland, and Germany 1 . These intemperate 
 words, on the inability of England to encounter 
 Fiance alone, aroused all the spirit of the English 
 people. Added to this, the first consul had ac- 
 companied this last document with a note, which 
 demanded of the British government a definitive 
 explanation relative to the evacuation of Malta. 
 
 The English cabinet was at last obliged to re- 
 solve upon something, and to declare to the first 
 1 its intentions in regard to the island so 
 much disputed, and the cause of such great events. 
 ! • mbarrassment was very great, b cause it 
 would not avow its intention to violate a solemn 
 ;ive a promise of the evacuation of 
 land, become impossible through its own 
 tiess. P d by public opinion to do some- 
 
 thing, and not knowing what to do, it determined 
 ud down a message to parliament, — a step 
 ii in representative governments, — 
 way o| occupying the public mind, and de- 
 luding its itii] . but a step which may pos- 
 sibly very dangerous, when it is not clearly 
 Known how far it may go, or to what end it may 
 and is only put forward in order to discover 
 and procure a momentary satisfaction. 
 
 In the parliamentary sittin:.' of tie- II. Ii of March, 
 the following message was brought down to the 
 nona : — 
 
 '• Hi« majesty thinks it necessary to acquaint the 
 
 of nmons, that as very considi rable mili- 
 
 l, reparations at,- carrying on in tie- pen of 
 
 France and Holland, he had judged it expedient to 
 adopt additional a oi precaution for the 
 
 ' I have my elf heard a ■■ of the 
 
 dlplonuttti 
 
 . wii i. mi. , lain all the 
 
 ;i< of that epoch, that the** «<>i It was said 
 
 i . igland, alone, irii not able n> < omlial against Prance 
 —hi I an.UM.tl all the spirit <>< the English, .out that dating 
 from that day, the declaration, of war was considered as in- 
 evitable. 
 
 security of his dominions. Though the prepara- 
 tions I" which his majesty refers are avowedly 
 to the colonial service, yet as discussions 
 of jrreat importance are now subsisting between 
 his majesty and the French government, the r suit 
 of which must at present be uncertain, his majesty 
 is induced to make this communication to his faith- 
 ful commons, in the full persuasion that, whilst 
 tley partake of his majesty's earnest and unvary- 
 ing solicitude for the continuance of peace, he may 
 rely with perfect confidence on their public spirit 
 and liberality, to enable his majesty to adopt such 
 measures as circumstances may appear to require, 
 for supporting the honour of his crown, and the 
 essential interests of his people. — G. R." 
 
 It is impossible to imagine a message more 
 untimely, or more ill conceived, it rested its 
 whole tenor upon errors in fact, and had besides 
 something exceedingly offensive to the good faith 
 of the French government. In the first place, 
 there was not a single disposable vessel in any of 
 the French ports ; all the nation possessed, in a 
 state fit for sea. were at St. Domingo, armed, the 
 greater part of them, en flute, and employed in the 
 transport of troops. Many were, it is true, upon 
 tiie stocks, and that was no mystery to any one ; 
 but there was no thought of the equipment of a 
 single vessel. France possessed in the Dutch port 
 of Helvoetsluys alone, a weak expedition of two 
 sail of the line, and two frigates, carrying three or 
 four thousand men, notoriously destined for Louisi- 
 ana. They had been detained some months by the 
 ic !, and the object of the voyage was well known to 
 till Europe. To say that these armaments, in ap- 
 pearance destined for the colonies, had another 
 object in view, was an insinuation "of a most offen- 
 sive character. To pretend, too, that there existed 
 discussions of great importance between the two 
 governments, was exceedingly imprudent, because, 
 up to that time, all discussions had been limited to 
 some few words relating to Malta, put by France, 
 and remaining unanswered by England. To make 
 a contested matter of these was to declare at once, 
 that England refused to fulfil the treaty she had 
 signet!, lor it cannot be. pretended that some expres- 
 sions taken out of the r< port of colonel Sebastiani, 
 or from the document explanatory of the state of the 
 French republic, constituted a sufficient grievance 
 to oblige the whole of the forces of England to be 
 set in activity. This message, then fore, would not 
 hear a scrutiny, nild was at the same time both 
 incorrect and injurious. 
 
 Lord Whit worth, who now began to be a little 
 better acquainted with the government to which 
 In- had been accredited, divined instantly the im- 
 prest ion that the message to the parliament would 
 produce on the mind of Bonaparte, lie did not 
 deliver a copy to M. de Talleyrand without ax* 
 pressing a deep regret, and pr< s-inL,' that minister 
 to go to the geuernl to calm him, and persuade 
 
 him thai it. was not a declaration of war, hut only 
 
 a simple measure of precaution. Talleyrand went 
 elf immediately to the Tuileries, and did not wry 
 
 well succeed with the furious master who occupied 
 
 that palace, lie found him deeply angry at the 
 initiative bo simply taken up by the Britudi cabi- 
 net, because this strange message, for which there 
 . cause, seemed to be intended as a provoca- 
 tion, delivered in the face of all the world. He
 
 456 
 
 Anger of the first consul, 
 and his intemperate 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 address to the English 
 ambassador. 
 
 1803. 
 Feb. 
 
 felt himself publicly braved, he believed himself 
 grossly outraged, and demanded very justly where 
 the British cabinet had been able to gather all the 
 glaring falsehoods contained in the message, be- 
 cause there was not in existence, he said, a 
 single armament in all the # ports of France, and 
 there had not been even a declared subject of 
 difference between the two cabinets. 
 
 M. de Tallevrand obtained the concession from 
 the first consul, that he should put a rein upon his 
 resentment, and that if war was to be resorted to, 
 he should leave to the English the onus of the 
 provocation. This was the intention of the first 
 consul himself, but it was exceedingly difficult to 
 make him bridle his resentment, so much did he 
 feel himself injured. The message was communi- 
 cated to parliament in England on the 8th of 
 March, and it was known in Paris on the 11th. 
 Unhappily, the next day but one was Sunday, the 
 day on which the diplomatic body was received at 
 the Tuileries. A very natural curiosity had at- 
 tracted to the court all the foreign ministers, who 
 were very curious to see the attitude which the 
 first consul would assume under the circumstances, 
 and above all, that of the English ambassador. 
 While waiting the moment for the audience, the 
 first consul was standing near madam Bonaparte, 
 in his apartment, playing with an infant, which 
 would then have been his heir, the newly-born son 
 of Louis Bonaparte and Hortense de Beauharnois. 
 M. de Remusat, prefect of the palace, announced 
 to the first consul, that the circle was formed, and 
 among other names, reported that of lord Whit- 
 worth. The name thus suddenly pronounced, 
 made a visible impression upon the first consul ; 
 he left the infant with which he had been playing, 
 hastily took the hand of madam Bonaparte, passed 
 through the door which opened into the drawing- 
 room where strangers were received on state occa- 
 sions, passed along before the foreign ministers, who 
 pressed upon his footsteps, went straight up to the 
 ambassador of England, and said to him, in a state 
 of extreme agitation, — 
 
 " My lord, have you news from England ? " 
 
 Then, without scarcely awaiting a reply, he con- 
 tinued : — 
 
 " You wish for war, then 1 " 
 
 "No, general," replied the ambassador, with 
 much deliberateness of manner, " we feel too much 
 the advantages of the peace." 
 
 "You wish for war, then," continued the first 
 consul, in a very loud tone of voice, and in such a 
 way as to be heard by all who were present; "we 
 have fought for ten years — you wish, then, that we 
 should fight for ten years to come ? How can they 
 dare to say that France is arming itself? They 
 have imposed upon the world. There is not a 
 vessel in our ports; all the ships capable of service 
 have been sent to St. Domingo. The sole arma- 
 ment that exists is at this moment in the harbours 
 of Holland, and no one has been ignorant for four 
 months past that it is destined for Louisiana. They 
 say there is a difference between France and Eng- 
 land ; I know of none. I only know that the isle 
 of Malta has not been evacuated within the pre- 
 scribed time ; but I do not imagine that your 
 ministers will be wanting in good faith on the part 
 of England, by refusing to execute a solemn treaty. 
 At least, they have not yet made the assertion. I 
 
 cannot suppose, further, that by your armaments, 
 you have any desire to intimidate the French peo- 
 ple ; it is possible to kill them, my lord, but never 
 to frighten them ! " 
 
 The ambassador, surprised, and somewhat con- 
 founded, in spite of his presence of mind, replied 
 that England neither wished for the one nor the 
 other ; but that, on the contrary, she would en- 
 deavour to live on a good understanding with 
 France. 
 
 " Then she must respect treaties," replied the 
 first consul ; " evil be to them who do not respect 
 treaties ! " 
 
 The first consul then passed on before M. Azara, 
 and M. Markoff, and said to them, in a voice suffi- 
 ciently elevated, that the English would not eva- 
 cuate Malta, that they refused to hold by their 
 engagements, and that hereafter it would be neces- 
 sary to cover the treaty with black crape. He 
 continued to pass on, and perceiving the minister 
 of Sweden, whose presence recalled to his mind 
 the ridiculous despatches addressed to the Ger- 
 manic diet, and at that moment made public, he 
 said, — 
 
 " Your king forgets, then, that Sweden is no 
 longer as she was in the time of Gustavus Adol- 
 phus — that she has descended to the third rank 
 among the powers of Europe 1" 
 
 He went round the circle, completed it, continu- 
 ally in agitation, his glance sparkling and alarming 
 as that of power is .when in anger, and wholly des- 
 titute of the calm dignity which usually sat so well 
 upon him. 
 
 Feeling, nevertheless, that he had gone out of 
 the proper track, in completing the circle, he 
 came again to the English ambassador, and made 
 encpiiry, in a mild tone of voice, for the duchess 
 of Dorset, his wife, expressing the hope that, 
 after having passed the bad season in France, 
 she might be able to pass the good there ; he 
 added, "that this did not depend upon him, but 
 upon England ; and that if recourse was obliged 
 to be had to arms, the responsibility wholly and 
 entirely, in the eyes of God and man, would rest 
 upon those who refused to fulfil their engage- 
 ments '." 
 
 1 There is something of difference between the statement 
 of our author as to this dialogue, and that put forth at the 
 time in the English government papers. It is very probable 
 that the latter exaggerated the language used ; for there was 
 at that moment so much prejudice, and so little of reason 
 prevalent, to say nothing of the disregard of facts in party 
 statements of all kinds at the time, that our author may 
 very probably he correct. The statement given in the go- 
 vernment papers of England was as follows : — 
 
 " Bonaparte entered with an unusual alertness of manner, 
 and after saluting the company he addressed himself to lord 
 Whitworth, in a tone sufficiently loud to be heard by all 
 present. 'You know, my lord, that a terrible storm has 
 arisen between England and France.' 
 
 "Lord Whilworth.—' Yes, general consul ; but it is to be 
 hoped that this storm will be dissipated without any serious 
 consequences.' 
 
 " Bonaparte.—' It will be dissipated when England shall 
 have evacuated Malta; if not, the cloud will burst, and the 
 bolt must fall. The king of England has promised by treaty 
 to evacuate that place; and who is to violate the faith of 
 treaties ?' 
 
 " Lord Whitworth (surprised at finding himself questioned 
 in this manner, and before so many persons).— 'But you
 
 1F03. 
 March. 
 
 Desicrn of Bonaparte 
 for the invasion of 
 England. 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 
 
 He makes prepara- 
 tions for war. 
 
 457 
 
 This scene must needs have deeply irritated the 
 self-love of the English people, and brought about 
 a vexatious reciprocity of ill-feeling. The Eng- 
 lish were wrong in the main, because their ambi- 
 tion, so little dissimulated in regard to Malta, had 
 become a real scandal. It was more proper to 
 have left tin- real wrong upon them, and not to 
 have laid upon himself that of mere form. But 
 the first consul, when offended, felt a species of 
 gratification in the outbreaks of his anger being 
 •hoed from one end <u' the world to another. 
 
 The scene with lord Whitworth soon became 
 public, because nearly two hundred persons were 
 witnesses of it. Each rendered it in his own man- 
 ner, .^nd exaggerated it as he saw fit. It caused 
 a very painful feeling throughout Europe, and 
 I greatly to the perplexity of the English 
 cabinet. Lord Whitworth, offended and hurt, com- 
 plained to Talleyrand, and declared that he would 
 never again appear at the Tuileries unless he re- 
 ceived the formal assurance that he should no 
 more be subjected to similar treatment. Talley- 
 rand replied verbally to these just complaints. It 
 was in such circumstances that his calmness of 
 mind, address, and self-confidence, were a great aid 
 to the political business of the cabinet, compromised 
 by the natural vehemence of character of the first 
 consul. 
 
 A sudden revolution at this time took place in 
 the changing and passionate mind of Napoleon. 
 From the perspective views during a fruitful and 
 laborious peace, with which he recently loved to 
 feed his active imagination, he passed at once to 
 
 know, general consul, the circumstances which have hitherto 
 delayed the evacuation of Malta. The intention of my 
 sovereign is to fulfil the treaty of Amiens. And you also 
 know ' 
 
 " Bonaparte. — ' You know' (with impetuosity) 'that the 
 French have carried on the war for ten years, and you can- 
 not doubt but they are in a condition to wage it again. In- 
 form your court, that if on the receipt of your despatches 
 orders are not issued for the immediate surrender of Malta, 
 then war is declared. I declare my firm resolution is to see 
 the treaty carried into effect; and I leave it to the ambassa- 
 dors of the several powers that are present to decide who is 
 in the wrong. You flattered yourselves that France would 
 not dare to show her resentment whilst her squadrons were 
 at St. Domingo; I am happy thus publicly to undeceive you 
 on that head.' 
 
 " Lord H'ltituorth. — ' But, general, the negotiation is not 
 yet broken ; and there is even reason to believe ' 
 
 "SomaparU. 'Of what negotiation does your lordship 
 (peak ! Is it necessary to negotiate what is concluded by 
 treaty— to n the fulfilment of engagements and the 
 
 dutie I "I Whitworth was about to reply, 
 
 Bona; ■ lift) wilh his hand, and continued in a 
 
 less iterated tunc > • My lord, your lady is indisposed; she 
 may probably breathe her native air rather sooner than you 
 or I I ipected. I '•'•ih must ardently for peace; but if my 
 ; ba not ii nipli*<1 with, then m must 
 
 follow, and Ood "ill decide. If tieatics are not sulliri. n| to 
 bind to peace! then the vanquished must not be left in a 
 condition to oiler injury.'" 
 
 The above atatemant, thai Bonaparte wared his hand In 
 Qui ini'l-i of tin- dialOgna ( is not so consonant with proba- 
 bility ai ih'- statement ol m. Thlere, thai became back to 
 lord Whitworth, with whom he had beg un the conversa- 
 tion, upon the Completion Of his going round tin- i -ireli- in 
 
 attendance. Moreover, it was not Malta, but the king's 
 
 threatening message, that caused the conversation.— Ti am 
 tutor. 
 
 the future views of war, to the greatness that 
 might be obtained by victory, to the renewal of 
 the face of Europe, and to the re-establishment of 
 the empire of the west, which presented itself too 
 frequently to his mind. He suddenly filing him- 
 self from one of these objects towards the other. 
 The benefactor of France and of the world, he 
 had once flattered himself with becoming, he now 
 wished to become its astonishment. A degree of 
 anger, at once personal and patriotic, seized upon 
 him; and to conquer England, to humiliate, to 
 humble, to destroy her, became from that day the 
 passion of his life. Persuaded that all things are 
 possible to man, having the circumstances granted 
 of sufficient intelligence, followers, and a deter- 
 mined will, he suddenly took up the idea of passing 
 the straits of Dover, and of carrying into England 
 one of those armies which had vanquished Europe. 
 He had said to himself three years before, that the 
 St. Bernard and the snows of winter, reported in- 
 vincible obstacles by men in common, had not been 
 so for him; he repeated the same thing of the arm 
 of the sea which is between Dover and Calais, and 
 he applied himself to consider the mode of crossing 
 it, with the deepest conviction of success. It was 
 from that moment, in other words, from the day 
 when the message of the king of England was 
 known, that he dated his first orders; and it was 
 then that this extraordinary mind, which the convic- 
 tion of its own power led astray in politics, became 
 again a prodigy of human nature, wdien it acted in 
 foreseeing and surmounting all the difficulties of a 
 vast enterprise. 
 
 He at once sent off colonel Lacue'e into Flanders 
 and Holland, to visit the ports of these countries, 
 to examine their form and extent, their population 
 and naval stores. He enjoined it upon him to 
 procure a statement, approaching as near as pos- 
 sible to fact, of all the vessels used for the coasting 
 service and for the fishery, from Havre-de-Grace 
 to the Texel, and capable of following under sail a 
 squadron of men-of-war. lie sent other officers to 
 Cherburgh, St. Malo, Granville, and Brest, with 
 orders to make an examination of all the boats 
 serving for the larger fisheries, in order to ascer- 
 tain their numbers, value, and total tonnage. He 
 began to commence the repair of the gun-boats 
 which had composed the old Boulogne flotilla in 
 lfiOl. He ordered the engineers of the navy to 
 present him models of fiat-bottomed boats capable 
 of carrying heavy cannon; and he required from 
 them the plan of a large canal between Boulogne 
 and Dunkirk, with the objocl <>f putting these two 
 porta in communication. He ordered the arma- 
 ment to proceed along all the coasts and the islands 
 from Bourdeaux as far as Antwerp. I le prescribed 
 an immediate inspection of all the forests which 
 bordered upon the coasts of the channel, with the 
 object of examining the nature and quantity of 
 timber which they contained, and to discover what 
 pari it might be possible to use for the construction 
 
 of an immense warlike flotilla. Hearing from cer- 
 tain rumours thai the emissaries of the English 
 government bought the wood of the Roman states, 
 Re despatched agents there, with the necessary 
 funds to buy that wood, and with recommendations 
 which did not have the pope but little will in the 
 choice of purchasers. 
 Three things ought, according to him, to sig-
 
 458 Duroc sen t to Berlin. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Louisiana sold to the 
 United States. 
 
 1803. 
 March. 
 
 nalize the commencement of hostilities; the occu- 
 pation of Hanover, of Portugal, and of the Gulf of 
 Tarentum, in order to effect immediately the abso- 
 lute shutting up of the coasts of the continent, from 
 Dunkirk to the Adriatic. With this view he began 
 by the composition at Bayoime of the artillery of a 
 corps of the army; he united at Faenza a division 
 of ten thousand men, and twenty-four pieces of 
 cannon, designed to pass into the kingdom of 
 Naples; he landed the troops embarked at Helvo- 
 etsluis for Louisiana. Thinking that it was too 
 dangerous to send them to sea on the eve of a 
 declaration of war, he directed a part of them 
 upon Flushing, a port appertaining to Holland, 
 but placed under the power of France while she 
 was in the occupation of that country. He sent 
 there a military officer, with a commission to put 
 on all the powers which belong to a military com- 
 mandant in time of war, and ordered him to arm 
 the place without delay. The rest of the troops 
 were sent to Breda and Nimiguen, two points of 
 assemblage intended for the formation of a corps 
 of twenty-four thousand men. This corps, placed 
 under the orders of general Mortler, was to invade 
 Hanover upon the first act of hostility committed 
 by England. 
 
 Still it was not a thing politically easy to invade 
 Hanover. The king of England, on the part of 
 Hanover, was a member of the Germanic confede- 
 ration, and had a right in certain cases to the pro- 
 tection of the confederated states. The king of 
 Prussia, the director of the circle of Lower Saxony, 
 in which Hanover was comprised, was the natural 
 protector of that state. It was necessary, there- 
 fore, to have recourse to him for his consent, 
 which could not fail to cost him much trouble, 
 because to consent would be to compromise the 
 north of Germany in the formidable quarrel in 
 which France was about to be engaged, and per- 
 haps to expose the Elbe, the Weser, and the Oder, 
 to be blockaded by the English. The cabinet of 
 Potsdam had affected, it. was true, much attach- 
 ment to France, which had procured for it such 
 extensive indemnities; thia attachment would, no 
 doubt, be able to secure a refusal, on the part of 
 Prussia, to all the objects of a coalition, and, in 
 fact, influence that court to make every effort to 
 prevent it, and even go as far as to induce it to 
 give tlie first consul notice of such an intention; 
 but in the existing state of things this intimacy was 
 not converted into a positive alliance, so that, if 
 France had need of some great devotional act, it 
 might be seriously counted upon in the perform- 
 ance. 
 
 The first consul, in consequence, made his aide- 
 de-camp Duroc leave Paris immediately for Btrlin, 
 knowing well as he did the Prussian court; and he 
 gave him the commission to state to that court the 
 danger of an approaching rupture between England 
 and France; the intention of the French govern- 
 ment to push the war to the utmost extremity, and 
 its object of seizing upon Hanover. General Duroc 
 was ordered to add, that the first consul did not 
 wish to make war lor the sake of war, and that if 
 the nionarchs who were strangers to the quarrel, 
 as the king of Prussia and the emperor of Russia, 
 could find a means of arranging the differences, 
 and of bringing England to pay a respect to trea- 
 ties, he would instantly put a stop in a road lead- 
 
 ing to the unsparing hostility into which he was 
 ready to precipitate himself. 
 
 The first consul believed that he was hound thus 
 to make a. step agreeable to the emperor of Russia. 
 He had treated up to this time with that sovereign 
 upon some of the most weighty affairs of Europe, 
 and he now desired to interest him on his own side 
 and cause, and to constitute him a judge of what 
 passed between France and England. He wrote 
 him a letter, of which colonel Colbert was to be the 
 bearer, and in which, recalling all the past events 
 from the treaty of Amiens, he showed himself dis- 
 posed, without directly demanding it, to submit 
 himself to the emperor's mediation, in case Great 
 Britain would submit upon her side; so much did 
 he reckon, he said, upon the goodness of his cause, 
 and the justice of the emperor Alexander. 
 
 To all these determinations, so promptly taken, 
 another and last must be added relative to Loui- 
 siana. The four thousand men destined to occupy 
 that country were to be disembarked. But what 
 was to be done — what part taken in regard to that 
 valuable possession I There was no reason to be 
 alarmed about the other colonies. St. Domingo 
 was full of troops, and there had been embarked in 
 haste, in all the trading vessels ready to sail, the 
 disposable soldiers of the colonial depots. Guada- 
 loupe, Martinique, and the Isle of Fiance, were 
 also provided with strong garrisons, and it would 
 have demanded immense expeditious to have dis- 
 puted them with France. But Louisiana did not 
 contain a single soldier. It was a vast province 
 that four thousand men were not sufficient to 
 occupy in time of war. The inhabitants, although of 
 French origin, had so often changed masters during 
 the century past, that they regarded nothing more 
 than their independence. The North Americana 
 were little satisfied to see the French in possession 
 of the mouths of the Mississippi, and of their prin- 
 cipal passage with the Gulf of Mexico. They were 
 even at the moment making advances to France, 
 with the object of managing their commerce and na- 
 vigation upon advantageous conditions of transit, in 
 the port of New Orleans. It was, therefore, neces- 
 sary to reckon if France wished to keep Louisiana, 
 upon great efforts against the colony upon the part 
 of the English ; upon perfect indifference on that 
 of the inhabitants; and upon real ill-will on the 
 part of the Americans. These last in reality only 
 wished to have the Spaniards for neighbours. All 
 the colonial visions of the first consul had vanished 
 therefore upon the appearance of the message 
 of George III., and his resolution was immediately 
 formed in consequence at that \<rv moment. 
 
 " I will not keep," said the first consul to one of 
 the ministers, "a possession which will not be 
 secure in our hands, that may perhaps embroil 
 me with the Americans, or may place me in a state 
 of coolness with them. 1 shall make it serve me, 
 on the contrary, to attach me to them, to get them 
 into differences with the English, and 1 shall 
 create for them enemies who will one day avenge 
 us if we do not succeed in avenging ourselves. My 
 determination is fixed ; 1 will give Louisiana to 
 the United States. But as they have no territory 
 to cede to me in exchange, I shall demand of them 
 a sum of money to pay the expenses of the extra- 
 ordinary armament that 1 am projecting against 
 Great Britain." The first consul would not con-
 
 1803. 
 March. 
 
 Ratification of the 
 treaty tur the 
 of Louisiana. 
 
 Politic conduct of Talley- 
 RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS, rand. - HlffltulHes of 
 
 the English ministry. 
 
 459 
 
 tract a loan ; he hoped with a large sum which he 
 should procure by extraordinary means, by a 
 moderate augmentation of the taxes, and by some 
 
 sales of national property slowly carried into 
 effect, m support the expenses of the war. He 
 sent f>r ML de Marbois, minister of the treasury, 
 formerly employed in America, and for M. Decres, 
 
 minister of the marine, and wished, although he 
 had made up his mind, to listen to their reasoning 
 upon the subject. M. de Marbois spoke in favour 
 of the alienation of the colony, and ML Decres 
 against it. The tirst consul listened to them very 
 attentively, without appearing to be affected the 
 
 In th* world by the reasoning either of oneor 
 the other ; lie beard them as lie would often do, 
 even when be bad already made up his own mind, 
 in order to convince himself that be bad not bei n 
 ignorant of some great point of the question sub- 
 mitted to his judgment. Confirmed rather than 
 shaken in his determination by what be had heard 
 stated, be requested M. de Marbois to call, without 
 losing a moment, upon Mr. Livingston, the Ameri- 
 can minister, and to enter into a negotiation with 
 him upon the subject of Louisiana. Mr. Monro 
 had just arrived in Europe to regulate with the 
 English the question of maritime law. and with the 
 French the question of the transit on the Missis- 
 sippi. Upon bis arrival in Paris, he was wel- 
 comed with the unexpected proposition of the 
 
 ih cabinet. He was offered not merely some 
 facilities of transit in passing through Louisiana, 
 but the addition of the whole territory to th • 
 . II" was not embarrassi d a moment 
 by any defect in his powers ; he treated imme- 
 diately, except as far as the ratification of his 
 government was concerned. 
 
 M.de Marbois demanded the sum of 80,000,000f., 
 of which 20,000,000 f. were to indemnify the 
 Americans- for the captures illegally made during 
 the hut war, and 60,000,000 f. for the French 
 
 ory. 'l'b'- 20,000,000 f. devoted to the first 
 object would a 'lie good will of till 
 
 the merchants of the I'ni'i d Stales. Li regard to 
 
 the other sum of 90,000,000 f. designed for Fr 
 
 it wa- hat the cabinet of Washington should 
 
 and that they should be nego- 
 tiated witli Dutch houses at an advantageous price 
 some little distance from par. The treaty was, 
 then fore, c included on this hasis, and sent to 
 Washington in order to be ratified. It was thus 
 that the Americans acquired this vast territory, 
 which bai completed their domination in North 
 America, and rendi red them masters of the Gulf of 
 
 llexioo DOW and lor all future time. They are 
 
 therefore indebted for their rise and tb< ir great- 
 : i the long contest betwe* n France and Eng- 
 land. To the first act in this contest they owe 
 their ind ; to the second, this large 
 
 addition to their territory. We shall Bee soon to 
 what use this 00,000 000 f. was applied, and of what 
 inment. 
 'I'h. utiona once taken, the first consul 
 
 follow d oul with mors patience the winding up 
 
 of thi . ti .ii. Tilt involuntary lit of auger 
 
 which he was unable to defend, on receiving the 
 Mre of the King of England, l>. ing passed, he 
 promised himself to maintain in ruture an unalter- 
 able moderation, to sutler himself even to proceed 
 to tie- end so openly, that Arams and all Europe 
 
 could not possibly deceive themselves about the 
 real authors of the war. 
 
 Talleyrand, under the existing circumstances, 
 conducted himself with rare wisdom, and con- 
 tributed more than any to inspire the first consul 
 with new dispositions. This minister well under- 
 stood that a war with England, looking at the 
 difficulty of making it decisive, and seeing that the 
 influence of British subsidies soon making it conti- 
 nental, would be but the renewal of the war of 
 the revolution with Europe, lor the purpose of pre- 
 venting the mischief of a universal conflagration, 
 decided to make use of the inertia, which he had 
 sometimes found to serve with the first consul, as a 
 jet of water cast upon an ardent fire to moderate 
 its violence. If on some occasions this inertia had 
 its inconveniences, it was this time a succour of 
 very great importance ; and with any other cabi- 
 net than that which then reigned so feebly in 
 England, it would have succeeded in preventing a 
 rupture, or at least in retarding one for a long 
 while to come. In consequence, after having bail 
 an interview with, and brought the first consul to 
 . ho drew up a calm, frank communication to 
 the British cabinet, having for its object to make 
 known to that cabinet that military precautions 
 would commence on the side of France, but com- 
 mence only from that day, in other words, from the 
 date of the message of George IN. to parliament. 
 When arming is begun in England, said M. de 
 Talleyrand, the British cabinet must not be sur- 
 prised if Switzerland, which was just on the point 
 of being evacuated, is not so : if a body of troops 
 be set in march towards the middle of Italy with 
 the view of occupying Tarentum ; if a corps of 
 twenty thousand men should enter Holland, and 
 take up thi> nearest possible position to Hanover ; 
 if the of a military division is united at 
 
 Bayonne, to act in case of need against Portugal ; 
 if, in fine, works of mere construction in the French 
 ports are changed into those of armament ; doubt- 
 there will result a redoubled movement of the 
 public mind in England, the ordinary exciters of 
 public opinion will conclude again that France 
 meditates fresh us — but what to do i 
 
 There it must resign itself ; when, in fine, the 
 liritish cabinet has taken the initiativ , by its own 
 measures of precaution, which finish by being 
 really measures of proi In fact, they are 
 
 arming actively in England, and pi s are 
 
 at work on the quays of the Thames in the \ivv 
 heart of the city of London. They an- there pre- 
 paring to Bend to sea fifty sail of the line, that 
 according to the announcement made in parlia- 
 ment, will he reaily in case of rupture, to Bet sail 
 upon tie- day of the declaration of war ! 
 
 The minister Addingtuii, feeling that he was not 
 equal to the circumstances of his position, had 
 made some overtures to Pitt, in order to engage 
 him to enter tin- cabinet, hut I'itt had repelled his 
 overtures with gnat haughtiness, and continued 
 to live nearly always far from London, and the 
 agitations of party. Peeling his own Btreilgth, 
 eing the events which would arise to render 
 it necessary, hi' much preferred relying upon the 
 power of those events, thai the feeble ministers 
 
 who were the ephemeral holders id' his place. lie 
 
 d their oilers, leaving them, by his refusal, 
 
 in a stale of cruel embarrassment. The ministry
 
 480 
 
 Embarrassment of the 
 English miuistry. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 New proposition. 
 
 1803. 
 March. 
 
 had taken these steps without the consent of 
 George III., who would have desired to keep his 
 existing cabinet, because he had for Pitt a dislike 
 scarcely to be overcome. He found in Pitt, with 
 opinions that were his own, a minister who was 
 nearly his master. He found in Fox, with his 
 noble and attractive character, opinions which 
 were odious to him. He did not wish to have 
 either the one or the other. He desired to keep 
 in Addington, the son of a physician, of whom he 
 was fond ; lord Hawkesbury, the son of lord Liver- 
 pool, his intimate confidant ; he wished also to 
 preserve the peace unbroken, if it were a thing 
 possible to be done, and if not possible, he then 
 would resign himself to a state of war, which to 
 him was become a sort of habit, but then he 
 wished it to be carried on with the existing minis- 
 try. Addington and Hawkesbury were strongly 
 of this opinion ; still they would wish if possible a 
 reinforcement of strength ; and after having been 
 a ministry of peace, to constitute themselves a war 
 administration. In default of Pitt, who had re- 
 fused to join them, it was not practicable to unite 
 themselves with Windham and Grenville, because 
 their violence far surpassed the opinion of the 
 English public. Addington and Hawkesbury would 
 willingly have addressed themselves to Fox, whose 
 pacific ideas were in consonance with theirs ; but 
 here the will of the king was an insurmountable 
 obstacle, and they were reduced at last to remain 
 as they were, alone, feeble, isolated, in parliament, 
 and on that account kept at bay by the different 
 parties. But the party which had at that moment 
 the greatest strength, because it displayed the 
 national passions, was that of Grenville, which on 
 account of its violence had begun to be distin- 
 guished from that of Pitt, and which avenged itself 
 for not arriving at the ministry, by obliging those 
 in power to do that which, if there, it would have 
 done itself. The feebleness of the cabinet then 
 would bring on the war with nearly as much cer- 
 tainty as if it had numbered among its members 
 Windham, Grenville, and Dundas. 
 
 Addington and Hawkesbury were now much 
 embarrassed on account of all the noise they had 
 made, whether about the events which had taken 
 place in Switzerland, whether on the question of 
 the retention of Malta, or in making answer to a 
 haughty phrase of the first consul, by a message to 
 parliament. They would have been heartily willing 
 to find some expedient which might relieve them 
 from their embarrassment ; but unhappily they 
 were placed in a situation from which any thing 
 short of the definitive conquest of Malta would 
 appear insufficient in England, and provoke an 
 outrage under which they would have succumbed. 
 As to Malta, there was no hope of obtaining that 
 island with the consent of the first consul. 
 
 Talleyrand, to afford them aid, hinted to them 
 the proposal of a convention, in which there might 
 be arranged, for example, the evacuation of Swit- 
 zerland and of Holland as the price of the evacua- 
 tion of Malta, in which there should be an engage- 
 ment to respect the integrity of the Turkish 
 empire, as a means of calming public opinion in 
 England, and of dissipating its suspicions. 
 
 This proposition did not answer the expectations 
 of the English ministers, because Malta was the 
 absolute condition which the masters of their 
 
 feebleness had imposed upon them. It was ne- 
 cessary either to satisfy the covetousness which 
 was brought about by their own fault, or to succumb 
 before the parliament. Nevertheless, they felt 
 that they should finish by covering themselves 
 with ridicule in the sight of England, of France, 
 and of all Europe, if they continued to remain in 
 an equivocal position, not daring to say a word 
 which they wished to say. They produced their 
 pretensions at last on the 13th of April, 1803. 
 The first consul had given them inquietude upon 
 the subject of Egypt, and it was necessary, they 
 said, to have possession of Malta as a means of 
 overlooking that quarter to be capable of securing 
 themselves. They offered two hypotheses ; either 
 the possession by England of the forts of the island 
 for ever, leaving the civil government of the island 
 to the order ; or the possession of the island for 
 ten years, and to give up the forts, not to the 
 order, but to the Maltese themselves. In either 
 case France should oblige itself to second a nego- 
 tiation with the king of Naples to obtain the 
 consent of that monarch to cede to England the 
 island of Lampedosa, situated at a short distance 
 from Malta, for the avowed end of forming there a 
 naval establishment 1 . 
 
 Lord Whitworth attempted to gain the assent 
 of M. Talleyrand to these demands, and addressed 
 himself the same request to the brother of the first 
 consul. Joseph, who feared no less than M. Tal- 
 leyrand the chances of a desperate contest, in 
 which must be risked perhaps all the greatness 
 of Bonaparte, Joseph promised to use with his 
 brother all Ins influence, but at the same time 
 without holding out a chance of succeeding. The 
 only proposition which appeared to him to have 
 any prospect of success, was to leave some time, 
 but only for a short time, the possession of the 
 fortresses of Malta to the English, maintaining the 
 existence of the order with great care, in order 
 that it might be possible to give up the fortresses 
 to it soon, and to grant to France, in the way of 
 compensation, the immediate acknowledgments of 
 the new states of Italy. In consequence, Joseph 
 
 1 The following is the statement put forth by the Adding- 
 ton ministry in England as the proposal on their part alluded 
 to above, and also in page 4G3 : — 
 
 1. The French government shall engage to make no oppo- 
 sition to the cession of the island of Lampedosa to his ma- 
 jesty by the king of the Two Sicilies. 
 
 2. In consequence of the present state of the island of 
 Lampedosa, his majesty shall remain in possession of the 
 island of Malta until such arrangements shall be made by 
 him as may enable his majesty to occupy Lampedosa as a 
 naval station, alter which period the island of Malta shall 
 be given up to the inhabitants, and acknowledged as an in- 
 dependent state. 
 
 3. The territories of the Batavian republic shall be evacu- 
 ated by the French forces within one month after the con- 
 clusion of a convention founded on the principles of this 
 project. 
 
 4. The king of Etruria and the Italian and I.igurian re- 
 publics shall be acknowledged by his majesty. 
 
 5. Switzerland shall be evacuated by the French forces. 
 
 6. A suitable territorial provision shall be assigned to the 
 king of Sardinia in Italy. 
 
 Secret Article.— His majesty shall not be required by 
 the French government to evacuate the island of Malta 
 until after the expiration often years. Articles 4, 5, 6, may 
 be entirely omitted, or must all be inserted.
 
 1803. 
 April. 
 
 Its refusal by the 
 fiMt consul. 
 
 Defence of the Addington 
 RUPTURE OF THE TEACE OF AMIENS. ministry for not evacu- 461 
 
 ating Malta. 
 
 Bonaparte and M. de Talleyrand made the greatest 
 efforts in their power to move the first consul to 
 
 • m this state of things. They made it a 
 point with him to maintain the order of St. John 
 of Jerusalem as an evidence before the eyes of the 
 public that the occupation of the forts was but 
 temporary, by this means preserving the dignity 
 of the French government. 
 
 To this the first consul opposed an unflinching 
 ami obstinate resistance. All these tamperings 
 with the question appeared beneath his character. 
 He said that it was much better to give up the 
 island of Malta purely and simply to the English ; 
 that this would be a sort of indemnification granted 
 voluntarily to England for the pretended encroach- 
 ments of France since the treaty of Amiens ; that 
 the concession thus explained had something frank, 
 clear, and offered rather the appearance of an act 
 of justice voluntarily accorded than the appearance 
 of a weakness ; that, on the contrary, the pos- 
 session of Malta granted in reality (because the 
 forts were in fact all the island, and some years 
 
 the same as lor ever), and thus covered by 
 dissimulation, was unworthy of him ; that nobody 
 should delude him, and that even in the efforts 
 which he would make to dissimulate such a con- 
 cession, the sentiment of his own weakness would 
 be recognised. "No,"' said he, "either Malta or 
 nothing ! But Malta, it is the dominion of the 
 Mediterranean. No person can believe that I can 
 
 :.t to give up the dominion of the Medi- 
 terranean to the English without its being supposed 
 that 1 fear to contest it with them. I lose at one 
 time the most important sea in the world in the 
 opinion of Europe, which gives credit to my energy, 
 which believes it superior to every danger." — 
 " But," observed Talli viand, "after all, the English 
 hold Malta. and in breaking with them, you will not 
 take it from them." — '• Yes," replied the first 
 consul, "but I shall not cede it without a c 
 at an immense advantage ; I shall dispute it with 
 arms in my hands, and I hope to bring the English 
 
 eh a state that they will be forced to give up 
 Malta and more than that ; without counting that 
 if I arrive at Dover, it is all finished with these 
 tyrants of the seas, B< Bides, when one must com- 
 bat, sooner or later, with a people to whom the 
 
 m atness of France is insupportable, very well, it 
 
 in better worth cluing it to-day than at a later time. 
 
 The national energy has not been enervated by a 
 kmg peace : I am young : the English aic in the 
 wrong, mo].- iii the wrong than they have ever 
 In en j I should love better to t'uii-|| DOW. Malta 
 
 or nothing," be repeated unceasingly, " I am re- 
 
 I— tley shall not have Malta."' 
 
 t con-iii consented thai the <■< 
 of Lampedosa to tie English should be negotiated, 
 or any oth <■ small island in the north of Afi ica, en 
 the condition that Malta should be immediately 
 evacuated. •• That they should be given," said he, 
 "a harbour in the Mediterranean, well and 
 
 I will not consent that tiny shall have two 
 
 Gibraltars in 'hat sea, one at the entrance, and one 
 in tin- middle." 
 
 This reply caused great disappointment to lord 
 Whitworth, and act imodatinga lie showed him- 
 
 ,i I,, t. when In- had DOfMS of SUCO 
 
 me stiff, haughty, and almost unbecoming. 
 I ;ut M. de Talleyrand promised he would do all 
 
 lie could to support him, to prevent, or at least to 
 delay, tie' rupture. Lord Whitworth told M. de 
 Talleyrand, that whether the first consul regarded 
 it as a matter of honour or not, was of little im- 
 portance to England: that she was not one of those 
 petty states to which he was able to dictate his 
 will, and force submission to all his modes of 
 explaining honour and policy. Talleyrand replied 
 with calmness and dignity, that England, upon her 
 side, had no right, under the pretext of distrust, to 
 exact the abandonment by France of one of the 
 most important points on the globe; that there was 
 no power in the world that had a right to impose 
 upon others the consequences of its own suspi- 
 cions, whether well founded or not ; that a similar 
 course would be a very commodious way of making 
 conquests; and that in such a case it need only be 
 said, one party suffered disquiet, to be authorized 
 to place a hand upon any territory. 
 
 Lord Whitworth communicated this reply to the 
 English cabinet, which seeing itself placed between 
 the evacuation of Malta, which it regarded as its 
 own downfall, or to commence war, took the culpa- 
 ble resolution of preferring war — a war against the 
 only man wdio was able to run England into the 
 most serious perils. This resolution once taken, 
 the cabinet thought that it must, in order more to 
 phase the party under whose domination it was 
 placed, be hasty, arrogant, and prompt to come to 
 a rupture. Lord Whitworth was enjoined to de- 
 mand the occupation of Malta 1 , at least for ten 
 
 1 The defence made hy the Addington ministry for not 
 evacuating Malta is in the main embodied in the following 
 extract of its own declarations against France. 
 
 " Whilst his Britannic majesty was actuated by these 
 sentiments, he was called upon by the French government 
 to evacuate the island of Malta; his majesty had manifested 
 from the moment of the signature of the definitive treaty, an 
 anxious disposition to carry into full effect the stipulations 
 of the treaty of Amiens relative to that island. As soon as 
 he was informed that an election of a grand master had 
 taken place under t lie auspices of the emperor of Russia, 
 and that it had been agreed by the different priories as- 
 sembled at St. I'etersburgh to acknowledge the person 
 whom the court of Koine should select out of those who had 
 been named by them to be grand master of the order of 
 St. John, his majesty proposed to the French government, 
 for the purpose of avoiding any difficulties which might 
 arise in the execution of this arrangement, to acknowledge 
 that election to tie valid | and when, in the month of August, 
 
 the French government spplied to bis majesty to permit 
 the Neapolitan troops to be sent to the island of Malta, as a 
 preliminary measure for preventing any unnecessary delay, 
 
 bis majesty consented without hesitation to this proposal, 
 
 and cave directions for the admission of the Neapolitan 
 
 t roups into the island. His majesty had thus shown his 
 
 disposition not only to throw no obstacle In the way of the 
 execution of the treaty, but, on the contrary, to facilitate the 
 execution of It by every means in his power. 
 
 ••Hi it, however, admit that si any period 
 
 since the conclusion of the treat) ol Amiens the French 
 government have had s right to call upon him, Inconfo 
 to the stipulations ol thai treaty, to withdraw his (braes from 
 
 ind of Malta, At the time when tins demand was 
 
 made by the ie ni h i oven the i tost 1m 
 
 portent stipulations remained unexei uted, The i li i Hon ol 
 
 d master had n< '"'" ' "' ' ' Tl "' ll "' 1 
 
 article bad itlpulated thst the Independence of the Island 
 should be pieced under the guarantee and protection ol 
 
 (; r ,. : ,l |, i , Russia, Spain, and 
 
 1 1,,. , mi, roi ol Germany had seceded to the
 
 Defence of the Addington 
 4g2 ministry for not evacu- 
 ating Malta. 
 
 Fresh negotiation between 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, lord Whitworth and M. 
 
 de Talleyrand. 
 
 1803. 
 
 Way. 
 
 years, tlie cession of the isle of Lampedosa, tlie 
 immediate evacuation of Switzerland and Holland, 
 a precise and determined indemnity for tlie king of 
 Sardinia, and in return, an acknowledgment of the 
 Italian stales. To these orders to the ambassador 
 were added, an injunction to demand his passports 
 
 guarantee, but only on condition of a like accession on the 
 part of the other powers specified in the article. The 
 emperor of Russia had refused his accession except on the 
 condition that tlie Maltese language should be abrogated ; 
 and the king of Prussia had given no answer whatever to 
 the application which had been made to him to accede to the 
 arrangement. But the fundamental principle, upon the 
 existence of which depended the execution of the oilier 
 parrs of the article, had been defeated by the changes which 
 had taken place in the constitution of the order since the 
 com Iumoii of the treaty of peace. It was to the order of 
 S'. John ol Jerusalem that his m jesty was, by the first 
 stipulation of the 10th article, bound to restore the island of 
 Malta, The order is defined to consist of those languages 
 which were in existence at the conclusion of the treaty, the 
 three French languages having been abolished, and a Mal- 
 tese language added to the institution. The order con- 
 si -ted therefore at that time of the following languages, 
 viz., the languages of Arragon, Casiile, Germany, Bavaria, 
 and Russia. Since the conclusion of the definitive treaty, 
 tlie languages of Arragon and Castile have been separated 
 from tlie order by Spain ; a part of the Italian language has 
 been abolished hy the annexation of Piedmont and Parma to 
 Fiance. There is strong reason to believe that it has lieen 
 in contemplation to sequestrate the property of the Bavarian 
 languages, and the intention lias hpen avowed of keeping the 
 Russian languages within the dominions of the emperor. 
 Under these circumstances, the order of St. John cannot 
 now he considered as that body to which, according to the 
 stipulations of the treaty, the island was to be restored; and 
 the funds indispensably necessary for its support, and for 
 the maintenance of the independence of the island, have 
 been nearly, if not wholly, sequestered. Even if this had 
 arisen 'rom circumstances which it was not in the power of 
 any of the contracting parties to control, his majesty would 
 nevertheless have had a right to defer the evacuation of the 
 island by his forces until such time as an equivalent arrange- 
 ment had been concluded fur the preservation of the inde- 
 pendence of the island. But if these changes have taken 
 pla e in consequence of any acts of the other parties to the 
 treaty; if the French government shall appear to have pro- 
 ceeded upon a system of rendering the order whose indepen- 
 dence they had stipulated, incapable of maintaining that in- 
 dependence, his majesty's right to continue in the occupa- 
 tion of the island under such circumstances will hardly be 
 c intested. It is indisputable, the revenues of the two 
 - Spanish languages have been withdrawn from the order 
 by his catholic majesty; a part of the Italian language 
 has, in fact, been abolished by France, through the unjust 
 annexation of Piedmont, Parma, and Placentia, to the 
 French; the elector of Bavaria has been instigated by the 
 French government to sequestrate the propi rty of the order 
 within his territories; and it is certain they have not only 
 sanctioned, but encouraged, the idea of the propriety of sepa- 
 rating the Russian languages from the remainder of the 
 order. As the conduct of the governments of France and 
 Spain have, therefore, in some instances directly, and others 
 indirectly, contributed to the changes which have taken 
 place in the order, and thus destroyed its means of support- 
 ing iis independence, it is to these governments, and not to 
 his majesty, the non-execution of the loth article of the 
 trea'y of Amiens must be ascribed. Such would lie the just 
 conclusion if the 10th article of that treaty were considered 
 as an arrangement by itself. It must he observed, however, 
 that tins article forms a part only of a treaty of peace, the 
 whole of which is connected together, and the stipulations 
 of which must, upon a principle common to all treaties, be 
 construed as having a reference to each other. 
 
 immediately, if the conditions of England were not 
 accepted. 
 
 The despatch was dated the 23rd of April, and 
 reached Paris upon the 25th. The 2nd of May 
 was the fatal term. Lord Whitworth made several 
 attempts to accommodate affairs with M. de Talley- 
 rand, because he was equally alarmed at the effects 
 of such a rupture. M. de Talleyrand, on the other 
 hand, ma.de him understand, that there was no hope 
 of his obtaining Malta, neither for ten years, nor 
 for a less term, and that he must think of some 
 other arrangement. But in the meanwhile, he 
 applied himself so to word his despatches, as to 
 evade an immediate conclusion. Lord Whitworth, 
 entering entirely into his views, was still resolved 
 not to extend the term beyond the 2nd of May. 
 There was, in fact, nobody, however bold he might 
 be, who did not contemplate with dread tlie conse- 
 quences of such a war. There were none who 
 were unshaken in mind about a conflict that the 
 English ministers would inflict upon the world, in 
 order to become the price of their miserable exist- 
 ence, and the first consul, braving all the chances 
 of a frightful conflict, would sustain for the honour 
 of his government, and the preponderance of 
 France in the Mediterranean. L^rd Whitworth 
 and M. de Talleyrand reached the seventh day 
 without a rupture. 
 
 Finally, on the 2nd of May, lord Whitworth, not 
 daring to disobey the orders of bis court, demanded 
 his passports. Talleyrand, in order to gain a little 
 mure time, replied that he was about to submit his 
 demand for passports to the first consul, exhorted 
 him not to be too much in a hurry in any thing, 
 affirming, that perhaps by dint of effort, some un- 
 foreseen iimde id' arrangement might be discovered. 
 Talleyrand had an interview with the first consul, 
 and a long conference with him, and from this con- 
 ference, in order to keep the peace, there arose a 
 new, and it may be added, a very ingenious propo- 
 sition. This proposition was to place the island of 
 Malta in the hands of the »mperor of Russia, and 
 to let it remain in his possession as a deposit to 
 await the conclusion of the unexpected differences 
 between France and Fngland. Such a combina- 
 tion ought to deprive the English of all ground of 
 mistrust, because the good faith of the young em- 
 peror could not for a moment be contested, and 
 that might Constitute him a good judge of the 
 difference between the two countries. By a sort 
 of apt concurrence of events, this prince had writ- 
 ten, in reply to the communications of the first 
 consul, that he was quite ready to offer his media- 
 tion, if it would be the means of preventing a war; 
 ami the king of Prussia, partaking in the same 
 wish, had joined the emperor in making the same 
 offer. It was, therefore, very certain that both 
 these monarchs would be found disposed to take 
 upon themselves the task of mediating between the 
 two nations. If the offer were refused, it was suffi- 
 cient to prove satisfactorily, that there were no 
 real fears interposed, neither regarding Malta nor 
 Egypt, when an impartial depositary for the island 
 could not succeed in removing their fears, but 
 that the ministry wished to have a triumph for the 
 nation, as well as an acquirement and an argument 
 to use in parliament. 
 
 Talleyrand, thinking himself fortunate to have 
 hit upon such an expedient, went to lord Whit-
 
 1803. Continuation of the 
 May. negotiations. 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 
 
 Lord Wliituorth de- 
 mands liis pass- 
 ports. 
 
 1C3 
 
 worth, in order t<> persuade him to defer liis depar- 
 tare, and to request him to transmit a new propo- 
 sition to liis cabinet. The orders which the am- 
 bassador of England had received were so positive, 
 
 that lu- did not dare to disobey them. Still lie 
 suffered himself to he moved by tlie fear of adopt- 
 ing perhaps an irreparable Step in immediately 
 taking his passports. He there fore despatched a 
 courier to London, to transmit these last offers of 
 the French cabinet, and to excuse himself for the 
 delay which he had permitted himself to use in the 
 lUtloll of the orders of his court. 
 M. ile Talleyrand, in like manner, sent off a cou- 
 rier to general Andreossy, who had not seen the 
 isli ministers since their last communication, 
 and ordered him to make them a decisive offer. 
 General Andreossy was not wanting iii obedience, 
 and made them listen to the voice of an honourable 
 man. If it was not Malta which they wished to 
 acquire, in defiance of treaties, it was not possible 
 they could have any motive for refusing to deposit 
 this precious pledge in hands powerful enough, 
 disinterested, and perfectly safe. Addingtnn ap- 
 peared io he much moved, because in reality he 
 wished for a pacific termination of the affair. The 
 head of the cabinet replied, in terms plain enough, 
 that he desired to lie better informed on the mat- 
 ter, expressed his regret not t.< he sufficiently so 
 for such a serious juncture, and remained sus- 
 pended between the double fear of committing an 
 act of weakness, or of provoking an unhappy war. 
 Lord Hawkesbury, more ambitious and firmer, 
 exhibited hiinsi If unshaken. The cabinet having 
 deliberated, refused the proposition. The desire 
 to gratify the national ambition, and to resign 
 Malt;-, into the hands of a third and disinterested 
 party, was to miss the end they had in view. Be- 
 . to give up the island to a third party, was 
 mint probably to lose it for ever ; because it was 
 .ell known that there was no arbitrator in 
 the world who would have decided in favour of 
 Etlglaud upon a similar question. They employed, 
 in order to colour this refusal of the last proposi- 
 tion tendered, an argument which was altogether 
 
 They had, they said, the. certain knowl 
 that Russia would not accept the commission with 
 which it was proposed to charge her. Put the 
 iry was really the fact, because Russia had 
 come forward to offer her mediation; and, at a 
 later period, on learning the last proposition of the 
 French government, she had hastened to declare 
 
 her assent, notwithstanding the dangers attached 
 to the deposit, which it was at the- time contem- 
 plating to commit into her hands. 
 
 The English ministers, however, still reserved 
 to ii another expedient, by which they 
 
 had another chance of keeping Malta, ami they, 
 |n consequence, devised an expedient which it was 
 Impossible to accept. Judging of the fit i consul 
 by tie . tley believed thai he was anxious 
 
 to keep ill treatj re peeling .Malta solely oul of 
 feat of the public opinion. They pr.,pos, d, ih- r< - 
 Ion-, in adding several patent articles to the 
 
 treaty of Amiens, lo throw into the treaty a 
 i article, which should make it obligatory 
 upon the English troops to remain in Malta. The 
 articles proposed were to state thai Switzerland 
 and Holland should he immediately evacuated; 
 that the kine of Sardinia should receive a terri- 
 
 torial indemnity 5 that the English should ubtaiu 
 the island of Latupedusa; and, finally, that they 
 should remain in Malta. The secret article was 
 to limit their occupation of the island to ten years. 
 This answer, the result of a deliberation on the 
 7th of May, was sent off' on the same day, anil 
 arrived in Paris on the 9th ; on the 10, h. lord 
 Whitworth communicated it in writing to Talley- 
 rand, with whom he was unable to have a per- 
 sonal interview, that minister being detained with 
 the first consul's illness, caused by the overturn- 
 ing of his carriage. When this proposal was 
 made to the first consul, he rejectee 1 , at once the 
 idea of a secret article, repulsing it haughtily al- 
 together, an I would not again seller it to be spoken 
 of under any consideration. In his turn, he de- 
 vised a last expedient, which was an adroit mode 
 of maintaining the ambition of both nations in 
 equilibrium, not in regard to any real advantages, 
 so much as to those which were apparent. This 
 expedient consisted in leaving the English in 
 Malta an indeterminate space of time, on condi- 
 tion that the French, during the same space of 
 time, should occupy the Gulf of Tarentum. In this 
 there were advantages quite great enough on the 
 side of consistency. The English ministers: ob- 
 tained that species of pledge which they had 
 formed in obtaining Malta; the French would 
 occupy an equal position in the Mediterranean ; 
 very soon all the other powers would be tempted 
 to intervene, and force the English to leave Malta, 
 and the French to abandon the territory which 
 belonged to Naples. Still, the first consul would 
 not propose this new arrangement unless he had 
 the hope to see it accepted. Talleyrand was, 
 therefore, instructed to use, in this last proposal, 
 an extreme measure of caution. 
 
 The following day, or the 11th of May, M. de 
 Talleyrand saw lord Whitworth at noon, and told 
 him that a secret article was not acceptable, be- 
 cause the first consul would not consent to deceive 
 the people of France about the extent of the con- 
 O BSions which were accorded to England in the 
 treaty; that, nevertheless, he had one proposition 
 more to present, the result of which would be to 
 cede Malta, ou the condition of an equivalent 
 
 cession to France. Lord Whitworth declared 
 that he> was unable to admit any proposition ex- 
 cepl that which hail been sent by his own cabinet; 
 and that after having taken upon himself to defer 
 his departure once, In- was not able to retard it a 
 Becond time, without a formal adhesion to the pro- 
 posal made by his govn nment. M. de Talleyrand 
 made no reply to this declaration ; and the 
 ministers quitted each other, both very desponding 
 at not having been able to bring about an accom- 
 modation. Lord Whitworth demanded his pass- 
 lor the following day, saying he should travel 
 slowly, and that he sin old have lime lo write to 
 Loudon and to receive an answer, before he should 
 be able to embark at Calais. It was agreed that 
 tin- ambassadors should he exchanged on the 
 frontiers, and that lord Whitworth should wait at 
 Calais until general Audriossy had arrived at 
 Dover. 
 
 Curiosity in Pari- was on the tiptoe of expecta- 
 tion. A crowd pre:-- il around the door of the 
 
 hoti | of the English ambassador, in i rdeo to ob- 
 serve whether he made preparations for his
 
 Departure of the Eng- 
 4(J4 lish and French am- 
 
 bassadors : 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 And final termina- 
 tion of the peace 
 of Amiens. 
 
 1803. 
 May. 
 
 journey. On the following da}-, the 12th of May, 
 after having waited during the whole day, and 
 left the French cabinet all the time possible for 
 reflection, lord Whitworth set out on the road to 
 Calais by easy journeys. The rumour of his de- 
 parture produced a great sensation in Paris, and 
 everybody foresaw that great events would soon 
 signalize the new period of approaching war. 
 
 Talleyrand had sent a courier to general An- 
 dreossy to carry to him the new proposition, to let 
 Tarentum be occupied by the French, in compen- 
 sation for the occupation of Malta by the English. 
 It was by M. Schimmelpennink, minister of Hol- 
 land, that this new proposition was made, and 
 not in the name of France, but as a personal idea 
 of the minister of Holland, and of the success of 
 which he was well assured. The idea, submitted 
 to the British cabinet, was not received favourably, 
 and general Andreossy had no choice but to quit 
 England. The anxiety manifested at Paris was 
 not greater than that manifested in London. The 
 house of commons was filled for several days suc- 
 cessively, every one demanding of the ministers 
 what was the news relative to the negotiation. 
 At the moment of this great attention to the state 
 of things, the bolt of war fell, and all were as- 
 tonished while they dreaded the consequences of an 
 exasperated contest. The people of London little 
 desired the renewal of the war. The Grenville 
 party and the trading money-lenders were alone 
 satisfied. 
 
 General Andreossy was accompanied on his de- 
 parture from England with great respect and very 
 sensible regret. He ai'rived at Dover at the same 
 time that lord Whitworth reached Calais, on the 
 17th of May. Lord Whitworth was conveyed 
 across the straits. On the moment of his arrival 
 he hastened to visit the French ambassador, paid 
 him the greatest testimonies of his esteem, and 
 conducted him on board the vessel himself, in 
 which lie was about to return to France. The two 
 ambassadors separated in presence of a crowd of 
 persons, moved at the scene, both disquieted and 
 saddened. In that solemn moment, the two 
 nations seemed to bid adieu, no more to be visible 
 to each other until after a frightful war, and the 
 overturn of the whole world. How very different 
 had their destinies been, if, as the first consul said, 
 these two powers, the one maritime and the other 
 continental, had been in complete and perfect 
 union for the purpose of regulating in peace the 
 interests of the universe ! General civilization 
 would have made more rapid strides ; the future 
 independence of Europe would have been for ever 
 assured; and the two nations would not have pre- 
 pared a domination for the north over a divided 
 west. 
 
 Such was the melancholy termination of the 
 short peace of Amiens. 
 
 We do not dissimulate the vivacity of our 
 national sentiments : to give blame to France 
 we reckon upon ; we shall do it without hesi- 
 tation, if she seems to us to merit its reception ; 
 and we know how to do it when unhappily she 
 should receive it, because truth is the first duty of 
 the historian. Nevertheless, after long reflection 
 upon a subject so serious, we are wholly unable to 
 blame Fiance for the renewal of the war between 
 the two countries. In this instance the first con- 
 
 sul conducted himself with the most perfect good 
 faith. He committed, we are ready to avow, faults 
 in form, but of these faults even he did not com- 
 mit all. In a single essential point he was not to 
 blame. The complaints of England, bearing upon 
 the changes operated in the relative situation of 
 the two states subsequent to the peace, were with- 
 out foundation. In Italy the Italian republic had 
 chosen the first consul for a president ; but this in 
 reality did not change any thing in the state of 
 dependence of that republic upon France, which 
 existed but by means of France, and could not 
 exist without her support. Besides, this event 
 took place in February, and the treaty of Amiens 
 did not take place until the month of March, 1802. 
 The constitution of the kingdom of Etruria, the 
 cession of Louisiana and of the duchy of Parma to 
 France, were all well-known public facts before 
 the same period of March, 1802. It must be 
 added, that England, at the congress of Amiens, 
 had well-nigh given her promise to recognize the 
 new Italian states. The union of Piedmont was 
 equally known and avowed in the negotiations at 
 Amiens, when the English negotiator made several 
 efforts to obtain an indemnity in favour of the 
 king of Piedmont. Switzerland and Holland had 
 never ceased to be occupied by French troops, 
 whether during the war or since the peace ; and 
 in more than one conversation, lord Hawkesburv 
 had acknowledged that the influence of France 
 over those states was a consequence of the war ; 
 that provided their independence was definitively 
 recognized, there would be no ground of complaint 
 made. England could not then imagine that 
 France would suffer a counter-revolution to be ac- 
 complished in Switzerland or in Holland, in other 
 words, at her own door, without interfering with it. 
 As to the secularization, that was an act obliged to 
 be executed by treaty, an act full of justice and 
 moderation, in part executed as well by Russia, 
 consented to by all the states of Germany, com- 
 prising Austria herself, and enforced by the ad- 
 hesion of the king of England himself, who had, as 
 king of Hanover, adhered to a partition of the 
 indemnities, extremely advantageous for himself. 
 For what then had France upon the continent 
 merited to be reproached < — for her greatness only, 
 a greatness secured by treaties, and admitted by 
 England in the congress of Amiens, become, it is 
 true, more sensibly witnessed during the tran- 
 quillity of the peace, and in the midst of nego- 
 tiations, that her influence and ability decided in 
 an irresistible manner. 
 
 The reproach of pretended designs upon Egypt 
 was a false pretext, because the first consul bad 
 none at the time, and colonel Sebastiani had been 
 sent merely to observe what was going forward, 
 with the sole end of discovering whether the 
 English were ready to evacuate Alexandria. The 
 examination of the more secret documents of this 
 mission leave not the least doubt upon the matter. 
 
 On what then were they able to found a charge 
 of that strange violation of the treaty, of Amiens 
 relative to Malta? It is necessary, in order to 
 explain more fully, to recall to memory the events 
 which had occurred during fifteen months. 
 
 The English, passionate, as all great nations are, 
 wished in 1801, after ten years of war, to have 
 some respite, and they desired it ardently as they
 
 1803. 
 May. 
 
 Summary of the chapter. RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. Summary of the chapter. 405 
 
 would desire every change from the actual state of 
 things. Tins feeling, rendered stronger by the 
 misery of the working-classes in 1801, became one 
 of those impulsions that, under free governments, 
 overturn or raise up ministries. Pitt retired from 
 office ; the feeble minister Addington succeeded 
 him, and the peace was made upon the clearest 
 and most explicit conditions, perfectly well known 
 to the nation and to the whole world. It conceded 
 the advantages acquired by France during the 
 preceding ten years, because on other conditions 
 the peace would have been impossible. After 
 several months, this peace did not seem to bring 
 all the benefit which was expected to the country : 
 has it ever occurred that the reality is equal to 
 the anticipations of hope ? The English came to 
 France, grown great by the war, become great by 
 negotiation, and great by her works of manu- 
 facture aiid trade. Jealousy was anew lit up in 
 their hearts. They demanded a treaty of com- 
 merce, which the first consul refused to grant, 
 convinced that the French manufactures, recently 
 created, could not sustain themselves except under 
 a strong protection. Notwithstanding this, the 
 English manufacturers were satisfied, because the 
 contraband trade opened to them still an outlet 
 sufficiently large for their products. But the 
 monied merchants of London, affrighted at the 
 appearance which threatened them from the flags 
 of Fiance, Spain, Holland, and Genoa, being once 
 more upon the seas, deprived of the advantage of 
 loans and contracts, allied themselves with the war- 
 party of Pitt, Windham, and Grenville, thus be- 
 coming openly hostile, more hostile than the Eng- 
 lish aristocracy itself. It had intimate connexions 
 with Holland, and complained continually of the 
 influence which France exercised over that coun- 
 try. A counter-revolution taking place in Switzer- 
 land, owing actually to the good faith of the first 
 consul, who had been too hasty in evacuating that 
 country, he was again necessitated to enter it. 
 This was a new pretext. Very soon the whole I 
 
 discontent broke loose ; and the war-party, com- 
 posed of the monied men, having Pitt at their head, 
 absent from parliament, and Grenville present at 
 every discussion, pushed affairs visibly on towards 
 a rupture. The press of England gave itself up to 
 frightful outrages, and the French emigrant press 
 took the opportunity of greatly outdoing all the 
 violence of the English papers. 
 
 Unfortunately a feeble ministry, wishing to have 
 peace, but in continual dread of the war-party, 
 affrighted at the noise which had been made about 
 the invasion of Switzerland, committed the fault of 
 countermanding the evacuation of Malta. From 
 that moment peace was irrevocably sacrificed, 
 because this rich prey of Malta at once became an 
 object indicated to English ambition ; and it was 
 no longer possible to deny the gratification. The 
 promptitude and moderation of the French inter- 
 vention in Switzerland having dissipated the 
 grievance which it had created, the English mi- 
 nistry would have been willing to evacuate Malta, 
 but it dared not take such a step. The first consul 
 summoned them, in the language of justice and of 
 wounded pride, to execute the treaty of Amiens ; 
 and summons upon summons only led to the de- 
 plorable rupture which has been just related. 
 
 Thus the English commercial aristocracy, much 
 more active in the matter than the old aristocratic 
 nobility, leagued with the ambitious among the 
 Tory party, aided by French emigrants, ill re- 
 strained by a debilitated minister, — this commercial 
 aristocracy and its associates excited to the utmost 
 a character naturally impetuous, full of the double 
 sentiment of the justice of his cause and of its 
 strength ; such were the real authors of the war. 
 We believe ourselves to be correct and just in 
 signalizing them under this view to that posterity 
 which, in other respects, will weigh our wrongs to 
 all in balances much more exact than our own ; 
 we say more exact, because it will hold them with 
 cold and impassive hands. 
 
 H H
 
 466 
 
 Difficulties of a 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. war with England. 
 
 1803 
 June. 
 
 BOOK XVII. 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 MESSAGE OP THE FIRST CONSUL TO THE GREAT BODIES OP THE STATE, AND REPLY TO THE MESSAGE. — WORDS OP 
 M. FONTANES. — VIOLENCE OF THE ENGLISH NAVY IN ITS CONDUCT TO FRENCH MERCHANT VESSELS. — RE- 
 PRISALS. — THE COMMUNES AND DEPARTMfNTS, BY A SPONTANEOUS MOVEMENT, OFFER TO THE GOVERNMENT 
 FLAT-BOTTOMED BOATS, FRIGATES, AND SHIPS OF THE LINE. — GENERAL ENTHUSIASM. — RETURN OF THE FRENCH 
 NAVY TO THE EUROPEAN SEAS — STATE IN WHICH THE WAR PLACED THE COLONIES — SEQUEL OF THE EXPEDI- 
 TION TO ST. DOMINGO. — ATTACK OF THE YELLOW FEVER. — DESTRUCTION OF THE FRENCH ARMY. — DEATH OF 
 THE CAPTAIN-GENERAL LECLERC —INSURRECTION OF THE BLACKS.— DEFINITIVE RUIN OF THE COLONY OF ST. 
 DOMINGO. — RETURN OF THE SQUADRONS.— CHARA CTER OF THE WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. — FORCES 
 OP THE TWO COUNTRIES COMPAEED. — THE FIRST CONSUL RESOLVES BOLDLY TO ATTEMPT A DESCENT. — HE PRE- 
 PARES FOR IT WITH EXTRAORDINARY' ACTIVITY.— CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS IN THE DIFFERENT PORTS AND 
 IN THE INTERIOR BASINS OF THE HIVERS. — FORMATION OF SIX CAMPS WITH TROOPS, FROM THE TEXEL 
 TO BAYONNE — FINANCIAL MEANS. — THE FIRST CONSUL WILL NOT HAVE RECOURSE TO A LOAN. — SALE OP 
 LOUISIANA. — SUBSIDIES OF ALLIES. — CONCURRENCE OF HOLLAND, ITALY, AND SPAIN. — INCAPACITY OF SPAIN. — 
 THE FIRST CONSUL DISPENSES WITH THE EXECUTION OF THE TREATY OF ST ILDEFONSO, UPON THE CONDITION 
 OF A SUBSIDY. — OCCUPATION OF OTRANTO AND OF HANOVER. — MANNER OF THINKING AMONG ALL THE 
 POWERS ON THE SUBJECT OF THE NEW WAR. — AUSTRIA, PRUSSIA, AND RUSSIA. — THEIR ANXIETIES AND VIEWS. 
 — RUSSIA PRETENDS TO LIMIT THE MEANS OF THE BELLIGERENT POWERS— SHE OFFERS HER MEDIATION, 
 WHICH THE FIRST CONSUL ACCEPTS WITH CALCULATING EAGERNESS. — ENGLAND REPLIES COLDLY TO THE 
 OFFERS OF RUSSIA. — DURING THESE INTERCHANGES OF COMMUNICATION, THE FIRST CONSUL SETS OUT ON A 
 JOURNEY TO THE COASTS OF FRANCE, IN ORDER TO PRESS FORWARD THE PR1PARATIONS FOR THE GRAND 
 EXPEDITION. — MADAM BONAPARTE ACCOMPANIES HIM.— THE MOST ACTIVE LABOUR IS MINGLED WITH THE 
 POMPS OF ROYALTY.— AMIENS, ABBEVILLE, BOU LOGN E.— MEANS DEVISED BY THE FIRST CONSUL TO TRANSPORT 
 AN ARMY FROM CALAIS TO DOVER.— THREE SPECIES OF VESSELS. — THEIR QUALITIES AND DEFECTS.— FLOT1 LLA 
 OF WAR AND FLOTILLA OF TRANSPORT. — IMMENSE MARITIME ESTABLISHMENT RAISED AT BOULOGNE, AS IF BY 
 ENCHANTMENT — PROJECT TO CONCENTRATE TWO THOUSAND VESSELS AT BOULOGNE, WHEN THE CONSTRUCTION 
 SHALL BE COMPLETED IN THE PORTS AND RIVERS. — PREFERENCE GIVEN TO BOULOGNE BEFORE DUNKIRK OR 
 CALAIS. — THE STRAITS, THE WINDS, AND THE CURRENTS.— EXCAVATIONS OF THE PORTS OF BOULOGNE, ETAPLES, 
 WIMEREAUX, AND AMBLETEUSE. — WORKS DESTINED TO PROTECT THE ANl HORACE.- DI STRIBUTION OF TROOPS 
 ALONG THE SEA-SHORE. — THEIR LABOUR AND MILITARY EXERCISES. — THE FIRST CONSUL, AFTER HAVING SEEN 
 AND REGULATED ALL THINGS NECESSARY, QUITS BOULOGNE 10 VISIT DUNKIRK, CALAIS, OSTEND, AND ANTWERP. 
 
 — PROJECTS REGARDING ANTWERP. — SOJOURN AT BRUSSELS. — ASSEMBLAGE IN THAT CITY' OF MINISTERS, AMBASSA- 
 DORS AND BISHOPS. — CARDINAL CAPRARA IN BELGIUM. — JOURNEY OF M. LIMBARD TO BRUSSELS, THE SECRE 
 TARY OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA.— THE FIR-T CONSUL ENDEAVOURS TO REMOVE THE FEARS OF KING FREDE. 
 RICK WILLIAM, BY THE FRANKNESS OF HIS COMMUNICATIONS. — RETURN TO PARIS — THE FIRST CONSUL TER- 
 MINATES THE MEDIATION OF RUSSIA, AND ANNOUNCES WAR TO THE UTMOST EXTREMITY AGAINST ENGLAND. — 
 HE IS AT LAST OBLIGED TO OBTAIN AN EXPLANATION FROM THE KING OF SPAIN, AND TO FORCE THE EXECU- 
 TION OF THE TREATY OF ST. ILDEFONSO, LEAVING HIM THE CHOICE OF THE MEANS. — STRANGE CONDUCT OF 
 THE TRINCE OF THE PEACE.— THE FIRST CONSUL TAKES THE STEP, IN REGARD TO THE KING OP SPAIN, OF 
 DENOUNCING TO HIM THE FAVOURITE AND HIS BASENESS. — MELANCHOLY ABASEMENT OF THE COURT OF SPAIN. 
 
 — SHE SUBMITS, AND PROMISES A SUBSIDY. — CONTINUATION OF THE PREPARATIONS AT BOULOGNE. — THE FIRST 
 CONSUL FEELS DISPOSED TO EXECUTE HIS ENTERTRIZE IN THE WINTER OF 1 803. — HE MAKES FOR HIMSELF A 
 TEMPORARY RESIDENCE NEAR BOULOGNE, AT PONT-AUBRIQUES, WHERE HE FREQUENTLY MAKES HIS VISITS. — 
 WNION IN THE CHANNEL OF ALL THE DIVISIONS OF THE FLOTI LLA. — BRILLIANT COMBAT OF THE GUN-BOATS 
 AGAINST THE BRIGS AND FRIGATES.— CONFI DENCE ACQUIRED IN THE 1- XP t D1TION.— INTIMATE UNION OF THE 
 SOLDIERS AND SEAMEN. — HOPE OF THE APPROACHING EXECUTION OF THE DESliN. — UNEXPECTED EVENTS, 
 WHICH FOR A MOMENT RECALL THE ATTENTION OF THE FIRST CONSUL TO THE AFFAIRS OF THE INTERIOR. 
 
 The taste for war wliich it may be naturally sup- 
 posed was possessed liy the first consul, would have 
 tended to render him suspected by the public 
 opinion of France, and perhaps made him be 
 accused of too much precipitation in coming to a 
 rupture, if England, hy the manifest violation of 
 the treaty of Amiens, had not completely acquitted 
 him of the charge. For it was evident to every 
 mind that she had not been able to resist the 
 temptation of appropriating Malta to herse'f, and 
 thus of procuring some compensation lor French 
 
 greatness by means not very legitimate. The 
 French people then accepted the rupture as a 
 necessity both of honour and interest, although 
 they made no allusion to the consequences. It w;is 
 well known that a war with England might always 
 become a war with Europe ; that its duration was 
 as incalculable as its extent, because it was not as 
 facile to go and finish the contest in London as it 
 was to go and terminate at the gates of Vienna a 
 quarrel with Austria. Such a war, it was more, 
 could not fail to do a mortal injury to commerce,
 
 1803. 
 June. 
 
 Address of M. Fon- 
 tanes to l he first 
 consul. 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 Decree of the first consul, and 
 detention of the .English in 
 France. 
 
 407 
 
 because the sea would Boon be dose I. Nevertheless, 
 there were two considerations which much lessened 
 the chagrin of France. Under Bach a chief as 
 Napoleon, war could not any more be the e 
 tor new internal disorders, and people flattered 
 themselves, that by the assistance of something 
 marvellous in his genius, a single blow might termi- 
 nate the long rivalry of the two nations. 
 
 The first consul, who upon this occasion wished 
 to take great care in managing public opinion, 
 conducted himself as he would have been enabled 
 i in the representative government that was 
 more anciently established. He convoked the 
 senate, the legislative body, and the tribonate, and 
 communicated to them all those papers relating to 
 the D ;i which it was nec< ssary shomd be 
 
 known. He was abl , in fact, to dispense with all 
 concealment in what, witli the exception of some 
 display of warmth in temper, he had in reality 
 nothing with which to reproach himself. The 
 tin- state replied to the advances of 
 the first consul, by means of their deputations, 
 which were ordered to carry to the head of the 
 government the most complete approbation of his 
 An individual, who excelled in that 
 f eloquence, studied and grave, which sits 
 so well on one who is at the head of a great as- 
 sembly, ML de Fontanrs, recently introduced into 
 the legislative body through the influence of the 
 Bonaparte family, came to express to the first 
 consul the sentiments of that body, and addressed 
 him in terms fit to be recorded in history. 
 '■ Fr -aid he, " is ready again to place 
 
 if under the protection of those weapons 
 which have before vanquished Europe. Evil ! 
 the ambitious government which recalls us to 
 the field of battle, and, envying humanity so short 
 an interval of repose, would again plunge it into 
 the calamities from which it had but just before 
 escaped. E gland will no more be able to say that 
 she defends tic conservative principles of society — 
 menaced in their very foundations ; it is we who 
 
 dow able to use that language, if the flame of 
 
 war he- again kindled ; it is we who shall then 
 
 jlits of the people and the cause of 
 
 humanity in repelling the unjust attack of a nation 
 
 which enters into a negotiation for the purpose of 
 
 ption ; that asks for peace only to recommence 
 war, and signs treaties fur the object of breaking 
 
 i alone. I)» not doubt if the signal is oner 
 
 given, that France will rally at a unanimous 
 
 ment around the hew wljom she admires. 
 
 y party thai lie holds in silent resjiect around 
 
 him will dispute no more except in zeal and 
 
 eourage. Ad think that they havi ■ ; his 
 
 genius, and acknowledge that he alone is able to 
 bear the weight and the greatness of our new 
 
 de ti: 
 
 •■ ' iz ii in ' c nsnl, the French people will in 
 future have sentiments as lofty and heroic as your 
 own. It conquered before in order to obtain 
 red it as you do, but, as with you, it 
 will never feel apprehension from the cham 
 war. England believes herself well protected by 
 tin- ocean; why will she nol n Meet that the world 
 times produces men of rare power, of whom 
 tlnir genius executes that which, before they made 
 their appearance, was deemed impossible to human 
 skill! And if one of these rare men should now 
 
 have Come before the world, ought she to bid him 
 an imprudent defiance, and force him to obtain all 
 that justice from Ilia good fortune which he had a 
 right to expect he should receive at her hands I A 
 great people are capable of performing every thing 
 with a hero at their head, determined never to se- 
 parate from him its glory, interests, and hap- 
 piness 
 
 In this brilliant and pointed language it is not 
 possible to recognize the enthusiasm of 1789, hut 
 there may be traced in it the immense confidence 
 that ail the world reposed in the hero who held in 
 his hand the destinies of France, and from whom 
 it awaited that humiliation of England which was 
 so ardently desired. One circumstance, easy be- 
 sides to foresee, singularly increased the public 
 indignation. . Almost at the moment of the de- 
 parture of die two ambassadors, before any regular 
 manifestation or any notice whatever of the com- 
 mencement of hostilities, the vessels of the English 
 navy were let loose upon the commerce of France. 
 Two frigates, in the bay of Audierne, captured 
 some merchant vessels that were seeking a shelter 
 in the harbour of Brest. To these acts there were 
 soon added many others, of which intelligence was 
 received in all the ports. This was a violence little 
 in conformity with the law of nations. There had 
 been a formal stipulation on the subject in the last 
 treaty signed between America and France on the 
 30th of September, 1800, art. 8 ; there was no 
 parallel example, it is true, in the treaty of Amiens. 
 That treaty did not stipulate, in case of rupture, 
 any delay in commencing hostilities against the 
 commerce of either country. But this delay natu- 
 rally resulted from the moral principles of the law 
 of nations, which must be placed far above all 
 their written stipulations. The first consul, in 
 whom this new situation of affairs called up all the 
 natural ardour of his character, determined to use 
 reprisals at the same moment, and drew up a 
 decree which declared prisoners of war all the 
 English who were travelling in Fiance at the 
 moment of the rupture. When they made fall upon 
 simple merchants, innocent of the politics of their 
 own government, the consequences of those po- 
 litics, tie' government is fully authorized to re- 
 taliate, and to assure itself tin; means of exchange 
 by constituting prisoners of war the subjects of 
 England actually remaining upon the French soil. 
 This measure, although prompted by the conduct 
 of Great Britain, nevertheless presented a character 
 of rigour which it was probable might shock public 
 opinion, and raise tin- fear of a return to the 
 violeiiees-ef the last war. (ainhaeeres remonstrated 
 strongly on the subject with the firsl consul, and 
 obtained a modification of the projected drapo* 
 siiimis. Thanks to these efforts, the dispositions 
 only applied to those British subjects who served 
 in the militia, or who held any commission what- 
 ever from their government ; these were to be 
 prisoners of war ; the rest were simply to be 
 prisoners upon their parole in different fortified 
 
 towns. 
 
 1 This decree was dated Pari*, May 25th, 1803, and m 
 follows : — 
 
 " The maritime prefect of Hrest having announced the 
 capture l>y the Engl Ufa of two reuel* in the bay of Audicnu, 
 
 it i-. in contequence decreed as IbUowi: — 
 " Art. 1. — li is piMerlbed to cveiy commander of a sn.ua 
 n h 2
 
 Vessels presented by the 
 
 4g8 cities and communes 
 
 for invading England. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Patriotic gifts towards 
 the Boulogne flotilla. 
 
 1803. 
 June. 
 
 A considerable commotion was soon visible 
 throughout all France. Since the last century, 
 that is to say, since the English navy had appeared 
 to gain an advantage over the French, the idea of 
 terminating by an invasion the maritime rivalry of 
 the two nations had entered into every mind. 
 Louis XVI. and the directory had made prepara- 
 tions for such a descent. The directory, more 
 especially, had kept during many years a certain 
 number of flat-bottomed boats on the coasts of 
 the channel ; and it must be remembered, that in 
 1801, not long before the signature of the preli- 
 minaries of peace, the admiral Latouche-Treville 
 had repulsed the reiterated efforts of Nelson to 
 carry away by boarding the flotilla of Boulogne. 
 It was a sort of tradition become popular, that 
 with flat-bottomed boats an army might be trans- 
 ported from Calais to Dover. By a move altoge- 
 ther electric, the departments and the large towns, 
 each according to its means, offered the govern- 
 ment flat-bottomed boats, corvettes, frigates, and 
 even vessels of the line. The department of Loiret 
 was first taken with this patriotic idea. It im- 
 posed upon itself a sum of 300,000f. in order to 
 construct and arm a frigate of thirty guns. At 
 this signal the communes, the departments, and 
 even the corporations, answered to the same call, 
 at one universal impulse. The mayors of Paris 
 opened subscriptions, which were soon covered 
 with a multitude of signatures. Among the models 
 of the boats proposed by the navy, there were 
 manv of different dimensions, costing each from 
 800fif. to 30.000f. 
 
 Each locality was enabled in consequence to 
 proportion its zeal to the means which it possessed 
 of meeting it. The small towns, such as Coutances, 
 Bernay, Louviers, Valogue, Foix, Verdun, Moissac, 
 gave simple flat- bottomed boats of the first or 
 second dimensions. The more considerable towns 
 voted frigates, and even vessels of the line. Paris 
 voted a vessel of a hundred and twenty guns, 
 Lyons one of a hundred, Bordeaux one of eighty, 
 and Marseilles one of seventy-four. These gilts of 
 the cities were independent of those made by the 
 departments; thus, although Bordeaux had offered 
 a vessel of eighty guns, the department of the 
 
 dron or division of republican ships, to attack all those of 
 the king of England and his subjects, and to bring them 
 into the ports of the republic. 
 
 " Art. 2. — Commissions shall be delivered to the owners 
 of French privateers, conformably to the existing laws and 
 regulations. 
 
 " Art. 3.— All the English enrolled in the militia between 
 the ages of eighteen and sixty, or who hold commissions 
 from his Britannic majesty, now in France, shall be imme- 
 diately constituted prisoners of war, to answer for the citi- 
 zens of the republic who may have been detained and made 
 prisoners by the vessels or subjects of his Britannic majesty 
 before the dtdaration of war. It is with re uctance that the 
 government of the republic has seen itself compelled, in 
 order to make reprisals, to declare prisoners of war all the 
 English who are in the French territory. It will leave to 
 England the task of commencing every thing ill beral ; but 
 the French people are bound to act towards England as 
 England a>ts with respect to France." 
 
 Every officer bearing an English commission and a pri- 
 soner of war, was entitled to and had his parole. What dif 
 ference our author can make between these and others in 
 this treatment, it is not easy to discover; there was really 
 none. — Translator. 
 
 - 
 
 Gironde subscribed l,600,000f. to be employed in 
 naval construction. Although Lyons had given a 
 vessel of a hundred guns, the department of the 
 Rhone added a patriotic gift, amounting to one- 
 eighth of its contributions in taxes. The depart- 
 ment of the Nord added a million to the funds 
 voted by the city of Lille. The departments 
 generally imposed upon themselves a gift from 
 200,000f. up to OOO.OOOf. or a million. Some 
 brought their contributions in merchandize of the 
 country which was necessary for naval purposes. 
 Thus the department of the Cote d'Or made a pre- 
 sent to the state of a hundred pieces of cannon of 
 large calibre, which were cast at Creuzot. The 
 department of the Lot and Garonne agreed to an 
 addition of five centimes to their direct contribu- 
 tions, during the payments of the years xi. and 
 xn., to be expended in sail-cloth in the depart- 
 ment. The Italian republic, following this im- 
 pulse, made an offering to the first consul of four 
 millions of francs in Milanese currency, to con- 
 struct two frigates, to be called the President and 
 the Italian Republic, and twelve gun-boats, to bear 
 the names of the twelve Italian departments. The 
 great bodies of the state would not remain behind, 
 and the senate presented on its own part a vessel 
 of a hundred and twenty guns. The simple com- 
 mercial houses, as the house of Barillon, the per- 
 sons employed in the finance department, such as 
 the receivers-general for example, offered flat- 
 bottomed boats. Such a resource was not to be 
 despised, because it amounted in value altogether to 
 40,000,000f., which, upon a budget of 500,000,000f., 
 was of very great importance. Joined l<> the 
 price of Louisiana, which was 60,000,0001'., to the 
 different subsidies obtained from the allies, and to 
 the natural augmentation of the produce of the 
 taxes, it enabled the government to dispense with 
 having recourse to any expensive means of raising 
 money, and nearly impossible at such a moment 
 that of borrowing upon stock. 
 
 The creation of the flotilla will shortly be de- 
 tailed. It was to be capable of carrying one hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand men, four hundred pieces 
 of cannon, and ten thousand horses, which could 
 not fail to complete in a moment the conquest of 
 England, if it made the passage. For the present 
 it suffices to state, that the conditions imposed by 
 the navy for the dimensions of the flat-bottomed 
 boats of all sizes were, that they should not draw 
 more than six or seven feet of water when all was 
 on board, and when empty not more than three 
 or four. They were thus able to be set afloat 
 upon all the rivers of France, and to descend to 
 their mouths, to be afterwards united in the ports 
 of the channel, and sent along the coast. This was 
 a great advantage, because the ports of France 
 would not have been equal, from their want of 
 timber, planks, and workmen, to the construction 
 of 1500 or 2000 vessels, which it would be 
 necessary to complete in a few months. By con- 
 structing them in the interior of the country, this 
 difficulty was removed; the banks of the Gironde, 
 of the Loire, the Seine, the Somme, the Oise, the 
 Schelde, the Meuse, and the Rhine, were suddenly 
 covered with timber-yards. The workmen of the 
 country, directed by the masters' mates of the 
 navy, sufficed perfectly well to achieve these singular 
 creations, which at first astonished the population,
 
 1803. 
 June. 
 
 The French squadrons 
 recalled. 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 Breaking out of the plague 
 amongst the French 
 troops. 
 
 469 
 
 at times furnishing them with subjects of rail- 
 lery, but that soon, nevertheless, became for Eng- 
 land the cause of Berious alarm. At Paris, from 
 La Ranee to the Invalids, there were ninety gun- 
 boats building, in the construction of which were 
 employed more than a thousand workmen, 
 
 Tlie first care taken upon the. breaking out of the 
 new war was to rally the French navy, then spread 
 over the West Indies, and occupied in reducing 
 the colonies under the authority of the mother 
 country. It was to this that Napoleon had 
 directed his first thoughts. He felt himself obliged 
 instantly t.i recall the different squadrons, ordering 
 them to have at Martinique, at Guadaloupe, and 
 at St. Domingo, all that they could spare of men, 
 munitions, and stores. The frigates and light 
 Is wrre alone to remain in the islands. But 
 it was nut possible to deceive himself. The war 
 with England, if she were unable to capture the 
 smaller islands, such as Guadaloupe and Marti- 
 nique 1 , must infallibly occasion the loss of the 
 most precious id' them all, that tor the preservation 
 of which an army had been sacrificed, it is need- 
 to say, that allusion is here made to St. Do- 
 mingo. 
 
 It has already been seen, that the captain-general, 
 Leclerc, after operations exceedingly well conducted 
 upon his part, but with the loss of a considerable 
 number of men, had become master of the colony, 
 and able to flatter himself that he had restored it 
 to France; that Toussaint had retired to his habi- 
 tation of Eunery, regarding the month of August 
 as the term of the reign of the Europeans on the 
 soil of Ilayti. This terrible black had predicted 
 justly, in foreseeing the triumph of the climate of 
 America over that of the soldiers of Europe. But 
 he was not to enjoy his triumph, since he was 
 ned to Buccumb himself under the rigour of 
 the French climate. Melancholy retaliation in 
 the war of two races, obstinate in disputing between 
 them the regions of the equator ! 
 
 Scarcely had the army begun to re-establish 
 
 . than the plague, so common in these burning 
 
 . -- , 1 j 1 1 1 1 1 1 i -^ year more murderous than ever, 
 
 made its appearance, and struck down the noble 
 
 soldiers of the Rhine and of Egypt, who had been 
 
 conveyed to the Antilles. Whether the climate 
 
 this year, by some unknown decree of Providence, 
 
 nore destructive than ordinary; whether its 
 
 action was more great and rapid upon the fatigued 
 
 and toil-worn soldiers, accumulated together in 
 considerable numbers, thus forming a more power- 
 fa] focus of infection; or whatever might be the 
 
 1 upon them with a rapidity 
 and violence of the most frightful character. 
 Twenty generals were taken off nearly at the same 
 time; the officers and soldiers perished by thou- 
 sands. To twenty-two thousand men that arrived 
 in the various expeditions, of wl five thousand 
 
 had fallen in action, and live thousand had been 
 
 attacked with rarLma disorders, the first consul 
 had added, towards the end of li!o_\ about twelve 
 
 thousand men more. Those who had newly ar- 
 rived were attacked at the moment of their dis- 
 embarkation. Fifteen thousand mi a perished in 
 
 ' Both were subsequently lost te Pranoe, but came into 
 bet i<isHesHion again by restoration iii tin- paaes of ism. — 
 
 Tramlalor. 
 
 less than two months, and the army was reduced 
 to nine or ten thousand only, acclimated, it is true, 
 but the greater part of them convalescent, and : 
 very unfit at the moment to take up arms '. 
 
 On the first ravages of the yellow fever, Tous- 
 saint Lonverture, enchanted to see his sinister 
 predictions realized, seemed to feel the renewal of 
 all his hopes. From the retirement of his resi- 
 dence at Knnery, lie set himself to correspond 
 secretly with his confidential friends, ordering 
 them to keep ready, recommending them to in- 
 firm him exactly what progress the sickness was 
 making, and more particularly of the state of 
 health of the captain-general, upon whose head 
 his cruel impatience was eager for the fever to 
 strike the blow. His secret practices were not so' 
 weil concealed but that some of them reached the 
 ears of the captain-general, and more particularly 
 the black generals. These hastened to inform the 
 French authorities of it. They were jealous of 
 Toussaint, though all of them obeyed him, and 
 this feeling had not a little contributed to their 
 prompt .submission. Those " gilt blacks," or noirs 
 dores, as they were denominated by Napoleon, were 
 content with the ease and the opulence which they 
 enjoyed. They had no desire to recommence the 
 war, anil they feared to see Toussaint, again be- 
 come all powerful, make them expiate their deser- 
 tion of his cause. They therefore made known 
 what they knew to general Leclerc, in order to 
 engage him to seize the recent dictator. The con- 
 cealed act contemplated by Toussaint, revealed 
 itself in an alarming manner. The negroes who 
 formerly composed his guard, and who were scat- 
 tered abroad among the colonial troops which had 
 passed over to the service of the mother country, 
 quitted their ranks to return, they said, to the 
 cultivation of the ground, but in reality, to throw 
 themselves into the Monies around Ennery. The 
 captain-general, pressed between a double danger, 
 the yellow fever, which destroyed his army, on one 
 hand, and on the other by the revolt, which was 
 announced on every side as about to take place, 
 having also instructions from the first consul, 
 which enjoined him, on the first sign of dis- 
 obedience, to disembarrass himself of the black 
 chiefs, resolved to have Toussaint arrested. Re- 
 sides these orders, intercepted letters sufficiently 
 authorized this step. Hut it was necessary to 
 dissimulate in order to seize this potent chief, 
 surrounded as he was already by an army of in- 
 surants. A demand was made of him in the 
 way of advice, regarding the best, means of making 
 the negroes who had escaped from the cultivation 
 of the land return to their duty, and about the choice 
 of the best stations for re-establishing the health 
 of the army. This was the means of drawing 
 Toussaint to an interview, because it attracted 
 his vanity to be thus consulted. " You see," said 
 
 1 This is an enormous mortality, even for the West Indies, 
 .inii id ust tic aiorlbed to tome unusual cause, besides tho 
 landing at an Improper season. At a period of more than 
 usual sickness hi Jamaica, the deaths of the soldiers at Up 
 Hill Camp, f»r six years, averaged only one in Ave, In 
 other stations one in six. seven, ur eight; in the healthier 
 stations of the Island, one in ten, fourteen, or sixteen ; and on 
 the height of Maroon town, in the Interior, only one In sixty- 
 four. One in three have died On severe visits of fever in a 
 very unhealthy season.
 
 Apprehensions of tlie blacks Suspicion o f the 
 
 47O Irom slavery being re-esta- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. "lacks, and the 
 
 blisheu at Guadaloupe. result. 
 
 1803. 
 June. 
 
 he, " these whites cannot get on without old Tous- 
 saint." He attended the place of rendezvous 
 accordingly, surrounded by a troop of blacks. 
 Scarcely had he arrived before he was laid hold 
 of, disarmed, and conducted as a prisoner on board 
 a vessel. Surprised, abashed, yet resigned, he 
 said nothing but a few fine words: — " In over- 
 throwing me, you have only overthrown the trunk 
 of the tree of negro liberty ; but the roots remain ; 
 they will push out again, because they are nume- 
 rous, and go deep into the soil." He was sent to 
 Europe, where he was kept in the fort of Joux. 
 
 Unhappily, the spirit of insurrection had pro- 
 pagated itself among the blacks; it had entered 
 into their hearts, from a distrust of the object of 
 the whites, and with the hope to conquer them. 
 The news of what had happened at Guadaloupe, 
 where slavery had been re-established, had reached 
 Mian as St. Domingo, and had produced thereto 
 most extraordinary impression. Certain words 
 pronounced in the tribune of the French legisla- 
 tive body, on the re-establishment of slavery in 
 the Antilles, — words which could only be appli- 
 cable to Martinique and Guadaloupe, but which 
 they were able, with a little mistrust, to extend to 
 St. Domingo, had contributed to inspire the blacks 
 with the conviction that it was intended to reduce 
 them again into slavery. From the simple culti- 
 vators of the ground up to the generals, the idea 
 of falling again under the yoke of slavery made 
 them tremble with indignation 1 . Some of the 
 black officers, more civilized, more worthy of new 
 fortunes, such as Laplume, Clervaux, even Chris- 
 tophe, who did not aspire, as Totissaint had done, 
 to be dictators in the island, accommodated them- 
 selves perfectly to the state of things, that gave 
 the predominance to the mother country, provided 
 she would respect the liberty of their race; and 
 they expressed themselves with a warmth which 
 did not permit any doubt of the real state of their 
 sentiments. " We are willing," they said, " to 
 remain French and submit ; to serve the mother 
 country faithfully, because we do not desire to 
 recommence a life of rapine; but if the mother 
 country intends to make slaves of our brethren 
 and our children, she must make up her mind to 
 slaughter us to the last man." General Leclerc, 
 
 1 What coulil he more naturn-l than such an effect? It 
 was a just inference, that those who had restored slavery in 
 the other islands, from the facility of its restoration there, 
 would restore it in St. Domingo, if they possessed the power. 
 It was also an irresistible conclusion, that tlnse who made 
 professions based only upon the inability of acting opposite 
 to them at the moment, would take the first opportunity of 
 violating those professions; and therefore the blacks were 
 justified in securing themselves by every means. Had the 
 French, establishing themselves by their overwhelming force 
 in Guadaloupe and Martinique, made the slaves in those 
 islands free labourers, they would nave kept St. Domingo. 
 England may congratulate herself on her own wisdom in 
 slave emancipation, when she contemplates this picture Of a 
 government acting justly only upon compulsion, and unjustly 
 upon choice ; preferring policy to justice In a matter of 
 humanity, and by adopting a conduct morally wrong on the 
 same question in one place, from possessing power to do so, 
 and morally right in another, from not having the power of 
 doing wrong, commending the poisoned chalice to its own 
 lips. Would, in the affairs of all governments, the result could 
 be the same, then there might at last be seen that analogy 
 so long desired between moral and political justice '.—Trans. 
 
 whom their fidelity much affected, put them in con- 
 fidence for some days, when he declared, upon his 
 honour, that the intentions ascribed to the whites 
 were utterly unfounded; but at bottom the distrust 
 had become incurable. Although the general-id- 
 chief did this, it was impossible to tranquillize them. 
 If Laplume and Clervaux, sincerely attached to the 
 mother country, reasoned as is here stated, Dessa- 
 lincs, a real monster, such as might well be sup- 
 posed to have been formed by slavery and by 
 revolt, only thought of urging on with deep perfidy 
 the blacks upon the whites, and the whites upon 
 the blacks, to irritate the one by means of the 
 other, and to triumph in the midst of the general 
 massacre, in order to replace Toussaint Louver- 
 ture, of whom he had been the first to demand the 
 arrest. 
 
 In this fearful perplexity, the captain-general 
 having no more than a feeble part of his army 
 left, of the remains of which he saw some perish 
 every day, menaced at the same time by an ap- 
 proaching insurrection, believed it was his duty 
 to disarm the negroes. This measure appeared 
 but reasonable and necessary. The black chiefs 
 who were faithful, as Laplume and Clervaux, ap- 
 proved of it; the black chiefs, filled with perfidious 
 purposes, such as Dessalines, urged the measure 
 forward with warmth. It was proceeded with 
 immediately, and demanded a degree of violence 
 to succeed. Many of the negroes fled away into 
 the Monies, others sooner suffered themselves to 
 be tortured than r< sign their muskets, which they 
 regarded as identical with their liberty itself. 
 The black officers, in particular, showed them- 
 selves unrelenting in this' species of search and 
 exaction. They had many men of their own 
 colour shot; some acting in this manner in order 
 to prevent a renewal of the war, and others, on the 
 contrary, to excite it. There were procured in 
 this way, notwithstanding, about thirty thousand 
 muskets, the greater part of English make, pur- 
 chased through the foresight of Toussaint. These 
 vigorous proceedings excited insurrections in the 
 north and in the west, even to the environs of 
 l'ort-au-Prince. The nephew of Toussaint, Charles 
 Belair, a black, who had a certain superiority, like 
 those of his relative, in his manner, mind, and in- 
 telligence, and who, for these reasons, his uncle 
 would have made his successor, — Charles Belair, 
 irritated at Some executions which had taken 
 place in the western department, threw himself 
 into the Monies, and raised the flag of revolt. 
 Dessalines, then resident at St. Marc, requested 
 very earnestly to be ordered in his pursuit, and 
 thus gave a double occasion of showing the de- 
 ceptive zeal which he put on, at the same time 
 avenging himself upon a rival, who had been the 
 cause of great suspicions to himself. He therefore 
 directed against him a war of the most obstinate 
 character. He succeeded in capturing Belair and 
 his unfortunate wife, and sent both one and the 
 other before a military commission, which ordered 
 these two unfortunate persons to be shot. Dessa- 
 lines excused his conduct to the blacks by alleging 
 the unrelenting purposes of the white people, and, 
 at the same time, profiting not less by the occasion 
 to get rid of one whom he abhorred. Horrible 
 atrocities, which prove that the passions of the 
 human heart are every where the same, and that
 
 1803. 
 June. 
 
 Treachery of Dessalines. THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. Dessalhws joins the revolters. 47I 
 
 climate, time, or the differences of visage, do not 
 make a sensible difference in the character of 
 man! All now seemed to portend a revolt of 
 the blacks; the sombre mistrust which made itself 
 apparent among them, the vigorous precautions 
 it was necessary to take in regard to them, and 
 the ferocious passions which divided them, — pas- 
 sions which were obliged to be suffered, and often 
 even to be employed. 
 
 To these unfortunate circumstances in situation, 
 tiiere were faults, due to the confusion that reigned, 
 that the sickness, the danger appearing every 
 where at tile same time, and the difficulty of coni- 
 mnnicating between one part of the island and 
 another, had begun to introduce into the colony. 
 
 ral Boudet had been before taken from Port- 
 au-Prince, in order to be sent to the windward 
 islands, that he might replace general Richepanse, 
 who had died of the yellow fever. General Ro- 
 ehambeau had then been substituted for him, a 
 brave soldier, as intelligent as he was intrepid, but 
 he had contracted in the Colonies in which he had 
 
 1, all the prejudices of the Creoles who inha- 
 bited them ; he hated the mulattos as did the 
 former colonists themselves. He dtclared them 
 
 ate, violent, and cruel. He said that he loved 
 the blacks better, because, according to him, they 
 were more simple, more sober, more hardy in war. 
 General Rochambeau, commanding at Port-au- 
 Prince and in the South, where mulattos abounded, 
 showed regarding them, on the approach of the 
 insurrection, as much mistrust as he had of the 
 blacks, and imprisoned them in great numbers. 
 He still more increased.their irritation by sending 
 away general Rigaud, the former chief of the 
 mulattos, for a long while the rival and enemy of 
 
 ■ lint, vanquished and expelled by him, who na- 
 turally profiting by the victory of the whites to 
 return to St Domingo, was entitled to hope for a 
 good reception. Bat the error which the whites 
 had committed in St. Domingo at the commence- 
 ment of tin- revolution, in not having allied them- 
 
 - with the people of colour, they persisted in 
 to the end. General Rochambeau repelled general 
 Rigaud, ami ord< red him to embark again for the 
 The mulattos, offended and ag- 
 grieved, '.ended from that time to unite themselves 
 to the blacks, which was a vexatious tiling, more 
 
 ■ally in the south, where they were the most 
 numerous oil 
 
 These eauaea united, made the insurrection gene- 
 ral, which at first was only partial. In the north, 
 
 tux, liaurepaa, ami Christophe, Bed into the 
 tot without expressing their regret, but 
 
 on by a sentiment much stronger in their 
 
 bosoms, tb.- love of their liberty, which was threat- 
 ened, In the west, the- barbarous 1) --..lines, 
 Singing 06* the mask, joined those- who were in a 
 Kate of revolt. In the south, tin- mulattos uniting 
 themselves with tin- blacks, gave them-. Ives to the 
 ravage of that line province, which until then hail 
 siood untouch) d and nourishing, as in tb.' finest 
 
 times ol the Coll n\. No one remained faithful but 
 
 Laplume, di fiuitivi Iv attached to the mother eoun* 
 try. preferring it to the barban nunent of 
 
 tli'- iieii of his o\\ n colour. 
 
 'fie- French army, reduced to sight or ten thou- 
 sand men, scarce!) in a state to serv< . ed no 
 more territory in the north than the Cape and some 
 
 of its surrounding positions ; in the west. Port-au- 
 Prince and St. Marc; and in the south, Li s Cayes, 
 Jeremie, and Tiburon. The anguish of mind of the 
 unfortunate general Leclerc, was extreme. He had 
 his wife with him, whom he had sent to Turtle 
 Island, in order to keep her out of the way of the 
 p Btilence. He had seen perish the wise and able 
 M. Benezeeh, with some of the most distinguished 
 generals of the armies of the Rhine and Daly ; he 
 had just learned the death of general Richepanse ; 
 he was present every day at the deaths of his most 
 valiant soKliers. without the power to aid them, and 
 now felt the moment rapidly approaching, when he 
 should no louder be aide to defend against the 
 blacks the small part of the territory that remained 
 in his possession. Tormented by these grievous 
 reflections, he was more exposed than any other 
 person to the attacks of the malady that was 
 destroying the army. In fact, he was at last seized 
 in his turn. After a short illness, which, taking 
 the character of a continued fever, finished by de- 
 stroying all the strength he had left, he expired, 
 never ceasing to speak in the finest manner, and 
 not appearing occupied with any thing but his wife 
 and his companions in arms, that he left behind 
 him in such a frightful situation. He died in No- 
 vember, 1802. 
 
 General Rochambeau took the command, as the 
 officer of senior rank. It was not bravery nor 
 military talent that was wanting to the new go- 
 vernor of the colony, but the prudence, and the 
 coolness of a chief who was a stranger to all the 
 passions of the tropics. General Rochambeau 
 thought to be able to repress the insurrection 
 every where ; but he had now no time for such a 
 purpose. At most, if he had concentrated his 
 forces at the Cape, and abandoned the west and 
 south, he might have been able to sustain himself 
 but desiring to keep a front upon all points 
 at once, he was able to do no more on any than to 
 make energetic and unavailing efforts. lie had 
 returned to the Cape in order to take the chief 
 command. He arrived there at the same moment 
 as Christophe, Clervaux, and other black chiefs of 
 the north, had made an attack, and attempted to 
 take this capital of the island. General Rocham- 
 beau bad no force to defend the place except a few 
 hundred soldiers and the national guard of the 
 Cape, composed of landed proprietors, brave as all 
 
 the men of those countries are. Christophe and 
 Clervaux had already taken one of the forts ; l 
 ral Rochambeau retook it with uncommon gal- 
 lantly, seconded by the' energy of the national 
 guards, who comported themsi Ives so well, that 
 the blacks, thinking a fresh army had reinforced 
 the island, beat a retreat. During this heroic 
 defence, there passed In the roads a most frightful 
 se. ne. Upwards of twelve hundred blacks had 
 been sent on board the vessels, as it uas not known 
 how to guard them on shore, and to suffer them to 
 go away would have been to reinforce the enemy. 
 The crews of the ships, decimated by the fever, 
 
 were become weaker than their prisoners, At the 
 on ut of the attack on the Cape by the blacks, 
 : aring to be murdered I>n tin m, the crews, it must 
 be stateil with horror, threw overboard a good pari 
 of their prisoners, and they pemhed in tin- waves. 
 
 At the saie- ti , in the southern part of the 
 
 i kind, a mulatto, named Harder, was subjected to
 
 472 St. Domingo evacuated THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. by the French troops. 
 
 1803. 
 Juue. 
 
 the same treatment, being drowned merely from 
 an unjust and atrocious mistrust of his intentions. 
 From that day the mulattos, until then wavering, 
 joined the negroes, slaughtered the whites, and 
 completed the ravage and ruin of the fine southern 
 district of the island. 
 
 Terminating here these gloomy details, in which 
 history has nothing more useful to record — at the 
 epoch of the renewal of the war between France 
 and England — the French, shut up at the Cape, at 
 Port-au-Prince, and Aux Cayes, defended them- 
 selves with great difficulty against the blacks and 
 mulattos united. The European war then came to 
 add to their despair. They had only to choose be- 
 tween the blacks, more ferocious than ever, and the 
 English, who were before the island, and they 
 were obliged to surrender to them, being sent as 
 prisoners to England, after having been despoiled 
 of the wrecks of their property l . 
 
 Of from thirty to thirty-two thousand men sent 
 from the mother country, there did not remain 
 more than eight thousand at the end of September. 
 More than twenty generals perished, among them 
 was Richepanse, the most regretted of them ail. 
 At the same time, Toussaint Louverture, that 
 sinister prophet, who had predicted and heartily 
 hoped for all these evils, died of cold in France, 
 a prisoner in the fort of Joux, while the French 
 soldiers were succumbing beneath the effects of a 
 burning sun. But a deplorable compensation this 
 death of a black chief of genius and talent for the 
 loss of so many heroic whites ! 
 
 Such was the sacrifice made by the first consul 
 to the old commercial system of France, a sacrifice 
 with which he was bitterly reproached. Still, to 
 judge truly of the actions of the chief's of a govern- 
 ment, it is necessary to keep in recollection all the 
 circumstances under which they have acted. When 
 peace had been made with the whole world, when 
 
 1 The French held out until September, with a constancy 
 and bravery worthy of a better cause. St. Marc was be- 
 sieged by Dessalines, and the place reduced to the last ex- 
 tremity of misery. Captain Walker, of the Vanguard, seventy- 
 four, being off the coast, interfered to prevent his putting 
 the garrison to death. He engaged the black chief to march 
 the garrison to the Mole, and he would take them off, and 
 secure the shipping; but the French commander, general 
 Hunin, sent a flag of truce on board, and then came off him- 
 self. The garrison was safely embarked ; it had long lived 
 upon horse-flesh. The number was 850. At, Aux Cayes the 
 commander entered into a convention with the British 
 officers off the coast. Port Dauphin was taken by the The- 
 seus man-of-war ; the acting commandant, surrendering at 
 discretion, was embarked with most of the inhabitants, and 
 landed under a flag of truce at the Cape, by captain Bligh of 
 that ship. He afterwards spiked the guns, and brought 
 away a frigate, called La Sagesse, which he had found there. 
 Captain Bligh was fortunate enough to recover general Du- 
 mont and suite, who had fallen into the hands cf the blacks, 
 and he was also sent to the Cape. General Rochambeau 
 behaved in a manner no way reflecting credit upon his cha- 
 racter, at the surrender of the Cape. He had entered into a 
 treaty with Dessalines for the surrender of the forts and 
 town, and after the blacks were partially admitted, treated 
 with the English, who were fortunately enabled to save the 
 garrison. Dessalines would have sunk them all with red- 
 hot shot ; they were saved with great difficulty by the Eng- 
 lish. General Noailles also surrendered to the British at the 
 Mole. The French troops were all sent to Jamaica, with 
 the frigates and other light vessels captured in the harbours. 
 — Translator. 
 
 the notions connected with the old commercial sys- 
 tem had re-acted like a torrent, when in Paris .and 
 in all the ports the merchants and the ruined 
 colonists called aloud for the re-establishment of 
 the commercial prosperity of France, when they 
 reepjired that the government should give back to 
 their country a possession which had formerly been 
 the source of riches and of pride to the old mo- 
 narchy, when thousands of officers saw with morti- 
 fication their active career interrupted by the 
 peace, and were offering to serve any where that 
 there was a need of their employment, was it possi- 
 ble to refuse to the requests of the one, or to the 
 activity of the others, such an opportunity of re- 
 storing her old commercial advantages to France ? 
 What did not England do to preserve North Ame- 
 rica ? Spain to preserve South America ? What 
 did not Holland do to keep Java ? Nations do not 
 suffer any of their great possessions to escape 
 without attempting to retain them if they have no 
 chance of success. It will be seen if the American 
 war will serve as a lesson to the English, and if 
 they will not attempt to defend Canada the day that 
 this colony of the north shall give way to the natu- 
 ral feeling which draws it towards the United 
 States of America. 
 
 The first consul had recalled to Europe all the 
 ships of the expedition to the West Indies, except 
 the frigates and light vessels. They had all come 
 into French ports, one squadron only excepted, 
 consisting of five sail, which had been obliged to 
 put into Corunna. A sixth vessel had taken re- 
 fuge in Cadiz. It was necessary to reunite these 
 scattered elements, in order to undertake a contest 
 strength to strength with England. 
 
 It was a difficult task for the most able and most 
 solidly-established govi rnment to enter into a con- 
 test with England. Mubt assuredly it was easy for 
 the first consul to place himself under the safe- 
 guard of his own power; but it was also as easy for 
 England to place herself under her own. England 
 and France had conqm red an empire pretty nearly 
 equal, the first on the sea, the second on the land. 
 Hostilities begun; England displayed her flag in 
 both hemispheres, took, perhaps, some of the Dutch 
 and Spanish colonies, and with more difficulty some 
 of the French. She attempted to interdict the 
 navigation of the ocean to every people, and to 
 arrogate it to herself exclusively. But by herself 
 she could do no more. The appearance of English 
 troops upon the continent had only been to her the 
 source of such disasters as that of the Haider in 
 1799. France, on her side, was able, either by 
 force or by influence, to interdict to England the 
 shores of the European continent from Copenhagen 
 to Venice ; to reduce her merely to touch the 
 shores of the Baltic; to oblige her to cause a de- 
 scent from the heights of the pole, of those colonial 
 productions of which, during war, she became the 
 sole depository '. But in this contest of two great 
 
 1 The disadvantage here is greater to the continent than 
 to England. The carriage of goods or produce into the 
 Baltic from England is the merest trifle additional, which is 
 inevitably charged on the continental consumer, who has to 
 pay, in addition, for the internal carriage of such goods or 
 produce from the port where it is consigned ; so that 
 France, by this exclusive scheme, taxed the people of the 
 continent grievously, while she did little comparative mis- 
 chief to England. — Translator.
 
 1803. 
 June. 
 
 The design of the first 
 consul to pass the 
 straits of Dover. 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 The first consul makes strenu- 
 ous effort* to restore the 
 French navy. 
 
 473 
 
 powers, that dominate each upon one of two ele- 
 ments, without the means of going beyond their 
 bounds to combat each other, it was to be feared 
 that, as they were hardly induced to menace with- 
 out Btriking, the world, oppressed by them, would 
 not remain without revolting against one or the 
 Other, with the object of putting an end to the 
 continuance of such a fearful quarrel. 
 
 In similar circumstances, success would apper- 
 tain to that power which knew how to pass out of 
 the element in which she governed in order to 
 reach her rival; ami if such an effort became im- 
 possible, to that which knew how to render her 
 cause sufficiently popular in the world to gain over 
 a party. To attach any of the nations to them- 
 selves was difficult for either to effect, because 
 England, in order to monopolize commerce, had 
 indue d to trouble the neutral powers; and 
 France, in order to close the continent against the 
 commerce of England, had been induced to offer 
 violence to all the European states. It was then 
 necessary, if the conquest of England was resolved 
 upon, to solve all of these problems; either how to 
 the ocean and march to London, or how to 
 domineer over the continent, and obiige it, whether 
 by force or policy, to refuse all British produce; to 
 realize, in one word, either a descent or a conti- 
 nental blockade. It will be seen, in the course of 
 this history, by what a chain of events Napoleon 
 WU successively carried from the first of these en- 
 terprises to the second; by what a chain of prodi- 
 gies he at first approached his object, and was near 
 its attainment; by what a combination of faults 
 and misfortunes he subsequently fell away from it, 
 and finished. by succumbing. Happily, before the 
 arrival of that deplorable term, France had done 
 such things, that a nation to which providence has 
 permitted similar accomplishments must remain for 
 ever glorious; perhaps the greatest among the 
 nations. 
 
 These are the proportional differences which the 
 character of the war between France and England 
 would inevitably take. The war had been from 
 1792 to 1801 the contest of the principles of de- 
 mocraey against those of aristocracy ; without 
 :ll to carry that character, it had become, 
 under Napoleon, tin- contest of one element against 
 another, with much more difficulty on the side of 
 the French than of the English, because the entire 
 continent, through its haired lor the French re- 
 volution, and from jealousy of the power of France, 
 hated France much more than the neutrals do- 
 te -t.-d England. 
 
 W'nli his piercing glam-e the first consul a 1 
 
 1 how the war bore, and he took his | 
 
 lution unhesitatingly, lie Conned the design of 
 1 ng the straits "I Dover with an army, and of 
 terminating in London even the rivalry of the two 
 nations, lb- will in -, , n during three consecutive 
 
 applying all his (acuities 10 this prodigious 
 
 enterprise, and remaining calm, confident, even 
 happy, so mucb was he Ailed with confidence, in 
 tie front of mi attempt which musf conducl him 
 either to the absolute mastership of the world, or 
 
 to tin: engulfmenf o( himself, his army, and Ins 
 
 glory, deep i., lie- bottom of the ossan. 
 
 It will be said, perhaps, that Louis XIV. and 
 
 Louis XVI. bad not been reduced to such a 1 
 
 sity for entering into a contest with England, and 
 
 that numerous fleets disputing on the plain of the 
 ocean with her were sufficient for their objects. 
 But it may be replied, that from the seventeenth 
 to the eighteenth centuries, England had not yet 
 seized upon universal commerce, nor acquired the 
 largest maritime population upon the globe, and 
 that the means of the two navies were much less 
 unequal. The first consul had decided to make 
 immense efforts to restore the French navy; but 
 he much doubted of success, although he possessed 
 a vast extent of sea-shore — although he had at his 
 disposition the ports and building-yards of Holland, 
 Belgium, old France, and Italy. It is needless also 
 to add those of Spain, which were at thai jme too 
 miserably managed to be a useful ally. He had 
 not, counting all his naval strength, actually united 
 but little more than fifty ships of the line to send 
 to sea in the course of the year. He was able to 
 procure four or five in Holland; twenty-one or two 
 in Brest ; two at Lorient ; six at Rochelle ; five in 
 port at Corunna; one at Cadiz; and ten or twelve 
 at Toulon; in all about fifty. With the timber which 
 covered his extensive empire, and which arrived, 
 descending the rivers, at the ship-yards of Holland, 
 the Low Countries, and Italy, he was able to con- 
 struct fifty other vessels of the line, and to make 
 his glorious tricoloured flag be borne by a hundred 
 ships of the line. But then he must have more 
 than one hundred thousand seamen to man them, 
 and it was with the utmost pains he could muster 
 sixty thousand. England had seventy-five sail of 
 the line quite ready to send to sea; it was easy for 
 her to carry her total armament to a hundred and 
 twenty sail, with a number of frigates and small 
 vessels in proportion. She was able to send to 
 sea one hundred and twenty thousand seamen, and 
 still more, if giving up terms with the neutrals, she 
 carried the impress into their commercial vessels. 
 She possessed besides experienced admirals, confi- 
 dent, because they had conquered, who comported 
 themselves upon the ocean as the French generals 
 Lannes, Ney, and MasstJna did upon the land. 
 
 This disproportion of the two navies, resulting 
 from time and circumstances, was therefore very 
 considerable ; nevertheless, the first consul did not 
 despair. He wished to build vessels every where, 
 in the Texel, the Sehelde, at Havre, Cherburgh, 
 Brest, Toulon, and Genoa. He thought of com- 
 prehending a certain number of kind soldiers in 
 the composition of his crews, and by that means to 
 lessen the inferiority of the French maritime popu- 
 lation. He hail been the first to perceive that a 
 
 vessel having a crew of six hundred good seamen 
 and two or three hundred well chosen landsmen, 
 kept for two or three years at sea, exercised in 
 manoeuvring and firing, was capable of meeting 
 any opposing force. But even in employing this 
 means and others besides, lie said it would be 
 necessary to have ten years to create a navy. But 
 he was not able to wait ten years with his arms 
 crossed, that his navy, going to sea in small detach- 
 ments, might in time be rendered lit to meet the 
 English in ■ day of battle. To employ ten years 
 in forming a fleet, without any thing of moment to 
 execute in the interval, would have been a long 
 
 confession Of weakness grisVOUS for any govern- 
 ment, and more insupportable for him who bad 
 
 made his fortune, and who had to continue it, by 
 
 dazzling the 1 yes of the world.
 
 Formation of camps from 
 474 the Texel to the Pyre- 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 State of the conscrip- 
 tion and the active 
 iorces. 
 
 1803. 
 June. 
 
 It became needful, therefore, to apply every 
 means to reorganize the French naval force, to 
 attempt boldly the passage of the straits, and at 
 the same time to serve himself by the fear which 
 his sword had inspired, in obliging Europe to shut 
 out England from all access to the continent. If 
 to his genius for the execution of great enterprises 
 he joined good policy, he thought he should be able 
 by these means united, either to destroy in London 
 itself the British power altogether, or to ruin it 
 at length by ruining its commerce. 
 
 Many of the French admirals, more especially 
 the minister Decres, advised him to proceed by a 
 slow recomposition of the French navy, which 
 should consist in forming small naval divisions, 
 and in sending them to sea until they should be 
 well enough skilled to manoeuvre in large squad- 
 rons ; and, at the same time, exhorted him to stop 
 there, regarding as very doubtful all the plans 
 devised for passing the channel. The first consul 
 would not come into these views of the subject; he 
 proposed as well to restore the French navy, but 
 at the same time to make a more immediate and 
 direct attempt to strike at England. 
 
 In consequence of this conclusion, he oi'dered 
 numerous vessels to be built at Flushing, of which 
 place he could dispose in consequence of his power 
 over Holland ; at Antwerp, which was become a 
 French port ; at Cherburg, Brest, Lorient, Toulon, 
 and at Genoa, which France occupied in the same 
 manner as Holland. He had the twenty-two sail 
 of the line at Brest put in repair and made ready 
 for sea ; he had the two at Lorient completed, 
 and the five at Rochelle set afloat and armed. He 
 demanded means from Spain to refit and revictual 
 the squadron that had sheltered in Corunna, and 
 sent from Bayonne all that it was possible to get 
 conveyed there by land in men, stores, and money. 
 He took the same precautions respecting the vessels 
 at Cadiz. He ordered the completion and arma- 
 ment of the fleet at Toulon, consisting of twelve 
 vessels. These different squadrons, joined to three 
 or four in Holland, thus carried up, as already- 
 observed, the naval force of France to about fifty 
 sail of the line, without reckoning those which it 
 might be able to obtain at a later period from the 
 Dutch and Spanish naval forces, or counting those 
 which it might be possible to construct in the ports 
 of Fiance, armed with a mixture of seamen and 
 land soldiers. Still the first consul did not flatter 
 himself, with such a force as this, to conquer in 
 a regular battle the superiority or even a maritime 
 equality in regard to England ; he wished it to go 
 to sea, and after visiting the colonies, to return, 
 and open for a little time the straits of Dover, 
 through the movements of squadrons, of which the 
 dee)) combination will soon be judged. 
 
 It was towards the straits that he concentrated 
 all the efforts of his genius. Whatever were the 
 means of conveyance required, he must first have 
 an army, and he formed the design of composing 
 one which should leave nothing to desire in respect 
 to number and organization ; to distribute it in 
 several camps from the Texel to the Pyrenees, and 
 to dispose it in such a manner that he might bo 
 able to concentrate it with great rapidity upon 
 points of the shore carefully selected for that pur- 
 pose. Independently of a corps of twenty-five 
 thousand men united between Breda and Nhne- 
 
 guen, to march upon Hanover, he ordered the 
 formation of six camps, one in the environs of 
 Utrecht, a second near Ghent, a third at St. Omer, 
 a fourth at Compeigne, a filth at Brest, and a sixth 
 at Bayonne, this last destined to overawe Spain 
 from certain motives which will be subsequently 
 made known. He commenced !iy forming parks 
 of artillery on each of the six points of assemblage, 
 a precaution which, he ordinarily took before any 
 other, saying that he found the artillery was always 
 the most difficult thing to organize. He then 
 directed upon each of the camps a sufficient number 
 of demi-brigades of infantry to carry the numbers 
 up at least to twenty-five thousand men each. The 
 cavalry was assembled more slowly, and in a less 
 proportion than is customary, because, on the 
 hypothesis of an embarkation, he would be able to 
 carry but very few horse. It was necessary that 
 the quality and quantity of the infantry, the ex- 
 cellence of the artillery, and the number of guns, 
 should compensate in such an army for the nu- 
 merical inferiority of the cavalry. In this double 
 relation the French infantry and artillery united 
 all the desirable conditions. The first consul had 
 taken care to assemble on the coast, and to form in 
 four grand divisions, all the dragoons. This class 
 of soldiers being able to serve on foot or on horse- 
 back, would embark only with their saddles, and be 
 useful as infantry until they were able to be 
 mounted as horsemen, when a sufficient number of 
 horses should be taken from the enemy. 
 
 The dispositions were made for arming and har- 
 nessing four hundred pieces of field artillery, inde- 
 pendently of a vast park of heavy guns tor sieges. 
 The demi-brigades, which were then in three batta- 
 lions, were to furnish two war battalions, each of 
 eight hundred men, taking from the third battalion 
 to complete the two first. The third battalion was 
 left in depot, to receive the conscripts, instruct 
 and discipline them. Still a certain number of 
 these conscripts was sent immediately to the war- 
 battalions, so that among the old soldiers of the 
 republic should be mingled in a sufficient pro- 
 portion young soldiers, well selected, possessing the 
 ardour, vivacity, and docility of youth. 
 
 The conscription had been definitively intro- 
 duced into the French military legislation, and 
 regulated under the directory, on the proposition 
 of- general Jourdain. The law which established it 
 still presented some deficiencies, which had been 
 made up by a new law of the 26th of April, 1803. 
 The contingent had been fixed at sixty thousand 
 men per annum, levied at the age of twenty years. 
 This contingent was separated into two divisions, 
 of thirty thousand men each. The first was always 
 to be levied even in time of peace ; the second 
 formed the reserve, and might be called out, in 
 case of war, to complete the battalions. It was 
 the middle of the year xi., or June, 1803, that 
 the demand was made for a right to levy the 
 contingents of the years XI. and XII., without 
 touching the reserve of these two years. There 
 were then sixty thousand conscripts to take im- 
 mediately. In thus calling them out in advance, 
 there was time to instruct them, and to accustom 
 them to the military service in the camps formed 
 along the coasts. It was possible to recur, if 
 needful, to the reserve of these two years, which 
 still presented sixty thousand disposable men,
 
 180". 
 June. 
 
 Great preparations for 
 the invasion ol Eng- 
 land. 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 State of llie French finances 
 on tin' loinmeiuement of 
 the war. 
 
 475 
 
 whom it would not be reckoned needful to call 
 upon for service except in case of a continental 
 war. Thirty thousand nun demanded from each 
 class was a trifling sacrifice, which could very little 
 burthen the population of one hundred and nine 
 departments. Besides, there remained to call out 
 the contingents of the years vin., ix., and x., 
 which had not been required, owing to the peace 
 enjoyed under the consulate. An arrear of men in 
 this way is as difficult to recover as an arrear 
 of taxes. The first consul made, upon this matter, 
 a sort of liquidation of claims. He demanded on 
 the contingents in arrear a certain number of men, 
 chosen among the more robust, and the most dis- 
 posable ; he exempted a greater number on the 
 coast than in the interior, imposing upon the last 
 not called out, the duty of guarding the coasts. In 
 this way he was able to arm still an army of fifty 
 thousand nun, older and stronger than the con- 
 scripts of the yais xi. and xn. The army was 
 thus raised to four hundred and eighty thousand 
 nun, spread over the colonies, Hanover, Holland, 
 Switzerland, Italy, and France. Of this effective 
 body, about one hundred thousand employed to 
 guard Italy, Holland, Hanover, and the colonies, 
 
 not maintained at the charge of the French 
 tr.asury. Subsidies in money, or provisions fur- 
 nished on the spot where the troops were stationed, 
 covered the expense of their maintenance. There 
 were three hundred and eighty-four thousand paid 
 wholly in France, and entirely at the public dis- 
 posal. The deficiencies in this number of three 
 hundred and eighty thousand, might be reckoned 
 forty thousand for the ordinary deficiency, in other 
 s, for the sick, those absent for a short time, 
 route, &CJ forty thousand for gensdarmes, 
 
 us, invalids, and instructors ; about three 
 hundred thousand men might therefore be reckoned 
 upon as active and disposable, disciplined, and 
 capable of entering immediately upon active ser- 
 if of these one hundred and fifty thousand 
 
 destined for the confc st in England, there 
 still remained on.- hundred and fifty thousand 
 more, of whom seventy thousand, forming the de- 
 ifficient to guard the interior, and 
 eighty thousand might proceed towards the Rhine, 
 in case of any inquietude arising in that part of 
 •In- continent It fa nol of its numbers by which 
 the value of such an army is to be judged. These 
 
 hundred thousand men, nearly all tried men, 
 in to tli^' fatigues and toils of war, conducted 
 
 1 officers, wire worth si\ or seven 
 hundred thousand, or perhaps a million, of those 
 who are found ordinarily at the close of a long 
 , becau a a soldier tried and one 
 
 wdio is not, tie- diffi rence is infinite. Under this 
 bead, therefore, the first consul had nothing to 
 If commanded the finest army in the 
 
 world. 
 
 at problem next to be resolved was, the 
 union of the means of transport, in order to trans- 
 port this army from Calais to Dover. The first 
 
 ;l had not yet definitively arranged his ideas 
 
 in tin One thins alone was definitively 
 
 Axed upon after a long I observations, this 
 
 was the form of tie to bo constructed. 
 
 Is with a flat bottom, adapted to run aground, 
 and to move with sail and oar, appeared to all the 
 
 nuval engineers tie means >" I adapted for the 
 
 passage ; besides this, there was the advantage of 
 being able to construct them everywhere, even in 
 the higher basins of the rivers. But it remained 
 to unite them, and to shelter them in ports con- 
 veniently placed, to ant and equip them ; and, 
 finally, to discover the best system of manoeuvres 
 to move them in order before the enemy. It was 
 needful for that purpose to have a succession of 
 long and difficult experiments. The first consul 
 had the design of establishing himself in person at 
 Boulogne, on the borders of the channel, to live 
 there often and so long, as to study the places, the 
 circumstances of the sea and weather, and to 
 organize himself all the vast enterprise which he 
 contemplated. 
 
 While waiting until the different works con- 
 structing in all parts of France were sufficiently 
 advanced to make his presence upon the coast 
 of service, lie occupied himself in Paris with two 
 essential things, the finances and the relations 
 id' France with the powers of the continent, be- 
 cause on one part there must be funds sufficient 
 for his intended enterprise, and on the other, 
 there must be the perfect certainty of not being 
 troubled during the execution of his scheme by the 
 continental allies of England. 
 
 The financial difficulty was not the least of the 
 difficulties that presented themselves upon the 
 renewal of the war. The French revolution had 
 devoured, in the form of assignats, an immense 
 mass of national property, and ended in bank- 
 ruptcy. All the national property had been nearly 
 consumed, and credit for a long time ruined. In 
 order to preserve from alienation the 400,000,0001". 
 of national property remaining in 1800, it had been 
 divided between different public services, such 
 as public instruction, the invalids, the legion of 
 honour, the senate, and the sinking fund. Changed 
 also into dotations, it aided the budget of the state, 
 and presented an immense future value, owing to 
 the augmentation of the worth of landed property, 
 an augmentation constant at all times, but always 
 greater on the morrow of a revolution. The same 
 property too had been diminished by certain por- 
 tions restored to the emigrants, nut very consider- 
 able indeed, because the property not alienated 
 had been in nearly its entire totality the property 
 of the church. There must be added to these 
 remains the property situated in Piedmont and in 
 the new departments of the Rhine, valued at about 
 50,000,000 f. or <;o,000,000f. Such were the re- 
 sources disposable in national domains. In respect 
 to en dit, the first consul was resolute in never 
 
 having recourse to it. It will be remembered, that 
 when he completed in the year ix. the liquidation 
 ol' the pasl debts, he took advantage of the ele- 
 vation of the public funds to acquit in stock a part 
 
 of the arrears of the years v., VI., VI I., and mil; 
 
 but this was the sole operation id' the land he was 
 ever willing to permit, and ho paid fully and in 
 money tiie liabilities of the years ix. and x. In the 
 y ar \.. the last, budget voted, he laid il down as a 
 principle that, the public dt bl 1 ould never surpass 
 60,000,000 f. in stock, ami that, if such a circum- 
 stance Bbould occur, there should he created im- 
 mediately a resource to nde< m the excess in 
 fifteen years. This precaution had been deemed 
 needful in order to sustain confidence, because in 
 Bpite of a generally healthy state of things, credit
 
 476 
 
 The budgets of the years 
 x. and xi. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Resources to meet the 
 expenses of the war 
 
 1803. 
 June. 
 
 had been so much injured, that the five per cent, 
 stock arose but Utile above fifty-six, and had not 
 passed sixty at the moment when it was the 
 highest at the peace. 
 
 For a long time in England, and for a little time 
 in France, the public funds have been an object 
 of regular traffic, in which the largest houses par- 
 ticipate, always disposed to treat with the govern- 
 ment, and to furnish it with the sums of which it 
 may stand in need. It was not so at the epoch in 
 question. No house in Fiance would have ex- 
 pressed a wish to subscribe to a loan. It would 
 have lost all credit in avowing that its business 
 was connected with the state; and if the boldest 
 speculators had consented, they would at the most 
 have given fifty francs for stock of five, which 
 would have exposed the treasury to support the 
 enormous interest of ten per cent. The first con- 
 sul would not have any thing to do with a resource 
 so costly. There was then another mode of bor- 
 rowing ; it was to get into debt with the great 
 companies of contractors, who had the duty of 
 supplying the armies, by not paying them up their 
 full demands. They indemnified themselves by 
 charging for the different services two or three 
 times more than the things supplied were worth. 
 Then the bold speculators, who were fond of deal- 
 ing largely, in place of attaching themselves to 
 loans, gave themselves up with eagerness to go- 
 vernment contracts. There was then the means 
 in consequence, upon addressing them, of getting 
 the supplies upon credit ; but this means was yet 
 more expensive than that of the loans themselves. 
 The first consul meant to pay the contractors re- 
 gularly, in order to oblige them to execute their 
 contracts regularly, and at reasonable prices. He 
 would not avail himself of any resources arising 
 from the alienation of the national property, which 
 could not then be sold to advantage, nor of the 
 resource of loans, then too difficult to obtain and 
 too costly, nor of the great contractors, a mode 
 that brought in its train abuses difficult to cal- 
 culate. He flattered himself, with great order 
 and economy, added to the natural increase of 
 the product of the taxes, and some accessory 
 receipts which will be presently made known, to 
 escape the hard necessity to which speculators and 
 money -mongers make governments submit that are 
 at the time destitute of revenue and credit. 
 
 The last budget, that of the year x., or from 
 September, 1801, to September, 1802, had been 
 fixed at 500,000,000 f. or 620,000,000 f., with the 
 expenses of collection, and including the additional 
 centimes. The sum had not been exceeded, a 
 circumstance due to the peace. The taxes alone 
 had exceeded in their produce the calculations 
 of the government. A revenue of 470,000,000 f. 
 had been estimated, and a very small alienation 
 of the national domains had been voted to make 
 the receipts and disbursements balance. But the 
 taxes had surpassed the estimate by 33,000,000 f., 
 and from that fortunate circumstance the aliena- 
 tion had become useless. This unexpected aug- 
 mentation of the resources accruing from the 
 registering, which, owing to the number of private 
 transactions, had produced 172,000,000 f. in place 
 of 150,000,000 f.; the customs duties, that owing to 
 the revival of commerce, had produced 31,000,000 f. 
 in place of 22,000,000 f. ; finally, from the posts 
 
 and some other branches of revenue less impor- 
 tant. 
 
 In spite of the renewal of the war, it was hoped, 
 and the event proved there was no deception 
 in the expectation, that a similar augmentation 
 of the produce of the taxes would again happen. 
 Under the vigorous government of the first consul, 
 neither disorders nor reverses were apprehended. 
 Confidence continued to maintain itself, private 
 transactions, the internal trade, the exchanges 
 every day becoming more considerable with the 
 continent, were all certain to follow an increasing 
 progression. Maritime trade alone was ex- 
 posed to suffer, and the revenue of the customs, 
 which then appeared to return 30,000,000 f. to the 
 budget of receipts, expressed sufficiently that there 
 could not result from this suffering any enormous 
 loss to the treasury. They counted, therefore, 
 and with reason, on more than 500.000,000 f. of 
 receipts. The budget of the year xi., or from 
 September, 1802, to September, 1803, was voted 
 in March, with the fear, but not with the certainty, 
 of war. It had been fixed at 589,000,000 f., with- 
 out the expenses of collection, but comprehending 
 a part of the additional centimes. This was, 
 consequently, an augmentation of 89,000,000 f. 
 The navy was increased from 105,000,000 f. to 
 126,000,0001'.; the war department, raised from 
 210,000,000 f. to 243,000,000 f., had obtained a 
 part of this augmentation. The public works, 
 worship, the new civil list of the consuls, the fixed 
 expenses of the departments, inscribed this time 
 in the general budget, took up the remainder of 
 the increase. 
 
 This augmentation of the expenses had been 
 met, by the supposed increase in the produce of 
 the taxes, by the additional centimes before de- 
 voted to meet the fixed expenses of the depart- 
 ments, and by several foreign receipts coming 
 from the allied countries. The current budget, 
 therefore, might be considered as at an equilibrium, 
 except the excess indispensable for the expenses 
 of the war. It was not to be supposed, indeed, 
 that 20,000,000 f. added to the support and increase 
 of the navy, and 30,000,000 f. added for the army, 
 would be sufficient to meet the demands of the new 
 position of affairs. The war with the continent 
 ordinarily cost little enough, because the vic- 
 torious troops of France, passing the Rhine and 
 Adige, from their entrance upon operations, were 
 fed at the expense of the enemy ; but here this 
 was not the case. The six camps that were esta- 
 blished on the coast from Holland to the Pyrenees, 
 were to be supported on the French soil up to the 
 day when the soldiery should embark to pass the 
 straits. It was necessary to provide, besides, for 
 the new expenses of the naval constructions, and 
 to place along the coast an enormous mass of 
 artillery. A hundred millions more per annum 
 were scarcely sufficient to meet the necessities of 
 the war with England. The following are re- 
 sources which the first consul intended to serve 
 for the purpose of meeting this increase. 
 
 There have been already mentioned some sums 
 as received from foreign countries, and carried to 
 the budget of the year XI., in order to cover a 
 part of the sum of 89,000,000 f., at least, which 
 89,000,000 f. was the same sum the budget of the 
 year xi. surpassed that of the year x. These re-
 
 IS03. 
 June. 
 
 Holland and Spain 
 allied with France 
 in the war. 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 Napoleon demands a 
 subsidy of Spain. 
 
 477 
 
 ceipts were from Italy. The Italian republic not 
 having yet formed an army, and not, therefore, 
 being able to do without the French in their coun- 
 try, still paid 1,600,000 f. per month, or 19.200,000f. 
 per annum for the French army. Liguria, in the 
 same position, paid 1 ,200,000 f. per annum; Parma, 
 2,000.000 f. Thia was a resource of 22,500,000 f., 
 already carried, as before stated, to the budget of 
 the year xi. It remained, therefore, to find the 
 entire sum of 100.000,000 f., which would infallibly 
 be added to the 580,000,000 f. of the budget of the 
 Mar XI. 1 
 
 The voluntary gifts, the price of Louisiana, and 
 the subsidies of the allied states, these were the 
 means upon which the first consul calculated for the 
 
 ling purpose. The voluntary gifts of the cities 
 and departments amounted to about 40,000,000 f., 
 of which 15,000,000 f. were receivable in the year 
 xi., 15,000,000 f. in the year xn., and the remain- 
 der in the years following. The price of Louisiana, 
 alienated for 80,000,000 f., of which 60,000,000 f. 
 were lodged in Holland, to the credit of the French 
 treasury, and 54,000,000 f, might be immediately 
 made available, the expense of the negotiation 
 deducted, presented a second resource. The Ame- 
 ricans had not yet accepted the agreement in a 
 legal form, but the house of Hope already offered 
 to anticipate, by an advance, a part of the sum. 
 In distributing between two years this resource of 
 54,000,000 f., there were 27,0*00,000 f. added to the 
 15,000,000 f., accruing from voluntary gifts, which 
 would carry up to 42,000,000 f., or nearly the 
 annual supplemental expenses for the use of the 
 Mars xi. and XII., or from September, 1802, to 
 
 mber, 1804. Finally, Holland and Spain 
 were to furnish the surplus to be made up. Hol- 
 land, delivered from the stadtholderate by the 
 French army, deicnded against England by the 
 French diplomacy, that had secured the restoration 
 of the greater part of its colonies, would have now 
 been willingly freed from an alliance which involved 
 it anew in war. Holland wished to remain neutral 
 between France ami Great Britain, and to make a 
 profit of a neutrality, happily situated as she was 
 
 • ii the two countries. But the first consul 
 bad taken a resolution of which the justice cannot 
 be denied: this was, to make all the maritime 
 nations concur in the contest of France against 
 England. Holland and Spain, he said, were lost if 
 the French should be vanquished. All their colo- 
 
 iii [ndia and in America would be taken, 
 
 destroyed, or pushed into revolt by England. With- 
 out doubt these two powers would have found it 
 
 exceedingly commodious to have taken no part, to 
 have ailed in the defeat of the French, had they 
 been \r aten, or to have profited by their victories, 
 
 if they cane- off victorious, because if the enemy 
 
 beaten, it would be as much to their advan- 
 tage as to that of France. Bat they knew it could 
 boI be o; they combated with France, and like 
 
 her mii an equality. Jl QCtioned it, and also 
 
 their own interests, because their resources were 
 indispensable to thi of France, [t was at 
 
 > This sum appears very small, Judging after the amount 
 of the modern budgi la of 1 but it i» necem-ary al- 
 
 ways to refer to the value of Uiiiikii at the tune, unci lo lay 
 
 tint 100,000,000 f. then would answer, perhaps, to 200 or 
 
 250,000,000 f. at the present day, when it is Spatted to military 
 expenses. 
 
 the most a question whether uniting their means to 
 all the rest, the French might be able to conquer 
 the rulers of the seas. Isolated, and each reduced 
 to its own strength, that of the French would be in- 
 sufficient for the contest, and be beaten. The first 
 consul, therefore, came to the conclusion, that 
 Holland and Spain must render their aid ; and it 
 may be said, with perfect truth, that when he 
 forced them to concur in his designs, he only 
 obliged them to look forward in contributing to 
 their own interests. However this may be, in 
 order to make the language of reason compre- 
 hended, he had the argument of force as respected 
 Holland, because the French troops occupied 
 Flushing and Utrecht, and in regard to Spain, he 
 had the treaty of alliance of St. Ildefonzo. 
 
 In other respects, at Amsterdam, all the en- 
 lightened and really patriotic minds, M. Schimmel- 
 penninck at their head, thought as the first consul 
 did. There was, therefore, no trouble in getting 
 their consent, and it was agreed that Holland 
 should give her assistance in the following manner. 
 She was to engage to feed and pay a corps of 
 eighteen thousand French and of sixteen thousand 
 Dutch soldiers, in all thirty-four thousand men. 
 To this land force she promised to join a naval 
 squadron, composed of ships of the line, and a 
 flotilla of fiat-bottomed boats. The ships of the 
 line were to consist of five vessels, also five frigates 
 in addition, and vessels necessary to transport twenty- 
 five thousand men and two thousand five hundred 
 horses from the Texel to the coast of England. The 
 flotilla was to consist of three hundred and fifty flat- 
 bottomed boats of all dimensions, adapted to trans- 
 port thirty-seven thousand men and fifteen hundred 
 horses, from the mouth of the Schelde to that of 
 the Thames 1 . In return, France guaranteed to 
 Holland her independence, the independence of 
 her empire, European and colonial, and in case 
 of success against England, the restitution of her 
 colonies lost during the later wars. The aid ob- 
 tained by means of this arrangement was consi- 
 derable, both in regard to men and money, because 
 eighteen thousand men ceased at once to burden 
 the French treasury ; sixteen thousand Dutchmen 
 were added to the military force of France, and 
 finally, the means of transport for sixty-two thou- 
 sand men and four thousand horses were added to 
 the naval resources of the expedition. It will he 
 difficult to say for what sum such an aid might 
 figure in the extraordinary budget of the first consul. 
 
 It remained to obtain the concurrence of Spain. 
 This power was still less disposed to devote itself 
 to the common cause than even Holland. It 
 has been already seen, under the capricious influ- 
 ence of the prince of the peace, that she wavered 
 
 about miserably in directions the most 1 trary, 
 
 now drawing towards France, in order to obtain an 
 establishment in Italy, now towards England, to 
 free herself from the efforts imposed upon her by a 
 courageous and indefatigable ally, and by these 
 fluctuations losing the precious island of Trinidad. 
 
 1 This pressure upon so small a territory as Holland, «;is 
 greatly out of proportion to her means and population as 
 compared with France, being hound to Bod means for trans- 
 porting nearly half the numerical lone of the expedition. 
 This unit other burdens laid upon her i>y Prancs wi rs com- 
 plained of as almost Insupportable under the circumstances 
 of the time.— Translator.
 
 478 
 
 Napoleon demands a 
 subsidy ol Spain. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Resources of France 
 recapitulated. 
 
 1303. 
 June. 
 
 As a friend or enemy equally powerless, it was 
 not possible to know what to make of her, either in 
 peace or war: not that this noble nation, full of 
 patriotism, not that the magnificent soil of the 
 peninsula, containing the ports of Ferrol, Cadiz, 
 and Carthagena, was to be contemned, this would 
 be a great mistake to suppose. But an unworthy 
 government betrayed, by its deplorable incapacity, 
 tiie cause of Spain and that of all the maritime 
 nations. Therefore, having well reflected upon 
 the matter, the first consul thought only of drawing 
 from the treaty of alliance of St,, lldefonzo, nothing 
 more than a grant of subsidies. This treaty, 
 signed in 17%, under the first administration of 
 the prince of the peace, bound Spain to furnish to 
 France twenty-four thousand men, fifteen sail of 
 the line, six frigates, and four corvettes. The first 
 consul determined not to demand these succours. 
 He said, with reason, that to draw Spain into the 
 war was not to render any service to Spain nor 
 himself; that she would make no very brilliant 
 figure in the contest ; that she would find herself 
 immediately deprived of her only resource in the 
 dollars of Mexico, of which the arrival would be 
 interrupted ; that she was unable to equip either 
 an army or a fleet ; that she could consequently 
 be of no service, while she would only furnish the 
 English with a pretext, a long while sought for, to 
 raise an insurrection ill the whole of South Ame- 
 rica ; that if, in truth, the participation of Spain in 
 hostilities, changed into shores inimical to the 
 English vessels all the coasts of the peninsula, 
 none of its ports could have a useful influence in 
 the contest, like those of Holland, in co-operation 
 for a descent upon Great Britain ; that from this, 
 the interest which she could have in such a dispo- 
 sition of affairs could not be great ; that under the 
 commercial aspect of the question, the British flag 
 was already excluded from Spain by her tariffs, 
 and that the produce of France continued to find 
 there in peace as in war a decided preference. 
 Under these united considerations, the first consul 
 spoke secretly to M. Azara, the ambassador of 
 Charles IV. at Paris, and said that if his court 
 was repugnant to the war, he would consent to its 
 remaining neuter, upon the conditions of irs paying 
 to France a subsidy of 6,000,000 f. per month, or 
 72,000,000 f. ' per annum, and the signature of a 
 treaty of commerce, which should open to the 
 French manufacturers a larger outlet for their 
 goods than they at present enjoyed. 
 
 This offer, so very moderate, did not encounter 
 at Madrid the reception which it merited. The 
 prince of the peace was then in intimate relation 
 with England, and openly betrayed the alliance. 
 It was from this motive that the first consul, sus- 
 pecting the treason, had placed at Bayonne itself 
 one of six camps destined to operate against Eng- 
 land. He was resolved to declare war against 
 Spain, sooner than to permit her to abandon the 
 common cause. He ordered general Beurnonville, 
 his ambassador, to explain himself in this respect 
 in the most peremptory manner. The English, in 
 usurping an absolute authority over the ocean, 
 obliged him to exercise a similar authority upon 
 the continent, for the defence of the general in- 
 terests of the world. 
 
 1 About £3,000,000 sterling per annum. 
 
 To the aid of the allied states it was necessary 
 to join that which might be obtained from the 
 states inimical to France, or at least ill disposed 
 towards her. Hanover would suffice for tin; sup- 
 port of thirty thousand men. The division formed 
 at Faenza, and on its march to the gulf of Taren- 
 tum, was to be supported at the expense of the 
 court of Naples. Well informed by his ambassador, 
 the first consul knew very correctly that queen 
 Caroline, governed by her minister Acton, was 
 wholly in an understanding with England, and that 
 a long time would not pass before he should be 
 obliged to expel the Bourbons from the territory 
 of Italy. He therefore did not refrain from ex- 
 pressing his determination freely to the queen of 
 Naples. " I wiil not suffer," he said, " the English 
 to be in Italy any more than in Spain and Por- 
 tugal. On the first act of concert with England, a 
 war shall do me justice for your animosity : 1 am 
 able to do you much good and a great deal of 
 mischief. It is for you to choose. I do not want 
 to take your territory from you ; it is sufficient for 
 my designs if it serve them against England ; but 
 1 shall certainly take possession of them if they 
 are employed so as to be useful to my enemy." 
 The first consul spoke with sincerity, because he 
 was not yet made the chief of a dynasty, and did 
 not think about conquering kingdoms for his 
 brothers. He demanded, in consequence, that a 
 division of fifteen thousand men, established at 
 Tarentum, should be supported by the Neapolitan 
 treasury. He considered this charge as a contri- 
 bution imposed upon his enemies, as well as that 
 which was also about to press upon the kingdom 
 of Hanover. 
 
 In recapitulating what has gone before, it will be 
 found, therefore, that the resources of the first 
 consul were the following : Naples, Holland, and 
 Hanover, were to support about sixty thousand men. 
 The Italian republic, Parma, Liguria, and Spain, 
 were charged with the payment of a regular sub- 
 sidy. America proposed to pay him the price of 
 Louisiana. The patriotism of the departments 
 and of the great towns furnished him with supple- 
 mental taxes which were altogether of a voluntary 
 character. Lastly, the public revenue promised 
 an augmentation of the produce of the taxes, even 
 during the war, thanks to the confidence inspired 
 by a vigorous government having the repute of 
 being invincible. It was with all these means that 
 the first consul flattered himself to add to the 
 589,000,000 f. of the budget of the year xi. the 
 extraordinary resource of 100,000,000 f. per an- 
 num for two, three, or four years. He had, too, 
 for the future, the indirect taxes. He was thus 
 secure of the ability to support an army of one 
 hundred and fifty thousand men upon the coasts ; 
 another army of eighty thousand upon the Rhine ; 
 the necessary troops for the occupation of Italy, 
 Holland, and Hanover ; fifty vessels of the line; and 
 a flotilla of transports of unknown ext< nt, without 
 example until the present time, by which he con- 
 templated the embarkation of one hundred and 
 fifty thousand soldiers, ten thousand hor.se>, and 
 four hundred pieces of cannon. 
 
 The world was agitated and affrighted, it may 
 be truly said, at the preparations for this gigantic 
 conquest between the two most powerful nations 
 on the globe. It was difficult to suppose the con-
 
 1803. 
 June. 
 
 Anecdotes of Count Cobentzel THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 and of Francis II. 
 
 47!) 
 
 sequences that would be the result; would the war 
 remain solely between France and England, while 
 Iheneutrals were compelled to sustain the vexations 
 inflicted upon them by the British naval turns, 
 
 and would they retrain from lending themselves to 
 the designs of the first consul, either in shutting 
 their porta or in Buffering incommodious and ex- 
 pensive occupations of their territories? In reality, 
 all the powers gave the wrong to England in pro- 
 voking the rupture. The claim to retain Malta 
 had appeared to ad, even to those least given to 
 judge in favour of France, as a manifest violation 
 of the faith of treaties that nothing had justified 
 which had occurred in Europe since the peace of 
 Amiens. Prumia an.! Austria had sanctioned by 
 
 : co.iv, nlioiis all that bad been done iu Italy 
 and Germany, and approved by notes all that had 
 taken place respecting Switzerland. Russia had 
 little less decidedly expressed her approbation of 
 the conduct of France, except, indeed, in certain 
 remonstrances, in form of an appeal, made in behalf 
 of the indemnity to the king of Sardinia, which 
 had been too long deferred ; she had, indeed, ap- 
 proved of nearly all France had dune. She had 
 particularly remarked upon the intervention of 
 France in regard to Switzerland as having been 
 ably conducted and equitably terminated. None 
 of the three powers of the continent were able to 
 discover, in the events of the last two years, any 
 justification for the usurpation and appropriation 
 of Malta, and tiny explained themselves freely 
 
 the subject. Still, in spite of this manner of 
 
 ring their opinion, it was plainly to be seen 
 that they leaned more towards England than 
 Fran 
 
 Although the first consul had taken every care 
 in his power to suppress anarchy, the other powers 
 
 unable to binder themselves from contem- 
 plating iu him the image of the French revolution 
 triumphant, and much more glorious, than it was 
 
 able to their feelings to behold it, in its 
 •-. Two among them, Prussia and Austria, 
 had too little of maritime interest to be much 
 touched with any great anxi ly about the liberty 
 of the s".is. 'joe third, that is to say. Russia, had 
 an interest in this liberty too distant tor it to pre- 
 occupy her attention very strongly at this time. 
 All ti v. ry differently affected by the pre- 
 
 ponderance of the French on the continent than 
 by the- preponderance of England upon the ocean. 
 The maritime law which England desired to esta- 
 blish tO them an attack upon the justice 
 and the i I commerce iu general ; but the 
 domination th already exercised, and was 
 
 about to Htill more in Europe, was an 
 
 immediate and pri wing danger which troubled 
 
 them deeply, as coming mors ho to themselves. 
 
 Tlun they win- not pleased viih England for 
 
 having provoked this new war, and they said as 
 
 much aloud ; but they returned to tlnir ill dis- 
 
 Frauce, which the wisdom and 
 
 glory of tie- first consul had suspended lor an 
 
 instant, by a sort of surprise that his genius had 
 
 unpaj ted to tin ir aversion. 
 Several words escaped from tin great pen onagea 
 
 of the day which proved, better lh..u all which can 
 be said upon lie- subject, th • SI nliinents of the 
 
 European powers in regard (o France M. Philip 
 Cobentzel, ambassador al Paris, and eouaia of M. 
 
 Louis Cobentzel, minister for foreign affairs at 
 Vienna, was in conversation at table with admiral 
 Decree; who, by the liveliness and vivacity of 
 mind, provoked vivacity in the minds of other 
 persons, when M. Cobentzel was notable to prevent 
 himself from saying, " Yes, England is all in the 
 wrong ; she puts forth pretensions which cannot be 
 sustained, that is true. But, in frankness, you 
 have made all the world fear you too much to 
 think now of being afraid of England '." 
 
 The emperor of Germany, Francis II., who ter- 
 minated of late year- a long and good life, and who 
 hid great penetration under the appearance of sim- 
 plicity, one day speaking to the French ambassador, 
 AI. de Champagny, respecting the new war, ami 
 expressing his mortification with evident sincerity, 
 affirmed that he was, as far as regarded himself, 
 resolute to remain in peace, but that he was seized 
 with an involuntary uneasiness of which lie scarcely 
 dared to explain the motive. AI. de Champagny 
 encouraging the emperor's confidence, he said, 
 after a thousand excu es and a thousand protes- 
 tations of esteem for the first consul, " If general 
 Bonaparte, who has accomplished so many miracles, 
 should not accomplish that which he is now pre- 
 paring ; if he should not pass the straits, it is we 
 who will he the victims, because he will throw 
 himself back upon us, and combat England in 
 Germany." 
 
 The emperor Francis, who was timid, seemed to 
 regret advancing so far, and endeavoured to recall 
 his words; but there was not time to do so. Al. 
 de Champagny forwarded them to Paris imme- 
 diately by the first courier 2 . This remark was 
 upon the part of the emperor a proof of rare fore- 
 sight, which, however, was of very little service to 
 him, because it was he himself who came forward 
 at a later period to give Napoleon the opportunity 
 to combat, to use h;s own words, " England in 
 Germany." 
 
 Furthermore, of all the great powers, Austria 
 was that which had least to dread the consequences 
 of the present war, if she had known how to resist 
 the suggestions of the court of London. She had 
 not, in fact, any maritime interest to defend, be- 
 cause she neither possessed commerce, ports, nor 
 colonies. The sandy port of old Venice, which had 
 been just given to her, could not have created for 
 Austria any interest sf this character. She was 
 not situated like Prussia, Spain, or Naples, the 
 sovereign of extensive coasts, that France desired 
 to occupy. It was an easy matter for her to have 
 i quiet out of the quarrel, She bad gained, 
 on tin; contrary, a full liberty of action in the 
 affairs of Germany. France, obliged to turn her 
 front to England, was now unable to press with all 
 her weight upon Germany, Austria, on the enn- 
 irarv, was enabled to have her full play in regard 
 to the questions still remaining unsettled. She 
 
 wished, as has been seen before, to change the 
 
 number of voices iu the college of princes, tu appro' 
 
 priale to herself in a fraudulent manner all the 
 moveable wealth of the secularized estates, to pre- 
 vi nt the incorporation of the ■" immediate " nobi- 
 
 1 I re. ill lies anecdote in a not* written in 'lie liand of M. 
 
 . .mil Rddrewed immediat' ly afterward* to Napoleon. 
 
 2 It need scarcely In- remarked, tin- recital is an extract 
 from an authentic dcapatcb of the French ambassador.
 
 480 
 
 Policy of Prussia. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Russia offers her 
 mediation. 
 
 1803. 
 June. 
 
 lity, to seize upon the Inn from Bavaria, and by 
 all these means united regain her superiority over 
 the empire. The advantage of resolving all these 
 questions as she desired might have well consoled 
 her for the renewal of the war, and without her 
 extreme prudence have served to inspire her with 
 high gratification. 
 
 The two powers of the continent who were at 
 this moment the most chagrined were Prussia and 
 Russia, from motives, it is true, very different, and 
 not in the same degree. The most affected was 
 Pi'ussia. It is easy to comprehend, with the 
 known character of her monarch, who hated war 
 and expense, how much the prospect of a new 
 European conflagration must have been painful to 
 him. The occupation of Hanover, besides, had for 
 his kingdom great inconveniences. In order to 
 prevent this occupation, he had attempted an 
 arrangement which would have been able to ac- 
 commodate both France and England. He offered 
 England to occupy the electorate with Prussian 
 troops, promising that it should be no more than 
 an amicable deposit, upon the condition that the 
 navigation of. the Elbe and Weser should be allowed 
 to remain open. On the other part, he offered 
 the first consul to keep Hanover on account of 
 France, and to pay over into the French territory 
 the whole revenue of the country. This double 
 zeal, shown towards the two powers, had for its ob- 
 ject, first to preserve the navigation of the Elbe and 
 Weser free from the blockade by England; secondly, 
 to spare the north of Germany the presence of the 
 French troops. These two interests were for 
 Prussia most important. It was by the Elbe and 
 Hamburgh, and by the Weser and Bremen, that 
 he exported ail the produce of his dominions. The 
 cloths of Silesia, which composed the largest part 
 of the exports, were bought by Hamburgh and 
 Bremen, and exchanged in France for wines, and 
 in America for colonial produce. If the English 
 blockaded the Elbe and Weser, all this trade would 
 be stopped. The interest in keeping the French 
 out of the north of Germany was no less important. 
 In the first place their presence disquieted Prussia. 
 Then she was exposed to the bitter reproaches of 
 that portion of the German princes which made 
 her patronage their support. They said, that allied 
 to France for ambitious purposes, she abandoned 
 the defence of the German soil, and even contri- 
 buted by her easy complaisance to attract the 
 invasion of the foreigner. They went so far as to 
 argue that she was, by the law of Germany, 
 obliged to intervene for the purpose of preventing 
 the French from occupying Hanover. These 
 princes were most assuredly wrong, according to 
 the rigorous principles of national law, because the 
 German states, although bound to each other by a 
 federal alliance, had the individual right of peace 
 and of war, and were able to be, each upon his 
 own account, in a state of peace or war with any 
 other power, the confederation not finding itself in 
 the same circumstances with such a power. It 
 would have been, in fact, strange if king George III. 
 was able to call himself at war for England, which 
 is inaccessible, and to declare himself in peace for 
 Hanover, which is accessible. This manner of 
 understanding the state of public law would be 
 convenient, and the first consul, when they wished 
 to make it valid, replied by an apologue equally 
 
 true and ingenious. " They had," said he, "among 
 the ancients a right of asylum in certain temples. 
 A slave sought a refuge hi one of these temples 
 and had nearly passed the threshold, when he was 
 seized by the toot. They did not forget the law so 
 long established — they did not snatch the slave from 
 his place of refuge, but they cut off the foot that 
 remained outside the temple." Prussia negotiated 
 then before deciding definitively herself about the 
 occupation of Hanover, when it was announced be- 
 sides by the first consul as near and certain. 
 
 The rupture recently broken out between France 
 and England was a disagreeable surprise to the 
 court of Russia, in consequence of the cares with 
 which, at that moment, this court was taken up. 
 The young emperor had adopted a new step in the 
 execution of his projects, and delivered to his 
 young friends a little more of the affairs of the 
 empire. He had thanked the prince Kourakin for 
 his services, and had called to the head of his 
 councils a considerable personage in M. Woron- 
 zoff, the brother of count Woronzoff, who was 
 ambassador of Russia in London. He had given 
 to M. Woronzoff the title of chancellor, minister 
 of foreign affairs, and divided the government of 
 the state into eight departments of the ministry. 
 He applied himself to setting at the head of these 
 different departments, men of well-known merit, 
 but taking care, at the same time, to place near 
 them as adjuncts, his friends prince Czartoryski, 
 M. Strogonoff, and Nowosiltzoff. Thus prince 
 Adam Czartoryski was attached to M. Woronzoff, - 
 as adjunct in the department of foreign affairs, 
 M. Woronzoff, on account of his health, was often. 
 obliged to be absent on his estate, and prince 
 Czartoryski became charged, almost alone, with 
 the external relations of the empire. M. Strogo- 
 noff was the adjunct in the department of justice ; 
 M. Nowosiltzoff, in that of the interior. These 
 eight ministers were to deliberate in common on 
 the affairs of the state, and render annual accounts 
 to the senate. It was a first and considerable 
 change to make the ministers meet in deliberation, 
 and a still greater yet, to make them give in their 
 accounts to the senate. The emperor Alexander 
 considered these changes as approximations 
 towards the institutions of free and civilized 
 countries. Entirely occupied with internal re- 
 forms, he was painfully affected to see himself 
 recalled into the immense and perilous field of 
 European politics, and showed a sensible dis- 
 pleasure to the representatives of the two belli- 
 gerent powers. He was discontented with Eng- 
 land, whose unreasonable pretensions and bad 
 faith in relation to the affair of Malta troubled 
 Europe anew ; he was also ill-contented with 
 France from other motives. France had made a 
 matter of no great moment of his demand, so often 
 reiterated, of an indemnity for the king of Pied- 
 mont; and more, in granting an apparent influence 
 to Russia in the affairs of Germany, she had too 
 plainly arrogated to herself that which was real. 
 The young emperor had soon seen this. Exceed- 
 ingly jealous, young as he was, he began to mark 
 with a sort of displeasure the glory of the great 
 man who governed in the west. The disposition 
 of the court of Russia, therefore, was that of 
 general discontent with all the world. The em- 
 peror deliberating with his ministers and friends,
 
 1803. 
 June 
 
 R ussia offers her mention 
 between France and Eng- 
 land. 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 Napoleon agrees to ac- 
 cept the arbitration 
 of Russia. 
 
 481 
 
 decided upon offering tlie mediation of Russia, in- 
 voked openly enough as it had been by France, 
 ami thus upon attempting by that means to pre- 
 vent a universal quarrel, at the same time re- 
 aolving to speak the truth to all ; neither to dis- 
 simulate to England, how much her pretensions 
 to Malta fell short of being legitimate, nor of 
 making the first consul feel the necessity of ac- 
 quitling himself justly towards the king of Pied- 
 mont, and of managing kindly, during this new 
 war, the smaller powers, that composed dependants 
 or solicitors of the court of Russia. 
 
 In consequence, through the medium of M. 
 Woronzoff, conferring with general Hedouville, 
 and through M. Markoff to M. Talleyrand, the 
 hi cabinet expressed its lively displeasure at 
 tlie now troubles brought to the general peace by 
 the ambitious rivalry of France and England. He 
 acknowledged that the pretensions of England to 
 Malta were ill-grounded; but he made it be under- 
 stood that the continual enterprises of France had 
 given birth to these pretensions without justifying 
 them ; and he added, that France would do well 
 to moderate her actions in Europe, if she did not 
 wish to render peace impossible with all the 
 powers. He offered the mediation of Russia, how- 
 ever painful it was for her to intermeddle in 
 differences, that, being strange to him so far, 
 would perhaps end, if he meddled with them, in 
 becoming personal with himself. He concluded 
 by saying, that if, in spite of his good will, his 
 efforts to establish peace should be without success, 
 he, the emperor, hoped that France would be 
 reasonable in her proceedings with the friends of 
 Russia, especially with the kingdom of Naples, 
 which became her ally in 17'J8, and the kingdom of 
 Hanover, guaranteed by Russia the title of a 
 German state. Such was the sense of the com- 
 munications of the Russian cabinet. 
 
 Tin- youth brought up in dissipation is ordinarily 
 full of levity in his conversation; the youth bred 
 up seriously becomes too readily dogmatic, because 
 
 discretion is the most difficult thing to youth. It 
 is this which fully explains how tlie young go- 
 vernors of Russia gave lessons to the two most 
 powerful governments upon the globe, one led by 
 a great man, the other by great institutions. The 
 ■ n-.nl smiled, since he had divined, for a 
 good while, all the inexperience and pretensions 
 which the cabinet of Russia contained. But 
 knowing how to govern for the advantage of his 
 own vast di signs, he would not render complicated 
 the affairs ol the continent, nor raise up on the 
 
 Rhine a war which should attract him from the 
 
 war for which he was preparing upon the borders 
 of the channel. Receiving, without appearing to 
 understand, tie- lessons which he received from 
 St. Peter burg, lu- was resolved to cut short all 
 th >■ repi (aches of the young czar, and to constitute 
 liiiii the absolute arbitrator of the great quarrel 
 that then occupied the world. He therefore 
 offered, by M. de Talleyrand and general Hedou- 
 ville, to tin- Russian cabinet, to bind himsi II by 
 a promise, in virtue of which he would engage 
 himself to submit, whatever the r. suit was, to the 
 decision of the emperor Alexander, trusting en- 
 tirely in his sense of justice. This proposition was 
 
 an wise as it was dexterous. 1 1 K .gland rein ■ i, 
 she avowed that she mistrusted either her cause 
 
 or the emperor Alexander ; she would thus place 
 herself in the wrong; she would justify tlie first 
 consul in making war to the last extremity. The 
 closing of all the ports under the influence of 
 France, and the occupation of all the territory 
 appertaining to England, became thus a legitimate 
 consequence of the war. Still, as regarded the 
 kingdoms of Naples and of Hanover, the first consul, 
 taking the decided tone which suited his objects, 
 declared that he would do all the war that had 
 been begun required, that war which he had not 
 commenced. 
 
 After having adopted the altitude which to his 
 own mind appeared the best at the moment as re- 
 garded the continental powers, the first consul 
 proceeded immediately to attend to the occupations 
 already prepared and announced. General St. Cyr 
 was at Faenza in the Romagna, with a division of 
 fifteen thousand men, and a considerable artillery 
 materiel, such as he required for the defence of the 
 road of Tarentum. He received the command, 
 which he immediately carried into execution, to 
 traverse the Roman states in good order, and to 
 reach the extremities of Italy, paying for all on the 
 road, not to incommode the holy father. After the 
 conclusion of a convention with the court of Naples, 
 the French troops were to be supported at the 
 expense of the Neapolitan government. General 
 St. Cyr, judged, as he merited to be, by the first 
 consul, that is to say, as one of the first generals of 
 his time, principally when he operated alone, had 
 an embarrassing position, in the midst of an 
 enemy's kingdom ; but he was capable of making a 
 front to all his difficulties. His instructions, be- 
 sides, left him an immense latitude of action. It 
 was prescribed to him, on the first sign of an 
 insurrection in the Calabrias, to quit those pro- 
 vinces and march at once upon the capital of the 
 kingdom. Having already conquered Naples 
 once, he knew better than any other person how it 
 must be taken again. 
 
 The first consul ordered Ancona to be occupied 
 besides, after having given the pope all the 
 satisfaction which might tend to ameliorate so dis- 
 agreeable ;m act. The French garrison was to 
 pay rigidly for every thing which it consumed, in 
 nothing to trouble tlie civil government of the holy 
 see, even to aid against the disturbers of the 
 peace, if there should be any such. 
 
 Orders had in the meanwhile been sent for the 
 invasion of Hanover. The negotiations of Prussia 
 had remained unsuccessful. England declared that 
 she would blockade the Elbe and YVoser if the 
 slates of the house of Hanover were touched, 
 whether the troops employed were French or 
 Pro jians. This was assuredly the most unjust 
 of pretensions. That she should hinder the French 
 flag from circulating in the Elbe and Weser was 
 
 perfectly legitimate ; but that she should stop the 
 trade of Bremen and of Hamburg, because the 
 French had invaded the territory in the midst of 
 which these towns found themselves enclosed, that 
 she should exact that the entire of Germany 
 should bravo the war with France for the interests 
 of the house of Hanover, and that she should 
 punish a forced inaction ii; destroying their com- 
 merce, was the most iniquitous conduct. Prussia 
 was reduced to complain bitterly of the injustice 
 of such a proceeding, and in the end to suffer the 
 
 I i
 
 482 
 
 General Mortier invades 
 Hanover. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Surrender of the Hano- 
 verian army. 
 
 1S03. 
 June. 
 
 British flag at the mouths of the two German 
 rivers, as well as the presence of the French in 
 the heart of Hanover. She had no more the same 
 interest in charging herself with the occupation, 
 since her trade would be, in any case, met by an 
 interdiction. The first consul expressed his regret 
 to Pruss'a, promised her not to pass the limit 
 of Hanover, but excused himself for the invasion 
 by the necessities of war, and the immense advan- 
 tage that it gave him in enabling him to close 
 against the English the two greatest commercial 
 highways of the continent. 
 
 General Mortier had orders to march on. He 
 passed forward with twenty-five thousand men 
 to the northern extremity of Holland, on the 
 frontier of the low bishopric of Munster, belonging, 
 since the secularizations, to the house of Aremberg. 
 He was well assured of the consent of that house, 
 and he passed from thence to the territory of the 
 bishop of Osnabruck, recently joined to Hano- 
 ver itself. By that road it was possible to dis- 
 pense with touching upon the Prussian territory, a 
 management on the march indispensable towards 
 the court of Prussia. The first consul had recom- 
 mended to general Mortier to he careful to act 
 well in the country through which he passed, and, 
 above all things, to show himself full of respect for 
 any Prussian authorities which he might encounter 
 upon the frontiers of Hanover. This general, dis- 
 creet and upright, as well as brave, was perfectly 
 well selected for such a difficult mission. He set 
 out on his inarch to traverse the arid sands and 
 marshy heaths of Frisland and of Lower West- 
 phalia ; he penetrated by Meppen into Hanover, 
 and arrived in June on the shores of the Hunte. 
 The Hano\erian army occupied Diepholz. After 
 some cavalry skirmishes, it fell back behind the 
 Weser. Although composed of excellent soldiers, 
 it knew that all resistance was idle, and that it 
 would only be to draw down misfortunes upon the 
 country in persisting obstinately to resist. It 
 therefore offered to capitulate honourably, to which 
 genera. 1 Mortier willingly consented. It was agreed 
 at Suhlingen, that the Hanoverian army should 
 retire, with aims and baggage, behind the Elbe; 
 that it should engage, under its word of honour, 
 not to serve in the present war, unless by means of 
 the exchange of an equal number of French pri- 
 soners ; that the government of the country, and 
 the collection of the revenues, should thenceforth 
 appertain to France ; respect was to be paid to 
 individuals, to private property, and to the different 
 forms of religious worship. 
 
 This convention, styled that of Suhlingen, was 
 sent to the first consul and to the king of England, 
 to receive their double ratification. The first con- 
 sul gave his immediately, not being willing to re- 
 duce the Hanoverian army to despair, by imposing 
 upon it harder conditions. When the convention 
 was presented to old George 1 1 1, he was seized 
 with a violent fit of anger, and went so far, it is 
 said, as to fling it in the face of the minister who 
 presented it to hiin. This old king, in his sombre 
 reveries, had always considered Hanover as being 
 one day to become the last asylum of his family, of 
 which it had been the cradle. The invasion of Ins 
 patrimonial states put him in despair ; he refused 
 to si^n the convention of Suhlingen, thus exposing 
 the Hanoverian soldiers to the cruel alternative of 
 
 either laying down their arms, or of being slaugh- 
 tered to the last man. His cabinet made as his ex- 
 cuse upon this very singular determination, that 
 the king would remain a stranger to all which had 
 been undertaken against his states; that to ratify 
 this convention was to consent to the occupation 
 of Hanover; that this occupation was a violation 
 of the German soil, and that he should appeal to 
 the diet for the violence done to his subjects. This 
 was the strongest sort of argument, and the least 
 sustainable that could be used under any point of 
 view. 
 
 When this news reached Hanover, the gallant 
 army, commanded by marshal Walmoden, was 
 struck with consternation. It was drawn up be- 
 hind the Elbe, in the middle of the territory of 
 Luneburg, established in a strong position, and re- 
 solute to defend its honour. On the other side, the 
 French army, which for three years had not fired 
 a musket, demanded nothing better than to be led 
 to a brilliant combat. But the opinion of the wisest 
 prevailed. General Mortier, who joined humanity 
 to valour, did all that was in his power to soften 
 the fate of the Hanoverians. He demanded no 
 more than that they should surrender prisoners of 
 war, and contented himself with their being dis- 
 banded, agreeing that they should leave their arms 
 in their camp, and retire to their homes, pro- 
 mising at the same time never to be armed or 
 reunited again. 'J he warlike stores contained in 
 the kingdom were very considerable, and were all 
 delivered over to the French. The revenue of the 
 country was to belong to them as well as the per- 
 sonal property of the king of Hanover. In the 
 number of these were found the fine stallions of 
 the Hanoverian breed, which were sent to France. 
 The cavalry dismounted, delivered up three thou- 
 sand five bundled superb horses, which were em- 
 ployed in remounting that of the French. 
 
 General Mortier did not himself interfere in the 
 active government of the country except in a very 
 indirect manner ; he left the greater part in the 
 hands of the local authorities. Hanover, if it were 
 not too much pressed, could perfectly well support 
 thirty thousand men. This was the amount of 
 force which it had been intended to maintain there, 
 and a promise had been made to the king of 
 Prussia that the number should not be exceeded. 
 It was requested of this monarch, in order that the 
 French might avoid the long circuit by Holland 
 and Lower Westphalia, that he would consent to a 
 road, with establishments, across the Pi'ussian ter- 
 ritory, for the entertainment of the troops going 
 to or l'eturiiing from Hanover, paying the con- 
 tractors exactly and in advance for their support. 
 The king of Prussia consented to oblige the first 
 consul. A communication was then directly esta- 
 blished. This communication served the purpose 
 also of sending to Hanover a great number of horse- 
 men on foot, who returned with three horses, mount- 
 ing one and leading two. The possession of this 
 part of Germany became very useful to the French 
 cavalry, and served soon to render it as excellent 
 in regard to horses as it was already in respect to 
 men. 
 
 During the execution of his various occupations, 
 the first consul followed his preparations on the 
 shores of the channel. He had caused materials 
 for the naval service to be purchased in Holland,
 
 1803. 
 June. 
 
 Napoleon visits Belgium 
 and the north. 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 Detail of the means for 
 invading England. 
 
 483 
 
 and more especially in Russia, in order to be pro- 
 vided before the dispositions of that power, little 
 encouraging, should be carried so Bar as to refuse 
 to dispose of naval stores. On tire basin of the 
 Gironde, the Loire, the Seine, the Somme, and the 
 Escaut, there wire flat bottomed boats of all 
 dimensi >ns in the course of active construction. 
 Thousands of workmen were employed in cutting 
 d iwn the forests near the coasts. All the foun- 
 deries of the republic were in activity to fabricate 
 mortars, howitzers, and artillery of the largest 
 calibre. The Parisians saw on the quays of Bercy, 
 of the Invalids, and of the military school, a hun- 
 dred gun-boats in the course of construction. 
 People began to comprehend that such a prodi- 
 gious degree of activity could not be lor a simple 
 demonstration, destined alone for the purpose of 
 making England uneasy. 
 
 The first consul had promised to set cut for the 
 shor s of the channel as soon as the naval con- 
 structions, thus undertaken, should be a little more 
 advanced, and he should have put in order some of 
 his most urgent affairs. The session of the legisla- 
 tive holy had been peaceably devoted to offering 
 the government perfect approbation for its diplo- 
 matic conduct towards England, in order to lend it 
 the most complete moral support possible, to vote 
 the budget, of which the principal dispositions have 
 b en already recorded, and finally, to discuss, with- 
 out noise, but with deep earnestness, the first 
 titles of the civil code. The legislative body was 
 at this time no more than a great council, a 
 stranger to politics, and uniformly devoted to its 
 public duties. 
 
 The first consul found himself at leisure towards 
 ;id of June. He proposed, therefore, to pass 
 along the coasts as far as Flushing and Antwerp, 
 to visit Belgium, which he had never yet seen, the 
 departments of the lihine, of which he knew no- 
 thing, sad, in a word, to make both a military and 
 a political journey. Madam Bonaparte was to 
 accompany him, and partake in the honours that 
 awaited him. For the first time, he requested on this 
 ion from the minister of the public treasury, 
 who had them under his care, the diamonds of the 
 crown, in Oldl r to compose a set for the dress of 
 lbs wife. He wished to show himself to the new 
 departments, and on the burden of the Rhine, 
 almost in sovereignty, becatnw they regarded him 
 as a sovereign personage, since- he was consul 
 for life, and was empowered to choose his sue- 
 
 r. His miiii-ters had received the rendez- 
 vous, I Dunkirk, oilers at Lille, Ghent, 
 Antwerp, and Brussels. The foreign ambassadors 
 
 invited to the s :im ,. places. Willing to exhi- 
 bit to the people a fervent spirit of Catholicism, he 
 
 judged it useful to appear among them accom- 
 panied by the pope's legate. Upon the simple 
 expression of his desire to that effect, cardinal 
 Caprara, in spite of his great ago and infirmities, 
 decid id, after having ol taiiied the pope's per- 
 mission, to increase the < itilar nttendatios in the 
 
 Low Countries. Orders had been accordingly 
 given to receive this prince of the Roman church 
 in the most magnificent maimer. 
 
 The first consul set out on the 23rd of done. 
 II" first visited Compiegne, where they were con- 
 structing vessels on the banks of the Oise, as well 
 as Amiens, Abbeville, and St. V'alery, where the 
 
 same kind of work was going on upon the banks 
 of the Somme. He was welcomed with enthu- 
 siasm, and received with the honours commonly 
 paid to royalty. The city of Amiens offered him 
 lour swans of dazzling whiteness, which were sent 
 to the garden of the Tuileries. His presence was 
 every where signalized by attachment to his per- 
 son, aversion for the English, and zeal to com- 
 bat and conquer the old enemies of France. He 
 listened to the authorities and the inhabitants with 
 extreme kindness; but his attention was evidently 
 absorbed altogether in the great object which occu- 
 pied hint at that time. The building yards, the 
 magazines, and the stores of all kinds, exclusively 
 attracted his ardent solicitude. He visited the 
 troops which had begun to muster in Picardy, 
 inspected their equipments, treated with kind no- 
 tice the old soldiers whose countenances were 
 known to him, and left them all full of confidence 
 in his vast undertaking. 
 
 Scarcely had he completed visits of this kind, 
 when he entered within doors, and although worn 
 out. with fatigue, dictated a multitude of orders, 
 which still exist, for the lasting instruction of 
 governments that are carrying great preparations 
 for war into effect. Here the treasury had delayed 
 sending the funds to the undertakers of the work ; 
 there the minister of the navy had neglected to 
 ensure the arrival of the naval stores ; besides 
 this, the directors of the forests, through various 
 formalities, had retarded the cutting down of the 
 necessary timber ; in another place, the artillery 
 had not sent on the cannon nor the necessary 
 ammunition. The first consul repaired all these 
 evils from neglect, and removed the obstacles in 
 the way by the power of his own will. He thus 
 arrived at Boulogne, the principal centre to which 
 till his efforts tended, and the point for the pre- 
 sumed departure of the grand expedition projected 
 against. England. 
 
 This is the moment to make known in detail 
 the immense armament devised to transport one 
 hundred and fifty thousand men. across the straits 
 of Dover, with the number of horses, cannon, 
 stores, and provisions, that were supposed to be 
 required for such a force. It was already an ex- 
 tensive and difficult operation to transport twenty 
 or thirty thousand men across the sea. The ex- 
 pedition to Egypt, executed fifty years ago, and 
 the expedition to Algiers, executed in the present 
 time, prove this. What then must, the dilliculty 
 be attending the embarkation of one hundred and 
 fifty thousand men, t< n or fifteen thousand horses, 
 and three or four hundred guns, with their trains? 
 A vessel of the line might carry six or seven 
 hundred men, in a condition to make a voyage of 
 some time, and a large frigate half that number. 
 There would be required thin two hundred sail of 
 the line to embark such a force, in other words, 
 a chimerical navy, that the alliance of England 
 and Franco for the same object could alone render 
 imaginable. It was therefore, in consequence, nil 
 impossible enterprise to throw one hundred and 
 fifty thousand men into England, if England had 
 been situated at the distance of Egypt or of the 
 Mores ; but there were only the str.iits of Dover 
 to be passed, that is to say, about eight or fen 
 marine leagues. For such a passage there was no 
 need to employ large vessels. There was, indeed, 
 1 l 2
 
 484 
 
 Detail of the means for 
 invading England. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The gun-vessels and gun- 
 boats described. 
 
 1S03. 
 July. 
 
 no possibility of using them if they existed, be- 
 cause between Ostend and Havre there is not a 
 single port capable of receiving them ; and there 
 is not even upon the opposite coast, at least with- 
 out a considerable circuit, a deep port where they 
 are able to gain access. The idea of small vessels, 
 seeing the nature of the passage and that of the 
 ports, had therefore presented itself to every body. 
 Besides, these small vessels sufficed for all the cir- 
 cumstances of the sea that they could be expected to 
 encounter, or to which they could be otherwise ex- 
 posed. Long observations, collected upon the coasts, 
 had conducted to the discovery of all those circum- 
 stances, and had determined the size and form of 
 the vessels which were best adapted to meet them. 
 In summer, for example, there are in the channel 
 nearly perfect calms, sufficiently long to be able to 
 reckon upon forty-eight hours of the same kind of 
 weather. It would require nearly that number of 
 hours, not to cross over, but even to get out of 
 port the immense flotilla which was in contem- 
 plation. During such a calm, the English vessels 
 being immoveable, those which were constructed 
 to move with the oar as well as the sail would be 
 able to pass over with impunity, even in sight of 
 an enemy's squadron. Winter had also its favour- 
 able moments. The thick fogs of the cold season, 
 met with when the winds are lulled or very slight, 
 offered another means of making the passage in 
 presence of an enemy's force either becalmed or 
 deceived by the fog. There yet remained a third 
 favourable occasion, namely, that offering at the 
 equinoxes. It often happened that, after the tem- 
 pests of the equinox, the winds suddenly died away, 
 and left a sufficient time to cross the straits before 
 the return of an enemy's squadron, obliged by the 
 storm to keep off shore. These were circumstances 
 universally pointed out by the sailors living upon 
 the borders of the channel. 
 
 There might be a case in which at any season, 
 whatever the weather was, short of a storm, that it 
 might be possible to pass across the straits; this was 
 when, by able manoeuvring, there should have been 
 brought into the channel, for some hours, a large 
 squadron of line-of-battle ships. Then the flotilla, 
 protected by such a squadron, would be able to set 
 sail without troubling itself about the enemy's 
 cruisers. 
 
 But the circumstance of bringing a large French 
 squadron between Calais and Dover, depended 
 upon such a variety of difficult combinations, that 
 it was to be reckoned upon as the least possible 
 thing that could happen. It was necessary then 
 to construct the flotilla for the transport of the 
 army in such a fashion, that it should be able, in 
 appearance at least, to pass without any auxiliary 
 force, because if it had demonstrated by its 
 construction that it was impossible to keep at sea 
 without the succour of an auxiliary squadron, the 
 secret of the grand operation would have been 
 made known at once to the enemy. Aware of 
 this, they would have concentrated all their naval 
 force in the straits, and prevented every manoeuvre 
 or attempt of the French squadrons endeavouring 
 to proceed there. 
 
 To the considerations of the nature of the winds 
 and of the sea in the straits, were joined those 
 arising from the configuration of the coasts. The 
 French ports in the straits were all tide ports, or, | 
 
 in other words, were dry at low water, and pre- 
 sented no more than a depth of eight or nine feet 
 at high tide. The vessels, therefore, must be of 
 such a class as that when they were laden they 
 should not need more than seven or eight feet of 
 water to float them, and must be able to take the 
 ground without injury. In regard to the English 
 coast, the ports situated between the Thames, 
 Dover, Folkestone, and Brighton, were very small; 
 but such as they might be, it was necessary, 
 in order to effect so vast a disembarkation, to 
 run simply upon the shore, and for this reason 
 vessels that would take the ground were alone 
 proper. They were these different reasons which 
 had made flat-bottomed boats be adopted, able to 
 move with the oar, in order to pass whether in 
 calm or fog ; able to carry heavy cannon, without 
 drawing more than seven or eight feet of water, in 
 order to move freely in the French ports of the 
 channel, and to run aground without injury upon 
 the beaches of England. 
 
 In order to meet these several objects, large 
 gun-vessels were devised, having flat bottoms, 
 solidly constructed, and built of two different 
 classes. The vessels of the first class, which were 
 more especially styled gun-vessels, were con- 
 structed in such a manner as to carry four heavy 
 guns, from twenty-four to thirty-six pounders, two 
 forward and two astern, and thus consequently, by 
 weight of metal, to answer the fire of the ships 
 and frigates. Five hundred of these gun-vessels 
 would thus be equal to the fire of twenty vessels of 
 a hundred guns 1 . They were rigged like brigs, 
 with two masts, and manoeuvred by twenty-five 
 seamen. They were each capable of containing a 
 company of infantry of one hundred men, with 
 their staff, their arms, and ammunition. 
 
 The boats of the second species or class, in 
 order to distinguish them from the first, de- 
 nominated gun-boats, were less heavily armed, less 
 wieldy, but designed to carry, independently of 
 infantry, the field artillery. These gun-boats were 
 provided in the bow with one twenty-four pounder, 
 and had a piece of field artillery in the stern 
 mounted upon its carriage, with the necessary 
 apparatus for embarking and disembarking in a 
 few minutes. Each carried, besides, an artillery 
 caisson, filled with ammunition, disposed upon the 
 deck in such a manner as not to hinder the work- 
 ing of the vessel, and with the power of being 
 landed in a moment. They all contained, besides, 
 in the centre of the hold, a small stable, in which 
 were lodged a couple of artillery horses, with pro- 
 visions for several days. This stable, placed in the 
 centre, opened above, having a moveable covering, 
 and was combined with the mast in such a mode 
 that the horse could be seized on the land by 
 means of a yard, be rapidly elevated, and then 
 lowered into his cabin with the greatest facility. 
 These gun-boats, inferior in their armament to the 
 
 1 Only in numher alone, not in effect; because each boat 
 would have a separate motion from the waves, and its can- 
 non a varying direct ion accordingly, while the fire of the liot- 
 of-liattle ship would be concentrated under one common 
 movement, far less in the aiifde, or a vaBt deal slower, and 
 therefore beyond all comparison more effective. There is 
 no analogy between the tire of a gunboat in motion and a 
 battery on shore, for example, the last being much more 
 effective from its absence of all motion. — Translator.
 
 1803. 
 July. 
 
 Description of the pinnaces. THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. Difficulties of the expedition. 485 
 
 gun-vessels, but able to throw heavy metal, and hi 
 fire grape by means of a field-piece placed on the 
 deck, had the advantage, besides, of carrying a 
 part of the infantry and all the artillery of the 
 armv, with two horses to draw the guns into line at 
 the moment of landing. The rest of the artillery 
 homes were to he placed in transports, of which 
 
 the organisation will presently be seen. Less fit 
 than tin- gun-vessels to manoeuvre and fight, they 
 
 rigged like the large coasting harks of the 
 French side of the channel, and had only three 
 large sails attached to three masts, without top- 
 ma-t or topsail. They were manned by only six 
 seamen, and were capable of containing, as well as 
 the <;un-vessels, a company of infantry with its 
 officers, two artillery drivers, and some artillery 
 men. If three or four hundred of these vessels be 
 supposed ready, they would he able to carry, in- 
 dependently of a mass of infantry very consi- 
 derable in number, thro • or four hundred field- 
 pieces, with carriage and ammunition sufficient for 
 one battle. The rest of the ammunition, with the 
 other artillery horses, would follow iu the trans- 
 port vessels. 
 
 Such were the flat-bottomed boats of the first 
 and second class or species. It was thought 
 necessary to construct a third kind, yet lighter and 
 more manageable than the preceding, drawing 
 only two or three feet of water, and made to take 
 the shore every where. Tiny were large ships' 
 boats, like- canoes, sixty feet long, having a move- 
 able bridge, which could be projected or drawn in 
 at pleasure, and were distinguished from the others 
 by the name of pinnaces. These long boats, pro- 
 vided with sixty oars, could carry also, if it were 
 required, a light sail, and move with extreme 
 speed. When sixty soldiers, brought to manage 
 the oar as well as seamen, set them in movement, 
 they glided over the sea like the light boats that 
 are sent from large vessels, and surprised the eye 
 by the rapidity of tlnir way. These pinnaces 
 eould each take sixty or seventy soldiers, besides 
 two or three seamen to work them. They carried 
 for defence a small howitzer, and a four-pounder 
 gun, and had no lading beyond the arms of those 
 on board, and some marching provisions disposed 
 as ballast. 
 
 After numerous experiments, these three kinds 
 of vessels were definitively fixed upon as answer- 
 ing every end for the passage, and when ranged 
 
 in older ol battle, presenting a formidable line of 
 
 lire. Tie- gnn-vei tier to manoeuvre, and 
 
 more heavily armed, occupied tin- first line; the 
 gun boat-, In ting inferior in these- two respects, 
 to form thi- second line, facing the intervals 
 ■ n the gun-Vessels, in such a manner that 
 tin re would in- no opening not eovt red by the 
 effect of their tire. The pinnaces, which only car- 
 ried small howitzers, and which were formidable 
 for their musketry, disposed sometimes in advance 
 
 of the line of battle, sometimes iii the rear, or on 
 
 the wings, would In- able to pull up rapidly, to 
 board in ease of meeting with a fleet at sea, 
 to throw their men on Snore if they wished to 
 effect a disembarkment, or to steal away, if they 
 should be exposed to a Are of heavy artillery. 
 These three species of boats win- to be united 
 
 to the number off twelve or fifteen hundred. Tin y 
 were to carry at least three- thousand cannon of 
 
 large calibre, without reckoning a great number of 
 pieces of artillery of small dimensions, in other 
 words, their fire would be ecpual in metal to that of 
 the strongest squadron. Their effect, too, would 
 be dangerous, because their fire would graze 
 along the line of the sea level. Engaged against 
 large vessels, they presented an object difficult to 
 strike, firing themselves at one not easy to miss. 
 They were able to move every way, to disperse 
 themselves, or to surround an enemy. But if they 
 had the advantage of division, they had also its 
 inconveniences. To introduce order of movement 
 into a floating mass so prodigiously numerous, was 
 a problem extremely difficult to solve. In order 
 to attain this object, admiral Bruix and Napoleon 
 applied themselves to it incessantly for three years. 
 It will be seen hereafter to what a degree of pre- 
 cision in manoeuvring they had reached, and how 
 far the problem had been resolved by them l . 
 
 W hat effect would a squadron of ships of the 
 line have produced dashing at full sail into this 
 mass of small vessels, pressing them together, 
 running down those ahead, sinking those which 
 were struck by their shot, but, on the other side, 
 surrounded by a cloud of enemies receiving 
 in every direction a dangerous fire in return, 
 assailed by the musketry of a hundred thousand 
 men, and perhaps entered by intrepid soldiers 
 trained to boarding ? This would not be very easy 
 to discover, because it is impossible to form an 
 idea of so strange a scene, one which never had 
 a precedent to which the mind might have re- 
 course in considering the different chances as to 
 the result. Admiral Decres, a man of superior 
 mind, but given to underrate in his opinions, ad- 
 
 1 This problem never could have been resolved, because 
 in no case did the Boulogne flotilla dare to venture far 
 enough from the shore in a mass sufficient to make the trial. 
 Confusion in presence of an experienced and practised enemy 
 with heavier vessels would be unavoidable at sea. It hap- 
 pened from the time spoken of by our author, down to the 
 abandonment of the enterprise, that a number of these craft 
 were captured by the English light vessels, such as brigs 
 or cutters, and many driven on shore; but their small 
 draught of water, and the artillery moving with them on 
 land, and covering them, prevented the capture of a large 
 number, as they stole along from port to port. Some that 
 were taken off Audiernc, it was not thought safe, from 
 their fragile character, to send across to Plymouth, the 
 weather being but moderately fresh. The men were taken 
 out, and they were sunk. Ten were captured in one week, 
 with their complement of soldiers on board. The resistance 
 
 of these boats was in no case formidable, where the water 
 admitted of an approach to them, and the shore was not 
 armed for their protection. The only desire of the English 
 was to get them out from the land. The late lord Exmoutli 
 spoke of their resistance to English vessels as impossible. 
 
 In the Judgment of experienced English seamen, such an 
 
 Unmanageable mass of boats had no chance of crossing but 
 in a dead calm, which could hardly he expected to last long 
 enough for the lint ilia to embark its proposed armament, 
 move out of pott, and cross the channel under oars, in 
 case of the lightest breeze, the Inevitable destruction of the 
 
 flotilla, in presence of an English squadron, must have en- 
 ucd. There were between four and live hundred English 
 
 els protecting tin- coast, ail manned by experienced 
 
 seamen. Tin- lire of a mass <il' boats in the confusion ill- 
 cvitalile upon being attacked in several places at once, would 
 be as dangerous to themselves as to an enemy; and their 
 
 crowded state would enhance the confusion and the havoc 
 that must be thus inevitably produced. — Translator.
 
 Inconveniences in the 
 486 construction of the 
 
 flotilla. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Disadvantage of the 
 currents. 
 
 1803. 
 July. 
 
 mitted that by sacrificing a hundred of the boats 
 and ten thousand men, it might be possible to pass 
 the straits. " That number are lost in a single 
 battle continually," observed the first consul ; 
 " and then what single battle has ever produced 
 such results as we may hope for from the invasion 
 of England ?" 
 
 But the most unfavourable point of view was 
 taken in imagining there would be a rencontre 
 with the English cruisers. There always remained 
 the chance of crossing in a calm, during which 
 the movements of the English would be paralyzed; 
 or during a fog, which would conceal the flotilla 
 from view ; and, lastly, the chance more en- 
 couraging still, of the sudden appearance for some 
 hours of a French squadron in the straits. 
 
 In any case, the boats had strength enough 
 to defend themselves, to run upon the shore, and 
 to sweep it with their fire, thus depriving the 
 enemy of all hope of aid from a friendly squadron, 
 and to afford confidence to the soldiers and seamen 
 belonging to it. Nevertheless, these boats pre- 
 sented certain inconveniences, arising out of the 
 form adopted in their construction. Having in 
 place of a keel deeply immersed a flat bottom, 
 which went but a little way beneath the water, 
 and being heavily masted, they possessed but little 
 stability, so that they inclined with too much 
 facility to the wind, and even overset, if they were 
 taken by a sudden squall ; a circumstance that 
 really occurred once in Brest roads to a gun-vessel 
 badly stowed. This accident happened before the 
 eyes of admiral Ganteaume, who, under consider- 
 able apprehension, immediately wrote to the first 
 consul, stating the occurrence. But this kind of 
 accident did not again occur. With proper pre- 
 cautious in the mode of distributing the stores, 
 which were made to serve as ballast, the boats 
 belonging to the flotilla acquired sufficient stability 
 to carry themselves in rough weather ; and there 
 occurred no further accident than that of running 
 aground, which was a natural consequence in navi- 
 gating along shore, and was often voluntarily done 
 on their part with the view of escaping from the 
 English. The following tide got them afloat, when 
 they had thus been obliged to run ashore. 
 
 These boats offered an inconvenience still more 
 vexatious, which was that of driving, or, in other 
 words, yielding to the currents. This was caused 
 by their heavy make, which presented a greater 
 hold to the water than their masting presented to 
 the winds. This inconvenience was aggravated 
 when, deprived of wind, they were under the oar. 
 They had no more than the strength of their 
 rowers to combat the force of the current. In 
 such a case they might possibly be carried far 
 from their object, or, what was still worse, might 
 arrive one after another completely separated, 
 because being of different forms, they must be- 
 come subject to an unequal deflection. Nelson 
 had himself experienced this in his attack upon 
 the Boulogne flotilla in 1801. His four divisions 
 were unable to act all at the same time, and made 
 only unconnected efforts. A similar obstacle, vex- 
 atious in any sea, existed yet more in the channel, 
 where two very strong counter-currents prevailed 
 every tide. When the tide flowed or ebbed, it 
 produced alternately an ascending or descending 
 current, the direction of which became determined 
 
 by the configuration of the shores of France and 
 England. The channel is very wide at the western 
 extreme, between Cape Finisterre and the Land's 
 End, Cornwall ; and very narrow on the east, 
 between Calais and Dover. The tide in flowing 
 enters rapidly by the larger opening, and this 
 produces at the flow an ascending current from 
 the west to the east, or from Brest to Calais. The 
 same effect occurs in a contrary direction at ebb- 
 tide, it being then more rapid towards the larger 
 issue, and there results in consequence a current 
 from the east to the west, from Calais to Brest. 
 This double current, receiving near the coasts, 
 from their form itself, different inflexions, could 
 not fail to cause a degree of disturbance in the 
 progress of these two thousand vessels, a dis- 
 turbance to be more or less dreaded, according to 
 the weakness of the wind and the strength of the 
 tide. This would much diminish the advantage of 
 crossing in a calm, the time otherwise most de- 
 sirable. However, the channel between Boulogne 
 and Dover was not only very narrow, but of small 
 depth, permitting anchorage at an equal distance 
 from both shores. The admirals, therefore, thought 
 it was practicable to anchor in case of too great a 
 deflection from the course, and to remain until the 
 return of the contrary current, a delay that would 
 not cause a loss of more than three or four hours. 
 This was a difficulty, therefore, but one not insur- 
 mountable '. 
 
 The foregoing inconvenience, arising from the 
 currents, caused the abandonment of a species of 
 boats called praams. These altogether flat, with- 
 out any curvature in the sides, having three keels, 
 were truly floating bridges, or pontons intended 
 for the carriage of a good many men and horses. 
 It was at first resolved to construct fifty, which 
 would offer the means of transporting two thousand 
 five hundred horses, and six hundred pieces of 
 cannon ; but the inferiority of their sailing soon 
 made them be laid aside, and no more than twelve 
 or fifteen were constructed. No allusion has been 
 made to the heavy barks, short and broad, armed 
 with a twenty-four pounder astern, which were de- 
 dominated caiques, nor to the corvettes, drawing 
 little water, and carrying a dozen heavy cannon, 
 both the one and the other were built as specimens, 
 of which a proper experience forbade the multipli- 
 cation. The total of the flotilla was composed 
 almost exclusively of the three species of vessels 
 of which a description has been before given, that 
 is, of gun-vessels, gun-boats, and pinnaces. 
 
 Each gun-vessel and gun-boat was able to carry 
 a company of infantry ; every pinnace, two-thirds 
 of a company; thus five hundred gun-vessels, four 
 hundred gun-boats, and three hundred pinnaces, 
 united, in all, twelve hundred conveyances, would 
 afford the means to embark one hundred and 
 twenty thousand men. Supposing the Brest 
 squadron to carry fifteen thousand or eighteen 
 thousand more, and that of the Tcxel twenty 
 
 1 All that I have stated here is extracted from the volu- 
 minous correspondence of the admirals, principally that of 
 admiral Bruix with the minister of marine and with Napo- 
 leon. It is to be clearly understood, that I conjecture no- 
 thing myself, but that I make a summary, as far as I am 
 able, and with historical precision, of all that is of essential 
 importance in this correspondence, that I believe I am jus- 
 tified fully in styling admirable. — Author's note.
 
 1803. 
 July. 
 
 Necessity of places of 
 naval assemblage. 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 Characters of the French 
 admirals. 
 
 487 
 
 thousand, the whole would amount to one hundred 
 and fifty thousand or one hundred and sixty thou- 
 sand men. Thus there would be flung upon the 
 English shore one hundred and twenty thousand 
 in one mass on board the flotilla, and thirty thou- 
 sand or forty thousand in detached divisions on 
 board of the two squadrons that would sail, the 
 oire from Holland, the other from Brest. 
 
 This would be a force sufficient to vanquish and 
 reduce this |>roud nation, which pretended to 
 domineer over the world from the security of an 
 inviolate asylum. 
 
 But it was not men alone that were to be car- 
 ried; there must be conveyed besides men, stores, 
 provisions, arms, and horses. The war flotilla, 
 properly so called, would take the men, the ammu- 
 nition indispensable for the first battles, and pro- 
 visions for twenty days, with the field artillery, and 
 a complement of two horses for each gun. But 
 there must also be conveyed the remainder of their 
 trains, not less than seven or eight thousand 
 cavalry horses, munitions for an entire campaign, 
 provisions for one or two months, a large park of 
 siege artillery in case there should be walls to 
 breach or batter. The horses more particularly 
 were very difficult to carry, and it would be neces- 
 sary to have not less than six or seven hundred 
 vessels to carry seven or eight thousand. 
 
 For this last purpose there was no necessity to 
 construct vessels. The pilot boats and those be- 
 longing to the deep sea fishery furnished a naval 
 supply always ready at hand for transport, and very 
 considerable. 
 
 There could be bought up upon the entire of the 
 t, from St. Malo as far as the Texel, and even 
 in the interior of Holland, vessels measuring from 
 twenty to thirty tons, built for pilotage and for the 
 cod and herring fisherii B, perfectly strong, excel- 
 ii nt sailors, and very capable of receiving any 
 tiling with which it was wished to load them, thus 
 providing a convenient mode of carriage. A cora- 
 mission was formed for the sole purpose of buy- 
 ing up from Brest to Amsterdam all the suitable 
 Is of this kind, costing, on an average, from 
 I2,000f. to lo.oooi. each. Some hundreds were 
 purchased, and many more, if required, it was not 
 <li;iicult to obtain. 
 
 Carrying up the war-boats, properly so called, 
 to twelve or thirteen hundred, the transport flotilla 
 to nine hundred or a thousand, there were two 
 thousand two hundred or two thousand three hun- 
 dred vei elfl to unite together; a prodigious naval 
 iblage, without precedent in past times, and 
 probably to have no example in those which ai 
 come. 
 
 It is proper to understand now how it was pos- 
 sible to construct upon one or two points of the 
 coast such an immense number of vessels. Small 
 as their dimensions might be, it would have been 
 impossible to procure at one place the materials, 
 workmen, and building yards necessary for their 
 construction. It bad therefore been indispensable 
 to make all the ports concur in that Bole object as 
 well as all the basins of the rivers. It was quite 
 enough to reserve to the ports of the chaum 1, in 
 winch they were to be united, the care of collecting 
 and retaining these two thousand vessels. 
 
 But after having built them very fiw apart one 
 
 from another, and it became necessary to assemble 
 
 them, this assemblage must be at one point between 
 Boulogne and Dunkirk, and they must elude the 
 English cruisers, resolved upon their destruction 
 before they should be united. It was needful, in 
 consequence, to receive them in three or four ports, 
 lying as much as possible open to the same point 
 of the compass, at a small distance from each other, 
 in order to hoist sail and depart together. It was 
 needful to accommodate them, without confusion, 
 sheltered from the danger of fire, to place the troops 
 in such a manner that they should be able to pass 
 in and out often; and to learn how to load and un- 
 load them rapidly with the men, cannon, and horses. 
 
 All these difficulties could only be resolved 
 at the places themselves, before Napoleon, who 
 should see things with his own eyes, while sur- 
 rounded by officers the most special and able. He 
 had sent to Boulogne M. Sganziu, the engineer of 
 the navy, and one of the most able members of 
 that distinguished body; M. Forfait, who had been 
 the minister of marine for some months, and who, 
 though not above mediocrity in the duty of admi- 
 nistration, possessed very superior skill in the art 
 of naval construction, full of invention, and devoted 
 to an enterprise of which, under the directory, he 
 had been one of the most ardent supporters; lastly, 
 admiral Decres, minister of the marine, and ad- 
 miral Bruix, two individuals who have been already 
 mentioned, and who merit to be made known more 
 particularly. 
 
 The first consul would willingly have possessed 
 a smaller number of good generals in his land 
 forces, and a few more good admirals in his navy. 
 But war and victory can alone form good generals. 
 A naval war had not been wanting for twelve years 
 preceding that time ; but unhappily the French 
 navy, disorganized by emigration, having felt itself 
 greatly inferior to that of the English, had been 
 obliged almost continually to remain shut up in 
 port, and the French admirals, though they had 
 not lost their bravery, had lost their confidence in 
 themselves. Some were grown old, others wanted ex- 
 perience. Four at that moment attracted the atten- 
 tion of Napoleon, Decres, Latouche-Trc'ville, Cant- 
 eaume, and Bruix. Admiral Decres was a man of 
 a rare understanding, but a censurcr, only seeing 
 the ill side of things, an excellent critic of the 
 operations of others, and under this head a good 
 minister ; in administration displaying little ac- 
 tivity, but very useful by the side of Napoleon, 
 who in activity supplied the remissness of every- 
 body, and who had need of councillors less confi- 
 dent than he was himself. For these reasons admiral 
 Decres was the one of all the four worth most at 
 the head of the navy, and least worth at the head 
 of a squadron, (ianteaume was a brave, intelli- 
 gent, well experienced ofliccr, able to conduct a 
 
 naval division under fire, but out of action hesita- 
 ting, uncertain, suffering fortune to pass without 
 seizing it; be was therefore only adapted for the 
 bast difficult of enterprizes. Latouche-Trc'ville and 
 Bruix were the two most distinguished seamen of 
 the time, and certainly intended, had they lived, to 
 
 dispute with the English the empire of the seas. 
 Latouche-Trc'ville was all ardour, all audacity; he 
 added to this a good understanding, experience 
 as well as courage, inspiring the Beiimen with the 
 sentiments which he felt himself, and in this re- 
 spect the must valuable of the whole, because he
 
 488 
 
 Characters of the French 
 admirals. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Bonaparte imparts fresh -lan* 
 activity to the work- 
 men. 
 
 July. 
 
 bad that of which the French navy possessed too 
 little, a proper confidence in himself. Lastly, 
 there was admiral Bruix, poor in health and 
 bodily appearance, wasted by pleasure, endowed 
 with astonishing intelligence, a rare organization 
 of genius, finding resources for every thing, pro- 
 foundly experienced, the only officer who could have 
 commanded forty ships of the Hue at once, and as 
 capable of conceiving as of executing; he had made 
 the best minister had he not been so well adapted 
 to command. These were not all the chiefs of the 
 French navy; thei-e was Villeneuve, subsequently 
 so unfortunate; Linois, the conqueror at Algesiras, 
 then in India, and others, who will be known in 
 their proper places, but the four now mentioned 
 were at that time the principal. 
 
 The first consul wished to confide to admiral 
 Bruix the command of the flotilla, because there 
 all was to be created ; to Ganteaume the Brest 
 squadron, which had no more to do than to trans- 
 port troops; lastly, to Latouche-Tre'ville the Toulon 
 fleet, which was commanded to execute a difficult, 
 bold, and decisive manoeuvre, that will be here- 
 after stated. 
 
 Admiral Bruix having to organize the flotilla, 
 was continually in contact with admiral Decres. 
 Both one and the other had too much spirit not to 
 be rivals, and from that they became enemies ; be- 
 sides, their natures were incompatible. To point 
 out invincible difficulties, and criticise the attempts 
 made to overcome them, was the part of admiral 
 Decres; to perceive, study, and endeavour to con- 
 quer them, was the part of admiral Bruix. It 
 must be added, that they were mistrustful of each 
 other; they never ceased to fear, admiral Decres 
 that the inconveniences arising out of his inactivity 
 would be denounced to the first consul, admiral 
 Bruix those arising from his irregular life. They 
 would, under a feeble master, have caused trouble 
 in the navy by their divisions; but under such an 
 one as Napoleon, they were useful by their very 
 differences. Bruix proposed his combinations, 
 Decres criticised them, and the first consul pro- 
 nounced judgment with almost infallible correct- 
 ness. 
 
 It was amidst these men, and on the spot, that 
 Napoleon decided all questions left in suspense. 
 His arrival at Boulogne was urgent, because in 
 spite of the energy and frequency of his orders, a 
 great many things remained in arrear. They did 
 not build at Boulogne, Calais, or Dunkirk, but 
 they repaired there the old flotilla, and they got 
 forward the preparations for executing what was 
 necessary to put on board the two thousand 
 vessels, bought or built, as soon as they should 
 be assembled together. Workmen, timber, iron, 
 and hemp, were wanted, as well as artillery of a long 
 range, in order to keep off the English, who em- 
 ployed themselves very often in firing upon the 
 vessels with incendiary projectiles. 
 
 The presence of the first consul, surrounded by 
 M. Sganzin, M. Forfait, and admirals Bruix, De- 
 cres, and a number of other officers, soon imparted 
 fresh activity to the enterprize. A measure had 
 been taken at Paris which he wished to apply at 
 Boulogne, and every where that he came. He 
 took, under the conscription, five or six thousand 
 men, that belonged to all the trades attached to 
 working in wood and Iron, such as joiners, car- 
 
 penters, sawyers, wheelwrights, lock and black- 
 smiths. Masters, chosen from among the work- 
 men belonging to the navy, superintended and 
 directed them. A high rate of pay was given to 
 those who exhibited intelligence and good- v. ill. 
 In a short time, the ship-yards were covered with 
 a population of working ship-builders, whose 
 original trade it would have been hard to divine. 
 
 Forests were found in abundance in the vicinity 
 of Boulogne. An order had been issued to deliver 
 for the service of the navy all that was in the en- 
 virons. Timber employed at the moment it was 
 felled being green, was good to serve for piles, of 
 which thousands were required in the ports of the 
 channel. They were thus able to procure planks 
 and floor timber. The timber for the bends and 
 ribs was brought from the north. The naval 
 stores and materials, such as hemp, masts, pitch, 
 and tar, brought from Sweden and Russia into 
 Holland, were imported, by the interior navigation, 
 from Holland and Flanders to Boulogne. These 
 had been stopped, at the moment, by different ob- 
 stacles, on the canals of Belgium. Officers were 
 immediately sent with orders and funds in order 
 to accelerate the arrival of the materials on the 
 way. The founderies of Douai, Liege, and Stras- 
 burg, in spite of their activity, were found behind- 
 hand. The learned Monge, who followed the first 
 consul nearly wherever he went, was sent on a 
 mission to accelerate their labours, and to sec cast 
 at Liege some heavy mortars and pieces of large 
 calibre. General Marmont had the charge of the 
 artillery. Aids-de-camp were every day sent off 
 to stimulate his zeal, and to state to him the par- 
 ticular expeditions of cannon or of carriages which 
 were delayed. There were demanded, indepen- 
 dently of the artillery for the vessels, not less than 
 five or six hundred gui. s for battery, in order to 
 keep the enemy at a distance from the building- 
 yards. 
 
 These primary orders given, it next became 
 necessary to consider :he great question of the 
 ports of assemblage, and of the means of propor- 
 tioning their capacity to the extent of the flotilla. 
 It was necessary to enlarge some, create others, 
 and defend all. After having conferred with M. 
 Sganzin, M. Forfait, and ndmirals Decres and 
 Bruix, the first consul came to the following dis- 
 positions. 
 
 For a long while the port of Boulogne had been 
 indicated as the best point of departure for an 
 expedition directed against England. The coast 
 of France, in advancing towards that of England, 
 projects in a cape, called Cape Grisnez. To the 
 right of this cape it turns to the east, towards the 
 Schelde, having in front the vast expanse of the 
 North Sea. To the left it encounters that of Eng- 
 land, forming thus one of the two sides of the 
 strait ; then it descends suddenly from north to 
 south towards the mouth of the Sonime. The 
 ports situated to the right of Cape Grisnez, such 
 as Calais and Dunkirk, placed out of the strait, are 
 less happily situated as points of departure ; the 
 ports to the left, on the contrary, such as Bou- 
 logne, Ambleteuse, and Etaples, placed in the 
 strait itself, have always been judged preferable. 
 In fact, it is necessary, on sailing from Dunkirk 
 or Calais, to double Cape Grisnez, in order to enter 
 the strait, to overcome the baffling wiuds of the
 
 1803. 
 
 July. 
 
 Ports of departure for the expe- 
 dition decided. — Excavation 
 in Boulogne harbour. 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 Troops are marched to 
 and encamped at 
 Boulogne. 
 
 489 
 
 channel, which are felt in doubling the cape, and 
 thus to get opposite Boulogne, and draw towards 
 the land between Folkestone and Dover. On the 
 contrary, in going from England to France, the 
 passage is more naturally made towards Calais 
 than towards Boulogne. In order to pass over 
 into England, which was the case in the projected 
 expedition, the potts to the left of Cape Grisnez 
 were much better situated than those of Calais and 
 Dunkirk. They were alone inconvenient from pre- 
 senting less extent and depth than Calais and 
 Dunkirk, which is explained by the accumulation 
 of sands and shingle banks, always greater in a 
 contracted space like a strait. 
 
 Still the port of Boulogne, consisting of the bed 
 of a little marshy river, the Liane, was susceptible 
 of receiving a considerable enlargement. The 
 basin of the Liane, formed by two level surfaces, 
 which separate in the environs of Boulogne, and 
 leave between them a space of a semicircular 
 figure, was ca|iable, by great labour, of being con- 
 
 1 into a dry port of very large extent. The 
 channel of the Liane presented a depth of water 
 of six. or seven feet at high water in moderate 
 tides. It was very possible, by excavation, to pro- 
 cure a depth of nine or ten feet. It was, therefore, 
 a practicable thing to create in the marshy bed of 
 the Liane, a little above Boulogne, a basin of a 
 figure similar to the shape of the land, that is to 
 Bay, semicircular, and capable of containing some 
 hundreds of boats, more or less, according to the 
 space determined. This basin, with the bed of 
 the Liane, would be able to hold twelve or thir- 
 
 hundred vessels, and, in consequence, the 
 larger part of the flotilla. But it was not enough 
 to ha vo a sufficient surface ; there must be quays 
 of very great extent, ill order that numerous 
 barks should In' able, if not at once, at least in a 
 very large- number, to lie alongside the shore of 
 the basin, and take on board their lading. The 
 space devoted to the quays, therefore, was as 
 important as the extent of the port itself. None 
 of these things had been thought about under the 
 directory, because its designs had never gone so 
 far as to unite together one hundred and fifty 
 thousand men and two thousand vessels. The first 
 consul, in spite of the vastness of the labour, did 
 n .t hesitate to order the deepening of the bed of 
 
 the Liane to > imence immediately. The same 
 
 one hundred and fifty thousand men, that consti- 
 tuted by tlnir i iber the: difficulty of the enter- 
 prize, were to be employed themselves in van- 
 quishing that difficulty, by deepening the basin in 
 which tin y were to embark. It was arranged that 
 the e nop-., placed originally at some distance from 
 the coast, should immediately be brought mar the 
 
 nd that the soldiers should themselves exca- 
 ii- . n unions mass of earth which it would be 
 
 . to remove. 
 
 A sluice was ordered for the purpose of deepen- 
 ing the channel, and procuring the necessary depth 
 of water. Such ports as are not formed like that 
 of Brest, In the Binuosities "I a deep coast, and 
 are called dry port-, in general exist at the 
 mouths of small rivers, which become swollen at 
 high tide, forming at that tune a basin in which 
 tin- vessels find themselves afloat. They then 
 diminish in depth until low water, when nothing 
 
 more presents itself than large- rivuleta running 
 
 amid beds of slime, leaving the vessels dry ashore for 
 some hours. The sands which these rivers bring 
 down with them, gathered up by the sea, and 
 driven back towards the mouths of the rivers, 
 form banks or bars, which are a great trouble 
 to navigation. In order to overcome these ob- 
 stacles, sluice-gates are placed in the beds of the 
 rivers. These open of themselves before the rising 
 tide, and receiving an abundance of water, retain 
 it by shutting of themselves when the tide begins 
 to fall, and do not permit the water to escape 
 until the moment when the sluice is opened. The 
 moment chosen for this purpose is that of low 
 tide, when the water rushing out with great force, 
 drives the sand before its artificial torrent, and 
 thus deepens the channel or passage. These gates 
 are called by engineers (ecluses de chasse) " chasing" 
 or " hunting sluices ;" and it was a sluice of a 
 similar kind, the construction of which was hastened 
 at this time in the upper basin of the Liane. 
 
 Twenty thousand trunks of the trees felled in 
 the forest of Boulogne, served to line with piles 
 the two sides of the Liane, and the circumference 
 of the semicircular basin ; a part of such trunks 
 sawn into large beams, and then laid as a flooring 
 upon the piles, were used to form large quays the 
 whole length of the Liane and the semicircular 
 basin. The numerous vessels of the flotilla were 
 thus enabled to come close and range along the 
 quays to embark or disembark the men, horses, 
 and stores. 
 
 The town of Boulogne was placed to the right of 
 the Liane, the basin to the left, and nearly oppo- 
 site. The Liane extended itself longitudinally 
 between the two. Bridges were constructed to 
 afford an easy communication from one side to 
 the other, placed above the point where the an- 
 chorage or mooring ground commenced. 
 
 coo , 
 
 These vast works were far from sufficing. A 
 great maritime establishment is supposed to in- 
 clude workshops, building-yards, magazines, bar- 
 racks, slaughter-houses, hospitals, in short, all that 
 is necessary to afford accommodation to a vast 
 mass of different materials, to serve the seamen in 
 health or sickness, to receive, nourish, clothe, 
 and arm them. From this it may be readily 
 imagined the cost in time and labour to form such 
 establishments as those- of Brest and Toulon ! It 
 was here an object to create more extensive es- 
 tablishments, because there were wanted work- 
 shops, building-yards, magazines, and hospitals, to 
 meet the wants of two thousand three hundred 
 \. --i Is, thirty thousand seamen, ten thousand work- 
 men, and one hundred and twenty thousand soldiers. 
 If these creations had not been temporary, they 
 
 would have been absolutely impossible. Still al- 
 though temporary, the difficulty of their execution, 
 
 considering the quantity of things to be united at 
 
 one spot, was immense. 
 
 In the town of Boulogne all the houses were 
 
 hired that could be converted into offices, maga- 
 zines, or hospitals. The country and the farm- 
 houses in the same neighbourhood were also taken 
 br a similar purpose, when they were found 
 
 adapted to the object. Wooden bouses were erected 
 
 for the naval workmen, and places of shelter were 
 
 built up of plank to serve as stables for the horses. 
 
 to I he troops, they were encamped in the open 
 
 country in barracks constructed with the wrecks
 
 490 
 
 Additional harbours 
 selected. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Additional harbours 
 Selected. 
 
 1803. 
 July, 
 
 and waste wood of the surrounding forests. The 
 first consul selected the right and left of the 
 Liane, on the two level spaces, the opening between 
 which formed the basin of Boulogne, for the ground 
 which the troops were to occupy. Thirty-six thou- 
 sand men were here distributed in two camps ; the 
 one called that of the left, the other of the right. 
 The troops that had been assembled at St. Omer, 
 placed under the command of general Soult, were 
 the occupants of these two positions. The other 
 corps of the army were to be successively brought 
 near the coast as their establishments should be 
 prepared for them. The troops thus quartered 
 found themselves in pure air, exposed, it was true, 
 to violent and cold winds, but provided with a 
 great abundance of wood to shelter and warm 
 them. 
 
 Immense stores of provisions were ordered from 
 all parts of the country, and brought into the 
 magazines. There came by the interior navi- 
 gation, which was very perfect, in the north of 
 France, as is well known, flour to convert into bis- 
 cuits, rice, oats, salt meat, wine, and brandy. A 
 great quantity of cheese, of a round form, was 
 brought from Holland. These different aliments 
 were to serve for the daily consumption of the 
 camps, and for the provision stores of the double 
 flotilla of war and transport. It is possible to 
 judge of the vast quantity to be collected, upon 
 imagining that it was required to feed the army, 
 the navy, the numerous population of workmen 
 who had been drawn thither, at first during all the 
 time o*" the encampment, then during two months 
 when the expedition should be in activity, sup- 
 posing the provisions to be for nearly two hundred 
 thousand persons, and the forage for twenty thou- 
 sand horses. If it be added, that all that was 
 necessary was supplied with an abundance that 
 left nothing to be desired, it will be comprehended 
 that a more extraordinary creation had never been 
 executed among any people by the head of an 
 empire. 
 
 But one port alone would not suffice for the 
 entire expedition. Boulogne would not contain 
 more than twelve or thirteen hundred vessels, and 
 it was required to receive two thousand three hun- 
 dred. Had the port been able to contain all the 
 number necessary, it would have taken too long a 
 time for them to get out to sea by the same chan- 
 nel. Under certain circumstances, of the sea it was 
 a great inconvenience to have only one place of 
 refuge. If, for example, .a considerable number 
 of the vessels had gone out, and bad weather or 
 the enemy had obliged them to enter the port 
 again suddenly, they would have got foul of each 
 other at the entrance, a want of water would have 
 come on, and they would have been lost. There 
 was, on descending the shore about four leagues to 
 the south, a little river, called the Canche, the 
 mouth of which formed a tortuous bay, very sandy, 
 unhappily open to every wind, and offering a far 
 less secure anchorage than that of Boulogne. It 
 formed a little fishing port, that of Etaples. Upon 
 this river Canche, at about a league in the interior, 
 was situated the fortified town of Montreuil. It 
 was difficult to excavate a basin there, but it was 
 very possible to drive a succession of piles, within 
 which the vessels might be moored, and to con- 
 struct quays of wood upon these piles proper for 
 
 the embarkation and disembarkation of troops. 
 It was a safe and secure shelter for three or four 
 hundred vessels. It was possible to get out with 
 the wind in the same points as from the harbour 
 of Boulogne. The distance from Boulogne, which 
 was four or five leagues, offered some difficulty as 
 regarded the simultaneous conduct of the opera- 
 tions ; but that was a secondary difficulty, and an 
 asylum for four hundred vessels was too important 
 to be neglected. There the first consul formed a 
 camp, which was destined for the troops united 
 between Compiegne and Amiens, of which the 
 command was reserved for general Ney, on return 
 from his Swiss mission. This camp was called the 
 Camp of Montreuil. The troops received orders 
 to place themselves there as they were in the camps 
 around Boulogne. Establishments were prepared 
 accordingly for the preservation of the necessary 
 provisions, for the hospitals, and, in fine, for ail 
 that could be required by an army of twenty-four 
 thousand men. The centre of the army being 
 supposed at Boulogne, the camp at Etaples would 
 be the left. 
 
 A little to the north of Boulogne, before arriving 
 at Cape Grisnez, there are two other bays disco- 
 verable, formed by two small rivers, the beds of 
 which are much encumbered by sand and mud, 
 but in which, at high water, the sea rises six or 
 seven feet. The one is about a league, the other 
 two leagues from Boulogne ; they are, besides, 
 placed in the same point with respect to the wind 
 as Boulogne. Upon digging out the earth, and 
 placing sluice-gates, it was possible to find shelter 
 there for several hundred vessels, which would 
 complete the means of accommodating the entire 
 flotilla. The nearest of these two small rivers was 
 the Wimereux, opening to the sea near a village 
 of the same name. The other was the Selacque, 
 the opening of which was near a fishing village, 
 called Ainbleteuse. During the reign of Louis 
 XVI., it had been in contemplation to deepen 
 these basins, but the works executed at that time 
 had now disappeared under the sand and mud. 
 The first consul ordered the engineers to inspect 
 both these places, and in case of a report favour- 
 able to his object, the troops were to be employed 
 there, and encamped in huts, as at Etaples and at 
 Boulogne. These two harbours might be made to 
 contain, the one two hundred, the other three hun- 
 dred vessels ; thus there were five hundred more 
 still would have found the shelter of an harbour. 
 The guard, with the grenadiers united, the re- 
 serves of cavalry and artillery, and the different 
 corps which were forming between Lille, Douai, 
 and Arras, would here find the means of embarka- 
 tion. 
 
 There yet remained the Batavian flotilla, which 
 was designed to embark the corps of general 
 Davout, and which, according to the treaty con- 
 cluded with Holland, was independent of the 
 squadron of the line assembled in the Texel. 
 Unfortunately, the Dutch was far less effectively 
 armed than the French flotilla. It whs a question 
 whether it should go out of the Schelde direct for 
 the coast of England, under the escort of several 
 frigates, or whether it should proceed to Dunkirk 
 and Calais, in order to set out for England from 
 the ports placed to the right of Cape Grisnez. 
 Admiral Bruix had the order to settle this ques-
 
 1803. 
 July. 
 
 Works ordered for 
 the defence of the 
 coast. 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 The first consul visits Ant- 
 werp, and makes it a 
 naval station. 
 
 491 
 
 tion. The corps of general Duvout, which formed 
 the right of the array, would be thus found 
 approaching tn the centre. They did not even 
 despair, by dint of enlarging the basins, and coin- 
 pressing the encampment, to make the whole dou- 
 ble Cape Grisnez, and to establish all at Amble- 
 teuse and WimereUx. There the French and 
 Dutch flotillas, united to the number of two thou- 
 sand three hundred vessels, earning the corps of 
 generals Davout, Soult, and Ney, with the reserve 
 besides, that is to Bay, one hundred and twenty 
 thousand men, would be able to go to sea simul- 
 taneously, with the wind at the same point, from 
 four ports, placed in the interior of the strait, with 
 the certainty of being able to aet together. The 
 two great fleets ready to Bail, the one from Brest, 
 the other from the Texel, would be able to carry 
 the remaining forty thousand men, of which the 
 object and employment were the exclusive secret 
 of the first consul. 
 
 In order to effect the completion of all the 
 various parts of this vast organization, it was 
 needful to place the coast out of the reach of 
 attack by the English. Besides the zeal which 
 they would infallibly show to hinder the concen- 
 tration of the Boulogne flotilla, by guarding the 
 shore from Bordeaux to Flushing, it was to be 
 presumed, that 111 imitation of what they did in 
 1801, they would attempt to destroy the flotilla, 
 either by fire in the basins, or by attacking them 
 at their moorings when they came out to manoeu- 
 vre. It was necessary, therefore, to render the 
 approach of the English impossible, as much for 
 the security of the ports themselves as to ensure a 
 free outlet and entrance/because if the flotilla was 
 condemned to remain immovable within the har- 
 bour, it would be incapable of manoeuvring or of 
 executing any great operation. 
 
 This approach of the English it was not easy 
 to prevent, in consequence of the form of the coast 
 being a right line, which presented neither hollow 
 ilient point, and fur this reason had no means 
 to carry out projectiles to any considerable distance. 
 This defect was provided for in a very ingenious 
 manner, in advance of the shore at Boulogne, 
 two points of rock projected into the sea, one to 
 irn- right, called the point of the Creche, the other 
 on the left, denominated that of the Heurt. Be- 
 tween these two points titers was an open space of 
 three thousand five hundred fathoms (nearly three 
 miles)) perfectly safe and rety commodious for 
 mooring. Two or three' hundred vessels would be 
 able to moor there in several lines. These points 
 
 of rock, covered by the sen at high water, were 
 uncovered at low tide. The first consul ordered 
 the erection of two forts, in heavy masonry, of a 
 se m i ci rcular form, solidly casemated, and present- 
 ing two tier of irons, which would be able to cover, 
 by their fire, the mooring-ground which extended 
 from oni' to tie- other, lb- had the work imme- 
 diately commenced. The engineers of the navy 
 
 and army, seconded by the masons taken out of 
 the conscription, at ones commenced the work. 
 
 The firs) consul had the desire to see the work 
 
 complete. i before tie- < imenownent of winter. 
 
 But he set himself so much to multiply precau- 
 tions, that he wished to secure tie- centre of the' 
 
 line of anchorage as will by a third point of sup- 
 port. This point was ehosen in the middle of the 
 
 line, and in face of the entrance of the port ; and 
 as it was upon a base of moving sand, the first 
 consul devised the construction of this new fort in 
 heavy carpentry. Numerous workmen were set, 
 at low water, to drive hundreds of piles, which 
 might serve as a base for a battery of eighteen 
 twenty-four pounders. Oftentimes they continued 
 the work under the fire of the English. 
 
 Independently of these three points, advanced 
 into the sea, and placed parallel with the coast of 
 Boulogne, the first consul placed cannon and mor- 
 tars on all parts of the coast that projected in the 
 smallest degree, and did not leave a point capable 
 of carrying artillery, without arming it with guns 
 of the heaviest calibre. Precautions less extensive, 
 but yet amply sufficient, were taken at Etaples, 
 and at the new ports which they had begun to 
 deepen. 
 
 Such were the vast projects definitively arranged 
 by the first consul, in the view of the localities and 
 with the concurrence of the engineers and officers 
 of the navy. The construction of the flotilla 
 rapidly advanced, from the coasts of Britany to 
 those of Holland ; but before being able to effect 
 the union at Ambleteuse, Boulogne, and Etaples, 
 it was necessary to complete the excavation of the 
 basins, the erection of the forts, the carriage of the 
 artillery inatCrkl to the coast, the concentration of 
 the troops near the sea, and the creation of the 
 different establishments necessary to supply their 
 wants. The achievement of all these objects, it 
 was calculated, would be completed by the winter. 
 
 The first consul, after visiting Boulogne, went to 
 Calais, Dunkirk, Ostend, and Antwerp. He de- 
 sired to see this last port himself, and to be certain, 
 by his own observation, of the truth of what he 
 had heard in the very different accounts which 
 bad been transmitted to him. After having exa- 
 mined the situation of this city with that prompti- 
 tude and accuracy of glance which only belonged 
 to himself, he had no doubt upon his mind about 
 the possibility of making a great maritime arsenal 
 of Antwerp. This city had, in his view, very par- 
 ticular properties attaching to it. It was situated 
 on the Schelde, opposite the Thames ; it was in 
 immediate communication with Holland by the 
 finest of internal navigations, and, in consequence, 
 was adapted for a rich deposit of naval stores. It 
 was able to receive, without difficulty, by the 
 Rhine and Meuse, the timber of the Alps, the 
 Vosgos, the Black Forest, the Wettcravia, and the 
 Ardennes. LaBtly, the workmen of Flanders, 
 naturally drawn to that vicinity, would supply 
 thousands of hands for the construction of vessels. 
 The first consul resolved, therefore, to create at 
 Antwerp a fleet, the Hag of which should he con- 
 tinually Hying between the Schelde and tho 
 Thames. This would be one of the most, Sensible 
 annoyances which be was able to cause to his 
 irreconcilable enemies, the English. He had 
 
 the ground occupied immediately required for the 
 
 Construction of the vast basins, which still exist, 
 and an the pride of the city of Antwerp. These 
 
 basins communicate, by s sluice of the largest 
 
 dimensions, with the rive r Schelde, and are capable 
 
 of containing an entire fleet of line-of-battle ships, 
 remaining always provided with thirty feet in 
 depth of water, whatever be that of the river 
 level. The first consul wished to have constructed
 
 492 
 
 The first consul visits 
 Brussels. 
 
 The secretary of the king |fin » 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. of Prussia sent to the 
 
 first consul. 
 
 July. 
 
 twenty-five sail of the line in this new port of the 
 republic, and while waiting the new experiments 
 relative to the possibility of the navigation of the 
 Schelde, he ordered several vessels of seventy-four 
 guns to be laid down on the stocks. He did not 
 renounce the project of constructing them at a 
 later period of a superior burden; and he hoped to 
 make of Antwerp an establishment equal to those 
 of Brest and Toulon, infinitely better placed to 
 trouble the repose of England. 
 
 The first consul went from Antwerp to Ghent, 
 and from Ghent to Brussels. The Belgic popula- 
 tion, always discontented with the government 
 which ruled, showed itself little docile under the 
 administration of the French. The fervour of their 
 religious sentiments, rendered more difficult than 
 that of other nations the administration of public 
 worship. The first consul at first encountered here 
 a degree of coldness, or to speak more correctly, 
 a less expanded vivacity than in the old French 
 provinces. But this coldness soon disappeared 
 when the young general was seen surrounded by 
 the clergy, present and respectful at their religious 
 ceremonies, accompanied by his wife, who, in spite 
 of her fondness for dissipation, had in her heart 
 the piety of a woman, and of a woman of the old 
 time. M. de Roquelaure was archbishop of 
 Malines, an old man, possessing great amenity of 
 manners. The first consul received him with in- 
 finite regard, gave back to his family a considera- 
 ble property that remained sequestrated by the 
 state, exhibited himself often to the people, ac- 
 companied by the metropolitan of Belgium, and 
 succeeded by his manners and bearing in calming 
 the religious mistrust of the country. He was 
 attended at Brussels, too, by cardinal Caprara. 
 Their meeting produced the best effect. The pre- 
 sence of the first consul iii the city was prolonged; 
 and the ministers, with the consul Cambace'res, 
 came there to hold councils. A part of the 
 diplomatic body also arrived to obtain audiences 
 of the head of the French government. Thus 
 surrounded by ministers, generals, and numerous 
 
 and brilliant ti ps, general Bonaparte held, in 
 
 this capital of the Low Countries, a court which 
 bore all the appearance of sovereignty. It might 
 be said that an emperor of Germany had arrived 
 to visit the patrimony of Charles V. 
 
 Time passed away much faster than the first 
 consul had believed. Numerous public affairs de- 
 manded his presence in Paris ; there were the 
 orders still to give for the execution of what he had 
 determined upon at Boulogne; and there were also 
 negotiations with the European powers, which the 
 pr sent crisis rendered more active than ever. 
 He therefore renounced, for the moment, a view 
 of the provinces of the Rhine, leaving to a second 
 and approaching journey that which he had ori- 
 ginally intended to include in the present. But 
 before he quitted Brussels, he received a visit, 
 which was much noticed, and which merited to 
 be so, on account of the personage who had come 
 to see him. 
 
 This personage was M. Lombard, secretary to 
 the king of Prussia. The young Frederick Wil- 
 liam, in his diffidence of himself and of others, had 
 adopted the custom of detaining the work of his 
 ministers, and of submitting it to a new examina- 
 tion, which he undertook with his secretary, M. 
 
 Lombard, a man of mind and acquirement. M. 
 Lombard, owing to this royal intimacy, had ac- 
 quired in Prussia very great importance. M. 
 Haugwitz, able at catching every kind of influ- 
 ence, had been artful enough to secure M. Lom- 
 bard to his interest in sucli a manner, that the 
 king, passing from the minister to his private 
 secretary, only found in his ideas the same views 
 as those of his minister, Haugwitz. M. Lombard, 
 on coming to Brussels, represented, at the same 
 time, therefore, before the first consul, both the 
 king and the prime minister in one, in other words, 
 the entire of the Prussian government, except the 
 court, which arranged itself around the queen ex- 
 clusively, and was animated by a different feeling 
 from that of the ruling power. 
 
 The visit of M. Lombard to Brussels was the 
 consequence of the agitation of the cabinets since 
 the renewal of the war between France and Eng- 
 land. The court of Prussia was in a state of great 
 anxiety, which accrued from the recent commu- 
 nications of the Russian cabinet. This last cabinet, 
 as has been already seen, returned in spite of in- 
 clination for its own internal affairs, to those of 
 Europe, wishing to indemnify itself by playing in 
 them a character of some consideration. All it 
 endeavoured at first was to get the two belligerent 
 powers to accept its mediation, and recommend 
 the estates it protected to French forbearance. 
 The result of these its first efforts had not been <rf 
 a very satisfactory nature. England had received 
 the overture with great coldness, refusing at once 
 to confide Malta to Russian keeping, or to suspend 
 hostilities during the time the work of mediation 
 was proceeding. She had solely declared she 
 would not decline the interference of the Russian 
 cabinet, if the new negotiation embraced the whole 
 of the affairs of Europe, and, consequently, in- 
 cluded in the question all that the treaties of 
 Luneville and of Amiens had stipulated. 
 
 To accept these conditions was to repel the 
 mediation. While England replied in this mode, 
 France, on her side, receiving with entire defer- 
 ence the intervention of the young emperor, had, 
 nevertheless, occupied without hesitation the terri- 
 tories under the recommendation and protection 
 of Russia, namely, Hanover and Naples. The 
 court of St. Petersburg was singularly hurt to find 
 itself so little regarded, when it pressed England 
 to accept the Russian mediation, and France to 
 limit the extent of her hostility. Russia had then 
 cast her eyes upon Prussia, in order to engage her 
 to form a third party, which should give the law 
 to the French and English ; above all, to the 
 French, who were much more alarming than the 
 English, although more polite. 'flic emperor 
 Alexander, who had met the king of Prussia at 
 Memel, and had sworn to him at that meeting an 
 eternal friendship, who himself discovered every 
 kind of analogy with the young monarch, analogies 
 of age, mind, and virtue, endeavoured to persuade 
 him, in a frequent correspondence, that they were 
 made for each other, that they were the only 
 honest people in Europe; that at Vienna there was 
 nothing but falsehood, at Paris, ambition, and in 
 London, avarice ; in short, that they owed it to 
 themselves to unite closely, in order to constrain 
 and govern Europe. 
 
 The young emperor, exhibiting precocious
 
 1803. 
 Aug. 
 
 Russia, jealous of France, 
 endeavours to influence 
 Prussia. 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 Conference of Napoleon 
 with M. Lombard. 
 
 403 
 
 cunning, had endeavoured, before all things, to 
 persuade the king of Prussia, that he was the 
 dupe of the first consul's wheedling, and that for 
 interests <>f a mediocre character, he had made to 
 him dangerous political sacrifices; that owing to 
 his condescension, Hanover had been invaded ; 
 that the French would not limit their occupations 
 there ; that the reason they urged to exclude 
 England from the continent would carry them 
 beyond Hanover, and conduct them as far as Den- 
 mark in order to seize the Sound ; that then the 
 English would blockade the Baltic as they had 
 blockaded the Elbe itnd Weser, and thus shut up 
 the last outlet remaining for the commerce of the 
 continent. The fear thus expressed by Russia, 
 could not be real ; because the first consul did not 
 think of poshing forward his system of occupation 
 as fa- as Denmark, it was not possible that he 
 dreamed of such a measure. He had occupied 
 Hanover under its title of an English property; 
 and he had occupied Tareiitum, in virtue of 
 the uncontested domination of France over Italy. 
 But to invade Denmark, by passing over the body 
 of Germany, was impossible, unless it was to begin 
 by the conquest of Prussia herself; and then most 
 fortunately the policy of France had not required 
 so great an extension of power. 
 
 The suggestions of Russia, therefore, were false- 
 hoods ; but they became sources of uneasiness to 
 the king of Prussia, already much troubled at the 
 occupation of Hanover. This occupation had 
 caused him, besides the continual complaints of 
 the German states, very cruel commercial suffer- 
 ing. The Elbe and the Weser were closed by the 
 English ; tin- exportation of Prussian produce had 
 d all at once. The cloths of Silesia, bought 
 commonly at Hamburg and Bremen, the great 
 trade- of which they fed, had been refused on the 
 same day that the blockade had commenced. The 
 groat merchants of Hamburg in particular had 
 shown a species of malice in declining every kind 
 of commercial business, in order yet more to stimu- 
 late the court of Prussia, and to make it feel more 
 sensibly the inconvenience of the occupation of 
 Hanover, the sole cause of the blockade of the 
 Elbe and Wiser. From that date the great Prus- 
 sian nobles had sustained immense losses. ,\I. 
 HaugwitZ himself had lost one half of his in- 
 come ; a circumstance which did not alter in 
 any degree the calmness of mind that made one of 
 tin- merits of his political character. The king, 
 ged by the complaints of Silesia, had been 
 obliged to lend a million of crowns to that, pro- 
 vince ', a sacrifice great enough for an economical 
 
 prince, who was so anxious to reestablish the 
 
 treasury id' the great Frederick. They requested 
 
 at the present moment double- that sum. 
 
 Agitated by the suggestions of Russia, and by 
 
 the complaints regarding Prussian commerce, the 
 king, Frederick- William, feared, besides, that if he 
 suffered himself, led by these suggestions and com- 
 plaints, to become engaged in hostile relations with 
 
 France, it would overturn all his policy, which 
 for several years had rested upon a French al- 
 liance. It was to extricate himself from this 
 painful state of things, thai M. Lombard came to 
 be sent to Brussels. He had orders to observe 
 
 ' 5,000,000 f. or about £150,000. 
 
 the young general very narrowly, to endeavour to 
 penetrate into his objects, to assure himself, if 
 he intended, as they said at St. Petersburg, to 
 push his occupations as far as Denmark ; if, 
 finally, as they still said too at St. Petersburg, it 
 was so very dangerous to trust this extraordinary 
 man. M. Lombard was at the same time to lay 
 himself out for obtaining some concessions relative 
 to Hanover. The king, Frederick-William, would 
 have wished that the corps occupying the country 
 should be reduced by some thousand men, which 
 would have calmed the fears, sincere or affected, 
 of which the presence of the French in Germany 
 had been the cause. She wished, further, the 
 evacuation of some small port at the mouth of the 
 Elbe, such as that of Cuxhaven. This little port, 
 situated at the entrance of the Elbe itself, was the 
 nominal property of the Hamburghers, but in 
 reality it served the English for the continuation 
 of their trade. If that had been left unoccupied, 
 from its claim to be Hamburg territory, the Eng- 
 lish trade would be carried on just as in a time of 
 profound peace. With such a proceeding, the 
 object that France proposed to herself would have 
 been defeated ; and so correct is this view of the 
 matter, that in 1800, when Prussia herself had taken 
 Hanover, she occupied Cuxhaven. 
 
 As the price of these two concessions, the king 
 of Prussia offered a northern system of neutrality, 
 drawn up after the system of the old Prussian neu- 
 trality, which would comprehend, besides Prussia 
 and the north of Germany, the new German states, 
 perhaps even Russia ; at least so king Frederick 
 William flattered himself. This was according to 
 that monarch guaranteeing to France the immo- 
 bility of the continent, leaving her free to employ 
 all her means against England, and consequently 
 worthy of some sacrifices. Such were the different 
 objects confided to the prudence of M. Lombard. 
 
 The secretary of the king of Prussia left Berlin 
 for Brussels, warmly recommended by M. Haug- 
 witZ to M. de Talleyrand. He felt in a sensible 
 manner the honour of approaching and of con- 
 versing with the first consul. The last, made 
 aware of the object with which M. Lombard had 
 arrived, received him in the most brilliant way, 
 and took the best means to open an access to his 
 heart, which was to flatter him by a confidence 
 without limit, by the development of all his ideas, 
 and even of his secret thoughts. Besides, the first 
 consul was able at that moment to unfold himself 
 wholly without losing any thing by it ; and he did 
 so accordingly with much frankness, and a good 
 deal of attractive language. lie did not wish, he 
 told M. Lombard, to acquire a single territory 
 more upon the continent ; he desired no more 
 than other powers had recognised in French 
 possession by open or secret treaties; the Rhine, 
 the Alps, Piedmont, Parma, and the maintenance 
 of existing relations with the Italian republic and 
 with Ftruria. lie was ready to acknowledge the 
 
 independence of Switzerland and Holland. He 
 
 was resolved no more to mix himself up in the 
 
 affairs of Germany from the date of the recat of 
 [803. He intended only the performance of one 
 single thing, which was to repress the maritime 
 despotism of England, insupportable to others 
 Certainly as well as to him, when Prussia, Russia, 
 Sweden, and Denmark, had united twice in twenty
 
 404 
 
 Conference of N r apnleon 
 with M. L'juiliard. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Jealousy of France 
 experienced by 
 Russia. 
 
 1803. 
 Aug. 
 
 years, iii 1780 and 1800, in order to put a stop to 
 it. It was fur Prussia to aid in stitdi a task; for 
 Prussia, the natural ally of France, tliat for several 
 years had received numberh ss services from her, 
 and on whom yet greater ones awaited. If, in 
 fact, he were victorious, grandly victorious, what 
 would it not be in his power to do for Prussia ? 
 Had lie not Hanover then under his hand, a com- 
 plement so natural and so necessary for the Prus- 
 sian territory ? Was not that the price, immense 
 and certain, of the friendship that the king Frede- 
 rick-William testified for him under the existing 
 circumstances ? But in order that he should be 
 victorious and grateful, it was necessary that he 
 should be seconded in an efficacious manner. An 
 ambiguous good will, a neutrality more or less 
 extended, constituted a very middling aid. He 
 must give assistance to close completely the shores 
 of Germany, bear some momentary suffering, and 
 ally himself to France by a positive union. That 
 called, since 1705, the system of Prussian neu- 
 trality, did not suffice to secure the peace of the 
 continent. It was necessary, in order to render 
 this peace certain, to have a formal alliance, public, 
 offensive and defensive, of Prussia with France. 
 Then none of the continental powers would dare to 
 enter into any design ; England would be mani- 
 festly alone, reduced to a conflict, man to man, 
 with the army of Boulogne; if to the perspective of 
 such a conflict were joined the close of the European 
 markets, she would be either brought to terms, or 
 crushed by the formidable expedition which was 
 preparing upon the shores of the channel. But 
 the first consul repeated unceasingly, that in order 
 to this the effective alliance of Prussia was neces- 
 sary, and a concurrence, entire and earnest on her 
 part, in the objects of France. Then all would 
 succeed; then France would be able to heap bene- 
 fits upon her ally, and make him the present which 
 he ha«l never demanded, but which at the bottom 
 of his heart he ardently desired — namely, Hanover. 
 
 The first consul, by his sincerity, the warmth of 
 his explanations, and the dazzling brilliancy of his 
 intellect, did not dupe M. Lombard, as the inimical 
 faction soon afterwards said at Berlin, but con- 
 vinced and enchained him. He finished by per- 
 suading him that he contemplated nothing hostile 
 to Germany ; that he only desired to procure 
 means of action against England, and that the 
 price of a frank and sincere concurrence would be 
 for Prussia a magnificent aggrandizement. In re- 
 gard to the concessions of which M. Lombard had 
 made the demand, the first consul exhibited to 
 him their serious inconveniences ; to leave the 
 commerce of England the power of free exercise, 
 while making a war which, up to the uncertain day 
 of the descent, would be without bad consequences 
 to that country — would be to abandon to her all 
 the advantages of the contest. The first consul 
 went even 80 far as to declare that he was ready 
 to indemnify, at the expense of the French trea- 
 sury, the suffering commerce of Silesia. That in 
 case Prussia would consent to the stipulations of 
 an offensive and defensive alliance, he was disposed, 
 for such an interest, to make every one of the con- 
 cessions which the king Frederick- William desired. 
 
 M. Lombard, convinced, dazzled, enchanted at 
 the familiarities of the great man, of whom princes 
 appreciated with pride; the smallest attention, set 
 
 out on his return to Berlin, disposed to communi- 
 cate to his master and to M. Haugwitz the entire of 
 the feelings with which his heart was full. 
 
 The first consul, after having held a brilliant 
 court at Brussels, nothing more occurring to detain 
 him in Flanders, and the works undertaken upon 
 the coast not being more advanced, departed for 
 Paris, where he had every thing to do in the 
 double labour of government and diplomacy. He 
 went by Liege, Namur, and Sedan, being every- 
 where received with enthusiasm, arriving on the 
 commencement of August at St. Cloud. 
 
 He was pressed, while continuing to order from 
 Paris the preparations for the grand expedition, 
 to clear up and fix definitively his relations with 
 the great powers of ihe continent. In the uneasi- 
 ness of Prussia he had clearly discovered the influ- 
 ence of Russia; he found this influence besides in 
 the ill-will which was exhibited towards him in 
 Madrid. The Spanish cabinet, in effect, refused 
 any explanation about the execution of the treaty of 
 St. Ildefonzo, and said, that as the Russian medi- 
 ation gave hope yet of a pacific termination, it 
 must await the result of the mediation before 
 taking a definitive part. Another circumstance 
 had disagreeably affected the first consul; this was 
 the evident partiality of Russia in the attempt at 
 mediation which she had made. While the first 
 consul had accepted the mediation with entire 
 deference, and England, on the contrary, had 
 opposed difficulties of every nature, refusing to 
 confide Malta in the hands of the mediating power, 
 while arguing to infinity upon the extent of the 
 negotiation, the Russian diplomacy inclined more 
 towards England than towards France, and seemed 
 to take no account of the deference of the one, nor 
 of the bad faith of the other. The propositions 
 recently received from St. Petersburg revealed 
 this disposition in the clearest manner. Russia 
 declared her opinion, that England should render 
 Malta to the order of St. John of Jerusalem; but 
 that in return it would be proper to grant to her 
 the island of Lampedosa ; that France ought to 
 give an indemnity to the king of Sardinia, acknow- 
 ledge and respect the independence of the states 
 placed in her vicinity, evacuate, no more to enter 
 them, not only Tarentum and Hanover, but the 
 kingdom of Etruria, the Italian republic, Switzer- 
 land, and Holland. 
 
 These conditions, acceptable under some points 
 of view, were completely unacceptable under 
 others. To concede Lampedosa in compensation 
 for Malta, was to give the English the means of 
 making with money, which they never wanted, a 
 second Gibraltar in the Mediterranean. The first 
 consul had been ready to consent to this, in order 
 to preserve the peace from being broken. Now 
 launched into war, full of the hope of succeeding, 
 he would no longer consent to such a sacrifice. To 
 indemnify the king of Sardinia was a matter of no 
 difficulty with him, and he was disposed to devote 
 Parma as an equivalent to this object. To eva- 
 cuate Hanover and Tarentum, if a peace were esta- 
 blished, was but the natural consequence of peace. 
 But to evacuate the Italian republic, which had no 
 army, Switzerland and Holland, which were 
 menaced with an immediate counter-revolution 
 if the French troops were withdrawn, this was to 
 demand the deliverance to the enemies of France
 
 J»03. 
 
 Aug. 
 
 Napoleon demands 
 explanations from 
 Spain. 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 DitTVrences between France 
 and Spain. 
 
 405 
 
 of the states of which she had acquired the ri^'ht 
 to dispose by t n years of war and victory. The 
 first consul was unable to abide by such conditions. 
 That which decided bin more completely still in 
 not Buffering such a mediation to proceed, was the 
 form under which it was offered. The first consul 
 had consented Ui the supreme arbitration, absolute 
 and without appeal, of the young emperor himself, 
 because it interested the honour of this monarch to 
 be just, and gave the greater certainty of terminat- 
 ing the question. Hut submitting the case to 
 the partiality of the Rassian agents, all of them 
 devoted to England, was to assent to a negotiation 
 ■ us, and without limit in duration. 
 
 He therefore declared, alter having discussed 
 the Russian propositions, after having shown the 
 danger and injustice of them all, that he was ever 
 ready to accept the personal arbitration of the czar 
 ■If, but nut a negotiation conducted by his 
 cabinet in a manner by no means amicable towards 
 France, and of such a complicated character, that 
 no end to it could be hoped for ; that he thanked 
 the cabinet of St. Petersburg for its good offices, 
 yet he renounced its aid to serve him further, 
 leaving t" the war tie- care of bringing back peace. 
 The declaration of the first consul ended in these 
 words, so deeply marked with his peculiar cha- 
 racter : — 
 
 " The first consul has done all to preserve peace; 
 his efforts having been vain, he should have seen 
 that war was in the order of destiny. He will 
 m ike war, and he will not bend before a proud 
 nation, habituated for twenty years to make all the 
 other power* give way '." 
 
 M. Ifarkoff was drily treated, and merited to be 
 so by his attitude and language in Paris. The 
 constant approver of England, her pretensions and 
 conduct, he was the avowed detractor of France 
 and her government. When he was told that he 
 did not conform himself in this way, at least in 
 appearance, to the intentions of his master, who 
 professed a rigorous impartiality between France 
 - - ill England, he replied that "the emperor had 
 his own opinion, and that the Russians, had theirs." 
 It was to be (eared that lie would draw upon him- 
 self a storm like that which lord Wbitworth had 
 experienced, and even more disagreeable still, be- 
 tlie ftrsl eoiiHul had none of tin- consideration 
 for M. Maikoff which be pi lor lord Whit- 
 
 worth. 
 
 Tip- thread of this falsi? mediation being cut, 
 still not breaking with Russia, the first consul 
 
 determined to force Spain to an explanation, and 
 
 to make her say bow she intended to execute the 
 
 treaty of St. lid -fonzo. lb- acted thus to discover 
 h* she WOO ' p >rt in the w ir, or if she would 
 
 remain neuter, furnishing a subsidy to Prance in 
 
 place of BUC t in men ami vessels. '1'hi' first 
 
 ll was not yet able t,, give bis entire attention 
 to tie- grand expedition, inasmuch as this .piestion 
 was not resolved. 
 
 Spain showed, iii deciding this point, an ex- 
 treme repugnance, which hid raised the 
 
 vexatious (clings respecting lief in France. It 
 was no doubt an onerous thing to be obliged to 
 follow a neighbouring power through all the vicis- 
 situdes of its poiicy ; but in engaging herself by 
 
 1 29tli Au-ust, 1803. 
 
 the treaty of St. lldefonzo, in the bonds of an 
 offensive and defensive alliance with France, Spain 
 had contracted a positive obligation, of which it 
 was impossible to contest the results. Indepen- 
 dently of this obligation, it was evident that this 
 power must have moat unworthily degenerated, 
 to desire to keep herself at a distance, when the 
 question of a maritime supremacy was about to be 
 agitated for the last time. If England succeeded, 
 it was evident that there would no longer be for 
 Spain commerce, colonies, nor galleons, nothing, 
 in fact, of that which for three centuries had com- 
 posed her greatness and her riches. When the 
 first consul pressed her to act, he pressed her not 
 only to fulfil a formal engagement, but the most 
 sacred of duties towards herself. Taking into 
 account her present incapacity, he bad left In r 
 neuter, and in thus managing lor her to retain the 
 power of receiving the dollars of Mexico, he de- 
 manded that she .should contribute her part to 
 a war made for the common advantage; to pay, in 
 other words, that debt in money, when she was not 
 able to pay it in blood, which was due to the cause 
 of the liberty of the seas. 
 
 The relations of France with Spain altered, as 
 has been seen, on the (piestion of Portugal, a little 
 ameliorated since, thanks to the vacancy of the 
 duchy of Parma, were now spoiled anew, and on 
 the point of becoming altogether hostile. They 
 complained daily at Madrid of having ceded 
 Louisiana for the kingdom of Etruria, which they 
 denominated a nominal possession, because French 
 troops guarded Etruria, which was incapable of 
 guarding itself. They complained yet more of the 
 cession of Louisiana to the United States. They 
 .said that if France wished to alienate that precious 
 colony, it was to the king of Spain that he should 
 have addressed himself, not to the Americans, who 
 would become dangerous neighbours for the Mexi- 
 cans ; that if France had rendered back that colony 
 to Charles IV., he would be well reconciled to the 
 charge of preserving it from the Americans or the 
 English. It was ridiculous, in truth, for these 
 people, wdio were about to lose Mexico, Peru, and 
 all South America, to pretend that they had the 
 power of keeping Louisiana, which was neither 
 Spanish in its manners, spirit, nor language. At 
 Madrid, they made this alienation of Louisiana a 
 great grievance against •France, and with so grave 
 a character did they clothe it, that they made it a 
 ground to cancel every obligation towards her. 
 The real motive of this humour was to be found in 
 tie- refusal of the first consul to add the duchy of 
 Parma to the kingdom of Etruria; a refusal at that 
 moment forced upon him from being compelled to 
 keep some territory in hand to indemnify the king 
 of Piedmont, since there had been so strong a 
 request made to grant ibat king :m indemnity; and, 
 besides, the Florida*, after the abandonment of 
 
 Louisiana, wen? not an object of exchange that 
 was acceptable. The cabinet of Madrid Still 
 kept towards France the attitude of bail humour, 
 and proceeded to more injurious aggravations. 
 The con tree of Prance was most unworthily 
 
 treated. [JndeT the pretext of smug-ling, vessels 
 had been seised, and the crews sent to Africa. 
 
 All tin- remonstrances of the French government 
 were disregarded ; and no reply was made to the 
 
 ambassador upon any subject. To crown these
 
 . _ Interview between the 
 4Jo French ambassador 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 and the prince of the 
 peace. 
 
 1803. 
 Aug. 
 
 outrages, Spain suffered French ships to be 
 boarded and carried off at the anchorages of 
 Algesiras and Cadiz, within reach of the fire of 
 the Spanish guns, which constituted, all alliance 
 apart, a violation of territory it was unworthy of 
 Spain to permit. The fleet which had sought for 
 refuge in Corunna, upon a false allegation of qua- 
 rantine, was kept beyond the anchorage-ground, 
 where it would have found itself in security. The 
 crews were suffered to perish on board, for want 
 of the most indispensable resources, and more 
 particularly, that most essential of all, the bene- 
 ficial air on hind. This squadron, blockaded by 
 an English fleet, was unable to sail without some 
 rest, a considerable refit, and a supply of pro- 
 visions and ammunition. These were all refused, 
 even at a money price. Lastly, by a bravado, 
 which put a finish to the proceedings, while the 
 Spanish navy was left in a state of dilapidation that 
 attracted pity, the government employed itself in 
 singular haste about the army, and organized the 
 militia as if it would have wished to prepare for a 
 national war against France. 
 
 What could have thus driven into an abyss the 
 foolish favourite, whose government disgraced the 
 noble blood of Louis XIV., and reduced a brave 
 nation to the most disgraceful imbecility ? The 
 want of connexion in his ideas, wounded vanity, 
 idleness, and incapacity, were the miserable springs 
 that moved this usurper of Spanish royalty. He 
 formerly leaned towards France, this was sufficient 
 to make his inconstancy now incline towards 
 England. The first consul had not been able to 
 dissimulate his contempt for him, while the 
 English and Russian agents, on the other hand, 
 overloaded him with flattery ; this more particu- 
 larly, when France required courage, activity, and a 
 good administration of Spanish affairs at his hands; 
 no more than this was necessary to bring him to 
 detest an ally who exacted so much from him. 
 " All that will finish," said the first consul, "by a 
 thunderbolt." Thus was announced, by unlucky 
 flashes, the thunder concealed in the thick cloud, 
 which began to gather in ominous gloom over the 
 old throne of Spain. 
 
 The sixth of the camps formed near the sea- 
 shore of France had been assembled at Boulogne. 
 The preparations were accelerated and increased 
 so far as to form a perfect army. Another forma- 
 tion of troops took place on the side of the Pyre- 
 nees Orientales. Augereau received the title of 
 general-in-chief of these different bodies of troops. 
 The French ambassador had orders to demand of 
 the Spanish court the redress of all the grievances 
 of which it had to complain. The enlargement of 
 the French subjects that had been detained, with 
 an indemnification for the losses they had sus- 
 tained ; the punishment of the commandants of 
 the forts of Algesiras and Cadiz, who had suffered 
 the French vessels to be taken within range of 
 their guns ; the restitution of the captured ships ; 
 the admission into the basins of Ferrol of the 
 squadron which had sought refuge in Corunna ; 
 its refitting and revictualling at once, under an 
 immediate settlement of expense with France ; 
 the disbanding of all the militia ; and, lastly, on 
 the choice of Spain, either a stipulated subsidy or 
 an armament of fifteen ships and twenty-four 
 thousand men, promised by the treaty of St. 
 
 Ildefonzo. General Beumonville was also to de- 
 clare to the prince of the peace these expressed 
 determinations, to tell him that if the court of 
 Madrid persisted in its foolish and culpable con- 
 duct, it was upon him would be directed the just 
 indignation of the French government ; that in 
 passing the frontier, the French would denounce 
 to the king and people of Spain the shameful yoke 
 under which they were bowed down, and from 
 which they had come to deliver them. The 
 declaration thus made to the prince of the peace 
 had no effect. 
 
 General Beurnonville, impatient to put an end 
 to these intolerable outrages, hastened to seek 
 an interview with the prince of the peace, to 
 tell him the hard truths which he had orders to 
 deliver to his own ears, and not to leave him any 
 doubt upon the serious nature of his menaces, to 
 place before his eyes several passages in the 
 despatches of the first consul. The prince of the 
 peace grew pale, let fall some tears, was by turns 
 abject and arrogant, and finished by declaring that 
 M. Azara was charged at Paris to come to an 
 understanding with M. de Talleyrand; that, more- 
 over, it did not regard him, the prince of the 
 peace ; that in listening to the ambassador, he 
 departed from his proper character, because he 
 was generalissimo of the Spanish armies, and had 
 no other function in the state; and that if he had 
 any declaration to make, it was to the minister for 
 foreign affairs that he ought to address himself, 
 and not to him, the prince. He even refused a 
 note, that general Beurnonville wished to Liive him 
 at the conclusion of the conference. The general, 
 thus repulsed, said, — " Prince, there are fifty per- 
 sons in your ante-chamber, 1 shall go and make 
 them witnesses of the refusal you have given to 
 receive a note which relates to the service of your 
 king, and 1 shall state that if I have not been able 
 to acquit myself of my duty, the fault is solely 
 with you, and not with myself." The prince, inti- 
 midated, then took the note, and general Beurnon- 
 ville retired. 
 
 Continuing to fulfil his instructions to their full 
 extent, the general and ambassador wished to see 
 the king and queen: he found them surprised and 
 astounded, seeming to comprehend nothing that 
 had passed, repeating that the chevalier Azara had 
 received instructions to arrange every thing with 
 the first consul. The French ambassador quitted 
 the court, broke off all communication with the 
 Spanish ministers, and hastened to acquaint his 
 government with what he had done, and with the 
 slender result which lie had obtained. 
 
 M. Azara, in fact, had received the most singular 
 and most inconsistent communications, very dis- 
 agreeable to himself. This lively and clever 
 Spaniard was a sincere partizan for the alliance 
 of Spain with France, and the personal friend of 
 the first consul, since the campaigns in Italy, 
 where he had played a conciliatory character 
 between the French army and the pope. Unhap- 
 pily, he had not sufficiently concealed the distaste 
 and sorrow which the existing state of the court of 
 Spain caused to himself, and this discontented 
 court wi hdrew its consideration from the ambas- 
 sador that thus deplored its situation. He was, it 
 asserted, in the despatches that they had written 
 to him from Madrid, — he was the humble servant
 
 IMS. 
 
 Aug. 
 
 M. Hermann sent 
 from Paris to 
 Madrid. 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 Fresh condition imposed 
 upon Spain by the first 
 consul. 
 
 497 
 
 of the first consul ; lie liad not informed his court 
 of any thing, and he did not Know how to serve it 
 under an exigency. They went so far as to de- 
 elare to him, that if the first consul had not a 
 desire to detain him in Paris, they would choose 
 another representative. They thus provoked him 
 to give in his resignation without daring to demand 
 it. He was ordered, as a conclusion of the affair, 
 to offer France a subsidy of 2,500,000 f. per month, 
 
 ring that this was all Spain was able to do, as 
 
 above that, sum she was too much reduced to pay 
 
 by lu-r utter want of means. .M. Azara transmitted 
 
 ions to the first consul, and then sent 
 
 off his resignation by a courier to .Madrid. 
 
 The first consul sent for M. Hermann, secretary 
 of embassy, who had had personal relations with 
 the | • r i 1 1 :e of the peace, and gave him his orders to 
 carry to Madrid. M. Hermann was to signify to 
 the prince that he must either submit, or resign 
 himself to an immediate downfall, by the means 
 that M. Hermann had in his portfolio. These 
 means were as follow : — The first consul had 
 written a letter to the king, in which he de- 
 nounced to that weak monarch the misfortunes 
 and reproaches of his crown, in such a manner, 
 at the same time as to awaken the feeling of 
 dignity without wounding him ; and he placed 
 him in a position between the dismission of the 
 favourite, or the immediate entrance of a French 
 army. If the prince of the peace, after having 
 seen M. Hermann, did not immediately, without 
 evasion, and without sending any new message to 
 Paris, give full and entire satisfaction to France, 
 
 ral Benrnonville was to demand a solemn 
 audience of Charles IV., and to deliver into his 
 own hands the terrible letter of the first consul. 
 
 sty-four hours after, if the prince of the peace 
 
 Dot dismie at away, general Beurnon- 
 
 ville was to quit Madrid, and forward to general 
 reaii the injuncti in to pass the frontier. 
 M. Hermann wont in all haste to Madrid. lie 
 saw the prince of the peace, and signified to him 
 tie- will of the first ci nsul ; this time he found 
 him no more base and arrogant, but solely base. 
 A Spanish minister who had the proper con- 
 viction of his duty and upheld the interests of 
 his country, representing his king with honour, 
 and not covering him with ignominy, would have 
 braved displace, and even death, sooner than | I r- 
 init such a display of foreign authority, but the 
 indignity attaching to his position left the prince 
 of the pnmi no energetical resource-, lie sub- 
 mitted, and affirmed upon his word of honour that 
 Instructions should be sent to M. Azara, with 
 
 p iwer to consent to all which the' first consul 
 required. This answer was carried to general 
 l!> tirnonville. IF- declared that he had orders to 
 
 exact an immi diate fulfilment, and not to pay 
 another mestti ng< r to Paris ; and further, that lie 
 had express instructions not to take the prince's 
 word, but to have a rigni d document in Madrid ii- 
 
 s. II', or to remit the latal letter into the Icing's hand. 
 
 'lb- prince of tie- peace repeated bis old story, 
 
 all had terminated at I'ans at that moment, 
 and conformably to the will of the first consul. 
 
 This miserable court tw lieved it had saved its 
 honour in leaving to M. Azara the melancholy 
 task of submitting himself to the will of France, 
 and in sending to four hundred leagues' distance 
 
 the spectacle of its own abasement. General Beur- 
 nonville then believed it was his duty to carry to 
 the king the letter of the first consul. The directors 
 of the king, in other words, the queen and prince 
 of the peace, would have declined an audience, but 
 a courier would have ordered Augereau to enter 
 Spain. Still they found a means to arrange every 
 thing. They advised Charles IV. to receive the 
 letter, but persuaded him not to open it, because it 
 contained expressions with which he would be 
 much offended. They set themselves to prove to 
 him, that by receiving the letter he spared Spain 
 the entrance of the French army, and that by not 
 opening it he saved his dignity from being hurt. 
 Things being thus disposed, general Benrnonville 
 was admitted to the Escurial in presence of the 
 king and queen, out of the presence of the prince 
 of the peace, which he had orders not to suffer, and 
 he handed to the Spanish monarch the crushing 
 denunciation of which he was the bearer. Charles 
 IV., with an easiness which proved his ignorance 
 of affairs, said to the ambassador : " I have 
 received the letter of the first consul, seeing that 
 it must be so; but I shall give it back to you soon 
 without opening it. You will know in a few days 
 that the step was useless, because M. Azara has 
 been charged to settle every thing in Paris. I 
 esteem the first consul ; I am willing to be his 
 faithful ally, and to furnish him with all the aid 
 that my crown has at its disposal." 
 
 After this official reply, the king took up that 
 familiar manner so little worthy of the throne and 
 of his present situation ; he spoke in terms of an 
 embarrassing vulgarity of the vivacity of his friend 
 general Bonaparte, and of his resolution to pardon 
 every thing, in order not to break up the union 
 between the two courts. The French ambassador 
 retired confounded, having suffered painfully during 
 such a spectacle, and now believed he was bound 
 to await the arrival of a new courier from Paris, 
 before giving general Augereau the notice to 
 march. 
 
 This time the prince of the peace spoke the 
 truth ; M. Azara had received the authorization 
 necessary to sign the conditions imposed by the 
 first consul. It was agreed that Spain should re- 
 main neuter ; that in place of the succours stipu- 
 lated in the treaty of St. Ildefonso, she should pay 
 io Prance a subsidy of (J,000 : 00K f. per month, of 
 which a third should be retained lor the adjust- 
 ment of the balances existing between the two 
 governments ; that Spain should acquit at a single 
 payment the four months which had become due 
 silica the eonmieneeineiit of the war, in a sum of 
 
 16,000,000 f. An agent named Hervas, who trans- 
 acted in Paris the financial business of the court 
 of Madrid, was to go into Holland to negotiate 
 a loan with the house of Hope, and to deliver 
 in payment dollars drawn from Mexico. It was 
 understood that if England declared war against 
 Spain, tin; subsidy should cease. For the con- 
 sideration of this aid, it was stipulated that if the 
 projects of the first consul against England suc- 
 ct • tied, France should restore to her ady Trinidad 
 in the first place, and in ease of a complete triumph, 
 the celebrated fortress ol Gibraltar. 
 
 This treaty being signed, M. Azara insisted no 
 less strenuously on giving in his resignation, al- 
 though he was destitute of fortune, and deprived of 
 
 Kk
 
 Design of the first consul 
 498 upon Ireland. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Immense activity of 
 the first consul. 
 
 1803. 
 Sept. 
 
 every Kind of resource to solace a precocious old 
 age. He died at Paris some months afterwards. 
 The prince of the peace had so little dignity as to 
 •write to his agent Hervas, and to desire him, as he 
 said, to arrange his personal concerns with the 
 first consul. All that had passed was, according 
 to him, only a misunderstanding; one of those ordi- 
 nary differences between persons who love each 
 other, and who are afterwards greater friends than 
 they were before ! Such was this personage, and 
 such was the force and elevation of his character. 
 
 Autumn had arrived ; the bad season ap- 
 proached, and one of the three opportunities re- 
 ported to be the best for the passage of the straits 
 ■was about to present itself in the fogs and long 
 nights of the winter season. Then the first consul 
 occupied himself without respite with his great 
 enterprise. The end of the quarrel with Spain 
 had come at the exact moment, not only to pro- 
 cure him pecuniar)' resources, but to render a 
 part of his troops disposable. The assemblage of 
 troops drawn towards the side of the Pyrenees 
 was dispers d, and the corps which composed 
 it marched towards the ocean. Several of these 
 corps were quartered at Saintes, to be all carried 
 by the squadron from Rochefort, others were 
 ordered to Britany to be embarked in the grand 
 squadron at Brest. Augereau commanded the 
 cam]) formed in that province. The design of the 
 first consul ripened in his head by liitle and little : 
 it now seemed to him, that in order to trouble yet 
 more the government of England, he must attack on 
 several points at once, and that a part of the one 
 hundred and fifty thousand men destined for the 
 invasion should be thrown upon Ireland. Tins 
 was the object of the preparations ordered at 
 Brest. The minister Decres had conferred with 
 the Irish fugitives, who had already made an 
 attempt to detach their country from England. 
 They promised a general insurrection in case of 
 the disembarkation there of eighteen thousand 
 men, with a complete materiel and a good quantity 
 of arms. They required as the price of their 
 efforts, that France should not make peace without 
 exacting the independence of Ireland. The first 
 consul consented, upon the condition that a body of 
 twenty thousand men at least should have joined 
 the French army and fought with it during the 
 time of the expedition. The Irish were confident, 
 and full of promises, as all emigrants are sure to 
 be ; yet there were among them those who did 
 not give such great hopes, and who did not promise 
 any effective aid on the part of the population. 
 Still, according to these last, it would lie found 
 well wishers, and that was enough to ensure sup- 
 port to the French army, to cause serious embar- 
 rassment to England, and to paralyze perhaps forty 
 or fifty thousand of its soldiers. The expedition 
 to Ireland had again the advantage of keeping the 
 enemy uncertain about the true point of attack. 
 Without this expedition England would have be- 
 lieved in only one object on the part of her enemy, 
 that of traversing the straits to direct an army 
 upon London. On the contrary, with the prepa- 
 rations at Brest, many believed that those made at 
 Boulogne were oidy a feint, and that the true 
 design consisted in a great expedition to Ireland. 
 The doubts thus inspired were productive of a 
 primary result exceedingly useful. 
 
 The fleet that had put into Ferrol was at length 
 introduced into the docks, in due course of repara- 
 tion, provided with the refreshments of which the 
 crews stood in pressing need. That at Toulon 
 was in course of preparation. In Holland they 
 began to equip a squadron of the line, and to unite 
 a mass of boats necessary for the formation of the 
 Batavian flotilla. But it was at Boulogne princi- 
 pally that every thing proceeded with marvellous 
 order and rapidity. 
 
 The first consul, full of the persuasion that it was 
 necessary to see every thing himself, that the surest 
 agents are often incorrect in their reports, through 
 default in attention, or want of sufficient intelli- 
 gence where they do not willingly report untruly, 
 created for himself a dwelling at Boulogne, where 
 he had the intention of frequently sojourning. He 
 had ordered to be hired a small chateau in a 
 village called Pont de Briques, and he had ordered 
 the necessaries required to inhabit it with his mili- 
 tary household. He left St. Cloud in the evening, 
 passing over the sixty leagues which separate 
 Paris from Boulogne with the rapidity that ordi- 
 nary princes set out to pursue their vulgar plea- 
 sures ; he arrived the following day by noon on the 
 theatre of his immense labours, and would then 
 examine every thing before going to sleep for a 
 moment. He had exacted of admiral Bruix, worn 
 down with fatigue, sometimes in a state of agi- 
 tation from his quarrels with the minister Decres, 
 that he should not lodge at Boulogne, but on the 
 shore, upon an eminence from whence he could 
 command the port, the road, and the camps. There 
 had been constructed for him a barrack of wood, 
 well caulked and secured, in which this officer, so 
 much regretted, terminated his earthly career, 
 having continually before him every part of the 
 immense creative labour over which he presided. 
 He resigned himself to this perilous dwelling 
 during his declining existence, in order to satisfy 
 the uneasy vigilance of the chief of the govern- 
 ment '. 
 
 1 Here is an extract from the correspondence of the min- 
 ister Decres, which proves the devotion of admiral Bruix to 
 the enterprize, and well depicts the nature of his character, 
 only that his sufferings were less imaginary than the minister 
 Decres says, because he died ill the following year. 
 
 " The minister of the navy and colonies to the first consul. 
 
 "Boulogne, 7 th January, 1804. 
 
 *' Citizen Consul, — Admiral Bruix has not dissimulated 
 jour discontent ; he appears very much relieved at finding 
 in me a disposition to speak to him with confidence. He 
 always sees general Latouche at the gates of Boulogne, and 
 this idea is any thing but agreeable to him. 
 
 " ' The business here is so great and so important.' he 
 said to me, very nobly, ' that it cannot be confided except to 
 such a man as the first consul shall judge most worthy of it. 
 I conceive that no partial considerations should be admitted ; 
 and if the first consul believes Latouche more capable, he 
 will nominate him, and he will do well. For myself, at the 
 point which things have reached, I shall not be able to 
 abandon the duty, and will serve under the orders of La- 
 touche. But will my health permit me? Yes, it must 
 permit me; and I am nearly sure it will do so. The first 
 consul demands so much activity! he gives an example so 
 extraordinary! Very well, this example I have seen well 
 enough is a lesson given to myself, and the lesson shall not be 
 lost.' ' What, then, will you enter into all the tletails, will you 
 inspect every vessel ?' ' Yes, I will do it when lie wishes it, 
 although it is my principle that this method is not equal to
 
 1803. 
 Sept. 
 
 Defensive preparations 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 on the shons. 
 
 409 
 
 The first consul had a similar barrack con- 
 structed for his own personal use, very near that 
 of the admiral, and he sometimes passed whole 
 days and nights there. He insisted that the gene- 
 mis Davnut, Ney, and Soult, should reside, without 
 interruption, in the midst of the camps, assisting 
 personally at the works &Bd :lt she manoeuvres, 
 and giving him every day an account of the mi- 
 nutest circumstances. General Soult, who distin- 
 guished himself by the valuable quality of vigilance, 
 was of great and constant utility to him. When 
 the first consul had received from his lieutenants 
 Ins daily correspondence, which he always an- 
 swered at the moment, he set out to verify himself 
 the exactness of the reports which they had ad- 
 dressed to him, never trusting for any thing but to 
 his own eyes. 
 
 The English had set themselves to annoy the 
 labourers in the execution of the works designed 
 to protect the anchorage at Boulogne. Their 
 cruisers, composed generally of about twenty 
 vessels, of which three or four were ships of 
 
 . emy-four guns, five or six frigates, and ten or 
 a dozen brigs and sloops, with a certain Dumber of 
 gun-boats, Iliads a continual fire upon the work- 
 in. n. Their balls, passing over the shore, had 
 (alien in the port and in the camp. Although their 
 projectiles had caused but little damage, the fire 
 was very disagreeable, and might, when a number 
 *£ vessels were assembled, cause the most unfor- 
 tunate ravages, and perhaps a destructive incen- 
 diarism. One night, the English advanced with 
 great audacity in their boats, surprised the working 
 place where the labour for the construction of 
 the wooden fort was going forwards, cut away the 
 monkeys that served to drive the piles, and knocked 
 up the work for several days. The first consul 
 hewed great discontent at this attack, and gave 
 new orden, so as effectually to prevent a similar 
 attack in future. Armed gun-boats were placed 
 
 -entiuels, having to pass the night around the 
 work-. Tin- labourers encouraged, their honour 
 piqued, like that of soldiers led in presence of an 
 enemy, were brought to labour before the English 
 and under the fire of their artillery. It 
 ■»as at low tide only that they could get at their 
 work, when tie heads of the piles were sufficiently 
 uncovered by the BOB to he able to drive- them; 
 ihe workni' n be^au their labours even before the 
 
 my own in value— to order thinps to be clone, and to show 
 If seldom.' ' But the Brat consul I' ' Ob ! he Is always 
 
 to make himself visible, because tie always makes 
 
 ot Iters submit ; but me who are not lie, nut even Hephestiona 
 t'. los Alexander, I believe must act with a greater reserve. 
 Hnt lie wills; be understands matters in his own way, and 
 I am willing that he should see Dial 1 know bow to do uh.it 
 he wishes.' 
 
 " lien-, thru, citizen con«ul, is a summary of a part of 
 my dialogue with him. He behaved marvellously well ; 
 
 mi s mi genrr ■ bum In si tin- end oi our i 
 
 enee. ami having Inqj | his health, he pawed 
 
 nly to his moribund manner, and began lo complain 
 in a lamenting lone of voice— a i>ucii <c involuntarily paid 
 to hi. i,id habit. 
 
 " Pram all he said to me, it results that he trembl. 
 houltl take the command from bun; thai in- did nut 
 
 ■ al from me he had siirh a dread ; and that In- pi 
 »<l0 in the fullest detail, all thai of which you have 
 givtrri him the example, to commence l.wn to day. 
 
 " Dr.< res." 
 
 complete retirement of the tide, resting after it 
 had risen, one-half of their bodies in the waves, 
 working and sinking under the bullets of the 
 
 O B Ss 
 
 English. Nev< rtheless, the first consul, with his 
 never-failing fecundity of mind, devised new pre- 
 cautions to keep the enemy at a distance. He 
 made experiments on the shore, in trying the 
 effect of the fire of heavy cannon under an angle 
 of forty-rive degrees of elevation, in the same way 
 in which shells are discharged from a mortar. 
 The experiment succeeded, and the balls of a 
 twenty-four pounder were sent to the distance of 
 two thousand three hundred toises 1 , which obliged 
 the English to keep further off. It did better still 
 than this; thinking continually of the same thing, 
 he was the first to devise the means which, in 
 the present day, causes frightful havoc, and 
 seems about to exercise a great influence in mari- 
 time warfare, that of hollow projectiles employed 
 against vessels. He ordered than to fire on the 
 vessels with large shells, which, bursting in the 
 timber or among the sails and yards, would pro- 
 duce breaches fatal to the hull of the vessel, or 
 great destruction in the rigging. " It is with pro- 
 jectiles that explode," he wrote, " that timber 
 must be assailed." Nothing is done easily, above 
 all, when there are old prejudices to conquer. He 
 had continually to reiterate the same instructions. 
 When the English, in place of the solid balls which 
 traversed like a thunder-bolt all which was in their 
 passage, but left no more extended mischief behind 
 than was caused by their own diameter, saw a pro- 
 jectile, which had less impulsion, it is true, but 
 that exploded like a mine, either in the sides of 
 the vessels, or over the heads of the defenders, 
 they were surprised, and kept at a distance. 
 Lastly, to obtain greater security, the first consul 
 devised a means not less ingenious. He had an 
 idea of establishing submarine batteries, in other 
 words, he had placed, at the level tif low water, 
 heavy cannon and mortars, which were covered at 
 high tide by the sea, and uncovered at the ebb. 
 It cost much trouble to secure the platforms upon 
 which the guns rested, so as to prevent their being 
 covered with sand and tin accumulation of matter 
 brought up by the sea. Nevertheless, the plan 
 succeeded, and at the time of low water, which 
 was that of work, when the English advanced to 
 disturb the labourers, they \v re received by dis- 
 charges of artillery on a sudden from low water 
 mark, in such a way, that the fire advanced," in 
 a certain sense, and retired with the sea itself. 
 These batteries wire only employed during the 
 time of the construction of the forts; they became 
 useless when the forts were Completed'. 
 
 The woodi n fort was the first finished, owing 
 to the nature of the construction. Solid plat- 
 forms were established upon the heads of the piles, 
 some feet above the highest wat< r mark. This 
 
 work was mounted with ten pieces of large calibre, 
 and with several mortars of a long range. Winn 
 
 they began to fire, the English no more mads 
 their appearance at the entrain f the port All 
 
 the heights along the shore were mounted with 
 
 • About 11,700 feet English measure, 01 2] miles. — Trans. 
 ' All the details that are glVOII Inn- an extracted from 
 
 ih.. ui Iglnal correspondence of Admiral Brulj and of Napo- 
 
 laODi which has been Un'i-ady (incited. 
 B k S
 
 500 
 
 Employment of the 
 troops. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Concentration of the 
 
 flotilla. 
 
 1803. 
 Sept. 
 
 twenty-four pounders, thirty-six pounders, and 
 mortars. About five hundred guns were placed 
 in battery, and the coast, rendered unapproachable, 
 received, both from the French and English, the 
 name of the " iron coast." In this interval the 
 forts in masonry were completed without any other 
 obstacle than that arising from the sea. At the 
 commencement of the winter, more particularly, 
 the waves sometimes became so furious, under the 
 influence of the winds from the channel, that they 
 shook and inundated the loftiest and most solid 
 constructions. Twice they lifted entire courses 
 of the masonry, and precipitated into the bottom 
 of the sea the largest blocks of stone, from the 
 summit of the walls in course of erection. These 
 two important constructions were continued, not- 
 withstanding, as being indispensable to the security 
 of the anchorage. 
 
 During the construction of these works, the 
 troops drawn near to the coast had constructed 
 their barracks and traced their camps, making of 
 them perfect military cities, divided into quarters, 
 and traversed by long streets. This necessary 
 labour first completed, they were divided about 
 the basin of Boulogne. The task was apportioned 
 among them, and each regiment excavated a de- 
 termined part of the enormous mass of sand and 
 slime which filled up the bed of the Liane. Some 
 dug out the bed of the Liane itself, or the semi- 
 circular basin ; others drove the piles required to 
 form the quays. The works at Wimereux and at 
 Ambleteuse, of which the practicability of the 
 execution had been acknowledged possible, were 
 already undertaken. They laboured in extracting 
 the mud and sand; they constructed sluices, in 
 order to deepen the channel by repeated discharges 
 of water; while other detachments were occupied 
 in making roads to unite together the ports of 
 Wimereux, Ambleteuse, Boulogne, and Etaples, 
 and these ports themselves with the neighbouring 
 forests. 
 
 The troops devoted to these rough labours were 
 relieved after the accomplishment of their task, 
 and those who had ceased to remove the earth 
 became occupied with manoeuvres of all kinds proper 
 to perfect their military instruction. Dressed in the 
 coarse clothes of workmen, secured by sabots from 
 the humidity of the soil, well lodged, well fed, owing 
 to the price of their labour added to their pay; 
 living in the open air, they enjoyed in the midst of 
 the rudest climate and the worst season the must 
 perfect health. Content, occupied, full of confi- 
 dence in the enterprise which was preparing, they 
 acquired every day that redoubled physical and 
 moral strength which might well serve them to 
 conquer the world. 
 
 The moment at length arrived to concentrate 
 the flotilla. The construction of the boats of all 
 kinds was nearly achieved every where. They had 
 been brought down to the mouths of the different 
 rivers ; and they had been rigged and armed in the 
 ports. The workmen in timber who had become 
 idle in the interior, had been formed into com- 
 panies, and marched as well to Boulogne as to the 
 surrounding ports. It was proposed they should 
 be employed in furnishing and keeping the flotilla 
 in order until the moment it was wanted. 
 
 It was then necessary to proceed to the work of 
 concentration, which was waited for impatiently by 
 
 the English, with the confidence of destroying to 
 the last the light French gun flotilla. Here a 
 judgment may be formed of the mental resources 
 of the first consul. The divisions of the flotilla 
 which had to reach Boulogne, were to depart from 
 all the points on the coast of the sea from Bayonne 
 to the Texel, in order to rally in the straits of 
 Calais. They were to coast the shore, and to keep 
 themselves always at a very slight distance from 
 the land, and to run ashore when they were too 
 closely pressed by the English cruisers. One or 
 two accidents which occurred to the vessels of the 
 flotilla, furnished the first consul with the idea of 
 a system of succour as sure as it was ingenious. 
 He had seen some boats run upon the shore to 
 avoid the enemy, and happily and effectually suc- 
 coured by the inhabitants of the neighbouring 
 villages. Struck by this circumstance, lie dis- 
 tributed along the sea-shore numerous corps of 
 cavalry from Nantes to Brest ; from Brest as far 
 as Cherburg; and from Cherburg to Havre and 
 Boulogne. These corps of cavalry, divided by 
 the arrondissements, had with them batteries of 
 artillery ready horsed, and trained to move with 
 extreme rapidity, and to gallop along the hard 
 sands which the sea left uncovered upon retiring. 
 These sands, that are called the estran, are in 
 general so solid as to bear horses and carriages. 
 The cavalry, having the artillery following them, 
 were to scour the shore, continually advancing and 
 retiring with the sea, protecting by fire the boats 
 moving along in-shore. Commonly only guns of 
 small calibre were harnessed; the first consul had 
 pushed forward the employment of adequate 
 means so as to harness sixteen-pounders, to pro- 
 ceed as fast as seven or eight-pounder field-pieces. 
 He ordered each horseman to be trained for every 
 part of the duty ; to dismount and serve the guns, 
 or run, carbine in hand, to the aid of the seamen 
 ashore upon the beach. " It is necessary to make 
 the hussars remember," he writes to the minister 
 at war, " that a French soldier ought to be a 
 horseman, artilleryman, and foot-soldier, that he 
 ought to cope with all 1 ." Two generals, Lemar- 
 rois and Sebastiani, were charged with the com- 
 mand of this cavalry. They had orders to be on 
 horseback continually, to make the squadrons 
 manoeuvre daily with the guns, and to keep them- 
 selves constantly aware of the movement of the 
 convoys, in order to escort them on their way 2 . 
 
 i Dated the 29th of September, 1803. 
 
 2 The following letter, written at the moment some negli- 
 gence had been shown, proves in what a state he had placed 
 the coast : — 
 
 " To general Davout. 
 
 " 30th October, 1803. 
 
 " Citizen General Davout, — I have not seen without 
 pain, by the report of the brigadier Seras, that the Euplish 
 have had time to pillage and unrig a boat that was on shore 
 between Gravelines and Calais. In the existing situation of 
 the coast, never will a like event happen from Bordeaux. 
 Detachments of cavalry and flying artillery should have 
 arrived to prevent the English from pillaging the vessel. 
 Here is the second time that the vessels on shore upon the 
 toast have received no succour. The fault rests with whom- 
 soever you charged with the care of that part of the coast. 
 Order two generals of brigade to inspect the coast, the one 
 from Calais to Dunkirk, the other from Dunkirk to the 
 Scheldt. Let picquets of cavalry be disposed in such a man-
 
 1803. 
 Sept. 
 
 Concentration of the vessels 
 at Boulogne. 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGiNE. 
 
 Opposition of the English. 
 
 501 
 
 This system produced, as will be seen, very ex- 
 cellent results. The vessels were divided into con- 
 voys <>(' thirty, fifty, and even sixty sail. • They be- 
 gan to arrive towards the end of September from 
 St. Malo, Granville, Cherburg, the river of Caen, 
 Havre, and St. Vallery. There were uot many 
 between the h^t and Brest ; but the English 
 watched that part of the coast with too much care 
 for the passage to be hazarded, alter having made 
 numerous experiments 1 . It was not the same 
 commandant who conducted the convoys all the 
 way from their point of departure to that of their 
 arrival. It was th aght that the naval officer who, 
 lor example, was well acquainted with the c asts 
 of Britauy, was not equally so with those of Nur- 
 nianily ami Picardy. The commanders were there- 
 fore distributed according to their local knowledge, 
 and as pili t coast* is they did not go out of the arron- 
 ment which was fixed upon lor their station. 
 
 ner as to watch without ceasing, and let guns be placed 
 ready harnessed, in such a manner that at the fust 
 they will be able to arrive in the least possible- time at the 
 places where the boats may have run aground. In fine, 
 these general inspectors ought to be always on horseback, 
 making the land-artillery manoeuvre, inspecting the artillery- 
 men, guarding the coast, escorting the flotillas on the 
 strand when they are in movement. Let me know the 
 names of all the posts which you may place, and the spot 
 Where you have established the flying artillery." 
 
 1 This aro^e from the nature of the coast and the deeper 
 water than on the flat shores found more to the north- 
 ward, which enabled the ships of war to approach pretty 
 near the land. Sir Sidney Smith, after making an attack 
 on one of these convoys of boats off the northern part of the 
 coast, corroborated this system of protection as very effec- 
 tual, owing principally to the shoal water, in one case he 
 wrote, speaking of one of these convoys, " Having found a 
 • for the Antelope, she was enabled to bring her 
 broadside to bear upon the headmost vessels before they got 
 the length of Ostend. The leader struck immediately, and 
 her crew deserted her. She was, however, recovered by the 
 followers; the artillery from the town and camp and the 
 rowing gun-boats kept a constant fire from the pier; our 
 shot, however, which went over their vessels, going on 
 shore among the horse artillery, interrupted it in some de- 
 gree; still, however, it Vat from the share we received the 
 greatest annoyance; for the Vessels crowding along, they 
 could not bring their guns to hear without altering their 
 cour-c towards US, which they would nut venture to do; and 
 their >ide cum, though numerous and well served, were 
 
 very light. . . . Beveral ol the vessels were driven on 
 
 shore, and t I -. the army, . . . I have anchored 
 
 in such pan eye upon them; ami I shall 
 
 endeavour' pin if they move into d 
 
 water. I 1 "t, that from the depth of water m 
 
 which thtie vetiris move, gun boati alone can act againii 
 
 them with rfect." The conseqoenoa was, that sir Sidney, 
 
 out of ■ Si strm k, could hnng oil' bill I. To take 
 
 possession of the o hers, he must have gone in with open 
 boats, when the lire of the artillery on short would have 
 covered effectually thus- that ran aground, under thi 
 
 lection oi tie. troops, for tliej i ould not lied without 
 
 great loss of men Sir Sidney tie , ctive 
 
 na'ure of Napol ton's U an for tin ir protection, while uniting 
 
 at Boulogne. Thai In d sp watei their own means of de- 
 would hue availed them little, was abundantly 
 
 proved, and when Riled with the troops they were lis tl 
 to embark, they would have oil red a leal formldabll 
 ance, from their crowded state. The only wish of the 
 ih was, to gel them out into deep water, when their 
 numbers would rather have accelerated th an Impeded thell 
 inevitable fate, had their squadrons met them. — Tram- 
 tator. 
 
 They received the convoys at the limit of their 
 
 arrondisseniiiit, and conducted them as far as the 
 limit of toe neighbouring arrondissement, thus trans- 
 mitting them from hand to hand until they reached 
 Boulogne. They embarked troops in these vessels, 
 even horses in those designed to receive them ; they 
 were, in fact, laden as they were intended to be du- 
 ring the passage from France to England. The first 
 cousul had ordered an examination to be made with 
 the greatest care how they carried themselves at 
 sea under the cargo which they were to transport. 
 
 Towards the end of September, or first days of 
 Yendemiaire, year xil., a first division, composed 
 of gun-vessels, gun-boats, and pinnaces, left Dun- 
 kirk to double cape Grisnez and enter Boulogne. 
 Captain St. Ilaoucn, an excellent officer, who com- 
 manded this division, although a bold man, pro- 
 d with the utmost precaution. When he was 
 off Calais he suffered himself to be alarmed by an 
 unimportant circumstance. He saw the English 
 cruisers disappear, as if going in search of other 
 lis. lie feared he should be assailed by 
 a numerous squadron, and in place of carrying ail 
 sail to reach Boulogne, he took refuge in the 
 harbour of Calais. Admiral Bruix having re- 
 ceived notice of this error, went in person to the 
 place, in order, if possible, to repair the fault. In 
 
 fact, the English s< appealed in great strength; 
 
 anil it became evident that they were going to fall 
 upon the port of Calais to prevent the passage out 
 of the division which had taken refuge there. The 
 admiral proceeded to Dunkirk in order to hurry 
 forward the organization of the second division, 
 which was nearly ready in that port, and to make 
 it come to the aid of the first. 
 
 The English came before Calais with a con- 
 siderable force, and more particularly with several 
 bomb-vessels. During the 27th of September, or 
 4th Vendemiairc, they threw a great number of 
 shells into the town and port. They killed two or 
 three persons, but did not destroy any vessel. The 
 batteries harnessed went to the shore at a gallop, 
 and returned a well-sustahn d lire, obliging them 
 to retire. They went "II' much mortified at having 
 produced so slight an effect. The next day ad- 
 miral Bruix ordered the division of St. Haouen to 
 put to sea to insult the enemy's eruis. is, and to 
 prevent a second bombardment of the town, ac- 
 cording to circumstances to double cape Grisnez, 
 and in fact enter Boulogne. The second division 
 
 from Dunkirk was t . < set. sail at the same time, 
 under the ( maud of captain PeVrieUX, to sup- 
 port the Bret Rear-admiral Mngon, who com- 
 manded at Boulogne, had orders en bis side to 
 enme out of the porl with all bis disposable force, 
 ami to keep under sail in order to give assistance 
 to the divisions of St. I laouen and lYvrieux if they 
 
 proceeded to double cape Grisnez. 
 
 On the 2<ilh of September, in the morning, or 
 5th of Vendemiaire, _\e;,r Mi., captain St. Ilaoucn 
 
 boldly came out ol Calais, and advanced about a can- 
 non-shot distance. Tbe English made a movement 
 
 in order to bear off to the wind. Captain St, 
 Haouen profited ably by the movement, which 
 
 took them in a contrary direction, and crowded all 
 
 sail towards cape Grisnez; but he was soon after- 
 wards approached by the English a little beyond 
 
 the eape, ami attacked by a violl lit lire of artillery. 
 It seemed as if about twenty of the enemy's vessels,
 
 502 
 
 Concentration of the THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. vessels at Boulogne. 
 
 IS03. 
 Oct. 
 
 every one of large size, must have sunk the light 
 vessels of the French, hut no mischief was done. 
 Captain St. Haouen continued his course under the 
 halls of the English without suffering much. A 
 battalion of the 46'th and a detachment of the 22d, 
 embarked on board these vessels, managed their 
 oars with admirable coolness under a warm, hut, 
 happily, not a very murderous fire. At the same 
 time the moveable batteries on shore hastened 
 down to the sea, and answered with effect to the 
 English artillery. Finally, in the afternoon, cap- 
 tain St. Haoiieii moored in the road of Boulogne, 
 and was joined by the detachment that had come 
 out of port under the orders of rear-admiral Ma- 
 gon. The second division of Dunkirk, which had 
 put to sea, had advanced on its course so far as to 
 come within sight of cape Grisnez. But stopped 
 by tide and calm it was obliged to anchor on that 
 side along an uncovered coast. It remained in 
 this position until the moment, when, the current 
 changing, they were enabled to proceed to Bou- 
 logne. They had no wind, and they were obliged 
 to use their oars. Fifteen English vessels, frigates, 
 corvettes, and brigs, awaited them at cape Grisnez. 
 At this place the water was deeper, and the Eng- 
 lish cruisers could approach near the shore without 
 the French having the resource left them of run- 
 ning aground, and in consequence great fears were 
 entertained in their behalf. But they passed, as 
 those of the preceding evening had done; the 
 French soldiers managed the oars with great 
 boldness, and the English received from the 
 land batteries more mischief than they were able 
 to cause to the French gun-vessels. The flotilla of 
 Boulogne and the division of St. Haouen, which 
 had reached the port the evening before, went out 
 again in order to join the division of Pevrieux. 
 They came up with it at the heights called the 
 Tour de Croy, before Wimereux. There the three 
 divisions united, stopped, and formed a line, pre- 
 senting to the English their prows armed with 
 cannon; they went right towards them and fired 
 upon them warmly. The fire lasted for two hours. 
 The light French vessels sometimes struck the 
 larger ones of the English, and were themselves 
 rarely hit. In the end the English retired, every 
 one so ill treated as to be obliged to go and repair 
 their injuries in the Downs. One of the French 
 vessels, the only one to which the accident oc- 
 curred, pierced through and through by a ball, had 
 time to reach the shore before sinking '. 
 
 1 This shows how close the French were to the land, and 
 proves that they never came beyond the protection of their 
 land batteries. That they were not beyond shell range of 
 the shore, and thai the English were within it, is proved by 
 the fact, that a shell from the shore hurst on board the Leda, 
 one of the squadron. The mischief done to the squadron by 
 these boats, as thus stated, is wholly untrue. Captain 
 Honeymoon, of the Leda, who commanded, wrote to lord 
 Keith as follows, under date of September 29. 1833: — "At 
 daylight this morning;, another squadron of the enemy's 
 gunboats, twenty -five in number, was discovered coming 
 from the eastward. I immediately proceeded to attack 
 them, and after a severe cannonade for nearly three hours, 
 they anchored in the situation with the vessels last night, 
 with the loss of two of them, they having been driven on 
 shore, and bilged upon the rocks. There are at present 
 fifty-five gun -vessels ;it anchor outside the port of Boulogne. 
 I am happy to add that I have no reports of any material 
 injury done to the squadron under my command ; a shell 
 
 This conflict, followed at a later period by many 
 others, more important and more murderous, pro- 
 duced a decisive effect upon the opinion of the 
 navy and army. They saw that their small vessels 
 could not be so easily sent to the bottom by the 
 large ships, and that they struck much oftener 
 their gigantic adversaries than they were them- 
 selves struck; they saw what aid could be obtained 
 from the co operation of the soldiery, who, without 
 being yet exercised, had managed the oars, served 
 the marine-artillery with rare address, and had, 
 more particularly, shown no fear of the sea, and a 
 great deal of zeal in seconding the seamen 2 . 
 
 Scarcely had the first experiments been made, 
 when the greatest ardour was shown to renew 
 them ; numerous convoys successively departed 
 from all the ports of the channel for the general 
 rendezvous at Boulogne. Several naval officers, 
 as the captains St. Haouen and Pevrieux, whose 
 names have been quoted, and the captains Ha- 
 meliu and Daugier, distinguished themselves in this 
 kind of pilotage by their courage and ability. The 
 vessels, moved now by the oar, now by the sail, 
 passed along the coast at a very little distance 
 from the detachments of cavalry and artillery, 
 ready to protect them. They were rarely obliged 
 to seek refuge by running ashore, because they 
 nearly always navigated in sight of the English, 
 sustaining their fire, and sometimes stopping, 
 «hen they had the weather in their favour, to face 
 the enemy, and exhibit to him their prows armed 
 with cannon of heavy metal. Often they made the 
 brigs recoil, the corvettes, and even the frigates. 
 If they ran ashore upon some occasions, it was 
 oftener from the effect of the bad weather than 
 front the power of their adversaries. When this 
 happened, the English entered their, boats to sei e 
 the vessels or pinnaces on shore. But the French 
 artillery galloped with their guns to the spot, 
 or their horsemen, changed at once into infantry, 
 nearly into sailors, ran into the middle of the 
 breakers to the aid of the seamen, drove off the 
 English by the fire of their carbines, and obliged 
 them to put to sett, without carrying off their 
 prize, often after having been deprived of all their 
 boldest sailors. 
 
 In the months of October, November, and De-' 
 cember, nearly a thousand vessels, gun-vessels, 
 gun-boats, and pinnaces, that had departed from 
 other ports, entered Boulogne. Of this number 
 the English did not take more than three or four, 
 nor the sea destroy more than ten or a dozen. 
 
 These short and frequent passages were the 
 causes of many useful observations. They re- 
 vealed the superiority of the gun-vessels over the 
 gun boats. The last were more difficult to move, 
 deflected more, and above all, wanted weight of 
 fire. The defect of the gun-boats was in their 
 construction, and their construction was owing to 
 the necessity of placing field artillery in them, 
 which it would have been well to resign. The 
 pinnaces left nothing to be wished for in relation 
 to speed and management. In other respects, ali 
 
 fell on board the Leda, which burst in her hold, doing lisle 
 injury to the ship, and not hurting a man." Kep;iirs in t!,e 
 Downs were therefore out of the question. — Translator. 
 
 2 These sentiments are found expressed in all the corre- 
 spondence written at Boulogne the day after these two 
 actions. — Author's note.
 
 1803. 
 Oct. 
 
 Alterations made in the 
 
 vessels. 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 Arrangements of the troops 
 on board the vessels. 
 
 503 
 
 the vessels made tolerable way, even without the 
 ai<l of a sail. There were divisions that came 
 from Havre to Boulogne, nearly always under 
 oars, with a middling -speed of about two leagues 
 an hour. Some changes in Btowage, that is to say, 
 in loading them, would have mended their navi- 
 gating qualities. 
 
 I'll ■ experience of th se voyages led to a change 
 in the disposition of the artillery, which was im- 
 mediately executed throughout all the flotilla. The 
 heavy cannon, placed in the bow and stern, ran in 
 grooves, in which they could only move or recoil 
 in a right line. From this it resulted that the 
 Is were obliged to come round in order to fire 
 and to present either the head or stern to the 
 enemy. It was impossible then, when they were 
 making way, to reply to the tire of the English, 
 because at that time they only presented their 
 riifas. Winn coasting, the currents made them 
 keep a position parallel with the shore, or, in other 
 words, offer their disarmed flanks. This arrange- 
 ment was changed when the stability of the vessels 
 bad been proved, and it had been further secured 
 by a better calculated system of stowage. Car- 
 - were constructed resembling those used in 
 military service, which permitted of their being 
 fired en belle, that is to say, in every direction. In 
 this way the vessels, on their passage or in the 
 road*, were able to fire, whatever was their posi- 
 tion, without being obliged to come round. The 
 gun-vessels could thus make four discharges in all 
 directions. With a little habit, the landsmen and 
 Bailors came to practise this kind of firing with 
 exactness, and without risk. 
 
 It was thought more particularly useful to 
 rfect intimacy between the seamen 
 and soldiers, by means of appropriating the same 
 Ifl to the sane- troops. The Capacity of the 
 gun-vessels and the gun-boats had been calculated 
 <>n the supposition of their being able to carry a 
 company of infantry, besides artillerymen. That 
 was the foundation which served for the arrange- 
 ment of the general organization of the flotilla. 
 The battalions were then composed of nine com- 
 mand the-demi-brigades of two war battalions, 
 the third remaining at the depot. Theguntvessels 
 and boats were distributed according to this com- 
 position of the troops. Nine gun-vessels or nine 
 gun-boata formed a section, and carried nine com- 
 panies, or one battalion. Two sections formed a 
 division, and carried a demi-brigade. Thus the 
 I or boat answered to the company, the section 
 to the battalion, and the division to the demi- 
 le. Naval officers of a corresponding grade 
 ink commanded the vessel, the section, and 
 the division. To arrive at a perfect uniformity of 
 the troops with the flotilla, each division was as- 
 signed to a demi-brigade, each section to a bat- 
 talion, and each vessel to a company; and this 
 
 asidgi M t, once mad.-, remained unalterable. The 
 
 troop-, were thus always enabled to preserve the 
 
 same vessels, attached to It aa a cavalry soldier to 
 his borse. Too naval and military officers, soldiers 
 and seamen, came by this means to a knowledge of 
 each other, acquired mutual confidence, and were 
 more inclined to give help among themselves. 
 Each company was to furnish the v,-s, | io which 
 ii belonged with a garrison of twenty-five men 
 always embarked. These twenty-live men, form- 
 
 ing one-quarter of a company, remained about a 
 month on board. During all this time they lodged 
 in the vessel with the crew, whether it were at 
 sea manoeuvring, or remaining in port. They did 
 every thing that was done by the sailors them- 
 selves, joining in all the petty manoeuvres, and, 
 above all, exercising themselves in managing the 
 oars and firing the cannon. When they had been 
 for a month inured to this kind of life, they were 
 replaced by twenty-five other soldiers of the same 
 company, who came, for the same space of time, 
 to commence the same naval exercises. Thus suc- 
 cessively the entire company played its part on 
 board the gun- vessels or gun-boats. Each man 
 was thus a soldier on land and on sea; alternately 
 an artilleryman, infantry man, sailor, and even a 
 workman of engineers, in consequence of the 
 labours he executed in the basins. The seamen 
 also took a part in this reciprocal instruction. 
 They had, when on board, the arms of the infantry, 
 and when in port went through, upon the quay, 
 during the day-time, the exercise of the foot 
 soldier. This was, in consequence, a reinforce- 
 ment of fifteen thousand infantry, that after a 
 disembarkation in England, would be able to de- 
 fend the flotilla along the shores where it had 
 run aground. In leaving with them, as reinforce- 
 ments, a dozen thousand men, they would be able 
 to await with impunity on the shore the victories 
 of the army of invasion. 
 
 The pinnaces at first were left out of this system 
 of organization, because they could not carry an 
 entire company, and were better able to land troops 
 rapidly than they were to meet the enemy face to 
 face at sea. Still at a later period they-were ar- 
 ranged in divisions, and the advanced guard was 
 especially confided to them, composed of the gre- 
 nadiers of the army united. In the mean time, 
 they were ranged in thirds of companies in port, 
 and every day the troops to whom boats were not 
 yet assigned, went to exercise either at the move- 
 ment of the oars, or at firing a li^ht howitzer, 
 with which the pinnaces were armed. 
 
 This being arranged, it was necessary to attend 
 to another dut) not less important, that of stowing 
 the vessels. The first consul, in one of his jour- 
 ney-, had made gun- vessels, gun-boats, and pin- 
 naces, be laden and unladen several limes before 
 his own eyes, and arranged their stowage himself 1 . 
 As ballast, he assigned ball, shelis, and munitions 
 of war, in quantity sufficient for a long campaign. 
 He stowed in the hold, biscuit, wine, brandy, 
 Baited meat, and Dutch cheese, sufficient for 
 twenty days' provision lor all the mass of men 
 composing the expedition. Tims the war flotilla 
 would carry, besides the army and its four hun- 
 dred pieces of artillery, harnessed with a couple of 
 h •rses each, the munitions for a campaign, and 
 provisions for twenty days. The transport flotilla 
 would carry, as already said, the surplus of the 
 
 ' " To citizen Fleurieu. 
 
 " Boulogne, 1<; November, 1803. 
 
 " I have passed the (lay here t'> observe tin- installation of 
 a gun-venae! and gun-boat The itowaga is one of the 
 most Important n inceuvrei of the plan of the campaign, in 
 order th.it nothing may lie forgotten, and that all may be 
 equally divided. 
 
 " livery thing begins to take a satisfactory turn."
 
 504 
 
 Exercises of embarkation 
 and disembaikation. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Exercises of the troops 1803. 
 at Boulogne. Nov. 
 
 artillery train, the liorses required for one half of 
 the cavalry, two or three months' provisions, and, 
 finally, all the baggage. To each division of the 
 war flotilla, there was an answering division of the 
 flotilla of transport, the one to navigate after the 
 other. In each vessel, a sub-officer of artillery 
 had the care of the munitions, and a sub-officer of 
 infantry of the provisions. All ought to be con- 
 stantly embarked in the two flotillas, and there 
 ought to remain nothing to put on board at the 
 signal of departure, but the men and horses. The 
 men, frequently exercised to take their arms and to 
 go on board the flotilla, by demi-brigades, batta- 
 lions, and companies, did not require more time 
 than was necessary to go from the camps to the 
 port. As to the horses, they had arrived at a 
 mode of simplifying and accelerating their em- 
 barkation in a surprising manner. However great 
 was the extent of ihe quays, it was still impossible 
 to arrange all the boats alongside them. They 
 wei'e obliged to dispose them to the number of 
 nine, one by the side of the other, the first alone 
 touching the quay. A horse, with a harness that 
 passed round its belly, was lifted from the ground 
 by means of a yard, was transmitted nine times from 
 yard to yard, and disposed in two or three minutes 
 in the ninth vessel. In such a mode, the men and 
 horses were all able to be placed on board the flo- 
 tilla of war in a couple of hours. It would require 
 three or four hours to embark the nine or ten 
 thousand horses in the flotilla of transport. Thus 
 all the heavy baggage being constantly on board, 
 they would always be ready in a few hours to 
 weigh the anchor ; and as it was not possible for 
 such a vast number of boats to leave the port in 
 the space of a single tide, the embarkation of the 
 men and horses would never be the cause of any 
 loss of time. 
 
 After exercises continually repeated, all the 
 manoeuvres required were soon successfully exe- 
 cuted, with as much promptitude as decision. 
 Every day, in all weather short of a storm, there 
 went out from a hundred to a hundred and fifty 
 boats to manoeuvre or moor in the roads before 
 the enemy. They then practised upon the beach 
 the operations of a disembarkation. They exer- 
 cised themselves on board in sweeping the beach 
 by a continual fire of artillery, then approaching 
 the shore, landing there the men, horses, and 
 guns. Often, when they were unable to reach the 
 land, the men were flung into the water where it 
 was five or six feet deep, but none of them were 
 ever drowned, so much address and ardour did 
 they display. Sometimes even the liorses were 
 differently disembarked. They were let down into 
 the sea, and men in boats led them by means of a 
 halter towards the shore. In this way of exer- 
 cising there could not any accident occur in dis- 
 embarking upon an enemy's coast, that was not 
 foreseen, and several times braved, and to these 
 were added all the difficulties that it might be sup- 
 posed possible to vanquish, even that of night 1 , 
 
 ' " To the consul Cambaceres. 
 
 "Boulogne, 9 November, 1803. 
 
 "I passed a part of last night in making the troops per- 
 form night evolutions, a species of manoeuvre that a corps 
 well taught and well disciplined, will sometimes be able to 
 do very advantageously against levies en masse.'' 
 
 excepting under a hostile fii-e. But this would 
 rather be an excitement than an obstacle, for the 
 bravest soldiers in the universe by nature and war- 
 like habit. 
 
 This variety of exercise, by land and sea, these 
 manoeuvres intermingled with rough labours, in- 
 terested these adventurous soldiers, full of imagina- 
 tion, and ambitious as their illustrious chief. A 
 nourishing food, considerably augmented, owing to 
 the price of their labour, added to their pay, con- 
 tinual activity, air the most inspiriting and healthy, 
 all these could not but impart to them extraordi- 
 nary physical energy. The hope to execute a 
 prodigy, added a moral power proportionally great. 
 It was thus that the unparalleled army was pre- 
 pared by degrees, which was to make the conquest 
 of Europe in two years. 
 
 The first consul passed a great part of his time 
 in the midst of the men. He felt himself full of 
 confidence at seeing them so ■ well disposed, so 
 alert, and animated with his own ideas. In their 
 turn they received from his presence a continued 
 excitement. They saw him on horseback, now on 
 the heights of the shore, now at their head, gal- 
 loping over the hard sands that the sea had de- 
 serted, and thus passing over the strand from one 
 port to another 1 ; sometimes embarked in the 
 light pinnaces, going to assist at the petty actions 
 between the gun-vessels and the English cruisers, 
 pushing them upon the enemy so far as to make 
 the frigates and corvettes fall back before the lire 
 of his frail vessels. He was often obstinate in 
 braving the sea; and once having a wish to visit 
 the line of anchorage, in spite of bad weather, he 
 was overset not far from the shore, in re-entering 
 his boat. Fortunately, the men with him found 
 bottom with their feet. The sailors threw them- 
 selves into the sea, and forming a close group, to 
 
 1 He wrote from Etaples to the consul Cambaceres, on the 
 1st of January, 1804 : — 
 
 " I arrived yesterday morning at Etaples, where I write 
 to you from my bairack. There blows a frightful south- 
 west wind. This country resembles quite enough the terri- 
 tory of Eolus. 1 mount my horse in an instant to proceed 
 to Boulogne by the strand." 
 
 He had written before, on the 12th of November : — 
 
 "I received, citizen consul, your letter of the 18th (Bru- 
 maire). 'the sea continues to be stormy, and the rain 
 continues to fall in torrents. I was yesterday on horseback 
 and in boats all the day; this is to tell you that I have been 
 constantly wet. In the present season, theie is nothing to 
 be done if one does not encounter the water. Happily, as 
 far as I am concerned, it suits me perfectly ; I have never 
 been so well. 
 
 " Boulogne, November 12." 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1804, he wrote again to the minis- 
 ter of the navy : — 
 
 "To morrow, at eight in the morning, I shall make an 
 inspection of all the flotilla; I shall see it by divisions. A 
 commissary of the navy will call over all the officers and 
 soldiers that compose the crews. Every one will hold his 
 post of battle in the most perfect order. At the moment 
 when 1 set foot in each vessel, they will salute thrice with 
 ' Long live the republic!' and three t'mes 'Long live the first 
 con-ul ! ' I shall be accompanied in this visit by the chief 
 engineer, the commissary of the armament, and the colonel- 
 commandant of the artillery. 
 
 " During all the time of the inspection, the crews and the 
 garrisons of the flotilla will remain at their posts, and senti- 
 nels will be placed to prevent any body from passing on the 
 quay that overlooks the flotilla."
 
 1803. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Letter of Bonaparte to the 
 consul Cambacerea re- 
 specting England. 
 
 THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE. 
 
 Impatience of the first consul 
 to commence the grand at- 
 tempt on England. 
 
 505 
 
 resist the waves, bore him on their shoulders in 
 the niid^-t of them as they broke over their heads. 
 
 One day, when thus passing along the shore, he 
 became animated at the sight of England, and 
 wrote to the consul Cambaceres :— 
 
 •• I have passed the last three days in the midst 
 of the camp and the port : 1 have seen the coasts 
 of England from the heights of Ambleteose, as one 
 Calvary from the Tuileries. One could dis- 
 tinguish the houses and the movement It is a 
 ditch, which will be passed when one shall have the 
 boldness to attempt it '." 
 
 His impatience to execute this grand undertaking 
 \treme 2 . He had at tirst thought of attempt- 
 
 1 Depot of secretary of state's office, November 10th, 1803. 
 
 * The following letters will exhibit this impatience, and 
 his desire to execute his plan of the expedition in Nivdse I r 
 Pluviose, that is, in January or February. One of these 
 letters is addressed to admiral Ganteaume, who was at that 
 moment commander of the Toulon fleet, before he com- 
 manded that of Brest. The cyphers contained in these 
 letters are not exactly tl.e same as those which have been 
 already given in the present recital, because the first consul 
 did not himself fix, until a little later, on the definitive num- 
 ber of men and vessels. The cyphers here adopted are 
 thou that were definitively arranged. 
 
 "Paris, 23rd November, 1803. 
 
 " You will please to go to Toulon. You will remit the 
 accompanying letter to general Ganteaume; you will there 
 take cognizance of the situation of the navy, of the organiza- 
 tion of the crews, and of the number of vessels in the road, 
 or that will be ready to go there. You will remain at Toulon 
 for a new order. Forty-eight hours after your arrival, you 
 
 :id me an extraordinary courier, with the reply of the 
 general G tnteaume to my letter. The extraordinary courier 
 
 (lied, )ou will write me daily all that you have done, 
 and you will enter into the greatest detail on all parts of the 
 administration. You will go every day, for one or two 
 
 . to the arsenal. You will inform me of the day when 
 the 3rd battalion of the 8th light, which left Antilles, will 
 pass, it having orders to march to St. Omer, to form part of 
 the expedition ; you will proceed yourself to the place near- 
 I oulon that it will pass, in order to inspect it, and 
 you will let me know its condition. 
 
 " You will visit the Hieres Isles, to sec in what manner 
 they are guarded and armed. You will make me a detailed 
 report on all the objects which you see." 
 
 "To general Ganteaume, councillor of state, and maritime 
 prefect at Toulon. 
 
 "Paris, 23 November, 1803. 
 
 "Citizkk General,— I have sent to you general Rapp, 
 
 one of my aides-decamp ; he w ill sojourn some days in 
 
 your port, and will lean in detail all which concerns your 
 
 department. I hive acquainted you, two months ag >, 
 
 Primalre, I counted upon having tin 
 
 Ship* of the line, live frigates, and four corvettes ready to 
 
 te: sail from Toulon, and lhat I desired this squadron 
 
 should he proi lioned for four months, to support 36,000 
 
 I good infantry SoldistS, who will embark on hoard. 1 
 
 t that forty eight hours after the reception of this 
 
 by iio- extraordinary courier of general Rapp, you 
 
 know the precise day when a like squadron will 
 
 be ahi' i from Toulon, and what yon may have in 
 
 the road, and ready to sail at the moment of receiving my 
 letter, and what you will have on the 15th i'rimairc ami |S| 
 . My wish will he that your expedition shall he able 
 to put to sea. at the latest, In the lift days of Ni. 
 
 " I have come fioni Boulogne, When at ihi, moment there 
 
 reign» the greatest si livlty, and I hope to have, towards the 
 Diddle of Nivdse, 300 gun-vessels, 500 gun boats, ami (00 
 pinnace! united, each pinnace carrying an howitzer of 3C 
 
 ing it at the end of autumn ; now he proposed the 
 commencement or at the latest the middle of win- 
 ter. But the labour of the task extended itself at 
 each fresh glance; and every day some new design 
 to make the plan more perfect presented itself to 
 him or to admiral Bruix, which demanded a sacri- 
 fice of time to introduce. The instruction of the 
 soldiers and sailors gained by these inevitable 
 delays, which bore with themselves their own 
 indemnity. In strictness, the projected expedi- 
 tion might have been attempted after this eight 
 months' apprenticeship. Still it required six 
 months more, if it was desired that till .should be 
 ready, that the equipment and the armament 
 should be complete, and that the education of 
 the sea and landsmen should be deficient in 
 nothing. 
 
 But decisive considerations demanded a new 
 delay; these regarded the Batavian flotilla, which 
 was to carry the right wing, commanded by gene- 
 ral Davout. On a wish expressed by the first con- 
 sul, that there should he despatched to him a dis- 
 tinguished officer of the Dutch navy, there had 
 been sent to him the rear-admiral Verhuel. 
 Struck with the intelligence and coolness of this 
 man of the sea, the first consul demanded that 
 he should have the management of all which 
 concerned the organization of the Dutch flotilla. 
 This was conceded agreeably to his request, and 
 there w;is soon impressed upon ift organization 
 all the desired rapidity. This flotilla, prepared 
 in the Scheld, was to be conducted to Ostend, 
 
 pounds ; each gun-vessel three 24-poimders, and each gun- 
 boat one of 24. Let me know your ideas about this flotilla. 
 Do you believe that we shall attain the shores of Albion .' 
 We. shall he able to carry over 11)0,000 men. Eight hours of 
 a night favourable to us will decide the fate of the universe. 
 
 " The minister of the navy has continued his tour towards 
 Flushing, visiting the Batavian flotilla, composed of a hun- 
 dred gun-vessels, three hundred gun-boats, capable of carry- 
 ing 30,000 men, and the fleet of the Texel, capable of carry- 
 ing 30,000 men. 
 
 " I have no need to stimulate your zeal, I know that you 
 will do all that is possible. Count upon my esteem." 
 
 "Paris, 12 January, 1804. 
 " To citizen Daugier, capitaine de Vaisseau, commanding 
 the battalion of seamen of the guard. 
 
 "Citizen Daugieu,— I desire that you start In a day's 
 time from Paiis, in order to proceed in a right line to 
 Cherbourg. You will give orders for the departure of the 
 Vessels Of the flotilla, which are to he found in that port, and 
 you will remain there the time necessary to remove all ob- 
 Staclea, anil to accelerate the expedition. 
 
 " Vou will visit all the pons out of jour way, where vou 
 know that there are vessels belonging to the flotilla 
 will press their departure, and you will give Instructions 
 that the vessels do not remain for entire months in those 
 
 ports, particularly at Dlelette, 
 
 " Vou will fulfil the same mission at Cherbourg, at Gran- 
 ville, and St. Malo. You will write me from these two 
 ports. 
 
 "You will fulfil the same mission at Loricut, Nantes, 
 Ho i liefort, Bordeaux, and lt.iynnne. 
 
 "The season advances; all that shall not have reached 
 
 Boulogne In the course of Pluviose, will not be of any ser- 
 vice to us, it is necessary, therefore, thai yon push the 
 works to activity In consequi 
 
 "Vou will assure yourself that the dispositions which 
 have been made to furnish the complements for the vessels 
 
 fflcient In each port."
 
 Chances of success 
 506 through a cover- 
 
 ing fleet. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Napoleon suddenly re- 
 called to the affairs of 
 the interior. 
 
 1803. 
 Nov. 
 
 because they had recognised the danger of setting 
 out from points so far apart as the Scheld and 
 Boulogne. Lastly, from Ostend there was the hope 
 of getting them to Ambleteuse and Wimereux, 
 when these two ports should be completed. There 
 would then be the advantage of halving tin immense 
 expedition all at one point, and thus making set out 
 together one hundred and twenty thousand men, 
 ten thousand horses, with fifteen thousand sailors, 
 placed under the same direction of the compass, at 
 four ports contiguous to each other. Lut in order 
 to do that, several months more were required, for 
 the perfect equipment of the Batavian flotilla, and 
 the completion of the ports of Wimereux and Atn- 
 bleteuse. 
 
 Two other portions of the army of invasion were 
 not yet ready ; the squadron at Brest, destined to 
 throw the corps of Augereau into Ireland, and the 
 Dutch squadron in the Texel, which was to em- 
 bark the twenty thousand men encamped between 
 Utrecht and Amsterdam. It was these two corps 
 which were designed, when joined to the one hun- 
 dred and twenty thousand men at Boulogne, to 
 carry the total force to one hundred and sixty 
 thousand men, which, without the sailors, was the 
 total of the army of invasion. It yet wanted seve- 
 ral months before the fleet at the Texel and that 
 at Brest would be completely ready for service. 
 
 There remained a last condition to ensure suc- 
 cess, and this condition the first consul regarded 
 as bringing for his enterprise the certainty itself. 
 The vessels were now proved perfectly able to 
 pass the six Leagues across the straits, when the 
 greater part of them had navigated a hundred ami 
 two hundred leagues in order to reach Boulogne, 
 and often by their fire, divided and grazing, had 
 answered with advantage to the dominant and con- 
 centrated fire of the shipping. They had the 
 chance of passing without being touched or seen, 
 whether in the calms of spring or in the fogs of 
 winter ; and on the most unfavourable supposition, 
 if they were exposed to encounter the twenty-five 
 or thirty corvettes, brigs, or frigates of the English, 
 they would be able to pass, if it must be by the 
 sacrifice of a hundred gun-vessels cr gun-boats, 
 out of the two thousand three hundred of which 
 the flotilla was composed l . But there was one 
 case in which every bad hazard disappeared, and 
 
 1 The following is an extract of a letter from the minister 
 Decres, who was of all the men employed near Napoleon, 
 the one who had the fewest illusions, and who shows that 
 with the sacrifice of a hundred vessels, he believed it possi- 
 ble to cross : — 
 
 "Boulogne, 7 January, 1S04. 
 
 " The minister of the navy to the first consul. 
 "They begin to believe (irmly in the flotilla, that the de- 
 parture is nearer than most people suppose, and they pro- 
 
 that was the chance of a great French squadron 
 appearing upon a sudden in the straits, driving 
 away the English cruisers, domineering in the 
 channel for two or three days, and thus covering 
 the passage of the flotilla. In this case there 
 could be no doubt ; all the objections raised against 
 the enterprise fall before it at once, unless indeed 
 that of a sudden tempest be admitted, an improba- 
 ble chance if the seasons were well chosen, and 
 besides, always left out of the calculation. But it 
 was necessary the third squadron of three being line 
 of battle ships, that of Toulon, should be entirely 
 equipped, and it was not ready. The first consul 
 destined it to execute a grand combination, of 
 which no one had the secret, not even the minister 
 of the navy. He ripened this combination in his 
 own mind by degrees, not saying a word to any 
 individual, and leaving the English fully persuaded 
 that the flotilla was to suffice of itself, when it was 
 so completely armed, and every day presented 
 itself in such order to their frigates and vessels. 
 
 This man so audacious in his conceptions, was in 
 their execution the most prudent of soldiers. Al- 
 though he had one hundred and twenty thousand 
 men, united, and in hand, he would not proceed 
 without the concurrence of the Texel fleet, carry- 
 ing twenty thousand men ; the fleet of Brest, 
 carrying eighteen thousand ; without the fleets of 
 Rochelle, Eerrol, and Toulon, destined to clear the 
 straits by a profound manoeuvre. He made every 
 effort to have all these means ready by February, 
 1804, and flattered himself they would be ready, 
 «hon serious and unexpected events in the interior 
 of the republic at once seized all his attention, and 
 snatched him away for a moment from the grand 
 enterprise which had attracted the eyes of the 
 whole world. 
 
 mise me to think seriously ahout it. They begin to shake 
 off all fears of the danger; each of them only sees Caesar and 
 his fortunes. 
 
 "The ideas of the subalterns do not go beyond the limits 
 of the road and its current. They reason respecting the 
 wind, the moorings, and the line of anchorage, like angels. 
 As to the passage, that is your affair. You know better 
 than they, and your eyes are worth more than their spying- 
 glasses. Thej are for all you are ready to do. 
 
 " The admiral himself is so He has never presented you 
 with a plan, because in point of fact he has none. It will 
 be the moment of the execution that will decide him. It is 
 wry possible, being obliged to sacrifice a hundred vessels by 
 drawing the enemy upon them, that the rest, passing 
 at the moment of their rout, would proceed without an 
 obstacle. 
 
 "For the rest, a volume in folio would not contain the 
 development of his ideas, already prepared upon the subject. 
 What will he that which he will adopt? It is for circum- 
 stances to decide." 
 
 BOOK XVIII. 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF GEORGES. 
 
 FEARS OP ENGLAND AT THE SIGHT OF THE PREPARATIONS AT BOULOGNE. — WAR A THING OF ORDINARY OCCUR- 
 RENCE WITH HER — THE OPINION AT FIRST HELD IN LONDON REGARDING THE OBJECTS OF THE FIRST CONSUL; 
 TERROR WITH WHICH THE VIEW OF THEM CONCLUDES.— 1M AGIN AKV MEANS TO RESIST THE FRENCH. — DISCUS-
 
 1803. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Difference of war to England THE CONSPIRACY OF GEORGES. 
 
 and other countries. 
 
 507 
 
 SION OF THOSE MEANS IN PARLIAMENT. — PITT AGAIN COMES TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. — HIS ATTITUDE AND 
 THAT OF HIS FR1 EN DS.— M I LITARY STRENGTH OF THE F.SCLI-H. — WINDHAM DEMANDS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF 
 A REGULAR ARMY, IN IMITATION OF THE FRENCH —THEY LIMIT THEMSELVES TO THE CREATION OF AK-ARMY 
 OF RESERVE, AND TO A LEVY OF VOLUNTEERS — PRECAUTIONS TAKEN TO GUARD THE COAST.— THE BRITISH 
 CABINET RESORTS TO THE MEANS FORMERLY' PRACTISED BY PITT, AND SECONDS THE PLOTS OP THE EMI- 
 GRANTS.— INTRIGUES OF THE ENGLISH DIPLOMATIC AGENTS, DRAKE, SMITH, AND TAYLOR— THE PRINCES WHO 
 HAD TAKEN REFUGE IN LONDON UNITE THEMSELVES WITH GEORGES AND PICHFGRU, AND ENTER INTO A PLOT, 
 IUE OBJECT OF WHICH IS TO ATTACK THE FIRST CONSUL WITH A TROOP OF CHOUANS, ON THE ROAD TO MAL. 
 
 MAISOS. IN ORDER TO INSURE THE ADHESION OF I HE ARMY, UNDER THE SUPPOSITION OF SUCCESS, THEY 
 
 ADDRESS THEMSELVES TO GENERAL MOREAU, THE CHIEF OF THE DISCONTENTED. — 1NTH IGUES OF LAJOLAIS. — 
 FOOLISH HOPES CONCEIVED UION CERTAIN PROPOSALS OF GENERAL MOREAU. — Fl RST DEPARTURE OF A TROOP 
 OF CHOUANS, CONDUCTED BY GEORGES.— THE I R DISEMBARKATION ON THE STRAND AT BIVILLE; THEIR ROUTE 
 ACROSS NORMANDY.— GEORGES, HID IN PARIS. PREPARES THE MEANS OF EXECUTION.— SECOND DISEMBARKA- 
 TION, COMPOSED OF PICHEGRU AND SEVERAL EMIGRANTS OF HIGH RANK — PICHEGIIU HAS A CONFERENCE 
 WITH MOREAU. — HE FINDS HI.M IRRITATED AGAINST THE FIRST CONSUL, WISHING loll HIS FALL AND DEATH; 
 BUT IS IN Ni> WAY DISPOSED TO SECOND THE RETURN OF THE BOURBONS.— DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE CON- 
 SPIRATORS. — THEIR DISCOURAGEMENT, AND THE LOSS OF TIME THAT DISCOURAGEMENT ENTAILS. — THE FIRST 
 CONSUL, Will) IS ILL-SERVED BY THE POLICE SINCE THE RETIREMENT OF FOUCHE, DISCOVERS THE DANGER 
 WITH WHICH HE IS MENACED. — HE ORDERS SOME CHOU INS, RECENTLY ARRESTED, TO BE DELIVERED OVER TO 
 A MILITARY COMMISSION, IN ORDER THAT THEY MAY BE CONSIRAINED TO STATE ALL THEY KNOW.— HE THUS 
 PROCURES AN EVIDENCE — THE WHOLE PLOT DENOUNCED. — SURPRISE AT LEARNING THAT GEORGES AND 
 PICHEGRU ARE IN PARIS, AND THAT MOREAU IS THEIR ACCOMPLICE. — AN EXTRAORDINARY COUNCIL, AND THE 
 RESOLUTION TAKEN TO ARREST MOREAU.— DISPOSITIONS OF THE FIRST CONSUL.— HE IS FULL OF INDULGENCE 
 TO THE REPUBLICANS, AND OF ANGER AGAINST THE ROYALISTS. — HIS DE I EH M I NATION TO STRIKE THEM IN 
 THE MOST UNSPAH1NG MANNER — HE ORDERS THE GRAND JUDGE TO BRING MOREAU TO HIM, THAT HE MAY- 
 TERMINATE ALL, AS REGARDS HIM, IN A PERSONAL AND AMICABLE I XPLANATION. — THE ATTITUDE OF MO- 
 REAU BEFORE THE GRAND JUDGE RENDEItS ABORTIVE THIS KIND RESOLUTION.— THE CONSPIRATORS ARRESTED 
 ALL DECLARE THAT A FRENCH PRINCE IS TO HE AT THEIR HEAD, AND THAT HE HAD A DESIGN TO ENTER 
 FRANCE BY THE BEACH AT B1VELLE. — RESOLUTION OF THE FIRST CONSUL TO SEIZE HIM, AND DELIVER HIM 
 OVER TO A MILITARY COMMISSION. — COLONEL SAVARY SENT TO THE SEA SHORE AT B1VELLE, TO AWAIT THE 
 ARRIVAL OF THE PRINCI AND ARREST HIM. — A TERRIBLE LAW, PUNISHING WITH DEATH WHOSOEVER SHOULD 
 AFFORD AN ASYLUM TO THE CONSPIRATORS. — PA RIS CLOSED AT THE GATES FOR SEVERAL DAYS — SUCCESSIVE 
 ARRESTS OF PICHEGRU, M. DE POL1GNAC, M. DE RIVIERE, AND OF GEORGI S HIMSELF. — DECLARATION OF 
 GEORGES: HE HAD COME TO ATTACK THE FIRST CONSUL BY FORCE OF ARMS. — NEW DECLARATION THAT, A 
 PRINCE WAS TO HE AT THE HEAD OF THE CONSPIRATORS. — INCREASING IRRITATION OF THE FIRST CONSUL. — 
 USELESS ATTEMPT OF COLONEL SAVARY ON THE SHORE ATB1VELLE. — THEY ARE INDUCED TO EXAMINE WHERE 
 ALL THE PRINCES OF THE HOUSE OF BOURBON ARE TO BE FlrSD AT THE MOMENT. — THE DUKE D'ENGHEIN IS 
 THOUGHT OF, WHO WAS AT ETTEN11EIM, ON THE BANKS OF THE RHINE. — A SUB-OFFICER OF GENDARMERIE IS 
 r TO MAKE OCSY RVATIONS —ERRONEOUS REPORT MADE BY THAT SUB OFFICER, AND FATAL COINCIDENCE 
 OP HIS REPORT WITH A NEW DEPOSITION OF A DOMESTIC OF GEORGES — ERROR AND BLINDFOLD ANGER OF 
 THE PIRST CONSUL. — EXTRAORDINARY COUNCIL, AT HIE TERMINATION OF WHICH THE SEIZURE OF THE 
 II RESOLVED LTON — HIS SEIZURE. AND REMOVAL TO PARIS — A POUTION OF THE ERROR COMMITTED 
 I) TOO LATE, — THE PRINCE, SENT BEFORE A MILITARY COMMISSION, IS SHOT IN THE FOSSE OF 
 THE CHATEAU OF V1NCENNES. — CHARACTER OF THAT UNFORTUNATE EVENT. 
 
 England began to 1"' moved at the aspect of the 
 preparations which wen making in face of her own 
 ■liorea ; she bad at first attached to tbem hut little 
 importance. 
 
 War in l' enersJ for an insular country, which 
 ::i toe great eontesta carried on l>y 
 other nations, except with vessels that are gene- 
 rally victorious, and more or leas with armies that 
 act in the character of auxiliaries, to such war is a 
 of little uneasiness, and does not alter the 
 public repose mure than the nigh) itself disturbs 
 1 1 1 • - daily progress of business. The stability of 
 credit in London, amidst the moat lavish effusions 
 of human blood, is ■ striking proof of this fact. If 
 it be added to thi te considerations', that the army 
 is recruited with mercenaries, that she fleel is 
 manned with seamen to whom it matters little 
 whether they live on board the vessels of war or 
 on board those of commerce, hut for whom, on the 
 other hand, the prizes have an infinite attraction, 
 
 it may be better again < ceived, that for such a 
 
 country war is a change which resolves 
 ■imply into a matter of taxation, a s..rt of specu- 
 lation, in which millions an- expended in order to 
 obtain more extended commercial outlets. For 
 
 the aristocratic classes 1 alone commanding the fleets 
 and armies, who spilled their hlood in commanding 
 them, aspired, in fact, to extend the glory of their 
 country as well as to acquire new territory, war 
 resumed all its seriousness, iis perils, hut never at 
 any time its greatest anxiety, because the danger 
 of invasion did not appear to exist. 
 
 It was a war of this kind, and waged in this 
 manner, that Windham, Grenville, and the feeble- 
 minded minister, whom they dragged in their train, 
 believed they had drawn upon their country. They 
 had heard hat- bottomed boats spoken about under 
 the directory, but so often and with so little effect, 
 that they came to the conclusion of believing nothing 
 about them. Sir Sidney Smith, more experienced 
 in the mallei- than his fellow-countrymen, because 
 he had seen by turns the French, Turks, and 
 
 English disembark in Egypt, now in spite of for- 
 midable cruisers, now despite vigorous and good 
 
 soldiers posted upon the shore j Sir Sidney Smith 
 
 1 Nothing can be Dion Unfounded as respects tlie naval 
 lervlceof England) ti"' large majority of the distinguished 
 
 ro tanderi • f which have not si Isan irum thi aristocracy, 
 
 though they have bess rewarded by its distinction! lor their 
 
 services. — Translator.
 
 Uneasiness of England 
 508 at the prospect of in- 
 vasion. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Disposal of the English 
 naval forces. 
 
 1803. 
 Aug. 
 
 had said in his seat in parliament, that it was pos- 
 sible at the utmost to unite sixty or eighty gun- 
 vessela in the channel, or a hundred, if it was de- 
 sirable to exaggerate, but that they could never 
 unite more ; and that twenty-five or thirty thou- 
 sand men were the extreme limit of the forces that 
 it was possible to transport into England. Ac- 
 cording to this officer, the greatest danger that 
 could be apprehended after that was, the descent 
 of a French army in Ireland, double or triple in 
 force to that which had been formerly thrown 
 upon the island ; an army, which having more or 
 less ravaged and agitated the country, would finish 
 as the former had done, by succumbing and laying 
 down its arms. There remained, besides, the 
 animosities always silently existing on the conti- 
 nent against France, — animosities, that soon 
 awakened again, would recall towards the conti- 
 nent the forces of the first consul. There was, 
 therefore, more or less reason to fear the war 
 of the first times of the revolution, signalised 
 anew by victories of general Bonaparte over Aus- 
 tria, but with all the ordinary hazards of a com- 
 plete overturn in a country so fickle as France, 
 which during fifteen years had not supported for 
 three successively the same government, and with 
 the permanent advantage for England of new 
 maritime conquests. These anticipations were 
 realized, owing to many misfortunes and faults ; 
 but it will be seen that during several years dan- 
 gers of the most serious kind menaced the existence 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 The confidence of the English soon gave way at 
 the aspect of the preparations which were made 
 on the coast of Boulogne. They heard of a 
 thousand or twelve hundred flat-bottomed boats 
 (they were ignorant that they numbered two 
 thousand), and were surprised ; nevertheless they 
 encouraged themselves by doubting their union, 
 and, above all, doubting the possibility of their 
 finding shelter in the ports of the channel. But 
 the concentration of these flat- bottomed boats 
 in the straits of Dover was made in spite of 
 the numerous English cruisers ; their good bear- 
 ing at sea, and under fire, the construction of 
 vast basins to receive them, the establishment 
 of formidable batteries to protect them at anchor, 
 the union of one hundred and fifty thousand men, 
 ready to embark in them, made the English lose, 
 one by one, the illusions of a presumptuous se- 
 curity. They well saw that such preparations 
 could not be a mere feint, and that they had 
 too lightly provoked the boldest and most able of 
 men. There were, it is true, old Englishmen, con- 
 fident in the inviolability of their island, who had 
 no faith in the peril with which they were threat- 
 ened ; but the government and the leaders of the 
 different parties did not think doubtful the hazard 
 that threatened the soil of England. Twenty or 
 thirty thousand French, however brave, however 
 well commanded they might be, would not have 
 alarmed them ; but one hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand men, having general Bonaparte at their head, 
 caused a sensation of fear in all classes throughout 
 every part of the nation. This was no proof of 
 want of courage, because the bravest people in the 
 world would have been rendered uneasy in presence 
 ofan army which had accomplished such great things, 
 and was going to accomplish greater things yet. 
 
 One circumstance added much to the serious- 
 ness of this situation, the immoveable position of 
 the continental powers. Austria would not agree 
 for a hundred or two hundred millions to draw 
 upon herself the blow intended for England. 
 Prussia was in a community of interests, not of 
 sympathies, with France. Russia censured both 
 belligerent parties, and erected itself into a judge of 
 their conduct, but did not pronounce formally for 
 any. If the French went not north beyond Han- 
 over, there was no chance, at least at the moment, 
 of drawing the Uussian empire into a war; and it 
 was evident that there was no idea of giving Russia 
 this motive to take up arms. 
 
 The preparations of England should therefore be 
 proportioned to the extent of the danger. There 
 was little to do under the head of the navy to pre- 
 serve the superiority over France. At first sixty 
 vessels of the line were placed in commission, and 
 eighty thousand seamen raised at the eve of the 
 rupture. The number of vessels of the line was 
 carried up to seventy-five, and that of seamen to 
 one hundred thousand, when the war was openly 
 declared. A hundred frigates and an infinite quan- 
 tity of brigs and of corvettes completed this arma- 
 ment. Nelson, at the head of a chosen fleet, occu- 
 pied the Mediterranean, blocked up Toulon, and 
 hindered any new attempt upon Egypt. Lord 
 Cornwallis 1 , at the head of a second fleet, was 
 charged with the blockade of Brest himself: 
 Rochefort and Ferrol were placed under his infe- 
 rior officers. Lastly, lord Keith, commanding all 
 the naval forces in the channel and the north sea, 
 had to guard the coasts of England and to watch 
 those of France. He had for his lieutenant Sir 
 Sidney Smith, who cruised with vessels of sixty- 
 four guns, frigates, brigs, and corvettes, from the 
 mouth of the Thames to Portsmouth, and from the 
 mouth of the Scheld to the Sonime, covering a 
 part of the English shore, and blocking up the 
 other ports of France. A chain of light vessels, 
 corresponding by signals over the whole expanse 
 of this sea, gave the alarm at the least movement 
 perceived in the French ports 2 . 
 
 1 Our author here confounds lord Cornwallis with admiral 
 Cornwallis, so well known in the navy for keeping the sea 
 oil' Brest with his large fleet during theenlire winter season, 
 in a way no admiral ever did before. M. Thiers has com- 
 mitted the error of making the plenipotentiary of Amiens 
 an admiral, when he had before spoken of him as a military 
 officer. — Translator. 
 
 2 In the last chapter our author alluded to the English 
 light squadron that cruised oil' the coast cf France, as if its 
 25 or 30 corvettes, brigs, and frigates, were all the expedi- 
 tion, had it come out, would have had to cope with in the 
 channel, and before which it could afford to lose a hundred. 
 How the French gun-vessels would have acted in deep 
 water, beyond the cover of their shore-batteries, disadvan- 
 tageous^ fi lied with men, was never ventured to the proof 
 on the smallest scale. But this light squadron was not all : 
 at the first alarm, the whole coast, from the Thames to 
 Portsmouth, would have put its vessels to sea. There were 
 in activity at that moment, besides what belonged to the 
 royal navy in the channel, 90 Trinity-House vessels j 173 
 king's yards' lighters; I'J East Indiamen ; and a body of 
 vessels, in all amounting to (324, especially directed to the 
 defence of the coast, and all watching the signal to move; 
 the smallest a match lor two or three of the French. In 
 February and .March, 1804, besides this home force, the royal 
 navy numbered 500 vessels more— in all 1506.— Translator.
 
 1803. 
 Aug. 
 
 Military resources of 
 the English govern- 
 ment. 
 
 THE CONSFIRACY OF GEORGES. 
 
 Measures of defence in 
 England — the army 
 of reserve. 
 
 509 
 
 By these in asures the English believed they 
 had condemn -d to inaction the French squadrons 
 at Brest, 11 chefort, Ferrol, and Toulon, and had 
 constituted u sufficiently encouraging force of 
 observation iu the channel. 
 
 But it w siry to do more in presence of 
 
 a danger altogether new in kind, that of an in- 
 vasion of the li ii t i — 1 1 soil. The sailors consulted 
 had nearly all declared, particularly at the sigh', of 
 the preparations of the first consul, that it was un- 
 ble t ■ li - assured that by favour of a fog, a 
 calm, or a long night, the French might not be 
 able to disembark upon the English coast. Without 
 doubt, the new Pharaoh might be precipitated 
 into the waves before reaching the shore; still, if 
 disembarke 1. not with one hundred and fifty 
 thousand men, but only with one hundred thousand, 
 or i veil with eighty thousand, who could resist 
 him! That proud nation, which was itself so little 
 lful of the nations of the continent, that had 
 I to renew the war which she had been 
 habituated to wage with the blood of others, of 
 which she was ever unsparing, was now reduced 
 to her own forces, obliged to arm herself, and no 
 longer confide in mercenaries, while her own forces 
 were not numerous enough for the defence of her 
 territory. Sh<-, so proud of her navy, regretted 
 now not to have an efficient army to oppose to the 
 formidable troops of general Bonaparte. 
 
 The composition of an army, then, was at that 
 rhomeut the subject of all the discussions in the 
 of commons; and as it is in the midst of the 
 greatest perils that the spirit of party always most 
 Strongly exhibits itself, it was to the subject of this 
 part of the question of the war, and the mode of 
 sustaining it, that party spirit encountered and 
 conflicted among the principal members of the 
 parliament 
 
 ible ministry of Addington had survived 
 i!t~; he was still at the head of the direction, 
 though hut for a short time only, of the war which 
 he had so lightly and so criminally suffered to lie 
 rekindled. The majority iu parliament well knew 
 that he was inferior to the task which he had 
 undertaken; but not willing to provoke or overturn 
 the cabinet, supported it against its enemies, even 
 against Pitt, that it still desired to see at the head 
 of affairs. This powerful party chief had returned 
 to the- house of c immons, to which he was incited 
 by his secret impatience, the greatness of the pub- 
 lic danger, and his own hatred to France. Always 
 iu derate than his auxiliaries, Windham, 
 rille, and Dundas, he had been made aware, 
 
 by tin- result of a recent vote, that he might he 
 again in power. In fact, upon a question ol attach- 
 ing blame to thai minister, only fifty-three votes 
 were riven in the affirmative. Tin- majority, 
 through a disposition common enough iu political 
 ablies, would have « iahed, without overturning 
 tin- ministry, to place the helm of the state iu tin- 
 hands of a man of more- eh naeter ami ability. I u 
 expectation of his approaching entrance upon the 
 management of public affairs, Pitt took a part in 
 all tin debates nearly as if he were miniater, but 
 rather with a view t> support and perfect tin- mea- 
 sures of tin- government than to contravene them. 
 Tin- principal of these meaauree was the organi- 
 sation of an army. England had om- dispersed ill 
 India, America, and in all parts of tin- Mediter- 
 
 ranean, composed of Irish, Scotch, Hanoverians, 
 Hessians, Swiss, and even Maltese, formed by 
 means of the recruiting system, so common in 
 Europe before the institution of the conscription. 
 It had conducted itself well in Egypt, as already 
 seen. It amounted to about one hundred and 
 thirty thousand nun; but it is well known, that of 
 one hundred and thirty thousand men the admi- 
 nistration must be good in order to have eighty 
 thousand capable of active service. To this force, 
 of which the third at least was absorbed in Ire- 
 land, was to be joined fifty thousand of the militia, 
 recently increased to seventy thousand, a kind of 
 national troops that never go out of the province, 
 and have never seen fire. They were led by half- 
 pay officers, by English lords, full of patriotism no 
 doubt, but little accustomed to war, and perfect 
 novices, when opposed to those old bands that had 
 vanquished the European coalitions. 
 
 How was this deficiency to be supplied ? The 
 minister, surrounded by the most experienced 
 military men, devised the creation of an army, to 
 lie called the army of reserve, and to consist of 
 fifty thousand men, formed of Englishmen, drawn 
 for by lot, and not to be employed beyond the limits 
 of the United Kingdom. The army of the line was 
 supplied from this force, and a reinforcement of 
 fifty thousand men obtained. The replacement of 
 those who left to join the line was permitted; hut 
 it was only obtained, under the circumstances, at 
 a very high rate. It was but a small matter in 
 strength, hut it was all that was able to be done 
 at that moment. Windham, supporting the war 
 party, attacked the proposition for the army of 
 reserve as insufficient. He required the creation 
 of a large army of the line, which, composed after 
 the same principles as the French army, that is to 
 say, by conscription, would be at the absolute dis- 
 posal of the government, and could be sent any 
 where. He said that which the minister had de- 
 vised was only an extension of the militia, and 
 would be no better in the face of the experienced 
 troops they had to combat; it would prejudice the 
 recruiting of the army by the power of replacing 
 introduced under the new law, because the indi- 
 viduals disposed to serve would find it more ad- 
 vantageous to enter themselves in the army of 
 reserve than to enrol themselves in the army of 
 the line; that a regular army, formed from the 
 national population, transportable every where 
 that war was carried on, having, in conse- 
 quence, the nuans to become efficient fighting 
 men, was the only institution to oppose to tin- 
 troops of general Bonaparte — " there must be the 
 diaitl 1 to cut the diamond," said Windham. 
 
 England, that already had a navy, would also 
 hue a land army, an ambition very natural, be- 
 cause it is rare that a nation which has one of 
 these two great arms does not wish to have the 
 other. But l'itt made a cold ami decided negative 
 
 to these propositions of Windham. All the ideas 
 of Windham, according to him, were very good; 
 but how was an army to he created in a few daysl 
 how made aCCUBtomed to fight 1 How were the 
 
 regimental skeletons to he obtained '. Where could 
 
 the officers be found I Such an institution could 
 not he- the work of a moment That which bad 
 
 been done was the thing alone actually practicable. 
 
 It will be difficult enough already to organize the
 
 510 
 
 Levies of volunteers THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 in England. 
 
 1803. 
 Aug. 
 
 fifty thousand men now demanded, to instruct 
 tlie.ni, and to provide them with officers of every 
 rank. Pitt entreated his friend Windham to re- 
 nounce his notions, at least for the present, and to 
 adhere with him to the government plan. 
 
 Windham did not make much of the advice of 
 Pitt, ami persisted in his own system, which he 
 supported with new and stronger considerations. 
 He even demanded a levy en masse, like that of 
 France in 1792, and reproached the feeble minister, 
 Aldington, for not having thought of this grand 
 resource for all the people whose independence 
 should be threatened. This enemy of France and 
 of Napoleon, by the effect of a very common result 
 in hatred, found eulogies for what lie most de- 
 tested; almost exaggerated the French greatness 
 and power, the danger with which the first consul 
 threatened England, only to reproach the English 
 minister for not taking sufficient precautions. 
 
 The army of reserve was voted, notwithstanding 
 the scorn of the Windham party, that called it an 
 augmentation of the militia. This combination 
 was reckoned upon for the extension of the army 
 of the line. It was hoped that the men designated 
 by lot, and condemned to serve, would like better 
 to enrol themselves in this species of force than in 
 any other. There would in this way be twenty or 
 thirty thousand recruits more added to the skeleton 
 regiments. 
 
 Nevertheless, the danger increasing every hour, 
 and above all, the co-operation of the continent 
 being every day less probable, recourse was had to 
 the proposition of the more extreme party, and all 
 tended to the idea of a levy en masse. The minister 
 demanded and obtained the power to call out to 
 arms all the English, from seventeen years old to 
 fifty-five. They were to take volunteers, and in 
 default of them, the men designated by law, to 
 form them into battalions, and to instruct them 
 during a certain number of hours every week. 
 They were to be allowed pay to indemnify them 
 for loss of time; but this arrangement only applied 
 to those volunteers who belonged to the working 
 classes. 
 
 Windham, obliged to recognize that they bor- 
 rowed his ideas, complained that they took them 
 too late or unworthily, and criticised several of the 
 details of the measure. But the measure was 
 voted; and in a little time there were seen in the 
 towns and counties of England, the population 
 called to arms, and exercised every morning in the 
 uniform of volunteers. This uniform was worn by 
 all classes. The respectable Addington came to 
 parliament in this costume, which he so little 
 suited, and caused himself no small degree of 
 ridicule by a manifestation of such a character. 
 
 The old King and his son, the prince of Wales, 
 pa-sed the volunteers of London in review, at 
 which the French princes were guilty of the un- 
 pardonable fault of attending. There were seen 
 in London as many as twenty thousand of these 
 volunteers, which was not a very considerable 
 number, it is true, when the vast population of the 
 city is taken into account. The number was suffi- 
 ciently great in the whole extent of England to 
 furnish an imposing force, if it had been well- 
 organized. But soldiers are not to be made on 
 a sudden, and much less officers. If in France 
 there were doubts of the worth of the flat-bottomed 
 
 boats, in England there were great doubts of the 
 worth of these volunteers, if not of their courage, 
 at least of their warlike ability. To these measures 
 were joined the design of fortifications in the 
 country around London, upon the roads that con- 
 duet to the capital, and on all the points of the 
 coast that were most threatened. A part of the 
 active force was disposed along the shore, from the 
 Isle of Wight as far as the mouth of the Thames. 
 A system of signals was established for giving the 
 rlarm, by means of fires lighted along the coast at 
 the first appearance of the French. Chariots of 
 a particular form were constructed, in order to 
 convey troops by post to the threatened points. 
 In a word, on this side of the strait, as well as on 
 the other, they made efforts to complete extra- 
 ordinary inventions, to devise new means of de- 
 fence and attack, to overcome the elements, and 
 associate them in their cause. The two nations, 
 as if drawn to this double shore, presented there a 
 grand spectacle to the rest of the world : one, 
 troubled when she thought of her inexperience in 
 arms, was encouraged when she considered the 
 ocean, which girded her round as with a belt ; the 
 other full of confidence in her bravery, in her 
 habits of war, in the genius of her chief, measured 
 with her eyes the arm of the sea that arrested her 
 ardour, accustomed herself every day to contemn 
 it, and regarded as certain that she should soon 
 pass over in the train of the conqueror of Marengo 
 and of the Pyramids. 
 
 Neither of the two belligerents had an idea of 
 any other means than those which they saw pre- 
 paring under their own eyes. The English be- 
 lieving Brest and Toulon carefully blockaded, had 
 no notion of any squadron appearing in the channel. 
 The French, every day exercised in navigating 
 their gun-vessels, did not dream of any other mode 
 of passing over the strait. No one suspected the 
 principal combination of the first consul. Still 
 the one feared, the other hoped, some sudden in- 
 vention of his genius, and this was the cause of the 
 uneasiness which reigned on one side of the chan- 
 nel, and of the confidence that prevailed upon the 
 other. 
 
 It must be said that the means prepared to 
 resist the French were of little account if the 
 strait were once passed. In admitting that they 
 were able to assemble, between London and the 
 channel, fifty thousand men of the army of the 
 line, and thirty or forty thousand of the army of 
 reserve, and that they were able to unite to those 
 regular troops the greatest possible mass of the 
 volunteers, they would not reach the numerical force 
 of the French army destined to pass the straits; and 
 what would they have been able to do altogether, 
 even two or three times superior in number, against 
 the hundred and fifty thousand men that in 
 eighteen months, under the conduct of Napoleon, 
 beat at Austerlitz, Jena, and Friedland, all the 
 European armies, apparently as brave, certainly 
 longer trained to war, and four or five times more 
 considerable in number than the British forces ? 
 The preparations of the English were therefore of 
 little real value, and the ocean was always their 
 most certain and effective defence. In any case, what- 
 ever might be the definitive result, it was already 
 a severe punishment of the conduct of the British 
 government, this general agitation of all classes,
 
 1803. 
 Aug. 
 
 Intrigues in England 
 against the But 
 consul'!! 1 fe. 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF GEORGES. 
 
 Hopes of the emigrants 
 to overturn the French 
 government. 
 
 511 
 
 this displacement of workmen from their work- 
 shops, the men of business from their affairs, the 
 English lords from the enjoy men I of their opulence; 
 even such an agitation, prolonged for some time, 
 would become an immense evil, perhaps a serious 
 injury to the public peace. 
 
 The British government, in its anxiety, had 
 recourse to every means, even to those which 
 morality is least capable of defending, in order to 
 turn aside the blow which menaced it. During 
 the last war it had fomented insurrections against 
 the governments of every kind and form that had 
 succeeded one another in France. Since then, al- 
 though these insurrectiune were little to be ex- 
 pected under the powerful administration of the first 
 consul, it had kept in London and paid, even 
 during the peace, all the staff of La Vendee and 
 of the emigration. This persisting in the reten- 
 tion and preservation in its own hands of all the 
 culpable instruments of an ungenerous war, had 
 contributed much, as has been Seen, to renew the 
 quarrel between the two countries. Diversions 
 are, beyond a doubt, one of the ordinary resources 
 of war, and the insurrection of a province is one 
 of the - diversions regarded as most useful, and 
 which there is commonly the least scruple made 
 about employing. The English attempt to raise 
 an insurrection in La Vendee, the first consul re- 
 turned in his attempts to make a revolt in Ireland. 
 The means were reciprocal, and were powerfully 
 employed. But at that moment an insurrection 
 in La Vendee was out of the question of probability. 
 The employment of the Chnuans, and of their chief, 
 Georges Cadoudal, could have no other effect than 
 that of tempting to some abominable outrage, such 
 as the infernal machine, or sune similar attempt. 
 To posh the means of insurrection so far as to 
 overturn the government, was to return to the 
 practices of a legitimacy strongly contested; but to 
 follow up the overturn of a government by an 
 attack upon the individuals composing that govern- 
 ment, was to pa-ss all the limit of the rights of 
 nations admitted among civilized people. 
 
 The question may be further judged by the facts 
 themselves, as far as relates to the complicity of 
 the British ministry in the criminal projects medi- 
 tated anew by the French emigration that had taken 
 refuge in London. It will be remembered that 
 the formidable chief of the Chouans of the fidor- 
 bihan, <i. ■ Cadoudal, who alone among the 
 
 Vendeana pn ient< d to the first consul, had re- 
 l iii-. ascendancy, had withdrawn himself into 
 Britany, and from tin nee into England, lb' lived 
 in London iii tin.' bosom of opulence, distributing 
 to the French refugees tin- sums which were 
 granted to them by the British government, and 
 
 tig his time in the society of the emigrant 
 
 princes, particularly of the two more active ones, 
 
 the count d'Artois and the duke de Berry, That 
 should wi-.li to re-enter France w»n 
 
 iioihin; more than natural: that they should wish 
 to kindle a civil war for that purpose, was nothing 
 
 more than might be expected in a common, if not, 
 a legitimate course of things; but unfortunately for 
 their principles or honour, tie y aould no longer 
 calculate upon acivil war, and arera only able to 
 m upon plots and eonspirack to compass 
 their ends. 
 
 Peace had filled the minds of all i with 
 
 despair, princes as well as others; war restored to 
 them their hopes, not only because it assured them 
 of the concurrence of a part of Europe,but because 
 it became, according to them, a means of ruining 
 the popularity of the first consul. They corre- 
 sponded with La Vendee through Georges, and 
 with Paris through the returned emigrants. That 
 which they dreamed about in England their par- 
 tisans dreamed of in France, and the least circum- 
 stance which accorded with their illusions, in 
 their eyes, changed their illusions into a reality. 
 They said the one to the other, in their deplorable 
 correspondence, that the war would strike a fatal 
 blow against the first consul. That his power, 
 illegitimate to the French who rested faithful to 
 the blood of tile Bourbons, and tyrannical for the 
 French who remained faithful to the revolution, 
 had only two claims to rest upon for support, the 
 re-establishment of peace and the re-establishment 
 of order; that one of these titles had disappeared 
 completely since the rupture with England, and 
 the other was compromised deeply, because it was 
 doubtful whether order could be maintained in the 
 midst of the anxieties of warfare. The govern- 
 ment of the first consul would, therefore, become 
 unpopular, as all the preceding governments had 
 become. The tranquil mass of the people would 
 owe to him this resumption of hostilities with 
 Europe ; it would become less credulous in his 
 lucky star, since difficulties no longer seemed to 
 be smoothed under his feet. He had, besides, 
 enemies of a different species, of whom it would be 
 possible to make good use ; first the revolutionary 
 party, and t'.en those who were jealous of his 
 glory, who swarmed in the army. They said that 
 the Jacobins were exasperated ; and that the 
 generals were very little satisfied in having con- 
 tributed to make their master out of an equal. It 
 was necessary to create, out of these malcontents, 
 in themselves so diverse, a single party capable 
 of overturning the first consul. All that they 
 called for in France, and all that they received 
 for answer from London, tended always to this 
 plan, — to unite the Jacobins, the royalists, and the 
 malcontents of the army into a single party, for 
 the purpose of overturning the usurper Bonaparte. 
 Such were the ideas cherished in London by the 
 
 Flench princes, and in consequence, the same 
 
 with which they entertained the English cabinet, 
 when demanding the sums of money which they 
 lavished, knowing as it did, at least in a general 
 sense, the object which was sought to be carried 
 into effect. 
 
 A vast conspiracy was, therefore, interwoven 
 upon this plan, and carried on with the ordinary 
 impatience of the emigrant party. It was com- 
 municated to Louis Will., then retired to War- 
 saw. This prince, always in disagreement with 
 his brother, the count d'Artois, whose sterile and 
 imprudent activity he disapproved, repelled the 
 proposition. What a singular contrast was pre- 
 sented ill the two primes. Count d'Artois had 
 goodness without wisdom; Louis XVIII., wisdom 
 without goodness. Count d'Artois entered into 
 tin unworthy projects dear to his heart, which 
 
 Louis XVIII. repulsed because they were un- 
 worthy of his understanding. Louis Will, re- 
 solved from this time to remain n stranger to all 
 
 tie- iii w plots and practices, of which the war was
 
 512 Necessity for destroying THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 the first consul. 
 
 1803. 
 Aug. 
 
 about to become the unfortunate cause. The count 
 d'Artois, placed at a great distance from his elder 
 brother, excited by his natural ardour, by that of 
 the emigrants, and by that which was more grievous, 
 of the English themselves, took a part in all the 
 designs to which the circumstances of the moment 
 gave rise, in the troubled heads of those who were 
 in a continual state of excitement. 
 
 The communications of the French emigrants 
 with the English cabinet took place through the 
 medium of Mr. Hammon ', who had figured in 
 several negotiations. It was to him that the 
 communications of the French emigrants with the 
 English cabinets were addressed for all that might 
 concern England in any way. Out of England 
 they were addressed to British diplomatic agents : 
 Mr. Taylor, at Hesse ; Mr. Spencer Smith, minis- 
 ter at Stuttgard ; and Mr. Drake, minister in 
 Bavaria. These three agents, placed near the 
 French frontiers, endeavoured to cultivate every 
 species of intrigue in France, and to second on 
 their side of that country those which were planned 
 in London. They corresponded with Mr. Ham- 
 mon, and had considerable sums of money at their 
 disposition. It is difficult to believe that these 
 were for the obscure dealings of the police, that 
 governments sometimes permit to be expended for 
 simple means of observation, and to which they 
 devote small sums. They were for real political 
 projects, passing through the hands of their more 
 elevated agents, connected with a most important 
 minister, the minister for foreign affairs, and cost- 
 ing even millions in amount. 
 
 The French princes more immediately mingled 
 in these affairs were the count d'Artois, and his 
 second son, the duke de Berry. The duke d'An- 
 gouleme resided in Warsaw at the time with 
 Louis XVIII. The princes Conde" lived in London, 
 but not in habits of intimacy with the princes 
 of the elder branch, and even strangers to their 
 plots and designs. They were treated as soldiers 
 constantly ready to take up arms, and only fit for 
 that character. While the grandfather and the 
 father of the C"ndes were in London, the grand- 
 son, the duke d'Enghien, was in the territory of 
 Baden, given up to the enjoyment of hunting, and 
 to a warm affection which he had for a princess 
 de Rohan. All three being in the service of Eng- 
 land, had received orders to prepare themselves to 
 commence the war, and they had obeyed like 
 soldiers who must pay attention to the government 
 of the country that pays them ; melancholy, in- 
 deed, the spectacle of the Conde's in such a charac- 
 ter, but less dishonourable than that of the leaders 
 of conspiracies. 
 
 The following is the plan of the new conspiracy. 
 To raise an insurrection in La Vendee did not at 
 that moment present the smallest chance of suc- 
 cess ; on the contrary, to attack the government 
 of the first consul directly in the middle of Paris 
 appeared the most prompt and certain means of 
 obtaining the object sought. The consular govern- 
 ment overturned, there was nothing more possible, 
 according to the authors of the plan, than the 
 return of the Bourbons. But as the consular 
 government consisted entirely in the person of 
 general Bonaparte, it would be necessary to make 
 
 1 Quere, Hammond J— Translator. 
 
 away with him. The conclusion was obvious, but 
 it was required to destroy him surely and cer- 
 tainly. The blow of a poignard, an infernal ma- 
 chine, all such attempts would be of dubious suc- 
 cess, because all would depend upon the sure 
 stroke of the assassin's hand, or upon the hazard 
 of an explosion. There remained a mode, so far 
 never attempted, and therefore not discredited by 
 a trial ; this was to unite a hundred determined 
 men, the intrepid Georges at their head ; to waylay 
 on the road from St. Cloud or Malmaison, the car- 
 riage of the first consul ; to attack the guard, gene- 
 rally about ten or a dozen horse in all, to disperse 
 them, and thus to kill him in a species of combat. 
 In this mode, then, it was certain that nothing 
 would be wanting. Georges, who was brave, who 
 had pretensions to the military character, and who 
 would not pass for an assassin, exacted of the two 
 princes that he should have at his side one of them 
 at least, and that they should thus regain with the 
 sword in hand the crown of their ancestors. Can 
 it be credited ? These individuals, their minds 
 perverted by emigration, really imagined that in 
 thus attacking the first consul, surrounded by his 
 guards, they gave him a species of battle, and that 
 they should not be assassins ! They were to be 
 equals apparently to the noble archduke Charles 
 combatting general Bonaparte at the Tagliamento, 
 or at Wagram, and were only his inferiors in the 
 number of their soldiers. Lamentable sophistry, 
 to which only one-half of those who promulgated it 
 gave credit, showing, on the part of the unhappy 
 Bourbon princes, not a natural perversity, but one 
 acquired amid civil war and exile. Only one of 
 all these concerned was in his natural character, 
 and that was Georges. He was a master in the 
 art of wary ambushes ; he had been educated in 
 the heart of the forests of Britany ; and now in 
 exercising his skill at the gates of Paris, he did 
 not fear to be reduced to the rank of the instru- 
 ments, by which he would serve himself, to re- 
 pudiate them afterwards, because he hoped to have 
 princes for accomplices. He thus secured to him- 
 self all the dignity compatible with the character 
 which he was going to perform, and by his auda- 
 cious attitude in the presence of justice, he proved 
 soon enough that he was not of his party the most 
 depressed at such an unhappy conjuncture for 
 himself. 
 
 This was not all; after the combat it was neces- 
 sary to gather the fruits of the victory. It was 
 necessary to prepare matters so that France should 
 fling herself into the arms of the Bourbons. The 
 parties themselves had destroyed one another, and 
 there did not remain with any of them the shadow 
 of real power. The violent revolutionists were 
 odious. The moderate revolutionists, who had 
 taken refuge with general Bonaparte, were without 
 strength. There remained nothing in an erect 
 attitude but the army. It was that which it would 
 be necessary to subdue ; but that was devoted 
 to the revolution ; for that it had spilled its blood, 
 and it felt a sort of horror at the emigrants, that it 
 had so often seen under English and Austrian 
 uniforms. It was here that jealousy, that eternal 
 and perverse passion of the human heart, offered 
 to the royalist conspirators the most useful and 
 precious succour. 
 
 There was nothing made more noise than the
 
 r* 
 
 HO J. 
 Aug. 
 
 Differences between 
 Hon. I parte and 
 Moreiiu. 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF GEORGES. 
 
 EfTnrts made to pet 
 Moreau intu the 
 plot. 
 
 513 
 
 difference between general Moreau and general 
 Bonaparte. It lias been already said elsewhere, 
 that the general »f the army of the Rhine, dis- 
 creet, reflective, firm in war, was in his private 
 life careless and feeble, governed by those around 
 him ; that under this unhappy influence, he had 
 not been free from envy, a vice of the second 
 order of men ; that covered with favours by the 
 lint consul, he had left off visiting him, without any 
 
 ii. except that general Moreau was the second 
 in the state, and that general Bonaparte was the 
 first : that feeling this, Moreau had shown a want 
 of seemly conduct in refusing to follow the first 
 
 tl to a review, ami that the last, always apt to 
 re-, nt an affront, had himself abstained from in- 
 viting Moreau to the festival annually given to 
 o t brate the foundation of the republic ; that 
 Moreno had committed the fault of going on the 
 same day to dine, out of uniform, with several dis- 
 contented officers in one of the most public places, 
 where he was seen by all the world, to the great 
 displeasure of thinking people, and to the great 
 joy of the enemies of the republic. There have 
 been recounted before the miserable effects of that 
 vanity, which commenced between the females 
 from vulgar differences, and terminated among 
 the men in scenes of tragedy. If a difference be- 
 tween elevated personages be difficult to prevent, 
 it is more difficult still to arrest when it is once 
 declared. From that day Moreau had not ceased 
 to show himself more and more hostile to the con- 
 sular government. When the concordat was con- 
 cluded, lie had cried out aloud at the domination 
 of the priesthood ; when the legion of honour bad 
 been instituted, he had censured the re-establish- 
 ment of an aristocracy ; and, lastly, he had ex- 
 claimed against the re-establishment of royalty 
 when the consulate for life had been instituted. 
 He had finished by no more appearing before the 
 head of the government, nor even at the houses of 
 the Consols. The renewal of the war would have 
 been an honourable occasion for his reappearance 
 at the Tuileries to offer his services, not to general 
 B inaparte, but to France. Moreau, by little and 
 little led into evil ways, iii which the steps become 
 so fleet, had considered in tins rupture of the peace, 
 •lie misfortunes of his country, than a check 
 upon a detested rival, and only set himself to 
 oIm rve how this detested enemy, whom he had 
 bimsell made, would get clear of the embarrass 
 nient. Moreau lived then at Grosbois, in the midst 
 of sms anl comfort, lite just rewards of his ser- 
 vice-,, as a great citizen would d > who was the 
 vie mi of his prinee'« ingratitude. 
 
 The first consul attracted jealousy by his glory ; 
 he as. uttracteil it ihiongii his family. Murat, 
 
 whom lie had refused for a long time to elevate to 
 the rank of his brother in-law, who had an excel- 
 lent heart, an unaffected mind, ami chivalrous 
 braveiy, acted very ill under all these qualities, 
 Murat out oi a feeliog ol vanity, which he dissimu- 
 late. I before the lirsl consul, but which he exhibited 
 freely when he was out of the si^lit of his Severe 
 master, dazzled those who, being too little m mind 
 to envy general Bonaparte, were at bust able to 
 envy Ins brother-ill law. Th' fust consul, there- 
 fore, had the great and little who were jealOOH 
 
 of him. Both th te and the other grouped 
 
 around Moreau. At 1'aris during the winter, at 
 
 Grosbois during the summer, there was kept up a 
 crowd of malcontents, who talked with unlimited 
 indiscretion. The first consul knew this, and re- 
 venged himself not solely by the constant advance 
 of his power, but also by his open disdain. After 
 imposing upon himself an extreme reserve for a 
 long time, he finished by no longer keeping silence, 
 and he returned the compliments of mediocrity by 
 his sarcasms, but bis were those of a man of 
 genius. They were repeated at least as frequently 
 as those that escaped from the social circle of 
 Moreau. 
 
 Parties invented differences that were ground- 
 less, in order to serve themselves, and for a more 
 powerful reason, they served quickly and per- 
 fidiously those differences which already existed. 
 All had surrounded Moreau without delay. Listen- 
 ing to the malcontents of every side, he was the 
 accomplished general, the modest and virtuous 
 citizen. General Bonaparte was the imprudent, 
 but fortunate soldier ; the usurper without genius, 
 the insolent. Corsican, who had dared to overturn 
 the republic, and mount the steps of the throne 
 already re-erected. He must be left, said they, to 
 lose himself in his foolish and ridiculous enter- 
 prise against England, and to take heed he does 
 not offer her his sword. Thus, after having treated 
 the conqueror of Egypt and Italy as an adventurer, 
 they treated the patriotic expedition, which he 
 had so much at heart, as the most extravagant of 
 rash enterprises. 
 
 The conspirators of London had in those unhappy 
 divisions great facilities towards the completion of 
 the second half of their design. It was Moreau 
 that it was necessary to gain, and through Moreau 
 the army; and then the first consul killed on the 
 road from Mahnaison, Moreau gained over, would 
 come at the head of the army to reconcile this 
 formidable part of the nation with the Bourbons, 
 who had had the courage to reconquer their throne 
 sword in hand. But bow was it possible to get 
 near Moreau, who was at Paris, .surrounded by a 
 society altogether republican, whilst in London the 
 conspirators were in the midst of a chosen body of 
 Chouans? There must be some intermediate agent. 
 At that moment, from the fastnesses of the Ameri- 
 can deserts, there had arrived a man once illus- 
 trious, much fallen by his faults from his first 
 eminence, but endued with qualities truly great, 
 and holding in his hand at the same lime both the 
 r.yalists and republicans. This was Ptollegru, the 
 vanquisher of Holland, transported by ihe direc- 
 tory to Sinnamari, He had escaped from his 
 place of banishment, and had reached London, 
 where he lived with the desire not to remain, but 
 to re enter Fraiu-e, profiting by the policy which 
 recalled, without distinction, the culpable ,.s well as 
 the victims of all parties. But the war, for a mo- 
 ment suspended, had soon recommenced, and with 
 if the follies and illusions of the eon-rants, to 
 whom Piehegru had alienated his libert) li) alien- 
 ating his honour, lb- had been comprised, almost 
 m Mpite of himself, in the present conspiracy, and 
 he had been charged with that intermediate agency 
 near .Moreau, of which the part) had need to bring 
 over toe last to the cause of tin- Boill'hoiM, and 
 ihus fuse together iii one mass the republicans 
 and royalists of every shade of colour. 
 
 The plan thus adopted agreed wed enough with 
 
 Ll
 
 Georges Tadoudal and the 
 514 conspirators landed in 
 France. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Inertness in La Vendee. 
 
 1803. 
 Aug. 
 
 certain momentary appearances to be deemed at 
 least specious, though not with enough of reality 
 about it to succeed; but it had Still more of the 
 reality than of inefficiency with these impatient peo- 
 ple, to wh.qm every thing was good provided they 
 were in action, and that the onerous idleness of 
 exile was relieved by agitation. The plan being 
 arranged, they next occupied themselves with the 
 execution. 
 
 It was needful to enter France. If Georges 
 wished to be followed there )>y one or two of the 
 prill es, still he did not desire to have them im- 
 1 mediately with him. He admitted that he must 
 prepare every thing before he got them to come 
 over, with the object of not exposing them uselessly 
 to a prolonged residence in I'aris under the eyes 
 of a vigilant police. He therefore decided upon 
 setting off the first, and to proceed to Pans, in 
 order to compose the band of Chouans with which 
 he should attack the guard of the first consul. 
 During this time Pichegru was to undertake a con- 
 ference with Moreau, at first through an interme- 
 diate party, then directly, upon proceeding himself 
 to Paris. Lastly, when all should be prepared on 
 both shIps of the channel, when they should have 
 ready the Chouans to make the attack, and Moreau 
 to secure the adhesion of the army, the princes 
 should come last, the eve before, or on the day 
 of execution. 
 
 All this being arranged, Georges, with a troop 
 of Chouans, on whose resolution and fidelity he 
 could d pend, quitted Loudon to enter France. 
 They were all provided with arms as offenders 
 \ylio hi re going to take to the woods. Ge >rges 
 carried in a belt a million of money in bids of 
 exchange. It was not the French princes, it was 
 well understood, who were aide to furnish the 
 sums which circulated between those concerned in 
 the plots, they had been reduced t. their last shifts 
 in order to live. These sn.ns came from the com 
 mon source, in other words, from the British 
 treasury. 
 
 An officer of the royal navy of England) captain 
 Wright, an intrepid seaman; who commanded a 
 small vessel of war, received off Deal or Hastings 
 the emigrant emissaries, «nd was to land them, at 
 their own choice, upon. any point of the coast that 
 they miglit designate for the purpose. Since the 
 first consul, well aware of the frequent deaf lit of 
 the Chouans, had caused the coasts of Britany to 
 be guarded with more care than ever, they had 
 changed their direction and come in by Normandy. 
 Between Diep|>e and T report, in the length of a steep 
 perpendicular shore or cliff, called that of Biville; 
 there exist d a mysterious outlet, made in a cleft 
 of the ruck} and solely frequented by smugglers. 
 A cable, strongly attached to the summit of the 
 cliff, descended in this cleft of the rock and hung 
 down until it touched the sea. At a call which 
 served -as a signal, the secret guardians of the 
 passage Hung over the rope, th.it the smuggler 
 seized, and by its aid clambered up the precipice 
 of two or three hundred feet in height, carrying a 
 heavy lead on his shoulders The confidante of 
 Georges had discovered this inlet, and thought of 
 appropriating it to their own use, which it was 
 very easy to do with the money which they pos- 
 sessed. In order to complete the communication 
 with Paris, they had established a succession of 
 
 lodging-places either in isolated farms, or in cha- 
 teaux inhabited by noble Normans, faithful and 
 discreet royalists, seldom mo\ ing from their es- 
 tates. It was thus easy to arrive from the shore 
 of the channel at Paris without passing over a high 
 road, and without entering an inn. Lastly, in 
 order not to compromise this way by passing over 
 it too often, it was reserved for the more important 
 personages of the party. Money distributed abun- 
 dantly at some of the houses of those royalists of 
 whom a lodging was borrowed, the fidelity of others, 
 but above all, keeping at a distance from places much 
 frequented, rendered acts of indiscretion difficult, 
 and the secret certain to be kept at least for some 
 time. 
 
 It was in this way that Georges penetrated into, 
 Fiance. Embarked in the vessel of captain 
 Wright, he and his friends landed at the foot of 
 the cliff of Biville, .,n the 21st of August, 1803, 
 at the same moment that the first consul was 
 making an inspection of the coasts. He followed 
 the step of the smugglers, and from resting-place, 
 to resting-place, arrived, with till his most faithful 
 lieutenants, as far as Chaillol in one of the fau- 
 bourgs of I'aris. There hail been prepared for hiin 
 in that place a small lodging, from whence lie was 
 able to come at night into Pans, to see his associ- 
 ates there, and prepare to strike the blow, for the 
 performance of which he had brought himself to 
 France. 
 
 Courageous and sensible, Georges possessed the 
 pasMi.ns without the illusions of his party, and 
 judged much better than the otheis of what was 
 practicable. He attempted that through his cou- 
 rage, which the emigrants, his accomplices, at- 
 tempted by their ignorance. Having arrived in 
 Paris, he soon discovered that the first consul was 
 not as unpopular as he had been represented in com- 
 munications received in London; that the royalists 
 and republicans were not so much disposed to fling 
 themselves into adventures, and that here, as is 
 always the Case, the reality was very far from 
 bearing out the promise. But he was not a man 
 to lie discouraged, nor above all to discourage his 
 associates in making them acquainted with his 
 observations. In consequence, he set himself at 
 work. Alter all, for a sudden blow such as he con- 
 templated striking, he had no need of any aid from 
 the public feeling; and- the first consul no more, 
 France would be forced, in default of something 
 better, to return to the Bourbons. From the 
 depth of his impenetrable obscurity he sent emis- 
 saries into La Vender, to discover whether, upon the 
 ground of the pressure of the conscription, the peo- 
 ple were not disposed to rise anew, and if the con- 
 scriptsof that country di 1 n t say now as formerly, 
 that to serve for service sake it was more worthy 
 to carry arms against the revolutionary government 
 than in its behalf. But in La Vendee all was found 
 in a state of inertness. His name alone, among all 
 the names of Vendean leader.-, had preserved its 
 power, because he was regarded as an incorrup- 
 tible royalist, who hail preferred e.vile to the favours 
 of the first Consul. They had a sympathy for the 
 representative ( ,t a cause which responded to the 
 more secret affections and attachments of the popu- 
 lation ; but to scouj the heaths and high roads 
 again, was not agreeable to tile taste of any of the 
 inhabitants. Besides, the priests, the real inspirera 
 
 .
 
 1^03. Moreau sounded respect- 
 Aug. ing Pichegru. 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF GEOR* 
 
 Meeting nf t! e rotisi irntnrs 
 
 with ilif coliul (j'Artnis 5J5 
 in London. 
 
 of the Vendeans, were now inclined towards the 
 first consul. Some insignificant assemblages of 
 the |H*o'|ile were all of which any hope < - <>ulil lie in- 
 dulged : and, a thing dispiriting for the conspira- 
 tors, they found already fewer determined Chotians 
 than formerly, who were prepared for any thing 
 aiNiner than a return t'i laborious and peaceable occu- 
 pations. 1 1 was still necessary to tin I sunn- w ho were 
 at the aame time brave and discreet. Georges had 
 been two mouths in Paris before he had with much 
 trouble united in re than thirty. The object of 
 their union was never stated; ihey did not make it 
 known the one to the other. They only knew that 
 they wire destined to take a part in an approach- 
 ing enterprise in favour ol the Bourl s, which 
 
 was agreeable t>> them, and besides that they would 
 be well paid, which was news not less agreeable, 
 Georges Becretly prepared uniforms and arms for 
 them against the day of combat. 
 
 Amid the mystery in which he lived with nume- 
 rous precautious, although that part of the proji ct 
 which regarded the republicans was not in his. 
 
 liction, he was desirous of knowing if affairs 
 
 went on better on that side than on the side of i lie 
 
 royalists. He got the secretary of Moreau, called 
 
 miere8,to be sounded by a faithful Breton, that 
 
 tary being a Breton also, connected with all 
 the parties and even with M Foodie" This was 
 running a great degree of peril, because FouchJ at 
 that time had Ins eyeswideopen upon all around him, 
 
 desirous of an occasion to render a service 
 to the first consul Fresnieres said nothing of an 
 encouraging nature relative to Moreau, at least his 
 replies were ven insignificant. Georges made no 
 
 mt of them, bin resolute to attempt every 
 
 thing, pressed his employers in London to act, be- 
 
 upromised in the middle of Paris for 
 
 ral months, he ran there uselessly the greatest 
 
 dnni; 
 
 as thus occupied, the agents of 
 had acted on their side, and had con- 
 
 i with Moreau. An old commissary of stores, 
 
 ol nun who at times become familiar 
 
 with . was employed to carry a message 
 
 in a few words from Pichegru to Moreau. He 
 
 memWred this old companion in 
 
 il cherished against him any old 
 
 i 1 1 was ii"t for Moreau to have been 
 
 I -d with Pichegru, whom he had denounced to 
 
 ' delivi ring up the papers of the 
 
 mi of Klingin. Hut while strong in mnmeu- 
 t utm nt, he w;is not capable of recalling to 
 
 mind He therefore expressed 
 
 nothing bui kindness towards Piuhegm, and even 
 sympathy for the misfortunes of an old friend. It 
 then demanded of him il he would not interest 
 
 If for Pichegru, and use his influeuce to ob- 
 tain his return iui ■ I rai The effect of the am- 
 
 : granted to all the Vi 1 1 deans, to all the sol liers 
 
 ■ ide', was it not alBu made to cover the con- 
 queror of 1 1 'Hand ' 
 
 Moreau n pli< d, that he ardently wished for the 
 
 : n ol bis old companion m arms ; that he 
 
 regard) d such a return .is an set ol j ns.t i ■■< • due to 
 
 thai he would willingly < ribute to 
 
 it, if his own actual v I il b with th o p unent 
 
 of a nature tn permit him ; I. lit that having 
 ha I diffei 'lie s with those who governed, he m vi r 
 placed his fei : in the Tuileries, Tlieu came natu- 
 
 rally confidential remarks on his own grievances, 
 mi his aversion for the first consul, ami his desire 
 to see France soon delivered. 
 
 The disposition of Moreau, thut foreseen, there 
 was employed about him one of his old officers, 
 general Lajolais, a familiar acquaintance, the most 
 dangerous that can be admitted into the intimacy 
 ol a feeble man, who does not know how to govern 
 himself. This general was little, lame, remarkably 
 endowed with a spirit of intrigue, pressed by pecu- 
 niary necessities, indeed, nearly reduced to a state 
 of indigence. There was sent to gain him over a 
 deserter from the armies of the republic, disguised 
 as a lace-merchant, with I. tters from Pichegru, 
 and a good sum of money ; and he had not much 
 trouble in acquiring the good offices of Lajolais. 
 Being gained to the conspiracy, he attached him- 
 si If to Moreau, obtained from him, in confidence, 
 his ill-will to the ruling powers, and his wishes, 
 which tended to nothing less than to the destruction 
 of the consular government, by evi ry p ssible 
 means. Lajolais did not go so far as to make open 
 propositions ; but credulous as ail go betweeiiH are 
 ill similar eases, he imagined thai there remained 
 only one more word to he said to decide Moreau to 
 take an active part in the conspiracy ; and if he 
 believed beyond that which was ival!\ correct, lie 
 told his employers beyond what he himself believed. 
 It is thus that this species of plots are woven by 
 agents who in one-half cheat themselves, and cheat 
 those who employ them the other moiety. Lajo- 
 lais gave the greatest hopes to ihe agents of 
 Pichegru, and, pressed by them, consented to go 
 to Loudon, to make his verbal report to the 
 great personages of whom he had be com the in- 
 strument. 
 
 Lajolais and his conductor were obliged to go 
 through Hamburg to reach Lond"i> safely ; they 
 thus lost a, good deal of time. l)is m harked in 
 England, they there found orders given by the 
 British authorities that they should be immediately 
 received. They set off for London, ami were then 
 introduced to Pichegru, and tin- managers of the 
 whole intrigue. The arrival of Lajolais filled with 
 foolish pleasure all the impatient, spiri a there. The 
 
 c it d'Artois had the imprudence to ass. si at the 
 
 couuc L of the conspirators, and thus to c mpro- 
 nnse his rank, dignity, and family, lie was then 
 only personally known to the leaders, it is true; 
 but the vivacity of bis sentiments aim language 
 exciting attention, he soon became known to them 
 all. On hearing Lajolais describe, with ridiculous 
 exaggeration, what he had collected from the 
 
 lips of Moreau himself, and say that Pii hegl*U had 
 
 only to make his appearance to secure the adhesion 
 of the republican gen, ral, the count d'Artois, no 
 longer able to restrain his joy, cried out, " If our 
 two geuerals are in a perfect understanding, I shall 
 soon lie on my return to France.'' These words 
 drew upon the prince the ntU ntioii nf the conspira- 
 tors, who enquired the identity of the pi raouage 
 
 who thus expressed himself. They learned that it 
 
 ■ prince of the blqod, the son nf kings, called 
 to in- a km.- himself, whom the corrupt influence of 
 his exile thus conducted to acts so little worthy of 
 
 .nk or his In-art. The satisfaction ex pre 
 upon this event was so great, said one of the agents, 
 
 who at ii later period revealed the details, "that 
 
 the king of England, had he been present hi: 
 
 L I a
 
 516 ^K"™^ THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Interview'between Piche- 1804. 
 
 gru and Moreau. Jan. 
 
 would have wished to be among those that under- 
 took the voyage '." 
 
 It was then agreed upon, without further delay, 
 that they should enter France, in order to apply 
 the hist hand to the execution of the enterprise. 
 It was become time to hasten, because the unfortu- 
 nate Georges, left alone in the vanguard of the 
 business, and in the midst of the consular agents 
 of the police, ran the most serious hazards. There 
 had been sent to him, about the end of December, 
 a second detachment of emigrants, in order that 
 he might not suppose himself abandoned. It was 
 now decided that Pichegru himself, accompanied 
 by the greatest personages, such as M. de Riviere, 
 and one of the Polignaes, should embark for 
 France, and should join Georges by the way al- 
 ready marked out. The moment the party thus 
 newly setting out had prepared every thing, M. de 
 Riviere, who had most coolness of them all, 
 affirmed that the moment was so far come, that 
 there was sufficient maturity in the projected enter- 
 prise to risk even the princes themselves, that the 
 count d'Artois, or the duke de Berry, or both, 
 should proceed to France, in order to take a 
 part in this pretended combat against the person 
 of the first consul. 
 
 Pichegru left London, with the principal French 
 emigrants, upon the expedition in which he en- 
 tombed for ever his glory, already sullied, and 
 his life, which might have been otherwise em- 
 ployed. He set out during the first days of the 
 year 1804, embarking in the vessel of captain 
 Wright ; he landed at the cliff of Biville, on the 
 16th of January. The conqueror of Holland, ac- 
 companied by the most illustrious members of the 
 French nobility, followed the route of the smug- 
 glers, found Georges, who had come to meet them, 
 near the sea, and from resting-place to resting-place, 
 traversing the forests of Normandy, reached Chail- 
 lot on the 20. h of January. 
 
 Georges had not collected all his party ; but bold 
 as he was, with those of his band already united, 
 he was fully prepared to throw himself upon the 
 carriage of the first consul, and to strike the infal- 
 lible blow. But it was necessary first to have a 
 definitive understanding with Moreau, in order to 
 be secure about the morrow. The intermediate 
 parties went to see him anew, and told him that 
 Pichegru had arrived secretly, and wished to have 
 a conference with him. Moreau consented, but 
 unwilling to receive Pichegru in his own dwelling, 
 gave him a meeting at night, in the Boulevard of 
 the Madeleine. Pichegru came to the appoint- 
 ment. He would have desired to oe alone, be- 
 cause he was col, prudent, and disliked the com- 
 pany of vulgar anil excited persons, who annoyed 
 him by their impatience, and whose society was 
 the first punishment inflicted for his conduct. He 
 came wuh too many persons to the place of ren- 
 dezvous, ami he came there more particularly with 
 Georges, who wished to examine every thing with 
 
 • These words, as well as t lie whole recital of this deplor- 
 able affair, are extracted with scrupulous fidelity from the 
 voluminous iiistrui-ii u which took place, and of wt ten ot e 
 pari has heen published, and anotli r remans m the archives 
 of the (.'Overninenl. Th re is n t admitted a* wo tt.y of 
 credit mil inn ttie details which are placed beyond all douht 
 a> to tli. i r fidelity, by the "oneum-nt testimony ol revela- 
 tions tnat bear the evident character of truth. 
 
 his own eyes, apparently to judge upon what foun- 
 dations he was going to risk his life in a desperate 
 undertaking. 
 
 During a cold and dark night, in the month of 
 January, at a given signal, Moreau and Pichegru 
 drew near each other. It was the first time they 
 had met since they had fought together on the 
 Rhine, where their lives were without reproach, 
 and their glory unobscured. Scarcely were they 
 recovered from the emotion which was naturally 
 the effect of so many recollections, when Georges 
 came up and made himself known. Moreau was 
 struck, exhibited at once coldness, discontent, and 
 appeared not much pleased with Pichegru at such 
 an encounter. It was necessary to separate with- 
 out any thing of moment -or of utility being said. 
 Moreau will presently be reverted to again in an- 
 other part of the affair. 
 
 This first meeting produced in the mind of 
 Georges a very ill impression. " This will do mis- 
 chief," were his first words. Pichegru himself 
 feared he had been too adventurous. Still the 
 intriguers, who served as the goers- between, see- 
 ing Moreau, no longer dissimulated any thing, but 
 told him they were acting in a conspiracy to over- 
 turn the government of the first consul. Moreau 
 had no objection to the overturn of the govern- 
 ment, by means that without being declared, might 
 at the same time be imagined ; he only exhibited 
 an invincible repugnance to operate in the cause of 
 the Bourbons, and more particularly to be person- 
 ally mixed up in such an enterprise To bring 
 benefit to the republic and to himself, by the fall of 
 the first consul, was clearly his ambition ; but it 
 was only between Pichegru and himself that such 
 a matter could be entered upon. This time he 
 received him in his own house, and after several 
 accidents, that barely missed the disclosure of all, 
 he had at last a long and serious interview with 
 his old companion in arms. All was stated. Mo- 
 reau would not go out of a certain circl-e of ideas. 
 He had, he pretended, a considerable party of 
 friends in the senate and in the army. If it came 
 to pass that France could be delivered from the 
 three consuls, the power would certainly be placed 
 in his hands. He should use it to save the lives of 
 those who would have disembarrassed the republic 
 of its oppressor, but he would not deliver to the 
 Bourbons the republic thus eulranchised. As to 
 Pichegru himself, the old conqueror of Holland, 
 one of the most illustrious generals ol' France, they 
 would do better than save his lite, he would be re- 
 instated in his honours and in bis greatness ; he 
 would be elevated to the first ranks in the state. 
 Moreau, warm with these ideas, expressed his 
 astonishment at seeing Pichegru mingled with 
 his present party. Pichegru had no want of the 
 opinion of Moreau, to find insupportable the society 
 of the Chouans, among whom he lived ; but Mo- 
 reau was himself a proof, when people lay them- 
 selves out for conspiracies, of the difficulty there 
 is not to become soon the prey of lb worst who 
 are ar. und. Pichegru was too sensible and too 
 intelligent to partake in the illusions of Moreau, 
 and he attempted to persuade him that after the 
 death of the first consul, no other government than 
 that of the Bourbons was possible. All this was 
 above the understanding of M< roan, an under- 
 standing of a very moderate kind beyond the field
 
 1804. 
 Jan. 
 
 Second interview of 
 Pichegm and .Mo- 
 reau. 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF GEORGES. Discovery of the conspiracy. S17 
 
 of battle. He was obstinate in the belief, that 
 general Bonn parte ceasing to live, be, general 
 Moreau, would become the first consul of the 
 republic. Although the death of the first consul 
 was never spoken about, it was always understood, 
 as being the means of disembarrassing the stage of 
 the person who occupied it. It may be said, with- 
 out searching for excuses for these fatal negotia- 
 ti ns, to appreciate them exactly, that the peraon- 
 of that time had seen so many die upon the 
 scaffold ami on fields of battle, hail given so many 
 or submitted themselves to such terrible orders, 
 that the death of a man hail nut lor them that 
 signification ami (hat horror which the end of the 
 civil wars and tin- ameliorations of peace have so 
 happily rendered it in the present day. 
 
 Pichegru went away from his friend this time 
 in utter despair, and said to the confidential party 
 who had conducted him to Moreau, and who was 
 then leading him to an obscure hiding-place : " He 
 too has ambition ; be would, in his turn, govern. 
 Poor man ! he knows not how to govern France 
 for twenty-four hours !"' 
 
 Q orges, informed of all that had passed, cried, 
 with the ordinary energy of his language," Usurper 
 for usurper ; 1 love him that now governs better 
 than Moreau, who has neither head nor heart !" 
 
 It is thus, as will presently be seen, that they 
 treated the man whom their writers ami talkers 
 represented as the model of the public and warlike 
 vim 
 
 The knowledge, soon acquired, of the dispositions 
 of Moreau, threw into despair the unhappy and 
 culpable emigrants. They had yet another inter- 
 view with him at Chaillot in the dwelling of 
 ges, probably without his knowing whose 
 boo-,.- he had entered. Georges joining at the 
 commencement of the conversation, withdrew, say- 
 ing bluntly to Pichegru ami Moreau : " I with- 
 draw myself; perhaps while you are alone, you 
 may finish by a mutual understanding." 
 
 The two republican generals understood one 
 another no further : it was now become evident 
 to all tie' conspirators, that tiny were foolishly en 
 . m a design winch could only terminate in a 
 catastrophe. M. de Riviere was disconsolate. He 
 and bis friends said that which they always said, 
 "Inn tiny found none to take' part with their 
 own passions and feelings: " Prance is apathetic ; 
 she desires only repose ; she is unfaithful to her 
 
 old sentiments. France, in fact, was not as they had 
 
 I., i ii --in id -1m- was, indignant against the consular 
 govt rami nl ; ad tie- parties were not in an under- 
 standing to overturn it. There were none but 
 those who were envious, ami destitute of genius, 
 
 who dr» aim d of it- dl -trm tinn ; yet they were not 
 
 willing to commit themselves in a plot, bowi ver 
 well characterised. And as to Prance, without 
 doubt regretting the loss of the peace so promptly 
 broki n, mistrustful too, perhaps, of the taste for 
 war and power which so distinguished general 
 Bonaparte, sin- did not tie- less regard him as her 
 
 saviour. She was struck with his genius, and she 
 Would not, at any price, see herself east again into 
 
 the hazards of a new revolution! 
 Already the unhappy conspirators wen- tempted 
 
 to withdraw, soim- into liiitauv, others into Eng- 
 land. Disabused b) the knowledge of fncts, the 
 most elevated among them felt besides a deep dis- 
 
 gust at the society in the midst of which they were 
 reduced to live. M. de Riviere ami Pichegru, 
 the wisest of all the party, confided to each other 
 their repugnance and chagrin. One day Pichegru, 
 wishing to put. in their proper position the Chotmns 
 who were too importunate, replied with bitterness 
 and disdain to one of them, who said : " But, 
 general, you are with us!" ''No, I am amongst 
 you ' !" By which he signified that his life itself 
 was in their hands, but that his will and reason 
 were so no more. 
 
 All the conspirators now found themselves 
 plunged into the most cruel uncertainty. Still 
 Georges was always ready to attack the first con- 
 sul, except that he wished to know what would be 
 done afterwards ; the others asked, to what good ii 
 useless attempt would tend. They were in this 
 slate when these plotting*, carried on for six 
 months without interruption, were completed by 
 giving a glimpse of their existence to the police, 
 too late for the credit of its vigilance. The sa- 
 gacity of the first consul saved it altogether, and 
 ruined the imprudent enemies who conspired 
 against his life. It is the ordinary punishment of 
 those who engage in such enterprises to stop when 
 it is too late ; oftentimes they are discovered, 
 seized, and punished, when already conse'ence, 
 reason, and fear, beginning to open their eyes, 
 they began to retrograde in the path of evil. 
 
 These comings and goings continued from Au- 
 gust to January; passing more particularly so near 
 to such a man as the former minister Fouche*, who 
 had a great desire to make discoveries, it was 
 scarcely possible they should not one day be per- 
 ceived. It has been elsewhere related that M. 
 Fouche had been deprived of the portfolio of the 
 police, at the period when the first consul had 
 wished to distinguish the inauguration of the con- 
 sulship for life by the suppression of such a rigor- 
 ous administration. The police had been hidden, 
 it may be said, in the administration of justice. 
 The grand judge, Regnier, entirely a stranger to 
 the duties of the police, had abandoned them to 
 the counsellor of state, Real, a man of spirit, hut 
 sanguine, credulous, and having nothing near the 
 sagacity, certain and penetrating, of M. Fouche*. 
 Thus the police was directed with little skill, and 
 it had affirmed to the first consul, that never even 
 then had there appeared less symptoms of a con- 
 spiracy. The first consul was far from partaking 
 in this feeling of security. Besides, M. Fouche* 
 did not leave him the choice of doing so. Become 
 a senator, weary of his idleness, he had still kept 
 
 up his connexion with his old agents, was perfectly 
 
 well informed on matters and things, and came to 
 communicate his observations to the first consul. 
 The first consul listened to all that Fouche' and 
 Real chose to till him, but reading with care the 
 reports of the gendarmerie, always most useful, 
 because they are the most exact and most honest, 
 Came to the conviction that plots were- forming 
 against bis person. At first a fact, or a general 
 deduction drawn from circumstances, led him to 
 think that the renewal of the war might become 
 an occasion for tin- emigrants and republicans to 
 make some new attempts. Different indications, 
 
 1 " Main, general, vous Ctcs avec nous!" " Non, Je suis 
 ehez voub."
 
 518 
 
 The intrigues of Mr. Drake 
 at Munich. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Curious extracts from 
 letters of the first 
 consul. 
 
 1804. 
 Jan. 
 
 such as that of Cliouans being arrested in several 
 directions ; notices from Veudean chiefs attached 
 to his person, all proved to him that his inferences 
 were just. Upon an announcement from La Ven- 
 dee itself, which gave the information that re- 
 fractory conscripts were observed to be forming 
 themselves into bands, he sent colonel Savory into 
 the western departments, an officer whose devotion 
 he knew was without limit, and whose intelligence 
 and courage were equally tried. There were sent 
 with hint some of the select gendarmerie, to follow 
 the movements and to direct several moveable 
 columns detached into La Vendee. Colonel Sa- 
 vary set out, observed every thing personally, and 
 clearly perceived signs of a concealed action from 
 some quarter. This action was effected by Georges, 
 who, from Paris, endeavoured to excite an insur- 
 rection in La Vende'e. Still nothing was discovered 
 of the terrible secret, which Georges reserved to 
 himself and his principal associates. The bands in 
 La Vendee dispersed, and colonel Savary returned 
 to Paris without having learned any thing very 
 important. 
 
 Another intrigue, the thread of which had fallen 
 into the hands of t'.ie first consul, and which lie 
 took a sort of pleasure in tracing out himself, 
 promised some light on the matter, without having 
 yet afforded any. The three English ministers at 
 Hesse, Wurteinburg, and Bavaria, who were 
 charged to weave plots in France, applied them- 
 selves to the task with zeal and assiduity, but in a 
 clumsy manner. Strangers show little ability in 
 conducting similar plots. Of these Mr. Drake, the 
 Bavarian minister, was the most active. He 
 lodged out of the city of Munich, in order that he 
 might receive with greater facility the agents 
 which came to him from France ; and in order the 
 better to ensure the security of his correspondence, 
 he had seduced a director of the Bavarian post- 
 office. A Frenchman given to intrigue, formerly 
 a republican, with whom Mr. Drake had under- 
 taken these practices, and to whom he avowed con- 
 tinually the object of the British intriguers, had 
 made known all to the Parisian police. Mr. Drake 
 wished at nr.it to procure the secrets of the first 
 consul relativt to the descent on England, then to 
 gain over, if possible, some important general, to 
 seize, if it could be done, upon some fortified place 
 like Strasburj;h or Besancon, and there to com- 
 mence an insurrection. To disembarrass himself 
 of general Bonaparte, was always, in terms more 
 or le.-.s explicit, the essential part of the design. 
 The first consul delighted to catch an English 
 diplomatist in such a flagrant offence, jrave money 
 to the intermediate agent who thus deceived Mr. 
 Drake, upon the condition of his continuing the 
 intrigue. He himself furnished the copies of the 
 letters which were to be written to Drake. He 
 gave in these letters numerous and true details of 
 his personal habits, of the manner in which he 
 drew up his plans, dictated his orders, and added, 
 that the grand secret of his operations was con- 
 tained in a great biack portfolio, always entrusted 
 to M. de Meneval, or a huissier in his confidence; 
 that M. de Meneval was incorruptible, but that 
 the huissier was not, and demanded a million of 
 francs for the delivery of the portfolio. The first 
 consul insinuated, that there must certainly be in 
 France other plots besides that under the di- 
 
 rection of Mr. Drake, and that it was important to 
 know them, in order that they might not recipro- 
 cally obscure each other, but, on the contrary, be 
 of mutual service. Finally, he added as a very 
 important piece of revelation, that the real object 
 of the descent was Ireland ; that what had taken 
 place at Boulogne was purely a feint, that it 
 was endeavoured, by the extent of the preparations, 
 to render it of importance, but that there was 
 nothing serious except in the expedition ordered at 
 Brest and the Texel 1 . 
 
 1 Here are curious extracts from these letters, dictated by 
 the first consul himself: — 
 
 " To the grand judge. 
 " 9th Brumaire, year xu.(lst Nov. 1803.) 
 
 " It will be of importance to have near Drake, at Munich, 
 a secret agent, who will take an account of all the French 
 who visit that city. 
 
 " I have read all the reports which you have sent to me. 
 They appear sufficiently interesting. He must not press for 
 • lie arrests. When the anthotiiies shall ha\e given all the 
 reinstructions, a plan will be arranged with him, and that 
 which he will have to do will be sun. 
 
 " I desire that he write to Drake, and, to give him con- 
 fidence, inform him, that while waiting until tin 
 blow can be struck, he believes he has it in his power to 
 promise that there shall be taken from the table of the first 
 consul, in his secret cabinet, written in his own hand, notes 
 relat."e to his {treat expedition, and every otlier important 
 paper ; that this hope is loumled upon a huissier of the 
 cabinet, who having been a member of the society of Jaco- 
 bins, having now the care of the cabinet of the first consul, 
 honoured with his confidence, finds himself in the mean- 
 while in the secret committee, but that he has a need of 
 two things, the first that he shall have the promise of 
 100,1)00/. sterling, if he really remits those papers of 
 an importance so great, written in the first consul's hand ; 
 the second condition is, that theie shall be designated a 
 French agent of the royalist party, that shall furnish the 
 means of concealing himself to the huissier, who will be cer- 
 tainly arrested in ihe course of the affair if ever documents 
 of such importance are found missing. . . . 
 
 '• Bonaparte writes himself scarcely ever. He dictates 
 every thing, walking up and down his cabinet, to a young 
 man aged about twenty, named Meneval, who is the sole 
 individual, not only wbo enters his cabinet, but who ap- 
 proaches within the thr-e rooms that lead to that cabinet. 
 This joung man succeeded liourienne, whom the first 
 consul bad known from his infancy, but whom he has sent 
 aw y. . . . 
 
 " Meneval is not of the character that one can be able to 
 hope for any thing from him. 
 
 " But the notes which contain the grandest and most im- 
 portant calculations the first consul never dictates, but 
 writes himself He has upon bis table a great portfolio, 
 divided into as many compartments as there are ministers. 
 This portfolio, made with care, is closed by the first consul ; 
 and every time that the first consul leaves his cabinet, .Me- 
 neval is ordered to place the portfolio in a cupboard in a 
 rjcess under lis desk, screwed to the floor. 
 
 " Peihaos this portfolio might be carded off. Meneval or 
 the huissier of tr e cabinet, who lights the fire and sets the 
 apaitment in order, would alone be suspected. It will be 
 necessary that the huissier shou d disappear alterwards. In 
 this portfolio there must be all that the first consul has 
 w ritten for several years past, because it is the only one 
 which has constantly travelled about with him, and which 
 goes incessantly with him from Paris to Malmaison and to 
 St. Cloud. Ail the secret notes of the military operations 
 would be found theie; and seeing that, it will be possible 
 to attain the ccstruction of his authority by confounding his
 
 1S04. 
 Jan. 
 
 Intrigues of Mr. Drake at 
 Munich. 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF GEORGES. 
 
 Arrest and trial of certain 
 thouans. 
 
 519 
 
 This clumsy and culpable diplomatist, who had 
 committed the double wrong of compromising the 
 most Bacred functions, and of playing so stupidly 
 with the police, received all these details with ex- 
 treme avidity; he demanded more, above ail, re- 
 lative to what was passing at Boulogne; stated 
 thai he would refer to his government for what 
 1 to tlie " black portfolio," lor which so great 
 a price was demanded; and as to the other plots 
 (>f which his correspondent desired information, 
 in order that they might not run counter to one 
 another, he said he was nut instructed, winch was 
 true enough; but it would be needful, if he en- 
 countered any. to lay himself out, in order to 
 make all tend to the same object; because, added 
 
 designs. There can he no doubt that the subtraction of 
 thi» portfolio would confound the u all." 
 " To the grand judge. 
 " Paris, 3rd Pluviose, year XII. (12 Jan. 1804.) 
 " The letters of Drake appear very important. I desire 
 that Mehi-e, in his appro iching bulletin, .should say tfiat the 
 committee had been in great nice, a^ they thought that 
 Bonaparte wo ,ld embark ai Boulogne, but that (lure :s to- 
 day the rertainty that tlie demonstrations at Boulogne are 
 false demonstrations; that although costly, they are much 
 l than appear^ at the first glance ; that all the vessels 
 of the flotilla are sole to tie used for ordinary purposes; that 
 there be care taken to observe all that would show that those 
 preparations are only menaces, and that it is not a fixed 
 ishment which it might be wished to preserve. 
 " That he will not dissimulate; that the first consul was 
 too wary, and believed himself too well established to-day, 
 to attempt a doubtful operation, where a mass of force will 
 mit'ed. His real project, as much as can be judged 
 external relations, is the expedition to Ireland, which 
 will be made at the same time by the squadrons from Brest 
 and the Texel. 
 
 '• Nothing is vairt of the expedition from the Texel, al- 
 ii it is well known to be ready, and much noise is 
 b iut the camos of St. Omer, Osiend, and Flushing. 
 The great quantity of troops united in encampments has a 
 political object. Bonaparte is very pleased to have them at 
 io keep them in war-trim, and to make a diversion of 
 to fall upon Germany, if he sees it neces- 
 sary to his objects to make the war continental. 
 
 •• Another expedition is that n( the Mora, which Is de- 
 
 , t. Honaparte has orty thousand men at 
 
 Tar ntum. The Toulon squadron will proceed thither. He 
 
 to find a considerable auxiliary force among the 
 
 ks. 
 
 if atT.iir of the porfolio must always be continued. 
 
 , order to get lie ief) the huissier came to show 
 
 . pieces of letters written in the very hand of Buna 
 parte. That you should he able to extract the greater part 
 ■i luit that he wants a great d-al of money, 
 i ■ is really to il. liver tlie portfolio, ill which the 
 
 first consul put- all tie- Instructions that tiny can desire or 
 believe, but for which it Is necessary they thotll 
 I to the extent of 50,000/. sterling." 
 
 " To citizen Heal. 
 - Malrmison, 28th 1 KIT. (March 19, IBM.) 
 
 "I pray you in send to citlsen Maret the last letter 
 
 written by Drake, in order that he m iv print it after the 
 collection of pi' Jr. 
 
 •' I i . .'. i '. add two notes, one to make known 
 
 that the a"l tie camp of the supposed it'tinl is no more 
 than an offlcef sent by the prefect of Btra burg; and the 
 other which makes known that the litlissl r was a pure in 
 vention of the a en', that there is not any huissier employed 
 aliout the government who would not be above the corrupt- 
 ing gold of England." 
 
 Mr. Drake, it matters very little by whom the 
 animal is " laid low, it sullices that you are all 
 ready to join in the chase '." 
 
 It was to this unworthy character, then, that an 
 agent, clothed with an official character, ventured 
 to descend ; it was this odious language which he 
 dared to use. 
 
 But all this threw no light upon wlrat was sought. 
 Mi-. Drake was ignorant of tlie great conspiracy 
 of Georges, of which the secret had not been 
 spread abroad ; and he had not been able, in his 
 ridiculous confidence, to make a single useful 
 revelation. Tlie first consul was always persuaded 
 that the men who invented the infernal machine, 
 would have much stronger reasons for preparing 
 something similar, under existing circumstances. 
 Struck with tlie numerous arrests executed in 
 Paris, La Vendee, and Normandy, he said to 
 Murat, governor of Paris, and to M. Real, who 
 directed the police, " The emigrants are certainly 
 at work. Numerous arrests are taking place ; 
 some of the individuals taken must be sent before 
 a military commission, that will condemn them, 
 and then they will confess before they suffer them- 
 selves to be shot." 
 
 This which is hero stated actually took plaoe 
 between the 25th and jflth of January, during the 
 interview between Pichegru and Moreau, and 
 when the conspirators began to give themselves 
 up to discouragement. The first consul had the 
 lists brought to him of those individuals who had 
 been arrested. Among them were found all life 
 agents of Georges, arrived either before or after 
 himself, and in that number w.-if'an old physician 
 of the Vendean armies, who had disembarked in 
 August with Georges himself. After examining 
 tlie particular circumstances attached to each of 
 them, the first consul, in designating five of their 
 number, said, " I am very strongly deceived, or 
 there are here some men who will not be wanting 
 in making revelations." 
 
 For a long while the laws formerly made had 
 not been carried into effect, which permitted the 
 institution of military tribunals. The first consul, 
 during the peace, had wished to let them fall 
 into desuetude ; but on the return of the war, he 
 believed that he was bound to use them, above all, 
 iii case of the spies, who came to observe his pre- 
 parations against England, lie had caused tluin 
 to hi- arrested, iried, and everyone shut. The five 
 individuals whom he had designated were now put 
 upon trial. Two were acquitted; two others, con- 
 victed by the court of crimes that the law punished 
 with death, were shot, without avowing any thing, 
 but that they declared they had conn- to serve the 
 
 cause of their legitimate king, who would Boon be 
 triumphant over the ruins of the republic. They 
 preferred, besides, frightful menaces against the 
 
 person at the head ol the government. 
 
 The fifth, whom the first consul had particularly 
 nated as the man who would he likely bl con- 
 very thing, declared, at themomenl tiny were 
 
 hading him to puuishnn nt, that In had gnat 
 -, to disclose. There was imiiu diatel) 
 
 i These are the expressions employed by Mr Drake him- 
 self, The letters, written in his own hand, were el.- 1 I 
 
 with the senile, and shown to all the agents of the diplo- 
 matic body who bad any inclination to peruse them.
 
 520 
 
 One of the Chouans 
 confesses. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The presence of Georges 
 in Paris discovered. 
 
 1S04. 
 Jan. 
 
 to him one of the most able agents in the service 
 of the police. He avowed every thing, declared 
 that he had disembarked in the month of August 
 at Biville with Georges himself; that they had 
 arrived, by traversing the woods, from station to 
 station, as far as Paris, with the object of killing 
 the first consul, through an attack upon his escort 
 by main force. He indicated some of the places 
 where the Chouans lodged who were under the 
 orders of Georges, and particularly several wine- 
 merchants. 
 
 This declaration threw in a ray of light. The 
 presence of Georges in Paris was in the highest 
 point significative. It was not for an attempt of 
 slight importance that such a personage h;id been 
 sojourning six months in the capital itself with 
 a band of his accomplices and dependants. The 
 point of disembarkation at the cliff of Biville, the 
 existence of a route to Paris, the sojourning places 
 in traversing the woods, and every one of the ob- 
 scure lodgings where the conspirators were hidden, 
 were now known. A most singular chance had 
 revealed a name, which being traced, disclosed the 
 gravest circumstances. At an anterior epoch, 
 some Chouans disembarked on the same shore of 
 Biville, had exchanged musket-shots with the 
 gendarmes, and the name of Troche was found 
 upon a fragment of paper which had served for 
 wadding. This Troche was a clockmaker at Eu. 
 He had a son very young, and employed in the 
 correspondence. He was secretly arrested and 
 taken to Paris. On being interrogated he avowed 
 all he knew. He declared that it was he who 
 went to receive the conspirators at the cliff of 
 Biville, and conducted them to their first stations. 
 He related the three disembarkations, ot which the 
 history lias been related, that of Georges in August, 
 and those of December and January, in which 
 were found Pichegru, M. de Riviere, and M. de 
 Polignac. Me did not know the names or the 
 quality of the personages to whom he had served 
 as a guide. He only knew that in the first days 
 of February a fourth disembarkation was to lake 
 place at the cliff of Biville. He was equally or- 
 dered to be the guide to receive them when they 
 arrived. 
 
 Suddenly, during the first days of February, a 
 search was commenced, and the places indicated 
 from Paris as far as the coast were examined, in 
 order to discover the stations which were used by 
 the emigrant travellers. A good guard was placed 
 at the wine-merchants denounced by the agents of 
 Georges, and in a few days different important 
 arrests were made, two in particular, which threw 
 a great light upon the whole affair. They seized 
 at first a young man, named Picot, a domestic of 
 Georges, and an intrepid Chouan, who being armed 
 with pistols and poignards, fired upon the agents of 
 the police, and did not yield until the last ex- 
 tremity, declaring he would die in the service of 
 his king. At the same time was seized the prin- 
 cipal officer of Georges, named Bouvet de Lozier, 
 who suffered himself to be taken without provoking 
 the same tumult, exhibiting himself perfectly calm. 
 These men were armed like offenders ready for 
 the committal of the greatest crimes, and besides 
 the arms which they carried about them, they had 
 considerable sums in gold and silver. At the first 
 moment they appeared to be highly excited, then 
 
 they became more calm, and finished by making 
 confessions. It was thus with the party named 
 Picot, arrested on the 8lh of February, or 18th 
 Pluviose ; he would say nothing at first, but after- 
 wards, by little and little, he was induced to speak. 
 He avowed that he had come from England with 
 Georges ; that he had been with him in Paris 
 during the last six months, and did not much dis- 
 guise the motive of their voyage to France. Thus 
 the presence of Georges in Paris for a grand ob- 
 ject, could no longer be a matter of doubt. But 
 they knew nothing more. Bouvet de Lozier st.id 
 nothing. He was a personage much above Picot 
 in education and manners. In the night of the 
 13th or 14th of February, Bouvet de Lozier sud- 
 denly called his jailer. He had attempted to hang 
 himself, and not having succeeded, had fallen into 
 a sort of delirium ; he then demanded that the 
 declaration he made should be received. The 
 unhappy man now stated, that before dying for the 
 cause of his legitimate king, he wished to unmask 
 the perfidious person who had drawn ihese brave 
 men into an abyss, by compromising them uselessly. 
 He made to M. Real, surprised a;'d confounded, 
 the strangest and most surprising lecita!. They 
 were, he said, in London, around the princes, 
 when Moreau had sent over to Pichegru one of 
 his officers, to offer to set him at the head of a 
 movement in favour of the Bourbons, promising to 
 draw in the army to follow his example. On this 
 intelligence, they had set off altogether, with 
 Georges and Pichegru himself, to co-operate in 
 the revolution. Arrived in Paris, Georges and 
 Pichegru had gone to Moreau, to have an under- 
 standing, and Moreau had then changed his lan- 
 guage, and had demanded that they should over- 
 turn the first consul, for his own advantage, in 
 order to make himself the dictator. Georges, 
 Pichegru, and their friends, had refused such a 
 proposition, and it was owing to the unfortunate 
 delays, arising from the pretensions of Moreau, 
 that they had become objects of search to the 
 police. This tragical deponent added, that "he 
 had escaped the shadows of death to avenge him- 
 self and his friends upon the man who had lost 
 them every thing '." 
 
 1 The declaration of Bouvet de Lozier himself is here 
 cited. This document, as are all those relative to the con- 
 spiracy of Georges, and which will be cited hereafter, is 
 taken from a collection in eight volumes, 8vo, having for 
 the title: — 
 
 " The process instituted hy the court of criminal and 
 special justice of the department of the Seine, silting at 
 Paris, against Georges, Pichegru, and others, charged with 
 a conspiracy against the person of the tiist consul. Paris, 
 C. P. Palras, printer to the court of criminal justice, 1804." 
 (The copy in the royal library.) 
 
 Declaration of Atliavase ITyacinthe Bouvet de Lozier, made 
 in presence of the grand judge, minister of justice. Book 
 ii. page 168. 
 
 " It is a man who comes out of the gates of the tomb, still 
 cevered with the shadows o! death, who asks vengeance 
 upon those that by their peifidionsness have thrown him 
 and his ;>arty into the abyss in which he finds himself. 
 
 "Sent '. sustain the cause of the Bourbons, he found 
 himself obliged to combat lor Moreau, or to renounce an 
 enterprize which was the sole object of his mission. 
 
 " Monsieur was to pass into France in order to place him
 
 1804. 
 Feb. 
 
 M. Real communicates 
 Bouvet 8 confession 
 to Napoleon. 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF GEORGES. A secret council summoned. 521 
 
 Thus, in the midst of an interrupted suicide, 
 there came out against Moreau a terrible denun- 
 ciation ; a denunciation exaggerated by despair, 
 but presenting, nevertheless, the outline of the 
 plot. M. Real, almost stupiKed, ran to the Tuile- 
 ries. tie found the first consul gone, according to 
 his custom, to take his rest at an early hour, in 
 order to give himself up to his labours. The first 
 consul was yet in the hands of his valet de cham- 
 bre, Constant, when at the first accents of M. Real, 
 he placed his hand on his mouth, silenced him, 
 and shut himself up alone with him, to listen to 
 his recital. He did not seem astonished. He 
 refused to credit entirely and wholly the declara- 
 tion about Moreau. He comprehended well enough 
 the project of uniting all parties against himself, 
 
 and empl tying Pichegru as an intermediate agent 
 between the royalists and republicans ; but to cre- 
 dit the culpability of Moreau, lie wished that the 
 nee of Pichegru in Paris should be well esta- 
 blished. If new revelations removed all doubts in 
 this respect, the connexion between the royalists 
 and Moreau would be found established, and they 
 
 self at the head of the royalists ; Moreau promised to unite 
 his cause with that of the Bourbons. The royalists came 
 into France and Moreau retracted. 
 
 " lie proposed that we should labour for him and get him 
 nominated dictator. 
 
 " The accusation which I make against him is not sup- 
 ported perhaps but on half proof. 
 
 " Here are the facts ; it is you who are to appreciate 
 them. 
 
 " A general who has served under Moreau's orders, Lajo- 
 lais, was sent by him to the prince in London ; Pichegru acted 
 intermediately j Lajolais adhered in the name and on the 
 part ot Moreau to the principal points of the proposed plan. 
 
 " I tie prince proposed to depart ; the number of royalists 
 in France was augmented, and in the conferences which have 
 taken place in I'aris between Moreau, Pichegru, and Georges, 
 the AMI manifested his intentions, and declared he would not 
 act except for a dictator, not for a kin;:. 
 
 " From tin nee an. so the hesitation, the dissension, and the 
 nearly total loss of the royalist party, 
 
 •' Lajolais was frith the prince at the commencement of 
 January in the present year, as 1 have been apprised by 
 Georges. 
 
 "1 myself saw on the 17th of January his arrival at 
 La Poterie on the day following his disembarknunt with 
 Pichegru, by the route of our common correspondence, 
 which you only know too well. 
 
 " I have seen the tame Lajolais, on the 2.0th or 2Gth of 
 
 January, when he came to take Georges and Pichegru to 
 
 irriaga where I was with them in the Boulevard de la 
 
 ■ me to conduct them to Moreau, who Waited for them 
 
 at some pic » distance. He then had with them in the 
 
 i- Klysecs one conference, that led to our presage of 
 
 that which Moreau openly proposed it a succeeding meeting 
 
 that he had with I'ic hegru alone ; to wit, that it was not 
 possible to re-establish the king; and ha proposed that he 
 
 If should be placed at the head of the gOVer ml 
 
 und-r the title of dictator, not having to the royalists any 
 chance but to tic his su p porter! and soldiers. 
 
 " i know not what weight the assertion of ■ man will have 
 with you, snatched but an hour in tors from the death that he 
 
 had given himself, and that sec before him the death re- 
 
 d by an offended government 
 
 " But I am not abb] to restrain the cry Of despair, nor an 
 
 attack upon the men who have reduced me to It. 
 " As to what remains, yon win discover facts conformable 
 e which I advance in the course of the grand process 
 in winch I am Implicated. 
 
 "(Signed) BOVTBT, 
 
 "Adjutant-general of the royal army." 
 
 would be able to deal with him. In other respects, 
 there escaped from the first consul not a single 
 accent of anger nor of vengeance ; he appeared 
 more curious and more thoughtful than he was 
 irritated. 
 
 They thought of interrogating Picot, the domes- 
 tic of Georges, anew, to discover if he had cogni- 
 zance of the presence of Pichegru in Paris. He 
 was questioned upon the same day, when, on treat- 
 ing him with mildness, they terminated the matter, 
 by bringing him to open what he knew to them 
 entirely. He declared himself all that related to 
 Pichegru and Moreau. He had known less than 
 Bouvet do Luzier ; but that which he did know 
 was perhaps more significant, because the inference 
 from it was, that the despair produced by the con- 
 duct of Moreau had descended so as to be shared 
 by the lowest ranks of the conspirators. In regard 
 to Pichegru, he had declared positively that he had 
 seen him in Paris but a few days before ; and he 
 affirmed even that he was still there. As to Mo- 
 reau, he stated that lie had heard the officers of 
 Georges express the greatest regret that they had 
 addressed themselves to that general, who was 
 ready to ruin till by his ambitious pretensions 1 . 
 
 These facts having been made known dining the 
 14th of February, the first consul immediately con- 
 voked a secret council at the Tuileries, composed 
 of the two consuls, Cambaceres and Lebiun, the 
 principal ministers, and M. Fouche, who, although 
 no longer a minister, had borne a leading part in 
 the existing information. The council was held in 
 the night of the 14th and 15th. *he question 
 merited a serious examination. There was incon- 
 testable evidence of a conspiracy. The design to 
 attack the first consul with a troop of Cliouaus, 
 having Georges at their head, was beyond a 
 doubt. The concurrence of all the parties, repub- 
 licans or royalists, thus become certain from the 
 presence of Pichegru, who had served as the inter- 
 mediate agent between one and the other. As to 
 the culpability of Moreau, it was difficult to dis- 
 cover its precise extent ; but neither Bouvet de 
 Lozier in his despair, nor Picot in his subaltern 
 simplicity, could possibly have invented the extra- 
 ordinary circumstance of the wrong done to the 
 royalist party by the personal views of Moreau. 
 It was char, then, that if this general were not 
 arrested, the process would follow him up, and he 
 
 1 Extract from the second declaration of Louis Picot, the 
 24th Pluviiu, ytat XII (H February), at one in tht 
 
 morning, before the prefect of police, hook ii. p. 392. 
 
 Declares—" That the chiefs had drawn lots who should 
 attack the first consul. 
 
 " That they would attack him if they encountered him on 
 the road to Boulogne, OI assassinate him while presenting a 
 petition to him on the parade, or as he went to the theatre. 
 
 "That he (irmly believes that Pichegru is not only in 
 France, hut still in Paris." 
 
 Extract from the third declaration of Louis Picot, the 1\lh 
 Pluvidse (I) (A February). 
 
 Declares — " That Pichegru constantly bore the name of 
 Charles, that he had heard him several times so called. 
 
 " That he had heard general Moreau spoken of several 
 times, and that the chiefs had frequently repeated it before 
 
 him ; that they were vi.xed tli.it the princes had let Moreau 
 into '.ne affair, but that he was ignorant whether Georges 
 
 had seen .Moreau."
 
 o22 
 
 The nrrest of Moreau 
 determined upon. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Secret council at the 
 1 uileries. — Mo- 
 reau arrested. 
 
 1804. 
 Feb. 
 
 would be found denounced every moment ; that 
 those denunciations would be noised abroad, and 
 that then the charge would have the appearance of 
 being either wholly a perfidious calumny, or that 
 the government was afraid, and did not dare to 
 prosecute a criminal, because in that criminal's 
 identity would be found the second personage in 
 the republic. 
 
 The decision of this question remained for the 
 first consul. To suffer the strength of his govern- 
 ment to be called in question, was the thing ever 
 roost opposed to his pride and policy. "They will 
 say," he observed, " that I am afraid of Moreau. 
 It will not be found so. I have been the most 
 merciful of men, but 1 will be the most terrible, 
 when it shall become necessary. I will strike 
 Moreau as I would strike any other man when he 
 enters into conspiracies, odious in their object, and 
 disgraceful by the party reconciliations which they 
 imply." 
 
 He did not, therefore, hesitate a moment in 
 deciding upon the arrest of Moreau. He h;id, 
 besides, another reason, ;md that was one of weight. 
 Neither Georges nor Piehegru were arrested. 
 Three or four of their accomplices wei'e taken ; 
 but the main body of those who were to carry the 
 scheme into execution was yet entirely beyond 
 the grasp of the police, and it was possible that the 
 fear of being discovered might cause them to carry 
 out at once the attempt which they had entered 
 France to make. It was on this account needful 
 to hasten the process, and seize all the principal 
 parties whom they had the means of securing. 
 This would lead inevitably to other discoveries. 
 The arrest of Moreau was resolved upon accord- 
 ingly, and with Moreau that of Lajok.is and the 
 other intermediate agents, whose names had been 
 d iscovered. 
 
 The first consul was irritated, but not in a par- 
 ticular manner, against Moreau. He wore the 
 appearance more of a man who endeavoured to 
 strengthen himself beforehand rather than to seek 
 vengeance. He wished to have Moreau in his 
 
 n m .... 
 
 power to convince him, and to obtain the informa- 
 tion of which he had need, and then to pardon him. 
 He imagined that it would be the full measure of 
 address and goodness, to terminate the matter in 
 this way. 
 
 It was necessary to fix upon the jurisdiction. 
 The consul Camhace'res, who had a professed 
 knowledge of the laws, stated the danger of the 
 ordinary jurisdiction in an affair of this nature, 
 and proposed, as Moreau was a military man, to 
 send him before a council of war, composed of the 
 most distinguished individuals in the army. The 
 existing laws furnished the means of taking this 
 st. ;,. The first consul opposed it 1 . ''They will 
 say," he remarked, "that wishing to disembarrass 
 mysi If of Moreau, I have hail him assassinated, 
 judicially, by my own creatures. - ' A middle term 
 was then sought, and it was in consequence devised 
 to send Moreau before the criminal tribunal of the 
 Sein ". The constitution permitted the suspension 
 of the jury in certain cases, and over the entire 
 extent of particular departments, and it was de- 
 cided that this suspension should be immediately 
 
 1 The author here repeats the testimony of M. Camba- 
 ceres himself. 
 
 pronounced for the department of the Seine. This 
 was a fault, the principle of which was honourable. 
 The public considered the suspension of the jury 
 an act as rigorous as if the case had been sent be- 
 fore a military commission, and without giving it 
 the merit of respecting the forms of justice, thus 
 imparted to it all the inconveniences, as will soon be 
 Seen. It was resolved, besides, that the grand 
 judge, Regnier, should draw up a report upon the 
 conspiracy which had been discovered, declaring 
 the motives for the arrest of Moreau, and that the 
 report should be communicated to the senate, the 
 legislative body, and the tribunate. 
 
 The council lasted the whole night. Tn the 
 morning of the ]5th of February, a chosen detach- 
 ment of gendarmerie, with the officers of justice, 
 was sent to the house inhabited by Moreau. He 
 was not to be found there, and they set out for 
 Grosbois, but met him mi the bridge of Charenton, 
 returning to Paris. He was arrested without 
 noise, treated with much respect, and conducted 
 to the Temple. At the same lime as Moreau, they 
 arrested Lajolais, with the clerks of the provision- 
 sellers, who had served as intermediate agents. 
 
 The message containing the report of Regnier 
 was taken the same day to the senate, to the legis- 
 lative body, and to the tribunate. It produced 
 there a painful astonishment among the friends of 
 the government, and a sort of malicious delight 
 among its enemies — enemies more or less active, of 
 whom a certain number yet remained in the great 
 bodies of the state. It was, according to these, an 
 invention of the police, a machination of the first 
 consul, who wished to get rid of a rival of whom he 
 was jealous, and repair his compromised popu- 
 larity, by inspiring uneasiness about his life. Every 
 tongue was let loose, as is certain to happen under 
 similar circumstances. In place of saying, "the 
 conspiracy of Moreau," the wits said, "the con- 
 spiracy against Moreau." The brother of the 
 general, who was a member of the tribunate, sud- 
 denly rose in the tribune of that assembly, declared 
 that his brother had been calumniated, and that he 
 demanded only one thing to demonstrate his inno- 
 cence, and that was to be sent before an ordinary, 
 and not a special court of justice. He only de- 
 manded for his brother the means to make the 
 truth be heard. These words were heard coldly, 
 but with evident chagrin. The majority of the 
 three bodies was at the same time devoted to the 
 government, and deeply afflicted. It seemed as if, 
 since the rupture of the peace, the fortune of the 
 first consul, so far fortunate as it was great, had 
 a little fallen off. They did not believe that he 
 could have invented this conspiracy ; but they 
 were grieved to see that his life was yet in peril, 
 and that it was necessary to defend it by striking 
 at the highest characters in the republic. They 
 replied, therefore, to the message of the govern- 
 ment, by one which contained the expression, com- 
 mon under those circumstances, of the interest and 
 attachment they felt towards the chief of the state, 
 and their ardent wishes that justice should be 
 promptly and faithfully rendered. 
 
 The noise caused by these arrests was very 
 great, and it could not be otherwise. The bulk of 
 the public were strongly disposed to indignation 
 against every attempt which placed the valuable 
 life of the first consul in peril; still the reality of
 
 Feb. 
 
 Irritation of the first 
 snl against the 
 conspirators. 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF GEORGES. 
 
 Ingratitude of the 
 royalists. 
 
 523 
 
 the plot was doubted. It was certain that the 
 infamous infernal machine had rendered it all 
 credible; but there the crime had preceded the 
 pr. cess, which last was, besides, produced under 
 the form of the most atrocious of wicked attempts. 
 Now, on the contrary, a simple intention of assas- 
 sination was announced, and on that simple an- 
 nouncement they began by arresting one of the 
 most illustrious men in the republic, who passed 
 ft* being the object of the first consul's jealousy. 
 Malcontent persons asked where then was Georges! 
 Where was Picliegrul Those two pcrsn liases, they 
 
 appreh nded, were certainly not in Paris ; they 
 had not found them there, because all was no 
 nmre than a Clumsy fable — an odious invention. 
 
 If the ti I had been at first tranquil at 
 
 the aspect of the new danger with which his per- 
 son was menaced, he felt deeply angry on finding 
 of what black calumnies that danger was the cause, 
 inanded if ii was not enough to be the object 
 of the most frightful conspiracies; if he must still 
 be passed off himself for a maker of pints, for 
 envious, when he was pursued by the meanest 
 envy, fur the author of perfidious designs against 
 the life of another, when his own life ran the 
 greatest risk. IK' was Beized with a fit of anger, 
 which every step in the instructions against the 
 criminals diil not cease to augment. He set him- 
 self about the discovery of the authors of the plot 
 with a sort of exasperation ; not that he did so for 
 the security of his own life ; he did not think so 
 much of that, which he confided to his good for- 
 tune, but lie held himself bound to confound the 
 infamy of his detractors, who represented him as 
 the inventor of plots which had failed, and of 
 which it was ible he might become the 
 
 vie im. 
 
 It was not against the republicans that he was 
 irritated on this occasion, but against the 
 royalists. At the time of the infernal machine, 
 although the royalists were the authors, he as- 
 I all to the republicans, because he saw in 
 them the obstacle to the good which he designed 
 to i ll'ect. lint at this moment his indignation had 
 a different object. Since Ins access to power he 
 had ■! . thing lor the royalists; he had re- 
 
 I them from oppression and from exile; he 
 had i 10 the rank of Frenchmen and 
 
 citizens; he liad, asfaras he aras able, given back 
 in their property; and he had done all in spite 
 of th- ad* i,-. and against the will of Ins most faith- 
 ful supporters. Tu recall tin- priests he had braved 
 preju most deeply rooted of the country 
 
 ami the age; to recall the emigrants he had braved 
 tin' alarms ol the most suspicious class, the ac- 
 quirers ot national property. Finally, he had in- 
 oi tie- royalists with most important 
 function-; he had even commenced to place tin in 
 about his person. When, in fact, the stale in 
 which he found them on th n of the reign 
 
 of the convention and the directory was compared 
 with that in will eh he had placed thorn, it is im- 
 
 l>le to hinder om w If fr acknowledging, that 
 
 no one ever did more for ■ party, that never had 
 a party amor- generous protector, in the sight of 
 
 impartial justice, and that never had such I. lack 
 
 Ingratitude repaid a conduct so noble. The first 
 
 consul had gone so far lor the royalists as to risk 
 his popularity, and what was nroi -•, the confidence 
 
 of all the men sincerely and honestly attached to 
 the revolution; because he had left it to be said 
 and credited, that he thought of re-establishing 
 the Bourbons. In payment of these efforts and 
 benefits, the royalists had wished to blow him 
 up by means of gunpowder in 1800 ; they wished 
 now to cut his throat upon the high road ; and 
 these were the parties who accused him, in their 
 drawing-rooms, of being the inventor of con- 
 spiracies, which they had themselves formed. 
 
 This was the feeling which promptly filled his 
 ardent soul, and produced in his mind a sudden 
 reaction against a party so culpable and so full of 
 ingratitude. Thus his anger did not direct itself 
 -t the republicans on the present occasion : 
 without doubt he felt no great vexation to see 
 Moreau reduced to receive the humiliating benefit 
 of his clemency; but it was upon the royalists that 
 lie determined to cast the whole weight of his 
 anger, and he was resolved, as he said himself, to 
 give them no quarter. The revelations which en- 
 sued added yet more strength to this feeling, and 
 converted it into a species of passion. 
 
 Whilst Georges and Pichegru were sought with 
 the greatest care, new arrests were made, and 
 there were obtained of Piatt and of Bouvet de 
 Lozier the most complete details, and the gravest 
 of all which had been hitherto acquired. These 
 men would not have it given out that they were 
 assassins, they therefore hastened to make known 
 that they had come to Paris in company of the 
 highest rank, that they had with them the greatest 
 nobles of the Bourbon court, more especially M. 
 de Polignac and .M.de Riviere; and they positively 
 declared that they were to have a prince at their 
 head. They had expected him, they said, every 
 moment ; they even believed that this prince, so 
 much looked for, would be one of the last dis- 
 embarkation, or in that announced for February. 
 It was reported among the party that it would be 
 the duke de Berry l . 
 
 1 Extract from the fourth declaration of Louit Picot before 
 the prefect of puttee, 2oth Ptuvwse (loth t'ebruury), book 
 ii. page 3y8: — 
 
 Declares — "I disembarked with Chorgcs between Dun- 
 kirk and the town of Ku. I am Ignorant whether then had 
 been any anterior disembarkations ; there had b<cn two 
 subsequently. There was a mentiori made of a fourth dis- 
 embarkation, much more considerable, which was to be com- 
 posed of twenty-live persons; of this number was to be the 
 duke de Kerry. I am ignorant whether such a dtseml 
 rion has taken place. I knew thai Bouvet and one naimd 
 Armaud were to go in search ot the prince." 
 
 Extract from the second tntetrogatory if Bouvet, the 30th 
 PluriiLc {20th February), bonk ii. page 1(2. 
 
 Qweftfofl. — " At what period and in what manner do you 
 believe ih .t Moreau and Pichegru had concerted tie plan 
 that Georgi I was t» exeruta in Prance, and which tended to 
 the r. establishment of the Bourbons I 
 
 .;.-'■ I believe that lor a long time Pichefrru and 
 
 Mori hi had been in cm impendence ; and it was only on the 
 certainly thai Piehegru had given the prince, that Moreau 
 would aid i>v till the means In his pom i a movement in 
 Prance in their favour, that the plan was Indeterminate!] 
 arranged fur the re-establisi.ment of the Bourbons, b 
 
 c 'ii mi Is In Id wiih Pichegru : a movement in Pa is, sustained 
 
 b> the pretence of the prince i an attack by main force db 
 
 ag.iinsi the liisi consul; the presentation of a prince to the 
 bj Mure. oi, who beforehand was to have prepared all 
 minds for the event."
 
 524 Anger of the first consul. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 His fiiendly intentions 
 towards Moreau. 
 
 1801. 
 March. 
 
 The depositions became upon this point the most 
 precise, concordant, and complete possible. The 
 plot now acquired, in the sight of the first consul, 
 a fatal clearness. He saw the count d'Artois and 
 the duke de Berry, surrounded by emigrants, 
 adopted by Pichegru on the part of the republicans, 
 having at their service a troop of assassins, pro- 
 mising even to set himself at their head, to kill 
 him in an ambuscade, which they styled a loyal 
 combat on an equal footing. A prey to a species 
 of rage, he had now only one desire, and that was 
 to seize upon the prince that they were sending to 
 Paris by way of the cliff of Biville. That warmth 
 of language to which he gave himself up at the 
 time of the iufern.il machine, against the Jaconius, 
 was Bow entirely turned against the princes and 
 nobles who could descend to play such characters. 
 " The Bourbons believe," said he, " that they shall 
 be able to spill my blood as they would that of the 
 vilest animal. My blood is still of more worth 
 than theirs. I will return to them the terror with 
 which they would fain inspire me. I pardon 
 Moreau his weakness, and the allurements of a 
 stupid jealousy; but I will unpityingly shoot the 
 first of these princes that shall fall into my hands. 
 I will teach them with what kind of a man they 
 have to deal." 
 
 Such was ihe language which he did not cease 
 to hold during this terrible process. He was som- 
 bre, a<rit;i ted, menacing, and what was a singular 
 thing with him, he worked much less. He even 
 seemed to have forgotten for a moment Boulogne, 
 Brest, and the Texel. 
 
 Without losing a moment he sent for colonel 
 Savary, upon whose devotion to himself he could 
 firmly rely. Colonel Savary was not a wicked man, 
 although it has been so said by the common de- 
 tractors of the fallen regime. He possessed a re- 
 markable mind ; but he had lived among soldiers, 
 had no fixed principles upon any thing, and knew 
 no other rule than fidelity to a master from whom 
 he had received the greatest benefits. He had 
 passed several weeks disguised in the woods ex- 
 posed to great dangers. The first consul ordered 
 him to disguise himself anew, and to go with a de- 
 tachment of the select gemisivmerie(gendarmesd'elite) 
 and post himself at the cliff of Biville. These gen- 
 darmes were to the rest of the gendarmerie what 
 the consular guard was to the rest of the army, in 
 other words, a union of the bravest and most 
 orderly soldiers of their class. They might safely 
 be charged with the most difficult commissions, 
 without the fear of the least infidelity. Sometimes 
 under the unforeseen pressure of the service two of 
 them have been despatched in a post-carriage, and 
 have carried with them several millions in gold, to 
 the bottom of the Calabrias, or the extreme of 
 Britany, without one of them ever having been 
 known to betray his trust. They were not there- 
 fore mere tools as some have pretended, but sol- 
 diers who obeyed their officers with rigorous exact- 
 ness, a formidable exactness it is true, when under 
 an arbitrary government and with the laws of that 
 day. Colonel Savary was to take with him fifty 
 men, to clothe them in disguise, arm them well, 
 and conduct them to the cliff of Biville. None of 
 the deponents doubted the presence of a prince in 
 the party which was about to be disembarked. 
 They only varied upon one point, their ignorance 
 
 as to whether it was to be the duke de Berry or 
 the count d'Artois. Colonel Savary had orders to 
 pass day and night on the summit of the cliff, to 
 await the disembarkation, seize all that composed 
 the party, and transport them to Paris. The reso- 
 lution of the first consul was taken; he was decided 
 to send before a military commission, and to have 
 immediately shot the prince who might fall into 
 his hands. A lamentable and terrible resolution, 
 of which the fearful consequences will soon be 
 seen. 
 
 Whilst he gave these orders the first consul 
 showed very different sentiments towards Moreau. 
 He was at his feet, compromised, ruined in con- 
 sideration; he was willing to treat him with unli- 
 mited generosity. He said to the grand judge on 
 the day of his arrest, it is necessary that all which 
 concerns the republicans should terminate between 
 Moreau and myself. Go, interrogate him in pri- 
 son; bring him in your carriage to the Tuileries; 
 that he may make up all matters with me, and I 
 will forget all the estrangements produced by a 
 jealousy that was more the work of those who sur- 
 rounded him than his own. Unhappily it was much 
 easier for the first consul to forgive, than for 
 Moreau to accept his forgiveness. To avow all, 
 that is, as much as to say, he must fling himself on 
 his knees before the first consul, this was an act of 
 abasement, which it was not very possible to ex- 
 pect of a man, whose tranquil spirit little elevated 
 was, on the other hand, little able to humble it- 
 self. M. Fouche', if he had been then minister of 
 police, would have had the charge of seeing Mo- 
 reau. He was the most capable man, by his fami- 
 liar insinuating manner, of introducing himself to 
 the avenues of a mind closed by pride and misfor- 
 tune, to set that pride at ease, in saying to him 
 with an indulgent feeling for which he alone knew 
 how to find the language: — " You have desired to 
 overthrow the first consul, but you have succumbed. 
 You are his prisoner. He knows all ; he pardons 
 you, and will give you back your situation. Accept 
 his good will; be not the dupe of a false dignity, in 
 refusing a grace unlooked for, which will replace 
 you where you stood before, and as if you had not 
 played with your existence in a conspiracy." In 
 place of such a man as M. Fouche, an intermediate 
 agent, little scrupulous but able, there was sent to 
 Moreau an honest, good kind of man, who attacked 
 the illustrious accused with all the formality of his 
 office, and thus defeated the intention of the first 
 consul. The grand judge Regnier went to the pri- 
 son in his robe, accompanied by Locre, the secre- 
 tary of the council of state. He made Moreau 
 appear before him, and interrogated him at length 
 with a cold aspect. During the day, Lajolais 
 arrested had told nearly every thing which con- 
 cerned the relations between Pichegru and Mo- 
 reau. He avowed his having served as the inter- 
 mediate agent to bring Pichegru and Moreau 
 together; that he had gone to London to bring 
 over Pichegru ; had placed them in contact ; all 
 with the intention, he said, to obtain the recall of 
 the one through the solicitations of the other. La- 
 jolais concealed only his connexion with Georges, 
 which once avowed, would have rendered his story 
 inadmissible. But this unhappy man was ignorant 
 that the relations between Pichegru and Moreau, 
 and that with the emigrant princes, was stated in
 
 1SCM. 
 March. 
 
 Interrogation of Moreau. THE CONSPIRACY OF GEORGES. ^TZ*™*'™* ^ 
 
 525 
 
 a manner not to be doubted by other depositions; 
 tbus to give only the secret of the interviews of 
 Iforeau with Pichegru was to establish a fatal 
 connexion between Moivaii, Georges, and the 
 emigrant princes. The depositions of Lajolais 
 were therefore sufficient to place in evidence the 
 guilt of Morean. 
 
 The first thing to be done was to enlighten 
 Iforeau in a friendly way in the progress of the 
 instructions in or.ler to prevent his exposing 
 himself by B|ieaking useless untruths. It must 
 bring him to state everything correctly when it 
 was proved to him that all was known. If then 
 th v had added the tone and language which 
 invited confidence, perhaps a moment of renunci- 
 ation of Ids proud feeling might have occurred, and 
 the unfortunate general have been saved. In 
 place of thus acting, the grand judge interrogated 
 Iforeau on his relations with Lajolais, Georges, 
 and Pichegru, and on each of these points suffered 
 him always to say that he knew nothing, that he 
 had not aeeu any one, that he was ignorant why 
 they addressed all these questions to him, and 
 never hinted to him that he had thus engaged 
 himself in a labyrinth of useless and injurious 
 denials which tended to compromise him. This 
 interview with the grand judge had not therefore 
 the result which the first consul expected from it, 
 and which had rendered possible an act of clemency 
 as noble as it would have been useful. 
 
 M. Regnier returned to the Tuileries to report 
 the result of the interrogation id' Morean. " Very 
 well," said the first consul; ''when he will not open 
 himself to me, he must explain himself in a court 
 of justice." 
 
 The first consul then followed up the business 
 with tin- utmost rigour, and d. splayed extreme 
 activity in trying to arrest the guilty parties. He 
 thought it, above all. necessary to save the honour 
 of his government, very seriously compromised if 
 it could not furnish a proof of tin; reality of the 
 plo by the double arrest of Georges and Pichegru. 
 Without these arrests, he should pass for a low 
 envious person, who had wished to eommit and to 
 ruin the second general in tin 1 republic. Every 
 d.iv new accomplices of the conspiracy were taken, 
 which left no doubt about the entire existence 
 and tie- details of the plan, particularly the res - 
 
 lution to attack the carriage of the first consul 
 
 between St. Cloud and Paris, in the presence of a 
 
 young prince, at the head of the conspirators ; 
 the : nival of Pichegru to concert with filoreau ; 
 the diff Fence of views, tin; delay which had fol- 
 1 these differences, and which had brought 
 about the destruction of them alL All these facta 
 then were known, bat as \ct not one of the chiefs 
 had been taken, whose preseuoe thus proved, might 
 
 have COiiV I the most incredulous; they had 
 
 Hot taken the prince, so much expected, of whom 
 tip- lir-; eon nl, in Ins anger, would make such 
 a sanguinary Sacrifice. Colonel Savary, placed at 
 
 the cliff of Biville, wrote that he hud seen every 
 thing, verified ah upon t lie. spot, and stated the perfect 
 exactness ol the revelations obtained as far as the 
 mode of disembarkation was concerned, in regard 
 to the mysterious road beaten between Biville 
 
 and Pari*, and BS to the existence of the small 
 
 vessel which every night ran its broadside along 
 
 tie- coast, and seemed always desiring to approach 
 
 without ever doiiis so. There was reason to be- 
 lieve that the signals agreed upon between the con- 
 spirators were not made from the summit of the 
 cliff, because they bad never observed them ; or 
 perhaps notice had been sent from Paris to Lon- 
 don, and the new disembarkation bad been coun- 
 termanded, or at hast suspended. Colonel Savary 
 had orders to remain and wait with unrelaxing 
 patience. 
 
 They traced every day in Paris the track of 
 Pichegru or of Georges. They had failed to 
 arrest them, but each time they had only wanted 
 a moment for so doing. The first consul, who 
 never troubled himself about the means, resolved 
 to present a law, the character of which will prove 
 what idea people had, on coming out of the revo- 
 lution, of the security of the citizen so respected 
 in the present time. There was proposed to the 
 legislative body a law, by which every indivi- 
 dual who concealed Georges, Pichegru, or any 
 of their sixty accomplices, of whom descriptions 
 were given, should he punished, not with the 
 prison, nor with irons, but with death ! Whoever, 
 having seen them, or having known their retreat, 
 and did not denounce them, was to be punished 
 with six years in irons. This formidable law, that 
 ordained a barbarous act, under the pain of death, 
 was adopted the same day it was presented without 
 any remonstrance. 
 
 Scarcely was this law passed, hut it was followed 
 by the most rigorous precautions. It might be 
 feared that the conspirators, followed up in such a 
 way, would only dream of taking flight. Palis 
 was, therefore, closed. Any body might enter, 
 but no one had permission to go out for a certain 
 number of days. In order to secure the execution 
 of this measure, the foot guard was placed in de- 
 tachments at all the gates of the capital ; the 
 horse guard made constant patrols all along the 
 wall of the Octroi, with an order to arrest whoso- 
 ever might pass over the wall, and to fire upon 
 whomsoever attempted to fly. Lastly, the sailors 
 of the guard were distributed in the boats stationed 
 upon the Seine, day and night. The government 
 couriers had alone the right to go out, after having 
 been searched and recognised in such a manner 
 that tiny could in no way deceive. 
 
 For the moment they seemed to have returned 
 again to the worst times of the- revolution. A 
 species of terror reigned all over Paris. The 
 enemies of the first consul cruelly abused him, and 
 said of him all that had been formerly said of the 
 • del committee of public safety. Directing the 
 police himself, he was informed of all these dis- 
 courses, and his exasperation increasing without 
 cessation, rendered him capable of the nest violent 
 acts. He was sombre, harsh, and spared nobody. 
 Since the recent occurrences he did not dissimu- 
 late any more his ill humour against M. Markotf, 
 and present circumstances made this humour 
 break forth in a very vexatious manner. Among 
 the persons arrested was a S WISH, attached under 
 some title to (he embassy of Russia, a true in- 
 triguer, that it was little seemly for a foreign 
 legation to take into its service. To this impro- 
 priety, M. de Mai'koff added tin- unsuitableness, 
 
 still greater, of reclaiming him. Tin- first t sul 
 
 give an order not to restore him, bul to keep him 
 more strictly than before, and to let M. Marl. oil'
 
 .526 
 
 Conduct of Georges. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Generous aft of M. Mar- 1804 
 bois to Pichegru. March. 
 
 
 feel all the unseemliness of li is conduct. On this 
 occasion he was struck with two circumstances, of 
 which until then lie had taken no note, it was that 
 M. d'Eutraigues, formerly agent of the emigrant 
 princes, was at Dresden with a diplomatic com- 
 mission from the emperor of Russia ; that an 
 individual named Vernegues, another emigrant 
 attached to the Bourbons, sent by them to the 
 court of Naples, was at Rome, and took there the 
 character of a Russian subject. The first Consul 
 demanded from the court of Saxony, that M. 
 d'E itraigues should he sent away, and of the court 
 of Rome the immediate arrest and interdiction of 
 the emigrant Vernegues, and he demanded these 
 rigorous acts in a pen mptory maimer, so as to 
 leave scarcely the possibility of answering by a 
 refusal. At the ^rst diplomatic reception, he put 
 to il rough pmof the surliness of M. de Markoff, 
 as he had a little while before the stateliness of lord 
 vVhitworth. He told him that he found it very 
 strange, that ambassadors had in their service men 
 who conspired against the government, and yet 
 dared to reclaim them. '" Is it that Russia," 
 tulded he, "believes that she has such a superiority 
 over us that she may permit herself similar pro- 
 ceedings ? Is it that she believes we have taken 
 to the distaff to such an extent as to support 
 these things I Sue is deceived ; I shall not suffer 
 any thing unbecoming from any prince upon 
 earth." 
 
 Ten years before, the benevolent revolution of 
 1 7^9 had become the sanguinary revolution of 
 1793, by the continual pr .vocation of angry ene- 
 mies. An effect of the same Kind was produced 
 at this moment in the boiling soul of Napoleon. 
 These same enemies comported themselves with 
 Napoleon as they comported themselves with the 
 revolution, making turn from good to evil, modera- 
 tion to violence, the man who until that day had been 
 a sage at the head of the Stat". The royalists that 
 he had delivered from oppression, Europe that he 
 had attempted to vanquish by his moderation, 
 after he had conquered it with his sword, all which 
 he had, in a word, the most thoughtfully treated, 
 he was now disposed to ill-treat in words and acts. 
 It was a temp"-t excited in a great soul by the in- 
 gratitude of parties, and the imprudent malevolence 
 of Europe. 
 
 Profound anxiety reigned in Paris. The terrible 
 law against th.se who concealed Georges, Pichegru, 
 and their accomplices, had not stimulated a single 
 person to the base resolution of delivering them 
 up; but, on the other hand, no one would afford 
 them an asylum. These miserable persons, who 
 were left disunited and disconcerted by their dif- 
 ferences, wandered in the night from house to 
 house, paying sometimes six or eight thousand 
 francs for a refuge which could only be granted to 
 them for a tew hours ; Pichegru, M. de Riviere, 
 and Georges, living in the most fearful anxiety. 
 The last supported bis situation with courage, 
 habituated as he had been to the adventures of a 
 civil war. 13 subs that, he did not feel himself 
 abased ; he had around him equally compromised 
 all that he held as most worthy and noble, and he 
 only thought of getting himself fortunately out of 
 that bad position, as he had out of so many former 
 ones, by his own intelligence and courage. But 
 the members of the French nobility, who had be- 
 
 lieved that France, or all at least of their party, 
 would open their arms to them, but had met them 
 with il.. thing but coldness, embarrassment, or cen- 
 sure, were disconsolate at their enterprise. They now 
 felt keenly the odious character of a project which 
 no longer presented itself under the deceiving 
 colours that the hope of success lends to every 
 thing. They felt the indignity of the relations to 
 which they had condemned themselves, by being 
 introduced into France with a troop of Chouans. 
 Pichegru, who to his deplorable vices joined the 
 qualities of coolness, prudence, and deep penetra- 
 tion — Pichegru well saw that in place of lifting 
 himself up after his first fall, he had now dropped 
 into the bottom of an abyss. A first fault com- 
 mitted some years before, that of being ill culpable 
 relations with the Condes, had made him become 
 a traitor, then be proscribed. Now he was to be 
 found among the accomplices of tin ambush assas- 
 sination. This time no further glory remained for 
 the conqueror of Holland! In learning the arrest 
 of Moreau, he guessed the lot that awaited himself, 
 and felt that he was lost. The familiarity of the 
 Chouans was odious to him. He comforted him- 
 self in the society of M. de Riviere, whom he 
 found more sensible, more wise, than the other 
 friends of count d'Artois sent to Paris. One even- 
 ing, reduced to the brink of despair, he seized a 
 pistol, and was going to blow out his brains, when 
 he was hindered by M. de Riviere himself. Another 
 time, deprived of a night's lodging, an impulse 
 which did him honour came upon him, and 
 honoured more particul rly the man to whom he 
 had recourse at such a moment. Among the mi- 
 nisters of the first consul who was proscribed on 
 the I81I1 Fructidor, was M. de Marbois. Pichegru 
 did not hesitate one night to knock at his door and 
 exhibit a proscribed one of Sinuamari, who asked 
 at the door of another of the proscribed, a minister 
 of the first consul, to violate the law of his master. 
 M. de Marbois received him with deep sorrow, but 
 without uneasiness for himself. The honour done 
 him in calculating upon his generosity, he in turn 
 did to the first consul, not doubting his appro- 
 bation. It is a consoling spectacle, amid these sad 
 scenes, to see these three men, so diverse, count 
 one upon the other in this way; Pichegru upon M. 
 de Marbois, M. de Marbois on the first consul. 
 Afterwards, when M. de Marbois avowed what he 
 had done to the first consul, the last answered him 
 in a letter which contained a noble approbation of 
 his generous conduct. 
 
 But such a situation must have an approaching 
 end. An officer who hail been attached to Piche- 
 gru betrayed his secret and delivered it to the 
 police. During the night, while the general slept, 
 surrounded with arms, from which he was never 
 separated, and with books in which he constantly 
 read, the lam]) being extinguished, a detachment of 
 gendarmerie (V elite entered his retreat 10 take him. 
 Wakened by the noise, be would have seized his 
 arms, but he had not time ; he defended himself 
 for some moments with great vigour. Soon van- 
 quished, he yielded, and was carried to the Temple, 
 where he finished in an unhappy manner a life 
 formerly so brilliant. 
 
 Scarcely was he arrested, than M. Armand de 
 Poliguac, a'ter him M. Jules de Polignac, and, 
 lastly, M. de Riviere, pursued without ceasing, but
 
 1S04. 
 Maid* 
 
 Arrests of MM. 
 «?e Po.i- 
 
 Annand 
 
 Juli s de 
 Puliguac, and It iviOro. 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF GEORGES. 
 
 Capture of Georges, 
 and Ins avowal of 
 the plot. 
 
 527 
 
 not denounced, for they were seen when changing 
 their asylum, were taken in tin ir turn. These 
 arrests produced ;i deep and general effect upon 
 the public mind. The mass of honest men who did 
 n«>t indulge in party spirit, were convinced ahotit 
 the reality of the plot The presence of Pichegru, 
 ar.'J of the |i< rs< mil friends »f count d'Artois, no 
 r left any doubt of the matter. They had, 
 not ap|>arently been brought into France by 
 the poller, in urdi r to enscaffold ' a plot. Tlie 
 gravit) "j ibe dangers which tlie first consul had 
 run, ami still ran. was entirely revealed, and more 
 Btn ogh tin in > ver < I i< 1 the interest appear that was 
 inspired l\ a life bo precious. It was no longer 
 the envious rival of Moreau that hail desired to 
 ruin thai general, it was the saviour of Fiance 
 ■■i tin- incessant machinations of parties. 
 Still the malevoli nt spirits, although a little dis- 
 concerted, wi re not silent. To listen to them, the 
 ibc* and M. de Riviere, were imprudent per- 
 pahle nf remaining in rep se, continually 
 ivith the count d'Artois, and onlj come to 
 ciii unistances were favourable to their parly. 
 But there had m t been any serious plot, imr me- 
 nacing . "fa nature to justify the in: 
 which it was attempted to inspire for the person of 
 the first consul. 
 
 It was necessary, in order to close the mouths 
 of these pi ai' rs, and to confound them, that there 
 should be another am st. that of Georges. Then 
 it would noi be very possible to say. in Hnding the 
 .•iacs. ile Riviere, Pichegru, and Georges in 
 -, that lie > were there, only ;is simple ob« 
 TIiin last proof was to be soon obtained, 
 to the terrible means employed by the go- 
 vernment. 
 
 . track) '1 by a multitude of agents of the 
 to change his lodgings every day, 
 i Paris, which was guarded by 
 laml and water, could not finish but by succumb- 
 ing. The} were upon his track ; but it is just to 
 lowledge for the honour of that day, that no 
 themselves to give him up, al- 
 though lb general wish for his arrest. 
 ■ who ha/a riled tie m^ Ives by receiving him, 
 would niily conceal him for a single day. It was 
 --ar\ Ihal i Vi ry evi nillg lie should cliaie.'i' Ins 
 refuge (in the 9th of March, just at tin- coming 
 on of night, \ ■ i.i i officers of the pi ace surrounded 
 
 a house, i suspected by the comings ami 
 
 goings i.i indn idnala oi a had appearance. < i orges, 
 who bad occupied it, attempted to go out, in ordi r 
 n here. 1 le ii It n b ul set i n 
 o'clock in ill ., and m< unted, near the 
 
 Pantheon, a ejibri !■ t. conduct* 'I by a confidential 
 nt, a determined young Chouau, The peace 
 officers followed the Cabriolet, which we'll I ai a 
 
 n a\ i.i Busay. 
 
 i! treated Ins companion to mend llieir 
 
 . when "in n( i he scents "t p lice, who arrived 
 
 nprang at the bridle of the lull G urges, 
 
 wiili a pi-iol -hoi, laid him dead alius hit. He 
 
 then sprang h the cabriolet to lake to his hei Is, 
 
 and fired a I pistol at soother agent ol tin- 
 
 . wlmm he grievously wounded, But, sur- 
 rounded bj ile- people, le- was stopped it) spite of 
 efforts, and handed over to the officers that 
 
 ' Echafaudcr. 
 
 came up in all haste, lie was immediately recog- 
 nized as the redoubtable Georges, who had been 
 sought for so lung a time, and was at last secured. 
 The news produced a gi heral ji»y throughout Paris. 
 People had lived in a sort oi apprehension, from 
 which they were now relieved. With Georges 
 was arrested the servant that accompanied him, 
 who had scarcely found time to get away more 
 than a few paces from the spot. 
 
 Georges was conducted to the prefecture of 
 police. The first emotii n having subsided, (he 
 chief of the conspirators became perfectly calm. 
 He was young and vigorous; his shoulders were 
 large, his Countenance full, more open and serene 
 than sombre and vicious in expression, or than his 
 previous character would have led the spectator to 
 believe. He carried about pistols, a pnignard, and 
 sixty thousand francs, in gold and bank notes. 
 Being immediately interrogated, he avowed his 
 name without hesitatii n. as well as his motive for 
 In ing in Paris. lie had come, he said, to attack 
 the first consul, not by introducing himself with 
 I'mir assassins into his palace, hut in an open 
 attack in the plain country, in the midst of his 
 consular guard. He was in act iii company with a 
 French prince, who | reposed to come into France, 
 but who had not yet arrived. Georges was proud 
 of the nature, entirely new, of the plot, which he 
 took great care to distinguish from an assassina- 
 tion. *• Nevertheless," ii was remarked to him, 
 "you sent St. Rejnnt to Paris to prepare the 
 infernal machine." " 1 did send him," "replied 
 Georges, "but I did not prescribe to him the 
 means by which he was to serve his purpose." 
 A bad justification, which proves too clearly that 
 Georges was not a stranger to that horrible 
 attempt. In other respects, and about what con- 
 cerned any body else this hold conspirator kept 
 an obstinate silence, repeating that there were 
 enough victims, and that he did nut desire to aug- 
 ment the number '. 
 
 1 Extract from the first interrogator!/ of Georges by the pre- 
 fect of police, lS./i Ventist ('Jut March), book ii. page 79. 
 
 '• We, councillor of state, prelect of police, have made 
 Georgea Cadoudal appeal before us, and liave interrogated 
 linn as iollowa : — 
 
 • Q \\ li..t did you come to do in Trance? 
 
 " ./. I came io attack tlie firnl consul. 
 
 '• Q. What were your nieaiis fi r attacking tlie first consul ? 
 
 " ./ I had as yet but tow ; I reckoned upon milting tin in. 
 
 "Q. Of what nature were your mtans of attack against 
 (he lirsl consul ? 
 
 •• .1. By means of an active force. 
 
 " Q Had yell many persons wi Ii you? 
 
 "A, No; beca "Id not attack tlie first consul 
 
 until ilnre would be a Prtncli prince of the blood in Paris, 
 
 and lie had not v 
 
 " a. Ai the tune oi tin- 3rd Nivdae yon wrote to si. Re- 
 jant. and you reproached him with thealowneaa he exhibited 
 
 in exei Uting your oriler- against lh« li'sl consul .' 
 
 " ./. I did Wile to Si. Ilij.nl to unite incus al Paris, 
 
 hut I never told him to commit the affair of the !rd Nh 
 
 Extract from ihr ttaond tntrrrogatnrf) of Qtorgti Cadoudal, 
 Wh Vtntdu ('Jlh M(nch), book ii. page 83. 
 
 " fi. How long have you been In I'aris ? 
 
 " ./ About five momhi ; I have nd n malned there fifteen 
 da] s together. 
 
 •' (I \\ heir have yon lodgl d * 
 
 •■a. i had ratliei not tell. ["«. What
 
 528 
 
 Examination of 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 the conspirators. 
 
 1804. 
 March. 
 
 After the arrest of Georges, and his declarations, 
 the plot was proved, and the first consul justified ; 
 it could now be said no more that, as had been 
 repeated for a month, the police invented the con- 
 spiracies they pretended to discover ; they hail 
 nothing else left them to do, but to cast down their 
 eyes, if they were of the royalist party, at seeing a 
 French prince promise to enter France with a 
 band of Chouans, to give a nick-named battle upon 
 a highway. There remained, it is true, the excuse 
 of saying that he did not intend to come. It is 
 possible, and even probable, he did not, but it 
 would have been better worth to have kept his 
 word, than vainly promise it to the unhappy persons 
 who staked their heads upon his assurances. It 
 was not only Georges, on the other hand, that 
 announced the speedy arrival of a prince, but 
 the friends of count d'Artois. M. de Riviere and 
 the Polignacs held the same language. They 
 confessed the most important part of the plan. 
 They repelled utterly the idea of participating in 
 a deed of assassination ; but they avowed they 
 had come into France for something which was 
 never defined; for a species of movement, at the 
 head of which a French prince would figure. 
 Th y had done nothing but advance, in the first 
 instance, to assure themselves with their own 
 eyes, whether what was about to be done was 
 really useful and convenient to the purpose 2 . 
 
 " Q. What is the motive which brought you to Paris ? 
 
 "A. I came with the intention of attacking the first 
 conMil. 
 
 •■ Q. What were your means of attack ? 
 
 "A. The ai tack would be made with open force. 
 
 " 6. Where did you expect to find that force? 
 
 "A. 'throughout all France. 
 
 " Q. Is there, then, throughout all France an organized 
 furce at your disposition and that of your accomplices? 
 
 '• A. It is not of - ncli a force as that of which 1 would be 
 understood to have spoken. 
 
 " Q. What, then, must be understood of the force of 
 which you spoke? 
 
 "A. A force united in Paris. This united force is not 
 yet organized ; it might have been as soon as the attack had 
 been definitively resolved upon. 
 
 " Q What was your object and that of your accomplices ? 
 
 "A. To place a Bourbon in the situation of the first 
 consul. 
 
 " Q. Who was the Bourbon designated? 
 
 "A. Charles Xavier Stanislaus, formerly Monsieur, ac- 
 knowle l"ed hy us as Louis XVIII. 
 
 " Q. What character should you have borne in the attack ? 
 
 "A. That which one of the former French princes, who 
 should I'line to Paris, should assign to me. 
 
 " Q. The plan has then been devised and was to be exe- 
 cuted in accord with the former French princes? 
 
 "//. Yes, citizen judge. 
 
 " Q. You have conferred, then, with the former princes in 
 England .' 
 
 "A. Yes, citizen. 
 
 " (I Who was to furnish the funds and arms? 
 
 " A I have fur a long time past had the funds at my dis- 
 position ; I have not yet had the arms " 
 
 * Extract f mm the first interrogatory of M. de Rivihe, by the 
 ciiuncilwr of ita'e, Kent, on the 1C/A Vtntase {Tilt of 
 March), hook ii. page 259. 
 "Q. How long have you been in Paris? 
 " //. About a month. 
 
 " Q By wh >t way did you come from London to France? 
 " A. By the coast of Normandy, in an English vessel, 
 under captain Wright, as I believe. 
 
 As Georges did, these individuals endeavoured 
 to excuse themselves for being found in such 
 
 " Q. How many passengers were there, and who were the 
 passengers? 
 
 " A. I do not know. 
 
 " Q. You know that the ex-generals Piohegru and La- 
 jolai* made a part of the passengers, as well as M. Jules de 
 Polignac? 
 
 " A. That does not relate to myself, I am ignorant of it. 
 
 " Q. Arrived on the coast where you disembarked, by 
 what way did you reach Paris ? 
 
 " A Sometimes on foot, sometimes on horseback, by the 
 road of Rouen, which I had reached. 
 
 " Q. What were your motives for the journey, and your 
 visit to this city? 
 
 " A. To assure myself of the real situation of things, and 
 of the political and interior state of the country, in order to 
 communicate it to the princes, who would he able to judge 
 after my observations, if it was for their interest to come 
 into France or to remain in England. I must still say that 
 I had no particular mission from them at the moment; but 
 the having often served them with zeal. 
 
 " Q. What has been the result of the observations that 
 you have matte on the political situation of the country, the 
 government, and general opinion? What would jou have 
 noted to the princes on the subject, if you had been able to 
 write to them, or you had gone to them ? 
 
 ''A. In general I believe I see in France much self- 
 esteem, much apathy, and a great desire to preserve tran- 
 quillity." 
 
 Extract from the second interrogatory of M. Armand de 
 Polignac, 22 Venlose (13//» March), book ii. page 289. 
 
 " I disembarked on the coast of Normandy; alter several 
 sojourns, 1 lodged near the Isle Adam, in a place where 
 Georges was found, known also under the name of Loriere. 
 
 '• We came to Paris together, with some officers at his dis- 
 position. 
 
 " When I parted this last time from London, I knew what 
 the designs of the count d'Artois were; I was too much 
 attached to him not to accompany him. 
 
 " His plan was to arrive in France, to make a proposal to 
 the first consul to give up the reins of government, in order 
 that lie might be abie to give them to his brother. 
 
 "If the first consul had rejected this proposition, the 
 count was determined to engage in an attack by main force, 
 to endeavour to reconquer the rights which lie regarded as 
 belonging to his family. 
 
 "1 was aware that lie was not yet ready to attempt the 
 descent at my departure; if I preceded him, it was !rom a 
 desire to see, as I have said, my relations, wife, and friends. 
 
 " When the second disemharkation became a question, 
 count d'Artois made me understand, that by r. ason of the 
 confidence which he had in me, and on account of the zeal 
 which I had always testified, he desired me to make ready 
 to depart ; it was this that determined me to go in the next 
 vessel. 
 
 " 1 am bound to observe, that to the moment of my de- 
 parture, I loudly declared, that if all the means had not the 
 stamp of perfect good faith, I would withdraw myself, and 
 would return again into Russia. 
 
 "Q. Is it in jour knowledge that general Moreau saw 
 Pichegru and fieorges Cadoudal ? 
 
 " A. 1 know that there had been a very serious con- 
 fere nee at (haillot, in the house, No. 6, where Georges 
 Cadoudal lodged, between Georges, general Moreau, and the 
 ex-general Pichegru 
 
 " I am assured that Georges Cadoudal, after different 
 overtures and explanations had said to general Moreau: 'If 
 you wish, I will leave you with Pichegru, and then jou may 
 peril pa finish by comprehending each other.' 
 
 ' That, in fact, the result left nothing but a disagreeable 
 uncertainty, seeing that Georges and Pichegru appeared 
 very fdtthlul to the cause of the prince; but Moreau re-
 
 1804. 
 March. 
 
 Indignation of the first 
 consul at the ingrati- 
 tude of the royalists. 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF GEORGES. 
 
 Napoleon's generous offer 
 to Pichegru. 
 
 529 
 
 bad company, by repeating that a French prince 
 would be with them. This prince not being 
 come, evidently did not now intend to come ; they 
 might be assured he would not put himself in dan- 
 ger, when he was secured where he was by the 
 whole width of the channel. These imprudent 
 is could not doubt thai then' were some par- 
 se will Becured, who would perhaps pay with 
 their blood for the projects thus conceived and 
 prepan-d in London. 
 
 Would to Heaven that the first consul had con- 
 tented himself with the criminals he had under his 
 hands as instruments to confound his enemies. He 
 had the means to make them tremble, and the 
 power to inflict upon them the legal penalties con- 
 tained in the French codes; he was able to do 
 than cover them with confusion, because the 
 - obtained were overwhelming. There was 
 in re than he needed for his security and his 
 honour. But as already observed, indulgent then 
 towards the revolutionists, he was indignant against 
 the royalists; he fell a revulsion against their base 
 ingratitude, and resolved they ahould feel the whole 
 weight of his power. He had at heart another 
 sentiment, a species of pride. He said aloud to all 
 who came, that a Bourbon to him was no more 
 than a Moreau or a Pichegru, and even loss; that 
 these princes believing themselves inviolable, com- 
 promised at their will a crowd of unfortunate peo- 
 ple of all ranks, and kept themselves in safety 
 beyond the sea; that they did wrong to count upon 
 such an asylum; that he should finish well by 
 taking one of them, and that he would shoot him, 
 as he would any ordinary criminal ; that it was 
 -s.try they should know with whom they bad to 
 do in attacking him; that be had no more fear to 
 take the bl 1 of a Bourbon than that of the mean- 
 est "i the Chouans; that he would soon show the 
 world that the parties were all equal in his eyes; 
 that those who drew down upon their heads 
 his formidable hand si Id feel the weight, who- 
 ever they might be, and that after having been the 
 merciful of men, they should see he could 
 become the most terrible. 
 
 Nobody dared to contradict him. The consul 
 
 Lebrun held his tongue. The consul Cambaceres 
 
 out also; but letting him see, however, his 
 
 silent disapprobation, his usual mode of resistance 
 
 rt.iiu acts of the first consul. M. Pouche*, who 
 
 1 to bring himself into favour, and who 
 
 mained undecided, which caused a suspicion that lie had 
 ideas of particular Interests. I have known since that iliere 
 have been Otbei M between general Moreau and 
 
 the ex-general Pii hegiu." 
 
 Eztrort from the inlert ot/atnru tuhmitted to by M . Jiilr.s 
 Inlignac before the cininciltnr efttatt, Rial, on tin- I6M 
 of Vcnth'te (ifA March), and cited in the act of accuta- 
 tion, book i pa^e CI. 
 
 "Required to antuer : 
 
 "That it appeared to him as well as to his brother, that 
 what they would weih to do, was not as honour I 
 
 had i>e>n naturally lad to nope, and they hail spoken of 
 lathing Into Holland." 
 
 IniHeil in rgpreu the mntne of hit /ran : 
 
 " He answered, because he inspected that in place of ful- 
 filling any mission whatever re stive to a change of novern- 
 ment, it was a question to eel igaln t a single Individual, and 
 
 that it was the fust consul whom the parly of Georges pro- 
 posed to attack." 
 
 leaned towards indulgence in general, desired, 
 nevertheless, to embroil the government with the 
 royalists, and strongly urged the necessity of an 
 example. Talleyrand, who was never cruel, but 
 who never knew how to contradict power, at least 
 to such an extl lit as to become its enemy, and who 
 had to a fatal degree the taste to please it when he 
 loved it; M. Talleyrand said also with Fouche, that 
 too much had been done for the royalists ; that in 
 consequence of treating them well, they had gone 
 so far as to give to the men of the revolution vex- 
 atious doubts, and that it was necessary to punish, 
 and to punish severely, without exception of per- 
 sons. Except the consul Canibace'res, all the world 
 flattered this angry feeling, which at that moment 
 had no need to become formidable, perhaps cruel. 
 
 This idea, bearing all the feeling of chastisement 
 upon the royalists alone, in order to show clemency 
 only to the revolutionists, was so rooted in the 
 mind of the first consul, that he attempted for 
 Pichegru that which he had endeavoured to do for 
 Moreau. A dee]) feeling of pity came upon him 
 in thinking upon the frightful situation of that 
 illustrious general, associated with Chouans, ex- 
 posed to lose not only his life before a public tri- 
 bunal, but the last remnant of his honour. 
 
 "A fine end," said the first consul to M.Real, 
 — "a fine end for the conqueror of Holland ! But 
 it must not be permitted that the men of the revo- 
 lution should devour each other. It is a long time 
 since I thought about Cayenne; it is the best spot 
 upon earth to found a colony. Pichegru was one 
 of the proscribed, he knows it well; be is of all our 
 generals the most capable of creating a great es- 
 tablishment. Go, find him in bis prison, tell him 
 that I pardon him, that it is not either to him or 
 to Moreau, or those like them, that I would push 
 the rigour of justice. Ask him how many men 
 and millions it will take to found a colony at Cay- 
 enne; I will give them to him, and he will repair 
 his glory in rendering services to France." 
 
 M. Real carried to the prison of Pichegru these 
 generous winds. When Pichegru first heard them, 
 he refused to credit them; he imagined that they 
 wished to seduce him to betray his companions in 
 misfortune. Soon convinced by the earnestness of 
 M. Ileal, who asked no rcvela ion from him, while 
 In- knew every thing, he was deeply moved, his 
 linn mind yielded, he shed tears, and spoke a long 
 time ot Cayenne. He avowed, that by a singular 
 foresiglrt he had often in Ins exile meditated on 
 
 what iie should be able to do, and e\i n prepared 
 Ins desigllB, It Will soon be seen by what a fatal 
 
 i a ucoiitre the generous intentions of the first consul 
 
 had no other effect than a deplorable catastrophe. 
 
 The lust e nsul always waited with the greatest 
 impatience for news from colonel S&vary, placed 
 as sentinel with his fifty nun at the cliff of Biville. 
 
 Thee Del remained in observation twenty days 
 
 and upwards, and no disembarkation had taken 
 The brig of captain Wright appeared every 
 evening, ran along the coast, but did not tomb the 
 shore; whether, as has been said, the passengers 
 thai captain Wright carried awaited a signal that 
 was never made to them, or whether news from 
 Paris prevented them from disembarking. Colonel 
 Savarj at length declared that his mission was 
 uselessly prolonged, being without an object. 
 
 The first consul, despite hia not being able to 
 
 .M M
 
 530 
 
 A watch set upon the 
 duke d'Enghien. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The r-port from Etten- 
 heim seals the fate of 
 the duke d'Knghien. 
 
 1804. 
 March. 
 
 seize one of these princes, of whom he would have 
 hail the life, glanced his eyes over all the 
 places where they resided. One morning, being in 
 his cabinet with Talleyrand and Foiiche', he made 
 them enumerate the members of this unlucky 
 family, as well to complain of their faults as to 
 note their misfortunes. Ney told him that Louis 
 XVI II. with the duke d'Angouleme were living in 
 Warsaw ; that the count d'Artois and duke de 
 Berry were in London; that the princes de Conde' 
 were also in London; that one only, the third, the 
 youngi st, the most venturous, the duke d'Enghien, 
 lived at Ettenheim, very near Strasbnrg. It was 
 in that direction that Taylor, Smith, and Drake, 
 the English agents, also had endeavoured to foment 
 intrigues. The idea that this young prince would 
 be able to serve his objects by the bridge of Stras- 
 burg, as the count d'Artois had been willing to 
 make use of the cliff of Biville, struck the mind of 
 the first consul at once, and he resolved to send to 
 the spot an intelligent sub officer of gendarmerie 
 to get information. There was one who had 
 formerly served, when in his youth, with the 
 princes de Conde'. He was ordered to disguise 
 himself and to proceed to Ettenheim, there to pro- 
 cure sonyj intelligence regarding the prince's mode 
 of life and his different relations. 
 
 Tin- sub-officer departed with this commission, 
 ami „r'ived at Ettenheim. The prince had lived 
 there for some time, being near a princess de 
 Rohan, to whom he was much attached, dividing 
 his time between his taste for the chase, which he 
 gratified in the Black Forest, and this affection of 
 tlie heart. He had received an order from the 
 British cabinet to proceed to the banks of the 
 Rhine, without doubt under contemplation of the 
 movement of which Drake, Smith, and Taylor, had 
 given false hopes to their gove rninent. This prince 
 expected shortly to be called upon to make war 
 up 'ii his own country, a lamentable act. of which 
 for many years he had been already guilty. But 
 there was nothing to prove that he knew any 
 thing of the plot of Georges, every tiling, on the 
 contrary, went to prove his ignorance of it. He 
 was often absent following the cha-e, and some 
 persons said he had attended ihe theatre at Stras- 
 burg. It is very certain that this report bad 
 received a considerable degree of credit, since his 
 father wrote to him from London, and advised him 
 to be more prudent, in terms somewhat strong '. 
 
 ! The prince de Conde to the duke d'Enghien. 
 
 "Wanstead, the Kith June, 1803. 
 
 "My dear CnitD, — I have been amnired here that within 
 
 six months you have mad:- a journey to P.uU: others say 
 that you have on.y been to Sira-bmg. It must he confessed 
 it is utterly useless thus to r *k your life and liberty. In 
 respect to your principles, I am perle tly easy about I hem: 
 they are too deeply engraven in >"iir h ar as they are m 
 our.-. Metliinks at present you will (eel diposed to confide 
 to us what has passed; and if Hie tiling be true, what you 
 saw in the course of your Journeys. 
 
 '• As to your Well-being, which is dear to u> under so 
 many points, 1 give you notice, that t e posit o i in which 
 you *re now may be very useful in many respects-. But you 
 are very u«*r ; take care of yourself, and do not neglect any 
 precaution io get notice of danger in liuie, ami lo make your 
 retreat in safety, in case it should come into ihe head of the 
 first consul to order you to be se.zed. Do not believe but 
 
 The prince had about his person certain emigrants, 
 and particularly a marquis de Thumerv. 
 
 The sub-officer, sent to obtain intelligence, ar- 
 rived in disguise, and obtained, even in the prince's 
 own house, a number of details, of which it was 
 very easy for minds so predisposed to draw the 
 most mischievous deductions. It was said that 
 the young duke was often absent ; that he was 
 even absent for many days together, sometimes, it 
 was added, he pri ceeded to Strasburg. He had with 
 him a personage who was represented as of much 
 greater importance than he really was, and who 
 was called by a name winch the Germans, who 
 made the communication, pronounced badly, and 
 in such a manner as to make it be believed that 
 this person was general Diimouriez. This indi- 
 vidual was the marquis de Thuinery, whose name 
 is mentioned above, whom the sub-officer, deceived 
 by the German pronunciation, believed in reality 
 to be general Duinouriez. He entered these de- 
 tails in his report, written, as has been seen, under 
 the influence of the most unfortunate illusions, and 
 sent it immediately to Paris. 
 
 The fatal report arrived on the 10th of March, 
 in the morning. The evening of the day before, in 
 the night, and again in the morning of the same 
 day, a deposition bad been made not less fatal, and 
 several times renewed. This deposition had been 
 obtained from a party named Le'ridnnt, who whs 
 the servant of Georges, and arrested with him. 
 He had at first resisted the pressing interrogations 
 of justiee ; afterwards be finished by speaking 
 with a sincerity which seemed to be honest, and he 
 declared that, in fact, there was a plot, that a 
 prince was to arrive, and even had arrived ; that 
 as to this person, he bad reason to believe it was 
 so, because he had sometimes seen with Georges a 
 young man, well-bred, wel. -dressed, and the object 
 of general respect. This deposition, often re- 
 peated, and every time wiih fresh details, was 
 stated to the first consul. The report of the sub- 
 officer of gendarmerie having arrived at the same 
 moment, it. produced in his head the most fatal 
 concurrence of ideas. The absence of the duke 
 d'Enghien lalli d wi h the pretended presence of a 
 princ • in Paris. This young man, for whom the 
 conspirators exhibited so much respect, Could be 
 no prince arrived from Loudon, because the cliff 
 of Biville was carefully guarded. It could be no 
 other than the duke ii'Knghien, coming in forty- 
 eight hours from Ettenheim lo Paris, and return- 
 ing from Paris to Ettenheim in ihe same space of 
 time, after passing a short period in the midst 
 of bis accomplices. But that which completed, in 
 the si^ht of the first consul, this unhappy demon- 
 stration, was ihe supposed presence of Duinotn i. v.. 
 The plan thus connected itself in a must striking 
 manner. The count d'Artois was to arrive by 
 Normandy with Pichegru, the duke d'Enghien by 
 Alsace with Duinouriez. The Bonrbi lis, in order 
 to enter France, bad j;ot themselves thus accom- 
 panied by the two celebrated generals of the re- 
 public The mind of the first consul, comnn illy 
 so sound and so strong, no longer contained itself 
 timid such deceptive appearances. He was con- 
 that he has the resolution to brave every thing in such a 
 matter. 
 
 iSigned) "Louis Joseph de Bourbon."
 
 1804. 
 
 March. 
 
 A cabinet council held THE CONSPIRACY OF GEORGES, respecting the duke UEnghien. 531 
 
 vinceil. It is necessary to have seen minds warped 
 by a research of this nature, above all, if any 
 passion whatever dispose tliem to credit that 
 which they suspect to be true, to comprehend to 
 what a point such inductions are apt to prompt 
 tin m, and to bless a hundred times the slower pro- 
 ngs of justice, which preserve men from the 
 fatal conclusions drawn so rapidly from fortuitous 
 coincidences. 
 
 The first consul, on reading the report of the 
 Bub-officer, sent from Etteuhcim, which came to 
 him, laving been sent by general Moncey, the 
 commandant of the gendarmerie, was eeized with 
 an extreme agitation. He received M. Real very 
 ill, who happened to come in at that moment, 
 reproached him with having so Ion-; kept him in 
 ignorance of details of so much importance, which 
 I e held in reality to be the second and most for- 
 midable part of the plot. Tnis time the sea did 
 not sti'p him ; the Rhine, the duke of Baden, the 
 Germanic body, were no obstacles in his way. 
 lie immediately assembled an extraordinary conn- 
 ed, composed of the three consuls, the ministers, 
 and M. Fouche", become again a minister in fact, 
 though not in name. He ordered at the flame time 
 the attendance of the generals Ordener and Caulain- 
 court. Lint while awaiting the arrival of the niinis- 
 t- in. he had taken the map of the Rhine, that he 
 might arrange the plan of the seizure, when not 
 finding that which he Bought, he threw down con- 
 fusedly upon the floor all the maps in his library. 
 M. ile Meneval, a mild, sage, incorruptible man, 
 without whom he was not able to do any thing, 
 because he dictated to him bis most secret letters, 
 happened to be absent on that day for a few 
 moments, lie called him back to 1 lie Tuileries, 
 wiih reproaches lor his absence, reproached little 
 merited, and continued his work on the map of the 
 Rhine in a state of extraordinary excitement. 
 
 The council took place : an ocular witness litis 
 (riven the recital in bis memoirs. 
 
 Tin- idea of seizing the prince- ami genera] 
 Dumouriez, without disturbing himself about the 
 violation nf tin' Germanic soil, but addressing an 
 1 Kcuse, lor form's sake, to the grand duke of I', 
 
 immediately proposed. The titst consul de- 
 manded the opinion of those present, but with all 
 In- appearauce of a for, gone resolution. Still he 
 heard with patience the objections urged. Mis 
 . Lebrun, appeared alarmed at the effect 
 such mi event must | roduce in Europe. Tin- ei n- 
 -ul CauibaceTefl had the courage openly to resist 
 the measure which was proposed, Hesel himself 
 to 1 xhibit all the danger us effects of a resolution 
 ot tins nature, whether as regarded the empire 
 within or it-, relations a ithout, and tie character of 
 outrageous violence it would not fail to impress 
 upon the government of the Hnrt consul. He, 
 above all, gave the greateal weight to tin- coiisi 
 leration, that it would be a sufficiently grave 
 thing to am st, try, and shout a prince ,,l the blood 
 
 . even surprised in a flagrant offence U| 
 
 ili«- Prenclt soil, but that to send and search for 
 him in a foreign t* rritory, would he, independently 
 nf a violation of territory, to seize bun when be 
 
 had on his side ;,|| tin- appearallc. , at least, of 
 
 perfect innocence, and to stamp upon himself the 
 colouring of an odious abuse of his power; be con- 
 piled tin- first, consul, lor 1 ! 
 
 glory, and for the honour of bis policy, not to 
 permit himself a course of action which would re- 
 duce bis own government to the level of the revolu- 
 tionary governments, from which he had taken so 
 much care that it should be distinguished. He 
 insisted several times upon this, with a warmth 
 which was not at all a part of his nature, and pro- 
 posed, as a mean term, to wait until this prince 
 or some other was found upon the French territory, 
 and then to apply to such an one the laws of the 
 day in all their rigour. 
 
 This proposition was not admitted. It was 
 answered by saying, they could in t hope that the 
 prince, who was to be introduced into France 
 through Normandy or by the Rhine, would come 
 and expose himself to certain and inevitable dan- 
 ger, when Georges and all the agents of the con- 
 spiracy were already arrested ; that, besides, in 
 taking him whom they found at Etlenheim, 
 they should take with him his papers and accom- 
 plices, and thus acquire the proofs which would 
 attest his criminality, and that thus they should be 
 able to use them ill a rough way in supporting the 
 evidence already acquired; that to suffer pati- 
 ently, under the security of a foreign territory, 
 strangers to conspire against Fiance at its very 
 doors, was to sanction the most dangerous of im- 
 punities ; that the Bourbons and their partisans 
 would recommence it continually; that it would be 
 necessary to punish ten for one, while by striking 
 one great blow, they might re-enter afterwards 
 upon a system of clemency more natural to the 
 first consul's feelings; that the royalists had need 
 of a warning ; that relatively to the question 
 of territory, they must give to those petty Ger- 
 man princes a lesson, as well as to the rest 
 of the world; that in other respects it was to ren- 
 der a service to the grand duke of Baden, in taking 
 the prince without making a demand lot- his per- 
 son, becau.e it would be impossible for him to 
 refuse the request of such a power as France, and 
 he would be set at the ban of all Europe for having 
 granted it. It was added, finally, that the art was 
 done, alter all, only to secure the person of the 
 prince, of his accomplices, and of bis papers; that 
 it would be afterwards seen what must be done 
 win n he was got held of, and when an examination 
 had taken place of his papers, and the exttut of 
 his enlpaliility had been ascertained. 
 
 The first consul hardly attended to what was 
 said on one ride and the other; In- listened like a 
 man tirinh resolved. No person was able to boast 
 of having in the least influenced his determina- 
 tion. Still he did not appear to del the least ill- 
 will toward-. ( 'anihaecrcs lor his resistance to him. 
 " I know ,' he said, "the motive which makes} on 
 speak thus; it is your sincere attachment lor me. 
 I thank you ho- it; but 1 will not .sutler myself to 
 be killed without standing on my defence. 1 will 
 go and make those gentry tremble J I "ill teach 
 them to keep t en selves a little inure tranquil." 
 
 'I In- hlt-a of terrifying the royalists, to teach 
 them that they should not attack with impunity 
 
 such a man as be was, to let. them know that the 
 
 sacred blood of the Bourbons had, in his eyes, no 
 
 more value than that of any noted personage ill 
 the republic; this idea, and others in which cal- 
 culation, vengeance, and the pride of power, had 
 an equal share-, predominated with violence. 
 
 M 111 2
 
 532 ° r du r k S e g l r En B t hie^ Ze tbe THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The duke d'Enghien ar- 
 rested at Ettenheim. 
 
 1804. 
 March. 
 
 He gave immediate orders, in presence of genera! 
 Berthier ; and he prescribed to the colonels ' 
 Ordener and Caulaineourt the conduct which they 
 were to pursue. Colonel Ordener was to go to the 
 banks of the Rhine, to take with him three hun- 
 dred dragoons, some ponton men, and several 
 brigades of gendarmerie, to provide those troops 
 with provisions for four days, to take a sum of 
 money, in order not to be at any charge to the in- 
 habitants, to pass the river at Rheinau, hasten to 
 Ettenheim, surround the town, and seize the 
 prince with all the emigrants who were about him. 
 During this time, another detachment, supported 
 by four pieces of artillery, was to go by Kehl to 
 Offenburg, and remain there in observation until 
 the operation should be achieved. Directly after- 
 wards, colonel Caulaincourt was to proceed to the 
 grand duke of Baden, in order to present him with 
 a note, containing an explanation respecting the 
 act which had been committed. This explanation 
 consisted in saying, that in suffering such assem- 
 blages of emigrants, he had obliged the French 
 government itself to break them up; that besides, 
 the necessity of acting promptly and secretly, had 
 not permitted a previous conference with the 
 government of Baden. 
 
 It is needless to add, that in giving these orders 
 to the officers charged with their execution, the first 
 consul took no pains to explain what his intentions 
 were in seizing the prince, nor what he intended 
 to do with him. He commanded his men, who 
 obeyed as soldiers. Nevertheless, colonel Caulain- 
 court, who in the connexions of his birth was 
 attached to the ancient royal family, and parti- 
 cularly to the Condes, was deeply wounded, al- 
 though he had only to perform the part of carrying 
 a letter, and was far from foreseeing the terrible 
 catastrophe which he was preparing. The first 
 consul did not appear to notice this, but enjoined 
 it on all to set out immediately upon leaving the 
 Tuileries. 
 
 The orders which he thus gave were punctually 
 executed. Five days afterwards, that is to say, on 
 the loth of March, the detachment of dragoons, 
 with all the precautions commanded, left Schele- 
 stadt, passed the Rhine, and surprized and sur- 
 rounded the little town of Ettenheim, before any 
 news of their movement could be carried there. 
 The prince, who had before received prudent 
 advice, but who at the same time had no positive 
 notice of the expedition directed against his per- 
 son, was at the moment in the house at Ettenheim 
 which he had been accustomed to inhabit. On 
 seeing himself attacked by an armed troop, he was 
 at first about to defend himself, but of this he soon 
 discovered the impossibility. He surrendered, de- 
 claring himself who he was to those who endea- 
 voured to recognize him, and with deep mortifica- 
 tion at thus being deprived of his liberty, because 
 the extent of his danger was at the time wholly 
 unknown to him, he suffered himself to be con- 
 ducted to Strasburgh, where he was placed in the 
 citadel. 
 
 There was no discovery made either of the impor- 
 tant papers which there had been hopes of procur- 
 ing nor of general Dumouriez, who was supposed to 
 
 > So entitled in tlie original, though before styled " gene- 
 rals "—Translator. 
 
 be near the prince, nor any proofs of the plot so 
 strongly alleged as the motive of the expedition. 
 In place of general Dumouriez they had found the 
 marquis de Thunicry, and some other emigrants of 
 no importance. The report containing the sterile 
 details of the arrest was immediately sent forward 
 to Paris. 
 
 The result of the expedition should have en- 
 lightened the first consul and his counsellors upon 
 the rashness of the conjectures they had formed. The 
 error in particular committed about general Dumou- 
 riez was very significant. Here are the ideas « Inch 
 unhappily led away the first consul and those who 
 thought with him upon this matter. They had one 
 of the princes of the house of Bourbon, to whom it 
 cost so little to get up conspiracies, and to find im- 
 prudent persons and fools enough always ready to 
 compromise themselves in their train. It was 
 necessary to make a terrible example, or be ex- 
 posed to the provoking ridicule, the laugh of con- 
 tempt on the part of the royalists, in releasing the 
 prince after he had been seized. They would not 
 be wanting to say, that after all the government 
 had been guilty of a blunder in sending and taking 
 the prince at Ettenheim, and it had had a dread of 
 the public opinion and a fear of Europe; that, in a 
 word, it had possessed the will to commit a crime but 
 had not the courage. In place of giving them 
 ground to laugh, it was better to make them 
 tremble. The prince after all was at Ettenheim, so 
 near to the frontier, under similar circumstances, 
 for some apparent motive. Was it possible, that 
 cautioned as he had been, and letters found in his 
 house proved it, was it possible that he remained 
 so close to danger without any object ? That he 
 was no sort of an accomplice in the project of 
 assassination? In any case he was certainly at 
 Ettenheim, to second a movement of the emigrants 
 in the interior, to excite a civil war, to carry arms 
 again against France. These acts, both the one 
 and the other, were punished with severe penalties 
 by the laws at all times; they must be applied to 
 him. 
 
 Such were the motives which the first consul him- 
 self had at the time, and that he repeated more 
 than once. There was no more of the counsel 
 which has been already related ; but there were 
 frequent conferences between him and those who 
 flattered his passion. He never quitted the fatal 
 idea; the royalists are incorrigible, they must be 
 terrified. The removal of the prince was ordered 
 to be transferred to Paris, there to be brought 
 before a military commission for having endea- 
 voured to excite a civil war, and for having borne 
 arms against France. The question thus stated, it 
 was resolved to cany out in a sanguinary manner. 
 On the 18th of March the prince was taken from 
 the citadel of Strasburg to Paris under a strong 
 escort. 
 
 As the moment of this terrible sacrifice ap- 
 proached, the first consul wished to remain alone. 
 
 He left Paris on the 18th of March, Palm-Sun- 
 day, for Malmaisou, a retreat where he was better 
 assured of isolation and repose. Except the con- 
 suls, the ministers, and his brothers, he received 
 nobody. He walked about alone for entire hours, 
 affecting a tranquillity of countenance that did not 
 reign in his heart. The best proof of these agita- 
 tions of soul was found in his extreme idleness, as
 
 March. 
 
 The duke d*Enghien brought 
 to Paris.— A military eom- 
 
 iiiiM>i n assembled. 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF GEORGES. 
 
 Savary ordered to exec ta 
 the sentence of the mili- 
 tary commission. 
 
 533 
 
 be dictated scarcely a single letter during tlie 
 eight days of his remaining at Malmaison, an ex- 
 ample of idleness that was unique in liis existence; 
 oeverthel sa, Brest, Boulogne, and tlie Texel, had 
 ■ ccnpied Imt a few days before all the activity of 
 liU mind. His wife, who had been informed, as 
 had all his family, of the prince's arrest— his wife, 
 
 with that sympathy of which she was not able 
 
 to ilw si hi rself for the Bourbons, ha<l a horror of 
 
 the • (Fusion of the royal blood; she, who with that 
 
 foresight of heart belonging to woman, perceived 
 
 perhaps, in the cruel deed a reaction in 
 
 DC ■ against her husband and children, even 
 
 against herself ; madam Bonaparte, steeped in 
 
 a vera] times of the prince, not yet 
 
 ■• in:' but fearing that his fate was deter- 
 
 1. The first consul, who had a Bpecies ol 
 gratification in compressing the emotions of his 
 heart, generous and good, although they have said 
 otherwise who have not known it — the first consul 
 repelled the tears of which he feired the effect 
 iii-oti himself. He replied to madam Bonaparte 
 with a familiarity which he endeavoured to render 
 harsh: " Thou art a woman ; thou dost not under- 
 stand my policy; thy part is to bold thy tongue!" 
 
 The unfortunate prince left Strasburg on the 
 18th of .Maic;.. and arrived in Paris on the 20th, 
 about noon. He was detained until five o'clock at 
 the barrier of Charentnn, guarded in a carriage by 
 the escort that accompanied him '. There had in 
 this fatal affair been some confusion in the orders 
 
 ■I. because there had been agitation among 
 those who is-u. d thi m. 
 
 According to the military law the commandant 
 of the division should form the commission, assem- 
 ble it, and order the execution of the sentence. 
 Mur.it was commandant of Paris and also of the 
 divini n. When the decree of the consuls came to 
 him he was seized with the deepest grief. Murat, 
 served, was brave, often unreflecting, 
 but perfectly good. He had applauded some days 
 the vigour of tlie government, when it 
 
 d the expedition to Ettenheim ; but charged 
 now t<> follow up it u cruel consequences, his excel- 
 lent heart failed him. He said, in despair, to one 
 of his friend-, shewing him the skirts of his uni- 
 form, that tin- first consul would impress upon 
 them the stain of blood. He w< nl to St. ('loud to 
 express to his formidable brother-in-law the senti- 
 ments which he felt. The fint consul, who was 
 
 himself more inclined to partake in them than be 
 was willing to discover, concealed under an iron 
 countenance the agitation with which he was 
 tly smitten himself. He feared lest Ins 
 government should appear weak before the young 
 shout of an inimical dynasty. lie addressed har-h 
 
 words to Murat, reproached him with Ins feeble- 
 Mas in i temptuoua terms, snd ended by telling 
 
 bini with hauteur, that he would cover that, which 
 be styled Ins faint-hearteduess, by signing himself 
 
 1 There hai appeared an excelli at piece of writing an the 
 
 catastrophe of the duke d'Enghlen, iy M. Nongarede de 
 
 The conscientious researches, lull of sagacity, that 
 
 distinguish Una uior»el of special historj , deserve tin- gri 
 
 (onfldence M. Nongarede <!<■ Payet >;iyt that the prince 
 was conducted t» the door of t) itiittter of foreign tflalrs. 
 
 it it iiOM.il.li- that this may have been the exact Tact ; but 
 Hot bai Ing been able to state it as a certain thing, the more 
 general tradition has been admitted. 
 
 with his own consular hand the orders of the day. 
 The first consul had recalled colonel Savary 
 from the cliff of Bivillc, where he bad vainly 
 waited for the princes mingled in the plot, and he 
 confided to him the care of watching over that 
 sacrifice of the prince, in which he bore no part. 
 Colonel Savary was ready to give to the hist con- 
 sul his life and his honour. He gave no advice, 
 he executed as a soldier that which his master had 
 commanded, to whom he bore an attachment with- 
 out limit. The first consul drew up all the orders, 
 signed them himself, then enjoined Savary to 
 deliver them to Murat, and to proceed to Vin- 
 cciines and preside at their fulfilment. The orders 
 were complete and positive. They contained the 
 composition of the commission, the designation of 
 the colonels of the garrison who should become 
 members, the indication of general Hullinas presi- 
 dent, the injunction to meet immediately, in order 
 to finish all on that night ; and if. as cannot be 
 doubted it would be, the condemnati. n was one of 
 death, to execute judgment upon the prisoner 
 immediately. A detachment of gendarmerie d' elite, 
 and ot the garrison, were to proceed to Yincennes, 
 to guard the tribunal, and proceed to the execution 
 of the Bentence. Such were the fatal orders, 
 signed with the hand of the first consul. Legally 
 speaking, they were to be executed in the name of 
 Murat ; but, in reality, he took hardly any part at 
 all in the affair. Colonel Savary, as he had re- 
 ceived the command to do, went to Vincenues to 
 watch over the accomplishment of these orders. 
 
 Nevertheless, what was contained in these orders 
 was by no means irrevocable ; there was yet a 
 mode of saving the unfortunate prince. M. Real 
 was to go to Vincenues, to interrogate the prisoner 
 at length, and to gather from him whether he knew 
 of the plot, of which all still believed him an 
 accomplice, without the power of offering a single 
 proof ol the fact. M. .Ma ret had himself, in the even- 
 ing, deposited with the counsellor of state. Heal, the 
 written injunction to proceed to Vincenues in order 
 to make the interrogatory. If M. Real had seen 
 the prisoner, understood from his own mouth a 
 true explanation of the facts, felt himself touched 
 by his frankness, and by his instant demand to be 
 conducted before the first consul, M. Real would 
 have been enabled to communicate bis own im- 
 pressions to him who held the prin e's hie in his 
 powerful hands, and who had, then lore, yet, even 
 
 alter the condemnation, a mi ana to avoid pursuing 
 the frightful path which he was on, by granting to 
 the duke d'Eugheiii a pardon, nobly demanded, and 
 as nobly granted. 
 
 It was the last chance which remained to save 
 the life of the young prince, and to spare the first 
 consul the committal of a great fault. The last 
 
 thought so at that moment, even aftt r the orders 
 which he bad given. In tact, during that melan- 
 choly evening ol the 20th of March, he remained 
 shut up at Malmaison with his wife, his seen tarv, 
 a lew ladies and officers. Solitary, absent, affect- 
 ing calmness, he bad terminated h\ Mtiin^ down 
 before a table, where he began to play at chess 
 with one of the most distinguished ladies 1 of the 
 
 1 This lady was mwlam de Rimusat. She has described 
 this incident in her memoirs, which to thi» nay remain in 
 manuscript, as Interestingly as spiritedly written.
 
 Sentence of death pro- 
 534 nounced on the duke 
 
 d'Enghien. 
 
 Execution of the dike 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. d'Ei.Kliie.. at Vin- 
 
 cennea. 
 
 1804. 
 
 March. 
 
 consular court, who, knowing that the prince had 
 arrived, trembled with fe;ir, in thinking of the 
 possible consequences of that fatal day. She dared 
 not lift her eyes on the first consul, who, in his 
 mental absence, murmured several times ovtr the 
 verses on clemency, well known in French poetry ; 
 at first those that Corneille has put into the mouth 
 of Augustus, and next those that Voltaire makes 
 Alzire repeat. 
 
 Tins could not he sanguinary irony ; it would 
 have been too useless and too base. But that man, 
 commonly so firm, was agitated and shak n, and 
 reverted now and then to the consideration of the 
 grandeur, the nobleness of pardon, granted to an 
 enemy vanquished and disarmed. This lady be- 
 lieved the prince w;is saved ; she was lull of 
 delight. Unhappily, it came to nothing. 
 
 The commission assembled in haste, the mem- 
 bers, for the most part, ignorant who the accused 
 was against whom they acted. They were told 
 that it was an emigrant prosecuted for having 
 broken the laws of the republic. They were told 
 his name. Every one of these soldiers of the 
 republic, children when the monarchy had fallen, 
 scarcely knew that the name Enghien was borne 
 by the heir presumptive of the Comic's. Their 
 hearts still suffered at sitting on such a commis- 
 sion, because for several years no more emigrants 
 had been condemned. The prisoner was brought 
 before them. He was calm, even proud, and yet 
 doubf (1 of the lot which awaited him. Interro- 
 gated as to his name, anil his conduct, he replied 
 with firmness, repelled every idea of participation 
 in the plot then actually under the pursuit of 
 justice, but avowed, perhaps in too ostentatious a 
 manner, that be had served against France, anil 
 that he was on the banks of the Rhine, to serve 
 again in (he same manner. The president, press- 
 ing upon this point with the intention of revealing 
 to him the danger of such a declaration made in 
 such language, he repeated what he had said with 
 an assurance lhat his danger ennobled, but which 
 hurt the minds of old soldiers, who had been 
 habituated t<> spill their blood in defending the 
 soil of their country. The impression thus pro- 
 duced was painful. The prince demanded several 
 times, and with energy, to see the Hist consul. He 
 was remanded to bis prison, and the court de- 
 liberated. Although his repeated declarations had 
 revealed in him an implacable enemy to the revo 
 lotion, the hearts of the soldiers were affected 
 by the youth and the courage of the prince. The 
 question, stated as it was, could have no other than 
 a fatal soluii n. The laws of the republic and of all 
 times, punished with capital penalties the fact of 
 service against Fiance. Nevertheless, laws had 
 been violated against the prince, in his seizure 
 upon a foreign soil, and his being deprived of a de- 
 fender, and these were considerations which ought 
 to have had weight in the determinations of the 
 judges. In the confusion into winch they were 
 thrown, these unhappy judges, afflicted at their 
 character more than they were able to say, pro- 
 nounced sentence of death. Still the greater part 
 among them expressed a desire to submit the 
 sentence to the clemency of the first consul, and, 
 above all, to present the prince to him, who de- 
 manded so vehemently to see him. But the orders 
 of the morning, that all should be finished in the 
 
 night, were precise. M. Real alone was able, 
 on arriving, and interrogating the prince, to get a 
 respite. M. Real did not appear. The night passed 
 away, and day approached. The prince was con- 
 ducted to the fosse of the chateau, and there he 
 received with a firmness worthy of his name, the 
 fire of the soldiers of the republic, against whom 
 he had so often fought in the midst of the ranks 
 of the Austrians. He was buried on the same spot 
 where he fell. Melancholy reprisal of civil warfare ! 
 
 Colonel Savary set off immediately to render an 
 account to the first consul of the execution of his 
 orders. 
 
 On his way he met M. Real, who was going 
 to interrogate the prisoner. The councillor of 
 state, worn out by the fatigue of several days and 
 nights of labour, bad forbidden his domestics to 
 awaken him. The orders of the first consul bail 
 not been delivered to him until five o'clock in the 
 morning. He arrived too late. It was not, as 
 some have said, a planned machination to place a 
 crime on the first consul's shoulders ; nothing 
 of the kind occurred. It was an accident, a pure 
 accident, which took from this unfortunate prince 
 the only chance of saving his life, and from the first 
 Consul a happy opportunity to preserve his glor\ 
 from a stain. Unhappy violation of the ordinary 
 forms of justice ! When these sacred forms are 
 violated, invented by the experience of successive 
 ages, to protect the lives of men from the errors of 
 judges, they are at the mercy of a hazard or ol am 
 triviality. The lives ol ac< used persons and the 
 honour of governments depend Bonietimes on the 
 most fortuitous contingencies. Doubtless the 
 resolution of the first consul had been taken, 
 but he was agitated, and it the appeal of .he 
 unhappy Coiide", demanding his life, had reached 
 him, he would not have been found insensible to 
 it ; lie would have yielded to the emotions of his 
 heart, and it would have been glorious to yield 
 to them. 
 
 Colonel Savary arrived, much affected, at MaK 
 maisoti. His presence caused a scene of deep 
 sorrow. Madam Bonaparte, upon seeing him, 
 divined that all was over, and began to shed tears. 
 M. de Caulaincourt uttered cries of despair, saying 
 that they wished to dishonour him. Colonel Sa- 
 vary penetrated to the cabinet of the first consul, 
 who was alone except M. Meneval. He gave him 
 an account of what had been done at Vincennes. 
 The first consul instantly said to him : "Has Real 
 si en the prisoner?" Savary had scarcely replied 
 in the negative when M. Real appeared, and 
 tremblingly excused himself for ihe lion execution 
 of the orders which he had received. Without 
 expressing approbation or blame, the first consul 
 took leave of the instruments of his orders, and 
 
 shut himself up in a t in of his library, where lie 
 
 remained during several hours alone. 
 
 In the evening some members of the family 
 dined at Mahnaison. Their faces were serious 
 and melancholy. No one ventured to speak — 
 none did speak. The first consul was as silent 
 as the rest. The silence at last became em- 
 barrassing. On leaving the table, he broke it 
 himself. M. de Fontanes having arrived at the 
 same moment, became the only interlocutor with 
 the first consul. He was astounded at the act, of 
 which the rumour now filled Paris, but he aid 
 
 L
 
 1804 
 March. 
 
 Effects of th>- death 
 of the uuke d'Eli- 
 gliien. 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF GEORGES. 
 
 The irue authors of 
 these I'M'isM's, ihe 
 emigrants. 
 
 530 
 
 not permit himself Ihe avowal of liis sentiments 
 in the s].».t where lie tlien was. He listened a 
 good deal, l>ut ran ly replied. Tlie first consul 
 spoke continually, endeavouring to fill up the void 
 I. ft by the silence of the company ; he talked 
 of the princes uf every age ; of the Roman empe- 
 rors ; of the Icings uf Fr nee ; of Tacitus, and the 
 opinions of (hat historian ; of the cruelties to 
 which the lie, ds of the empire often lent tlieui- 
 -, when they were forctd to give way to 
 an inevitable necessity ; finally, arriving by a long 
 circuit at the tragic subject of the day, he spake 
 tin se words : " They wish to destroy the revolution 
 in at ;ackmg my person ; I will detend it, because 
 i i the revolution, me, myself! They will re- 
 it from this day, because they will know of 
 what we are capable." 
 
 It is afflicting for the honour of humanity to be 
 
 obliged to confess, that the t< rror inspired by the 
 
 firni consul acted efficaciously upon the princes of 
 
 house of B uiin n and npon the emigrants. 
 
 no longer believed themselves in security, 
 
 illg the German territory had not preserved 
 
 the unhappy duke d'Enghien; and from that 
 
 day all plots uf the same kind ceased. But this 
 
 sa>l utility gives no justification of such acts. It 
 
 r worth for the person of the Hist consul 
 
 to encounter a danger, so often exposed as it was 
 
 upon fields of battle, than purchase the security 
 
 acquired at such a price. 
 
 The rumour soon circulated through Paris, that a 
 
 prince hail been seized, transferred to Viucennes and 
 
 The effect was great and lamentable. Since the 
 
 arrest of Pichegru and of Georges, the first consul 
 
 had !)■ cane the obj et of universal Solicitude. All 
 
 indignant against those who had associated 
 
 themselves with the Chouans to threaten his life ; 
 
 ut very hard up n Moreau, ol whom the cul- 
 
 - demonstrated, began, notwithstanding, 
 
 tr the aspect of truth. Ardent wishes were 
 
 I lor ill- in. .11 who did not cease to be, ill 
 . tin- tutelary genius or Prance. The san- 
 
 itiou at Viucennes operated a sudden 
 
 ; i were prodigiously irritated, 
 
 and yet more alarmed; but the honest men were 
 
 v rilllient, SO far admirable, 
 
 • ii a blood, and in one day re- 
 
 II to th • level ot those who had put Louis 
 XVI. to death, ■ n , it must be acknowle 
 
 it the • lary passions and excuses 
 
 troubled the h ads of the Btroi 
 and ■ . -t in- n. 
 
 ictioii except the ardent revo- 
 
 y nun of a I. an the fin t consul 
 
 bad terminated the senseless power. They now 
 
 found theinselvi d ■ rinnle day, become pretty 
 
 ion aa equality. None among them any 
 
 dreaded thai gi n rai Bonaparte would labour 
 
 th seforth lor the Bourboua 
 
 W'b [ular raiting of the mind ! This ex- 
 
 traordinary man, ol a spirit W elevated, so just, 
 »i;li a hi i.i -o generous, was lately lull ol sen rity 
 
 towards the r voltiti sta and their < lie 
 
 . , : di errors without indulgence, 
 
 n without justice, lb- reproached them 
 
 ly for having shed the blood of I. oms XVI., 
 
 dishonoured the revolution, and rendered Prance 
 
 Irreconcileable with Europe. All ol a sudden, 
 
 when his own passions were excited, he had 
 
 rivalled, in a moment, the act committed against 
 the person of Louis XVI. that he had made so 
 bitter a reproach against those who preceded him, 
 and he had placed himself in the sight ol Europe iu 
 a state of moral opposition, which soon rendered a 
 general war inevitable, and obliged him to go and 
 seek for peace — a magnificent peace, it is true — at 
 the extremity ol Europe, at Tilsit. 
 
 How much such spectacles are calculated to 
 confound the pride of human reason, and to teach 
 us that the most transcendent genius does not save 
 ihe possessor from the commonest faults, when he 
 abandons to the passions, even for a single instant, 
 the government of himself. 
 
 But to be wholly just, after having deplored this 
 fatal excess of passion, ascending to tln.se who had 
 provoked it — who were they ! Always the same 
 emigrants, who alter having exacerbated that re- 
 volution, then innocent, quitted their country to 
 search out, in all quarters, the enemies of Prance. 
 This revolution moderated from its excesses, and 
 headed b\ a great man, showed itself sage, humane, 
 and pacific. 'Ihe emigrants it had recalled, em- 
 bosomed them in their country, in their property, 
 and j repared to restore them to all the eclat ol their 
 old position. How did they return this clemency I 
 Were they grateful — peaceable at least l . Not at all. 
 They were allies of a neighbouring nation, jealous 
 of the greatness of their country, and they made 
 use of the liberty of that nation to turn it against 
 Prance. By the force of the vilest publications 
 they irritated the pride of two nations that were 
 too easily excited; -and alter having endeavoured 
 to recover themselves with arms in their hands, 
 they did not limit themselves to being the soldiers 
 of the British government, they lent it the aid of 
 their [dots. They planned a base conspiracy; they 
 coloured with miserable sophisms a design of as- 
 sassination, and they employed Georges and Piche- 
 gru in Prance. If there was a heart that the 
 glory of the first consul had wounded, it was to 
 that they had recourse. They had misled and 
 perverted the feeble Moreau; they bad deceived 
 him, and they were deceived by him; and then 
 when by the force of imprudence thej had been 
 discovered by the vigilant sight of the man whom 
 tiny wished to destiny, they were denounced the 
 0110 by the other, and then thought to justify 
 or to excuse themselves, by saving aloud that a 
 French prince would be at the head ol their hor- 
 rible doiugS ! The great man against whom these 
 odious plots were directed, revolted at being made 
 the object of the murderous attacks of these whom 
 he had snatched from persecution, and gave way 
 
 ll anger. He had waited at the |. ol ol a 
 
 for tin- prince, of whom they announced the 
 arrival ; he had waited iu vain ; and his mind 
 
 iled by the very declarations of the con- 
 Bpiraiurs themselves, had, in (act, perceived a 
 prince on the banks of the Rhine, who was waiting 
 there for the renewal of the Civil war. At ibis 
 sight. Ins reason had gone astray ; he had taken 
 that prime for the chief of the conspirators who 
 threatened his life; he had felt a Sort ol pride in 
 
 Seizing him upon the German territory, in order 
 to strike a Bourbon like any vulgar individual; 
 
 and he had struck him to show to the emigrants 
 and to Europe how dangerous and insensate it was 
 
 to attack Ins person.
 
 536 
 
 General observations. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. General Observations. 
 
 180*. 
 March. 
 
 Grievous spectacle, where everyone was in fault, 
 even the victims themselves; where the French 
 were seen to make themselves instruments of 
 British greatness against that of France ; Bour- 
 bons, sons, brothers of kings, destined in tlieir turn 
 to be kings, seen mingling themselves with the 
 scouts and pests of the highways; the last of the 
 Conde's paying with his blood for the plots of 
 which he was not the author, and that Conde 
 whom people would have to be irreproachable 
 because he was a victim, culpable in placing him- 
 self again under the British to fight against the 
 French flag; finally, a great man seen led away by 
 his anger, by the instinct of self-preservation, liy 
 pride, losing in a moment that sagacity which 
 every body so much admired, and descending to 
 the character of those sanguinary revolutionists, 
 whom he had himself compressed with his trium- 
 phant hands, and had made ithisglor^y not to imitate! 
 Fatal bondage of human passion ! He who is 
 struck will strike in turn ; the blow received is 
 given back in a moment; blood calls for blood, and 
 revolutions thus become a succession of sanguinary 
 reprisals, that would be eternal, if there did not 
 
 arrive a day at last when they must cease, — a day 
 when men must renounce rendering blow for blow; 
 when they must for this linked vengeance, sub- 
 stitute a calm, impartial, and humane justice ; 
 when they must place above even this justice, if 
 there can be any thing superior to it, a clear- 
 sighted and elevated policy, leaving among the sen- 
 tenced of the tribunals, none for execution but 
 the most pressing cases, and granting pardon to 
 others who have gone astray, but are still suscept- 
 ible of restoration and a return to reason. To 
 defend social order, by conforming to the strict 
 regulations of justice, without giving way in the 
 smallest degree to vengeance : such is the lesson 
 which must be drawn from these tragic events. 
 There is yet another remaining, and that is, to 
 judge with indulgence the men of all the parties, 
 who, placed before us in the career of revolutions, 
 brought up in the middle of the corrupting troubles 
 of civil war, excited, without cessation, by the sight 
 of blood, had not for the lives of each other that 
 respect with which the time, reflection, and a long 
 peace have happily inspired us. 
 
 BOOK XIX. 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 THE EFFECT PRODUCED ON EUROPE BY THE DEATH OF THE DUKE D ENGHIEN.— PRUSSIA, READY TO FORM ASi 
 ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE, TURNS TO RUSSIA, AND ALLIES HERSELF BY A SECRET CONVENTION TO THE LATTER 
 POWER. — THE TRUE STATE OF THE FRENCH ALLIANCE IN 1803 DESCRIBED, AND HOW THIS ALLIANCE FAILED. 
 — THE CONDUCT OF DRAKE, SMITH, AND TAYLOR, DENOUNCED BY ALL THE CABINETS. — THE FEELING IT 
 INSPIRED DIMINISHED THE EFFECT PRODUCED BY THE DEATH OF THE DUKE D'ENGHIEN. — THE SENSATION 
 EXPERIENCED AT ST. PETERSBURG. — COURT MOURNING SPONTANEOUSLY WORN. — LIGHT AND THOUGHTLESS 
 CONDUCT OF THE YOUNG EMPEROfl. — HE REMONSTRATES AT THE DIET OF RATISBON AGAINST THE VIOLA- 
 TION OF THE GERMANIC TERRITORY, AND ADDRESSES IMPRUDENT NOTES TO THE DIET AS WELL AS TO 
 FRANCE.— CIRCUMSPECTION OF AUSTRIA. — THIS STATE MAKES NO COMPLAINT OF WHAT HAD TAKEN PLACE 
 AT RATISBON, BUT AVAILS ITSELF OF THE SUPPOSED EMBARRASSMENTS OF THE FIRST CONSUL, TO COM- 
 MIT WITHIN THE GERMAN EMPIRE THE MOST ARBITRARY ACTS OF POWER — SPOLIATIONS AND VIOLENCES 
 THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE OF GERMANY. — ENERGY OF THE FIRST CONSUL — CRUEL REPLY TO THE EMPEROR 
 ALEXANDER, AND KECAL OF THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR — CONTEMPTUOUS TREATMENT OF THE RUS-IAN REMON- 
 STRANCE TO THE DIET. — EXPEDIENT DEVISED BY TALLEYRAND TO CONFINE THE REMONSTRANCE TO AN INSIG- 
 NIFICANT RESULT — EQUIVOCAL CONDUCT OF THE AUSTRIAN MINISTERS AT THE DIET. — ADJOURNMENT OF THE 
 QUESTION. — NOTICE TO AUSTRIA TO CEASE HER VIOLENT CONDUCT IN REGARD TO THE EMPIRE. — DEFERENCE 
 OF THAT COURT. — SEQUEL OF THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGES AND MOREAU. — SUICIDE OF P1CHEGRU. — AGITATION 
 OF THE PUBLIC MIND. — THERE RESULTS FROM THIS AGITATION A GENERAL RETURN TOWARDS MONARCHICAL 
 IDEAS. — HEREDITARY SOVEREIGNTY BEGINS TO BE CONSIDERED A MEANS OF CONSOLIDATING THE NATIONAL 
 ORDER, AND TO SHELTER IT FROM THE CONSEQUENCES OF AN ASSASSINATION. — NUMEROUS ADDRESSES — DIS- 
 COURSE OF M. FONTANES UPON THE COMPLETION OF THE CIVIL CODE. — CHARACTER OF M. FOUCHE UNDER 
 EXISTING CIRCUMSTANCES— HE BECOMES THE INSTRUMENT OF THE CHANGES ABOUT TO TAKE PLACE. — CAMBA- 
 CERES SHOWS SYMPTOMS OF RESISTANCE TO A CHANGE. — THE FIR^ CONSUL COMES TO AN EXPLANATION 
 WITH HIM. — PROCEEDINGS OF THE SENATE MANAGED BY FOUCHE. — THE FIRST CONSUL DEFERS ANSWERING 
 THE SENATE, AND APPLIES HIMSELF TO THE FOREIGN COURTS, TO DISCOVER IF HE SHALL BE ABLE TO OBTAIN 
 FROM THEM THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE NEW TITLE WHICH HE IS ABOUT TO TAKE. — THE FAVOURABLE 
 REPLIES OF PRUSSIA AND AUSTRIA. — CONDITIONS WHICH THE LAST-NAMED COURT ATTACHES TO THE ACKNOW- 
 LEDGMENT. — STRONG DISPOSITION OF THE ARMY TO PROCLAIM AN EMPEROR. — THE FIRST CONSUL, AFTER A 
 SILENCE SUFFICIENTLY LONG, RETURNS AN ANSWER TO THE SENATE, REQUIRING THAT BODY TO MAKE KNOWN 
 ALL ITS IDEAS ON THE SUBJECT. — DELIBERATION OF THE SEN ATE.— MOTION OF THE TRIBUNE CUREE, HAVING 
 FOR ITS VIEW THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MONARCHY. — DISCUSSION UPON THE SUBJECT IN THE TRIBUNATE, 
 AND SPEECH OF THE TRIBUNE CARNOT — THE MOTION IS CARRIED UP TO THF. SENATE, WHICH RECEIVES IT 
 FAVOURABLY, AND ADDRESSES A MESSAGE TO THE FIRST CONSUL, PROPOSING TO HIM THE RETURN TO A 
 MONARCHY. — A COMMITTEE IS CHARGED TO DRAW UP THE CHANGES NECESSARY IN THE CONSULAR CONSTITU- 
 TION. — CHANGES ADOPTED. — THE IMPERIAL CONSTITUTION. — THE GRAND DIGNITARIES.— THE CIVIL AND MILI-
 
 1804. 
 April. 
 
 Effects produced in Europe 
 by the execution of Hie 
 duke d'Enghien. 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 Relations of Prussia and 
 Fiance. 
 
 537 
 
 TVHt CHANGES —PR"JECT TO REESTABLISH ONE DAY AN EMPIRE OP THE WEST. — THE NEW CONSTITUTIONAL 
 DISPOSITIONS rONVERTKD INTO A SE v ATUS- CON SULTU M. — TH E SENATE IN A BODY PROCEEDS TO ST. CLOUD, AND 
 PROCLAIMS NAPOLEON EMPEROR. — SINGULA RITY AN D GRANDEUR OF THE SPECTACLE. — SEQUET. OF THE PROCESS 
 AGAINST GEORGES AND MOREAU.— GEORGES CONDEMNED TO DEATH AND EXECUTED. — M. ARMAND DF. POLIGNAC 
 AND M. KIVIEKE CONDEMNED TO DEATH, BUT PA RDONED.— MO HE AU EXILED. — HIS DESTINY AND THAT OF 
 NAPOLEON. — NEW PHASE IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. — THE REPUBLIC CONVERTED INTO A MILITARY 
 MONARi II). 
 
 Tiir. effect produced by the sanguinary catastrophe 
 of Vineenuea was, no doubt, very considerable 
 throughout France, but it was much more so in 
 Europe. It is not departing from the rigour of 
 tacts to state that this catastrophe became the 
 principal cause of the third general war. The con- 
 Kpiracy of the French princes, and the death of the 
 
 duke d'Enghien, which followed that event, were 
 Imt reciprocal acts through which the revolution 
 an 1 counter-revolution were excited to commence 
 a new ami violent conflict, that soon extended from 
 the Alps and the Rhine as far as the remoter 
 banks of the Nieinen. 
 
 The respective situations of France and the dif- 
 ferent courts have been already explained, setting 
 out from the period of the renewal of hostilities 
 with Great Britain ; the pretensions of Russia to 
 be the supreme arbitrator, coolly received by Eng- 
 land, but eourteouidy by the first consul, yet after- 
 wards repelled by him as soon as he had recognised 
 the partial tendencies of the Russian cabinet ; the 
 apprehensions of Austria, fearful of Seeing the war 
 become general, and endeavouring to dispossess 
 itself of its uneasiness by the exercise of an excess 
 of power in the empire ; the perplexities of Prussia, 
 t.y turns agitated through the suggestions of Rus- 
 sia, or attrae'ed by the flatteries of the first consul, 
 nearly seduced by his conversations with M. Lom- 
 bard, and ready at la^t to abandon its long state of 
 hesitation, and throw itself into the arms of France. 
 Such, then, was the situation of affairs a little be- 
 ne deplorable conspiracy of which the tragical 
 changes have been related. M. Lombard had re- 
 turned to Berlin full of all he had listened to and 
 observe | at Brussels; and in communicating his 
 iinpres-ioiis to the young king, Frederick- William, 
 he had at last decided to unite himself definitively 
 with France. Another circumstance contributed 
 much towards the production of so fortunate a 
 result Russia had shown herself but little fa- 
 vourable to tie- ideas and views of Prussia, which 
 marked by a species of continental neutrality, 
 founded upon the u] I Prussian system ; she had 
 endeavoured to substitute for those ideas the pro- 
 ject of a third European patty, which, on the pre- 
 text of restraining tin- belligerent powers, would 
 concluded in a new coalition, directed against 
 France, and paid by England. Frederick-William, 
 mortified at tin- reception which had been given to 
 
 his propositions by Uu-sia, knowing that results 
 very visible might enchain the Russian propel, 
 and feeling that the strength lay on the aide of the 
 Onsul, ma le the offer to him, not as before of 
 a mere sterile friendship, SUCh as had been given 
 since IlilK) by the unlixabie M. I laugw it/, but a 
 reai ..r.- 1 sincere alliance. At first he bail offered 
 IfeJfraiMe as wed as to Russia only an extension of 
 the Prussian neutrality, that was to comprehend 
 
 all the German stales, and WSJ to be paid for by 
 
 the evacuation of Hanover, which would hare lor 
 Franc: the effect ol re-opening the continent to the 
 
 commerce of England, and of closing upon her the 
 road to Vienna 
 
 The first consul, when he conferred at Brussels 
 with M. Loiohard, would not listen to such a mea- 
 sure. After the return of M. Lombard to Berlin, 
 and under a view of the later conduct of Russia, 
 the king of Prussia therefore proposed to France 
 measures altogether different Under the new 
 system, the two powers, France and Prussia, gua- 
 rantied the status present, comprehending for Prus- 
 sia all that she had acquired in Germany and in 
 Poland since 1789 ; on the part of France, the 
 Rhine, the Alps, the junction of Piedmont, the 
 presidency of the Italian republic, the possession 
 of Parma and Placentia, the maintenance of the 
 kingdom of Etrnria, and the temporary occupation 
 of Tarentum. If for any one of those interests the 
 peace were endangered, that of the two powers 
 which should not be immediately menaced should 
 interfere as an intermediate party in order to [ire- 
 vent war. If the good offices thus tendered re- 
 mained destitute of efficacy, the two powers then 
 engaged to re-unite their forces, and sustain the 
 conflict mutually and in common. As the price of 
 this serious engagement, Prussia demanded the 
 evacuation of the banks of the Elbe and Weser, 
 that the army in Hanover should be reduced to 
 the number of men necessary to collect the revenue 
 of the country, in other words, to about six thou- 
 sand, and that finally, if at the peace the success 
 of France should have been sufficiently great to 
 enable her to dictate conditions to the enemy, 
 Prussia exacted that the fate of Hanover should be 
 regulated in agreement with her. This was, in an 
 indirect fashion, neither more nor less than stipu- 
 lating the possession of Hanover for herself. 
 
 Frederick- William had been influenced to enter 
 in this forward manner into the political system of 
 the first consul by the » rfainty of the continental 
 peace, which depended, in his opinion, upon a solid 
 alliance between France ami himself. lie had 
 seen with a glance of the eye, honourable to him- 
 self, but above all to M. tfaugwitz, his true inspirer, 
 that Prussia and France being firmly united, no 
 one upon the continent would dare to trouble the 
 general peace, lie had discovered, at the same 
 time, that in thus binding the continent he equally 
 bound the first consul, because the guarantee given 
 to the present situation of the two powers was in 
 a certain mode to fix them in that situation, and to 
 interdict new enterprizes to France. If Prussia 
 had persisted in such views, and had been encou- 
 raged to persevere, the destinies of the world 
 Would have been changed. 
 
 The same reasons which had decided Prussia to 
 make the proposition which is here stated, would 
 have decided the first consul to accept it. That 
 
 which be wished, definitively at least at the period 
 thus spoken of, was, France as far as to the Rhine 
 
 and the Alps ; an absolute domination in Italy ; 
 a preponderating influence in Spain, and, in a
 
 Proposed treaty of alli- 
 538 » l,c e between France 
 
 and Prussia 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Relations of Francs 
 and Spain. 
 
 1804. 
 Apiil. 
 
 word, the supreme power in the west. All this he 
 would obtain through the guarantee of Prussia, 
 and that to a degree of certainty well nigh infal- 
 lible. Without doubt the continent would be re- 
 opened to the English by the evacuation of the 
 banks of the Elbe and Weser ; but these facilities 
 given to their commerce would not effect so much 
 benefit in their behalf as the immobility of the 
 continent would inflict evil, ensured as it was 
 henceforth by the union of Prussia with France. 
 The continent at rest, the first consul was certain, 
 by applying his genius to the task for several 
 years, to strike sooner or later some great blow 
 against England. 
 
 it is true that the name of an alliance was miss- 
 ing in the proposition of Prussia, hut the alliance 
 was certainly there, though the word was wanting, 
 in accordance with the wish, deeply meditated 
 upon, of the young king. 
 
 This prince in reality had not wished to use the 
 term : he had even imagined to diminish the im- 
 portance of the treaty by calling it. a convention. 
 But what could the form matter, when the whole 
 substance remained ; when the engagement to 
 join his forces to those of the French was form- 
 ally stipulated ; when this engagement, entered 
 into by a king, honourable and faithful to his word, 
 could deserve to be reckoned upon ? Herein 
 may be remarked one of those weaknesses of mind 
 visible, not only in the court of Prussia, but in all 
 the courts of Europe at that period. They admired 
 i he new government of France, since it was under 
 the direction of so great a man ; they loved its 
 principles as well as they respected his glory ; and 
 still they would not willingly take any part with 
 him. Even when a pressing interest obliged them 
 to approximate towards him, they were unwilling 
 to have more to do with him than was necessary in 
 relation to the business before them ; not that they 
 felt or that they ventured to manifest towards him 
 that aristocratical disdain which old dynasties ex- 
 hi it towards new ; the first consul was not as yet 
 exposed to comparisons of such a nature in consti- 
 tuting himself the head of a dynasty; and the mili- 
 tary glory which was now his principal title to 
 respect, was one id' those meritorious qualifications 
 before which such a disdain always vanishes. But 
 it was bared by Prussia, that in formally declaring 
 herself his ally, she should pass, in the eyes of 
 Europe, for a deserter from the common Cause of 
 kings. Frederick- William would find himself em- 
 barrassed lief. re his young Friend Alexander, and 
 even before his enemy the emperor Francis. The 
 pi . i l\ and young queen, who kept around her a 
 circle deeply imbued with the passions ami preju- 
 dices of the old order of things — a circle the mem- 
 bers of which rallied M. Lombard because be had 
 returned Irom Brussels full of enthusiasm for the 
 first consul, ami haled M, Haugwit/. because be 
 was the advocate of the French alliance — this 
 prettV and young ipieen and those an mid her 
 made a great oiitcrv , and overwhelmed I lie king 
 with their censures. Tins was no inure, it is true, 
 than ii mere domestic difference, similar to those 
 which Frederick-William was often obliged to en- 
 counter. But he would not ha\e been able to con- 
 ciliate this formal treaty of alliance with that equi- 
 vocal language ami destituli u ol Frankness which 
 he had ordinarily held to the oilier courts. Jle 
 
 was desirous of representing the engagements he 
 had entered into with the first consul as a sacrifice 
 be bad been obliged to make in spite of his own 
 inclinations to the pressing necessities of his people. 
 In fact, his people had an urgent need that Hanover 
 should be evacuated, in order that the blockade of 
 the Elbe and the Weser might be raised. To ob- 
 tain from France the evacuation of Hanover, it. 
 w s needful, be would have said to the other 
 powers, to concede something to her, and he had 
 seen himself compelled to guarantee to her that 
 which all the other powers, more particularly 
 Austria, bad guarantied to her either by treaties 
 or by secret conventions. At this price, which was 
 not a new concession, he bad delivered Germany 
 from foreign soldiers, and re-established bis com- 
 merce. Add but the word alliance to the pro- 
 ceeding, and this interpretation became impossible. 
 It is true that the stipulation'respeettng Hanover 
 was tis compromising to Prussia as the word 
 alliance would have been, but this stipulation was 
 confined to an article which it was agreed under 
 the word of honour should be kept, secret. 
 
 The court of Prussia was, as may be easily per- 
 ceived, as feeble as it was ambitious ; but its pro- 
 mise could be safely relied upon when it was once 
 committed to wriling. It was necessary to take 
 Prussia just as she was, to give way to her weak- 
 nesses, ami to seize upon the sole opportunity to 
 bind her in a common cause with France. 
 
 In the present time, since the old Germanic em- 
 pire has been broken up, there subsist few points 
 of rivalry between Prussia and Austria, and there 
 exists a very formidable one between Prussia 
 and France, in the Rhenish provinces. But in 
 UiOJ, Prussia, placed some distance from the Rhine, 
 bad with France very similar interests, and with 
 Austria those of a very opposite character. The 
 haired which the great Frederick felt towards 
 Austria, and inspired on her part, still survived in 
 its full extent. The reform of the Germanic con- 
 stitution, the secularization of the ecclesiastical 
 territories, the suppression of the immediate nobi- 
 lity, the partition of the votes between the catholics 
 and prntestants, being so many questions either 
 resolved or to be resolved, filled the two courts 
 with bitter resentment for the past and the future. 
 Prussia, enriched with the spoils of the church, 
 representing the revolution in Germany, and having 
 the interests and very nearly the same bad cha- 
 racter with the older monarchies, was the natural 
 ally of France ; the last, not willing to be without 
 a friend in Europe, must therefore evidently attach 
 herself to that power. 
 
 Spain, as an ally, was not worthy of considera- 
 tion; and in order to regenerate her, France was 
 condemned, at a later period, to plunge into great 
 difficulties. Italy, torn into strips, of which France 
 possessed nearly the whole, was unable y< t to con- 
 tribute any real strength to France; she furnished, 
 with some trouble, a few soldiers, that to become 
 efficient, because they were capable of being made 
 so. had need to be intermingled with the French. 
 Austria, more able and more subtle than all the 
 o'tlrr courts together, cherished the resolution, 
 which she dissimulated to all the world h< sides, 
 and almost to herself, of precipitating herself upon 
 Prance on ihe first opportunity, ill order to recover 
 what she had lost ; and there was nothing in this
 
 1804. 
 April. 
 
 Relations o' France and Spain. 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 Hesitations of Prussia. 
 
 539 
 
 astonishing, nor, indeed, to be condemned. Every 
 vanquished party endeavours to recover itself 
 ■gain, and lias a light to make the attempt. Just 
 as niucli as Prussia represented in Germany some- 
 thing analogous t<> Fiance, so much did Austria 
 represent ail that ran lie imagined of tlie contrary, 
 because she was the accomplished image of the 
 old order of things. There was another reason 
 rendered her irreconcileable with France — this 
 was Italy, the object of her eager de*ire, and of a 
 n for its possession equal to thai indulged liy 
 the first consul. While France kept the dominion 
 in Italy, there could be nothing more expected 
 than mere truces between the two countries, longer 
 or shorter, according to circumstances. Between 
 the two German courts, always divided, to choose 
 the alliance of that of Vienna was therefore im 
 possible. As to Russia, in pretending to d< minei r 
 in 1 1' the continent, it was necessary for France t<> 
 n herself t<> be her enemy. The ten years 
 last passed away, sufficiently proved that such 
 must be the case. Even with no interest in the 
 war that France sustained against Germany, with 
 an interest more couformalile t<> that of France 
 in a war sustained by this last power against 
 England, she had taken an hostile attitude undi r 
 Catherine, ami under Paul I. sent Suwarrow into 
 the field ; under Alexander sin- had finished by 
 wishing to protect the smaller powers, and by 
 confining t lie continent to a protectorate, incom- 
 patible with the power that France, desired to 
 ■ xi rcise there. Continental jealousy made her 
 an em my to France, as maritime jealousy made 
 her one tn England. 
 
 It was thus Spain, then fallen, having no force 
 
 to aid Frame; Austria being irreconcileable on 
 
 account of Italy; Russia being jealous on account 
 
 of the continent, as England was of the i cean ; that 
 
 -ia. on the contrary, having alone similar 
 
 interests to thi.se ol France, playing among the 
 
 old governments the character of an upstart, 
 
 round herself the forced as well as natural ally "1 
 
 France. To neglect to be so was to remain iso- 
 
 To be isolated anil alone was ever, ill all 
 
 Dt to perish on the very first reverse 
 
 ofcurcum 
 
 M. ile Talleyrand, when alliances were the 
 r in hand, advised the first consul badly. 
 That minister, with whom partialities exercised 
 than calculation, bore towards Aus- 
 tria a preference arising from habit. Full of re- 
 rived remembrances of the old cabinet of Ver- 
 sailles, in which the great Frederick was detested 
 on account ol his . bat in which the <•• url 
 
 of Vienna bi I oved on account ol its flatt 
 he believed himself again at Versailles, when in 
 amicable relations with Austria. For these ill 
 reasons, he was cold, a railer, even disdainful in 
 all that concerned Prussia, and prevented thi Br I 
 consul from confiding in her. His counsels in 
 other respects had little effect, The first, consul, 
 from the beginning, had judged with bis ordinary 
 sagacity on what side the alliance was most t ■ ■ be 
 desired, and he had i clined towards Pro 
 Still, confident in his own strength, he was not 
 
 ed to make a cll< i' 8 id li i' ml-. 1 1 
 
 knnwledged the utility id having them; Ife apprt 
 elated the real value of one or the other, but he 
 
 believed that there was always turn- to serine tin in 
 
 for himself, and was inclined to be leisurable in 
 the selection. 
 
 When M. Lucchesini, in consequence of the 
 conferences at Brussels, brought a, letter from the 
 king himself, and the project of an alliance, or at 
 least the title, the first consul was much piqued. 
 He regarded, and with reason, that relations with 
 France were honourable enough, above all, suffi- 
 ciently profitable, to he openly avowed. " I ac- 
 cept," he said, "the proposed basis; but 1 desire 
 that the word 'alliance' should he in the treaty. It 
 is only a public profession of our friendship with 
 Prussia that will intimidate Europe, and permit 
 me to din ct all our resources against England. 
 With such a treaty 1 shall diminish our land 
 lot cis, and increase those of the sea, and devote 
 myself entirely to a maritime war. With less 
 than a public and formal alliance, 1 shall not he 
 aide to operate without danger in the revision and 
 training of the troops, and make the sacrifice of re- 
 opening the rivers without a sufficient advantage 
 in return." 
 
 There was much truth in this kind of reasoning. 
 The lull and complete avowal of the French al- 
 liance would have Imparted a moral influence, 
 which it was impossible a half avowal would he 
 able to ensure. But even the single fact of a 
 union of the strength of the two countries was of 
 immense value: the su. lance ought here to have 
 prevailed over the form. Prussia, allied with 
 France, so far as the obligation was to take anus 
 in certain cases, would have hem soon compro- 
 mised in the sight of Europe; pursued by the ill 
 language of the cabinets, and irritated by this 
 language, be driven, in spite of herself, into the 
 amis of France. The first step would have made 
 the second inevitable. It was, therefore, a fault 
 not to have acceded. The first consul, besides the 
 word alliance, for which he stipulated absolutely, 
 Contested certain of the conditions which Prussia 
 demanded. In regard to Hanover he was very 
 ready to yield, and made no difficulty in ceding it 
 to Prussia, the contingency ha| pening, because it 
 would embroil her fundamentally with England. 
 
 But he was always very difficult to negotiate with 
 
 relatively to the opening of the rivers. He was 
 indignant at the idea of re-opening a part of the 
 
 ( tineiit to the English, who shut up every sea. 
 
 lie went so far as to say to the minister of Prussia, 
 " How, for a question of mere money, would you 
 oblige me to renounce oue of the most efficacious 
 means of striking at Great Britain! You have 
 gi\ en the aid of three or four millions of crow ns to 
 the cloth merchants of Silesia; it will he necessary 
 to give them as much more. Make your calcula- 
 tion, how much it will cost you— six or eight mil- 
 lions of crowns! 1 am ready to furnish you with 
 the amount secretly, in order thai you may give 
 up the condition ol the re-opening of the rivers." 
 
 This expedient was not to the Prussian taste. 
 Prussia wished t<» be .able to say to the courts of 
 Europe, that she had only engaged herself so 
 deeply with the first consul in order to Bi nil the 
 
 French away from the banks of the Elbe and 
 Weser. 
 
 Winn the proposition, thus modified, was re- 
 turned to Merlin, the king was alanm d at the very 
 idea of :m explicit alliance. The i niperor Alex- 
 ander and the German courts were present in his
 
 Prussian terms modified. 
 540 — Cessation of inter- 
 course. 
 
 THIERS* CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Censures of English di- 
 plomatists. 
 
 1K04. 
 Apii!. 
 
 mind continually, making him a thousand re- 
 proaches for his rebellion. He feared also the 
 enterprising character of the first consul, and 
 dreaded, lest by enchaining himself too strongly 
 with him, he might be drawn into a war, which 
 was that of all things in the world he most desired 
 to avoid The court was divided and agitated by 
 the ((uestion. Although the cabinet was very 
 secret, there was something gathered beyond its 
 precincts of the matter which thus preoccupied it 
 so seriously; and the court inveighed against M. 
 Haugwitz, whom it accused of being the author 
 of this piece of policy. This eminent statesman, 
 that a certain appearance of duplicity, belonging 
 more to his situation than to his character, caused 
 to be calumniated in Europe, but who then com- 
 prehended better than any Prussian, it may be 
 truly said, better than any Frenchman, the com- 
 bined interest of the two powers, made every 
 effort to strengthen the heart of the affrighted 
 monarch, and to persuade the first consul not to 
 be too exacting. But his efforts were vain; and 
 in Ilia disgust he formed the design of retiring, a 
 design that he soon afterwards executed. The 
 minister of Russia at Berlin, M. Alopeus, a Rus- 
 sian, fiery and arrogant as M. Markoff, troubled 
 Potsdam with his exclamations. The Austrian 
 diplomatic body became filled with intrigues. All 
 the passions were enlisted against the idea of an 
 alliance with France. Nevertheless, this internal 
 agitation did not extend itself beyond the more 
 intimate circle of the court, and had not acquired 
 at Berlin the notoriety connected with a public 
 event. 
 
 Such was the situation of things when intelli- 
 gence of the seizure and carrying away of the duke 
 d'En^hien from the Germanic soil was suddenly 
 received. It produced an immense impression. 
 The rage of the party opposed to France passed all 
 bounds. The embarrassment of the opposite side 
 was extreme. The argument of the consul Lebrun, 
 that the act would pro< luce a great noise in Europe, 
 was fully realized. Still, in order to lessen in 
 some degree the effect thus produced, it was added, 
 that the measure was one of pure precaution ; that 
 the first consul had only seized him as an hostage, 
 but that it never could have entered into his 
 thoughts to strike down a young prince of an illus- 
 trious name, a stranger, besides, to the practices 
 that were carrying on in Paris. They were scarcely 
 got to listen to these excuses, when the news of 
 the terrible execution at Vincennes was learned 
 with consternation. The French party was from 
 that time obliged to hold its tongue, and no longer 
 offer even excuses for the act. The minister of 
 France, Laforeat, enjoying great personal conside- 
 ration at Berlin, found himself suddenly abandoned 
 by the Prussian society, and he related himself in 
 his despatches, that they no longer exchanged a 
 wold with him. He repeated, in one of his daily 
 reports, the real expressions of a person held in 
 much esteem by the French legation : 
 
 " To judge id' the exasperation of the public mind 
 by the excited state of the language spoken, I do 
 not doubt that all who supported the French 
 government wotdd have been insulted, not to say 
 worse, had there not been in Prussia protective 
 laws, and a monarch whose principles are known." 
 
 M. de Laforest said again, under the same date, 
 
 that the brawlers, after having shown, in appear- 
 ance at least, a deep sensibility at the event, " were 
 not able to restrain a sort of insulting delight, and 
 that they congratulated themselves as if they had 
 obtained an important success." 
 
 This cruel event was, in fact, an important suc- 
 cess for the enemies of France, because it every 
 where lowered the friends of France, and occa- 
 sioned the formation of alliances that it was only 
 possible to disunite by the thunder of cannon. 
 
 The faults of an adversary are a poor compen- 
 sation for the fatdts which we commit ourselves. 
 Still, England managed to make this sort of com- 
 pensation. She had committed an act difficult to 
 qualify, in furnishing the money necessary to carry 
 on a plot, and in ordering or in suffering three of 
 her agents, her ministers at Stuttgard Cassel, and 
 Munich, to intermingle in the most criminal in- 
 trigues. The first consul had sent a confidential 
 officer, who, being disguised, and giving himself 
 out as an agent of the conspiracy, introduced him- 
 self into the confidence of Mr. Drake and Mr. 
 Spencer Smith. He had received from them, to 
 be transmitted to the conspirators, with a right to 
 open an account, seeing the difficulty of uniting, at 
 that moment, a sufficient sum in money, more than 
 a hundred thousand francs in gold, which he de- 
 livered over immediately to the French police. 
 The report of this officer, the autograph letters of 
 Drake and Spencer Smith having been imme- 
 diately collected and deposited in the senate, were 
 communicated to the diplomatic body, to authen- 
 ticate the handwriting "'. The fact could not be 
 
 1 It is singular that our author has refrained from giving 
 an extract from Ihia correspondence, any thing, in short, 
 that can tend 10 prove the exact nature of the conduct for 
 which these ministers are so much censured. They do not 
 appear to have l.een concerned in any such reprehensible 
 practices as M. Thiers would fain have the reader infer. At 
 page 264, in a note, the reader will find a specimen of the 
 false colouring and evasion of the truth put forth by the 
 French authorities in those times, which, from the author's 
 own statements, may also he plainly inferred in Hie present 
 case. In reply to the present charge, lord II twkrsbury, 
 afterwards lord Liverpool, a statesman of admitt. d integrity, 
 deserves every credit. The following is an exirac from the 
 document he put forth on tin occasion. '1 hai large sums 
 of money were paid by tlrs country to the insurgents of La 
 Vendee, and to ihe weak-minded French pflicea and emi- 
 grants, is likely enough, too frequently, perhaps, under pre- 
 tences ha>ele^s enough, of raising insurrections in France, 
 during war consiilerefi lewiti-nate. That the British govern- 
 ment was conscious of doing more than this, no reasonable 
 man will for one moment credit. The first consul com- 
 plained to Mr. l-'ox in Paris, of the connexion of the English 
 ministry with the parties who planned the infernal machine. 
 l'ox indignantly denied that any F.nglisli minister would 
 be a party to an assassination. That British ships were 
 ordered to land the agents of the French princes and those 
 concerned in the affair of Georges, is no doubt true; but the 
 British ministers w< re never privy to their designs beyond the 
 representations they made, in which the intended assassina- 
 tions were never disclosed. In regard to the state of affairs 
 in the interior of France, the British ministry, it must be 
 admitted, credited the emigrants, ignorant and demented as 
 they were, upon that and too many otl.er occasions. This 
 is not to he wondered at, when that ministry was continually 
 STtTroiinded by them, their own views in every tiling being 
 strongly hnt-ed to the old Bourbon system, and, in their 
 sight, the Fren h revolution a crime against the majesty of 
 king-, before whose claims the sufferings of the people that
 
 1804. 
 April. 
 
 Censures of the English diplo- 
 matic agents in Germany, 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 and their exculpation by lord 
 llawkcsbury. 
 
 o41 
 
 denied. The report and tliese documents inserted 
 in the Moniteur, and addressed to all the courts, 
 
 produced it was not to be weighed. Such were the feelings 
 of that day, under which feelings it is fair to consider their 
 conduct. The foilo« ing is an extract from lord Havvkesbury's 
 answer in the affa r of Diake : — 
 
 " It is the acknowledged right of belligerent powers to 
 avail themselves of any discontents exiting in the Countries 
 with which ihey may happen to be at war. The expediency 
 of acting Upon this right (even if the right were in any de- 
 gree doubtful) «omd, in the present ease, be most fully sanc- 
 tioned, not only by the actual state of the French nation, 
 but by the conduct of the government i f that country, w liich, 
 ever since the commencement of the present war, has main- 
 tained a communication with the disaffected in his majesty's 
 dominions, particularly in Ireland; and has actually assem- 
 bled on the coast of France a body Ol Irish rebels, lor the 
 te of aiding their designs against that part of the 
 United Kingdom. 
 
 " Under these circumstances his majestv's government 
 would not indeed be wai ranted in foregoing this right to sup- 
 as is consistent with those principles of the law 
 o: nmlioul which all civilised governments ha\e hitherto 
 acknowledged. t!ie efforts of such of i he inhabitants of France 
 as ma) profess hostility to its present government. They 
 fee], in common with all Europe, an anxious desire to see 
 i»hed in that country an order of things more con- 
 sistent with i:s own happiness, and with the security of 
 surrounding nations. But it this cannot be accomplished, 
 they ire Justified, on the strictest principles of self-defence, 
 in endeavouring to cripple the exertions, to distract the 
 operations, and to confound the projects of a government 
 whose avowed system is not merely to distress the com- 
 merce, to reduce the power, or to abridge the dominions of 
 its enemy, but 10 carry devastation and ruin into the heart 
 of the British empire. 
 
 " In the application of these principles his majesty has 
 directe I me further to declare, that his government has 
 never aulhoriZ' d any one act which will not stand the test 
 of the strictest principles of justice, and the known and 
 a\o -e I practice of all ages. If any minister accredited by 
 10 a foreign court has held correspondence with 
 persons in France, with a view of obtaining information of 
 the projects of the Fr- nch government, or for any other 
 legitimate purpose, he has done no more than ministers, 
 similar circumstances, have been uniformly considered 
 as having a right to do, with respect to tin- countries with 
 eign was at war, and much less than the 
 rs and commercial agents of France, in neutral cous- 
 in Ik- proved to have done with regard to tin- dis- 
 
 of his majesty's dominions In conducting, 
 
 therefore such a correspondence, he would not In any de- 
 gree have violated his public duty. A minister In a foreign 
 coun iy !■> hound by the nature of Ins office, and the duties 
 of his sltuat tain from all communication with the 
 
 • t'd in the country to which he is accredited, as well 
 as from any act injurious to the interests of tint country; 
 but be is not sui jei t to tin- same restraints with reaped to 
 
 countries with which his sovereign It at war. His 
 act" respecting tin in may be praiseworthy or blami able, ac- 
 cording to the nature of the arts themselves ; but they would 
 
 not con rltute any violation ol ins public character, unless 
 they militated against the peace or security of the country 
 to which he was accredited." 
 
 The charge of aiding assassination, lord llawkcsbury thus 
 answers : — 
 
 " It cannot be necessary for him " (bin majesty) " to repel 
 with the scorn and indignation which it deserves, the most 
 unfounded and atrocious calumny, th.it bis government 
 were parties to any project of asses Inatlon ; an accusation 
 
 falsely and calumiiiously advanced BDdet th< 
 authority against the memtN rs of his majesty's former 
 government in the last war; an accusation inconsistent with 
 
 caused a severe censure upon England to succeed 
 the passionate censure of which France was fur 
 some days before the exclusive object. Impartial 
 men saw that the first consul had been provoked 
 by odious actions, and they regretted, for the sake 
 of his glory, that he was not content with the legal 
 repression which would strike Georges and his 
 accomplices, and the reprobation that would he 
 incurred by Drake and Smith, for their conduct as 
 English diplomatists, who were sent away with in- 
 dignation from Munich and Stutgardt, traversing 
 Germany precipitately, and not daring to show 
 themselves anv where. Mr. Drake, in particular, 
 passing by Berlin, received an injunction from the 
 Prussian police not to remain tin-re a single day '. 
 He only passed through that capital, and went to 
 embark in till luiste fur England, hearing with him 
 the shame which attached to the profanation of the 
 most sacred functions. 
 
 The conduct of Mr. Drake and his colleagues 
 operated as a diversion to the death of the duke 
 d'Enghien *. Nevertheless, the Prussian cabinet, 
 observing besides hi its language perfect pri priety, 
 became all at once silent, cold, and impenetrable 
 to M. Laforest. Not another word of an alliance, 
 Dot a word more of business, not even a syllable 
 upon the cruel event which was every where 
 so deplored. M. Haugwitz and M. Lombard were 
 inconsolable at an accident which had ruined all 
 their political views ; it was known that M. Haug- 
 witz, in particular, had taken a resolution to quit 
 the helm of affairs, and retire to his Silesian 
 (states, much impoverished by the war. But 
 tliese two personages now said not a word more. 
 M. Laforest wished to provoke an explanation. 
 M. Haugwitz heard his observations with much 
 attention, and replied to him in these serious 
 words: "Amid till this, monsieur, be persuaded 
 that the king lias bun particularly sensitive to all 
 which may affect the glory of the first consul. As 
 to the alliance, it must no more be thought about. 
 It was wished to exact too much of the king ; and, 
 besides, he has suddenly turned towards other 
 i.li as, in consequence of an unforeseen event, of 
 which neither you nor I will be able to avert the 
 consequences." 
 
 In fact, the dispositions of the king of Prussia 
 were completely changed. He thought now of 
 approaching more towards Russia, and to obtain 
 through her the advantage of that support which 
 In- had at first Bought to secure from France. 
 He had desired to gain from the first consul 
 the reduction of the tinny in Hanover, and the 
 
 his majesty's honour, and with the known character of the 
 British nation; and io completely unsupported by even any 
 shadow ot proof! that it may be justly presumed to have 
 been brought forward at the present moment*, for the sole 
 purpoit of diverting ih* attention of Europe from the con- 
 templation of thai sanguinary deed which, in violation of 
 the law of nations, and ol the plainest dictate! of honour 
 and humanity, has been recently perpetrated by the direct 
 order of the first consul of France." — Jintnh State Paper, 
 
 April .'SO, 1801. — TRANSLATOR. 
 
 1 Havana was at this time no better than a French pro- 
 vince, Napoleon's win being law there. Baden was terrified 
 after the violation oi her territory ; and Prussia was a 
 fawning, Insincere sycophant. The fear of the fir«t consul, 
 not the public indignation, caused the unmerited treatment 
 of these envoys. — Tramtator.
 
 Effects of the death of the 
 542 duke d'En^liien upon 
 Europe. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 In'erference of Ruasia 
 with the affair. 
 
 1804. 
 Ap.ii. 
 
 evacuation of the banks of the Elbe and Weser, 
 by engaging to partake in all the chances that 
 might menace France. Decided at last to have 
 nothing in common with her, he resigned himself 
 t<> suffer the occupation of Hanover, the closing of 
 the rivers of which that was the consequence, and 
 Bought in an intimate agreement Willi Russia, 
 the means to prevent or limit the inconveniences 
 which must result from the presence of the French' 
 in Germany. He entered immediately into con- 
 ferences with the ambassador of Russia. It was 
 easy to conduct a similar negotiation to the desired 
 end, because it responded to all the wishes of that 
 court. 
 
 While the effect of the tragical event with 
 which Europe was occupied grew weaker at 
 Berlin, it began to appear at St. Petersburg. It 
 was greater there than elsewhere, in a young 
 court, sensitive, seldom drawing just inferences, 
 dispensing with prudence, through the distance 
 which separated it from Fiance, the manifestations 
 of feeling were by no means controlled. It was 
 on a Saturday that the courier reached St. Peters- 
 burg. The next day being Sunda\, was the day 
 fur the diplomatic receptions. The emperor, hurt 
 at the haughtiness of the first consul, and little 
 disp ,sed to restrain himself to humour him, lis- 
 tened to nothing in these circumstances but his 
 lvs nt ful feelings and the exclamations of a pas- 
 sionate mother. He made till his household put 
 on mourning, without even consulting his cabinet. 
 When the moment for the reception arrived, the 
 emperor and his court were all found in mourning, 
 to the great astonishnii nt of the ministers them- 
 selves, who had not been forewarned of it. The 
 representatives of all the European courts saw 
 with pleasure this testimony of sorrow, which was 
 a real insult offered to France. The ambassador, 
 general Hedouville, attending with other diplo- 
 matic personages, found himself for some moments 
 in a very painful situation, yet he showed a calm- 
 ness and dignity which struck all the witnesses of 
 this .strange scene. The emperor passed before 
 him without exchanging a single word. The 
 general neither appeared troubled nor embar- 
 rassed, threw around him a tranquil look, and 
 made respect be felt for himself by the counte- 
 nance he bore upon the occasion, as well as lor the 
 French nation, compromised by a great mis- 
 fortune. 
 
 After this imprudent scene, the emperor began 
 to deliberate with his ministers upon the conduct 
 to lie pursued. This young monarch, sensible, but 
 as vain as he was Sensible, was impatient to act a 
 character. He had already played a pan in the 
 affairs of Germany, hut he very soon perceived 
 that the policy of the first consul did not accord 
 with his own, or rather that he had not overcome 
 him by conviction. He had recommended to him 
 Naples and Hanover without being listened to; 
 he had been mortified by the haughtiness with 
 which the first consul was pleased to heighten the 
 errors of M. Markoff, although he himself censured 
 the conduct of that ambassador. In this dispo- 
 sition, the smallest occasion sufficed him to speak 
 openly, and in yielding to Ins wounded vanity, 
 he believed he only obeyed the sentiments of an 
 honourable humanity. If there be added to this a 
 character open to the slightest impression, and 
 
 an utter want of experience, his sudden reso- 
 lutions find an easy explanation. 
 
 To the disaster which has been already related, he 
 wished to subjoin some stroke of policy, which should 
 be much more serious than any demonstration of 
 the court could be. Alter resisting what he pro- 
 posed, his councillors imagined to give him satis- 
 faction by very hazardous means, that of remon- 
 strating against the invasion of the territory of 
 Baden, in calling himself the guarantee of the 
 Germanic empire. This was, as will be seen, a 
 step of the most inconsiderate nature. 
 
 The quality of guarantee to the Germanic empire 
 that l he Russian court thus attributed to itself, 
 was very liable to be contested, because the last 
 mediation, exercised in partnership with France, 
 had not been followed up by a formal act of 
 guaranteeship. This act was so necessary to 
 prove the guarantee existed, that ihe ministers of 
 Frame and Russia had often deliberated with the 
 German ministers upon the necessity which there 
 was to complete it, and about the form in which it 
 was nil si convenient to draw it up. Still the act 
 had never taken place. In default of this, the 
 title to the guaranteeship mold only be drawn 
 from the treat* of Tesclien, h\ which France and 
 Russia had guarantied in 1/7!'. ihe intervening 
 arrangements between Prussia and Austria re- 
 lative to the Bavarian succession. This engage- 
 ment, limited to a special object, admitted of the 
 question, whether it coiiferied the right to inter- 
 meddle in the interior police of the empire. The 
 thing was at least doubtful. In any ease, ihe 
 empire having to complain of a violation of terri- 
 tory, it was the duty of the stale in which the 
 outrage had been committed to complain at most 
 to a German power ol ihe violatii ii of its territory, 
 in other words, for the grand duke of Badtii to 
 remonstrate aga'ust ihe oppression, but most assur- 
 edly not a foreign power. In raising this question, 
 tin re was evidi ntly no gn mid to go up< n. It *as 
 to embarrass Germany, even to i fiend that empire, 
 because although outraged, she had no desire to 
 commence a quarrel, the issue of width it was easy 
 to foresee. In making this bustle, therefore, the 
 greatest of levities was committed. Four years 
 had scarcely passed away since a crime which 
 calumniators denominated a parricide, had dis- 
 graced St. Petersburg, and procured the crown 
 'or the young monarch. The assassins of the 
 lather still surrounded the son, and in t one of 
 them had been punished. 'Ibis was to expi so 
 hiinsell on the part of all audacious adversary to 
 a terrible rejoinder. M. Wnronzoff being sick, 
 had been replaced by the \ouiig prince Cxartorisky, 
 and it must be said to his praise, that young as he 
 then was, he made strong objections to the mea 
 sure. But the older members of the council 
 showed no more wisdom upon this occasion ihau 
 the young monarch himself, because in the pas- 
 sions prudence is pretty nearly up< n an equality in 
 every stage of life. In consequence, thecabiiiei of 
 St. Petersburg decided on addressing to the Ger- 
 man diet a note, to exhibit iis solicitude, and pro- 
 voke its deliberation upon the violation of the 
 territory recently Committed in the grand duchy 
 of Baden. A copy of the Bailie note upon the 
 same subject was to be addressed to the French 
 government.
 
 1804. 
 
 April. 
 
 Russia and Prussia form 
 an al.t.iiue. 
 
 THE EMriltE. 
 
 The treaty between Russia 
 and Prussia. 
 
 543 
 
 They Ret m> limit to the manifestations inspired 
 by ihis unfortunate circumstance. They wished 
 hi testify to the court i»f Itouie a marked degree of 
 disapprobation, in return tor the condescension 
 which tins state had bIiowii to France, in deliver- 
 ing to her the emigrant Veruegues, Tlie minister 
 of Russia at Rome had been recalled at that 
 moment. The |i"|>c's nuncio had been sent away 
 from St. Pel rsburtj. It was imp ssilde tn exhibit 
 a ceii-ure i.i ire out of place, more offensive, in the 
 acts id a foreign Court, it llie-e ;iets were cen- 
 surable. Siixoiiv, uneasy at the displeasure which 
 the pi-i-sence uf M. d Entraigues caused at Dresden, 
 hid requested Russia i<> recall him. The cabinet 
 <bui*x replied, that M. d'Entrai^ues 
 should remain at Dresden, because tliey did ii"t 
 consult the c invenieuces of other courts in the 
 chui. -e of Russian agents. 
 
 \i er three imprudent steps the Russian cabinet 
 ied iiself in guarding against the future by 
 seeking to form alliances. It had naturally lent a 
 euwplacrnt and eager ear to the new language 
 of Prussia, that after having quitted Russia for 
 Prance, now quilted Fiance for Russia, iucliuing 
 to noite itself with the north. Russia much de- 
 sired to draw in Frederick-William, so far as to 
 form a nori <d' continental coalition independent of 
 England, but leauing towards her side. Still they 
 sera obliged to be content with what the king 
 nf Prussia offered. That prince, constrained to 
 ahaiidnu Hanover to the French, since he had 
 i'iii xi need all negotiations with her, sought to com- 
 ;• for the inconveniences aitached to their 
 uce in that territory, by means of an under- 
 standing with Russia. He wished that alone, and 
 it wag impossible to bring him to desire any thing 
 
 In ■ nee, after forcing themselves, each 
 
 <.n his nwii side, to bring to the result the object 
 must preferred, a species "f engagement was en- 
 Urred into, consisting in the double declaratioiiB of 
 Prussia to Russia, and of Russia to Prussia, drawn 
 up in different terms, and impressed with the 
 spirit of each of these two courts ; the Bense 
 of tin- engagement liein<j this : that as far as the 
 Fren h limited themselves to the occupation of 
 Hanover, and did not exceed the number of thirty 
 thoiMand men in that pari of Germany, the two 
 courts would remain inactive, and keep themselves 
 Hut if the French troops were 
 augmented, and if the other Germau states were 
 iuvadeil, they would then concert measures to 
 such a fresh invasion, and if ihis resistance 
 in the prngreSH of the French towards the north 
 produced a new war, that then tiny should unite 
 then- forces and sustain in common the Conflict 
 actually begun. Tin- em|iemr in that case placed, 
 without any re*erve,all the resources of his empire 
 at the disposition of Prussia. This lamentable 
 contract, nigned on the 24th of May, 111(14, by 
 Prussia, was at the same tune accompanied by 
 
 a host nf !•• Strictions. The king, ill Ins declaration, 
 
 s i I, that he did not intend to suffer himself to be 
 drawn into war upon any frivolous ground; that 
 thus it would not happen from an augmentation of 
 ■• hundred ol nun to tin- army occupying 
 Hanover, sent there by tin' annual and regular 
 recruiting of that arm) ; that it would not happi n 
 from an accidental collision with one of the smaller 
 
 German powers, that so carried itself as to brave 
 a rupture with France, but only with the formal 
 intention of France to extend herself in Germany 
 manifested by a real ami considerable augmenta- 
 tion of the French forces in Hanover. .As to the 
 young emperor, he carried into his engagement no 
 restrictions of such a nature. He obliged himself 
 simply and purely to join his arms to Prussia 
 in case of war ' . 
 
 1 Tin's treaty, under the form of a double declaration, 
 must not be confounded with the secret tieaty of Potsdam, 
 concluded on ti.e 3rd of November, ISu5, while Nanoleon 
 was march ng from Ulm to Austerlitz, and which was 
 wri ng from Prussia in consequence ot the violation of the 
 territories ol Anspach and Bareuth, That "loch is now 
 al nded to has nevt-r been published in any diplomatic col- 
 leclii n. and it remains unknown even in Frame. In order 
 that it may be known it is published here, to clear up an 
 important act, in the abandonment of ti.e alliance of France 
 by Prussia. 
 
 Declaration of the Court of Prussia. 
 
 " We, Frederick-William III. &c. &c. 
 
 " The war which is rekindled between France and Eng- 
 land having exposed the north of Germany to a foreign in- 
 vasion, the consequences which are the result of the present 
 moment, both aa regards our own government ami that of 
 our neig buurs, have excited all our solicitude; but those 
 more particularly which it is possible may yet happen, have 
 required us to weigh and to prepare in lime such means as 
 may opeiate in remedying them. 
 
 '• However painful may be the occupation of Hanover, 
 and its indirect consequence, — the closing of the rivers; after 
 having exhausted, in order to put an end to such a statu of 
 things, eveiy means shoit uf war, we have resolved to make, 
 for peace, the saciitice o; not letuming to the past, and of 
 not proceeding to active measures, until new usurpations 
 shall have compelled us 
 
 '• But if in spite of the solemn promises given by the 
 French government, it extends beyond the statu quo of the 
 present moment, its enterprises against the security of any 
 of the states of the north, we are decided to oppose it with 
 the powers that i rovidence has placed in our hands. 
 
 " We hate made to France this solemn declaration, and 
 France has accepted it; but it is, above all, towards his 
 majesij the emperor of all the Russias, that confidence and 
 friendship make it our dutv to express ourselves; and we 
 have had the satisfaction to be convinced that our resolu- 
 tions weie in absolute accordance with the principles ol our 
 august ally, ami that he hims-ii was determined to support 
 them with ourselv s. In cons, quence, we have come to an 
 agreement with his imperial majesty under the following 
 heads ; — 
 
 •' I. We "ill oppose ourselv a in concert to every new en- 
 trenchment of the trench government upon the states of 
 the north, strangers to its quarrel with England, 
 
 " 2. For this end we will begin to bestow a continual and 
 
 severe attention upon the preparations of the republic. We 
 
 will lix a vigilant eve on the dilf rent bodies of Hoops that 
 
 -in- hum. bring into Germany ; and if the numbers he aug- 
 mented, we will put ourselves, without loss of time, in a 
 posture to make that protection respected which it is in- 
 tended to accord to the weaker states. 
 
 •• 3 In case of a new usurpation of power happening, we 
 think tint, with an a ill erout, half measures 
 
 would be unfortunate; it will be with forces proportionable 
 to the Immense power nf the republic thai we shall march 
 aKninsi lur. Thus, In accepting with acknowledgments the 
 offer ol our .august ally, to join our troops Immediately vviih 
 an anny of forty or Bny thousand men, we may not reckon 
 less upon the aati rtor stipulations of the treaty of alii ince 
 between EUiskLi and Prussia.— stipulations which so bind 
 the destinies of the two empires, that, should the exi I
 
 544 
 
 The treaty between THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Russia and Prussia. 
 
 1R04. 
 April. 
 
 This treaty, so singular in form, was to remain 
 secret, and, in fact, it continued completely un- 
 
 of one be in question, the efforts of the other will know no 
 limit. 
 
 "4. To determine the moment when the casus foederis shall 
 exist, it is needful to take an extended view of affairs in 
 their true spirit. The small states of the empire situated 
 beyond the Weser, may possibly offer passing scenes which 
 are repugnant to these principles, whether because they are 
 a territory offering a continual passage to the French troops, 
 or because their sovereigns are either sold to French interests, 
 — as with the count de Bentheim,— or are dependants upon 
 France on other accounts, as the count d'Aremberg. The 
 minute deviations that a proper representation would re- 
 dress. — as at Meppen, where the safety of nobody was put 
 to hazard,— are strangers to an agreement, the only motive 
 of which is security. It is on the banks of the Weser that 
 the interest becomes of essential consequence, because from 
 that point it deals with Denmark, Mecklenburg, and the 
 Hanseatic towns; and the cisus foederis, consequently, will 
 have operation on the first enterprise of France against any 
 state of the empire situated on the right of the W ser, and 
 particularly against the Danish provinces and Mecklenburg, 
 in the just expectation which we ha*ve, that his majesty the 
 king of Denmark will then make, conjointly with us, a com- 
 mon cause against the enemy. 
 
 '• 5. The enormous marches that the Russian troops will 
 have to make before joining ours, and the difficulty of their 
 arriving in time to take a part in decisive conflicts, make 
 us judge that it will be most convenient to adopt, for the 
 different descriptions of troops, a different mode of transport. 
 Thus, while the Hussian cavalry and artillery march through 
 our provinces, it seems preferable that the infantry and can- 
 non should pass by sea, and be disembarked in some port of 
 Pomerania, of Mecklenlmrg, or of Holstein, according to the 
 operations of the enemy. 
 
 " 6. Immediately after the commencement of hostilities, 
 or sooner, if the convenience of so doing is acknowledged by 
 the two contracting courts, Denmark and Saxony will he 
 invited to adhere to this agreement, and to co-operate by 
 means proportioned to the power of each state; and in the 
 same way will be invited all the princes and states of the 
 north of Germany that, by the proximity of their territories, 
 would feel bound to participate in the advantages of the 
 present arrangement. 
 
 " 7. From this time we bind ourselves not to lay down 
 our arms, or to enter into an accommodation with the 
 enemy, but with the consent of his imperial majesty, and 
 after a previous agreement with hiui, full of confidence in 
 our august ally, who has entered into similar engagements 
 towards us. 
 
 " 8. Afer having attained the end which has been pro- 
 posed, we reserve ourselves to come to an understanding 
 with his imperial majesty upon the ulterior measures to be 
 taken, for the object of purging the north of Germany en- 
 tirely of the presence o< foreign troops; and to assure our- 
 belves of this happy result in a stable and secure manner; 
 and in advising an older of things which will no more ex- 
 pose Germany to the inconveniences from which it has 
 suffered since the commencement of the existing war. 
 
 " This declaration is to be exchanged against another 
 signed by his imperial majesty of Russia, and conceived in 
 the same sense; we promise on our faith and royal word, to 
 fulfil to the letter the engagements into which we have here 
 entered. 
 
 " In the faith of which we have signed these presents 
 with our hand, and have affixed our royal seal. 
 
 " Done at Berlin, on the 24th of May, in the year of grace 
 1804, and in the eighth of our reign. 
 
 (Signed) " Frederick-William. 
 
 (Counter-signed) " Harden berg." 
 
 Counter-declaraliim of Russia. 
 "The critical situation of the north of Germany, and the 
 burthen imposed upon its commerce, the same as on that of 
 
 known to France. Scarcely was it concluded, 
 when the king of Prussia, perpetually running from 
 
 all the north, by the presence of the French troops in the 
 electorate of Hanover; and, further, the imminent danger 
 that exists in providing for the tranquillity of the states 
 which, in this part of the continent, are not yet subjugated 
 under the joke of France, having excited all our solicitude, 
 we are compelled to apply ourselves in search of the proper 
 means to calm our apprehensions in this regard. 
 
 " The invasion of the electorate of Hanover, it not having 
 been possible to prevent, ai.d circumstances having un- 
 happily hindered in time its cleliveiance from the presence 
 of the French troops, we have judged it convenient not 
 to adopt, at the present moment, any active mcasuie, while 
 the French government shall limit itself to the occupation of 
 the Germ in dominions of his Britannic majesty, and aiso 
 not permit the French armies to pass in Germany, the line 
 behind which they now confine themselves. 
 
 "His majesty, the king of Piussia, whom we have 
 acquainted, in all confidence, with our fears, and the mea- 
 sures which appear to us indispensable to ward off the 
 danger that we ant cipate, having expressed his assent 
 to our views, as well as his desire to concur in objects 
 so salutary, and to oppose himself to new aggressions of 
 the French government upon the other states of the em- 
 pire, strangers to its quarrel with England, we have fallen 
 into accord with his aforesaid majesty on the following 
 points : — 
 
 " 1 The acknowledged audacity and activity of the 
 French government, making it undertake and execute its 
 designs spontaneously, it is absolutely necessary to watch 
 over the preparations which it will employ for the com- 
 pletion of its designs on the north of Germany. We shall, 
 therefore, keep a vigilant eje on the bodies of troops which 
 occupy these countries, and in case their number should be 
 augmented, we shall feel urged, without loss of time, to 
 place ourselves in a posture proper to make respected the 
 protection which it is hit intention to grant to those states 
 that, by their weakness, know not how to sustain them- 
 selves against the dangeis with which they are threatened. 
 
 "2. To ptevent all uncertainty about the period of 
 placing in activity the means destined both on one part and 
 the other, and herealter announced, to preserve Germany 
 from every invasion by foreigners, it is agreed upon before 
 any thing besides, between ourselves and his Prussian 
 majesty, to determine the cusus foederis of the present 
 arrangement. To this effect it is agreed to consider it as 
 having ceased at the first trespass the French troops, 
 stationed in the electoral states of his Britannic majesty, 
 shall commit upon the adjacent territories. 
 
 '•3. The casus foederis ceasing, his majesty, the king of 
 Prussia, finding himself nearer the theatre of events, will 
 not wait the union of the respective bodies of troops here- 
 after specified in order to act, but will commence ope- 
 rations as soon as he shall have received intelligence that the 
 French forces have passed the line which they at present 
 occupy in the north of Germany. 
 
 "4. All the means of which we propose to ourselves the 
 employment for this same object, will be found ready to be 
 placed in activity, we engage ourselves in the most formal 
 manner to march to the succour of his Prussian majesty at 
 the first signal that will be given, and with all the celerity 
 possible. 
 
 "5. The forces which will be employed on one part for 
 the defence of the rest of the north of Germany, will 
 amount to forty thousand regular troops, and will he 
 augmented to fifty thousand, if required. His majesty, the 
 king of Prussia, obliges himself, on his side, to employ for 
 the same purpose an equal number of troops of the line. 
 When once military operations are commenced, we bind 
 ourselves not to lay down our arms, nor enter into any 
 accommodation with the common enemy, without the con- 
 sent of his Prussian majesty, after a previous agreement 
 with him ; it being understood that his majesty, the king of 
 Prussia, imposes the obligation equally upon himself,
 
 1804. 
 April. 
 
 The treaty between Prussia 
 and Russia. 
 
 THE EMIGRE. 
 
 Conduct of Austria in the affair 
 of the duke d'Knghien. 
 
 545 
 
 one side to the other, to avoid all danger of war, 
 dreaded, after fixing himself to the side of Russia, 
 that it should be too openly visible on the part of 
 France. The hasty way in which lie had ceased 
 to speak of an alliance with France, and the 
 deep silence kept about the affair of the duke 
 d'Enghien, appeared to him dangerous to peace. 
 He therefore charged M. Haugwitz to make to- 
 wards France a solemn declaration of neutrality, 
 absolute on the part of Prussia, while the French 
 troops occupying Hanover should not be aug- 
 mented. In consequence, M. Haugwitz broke 
 forth suddenly from his constrained silence with 
 M. Laforest, declared to him that the king engaged 
 his word of honour to remain neuter, whatever 
 would happen, if the number of French in Hanover 
 did not surpass thirty thousand. He added, that 
 this was worth nearly as much as the unconcluded 
 alliance, because the immobility of Prussia, certain 
 under the conditions that he stated, insured that 
 of the continent. The signifieancy of this declara- 
 tion, for which at the moment it was made there 
 was little motive, surprised M. Laforest, but re- 
 1 nothing to him. Still it appeared to him 
 very singular. Frederick-William believed by 
 this means that he had put himself in the position 
 he wished with all tin- world. There is no prospect 
 more melancholy to behold than incapable weak- 
 ness embarrassed in a political labyrinth, and 
 committing itself on the strength of a wish to ward 
 off blows from every side, as a feeble bird caught in 
 a net is obliged to flutter in order to get free. 
 
 Thus were laid, through the ambiguous policy of 
 the king of Prussia, and under the strong impres- 
 sion produced by the event at Vincennes, the foun- 
 dations of the third coalition. Russia, delighted to 
 have secured Prussia, began at the same time to 
 turn her eyes towards Austria, and forced herself 
 to humour this power a little more than she had 
 ire. She had easy means in her 
 
 neither to lay down his arms, nor to enter into an accommo- 
 dation with the common enemy, without our consent, after 
 a previous agreement with us. 
 
 "6. Immediately after the commencement of hostilities, 
 or looner, if the convenience of the measure is recognised 
 between the two contracting court*, the king of Denmark 
 and the eh- sony will be invited to adhere to this 
 
 agreement, and to co-operate in it by (lie means proportioned 
 to it. live resources, and as well all the other 
 
 i and states of the north of Germany, th.it by the 
 proximity of their territories would participate in the benefits 
 of the present arrangement. 
 
 " 7. After tie- • nd thus proposed shall have been obtained, 
 ■ rmning to an understanding 
 »itli I upon the ulterior measures to lie 
 
 taken, for the purpose of purging entirely t a terri- 
 
 tory of the - OOpt, ami to insure for the 
 
 future that happy result m the moat stable manner, and In 
 Ing an order of thing! which shall no more • 
 iny to the inconvi i which it baa suffered 
 
 since the commencement of tli war, 
 
 "This declaration I* to be exchanged against an act 
 signed hy bit m. on ..f Prussia, and con© : 
 
 the same sense; we promise on our faith .mil Imperial word 
 to fulfil to the letter the engagements Into which we have 
 thus entered. 
 
 " In faith of which we have signed it with our own hand, 
 and haw caused the seal "f our ampin to he aflixed. 
 
 " Given at St. Petersburg, the • • • of the year 1804, 
 and the fourth year of our reign." 
 
 
 hands : it was to say no longer the same thing as 
 France, in speaking of the questions yet pending 
 in the empire, but, on the contrary, exactly that 
 which the court of Vienna said itself. 
 
 It is needful to make known now in what manner 
 that event had been taken at Vienna which so pro- 
 foundly troubled the courts of Berlin and St. Pe- 
 tersburg. If there had been a court in Germany 
 that the violation of the Germanic territory, by 
 the carrying off the duke d'Enghien, should have 
 affected more deeply than another, it was that of 
 Austria. Nevertheless, the only ministers wh i on 
 this occasion conducted themselves with modera- 
 tion were those of the emperor. There did not 
 escape from them a single word offensive to the 
 French government, no step of which it had any 
 reason to complain. However, the chief of the 
 empire, the natural guardiah of the safety and 
 dignity of the German territory, was responsible ; 
 tli.re was nobody to be found there to lift a voice 
 against the act committed in the grand duchy of 
 Baden. It may even be said, being exactly cor- 
 rect, that all would have been in place, if the tran- 
 quillity shown in the court of Austria in this matter 
 had been visible at St. Petersburg, and if the like 
 promptitude in remonstrance had manifested itself 
 at Vienna. No one would have been surprised i! 
 the emperor had demanded, with moderati in, but 
 with firmness, some explanations of the first consul 
 upon the violation of territory, which must fill Ger- 
 many with uneasiness. It was not this, but even 
 the direct contrary which occurred. Tiny wire 
 young and inexperienced at Petersburg, and above 
 all. a long way from France ; they were sa^e and 
 full of dissimulation at Vienna, and above all, very 
 near the conqueror of Marengo. They were silent. 
 M. Cobentzel, more prompted by M. de Cham- 
 pagny than provoking the subject himself, said 
 that he comprehended the hard necessities of po- 
 litics, and that he regretted in good truth an event 
 adapted to nourish in Europe fresh complications ; 
 but that tin- cabinet of Vienna would watch, as far 
 as that was concerned, with more zeal than ever 
 tin maintenance of continental peace, 
 
 In order to COmpn In ml the conduct of the 
 cabinet of Vienna under these circumstances, it is 
 necessary to be aware that in waiting the favourable 
 opportunity to regain that which it had lost — an 
 opportunity which it would not willingly obtain 
 tgh any imprudence of its own — it regarded 
 with ardent curiosity all that was going on at 
 Boulogne, forming very natural wishes that the 
 l'ri neh armies might be engulphed in the ocean, 
 but would not on any account draw them to- 
 wards the Danube, because it knew that their bu- 
 periority henceforward was irresistible. In the 
 interval it profited by the occupation that the ma- 
 ritime war created in France, to resolve at iis own 
 will the questions which had not been settled in the 
 ■ I IcM.'i. These questions, lef I in, suspense for 
 want of time, were, as may be remembered, the 
 following : the proportions to be established be- 
 tween tin- catholic and protestant voices ill the 
 college of princes ; the maintenance or suppressi m 
 i f the immediate nobility; tin- new direction of the 
 circles for the police, ami the maintenance of order 
 in Germany j the reorganization of the German 
 church ; tin- sequestration of the movable ami 
 immovable property attached to the ecclesiastical 
 
 N N
 
 54G Policy pursued by Austria. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Violence committed in 
 the German states. 
 
 1804. 
 April. 
 
 principalities which were secularized ; and five 
 other matters of less moment. 
 
 The most serious of these questions, from its 
 consequences, was the delay caused in the reor- 
 ganization of the circles, because from this delay 
 there resulted a defect of police, which left every 
 thing in the hands of the strongest. France being 
 at the moment entirely occupied with the maritime 
 war, and separated besides from Russia, had not 
 any external influence capable of carrying succour 
 to the oppressed states, and the empire began to 
 fall on all sides into anarchy. 
 
 At the close of the negotiation of 1803. Austria 
 had sequestrated the dependencies of the secularized 
 principalities, which found themselves under her 
 hands, it will be remembered, that these old 
 ecclesiastical principalities had some of their funds 
 deposited in the bank of Vienna, others had lands 
 in the midst of different German states. These 
 funds and lands naturally belonged to the princes 
 who had been indemnified. Austria, alleging no- 
 body could tell what feudal law maxim in her de- 
 fence, had sequestrated more than 30,000.000f. of 
 capital placed in the bank of Vienna or in the 
 funds. The houses of Orange and of Bavaria sus- 
 tained the greatest losses. Austria placed no limit 
 to her attempts. She treated with a crowd of 
 petty princes to get from them certain possessions 
 which they had in Swabia, and thus managed to 
 obtain for herself a position on the shores of the 
 lake of Constance. She purchased the town of 
 Lindau of the prince of Bretzeheim, and ceded to 
 him estates in Bohemia, with the promise of a 
 virile vote in the diet. She treated with the house 
 of Kcenigseck, in order to obtain, upon the like 
 conditions, territories situated in the same country. 
 Lastly, she laboured in the diet for the creation of 
 new catholic votes, in order to raise to an equality 
 the protestant and catholic voices. The majority 
 of the diet not seeming disposed to meet her wishes, 
 she menaced it with the interruption of all delibe- 
 rations, until this question of the proportion of the 
 suffrages was resolved conformably to her wishes. 
 
 The German princes, aggrieved by the violence 
 of Austria, avenged themselves by committing simi- 
 lar violences upon states more feeble than their 
 own. Hesse and Wirtemberg invaded the lands 
 of the immediate nobility, avowing loudly their 
 designs of incorporation. The immediate nobility 
 of Franconia addressed themselves to the imperial 
 chamber of Wetzlar, in order to obtain a decree 
 against the usurpations with which they were 
 threatened ; the Hessian government had the no- 
 tices defaced everywhere, containing the judgment 
 given by the imperial chamber; thus affording an 
 example of the most extraordinary contempt, fur 
 the tribunals of the empire. They did not restrain 
 themselves to these excesses, they refused to pay 
 the pensions of the clergy, despoiled of their 
 goods by the secularizations. The duke of Wir- 
 temberg would pay none. In the midst of this 
 reciprocal violence, each indulged in the hope to 
 secure impunity for himself. They made no com- 
 plaint of the sequestrations of Austria, because she 
 had Buffered them to execute all they chose to un- 
 dertake against the immediate nobility, or against, 
 the unhappy pensioners thus deprived of their 
 bread. Bavaria, the worst treated of all by 
 Austria, avenged herself upon the prince arch- 
 
 chancellor, whose electorate had been transferred 
 from Mayence to Ratisbon. Seeing him with pain 
 upon the territory of Ratisbon, which she had for 
 a long time desired for herself, she followed him 
 with threats, and took from him a number of es- 
 tates, filling him with a thousand uneasinesses for 
 his very existence. Prussia imitated these things 
 in dealing with Westphalia, and did not remain in 
 arrear of Austria or Bavaria in her usurpations. 
 
 Two states only conducted themselves with jus- 
 tice : first, the archchancellor prince, who, owing 
 his existence to the arrangements of 1803, applied 
 himself to make them respected by the members of 
 the confederation. Secondly, the elector of Saxony, 
 who, disinterested in the midst of- pretensions of all 
 kinds, remained immovable in his old principality, 
 without having lost or acquired any thing, voting 
 in a dry manner, that the rights of all should be 
 respected by moderation and honesty. 
 
 All the culpable concessions made to Austria, 
 in permitting the oppression of some that sImj 
 might permit oppression to others, had not dis- 
 armed her, particularly in regard to Bavaria. 
 Believing herself strong enough to be no more 
 under the necessity of humouring any thing, she 
 began to take up, cause and fact, the support of 
 the immediate nobility, of which she was the 
 natural and interested protector, by reason of their 
 aid in recruiting her armies. 
 
 It has been already seen, that the immediate 
 nobility, sustained by the emperor, and not the 
 territorial princes, whose states surrounded their 
 lands, did not owe these last any military contin- 
 gents. Those of the inhabitants who had a taste 
 for arms, enrolled themselves in the Austrian 
 troops, and there were procured in Franconia 
 alone, more than two thousand recruits annual.y, 
 appreciable much more by their quality than by 
 their number. They were, in effect, true Ger- 
 mans, very superior to the other soldiers of Aus- 
 tria, for their intelligence, bravery, and warlike 
 qualities. They furnished all the sub-officers of 
 the imperial armies, and formed, in some sort, a 
 German skeleton corps for the imperial army, 
 in which Austria placed her recruits of all kinds, 
 from subjects comprehended within the limits of 
 her vast territories. Thus she was resolved, on 
 this point, to brave every thing, except a war with 
 France, sooner than yield. Without making her- 
 self uneasy about the reproaches she might merit 
 lor her abuse of power, she referred to the aulic 
 council, as acts of violence belonging exclusively 
 to (he imperial police, the infringements committed 
 against the immediate nobility; and, with a promp- 
 titude seldom noticed in any Germanic proceeding, 
 a. provisional decision was given, qualified de con- 
 serratorium, in the constitutional language of the 
 empire, confiding the execution to four confe- 
 derated states : Saxony, Baden, Bohemia, and 
 Ratisbon. Austria marched eighteen battalions 
 by Bohemia on one side, and by the Tyrol on the 
 other, and threatened Bavaria with an immediate 
 invasion, if she did not instantly withdraw her 
 troops from the different lordships which she had 
 entered. It is easy to comprehend that in such a 
 situation, Austria had much to do to manage the 
 first consul, because, although occupied on the sea- 
 shore, he was not a man to draw hack upon any 
 point. Besides, the irritation to which he had
 
 1804. 
 April. 
 
 Interference of France in 
 favour of Bavaria. 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 Unbecoming reply of France to 
 the Russian nute. 
 
 547 
 
 been wetted, rendered him more susceptible and 
 formidable than usual. It is that which explains 
 the r of the Austrian diplomatists in the 
 
 affair of the duke d'Enghien, and the real or ap- 
 parent indifference that they exhibited under this 
 serious circumstance. 
 
 We have already tinted the dispositions which 
 had arisen in the mind of the first consul out of 
 the attacks directed BgaiflBt his person. The 
 benefits whieh he had been gratified in heaping 
 upon the emigrants had not disarmed their hatred. 
 The respect which lie had t snfied for Europe had 
 not calmed its jealousies. Irritated in the highest 
 degree t" have obtained so small a return, it had 
 effected a sudden mental revolution, and he was 
 disposed to ill treat all whom he had most spared 
 until then. The answer to the manifestations 
 about to be related was hardly to be expected; 
 but after having to deplore this wild wandering 
 of his passions, there will he fresh occasion to 
 admire the grandeur of his character. 
 
 The court of Prussia had neutralized itself, and 
 bad ceased to speak of an alliance. The French 
 were silent towards it; but the first consul severely 
 reprimanded M. Laforest for having too faithfully 
 reported in bis despatches the impressions on the 
 public mind at Berlin. As to the court of Russia, 
 tin- reply was instantaneous and cruel General 
 Hedouvi'le had orders to quit St. Petersburg in 
 forty-eight hours, without alleging any other reason 
 for bis departure than that of health, a reason in 
 customary use with diplomatists, in order to lead 
 others to guess that which they do not choose to 
 tell. He was to leave all in ignorance whether 
 
 nt away for a certain time only or forever. 
 Rayneval alone continued to reside at the 
 
 : in court, taking upon him the character of 
 cli'tr/c <Viiff<ur<s. There bad only remained at Paris, 
 
 the departure of M. Markoff, an agent of the 
 
 grade, in M. Oubril. The first consul Bent, 
 in reply to the Kus ian despatch, one which was 
 
 iliugly grievous to the emperor. This reply 
 recalled to recollection, that France, having ob- 
 
 d, until the present time, the best conduct 
 
 a, and having made her an equal 
 
 partaker in all the more important affairs of the 
 
 continent, did not meet a return on her part; that 
 
 hhe found llii.- Russian agents, without exception, 
 
 malevolent and hostile; that, contrary to the last 
 
 s, which obliged the two courts to 
 
 refrain from creating embarrassments towards 
 
 each oiler, the cabinet of St. Petersburg!] ac- 
 
 b emigrants to foreign nations, anil 
 
 i e ttspiratom, under the pretext of Russian 
 
 nationality, from the police of Prance; that this 
 
 was to violate at the same time the letter and 
 
 spirit of treaties; that if Russia desired war, she 
 
 had oiih to State ber wish frankly; that the Brst 
 
 consul, who had no desire of the kind, on the 
 
 other hand, had no fear of it, because the recol- 
 lection of the last Campaign bore not any thing 
 rery alarming m its eousequeuoes (this alio ion 
 
 was to the disaster of Buwarrow); thai relatively 
 to what had pa s s ed at Baden, Russia constituted 
 If, upon very slight grounds, the guarantee 
 ol the German ie territory, but ber title to inter- 
 im there was very good ground for contesting; 
 that in any case, France had used the legitimate 
 right of defence against the plots concocted on 
 
 her frontier, in the sight and with the knowledge 
 of certain German governments, upon which she 
 had heaped favours, and been repaid by the black- 
 est ingratitude; that as to the rest, she had ex- 
 plained to them, and she would explain with them 
 alone, and that, in her place, Russia would herself 
 have done as much; because', if she had been in- 
 formed that the assassins of Paul I. were united 
 only a march distant from her frontier, and within 
 her grasp, would she have abstained from going to 
 arrest them l ? 
 
 The irony was cruel towards a prince who had 
 been reproached with not having punished any of 
 his father's murderers, and who from this circum- 
 stance had been accused, besides, though very 
 unjustly, of being an accomplice in the horrible 
 deed. It must have proved to the emperor Alex- 
 ander how imprudent it was in him to intermeddle 
 in the affair of the duke d'Enghien, when the 
 death of Paul I. rendered a rejoinder so easy and 
 terrible. 
 
 In relation to Germany, Russia having recently 
 approved the conduct of Austria, and her ground 
 of pretension, for fixing on a reference to the 
 aulic council to decide constitutional questions, the 
 first consul declared plainly, that France thence- 
 forward separated herself from the Russian diplo- 
 macy for all that should follow in relation to 
 German affairs; that she did not admit that the 
 questions remaining in suspense should be settled 
 by the aulic council, the tribunal of the emperor 
 
 • It is very singular that our author should quote from 
 this document so briefly. It is dated Paris, May 16, ISO-}, 
 and signed by Talleyrand. It contains a charge against 
 England as futile as that which alleged her participation 
 in the wicked design of the count d'Auois, his brother, and 
 Georges, to assassinate the first consul; it was perhaps 
 deemed by M.Thiers so much the etlVct of the angry feeling 
 of those times, that the atrocious falsehood might be passed 
 over to lessen the obloquy of the document. The above 
 passage runs a> follows in i lie state paper al uded to. It is 
 too curious not to plate on record litre. After treating on 
 othei matters at some length it proceeds thus: — 
 
 " France requires of her tSaxony) to remove emigrants 
 who were in the cmplojment of Russia, at a time when the 
 two countries were at war, from countries that rendered 
 themselves conspicuous only by tl e r intrigues, and Russia 
 Insist* u pon maintaining them there; ami the remonstrance 
 she DOW miki s hails to this question; //, uhc>) England 
 plonnsd the murdtt tf Paul /•■ supposing intelligence to 
 have been received, that the authors of the plot were at a 
 from the frontier, would not pains have been taken 
 it tin in .'" 
 
 reply of Russia to this part of the document is 
 m rions. It slates that ihc allusion outraged decorum, 
 and th it it can hardly he credited thai Prance should so 
 violate truth as to sllega exan plea, which were altogether 
 improper t" be mentioned, and thai it should, "in any 
 official I! even I I tiler's death to the recol- 
 
 lection of lila illustrious son, In order to wound his tender 
 ; and that it should (contmry to all truth and proba- 
 bility) rai>c an accusation against another government, that 
 Pram e never ceases to calumniate, merely because she is at 
 • ith i;." 
 The document concludes by the averment that the in- 
 Prench note is calculated t. Incense the emperor's 
 just indignation, yet that lie Is superini to emotions of 
 merely a personal nature. Surely such a diplomatic note as 
 the present must tend to east merited discredit upon all 
 averments about England Iroui the same dishonest 
 souice. — Trumlutur. 
 
 N 11 2
 
 Austria withdraws her 
 
 543 troops from their 
 
 march on Bavaria. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Intrigues relative to 
 the Russian inter- 
 ference. 
 
 180i. 
 
 April. 
 
 simply, rather than of the empire. That these 
 questions ought, as well as all the others, to be treated 
 of iu the diet, the supreme body, and the sole de- 
 pository of the German sovereignty. Thus the 
 difference of sentiment was complete upon all these 
 points, the resolutions being as cutting as the lan- 
 guage. 
 
 As to Austria, the first consul had been satisfied 
 with the indifference that she had shown towards 
 the victim of Ettenheim. But he saw clearly that 
 they abused at Vienna the impediments which tne 
 maritime war seemed to create. He wished that 
 Austria should be well edified in this respect. He 
 had two modes of combating England, the one 
 was to meet her, man to man, in the straits of 
 Dover, the other was to crush her allies on the 
 continent. At bottom, the second mode was easier 
 and surer than the first, and although less direct, 
 could not but be efficacious. If, therefore, Austria 
 provoked him, he determined, without losing' a 
 moment, to strike his camp at Boulogne, and to 
 enter Germany, because he would not pass the 
 sea unless he had disarmed all the open or secret 
 allies of England. He communicated to the two 
 Cobenizels, as well to him who was ambassador 
 at Paris, as to him who directed public affairs at 
 Vienna, that Bavaria had been the ally of France for 
 several centuries, and that he would not abandon 
 her to the ill-feeling of Austria; that if Bavaria 
 did wrong by attacking too hastily the property of 
 the immediate nobility, Austria, by her unjust 
 sequestrations, had forced all the German princes 
 to indemnify themselves by violence for the vio- 
 lence to which they had been subjected ; that 
 Bavaria had possibly done amiss, but that he 
 would not suffer her to be crushed with impunity, 
 and that if Austria did not recall the battalions 
 which she had drawn together in Bohemia and the 
 Tyrol, he was resolved to direct a body of forty 
 thousand men upon Munich, which should be kept 
 there as a garrison until Austria withdrew her 
 troops. 
 
 This declaration, precise and positive as it was, 
 threw the Cobentzels into unspeakable embarrass- 
 ment. They extricated themselves by fresh ex- 
 pressions of sorrow upon the unceasing enmity of 
 which Austria was the object on the part of 
 France, and the state of deep despair into which 
 they found themselves reduced. Nevertheless, 
 Talleyrand and M. de Champagny insisted, and 
 it was agreed on both sides, that Bavaria should 
 evacuate the estates of the immediate nobility, 
 but that the Austrian troops should first bait 
 where they were, and should afterwards fin illy 
 retrograde, in order not to commit the dignity of 
 the emperor, by being too precipitate in their 
 retreat. The Austrian cabinet gave it to be un- 
 derstood anew, that if France lent herself to its 
 wishes relative to the proportion of catholic and 
 protestant voices in the diet, it might be reckoned 
 upon in all the other circumstances, and parti- 
 cularly in that which arose upon the occasion of 
 the note addressed by Russia to the Germanic 
 diet. 
 
 This note was received at Ratisbon by the same 
 courier that had taken to Paris the despatches 
 from St. Petersburg. It grievously embarrassed 
 the German princes, both as regarded their dignity 
 and security, because it was a foreign court that 
 
 had thus invited them to show themselves alive 
 to a violation of the Germanic territory, and yet 
 if they had shown themselves sensible to the vio- 
 lation, they would incur to the extreme the re- 
 sentment of France. In point of fact, they had 
 not time to send instructions to their ministers at 
 the diet; but these, presuming upon the disposi- 
 tions of their respective courts, had appeared 
 much more disposed to neglect the note, than 
 to give it any great notoriety. The Prussian 
 minister, M. Goertz, the same who has already 
 made a figure in the Germanic negotiations, 
 would have been willing to leave the whole matter 
 lie in obscurity. But the Austrian ministers had 
 received their instructions, (thanks to the proximity 
 of Vienna,) and played, according to custom, a 
 double game: finding the note particularly ill- 
 timed when they were face to face with the French 
 agents, and promising to get it received when they 
 were with the agents of Russia, they imagined a 
 middle term. • They took the note into considera- 
 tion, but each minister was to refer to his court, 
 to state at an ulterior time what related to its con- 
 tents. " You see," said M. Hugel to the Russian 
 minister, " that we have got your note admitted." 
 " You see," he said to the French minister, " that 
 in adjourning the discussion for two months, we 
 have extinguished it, because in a couple of 
 months nobody will think any thing more about 
 this proceeding of the emperor Alexander." 
 
 Such was to be finally the fate of this inconsi- 
 derate proceeding. But to come at the result, 
 there was still more than one embarrassment to 
 
 subdue. The German governments were unwilling 
 
 • 
 to affront France, of which they were in fear, or 
 
 to disoblige Russia, of which power they might 
 ultimately find they had need. Their ministers 
 bestirred themselves in Paris, therefore, to find a 
 mode of getting out of the difficulty : " Settle it as 
 you find most convenient, gentlemen," the first 
 consul observed to them; "if the discussion oc- 
 cupies the space of two months, in such a manner 
 as to arrive officially in France, I will frame a 
 reply so high, so merciless, that the dignity of the 
 Germanic body will be cruelly humiliated. It will 
 remain for you either to suffer this reply, or to 
 take arms, because I am resolved, in case of 
 necessity, to begin upon the continent the war 
 which I wage against England." 
 
 M. de Talleyrand, faithful to his common pre- 
 ference for peace, endeavoured to find expedients 
 for preventing a rupture. The foreign ministers, 
 fearing the first consul, finding, on the contrary, 
 in Talleyrand perfect favour, and a facility, which 
 besides did not exclude a haughty carriage, sought 
 him with assiduity again and again. Among the 
 most diligent and intelligent was the duke de 
 Dalberg, nephew of the prince arch-chancellor, and 
 then the minister of Baden in Paris. It was this 
 personage that Talleyrand made use of to act upon 
 the court of Baden. After having recalled to the 
 recollection of this court all it owed to France, 
 that had so much aggrandized its territories in the 
 arrangements of 1803, he was made to compre- 
 hend also all that it might have to dread if war 
 should break out anew. He engaged, therefore, 
 to declare at Ratisbon that he had received from 
 the French government satisfactory explanations, 
 and that Baden desired, in consequence, that
 
 1SIH. 
 
 April. 
 
 Process of Georges, Piehegru, 
 and Moreau. 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 Suicide of general Piehegru. 
 
 54!) 
 
 no result should follow the Russian note. Whilst 
 M. Talleyrand executed such a declaration under- 
 hand, the cabinet of St. Petersburgh, relying upon 
 the relationship of the house of Baden with the 
 imperial family of Russia, strove to modify this 
 declaration to such a degree as to render it in- 
 efficient But Prance being nearer and stronger 
 prevailed. As t" the rest of the affair, two months 
 I over before the opening of the discussions; 
 drafts of the documents were sent from Carlsruhe 
 to Paris, and from Paris to Carlsruhe, incessantly 
 modified, and there was no loss in soon finding a 
 con vi ni. nt solution. 
 
 The first consul did not much trouble himself 
 with these comings and goings, leaving all that 
 was t i he done to his minister for foreign affairs, 
 He had offerided Russia, ami obliged Austria to 
 herself quiet. He had made Prussia uneasy 
 by his coldness; as to the diet of Ratisbon, lie 
 the representative of a body fallen 
 into senility, in spite of all which he had done to 
 . it-, youth; and he was prepared cither 
 not to reply, or to give a very humiliating an- 
 swer. All these questions, raised out of France by 
 tie- catastrophe ol Vincennes, had scarcely turned 
 his attention from those at home that the existing 
 momi nt had b< en reach a real crisis. 
 
 OUgll, in a tew days, the impression pro- 
 due I by th'' death of the duke d'Enghien had 
 : through time the attenuation of Im- 
 
 i .11 that even the greatest incident soon 
 experiences, still there remained a permanent 
 source of agitation in the process of Piehegru, 
 and Moreau. It was, in effect, a vexa- 
 tious, but inevitable necessity, to compel the ap- 
 pearance in a court of justice of so many per- 
 Bonages of different political classes. .Some, as 
 If. '!•■ Riviere and M. de Polignac, were dear to 
 the old French aristocracy ; others, as Moreau, 
 eherishe 1 by all who loved the glory of France; 
 and these wire to make their appearance in a 
 court of justice, in the midst of the public curiosity 
 Strongly excited, in the midst of the abuse and 
 railing of the malevolent, always prompt to draw 
 from the smallest circumstances, interpretations 
 ih most subtle and absurd. Put it uas im- 
 perio asary that justice should he rendered, 
 
 and this i trouble, for one or two months 
 
 more, the ordinary calm of the first consul's 
 government. An incident, altogether unforeseen, 
 added t" the sombre and sinister aspect of the 
 existing circumstances. Piehegru, the prisoner of 
 
 th'- tiist mil, at first diffident of his generosity, 
 
 and with difficulty believing in the offers ol' Ins 
 clemency, which M. Real had carried to him, hail 
 soon fed of their sincerity, and had 
 
 given himself up with confidence to the idea of 
 
 pving his life, and of recovering his honour 
 by founding a grand colony in Cayenne. The offers 
 of the first consul were sincere, because, in his 
 
 mination to strike only at the royalists, he 
 had wished to show favour to .Moreau and Piehe- 
 gru. M. Real, incapable of an ill-feeling, had, in 
 
 following up this important business, another mis 
 
 fortune, lie had arrived too late at Vincennes; 
 
 he now appeared too seldom in the prison of 
 Piehegru, where the business of the process 
 scarcely required him, seeing that he could hope 
 to obtain nothing in the way of information from 
 
 a man so firm and concentrated as this old general 
 of the republic. Absorbed in a thousand cares, 
 M. Real neglected Piehegru, who hearing nothing 
 more said of the propositions of the first consul, and 
 learning the sanguinary execution at Vincennes, 
 believed that he had t > reckon for nothing the 
 clemency which had been offered and promised. 
 Death was not that which cost this soldier the 
 more painful feeling; it was the winding up, nearly 
 forced upon him, of the culpable intrigues in which 
 
 he had been engaged when deviating from the 
 
 s © o 
 
 right path in 17i'7; and then, too, he must appear 
 between Moreau and Georges; one he had com- 
 promised, the other, to whom he had entrusted his 
 honour, was about to figure at his side in a royalist 
 conspiracy. All the denunciations which he had 
 borne at the epoch of the IJJth of Fructidor, and 
 that he had repelled with feigned indignation, were 
 now found to be justified. He lost with his life 
 the melancholy remains of the honour already so 
 compromised. This unfortunate man preferred 
 immediate death, but death without, the shame 
 that must be the result of a public display. This 
 feeling proves that he was worth a little more than 
 bis former conduct might lead to be supposed. He 
 had borrowed from M. Real the works of Seneca. 
 One night, after having read for several hours, 
 and having left the volume open at a passage where 
 it treated of a voluntary death, he strangled him- 
 self by means of a silk cravat, which he had 
 twisted into a cord, ,and a billet of wood, of which 
 he had made a lever; towards the morning, the 
 jailor, hearing some noise in his chamber, entered, 
 and found him suffocated, his face red, as if he 
 had been struck by apoplexy. The medical men 
 and magistrates called in, had not the smallest 
 doubt as to the cause of his death, and they placed 
 it on evidence perfectly satisfactory to all persons 
 of good faith. 
 
 Put there is no proof clear enough for the spirit 
 of party, resolved to credit a calumny or to pro- 
 pagate it, without giving it credit at all. It was 
 suddenly spread abroad among the royalists, who 
 were naturally pleased in imputing all sorts of 
 crimes to the government, and by the idle, who, 
 without malice, love to see in the progress of 
 events more complications than they really possess, 
 that Piehegru had been strangled by the myrmi- 
 dons of the first consul. This catastrophe, styled 
 that of the Temple, was the complement of that 
 
 styled the catastrophe of Yinceniics; one was the 
 BUCCeSBOr of the oilier. The character of the new- 
 Nero thus rapidly developed itself. After the 
 example of the Roman prince, he passed from 
 good to evil, from virtue to crime, almost without 
 lie transition. As it was needful for those who 
 
 gave themselves the trouble to state a motive for 
 
 their falsehoods, to lay down the explanation of 
 Such a crime, they said, I hat not hoping to convict 
 Piehegru, be had been assassinated, because his 
 
 presence at the trial was required for the justifica- 
 tion of the others who were accused. 
 
 'Phis was the most absurd as well as most odious 
 
 of invented calumnies. If there had been one of 
 
 the accused whose presence at the trial was neces- 
 sary for the interest of the first consul, it was 
 
 Piehegru. Personally, Piehegru could not pass 
 
 for ii rival to b ■ dreadi d, since his well-known 
 junction with the royalist party had lost him
 
 550 
 
 Conflict of political 
 opinions. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 A change to monsrchi- . Rn4 
 cal opinions in the , ., 
 public. A P nl - 
 
 utterly in the opinion of the public; besides, the 
 actual depositions of all the accused of every 
 party, equally bore him down. The man to be 
 feared, if either of them was, through his yet un- 
 tarnished glory and the difficulty of convicting 
 him, was Mnreau; and if there had been a useful 
 accuser against Mnreau, it was Pichegru, who had 
 served as the link between the royalists and re- 
 publicans. In fact, if Pichegru had been brought 
 to trial, he would have been unable to deny his 
 connexion with Georges or with Moreau ; unable 
 either to explain or deny these, he would have 
 inevitably connected Moreau with the royalists, 
 and thus covered him with merited confusion. 
 Pichegru was, therefore, an immense loss to the 
 prosecution. Lastly, to commit a crime to deliver 
 himself from a dreaded rival, it was Moreau, not 
 Pichegru, whom it would be necessary thus to 
 place beyond the reach of the prosecution. The 
 accusation, therefore, was as stupid as it was 
 atrocious, yet it was not the less admitted as a 
 fact by the chatterers in the royalist saloons, that 
 the first consul, in order to disembarrass himself 
 of Pichegru, had caused him to be strangled. 
 This unworthy accusation promptly fell to the 
 ground, but in the meanwhile it troubled the 
 public mind; and the hawkers of false news, in 
 repeating it, administered to the perfidiousness of 
 the inventors. This new misfortune awoke again 
 for some days the painful impressions already pro- 
 duced by the conspiracy of the emigrant princes. 
 Still such impressions could not be durable. If 
 enlightened persons, friends of the first consul, 
 jealous of his glory, nurtured in their hearts irre- 
 concileable discontents, the mass of the people felt 
 that they were able to repose without fear under 
 the shelter of a firm and just power. No one 
 seriously believed that executions, banishments, 
 and spoliations, were about to recommence. It 
 must even be avowed that the men individually 
 engaged in the revolution, whether they had ac- 
 quired either national property, public offices, or 
 an embarrassing celebrity, were secretly satisfied 
 to see general Bonaparte separated from the 
 Bourbons by a foss filled with the blood royal. 
 
 The sensations produced by these political events 
 were confined then to a number of persons every 
 day more limited. The extraordinary participation 
 that the nation had taken in public affairs during 
 the revolution, had given place to a species of dis- 
 regard arising at the same time from lassitude and 
 confidence. In the first times of the consulate, all 
 eyes were fixed upon the government with a cer- 
 tain anxiety, but soon, seeing it so able and fortu- 
 nate, each giving himself up to security and repose, 
 returned to the care of his private affairs, long 
 neglected during a stormy revolution, that had 
 overturned at the same time property, commerce, 
 and industry. Of the masses, there remained at- 
 tentive to the public events of the day only those 
 classes which had sufficient leisure and intelligence 
 for occupying themselves with state affairs, and the 
 interested of every party, emigrants, priests, ac- 
 quirers of national property, the military, and per- 
 sons holding places. 
 
 But in this part of the public the impressions 
 were divided. If some declared the act committed 
 in regard to the duke d'Enghien to be abominable, 
 others found not less abominable the plots so un- 
 
 ceasingly renewed against the person of the first 
 consul. These said, that the royalists, in order to 
 recover the government, of which they were in- 
 capable and unworthy, rendered liable to destruc- 
 tion government of every kind in France ; that the 
 first consul dead, nobody would be able to retain 
 the reins of power in a manner sufficiently strong, 
 that all would fall again into anarchy and blood- 
 shed ; that it was all well done to show severity 
 in order to discourage the wicked and imprudent ; 
 that the royalists were incorrigible ; that, covered 
 with benefits by the first consul, they neither knew 
 how to be grateful nor even resigned ; that he had 
 not missed, in order to finish with them, to make them 
 tremble for once. It was thus that they reiterated 
 their opinions in the circles «tround the govern- 
 ment, or that the heads of the army expressed 
 themselves, the administration, the magistracy, the 
 members of the senate, tribunate, and legislative 
 body. Even the impression produced by the death 
 of the duke d'Enghien beginning to be effaced, 
 things nearly similar were said by peaceable dis- 
 interested persons, who desired that they should 
 be finally left to repose under shelter of the power- 
 ful arms which at that time governed France. 
 
 From this conflict of opinions there sprung in- 
 stantaneously a new idea, soon propagated with the 
 rapidity of lightning. The royalists, considering 
 the first consul as the sole obstacle to their designs, 
 had wished to strike him down, hoping that the 
 government would wholly perish with him. '* Very 
 well," it was said, " we must defeat their criminal 
 hopes. This man whom they desired to destroy 
 must be made king or emperor, in order that the 
 hereditary succession may add to his power, ensure 
 him natural and immediate successors, and thus, 
 from the crime committed against his person be- 
 coming useless, people will be less tempted to com- 
 mit it." Thus it may be seen that the return to- 
 wards monarchical opinions had for some years 
 been rapid. From five directors nominated for 
 five years, they had passed to the idea of three 
 consuls nominated for ten years ; then from the 
 idea of three consuls, to that of one consul, having 
 the power during life. In such a course they 
 were unable to stop until after having passed the 
 last step, in other words, returned to hereditary 
 power. It sufficed for such an end that the least 
 impress should be given to the public mind. This 
 impress the royalists were chargeable with making 
 themselves, by desiring to assassinate the first 
 consul ; and they thus gave no more than a vtry 
 common exhibition, because most frequently lh<y 
 are the real enemies of a government, who, by 
 their imprudent attacks, make it proceed in too 
 rapid a manner. 
 
 In a comparative moment, whether in the senate, 
 the legislative body, or the tribunate, not only in 
 Paris, but in the chief places in the departments, 
 where the electoral colleges were assembled, or in 
 the camps spread along the coasts, there was heard 
 almost spontaneously cried up, this notion of an 
 hereditary monarchy. This movement of opinion 
 was natural ; it was also somewhat excited by the 
 manifestations of all who were desirous of pleasing; 
 by the prefects, who sought to testify their zeal ; 
 by the generals, who wished to draw upon them- 
 selves the notice of a powerful master ; all well 
 knowing that in proposing monarchy, they divined
 
 180-1. A change to monarchical opinions 
 
 April. in the public. 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 Succession of changes in the 
 French government. 
 
 551 
 
 the secret idea of their master, and that they cer- 
 tainly did not affront him if tliey should by chance 
 hurry forward the moment fixed upon for that 
 object by his ambition. 
 
 Without being dictated, the language was every 
 win-re uniform. It was necessary, they said, to 
 affix a term to hesitation and to false scruples, in 
 coining to the only institution that was stable, in 
 other words, to hereditary monarchy. While the 
 royalists hoped to destroy the government and 
 the revolution at one blow, they would renew their 
 crimes, and might finish by succeeding. They 
 would not begin any more, or at least tiny would 
 have a much less interest in bi ginning again, when 
 they saw by the Bide of the first consul children or 
 brethren ready to succeed him, and the new go- 
 vernment, like the old, h iving the property of sur- 
 vivorship in itself. To place a crown on the sacred 
 and precious head upon which reposed the destinies 
 of France, was to place there a buckler which 
 should protect it against the blows of the assassin. 
 In protecting that hea 1, all the interests arising 
 on: of the revolution were protected ; the men 
 committed by their past faults would be saved 
 from a sanguinary reaction ; there would be pre- 
 
 I to the acquirers of national domains all 
 
 their property, to the military their ranks, to all 
 
 i government their places, to 
 
 Franc of equality, justice, and the 
 
 greatness which she had conquered. Besides, all 
 
 the world, it was added, had returned to sound 
 
 ideas. Every body hail trouble to comprehend 
 
 how they had suffered themselves to be led away, 
 
 by iiwn-ate theoreticians, to make the vast and 
 
 public like that of Sparta or 
 
 Ail recognized that in destroying the 
 
 monarchy for the republic, they hail passed the 
 
 u I legitimate objects.of the revolution of \"]V.'J, 
 which only w< nt to obtain a reform of abuses, the 
 
 ion of the feudal system, with tin- modification 
 of tin- royal authority, and not its overturn. That 
 in 1802, on the institution of the consulate for life, 
 
 nine had i strained the legislators of 
 
 Prance ; today this false shame had passed away ; 
 to-day the crimes of the royalists had served to 
 • .f till ; it was necessary to take its 
 side, and constitute the government by a complete 
 ami defin : that alter all they need only 
 
 connect the- law to the fact, because in rt ality gene- 
 was king, absolute king ; and whilst 
 
 eivalty to him under its real form, 
 would treat Willi him, would limit that 
 
 royalty, and would by the same stroke add dura- 
 tion to tin- governmi at ami guarantees to liberty. 
 Such was tie- language generally held some days 
 tie- unfortunate scenes which have been 
 counted. 
 
 W" li.it a spectacle was that of this nation, which, 
 after having attempted the sanguinary republic 
 Under the convention, the moderate but inert re- 
 public under the din etory, suddenly disgusted with 
 a collective and civil governtin nt, demanded aloud 
 the hand of a soldier to govern it, showing itself so 
 much pressed Ui have one, that it had taken the un- 
 fortunate Jouberl in the absence of Bonaparte; then 
 had run before tin- last on his return from Egypt, 
 
 supplicated him to accept a power which he was 
 
 but too impatient U) leiae, made him consul lor tin 
 
 , then consul for life, and finally an hereditary 
 
 monarch, provided he would guarantee it by the 
 vigorous exercise of his power as a soldier against 
 this anarchy, of which the frightful spectre fol- 
 lowed it incessantly. What a lesson for the sec- 
 taries that had believed, in their pride of delirium, 
 they should make France a republic, because the 
 era had constituted it democratical ! What time 
 had it required for this change of ideas ! Only 
 four yean, ami a miscarried conspiracy against an 
 extraordinary man, to some an object of love, to 
 others of hatred, to all one of passionate attention. 
 Then let the depth of this lesson be admired. This 
 man had become the object of a criminal attempt ; 
 he had in his turn committed a sanguinary act ; 
 and in this same moment it did not fear to raise 
 him as much as it felt was necessary. It took him 
 not less glorious, but less pure. It had taken him 
 with his genius, it would take him as he was, pro- 
 vided he was powerful ; so much it wished for 
 energy on the morrow of great disorders. Have 
 there not been seen around us in our time affrighted 
 nations, Hinging themselves into the arms of sol- 
 diers of middling abilities, because they preseuted 
 at least the appearance of strength ? 
 
 At Rome, an old republic, the necessity had 
 been long felt of a single chief ; the inconvenience, 
 often repeated, of the elective transmission of the 
 sovereign power, had required several generations, 
 Ciesar at first, then Augustus after Caesar, and 
 even Tiberius after Augustus, in order to habituate 
 the Romans to the idea of monarchical and here- 
 ditary power. There were not wanted so many 
 precautions in France, among a people accustomed 
 for twelve centuries to a monarchy, and for ten 
 years only to a republic. A simple accident alone 
 was necessary to recall from their dream a few 
 generous spirits who had wandered astray from the 
 living and indestructible recollections of au entire 
 nation. 
 
 In every country torn by factions and menaced 
 by external enemies, the necessity to be governed 
 and defended will bring sooner or later the triumph 
 of a powerful personage, a warrior, like Csesacat 
 
 Rome, or a wealthy individual, like the .Moilieis at 
 Florence. If the country has lor a long time been 
 a republic, many generations will be needed to 
 fashion it into a monarchy ; but if the country has 
 always been a monarchy, and if the folly of factions 
 have for an instant snatched it out ol its natural 
 position, in order to make an ephemeral republic, 
 there will he sequin d several Mar. of trouble to 
 inspire a horror of anarchy, fewer years still to 
 find the soldier capable of putting a termination to 
 it, and the wish of this soldier, or the blow of a 
 poignard from his enemies, to make him king or 
 emperor, and thus restore the country to its habits, 
 
 and dissipate the dream&of those who had believed 
 thy could ehatlge human nature by vain decrees, 
 Or oaths v. liner still. Rome and Fori nee, for a 
 
 king time republics, ended one in the Caesars, the 
 
 Other in the Medici, and it required more than 
 half a century to place them in th Lr hands. Eng- 
 land and !•' ranee, republics for ten years, ended in 
 thr.e or four years, tin one in Cromwell, the other 
 
 in Napoleon. 
 
 Thus the revolution, in its rapid re-action Upon 
 itself, cam,' forth in the face ot heaven to confess 
 
 its errors, one alter another, ami to give itself 
 the most palpable contradictions. Distinguishing
 
 Reflections on the change 
 552 of government in 
 
 France. 
 
 M. Fouche changes sides, 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. and becomes the advo- 
 cate of a monarchy. 
 
 1804. 
 April. 
 
 still, that when it willed the abolition of the feudal 
 regime, equality in the sight of the law, uniformity 
 in justice, the administration and taxation, the 
 regular intervention of the nation in the govern- 
 ment of the state, it had not deceived itself, it had 
 not falsified itself, it had not belied itself to any 
 one. When it had, on the contrary, desired a 
 barbarous and chimerical equality, the absence of 
 every social hierarchy, the continual and tumult- 
 uous presence of the multitude in the government, 
 a republic after a monarchy of twelve centuries, 
 the abolition of all religious worship, it had been 
 foolish and culpable, and it came to make, in 
 presence of the universe, the confession of its 
 erratic deeds. But what imports some passing 
 errors by the side of the immortal truths, which, at 
 the price of its blood, it left as a legacy to man- 
 kind ? Even its errors themselves contain useful 
 and serious lessons, given out to the world with 
 incomparable grandeur. Yet, if in this return to 
 the monarchy, France obeyed the immutable laws 
 of human society, she had gone fast, perhaps too 
 fast, according to the usage of revolutions. A 
 dictatorship, under the title of Protector, had 
 sufficed for Cromwell. The dictatorship, under 
 the form of a perpetual consulate, with a power as 
 extended as his genius, to endure with his life, 
 ought to have sufficed for general Bonaparte to 
 accomplish all the good which he meditated; to 
 reconstruct the old demolished state of society ; to 
 transmit, after having re-organized it, either to his 
 heirs, if he had had any, or to those more for- 
 tunate, one day destined to profit by his labours. 
 It was, in fact, decreed by the wisdom of Provi- 
 dence, that the revolution, following up its re- 
 action upon itself, should go further than the 
 re-establishment of the monarchical form of go- 
 vernment, and as far even as the re-establishment 
 of the ancient dynasty itself. To accomplish this 
 noble task, the dictatorship, under the form of the 
 consulate for life, sufficed, therefore, for general 
 Bonaparte ; and in creating an hereditary mon- 
 archy, he attempted that which was neither the 
 best for his moral grandeur, nor the safest lor the 
 grandeur of France. Not that the right was want- 
 ing to those who would have made of a soldier 
 a king or an emperor : the nation could, incon- 
 testably, turn him into what it saw fit to choose, 
 and to a great soldier rather than to any other 
 could bestow the sceptre of Charlemagne and of 
 Louis XIV. But that soldier, in his natural and 
 simple situation of prime magistrate of the French 
 republic, had not his equal upon earth, even upon 
 the most elevated thrones. In becoming an he- 
 reditary monarch, he placed himself in comparison 
 with kings great and small, and was their inferior 
 in one point, that of blood. But this might be only 
 in the sight of the prejudiced ; he might be below 
 them in something else. Welcomed in their so- 
 ciety, and flattered, because he was feared, lie 
 would be secretly scorned by the meaner of them, 
 and what is yet more serious, would he not attempt 
 to become king and emperor? to become king of 
 kings, and head of a dynasty of rnonarchs, raised 
 by his new throne ? What gigantic enterprises to 
 be undertaken, to which would perhaps succumb 
 the fortune of France ! What stimulants for an 
 ambition, already too excited, and which could 
 only be destroyed by its own excesses ! 
 
 If, then, in our opinion at least, the institution of 
 the consulate for life had been a sage and politic act, 
 the indispensable complement of a dictatorship be- 
 came necessary ; the rc-establishment of the mon- 
 archy in the person of Napoleon Bonaparte, was not 
 a usurpation, a word borrowed from the slang of the 
 emigration, but an act of vanity on the part of him 
 who lent himself to it with too much ardour, and 
 of the imprudent avidity of some of the new con- 
 verts to monarchy, in haste to devour this reign of 
 a, moment. Still, if he only acted thus to afford 
 a lesson to man, we must agree the lesson was 
 more instructive and more profound, more worthy 
 of those that Providence gives to nations, when it 
 was given by this heroic soldier, and by those 
 republicans recently converted to monarchical 
 principles, pressed, the one and the other, to 
 clothe themselves in purple over the ruins of a 
 republic of ten years' duration, to support which, 
 they had taken a thousand oaths. Unhappily, 
 France, which had paid with its blood for their 
 republican delirium, was now exposed to pay with 
 its greatness for their new monarchical zeal ; be- 
 cause it was in behalf of that there were French 
 kings planted in Westphalia, Naples, and Spain, 
 and that France lost the Rhine and the Alps for 
 her boundary. Thus in every thing France was 
 doomed to serve for the instruction of the uni- 
 verse; a heavy misfortune, and great glory for any 
 nation ! 
 
 It was necessary to have men under each suc- 
 cessive change, who would charge themselves with 
 the realization of the ideas impressed upon the 
 general mind ; in other words, to have proper 
 instruments. One was found for the revolution 
 which was now preparing, singularly adapted to 
 the circumstances of the moment. M. Fouche had 
 thus far, influenced by a remnant of sincerity, 
 censured the rapidity of action wV.ich drew France 
 towards the past ; he had even obtained the 
 favour of madam Bonaparte, by appearing to par- 
 take in her confused fears ; and he had, on that 
 very account, incurred the disgrace of her am- 
 bitious spouse. Owing to his playing the ungrate- 
 ful character of a secret approver, M. Fouche" had 
 lost a minister's place ' ; and he did not desire to 
 play it any longer : he now, therefore, embraced 
 the opposite side. Directing the police sponta- 
 neously in the pursuit of the late conspirators, 
 he was again appointed to his post. Seeing the 
 first consul deeply irritated against the royalists, 
 he flattered his anger, and pushed him forward in 
 the immolation of the duke d'Enghien. If the idea 
 that had been often attributed to the first consul 
 of concluding a sanguinary treaty with the revolu- 
 tionists, and obtaining the crown at the price of a 
 frightful pledge — if this idea ever entered into the 
 head of any man of that time, it was most as- 
 suredly into that of M. Fouche. An applauder of 
 the death of the duke d'Enghien, he was also the 
 most ardent of the new partisans of the hereditary 
 succession. He now surpassed Talleyrand, Rcede- 
 rer, and Fontanes, in his monarchical zeal. 
 
 The first consul had certainly no need to be 
 
 1 Our author has given a different reason for the dis- 
 missal of M. Fouche, see page 374. One or the other 
 must be wrong: it is important to know which is really- 
 correct. — Translator.
 
 1804. 
 April. 
 
 Lucien Bonaparte and his mother 
 go to reside in Rome. 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 Conduct or M. FouchS. 
 
 553 
 
 encouraged in his aspirations to the throne, tie 
 wished for the supreme monarchical rank, not that 
 such had been his constant wish since his Italian 
 campaigns, nor even since the lKtli Bruroaire, 
 
 ne vulgar narrators suppose ; 110, he did not 
 indulge all his aspiring wishes at once. His am- 
 bition became larger by degrees as his fortunes 
 extended. Arrived at the command of armies, he 
 
 ived from that elevated point a higher point 
 of elevation still in the government of the republic, 
 and to that he fust aspired. Arrived at that 
 height, he had seen the perpetual consulship yet 
 him, and he had aspired to that in the 
 same way. Arrive, 1 at this last elevation, from 
 whence lie distinctly saw the throne, he wished to 
 sit upon it. Such is the march of human am- 
 bition, and this was not so far a crime. But to 
 clear-sighted minds, there was danger in an 
 ambition unceasingly excited, and still insatiate, 
 because it would only be excited yet further the 
 more it was gratified. 
 
 But at the moment of taking upon itself a power 
 which did not naturally belong to it, every genius, 
 however audacious it might be, would at hast 
 hesitate, if it did not tremble. In such situations 
 an involuntary bashfulness seizes upon the most 
 ardent ambition, and it dares not avow all which 
 it most desires. The first consul, who discoursed 
 very little respecting state affairs with his brothers, 
 hail confidants in them, when he contemplated 
 objects of personal aggrandisement, to whom he 
 was fond of confiding every thing, and confidants, 
 too. who were more ardent than he was himself, 
 because they longed to become princes. It may 
 
 neinbered, that they had regarded the con- 
 sulate for life with disdain, as an abortive attempt. 
 At the- time to which allusion is now making, 
 Lucien was absent, and Joseph had quitted Paris. 
 Lucien, by a new inconsequence, alter his own 
 character, had married a handsome widow, very 
 little calculated to match with the position of 
 the Bonaparte family. At variance with the first 
 consul on account of his marriage, he hail r< tired 
 to Rome, playing the part of one proscribed, and 
 appearing to seek in the pursuits and enjoyments 
 of the acta an indemnification for fraternal in- 
 gratitude. Madame Letitia Bonaparte, who, under 
 
 the modi st bearing of a female horn in humble 
 circumstances, and still affecting this recollection, 
 hid all the passions of an empress mother, com- 
 plained constantly and wrongfully of Napoleon, 
 ami exhibit) d tor her son Lucien a very marked 
 preference ; she followed him to Rome. The first 
 coii-ul, who was always full of affection for the 
 
 members of his family, even when be had not 
 
 ii to applaud their conduct, had taken care 
 that his all-powerful protection should accompany 
 his motherand brother, and had recommended them 
 
 to the benevolent regard of pope I'iu- \ I I . saying 
 
 that b let had 
 
 enjoyment ol the- fine arts, and ins meiher the 
 
 benefit of a mild climate. Piui VII. exhibited to 
 
 his illustrious hosts the most marked and the most 
 delicate attention. 
 
 Joseph was also discontent) d ; it could scarcely 
 
 be imagined on what account, if history had not 
 
 stated the reason. He felt hurt that tin- nrsl eon- 
 sol had wished to nominate him president of the 
 
 senate, and refused the high office with the tune of 
 
 offended dignity, when Cambaceres had gone to 
 titter it to him on the part of his brother. This 
 last, who did not love to see him idle, had then 
 made him go in search of greatness by the same 
 path in which he had obtained his own, and Joseph 
 was nominated to the colonelcy of the 4th regiment 
 of the line. He set off, in consequence, for Bou- 
 logne, at the same moment when the grand ques- 
 tion of the re-establishment of the monarchy was 
 in agitation. The first consul was thus deprived 
 of two confidential individuals, to whom he would 
 willingly have opened his mind upon such matters 
 as related to his personal elevation. 
 
 M. Cambaceres, to whom the first consul com- 
 monly spoke his mind upon every subject, general 
 or personal, at the epoch of the consulate for life, 
 had spared him the embarrassment of avowing 
 his wishes, and had taken the lead in making 
 himself the instrument of a change universally 
 approved. But now M. Cambaceres was silent, 
 for two reasons, the one good, the other bad. The 
 first was, that with his rare foresight he feared 
 the excesses of an ambition without limit. lie had 
 heard the empire of the Gauls spoken of, and the 
 empire of Charlemagne, and dreaded to see the 
 solid greatness of the treaty of Luneville sacrificed 
 to gigantic enterprizes, in consequence of the ele- 
 vation of Bonaparte to an imperial throne. The 
 second reason was, that he should find himself se- 
 parated from the first consul by the entire height 
 of the throne, and should thus become, from a co- 
 partnership in the sovereignty, however small that 
 partnership might be, the simple subject of the 
 future monarch. He therefore held his tongue, 
 and did not this time, as he had done on the pre- 
 ceding occasion, place his influence at the service 
 of the first consul. The third consul, Lebrun, 
 perfectly devoted in his services, but never med- 
 dling with any thing save the duties of the admi- 
 nistration, had it not in his power to be of utility. 
 
 Fouche, in the ardour of his zeal, made himself 
 the .spontaneous agent of the change which was 
 preparing. He accosted the first consul, whose 
 secret wishes he had already divined, represented 
 to him the need of taking a prompt and decided 
 part, and the urgent necessity for terminating the 
 anxieties of France, and putting the crown upon 
 his head, thus consolidating definitively the results 
 of the revolution. He showed him how all classes 
 in the nation were animated by the same sentiment, 
 and impatient to proclaim him emperor of the 
 Gauls or of the French, as was most agreeable to 
 
 his policy and taste. lie returned often to the 
 charge in the same way, directing himself to make 
 the advantages of the proposal felt at an instant 
 when France, alarmed for the life of the first con- 
 sul, was disposed to concede to him any thing he 
 might demand. He nearly passed from exhorta- 
 tions to reproaches, and reproved in strong terms 
 the indecision 1 of general Bonaparte. The latter 
 
 had not quitted his retreat at Mahuaison since 
 the event at Vincennes. M. louche went thither 
 continually, and when the first consul had gone out. 
 to take his walk or ride, and he could not meet 
 with him, he sought, for his intimate Secretary, M. 
 
 de Meneval.and demonstrated to him at full length 
 
 the advantages of an hereditary monarchy, and 
 not only of a monarchy, but of an aristocracy, as a 
 ■Upport and ornament to the throne ; adding, that
 
 554 Conduct of M. Pouch*. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Address of M. Fontanes 
 on the completion of 
 the civil code. 
 
 1S04. 
 April. 
 
 if the first codsuI wished to re-establish it, he was 
 quite ready to defend the rectitude of such a new 
 creation, and, if it were necessary, even to become 
 a noble himself. 
 
 Such was the zeal of this old republican, so com- 
 pletely repentant of his errors. His uneasy ac- 
 tivity, excited more upon this occasion than was 
 customary, began to arouse itself further than was 
 needful. He acted, in short, as a man would do 
 who wished to have the merit of pushing forward 
 the business in hand through his own agency alone. 
 
 There was scarcely a person who was not dis- 
 posed to second the wishes of the first consul. 
 France having seen for a long time past she was 
 now provided with a master, who besides covered 
 her with glory and benefits, was not willing to re- 
 fuse him the title which was most grateful to his 
 ambition. The bodies of the state, and the heads 
 of the army, who knew how much all resistance 
 was thenceforth impossible, and who had seen in 
 the ruin of Moreau the danger of intemperate 
 opposition, flung themselves before the new Caesar, 
 in order to distinguish themselves by their zeal at 
 least, and to profit by an elevation which there was 
 not time to prevent. It is the common disposition of 
 mankind to make the best of the ambition which 
 they are unable to combat successfully, and to 
 console their envy by their greediness. There was 
 now an embarrassment for every body, in being 
 obliged to adopt the usage of words which had 
 been proscribed, and to repudiate others which 
 they had adopted with enthusiasm. By a slight 
 precaution in the choice of the title to be conferred 
 on the future monarch, it was possible to facilitate 
 this change. Thus in calling the sovereign emperor 
 in place of king, the difficulty was much diminished. 
 Besides, to draw the existing generation out of this 
 embarrassment, no one was better for the purpose 
 than an old Jacobin like M. Fouche', taking upon 
 himself to give an example to all, both masters 
 and subjects, and impressing upon himself to be 
 the foremost to offer the words which no one yet 
 dared to have upon his lips. 
 
 Fouche' arranged every thing with some of the 
 gentlemen ushers in the senate, the first consul 
 seeing what he did and approving, but feigning 
 that it was for no end. He feared to be the first 
 to commence the subject in the French journals, 
 because their absolute dependance upon the police 
 would have given their opinion too much the co- 
 louring of a command. He had secret agents in 
 England, and these managed to get it stated in 
 some of the English journals, that since the last 
 conspiracy general Bonaparte was uneasy, sombre, 
 and menacing ; that every one in Paris lived in 
 great anxiety ; that this was the natural conse- 
 quence of a form of government where all rested 
 upon his head alone, and that thus, in consequence, 
 the peaceably-disposed people in France wished 
 for an hereditary sovereignty, established in the 
 family of Bonaparte, in order to procure, in the 
 existing state of things, the stability that was so 
 needful. Thus the English press, ordinarily em- 
 ployed in the defamation of the first consul, was 
 now employed in serving his ambitious views. 
 These articles, reproduced and commented upon in 
 the French papers, caused a very lively sensation, 
 and gave the expected signal. There were at this 
 ptriod several electoral colleges assembled in the 
 
 departments of the Yonne, the Var, the Hautes 
 Pyrenne'es, the Nord, and the Roer. It was very 
 easy to obtain addresses. These were in an equal 
 manner prompted on the part of the municipal 
 councils of the great cities, such as Lyons, Mar- 
 seilles, Bordeaux, and Paris. Finally, the camps 
 assembled along the coasts of the ocean were put 
 into fermentation in their turn. The military 
 were of all classes the most devoted to the first 
 consul. A certain number of officers and of gene- 
 rals excepted, some sincere republicans, others 
 animated by the old rivalry which divided the 
 soldiers of the Rhine from those of Italy, the 
 greater part of the chiefs of the army saw their 
 own elevation in that of a soldier upon the throne 
 of France. They were therefore perfectly ready 
 to lead off, and to do that which they had often 
 seen done in the history of the Roman empire, to 
 proclaim an emperor themselves. General Soult 
 wrote to the first consul that he had heard the 
 generals and colonels all demand the establishment 
 of the new form of government ; that they were 
 ready to give to the first consul the title of emperor 
 of the Gauls : he demanded his orders upon the 
 matter. Petitions were circulated in the divisions 
 of dragoons encamped at Compiegne ; these peti- 
 tions were covered with signatures, and had been 
 received in Paris. 
 
 On Sunday the 4th Germinal, or 25th of March, 
 some days after the death of the duke d'Enghien, 
 several addresses of electoral colleges were pre- 
 sented to the first consul. Admiral Ganteaume, 
 one of his devoted friends, himself presented the 
 address of the college of the Var, of which he was 
 the president. It said in formal terms, that it did 
 not merely suffice to seize, try, and punish the con- 
 spirators, but that it was needful by a large system 
 of institutions which consolidated and perpetuated 
 the power in the hands of the first consul and his 
 family, to insure the repose of France, and put an 
 end to its long anxieties. Other addresses were 
 read at the same audience, and immediately after- 
 wards there came one of a more elevated character. 
 M. de Fontanes had received the presidency of the 
 legislative body, and had thus obtained, through 
 the favour of the Bonaparte family, a place which 
 he merited to obtain solely by his talents. He had 
 received the commission to felicitate the first con- 
 sul on the achievement of his immortal work, the 
 civil code. This code, the result of so much learned 
 labour, a monument of the strong will and universal 
 mind of the chief of the republic, had been termi- 
 nated during the present session, and the legislative 
 body in acknowledging it, had resolved to comme- 
 morate the remembrance of the event by placing 
 in the hall where they sat a marble statue of the 
 first consul. It was that circumstance which M. 
 Fontanes had announced in this audience; and cer- 
 tainly of all the claims of the man whom they 
 wished to honour, there was not one that it was 
 more becoming to recall, at the moment when they 
 were going to make him the hereditary sovereign 
 of the country which his genius had organised. 
 M. Fontanes expressed himself as follows: — 
 
 " CITIZEN FIRST CONSUL, 
 
 " An immense empire has rested four years 
 under the shelter of your powerful administration. 
 The wise uniformity of your laws tends to unite
 
 1804. 
 April. 
 
 The first consul consults Curabacerc-s 
 and Lebrun. 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 The first consul opens his mind 
 to Cambaceres. 
 
 555 
 
 more and more all its inhabitants. The legislative 
 body wishes to commemorate this remarkable 
 epoch; it has decreed that your statue; placed in 
 
 the middle of the hall of its deliberations, should 
 perpetually recall t<> it your favours, and the duties 
 and hopes of the French people The double right 
 of conqueror and legislator has ever silenced all 
 Others. Yen have seen this confirmed in your own 
 n by the national suffrage. Who would now 
 nourish the criminal hope of opposing France to 
 France '. Will she divide herself for a few past 
 recollections when every present interest unites 
 her ! She has but one chief — that chief is your- 
 self; she has but one enemy — that enemy is 
 England. 
 
 '• Political tempests had thrown some of the 
 
 sl men upon unforeseen paths. lSut as Boon 
 
 ■ur hand had raised up again the signals <>(' 
 
 their country, all good Frenchmen recognised and 
 
 followed them; all marched by the side of your 
 
 glory. Those who conspire in the bosom of an 
 
 enemy's territory, renouncing irrevocably their 
 
 natal soil, what are they able to oppose to your 
 
 ndency '. You possess invincible armies — they 
 
 have only libellers and assassins; and whilst the 
 
 voice of religion is elevated in your favour at the 
 
 foot of those altars which you have reconstructed, 
 
 they would fain outrage you in a few obscure organs 
 
 of superstition and revolt. The impotence of their 
 
 plots is proved. They every day render destiny 
 
 more rigorous in fighting against its decrees. .May 
 
 they yield at la*t to that irresistible movement 
 
 whieh carries the universe with it; and may they 
 
 meditate in silence upon the causes of the ruin and 
 
 it ion of empires!" 
 
 This abjuration of the Bourbons, made in the 
 of the newly-designated monarch, with its 
 solemnity of language, although indirect in allu- 
 sion, was the most significant of manifestations. 
 Still '.hey did not wish to make any thing public, 
 before the senate, the highest body in the state, 
 charged by the constitution to had the way, had 
 taken ti p. 
 
 In order to obtain this proceeding, it was neces- 
 sary to conn.- to an understanding with M. Cam- 
 
 . bo dir. Cted the senate. It was || 
 
 aary I into an explanation with him for that 
 
 . be assured of his good wishes, not 
 that any i upon his part was to be f( 
 
 but bis simple disapprobation, although silent, 
 would have been a real defeat, under a circum- 
 stance in which it was important that all the 
 world should seem t<> be of one mind. 
 
 The hrst consul sehl Rir M. Cambacerea and 
 If. Lebrun to Malmaison, .M. Lebrun, as most 
 if persuasion, was sent for first. With him 
 th re was no effort to be made, because he was a 
 decided partisan of monarchy, and more willingly 
 bo under the soveri ignty of general Bonaparte than 
 that of any other pel nnbaceres, discon- 
 
 I with what was going on, arrived when the 
 conference with his colleague Lebrun was ah 
 far advanced. The fir l con ul, alter speaking of 
 the movement which was taking place in the pub- 
 lic mind, as it he bad been a stranger to the cause, 
 
 requested the opinion of the second < nil upon 
 
 the question, so much agitated at that moment, of 
 the re-establish men I ol the monarchy. 
 
 "I doubted much," replied CambaceYes, "how 
 
 they came to make a question of it. I see that all 
 tends to that end, and I am sorry for it." Then 
 dissimulating badly the personal displeasure which 
 he intermingled with the wisdom of his views, 
 Cambaceres laid open to the first consul the 
 grounds of his opinion. He painted the discon- 
 tent of the republicans with that which left them 
 not even the name of the chimera they had pur- 
 sued; the royalists revolted, that they should dare 
 to raise up the throne without seating a Bourbon 
 upon it; he showed the danger of pushing the re- 
 turn of the old regime so far, that very soon it only 
 remained to put one person in place of another for 
 the old monarchy to be established. He stated 
 the discourses of the royalists themselves, who 
 loudly boasted that they had in general Bonaparte 
 a precursor charged to herald the return of the 
 Bourbons. He set at its true value the inconve- 
 nience of a new change, without any other utility 
 beyond an empty title, because the first consul had 
 actually at that moment unlimited power, and he 
 remarked, that it often happened there was more 
 danger in changing the names of things than the 
 things themselves. He alleged the difficulty of 
 obtaining in Europe the acknowledgment of a 
 monarchy such as he might wish to found, and the 
 difficulty still greater to obtain in France the 
 efforts necessary for a third war, if it should be 
 required to have recourse to that means of forcing 
 the acknowledgment from the old European courts; 
 in fine, he stated many reasons more, some excel- 
 lent, and others only of middling character, in 
 which a species of humour was thrown, very un- 
 common with so grave a personage. But he did 
 not dare to give the best reason, of which lie was 
 well aware; that if this new concession was ac- 
 corded to an enormously ambitious man, it would 
 not be possible to stop any where, because in de- 
 creeing to general Bonaparte the title of emperor 
 of the French, it prepared him to desire that of 
 emperor of the west, to which he had afterwards 
 a secret aspiration, which was not the least 
 among the causes that pushed him almost to pass 
 the limits of the possible, and to fall in returning. 
 As with every man constrained and cramped, 
 Cambaceres did not say that which he had better 
 have said, and was beaten by his interlocutor. 
 
 The first consul, who so dissimulated his wishes 
 at tin; time of the institution of the consulate for 
 lite, this time made the step forward which was 
 not made towards him. He frankly avowed to 
 Cambaceres, his colleague, that be thought of 
 taking the crown, ami he declared why he thought 
 of it. He asserted to him that France wished lor 
 a king; this was evident to whoever knew how to 
 
 observe; that it turned back more and more every 
 
 day from the follies that had for a moment got 
 into its head, and that of all follies, a republic 
 
 was the most egregious; that France was so com- 
 pletely disabused, it would take a Bourbon, if it did 
 
 not get a Bonaparte given to it ; that the return 
 of the Bourbons would be a calamity, because it 
 would be a pmv counter-revolution ■ and ihat .for 
 himself, without desiring more power than he had, 
 he yielded upon this occasion to a necessity of the 
 public mind, and to the interest of the revolution 
 ii oil; tliat, besides, it was important to take a 
 part, because the movement was such in the army, 
 
 they would perhaps proclaim him emperor in
 
 The party of Fouche push 
 556 forward the measure of THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 the first consul. 
 
 The report of the com- 
 mission read to the 
 senate. 
 
 1804. 
 April. 
 
 the camps, and then his elevation to the throne 
 would resemble a scene of the pretorians, that 
 above all things it was necessary to avoid. 
 
 These reasons operated little in persuading M. 
 Cambaceres, who had no desire to let himself be 
 persuaded, and each retained his opinion, sorry to 
 have been too forward in the argument. This un- 
 foreseen resistance of M. Cambaceres embarrassed 
 the first consul, who feigning less impatience than 
 he really felt, said to bis two colleagues, that he 
 would meddle with nothing, but leave the move- 
 ment of the public mind to itself. They parted 
 discontented one with the other; and Cambaceres, 
 on returning with M. Lebrun to Paris, about the 
 middle of the night, addressed the following words 
 to his colleague : " The thing is done ; the mo- 
 narchy is re-established; but I have a presenti- 
 ment that the edifice will not be durable. We 
 have made war in Europe to give to it republics, 
 children of the French republic; we shall make it 
 now in order to give it monarchs, sons or brothers 
 of our own, and France, exhausted, will finish by 
 succumbing to such foolish enterprises." 
 
 But this disapprobation of Cambaceres was the 
 most silent and the most inactive of resistances. 
 He suffered Fouche and his auxiliaries to act ac- 
 cording to their inclinations. An excellent oppor- 
 tunity offered itself for their objects. Following 
 the customary usage of addressing to the senate 
 communications upon the occurrence of important 
 events, there had been presented to him a report 
 of the grand judge, relative to the intrigues of the 
 English agents, Drake, Spencer Smith, and Taylor. 
 It was needful he should reply to this communica- 
 tion of the government. The senate had named a 
 commission in order to prepare the draft of a reply. 
 The gentlemen ushers already mentioned, finding 
 the circumstances favourable, set themselves to 
 persuade the senators that the time was come for 
 them to commence on the subject of the restoration 
 of the monarchy; that the first consul hesitated, 
 but that it was necessary to overcome his hesita- 
 tions, by denouncing to him the vacancies existing 
 in the actual institutions, and indicating to him 
 the manner of filling them up. They recalled 
 gently to memory the disagreement to which the 
 senate had been exposed two years before, when 
 remaining behind the wishes of general Bonaparte. 
 They produced aloud a specious reason to prevent 
 bis advancing alone. The army, they said, exalted 
 to the highest pitch in favour of its chief, was 
 ready to proclaim him emperor, and then the em- 
 pire would be as at Rome; given away by the 
 pretorians. It was necessary, by hastening, to 
 spare France so great a disgrace. They could not 
 but follow the example of the Roman senate, that 
 more than once was forced to proclaim certain 
 emperors, in order to avoid receiving them from 
 the dictation of the legions. Then came a reason 
 which need not be told too loudly or too softly, it 
 was, that there remained for distribution a great 
 part of the senatorial places instituted at the time 
 of the consulate for life, which would procure a 
 territorial dotation, a surplus above the pecuniary 
 income granted to each senator. There would be 
 also, besides, a profusion of new places to dis- 
 tribute. It was therefore necessary, when they 
 were not able to resist the elevation of their new 
 master, not to expose themselves to displease him. 
 
 It is still but just to add, that to these base motives 
 there were also some of a better kind to be added. 
 Except an opposition very few in number, of which 
 M. Sieves was the leader, but with which he him- 
 self got disgusted, as he did with every thing, and 
 that he had abandoned it to leaders much more 
 insignificant than himself; except this opposition, 
 the mass saw in the monarchy the door through 
 which the revolution was bound to go and seek its 
 own safety. 
 
 These reasons, of a nature so diverse, secured 
 the majority of the senate, and that body resolved 
 to give a significant reply to the message of the 
 first consul. The following was the sense of this 
 reply :— 
 
 The institutions of France are incomplete under 
 two heads. First, there is no tribunal for great 
 offences against the state, and it is required to 
 leave them to a jurisdiction insufficient and feeble 
 (what passed in the tribunal of the Seine on the 
 occasion of the process against Pichegru and 
 Moreau, filled the public with the same sentiment). 
 Secondly, the government of France rested upon 
 one head, and it was a perpetual temptation for 
 the conspirators, who believed that in striking 
 down that head, all would be destroyed with it. 
 It was thus a double want that it was necessary 
 they should denounce to the first consul, in order 
 to provoke bis solicitude, and, in case of necessity, 
 his commencement of the affair. 
 
 On the Gib Germinal, or 27th March, two days 
 after the audiences above reported, the senate was 
 called to deliberate upon the draft of a reply. Fouche 
 and his friends had prepared every thing, without 
 making it known to the consul Cambaceres, who 
 ordinarily presided in the senate. It appears that 
 they did not even acquaint the first consul, with 
 the view of causing him an agreeable surprise. 
 This surprise was not any thing like equally agree- 
 able to M. Cambaceres, who was astounded on 
 hearing the reading of the report ol the commis- 
 sion. Still he showed himself impassive, and left 
 nothing of it to be perceived by the numerous 
 eyes fixed upon him, desirous of knowing how far 
 all that had been done was agreeable to the first 
 consul, of whom he was imagined to be the confi- 
 dant and accomplice. At this reading might be per- 
 ceived a light but very sensible murmur in a part 
 of the senate ; nevertheless, the project was 
 adopted by an immense majority, and it was to 
 be coinmunicated on the morrow to the first 
 consul. 
 
 Scarcely had he quitted the sitting before M. 
 Cambaceres, piqued at not having been made 
 acquainted with the proceeding, wrote to the first 
 consul at Mahnaison, and told him all that had 
 occurred, in a letter sufficiently cool. The first 
 consul came to Paris on the following day to 
 receive the senate, but first wished to have an 
 explanation with his two colleagues. He himself 
 appeared astonished at the precipitation of the 
 measure, and in some sort taken by surprise : 
 " I have not reflected enough," he said to Cam- 
 bacr-res ; " I have need to consult you again, and 
 many others, before taking a decided part. I will 
 go aiid reply to the senate that I am deliberating. 
 But I will neither receive it officially, nor publish 
 its message. I will not let any thing transpire 
 without doors, so long as my resolution shall not
 
 1804. 
 April. 
 
 The first consul deliberates on 
 the measure. 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 The kins 0I Prussia consents to 
 acknowledge the emperor. 
 
 557 
 
 be definitively fixed." The proceeding thus agreed 
 upon, was can ied into effect the same day. 
 
 The first consul received the senate as he had 
 announced lie would do, and replied verbally to its 
 members, that lie thanked them for such testi- 
 monies of their devotion to him ; but that be had 
 need to delitx rate carefully upon the subject they 
 had submitted to his attention, before making a 
 public and definitive reply. 
 
 Although a witness and silent accomplice of all 
 that had been done, the first consul was nearly 
 anticipated in his desires. The impatience of his 
 partisans had surpassed his own, and he was very 
 clearly not yet ready for the measure. The act of 
 tin- m Date was not, therefore, made public, al- 
 though absolute seeresy was impossible ; but while 
 he had not taken the official and avowed step for- 
 ward, he could always retire in case of encounter- 
 ing an on' tacle. 
 
 ire advancing to that point from whence he 
 could never aga u retrograde, the first consul 
 wished to 1c <•■ rtain of the army and of- Europe. 
 In reality he did not doubt eithi r the one or the 
 other, because he was beloved by the first, and 
 i by tiie second. But it was a cruel sacrifice 
 to impose upon his companions in arms, who had 
 shed their blood lor France, and not for one man, 
 to desire (bat they should accept him for a sove- 
 reign. A tier the effect produced in Europe by the 
 death of the duke d'Enghien, it was a singular act 
 of eondeSCl nsion to demand of all the legitimate 
 princes, that they should recognise for an equal a 
 soldier who had but a few days before dipped his 
 hands in the blood of the Bourbons. Although he 
 expected to receive the reply which the power 
 of the Boldier commanded, ho was wise to assure 
 himself of that reply beforehand. 
 
 The first consul wrote to general Soult and 
 to tin s. g nerals in whom he had the most con- 
 fident . their opinion upon the proposed 
 change. lb- had not, he said, taken any part, nor 
 ■ought in that step au>_dit but what was best for 
 and wished, before his decision, to gather 
 
 tie- opinion of the heads of the tinny. The answer 
 , not a doubtful one; but it provoked 
 tions of devotion, which would 
 ■erve by way of example, and secure the luke- 
 warm or retiring. 
 
 In regard to Europe, the condescension, al- 
 though very probable, presented still more of 
 doubt, lb- was at war with England, and with 
 that country In- need not concern himsi If. The 
 
 ol France with Rowa made it a 
 
 point of dignity not to address In r. Spain, Austria, 
 
 1 ia, and the smaller powers, remained to be 
 
 ilted. Spain was too f« 1 l,|e to refuse ; but 
 
 the blood of a Bourbon, recently shed, required 
 
 that Some weeks sbouid pa-s before applying to 
 
 that power. Austna had appeared the |< as) sensi- 
 ble of all the powers to tin- violation of 1 1 1 . ■ (.. p. 
 
 manic 1. rritories ; and in her profound indiffi r> nee 
 
 fin all which was not her interest, there was 
 
 nothing which might not be expected of her. lint 
 in a matter of etiquette she was difficult to manage, 
 
 trifling, and jealous, as were all the old ami 
 qualified Courts. An emperor, because the title 
 Bad been dl cided upon, as at the same tnin- more 
 grand, novel, and military than thai of king — 
 
 an emperor to be joined to the list of sovereigns, 
 
 was a thing to which the chief of the holy Roman 
 empire would be little inclined to accord his con- 
 sent. 
 
 Prussia was yet, in spite of her recent coolness, 
 the power which was the most facile to dispose 
 favourably. A courier was immediately sent to 
 Berlin with an order to Al. Laforest to see AI. 
 Haugwitz, in order to learn from him if the first 
 consul might be enabled to hope for recognition by 
 the king of Prussia in quality of hereditary em- 
 peror of the French. This was demanded in such 
 a manner as to place the young king between 
 a lively gratitude or a bitter resentment on the 
 part of France. AI. Laforest had an order to 
 leave no trace of such a step in the archives of the 
 legation. As to Austria, without writing to AI. de 
 Chumpagny at Vienna, and without hazarding any 
 direct overtures, a means close at hand was em- 
 ployed, by sounding .M. Cobentzel, who, always 
 near M. Talleyrand, expressed an immoderate 
 1I1 sir,, to please the first consul. AI. Talleyrand 
 was just the minister to manage such a nego- 
 tiation. He obtained from M. Cobentzel the most 
 satisfactory words, but nothing positive. It was 
 needful he should write to Vienna for power to 
 give a decisive reply. 
 
 The first consul was obliged, therefore, to wait 
 fifteen days before he could answer the senate, and 
 permit the labourers at his new grandeur to pursue 
 their work. Still the addresses of the great cities 
 and principal authorities continued to be received. 
 They were satisfied by not inserting them in the 
 Moniteur. 
 
 The king of Prussia was found to be in the best 
 disposition for the acknowledgment. This prince, 
 after turning towards Russia, and secretly allying 
 himself with her, feared he had done too much in 
 that direction, and made his censures too visible 
 for the catastrophe that had happened at Etten- 
 heim. He required, therefore, nothing better than 
 to have an instance of the personal testvnony of 
 his good will to give to the first consul. AI. Lafo- 
 rest had scarcely spoken the first words on the 
 subject to AI. Haugwitz, than he stopped the com- 
 pletion of what AI. Laforest had begun, by hasten- 
 ing to declare that the king of Prussia would not 
 hesitate to acknowledge the new emperor of the 
 French. Frederick-William expected fresh cen- 
 sures on the part of the factious coterie that was in 
 action around the queen ; but he well knew how to 
 brave its censures for the benefit of his kingdom, 
 and he regarded the continuance of good intelli- 
 gence with the first consul, as the first of his in- 
 ter' sts. It is needful to add, that he experienced 
 a feeling of satisfaction, that all the other courts 
 equally experienced, at seeing the republic abo- 
 lished in France. Monarchy alone could satisfy 
 those courts, and the return of the Bourbons seemed 
 
 actually impossible. General Bonaparte was the 
 
 lieu tie narch whom all the powers expected to see 
 
 lint the throne of France. This is one proof, 
 
 among a thousand others, of the slight duration 
 that certain impressions make upon men, above all 
 
 when they feel interested in erasing them from 
 their hearts. All the courts were about to acknow- 
 ledge that man for an emperor who, amid their 
 angry feelings, just fifteen days before, they had 
 called a regicide and an assassin. 
 
 The king of Prussia himself wrote a letter to AI.
 
 The Austrian acknowledg- 
 558 ment of the emperor THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 given on terms. 
 
 Adhesion of the army 1804. 
 to the change. April. 
 
 Lucchesini, which Ifras communicated to the first 
 consul, and cont.^hed the most amicable expres- 
 sions. " I shall not hesitate," said the king, " to au- 
 thorize you to seize, as soon as possible, an occasion 
 to testily to M. Talleyrand, that after having seen 
 with pleasure the supreme power conferred for life 
 upon the first consul, I shall see with more interest 
 still the order of things established by his wisdom 
 and great actions, consolidated by the hereditary 
 authority in his family, and that I shall not find 
 any difficulty in acknowledging it. You will add, 
 that I flatter myself that this unequivocal proof of 
 my sentiments will be of equal value in his eyes to 
 all the securities and guarantees that it was possible 
 to offer him in a formal treaty, of which the basis 
 in fact exists ; and that 1 hope to be able to reckon 
 in my turn on the effects of this friendship and re- 
 ciprocal confidence, which I desire to see constantly 
 subsist between the two governments." Dated 
 April 23, 1804. 
 
 These words, although sincere in the main, were 
 nevertheless not altogether conformable to the 
 spirit of the treaty signed with Russia ; but an 
 immoderate desire for peace led this prince into 
 falsifications the most unworthy of his character. 
 
 Things passed differently at Vienna. No en- 
 gagement had been there entered upon with 
 Russia ; they would not there redeem a concession 
 made to one by a concession to others ; they only 
 considered in that court their interest, calculated 
 in the best mode possible. The death of the duke 
 d'Enghien, the violation of the Germanic territory, 
 hII that was regarded of very middling importance. 
 The indemnification to be exacted for the sacrifice 
 they might make in acknowledging the new em- 
 peror, was the sole consideration of which they kept 
 a reckoning. At first, in spite of the inconvenience 
 of disobliging Russia in conceding a point highly 
 agreeable to the French government, it was neces- 
 sary to resign themselves to acknowledge Napo- 
 leon ; because to refuse to do so had been to place 
 themselves in a state of war in regard to France, 
 or very nearly so, which they wished before all 
 things to avoid doing, at least for the moment. 
 But it was necessary, to obtain a part of the ac- 
 knowledgment, which it made the question of its 
 consent to wait a little at that point, to obtain pay- 
 ment by certain advantages, and to represent to 
 Russia, as an awkward delay, the time employed to 
 negotiate the advantages which it was so desirable to 
 obtain. Such was the Austrian policy ; and it must 
 be agreed, that this was but the natural course 
 between nations that lived one towards the other 
 in a state of perpetual distrust. 
 
 Since the extreme weakening of the Austrian 
 party in the empire, it was very possible to occur, 
 that at the approaching election Austria might lose 
 the imperial crown. There was a means to ward 
 off (his inconvenience, and that was to insure to 
 the house of Austria for her hereditary states, not 
 a royal but an imperial crown, in such a mode that 
 the head of that house remained emperor of Aus- 
 tria, in case he should cease, by the changes of any 
 future election, to be emperor of Germany. It was 
 this with which they had charged M. de Chani- 
 paguy at Vienna, and M. Cobentzel at Paris, as 
 the request to be made of the first consul, being a 
 price demanded in exchange for that which he had 
 requested ou his own account. In other respects, 
 
 it was declared to him, that, except a discussion 
 upon the conditions, the principle of the acknow- 
 ledgment was admitted without delay by the em- 
 peror Francis. 
 
 Although the first consul had little doubt of the 
 disposition of the powers, their replies filled him 
 with satisfaction. He lavished testimonies of gra- 
 titude and friendship upon the court of Prussia. 
 He thanked in a manner not less warm the court 
 of Vienna, and replied, that he consented without 
 making any difficulty to acknowledge the title of 
 emperor in the head of the house of Austria. He 
 only stipulated that he was not willing to publish 
 such a declaration immediately, in order not to ap- 
 pear to purchase the acknowledgment of his title at 
 any price whatever. He should prefer, by a secret 
 treaty, to bind himself to acknowledge at a later 
 time the successor of Francis II. as emperor of 
 Austria, if that successor should lose the rank of 
 emperor of Germany. Still, if the court of Vienna 
 insisted, he was ready to give up this difficulty 
 which was not a difficulty after all, because, in 
 reality, these different titles had no mure real im- 
 portance. From Charlemagne down to the eigh- 
 teenth century, there had not been in Europe but a 
 single sovereign holding the title of emperor, at 
 least in the west. Since the eighteenth century, 
 there had been two, the czar having taken upon 
 himself this qualification. There would be three 
 after what now took place in France, and there 
 would be one day four if a future German elec- 
 tion should give an emperor not taken out of the 
 house of Austria. It was even thought that the 
 king of England, having denominated the united 
 parliament of Great Britain and Ireland the " im- 
 perial parliament," might be tempted to entitle 
 himself emperor. In that case there would be 
 five. All this did not require that it should stop 
 there. They were all empty titles without the 
 value that was formerly annexed to them when 
 Francis I. and Charles V. disputed between them 
 the suffrages of the Germanic electors. 
 
 Independently of these tianquillising assurances 
 on the part of the principal courts, the first consul 
 had received from the army the most impressive 
 testimonies of its adhesion to him. General Soult 
 particularly had written him a letter full of the 
 most satisfactory declarations, and in the fifteen or 
 twenty days that had passed in correspondence 
 with Vienna and Berlin, the great cities of Lyons, 
 Marseilles, Bordeaux, and Paris, had sent up ener- 
 getic addresses in favour of the re-establishment 
 of the monarchy. The movement was general, ihe 
 eclat of the object as forcible as it was well able to 
 be; it was necessary therefore to proceed to official 
 measures, and finally to explain in regard to the 
 senate. 
 
 The first consul, as already seen, had not pub- 
 licly received the senate, nor had he replied in any 
 other than a verbal manner to the message of the 
 6th Germinal. It had been nearly a month that 
 he had made it wait for the official answer. This 
 answer was given o\i the 3rd Floreal, or 25th of 
 April, 1JJ04, and it brought the winding up of the 
 plot that was expected : — 
 
 " Your address of the 6th Germinal," said the 
 first consul, " has never ceased being present to 
 my n.ind. You have deemed hereditary succession 
 necessary to place the French people in security
 
 1804. Tlie succession fixed upon Bonaparte 
 April. and his family. 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 Discussions in the trihunate. 
 
 559 
 
 from tlic conspiracies of our enemies and the agi- 
 tations which are engendered by ambitions rivals; 
 many of our institutions it lias in the mean time 
 appeared t>> you necessary to render perfect, to 
 ensure, in return, the triumph of equality and of 
 public liberty, and to offer to the nation and uo- 
 vermmnt the double guarantee required. In pro- 
 portion as I have directed my attention to these 
 serious subjects, I have more and more been sen- 
 sible, that under a situation as new as it is impor- 
 tant, the advice resulting from your wisdom and 
 i ience was necessary to me I therefore in- 
 vite you to make known to me all your ideas upon 
 the subject," 
 
 This message was not immediately published; 
 any more than that to which it seemed to he the 
 reply. The senate immediately assembled for the 
 purpose of deliberation. The deliberation was not 
 difficult, the result being known beforehand; the 
 proposition being to convert the consular republic 
 into an hereditary empire. 
 
 Still it was necessary that all should not pass 
 over in silence, and it was therefore flgreed to dis- 
 OSM a portion of the grand resolution thus pre- 
 paring, in some one of the bodies of tin state where 
 the proceeding could lie public. The senate did 
 not debate; tlie legislative body heard the official 
 oratory and voted in silence. The tribunate, 
 although diminished and converted into a section 
 of the council of state, siill preserved its discus- 
 sions. It was resolved to make use of it, in order 
 that there might be heard, in the only place which 
 bad reserved to itself the possibility of contra- 
 diction, a few words having the semblance of 
 freedom. 
 
 Tin- tribunate bad at that time for its president 
 If, I'abre de I'Aude, a personage devoted to the 
 Bonaparte family- The choice of the tribune, 
 whose former opinions had been avowedly n pub- 
 lican, was arranged upon with him in order to take 
 the lead upon tin- occasion. The tribune (nice. 
 th<- fellow-countryman 1 and personal enemy of 
 Cam; -elected to play that character. 
 
 It aras believed by the public that this personage, 
 
 the sii| posed creature of the second consul, had 
 thorn n and put forward by bin). This was 
 not correct. It was unknown to Cainbaccrcs, and 
 even in opposition to his wish, that M. Cures was 
 lix<-d upon. '1 liifl 1 --i personage, formerly an 
 ardent republican, and, like many others, come 
 back again to monarchical ideas, drew up a mo- 
 tion in which he laid down the hereditary BUCCCS- 
 hion in favour of tin- Bonaparte family. M. I'abre 
 • b- I'Aude took this to St. (loud, in order to sub- 
 mit it for the- appiobati f tin- lirst consul. 'I be 
 
 latter seemed verj little satisfied, and thought that 
 the language of the individual, thua dim bused ol 
 publican notions, showed little ability or ele- 
 vation. Still ib' iv was the Inconvi iiience of choos- 
 ing another lo'-mbi r of the tribunate in rejecting 
 it. He therefore suffered the texl to remain that 
 had been submitted to him, and i i-i it immediately 
 to |f. I'abre de I'Aude. This text hail undergone 
 at Si. Cloud a singular change. In lieu of the 
 . "hereditary in tin family of Bonaparte," 
 
 ' Camhareres waB a natlVl or MontptlllST, whin In- was 
 born in 17.',:!, ami died in 1884. Cuita WEI a native c.f the 
 same city. — Tramtator. 
 
 the words were changed to "hereditary in the de- 
 scendants of Napoleon Bonaparte." M. Fabre de 
 
 I'Aude was the particular friend of Joseph Bona- 
 parte, and one of the members of his social circle. 
 Evidently, the first consul, discontented with his 
 brothers, would not have any constitutional engage- 
 ment on their behalf. Those who wished to please 
 Joseph, went to work about M. Fabre de I'Aude, 
 and they carried back the projected motion to 
 St. Cloud, in order to replace the words "Bona- 
 parte family," in lieu of the " descendants of Napo- 
 leon Bonaparte." The document was sent back, 
 having the word "descendants" still remaining 
 without any explanation. 
 
 .M. Fabre resolved not to make any noise about 
 this circumstance, and to give to M. Curee the 
 copy of the motion just as it had come out of the 
 hands of the first consul, but inserting the version 
 preferred by the partisans of Joseph. He believed 
 that the motion once presented and reproduced in 
 the Mon'ttevr, they would not venture to change it; 
 and he resigned himself, if it became necessary, to 
 a painful explanation upon the subject with the 
 first consul. This was a proof that the party sur- 
 rounding the brothers of Bonaparte were suffi- 
 ciently powerful, allied together, to brave for their 
 interest the displeasure of the head of the family. 
 All these proceedings were sent daily to Joseph, 
 who had already reached the camp at Boulogne. 
 
 On Saturday, the 8th Floreal, or 28th of April, 
 1804, the motion of M. Curee was deposited in the 
 tribunate, and the discussion of which it was to be 
 the subject, was fixed upon for Monday, the 10th of 
 Floreal. A crowd of speakers pressed forward to 
 the tribune in support of the measure, demanding, 
 in emulation of each other, the opportunity of dis- 
 tinguishing themselves by a dissertation on the 
 advantages of the monarchy. The main point 
 being, in truth, to become its adherents. 
 
 The revolution of 1780 had been directed to the 
 abolition of feudal rights, a reform of the social 
 state, the suppression of abuses introduced under 
 arbitrary rule, and the reduction of the absolute 
 power of the soven ign, by the intervention of the 
 nation in the government. These were just and 
 legitimate wishes. All that exceeded these limits 
 had passed by the object, and had done nothing 
 but bring misfortunes upon the country. The 
 most painful experience had taught this lesson to 
 France. It. was necessary to profit by its past 
 experience, and to revert to that which had been 
 thus overdone. The monarchy was, therefore, to 
 be re established on new bases, upon constitu- 
 tional liberty and civil equality, With a monarchy 
 there could be only one particular monarch pos- 
 sible, and that was Napoleon I ioiiaparte, and the 
 n mnining members of his family. 
 
 The more zealous of the orators in the tribunate 
 added to their harangues invectives ngainBt tho 
 Bourbons, and the Solemn declaration that these 
 princes were rcn-'ered for ever incapable of 
 
 governing France; that every Frenchman ought 
 
 at the price of his blood to oppose their return. 
 oied that the lie they gave at this moment 
 
 to themselves in proclaiming the monarchy, after 
 having taken so many oaths to the republic, in- 
 divisible and imperishable. Would have been a. 
 lesson to these orators, and have- at least taught 
 them to speak less affirmatively of the future.
 
 560 
 
 Address of Carnot 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 in the tribunate. 
 
 1804. 
 April. 
 
 But there is no lesson capable of preventing a 
 troop of men, not above mediocrity of mind, from 
 throwing themselves into the torrent which runs 
 before them ; all suffer themselves to be borne 
 along, particularly when they believe they shall 
 find honours and fortune in tlieir course. 
 
 In the number of those eager people were found 
 more immediately the men formerly signalised by 
 their republican spirit, or those who, at a later 
 period, were remarked for their zeal towards the 
 Bourbons. One only personage, in the midst of 
 the base adulations thus let loose, exhibited a real 
 dignity of character. This personage was the 
 tribune Carnot. Most assuredly he deceived him- 
 self in his general theory, because after what had 
 been seen in France for ten years, it was difficult 
 to admit that, for such a country, a republic was 
 preferable to a monarchy ; but this apostle of 
 error was far worthier in his own attitude than 
 the apostles of the truth, because he had over 
 them all the advantage of a courageous and dis- 
 interested conviction. What rendered his courage 
 the more honourable was, that so far from ex- 
 pressing himself like a demagogue, he expressed 
 himself, on the contrary, as a wise and moderate 
 citizen, the friend of order. He protested that he 
 would submit himself, the next day, with perfect 
 docility, to the sovereign whom the law might ap- 
 point, but that while the law was in progress, and 
 when it became a subject of discussion, he would 
 speak out his opinion. 
 
 He spoke at first with nobleness of the first 
 consul, and of the great services which he had 
 rendered to the republic. If, in order to secure 
 tranquillity in France, and a reasonable degree of 
 liberty, it was neeessary to have an hereditary 
 chief, he should be senseless, he said, to choose 
 any other than Napoleon Bonaparte. No one had 
 struck such terrible blows at the enemies of his 
 country ; no one had done so much for its civil 
 organization. Had he given to France the civil 
 code alone, his name would well deserve to pass 
 down to posterity. He was not, therefore, doubtful, 
 that if it were necessary to elevate the throne 
 again, it was the first consul who should be placed 
 upon it, and not the blind and vindictive race, that 
 never re-entered France but to spill the blood of 
 its best citizens, and re-establish the dominion of 
 the narrowest prejudices. But if Napoleon Bona- 
 parte had rendered France so many services, was 
 there no other recompense to offer him than the 
 sacrifice of the liberties of the country ? 
 
 Carnot, without causing himself to lose sight in 
 his remarks of the inconveniences or the advan- 
 tages which attached to different forms of govern- 
 ment, endeavoured to prove that at Rome, in the 
 time of the empire, they had as much agitation as 
 in that of the republic, and that they had not posses- 
 sed less of the masculine and heroic virtues ; that 
 the ten centuries of the French monarchy had not 
 been less tempestuous than those of all known re- 
 publics ; that under monarchy, the people attached 
 themselves to families, identified themselv.es by 
 their passions, rivalries, and hatred, making these 
 causes as much questions of dispute as any others ; 
 that if the French republic had bad its sanguinary 
 times, these were troubles inseparable from its 
 origin ; that it proved more or less the necessity of 
 a temporary dictatorship, as at Rome ; that this 
 
 dictatorship had been conferred upon Napoleon 
 Bonaparte ; that no one contested his possession of 
 it ; that it depended on him to make of it the most 
 noble, the most glorious usage, in preserving it 
 during the time necessary to prepare France for 
 liberty ; but that if he wished to convert it into an 
 hereditary and perpetual power, he at once re- 
 nounced a singular and immertal glory ; that the 
 new state founded twenty years since on the other 
 side of the Atlantic, was a proof that it was pos- 
 sible to find peace and happiness under republican 
 institutions ; and that as regarded himself, he 
 should for .ever regret that the first consul did 
 not wish to employ his power in procuring so great 
 a felicity for his country. Examining the argu- 
 ments often used, that there would be a better 
 chance of a durable peace by approximating to 
 those forms of government most generally received 
 in Europe, he inquired if the acknowledgment 
 of the new emperor would be as easy as people 
 imagined ; if they were prepared to take up arms 
 in case such an acknowledgment were refused ; if 
 France, converted into an empire, would not as 
 much tend to mortify Europe, to excite jealousy, 
 and to provoke war, as if it were maintained in its 
 existing situation of a republic ? 
 
 Casting a final look back, and addressing to the 
 past a noble adieu, the tribune Carnot said : 
 
 " Was liberty then exhibited to man that he 
 might never poasess its enjoyment ? Was it to be 
 offered to bis desires incessantly, like the fruit to 
 which he had no sooner stretched out his hand 
 than he became death-stricken ? No, I am unable 
 to agree that I am to regard this great good, sp 
 universally preferred before all others, and without 
 which all others are nothing, as a mere illusion. 
 My heart tells me that liberty is possible, that its 
 reign is easy, and far more stable than that of any 
 arbitrary or oligarchical government." 
 
 He finished by these words, attaching to the 
 character of a good citizen : — 
 
 " Always ready to sacrifice my dearest affections 
 to the interests of our common country, I shall 
 content myself with having caused to be once more 
 heard the accents of a free spirit; my respect for 
 the law will be so much more assured from its 
 being the result of long misfortunes, and from the 
 reason that commands us at this moment impe- 
 riously to unite ourselves in front of the common 
 enemy, an enemy always ready to foment discord, 
 and with whom all means are legitimate, provided 
 they arrive at the object of universal oppression, 
 anil the dominion of the seas." 
 
 Carnot evidently confounded liberty and the re- 
 public, the common error of all who reason as he 
 did. A republic is not necessarily liberty, as 
 monarchy is not of necessity social order. Oppres- 
 sion is encountered under a republic, as disorder is 
 met with under a monarchy. Without good laws 
 both one and the other will be found under either 
 of those forms of government. But it is a main 
 point to know whether, with wise laws, monarchy 
 does not give in a higher degree than any other 
 form of government the sum of possible liberty, 
 and more than that the force of action necessary 
 for great military states ; above all, if the habits 
 of twelve centuries have not rendered this form of 
 government inevitable, or since that time desirable, 
 in a country like France. If it has been thus,
 
 1804. 
 April. 
 
 Resolution of the tribunate. — 
 Reply of the senate to the 
 tribunate. 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 Formation and sitting of the 
 commission. 
 
 561 
 
 would it not be better to admit it at once, and or- 
 ganize wisely, than to debate in a false position, 
 which neither agrees with the ancient manners of 
 France, nor with the necessity there is for a stable 
 and satisfactory state of things ! The illustrious 
 tribune h:id only reason upon his side on one 
 point ; perhaps then was only the necessity for 
 eon, and a >im]>K; dictatorship, to terminate 
 at a later period, according to Carnot, in a republic, 
 !iug to the present view of things, in a re- 
 lative monarchy. Napoleon was wonderfully 
 1 by Providence to prepare France for a 
 new r !gime, and to deliver over the care of ag- 
 grandizing and regenerating to those, whoever 
 they might be, that should govern after him. 
 
 The tribune Carion de Ni-as took upon himself 
 the duty of replying to Carnot, and acquitted hini- 
 : his task to the great satisfaction of the new 
 monarchy men, but with a mediocrity of eloquence 
 that was only equal to the mediocrity of his ideas. 
 With the last it was no more than a got np discussion, 
 Tediouaness, and a feeling of its perfect inutility, set 
 a tolerably speedy termination to the sitting. A 
 commission of thirteen members was formed to 
 examine the motion of the tribune Curee, and con- 
 vert it into a definitive resolution. 
 
 In the sitting of the 13th of Floreal, or 3rd of 
 May, that is to say on the Thursday following, M. 
 Jard Panvillier, the reporter of the commission, 
 proposed to the- tribunate to move a request that, 
 according to the constitutional regulations in force, 
 should be addressed to the senate, and carried up 
 to that body by a deputation. 
 
 This request was as follows: 
 
 Firstly, that Napoleon Bonaparte, actually consul 
 for lit'.-, should be named emperor, and in that 
 character be charged with the government of the 
 ■h republic. 
 
 indly, that the title of emperor and the im- 
 power should be hereditary in his family, 
 male ami male, according to tin.- order of primo- 
 geniture. 
 
 Thirdly, that in carrying out, in the organization 
 of the constituted authorities, the modifications 
 iblishment of the hereditary power 
 demand, equality, liberty, and the rights of 
 the | oid be preserved in their integ- 
 
 rity. 
 
 This request, or prayer, adopted by an imm 
 
 ..is carried to the * o ita on tie- follow- 
 ing day, the 1 lib Floreal, or 4th of May, 1804. 
 M . Pi uicois de Neufch&teau occupied the vice 
 i lent a chair at this sitting. After having 
 beard the deputation from the tribunate, and 
 having given effect to the request which they 
 brou_- I to the tribunes, " I am nut able to 
 
 off the veil which for the moment covers the 
 ; dings of the senate. I must neverthi 
 
 inform you, that Bince the 6th << rminal, we have 
 fixed upon the same subject of which you have 
 thought, mindful of the chief magistrate. But 
 know for your advantage, that during two months 
 
 past we have < temphited in silence, what your 
 
 i ion has pi rin i it' d you to give out for di 
 ftion in presence of the public. The happy deve- 
 lopment which you hive given to a great idea, 
 will procure for the senate that baa opened the 
 tribune to you, th i satisfaction "I delight in the 
 selection, and applause for the labour. 
 
 " In your public discourses you have penetrated 
 to the bottom of our thoughts. As you do not, 
 citizen tribunes, we do not desire to have the 
 Bourbons ; because we will not have a counter- 
 revolution, the sole present that those unhappy 
 deserters are able to make us, who have carried 
 away with them despotism, nobility, feudality, 
 servitude, and ignorance. 
 
 " Like you, citizen tribunes, we wish to raise up 
 a new dynasty, because we wish to guarantee 
 to the French people all the rights which they 
 have reconquered. Like you, we wish that liberty, 
 equality, and intelligence, should not again retro- 
 grade. I speak not of the great man called for- 
 ward by bis glory to give his name to the age. It 
 is not for himself, it is for us, that he devotes him- 
 self. That which you propose with enthusiasm, 
 the senate will consider with calmness/' 
 
 It may be seen by these words of the vice- 
 president, that the senate wished to keep to its 
 time, and not expose itself again to be outstripped 
 or surpassed in devotion to its new master. The 
 secret directors of the change which they pre- 
 pared, had well foreseen the influence which the 
 discussion in the tribunate exercised over that 
 body. They made it serve for hastening the re- 
 solution, saying it was needful that this resolu- 
 tion should be arranged the same day that the 
 prayer of the tribunate would be communicated, 
 in order that the two assemblages should appear 
 to meet each other, and that the most considerable 
 should not seem to come after the others. Thus 
 they hastened to finish all as rapidly as possible. 
 They devised the plan of addressing a memorial to 
 the first consul, in which the senate should express 
 its ideas, and propose the basis of a new organic 
 senatus consultum. This memorial was, in fact, 
 quite ready at the moment when the deputation of 
 the tribunate was introduced. The draft was 
 approved, and the presentation to the first consul 
 immediately determined upon. It was arranged 
 that this presentation should take place the same 
 day, or on the llih Floreal. In consequence, a 
 deputation, composed of the officials and members 
 of tie- commission who had prepared the memorial, 
 waited upon the first consul, and handed to him 
 tli^ message of the senate and the memorial which 
 contained its ideas on the new monarchical organi- 
 zation of France. 
 
 It was necessary, in tine, to give to these ideas 
 th" form of constitutional articles, a commission 
 
 was named, Composed of several senators, also of 
 
 the ministers and the three consuls, which was 
 charged to draw up the new senatus consultum. 
 Not having any further precautions to take in 
 respect to publicity, there wire inserted in the 
 MoniU in- on the morrow, all the acts of the si nate, 
 the communications which it had had with the first 
 eon-ul, those which it had received, and till the 
 addresses which for some time before had been 
 sent to the government, praying the re-establish- 
 ment of the monarchy. 
 
 'flu' commission nominated set about its labours. 
 It net at St. ('loud, in presence of the first consul 
 and his two colleagues. It examined and succes- 
 sively resolved all the questions which were ib- 
 signed for the establishment ol the hereditary suc- 
 eessnin. The first, which presented itself, was 
 tive to the title of the new monarch. Should 
 
 () o
 
 The succession to the throne 
 562 established in the Bona- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 parte lamily. 
 
 Formation of grand 
 dignitaries for the 
 throne. 
 
 1804. 
 May. 
 
 he be styled king or emperor ? The same reason 
 that in ancient Rome had caused the Caesars to 
 resuscitate no more the title of king, and to take 
 the all military one of emperor (hnperator), decided 
 the authors of the new constitution to prefer the 
 same qualification. It presented at once more 
 of novelty and of grandeur ; it discarded, in a 
 certain degree, the recollections of the past time, 
 that it was wished only to restore in part, and not 
 by any means entirely. Besides, there was in this 
 designation something of the vastness, the illimit- 
 ability, which suited best the ambition of Na- 
 poleon. His numerous enemies in Europe, in 
 attributing to him, daily, prr jects which he had 
 not conceived at all, or had not yet imagined, by 
 repeating in a multitude of publications, that he 
 dreamed about reconstituting the empire of the 
 West, or at least that of the Gauls, had thus pre- 
 pared every mind, even his own, for the title of 
 emperor. This title was in every mouth, whether 
 of friends or enemies alike, before it was really 
 adopted. It was settled upon without any dispute, 
 in consequence, that the first consul should be 
 proclaimed emperor of the French. 
 
 The hereditary succession, the end of this new 
 revolution, was \n\\ naturally established upon the 
 principles of the Salic law, that is to say, male 
 succeeded male in the order of primogeniture. 
 Napoleon not having children, and appearing as if 
 destined to have none, it was thought of giving 
 him the power of adoption, such as was once a 
 part of the Roman institutions, with the same con- 
 ditions and solemn forms. In default of adopted 
 descent, the transmission of the crown was per- 
 mitted in the collateral line, not to all the brothers 
 of the emperor, but to Joseph and Louis ex- 
 clusively. These were the only two of the family 
 who had acquired for themselves real respect. 
 Lucien, by the kind of life he led, and by his recent 
 marriage, had disqualified himself for a successor. 
 Jerome, scarcely out of his adolescence, had mar- 
 ried an American lady, without the consent of his 
 relations. Only Joseph and Louis, therefore, were 
 admitted to the succession. In order to prevent 
 the inconveniences of misconduct in a numerous 
 family, so recently elevated to the throne, an abso- 
 lute p .wer was given to the emperor over all the 
 members of the imperial family. It was settled 
 that the marriage of a French prince, contracted 
 without the consent of the chief of the empire, 
 should bar all right to 'the hereditary succession 
 for such prince and his children. A dissolution of 
 the marriage so contracted could alone enable him 
 to recover the lost right. 
 
 The brothers and sisters of the emperor re- 
 ceived the rank of princes and princesses, as will 
 as the honours attached to these titles. It was 
 resolved that the civil list should be established 
 upon the Hume principles as that of 1/01 ; in other 
 words, that it should be voted lor the whole reign, 
 that it should be composed of the royal palaces 
 still existing, of the product of the domains of the 
 crown, and a revenue of 25,0II0,()0() f. The en- 
 dowment of the French princes was settled at a 
 million of francs per annum for each of them. The 
 emperor had the right of fixing, by the imperial 
 decree, (corresponding to what are since called 
 ordinances,) the interior regulations of the palace, 
 and the arrangement of that kind of show and 
 
 splendour which should be most agreeable to the 
 imperial majesty. 
 
 On entering so .completely into monarchical 
 ideas, it was need fid to place near the new 
 throne a circle of grand dignitaries, that should 
 serve it both for ornament and support. Ic was 
 necessary, further, to consider these secondary 
 ambitions, arrayed voluntarily beneath the great 
 superior, that had been raised to the pinnacle of 
 greatness, and were to receive, in their turn, the 
 price of their private and public services. Each 
 had now before his eyes the two consuls, Cam- 
 bace'res and Lebrun, who, very far from their col- 
 league in all respects, had, nevertheless, partaken 
 in the supreme power, and had rendered incon- 
 testable services to the public by the whtdom of 
 their counsels. They assisted, both the one and 
 the other, in the conferences of the senatorial com- 
 mission, that drew up at St. Cloud the new mo- 
 narchical constitution. The consul Cambace'res, 
 for the first time in his life perhaps, knew not how 
 to dissimulate his displeasure, and showed himself 
 cold and uncommunicative. He was as reserved 
 as Fouche' exhibited himself the other way in this 
 respect, and he did not know how to dissimulate 
 his vexation, except in the disdain which he ex- 
 hibited towards the zeal which was shown by the 
 constructers of the new monarchy. This situation 
 of things brought about more than one conflict, 
 which was speedily repressed, indeed, by the au- 
 thority of Napoleon. The necessity of satisfying 
 the two consuls j;oing out of place by this new 
 change was generally felt, above all, towards 
 Cambace'res, who, in spite of some ridiculous jokes, 
 enjoyed immense political consideration. They 
 had, at first, thought to imitate in every thing the 
 Roman empire, and to suffer the two consuls to 
 remain by the emperor's side. No one is ignorant 
 that after the elevation of the Ccesars to tin em- 
 pire, they preserved the institution of the consuls; 
 that one of the senseless members of that family 
 gave the title to his horse, that others gave them 
 to their slaves or to their eunuchs, and that in the 
 empire of the East, very near the period of its fall, 
 they had still two consuls, chosen annually, charged 
 with the vulgar guardianship of the calendar. It 
 was this recollection, little flattering, that had in- 
 spired their friends, in other respects full of kind 
 wishes, with the idea of preserving the two consuls 
 in the new French empire. Fouche repelled such 
 a proposition, and said, that it was necessary to 
 have little care about those who lost place under 
 the new organization; that what was, before all, 
 most important, was not to suffer the existence of 
 any trace of a deceased regime, such as that of 
 the republic. " Those who lose any thing by the 
 new regime," replied Cambace'res, " will have one 
 consoling reflection ; they will carry with them 
 that which all those who go out of place cannot 
 take with them, the esteem of the public." This 
 allusion to Foui-he" and to the last time he quitted 
 office, made the first consul smile, perfectly ap- 
 proving the reply; but it impressed him with the 
 necessity of putting an end to such discussions, 
 carried at last to a painful extent. The second 
 and third consuls were, therefore, no longer sum- 
 moned to the sittings of the commission. 
 
 Talleyrand, with the most ingenious inventions 
 at command, when it was a point with him to
 
 1S04. 
 May. 
 
 Great state officers appointed. 
 
 THE EMPIRE. Marshals to be nominated in the army. 5C.'! 
 
 satisfy the ambitious, liad conceived a scheme of 
 borrowing from the Germanic empire souie <>f its 
 great dignities. Each of the Beven electors was*, 
 in tlie old empire, <me a field-marshal, another a 
 cup-bearer, tins ■ treasurer, that a chancellor of 
 the Gauls or of Italy, and so <m. In the idea, yet 
 . of re-establishing perhaps at some future 
 the empire of the West for the advantage of 
 Fiance, it was but to prepare the elements, by 
 surrounding the emperor with grand dignitaries, 
 chosen at the moment among the French princes, 
 or the great personages of the republic, destined 
 at a later time to become kings themselves, and to 
 form a retinue of vassal monarchs around the 
 throne of this modern Charlemagne. 
 
 Talleyrand and the first consul, between them, 
 devised six grand officers, corresponding not to the 
 various offices of the imperial domicile, but to the 
 different attributes of the government. In this 
 constitution, where there still remained many elec- 
 tive functions, where the members of the Beuate, 
 live body, and the tribunate, were to be 
 d, in which the emperor himself would be- 
 come, in case of the extinction of direct descend- 
 ants, a grand elector, charged with certain hono- 
 aree relative t<> the elections, such an office 
 may easily be imagim d. The first great dignitary 
 that was proposed, therefore, was a grand elector. 
 For the second, an arch-chancellor of the empire, 
 charged with a character purely representative, 
 and with a general inspection overall, through the 
 statements of the judicial department; lor the third, 
 an arch-chancellor of state having a similar eha- 
 r to the last, connected with the diplomatic 
 ■ Ms of the country; for the fourth, an arch- 
 jrer; for the fifth, a constable, ami for the 
 sixth, a grand admiral. The titles of these last 
 sufficiently indicate to what department of the 
 government tin ir dignity answered. 
 
 The titularies of these great offices were, as 
 will presently be seen, dignitaries and not func- 
 tional tuse the) were to be irresponsible 
 and immovable. They were to have attributes 
 y honorary, and only the general inspection 
 of that portion of the government with which 
 their titles d them. Thus the grand elec- 
 tive body, the senate, and 
 ral colleges, preHenting the oath to the 
 members of the different assemblies, and taking a 
 part in till the formalitiec that were attached to 
 tin- convocation or dissolution of the electoral 
 Colleg 
 
 I Ch-Chancellor of the empire received the 
 
 of the magistrates, or else presented them 
 to th r for that purpose; he watched 
 
 the promulgation of the laws and ih'- seuatus enn- 
 sultuin, | resided in the council of state, the high 
 imperial court, (•■! which mention will shortly bo 
 made.) urged forward the reforms desirable in the 
 
 U rcist d lie' lonctioiis of a State en il 
 
 officer, n d tie- Innhs, marriages, and 
 
 deaths of the imperial family, 'lie' arch chum 
 
 nbasttadors, introduced them 
 to the em per o I treaties and promulgated 
 
 them. The arch ti r watched o' ex the 
 
 book of the public debt, uave lie- guarantee of his 
 
 to all the writings delivered to th 
 creditors, verified the summary of the general 
 state accounts before; they svero submitted to the 
 
 emperor, and delivered bis own views upon the 
 management of tin- finances. The constable, by 
 reports to the war department, the grand admiral, 
 ly reports to that of the navy, both had duties per- 
 fectly similar. Thus the principle deposed by 
 Napoleon was, that no grand dignitary could ever 
 he a minister, in order to keep separate the pre- 
 paratory attribute from the real function. These 
 wiit- in each division id' the government, dignities 
 modelled upon royalty itself, inactive, irresponsible^ 
 honorary, like that, but charged, as that is, with a 
 general and superior superintendence. 
 
 The titularies of these dignities would be able to 
 replace the emperor in his absence, whether in 
 the senate, the council, or the army. They formed 
 with the emperor the great council of the empire. 
 Finally, in case of the extinction of natural and 
 legitimate descendants, they elected the emperor, 
 and in ease of a minority, they watched over the 
 heirship to the crown, and formed the council of 
 the regency. 
 
 The idea of these grand dignitaries was agreeable 
 to all the Cramers of the new constitution. Each 
 titulary, at least when he was not at the same time 
 a grand dignitary and tin imperial prince, was to 
 r i si ive an income amounting to the third of the 
 endowment of the princes,, or one-third of a mil- 
 lion. These were to he provided lor the two bro- 
 thers of the emperor, his late colleagues, and the 
 most considerable personages who had rendered 
 imp riant military or civil services. Every one 
 thought by these, alter the emperor's two brothers 
 Joseph and Louis, of the two consuls, Cambace'res 
 ami Lebrun, Eugene de I5eauh.ii nais, the adopted 
 son of the first consul, Mural, his brother-in-law, 
 Berthier, his faithful and useful companion in 
 arms, and Talleyrand, his inb run (hate agent with 
 the powers of Europe. The partition of such 
 great favours awaited the will of the sovereign. 
 
 It was natural, also, to create in the army cer- 
 tain elevated posts, and to re-establish in that 
 branch of service the dignity of marshal, which 
 existed under the old monarchy, and is adopted 
 throughout Europe as the most distinguished mark 
 of military command. Jt was settled thai there 
 should lie sixteen marshals of lie- i mpire, and four 
 honorary marshals, the last chosen from among 
 ild generals who were become senators, and 
 in that quality, deprived of active functions, 
 were also re-established tie- posts of inspec- 
 tors-general of engineers and artillery, and of colo- 
 nels-general of cavalry. To these great military 
 officers were added certain great civil officers of 
 state, such as chamb rlains, masti i of the cere- 
 monies, and others ; and there were composed of 
 both a second class of dignitaries, under the till.' 
 of grand officers of the empire, as immovable as 
 ix great dignitaries themselves In order to 
 to them all a sort of hold upon the soil, they 
 
 ■ tli the pr. shl ntships of the electoral 
 
 colleges. The presidentship of each i lectors! college 
 1 in a permanent manlier to one of the.-e 
 diguities, and to the care ol a civil or military 
 officer. Thus the grand el etui- would preside over 
 the electoral college of Brussels; the arch-chani 
 cellor over that of Bordeaux ; the arch-chancellor 
 
 of state over that of Nantes ; the arch-treasurer 
 
 over that of Lyons; the constable over that of 
 
 Turin ; the grand admiral over that of Marseilles ; 
 
 oo2
 
 564 
 
 Appointment of state 
 officers. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Fresh powers conferred 
 on the senate. 
 
 1804. 
 May. 
 
 the other great civil and military officers presided 
 over the electoral colleges of less importance. This 
 was as much as human artifice of the most able 
 kind could imagine, in order to imitate an aristo- 
 cracy with a democracy, because this hierarchy of 
 six grand dignitaries and of forty or fifty great 
 officers placed on the steps of the throne, was at 
 once aristocratic and democratic ; aristocratic by 
 the position, the powers, and revenues which it 
 would soon possess, thanks to the conquests ma<le 
 by France ; democratic in its origin, because it 
 was composed of lawyers, officers of fortune, and 
 sometimes of peasants become marshals, all places 
 remaining constantly open to every new candidate 
 of genius or of talent. The creations have disap- 
 peared with the creator and the vast empire that 
 served for their base ; but it is possible that they 
 would have terminated in success, if time had 
 strengthened them, and added the age which en- 
 genders respect. 
 
 In upraising the throne and adorning the steps 
 of its social pomp, it was impossible to dispense 
 with the assurance of some guarantees to the citi- 
 zens, to indemnify them by a little real liberty for 
 that apparent liberty of which they were deprived 
 by the abolition of the republic. They had re- 
 peated for some time, that under a monarchy well 
 regulated, the government would be stronger, and 
 the citizens more free. It was necessary to keep 
 to a part of these professions, if it was possible to 
 keep any single one of such a nature, at a time 
 when all the world, desiring to have an energetic 
 power, had suffered to perish, for lack of use, even 
 the strongest liberty secured by the laws. It was 
 therefore thought right to give to the senate and to 
 the legislative body some prerogatives which they 
 did not possess, and which, it was possible, might 
 become useful guarantees to the citizens. 
 
 The senate, at first composed of eighty members 
 elected by the senate itself, then of citizens whom 
 the emperor judged worthy of that elevated posi- 
 tion, in fine, of six grand dignitaries and of French 
 princes of the age of eighteen years, was always 
 the first body of the state. It composed the others 
 by the faculty of election which it had preserved ; 
 it was able to extinguish any law or decree in con- 
 sequence of its being unconstitutional, and to re- 
 form the constitution by means of an organic sena- 
 tua consultum. It had remained, in the midst of 
 the successive transformations to which it had sub- 
 mitted, as all-powerful as M. Sieyes had wished it 
 should be. The restorers of the monarchy de- 
 liberating at St. Cloud, conceived the idea of giving 
 it two new attributes of the highest importance — 
 they confided to it the care of individual liberty 
 and the liberty of the press. By the forty-sixth 
 article of the first consular constitution, the govern- 
 ment was not able to retain any individual in 
 prison without referring him, within the space of 
 ton days, to his natural judges. By the second 
 consular constitution, that which had established 
 the consulate for life, the senate, in case of a plot 
 against the security of the state, had the power of 
 deciding if the government should exceed the delay 
 of ten days, and for how long a time it should he 
 able to do so. It was desirable to regulate, in tin- 
 most secure manner, this arbitrary authority, 
 granted to the government at the expense of the 
 liberty of the citizens. A senatorial commission 
 
 was created, composed of seven members, selected 
 by ballot, to be renewed successively by one mem- 
 ber going out every four months. This commission 
 was to receive the demands and remonstrances of 
 the detained parties or their families, and to de- 
 clare if their detentions were just, and required for 
 the interests of the state. In the contrary case, if 
 after having addressed a first, second, and third' 
 invitation to the minister who had ordered the 
 arrest, that minister not setting free the individual 
 who had demanded his freedom, the commission 
 had the power itself to place him before the high 
 imperial court, for the violation of individual 
 liberty. 
 
 A similar commission, organized in the same 
 manner, was charged to watch over the freedom 
 of the press. It was the first time that this 
 liberty had been named in the different consular 
 constitutions, so lightly did they treat on its mor- 
 row the saturnalia of the press during the direc- 
 tory. As to the periodical press, that was left 
 under the authority of the police. It was not for 
 that they made any profession' of interesting them- 
 selves. They only occupied themselves with books 
 which were alone judged worthy of the liberty re- 
 fused to the journals. They were unwilling, as 
 was the case prior to 1789, to leave books to the 
 arbitrary rule of the police. Every printer or 
 bookseller, when a publication was found to be 
 aggrieved by a public authority, had the power of 
 addressing the senatorial commission charged with 
 the duty of attending to the matter; and if, after 
 having made an acquaintance with the interdicted 
 or mutilated work, the senatorial commission dis- 
 approved of the rigorous conduct of the public 
 authority, it made a first, second, and third notice 
 to the minister, and after the third it was able, in 
 case of a refusal to obey these repeated notices, to 
 hand the minister over to the high imperial 
 court. 
 
 Thus, besides the powers already enumerated, 
 the senate had the care of watching over individual 
 liberty and the liberty of the press. These two 
 last securities were not without value. Doubtless 
 nothing would be of previous efficacy under a 
 di spotism universally accepted. But under the 
 successors of the depository of that despotism, if 
 any there should he, such guarantees would not 
 fail to acquire real strength. 
 
 They did something in the same sense for the 
 organisation of the legislative body. The tribunate, 
 as has been said several times, discussed alone the 
 projected laws, and after having formed an opinion 
 regarding them, sent three orators to sustain them 
 against three counsellors of state before the legis- 
 lative body, that remained silent. This silence, 
 corrected in the idea of M. Sieyes by the loquacity 
 of the tribunate, hail soon become ridiculous in the 
 sight of a nation given to raillery, that all the while 
 fearing oratory and its excesses, still, nevertheless, 
 laughed at the forced silence of its legislators. The 
 dumb state of the legislative body had become yet 
 more obvious since the tribunate, deprived of all 
 energy, remained silent also. It was decided that 
 the legislative body, after having heard the coun- 
 sellors of state and the members of the tribunate, 
 should retire to diseuss in secret committee the 
 projects which had been submitted to them, that 
 every one of the members might speak, and that
 
 1804. 
 May. 
 
 Right of speech given to the 
 leijislative body— Consti- 
 tution of the high court. 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 Effect of Sieyes' constitution. — 
 The oath to be taken by the 
 emperor. 
 
 565 
 
 subsequently it mi^ht enter upon a public sitting 
 to vote in the ordinary way of the ballot. 
 
 The right of speech in secret committee was then 
 given to the legislative body. 
 
 The tribunate become, since the institution of 
 the consulate for life, a sort of council of state, 
 reduced at this period to fifty members, and hav- 
 ing from custom only to examine the projects of 
 laws in private conferences with the counsellors of 
 state, the authors of these projects, received in the 
 new constitution an organization conformable to 
 the usages which it was about to adopt. It was 
 divided in:o three sections ; the first that of legisla- 
 tion, the seco id of the interior, and the third of the 
 finances. It could uot deliberate <>n the laws save in 
 an assembly of the sections, an 1 never in a general 
 nbly. Three orators were to go in the name 
 of the section to support its opinion before the 
 legislative body. This was to consecrate defini- 
 tively, by a constitutional disposition, the new form 
 imposed upon itself out of deference. 
 
 The power of the members was prorogued from 
 five to ten years, a favour for the individuals, which 
 diminished yet further the vitality of the body 
 itself, and more rarely still renewed its spirit 
 
 T.> all this was finally joined an institution which 
 was wanted for the security of the citizens, it was 
 that of a high court, which then in England and 
 now in France is found in the bosom of the chamber 
 of peers. The want of such a court appeared in the 
 process for the conspiracy of Georges, and in the 
 unfortunate execution at Vincennes. The disadvan- 
 if this want was the more felt under a dicta- 
 torial government, of which the agents only offered 
 a nominal responsibility, and it was not possible 
 to bring them before any of the bodies of the state. 
 Tiny had not then, in effect, as they have to-day, 
 the means to summon them before one of the 
 chambers. It was ofaamuch importance to procure 
 a guarantee to the government against the authors 
 of conspiracies, as it was to the citizens against the 
 agents of the public authority. 
 
 They affected to give to the institution of the 
 high court the apparent advantage that they en- 
 deavoured to bestow on the monarchical institu- 
 tion, that of adding as much to the liberty of the 
 citizen as of strength to the ruling power. In con- 
 sequence its seat was placed in the senate, still 
 
 without composing it of the senate wholly and en- 
 tirely. It was to be formed of sixty senators out 
 of one hundred and twenty, of six presidents of the 
 council of stat", of fourteen counsellors of state, of 
 twenty members of the court of cassation, of the 
 grand officers of the empire, of six grand digni- 
 taries, and of princi b having acquired a deliberal ive 
 voice. It was to be presided over by the arch- 
 chancellor. The court was charged to take notice 
 of all eon (piracies entered into against the security 
 of the state ; against the person of the emperor; 
 the arbitrary acts imputed to tbe ministers, and to 
 their agents; acts of forfeiture and extortion; 
 faults charged upon generals or admirals in the 
 e\. rcise of their commands ; offences committed 
 by the members of the imperial family, by the 
 
 great dignitaries, the great officers, the senators, 
 
 counsellors of stat-, and similar personages. It 
 m Ih tides a court of justice charged with 1 1 j • - re- 
 pression of great encroachments; ■ political juris- 
 diction for the ministers and agents of the public 
 
 authority; a tribunal of the marshals for soldiers; 
 and a court of peers for the grand personages of the 
 state. A public prosecutor, attached permanently 
 to this extraordinary jurisdiction, had the commis- 
 sion to prosecute from hisomce,in case complainants 
 did not take the lead in prosecutions themselves. 
 
 The sole modification introduced into the ordi- 
 nary regime of justice, was the appellation of 
 "court," which was substituted for that of tribunal 
 in those tribunals that were of the higher rank. 
 The tribunal of cassation was to take the title of 
 court of cassation, and the tribunals of appeal that 
 of imperial courts. 
 
 It was arranged that there should again be made 
 an act of reference to the national sovereignty, and 
 that open registers, in the form commonly used, 
 should receive the wishes of the citizens relative to 
 the establishment of the hereditary imperial suc- 
 cession in the descendants of Napoleon Bonaparte, 
 and his two brothers Joseph and Louis. 
 
 The emperor was within two years to take a 
 solemn oath to preserve the constitution of the 
 empire, in presence of the grand dignitaries, the 
 great officers, the ministers, the council of state, 
 the senate, the legislative body, the tribunate, the 
 court of cassation, the archbishops, the bishops, 
 the presidents of the courts of justice, the presi- 
 dents of the electoral colleges, and the mayors of 
 thirty-six of the principal cities and towns of the 
 republic. This was to be taken upon the evange- 
 lists, while repeating the text of the new constitu- 
 tional act to the French people. It was conceived 
 in the following terms : 
 
 " I swear to maintain the integrity of the terri- 
 tory of the republic ; to respect and make to be 
 respected the laws of the concordat and the liberty 
 of worship ; to respect and make to be respected 
 the equality of the laws, and liberty political and 
 civil, the irrevocability of the sales of the national 
 property ; not to levy any tax, but in virtue of the 
 law ; to maintain the institution of the legion of 
 honour ; and to govern in the sole view of the in- 
 terest, happiness, and glory of the French people." 
 
 Such were the conditions adopted for the new 
 monarchy, in a project of the senatus consultum, 
 written in a simple manner, precise and clear, as 
 were all the laws of those days. 
 
 This was the third and last transformation of 
 the celebrated constitution of M. Sieyes. We have 
 elsewhere said that it had been the work of this le- 
 gislator of the French revolution. The aristocratic 
 regime is the haven where those republics pass into 
 repose that do not finish in despotism. Sieyes, 
 perhaps, without a doubt on the matter, had sought 
 to conduct the French republic to the same port, 
 as much disgusted with tin' agitations of ten years, 
 as the republics of antiquity and of the middle 
 ages after those of centuries ; ami he had composed 
 
 his aristocracy with the notable and experienced 
 men of the revolution. In order to do this, he had 
 imagined an inactive; senate, but armed with im- 
 mense influence, electing its own members, and 
 those of all the bodies of tin' state, in the lists of 
 
 notability rarely renewed, nominating the chiefs of 
 the government, revoking them, striking them 
 with the ostracism at pleasure, not taking any 
 part iii making the laws, but able to abrogate them 
 when of an unconstitutional character; not exer- 
 cising, in a word, the power, but conferring it,
 
 .„„ Remarks on the constitu- 
 ooo tion as changed. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Treatment of the second 
 and tl.ird consuls. 
 
 1804. 
 May. 
 
 and having always the means of arresting it. He 
 had added a legislative body, equally inactive, 
 which admitted or rejected in silence the laws that 
 the council of state h;id been charged to make, and 
 the tribunate to discuss ; then, lastly, a supreme 
 representative of the executive power, called a 
 grand elector, elective, and for life, like a doge, 
 inactive as a king of England, nominated by the 
 senate, nominating the ministers in his turn, alone 
 acting, and alone responsible. In this fashion 
 Sieyes separated every where the influence from 
 the action ; the influence that delegated the power, 
 the control, and the decree, the action that it re- 
 ceived and exercised ; he had -given the first to an 
 idle aristocracy, highly placed ; the second to 
 agents elective and responsible. He had thus 
 arrived at a sort of aristocratic monarchy, without 
 hereditary succession, recalling Venice to mind 
 more than Great Britain, adapted to a country tired 
 of change rather than to one which was free. 
 
 Unhappily fi r the work of Sieyes, at the side of 
 this aristocracy without root, composed of disabused 
 and unpopular revolutionists, there was discovered 
 a man of genius that France and Europe denomi- 
 nated a saviour. There were few chances in favour 
 of this kind of an aristocracy defending itself like 
 that of Venice, against usurpation, and more par- 
 ticularly that in these times of rapid revolutions, 
 the contest would be very long. Before accept- 
 ing this constitution of M. Sieyes, general Bona- 
 parte had arranged his own place by making him- 
 self first cnsul in room of grand elector. Scarcely 
 had he begun to govern, than the intemperate re- 
 sistance of the tribunate restrained him in the 
 good which he wished to accomplish. He had 
 broken that down, to the great gratification of a 
 public tired of revolutions, and he got the consu- 
 late for life given to him by the senate. On the 
 same occasion he had added to the powers of the 
 senate the constituent power, not fearing to render 
 all-powerful a body which he himself governed ; he 
 had annulled the tribunate, by reducing that body 
 to fifty members, and dividing it into sections, that 
 discussed the proposed laws, hand to hand with 
 the sections of the council of state. Such was the 
 second transformation of the constitution of Sieyes, 
 or that which had existed in 1802 at the period of 
 the consulate for life. A vigorous hand had thus 
 contrived to alter, in the course of two years, this 
 aristocratic republic into a species of aristocratic 
 monarchy, to which nothing but the hereditary 
 succession was wanting. 
 
 Thus it was that in 1802, many persons de- 
 manded why the thing was not finished off at one ; 
 why the hereditary succession was not given to the 
 palpable monarch '. A conspiracy directed against 
 his life awakened, with greater force than ever, the 
 desire for more stable institutions, and, in fact, 
 brought about the last transformation, and the 
 definitive conversion of the constitution of the 
 year vm. into a monarchy, in form representative, 
 but absolute in fact. There were; found many 
 republican remnants at the side of despotic an 
 thority, a little like those in the empire founded 
 by the Csesars at Rome. This was not repre- 
 sentative monarchy, such as it is now understood. 
 The senate, with the power to elect all the bodies 
 of the state from the electoral lists, with its con- 
 stituent power, with its faculty to abrogate law 
 
 > 
 
 that senate, with so much of power, subjected 
 to one master, bore no resemblance to an upper 
 chamber. The silent legislative body, although it 
 had the right of speaking in a secret committee, 
 bore no resemblance to a chamber of deputies. 
 Yet, for all this, that senate, that legislative body, 
 all might become one day a representative mon- 
 archy. Thus the constitution of Sieyes, as modi- 
 fied by Napoleon, must not be judged by the dumb 
 obedience that reigned under the empire. 
 
 The constitution of 1830, with the press and the 
 tribune, would not have sensibly perhaps given 
 different results, because the spirit of the time 
 did more than the written laws. It would have 
 done to judge the imperial constitution under a 
 succeeding reign. Then the opposition, the inevi- 
 table consequence of a previous submission, would 
 have had birth even in the senate, so long a time 
 docile, but armed with enormous powers. It 
 would have been found most probably in accord 
 with the electoral colleges, making a choice con- 
 formable to the new spirit of the time ; it would 
 have broken the chains of the press ; it would 
 have opened the doors and windows of the palace 
 of the legislative body, so that its orators might 
 be heard afar. It had been then the represent- 
 ative monarchy existing at this day, witli the differ- 
 ence, that the resistance would come from on high 
 in place of below. This is no reason why it should 
 be less enlightened, less constant, or less cou- 
 rageous. But here is a secret that time has car- 
 ried away without explaining the event to us, as 
 it has carried away many besides. Still these in- 
 stitutions were far from meriting the contempt 
 which has been attached to them. They composed 
 an aristocradcal republic, turned aside from its 
 object by a powerful head, converted temporally 
 into an absolute monarchy, at a later period be- 
 coming again a constitutional monarchy, strongly 
 aristocratic, it is true, but founded on the basis of 
 equality ; because every fortunate soldier would, 
 under it, be able to arrive at the rank of con- 
 stable ; every able lawyer might become arch-chan- 
 cellor ; and after the example of the founder, any 
 one might become, from a simple officer of artillery, 
 an hereditary emperor, and master of the world. 
 
 Such was the work of the constituent committee 
 that met at St. Cloud. During the last days of the 
 meeting Cambaceres and Lebrun did not attend. 
 The alterations that the monarchical zeal of 
 Fouche', on one side, and the bad humour of Cam- 
 baceres, on the other, had provoked, were the 
 motives for which they had ceased to summon the 
 first and second consuls. The wisest of the 
 senators, among those which composed the com- 
 mission, had felt, and had made Napoleon feel 
 how necessary it was to satisfy his two colleagues 
 in the government by treating them with due con- 
 sideration. It was not necessary to notice the sub- 
 ject to him, because he well knew the worth of 
 Cambaceres, the second consul, appreciated his 
 unostentatious devotion, and designed to attach 
 him to the new monarchy. He made him come to 
 St. Cloud, entered anew into an explanation with 
 him on the last change, gave him his reasons, 
 heard those of the second consul, and terminated 
 the conversation by the expression of his will, 
 henceforth become irrevocable. He desired a 
 crown, and he was not to be contradicted. He
 
 1804. 
 May. 
 
 Disappointment of M. Talleyrand. THE EMPIRE. 
 
 Designation of the marshals. 
 
 567 
 
 had, besides, a good indemnification to offer to 
 Canibacc'res and Lebrnn. He designed fiir the 
 first the dignity of tli«- arch-chancellorship of the 
 empire, for the second that of arch •treasurer. He 
 thus treated them as he treated hie own brothers, 
 who were to he comprised in the number of the 
 six grand dignitaries. He announced this 
 lotion to Cambaceres ; he added those seducing 
 :ies, which at that time no one was able 
 to resi-t, and he succeeded in wholly regaining 
 him. 
 
 " I am now," he said to Cambn ceres," and I shall 
 he inure than ever, surrounded with intrigues 
 and falsely interested counsels ; you alone will 
 bare judgment and sincerity enough to speak the 
 truth to me. I wish, therefore, that you should 
 approach yet nearer to my person and ear. You 
 will continue to have all my confidence, and to 
 justify it.*' These testimonies were merited. Gam- 
 es, not having any thing more to desire, and 
 nothing more to tear for his elevated position, 
 came to be, and was in effect the more sincere, 
 the more true, the sole influential counsellor of all 
 belonging to the new emperor. 
 
 Joseph Bonaparte was named grand elector, 
 Louis Bonaparte constable. The two dignities of 
 arch-chancellor of state and of grand admiral were 
 reserved. Napoleon hesitated again about the 
 different members of his family. He had thought of 
 Lucien, who was absent, disgraced, hut whose recent 
 marriage he was in hopes of breaking ; of Eugene 
 Beauharnais, who had solicited nothing, but who 
 with perfect submission awaited all the kindu 
 his adopted father; and of Murat, too, who solicited 
 not by himself, but through his wife, young, hand- 
 some, and ambitious, but dear to Napoleon, and 
 making use with cleverness of the tender regard 
 which she inspired. 
 
 Talleyrand, the principal inventor of the new 
 dignities, sustained on this occasion a disappoint- 
 . that influenced his disposition in a vexa- 
 tious way, and at a later time threw him into an 
 opposition, unhappy for himself, and unfortunate 
 for .Napoleon, 'flu; place of arch-chancellor of the 
 empire, that corresponded with his judicial fune- 
 
 . having devolved upon the Second consul, 
 res, he hoped that the arch-chancellor- 
 ship of state, which corresponded with his diplo- 
 ■ functions, would naturally devolve upon him. 
 
 the new emperor had positively explained 
 
 ilf upon the subject. He would not admit 
 
 that the grand dignitaries should be ministers ; he 
 would only have- in ministers agents removabl 
 responsible, whom he could displace and punish 
 at will. Genera] Berthier was as precious an 
 instrument to him as Talleyrand. He, neverthe- 
 wished turn to remain a minister, as well as 
 Talleyrand, indemnifying them by valuable gifts. 
 The pride of Talleyrand was singularly wounded ; 
 and although ever a courtier, he commenced, not- 
 withstanding, to Suffer his attitude of a discon- 
 tented man to become visible, though at that time 
 it was tolerably restrained, bul at a lab r pi riod 
 became l< - SO, and gained for him at length I 
 disgrace. 
 
 Over and above these there remained, whether 
 in the army or in tb' court, pin© lit to content 
 every grade of ambition. Tier, were four mar- 
 shals' places, honorary one-., to I..: given to tie 
 
 generals who had gone to repose in the senate, and 
 sixteen to those who, full of youth, were to figure 
 for a long time yet at the head of the army in ac- 
 tivity. Napoleon reserved the four honorary mar- 
 shalships, the first for Kellermann and the recol- 
 lections of Valmy ; for Lefebvre, for his trii d bra- 
 very and devotion on the 18th Brumaire ; for Pe- 
 rfgnon and Serrurier, for the respect they so justly 
 bore in the army. Of sixteen marshals' places 
 vacant, destined for generals in active service, he 
 wished to confer fourteen immediately, and to keep 
 two for the recompense of future merit. These 
 fourteen batons were given to general Jourdan, for 
 the noble remembrance of Fleurus ; to general 
 Berthier, for his eminent services and continuance 
 at the head of the staff ; to general Massena, for 
 Rivoli, Zurich, and Genoa ; to the generals Lannes 
 and Ney, for a long succession of heroic actions ; 
 to general Augereau, for Casti^lione ; to general 
 Brune, for the defence of the Helder ; to .Murat, 
 for his chivalrous conduct at the head of the 
 French cavalry ; to general Bessicres, as com- 
 mander of the guard, which he had held since the 
 day of Marengo, and of which he was worthy ; to 
 generals Moncey and Mortier, for their military 
 merit ; to general Soul; for his services in Switzer- 
 land, at Genoa, and at the camp of Boulogne ; and 
 to general Davotit, for his conduct in Egypt, and 
 tlte firmness of character of which he had given 
 such brilliant proofs ; lastly, to general Bernadotte, 
 for a certain degree of renown acquired in the 
 •armies of the Sombre and Meuse, as well as or. the 
 Rhine, for his consanguinity, more particularly, 
 in spite of an envious hatred that Napoleon dis- 
 covered in the heart of this officer, which had 
 already given him the presentiment, several times 
 loudly expressed, of future treason. 
 
 A general who had not yet commanded in chief, 
 but who had, like generals Lanhes, Ney, and 
 Soult, directed considerable bodies of troops, and 
 who merited the baton of marshal as much as the 
 i already quoted, was not upon the list of 
 new marshals. This was Gouvion St. Cyr, who, if 
 he ilid not equal Massena in his warlike character 
 under fire, surpassed him in intelligence and in 
 military combinations. Since Moreau had been 
 o Fiance by his political errors, ami since 
 Klebcr and Desaix were no more, he was with 
 
 na the man m able of commanding an 
 
 army ; Napoleon, it 1m ing well understood, could 
 not be put, in comparison with any one. But St. 
 Cyr's jealous and unsocial character began to re- 
 ceive in return the < Ine^s of the supreme distri- 
 butor id' favours. With the sovereign power came 
 its weaknesses ; and Napoleon, w ho pardoned Ber- 
 nadotte for his petty treasons, the presage of a 
 greater one, knew not how to pardon in St. Cyr 
 his aspirin"; spirit. Still general St. Cyr bad 
 ranked among the colonels-generals, and became 
 colonel-general of cuirassiers. Junol and Mar- 
 iniiiit, faithful aides-de-camp of general Bonaparte, 
 were nominated colonels-generals of hussars and 
 chasseurs, and Baraguay-d'Hilliers of dragoons. 
 General Marescot received the tank of colonel- 
 general of engineers, and general Songis that of 
 inspector-general of artillery. In the navy, vice- 
 admiral Bruix, the commander and organizer of 
 the flotilla, obtained tie- baton of admiral, and was 
 inspector-general of the coast* upon the
 
 Selections of the imperial 
 568 household. — Fouche re- 
 stored to place. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Proclamation of Napo- 
 leon as emperor by 
 the senate. 
 
 1804. 
 May. 
 
 ocean ; vice-admiral Decres was named inspector- 
 general of the coasts on the Mediterranean. 
 
 The court offered great situations for distribu- 
 tion. It was organized with all the pomp of the 
 old French monarchy, and more brilliancy than the 
 imperial court of Germany. It was to have a 
 grand almoner, a grand chamberlain, a grand 
 huntsman, a grand equerry, a grand master of the 
 ceremonies, and a grand marshal of the palace. 
 The office of grand almoner was conferred upon 
 cardinal Fesch, uncle of Napoleon; that of grand 
 chamberlain on Talleyrand; that of grand hunts- 
 man on general Berthier. To the two last these 
 offices of the court were an indemnification des- 
 tined to compensate them for not having obtained 
 two of the grand dignities of the empire. The 
 office of grand equerry was conferred upon M. de 
 Caulaincourt, in order to make up to him for the 
 calumnies of the royalists, pressing upon him since 
 the death of the duke d'finghien. M. de Segur, 
 the former ambassador of Louis XVI. to Catherine 
 of Russia, one of the men best adapted to teach 
 Hie new court the usages of the old, was nominated 
 grand master of the ceremonies. Duroc, who go- 
 verned the consular now become the imperial 
 household, was to remain the governor under the 
 title of grand master of the palace. 
 
 Neither lesser appointments, nor the subaltern 
 candidates who disputed for them, is it needful to 
 cite here. History has only to recount the more 
 prominent facts. It only descends to such details, 
 when they are of importance for painting the man- 
 ners of the time with fidelity. It need only be 
 said that the emigrants, who before the death of 
 the duke d'Enghien tended to approximate some- 
 what towards the government, and who after that 
 event had for a moment gone off again, but who, 
 forgetful of all the world, thought already less of a 
 catastrophe grown two months old, began to figure 
 in the number of candidates for honours, anxious 
 to have places in the imperial court. Some were 
 admitted. It was contemplated above all to or- 
 ganize for the empress a sumptuous household. 
 A personage of high birth, Madame de la Roche- 
 foucauld, destitute of beauty but not of mind, dis- 
 tinguished by her education and her manners, for- 
 merly very much of a royalist, and now laughing 
 gracefully at its blind passions, was destined to be 
 the principal lady of honour to Josephine. 
 
 These selections were known betore they were 
 published in the Moniteur, and published from 
 mouth to mouth in the midst of the unfailing 
 speeches of approvers and disapprovcrs ; they had 
 a great deal to do in order to communicate all that 
 inspired them at so singular a spectacle, each cen- 
 suring or applauding according to their friendships 
 or their dislikes, the pretensions satisfied or crossed, 
 scarcely any person following his political opinions, 
 because then no one had any political opinions, ex- 
 cept the hot-headed royalists or the implacable re- 
 publicans. 
 
 To these nominations there was added one much 
 more serious, that of M. Fouche, who was called 
 to the ministry of the police, re-established for liini, 
 as a recompense of the services which he had ren- 
 dered during the late events. 
 
 It was required to give to these selections, and 
 to the greatest of all, that which created out of a 
 general of the republic an hereditary monarch, the 
 
 character of official acts. The senatus consultum 
 was settled upon and drawn up. It was agreed that 
 it should be presented to the senate on the 20th of 
 Flore'al, or 16th of May, 1804, in order that it 
 might be decreed in the usual form. This presen- 
 tation having taken place, a commission was imme- 
 diately appointed to make its report. M. de La- 
 cepede was charged with the report, a man of 
 learning, and a senator devoted to Napoleon. It 
 was completed in forty- eight hours, and carried to 
 the senate on the morrow or 28th of Flore'al, the 
 18th of May. This day was destined for the solemn 
 proclamation of Napoleon as emperor. It had 
 been decided that the consul Cambace'res should 
 preside in the sitting of the senate, in order that 
 his adhesion to the new monarchical establishment 
 should be more striking. M. de Lacepede had 
 scarcely finished reading his report, when the se- 
 nators, without the appearance of a single dissen- 
 tient, and with a sort of unanimous acclamation, 
 adopted the entire senatus consultum. They even 
 awaited with the utmost visible impatience the in- 
 dispensable formalities with which such an act 
 must be accompanied, so eager were they to pro- 
 ceed to St. Cloud. It was agreed that the senate 
 should go in a body to that place, to present its 
 decree to the first consul, and to salute him with 
 the title of emperor. Scarcely was the adoption 
 of the senatus consultum terminated, than the se- 
 nators raised the sitting tumultuously, in order to 
 reach their carriages and be the first to arrive at 
 St. Cloud. 
 
 The necessary dispositions had been made at the 
 palace of the senate, on the route, and even at St. 
 (loud, for this unequalled scene. A long file of 
 carriages, escorted by the cavalry of the guard, 
 carried the senators as far as the residence of the 
 first consul on a superb day in spring. Napoleon 
 and Josephine, having received notice, attended 
 this solemn visit. Napoleon standing in military 
 uniform, calm, as he knew how to bear himself 
 when men regarded him, his wife at times satis- 
 fied and troubled, received the senate, which was 
 conducted by the arch-chancellor Cambaceres. 
 This his respectable colleague, and yet more re- 
 spectable subject, addressed, bowing low, the fol- 
 lowing words to the soldier whom he was about to 
 proclaim emperor : — 
 " Sire, 
 
 " The love and gratitude of the French people 
 have during four years confided to your majesty the 
 reins of government, and the constitutions of the 
 state already make in you their choice of a suc- 
 cessor. The denomination more imposing which 
 is decreed you to-day is nothing but the tribute 
 which the nation pays to its own dignity, and to 
 the necessity which it feels of giving you every day 
 fresh testimonies of an esteem and attachment 
 which every day sees augmenting. How can the 
 French people think without enthusiasm of the hap- 
 piness it has received since Providence inspired it 
 with the thought of throwing itself into your arms ! 
 
 " The armies had been vanquished ; the finances 
 were in disorder ; public credit was annihilated ; 
 factions disputed among them the remnants of our 
 former splendour ; the sense of religion and even 
 of morals was obscured ; the habit of giving and of 
 taking away authority left the magistrates without 
 respeot.
 
 1804. 
 May. 
 
 Address of the senate. — 
 Speech of Napoleon in 
 reply. 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 Napoleon suggests his coronation 
 in Paris. 
 
 569 
 
 " Your majesty appeared. You recalled victory 
 to our standard ; you established order and eco- 
 nomy in the public expenditure ; the nation, en- 
 couraged by the acts which you knew how to per- 
 form, regained confidence in its own resources ; 
 your wis loin calmed the fury of parties; religion 
 saw you raise up her altars ; finally, and this is 
 without donbt the greatest of the miracles operated 
 by your genius, the people that civil effervescence 
 had rendered incapable of all restraint, the enemy 
 of every authority, you have known how to make 
 cherish and respect a power that was never exer- 
 cised except for its glory and repose. 
 
 '• Tin' French people does not pretend to make 
 itself a judge of the constitutions of other states; it 
 has no critical remarks to make, no examples to 
 follow ; experience henceforward will become its 
 teacher. 
 
 "It hail for ages tasted the advantages attached 
 to hereditary power ; it had made a short experi- 
 ment, but a painful one, of the contrary system; 
 it re-enters, through the effect of a free delibera- 
 tion, upon a regime conformable to its own na- 
 ture. It freely uses its right to delegate to your 
 imperial majesty a power that its interest forbids 
 it to exercise of itself. It stipulates on behalf of 
 the generations to come, by a solemn compact 
 confiding the happiness of its posterity to the 
 offspring of your race. 
 
 " Happy the nation that after so many troubles 
 finds in its bosom a man capable of appeasing the 
 tempest of angry passions, of conciliating all inter- 
 ests, and of uniting all suffrages ! 
 
 " If it is in the principles of our constitution to 
 submit to the sanction of the people the part of 
 the decree which concerns the establishment of 
 the hereditary government, the senate has thought 
 it is bound to supplicate your imperial majesty 
 to agree that the organic dispositions should re- 
 ceive their execution immediately ; and for the 
 glory, as for the honour and happiness of the 
 republic, it proclaims at this moment, Napoleon, 
 emp TOT of tin /■'/•• '"•// /" 
 
 Scarcely had the arch-chancellor terminated 
 tie se words, when the cry of '■ Long live the em- 
 peror," res .u;i d'-d beneath the ceilings of the 
 palace of St. (loud. Heard in the courts ami in the 
 garden*, the same cry w;is repeated there with joy 
 and tumultuous applauses. Confidence and hope 
 were in all countenances, and all who attended, 
 enchained by the interest of the scene, believed 
 that for a Ion;,' time they had insured their happi- 
 B and that of Fiance. The areh-eliaiieellor, 
 
 Cambaceres himself, led away, seemed to have 
 
 always ih sin 1 that which at this moment he ac- 
 complished. 
 
 Site being re-established, the emperor ad- 
 
 di'i seed the follow ing words to the senate; ; — 
 
 "All that can contribute to the good of the 
 country is ess* ntially allied to my happiness. 
 
 " I accept the title that yon believe is of utility 
 to the glory of the nation. 
 
 " I submit to the sanction of the people the law 
 of hereditary succession. I hope Prance will 
 never have to repent the honours with which she 
 orrounded my family. 
 
 "In all cases, my spirit will cease to animate 
 my posterity the day when it will cease to merit 
 the love and confidence of the great nation." 
 
 Reiterated acclamations followed these noble 
 words ; then the senate, through the organ of its 
 president Cambacc'res, addressed some phrases of 
 congratulation to the new empress, which she 
 heard, according to custom, with perfect good 
 grace, and to which she did not reply except by 
 her deep emotion. 
 
 The senate afterwards retired, having attached 
 to this man, born so far from a throne, the title of 
 emperor, which he never more lost, even after his 
 fall and in his exile. He will henceforward be so 
 styled here; it was his own title, dating from the 
 day just described. The wish of the nation was so 
 certain, that there was something puerile in the 
 care that was taken to state it ; the wish of the 
 nation was to decide the hereditary succession; 
 but in the rhean while he was emperor of the 
 French, by the power of the senate acting within 
 the limit of its privileges. 
 
 When the senators retired, Napoleon retained 
 the arch-chancellor Cambace'res, and desired him 
 to remain and dine with the imperial family. The 
 emperor and empress loaded him with their kind- 
 nesses, and endeavoured to make him forget the 
 distance that henceforward separated him from his 
 old colleague. Besides this the arch-chancellor 
 might well console himself ; in reality he had not 
 descended ; his master had only risen, and had 
 raised every body with himself. 
 
 The emperor and the arch-chancellor Cam- 
 bace'res had to confer upon several important sub- 
 jects which were allied to the events of that day. 
 These were the ceremony of the coronation and 
 the new re'gime to be given to the Italian republic, 
 which it was not possible to keep so near France, 
 thus converted into a monarchy. Napoleon, who 
 was fond of the marvellous, had conceived a 
 bold idea, the accomplishment of which might 
 seize upon the public mind, and render still more 
 extraordinary his accession to the throne. This 
 was to have himself crowned by the pope in person, 
 transported for the purpose of such a solemnity 
 from Rome to Paris. The thing had no example 
 in the eighteen centuries that the church had 
 existed. All the emperors of Germany, without 
 exception, had gone to be crowned at Rome. 
 Charlemagne proclaimed emperor of the West in 
 the church of St. Peter, in some sort by surprise, 
 on Christmas-day, 800, had not seen the pope dis- 
 placed even for him. Pepin, it is true, had been 
 crowned in France by pope Stephen, but this pope 
 hud gone there to solicit succour against the Lom- 
 bards. It was the first time thai a pope would 
 have quitted Koine to consecrate the rights of a 
 
 new monarch in the new monarch's own capital. 
 The instance in past time, to which it had a resem- 
 blance, was the effect of the church recompensing, 
 
 by the title of emperor, tin- fortunate soldier uho 
 had hut it succour; a wonderful resemblance with 
 Charlemagne, by replacing in a way fully sufficient, 
 
 that legitimacy of which the Bourbons so vainly 
 boasted, but rendered of small esteem by their de- 
 feat, their misconduct, and their co-operation in 
 
 unworthy plots. 
 
 This idea scarcely conceived, Napoleon at once 
 converted it into an irrevocable resolution, and pro- 
 mised himself to bring I'ius VII. to Paris by some 
 means, either by seduction or fear. It was the 
 most difficult of negotiations, one in which no other 

 
 570 
 
 Difficulties respecting 
 the Italian republic. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The slate bodies take 
 the nail's to the new- 
 em peror. 
 
 1804. 
 May. 
 
 than himself would have been able to succeed. He 
 proposed to help his object through cardinal 
 Caprara, who did not cease to write to Rome, that 
 without Napoleon, religion would have been lost in 
 France, and perhaps even in Europe. He com- 
 municated his design to the arch-chancellor Cam- 
 bace'res, and arranged with him the best steps to 
 be taken, to make the first attack upon the preju- 
 dices, the scruples, and the inaction of the Roman 
 court. 
 
 As to the Italian republic, it would have been 
 for two years before a theatre of confusion without 
 the presidency of general Bonaparte. At first 
 M. Meizi, an honest man, sensible enough, but 
 morose, eaten up with the gout, always ready to 
 give in his resignation as vice-president, not having 
 the character necessary for supporting t!:e heavy 
 weight of the government, was a very insufficient 
 representative of the public authority. Murat, 
 commandant of the French army in Italy, caused 
 broils in the Italian government, which added 
 to the vexatious position of M. Meizi. Napoleon 
 interfered unceasingly to keep the two authorities 
 in agreement. To these present difficulties were 
 joined those which necessarily arise from the very 
 foundation of things. The Italians, as yet little 
 fashioned to a constituent regime, that admitted 
 them to a participation in their own affairs, were 
 always either in a state of perfect indifference or 
 of extreme vehemence. For governing purposes 
 there were only a moderate few to be found, very 
 much tumbled in supporting the character they 
 had to sustain, placed as they were between the 
 nobles devoted to the Austrians, the liberals to 
 Jacobinism, and the mass of the people sensible to 
 nothing but the weight of taxation. These hist 
 complained of the expenses of the French occupa- 
 tion. " We are governed by strangers, and our 
 money goes beyond the mountains :" this kind of 
 discourse, so common in Italy, was again heard 
 uiuler the new republic as it had been under the 
 sway of the house of Austria. There were but a 
 small number of enlightened men, who felt that, 
 thanks to general Bonaparte, the greater part of 
 Lombardy, united in a single state, governed in 
 reality by those of the same nation, placed only 
 under an exterior and distant inspection, was thus 
 called into an existence of its own, the commence- 
 ment of an Italian unity ; that is, (hey must pay 
 twenty millions per annum for a French army, 
 a very moderate indemnity for the support of an 
 army of thirty or forty thousand men, indispensa- 
 ble, if they would not again fall under the yoke of 
 the Austrians. Nevertheless, in spite of the som- 
 bre hue with which the sickly mind of M. Meizi 
 coloured the picture of Italian affairs, those affairs, 
 after all, went on peaceably, under the dominant 
 hand of Napoleon. 
 
 To convert this republic into a vassal monarchy 
 of the empire, and bestow it upon Joseph Bona- 
 parte, for example, was to commence the em- 
 pire of the West, that Napoleon already dreamed 
 about, in an ambition, henceforward without limits; 
 it was to assure a regime more stable in Italy ; it 
 was probably to content it, because the Italians 
 loved much to have a prince among them; and 
 being a change, it would have satisfied, it' only by 
 the title, their uneasy and restless imaginations. 
 It was agreed that the arch-chancellor Camba- 
 
 ceres, very intimate with M. Meizi, should write to 
 hiin, in order to make upon the subject such 
 overtures as seemed most advisable. 
 
 Napoleon, after having placed in due accord 
 with his old colleague all he had to do at that 
 time, commanded the cardinal legate to attend at 
 St. Cloud, spoke to him in an affectionate tone, 
 but in one so positive, that it did not come into 
 the cardinal's mind to dare a single objection. 
 Napoleon told him that he charged him expressly 
 to request the pope to come to Paris to officiate at 
 the ceremonial of the coronation ; that he would 
 make the formal demand at a later period, when 
 he was certain of not being refused : that he did 
 not doubt the success of his wishes; that the 
 church was bound to adhere to him, and owed it 
 to herself to do so, because nothing would more 
 serve religion than the presence of the sovereign 
 pontiff' in Paris, and the union of religious to the 
 civil pomp on such a solemn occasion. Cardinal 
 Caprara sent oft' a courier to Rome, and Talley- 
 rand, on his side, wrote to cardinal Fesch, to 
 inform him of the new design, and i request him to 
 support the negotiation. 
 
 It was spring, Napoleon wished the journey of 
 the pope to take place in the autumn. He proposed 
 to himself the addition id' another wonder to that 
 of the pope crowning at Paris the representative of 
 the French revolution ; this was the expedition to 
 England, that he had adjourned in consequence of 
 the royalists' conspiracy and of the institution of 
 the empire, but of which he had so far completed 
 the preparations, that the success did not. Seem in 
 his own view to be doubtful. A month, more or 
 less, was only necessary for his purpose, because 
 he desired to strike a blow like a thunder-bolt. He 
 designed July or August for this grand operation. 
 He hoped, then, towards October to return vic- 
 torious, possessed of the definitive peace, and of all 
 the power of Europe, and to be able to get himself 
 crowned by the commencement of the winter on 
 tlie anniversary day of the 18 h Brumaire, or 9th 
 of November, lcJ04. In his ardent mind, he 
 turned over all these projects, and it will be soon 
 seen, by the last combination he devised, that 
 they were not an utter chimera. 
 
 The arch-chancellor Can iba ceres wrote, on his 
 side, to M. Meizi, regarding the affairs of the new 
 kingdom of Italy. M. Marescalchi, the minister 
 of the Italian republic in Paris, was to support the 
 overtures id' Cambaceres to M Meizi. 
 
 The subsequent days were employed in taking 
 the oath to the new sovereign of France. All the 
 members of the senate, the legislative body, and 
 the tribunate, were successively introduced. The 
 arch-chancellor, Cambaceies, standing at the side 
 of the emperor, who was seated, read the form of 
 the oath; the personage admitted swore directly 
 afterwards; the emperor, halt raising himself from 
 his imperial chair, returned a light salute to him 
 from whom he had just received homage. This 
 sudden difference introduced into the relations be- 
 tween the subject and the sovereign, who, the day 
 before, was their equal, produced some sensation 
 among the members of the bodies of the state. 
 having given him the crown under a sort 
 of hurried train of events, tiny wen- surprised on 
 seeing the first consequences of what they had 
 done. Carnot, the tribune, true to his promise of
 
 1804. 
 
 May. 
 
 Feelings of the public- 
 Popular votes taken. 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 The process of Georges and 
 Mureau terminated. 
 
 571 
 
 submitting to tlie law when once passed, took the 
 oath with the other members of the tribunate. He 
 there exhibited the dignity of obedience to the 
 law, appearing even to perceive less than others 
 the changes operated in the external forms of 
 power. But the senators, above all, perceived 
 this, and held apon the subject more than one 
 malicious conversation. One circumstance con- 
 tributed more particularly to inspire them with 
 tli i-^ kind of discourse. Of the thirty and some 
 odd senators instituted at the epoch of the con- 
 sulate for life, their remained fifteen to till up ; 
 tlii.se of Agen, Ajaccio, Angers, Besancon, Bourses, 
 Colmar, Dijon, Limoges, Lyons, Montpellier, 
 Kan.- . . Paris, Pau, and Riom. They were 
 
 given away on the 2nd Prairial, or 22nd of May. 
 Lace*|>ede, Kellermann, Francoise de Neufchateau, 
 and Bertholkt, were of the number of the parties 
 thus favoured. But in :i hundred senators, of 
 whom more than eighty were yet to be satisfied, 
 
 ;i contents did not form a sufficient majority. 
 Neverthi less, those who had missed senator's 
 ]. laces, had others in view, and had no reason to 
 be in despair. But while thus waiting, somewhat 
 of ill humour was discoverable in their language. 
 The Moniteur was every day filled with nomina- 
 tions of chamberlains, equerries, ladies of honour, 
 and tire-women. What the personal grandeur 
 of the new emperor did might be pardoned him, 
 but it was not the same with those whom he elevated 
 in his train. The uneasy activity of the repub- 
 licans, impatient to become courtiers, and of royal- 
 ists pressing forward to serve him whom they de- 
 nominated a usurper, was a strange and singular 
 spectacle ; and i; to the natural effect of this 
 spectacle be added the hopes, deceived or delayed, 
 that were avenged in spiteful speeches, it may be 
 comprehended, that at the moment they criticised, 
 
 I, contemned, in a word, talked a great deal. 
 But the i -harmed to have a government 
 
 as glorious as it was benevolent, struck with the 
 
 : .If 1 BCene, of which they only perceived 
 the entire, and not the details, felt not at all en- 
 vious of those- happy creatures of aday, who had 
 succeeded in making their children pages, their 
 uivi - ladi of honour, and themselves prefects 
 of the palace or chamberlains; the masses had 
 been att ntive to what was going forward, and 
 
 • Inch soon changed 
 into admiration. Napoleon, the sub-lieutenant of 
 artillery, acknowledged and accepted by Europe, 
 and lifted on high in tie midst of a profound calm, 
 
 red with tie- brilliancy of his fortunes the 
 littleness mingled up in this prodigious i 
 Tiny no more experienced, it is true, that eager 
 sentiment, which in 17!'!' had carried the astonished 
 nation into a rac in advance of its saviour; the) 
 no more experienced the sentiment of gratitude 
 that in 1802 bad carried the delighted nation on 
 t. decreeing to its benefactor a perpetuity of his 
 
 r; tiny were, in fact, let prettied t>> pay in 
 an who bad BO well taken care h) 
 
 pay himself. Bui they judged him worthy of the 
 try government ; they admired 
 
 him who bad dared to take it ; they approved of 
 establishment, because it wan a more corn- 
 return to order; they were, in fine, dazzled 
 
 at the wonders in which they aided. Thus, al- 
 though with sentiments a little differt ni From tie e 
 
 which they had at heart in 1700 and in 1802, the 
 citizens went with eagerness to all the places where 
 the registers were opened, to enrol their votes. 
 The affirmative suffrages were entered by millions, 
 and scarcely any negative suffrages, or very rarely 
 a single one, as if to show the liberty which they 
 enjoyed, made their appearance in the immense 
 mass of favourable votes. 
 
 Napoleon had only one last disagreeable affair 
 to encounter before coming into possession of 
 his new title. It was necessary to finish the pro- 
 cess against Georges and Moreau, in which they 
 had, at first, engaged with full confidence. In 
 relation to Georges and his accomplices, or as re- 
 spected Pichegru himself, if he had lived, the 
 difficulty was not so great; the process would 
 have covered them with confusion, and proved the 
 participation of the emigrant princes in their plots. 
 But Moreau was connected with their cause. It 
 was believed at the commencement that more 
 proofs would be found than there really existed 
 against him; and although his crime was evident 
 to persons of sound understanding, still the ma- 
 levolent had the means left of denying it. Besides, 
 there was the involuntary sentiment of pity felt 
 at the aspect of the contrast afforded by the two 
 first generals of the republic, the one mounted 
 upon a throne, the other in fetters, and destined, 
 not for the scaffold, but for exile. Every con- 
 sideration, even that of justice itself, was placed 
 aside in a similar case, and the wrong would be 
 given more willingly to the fortunate if there had 
 been ground. 
 
 Those who were accused with Moreau, advised 
 by their defenders, contrived so as completely 
 to escape involving him. They had been much 
 irritated against him at the opening of the pro- 
 ceedings; but interest predominated over passion; 
 they promised to save him if possible. It was 
 first, the greatest moral cheek against Napoleon, 
 to make Moreau, his rival, shake off his fetters, and 
 corn ■ out victorious over the accusation laid against 
 him, covered with the robe of innocence, aggran- 
 dized by persecution, and rendered an impla 
 enemy. Further, if Moreau had not conspired, 
 they would have been able to assert that there 
 been no conspiracy, that is to say, not a criminal 
 one, and from thence deduce that none were guilty. 
 Their own safety, therefore, as far as the royalists 
 were concerned, bordered on calculations as to 
 party connexion, and hound them to keep to the 
 line of conduct proposed. 
 
 The bar, always disposed in favour of the ac- 
 . the people of Paris, independent in their 
 judgments, and in willing opposition, when serious 
 events do nut attach them to power, were pas- 
 sionately in favour of Moreau, and expressed 
 their wishes in his behalf. Those even, who with- 
 out malevolence towards Napoleon, saw only in 
 Moreau an illustrious and unfortunate soldier, 
 whose services might yet become useful, wished 
 that he should be pronounced innocent of the 
 charge, that he might be restored once more to tho 
 army and to France. 
 
 The trial began on the 28th of May, or 8th 
 Prairial, year mi., in the midst of an immense 
 
 attendance of people. The accused were numerous, 
 arranged on lour rows of seats. The altitude of 
 all was not the same; Georges and his own party
 
 572 
 
 Conduct of Moreau on 
 the trial. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Defence made by 
 Moreau. 
 
 1804. 
 May. 
 
 exhibited an affected assurance : they felt them- 
 selves at their ease, because after all, they were 
 able to call themselves the devoted victims of then- 
 cause. Still the arrogance of some did not dis- 
 pose the spectators to judge favourably of them. 
 Georges, although elevated in the sight of the 
 crowd by the acknowledged energy of his cha- 
 racter, caused some marks of indignation among 
 the people. But the unfortunate Moreau, burdened 
 with his glory, deploring at this moment an illus- 
 tration which made him of so much value in the 
 eager regards of the multitude, was deprived of 
 that tranquil self-possession, which constituted his 
 principal merit in war. He evidently asked him- 
 self what he did there among the royalists — he, 
 who was one of the heroes of the revolution, and 
 who, if lie did himself justice, could only have 
 been able to repeat, in his own mind, the one 
 thing, that he had merited his doom from having 
 yielded to the deplorable vice of jealousy. Among 
 the numerous accused the public searched for him 
 alone. There were even some applauses heard 
 from old soldiers among the crowd, and from dis- 
 consolate revolutionists, believing they saw the 
 republic itself sitting on that prisoner's stool, on 
 which was now seated the general-in-chief of the 
 army of the Rhine. This curiosity, and these 
 homages to himself, embarrassed Moreau ; for 
 whilst the others declared with loud emphasis 
 their names, obscure or too sadly celebrated, he 
 pronounced his own glorious name so low, that it 
 was heard with difficulty. A just self-censure for 
 a noble reputation compromised. 
 
 The proceedings were long. The system which 
 it had been agreed upon to adopt was exactly fol- 
 lowed. Georges, M. de Polignac, and M. de Riviere, 
 had only come to Paris, they said, because it had 
 been represented to them that the new government 
 was wholly unpopular, and the public mind uni- 
 versally returned to the Bourbons. They did not 
 conceal their attachment to the cause of the legiti- 
 mate princes, and their disposition to co-operate 
 in a movement, if a movement had been possible ; 
 but they added that Moreau, whom intriguers re- 
 presented as quite ready to welcome the Bourbons, 
 had not thought of it, and would not hear any of 
 their propositions. Ever since then they had not 
 even thought of conspiring. Georges, interrogated 
 on the foundation of the design, and in presence of 
 his first declarations, in which he had avowed that 
 he came to assail the first consul on the road to 
 Malmaison, with a French prince at his side — 
 Georges, confounded, replied that without doubt 
 they should have thought of it at a later period, 
 if an insurrectional movement had seemed oppor- 
 tune, but that nothing being possible at the mo- 
 ment, they had not even occupied their minds with 
 the plan of attack. Upon showing him the poig- 
 nards, the uniforms designed for the Chouans, and 
 the Chouans themselves seated near him, on the 
 benches of the accused, he did not exhibit him- 
 self exactly disconcerted, but he became silent, 
 appearing to avow by his silence that the system 
 invented for his co-accused partisans and for Mo- 
 reau, was neither true nor praiseworthy. There 
 was but one point on which they all rested in con- 
 formity with their past declarations, and this was 
 the presence of a French prince in the midst of 
 them. They felt, in effect, that in order not to be 
 
 ranked in the class of assassins, it was necessary 
 to be aide to say that they had a prince at their 
 head. It was of little importance to them to com- 
 promise the royal dignity ; a Bourbon gave them 
 the character of soldiers combating for the legiti- 
 mate dynasty. Besides, when the imprudent 
 Bourbons had saved their own lives in London, 
 without disturbing themselves about their un- 
 happy victims, those victims might well be justified 
 in attempting the salvation in Paris, if not of their 
 own lives, at least of their honour. 
 
 As to Moreau, his system of defence was more 
 specious, because he had never varied. That sys- 
 tem he had already laid open in a letter to the first 
 consul, unhappily for him written too late, a long 
 time after the useless interrogatories of the grand 
 judge, and when the government, engaged in the 
 proceedings, was unable to draw back without ap- 
 pearing to fear a public trial. He avowed that he 
 had seen Pichegru, but only with the object of 
 being reconciled to him, and to manage some means 
 for him to return to France. After the settlement 
 of the civil troubles, he had thought that the con- 
 queror of Holland was worth the trouble of re- 
 storing to the republic. He had not been willing 
 to see him openly, or to solicit his appeal directly, 
 having lost all influence by his coolness with the 
 first consul. The mystery with which he sur- 
 rounded himself had had no other motive. It was 
 true that on this occasion Pichegru had made use 
 of the opportunity to speak of designs against the 
 government, but he had repulsed them as ridi- 
 culous. He had not denounced them, because he 
 believed them to be devoid of any danger, and 
 because such a man as himself ought not to put 
 on the character of an informer. 
 
 This defence sustainable,if positive circumstances 
 and irrefutable witnesses had not rendered it in- 
 admissible, gave place to very close examinations, 
 in which Moreau recovered his true presence of 
 mind, a little in the way it happened to him in 
 war upon any pressing occasion. He even made 
 noble replies, singularly applauded by the auditory. 
 " Pichegru was a traitor," the president said to 
 him, " and even denounced by yourself to the di- 
 rectory. How could you dream of being recon- 
 ciled to him, and of bringing him back to France ?" 
 
 "At the time," replied Moreau, "when the army 
 of Conde' filled the saloons of Paris and those of the 
 first consul, I might well be justified in occupying 
 myself with bringing the conqueror of Holland 
 back to France." 
 
 Upon the same subject they asked him why, 
 under the directory, he had been so late to de- 
 nounce Pichegru, and thus seemed to throw sus- 
 picion upon his past life. 
 
 " I had cut short the interviews of Pichegru," 
 he replied, " and of the prince of Conde" on the 
 frontier, by placing, through the victories of my 
 army, eighty leagues of space between that prince 
 and the Rhine. The danger over, I left to a 
 council of war the care of examining the papers 
 thus found, and of sending to the government such 
 as it might judge useful." 
 
 Moreau, interrogated upon the nature of the plot 
 in which they had proposed to him to become an 
 associate, persisted in asserting that he had re- 
 pulsed it. " Yes," they said to him, " you re- 
 pulsed the proposition to place the Bourbons upon
 
 1804. 
 June. 
 
 Roland implicates Moreau. 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 Fresh evidence tendered against 
 Moreau. 
 
 573 
 
 the throne, but you consented to serve Pichegrn 
 and Georges for the purpose of overturning the 
 consular government, in the hope to receive the 
 dictatorship at their bands." 
 
 •• They attribute to me, then,'' replied Moreau, 
 "a ridiculous project, that of making me serve 
 the royalists to become dictator, believing that if 
 they were victorious, they would remit the power 
 into my hands, 1 have conducted war for ten 
 years, and during that ten years I have never, 
 that I am aware, done very ridiculous things." 
 
 This noble allusion to his past life was covered 
 with applause. Hut all the witnesses were not 
 in tit - of the royalists ; all were not pre- 
 
 1 for a desertion of their first depositions. 
 Tin re was one witness, named Roland, formerly 
 employed in the army, who repeated with sorrow, 
 but with an obstinacy that nothing could shake, 
 that which he had stated on his first exa- 
 mination. He said, that the go-between of 
 Pichegru ami .Moreau charged the last with de- 
 claring, that he would not have the Bourbons; but 
 that if they delivered themselves from the consuls, 
 he would use the powi r. which would be inevitably 
 conferred upon him, to save the conspirators, and 
 restore Pichegru to all his honours. Others con- 
 firmed again this assertion of Roland. Bouvet ue 
 Lozier, the officer of Georges who escaped from sui- 
 cide in order to fling a terrible accusation against 
 Moreau, could not retract, but repeated it, at 
 the same time endeavouring to lessen its force. In 
 the accusation, given in writing, he had only an- 
 nounced those things which he had heard from 
 
 _os himself. Georges answered, that Bouvet 
 must have ill heard and ill understood him, and, in 
 
 iquence, made a very incorrect report. But 
 there remained the interview during the night at 
 the Madeline, in which Moreau. Pichegru, and 
 were found together, a circumstance 
 wholly irreconc lable with the simple design of 
 bringing back Pichegru to France. Wherefore 
 be found at night at a rendezvous with the chief of 
 the conspirators, with one whom it was impossi- 
 ble to meet innocently, when a man was not himself 
 a royalist .' Here the depositions were so precise, 
 so concordant, so numerous, that with the best will 
 
 in the world, the royalists were not able to recall 
 that which they bad declared, and which, when 
 th'-y attempted to do, they at the same moment 
 confounded themselves utterly. 
 
 Moreau, at this time, was overwhelmed, and 
 the interest of ib'- auditory finished by diminishing 
 sens bly. At tiiii", tie- unbecoming reproaches of 
 
 the president on hi- forti a, awoke a little of the 
 
 interest which had nearly died away : " You are 
 at least culpable of non-revelation," the president 
 ■aid to him; "and although yon pretend that 
 such a man as yourself Knew not how to take 
 upon you tie- character of an informer, von were 
 bound to obey the law, which ordains tbat every 
 
 citizen, wl ver he may be, is to denounce all plots 
 
 of which In- may acquire a knowledge. You 
 owed it to a government that had loaded you 
 with benefits. Have you not rich appointments, 
 an hotel, estau 
 
 Such a reproach was little worthy of ! 
 made, addressed, as it wan, to one of the most 
 disinterested g< nerals of the time. 
 
 ".Monsieur the presideut," Moreau replied, 
 
 "do not put into the balance my services and my 
 fortune ; there is no comparison possible between 
 similar things. 1 have forty thousand francs of 
 appointments, a house, an estate which is worth 
 three or four hundred thousand francs ; I know 
 this, hut I should have had fifty millions, if I had 
 used victory as many others have done." 
 
 Rastadt, Biberach, Engen, Moesskirch, Ho- 
 henlinden, these noble recollections placed by the 
 side of a little miserable money, carried away the 
 auditory, ami provoked applauses that the incon- 
 sistency of the defence had begun to render very 
 rare. 
 
 The trial lasted twelve days, and the agitation 
 of the public mind was considerable. It has 
 been seen in later times tbat a process may en- 
 tirely engross the public attention. The same 
 thing happened here, but with circumstances pro- 
 ductive of any other emotion than that of mere 
 curiosity. The presence of a general triumphant 
 and crowned, a general in misfortune and in fet- 
 ters, opposing, by his defence, the last resistance 
 possible to a power every day more absolute ; in 
 the middle of the silence of the national tribune, 
 the voice of the advocates making themselves 
 heard as in countries the purest in character ; 
 illustrious heads in dancer, the one belonging to 
 the emigration, the other to the republic ; here 
 was certainly enough to raise emotion in till hearts. 
 They yielded to a just pity, perhaps also to the 
 secret sentiment that created a wish for a cheek 
 upon fortunate power ; and that too without being 
 inimical to the government, or having wishes for 
 Moreau. Napoleon, who felt himself exempt from 
 that base jealousy of which he was accused, who 
 knew well that Moreau, without wishing for the 
 Bourbons, had desired his death in order to replace 
 him, believed and said aloud, that they owed him 
 justice in condemning a general culpable of a state 
 crime. He wished the condemnation for the sake 
 of his own justification ; he desired it not to 
 see the head of the conqueror of Hohenlinden fall 
 upon the scaffold, but that he might have the 
 honour of pardoning him. The judges knew this, 
 and also the public. 
 
 But justice which does not enter into political 
 considerations, and which has good reason for not 
 entering into them, because if policy is sometimes 
 humane and wise, it is at others imprudent and 
 cruel ; justice, in the midst of this conflict of the 
 passions, the last which was to trouble the pro- 
 found repose of the empire, remained impassible, 
 and rendered equitable judgments. 
 
 The 'J 1st of Prairial, or 10ih of June, after four- 
 teen days of open court, while the tribunal had 
 retired to deliberate finally, certain of the accused 
 
 royalists, perceiving that they bad been deceived, 
 
 and that all their efforts to clear Moreau had served 
 no end, demanded of the judge of instruction, to 
 he allowed to verify their declarations more ex- 
 actly. They spoke no more of three interviews with 
 
 Moreau, but of five. M. Heal having notii F this, 
 
 had gone elf to the emperor, and the emperor bad 
 written immediately t<> the arch-chancellor Cam- 
 baci i es, in order to find out some means of getting 
 
 to tie- judges. But this was a difficult point, and, 
 
 further, it was useless, as without lending them- 
 selves to the new communications, they gave the 
 tame day, the I0i.li of June, a judgment not die-
 
 574 
 
 Sentence given by the 
 judges. 
 
 Napoleon pardons seveial 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. of tl,e cunvicted royal- 
 ists. 
 
 1S04. 
 June. 
 
 tated by any influence. They pronounced the 
 penalty of death against Georges and nineteen 
 of his accomplices. As to Moreau, they found his 
 material complicity not sufficiently established, but 
 his moral conduct reprehensible ; and, in conse- 
 quence of tliis consideration, they inflicted upon 
 him the penalty of two years' imprisonment. M. 
 Armaud de Polignac and M. de Riviere were con- 
 demned to death ; M. Jules de Polignac and five 
 others of the accused were sentenced to two years' 
 imprisonment ; twenty-two were acquitted. 
 
 This judgment, approved by all impartial per- 
 sons, caused mortal displeasure to the new empe- 
 ror, who was very angry ;it the weakness of that 
 justice, which others at the same moment accused 
 of barbarity. He wanted the self-control that 
 the supreme authority ordinarily imposes upon 
 itself, above nil, in such serious matters. In the 
 state of exasperation into which he had been thrown 
 by the unjust charges of his enemies, it was diffi- 
 cult to obtain from him any acts of clemency. 
 But he was so prompt in calming his anger, so 
 generous, and clear-sighted, that the access was 
 soon opened again which led to his reason and his 
 heart. In the few days employed for the purpose 
 of addressing the court of cassation, he took suit- 
 able resolutions, remitted to Moreau his two years' 
 imprisonment, as he would have remitted the capi- 
 tal penalty, if it had been pronounced, and also 
 consented to his departure for America. 
 
 This un'ortunate general desiring to sell his 
 property, Napoleon nave orders that it should be 
 purchased immediately at the highest price. As 
 to the condemned royalists, always rigorous in 
 their regard since the last conspiracy, he would 
 not, at first, grant a pardon to any of them. 
 Georges alone, owing to his energy and his cou- 
 rage, seemed to inspire him with some interest ; 
 but lie regarded him as an implacable enemy, whom 
 it was necessary to destroy to ensure the public 
 tranquillity. Besides, it was not for Georges that 
 the emigrants were interested. They were much 
 more so for M. de Polignac and M. de Riviere ; 
 they censured the imprudence which had placed 
 these persons of elevated rank and good education, 
 in company so unworthy of them ; but they were 
 not reconciled to see their heads fall on the scaf- 
 fold ; it is true that the attachments of party. 
 Soundly appreciated, might excuse this fault, and 
 merit the indulgence even of the head of the 
 empire himself. 
 
 They knew the kind heart of Josephine ; they 
 knew that she had a bosom in the midst of her 
 unparalleled greatness of elevation, that preserved 
 its unaffected goodness. They knew also that she 
 lived in continual fears, imagining that daggers 
 were constantly raised to Btrike her husband. A 
 remarkable act of clemency might arrest the 
 pnignard, and tranquillize their exasperated spirits. 
 It was contrived to introduce madam de Polignac 
 through the means of madam Reniusat, who w,*s 
 attached to the person of the empress, and to 
 bring her to St. Cloud, whither she came, and 
 lathed in her tears the imperial mantle. Jo- 
 sephine was deeply touched, as with her kind and 
 sensitive heart she was certain to be, at the aspect 
 of a distracted wife imploring in so noble a man 
 ner a pardon for her husband. She ran to make a 
 first attempt on Napoleon, who, according to his 
 
 custom, concealed his own emotion beneath a harsh 
 and severe countenance, and bluntly repulsed her. 
 Madam de Re'musat was present. " You interest 
 yourselves continually for my enemies," he said to 
 them both. "They are till, one and the other, as 
 imprudent as they are culpable. If I do not give 
 them a lesson, they wid recommence, and will be 
 the cause of making fresh victims." 
 
 Josephine, thus repelled, knew not to what other 
 means she could have recourse. Napoleon was to 
 leave the apartment of the council in a short time, 
 and to pass through one of the galleries of the 
 chateau. She thought of placing madam de Po- 
 lignac in his way, that she might be able to fling 
 herself at his feet when he passed. At the moment 
 when he did pass madam de Polignac, bathed 
 in tears, presented herself before him, and besought 
 of him the life of her husband. Napoleon, sur- 
 prised, threw towards Josephine, whom he guessed 
 t<> be an accomplice in the matter, a severe glance. 
 Then suddenly giving way, he said to madam do 
 Polignac, that he was astonished to find M. Armand 
 de Polignac engaged in a conspiracy against his 
 person, the companion, as he had been, of his youth 
 at the military school ; that, nevertheless, he 
 granted his pardon to the tears of his wife ; and 
 that he trusted so much weakness on his own 
 part would not have any evil result by encouraging 
 more id' such imprudent attempts. "They are 
 very guilty, madam," he added, "those princes, 
 who thus commit the lives of their most faithful 
 adherents withe ut partaking in the dangers." 
 
 Madam de Po.ignac, overcome with joy and 
 gratitude, went to recount to all the astonished 
 emigrants this scene of mercy, and purchased for 
 an instant something of justice towards Josephine 
 and Napoleon. M. de Riviere still remained in 
 danger. Murat and his wife went to the emperor, 
 to overcome and snatch from him a second par- 
 don. That of M.de Polignac brought that of M. de 
 Riviere, for it was immediately granted to them. 
 The generous Murat, eleven years afterwards, did 
 not meet with a similar generosity in return. 
 
 Such was the end of this odious and sad con- 
 spiracy, which had for its object to annihilate Na- 
 poleon ; that instead placed him upon the throne, 
 unhappily less pure than he was previously ; that 
 brought a tragical end upon one of the French 
 princes who had not conspired, and impunity to 
 those who had framed I he plots, but it is true with 
 great public indignation for the chastisement of 
 their faults ; lastly, exiie upon Moreau, the only 
 one of the generals of that time of whom it was 
 possible, in exaggerating the glory and lowering 
 greatly that of Napolron, to make a rival for the 
 last. Striking circumstances from which the spirit 
 of party should take a lesson ! They always aggran- 
 dize the government, the party, or the man, who 
 attempt their destruction by criminal means. 
 
 Every resistance was henceforth overcome. In 
 1802, Napoleon had surmounted all civil resistance 
 by annulling the tribunate, and in 1804, he surmount- 
 ed till military, by discomfiting the conspiracy of the 
 emigrants with the republican generals. While he 
 mounted the steps of the throne, Moreau had gone 
 into exile. They were to meet again at cannon- 
 shot distance from each other, under the walls of 
 Dresden, both unhappy, both culpable ; the one in 
 returning from a foreign land to make war upon
 
 1804. 
 June. 
 
 Concluding reflections. 
 
 THE CORONATION. 
 
 Concluding reflections. 
 
 O/O 
 
 his country ; the other in abusing his power so fat- 
 as to provoke a universal reaction against the 
 greatness of France ; the one « I i c < 1 of a shot From 
 a French gun, while the other, carrying away a 
 last victor)*, already saw the abyss before liim in 
 which his prodigious destiny was to be engulphed. 
 Nevertheless, those grand events were yet very 
 far off. Napoleon now seemed to be all-powerful, 
 ami to be so for ever. Doubtless he had ex- 
 perienced recently B<»me vexations, because, inde- 
 pendently of great misfortunes, Providence always 
 conceals some an icipated bitterness even in happi- 
 ness itself, as it' to give notice to the human mind, 
 and prepare it fur greater misfortunes still. The 
 last fifteen days had been painful, but they soon 
 
 passed away. The clemenoy. which he had shown 
 threw a soft brightness over his nascent reign. 
 The death of Georges affected nobody deeply, al- 
 though his courage, worthy of a better fate, in- 
 spired some regret. Very soon every body was 
 attracted by that feeling of marvellous curiosity 
 which is experienced in presence of an extraordi- 
 nary spectacle. 
 
 Thus terminated, after twelve years' duration, 
 not the French revolution, for that was always 
 living and indestructible, but the republic, qualified 
 as imperishable. It fell under the hand of a vic- 
 torious soldier, as all republics fall that do not go 
 to sleep in the embraces of an oligarchy. 
 
 BOOK XX. 
 
 THE CORONATION. 
 
 DELAY CAUSED TO THE ENGLISH EXPEDITION. — MOTIVES AND ADVANTAGES OF THAT DELAY. — THE CARE OP THE 
 PREPARATIONS REDOUBLED.— FINANCIAL MEANS.— BUDGET OF THE VEASS XI., XII, AND XIII — CREATION OF 
 INDIRECT CONTRIBUTIONS — THE ANCIENT THEORY OF TAXATION SOLELY UPON LAND. — NAPOLEON REFUTES 
 TIMS DOCTRINE, AND LAYS A TAX UPON CONSUMPTION. — FIRST ORGANIZATION OF THE REGULATIONS OF THE 
 UNITED DUTIES —SPAIN PAYS ITS SUBSIDY IN LIMITED OBLIGATIONS — AN ASSOCIATION OF MONIED MEN PRE- 
 SENTS ITSELF TO DISCOUNT THEM. — FIRST OPERATIONS OF THE COMPANY CALLED" THE UNITES TRADERS. 
 — ALL THE DISPOSABLE RESOURCES DEVOTED TO THE SQUADRONS OF BREST, ROCK FORT, AND TOULON. — NAPO- 
 LEON PREPARES FOR THE ARRIVAL OF A FRENCH FLEET IN THE CHANNEL, IN ORDER TO RENDER CERTAIN 
 THE PASSAGE OP THE FLOTILLA.— FIRST COMBINATION WHICH HE ORDERED. — ADMIRAL LATOUCHE TREVII.I.E 
 ORDERED TO EXECUTE THIS COMBINATION — THIS ADMIRAL WAS TO QUIT TOULON, DECEIVE THE ENGLISH EV 
 TAKING A FILM: ROUTE, AND TO APPEAR IN THE CHANNEL, JOINING ON HIS WAV THE ROCHFORT SQUADRON. — 
 THE DESCENT FIXED FOR JULY AND AUGUST, BEFORE THE CEHEHONY O [■■ THE CORONATION.— THE MINISTERS 
 OP THE COVETS AT PEACE WITH FRANCE DELIVER TO NAPOLEON THEIR LETTERS OF C KEDENCE.— THE AMBAS- 
 SADOR OP AUSTRIA ALONE BEHINDHAND.— DEPARTURE OF NAPOLEON F"R BOULOGNE. — GENERAL INSPECTION 
 OF THE FLOTILLA, VESSEL BY VE88EL.— THE RATAV1AN FLOTILLA. — GRAND FETE ON BOARD THE " OCEAN," 
 AND DISTRIBUTION TO THE ARMY OF THE DECORATIONS OP THE LEGION OF IIONOU R. — SUCCESSION OF EVENTS 
 IN : 8 AGITATION OF THE PUBLIC MINI). — OVERTURN OF THE ADDISGTON ADMINISTRATION 
 
 BY THE OPPOSITION OP ROTH FOX AND PITT.— ENTRANCE OF TITT AGAIN INTO THE MINISTRY, AND HIS FIRST 
 PI to RENEW A CONTINENTAL COALITION.— SUSPICIONS OF NAPOLEON —HE FORCES AUSTRIA TO AN EXILA- 
 XATI~N, AND EXACTS THAT 1 II E LETTERS OF CREDENCE OF M. COBBNTZEL SHALL BE SENT TO HIM AT AIX- 
 LA CIIAPI.I.I.E III. BREAKS OFF HIS DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA, AND PERMITS THE DEPARTURE 
 OF M. our.lUL. — DEATH OF ADMIRAL LATOUCHE Tl RVlLLE, and adjournment OF THE DESCENT UNTIL THE 
 WINTER.— ADMIRAL LATOUCHE TRBVILLE REPLACED BY ADMIRAL VI I.1.E-. l.uvi:. — CHARACTER OP Tin: LAST 
 ADMIRAL.— JOURNEY. OF NAPOLEON TO THE BANKS OF THE RHINE. — GREAT CONCOURSE OF PERSONS AT AIX- 
 LA-CII APEI.LE. — M. COBBNTZEL SENDS Ills LETTERS ' P CREDENCE TO NAPOLEON THERE. — THE IMPERIAL COURT 
 PROCEEDS TO HATENCE.— RETURN OF THE COURT TO PARIS. — PREPARATIONS POR THE CORONATION. — DIFFICULT 
 OTIATION to bring pit . vii TO runs TO CROWN napoleon. — cardinal fescii AMBASSADOR to THE 
 POPS —CHARACTER ASM CONDUCT OF thai PERSONAGE.— TERROR WHICH I IME I PON pope Pius at THE IDEA 
 OF entering PRANCE. 111: CONS) LT8 I I iSQF 01 I LRDINALS.— FIVE DECLARE AGAINST THE JOURNEY, 
 
 it BUT Willi CONDITIONS. — long DEBATE DFON THOSE CONDITIONS. — definitive 
 OF TH1 i in SUSPENSE.— niRHOP BBRNIER AND THE ARCH- 
 (11 an' i.i.i ol CAMBACSRES CHOOSE among THB ROMAN AND FRENCH PONTIFICALS, THE CEREMONIES con 
 RE1POI in .1 v. ri ii THE spirit oi Til i: age. — napoleon refuses TO BUFFER THE POPE TO PLACE THE CROWN 
 .I.. PRETENSIONS OF Tin: FAMILY.— DEPARTURE OF THE run: FOR FRANCE. — HI8 JOURNET. — 
 Hit arrival AT fo TAINi IiI.EAU.— • Ins PLEASURE and 0ONFIDI CI ON SEE] I i in. WELCOME HE RECI I 
 m;i.l .i iiiine AND NAPOLEON.— CEREMONY OF THE CORONATION, 
 
 The. conspiracy of George*, the proceedings 
 which foil >wed if, and the change which it brought 
 about in the form of government, had occupied all 
 the winter of 1803 and 1804, and had Minpended 
 the great i nt< rprise of Napoleon against England. 
 Hut he had not ceased tu think of it, and at this 
 moment be prepared for the execution in the 
 middle of the summer of 1804, with redoubled 
 
 oare and activity. Besides, the delay was not to 
 be regretted, because in his impatience to execute 
 so vast, a design, Napoleon himself bad much ex- 
 aggerated th<' possibility of being ready at the end 
 iif [80S. The continual experiments made at 
 Boulogne, every day revealed the necessity ol 
 taking new precautions, or then- were improve- 
 ments to introduce, and it was of little importance
 
 576 
 
 Renewed preparations for 
 the invasion of England. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Budget of the year xn. 
 
 1804. 
 June. 
 
 to strike the blow six months later, if in the in- 
 terim the means of striking with more certainty 
 were ensured. It was not the army, well ap- 
 pointed, that caused this loss of time, because at 
 this epoch the army was always disposable ; the 
 flotilla and the squadrons were the cause. The 
 construction of flat-bottomed boats, and their union 
 in the four ports of the straits, all this was achieved. 
 But the Batavian flotilla made them wait ; the 
 squadrons of Brest and of Toulon, the concurrence 
 of which in the enterprise was judged indispen- 
 sable, were not ready, eight months not having 
 sufficed for completing their armament. The win- 
 ter of 1804 had been devoted to their completion. 
 This time, lost only in appearance, had therefore 
 been very usefully employed. It had been above 
 all busy in creating financial means, which are 
 always allied to military ones, and at this time 
 were more so than ever. If, in effect, it is possible 
 with much industry and exposure to great incon- 
 venience to make war on land with little money, 
 by living on the enemy, a naval war cannot be 
 made without money, because iione is to be found 
 on the immense solitudes of the ocean, except 
 what has been taken out with the vessels on leaving 
 their ports. The financial were not therefore the 
 least important of the immense preparations of 
 Napoleon, and their details therefore merit notice 
 here for a short time. 
 
 We have already said with what resources the 
 contest had been commenced after the rupture of 
 the peace of Amiens. The budget of the year xi., 
 or 1803, voted in the contemplation of unforeseen 
 events, had been fixed at 589,000,000 f. exclusive 
 of the expenses of collection, that is to say, 
 89,000.0001'. more than the budget of the preceding 
 year, which had been acquitted with 500,000,0001'. 
 But the expenses had naturally exceeded the first 
 estimates as laid before the legislative body, and 
 had surpassed them by 30,000,000 f. The sum 
 total thus reached 619,000,0001'. This was little 
 in amount, it is most assuredly true, when the 
 expenses of such an expedition as that of Boulogne 
 are duly considered. The moderate character of 
 the augmentation of the budget is explained by the 
 period, which divided its expenditure. That of 
 the year xi. finished on the 21st of September, 
 1803, and on the same day that of the year xn. 
 commenced. The principal expenses of the flotilla 
 were not, therefore, comprised in the budget of 
 the year xi. It was thus that it became circum- 
 scribed within the sum of 619,000,000 f., which, 
 adding the expenses of collection, made the total 
 amount about 710,000,000 f. or 720,000,000 f. The 
 budget of the year xn. would naturally, therefore, 
 be more elevated in amount, because within that 
 year it would be necessary to pay all which had 
 not been paid in the year xi. This last had been 
 provided with the ordinary contributions, of which 
 the produce, in spite of the war, had continued 
 to increase considerably, so great was the security 
 under the wise and vigorous government which 
 then reigned in France. The stamp and registry 
 had shown an increase of 10,000,0001'.; the cus- 
 toms 0,000,000 f. or7 000,000f.; and in spite of a 
 diminution of 10,000.000 f. in the land-tax, the 
 ordinary taxes had risen to 573 000.010 f. They 
 had now as a surplus 22,000,000 f. of the Italian 
 subsidy, with 24,000,0001'. burrowed from extra- 
 
 ordinary sources, which last were composed, as 
 has been already said, of the Spanish subsidy, fixed 
 at 4.000,0001'. per month, and the price of Louis- 
 iana, ceded to the Americans. These resources, 
 scarcely entered upon, remained nearly untouched 
 for the year xn.; which was very fortunate, be- 
 cause all the expenses of the war were to be paid 
 at once upon this revenue, or upon the receipts 
 from September, 1803, to September, 1804. 
 
 The expenditure in the year xn. could not 
 be estimated at less than 700J000,000 f. in place of 
 613,000,000 f., which made, with the expenses of 
 collection, and some additional centimes omitted, a 
 total of 800,000,000 f. Still, in this total the new 
 civil list was not included. It will be seen that 
 hereafter the budgets approached rapidly towards 
 the amount which they have since attained. 
 
 It was perceived, that there would be a cer- 
 tain diminution in the revenue of the domains, in 
 consequence of the alienation of the national pro- 
 perty and the taxed endowments granted to the 
 senate, the legion of honour, and the sinking fund. 
 The ordinary contributions did not amount to 
 much less than 560,000,000 f., excepting the aug- 
 mentation of the products, which was probable, 
 but that, by an excess of exactness, they were un- 
 willing to carry into the account. It was necessary 
 then to issue not less than 140.000.000 f. of extra- 
 ordinary means to reach the sum ol 700,000,000 f., 
 the supposed amount of the expenditure, the ex- 
 penses of collection, and some additional centimes 
 besides. Italy gave 22,000,000 f. for the three 
 states to which a French force served as the pro- 
 tection. The 48,000,000 f. of Spanish subsidies, the 
 60,000,000 f. from America, reduced to 52,000,000f. 
 by the charges of negotiating, made in all 
 122,000 000 f. "of extraordinary receipts. There 
 remained, in consequence, about the sum of 
 28,000,000 f. to be found. The resource of the 
 securities, the nature of which has been already 
 described, remained to meet this deficiency. Se- 
 curity in money had been already exacted from 
 the receivers-general, the payers and receivers of 
 the registry, and of the customs. These securities 
 had been placed to the account of the sinking fund, 
 which was made debtor for them to those who had 
 lodged the different amounts. The sinking fund, 
 in its turn, had advanced those securities to the 
 government, which had promised to replace them 
 at a later time, by the payment of 5,000,000 f. per 
 annum. This was a species of loan from those 
 accountable to the state, perfectly legitimate, when 
 these last were to the state a guarantee for good 
 administration. This kind of loan, too, was capable 
 of being extended, because there yet remained 
 other accountable parties to be submitted to the 
 general regulations. There existed, in fact, a new 
 category of receivers of the public money, whose 
 duties had need of regulation; these were the col- 
 lectors of the direct contributions. Until now, in 
 place of collectors nominated by the state in the 
 country and in the towns to receive the direct 
 taxes, small farmers were employed in the collec- 
 tion, at a low rate. This system was changed in 
 the large towns, where collectors were placed for 
 the sole purpose, appointed from the treasury, by 
 means of a simple remittance. This new mode 
 was found to succeed, and it was proposed, for the 
 year 1804, to establish in all the communes, urban
 
 1804. 
 June. 
 
 Financial estimates for the year xu. THE CORONATION. Financial estimates for the year xu. 577 
 
 or rural, collectors, nominated by the government, 
 upon whom were to be imposed securities, the total 
 value of which altogether, would amount to about 
 20000,000 1'. This sum turned into the treasury, 
 was to be restored in consecutive sums to the sink- 
 in- fund, as had been stipulated for the anterior 
 securities. 
 
 By these means, added to the sale of some 
 national property, taken from a quantity which 
 remained disposable since the endowments of the 
 Benate, the legion of honour, of public instruction, 
 and the sinking fund, there was a new resource, to 
 the extent of 1 .">. 000,000 f., for the year xn., above 
 the sum judged to be wanting. The property to 
 1 was delivered over to the sinking fund, 
 which sold it little by little, selling every day at a 
 r price. It was arranged that the product of 
 Mies should be left to the fund, in order to 
 acquit the debt of 5.000.000 f., which was an- 
 nually due to it for the reimbursement of the 
 securities. 
 
 Such were the financial means created for the 
 year xn., 560,000.000 f. of ordinary contributions; 
 22,000,(J00f. of Italian subsidy; *48.0(l0,000f. of 
 Spanish subsidy; 52,000,000f. the juice of Louis- 
 iana; 20,000,0001". from securities, and several mil- 
 lions more in national property. There were more 
 than 7"<M>00,0OOf. estimated as necessary for the 
 expenditure of the year, from September 1803, 
 to September 1804. 
 
 Hut it was near the conclusion of the expenditure 
 of tin? year XII., because it was now the summer 
 of 1804. It was necessary to consider the year 
 xii!., from September 1804 to September 1805, 
 For which considerable funds would be required. 
 The American subsidy belonged entirely to the 
 year XII. They were not able to dispense with its 
 immediate realization. 
 
 Napoleon was a long time since convinced that 
 the revolution, although it had created gnat re- 
 sources by the equalization of the taxes, had not- 
 withstanding treated the landed proprietary too 
 hardly, by throwing upon that alone the burthen of 
 tli.- taxes, by the suppression of the indirect contri- 
 butions. That which the revolution had thus done 
 was but an ordinary course of proceeding in trou- 
 blous times. At the first disorder, the people, 
 
 above all those of tin- towns, profited by the occa- 
 sion to refuse payment of the taxes placed upon 
 umption, ami more particularly upon liquors, 
 which constitute their principal enjoyment. This 
 was seen in 1830, when this species of impost was 
 refused payment fop more than six months. In 
 1815, their uppression was a deceptive promise, 
 bj the aid of which the Bourbons obtained a mo- 
 mentary applause; and lastly, ill 1780, u Ion the fust 
 popular movements were directed Bgainsl the bar- 
 Hut these imposts, the most hated by the 
 population of the towns, are still those which cha- 
 racterise the- countries truly prosperous, as they 
 
 more in reality upon tbr rich than Upon the 
 
 ; ■• r, and prejudice agriculture less than any other 
 kind of tax ; while the contributions levied upon 
 land d< prive agriculture of iis capital or stock, in 
 other words, of live stock and fattened beasts, im- 
 poverish tin- soil, ami thus attack the most extended 
 source of riches. In the eighteenth century, a pre- 
 judice became established which then rested, it 
 must be acknowledged, upon an incontestable Inun- 
 
 dation. The landed proprietary, concentrated in 
 I the hands of the aristocracy and clergy, un- 
 equally taxed according to the rank of the posses- 
 sors, was an object of hatred on the part of those 
 generous persons who wished to relieve the poorer 
 classes. It was at this epoch that the theory of a 
 single impost was devised, to bear exclusively upon 
 land, and meet all the expenses of the government. 
 By this means they were enabled to suppress the 
 excise, and the (jabelle taxes, which iu appearance 
 bore only upon the people. Hut this theory, though 
 generous by intention, and false in fact, gave way 
 before experience. After 1789, land divided among 
 thousands of persons, burthened equally with taxa- 
 tion, no longer merited the animadversions which 
 it had previously attracted, and it became neces- 
 sary, above all things, to consider the essential in- 
 terest of agriculture. It is but just to say, that in 
 burthening them beyond reasonable measure, the 
 agriculturists are injured, and deprived of the means 
 of cultivation, to the profit of the dealers and con- 
 sumers of spirituous liquors. It should be said too, 
 it was absolutely necessary to bring the revenue to 
 an equality with the expenses, unless France was 
 willing to fall back again upon paper money and 
 bankruptcy, and that to make the revenue equal to 
 the expenses,it was as absolutely required to vary the 
 sources of taxation, in order that they might not be 
 dried up. It belonged to the man who had restored 
 order in France, and extricated the finances from 
 chaos, by the re-establishment of the regular col- 
 lection of the indirect contributions to complete his 
 work, and re-open the sources of the indirect contri- 
 butions which were at present closed up. But it 
 was necessary to have for that purpose great power 
 as well as energy. Faithful to his character, 
 Napoleon had no tears, on the very same day that 
 he stood for the throne, of re-establishing under the 
 name of the united duties, the most unpopular, but 
 the most useful of the taxes. 
 
 He made the first proposition to the council of 
 state, which he supported with wonderful sagacity, 
 as if the study of the finances had been that of his 
 whole life, showing the true principle of the ques- 
 tion. To the theory of the single impost laid solely 
 upon land, exacting from the proprietor and fanner 
 tin' total sum necessary for the state necessities, 
 obliging them to make the advance at least under 
 tin ^opposition the most favourable for them, that 
 in which an increase in the juice of agricultural 
 produce indemnifies them for the advance; to a 
 theory so foolishly exaggerated, he urged the sim- 
 ple and sound one of a taxation ably diversified, 
 resting at the same time upon all kinds of pro- 
 perty and industry, not requiring of them indivi- 
 dually too considerable a portion of the public re- 
 sources, and consequently carrying with it no forced 
 movement in prices, drawing out the wealth in all 
 the channels where it, was abundant, and drawing 
 it from each channel in such a manner as not to 
 
 cause too sensible a diminution. This system, the 
 fruit of time ami experience, is only rosoeptible of 
 one objection j it is this, that the diversity of the 
 tax brings with it a diversity in the collection, and 
 
 with that an augmentation of the expense; but ii 
 
 presents so many advantages, and (lie contrary 
 
 modi- is so vi .lent, that this light augmentation of 
 expense could not be a serious consideration. When 
 
 be had got bis own views adopted bv llie council of 
 
 1' r
 
 ___ Indirect taxes established 
 *>i" by Napoleun. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Financial resources for 
 the year xn. 
 
 1R01. 
 June. 
 
 state, Napoleon scut liisplanto the legislative body, 
 where it was not an object of any serious difficulty, 
 owing to the previous conferences between the cor- 
 responding sections of the tribunal, and the council 
 of state. The following were tin se dispositions, 
 
 A body of collectors was formed under the title 
 of the Administration of the United Duties. This 
 administration was to collect the new imposts by 
 means of the excise, which was alone acknowledged 
 to be efficacious, and consisted in searching for 
 objects liable to the tax, at the places where they 
 were grown or made. These objects were wines, 
 brandies, beer, cider, and similar substances. A 
 single and moderate duty was laid upon the first 
 sales, according to an inventory established at the 
 epoch of the growth or making. The amount of the 
 tax was to be paid at the moment when the sub- 
 stance taxed was first displaced. Besides liquors, 
 the principal thing taxed was tobacco. There al- 
 ready existed a customs' duty upon foreign tobacco, 
 and one of fabrication upon I bat produced in France, 
 the monopoly of that article not having been then 
 devised, hut the product of the last species escaped 
 from the treasury in consequence of a defect in the 
 superintendence. The creation of an administra- 
 tion of united duties admitted the possibility of col- 
 lecting those duties in full, which then returned so 
 little, but promised to become considerable. Salt 
 was not comprised in the matters on which a duty 
 was imposed. They feared to recall the recollec- 
 tion of the old (jabel/es. Nevertheless there was an 
 administration for salt duties established in Pied- 
 mont, being at the same lime a measure of police 
 amd finance. Piedmont obtained salt either from 
 Genoa, or the mouths of the Po, and was sometimes 
 exposed to pay a grievous price for the article, 
 through the interested speculations of commerce, 
 and had never been able to keep it from the inter- 
 vention of the government. In creating an admi- 
 nistration of ttie salt duties, to which was com- 
 mitted the care of providing, and selling it at a 
 moderate price, the danger of dearness and scarcity 
 was avoided, and there was thus procured sore, as 
 well as facile means to collect a duty sufficiently 
 productive, although moderate in the aggregate 
 amount of the rate. 
 
 These different combinations could produce no- 
 thing in the year XII., the year of their creation: 
 but they giive a prospect of 15,000,000 f, or 
 18,000 000 f. in the year XHI., and of 30,000.000 I., 
 or 40 0011,000 I. in the year xiv. As to the follow- 
 ing vears, the product, difficult to estimate, still suf- 
 ficed for all the demands of the war, even should it 
 be prolonged. 
 
 Resources had therefore been ensured for the 
 outlay of the current year xii., or 1803 and 1804. 
 by procuring 700,000,000 f. of ordinary and extra- 
 ordinary receipts, while they had also got ready 
 certain products for the future expenditure. They 
 had to encounter, however, great difficulties in 
 realization for the first time. The two principal 
 and actual resources consisted in the purchase 
 money of Louisiana, and in the monthly subsidy 
 furnished by Spain. The inevitable delays, which 
 accompanied the voting of the American funds, 
 had prevented the payment of this money into the 
 treasury. Still the house of Hope was disposed to 
 pay in a part towards the end of 1804. As to Spain, 
 of the 44,000,000 f. due in Floreal lor eleven mouths 
 
 gone over, she had only furnished in different modes j 
 about 22,000,000 f., or one half. The linances of 
 that unhappy country were more than ever embar- 
 rassed, and although the sea was open to her gal- 
 leons, thanks to the neutrality in which she had 
 been left by France, the metals arriving from 
 .Mexico were wasted hi the most futile dissipa- 
 tion. 
 
 In order to supply the want of these coming in 
 sums, an account was maintained in credit bills 
 with the treasury. The English possessed exche- 
 quer bills. France at present issues royal bills, 
 reimbursable every three, six, or twelve months, 
 which, negotiated on the spot, constitute a tem- 
 porary loan, by the aid of which they are able to 
 wait, for a longer or shorter time, the realization of 
 the revenue of the state. Although Napoleon had 
 laboured hard to re-establish the finances, and had 
 succeeded, the treasury did not then enjoy suffi- 
 cient credit in the commercial world to. issue with 
 success any paper whatever under its own name. 
 The obligations of the receivers-general, bearing 
 the personal engagement of an accountable person, 
 and payable into the sinking fund in case of pro- 
 test, alone obtained credit. These were, as already 
 seen, subscribed at the commencement of their 
 usage, for the full value of the direct contributions, 
 to be successively acquitted month by moi.th. The 
 last had fifteen or eighteen months to run. For 
 the purpose of realizing an advance to the revenues 
 of the state, they were discounted in sums of 
 20,000,000 f. at the rate of a half per cent. p< r 
 month, or six per cent, per annum, during the 
 short peace of Amiens, and, after the war, at three- 
 quarters per cent, per month, or nine per cent, per 
 annum. In spite of the confidence inspired by the 
 government, the treasury inspired so little, that 
 the banking-houses of the best class refused this 
 kind of operation. They were the hazardous specu- 
 lators, and the old contractors of the directory, who 
 gave these discounts. M. de Marbois, wishing to 
 be independent of their concurrence, addressed the 
 receivers-general themselves, who formed a com- 
 mittee in Paris, and discounted their own paper with 
 their own funds, or with such funds as they had 
 procured at a high interest from the hands of 
 capitalists. But these accountants, limited in thiir 
 speculations, had neither enough of capital nor of 
 boldness to furnish any great resources to the 
 treasury. 
 
 There happened to be in Paris, about this time, 
 a banker, M. Desprez, deeply versed in this species 
 of negotiation; a very active contractor, exceed- 
 ingly able in the art of supplying armies, named 
 M. Vanderherghe; lastly, a most fertile Speculate r, 
 the most ingenious possible at every kind of busi- 
 ness, .M. Ouvrard, celebrated at the moment for bis 
 immense fortune. All these had entered individually 
 into relations with the government. M. Desprez in 
 the discount of the treasury obligations ; M. Van- 
 derberyhe in supplying provisions ; M. Ouvrard in 
 every k.nd of great operations for furnishing sup- 
 plies, or banking. M. Ouvrard formed an asso- 
 ciation with M. Desprez and M. Vanderheiglie, 
 piaee.l himself at the head of the partnership, and 
 became, by little and little, as under the direetory, 
 the principal financial agent of the government. 
 He knew how to inspire confidence in M. de 
 Marbois, minister of the treasury, who, feeling lis
 
 1804. 
 June. 
 
 Schemes of the contractor Ouvrard. THE CORONATION. 
 
 State of the Dutch and other 
 portions of the Ilutilla. 
 
 579 
 
 own insufficiency, was happy to have near him an 
 inventive mind, capable of devising expedients that 
 lie was tumble to devise himself. M. Ouvrard 
 offered to take upon himself, OH his own part, and 
 that of his associates, the negotiation of the trea- 
 sury obligations. He concluded a first agreement 
 in Germinal, in the year xn., April, 1804, by which 
 h<' obliged himself to discount not only a consi- 
 derable sum in the obligations of the receivers- 
 glianial but the engagements of Spain herself, 
 that, not being able to pay her subsidy in specie, 
 paid it in paper at a long date. M. Ouvrard made 
 no difficulty in taking as money the Spanish paper, 
 and banding over the amount. He soon found a 
 particular advantage in this combination. M.Van- 
 d.rherghe and himself were creditors of the state 
 in heavy sums, in consequence of anterior con- 
 tracts. They were authorized, in discounting the 
 bills nf the receivers-general and the obligations of 
 Spain, t > deliver as money on account a part of 
 these credits. Thus, while they were discounting, 
 they paid themselves with their own hands. Undtr 
 the title, " united dealers," this company began, 
 therefore, to enter upon the business of the state. 
 Its origin is worthy of attention, because it soon 
 partook in immense operations, and bore a con- 
 siderable influence on the French finances. No 
 wonder that the operations it undertook with the 
 treasury should turn out well, and even surpass- 
 ingly good ; it only sufficed that Spain should honour 
 lor engagements, because the obligations of the 
 receivers-general, composing a part of the pledge, 
 presented tin; greatest security. These obligations 
 had only the inconvenience of being a paper of a 
 loug date, seeing that the treasury employed in its 
 payments those which had only one or two months 
 hi run, ami discounted, on the contrary, those which 
 hi I to run for six, twelve, or fifteen months ; but 
 the length of the term out of the question, they 
 offered an infallible solidity. In regard to the 
 paper subscribed by Spain, its value depended np n 
 the conduct of a sen-cle-s court, and the arrival 
 11I the galleons from Mexico. M. Ouvrard con- 
 structed upon this basis the most extended schemes, 
 -nieceeilod in dazzling the credulous understanding 
 of M. de Mar hi lis, and set off for Madrid, in order 
 tu realize his bold conceptions. 
 
 Napoleon mistrusted this man, so very fertile and 
 IimI I in his expedients, anil he warned .M. de 
 Mirliois al-o to nii>irn^t him. Hut M. Ouvrard 
 inted through M. Desprez the obligations of 
 in.- trea su ry, and those of Spain himself; while lie 
 »iip|M)i'ted his engagements for the army through 
 \I. Vaiiderberghe. Thanks to his efforts, all these 
 mm* vices proceeded together, and the evil, if there 
 any, diil not seem to possess the power of cx- 
 ten ling itself far; because, alter all, M. Ouvrard 
 
 I ipeared always in advance with the treasury, and 
 
 II it the tr< aaury with him. 
 
 Snob were the means employed to meet imme- 
 
 li.itelv ail the charges of the war, without recourse 
 
 • limns. 1 1 was required of these speculators to 
 
 : Ivance by discount the realization of the state 
 
 .•venues, and th.it of the IM.OOO^OOf funiish.il 
 ■y the paying alius, Italy, America, and Spam. 
 lii regard to tie- future, the creation of indirect 
 lanes, a long time announced, and finally decreed 
 
 this year, would provide Completely. 
 
 Napoleon had resolved to execute his grand en- 
 
 terprise after a brief delay. He wished to pass 
 the strait iii the month of July or August, 1804. 
 If the incredulous persons, who have thrown 
 doubts upon his design, were but able to read his 
 intimate correspondence with the minister of the 
 navy, the infinite number of bis orders, and the con- 
 fiding of his secret hopes to the arch-chancellor 
 Cainbaceres, they would no longer feel any uncer- 
 tainty about the reality on his part of this extra- 
 ordinary resolution. 
 
 All the vessels composing the flotilla were 
 united in the ports Etaples, Boulogne, Wimereux, 
 and Ambleteuse, except those which had been 
 constructed between Brest and Bayunne, because 
 by the plan id' coasting devised for the union of the 
 vessels, these had never been able to double Ushant. 
 But nearly the whole of the naval constructions 
 had been executed Cetween Brest and the mouth 
 of the Scheldt ; and the part wanting was not con- 
 siderable. There were enough to transport one 
 hundred and twenty thousand men, designed to 
 pass over in the gun vessels. The rest, as it will 
 be recollected, had always been designed for 
 embarkation in the fleets of Brest and of the 
 Texei. 
 
 The Dutch flotilla constructed and united in 
 the Scheldt was behindhand. Napoleon had 
 given the command to admiral Verlmell, who 
 possessed his esteem, and well unfiled it. The 
 Dutch, not ardent, but, abo.ve all, being slightly 
 confident in the singular design, which was much 
 too hardy for their cold and methodical minds, 
 gave to it very little of their zeal. Ncverthch 69, 
 the zeal of the admiral, ami the pressing remon- 
 strance of the French minister at the Hague, 
 M. de Setnonville, had accelerated the armaments 
 that Holland engaged to furnish. A fleet of 
 seven sail of the line, added to numerous mer- 
 chant vessels, was ready to transport twenty-four 
 thousand men of the camp at Utrecht, com- 
 manded by general Murmoiit. At the same time, 
 a flotilla, composed of several hundreds of gun 
 Mid large fishing vessels, finished their organiza- 
 tion in the Scheldt. It remained for them to 
 have their moorings, and to pass from the shores 
 of the Scheldt, more accessible to the enemy than 
 thi' coasts of France. Admiral Verliuell himself 
 directing their detachments, had fought several 
 brilliant combats between the Scheldt and Ostein!. 
 In spile of the loss of a few vessels, five or six at 
 most, he bad disconc irted the efforts of the 
 English, and changed the incredulity of the Dutch 
 sailors into conlidence. The Diiich flotilla com- 
 pleted its union in the spring of I8II4, at Ostein!, 
 Dunkirk, and Calais, and was ready to embark 
 ill' COrpfl of marshal Divoiit encamped at 
 Bruges. NapoleOtl desired more ; lie would havo 
 
 the flotilla of Franca ami that of Holland united 
 
 wholly in the ports situated to the left of Cape 
 Grisnez, at Ambleteuse, Wimereux. Boulogne, 
 and EtapleS, that, they might all be plac d at the 
 same poini of the ConipiiSB. Tiny were compelled 
 to satisfy him by drawing closer the encampment 
 of the troops, and the Station uf tin' flotilla. 
 
 The works of the armament* along the coast of 
 Boulogne were terminated, the l-ris constructed 
 and the ha-ins excavated, The troops having 
 completed their task, had returned to their mili- 
 tary dudes, They ha I acquired a discipline 
 
 p !• a
 
 Question raised by 
 580 Napoleon about the 
 
 flotilla. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Supposed obstacles to 
 crossing the channel. 
 — Decres' opinion. 
 
 1804. 
 June. 
 
 and a precision in movement truly admirable ; 
 and thus presented in themselves an army, not 
 only inured to war by numerous campaigns, and 
 hardened by rude labours, but capable of manoeu- 
 vring as if it had passed years upon a parade 
 ground. Tliis army, the finest perhaps that 
 a prince or general ever commanded, awaited 
 with impatience the arrival of its recently crowned 
 prince. It burned for the opportunity of con- 
 gratulating him, and of following him to a scene 
 of new and astounding glory. 
 
 Napoleon was not less impatient to rejoin it. 
 But he had raised a great question among scien- 
 tific persons, which was, to be informed if the gun 
 vessels, composing the flotilla, or " nutshells," 
 as they were called, could brave the English fleet. 
 Admiral Bruix and admiral Verhuell had the 
 greatest confidence in the worth of the gun vessels; 
 both kinds had exchanged shot with the English 
 frigates,and had gone out of port in all weathers, and 
 they had acquired a conviction that these vessels 
 were fully equal to pass the strait. Admiral De- 
 cres, given to contradict every body, and admiral 
 Bruix more willing to go forward than any other 
 person, seemed to think differently. Those of the 
 French naval officers, who were not em [loved in 
 the flotilla, whether prejudiced, or led to criticise 
 that with which they had nothing to do, inclined 
 to the opinion of admiral Decres. Admiral Gan- 
 teaume, transferred from Toulon to Brest, had 
 been eye witness to an accident that lias been al- 
 ready related some way back, which had much 
 troubled him for the fate of the army, and the 
 emperor, to whom he was deeply attached. The 
 view of a gun vessel turning over in the road of 
 Brest, so as to show its keel above water, had 
 filled him with uneasiness, and he had written im- 
 mediately to the minister of the marine. This ac- 
 cident, as already observed, signified nothing. 
 The vessel had been laden without care; the artil- 
 lery had been badly placed, and the men were not 
 enough exercised. The tonnage badly divided, 
 joined to the confusion of those on board, had 
 caused the misfortune. 
 
 It was not on the ground of want of stability 
 that admiral Decres had his doubts. The flotilla 
 of Boulogne manoeuvring for two years in the 
 strongest squalls had quieted in this respect every 
 uncertainty. But the objections which the ad- 
 miral addressed to the emperor, and to admiral 
 Bruix, were as follows 1 : — " Certainly," he ob- 
 
 1 The close correspondence of M. Decres with the em- 
 peror, so secret that it was all written in his own hand, 
 exists in the particular archives of the Louvre. It is one 
 of the finest monuments of tliis period after the correspond- 
 ence of the emperor. It does equal honour to the pa- 
 triotism of the minister, to his reason, and the striking 
 originality of his mind. It includes views upon the organi- 
 zation of the French marine of very great value, and it 
 ought to be read incessantly by naval men, and those con- 
 nected with the administration of such affairs. It is there 
 that I have been enabled to study tliis profound conception 
 of the emperor's, to acquire new proofs of his extraordinary 
 foresight, and of the certainty and reality of his designs. 
 It is in one of these letters that I found the opinion of admiial 
 Decres upon the flotilla, an opinion at that time rather 
 suspected than known, because Napoleon required silence 
 on the part of all the world in relation to the strength or 
 weakness of his plans. Operations were not then as they 
 
 served, "the bullet of a twenty-four pounder, whe- 
 ther fired from a gun vessel or a ship of the line 
 will have the same force. It will cause the same 
 ravage, often more, fired from a small vessel which 
 is difficult to hit, and which aims between wind and 
 water. Added to this, the musketry, formidable at a 
 short distance, and the danger of boarding, and the 
 worth of those gun vessels is not to be under- 
 valued. They carry more than three thousand 
 cannon of large calibre, in other words, as many 
 as a fleet of thirty or thirty-five sail of the line, 
 such a fleet as is rarely to be seen united. But 
 where have these gun vessels been seen to measure 
 their strength against the large vessels of the 
 English ? Iu a single place, that is to say, close 
 to the shore, in flats and shallow water, into the 
 midst of which these large vessels dare not ven- 
 ture to follow an enemy, feeble but numerous, 
 and ready to riddle it with his cannon. It is 
 like an army engaged in a defile, and assaulted 
 from the heights of an inaccessible position l>v a 
 cloud of bold and clear sharp-shooters. But," 
 continued admiral Decres, "suppose these gun 
 vessels in the middle of the channel, out of shallow 
 water, and in presence of vessels that have no 
 longer any fear of advancing upon them ; suppose, 
 besides, a wind tolerably fresh, which renders 
 manoeuvring easy for those vessels but difficult for 
 the gun vessels, will they not be in danger of 
 being run down in great numbers by the giants 
 with which they will have to contend." " They 
 will lose," says admiral Bruix, "a hundred vessels 
 out of two thousand ; but nineteen hundred will 
 pass, and that will suffice for the ruin of England." 
 "Yes," replies admiral Decres, "if the loss of a 
 hundred does not strike terror among the nineteen 
 hundred; if even the number of nineteen hundred 
 be not itself the cause of inevitable confusion, and 
 if tne naval officers, preserving their coolness, do 
 not fall into that disordered state of mind, which 
 must involve all in a general catastrophe." 
 
 " Let there be, in the supposed hypothesis of a 
 summer calm, or a winter's fog, two occasions 
 equally propitious, because in a calm the English 
 vessels will not be able to bear down upon our ves- 
 sels, and in a fog they will be deprived of the means 
 of seeing them, and in these two cases their formid- 
 able encounter will be avoided. But such cir- 
 cumstances, although presenting themselves two or 
 three times in every season, would not ensure suffi- 
 cient security. Two tides would be necessary, or 
 twenty-four hours, in order that the flotilla "may 
 come entirely out of port, it would require ten or 
 twelve hours to cross, and with the loss of time 
 always inevitable, full forty-eight hours would be 
 required. Is it not to be feared, that during Blicli 
 an interval, not less than two days, a sudden change 
 of the atmosphere might intervene, and surprise 
 the flotilla when in full movement ?" 
 
 The objections of admiral Decres were therefore 
 very serious. Napoleon drew up his replies in his 
 characteristic manner, trusting to his confidence in 
 his good fortune, in the recollections of Egypt and 
 of the St. Bernard. He said that the finest opera- 
 tions had been accomplished in the front of obsta- 
 
 have been since, decried in advance by the indiscretion of 
 the agents who were charged to give them their concur- 
 rence. — Note of tlie Author.
 
 1804. 
 June. 
 
 Objects destined for the French 
 squadron. 
 
 THE CORONATION. 
 
 Napoleon's plan for covering the 
 ilotilla with a fleet. 
 
 581 
 
 cles equally great, that it was right to leave as little 
 as possible to hazard, but that something must 
 be so left. Still in combating these objections, he 
 knew how to appreciate them, and this man, who, 
 by force of tempting fortune, perished in repulsing 
 ber, this man, when he was able to avoid a danger, 
 ami thereby add a single chance more in favour of 
 the success of Ins plans, never miBsed the opportu- 
 nity. Bold in his conceptions, he exhibited in their 
 execution the most consummate prudence. It was 
 to meet these objections that he meditated inces- 
 santly on the project of bringing, by a sudden 
 manoeuvre, a large fleet into the channel. If this 
 superior for only three days to the English 
 
 a the Downs, covered the passage of die flo- 
 tilla, all obstacles would fall to the ground. Admi- 
 ral Decres admitted that in such a case he had no 
 
 r a singl ■ objection to offer, and that masters 
 of the ocean, England would he delivered over to 
 the invaders. It, which it was nearly certain to be, 
 th ■ superiority acquired was kept for more than two 
 days, because a notice of the presence of the French 
 
 could n< > t !)'• conveyed with sufficient rapidity 
 to the English fleet blockading Brest, so that it 
 could rejoin instantly that which was in observa- 
 tion before Boulogne, there would he time enough 
 for the flotilla, passing and re-passing several times, 
 to fetch across fresh troops left in the camps, and 
 ten or fifteen thousand horses waiting upon the 
 French coast the means of transportation, with a 
 considerable supplementary materiel. The mass of 
 force would then be so great that all resistance on 
 the aid ■ of England would become impossible. 
 Such prodigious results hung therefore upon 
 
 .d leu arrival of a fleet in the channel. In 
 order to meet that end, an unforeseen combination 
 was necessary, that the English should not he able 
 to baffle. Happily, tie- old British admiralty, 
 Strongest before all things in its traditions, and the 
 spirit of the service, was not able to contend in 
 invention with a wonderful genius, constantly occu- 
 pied on the same subject, and able to dispense with 
 cone irting plans amid a collective administra- 
 tion. 
 
 N ipoleon had at Brest a fleet of eighteen vessels, 
 which - i to be raised to twenty-one; a second 
 
 of five at Ro ihefort, another of five at Ferrol, one in 
 harbour at Cadiz; finally, oneof eight vessels at 
 
 T .ul .n, which was to be increased to ten. The 
 English admiral Cornwallis blocked up Brest with 
 fiftei n or eight) en, and Rochefort with four or five 
 ships. A weak English division blockaded Ferrol, 
 Lastly, Nelson with his squadron cruised oil' the 
 Elyeres [sles t > watch Toulon. Such was the state 
 of their res] eeth el I tie- Held which offered 
 
 to tie- combinations of Napoleon. His idea 
 was to make one of ties" squadrons steal away, 
 and arrive I. l< n march in the channel, 
 
 to ho lor — • • i ■ i days superior to the English. 
 
 When he had intended to act in winter, thai is, in 
 
 the preceding m. .nth of February, he had thought 
 of directing tic Brest Beet towards the coast, of 
 Ireland, to land there lie- fifteen thousand or 
 
 eight eu thousand i which it had on hoard, and 
 
 to make its appearance suddenly in the channel. 
 This bold plan had onlj a cha t success in the 
 
 winter season, because in that season the e, jntiiiu d 
 blockade of Brest being impracticable, it would 
 
 be able to profit by the bad weather to set sail. But 
 
 I in summer, the presence of the English was so con- 
 tinued that it would be impossible to put to sea 
 without an action; and vessels encumbered with 
 troops, going to sea for the first time in presence 
 of ships experienced by a long cruise, and lightly 
 manned, ran great danger, unless uiih an immense 
 superiority of force. In this season the facilities of 
 proceeding to sea were much greater on the coast of 
 Foulon. In June and July the strong mistral gales 
 blowing very frequently, obliged the Engjish to run 
 for shelter behind the Isles of Corsica or Sardinia. 
 A squadron availing itself of such a movement, 
 would be able to unbend its sails at nightfall, gain 
 twenty leagues the same night, deceive Nelson by 
 taking a false course, and by inspiring him with 
 alarm about the East, draw him perhaps towards 
 the mouths of the Nile; because since Napoleon 
 had escaped from him in 17!)!!. Nelson's mind was 
 constantly pre-occupied with the possibility of the 
 French throwing an army upon Egypt, and was 
 determined not to be a second time surprised. Na- 
 poleon therefore conceived the idea of confiding 
 the flotilla of Toulon to the boldest of his admirals, 
 Latouche Treville; to compose it of ten sail of the 
 line, and several frigates ; to fain a camp in the 
 environs, in order to fjive the idea of a new expedi- 
 tion to E^ypt, to embark in reality very few troops, 
 and to send this fleet to sea during a breeze of the 
 mistral, assigning to it the following route. It was 
 at first to navigate towards Sicily, then sailing west- 
 wards to direct itself towards the Strait of Gibral- 
 tar, to pass through, pick up in its course the 
 Aigle, ship of war in Cadiz, avoid Ferrol, to which 
 Nelson would be tempted to sail, when he knew 
 that the French hail passed the Strait, push forward 
 into the gulf of Gascony, to rally there the division 
 of the French at Rochefort, ami finally, keeping 
 himself to the south of Sorlingueson the north of 
 Brest, avail himself of the fust favourable wind to 
 sail into the channel. This fleet of ten vessels at 
 its departure, reinforced by six others on its voyage, 
 would number sixteen on its arrival, and would 
 be sufficiently numerous to domineer lor some days 
 in the straits of Dover. To deceive Nelson was 
 easily practicable', because this great seaman, full 
 of ability for fighting, had not always a judgment 
 perfectly correct; and besides, his mind was conti- 
 nually troubled by the recollection of Egypt. To 
 avoid Ferrol, in order to come before Rochefort, 
 and to rally the Bquadron there, was very prac- 
 ticable. The most difficult thing to do was to pene- 
 trate into the channel, and pass between the Eng- 
 lish force which guarded the avenues to Ireland. 
 and the thet oi admiral Cornwallis blockading 
 Brest. But the squadron of Ganteaume, always 
 ready to hoist sail, with his people on hoard, could 
 not fail to attract the close attention of admiral 
 Cornwallis, ami oblige him to press (dose into the 
 gullet of Brest. If .Cornwallis should abandon the 
 
 blockade of Bnst, and give chase to Latouche Tiv 
 villi-, Ganteaume would have set sail at the same 
 
 moment, and one of th • two French fleets would 
 have most assuredly arrived before Boulogne. It 
 
 was nearly impossible for the English admiralty 
 to discover such combination, and to provide 
 against it. A point of departure s. far removed as 
 that of Toulon, would less than any other cause the 
 Channel to be thought its object. Besides, in arm 
 log the flotilla in such a manner as that it would
 
 582 
 
 Character of the 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 French admirals. 
 
 1804. 
 
 June. 
 
 suffice for its own defence, the idea of so distant an 
 aid was discarded, and the vigilance of the enemy 
 lulled asleep. Thus all was combined to ensure 
 the success of a skilful manoeuvre, that could 
 only have come into the mind of a man conceiving 
 and acting alone, keeping his own secret close, 
 and continually pondering upon the same thing 1 . 
 
 " If you wish to confide," said admiral Dee-res to 
 the emperor, " a great design to a man, it is first 
 necessary that you see him, that you speak to him, 
 that you animate him with your genius. This is 
 the more necessary still with our naval officers, 
 demoralized by our maritime reverses, always 
 ready to die like heroes, but ever thinking more of 
 succumbing nobly, than of conquering." Napoleon 
 therefore sent for Latouche Tre'ville, who had been 
 in Paris since his return from St. Domingo. This 
 officer had neither the same bearing of mind, nor 
 the same genius for organization as admiral Bruix; 
 but in execution he exhibited a hardihood, a 
 glance, that in all probability had he lived, would 
 have made him the rival of Nelson. He was never 
 discouraged like his companions in arms, and was 
 ready to attempt every thing. Unfortunately he 
 had contracted at St. Domingo the germs of the 
 malady through which so many brave men had 
 already fallen, and many more were yet to die. 
 Napoleon disclosed to him his design, made him be 
 convinced to the letter of its possibility, laid before 
 him the grandeur, the momentous consequences, 
 and imparled to his spirit the same ardour which 
 filled his own. Latouche Tre'ville quitted Paris 
 with enthusiasm before his health was re-esta- 
 blished, and went to watch himself over the equip- 
 ment of his squadron. All was so calculated that 
 this operation nii^lit be put in execution, in July, or 
 at the latest in August. 
 
 Admiral Ganteaume, who had commanded at Tou- 
 lon before Latouche, I. a I been transferred to Brest. 
 The emper»r relied upon the devotion of Gan- 
 teaume, and was much attached to him. Still 
 he did not find him hold enough to confide to him 
 the execution of his important manoeuvre. Bur after 
 admiral Bruix under the head of capacity, and 
 admiral Latouche under that of audacity, he pre- 
 ferred Ganteaume for his experience and courage 
 to all the others. Napoleon, therefore, confided to 
 his care the Brest squadron, probably destined to 
 carry troops to Ireland, and charged him to 
 complete the equipment, so that he should be 
 ready to co-operate with the fleet from Toulon. 
 
 Still the fleet was much behind on account of 
 the unheard of efforts they had made to complete 
 the flotilla. Since the last was ready, all the naval 
 means of equipment had been directed to the squa- 
 drons. Constructions in full force were now pushing 
 forward in the ports of Antwerp, Cherburg, Brest, 
 Lorient, Rochefort, and Toulon. Napoleon had 
 said that he would have a hundred ships of the 
 line in two years, and of this number twenty-five at 
 Antwerp, because at. this port it was that he 
 placed his hopes for the restoration of the French 
 marine. He found, bi sides, in this system of vast 
 naval constructions, an occasion for the employ- 
 ment of the idle hands in the French ports. But the 
 
 1 This was the fust idea of Napoleon. It will be seen 
 hereafter that it was several times modified, according to 
 the circumstances under which he was to act. 
 
 consumption of materials, the encumbrance of 
 the yards, and even the insufficiency of the working 
 population, slackened the execution of these great 
 designs. They had with trouble placed a few 
 vessels on the stocks at Antwerp, the men and 
 materials having been sent away to Flushing, Os- 
 tend, Dunkirk, Calais, and Boulogne, in conse- 
 quence of the necessity of labouring unceasingly 
 upon the flotilla At Brest they had otdy just 
 armed the eighteenth vessel ; at Rochefort the 
 fifth. At Fcrrol the want of resources among 
 the Spaniards had stopped the refitting of the 
 division which had taken refuge there. At Toulon 
 there were only eight vessels ready to sail im- 
 mediately, and still the winter had been passed in 
 the utmost activity. Napoleon stimulated his 
 minister of marine, Decres, and left him no rest '. 
 
 1 Here are two letters from the emperor to admiral De- 
 cres, which prove with what energy of determination lie 
 employed himself in the restoration of the French navy. 
 
 " To the Minister of the Marine. 
 "St. Cloud, 21st April 1804, or 1st Flnreal, year xn. 
 
 " It appears to me perfectly proper that an imposing cere- 
 mony should take place on laying the hr*t slone of the 
 arsenal at Antwerp; but it also appears to me not proptr to 
 demolish the building under the pretext of w,mt of regu- 
 larity. It suffices to build nothing against the general 
 regular plan. The rest will establish itself insensibly. 
 When one has to Oemolish, we must demolish that which 
 is not regular; but I must repeat what I said hist to you, 1 
 am not satisfied with the works at Antwerp, because there 
 is only one vessel upon the stocks and five hundred work- 
 men. I must desire that before the 1st Mes-idor there may be 
 at least three vessels of seventy-four guns upon ihe sto ks, 
 t at before the 1st Vendemiaire, year XIII., there be six. 
 and before the 1st of Kivdse, nine; and all this cannot tie done 
 with the small number of workmen that you have at com- 
 mand. Tnere are a good many workmen in Provence un- 
 occupied ; there are many to be had on the coast of Bayonne 
 and Bordeaux ; in consequence, therefore, bring together 
 three thousand at Antwerp. Naval stores of the north, 
 wood, iron, all are easily conveyed thither. The war is no 
 obstacle to naval construction there. If we had been three 
 jears al war, twenty-live vessels must have been built there. 
 Any where besides such a thing is impossible. We must 
 have a navy, and we shall not be regarded as having 
 one until we shall possess a hundred sail of the line. It is ne- 
 cessary to have them in five years. If, as I think, they are 
 able to construct vessels at Havre, there must be two im- 
 mediately begun. It is necessary also to occupy themselves 
 with commencing two new ones at Rochefort, and two others 
 at Toulon. 1 believe that these last should be ail of from 
 four to tlnee decks. 
 
 "I would wish also to settle my ideas about the port of 
 Dunkirk. I beg that you will make forme a little memo 
 randum that I may know how high the sea reaches at low 
 water. , 
 
 "The flotilla will soon be constructed every where. 
 Thcie must then be occupation given to a great number of 
 workmen, as at Nantes, Bordeaux, Honfieur, Dieppe, St. 
 Malo, and other places. A number of frigatps, lighters, 
 and brigs must be laid down. It is necessary, even under 
 the feeling of i utilic spirit, that the workmen on the coast 
 should not perish of hunger, and that the departments bor- 
 dering upon the sea, which have been the least favourable to 
 the revolution, should perceive, that the tune will come 
 when the sea al»o will be our domain. St. Domingo cost 
 us two millions a month, the English have taken it ; these 
 two millions per month must now be carried only to naval 
 construction. My intention is to apply to the navy the 
 stime activity as to the flotilla, except that not being 
 pressed, more of order may be introduced. I am not press-
 
 1804. 
 
 June. 
 
 Strength of the French naval force. THE CORONATION. Strength of the French naval force. 583 
 
 He had even ordered that they should work by 
 torchlight at Toulon, that the ten ships destined 
 for Latouche Treville might he equipped in proper 
 time. There was not less a deficiency of materials 
 
 mid of workmen, than of seamen. The admirals 
 Ganteaume at. llrest, Yihenouve at Rochefort, 
 Gourdon at Ferrol, anil 1. atom-he at Toulon, com- 
 plained that they had not sutiici* lit. Napoleon, after 
 many experiments, became confirmed in the idea 
 of supplying the insufficiency of the crews by 
 young soldiers chosen from the regiments ; these 
 exercised in the artillery and common manoeuvres, 
 would be able to complete in an advantageous 
 manner the equipment of the vessels. Admiral 
 Ganteaume had already tried this step at Brest, 
 ami he had found it answer well. He praised a 
 ■ leal the sailors borrowed from the land ser- 
 vice, above all, for their artillery practice. He 
 only requested they would not send him any sol- 
 diers who were perfect in their profession, as they 
 Would acquire with repugnance a second education, 
 but the young Conscripts, who had learned nothing, 
 much more apt at learning what he desired 
 to teach them, and showed themselves more docile. 
 They tried them besides, and only kept those who 
 sh -wed a taste for the sea service. They had 
 thus succeeded in augmenting a fourth or fifth the 
 total number of seamen. 
 
 I r nice had at this time about forty-five thou- 
 sand disposable seamen : fifteen thousand in the 
 
 ing about the time, but I urgently demand that they com- 
 mence. 
 
 •' 1 pray you to present to me in the course of the comii g 
 
 wc-k a report which will enable me to become acquainted 
 
 vitii the actual situation of our navy, of our constructions, 
 
 tl is io be constructed, in what ports, and the sum that it 
 
 U cost per mouth, not departing from the principle, I better 
 love, that if you should give eighteen months to building 
 a visacl you should make it to me a third part more 
 | time. 
 
 "As to the vessels, I would construct them on the same 
 plan. The irigites on the model of the Hortensia and Cor- 
 which appear to be very good; fur the ships of the 
 line, take the best vessels, and every where build vessels of 
 eighty guns upon three decks, exc.pt at Antwerp, where it 
 appear* to me more prudent to commence at lirst with 
 slops of seventy-four guns." 
 
 " To the Minister nj the Marine. 
 " St. Cloud, 28lh April 1804, or 8lh Floreal, year an. 
 •I signed I O-day a decree relative to naval construc- 
 tion-.. 1 blia.t admit no kind of excuse. Have an account 
 , ■ week of your orders, and wa cb over their 
 
 ion; if extraordinary measures ara necessary, let me 
 
 I tainted with them. I shall not admit any reason 
 
 valid, because with a good administration I would build 
 
 thirty vessels of the line in Franca in a year, if it was need- 
 ful. In a country like Prance, one oughi io bs able to do 
 what one chooses. It will n roti that my Intention 
 
 in to begin a good many vessels, except at Host, v 
 denire not to build again. My desjrc Is t,, have afloat 
 
 ie, year XIV., tv. eniy-six vessels ol war, it 
 
 i iii.it iii. ii being afloat will di pi nd 
 mors particularly on the circumstance whether by thai 
 time we shall h Bui henceforth all tin- ■. 
 
 lour guns inn t in- built at Antwerp, I 
 Antwerp thai our great building-yard must be. his only 
 
 there that the restoration of the I'reni b navy in a few years 
 can be possible. 
 
 " Before the year xv. we ought to hive a hundred men 
 of war." 
 
 flotilla, twelve thousand at Brest, four thousand or 
 five thousand between Lorient and Rochefort, 
 four thousand between Ferrol and Cadiz, and 
 about eight thousand at Toulon, without reckon- 
 ing several thousand in India. They were able to 
 add twelve thousand, perhaps fifteen thousand, to 
 their force, which would carry it to sixty thousand, 
 the number of men embarked. The fleet of Brest 
 alone had received an addition of four thousand 
 conscripts. These conscripts were much praised. 
 If the squadrons thus manned had been able to 
 navigate the ocean for a certain time under good 
 oliieers, they would have soon been equal to the 
 English squadrons. But blockaded in their ports 
 t lie -N had no experience at sea ; and the admirals, 
 besides, wanted the confidence that is only to be 
 aequi'-ed by victory. Nevertheless, all went for- 
 ward unaer the influence of a will all-powerful, 
 which bent itself to give confidence to those who 
 had lost it. Admiral Latouche neglected nothing 
 at Toulon, to be ready by July or August. Ad- 
 miral Ganteaume came out of Brest and went in 
 again in order to form his crews a little, and keep 
 the English in continual doubt about his designs. 
 By the strength of his threats to come out, he 
 thus disposed them to an incredulity, through which 
 some day he might be able to profit. 
 
 Napoleon devised anew supplementary force for 
 the French navy, and for this purpose wished to 
 appropriate the Genoese navy. He thought that 
 with a squadron of seven or eight vessels and 
 seven frigates in that port, he should divide the 
 attention of the English between Toulon and 
 Genoa, oblige them to keep a double fleet of obser- 
 vation in that sea, or answering the same end to 
 himself, leave one of the two ports free, while the 
 other was blockaded. He enjoined upon M. Salieetti, 
 the French minister at Genoa, to conclude a treaty 
 with that republic, by which she should deliver 
 her building-yards to France for the construction 
 of ten vessels of the line and the like number of 
 frigates. France in return engaged to receive 
 into her navy a number of Genoese oliieers, pro- 
 portioned to the number of vessels, with a rate of 
 pay equal to that of tin- French officers. Further, 
 France bound herself* to enrol six thousand 
 Genoese seamen, that the Ligmi.in republic 
 obliged itself .on its own side always to retain at 
 her disposition. When peace arrived, France 
 bound herself to grant, her imperial Hag to the 
 Genoese, which would procure them a protection, 
 exci eiiingly useful against the Corsairs of Bar- 
 Wary. 
 
 All the dispositions of Napoleon wi re terminated, 
 and lie was on the point ot setting mil. lie wished 
 
 fust to Deceive the ambaasadi re, who were charged 
 imp to him their new letters (if crede ice, in 
 which Ik- was gratified with the title of emperor. 
 ' pope's nuncio, the ambassadors of Spain 
 and Naples, the ministers of I'rtis-n, Holland, 
 
 Denmark, Bavaria, Saxony, Baden, Wurtemburg, 
 Hesse, and Switzerland, presented themselves to 
 him on Sunday, the JMi of duly, or IlKh of Mes- 
 
 sidor, with the forms adopted in all the t rts, and 
 
 remitted to him their letters, treating him, for the 
 first time, as a crowned prince. There was no one 
 wauling at ibis audience but the ambassador of 
 the court of Vienna, with whom there was still a 
 
 negotiation for the imperial title to be given to the
 
 Napoleon writes to general 
 584 Latouche, sends him a 
 
 cross of honour. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Napoleon delegates the 
 government to Cani- 
 baceres. 
 
 1804. 
 June. 
 
 house of Austria; the ambassador of Russia, with 
 whom there was a coolness, on account of the note 
 addressed to the diet of Ratisbon ; and, finally, 
 him of the English court, with whom France was 
 at war. It might be said, therefore, that Great 
 Britain excepted, Napoleon was acknowledged by 
 all Europe; because Austria was going to forward 
 the formal act of acknowledgment ; Russia re- 
 gretted what she had done, and only demanded 
 an explanation which should save her dignity, to 
 acknowledge the imperial title in the Bonaparte 
 family. 
 
 Some days after this, the grand distribution of 
 the decorations of the legion of honour took place. 
 Although this institution had been decreed for two 
 years, the organization had demanded much time, 
 and was scarcely now completed. Napoleon him- 
 self distributed these grand decorations to the first 
 civil and military personages of the empire, in the 
 church of the invalids — a building for which he 
 had a peculiar regard. He did the honours with 
 great pomp on the anniversary day of the 14th of 
 July. He had not yet exchanged the order of 
 the legion of honour with the foreign orders ; but 
 in awaiting such exchanges as he proposed to make, 
 in order to place, under every relation, his new 
 monarchy on an equal footing with the others, he 
 called cardinal Caprara to him in the midst of the 
 ceremony, and detaching from his own neck the 
 cordon of the legion of honour, he gave it to this 
 old and most respected cardinal, who was deeply 
 touched at a distinction so marked. Napoleon 
 commenced thus, through the pope's representa- 
 tive, the affiliation of the order, which, all recent 
 in date as it was, soon became an object of am- 
 bition throughout Europe. 
 
 Attached to conferring a serious character upon 
 things in appearance the most vain, lie sent the 
 cross of a grand officer of the legion of honour to 
 admiral Latouche Treville : — " I have named you," 
 he wrote to the admiral, " a grand officer of the 
 empire, inspector of the coasts of the Mediterra- 
 nean: but I much desire that the operations which 
 you are about to undertake, may enable me even to 
 raise you to such a degree of consideration and 
 of honour, that you can have nothing more to wish 
 ****** L et us jj e mas ters of the strait for 
 six hours, and we are masters of the world." 
 Dated 3rd July, 1804 K 
 
 1 The following is the entire letter: — 
 
 "By the return of my courier, let me know the day 
 when it will be possible for you, a due subtraction being 
 made for the weather, to weigh anchor; inform me what 
 the enemy is doing, and where Nelson keeps himself. 
 
 "Meditate on the great enterprize with which you are 
 charged, and before I sign definitively your last orders, make 
 me acquainted with the manner in which you think it most 
 advantageous to fulfil them. 
 
 " I have named you a grand officer of the empire, in- 
 spector of the coasts of the Mediterranean : but I much desire 
 that the operations which you are about 1o undertake, may 
 enable me even to raise you to such a degree of considera- 
 tion and of honour, that you can have nothing more to 
 wish. 
 
 " The Rochefort squadron, composed of five vessels, of 
 which one is of three decks, and five frigates, is ready to 
 weigh anchor ; it has only five of the enemy's vessels 
 before it. 
 
 "The Brest squadron consists of twenty-one vessels. 
 These vessels weigh anchor to harass admiral Cornwallis, 
 
 Entirely occupied with his vast projects, the 
 emperor set out for Boulogne, after having dele- 
 gated to the arch-chancellor Cambaee'res, besides 
 the ordinary duty of presiding in the council of 
 state and the senate, the power of exercising the 
 supreme authority, if it should become necessary. 
 The arch-chancellor was the sole personage of the 
 empire in whom he had enough confidence to 
 delegate such extensive powers. He arrived at 
 Pont de Briques on the 20th of July, and imme- 
 diately descended to the port of Boulogne to see 
 the flotilla, the forts, and the different works which 
 he had ordered to be performed. The two armies 
 
 and they oblige the English to have a great number of 
 vessels there. The enemy also keep six vessels before (he 
 Texel to blockade the Dutch squadron, composed of five 
 vessels, five frigates, apd a convoy of eight ships. 
 
 " General Marniont has his army on board. 
 
 " Between Staples, Boulogne, Wimereux, and Ambleteuse, 
 two new ports which I have had constructed, we have 270 
 gun vessels, 534 gun boats, 396 pinnaces, in all 1200 vessels, 
 carrying 120, 0U0 men and 10,000 horses. Let us be masters 
 of the strait for six hours, and we are masters of the 
 world. 
 
 " The enemy have in the Downs, or before Boulogne and 
 before Ostend, two ihips of 74 guns; three of 00 or 64; 
 and two or three of 50. Up to this time, Cornwallis had not 
 more than 15 sail; but all the reserves of Plymouth 
 and Portsmouth have come to reinforce him. The enemy 
 also keep at Cork, in Ireland, four or live vessels of war; I 
 do not speak of frigates and small vessels, of which they 
 have a great number. 
 
 " If you deceive Nelson, he will go to Sicily, to Egypt, or 
 to Ferrol. I do not think that he will miss appearing be- 
 fore Ferrol. Of five vessels which are in that latitude, four 
 are ready; the fifth will be so in Fructidor. But I think 
 Ferrol is so marked, and it is so natural for one to suppose, 
 if your army in the Mediterranean enter the ocean, its force 
 is destined to raise the blockade of Ferrol. It appears better, 
 therefore, to sail by there very large, and to arrive belore 
 Rochefort, which would complete you a squadron of sixteen 
 sail of the line and eleven fiigates, and then without 
 anchoring or losing a moment, whether by doubling lie- 
 land very large, or whether by executing the first design, to 
 arrive before Boulogne. Our Brest squadron of twenty- 
 three ships will have an army on board, and will be eveiy day 
 under sail in such a manner, that Cornwallis will be obliged 
 to keep in close to the shore of Britany under the endeavour 
 to oppose their passage out. 
 
 " For the rest, I wait to fix my ideas upon this operation, 
 which has its chances, but of whkh the success offers results 
 so immense, for the design which you have announced to 
 me by the return of the courier. 
 
 " The largest stock of provisions possible must be em- 
 barked, in order that, under any circumstances, you be not 
 straitened for any thing. 
 
 " At the end of this month they will launch a new vessel 
 at Rochefort and at Lorient. That of Rochefort will not give 
 place to any question, but if it should happen that the one 
 at Lorient be in the road, and it should not have the power to 
 join before your appearance at the Isle of Aix, I wish to 
 know if you think you could shape your course so as to join 
 it. However, I think that sailing out before a good mistral, 
 it is preferable every way to perform the operation before 
 the winter; because in the bad season, it will be possible 
 that you will have a better chance of arriving, but it is 
 possible there will be many days together in which there 
 will be no profiting by your arrival. In supposing that you 
 will be able to depart before the 10th Thermidor or 2!>th of 
 July, it is not probable that you can arrive before Boulogne 
 until soTie time in September, at the moment when the 
 nights are already reasonably long, and when the weather 
 is not bad for any time together."
 
 1S04. 
 June. 
 
 Napoleon visits Iloulogne and 
 inspects the expedition. 
 
 THE CORONATION. 
 
 Grand fete proposed to the army. 
 
 :s* 
 
 of the land and sea welcomed him witb transports of 
 joy, and hailed Ids presence with a thousand unani- 
 mous exclamations. Nine hundred cannon, tired 
 from the forts and line of moorings, and re-echoed 
 from Calais to Dover, apprised the English of the 
 
 uce of the man who, for eighteen months, hail 
 s.i deeply troubled the accustomed security of their 
 island. 
 
 Napol i embarked at the same moment, in 
 
 of a stormy sea, wishing to visit the forts and 
 masonry of the Creche ami the Ileurt, as well as 
 the wooden fort placed between the other two ; all 
 ined, as already observed, to cover the 
 mooring line. He ordered to be executed, under 
 his (.wo eyes, some experiments in firing, with the 
 iring himself that the instructions he 
 
 _iven to obtain the most distant effect of the 
 fire possible had been followed. He then sailed at 
 large, and went to see manoeuvres at the distance of 
 a cannon shot from the English squadron, by several 
 divisions of the flotilla, of which admiral Bruix 
 boasted, without ceasing, of the progress. He 
 
 ned full of satisfaction, after having la- 
 vished the testimonies of this satisfaction upon the 
 
 3 of the two armies that, under his supreme 
 ions, had contributed to the creation of that 
 prodigious armament. 
 
 The day following and subsequent days, he visited 
 all the camps, from Etaples to Calais; then he re- 
 turned to the interior to inspect the cavalry corps, 
 encamped at a distance from the coasts, and, more 
 particularly, the five divisions of grenadiers, or- 
 ganized by general Junot, in the neighbourhood of 
 Arras. This division was composed of companies 
 of grenadiers taken from the regiments which were 
 not designed to make a part of the expedition. 
 There could not be a finer body of men seen, either 
 as regarded the selection, or the handsome make of 
 the men. They much surpassed the consular guard 
 itself, now become the imperial guard. This body 
 consisted of ten battalions of eight hundred men 
 each. With the grenadiers began the reform of 
 the military head-dress. These soldiers wore 
 Bchakos in place of hats ; the hair cut, and without 
 powder, in place of the old mode of dressing it, so 
 troublesome and ill adapted. Inured to war by 
 numerous campaigns, manoeuvring witb unparalleled 
 
 precision, and animated with all that pride which 
 
 constitutes the Strength of a select corps, it pre- 
 
 1 a division of about eight thousand men, 
 
 which no European troops would have been able to 
 
 t, if they were doable or triple its number. This 
 
 was the body of grenadiers which lie was to throw 
 
 the first upon the shores of England, after they had 
 . d in tin- light pinnaces, which have bei a 
 already described. On beholding their bearing, 
 discipline, and enthusiasm, Napoleon felt his con- 
 fidence redouble, and doubted no more of con- 
 quering at London tin- set ptW of tin land and Bea. 
 Returned to t lie coast, he inspected the flotilla, 
 
 I by vessel, in order to be assured if the ar- 
 rangements were such as lie bad ordered, and to 
 
 try if it were possible at the first signal to embark, 
 
 with the necessary rapidity, every thing that had 
 be, ii collected in tos magazines of Boulogne. He 
 
 found all things in the state which he desired. It 
 required several days to embark the heavier Ston g, 
 but those being placed on board, which might be 
 done several weeks before the expedition moved, 
 
 they would be able in only three or four hours to 
 place the men in the flotilla, with the horses 
 and field artillery. Still all was not yet ready. 
 There were some divisions behindhand to come 
 from Havre to Boulogne. The vessels for the 
 guard particularly, confided to captain Daugier, 
 were not arrived. The Batavian flotilla on that side 
 occasioned to Napoleon more than one disappoint- 
 ment. He was greatly satisfied with admiral Ver- 
 huell; but the equipment of a part of this flotilla 
 was not completed, whether through a want of zeal 
 on the part of the Dutch government, or whether, 
 as is most probable, it arose from the difficulties in 
 the way of the thing itself. The two first divisions 
 had united at Ostend, Dunkirk, and Calais; the 
 third had not left the Scheldt. There remained 
 another condition towards success, about which 
 Napoleon deemed it needful to be assured; this 
 was the union of the entire Batavian flotilla in the 
 ports situated to the left of Cape Grisnez, by thus 
 drawing them more closely together in the four 
 ports of Ambleteuse, Wimereux, Boulogne, and 
 Etaples. The whole flotilla would thus be enabled 
 to depart together under the same wind at points 
 only three or four leagues distant from each other. 
 But two things, money and time, are always con- 
 sumed in such great operations with a rapidity and 
 to an extent which continually surpasses the conjec- 
 tures of minds most positive in their estimates. 
 The commencement of August having arrived, 
 Napoleon perceived that all could not be abso- 
 lutely ready before the month of September; and 
 lie made known to admiral Latouche that he 
 had delayed the expedition for a month. He eon- 
 soled himself for the delay, by thinking that this 
 month would be employed in getting things better 
 prepared than they were already, and that, besides 
 the season being still sufficiently fine in the month 
 of September, there also would be the advantage 
 of longer nights 1 . 
 
 In the mean time, he wished to give a grand 
 fete to the army, adapted to elevate the moral 
 courage of the troops, if it were possible it could 
 be more elevated than it was. He had distributed 
 grand decorations of the legion of honour to the 
 principal personages of the empire in the church 
 of the invalids, on the anniversary of the 14th of 
 July. He now conceived the distribution himself 
 of the crosses to the army, which were to be given 
 in exchange for the arms of honour that had been 
 suppressed, and to celebrate this ceremony of the 
 anniversary of his birth on the borders of the ocean, 
 
 1 The text of this new order was as follows : — 
 
 " To the Minitler of the Marine. 
 " 2nd August, 180-1, (Mth Thermidor, year xn.) 
 • My intention is, that you should send an extraordinary 
 courier to Toulon, iu order to make known to general 
 Latouobe, that the different divisions of the flotilla not 
 having been able to join, I have thought a delay of a month 
 cannot but be advantageous- Inaimucb as the nights will 
 become longer; hut that my Intention is. he should avail 
 himself of this dalrv to add the ship Berwick to the 
 squadron; that «n and every » nil of means should he used 
 
 to prodlKI this result ,.i. a a vessel more or less is not a 
 thing to b« disr •girded. In fad, tiny will induce me, if 
 
 able, to carry up the united squadron t.> eighteen sail. 
 
 " I desire that Orders lie renewed as well, to press the 
 
 armament of the I t Lorlent, it must be in the 
 
 road by UlO 10th l'ruclidor."
 
 Napoleon distributes 
 586 crosses at Bou- 
 
 logne. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Measures for defence 
 taken in Great 
 Britain. 
 
 1804. 
 Aug. 
 
 in presence of the English squadron. Tlie result 
 met his wishes; it was a magnificent spectacle, of 
 which cotemporaries for a long time retained a 
 recollection. 
 
 He made choice of a spot situated on the right 
 of Boulogne, along by tlie sea, not far from the 
 column that was afterwards erected at that place. 
 This ground having the form of an amphitheatre, 
 or half circle, as if constructed designedly on the 
 shore side, seemed to have been prepared by nature 
 for some grand national spectacle. The space was 
 shaped in such a manner, it was possible to place 
 the whole army there. In the centre of this amphi- 
 theatre, a throne was raised for tlie emperor, witli 
 the back to the sea, and the front towards the land. 
 To the right and left steps were constructed to 
 receive the grand dignitaries, the ministers, and 
 marshals. In the prolongation of the two wings 
 were displayed detachments of the imperial guard. 
 In front, on the inclining ground of this natural 
 amphitheatre, were arranged, as anciently were 
 the Roman people in their vast arenas, the dif- 
 ferent corps of the army, formed in close columns, 
 radiating from a common centre towards the throne 
 of the emperor. At the head of each of these 
 columns was placed the infantry, the cavalry in 
 the rear rising above the infantry by the height of 
 their horses. 
 
 On the 16th of August, the morrow of the day of 
 St. Napoleon, the troops marched to the place 
 where the fete was to be given, across a flood of po- 
 pulation, that had poured in immense numbers from 
 all the provinces round to attend at the spectacle. 
 A hundred thousand men, nearly all veterans of 
 the republic, their eyes fixed on Napoleon, awaited 
 the reward of their exploits. The soldiers and 
 officers who were to receive the crosses had left the 
 ranks, and advanced to the foot of the imperial 
 throne. Napoleon, standing up, read to them the 
 fine formula of the oath of the legion of honour, 
 when all together, at the sound of trumpets and the 
 roar of artillery, shouted, " We swear it ! ! ' They 
 then came forward successively for several hours, 
 to receive one alter another this cross which was 
 to supplant nobiiity of blood. Former gentlemen 
 mounted along with simple peasants the steps of the 
 throne, equally delighted to obtain the distinction 
 awarded to their courage, and all promising to spill 
 their blood on the shore of England, in order to 
 assure to their country, and the man who governed 
 it, the uncontested empire of the world. 
 
 This magnificent spectacle moved every heart, 
 and an unforeseen circumstance happened to ren- 
 der it deeply serious. A division of the flotilla, 
 which had recently left Havre, entered Boulogne 
 at the same moment) for a long time exchanging a 
 lively cannonade with tlie English. From time to 
 time, Napoleon quitted tlie throne, to tyke his spy 
 glass, and see with his own eyes how the soldieiri of 
 the land and sea comported themselves in presence 
 of the enemy. 
 
 Such scenes as the=e tended much to agitate 
 England. Tlie British pres=, ^--Toijant and calum- 
 niating, as the press :tl«.ivs >- in \ 'Ve country, 
 railed much at Napoleon and Ins j ."jparalioJQB, but 
 railed as one who trembles at that winch he would 
 make appear the object of his laughter In reality, 
 the uneasiness there was deep and general. The 
 immense preparations which had been made for the 
 
 defence of England disturbed the country, without 
 making completely easy in mind the men ivho were 
 acquainted with the art of war. They were seen 
 regretting that they had not a great army, as France 
 regretted that she had not a powerful navy; Eng- 
 land had wished by means of a corps of reserve to 
 augment its military strength. A part of the men 
 designed to serve in the reserve by the drawing, 
 had volunteered into the line, which carried up this 
 force to nearly one hundred and seventy thousand 
 men. To that was joined the local militia, an un- 
 determined number, designed to serve exclusively 
 in the provinces; and lastly, one hundred and fifty 
 thousand volunteers, who had offered their services 
 in the three kingdoms, showed much zeal, and sub- 
 mitted themselves to military exercise. There were 
 three hundred thousand volunteers spoken of, but 
 they had not more than half that number effective, 
 and really prepared to serve; the highest persons in 
 England, in order to give the impulse, had clothed 
 themselves in volunteer uniforms. It has been 
 already seen, that Mr. Addington and Mr. Pitt both 
 wore the dress. The levy en masse, decreed upon 
 paper, had not been seriously undertaken. 
 
 In making allowance for customary defalcations, 
 England had to oppose to the French one hundred 
 thousand or one hundred and twenty thousand re- 
 gular soldiers of excellent quality, a militia without 
 organization 1 , and one hundred and fifty thousand 
 volunteers without experience, having in general 
 officers below mediocrity, the whole shared between 
 England and Ireland, and dispersed on those parts 
 of the coasts where the danger was most to be ap- 
 prehended. There were counted in regular troops 
 and volunteers, seventy thousand men in Ireland; 
 their remained for England and Scotland one hun- 
 dred and eighty, or two hundred thousand men, 
 volunteers or troops of the line. It was the utmost, 
 even with the art to move masses which Napoleon 
 at that time possessed almost alone, it was the ut- 
 most if they had been able to unite eighty thousand 
 or ninety thousand men at the place of danger. 
 What would they have done had they been twice as 
 numerous, before the one hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand French, all accomplished soldiers, which Na- 
 poleon would have thrown on the other side of the 
 straits 1 The real defence of England therefore was 
 on the ocean. The English had one hundred thou- 
 sand seamen; eighty-nine vessels of the line, spread 
 over all the seas; twenty vessels of fifty guns; one 
 hundred and thirty-two frigates, and more, a pro* 
 portional number in her dockyards and basins. As 
 Napoleon did, rendering themselves more perfect as 
 time ran on, they had created sea fencibles, in imi- 
 tation of land fencibles. They had under that name 
 united all the fishermen and seamen not liable to 
 the ordinary press, that were spread, to the number 
 of twenty thousand, in boats along the coast, keep- 
 ing a continual guard, independently of the ad- 
 vanced guard of frigates, brigs, and corvettes, that 
 were in a connected chain from the Scheldt to the 
 
 1 The regular militia are omitted above, in almost all 
 respects equal to the lit.e, as tlie two or three regiments 
 who turned the tide of battle ;it Albuera never before in 
 fire, and almost all militiamen, clearly proved. These 
 were seventy-two thousand, of whom our author takes no 
 notice, He evidently confuses the local militia with them, 
 whereas these last were little other than the volunteers whom 
 he faithfully enough designates. — Trans.
 
 1804. 
 Aug. 
 
 Public deling in England. 
 
 THE CORONATION. 
 
 State of the administration in 
 England. 
 
 587 
 
 Somme. Night signals and chariots for transport- 
 ing troops by post, completed their system of pre- 
 cautions, exhibited fully, and brought to greater 
 perfection in the fifteen months which had already 
 passed. They had besides entrenched the >fi*iunfi, 
 and placed in the Thames a line of frigates con- 
 nected by iron chains, capable of opposing a conti- 
 nued and solid harrier to all vessels. From Dover 
 to the Isle of Wight, every Bat part of the shore 
 was crowned with artillery. 
 
 The expense of these preparations, and the dis- 
 turbance they occasioned, was immense. Those 
 given to agitation in public life, as was very natural 
 when they were in danger of invasion, could find 
 nothing good that was done, nothing sufficiently se- 
 cure, and with a feeble minister, of whom all the 
 world believed they had ground to contest the ca- 
 pacity, there was no moral power capable of re- 
 straining the rage for fiction and censure. On his 
 proposing any measure, they said it was petty, or 
 bad, or not sufficiently good for the object, and they 
 proposed something else. Pitt, who had been for 
 some time reserved, had ceased to be so any- 
 longer, encouraged as he was by the general out- 
 cry. He severely blamed the measures taken by 
 the ministers, whether he thought the moment was 
 come to overturn them, or whether he really found 
 their precautionary measures insufficient and badly 
 calculated. It is at least certain that his censures 
 were much better founded than those of the other 
 members of the opposition. He reproached the 
 ministers with not having foreseen and prevented 
 the concentration of the flat-bottomed boats at 
 Boulogne, which, according to his statement, were 
 above a thousand at least. Although he endea- 
 voured to exaggerate rather than to dissimulate the 
 r, it will be seen that he Stopped very short of 
 the truth, because with the ISatavian flotilla the 
 number amounted to two thousand three hundred. 
 He attributed the fault to the ignorance of the ad- 
 miralty, that had not foreseen the use that might be 
 
 made of gun-boats, and that hail employed vessels 
 
 of the line, and frigates in shallow water, where 
 large vessels could not possibly follow the small 
 French boats. He pretended that with some hun- 
 dreds of gun-boats, supported by frigates at sea, it 
 would have been possible to combat on equal terms 
 the French preparations, and destroy their im- 
 mense armament before it could have united in the 
 
 channel. The reproach was at least specious, if not 
 well founded. 
 
 The ministers replied, that during the last war, 
 gnu-boats would willingly have been employed, but 
 that they would not stand the weather. This shows 
 that the English seamen had applied themselves 
 much less than the French to this species of vessel ; 
 because the French gun boats had navigated in all 
 weathers. Sometimes they had got aground in the 
 
 shallows, hut except in the accident at Brest, none 
 
 had been lost through defect of construction. In 
 fact, Mi'. Pitl 11 ither agreed in opinion with Mr. 
 
 Windham, his old colleague, nor with Mr. Fox, 
 
 his new ally, on the insufficiency of the regular 
 
 army, acknowledging that it is not easy to extend 
 
 on a sudden, at will, the proportions of a regular 
 
 military force, above all, in a country where re- 
 course is not allowed to a conscription, complain- 
 ing, too, that more had not been done with tie- vo- 
 lunteer system. He pretended that he could, by 
 
 availing himself of the effective services of the 
 one hundred and fifty thousand English volunteers, 
 make them acquire the degree of discipline and in- 
 struction of which they were capable, and bring 
 them to be much less inferior than they appeared 
 to the regular troops. This reproach, well or ill- 
 founded, was as specious as the preceding. 
 
 Pitt sustained his opinions with great warmth. 
 In proportion as he engaged further in opposition, 
 he found himself approach, if not by his sentiments 
 and opinions, at least by his conduct, the old Whig 
 opposition, and Fox. These two adversaries, who 
 had been in opposition for twenty-five years, seemed 
 to become reconciled, and it was even reported that 
 they wire going to form a joint ministry. The old 
 majority was broken up. It has been already seen 
 that a small part of this majority had followed 
 Windham and Grenville into opposition. A larger 
 part still had joined them since Pitt had r. ised 
 the standard. This opposition was composed of all 
 those who thought that the actual ministers were 
 incapable of meeting the situation of affairs; and 
 that it was absolute!) necessary to have recourse 
 to the old head of the war party. The other part, 
 or the old Whig opposition, led by Mr. Fox, al- 
 though it had sustained some defections, as in the 
 cases of Sheridan and Tierney, that rallied round 
 Mr. Addington, was singularly strengthened by a 
 circumstance that happened at the court. The 
 king's mind appeared to be troubled anew, and 
 every thing announced the approaching regency of 
 the prince of Wales. But the prince, formerly at 
 variance with Pitt, and more recently with Adding- 
 ton, was strongly attached to Fox, and would, as it 
 was believed, take him for his principal minister. 
 From that time a certain number of mcmlters of 
 the House of Commons, acting under his influence, 
 conic forward to support the party of Fox. The two 
 united and augmented oppositions, one by hoisting 
 the flag of Pitt, the other by the prospect of the 
 approaching fortune of Fox, counterbalanced nearly 
 the whole majority of the minister Addington. 
 
 Several successive divisions soon revealed the 
 serious position of affairs as they affected the cabi- 
 net, Mr. Pitt had moved, in the month of March, 
 for a comparative state of the English navy in 
 1707, UiOl, and 1803. Aided by the friends of Mr. 
 Fox, he succeeded in obtaining one hundred and 
 thirty voices for his motion, to two hundred and 
 one against it. The ministers only obtained a ma- 
 jority ol' seventy votes, ate! on comparing the votes 
 upon this motion with anterior votes, it was impos- 
 sible not to be struck with the progress made by 
 the opposition. This success encouraged the newly- 
 allied parties, and tiny multiplied motions. In 
 April, Mr. Fox moved that there should be laid 
 before a committee all the measures adopted for the 
 
 defence of the conn try since the renewal of the war. 
 This was in a manner to submit to the judgment 
 of parliament the conduct and capacity of the mi- 
 
 nister Addington. The former majority was now 
 
 found to be yet further diminished. Tl ppositinn 
 
 numbered two hundred and four votes, and the 
 
 ministers two hundred and fifty six, which reduced 
 the former majority of seventy voices to lilty-iwo. 
 livery day this majority lessened ; and in the 
 
 mouth of May, a third motion was announced, 
 which would have placed the ministers definitively 
 
 in the minority, when lord Hawkcsbury declared,
 
 State of the adminis- 
 588 tration of Eng- 
 
 land. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Affairs between Russia 
 and France. 
 
 1804. 
 Aug. 
 
 in terms sufficiently cleat' to be understood, that this 
 last motion was useless, because the cabinet was 
 going to resign. 
 
 The old king, by whom Addington and Hawkes- 
 bury were much esteemed, and Pitt very little, 
 finished the affair nevertheless by appealing to the 
 last to take office. This celebrated and all-power- 
 ful personage, for so long a time the enemy of 
 France, then retook the reins of the state, with the 
 commission to upraise, if he were able, the threat- 
 ened fortunes of England. On entering into the 
 cabinet, he left out his old friends, Windham and 
 Grenville, and his recent ally, Fox. He was re- 
 proached for this double infidelity, explained in 
 very different ways. That which was most pro- 
 bable is, that he would not have Windham and 
 Grenville because their Toryism was too violent, and 
 that the king on his side would have nothing to do 
 with Fox, who was too decided a Whig. This states- 
 man has been reproached with not having done 
 enough under the circumstances to overcome 
 George III. It would seem to have been desir- 
 able, seeing the danger menacing the nation, that 
 the two men of the greatest talent in England 
 should have united to afford the government the 
 utmost power and authority. 
 
 Still Pitt exercised an influence upon the general 
 mind, and there was such a confidence reposed 
 in a person so long tried, it sufficed alone to 
 bring him into power. On entering upon his admi- 
 nistration, he at once required 60,000,000 f. of 
 secret service money. It was pretended that this 
 money was designed for the renewal of the rela- 
 tions of England with the continent; because Mr. 
 Pitt was regarded with good reason as the most 
 fitting of all the ministers to renew coalitions, 
 by the great consideration which he enjoyed in those 
 courts which were inimical to France. 
 
 Such had been the events occurring in England 
 during the time that Napoleon had taken the im- 
 perial crown, and when, proceeding to Boulogne, 
 he felt disposed to force the barrier of the ocean. 
 It seemed as if Providence had recalled these 
 two men upon the scene of action, to make them 
 contest with each other, for the last time, with 
 more obstinacy and violence than ever ; Pitt in 
 sustaining those coalitions which he so well knew 
 how to form ; Napoleon in destroying them 
 with the sword, which he understood still better 
 how to do. 
 
 Napoleon was very indifferent to all that passed 
 on the other side of the strait. The military pre- 
 parations of the Euglish made him smile with 
 much more sincerity than his gun-boats made the 
 English journalists laugh. He only required of 
 Heaven one thing, and that was to have a fleet in 
 the channel for forty-eight hours, anil he would 
 soon give a good reason for re-uniting all their 
 armies between Dover and London. The minis- 
 terial changes in England would not have affected 
 him, unless they had called Fox to the head of 
 affairs. Believing in the sincerity of that states- 
 man, and in his good dispositions towards France, 
 he would have been induced to pass by all ideas 
 of an exasperated war for those of peace, and 
 even of alliance. But the arrival of Pitt in power, 
 on the contrary, proved further still, that it was 
 necessary to finish by some audacious and des- 
 perate blow, in which the two nations should 
 
 risk their existence. Meanwhile, the demand of 
 G'0,000,000 f. of secret service money by Pitt, was 
 only to be explained by some matter of an occult 
 nature connected with the continent, and could 
 not but occupy his attention. He found Austria 
 very slow in forwarding the new letters of cre- 
 dence, and but little candid at Ratisbon in the 
 affair of the Russian note. Lastly, he had received 
 through M. Oubril, the reply from the cabinet of 
 St. Petersburg, to the despatch in which he had 
 made allusion to the death of Paul I '. This reply 
 of Russia seemed to indicate some ulterior 
 project. Napoleon, with his usual sagacity, al- 
 ready perceived the commencement of a new 
 European coalition ; and complained to Talleyrand 
 of his incredulity out of complaisance to the two 
 Cobentzels, adding, that on the least doubt in the 
 dispositions of the continent, he would throw 
 himself not upon England, but upon those of the 
 other powers that might excite his alarm ; " be- 
 sides," he said, "he was not fool enough to pass 
 the channel, if he were not quite certain all was 
 safe on the side of the Rhine." It is thus he 
 wrote from Boulogne to Talleyrand, telling him 
 that he must provoke Austria and Russia to ex- 
 plain themselves, when a sudden accident, and 
 ever to be regretted, intervened to terminate these 
 uncertainties, and oblige him to defer for some 
 months yet his project of a descent upon Eng- 
 land. 
 
 The brave and unfortunate Latouche Treville, 
 preyed upon by a disease incompletely cured, 
 and by a degree of ardour which he could not 
 control, died on the 20th of August, in the port 
 of Toulon, the evening before he w as to set sail. 
 Napoleon was apprized of the melancholy event at 
 Boulogne about the close of August, 1804, at the 
 moment when ready to embark. He had also 
 been seized with some presentiments of a European 
 coalition, and was sometimes tempted to deal his 
 blows elsewhere than in London. The Toulon 
 fleet having lost its chief, he was forced to defer 
 his expedition to England, because the choice of 
 a new admiral, the nomination, the journey, the 
 giving him time to become known to his squadron, 
 would require above a month. The end of Au- 
 gust had arrived ; it would require until the end 
 of October for the departure from Toulon, and 
 until November for the arrival of the fleet in 
 the channel. There would thus be a winter cam- 
 paign to make, and in consequence, new combina- 
 tions to be formed. 
 
 Napoleon immediately set about finding an 
 officer to take the place of admiral Latouche : 
 "There is not a moment to be lost," he wrote to 
 the minister Decres, " to send an admiral who is 
 able to take the command of the Toulon squadron. 
 It cannot be worse off than it is now in the hands 
 of Dumanoir, who is not capable of maintaining 
 discipline in so large a squadron, nor of making it 
 act. " * * It appears to me, that for the 
 Toulon squadron, there are only three proper 
 men, Bruix, Villeneuve, or Rosily. You will be 
 able to sound Bruix. I believe that Rosily has a 
 good will, but he has done nothing for fifteen 
 years. * * * * However, it is an urgent 
 
 ' See a note at page 547, with an extract from this 
 Russian despatch. — Translator.
 
 1804. 
 
 Aug. 
 
 The Boulogne expedition re-or- 
 ganized by Napoleon. -Admirals 
 
 THE CORONATION. 
 
 Vilieneuve and Missisesy offered 
 command. 
 
 589 
 
 matter to be decided." Dated 28th August, 
 1804. 
 
 Dating from that day lie re-organized the naval 
 and military establishment which he had created at 
 Boulogne, it being of a less temporary character 
 than he at first supposed, emplo} ing himself on the 
 spot in simplifying the organization, in order to 
 render it less expensive, and at the same time add 
 as much as j >. .-~si ule of perfection to its manoeuvres. 
 "The flotilla," he wrote to admiral Decree, "lias 
 been hitherto considered as an expedition ; it. 
 must henceforth be regarded as a fixed establish- 
 ment, from this moment attaching the greatest 
 attention t > all that is of a fixed nature, governing 
 it by different regulations from a squadron." Dated 
 23rd Fructidor, year xn., or September 18th, 1804. 
 
 He simplified, in fact, the wheels of the adminis- 
 tration ; soppress< d many of the double employ- 
 ments, provided for the approximation of the sea 
 and land armies, revised all the appointments, 
 and employed himself, in a word, in making the 
 flotilla of Boulogne a separate organization, that 
 costing as little as possible, might last as long us 
 the war, and continue to exist, in case the army 
 should he obliged to quit for a moment the shores 
 of the channel. 
 
 He also separated the division into squadrons, to 
 infuse a better order into the movements of the 
 two thousand three hundred vessels. The defini- 
 tive distribution adopted was as follows: nine gun- 
 vessels or gunboats formed a section and carried 
 a battalion ; two of these sections formed a divi- 
 sion and carried a regiment. The pinnaces, that 
 were only able to hold half the amount of the 
 Other boats, were doubled in number. The divi- 
 sion of pinnaces was composed of four sections, or 
 thirty-six pinnaces in place of eighteen, in order to 
 suffice for a regiment of two battali ns. Several divi- 
 sions of gun- vessels, boats, and pinnaces formed a 
 squadron, which would transport several regiments, 
 in other words, acw/xrf'armei. To each squadron was 
 added a certain number of fishing or pilot boats, 
 that were d rot d to the embarkation of the' cavalry 
 - and naval baggage. Tin; entire flotilla was di- 
 vided into eighl squadrons, two at Etaplefl lor the 
 corps of marshal Ney, four at Boulogne for the 
 corps of marshal Sonlt, two at Wimereux for the 
 advanced guard and for the reserve. The port of 
 Ambleteuse, in tin; new design, that time had been 
 required to perfect, was destined for the Batavian 
 
 flotilla, and this was to take on board the corps 
 
 of marshal Davout. Each squadron was directed 
 by a superior officer, and inanuMivred at sea in an 
 independent manner, although in combination 
 with tin.- whole operation together. In such a 
 mode, the distributions of the flotilla were found to 
 ompletel) adapted to those <>| the army. 
 
 In tie- mean time admiral DeCrCB bad sent for 
 
 tin' admirals Vilieneuve and Missiessy, in order to 
 offer to them the vacant commands. Considering 
 
 Ilruix as indispensably necessary at Boulogne, ana 
 
 Rosily as too long absent from active sea service, 
 
 he had regarded Vilieneuve as the most proper 
 
 i to command the Toulon squadron, and 
 
 ssy that of Rochefort, which Vilieneuve would 
 
 in that case vacate for Toulon, Admiral Vilieneuve, 
 whose name is encircled with an unfortnnate cele- 
 brity, had spirit, courage, and a perfect knowledge 
 
 of his duty, but he had no firmness of character. 
 
 Lying open to the slightest impression, he was 
 capable of exaggerating to himself without measure 
 the difficulties of his situation, and apt to fall into a 
 state <>f discouragement, in which he was no longer 
 master of his heart or his head. Admiral Missiessy, 
 less able, but colder in temperament, was little sus- 
 ceptible of elevated feelings, but he was also as 
 little susceptible of depression. Admiral Decres 
 sent for both, endeavoured to overcome that de- 
 moralization which had affected not the seamen 
 and officers, who were tilled with the noblest ardour, 
 hut the commanders of the fleets, who had lost in 
 battle that renown which they esteemed above life. 
 He made admiral Missiessy accept the command 
 of the Rochefort squadron, and admiral Vilieneuve 
 that of Toulon. He had for this last admiral a 
 friendship which had continued from early infancy. 
 He made him acquainted with the secret of the 
 emperor and the great operation, to the perform- 
 ance of which he destined the Toulon squadron. 
 He excited his imagination by showing him the 
 
 grand task to be executed, and the high h ur to 
 
 be obtained. A deplorable temptation, arising out of 
 an old friendship. This momentary excitement 
 was to give place in Vilieneuve to an unhappy 
 depression, and bring to the navy of France the 
 most sanguinary reverses. 
 
 The minister of the nary wrote in haste to the 
 emperor the result of his conferences with Vilie- 
 neuve, and the effect produced upon that officer by 
 the prospect of the danger and glory which lay 
 open before him '. 
 
 1 The letter of admiral Decres is here cited, because it is 
 important to know how the man was nominated to this 
 command, who afterwards lost the battle of Trafalgar. 
 
 " Sire," he wrote, " vice-admiral Vilieneuve and rear- 
 admiral Missiessy are here. 
 
 •' I informed the tirst of the grand project. 
 
 " He heard it coldly, and keeping silence for a few 
 moments, then said with a calm smile to me: 'I awaited 
 Bomething of a similar nature; but to be approved, it is 
 necessary that such projects should be completed.' 
 
 '• I allow myself to transcribe to you literally his reply to 
 a particular conversation, because it will better depict to 
 you than 1 can do, the effect which this overture produced 
 upon him. He added: ' I shall not lose four hours in rally- 
 ing the tirst ; with the live others, and my own (vessels) I 
 sh.dl be sufficiently strong. It is necessary to be fortunate, 
 
 and to know how far I am so, the task must he undertaken.' 
 "We spoke of lb- route. He judged of it in the same 
 
 way as your majesty. He made no obstacle of unfavourable 
 
 chancet, any more than was needful for one to discover that 
 In- was not heedless Of them. In fact, nothing of that kind 
 had any effect upon his resolution. 
 
 "The place of a great officer, that of a vice admiral, has 
 
 made him a new man. The Idea of danger was effaced bj 
 
 the hope of glory, and he finished by saying to me: ' I give 
 myself wholly up to it,' and that in a tone and with an 
 
 action Indical ve of cool and positive decision, 
 
 •• lie win set oir for Toulon as soon as your majesty shall 
 have been pleased to make known to me if you have any 
 • jiii i commands to give him. 
 
 "The rear admiral Missiessy is more reserved with me; 
 he requests to remain hen- light days; he is very cold, 
 which make i him It i di Unite. He told me that tie was 
 
 much mortified that youi majesty bad not given him the 
 
 Mediterranean squadron, or ih.it he is not male a vec 
 admiral in other words. His ground of reasoning anion:; 
 his familiar friends is, that ha* ing done nothing during the 
 
 war, he lias at least the honour not to have encountered any 
 defeats! 1 have given him the order logo and take the com-
 
 Changes in the objects 
 590 ■ of the French squa- 
 
 dron. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Russian intentions 1804. 
 
 regarding France. Sept. 
 
 Napoleon, who bad a deep knowledge of mankind, 
 reckoned l>ut little upon the adequate substitution 
 of any one for admiral Latouche. Meditating con- 
 tinually upon bis project, be modified it and in- 
 creased it according to the unlooked for circum- 
 stances that occurred. The winter gave the Brest 
 fleet freedom of action, and caused the cessation of 
 the blockade. Although Ganteaume had exhibited 
 a want of character in UiOl, still he had shown on 
 more than one occasion both courage and devotion. 
 Napoleon wished therefore to confide to him the 
 brilliant and difficult part of the plan. He put off 
 the expedition until after the 18ih Bruniaire, or 
 9th of November, the time assigned for the cere- 
 mony of the coronation, and he resolved to make 
 Ganteaume go to sea in that rough season, with 
 fifteen or eighteen thousand men destined for Ire- 
 land ; then when the admiral had thrown them 
 upon one of the accessible points of that island, he 
 was to return rapidly into the channel, in order to 
 protect the passage of the flotilla. 
 
 In the modified plan the admirals Missiessy and 
 Villeneuve were charged with a different business 
 from that designated tor the Toulon and Rochefort 
 squadrons, when Latouche Trevihe had the com- 
 mand. Admiral Villeneuve, sailing from Toulon, 
 was to go to America, reconquer Surinam and 
 the Dutch colonies of Guiana '. One division de- 
 tached from the squadron of Villeneuve in passing, 
 was to capture the island of St. Helena. Admiral 
 Missiessy was ordered to reinforce the French 
 West India islands or Antilles, with three or four 
 thousand men. Then to ravage the English islands, 
 by surprising them nearly in their defenceless 
 state. The two admirals were then to unite and 
 return together to Europe, having as their last 
 instruction to raise the blockade of Ferrol, and to 
 
 mand of the squadron, and I calculate that in eight days he 
 will be mi the road. It will cost Itim five or six to arrive 
 at his destination." 
 
 ' While our author details the smallest advantages gained 
 over her enemies by France, lie omits the losses of France 
 and her dependents. Thus Surinam was conquered by the 
 English with inconsiderabl loss on the 4ih of .lie preceding 
 May tlS04', two thousand men Mere made prisoners. It 
 seemed necessary to mention this conquest alter the breach 
 of tlie peace of Amiens, to comprehend the above passage ; 
 lor liow else could Villeneuve be sent by Napoleon to lake 
 Suiinam from the British, since it had been restored 10 the 
 Dutch. History, wiih such omissions, must lie imperfect. 
 Again, Demerara and Essequibo were taken by the English, 
 September 27, 1803. Goree was taken Horn the French, 
 MaiCll 15, 1804, but no mention is made of that circum- 
 stance. St. Lucia was captured by assault on the 23rd of 
 June, 18i>3 ; the island of Tobago in like manner on the 1st 
 of July, 1803. All these our author suffers to g<> unnoticed. 
 A landing in Dominica by a French squadron, and the 
 binning of the little town of lioseau, is to be found sub e- 
 quently set out at length. It is the duty of the faith'ul 
 historian, even when making a inert of passing over trivial 
 events, to record important territorial losses in belligerent 
 conflicts. The meaning of Napoleon in a eiter to the 
 in nisier of marine, occurring at page 582 in the note. Cannot 
 lie understood except by reference to a note of the trans- 
 lator, at page 472. The words of the emperor are these: 
 "Si Domingo cost us two millions a month; The Enuluh 
 hare tikcnil." Our author nowhere states that the rem- 
 nants of the French expedition to St. Domingo had surren- 
 dered, and become prisoners 10 the English at all: the 
 omission becomes the more obvious from the allusion of the 
 emperor to ilie fact. — Tramlator. 
 
 enter Rochefort to the number of twenty ships of 
 the line. They were enjoined to sail before Gan- 
 teaume, in order that the English, aware of their 
 departure, might be drawn into following them. 
 Napoleon desired that Villeneuve should sail from 
 Toulon on the 12th of October; Missiessy, from 
 Rochefort, on the 1st of November; and Ganteaume, 
 from Brest, on the 22nd of December, 1804. He 
 regarded it as certain that the twenty vessels of 
 Villeneuve and Missiessy would draw after them 
 at least thirty sail of the English out of the Euro- 
 pean seas ; because the English, attacked on a sud- 
 den upon all points, would not omit to send succours 
 every where. It was in that case probable that 
 admiral Ganteaume would have sufficient freedom 
 of movement to execute the operation which bad 
 been confided to him, and which consisted, after 
 having touched on Ireland, in bringing himself 
 before Boulogne, whether by going round Scot- 
 laud, or by coming from Ireland directly into the 
 channel. 
 
 All these orders were given from Boulogne itself, 
 where he then was, while Napoleon wished, in the 
 time remaining to him before the winter, to clear 
 the aspect of affairs upon the continent. Di- 
 recting the conduct of Talleyrand by a daily cor- 
 respondence, be prescribed to him the course of 
 diplomacy which would lead to this object. 
 
 The unreflecting note on the subject of the vio- 
 lation of the Germanic territory sent by the Rus- 
 sian cabinet, and the bitter reply of that of France, 
 will no doubt at once recur to the recollection. 
 The voting Alexander had deeply felt that reply, 
 and had acknowledged, hut too late, that his mode 
 of coining to the throne had taken away from him 
 the right to give such haughty moral lessons to 
 other governments. He was even humbled and 
 frightened. The mind of Alexander was more 
 lively than strong. He placed himself willingly in 
 advance, and then retired willingly as soon as 
 he observed his danger. It was without consulting 
 his ministers that he had put on mourning for the 
 death of the duke d'Enghien; and it was in opposi- 
 tion to one portion of them that he had sent to 
 Ratisbon the note which has been already men- 
 tioned. Still he had the greatest trouble to sup- 
 port himself in his first resolutions. The better 
 informed persons in St. Petersburg, after the first 
 excitement had passed away, discovered that he 
 had conducted himself with too much levity in the 
 affair of the duke d'Enghien; they charged it upon 
 the young ministers who governed the empire, and, 
 among others, upon the prince Czartoryski sooner 
 than on the rest, because he was a Pole, and mi- 
 nister for foreign affairs since the retirement of the 
 chancellor Woronzoff into the country. Nothing 
 could be more unjust than this judgment in regard 
 to the prince Czartoryski, because he bad resisted 
 the conduct of the court as much as he was able, 
 but he still wished that it should now leave with 
 dignity the wrong path which it had followed. He 
 had in consequence prescribed to M. Oubril, the 
 Russian charge d'affaires at Paris, to make a com- 
 plaint in a note at once firm and moderate, of the 
 affectation which the French cabinet had used in 
 recalling certain recollections; to testify pacific dis- 
 positions, but to exact an answer upon three or 
 four ordinary subjects to the reclamations of the 
 Russian government; such as the occupation of
 
 1S04. Russia demands satisfaction 
 
 Sept. through M. Oubril. 
 
 THE CORONATION. 
 
 The Russian envoy quits Paris. 
 
 j91 
 
 Naples tlie indemnity, continually deferred, i)f the 
 k ng of Piedmont, and the invasion of Hanover. 
 M. Oubril had orders, that if lie obtained upon 
 these subjects an explanation only specious, so as 
 to content himself, to remain at Paris, but to ask 
 for his passports if they enveloped themselves in 
 an obstinate and disdainful silence. 
 
 Prussia, thus following an expression of Napo- 
 leon, '• euntiuually agitated between the two giants," 
 informed of the exact position of things in the Rus- 
 sian cabinet, had made Talleyrand acquainted with 
 it through the minister, Lucehesini; and had said 
 to him, '" Dofer your reply as long as possible ; 
 then make an answer which shall furnish the dig- 
 nity of Russia with an apparent satisfaction, and 
 this tempest ill the north, with which it is endea- 
 voured t'> alarm Europe, will be calmed." 
 
 These different communications were received at 
 Runs while Napoleon was at Boulogne. Talleyrand 
 had had recourse to a dilatory policy, in which it 
 has been seen that he excelled. Napoleon willingly 
 lent himself to the system, not seeking to cut- r 
 upon a war with the continent, nor fearing it, but 
 preferring to finish with Europe by an expedition 
 directed against England. He, therefore, continued 
 his operations at Boulogne, (luring which M. Oubril 
 was left waiting in Paris. Still Talleyrand did not 
 attach sufficient importance to the Russian not?, 
 and, taking too much to the letter the advice of 
 Prussia, he too readily believed that the matter 
 might be got off by delay. M. Oubril, after having 
 waited out the month of August, had at last de- 
 manded a reply. Napoleon, importuned with ques- 
 tions by M. Oubril, and disposed besides to explain 
 himself categorically with the powers of the con- 
 tinent since the entrance of Pitt upon the ministry, 
 had willed that an answer should be given. He 
 had sent himself the model of a note to be trans- 
 mitted to M. Oubril; and Talleyrand, following his 
 usual custom, had done the utmost in his power to 
 soften both the ground and the form of the original. 
 But what he had sent was very insufficient to save 
 the dignity of the Russian cabinet, unhappily com- 
 mitted. 
 
 Tins note placed >'> strong contrast the wrongs 
 charged upon Prance, and those for which Russia 
 was to be reproached on the other side. Russia, 
 it said, had no right to keep troops in Corfu, and 
 very day increased their number. She was 
 bound to all favours to the enemies <<< 
 
 France, and she did not limit herself to affording 
 an asylum to the emigrants, she accorded to them 
 
 . .■, public functions at foreign courts. This 
 Ml ,i positive violation of the last treaty. More 
 than this, tin: Russian ageuts every where exhil 
 their hostility to Prance. Such a Btats of things 
 excluded all idea of an intimate < sion, and 
 
 mad.- that cone it impossible which had been 
 I upon between the two cabinets, lor the 
 management of the affairs of Italy and Germany. 
 A-. to ilc' occupation of Hanover and Naples, these 
 had been measures forced by the war, If Russia 
 
 would engage to make the English ev; ate 
 
 Malta, Hie cause of the war would vanish ; and the 
 countries occupied by France would be evacuated 
 at the same moment But to end avour to bear 
 upon Franc.-, without seeking to hear equally upon 
 England, was neither just nor reconcilable. H 
 bhe pretended to constitute herself arbitrator be- 
 
 tween the two belligerent powers, to judge not only 
 the ground of the quarrel, but the means employed 
 to determine it, she must be a firm and impartial 
 arbitrator. France was decided to accept no other. 
 It Russia desired war, France was perfectly 
 ready; since, after all, the hist campaign of Russia 
 in the west did not authorize her to allow herself 
 towards France the indulgence of so high a tone as 
 that which she seemed to take at the moment. 
 It was needful to be well understood, that the em- 
 peror of the French was not the emperor of the 
 Turks or Persians. If it was wished on the con- 
 trary to be in the best relations witli him, he was 
 perfectly disposed to meet that desire; and then, 
 most certainly, he should not refuse to do that 
 which he had promised, more particularly on the 
 subject of the king of Sardinia; but in the state of 
 existing relations, nothing would he obtained from 
 him, because threats were in his view the most 
 inefficacious means for such a purpose. 
 
 This haughty note left not the smallest pretext 
 lor M. Oubril to say he was satisfied. It was the 
 consequence of the rashness of his cabinet, which 
 sometimesalmost proposed, as it affected Naples and 
 Hanover, to constitute itself the judge of the means 
 which the belligerent powers should employ in the 
 war, sometimes wished to mingle itself up with tin 
 act beyond its own territory, as in the case of the 
 duke d'Enghieii's deaih, and continually exposed 
 itself to receive in all those points, so injudiciously 
 touched upon, the most provoking replies. M. Ou- 
 bril, consulting his instructions, believed it his duty 
 to demand his passports; still in order to be wholly 
 faithful, he added that his departure was but a sim- 
 ple interruption of diplomatic relations between the 
 two courts, and not a declaration of hostilities; that 
 when such relations had nothing more left useful 
 or agreeable, there was not any reason for their 
 contiuuance; that for the rest, Russia did not dream 
 of having recourse to arms, but that the French 
 cabinet would decide by its posterior conduct, if 
 or not war should follow this interruption of the re- 
 lations between the two countries. 
 
 M. Oubril, after this cold but still pacific declara- 
 tion, quitted Paris. An order was sent to M. de 
 Rayneval, who had rem. lined as ohargi d'affitiraat 
 St. Petersburg, to return to France. M. Oubril 
 left at the end of August, hut stopped some days at 
 
 Mayence, to await the intelligence of the free pas- 
 accorded to M. if' Rayneval out of Russia. 
 It was evident that Russia, in endeavouring to 
 testify her displeasure by the interruption of her 
 relations with France, slill did net make war, as 
 in a case in which a new European coalition had 
 furnished her with the advantageous occasion. All 
 depended coiiiei pien : I y u poll Austria ill the judg- 
 ment of Napole ii. He therefore put it to a strong 
 tesl ti discover what he had to hold by, before de- 
 livering himself up entirely to his maritime pro- 
 jects. The acknowledgment of the imperial title 
 'that he had taken lie still u waited; and he peremp- 
 torily demanded it. lhs design to visit the banks 
 
 of the Rhine would shortly < duct him to Aix-la- 
 
 (I i.i pei I ; he exacted of M. Cobeutsel that he should 
 come there to render him homage, and to hand him 
 his letters o. credence, in the same city where the 
 German emperors had been accustomed to take the 
 crown ol Charli magne. ll<- declared that if begot 
 no satisfaction on this point, Al. de Champaguy,
 
 592 
 
 Skirmish of the flotilla 
 with the English. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Napoleon quits Bou- 
 logne. 
 
 1804. 
 Sept. 
 
 nominated minister of the interior, in place of M. 
 Chaptel, called up to the senate, should have no 
 successor at Vienna, and that the withdrawal of an 
 amhassador between powers so closely in vicinity 
 as France and Austria, would not pass as pacifically 
 as between France and Russia. Lastly, he willed 
 that the Russian note already postponed at Ratis- 
 bon by an adjournment, but on the fate of which it 
 would be necessary to decide in a few days, should 
 be definitively rejected, or he declared anew that 
 he would address an answer to the diet, from whence 
 war would inevitably arise. 
 
 This being done, Napoleon quitted Boulogne, 
 where he had passed six weeks, and journeyed 
 towards the departments of the Rhine. Before 
 parting, he had occasion to be present at a combat 
 of the flotilla against an English division of vessels. 
 On the 25th of August, or 8th of Fructidor, year 
 xii., at two o'clock, he was in the road, inspecting 
 in his boat the line of anchorage composed, accord- 
 ing to usage, of a hundred and fifty, or two hun- 
 dred gun vessels and pinnaces. The English squa- 
 dron moored seawards consisted of two ships, two 
 frigates, seven corvettes, six brigs, two cutters, and 
 a lugger, in all twenty sail. A corvette, detaching 
 itself from the enemy's division, came and placed 
 itself at the extremity of the French line of an- 
 chorage, to observe, and it fired several broadsides. 
 The admiral then gave the order to the first divi- 
 sion of cannoneers, commanded by captain Leray, 
 to weigh anchor, and to direct his whole force on 
 the corvette; which obliged it to retire imme- 
 diately. Seeing this, the English formed a detach- 
 ment, composed of a frigate, several brigs and 
 corvettes, with a cutter, to force the French can- 
 noneers to retire in their turn, and hinder them 
 from regaining their accustomed position. The 
 emperor, who was in the same boat with admiral 
 Bruix, the minister of war and of the marine, and 
 several marshals, went into the midst of the gun- 
 boats which were engaged, and to set them the 
 example, placed the boat's head towards the fri- 
 gate, which advanced at full sail. He knew that 
 the Soldiers and seamen, admirers of his boldness 
 on land, sometimes enquired if he would be equally 
 bold on the sea. He wished to satisfy them in this 
 respect, and accustom them to brave with temerity 
 the large vessels of the enemy. He made them 
 steer his boat far in advance of the French line, 
 and as near as possible to the frigate. This last 
 vessel, seeing the imperial boat all in trim, and con- 
 jecturing perhaps the precious freight which it 
 contained, had reserved its fire. The minister of 
 the navy trembling for the emperor from the con- 
 Bequences of such a bravado, wished to seize the 
 tiller of the helm to change the direction of the 
 boat; but an imperious gesture of Napoleon arrested 
 the minister's attempt, and the course was continued 
 towards the frigate. Napoleon, his spying-glass in 
 Ins hand, continued to look through it, when on a 
 sudden the frigate fired her reserved broadside, 
 and covered with its projectiles the boat which 
 bore " Caesar and his fortunes." No one was hurt; 
 and the account was acquitted by the splash of the 
 projectiles in the water. All the French gun-vessels 
 that witnessed the scene advanced as rapidly as 
 possible, in order to attract the fire, ami to cover by 
 passing forward the boat of the emperor. The Eng- 
 lish division assailed in its turn by a shower of balls 
 
 and gi-ape-shot, retrograded by little and little. It 
 was followed, but it retired afresh, keeping its 
 broadside towards the land. During this interval, 
 a second division of gun-vessels, commanded by 
 captain Pevrieu, had weighed anchor, and b >rne 
 down towards the enemy. Very soon the frigate, 
 badly handled, and steered with difficulty, was 
 obliged to sail away. The corvettes followed this 
 retreating movement, each of them much damaged, 
 and the cutter so crippled that she was seen to go 
 down. 
 
 Napoleon quitted Boulogne, delighted with the 
 combat in which he had thus taken a part, and 
 still more that the secret accounts which came to 
 him from the English coast gave the most satisfac- 
 tory details of the moral and physical effect which 
 the combat had produced. The French had no 
 more than one man killed and seven wounded, one 
 of them mortally. The English, according to the 
 report addressed to Napoleon, had twelve or fifteen 
 killed and sixty wounded. Their vessels suffered 
 much. The English officers were struck with the 
 bearing of the small vessels of the French, with 
 their vivacity, and the precision of their fire. It 
 was evident, that if these gun-vessels had to dread 
 the vessels of the enemy on account of their size, 
 they had to oppose to them a power and a multi- 
 plicity of force very formidable l . 
 
 Napoleon then traversed Belgium, visited Mons, 
 Valenciennes, and arrived on the 3rd of Septem- 
 ber at Aix-la-Chapelle. The empress who had 
 gone to take the waters of Plombieres, during the 
 residence of Napoleon on the sea-shore, had come 
 to rejoin him, and attend the fetes that were pre- 
 paring in the Rhenish provinces. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand and many of the great dig- 
 nitaries and ministers were also in attendance 
 there. M. Cobentzel had been faithful to the 
 rendezvous which had been assigned for him. 
 The emperor Francis, feeling the inconvenience 
 attending a longer delay, had taken on the 10th of 
 August, at a solemn ceremonial, the imperial title 
 decreed to his house, and had qualified himself the 
 elected emperor of Germany and hereditary em- 
 peror of Austria, king of Bohemia and of Hungary, 
 archduke of Austria, duke of Styria, &c. He im- 
 mediately afterwards gave M. Cobentzel an order 
 to go to Aix-la-Chapelle, to remit to the emperor 
 Napoleon his letter id' credence. To this step, which 
 the place where it was made rendered yet more 
 significant, there was joined the formal, and for 
 the moment the sincere assurance of the desire to 
 live in peace with France, and the promise not to 
 make any account of the Russian note sent to the' 
 Ratisbon diet, as Napoleon wished. That note 
 had in effect been rendered nugatory by an inde- 
 finite adjournment. 
 
 1 Napoleon wrote to marshal Soult. 
 
 " Aix-la-Chapelle, 8th September, 1804. 
 
 " The little skirmish at which 1 assisted on the evening 
 hefore my departure from Boulogne has had an Immense 
 effect in England. It has produced there a real alarm. 
 You will see on this subject, details translated from the 
 gazetteers, extremely curious. The howitzers on board lie 
 gun-vessels produced a very grand effect. The particulars 
 that I have learned state that the enemy have had sixty 
 wounded and twelve or fifteen killed. The frigate was very 
 ill treated."— {Dci>6t of tlie secretaryship of ttale.)
 
 1804 "" Cobentzel visits Aix-la-Chapelle- 
 i ' with letters of credence. — Napo- 
 
 P ' leon visits Mayence. 
 
 THE CORONATION. Debates in the council of state. 
 
 593 
 
 The emperor of the French gave M. Cubentzel 
 the best reception, and lavished upon him, in re- 
 turn for his own, the most tranquillizing declara- 
 tions. With M. Cubentzel, M. Sonza presented 
 himself, bringing the acknowledgment by Portugal 
 of the new emperor; the hailli de Ferrette, that of 
 the onhr of Malta, and a crowd of foreign ministers, 
 who knowing for what object their presence at 
 Aix-la-Chapelle would be agreeable, had thought 
 of the Battery that would be implied in a request to 
 present themselves there. They were received 
 with great readiness, and with that favour which 
 sovereigns well satisfied always know how to ex- 
 hibit. This assemblage was singularly brilliant 
 through the concourse of foreigners and of French- 
 men, the luxury displayed, and the military pomp 
 attending it. The recollections of Charlemagne 
 were revealed there with intentions very little dis- 
 guised. Napoleon descended into the vault where 
 the great man of the middle age had been buried, 
 visked his reiics with much curiosity, and gave to 
 the attendant clergy brilliant tokens of his muni- 
 ficence. Scarcely had be left these fetes when he 
 entered upon more serious occupations; he went 
 over all the country between the Meuse and the 
 Rhine, .Tuliers, Wenloo, Cologne, and Coblentz, in- 
 specting at the same time the roads and fortifica- 
 tions, rectifying at every fortress the plans of the 
 engineers with that certainty of glance, that deep 
 experience, that belonged to himself alone, and 
 ordering new works which would render invincible 
 this part of the Rhenish frontiers. 
 
 At Mayence, where he arrived about the end of 
 September, or commencement of the year xm., 
 fresh pomps attended upon him. All the princes 
 of Germany, whose states were in the vicinity, and 
 who had an interest in humouring their powerful 
 neighbour, hastened to offer him their felicitations 
 and homage, not through intermediate agents, but 
 in their own persons. The prince arch-chancellor, 
 owing to France the preservation of his title and 
 his opulence, wished to render homage to Napoleon 
 at Mayence, his former capital. With him pre- 
 sented themselves the princes of the house of 
 Hesse, the duke and duchess of Bavaria, the. 
 respectable elector of Baden, the oldest of the 
 European princes came with his son and grandson. 
 Tie-.- personages, and others that succeeded them 
 at Mo n e, were received with a magnificence, 
 much Blip ri .r to that which they would have 
 found i ven ^t Vienna. They were struck with the 
 promptitude with which the crowned soldier had 
 taken the attitude of a sovereign; that is, he had 
 early commanded men, not through the' virtue of a 
 vain title, imt through that of his character, genius, 
 and b word ; and be had in the fact of such a com- 
 mand an apprenticeship very superior to any 
 which i: i^ p Hsible to gain in courts. 
 
 Th ■ rejoicings which had taken plane at Aix-la- 
 Chapelle, were renewed at Mayence under the 
 
 eyes of the I • cli and Germans who had haste I 
 
 .-,- closely as possible the spectacle which 
 at that moment exciti d the curiosity of all 
 Europe. Napoleon invited to his coronation fes- 
 tivals most of the princes who bad coin- to visit 
 him. In the midst of this tumult, stripping him- 
 self every morning of the vanities of the throne, 
 ■me I the banks o! the Rhine, examined every 
 part of the fortress of Mayence, thai he regarded 
 
 as one of the most important of the continent, less 
 on account of the works, than of the position on 
 the bank of a great river, along which Europe 
 had f.r ten centuries conflicte I with France. He 
 ordered those works to be performed which might 
 give it all the strength of which it was susceptible. 
 The sight of this place inspired him with a very 
 useful precaution, ami of which no one would have 
 thought if he were not taken to the spot himself. 
 The last treaties had ordered the demolition of the 
 forts of Cassel and Kehl. The first formed the 
 opening of Mayence, and the second that of Stras- 
 burg on the right bank of (he Rhine. These two 
 fortresses would lose their value without the two 
 redoubts covering the bridge heads, serving at the 
 same time for the means of defence and for the 
 passage to the other bank. He ordered that tim- 
 ber and materials of every kind necessary for 
 forming works on a sudden should be amassed, 
 together with fifteen thousand pickaxes and 
 shovels, in order to carry within twenty-four 
 hours eight or ten thousand workmen to the other 
 side of the river, for reconstructing the defences 
 which had been destroyed. For want of tools 
 alone, he wrote to the engineer, you would lose 
 eight days. He even arranged all the plans, so 
 that under a telegraphic order the works might be 
 immediately commenced. 
 
 Napoleon after having remained at Mayence, 
 and in the new departments, the entire time ne- 
 cessary for' his objects, departed for Paris, visiting 
 Luxembourg in his way. He arrived at St. 
 Cloud on the 12th of October, 1804, or 20th Ven- 
 demiaire, year XIII. 
 
 He had flattered himself for a moment to 
 offer France and Europe an extraordinary spec- 
 tacle, by traversing the straits of Dover with one 
 hundred and fifty thousand men, and returning 
 to Paris master of the world. Providence, which 
 had reserved for him BO much glory, did not fur- 
 nish him so much to impart to bis coronation. 
 There remained another means for him to dazzle 
 all eyes. These were to make the pope descend a 
 moment from the pontifical throne, in order to come 
 to Paris and bless his Bceptre and crown. He 
 had in this to gain a great moral victory over the 
 enemies of Prance, and he did not doubt of suc- 
 cess. Every thing was prepared lor his corona- 
 tion, to which he had in\ited the principal au- 
 thorities of the empire, numerous deputations of 
 the army and navy, and a crowd of foreign princes. 
 Thousands of workmen laboured on the prepara- 
 tions for the ceremony in the church of Notre 
 Dame. Tin- rumours of the coming of the pope 
 having transpired, public opinion took up the 
 subject and marvelled ; the public devoted to the 
 
 government was enchanted, the emigrants deeply 
 
 chagrined, Europe surprised and jealous. The 
 
 question had been weighed where all public 
 affairs were treated upon, in the council of state. 
 In that body, where the most perfect freedom was 
 left to opinion, the objections sustained on the 
 concordat were reproduced much more strongly 
 
 slill on the idea of Submitting, ill a certain •• 
 
 oronalion of the new monarch to the head of 
 the church. The repugnance, so ancient in 
 Prance, even among religious men, against ultra- 
 montane domination, bad all al once awakened 
 its If. It was said that such a sop was to raise
 
 594 
 
 Napoleon's answer. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Characterof cardinal Fesch. 
 
 1801. 
 Oct. 
 
 up again all the pretensions of the clergy, to proclaim 
 a dominant religion, to make it be supposed that 
 the emperor recently elected, held his crown, 
 not through the wishes of the nation and through 
 the. exploits of the army, but of the sovereign 
 pontiff, a dangerous supposition, because he who 
 gave the crown could also withhold it. 
 
 Napoleon, impatient of so many objections 
 against a ceremony, which would be a real triumph 
 obtained over European malevolence, took up the 
 matter himself, and sliowed all the advantages 
 that would result from the presence of the pope at 
 such a solemnity, the effect that it would produce 
 upon the religious part of the population as well as 
 upon the-entire body, the strength it would impart 
 to the new order of things, and to that conserva- 
 tion in which all the men of the revolution were 
 equally interested ; he showed the smallness of the 
 danger attached to this signification of the pontiff 
 giving the crown ; he asserted that the pretensions 
 of a Gregory VII. were not those of our time, that 
 the ceremony in which he would act was no other 
 than an invocation for the celestial protection in 
 favour of a new dynasty, an invocation made in 
 the ordinary forms of the most ancient worship 
 general and popular in France ; that in other re- 
 spects, without religious pomp, there would not 
 be any real pomp, above all in catholic countries, 
 and that to make the priests figure in the coronation, 
 it would be best to call in the greatest and must 
 qualified, and if it was possible, the superior of all 
 in the pope himself. Pressing, in fine, upon these 
 opponents as he pressed upon his enemies in war, 
 in other words to the outrance, he finished by this 
 trait, which at once terminated the discussion. 
 " Gentlemen," cried he, " you deliberate at Paris, 
 in the Tuileriea ; suppose that you were deliberat- 
 ing in Loud. in, in the British cabinet, that you 
 were, in a word, the ministers of the king of 
 England, and you were apprised that the pope was 
 at the moment passing the Alps to crown the em- 
 peror of the French; would you regard that as a 
 triumph for England or for France V 
 
 This interrogatory, so sharp, and carrying 
 justice with it, ma.de all silent, and the journey 
 of the pope to Paris encountered no more any ob- 
 jection. 
 
 But it was not all to obtain a general consent to 
 this journey, it was necessary to obtain that of the 
 court of Rome, and this was a thing exceedingly 
 difficult. In order to succeed it was needful to 
 use great art. and to mingle much firmness with 
 a great de.il of mildness ; and the ambassador of 
 France, cardinal Fesch, with the natural irasci- 
 bility of his character, and the obduracy of his 
 pride, was much less adapted for the purpose than 
 liis predecessor, M. deCacault. It is proper here 
 to describe ihis personage, who played such a part, 
 both in the church and the empire. Cardinal 
 Fesch, large in person, middling in height) mode- 
 rate in iniellei t, vain, ambitious, passionate, but 
 resolute, w.is destined to be a great obstacle in the 
 way of Napoleon. During the reign of terror, he 
 had, like many other priests, Hung alar the insignia, 
 and with tli in the obligations of the priesthood. 
 Become a war commissary in the army of Italy, 
 no one could have said, seeing him act, that he was 
 an old minister of religious worship. But when 
 restoring all old things to their places, Napoleon re- 
 
 called the priests to their altars, cardinal Fesch 
 thought of entering again upon the duties of his 
 former profession, and so managed as to obtain the 
 rank for which his powerful relation permitted 
 him to hope. Napoleon was not willing to restore 
 him, but upon the condition of his supporting a be- 
 coming conduct ; and the abbe" Fesch had soon, 
 with a strength of will extremely rare, changed 
 his manners, concealed his existence, and given in 
 a religious seminary the picture of an exemplary 
 penitent. The archbishopric of Lyons was secured 
 in reserve for him, and when invested with the 
 cardinal's hat, he immediately exhibited himself, 
 not the supporter of Napoleon in the church, but 
 much more his antagonist, and it was possible to 
 foresee already, that lie indulged in the pretension 
 on some future day of obliging his nephew, to 
 whom he owed every thing, to balance account 
 with an uncle, supported by the secret malevolence 
 of the clergy. 
 
 Napoleon himself had spoken bitterly of this new 
 ingratitude of his family with the wise Portalis, 
 who had given him the advice to free himself from 
 his uncle by sending him to be ambassador at 
 Rome. " He will have there," said M. Portalis," a 
 good deal to do with the pride and the prejudices 
 of the Roman court; and he will employ the defec- 
 tive parts of his character in serving you, in place 
 of using them to your injury." It was fortius rea- 
 son, and not with the idea of one day making him 
 pope, as the inventors of falsehoods would have it 
 appear, that Napoleon accredited cardinal Fesch to 
 the Roman court. No pope could have been more 
 disagreeable, opposite, or dangerous than be would 
 have shown himself to Napoleon in that cha- 
 racter. 
 
 Such was the personage who was to negotiate 
 the journey of Pius VII. to Paris. 
 
 As soon as Pius VII. was apprised by an extra* 
 ordinary courier of cardinal Caprara of the wish 
 which Napoleon had expressed, he was seized with 
 feelings of the most contrary character, which lor a 
 long while continued to agitate him. He compre- 
 hended well enough that it furnished an opportu- 
 nity of rendering new services to religion, to ob- 
 tain in its behalf more than one concession, so far 
 constantly refused, perhaps even to obtain the res- 
 titution of the rich provinces torn from the patri- 
 mony of St. Peter. But then what chances also 
 were to be braved ! How much of vexatious lan- 
 guage to be endured throughout Europe ! How 
 many disagreeable things might be encountered in 
 the midst of a revolutionary capital, infected with 
 the spirit of philosophers, yet filled with their 
 adherents, and inhabited by the people of all the 
 earth most given to raillery ! All these things 
 appeared ill perspective at once before the mind of 
 th pontiff, sensitive and irritable, agitating him so 
 much that his health was apparently altered. His 
 minister and favourite counsellor, the cardinal 
 secretary of state Gonsalvi, became instantly the 
 confidant of the causes of his agitation 1 . He com- 
 municated to him his uneasiness, received the 
 
 1 I do not suppose there was any purpose in this, I imagine 
 there was none. All which follows is faithfully extracted 
 from the secret correspondence of cardinal Gonsalvi with 
 card nal Caprara, a correspondence of which France re- 
 mained in possession. — Author's note.
 
 Mi. 
 Oct. 
 
 Hopes and fears of the holy see. Til L' C< I IK >NATION. 
 
 Proceedings of the pope, he con- 
 sults the conclave. 
 
 695 
 
 communications of his own, and both found them 
 selves pretty nearly in agreement. Both feared 
 what the world would say about the consecration of 
 an illegitimate prince, of a usurper, for so they 
 denominated Napoleon in a certain party; they 
 feared the discont< ut of the other courts, above all, 
 that of Vienna, that saw with a mortal displeasure 
 the elevation of a now emperor of the West ; they 
 dreaded, among the party of the old ordi r of things, 
 a degree of abuse much greater than that which 
 bad burst forth at the epoch of the concordat, and 
 with a much better ground, because hire die in- 
 terest of religion was loss evident than the interest 
 of the individual man ; they feared that once in 
 France there would be demanded of the pope, 
 something at present unforeseen, inadmissible, that 
 lie had already much trouble in refusiug at Rome, 
 that he would he much less ahu- to refuse in Paris, 
 and which might cause some vexatious embroil- 
 ment, perhaps make a great noise in the world. 
 They went so tar as 10 (tar s me act of violence; 
 such as the detention of Pius VI. at Valence ; anil 
 they figured to themselves in a confused way the 
 strangest and most frightful scenes. It is true that 
 cardinal Gonsalvi, who had gone to Paris on the 
 business of the concordat, aifd cardinal Caprara 
 wlm passed his life in that capital, had for Napo- 
 leon, his courtesy and the delicacy of his proceed- 
 ings, different ideas from those which reigned in 
 this court of old pries s, who never represented 
 Paris in any other terms than as a dark abyss, in 
 which a formidable giant governed. Cardinal Ca- 
 prara in particular never ceased to repeat, that if 
 the emperor was the most passionate, most impe- 
 rious of men, ho was also the most generous, and 
 the most amiable, when In- was not hurt; that the 
 pop-' would be delighted to see him ; that he 
 might obtain what In- wished for the interest of re 
 ligion and of the church; that it was the moment 
 to conn-, because tin- war tended to some decisive 
 crisis; thafc there would bo the conquered and the 
 eonqui ror, and more new distributions of territory, 
 and ibat perhaps tin- pope would obtain the Lega- 
 tions; that there was nothing promised it was true, 
 but that at bottom something was the intention of 
 Napoleon, and that his presence alone would be ne- 
 cessary for its realization. These prospects calmed a 
 little the troubled imagination of the unhappy pontiff; 
 but Paris, the capital of that frightful French re- 
 volut on, which had swallowed up kings, queens, 
 and thousands of priests, could not but be lor the 
 pope an iinh finable object i f terror. 
 
 Then there were considerations on the other 
 
 hide to perplex Without (h'tlbt Klirnpo Would 
 
 nducl if he went to Paris; ii was pos- 
 sible In might be exposed to unknown and unforc- 
 its; but ii he were not to go there, how 
 Would ii turn out lor religion and the hoi) 
 All the Italian states w. re under the arm of Napo- 
 leon. Piedmont, Loin bardy, Tuscany, even Naples, 
 in spite id' Itussian protection, were lull ol French 
 troop-, (tut of regard lor the holy see, the Unman 
 states hel been alone spared. What would Napo- 
 leon ooi do, irritated ami mortified by a refusal w liii-li 
 would be infallibly no secret throughout ESurope, 
 and which would pass for a condemnation of ins 
 rights emanating from the holy -•■■•. Ml these eon* 
 tradictory ideas formed, in the mind of the pope, 
 and his secretary Gonsalvi, an aotioll and re-action 
 
 of a kind very much to be pitied. Cardinal Gon- 
 salvi, who bad already faced the danger, and who 
 when at Paris had been far from finding grounds of 
 displeasure, was the least agitated of the two. He 
 thought only of Europe, and of the opinions and 
 displeasure id' all t lie old cabinets. 
 
 Nevertheless the pope ami the cardinal, while 
 awaiting the reception from Paris of solicitations 
 which it was probable would not admit of a refusal, 
 wished to have the sacred college on their own side. 
 Tluy dared not consult it in the entire body, be- 
 cause it had amongst its number cardinals tied to 
 foreign courts, who would perhaps betray the se- 
 cret Tiny chose ten of the most influential mem- 
 bers of the congregation of cardinals, and sub- 
 mitted to them in the secrecy of confession the 
 communications made by cardinals Caprara and 
 Fesch. These two cardinals were unfortunately 
 divided, and there was reason to fear that it would 
 be the same with the sacred college; Then the 
 pope and his minister thought it was necessary 
 to have recourse to ten other cardinals, making in 
 the whole twenty. This consultation, remaining 
 slid secret, gave the following results :— Five car- 
 dinals were wholly opposed to the demand of Napo- 
 leon, and fifteen were favourable, but at the same 
 time raising objections, and demanding conditions. 
 Of the five who gave a refusal, two onl\ had stated 
 their motive to be a refusal to acknowledge the 
 legitimacy of the sovereign whom it was the ques- 
 tion to crown. These live said that it would be to 
 consecrate and ratify all that the new monarch had 
 Buffered to be done, or had done himself to the in- 
 jury of religion; because, if he had made the con- 
 cordat, he had also formed the organic articles, and 
 taken away, when he was general, ihe Legations 
 from the holy see, that recently again, in concurring 
 in the secularizations, he had contributed to despoil 
 the German church of its property; that if he 
 wished to be treated like Charlemagne, he must 
 conduct himself like that emperor, and show his 
 regard to the holy see with the same munificence. 
 
 The fifteen cardinals disposed to agree under re- 
 strictive conditions had made objections in regard 
 to the opinion and discontent of the European 
 courts; the slight to the pope's dignity, thai he 
 should '40 and consecrate the new emperor at Paris, 
 
 while the chiefs of the holy empire had all come to 
 Rome to he crowni d at the foot of the altar of Si. 
 Pole]-; the inconvenience of meeting the consti- 
 tutional bishops, who had but incompletely re- 
 tracted, or who, alter their reconciliation with the 
 church, had caused new controversies; the false 
 
 position of the holy father in presence of certain 
 high functionaries, as M. Talleyrand, for example, 
 
 who had broki 11 his ties to the priesthood in order 
 to unite those of marriage; the danger of receiving 
 in the heart of an 1 in my's capital inadmissible 
 
 demands, which it would lie difficult i" refuse with- 
 out a noisy rnpliuv ; lastly, the danger id' the 
 joiinnv lor one whose health was :) s delicate as 
 that of Pius VI I.; recalling to recoiled n. 11 the cen- 
 sure which pope Pius VI. had inclined in the last 
 century, when he had made a journey to Vienna, 
 
 on a visit to Joseph 1 1., ami Inui returned without 
 
 having obtained any thing favourable to religion. 
 The fifteen cardinals were of opinion, that there 
 would not ho any excuse ill the eves of the Chris- 
 Han world for the act of condescension thus do-
 
 59G 
 
 Objections made by the 
 pope to his journey. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Embarrassment of the 
 negotiation. 
 
 1804. 
 Oct. 
 
 manded of Pius VII., unless it was to request and 
 obtain certain notorious advantages; such as the 
 revocation of a part of the organic articles; the 
 abolition of the measures taken by the Italian re- 
 public in regard to the clergy; the revocation of 
 what the French commissary had done at Parma 
 and Placentia relative to the church in that 
 country ; and, finally, territorial indemnities for 
 the losses that the holy see had suffered, and, above 
 all, the adoption of the ancient ceremonial for the 
 coronation of the Germanic emperors. Each of 
 these fifteen cardinals even added an express claim 
 that the coronation should take place, not in Paris, 
 but in Italy, when Napoleon should visit his states 
 beyond the Alps; and exacted this condition as 
 indispensable to the dignity of the holy see. 
 
 Somewhat assured by these opinions, the pope 
 felt disposed to yield to the wishes of Napoleon, 
 insisting at the same time, in a peremptory manner, 
 upon the conditions demanded by the fifteen con- 
 senting cardinals; and he had made known a part 
 of this resolution to cardinal Fesch. lint in the 
 interval, there had reached Rome the text of the 
 senatus consultum of the 28th Floreal, and the 
 formula of the oath of the emperor, containing 
 these words — "I swear to respect and to make re- 
 spected the laws of the concordat, and the liberty of 
 worship." The laws of the concordat appeared to 
 include the organic articles ; the liberty of worship 
 appeared to sanction heresies, and the court of 
 Rome had never admitted such a liberty into its 
 reckoning. The oath became on a sudden the 
 ground for an absolute refusal. Nevertheless, the 
 pope and Gonsaivi consulted again the twenty car- 
 dinals, and this time only five thought that the 
 oath was not an insurmountable obstacle; fifteen 
 replied that it, rendered the coronation of the new 
 monarch by the pope an impossible thing. 
 
 Although the secret had been well kept by the 
 cardinals, intelligence from Paris, and some indis- 
 cretions inevitable among the agents of the holy see, 
 brought about the discovery of the negotiation, and 
 the public, composed of prelates and diplomatists 
 that encircled the Roman court, spread it abroad 
 in speeches and sarcasms. They called Pius VII. the 
 "chaplain of the emperor of the French," because 
 this emperor, having need of the pope's ministry, 
 did not come to Rome as the Charlemagnes, Othos, 
 Barbarossas, and Charles V. had deigned to do; 
 but sent for the pope to his own palace. 
 
 This raillery added to the difficulties of the oath, 
 shook Pius VII. and cardinal Gonsaivi; both there- 
 fore adopted the resolution to make a reply favour- 
 able in appearance, but negative in reality, because 
 it consisted in an acquiescence burthened with con- 
 ditions which it was not possible for the emperor to 
 admit. 
 
 Cardinal Fesch eagerly replied to the principal 
 difficulty raised against the oath, drawn from the 
 engagement that the sovereign had taken to respect 
 freedom of religious worship. He said that such an 
 engagement was not the canonical approbation of 
 differing creeds, but the promise to suffer the free 
 exercise of every kind of worship, and not to per- 
 secute any, which was still conformable to the spirit 
 of the faith in the church, and the principles adopted 
 in the present age by all the sovereigns. These 
 explanations, full of good sense as they were, had, 
 according to the cardinal Gonsaivi, merely a pri- 
 
 vate character, and not a public one, and they 
 would not excuse the court of Rome in the eyes of 
 the faithful, or in the sight of God, if they were 
 wanting to the catholic faith. 
 
 Although of a mind not insinuating, cardinal 
 Fesch had known how to penetrate by fear and 
 presents into the secret of more than one personage 
 of the Roman court, and he knew perfectly well 
 the objections made as well as their authors. He 
 sent word of every thing to Paris, that the emperor 
 might be well acquainted with all ; and still not 
 knowing to what point the pope wished to hold 
 back through unacceptable conditions, and how 
 much might be gained from him, he gave more 
 hope of success than he had a right to expect at 
 the moment, adding, in the mean while, that in 
 order to success, it was necessary to give the holy 
 see promises and explanations perfectly satisfac- 
 tory. 
 
 These communications transmitted to Paris be- 
 came a cause of cruel embarrassment to cardinal 
 Caprara, because they took them for a consent 
 merely dependent upon some explanations that still 
 remained to be given, and looked for the appear- 
 ance of the pope in France as a certain thing. 
 Cardinal Caprara, who knew the real disposition of 
 his court, but who dared not speak out, was in a 
 state of tremor and confusion. The empress 
 Josephine held more than Napoleon did to the 
 coronation, which seemed to her the pardon of 
 Heaven for an act of usurpation. Thus she re- 
 ceived cardinal Caprara at St. Cloud, and lavished 
 upon him the kindest attention. On his own side, 
 Napoleon showed great satisfaction, and both told 
 him that they considered the affair as arranged; 
 that the pope would be received at Paris with the 
 honours due to a chief of the universal church, 
 and that religion would obtain infinite benefit from 
 his journey. Napoleon, without knowing all, still 
 suspected a part of the secret wishes of the Roman 
 court; he avoided suffering himself to be accosted 
 by cardinal Caprara, out of fear that the cardinal 
 would demand of him things either altogether impos- 
 sible to grant, such as the revocation of the organic 
 articles, or actually very difficult, such as the resti- 
 tution of the Legations. The cardinal was, there- 
 fore, doubly embarrassed, between the hopes too 
 readily indulged in Paris, and the difficulty of ac- 
 costing Napoleon, to obtain the words in reply 
 capable of leading the Roman court to a decision. 
 
 The abbe Bernier become bishop of Orleans, the 
 man whose wise and profound mind had been 
 employed in vanquishing all the difficulties of the 
 concordat, was also very useful in the present con- 
 juncture. He was charged with the task of making 
 replies to the court of Rome. He conferred for 
 this end with cardinal Caprara, and made him 
 comprehend that after the hopes indulged by the 
 imperial family, after the expectation produced in 
 the mind of th ; French public, it would be impos- 
 sible to draw back without outraging Napoleon, 
 and exposing himself to the most serious conse- 
 quences. The bishop of Orleans drew un a des- 
 patch, which would do honour to the most able and 
 learned diplomatist. He recalled to memory the 
 services of Napoleon to the church, and the claims 
 which he had to its acknowledgment, the good 
 which religion might yet expect from him, and the 
 effect, before all, which would be produced upon the
 
 1804. 
 Oct. 
 
 Stipulations of the pope. 
 
 THE CORONATION. 
 
 Apprehensions of the pope. 
 
 597 
 
 French people by the presence of Pius VII., with 
 the impulse it would impart to religions ideas. 
 He explained the oath and the expressions relative 
 to liberty of worship as they ought to be under- 
 stood; he offered besides an expedient, which was 
 to make two ceremonies, the one civil, in which the 
 emperor took the oath and the crown; the other 
 religious, in which the crown should be conse- 
 crated by the pontiff. Finally, he declared posi- 
 tively, that it was t'orthc interest of religion, and 
 what was intimately attached to it. that the pre- 
 sence of the pope was required in Paris. There 
 were ho| es enough concealed in these words to 
 
 gain over the personal consent of the holy see, and 
 give a pretext to Christianity that should justify its 
 condescension towards Napoleon. 
 
 Cardinal Caprara joined to this official despatch 
 of the French government, particular letters in 
 which he drew a picture of what passed in France, 
 the good which was to be accomplished there, and 
 the evils to be repaired, and affirmed positively, 
 that the request could not be refused without great 
 dang re; that at Rome things were very ill-judged 
 of, and that the pope would gather from the journey 
 only subjects of satisfaction to himself. 
 
 A second time carried to Rome, the negotiation 
 could not but succeed. The pope and cardinal 
 Gonsalvi, enlightened by the letters of the legate, 
 and of the bishop of Orleans, comprehended the 
 impossibility of a refusal, and pressed by cardinal 
 Ft sch, finished the affair by consenting to go. But 
 they were under the necessity of consulting the 
 cardinals once more; above all, they were alarmed 
 at one of the explanations of the bishop of Orleans, 
 Consisting in the idea of a double ceremony. The 
 pope would only admit one, because he wished not 
 only to sprinkle the holy water over the new em- 
 peror, but to crown him. The cardinals were then 
 consulted anew upon the explanations sent from 
 Paris. Cardinal Fesch got access among them, 
 and contrived to put fear into their hearts, in 
 which he was much more able, than in seducing 
 them by persuasion. The answer was favourable; 
 but an official note was demanded in explanation 
 of the oath, that should promise only one ceremony, 
 and that should contain an express mention of the 
 conditions under which the pope went to Paris, 
 
 Pius VII. then declared that he consented to the 
 journey upon condition that the Oath should be ex- 
 plained as not attaching any approbation of here- 
 tical dogmas, but only the simple toleration mate- 
 rial to dissenting modes of worship; that theypro- 
 I to listen when be remonstrated against cer- 
 tain organic articles, when he remonstrated for the 
 interests of the church, and of the holy Bee (the 
 
 Legations were not na I); that they would not 
 
 sutler near him iho e bishops who disputed their 
 submission to the si e oi Rome, unless under a now 
 and most complete submission on their part; that 
 he should not be exposed to encounter those 
 
 persons who were in a situation contrary to the 
 
 laws of the church (this positively designated 
 the wife of the mini ter for foreign affairs) ; that 
 the ceremonial obsi rved should he either that of the 
 court of Koine crowning the emperor, or that of the 
 arch hi -hop of Rheima crowning the kingsol France; 
 that there .should he only one ceremony, exclu- 
 sively through the ministry of the pope; that a de- 
 putation of two French bishops should carry to 
 
 Pius VII. a letter of invitation, in which the em- 
 peror said that, retained for powerful reasons in 
 the heart of his empire, and having to discuss with 
 the holy hither the interests of religion, he begged 
 him to come to France to bless his crown, and treat 
 on the interests of the church; that no species of 
 demand should be addressed to the pope, that 
 should restrain in any manner his return to Italy. 
 The pontifical cabinet expressed finally its desire 
 that the coronation should be postponed until the 
 25th of December, the day when Charlemagne had 
 bei n proclaimed emperor, because the pope, deeply 
 agitated, had need to pass some time at Caste! Gan- 
 dolfo, in order to obtain a little repose, and could 
 nut besides quit Rome without setting in order a 
 good deal of business relative to the Roman govern- 
 ment. 
 
 These conditions had nothing in them but what 
 was acceptable, for if it was promised to listen to 
 the remonstrances of the pope upon certain organic 
 articles, there was no promise to grant the claim 
 exacted, in case they should be contrary to the 
 principles of the French church. Cardinal Fesch 
 had even declared faithfully that they could never 
 modify tin se organic articles which most offended 
 the Roman church, and which exacted the consent 
 of the civil authority for the introduction into 
 France of the pontifical bulls. They were able, 
 without scruple, to promise that one single cere- 
 mony alone should be retained, the observation of 
 the Roman or French service; the hope of an ame- 
 lioration in respect to the territory ot the holy see, 
 beciuse Napoleon often thought id' it; the sending 
 a deputation to invite the pope in a formal maimer 
 to come to Paris; the allegation of the interests of 
 the church as the motive of the voyage; the re- 
 pression of the five bishops who had returned upon 
 their reconciliation, and troubled the church in a 
 vexatious manner. They were able, in fine, to en- 
 gage that nothing disagreeable should be required 
 of pope Pius VII., and that he should be perfectly 
 free, for nothing to the contrary had even in thought 
 entered into the mind of Napoleon or his govern- 
 ment, it required the imagination of those feeble 
 and trembling old men, to Buppose that the liberty 
 of the pope had any thing to fear in France. 
 
 Cardinal Fesch, the consent of the pope once ob- 
 tained, declared that the empt POr took upon him- 
 self all the expi uses of the journey, which was for 
 a ruined government a difficulty of moment less in 
 the way. lie made known besides the details of 
 the magnificent reception reserved for the holy 
 father. Unhappily In- troubled him by accessary 
 exactions, wholly out id' place, lie wished that 
 
 twelve cardinals, and more than that, the secretary 
 of state, Gonsalvi, should accompany the pope; he 
 
 wished contrary to established usage, that classed 
 
 the cardinals by the oldest standing, that thefirst 
 
 place in the pontifical Carriage should he for the 
 ambassador, grand almoner and uncle of the 
 
 emperor. All this was useless, and occasioned to 
 men who were fearful formalists, as much pain as 
 more serious difficulties would have done. 
 
 Pius VII. yielded on some points, but he was 
 
 inflexible about the number of cardinals, and the 
 
 omission of the secretary of state, Gonsalvi. In 
 their vague terror, Pius VII. and Gonsalvi had 
 
 imagined a provit against all the dangers of 
 
 tli.' church by a singular precaution. The holy
 
 598 
 
 Letter of Napoleon THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. to the pope. 
 
 1804. 
 Oct. 
 
 father, who believed himself worse in health than 
 he was in reality, and who mistook the nervous 
 agitations with which he saw himself attacked for 
 some dangerous malady, thought he should die on 
 his journey. He thought, too, that perhaps they 
 would misuse him. To guard against this second 
 apprehension, lie had drawn up and signed his ab- 
 dication, and had deposited it in the hands of 
 cardinal Gousalvi, that he might be prepared to 
 declare the papacy vacant. Further, if he died or 
 abdicated, it would be necessary to convoke the 
 sacred college, in order to fill the chair of St. 
 Peter. It was, therefore, requisite to leave at 
 Rome as many cardinals as possible, and among 
 them the man who, by his ability, was the 
 most capable of directing the church under 
 these grave circumstances, in other words, cardi- 
 nal Gousalvi himself. A last consideration de- 
 cided the pope to act in this way. He had not 
 been able to avoid an explanation with the Aus- 
 trian court, to make it agree to his journey to 
 Paris. Austria, appreciating his situation, had 
 acknowledged the necessity he was under of under- 
 taking the journey ; but she had demanded a 
 guarantee, that he should promise not to treat at 
 Paris about the arrangements of the German 
 church, which were the consequence of the recez 
 of 1803. It was, above all, on account of this 
 motive that Austria dreaded the sojourn of the 
 pope in France. Pius VII. had solemnly promised 
 not to treat with Napoleon on any question foreign 
 to the French church. But to add confidence to 
 his promise, it was necessary that he should not 
 take with him cardinal Gousalvi, the man through 
 whom all the great business of the Roman court 
 was transacted. 
 
 From these motives, Pius VII. refused to take 
 with him more than six cardinals, and persisted 
 in his resolve of leaving at Rome the secretary of 
 state, Gousalvi. He consented to an arrangement 
 as far as the personal pretensions of cardinal 
 Fesch were concerned. This cardinal was to oc- 
 cupy the first place when they should arrive in 
 France. 
 
 These matters arranged, the pope went to Castel 
 Gandolfo, where the pure air, the tranquillity that 
 followed his fixed resolution, the news, every day 
 more satisfactory, of the welcome prepared for him 
 at Paris, re-established his health, which was so 
 much shattered. 
 
 Napoleon regarded the object he had attained as 
 a great victory, because it put the final seal 
 to his rights, and left him nothing to desire on the 
 score of legitimacy. Meanwhile, he would not 
 lose his own character in the midst of these ex- 
 ternal pomps ; he would do nothing or promise 
 nothing contrary to the principles of his govern- 
 ment. Cardinal Fesch having said to him that it 
 would be sufficient to send to the pope some 
 general enjoying high public consideration, he sent 
 general Caffarelli to carry his invitation, and he 
 drew it up in the most respectful and even kind 
 terms, but without giving it to be too much under- 
 stood that he had requested the pope's presence 
 near him, for any other object than his coronation. 
 This letter, written with perfect dignity, was thus 
 conceived : — 
 
 " Most Holy Father. — The happy effect pro- 
 duced on the morals and character of my people, 
 
 by the re-establishment of the Christian religion, 
 induces me to pray your holiness to afford me 
 a new proof of the interest that you take 
 in my destiny, and that of this great nation, 
 under one of the most important circumstances 
 that the annals of the world can offer. I pray 
 you to come and impart in the most eminent 
 degree possible, a religious character to the 
 ceremony of the oath and coronation of the first 
 emperor of the French. The ceremony will ac- 
 quire a new lustre when it shall be performed By 
 your holiness in person. It will attach upon us 
 and our people the blessing of God, whose decree 
 regulates according to the dictates of his will the 
 fate of families and empires. 
 
 " Your holiness knows the affectionate senti- 
 ments which I have for a long time borne towards 
 you, and will thus judge of the pleasure this event 
 will confer upon me, by enabling me to give new 
 proofs of them. 
 
 " We pray God to preserve you, most holy father, 
 many years to come for the regulation and govern- 
 ment of our mother the holy church. 
 
 " Your devoted son, 
 
 " Natoleon." 
 
 To this letter were joined strong solicitations that 
 the pope, in place of arriving on the 25th of Decem- 
 ber, should arrive on the last day of November. 
 Napoleon did not tell the real motive that made 
 him wish for the ceremony to take place sooner ; 
 this motive was no other than his project of a 
 descent upon England, prepared for December. 
 He alleged a reason, which was also true, but less 
 serious, this was the inconvenience cf leaving too 
 long a time at Paris all the civil and military 
 authorities already convoked. 
 
 General Caffarelli setoff in the utmost haste, and 
 reached Rome in the night on the 28th or 29th of 
 September. Cardinal Fesch presented him to the 
 holy father, who gave him a paternal reception. 
 Pius VII. received the letter from the hands of 
 the general, but deferred reading it until after the 
 audience. But when he had acquired a knowledge 
 of it, and did not find in it any allegation of re- 
 ligious business as the motive for his proceeding 
 to France, he was seized with deep sorrow, and 
 fell into a state of nervous agitation which excited 
 the greatest uneasiness. In reality, that which 
 most touched this venerable pontiff', as with all 
 princes of an elevated spirit, was his honour, the 
 dignity of his crown. He believed these to be 
 compromised if for an instant religious affairs 
 were not alleged to explain his thus displacing 
 himself. The name of " Chaplain of Napoleon," 
 which his enemies gave him, deeply hurt him. 
 He sent for cardinal Fesch : — " It is poison," said 
 he, "that you have brought to me." He added 
 that he would make no reply to such a letter ; that 
 he would not go to Paris, because they had 
 broken their word with him. Cardinal Fesch at- 
 tempted to calm the irritated pontiff, and thought 
 that a new consultation of cardinals might arrange 
 this last difficulty. All began to feel the impossi- 
 bility of drawing back, and by means of a last 
 explanatory note, signed by the cardinal ambas- 
 sador, the difficulty was removed. It was decided 
 that the pope, on account of All Saints' day, 
 should set out on the 2nd of November, and 
 arrive at Fontainebleau on the 27th.
 
 1804. 
 Oct. 
 
 Ceremony of the coronation arranged. THE CORONATION. Conduct of the Bonaparte family. 
 
 599 
 
 While this passed at Rome, the emperor Napo- 
 leon had disposed every thing in Fans to give a 
 prodigious eclat to the ceremony of his coronation. 
 He had invited the princes of Baden, the prince 
 arch-chancellor of the German empire, and nume- 
 rous deputations chosen in the administration, in 
 the magistracy, and the army. He had left the 
 care tu bishop Bernier and the arch-chancellor Cam* 
 bace'rea to examine the ceremonial used for the 
 coronations of emperors and kings, and to propose 
 t<> him modifications, that the manners of the age, 
 the spirit of the time, and the prejudices of 
 France against the Roman authority, made ne- 
 cessary to be introduced. He prescribed to them 
 the greatest secrecy, that these questions should not 
 become the subject of vexatious discourses, and 
 reserved to himself the decision upon those which 
 might be doubtful. The two rites, both Roman 
 ami French, contained certain modes of proceeding 
 equally difficult to be rendered supportable to the 
 public mind. According to both ceremonies, the 
 monarch arrived without the insignia of supreme 
 power, such as the sceptre, sword, and crown, and 
 only received them from the hands of the pontiff, 
 and further, he placed the crown on the head; 
 according to the French rite the peers, by the 
 Roman rite the bishops, held the crown suspended 
 over the head of the monarch on his knees, and 
 the pontiff, taking it, made it descend upon his 
 brow. Bernier and Cambaeeres, alter having 
 suppressed certain details, too much in opposition 
 to the feelings of the present time, were of opinion 
 that the hist part of the ceremony should be pre- 
 served, substituting for the peers of the French 
 rite, and the bishops of the Roman rite, the six 
 grand dignitaries of the empire, and letting the 
 pope deposit the crown on the head, as was an- 
 ciently customary. Napoleon grounding it upon 
 the feeling of the nation and the army, asserted 
 that he would not be able then to receive the 
 crown from the pontiff; that the nation and the 
 army, from whom he held it, would be annoyed to 
 see a ceremonial not in conformity with the real 
 state of things, and the independence of the 
 throne. He was indexible in this respect, saying 
 that he knew better than any body the true senti- 
 ments of France, yielding, no doubt, to religious 
 ideas, but even under that relation, always ready 
 usure those who passed certain limits, lie 
 wished, therefore, to arrive at the church with his 
 imperial insignia, that is to say, as emperor, and 
 only ^ive them to be consecrated by the pope. 
 II. consented to receive the benediction and to be 
 consecrated, but not to be crowned. The arch- 
 chancellor Cambaeeres avowed that there was 
 
 truth in the opinion of Napoleon, but signified the 
 danger there- was not less great of hurting the 
 igs of the pontiff, already very much cha- 
 grined, and of depriving the ceremony of a con- 
 formity, precious from the old usages customary 
 from the time of Pepin and Charlemagne* Cam- 
 baceres and Bernier, both intimately connected 
 with the legate, were ebarged with the task <d 
 making him agree in the views of the emperor. 
 Cardinal Caprara, knowing how much forms were 
 deemed an affair of grave import with bis court, 
 thought that he could not decide any thing without 
 toe opinion of the pone, but thai il was neci 
 not to communicate any more with the holy see 
 
 for fear of raising new difficulties, convinced that 
 the pope, once arrived in Paris, would be at the 
 same time reassured and charmed by the welcome 
 which he was destined to receive in France ; the 
 cardinal believed that all would be arranged 
 with more facility ir. Paris under the influence 
 of an unexpected satisfaction, than at Rome under 
 the influence of vague terrors. 
 
 These difficulties overcome, there still remained 
 others which had birth in the midst of the imperial 
 family. It was the question to fix the place of 
 the wife, and of the brothers and sisters of the 
 emperor, in the ceremony of the coronation. It 
 was necessary to know, first, whether Jose- 
 phine should be crowned, and take the oath 
 in the same manner as Napoleon himself. She 
 ardently desired it, because this would be a new 
 tie to her husband, a new guarantee against a 
 future repudiation, which was the constant care of 
 her life. Napoleon hesitated between his affection 
 for his wife, and the secret presentiments of his 
 policy, when a family scene failed then to bring about 
 tlie loss of the unfortunate Josephine. All the 
 world was busy around the new- monarch, brothers, 
 sisters, and relations. Each wished in the solem- 
 nity which it seemed ought to consecrate them 
 all, some character conformable to their actual 
 pretensions and their future hopes. At the sight 
 of this agitation, and witness of the entreaties of 
 which Napoleon was the object, above all, on the 
 part of one of his sisters, Josephine troubled in 
 mind, and swallowed up by jealousy, suffered out- 
 rageous suspicions towards that sister to be dis- 
 covered, and towards Napoleon himself — suspicions 
 in unison with certain atrocious calumnies of the 
 emigrants. Napoleon was suddenly seized with a 
 most vehement fit of anger, and finding in this 
 anger a resistance to his affections, he told Jose- 
 phine that he would separate himself from her 1 ; 
 that besides he must do so at a later period, and that 
 it was better to be resigned to it at once, than to 
 contract stricter ties. He called his two adopted 
 children, made them acquainted with his resolu- 
 tion, and plunged them, by the announcement, into 
 the deepest sorrow. Hortensia and Eugene l!eau- 
 harnois declared with a tranquil and saddened 
 resolution, that they would follow their mother 
 into any retreat to which she might be condemned. 
 Josephine, well advised, showed herself full of 
 Submission and melancholy resignation. The con- 
 trast of her chagrin, with the satisfaction that 
 appeared in the rest of the imperial family, rent 
 the heart of Napoleon, and he was unable to make 
 up his mind to the sight of the exile and unhappi- 
 ness of the woman who had been the companion 
 of his youth, and with her, exiled and unhappy, 
 the children as well, who had become the objects 
 
 of his paternal tenderness. He toot Josephine 
 in his arms, and told her, in the overflow of his 
 In-art, that nothing but force should si parate him 
 from hex-; although, perhaps, bis policy might 
 Command it to be otherwise. Thus In- promised 
 that she should be crowned with him, and receive 
 the divine consecration at his side from the hand 
 
 of the pope. 
 
 ' I tile iii-ru Hie faithful recital of a reipectable intlivi- 
 ■iii.ii, an ocular witneM, attached to the Imperial family, 
 vim ti.- i the recollection of this Incident in his 
 
 ript memoirs. — Author 1 ! mile.
 
 600 The pope sets out for Paris. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. The pope sets out for Paris. 
 
 1804. 
 Nov. 
 
 Josephine ever mutable, passer! at once from 
 terror to the most perfect contentedness, and gave 
 herself to the preparations for the ceremony with 
 puerile delight. 
 
 Napoleon, with the secret idea of some day 
 raising up an empire of the West, felt desirous of 
 having vassal kings around his throne. At the 
 moment he made his two brothers, Joseph and 
 Louis, grand dignitaries of the empire ; but he 
 soon afterwards thought of making them kings, 
 and he had even already prepared a throne for 
 Joseph in Lombardy. His intention was, that in 
 their becoming kings they should remain still 
 grand dignitaries of his empire. They were thus 
 to be in the French empire of the west, the same 
 that the princes of Saxony, Brandenburgh, Bo- 
 hemia, Bavaria, Hanover, and others were in the 
 Germanic empire. It was needful that the cere- 
 mony of the coronation should answer to this view 
 of the scheme, and be the emblematic image of 
 the reality which he contemplated. He would not 
 admit that the bishops or peers should hold the 
 crown suspended over his head, nor even that the 
 first bishop, him of Rome, should place it there. 
 For the same reasons he wished that his two 
 brothers, destined to be vassal kings of the great 
 empire, should take at his side a position which 
 clearly indicated their future vassalage. He ex- 
 acted that his brothers, when he was clothed with 
 the imperial mantle, and should proceed himself 
 into the body of the church, from the throne to 
 the altar, and from the altar to the throne, should 
 support the skirt of his mantle. He exacted this, 
 not only for himself, but for the empress. The 
 princesses, his sisters, were the parties to fulfil for 
 Josephine the duty which his brothers performed 
 near himself. An energetic expression of his will 
 was necessary to obtain this performance of the 
 office. Although his kindness made painful to 
 him some family scenes, he became absolute when 
 his requirements touched upon any of his political 
 designs. 
 
 It was November: all was ready at Notre Dame. 
 The deputations had arrived ; the tribunals ceased 
 to sit; sixty bishops and archbishops followed by 
 their clergy had abandoned the care of their altars. 
 The generals, admirals, officers the most distin- 
 guished in the land or sea service, the marshals 
 Davout, Ney, Soult, the admirals Bruix, Gan- 
 teaume, in place of being at Boulogne or Brest, 
 were all found in Paris. Napoleon was at variance 
 with this state of things, because pomp, much as he 
 loved it, only passed away rightly with him after 
 business was over. A multitude of curious per- 
 sons, from all parts of Europe as well as of France, 
 filled the capital, and awaited impatiently the ex- 
 traordinary spectacle which had drawn them thi- 
 ther. Napoleon, whom the assemblage of which 
 he was the continual object did not displease, was 
 still anxious to put an end to a state of things 
 which broke in upon the regular order which he 
 preferred to see prevail in his empire. He sent off 
 officer after officer in order to deliver to the pope 
 letters filled with filial tenderness, and warm en- 
 treaties that he would hasten his journey. Delays 
 upon delays caused the ceremony to be fixed for 
 the 2nd of December. 
 
 The pope had ultimately decided upon quitting 
 Rome. After having confided full powers to car- 
 
 dinal Gonsalvi, and having loaded him with his 
 troubles and embarrassments, he had gone, on the 
 2nd of November, in the morning, to the altar of 
 St. Peter, and had there passed much time upon 
 his knees, surrounded by the cardinals, the gran- 
 dees of Rome, and the people. He offered at the 
 altar a fervent prayer, as if he were going to en- 
 counter great dangers; then he entered his car- 
 riage, and took the road to Viterbo. The people 
 of Transtevere, so faithful to their pontiffs, accom- 
 panied his carriage a long way in tears. The time 
 had passed away when the court of Rome was the 
 most enlightened in Europe. The old men of the 
 sacred college scarcely knew in what age they 
 lived, blaming, from want of comprehending it, the 
 wise condescension of Pius VII. They were ready 
 to swallow the most absurd stories. There were 
 some who regarded as correct the story of a stra- 
 tagem, said to be prepared in France, to make the 
 holy father a prisoner, and seize upon his states ; 
 as if Napoleon had required such means to be 
 master of Rome, or as if he desired any thing be- 
 sides, at that moment, than the pontifical benedic- 
 tion, which rendered the character of his authority 
 respectable in the eyes of mankind. 
 
 Pius VII., on leaving Rome, wished, in spite of 
 his poverty, to take with him some presents worthy 
 of the host with whom he was going to take up his 
 residence. With that delicacy of tact to which he 
 was accustomed, he selected, for a present to Napo- 
 leon, two antique cameos, as remarkable for their 
 beauty as their signification. One represented 
 Achilles, the other the continence of Scipio. For 
 Josephine, he destined some antique vases, of ad- 
 mirable workmanship. By the advice of Talleyrand, 
 he brought a profusion of chaplets for the ladies of 
 the court. 
 
 He set out therefore; traversed the Roman and 
 Tuscan states, in the midst of the Italian people, 
 kneeling as he passed. At Florence, he was re- 
 ceived by the queen of Etruria, become a widow, and 
 then actually regent for her son of the new king- 
 dom created by Napoleon. This princess, pious as 
 all Spanish princesses are, received the pope with 
 demonstrations of respect and devotedness, which 
 much delighted him. He began from that moment 
 to lose some of his deep inquietude. He wished to 
 avoid the Legations, in order not to sanction by his 
 presence the attachment of them to any other state 
 than that of Rome. He proceeded to Piacenza, 
 Parma, and Turin. He was not yet in France, 
 but the authorities and the troops of France sur- 
 rounded him. He saw the old Meuou, the officers 
 of the army of Italy, bend before him with respect, 
 and was touched by the respectful expression of their 
 manly countenances. Cardinal Cambaceres, and a 
 chamberlain of the palace, M. de Salmatoris, sent in 
 advance, presented themselves to him on the fron- 
 tiers of Piedmont, which were those of the French 
 empire, and handed him a letter of Napoleon full of 
 expressions of acknowledgment, and of his wishes 
 for a speedy and happy journey to the pontiff. 
 Hour after hour gave him more confidence; and 
 Pius VII. had no longer reason to feel doubt as to 
 the consequences of his resolution. He passed the 
 Alps. Extraordinary precautions had been taken 
 to render the passage safe and easy for himself and 
 the old cardinals who accompanied him. Officers 
 of the imperial palace provided every thing on the
 
 1804. 
 Nov. 
 
 Napoleon meets the pope at 
 Fontaineblcau. 
 
 THE CORONATION. 
 
 Address of M. de Fontanes. 
 
 (101 
 
 way with infinite eagerness and magnificence. At 
 length he arrived at Lyons. There his fears were 
 
 changed into real pleasure. Crowds of the popula- 
 tion had onic thither from Provence, Dauphine, 
 Franche-Comte', and Burgundy, to see the repre- 
 sentative of God upon the earth. The people al- 
 ways have in their hearts a confused hut deep sen- 
 timent of a divinity. The form in which the idea 
 is presented to their imagination matters little, 
 provided such a form should have been anciently 
 sanctioned, and that those above them give an ex- 
 ample of respect towards it. If there he added to 
 the natural force of this sentiment the extraordi- 
 nary power of popular reaction, the earnestness with 
 which the multitude returns to the things that 
 it had momentarily abandoned, the eagerness may 
 be conceived that the people of the cities and 
 country parts of France exhibited in seeking the 
 presence of the holy lather. In seeing upon its 
 knees that nation which had been depicted to 
 him as always in revolt against the authorities 
 of earth and heaven — that nation which had over- 
 turned throne-, and held a pontiff in captivity — 
 Pius VII. was Btartli d and encouraged; he acknow- 
 ledged that his old counsellor Caprara had spoken 
 truth, when he affirmed that this journey would 
 be of great advantage to religion, and procure to 
 himself infinite satisfaction. A letter from the 
 emperor had found him at Lyons, bringing fresh 
 thanks and wishes for his prompt arrival. The 
 feeble pontiff, pose issing sensibility to infirmity, no 
 longer felt fatigue since he saw himself received in 
 such a welcome manner, ami ottered of his own ac- 
 cord to ace iterate his journey a couple of days, 
 which offer was accepted. He quitted Lyons in the 
 midst of the same homage; traversing Moulins and 
 Nevers, encountering every where upon his road 
 the affected multitude, demanding his benediction 
 from the head of the church. 
 
 At Fontaiuehl.au I'ius VI I. was to stop. Napo- 
 leon had so regulated matters, in order to have the 
 opportunity of encountering the holy father, and 
 arranging two or three days' reel for him in that 
 fine retirement, lie had ordered for the 25th of 
 November a day of hunting, when the company 
 
 should take their cpurse towards the road by which 
 the holy father was expected to conic. At the 
 hour when he knew that the pontifical party would 
 arrive at the cross of St. Ilerem, he turned his 
 
 hone's head thai way, in order to meet the pope, 
 who soon alter arrived. He presented himself to 
 him immediately, and embraced him. I'ius VII., 
 
 affected at this eagerness of manner, regarded with 
 
 emotion and curiosity this other Charlemagne, whom 
 he had though! for some years to he the instrument 
 
 Of God upon the earth. It was the middle of the 
 
 day. The two sovereigns mounted the same car- 
 riage, to proceed to the chateau of Fontainebleau, 
 Napoleon giving the right hand to the head of the 
 church. On the threshold of the palace, the 
 empress, the great men of the empire, and the 
 chicls of the army were arranged in a circle forthe 
 purpose of receiving I'ius VI 1., and of doing him 
 homage. The pope, although habituated to Ro- 
 man pomp, had never seen any thing so magnifi- 
 cent. He was conducted, surrounded by thespli n- 
 
 ilid party, to the apartment destined for his use. 
 After some hours' rest, according to the rules of 
 etiquette established between sovereigns, he paid a 
 
 visit to the emperor and empress, which visit they 
 immediately returned. Every time more encou- 
 raged, and more won over by the seducing lan- 
 guage of his host, which promised rather than to 
 intimidate to afford him great pleasure, he con- 
 ceived a regard which to the end of his life, after 
 numerous and terrible vicissitudes, he still felt for 
 the unfortunate hero. The great men of the em- 
 pire were successively presented to the pope. He 
 received them with perfect cordiality, and that 
 grace attaching to the old, that carries so power- 
 ful a charm. The countenance, mild and dignified, 
 the penetrating glance of I'ius VII. affected every 
 heart, and he was himself touched at the effect 
 which his own presence produced. They had not 
 yet conferred upon any of the difficulties which re- 
 mained to he regulated. They solely indulged the 
 pope's feelings, anil relieved his fatigues. He was 
 himself till emotion, all pleasure at his reception, 
 which seemed to him to be the triumph even of re- 
 ligion itself. 
 
 The moment came to depart for Paris, and to 
 enter finally into that formidable city, where for a 
 century the human mind had been in a ferment, 
 and where for some years the destiny of the world 
 had been regulated. On the 28th of November, 
 after three days' rest, the emperor and the pope 
 entered the same carriage in order to reach Paris, 
 the pope being always placed on the right side. 
 The pope was lodged in the pavilion of Flora, 
 which had been arranged for his reception. The 
 whole of the 29th was allowed him for rest. Upon 
 the 30th, the senate, legislative body, tribunate, and 
 council of state were presented to him. The presi- 
 dents of these four bodies addressed him in speeches 
 which depicted in terms the most glowing and just, 
 his virtues, wisdom, and great condescension to- 
 wards France; still in the midst of these addresses, 
 fugitive as were the sensations they inspired, that 
 of M. Fontanes must be remarked, serious and en- 
 during as the truths with which it was filled. 
 
 " Most Holy Father, — When the conqueror 
 of Marengo conceived in the midst of the field of 
 battle the design of re-establishing religious unity, 
 and of rendering back to the French their ancient 
 worship, he preserved from utter ruin the princi- 
 ples of civilization. This great conception coining 
 upon a day of victory, gave birth to the concordat; 
 and the legislative bod} of which I have the honour 
 
 to be the organ before your holiness converted the 
 concordat into a national law. 
 " A memorable day, equally estimated by the 
 
 wisdom of the statesman, and dear to the Christian 
 faith ! It was then that France, abjuring her too 
 serious errors, gave the most useful lessons to the 
 human race. She seemed to acknowledge before 
 mankind, that till irreligious thoughts are im- 
 politic, and that every attack upon Christianity is 
 an attack upon society. 
 
 " The return of the ancient worship soon prepared 
 the way for that of a government more natural to 
 great states, and more conformable to the old habits 
 
 ol France. The entire social system shaken by the 
 
 inconstant opinions of man, supports Itself anew 
 upon a doctrine Immutable as God himself. It was 
 
 religion that formerly polished savage societies; but 
 
 it is more difficult at this day to repair social ruins 
 than to lay their foundation. 
 
 "We owe this advantage to a double prodigy.
 
 Satisfaction of the pope 
 C02 at n ' s reception in 
 
 Paris. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Ecclesiastical marriage 
 of Napoleon and Jo- 
 sephine. 
 
 1S04. 
 Dec. 
 
 France has seen the birth of one of those extraor- 
 dinary men, sent at long distant intervals to the 
 succour of empires that are ready to perish; while 
 Rome at the same time has seen shining from the 
 throne of St. Peter, all the apostolical virtues of the 
 first ages Their mild authority makes itself felt 
 in every .leart. Universal homage cannot tail to 
 attach to a pontiff as wise as he is pious, who at 
 the sirae time discriminates all that is necessary to 
 be left to the course of human affairs, and all that 
 is required for the interests of religion. 
 
 "This august religion has come to consecrate 
 through him the new destinies of the French em- 
 pire, and take the same apparel as in the age of 
 the Clovis and the Pepins. 
 
 " Every thing has changed around her; she alone 
 has known no change. 
 
 "She sees the termination of the families of kings 
 as well as of subjects; but on the ruins of crum- 
 bling thrones, and on the steps of those newly ele- 
 vated, she continually observes the successive 
 manifestation of the designs of the Eternal, and 
 obeys them with confidence. 
 
 "Never has the world had a more imposing spec- 
 tacle presented to it; never have the people re- 
 ceived more important instructions. 
 
 "The time no longer exists wh^n the empire and 
 the priesthood are rivals. Both now give each 
 other assistance in repelling the false doctrines 
 which have menaced Europe with total subversion. 
 May they for everyield before the double influence 
 of religion and policy in union. This wish will not 
 be baffled; never in France was there so much of 
 political genius, and never did the pontifical throne 
 offer to the Christian world a model more affecting 
 and respectable." 
 
 The pope showed considerable emotion at this 
 noble address; the finest which had been delivered 
 at all from the time of Louis XIV. The people of 
 Paris ran under his windows, demanding that he 
 should show himself. Already the fame of his 
 mildness and his noble countenance had spread over 
 the capital. Pius VII. appeared several times at 
 the balcony of the Tuileries, always accompanied 
 by Napoleon, and was saluted with loud acclama- 
 tions; he saw the people of Paris, that people who 
 had attended the 10th of August, and adored the 
 goddess of Reason, on their knees awaiting the 
 pontifical benediction. What a singular inconstancy 
 in men and nations, proving that man must attach 
 himself after all to the great truths on which hu- 
 man society reposes, and fix there finally; because 
 there is neither dignity nor repose in the caprices 
 of a day that are embraced and quitted with disho- 
 nourable precipitation. 
 
 The sombre apprehensions which had so em- 
 bittered the resolution of the pope were entirely 
 dissipated. Pius VII. saw near him a prince full 
 of regard and care, joining grace to genius, in the 
 midst of a great nation, restored to the old tradi- 
 tions of Christianity by the example of a glorious 
 chief. He was delighted to have come, and added 
 by his presence to the force of the impulse. lie had 
 yet some trouble to encounter, either touching the 
 ceremonial, or on the subject of the constitutional 
 bishops, that after their reconciliation with the 
 church, had set themselves to dogmatise upon the 
 meaning of that reconciliation. There were four of 
 these, Lecoz, archbishop of Briancon, Lacombe, 
 
 bishop of Angouleme, Saurine, bishop of Strasburg, 
 and Remond, bishop of Dijon. M. Portalis had 
 sent for them, and by order of the emperor, had 
 enjoined it upon them, if they had any desire to be 
 presented to the pope, to write a letter of reconci- 
 liation, minuted in accord with bishop Bernier, and 
 the cardinals composing the pontifical train. At the 
 latest moment, they wished to change a word in the 
 letter, which the pope perceived, remarked upon, 
 and then left to the emperor the task of terminat- 
 ing these sad disputes. In other respects he 
 showed a countenance equally mild and paternal to 
 all the members of the French clergy. 
 
 The questions relating to the ceremonial still re- 
 mained open. The pope bad admitted the princi- 
 pal modifications, founded upon the state of man- 
 ners; but the question of the coronation singularly 
 affected him. He kept to the preservation of the 
 right of his predecessors to place the crown on the 
 emperor's brow. Napoleon ordered that it should 
 not be insisted upon, and said that he would take 
 upon him to arrange every thing on this point at 
 the place itself. 
 
 The eve of the grand solemnity now approached, 
 the 1st of December. Josephine, who had pleased 
 the holy father by a species of devotion like that 
 of the Italian females, had got access to the 
 pope for the purpose of making an avowal, from 
 which she hoped to derive a great advantage. She 
 had declared to him that she was only civilly mar- 
 ried to Napoleon, because at the epoch of this 
 marriage the religious ceremonies had been inter- 
 dicted. This was even on the throne strange evi- 
 dence of the manners of the time. Napoleon had 
 put an end to a similar state with his sister the prin- 
 cess Murat, by praying cardinal Caprara to give 
 them the nuptial benediction; but he had never 
 required that the state in which he himself was 
 should be terminated in a like manner. The pope, 
 scandalized at a situation which in the sight of the 
 church was a concubinage, demanded instantly a 
 conference with Napoleon, and declared that he 
 should be wholly unable to consecrate him, because 
 the state of conscience of emperors had never been 
 sought by the church when it was a question to 
 crown them : but he should be unable in crown- 
 ing Josephine to give the divine sanction to a state 
 of concubinage. Napoleon, irritated against Jose- 
 phine for this interested indiscretion, fearing to 
 outrage the pope, who he knew was not to be moved 
 in any matter that concerned the faith, and besides, 
 not willing to alter a ceremony of which the pro- 
 gramme was already published, consented to re- 
 ceive the nuptial benediction. Josephine, severely 
 reprimanded by her husband, but charmed at at- 
 taining her object, received on the night that pre- 
 ceded the coronation the sacrament of marriage, 
 in the chape! of the Tuileries. The cardinal Fesch 
 married the emperor and empress, and there were 
 present for witnesses M. de Talleyrand and mar- 
 shal Berthier, who kept it a profound secret. The 
 secret was kept until the time of the divorce. On 
 the morning of the coronation there were discover- 
 able in the red eyes of Josephine traces of the 
 tears which had been caused by her secret agita- 
 tion upon this occasion. 
 
 On Sunday the 2nd of December, a day of win- 
 ter, cold, but calm and serene, the population of 
 Paris, seen fortyyears afterwards to flock inasimilar
 
 ISO). 
 Dec. 
 
 The procession of Napoleon to 
 Notre Dame. 
 
 THE CORONATION. 
 
 The coronation. 
 
 C03 
 
 state of the atmosphere, to attend the mortal re- 
 mains of Napoleon, thronged to attend the progress 
 
 of the imperial procession. The pope set out first 
 at ten o'clock in the morning, sometime in advance 
 of the emperor, in order that the two processions 
 might not interfere in the way of one another. 
 He was accompanied by a numerous body of the 
 clergy, clothed in the most sumptuous garments, 
 and escorted by detachments of the iiuperiiil guard. 
 A portico, richly decorated, had been constructed 
 all around the place Notre Dame, to receive on 
 descending from the carriages, the sovereigns and 
 princes that might attend at that ancient cathedral. 
 The archbishop's palace was adorned with a luxury 
 worthy of the guests whom it was to contain, and 
 was disposed so that the pope and the emperor 
 might remain there for a few moments' repose. 
 After a short rest the pope entered the church, 
 where some hours before the deputies from the 
 towns had taken their places, with the representa- 
 tives of the magistracy and of the army, the sixty 
 bishops with their clergy, the senate, legislative 
 body, tribunate, council of state, princes of Nassau, 
 Hesse, and Baden, the arch-chancellor of the Ger- 
 manic empire, in fine the ministers of all the 
 powers. The great door of Notre Dame had 
 been closed, because they hail placed against it 
 the hack of the imperial throne. The church was 
 therefore entered by the side doors situated at the 
 two extremities of the transversal nave. When the 
 pope, preceded by the cross and insignia of the 
 successor of St, Peter, appeared in this old church 
 of St. Louis, all the auditory arose, and live hundred 
 musicians astonished them with the solemn effect 
 of the holy chant, " Tu es Petrus !" The effect 
 was sudden and striking. The pope, walking at a 
 slow pace, went first to kneel before the altar, and 
 afterwards took his place on a throne prepared for 
 liiin upon the right side. The sixty prelates of 
 the French church came one after the other to 
 salute him. He showed towards each of them, 
 constitutional or not, the same benevolence of 
 aspect. After this they waited for the arrival of 
 the imperial family. 
 
 The chinch of Notre Dame was decorated with 
 unequalled magnificence. The hangings of velvet, 
 sprinkled with golden bees, descended from the 
 roof to tie- floor. At the 1'oot of the altar there 
 pie chairs, which the emperor and 
 empress occupied before their coronation. At the 
 bottom of the church, in the extreme' point oppo- 
 site to the altar, arose an immense throne, elevated 
 upon twenty-four steps, placed between columns 
 that supported a pediment, while a species of monu- 
 ment in a monument was destined for the emperor 
 atel empress when crowned. This was according 
 both to the French and Roman ritual. The mo- 
 narch could not go to sit upon his throne until after 
 having been crowned by the pontiff. 
 
 They awaited the emperor, and awaited him a 
 
 good while. It was the only vexatious circum- 
 stance in the solemnity. The position of the pope 
 during this long interval wasa painful one. The 
 manager of tie- \< b bad apprehended that the two 
 processions might lie exposed to encounter each 
 other, ami was the cause of the delay. Tin- em- 
 peror had l.ft tin- Tuileriec in a carnage entirely 
 surrounded with glasses, surmounted by genii of 
 gold holding a crown; a carriage popular in France, 
 
 always recognised by the people of Paris, when it 
 has been since visible in other ceremonials. He 
 was dressed in a coat designed by the greatest 
 painter of the time, and pretty much like the cos- 
 tume of the sixteenth century; he wore a cap and 
 feather, with a short cloak. He was to take the 
 imperial costume from the archbishop himself at 
 the moment of entering the church. Escorted by 
 the marshals on horseback, preceded by the grand 
 dignitaries in carriages, he passed slowly along the 
 rue St. Honore*, the quay of the Seine, and the 
 place Notre Dame, in the midst of the acclamations 
 of an immense population, enchanted to see the 
 general favourite become emperor, not as if he had 
 operated the whole himself, with his fluctuating 
 passions, and his warlike heroism, but that it was the 
 enchantment of a majnc rinir that had done it for 
 him. 
 
 Napoleon arrived at the portico already de- 
 scribed, descended, and went into the archbishop's 
 palace, where he took the crown, sceptre, and im- 
 perial mantle, and then proceeded towards the 
 church. At his side was borne the great crown, 
 in the form of a tiara, modelled upon that of 
 Charlemagne. During the first few moments his 
 brow was girt with the crown of the Cesars; in 
 other words, with a simple wreath of golden 
 laurel. They admired the head, as fine under the 
 golden laurel as an antique medal. Having entered 
 into the church at the notes of the resounding music, 
 he knelt down, and went afterwards to the chair 
 which he was to occupy before placing himself in 
 possession of the throne. Then the ceremony 
 commenced. The crown, sceptre, sword, and 
 mantle were deposited upon the altar. The pope 
 made upon the emperor's brow, on his arms and 
 head, the customary anointings; then blessing the 
 sword with which he girded him, and the sceptre 
 which he placed in his hand, he approached to take 
 the crown. Napoleon, observing his movement as he 
 announced he would do, and thus determinate the 
 difficulty at the place itself, took the crown 
 from the hands of the pontiff without roughness, 
 but, in a decided manner, and placed it upon his 
 own head. The act, understood by all the assist- 
 ants, produced an indescribable effect. Napoleon 
 then taking the crown of the empress, and ap- 
 proaching Josephine, wlio knelt before him, placed 
 it with visible tenderness upon the head of this 
 companion of his fortunes, who was at the same 
 moment bathed in tears. This done, he moved 
 towards the grand throne, lie mounted it, followed 
 by his brothers, who supported the skirts of the 
 imperial mantle. Then the pope proceeded ac- 
 cording to usage to the foot of the throne to bless 
 the new Sovereign, and Chant 'he words which had 
 resounded in the ears of Charlemagne in the church 
 of St. Peter, when the Roman clergy suddenly 
 proclaimed him emperor of the west : " Vivat 
 seternum semper Augustus !" At this chant iho 
 Cl'ies of " Long live the emperor," a thousand 
 times repeated, W( re heard reSOUlldillg along the 
 arches of Notre Dame; .-a i added their thunder 
 
 peals, and announced to all Paris tin- solemn mo- 
 ment when Napoleon was definitively consecrated, 
 according to all the forms agr< ed upon among 
 men. 
 
 The arch chancellor Cambaceiea next bore to him 
 the text of the oath; a bishop pic sented the evan-
 
 604 
 
 The coronation. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 General reflections. 
 
 1804. 
 Dec. 
 
 gelist ; and, liis hand placed upon the Christian 
 volume, he took the oath, which embodied the great 
 principles of the French revolution. Then was 
 sung a grand pontifical mass. The day was far 
 advanced when the two processions regained the 
 Tuileries, traversing the streets amid an immense 
 concourse of people. 
 
 Such was the august ceremony by which the re- 
 turn of France to monarchial principles was con- 
 summated. It was not one of the least triumphs of 
 the revolution to see the soldier coming forth from 
 his own sphere, crowned by the pope, who had ex- 
 pressly quitted for that purpose the capital of the 
 Christian world. It is, above all, to such a claim 
 that similar pomps are worthy of drawing the at- 
 tention of the historian. If moderation of desire 
 had seated itself on the same throne with genius — 
 had dealt out to France a sufficient degree of 
 
 liberty, and had limited duly the course of hemic 
 enterprise — this ceremony had consecrated for 
 ever, or, in other words, for some centuries, the 
 new dynasty. But we must pass by other ways to a 
 political state of more freedom, and to a greatness 
 unhappily too restrained. 
 
 There were fifteen years gone since the revolu- 
 tion commenced. Monarchy reigning during three 
 years, republicanism during twelve, France had now 
 become a military monarchy, founded at the same 
 time upon civil equality, upon the concurrence of 
 the nation in the law, and upon the free admission of 
 every citizen to those social greatnesses re-esta- 
 blished. This, for fit teen years, had been the pro- 
 gress of French society successively overthrown, 
 and sucessively re-edified with the ordinary promp- 
 titude attaching to popular passions. 
 
 BOOK XXL 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 STAY OF THE POPE IN PARIS. — CARE OF NAPOLEON TO RETAIN HIM THERE. — THE FLEETS UNABLE TO ACT IX 
 DECEMBER; NAPOLEON EMPLOYS THE WINTER IN ORGANIZING ITALY. — TRANSFORMATION OF THE ITALIAN 
 REPUBLIC INTO A VASSAL KINGDOM OF THE FRENCH ES1PIRE. — OFFER OF THE KINGDOM TO JOSEPH BONA- 
 PARTE, AND HIS REFUSAL OF IT. — NAPOLEON DETERMINES TO PLACE THE IRON CROWN UPON HIS OWN HEAD, 
 DECLARING THAT THE TWO CROWNS OF FRANCE AND ITALY SHALL BE SEPARATED AT THE PEACE. — SOLEMN 
 SITTING OF THE SENATE. — SECOND CORONATION AT MILAN FIXED FOR THE MONTH OF MAY, 1805.— N APOLEOK 
 FINDS IN HIS PRESENCE BEYOND THE ALPS A MEANS FOR THE BETTER CONCEALMENT OF HIS NEW MARITIME 
 PROJECTS.— HIS MARITIME RESOURCES INCI1EASED BY A SUDDEN DECLARATION OF WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND 
 AND SPAIN. — NAVAL FORCE OF HOLLAND, FRANCE, AND SPAIN. — DESIGN FOR A GRAND EXPEDITION TO INDIA. 
 — HESITATES FOR A MOMENT BETWEEN - THAT PROJECT AND THE OTHER OF A DIRECT EXPEDITION AGAINST 
 ENGLAND. — DEFINITIVE PREFERENCE GIVEN To THE LAST. — EVERY THING PREPARED TO CARRY THE DESCENT 
 INTO EXECUTION IN THE MONTHS OF JULY' AND AUGUST. — THE FLEETS OF TOULON, CADIZ, FERROL, ROCHEFORT, 
 AND BREST, WERE TO UNITE AT MARTINIQUE, TO RETURN IN JULY INTO THE CHANNEL TO THE NUMBER OF 
 SIXTY VESSELS. — THE POPE FINALLY PREPARES TO RETURN TO ROME. — HIS OVERTURES TO NAPOLEON BEFORE 
 HIS DEPARTURE. — ANSWERS TO THE DIFFERENT QUESTIONS TREATED OF BY THE POPE. — DISPLEASURE OF HIS 
 HOLINESS TEMPERED AT THE SAME TIME BY THE SUCCESS OF HIS JOURNEY' TO FRANCE. — DEPARTURE OF THE 
 POPE FOR ROME, AND OF NAPOLEON FOR MILAN. — DISPOSITIONS OF THE EUROPEAN COURTS. — THEIR TENDENCY 
 TO A NEW COALITION. — STATE OF THE RUSSIAN CABINET. — THE YOUNG FRIENDS OF ALEXANDER FORM A 
 GRAND PLAN FOR AN EUROPEAN MEDIATION. — IDEAS OF WHICH THIS PLAN WAS COMPOSED, THE TRUE ORIGIN 
 OF THE TREATIES OF 1S15. — M. NOWOSILTZOFF CHARGED WITH OBTAINING THE CONSENT OF THE COURT OP 
 LONDON. — RECEPTION HE MET FROM PITT. — THE PLAN OF A MEDIATION IS CONVERTED BY THE ENGLISH 
 MINISTER INTO THE PLAN OF A COALITION AGAINST FRANCE. — RETURN OF M. NOWOSILTZOFF TO PETERSBURGH. 
 — THE RUSSIAN CABINET SIGNS WITH LORD GOWER THE TREATY THAT CONSTITUTES THE THIRD COALITION. — 
 THE RATIFICATION OF THAT TREATY IS SUBMITTED TO ONE CONDITION, THE EVACUATION OF MALTA BY 
 ENGLAND. — IN ORDER TO PRESERVE TO THIS COALITION THE PREVIOUS FORM OF A MEDIATION, M. NOWOSILT- 
 ZOFF MUST GO TO PARIS TO TREAT WITH NAPOLEON. — USELESS EFFORTS OF RUSSIA TO BRING PRUSSIA INTO 
 THE NEW COALITION. — HER EFFORTS MORE FORTUNATE WITH AUSTRIA. — ENTERS INTO EVENTUAL ENGAGE- 
 MENTS. — RUSSIA MAKES PRUSSIA SERVE AS AN INTERMEDIATE AGENT, IN ORDER TO OBTAIN FROM NAPOLEON 
 PASSPORTS FOR M. NOWOSILTZOFF. — THESE PASSPORTS WERE GRANTED. — NAPOLEON IN ITALY'. — ENTHUSIASM OF 
 THE ITALIANS TOWARDS HIS PERSON. — CORONATION AT MILAN. — EUGENE BEAUHARNOIS DECLARED VICEROY. 
 — MILITARY FETES AND VISITS TO ALL THE CITIES. — NAPOLEON INEVITABLY DRAWN INTO CERTAIN DESIGNS 
 BY THE SIGHT OF ITALY. — HE PROJECTS THE EXPULSION OF THE BOURBONS SOME DAY FROM NAPLES, AND 
 IMMEDIATELY DECIDES UPON THE UNION OF GENOA WITH FRANCE. — MOTIVES FOR THIS UNION. — CONSTITUTION 
 OP THE DUCHY OF LUCCA INTO AN IMPERIAL FIEF, FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PRINCESS ELIZA. — AFTER A 
 SOJOURN OF THREE MONTHS IN ITALY, NAPOLEON IS DISPOSED TO GO TO BOULOGNE IN ORDER TO EXECUTE 
 HIS DESCENT. — GANTEAUME AT BREST— UNABLE TO FIND A SINGLE DAY TO SET SAIL. — VILLENEUVE AND 
 GRAVINA, HAVING LEFT TOULON AND CADIZ IN SECURITY, ARE ORDERED TO PROCEED AND RAISE THE 
 BLOCKADE OF GANTEAUME, IN ORDER THAT THE WHOLE TOGETHER MAY ENTER THE CHANNEL. — SOJOURN OF 
 NAPOLEON AT GENOA. — HIS SUDDEN DEPARTURE FOR FONTAINEBLE AU. — WHILE NAPOLEON PREPARES HIS 
 DESCENT UPON ENGLAND, ALL THE POWERS OF THE CONTINENT GET READY FOR A FORMIDABLE WAR AGAINST 
 FRANCE. — RUSSIA EMBARRASSED BY THE REFUSAL OF ENGLAND TO ABANDON MALTA, FINDS IN THE ANNEXA- 
 TION OF GENOA A PRETEXT TO GET OUT, AND AUSTRIA A REASON FOR IMMEDIATE DECISION. — TREATY FOR A
 
 180*. Presentation of imperial 
 
 Jan. eagles to the troops. 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 Anecdote of Pius VII. 
 
 C05 
 
 SUBSIDY. — HER IMMEDIATE ARMAMENTS, OBSTINATELY DENIED TO NAPOLEON.— HE PERCEIVES THEM AND 
 DEMANDS EXPLANATIONS, BY COMMENCING SOME PREPARATIONS ON THE SIDE OP ITALY AND THE RHINE. — 
 PERSUADED MORE THAN EVER THAT HE MUST GO AND CUT IN LONDON THE KNOT OF ALL THE COALITIONS, 
 HE SETS OUT FOR BOULOGNE. — HIS RESOLUTION TO EMBARK, AND HIS IMPATIENCE WHILE AWAITING THE 
 FRENCH FLEET. — MOVEMENTS OF THE SUUADRONS. — LONG AND FORTUNATE NAVIGATION OF VILLENEUVE AND 
 GRAVINA AS FAR AS M ARTINIQUE.— FIRST MARKS OF DISCOURAG1-.M ENT WITH ADMIRAL VILLENEUVE. — SUDDEN 
 RETURN TO EUROPE, AND VOYAGE TO FERROL TO RE-OPEN THAT PORT.— NAVAL BATTLE OFF FERROL AGAINST 
 ADMIRAL CALDER. — THE FRENCH ADMIRAL MIGHT HAVE CLAIMED THE VICTOHY IF HE HAD NOT LOST TWO 
 SFANIsII VESSELS. — HE FULFILS HIS OBJECT IN RAISING THE BLOCKADE OF TOULON, AND IN RALLYING TWO 
 NEW FRENCH AND SPANISH DIVISIONS — IN PLACE OF ACQUIRING CONFIDENCE AND COMING TO SET GANTEAUME 
 FREE AT BREST IN ORDER TO PROCEED WITH FIFTY SAIL INTO THE CHANNEL, VILLENEUVE DISCONCERTED 
 DECIDES TO SET SAIL FOR CADIZ, LEAVING NAPOLEON TO SUPPOSE THAT HE HAD PROCEEDED TOWARDS BREST. 
 — LONG WAITING OP NAPOLEON AT BOULOGNE — HIS HOPES UPON HIE RECEPTION OF HIS FIRST DESPATCHES 
 FROM FERROL. — HIS IRRITATION WHEN HE LEARNED THAT VILLENEUVE HAD PROCEEDED TOWARDS CADIZ. — 
 VIOLENT AGITATION AND BEARING AGAINST ADMIRAL DECRES. — POSITIVE INTELLIGENCE OF THE DESIGNS OP 
 At STRIA. — SUDDEN CHANGE OF RESOLUTION. — PLAN UP THE CAMPAIGN OF 1S05. — WHAT THE CHANCES OF THE 
 DESCENT WERE, LOST BY THE FAULT OF VILLENEUVE. — NAPOLEON TURNS HIS FORCES DEFINITIVELY AGAINST 
 THE CONTINENT. 
 
 Three days after the ceremony of the coronation, 
 Napoleon distributed to the army and the national 
 guards the eagles, which were designed to sur- 
 mount the colours of the empire. This ceremony, 
 as grandly arranged as the preceding, had for its 
 scene of exhibition the Champ de Mais. The re- 
 ntatives of every corps came to receive the 
 eagles, which were designed for each, at the foot of 
 a magnificent throne, elevated in front of the palace 
 of the military school; and before receiving them, 
 they took the oath, that they well kept afterwards, 
 to defend them to the death. On the same day, 
 there was a banquet at the Tuileries, at which the 
 emperor and the pope were seen seated at the same 
 table, one at the .side of the other, clothed in im- 
 perial and pontifical ornaments, and served by the 
 great officers of the crown. 
 
 The multitude, ever greedy after public spec- 
 tacles, was delighted with these pomps. Many, 
 without Buffering their good Bense to govern them, 
 admitted these Bcenes as the natural effects of the 
 re-establishment of the monarchy. Wiser persons 
 expressed wishes that the new monarch might not 
 Buffer himself to become intoxicated with the fumes 
 of his own omnipotence. In other respects, no 
 sinister prognostic yet troubled the public satisfac- 
 tion. They believed in the endurance of the new 
 order of things. With great magnificence, too 
 much perhaps, there was still seen the faithful 
 consecration of the social principles proclaimed at 
 the French revolution — a prosperity always on the 
 increase, notwithstanding the- war, and a continua- 
 tion of that greatness, which had about it something 
 flattering to the national pride. 
 
 holy father had nit wished to make a long 
 st iv in Paris ; but he hoped that by sojourning 
 for a time', he might find a favourable occa- 
 sion to express to Napoleon the secret wishes of 
 the It .man court, and he- w;ls reconciled to prolong 
 his stay lor two or three months. The season be- 
 sides did not permit him to repass tip- Alps imme- 
 diately. Napoleon, who wished to detain him at 
 
 his side ill order to sh IW France to him, to make 
 
 him justly appreciate it ^ feeling, and to bring him 
 to a right comprehension of the conditions upon 
 which the re-establishment of religion hail been 
 possible; to gain his confidence finally by frank and 
 daily communications — Napoleon exhibited, in or- 
 der to retain him, ill" most perfect kindness, and 
 finished by com pie I sly winning o\ er tie- holj pontiff. 
 Pins VII. was Lodg li I . ami |i fl free 
 
 to devote himself to his moderate and religious 
 tastes, but was surrounded, when he went out, with 
 all the attributes of supreme power, escorted by 
 the imperial guard, and, in a word, overwhelmed 
 with the highest honours. His interesting figure, 
 his virtues almost visible in his person, had much 
 struck the Parisian population, that followed him 
 every where with a mixture id' curiosity, sympathy, 
 and respect. He had visited by turns all the 
 parishes of Paris, where he officiated in the midst 
 of an extraordinary number of people. His pre- 
 sence augmented the religious impulse that Napo- 
 leon had endeavoured to impress upon their minds. 
 Hence the holy pontiff was happy. He visited the 
 public monuments and the museums enriched by 
 Napoleon, seeming to feel interested in the gran- 
 deurs of the new reign. In one visit to a public 
 establishment, he conducted himself with a degree 
 of tact and a conformity which secured to him 
 general applause. Surrounded by a crowd that 
 knelt before him, and demanded his benediction, 
 he perceived a man whose severe and morose coun- 
 tenance still bore the stamp id' the extinguished 
 passions of the past tim s, and turned away to 
 withdraw himself from the pontifical benediction. 
 The holy fath ir, approaching him, said, with great 
 mildness: "Do not go away, sir; the benediction 
 of an old man cannot do you any injury." This 
 affecting and just expression was repeated and ap- 
 plauded throughout Paris. 
 
 The fetes and hospitable cares lavished upon his 
 venerable guest, did not divert Napoleon from his 
 more important affairs. The fleets designed to aid 
 in the descent up m England continued to attract 
 his attention. That of Brest was at last ready to 
 set sail ; but that of Toulon, retarded in getting 
 ready, because he would have it increased to 
 eleven instead of eight sail, had required the 
 labour of the entice month of December. Since it 
 
 had been completed, a contrary wind bad hindered it 
 
 from getting out during the whole month of Janu- 
 ary. Admiral Missiessy with Ave vessels ready at 
 Richcfort only awaited a storui to steal out clear of 
 the enemy. Napoleon devoted lie- line t lilts* passed 
 to the internal administration of bis new empire. 
 
 Although determined upon war to the utmost 
 against ttuglund, he believed b • ought to com- 
 mence his reign by a proceeding, useless at the 
 moment, and which, besides its inutility, bad the 
 inconvenience ol being the repetition of another 
 Step perfectly fitting tie- occasion, which he had
 
 Nauoleon writes to the 
 G0«> king of England. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Napoleon becomes king 
 of Italy. 
 
 1805. 
 Jan. 
 
 on his coming to the consulate. He wrote a letter 
 to the king of England to propose a peace, and he 
 forwarded this letter by a brig to an English 
 cruiser before Boulogne '. It was immediately 
 communicated to the British cabinet, which stated 
 that a reply should be sent at a later period. 
 
 i This letter of Napoleon was as follows: 
 
 "Sir and Brother,— Called to the throne of France by 
 the suffrages of the people and the army, my first sentiment 
 is a wish for peace. France and England abuse their pros- 
 perity: they may contend lor ages; but do their govern- 
 ments well fulfil the most sacred of their duties! and will 
 not so much blood shed uselessly and without a view to any 
 end, accuse them in their own consciences? I consider it as 
 no disgrace 10 make the first step. 1 have I hope sufficiently 
 proved to the world that I fear none of the chances of war; 
 war besides presents nothing that I need 10 fear. Peace is 
 the wish of my heart, but war has ne\er been contrary to 
 my glory. I conjure your majesty not to deny yourself the 
 happiness of giving peace to the world, nor to leave that 
 .sweet saiisfaction to your ch Idren : for in fine there never 
 was a more fortunate opportunity, nor a moment more 
 favourable to silence all the passions, and listen only to 
 the sentiments of !>u anity and reason. This moment lost, 
 what end can be assigned to a war which all m\ efforts will 
 not be able to terminate? Your majesty has gained more 
 within ten years both in territory ami riches than the whole 
 extent of Europe. Your nation is at the highest point of 
 prosperity; what can it hope from war? to form a coalition 
 of some powers on the continent? the continent will re- 
 main tranquil, a coalition can only increase the preponder- 
 ance and continental greatness of Fiance. To renew inter- 
 nal troubles? The times are no longer the same. To 
 destroy our finances? Finances founded on a flourishing 
 slate of agriculture can never be destroyed. To take from 
 France her colonies .' The colonies are to France only a 
 secondary object: and does not your majesty already pos- 
 sess more than you know how to presei ve ? If your ma- 
 jesty would but reflect, you musi perceive that the war is 
 without an object ; without any presumable result to your- 
 self. Alas! what a melancholy prospect to '-ause two na- 
 tions to fight for the sake ol fighting ! The world is suffi- 
 ciently large Tor our two nations to live in it; and reason is 
 sufficiently powerful to discover means of reconciling every 
 thing, when the wish for reconciliation exists on both sides. 
 1 have, however, 'ulfilled a sacred duty, and one which is 
 precious to my heart. 
 
 " I trust that your majesty will believe in the sincerity of 
 my sentiments, and my wish to give you every proof of 
 it, &c. " Napoleon." 
 
 The reply to the above was as follows : — 
 
 " His majesty has received the letter which has been 
 addressed to him by the head of the French government, 
 dated the 2nd of Hie present month. There is no object 
 which his majesty has more at heart tlnn to avail himself 
 of the first opportunity to procure again to his subjects the 
 advantages of a peace, founded on a basis which may not he 
 incompatible with the permanent security and essential 
 interests of bis states. His majesty is persuaded that this 
 end can only be attained by arrangements which may, at 
 the same time, provide for the future safety and tranquillity 
 of Europe, and prevent the recurrence of the dangeis and 
 calamities in which it is involved. Conformably to this 
 statement, bis majesty ft els that it is impossible for him to 
 answer more panicularly to the overture' that has been 
 made him, until he shall have had time to communicate 
 with the powers of the continent, with whom he is engaged 
 in confidential connexions and relations, and particularly 
 with the emperor of Itussia, who has given the strongest 
 proofs of the wisdom and elevation of the sentiments with 
 which he is animated, and the lively interest which he 
 takes in the safety and independence of Europe. 
 
 (Signed) " IWulgrave." 
 
 Peace was possible in 1800, even necessary for 
 both powers. The step taken at that time was 
 therefore very well timed, and the refusal of the 
 propositions for peace, followed by the victories 
 of Marengo and Hohenlinden, covered Pitt with 
 confusion, and was even one of the causes of the 
 fall of that minister. But in 1805, the two na- 
 tions were at the commencement of a new war, 
 their pretensions were accumulated to such a 
 point, that they could not be adjusted, except 
 by force, a proposition for peace seemed visibly to 
 put on the affectation of moderation, or as if 
 to afford an occasion to speak to the king of Eng- 
 land as monarch to monarch. 
 
 That which was much more pressing than these 
 empty demonstrations was the definitive organiza- 
 tion of the Italian republic. In 1802, in the con- 
 sulta of Lyons, it was constituted in imitation of 
 that of France, by adopting a government, repub- 
 lican in form, but absolute in fact. It was now 
 natural that it should take the last step by follow- 
 ing France, and that from a republic it should 
 become a monarchy. 
 
 In the preceding book there have been recounted 
 the overtures that Cambaee'ies and the minister 
 of the Italian republic: at Paris, M. Marescalchi, 
 had been charged to make to the vice-president 
 Melzi, and to the members of the state consulta. 
 These overtures had been received favourably 
 enough, although the vice-president Melzi, in an 
 ill mood from the state of his health and a task 
 above his strength, had mingled reflections suffi- 
 ciently bitter in his reply. The Italians accepted, 
 without regret, the offer of the transformation of 
 the republic into a monarchy, because they hoped 
 to obtain upon this occasion, in part at least, the 
 accomplishment of their wishes. They wished 
 much for a king, and for a brother of Napoleon, 
 upon condition that such a brother should be 
 either Joseph or Louis Bonaparte, and not Lucien, 
 whom they formally excluded ; that such a king 
 should belong to them entirely ; that he should 
 always reside at Milan ; that the two crowns of 
 France and Italy should be immediately separated; 
 that all the functionaries should be Italians; that 
 they should no more pay the subsidy for the main- 
 tenance of a French army ; and that, finally, Na- 
 poleon should take upon himself to make Austria 
 approve of the new change. 
 
 Upon these conditions, said Melzi, the vice- 
 president, the Italians would be satisfied, because 
 they had not yet felt any advantage from their 
 dislranchisement, except in an augmentation of 
 taxes. 
 
 The idea that their money was carried beyond 
 the mountains, commonly filled the minds of the 
 Italians, who had been for so long a time subject 
 to powers placed on the other side of the Alps. 
 However, (hey have a better and nobler motive to 
 desire their freedom, which is to live under a 
 national government. These base reasons made 
 Napoleon indignant, because though he estimated 
 men lightly, he never laboured to degrade them. 
 He had no thought of debasing them when he 
 asked from them only great measures. He was, 
 therefore, indignant at the reasons the vice-presi- 
 dent presented. " What," he exclaimed, " the 
 Italians will then not be sensible that their inde- 
 pendence cost money ! They must be supposed
 
 1S05. 
 Jan. 
 
 Joseph Bonaparte refuses THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 the Italian crown. 
 
 607 
 
 very base or very chill : as far myself, I am far 
 from believing them such. Were they able to free 
 themselves I are they able to defend themselves 
 without the French Buldiers ! If they are not 
 able to do so, is it n<>t just that they should con- 
 tribute to the support of the soldiers who spi.l 
 their blood for them ! Who united in a single 
 state, to make them a nation, five or six different 
 provinces, formerly governed by five or six dif- 
 ferent princes ! Who then, if not the French 
 army, and I who commanded it ? If I had wished 
 it upper Italy would be to-day cut up, distributed in 
 shares, a part given to the pope, another to the 
 Austrians, a third to the Spaniards. I might at 
 the peace have disarmed the other powers, and 
 secured for France th peace of the continent. D> 
 not the Italians see that the constitution of their 
 nationality began by a .•-'.ate which already compre- 
 hends a third nf all Italy? Is not this govern- 
 ment composed ef Italians, and founded upon the 
 principles of justice, equality, ami a wise liberty, 
 in fact, upon the principles of the French revolu- 
 tion ? What can tiny desire belter? Am 1 able 
 ■ -oniplish all things in a day 1" 
 
 Napoleon, under these circumstances, had plainly 
 a on his side against Italy. Without him 
 Lombardy would, with i;s works, have satisfied 
 pope, t'.ie emperor of Germany, Spain, the 
 house ol Sardinia, ami served as an equivalent for 
 the union of Piedmont with France. True it is 
 that ii was i:i the interest of French policy, that 
 Napoleon laboured to constitute an Italian nation- 
 ality. But was not that a great benefit to the Italians, 
 that the policy of France should thus comprehend 
 them? Owed they not to this policy the concur- 
 of all their efforts 1 And, in fact", 22,0()0,000 f. 
 per annum, to support thirty and some thousand 
 men, was a trifling amount, because they had 
 before been in ilie habit of supporting sixty thou- 
 sand at least; was this then a very heavy burden, 
 for a country which included some of the richest 
 provinces in Europe ? 
 
 Further, Napoleon gave himself little uneasiness 
 about the ill-humoured remonstrances of the vice- 
 president M i/.i. lb- knew that he must not take 
 i hem all in a very serious way. The moderate 
 Italian party, with which he ruled, abandoned by 
 the nobles and the priests, who in general were 
 inclined to tin- Austrian side, and by the liberals who 
 were filled with exaggerated ideas; the moderate 
 party in its isolation, experienced a degree of sad- 
 it the prospect of affairs, and painted them 
 accordingly in Botnbre colours. Napoleon too!; 
 little account of tin-, and always occupied with 
 the idea of supporting Italy against the power of 
 Austria, Boughtotit the means to accommodate its 
 .tions to the new Institutions of France. 
 
 Tie- coronation had been the cause <■! uniting at 
 
 Paris the vice-presid ut M. I/.i, and some <i, legates 
 
 from tie- different Italian authorities. Camba- 
 
 . M;ir" calchi, and Talleyrand, entered into 
 
 conferences with them, and got into agreement 
 
 Upon all points, nave one only, that of the subsidy 
 
 iaid to France, because the Italians di manded the 
 eh occupation for their security, but were on- 
 willing to support tie- expense. 
 
 The arch-chancellor, Canibacerea, was subse- 
 qm ntly charged to treat with Joseph Bona- 
 parte, on the question ol his elevation to the throne 
 
 
 of Italy. To the astonishment of Napoleon, Joseph 
 
 refused the throne from two motives, one was natu- 
 ral, the otlur singularly presumptuous. Joseph 
 declared, that by virtue of the principle of the sepa- 
 ration of the two crow ns, the condition of the throne 
 of Italy would be the renunciation of that of 
 France, while he wished to remain a French prince 
 with all the rights to the succession of that empire. 
 Napoleon not having children, he preferred the dis- 
 tant possibility of reigning some day in France, to 
 the certainty of reigning immediately ill Italy. 
 Such a feeling had nothing in it but what was na- 
 tural and patriotic. The second motive of refusal 
 given by Joseph, was that a kingdom had been 
 offered him too mar to France, and from that cir- 
 cumstance too dependent, that he could only govern 
 under the authority of the head of the French em- 
 pire, and that he did not feel inclined to reign at 
 such a price. Thus, showing already the senti- 
 ments that directed the brothers of the emperor on 
 all the thrones which he gave them. It was a. 
 proof of great folly and vanity, not to wish for the 
 advice of such a man as Napoleon. It was a very 
 impolitic piece of ingratitude to endeavour to be 
 free from his power; because at the head of an 
 Italian state newly created, to endeavour to be iso- 
 lated, was to risk the loss of Italy as much as the 
 weakening of France. 
 
 All the entreaties employed to overcome Joseph 
 were in vain, although bis future royalty had been 
 announced at all the courts with which France 
 held relations at that time, in Austria, Prussia, and 
 the holy see; it was necessary to revert to other 
 ideas, and conceive some new combination. Na- 
 poleon, aware by this last experiment, that he must 
 not create in Lombardy a jealous royalty, disposed 
 to run contrary to bis great designs, resolved to 
 take himself the iron crown, and to qualify himself 
 " emperor of the French, king of Italy." He had 
 but one objection to this design, which was, that it 
 recalled too strongly the union of Piedmont with 
 France. He exposed himself thus to wound Austria, 
 deeply, and to bring her back from pacific ideas 
 to the warlike desires of Pitt, who since his return 
 to office, bad endeavoured to profit by the rupture 
 of diplomatic relations between France and Russia, 
 in order to form a new coalition. In order to meet 
 this objection. Napoleon proposed to declare for- 
 mally that the crown of Italy would only remain 
 upon this bead until a peace; that at this epoch he 
 would proceed to the separation of the two crowns, 
 by choosing among the French princes one who 
 should succeed him. At the moment be adopted 
 Eugene Beauharuois, the sou of Josephine, whom 
 
 he loved as if be had been his own son, and to him 
 
 he confided the vice-royalty of Italy. 
 
 This determination being once taken, it gave him 
 little trouble to make i\l. Melzi agree to it, whose 
 complaints, sufficiently unreasonable, began to be 
 
 fatiguing, because lie perceived ill him a much 
 greater di sire to, Work for a species of popularity, 
 than any intentions to labour in common at the 
 future constitute I [taly. CariibaceVes and Tal- 
 leyrand were ordi red to signify these resolutions 
 to the Italians tin n in Paris, and combine with 
 
 them the means of their execution. These Italians 
 
 seemed to fear that the three great permanent col- 
 leges of the " possidentis" "dotti," and " oommer- 
 cienti," to whom was confided the care of electing
 
 Napoleon determines 
 
 608 l0 take tne uon 
 
 crown. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The Italian deputies in 
 Paris take the oath 
 to Napoleon. 
 
 1805. 
 March. 
 
 the authorities, and of modifying the constitution 
 when it took place, would resist every project, save 
 that of a Lombard monarchy, immediately sepa- 
 rated front that of France, and in the way of resist- 
 ance, that they would oppose an Italian indiffer- 
 ence, and neither vote for or against. Napoleon, 
 under these circumstances, renounced the employ, 
 mentof constitutional forms; he acted as the creator 
 who had made Italy what she then was, and who had 
 the right to do further still, in all that lie believed 
 useful to what he had made. Talleyrand addressed 
 a report to him, in which he demonstrated that 
 these dependent provinces, the one on the ancient 
 Venetian republic, the other belonging to the house 
 of Austria, that of the duke of Modena, and that of 
 the holy see, depended as conquered provinces upon 
 the will of the French emperor; that what he 
 wished to give them was an equitable government, 
 adapted to their interests, apd founded upon the 
 principles of the French revolution; but that for 
 the rest, he should give to that government the 
 form which was most agreeable to his vast designs. 
 The decree constituting the new kingdom followed, 
 a decree which was to be adopted by the consultaof 
 the state, and the Italian deputies present in Paris, 
 communicated afterwards to the French senate, as 
 one of the great constitutional acts of the empire, 
 and promulgated in an imperial sitting. Still it was 
 necessary that it should appear as if Italy went for 
 something in these new determinations. It was 
 therefore conceived proper to prepare for Iter the 
 sight of a coronation. It was resolved to draw 
 from the treasury of Monza the famous crown of 
 iron of the Lombard kings, that Napoleon might 
 place it upou his head, after having been conse- 
 crated by the archbishop of Milan, conformably to 
 the ancient usage of the Germanic emperors, who 
 received at Rome the crown of the west; but at 
 Milan that of Italy. This exhibition could not 
 but raise emotion in the Italians, re-awaken their 
 hopes, call back the party of the nobles and priests, 
 who regretted above all in the Austrian domina- 
 tion the monarchical forms, and thus satisfy the 
 people, always smitten with the luxury of their 
 masters; because luxury, in pleasing the eyes of 
 all, helped their industry. As to the enlightened 
 liberals, they would finish by comprehending that 
 the association of the destinies of Italy to those of 
 France could alone give substantial assurance for 
 the future. 
 
 It was agreed, that after the adoption of the new 
 decree, the Italian deputies, the minister Mares- 
 ealchi, and the grand master of the ceremonies, 
 M. de Segur, should precede Napoleon to Milan, 
 in order to organise an Italian court, .and to 
 prepare in that city the pumps of the regal corona- 
 tion. 
 
 At this moment a thousand rumours were sprrad 
 abroad among the European diplomatists. It was 
 said sometimes that Napoleon had given the crown 
 of Holland to his brother Louis, sometimes that he 
 had given that of Naples to Joseph, and again, that 
 he was going to unite Genoa and Switzerland to the 
 French territory. There were even persons who 
 maintained that Napoleon would make cardinal 
 Fesch pope, and that they already spoke of the 
 crown of Spain as reserved to a prince of the house 
 of ]5onaparte. The hatred of his enemies divined 
 his designs on some points, ih y exaggerated tbeni 
 
 in others, they suggested to him some of which he 
 had not yet dared to think, and certainly facilitated 
 them, in preparing the opinion of Europe for their 
 reception. The sitting of the senate for the pro- 
 mulgation of the constituted decree of the kingdom 
 of Italy, would not fail to confer credit on all these 
 surmises, true or false, and for the moment push 
 them on too far. 
 
 The Italian deputies at Paris were first called 
 together, and the decree submitted to them, to 
 which they unanimously adhered; then the impe- 
 rial sitting was declared for the 17th of March, 
 1805, or 2Cth Ventose, year xm. The emperor 
 went to the senate at two o'clock, surrounded with 
 all the show of constitutional sovereigns in England 
 and France, when they hold a royal sitting. He 
 was received at the gate of the pa ace of the Lux- 
 emburg by a grand deputation, and immediately 
 seated himself on a throne, around which were 
 ranged the princes and the six grand dignitaries, 
 the marshals, and the great officers of the crown. 
 He ordered the communication of the acts which 
 were to be made the object of the sitting. Talley- 
 rand read his report, and after the report the im- 
 perial decree. A copy of the same decree in the 
 Italian language, clothed with the adhesion of the 
 Lombard deputies, was afterwards read by the 
 vice-president Melzi. Then the minister Mares- 
 calchi presented those deputies to Napoleon, at 
 whose hands they took an oath of fid lity to him as 
 king of Italy. This ceremony being finished, Na- 
 poleon seated and covered, delivered a strong and 
 concise speech, as he well knew how to do, and of 
 which the intention will be easily judged. 
 
 " Senators, — We have willed under the present 
 circumstances to come into tiie midst of you, and 
 make you acquainted with our entire thoughts, 
 upon one ot the most important subjects of our 
 state policy. 
 
 " We have conquered Holland, three-fourths of 
 Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. We have been 
 moderate in the midst of the greatest prosperity. 
 Of so many provinces we have not kept but as 
 much as was necessary to maintain us in the same 
 position of power and consideration that France 
 has always been. The partition of Poland, the 
 provinces sequestrated from Turkey, the conquest 
 of the Indies, and of nearly all the colonics have 
 destroyed to our detriment the general equili- 
 brium. 
 
 " All that we judged useless to re-establish we 
 have returned. 
 
 " Germany has been evacuated ; its provinces 
 have been restored to the descendants of so many 
 illustrious houses, that were lost for ever, if we 
 had not accorded to them a general protection. 
 
 " Austria herself, after two unfortunate wars, has 
 obtained the state of Venice. At all times she 
 would have exchanged Venice by mutual consent 
 for the provinces which she has lost. 
 
 "Scarcely conquered, Holland was declared 
 independent. Its union to our empire had been 
 the completion of our commercial system, while the 
 largest rivers of half our empire open into Holland. 
 Still Holland is independent, and its customs, its 
 commerce, and administration are regulated at the 
 will of its government. 
 
 '■'Switzerland was occupied by our armies; we 
 have defended it against the combined forces of
 
 1805. 
 
 March. 
 
 Address of Napoleon to the 
 senate on the atfairs of 
 Italy. 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 State of the different naval 
 divisions. 
 
 609 
 
 Europe. Its union would have completed our 
 military frontier. Meanwhile Switzerland governs 
 
 itself under the act of mediation, at the will of the 
 nineteen cantons, free ami independent. 
 
 " The union of the territory of the Italian republic 
 to the French empire had been useful to the deve- 
 lopment of our agriculture ; still after the second 
 conquest we, at Lyons, confirmed its independence. 
 To-day we do more, we proclaim the separation of 
 the crowns of France and Italy, assigning for the 
 time of this separation til* instant when it shall 
 ne possible and be free from danger for our 
 Italian people. 
 
 ■• We have accepted, and we shall place upon 
 our head the crown of iron of the ancient Lom- 
 bards, to retemper and restrengthen it. But we 
 do not hesitate to declare that we shall transmit 
 this crown to one of our legitimate children, whe- 
 ther natural or adopted, the day when we shall be 
 free from alarm for the independence that we 
 have guaranteed to the other states of the Medi- 
 terran an. 
 
 " The genius of evil in vain searches for pretexts 
 to place the continent in a state of war; that which 
 has been united to our empire by the constitutional 
 laws of the state shall remain united. No new 
 province shall be incorporated, hut the laws of the 
 Batavian republic, the act of mediation of the 
 nineteen Swiss cantons, and the first statute of the 
 kingdom of Italy, shall be constantly under the 
 protection of our crown, and we will never suffer 
 that they be attacked." 
 
 After this lofty and peremptory speech, Napoleon 
 received the oaths of several senators that he 
 named, and then returned, surrounded with the 
 same attendance, to the palace of the Tuileries. 
 M. ftfelzi, M. Maresealchi, and the other Italians 
 had an order to proceed to Milan, to prepare the 
 public mind for the new solemnity which hail been 
 determined upon. Cardinal Caprara, the pope's 
 legate with Napoleon, was archbishop of Milan. 
 He had only accepted tin- dignity through obedi- 
 ence, being very aged, worn down with infirmities, 
 and after a long lite passed in courts, much more 
 disposed to quit the world than to prolong there 
 Ids existing character. At the entreaty of N'apo- 
 la n, and with the agreement of the pope, he set 
 out for Italy, in order to crown the new king, 
 following the ancient usage of the Lombard church. 
 M. deSegur went off immediately with an order to 
 
 hasten his preparations. Napoleon had fixed his 
 own departure lor the month of April, and his 
 Coronation fur that of May. 
 
 This excursion in Italy perfectly agreed with his 
 military plain, and was even ;t great aid to them. 
 Napol -on had been obliged to wait all the winter, that 
 his squadrons might be ready to sail from Brest, 
 Rochefort, and Toulon. In January, 1806, there 
 had about twenty months elapsed since the mari- 
 time war had been declared, because the rupture 
 with England was dated from May, 1803 ; and still 
 
 the fleets of the ships of the line hail liol been aide 
 to yet sail. The warm impulse of Napoh had 
 
 not been wanting to the administration; but in 
 naval affairs nothing is done quickly, and it is of 
 
 this which nations that aspire to create a naval 
 
 r are not enough tiware. However, it must 
 
 • I that the fleets of Brest and Toulon had been 
 
 r ready, if they had not wished to lucres - 
 
 their first effective strength. That of Brest had 
 been carried up from eighteen sail to twenty-one, 
 and was callable of embarking seventeen thousand 
 men, and five hundred horses, together with a con- 
 siderable materiel, without the aid of transports 
 borrowed from commerce. In the design to set 
 sail in winter during a stormy period, it had been 
 seen necessary to renounce their accompaniment 
 by vessels of a small tonnage, equally incapable of 
 following ships of the line and of being towed. 
 They had, therefore, taken old vessels of war, 
 which they had armed en flute, and freighted with 
 men and stores. By that means, the squadron 
 would be able to go out altogether at once, and, in 
 any weather, run over to Ireland, land there the 
 17,000 men, with stores, and then return directly 
 into the channel. Of the rest, there had been 
 ready in November, as was wished, at Rochefort, 
 a squadron of five sail of the line, and four frigates, 
 carrying 3000 men, 4000 muskets, and 10,000 
 weight of powder, all at the same time. At Toulon 
 alone the fleet, raised from eight to eleven vessels, 
 had occupied all the month of December. General 
 Lauriston, aide-de-camp of Napoleon, had been or- 
 dered to prepare a corps of o'OOO men, carefully 
 selected, with fifty pieces of cannon, and materials 
 for a siege, and to embark all on board that tleet. 
 The same fleet, as already said, was, on making its 
 voyage, to throw a division of troops upon St. 
 Helena, to- capture that island, to proceed to 
 Surinam, and retake the Dutch colonies, and rally 
 afterwards with the squadron of Missiessy, which, 
 on its own part, was to succour the French West 
 India islands, and ravage those of the Enirlish. 
 Both these, after having thus drawn the attention 
 of the English to America, and disengaged Gan- 
 teaume, had orders to return to Europe. Gan- 
 teaume, whose preparations were achieved, had 
 waited all the winter, that Mis-iessy and Ville- 
 neuve, in sailing from Rochefort and Toulon, might 
 draw off the English in their pursuit. Missiessy, 
 who wanted impetus, but not courage, sailed from 
 Rochefort on the II th of January during a fright- 
 ful storm, and, passing between the openings, got 
 out into the open sea, without being either seen or 
 rejoined by the English. He set sail towards the 
 West Indies with five ships of the line and four 
 frigates. His vessels received some injury, which 
 ri paired at sea. As to Villein live, to wnoiu 
 the minister Decres bad communicated a facti- 
 tious exaltation of mind of \i-v\ short endurance, 
 hi- had suddenly cooled on coming near and seeing 
 the Toulon squadron. To make eleven equipments 
 with eight, ii had been necessary t > divide, and 
 iiieiitly to weaken them. They had com- 
 pleted the crews with conscripts borrowed from 
 the land service. The materials employed in the 
 
 porl of Toulon were badly chosen, and it was dis- 
 covered that the iron, cordage, and masting, broke 
 easily. Villeneuve pre occupied himself a good 
 deal, and perhaps to., much, with the danger he 
 hail to brave in Bucli vessels, and with such crews; 
 
 the vessels of his enemies, being i pletl i.\ mured 
 
 byacruiseoftwent) months. His mind was troubled 
 before he was at sea. Still \'n-\r d i n by Napoleon, 
 by the minister Decree, ami by general Lauriston, 
 he set himself in readiness to weigh anchor towards 
 the end of December. A contrary wind detained 
 him from the end of December until the tilth of 
 
 n ii
 
 Villeneuve sets sail 
 QIQ and returns to 
 
 Toulon. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 War commenced be- 
 tween England and 
 Spain. 
 
 1805. 
 March. 
 
 January in the ruad of Toulon. On the 18th, the 
 wind having changed, he set sail, and succeeded in 
 taking a false course in order to deceive the enemy. 
 But night brought with it a heavy trouble; the inex- 
 perience of the crews, and the bad quality of the 
 materials, exposed many of the vessels to the most 
 vexatious accidents. The squadron was dispersed. 
 In the morning Villeneuve had but four ships of 
 the line, and a frigate; the rest were separated from 
 him. Some had their masts or topmasts broken; 
 others leaked, and received injuries difficult to 
 repair at sea. Besides these accidents, two English 
 frigates had observed the movement, and the ad- 
 miral found he should be rejoined by the enemy at 
 a moment when he had only five vessels with which 
 to oppose him. He, therefore, decided upon re- 
 entering Toulon, although he had already run 
 seventy leagues, in spite of the entreaties of general 
 Laurintoii, who, reckoning four thousand some hun- 
 dred men in the vessels remaining together, de- 
 manded to be conducted to his destination. Ville 
 neu ve re-entered Toulon on the 27th, and happily 
 succeeded in bringing back the whole of his 
 squadron. 
 
 The time was not lost. They went about repairing 
 the damage sustained, setting up the rigging, and 
 rendering every thing ready to start anew. But 
 admiral Villeneuve was strongly affected; he wrote 
 to the minister the same day that he returned to 
 Toulon:- •" 1 declare to you, with vessels equipped 
 like these, weak in seamen, encumbered with 
 troops, having old rigging, or that ol a bad quality; 
 vessels which, on the least breeze, break their 
 masls and tear their sails, and that, when the wea 
 ther is fine, pass their time in repairing the in- 
 juries occasioned by the wind or the inexperience 
 of the ciews; we are not in a fit state to undertake 
 any tiling. I have had a presentiment before my 
 departure; I go to make a grievous experiment*." 
 Napoleon exhibited a sensible displeasure on 
 learning this useless sally. What is to be done, 
 he said, with admirals who, on the first damage re- 
 ceived, become demoralized, and think of return- 
 ing ? It is necessary to renounce navigation, and 
 to undertake nothing even in the finest season, if 
 an operation is thus to be thwarted by the separa- 
 tion of some of the vessels. They should, he con- 
 tinued, gh'e a rendezvous to all the captains in the 
 latitude of the Canaries by means of sealed des- 
 patches. The damage sustained should be repaired 
 on the vo\age. If any vessel lea < in a dangerous 
 manner, it might be left at Cadiz, turning over the 
 crew to the Aigle ship of the line, which is in 
 that port ready to set sail. A few broken top- 
 masts, a few accidents in a storm, are very common 
 things Two days of fine weather would have made 
 it up to the squadron, and set all in order. " Bui ihe 
 gran 1 evi, of our navy is, that the men who command 
 it are new to all the chances of commanding 2 ." 
 
 Unfortunately, the propitious time was over fir 
 the expedition to Surinam, and it was necessary 
 that Napoleon, with his ordinary fecundity of inven 
 tion, should find another combination. Toe first, 
 which consisted in the passage of admiral Latouche 
 into the channel from Toulon, had failed by the 
 death of that excellent seaman. The second, which 
 
 ' Desp itch of the 1st Pluviose, year xni. or21st January, 
 1803. on li iard tlie Buccntaure in the road ol Toulon. 
 2 Letier to Lauriston, of the 1st of February, 1805. 
 
 consisted in drawing the English into the American 
 seas, and in sending the squadron of Villeneuve to 
 Surinam, and that of Missiessy to the West Indies, 
 and to profit by this diversion to throw Ganteaume 
 into the channel, had equally failed by the delays 
 in the organization, by the contrary winds, and by 
 a fruitless sally. It was needful, therefore, to have 
 recourse to another plan. A new loss, that of ad- 
 miral Bruix, different from that of admiral La- 
 touche, but his equal in merit at least, added 
 to the difficulties of the naval operations. The 
 unfortunate Bruix, so remarkable for his charac- 
 ter, experience, and bent of mind, had expired the 
 victim of his zeal and devotion to the organization 
 of the flotilla. If he had lived, Napoleon would, 
 most assuredly, have placed him at the head of the 
 squadron charged with effecting the great ma- 
 noeuvre which he contemplated. It might be 
 said that destiny, in sworn animosity to the French 
 navy, had taken from it in ten months its two best 
 admirals, both assuredly capable of contending 
 with the admirals of England. It was then neces- 
 sary, until the events of the war had discovered 
 new men of talent, to resolve on avai.ing itself of 
 the admirals Ganteaume, Villeneuve, and Missiessy. 
 A serious event had recently occurred at sea, 
 which had modified the situation of the belligerent 
 powers. England had in an unforeseen and very 
 unjust manner declared war against Spain 1 . For 
 
 1 Nothing can be more erroneous than the colour given to 
 the charge of unjust treatment of Spain on the part ol Eng- 
 land hy our author. The treaty of St. Ildefonso bound Spain 
 to furni h France with a contingent of vessels and troops in 
 case of war between France and Great Britain. England 
 had a right to declare war against Spain as well as Fiance 
 in 1S03, unless Spain renounced such a treaty, this is char. 
 France marie no demand of the execution of this treaty 
 until July, 1803, when S| ain actually agreed to pay a large 
 sum of money to France monthly, in lieu of men and slops, 
 the supply of which should or might have been uken at 
 once for a declaration of war by England. The English 
 ministry forbore pressing Spain as long as possible. At 
 length her conduct induced remonstrances on the pari of 
 the English government, they knew this money was em- 
 plo\ed against itself, being effective in the hands of Napo- 
 leon with a contingent of any other kind. The Spanish 
 gov. rnment continued to urge ihe efforts it bad made io extri- 
 cate itself from such payments. The convention for these 
 payments was protested against in the fullest manner, and 
 declared to be a just ground for war. A perseverance in it 
 wa» announced as a justifiable cause for war, and Span was 
 lold that Kngland would be at liberty to commence when 
 she pleased. The entrance of French troops into Spain was 
 dei land a c us;- that would inevitably renew hostilities. 
 That any naval assistance to France would be deemed a 
 cause of war. That British ships must have the same treat 
 ment, whether ships of war or commerce, as tfiOse ol 
 France. On the entrance of any French troops into Spain. 
 or on any Spanish naval armament being titled out for 
 French assis'ance. the British minister bad orders to quit 
 Madrid, announcing to the British naval commanders that 
 the) were instantly to proceed to hostilities, nor to wait 
 orders from home. No oilier declaration was to be ma e. 
 Evasive answers were alwa\s given by Spain. From a "ish 
 to spare Spain, and no Spanish naval armament being f i i ted 
 out, things remained in this state until July, 180., when 
 Spain gave Engl ind assurances of a faithful and sett) -d neu- 
 trality, disavowing any intention to arm. Yet in the follow- 
 ing month reinforcements of French soldiers and sailors 
 w r.- marched through Spain; and at the end of September, 
 IS i, Spanish armaments were preparing, and the packets 
 ordered io arm. Representations were again made to Spain
 
 1805. 
 March. 
 
 Capture of Spanish frigates THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 by the English. 
 
 611 
 
 some time, she had perceived that the neutrality of 
 Spain, without being very favourable for France, 
 was highly useful to it upon several accounts. The 
 Frencli Bquadron harboured in Ferrol was repaired 
 then while it was blockaded. The Aij^le ship of 
 the line underwent the same process at Cadiz. 
 The French privateers entered the ports of the 
 peninsula to dispose of their prizes. England had 
 a right to enjoy the same advantages under favour 
 of the reciprocity; but she preferred to be deprived 
 of the advantages rather than leave them to us. 
 She had in consequence announced to the court of 
 Madrid, that she regarded as a violation of neu- 
 trality what was thus passing in the ports of the 
 peninsula, and threatened war if tile French 
 ships were suffered to continue their armaments 
 there, and if French privateers continued to find a 
 shelter and a market in Spain. She had demanded 
 further, that Charles IV. should guarantee Portugal 
 against any attempt on the part of France. This 
 last demand W«8 exorbitant, and passed out of the 
 limits of neutrality in which it was desired that 
 Spain should remain. However, France hail per- 
 mitted the curt of Madrid to show itself pliant 
 towards England, and even to agree to a part of 
 her demauds, in order to prolong a state of things 
 which was convenient to France. In fact, the 
 military co-operation of Spain would not be worth 
 to France the amount of a subsidy of 48 000 000 f. 
 per annum, and this subsidy could not be acquitted 
 without ii st.ite of neutrality, that alone allowed the 
 arrival of the precious metals from the new world. 
 They were ready to c nsent to all; but England 
 
 bee ing more exacting as Spain ceded to her 
 
 demaii'l-, had demanded that every armament 
 should immediately cease in the ports of Spain; 
 and she intended by that, it was necessary to send 
 tie- French vessels out of Ferrol immediately, or, 
 in oilier words, to deliver them up. Violating openly 
 in laet the rights of nations, she had, without pre- 
 vious notice, ordered the stoppage of Spanish vessels 
 eticouiib red at sea. If it had been thought that 
 such an order had no other object than that of 
 seizing the ships coming from America, having 
 cargoes of gold aud silver, the thing might be 
 
 on the subject, while it was further announced that the 
 Britkh sdmiral off Ferrol would pre\ent any ship~ ■•!' war 
 What mt f om entering or ^ailing from thai port. No i>alis- 
 faelory n dre-s was afforded. Additional naval equipments 
 look place in all the Spanish ports. Remniistrai ce* mid 
 mani'rd s followed, ami in the laal of them Spain openly 
 t»,.it »i e lad contemplated war from the beginning, 
 
 The i rders given it lir^l liy E g'aul were only 10 detain 
 Spanish ship* nl nut If Ihejf had ncasiireon hoard, lint not 
 i tln-r snip*. II re Napolron was outwltied lie suffered 
 
 an affected Spanish r entralliy onlj that the treaauies oi 
 
 m. x co mi- ii rea h Spain, and a portion ester i> s nun ex- 
 
 cheque i to which 8 s.n contributed, Had Spain or N pi k 
 
 paid I. n land .. mouth y suhsidy umler any pre\ 
 
 a Punch army wou d at once have been quaiter d on tho»e 
 
 count i ii •>. England )u»tly ri quired too of Bpa ii, ; 
 
 no. i , >. uuhl not violate Iter neutrality, In >rd r to invaile 
 
 I'm tug ', a point whii h England bad a rght to i>»m upon 
 
 fiom any powrr honeatl) m-utr.il, and lai I. on "■ 
 
 ilourlng given by m.r author is 1 1 1 l- r • I iher »f 
 
 a wrong hue. Ileihns not percelVI n the coll ■ bIoii of 
 Spanish ueuii iity whl«h Nspoleoii, with to mu Ii 
 
 penuiited bow lie bhnaell Ju tlfli - i « t of 
 
 K'«la d, iiavmg laid the object of the French em ei r so 
 plaiul open, lief Me Jiriliih itate pa/irr. Utur. 
 
 qualified, without injustice, as a real piracy. At 
 that moment, four Spanish frigates; carrying 
 12,000,000 of dollars, or about 30.000,000 of francs, 
 had sailed from Mexico towards the coast of 
 Spain, when they were stopped by English cruisers. 
 The Spanish commander having refused to surrender 
 his vessels, he was barbarously attacked by a force 
 immensely superior 1 , and made prisoner after an 
 honourable defence. One of the lour frigates blew 
 up; the other three were sent into the English 
 ports. 
 
 This odious act excited the indignation of Spain 
 and the censure of Europe. Without any hesita- 
 tion Charles IV. declared war against England. 
 He ordered at the saute time the arrest of all 
 the English seized upon the soil of the pcuinsula, 
 and the sequestration of all their property, to an- 
 swer for the goods and persons of Spanish mer- 
 chants. 
 
 Thus in spite of its supineness — in spite of the 
 able management of France, the court of Spain 
 found itself forcibly drawn into a war by the mari- 
 time outrages of England 
 
 Napoleon could no longer demand the subsidy 
 of 48,000,000 f., and therefore hastened to regulate 
 the mode in which Spain should co-operate in hos- 
 tilities, and endeavoured, above all, to inspire her 
 with resolutions worthy of herself aud of her former 
 greatness. 
 
 The Spanish cabinet, in its desire to please Na- 
 poleon, as well as from a sentiment of justice towards 
 merit, had chosen admiral Uravina for ambassador 
 in fiance. He was the first ofiieer of the Spanish 
 navy, and hid under external simplicity, rare 
 intelligence and intrepid courage. Napoleon was 
 much attached to admiral Uravina, and Uravina to 
 Napoleon. For the same motives which had mado 
 him to be nominated ambassador, he received the 
 command of the Spanish navy, and before he 
 quitted Paris, he was charged to confer with the 
 French government upon a plan of naval opera- 
 tions. With this view the admiral signed on tho 
 4.1i of January, 1805, a convention which specified 
 the part which each of the two powers should take 
 in case of war. France engaged to keep constantly 
 at sea forty-seven vessels of the line, twenty-nine 
 frigates, fourteen corvettes, twenty-five brigs,and 
 lo press forward as much as possible the comple- 
 tion of sixteen vessels ul the line, aud fourteen 
 frigates, existing in the dockyards; to unite the 
 truirps which remained encamped mar the ports of 
 embarkation, in the proportion of five hundred 
 men to each vessel, and two hundred to every 
 frigate; lastly, to keep the lr neli flotilla always in 
 a state to transport ninety thousand men, without 
 comprising the thirty thousand destined for em- 
 barkation in the Dutch flotilla. If the force of the 
 flotilla were valued in vessels and frigates, and 
 there wen' added to it the fleet id large vessels, it 
 might be said that France had a total effective 
 fi rce of sixty ships of the line, and forty frigates 
 actually at sea. 
 
 Span on her side promised to equip immediately 
 thirty-two sail of the hue, provided with four 
 
 ' Spanish ships Medea, 42 gnu ; !•'. una .31. guns ; Clara, 
 da*, .'in. Iha laal lilowu up, The English 
 were the Indefatigable, ii; Medusa, Amphlon, and 
 Lively, of :;ii guns each.— '/>>'«■>'" »'•• 
 R R 'J
 
 Conditions of alliance 
 gJ2 between France and 
 
 Spam. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Junot's instructions at 
 the Spanish couit. 
 
 1805. 
 March. 
 
 months' water, and six months' provisions. Tlieir 
 division was thus indicated. At Cadiz, there were 
 fifteen sail; at Cartliagena eight; and at Ferrol 
 nine. Spanish troops were to be united near the 
 points of embarkation, at the rate of four hundred 
 and fifty men for each ship of the line, and two 
 hundred for each frigate. Besides these, they were 
 to prepare means of transport in ships of war armed 
 en flute, in the proportion of four thousand tons for 
 Cadiz ; two thousand for Cartliagena, and two 
 thousand for Ferrol. It was agreed that admiral 
 Gravina should have the superior command of the 
 Spanish fleet, and correspond directly with I he 
 French minister Decres. This was to state that 
 he should receive his instructions from Napoleon 
 himself, and Spanish honour might without blush- 
 ing accept such a direction. Some political 
 conditions accompanied these warlike stipulations. 
 The subsidy naturally ceased on the day when 
 hostilities were commenced by England against 
 Spain. Further, the two nations agreed not to con- 
 clude a separate peace. France promised that 
 Trinidad should be restored to Spain, and even 
 Gibraltar, if the war was followed by a complete 
 triumph. 
 
 The engagement taken by the court of Madrid 
 was much above its means. It was so much above 
 them, that in place of equipping thirty-two vessels, 
 it could only reach the equipment of twenty-four, 
 although manned by brave crews. If then the 
 total of the forces of France, Spain, and Holland 
 be taken, it may be considered that the three na- 
 tions could unite about ninety-two sail of the line, 
 of which, sixty belonged to France, twenty- lour to 
 Spain, and eight to Holland. Still the flotilla must 
 be reckoned as fifteen, which reduces to seventy- 
 seven the effective line of battle-ships of the three 
 nations. The English had eighty-nine perfectly 
 armed, equipped, and experienced, in every thing 
 superior to those of the allies, and they were pre- 
 paring to carry them up in a short time to the 
 number of a hundred. The advantage then was 
 on their side. They could not be beaten but by a 
 superiority of combination, which has never had 
 any thing near as much influence at sea as on 
 land. 
 
 Unhappily Spain, fermerly very powerful in her 
 naval forces, and much interested in being so 
 still, on account of her vast colonies, found herself, 
 as has been many times repeated, in absolute des- 
 titution. Her arsenals were abandoned, and con- 
 tained neither timber, cordage, iron, nor copper. 
 The magnificent establishments of Ferrol, Cadiz, 
 and Cartliagena, were empty and deserted. They 
 had neither materials nor workmen. The seamen, 
 not very numerous in Spain since her commerce 
 had been nearly reduced to the transport of the 
 metallic specie, were become yet more scarce in 
 consequence of the yellow fever, which ravagi d ail 
 the coast, and made them fly to foreign countries, 
 or to the interior. To this, if a great dearth of 
 grain be added, and a financial distress incri used 
 by the loss of the galleons recently captured, an 
 exact idea can scarcely be had of all the miseries 
 which afflicted this country, formerly so great, and 
 now so sadly fallen. 
 
 Napoleon, who had very often but vainly advised 
 this country during the last peace to devote a part 
 of its resources to the reorganization of its navy ; 
 
 Napoleon, even without the hope of being listened 
 to, wished to make a last attempt upon the court. 
 This time, in place of employing menaces as in 
 180H, he employed kindness and encouragement. 
 He had recalled marshal Lannes from Portugal, 
 to place him at the head of the grenadiers, that 
 were designed to be the first to disembark in Eng- 
 land. He had ordered general Junot to replace 
 marshal Lannes in Portugal. He loved Jnnot, who 
 had a good understanding from nature, too ardent 
 a character, but a devotion without limit He 
 desired him to stop at Madrid, to see the prince of 
 the peace there, the queen, and the king. Junot 
 was to stir up the honour of the prince of the peace, 
 to make him sensible that he had in his hands the 
 fate of the Spanish monarchy, and that he stood 
 between the character of a favourite disdained and 
 detested, and that of a minister who profited by 
 tlie favour of his master to elevate the power of 
 his country. Junot was authorised to promise him 
 all the kind regards of Napoleon, and even a prin- 
 cipality in Portugal, if he served with zeal the com- 
 mon cause, and applied himself to impress a suffi- 
 cient activity upon the Spanish administration. 
 The envoy of Napoleon was afterwards to see the 
 queen, to declare to her that her influtnee on the 
 government was well known in Europe, or in other 
 words, over the king and prince of the peace; that 
 her personal honour was interested as much as the 
 honour of the monarchy, in making great efforts, 
 and obtaining successes; that if the Spanish power 
 did not raise itself on the present occasion, she who 
 was the all-powerful queen would be held personally 
 responsible in the eyes of the world, ami of her 
 children, for the disorders which would have en- 
 feebled and ruined the monarchy. Junot was in 
 fact to use every means for inspiring the queen 
 with just sentiments. As to the king, there was no 
 need of doing any thing to inspire him with 
 them, because he had none that were not excel- 
 lent; but this feeble monarch was destitute of will 
 and of attention. He was brutalised by Ins fond- 
 ness for hunting, and his attachment to mechanical 
 labour. 
 
 Junot was ordered to remain some time in Madrid 
 before he proceeded to Portugal, and to act the 
 character there of an ambassador extraordinary, 
 while attempting some little re-animation of this 
 degenerate court. 
 
 It became a question now to employ in the best 
 mode possible, the resources of the three maritime 
 nations, France, Holland, and Spain. The project 
 of bringing back on a sudden a part of the naval 
 force, more or less important, into the channel, a 
 project already twice modified, occupied Napoleon 
 unceasingly. But a great and sudden thought 
 arose to draw off his attention for a moment. 
 
 Napoleon frequently received reports from 
 general Decaen, the commandant of the French 
 factories in India, who, since the renewal of the 
 war, had retired to the Isle of France, and in 
 concert with admiral Linois, caused great injury 
 to the commerce of England. Genera) Decaen, 
 who hail an ardent mind, and was very capable of 
 a distinct command in an independent and hazar- 
 dous situation, had formed connexions with the 
 Mahrattas, as yet in a state of ill submission. 
 He had procured some curious information upon 
 the disposition of the princes recently subdued by
 
 1805. 
 March. 
 
 Projected descent upon India THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 formed by Napoleon. 
 
 C13 
 
 the English, and had acquired a conviction that six 
 thousand French, disembarked with a sufficiency of 
 Warlike stores, soon joined by a muss of insurgents 
 
 impatient to be rid of the yoke, would be able to 
 ■hake the empire of England in India. It was Napo- 
 leon, as it nuiy be remembered, who, in 1803. had 
 placed general Decaen in this situation, and he had 
 accepted it with ardour. But it was not a rash 
 enterprise that Napoleon wished to attempt ; to 
 attempt something worth while it must be a grand 
 expedition, worthy that of Egypt, capable of snatch- 
 ing from tli<' English the important conquest they 
 had made in the present century, their greatness 
 and their glory. The distance rendered such an 
 expedition very different from the expedition to 
 Egypt. To carry in time of war thirty thousand 
 men from Toulon to Alexandria was already a con- 
 siderable operation ; but to carry them from 
 Toulon to the coast of India, doubling the Cape of 
 Good Hope, was a gigantic enterprize. Napoleon 
 (bought, resting the point upon his own experience, 
 that the immense extent of the ocean rendered 
 encounters with an enemy a very rare thing, that 
 it was possible with a good invention to dare the 
 boldest movement, and to succeed without finding 
 on the way an enemy very superior in number. 
 It was thus that in 17'Jo" he had sailed across the 
 English Hiit with some hundred vessels and an 
 entire army, taken Malta, and landed at Alexan- 
 dria, without encountering Nelson. It was thus 
 that he Imped to secure the arrival of a fleet in 
 the channel. The success of such enterprises re- 
 quired profound secrecy and great skill to 
 deceive the British admiralty ; but he had a well- 
 disposed means to throw that body into mental 
 Confusion. Having troops assembled and ready 
 to embark, wherever he had naval forces, at Tou- 
 lon,- Cadiz, Ferrol, Rochefort, Brest, and the 
 Texel, he was constantly in a position to send out 
 an army, without the English becoming acquainted 
 with his intention, and without their being able to 
 gmss either its strength or destination. The 
 project for a descent had this much of utility, that 
 the attention of the enemy being unceasingly di- 
 I to that object, he would always believe such 
 an expedition directed against Inland or the 
 
 coasts of England. The moment was, therefore, 
 favourable for attempting one of those extraordi- 
 nary expeditions, that Napoleon was so prompt 
 to conceive and resolve upon. lie thought, for 
 example, that to takeaway India from England was 
 a result sufficiently great for consenting to defer 
 all Ins other projects, < ven that of the descent ; and 
 he was disposed to employ in that obj< Ct all his 
 naval forces. His calculations upon this subject 
 
 Were as follows. lie had in the ports of their 
 equipment, besidi s the squadrons ready to set -ail, 
 
 a reserve of old vessels little proper for active ser- 
 vice. He had also in thecrews, besides good seamen, 
 novices very young, or conscripts hot recently put 
 
 on board ship. It was upon this double considera- 
 tion that In: established his plan. lie would add 
 to a certain number of new vessels all those that 
 nut of the service, but which were still capa- 
 ble of making a voyage; ib so he would arm 
 M flute, thai is to say, he would takeout their art 1 
 
 kry and replace it with a large body of troops, 
 complete th.; crews witli men of every class taken 
 
 ill the p., its, expedite thus the Toulon, Cadiz, 
 
 Ferrol, Rochefort, and Brest fleets, which, without 
 taking a single transport vessel, would be able to 
 throw into India a very considerable army. He 
 proposed to send from Brest twenty-one sail, 
 Toulon thirteen, in all thirty-four, of which half 
 would be old vessels, to these thirty-four adding 
 twenty frigates, of which ten would be nearly un- 
 fit for service. These two fleets, sailing nearly at 
 the same time, and making the Isle of France the 
 place of rendezvous, were capable of carrying 
 forty thousand men, soldiers as well as sailors. 
 Upon arriving in India, the old vessels would be 
 sacrificed, and those only pies, rved which were fit 
 to navigate, which number might amount to fif- 
 teen vessels out of thirty-four, and ten frigates 
 out of twenty. The crews were then to be divided. 
 All the good seamen were destined to man the 
 vessels that were preserved ; while the indifferent 
 seamen, but men well adapted to make soldiers, 
 by turning them over into the skeh ton regiments, 
 would serve to complete the army disembarked. 
 Napoleon supposed that it would require fourteen 
 thousand or fifteen thousand seamen to man well 
 the fifteen ships of the line and the ten frigates, 
 which were to return to Europe. There would 
 then be in India twenty-five or twenty-six thousand 
 troops out of the forty thousand soldiers and seamen 
 embarked in Europe, and a fleet of fifteen ships of 
 the line would be brought back, excellent under 
 every point of view, by the quality of the vessels, 
 the selection of the crews, and the experience ac- 
 quired by a long navigation. Nothing would 
 have been lost, as far as the navy was concerned, 
 but mere hulls unfit for service and fag ends of 
 the equipments, and there would be left in India 
 an army perfectly sufficient to conquer the English, 
 above all, if it was commanded by a man as en- 
 terprising as general Decaen '. 
 
 Napoleon, besides, proposed that three thousand 
 troops should be embarked on hoard the Dutch 
 fleet in the Texel : two thousand in a new naval 
 division organizing at Rochefort; and four thousand 
 Spaniards in the Spanish flotilla at Cadiz, which 
 mad'- a reinforcement of nine thousand men, and 
 would carry up to the number of thirty-five thou- 
 sand or thirty-six thousand, the number of soldiers 
 in the army of general Decaen, It is extremely 
 probable that India, having scarcely submitted, a 
 similar force would have destroyed the British 
 power there. As to the voyage, there was nothing 
 less probable than an encounter with the English. 
 It would have been difficult to escape them, if the 
 squadrons of ships of the line had to trail after 
 them some hundreds of transport vessels. But. 
 
 the old vessels, and the old frigates armed en flute, 
 
 rendered dispensable that means of Conveyance. 
 This project rested, therefore, upon the priuciple 
 of sacrificing the more indifferent or bad part of 
 
 the navy, as well in men as materials, and be re- 
 signed to bring back only the more excellent por- 
 tion. At that cost the miracle might be operated 
 of transporting to India an army of thirty-six 
 
 1 There wire in India at this time SDOVfl twenty tliousand 
 BtltUli troopi of the line, and above a hundred thousand 
 sepoy regimenti, officered b; men of the greatest experience, 
 togetbei «iiii a One body of European artillery, and all these, 
 Important thing, Inured t" the climate, and well ac- 
 quainted with the country and its resources.— Trantlator.
 
 Temporary adjournment 
 614 of the descent on Eng- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 laud. 
 
 New combinations of 
 Napoleon. 
 
 1805. 
 March. 
 
 thousand men. The sacrifice, moreover, was not 
 as great as it appeared to be, because there is not 
 a seaman who does not know that on the sea as 
 on the land, but still more upon the sea, the quality 
 of the force is every thing, and that more can be 
 done with ten good vessels, than with twenty which 
 are indifferent. 
 
 This project caused the momentary adjournment 
 of the descent; but it was possible that it would 
 favour the execution in a very extraordinary man- 
 ner, because, at ter some time, the English, informed 
 of the departure of the French fleets, would follow 
 them, and thus leave unguarded the European 
 seas, while the squadron returning from India with 
 fifteen sail of the line and ten frigates, would be 
 able to appear in the straits, where Napoleon, 
 always ready at whatever moment the occasion 
 offered, would be in a state to profit by the shortest 
 favour of fortune. It is true that this last part of 
 the combination implied double good fortune, in 
 reaching India, and in returning, and fortune 
 rarely favours a man to such a high point, however 
 great he may be. For five weeks, Napoleon re- 
 mained in suspension between the idea of sending 
 this expedition to India, and passing the straits of 
 Dover. The overturn of the English empire in 
 India seemed a result so considerable, that he hoped 
 to dispense by that with the risk his person and 
 army would incur in an attempt so hazardous as the 
 descent. He passed therefore an entire month in 
 hesitating between the two combinations, and his 
 correspondence gives proof of the fluctuation of 
 his mind between these two extraordinary enter- 
 prises. 
 
 Nevertheless the Boulogne expedition carried 
 the day. Napoleon regarded the blow as the more 
 prompt, more decisive, and even as little less than 
 infallible, if a French fleet should arrive on a sud- 
 den in the channel. He set his mind at work anew, 
 and conceived a third combination, greater, deeper, 
 and more plausible yet than the two preceding, to 
 unite unknown to the English all his naval forces 
 between Dover and Boulogne. 
 
 His plan was arranged during the first days of 
 March, and orders sent off in consequence. It 
 consisted, like that for the capture of Surinam, in 
 drawing the English towards India and the West 
 Indies, to which last the squadron of admiral Mis- 
 siessy, that sailed on the 11th of January, had 
 already directed their attention, then to return im- 
 mediately into the European seas, with a union of 
 force superior to every English squadron, which- 
 ever it might be. It was in fact the project of the 
 preceding December, but enlarged and completed 
 by the union of the Spanish forces. Admiral Ville- 
 neuve was to part with the first favourable wind, 
 pass the straits, touch at Cadiz, and there join 
 admiral Gravina with six or seven Spanish ships, 
 besides the French ship the Aigle, then proceed 
 to Martinique; if Missiessy was yet there, to join 
 him, and await a new junction more considerable 
 than all the others, that of Ganteaume. The last 
 admiral, profiting by the first equinoctial gale that 
 should drive off the English, was to sail from Brest 
 with twenty-one vessels, the best in that arsenal, 
 proceed off Ferrol, release the French division 
 in that port, and the Spanish division which was also 
 ready to sail, and to go to Martinique, where Ville- 
 neuve was to await him. After this general junc- 
 
 tion, which presented few real difficulties, lie would 
 have in Martinique twelve vessels under Ville- 
 neuve, six or seven under Gravina, five under 
 Missiessy, and twenty-one under Ganteaume, not 
 reckoning the Franco-Spanish squadron in Ferrol, 
 that is to say, altogether about fifty or sixty sail of 
 the line; an enormous force, of which the concentra- 
 tion had never before been seen at any period upon 
 any sea. This time the combination was so com- 
 plete,so well calculated, that it must produce in the 
 breast of Napoleon the most lotty hopes. The mi- 
 nister Decres himself agreed that it offered the 
 greatest possible chances of success. To sail from 
 Toulon was always possible during the mistral, and 
 the last attempt of Villeneuve proved the fact. The 
 junction at Cadiz with Gravina, if they gave the 
 slip to Nelson, was easy, because the English had 
 not yet judged it of any service to blockade that 
 port. The squadron of Toulon thus carried up to 
 seventeen or eighteen sail, was very nearly certain 
 of arriving at Martinique. Missiessy had arrived 
 without encountering any but merchant vessels, 
 which he captured. 
 
 The most difficult point was to get out, and set 
 sail from the road of Brest. But in March there 
 was every reason to countupon an equinoctial gale. 
 Ganteaume arriving before Ferrol, which was only 
 blockaded by five or six English vessels, having 
 twenty-one sail himself, would take away every idea 
 of an action, rally without a blow the French divi- 
 sion commanded by admiral Gourdon, and such of the 
 Spaniards as were ready,and set sail for Martinique 
 immediately. It could not enter the minds of the 
 English, that the French dreamed of uniting 
 upon such a single point as Martinique fifty or 
 sixty vessels at one time. It was probable that their 
 conj ctures would be directed towards India. In 
 any case, Ganteaume, Gourdon, Villeneuve, Gra- 
 vina. and Missiessy once assembled, those of the 
 English squadrons which they might encounter, 
 not more than twelve or fifteen vessels strong, would 
 not brave fifty, and the return into the channel 
 was certain. Then all the French forces would be 
 found assembled between the shores of France and 
 England, at the moment when the naval forces of 
 England were going to the east, America, or India. 
 Events soon proved that this grand combination 
 was to be realized, even under the circumstance of 
 only a middling execution. 
 
 All was carefully managed so as to keep the plan 
 a profound secret. It was not coofid d to the 
 Spaniards, who had engaged to follow in a docile 
 manner any directions whatever from Napoleon. 
 Villeneuve and Ganteaume were alone to know the 
 secret among the admirals; but not at their depar- 
 ture, and cnly at sea, when they were no longer 
 able to communicate with the land. Then the 
 despatches, that they had orders to open in a cer- 
 tain latitude, would make them acquainted with 
 the course which they were to follow. None of the 
 captains of vessels had been initiated into the se- 
 cret of the enterprise. They had only the points 
 of rendezvous fixed for them in case of separation. 
 None of the ministers were acquainted with the 
 plan, except admiral Decres. He was expressly 
 commanded to correspond directly with Napoleon, 
 and to write his despatches himself. The rumour 
 of an expedition to India had spread through all 
 the ports. They feigned to embark a good many
 
 1805. 
 March. 
 
 Napoleon prepares to set out 
 for Italy. — The piipe con- 
 tinues in Pans. 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 Proceedings of the pope 
 and cardinals. — Their 
 demands. 
 
 G15 
 
 troops, when in reality the Toulon squadron had 
 orders to take scarcely tliree thousand men, and 
 that of Brest only seven thousand or eight thou- 
 sand. It was prescribed to the admirals to leave 
 half of this force in the West Indies to strengthen 
 the garris i 3, and to bring Lack to Europe four 
 thousand tar five thousand of the best men, to join 
 in the Boulogne expedition. 
 
 The fleets by this means would be but slightly 
 encumbered, manageable, and at their ease. They 
 had all provisions for six months, in such a way as 
 tn be able to remain a httig while at sea, without 
 b iug obliged to enter a harbour any where. Cou- 
 riers left for Ferrol and Cadiz, carrying orders to 
 prepare themselves without delay, and to be always 
 in a position to weigh anchor, because it was pos- 
 sible their blockade might be raised by an allied 
 fleet, without being able to say which fleet or at 
 what moment. 
 
 To all these precautions for deceiving the En- 
 gl -h. there was joined another not less calculated 
 for the purpose, and this was the journey of Napo- 
 le 11 into Italy. He supposed that his fleets, leaving 
 the end of March, employing the month of 
 April in reaching Martinique, the month of May in 
 frniing a junction, and the month of June to re- 
 turn, would be in the channel about the commence- 
 ment of July, lie might remain all this time in 
 Italy, review the troops, give fetes, conceal his 
 profound plans under the appearance of a vain and 
 sumptuous mode of living, then at the moment in- 
 dicated, leave Italy Becretly by posting, and in 
 five days transport himself from Milan to Boulogne, 
 and while he was thought to be still in Italy, strike 
 the blow at England which he had menaced for so 
 long a time. That blow she had awaited for two 
 years, and now began to have faith in it no longer. 
 Europe saw no more in tin; threat than a feint 
 planned to keep the British nation agitated, and 
 oblige it to exhaust itself in useli ss efforts. While 
 bandoned themselves to this idea, Napoleon, 
 « 11 1 the contrary, had, without cessation, increased 
 1 laritime forces, taking from the different de- 
 pots all that was required to augment the effective 
 strength of his war battalions, and filling by means 
 of the annual conscription the void thus made in 
 pots. The army of Boulogne was thus rein- 
 I by nearly thirty thousand men, without, any 
 one knowing it. He had always ki pt this army in 
 such a stale of activity, and so disposable, that it 
 not very possible to discover whether it was 
 in- ri or less effective. The opinion that it was a 
 pimple demonstration, destined to the object of 
 rendering England uneasy, became every day more 
 
 and more the dominant opinion. 
 
 All being thus disposed, with the firm determi- 
 nation to attempt the enterprise, and with a pro- 
 found conviction ol ' . ■ li mi proposed to 
 journey into Italy. The pope bail remained all the 
 winter in Paris. He bad at first thought to set out 
 on Ins way about the middle of February, in order 
 to arrive at bis dominions. An abundance of snow 
 
 falling in the Alps, hail served as the excuse for bis 
 
 longi r detention. Napohon mingled ho much kind- 
 pen in his entreaties, that the pope gave way, and 
 Consented to defer his departure mil ■ 1 the middle 
 of March. Napoleon \ as not displeased to let 
 Europe perceive the length ol this visit, to render 
 his intimacy with l'ius VI 1. greater every day. and 
 
 finally to keep him on the Paris side of the Alps, 
 while the French agents made the preparations at 
 Milan for the second coronation. The courts of 
 Naples, Rome, and even of Etruria, did not see 
 without regret the creation of a vast French king- 
 dom in Italy; and if the pope had found the Vati- 
 can besieged by suggestions of every kind, perhaps 
 he had been induced to show himself little favour- 
 able to it. 
 
 Pius VII., after becoming cntireiy in confidence 
 with Napoleon, finished by avowing his secret 
 wishes. He was charmed with the honours paid to 
 him personally; honours which benefited religion 
 
 through tiie good which his presence seemed to 
 produce, and even that which the 11 w emperor 
 had accomplished in France to aid in the restora- 
 tion of worship. But all saint as Pius VII. was, he 
 was still a man, he was a prince; and the triumph 
 of spiritual interests, while filling him with satis- 
 faction, did not permit him to forget the temporal 
 interests of the holy see, that were greatly suffer- 
 ing since the loss of the Legations. lie bad brought 
 to Paris with him six cardinals, of which number 
 one, cardinal Borgia, had diedat Lyons. The others, 
 especially the cardinals Antonelli and Pietro, 
 were of the ultramontane party, and greatly in 
 opposition to cardinal Caprara, who had too much 
 intelligence and knowledge to agree with them. Thus 
 they had brought the pope to conceal his proceed- 
 ings from this cardinal, who in quality of legate 
 ought to have been duly informed of all the nego- 
 tiations proceeding in Paris. He certainly could 
 not have taught them a mode of succeeding in their 
 designs, because all that it was possible to do for 
 the church Napoleon did spontaneously, and with- 
 out being pressed to do. But this personage, full 
 of experience and knowledge, would have dissuaded 
 them from useless attempts, always to be regretted, 
 because they afterwards became the causes of dis- 
 putes and differences. 
 
 They commenced by dogmatising with Napoleon 
 upon the four propositions of Bossuet, of which 
 Louis XIV., towards the end of bis life, had, it was 
 said, promised the annulling. Napoleon was mild 
 in manner, but inflexible in principle, and suf- 
 fered them to see that there was nothing to ex- 
 pect in the revocation of the former organic 
 articles. The mode of executing them remained 
 to be settled. He was disposed to listen to any 
 observations which they wished to present to him 
 Upon the subject. At first they spoke to him of 
 the jurisdiction of the bishops over the ecclesi- 
 astics, of winch they had often conferred, and 
 which did not appear sufficiently complete to Pius 
 VII. ; to that Napoleon, settling Irs answer with 
 M. Porta lis, replied, that everj spiritual offence 
 
 was and should be left to the ecclesiastical juris- 
 diction, but that all civil offences against the civil 
 law won l«l continue to be brought before the ordinary 
 tribunals, because the priestfl were citizens, and 
 umler this relation would appeal to the common 
 law-. Then they spoke of the seminaries, of the 
 sinalliiess of the number ol ministers ol worship, 
 of the religious edifices at last, neglected lor 
 twenty years and falling into ruin. 'I hoy supposed 
 tliat at least 38,000,000 f. would lie required per 
 annum lor the necessities ol religion, while tiny 
 had only entered 13,000,000 f. in the budget, and 
 this left a deficiency ol 26,000,000 f. Napoleon
 
 616 
 
 Different topics 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 of discussion. 
 
 1805. 
 March. 
 
 answered by an enumeration of what he had done 
 in this respect, and of what he would still do in 
 proportion to the augmentation of the revenues of 
 the state. They conferred afterwards upon vari- 
 ous other subjects, foreign to the organic articles 
 and to their execution, and particularly of divorce, 
 permitttd by the new French laws. Napoleon, 
 always in concert with M. Portalis, said that 
 divorce appeared indispensable to their legislation, 
 to repair certain disorders in morals, but that 
 the priest remained free to refuse the religious 
 benediction to the divorced who wished to con- 
 tract a new marriage; that the conscience of the 
 priests was not, therefore, violated; but that be- 
 sides, this was not a matter that invaded the 
 dogma, seeing that divorce existed in the ancient 
 church. After the discussion of this subject, they 
 spoke of the observation of Sundays and festival 
 days, which, in spite of the re-establishment of 
 the Gregorian calendar, had not been adopted 
 generally enough among the people. Napoleon 
 answered, that even towards the end of the last 
 century, the manners, more powerful than the 
 laws, had caused a relaxation, and that there was 
 sometimes seen, before the revolution, workmen 
 labouring on the Sunday ; that penalties employed 
 in such cases were of less value than examples ; 
 that the government applied itself always to give 
 those which were good, and that the workmen 
 paid by the state never laboured on holidays ; 
 that the Sunday was strictly observed by the 
 country people, that the inhabitants of the towns 
 only were wanting in its observation ; and that 
 in the towns to oblige the workmen to be idle, 
 besides the inconvenience of employing a penal law, 
 would be to give drunkenness and vice the time 
 taken from labour; that to the utmost they had 
 attempted every thing a religious but prudent 
 policy permitted to be done. 
 
 They then touched upon another subject, that of 
 education, and demanded for the clergy the right 
 of superintending the schools. Napoieon replied, 
 that he had chaplains in the Lyceums, chosen 
 from among the priests in doctrinal conformity 
 with the church. That these were, in fact, the 
 ecclesiastical inspectors of the places of educa- 
 tion, that they were able to designate to their 
 bishops those in which religious instruction left 
 any thing to be desired, but that there was not over 
 these establishments of education any other au- 
 thority than that of the state. Some conversation 
 took place in relation to the bishops who were not 
 in agreement with the holy see, and it was agreed 
 to bring them back to that state of peace, volun- 
 tary or forced, in which Napoleon was resolved to 
 make the entire of the clergy live. The series of 
 questions of a spiritual nature were terminated by 
 the discussion of a project, which without cessa- 
 tion had pre-occupied the court of Rome, this 
 was, that the catholic church should be declared 
 the dominant religion in Fiance. Here Napoleon 
 was immoveable. According to him that religion 
 was already dominant by the fact, because it was 
 the religion of the majority of the French, be- 
 cause it was that of the sovereign, because the 
 great acts of the government, as the taking the 
 crown, for example, had been surrounded by 
 catholic pomps. But a declaration of the kind 
 was likely to alarm all dissenting worsliippers; he 
 
 intended to assure perfect peace to all, and he 
 would not admit that the catholic religion, which 
 he had desired, and sincerely desired to re-esta- 
 blish, should operate as a diminution of security 
 for any of the existing religions. 
 
 Upon all these points Napoleon showed extreme 
 mildness of manner, but determined firmness of 
 principle. They from thence arrived at the es- 
 sential thing, which affected Rome more than any 
 pi hits of ecclesiastical discipline, this was the affair 
 of the Legations. They digested a memorial that 
 Pius VII. had himself sent to Napoleon, which 
 related to the losses the holy see had experienced 
 during a century past, as well in revtnues as in 
 territories. There was an enumeration too in this 
 memorial of the different dues of the holy see 
 formerly collected in all the catholic states, and 
 which, under the influence of French, feeling, had 
 been either suppressed or diminished in France, 
 Austria, and even Spain itself. There was recalled 
 to recollection the manner in which the holy see 
 had been disappointed of its right of return to the 
 possession of the duchy of Parma, by the extinction 
 of the house of Farnese ; the more early privation 
 of the county of Venaissin, ceded to France, was 
 then brought forward; the most serious of all the 
 losses was cited, that of the Legations, transferred 
 to the Italian republic. Thus reduced, the holy 
 see was not able, it was said, to meet the obligatory 
 expenses of the catholic religion in all parts of the 
 world. It was unable either to place the cardinals 
 in a position to sustain their dignity, to suppi it 
 the foreign missions, or to provide for the defence 
 of its weak states. They reckoned upon the new 
 Charlemagne to equal the munificence of the 
 ancient. Napoleon was placed in complete em- 
 barrassment before a demand so directly made. 
 He had promised nothing to bring the pope to 
 Paris ; but at every period of his success, he 
 had given out the hope in a general manner 
 that he would ameliorate materially the situation 
 of the holy see. To give back the Legations to the 
 pontifical court was impossible, or at least it was 
 to betray the republic he had established in a very 
 odious way, the founder of which he had been, 
 and of which he was about to become the mo- 
 narch. It had been to destroy all the hopes of the 
 Italian patriots, who saw in this new state the com- 
 mencement of an independent existence for their 
 country. But he had at his disposal the duchy of 
 Parma, that he would neither grant to the house 
 of Sardinia as an indemnity for Piedmont, nor to 
 Spain for the aggrandisement of the kingdom of 
 Etruria, and which he reserved at the moment for a 
 family portion. It would have been prudent, with- 
 out doubt, to give it as an indemnity to the house 
 of Sardinia, or as well to add it to Etruria, obliging 
 this state to indemnify the house of Sardinia with 
 the Siennese. It would thus have been possible 
 at one stroke to secure peace with Russia, and give 
 Spain the greatest possible pleasure. But if the 
 management of Russia were given up, that had 
 withdrawn its charge d'affaires, and the satisfaction 
 of Spain, whose inertness had not long been 
 awakened by good conduct, it had been a destina- 
 tion worthy the proud designs of Napoleon to give 
 the duchy of Parma to the pope. In granting it 
 to the holy see, Napoleon would overturn most of 
 the arguments used about his designs in Italy; he
 
 1805. 
 April. 
 
 The pope sets out for Rome. THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 A third coalition. — Plans 
 of KusMa. 
 
 CI7 
 
 would destroy the principal argument which served 
 Austria in her object of uniting a third coalition in 
 Europe; and what was not of Less importance, he 
 
 would attach the pope to him for ever, and have 
 prevented the sad rupture with the holy see, that 
 at a later period caused him a considerable moral 
 injury, a rupture which had in reality no other 
 origin than the discontent, ill dissimulated, of 
 the court "i R 'ine upon that occasion. All this it 
 was ..f more value to arrange than to reserve 
 Parma, as Napoleon determined to do, for a gift 
 to his family. Suffering the alliance of Prussia 
 to escape him in 1804 and in 1805, sending back 
 the pope covered with honour, hut finally aggrieved 
 garded his interests, constituted, in our opi- 
 nion, the first essential faults of that powerful 
 policy, of which the error was, the reckoning only 
 with itself, and never with Others. 
 
 Napoleon took advantage of that of which they did 
 not directly speak, namely, the Legations, to make the 
 simple and easy reply arising out ol the situation of 
 the thing itself, lie was unable to betray a state 
 which had chosen him for its chief — a reason legi- 
 timate and well-founded, as it affected the Lega- 
 ; while he announced that he intended to ame- 
 liorate at a later period the situation of the holy 
 He- commanded cardinal Fesch to enter into 
 an explanation with the pope. He was willing 
 at the moment to lend his holiness pecuniary aid; 
 be afforded him a glimpse at a time which was 
 not tar off", of new accessions of territory, by the aid 
 of winch the pope might be indemnified. Besides 
 this, he was sincere ; because, as to such acces- 
 m OS, he discovered them at a future time rapidly 
 approaching. He saw, in fact, coming war re- 
 awakened upon the continent, and Italy this time 
 wholly conquered, Venice taken from Austria, 
 Naples taken from the Bourbons; and said to him- 
 self that he should find easily among all these a 
 means of satisfying the pope. 
 
 But these good intentions deferred left a present 
 displeasure, that was soon to become a source of 
 v.-x.ilion. 
 
 Na toleon and the pope quitted each other with- 
 out being as mutually discontented as the demands 
 made and refused might have given ground to ap- 
 prehend. The pope, in place of the ambuscade 
 which insensate persons announced was laid for 
 him upon quitting Rome, had found in Paris a 
 magnificent welcome, augmented by the presence 
 of a religious impulse, and in fact he occupied in 
 France a place worthy of the' grandest eras of the 
 church. All things considered, if his interested 
 Counsellors were dissatisfied, he returned home 
 contented himself. He exchanged with the eiu- 
 
 peror and empress the most affectionate farewell, 
 
 and went away loaded with rich presents. He gel 
 out from Tans on the 4th of April, 1805, in the 
 midst of a coneoutse of people htill more con- 
 siderable than at his first arrival, lie was to re- 
 main some days at Lyons on his way, to celebrate 
 the feast of BaSb ft 
 
 Napoleon had disposed <-v> ry thing to depart on 
 his journey to Italy at the same time. After 
 having given his last orders to the fleet and army, 
 and reiterated his entreaties to the court of Spain, 
 that all might be got ready at IVrrol and Cadiz ; 
 after having left to the areli-eliaueel|or ('ambaccrcs 
 the government of the empire, not ostensibly, but 
 
 in fact, he proceeded to Fontainebleau on the 1st of 
 
 April, where he was to stay for two or three days. 
 
 He left this place enchanted with his designs, and 
 
 lull of confidence in their success. He had already 
 
 a first pledge in the lucky departure of admiral 
 
 Villeneuve. This officer had finally set sail on the 
 
 30th of March with a favourable wind, and they 
 
 had lost sight of the heights of Toulon without the 
 no 
 
 fear of encountering the English. A single con- 
 trary incident prevented this satisfaction from 
 being complete. On the 1st of April, the equinox 
 had not yet been felt at Brest; calm and clear 
 weather prevailed, which was not of a nature to 
 keep off the English, or hide from them the sailing 
 of the fleet, rendering the departure of Ganteaume 
 impossible. Had he been clear of Brest, the suc- 
 cess of the junctions appeared to be no more doubt- 
 ful; and it must be supposed a real phenomenon in 
 the seasons, that the equinox did not bring a single 
 gale of wind during the whole month of April. 
 
 Napoleon quitted Fontainebleau on the 3rd, pro- 
 ceeding by Troyes, Chalons, and L\ons, pushing on 
 rapidly before the pope, in order that the two 
 progresses should not be mutual obstacles on the 
 road. 
 
 While he thus proceeded towards Italy, given 
 up to his grand ideas, or suffering his time to be 
 diverted by receiving the homage of the people, 
 Europe, differently agitated, was at work upon the 
 third coalition. England alarmed for her exist- 
 ence ; Russia wounded in her pride ; Austria 
 strongly thwarted by what was preparing to be 
 done in Italy; Prussia hesitating without cessa- 
 tion between contrary fears, knitting, or suffering 
 to be knit, a new European league, that, far from 
 being more fortunate than those which preceded, 
 was to secure for Napoleon a colossal greatness, 
 unhappily too disproportionate to be durable. 
 
 The Russian cabinet, regretting the errors of 
 which the vivacity of its young sovereign had caused 
 the committal, had hoped to find in the answers of 
 France a pretext for retracing its former unre- 
 flecting conduct. The pride of Napoleon, that 
 would not give even a specious explanation about 
 the occupation of Naples, the refusal to indemnify 
 the house of Savoy, or the invasion of the house of 
 Hanover, considering these questions as matters 
 in which he might have been able to indulge a 
 friendly, but not a hostile court — this pride had 
 disconcerted the cabinet of St. Petersburg, and bad 
 forced it, spite of itself, to recall M. Ouhril. The 
 emperor Alexander, who had not character enough 
 to support the consequences of a first movement, 
 was disconcerted, and nearly intimidated. M. 
 Strogonoff, -M. Nowosilt/.oir, and M. Czartoryski, 
 were tinner, but perhaps less penetrating, and sur- 
 rounding him, had made him feel the necessity of 
 
 defending the dignity of his crown in the eyes of 
 Europe. They hail returned to the ideas so little 
 of a practical but seducing character, of a supreme 
 arbitration, exercised in the name of justice and 
 sound law. Two powers, France and England, 
 troubled the repose of Europe, and oppressed it for 
 the interests of their rival policy. It was neces- 
 sary for Russia to place berself at the bead of the 
 nations thus ill treated, proposing to them acomnion 
 plan of pacification, in which their lights should 
 I bfl guaranteed, and the litigated points between 
 ' France and England regulated, it was required
 
 613 
 
 Scheme of the Russian 
 court for mediation. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The Russian scheme 
 developed. 
 
 1805. 
 April. 
 
 to rally Europe around this plan, in order to make 
 proposals in its name to England and France, to 
 arrange itself afterwards with that one of the 
 two powers which adopted it against the power 
 refusing, in order to subdue the last by force, and 
 the common law of the whole world. Men less 
 young, less fed upon theories, would have seen^ in 
 such a scheme simply a coalition wiih England 
 and a part of Europe against France. The scheme, 
 in effect, conceived in a manner wholly favourable 
 to England, that Mattered Russia, and unfavourable 
 to France, that flattered her but little, could not 
 but be tolerably acceptable to Pitt, and unaccept- 
 able to Napoleon, being followed sooner or later by 
 war against him. It led to the third coalition. 
 The propositions presented to the emperor Alexan- 
 der were mingled with so much of the specious and 
 brilliant in ideas, each being at the same time 
 even generous and true, that the lively imagination 
 of the young Czar, at first affrighted with that 
 which they proposed to him, was finally attracted 
 and seduced to such a point as made him set his 
 hand to the work immediately. 
 
 Before recounting the negotiations which fol- 
 lowed this plan, it is nepdf'ul to lay open the scheme 
 of European arbitration, and to indicate its author. 
 It will be seen by the gravity of the consequences 
 that they merit to be known. 
 
 One of those adventurers, sometimes endowed 
 with distinguished qualities, who wished to carry 
 into the north the spirit and knowledge of the south, 
 had gone into Poland to find there employment for 
 his talents. He was an abbe, called Piatoli, and 
 had been at first attached to the last king of Po- 
 land. After the different partitions, he had passed 
 into Courland, and from Courland into Russia. He 
 was one of those active minds that, unable to elevate 
 themselves to the government of states, placed too 
 much above them, conceive plans that are ordi- 
 narily of a chimerical character, but not always to 
 be disdained. The man now spoken of had medi- 
 tated much upon the state of Europe, and lie owed 
 to chance, placed in relation with the young friends 
 of Alexander, bis opportunity of exercising there an 
 occult influence, but sufficiently considerable to 
 make prevalent a portion of his conceptions in the 
 resolutions of the powers. Subaltern thinkers 
 rarely have such an honour. The abbe" Piatoli 
 had the sad advantage of furnishing in 1805 some 
 of the principal ideas, which terminated by their 
 being admitted into the treaties of 1815. Under 
 this claim he is worthy of attention, and the ideas 
 which we give as his are not on supposition, be- 
 cause they are contained in the secret memoirs 
 then remitted to the emperor Alexander '. This 
 foreigner finding in the prince Czartoryski a more 
 thoughtful mind, and one more grave than be- 
 longed to the other young personages who ruled 
 over Russia, was more intimately associated with 
 him, and their views had become altogether com- 
 mon, to such a point, that the plan proposed to the 
 emperor appertained nearly as much to the one as 
 to the other. The following was this plan. 
 
 The ambition of the northern powers, and the 
 conquests of the French revolution, had for thirty 
 years overturned Europe, and Oppressed every na- 
 tion of the second order. It was necessary to pro- 
 
 • There exists in France a copy of these memoirs. 
 
 vide for this by a new organization, and by the es- 
 tablishment of a new law of nations, placed under 
 the protection of the great European confedera- 
 tion. To this end there was need of a power 
 perfectly disinterested, which made its own disin- 
 terestedness partaken by all the others, and which 
 would labour for the accomplishment of the pro- 
 posed work. 
 
 A single power had in itself all the requisites for 
 this noble end, and that power was Russia. Its 
 real ambition ought to be, if it comprehended its 
 character, not to acquire territory, as England, 
 Prussia, or Austria would, but moral influence. 
 For a great state that influence was every thing. 
 After a long influence, territorial acquisitions 
 would come. This Italian had reason on his side. 
 By appearing to protect in Europe, against that 
 which they denominated revolution, the princes 
 great or small, who had it in fear, Russia gained 
 Poland. It will not be impossible that hence 
 she may yet gain Constantinople. At first comes 
 influence, next conquest follows. Russia was then 
 to propose to all the courts, not a war against 
 France, which would neither be just nor politic, 
 but "an alliance of mediation for the pacification 
 of Europe." They would not certainly have any 
 trouble to make Austria and England adhere to 
 this; but every thing was dangerous in the concur- 
 rence of Prussia. It was needful therefore to draw 
 out of its interested hesitations this crafty court, 
 or tread it well under the feet of the European 
 armies, if it refused to concur in the common ob- 
 ject. It implied no humouring either towards 
 Prussia or any other state which should resist the 
 proposed plan, " because they would have deserted 
 the cause of the human race." 
 
 All the states of Europe, save France, once 
 united, would form three great masses of force; 
 one in the south composed of Russians and English, 
 coming into Italy in their vessels, designed to mount 
 with the Neapolitans the Italian peninsula, to join 
 itself to a column of one hundred thousand Aus- 
 trians operating in Lombardy; a mass towards the 
 east, composed of two grand Austrian and Russian 
 armies, marching by the valley of the Danube 
 towards Suabia and Switzerland; finally, a mass in 
 the north, composed of Russians, Prussians, Swedes, 
 and Danes, descending perpendicularly from the 
 north to the south on the Rhine. These three 
 grand masses of force were to act independently 
 the one of the other, in order to avoid the incon- 
 venience of coalitions, which got themselves beat 
 by attempting to act in a concert that is impossible. 
 Each of the three was to direct itself as a separate 
 army, having only to think of its own security, and 
 its own separate action. It was from the desire of 
 combining their movements, that the archduke 
 Charles and Suwarrow had met with the disaster 
 of Zurich. 
 
 These three masses of force thus formed, they 
 were to speak in the name of a common congress, 
 representing the "alliance of the mediation." They 
 would offer to France conditions compatible with 
 its natural greatness, conditions to which they 
 would have previously brought England to agree, 
 and they would not go to war except in case of a 
 refusal. The conditions would be these; the trea- 
 ties of Luneville and of Amiens, but be it well under- 
 stood, as explained by Europe. One is able, in other
 
 1805. 
 
 April. 
 
 French aud English concessions. THE THIRD COALITION. A subalpine kingdom planned. 619 
 
 respects, to conceive a grand idea of the French 
 power at this period, if only from observing the 
 designs which were formed by its jealous enemies. 
 
 France kept the Alps ami the Rhine, that is to 
 say, Savoy, Geneva, the Rhenish provinces.. May- 
 ence, Cologne, Luxemburg, and Belgium. Pied- 
 mont was to be restored. The new state created 
 in Lombardy was not to be destroyed, to restore 
 the shreds to Austria, but to be employed in con- 
 stituting Italy independent For this view tliey 
 would even demand of Austria that she should 
 abandon Venice. Switzerland foreseeing the or- 
 ganization given it by Napoleon, would be closed 
 against the French troops, and declared in a per- 
 petual neutrality. It would be the same with 
 Holland. France in a wind, maintained in its 
 grand limits of the Alps and the Rhine, would be 
 obliged to evacuate Italy entirely, Holland, and 
 Switzerland, without counting Hanover, that the 
 war ceasing, would not be longer kept in occupa- 
 tion. 
 
 In return for these concessions, exacted on the 
 part of France, England was to be obliged to eva- 
 cuate Malta, to restore such colonies as she had 
 captured, and even to second the French in another 
 enterprize against St. Domingo, because Europe 
 had an interest in snatching this magnificent terri- 
 tory from the barbarities of the revolted negroes. 
 They would, in fine, oblige all the nations to a<;ree 
 to an equitable maritime code. As a last condition, 
 all the courts would acknowledge Napoleon em- 
 peror of the French. 
 
 Certainly, if Russia had been powerful enough 
 to make Austria consent to the independence of 
 Italy, and England to the independence of the seas, 
 Napoleon had been highly culpable in refusing the 
 proposed conditions. But far from abandoning 
 Venice to the benevolent organizers of a new Eu- 
 rope, Austria was impatient to return to Milan, 
 and to advance herself in Suabia. England in- 
 tended to keep Malta, and not to acknowledge the 
 right&of neutrals. If, therefore, Napoleon was ob- 
 stinate in retaining, as there is no doubt he was, 
 Piedmont, Switzerland, and Holland, to use for his 
 own advantage the countries which his enemies 
 wished to constitute against him, his ambition may 
 certainly stand . xcu-ed in the face of that of the 
 other European governments. 
 
 This design, conceived at first with sincerity, and 
 from generous intentions, hail been in all points 
 equitable, if ever) body would have accepted it in 
 its entirety. Hut it must be in the hands of a hypo- 
 critical coalition, a pretext to bring back France to 
 a refusal, that would again place; Europe in arms. 
 Facts soi n occurred to prove this true. 
 
 II Fra !■ In l d, which was possible, they must 
 
 act againsl bar in a military manner. It was oe- 
 O Mary in thai uer to hide than publish the 
 
 intention to change the government, humour her 
 pnde, secure the purchasers of tin- national do- 
 mains, promise to the army the pr< servation of its 
 grades (all which was done in 1H1I), and if the 
 fatigue of a wanike and agitated government re- 
 
 ea.l (I the public opinion in France to the ancient 
 
 dynasty, then only to seek tore-establish it, because 
 this dynasty, owing its reatorati n to Europe, would 
 
 content it:-:i If with much more ease than the family 
 of Bonaparte, with the little state which they 
 wished to leave it. 
 
 War was capable of offering different chances. 
 If it were only half fortunate, they would take 
 from France Italy and Belgium; if it were com- 
 pletely so, they would take from France the Rhe- 
 nish provinces, that is to say, the territory com- 
 prised between the Meuse and the Rhine. It 
 would, however, be necessary not to forget the 
 fault committed against Louis XIV., and keep clear 
 of rem wing the haughtinesses of the pensionary 
 Heinsius, because France, when ton ill-treated, will 
 never be at rest. It would therefore preserve her 
 something among her actual conquests in drawing 
 the line from Luxemburg to Mayence, and in con- 
 ceding besides the fortress of Mayence, that which 
 is denominated Rhenish Bavaria. It will be seen 
 that the combinations of this policy, not having 
 been fingered by Pitt, did not carry the impress 
 of a passionate hatred, like those which prevailed 
 ten years afterwards. 
 
 In this double hypothesis of a war, more or less 
 fortunate, Europe would be distributed in the fol- 
 lowing manner. 
 
 It was of the utmost importance to guard 
 against that French nation, endowed with "such 
 dangerous talents," and a character so enterpris- 
 ing. In order to do this, it was necessary to sur- 
 round her with powerful states, capable of self- 
 defence. It was necessary at first to reinforce 
 Holland, and with that view to give it Belgium, 
 to make the two countries that which was called 
 " the kingdom of the two Belgiums," intended 
 to he granted to the house of Orange, that had suf- 
 fered so much in consequence of the French 
 revolution. Prussia was maintained where she 
 was upon the Rhine ; perhaps there would be 
 restored to her the small provinces that she had 
 addul to the French republic, such as the Duchy 
 of Cleves and Guehlres, and as much as possible 
 she was to be established in Westphalia around 
 Holland, to separate her from all contact with 
 France. Still in virtue of the principle of disin- 
 terestedness imposed upon great courts, a princi- 
 ple, without which it would be impossible to 
 establish Europe on a durable basis, little would 
 be given to Prussia, with the view of having the 
 power of organizing Germany and Italy in a 
 convenient fashion. After the kingdom of the 
 two Belgiums, created on the north of France, 
 the kingdom of Piedmont would be created on the 
 south and east, under the name of the subalpine 
 kingdom, and they would adjudge it to the house of 
 Savoy, then dethroned, which had Buffered yet 
 more than the house of Orange in this common 
 cause of kings. They would not restore him 
 Savoy, but give him the whole of Piedmont, all 
 Lombardy, even the Venetian states, taken with 
 this intention from Austria, by means of the 
 indemnification which would follow. Finally, to 
 
 this vast territory they would add Genoa. The 
 
 subalpine kingdom, forming thus the most con- 
 siderable slate of Italy, would he capable of 
 
 holding the balance between Prance ami Austria, 
 and serve at a later period as the foundation of 
 Italian independence. 
 
 Italy, that line and interesting country, would 
 be constituted separately, in such a mode .as to 
 
 enjoy that exisli nee so proper for it, and so 
 vainly desired by its people. To unite it in 
 one entire body was at that time impossible.
 
 (J20 Scheme of the mediation. 
 
 The Ottoman empire to 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. bemaintained.-Poland 
 
 to be reinstated. 
 
 1805. 
 April. 
 
 They would therefore compose it of several 
 states united in a federation bond, a bond suffi- 
 ciently strong to render the common action as 
 prompt as it would be facile. Besides the subal- 
 pine kingdom, comprehending the whole of 
 Upper Italy from the maritime as far as the 
 Julian Alps, and having two ports, such as Venice 
 and Genoa, there would be the kingdom of the 
 Two Sicilies preserved in its actual limits, which 
 would be placed on the other extremity of the 
 Peninsula; in the centre would be found the pope, 
 to whom the Legations would be restored, enjoy- 
 ing a perpetual neutrality, and as the elector of 
 Mayence in the Germanic body, having the func- 
 tions of the chancellor of the confederation ; in 
 the centre there would still be the kingdom of 
 Etruria left to Spain ; then either in the inter- 
 stices of these states, or at the extremities, would 
 be the republic of Lucca, the order of Malta, 
 the republic of Ragusa and of the Seven Islands. 
 The Italian body in its federal organization would 
 have a head or chief as the Germanic body had, 
 but not elective. The king of Piedmont and of 
 the Two Sicilies would alternately enjoy that 
 dignity. 
 
 This was, without doubt, a generous and wise 
 combination, for which France would have been 
 bound to impose sacrifices upon herself, if the 
 young heads that governed Russia had been capa- 
 ble of determining seriously and strongly upon 
 a great measure. 
 
 Savoy taken from the crown of Sardinia, was 
 not to be given to France, but with the Valteline 
 and the Grisons to be converted into a Swiss 
 canton. Switzerland divided into cantons would 
 have been united to Germany as one of the con- 
 federated states. 
 
 The Germanic empire was to be submitted to 
 a system of government entirely new. It was 
 oppressed alternately by Austria and Prussia, 
 that disputed their domination. These two 
 powers would be placed out of the confederation, 
 in which they played only the character of the 
 heads of an ambitious party. The Germanic body 
 thus delivered over to itself, diminished by these 
 two great powers, but increased by the additions 
 of the kingdom of the two Belgiunis and Switzer- 
 land, freed from all vexatious influence, having in 
 view only the interest of Germany, would be no 
 more drawn, in spite of itself, into wars unjust, or 
 foreign to its true interests. The crown would 
 cease to lie elective. The principal states of the 
 confederation would have, by turns, the supreme 
 direction, as it was proposed should be the case 
 in Italy. Then would be reinforced, by means of 
 new territorial limitations, the states of Baden, 
 Wurteinburg, and Bavaria. The quarrel, always 
 disturbing to the empire, that existed between 
 Bavaria and Austria, would be terminated by 
 giving the frontier of the Inn to the latter power. 
 
 The three great states of the continent, Fiance, 
 Prussia, and Austria, would be then separated the 
 one from the other by three grand independent con- 
 federations ; the Germanic, the Swiss, and the Ita- 
 lian, thus connecting themselves with each other 
 from the Zuider Zee as far as the Adriatic. 
 
 In supposing these different combinations sound, 
 and practicable in effect, we scarcely know how to 
 avoid these observations; that to cut off Austria 
 
 and Prussia from the Germanic body was not to 
 set free that body, because these two ambitious 
 powers remaining without, and unconnected, would 
 have acted towards it as absolute states placed 
 around one which is free, or as Frederic and 
 Catharine around Poland ; they would have di- 
 vided and agitated it ; in place of merely wishing 
 to exercise a predominant influence, they would 
 lean towards its conquest. The true indepen- 
 dence of Germany, therefore, consisted in a strong 
 organization of the diet, in an equitable partition 
 of voting between Austria and Prussia, of such a 
 nature that the confederation should be able to hold 
 the balance between them. In addition to those 
 European arrangements which would not render 
 Prussia the natural enemy of France, (as was 
 done in 1815, by giving that power the Rhenish 
 provinces,) the two German powers remaining 
 rivals, but held in equilibrium by the diet, Ger- 
 many would be free, that is, would be capable of 
 making its resolutions lean to the side of its true 
 interests. 
 
 To suppress the power of election for the impe- 
 rial crown, would not be a step of much value, 
 at least so it would appear. Although for two 
 centuries this crown has not passed away from the 
 house of Austria, the electic n was, nevertheless, a 
 bond of dependence, which laid that house under 
 an obligation to the states of Germany. It is 
 sometimes highly useful to make the great depen- 
 dent upon the suffrage of the lesser powers, when 
 anarchy cannot be expected to result from such a 
 dependence. Germany, constituted as it had been 
 in 1803 by Napoleon, with some votes given to 
 the Catholics, in order by that to re-establish a 
 balance, too much changed at the expense of 
 Austria, presented an arrangement better and more 
 natural than that which was devised by the authors 
 of the new European organization. 
 
 Although disinterestedness was the essential 
 principle of the proposed plan, this same disinter- 
 estedness might go so far as not to acquire, and 
 content itself with a better arrangement of 
 Europe as a unique indemnity for the expense of 
 the war, but it was not to be expected that it 
 should go so far as to make sacrifices at a loss. 
 They would, therefore, owe an indemnity to 
 Austria for the states of Venice, of which they 
 wished to demand the renunciation on her part. 
 In consequence they gave Austria Moldavia and 
 Wallachia, in order that she might thus extend 
 her territory as far as the Black Sea, and secure 
 herself against the future danger of being block- 
 aded by Russia. 
 
 The Ottoman empire was maintained unchanged, 
 save in regard to certain restrictions, that they 
 would afterwards make known. 
 
 The north remained to be considered. There 
 was much to be done in its regard, according to the 
 singular organizers of Europe, who worked with 
 so much freedom upon the map of the world. 
 The frontier which separated Prussia from Russia 
 was bad. Poland was divided between these two 
 powers. In the sight of the abbe" Piatoli, and in 
 that of the young personages whom he inspired with 
 his policy, in that of prince Czartoryski above all, 
 even with Alexander, the dismemberment of Po- 
 land was a great outrage. Alexander, in his 
 youth idle, and oppressed in the time of Paul, had
 
 1805. 
 April. 
 
 England to restore Malta. — 
 A kingdom to be formed 
 in Egypt. 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 A cods of the laws of nations 
 to be formed. 
 
 621 
 
 often said in the niiilst of his heart's outpourings 
 that the dismemberment of Poland was a crime of 
 his forefathers, and that he should be happy to make 
 reparation for it. But how was Poland to be 
 renewed .' II >w placed > a state cut off and iso- 
 lated between the rival states which had destroyed 
 it. There existed one mode, which was to recon- 
 struct it entirely, to render back to it all the parts 
 of which it u;is formerly composed, and to give it 
 afterwards to tiie emperor of Russia, who would 
 grant to it independent institutions, in such a 
 fashion that Poland, destined in the ancient ideas 
 of Europe to s rve as a harrier to Germany 
 against Rus ia, would be rather the advanced 
 guard of Russia against Germany. Such was the 
 dream of these young politicians, such was the 
 ambition with winch tlu-y nourished Alexander. 
 This great indignation against the outrage of the 
 last century, tins noble disinterestedness imposed 
 upon all the courts to repress the ambition of 
 France, had therefore, for the definitive end, to 
 reform Poland, that it might be given to Russia ! 
 This was not the first time that, under the vain- 
 glorious virtues, offered with ostentation to the 
 world's esteem, great vanity and great ambition have 
 been concealed. This court of Russia, which at 
 that time carried to the highest point the affecta- 
 tion of equity and disinterestedness, that pre- 
 tended from the height of the Pole to give a 
 lesson to England and to France, was thinking, 
 therefore, in reality, of the complete possession of 
 Poland ! However, it concealed amid its de- 
 signs a feeiing that must be honoured, that of 
 prince Czartoryski, who, not seeing at the moment 
 any possibility of re-establishing Poland by the 
 hands of Poles alone, wished in default of them, 
 to serve tie- cause by the hands of the Russians. 
 This at least was a legitimate object ; and it is 
 not possible to reproach him with but one thing, 
 often perceived by the Russians, and more than 
 once denounced to the emperor Alexander, that 
 he thought less of the interests of Russia than 
 those of his original country, and in this view 
 would push his master into an ill-calculated 
 war. The abbe l'iatoli, a long while attached to 
 Poland, partook in all these ideas. It was difficult, 
 nevertheless, to propose to " this alliance of medi- 
 ation," founded on the principle of disinterested- 
 
 ; it was difficult to propose to such an al- 
 
 liance the abandonment of Poland to Russia ; but 
 then: was a means of obtaining that object. 
 Prussia loving peace and the profit of a neutrality 
 would not, it was probable, consent to declare her- 
 telf. Then to punish her refusal, they would march 
 over her hoily, and take from her Varsovia and the 
 
 Vistula; and with these large portions of ancient 
 Poland, reunited to those already in the possession 
 of Russia, they would constitute the new Poland of 
 which Alexander should be the king and legislator. 
 To these i leas there were some: others joined, as 
 accessaries t> the plan, sometimes singular in 
 themselves, and sometimes just and generous. 
 
 They would oblige England to restore Malta to 
 
 the order. Russia would abandon Corfu, which 
 from that tine would figure among the seven 
 islands. England had taken India; that it would 
 
 be necessary to abandon to her; but they would he 
 
 able to draw from Egypt an immense aid towards 
 
 civilization, general commerce, and the balance of 
 
 the seas. They would take it from the Porte, and 
 give it over to France in order that she might 
 charge herself with its civilization. They would 
 form an oriental kingdom, which should be placed 
 under the paramount sovereignty of France. There 
 they would place the Bourbons to reign, if at the 
 peace Napoleon was maintained upon the throne 
 of France, and Napoleon if the Bourbons were re- 
 established on their former throne. They would 
 restore to the Porte the Barbary states ; they 
 would even aid it to reconquer them, in order 
 that piracy might be abolished, a barbarism disho- 
 nourable to Europe. Finally, there were certain 
 possessions contrary to the nature of things, al- 
 though sanctioned by time and conquest, that it 
 would be humane and wise to alter. For example, 
 Gibraltar served the English to keep up in Spain a 
 contraband trade, shameful and corrupting for the 
 nation; the islands of Jersey and Guernsey aided 
 the English in fomenting civil war in France ; 
 Memel in the hands of Prussia was on the territory 
 of Russia, a species of Gibraltar in fraud. They 
 would, if it was possible, through the means of 
 certain compensations, bring the possessors to re- 
 nounce the posts and places of which such a cen- 
 surable use was made. 
 
 Spain and Portugal were to be reconciled and 
 united by a federal tie, which placed them under 
 the shelter of French influence on one side, and of 
 English influence on the other. It was necessary 
 to oblige England to repair the wrongs that she 
 had done towards Spain, to weigh upon her, so as 
 to force her to restore the captured galleons, and in 
 thus conducting the mediation, to snatch the court 
 of Madrid, which desired nothing more ardently, 
 from the overwhelming tyranny of France. 
 
 To complete this great work of European organi- 
 zation, the emperor of Russia was to address him- 
 self to all the learned men of Europe, and to re- 
 quest from them a code regulating the rights of 
 nations, comprehending anew maritime law. It 
 was, they said, inhuman and barbarous, that a na- 
 tion should declare war without having first sub- 
 mitted to the arbitration of a neighbouring disin- 
 terested states, and above all, that one nation should 
 commence hostilities against another without a 
 previous declaration of war, as had come to pass in 
 regard to England and Spain, and that innocent 
 merchants should find themselves ruined or de- 
 prived of their liberty by such a species of ambus- 
 cade. It was intolerable yet more, that neutral 
 nations should be the victims of the rage of rival 
 powers, and be unable to pass over the seas with- 
 out being exposed to the consequences of a contest 
 
 to which they were perfect strangers. The I >ur 
 
 of this grand reforming court exacted that all these 
 
 evils should be provided against, by international 
 
 laws. Prizes would be granted to the learned who 
 should propose on this subject the best, system 
 of tin- riglns of nations. 
 
 It was by this medley of odd ideas, some of an 
 
 elevated character, others purely ambitious in their 
 objects, these wise, those chimerical, that they ex- 
 alted the brain ol I he young emperor, licLle, lively, 
 as vain of Ins llOliesI hut fugitive intentions, ns he 
 would be, if they were all of the most approve, I 
 
 worth, lie believed himself really called to rege- 
 nerate Europe; and if be Sometimes interrupted 
 himself iu his line dreams, it was in thinking of a
 
 Deficiency of wisdom 
 
 g22 '" tne pl ans °* 
 
 mediation. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Interview of Pitt and 
 Nowosiltzoff. 
 
 1805. 
 
 Apiil. 
 
 great nun who domineered in the west, and who 
 was nut of the humour to leave him to his work of 
 regeneration, neither without him nor against him. 
 Those who observed Alexander closely, observed, 
 although his spirit was shaken at the idea, that he 
 foresaw war with Napoleon, as the last and pro- 
 bable conclusion of all his plans. 
 
 This strange conception did not merit to be re- 
 lated at such a length, no more than the thousand 
 propositions with which the framers of projects often 
 overburden the courts which have the weakness to 
 listen to them, if it had not entered into the head of 
 Alexander and of his friends, and what is more 
 serious, had it not become the text of all the nego- 
 tiations which followed, to serve finally as the foun- 
 dation of the treaties of 1814. 
 
 One thing is worthy of remark. It was a re- 
 proach at this epoch that the French revolution 
 had promised liberty, independence, and happi- 
 ness to every people without giving iliein, and thus 
 had broken its word with mankind. But here 
 we have absolute power at work. Young, spirited 
 men. some honest and sincere, others purely ambi- 
 tious, all educated in the school of philosophers, 
 united by their birth, and uniformity of tastes, 
 around the heir of the greatest despotic empire in 
 the wor.d, are taken with the idea of rivalling the 
 French revolution, and of performing its gene- 
 rous and popular intentions. This revolution, which 
 according to them had not even procured liberty 
 for France, because it had given her a master, and 
 that had been of no more worth to other nations, 
 than causing them a humiliating dependence upon 
 the French empire, this revolution they would 
 en found by opposing to it a European regenera- 
 tion, founded upon an equitable distribution of ter- 
 ritories, ami a new law of nations. It would have 
 an independent Italy, a free Germany, a Poland re- 
 cnsiituled. Every great power would be restrained 
 by useful counterpoises. France itself would be, 
 not humiliated, but brought back to a respect for 
 the rights of others. The abuses of war would dis- 
 appear on land and sea; piracy would be abolished; 
 the ancient highway of commerce would be re-es- 
 tablished through Egypt; science finally would be 
 Called in to write down a public law ol nations. Ali 
 this was not only libellously written down by an 
 editor ot memoirs, but seriously proposed to all the 
 curts, and discussed with Pitt, the least chimerical 
 of mankind. We know to-day, we who are forty 
 years old and more, what has become of all those 
 I liilanihropic views of absolute power* The inven- 
 tors ut ibese schemes, beaten, disconcerted for ten 
 umi's by that which they wished to destroy, once 
 victors, in 1814, made neither a code of the law of 
 nali' ns, nor a code of maritime law; they did not 
 lier Italy, nor Germany , nor Poland. Malta and 
 Gibraltar have not ceased to belong to the English; 
 and tbe demarcations of Europe, traced according 
 to the interests of the passing moment, without any 
 calculation about the future, are the least wise that 
 it is possible to imagine them. 
 
 However, not to anticipate on the sequel of this 
 history — to say how all these ideas became com- 
 mon to the friends of Alexander and to himself, 
 would lie a useless detail. It appears certain, 
 that they were deeply penetrated with them, both 
 the one and the other, and that they promised to 
 make them the basis of the Russian policy. The 
 
 prince Czartoryski, seeing here a new chance for 
 the re-constitution of Poland, very ardently desired 
 to carry it into execution. He had become, since 
 the retreat of M. de Woronzoff into the country, 
 from the simple adjoint to the minister of foreign 
 affairs, the directing minister of that department. 
 M. Novvosiltzoff and Stmgonoff, the adjoints, one of 
 justice, the other of the interior, dedicated them- 
 selves to very different cares than those apparently 
 under their charge; they occupied themselves with 
 their young colleague and the emperor to set the 
 world upon a new basis. It was resolved that the 
 one of their number possessed of most dexterity, 
 M. Nowosihzofl', should be sent to London to con- 
 fer with Pitt, and make him agree to the designs of 
 the court of Russia. It was necessary to convert 
 the ambitious British cabinet, to bring it to the 
 disinterested views of the projected design, in order 
 to be able to found that which they called " the al- 
 liance of mediation," and in the name of this 
 alliance, to speak to France in such a manner as 
 to be beard. A cousin of M. Strogoiioff set out for 
 Madrid, in the double object of pacifying England 
 and Spain, and of binding together Spain and Por- 
 tugal by indissoluble ties. It was decided that M. 
 Strogonoff should visit London before going to 
 Madrid, in order to commence in that capital his 
 conciliatory mission. In the judgment of all 
 Europe, the proceedings of the British government 
 towards the commerce of Spain had been con- 
 sidered unjust and odious. He was to state, that if 
 England did not become more rational in its con- 
 duct, it should be left to engage alone against 
 France, and that Russia would enter herself, with 
 all the continental powers, into a neutrality fatal 
 to Great Britain. 
 
 'Ihe two young Russians charged to obtain the 
 adoption from other powers of tbe policy of their 
 cabinet, set themselves on the route for London 
 towards the close of April, lb'04. M. Nowosiltzoff, 
 presented at the English court by the Russian 
 ambassador, Woronzoff', brother of the chancellor 
 in retirement, was received with a distinction and 
 with attentions fitting to make an impression upon 
 it jouug statesman admitted, for the first time, 
 to the honour of treating upon the great affairs 
 of Europe. It is much oftener harshness and 
 pride than suhtilty that characterize the diploma- 
 tists of England. Slid lord Harrowby, and more 
 particularly Pitt, with whom the Russian envoy 
 entered at once into a conference, were both soon 
 able to perceive with what sort of persons they had 
 to transact busintss, and conducted themselves ac- 
 cordingly. Old Pitt, old by character much more 
 than years, rendered supple by tbe danger, all 
 haughty as he was, esteemed himself but too for- 
 tunate to find again an alliance upon the contii em, 
 to he very difficult in his uegotiati n. He was .is 
 complaisant as it was needful lor him tube towards 
 young personages destitute of experience, and 
 feeding themselves upon chimerical notions. He 
 listened to the singular propositions of the Hnssiau 
 cabinet, appeared to welcome them with great con- 
 sideration, but modified them as he found h e< u- 
 venii nt to suit his own political views, took can- 
 not to repel any thing, hut limited himself to p, st- 
 |»i uillg until the time of a general peace any thing 
 that was incompatible witn the interests of Bri isli 
 policy. He returned the propositions of the Rus-
 
 1805. 
 April. 
 
 M. Nowosiltzoff confers with 
 Mr. Pitt. 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 Views of Mr. Titt, and modi- 
 fications. 
 
 623 
 
 sian envoy, writing in relation to tliem his own 
 observations 1 . At first Pitt consented to be brow 
 beaten by tlie young Russian envoy; be Buffered 
 him to reproach English ambition, the harshness of 
 its proceedings, and its usurping system, whioh served 
 as a pretext lor the usurping system ol France. He 
 Buffered him to say, that in order to form a new 
 alliance, it must be grounded upon a great disin- 
 terestedness on the part of all the contracting 
 puwera. The head of the British cabinet, thus 
 become alive to the subject, approved strongly of 
 all the ideas of the ambassador ol' Alexander, and 
 declared that it was necessary to exhibit effectually 
 the most perfect separation from any personal 
 views, if they would tear off the mask with which 
 the ambition of France was concealed; that it 
 would be indispensably needful that the allies 
 should not appear to think of themselves, but of 
 the enfranchisement of Europe, oppressed by a bar- 
 barousaud tyrannical power. The gravity of men, and 
 the seriousness of the interests of which they treat, 
 do not hinder them (rum giving Very often a spec- 
 tacle but too puerile. Is it not, in effect, some- 
 thing very puerile to see diplomat ists representing 
 the ambitions that have agitated the world for ages, 
 reproaching France with her insatiable avidity? 
 As if the English minister had wished in this any 
 thing more than Malta, India, and the dominion of 
 the sea! As if the Russian minister had desired 
 any thing besides Poland and a dominant influence 
 on the continent! How lamentable to hear the 
 heads of states address each other seriously with 
 similar reproaches! Doubtless, Napoleon was much 
 too ambitious for bis own interest, and more par- 
 ticularly for that of France; but Napoleon con- 
 sidered, if it may be so said, in bis moral causes, 
 was he any thing more than the reaction of the 
 French power against the usurpations of the 
 European courts in the last century, against the 
 partitions of Poland and the conquest of the Indies! 
 Ambition is the vice or virtue of all nations ; 
 the vice, when it torments the world without doing 
 any good; the virtue, when it agitates and civili/^s 
 it. In this point of view, the ambition of which 
 the ua t ions have still the least to complain, what- 
 ever the) have suffered, is that of France. There 
 is not one of the countries traversed by her armies 
 which France has not left belter and more en- 
 lightened. 
 
 It was then agreed between Pitt and M. Nowo- 
 siltzoff that the new alliance should profess the 
 greatest disinterestedness, in order to render more 
 evident still the insatiable cupidity of the French 
 eni|teror< In admitting that it would be very use- 
 ful to disembarrass Europe of this formidable 
 personage, it was still acknowledged that it would 
 be imprudent to announce any intention of im- 
 posing a new gover -nt upon France, They 
 
 woidd wait until the country itself should pro- 
 iiioof-; secoudly ( if it should Itself be disposed t" 
 sluke off the yoke of the imperial government ; 
 above ail, take gnat care iii assure to the 
 beads of the army the preservation of their rank, 
 ami to the proprietors of the uali nial domains the 
 preservation of their property. All the proclama- 
 tions addressed to the French nation were to carry 
 
 ' I liave mynelficen tlif duplicate of thaas conferences, 
 of which one copy is to ba found in France. — Author, 
 
 the most tranquillizing assurances upon this sub- 
 ject. Pitt even went as far as to regard this 
 precaution so important, that be said he was ready 
 to make, with English money* a provision (une pro- 
 vision , this was his own expression,) to indemnify the 
 emigrants remaining around the Bourbons; and 
 thus take away from them every motive for alarm- 
 ing the proprietors of the national property, Pitt 
 dreamed therefore of the famous indemnity to the 
 emigrants twenty years before it was voted by the 
 parliament of France. In willing to indemnify 
 such pretensions, he could not assuredly have 
 known what he engaged himself to do; but ill 
 showing himself disposed to attempt it tit the ex- 
 pense of the British treasury, be proved what an 
 immense price England attached to the fall of 
 Napoleon, who had become so menacing an object 
 in her sijjit. 
 
 The idea of uniting an imposing mass of force, 
 on the strength of which they Coil Id treat before 
 fighting, was naturally admitted by Pitt with ex- 
 treme eagerness. He had consented to the simili- 
 tude of a previous negotiation, well knowing that 
 it would not be of consequence, and that the con- 
 ditions proposed would never agree with the pride 
 of Napoleon. He would never suffer in any case 
 that they should organize without, and against 
 him, Italy, Switzerland, and Holland, under the 
 specious pretext of their independ. nee. Pitt there- 
 fore left the young Russian governors to think that 
 he would work for the " grand mediation," con- 
 vinced as he was that they were marching purely 
 and simply to a third coalition. As to the distri- 
 bution of the forces, he contradicted a part of their 
 project. He accepted well enough the three grand 
 masses; one in the south composed of the Russians, 
 Neapolitans, and English ; another in the east, 
 composed of the Russians and Austrians; one in 
 the north composed of Prussians, Russians, Swedes, 
 Hanoverians, and English. But he declared he 
 Could not at that moment furnish a single English- 
 man. He said that they should he kept on the 
 coasis of England, always ready to embark, and 
 they would produce a very useful result, by mena- 
 cing the shores ol the French empire in all points 
 at once. This signified that, living in terror of the 
 expeditions prepared at Boulogne, the English 
 government would not leave its territory destitute, 
 a thing very llalural. Pitt promised subsidies, but 
 
 n t as much nearly as Ihey asked. He offered 
 fi 000.000/. sterling,' or 150,000,000 f. He insisted 
 most particularly upon a subject which the authors 
 of the Kussian project seemed to treat very lightly, 
 that was tile Concurrence of Prussia. Without 
 her, ail appeared to him difficult, indeed marly 
 impossible. In his eyes the concurrence of entire 
 Europe was required for the destruction of Napo- 
 
 1< He strongly approved that they should pass 
 
 over the body of Prussia, il it were not found 
 practicable to draw that country into the alliance; 
 because Russia would thus bind herself lor ever 
 to the policy of England; he even offered in that 
 esse, io niake the pais of tlie subsidy destined for 
 Prussia pass on to St, Petersburg; but he felt it 
 
 was a very serious thing, and gave his advice- that 
 
 propositions, the si udvantageoua possible, should 
 
 be addressed to the cabinet ol Berlin, in order to 
 
 cam n over. " Do not believe," he said to M. 
 Nowosihzoff, " that 1 inn the least ill tlio world 
 
 I
 
 624 
 
 Interview between THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Pitt and Nowosiltzoff. 
 
 1805. 
 April. 
 
 favourable to that false cabinet, crafty, and full of 
 cupidity, that demands sometimes of Europe, some- 
 times of Napoleon, the price of its perfidiousness; 
 no, but it is iu this cabinet that the fate of the 
 present, and even of the future reposes. Prussia, 
 jealous of Austria, fearing Russia, will always 
 carry herself on the side of France. It is necessary 
 to detach her; unless this is done, she will never 
 cease to be the accomplice of our irreconcilable 
 enemy. It is necessary to be wanting as relates 
 to her alone in your ideas of disinterestedness; it 
 is necessary to give more than Napoleon knows 
 how to offer, something before all things else, that 
 shall embroil her with France." 
 
 Pitt had then by his hatred, which sometimes 
 cleared Ids sight, if it often blinded him, imagined 
 a modification of the Russian plan, fatal as well for 
 Germany as for France. He thought the idea 
 luminous and profound, of constructing around the 
 French territory kingdoms capable of resisting 
 France, a kingdom of the two Belgiums, and a 
 subalpine kingdom; one for the house of Orange 
 protected by England, the other for the house of 
 S.ivoy protected by Russia. But he thought that 
 it was an insufficient precaution. He wished that 
 in place of separating Prussia and France by the 
 Rhine, they should on the contrary be placed in 
 immediate contact; and he proposed ^to grant to 
 Prussia, if she pronounced in favour of the coali- 
 tion, all the country comprised between the Meuse, 
 Moselle, aul Rhine, all that is called at this day 
 the Rhenish provinces. It seemed indispensable 
 to him if it was wished in future to drag Prussia 
 from her interested neutrality, and from her par- 
 ti.ility for Napoleon, near whom she always searched 
 and found an unceasing support against Austria. 
 They extended their design in 1815, by placing on 
 the Rhine Bavaria, besides Prussia, in order to 
 take away from France all her old allies in Ger- 
 many. When she will one day have need of a 
 support against the dangers which will come upon 
 her from the side of the north, Germany will ap- 
 preciate what services those might have rendered 
 h r. who have themselves Studied to create subjects 
 of division between her and France. 
 
 There came out of these conferences a new idea, 
 destined to complete the kingdom of the two Bel- 
 gians; that was to construct a girdle of fortresses, 
 tfie image of those which Vauban had constructed 
 formerly to cover France, in that country without 
 frontier, and to construct those fortresses at the 
 expense of the alliance. 
 
 In regar I to Germany and Italy, the English 
 minister made them feel bow far it was from being 
 possible to execute their vast project at the mo- 
 m-nt. how much it would wound the two powers of 
 whom they hail the most need, Prussia and Aus- 
 tria. They woidd neither the one nor the other 
 consent to leave the Germanic confederation; 
 Prussia in particular had refused to agree that the 
 crown of Germany should be hereditary; Austria 
 would repulse a constitution for Italy which should 
 exclude it from that country. Of the projects re 
 garding Italy, Pitt admitted only the constitution 
 of the kingdom of Piedmont. He wished that Savoy 
 itself should be added to all that the Russian pro- 
 ject already attributed to Piedmont. 
 
 finally, they did not discourse much about Po- 
 land; all that point implied war with Prussia, which 
 
 Pitt held it as above all things best to avoid. The 
 Russian diplomatist, imbued with such generous 
 ideas on quitting St. Petersburg, dared not make 
 mention of Egypt, Gibraltar, or Memel; of all that 
 he had there deemed the most excellent in his pri- 
 mitive project. Upon two subjects very important, 
 Pitt was little satisfactory and almost negative; it 
 may be said upon Malta and maritime law. Rela- 
 tive to Malta, Pitt peremptorily refused to enter- 
 tain the question, and adjourned explanations upon 
 that subject until the epoch when it would be 
 known what sacrifices France was disposed to 
 make. As to the new law of nations, he said that 
 such a work, moral, but little practicable, should 
 be left to a congress which should assemble after 
 the war, to conclude a peace in which all the in- 
 terests of thenations should be equitably balanced. 
 The idea of a new law of nations seemed to him 
 very fine, but difficult to realize, because nations 
 would with difficulty adopt uniform dispositions, 
 ami would observe them with still more difficulty 
 when adopted. However, he did not decline to 
 treat of these matters in the congress, which 
 should at a later time regulate the conditions of 
 a peace. 
 
 These conferences terminated by a singular ex- 
 planation. It had for its subject the east and 
 Constantinople. Very recently, by her policy in 
 Georgia, and by her relations with the insurgents 
 on the Danube, Russia had given England some 
 umbrage, which had provoked on her part a note, 
 in which the independence and integrity of the Ot- 
 toman empire were already professed as principles 
 of European policy. " It is not thus that people 
 proceed when they would establish confidence be- 
 tween allies," said M. Nowosiltzoff to Mr. Pitt; "of 
 all men my master is he who has the most noble, 
 most generous character ; it suffices that he is 
 proud of his integrity. But to seek to stop him by 
 menaces, or only by insinuations, is to wound him 
 uselessly. He would be excited rather than re- 
 strained by such means." At these words Pitt 
 made many excuses at having suffered umbrages 
 so ill founded to be noted, that they were but na- 
 tural before they had arrived at the period in their 
 intercourse, that inspired full confidence between 
 each other; but that for the future, and with the 
 intimacy that was established between the two 
 courts, it would be impossible. " Besides," said M. 
 Nowosiltzoff, " what inconvenience would it be if 
 Constantinople appertained to a civilized people 
 like the Russians, in place of belonging to barba- 
 rians like the Turks ? Would not your commerce 
 in the Black Sea gain considerably by such a 
 change ? Without doubt, if the east had submitted 
 to that France which is so given to usurpation, the 
 danger would be real; but as to Russia, the danger 
 would be nothing. England could have no objec- 
 tion to make. Pitt 1 replied, that these considera- 
 tions bad assuredly much weight in his eyes; that as 
 to himself he had no prejudice in that respect, that 
 be did not see any very great danger in case Con- 
 stantinople should fall into the hands of the Rus- 
 sians; but that it was a prejudice rooted in his 
 country, that he was obliged to humour, and that he 
 must take good care about actually touching on any 
 similar subject. 
 
 1 This detail is contained in a very curious letter from 
 M. Nowosiltzoff to his cabinet.
 
 1805. 
 April. 
 
 Negotiations of 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 Russia with Prussia. 
 
 625 
 
 If. Strogonoff obtained nothing satisfactory, or 
 next to no tiling, relative to Spain. She had 
 handed over, according to the English cabinet, nil 
 her resources to France; it was a delusion to care 
 about her. However, if she would declare against 
 France, her galleons should be restored to her. 
 
 M. Strogonoff set out For Madrid, M. Nowosiltzoff 
 for St. Petersburg. It was agreed that lord Gower, 
 Bub8i rjuently viscount Granville, then ambassador 
 from England at the court of St. Petersburg, 
 should be charged with detailed (lowers to conclude 
 a treaty on the basis agreed upon between the two 
 courts. 
 
 The Russian plan had not been submitted but a 
 few davs to elaboration in London, when it thus re- 
 turned home, despoiled of all which it had that was 
 generous, and also of a little that was practical. It 
 was reduced to a project of intended destruction 
 against France. No more of Italy, Germany, or 
 Poland, independent ! The kingdom of Piedmont; 
 the kingdom of the two Belgiuins ; out of a sense 
 of profound hatred to France, Prussia upon the 
 Rhine; the restitution of .Malta evaded; the new 
 law of nations remitted to a future congress; in 
 fine, before the commencement of hostilities, a si- 
 mulation of negotiation, a simulation very vain, 
 because a general and immediate war was at the 
 foundation of things: here is what remained of this 
 vain-glorious project for a European re- constitu- 
 tion, grown out of a sort of mental fermentation 
 in the young heads that governed Russia. They 
 then set themselves to negotiate at Petersburg 
 with lord Gower upon the points that were ad- 
 mitted in London between Pitt and NowosiltZoff. 
 
 Whilst they thus leagued with England, it was 
 necessary to undertake an analogous work with 
 Austria and Prussia, in order to bring them to join 
 the new coalition. Prussia, that had engaged her- 
 self with Russia to make war if the French passed 
 the limit of Hanover, but that in the meanwhile 
 had promised France to remain inviolably neuter 
 if the number of French in Germany wire not aug- 
 mented, was not willing to abandon this perilous 
 equilibrium. She feigned not to comprehend that 
 which Russia stated to her, and sheltered herself 
 Under her old system, become proverbial, "the 
 
 neutrality of the north of Germany." This manner 
 of eluding the question was so much the more 
 facile, as that in fear of seeing the secrets of the 
 new coalition delivered over to Napoleon, the Rus- 
 sian diplomatists dared not openly explain them- 
 selves. The cabinet of Berlin, by its hesitations, 
 
 had given itself such a reputation for duplicity, 
 that they believed it was impossible to confide to it 
 any secret without its being soon communicated to 
 
 Prance. They did not therefore impart the design 
 
 carried to London, nor aught of the negotiations 
 
 thai foil .wed it ; but they cited tO it every day the 
 
 new encroachments of Napoleon, more particularly 
 the conversion of the Italian republic into a king- 
 dom, winch would Come til be, they said, a union ol 
 
 Lorn bar dy with Prance, similar to that of Pied- 
 
 i it. They announced the most gigantic designs 
 
 They reported thai Napoleon was going to make of 
 Parma and Piaceuza, of Naples, and, finally, of 
 Spain itself, kingdoms for In* own family ; that soon 
 Holl <ud would experience ■ similar lot ; that Swit- 
 zerland Would be hit- .rpoiat d, u id IT the |'i< t.\ I ol 
 
 a rectification of the French frontiers; that cardi- 
 
 nal Fesch would be shortly elevated to the Fa pal 
 chair; that it was necessary to save Europe, me- 
 naced with a universal domination ; that the 
 courts which should obstinately live amid this in- 
 security, would be the cause of the common loss, 
 and finish by being themselves enveloped. Know- 
 ing more particularly that the rivalry of Austria 
 and Prussia was the principal cause which brought 
 back the latter to the side of France, they endea- 
 voured to reconcile these two powers. They re- 
 quested Prussia to tix her pretensions, and to make 
 them known; they told her that they would try 
 and entreat of Austria the avowal of her own. and 
 that they would force both one and the other to be 
 reconciled through a definitive arbitration of their 
 differences. They announced that by means of 
 some Catholic voices more in the college of princes, 
 a concession of very small importance, Austria 
 would content herself for ever with the reoez of 
 11J03, and would sanction the new arrangements by 
 her irrevocable adhesion, through which Prussia 
 had gained so much. They even went so far as to 
 insinuate, that if by any misfortune a contest should 
 become inevitable, Prussia would be legally indem- 
 nified for the chances of the war. However, they 
 did not avow that a coalition was ready to be 
 formed; and that as far as concerned principle it was 
 concluded; they appeared to express no more than 
 the wish of seeing Prussia united with the rest of 
 Europe, to guarantee the equilibrium of the world, 
 at that time seriously menaced. 
 
 In fine, to be as near the court of Prussia as pos- 
 sible, they sent to it a Russian general, M. Vint- 
 ziugerode, an enlightened officer of the staff, who 
 was to open himself by little and little to the king, 
 but to the king alone, and who having a knowledge 
 of the military plan would be able, if he succeeded 
 in making himself heard, to propose the means of 
 execution, and to regulate the whole plan and de- 
 tails of the future war. M. Vintzingerode arrived 
 at the end of the winter of 11104, the moment when 
 Napoleon was preparing to set out for Italy; he 
 kept up a great reserve near the Prussian cabinet, 
 but gained ground a little near the king, and ap- 
 pealing to the friendship commenced at Memel 
 between the two sovereigns, endeavoured to draw 
 in the king through the title id' that fri ndship to 
 the common cause of kings. The young Frederick 
 William, seeing himself further pressed, anil com- 
 prehending at last what the real question was, pro- 
 tested his strong affection for the emperor Alex- 
 n tiller, and his warm sympathy for the cause of 
 Europe, but objected that he was exposed to the 
 first attacks of Napoleon, that he did not believe 
 himself sufficiently strong to combat with so power- 
 ful an adversary; that the succours which they led 
 him to expect might not arrive until too late, be- 
 eau-e they were very far distant, and he should lit! 
 
 vanquished, perhaps destroyed, before they could 
 come to his aid. He obstinately refused all parti- 
 cipation in a coalition, that they had suffered him 
 to p. reeive without expressly avowing it. I le made 
 much too of the danger id' placing himself in con- 
 nexion with the suggestions of England, and oven 
 proposed, in order to prevent a general war, of 
 which be was vc py much afraid, to act as tho in- 
 termediate party between Kil-sia and I'' ranee. 
 
 In this delicate < juncture, tie- king bail called 
 
 into consultation M. Haugwit/., who had for soino 
 
 Ss
 
 __- Prussia sends M. Zastrow 
 b-o to Petersburg. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Austria allies itself 
 with Russia. 
 
 1805. 
 April. 
 
 time retired to his estates in Silesia, and had dis- 
 covered, in the advice he gave, a fresh encourage- 
 ment for an ambiguous and pacific policy. If it 
 became necessary for him to take a positive reso- 
 lution, M. Haugwitz would have sooner leaned 
 towards France; M. Hardenberg, who was his suc- 
 cessor, would have preferred leaning towards 
 Russia ; but he was ready to decide, he said, in 
 favour of France as soon as of Russia, provided that 
 some part was taken. With less mind, tact, and 
 prudence than M. Haugwitz, he was fond of cen- 
 suring liis tergiversations, and professed, as a dis- 
 tinguishing mark between himself anil his prede- 
 cessor, a taste for some party strongly decided. 
 It w;is necessary, in the sense of his meaning, to 
 take the side of France, if it were judged useful 
 to do so, and embrace her cause, but in such a 
 case to have the advantages and gather the price 
 of a decided option. In this view, he was less 
 agreeable to the king than M. Haugwitz, who left 
 his prince to taste the sweets of his indecision; and 
 it was possible already to perceive between M. 
 Haugwitz and M. Hardenberg that difference of 
 language through which ruptures begin between 
 ministers, whether in courts or in free states. 
 
 The king, in reply to the mission of M. Vintzin- 
 gerode, wished also to send a person of confidence 
 to St. Petersburg, and despatched M. Zastrow with 
 a commission to explain his position to the em- 
 peror Alexander, to make his reserved conduct 
 palatable, and to penetrate, if it were possible, more 
 deeply still into the yet veiled secret of the new 
 coalition. While he sent M. ZiStrow to Peters- 
 burg for the purpose of stating these things, Fre- 
 derick William boasted to Napoleon of his resist- 
 ance to the suggestion^ of Russia; he spoke of the 
 neutrality of the north of Germany, not as a real 
 neutrality, as it was in effect, but as a positive 
 alliance, which should cover France on the north 
 from all the enemies which she could have to 
 combat. This prince, moreover, offered, as he had 
 offered Russia, to play the part of a conciliator. 
 
 M. Vintzingerode, after having prolonged his 
 stay at Berlin so far as to render himself regarded 
 as a troublesome guest at the court, from its fear 
 of being compromised by the prolonged presence of 
 a Russian agent, proceeded to Vienna, where he 
 made the same efforts as at Berlin. He had no 
 need to hold with Austria the same dissimulation 
 as with Prussia. It was not at all necessary. 
 Austria was full of h Ured to Napoleon, and she 
 ardently desired the expulsion of the French from 
 Italy. With this court, it was not necessary, as 
 with the king of Prussia, to cover himself with the 
 plausible semblance of disinterestedness, He might 
 speak plain, and say what he wished ; because 
 Austria desired the same thing that was desired at 
 St. Peter^liurg. She had not with her at least the 
 illusions of youth and false sentinientalism, which 
 agreed not with her old experience. Yet further, 
 she knew how to keep a Secret. If, in appearance, 
 she b id for France infinite care in management, 
 and for the ear of Napoleon the constant language 
 of Battery, she nourished at the bottom uf her heart 
 all the resentments of a mortified ambition, for 
 tin years continually maltreated. She had, there- 
 fore, secretly entered, fr m the first, into the pas- 
 sions of Russia; hut remembering her defeats, she 
 had not consented to bind herself without extreme 
 
 prudence, and had taken only conditional engage- 
 ments, and with due precaution. She had signed with 
 Russia a secret convention, which was for the south 
 of Europe, that which the convention signed by 
 Prussia was for the north 1 . She promised, in this 
 convention, to throw off her inactive character, if 
 France, committing new usurpations in Italy, ex- 
 tended further the occupation of the kingdom of 
 Naples, actually limited to the Gulf of Tarentum, 
 operated new incorporations, like that of Piedmont, 
 or menaced some part of the Turkish empire, such 
 as Egypt. Her contingent to the war was to be 
 in that case 350,000 Ausirians. She had the assur- 
 ance, if fortune were favourable to the arms of 
 the coalesced powers, of obtaining Italy from the 
 Adda to the Po, leaving out the Milanese. They pro- 
 mised her besides to replace the two dukes of Ti s- 
 cany and Modena in their former territories; to 
 give her thus the country of Salzburg, and the 
 Brisgau, become vacant. The house of Savoy was 
 to have a grand establishment in Italy, composed 
 of the Milanese, Piedmont, and Genoa. Here again 
 appears the Russian plan. At Vienna, as at Lon- 
 don, there remained only the party hostile to 
 France, and advantageous to the coalesced powers. 
 Austria had desired and obtained that this conven- 
 tion 2 should be buried in profound mystery, in 
 
 1 Prussia, in spite of the game of duplicity which she 
 played among the great powers, through the war conducted 
 herself becomingly, in some circumstances under which it 
 could scarcely have been expecied she would have done so. 
 Down to the present period of his history, our author, while 
 he noticed the alleged ill conduct of Drake and Spencer 
 Smith towards France (see page 510 and note), passes 
 over the indefensible outrage committed by Napoleon a few 
 months afterwards on the person of Sir George Humbold, 
 British charge d'affaires to the Hanse towns, and the states 
 of the circle of Lower Saxony. On the 25th of October, in 
 the same jear, in which so much was said about the 
 British agents, Drake and Smith, that according tn our 
 author, operated in the way it was designed to operate, 
 "as a diversion to the death of the duke d'Enghien," to 
 adopt our autlmr's own words (which is singularly said 
 in lord Hawkesbury's manifesto (see note, page 541; to be 
 so evident, his lordship being thus corroborated by our author 
 in the surmise thirty-five years afterwards); it was in that 
 very year Napoleon glaringly violated the territory of Ham- 
 burgh, landing two hundred and fifty soldiers, and seized 
 the British envoy and his papers at his residence at Gr ndal, 
 a few hundred paces only from the gate ol Hamburgh, 
 carrying him off to Hanover, and from thence to Paris to the 
 prison of the Temple. Tlie French government fotn d no 
 papers compromising Sir George Rumbold, and he was 
 released a day or two afterwaids by the interference 
 of Prussia, all the foreign ministers of Hamburgh 
 instantly despatching couriers to their respective 
 coui'.s. Before Sir George was released, it is said, he was 
 made to pledge his word that lie would not return to Ham- 
 burgh, nor reside within lifty leagues of the French 
 territory. He was finally put on boaid a British frigate off 
 Clurburg by a flag of truce. In order to cover this 
 atrocious outrage, a notice was issued by the French min- 
 ister for foreign affairs, that France would not recog- 
 nise the English diplomatic corps in Europe, until their 
 government abstained from charging them with " military 
 agency." The violation of a neutral territory for the pur- 
 pose of such a seizure was passed over. The conduct of 
 Prussia, acting no doubt under the feeling whiih inspired 
 her Russian convention, was spirited and honourable. The 
 total silence of the author abnut all this is singular. 
 
 2 This convention was dated the Gill of November 1804. 
 The text is here given, which until now was unknown to the
 
 1805. 
 
 April. 
 
 Treaty of alliance. 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 Treai.y of alliance. 
 
 627 
 
 order not to be too soon compromised with Napo- 
 leon. This justice must be rendered to Austria, 
 
 world, as was the convention of Russia with Prussia (see 
 page 543). 
 
 _ , . ... (25ih of October, ,„„. 
 
 Declaration signed the { ot |, of NoV emher, 1804 " 
 
 The preponderating influence exercised by the French 
 govi lament on the neighbouring states, and the number of 
 countries occupied by its troops, inspiring just uneasiness for 
 the maintenance of the tranquillity and the general security 
 of Bnrope; his majesty, the emperor of all the Russias, 
 partakes with bis majesty, the emperor king, the tonvi tinn 
 th it this state of things demands ilier mutual and must 
 serious solicitude, and renders it urgent that they should 
 unite themselves to that iffect by a strict concert, adapted to 
 the stite of the crisis, and the danger to which Europe 
 finds itself exposed. 
 
 The undersigned • « • • • furnished in conse- 
 quence with instructions and powers to negotiate and con- 
 clude a work thus salutary with the pleniputeutiary ot lis 
 majesty the emperor king to treat with him, after having 
 mutually communicated the full powers in due form, 
 freed with the said plenipotentiary in the stipulations 
 stated in th • following articles : — 
 
 Art. 1. His majesty the emperor of all the Rus-ias 
 promises and engages to establish, with a due regard to the 
 crisis and the danger above mentioned, the most intimate 
 agreement with his majesty the emperor and king, and the 
 two monarchs will take care io inform and tounder-tand each 
 other mutually upon the negotiations and agreements that 
 they shall in the pres lit case form with other powers for the 
 same end as that agreed upon between them, and any steps 
 they may take in this regard shall be conducted in a man- 
 ner, not in any mode to conipiomi.se the present engage- 
 ments arranged between them, before they shall havedecided 
 by a common agreement to make them public. 
 
 Art. 2. His majesty the emperor of all the Russias, and 
 hi ^ majesty the emperor king, will not neglect any oc- 
 casion or facility to place themselves in a state to co operate 
 in a manner efficacious for the active measures which ihey 
 judge necessary to prevent the dangers which so imme- 
 diately menace the general security. 
 
 Art. 3 If out of hatred to the opposition that the two 
 imperial courts f. el io the ambitious objects of Fr .nee, in v ir 
 toe of this mutual co cert, one of them shall find itself imme- 
 diately attacked (the Russian troops St. tinned for the mo- 
 m nt in the seven Ionian Islands making a part of ti e pre- 
 sent stipulations), each of the two high contracting powers 
 onliges himself in the most formal manner, to put in action 
 for the common defence, at the soonest moment possible, 
 the lorces hereinafter aniioui.ced in Art. 8. 
 
 ART. 1- If it happed that the French government, 
 abusing the advantages it possesses by the position of its 
 troops that now occupy the territory Of the Germanic em- 
 pire, invade the adjacent countries, of which the integrity 
 and independence are e senlially allied with the Inter 
 
 , ,n. d that, " i . Dot being able to see such 
 
 an encroachment with an Indifferent eye, his majesty the 
 emperor of all the &us»lai finds hlmseli obliged to 
 move his forces thither, his majesty the emperor and 
 i. ii will i nduct on the pin ol Prat 
 
 ion which "ill impose upon him the duty of 
 
 pining himself, at the s i oment, in a situation 
 
 to furnish prompt succour, oonfonnabl) to the stipulations 
 of the pre. nr a. re. mant 
 
 Art .">. HU imperial majeJv of all the Rusaiaa partakes 
 
 fully In the Uvel) Interest that ins imperial ami royal 
 apo tolie maje tj tal iportlng the Ottoman Pa te, 
 
 whose vicinity la common to both, an tack dl sited 
 
 against Turkey in Europe by any other puwer cannot but 
 
 compromise the Security Ol Hu-sia and Austria, and that 
 the Porte in bis stale of existing trouble e.u.rmt I 
 
 repulse any enterprise foni him. on the said sup- 
 
 position, and if war on this account happen directly bu- 
 
 t hut. she at least did Dot make, as Russia and 
 Prussia did, a show of false virtues. She followed 
 
 tween one of the two imperial courts and the government of 
 Fiance, the other shall immediately prepare, in order to 
 assist with the smallest possible delay the power at war, 
 and contribute in concert to the preservation of the Otto- 
 man I'orte in his slate of existing pnsse-sion. 
 
 Art. G. The faie of the kingdom of Nflpli s must influence 
 that of Italy, in the independence of which their imperial 
 majesties take a particular Interest, and it is intended that 
 the stipulations of the present agreement shall have 
 ibis effect in case the French shall wish to extend them- 
 selves in the kingdom of Naples beyond their actual limits, 
 to take the capital, the fortresses o! the country, or to pene- 
 trate into Calabria; in a word, if they force his majesty the 
 king of Naples to tisk every thing, and to oppose, by force, 
 this new violation of his neutral ty ; and if his imperial 
 majesty the emperor of all the Russias, hy the succour that 
 in tins supposition he would furnish to the king of the Two 
 Sicilies, shall find himself engaged in a war against 
 France, his imperial and royal majesty obliges himself to 
 commence upon his side operations against the common 
 enemy according to the stipulations, and specially according 
 to the Arts. 4, 5, 8 and 9 of the present agn ement. 
 
 Art. 7. Seeing the uncertainty in which the two high con- 
 tracting powers yet actually find themselves about the 
 future designs of the French government, they reserve 
 io themselves, besides all that is stipulated above, to agree 
 according to the urgency of circumstances upon the dif- 
 terent ca«es which shall be of such a nature as thus to 
 require the employment of their mutual lorces. 
 
 Ar;'. S. In all the cases in which t lie two imperial 
 courts shall proceed to active measures in Virtue of the 
 present agreement,, or of those agreements which they 
 may ultimately form between themselves, they promise and 
 engage to co operate simultaneously, and according to a 
 pi n which will be settled immediately betwei n themselves, 
 with sufficient forces to hope for a succesful combat with those 
 oi the enemy, and to repulse them in lull strength, their forces 
 not io be less than three hundred and th ny-five thousand 
 men underarms for both the imperial courts ; his imperial and 
 royal majesty will furnish two hundred and thiity-five 
 thousand on his part, and the remainder will he given by 
 his Imperial majesty of all the Russias. Tl ese iroops will 
 be sent and supported constantly on both sides, upon a com- 
 plete looting, and there will be left besides a corps of obser- 
 vation, in order to be assured that the court of Berlin slrtill 
 remain passive. The resp ciive armies will be distributed 
 in such a manner, that the forces of the two imperial 
 courts that shall act in concert, will not be Inferior. 
 in number to those of the enemy whenever they shall 
 have to combat. 
 
 Art.'.). Conformably to the desire manifested by the Im- 
 perial royal court, his majesty the emperor of all the Russias 
 
 engages himself to employ his good offices for the object of 
 obtaining of the court of London for his imperial and 
 loyal aposinl cil majesty, in case of a war with Pram 
 announced In the present declaration, or which may re- 
 sult from future agreements, that the two Imperial courts 
 
 reserve to themselves to make, under Art. 7, subsidies 
 as well lor the lirst movement Of the campaign, as annually 
 lor the whole duration of the war, which would be as 
 
 much as possible directed to the convenience of the courl 
 
 ol Yn una. 
 
 Arc 10. In the execution of the plana arranged, then 
 
 shall be a jnst regard borne to the obstacles which result as 
 
 much from the actual stale ol'ihe force! .mil frontiers of the 
 An in hi monarchy, as from the Imminent dangers to 
 which it will he exposed ill that stale ly I lie (161 siralions 
 
 ami armaments which may immediately provoke a prema- 
 ture luvaj on on the pari of Prance. In consequence, with 
 the determination for active measures ol winch then will he 
 
 ■ mutual agreement, and as much as the -county of the two 
 
 ntiai Interest ol the common object 
 
 will permit, the greatest att. IJtton shall lie paid to combine 
 
 S s 2
 
 628 
 
 Conditions made at THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Petersburg with lord Gower. 
 
 1805. 
 April. 
 
 her own interest without distraction, without fickle- 
 ness, ami free from charlatanism. She is not to be 
 
 the movement with the time and the possibility of placing 
 the forces and frontiers of his majesty the emperor and king 
 in a situation to be able to open the campaign with the 
 energy necessary to attain the object of the war. As soon 
 as the encroachments of the French shall have established a 
 case in which his said imperial and royal apostolic majesty 
 shall be engaged to take a part in the war, by virtue of the 
 present agreement, and of those other agreements which 
 may be formed successively afterwards, he engages him- 
 self not to lose a moment to put himself in a state, with the 
 shortest possible delay, which delay shall not exceed three 
 months after the demand made to co-operate efficaciously 
 with his imperial majesty the emperor of all the Russias, 
 and to proceed wi'.h vigour in the execution of the plan 
 which will be arranged. 
 
 Art. 11. The principles of the two sovereigns will not 
 permit them in any case to desire to constrain the free 
 wishes of the French nation; the end of the war shall not 
 be to operate a counter revolution, but only to remedy the 
 dangers common to all Europe. 
 
 Art. 12. His majesty the emperor of all the Russias, 
 acknowledging that it is just that in case of a new warlike 
 explosion the house of Austria should be indemnified for 
 the immense losses which it has sustained in its last con- 
 test with France, engages himself to cooperate on his 
 behalf to obtain this indemnity in the like case, as far as 
 the success of their arms will permit. Slill in the most 
 fortunate result, his majesty the emperor and king will not 
 extend his limit in Italy beyond the Adda on the West, 
 and the Po on the South; well understanding that of the 
 different mouths of this last river, it is the most southern 
 shall be intended. The two imperial courts desiring that, 
 in the supposed case of success, his royal highness the 
 elector of Salzburg shall be replaced in Italy, and to this 
 effect shall be placed in the possession of the grand duchy of 
 Tuscany, or that he shall obtain some other convenient esta- 
 blishment in the north of Italy, supposing events render 
 this arrangement practicable. 
 
 Art. 13. Their imperial majesties, under the same suppo- 
 sition, have at heart to procure the re-establishment of 
 the king of Sardinia in Piedmont, even with a great ulterior 
 aggrandisement. Under the hypothesis less fortunate, it 
 is agreed always to assure to him a suitable establish- 
 ment in Italy. 
 
 Art 14. In the same case of great success, the two im- 
 perial courts are in an understanding on the lot of the 
 Legations, and concur to make a restitution of the duchies 
 of Modena, Massa, and Carrara to the legitimate heirs of 
 the last duke; but incase events prevent this design, the 
 said Legations or Modena will serve for the establishment 
 of the king of Sardinia. The archduke Ferdinand will 
 remain in Germany, and his majesty will content himself, 
 if it be necessary, with a trontier in Italy, more approximat- 
 ing to the Adila, than to that which exists at present 
 
 Art. 15 If circumstances permit the replacing the 
 elector of Salzburg i" Italv, the country of Salzburg, Berch- 
 tolsgaden, and Passau will be united to the Austrian 
 monarchy. This will be the only case in which his 
 majesty will obtain an extension of his frontiers in 
 Germany. 
 
 As to the part of the country of Aichstadt. possessed at 
 present by the e ector of Salzburg, it will then be disposed 
 of in the manner in which the two courts sha I aeree 
 among themselves, and more particularly in favour of lite 
 elector of Bavaria, if by the side which he may take for 
 the common cause, he places himsell in a position to be 
 favoured. Similarly in the supposed case in the preceding 
 article of the re-establishment of the heirs of the deceased 
 duke ol Modena in his former possessions, the property of 
 Brisgau and of Ortcnau would become a means of encou- 
 ragement of the good cause for one of the principal princes 
 of Germany, and specially for the elector of Baden, in 
 
 censured in the circumstances, save for the falsity 
 of her language at Paris. 
 
 However, in signing this convention, she indulged 
 the hope that it would only be an act of simple 
 precaution, because she did not cease to dread war. 
 Thus, after having signed it, she refused all the 
 solicitations of the emperor of Russia to pass imme- 
 diately to military preparations; she had even de- 
 spaired, judging by her inertness. But at the news 
 of the arrangements made by Napoleon in Italy, she 
 was, all of a sudden, aroused from her inaction. The 
 title of king taken by Napoleon, and, above all, so 
 general a title as king of Italy, which seemed as if 
 it would extend itself to the entire peninsula, had 
 alarmed her in the highest degree. She imme- 
 diately commenced military preparations, that she 
 had at first determined to defer; and she called to 
 the ministry of war the celebrated Mack, who, 
 although destitute of the qualities of a general in 
 chief, was not deficient in the talent of organizing 
 armies. She listened then with an attention alto- 
 gether new to her to the pressing propositions of 
 Russia, and, without engaging herself immediately 
 by a written consent to an immediate war, she left 
 it the care of pushing forward the negotiations in 
 common with England, and to treat with that power 
 on the difficult question of subsidies. Meanwhile, 
 she discussed with M. Vintzingerode a plan for the 
 war conceived under every imaginable hypothesis. 
 It was, therefore, at St. Petersburg that the 
 new coalition was to be definitively formed, in other 
 words, the third in number, reckoning from the 
 commencement of the French revolution. That of 
 1792 had terminated in 1797 by the treaty of 
 Campo-Foriv.io, under the blow struck by general 
 Bonaparte; that of 1798 was terminated in 1801, 
 under the blows of the French consul; the third, 
 that of 1804, was not to have an issue more fortu- 
 nate, under the blows levelled at it by the emperor 
 Napoleon. 
 
 Lord Gower had, as already said, full powers 
 from his court to treat with the Russian cabinet. 
 After long discussions, the following conditions 
 were agreed upon. There was to be formed a 
 coalition between the powers of Europe, compre- 
 hending at first England and Russia, and at a later 
 period those powers whom they were able to draw 
 into it. The object was the evacuation of Hanover 
 
 favour of whom it will be thence renounced by the 
 house of Austria. 
 
 Art. IC. The two high contracting powers engage to 
 each other never to lay down their arms, and never to treat 
 for an accommodation with the common enemy but under 
 mutual consent, and after a previous engagement between 
 them. 
 
 Art. 17. In limiting for the moment to the objects and 
 questions above the present preliminary agreement, re- 
 spectinc which the two monarchs promise on the one part 
 and on the other the most inviolable secrecy, they reserve to 
 themselves without any delay, and immediately/ to agree to 
 the ulteror arrangements insomuch as concerns a plan of 
 operations in case the war should become inevitable, as well 
 as to all which relates to (he maintenance of the respective 
 forces, both in the Austrian states and in a foreign territory. 
 
 Art. 18. The present declaration, mutually acknow- 
 ledged as obligatory as the most solemn treaty, will be 
 rattled in th« space of six wneks 01 sooner, if able to be 
 rloiie, find the arts of ratification be equally exchanged in 
 the same space of time 
 
 In faith of which, &c.
 
 1805. 
 
 April. 
 
 Subsidies granted by England. THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 England not to be ostensible 
 in the coalition. 
 
 G29 
 
 and the north of Germany; the effective indepen- 
 dence of Holland and Switzerland; the evacuation 
 of all Italy, comprising the isle of Elba ; the re- 
 constitution and aggrandisement of the kingdom of 
 Piedmont ; the consolidation of the kingdom of 
 Naples, and finally the establishment of an order 
 of tilings iii Europe, which should guarantee the 
 security of all the st ttee against the usurpations of 
 France. Thisobjecl was not designated in a more 
 precise manner, for the purpose of leaving a certain 
 latitude for treating with France, at least fictitiously. 
 All the powers were to he afterwards invited to 
 give in their adhesion. 
 
 The coalition had resolved to unite at least 
 five hundred thousand men, and to bring into 
 action out of those they thus had at least four hun- 
 dred thouaan I. England was to furnish 1 .250 0011/. 
 sterling, <ir 31,250,000f. per hundred thousand men. 
 She granted besides a sum paid down at once, re- 
 presenting three months' subsidi is, towards the 
 expenses of entering upon the campaign. Austria 
 engaged to furnish two hundred and fifty thousand 
 nun nut of five hundred thousand; the remainder 
 w.re to be furnished by Russia, Sweden, Hanover, 
 England, and Naples. The <piesti.ui of the ad- 
 hesion of Prussia was resolved in the boldest 
 mode. England and Russia agreed to make com- 
 mon cause against every power that, by its hostile 
 measures, or only by its too close alliance with 
 France, should oppose itself to the designs of the 
 Coalition. It was in effect decided that Russia, 
 dividing its forces into two parts, should send one 
 by Gallicia to the succour of Austria, the other by 
 Poland to the limit of the Prussian territory, 
 if definitively Prussia refused to enter into the 
 coalition, t» • pa-s over the body of that power he- 
 fore she could put herself in a posture of defence; 
 and as they did not wish to give her too much 
 suspicion by the union of such an army upon her 
 frontier, it was agreed they should take for a 
 pretext the desire they felt to come to her aid, in 
 case Napoleon, in defiance of her, should throw 
 himself upon her territory. They might, therefore, 
 qualify these eighty thousand Russians as auxilia- 
 ries and friends, really designed to trample Prussia 
 under their feet. 
 
 This violence projected against Prussia, although 
 appearing a little hold to England, was very accept- 
 able to her. She had nothing better to have re- 
 course to that could save her from invasion, than 
 lighting up a vast incendiarism on the continent, 
 anl exciting a frightful war, whoever were the com- 
 batants, whoever might be the victors or the van- 
 quished. On the part of Russia, it was on the 
 contrary a great piece of rashness; because to ex- 
 pose Prussia to throw' herself into the anus of Na- 
 poleon, was to ensure herself a certain defeat, 
 should the invasion "I the Prussian territory be as 
 prompt as they imagined it would lie. Put prince 
 Czartoryski, the most obstinate of these young per- 
 sonages in pursuing ail object, saw in all this only 
 a means of wresting Warsaw from Prussia, in order 
 
 to re-constitute Poland, and give it to Alexander. 
 The military plan indicated by the situation of 
 
 the united powers, was always to attack in three 
 masses; in tlw south with the Russians at Corfu, 
 
 the Neapolitans, and the English, ascending the 
 Italian peninsula, and joining ■ hundred thousand 
 Austrians in Lombardy; in the east with the grand 
 
 Austrian and Russian army, acting upon the Da- 
 nuhe; finally, on the north with the Swedes, Hano- 
 verians, and Russians descending the Rhine. 
 
 In respect to the diplomatic plan, it c> nsisted in 
 an intervention in the name of the "alliance of 
 mediation," and in a previous negotiation before 
 proceeding to hostilities. Russia kept strongly to 
 this part of her original project, which preserved 
 for her the attitude of an arbitrator, agreeably to 
 her pride, and it must he said also to the secret 
 feebleness of her sovereign. She hoped vaguely 
 still that Prussia would he drawn in, provided it 
 were not too much alarmed by the discovery of the 
 design arranged for a coalition, and that Napoleon 
 were placed between a fearful league of all Europe 
 against him, and certain moderate concessions. 
 
 There was obtained from England her consent 
 to a singular piece of dissimulation, the least 
 worthy possilde, but the best calculated for their 
 views. England consented to be kept at a distance, 
 and not to lie named in the negotiations, more par- 
 ticularly with Prussia. Russia would in her at- 
 tempts to gain over that power, always present 
 herself as not being allied to Great Britain in any 
 debign of a common war, but as wishing to impose 
 a mediation, in order to put a step to a state of 
 things oppressive for all Europe. In a serious pro- 
 ceeding in the sight of France, Russia would, with- 
 out acting ostensibly in the name of a coalition of 
 powers, offer her mediation by affirming that she 
 would make all the world accept ec|uitahle condi- 
 tions, if Napoleon would accept the like. This was 
 a double means, devised in order not to frighten 
 Prussia, nor to irritate the pride of Napoleon. 
 England would lend herself to this, provided Russia, 
 compromised by this mediation, was definitively 
 drawn into a war. As to Austria, the greatest care 
 was taken to leave her in the shade, and not even 
 to name her, because if she appeared to he in the 
 plot, Napoleon would fling himself upon that coun- 
 try before Russia was in a state to afford it succour. 
 Austria made active preparations, without mix- 
 ing herself in any part of the negotiations. It 
 was necessary to follow the same system of conduct 
 in relation to the court of Naples, which was ex- 
 posed in like maimer to the first blows of Napoleon, 
 because general St. Cyr was at Tarentum with a 
 division of fifteen thousand or sixteen thousand 
 French. They had recommended queen Caroline 
 to enter into all the engagements oi neutrality, or 
 even of alliance, that Napoleon wished to impose 
 upon her. Ill the meanwhile, Russia would trans- 
 port troops by little and little in vessels that should 
 
 pass the Dardanelles, and disembark at Corfu. It 
 was there that a strong division might at the latest 
 moment unite at Naples with a reinforcement of 
 English, Albanians, and others, it would then be 
 time enough to take off the mask, and to attack the 
 French at the extremity of the peninsula. 
 
 In proposing to attempt a preliminary negotia- 
 tion with Napoleon, it was iiecessarj to have at 
 hast some specious coiidnious to present to him. 
 
 There was nothing they had to oil', r, unless il was 
 
 to make a tender of the evacuation of Malta by the 
 
 English. The Russian cabinet had sent alar all 
 
 the brilliant portion of its plan, such as ifie reorga- 
 nization of Italy and of Germany, the reconstitu- 
 tion of Poland, and the digesting of a new code of 
 
 maritime law. If Russia conceded Malta to the
 
 England refuses to resign 
 C 30 Malta-Character and THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 description of the Rus- 
 
 sian projects — Sum- 
 mary of the Russian 
 projects. 
 
 1805. 
 April. 
 
 English, in place of playing the character of an ar- 
 bitrator between France and England, it would be 
 no other than an English agent, or more than that, 
 its docile ally and dependent. The Russian 
 cabinet therefore kept to the evacuation of Malta, 
 with an obstinacy which was not its customary 
 practice, and when it was necessary to sign the 
 treaty, it shewed an invincible resolution on the 
 point. Thus lord Gower was ready to agree to 
 all things, in order to compromise Russia in any 
 kind of agreement whatsoever with England; but 
 upon once demanding that she should abandon a 
 maritime position of the greatest importance, a 
 position which was, if not the only cause, at least 
 the principal cause of the war, she would not give 
 it up. Lord Gower believed himself too strongly 
 bound by his instructions to pass over such a 
 matter, and he refused to sign the abandonment of 
 Malta. The project therefore faiied. Still the 
 emperor Alexander consented to sign the conven- 
 tion of the llth of April, declaring that he would 
 not ratify it, mil ss the English cabinet renounced 
 the island of .Malta. A courier was then sent off 
 to London, earning the convention, as well as the 
 condition that was annexed to it, upon which the 
 Russian ratification depended. 
 
 It was arranged without loss of time, that the 
 season for military operations might not pass by, 
 to take the step agreed upon in relation to the 
 emperor of the French. There was chosen for this 
 purpose the same personage who had tied in Lon- 
 don the knot of the third coalition, M. Nuwosiltzoff. 
 There was destined to accompany him as an ad- 
 junct, the author of the plan itself of a new Europe, 
 already so disfigured, the abbe Piatoli. M. Nowo- 
 siltzoff was quite proud to be soon in Paris, and 
 place himself before the great man, who for some 
 years had attracted the regards of the whole 
 world. If in proportion as the decisive time ap- 
 proached, the emperor Alexander felt the more 
 anxiously a desire to see this previous mediation 
 succeed, M. Nowosiltzoff did not less desire the 
 same thing. He was young, and ambitious; he 
 regarded it as an infinite glory, first to treat with 
 Napoleon, and secondly, to be the negotiator who, 
 at the moment when Europe seemed ready to rush 
 into war, all of a sudden pacified it by his able 
 intervention. It may be reckoned, therefore, that 
 he did not seek to add to the difficulties of the 
 negotiation himself. After long deliberations, they 
 agreed on the conditions that he was to offer to 
 Napoleon, and they resolved to keep them a pro- 
 found secret. He was ordered to present a hist, 
 second, and third project, each more advantageous 
 for France than that which preceded, but with the 
 recommendation not to pass from one to the other 
 until after gnat resistance. 
 
 The base of all these projects was the evacuation 
 of Hanover and Naples, the real independence of 
 Switzerland and Holland, and in return the evacua- 
 tion of Malta by the English, and the promise to 
 digest ultimately a new code of maritime law. 
 To all this Napoleon would not oppose any serious 
 difficulties. In case of a solid peace, he had no 
 objection to evacuate Hanover, Naples, Holland, 
 and even Switzerland, on condition, as regarded the 
 last, that the act of mediation should be maintained. 
 The real difficulty was Italy. Russia, already 
 obliged to renounce her plans of European re-con- 
 
 stitution, had promised, in case war should become 
 inevitable, a part of Italy to Austria, and another 
 part to the future kingdom of Piedmont. Now, in 
 the hypothesis of a mediation, it was very necessary, 
 under the penalty of seeing the negotiator sent 
 back from Paris the day following his arrival, to 
 accord to France a part of this same Italy. It 
 was necessary, in order that the mediation should 
 appear serious, that it should appear so, above all, 
 to Prussia; and that they should be able to attach 
 and compromise her by the appearance of a nego- 
 tiation attempted in good faith. Here therefore are 
 the arrangements that they would successively 
 propose. They would at first demand the separa- 
 tion of Piedmont, save the re-constitution of a state 
 detached for a branch of the family of Bonaparte, 
 and further, the abandonment of the actual king- 
 dom of Italy, designed with Genoa for the house of 
 Savoy. Parma and Piacenza would remain to form 
 another endowment for a prince of the family of 
 Bonaparte. This was no more than the first pro- 
 position. They would pass immediately afterwards 
 to the second. According to this last, Piedmont 
 would remain incorporated with France; the king- 
 dom of Italy, adding Genoa, would be as in the last 
 plan givt n to the house of Savoy ; Parma and Pia- 
 cenza would remain the sole endowment, of the 
 collateral branches of the house of Bonaparte. 
 From this second proposition they would finally 
 pass on to the third, which would be the follow- 
 ing: — Piedmont would continue to be a French 
 province, the actual kingdom of Italy being given 
 to the Bonaparte family, the indemnity of the 
 house of Parma would be reduced to Piacenza 
 and Genoa. The kingdom of Etruria, assigned 
 four years before to a Spanish branch, remained as 
 it was then. 
 
 It must be said, that if to these last conditions 
 the evacuation of Malta by the English be added, 
 Napoleon had no legitimate reasons to refuse such 
 a peace, because they were the conditions of Lune- 
 vi lie and Amiens, with Piedmont over and above 
 for France. The sacrifice demanded of Napoleon 
 was limited in reality to that of Parma and Pia- 
 cenza, become French property by the decease of 
 the last duke, and of Genoa, so far independent. 
 Napoleon would have it in his power to consent to 
 such a project, if besides they managed to humour 
 his dignity in the form given to the proposi- 
 tions. 
 
 All these five projects of the friends of Alex- 
 ander turned therefore upon one very pretty result! 
 After having dreamed of the re-constitution of 
 Europe by means of a powerful mediation; after 
 having seen this re-constitution of Europe con- 
 vi rted at London into a project of destruction 
 against France, Russia affrighted to be so far ad- 
 vauced, reduced her grand mediation totheobtain- 
 ment of Parma and Piacenza as an indemnity for 
 the house of Savoy; because the evacuation of 
 Hanover and of Naples, the independence of Hol- 
 land and Switzerland, that she demanded besides, 
 had never been contested by Napoleon, peace being 
 once established. But if one thing so little was 
 not obtained, she had under hand a formidable 
 war in reserve. A conduct thus unreflecting and 
 rasli had conducted Russia into a defile sufficiently 
 narrow. 
 
 It was agreed besides, that they should demand
 
 1805. 
 April. 
 
 Russia determines to negotiate 
 at Paris. — M. NoWoailiEoffsent 
 to Berlin to obtain passports. 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 Napoleon arrives at Milan. — 
 Ilia reception. 
 
 C31 
 
 passports for M. Nowosiltzoff, tlirougli tlie media- 
 tion of ;i friendly court. Russia had only to choose 
 for this purpose between Prussia and Austria. To 
 address herself to the last-named power was to 
 draw u]>on herself the penetrating eyes of Napo- 
 leon, and she wished, as has already been staled, 
 to have her name forgotten as much as possible, in 
 order that she mi^ht have time to prepare herself. 
 Prussia, on the contrary, had nil', red to be media- 
 trix, which made it a natural thing that she should 
 by her interference obtain passports for M. Nowo- 
 siltzoff. He in the meanwhile had gone forward 
 to Berlin, to see the king of Prussia, and to attempt 
 near that prince a last effort; to communicate to 
 him alone, and not to his cabinet, the moderate 
 conditions proposed to France, and to make him 
 feel that if she refused such arrangements, it was 
 clear she must have views that were alarming for 
 Europe. Views irreconcilable with the indepen- 
 dence of all the .states, and that it was then the 
 duty of the entire world to unite and march against 
 the common enemy. 
 
 M. Nowosiltzoff therefore set out for Berlin, 
 where he arrived in great haste, pressed as he was 
 to commence the negotiation. He had with him 
 the abbe - Piatoli. He showed himself mild, con- 
 ciliatory, and perfectly reserved. Unfortunately 
 the king of Prussia was absent, occupied on a visit 
 to his provinces ill Franconia. This circumstance 
 was vexatious. They ran a double danger; either 
 of the refusal of England relative to Malta, which 
 would render all negotiation impossible, or of some 
 new enterprise of Napoleon in Italy, where he ac- 
 tually was at the mom lit, some enterprise that 
 would ruin the advanr of the different projects of 
 the approximation to .>e carried on at Paris. The 
 prompt arrival of M. Nowosiltzoff in France was to 
 have had in consequence an immense influence on 
 the side of peace. Besides, the young Russians 
 who governed the empire were so liable to impres- 
 sions, that their first contact with Napoleon would 
 attract them to him, and seduce them, as the con- 
 tact with Pitt had drawn them away so far from 
 their plan of European regeneration. Hence there 
 was ground greatly to regret the time they were 
 about to lose. 
 
 The king of Prussia, having been apprised that 
 they requested him to demand passports for the 
 Russian envoy, strongly applauded the measure, 
 
 and the probabiliti s of peace that he believed he 
 foresaw. He did not himself doubt that behind 
 this last attempt at an approximation, there was a 
 war in design, much more ripened than they bail 
 informed bitn of, riper than tiny thought who had 
 so rashly engaged in it. The pacific Frederick 
 
 William gave ;i n order to his Cabinet that they 
 
 should make an immediate demand of passports 
 from Napoleon lor M. Nowoeiltzoff, This last was 
 not to take at Paris any official quality, in order to 
 avoid the difficulty of the acknowledgment of the 
 
 imperial title borne by Napol.on; but in addressing 
 him, he would style hini sire, and majesty, and lie 
 hid be-ides powers complete and positive which he 
 
 was to show, should they |,e in accord, and which 
 
 authorised him to coucede tie- acknowledgment im- 
 mediately. 
 
 While they were thus acting in Europe against 
 
 Napoleon, he, environed Willi all tin- pomps ot |:a- 
 liau royalty, abounded in idStM Utterly opposed to 
 
 those of his adversaries, even the most moderate. 
 The sight of Italy, the scene of his first victories, 
 the object of all his predilections, filled him with 
 new designs for the grandeur of his empire, and 
 the establishment of his family. Far from willing 
 to partake it with any one, he thought on the con- 
 trary of occupying it entirely, and of creating the re 
 some of his vassal kingdoms, which would strengthen 
 the new empire <d' the West. The members of the 
 Italian consults, that had attended at the formality 
 of the institution of the kingdom of Italy, accom- 
 panied by the vice-president Melzi, and the minis- 
 ter Marescalchi, had gone in advance to prepare 
 for the reception at Milan. Although the Italians 
 would be proud to have him for a king, because his 
 government rendered them more secure than any 
 other, still the hope lost, or all hope adjourned at 
 least, of a royalty purely Italian, the fear of a war 
 with Austria in consequence of the change, even 
 the general nature of the title, "king of Italy," 
 made to be pleasing to them, but also to be alarm- 
 ing to Europe, all this had made them uneasy. 
 M. Melzi and M. Marescalchi had found them more 
 troubled, and yet less eager than before their de- 
 parture. The liberal party aggravated, kept them- 
 selves more and more aloof every day, and the 
 aristocracy did not make advances. Napoleon 
 could alone alter such ;< state of things. Cardinal 
 Caprarahad arrived, and had attempted to inspire 
 the clergy with sentiments of attachment to the em- 
 peror. M. de Segur, accompanying M Marescalchi, 
 had selected the ladies and the officers of the palace 
 from the first Italian families. Some excused them- 
 selves at the beginning. The interference of 
 M. Marescalchi, and a few of the members of the 
 consult a, the general allurements pro uced by the 
 fetes which they prepared, had ended by bringing 
 back those who had recalcitrated, and at last the 
 arrival of Napoleon had sufficed to decide every 
 body. His presence had produced, as it did in ge- 
 neral, a deep emotion among the Italians; his pre- 
 sence as emperor and king would naturally affect 
 them yet more; because this prodigy of fortune, 
 whom they loved to see, was yet more aggrandised. 
 Magnificent soldiers, united in the battle fields of 
 Castiglione, were designel to execute grand ma- 
 noeuvres, and to represent immortal battles. All 
 the foreign ministers were convoked at Milan. The 
 influx of the cm ions that had been carried to Paris 
 to see there the coronation, now Mowed towards 
 Lombardy. The movement was given, and the 
 imaginations of the Italians had returned to love 
 and admiration for the man who for nine years 
 had so much agitated them. They had, in imita- 
 tion of the towns of France, formed out of the 
 youth id' the best families guards of honour for his 
 reception. 
 
 Arrived at Turin, he there encountered Pius 
 VII., and exchanged with him a ladl and affectionate 
 farewell. Then he received bis new subjects with 
 infinite kindness, and occupied himself with their 
 interests, distinct yet from the interests of the rest 
 of the French empire, w ith that intelligent Solicitude 
 
 that he carried upon all his journeys, lie had re- 
 paired the faults and injustices of the administra- 
 tion, given justice to a vast number of requests, 
 and displayed, to seduce the people, all the attrac- 
 tions ot the supreme power, lie afterwards em- 
 ployed some days in. visiting the strong fortress i s
 
 poo Napoleon agrees to te- 
 ""* ceive M. Nowosiltzoff. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Napoleon crowned at 
 Milan. 
 
 1805. 
 May. 
 
 which were his grand creation, and also the base of 
 his Italian establishment, that of Alexandria. Thou- 
 sands of workmen were assembled tliere at this 
 time. Lastly, on the 5th of May, in the midst of 
 the plain of Marengo, from the height of a throne 
 elevated upon that plain, where, five years before, 
 he gained the sovereign authority, he attended to 
 the fine manoeuvres representing that battle. 
 Lannes, Murat, and Bessieres commanding the 
 troops. There was no one wanting but Desaix. 
 Napoleon laid the first stone of a monument de- 
 signed to record the memory of the brave who died 
 on that field of battle. From Alexandria he pro- 
 ceeded to Pavia, where the magistrates of Milan 
 had come to bring him the homages of the new 
 capital, and he entered Milan on the 8th of May, 
 to the sound of cannon and of bells, amid the accla- 
 mations of the people, enthusiastic at his presence. 
 Surrounded by the Italian authorities and the 
 clergy, he went to kneel in that old Lombard ca- 
 thedral, the admiration of Europe, destined to re- 
 ceive from him its last archbishop. The Italians, 
 sensitive to the highest point, sometimes displaying 
 emotions for sovereigns whom they did not love, 
 seduced, as all the people are, by the power of 
 great sights; what should they not feel in presence 
 of that man whose greatness had commenced under 
 their own eyes, for that star, which they were able 
 to boast, they had been the first to see in the Euro- 
 pean horizon ! 
 
 It was in the midst of this intoxication of gran- 
 deur, that the proposition to admit M. Nowosiltzoff 
 reached Napoleon. He showed the best disposi- 
 tion to receive the Russian minister, to hear him, 
 and to treat with him, no matter in what form, offi- 
 cial or not, provided it was seriously intended; and 
 that in endeavouring to act upon him, he did not 
 exhibit any partial condescension for England. As 
 to conditions, lie was far from having any reckoning 
 with the Russians. But he was ignorant of their 
 offers; he saw only the previous step, which was 
 couched in fitting terms, and he took good care not 
 to be guilty of wrong in repelling them. He replied 
 that lie would receive M. Nowosiltzoff towards the 
 month of July; his maritime projects, with which 
 he had not ceased to occupy himself in spite of his 
 apparent distractions from them, would not demand 
 his presence in France until that period. There- 
 fore he proposed to receive M. Nowosiltzoff to judge 
 if he were worth the trouble of listening to, and he 
 would in the mean time keep himself always in 
 readiness to interrupt this diplomatic interview, in 
 order to go and cut the Gordian knot of all the coali- 
 tions in London. 
 
 Although he knew not the secret of that which 
 lie had to organize, and was far from believing war 
 as far advanced as it was in reality, he judged truly 
 of the character of Alexander, and the unreflecting 
 allurements that drew him rapidly towards the 
 policy of England. In addressing to Prussia the 
 passports of M. Nowosiltzoff, he ordered to be com- 
 municated to that court the following observations. 
 
 "The emperor," said the minister tor foreign 
 affairs to M. Laforest, " the emperor, alter having 
 read your despatch, has found that it justifies fully 
 the fears which he had manifested in his letter to 
 the king of Prussia, and all that recalls to his ma- 
 jesty the language held by the British ministers, 
 tends to support him in this state of distrust. The 
 
 emperor Alexander is drawn on in spite of himself; 
 he cannot recognise that the plan of the English 
 cabinet in offering him the character of a mediator 
 is to bind together the interests of England with 
 those of Russia, and to bring the last some day to 
 take up arms to sanction a cause which will become 
 its own. 
 
 " At the moment, when through his experience 
 in public affairs, the emperor had acquired precise 
 notions of the character of the emperor Alexander, 
 he had felt that one day or another he would be 
 drawn into the interests of England, that had so 
 many means for gaining over a court as corrupt as 
 that of St. Petersburg. 
 
 '" However true this prospect of the future ap- 
 peared to the emperor Napoleon, he has considered it 
 coolly, and has provided in time for all that depended 
 upon him. independently of the conscription of 
 the year, he has made an appeal to the reserve of 
 the years xi. and XII., and has augmented by fifteen 
 thousand men the appeal made to the conscription 
 of the year xnr. 
 
 " At the least word that M. Nowosiltzoff utters 
 intending a threat, insult, or hypothetical treaty 
 with England, he must be listened to no more. If 
 Russia or any other power on the continent wishes 
 to interfere in the public affairs of the moment, 
 and presses equally upon France and England, the 
 emperor will not find fault, and will with pleasure 
 make sacrifices. England on her side is bound to 
 make tin se which are equivalent, but if, on the 
 contrary, sacrifices are exacted of France alone, 
 then whatever may be the union of the powers, the 
 emperor will help himself against all their extended 
 power by means of his good cause, his genius, and 
 his arms '." (Milan, 15th Prairial, year XIII., 4th 
 June, 1(105.) 
 
 On the 2Gth of May, Napoleon was crowned in 
 the cathedral of Milan with as much eclat as had 
 been exhibited in Paris six months before, in pre- 
 sence of the foreign ministers and the deputies 
 of all Italy. The iron crown, reputed to be the 
 ancient crown of the Lombard kings, had been 
 brought from Monza, where it was carefully kept. 
 After cardinal Caprara, archbishop of Milan, had 
 blessed it with the ancient forms used in respect 
 to the German emperors, for their coronation 
 as kings of Italy, Napoleon placed it himself upon 
 his head, as he had placed that of the em- 
 peror of the French, pronouncing in Italian 
 these sacramental words, " Dio me l'ha data, guai 
 a chi la tocchera !" or " God gives it me, touch it 
 who dares 2 !" In saying these words, he made 
 
 1 In a speech of Talleyrand's, or one purporting to be his, 
 in remarking upon the reply given by lord Mulgrave to the 
 letter of Napoleon to the king of England ^see page fiOb). is 
 the following passage, a portion of which resembles the 
 close of the above communication: — "Should, on the con- 
 trary, this first appearance of accommodation prove but a 
 false light, intended only to answer speculations ol credit, to 
 facilitate a loan, the acquisition of money purchases or en- 
 terprizes, then we shall know how far the dispositions of 
 the enemy are implacable and obstinate; we shall have to 
 banish all hope from a dangerous lure, and trust, without 
 reserve, to the goodness of our cause, to the justice of Provi- 
 dence, and to the genius of the emperor." — Speech of Tal- 
 Ictjrund, Feb. 4. 
 
 2 As in several other instances our author does not note 
 the inevitable inferences that follow some of his statements. 
 Thus he makes Napoleon refuse to permit the pope to place
 
 1805. 
 June. 
 
 Deputations from the 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. Italian cities invite Napoleon. 
 
 G33 
 
 those around him start by the significant energy 
 of his accents. This pompous ceremonial pre- 
 pared by the Italians, and principally by the 
 celebrated painter Appiani, surpassed all that 
 had been seen in former times of the finest things 
 of a similar nature in Italy. 
 
 After this ceremony, Napoleon promulgated the 
 organic statute, by which he erected in Italy a 
 monarchy in imitation of that of France, and 
 nominated as viceroy Eugene Beauharnais. He 
 presented afterwards this young prince to the 
 Italian nation, in a royal sitting of the legislative 
 body. He employed all the month of June in 
 presiding in the council of state, and in giving to the 
 administration of Italy the impulse that had been 
 given to the government of France, occupying 
 himself day after day with all the details of public 
 affairs. 
 
 The Italians, to whom it was necessary in order 
 for their satisfaction that they should have a 
 government present among them, had one now 
 under their own eyes, that joined to its real value 
 a prodigious magic in its forms. Thus snatched 
 from their discontents, and from their repugnance 
 for strangers, they had already rallied, high and 
 low, around the new king. The presence of Na- 
 poleon, supported by his formidable armies that 
 he had organized and completed for every event, 
 had dissipated their fears of the war. The 
 Italians bewail to think that they should never 
 more behold it upon their territory if it took place, 
 and that the sound would only come to them from 
 the banks of the Danube, and even from the 
 gates of Vienna, Napoleon passed in grand re- 
 view every Sunday the troops of Milan ; then he 
 re-entered bis palace, and received at a public 
 audience the ambassadors of all the courts of 
 Europe, the Btrangera of distinction, and above all 
 the representatives of the great Italian families, 
 and of the clergy. It was in one of these recep- 
 tions that he made the exchange of the insignia of 
 the Legion of Honour, with the insignia of the more 
 ancient and the more illustrious orders of Europe. 
 The minister of Prussia presented himself lirst, and 
 remitted to Napoleon the orders of the Black and 
 of the Red Eagle; then came the ambassador of 
 Spain, who presented him the order of the Golden 
 Fleece; then finally the ministers of Bavaria and 
 of Portugal, wlio presented him with the orders 
 of St. Hubert and of Christ, Napoleon gave them 
 in exchange the grand order of the Legion of 
 Honour, and granted a numb r of decorations equal 
 to those which he received. He distributed after- 
 wards bis foreign decorations among the principal 
 personages of bis empire. In a few months the 
 
 Italian court found itself on the same looting with 
 all the courts of Europe ; it carrier) the same in- 
 signia, with the rich costumes, inclining towards 
 the military habit. In the midst of tlii- eclat, 
 Napoleon retained bin own simplicity of person, 
 
 the crown on hi* head (see page COO), became the nation and 
 the army would be hurt at IBS Idea st • »-i \ i i >K the 
 
 crown; that the reality of things should bt observed, and 
 that Napoleon raUted this pan oftha ostsdmbIm fr"in the 
 public feeling. At Milan, when do such firellng could 
 exist, the error of that plea la laid ban, Napoleon showed 
 that his motive was his own pride, and thai the I 
 at Paris must have been a plausible deception. — Tran*lut<ir. 
 
 having for a sole decoration, the plate of the 
 Legion of Honour upon his breast, wearing the dress 
 of the chasseurs of the guard, without any gold 
 embroidery, a black hat, in which was alone dis- 
 played a tri-coloured cockade, as if he wished it 
 should be well understood that the luxury which 
 surrounded him was not made for himself. His 
 noble and handsome countenance, around which 
 the imagination of men placed so many glorious 
 trophies, was all which he desired to exhibit to 
 the eager attention of the natives. Still his 
 person alone was that sought by every eye. He 
 only was wished to be seen in the midst of his 
 numerous retinue, blazing with gold, and arrayed 
 in the coloured dresses of all Europe. 
 
 The different towns of Italy sent him deputa- 
 tions to obtain the favour of receiving him within 
 their walls. It was not merely an honour, but 
 an advantage they thus made an object of their 
 ambition, because every where bis penetrating 
 eye discovered some good to be effected, and his 
 powerful hand found the means of its accomplish- 
 ment. Resolved to give the spring and half the 
 summer to Italy, the better to divert the attention 
 of the English from Boulogne, he promised to 
 visit Mantua, Bergamo, Verona, Ferrara, Bo- 
 logna, Modena, and Piacenza. This still more 
 increased the delight of the Italians, and made 
 them all hope to participate in the benefits of the 
 new reign 
 
 His sojourn in this fine country soon produced 
 upon him those formidable allurements which 
 gave so strong a reason to fear for the mainte- 
 nance of the general peace. He began to con- 
 ceive an extreme irritation against the court of 
 Naples, which giving itself entirely up to the 
 English and Russians, publicly protected by the 
 last in all their negotiations, did not cease to 
 exhibit the most hostile sentiments to France. 
 The improvident queen, who had Buffered the 
 government of her husband to be compromised 
 by the most odious cruelties, bad taken a step 
 very unfortunately imagined. She had sent to 
 .Milan the most clumsy of negotiators in the prince 
 Cardito, to protest against the title of king of 
 Italy, taken by Napoleon, a title that a good many 
 persons translated l>y those winds inscribed oil the 
 iron crown, " king of all Italy, rex totius Italia." 
 The marquis de Gallo, the ambassador of Naples, 
 a man of good sense, sufficiently agreeable to the 
 imperial court, bad endeavoured to prevent this 
 
 dangerous proceeding, but without success. Na- 
 poleon had consented to receive the prince Cardito 
 on the day of the diplomatic receptions. That 
 same day he first gave the most gracious welcome 
 
 to M. de Gallo, thru be addressed in Italian the 
 fiercest speech to the prince Cardito, declaring to 
 him, in language as severe as it was c temptUOUS 
 
 for the queen, that be would chase her out of 
 Italy, and would scarcely Lave her Sicily lor a 
 refuge. They took away the prince Cardito Dearly 
 faulting. The noise of this affair produced a great 
 sensation, and soon idled the despatches from all 
 tin- European powers. Napoleon at that moment 
 thought of making the kingdom cd' Naples a 
 royalty for bis family, and one of the fiefs ol bis 
 gr<at empire. By little and little it began to 
 
 inter into bis mind to expel the Bourbons from 
 
 all the thrones in Europe, Still the accidental zeal
 
 634 
 
 Napoleon annexes Genoa 
 to France. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Fault of Napclenn in 
 the annexation. 
 
 1805. 
 June. 
 
 tlie Bourbons of Spain exhibited in the war 
 against the English, postponed as far as regarded 
 them tlie accomplishment of this formidable idea. 
 But Napoleon did not doubt that he should soon 
 have Europe to model again, whether lie should 
 be all powerful by passing the straits of Dover, 
 or whether diverted towards a continental war 
 from that which was maritime, he achieved the 
 expulsion of the Austrians from Italy ; he said 
 that he would unite the Venetian states to his 
 kingdom of Lombardy, and that he would then 
 effect the conquest of Naples for one of his 
 brothers. But all this, in his designs, was for the 
 moment deferred. Exclusively occupied with the 
 plan of descent upon England, he would not pro- 
 voke actually a continental war. He had, how- 
 ever, a disposition which he deemed opportune 
 and free from danger in completing, this was to 
 place a term to the unfortunate situation of the 
 republic of Genoa. This republic, placed on the 
 Mediterranean, where England domineered, and 
 Piedmont that France had joined to its own 
 territory, w;is situated as if imprisoned be- 
 tween two great powers, and saw its former 
 prosperity perish ; because it had all the incon- 
 veniences of a union with France to sustain with- 
 out the advantages. In fact, the English had 
 not been willing to acknowledge it, considering it 
 as annexed to tlie French empire, and they pur- 
 sued the vessels that bore its flag. Tlie barbarians 
 themselves pillaged and insulted it without any 
 kind of respect. France treating it as a foreign 
 land, had separated it from Piedmont and the 
 territory of Nice, by lines of custom-houses and 
 exclusive tariffs. Genoa \v;is smothered in conse- 
 quence between the sea and land, both of which 
 were closed upon her. As to France, she did not 
 gather more advantages from Genoa, than she 
 procured for her. The Apennines that separated 
 Genoa from Piedmont formed a frontier con 
 tinually infested with robbers ; it required the 
 most numerous as well as the bravest gendar- 
 merie to maintain the security of tlie roads. In 
 relation to the navy, the treaty which had been 
 recently concluded, only insured in a very incom- 
 plete manner the services which Genoa was able 
 to render. The loan of a foreign port in which to 
 found a naval establishment, without any direct 
 authority over it, was an attempt which called 
 for something more. By uniting the port of 
 Genoa and the population of the Two-Rivers to 
 the French empire, Napoleon obtained from the 
 Texil to the bottom of the principal gulph in the 
 Mediterranean, an extent of coast and a number 
 of seamen, that might be able, in sufficient time, 
 when united, to make France, if not the equal of 
 England on the seas, at least her respectable rival 
 there. 
 
 Napoleon did not resist all these considerations. 
 He believed that it was England alone who would 
 take any real interest in tins question. Hr had 
 not ventured to decide the fate of the duchy of 
 Parma and Piacenza, either on account of the 
 pope, to whom this duchy was a motive of hope, 
 or because of Spain which coveted it to aggran- 
 dize the kingdom of Etruria, or in fact on account 
 of Russia itself, that never wholly despaired of the 
 indemnity of the former king of Piedmont in Italv, 
 while there remained any territory vacant in that 
 
 country. But Genoa seemed to him of little in- 
 terest for Austria, for it was situated too far 
 away, of no consideration for the pope or Russia, 
 not important, according to him, with any one but 
 England ; and not having any motive to humour 
 her, and not believing her so strongly allied as she 
 was to Russia, he resolved to unite the Ligurian 
 republic to the French empire l . 
 
 It was a fault, because in the disposition of the 
 mind of Austria, it was to throw her into the 
 arms of the coalition, ai;d to settle a new union ; 
 it was to furnish to the enemies of France, who 
 filled Europe with perfidious rumours, a new 
 pretext grounded upon the cry against the anibi- 
 linii of France, and above all against the violation 
 of her promises, while Napoleon himself, when 
 instituting the kingdom of Italy, had promised the 
 senate not to add a single province more to his 
 empire. But Napoleon, who knew enough of the 
 bad designs of the Continent to beleve himself 
 free of the necessity of humouring it, but not 
 enough to appreciate justly the danger of a new 
 provocation, flattered himself besides that he was 
 soon to resolve in London all the European ques- 
 
 1 This breach of faith, admitted by our author, is not in 
 the slightest degree softened by !■ is attempted extenuation. 
 There were oilier questions equa iy as much violations of 
 acknowledged and implied engagements as the foregoing, 
 which show that Napoleon, like all great conquerors, had no 
 law but his own personal ambition. Austria, with all her 
 faults, put forth iocontrovei tililt aggressions on the part of 
 Napoleon as grounds for the pending war. Among them, 
 in a memorial issued at the time, wire ihe following: — The 
 occupation of Hanover, of the ) apal states, and if the king- 
 dom of Naples, as well as the Helvetian republic, contrary 
 to the solemn treaties of Ratisbon and Luneville; Ihe incor- 
 poration of Piedmont with the French en pire ; the invasion 
 of the German empire, by the seizure of the duked'Enghien 
 on neutral ground ; the seizure of se\eral islands on the 
 Rhine, which, according to the treaty of Pa'isbon, belonged 
 to the German empire, the demand to occupy the sea ports 
 ofDalmatia; the demand to occupy the capital of Naples, 
 its torts and sea-ports ; the occupation of all the sea-ports of 
 Etruri.i ; the dimand to occupy certain sea-ports in Sicily; 
 the creation of a new kingdom in Italy, contrary to the 
 secret articles of the trtaty of Luneville; the incorporation 
 of Genoa wilh the French empire; the insulting answers 
 given to count Cobentzel, on his representations in behalf of 
 the emperor of Austria; and, la>tly, a plan discovered by 
 the other powers for placing the brothers of Napoleon upon 
 thrones in the s uth of Europe. These were strong circum ■ 
 stances in proof of the restle s ambition of the emperor 
 Napoleon, and that the sole absorption of Genoa into the 
 French empire, and gilt of Lucca to his sister, in a time of 
 peace, and contrary to his own promises to the French 
 senate, were not the only legitimate ground of complaint his 
 enemiescould rightly urge against him, while forming.in their 
 own defence, however deficient in skill its execuiion might 
 have been afterwards, a league which gave them some hope 
 of overturning a system which, as the event proved, could 
 not be otherwise than the precursor of a never ending war 
 in Europe. Indeed, his determination to found an empire 
 of the West, admitted by M. 'Ihiers. having attached to it 
 vassal kings, was quite enough to justi y war to t.ie utter- 
 most against a system so destructive of peace, of national 
 lights, and overwhelmingly arbitrary. The splendid talents 
 of Napoleon were thus obscured by an ambition it became 
 the duty of every people to resist. Every effort to soften 
 acts of ambit ous and aibitrary violence, some of them, per- 
 haps, adiuittingof partial excuses, are lost in the paramount 
 duty of a universal resistance to predominant efforts for per- 
 sonal aggrandisement. — Translator.
 
 1805. 
 June. 
 
 The senate of Lucca presents 
 itself to Napoleon at Milan. 
 — Lucca annexed. 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. Austria excuses her armaments. 635 
 
 tions, and therefore did not hesitate, indeed deter- 
 mined at once, to give up Genoa to the French 
 navy. He had, :is minister at the republic of 
 Genoa, his compatriot Salicetti, whom he charged 
 with the task of sounding and preparing the 
 public mind. This task was not difficult, because 
 the public mind in Liguria was very well disposed 
 fee the purpose. The aristocratical and atlglo- 
 Austrian party could not be more hostile than it 
 was. The actual protectorate under which Genoa 
 was placed, seemed to be as odious to that party 
 as the union with France. As to the popular 
 party, it saw in this union the freedom of its 
 commerce with the interior of the empire, the 
 certainty of great future prosperity, the gua- 
 rantee that it should never again fall under the 
 yoke of an oligarchy, in fact the advantage of 
 belonging to the greatest power in Europe. The 
 minority of the nobility, borne away by the revo- 
 lutionary feeling, alone saw with pain the destruc- 
 tion of Genoese neutrality, but the great extor- 
 tions of the imperial court were an inducement 
 sufficient to indemnify the principal personages of 
 this class. 
 
 The proposition proposed by some senators, and 
 presented by the Genoese senate, was finally adopted 
 by twenty-two members to twenty. It was after- 
 wards confirmed by a species of popular suffrage, 
 given on the plan employed in France subsequent 
 to the consulate. Registers were opened, in which 
 each individual might inscribe his name. The 
 people of Genoa came forward, as they had done 
 in France, to enter their suffrages, nearly all fa- 
 vourable. The senate and the doge, on the advice 
 of Salicetti, went to Milan, there to present their 
 wishes to Napoleon, They were introduced to his 
 presence with a degree of preparation which recalled 
 the times when vanquished nations came to demaud 
 the honour to become a part of the Roman empire. 
 Napoleon received them upon his throne, on the 
 4th of June, declared that he granted their 
 wish, and promised to visit them upon quitting 
 Italy'. 
 
 To this incorporation there was another added, 
 less important, being no more than a drop of water 
 that has run over the vessel. The republic of 
 Lucca w as without any government, and was without 
 
 1 The union of Genoa with Frame took place at midday. 
 Tin- doge addressed the emperor, soliciting him to pram 
 the people the happiness of being his subjects. Napoleon 
 returned a very long answer, in which he laid, "] will 
 realize your wish ; I will unite you to my great people, it 
 will be to me a new means for rendering more efflcacloua 
 
 toe protection I have always loved lo prant you. My 
 people v>i,l receive you With pleasure. They know that, 
 in all circumstances, you have agisted their arms with 
 friendship, and have supported them with all your D 
 They lind b*»idea in jour ports an increase of maritime 
 power, which is DeMSSaiy lo them lo susiain their lawful 
 rights against the oppressor of the seas. You will hud in 
 Union with my peop.e a continent. You have only rirls, 
 
 and a marine. You «iii Bad a Bag which, whatever may 
 
 be the pretensions of ni\ i DOmiM, I will maintain on all the 
 seas of the uni' • m'ly free from insult ami from 
 
 search, and exempt from the tlphi of blockade, which I 
 
 will never recognise but lor placet really blockaded as well 
 by sea as i>y land. Yon will find yourselves sheltered miller It 
 fiom this shameful slavery, the existence of which I reluc- 
 tantly suffer with reepei t to w eak at nations, biti from which 
 1 will always guarantee my subjects." — Tranilalor. 
 
 ceasing, tossed 
 
 about between Etruria become 
 Spanish, and Piedmont become French, like a vessel 
 deprived of the helm, a small vessel it is true, upon 
 a little sea. The same suggestions disposed the 
 little state to offer itself to France, and its magis- 
 trates, in imitation of those of Genoa, went to de- 
 mand at Milan the benefit of a constitution and 
 a government. Napoleon also acceded to their 
 wishes; but finding the state too far off to be united 
 with the empire, he made of their territory tin 
 appanage for his eldest sister, the princess Eliza, a 
 woman of judgment, having a fine mind, gifted with 
 the qualities of a governing queen. She knew how 
 to make her authority be loved in this little coun- 
 try, where she administered the government wisely; 
 this caused her reception of the title devised ap- 
 propriately for her by Talleyrand of the " Semira- 
 r.lis of Lucca.'' Napoleon had already conferred 
 upon her the duchy of Piumbino : he this time 
 therefore gave to her and her husband, the prince 
 Bacciochi, the country of Lucca in the form of an 
 hereditary principality, dependent upon the French 
 empire, to return to the crown in case of the ex- 
 tinction of the male line, with all the conditions in 
 consequence, like the ancient fiefs of the Germanic 
 empire. This sister was to bear for the future the 
 title of the princess of Piombiuo and Lucca. 
 
 Talleyrand was ordered to write to Prussia and 
 Austria, to explain these acts, that Napoleon re- 
 garded as matters of indifference to the policy of 
 those powers, or at least as not being capable of 
 arousing the court of Vienna from its inertness. 
 However, so far concealed as were the armaments 
 of Austria, something of them had been discovered, 
 and the experienced regard of Napoleon had been 
 struck by it. Corps were in movement towards the 
 Tyrol, and towards the ancient Venetian provinces. 
 The march of these troops could not be denied, 
 and Austria did not deny it; but she was forced to 
 declare that the great union of French troops at 
 .Marengo and Castiglione, appearing to her too con- 
 siderable for simple military fetes, she had caused 
 some assemblages out of pure precaution — assem- 
 blages which had besides a sufficient motive, in that 
 the yellow fever had broken out in Spain and in 
 Tuscany, above all, in Leghorn. This excuse was, 
 as far its to a certain point, credible ; but it was 
 :i question to know, if the movement was limited to 
 the change of place of some troops, or whether it 
 was a real recruiting of the army; whether they 
 wert; completing the regiments, and whether they 
 
 were mounting their cavalry, More than one se- 
 er. ■! notice transmitted by Poles attached to France, 
 began lo give these things an air of truth. Napo- 
 leon immediately sent officers, disguised for Ihe pur- 
 pose, info the Tyrol, Friouli, and C.irinthia, to 
 judge with their own eyes of the nature of the pre- 
 parations which they thus excused, and he de- 
 manded at the same time from Austria decided ex- 
 planations, 
 
 tie devised another mode to sound the disposi- 
 tions of that court, lie had exchanged the Legion 
 of Honour with the orders of friend I j courts; lie had 
 not yet effected this exchange with the Austrian 
 
 orders, and he wished to place himsell on the same 
 
 footing with that power as with all the others. He 
 bad therefore an idea of addressing upon this sub- 
 ject an immediate proposition to Austria at once to 
 assure himself of her real Beutimeuls, lie thought
 
 (J3G Singular acuteness of THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Englieh journalists. 
 
 1805. 
 June. 
 
 that if she had in fact decided upon an approaching 
 war, she dared not in the face of Europe and its 
 allies give a testimony of her cordial friendship, 
 which, according to the usages of courts, was the 
 most significant that could be given, above all, to 
 a power as new as that of the French empire. M. 
 de la Rochefoucauld had replaced at Vienna, M. de 
 Champagny, now become minister of the interior. 
 He was commanded to desire of Austria an expla- 
 nation of her armaments, and to propose to her an 
 exchange of her orders against that of the order of 
 the Legion of Honour. 
 
 Napoleon continuing from the bottom of Italy to 
 keep the English in the illusion, that the descent so 
 long announced and so retarded, was no more than 
 a feint, occupied himself continually to insure its 
 execution in the summer. Never had an operation 
 determined before the sending off so many couriers 
 as that which was at this period the subject of me- 
 ditation. Consular agents and officers of the navy, 
 placed in the French and Spanish ports, at Cartha- 
 gena, Cadiz, Ferrol, Bayonne, the mouth of the Gi- 
 ronde, Ruehefort, the mouth of the Loire, Lorient, 
 Brest, and Cberburg, having couriers placed at their 
 disposal, transmitted the least news from the sea 
 which reached them, and forwarded them to Italy. 
 Numerous secret agents, maintained in the English 
 ports, forwarded their reports, which were imme- 
 diately transmitted to Napoleon. Lastly, M. de 
 Marbois, who possessed an extensive knowledge of 
 British affairs, received the particular injunction to 
 read himself the journals published in England ', 
 and to translate the least news relative to naval 
 operations; audit is a circumstance worthy of re- 
 mark, that it was by these journals, more particu- 
 larly, that Napoleon knowing how to anticipate with 
 perfect correctness all the combinations of the 
 English admiralty, came to be the better informed. 
 Although oftentimes stating circumstances that were 
 
 1 At present people are startled at the ignorance in the 
 simplest results worked out by the English cabinet during 
 the administration of Mr. Pitt, with nil his ability. There 
 was a want of acquaintance with what was really going on 
 in the world, and of consequences inevitable in the then 
 existing state of social life, that shows how contracted was 
 the knowledge of government of the commonest details. 
 While Bonapirte thus obtained and read the English 
 papers, it bad been believed by our rulers that during war 
 no papers readied the enemy, and so perfect was this belief, 
 at least prior to the treaty of Amiens, that in Mr. Pitt's act 
 of parliament for restricting the liberty of the newspaper 
 press, for it can be calkd nothing else, there is a penalty of 
 500/. attached to the parting with any English newspaper to 
 an enemy, lest that enemy, it was supposed, should olitain 
 information about England. In existing times the minister 
 would be thought demented who should make it penal for 
 any one to part With the copy of a journal ot which tens of 
 thousands were every .vliere in circulation. The truth was, 
 that the government then had no idea of an enemy ascer- 
 taining the real state of facts but through such means. 
 Secret agency was believed scarcely to exist, being punish- 
 able with death. They hid no idea that the best policy in 
 a strong country is to make no secret of its strength. The 
 suspicion of wrong colouring that attached to the statements 
 of government partisans was then never thought equal to 
 the neutralization of their deceptions. Honaparte had a regu- 
 larly organized connexion kept up between the English and 
 French smugglers, who constantly exchanged newspapers. 
 The French papers being under a strict censorship, tie ad- 
 vantage derived from them was comparatively of no moment 
 to England. — Translator. 
 
 false, they furnished to his wonderful sagacity a 
 means of divining real facts. '1 here was something 
 still more singular yet. On the strength of attri- 
 buting to Napoleon the most extraordinary plans, 
 and often the most absurd possible, some among 
 these journalists had discovered, without doubting 
 it, his real design, and had said that he had sent 
 his squadrons to sea at a distance that they might 
 suddenly re-unite in the channel. The admiralty 
 had made no arrangement whatever that implied 
 such a supposition, which was nevertheless the real 
 fact. At least, their combinat ons leave it to be 
 supposed that they did not credit any thing of the 
 kind. 
 
 Napoleon, except one circumstance which had 
 much thwarted him, and that had determined him 
 to modify for the last time his vast design, had no 
 reason to be dissatisfied with the progress of his 
 operations. Admiral Missiessy, as lias been seen 
 before, had set sail to the West Indies in January. 
 The details of his expedition were not yet fully 
 known, but it was well known that the English 
 were very much alarmed for their colonies, that 
 one of them, Dominica, had been taken 1 , and that 
 they had sent reinforcements into the American 
 seas, which was a diversion at least to the advan- 
 tage of the French in the European. Admiral 
 Villeneuve sailed from Toulon on the 30th of 
 March, after a navigation, the details of which were 
 unknown, he appeared before Cadiz, and there ral- 
 lied around him the Spanish squadron of admiral 
 Gravina, with a Spanish division of six vessels of 
 the line, and several frigates, besides the French 
 ship of the line the Aigle, and had then sailed to- 
 wards Martinique. There had been no news of 
 him subsequently, but it was known that Nelson, 
 who had been ordered to guard the Mediterranean, 
 had not been able to overtake him, neither on his 
 sailing from Toulon, nor on his exit from the straits 
 of Gibraltar. The Spanish seamen had done their 
 best in the state of deprivation in which they were 
 so unfortunately left, under an ignorant govern- 
 ment, inert and corrupt. Admiral Salcedo had 
 united a squadron of seven sail of the line at Car- 
 thagena; admiral Gravina, as already seen, had six 
 in Cadiz; admiral Grandellana, had a third squa- 
 dron of eight sail in Ferrol, which would operate 
 with the French division that was in harbour in 
 that port. But they wanted seamen, in consequence 
 of the fever, and of the bad state of the Spanish 
 commerce, and they took fishermen and workmen 
 iu the towns to form the crews. Lastly, a dearth 
 
 1 This is not correct, the island was never taken. On the 
 22nd of February, the French landed a large force off the 
 town of Itosseau, into which the squadron of Missiessy, 
 consisting of five sail of the line, three frigates, and two 
 brigs, one the Majesteux, 120 guns, poured their fire. In 
 all, they landed -1000 men ; they were resisted by about an 
 eighth part of that number of regulars and militia, who were 
 compelled to retreat. The town of Kosseau was burned, 
 but sir George Prevost maintained the island in the fort of 
 prince Rupert; and the French, levying a contribution on 
 the people of Kosseau, embarked again, remaining on shore 
 only four or five days. They landed 500 men at Basseterre, 
 St. Kill's, burned some merchantmen, and levied a contri- 
 bution of 18,000/. there being no force to resist ihem, their 
 object was to ravage where no opposition of moment was to 
 be expected. The conduct of general La Grange, who com- 
 manded the troops at Dominica, was humane and honour- 
 able. — Translator.
 
 IS05. 
 June. 
 
 Ganteaume unable to 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 get out of Brest. 
 
 037 
 
 of corn joined to the financial difficulties, and the 
 epidemic fever, had so much impoverished the 
 Spanish resources, that they had n->t heen able to 
 procure mure than six months' provision of the 
 biscuit necessary for each squadron. Admiral 
 Gravina had scarcely brought enough for three 
 months, when he joined Villeneuve; and admiral 
 Grai.dellaiia at I'Vrrol had barely enough for fifteen 
 days' consumption. 
 
 Happily, M. Ouvrard, who it has been already 
 seen was charged with business between France 
 and Spain, had arrived at Madrid, had delighted by 
 his very seducing projects a court over head and 
 ears in debt, had obtained its confidence, had con- 
 cluded with it a treaty of which a description will 
 hereafter be given, and had put an end by his dif- 
 ferent combinations to the honors of the scarcity. 
 He had in the mean time provided for the Spanish 
 fleet a certain quantity of biscuit. Things went on 
 therefore in the pons of the peninsula as well as 
 could be expected or hoped for under the destitution 
 of the Spanish finances. 
 
 But while admiral Missiessy spread consterna- 
 tion through the English West India islands, and 
 admirals Villeneuve and Gravina united, navigated 
 without accident towards Martinique, Ganteaume 
 who was to join them, owing to a sort of phenome- 
 non in the season, had not been able to find a sin- 
 gle day for the purpose of sailing out of Brest. 
 There had never been seen in the memory of man 
 a time when the equinox had not manifested itself 
 by some gale of wind. The months of March, April, 
 and May, 1805, had nevertheless passed away, 
 without the English fleet having been once forced 
 to retire by stress of weather. Admiral Gant- 
 eaume, who knew in what an immense operation 
 he had been called upon to concur, waited with im- 
 patience the moment to get out to sea, and at last 
 concluded by becoming ill from chagrin '. The 
 
 1 The last two letters here cited will prove the state of 
 mind of this admiral, and the gravity of the grand naval pro- 
 jects, which penona who could always see faults where 
 tlu-re were none, have supposed to be no other than a 
 demonstration. These le'tt-rs are no: the only ones of the 
 same kind. But these are selected from a number for the 
 purpose of citation. 
 
 Gaweaume to the Emperor. 
 
 On board the Imperial, 11th of Floreal, Year Kill, 1st of 
 Hay, 1805. 
 Sirk, — The extraordinary weather which has reigned since 
 we were In communication i« despairing; it Is Impossible to 
 picture to you the painful sentiments that I experience in 
 seeing myself thus detained In port, when the other tqua 
 
 (Iron., are in full sail toward* their destination, an I that our 
 delays and Crosses may most cruelly compr om ise them; 
 this last and affecting Idea leaves me not a moment of re- 
 port, and ai far as up to this day, I have resisted the Impa- 
 tience and torment that devour tne ; ii ari.vs from my not 
 being able to see, in OUI hazarding OUTselvea at sea, any 
 chances in our favour, when they are all fir the enemy: a 
 
 disadvantageous battle was, ami is again, Inevitable, while 
 the enemy shall remain in his position, and then our exps 
 dition will he without the resource required, and our forces 
 for a long while ; 
 
 Nevertheless, at the moment When I received the dispatch 
 
 of your majesty, of the 3rd Ploreal, I proposed to myself the 
 
 hazard of setting sail; all the Vessels vveri- Unmoored; tie- 
 wind to the treat, which had blown with Utile strength for 
 twelve hours, made ma ii"i»' thai the enemy would have 
 
 perhaps sailed at large, when his light squadron was per- 
 
 weather always remained calm and serene. Some- 
 times a wind from the West, accompanied with dark 
 clouds, had given them hopes of a st«.rm, when all 
 of a sudden the heavens became serene and fine. 
 There remained no other resource than to deliver a 
 disadvantageous battle to a fleet which was now 
 about equal in number to the French Bquadron, 
 and verj superior in appointment. The English, 
 without questioning precisely what it was that 
 threatened, struck with the presence of a fleet at 
 Brest, and another at Ferrol, aroused besides by 
 the departures from Toulon and Cadiz, had aug- 
 mented the force of their blockading squadrons. 
 They had twenty vessels before Brest, commanded 
 bp admiral Cornwallis, and seven or eight before 
 Feriol, commanded by admiral Calder. Admiral 
 Ganteaume in this position sailed from the road, 
 and entering again, went to moor at 1 1 it liaume, then 
 returning to the interior anchorage, had kept for two 
 months every body snug on board, both sailors and 
 soldiers. He demanded in his mortification, if 
 
 ceived from our anchoring ground, and his fleet signalled off 
 Ushant, hut the uncertainly and weakness of the wind pre- 
 vented me from giving effect to my object. Certain to be 
 obliged to bring up in the road of Bertheaume, and to fix 
 the attention of the enemy, 1 have renounced all movement, 
 and 1 hope 1 have made him believe that our desire was not 
 to go to sea. 
 
 I permit myself here to reiterate to your majesty the as- 
 surance ihat 1 have already given in respect to the order 
 and situation m which 1 keep all the ships; the crews 
 are all at their posts, the communications with the shore 
 only take place for such objects as are indispensable for the 
 service, and at any hour of the day every vessel is it) a state 
 to execute the signals which may be made to it ; these dispo- 
 sitions, which can alone enable us to profit by the tirst 
 favourable moment, will be continued with the most perfect 
 exactness. 
 
 Gavteaume to Decres. 
 
 The 7th Floreal, Year xiii. 27th April, 1S05. 
 I judge, my friend, that thou partakes! in all 1 sustain. 
 Every day that passes is a day of torment for me, and I 
 tremble lest I am obliged at last to commit some piece of 
 gross stupidity! The winds, that for two days had been to 
 the west, but feeble, although accompanied with rain and a 
 stormy appearance, went round yesterday to the N.N.YV. 
 fresh; and I have been tempted to run hazards, in spite of 
 the enemy continuing to be signalled in the Vroise. that 
 their advanced vessels were in sight of the road, and that 
 the weather was very clear. The certainty, nevertheless, of 
 
 the disadvantageous battle, that i should receive from Ilia 
 
 position and Strength, has hindered tne, and 1 felicitate my- 
 self Meday ; but 1 do not remain less horribly vexed. 
 The length of the days, and the beauty ol the season, make 
 i ly despair of the expedition; and then how support 
 the Idi a oi forcing our friends to wait uselessly at the place 
 of rendezvous, and compromise them, by exposing them 
 
 any to delajs, and to a return extremely dangerous.' 
 
 These ideas do not leai e me a moment of tranquillity, and I 
 believe that they must equally torment thee, still, my 
 friend, thou will eaail) be persuaded thai it i> impossible tor 
 
 ii, e to do better, at least to have been willing to inn the 
 
 hazard ol en affair that had, Independrntly of the chances 
 
 that gave to the enemy his superiority, equally BaUSed the 
 
 oi the expedition. Thus, as i have said, the weather 
 
 has always been such, that it has been impossible for us to 
 Steal away. 
 
 Although thOU hast r. ■commended me in thy last letters 
 
 to writs often to the emperor, I dare writs him with 
 
 nothing to say, as I have nought agreeable to a tinea; I 
 
 hold my peace, and wall events t willing fur a little to 
 
 Importune him: I limit mysell to desiring thai bs will do us 
 
 Justice.
 
 638 
 
 Napoleon rccals Vilie- 
 neuve and Gravina. 
 
 Napoleon considers another 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. combination, -which he 
 
 rejects. 
 
 1805. 
 June. 
 
 they wished lie should fight a battle to gain the 
 open sea, the thing which he had been expressly 
 forbidden from doing. 
 
 Napoleon, calculating that having arrived at the 
 middle of May, it would become dangerous to 
 make Vilieneuve, Gravina, and Missiessy w;iit 
 longer in Martinique, as the English squadrons 
 gone in their pursuit would finish by overtaking 
 them, modified once again this part of his plan. 
 He decided, that if Ganteaume was not able to 
 set sail before the 20th of May, he would not be 
 able to sail at all, and that he .should wait at Brest 
 until they came to raise the blockade. Vilieneuve 
 had orders therefore to return to Europe with Gra- 
 vina, and to do that which was at first confided to 
 Ganteaume, in other words to raise the blockade 
 of Ferrol, where he would find five French and 
 seven Spanish vessels, to touch afterwards at Roche- 
 fort, if possible to rally Missiessy, probably about 
 that time returned from the West Indies, and 
 finally to appear before Brest to open the si a to 
 Ganteaume, which would carry his total forces 
 up to fifty-six sail of the line. He would then enter 
 the channel with that fleet, the greatest which had 
 ever appeared upon the ocean. 
 
 This plan was perfectly practicable, and had even 
 great chances of success, as the event will soon 
 prove. However, it was less certain of success 
 than the preceding. In effect, if Ganteaume had 
 been able to put to sea in April, raise the blockade 
 of Ferrol, which was possible, without a battle, be- 
 cause only fi\ e or six English vesselswere before the 
 port, then to reach Martinique, the unit n having 
 taken place between Vilieneuve and Gravina, with- 
 out any probability of a battle, they would have 
 re-appeared in Europe to the number of fifty ves- 
 sels, not needing to touch at any port before pene- 
 trating into the channel. He would not have had 
 any other chances to run than those encountered 
 at sea, chances so rare that they might be placed 
 out of the account. The ntw plan, on the contrary, 
 had the inconvenience of exposing Vilieneuve to a 
 battle before Ferrol, and another before Brest; and 
 although the superiority of the force in the en- 
 counters would have been great, there was no as- 
 surance that the two squadrons of which he had 
 come to raise the blockade, might have time to 
 come to his aid, and take a part in the battle. 
 The outlet from Ferrol, as well as from Brest, is by 
 a narrow passage; there as elsewhere the wind that 
 allows of entrance is not that which will permit the 
 sailing out, and it was very possible, that a battle 
 might be fought at the entrance of these ports, and 
 be terminated before the fleet placed within them 
 (cold arrive to participate in it. A battle of which 
 the issue was doubtful, was capable of demoralising 
 the admirals whose confidence at sea was not great, 
 however brave tiny were personally. Admiral 
 Vilieneuve, above all, though an inlr. pid mariner, 
 never bad a degree of firmness proportionable to 
 such hazards; and he had lo regret indeed that the 
 beauty of the weather had hindered the first com- 
 bination. 
 
 There was yet another plan at which Napoleon 
 stood still a moment, that would procure less force, 
 but which would conduct a fleet into the channel 
 in a manner yet more sine; till* was to carry Vil- 
 ieneuve neither before Brest nor Ferrol, but to 
 make him go about by Scotland, and then sail after- 
 
 wards by the north sea before Boulogne. It is 
 true he would have arrived with twenty sail in 
 place of fifty; but that would suffice for three days 
 command of the channel, and the flotilla, sufficiently 
 protected, would have passed in perfect safety. 
 This idea presented itself for an instant before the 
 mind of Napoleon, he wrote it down, then wishing 
 still more of security, he preferred a larger junc- 
 tion, and a more powerful force, to the greater cer- 
 tainty of arrival in the channel, and he returned 
 to the plan of raising the blockade of Ferrol and 
 Brest by Vilieneuve. 
 
 This was the last change made in his design by 
 circumstances. It was in the midst of a fete, as 
 he recounted himself in the postscript of one of his 
 letters, that he ruminated over all these combina- 
 tions, and decided. He gave immediately the ne- 
 cessary instructions. Two vessels had been pre- 
 pared at Rochefort ; rear-admiral Magon com- 
 manded them. He set sail forthwith to announce 
 at Martinique the change that had occurred in the 
 determinations of Napoleon. Frigates equipped at 
 Lorient, Nantes, and Rochefort, were ready to sail, 
 when they were assured that Ganteaume would 
 not go; they were ordered to carry Vilieneuve a com- 
 mand to return immediately to Europe, in order to 
 execute the new plan. Each frigate was to be ac- 
 companied by a brig, furnished with a duplicate of 
 the orders. If the frigate were taken, the brig 
 would save itself, and transmit the duplicate. The 
 dispatches were enclosed in leaden boxes, and given 
 to the captains in confidence, to be thrown into the 
 sea in case of danger. These precautious and 
 those which follow are worthy of being mentioned, 
 for the information of governments. 
 
 To the end that the fleets of Brest and Ferrol 
 should be able to second those which came to raise 
 their blockade, great precautions had been taken. 
 Ganteaume was to moor out of the road of Brest 
 in t lie creek of Bei'thaume, an open place of 
 doubtful security. In order to correct this defect, 
 a general of artillery had been sent from Paris, and 
 one hundred and fifty cannon were placed in bat- 
 tery for the support of the squadron. Gourdon 
 replaced admiral Boudet at Ferrol, who had 
 fallen sick, and was ordered to sail from Ferrol to Co- 
 riinna, the anchorage of which is open, and to con- 
 duct thither the French divisions. It had been 
 prescribed to admiral Grandellana to do the same 
 with the Spanish vessels. The court of Spain had 
 been solicited to take similar precau ions to those 
 which had been taken at Berthaume, with the 
 object of ensuring the security of the anchorage 
 b\ batteries. Finally, in order to provide in case 
 the vessels charged with the duty of raising the 
 blockade should have consumed their provisions, 
 there were prepared at Ferrol, Rochefort, Brest, 
 and Cherburg, barrels of biscuit amounting to 
 many millions of rations, that could be embarked 
 without losing an instant. An order awaited ad- 
 miral Missiessy at Rocheforl, if here turned and re- 
 entered there, enjoining it upon him to depart again 
 immediately, to go and make Ireland uneasy by 
 appearing off the coast for a few days, and tin n to 
 cruise at some distance from Ferrol in a deter- 
 mined latitude, when admiral Vilieneuve having 
 received notice of it by a frigate, would encoun- 
 ter him. 
 
 While these precautionary measures were taken
 
 1805. 
 June. 
 
 Napoleon visits tlie Italian 
 cities.— Cardinal Maury 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 reconciled to the emperor. 
 
 639 
 
 re ga rd i ng the navy, the continual and secret cares 
 bestowed upon the army tended to the effective 
 augmentation nf the war battalions on the shores of 
 the ocean. The troops of the expedition amounted 
 then to one hundred and sixty thousand men, not 
 including the corps al Brest, that had been dis- 
 persed since the new destination assigned to Gaut- 
 eaume. Admiral Verhuell, with the Biitaviau 
 fleet, had received orders to unite at Autbleteuse, 
 in order that the entire expedition should be able 
 to set out from the four ports dependent upon 
 Boulogne. These ports of artificial creation, had 
 got blocked up with sand during the two years 
 since they had been constructed. New works had 
 cleared them again. Further, they had repaired 
 the vessels of the flotilla, somewhat injured by 
 their continual going in and out, and by a troubled 
 mooring ground the whole length of the external 
 anchorage. 
 
 While expediting such a multitude of orders, 
 Napoleon continued his journey in Italy. He had 
 visited Bergamo, Verona, Mantua, been present at 
 a representation of the battle of Castiglione, by 
 twenty-five thousand men, on the ground of the 
 very same battle; he had dwelt several days in 
 Bologna, to the delight of the learned men of that 
 celebrated university ; then he had traversed Mo- 
 dena, Parma, Piacenza,and finally the magnificent 
 Genoa, acquired by the stroke of a pen. He passed 
 there from the 30th of June to the 7th of July, in 
 the midst of fetes worthy of the marble city, and 
 superior to all those which the Italians had devised 
 of the finest character for his reception. He en- 
 countered there an illustrious personage, fatigued 
 with an exile which had lasted for twelve years, 
 and an opposition that his religious duties had no 
 longer justified. The pope had given him an ex- 
 ample which he was himself decided finally to fol- 
 low, and he had taken the resolution of attaching 
 himself to the restorer of the altar. It was at 
 Genoa that he had managed to contrive the occa- 
 sion for entering into favour. Like the partisans 
 of Pompey, who one after another endeavoured to 
 encounter Ce-ar in one of the cities of the Roman 
 empire, in order to deliver themselves voluntarily 
 to his seductions, Cardinal Maury in the city of 
 Genoa bad found himself incline towards the new 
 Cesar. II- was rec ived with the courtesy of a 
 man of genius, desiring to please a man of intel- 
 lect, and was enabled to Foresee that his return to 
 Prance would be repaid with the highest dignities 
 of the church. 
 
 Alter having received the oath from the Genoese, 
 and prepare.! with the engineer Forfait the future 
 naval est ilili-hin lit that In- wished to form in that 
 sea, confiding to the archtreaaurer Lebrun the 
 care of organizing the administration of this 
 
 ni w part of the empire, Napoh departed for 
 
 Turin, ulnre lie feigned to occupy all his time 
 with reviews of his troops; then on the llih of 
 .July in the evening! leaving the empress in Italy, 
 he went forward with two posl carriages in the 
 plainest manner, and passed on his way tor the mi- 
 nister of the interior. He arrived in eighty hours at 
 Fontaiubleau, which In- reached at eleven in the 
 morning. The archchancellor CanihueeVes ami 
 the miuiatem were there to receive his commands. 
 He was going to set off upon an expedition that 
 would either make him absolute master id' the 
 
 world, or like a new Pharaoh would engulph him 
 in the ocean. He had never been more calm, nor 
 ranee full of activity, nor more confident of success 
 But men of the greatest talent may have noble 
 wishes; while their wills, powerful as ever they max 
 be, as the wills of all men, are scarcely more than 
 caprices without force, when Providence de- 
 crees it otherwise. Here is a very memorable 
 example of this fact. Whilst Napoleon had prepared 
 every thing tor an encounter with Europe in arms 
 between Boulogne and Dover, Providence had 
 prepared the contest for him in very different 
 and distant places ! 
 
 The emperor Alexander had adjourned the rati- 
 fication of the treaty which i stitutcd the new 
 
 coalition, until the moment when England con- 
 sented to evacuate Malta. Not doubting of a favour- 
 able reply, he had demanded passports for M. 
 Nowosiltz iff, in order to place him as early as 
 possible in relation with Napoleon. The emperor 
 Alexander, less belligerent in a certain degree as 
 he approach -d the moment that was to decide 
 peace or war, had hoped by this prom] titiule to 
 augment the chances of peace. But he had ill- 
 judjjed the feeling of the cabinet of London, re- 
 solved to keep the capital position, which the 
 hazard of events and an act of had faith had 
 placed in its hands. Ii positively refused to 
 abandon the Island of Malta. This intelligence 
 received in St, Petersburg, while M. Nowosilt- 
 zoff was at Berlin, had thrown the Russian cabinet 
 into indescribable' trouble. What should be done ? 
 Passing over to the will of England, submitting to 
 her intractable ambition, was in the eyes of Europe 
 to accept the most .secondary character. It was 
 to renounce the negotiation of M. NowoSiltzoff, 
 because he would lie sent from Paris, even on the 
 day id' his arrival, and perhaps in a very humiliat- 
 ing fashion, if he did not take with him the evacu- 
 ation of Malta. This was then equal to an imme- 
 diate war on account of England, at her suit and 
 expence, and Europe knowing, too, that it was 
 so. On the contrary, to treat with her upon 
 her refusal, was to avow, publicly, that Russia 
 hail treated with her politically without making it 
 known, it was to give up the game to the advan- 
 tage of Napoleon in the face of the world, and to 
 place Russia in a ridiculous state of isolation, em- 
 broiled with England for her purposes and with 
 France for acts of rashness. Russia could not 
 wish to be at the mercy of England, nor to fall 
 back upon the mercy of Napoleon, who would he 
 tie- master of the conditions upon which it should 
 be on terms of approximation with France. 
 
 If Napoleon, by the error he had committed of 
 
 uniting Genoa with Prance, had not come to the 
 
 aid of tin' Russian cabinet , he would have Been 
 his enemies plunged into the greatest confusion. 
 In fact, the Russian cabinet was occupied in de- 
 liberating upon this serious subject, when it was 
 apprised of the annexation of Genoa. This was a 
 
 in ait r of real joy, because that unforeseen even! 
 drew out from a state of embarrassment the men 
 of the cabinet, who were so very imprudently com- 
 mitted. They resolved t ike much noise about 
 
 it, and to savin very high terms, that they were 
 
 1 It i» upnn authentic documenti that I recount thii era- 
 bamsnneat of the Russian cabinet.— Not* of the Author.
 
 640 
 
 Dilemma of Russia re- 
 moved by the annexa- 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 tion of Genoa. 
 
 1805. 
 July. 
 
 no longer able to treat with a government, which 
 every day committed fresh usurpations. They 
 found here a pretext quite natural for recalling 
 M. Nowosiltzoff from Berlin, and immediately 
 sent him au order to return to Petersburg, leav- 
 ing a note for the king of Prussia 2 , to explain 
 
 ' This note, addressed to baron Hardenbeig the Prussian 
 minister, on the 10th of July, 1805, was as follows : — 
 
 "His imperial majesty of Russia availed himself of the 
 mediation of his Prussian majesty when he required pass- 
 ports for his plenipotentiary. He declared that he should 
 only receive them on that particular condition, namely, 
 that his plenipotentiary should enter directly upon a nego- 
 tiation with tlie chief of the French government, without 
 acknowledging the new title which he had assumed ; and 
 that Bonaparte should give explicit assurances that he was 
 still animated by the same wish for a general peace which 
 he had appeared to show in his letter to his Britannic 
 majesty. 
 
 "This preliminary assurance was the more necessary, 
 since Bonaparte had assumed the title of king of Italy im- 
 mediately after the receipt of the answer given by his 
 Britannic majesty to his letter of the 1st of January ; a 
 title which in itself put a new obstacle in the way of the 
 desired restoration of peace. 
 
 " After hi- Prussian majesty had transmitted the positive 
 answer from the cabinet of the Tuileries, that it persevered 
 in the intention sincerely to lend its hand to a pacific nego- 
 tiation, his imperial majesty of Russia accepted the pass- 
 ports more readily, because the French government showed 
 so strong an inclination to transmit them. 
 
 " By a fresh transgression of the most solemn treaties, 
 the union of the Ligurian republic with France has been 
 effected. This event of itself, the circumstances which have 
 accompanied it, the formalities which have been employed 
 to hasten the execution, have, alas ! formed an aggregate 
 which must terminate the sacrifice which his imperial 
 majesty of Russia would have made, at the pressing request 
 of Great Britain, and in the hope ot restoring the necessary 
 tranquility to Europe by the means of negotiation. 
 
 " Without doubt his imperial majesty of Russia would not 
 have insi-ted so strenuously on the conditions fixed by him, 
 if the French government bad fulfilled the hope that it 
 would respect the first tie which holds society together, and 
 which upholds the confidence of engagements between civi- 
 lized nations; but it cannot possihly be believed that Bona- 
 parte, when he granted the passports, which were accom- 
 panied with the most pacific declarations, seriously intended 
 to fulfil them ; oecause, during the time which would 
 necessarily elapse between the granting of the passports 
 and the arrival of the undersigned at Paris, he took measures 
 which, far from facilitating the restoration of peace, were of 
 such a nature, that they annihilated the very grounds of 
 peace. 
 
 "The undersigned, in recalling to the recollection of his 
 excellency baron Hardenbeig. lacts with which the cabinet 
 of his Prussian majesty is very minutely acquainted, must 
 at the same lime inform him, that he has just now received 
 from his Uussian majesty an order, dated the 9th (21st) 
 June, to return the annexed pissports immediately, and to 
 request your excellency to transmit the same to the French 
 government, wi h this present declaration, since no use can 
 be made of them in i lie present state ol affairs." 
 
 The following note, withaoopy of the above, was trans- 
 mitted by baron Hardenberg, the Prussian minister of state, 
 to M La'orest, the I'rcnch minister at the court of Prussia, 
 dated July II, 180'i: — 
 
 "The undei signed minister of state and of the cabinet, 
 with the deepest regret finds himself under the neces-ity of 
 communicating to M. l.aforest, envoy-extraordinary and 
 niinister-olenip 'tentiary o/ bis majesty the emperor of the 
 French, the note which M. Nowosiltzoff has addressed to 
 him, upon returning him the French passport (the original 
 
 this change of determination. They held them- 
 selves now dispensed with insisting on any thing 
 relative to Malta on the part of England ; they 
 ratified the treaty, comprising the third coalition, 
 and alleged the recent usurpations of the emperor 
 of the French as the cause. 
 
 M. Nowosiltzoff was himself at Berlin, where 
 the king of Prussia had finally arrived. The 
 order for his recal surprised and mortified him 
 deeply, because it was an opportunity lost to 
 enter upon the finest of negotiations. He did not 
 dissimulate his displeasure to the king himself, 
 and to let his majesty know his own personal dis- 
 position to attempt every thing to gain the 
 emperor Napoleon, if he had himself gone to 
 Paris, and the concessions to which lie would have 
 subscribed in the name of his court. This was 
 another reason for the king of Prussia to deplore 
 the new allurement to which Napoleon had 
 yielded, and to make to him his ordinary com- 
 plaints, very mild according to custom, but also 
 very plaintive, because every chance more of the 
 kind added to the chances of war, which were 
 already so numerous and deeply affecting to 
 him. 
 
 At Vienna the effect was still more decisive. 
 It was not the embarrassment of the rash conduct, 
 that had been suddenly disclosed by the annexa- 
 tion of Genoa, it was the protracted hesitation of 
 prudence. Austria had long seen that Napoleon 
 desired to have the entire of Italy, and was unable 
 to brook the abandonment of it to him, without com- 
 bating another time with the courage of despair. 
 But the Austrian finances were in a deplorable 
 state ; a frightful dearth of corn afflicted higher 
 and lower Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, and Hun- 
 gary. Bread was so dear at Vienna, that the 
 people of that capital, commonly so mild and sub- 
 missive, carried themselves so far as to pillage the 
 shops of some of the bakers. In this situation 
 they would have hesitated a great while to run 
 themselves into the expences of a third contest 
 against so formidable an adversary as Napoleon ; 
 but on hearing of the annexation of Genoa, and the 
 creation of the duchy of Lucca, all these uncertain- 
 ties ceased at the same moment. The resolution to 
 combat was immediately taken. Despat hes sent 
 to St. Petersburg announced the definitive reso- 
 lution, and filled the Russian cabinet with joy, that 
 seeing itself drawn into a war, regarded the con- 
 currence of Austria as the most fortunate of 
 events. 
 
 The adhesion of this court to the treaty of coali- 
 tion was signed on the spot. Russia was charged 
 
 is here annexed); at the same time announcing to him the 
 order which his majesty of all the Kussias has transmitted 
 to him, in consequence of the recent changes in Italy, and 
 especially the union of the Ligurian republic with the 
 French empire, not to proceed upon his journey to France. 
 His majesty could not but feel the greatest concern in 
 seeing thus confirmed the fears which, from the moment 
 the intelligence of that unexpected event transpired, it was 
 impossible not to entertain respecting the effect which it 
 might produce on the salutary negotiation which it was 
 under deliberation to open. The earnest desire which his 
 majesty has always cherished, and of which he has given 
 r< peated proofs, for the restoration of peace, is the strongest 
 assurance of the sentiments of concern with which he is 
 alfected upon this occasion."
 
 1805. 
 July. 
 
 Subsidies granted by England 
 to Austria. 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. Warlike demonstration of Austri*. 641 
 
 to negotiate with England for the service of Austria 
 the largest possible sum as a subsidy. They de- 
 manded and obtained, for the first expenses of 
 opening the campaign, 1,000,000/. sterling, or 
 23,000,000 f. More than that, the instantaneous 
 remission of half the annual subsidy of 2,000,000/. 
 sterling, or 50,000,000f. The plan of the cam- 
 paign was discussed between M. Yinzingerode and 
 the prince Swartzenberg, and arranged on the 16th 
 of July. It was agreed that ten thousand Rus- 
 sians, and some thousand Albanians, thrown in a 
 proper season and place upon Naples, should there 
 operate a movement towards Lower Italy, whilst 
 one hundred thousand Austrians should march upon 
 Lombardy; that the grand Austrian army, sup- 
 ported by a Russian force of sixty-thousand men at 
 least, should enter by Gallicia, and act in Bavaria; 
 that an army of eighty-thousand Russians should 
 advance towards Prussia; that another Russian, 
 English, Hanoverian, and Swedish army, assembled 
 in Swedish Pomerania, should be directed upon 
 Hanover; that, in fine, the Russians should have 
 considerable reserves to bring up in case of need. 
 The English were to operate by disembarkations 
 upon those points of the French empire that were 
 judged most accessible, as soon as the diversion 
 with which Napoleon was threatened should have 
 brought about the dispersion of the army assembled 
 upon the shores of the ocean. It was agreed that 
 the troops designed to go to the succour of Austria 
 should be ready to march before the autumn of 
 the existing year, in order to hinder Napoleon from 
 taking advantage of the winter season to crush the 
 Austrian army. 
 
 It was agreed besides that the court of Vienna, 
 continuing its system of profound dissimulation, 
 should persist in the denial of its armaments, 
 while arming more actively than ever; and then, 
 when it could no longer dissimulate, it should 
 speak of negotiation, and retake up for itself and 
 Russia the negotiations abandoned by M. Nowosilt- 
 zoff. It was again, this time, to deny all connexion 
 with England, and to appear to treat only for the 
 continent. The ordinary falsehood of weakness 
 characterised all this conduct. Prussia suffered 
 cruel anxiety, sin- foresaw, without penetrating it 
 completely, the determination made to commence 
 war, and she defended herself against any engage- 
 ment on one side or another, by saying to Russia 
 that she was too much exposed to the blows of 
 Napoleon; and by saj ingto Napoleon, that she would 
 have renewed her offers of alliance had she not 
 been too much exposed to the blows of Russia. 
 
 M. Zastrow had returned from Petersburg after 
 a vein disagreeable mission, followed by no result. 
 An unforeseen circumstance just missed bringing 
 about the sodden discovery of the coalition-, and 
 the obligation that Prussia should declare herself. 
 
 Since a treaty of subsidy, concluded between ling- 
 land and Sweden, hid secured to the coalition the 
 concurrence of that foolish crown, Stralsund was 
 
 (died with troops. It was known that this was the 
 
 las! footing of Sweden in the north of Germany. 
 Napoleon had seen, through the reports of certain 
 
 diplomatic agents, thai they were preparing some- 
 thing on that coast, and had given notice of it to 
 tlf king of Prussia, by telling him to take care of 
 the neutrality of the north of Germany, the ob- 
 ject of all his solicitudes; that, U to himself, on 
 
 the first alarm of danger, he should send thirty- 
 thousand men more into Hanover. These few 
 words had sufficed to move the king of Prussia, 
 who signified to the king of Sweden that he must 
 cease his armaments in Swedish Pomerania. The 
 king of Sweden replied to the king of Prussia, 
 that he was master of his own territory, and that 
 he had ordered the armaments because lie judged 
 them necessary for his own security. That if 
 Prussia would restrain his freedom, he counted 
 upon the emperor of Russia and king of England, 
 his allies, to aid him in making the independence of 
 his states respected. Not limiting lure his insults, 
 he sent back to the king, Frederick William, the 
 orders of Prussia, saying to him that he would not 
 wear them more, since that monarch had given 
 them to the most cruel enemy of Europe. 
 
 This outrage irritated Frederick William, who, 
 all prudent as he was. would have taken vengeance, 
 if Russia, immediately intervening, had not de- 
 clared to Prussia, that the territory of Swedish 
 Pomerania was under her care, and should rest in- 
 violable. This species of forbidding her to act, 
 signified to Prussia, gave her to think deeply, and 
 cruelly humiliated her. She took the resolution of 
 making no reply, limiting herself to sending away 
 the minister of Sweden, and declared to Napoleon, 
 that she was not able to answer for what events 
 might pass in Hanover; that, notwithstanding this, 
 she guaranteed to him that the Prussian territory 
 should not serve as a road to an invading army. 
 
 The horizon then changed on every side, and in 
 a manner very obvious to the least clear-sighted 
 vision. From all parts assemblages of troops were 
 announced, in Friuli, in the Tyrol, and in higher 
 Austria. They did not speak of simple concentra- 
 tions of troops, but of the organization of troops of 
 particular arms, which was much more significant. 
 The cavalry remounted, the artillery provided with 
 horses, and conducted in numerous trains to the 
 banks of the Adige; considerable magazines every 
 where formed; bridges thrown over the Piava and 
 Tagliamento; field-works raised in the lagunes of 
 Venice; all these could leave no doubt of the object. 
 Austria denied it, with a falsehood which has but 
 few examples in history, and only admitted certain 
 precautions in the Venetian states, caused by the 
 
 French assemblage of troops formed in Italy. In 
 i t to the exchange of the grand decorations 
 
 which had been asked of her, she refused them 
 audi r various pretexts. 
 
 It was upon this assemblage of circumstances 
 that Napoleon had to decide during the first days 
 which he was to pass at I'oiitainbleau and at St. 
 Cloud before going oil' to Boulogne. It was neces- 
 sary for him to decide at once on the descent, or to 
 march with his thunder upon the continental 
 powers. On the 11 lb of July, the same day of his 
 arrival at Fontainbleau, the arehchancellor Cam- 
 
 baecrcs met him there, and began to confer with 
 him about the business of the moment. This grave 
 personage was afil righted at the State of the conti- 
 nent and the striking symptoms of approaching 
 war, and, with reason, regarded the annexations 
 which bad taken place in Italy as being the certain 
 cause of a rupture. In that situation, he could not 
 but express his opinion that Napok on left Italy 
 an I fiance exposed to the attacks of the coalition, 
 
 in onler to throw himself open England, Napo- 
 
 T T
 
 Instructions given by 
 642 Napoleon before the THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 descent. 
 
 Napoleon goes to Bou- 
 logne. 
 
 1805. 
 July. 
 
 leon, full of confidence and fondness for his vast 
 maritime plan, of which he had not entrusted the 
 entire secret even to the archancellor, did not feel 
 embarrassed by any of these objections. According 
 to him, the taking possession of Genoa and Lucca was 
 of no concern to Russia, because Italy was notmade 
 to submit to her influence. This court ought to be 
 happy that he did not demand an account from her 
 of what she did in Georgia, in Persia, and even in 
 Turkey. She had engaged herself in the policy of 
 England; sho was visibly in coalition with Eng- 
 land; M. Nowosiltzoff was only an English com- 
 missioner that they wished to send to him, but he 
 would have received him in consequence. Very 
 evidently, the partnership between Russia and Eng- 
 land was strongly linked, but these two powers 
 were unable to do any thing without Austria, desti- 
 tute of the armies and the territory of that power. 
 Austria, always deeply in fear of France, would 
 hesitate yet some time before they could draw her 
 in entirely. In any case, she would not be ready 
 soon enough to hinder the expedition to England. 
 A few days would suffice to execute that expedi- 
 tion; and the sea once passed, all the coalitions 
 would be destroyed at a single blow: the arm of 
 Austria, actually raised against France would be 
 beaten down at the same instant. " Depend upon 
 me," said Napoleon, to the arch eh an eel lor Cam- 
 baceres; " trust to my activity: I shall surprise 
 the world by the greatness and rapidity of my 
 blows." 
 
 Immediately afterwards he gave some orders 
 respecting Italy, and the frontier of the Rhine. He 
 enjoined it upon Eugene Beauharnais to remain at 
 Milan, and to marshal Jourdan his military guide, 
 to commence provisioning the fortresses, and get- 
 ting together the field artillery, to buy draught 
 horses, and form the parks. The troops which 
 came from the parades at Marengo and Castig- 
 lione, were ordered to approach the Adige. He had 
 for some time past disposed a division of reserve 
 in the environs of Pescai\i, for the purpose of sup- 
 porting general St. Cyr if that general had need of 
 it. He directed this general to get good infor- 
 mation, and if he learned of the least attempt of 
 the Russians or the English to move upon any point 
 whatever ol the Calabrias, to march from Taren- 
 tura to Naples itself, throw the court upon the 
 sea, and take possession of the kingdom. 
 
 He marched upon the Rhine the heavy cavalry 
 which was not designed to embark for England, 
 and directed to the same point the regiments which 
 were not to be comprised in the expedition. He 
 ordered in a particular manner that at Metz, 
 Strasburg, and Mayence, the formation of the field 
 artillery should be completed. 
 
 He gave afterwards his last instructions to M. 
 de Talleyrand, relative to diplomatic affairs. It 
 was necessary at each new piece of information 
 gathered in relation to the armaments of Austria, 
 to make it known to that court, to show how bad 
 was its faith, ami to make it tremble for the conse- 
 quences of iis conduct. This time Austria should 
 be ruined, no quarter should be given, if it inter- 
 rupted the expedition to England. As to Prussia, 
 a conference had long been open with her respect- 
 ing Hanover. They would avail themselves of the 
 occasion to sound her upon this valuable acquisi- 
 tion, to meet her well-known desire, and if she bit 
 
 at this bait, to offer it to her immediately on condi- 
 tions of her alliance with France, concluded in- 
 stantly, and publicly proclaimed. With such an 
 alliance, Napoleon was certain to freeze Austria 
 with fear, and to render her immovable for some 
 years to come. In any case he believed that be- 
 tween Boulogne and Dover he was in a way to ad- 
 vance his objects much better than could be done 
 by the most able and successful negotiations. 
 
 Time pressed; all was ready upon the sea coast, 
 and every moment which passed might bring ad- 
 miral Villeneuve before Ferrol, before Brest, and 
 into the channel. Admiral Missiessy had returned 
 to Rochefort, after having sailed through the West 
 Indies, taken Dominica from the English l ; landed 
 troops, arms, and ammunition in Guadaloupe and 
 Martinique, made many prizes, and exhibited the 
 French flagon the ocean without receiving a single 
 check. Still he had returned too soon, and as he 
 showed some repugnance to proceed again to sea, 
 Napoleon replaced him by captain Lallemand, an 
 excellent officer, whom he had forced to set off be- 
 fore the vessels were repaired, to go to meet admi- 
 ral Villeneuve in the vicinity of Ferrol. All this 
 arranged, Napoleon proceeded to Boulogne, leaving 
 Cambaeeres and Talleyrand in Paris, taking with 
 him marshal Berliner, and giving admiral Decres 
 orders to join him there without delay. He arrived 
 at Boulogne on the 3rd of August, in the midst of 
 transports of joy from the army, which had begun 
 to feel tired, in repeating every day the same exer- 
 cises for two years and a half, and who firmly 
 believed this time that Napoleon had placed him- 
 self at their head in order to pass definitively into 
 England. 
 
 The day following his arrival, he had all the in- 
 fantry assembled on the beach at low water. It 
 occupied more than three leagues, presenting the 
 enormous mass of one hundred thousand infantry, 
 ranged in one line, and occupying more than three 
 leagues - of ground. Since he had commanded an 
 army, he had never seen a finer sight. Afterwards, . 
 on returning to head quarters, he wrote to admiral 
 Decres these significant words : " The English 
 know not what is hanging over their ears. If we 
 are masters of the passage for twelve hours, Eng- 
 land is conquered 3 ." 
 
 He had now united in the four ports of Amble- 
 teuse, Wimereux, Boulogne, and Etaples, that is 
 to say, to the left of Cape Grisnez, and to the 
 same point as Boulogne, all the corps which were to 
 embark in the flotdla. The wish formed two years 
 before was now accomplished, thanks to the care 
 that had been bestowed upon bringing them toge- 
 ther, and thanks to a superb contest that the Bata- 
 vian flotilla had sustained under the orders of ad- 
 miral Verhuell, in doubling Cape Grisr.ez before the 
 English squadron. This combat, that took place on 
 the 18th of July, or 29th Mcssidor, some days 
 before the arrival of Napoleon, was the most con- 
 siderable that the flotilla had sustained against the 
 English. Several divisions of Dutch gun-vessels 
 had encountered at Cape Grisnez forty-five sail of 
 
 . ' See note page 636. 
 
 2 The French league is 2 miles 3 furlongs 15 poles 
 English. 
 
 3 Letter to M. Decres, of the 16 Thermidor, year xni, of 
 4th August, }805.—Dep6l of secretary of stale.
 
 1805. 
 July 
 
 Enumeration of the invading 
 forces. 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 Course of admiral Villeneuve 
 from Toulon. 
 
 643 
 
 English ships, consisting as well of vessels of the 
 line, as frigates, corvettes, and brigs, and had com- 
 bated with rare coolness and complete success. This 
 encounter at the Cape was dangerous, because 
 towards this point the water being deep, the Eng- 
 lish vessels, without fear of grounding, were able to 
 come nearer the frail vessels of the French. In 
 spite of this advantage on the part of the enemy, 
 the Dutch gun-vessels supported themselves in the 
 presence of their powerful adversaries. The artil- 
 lery that guarded the shore had hastened to sustain 
 them, and the flotilla of Boulogne went out to their 
 support, and in the midst of a hail shower of pro- 
 jectiles, admiral Verhuell having at his side mar- 
 shal Davout, passed at half cannon shot distance 
 from the enemy without losing a single vessel. 
 This combat had raised the reputation of admiral 
 Verhuell in the army, who was already held in high 
 estimation, and had filled with confidence the 
 one hundred and sixty thousand soldiers and sea- 
 men, ready to traverse the channel in the French 
 and Batavian flotillas. 
 
 Napoleon had all his army now under his hand. 
 In two hours, men and horses could he embarked, 
 and in two tides, that is to say, in twenty-four 
 hours be transported to Dover 1 . As to the stores, 
 they had been long since on board thevesseb. 
 
 The army assembled upon this point successively 
 increased, now presented a force of nearly one hun- 
 dred and thirty-two thousand men, and fifteen 
 thousand horses, independently of the corps of 
 general Mannont placed in the Texel, amounting 
 to twenty-four thousand men, and four thousand 
 at Brest, embarked in the squadron of (Jan- 
 teaume. 
 
 These one hundred and thirty-two thousand 
 men, who would cross in the flotilla, and depart 
 from the four porta of Ambleteuse, Wimereux, 
 Boulogne, and Ktaples, were distributed in si\ 
 corps d'amit . The advanced guard, commanded 
 by marshal Lannes, fourteen thousand strong, 
 composed of the division of Gazan, and the famous 
 grenadiers encamped at Anas, was to embark at 
 Wimereux. These ten battalions of grenadiers, 
 forming of themselves a corps of eight thousand 
 men, of the finest infantry existing in the world, 
 embarked ill a Hght di\ isinti of pinnaces, were called 
 to the honor of first landing upon the coast of Eng- 
 land, under the alluring impulse of Lannes and < )u- 
 dinot. Then came the main body of the army, di- 
 vided into right and left wings and centre. The 
 left wing commanded by Davout, and number- 
 ing t x thousand men, composed of the 
 brave divisions of Morand 1 , Friant, and Gudin, 
 that immortalised thenueh « afterwards at Auer- 
 
 Btadt and in a hundred CirmbatS, was designed to 
 
 embark at Ambleteuse in the Dutch flotilla. The 
 centre under marshal Soult, forty thousand 
 
 stroll'/, distributed in five divisions, at the heads of 
 
 which were generals vandamrae, Suchet, Legrand, 
 and St. Hiktire, was to embark in the lour divi- 
 
 B pape 504, wliere 001 author States nn incontroverti- 
 ble fnct, that lUCtl a lint II i MUM Otlt Ol the 
 
 harixnir in one ti<i'-. reqnirfflg twn t '!>"< at leant for thai 
 purponc; how the transportation to Dover »M bow to ba 
 
 fl in twenty-four houri or two tides is not exploited. 
 Fnrty-eight hours were considered needful for iucIi I pur- 
 ■ of 1 1 i — history. 
 7 At thin time (lie division of Uisson. 
 
 sional squadrons or "escadrilles" assembled at 
 Boulogne. Lastly, the left wing, or camp of Mon- 
 treuil, was commanded by the intrepid Ney. It 
 consisted of twenty-two thousand men, and reckoned 
 three divisions, more particularly that of Dopant, 
 which soon covered itself with glory at Alhek, at 
 the bridge of Halle, and at Friedland. This corps 
 was to depart from Etaples, in two " escadrilles" of 
 the flotilla. A chosen division of the guard, three 
 thousand strong, and then actually on the march, 
 was on reselling Boulogne to join itself to the corps 
 of the centre. 
 
 Lastly, the sixth subdivision of this grand army, 
 was that denominated the reserve. It had for its 
 chief, prince Louis Bonaparte; and comprehended 
 the foot dragoons and chasseurs, commanded by 
 generals Kiein and Margaron; the heavy cavalry 
 commanded by Nansouty, and an Italian division 
 perfectly disciplined, and not yielding in bearing 
 to the finest of the French divisions. Napoleon 
 said that he would show the English what they 
 had not seen since the time of Cesar, the Italians 
 in their island, and teach these Italians to estimate 
 themselves, by bringing them to fight as well as 
 the French. This reserve, amounting to twenty- 
 seven thousand men, placed in the rear of all the 
 camps, would occupy the shore when the five first 
 corps of the army had departed, and as it was sup- 
 posed that a squadron covering the passage would 
 be master of the strait for some days, the flotilla of 
 transport, separating itself for some hours from 
 the war flotilla, would come to fetch this reserve, 
 as well as the second moiety of the horses. In fact, 
 of fifteen thousand horses the flotilla would not be 
 able to embark more than eight thousand at one 
 time. A second voyage would have brought over 
 the seven thousand remaining. 
 
 Thus, besides the twenty-four thousand men of 
 Marmont's force embarked in the fleet of the 
 Texel, and the four thousand embarked at Brest, 
 Napoleon would be enabled to move a total mass of 
 one hundred and thirty-tivo thousand men, of 
 whom one hundred thousand were infantry, seven 
 
 thousand cavalry mounted, twelve thousand ca- 
 valry not mounted, and thirteen thousand ar- 
 tillery '. 
 It was amid this formidable stale of preparation 
 
 thai Napoleon awaited the arrival of tin- squadron 
 of Villeneuve. 
 
 This admiral, as has been seen, had departed 
 On the 30tll of March from Toulon, with eleven 
 sail of the line, "1 which two were of eighty guns, 
 and six frigateS! NelBOB was cruising towards 
 
 Barcelona. Ha Endeavoured to make it be be- 
 lieved that his intention was to remain in that 
 latitude, and then lie had Suddenly gone to the 
 
 south of Sardinia, in the hope that the French, 
 eli. ttted by the reports thus spread abroad, would 
 endeavour to avoid the coast of Spain, and come 
 of themselves to the encounter with him. The 
 French fleet sailed with a lair wind, and informed 
 of the truth of tin- state of things by a Kagusau 
 
 i I borrow all these numbers from the llttla !><><ik ofths 
 emperor, the same which i with him. This book 
 
 i, tn in- found in the depot of thi louvtr, end it alone nivos 
 tin- tine returns <>t tie- snnj! ol the ocean, which are ni hhei 
 
 ■1 the depOt of ";ir imr nl tlie navy. In i 011 N <|'iein e, .ill 
 
 iv works have given Incorrect numbers relative tOfiM 
 composition of that army.— Snir oj the Author. 
 Tt2
 
 Villeneuve off Cadiz 
 g^4 joined by Gra- 
 
 vina. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Despondency of Ville- 
 neuve. 
 
 1805». 
 July. 
 
 vessel, steered between the Balearic Islands and 
 Carthagena, touched at this last port on the 7th 
 of April, and remained there for a day in conse- 
 quence of a dead calm. Villeneuve invited the 
 Spanish admiral Salcedo to join his flag, which 
 intention he was not able to effect for want of 
 superior orders. Villeneuve then proceeding with 
 a favourable wind arrived on the 9th of April at 
 the entrance of the straits. The same day, at 
 noon, he had entei'ed the straits, formed in two 
 columns, his frigates in advance, the hammocks 
 down and in, the nettings on board all the ships, 
 and every thing cleared for action. They recog- 
 nized the French fleet from Gibraltar, and had 
 given the alarm by ringing the bells and firing 
 the alarm gun, because they had in that port only 
 a very weak division of vessels. Villeneuve ap- 
 peared in the evening of the same day off the 
 port of Cadiz. Warned by signals, the captain of 
 the Aigle prepared to leave the road, and the 
 brave Gravina, who had neglected nothing to 
 place himself in readiness, hastened to weigh 
 anchor in order to join the French admiral. But 
 many things in Cadiz were still backward. The 
 two thousand five hundred Spaniards, whom they 
 were to transport to the islands, were not even 
 embarked. They had finished getting the provi- 
 sions on board, but it would have required at 
 least forty- eight hours more for admiral Gravina 
 to get ready, and Admiral Villeneuve pressing, 
 declared that he would not wait if the junction did 
 not immediately take place. Although a little 
 recovered from the anxiety of his first departure, 
 the French admiral was incessantly pursued by 
 the image of Nelson, whom he believed he always 
 saw close in his wake. 
 
 Gravina, strongly devoted to Napoleon and his 
 projects, embarked with every thing in confusion, 
 proposing to himself to complete his arrangements 
 on the ocean, and went out of Cadiz during the 
 night. It so happened that one vessel struck the 
 ground in the extreme precipitation of getting out 
 to sea. 
 
 Towards two o'clock in the morning, Villeneuve, 
 who had limited himself to dropping a single 
 anchor, availed himself of the wind, and re-took 
 his direction westward. He was on the 11th of 
 the month at large on the ocean, having escaped 
 the formidable look-out of the English. The 11th 
 and 12th he lay to for the Spanish vessels, but two 
 only appeared, and not wishing to lose more 
 time, he set sail, calculating that he should be 
 rejoined at a later period, either on the passage or 
 at Martinique itself; because each commander had 
 received an indication of the common place of 
 rendezvous. No one besides Villeneuve knew the 
 great and important destination of the squadron. 
 
 Villeneuve should now have felt reassured and 
 have acquired some self-confidence, since he had 
 overcome the more serious difficulties of the naviga- 
 tion in quitting Toulon, in traversing the straits, and 
 in rallying Gravina without any accident. But the 
 sight of his crews filled him with mortification. 
 He found them very far beneath those of the 
 English, or those which the French formerly had 
 in the time of the American war. This was na- 
 tural when they thus came out of port for the first 
 time. He complained not only of the crews, but 
 of the materials composing his vessels. Three of 
 
 them sailed either slow or badly ; these were the 
 Formidable, Intrepid, and Atlas, the last worse 
 than either. The iron-work of the Pluto, a new 
 vessel, was bad, and gave way frequently. Ad- 
 miral Villeneuve felt from all these things an ex- 
 cessive annoyance which affected his moral bear- 
 ing. Lauriston, the aide-de-camp of the emperor, 
 made every effort to raise his spirit, but did not 
 succeed to any great extent. Villeneuve had 
 besides excellent captains, who as much as possi- 
 ble supplied the inexperience of the crews and 
 the defects of the vessels. Villeneuve could only 
 derive consolation from seeing the state of the 
 Spanish vessels, which were very much inferior 
 to his own. Still the navigation, although delayed 
 by those vessels, which is not very extraordinary 
 when a squadron sails together, appeared to be 
 in the way of good fortune, and proceeded without 
 any accident. 
 
 Nelson deceived, had at first searched for the 
 French squadron southward and eastward in the 
 Mediterranean. He had known as early as the 
 lu'th of April, that it had advanced towards the 
 straits, but had been himself detained there by 
 westerly winds until the 30th. He had moored 
 on the 10th of May in the bay of Lagos, and 
 after having detached one of his vessels to es- 
 cort a envoy, he did not get out at sea upon his 
 voyage to the West Indies, where he supposed 
 the French fleet had gone, until the 11th of May. 
 
 At this epoch, Villeneuve was very near his ob- 
 ject, for on the 14th of May he reached Marti- 
 nique, after six weeks' navigation. He had had 
 the satisfaction of finding that the four Spanish 
 vessels separated from the squadron arrived nearly 
 at the same time with himself. This was a great 
 advantage to him, and he ought to have reckoned 
 a little more upon his lucky star, that had so far 
 managed to favour him with propitious results. 
 
 This voyage had been very useful. It had 
 given experience to the crews. As the weather 
 afforded time, he had availed himself of it to set 
 the rigging in order. " We are a third stronger 
 than at the moment of our departure from 
 Toulon," general Lauriston wrote to the emperor '. 
 A fleet well manoeuvred and exercised gains 
 nothing in sailing fifteen hundred leagues or 
 more, but a fleet which has not been accustomed 
 to navigate, is thus able to acquire the main part 
 of its instructions, and such was the case with the 
 present fleet of France. 
 
 Admiral Villeneuve, fearful of his responsi- 
 bility, did not appreciate the advantages which 
 had thus been gained, he found that the 
 fleet was deprived of so much yet wanting, that 
 some few ameliorations obtained upon the voyage 
 did not suffice to replace those which were still 
 deficient. He had the fault, like a man whose 
 
 1 All our vessels are in a good state, in a better state in 
 my opinion than when we left Toulon. The fine weather 
 be b afforded the means of bending'the rigging and setting 
 it in order proportionably ; in spite of that the shrouds and 
 all the irons of the Pluto and of the Hermione are of a bad 
 quality, as well as the cordage, the wood of the masts and 
 the yards, oo that many of them are broken. 
 
 Actually all is arranged, all repaired; the mariners have 
 iearnedmuch; there is a sensible difference in their ma- 
 noeuvring; we are a third stronger than at the moment of 
 our departure. — (Letter of general Lauriston to the em- 
 peror.)
 
 J 805. 
 Aug. 
 
 The French design to attack THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 the English colonies. 
 
 645 
 
 moral feeling is affected, of exaggerating the merit 
 of the enemy and depreciating that of his own 
 crews. He said that with twenty Spanish or 
 French vessels he would not willingly combat with 
 fourteen English, and he held this kind of lan- 
 guage before his own officers. Fortunately the 
 officers and seamen were animated with the best 
 dispositions, feeling no less than the commander the 
 insufficiency of their means, but full of confidence 
 in theirown courage, they desired with ardour an en- 
 counter with the enemy. General Lauriston, placed 
 with admiral Villeneuve by the emperor, in order 
 to support and excite him, fulfilled his duty with un- 
 flagging zeal, but only contributed to mortify and 
 irritate him by contradiction. Gravina, simple, 
 sensible, full of energy, thought as Villeneuve did 
 about the quality of the vessels, and as Lauriston 
 did about the necessity of devoting himself to his 
 object, and was decided to lose his life, no matter 
 where, in order to second the design of Napo- 
 leon. 
 
 Now that they had escaped the dangers of the 
 voyage, it was necessary to wait forty days at 
 Martinique for the arrival of Ganteaume ■, of 
 whose forced immobility at Brest, in consequence 
 of an equinox without a gale of wind, they were 
 still ignorant. Villeneuve had arrived on the 
 14th of May, had then remained in those latitudes 
 until the 23rd of June ; and said to himself, 
 chagrined as he was, that more than the neces- 
 sary time had passed for Nelson to overtake him, 
 and block him up in Martinique, or beat him if 
 he attempted to come out. 
 
 His orders were to await Ganteaume, which 
 implicated him in a species of inaction, and as 
 those feel who are ill at ease, he wished to be 
 moving. He complained of not being able to go 
 and ravage the English islands, as he could easily 
 have done with a strength of twenty vessels. In 
 order to kill the time, they had captured Fort 
 Diamond placed in front of Martinique, that 
 admiral Missiessy, to the great regret of Napoleon, 
 had neglected to take. They cannonaded it with 
 several ships of the line, then a few hundred men 
 disembarked from the boats and took it 1 . They 
 would have completed the occupation of Dominica 
 by the capture of Morne Cabry, of which admiral 
 Missiessy had neglected to render himself master; 
 but this position, very well fortified both by nature 
 and ait, demanded a regular siege, and this it was 
 not ventured to undertake '. Villeneuve sent his 
 frigates, being excellent sailers, to make prizes 
 
 ' The Diamond Kock was not captured in the mode here 
 described I it was an almost impregnable position, inn much 
 so to stunii, dose; to Martinique. Captain Maurice, the 
 English naval commander, only surrendered through his 
 utter destitution of water and provisions, obtaining from the 
 French honourable terms of capitulation. — Translate! . 
 
 2 See page 8S6, whew our author states that .l.Iiii ir.il 
 
 ley bad taken the island of Dominica. Sir Qeorge 
 
 Prevost was the governor, and finding the enemy's force 
 
 overwhelming, he withdrew Into the fort of prince Rupert! 
 which the French did not even see or besiege, thus preserving 
 the colony to England. Even the ifonittur of June I, 180.i, 
 stated, that "it appeared to have bean Intended total 
 to keep possession of Dominica, but tin plan was abandoned 
 
 in order to assist the town of St. Domingo, then besieged 
 by the negroes !" Tin- same paper alleges that the setting 
 fire to Rosseau was not the act of the French : it was pro- 
 bably accidental during the cannonade. — Tramlalur. 
 
 and procure him intelligence of the English squad- 
 rons. 
 
 They had brought out troops, and Missiessy had 
 also brought out a considerable number; there 
 were about twelve thousand men in the French 
 West Indies. Such a force would have permitted 
 them to execute important operations, but they 
 dared not venture upon any through fear of missing 
 Ganteaume; besides, the French islands were: in the 
 best state, provided with soldiers and ammunition, 
 abundantly supplied with provisions, thanks to the 
 privateers, and animated with the best spirit. 
 
 Still, not to expose the crews to the maladies 
 which had begun to gain upon them through their 
 sojourn in these climates, and also to preventdeser- 
 tion, to which the Spaniards were very much in- 
 clined, they had resolved to attempt a sudden 
 attack upon Barbadoes, where the English had im- 
 portant military establishments. It was there, in 
 fact, they kept the depots of their colonial troops. 
 General Lauriston had brought with him a good 
 division of five thousand men, organized and 
 equipped with the greatest care. It was destined 
 for this operation. General Lauriston designed to 
 pass by Guadaloupe, and to take a battalion more 
 from thence; because he reckoned upon finding 
 twelve thousand men in Barbadoes 1 . 
 
 They decided to set sail on the 4th of June; 
 but on the same day assigned for his departure, 
 rear-admiral Magon arrived with the two vessels 
 from Rochefort that Napoleon had sent, to give the 
 first intelligence of the change which he had made 
 in his design. Magon came to say, that Ganteaume 
 not being able to come out of Brest, it was neces- 
 sary to go and raise the blockade, not only with 
 his squadron, but that of Ferrol as well; and, 
 after having rallied the fleets that they found iu 
 these ports, they were to enter the channel in a 
 mass. He also brought an order at the same time 
 for the admiral to wait until the 21st of June, be- 
 cause, up to the 21st of May, it was possible that 
 Ganteaume might get out of Brest, and, supposing 
 a month for the voyage from Brest to Martinique, 
 it could not be positively known until the 2lst of 
 June whether that admiral had been able to set 
 
 1 Admiral Villeneuve, in his despatches to his govern- 
 ment, dated from the road of Fort de France, 27th of F'loreal 
 or May 17th, 1805, after mentioning his arrival at Mar- 
 tinique on the 11th of May, and all his proceedings, says: 
 " I am employed in taking in my water; 1 have found the 
 colony abundantly supplied with provisions. General Lau- 
 riston is setting out for Guadeloupe, to collect there as many 
 transports as lie can procure — (a different object from that 
 assigned by our author). I'mm ihe intelligence 1 have been 
 able to obtain, 1 have reason to believe thai admiral (iravina 
 will experience no difficulty In his expedition; and when he 
 shall have joined me, which 1 hope will be very soon, 1 will 
 not lose a moment in repairing to my destination. Ville- 
 
 NI.UVK." 
 
 Lieutenant Claret sent from Martinique, who reached 
 Frame in the French brig Lynx with despatches lor his 
 government, of which Ihe above is an extract, slates, as I 
 rumour, that the Inhabitants Of Trinidad bad taken refuge 
 in the interior Of the island, and that the colony would offer 
 no resistance to any division which should present itself. 
 The same OfflOet adds, that he had beard that (iravina had 
 
 landed two thousand men ui Trinidad. In fact, Trinidad, 
 
 and not Itarbadoes, seems tO have been the real object 
 of Ihe expedition. Nelson imagined the same, not, it is pro- 
 bable, without Information from some quarter on which he 
 thought he could rely.— Tramlalor.
 
 640 Capture of a convoy. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Villeneuve returns to 
 Europe. 
 
 1805- 
 Aug. 
 
 sail. There was, therefore, time left to persist 
 iu the design on Barbadoes. Magon had on boai'd 
 with him troops and ammunition. He followed the 
 squadron, now twenty-seven saii strong, of which 
 fourteen were French, six Spanish of the line, and 
 seven frigates. On the Cth of June, they were 
 before Guadaloupe: on the 7th, they had reached as 
 far as Antigua: on the 8th, they had passed that 
 island, which had not disappeared, when there was 
 a convoy perceived, consisting of fifteen sail, that 
 had just left it. They were merchant vessels, loaded 
 with commercial produce, and escorted by a single 
 corvette. The admiral immediately gave the signal 
 for the chase; the vessels were ordered to follow 
 according to their sailing qualities, or each vessel, 
 as fast as it was able, taking the place which its 
 speed best permitted. Before the close of the day, 
 the convoy was taken. It was valued at 9,000,000 
 or 10,000,000 f. Some American and Italian pas- 
 sengers on board gave intelligence of Nelson. They 
 said he had arrived at Barbadoes, the very place 
 to which the French were then going. They differed 
 about the strength of his squadron, but, generally, 
 made his force amount to a dozen vessels. But he had 
 joined admiral Cochrane, who guarded those seas. 
 This news produced an extraordinary impression 
 upon admiral Villeneuve. He saw Nelson with 
 fourteen, sixteen, perhaps eighteen vessels, that is, 
 with a force nearly equal to his own, ready to meet 
 and fight him. He, therefore, formed immediately 
 the resolution to return to Europe. Lauriston, on 
 the contrary, relying upon the assertion of the pri- 
 soners, that gave but two vessels to Cochrane, and 
 having reason to suppose Nelson had no more than 
 fourteen, supported the idea that, with twenty sail, 
 they were in a condition to combat advantageously, 
 and that, after being freed from all fear of pur- 
 suit by a battle, they would be much better assured 
 of fulfilling their object. Villeneuve was not of this 
 opinion, and insisted absolutely on setting sail for 
 Europe. He was so urgent, that he would not 
 consent even to return to the French islands to 
 restore to them the troops which he had embarked. 
 He would have failed to make them with the wind, 
 which blew from east to west, the length of the 
 islands; and they were then at Antigua, much to 
 the west of Martinique. They would perhaps have 
 lost ten days, and would have been exposed to 
 encounter the English. He, therefore, decided on 
 choosing four of the best frigates, to turn into them 
 as many troops as they were able to take, and to 
 dispatch them towards Martinique. He gave them 
 orders to join the squadron at the Azores. But 
 there still remained four thousand, or five thou- 
 sand, men in the fleet — a charge very embar- 
 rassing. By keeping them, the colonies would be 
 deprived of a valuable force, which it was ex- 
 tremely difficult to send to them from the mother 
 country; and there were so many more mouths on 
 board to feed, which was vexatious, because provi- 
 sions were scant, and there was scarcely water for 
 the passage home. Lastly, they ran the danger of 
 missing Ganteaume, because up to the 21st of June, 
 they could not be in a manner certain that he had 
 not sailed from Brest for Martinique. Judging from 
 the fact, they were right in supposing that he had 
 not left; but of this they were ignorant, it was 
 therefore a serious error. To these objections, 
 Villeneuve replied, that if Ganteaume had sailed, it 
 
 was right to be thankful; that there would no longer 
 be any blockade of Brest, and that they should be 
 able to pass that port without difficulty, and enter 
 the channel. 
 
 Villeneuve determined the matter immediately, 
 placed all the troops he was able on board the 
 frigates, and sent them to Martinique. Not wishing 
 to embarrass himself with the captured convoy, nor 
 to lose it, he gave it in charge to another frigate to 
 escort as far as one of the French islands. On the 
 10th of June, he was on his way to Europe, his reso- 
 lution, although blameable in principle, was not bad 
 in point of fact, if he had returned to Martinique to 
 disposeof his soldiers, to take on board water and pro- 
 visions, and to collect the latest news from Europe. 
 
 Nelson, whom he so much dreaded, had arrived 
 at Barbadoes at the commencement of June, after 
 a navigation of prodigious rapidity, sailing without 
 fear when he had only nine vessels. Supposing 
 the French were gone to re-conquer Trinidad on 
 behalf of the Spaniards, he had taken on board 
 two thousand men at Barbadoes, joined the two 
 vessels of admiral Cochrane to his own squadron, 
 and without ever stopping to victual or refit, he 
 was on the 7th of June in the gulf of Paria in the 
 island of Trinidad. There discovering his error, 
 he departed again, and on the 10th was at Grenada. 
 He then went up to Barbadoes, to leave there the 
 troops that he had taken away to no purpose, and 
 set out to return to Europe with eleven vessels. 
 What activity! What energy ! What an admirable 
 employment of time ! A new proof that in war, 
 and in naval war still more than in that on land, 
 the quality of the force is always worth a great deal 
 more than the quantity. Nelson with eleven ves- 
 sels had self-reliance and confidence, upon the same 
 ocean where Villeneuve trembled with twenty, 
 manned too with heroic seamen. 
 
 Villeneuve sailed towards Europe, steering to 
 the north-east over a very favourable sea. Having 
 reached the Azores on the 30th of June, he there 
 found the frigates, which had not consumed more 
 than four days in discharging their troops, and had 
 no where met with the English, which proved that 
 Villeneuve would have been able to have done as 
 much without danger. The four frigates detached 
 had met with the fifth, escorting the captured con- 
 voy, and not being able to succeed in conducting 
 them, decided upon burning them, causing thus a 
 loss of 10,000,000 f. The fleet was now all united 
 at the Azores, and proceeded on its voyage, num- 
 bering twenty sail of the line, and seven frigates, 
 steering towards the coast of Spain. They were 
 indemnified for the loss of the convoy which they 
 had captured by a rich prize, being a galleon of 
 Lima. laden with dollars, to the value of 7,0^0,000 f. 
 or 8,000,000 f. taken by an English privateer, and 
 re-taken from the privateer. This was a resource 
 which soon became very useful. All on a sudden, 
 during the first days of July, not having more than 
 sixty leagues to make Cape Finisterre, the wind 
 changed, and blowing from the north-east, became 
 quite contrary. They then plied to windward, in 
 oider to gain time, and not to be driven back. 
 But the wind remained fixed to the point, and be- 
 came so violent that some of the vessels were 
 damaged, and several lost their top-masts. The 
 two vessels that rear-admiral Magon had taken with 
 him from Rochefort, having brought out with them
 
 I SOS. 
 Aug. 
 
 Naval battle offFerrol. 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 Naval battle off Ferrol. 
 
 647 
 
 the fever of the Cliarente, they were encumbered 
 with the sick. Tte troops which had been brought 
 back from America to Europe, without once touch- 
 ing land, were labouring under every species of 
 suffering. Sadness reigned throughout the squad- 
 ron. Eighteen days of contrary wind increased it 
 to an overflow, and contributed to shake yet more 
 the courage of admiral Villeneuve. He wished to 
 run to Cadiz, which was in fact the opposite point 
 to that at which Napoleon waited, and to which his 
 instructions called him. General Lanriston re- 
 sisted this with all his power, and finished by suc- 
 cessfully overcoming him. Towards the 20th of 
 July, the wind having changed, the fleet set sail on 
 its new route towards Ferrol. 
 
 The bad weather which had supervened had 
 cau-ed two misfortunes; the first to affect the 
 moral courage of the squadron and its chief; the 
 second, to convey the intelligence of its course to 
 the English admiralty. Nelson had sent before 
 him the brig Curieux to convey to England the par- 
 ticulars of his operations. This brig had observed 
 the French squadron, and making all sail, had 
 reached Portsmouth on the 7t.li of July. On the 
 8th, the dispatches were in the hands of the admi- 
 ralty. Without knowing the object of the French 
 squadron, but imagining that it would attempt 
 perhaps to open the port of Ferrol, the admiralty 
 ordered admiral Stirling, first detached from the 
 blockade of Brest to observe Rochefort, to go with 
 five vessels, and join admiral Caldcr, who was cruiz- 
 ing near Cape Finisterre. The long time that had 
 passed since Napoleon thought on has great naval 
 combination, the different attempts to get out re- 
 cently made, the departure of Villeneuve, his pas- 
 sage to Cadiz, his junction with Gravina, his return 
 to Europe, where two fleets intended to set sail 
 so long ago, one at Brest, the other at Ferrol, 
 seemed only to await a force sufficient to open the 
 p e r il to them; all these circumstances had con- 
 cluded by leading the English, little by little, to 
 suspect, at least vaguely, a part of the designs of 
 Napoleon. They did not exactly think of a union 
 of th ■ French squadrons in the channel, but they 
 wished to prevent the raising of the blockade of 
 Brest and Ferrol, which it appeared probable would 
 
 be attempted. Thus they had raised the fleet of 
 
 CornwsUia before Brest to twenty-four vessels, of 
 which five were detached to Rochefort; there were 
 ten sail before Ferrol. This last squadron had 
 been increased by the junction of the Uoehefort 
 division to fourteen or fifteen sail. Every delay is 
 a misfortune to a design which requires secrecy in 
 th • execution. It gives an enemy time to reflect, 
 sometimes to guess the secret by force of reflec- 
 tioii, or often to acquire by this means the indica- 
 tions which terminate in his instruction. 
 
 On the 22nd of .July, Villeneuve, sailing in three 
 columns, was making way towards Ferrol, that is 
 to say, towards the north-east, under ; t very good 
 
 side breeze from the north-west, tie descried to- 
 wards the middle of the day twenly-one sail, of 
 which fifteen were of the line '. This was the Bug* 
 
 1 Fifiecn sail of the line, two frigates, a cutler anil a 
 ■ Dlnetoen in all; the French I [ding tn the 
 
 iii i rliih statement, was twenty sail of ihc line, Ave h 
 three brigs, ami three vessels armed enfluh-, apparently <>l' 
 liiiv RUM, In all thirty-one. The lotion occurred iii I it. 11 
 30' n. long. 11° 17' west. The English admirals account of 
 
 lish squadron of admiral Gaidar advancing in a 
 contrary direction, anil coming to encounter him by 
 cutting oft' the passage to Ferrol. They were about 
 forty leagues from that port. 
 
 There now could be no doubt of a naval battle. 
 Villeneuve did not seek to avoid it, because it was 
 the responsibility, and not the danger, which ho 
 feared ; but always devoured with anxiety, he lost 
 much precious time in making ready for action. 
 General Lauriston stimulated him without ceasing, 
 and pressed him from eleven o'clock until, one to 
 give the necessary orders. The best part of the 
 day was thus lost, which they soon had to regret. 
 The vessels of the two combined squadrons cm- 
 ployed two hours in ranging themselves in order 
 of battle, and it was not until three o'clock, that 
 the twenty French and Spanish sail of the line 
 were in regular order. The Spaniards occupied - 
 the head of the column, and admiral Magon the 
 rear with the division of Rochefort and several 
 frigates. The English admiral with fifteen sail, of 
 which several were of a hundred guns, while the 
 strongest of the French did not exceed eighty, 
 placed himself in his turn in battle array, forming 
 a long line parallel with the French, but in a con- 
 trary direction. The English steered towards the 
 south-west, the French to the north-east. The 
 wind blowing from the north-west, the two squad- 
 rons received it on the beam. Thus steering in 
 opposite directions they would have soon termi- 
 nated the affair in passing each other, when ad- 
 miral Calder turned in the head of his squadron 
 upon the French rear in order to envelope it. 
 Villeneuve, to whom danger restored all the 
 resolution of a man of fortitude, perceiving that 
 the English admiral, pursuing a system of tactics 
 often repeated in the present day, wished to 
 envelope the French rear in order to place it be- 
 tween two fires, imitated the manoeuvre of his 
 enemy, and turning about, or, as the mariners 
 say, tacking about by the counter-march 2 , cleared 
 the rear of his column, and came round to pre- 
 
 the action differs from our author in some respects : " I was 
 favoured," said sir Robert Calder, "with a view of the com- 
 bined squadrons of France and Spain, consisting of twenty 
 sail of the line, also three large slops armed en flute, of 
 about fifty Willis each, with live frigates and three brigs; 
 the force tinder my direction at this nine consisting of liftecn 
 sail of the line, two frigates, a cutter and lugger. I imme- 
 diately stood towards the enemy with the squadron, making 
 the needful signals for battle in the closest order, and on 
 closing with them, 1 made the signal fur attacking their 
 centre. When I had reached their rear. I tacked the squad- 
 ron in succession : this brought us close up under their 
 lee, and when our headmost slop- reached their centre, the 
 enemy were tacking In succession ; tins obliged me to make 
 
 again the same inanoiivie, by which I brought on an action 
 which lasted upwards of four hours, when I found it neces- 
 sary to bring-to the squadron to cover the two captured 
 
 whose names are in the margin (St Raphael, M guns, 
 
 and I'irino. 71 guns). I have to observe, that the enemy 
 h el every advantage of wind and weather during the whole 
 day. The weather bad been foggy ■ great part ol the morn- 
 ing, and very soon after we had brought them to action the 
 
 fog was so very thick at Intervals, thai we could with great 
 
 nillieiilly see the ship ahead or a.lein of us. This rendered 
 
 It impossible to take advantage ol the raomr by signals, 
 i . rmld have wished to nave done . had be weather been 
 
 n favourable, I am led to believe the victory would have 
 
 been more complete." Tran s l a t o r, 
 
 * Lof pour lot' par la conlreimirehc.
 
 Two Spanish vessels 
 g48 taken by the Eng- 
 
 lish. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The French wish to 
 renew the action. 
 
 1805. 
 Aug. 
 
 sent his head to that of the enemy. In this dou- 
 hle movement, the two squadrons encountered. The 
 first Spanish vessel, the Argonauta, commanded 
 by admiral Gravina, found herself engaged with 
 the Hero, the first of the English vessels. The 
 English and French pursuing their course, were 
 soon engaged along the whole extent of their line. 
 But the English squadron being less numerous 
 than the French, their fire did not extend much on 
 the French line, beyond the thirteenth or four- 
 teenth vessel. The French rear, having no enemy 
 alongside, received scarcely more than a few spent 
 balls ; this was, too, just the situation to enable it 
 to undertake some decisive manoeuvre. Unfortu- 
 nately a thick fog at that time filled a space of 
 some hundreds of leagues, for it was noticed at 
 Brest, and covered the two fleets to such a de- 
 gree, that the admiral's ship was some mo- 
 ments in discovering if it had the enemy larboard 
 or starboard. Each vessel could only see that 
 which was alongside, and could combat with no 
 other. A warm and continued cannonade was 
 heard, but not too precipitate. The French and 
 Spaniards, in spite of their inexperience, fought 
 with order and coolness. The crews had not yet 
 acquired that precision of fire, which at this day 
 distinguishes them ; nevertheless, in this species 
 of duel between vessel and vessel, the English 
 suffered as much as the French l . If the French 
 rear-guard, which had no enemies to fight, had 
 been able to discover what was passing, and falling 
 upon the English line, had placed a part of it be- 
 tween two fires, the victory would have been secured. 
 Villeneuve, seeing nothing through the fog, could 
 with difficulty communicate his orders. Rear- 
 admiral Magon, it is true, had acquainted him 
 that he was in a state of inactivity ; but this 
 notice, in consequence of the thickness of the at- 
 mosphere, not having been transmitted, save by 
 the frigates, had arrived late, and had caused no 
 determination to be taken in the matter by the 
 French admiral, who, after a moment of decision 
 at the commencement of the battle, had fallen 
 again into his customary state of indecision, fear- 
 ing to act in the obscurity, and to make false 
 movements. All that he dared to do was to fight 
 bravely with his own vessel. 
 
 After a long cannonade, the English vessel, the 
 Windsor, was so ill-treated, that a frigate was 
 obliged to withdraw it from the action to pre- 
 vent its falling into the hands of the French. Other 
 English vessels experienced great damage. The 
 French vessels on the contrary comported them- 
 selves valiantly, and were happy enough not to 
 have suffered any great injury. The Spaniards, 
 
 1 The total English loss throughout the whole fleet was 
 forty-one killed, and one hundred and fifty-eight wounded, 
 of which number the Windsor Castle lost a fourth, or ten 
 killed, and thirty five wounded, having had five vessels 
 firing upon her at once; her yards and rigging were much 
 cut up, and she was sent with the two prizes to Plymouth on 
 that account. The two prizes had more killed and wounded 
 on hoard them than all the English fleet. No other English 
 ships were injured in any manner that they could not make 
 good at sea very speedily. The statement of a frigate taking 
 away this vessel lest it should fall into the hands of the 
 French, is a singular piece of misinformation on the part of 
 our author, as weli as that two of the English ships were 
 towed away disabled. — Translator. 
 
 their allies, who composed the van third of the 
 line of battle, suffered much without its having 
 been their own fault. 
 
 The three vessels, the Espafia, San Firmo, and 
 San Rafael, the nearest to the French ships, 
 found themselves in a miserable state. The San 
 Firmo particularly had lost two masts. As the 
 wind bore the French ships down to the English, 
 those vessels incapable of manoeuvring were drifting 
 towards the enemy. Seeing this to be the case, 
 the gallant captain of the Pluto, M. de Cosmao, 
 placed nearest to the Spaniards, sailed out of 
 the line, in order to cover with his ship the Spanish 
 vessels that were injured. The first of these 
 three vessels driving, the San Rafael, a bad 
 sailer, had thought of sufferir«g itself to slip away 
 between the two lines towards the rear, in the 
 hope to save itself by this manoeuvre. The San 
 Firmo, worse treated, was in vain defended by 
 M. de Cosmao, who was unable to prevent it from 
 falling before the wind, and thus being wafted into 
 the midst of the English. But M. de Cosmao 
 succeeded in saving the Espafia, which, thanks 
 to him, was maintained in the line. Towards six 
 o'clock, a clearer atmosphere discovered the spec- 
 tacle to admiral Villeneuve of the San Rafael 
 escaping towards the rear, the San Firmo already 
 surrounded with enemies, and drifting by little 
 and little more towards the English. As they were 
 cannonading at a distance, there remained space 
 enough between the two fleets for the French 
 line to steer in advance before the wind, and by 
 this movement to replace in their line the vessels 
 that were endangered. General Lauriston had not 
 quitted Villeneuve ; he heard the officers of the 
 squadron propose this manoeuvre. He counselled 
 him, therefore, to make the signal to let them 
 arrive all together, that is, to go before the wind, 
 which leading down upon the English, would have 
 placed the disabled vessels in safety in the midst 
 of the French fleet. This would be to approach 
 nearer to the enemy, who, ill-treated and less 
 numerous, would have probably given way before 
 such an offensive movement. Villeneuve, owing 
 to the fog, seeing bad-ly what had taken place, 
 fearing to derange the order of battle and to run 
 new hazards, preferred the loss of the two vessels 
 to risking a fresh engagement. He therefore re- 
 fused to give the order which was on all sides 
 solicited from him. At the same moment night 
 approached, and the firing had nearly ceased. The 
 English retired, towing away two of their vessels 
 very much injured by the fire, and the two Spanish 
 ships that had been abandoned to them by the 
 fault of the French. 
 
 As to the French, they had suffered little ; 
 there was not one of the crews but was ready to 
 renew the conflict, and that did not believe itself 
 the victor, on seeing the field of battle remain to 
 them. They were yet ignorant in the fleet of the 
 loss of the Spanish ships. 
 
 All night the English were seen carrying lights 
 on the poop, far before the wind, employed in 
 repairing their damages. 
 
 On the side of the French the same Labour was 
 performed. At break of day the position of the 
 two fleets could be clearly seen. The English 
 were retreating; but taking with them the two 
 Spanish vessels, the sorrow and exasperation on
 
 1805. Villeneuve determines to 
 
 Aug. proceed to Ferrol. 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. The squadron enters Vigo. 
 
 049 
 
 board the fleet were great. They required to 
 fight and to come to a decisive action. The 
 wind was in their favour, for it was in the same 
 point as on the preceding evening, and carried 
 their, down towards the English. If at that mo- 
 ment Villeneuve had resolutely made the signal 
 to bear down upon the enemy, without any order 
 of battle but that of fast sailing, fourteen of the 
 French vessels out of eighteen that remained 
 sailing well together would Have arrived at one 
 time upon the English, the four others would have 
 arrived soon afterwards, and the combat would 
 have certainly been to the advantage of the 
 French. Urged by the entreaty that came from 
 all his officers, Villeneuve in fact prescribed this 
 movement, and went with Lauriston on board the 
 frigate Hortense, to give his orders verbally to 
 each chief of division. The Argonauta, the 
 Spanish admiral's ship, having the mizen mast 
 yard broken, requested time to replace it. Ville- 
 neuve wished to wait, and it occupied until middle 
 day. Then he commenced the pursuit, but the 
 wind dropped, and he saw the English steal away 
 before him, without being able to gain much upon 
 them, even with all sail set. Imagining he should 
 not come up with them, except during the night, 
 he postponed closing until the next day, in order 
 to combat by daylight. But in the morning the 
 wind had gone round to the north-east, that is to 
 say, in a direction altogether contrary. The En- 
 glish had now the advantage of the wind, and to 
 join battle with them had become difficult. Ville- 
 neuve had on that account a good reason for 
 stopping his course. He was getting away from 
 Ferrol, and ran the risk of finding the English 
 reinforced, and for two vessels lost he would 
 expose himself to miss his object, which was to 
 open Ferrol, and complete the end of his mission. 
 
 Thus terminated this action, which might have 
 passed for a victory, but for the loss of the two 
 Spanish vessels. The crews, in spite of their inex- 
 perience, had fought well; but on one hand the fog 
 had added to the natural irresolution of admiral 
 Villeneuve; on the other, his exaggerated mistrust 
 of himself and his Seamen had paralyzed the re- 
 sources which he p- I, and prevented the bat- 
 tle from becoming a distinguished success. Here, 
 as in so many naval battles, one- wing of the fleet 
 did not come to the BUCCOUT of the other; but this 
 time it was not the fault of the wing that remained 
 inactive, became rear-admiral Magon was not a 
 man U> remain voluntarily beyond the reach of fire. 
 In the- first momenta that followed the battle, Ville- 
 neuve was very happy to have been abb; to en- 
 counter tie- English without suffering a disaster; 
 but once out of the action ami become himself 
 again, his habitual gloom had changed into deep 
 
 sorrow. lie saw himself exposed to censure from 
 
 Napoleon and public opinion, In; having lost two v<-s- 
 
 sels fighting with twenty againsl fifteen. Lie believed 
 himself dishonoured, and fell into a sort of lowness 
 
 of mind bordering upon despair. Tin- severe judg- 
 ment of his crews, who complained loudly of bis ir 
 resolution, and who exalted tin- bravery and decision 
 of admiral Gravina, pierced him to the heart. To add 
 to the misfortune, the wind, for two days favourable, 
 
 had become Contrary. To tin- sick, of whom the mini- 
 
 bad increased, was to be added the wounded. 
 
 The necessary refreshments to give them were want- 
 
 ing; they had no more water than would last them 
 for five or six days. In this state, Villeneuve wished 
 to proceed to Cadiz. General Lauriston opposed 
 himself to that step anew; they came to an agree- 
 ment and Bought a harbour in Vigo. 
 
 This port was not very safe, and presented be- 
 sides but very few resources. Still means were 
 found there for alleviating the sufferings of the sick 
 and wounded. Three allied vessels, the Atlas, 
 America, and Espana, were such bad sailors that 
 they were not fit to navigate with a squadron, and 
 Villeneuve decided to leave them at Cadiz. The 
 Atlas was fitted up as a hospital ship, in which the 
 sick and wounded were placed. (General Lauriston 
 had brought with his division the necessary mate- 
 rials for a moveable hospital; he employed them 
 for the use of the seamen left at Vigo. They had 
 money ont of the Spanish galleon, which served to 
 procure all of which the squadron stood in need. 
 They furnished it with fresh provisions, took on 
 board water for a month, gave their pay to the whole 
 squadron, and having somewhat re-animated their 
 spirits, which was Boon done with men of a lively 
 temperament, they set sail after a rest of five days, 
 which had been most useful to them. The wind 
 was not unfavourable, the squadrons ascended from 
 Vigo as high as Ferrol, and on the 2nd of August 
 entered the open road which separates Ferrol from 
 Corunna. 
 
 At the very moment when the French squadron 
 appeared, the consular agents placed on the shore, 
 by the command of Napoleon, communicated to 
 admiral Villeneuve the orders which were destined 
 for him. Those orders were, not to enter into 
 Ferrol, from whence it was not possible to get out 
 with facility; to take the bare time necessary to 
 unite with himself the divisions that awaited the 
 junction, and then to depart for Brest. Villeneuve 
 transmitted this order to Gravina, but he was 
 already in the port, unable to retrograde, and 
 a part of the fleet had entered with him, the rest 
 obeying Villeneuve, remained opposite outside at 
 Corunna. 
 
 This was a separation which placed the two 
 squadrons at three or four leagues distance from 
 each other. The utmost injury that could happen 
 was tin' loss of two or three <la_\s in getting out. 
 This loss would have been deeply regretted by an 
 admiral who had not often lost his time; but Vil- 
 leneuve might easily console himself under such a 
 circumstance. 
 
 The admiral found at Corunna the pressing 
 orders of Napoleon, his encouraging words ami 
 magnificent promises, together with letters from 
 Decree, the Friend of his youth. Tin; emperor and 
 the minister urged him alike not to delay a mo- 
 ment in proceeding before Brest, to deliver battle 
 
 to Cornwallis, even to destroy his own force if it 
 
 was necessary, provided tianteaimio was enabled to 
 get out sate and sound, and rallying what might 
 
 remain of the squadron that raised the blockade, to 
 proceed into the channel. Ml this news elevated 
 
 for a moment the moral courage of Villeneuve, 
 
 The little importance Napoli attached to the 
 
 sacrifice of his vessels, in order that a fleet might 
 
 arrive in the channel, had somewhat encouraged 
 him. If he had well understood his mission, In; 
 
 would have in in satisfied rathi r than unhappy. 
 
 After all, if two vessels had 1 i taken from him
 
 C50 
 
 Melancholy feelings of 
 Villeneuve. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Villeneuve sails from 
 Ferrol. 
 
 1805. 
 Aug. 
 
 in the last battle, he had got to Ferrol safe and 
 sound, escaped the enemy's squadrons, and eluded 
 all the precautions of the English admiralty. Of 
 the two admirals, English or French, the most 
 ill-treated by fortune was Calder and not Ville- 
 neuve, because Villeneuve had attained his object 
 and Calder had failed in his. In losing the two 
 vessels taken, and those left at Vigo, he had still 
 twenty-nine French and Spanish vessels in Ferrol, 
 which would be increased by the division of Lal- 
 lemand to thirty-four, and was thus numerous 
 enough to venture upon raising the blockade of 
 Brest. Besides, the English admiralty itself and 
 Napoleon judged thus a few days afterwards. The 
 admiralty brought Calder before a court-martial, 
 and Napoleon published great eulogies upon Ville- 
 neuve, he having fulfilled the object of liis mission, 
 although two vessels had remained in the power of 
 his enemy. 
 
 What fear then is it possible to conceive such a 
 responsibility could have for an officer whose 
 master was all-powerful, disposing of the reputa- 
 tion and fortune of his lieutenants, and never 
 ceasing to urge, " give battle, even to self-de- 
 struction, provided that by your efforts you open 
 the port of Brest." But it seemed that a sort of 
 fatality attached to the steps of this unhappy 
 seaman, to trouble his mind, and conduct him 
 by unhappiness upon unhappiness to the result 
 that he would fain elude, in other words, to a 
 great battle lost, and lost without his obtaining 
 the sole result that was demanded of him by 
 Napoleon, that of being in the channel for twenty- 
 four hours. 
 
 He found some consolation in seeing the divi- 
 sion of rear-admiral Gourdon, that had navi- 
 gated much at sea before it was blockaded in 
 Ferrol, that had been carefully repaired and com- 
 pleted, and that merited the fullest confidence. 
 He saw with no less satisfaction the nine Spanish 
 vessels equipped by Senor Grandellana, and much 
 superior to those of admiral Gravina, because 
 they had bestowed that time upon their equip- 
 ment which had been wanting for those which 
 had left Cadiz. " Would to God," cried Ville- 
 neuve, in comparing the Ferrol division with that 
 of Cadiz, " that the Spanish squadron (except the 
 Argonauta) had never made a part of mine. 
 Those vessels are absolutely not fit for any thing 
 except to compromise all, and this they have con- 
 tinually done. These are the vessels that con- 
 ducted us to the last degree of misfortune." 
 
 This language shows to what point the mind of 
 Villeneuve was affected, when he called the last 
 degree of misery a campaign which thus far had 
 attained the object indicated by Napoleon, and 
 which was even worth to him eulogies on the part 
 of a difficult master. 
 
 Villeneuve at this moment entirely gave himself 
 up to consider what might happen on going out of 
 Ferrol. He supposed that Calder would re-appear 
 joined by Nelson or Cornwallis, and that he 
 should meet to fight a new battle, in which, this 
 time, he might possibly he destroyed. Letters 
 from Cadiz stated to him, in effect, that Nelson 
 had returned to Europe, that he had been seen at 
 Gibraltar, but that he had departed for the 
 ocean, in order to unite with Calder before 
 Ferrol, or Cornwallis before Brest. The truth was, 
 
 that Nelson, sailing with prodigious rapidity, had 
 arrived at Gibraltar towards the end of July, at 
 the very moment when Villeneuve had given battle 
 to Calder ; that he had re-passed the strait, con- 
 tinually struggling with contrary winds to regain 
 the ocean; that he had only eleven vessels with 
 him, that he had as yet neither joined Calder nor 
 Cornwallis ; that his intention, after two years of 
 continual navigation, was to enter harbour for a 
 moment to relax and revictual his worn-down 
 squadron. Villeneuve was ignorant of these cir- 
 cumstances ; but he knew his orders, that for a 
 man of fortitude were most facile in the execution, 
 when he was not commanded to conquer, but merely 
 to raise the blockade of Brest by fighting to the 
 utmost. If he were before Brest, he would be 
 seconded by Ganteaume: it was not probable that 
 a battle, delivered with fifty or fifty-five vessels 
 against twenty or twenty-five ', would be lost. If, 
 on the contrary, the situation of the sea hindered 
 Ganteaume from taking a part in the action, Vil- 
 leneuve in fighting to the utmost, even so far as 
 to suffer himself to be destroyed, would place 
 Cornwallis out of the possibility of keeping at sea 
 and continuing the blockade, and Ganteaume, 
 gathering up with his fleet all that remained en- 
 tire of that other fleet which had been gloriously 
 vanquished, would have still been able to domineer 
 for some days in the channel. This was all that 
 Napoleon required of his admirals. 
 
 Unhappily, Villeneuve had touched the shore. 
 His vessels that had combated he held it needful 
 to repair. They could have navigated a month or 
 two longer still if they had been obliged to keep 
 out at sea; but at the gates of a great arsenal, they 
 were all determined to repair some injury. They 
 must change their masts, their rigging was not in 
 order, or they leaked; they must turn over the 
 surplus provisions of those vessels that had most still 
 on board, to those that had least. Thus the squad- 
 ron was laid by for forty -five days. The orders of 
 Napoleon to have biscuit ready to the extent of two 
 or three millions of rations in each port, they had 
 not been able to exi cute in Ferrol, in consequence 
 of the dearth of food throughout Spain. But they 
 might be obtained at Brest, Cherburg, or Boulogne. 
 Still forty-five days sufficed them, and 'finally on 
 the 10th of August, matters were so disposed as to 
 permit them to weigh anchor. Villeneuve placed 
 himself outside Corunna, in the bay of Ares, wait- 
 
 1 Thirty-four or thirty-five sail, for on the 11th of August 
 Calder had joined Cornwallis off Brest. A step Calder 
 (perhaps wisely) thought better than to risk his fourteen 
 sail against thirty and upwards of the French, whose rein- 
 forcement he apprehended. Cornwallis would have fought 
 Villeneuve, Ganteaume, and their fifty sail with this 
 force. This extraordinary admiral, to whose perseverance 
 and bravery, if our author is to be credited, England, it is 
 now seen, owed her safety from invasion, never suffered a 
 superiority of force to discourage him. On the 17th of June, 
 1795, with one ship of a hundred guns, four seventy-fours, 
 and two frigates, he sustained a severe action with thirteen 
 French sail of the line and seven frigates, from seven in the 
 morning until night, and lost not a single ship. His block- 
 ade of Brest through wintry storms was a thing unheard of, 
 save under his command. Fortune did not favour him with 
 the opportunity of doing more than he did, but what he was 
 enabled to undertake, be executed admirably. In the 
 English navy he had the cognomen of " Billy Blue."— 
 Translator.
 
 1805. 
 Aug. 
 
 Villeneuve deceives Lauriston, 
 sailing fur Cadiz. 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 Impatience of Napoleon at 
 Boulogne. 
 
 651 
 
 ing while Gravina and the second Spanish division 
 came out of Ferrol, wot an easy movement on ac- 
 count of the wind. He waited three days, and em- 
 ployed them in self-torment. He wrote to the mi* 
 nister Decres, " they make me the disposer of 
 the greatest interest.-: my despair redoubles, as 
 more confidence is testified towards me, because I 
 am not able to aspire at success, whatever step 1 
 may take. It is to me well demonstrable that the 
 navies of France and Spain are not able to act in 
 large squadrons. Divisions of three, four, or five 
 vessels, or thereabouts, are all that we can make 
 capable of being well under command. When 
 Ganteaume comes out, he will judge of this. Pub- 
 he opinion will be settled on the question. 
 
 " I am setting sail, but I know not what I shall 
 do. Eight vessels are in view of the coast, at eight 
 leagues' distance. We shall follow them; I shall 
 not be able to close with them, and they will go and 
 unite themselves with the squadrons before Brest 
 or Cadiz, according as I make my way for one or 
 the other of these two ports. It will be much, if 
 sailing from hence with twenty-nine vessels, I am 
 considered able to fight against the many vessels 
 approaching; I fear not to Bay it to you, I should 
 be very sorry to encounter twenty. We have a 
 Superannuated system of naval tactics; we know 
 only how to place ourselves in line, and that is just 
 what the enemy requires. I have not the means 
 nor the time to adopt any other system with the 
 commanders to whom the vessels of the two navies 
 are confided. I foresaw all that before leaving 
 Toulon; but I was under an illusion until the day 
 when I beheld the Spanish vessels which are now 
 united to mine; then it was impossible not to de- 
 spair of all !" 
 
 At the moment of departure, the vessels that 
 came from Rochefort, the Algesiras and Achilles, 
 had been newly attacked by the fever; some Spa- 
 nish vessels, on coming out of Ferrol, had run 
 foul of each other; tiny had the ends of their bow- 
 sprits broken, and their sails torn. These acci- 
 dents, of little moment in themselves, added to all 
 
 rosses that Villeneuve had already experienced, 
 ended by reducing him to despair. Ready to Bet 
 sail, he now gave his orders to captain Lallemand, 
 who, witli an excellent division of five vessels and 
 several frigates had arrived at Vigo on tin; loth or 
 10th of August. It should have sufficed Villeneuve 
 to s;iii there in order to Form a junction with that 
 division, and thus procure an augmentation of his 
 
 : but not daring to move himself, always in 
 fear of encountering Nelson, he sent an officer to 
 captain Lallemand, and ordered him to proceed to 
 without being Bare of going there himself, 
 thus exposing this division to be lost if it arrived 
 at that p ut alone and unsupported. He wrote to 
 admiral Decresa dispatch, in which laying open his 
 unhappiness of mind, he I a disposition 
 
 to proceed to Cadiz rather than to Brest; but to 
 Lauriston, whose importunate pies, nee recalled to 
 him that of the emperor, he said that he would 
 
 make sail for Brest Lauriston, afflicted to see him 
 
 in such a state, but charmed at his resolution, wrote 
 
 to the emperor by a eoorisr dispatched from \'< r- 
 
 rol, that now finally they should proceed l . I. '. 
 and from Hrest into the channel. 
 
 In the midst of these- deplorable anxieties, Ville- 
 neuve sailed away from Corunna, and lost sight of 
 
 the land on the 14th. In order to add to his mis- 
 fortums, the wind blowing strong from the north- 
 east, was far from carrying him towards his grand 
 destination. Melancholy consequence of that dis- 
 couragement, which makes us so often neglect the 
 finest favours of fortune ! At that very moment, 
 Calderand Nelson were not, as Villeneuve dreaded, 
 united near Ferrol. Nelson, after having vainly 
 searched for the French at Cadiz, had gone north- 
 wards, working up agaiust the same north-east wind 
 which was then blowing, and had finally joined 
 Cornwallis before Brest the same day, the 14th of 
 August, that the French squadron had come out of 
 Ferrol. He left with Cornwallis the small number 
 of his vessels which were able to keep the sea, and 
 went with the others to refit at Portsmouth, which 
 he reached on the Kith of August. Calder, on his 
 side, after the battle of Ferrol had rejoined Corn- 
 wallis with his maltreated fleet. A part of his ves- 
 sels had been sent into the channel ports to refit *. 
 Cornwallis had immediately recomposed a squadron 
 of seventeen or eighteen sail, and sent them off 
 Ferrol, keeping about eighteen sail there. Calder 
 returned, but found Ferrol evacuated. If Ville- 
 neuve, imbibing a little confidence, had joined Lal- 
 lemand at Vigo, and proceeded towards the chan- 
 nel, he would have crossed without encounterin;r 
 Calder, who came to blockade Ferrol, now empty; 
 he would have surprised Cornwallis, separated 
 from Nelson and Calder, having eighteen or twenty 
 vessels more, he would have attacked him with 
 thirty-five, not reckoning those of Ganteaume. 
 What a chance did the depression of his mind thus 
 make him lose ! Besides, general Lauriston beset 
 him with the strongest entreaties ; a moment's 
 turn in the wind, and in the depressed spirits of 
 Villeneuve, and the grand desire of Napoleon would 
 still have been accomplished. 
 
 It is difficult to picture the impatience which 
 Napoleon exhibited upon the shore of Boulogne, 
 where he waited in expectation every moment of 
 the appearance of his fleet, and of the opportunity 
 so much desired for invading England. All his 
 forces had embarked, from the Texel to Etaples. 
 At the Texel, the artillery horses and cavalry had 
 been on board for some weeks. The troops, with- 
 out exception, had been in the vessels. The squad- 
 ron of the line charged to escort the convoy had to 
 wait merely for the signal of their unmooring. In 
 tin' four ports of Ambleteuse, Wimereux, Boulogne, 
 and Etaples, they had several times made the one 
 hundred and thirty thousand men, designed to cross 
 in the Hat-bottomed boats, take up their arms. 
 They hail brought them to the quays, ami had made 
 them all occupy every one his place in the ves- 
 They had thus found what time would be 
 needful for this operation. At Ambleteuse, the 
 
 men of the corps of Davout had been embarked 
 in an hour and a quarter, and the horses in an hour 
 
 and a half. It had been the same at Staples and 
 at Boulogne, allowing for the different proportions 
 
 of men and hoi 
 
 All therefore had been ready, « hen Napoleon was 
 at last apprised of the battle of Villi ueuve oil' l\ rrol, 
 
 1 Sec note pape CIS. Calder joined Cornwall!! with Cour- 
 JJ iii tin- line, mi tin; authority of w admiralty nota 
 
 BOW BXtating ; llu: Windsor Call le, the lifii cnth vi lie] of lua 
 aquadrun, had gone to repair at Plymouth. — Tranilalor. 

 
 652 Napoleon's satisfaction. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Distrust of fibres. 
 
 1805. 
 Aug. 
 
 of his entering the harbour of Vigo, and lastly, of 
 his entrance into Corunna. Whatever displeasure 
 the moral state of Villeneuve had caused him, 
 however severely he had judged him, he was still 
 satisfied with the entire result, and by his orders all 
 the Gazettes contained an account of the naval 
 combat, with the most praiseworthy reflections upon 
 Villeneuve and the combined squadrons. The two 
 vessels lost, appeared to him no more than an acci- 
 dent arising from the fog, no doubt to be regretted, 
 but of no importance to the result obtained, that of 
 the entrance into Vigo, and of the junction of the 
 two fleets l . 
 
 i The following are the letters that Napoleon wrote upon 
 this subject to admiral Villeneuve and his aide-de-camp 
 Lauriston : — 
 
 To Admiral Villeneuve. 
 Boulogne, the 23rd Thermidor, Year xill. August 13, 1805. 
 
 Monsieur"vice-admiral Villeneuve,— I have seen with plea- 
 sure, by the combat of the 3rd Thermidor, that several of 
 my vessels have behaved with the bravery that I might 
 have expected. I am obliged to you for the fine manoeuvre 
 that you executed at the commencement of the action, which 
 completely defeated the enemy's designs. I could have 
 desired that you had employed the great number of your 
 frigates in succouring the Spanish vessels, that, finding 
 themselves first engaged, were of necessity in the most need 
 of it. I should have equally desired, that on the day follow- 
 ing the battle, you had not given time to the enemy to place 
 in security their vessels, the Windsor Castle and Malta, and 
 the two Spanish ships, which, being unrigged, rendered their 
 sailing embarrassed and slow. This would have given to 
 my arms the eclat of a great victory. The slowness of this 
 manoeuvre gave time to the English to send them into their 
 ports. But I feel bound to think that victory remained to 
 my arms, seeing that you have entered Corunna. I hope 
 that this dispatch will not find you there; that you will 
 have resumed your cruize to form your junction with Cap- 
 tain Lallemand : sweep all which you find before you, and come 
 into the channel, where we await you with anxiety. If you 
 have not done so, do it. March boldly up to the enemy. 
 The order of battle which to me appears preferable would be, 
 to intermingle the Spanish vessels with the French, and to 
 place behind each Spanish vessel a frigate to succour them 
 during the action, and to make use thus of the great number 
 of frigates which you have with you. You will be able yet fur- 
 ther to add to this increase by means of the Guerriere and the 
 Revanche, that will take the crew of the Atlas; but without 
 this being any delay to your operations. You have at this 
 moment under your command eighteen of our vessels, and 
 twelve, or at least ten of those belonging to the king of 
 Spain. My intention is, that wherever the enemy shall 
 present himself before you with less than twenty-four ves- 
 sels, that you should attack him. 
 
 By the return of the frigate President, and several others, 
 that I had sent to you at Martinique and Guadaloupe, I 
 have been apprised, that in place of disembarking troops in 
 those two islands, they find themselves weaker in force than 
 they were before. Nelson had but nine vessels. The Eng- 
 lish are not so numerous as you think. They every where 
 stand at bay. If you appear for three days, or for only 
 twenty-four hours, your mission will be fulfilled. Let ad- 
 miral Ganteaume be made acquainted by an extraordinary 
 courier with the moment of your departure. Lastly, for a 
 great object, a squadron must always run some hazards ; 
 and never will our soldiers, by land or sea, have spilled 
 their blood to procure a greater or more noble result. For 
 the grand object of favouring a descent upon that power 
 which for six centuries has oppressed France, we are all 
 willing to die without regretting life. Such are the sen- 
 timents which should animate you — which should animate 
 all my soldiers. England has not in the Downs more than 
 four vessels of the line, which we harass every day with our 
 praams and flotilla. 
 
 Now he was no more in doubt that Villeneuve 
 would make his appearance off Brest. Ganteaume 
 was at Barthaume, that is, outside the inner road 
 in front of the open sea, supported by one hundred 
 and fifty pieces of cannon disposed in battery on 
 the shore. It would be one of the greatest of 
 misfortunes if Ganteaume should not be able to 
 take a part in the battle for raising his blockade, 
 and the French uniting fifty vessels, twenty-nine 
 under Villeneuve, and twenty-one under Gan- 
 teaume, should not succeed in driving the enemy 
 before them, and on entering the channel with 
 thirty or forty, even if they lost ten or twenty 
 sail. 
 
 " You see well," said Napoleon to Decres, who 
 was with him at Boulogne, " that in spite of a 
 crowd of faults and unfavourable accidents, the 
 nature of the plan is so thoroughly good, that all 
 the advantages are yet ou our side, and that we are 
 very near success." 
 
 Decres, who had received in secret confidence 
 the complaints of Villeneuve, and who partook in 
 his distrust of fortune, was not quite as tranquil 
 as Napoleon. " All that is very possible," he re- 
 plied, " because all has been perfectly well calcu- 
 lated ; but if it should succeed, I shall see in it the 
 hand of God. It has shown itself indeed so often 
 in the operations of your majesty, that I shall not 
 be astonished to see it again appear upon the pre- 
 sent occasion '." 
 
 On the 14th of August, he was more desirous than ever of 
 the expedition, in spite of Decres. 
 
 To General Lauriston. 
 Boulogne, 26 Thermidor, Year xni , or 14th August, 1805. 
 
 Monsieur general Lauriston, — I have received your two 
 letters of the 9th and 11th Thermidor. I hope that this des- 
 patch will find you no longer at Ferrol, and that the squa- 
 dron will have already set sail to proceed to its destination. I 
 donotsee why you did not leave the 67th and 16th regiments 
 at Martinique and Guadaloupe. It was well explained in 
 your instructions. Thus, after an expedition so extensive, 
 I have not even the pleasure to see my islands safely shel- 
 tered from attack. There are not at present there three thou- 
 sand men, and after Vendemiaire there will not be more 
 than two thousand five hundred. I hope that Villeneuve 
 will not suffer himself to be blockaded by an inferior squa- 
 dron to his own. He must have actually thirty vessels of 
 the line. I think that, with this squadron, he is well in a 
 position to attack one of twenty-four. Help and push on the 
 admiral as much as possible. Arrange with him about the 
 troops which you have on board, and send me the statement 
 of their situation ; you may leave them on board, or, if the 
 admiral judges it convenient, you can disembark them, and 
 form them into a division at Ferrol. 
 
 Take measures to form a depot of the men you disem- 
 barked at Vigo, that all the troops which may arrive from 
 Ferrol may be able to rejoin their corps from thence after- 
 wards. 
 
 Captain Lallemand made his appearance off the coast of 
 Ireland in the beginning of Thermidor. He ought to be at 
 the place of rendezvous long since. He will seek to obtain 
 intelligence of the squadron, if he has not already a know- 
 ledge of it at Vigo, where an officer will be, under the suppo- 
 sition that admiral Villeneuve had not appeared on the 
 20th Thermidor. We are every where ready. An appearance 
 of twenty-four hours in the channel will be sufficient." 
 
 1 I limit myself to analysing textually the numerous 
 notes which Napoleon and admiral Decres wrote every day, 
 although they were only at the distance of half-a-league 
 from each other. The one was at Pont de Briques, the 
 other on the sea-shore. — Note of the Author.
 
 1805. 
 
 Aug. 
 
 Napoleon offers Hanover to 
 Prussia. 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. Anger of Napoleon with Decres. 653 
 
 From the loth to the 20th of August Napoleon re- 
 mained at Boulogne a prey to the keenest anxiety. 
 Signals placed upon all the more elevated points 
 of the coast were designed to inform him when 
 the French fleet appeared in the horizon. Atten- 
 tive to each courier that arrived from Paris or 
 the porta, he gave at every moment fresh orders, 
 to prevent those accidents which would have been 
 likely to contravene his designs. Talleyrand hav- 
 ing apprised him that the armaments of Austria 
 became every day more and more significant and 
 threatening, and that a continental war was to be 
 apprehended, but that at the same time Prussia, 
 seduced by the bait that they had made so tempt- 
 ing before her eves, that of Hanover, was ready 
 to conclude an alliance with France ; Napoleon, 
 without deliberating a single hour, called for 
 Duroc, remitted to him a letter for the king of 
 Prussia, and all the power.s necessary to sign a 
 treaty. " Set off immediately," he said to him, 
 " go to Berlin without passing through Paris, and 
 determine Prussia to sign an alliance with me. I 
 have given him Hanover, but only upon the con- 
 dition that he decide instantly. The present that 
 I make him is worth the trouble. In fifteen days 
 1 shall not renew to him the same offer. To-day 
 I have need to be covered on the side of Austria 
 while I embark. To obtain this service of Prussia 
 I give to it a large country which will add forty 
 thousand men to its army. But if by delay I shall 
 be obliged to quit the shores of the ocean to turn 
 myself towards the continent, my camps struck, 
 my designs against England abandoned, I shall 
 have no need of any one to bring Austria to reason, 
 and I shall not pay so dearly for a service that will 
 in that case become useless to me. In conse- 
 quence, Napoleon required that Prussia should 
 immediately make movements of troops towards 
 Bohemia: he would not consent besides that the 
 treaty should be overcharged with conditions re- 
 lative to Holland, Switzerland, or Italy. He would 
 cede Hanover, and wished that it should be united 
 to Prussia without being burdened by any other 
 conditions'. 
 
 It is easy to judge, by so serious a step thus 
 promptly decided upon, of the high price Napoleon 
 attached at that moment to the free accomplish- 
 in. nt of his projects. The- same day that he gave 
 ties.- instructions to Duroc, that is to say, on the 
 20th ot AngOSt, a courier arrived that had left 
 Ferrol during the time Villeneuve was setting sail 
 to arrive at Boulogne. Napoleon received directly 
 the- dispatch of Lauriston, while at tin- little chateau 
 of Pont de Briques; while that of Villenenve, ad- 
 
 I to Decres, was sent to him on the sea- 
 shore, at the barrack in which he had taken up his 
 quarters. 
 
 Napoleon delighted at the words of Lauriston, 
 "we are off for Brest," immediately dictated two 
 
 letters to Villenenve and Ganteau They are 
 
 too well worthy of preservation by history not to 
 give them here. 
 
 He said to Ganteanmc :— 
 
 " I have already made known to you by tele- 
 graph, that my intention is VOO should not suffer 
 Villenenve to lo» day, in order that pro- 
 
 > This is the analysis of the secret instructions given to 
 the grand marshal Duroc.— Sole of I he Author. 
 
 fiting by the superiority which is afforded me by 
 fifty sliips of the line, you should go at once to sea, 
 in order to fulfil your destination, and carry your- 
 self into the channel with all your strength and 
 force. I reckon upon your talents, firmness, and 
 character under such important circumstances. 
 Depart and come hither. We shall avenge six cen- 
 turies of insult and reproach. Never before for an 
 object so great will my forces by land and sea 
 have risked their lives !" (From the imperial 
 camp at Boulogne, August '22, 1805.) 
 
 He wrote to Villeneuve: — 
 
 " Monsieur the vice-admiral, I hope that you 
 have arrived at Brest. Depart, lose not one mo- 
 ment, and with my united fleet enter the channel. 
 England is ours! we are all ready; every thing is 
 embarked. Appear but for twenty-four hours and 
 all will be terminated." (From the imperial camp 
 at Boulogne, August 22.) 
 
 But while Napoleon, deceived by the despatch of 
 Lauriston, addressed these earnest words to the two 
 admirals, Decres had rec ived from Villeneuve, by 
 the same courier, a very different despatch, which 
 left him little hope of the voyage to Brest. He 
 hastened to the emperor, to make him acquainted 
 with the sad moral state in which Villeneuve found 
 himself upon quitting Ferrol. 
 
 On hearing this contradictory news, Napoleon 
 was seized with a violent fit of anger. The first 
 bursts of his passion fell upon admiral Decres, who 
 had given him such a man to command his fleet. 
 He bore much more heavily upon this minister, be- 
 cause he attributed to him, besides the choice of 
 Villeneuve, analogous opinions to those which had 
 deprived the unhappy admiral of all courage. He 
 reproached him with the weakness of his friend, 
 and that slandering of the French navy which con- 
 veyed despair into the hearts of all the seamen. 
 He complained of not being seconded in his great 
 designs, and only able to find men, who to take 
 care of their persons and reputations, knew not 
 even how to lose a battle, when all that was re- 
 quired of them was only the courage to fight and 
 to lose one. "Your Villeneuve,'' he said to Decres, 
 " is not even capable of commanding a frigate. 
 What is to be said of a man who, for a few sailors 
 fallen sick in the ships belonging to his squadron, 
 because of a broken bowsprit, a few torn sails, a 
 report of the junction between Nelson and Gaidar, 
 loses his senses and renouno a his designs I" But 
 if Nelson and ('alder hail join! d, they would be at 
 the entrance of Ferrol, ready to attack the French 
 at the passage out, and not in the open sea. All 
 this is plain and simple, and strikes the eyes of any 
 one who is not blinded by his own fear 1 ! Napoleon 
 again called Villenenve a poltroon, even a traitor, 
 
 and prescribed the making out immediate orders 
 
 to bring him forcibly back from Cadi/, into the 
 Channel, if he had sailed to Cadiz; and in case lie 
 should have made sail towards Brest, to give Can- 
 t. aume the command of tie- two united Squadrons. 
 'I'he minister of the navy, who bad not yet dared 
 
 1 These scenes, of which than arc no longer any living 
 witneMW, would be hist U biltory without lha private let- 
 ters and autographs of admiral Decres and tha arapi ror. In 
 
 araaeenall tha agitation! of those memorable 
 Then is a great number for tha ham.- day, although tha 
 emperor and Deer*! «■ re 'inly half-B leagua distant the one 
 from tha other.— Note of the Author.
 
 654 Decres' advice to Napoleon. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Opinions of admiral 
 Decres. 
 
 1805. 
 
 Aug. 
 
 to give the whole of his opinions upon the junction 
 of the fleets in the midst of the channel, in the 
 present dangerous circumstance, but who believed 
 this junction was horribly dangerous, since the 
 English, on the alert, had concentrated their force 
 between Ferrol, Brest, and Portsmouth, supplicated 
 the emperor nut to give so fatal an order, told him 
 that the time had advanced too far, that the Eng- 
 lish were too much upon their guard, and that if he 
 persisted, they should not fail to suffer some ter- 
 rible catastrophe before Brest. Napoleon had 
 at once a reply, that fifty sail would be united 
 before Brest if they but once appeared there, that 
 the English would never have the same number 
 there; that in any case one of the two fleets lost 
 would be nothing to him, if the other, set free, was 
 able to enter the channel and domineer there for 
 twenty-four hours. 
 
 Decres, borne down by the emperor, took the 
 step of putting into writing what, he dared not 
 venture to say to him, and the same evening ad- 
 dressed the following letter to him at Pout de 
 Briques : — 
 
 " 4th Fructidor, year xiii., or 22 August, 1805. 
 " I threw myself at his majesty's feet to sup- 
 plicate him not to associate the operations of his 
 squadrons with the Spanish vessels. Far from 
 having obtained something in this regard, your 
 majesty intends that this association shall be in- 
 creased by vessels from Cadiz and Carthagena. 
 
 " Your majesty wishes, that with a like assem- 
 blage of vessels, there should be undertaken 
 a tiling of itself exceedingly difficult, and which 
 becomes more so in considering the elements of 
 the force of which the fleet is composed, and the 
 inexperience of the commanders, their want of 
 the habit of command, and, in fine, the circum- 
 stances that your majesty knows as well as my- 
 self, and that it would, therefore, be superfluous 
 to retrace. 
 
 " In this state of things, when your majesty 
 reckons for nothing both my arguments and ex- 
 perience, I know of no situation more painful 
 than my own. I wish your majesty would take 
 well into consideration, that I have no interest but 
 that of his flag and the honour of his arms ; and 
 if his squadron is at Cadiz, I pray him to consider 
 that event as a decree of destiny which has re- 
 served it for other operations. I supplicate him 
 not to make it come from Cadiz into the channel, 
 because it will not be done without the misfortunes 
 that must attend such an effort at the present 
 moment. I supplicate him above all not to order 
 this voyage to be attempted witli two months' 
 provisions, because M. d'Estaing, I believe, took 
 seventy or eighty days to come from Cadiz to 
 Brest, and perhaps more. 
 
 '• if the prayer which I address to your majesty 
 should not appear to him to have any weight, he 
 can judge of what passes in my heart. 
 
 "It is at this moment more particularly, while 
 I am able to stop the emission of the orders, fatal 
 to the service of jour majesty in my view, that I 
 am bound to insist upon it the more. May I be 
 more fortu.iate in this circumstance than I have 
 been heretofore. 
 
 " But it is unfortunate for ma that I am ac- 
 quainted with the naval service, when this know- 
 ledge does not obtain for me any confidence, and 
 
 produces no result upon the combinations of your 
 majesty. In truth, sire, my situation becomes too 
 painful. I censure myself for not knowing how 
 to convince your majesty. I doubt that any single 
 individual can succeed in doing so. For the pur- 
 pose of naval operations, be so good as to form a 
 council, an admiralty, any thing that will be agree- 
 able to your majesty ; but for myself, I feel 
 that ia place of being strengthened, 1 every day 
 grow less strong in your majesty's opinion. It is 
 but too true, that a minister of the navy subju- 
 gated by your majesty in what relates to the navy, 
 serves you ill, and becomes nullified as respects the 
 glory of your arms, if he does not become preju- 
 dicial to it. 
 
 " It is in the bitterness of my soul, that, di- 
 minished nothing in my devotion and fidelity to 
 your person, I pray your majesty to receive my 
 profound respect. 
 
 (Signed) "Decres." 
 
 The emperor, discontented but affected, an- 
 swered immediately from the Pont de Briques. 
 " I pray you to send to me, during the day or 
 to-morrow, a memoir upon this question. In the 
 present situation of things, if Villeneuve remains 
 at Cadiz, what must he do 2 Raise yourself to the 
 height of the circumstances and the situation in 
 which France and England are placed ; write me 
 no more such letters as that you have now written, 
 it notifies nothing. As to myself, I have but one 
 necessity, and that is, to succeed." (August 22ud, 
 depot of the Louvre.) 
 
 On the following day, the 23rd, Deeres proposed 
 his plan to the emperor. It was at first to adjourn 
 the expedition to the winter, because it was too 
 late to bring back the fleet from Cadiz into the 
 channel. They would be exposed to the necessity 
 of executing the enterprise in the midst of the 
 equinoctial storms. Besides, the English were 
 aware of the design. Every body finished by 
 having, a glimpse of the project of a naval junc- 
 tion between Boulogne and Brest. According to 
 him, it was necessary to divide each squadron now 
 too numerous into seven or eight cruising squa- 
 drons of five or six vessels each. That which had 
 been done at this very time by captain Lallemand, 
 was a proof of what it was possible to do with de- 
 tached divisions. It was necessary to compose 
 them of the best officers and the best vessels and 
 to send them on the ocean. They made the En- 
 glish despair by ruining their commerce, and 
 formed excellent seamen and commanders of 
 squadrons. From these there could be drawn the 
 elements of a fleet for a great ulterior design. 
 
 " This," said admiral Decres, " is the system of 
 warfare after my own heart. If, finally," he added, 
 " you wish in the winter to have a fleet in the 
 channel, there is a means of bringing it there. 
 You will have at Cadiz forty vessels. Embark 
 an army on board them, and give to this embarka- 
 tion the colour of a design upon India or Jamaica; 
 then divide the fleet into two parts. Take from 
 among these vessels the best sailors ; from among 
 the officers, those who have been proved the most 
 resolute and capable for the preceding year ; set 
 sail secretly with twenty vessels only, taking care 
 to keep twenty behind, in order to attract the 
 attention of the English ; then convey this 
 twenty round Ireland and Scotland, and thus into
 
 1606. 
 Aug. 
 
 Resolutions of Napoleon 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 on his future conduct. 
 
 655 
 
 the channel. Call Villeneuve and Gravina to 
 Paris, animate their hearts, and they will to a 
 certainty execute tliis manoeuvre." 
 
 On reading this scheme, Napoleon renounced 
 entirely the idea of making tlie flotilla return im- 
 mediately From Cadiz, if in fact it had gone tliex-e 
 at all, and he wrote with his own hand on the 
 hack of the dispatch, " Form seven cruising 
 squadrons ; distribute them between Africa, Su- 
 rinam, St. Helen's, the Cape, the Isle of France, 
 the Western Islands, the United States, the coasts 
 of Ireland and Scotland, and the mouth of the 
 Thames 2 . Then he set himself to read and re- 
 read the despatches of Villeneuve, of Lauriston, 
 and of the consular agent who had for a lung time 
 followed with his spying-glass the course of the 
 French squadron when it had lost sight of the 
 heights of Ferrol. He searched there, as if in the 
 page of a book uf destiny, lor an answer to this 
 question : Has Villeneuve sailed towards Cadi/, or 
 Brest ? The uncertainty in which the despatches 
 left him, irritated him yet more than he would 
 have been irritated had he a certain knowledge of 
 the course having been taken to Cadiz. In this 
 state of agitation, and above all, in the situation of 
 Europe, it had been the most important service 
 to let him know how the matter really stood, be- 
 cause the news from the frontiers of Austria were 
 every moment more alarming. The Austrians no 
 longer concealed their projects : they were on the 
 Adige in considerable force, and threatened the 
 Inn and Bavaria. But if he did not strike a 
 thunder-bolt on London which would make Eu- 
 rope tremble and fall back, it was necessary he 
 should direct his forces towards the Rhine to 
 prevent what they had prepared for him, the 
 being on his frontier before him. Bjing under the 
 necessity of knowing the truth, he wrote several 
 letters to admiral Deeres from the Pontau Bnques 
 to the camp, to inquire of him his private opinions 
 as to the probable determination of Villeneuve. 
 The admiral fearing to irritate the emperor too 
 much, and at the same time being scrupulous 
 about deceiving him, answered him each time in 
 a way almost contradictory, saying sometimes yes, 
 and sometimes no, partaking in the anxiety of his 
 master, but visibly inclining towards the opinion 
 that Villeneuve would go to Cadi/.. In reality he 
 Scarcely doubted thai such was the ease. It was 
 
 thus that Napoleon, in order not to be taken in an 
 unprovided manner, was divided between two 
 projects, and passe I some days in on'.- of those am- 
 biguous .situations, insupportable for a character 
 like his own, ready at the same time to pass over the 
 
 sea or to throw him ill' upon the Continent J to 
 
 Bake a 'i at upon England, or u military march 
 
 towards Austria. II hail the peculiar trait in his 
 character, that when it was Decenary to act, he 
 commanded himself instantly, and returned all at 
 once from the anger to which be had seen lit to 
 deliver up his soul for a moment, as if to be more 
 master in taking it back again and governing it 
 at the morn at that he had the ueoewtity, After 
 numerous perplexities during the day, the 23rd of 
 August, he gave tin.- necessary orders under a 
 double hypothesis. ".My resolution i- fixed," 
 
 ' It is from the same document that 1 transcribe these 
 details.— Note of the Author. 
 
 he wrote to Talleyrand, " my fleets were lost 
 sight of from the heights of Cape Ortegal, on 
 the 14th of August. If they come into the chan- 
 nel, there is still time, I will embark and make 
 the descent. I shall go to London and cut the 
 knot of all the coalitions. If, on the contrary, my 
 admirals want character ami manoeuvre ill, I strike 
 my camps of the ocean, and I enter Germany with 
 two hundred thousand men, and I shall not stop 
 until I have touched the barrier at Vienna, taken 
 away Venice, and all that Austria yet keeps in 
 Italy, and chased the Bourbons out of Naples. I 
 will not suffer the Austrians and Russians to unite; 
 I will strike them before their junction. The con- 
 tinent pacified, I will return to the sea, and go to 
 work anew to procure a maritime peace." 
 
 Then with that profound and incomparable know- 
 ledge of warlike affairs which he had acquired, and 
 with that unparalleled discernment ef what is more 
 or less urgent in the dispositions required to be 
 taken, without in any way deranging his maritime 
 expedition, which remained continually ready for 
 movement, all the troops being on board or close 
 to the vessels, he gave his first orders for the con- 
 tinental war. He began with Naples and Hanover, 
 the two points most distant from the operation of 
 his own will. He ordered that there should be 
 added to the division which he had organized at 
 Peseara, under general Reynier, seven regiments of 
 light cavalry, and some batteries of horse artillery, 
 in order to form in that country of guerillas a 
 number of moveable columns. He transmitted to 
 general St. Cyr, an order to take to himself the 
 division of Reynier at the first sign of hostility, 
 and to join it with the corps which he had carried 
 back to Taientum, and on the first sign of hostility 
 to throw himself upon Naples with twenty-one 
 thousand men, in order to prevent the descent in 
 Italy of the Russians from Corfu, or the English 
 from Malta. 
 
 He then commanded prince Eugene, who although 
 viceroy of Italy, was under the military tutorship 
 of marshal Jourdan, to assemble immediately the 
 French troops spread over the country from Genoa 
 to Bologna and Verona, to march them to the 
 Adige, to buy artillery horses throughout all I aly, 
 and harness immediately a hundred pieces of can- 
 non. As the French troops were formed in di- 
 visions upon the war footing, these dispositions were 
 easily and promptly executed. He ordered recruits 
 to be sent to (lie depots. He prescribed at the 
 
 same time the baking of biscuits every where to 
 provision the Italian fortresses. Alexandria was 
 not yet finished, he therefore ordered that the 
 
 citadel of Turin should serve as the depot fortress 
 
 for Piedmont. 
 
 lie made similar dispositions in regard to Ger- 
 many. The same day, the 23rd, he sent oil' a 
 courier to I'.ernailotte, who had replaced general 
 Mertier in the command of Hanover, lie enjoined 
 it upon him, under the seal of the closest secresy, 
 and without giving any external sign of his new 
 
 destination, to assemble at Gottingen, at the ex- 
 tremity Of that electorate, at tin- head of the reaps 
 of central Germany, the larger part of his cor/ts 
 
 d'artnee; to begin by marching towards that point 
 
 the artillery and heavy baggage; to execute these 
 
 movements in such a manner that none should be 
 able to discern clearly the object before ten or
 
 656 
 
 Napoleon's orders for 
 the continental 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Napoleon's anger at 
 li is fleet not ap- 
 pearing. 
 
 1805. 
 Aug. 
 
 fifteen days had passed; and in order to prolong 
 the doubt, to show himself personally at the oppo- 
 site point, to await there the definitive order to 
 place himself on the march. His idea was, if he 
 came to an understanding with Prussia relative 
 to Hanover, as he did not doubt he should do, to 
 evacuate that kingdom, and cross without per- 
 mission all the small states of central Germany, to 
 carry into Bavaria the army that he should with- 
 draw from Hanover. 
 
 By the same courier he enjoined it upon general 
 Marmont, at the Texel, to prepare immediately his 
 draught horses and materiel, in order to be able in 
 three days to place himself on the march with his 
 corps, recommending him to keep it a secret, and to 
 change nothing in regard to the embarkation of the 
 troops before he received further orders. Lastly, 
 around himself at Boulogne, he made a first and 
 only diversion of the troops which he had with him, 
 those of the heavy cavalry and dragoons. He had 
 assembled much more cavalry than was in reality 
 necessary, and much more particularly than he 
 would probably be able to embark. He sent a 
 march to the rear the division of the cuirassiers of 
 Nansouty, and assembled at St. Omer the dragoons 
 mounted and dismounted, placed under the orders of 
 Baraguay d'Hilliers. He added to them a certain 
 number of guns of the horse artillery, and sent 
 them immediately on the road to Strasburg. He 
 ordered the assemblage in Alsace at the same time 
 of all the heavy cavalry that remained in France, 
 despatched Songis, the general-in-chief of the ar- 
 tillery, to prepare a field park between Mentz and 
 Strasburg, with funds to buy in Lorraine, Switzer- 
 land, and Alsace, all the draught horses which he 
 was able to procure. An order was given for the 
 infantry which was to be marched upon the eastern 
 frontier. Five hundred thousand rations of biscuits 
 were ordered at Strasburg. This numerous cavalry, 
 accompanied by horse artillery, attended by a 
 species of infantry in the dismounted dragoons, 
 would furnish the first support to the menaced 
 Bavarians, demanding succour with earnest en- 
 treaties. Some regiments of infantry were to be 
 very near, in order to aid them. Finally, Berna- 
 dotte would be able to reach Wurtzburg in ten or 
 a dozen marches. Thus, in a few days, without 
 having in any way diverted from their purpose the 
 forces of the embarkation, except some divisions of 
 heavy cavalry and of dragoons, he was ready to 
 support the Bavarians, upon whom Austria would 
 strike her first blow. 
 
 These dispositions having carried into effect with 
 the promptitude of a great character, he regained a 
 little his tranquillity of mind, and set himself to 
 watch for what the wind might bring to him. 
 
 He was sombre, reserved, harsh towards admiral 
 Decres, in whose countenance he seemed to see all 
 those opinions which had shaken the resolution of 
 Villeneuve, and he kept continually on the sea- 
 shore, looking towards the horizon in expectation 
 of some unexpected appearance. Officers of the 
 navy, placed with glasses on different points of the 
 coast, were ordered to watch all the circumstances 
 occurring at sea, and to give him an account of 
 them. In that way, he passed three days in one of 
 those situations of uncertainty, the most repugnant 
 to ardent and powerful minds that are attached to 
 decisive action. Lastly, admiral Decres, interro- 
 
 gated incessantly, declared that in his opinion, 
 seeing the space of time gone by, and the winds 
 that had prevailed along the coast, from the gulf 
 of Gascony as far as the straits of Dover, and con- 
 sidering the moral disposition of Villeneuve, he 
 was persuaded that the fleet had made sail to- 
 wards Cadiz. 
 
 It was with deep pain, intermingled with violent 
 expressions of anger, that Napoleon finally re- 
 nounced the hope of seeing his fleet arrive in the 
 straits. His irritation was so great, that the man 
 whom he most particularly loved, the learned 
 Monge, who almost every morning made a truly 
 military breakfast with him on the sea-shore in the 
 imperial barrack, seeing him in such a state of 
 mind, discreetly retired, judging even his presence 
 inopportune. He went to M. Daru, then the prin- 
 cipal war commissary, to whom he recounted what 
 he had just seen. At that very moment, M. Daru 
 was himself called, and commanded to go to the 
 emperor. He found him agitated, speaking to 
 himself, and seeming not to remark any one who 
 came into his presence. Scarcely had he entered, 
 standing still, silent, awaiting his orders, when 
 Napoleon, encountering him, and addressing him 
 as if he was acquainted with all the circumstances, 
 said, " Do you know where Villeneuve is ? He is 
 at Cadiz!" Then he made a long harangue on the 
 weakness and the incapacity of all that were about 
 him; said he was betrayed by the faint-hearted- 
 ness of men, deplored the ruin of his fine plan, the 
 most certain of success he had ever conceived in 
 his life, and exhibited, in all his bitterness of soul, 
 the grief felt by genius when abandoned of fortune. 
 Then, all at once recovering from his excitement, 
 he calmed himself of a sudden, and directing his 
 mind with surprising facility from the closed route 
 of the ocean towards the open routes of the con- 
 tinent, he dictated during several successive hours, 
 with a presence of mind, and a most extraordinary 
 precision of detail, the plan which will be found in 
 the following book. It was the plan of the immortal 
 campaign of 1805. There was no longer the slightest 
 trace of irritation in his features, nor in his voice 1 . 
 His great mental conception had thus dissipated 
 the sorrow upon his spirit. In place of attacking 
 England by the direct road, he went to combat it 
 by the long and sinuous route of the continent; 
 he went to find on that road incomparable great- 
 ness, before, upon the same road, he encountered 
 his destruction. 
 
 Would he have more certainly attained his ob- 
 ject by the direct way of the descent ? It is this 
 question which will be often asked both in the pre- 
 sent and the future time, and which it is very diffi- 
 cult to decide. Still, if Napoleon had been once 
 transported across to Dover, it is no offence to the 
 British nation to believe that it might have been van- 
 quished by the army and captain, who in eighteen 
 months vanquished and forced into submission, 
 Austria, Germany, Prussia, and Russia. There was 
 not, in fact, a man more in this army of the ocean 
 than fought the eight hundred thousand soldiers of 
 the continent, at Austerlitz, at Jena, and at Fried- 
 land. It must even be confessed, that the territo- 
 
 • I extract tliis recital from a part of the memoirs of M. 
 Daru, of which the copy is actually in my possession through 
 the obliging kindness of his son. — Note of the Author.
 
 1805. 1 
 August./ 
 
 C 8 ucce q sr Ce0fNap0lt0n ' S THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 Invasion really intended. 
 
 «57 
 
 rial inviolability enjoyed by England had not made 
 her sensible to the danger of invasion, a circum- 
 stance which does not detract from the glory of 
 her navy, nor of her regular army. It is therefore, 
 from that circumstance, little probable that she 
 would venture to hold out against the soldiers of 
 Napoleon, not yet worn down with service, nor 
 decimated by war. An heroic resolution of her 
 government to take refuge in Scotland, for example, 
 and suffer England to be ravaged, until Nelson 
 came with all the English squadrons, to shut up, in 
 turn, Napoleon victorious, and to expose him to be 
 a prisoner amid his conquest, would have no doubt 
 brought about singular combinations ; but that was 
 out of all probability. We are firmly persuaded 
 that Napoleon once in London, England would have 
 treated. 
 
 The question, therefore, rested wholly upon the 
 passage of the Straits. Although the flotilla might 
 have been able to pass in a calm in summer, and 
 in winter during a fog, the passage, in either case, 
 was hazardous. Thus Napoleon had considered 
 the aid of a fleet necessary to protect the expedi- 
 tion. The question then returned, it was observed, 
 to the original difficulty, that of being superior to 
 the English at sea. Not because it was thought 
 about surpassing them, or even to be equal to them 
 there. It rested solely upon causing a fleet to 
 arrive in the channel by an able combination of 
 means and circumstances, availing itself of the 
 chances of the sea and of its vast superficies, which 
 render encounters upon it so difficult. The plan 
 of Napoleon, so often re-examined, and re-produced 
 with so much copiousness, had every chance of 
 success in the hands of a firmer man than Ville- 
 neuve. There is no doubt Napoleon found here, 
 under another form, the inconvenience of his mari- 
 time inferiority ; Villeneuve felt keenly this infe- 
 riority, and was disconcerted by it ; but he made 
 too much of it, and this in a manner which 
 compromises his honour in history. After all, his 
 fleet bad fought well at Ferrol,and if it be supposed 
 that he gave before Brest the same disastrous 
 battle that he did, not long afterwards, at Tra- 
 falgar, (janteaume would hnvecome out, and in 
 
 losing it, was it not worth more to do so to ensure 
 the passage of the channel 1 Would it be possible 
 in such a case to say the battle had been lost ? 
 Villeneuve was wrong therefore, although he has 
 been too much cried down, according to the usage 
 practised towards all who are unfortunate. A man 
 of his business still, but forgetting that devotion 
 often supplies what is wanting under the head of 
 material, he knew not how to raise himself to the 
 full elevation of his mission, and to do that which 
 Latouche Treville would have certainly done had 
 he been in his place. 
 
 The enterprize of Napoleon was not then a chi- 
 mera ; was perfectly possible in the realization, in 
 the mode he had proposed to do it ; and, perhaps, 
 the enterprize which had no result, did him more 
 honour than those which had been crowned with 
 the most startling success. It was not a feint, as 
 some persons have imagined, who would search out 
 profundities where none exist. Some thousand 
 letters of the ministers and of the emperor, leave 
 no doubt in this respect of the fact. It was a 
 serious undertaking, pursued for several years with 
 real earnestness. It has been equally pretended 
 that if Napoleon had not repelled Fulton, who came 
 to offer him steam navigation, he would have 
 crossed the Straits. The character of steam navi- 
 gation it is impossible to predict now in relation to 
 future events. That it gives more means to France 
 of acting against England is probable. That it 
 renders the Straits more easy to be crossed, must 
 depend upon the efforts that France shall make to 
 assume a superiority in the employ of the new 
 power. That will depend upon her patriotism and 
 foresight. But that which may be affirmed in re- 
 gard to the refusal of Napoleon is, that Fulton pro- 
 posed to him an art in its perfect infancy, which at 
 the moment could not have been of the smallest 
 aid to his objects. Napoleon did all that he was 
 able to do. There is not a single fault under this 
 head with which to reproach him. Providence no 
 doubt intended that he should not succeed — and 
 wherefore! He who had not always justice with 
 him in dealing with his enemies, had here the right 
 upon his side. 
 
 END OF VOL. L 
 
 Uo
 
 HISTORY OF THE CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 BOOK XXII. 
 
 ULM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 CONSEQUENCES OF THE UNION OP GENOA WITH THE FRENCH EMPIRE. — THIS UNION, THOUGH AN ERROn, PRODUCES 
 FORTUNATE RESULTS. — VAST FIELD DISCLOSED TO THE MILITARY COMBINATIONS OF NAPOLEON. — I OUR ATTACKS 
 DIRECTED AGAINST FRANCE. — NAPOLEON EMPLOYS HIMSELF SERIOUSLY WITH ONE. AND BY THE .MODI. IN 
 WHICH HE INTENDS TO REPEL IT, HE PROPOSES TO DEFEAT THE OTHER THREE. — EXPLANATION OF HIS PLAN. — 
 MOVEMENT OF SIX CORPS OF THE ARMY, FROM THE SHORE OF THE OCEAN TO THE SOURCES OF THE DANUBE. — 
 NAPOLEON KEEPS HIS DISPOSITIONS A PROFOUND SECRET, AND COMMUNICATES THEM TO THE ELECTOR OF 
 BAVARU ALONE, IB ORDER TO ATTACH THAT PRINCE TO HIMSELF, AND TO (i I V E HIM CONFIDENCE. PRECAU- 
 TIONS WHICH HE TOOK FOB THE PRESERVATION OF THE FLOTILLA. — HIS RETURN TO PARIS. — ALTERATION OF 
 PUBLIC OPINION RESPECTING HIM. — REPROACHES MADE TO HIM. — STATE OF THE FINANCES. — COMMENCEMENT 
 OF THE ARREARS. — DIFFICULT SITUATION OF THE PRINCIPAL COMMERCIAL PLACES.— SCARCITY OF MONEY. — 
 COMMERCIAL EFFORTS MADE TO PRODUCE THE PRECIOUS METALS. — ASSOCIATION OF THE COMPANY OF UNITE!! 
 MERCHANTS WITH THE COURT OF SPAIN. — SPECULATION IN DOLLARS. — DANGER OF SUCH A SPECULATION. — THE 
 COMPANY OF UNITED MERCHANTS HAVING MINGLED AND CONFUSED TOGETHER THE AFFAIRS OF FRANCE AND 
 SPAIN WHILE IN ITS HAND, MAKE THE EMBARRASSMENT OF ONE COMMON TO THE OTHER. — CONSEQUENCES OF 
 THIS EMBARRASSMENT TO THE BANK OF FRANCE. — IRRITATION OF NAPOLEON AGAINST THE MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 — CONSIDERABLE SUMS OF GOLD AND SILVER SENT TO STRASBURG AKB ITALY.— LEVY OF THE CONSCRIPTION 
 BY A DECREE OF THE SENATE ALONE.— ORGANIZATION OF TI1E REVENUES. — EMPLOYMENT OF THE NATIONAL 
 GUARDS. — SITTING OF THE SENATE.— COLDNESS SHOWN TOWARDS NAPOLEON BY THE PEOPLE OF PARIS. — 
 NAPOLEON FEELS PAIN AT THIS, BUT DEPARTS FOR THE ARMY, CERTAIN OF SOON CHANGING THIS COLDNESS 
 INTO TRANSPORTS OP ENTHUSIASM. — DISPOSITIONS OP THE COALESCED POWERS. — M ARCH OF THE BIA-1 IN 
 ARMIES, ONE INTO GALLK IA TO SUCCOUR THE AUSTRIANS, TUB OTHER INTO POLAND TO THREATEN PR I 
 — THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER AT PUI.AWI. — HIS NEGOTIATIONS WITli THE COURT OF BERLIN. — MARCH OF THE 
 AUSTRIANS INTO LOMBARDY AND RA V ARIA. — P ASSAGE OF THE INN PY GENERAL MACK.— THE ELECTOR OF 
 BAVARIA, AFTER GREAT PERPLEXITY. "HrtO'.VS HIMSELF INTO THE ARMS OF FRANCE, AND TAKES REFUGE AT 
 wiiRTZBURG WITH HIS COURT AND ARi t. — GENERAL MACK TAKES POST AT ULM. — CONDUCT OF THE COURT OF 
 MAFLBS.— COMMENCEMENT OF MILITARY OPERATIONS ON THE SIDE OF THE FRENCH.— ORGANIZATION OF THE GRAND 
 ARMY. — PASSAGE OF THE RHINE. — MARCH OF NAPOLEON WITH SIX CORPS ALONG THE SUABIAN ALPS, IN ORB] 
 TUKN GENERAL MACK. — THE GTH AND 7TH OF OCTOBER, NAPOLEON REACHES THE DANUBE TOWARDS Don vi 
 WERTH, BEFORE GENERAL MACK HAS ANY SUSPICION OF THE PRESENCE OF THE FRENCH.— PASSAGE OF THE 
 
 DANUBE. GENERAL MACK IS ENTANGLED.— COMBATS OF WERT! D Gli S ZIH'RG —NAPOLEON AT AUGSI 
 
 MAKES HIS DISPOSITIONS WITH THE DOUBLE OBJECT OF INVESTING ULM AND OCCUPYING MUNICH, IN ORDIR 
 TO SEPARATE THE RUSSIANS FROM THI AUSTRIANS. — ERROR COMMITTED Bt M U l( AT— I) A NG E R OF DEPONl's 
 DIVISION. — COMBAT OF H AS I. ACH. — N A PC) I, EON HASTENS UNDER THE WALLS OF UI.M, AM) RIFAIRS THE FAI I is 
 
 COMMITTED.— -COMBAT OF E LI II I N G E S , ON THI 14TH of 0CTOB1 H.— IS VI BTKSYT <>1 I 1. M DXSPAII OF GIN Ml I I. 
 
 MACK, AND RETIll II OJ THI ARC HIM KC FERDINAND. — THE AUSTRIANS 11 1. 1)1 :< E I) TO A CAPITULATION.— VN- 
 
 Hi \RI) oi' TRIUMPH OF napoleon. —HE destroys in twenty days an army OF SIGHT Y THOUSAND MIN, WITHOUT 
 
 FIGHTING A BATTLE. — SEUM.l. OF THE NATAL OPERATIONS, AFTER. THE RETURN OF ADMIRAL VILLI Nil' 
 
 CADISV— SBVIBIT1 01 NAFOLKOI as rl-pi.cis this admirm..— admiral ROSILY sent hi hi puce him.— 
 
 COMMAND I OR I HE FLEET TO SAIL FROM CADIZ, IN ORDER Tu EN I I R THE MED1TIRRAN I IK.— GRIEF OF ADM I 11 A I. 
 V,,,, . B M DLUTflOl TO GIVE BATTLE IN Ills DESPAIR. — STATE OF THE FRENCH AND II li 
 
 , ,., , ; . am. OF THAT OF THE BXOLIIK. INSTRUCTION OS TO ills CAVTAIH8.— HAST1 BALL1 OF 
 
 ADMIRAL VILLI 1 ' W I HUNTER OF THE TWO 1 I.I lis OFF CAFF. I It A FA 1.1. I It.- ATTACK OF THE ENGLISH, 
 
 formed !•■ TWO COLUMNS in mi iu: OF THE LINE OF RATI Li: —heroic- COMBATS OF TBI REDOUBTABLE, 
 
 •.Mil. lulGM.tX. A I.G I sill \.. PLUTO, AC II 1 I.I.I , AND PRINCE nl A s IT It II |, DEATH OF NELSON, IND 
 CAPTIVITY OF VILI.I.M.1 VI . — DEFEAT OP OUI F 1. 1. 1 I Villi A REMARKABLE I II Villi I. TIMPIST 
 
 AFTER Tin BATTLI iiiimvritks ■iiri.i.ii THE COMBATS.— CONDUCT OF THI IMFIBIAL 0OYKRI MINI 
 REOARDTOTIIE FBBNCI NAVY. — SILENCE D REGARDING Till RICINI 1. LM CAUSII '111' it 
 
 .. Ml TO HE I 0*091 . 
 
 It was a serious taull to .inn- \ Genoa to France 
 ,,,, the eve of the expedition t-> England, and tlms 
 to furnish Austria with the ■trongeal reason which 
 could decide her upon war. It was i«> provoke and 
 draw upon France a formidable coalition, at the 
 
 VOL II. 
 
 moment when absolute repose - arj upon 
 
 the continent, in order t-> have perfect freedom of 
 action against England. Napoleon, ii is true, had 
 not foreseen the consequences of the union ef Ge- 
 noa, His error consisted in undervaluing Austria 
 
 B
 
 New situation of 
 Napoleon. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Coalition plan. 
 
 f 1805. 
 t August. 
 
 too much, and in believing her incapable of acting, 
 whatever liberty he might take with her. Still, 
 although this union, effected under such circum- 
 stances, has been made a ground for justly re- 
 proaching liim, it was in reality a fortunate circum- 
 stance. Doubtless, if admiral Villeneuve had been 
 able to set sail up the Channel, and to appear 
 before Boulogne, he would never have had to regret 
 the pains incurred in the execution of his vast 
 scheme; but the admiral did not come; Napoleon, 
 reduced at once to inaction, unless he had been 
 bold enough to cross the Straits without the pro- 
 tection of a fleet, would have found himself in a 
 state of extreme embarrassment. This expedition 
 so often announced, thrice failing of effect, would 
 have terminated by exposing him to a species of 
 ridicule, and thus, in the sight of Europe, have placed 
 him opposed to England in a state of impotency. 
 The continental coalition, in furnishing him with a 
 h\'M of battle that was wanting, repaired the fault 
 which he had committed, by committing one itself, 
 and drawing him most opportunely from an inde- 
 cisive and vexatious situation. The chain which 
 links together the events of this world is some 
 times marvellously unaccountable and strange ! 
 Oftentimes that which is the wisest of combinations 
 fails, and that which is faulty succeeds. This is no 
 motive, however, to consider all prudence vain, and 
 in its place to prefer the impulses of caprice in the 
 government of empires. On the contrary, calcu- 
 lation must ever be preferred to the succession of 
 chances in the conduct of public affairs ; but it is 
 not possible to hinder the acknowledgment, that 
 high above the designs of man soar the designs of 
 Providence, surer and more profound than his own, 
 and that this is a reason for the modesty, not the 
 abandonment, of hum. n wisdom. 
 
 It was necessary to have seen close at hand the 
 difficulties of the government ; it was necessary to 
 have felt how difficult it is to take great determi- 
 nations, to prepare them, to accomplish them, and 
 to move men and things, in order to appreciate the 
 resolution of Napoleon taken under this circum- 
 stance. The mortification to see the Boulogne 
 expedition fail being once over, he delivered himself 
 up entirely to his new plan for the continental war. 
 Never had he such great resources at his disposal ; 
 never had he seen open to him a more extended 
 field of operations. When he commanded the 
 Italian army, he found the limit of his movements 
 in the plain of Lombardy and the circuit of the 
 Alps ; and if he dreamed of carrying his views 
 beyond that circuit, the prudence of the director 
 Carnot was alarmed, and arrested his combinations. 
 When as first consul he conceived the plan of the 
 campaign of UiOO, he was obliged to manage his 
 lieutenants, who were; still his equals ; and if, for 
 example, he planned for Moreau a scheme which 
 must have had the most fortunate results, he was 
 stopped by the timidity of that general ; he was 
 forced to let him act in his own manner, a safe but 
 limited manner, and to shut himself up in the 
 isolated field of Piedmont. It is true that he sig- 
 nalized his presence there by an operation that will 
 remain a prodigy in the art of war, but his genius 
 in displaying itself had always before found ob- 
 stacles. For the first time he was free, free as 
 Caesar and Alexander had been. Those of his 
 companions in arms that their jealousy or reputa- 
 
 tion rendered unaccommodating, were themselves 
 excluded from the list by culpable or imprudent 
 conduct. There remained only such lieutenants 
 as submitted to his will, and united in the highest 
 degree all the qualities necessary for the execution 
 of his designs. His army, tired of a long inaction, 
 breathing only of glory and battles, formed by ten 
 years of war and three of encampment, was pre- 
 pared for the most difficult enterprises and the 
 boldest marches. The entire of Europe was open 
 to his combinations. He was at the West, on the 
 shores of the North Sea and the Channel ; and 
 Austria, aided by the Russians, Swedes, Italians, 
 and English, was at the East, pushing upon France 
 the masses that a sort of European conspiracy had 
 placed at its disposition. The situation, the means, 
 all was grand. But if he never before found him- 
 self better able to face sudden and serious peril, 
 never had the difficulty been equal. This army, 
 so prepared that it might be said it had at no time 
 its equal — this army was on the border of the 
 ocean, far from the Rhine, the Danube, and the 
 Alps ; which explains why the continental powers 
 suffered the Genoese union without remonstrating, 
 and it was now necessary to transport that army sud- 
 denly to the centre of the continent. There was the 
 problem to be solved. We shall see how Napoleon 
 acted to pass the space which separated him from 
 his enemies, and place himself in the midst of them, 
 on that point which was most proper to dissolve 
 their formidable coalition. 
 
 Although he was firm in his belief that the war 
 was less near than in reality, he perfectly discerned 
 the preparations and the plan. Sweden made ar- 
 maments in Stralsund, in Swedish Pomerania ; 
 Russia at Revel, in the Gulf of Finland. There 
 were announced two grand Russian armies concen- 
 trating, one in Poland, for the purpose of involving 
 Prussia, the other in Gallicia, to succour Austria. 
 It was not limited to suspicion, but was well known, 
 that two Austrian armies were in the course of 
 formation, one of 80,000 men in Bavaria, the other 
 of 100,000 in Italy, both connected bv a corps of 
 25 or 30,000 men in the Tyrol. Finally, the 
 Russians assembled at Corfu, the English at Malta, 
 symptoms of agitation in the court of Naples, these 
 did not permit a doubt of some attempt in the 
 south of Italy. 
 
 Four different attacks were then preparing. The 
 first was in the north by Pomerania, upon Hanover 
 and Holland, to be executed by the Swedes, the 
 Russians, and the English. The second in the 
 cast by the valley of the Danube, confided to the 
 Russians and Austrians combined ; the third in 
 Lonibardy, reserved to the Austrians alone ; and 
 the fourth in the south of Italy, to be effected a 
 little later by a union of Russians, English, and 
 Neapolitans. 
 
 Napoleon had laid bold of this plan as clearly as 
 if he had assisted at the military conferences of 
 M. de Vintzerode at Vienna, which have been al- 
 ready mentioned. There was but one circum- 
 stance concealed from him, as well as from his 
 enemies — was Prussia to be drawn in ? Napoleon 
 did not believe it could be so. The coalesced 
 powers hoped to bring it about by intimidating the 
 king, Frederick William. In this case the attack 
 in the north, in place of being an accessory tit- 
 tempt, much annoyed by the Prussian neutrality,
 
 1805. 
 August 
 
 } Combinations of Napoleon. ULM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 Routes of the different 
 corps. 
 
 would become a menacing enterprise against the 
 empire, from Cologne to the mouths of the Rhine. 
 Still this was little probable; and Napoleon con- 
 sidered as serious only the two grand attacks by 
 Bavaria and Lombardy, and regarded as more or 
 less worthy of certain precautions, those prepared 
 in Pomerania and towards the kingdom of Naples. 
 
 He resolved then to carry the main body of 
 his forces into the valley of the Danube, and to 
 defeat all the secondary attacks by the mode in 
 which he repulsed the principal. His profound 
 conception rested upon a simple fact — the distance 
 of the Russians, which would make them arrive 
 late to the assistance of the Austrians. He thought 
 that the Austrians, impatient to enter Bavaria, 
 and to occupy, according to their custom, the 
 famous position of Ulm, would consider, in judging 
 the distance which naturally separated them from 
 the Russians, that these allies would, from that 
 circumstance, place themselves tardily in line, 
 mounting the Danube with their principal army 
 united to the Austrian reserves. In striking a 
 blow at the Austrians before the arrival of the 
 Russians, Napoleon therefore proposed to himself 
 to go directly afterwards upon the Russians, de- 
 prived of the aid of the principal Austrian army, 
 and thus use the means so facile in theory, but 
 difficult in practice, of beating his enemies one 
 after the other. 
 
 To succeed, this plan demanded a mode al- 
 together peculiar, in order to transport himself to 
 the theatre of operations in the valley of the Da- 
 nube. If, after the example of Moreau, Napoleon 
 mounted the Rhine to pass from Strasburg to 
 Schaffliausen, if he came there by the defiles of the 
 Black Forest, to open between the Alps of Suabia, 
 and the lake of Constance, he would thus attack 
 the front of the Austrians, established behind the 
 lller, from Ulm to Memingen, and would not com- 
 pletely fulfil his object. Even in beating the Aus- 
 trians, as he had more than ever the certainty of 
 d ling, with the army formed in the camp of Bou- 
 logue, he would still push them before him back 
 upon the Russians, and thus conduct them, simply 
 Med, to a junction with their northern alius. 
 It was necessary, as at Marengo, and even more 
 so than at Marengo itself, to turn the Austrians, 
 and not limit himself to beating them, but to en- 
 velope them effectually, and send them all prisoners 
 to France. Then Napoleon would be able to fling 
 .himself upon the Russians, who would only have 
 the Austrian reserves to sustain them. 
 
 For this purpose a very simple march present* d 
 itself to his mind. On'' of bis corps, that of mar- 
 shal Bernadotte^ was in Hanover; a second, that 
 of general Marmont, in Holland; the others at 
 
 Boulogne. He co lived the idea of making the 
 
 first descend and traverse Hesse, in Fraijciuiia, 
 
 upon Wlirtzburg and the Danube; of nuking the 
 
 id advance along the Rhine, using such facuitien 
 
 of transport as that rivi r fnrni-li'd, and to unite 
 itself by M ayenceand Wlirtzburg, t ■ tin- corps ar- 
 riving from Hanover. While these two grand 
 detachments descended from the north to the 
 south, Napoleon resolv* d to carry, by a movement 
 from the west to the east, >■>' from Boulogne to 
 . t!;.- corps encamped on tin- shore of 
 the Channel, to feign with these last a direct attack 
 by the defiles of the Ul.n-k Forest, but in reality to 
 
 leave that forest on the right, to pnss to the left, 
 to traverse Wurtemburg, to join himself in Fran- 
 conia to the corps of Bernadotte and Marmont, to 
 pass the Danube below Ulm, in the environs of 
 Donauwerth, to place himself thus behind the 
 Austrians, to encircle them, to take them, and 
 after being disembarrassed of them to march upon 
 Vienna, and encounter the Russians. 
 
 The position of marshal Bernadotte coming from 
 Hanover, and of general Marmont from Holland, 
 was an advantage, because it would -not need more 
 than seventeen days for one, and. for the other 
 only fourteen or fifteen, to transport themselves to 
 Wiirtzburg, on the flank of the enemies.' army en- 
 camped at Ulm. The movement of troops de- 
 parting from Boulogne to Strasburg would require 
 twenty-four days, and would naturally fix the at- 
 tention of the Austrians upon the ordinary opening 
 of the Black Forest. In the space of twenty-four 
 days, Napoleon would be able to arrive at the 
 decisive point. Iu deciding instantly, in hiding 
 his movements as long as possible, by prolonging 
 bis residence at Boulogne, in dispersing false re- 
 ports, in concealing his intentions with such art 
 as to deceive the enemy (which art he possessed 
 to a great extent), he would be able to pass the 
 Danube in the rear of the Austrians before these 
 could be a question of his presence. If he suc- 
 ceeded it would thus occupy the month of October 
 to disembarrass himself of the first army of the 
 enemy, and he could employ November in march- 
 ing upon Vienna, and encountering the Russians 
 in the environs of that capital, whom he had never 
 beheld, whom he knew to be firm infantry, but not 
 invincible, because Moreau and Massena had be- 
 fore beaten them; and he promised himself he 
 should again beat them more soundly than either. 
 When he arrived at Vienna, he should have passed 
 considerably the position of the Austrian army of 
 Italy, which would become a pressing motive for 
 it> retreat. The plan of Napoleon was to confide 
 to Massena, the most vigorous of his lieutenants, 
 anil who best knew Italy, the command of the 
 French army on the Adige. It could not be more 
 than 50.000 men, but they were composed of the 
 best troops, because they had made all the cam- 
 paigns beyond the Alps from Moutenotte to Ma- 
 rengo, Provided Massena was able to stop the 
 archduke Charles on the Adige lor a month, which 
 seemed out of all doubt, with soldiers accustomed 
 to vanquish the Austrians, whatever might he 
 their number, under a general, too, who never re- 
 treated; Nap .Icon, once arrived in Vienna, would 
 disengage Lombardy, as he bad disengaged Bavaria. 
 
 lie would draw the archduke Charles upon him- 
 self, but at the same time he Would draw Massena; 
 
 and joining him to the 1.10.000 nun with which 
 he bad marched along the Danube, with the 60,000 
 coming lioni the banks of the Adige, he would find 
 himself at Vienna at the head ol 200.000 victorious 
 
 French. Disposing directly ol such a mass of 
 force, having baffled the two priucipal assailants, 
 those oi Bavaria and Lombardy, wliat did the two 
 others matter, prepared in the north and south 
 
 towards Hanover and Naples! Europe entire in 
 
 arms he bad nothing to fear from the universality 
 
 of its forces. 
 
 In the mean time, he did not neglect to take cer- 
 tain precautious in regard to Lower Italy. Qene- 
 
 d2
 
 Vast means of the 
 emperor. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The army ordered 
 to move. 
 
 f 1805. 
 t August. 
 
 ral St. Cyr occupied Calabria with 20,000 men. 
 Napoleon gave him instructions to march to Na- 
 ples, and to take possession of that capital on the 
 first symptom of hostilities. Without doubt, it had 
 been more conformable to his principles not to cut 
 in two parts the army of Italy, not to place 50,000 
 men under Massena on the bank of the Adige, and 
 20,000 under general St. Cyr in Calabria, but on 
 the contrary, to unite in one mass 70,000 men, 
 which, certain to conquer in the north of Italy, 
 could have little to fear from the south. But he 
 judged that Massena, with 50,000 men and his 
 well known character, would suffice to stop the 
 archduke Charles for a single month ; and he re- 
 garded it as dangerous to permit the Russians and 
 English to get a footing in Naples, and to foment 
 in Calabria an insurrectionary war, difficult to ex- 
 tinguish. It was on this account he left general 
 St. Cyr and 20.000 men in the Gulf of Tarentum, 
 with an order to march upon Naples at the first- 
 signal, and fling the Russians and English upon 
 the sea, before they should get time to establish 
 themselves on the main land of Italy. As to the 
 attack prepared in the north of Europe, so far 
 from the frontiers of the empire, Napoleon limited 
 himself in facing it, to continue the negotiation en- 
 tered into at Berlin relative to the kingdom of 
 Hanover. He had made an offer of this kingdom 
 to Prussia, as the price of her alliance; hoping but 
 little of the formal alliance of a court so timid, he 
 had proposed to place Hanover in its hands as a 
 deposit, if Prussia would not receive it under ihe 
 title of a definitive gift. In any case, Prussia 
 would be obliged to keep any belligerent force at 
 a distance, and her neutrality sufficed so far to 
 protect tlie north of the empire. 
 
 Such was the plan Napoleon conceived. Moving 
 the different corps of his army by a rapid and un- 
 expected march from Hanover, Holland, and Flan- 
 ders, to the centre of Germany, passing the Danube 
 below Ulm, separating the Austrians from the 
 Russians, enveloping the former, ruining the se- 
 cond, pushing them along the valley of the Danube 
 as far as Viennn, and by this movement disengaging 
 Massena in Italy, and soon repelling the two prin- 
 cipal attacks directed against his empire. His vic- 
 torious armies being thus united under the walls 
 of Vienna, lie would have nothing more to trouble 
 him, than an attempt in the south of Italy, that 
 general St. Cyr would render of no moment, and 
 another in the north of Germany, that the Prus- 
 sian neutrality would every where reduce to 
 straits. 
 
 Never had any soldier, in ancient or modern 
 times, conceived and executed plans upon an equal 
 scale of vastness. This arises from the fact, that 
 a more powerful mind, more free to act agreeably 
 to its own inclination, having at its disposal more 
 ample means, never had to carry on operations on 
 such an extent of country. What, indeed, was 
 observed elsewhere, during the greater part of the 
 time? Irresolute governments, that deliberated when 
 they should act ; improvident governments, that 
 thought about the organization of their power when 
 they ought to have been on the field of battle; and, 
 inferior to them, subordinate generals, who were 
 only able to move with difficulty on the circum- 
 scribed theatre assigned to their operations. Here, 
 on the contrary, genius, will, foresight, absolute 
 
 freedom of action, concurred in one mind to the 
 same object. It is rare that such circumstances 
 are encountered together, but when they are found 
 united, the world has its master. 
 
 At the close of the month of August, the Aus- 
 trians were already on the banks of the Adige 
 and of the Inn, the Russians on the frontier of 
 Gallicia. It seemed as if the*' would fain surprise 
 Napoleon ; but to him this was nothing serious. 
 He gave all his orders at Boulogne on the same 
 day, the 26th of August, 1805, with the recom- 
 mendation not to issue them until the 27th at ten 
 o'clock at night. He wished to husband for busi- 
 ness the whole of the 27th before definitively re- 
 nouncing his great maritime expedition. The courier 
 departing on the 27th would not arrive at Hanover 
 until the 1st of September. Marshal Bernadotte 
 already advised, should commence his movement 
 on the 2nd, have assembled his corps on the 6th 
 at Gottingen, and be on the 20th at Wiirtzburg. 
 He had an order to unite in the strong fortress of 
 Hameln the artillery taken from the Hanoverians, 
 the warlike stores of all kinds, the sick, the depots 
 of his own corps d'armee, and a garrison of 6000 
 men commanded by an energetic officer upon 
 whom he could rely. The garrison was to be pro- 
 visioned for a year. If an arrangement was made 
 with Prussia about Hanover, the troops left at 
 Hameln were immediately to rejoin the corps of 
 Bernadotte ; if not, they were to remain in that 
 place and to defend it to the last, in case the English 
 should send an expedition by way of the Weser, 
 that the Prussian neutrality might not be wounded. 
 " I will be as prompt," wrote Napoleon, "as Fre- 
 derick, when he went from Prague to Dresden 
 and Berlin. I will soon rush to the succour of 
 the French defending my eagles in Hanover, and 
 I will drive into the Weser the enemy that shall 
 have arrived there." 
 
 Bernadotte had orders to cross the two Hesses, 
 saying to the governments of those two countries 
 that he was going to France by Mayence, but to 
 force a passage if it were refused him, to march 
 with money in hand in the other case to pay for 
 every thing, and to observe the most rigid disci- 
 pline. 
 
 The same evening, the 27th of August, a courier 
 carried to general Marmont the order to set 
 himself in movement with 20,000 men, and forty 
 pieces of cannon well harnessed, to follow the 
 banks of the Rhine as far as Mayence, and to 
 proceed by Mayence and Frankfort to Wiirtzburg. 
 The order would arrive at Utrecht on the 30th 
 of August. General Marmont having already 
 received a first notice, would set himself in move- 
 ment on the 1st of September, have arrived at 
 Mayence the 15th or 16th, and the 18th or 19th 
 at Wiirtzburg ; thus the two corps of Hanover 
 and Holland would be in the middle of the Fran- 
 conian principalities of the elector of Bavaria oil 
 the 18th or 19th of September, and present a force 
 of 40,000 men. As it had been recommended to 
 the elector to take refuge at Wiirtzburg, if the 
 Austrians attempted violent measures, he was thus 
 certain to find there the requisite succour for him- 
 self and his army. 
 
 Finally, on the 27th, in the evening, orders were 
 issued to the camps of Ambleteuse, Boulogne, and 
 Montreuil. These orders were to commence exe-
 
 1805 
 Augus 
 
 t | Proceedings at Boulogne. ULM AND TRAFALGAR. Dilemma of Bavaria. 
 
 ration on the 27th of August in the morning. 
 The first day were to depart by three differ- 
 ent routes the first divisions of each corps ; the 
 second day the second divisions ; the third day the 
 last. They therefore followed each other in con- 
 sequence at an interval of twenty-four hours. 
 The three routes indicated, were, for the camp of 
 Ambleteuse — Cassel, Lille, Namur, Luxemburg, 
 Deux-ponts, Manheim ; for the camp of Boulogne 
 — St. Omer, Douai, Cambrai, Mezieres, Verdun, 
 Metz, Spire ; for the camp of Montreuil — Arras, 
 La Fere, Rheims, Nancy, Saverne, Strasburg. 
 As it demanded twenty-four marches, the entire 
 army might be transported to the Rhine, between 
 Manheim and Strasburg, from the 2lst to the 
 24th of September. That time would suffice to be 
 of all the use required, because the Austrians, 
 wishing to keep up appearances, in order the better 
 to surprise the French, remained in the camp of 
 Wels near Lintz, and would be unable from thence 
 to be in line before Napoleon. Besides, the more 
 they kept themselves on the high Danube, the 
 more they approached the frontier of France, 
 between the lake of Constance and Schaffhausen, 
 and the more had Napoleon in consequence the 
 chance of enveloping them. Officers sent with 
 the necessary funds on the routes that the troops 
 would take, were charged to prepare provisions 
 in every magazine on the march. Formal orders, 
 continually reiterated, as were all those given by 
 Napoleon, enjoined the furnishing to each soldier 
 a cloak and two pairs of shoes. 
 
 Napoleon keeping his secret profoundly, which 
 was alone confided to Berthier and M. Daru, told 
 those who were near him that he was sending 
 30,000 men to the Rhine. He wrote the same 
 intelligence to most of his ministers. He said no 
 more to M. Marbois, merely enjoining him to de- 
 posit in the chest of Strasburg as much money 
 as possible ; the end of which was explained suffi- 
 ciently by the news avowed of the mission of 
 30,000 men to Alsace. He ordered M. Daru to 
 set out instantly for Paris, to order M. Dejean, 
 in nister for military Btores, to expedite with his 
 own hand all tie- accessory orders which the re- 
 moval of the army rendered necessary, and not 
 to let a single commissary into his confidence. 
 Napoleon determined to remain himself six or 
 u days longer at Boulogne, in order I h< ■ better 
 
 to deceive the- public in regard to his real designs. 
 As all the- corps were to march across France, 
 except that of marshal Bemadotte, which would 
 
 I,.- reported in Germany as a corps destined to re- 
 pass the frontier, it would ho requisite tiny should 
 
 be already in full march to give the sign of their 
 presence any when-. This would have- to ho trans- 
 mitted to Paris, and from Paris to foreign countries, 
 
 and thus a good many da\s would elapse hi fore 
 
 tin- enemy would in- apprized of the camp at Bou- 
 logne being struck. Besides the news of these 
 in ivements would he explained by the detaching, 
 which was not attempted to ho concealed, 30,000 
 men to tin- Rhine, and would leave in a state of 
 doubt tin; most far-seeing minda ; thus tier,- was a 
 
 gnat chance to find tin- army 09 the Rhine, the 
 
 Neckar, or the Main, when it would he supposed 
 
 still on the shores of tin- Chaiui'l. In the nu an 
 time Napoleon mado Mural and his aides-de-camp, 
 Savary and Bcrtrund, depart for Franconia, Nua- 
 
 hia, and Bavaria. They had an order to explore 
 all the roads that led from the Rhine to the 
 Danube ; to observe their nature, the military 
 positions they might find, the means of forage which 
 they offered, in fact, all the convenient points to 
 cross the Danube. Blunt was to travel under a 
 feigned name, and having terminated his exploring 
 excursion, to return to Strasburg. in order to take 
 the command of the first columns that arrived upon 
 the Rhine. 
 
 To keep the Austrians as long as possible in 
 ignorance of his intentions, Napoleon recommended 
 besides to M. de Talleyrand, to delay the manifesto 
 intended for the cabinet of Vienna, and designed 
 to make that court explain itself definitively. He 
 expected only falsehood in reply to his demand ; 
 and as to convicting that court of duplicity in the 
 face of Europe, it would be sufficient to do so at 
 the moment of the commencement of hostilities. 
 He sent to Carlsruhe general Thiard (who had 
 entered the service of France since the return of 
 the emigrants), and charged him with the nego- 
 tiation of an alliance with the grand duke of Baden. 
 He addressed offers of the same character to Wur- 
 temburg, alleging that he foresaw war, judging 
 from the Austrian preparations; but he never said 
 at what point he himself was ready to commence 
 it. In fact, he imparted the entire of his secret 
 alone to the elector of Bavaria. The unfortunate 
 elector hesitated between Austria that was his 
 enemy, and France that was his friend ; but the 
 one was near, the other far away ; remembering, 
 too, that in the former wars, constantly trodden 
 under foot by one or the other, he had always 
 been forgotten at the peace : thus the unhappy 
 prince did not know to which he should attach 
 himself. He well knew that in giving himself to 
 France, he had hope of the enlargement of his 
 territories ; but yet, ignorant of the cam]) of Bou- 
 logne being struck, he saw there, at the time at 
 which he had to act, that all were occupied with 
 the contest against England, and though impor- 
 tuned by their German allies, not in a position to 
 Buccour them. Thus he never ceased to speak to 
 the French minister, M. Otto, of an alliance, with- 
 out ever daring to conclude it. This state of things 
 
 was soon changed titter the leltera of Napoleon, 
 
 who wrote directly to the elector, and announced 
 
 to hint (telling him it was a state secret Con- 
 fided to his honour) that he had adjourned his 
 d< sign against England, and should march with 
 200,000 men into the centre of Gt rmany : — " You 
 will be BUOCOUred in time," he sent him word ; 
 '•and the house of Austria Vanquished shall be 
 
 forced to compose for you a considerable territory 
 with the wrecks of its own patrimony." Napoleon 
 held hist to gain tie- elector, who had 25,000 or- 
 ganized soldiers, and well-furnish' d magazines in 
 Bavaria. It was an important advantage to snatch 
 
 these 25,000 men from the coalition, and to give 
 
 them to his own side. Besides, the secret was not 
 
 endangered, for the prince had a thorOU b hatred 
 
 for the Auatrians, and once assun dofhissecurity,de- 
 
 •ired nothing better than an alliance with France. 
 
 Napoleon employed bimsell after this with the 
 
 Italian army. He ordered the union under tho 
 
 wal.s of Verona of the troop-, dispersed between 
 Parma, Genoa, Piedmont, and Lombardy. He 
 
 withdrew the command of these troops from mar-
 
 Defensive precautions 
 at Boulogne. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Departure of the 
 array. 
 
 f 1805. 
 \ August. 
 
 shal Jourdan, observing great management towards 
 the marshal, for whom he felt much esteem, but 
 in whom he did not find a character equal to the 
 level of the circumstances, and who had, besides, 
 no knowledge of the country between the Po and 
 the Alps. He promised to employ him on the 
 Rhine, where he had always commanded ; and en- 
 joined Massena to set out for Italy without delay. 
 The distance of Italy rendered the knowledge of 
 these orders little hazardous, because they could 
 not but be tardily known. 
 
 These dispositions finished, Napoleon devoted 
 the time which he passed at Boulogne in himself 
 prescribing the minutest precautions to place the 
 flotilla ill safety from any attack on the part of the 
 English. It was natural to think that they would 
 profit by the departure of the army, to attempt a 
 disembarkation, and burn the various materials 
 accumulated in the basins. Napoleon did not give 
 up the intention of soon returning to the shores of 
 the Channel, after a fortunate campaign ; and he 
 would not, besides, suffer such an outrage as the 
 burning of the flotilla. He ordered the following 
 precautions to be taken by the ministers Decres 
 and Bertliier : — The divisions of Etaples and 
 Wimereux were to be united to those of Boulogne, 
 and the whole placed at the bottom of the basin of 
 the Liane, out of reach of the projectiles of the 
 enemy. It was not possible to do the same for the 
 Dutch flotilla, which was at Ambleteuse ; but all 
 was disposed so that the troops stationed at Bou- 
 logne should be able to proceed to the other point 
 in two or three hours. Chains of a particular 
 kind, attached to strong anchors, prevented the in- 
 troduction of any incendiary missiles, which might 
 be sent under the form of floating bodies. 
 
 Three entire regiments, comprising their third 
 battalions, were left at Boulogne. To these were 
 added twelve third battalions of regiments gone to 
 Germany. The seamen belonging to the flotilla 
 were formed into fifteen battalions of a thousand 
 men each, armed witb muskets, and having officers 
 of infantry for their instruction. They were to 
 serve alternately on board the vessels remaining 
 afloat, or around those aground in the port. This 
 union of military and naval troops, amounted to 
 a strength of thirty-six battalions, commanded by 
 marshal Brune, the same officer who in 1/9!) had 
 driven the English and Russians into the sea. 
 Napoleon ordered the construction of intrench- 
 ments in earth all around Boulogne, to cover the 
 flotilla and the immense magazines which he had 
 formed. He desired that chosen officers should be 
 attached to each intrenched position, preserving 
 continually the same post, in order that, being an- 
 swerable for its security, they might study unceas- 
 ingly to make the defence perfect. 
 
 He afterwards ordered M. Decres to assemble 
 the naval officers, and marshal Bertliier those of 
 the army, to explain both to one and the other the 
 importance of tlie post confided to their honour ; to 
 console themselves for remaining in inaction while 
 their comrades went to active service, by pro- 
 mising them they should be employed in turn, that 
 they would soon have the glory 10 join in the ex- 
 pedition to England, because, after having punished 
 the continent for its aggression, Napoleon would 
 repair to the borders of the Channel, perhaps in 
 the following spring. 
 
 Napoleon was present in person at the depar- 
 ture of each division of the army. It would be 
 difficult to give an idea of their joy, of their ardour, 
 when they learned that they were about to under- 
 take a great campaign. There had five years 
 passed since they fought ; there had been two 
 and a half that they had vainly waited for the 
 opportunity to pass over into England. Old and 
 young soldiers became equals by a life in common 
 of many years ; confident in their officers, enthu- 
 siasts regarding the chief that would conduct them to 
 victory, hoping for the highest rewards under a 
 regime that had placed on the throne a fortunate 
 soldier ; full, in fact, of the sentiment which at this 
 time had supplanted all others, the love of glory, 
 all, old and young, expressed their wishes for the 
 war, for battles, for perils, and distant expeditii ns. 
 They vanquished in imagination the Austrians, 
 Prussians, and Russians ; they undervalued all 
 the soldiers of Europe, and did not think that 
 there was an army in the world capable of resist- 
 ing them. Accustomed to fatigue as were the old 
 Roman legions, they viewed without fear the long 
 routes which they had to march to the conquest 
 of the continent. They departed singing and 
 shouting "Long live the emperor," and calling for 
 the earliest encounter with the enemy. Doubtless 
 there was in their spirits boiling with courage less 
 of pure patriotism than with the soldiers of 1792 ; 
 there was more of ambition, a noble ambition, that 
 of glory, of rewards legitimately acquired, and a 
 confidence, a disdain of perils and difficulties, 
 which constitutes the soldier destined to perform 
 great things. The volunteers of 1792 wished to 
 defend their country against an unjust invasion ; 
 the soldiers of 1805 wished to render it the first 
 power on earth. Not to draw distinctions between 
 such sentiments, it is noble to run to the defence 
 of our country in peril ; it is noble in like manner 
 to devote oneself for that which is great and glo- 
 rious. 
 
 After having seen with his own eyes his army 
 in full march, Napoleon quitted Boulogne on the 
 2nd of September, arriving on the 3rd at Malmai- 
 son. None were informed of his resolutions ; it 
 was believed that he was still constantly occupied 
 with his scheme against England. People dis- 
 turbed themselves only about the intentions of 
 Austria, and explained the movements of tr< ops, 
 which had begun to be a question, by the mission, 
 already public, of a corps of 30,000 men, which 
 was to watch the Austrians on the upper Rhine. 
 
 The public was not aware of the exact nature 
 of facts, ignorant to what a point the deep intrigue 
 of the English had tied the Knot of the new coali- 
 tion, it reproached Napoleon with having pushed 
 Austria to an extremity by putting the crown of 
 Italy upon his own bead, uniting Genoa to the 
 empire, and giving Lucca to the princess Eliza. 
 It ceased not to admire, and always found itself 
 fortunate to live under a government so firm 
 and just as his, but it reproached him with the 
 excessive love of that which he carried on so well, 
 the love of war. No one was capable of think- 
 ing that he was unhappy under such a leader. 
 Austria, Russia, and a part of Germany in the 
 pay of England, were heard spoken of ; no one 
 knew if the new contest would be of long or short 
 duration, and the troubles of the first wars of the
 
 1S05 
 August 
 
 J 
 
 State of the finances. 
 
 UL.M AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 Resources for the budget. 
 
 Revolution were involuntarily recalled to mind. 
 Notwithstanding this, confidence prevailed much 
 over other sentiments ; but a slight murmur of 
 disapprobation, very sensible to the nice ear of 
 Napoleon, did not fail to make itself beard. 
 
 That which above all Contributed to render more 
 painful the sensation experienced by the public, 
 was an extreme pressure on the finances. This 
 had been produced by various causes. Napoleon 
 had persisted in the scheme of never borrowing 
 money. " While living,* he wrote to M. Marbois, 
 •" 1 will not issue any paper." (Milan, May 18th, 
 1803.) In effect, the discredit produced by the 
 iats, by the mandate, by all the emissions of 
 paper, still remained ; and all powerful, all redoubt- 
 able as was the emperor of the French, he would 
 not allow the accepta ce of an interest of five 
 francs for a capital of more than fifty, which would 
 constitute a loan of ten per cent. Still this situa- 
 tion caused serious embarrassments, because the 
 richest country would not suffice to meet the 
 charges of war, without throwing a part of them 
 upon futurity. 
 
 We have already made known the state of the 
 budgets. That of the year XII., September 1803 to 
 mber 1804, estimated at 700 000,000f., not 
 including the expense of collections, had been 
 raised to 7b'2,000,000f. Happily the taxes had 
 received from the prosperity of the public, that 
 war had not interrupted under a powerful govern- 
 ment, an accession oi about 40.000,000f. The pro- 
 duct of the registration stood for about 18,000,0001'.; 
 that of the customs for 16,000.O00i'., in the increase 
 of the revenue. There rested therefore to be met 
 iciency of 20,000,0001'. and some odd. 
 
 return of the year Xlil., or September 1804 
 to September 1805, which terminated at this 
 moment, presented deficiencies still greater. The 
 naval constructions were in part completed ; it was 
 believed at first that this part of the expenditure 
 could be much reduced, although the expenditure 
 of the year xn. had arisen to 7 , >'2.000.00(H'., it was 
 hop,.-l to pay that of the y^ar XIII. with 084,000.0001". 
 But the months passed thus far, showed an ex- 
 pense of about rJ0,QOO,0O0f. each, which implied an 
 annual sum of J'20fl00fl00t. There was to meet 
 this the extraordinary imposts and resources. The 
 imposts which in 1801 produced 5(10,000,0001'., had 
 i through the sole effect of the general pros- 
 perity, and without any alteration in the taxis, to 
 a producl of .v;o ooooiiof. The indirect contribu- 
 tions recently established, had returned nearly 
 _'/,. ooo.oiiof. this year ; the voluntary gifts of 
 communes and departments, converted into addi- 
 tional centimes, furnishing marly '20,000,0001'., the 
 sum of f»00,000 .000;. ot | . nnanont revenue was 
 
 attained It waathe iceaaary to find L90,000,000f. 
 
 tu ( iplete the budget of the year xin. The Italian 
 
 |y of 22,000 OOOf. would make up apart. 
 But tb " ! >8 ooo.oiiof. had ceo* d 
 
 in December 1804, after the brutal declaration of 
 war that England had mad.- against Spain. This 
 last country serving hereafter tltci common cause 
 by its Beets, had no more to contribute from its 
 finances. The American funds, the pries of Loui- 
 siana, were consumed. To supply the required 
 resources, there wen- added to the Italian subsidy 
 
 • ■; 22 ooo.oiiof. a sum of :ti;,ooo.onof. i w teen- 
 
 ■i of loan of which the mechani in 
 
 I lias been elsewhere explained, then an alienation 
 of national property to the extent of 20,000,000f., 
 and fiua ly some repayments due from Piedmont 
 amounting to C*,000,000f., the Whole making with 
 the ordinary taxes G84.000,000f. There thus re- 
 mained a deficiency of 30,000,000f. or 40,00u,000f. 
 
 | to reach 720,000.0001". 
 
 Then there was still an arrear of 20,000,000f. for 
 the year xu , and of 40,000,000f. for the year xin. 
 But this was not all. The accounts, as yet, far 
 from reaching perfection, did not reveal as they do 
 now all the facts at the same moment ; there were 
 discovered some remnants of expenses not paid, 
 and some not valued in the receipts, reported as 
 belonging to anterior expenditures, which consti- 
 tuted again a charge of 20,000.000f. more. Adding 
 these different deficiencies, '20.0. 0,000f. for the 
 year xn., 10,000,0001". for the year xin., and 
 20 000,000f. of recent discovery, these must be 
 estimated at 80,000,0001". of arrears, which had 
 begun to form after the renewal of the war. 
 
 Different means had been employed to provide 
 for these. At first, a debt was incurred with the 
 sinking fund. There was due to reimburse this 
 fund, on account of 5,000,0001'. per annum, the 
 securities which had been made available as a 
 resource for that purpose. There was due, to be 
 turned over also, an account of 10,000,0001". per 
 annum, the 70,000,000f. in value of the national 
 property, which the law of the year IX. had de- 
 voted to it, for the purpose of compensating the 
 augmentation of the public debt. None of these 
 two sums had been remitted. It is true, it had 
 security on the national property, and it was not a 
 v tv pressing creditor. The treasury owed it 
 30,000,000f. at the end of the year xin., or Sep- 
 tember, 1805. 
 
 They had discovered some other resources in the 
 many improvements effected in the service of the 
 treasury. If the state did not inspire in general 
 any great confidence on the score of its finances, 
 certain agents of the finances, within the limit of 
 their service, inspired much. Thus the central 
 cashier of the treasury, established in Paris, charged 
 with all the movements of the funds between Talis 
 and the provil t drawn upon himself, or 
 
 upon the accountants, his correspondents, drafts 
 which were always paid on the open counter, be- 
 cause the payments were executed even in the 
 
 midst of the embarrassments with proper axact- 
 
 This species of bank had been able to put 
 into circulation as far as 15,0(10,0001'. in drafts, ac- 
 cepted as cash. 
 
 Lastly, a real amelioration in the service of the 
 i ceiver-general had procured a resource very 
 aearly equal in amount. Lor the direct contribu- 
 tions resting upon land and buildings, of which the 
 value was known before hand, and the payment 
 fixed as a rent, the accountants were made to sub- 
 scribe obligations, payable month and month to 
 their eheat, under the title often mentioned, of 
 
 the " Obligations of the K eei\ , is-(,', ncral." Hut 
 for the indirect « iributioiis, which were irregu- 
 larly paid, as pail, and to the extent of the con- 
 sumed articli , or of the transactions upon which 
 ih v rested, they waited until the produce was 
 realized, in order to draw upon the i gene- 
 
 ral the paper entitled " Bill* <•" They 
 
 thus anjoyed ■ pan sf the ttate funds for about
 
 Change in national 
 property. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Commercial diffi- 
 culties. 
 
 f 1805. 
 \ September. 
 
 fifty days. It was established for the future, that 
 the treasury should draw bills upon them in ad- 
 vance every month, for two-thirds of the known 
 amount of the indirect contributions (the sum was 
 190,000,000f.), and that the last third should re- 
 main in their hands to meet the variations in their 
 receipts, and should not arrive at the treasury, but 
 und-er the form before used, of "Bills at Sight." 
 This quicker return of a part of the state funds 
 answered to an aid of about 15,000,000f. 
 
 Thus, by becoming in debt to the sinking fund, 
 by creating drafts to the central cashier of the 
 treasury, and by accelerating certain payments, 
 resources were found for about 60,000,000f. If the 
 deficiency be supposed 80,000,0001'. or 90,000,000f., 
 there would still be wanting 30,000,0001'. They 
 met this, by getting into arrear with the contrac- 
 tors, in other words, with the famous company of 
 United Merchants, whom they did not pay punc- 
 tually for their contracts, or by discounting in 
 advance a sum of the obligations of the receivers- 
 general, beyond the amount which was due to 
 them. 
 
 Napoleon, who would not engage himself too 
 much in this mode of arrear, had imagined, during 
 the time he was in Italy, an operation which, ac- 
 cording to himself, had nothing in common with an 
 issue of paper. Of 300.000,000f. or 400,000,000f. 
 of national property existing in 1800, there re- 
 mained nothing in 1805. Not that they had en- 
 tirely expended this precious property, but on the 
 contrary, because with the view to preserve it, a 
 dotation had been made of it to the sinking fund, 
 the senate, the legion of honour, the invalides, and 
 to public instruction. Certain portions of it, that 
 still figured in the budgets, composed a last rem- 
 nant, which was delivered to the sinking fund in 
 acquittance of what was due to it, and of what re- 
 mained unpaid. Napoleon had the idea of recall- 
 ing from the legion of honour and the senate, the 
 national domains which had been devoted to their 
 use, and in its place to give stock, and to dispose 
 of these domains through an operation with the 
 contractors. In effect, he would deliver stock to 
 the senate and legion of honour, in exchange for 
 their immovable property. For lOOOf. revenue in 
 hand, he would grant them 1750f. revenue in stock, 
 in order to compensate for the difference in price 
 between one and the other. The senate and legion 
 of honour would thus gain an augmentation of an- 
 nual endowment. The national domains would 
 then be taken, and delivered to the contractors at 
 the price agreed upon. These, obliged to borrow 
 of the capitalists that lent them the funds of which 
 they had need, would find in the immovable pro- 
 perty a pledge, through the aid of which they 
 would obtain credit, and procure the means to con- 
 tinue their services. It was the sinking fund 
 to which this operation was confided, and which 
 took from the stock redeemed the sum necessary 
 to indemnify the senate and the legion of honour. 
 The state, in its turn, would be indemnified, by 
 creating to its profit a sum in stock, correspondent 
 to that of which it despoiled itself. It was with 
 such different expedients, the one legitimate, as 
 ameliorations or improvements of the service ; the 
 others vexatious, as retarding the payments to the 
 contractors, and the resumption of property given 
 to different establishments — it was with these ex- 
 
 pedients, they tell us, that they arrived at the point 
 of meeting the deficit which two years had pro- 
 duced. At this time the floating debt, for which 
 the "Bons Hoyaux " now make provision, permit 
 the su pport of a charge four or five times more 
 considerable. 
 
 All this had offered but a middling degree of 
 embarrassment, if the situation of commerce had 
 been good ; but it was not so. The French mer- 
 chants in 1802, believing in the continuance of a 
 maritime peace, had engaged in considerable ope- 
 rations, and had sent goods to every country. 
 The violent conduct of England, in pursuing our 
 flag before any declaration of war, had caused 
 them immense losses. Many houses had dissi- 
 mulated in regard to their distress, and in resign- 
 ing themselves to great sacrifices in aiding one 
 another with their credit, had supported them- 
 selves against the first stroke. But the new blow, 
 resulting from the continental war, could not but 
 accomplish their ruin. Already bankruptcies began 
 in the principal commercial places, and produced 
 general trouble. Nor was this the sole cause of 
 the perplexity of affairs. Since the fall of the as- 
 signats, the circulating medium, although it had 
 been promptly repaired, had always been insuffi- 
 cient, from a cause easy of comprehension. The 
 paper money, being entirely discredited from the 
 first day of its emission, had still done the office of 
 a circulating medium, for some portion, whatever 
 it might be, of the exchange, and had expelled 
 from France a part of the metallic specie. The 
 public prosperity, suddenly restored under the 
 consulate, had not endured long enough to re- 
 call the gold and silver which had left the country. 
 They were wanting in all transactions. To pro- 
 cure them at this time was one of the constant 
 anxieties of commerce. The bank of France, 
 which had developed itself rapidly, because it 
 furnished, by means of its notes well accredited, 
 a supplementary circulating medium, had the 
 greatest trouble to keep in its coffers a metallic 
 reserve proportioned to the emission of its notes. 
 It had made, under this head, very praiseworthy 
 efforts, and drawn out of Spain an enormous quantity 
 of dollars. Unfortunately, a mode of diminution 
 opened at that time to the circulation, and suffered 
 it to escape as fast as it was possible to bring it 
 in, — this was the payment for colonial commodi- 
 ties. Formerly, that is to say, in 1788 and 1780, 
 when France possessed St. Domingo, she drew 
 from her colonies in sugar, coffee, and other colo- 
 nial productions, as much as 2'20,000,000f. per 
 annum, of which she consumed 70,000,000f. or 
 80,000,000f., and exported up to 150,000,()00f., 
 particularly in the shape of refined sugars. If the 
 difference between the prices of that time and ours 
 is considered, a difference which is at least double, 
 it may be judged what an immense source of pros- 
 perity was now dried up. It was necessary to go 
 and search far beyond France, and to receive 
 from her enemies the colonial productions that 
 twenty years before she sold to all Europe. A 
 considerable portion of the circulating medium in 
 specie was carried to Hamburgh, Amsterdam, 
 Genoa, Leghorn, Venice, and Trieste, to pay for 
 the sugar and coffee that the English made to 
 enter by open commerce or contraband traffic. 
 They sent into Italy much above 22,000,000f. that 
 
 L
 
 1805. 
 September. 
 
 ! 
 
 Scarcity of specie. 
 
 ULM AND TRAFALGAR 
 
 Transactions of M. Ouvrard. 
 
 France paid to that country. All the commercial 
 men of the time complained of this state of things, 
 
 and the subject was daily discussed at the bank 
 by the most enlightened merchants of France. 
 
 It was from Spain that Europe had been in the 
 habit of obtaining the precious metals. That cele- 
 brated nation, for which Columbus had procured 
 of rich and fatal idleness, in opening before 
 it the mines of America, had run into debt, in con- 
 Beqnence of its ignorance and disorder. The 
 miseries of war had added to bad government ; 
 it was then the most needy of nations, and pre- 
 sented the spectacle, always so melancholy in 
 itself, of the rich reduced to misery. The galleons 
 stopped by the English navy caused a want of 
 money, not only in Spain, but throughout the whole 
 of Europe. Although the export of dollars was 
 prohibited in the Peninsula, France obtained them 
 through the smuggler, for which it was indebted 
 to the long contiguity of territory ; and the neigh- 
 bouring nations often received them from France 
 by the same means. This contraband traffic was 
 as established and extensive as a lawful trade. 
 But it was at this period much thwarted by the 
 interruption of remittances from America ; and 
 singular enough, England itself suffered. Habi- 
 tuated to draw from the resources of France and 
 Spain, it had submitted to the common privation 
 of which it was itself the cause. The money which 
 accumulated in the vaults of the Spanish governors of 
 Mexico and Peru, came no more to Cadiz, Bayonne, 
 Paris, or London. England wanted the precious 
 metals for all purposes, but above all for the pay- 
 ment of the European coalition, because the colonial 
 productions and merchandize which she furnished, 
 whether to Austria or Russia, were not sufficient to 
 balance the subsidies that she had engaged to fur- 
 nish them. Mr. Pitt had himself given this reason 
 for disputing with the coalesced powers a part of 
 the sums which they demanded. After having 
 given nearly for nothing enormous masses of sugar 
 and coffee to the coalesced powers, the British 
 cabinet sent them, in place of money, notes of the 
 bank of England. These were found in the hands 
 of Austrian officers. 
 
 Such were the principal causes of the commercial 
 and financial distress. If the company of united 
 merchants, which at that time did all the business 
 of the treasury, furnished the provisions, discounted 
 the obligations, and also the Spanish subsidy, 
 had limited itself to the service in which it was 
 specially engaged, although with difficulty, it would 
 
 have been sole to meet the exigency of cir- 
 eumstanees. It no longer found a discount at 
 
 } per 100 per month, or six per cent, per annum, 
 for tie- obligation of tie- receivers-general ; it was 
 as much if it found capitalists who would discount 
 them to itself at j pet 100 per month, or nine per 
 cent, per annum, which involved an enormous loss. 
 However, the treasury, in transacting business 
 with the company, and indemnifying it for (he 
 usury exercised by the capitalists, had been the 
 
 means of facilitating the continuation of its SOT- 
 
 But its principal director, M. Ouvrard, 
 had founded upon this situation of things an Im- 
 mense scln-mo, vi'i-v ingl moils assuredly, very 
 
 advantageous even, if the plan bad joined to tie 
 
 merit of its invention, the merit, still mON 0601 
 sary, of precision in calculation. The tine.- con- 
 
 tractors forming the company of united merchants, 
 were thus seen dividing among themselves different 
 characters. M. Desprez, formerly a cashier, en- 
 riched by a rare ability in the business of paper, 
 was charged with the discounts of the treasury. 
 To M. Vanlerberghe, who understood remarkably 
 well the corn trade, was committed the furnishing 
 of provisions. To M. Ouvi-ard, the boldest of the 
 three, and the most fertile in resources, was re- 
 served the great speculations. Having accepted 
 from France the proceeds with which Spain paid 
 its subsidy, and having promised to discount them, 
 (which had misled M. de Marbois,) he had been 
 led to the idea of effecting great transactions with 
 Spain, that sovereign of Mexico and Peru, from 
 whose hand came the precious metals, that were 
 the object of universal desire. He went to Madrid, 
 where he found the court saddened by the effect 
 of the war, by the yellow fever, by a frightful 
 amount of debt, and by the necessities of Napoleon, 
 to whom it was a debtor. Nothing of all this ap- 
 peared to surprise or embarrass M. Ouvrard. He 
 delighted by his ease and assurance the old gentry 
 wdio governed all things at the Escurial, as he had 
 delighted M. de Marbois himself, in procuring for 
 him the resources which he knew not where to find 
 elsewhere. He offered at setting out to balance 
 the subsidy due to France at the close of Ull):;, 
 and for the whole of 1804, which was a primary 
 relief coming very opportunely. Then he had fur- 
 nished some immediate supplies in money, of 
 which the court stood in pressing need, and he 
 took upon himself, besides, to send corn into the 
 ports of Spain, and to procure for the Spanish 
 squadrons the provisions of which they stood in 
 need. All these services had been accepted with 
 great acknowledgments. M. Ouvrard had imme- 
 diately written to Paris, and through M. de Mar- 
 bois, had obtained the permission, ordinarily re- 
 fused, to permit some cargoes of corn to be sent 
 from France to Spain. These sudden arrivals had 
 put an end to the hoarding of grain in the ports of 
 the Peninsula, ami to the dearth, which had oc- 
 curred more through the factitious elevation of the 
 price, than the deficiency of the grain itself. M. 
 
 Ouvrard had thus relieved, as il by enchantment, 
 
 the more pressing misery of the Spanish people. 
 
 It wanted not so much to seduce and draw into his 
 
 \ iews the shortsighted rulers of the Spanish affairs. 
 
 It was naturally demanded, with what resources 
 thecourtof Madrid would be able to pay M. Ou- 
 vrard for all the services it received at his hands ; 
 tin- means were simple. .M. Ouvrard desired that 
 
 they should abandon to him the ohtaintucut of the 
 dollars front Mexico. Hi' in fact obtained the 
 privilege to draw them from the Spanish colonies, 
 at the price of three francs sc\ cut \ -live centimes, 
 
 while in France they were valued at live francs 
 
 at least. This was an extraordinary profit ; hut 
 
 certainly well merited, if M. ouvrard succeeded 
 
 in eluding the English cruisers, and m transport- 
 ing from the new to the old world the metals (hat 
 wire become SO Valuable. Spain which sunk be- 
 neath her misery, was \iv\ happy even with the 
 
 t a quarter par^ of her riches to realize the 
 
 other three quarters, lie' idle and lavish heirs 
 
 Of rich families, do not always treat as advantage- 
 ously with tie money-lenders who extort from 
 their prodigality.
 
 10 Scheme to obtain silver-. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Pressure on the 
 treasury. 
 
 / 1805. 
 \ September. 
 
 But how was it possible to bring over the dollars 
 in despite of Mr. Pitt and the English fleets. This 
 difficulty was no more embarrassing to M Ouvrard 
 than any of the others. He hit upon the idea of 
 serving the purpose of Mr. Pitt himself by means 
 of the most singular of combinations. There were 
 Dutch houses, particularly that of Hope, which 
 were established both in England and Holland. He 
 had the idea of selling there the Spanish dollars 
 at a rate which insured to his company a consider- 
 able advantage ; and it was for these houses to 
 obtain from Mr. Pitt the means of bringing them 
 from Mexico. As Mr. Pitt had need of them 
 upon his own account, it was possible that in his 
 desire to procure them, he would let a certain sum 
 pass, although he knew that his enemies might 
 participate in them. This was a species of tacit 
 contract of which the Dutch houses associated with 
 the English would become the intermediate agents. 
 Experience proved, at a later time, that this con- 
 tract was capable of being executed for one party, 
 if not for all. M. Ouvrard considered also that 
 he should serve the American houses; that with 
 his commission, thanks to the national flag, it 
 would be able to search out the dollars in the 
 Spanish colonies in order to convey them to Eu- 
 rope. But the question was, to know whether 
 Mr. Pitt would allow the dollars to pass, and 
 whether the Americans would be able to bring 
 them under cover of their neutral character. If 
 there had been time a similar speculation would 
 have succeeded, rendered important services to 
 France and Spain, and procured to the company 
 abundant and legitimate profits. Unfortunately 
 the pressure on the company was very urgent. 
 On the 80,000,000f. or 90,000,0001'. of arrear which 
 it was necessary the treasury should meet by ex- 
 pedients, there were about 30,000,000f. which it 
 owed to the company of united merchants, and 
 that it paid with immoveable or unconvertible 
 property. It had then to support this first bur- 
 then. It had besides to furnish to the French 
 treasury the amount of the Spanish subsidy, about 
 40,000,000f. or 50,000,000f. ; it had to discount 
 itself the "obligations of the receivers-general;" 
 it had lastly to pay for the corn sent into the ports 
 of the peninsula, and for the provisions supplied 
 to the Spanish vessels. This was a situation little 
 adapted to await the success of hazardous and 
 distant speculations. At this time the company 
 was reduced to an existence by expedients. It 
 had pledged to money-lenders the immoveable 
 property received in the state payment. Having 
 succeeded, owing to the easiness of M. de Marbois, 
 in holding almost exclusively the portfolio of the 
 treasury, it grasped by handfuls the "obligations 
 of the receivers-general," which it transferred to 
 capitalists, borrowing their money on pledge at a 
 usurious rate. It got a part of those " obligations" 
 discounted by the bank of Franco, that, drawn in 
 by its connection with the government, refused 
 it nothing which was demanded on the part of 
 the public service. The company received the 
 value of the discount in notes of the bank of 
 France, and this position of things resolved itself 
 from that time into an emission of notes which 
 became every day more considerable. But the 
 reserve in the precious metals did not increase 
 in proportion to the mass of notes issued, and from 
 
 that a real danger resulted ; and it was the bank 
 which came soon in reality to support the weight 
 of the embarrassment of every body. Thus voices 
 were raised in the council of regency, to demand 
 that an end should be put to the succours granted 
 to M. Desprez, representing the company of united 
 merchants. But other voices, more prudent and 
 patriotic, above all that of M. Perregaux, pro- 
 nounced against such a proposition, and granted 
 the aid requested by M. Desprez. 
 
 The French treasury, the Spanish treasury, and 
 the company of united merchants that served as 
 the link binding the connexion, conducted them- 
 selves like mercantile firms in a state of embarrass- 
 ment, that lend each other their signatures, and 
 help each other to keep up a credit they do not 
 really possess. But it must be acknowledged that 
 the French treasury was the least pressed of the 
 three associated houses, and that it was exposed 
 to much injury under a similar community of busi- 
 ness ; because, at bottom, it was with its resources 
 alone — in other words, with the obligations of the 
 receiver-general, discounted by the bank — that they 
 wore able to face their necessities, and that they 
 provided for the Spanish as well as the French ar- 
 mies. Above all, the whole secret of this extraor- 
 dinary situation was not known. The associates of 
 M. Ouvrard, whose engagements with him had 
 never been accurately defined, although those en- 
 gagements had been the subject of legal proceed- 
 ings, knew not themselves the whole extent of the 
 burden which lay upon them. Feeling already much 
 pressure, they ealled loudly for M. Ouvrard, and 
 had given him the order, through M. de Marbois, 
 to return immediately to Paris. M. de Marbois, 
 little able to judge by himself all the details of the 
 vast administration of the funds — deceived, too, by 
 a dishonest clerk — never suspected to what an extent 
 the resources of the treasury were abandoned to 
 the company. Napoleon himself, although he ex- 
 tended over every thing his indefatigable vigilance, 
 did not see more in the details of the service, than 
 a real deficiency of G0,000,000f., which might be 
 supplied by the national property and by other 
 expedients : ignorant of the confusion which had 
 taken place between the operations of the treasury 
 and those of the united merchants, he did not hit 
 upon the real cause of the embarrassments and dis- 
 quietude which had begun to show themselves. 
 He attributed the constraint which was every 
 where suffered, to bad commercial speculations — 
 to the usury that the possessors of capital endea- 
 voured to exercise, and complained of the men 
 of business, much as he complained of the idealo- 
 gists, when he encountered contradictory notions. 
 However this might be, he did not wish they 
 should draw from such a state of things objections 
 to the execution of his orders. He had demanded 
 12,000,000f. in specie at Strasburg, and had de- 
 manded them so imperiously, that they had re- 
 course to the extremist means to raise them. He 
 had need of another 10,000,000f. in Italy; and 
 the company, obliged to buy them at Hamburgh, 
 sent them to Milan, whether in gold or silver, 
 along the Rhine and the Alps. Napoleon, too, 
 calculated to strike such blows, in fifteen or 
 twenty days, as should put an end to every em- 
 barrassment. " Before fifteen days are over," he 
 said, " I shall have beaten down the Russians, the 
 
 J
 
 1805. \ 
 September. J 
 
 Conscription called out. 
 
 ULM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 Organization of the 
 national guard. 
 
 11 
 
 Aostrians, and tlie gamblers." These resources, 
 well or ill obtained by the treasury, he employed 
 himself in the conscription and the organization of 
 the reserve The annual contingent was then di- 
 vided into halves, eaeb of 30,000 men. The first 
 was called into active service; the second left 
 among the pest of the population, but capable of 
 being united under the colours, on a simple order 
 from the government. 
 
 There still remained a great part of the contin- 
 gent of the years ix., x., XI., XII., and xni. They 
 were men of a mature age, whom the govern- 
 ment could dispose of by a decreei Napoleon 
 cahed out all ; but he rtsolved besides to advance 
 the levy of the year xiv., comprehending the indi- 
 viduals who had attained the requisite age, from 
 the 23rd of September, 1806, to the 23rd of Sep- 
 tember, 1800' ; and as the Gregorian calendar was 
 to come into usage on the 1st of January following, 
 he added to that levy the youths who had at- 
 tained the legal age from the 23rd of September to 
 the 31st of December, 1806. He resolved then 
 to comprehend in a single levy of fifteen months 
 all the conscripts to whom the law should be ap- 
 plicable, from the month of September, 1805, to 
 the month of December, 180G. This increase 
 would furnish 80,000 men, of whom the last did 
 not reckon quite twenty years of age. But he did 
 not think of employing them immediately in war 
 service ; he proposed to prepare them for service 
 by placing them in the third battalion, which 
 composed the depot of each regiment. These 
 men would thus have a year or two, whether for 
 instruction, or to strengthen themselves, and would 
 furnish, in fifteen or eighteen months, excellent 
 soldiers, nearly as well formed as those in the camp 
 of Boulogne. This was a combination, beneficial at 
 the same time for the health of the men and for 
 their military instruction; because the conscript of 
 twenty years old, if he entered immediately upon 
 service, would soon conclude it in the hospital. 
 But this combination was only possible under a 
 government, that, having an army well organized 
 to present to the enemy, had no need of the annual 
 Contingent) save under the name of a reserve. 
 
 The legislative body was not sitting ; time would 
 be lost in convoking it. Napoleon would not con- 
 sent to this retardation, and thought of addressing 
 Date instead, founded upon two motives : the 
 
 the irregularity of a contingent which com- 
 
 1 more than a levy of twelve months, and 
 
 some conscripts under twenty years of age ; se- 
 
 eondly, under the urgency of the circumstances. 
 
 In regard to the legality in thus aeliiiL', the 
 was neither able to Vote a money contribution, nor 
 a contribution in men. It was charged with func- 
 tions of a different order: to stop the adoption of 
 astitutional laws, to fill up the vacancies in the 
 
 On, and to wateh over the: acts of the 
 
 govt rnment that, were too arbitrary. To the legis- 
 lative body alone belonged the votes relative to 
 taxes .and I vying men. It was ti fault to violate 
 the constitution, already too flexible, and to render 
 it too illusory, by neglecting to observe its forms 
 with so little ceremony. It was another fault, not 
 
 to have husbanded more- the u 6 of the | 
 
 which was a common resource in ail eases of diffi- 
 culty, and to indicate too clearlj that its docility 
 was calculated upon much m ire than that of the 
 
 ative body. The archchaneellor CambncJres, 
 not loving any excesses of power which were not 
 indispensably necessary, made these remarks, and 
 maintained that it was needful at least, in order to 
 observe forms, to attach, by an organic measure, 
 the vote of the contingents to the senate. Napo- 
 leon, who, without forgetting the considerations of 
 prudence, postponed them, when he was pressed, 
 to a future time, would neither admit the general 
 regulations, nor defer the levy of the contingent. 
 In consequence, he decreed, for the preparation of 
 the levy of the conscription of 1800", a scnatus con- 
 su/tiuii, founded upon two extraordinary considera- 
 tions : the irregularity of the contingent embracing 
 more than an entire year ; and the urgency of the 
 circumstances, which did not allow of waiting for 
 the meeting of the legislative body. 
 
 He considered also of a recurrence to the na- 
 tional guard, instituted in virtue of the laws of 
 1700, 1791, and 1795. This third coalition having 
 the character of the two first — although the times 
 were changed, and Europe hated much less the 
 principles of France, and much more her great- 
 ness — he thought that the nation owed to its 
 government a concurrence as energetic and unani- 
 mous as formerly. It might not be attended with 
 the same impulse, because the same revolutionary 
 enthusiasm no longer existed ; but it was possible 
 to reckon upon a perfect submission to the law on 
 the part of the citizens, and upon a deep senti- 
 ment of honour being prevalent among those win in 
 the law called upon. He decreed, therefore, the 
 organization of the national guard, but attempted 
 to render them more obedient and soldier-like. 
 For this end he proposed asenatus consuUum, which 
 authorized the regulation of this organization by 
 imperial decrees. He resolved to reserve to him- 
 self the nomination of officers, and to finite in the 
 companies, both of chasseurs and grenadiers, the 
 youngest and most warlike of the population. He 
 designed them for the defence of the fortr< 
 and for incidental assemblages upon threat 
 points of the French territory, such as Boulogne, 
 Antwerp, and La Vendee. 
 
 These different military elements were disposed 
 in the following manner. Nearly 200,000 men 
 W( re inarching in ('ermany ; 70,000 defended 
 Italy ; twenty-one battalions of infantry, inert 
 by fifteen battalions of seamen, guarded Boulogne. 
 It has been already seen that these regiments were 
 composed of three battalions, two of war, and one 
 of depot. The last was charged to receive the sick 
 or Convalescent Soldiers, and to instruct the con- 
 scripts. Already, a certain number of these thin] 
 battalions Inol been stationed at Boulogne. All the 
 others were placed at Mayence ami Strasburg. 
 
 Towards these three points were directed the mill 
 
 remaining, of the levy of the years ix., x., m., mi., 
 
 XIII., and the 80,000 conscripts of 1800*. These 
 were turned Into the third battalions, to be exer- 
 cised, and to acquire full strength. The more 
 aged, when they were formed, were to come later, 
 
 organized in marching corps, to HI] the vacancies 
 
 that war had caused in the ranks of the army. 
 This was a reserve of 160,000 men, at least, guard- 
 ing the frontier, and secured the filling up of the 
 corps. The national guardaj supporting this i 
 
 bi rve, w< re to I rganizi d in the north and wett, 
 
 to proceed to the defence of the coasts, above all
 
 12 
 
 Napoleon visits the 
 senate. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. W ^he R°h?ne. enU {se P "mier. 
 
 to Boulogne and Antwerp, if the English should 
 attempt to burn the flotilla, or to destroy tlie build- 
 ing-yards in the Scheldt. Marshal Brune bad 
 already been charged with the command at Bou- 
 logne, marshal Lefebvre had the command at 
 Mayence, and marshal Kellermann at Strasburg. 
 These nominations attested the perfect tact of 
 Napoleon. Marshal Brune possessed a reputation 
 acquired in 1799, he having repulsed a descent of 
 Russians and English. Marshals Lefebvre and 
 Kellermann, old soldiers, who had received for 
 their services places in the senate, and the baton 
 of honorary marshals, were the most proper to 
 watch over the organization of the reserve, while 
 their companions in arms that were younger were 
 engaged in active service. These became, at the 
 same time, the cause of the derogation of the law, 
 which forbade public functions to the senators. 
 This law much displeased the senate, and it was 
 got rid of very adroitly, by summoning some of the 
 members to form the arriere-ban ', in the national 
 defence. 
 
 These arrangements being completed, Napoleon 
 had taken to the senate the measures thus enume- 
 rated, and presented them himself in an imperial 
 sitting, held in the Luxembourg, on the 23rd of 
 September. He there spoke in precise and firm 
 terms of the continental war, which had come upon 
 him by surprise, while occupied with the expedi- 
 tion to England, of the explanations demanded of 
 Austria, of the ambiguous replies of that court, of 
 the falsehoods clearly shown, when the armies of 
 that power had passed the Inn on the 8th of Sep- 
 tember, at the same moment that she protested so 
 strongly her love of peace. He made his appeal 
 to the devotion of France, and promised soon to 
 annihilate this new coalition. The senators gave 
 him the strongest proofs of their assent; although 
 at the bottom of their hearts they attributed to the 
 union of the Italian states with France the new 
 continental war. In the streets, through which 
 the imperial procession had to pass, from the 
 Luxembourg to the Tuilleries, the popular enthu- 
 siasm, compressed by suffering, was less expressed 
 than was customary. Napoleon, perceiving this, 
 was piqued, and showed some vexation at it to the 
 archchancellor, Cambaceres. He saw in it an in- 
 justice on the part of the Parisian people towards 
 himself ; but he appeared to take his ground, pro- 
 mising himself soon to excite shouts of enthusiasm, 
 greater and more lively than those which had so 
 many times resounded in his ears ; and he turned 
 his thoughts, which had not time to dwell upon any 
 subject, towards the events which were preparing 
 for him on the banks of the Danube. Pressed to 
 depart, he made regulations for the organization 
 of the government in his absence. His brother 
 Joseph was to preside in the senate ; his brother 
 Louis, in quality of constable, was to employ him- 
 self with the levies of men, and the formation of 
 the national guard. The archchancellor, Camba- 
 ceres, was charged with the presidency of the 
 council of state. All the business transacted was 
 to be treated of in a council, composed of the 
 ministers, and of the great dignitaries, over which 
 presided his brother Joseph, grand-elector. It 
 
 1 The ancient usage of convoking the nobles to the de- 
 fence of the country was so denominated. — Tramlator. 
 
 was settled that couriers should depart daily, to 
 carry to Napoleon the reports of every business 
 transacted, with the opinion of the archchancellor, 
 Cambaceres. The last, fearing that Joseph Bona- 
 parte, president of the council of government, 
 might be hurt with the character of supi'eme cri- 
 tic attributed to one of the members of the council, 
 made the remark to Napoleon. Napoleon inter- 
 rupted him sharply, saying, that to spare any 
 vanity, he would not deprive himself of knowledge 
 most useful to him. He persisted. His decisions 
 came to Paris on their return, after the report sent 
 by the archchancellor. It was only in urgent cases 
 that the council was authorised to act, before the 
 will of the emperor was expressed, and to give 
 orders, which each minister executed on his per- 
 sonal responsibility. Thus Napoleon reserved to 
 himself the decision of every thing, even in his 
 absence, and made of the archchancellor, Camba- 
 ceres, the eye of his government, while he was far 
 away from the centre of the empire. 
 
 All who were around him saw him depart with 
 mortification. They knew not the secret of his 
 genius, nor hew much he would cut short the war. 
 They feared it would be long, and they felt assured 
 that it would be sanguinary. They demanded what 
 would be the fate of France, if such a head were 
 to be struck by the bullet that pierced the breast 
 of Turenne, or by the ball that fractured the brow 
 of Charles XII. Besides, those who approached 
 him, all brusque, all absolute he was, were unable to 
 prevent themselves from loving him. It was 
 therefore with deep regret that they saw him go 
 to a distance. He consented to be accompanied as 
 far as Strasburg by the empress, who was always 
 the more attached to him, the greater fear she had 
 about the duration of her union with him. He car- 
 ried with him marshal Berthier, leaving M. de 
 Talleyrand an order to follow the head-quarters at 
 a certain distance, with some clerks. Leaving 
 Paris on the 24th, Napoleon arrived on the 26th 
 at Strasburg. 
 
 Already, to the great astonishment of Europe, 
 the army which, twenty days before had been on 
 the borders of the ocean, was in the centre of 
 Germany, on the banks of the Main, the Necker, 
 and the Rhine. Never had a march more secret, 
 or more rapid, been at any time performed. The 
 heads of columns were perceived every where at 
 Wiirtzburg, Mayence, and Strasburg. The joy of 
 the soldiers was at its height when they saw Napo- 
 leon. They welcomed him with cries of " Vive 
 l'Empereur !" a thousand times repeated. This 
 innumerable mass of troops, infantry, cavalry, and 
 artillery, suddenly united ; convoys of provisions 
 and ammunition formed in haste- ; long files of 
 horses bought in Switzerland and Suabia ; all the 
 movements, in fact, of an army which was only a 
 few days before expected, and that had suddenly 
 appeared, presented a unique spectacle, still more 
 elevated by the presence of a military court, at 
 the same time brilliant and rough, and by an im- 
 mense affluence of the curious, who had come to 
 see the emperor of the French going to war. 
 
 The coalition had made baste on its own side ; 
 but it was not so well prepared as Napoleon, and, 
 more than all, not as active, although animated by 
 the most ardent passions. It had been agreed be- 
 tween the coalesced powers, that they should carry
 
 1805. 1 
 September, j 
 
 Preparations of the 
 
 coalition. 
 
 ULM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 Hanover offered to 
 Prussia. 
 
 13 
 
 their principal forces towards the Danube before 
 tlie winter, to the end that Napoleon might not be 
 able to profit by the difficulty of communication 
 during the bad season, in order to crush Austria, 
 isolated from her allies. All the orders for the 
 movements of the troops had therefore been given 
 for the end of August and the commencement of 
 September. In acting thus, the coalesced powers 
 believed they should be strong in advance of Na- 
 poleon, and Mattered themselves to have jt hi th< if 
 power to commence hostilities a'* the time they 
 judged most opportune. Tiny did not understand 
 they should find the French so soon at the theatre 
 of war. 
 
 An assemblage of the Russian forces had been 
 formed at Revel, and had embarked in the early 
 days of September for Stralsund. It was composed 
 of 16',000 men, under the command of general 
 Tolstoy. Twelve thousand Swedes had already 
 gone to Stralsund. They were to proceed by 
 Mecklenburg into Hanover, and were to be joined 
 by 15,000 English, disembarked from the Elbe at 
 Cuxhaven. This army of 43,000 nun was designed 
 to execute the attack on the north. This attack 
 was to be made principal or accessory, accordingly 
 as Prussia should or should not form a junction 
 with it. 
 
 Two grand Russian armies of 00,000 men each 
 advanced, one by Gallicia, under general Kutuso ; 
 the other by Poland, under general BuxhSwden. 
 The Russian guard, under the archduke Constan- 
 tino, consisting of 12,000 chosen men, followed the 
 second army. An army of reserve, under general 
 Michelson, was formed at Wilna. The young em- 
 peror Alexander — driven into the war by his levity, 
 clearsighted enough to perceive his fault, hut not 
 resolute enough to repair it, or to correct it by 
 energy of execution — the emperor Alexander, go- 
 v. rn d, without avowing it, by secret fear, had not 
 decided until very late to make the last prepara- 
 tions. The corps of Gallicia, that, under gem ial 
 Kutnaof, should have come to the succour of the 
 Austrians, had not reached the frontier of Austria 
 until the end of August. It had to march across 
 Gallicia from Brody to Olmutz ; in Moravia, from 
 Olmutz to Vienna ; in Austria and Bavaria, to 
 Ulin. This was a much greater distance, in route, 
 than the French had to march from Boulogne to 
 I '.in ; ami the Russians knew not how to march long 
 
 distances as the French did. Europe, which had 
 witnessed the march of French soldiers, well knew 
 
 that ii'. no existed who won' equal to them in rapid- 
 ity. The foresight of Napoleon then was fulfilled; 
 the Russians were behind. 
 
 The second Itiis-ian army, placed between War 
 saw and < 'r.icow, near Pulawi, was, with the guar. Is, 
 
 70,000 strong, and awaited the arrival of the 
 emperor Alexander to receive his directions in 
 regard to Prussia. This monarch had seen the 
 embarkation of the troops at Bevel before I 
 off for the army of Poland, and bad arrived at 
 Pulawi, the fine mansion of tin- illustrious family 
 of the Czartoryski at some distance from Warsaw. 
 lie remained there with his young minister for 
 
 f reign affairs, prince Adam ( '/.artoryski, to com- 
 municate as early as possible with the court of 
 Berlin. 
 At the side of Alexander was Men prince Peter 
 
 Dolgorouki, an officer making his entrance' in the 
 
 career of arms, full of presumption and ambition? 
 the enemy of the circle of young men of mind wdio 
 governed the empire, endeavouring to persuade 
 the emperor that these young men were faithless, 
 and, being in the interest of Poland, betrayed Rus- 
 sia. The fickleness of Alexander gave prince 
 Dolgorouki more than one chance of success. It 
 was false that prince Adam Czartoryski, the most 
 upright of me.ii. v-i? car>al>lf V '.— 'jvylcg Alexan- 
 der &u* ne bated the court of Prussia, th& 
 feebleness of which he mistook for duplicity. He 
 wished, through a sentiment entirely Polish, that 
 the scheme to do violence to that court, if it did 
 not adhere to the views of the coalition, should be 
 accomplished ; that they should break with her ; 
 and that, passing over the bodies of her armies, 
 scarcely formed, Warsaw and Posen might be 
 taken from her, in order to proclaim Alexander 
 king of reconstituted Poland. This was a natural 
 wish on the part of a Pole, but inconsiderate in 
 a Russian statesman. Napoleon alone sufficed to 
 beat the coalition : what would it be if the forced 
 alliance of Prussia were given to him ! 
 
 Moreover, it was too much to exact from the 
 irresolute character of Alexander. He had sent 
 his ambassador to Berlin, M. Alopeus, to make 
 an appeal to the friendship of Frederic- William, 
 and to demand from him at first a passage for a 
 Russian army across Silesia, and to insinuate to 
 him subsequently that they did not doubt of the 
 concurrence of Prussia in a work so meritorious 
 as European deliverance. The negotiator was even 
 authorized to declare to the Prussian cabinet that 
 it could not hold the balance, that neutrality was 
 impossible, and that if the passage was not granted 
 with good grace, it would be taken by force. M. 
 Alopeus was to be seconded by prince Dolgorouki, 
 aide-de-camp of Alexander. He was charged to 
 let it be seen clearly at Berlin, that the decision 
 was to draw in Prussia by mild means, or to 
 decide her by violence. They had so far pushed 
 matters at Pulawi, as to compose the manifesto 
 which was to precede hostilities. 
 
 While these strong solicitations were addressed 
 to Prussia by the Russian agents, she found before 
 Inr the French negotiators, DuXOC ami Laforest, 
 ordered by Napoleon to make her the tender of 
 Hanover. It must be remembered that the grand 
 marshal of the palace, Duror, had left Boulogne 
 
 with the mission, to carry that offer to Berlin. 
 The probitj of the young king had not stood firm, 
 
 and the sentiments of M. 1 lardeiiberg, who was 
 
 called in Europe "the right-thinking minister," 
 
 had not stood tirm either. M. I lanl. nlierg only 
 
 saw one difficulty in the affair, that was, to dis- 
 cover a form which should preserve the honour 
 
 of his master ill the eyes of Europe. The two 
 months of July and August had been employed in 
 searching for this form. They hit upon one which 
 was not wanting in ingenuity. It was tin- same 
 (hat the Coalition on its own side had conceived 
 for the purpose of coinmi ncing the war upon 
 Napoleon, an armed mediation. The King of 
 
 Prussia would, for the sake of p.ace, which they 
 
 said was needful for all tie- pOWeTB, declare upon 
 '.'.hat conditions the equilibrium of Europe seemed, 
 
 in his \ iew, sufficiently guaranteed, announce what 
 
 those conditions wer.-, and then give it to be un- 
 derstood that be would declare himself for those
 
 14 
 
 Prussian negotiations. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Prussia arms 
 herself. 
 
 f 1S05. 
 (September. 
 
 who admitted them, ag;iinst those who refused ; 
 which meant, that he would make half a war 
 against France, with the object of gaining Hanover. 
 He would adopt, in effect, in his declaration, most 
 of the conditions of Napoleon, — such as the crea- 
 tion of the kingdom of Italy, with the separation 
 of the two crowns at the time of the general peace, 
 the union of Piedmont and Genoa to the empire, 
 the free disposal of Parma and Placentia by France, 
 the independence of Switzerland and Holland, and, 
 lastly, the evacuation of Tarentum and Hanover 
 at the peace. Here was no difficulty, except in 
 the manner in which the independence of Holland 
 and Switzerland was to he understood. Napoleon, 
 who had then no object in view regarding the two 
 countries, still would not guarantee their indepen- 
 dence in terms which permitted the enemies of 
 France to effect a counter-revolution. The dis- 
 cussions upon this subject were prolonged until 
 the end of the month of September, and the young 
 king of Prussia was about to finish by resigning 
 himself to the violence which was intended him, 
 when he clearly recognized, by the march of the 
 Russian, Austrian, and French armies, that war 
 was approaching, and inevitable. Struck with 
 fear at this aspect of things, he drew back, and 
 spoke no more of an armed mediation, nor of the 
 acquisition of Hanover as the price of this medi- 
 ation. He returned to his ordinary system of the 
 neutrality of the north of Germany. Then Duroc 
 and M. Laforest, according to the orders of Napo- 
 leon, offered him that which the cabinet of Berlin 
 had so many times itself demanded, the remittance 
 of Hanover into the hands of Prussia, under the 
 denomination of a deposit, mi condition that she 
 should assure the ultimate possession to France. 
 But whatever pleasure the retreat cf the French 
 might cause to king Frederick-William, and the 
 remittance to him of so precious a thing, he saw 
 that he must then oppose himself to the northern 
 expedition, and still continued his refusal. He 
 made a thousand protestations of attachment to 
 Napoleon, to his dynasty and his government ; 
 adding, that if he did not yield to his sympathies, 
 it was because he was without defence against 
 Russia on the side of Poland. To that objection 
 Duroc and M. Laforest replied by an offer of an 
 army of 80,000 French, to be ready to join the 
 Prussians. But this was still war, and Frederick- 
 William rejected it under this new shape. It was 
 at this moment that M. Alopeus and prince Dol- 
 gorouki arrived at Berlin, in order to demand of 
 the Prussian government a declaration for the 
 coalition. The king was not less frightened at the 
 demand of the one than the protestations of the 
 other. He replied by protestations exactly like 
 those which he had addressed to the French nego- 
 tators. He was, he said, full of attachment for 
 his young friend, of whom lie had made the ac- 
 quaintance at Memel ; but lie should be the first 
 object for the blows of Napoleon ; and be was unable 
 to expose his subjects to such great danger, and 
 render himself culpable towards them. The Rus- 
 sian envoys insisted ; they said that the assemblage 
 of troops formed between Warsaw and Cracow, 
 was exactly placed to succour him ; that it was an 
 amicable foresight of the emperor Alexander, that 
 the 70,000 Russians, composing this assemblage, 
 were to traverse Silesia and Saxony, to march to 
 
 the Rhine, and receive the first shock of the 
 French armies. These reasonings did not draw in 
 Frederick-William. Then they went further, and 
 led him to understand that he was too late, that, 
 not doubting of his adhesion, they had already 
 ordered the Russian troops to pass the Prussian 
 territory. At this species of outrage, Frederick- 
 William no longer contained himself. They were 
 mistaken in his character. He was irresolute, 
 which often gave him the appearance of feebleness 
 and double-dealing ; but pushed to the point, he 
 became obstinate and choleric. He fell into a 
 passion, called a council, to whieh were invited 
 the old duke of Brunswick and marshal Mollen- 
 dorf, and decided, in spite of his parsimony, to 
 place the Prussian army upon a war footing. 
 Seeing himself on the point of being outraged by 
 one or the other, he resolved to take his precau- 
 tions, and ordered 80,000 men to be assembled, 
 which would cost him sixteen millions of Prussian 
 crowns, or sixty-four millions of francs, to raise be- 
 forehand, part from the state revenues, and part 
 out of the treasure of the great Frederick, — a trea- 
 sure dissipated during the preceding reign, and 
 replaced during the present by the force of strict 
 economy. 
 
 M. Alopeus, alarmed at these dispositions, has- 
 tened to write to Pulawi, to advise the emperor, 
 in the strongest way, to humour the king of Prus- 
 sia, unless he wished to have all the forces of the 
 Prussian monarchy upon his hands. 
 
 When the news arrived at Pulawi) it shook the 
 resolution of Alexander. Prince Adam Czarto- 
 ryski had strongly pressed to him decision, not 
 to give Prussia time to place herself on her guard, 
 and to force the passage, in place of soliciting it 
 
 for so lonjr a time. 
 
 If Prussia jioes to war," said 
 
 Prince Adam, " they would declare Alexander 
 king of Poland, and organize that kingdom in the 
 rear of the Russian a mies. If, on the other hand, 
 Prussia consented, the plan of the coalesced powers 
 would have succeeded, and another ally would be 
 gained." But Alexander, enlightened by the cor- 
 respondence of M. Alopeus, opposed the advice of 
 the young minister, and sent back his aide-de-camp 
 Dolgorouki to Berlin, to assure his royal friend 
 that he never had the intention to force his incli- 
 nation ; that, on the contrary, he gave orders that 
 the Russian army should halt on the Prussian 
 frontier ; that, in acting thus, he had done so out 
 of deference to him ; that such important matters 
 were not easily to be treated of by intermediate 
 agency ; and that he requested an interview. 
 Frederick-William, fearing to be overcome by the 
 flatteries of Alexander as much as he could be by 
 his armies, did not feel any taste for such an inter- 
 view. Still the court, which inclined towards the 
 coalition and war, — the queen, whose sentiments 
 accorded with those of the young emperor, — both 
 persuaded the king that he could not refuse. The 
 interview was agreed upon for the first days of 
 October. In the meanwhile Duroc and M. La- 
 forest were still at Berlin, receiving on their side 
 every kind of assurance of a neutrality. 
 
 While the Russians employed the month of 
 September in this way, Austria made a better usage 
 of the precious time. While she charged M. Co- 
 bentzel to repeat at Paris, without ceasing, that 
 her only desire was to negotiate, and to obtain
 
 1805. ) 
 September. ) 
 
 Austrian preparations 
 for war. 
 
 I'LM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 Bavaria declares for 
 France. 
 
 15 
 
 guarantees for the future position of Italy, site 
 turned to profit the subsidies of England with ex- 
 treme activity. She united at firs* 10<»,000 nun in 
 Italy, under the archduke Charles, it whs there 
 she placed Iter best generals and hex strongest 
 army, in order to recover the provinces, tin- loss 
 of which site must regretted. About 25.000 men, 
 under the archduke Juliu— the same who had com- 
 manded at llolu-n linden — guarded the Tyrol; 
 while 80.000 or 90,000 were destined Hit the inva- 
 sion of Bavaria, to enter Suabia, and to take up 
 the famous position of Ulm, which marshal lvray, 
 in 1800, had so long retained against general 
 Moreau. The 50,000 or (,0,000 Russians, under 
 general Kutus .f, on their way to join the Austrian 
 army, would form a mass of 140,000 combatants, 
 with which it was hoped to give the French army 
 occupation enough to procure to the other Russian 
 armies time to arrive ; to the archduke Charles 
 time to re-conquer Italy; and to the troops sent to 
 Hanover and Naples the time to make a useful di- 
 version. The famous general Mack, who had been 
 the designer of all the plans of the campaigns 
 against France, and who had, with much activity 
 and a certain degree of intelligence in military de- 
 tails, placed the Austrian army upon a war footing, 
 was the general who was charged with the com- 
 mand of the army iti Suabia, iu concert with the 
 archduke Ferdinand. 
 
 They had availed themselves of the towns be- 
 longing to Austria in that country, to prepare 
 magazines between the lake of Constance and the 
 upper Danube. The town of Memmingen, on the 
 Iller, forming the left of the position of which Ulm 
 formed the right, was one of these places. They 
 had collected there an immense stock of provisions, 
 and raised some entrenchments, which it was not 
 possible to do at Ulm, because that place belonged 
 to Bavaria. 
 
 All this had been done in the last days of August. 
 But Austria, through a precipitation which was 
 by no means usual to her, committed here a serious 
 fault. She was not able to occupy the position of 
 Ulm without breaking in upon the Bavarian IV li- 
 tter. Further, Bavaria possessed an army of 25,000 
 men, large magazines, the line of the Inn ; and 
 Austria had every kind of reason and chance to 
 be the first to possess so rich a prize. She ima- 
 gined it best to act with Bavaria as Russia i! i J 
 with Prussia — to surprise, and thus draw her over. 
 It was more easy, it is true ; but tie- o insequeuces, 
 in case of failure, must he disss tr 
 
 leral Mack, having arrived on the banks of the 
 Inn, prince Schwartzenberg was sent to Munich, 
 to make the strongest entreaties to tin? elector from 
 the e m pe ro r of Germany. He was charged to 
 demand of him to pronounce himself in favour of 
 the coalition ; to join his troops to those of Aus- 
 tria ; to ooasent that they should bs iueorporated 
 in the imperial army, dispersed regiment by ref- 
 luent in the Austrian divisions ; to deliver over his 
 territory and his magazines to tin- coalition ; an I 
 to join himself, in one word, in this new crusade 
 against the common enemy of Qermany and of 
 Europe. Prince Schwartzenberg was authorized, 
 ii it was needful, to offer to Bavaria, in the terri- 
 tory of Salsburg, even in tie- Tyrol, the grw 
 aggrandizements; for, provided Italy was n 
 I by tbi united powers, 'hey would be abl 
 
 place in that country the collateral branches of the 
 imperial house, which had been sent away. 
 
 When prince Schwartzenberg arrived at Mu- 
 nich, the elector found himself in a situation very 
 much like that of Prussia itself. M. Otto, who in 
 1801, had with so much ability negotiated the 
 peace of London, was the French minister at Mu- 
 nich. Affecting, in the midst of that capital, to be 
 neglected by the court, he had, notwithstanding, bis 
 secret interviews with the elector, and set himself 
 to demonstrate that Bavaria only existed through 
 the protection of Napoleon. It was certain, that in 
 the present circumstances, as in many others, she 
 was not able to preserve herself from Austrian 
 covetousness, but by relying upon France. If 
 even in 1803, she had obtained a reasonable por- 
 tion of the Germanic indemnities, she only obtained 
 them through French intervention. M. Otto, in 
 insisting upon these points, had put an end to the 
 hesitations of tlie elector, and brought him to 
 bind himself, on the 24th of August, by a treaty of 
 alliance. The deepest secresy had been promised 
 and kept regarding it. Some days afterwards, on 
 the 7th of September, it was, that prince Schwart- 
 zenberg appeared at Munich. The elector, who 
 was very irresolute, had near him a new cause of 
 irresolution, in the electress, his wife, one of the 
 three handsome princesses of Baden, who mounted 
 the thrones of Russia, Sweden, and Bavaria, and who 
 were all three noted for their animosity to France. 
 Of the three, the electress of Bavaria was the most 
 inimical. She flounced, wept, and exhibited the 
 deepest vexation to find her husband bound to 
 Napoleon, and made him much more unhappy 
 than he would have naturally been through bis 
 own unsettled feelings. M. Schwartzenberg, fol- 
 lowed at only two marches' distance by the Aus- 
 trian army, seconded by the tears of the electress, 
 sought to shake the elector, and obtain the promise 
 from him to become the ally of Austria. The 
 elector, meanwhile, affrighted at the consequences 
 of this sudden change of affairs, fearing general 
 Mack, who was near, and Napoleon, although he 
 was far away, believed he could prevail upon M. 
 Otto to excuse his conduct, alleging his unfortunate 
 position, and soliciting the indulgence of France. 
 M. Otto, having notice of this intention, went to 
 the elector, exhibited to him the danger of such a 
 defection, and the certainty of soon having Napo- 
 leon victorious at Munich, making peace with the 
 sacrilice of Bavaria to Austria. Certain cireutn- 
 stane s orieurrCd to second the arguments of M. 
 Otto. Tin* demand to dislocate the Bavarian 
 army, and to disperse it among the different 
 Austrian divisions, had mads the generals and 
 officers of the army highly indignant. It was 
 leamed, at the same time, that the Austrian.. 
 
 without waiting for the consent demanded al Mu- 
 nich of the elector, had passed the Inn; and pub- 
 mioii was Outraged by such an act of terri- 
 torial violation. People said, in a loud tone, that 
 if Napoleon was ambitious. Mr. Pitt was not I 
 
 so; that Mr. I'itt had purchased the cabinet of 
 Vienna ; and that, thanks to the {old of England, 
 Qermany was aboul to be trampled on anew under 
 tie- feet of the soldiers of .all Europe. Independ- 
 ently of these favourable circumstances for M. 
 Otto, the elector had an able minister, M. Munt- 
 g' Lis, lull of ambition '" behalf of his country,
 
 16 
 
 Escape of the elector 
 and court. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Mack occupies 
 Ulm. 
 
 ( 1805. 
 (September. 
 
 dreaming, in the nineteenth century, of similar ag- 
 grandisements for Bavaria, to those which Prussia 
 had acquired in the eighteenth, endeavouring un- 
 ceasingly to discover if it was at Vienna or Paris 
 that he had the chance of obtaining his desire ; 
 and finishing by the belief, that it was through 
 the more innovating power, or through France. 
 He therefore wished for the treaty of alliance 
 signed with M. Otto. Affected, nevertheless, by 
 the offers of the prince Schwartzenberg, he was 
 shaken a moment under the influence of ambition, 
 as his master had been under that of irresolution. 
 But he was soon brought back, and by the entrea- 
 ties of M. Otto, seconded by public opinion, by 
 the irritation of the Bavarian army, and by the 
 counsels of M. Montgelas, a second time urged, 
 the elector was secured to France. In the disorder 
 of mind in which this prince was, they made him 
 perform all that they wished. It was proposed to 
 him to take refuge at Wurtzburg, the bishopric 
 secularized for Bavaria in 1803, and to cause him- 
 self to be followed by his army. He accepted this 
 proposition. In order to gain time he announced 
 to M. Schwartzenberg, that he had sent M. Noga- 
 rola, a Bavarian general, to Vienna, a known parti- 
 san of the house of Austria, and charged him to treat 
 with it. This done, the elector set out with all his 
 court in the night of the 8th of September, and 
 first proceeding to Ratisbon, went from thence to 
 Wurtzburg, where he arrived on the 12th of that 
 month. The Bavarian troops united at Amberg 
 and Ulm, received orders to concentrate them- 
 selves at Wurtzburg. The elector in quitting 
 Munich published a manifesto, to announce to 
 Bavaria and Germany the violence of which he 
 had been made the victim. 
 
 M. Schwartzenberg and general Mack, who had 
 passed the Inn, thus saw the elector, his whole 
 court and army, escape, and incurred ridicule as 
 well as indignation. The Austrians advanced by 
 forced marches without being able to come up 
 with the Bavarians, and every where found the 
 opinion of the country aroused against them. One 
 circumstance contributed much to irritate the 
 people of Bavaria. The Austrians had their hands 
 full of a paper money, which only circulated at 
 Vienna at a great loss. They obliged the inhabi- 
 tants to take for money this discredited paper. 
 A serious pecuniary injury united itself, therefore, 
 with the other national feelings, that had been 
 ruffled still further to exasperate the Bavarians. 
 
 General Mack, after this mortifying expedition, 
 for which in fact he was less responsible than the 
 Austrian envoy, marched on the higher Danube, 
 and took a position which had for a long time 
 been assigned to him, his right at Ulm, bis left 
 at Memmingen ; his front covered by the I Her, 
 that flowed by Memmingen, to join the Danube 
 at Ulm. The officers of the Austrian staff had 
 never ceased to boast of this position for some 
 years before, as the best which they were able to 
 occupy, to make head against the French, when 
 issuing from the Black Forest. They had one 
 of their wings resting on the Tyrol, the other on 
 the Danube. They believed themselves therefore 
 well secured on these two sides ; and as to their 
 rear, they had no care about that, not imagining 
 that the French were able to arrive otherwise 
 than by the accustomed route. General Mack had 
 
 drawn towards him general Jellachich with the 
 divisions of the Vorarlberg. He had 65,000 men 
 directly under Ins hand, and on his rear, to con- 
 nect himself with the Russians, general Kienmayer 
 at the head of 20,000. This was a total of 85,000 
 combatants. 
 
 General Mack was, therefore, in the position that 
 Napoleon had supposed and desired he should be 
 — in other words, on the upper Danube — and se- 
 parated from the Russians by the distance from 
 Vienna to Ulm. The elector of Bavaria was at 
 Wurtzburg, with his court in grief, his army in- 
 dignant against the Austrians, and in expectation 
 of the early arrival of the French. 
 
 It only remains now, to have a complete idea of 
 the situation of Europe during this great crisis, 
 and to cast the eyes for an instant on what was 
 passing in the south of Italy. The supreme coun- 
 cil of the coalition, not wishing that the court of 
 Naples, watched by 20,000 French, under general 
 St. Cyr, should compromise itself too much, had 
 suggested to it a treason, which could cost little to 
 a court blinded and demoralized by hatred. They 
 had advised it to sign a treaty of neutrality with 
 France, in order to obtain the retirement of the 
 troops which were at Tarentum. When this corps 
 should be withdrawn, the court of Naples, less 
 observed, would have, they said, time to declare 
 itself, and to receive the Russians and English. 
 The Russian general, Lacy, a prudent and sensible 
 man, was at Naples, charged to prepare every 
 thing secretly, and to bring in the coalesced powers 
 when the moment should be judged opportune. 
 There were 12,000 Russians at Corfu, besides a 
 reserve at Odessa, and 6000 English at Malta. 
 They reckoned, too, 36,000 Neapolitans, some less 
 ill organized than was customary, and a levy in 
 mass of the brigands of Calabria. 
 
 This treaty, proposed to Napoleon on the eve of 
 his departure from Paris, had appeared acceptable 
 in his view, because he did not believe that so 
 weak a court would commit itself with him to the 
 consequences of such treachery. He figured to 
 himself, that the terrible example that he had 
 made of Venice in 17^7, «a.d cured the Italian 
 governments of their base inclinations. He found 
 in a treaty of neutrality, which excluded the 
 English and Russians from the south of Italy, the 
 advantage of being able to give 20,000 men more 
 to Massena, if the 50,000 which he had placed at 
 his disposal were not sufficient for the defence of 
 the Adige. 
 
 He therefore accepted the proposition, and by a 
 treaty signed at Paris on the 24th of September, 
 he consented to withdraw his troops from Taren- 
 tum, on the promise made him by the court of 
 Naples, not to suffer any disembarkation of the 
 Russians or Engiish. On this condition, general 
 St. Cyr had orders to march towards Lombardy ; 
 and queen Caroline, as well as her weak-minded 
 husband, were enabled to prepare a sudden raising 
 of bucklers in the rear of the French. 
 
 Such was, on the 24th or 25th of September, 
 the situation of the coalesced powers. The Rus- 
 sians and Swedes, who were to make the attack in 
 the north, assembled at Stralsund, in order to 
 combine themselves with a disembarkation of the 
 English at the mouth of the Elbe. A Russian 
 army was organized at Wilna, under general
 
 1S05 
 Septem 
 
 ber.} 
 
 Bernadotte reaches 
 Wiirtzburg. 
 
 ULM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 Marmont ascend* the 
 Rhine. 
 
 17 
 
 Michelson. The emperor Alexander, with the 
 corps of his guards and the army of Buxhowden, 
 was at Pulawi, on the Vistula, soliciting an inter- 
 view with the king of Prussia ; another Russian 
 armv, under the orders of general Kutusof, had 
 penetrated by Gallicia into Moravia, to form a 
 junction with the Austrians. These last were 
 about as high up as Vienna, and were to ascend the 
 Danube. General Mack, more advanced by a 
 hundred leagues, had taken up a position at Ulm, 
 at the head of 85,000 men, awaiting the issue of 
 the French from the Black Forest. The arch- 
 duke Charles was with 100,000 men upon the 
 Adige. The court of Naples meditated a surprise, 
 which was to be executed in concert with the 
 Russians from Corfu, and the English from 
 Malta. 
 
 Napoleon, as has been already seen, arrived at 
 Strasburg on the 2Gth of September. His columns 
 had exactly fulfilled his orders, and had passed 
 over the routes which he had pointed out for them. 
 Marshal Bernadotte, after having furnished with 
 provisions the fortress of Hameln, and placed there 
 the soldiers least capable of bearing the fatigues of 
 the campaign, had left Gb'ttingen with 17,000 men, 
 all in a condition to endure the greatest hardships. 
 He had given notice of his passage to the elector 
 of Hesse, and done all in the forms prescribed by 
 Napoleon. He had at first encountered some dis- 
 satisfaction, then a refusal, of winch he had taken 
 no notice, and had passed through Hesse without 
 encountering any resistance. Commissaries pre- 
 ceded the corps, ordered provisions at every 
 station, and, paying for all in ready money, found 
 speculators press forward to supply the troops 
 with what was wanted. An army that carries 
 money with it is able to sustain itself without 
 magazines, without loss of time, without trouble to 
 the country through which it passes; and for little, 
 if the country be abundant in the productions 
 wanted for food. Bernadotte by this means tra- 
 versed without difficulty through the two Hesses, 
 the principality of Fulda, and the estates of the 
 prince-arch chancellor, to Havana, lie marched 
 in a direct line from north to south. Ho arrived 
 near Cassel on the 17th of September, on the 20th 
 at Giessen, and on the :.>7tli at Wiirtzburg, to the 
 gnat joy of the elector of Bavaria, who was killing 
 himself with fear, in the midst of the contradictory 
 news of the French and Austrians. A minister 
 belonging to the emperor of Germany had come 
 to tbo elector, to offer excuses for what had oc- 
 curred, and to attempt to bring him bacl;. The 
 Austrian minister knew nothing of tin; march of 
 the corps of Bernadotte, until the French cavalry 
 appeared upon the heights of Wiirtzburg. He 
 Immediately went away, leaving the elector t<> 
 tie- French forever — at least, as long as French 
 
 1. Minted. 
 
 M. Montge as, in order to give the better colour- 
 ing to the conduct of bis master, made a request 
 not very honourable for Bavaria, this was, to alter 
 
 the- date of the 1 r aty of alliance concluded with 
 
 France. This treaty had been signed in reality 
 
 on the 24th of August. M. Monte, las expi 
 
 a desire that another date ihould be attributed to 
 
 it, that of September 23rd. '11 • was assented 
 
 to; and he war thus enabled t.i assert to his 
 fti. DdS at Ratisbon, that he bail not givt n linn- ll 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 up to France until the day after the outrages of 
 Austria. 
 
 General Marmont ascended the Rhine, which 
 river served for the transport, of the baggage and 
 stores of his army. He took his march by the 
 fine road that Napoleon had opened along the left 
 bank of that river, which is one of the most re- 
 markable works of his reign. He was on the 12th 
 of September at Nimeguen, the 18th at Cologne, 
 the 25th at Mayence, the 26th at Frankfort, and 
 the 20th in the environs of Wiirtzburg. He 
 brought witli him a corps of 20,000 men, a park 
 of forty pieces of cannon, well harnessed, and very 
 considerable warlike stores. In these 20,000 men 
 was comprised a division of Dutch troops, under 
 general Dumonceau. In regard to the 15,000 men 
 comprising this corps, one fact, without example 
 in the history of warfare, will give a just idea of 
 its quality. They had traversed a part of France 
 and of Germany, and had marched twenty days 
 successively without halting, and only nine men 
 were wanting in all upon their arrival at Wiirtz- 
 burg. There is no general who would not think 
 himself fortunate, if he had only lost two or three 
 hundred, since it is upon entering a campaign, and 
 through the effect of the first march or two, that 
 the weaker constitutions show themselves by re- 
 maining in the rear. 
 
 Towards the end of September, Napoleon, there- 
 fore, had in the centre of Franconia, six days' 
 march from the Danube, menacing the Austrian 
 flank, marshal Bernadotte with 17,000 men, and 
 general Marmont with 20,000. It is proper to 
 add to these the 25,000 Bavarians assembled at 
 Wiirtzburg, and animated with real enthusiasm for 
 a cause now become their own. They clapped 
 their hands on beholding the appearance of the 
 French regiments. Marshal Davout, with the corps 
 which left Ambleteuse, marshal Soult with that 
 which had left Boulogne, and marshal Ney with that 
 which had left Montrouil, traversed Flanders, 
 Pioardy, Champagne, and Lorraine, and were upon 
 the Rhine on the 23rd or 24th of September, pre- 
 cedi d by the cavalry that Napoleon had set in 
 motion four days before the infantry. The whole 
 had marched with unequalled spirit. The division 
 of Dupont, in crossing the department of the Aisne, 
 had left behind about fifty menbelonging to thai de- 
 partment. They bail gone to visit their families, 
 and on the next day but one tiny bad all rejoined 
 their regiments. Alter having marched a hundred 
 
 and fifty leagues in the middle of autumn, without 
 
 resting a single day, this army bad neither sick 
 nor laggera behind ; a singular example, owing to 
 the spirit of the troops and their long encamp- 
 ment. 
 
 Marshal AugereSU bad formed the divisions in 
 
 Britany. Departing from Brest, passing by Alen- 
 con, Sens, Langres, and BeTort, he ha. I France to 
 cross .-it its greatest extent of territory, and was to 
 In- on the Rhine fifteen days after the oilier ear] 
 Tims be was intended to form the reserve. 
 
 Never was astonishment surpassed by that 
 
 which filled .all Europe at the sudden arrival of 
 
 this army. It was believed to be on the borders 
 of the ocean; and in about twenty days that is 
 
 ,\, in about tie- tune iv.piin d lor the news of 
 
 the march to commence spreading it appeared on 
 the Rhine, and inundated southern Germany. 
 
 C
 
 18 
 
 Organization of the 
 grand army. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. The imperial guard. 
 
 f 1805. 
 I September. 
 
 Tiiis was the effect of extreme promptitude in 
 deciding, and profound art in concealing, the deter- 
 mination taken. 
 
 The news of the apparition of the French spread 
 abroad at that moment, gave no. other idea than 
 ■ that the principal theatre of the war would be in 
 Germany, and not in Italy ; since Napoleon and 
 the army of the ocean had appeared there. There 
 was no other result than a demand made to aug- 
 ment the Austrian forces in Suabia, and the order, 
 which much displeased the archduke Charles, to 
 send a detachment of his tr >ops from Italy into 
 the Tyrol, in order to come by the Vorarlberg to 
 the succour of General Mack. But the real design 
 of Napoleon remained completely in concealment. 
 The troops assembled at WUrtzburg appeared to 
 have for lluir object only to welcome the Bava- 
 rians and to protect the elector. The assemblage 
 principally placed upon the upper Rhine, at the 
 entrance of the defiles of the Black Forest, seemed 
 destined to engage them seriously. General Mack, 
 therefore, became every day more confirmed in his 
 idea of keeping the position of Ulm, which had 
 been assigned to him. 
 
 Napoleon having united his whole army, gave it 
 an organization which it has ever afterwards pre- 
 served, and a name which it will continually keep 
 in history — that of the " grand army." 
 
 He divided it into seven corps. Marshal Ber- 
 nadotte, with the troops brought from Hanover, 
 formed the first corps of 17,000 men. General 
 Marmont, with the troops from Holland, formed 
 the second corps, which reckoned 20,000 men 
 under colours. The troops of Marshal Davout, 
 encamped at Ambleteuse, occupying the third place 
 on the sea-shore, had received the title of the 
 third corps, and rose to the number of 26,000 
 men. Marshal Souk, with the centre of the grand 
 army of the ocean, encamped at Boulogne, and, 
 composed of 40,000 infantry and artillery, formed 
 the fourth corps. The division of Suchet was soon 
 to be detached, in order to make a part of the fifth 
 corps, with the division of Gazan and the grena- 
 diers of Arras, known hereafter under the denomi- 
 nation of the grenadiers of Oudinot, from the name 
 of their brave chief. Independently of Suchet's 
 division, the fifth corps consisted of 18.0!>0 men. 
 It was designed for the faithful and heroic friend 
 of Napoleon, marshal Lannes, who had been re- 
 called from Portugal to lake a part in the perilous 
 expedition from Boulogne, and who hereafter fol- 
 lowed the emperor to the banks of the .Morawa, 
 the Vistula, and Niemen. Under the intrepid Ney, 
 the men of the camp of Montreal! composed the 
 sixth corps, and reckoned 24.000 combatants. 
 Augereati, with two divisions about 14 00(1 strong, 
 placed last on the sea-shore line, at Brest, com- 
 posed the seventh corps. The title of the eighth 
 corps was given later to the Italian troops, when 
 they came to act in Germany. This organization 
 was that of the army of the Rhine, but with im- 
 portant modifications, adapted to the genius of 
 Napoleon, and necessary to the great things of 
 which he meditated the performance. 
 
 In the army of the Rhine, each corps, .complete 
 in every branch of service, presented in itself a 
 little army, sufficient* and capable to give battle. 
 Thus such corps tended to their own isolation, 
 above all, under such a general as Moreau, who 
 
 commanded only in a mode commensurate with 
 his peculiar genius and character. Napoleon had 
 so organized his army, as to keep it whole and 
 entire in his own hand. Each corps was alone 
 complete in infantry ; it had in artillery only what 
 was necessary ; and in cavalry only just as much 
 as was needful to guard it safely ; in other words, 
 some squadrons of hussars or of chasseurs. Na- 
 poleon reserved to himself afterwards the comple- 
 tion of these corps in artillery and cavalry, by the 
 aid of the reserve of those two branches of the 
 service of which he himself disposed solely. Ac- 
 cording to the nature of the ground, and other 
 circumstances, he withdrew one to give to another, 
 a reinforcement of guns, or a mass of cuirassiers. 
 
 He kept, above all, to the practice of retaining, 
 under the same command and in immediate de- 
 pendence upon his own order, the principal mass 
 of his cavalry. As it is with this arm that an 
 enemy is watched, by going incessantly around 
 him, that his defeat is operated when he is shaken, 
 and he is pursued by it and cut off when in flight, 
 Napoleon wished to reserve to himself exclusively 
 the means to prepare for victory, to decide it, and 
 to gather its fruits. He had, therefore, united in 
 a single corps the heavy cavalry, composed of cui- 
 rassiers and carbineers, commanded by generals 
 Nansouty and Hautpoul ; to which he added the 
 dragoons, as well foot as horse, under the orders of 
 generals Klein, Waltber, Beaumont, Bourcier, and 
 Baraguay d'Hilliers, and had confided the whole 
 to his brother-in-law Murat, who was the officer of 
 cavalry the best trained of that time, and who, 
 under his orders, represented the magister equitum 
 of the Roman armies. The batteries of flying 
 artillery followed this cavalry, and gave it, besides 
 the power of the sabre, that of their fire. They 
 will be soon seen spreading themselves in the 
 valley of the Danube, overturning the Austrians 
 and Russians, entering with them pell mell into 
 astonished Vienna, then conveying themselves to 
 the plains of Saxony and of Prussia, to proceed to 
 the shores of the Baltic, and take the entire Prus- 
 sian army ; or, precipitating themselves at Eylau 
 on the Russian infantry, preserving the good fortune 
 of Napoleon by one of the most impetuous shocks 
 that ever armed masses have given or received. 
 This reserve numbered 22,000 horse, of which 
 6000 were cuirassiers, 9000 or 10,000 mounted 
 dragoons, 0000 foot dragoons, and 1000 horse 
 artillery. 
 
 Finally, the general reserve of the grand army 
 was the imperial guard, a chosen body of men, the 
 finest in the world— serving at once for the pur- 
 pose of emulation, and the means of rewarding 
 the soldiers who might distinguish themselves ; 
 because none were admitted into the ranks of this 
 corps until they bad given proofs of their worthi- 
 ness. The imperial guard was composed, as the 
 consular guard had been, of foot grenadiers and 
 chasseurs, and horse grenadiers and chasseurs, 
 nearly in the same way as a regiment of which only 
 the select companies are retained. It compre- 
 hended besides, a fine Italian battalion, represent- 
 ing, the royal guard of the king of Italy ; a superb 
 squadron of Mamelucks, the last memorial of 
 Egypt ; and two squadrons of chosen gens-d'annerir, 
 to act as the police of the head quarters. The 
 whole were 7000 men. Napoleon added to it a
 
 ] 805. "1 
 September. J 
 
 Number of the opposinj 
 armies 
 
 I'LM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 The French pass 
 the Rhine. 
 
 19 
 
 large proportion of artillery, the branch of the 
 service tn which he was most attached, because mi 
 some occasions it supplied all the others. He 
 lia<l formed :i park of twenty-lour pieces of cannon, 
 fitted an. 1 harnessed with particular care ; a num- 
 ber which made nearly lour pieres to each thousand 
 men. 
 
 The guard rarely quitted the head quarters, it 
 marched almost always near the emperor with 
 Lannes and the grenadiers of Oudinut. 
 
 Such was the grand army It presented a mass 
 of 186000 in ii, present under colours. It reck- 
 oned 38,000 cava! t*3*, ami 340 pieces of cannon. If 
 to these be added the 50,000 men under Massena, 
 and 20.00!) under general Si. Cyr, we shall have a 
 total uf 256,000 French, spread from the gulf of 
 Tarentum as far as the mouths of the Elbe, with a 
 reserve of 150.000 young soldiers in the interior. 
 If to these are added 25,000 Bavarians, 7000 or 
 i> 'i» i sul je its of the sovereigns of Baden and Wiir- 
 temberg, ready to enter in line, it may he said that 
 Napoleon went with 250,000 French, 30,000 and 
 some odd Germans, to fighi 500,000 coalesced ene- 
 mies, of which 250,000 were Austrian*, 200.000 
 Russians, 50.0110 English, Swedes, and Neapolitans, 
 having also their reserve in the interior of Austria, 
 of Russia, and in the English fleets. The coalition 
 hoped to be joined by 200,000 Prussians. This 
 not impossible if Napoleon did not make 
 haste to conquer. 
 
 11 • was pressed, in fact, to enter upon action; 
 and he ordered the passage of the Rhine to take 
 place on the 25th or 26th of September, having 
 devoted two or three days to rest his men, and re- 
 pair some dam iges in the accoutrements and 
 harness of th • cavalry aud artillery, as well as to 
 exchange some hurt or tired horses for those which 
 fresh, collected in a great number iu Alsace, 
 and filially to prepare the grand park of artillery 
 and considerable quantities of biscuit. The follow- 
 ing were the dispositions for turning the Black 
 Forest, behind which general Mick, encamped at 
 Uhn, awaited the advance of the French. 
 
 On fixing the sight upon this country, so often 
 gone over by the French armies, and on that ac- 
 count so often described in tliia history, the Rhine 
 n Bowing out of the lake of Constance, run- 
 ning westwards as far as Basle, to return nearly 
 doe north. The Danube, on the contrary, issuing 
 from mI sources near the point where the 
 
 Rhine from the Lake of Constance, turns 
 
 to the <-ast, and follows that direction, with few 
 
 far as tin- Bl ick Sea. A chain of 
 
 mountains, not lofty, very improperly called the 
 Alps of Sualna, separates the two rivers, and 
 turns the Rhine towards the northern seas, and 
 the Danube towards those of the oast. These 
 mountains show towards France their steeper 
 summits, and incline, lowering insensibly, to ter- 
 minate in the plains of Fiaucouia between Nord- 
 liugen and Donauwertb. Their flunk, partly open 
 and partly clothed with forests, which are known 
 
 by the general nai f the Black F rest, runs to 
 
 the left, thai is ' iwards the Rhine, the 
 
 Node r. and the Main, to th- right Of the Danube, 
 
 that passes along their reverse, which is nearly 
 
 I of wood, and terraci d. They are pierced 
 
 by narrow defiles, that musl necessarily be passed 
 
 through to go to the Rhine or Danube; at Las', 
 
 those mountains are not to be avoided, whether in 
 ascending the Rhine as far as below Schaffhausen, 
 or whether passing their foot from Strasburg to 
 Nordliugen, as far as the plains of Franconia, 
 when disappear. In anterior wars, the 
 
 French had alternately followed two routes. Some- 
 times opening from the Rhine between Strasburg 
 and lluningen, they had traversed the defiles 
 of the Black Forest ; sometimes ascending the 
 Rhine as tar as Schaffhausen, they had passed 
 that river near the lake of Constance, and thus 
 found themselves at the sources of the Danube, 
 avoiding the passages through the defiles. 
 
 Napoleon, who sought to place himself between 
 the Austrians who were posted at Dim, and the 
 Russians who were arriving to their succour, must 
 therefore follow some other route. Studying at 
 first to fix the attention of the Austrians upon the 
 defiles of the Black Forest, by the spectacle of his 
 columns ready to enter them, he would afterwards 
 coast along the Suabian Alps, without crossing 
 them; coast them as far as Nordliugen, to turn 
 with all his united force their low extremity, and 
 cross the Danube at Donauwertb. By this move- 
 ment he rallied on his way the corps of Berna- 
 dotte and Marmont, already arrived at Wiirtzburg, 
 he passed beyond the position of Uhn, opened in 
 the rear of general Mack, and realized the plan a 
 long while before arranged in his mind, aud from 
 which he awaited an immense result. 
 
 The 25th of September, he ordered Murat and 
 Lannes to pass the Rhine at Strasburg, with the 
 reserve of cavalry, the grenadiers of Oudinot, and 
 the division of Gazan. Murat was to take his dra- 
 goons from Oberkirch to Freudenstadt, Offenburg 
 to Rothweil, Friburg to Neustadt, and thus pre- 
 sent them at the head of the principal defiles, in 
 such a manner, as to make it be supposed that the 
 army itself was about to traverse them. Provisions 
 were ordered on this route, to complete the illusion 
 of the enemy. Lannes was to support this recon- 
 noitring by Borne battalions of grenadiers ; hut, ill 
 reality, to place himself with the main part of his 
 corps in advance of Strasburg, on the road to Stut- 
 gai-d. He was ordered to cover the movements 
 of the marshals Davnut, Soult, and Ney, who had 
 been commanded to cross the Rhine below. Gene- 
 ral Songis, who commanded the artillery, had 
 
 thrown over two bridges of boat-, the lirst between 
 Louterburg and Carlsruhe, for the corps of mar- 
 shal Ney ; the Bccoud, in the environs of Spire, for 
 th- corps of marshal Soult. Marshal Davout had 
 
 at his disposal the I/ridge of Maine im. These mar- 
 shals were to pass transversely tbe valleys which 
 ad from the Suabian Alps, coast the chain, 
 and rest one upon the other in such a manner, as 
 to be able to afford Buccour in case of the sudden 
 appearance of the enemy. Orders were given to 
 them all, to have four days 1 bread in their sacks, 
 
 and four days' biscuit in the cars, iu case they 
 should be required to make forced marches. Napo- 
 leon did not quit Strasburg, until alter he saw in 
 movement his parks of artillery, and Ins reserves 
 
 under the eBCOI't of a division of infantry. lie 
 i till Rhine on the 1st Ol October, accom- 
 panied by his guard, alter having bade adieu to 
 
 'I inpress, who continued to sojourn at Stras- 
 
 bur di, « ilh i Ik- imperial court, and the chancellery 
 of M. de Tallej rand. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 
 
 Treaties with Baden 
 and Wurtemberg. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 March upon the 
 Danube. 
 
 J 1805. 
 \ September. 
 
 Arrived on the territory of the grand duke of 
 Baden, Napoleon found there the reigning family 
 come to render him homage. The old elector pre- 
 sented around him three generations of princes. 
 He had desired, as did all the German sovereigns 
 of the second and third order, to obtain the advan- 
 tage of a neutrality, which under such circumstan- 
 ces was truly a mere idle dream, because, when 
 the petty German powers do not know how to pre- 
 vent war by resisting the greater powers, who 
 desire it, they must not flatter themselves to es- 
 cape the misfortune by a neutrality, which is im- 
 possible, when they are nearly all in the route 
 which the belligerent armies are obliged to take. 
 Napoleon, in lieu of a neutrality, offered them his 
 alliance, and promised to terminate to their profit, 
 the questions of sovereignty or of territory, <>n 
 which they differed with Austria, since the un- 
 settled arrangements of 1803. The grand-duke of 
 Baden finished the argument by accepting the 
 alliance, and promised to furnish 3000 men, with 
 their provisions, and means of transport to be paid 
 for in Baden. 
 
 Napoleon having slept at Ettlingen, set out on 
 the 2nd of October, on the road to Stuttgard. Be- 
 fore his arrival, a collision had taken place between 
 the elector of Wurtemberg and marshal Ney. 
 The elector, known throughout Europe by the ex- 
 treme vivacity of his mind and character, discussed 
 at that moment with the French minister the con- 
 ditions of an alliance, which did not much please 
 him. He would not, while awaiting the conclu- 
 sion of the treaty, that troops should enter, whether 
 at Louisburg, where was his country house, or at 
 Stuttgard, which was his capital. Marshal Ney 
 readily consented not to enter Louisburg, but he 
 planted his guns against the gates of Stuttgard, 
 and by that means procured their being opened to 
 him. Napoleon arrived opportunely to calm the 
 anger of the elector. He was received with great 
 magnificence, and he stipulated with the elector 
 an alliance, which was thb foundation of the great- 
 ness of his house, as it made that of all the princes 
 of the south of Germany. The treaty was signed 
 on the 5th of October, and contained an engage- 
 ment on the side of France, to aggrandize the 
 house of Wurtemberg, and on the side of that 
 house, to furnish 10,000 men, provisions, horses, 
 and cars, to be paid for oil being taken. 
 
 Napoleon remained three or four days at Louis- 
 burg, in order to manage so that his corps on the 
 left wing might have time to arrive in line. It 
 was a movement of great nicety to coast for 
 forty leagues along the vicinity of an enemy 80,000 
 or 90,000 strong, without arousing his watchfulness 
 too much, and without his coming suddenly upon 
 one of the wings. Napoleon had provided for this 
 with an address and foresight truly admirable. 
 Three roads traversed Wurtemberg, and abutted 
 on the diminished extremities of the Alps of Suabia, 
 which he was endeavouring to attain, to arrive at 
 the Danube between Donauwerth and Ingolstadt. 
 The principal road, that of Pforzheim, Stuttgard, 
 and Heidenlieim, passed along the very flank of 
 the mountains, and was by a number of defiles in 
 communication with the position of the Austrian* 
 at Ulm. It was that space which he had to puss 
 over with the greatest precaution, on account of 
 the vicinity of the enemy. Napoleon occupied it 
 
 with the cavalry of Murat, the corps of Marshal 
 Lannes, that of marshal Ney, and the guard. The 
 second, or that route which passed by Heilbronn, 
 Hall, and Ellwangen, to terminate in the plain of 
 Nordlingen, was occupied by the corps of mar- 
 shal Soult. The third, departing from Manheim, 
 passing by Heidelberg, Neckar-Elz, and Ingelfin- 
 gen, ended at (Ettingen. This was passed by 
 marshal Davout. It approached the direction 
 which the corps of Bernadotte and Marmont 
 must follow in order to arrive from Wiirtzburg at 
 the Danube. Napoleon disposed the march of his 
 columns in such a manner, that they should all 
 arrive on the Gth and 7th of October, in the plain 
 which extends to the bank of the Danube, between 
 Nordlingen, Donauwerth, and Ingolstadt. But in 
 this movement of conversion, his left pivoting on 
 his right, this last had to describe a circle less 
 extended than the left ; he, therefore, slackened 
 the march of his right, in order to give time to the 
 corps of Marmont and Bernadotte, that formed 
 the extreme left, to marshal Davout who followed 
 them, and finally to marshal Soult who came after 
 marshal Davout, and united the whole with the 
 head quarters, to complete the movement. 
 
 After having waited the necessary time, Napo- 
 leon commenced his march on the 4th of October, 
 with the whole of his right. Murat, moving ra- 
 pidly and continually at the head of his cavalry, 
 appeared in turn at the entrance of each defile 
 between the mountains, doing no more than show- 
 ing himself, and then withdrawing his squadrons, 
 until the artillery and baggage were sufficiently 
 advanced to have nothing more to fear. Napoleon, 
 with the corps of Lannes, Ney, and the guard, 
 followed on the road from Stuttgard, ready to ar- 
 rive with 50,000 men to the succour of Murat, 
 should the enemy appear in force in any one of the 
 defiles. As to the corps of Soult, Davout, Mar- 
 mont, and Bernadotte, forming the centre and left 
 of the army, they were in no danger until the mo- 
 ment when the movement that was executing in 
 coasting along the foot of the Suabian Alps should 
 be completed, and they opened upon the plain of 
 Nordlingen. It was possible that general Mack, 
 made acquainted in sufficient time, might fall back 
 from Ulm upon Donauwerth, pass the Danube, 
 and come to fight in that very plain of Nordlingen, 
 in order to stop the French there. Napoleon had 
 disposed every thing in such a way, that Murat, 
 Ney, Lannes, with the corps of marshals Soult and 
 Davout at least, should converge about the 6th of 
 October, between Heidenlieim, (Ettingen, and 
 Nordlingen, in a manner so as to present an 
 imposing mass to the enemy, should lie make his 
 appearance. But thus far Napoleon's efforts tended 
 to deceive general Mack sufficiently long to prevent 
 his thinking of decamping, that he himself might 
 be able to reach the Danube at Donauwerth before 
 that general quitted his position at Ulm. From 
 the 4th to the 6th of October, every thing con- 
 tinued to wear the best aspect. The weather was 
 very fine ; the soldiers, well provided with shoes 
 ami cloaks, marched gaily along. A hundred and 
 eighty thousand French advanced thus upon a line 
 of battle of twenty-six leagues in extent ; their 
 right touching the mountains, their left converging 
 towards the plums of the upper palatinate, was 
 able in a few hours to unite, to the number of
 
 1805. \ 
 October. J 
 
 Violation of Prussian 
 Anspach. 
 
 ULM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 Position cf S-i:orai 
 Mack. 
 
 21 
 
 80,000 or 100,000 men, on one or the other of their 
 wings, and, what is most extraordinary, without 
 the Austrians having any idea of so vast an ope- 
 ration. 
 
 "The Austrians," Napoleon wrote to M. de Tal- 
 leyrand and marshal Augereau, "are at the open- 
 ings of the Blaek Forest. May it please God to 
 keep them there ! My sole fear is that we shall 
 not make them enough afraid. If they suffer me 
 to gain a few niarehes, I hope to turn them, and to 
 find myself with all my army between the Lech 
 and the Isar." He also wrote to the minister of 
 police, "Forbid the gazetteers of the Rhine to Bpeak 
 more of the army than if it had no existence." 
 
 To arrive at the point which was indicated to 
 them, the corps of Bernadotte and of Marmont 
 were to pass through one of the provinces which 
 Prussia possessed in Franconia — that of Anspach. 
 In strictness, this corps should have drawn itself 
 close to that of marshal Davout ; Napoleon would 
 then have been able to have brought it nearer to 
 himself, and thus have avoided touching upon the 
 Prussian territory. But the roads were already 
 encumbered ; the accumulation of fresh troops 
 would have been a great inconvenience both to the 
 movements and the provisioning. Further, in 
 contracting the circle described by the army, there 
 had been a less chance of enveloping the enemy. 
 Napoleon, in his movements, embraced the whole 
 course of the Danube as far as Ingolstadt, in 
 order to open out as far as possible in the Austrian 
 rear, and to have it in his power to stop them in 
 case they should retrograde from the I Her as far 
 as the Lech. They did not imagine, in the state 
 of existing relations with Prussia, that she would 
 throw any difficulty in the way ; reckoning, after 
 the usage established in the later wars, on travers- 
 ing the Prussian provinces of Franconia, because 
 they were beyond the line of neutrality, and not 
 having received any notice that it would be other- 
 wise now than before. Napoleon gave himself no 
 trouble about borrowing the territory of Anspach 
 in this way, and issued the order accordingly to the 
 corps of Marmont and Bernadotte. The Prussian 
 magistrates presented themselves at the frontier, 
 to protest, in the name of their sovereign, against 
 the violence that was thus done to them. The 
 
 reply tiny received was, the production of the 
 orders of Napoleon, and besides passing, to pay in 
 money for all which they had, and to observe the 
 most rigid discipline. The Prussian subjects, well 
 paid for tie- bread and meat the)- furnished to the 
 soldiers, did not appear very angry at the alleged 
 violation of their territory. 
 
 On the 6th of October) the six corps of the 
 army bad arrived without accident beyond the 
 Suabian Alps ; marshal NYy at Heidenheim, mar- 
 shal l.annes at Neresheim, marshal Soult at Nord- 
 
 lingen, marshal Davout at QSttingen, genera] 
 
 Marmont and marshal Bernadotte on the route- to 
 
 Aichstedt ; all in sight of the Danube, much below 
 tie- position of I Jim. 
 
 But what were general Mack, the archduke 
 
 Ferdinand, and the officers of the Austrian staff 
 about all this time 1 Fortunately, the Intention of 
 Napoleon was not revealed to them, forty thou- 
 sand men, that bad passed the Rhine ■'< Slrasburg 
 
 ami bad entered .it first the defiles of the Black 
 
 Forest, had confirm' d tin: Austrians in the idea 
 
 that the French had followed the customary route. 
 False reports of the spies, adroitly dispatched by 
 Napoleon, had yet more strengthened them in this 
 opinion. They had heard spoken, it was true, of 
 some French troops having been spread about in 
 Wurtemberg ; but they supposed they had come 
 for the purpose of occupying some of the lesser 
 states of Germany, and perhaps to bring aid to 
 the Bavarians. Besides, nothing is more contra- 
 dictory or more confusing than such a multitude 
 of reports from spies or officers sent to reconnoitre. 
 The one place whole corps of an army where they 
 have only seen detachments ; the others take for 
 simple detachments the entire corps of the army 
 they have been reconnoitring. Olten they have 
 not seen with their own eyes that of which they 
 make a report, and have only gathered the sayings 
 of individuals affrighted, .surprised, or astounded. 
 The military police, like the civil, lies, exaggerates, 
 and contradicts itself. In the chaos of such re- 
 ports, the superior mind alone discovers the truth ; 
 that which is mediocre in capacity loses itself. 
 Above all, if an anterior idea pre-occupy the mind 
 — if it has a leaning to a belief that the enemy 
 will arrive by one point sooner than another — the 
 facts collected are all interpreted in one sole sense, 
 however little they may really belong to it. It is 
 thus great mistakes are produced, that oftentimes 
 ruin armies and empires. 
 
 Such was at this moment the situation of the 
 mind of general Mack. The Austrian officers had 
 long cried up the position which, resting its right 
 upon Ulm and its left on Metniningcn, presented 
 a front to the French issuing from the Blaek 
 Forest. Authorized by a general opinion, and 
 obeying the most positive instructions, general 
 Mack had placed himself in this position. He 
 had there his provisions and ammunition ; and he 
 could not but persuade himself that he was very 
 favourably situated. The sole precaution which 
 he had taken towards his rear consisted in sending 
 general Kieiimayer, with a few thousand men, to 
 Ingolstadt, to watch the Bavarians who had 
 taken refuge in the tipper palatinate, and to con- 
 nect him with the Russians, whom he expected by 
 tin- road from Munich. 
 
 While general Mack's mind, thus governed li\- 
 a preconceived opinion, remained immoveable at 
 Ulm, the six corps of the French army issued out, 
 on the (i h of October, upon the plain of Nordlin- 
 gen, beyond the mountains of Sualiia which they 
 had turned, and on the hanks of the Danube which 
 they were to cross. On that day, in the evening, 
 the division of Yandamino, belonging to the corps 
 
 of marshal Soult, advancing before the others, 
 
 reached the Danube, and surprised the bridge of 
 Minister, a league below Donanwerth. On the 
 following day, the 7th of October, tin: corps of 
 
 marshal Soult carried the very bridge of Donau 
 
 worth itsdf, whiefa was weakly disputed by the 
 battalion of Colloredo, that, not able to di fl ud it, 
 attempted its destruction iii vain. The troops of 
 
 marshal Soult bad very quickly repaired tin 1 in- 
 jury, and tlnii passed 0V( r with all speed. Min.it, 
 
 with his division of drag' . preceding tin- right 
 
 wing formed of the corps of marshals l.annes and 
 
 Ney, marched to the bridge ol MQnster, already 
 surprised by Vandamme. He required this bridge 
 
 for his own troops and those which followed him,
 
 22 
 
 Napoleon enters 
 Donauwerth. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Brilliant action of 
 Excellmans. 
 
 f 1805. 
 
 \Ocinber. 
 
 abandoning that of Donauwerth to the troops of 
 marshal Soult, passed at the same moment with a 
 division of dragoons, and went down the bank of 
 the Danube in pursuit of an object of great impor- 
 tance, being; no less than the occupation of the 
 bridge of Rain on the Lech- The Lech, which 
 runs behind the I Her, nearly parallel with it, to 
 fall iuto the Danube, f >rms a position situated below 
 that of Ulm ; and in occupying this bridge, the 
 Iller and the Lech were both turned at the same 
 time, leaving to general Mack very little chance of 
 retreating in time. It only required a gallop of 
 the dragoons of Murat to take Rain and its bridge 
 over the Lech. Two hundred cavalry cut down 
 all the patrols of Kienmayer's corps, while marshal 
 Soult established himself in force at Donauwerth, 
 and marshal Davout arrived in sight of the bridge 
 of Neuburg. 
 
 Napoleon on the same day entered Donauwerth. 
 His hopes were henceforth realized; but he did not 
 hold his success to be complete until he had ob- 
 tained the full result of his fine manoeuvre. Some 
 hundred prisoners had already been made, and 
 they were unanimous in the statement that general 
 Mack was at Ulm on the Iller ; it was his rear- 
 guard, commanded by general Kienmayer, designed 
 to connect him with the Russians, that had been 
 encountered below on the Danube. Napoleon con- 
 sidered immediately about taking a position between 
 the Austrians and Russians, in such a manner as 
 to prevent a junction. The first movement of 
 general Mack, if he knew how to form a resolution 
 in time, would be to quit the banks of the Iller, tc 
 fall back upon the Lech, and to cross Augsburg to 
 rejoin general Kienmayer on the route to Munich. 
 Napoleon, without a moment's delay, ordered the 
 following dispositions to be made. He would not 
 take the corps of marshal Ney beyond the Danube, 
 but left it on the roads that lead from Wurtemberg 
 to Ulm, to guard the left bank of the Danube by 
 which the army had arrived. He ordered Murat 
 and Lannes to pass over to the right bank, by the 
 two bridges of which he was master, — those of 
 Minister and of Donauwerth, — to ascend the river 
 and place themselves between Ulm and Augsburg, 
 to hinder general Mack from retiring by the great 
 road from Augsburg to Munich. The intermediate 
 point which they had to occupy was Burgau. Na- 
 poleon ordered marshal Soult to march from the 
 mouth of the Lech, where he could be in a position 
 to ascend that river from the Danube to Augsburg 
 with the divisions of St. Hilaire, Vandannre, and 
 Legraud. The division of Suchet, the fourth of 
 marshal Sonlt*s corps, was already placed under 
 the orders of marshal Lannes. Thus marshal Ney 
 with 20,000 men was on the left bank of the 
 Danube, that had been vacated; Murat and Lannes 
 with 40,000 on the right, which they had occupied; 
 marshal Soult with Ii0,000 on the Lech, environing 
 general Mack by whatever opening he might at- 
 tempt to elude them. 
 
 From this object passing immediately to others, 
 Napoleon ordered marshal Davout to pass the 
 Danube at Neuburg, and to clear Ingolstadt, where 
 Marmont and Bernadotte would terminate their 
 march. The route they had followed being longer, 
 they were two marches in arrear. Marshal Da- 
 vout was to proceed afterwards to Aichach on the 
 road to Munich, to push before him general 
 
 Kienmayer, and to make the rear-guard of the 
 masses accumulating around Ulm. The corps of 
 Bernadotte and Marmont had orders to accelerate 
 their march, to pass the Danube at Ingolstadt, 
 and to march upon Munich, in order to replace the 
 elector in his capital, one month only after he had 
 quitted it. It was marshal Bernadotte, at that 
 moment accompanying the Bavarians, for whom he 
 reserved the honour of reinstating them in their 
 country. By this disposition of his army, Napoleon 
 presented to the Russians coming from Munich, 
 Bernadotte and the Bavarians ; then, in case of 
 need, Marmont and Davout, who were, according 
 to circumstances, either to carry themselves to 
 Munich, or to Ulm, to aid, if necessary, in the com- 
 plete investment of general Mack. 
 
 The following day, the 8th of October, marshal 
 Soult ascended the Lech in order to reach Augs- 
 burg. He found no enemies on his way. Murat 
 and Lannes, who were designed to occupy the space 
 of country between the Lech and the Ulm, ascended 
 from Donauwerth to Burgau, traversing a district 
 slightly obstructed, here and there wooded, or 
 crossed by small rivers which flowed into the 
 Danube. The dragoons were marching in advance, 
 when they encountered a body of the enemy, more 
 numerous than any they had seen before, posted in 
 advance, and around, a large village called Wer- 
 tingen. This body was composed of six battalions 
 of grenadiers and three of fusileers, commanded by 
 the baron Auffenberg; of two squadrons of the cui- 
 rassiers of duke Albert, and two squadrons of the 
 light horse of Latour. They had been sent out to 
 reconnoitre by general Mack, on a vague report 
 which had been spread of the appearance of the 
 French on the banks of the Danube. The Aus- 
 trians always believed that the French thus spoken 
 of belonged to the corps of Bernadotte, placed, they 
 snid, at Wiirtzburg to aid the Bavarians. The 
 officers were at table when the announcement was 
 made to them that the French were in sight. They 
 were in extreme surprise, and refused at first to 
 credit the report, but not being longer able to doubt 
 the fact, they precipitately mounted their horses to 
 put themselves at the head of their troops. In ad- 
 vance of Wertingen, there was a hamlet called Ho- 
 henreichen, guarded by some hundreds of Austrian 
 cavalry and infantry. Sheltered by the houses, 
 they kept up a very annoying fire, and held in 
 check the regiment of dragoons that first arrived 
 at the spot. The commander of the squadron, 
 Excellmans, who afterwards signalized himself by 
 so many brilliant actions, then a simple aide-de- 
 camp of Murat, came up at the sound of the firing. 
 He ordered two hundred dragoons to dismount, 
 who threw themselves, musket in hand, into the 
 hamlet, to dislodge those who held it. Fresh de- 
 tachments of dragoons having come up in the 
 interim, they pressed the Austrians yet harder; 
 penetrating after them into Wertingen, thfty passed 
 the village, and found on a species of elevated plain 
 the nine battalions formed in a square, of little 
 extent but close and deep, having cannon and 
 cavalry on the wings. The brave Excellmans 
 charged the square immediately with uncommon 
 hardihood, had his horse killed under him, and at 
 his side colonel Meaupetit, who was brought down 
 by the thrust of a bayonet. But however vigorous 
 was the attack, they were not able to penetrate the
 
 1805. "> 
 October./ 
 
 Ulm closely invested. ULM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 ArtacV Sn Giinzberg. 
 
 23 
 
 compact mass of the enemy. Tims a certain space 
 of time elapsed, during which the French dragoons 
 endeavoured to sabre the Austrian grenadiers, who 
 returned musketry and thrusts from their bay- 
 onets. At last Murat came up with the main body 
 of the cavalry, and Lannes with Oudinofs grena- 
 diers, both the one and the other attracted by the 
 s< und of the cannon. Murat soon charged the 
 enemy's square with his cavalry, while Lannes 
 hastened his grenadiers to the borders of a wood 
 which he perceived below, in such a way as to cut 
 off all retreat to the Austiians, who, charged in 
 front and threatened from behind, retired at first 
 in a compact mass, then fell into disorder. If the 
 grenadiers of Oudinot had been able to reach the 
 ground a few minutes sooner, the nine Austrian 
 battalions must have been taken to a man. Still 
 2000 prisoners were made, and several pieces of 
 cannon and colours taken. 
 
 Lannes and Murat, who bad seen Excellmans at 
 
 the point of the enemies' bay ts, desired he should 
 
 go himself with the news to Napoleon of this first 
 success, and bear the captured colours. The em- 
 peror received this young and hopeful officer at 
 Ltonauwerth, granted him a step in the legion of 
 honour, and gave him the insignia in presence of 
 his staff, in order to impart the more eclat to the 
 first recompense merited in the new war. 
 
 The same day, being the 8th of October, marshal 
 Soult entered Augsburg without striking a blow. 
 Marshal Davout had passed the Danube at Neu- 
 burg, and had reached Aichacb, to take the inter- 
 mediate position assigned to him among the French 
 corps which were about to invest Ulm, and those 
 who were stationed at Munich to make head 
 against the Russians. Marshal Bernadotte and 
 general Marmont made preparations for the pas- 
 sage of the Danube at Ingolsladt, with the intention 
 of marching to Munich. 
 
 Napoleon ordered the position of Ulm to be 
 contracted. He commanded marshal Ney to as- 
 cend the left bank of tin- Dan be, and to secure all 
 tie bridge s, in order to be able to act, if necessary, 
 on both banks. He bade Murat and Lannes to 
 nscend the right bank, and to contribute with Ney 
 to the closer investment of the Austiians. On the 
 8th of October, marshal Ney, prompt to execute 
 the orders which lie bad received, above all where 
 those orders brought bim nearer to tin- enemy, 
 reached the bank of tin Danube, and ascended it 
 a- far as the heights of Ulm. The first which ap- 
 peared W( Gunzblirg,and he ordered the 
 division of Malber to take them. 
 
 These bridg in Dumber. The 
 
 principal was in front of tin- little town of GUliZ- 
 burg ; the second above, at the- village of Leipheim; 
 and the third below, before the little hamlet of 
 ii. neral Mather had them all at- 
 tacked at tin- same time. He desired the staff- 
 major Lefol to attack that of Leipheim with one 
 detachment, and general La he sees toattaek that of 
 Dsburg with the 60Ui regimeni of the line. 
 General Malher at the load of the brigade of 
 Ifarcognet) reai rved to himself tin- attack of the 
 principal bridge at Gunzburg. The bed of the 
 Danube not being regular!) formed in that part of 
 its course, U Bows among a multitude oi islands in 
 little branchings, bordered with willow* ami p.p. 
 lars. The advanced guard went forward 
 
 lutely, passing by ford all the streams that presented 
 an obstacle to them, and taking baron Aspre, a 
 major-general, who commanded at that spot, with 
 two or three hundred Tyrolese prisoners. The 
 French soon arrived at the largest arm of the 
 river, over which was constructed the bridge of 
 Giinsburg. The Austrians in retiring had destroyed 
 some of the wooden flooring, which general Malher 
 wished to restore ; but on the opposite bank were 
 many Austrian regiments and a numerous artillery, 
 while the archduke Ferdinand himself came up | 
 with considerable reinforcements. The Austrians , 
 now began to comprehend that the operation ' 
 attempted in their rear was in reality a very serious I 
 one. They therefore wished to make 1 a great effort | 
 to save at least the bridges that were nearest to i 
 Ulm. Tliey directed a murderous fire of musketry i 
 and cannon upon the French, who, no longer under I 
 shelter of the wooded islets, standing exposed upon ! 
 the gravel of the river Bide, supported the fire with 
 gnat fortitude. To pass by lording the stream 
 was impossible. They then sprang upon the piers 
 of the bridge, in order to repair it by means of 
 joists. But the workmen, hit one by one with the 
 enemies' balls, were not able to succeed ; and the 
 French lines, exposed all the time to the Austrian 
 missiles, experienced a cruel loss. General Malher 
 then fell back upon the woody islets, in order not 
 to prolong a useless temerity. 
 
 This fruitless attempt cost some hundreds of 
 men. The two other attacks were made simul- 
 taneously. Impracticable marshes rendered that 
 upon the bridge of Leipheim impossible. That of 
 Reisensburg was more fortunate. General Labassee, 
 having colonel Lacue'e at his side, who commanded 
 the 50th regiment, went with that regiment to the 
 bank of the larger arm of the Danube. The Aus- 
 trians bad again destroyed one of the communica- 
 tions at this bridge, but not so completely as to 
 prevent the French from repairing it ami pass- 
 ing over. The 50th crossed the bridge and took 
 DSburg and the environing heights, in despite 
 of a force triple its own number. Its colonel, 
 Lacue'e, was killed there fighting at the head of 
 his men. On seeing a French regiment throw 
 alone beyond the Danube, the Austrian 
 
 cavalry hastened to the aid of the infantry, and 
 charged home on the 50th formed in a square. 
 Three times did this cavalry rush up to the 
 bayonets of the regiment, and three times was it 
 arrested by a volley of musketry when close up. 
 The 59th remained master of the field of battle, 
 
 alter . Hurts of which the im lunry well d< scrv. I to 
 
 be preserved. 
 
 One of the three bridges being free, general 
 Malher took his division over in ReiseUSbUTg 
 
 entire, towards the close of the day. The Aus- 
 trians were not then so solicitous to dispute fiiin/.- 
 
 burg. They fell back upon 1 Im the same night, 
 
 leaving to the French a thousand prisoners and 
 
 three hundred wounded. 
 
 Gnat honours were rendered to the remains of 
 colonel Laeuee. 'I be division ■! Ney*s cor| 
 s. milled ,it Gunzburg attended bis funeral on the 
 
 loth, and expressed then- imam is regret at his 
 
 loss. Marshal Nej placed the division of general 
 Dupont on the Ii ii bank of the riv< r, and ordered 
 the divisions of .Malber and Loison to pass to the 
 right, to keep up bis communication with U™—.
 
 24 
 
 Suppositions of 
 Napoleon. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Bernadotte enters 
 Munich. 
 
 / 1805. 
 \ October. 
 
 Napoleon had remained until the evening of the 9th 
 at Donauwerth. He then left that place for Augs- 
 burg, because it was the centre of the information 
 to be gathered, and the orders to be issued. At 
 Augsburg he was between Ulm on one side, and 
 Munich on the other ; between the army of 
 Suabia, which he was going to envelope, and that 
 of the Russians, of whom a general rumour an- 
 nounced the approach. In keeping afar from 
 Ulm for a day or two, he could concentrate the 
 command there. From a motive of relation- 
 ship, much more than from any ground of supe- 
 riority, he placed marshals Ney and Lannes under 
 the orders of Murat, which much displeased them, 
 and brought about vexatious squabbles. These 
 were embarrassments inseparable from the new 
 regime established in France. The republic had 
 its inconveniences, which are sanguinary rivalries ; 
 the monarchy had those of its own kind, which 
 were to be found in family compliances. Murat 
 had thus 60,000 men at his disposition, to keep 
 general Mack in respectful bearing under the walls 
 of Ulm. 
 
 Napoleon having arrived at Augsburg, found 
 marshal Soult there with the fourth corps ; mar- 
 shal Davout being established at Aichbach ; 
 general Marmont following, and Bernadotte march- 
 ing over the road to Munich. The French army 
 was then very much in the same position it had 
 been before when at Milan, after having so mira- 
 culously crossed over the St. Bernard ; when, too, 
 it was in the rear of Melas, endeavouring to en- 
 tangle him, but ignorant of the route that he 
 should take to meet him. The same uncertainty 
 now reigned in regard to the designs 'of general 
 Mack. Napoleon applied himself to discover what 
 he might be tempted to do under his present 
 pressing peril, and had the greater trouble to 
 guess, because general Mack did not know him- 
 self. It is more difficult to guess what an irre- 
 solute adversary will do, than one who is resolute; 
 and if the uncertainty should not lead you to loss 
 the next day, it will serve in the evening of the 
 day to deceive the enemy himself. In the doubt 
 in which he found himself, Napoleon gave the 
 most reasonable design to general Mack, that of 
 flying by the Tyrol. This general, in fact, in 
 directing himself towards Memmingen, on the left 
 of the position of Ulm, had not more than two or 
 three marches to make to gain the Tyrol by 
 Kempten. He would thus unite himself to the 
 army which guarded the chain of the Alps, and 
 to that which occupied Italy. He would save 
 himself, and go to make up a mass of 200,000 
 men ; a mass always formidable, whatever post 
 it might occupy in the general theatre of opera- 
 tions. He would escape in any case from such a 
 catastrophe as was never before known in the annals 
 of war. 
 
 Napoleon attributed this design to him, and had 
 not thought of another plan that general Mack 
 might have had, and that he did conceive for a 
 moment ; this plan was to fly by the left bank of 
 the Danube, which was only guarded by one of 
 the divisions of marshal Ney, that of Dupont. 
 This act of despair was the less to be guessed at, 
 because it required extraordinary audacity. He 
 must cut across the route that the French had 
 taken, a route still covered with their equipages 
 
 and their depots, to expose himself, perhaps, 
 to encounter them in a body, which must be 
 overcome in order to retire into Bohemia. Napo- 
 leon would not admit even the probability of this, 
 and only considered how he might close the roads 
 of the Tyrol. He ordered marshal Soult to as- 
 cend the Lech as far as Landsberg, then to go and 
 occupy Memmingen, and intercept the route from 
 Memmingen to Kempten. He replaced the corps 
 of marshal Soult in Augsburg with that of general 
 Marmont. He established, besides, in that city 
 his own guard, which customarily followed the 
 head quarters. There he attended to the different 
 movements of the corps of his army, rectifying 
 their march whenever he saw a necessity. 
 
 Bernadotte, pushing before him the rearguard 
 of Kienmayer, entered Munich on the 12th of Oc- 
 tober in the morning, just a month after the in- 
 vasion of the Austrians and the retreat of the 
 Bavarians. He made a thousand prisoners from 
 the detachment of the enemy which he drove 
 before him. The Bavarians, in transports of joy, 
 received the French with loud cheering. They 
 had not been able to go quicker or more surely to 
 the help of their allies, above all when they had 
 been but some days before at the extremity of the 
 continent, on the shores of the Channel. Napoleon 
 wrote immediately to the elector, to prevail on 
 him to re-enter his capital. He invited him to 
 return with all the Bavarian army, which was 
 utterly useless at Wiirtzburg, and which had been 
 designed to occupy the line of the Inn conjointly 
 with the corps of Bernadotte. Napoleon, lion ever, 
 recommended its employment in reconnoitring, 
 because it was familiar with the country, and it 
 would be able to give the best intelligence about 
 the march of the Russians, who would come by 
 the route of Vienna and Munich. 
 
 Marshal Soult, dispatched on the side of Lands- 
 berg, encountered nothing but the cuirassiers of 
 prince Ferdinand, who were falling back on Ulm 
 by forced marches. The ardour of the French 
 troops was so great, that the 26'th chasseurs did 
 not dread to try their strength against the Aus- 
 trian heavy cavalry, and took an entire squadron 
 with two guns. This encounter proved that the 
 Austrians, in place of flying to the Tyrol, had con- 
 centrated themselves behind the I Her, between 
 Memmingen and Ulm, and that they would in- 
 evitably go there to find a new battle of Marengo. 
 Napoleon disposed every thing to give it with the 
 largest possible mass of his forces. He supposed 
 that it might take place on the 13th or 14th of 
 October. But not being pi'essed, as the Austrians 
 would not begin, he preferred the 14th, in order 
 to allow more time to unite his troops. At 
 first he modified the position of marshal Davout, 
 whom he moved from Aichach to Dachau, in such 
 a way that this marshal, in an advantageous post 
 between Augsburg and Munich, would be able, in 
 two or three hours, either to march upon Munich 
 to oppose, with Bernadotte and the Bavarians, 
 C0,000 men to the Russians, or to carry himself 
 towards Augsburg to second Napoleon in his 
 operations against the army of general Mack. 
 After having taken these precautions in his rear, 
 Napoleon made the following dispositions in his 
 front, in contemplation of the day of battle, sup- 
 posed on the 14th. He ordered marshal Soult
 
 1805. \ 
 October. f 
 
 Napoleon addresses his 
 soldiers. 
 
 ULM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 Altercation of Ney and 
 Murat. 
 
 2» 
 
 to establish himself on the. 13th at Memmingen, 
 pressing thi- position with his left, and connect- 
 ing himself by his right with the different corpB 
 which were to be carried upon the lller. He sent 
 his guard to Weissenhorn, where he intended to 
 go himself. He hoped thus to assemble 100,000 
 men in the space of ten leagues between Menimin- 
 gen and Ulm. The troops, in effect, would be able 
 to make a march of five leagues, and to fight on 
 the same day. It was easy for hint to unite on 
 the same field of battle the corps of Ney, Lannes, 
 Murat, Manmint, Soult, and his guard. As it 
 happened, destiny reserved for him a different 
 triumph from that which he thus awaited — a new 
 kind of triumph, and not less astonishing in its 
 great consequences. 
 
 Napoleon left Augsburg at eleven o'clock at 
 night on the 12th, in order to reach WeiBsenhorn. 
 On the route he encountered the corps of Mar- 
 inont, composed of French and Dutch, worn down 
 with fatigue, burthened at the same time with 
 their arms and their rations for several days. 
 The weather, which had been fine as far as the 
 ge of the Danube, had on a sudden become 
 frightfully severe. There fell a thick snow, which 
 when thawed changed into mud and made the 
 roads impassable. All the small rivers which run 
 into the Danube were overflown. The soldiers 
 proceeded in the midst of real marshes, often 
 annoyed in their way by convoys of artillery : still 
 they did not murmur. Napoleon stopped on his 
 way to harangue them, made them form a circle 
 around him ; laid open to them the situation of the 
 enemy, the manoeuvre by which he hoped to 
 envelope them, and promised them a triumph as 
 glorious as that of Marengo. The soldiers, de- 
 lighted at what he said, proud to see the grand 
 captain of the age explain to them his plans, at 
 once gave themselves up to transports of the most 
 lively enthusiasm, and replied by unanimous shouts 
 of " Long live the emperor ! " They went on their 
 route impatient to take a part in the great battle. 
 Those who had heard the words of the emperor, 
 repeated them to those- who had not been able to 
 hear them, and all cried with joy that it was over 
 with the Austrians, that they would be taken to 
 the last man. 
 
 It was high time Napoleon returned to the 
 Danube, because his orders, ill comprehended by 
 
 Murat, had caused ptll mischief if the Austri;ins 
 
 had been a little more enterprising. 
 
 While I, amies and Murat invested Ulm on Up- 
 right bank of the Danube, Ney remained resting 
 on both sides of the river, with two divisions on 
 the right bank, and one only, that of general Du- 
 pont, on the left. In approaching [Jim in order to 
 t it, Nev had seen the error of such a situa- 
 tion. Enlightened by facts which be saw to be 
 near, guided by his nwtinet En war, confirmed in 
 his opinion by coloool Jomini, an officer of the 
 staff-major of the highest merit, Ney bad perceived 
 the danger of leaving only one division on the 
 left bank of the rive;-. •• Why," said he, "do not 
 the Austrians seize the opportunity to escape by 
 the left hank of tie- Danube, trampling under their 
 t,, i ;,n ,,ur baggage and artillery, which eannot 
 certainly oppose to them sny v. rv great resist- 
 ance '" Mural would not admit that it sou Id lie 
 possible, resting his opinion upon the List letters 
 
 received from the emperor, badly interpreted by 
 himself, which, in the contemplation of some seri- 
 ous action on the lller, ordered the concentration 
 of all the troops there. Murat began to think that 
 the division of Dupont on the left bank was too 
 much, because that division would be out of the 
 way of acting on the day of the battle. This dif- 
 ference of opinion originated a brisk altercation 
 between Ney and Murat. Ney was hurt to be 
 obliged to obey a commander whom he thought 
 far beneath himself in military talent, if he was 
 above him by his relationship with the imperial 
 family. Murat, full of arrogance from his new 
 rank, proud above all to be initiated in the confi- 
 dence of Napoleon, made marshal Ney feel his 
 official superiority, and finished by giving him per- 
 emptory order? But for the interference of friends, 
 these lieu tenon's of the emperor would have de- 
 cided their dm >ute in a mode little conformable to 
 their high stations. From this altercation the 
 result was, that contradictory orders were sent to 
 the division of Dupont, a situation of things very 
 perilous for him. Happily, while they were dis- 
 puting about the post which it was best for him to 
 occupy, he escaped from the danger in which he 
 had been placed by the error of Murat, through 
 an ever-memorable combat. 
 
 General Mack, no longer able to doubt his misfor- 
 tune, had made a change of front. In place of 
 having his right at Ulm, he had his left there ; and 
 in place of his left at Memmingen he had placed 
 his right there. Always supported on the lller, 
 he had his back to France, as if he had come from 
 thence, while Napoleon showed his back to Austria, 
 as if the place of his departure had been from 
 there. This was the natural position of two 
 generals, one of whom had turned the other. 
 General Mack, after having called in the troops 
 scattered in Suabia, as well as those which had 
 returned back beaten from Wcrtingen and Giinz- 
 burg, had left some detachments on the lller from 
 Memmingen to Ulm, and had assembled the greater 
 part of his troops at Ulm itself, in the intrenched 
 camp which overlooked that city. 
 
 The situation and form of that camp has been 
 already described in this work. At this point the 
 lift bank of the Danube overlooks the right. This 
 last hank presents to the view a marshy plain, 
 Slightly inclined towards the river. The left hank, 
 
 on the contrary, presents a succession of heights 
 
 Btanding terrace Eashion, and washed at the base 
 
 by the Danube, just as the terrace of St. Germain's 
 
 is washed by the Seine. The Michelsherg is the 
 
 principal of these elevations. There the Austrians 
 were encamped to the number of 00,000 men, hav- 
 ing at their feet the city of Ulm. 
 
 General Dupont, who had remained alone on the 
 
 left hank, and who in pursuance of tin- orders of 
 
 marshal Ney, was to approach Dim on the 11th 
 
 of October in the morning, had arrived in view 
 of that place by the road from Albeck. This was 
 
 at tin- very same moment that Murat and v y 
 were disputing together at Gttncburg, and that 
 Napoleon, gone to Augsburg, was employed in mak 
 Ing his general arrangements. General Dupont 
 having arrived at tin- village, of Hsslach, whence 
 tie- Michelsherg is seen in all its extent, discovi red 
 there 60,000 Austrians in a very imposing array. 
 1 1 in Latest marches, executed In the midst of the
 
 26 
 
 Dupont's combat at 
 Haslach. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The Austrians re- 
 pulsed. 
 
 / lfO 1 ). 
 t October. 
 
 bad weather, had reduced his divisions to 6000 
 men. They had left him still the dragoons of 
 Baraguay-d'Hilliers, which, during the march from 
 the Rhine to the Danube, had been attached not 
 to Murat but to marshal Ney's force. This was 
 a great resource at such a time, being a reinforce- 
 ment of 5000 men, which would have been of utility 
 if they had not remained at Langenau, three leagues 
 in the rear. 
 
 General Dupont, thus arrived in the presence of 
 Michelsberg and of 60,000 men which occupied it, 
 found himself there with only three regiments of 
 infantry, two of cavalry, and a few cannon. This 
 officer, afterwards so unfortunate, was seized at 
 the sight with a species of inspiration which would 
 do honour to the greatest general. He judged 
 that if he retreated he should reveal hi* weakness, 
 and should soon be surrounded by 10,000 cavalry 
 sent in his pursuit ; that if, on the contrary, he 
 showed some act of boldness, he might cheat the 
 Austrians, persuade them he was the advanced 
 guard of the French army, oblige them to move 
 with circumspection, and thus have time to retire 
 out of the unlucky situation in which he had placed 
 himself. 
 
 In consequence, he immediately made his dispo- 
 sitions for action. On his left he had the little 
 village of Haslach, surrounded by a small wood. 
 He placed there the 32nd regiment, celebrated in 
 Italy, and commanded at that time by colonel 
 Darricau, the 1st hussars, and a part of his artil- 
 lery. On his right, backed in the same way by 
 a wood, he placed the 96'th regiment of the line, 
 commanded by colonel Barrois, the 9th light, com- 
 manded by colonel Meunier, and the 17th dra- 
 goons. A little in advance on his right was the 
 village of Jungingen, surrounded also with some 
 clumps of wood, and that he occupied with a 
 detachment. 
 
 It was in this position that general Dupont 
 received the Austrians, detached to the number 
 of 25,000 under the archduke Ferdinand, to en- 
 counter 6000 French. General Dupont, under 
 the present circumstances, still happily inspired, 
 promptly saw that his divisions must be destroyed 
 by the Austrian musketry alone, if he suffered 
 them to deploy into lino and extend their fire. 
 Joining, therefore, the audacity of determined 
 resolution to that of a vigorous execution, he 
 ordered the two regiments on his right, the 96th 
 and the 9th light, to charge with the bayonet. 
 At the signal given by himself, those two brave 
 regiments moved forwards ; dashing with bayonets 
 at the charge upon the first Austrian line, they 
 overturned it, throwing it into complete disorder, 
 and making 1500 prisoners, whom they sent to the 
 left to be shut up in the village of Haslach. 
 General Dupont, after this feat of arms, placed 
 himself in position with his two regiments, and 
 awaited immoveable the sequel of this singular 
 contest. The Austrians would not hold them- 
 selves beaten, and came on with fresh troops. 
 The French advanced a second time with the 
 bayonet, repulsed the Austrians, and again made 
 a number of prisoners. Tired of making useless 
 attacks on the front, the Austrians directed their 
 efforts against the French wings. They assailed 
 the village of Haslach, which covered the left of 
 Dupont's division, and which contained the pri- 
 
 soners. The 32nd regiment, whose turn was now 
 come to resist, disputed the possession of the village 
 with great spirit, while the 1st hussars rivalling 
 the infantry, made vigorous charges upon the 
 repulsed columns. The Austrians did not confine 
 themselves to the attack on Haslach, they made 
 an attempt on the opposite wing, and tried to 
 carry the village of Jungingen, which lay on gene- 
 ral Dupont's right. By favour of numbers, they 
 penetrated into it, and for a moment made them- 
 selves its master. General Dupont, sensible of the 
 danger, attacked it with the 96th and succeeded in 
 taking it. The Austrians re-took it, and then he 
 again made himself its master. The village was 
 thus taken by main force five times successively, 
 and in the confusion of their reiterated attacks, 
 the French made prisoners every time. But while 
 the Austrians wearied themselves by impotent 
 efforts against this handful of men, their immense 
 cavalry overflowing the field, attacked the 17th 
 dragoons, charged it repeatedly, killed its colonel 
 the brave Saint-Dizier, and obliged it to fall back 
 into the wood behind. A cloud of Austrian cavalry 
 also spread itself over the neighbouring plain, and 
 went as far as the village of Albeck, where a part 
 of the division of Dupont had been stationed, seiz- 
 ing upon the baggage that the dragoons of Bara- 
 guay-d'Hilliers should have defended, and thus 
 obtaining some common-place trophies that were 
 but a poor consolation for a defeat experienced 
 by 25,000 men against 6000. 
 
 It became urgent to put an end to an engage- 
 ment thus perilous. General Dupont, after having 
 wearied the Austrians by five hours' sanguinary 
 contest, took advantage of the night to retire upon 
 Albeck. He marched there in good order, making 
 4000 prisoners precede him on the road. 
 
 If general Dupont in giving this extraordinary 
 battle had not stopped the Austrians, they would 
 have fled into Bohemia, and one of the finest com- 
 binations of Napoleon would have completely failed. 
 This is a proof that great generals must also have 
 good soldiers, because the most illustrious captains 
 have often need that their soldiers should repair 
 by their heroism, either the hazard of war, or the 
 errors that genius itself may be liable to commit. 
 
 This encounter with a part of the French army 
 caused some stormy debates at the Austrian head 
 quarters. They had been informed there of the 
 presence of marshal Soult at Landsberg ; they 
 could not suppose that general Dupont was alone 
 at Albeck. They began to think they were every 
 where encircled. General Mack, on whom the 
 Austrians have wished to throw all the disgrace of 
 the disaster, had fallen into a state of mind easy to 
 conceive. Those who have judged the matter 
 subsequently to the event, have said, that to save 
 him, an inspiration from above could only have 
 revealed to him the weakness of the corps which 
 was before him, and the possibility of crushing it 
 and retiring into Bohemia. This unfortunate man 
 could not know that which he knew afterwards, 
 and could little think that the French were so 
 weak on the left bank. He deliberated with the 
 august companion of his sad fate, the archduke Fer- 
 dinand. He lost in mental agitation tlu precious 
 time, and knew not whether to resolve to fly into 
 Bohemia, passing over the corps of general Dupont, 
 or to fly to the Tyrol, forcing the passage of Mem-
 
 1805. 1 
 October. ) 
 
 Irresolution of Mack. 
 
 ULM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 Napoleon censures Murat. 
 
 mingen. The part which it appeared to him the 
 safest to take, was to establish liims If more solidly 
 still in his position at (Jim, to concentrate his army, 
 and await there in a strong mass, difficult to carry 
 by assault, the arrival of the Russians by Munich, 
 or of the archduke Charles by the Tyrol, lie 
 reasoned that genera] Kienmayer with 20,000 
 Austrians, and genera! Kutusof with Gl),000 Rus- 
 sians, were about to make their appearance on the 
 road to Munich ; that the archduke John with the 
 corps of the Tyrol, even the archduke Charles with 
 the army of Italy, would not be wanting to fly to 
 his aid by Kempten, and that then it would be 
 Napoleon who would find himself in peril, because 
 ho would be pressed between 80.000 Austrians 
 and Russians, arriving from Austria ; 25,000 Aus- 
 trians descending from the Tyrol, and 70,000 
 Austrians encamped at Ulm, which would make 
 1 7"' .000 men. But it was not possible that these 
 different junctions could take place in spite of Na- 
 poleon placed in the centre, with 16'0,000 men 
 accustomed to conquer. In any unfortunate state 
 we cherish the least spark of hope, and general 
 Mack believed up to that time the false reports 
 which were made to him by spies sent by Napoleon. 
 These spies told him that soon a disembarkation 
 of the English would take place at Boulogne, and 
 recall the French from the Rhine ; and that the 
 Russians and the archduke Charles would in a short 
 time arrive upon the road to Munich. 
 
 In difficult situations, subordinates become bold 
 and ^reat talkers ; they censure their superiors, 
 and have opinions of their own. General Mack 
 ha ! around him subordinates, who were great 
 nobles, and did not fear to speak aloud. These 
 would fly into the Tyrol, those into Wurtemberg, 
 otl ere into Bohemia. The last, who reasoned upon 
 a chance, and who were right by chance, relied upon 
 the combat of Haslach to show that the road to 
 Bohemia was open. The ordinary effect of con- 
 tradiction on an agitated mind is still to enfeeble 
 it, and to bring hack halt-party measures, always 
 the most unfortunate of any. General Mack, to 
 \ield something to the opinions which he opposed, 
 took two singular determinations, for one who had 
 decided to remain in Ulm. He sent the divi- 
 sion of Jellachich to Memmingen to reinforce that 
 post, which general Spangeu guarded with 5000 
 lion, in the intention by this means to keep open 
 
 his communication with the Tyrol, lie also made 
 general Etiesc occupy the heights of Elchingen, 
 with an entire division, in order to extend himself 
 on tie- left bank, and to make a strong observation 
 of the French communications. 
 
 Io remain at [Jim in Order t<> await help, and 
 there to give in case of need a defensive battle, it 
 wa-> nee. jsary to remain in a compact body, and 
 
 not to send corps to He- extremities of the line that. 
 In- occupied, because i< exposi d them to be de- 
 stroyed after the other. However thai might 
 
 general Mack had the convent of Elchingen 
 occupied bj general Biese, situated on the heights 
 
 of the left bank, very near Ilaslaeh, where the 
 
 combat had taken place on the lltb; at the foot of 
 
 these heights, and beneath the < vent, was a 
 
 bridge, that Mural had occupied with a French 
 detachment The Austrians had before attempted 
 to destroy it. The detachment of Murat, to cover 
 itself on the approach of tin- troops of general 
 
 Riesc, destroyed it by fire. Still the piers remained 
 fixed in the stream, preserved by the water from 
 destruction. In this state of things the French 
 army was without any communication with the 
 left bank, other than by the bridge of Giiuzburg, 
 placed very tar below Elchingen. The division « I 
 Dupont had retired to Langcnau. Retreat was 
 therefore still open to the Austrians. Fortunately 
 they were ignorant of all this. 
 
 It was under these circumstances that Napoleon 
 left Augsburg on the 12th of October, in the even- 
 ing, coming to Ulm the next day. Scarcely arrived, 
 he visited on horseback, in dreadful weather, all 
 the posts that his lieutenants occupied. He found 
 them much opposed one against the other, and 
 holding very different opinions. Lannes, whose 
 judgment in war was sure and penetrating, had 
 agreed with marshal Ney, that in place of wishing 
 to accept a battle on the Uler, the Austrians only 
 considered how they should best fly into Bohemia 
 by the left bank, crushing the division of general 
 Dupont. If Napoleon had his doubts when absent, 
 no more remained when he visited the place itself. 
 Besides, in ordering the watching of the left bank, 
 and in placing there the division of Dupont, he 
 said that, they ought not to have left that division 
 without support, above all without assurance of the 
 means to pass from one hank to the other, to suc- 
 cour him if he should be attacked. Thus the in- 
 structions of Napoleon had not been better com- 
 prehended than the situation itself. He gave 
 complete justice to the judgment of Ney and 
 Lannes against Murat, and commanded the imme- 
 diate repair of the serious faults committed on the 
 preceding days. He resolved to re-establish the 
 communications of the right with the left bank of 
 the river, by the nearest bridge to Ulm, that of 
 Elchingen. They had now to descend to that of 
 Giiuzburg, which belonged to the French, there to 
 repass the Danube, ami ascend to the division of 
 Dupont with reinforcements as far as Ulm. But 
 it was a movement sullieieiitly protracted to leave 
 the Austrians time to escape. It was much better 
 at day-break on the 14:h to re-establish by main 
 force the bridge of Elchingen, that was under their 
 
 (yes, and to send over a sufficient force to the hit 
 bank, while general Dupont turning back, ascended 
 from Langcnau on Albeck and Ulm. 
 
 Napoleon issued his orders in consequence for 
 the following day, the 14th. Marshal Soult had 
 
 been sent to the exil'illlllv of the line of the lller, 
 towards Mcmmingcii. G< neral Mannniit advanced 
 
 intennediatelj on the Uler. Lannes, Murat, and 
 .\i v united under Ulm, now set themselves to 
 
 OCCUpj both sides of the Danube, in order t< i- 
 
 neet themselves with Dnpont's division on the left 
 
 hank. But for this object it was necessary to re- 
 establish I he bridge of Elchingen. To Ney was 
 reserved the honour of ex< CUtiug this operation in 
 
 ihe morning of the lith, a decisive act, that 
 would give the French possession of both banks of 
 the river. 
 
 The intrepid marshal could not reconcile to 
 
 himself some of the unbecoming words which had 
 been addressed to him by Mural m the recent 
 altercations which they had had together. Murat, 
 
 pp ed by too long reasoning upon the subject. 
 
 iiinler discussion, had told him that be understood 
 nothing of the plans they thus communicated to
 
 28 Gallant action of Ney. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Ney carries Elchin- 
 gen. 
 
 | 1805. 
 \ October. 
 
 him; that he was in the habit of not making his 
 own until he was in front of the enemy. This 
 was the haughty answer that a man of action 
 might have given to a vain talker. The marshal 
 on horseback on the morning of the 14th, in full 
 uniform, adorned with his decorations, seized the 
 arm of Murat, and shaking it forcibly before all 
 the staff and the emperor himself, said to him in 
 a proud tone, " Come, prince, come and form your 
 plans with me in the face of the enemy." Then 
 passing at a gallop towards the Danube, he went, 
 under a shower of ball and grape shot, with the 
 water up to the belly of his horse, to direct the 
 perilous operation which he had been ordered to 
 perform. 
 
 It was necessary to repair the bridge, of which 
 there only remained standing the upright piers, 
 without the cross timbers; then to pass over it, cross 
 a small meadow which extended itself between the 
 Danube and the foot of the heights; and carry the 
 village and convent of Elchingen, which rose in 
 the form of an amphitheatre, guarded by 20,000 
 men and a formidable artillery. 
 
 Marshal Ney, whom so many obstacles did not 
 deter, ordered an aide-de-camp of general Loison, 
 captain Coisel, and a sapper, to seize the first plank 
 and to carry it to the piles of the bridge, in order 
 to establish it, under the Austrian fire. The brave 
 sapper had his leg carried away by the shot of the 
 enemy, but his place was immediately filled up. 
 A plank was first placed in the way of a joist, then 
 a second and third. After having repaired the 
 first space from pier to pier, they repaired another, 
 and arrived to cover the last pier under a mur- 
 derous fire of musketry, which the enemy's adroit 
 tirailleurs directed from the other bank upon the 
 workmen. Soon after, the voltigeurs of the 6th 
 light, the grenadiers of the 39th, and a company 
 of carabineers, without waiting until the bridge 
 was entirely completed, passed to the other side of 
 the Danube, dispersed the Austrians that guarded 
 the left bank, and so cleared space enough for the 
 division of Loison to come to their aid. 
 
 Marshal Ney then ordered over the 39th and 
 6th light to the other bank of the river, and com- 
 manded general Villatte to place himself at the 
 head of the 39th, and to extend himself on the 
 right in the meadow, in order to make the Aus- 
 trians evacuate it, while he himself with the 6th 
 light took the convent. The 39th, stopped while 
 it traversed the bridge, by the French cavalry, 
 which had pressed forward upon it in haste, did 
 not all succeed in crossing. The 1st battalion 
 alone was able to execute the order which it had 
 received. It had to sustain the charges of the 
 Austrian cavalry, and the attack of three of the 
 enemy's battalions ; and was even, after an ob- 
 stinate resistance, driven back for a moment to 
 the opening of the bridge. But being soon suc- 
 coured by its second battalion, joined by the 69th 
 and 76th of the line, it recovered the lost space, 
 remained master of all the meadow to the right, 
 and obliged the Austrians to regain the heights. 
 During this time, Ney, at the head of the 6th light, 
 mounted the tortuous streets of the village of 
 Elchingen, under a plunging fire from the houses, 
 which were filled with infantry. lie carried the 
 village, .one house after the other, from the hands 
 of the Austrians, together with the convent, which 
 
 stands upon the summit of the elevation. Arrived 
 at that spot, he had before him the undulating 
 levels, partially covered with wood, on which the 
 division of Dupont had fought on the 11th. Those 
 levels extend as far as to the Michelsberg, above 
 the town of Ulm itself. Ney wished to establish 
 himself there, in order not to be overthrown into 
 the Danube by an offensive return of the enemy. 
 A large clump of wood extended to the edge of the 
 height, joining the convent and village of Elchin- 
 gen. Ney resolved to secure it as a support for 
 his left. He desired, his left being well secured, 
 to pivot upon that, and push his right in advance. 
 He threw ths 69th of the line into the wood, 
 which it entered in despite of a warm discharge 
 of musketry. While they contested on that side 
 with great obstinacy, the rest of the Austrian 
 corps formed in several squares of two or three 
 thousand men each. Ney attacked them with 
 dragoons, followed up by the infantry in column. 
 The 18 th dragoons executed on one of them so 
 vigorous a charge, that it broke it, and constrained 
 the men to throw down their arms. The other 
 Austrians at the sight of this affair retired in 
 great haste, first flying towards Haslach, and at 
 last going and rallying upon the Michelsberg. 
 
 During these occurrences, general Dnpont, who 
 had returned from Langenau towards Albeck, had 
 encountered the corps of Werneck, one of the two 
 which had gone out of Ulm in the evening with 
 the intention of reconnoitring on the left bank of 
 the Danube, and to find a means of retreat for 
 the Austrian army. On hearing the sound of 
 cannon in his rear, general Werneck had retraced 
 his route, and had returned towards the Michels- 
 berg, by the road from Albeck to Ulm. He ar- 
 rived at the same moment that the division of 
 Dupont reached it on the French side, and that 
 marshal Ney had carried the heights of Elchingen. 
 A new contest now took place at this point between 
 general Werneck, who wished to regain Ulm, and 
 general Dupont, who, on the contrary, desired to 
 prevent him. The 32nd and 9th light threw 
 themselves upon the Austrian infantry in close 
 column, and repulsed it, while the 90th received 
 in a square the charges of their cavalry. The day 
 ended in the midst of this medley : Marshal Ney 
 having gloriously reconquered the left bank; and 
 general Dupont having cut off the corps of Wer- 
 neck on their return to Ulm. They had made 3000 
 prisoners, and taken many pieces of artillery. 
 But what was of more worth still, the Austrians 
 were definitively shut up in Ulm, and this time 
 without any chance of saving themselves, even if 
 the most lucky ideas inspired them at this their 
 last moment. 
 
 While these events took place on the left bank, 
 Lannes had approached Ulm on the right. Gene- 
 ral Marmout had advanced towards the Iller, and 
 marshal Soult, extending his corps beyond the 
 Austrian position, had possessed himself of Mem- 
 mingen. They were still working upon the pali- 
 sades of the town, when marshal Soult arrived 
 there. He had rapidly invested it, and had obliged 
 general Spangen to lay down his arms, with 5000 
 men, all his artillery, and a number of horses. 
 General Jellachich, coming too late to succour 
 Memmingen with his division, found himself in 
 front of a corps of 30,000 men. He retired, not
 
 1805. 
 Octobe 
 
 ;,} 
 
 Escape of the archduke 
 Ferdinand. 
 
 ULM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 Danger of Napoleon. 
 
 29 
 
 upon Ulm, which he feared it was not in his power 
 to regnin, but upon Kempten and the Tyrol. 
 Marshal Souk then took the road to Ocbsenhausen, 
 to complete, in every sense of the term, the invest- 
 ment of the place and of the entrenched camp of 
 Ulm. 
 
 Such was the situation of things at the close of 
 the day, on the 14th of October. After the de- 
 parture of general Jellachieh, and the different 
 combats which had been fought, general black's 
 force was reduced to 50,000 men. Again it would 
 be necessary to deduct the corps of general Wer- 
 neck, separated from him by the division of Dnpont. 
 The unhappy general, therefore, found himself in 
 a very desperate situation. He had no safe part 
 to take. His only resource was to throw himself, 
 sword in hand, upon one of the points of the iron 
 circle within which he had been enclosed, either 
 to die or force his way out. Tii throw himself 
 upon Ney and Dnpont was the least disastrous 
 chance. He would certainly have been beaten ; 
 because Lannes and Irfurat could now pass over by 
 the bridge of Elchingen to the aid of Ney and 
 Dnpont, and it did not require a union of so great 
 a force to conquer demoralized soldiers. Still the 
 honour of his arms would have been saved; after 
 a victory, the most valuable result that can be 
 obtained. But general Mack persisted in his reso- 
 lution of concentrating at Ulm, and there awaiting 
 the aid of the Russians. He sustained violent at- 
 tacks on the part of the prince Sehwartzenberg 
 and the archduke Ferdinand. The last, before all 
 things, wished to escape the misfortune of being 
 made a prisoner. General Mack showed the power 
 given hiin by the emperor, which, in case of any 
 dissension, gave to him the supreme authority. 
 But this was only enough to render him respon- 
 sible, not to make him obeyed. The archduke 
 Ferdinand, by favour of his less dependent posi- 
 
 ti resolved to evade the orders of the general- 
 
 in-chief. When the night came on, he made 
 choice of that of the gates of Ulm, the least 
 exposed to an encounter with the French, and 
 sallied forth, with 6000 or 7000 cavalry and a 
 body of infantry, in the design to join general 
 Werneck, and fly by the upper Palatinate into 
 Bohemia. By uniting himself with the detach- 
 ment which followed him, and the corps of general 
 W< meek, the archduke Ferdinand deprived gene- 
 ral Mack of 20,000 men, and left in Ulna only 
 30,000, blockaded on all sides, and reduced to lay 
 
 down their arms in the most ignominious manner. 
 
 It is falsely asserted tint the departure of the 
 prince proved the possibility of leaving Ulm. It is 
 at the first glance an improbable thing that an 
 army with its stores and artillery could make its 
 
 escape like ■ simple detacl nt, fox the most pari 
 
 composed of cavalry. But what occurred a few 
 days after to the archduke Ferdinand, demon- 
 strated that the army itaeli had met with its ntter 
 ruin in such a flight. The gn al fault was to sepa- 
 li was necessary to remain <u- to sally forth 
 ther ; to remain and fight an obstinate battle 
 at the head of 70,000 men ; or to sally forth sud- 
 denly, throw itself, with 70,000 men, pe of the 
 
 ting point-, and either Bud tin-re death or the 
 ancorcn that fortune sometimes con.-ed.-s to despair. 
 But to divide, the one to By with Jellachieh to- 
 wards the Tyrol, the other to assort ■ prince in 
 
 his flight into Bohemia, the rest to sign a capitu- 
 lation in I'lm, was, of all modes of conduct in such 
 a ease, the must deplorable. For the rest, expe- 
 rience teaches that in these situations, when the 
 human soul is borne down, when it begins to de- 
 scend, it tails so low that between all courses it takes 
 the worst. It must be added to be just, that gene- 
 ral Mack always afterwards defended himself 
 against the charge of having desired this division 
 of the Austrian forces and these separate retreats '. 
 Napoleon passed the night of the 14th and 15th 
 in the convent of Elchingen. On the 15th, in the 
 morning, he resolved to terminate the matter, and 
 ordered marshal Ney to take the heights of 
 Michelsherg. These elevations, in advance of 
 Ulm, when approached on the side of the left bank 
 of the Danube, overlook that town, which is, as 
 already said, situated at their foot, on the same 
 bank of the river. Lannes had passed over with 
 his corps by the bridge of Elchingen, and flanked 
 the attack of Ney. lie must first take the Frauen- 
 berg, a neighbouring eminence to that of the 
 Michelsherg. Napoleon was upon the ground, 
 Lannes being near him, obsen ing on that side the 
 positions that Nov had to take at the head of his 
 regiments, ami on the othi r throwing his glance at 
 the town of Ulm lying at the bottom. Suddenly a 
 masked battery belonging to the Austrians vomited 
 forth grape shot upon the imperial groupe. Lannes 
 seized at once the reins of Napoleon's horse, to 
 withdraw him from the murderous tire. Napoleon, 
 who had neither sought the tire nor avoided it, 
 because he had only approached it as near as 
 was necessary to judge of things with his own 
 eyes, placed himself in such a manner as to see the 
 action with less peril. Ney moved his columns, 
 mounted to the entrenchments elevated on the 
 Michelsherg, and carried them with the bayonet. 
 Napoleon, fearing that the attack of Ney would be 
 too prompt, wished to slacken it to give Lannes 
 time to attack the Frauenberg, and thus to divide 
 the attention of the enemy. " Glory is not to bo 
 divided," replied Ney to general Dumas, who 
 
 1 The Austrians have never made known their operation* 
 in this first part of the campaign of 1 80S. Then have, not- 
 withstanding, been a good manj statements published in 
 Germany, which have been directed to bear down general 
 
 Mack, and to exalt the archduke Ferdinand ; to account, by 
 
 the incapacity of one man, foi t "i the Austrian 
 
 army, and at tl.o tame tunc to diminish tlie glory of ttie 
 French. These wTiiiri irtlal and incorrect, and urc 
 
 for the most part founded upon clrcumat meet In themselves 
 (Use, of which even the Impossibility i» demonstrable. I 
 hail- procured, with much trouble, one of the rare copies of 
 the defence, presented by genera] Mack t.> the Council of 
 War, before which he was eompell .< to appear. This de 
 fence, lingular In form, and eon trained In tone, above all 
 in regard to the archduke Ferdinand, fuller of d ecl a m a to ry 
 reflections than of foots, has nevertheless furnished ma 
 wii'i i to be precise upon the Intentions "i the 
 
 Austrian general, and M P at number "I absurd 
 
 suppositions. I believe, therefore I have arrived al the 
 truth in th.- present statement, or at tesst, as much as it is 
 possible to hope In regard to events, whleh have no) been 
 stated In Austria In any publication, and whleh ire nearly 
 without living v ItnesM i si ti'>- present tuns. The principal 
 personages. In foot, are desd, snd there has been bt Get 
 
 many a very natural motive ret) tSSUSSblS, for disgui»ln(C 
 
 the truth, tl ng the nstioasl self-love, by laying all 
 
 up on the shoulders ol on.- man. - Authur't Sutt.
 
 30 Napoleon summons Ulm. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Murat pursues the 
 archduke. 
 
 f 1805. 
 
 \ October. 
 
 brought him the order to await the aid of Lannes, 
 and he continued his advance, surmounted all 
 obstacles, and arrived with his corps on the re- 
 verse of the heights above the town of Ulm itself. 
 Lannes, on his side, took the Frauenberg, and, 
 uniting, they descended together to approach the 
 walls of the place. In the ardour which drew the 
 columns of attack onward, the 17th light, under 
 the orders of colonel Vedel of Suchet's division, 
 scaled the bastion nearest the river, and esta- 
 blished themselves there. But the Austrians, per- 
 ceiving the adventurous situation of the regiment, 
 attacked, repulsed it, and made some prisoners. 
 
 Napoleon suspended the contest, and put off to 
 the following day the duty of summoning the place ; 
 then, if it resisted, he determined to take it by 
 assault. That day general Dupont, who had re- 
 mained front to front with the corps of Werneck 
 from the evening before, had engaged with him 
 anew to prevent his entering Ulm. Napoleon had 
 sent Murat to see what was passing on that side, 
 since he had the greatest trouble to discover, being 
 ignorant of the sally on the part of the Austrian army. 
 It soon became evident to him that several Austrian 
 detachments had succeeded in escaping by one of 
 the gates of Ulm, that which was least exposed to 
 the view and reach oi' the French. He ordered 
 Murat instantly, with the cavalry reserve, the divi- 
 sion of Dupont, and the grenadiers of Oudinot, to 
 follow to the last that portion of the enemy's army 
 which had thus made its escape from the city. 
 
 The following day, the 16th of October, he com- 
 manded some shells to be thrown into Ulm ; and, 
 ih the evening, gave orders to one of the officers of 
 his staff, M. de Segur, to proceed to general Mack, 
 and summon him to lay down his arms. Obliged 
 to go by night in very bad weather, M. de Segur 
 had the greatest trouble to penetrate into the town. 
 He was brought with his eves bandaged before 
 general Mack, who, forcing himself to conceal his 
 deep anxiety, still was not able to dissimulate his 
 surprise and sorrow in learning the whole extent of 
 his disaster. He had not known it entirely, be- 
 cause he was yet ignorant that he was surrounded 
 by 100,000 French, and that 60,000 more occupied 
 the line of the Inn ; that the Russians, on the con- 
 trary, were very far away, and that the archduke 
 Charles, retained upon the Adige by marshal Mas- 
 sena, could not arrive there. Each of these pieces 
 of intelligence, which he would not at first believe, 
 but which he was soon obliged to admit, on the 
 reiterated and veracious assertion of M. de Se'gur, 
 rent his soul. After having remonstrated strongly 
 against the proposition to capitulate, general Mack 
 finished by admitting the idea on condition of wait- 
 ing some days for the Russian succours. He was 
 ready, he said, to wait eight days, and to surrender, 
 if the Russians should not appear at Ulm. M. de 
 Segur had an order to grant five, or at the utmost 
 six. In case of refusal, he was to threaten an 
 assault, and the most rigorous treatment for the 
 troops under his command. 
 
 The unfortunate general placed it on his honour, 
 thenceforward lost, to obtain eight days in place 
 of six. M. de Segur then returned to carry the 
 answer to the emperor. The parleyings continued ; 
 and finally Berthier introduced himself into the 
 place, and agreed with general .Mack upon the 
 following conditions. If on the 25th of October 
 
 before midnight an Austro-Russian corps capable 
 to raise the blockade of the place did not appear, 
 the Austrian army should lay down its arms, 
 become prisoners of war, and be conducted to 
 France. The Austrian officers might return home 
 to Austria, on condition that they should no more 
 serve against France. The horses, arms, ammu- 
 nition, colours, all to become the property of the 
 French army. 
 
 The treaty was made on the 19th of October ; 
 but it was dated the 17th, which had the appear- 
 ance of giving general Mack the eight days he had 
 required. This unfortunate man arrived at the 
 emperor's head quarters, and being received with 
 the respect due to his misfortune, repeatedly 
 affirmed, that he was not culpable in regard to 
 the disasters of his army, that it was established 
 at Ulm by'order of the Aulic council, and that 
 since the investment, his forces had been divided, 
 despite his declared will. 
 
 This was, as may be perceived, a new treaty 
 of Alexandria, divested of the terrible effusion of 
 blood at Marengo. 
 
 In the interim, Murat, at the head of Dupont's 
 divisions, the grenadiers of Oudinot, and the re- 
 serve of cavalry, redeemed his recent fault by 
 pursuing the Austrians with very extraordinary 
 rapidity. He followed to the utmost general Wer- 
 neck and prince Ferdinand, swearing that not a 
 single man should escape him. Setting off in pur- 
 suit on the morning af the 16th of October,he gave 
 battle in the evening to the rear guard of general 
 Werneck, and took 20J0 prisoners. The following 
 day, the 17th, he marched upon Heidenheim, 
 endeavouring to outflank the enemy by the rapid 
 movement of his cavalry. General Werneck and 
 the archduke Ferdinand then united made their re- 
 treat together. During the day the French passed 
 Heidenheim, and arrived at Neresheim in the 
 night, at the same time as the rear guard of the 
 corps of Werneck. They threw it into disorder, 
 and forced it to disperse in the woods. On the 
 18th, the day after, Murat followed the enemy on 
 Nordhngen. The whole regiment of Stuart being 
 there surrounded gave itself up prisoners. Gene- 
 ral Werneck seeing himself encompassed on all 
 sides, and being no longer able to proceed with his 
 harassed infantry, having neither the hope nor 
 even the will to save himself, offered to capitulate. 
 The offer was accepted, and the general with 
 ilOOO men laid down their arms. Three Austrian 
 generals, carrying off a part of the cavalry, made 
 their escape in despite of the capitulation. Murat 
 sent them an officer, to recall them to the execu- 
 tion of their engagement. They would hear no- 
 thing, and went off to join prince Ferdinand. 
 Murat promised himself to punish such a breach 
 of faith by a more active pursuit on the morrow. 
 In the night he took their great park, composed of 
 five hundred carriages. 
 
 This route exhibited a spectacle of unexampled 
 confusion. The Austrians, thrown upon the French 
 communications, had taken a number of the equi- 
 pages of the carriages, and a part of Napoleon's 
 treasure,. All they had thus taken for a moment 
 was re-captured and their artillery besides, their 
 equipages and their own treasure. The soldiers 
 and persons employed by the two armies were 
 seen ilying in disorder without knowing where
 
 1S05. > 
 October. / 
 
 Mural destroys the arch- 
 duke's army. 
 
 ULM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 The Austrians lay down their 
 arms. 
 
 31 
 
 
 they were going, ignorant who were the conquer- 
 ors or the conquered. The peasants of the upper 
 Palatinate ran after the fugitives, despoiled them, 
 and cut the traces of the Austrian artillery, in 
 order to carry oft' the horses for themselves. 
 Murat continuing the pursuit, arrived on the 19th 
 at Gunzenhausen, n frontier town of Prussia Ans- 
 pach. A Prussian officer had the boldness to 
 demand respect for tl»<- neutrality of the coun- 
 try, when the Austrian fugitives had obtained 
 leave to traverse it. Murat, in place of reply- 
 ing, entered by main force into Gunzenhausen and 
 wed t lie archduke beyond. On the follow- 
 ing day, the 20th, he passed Nuremberg. The 
 iy, finding hi- Blreugtll worn out, finished by 
 halting. A comhat ensued between the cavalry 
 on both sides. After a number of charges received j 
 and given, the squadrons of the archduke dis- 
 persed, the larger part laid down their arms. 
 Some infantry which remained, surrendered them- 
 selves prisoners. Prince Ferdinand owed the ad- 
 vantage of saving his person to the devotion of a 
 Bab-officer, who gave him up his horse. lie gained 
 at last, with two or three thousand horse only, the 
 road to Bohemia. 
 
 Murat did not believe himself bound to follow 
 the pursuit further. He had marched three days 
 without resting ; mailing more than ten leagues a 
 day : his troops were worn out with fatigue. Pro- 
 longed, too, beyond Nuremberg, the pursuit would 
 have been carried beyond the circle of the opera- 
 tions of the army. Besides, all that remained to 
 prince Ferdinand was not worth another day's 
 march. In this memorable affair Murat took 
 12,000 prisoners, 1"20 pieces of cannon, 500 car- 
 riages, eleven stand of colours, 200 officers, seven 
 generals, and the treasure of the Austrian army. 
 He had done his part in this immortal campaign. 
 
 The plan of Napoleon was fully ami completely 
 realized. It was the 20th of October ; and in 
 twenty days, without giving battle, by a succession 
 of marches and Bome secondary combats, an army 
 
 of 80,000 men had been destroyed. There had 
 only fled in safety general Kienmayer, with 12,000 
 men ; general Jellaehieh, with 6000 or 6000 ; and 
 prince Ferdinand, with 2000 or .'5000 horse. There 
 bad been collected at Wertingen, Gtinzburg, Ilas- 
 lach, Munich, Elchingen, Memmingen, and the 
 pursuit undertaken by Murat. about 150,000 pri- 
 i ners*. There remained :i0000 that were in 
 Dim. These would make 60,000 men in all, which 
 bad been taken, with their artillery composed of 
 200 pieces sf cannon, 4((00 or 0000 hois, s very lit 
 to remount the French cavalry, all the stores of 
 the Austrian army, and eighty stand of colours. 
 
 The French army had several thousand nun 
 lamed in consequence of their forced marches, and 
 
 rcckoii'd abuUt 2000 killed and wounded. 
 ' Here i< an approximative enumeration, more reduced 
 
 than i i ii micrs. 
 
 
 
 
 Taken at V 
 
 . 
 
 
 2000 
 
 Gtinzburg 
 
 . 
 
 
 2000 
 
 Bii i.i ii 
 
 . 
 
 
 4000 
 
 Murdoh 
 
 . 
 
 
 1000 
 
 Elcbinsjsn ■ 
 
 
 
 
 Munnlngen 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 Mural'* pursuit. 
 
 I'J 
 
 01 
 
 
 TOTAZ 
 
 2U 
 
 in 
 
 
 Napoleon, secure in regard to the Russians, 
 was not annoyed at remaining four or five days 
 before Ultu, in order to give his soldiers time to 
 rest; and, above all, to rejoin their colours; be- 
 cause the last operations bad been so rapid, that a 
 certain number of them had been left in the rear. 
 '' Our emperor," they said, M has found a new mode 
 of making war ; he no more makes it with our 
 arms, but our legs." 
 
 Napoleon would not wait longer, and wished to 
 gain the three or four days which remained to run, 
 in virtue of the capitulation signed with general 
 .Mack. He made him come to him, and, by giving 
 his feelings some consolation, received from him a 
 new concession, which was the delivery up of the 
 place on the 20: h, provided Ney remained before 
 I'lm until the 2oth of October. General Mack 
 believed he had fulfilled his latest duties by para- 
 lyzing a French corps up to the eighth day. In 
 other respects, in the situation to which lie was 
 now reduced, all that was in his power was of little 
 moment. He therefore consented to leave the 
 place on the following day. 
 
 On the 20th of October, 1805— a day for ever 
 worthy of remembrance — Napoleon, standing at 
 the foot of Michelsberg, in front of Ulm, saw the 
 Austrian army file before him. He occupied an 
 elevated slope, having behind him his infantry 
 ranged in a semi circle on the turn of the heights, 
 and opposite his cavalry formed in a right line. 
 The Austrians tiled between, depositing their arms 
 at the entrance of this species of amphitheatre. 
 A gnat bivouac fire had been made, near which 
 Napoleon stood. General Mack was the first who 
 appeared and gave up his sword, saying, in the 
 accents of deep grief, " Here is the unfortunate 
 Mack !" Napoleon received him and his officers 
 with perfect courtesy, and made them stand on 
 both sides of him. The Austrian soldiers, before 
 arriving in his presence, threw down their arms 
 with an indignation honourable to them, and were 
 only turned from that feeling by the sentiment of 
 curiosity wlii. h came upon them as they approached 
 Napoleon. All seemed to devour with their eyes 
 that terrible conqueror who, for six years, had 
 submitted their colours to such painful insults. 
 
 Napoleon conversed with the Austrian officers, 
 saying to them, loud enough to be heard and un- 
 derstood by all, " 1 know not wherefore we are 
 thus engaged in war. I did not desire it ; I oidy 
 considered how to make war upon the English, 
 
 when your master thought proper to give me the 
 provocation. You see my army : 1 have in Ger- 
 man] 200,000 men. Your soldiers, prisoners, will 
 see 200,000 others, who travi rse France, to come 
 
 to the Support of the fust. 1 have no need of 
 
 them you Know it— to come here to conquer. 
 
 Your toaster should consider about peace ; other- 
 wise the fall of the house of Lorraine may very 
 soon happen. 1 do not court new ti rritoriee upon 
 
 the continent ; they are ships, colonies, and Coni- 
 ne ree that I wish tO possess ; and this ambition 
 is as profitable for J'OU as myself."' 
 
 These words, pronounced with some haughti- 
 
 ■\ere only met by silence on the part Oi the 
 
 officers, and regret to feel the reproof was merited, 
 Napoleon afterwards conversed with the best known 
 et the An hi. in generals, and for five hours re- 
 mained at this extraordinary spectacle. There
 
 32 
 
 Bonaparte's address to 
 the army. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Movements of Ville- 
 neuve. 
 
 f 1805. 
 \ October. 
 
 filed before him on tins occasion 27,000 men ; 
 from 3000 to 4000 wounded remained in Ulm. 
 
 According to his usual custom, he addressed to 
 the grand army, on the following day, a proclama- 
 tion, couched in the following terms : 
 
 " From the imperial head-quarters of Elchingen, 
 the 29th Vendemiaire, year xiv. (21st October, 1805.)" 
 
 "Soldiers of the Grand Army, 
 
 " In fifteen days we have made a campaign. 
 That which we proposed to ourselves we have ful- 
 filled. We have chased the troops of the house of 
 Austria out of Bavaria, and re-established our ally 
 in the sovereignty of his states. That army which, 
 possessing as much ostentation as imprudence, had 
 come to place itself upon our frontiers, is annihi- 
 lated. But what does that matter to England ? 
 Her end is attained — we are no longer at Bou- 
 logne ! 
 
 " Of 100,000 men which composed that army, 
 60,000 are prisoners : they shall go to replace our 
 conscripts in their rural labours. Two hundred 
 pieces of cannon, ninety colours, all the generals, 
 are in our power ; and there have not escaped of 
 that army 15,000 men. Soldiers, 1 had given you 
 expectations of a great battle ; but, thanks to the 
 bad combinations of the enemy, I have obtained 
 the same success without running any risk ; and, 
 what is without example in the history of nations, 
 so great a result has not weakened us more than 
 1500 men. 
 
 " Soldiers, that success is due to your unlimited 
 confidence in your emperor, to your patience in 
 supporting the fatigues and privations of every 
 kind, and to your unparalleled intrepidity. 
 
 "But we must not stop here : you are impatient 
 to commence a second campaign. This Russian 
 army, that the gold of England has brought from 
 the extremity of the earth, we go to make expe- 
 rience the same fate. 
 
 " It is for this new conflict more especially to 
 confer honour on the infantry. It is this which 
 has to decide for the second time the question, 
 which has already been decided in Switzerland 
 and Holland — whether the French infantry is the 
 second or first in Europe. No generals will be 
 there against whom I can have any glory to ac- 
 quire. All my care will be to obtain victory with 
 the least possible effusion of your blood. My sol- 
 diers are my children." 
 
 The day after the reduction of Ulm, Napoleon 
 departed for Augsburg, with the intention to arrive 
 upon the Inn before the Russians; to march upon 
 Vienna, as he had before resolved ; to disconcert 
 the four attacks which were directed against the 
 empire, by the single march of the grand army on 
 the capiUl of Austria. 
 
 Wherefore is it necessary, after this fortunate 
 recital, to be obliged to recount immediately any 
 which arc painful ( During the same days of Oc- 
 tober, 1805, for ever glorious for France, Provi- 
 dence inflicted upon our fleets a cruel compensation 
 to balance the victories of our armies. History, on 
 which is imposed the duty of retracing by turns 
 the triumphs and reverses of nations, and to impart 
 to posterity, curious in their regard, the emotions 
 of joy or sorrow which were experienced in the 
 times of the generation of which the existence is 
 recounted — history is bound to submit, after the 
 
 wonders of Ulm, a description of the horrible 
 scene of destruction which occurred at the very 
 same moment along the coast of Spain, in sight 
 of Cape Trafalgar. 
 
 The unfortunate Villeneuve, in sailing from 
 Ferrol, was agitated by the desire to direct his 
 course towards the Channel, in order to conform 
 himself to the grand views of Napoleon ; but was 
 driven back by an irresistible feeling towards 
 Cadiz. The intelligence that Nelson had joined 
 admirals Cornwallis and Calder, had struck him 
 with a species of dread. True in some respects, 
 because Nelson going to England had visited the 
 fleet of Cornwallis before Brest, this news was 
 false in that which was of most importance, since 
 Nelson had not remained before Brest, but had 
 made sail for Portsmouth. Admiral Calder had 
 been sent alone towards Ferrol, and he had not 
 appeared there until after the sailing of admiral 
 Villeneuve. They had gone therefore vainly the 
 one in search of the other, as often happens upon 
 the vast surface of the ocean; and Villeneuve, if he 
 had proceeded to Brest, woidd have found before 
 that port, Cornwallis alone, entirely separated from 
 Nelson and Calder. He thus missed the finest 
 of opportunities, and lost it to France. Though 
 still it is not possible to say what would have 
 been the result of that extraordinary expedition, 
 if Napoleon had found himself at the gates of 
 London, whilst the armies of Austria would have 
 been on the frontiers of the Rhine. The rapidity 
 of his blows, ordinarily quick as the thunderbolt, 
 would have solely decided, if forty days, from the 
 20th of August to the 20th of September, would 
 have sufficed to subjugate England, and to give to 
 France the two united sceptres of the sea and 
 land. 
 
 On quitting Ferrol, Villeneuve had not ventured 
 to say to general Lauriston that he was going to- 
 wards Cadiz ; but, once at sea, he no longer con- 
 cealed the disquietude of which he was the victim, 
 and which urged him to keep away from the Chan- 
 nel, and direct himself towards the extremity of the 
 Peninsula. At the strong arguments of general 
 Lauriston, who set himself to trace out to him all 
 the greatness of the designs of which he was about 
 to cause the miscarriage, he returned for a moment 
 to the navigation towards the Channel, with his 
 prow to the north-east; but the wind ahead, which 
 blew from the north-east itself, prevented his pur- 
 suing that course, and he took definitively that of 
 Cadiz, his mind tormented with a new cause of 
 fear in running the risk of the anger of Napoleon. 
 He appeared in view of Cadiz on the 20th of 
 August. An English squadron of middling strength 
 ordinarily blockaded that port. Arriving at the 
 head of the combined squadrons, he could have 
 taken the blockading force if he had suddenly pre- 
 sented himself there with his fleets united. But, 
 ever pursued by the same fears, he sent forward 
 an advanced guard to make sure that there was 
 not before Cadiz a naval force capable of giving 
 battle ; he thus alarmed the English squadron, 
 which had time to retire. Admiral Ganteaume in 
 1801, having missed the object of his expedition 
 to Egypt, at least made a capture of the Swiftsure. 
 Villeneuve had not the small consolation upon en- 
 tering Cadiz, of bringing in two or three captured 
 English vessels to make up for his useless cruise.
 
 1805. v v 
 Octobei.J 
 
 N'.ipnlcnn's anger 
 wiili Villeneuve. 
 
 ULM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 Villeneuve superseded 
 by Rosily. 
 
 33 
 
 lie naturally awaited a strong expression of 
 Nap ileon's anger, and passed some days in deep 
 despair. He was not deceived. Napoleon, on 
 [\ itig from liis aide-de-camp, Lauriston, a de- 
 tail ed report of all that had taken place, regarding 
 as an act of duplicity the language of that cha- 
 racter held upon his sailing, and as a sort of treason 
 the ignorance in which he had left Lallemaud of 
 the return of the fleet to Cadiz, which exposed this 
 last officer to present himself alone before Brest, 
 imputing above all to Villeneuve the failure of the 
 greatest design he had ever conceived, charac- 
 terized him, in presence of the minister Decres, with 
 the most violent expressions, and called him a 
 coward and a traitor. The unfortunate Villeneuve 
 was neither a coward nor a traitor. He was a good 
 sailor and a <;ood citizen, but too much discouraged 
 by the state of the French navy, and the imperfections 
 of the materiel. Frightened by the complete dis- 
 organization of the Spanish force, he saw nothing 
 but certain defeat in any encounter with the enemy; 
 and he was in perfect despair at bearing the cha- 
 racter of a vanquished man, for which Napoleon 
 necessarily destined him. He had not understood 
 sufficiently, that what Napoleon wanted was not to 
 conquer, but to be destroyed himself, provided the 
 Channel were opened. But if he understood this 
 terrible destination, he had not perhaps known 
 how to resign himself to it. We shall see that he 
 went to Cadiz to become the same sacrifice, and 
 this without any result which could shed lustre 
 upon his defeat. 
 
 Napoleon, amid the torrent of important affairs 
 that bore him along, had soon lost sight of Ville- 
 neuve and his behaviour. Still, before he set out 
 for the banks of the Danube, he took a parting 
 view of his navy, and the employment he judged 
 must suitable to give to it. Hi- ordered the separa- 
 tion of the Brest fleet, and its division into several 
 squadrons, conformable to the plan of iM. Dei res, 
 which consisted in avoiding great naval actions 
 until the navy was perfectly formed, and in the 
 mean while to undertake distant expeditions, com- 
 posed of lew vessels, difficult for the English to 
 capture, and injurious to their commerce as will 
 as advantageous lor tin- instruction of the French 
 navy. He wished besides to afford to tin- army of 
 genera] .St. Cyr, who occupied Tarentum, the sup- 
 port of th'' Cadiz Squadron and the troops which 
 
 it had embarked on board, lb- calculated that 
 
 this Beet, consisting of forty vessel*, and even of 
 
 forty-six vessels after it had been joined to the 
 squadron in Carthagena, would be predominant for 
 some time in tin- Mediterranean, as that of Bruix 
 had formerly been ; take the weak English squa- 
 dron which was stationed before Naples, and fur- 
 nish t" general St. Cyr tin- useful aid of four 
 thou- in i soldier* that it had carried to sea with it 
 before, lb- therefore ordered it to set sad from 
 Cadi/., to enter the Mediterranean, join the Car- 
 thagena division, sail immediately afterwards to 
 Tarentum, and in case either of the English aqua- 
 drona should in- found united before Cadiz, not to 
 let them blockade it, hut to go out ii lis was snpei ior 
 in numbi r, because it was better to be b eat en than 
 
 dishonoured by pusillanimous < luet. 
 
 These resolutions, taken by Napoleon under the 
 impression that In- had proof of tin- timidity of 
 Villeneuve, not sufficiently matured, and more than 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 all not sufficiently contested by the minister De- 
 cres, who did not venture to repeat that in which 
 he feared he had already gone too far, were imme- 
 diately transmitted to Cadiz. Admiral Decres did 
 not state to Villeneuve every thing that Napoleon 
 had said ; but he enumerated to him, retrenching 
 the violent expressions, the reproaches for his 
 conduct from the time of his sailing from Toulon 
 to his return to Spain, and did not dissimulate to 
 him that he had much to perforin in order to re- 
 gain the esteem of the emperor. Informing him 
 of his new destination, he ordered him to set sail, 
 and to touch successively at Carthagena, Naples, 
 and Tarentum, to execute the instructions already 
 detailed. Without ordering him to sail under all 
 circumstances, he made him acquainted with the 
 fact that the emperor wished that the French navy, 
 when the English were inferior in force, should 
 never refuse to fight. He stopped here, not ven- 
 turing to declare to Villeneuve all the truth, nor 
 to renew his arguments with the emperor to pre- 
 vent a great naval battle, which had no longer the 
 excuse of necessity. Thus all contributed their part 
 in error towards a great disaster, Napoleon his 
 anger, Decres his concealments, and Villeneuve 
 his despair. 
 
 Ready to set out for Strasburg, Napoleon gave a 
 last order to M. Decres relative to the naval ope- 
 rations. — " Your friend, Villeneuve,'' said he, " will 
 probably be too cowardly to sail from Cadiz. Send 
 admiral Rosily, who will take the command of the 
 fleet, if he is not yet gone, and order admiral Ville- 
 neuve to come to Paris to give me an account of 
 his conduct." M. Decres had not the courage to 
 announce to Villeneuve this new misfortune, which 
 deprived him of every means of restoring himself, 
 and contented himself with acquainting him of the 
 departure of Rosily, without letting him know the 
 motive l . He did not give Villeneuve the advice 
 to set sail before the arrival of admiral Rosily at 
 Cadiz, but he hoped this would be the case ; and in 
 his embarrassment, between an unfortunate friend, 
 of whom he did not forget the faults, and the i m- 
 peror, whose wishes he deemed imprudent, ne was 
 
 guilty of a too frequent mistake, in leaving things 
 to themselves instead of taking the responsibility 
 of their direction 2 . 
 
 Villeneuve, on receiving the letters of M. Decres, 
 
 guessed all which had not been communicated to 
 
 him, and WBS as unhappy as he could possibly be at 
 
 tie' reproaches which he had incurred. That 
 which most touched his feelings was the imputa- 
 
 1 This is not very raconoHsabls wilt) the ftct, that the 
 flag* of admiral Rotlly wat in the battle of Trafalgar, "The 
 French nhlp, Hetoa, H, M. Poulaln, returned to Csdls, with 
 
 her lowei m.isls in, and admiral Eloiily'i flag on board," 
 
 winie admiral Col Ingwood, after 1 1 » batile, when he could 
 not have known the name of Rotlly at that moment, in any 
 other way than by having nan tin- fla '. ami asked to whom 
 it belonged. Nothing It tald ol Rot ly liitri»eJf i but how 
 could hit flag be in the llerosi Trantlatt r. 
 
 5 Tin re has been a 1 1 1^ i oi conjectural on therantei which 
 brought aboui tin- sailing in a body of the He t from Cadis, 
 end the battle of Trafal u i 1 "'' Ii no truth In any, sava 
 ii,,, i which It hert ttstsd, Tnlt recital It borrowed Iron 
 tin- authentic eorreepoodence of Hapoiron, ami thai "f 
 Bdmlrala Deoret and VUleneuvs. linn- it mi in that sad 
 
 even I any thing, or cau.se, beyond what may he been here. 
 
 Author*! Note. 
 
 I>
 
 34 
 
 Stat- of ihc combined 
 navy. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Instructions of 
 Viileneuve. 
 
 ( 1SC5. 
 \ October. 
 
 tion of cowardice, which he well knew lie never 
 merited, and which lie believed lie saw under the 
 concealments of the minister himself, his protector 
 and friend. He replied to M. Deere- : "The 
 sailors of Paris and the departments will be very 
 unworthy and very foolish if they throw stones at 
 me. They have prepared for themselves the con- 
 demnation which, at. a later time, will come upon 
 them. Let them come on board the fleets, and see 
 with what elements they would be forced to fight ! 
 For the rest, if the French navy only wants bold- 
 ness, as they pretend, the emperor icill be soon satis- 
 fied ; he trill be able to reckon upon the most brilliant 
 success " 
 
 These bitter words contained the prognostic of that 
 which was soon to happen. Viileneuve made pre- 
 parations for sailing again, disembarked the troops 
 in order to refresh them, and the sick that they 
 might be recovered. He gave all the assistance in 
 his power to aid the means, very much im- 
 poverished in Spain, for refitting ships wanting 
 repair after being long at sea, to procure at lea^t 
 three months' provision, and to reorganize the dif- 
 ferent portions of his fleet. Admiral Graviua, by 
 his advice, got rid of bis bad vessels, changing 
 them for others that were in the arsenal of Cadiz. 
 The whole month of September was devoted to 
 these objects. The fleet gained much there as to 
 improvement of the materiel; the personal part 
 remained the same as before. The French crews 
 had acquired some considerable experience during 
 nearly eight months of navigation, and were full 
 of ardour and devoteduess. All the captains were 
 excellent officers ; but among those of inferior 
 rank, too large a number were found who had 
 been but recently engaged in commerce, not 
 having the knowledge nor the spirit of the military 
 navy. The instruction, above all. in the artillery 
 had been too much neglected. The seamen were 
 not then as able artillerists as they have become 
 in later times, for which they are indebted more 
 especially to the care now taken of that part of 
 their instruction For the service. That which was 
 wanted in the French navy, was a system of 
 tactics appropriate to the new mode of fighting 
 adopted by the English. In place of meeting in 
 battle in I wo opposite lines as was formerly the 
 case, advancing methodically , each keeping in his 
 place, and taking for his adversary the vessel that 
 was face to face in the opponent line, the English, 
 after the plan of Rodney in the American war, 
 and of Nelson in the revolutionary war, had 
 adopted the custom of advancing boldly, without 
 taking any other order than that which resulted 
 from tin; speed of the vessels, throwing themselves 
 upon the enemy, dividing him, detaching a por- 
 tion, to place it between two tires, and not to fear 
 intermingling at the risk of firing one upon the other. 
 The experience and ability of their crews, and the 
 confideii-e which they owed to success, always 
 ensured them in these bold enterprizes the advan- 
 tage over their adversaries, less agile, less confi- 
 dent, although possessed of as much bravery, often 
 more. The English had, therefore, effected at 
 sea a revolution *omewhat resembling that of Na- 
 poleon on the hind. Nelson, who bad contributed, 
 greatly to this revolution, did not possess a supe-, 
 rior universal mind, like Napoleon ; he wanted it ; 
 he was limited in the knowledge of things foreign 
 
 to his pursuit. But he had the genius of his 
 profession ; he was intelligent, resolute, and pos- 
 sessed in a very high decree the qualities de- 
 manded in offensive warfare, activity, audaciiy, 
 and a rapid glance of vision. 
 
 Viileneuve, who, endowed with mind and cou- 
 rage, had not that firmness of soul which belongs 
 to a commander-in-chief, knew perfectly in what 
 the fault of the French manner of fighting con- 
 sisted. He had written letters on the subject full 
 of sound sense to M. Decres, who was of his 
 opinion, because all seameu partook in the same. 
 But he believed it impossible to prepare new in- 
 structions under active service, and to render 
 them so familiar to his captains, that they should 
 be able to apply ihem in an encounter expected 
 to be soon at hand. He had, however, opposed 
 to the English in the battle of Ferrol, as will 
 doubtless be remembered, an unexpected manoeu- 
 vre, strongly approved by Napoleon and M. Decres. 
 Admiral Calder bore down in column on the rear 
 of his line, in order to divide it, he bad the art to 
 elude the attack with great promptitude. But, 
 once engaged in battle, he had not known how to 
 manoeuvre ; he had left idle a part of his force ; and 
 when a movement in advance executed by all the 
 line would have sufficed to retake the two Spanish 
 vessels captured, he had not dared to command it. 
 Viileneuve, however, exhibited real talent in this 
 battle, according to the judgment of Napoleon, 
 but not enough of decision for the knowledge he 
 possessed. Afterwards he gave his captains no 
 other instructions than to obey the signals which 
 le made during action, if the state of the wind 
 permitted manoeuvring, and if it did not permit 
 it, to do their best, to get ^-'o the fire and hud an 
 adversary. "They are not to await," he "said, 
 "the signal of the admiral, who in the confusion 
 of a naval battle, is not often able to hear, or see 
 what is passing, .or to give orders, or above all 
 to make them be fulfilled. Each captain ought 
 to hear nothing but the voice jf honour, and be- 
 take himselr to the post of the greatest danger. 
 Erery captain is at his post if he is in the fire.'' 
 Such were his instructions, and in other respects, 
 admiral Bruix himself, so superior to Viileneuve, 
 had addressed no others to the officers whom he 
 Commanded. If in all our great encounters at sea, 
 every captain had followed these simple rules, 
 dictated by honour as much as by experience, the 
 English would have counted fewer triumphs, or 
 would have paid more dearly for them. 
 
 That which more than all alarmed admiral 
 Viileneuve was the state of the Spanish fleet : it 
 was composed of fine and large vessels, one of 
 them in particular, the Santissima Trinidada, of 
 140 guns, was the largest which had been built in 
 Europe. But these vast warlike machines, which 
 recalled the old eclat of the Spanish monarchy 
 under Charles III., were like the Turkish ships, 
 sup»-rb *a their appearance, but useless in the 
 moment of danger. The destitution of the Spanish 
 arsenals did not allow them to refit their vessels 
 as they should have done; and in regard to the 
 crews, they exhibited desponding weakness. They 
 had manned them with people of all sorts, col- 
 . lected without selection in the maritime towns of 
 the peninsuia, having had no instruction, no ex- 
 perience of the sea, and incapable, in all respects,
 
 1805. \ 
 October. I 
 
 Villeneuve remonstrates 
 against sailing. 
 
 ULM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 Movements of 
 Nelson. 
 
 3d 
 
 of contending with the old sailers of England, al- 
 thongh ill.- generous Mood of Spain ran in their 
 veins. The officers for the most part wire no 
 !>■ tier than the men. Still among the number 
 some, as admiral Graviua, vice-admiral Alava, and 
 the captains Valdes, Churruca, and G diano, were 
 worthy i)t the tine>t times of the St anish navy. 
 
 Villeneuve, decided upon proving that lie was 
 n< -t a onward, employed (he mouth of September 
 and the first days of October in forming some 
 Bystem, and establishing some order in the amal- 
 gamation of thi' two fleets. He formed two Sipiad- 
 nnis, one of battle and one of reserve. He himself 
 took the command ot the squadron for battle, 
 composed id twenty-one vessels, and divided them 
 into ibree divisions of seven vessels each. He 
 
 had ler his direct orders the ci litre division ; 
 
 almir.il Dumanoir, whoae H ig was on board the 
 Pormidable, commanded the rear division; vice- 
 admiral Alava, whose flag wan in tin- Santa Anna, 
 commanded that of the van. The squadron of 
 re erve was composed of twelve vessels, in two 
 divisions of six each. Admiral Gravina "as the 
 coinniaiider of this squadron, and had under him, 
 to command the second division, rear-admiral 
 Ma_">i!, on board the Algesiras. It was with this 
 si|iiadron of reserve, detached from the main body 
 of the line of battle, and acting apart, that Ville- 
 neuve wished to ward off the unforeseen maiHiMM res 
 of the enemy, if' at the time the wind should per- 
 mit him to manoeuvre himself. In the contrary 
 ease, he must trust to the call of honour imposed 
 upon all his captains to get into fire. 
 
 The combined squadron was composed therefore 
 of thirty three vessels of the line, five frigates, and 
 nv.i brigs. In his impatience to set sail, Ville- 
 neuve wished to gain advantage, on the 8th of 
 Octoher (16th Vcndemi.iirc), of an east wind to 
 Come i ut of the mad, because it is necessary, in 
 order to come out of Cadiz, to have the wind 
 norih-east ami South-west Three of the Spanish 
 9 had just led the basin, and the crews 
 had emliarked there the evening before. These 
 tile Santa Anna, Bayo, and San JustO. 
 fit or not to sail with tin- fleet, tiny were in- 
 Capable of keeping their pi ice iii a line of battle. 
 This was the remark mad.- by the Spanish officers. 
 Villeneuve, in order to cover his res|ionsibility, 
 wished to call a council of war. The braver 
 officers, loth naval and military, declared that 
 they were ready to go wherever it was necessary 
 
 Kind tin- views nl the eiiljn ror Napoh nil ; hut 
 
 that to present themselves immediatel) before the 
 
 enemy, in tin- state of tin- greater pail of the 
 vessels, was. a must hazardous imprudem-e; that 
 
 the f|,i t mi sailing from the mad, having had 
 
 scarcely time to manoeuvre fir a lew hours, « 
 encounter an English (let of equal or BU|*e lor 
 force, and would infallibly he destroyed ; that it 
 
 was better to wait a more fav able occasion, 
 
 such as a separati if the English fleet, from any 
 
 Cause, and until then terminate the organisation 
 
 of the vessels which had heell the last to get 
 ready. 
 
 Villeneuve sent this result of tin- deliberations 
 
 to Paris, adding to this opinion his own, which was 
 
 contrary to lighting any great battle in tin- present 
 
 state of the tWil fled I 'lit he sent these useless 
 
 documents as if to displaj his tranquil n signal ion ; 
 
 he added, that lie had taken the resolution to sail 
 with the first cast wind that would allow him to 
 get the fleet out of the r. ads. 
 
 He waited, then fm-e, impatiently for a pro- 
 pitious moment to ipiit Cadi/, at any risk. He 
 had, in fact, before him that redoubtable Nelson, 
 whose image pursued him oyer every sea, and 
 made him fail in the most imp. riant of commis- 
 sions for fear of encountering him. Now be did 
 not fear his presence, a tin ugh that was more to 
 i he dreaded than ever, because his mind, racked 
 by despair, wished for peril, almost for defeat, to 
 prove that he had a reason Bur avoiding an en- 
 counter with the British fleet. 
 
 Nelson, alter liaving touched I'm- a moment the 
 shores of England (which he was never to see 
 again), had set sail for Cadiz. He took with him 
 one of the fleets that the Hi itish admiralty, pene- 
 trating, after two years, the design* of Napoh on, 
 had united in the Channel. He was naturally led 
 to Cadiz by the rumour which had crossed the m;i, 
 of the return of Villeneuve to the extremity of the 
 Peninsula. 
 
 Nelson had at his disposal about the same force 
 as Villeneuve, or about thirty-three or thirty-four 
 vessels, but all well experienced l » \ long cruises, 
 having over the combined Meets uf France and 
 Spain that superiority that blockading squadrons 
 have over those that are blockaded. Not doubt- 
 ing, from his preparations, of which he was exactly 
 informed hy Spanish spies, of attacking Villeneuve 
 upon his passage, he observed his movements with 
 the utmost attention, and had addressed to the 
 English officers, regarding the battle which he 
 foresaw approaching, the instructions since so 
 well-known and admired by all sailors. 
 
 He had laid down the tiianoduvre which he pre- 
 ferred, taking care to detail his motives. " To 
 place ourselves in line,"' he said, "w..uld lose too 
 
 much time, because ail the VI s-t Is would Hot be- 
 have themselves alike under sail, and then it 
 would he necessary that a fleet should regulate its 
 movements by those that sailed worst. We thus 
 give the enemy, who wishes to avoid a hattle, time 
 to escape, But i f is necessary to keep the French 
 ami Spanish fleets from i scaping on tin- present 
 occasion." Nelson supposed that Yillcncuvo had 
 been joined by Lallemand, and perhaps by the 
 division from Carthagi na, which would have made 
 a fleet of forty-six kail. He hoped himself to have 
 forty, counting those of which ihe approaching 
 arrival had heen announced ; and ihe inure nume- 
 rous his fleet should In- he was the less willing 
 to attempt to place it ill line. lie had therefore 
 
 ordered it to form iwn columns, one imme- 
 diately under his own command, ihe oilier under 
 that of vice-admiral CollillgWood, to hear briskly 
 
 down upon the enemies' hue, without observing 
 any order hut that of quickness ol sailing, to cut 
 
 tin- opponent's line in two places, in the centre and 
 Inwards the rear; to < ugnge h < iliately the por- 
 tions so cut nil', and to ile-tio\ tl " Tin- part 
 
 of the enemies' fleet which you leave out of at- 
 tack," he added, judging From numerous expe- 
 riences in late times, "will i ir up with difficulty 
 
 lo ihe aid of the portion ultackeil, and you will 
 have beaten that lielore it can arrive.'' It was 
 
 impossible to {ureses with more ngavity and just- 
 
 I such a manoeuvre. JJol-
 
 36 
 
 Villenenve sets sail 
 from Cadiz. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Nelson's fleet 
 
 descried. 
 
 f 1805. 
 \ October. 
 
 son had beforehand made the idea familiar to each 
 of his lieutenants, and he expected every moment 
 an opportunity to realize it. In order not to in- 
 timidate liis adversary too much, he had taken the 
 precaution not to hug Cadiz very closely. He 
 watched the road with simple frigates ; and as to 
 himself, he cruised with his vessels in the broad 
 mouth of the straits, tacking from east to west, far 
 from the sight of the coast. 
 
 Informed of the true state of the force of Ville- 
 neuve, who had neither been joined by Salcedo 
 nor Lallemand, Nelson did not fear to leave four 
 vessels at Gibraltar, to give one to admiral Calder 
 to go to England, he having been recalled, and to 
 send another to Gibraltar to take in water. This 
 circumstance, known at Cadiz, confirmed Ville- 
 neuve in the resolution to set sail. He had be- 
 lieved the English force more numerous, for he 
 supposed it thirty-three or thirty-four vessels, and 
 he was pleased to learn that they had not so 
 many. He supposed them even fewer than they 
 really were, that is, not more than twenty-three or 
 twenty-four Bail. 
 
 It was during these circumstances that the last 
 dispatches arriving from Paris, announced the de- 
 parture of admiral Rusily. Villeneuve was not at 
 first much affected. The idea of serving honour- 
 ably under a commander, his superior in age and 
 grade, and to conduct himself at his side as an 
 honest and valiant lieutenant, rather solaced a 
 mind already weighed down by too great a respon- 
 sibility. But admiral Rosily was already at Madrid. 
 Not any dispatch from the minister had explained 
 to Villeneuve the fate that was reserved for him 
 under the new admiral. Villeneuve soon began to 
 believe that he was deprived altogether of the 
 c mimand of the fleet, and that he would not have 
 the consolation to retrieve himself by fighting even 
 in a secondary rank in a manner to be distin- 
 guished. Pressed to preserve himself from this 
 dishonour, and profiting by the instructions which 
 authorized his setting sail, which had become even 
 a duty, when the enemy's force should be inferior, 
 he considered the advices last received as an 
 authority to move. He immediately made the 
 signal. On the 19th of October (27 Vendemiaire) 
 a weak breeze from the south-east sprung up, 
 and he sent rear-admiral Magon out of the road 
 with a division. They gave chase to a vessel and 
 some of the enemy's frigates, and that night an- 
 chored outside the road. The following day, the 
 20th of October (28 Vendemiaire), Villeneuve 
 himself sailed with all his fleet. The winds, weak 
 and variable, blew from the east. He turned his 
 bow to the south, having ahead and a little on the 
 larboard quarter the squadron of reserve under 
 admiral Gravina. The combined fleet was, as has 
 been said, thirty-three sail of the line, five frigates, 
 and two brigs. The French vessels manoeuvred 
 Well, but the Spanish badly, for the larger part. 
 
 Although they did not yet see the enemy, the 
 movements of his frigates gave reason to believe 
 lie was not far away. One vessel, the Achille, 
 terminated the suspense by discovering his fleet, 
 but only saw and signalled eighteen sail. They 
 flattered themselves that they should encounter 
 the English with a very superior force. A gleam 
 of hope beamed upon the soul of Villeneuve — it was 
 the last that shone upon his life. 
 
 He gave orders in the evening that the fleet 
 should be placed in order of battle according to its 
 speed, forming the line on the vessel which should 
 have most way under the wind, which meant that 
 each vessel should be placed after its rate of sail- 
 ing, not in its accustomed order, or should be in 
 line with that which had most ceded to the wind. 
 The breeze was variable. They had their heads 
 to the south-east, in other words towards the en- 
 trance into the Straits. All the vessels of the fleet 
 were cleared for action. 
 
 During the night there was no cessation to 
 seeing or hearing the signtVs of the English fri- 
 gates, that by lights and firing of cannon conveyed 
 to Nelson the direction of the combined fleet. At 
 bre;ik of day the wind was to the westward, 
 always weak and variable, the sea rolling, the 
 waves high, but not breaking, the sun brilliant ; 
 the enemy were seen formed in several groups, of 
 which the numbers appeared, to some two, to others 
 three. They bore down towards the French 
 fleet, and were yet at the distance of five or six 
 leagues. Instantly Villeneuve ordered the regular 
 formation of the line, each vessel keeping the 
 place which it had taken during the night, but 
 closing as near as possible to its neighbour, and 
 being on the starboard tack, by which disposition 
 the wind was received upon the right; which was 
 natural, when the wind was in the west to sail to- 
 wards the south-east from Cadiz to the Straits. 
 The line was badly formed. The waves ran high, 
 the breeze was weak, and they manoeuvred with 
 difficulty; circumstances which made more to be 
 regretted the inexperience of a part of the crews. 
 
 The squadron of reserve, composed of twelve 
 vessels, sailed independently of the main body of 
 the fleet. It had constantly kept above it in the 
 direction of the wind, which was an advantage, 
 because by dropping to leeward, it was always able 
 to join the main body in taking the position which 
 might be found most convenient, as for example, 
 to place the enemy between two fires when he 
 should be occupied in fighting. If the creation of 
 a squadron of reserve had a useful motive, it was 
 no doubt under the circumstances in which it was 
 now placed. Admiral Gravina, whose mind w;is 
 prompt and correct in the middle of action, made 
 the signal to Villeneuve to be allowed to manoeuvre 
 in an independent manner. Villeneuve refused, on 
 what ground it is difficult to comprehend. Perhaps 
 he feared that the squadron of reserve was com- 
 promised by its advanced position, and he despaired 
 of having power to go to its succour, seeing that 
 he was placed to leeward. Yet this reason was 
 not sufficient; because if he was not certain of being 
 able to go to it, he was always sure of the power of 
 bringing it down upon himself. In making it 
 enter immediately into line he deprived himself 
 without return of a moveable detachment very use- 
 fully placed for manoeuvring. He lengthened his 
 line too much without advantage, already too long 
 when it consisted of twenty-one vessels, and this 
 extended it to thirty-three. Nevertheless, he en- 
 joined it open admiral Gravina to come and join 
 the principal line. The signals were visible to the 
 whole fleet. Rear-admiral Magon, who was not 
 leas happily endowed than admiral Gravina, per- 
 ceiving the signals on the masts of the two admirals, 
 the demand and reply, exclaimed that it was a fault,
 
 1805. 
 October 
 
 I 
 
 Formation of the 
 comuiued fleet. 
 
 ULM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 Strength of both 
 fleets. 
 
 37 
 
 and expressed li is chagrin in a manner to be cora- 
 prehendt'd by the whole of his officers. 
 
 About half-past eight, the intention of the en my 
 became more manifest. The different groups of 
 the English fleet, less difficult to discern as they 
 came nearer, appeared now to form only two. 
 They revealed distinctly the plan of Nelson, to cut 
 the French line into two parts. They came down 
 with all their sails displayed, the wind aft, highly 
 favoured in their design to throw themselves 
 across the French line of sailing, since with the 
 wind westerly they came down upon a Ion;; line 
 formed from north to south, inclined a little to 
 the east. The first column, placed to the north of 
 the French line, consisted of twelve vessels com- 
 manded by Nelson, threatening the French rear. 
 The second placed to the southward, fifteen vessels 
 strong, commanded by admiral Collingwood, me- 
 naced the French centre. Villeneuve, from that 
 instinctive feeling which always directs itself to 
 secure the party in danger, wishing to proceed to 
 the aid of his rear- guard, and to maintain at the 
 same time his communication with Cadiz, which 
 was astern of him to the northward, in case of 
 defeat to have a refuge assured there, made the 
 signal to tack all at once, each vessel by this 
 means turning on itself ; the line remained as it 
 was before, long and straight, but ascending 
 towards the north, in place of descending towards 
 the south. 
 
 This movement c>nld have had no other ad- 
 vantage than that of approaching more towards 
 Cadiz. The French fleet ascending in a column 
 northwards, in place of descending towards the 
 south, might have been encountered in different 
 points, but always could be encountered by the two 
 columns of the enemy which had come to take 
 them athwart ship. The independent position to 
 windward, which had been a little before that of the 
 squadron of reserve, was now more than ever to 
 be regretted — a position that would have per- 
 mitted it at that moment to manoeuvre against one 
 of the two groups of the English fleet. In the 
 existing state of things, all that it was practicable 
 to do was to keep the line close and regular, and 
 ;is much as possible to recall to their p..sts the 
 vessels, which having dropped to leeward, left void 
 ■paces between, through which the enemy might 
 be able to pai 
 
 But to replace in the line vessels that had fallen 
 to I ward was not very easy, above all, in the 
 state of the wind ami with the inexperience of the 
 
 They could have dropped to leeward alto- 
 gether, iii order to form 'he line upon the vessels 
 
 that had fallen before tin- wind ; but that would 
 
 have occasioned a general displacement, and per- 
 haps have caused fresh irregularities, greater than 
 
 thoM which they wished to correct. It Was Hot 
 
 thought advantageous to do this. The line tie ri - 
 fore remained badly formed, the distance not 
 being equal between all the vessels ■ several being 
 
 to the nght or astern of their proper posts. 'I'll,; 
 variable breeze, having acted most upon the rear 
 ami on the centre had produced a little crowding 
 
 together in those parts. Villeneuve had ordered 
 
 the ships there te crowd all tail .head, in order to 
 give to the parts crowded tin- means of disengaging, 
 lb- thus multiplied thfl signals, to bring each into 
 bis place ; but with little success, in despite of the 
 
 good will and obedience of all. The frigates 
 ranged on the right and to leeward of the si(iia- 
 dr. 11, each at the height of its admiral's vessel, 
 were a little too far to render other services than 
 the repetition of signals. 
 
 Finally, towards eleven o'clock, the two hostile 
 columns, advancing with the wind astern, and all 
 sails set, came down upon the French fleet. They 
 sailed according to their speed, with the sole pre- 
 caution to place at their head their three-decked 
 ships. They reckoned seven, and we only four. 
 Unfortunately, the Spaniards were less capable of 
 rendering their superiority useful. Thus, although 
 the English had twenty-seven vessels and the 
 French thirty-three, they possessed the same num- 
 ber of cannon, and on that account an equal force 1 . 
 They had on their side the experience of the sea, 
 the habit of conquering, a great commander, and 
 even on that day the favour of fortune, since the 
 advantage of the wind was on their side. The 
 French wanted all the contributions to success ; 
 but they had one virtue which is sometimes able 
 to charm destiny itself— the resolution to fight to 
 the last of life. 
 
 The fleets arrived at cannon-shot distance. 
 Villeneuve, through a precaution often ordered at 
 sea, but very little used now, had commanded that 
 they should not fire until the English were within 
 a just range 2 . The English columns presented a 
 great accumulation of vessels, and each shot would 
 have caused them numerous casualties. However 
 that may have been, about noon, the southern 
 
 1 M. Thiers must have had the means at hi? disposal of 
 knowing the truth. The number of guns was not equal in 
 the two fleets, as he asserts. The French and Spaniards 
 received the Hritish in a crescent line, rou vexing o leeward, 
 and their slops were intermingled in that line, without any 
 regard to the difference of the two nations. First, as lo 
 guns, the combined fleets had, reckoning line of battle ships 
 alime, 2S6i guns ; the English, 2i(;s : difference Sflfl ! How 
 is the veracity of the historian to be supported, under such 
 errors? To recapitula e. The French and Spaina ds had 
 tour ships of 100 guns and upwards, six of SO, and twenty- 
 two of 7i nuns. The English had three of mo guns and 
 upwards, four of 98. one of 80, sixteen of 7-1, and three of 
 lit. Tins proves how exceedingly louse the observation is, 
 that the Eng ish "jMMSWSd Hie same number of cannun, and 
 mi that account an equal farce." 
 
 In enumerating the fleet, If. 'liners makrs otner errors, 
 s the combined fleet! were thirty-three sail of the 
 line-, live frigates, and two brigs. This is not very import- 
 ant, li I thai as accuracy is, according to M. Thiers, tic 
 duty of an historian, lie should at least give the example, 
 as far as the frailty of authorship will admit. Now we make 
 out the coinhiied trader force that day, to be, live French 
 means of 40 guns each; viz. the llcrmionc, ilortense, 
 Cornel e, I hames, and It. h in ; the l'crrcle 18. Argus Hi, 
 and ObservstrUI 16. Then of the Spaniaids, the flora fri- 
 gate II, and ihe Mcrcuiio 24. 'lie English had the frigates 
 
 Blriua M, Naiad W, PhcsbeM, Buryalua 20, Bntrtprsnants 
 
 cutter 10, and Fickle schooner 10. Ihre are .118 guns in 
 ttic tenders, or lidei dec amp of the combined licet, to 104 
 among the l.nglish! Translator. 
 
 * Villeneuve act' d correctly: a random shot was fired 
 now and then from the combined fleets, to a 01 it.iin the 
 range an the headmost ships of the aitai k came do* n. The 
 cite, i was severs enough In the English m »,)» in Nelson's 
 
 own ship, 100 men out of I II killed and wounded on board, 
 were struck bef re the Victory tired n gun it w s n,. 
 wiih the It, ,yal Sovereign. 'Ihe lire Ol ihe combimd fleet 
 MnpSTStlVSly never ell, , live afterwards. Tiantlal^r.
 
 38 
 
 Engagement of 
 the fleets. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND ExMPIRE- 
 
 Proceedings of Nel- 
 son's column. 
 
 f 1805. 
 \ October. 
 
 column, commanded by admiral Collingwood, 
 somewhat advanced before that of the north, 
 commanded by Nelson, reached the middle of the 
 French line, at the point where the Santa Anna, a 
 Spanish vessel of three decks, was stationed. The 
 French vessel the Fougueux, placed astern of the 
 Santa Anna, quickly opened her fire upon the 
 Royal Sovereign, the vessel at the head of the 
 English column, having 120 guns 1 , and Carry- 
 ing the flag of admiral Collingwood. All the 
 French line, followed the example, and directed a 
 heavy fire upon the enemy's squadron. The injury 
 thus inflicted gave reason to regret that the firing 
 had commenced so late. The Royal Sovereign 
 continued her course, and endeavoured to pene- 
 trate between the Santa Anna and Fougueux, which 
 were not close enough together, in order to pass 
 between those vessels. The Fougueux carried all 
 sail, in order to fill up the void space ; but could 
 not get forward in time. The Royal Sovereign, 
 passing astern of the Santa Anna and ahead of the 
 Fougueux, sent her larboard broadside into the 
 Santa Anna, loaded with a double charge of ball 
 and grape-shot, which, raking her whole length, 
 produced great havoc in the Spanish vessel. She 
 sent, at the same moment, her starboard broadside 
 into the Fougueux, but without any great effect, 
 while she herself received in return considerable 
 injury. The other English vessels of this column, 
 that had followed close after their admiral, fell 
 upon the French line from the north to the south, 
 endeavouring to break it, enter into the inter- 
 vals, and place it between two tires, by proceed- 
 ing themselves towards its extremity. They were 
 fifteen in number, engaged against sixteen. If, 
 therefore, each had fulfilled its duty, sixteen 
 French and Spanish vessels ought to have held 
 out against fifteen English, independently of any 
 succour from the van of their line. But several 
 vessels, badly managed, had already fallen out of 
 their position. The Bahama, Montanez, and Ar- 
 gonauta, all Spanish, were on the right, or astern 
 of the places which they should have occupied in 
 the line of battle. The Argonaute, a French ves- 
 sel, followed no better example. On the contrary, 
 the Fougueux, Pluton, and Algesiras, engaged in 
 the contest with wonderful vigour, and, by their 
 energy, drew upon themselves the greater number 
 of the enemy's vessels, in such a manner that each 
 had several to tight at once. The Algesiras parti- 
 cularly, which bore the flag of admiral Magon, was 
 singly engaged with the Tonnant, which it cannon- 
 aded with great fury, and made preparations to 
 board. The Prince of Asturias, commanded by 
 admiral Gravina, terminated the line of the com- 
 bined fleet, and, surrounded by enemies, avenged 
 the honour of the Spanish flag for the bad conduct 
 of others of his compatriots. 
 
 There had been scarcely the lapse of half an 
 hour from the commencement of the engagement; 
 and already the smoke, which the expiring breeze 
 no longer cleared away, completely enveloped both 
 friends and foes. From amid this dense cloud 
 there issued terrible and continuous thunders ; and 
 all around the fleets floated the wrecks of masts, 
 and numbers of human bodies horribly mutilated. 
 
 The northern column, commanded by Nelson, 
 
 'Only 110. Translator. 
 
 arrived twenty or thirty minutes at the French 
 line after that of Collingwood, about the centre, 
 and across the Bucentaure. There were here seven 
 vessels, ranged in the following order : the San- 
 tissima Trinidada, with the flag of admiral Cisne- 
 ros, immediately after the Bucentaure with the flag 
 of admiral Villeneuve, both in line, and so close 
 that the bowsprit of the second touched the stern 
 of the other; the Neptune, a French vessel, the 
 San Leandro, a Spanish ship, both fallen to lee- 
 ward, having left a double vacancy in the line; 
 the Redoubtable, correct in its position and in 
 the wake of the Bucentaure, but placed in regard to 
 that ship at the distance of two vessels apart ; 
 finally, the San Justo and Indomptable, fallen to 
 leeward, leaving two places again vacant between 
 that group and the Santa Anna, which was the 
 first of the group attacked by Collingwood. Of 
 these seven vessels there were therefore ill line 
 only the Santissnna Trinidada and the Bucentaure, 
 that were close to each other, and the Redoubtable, 
 having two places vacant ahead and two astern. 
 Fortunately, not for the success of the battle, but 
 for the honour of the French arms, there were 
 men present whose courage was superior to every 
 danger. It was against these three ships— the 
 only ones that remained at their post of the seven 
 — that the entire of Nelson's column bore upon, 
 composed of twelve vessels, of which several \>ere 
 of three decks. 
 
 The Victory, which bore the flag of Nelson, was 
 to be preceded by the Te'meraire. The English 
 officers, expecting to see the leading vessel bear 
 the brunt of the attack, requested Nelson to permit 
 the Te'me'raire to precede the Victory, in order not 
 to expose a life so valuable as his own. " I am 
 perfectly willing that the Teme'raire shall lead," 
 replied Nelson, " if she can." He spread every 
 sail in the Victory, and thus continued at the head 
 of his column. Scarcely had the Victory arrived 
 within cannon shot, than the Santissima Trinidada, 
 the Bucentaure, and Redoubtable, opened upon 
 her a terrible cannonade. In a few minutes they 
 shot away one of her top-masts, damaged her 
 rigging, and killed and wounded fifty men. Nelson, 
 who sought for the French admiral, discovered 
 he had found him not in the great Spaniard, the 
 Santissima Trinidada, but in the Bucentaure, a 
 French vessel of eighty guns, and he endeavoured 
 to turn that vessel by passing through the interval 
 which separated it from the Redoubtable. But an 
 intrepid officer, captain Lucas, commanded the 
 Redoubtable: comprehending Nelson's intention by 
 the direction of his vessel, he had spread all his sail 
 to receive the least breath of wind, and had been 
 fortunate enough to arrive in time, so that with 
 his bowsprit he struck and broke the crownwork 
 which ornamented he stern of the Bucentaure. 
 Nelson found the space closed. He was not the 
 man to retreat. He stood on, and not being able 
 with his fire to separate the two vessels so firmly 
 united, he suffered his ship to fall alongside of the 
 Redoubtable. By the shock and a remnant of 
 wind they were borne out of the line, and the way 
 was opened anew astern of the Bucentaure. Seve- 
 ral English vessels came in at once, in order to 
 attack the Santissima Trinidada and Bucentaure. 
 Others ascended along the French line, in which 
 ten vessels remained without opponents; they fired
 
 1305. \ 
 October. J 
 
 Nelson mortally 
 wounded. 
 
 ULM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 The Redoubtable 
 strikes her Hag. 
 
 29 
 
 several broadsides at them, and immediately 
 Attacked the French vessels in the centre, of which 
 three opposed to them the most heroic resist- 
 ance. 
 
 The ten French vessels in the rear became 
 nearly useless, as Nelson had foreseen they would. 
 Vilk'iieuve hoisted at his foremast and mizen the 
 signal that every captain was not at his post who 
 was not in the fire. The frigates, according to 
 regulations, repeated the signal, which was more 
 visible on their masts than on those of the admiral, 
 c iiitinually enveloped in a cloud of smoke ; and 
 according to the regulations they added to the 
 signals the number of the vessels remaining out 
 of fire* until those which were designated answered 
 to the eail of honour. 
 
 While they thus called into danger those whom 
 the manoeuvre of Nelson had kept aloof from it, 
 an unexampled Btruggle was taking place in the 
 cemre. The Redoubtable had, besides the Vic- 
 tory on her larboard side, to contend with the 
 TemeVaire, which had placed itself a little astern 
 on the starboard -side, and to sustain against these 
 two enemies a furious contest. Captain Lucas, 
 after giving several broadsides from the larboard 
 side ol his vessel, which made a fearful ravage 
 in the Victory, was obliged to cease firing with 
 h'S lower deck guns, because at this part the con- 
 vex sides of the Vessel touched, and there was 
 no more the means of running them out. He 
 had sent his seamen thus disposable, into the 
 shrouds and tops, to pour upon the deck of the 
 Vet ry a heavy fire of grenades and musketry. 
 In the meanwhile he directed his starboard bat- 
 teries against the TemeVaire at some little distance. 
 To finish his combat with the Victory, he ordered 
 her to be board d, but his vessel had only two 
 decks and the Victory had three. He had the 
 height of a deck to ascend over, and a species of 
 void distance to pass from one ship to the other 
 where they r ceded, although they touched at the 
 water line. Captain Luc;is then ordered yards 
 to be laid, to form a means of passage between his 
 I and the Victory. During this time the fire 
 of musketry c ntiuued from the masts and shrouds 
 iif the R il ibtable upon the deck of the Victory. 
 Nekton, 'li-i -i'i| in an old frock coat which he had 
 worn in hi days of battle, having at his side his 
 flag-captain Hardy, was not willing Ui abandon 
 his post for a moment. Already his secretary 
 had been killed at his side, captain Hardy had 
 had one of the buckles of hi-, shoi s torn away, and 
 
 a bar shot had killed eight seamen al once. This 
 great seaman, the just object of French hatred 
 ami admiration, impassive upon his quarter-deck, 
 observing thi-. horrible se< in-, when B ball. 
 Bred from the top »f tlifl Redunbtajtle struck him 
 
 on the left Shoulder and fixed itself in his loins. 
 Dropping OH his kue -s, he fell upon the di ck, 
 
 endeavouring to sustain himself on hia ons hand. 
 In (ailing he said to his Bug-captain, " H.n-dy, the 
 
 French have done for lie .'' " Not yet," replied 
 captain Hardy. " Yes, I shall die," added Nelson. 
 
 They carried him to tie plaoe where ihe wounded 
 were taken, but In had rn-arlj lost all sensibility ; 
 there only remained a few boms for him to live. 
 Kevivmg at intervals, he inquired the state "t 
 the battle, and repeated advice, the profound 
 
 foresight of which was soon fully proved. " An- 
 
 l 
 
 chor," said he, " anchor the fleet at the close of 
 the action." 
 
 His death produced a singular sensation on 
 board the Victory '. The moment was favourable 
 for boarding. Ignorant of what passed there, the 
 brave Lucas at the head of a troop of chosen sea- 
 men was already mounted on the yards laid across 
 the two vessels, when the Teineraire, never ceas- 
 ing to second the Victory, fired a terrible broad- 
 side of grape, before which near 200 French fell 
 killed or wounded. There fell nearly all of those 
 who were ready to board. There no longer re- 
 mained hands enough to persist in the attempt. 
 They returned to the starboard batteries, and 
 redoubled against the TemeVaire an avenging fire, 
 which dismasted and horribly cut her up. But 
 as if it did not suffice to have two vessels of 
 three decks to combat one of two, a new vessel 
 joined to crush the Redoubtable. The English 
 ship the Neptune, taking her athwart the stern, 
 fired into her broadsides that soon reduced her to 
 a most deplorable state. Two of the masts of the 
 Redoubtable had fallen on the deck ; a part of her 
 artillery was dismounted ; one of her sides nearly 
 demolished seemed but one large port-hole, the 
 helm was rendered useless, many shot holes be- 
 tween wind and water introduced torrents into 
 the hold, all the commissioned officers were 
 wounded, ten midshipmen out of eleven were killed. 
 Of a crew of G40, there were 522 struck down, 300 
 being killed, and 222 wounded. In such a state 
 as this, the heroic vessel could do no more in her 
 defence. She struck her colours ; but before she 
 struck, she had avenged upon the person of Nelson 
 the misfortunes of the French navy. 
 
 The Victory and Redoubtable, having been 
 forced out of the line in falling on board each 
 other, it was open to the enemies' vessels that 
 endeavoured to overwhelm the Bucentaure and 
 Sontissima Trinidada. These two ships kept them- 
 selves strongly united one to the other, the bow- 
 sprit of the Bucentaure being entangled in the 
 stern gallery of the Santissima Trinidada. Beyond 
 both these was the HeVos a-head, the nearest of 
 the ten vessels in action, that had at first given 
 them some aid, but after having sustained a heavy 
 cannonade, she had fallen to Leeward, and aban- 
 doned the Santissima Trinidada and the Bucen- 
 taure to their unhappy fate. The lhicetitaure, at 
 the commencement of the battle, had received 
 
 several broadsides from the Victory, which raking 
 her by the stern, had caused her much damage. 
 Soon afterwards several English vessels replaced 
 the Victory and surrounded her. Some placed 
 
 themselves about the stem, the others doubling 
 
 the line, placed theinsi -Ives on In r starboard side. 
 She was thus fired upon as'i rn and starboard by 
 
 1 It need not be remarked how imorrect this Blatcim nt 
 is, to those .< ho aie familiar with the (dOtt, fniiPi > lie ih-'ails 
 of iiuiiiernu-. wlUlSStei of the coiitesi, who win- in lie- \ It 
 tory. Hue tl.e author ens exceedingly The battle WS1 
 omt when Nelson expired N" igltal Oil ".'is OaUaed in the 
 
 Vnt ry, favourable in boarding i ■ [aged amldal a Ibtck 
 imoke, between <icrks, In lbs fun of tli« battle, the great! i 
 part of lis era* iini i'"i svea know Nelm n wa< wounded, 
 
 until th- tire uliicki -ncil, ami tin- Redoubtable had striuk. 
 
 The English »a ior» at ibedr k'oon, dot not nop to cultivate 
 
 III at men a moment that were favourable to an 
 ■neniy'e boarders, '/'innsiuiur.
 
 40 
 
 Shattered state of the 
 Bucentaure. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Villeneuve sur- 
 renders. 
 
 f 1805. 
 1 October. 
 
 four vessels, of which two were of three decks. 
 Villeneuve, as firm in the midst of the bullets as 
 he was indecisive under the torments of his com- 
 mand, remained on the quarter-deck, hoping, that 
 among so many French and Spanish vessels that 
 surrounded him, some one would detach itself to 
 succour its chief. He fought with extreme re- 
 solution, and not without some hope. Having no 
 enemies on the larboard side, but several astern 
 and to starboard, in consequence of an English 
 movement made in passing within the line, he 
 wished to change his position, in order to secure 
 his stern as well as his starboard batteries, which 
 were mucli injured, and to turn his larboard guns 
 upon the enemy. But entangled by his bowsprit 
 in the gallery of the Santissima Trinidada, he was 
 unable to move. He ordered, by sliouting to the 
 Santissima Trinidada, that she should fall to 
 leeward, to separate the two vessels ; but she was 
 unable to move, for being deprived of her masts, 
 she was reduced to a state of complete immobility. 
 
 The Buontaure, nailed to her station, was thus 
 obliged to sustain a crushing fire, both astern and 
 on her starboard side, without being able to use 
 her larboard batteries. Still sustaining nobly the 
 honour of the Hag, she answered it by a fire as 
 heavy as that which she endured. After an 
 hour's engagement, the flag-captain, Magendie, was 
 wounded, lieutenant Daudignon, who had r placed 
 him, was wounded also, and in his turn replaced 
 by lieutenant Fournier. The main and mizen 
 masts soon tell upon the deck, and produced there 
 a scene of fearful disorder. The flag was then 
 hoisted on the foremast. Buried in a dense cloud 
 of smoke, the admiral could no longer distinguish 
 what was passing among the rest of the fleet. 
 Perceiving, by favour of a momentary clearing of 
 the smoke, that the vessels ahead remained im- 
 moveable, he ordered them, by hoisting signals on 
 the mast that remained, to come about and carry 
 themselves into fire. Enveloped anew in the 
 murderous ch>ud of smoke and flame, which 
 vomited destruction and death, he continued the 
 combat, foreseeing that he must, in a few moments, 
 abandon his own vessel to go and fulfil his duty 
 in some other. Towards three o'clock his third 
 mast fell, and the deck was now completely en- 
 cumbered with wreck. 
 
 The Bucentaure, with her starboard side shat- 
 tered, her stern demolished, her masts gone, was 
 levelled like a raft. " My character in the Bucen- 
 taure is finished!" exclaimed the unfortunate Ville- 
 neuve ; •' I will go and try to invoke Fortune in 
 another ! " He then wished to get into a boat to 
 reach the vanguard, in order to bring it himself 
 into action. But the boats that were on board 
 the Bucentaure had been crushed to pieces by 
 the successive fall of the masts and rigging. 
 Those which were at the bow had been riddled 
 by bullets. They hailed the Santissima Trinidada 
 with their voices, to request a means of embark- 
 ing him — vain efforts. In the midst of such con- 
 fusion, no human voice could be heard ! The 
 French admiral saw himself attached to the mere 
 corpse of his ship, which was ready to sink, unable 
 longer to issue a command, or to attempt anything 
 to save the fleet confided to his trust. The Hor- 
 tense frigate, which should have come to his aid, 
 made no movement, either being prevented by the 
 
 wind, or terrified at sight of so horrible a spec- 
 tacle. Nothing remained to the admiral but to 
 die, and more than once he felt that desire. His 
 chief officer, M. de Prigny, was wounded by his 
 side. Nearly the whole of his crew were killed or 
 wounded. The Bucentaure, deprived of masts, 
 riddled with balls, no longer able to work its 
 batteries, which were dismounted and obstructed 
 by the wreck of the rigging, had not even the 
 cruel satisfaction to return one of the shots it re- 
 ceived. It was a quarter past five o'clock ; no 
 succour arrived, and the admiral was obliged to 
 strike his flag. An English boat came for him, 
 to conduct him on board the Mars. He was re- 
 ceived there with all the respect due to his rank, his 
 misfortunes, and his bravery — a feeble reparation 
 for so much misery ! He had at last found that 
 disaster which at times he feared to encounter in 
 the West Indies, and at others in the Channel. 
 He met it at Cadiz, on the spot where he expected 
 to avoid it ; and he succumbed under it without 
 the consolation of perishing in the accomplishment 
 of a great design. 
 
 During the action, the Santissima Trinidada, 
 surrounded by enemies, was taken. Thus of seven 
 vessels attacked by Nelson's column, three, the 
 Redoubtable, Bucentaure, and Santissima Trini- 
 dada, had been crippled without being succoured 
 by the four others, the Neptune, San Leandio, 
 San Jnsto, and the Indomptable. These last, fallen 
 to leeward at the commencement of the action, 
 had not been able to return into it. They had 
 no other means to be useful than to d?sceud 
 in the line, under the feeble breeze which con- 
 tinued to blow from the west, and to go into action 
 with the sixteen vessels attacked by admiral Col- 
 lingwood. One alone, the Neptune, commanded 
 by a good officer, captain Maistral, executed this 
 movement, keeping himself always in the place of 
 danger. He sent successive broadsides into the 
 Victory and the Royal Sovereign, and attempted 
 to carry some aid to the rear-guard, engaged with 
 Collinsjwood's column The three others, the San 
 Leandio, the San Justo, and Indomptable, suffered 
 themselves to be carried by the expiring breezes 
 far from the place of battle. 
 
 Still there remained the ten vessels in the van 
 of the line, that, having exchanged some shots with 
 the column of Nelson, remained without opponents. 
 The signal which called them to the post of 
 honour, had found them either already to leeward, 
 or nearly reduced to immobility by the weakness 
 of the breeze. The Heros, placed nearest the 
 centre, after having sustained, as has been shown, 
 her two neighbours, the Bucentaure and San- 
 tissima Trinidada, was carried to the leeward by 
 the light wind which yet prevailed, and unfor- 
 tunately gave her no impulsion, except to carry 
 her afar from the battle. Blood at least had flown 
 on the deck of that vessel; but her valiant captain, 
 Poulain, killed at the commencerrent, had taken 
 with him the spirit that animated him. The San 
 Augustino, placed above the Heros, having lost 
 her post early, was pursued and taken by the 
 English who had captured the Bucentaure. The 
 San Francisco fared no better. In proceeding 
 with this vanguard, there came successively the 
 Mont-Blanc, Duguay-Trouin, Formidable, Rayo, 
 Intrepid, Scipion, and Neptune. Rear-admiral
 
 1805. \ 
 October, i 
 
 Escape of admiral 
 Dumanoir. 
 
 ULM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 Gallant conduct of 
 the Pluton. 
 
 41 
 
 Dumanoir had repeated the signal to go about in 
 order to bear down to the centre. The greater 
 number remained motionless, for want of knowing 
 how to manoeuvre, the lack of will, or of power. 
 At least there were only four that obeyed the 
 sign;il of the chief of the division, and by the help 
 of their boats, turned their heads to wear. These 
 were the Mont-Blanc, Scipion, Duguay-Trouin, 
 and Formidable. Rear-admiral Dumanoir had or- 
 dered a good manoeuvre to be performed. This 
 was. in place of going about with the wind astern, 
 which would cany them within the line, to go 
 about with the wind a-head, which would, on the 
 contrary, carry them without it, and give them the 
 means, by only dropping to leeward, of joining in 
 the fray where they might judge it most useful. 
 
 Bear admiral Dumanoir, in the Formidable that 
 bore his flag, and that had acquired so much glory 
 at Algesiras, with the Scipion, Duguay-Trouin, 
 and Mont Blanc, set sail, therefore, descending 
 from north to south, along the line of battle. He 
 was able, at the point to which he should be car- 
 ried, to place the English between two fires. But 
 it was then late ; three o'clock at least. He per- 
 ceived every where the disaster consummated, and 
 without the resolution to bury himself in the mis- 
 fortune common to the French fleet, lie found good 
 reasons not to enter irrecoverably into the battle. 
 Arrived opposite the centre, he saw the Bucen- 
 taure a prize to the foe, the Santissima Trinidada 
 captured, the Redoubtable taken a good while 
 before, and the English, although roughly handled 
 themselves, pursuing the vessels which had fallen 
 to leeward. During his passage he received a 
 heavy fire, which damaged his four vessels and 
 weakened iheir means of engaging. Hotly re- 
 ceived by the victorious column of Nelson, and 
 seeing no friend whom he could aid, be continued 
 his course and arrived at the rear, where the six- 
 teen Spanish and French vessels were engaged 
 with the column of Collingwood. There, by de- 
 voting himself to the object, he could have saved 
 several vessels, or added a glorious death to those 
 which were to console the French under their 
 great defeat. Discouraged by the fire which had 
 damaged his division, consulting prudence before 
 despair, he did nothing '. Treated by fortune as 
 Villenciivi- had been, lis was soon, from his desire 
 to avoid a glorious disaster, to encounter elsewhere 
 one that was utterly useless. 
 
 At this extremity of the line, which had been first 
 engaged with the column of Collingwood, all the 
 French vessels, one alone excepted, the Argo- 
 naute, fought with a courage worthy of imperish- 
 able renown ; and in regard to the Spanish vessels, 
 two, the Santa Anna and Prince de Asturias, 
 seconded bravely this conduct of their friends. 
 
 After S Contest Of two hours, the Santa Anna, 
 which w;ts the first of the rear-guard, having lost 
 
 all her masts, and rendered to the Royal Sovereign 
 
 1 To the everlasting dingraec of admiral Dumanoir, while 
 his couiilr>mcn fought »»li I gallantry the more hemic, 
 because it was bit to be hopeless, and the slaughter in tin it 
 ■hips wait horrible, he had the barbarity to lir<- into hiendl 
 and foe* alike, ai he patted down tov.ircli the rear — upon 
 tiir BentlMlma Trinidada, and otbti unoffending prtaat Is 
 
 particular that UU helplcM, Incapable of opposition, Of of 
 fighting, by which numbers on hoard were killed even of the 
 wounded ftnong hi» own friends. Translator. 
 
 almost as much injury as she had received, struck 
 her colours. Vice-admiral Alava, seriously wound- 
 ed, conducted himself nobly. The Fongueux, the 
 vessel nearest to the Santa Anna, after having 
 made great efforts to succour that ship by hinder- 
 ing the Royal Sovereign from forcing the line, had 
 been abandoned by the Monarca, the vessel astern 
 of her. Then being turned and assailed by two 
 English vessels, the Fougueux had disabled both 
 the one and the other. Engaged broadside to 
 broadside with the Tdmeraire, site had to repulse 
 several attempts at being boarded, and of 700 men 
 had lost above 400. Captain Baudouin, who com- 
 manded her, having been killed, lieutenant Bazin 
 immediately replaced him, and resisted as valiantly 
 as his predecessor the assaults of the English, who 
 still returned to the charge and carried the lore- 
 castle. The brave Bazin, wounded and covered 
 with blood, having but a few men left around him, 
 and reduced to the possession of his quarter-deck 
 alone, then saw himself compelled to surrender 
 the Fougueux, after the most glorious resistance. 
 
 Astern of the Fougueux, in the place abandoned 
 by the Monarca, was the French vessel, the Plu- 
 ton, commanded by captain Cosmao, and managed 
 with as much boldness as dexterity. He had 
 hastened to fill up the place the Monarca had va- 
 cated; stopped short an enemy's vessel, the Mars, 
 which had endeavoured to pass through; riddled 
 her with bis cannon, and was about to take her by 
 boarding, when a vessel with three decks came and 
 was about to rake him in turn. He escaped with 
 adroitness from this new adversary, and showing 
 his ship's broadside in place of the stern, having 
 avoided the enemy's fire, gave him several mur- 
 derous broadsides. Returning to his first enemy, 
 and knowing how to get the advantage of the wind, 
 he succeeded in raking him, in carrying away 
 two of his masts, and in placing him hors de com- 
 bat. Disembarrassed of bis two assailants, the 
 Pluton endeavoured to go to the succour of the 
 French ships that were overborne by numbers, 
 thanks to the retreat of the vessels unfaithful to 
 their duty. 
 
 Abaft the Pluton the Algesiras, having the flag 
 of rear-admiral Magon, fought in a manner worthy 
 of that exhibited by the Redoubtable, and fully as 
 sanguinary. Rear-admiral Magon, born in the 
 Isle of France, of a St. Malo family, was yet 
 young, and as handsome as he was brave. At the 
 commencement of the action be had assembled 
 his crew, and promised to give to the seaman who 
 
 first boarded nn enemy a superb belt, which had 
 been presented to bun by the Philippine company. 
 All wished to receive from his hands such a re- 
 compi use. Behaving himself as the commanders 
 
 of the Redoubtable, Fougueux, and Pluton had 
 
 done, rear-admiral Magon took the Algesiras st 
 first in advance, in order to close the passage to 
 the English, who attempted to cut through the 
 
 lino. In this movement he encountered the Ton- 
 nant of eighty guns, formerly S French vessel, but 
 
 taken by the English at the battle of Aboukir, 
 commanded by an officer of bravery, captain Tj ler. 
 He approached very near, and gave him his broad- 
 side, then coming about, ran bis bowsprit deep 
 into the enemy's shrouds '. The shrouds, sis it is 
 1 Rear-admiral Magon >i >i a wild thing, to run stem on 
 
 with a seventy-four to the broadside of an eighty gun ihip,
 
 42 
 
 Death of admiral 
 Magon. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The Achille blown 
 up. 
 
 / 1805. 
 (.October. 
 
 well known, are the rope ladders, which, attaching 
 the masts to the body of the vessel, serve to ascend 
 the rising and stiffen the masts. Thus attached 
 to his adversary, Magon assembled the most active 
 of his seamen in order to board. But there hap- 
 pened to them the same thing precisely which had 
 occurred to the crew of the Redoubtable. Already 
 assembled upon the deck and bowsprit, they were 
 ab<>ut to leap upon the Tonnant, when they re- 
 ceived from another English vessel placed athwart 
 them several discharges of grape shot, which 
 struck down a great number. It was necessary 
 therefore before considering of boarding, to repulse 
 this new enemy which had fallen upon them, and 
 a third which had joined itself to the two former to 
 cannonade the sides of the Algesiras, already much 
 shattered. While they were thus defending them- 
 selves against three vessels, Magon was boarded 
 by captain Tyler, who in return felt inclined to 
 make his appearance on the deck of the Algesiras. 
 M'agon received him at the head of his crew with 
 a boarding axe in his hand, and ghiiigthe example 
 to his men, lie repulsed the English. Three times 
 they came to the charge, and three times they 
 were driven from the deck of the Algesiras. 
 Magon's flag captain, Letourneur, was killed at his 
 side ; lieutenant Plassan, who took the command, 
 was also immediately wounded. Magon, whose 
 brilliant uniform pointed him out to the enemy, 
 received a ball in the arm, by which he lost a 
 great quantity of blood. He took no notice of this 
 wound, and still continued at his post. But a 
 second shot struck him in the thigh. His strength 
 now began to fail him. As he supported himself 
 with pain on the deck of his vessel, covered with 
 bodies and wreck, the officer who, after the death 
 of ail the others, was become flag captain, M. de 
 la Bretonniere, requested him to descend for a 
 moment to the surgeon, in order at least to have 
 his wounds dressed, that he might not lose his 
 strength by bleeding. The hope of being able to 
 return to the combat made Magon listen to the 
 request of M. de la Bretonniere. He accordingly 
 descended between decks supported by two seamen. 
 But the torn sides of Ids vessel gave a free passage 
 to the shot. He received a grape-shot in the breast 
 and fell dead, under his third wound. The news 
 spread consternation through the vessel. His 
 crew would have fought with added fmy to avenge 
 a commander who had as much of their love as 
 admiration : but the three masts of the Algesiras 
 had fallen, and her batteries were dismounted or 
 obstructed by their wreck. Of G4L men, 150 were 
 killed, and 180 wounded. The crew, crowded 
 upon the quarter-deck, possessed no more than a 
 part of the vessel. They were without hope or 
 resource ; they made one more discharge upon the 
 enemy, and struck the flag of the rear-admiral thus 
 gallantly defended. 
 
 Other vessels still carried on the contest astern 
 of the Algesiras, although the battle was far ad- 
 vanced; The Bahama was at a distance, but the 
 Aigle fought with bravery, and did not yield until 
 after dreadful 1 >ss and the death of her com- 
 mander, captain Gourrege. The Swiitsure, that 
 the enemy wished to re-conquer, because it had 
 
 not disabled, for the purpose of boarding over the bowsprit. 
 M. Thiers is ill informed on naval affairs. Translator. 
 
 once been English, bore itself as bravely, and only 
 yielded to numbers, having already seven feet of 
 water in the hold. Behind the Swiitsure, the 
 French vessel, the Argonaute, after having received 
 damage, withdrew from the contest. The Ber- 
 wick combated honourably in her place. The 
 Spanish vessels, the Montanez, the Argonauta, the 
 San Nepomuceno, and the San Iidefonso, had 
 abandoned the place of combat '. On the con- 
 trary, admiral Gravina, with his flag in the Prince 
 of Asturias, enveloped by the English vessels, that 
 had doubled the extremity of the line, defended 
 himself against them alone with astonishing cou- 
 rage. Encompassed on all sides, and crippled, 
 he still remained firm, and had succumbed if he 
 had not been aided by the Neptune, which had 
 before endeavoured to regain the wind in order 
 to render herself of service, and by the Pluton, 
 which having succeeded in di-embarrassing her- 
 self from her ennnies, had come to meet fresh 
 dangers. Unhappily, in this part of the combat, 
 Gravina received a mortal wound 2 . 
 
 Finally, at the extreme of this long line, marked 
 by flames, by floating wrecks of vessels, and by 
 thousands of mutilated corpses, a closing scene 
 suddenly appeared, striking the combatants with 
 horror, and with admiration even the enemy him- 
 self. The Achille, assaulted on all sides, defended 
 itself with obstinacy. In the midst of the cannon- 
 ade a fire broke out in the hull of the vessel. It 
 was necessary to abandon the guns to attend to 
 the dangerous invader which extended itself with 
 frightful rapidity. But the sailors of the Achille, 
 fearing that during the time they were occupied 
 in endeavouring to extinguish the flames, the 
 enemy would profit by the inaction of their artillery 
 to get the advantage, preferred suffering them- 
 selves to become victims to the fury of the flames 
 rather than abandon their guns. Soon thick 
 volumes of smoke arising from the body of the 
 ship alarmed the Ei-glish, and made them with- 
 draw from near the volcano which threatened 
 momentarily to explode and engulph alike the 
 assailants and defenders. They left the vessel 
 alone, isolated in the midst of the deep, and only- 
 looked on at the object which a few moments 
 sooner or later would be exterminated by a horri- 
 ble catastrophe. The French crew, already deci- 
 mated by the grape shot, seeing themselves free 
 of their enemies, set about endeavouring to extin- 
 guish the flames which were consuming their 
 vessel. But there was no longer time ; it was 
 necessary to think of saving their own lives. They 
 threw overboard every thing that could support 
 them in the water, barrels, masts, and yards, 
 endeavouring upon these to find a floating refuge 
 against the explosion expected every instant. 
 Scarcely had some of the crew thrown themselves 
 into the sea, than the fire reached the powder, 
 the Achille blew up with a frightful explosion, 
 which terrified the victors themselves. The Eng- 
 lish hastened with their boats to gather up the 
 
 1 On the contrary, some of these vessels fought well ; the 
 Argonauta and Bahama, had eacli of them 400 men killed 
 and wounded; ihe San Juan Nepomuceno fought with 
 the utmost gallantry; her captain, and 350 of her men, were 
 killed and wounded; these aie facts beyond contradiction. 
 Translator. 
 
 2 He was wounded in the arm only. Translator.
 
 1805. 1 
 October. J 
 
 The English 
 victorious. 
 
 ULM AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 Gravida'* escape 
 tu Cadiz. 
 
 43 
 
 unfortunate men who had so nobly defended them- 
 selves. A small number only succeeded in escap- 
 ing death '. The larger part remaining on board 
 were blown into the air, together with the wounded 
 that encumbered the vessel. 
 
 It was now live o'clock, and the battle had nearly 
 terminated every where. The line, divided at first 
 in two plaees, and soon in three or four by the ab- 
 sence of the vessels which had not kept the order 
 of battle, was shattered From one extremity to the 
 other. At the sight of the fleet either destroyed 
 or flying, admiral Gravina, disengaged by the 
 Neptune and Pluton, ami become commander-in- 
 chief, gave the signal of retreat. Besides the two 
 French vessels which came to Gravina's aid, and 
 his own ship the Prince of Anurias, he was able 
 to rally around him eight more, three French, 
 the Heros, Indomptahle, and Argonaute, and five 
 Spaniards, the Riyo 2 , S.m Francisco de Asis, 
 San Justo, Montanez, and Leandro. These last, 
 it must be stated, had preserved their existence 
 better than their honour. There were eleven 
 thus escaped from the disaster, independently of 
 four under rear-admiral Dumauoir, which made 
 a separate retreat, in all fifteen. There mu^t be 
 added to these a number of frigates, that placed to 
 leeward had not done all that might have been 
 expected of them to succour the fleet. Seventeen 
 French and Spanish vessels remained in posses- 
 sion of the English ; one had blown up. The 
 combined squadron had lost 6000 or 7000 men 
 killed, wounded, drowned, or prisoners. Never 
 had a greater scene of horror been seen upon the 
 ocean. 
 
 The English had obtained a complete victory, 
 but a sanguinary one dearly bought. Of twenty 
 seven reeseis which composed their fleet, nearly 
 all had lost masts ; some were rendered unservice- 
 able, either for ever, or until they had undergone 
 considerable repair. They had to regret the loss 
 of about 3000 men, a great number of their officers. 
 and the UlostrlouB Nelson, more regretted by them 
 than a whole army 3 . They towed after them 
 
 • About 10C were saved by the English boats. Translator. 
 
 * Afterwards taken, but wrecked. Translator. 
 
 3 Ii is sufficient to exhibit the inaccurac) of M. Thiers, 
 to quote his statement of the lusse* of the combined fleet. 
 They were much mo c than double bis statement in killed, 
 wounded, and drowned. His own s atemcnls indir ctly 
 contradict the total he gives. The Fr. ncli Mveirt) four* 
 carry Too nun; eight!** I>00 ; -hips of one bundled 
 gun-. 1000 nun. Now, of scv. nty-fuurs, there were four 
 
 taken iltar, making 2800 men. The Fouguaux 
 
 wrecked. Achilla blown up. Intrepid* and Augtutino. 
 
 hunted, 2800 more Rt loubtabl* Hunk, 700. Sanlissima 
 Trini lada sunk, 1000. IndottptSblr, Hue ntaure. wrecked, 
 and Argonaut* sunk, all of eighty guns, I WO men. Total, 
 7700 The Alge»lra* tart In lb* action; aoeording to M, 
 killed and wounded, 2:io The Santa Anna had 
 nearly MO men billed and wounded, -ay but 3.0. The 
 Prince of As'uri'S ln-i, abnvc 250. Tin- Monara «*M UMB, 
 with all on hoard, 700 more The Francisco. Nc|itunn, 
 Berwick, and Aigle, «f -even y-'our guns, were a I lost, with 
 nearly all their crews; bill ul*0* the men »aved at one thiid, 
 the Dumber lost would tic 1000. Tie- Hay,., one lion reii 
 guns, was also list and 'inly a part .,f brl era*) saved : the 
 DUmbet is not known, probably l*V*T*l bUDdradl uii, 
 taking the above number, it is 11,200, exclusive of the 
 Kayo. 
 To the above wrecks and lone* in battle, the i'luton, 74, 
 
 seventeen vessels, nearly all dismasted or ready 
 to founder and an admiral prisoner. They had 
 the glory of ability, and of experience, united with 
 incontestable bravery. The French had the glory 
 of an heroic defeat, without equal perhaps in 
 history for the devoted courage of the vanquished. 
 
 At the close of day Gravina sailed towards Cadiz 
 with eleven vessels and five frigates. Rear-admi- 
 ral Dumanoir, fearing to meet the enemy between 
 himself and the French, directed his course to- 
 wards the straits. 
 
 Admiral Collingwood showed symptoms of deep 
 sorrow for the loss of his superior; but he did not 
 believe it his duty to follow the counsel of his dying 
 chief, and resolved, in place of mooring his squad- 
 ron, to pass the night under sail. The coast was 
 in sight, and, on the left, the Cape of Trafalgar, 
 which gave its name to ihe buttle. A dangerous 
 wind began to blow, the night to darken in, and 
 the English vessels, manoeuvring with difficulty in 
 consequence of their damages, were obliged to 
 tow or escort seventeen captured ships. Very soon 
 the wind blew with greater violence, and to the 
 horrors of a sanguinary battle succeeded those of a 
 frightful tempest, its if Heaven had wished to punish 
 the two most civilized nations of the globe, the 
 most worthy to rule it usefully if united, for the 
 fury to which they had mutually given themselves 
 up. Admiral Gravina and his eleven vessels had, 
 in the harbour of Cadiz, a near and assured retreat 
 for safety. But, too far from Gibraltar, admiral 
 Collingwood had duly the expanse of the ocean to 
 repose upon, alter the fatigues and sufferings of 
 victory. For a short time the night, more cruel 
 than the day, mingled together victors and van- 
 quished, and made them both tremble under a 
 hand more powerful than that of the most vic- 
 
 M Cosmao (stated by M. Tlrers to have lost half her crew), 
 must be added her killed and wounded, those of the Mon- 
 tanez, Justo, Leandro (the two las' were dismasted) ihe Nep- 
 tune, and Heros, whose losses at the ra'e of the other*, 
 must have been some hundreds in ad iton. Then there 
 were 4000 soldiers on board, besides the crews, commanded 
 by general Cmtamin, whose loss is not known, but the 
 whole, as set d»wn by the Etudith, at above 14,000, must 
 have been under the mark. Admiral Collingwood returned 
 the Spanish prisoner* to the marquis nf Solano, governor- 
 general of Andalusia; they alone ware .'itioo men 
 
 To the above maybe added, a few it ay* afterwards, the 
 hue* of the Formidable, so, Mont Blanc, Sclpion, and 
 Dnguay Trouln, 'f 74 guns, that escaped, making 2900 
 more of this combined fleet, in all twcnty-tluee anil, and 
 in oly 17 000 men, with flic admirals, killed or prisoner*, 
 anil one general ! 
 
 Again, M. Thiers states the English less to have been 
 .1000 men. It is well known that there can be no IMlllica 
 liim of returns of this nature on hoard an English ship, 
 fiom the Unavoidable publicity of the fraud that would 
 follow The total loss of the English in he action, »a-s 
 
 |i;.!7 killed and wi ded Nor »»■ til* Ins- ofofnci r* at all 
 
 more than usual, except In that of Wlsoi., an admiral. Two 
 
 captain*, ami eight lieutenant* of the navy rail. At the 
 
 Nile, when- the Kn lish had just half ihe l-r.e at Ti.e.,1 
 gar, they lost one captain and four lieutenant-, in nil s '.,. 
 a remarkable prnporiinn. Hi* slaughter on heard the 
 French ships wis the greater, in that tb.y alw.iv> .nniamed 
 
 so many more men than the English, who, from thaw 
 
 id I, amis, hail Seldom i than BOO in ■ seventy lour, whil h 
 
 ought t.. have bad flOO. ihe Prenefa barf 700. In act'on, 
 to.., ihe English a waia Brad into the hull, the French at 
 
 the rigging. Translator.
 
 44 
 
 Preservation of 
 
 the Algi-stras. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Wreck of the 
 Indomptable and 
 her consort. 
 
 f 1805. 
 (.October. 
 
 torious of mankind, under that of nature in its 
 wrath. The English were obliged to abandon the 
 vessels which they had in tow, or to resign the 
 care of those which they convoyed. Singular vi- 
 cissitudes of naval warfare ! Some of the van- 
 quished, full of joy at the terrific aspect of the 
 storm, concurred in the hope of reconquering their 
 vessels and their liberty. The English, who were 
 keeping guard in the Bucentaure, seeing them- 
 selves without help, gave up the admiral's vessel to 
 the French crew. These, delighted to be delivered, 
 even by fearful peril, got up some jury-masts upon 
 their dismasted ship, and attaching to them some 
 pieces of sails, steered toward Cadiz, driven on 
 before the storm. The Algesiras, worthy of the 
 unfortunate Magon, of whom it bore the body, 
 also endeavoured to secure its deliverance by the 
 tempest. Seventy English officers and seamen 
 guarded the liable ship that hid been just van- 
 quished. All damaged as it was, the Algesiras, 
 recently constructed, kept itself afloat in spite of 
 its extensive injuries. It had its three masts shot 
 away, yet still there were left above deck fifteen 
 feet of the mainmast, nine of the foremast, and 
 five of the mizen. The vessel which towed it, con- 
 sidering its own safety endangered, had cast loose 
 the cable which attached her to the prize. The 
 English, who were on board her as a guard, fired 
 a cannon to demand help, and obtained no reply. 
 Then, addressing M. de la Bretonniere, they be- 
 sought him to aid them with his men, to save the 
 ship, and with the ship the lives of all together. 
 M. de la Bretonniere took this proposition as a 
 gleam of hope, and requested to confer upon the 
 subject with his countrymen detained in the hold. 
 He went to find the French officers, and made them 
 partakers in the common hope to snatch the Alge- 
 siras from the hands of their conquerors. They 
 all agreed to accept the proposition which was 
 thus communicated to them, and then, once in pos- 
 session of the ship, to throw themselves upon the 
 English, to take from them their arms, to combat 
 them to the last in the midst of the nocturnal dark- 
 ness, and to provide afterwards as well as they 
 might be able for their common safety. There re- 
 mained 250 Frenchmen, disarmed, but ready to 
 do any thing in order to get their vessel out of the 
 hands of the enemy. The officers went among 
 them to communicate the plan, which they re- 
 ceived with delight. It was agreed that M. de la 
 Bretonniere should first summon the English, and 
 that if they refused to surrender, the French, at a 
 given signal, should attack them. The dread of 
 the storm, the fear of the coast, all were forgotten ; 
 they only thought now of the new contest they 
 were going to undertake, a species of civil war in 
 presence of the raging elements. 
 
 M. de la Bretonniere returned to the English, 
 and told them that the abandonment in which the 
 vessel was left, in the midst of so great a danger, 
 dissolved all their engagements ; from that mo- 
 ment the French should consider themselves free, 
 and that if, finally, their guard believed their 
 honour intere.-ted in combating, they would be able 
 to do so ; that the French, though unarmed, would 
 attack them at the first signal given. Two French 
 seamen, in fact, in their ardent impatience attacked 
 the English ou duty, and received serious wounds. 
 M. de la Bretonniere suppressed the tumult, and 
 
 gave the English officers time for reflection. These, 
 having deliberated for a moment, gave way oil the 
 consideration of their small number, the cruelty of 
 their countrymen, and the common danger threat- 
 ening victors and vanquished. They gave them- 
 selves up to the French, on condition that they 
 should return free as soon as they should have 
 touched the shore of France. M. de la Breton- 
 niere promised to request their liberty of his go- 
 vernment, if they succeeded in reaching Cadiz. 
 Then the cry of joy resounded through the vessel ; 
 they set themselves at work ; they searched for 
 top-masts among the stores in reserve ; they 
 hoisted them, fixed them on the stumps of the 
 masts, fastened some sails to them, and directed 
 their course for Cadiz. 
 
 Day appeared, but far from dissipating the bad 
 weather, it appeared to make it yet worse than it 
 had been before. Admiral Gravida had entered 
 Cadiz with the wrecks of the combined fleets. The 
 English fleet was within view of the port, followed 
 by some of its prisoners, whom it kept under 
 the muzzles of its cannon. After a contest all day 
 against the tempest, the commander, M. de la Bre- 
 tonniere, although without a pilot, but by the aid 
 of a seaman to whom the road of Cadiz was fami- 
 liar, arrived at the entrance. There only remained 
 one bower anchor and a large cable to resist the 
 wind that blew violently towards land. He cast 
 this only anchor overboard, full cf fearful anxiety, 
 because, if it parted, the Algesiras must be dashed 
 to pieces on the rocks. Not knowing the road, he 
 had cast anchor near a formidable shoal, called the 
 Diamond Point. The night passed in the most 
 dreadful anxiety. At last day appeared, and 
 cast a fearful light upon that desolate shore. 
 The Bucentaure, ever unfortunate, had gone to 
 pieces there. They had saved a part of the crew 
 on board the Indomptable, moored not far off from 
 the same place. This last, which had received 
 small damage, in consequence of having been but 
 little engaged in the action, was moored with good 
 anchors and cables. During the day the Algesiras 
 fired guns of distress to demand her assistance. 
 Some boats perished before they could reach her. 
 One only succeeded in conveying to her a weak 
 anchor. The Algesiras remained moored near the 
 Indomptable, requesting a tow rope, which was 
 promised as soon as it should be possible to enter 
 Cadiz. Night came again upon the sea, and upon 
 the two vessels moored side by side ; it was the 
 second night after the unfortunate battle. The 
 crew of the Algesiras regarded with affright the 
 two feeble anchors upon which their security 
 rested, and with envy those of the Indomptable. 
 The tempest redoubled in violence. On a sudden 
 a fearful cry was heard. The Indomptable, whose 
 powerful anchors had given way, approached sud- 
 denly, covered with her lanterns, having her crew 
 upon the deck in despair. She passed but a few 
 feet away from the Algesiras, struck, and went to 
 pieces on the Diamond Point. The lanterns which 
 lit her up, and the cries which had just before 
 resounded, all disappeared, and were hushed in the 
 waves. Fifteen hundred men perished at once, 
 because the Indomptable carried her own crew 
 nearly entire, and also that of the Bucentaure, both 
 the wounded and well, with a part of the troops 
 embarked in the admiral.
 
 1S05. 1 
 October. J 
 
 Captain Cosmao sallies 
 from Cadiz. 
 
 I'L.M AND TRAFALGAR. 
 
 Trafalgar characterized. 
 
 45 
 
 After this miserable spectacle, and tlie melancholy 
 Reflections which it caused, the Algesiras saw the 
 day dawn and the tempest over. The ship finally 
 entered the road uf Cadiz, and ran, at some hazard, 
 upon a bed of mud, where it was secure from 
 danger. Just recompense of the most admira- 
 ble heroism ! 
 
 While these tragical circumstances signalized 
 the miraculous return of the Algesiras, the Re- 
 doubtable, the vessel which had so gloriously con- 
 tested with the Victory, and from whence the shot 
 was fired that killed Nelson, had gone to the 
 bottom. Her stern, riddled by bullets, suddenly 
 gave way. There was scarcely time to take out 
 of her a hundivd and nineteen French. The 
 Fougueux was wrecked on die coast of Spain, and 
 all on board were lost. 
 
 The Ifonarca, abandoned to the same fate, went 
 to pieces on the rocks of San Lucar. 
 
 There only remained to the English a few of 
 their prizes ; and with their least injured vessels 
 they kept at sea, in sight of Cadiz, owing to con- 
 trary winds, which did not permit them to set sail 
 for Gibraltar. The gallant commander of the 
 Pluton, captain Cosmao, at this aspect of affairs, 
 could not repress the zeal which animated him. 
 His vessel was crippled, his crew reduced one- 
 half; but none of these reasons could stay him. 
 He borrowed some seamen from the Hermione 
 frigate ; he repaired his rigging in haste ; and 
 availing himself of the new command which now 
 came to him, because all the admirals and rear- 
 admirals were dead, wounded, or prisoners, he 
 made the signal of sailing to the vessels capable 
 of standing out to sea, in order to snatch from the 
 fleet of Collingwood the prizes which it was carry- 
 ing away. The intrepid Cosmao went out, accom- 
 panied by the Neptune, which during the bailie 
 had done its best to enter into the heat of the 
 action, and with three other vessels, French and 
 Spanish, which hail not the honour of combating 
 on the day ol the battle of Trafalgar. They were 
 five in all, foil .wed by five frigates, which had 
 now to compensate for their recent conduct. In 
 spite of the bad weather, these ten vessels ap- 
 proached the Kiigii-h fleet. Collingwood taking 
 them for so many v. BBels of the line, made ten of 
 his least injured ships immediately advance to 
 meet them, [hiring this movement a part of the 
 prizes was abandom d. The frigates availed them- 
 
 - of the opportunity to seize and tow away 
 the Santa Anna and Nptuno. 
 
 Tin- commandant Cosmao, who had not strength 
 
 sufficient, and who had against him the Wind 
 blowing towards Cadiz, re-entered if, taking with 
 him the two re-conquered vessels, the sole trophy 
 
 Which he was able to regain on the sequel ol BUefa 
 
 disasters. This «as not the only result of the 
 sally. Admiral Collingwood, fearing that he 
 
 should not have- it in his power t<> preserve Ins 
 
 prizes, horned or sank the Santissima Trinidad. i, 
 
 Argnnauta, San Antonio, and Intrepid. 
 
 Tin; Aigie escaped from the English vchscI the 
 Defiance, and wen! on shore before the port of 
 
 St. Marv. Tin- Berwick was lost by an act of 
 devotion" resembling that which had saved the 
 Algesira-. 
 
 Among the vessels which had followed the com- 
 mander Cosmao, there was one which was not 
 
 able to enter, this was the Spanish ship the Rota, 
 which perished between Rota and San Lucar 1 . 
 
 Finally, the English admiral returning to Gib- 
 raltar, took with him but four of his prizes out of 
 seventeen, of which one was the Swiftsure, and 
 three Spanish vessels. He afterwards sent the 
 Swiftsure to the bottom 2 . 
 
 Such was the fatal battle of Trafalgar. Seamen 
 inexperienced, allies yet more inexperienced ; a 
 state of discipline too relaxed; matirid neglected; 
 everywhere precipitation, and its natural conse- 
 quences ; a commander too keenly feeling the dis- 
 advantages under which he laboured, conceiving 
 from them presentiments of evil, always carrying 
 them to sea, causing from that influence the great 
 designs of his sovereign to miscarry ; that sovereign 
 irritated, not taking a sufficient account of material 
 obstacles, less difficult to surmount on land than 
 water, fillili<r with despair, by the bitterness of his 
 
 1 ■ * 1 1 
 
 reproaches, an admiral who must be pitied rather 
 than blamed ; this admiral engaging in battle from 
 despair, and fortune, ever cruel to the unhappy, 
 refusing him even the favour of a propitious wind; 
 one-half a fleet paralyzed by ignorance aid by the 
 elements, the other half fighting with fury ; on 
 one part a calculating and skilful courage, on the 
 other heroic inexperience, noble deaths, a frightful 
 carnage, and unequalled destruction ; after the 
 ravages of men those of a tempestuous ocean, its 
 abvss swallowing up the trophies of the conqueror: 
 finally the triumphant commander inhumed in his 
 triumph, and the vanquished chief contemplating 
 suicide as the sole refuge from his misery — such 
 was, to repeat it, the fatal battle of Trafalgar, with 
 its causes, tragical aspects, and results. 
 
 It is possible to extract from this great disaster 
 useful consequences for the French navy. It is 
 proper, therefore, to relate to the world all that 
 passed. The combats of the Redoubtable, the 
 Algesiras, and Achille, deserve to be cited with 
 pride in contact with the triumphs of Ulm. Un- 
 fortunate bravery is not less admirable than for- 
 tunate courage ; and is more affecting. The favour 
 of fortune to the French being already sufficiently 
 gnat, they may openly avow all her severities. 
 It was proper tn load with honour those who had 
 BO worthily fulfilled their duty, and to call before 
 a council of war those who, appalled at the horrors 
 of the scene, kept thein-elves alar from the point 
 of danger. Should they have conducted thcin- 
 
 selves we 1 on other occasions, it was necessary to 
 make them terrible examples to the necessity of 
 establishing discipline. It is necessary above all, 
 
 that the- government itStlf should lind a lesson in 
 this sanguinary defeat ; it is proper it should bo 
 
 ' Much of this Is wholly erroneous. The Santa Ann.i had 
 already drifted in t IC siorm tOWBTdl the entrance of Cadi/., 
 and was lo«ed in hy .1 Frigate, lie Nepiuno wax wrecked 
 
 between Rota and Catallna. Not dow M. Thiers state, as 
 
 lit In have dene, that Of CoimSO'l MJUAdrOn, One, the 
 Kayo, 1011, was actually taken hy CoHIngwood'l OOTtrlng 
 
 . Bhsbon the broad pendantofDmi Bnriqui sfeOon 
 net, who himself told admiral Colling* i. thai the Santa 
 
 Ann . had hen driw n 4 one 10 Cad Si SBd h en tOWod in hy 
 
 afrlgatt Oftbaeepiun ol tas ''•<>"■ whkh went onshore 
 
 at Sun I. near, and was afterward! Ic^t. II. liners says 
 nothing, Trantlatir. 
 
 » This Is not correct; the Swiftsure reached Gihraltar la 
 pel feet isliftjr.
 
 46 
 
 The Spaivsh seamea 
 rewarded. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Napoleon's conduct 
 after the battle. 
 
 f 1805. 
 \ October. 
 
 thoroughly convinced tliat nothing ought to be 
 hurried, particularly where it concerns a navy ; 
 it is requisite that it renounce offering fleets in 
 line of battle, which have not been well experienced 
 at sea ; and that in the meantime it apply itself to 
 form such fleets by frequent distant and lo^ig-cou- 
 tinned cruises. 
 
 The excellent king of Spain, without giving him- 
 self up to such considerations, meted out in the 
 same measure (he recompinses bestowed upon the 
 coward and the brave, not wishing to exhibit to 
 the light anything but the honour done to his flag 
 by the conduct of some of his seamen. It was a 
 weakness natural to an old court, but a weakness 
 inspired bv kindness. The French sailors, a little 
 relieved from their sufferings, mingled with ihose 
 of Spain in the port of Cadiz, wh-n it was an- 
 nounced to them that the king of Spain had given 
 a step in rank to every Spaniard who was present 
 in the battle of Trafalgar, independently of distinc- 
 tions granted particularly to those who had con- 
 ducted themselves hest. The Spaniards, ashamed 
 to be recompensed when the French were not, 
 said to them, ihat probably they were soon going 
 to receive on their side also the reward of their 
 courage. It was not so ; the brave and the 
 coward among the French were Confounded in a 
 like treatment, and the result of that treatment 
 was — to be forgotten. 
 
 When the news of the disaster of Trafalgar 
 reached admiral Decree, he was struck with deep 
 sorrow. This minister, despite his superior in- 
 tellect, in spite of his thorough knowledge of naval 
 affairs, had never anything but reverses to an- 
 nounce to a sovereign who, in everything else, 
 obtained nothing but success. He remitted the 
 sad details to Napoleon, who had already flown 
 upon Vienna with the swoop of an eagle. Although 
 a new misfortune might with difficulty find way to 
 a mind intoxicated with triumph, the news from 
 Trafalgar gave Napoleon much mortification, causing 
 him to exhibit great displeasure. Still he was less 
 severe than lie was accustomed to be towards ad- 
 
 miral Villeneuve, because that unfortunate officer 
 had fought bravely, though very imprudently. 
 Napoleon acted here as men often do, of the 
 strongest as well as the most feeble souls ; lie set 
 himself to forget the mortification, and to force 
 others to forget it also. He would have Trafalgar 
 spoken little about in the French journals, and 
 that it should be mentioned only as an imprudent 
 battle, in which they had suffered more by the 
 tempest than the enemy. He would neither re- 
 ward nor punish any one engaged in the action, 
 which was a cruel piece of injustice, unworthy 
 of himself and the intelligence of his government. 
 Something came into his mind at that time, which 
 contributed powerfully to inspire this niggardly 
 Conduct ; for be began to despair of the French 
 navy. He had found, he believed, a nia:.ner more 
 certain and more practicable than the navy 
 afforded for his object, and this was, to beat En- 
 gland in the allies she paid ; to exclude her from 
 the continent, and' expel thence altogether her 
 trade and influence. He would naturally prefer 
 this mode of acting, employing the profession in 
 which he excelled ; a mode, well managed, that 
 would certainly have conducted to the consumma- 
 tion of his efforts. From that day Napoleon 
 thought less of the navy, and wished every body 
 to think as little of it as he did himself. 
 
 Europe, in regard to the battle of Trafalgar, lent 
 itself voluntarily to the silence which he desired to 
 observe in its regard. The loud tramp of his foot- 
 steps upon the continent prevented the echos of 
 the cannon of Trafalgar from being heard there. 
 The powers which had at their breast the sword of 
 Napoleon were little encouraged by a naval vic- 
 tory, profitable alone to England, without any other 
 result than a fresh extension of her commercial 
 dominion — a dominion which they little liked, and 
 only tolerated through a jealousy of Frame. 
 Besides, the glory of England could not console 
 them for their own humiliation. Trafalgar could 
 not efface, therefore, the eclat of Ulm, and, as will 
 be soou seen, did not lessen any of its cousequenees. 
 
 BOOK XXIII. 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 EFFECT PRODUCED BY THE KEWS FROM THE ARMY. — FINANCIAL CRISIS. — THE CONSOLIDATION CHEST SUSPENDS ITS 
 PAYMENTS IN SPAIN, AND CONTRIBUTES TO INCREASE THE EMBARRASSMENT OF THE COMFANY OF UNITED 
 MERCHANTS. — AID FURNISHED TO THE COMPANY BY THE BANK OF FRANCE. — TOO GRKAT AN ISSUE OF NOTE8 
 BY THE BANK OF FRANCK, AND SUSPENSION OK ITS PAYMENTS. — NUMEROUS FA I LURKS.— THE PUBLIC ALARM ED, 
 PUTS ITS TRUST IN NAPOLEON, AND AWAITS SOME SPLENDID ACHIEVEMENT FROM HIM, WHICH SHALL ESTA- 
 BLISH PEACE AND CREDIT.— CONTINUATION OF THE EVENTS OF THE WAR. — SITUATION OF AFFAIRS IN PRUSSIA. 
 — THE ASSKRTED VIOLATION OF THE TERRITORY OF ANSPACH FURNISHES PRETEXTS FOR THE WAR PARTY. — 
 THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER PROFITS BY THESE TO VISIT BERLIN. — HE DRAWS IN THE COURT OF PRUSSIA TO 
 MAKE EVENTUAL ENGAGEMENTS WITH THE COALITION. — TREATY OF POTSDAM. — DEPARTURE OP M. HAUGW1TZ 
 FOR THB FRENCH HEAD-8UARTERS. — GRAND RESOLUTION OF NAPOLEON, UPON LEARNING THE NEW DANGERS 
 WHICH THREATtN HIM. — HE HASTENS HIS MOVEMENT UPON VltNNA. — BATTLE OF CALDIERO IN ITALY. — 
 MARCH OF THE GRAND ARMY ALONG THE VALLEY OP THE DANUBE. — PASSAGE OP THE INN, THE TRAUN, AND 
 THE EKS.— NAPOLEON AT LINTZ. — MOVEMENT WHICH THE ARCHDUKES CHARLES AND JOHN ARE ABLE TO
 
 AUSTEUL1TZ. 
 
 47 
 
 make to stop the march op n apoleon — precaution's op the latter on approaching vienna.— dis- 
 tribution op the corps op the army on both banks op the danube, and in the alps— the 
 russians pass the danube at krems — danger of mortier*s corps. — cum bat of di rnstein. — combat op 
 dwolt at maria/ell. — entry into vienna. — surprise of the bridges on the danube. — napoleon 
 wishes to avail himself of this surprise, to cut opf the retreat of general kutusnp — muu at 
 and lannes march to hollabrunn. — uuiui suffers himself to be dlceived dy the proposition of 
 an arbisrin. and this gives the russian army time to f.sca pe.— n a po leon rejects the armistice. 
 — sanguinary combat op hollabrunn. — arrival of the French army «t brunn. — napoleon's fine 
 dispositions to occupy vienna, to guard the side of the alps ano of hungary against the arc1i- 
 dfkks. and to show a front to the russians, os the side of moravia - n ey occupies the tyrol 
 augert.au, suab1a. — capture of the corps of j ellaciucii and of rohtn —departure of napoleon ior 
 brunn — attempt at n egoti ation. — fooli sh pride of the russian staff. — new circle formed round 
 alexander. — it inspires him with th e i m prudent resolution to gi ve battle.— ground chosen before- 
 
 HANU BY NAPoLEOS. — BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ, FOUGHT ON THE 2nd OP DECEMBER, 1 80 ">.— DESTRUCTION OF 
 THE AUSTRO-RUSSIAS ARMY.— THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA AT THE NIGHT QUARTERS OK NAPOLEON. — ARMIS- 
 TICE GRANTED, UNDER THE PROMISE OF A SPEEDY PEACE. — COM M ENCE M t.NT OF Till. NEGOTIATION AT I'.llll N. 
 — CONDITIONS IMPOSED BY NAPOLEON. — HE DESIRhS THE VENETIAN STATES TO COMPLETE Till KINGDOM OF 
 ITALY. THE TYROL AND AUSTRIAN SUABIA TO AGGKANMZE BAVARIA, THE DUCHIES OF BADEN, AND WilRTEM- 
 BURo. — FAMILY ALLIANCES WITH THESE THREE GERMAN HOUSES. — RESIST A NCE OF THE AUSTRIAN PLENIPO- 
 TENTIARIES.— N APOLEON, ON RETURNING TO VIENNA, HAS A LONG INTERVIEW WITH M. II AUG W1TZ — II E 
 RENEWS HIS DESIGN OF A UNION WITH PRUSSIA, AND GIVES HER HANOVER, ON CONDITION THAT SHE ALLIES 
 HERSELF DEFINITIVELY WITH FRANCE. — TREATY OF VIENNA WITH PRU-SIA. — DEPARTURE OF If. HAUGWlTf 
 FOR BfRLlN. — N\POLEON FREED FROM PRUSSIA, BECOMES MORE HEAVY IN HIS DEMANDS FROM AUSTRIA — 
 THE NEGOTIATION TRANSFERRED To PRESBURG. — ACCEPTANCE OF THE CONDITIONS OF FRANCE, AND PEACE O? 
 TRESBURG. — DEPARTURE OF NAPOLEON FOR MUN ICH. —MARRIAGE OF EUGENE BEAUHARNOIS, WITH THE 
 PRINCESS AUGUSTA OF BAVARIA. — RETURN OF NAPOLEON TO PARIS. — HIS TRIUMPHANT RECEPTION. 
 
 The intelligence received from the banks of the 
 Danube had filled France with satisfaction ; that 
 which came from Cadiz saddened the public feel- 
 ing; but neitlli r the one nor the other caused 
 surprise. Every thing was hoped and expected of 
 the armv, constantly victorious from the commence- 
 ment of the revolution ; hut nearly nothing from 
 the navy, so unfortunate for fifteen precediug 
 years. Hut there w.s nothing in these naval 
 events of more than ordinary consequence; while, 
 on the contrary, the prodigious success of the 
 French arms on the continent was regarded as 
 altogether ilecisive of events. The French people 
 saw there hostilities carried on far from the fron- 
 tiers ; the coaliti m defeated at its beginning ; the 
 duration of the war greatly abridged, and conti- 
 nental peace verj near, bringing with it the hope 
 of a mariti ne. Still the army, pushing for- 
 ward Inwards Austria to encounter the Russians, 
 I the expectation of new and gnat event'-, 
 which awe awaited with the strongest impatience. 
 Ah to tie- rest, confidence bi the genius of Na- 
 poleon ti:n|ei.d ev< ry anxiety. 
 
 It demanded such a confidence in events to sus- 
 tain puhlic credit, which was deeply shaken. The 
 embarrass ■! situation of the finances baa already 
 been shown, an arrear, owing to the determina- 
 tion of Napoleon tu meet the expenses of the war 
 without a loan ; Uie emb irraasnieut of the Spanish 
 i rv ins le e, minion also to that ol Prance, by 
 the speculations ol the company of united mer- 
 chants; the portfolio of the treasury delivered 
 war entirely to ibis company, through the error of 
 an honest but deluded minister ; all these were 
 oanacg of the existing situation of monetary 
 affairs. They had terminated by bringing al* ul 
 the crisis long ag>> foreseen. 0»e particular inci- 
 dent contributed to hasten it. The court ol Madrid 
 was debtor to the company of Dinted merchants, 
 in the amount ol the subsidy "l which this last 
 body bad taken upon iUjoU to acquit the anuaaul ; 
 also for the carg iea of corn at ul to diffi n ut parts 
 
 of the peninsula, and provisions furnished to the 
 Spanish fleets and armies. This court, in conse- 
 quence of its distress, had just then a recourse to 
 a very disastrous measure. It Was obliged to sus- 
 pend the payments due to the Consolidation fund 
 — a species of hank, devoted to the service of the 
 puhlic debt; it then gave a forced money currency 
 to the notes of this fund. Such a measure made 
 the specie disappear. M. Ouvrard, who, in watt- 
 ing for the return of the .Mexican dollars made 
 over to him by the court of Madrid, had no other 
 mode of meeting the necessities of his partners 
 than through the money he drew from the consoli- 
 dation fund, suddenly found himself stopped iu Ins 
 operations. He had promised to M. Desprei in 
 particular 4,000,000 of dollars, which he iu his 
 turn had promised to the hank of France, in older 
 to obtain the help which at that moment he found 
 necessary. He was not able to reckon upon that 
 •1,000 000 of receipt any longer. On the sums to 
 be obtained by way, of Mexico, a loan of 10,000, ooo 
 of dollars had been negotiated in Holland through 
 
 the house of Hope, ol which they could not calcu- 
 late upon receiving more than '2.000,000 in time 
 to be useful. These vexatious circumstances had 
 increased beyond measure the difficulties of M. 
 
 Desprez, who had the operations of the treasury 
 to manage, and those ol M. Vanlci l.erghe, who 
 had contra, ted to furnish army provisions, and tile 
 emhari assnu ins ol both the i ne anil the oilier 
 had fallen upon the hank. It has been explain, d 
 already how these individuals discounted at the 
 hank, either tin ir own paper or the M obligations ol 
 the receivers-general." The hank gave them the 
 value in notes ol which the issue had thus 
 augmented iu an immoderate degree> This had 
 
 not i ven then been an evil l.e\ I an earh repair, 
 
 if the promised dollars had arrived sufficiently 
 early to lake back an adequate portion to the 
 metallic reserve ol the bank. Hut things, w. re 
 Dome to such a point, ihat the hank had not more 
 than 1. -.(10,1(0(11. Ul it! chest against 72,000,0001.
 
 48 
 
 Financial embarrass- 
 ments. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, 
 
 The bank destitute 
 
 of assets. 
 
 f 1805. 
 \ October. 
 
 of notes issued, and 20,000,OOOf. of accounts cur- 
 rent, in other words, against 92,000,0001. immedi- 
 ately payable. A singular circumstance recently 
 revealed, much aggravated this situation. M. de 
 Marbois, amid his unbounded confidence in the 
 company, had granted to it a power altogether 
 exceptionable, in which he had seen at first only 
 a facility rendered to the public service, but which 
 had become the origin of a serious abuse. The 
 company having in its possession a great part of 
 the "obligations of the receivers-general," that 
 it discounted for the government, having itself to 
 pay for the duties of all kinds which it executed 
 upon different parts of the national territory, 
 found itself forced to draw unceasingly upon the 
 treasury ; and now to accommodate it, M. de 
 Marbois had ordered the receivers-general to hand 
 over to M. Desprez the funds that remained in their 
 hands upon his simple receipt. The company im- 
 mediately availed itself of this favour. Whilst on 
 one side it endeavoured to procure money at Palis 
 by making the bank discount the '' obligations of 
 the receivers-general" of which it was possessed, 
 on the other it took out of the funds of the le- 
 ceivers-general the money intended io payoff these 
 very obligations ; and the bank at the expiration 
 of those obligations on sending them to the re- 
 ceivers-general, found nothing return in payment 
 but the receipt of M. Desprez. The bank, there- 
 fore, received this paper in payment of other 
 paper ot the same description. It was thus that 
 there happened at once so great an issue of notes 
 with so small a reserve. A dishonest clerk, abusing 
 the confidence of M. de Marbois, was the principal 
 author of those compliances of which so deplorable 
 an abuse had taken place. 
 
 This situation of things, unknown to the minister, 
 ill appreciated even by the company, that, in its 
 course onward, measured neither the extent ot the 
 operations in which it had engaged, nor the serious 
 nature of its own actions, was revealed little and 
 little by a general money pressure. The public 
 above all, eager for specie, finding the scarcity at 
 the bank, went in crowds to its counters in order 
 to turn the notes into money. The ill disposed 
 joined their clamour to that of those operated upon 
 by fear, and the crisis soon became general. 
 
 Circumstances thus aggravated, could not fail 
 to bring avowals too long deferred, together with a 
 distressing perspicuity as to facts. M. Vanler- 
 berghe, to whom could not be imputed any of that 
 blame which attached to the conduct of the com- 
 pany, because he was solely employed in the coin 
 trad , without being aware to what embarrass- 
 ments he was exposed by his partners, went to 
 M. de Marbois, and declared to him that it was 
 impossible for him to satisfy at the same time the 
 services of the treasury and those of the contractor 
 for provisions ; that it was the utmost if he could 
 continue to perform the last. He did not conceal 
 from the minister, that the provisions furnished 
 t> Spain remaining up to that moment unpaid had 
 been the principal cause of his difficulties. M. de 
 Marbois, fearing to see the victualling service fail, 
 encouraged besides by some words of the emperor, 
 winch satisfied M. Vanlerberghe, expressed the 
 intention <>f supporting him. Graining him an aid 
 of 20,000,0001. lie placed this money to the account 
 of former contracts, that the administrations of 
 
 war and of the navy had not yet paid off, and he 
 gave it to M. Vanlerberglie as 20,000,0001'. to 
 cover his personal engagements contracted in the 
 service of the treasury. But scarcely was this 
 aid afforded to M. Vanlerberghe, than he came 
 to request another. The chief contractor had 
 about him a multitude of sub contractors, who 
 ordinarily gave him credit, but who were unable, 
 not longer having the confidence of capitalists, to 
 prolong their advances. He was thus reduced to 
 the last extremity. M. de Marbois, startled at 
 these avowals, soon became in possession of others 
 of a much more serious character. The bank sent 
 him a deputation, in order to unfold to the govern- 
 ment the situation in which it stood. M. Desprez 
 had not sent in the dollars which had been pro- 
 mised, and nevertheless he demanded more dis- 
 counts ; the treasury demanded them upon its own 
 side, and the bank had not 2,000.000 of crowns 
 in its hand to meet 92,000,000 in value payable 
 on demand. How should it conduct itself under 
 such unlucky circumstances ? M. Desprez stated 
 on his own part, that he was utterly destitute of 
 all resource if the bank refused him its assistance. 
 He avowed also, that it was the counter-check given 
 by the state of Spanish affairs that had thrown 
 him into embarrassment. It became unfortunately 
 but too evident to the minister, that M. Vanler- 
 berghe relied upon M. Desprez, M. Desprez upon 
 the treasury, and that the bank bore all she bur- 
 then of the pecuniary state of affairs with Spain, 
 which were thus Hung upon France herself through 
 the heedless operations of M. Ouvrard. 
 
 It was loo late to retrace tin ir sieps, and utterly 
 useless to make complaints. It was necessary that 
 the state should disentangle iisell from the existing 
 peril, and for that purpose extricate those who had 
 so imprudently exposed themselves, because aban- 
 doning them to ruin, was running the risk of being 
 ruined with them. M. de Marbois therefoie did not 
 hesitate in his resolution of sustaining M. Van- 
 lerberghe and M. Desprez ; and he aeted rightly. 
 But he could not longer vt nture to act upon his own 
 sole responsibility; and he therefore called a meeting 
 of the council of government, which immediately 
 assembled under the presidency of prince Joseph ; 
 prince Louis, the archchancelioroi the empire Cain- 
 bace'res, and all the ministers attended. Some of the 
 superior individuals employed in the department of 
 the finances were called before the council, and among 
 others, M. Mollien, manager of the sinking fund. 
 The council deliberated for a great while upon the 
 situation of things. Alter much general and idle 
 discussion, it became of urgent importance to come 
 to some conclusion, but each member hesitated 
 before a responsibility equally onerous, because it 
 was as serious a step to abandon the c< n tractors as 
 it was to support them. The archchancellor, C'am- 
 bace'res, who had penetration enough to Compre- 
 hend all the exigency of the situation, and influence 
 sufficient to prevail upon the emperor to admit it, 
 supported and carried the opinion, that immediate 
 aiil should be granted to M. Vanlerberglie to the 
 extent of ten millions at first, and ten more after- 
 wards, when an approving reply should be received 
 from the head quarters of the army. In regard 
 to M. Desprez, his was a question to be settled with 
 the bank, because that alone was abb- to give him. 
 aid by continuing to discount lor him. But the
 
 ISO".. 
 October 
 
 } 
 
 The bank unjustly 
 censured. 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 Schemes to retard 
 payments. 
 
 40 
 
 
 means were debated, that the bank had to propose 
 
 to ward off the effect of the diminution of its funds 
 and to maintain the credit of its notes, without 
 which it must fail. Noone thought it was possible 
 to give the notes the currency of specie, because 
 of the impossibility of re-establishing paper money 
 in France, and also of getting the consent of the 
 emperor to Buch a resolution. But certain mea- 
 sures were admitted, which tended to render the 
 payments of the bank slower, and the consequent 
 outgoing of specie less rapid. They left to the 
 minister of the treasury and to the prefect of police 
 tlie task of coming to an understanding with the 
 bank opon tlie nature and detail of the measures 
 themseh 
 
 M. de Marhois had very warm altercations with 
 the council of the bank. He complained of the 
 manner in which it had governed its affairs, a 
 very unjust reproach : since, if embarrassed, it 
 was wholly through the fault of the treasury. Its 
 portfolio contained none hut excellent commercial 
 paper, the receipts for which were at that moment 
 
 ictive resource. It had even dimini 
 the discounts to private individuals, so as to reduce 
 its portfolio below the ordinary proportions. It 
 had possession of no paper in a disproportionate 
 growth, except that of M. Desprez and of the 
 "obligations of the receiver-general," which re- 
 turned no specie. It therefore suffered itself on 
 no other than the government account. But the 
 bankers who managed it were in general so devoted 
 to the emperor, in whom they loved, if not the glori- 
 oldier, at least the restorer of order, that they 
 suffered themselves to be treated by the agents of 
 the government with a severity which would not 
 in the present day be permitted by the most vulgar 
 company id" speculators. So far it was on their 
 part patriotism more than servility. To sustain 
 the emperor's government was in their eves an 
 imperious duty which they owed to France, that he 
 alone had preserved from anarchy. They could 
 noteithert.il very highly irritated at reproaches 
 which they were conscious they did not merit, ami 
 they exhibited on In half of the treasury a devotion 
 of purpose well worthy to serve as an example in 
 similar circumstances. They adopted the following 
 
 measures as tie.-.- most likely to alleviate tin' 
 I !• -sure of tic 
 
 II. de Marhois was to send away post haste into 
 the departments nearest to the capital, orders to 
 
 the pav masti ra to hand over all the funds in their 
 i which were not indispensably needful 
 for tie- current monies of paving tie- funds, the 
 .iy pay, and He- salaries of Functionaries, ami 
 to pay these funds into the bank as soon as pos- 
 sible. It was hoped that five or six millions 
 in Sp ci. would be obtained in this mode. All 
 
 ordi r was given to tin- !■ o iv. n gi neral who had 
 
 banded to M. I) B|>n /. all tie- sums paid in to them, 
 to pay them over at once into the bank. The 
 clerks si iii f«r this purpose were also commanded 
 t<> discover vvhi tier some of these accountable 
 officers ha I not employed the fundi o( tin- treasury 
 for their own personal hem fit. To these means ol 
 jiaid in were- add. d other-, m oil. r 
 to prevent its being paid out t..o rapidly. The 
 noiis becoming depreciated in value, the public 
 went in a hurry to the bank, in onh r to turn them 
 into cash. \\ leu brokerage and jobbing did not 
 VOL. II. 
 
 interfere, it had before been suffich nt to suffer a 
 
 i on • two per e< nt. un the notes, in order 
 
 for the majority of the holders to turn them into 
 specie. The bank was now authorized not to turn 
 its notes into metallic currency at a rate h. v. nd 
 5d0,000f. or COO.OOOf. value daily. This was all 
 the specie required when confidence existed. 
 Another precaution was taken to retard the cash 
 payments, and that was to count the money handed 
 over. The holders of the notes would have wil- 
 lingly dispensed with that formality, because they 
 did not imagine the hank would cheat the public, 
 by putting a crown less in a bag of a thousand 
 francs than should be put there. Still the clerks 
 affected to be so careful as to reckon them. They 
 also decided that they would reimburse only a 
 single note from the same person, ami that each 
 should be admitted in turn. At last, the crowd 
 increasing daily, they thought of a last mode, 
 namely, that of distributing numbers to the holders 
 of notes in the proportion 'of 500,000f or 600,000f. 
 which they only wished to lie paid per day. These 
 numbers, deposited at the diff. r. nt mayors' houses 
 in Paris, were to be distributed by the mayors to 
 the individuals well known to lie strangers to 
 money dealing, and who therefore had no recourse 
 to reimbursement for their notes, but to satisfy real 
 
 necessities. 
 
 These measures put an end at least to the 
 trouble given at the bank offices, and reduced the 
 issue of specie so as to meet the more urgent wants 
 of the population. The jobbers who endeavoured 
 to obtain the bank crowns, in order to pay them 
 over to the public at a profit of six or seven per 
 cent, were defeated in their manoeuvres. Still 
 this was really a suspension of payments under the 
 garb of a retardation only. Unfortunately it was 
 inevitable. In such a situation it is not the mea- 
 sures thus take n w hicli should be blamed, it is the 
 anterior conduct which rendered them necessary. 
 
 The clerks sent out procured tin' payment into 
 the bank of 2,000,000f., or thereabouts. The daily 
 expiration ol' en. men lal bills line hr. light in more 
 than en. whs ; because coiinnercia. men, only 
 when they had to pay in le^s sums than 500f., paid 
 in specie. The bank therefore resolved to pur- 
 chase dollars in Holland at any price, and thus to 
 
 charge t . its . w n account a pari of the expenses 
 of the crisis. Thanks to these united means, the 
 embarrassment would soon have been surmounted, 
 if M. Desprez had not come suddenly to declare 
 his great necessities, and to solicit more aid. 
 
 This banker, chargi d by the company to fur- 
 nish the treasury with tin- funds necessary for its 
 service, and in order to do that, to discount the 
 
 ''obligations of the receivers-general," the "bills at 
 sight, ' and the like, hail engaged to discount them 
 at a ball p. r cent, per month, or six per cent, per 
 
 annum. The capitalists would no longer dim nt 
 
 tin in for him than at one per cent, per month, or 
 twelve per cent, pt r annum, lie was thuB < \\ 
 to ruinous loss, in order to avoid ill i loss, he 
 
 thought of the mode of giving in pledge to the 
 
 lenders, the "obligations" am! "bills at sight," 
 
 and to borrow money upon their \alue, in place of 
 
 making them be sub dia inted. Tie pi .-"i 
 
 in their desire to turn this circumstance to their 
 
 own profit, had terminated by refusing to renew 
 operations of this character any un re, for tl 
 
 1.
 
 50 
 
 The bank embarrass- 
 ments increased. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Numerous bankrupt- 
 cies occur. 
 
 / 1805. 
 \ October. 
 
 ject of obliging him to give the treasury securities I 
 at a very low rate. 
 
 "The embarrassments of the place," M. de 
 Marbnis wrote to the emperor, " serve many per- 
 sons for a pretext to use them like corsairs towards 
 the united merchants ; and I know great patriots 
 who have drawn 1,200,0001'. or l,300,000f. from 
 the agent of the treasury, in order to be able to 
 gain more by their bargains." (Letter of 28i.li of 
 September — Depot of Secretary of State's Office.) 
 
 M. Desprez, who had already received fourteen 
 millions in aid from the bank, wished to obtain 
 thirty more immediately, and seventy millions in 
 the mouth of Brumaire. There was, in conse- 
 quence, a sum of 100 .000,0001'. which he needed. 
 This situation, openly stated at the bank, caused 
 real affright there, on the part of those who were 
 not much disposed to support the fortunes of the 
 government whatever they might turn out to be. 
 They demanded who M. Desprez was,, and under 
 what title such great sacrifices were claimed for 
 him. The commercial men were ignorant of the 
 partnership between him and the company of con- 
 tractors, who were labouring at the same time for 
 France and Spain. But in ignorance of his true 
 situation as they might be, they were desirous of 
 obliging the minister to identify him as the agent 
 of the treasury, if only that they might have one 
 more security. The minister, having notice of their 
 desire, sent a note, in his own hand, to the presi- 
 dent of the bank regency, to say that M. Desprez 
 acted in the interest of the treasury. From inat- 
 tdvtioii, M. de Marbois neglected to sign the note. 
 He was requested to sign it. He consented ; and 
 it was thus impossible to say they were not vir- 
 tually in presence of the emperor himself, the 
 creator of the bank, the master and saviour of 
 France, demanding that they should not reduce his 
 government to a stand-still by refusing him the 
 resources of which he had the most urgent need. 
 
 The voice of patriotism prevailed ; and the re- 
 sult was more particularly due to M. Perrigaux, 
 the celebrated banker, whose influence was always 
 employed to the advantage of the state. They de- 
 cided tuat all the aid required should be given to 
 M. Desprez ; that the '• obligations" which served 
 him for the purpose <f borrowing upon pledge, and 
 which they avoided discounting to prevent too great 
 losses, sh uld be discounted, no matter at what 
 rate of expense, whether they belonged to M. Des- 
 prez or to the bank ; that he should take this ope- 
 ration upon himself, as more capable than any 
 other individual to execute it ; that the loss should 
 be borne, half by the company and half by the 
 bank; that specie should be purchased at Amster- 
 dam and at Hamburg, at their joint expense ; and 
 that M. Desprez should be requested formally not 
 to renew his engagements, in order to put an end 
 to such a situation of affairs. They resolved, 
 finally, to contract their commercial discounts, to 
 devote all the existing resources to the treasury, 
 and to issue no notes but on its account. The 
 daily payments of the commercial paper had 
 brought in a considerable quantity of notes, which 
 they were at first about to destroy; but they were 
 soon sent into circula ion again, to meet the wants 
 of M. Desprez. They now surpassed by much 
 even the first issue in magnitude, currying it up to 
 80,000,0001'., independently of 20,000,000f. of ac- 
 
 counts current. But the extraordinary purchases 
 of dollars, and the effective discount of the "obli- 
 gations," procured the 500,000f. or 600,000f. per 
 day which were indispensable to satisfy the public; 
 and they were able to flatter themselves with a 
 hope of getting over this crisis without compro- 
 mising the services, and without bringing bank- 
 ruptcy upon the contractors, which must have led 
 the treasury itself to the same fate. 
 
 It was not possible to prevent the bankruptcy of 
 individuals, which succeeded each other with a ra- 
 pidity contributing greatly to the universal dejec- 
 tion. The failure of M. Re'camier — a banker much 
 regarded' for his integrity, the extent of his busi- 
 ness, and the style of his living, and who became 
 the victim of existing circumstances, much more 
 than of any conduct connected with his business as 
 a banker— produced a very painful sensation. The 
 malevolent attributed it to a connexion of his busi- 
 ness with the treasury, which did not exist. Many 
 failures of less moment followed that of M. Re'ca- 
 mier, as well in Paris as in the country, and 
 caused a species of panic-terror. Under a govern- 
 ment less firm than that of Napoleon, this crisis 
 would have been followed by very serious conse- 
 quences. But every one calculated upon his good 
 fortune and upon the resources of his genius; no- 
 body felt any uneasiness about the maintenance of 
 public order; all awaited momentarily some great 
 blow that, being struck, would restore public 
 credit ; while that detestable species of specu- 
 lators, wdio increase the difficulties of every similar 
 situation, did not base their calculations of gain 
 upon the fall of prices — not venturing to t>!ay that 
 game, through fear of the victories of Napoleon. 
 
 All eyes were fixed upon the Danube, where the 
 destinies of Europe were about to be decided. It 
 was from that quarter that events were to arrive, 
 which would put an end both to (he financial and 
 political crisis. They were expected with a justi- 
 fiable confidence, more than all, after having seen, 
 in the space of a few da\s, an entire army taken, 
 nearly without striking a blow, by the sole effect 
 of a manoeuvre. Still one circumstance, even in 
 that manoeuvre, had produced a vexatious compli- 
 cation of relations with Prussia; France had to 
 dread an additional enemy. 'ibis circumstance 
 was the march of the corps of marshal Bernadotte 
 across the Prussian province of Anspach. 
 
 Napoleon, in directing the march of his columns 
 on the flank of the Austrian army, had not for a 
 moment considered as a difficulty in his way the 
 passage across the provinces that Prussia possessi d 
 in Franconia. In fact, after the convention of 
 neutrality, stipulated for by Prussia witli the bel- 
 ligerent powers during the preceding war, the pro- 
 vinces of Anspach and Bareuth had not been 
 included in the neutrality of the north of Germany. 
 The reason of this was plain and simple; it was 
 because the provinces were situated on the route 
 that l be Austrian and French armies were obliged 
 to take, and it was almost impi ssible to prevent 
 their using that passage. All that could therefore 
 be expected was, that these provinces should not 
 be made the field of active hostility, that the belli- 
 gerents should pass through them rapidly, and 
 that they should pay for all which they took within 
 their limits. If Prussia had desired that it should 
 have been otherwise on this occasion, she should
 
 1815. ■> Prussia p'aces her army 
 
 October. / on a war footing. 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 Conduct of Frederick 
 of Prussia. 
 
 51 
 
 have explained herself to that effect. Besides, 
 when she had hut recently heen negotiating an 
 alliance with France, and when she had gone so 
 far on the way as to listen to and agree to the offer 
 made her of Hanover, she had little right to alter 
 the former stipulations of her neutrality, in order 
 to render them more strict towards France than 
 they were ill l~'.H>. This it would have heen 
 scarcely possible to conceive: slit- had Kept in this 
 Ct a silence which she could not with decency 
 venture to break, above all, for the purpose of de- 
 claring that, in full negotiation for an alliance, she 
 wished to he less Condescending to France than ill 
 times of extreme coolness. However that might 
 he, Napoleon, grounding his conduct upon the 
 former agreement and on the apparent amity 
 which lie was led to believe existed between them, 
 ha I not considered the passage across the province 
 of Anspach as any vi ilation of territory. What 
 proved his sincerity in this respect is, that, in 
 strictness, he might have dispensed with borrowing 
 the road through that province, and, by drawing 
 his columns closer together, have made it very 
 easy to avoid the Prussian territory, without losing 
 mu-di of his chance of enveloping general Mack. 
 
 But the situation of Prussia had become daily 
 more embarrassing between the emperors Napoleon 
 and Alexander. The first offered him Hanover 
 and his alliance : the second demanded from him 
 a passage through Silesia for one of his armies, 
 and put on the appearance of declaring to him that 
 he must join the coalition either out of his own 
 free will or by force. As soon as he came to com- 
 prehend the real state of the position in which he 
 was placed, Frederick William became extremely 
 agitated. This monarch, rul d sometimes by the 
 greediuese natural to the Prussian govern nent 
 that inclined htm towards Napoleon, sometimes by 
 the influences of his court which drew him towards 
 the coalition, had made promises to every one, and 
 hid thus reached an embarrassment of position 
 from which he could perceive no other mode of 
 escape than by a war either with Russia or Prance, 
 II • was exaa >erate t to the utmost, because he was 
 at once disc intented with others as well as him- 
 self, and he could not think of war at all without 
 great apprehensions. Nevertheless, indignant at 
 the violence with which he had been thr uteued 
 by Russia, ha had ordered that 80,01)1) men should 
 be placed on the war footing. In this state ol 
 things it was thai intelhg n <• ><\ the asserted viola- 
 tion of the Prussian term »ry reached II rim This 
 wa* a new source of vexation to kin,' Frederick- 
 vViliiam, m 'iv particularly as it diminished the 
 t tree ol the arguments which lie h id us d to meet 
 tbe urgent intreaties of Ai * m ler. There existed 
 re in HIS, no doubt, ill b hall' ol p ■miittiilif a pa 
 
 lo the Preiich through Anspach, which hoi no 
 existence as onuses for op ninn Siletia to the 
 Itusdaiis. But in moments ol the ehVrvesc nee 
 ot feeling, the justice of souu I reaa u i- not the 
 |u- •>. .tl- nt argniu n;, an. I i,i b ariug al Bdrliu the 
 passage of tint French ov r the territory of 
 Anspach, the court exclaimed, that Napoleon had 
 outraged Prussian dignity, treating her .isle- had 
 he-n acousto ii d t.> treat Naples or Bad >n ; th >t it 
 
 was iuiji os-ibl ■ to put up with Such ir .am lit with- 
 out dishonouring mis II ; i ii.it lor ll 
 had not war wiui Napoleon, lb y must h.iVe ii with 
 
 Alexander, because that prince would not permit 
 them to act in so partial a manner towards him, 
 as to refuse him that which they had granted to 
 his enemy ; and, finally, if Prussia must declare 
 herself, it would he very singular, and \oi-y un- 
 worthy of the king to take up the cause of the 
 oppressors of Europe against its defenders. Fre- 
 derick -William, it was added, whether at Meniel 
 or elsewhere since, hail ever professed different 
 sentiments in ihe confidential outpourings of his 
 In art to his young friend Alexand, r. 
 
 It was thus they talked loudly and openly at 
 Berlin, at Potsdam, ami, above all, in the royal 
 family, where an affectionate, beautiful, and pas- 
 sion-stirring queen governed with absolute sway. 
 
 Frederick Will. am, athough really irritated at 
 the vi, ilation of the territory of Anspach, which 
 deprived him of his best argument against the 
 entreaties of Russia, carried* himself as those are 
 accustomed to do who are lalse through feebleness 
 of mind. He availed himself of bis anger as a 
 resource, and affected to exhibit more irritation 
 than he really experienced. His conduct towards 
 the two French representatives was ridiculously 
 affected. Not alone did he refuse to receive them, 
 hut M. Hardenberg would not admit them to 
 his cabinet to hear their explanation. M. La- 
 furest ami Duroc were astonished at a sort of in- 
 terdict upon them, being deprived of a. I communi- 
 cation, even with the private secretary, M. Lom- 
 bard, through whom had been carried on the 
 confidential communications when the German 
 indemnities or Hanover were .subjects of discus- 
 sion. The secret intermediate agents ordinarily 
 employed, declared, that in the state of mind in 
 which the king was as regarded the French, they 
 dared not see any of that nation. Their auger was 
 evidently assumed. Their desire was to draw out 
 of it a solution of the embarrassments in which 
 they found themselves, being desirous to say to 
 Prance tint the engagements entered into with 
 Ini- had been violated through her own conduct. 
 These engagements, so frequently renewed and 
 substituted for different plans of alliance which 
 had COlUe to nothing, had consisted in a formal 
 promise that the Prussian territory should never, 
 a-, a territory, he made to serve aggressively 
 against Prance, and that Hanover itseli should he 
 guaranteed ugaiusl invasion. The I ranch, having 
 by vimence paused through the Prussian territory, 
 ii was pro, o-,,. i to conclude from that circumstance 
 that they had a right to open il Ul whomsoever 
 they pleased. This was a miraculous issue, dis- 
 
 e.vereil to escape IV the dllllcullies of <v,rv 
 
 kind accumulating around them. I u consequence 
 
 l he J resolved to declare, that by the violations of 
 her territory Prussia was relea ed from ever) 
 engagement, and that sin- granted a passage to the 
 lliiHsians through Sile ia m compensation for the 
 passage through Auspach, taken i>v tin French. 
 To, \ wished here for something more than to 
 in. ii, s lv.s IV an eml, irr.issnienl, they 
 
 I out oi i in- affair to secure some profit to 
 toe in -, Iv s. 1 1 was decided upon to seize Hanovi r, 
 where there remained no more than liOIIO French, 
 shut up in ihe strong loiiie-s oi rlameln, and to 
 colour oi rr tnis Invasion uuder the npeoiouB pre- 
 lex of -ecuru,' iln iiimIvc again i fresh violations 
 ol territory, as an Augl ii army was march- 
 
 i. -J
 
 52 
 
 Alexander visits 
 Beiiin. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Meeting of the two ( 1805. 
 munarchs. {October. 
 
 ing upon Hanover, and by such an occupation, 
 Prussia would prevent her own territory from be- 
 coming the field of hostile operations, Hanover 
 being on every side enclosed by it. 
 
 The king called an extraordinary council, to 
 which the duke of Brunswick and marshal Mollen- 
 dorf were summoned. M. Haugwitz, brought out 
 of his retreat by these serious circumstances, was 
 among those present. There they drew up reso- 
 lutions, the purport of which has been just reca- 
 pitulated, and which were agreed to, but were left 
 for some days enveloped in a species of cloud, to 
 alarm yet more the two representatives of France. 
 Although they did not believe it was very easy to 
 intimidate them or their master, they thought that 
 at the moment when Napoleon had so many ene- 
 mies on his hands, the fear of adding Prussia to 
 the number, which would have rendered ihe coa- 
 lition universal as in 1792, would act powerfully 
 upon his mind. 
 
 M. Laforest and Duroc had for a good while 
 fruitlessly requested an interview with M. Harden - 
 berg. They saw him at last in the studied atti- 
 tude of a man who was making an effort to con- 
 ceal his indignation, and only obtained from him, 
 after numerous bitter complaints, the declaration, 
 that the engagements of Prussia were broken, and 
 that she should hereafter be guided only by the 
 interest of her own security. The cabinet suffered 
 to come successively to the knowledge of the two 
 French negotiators, the resolutions to open Silesia 
 to the Russians, and to occupy Hanover with a 
 Prussian army, under the pretext of preventing 
 the flame of war introducing itself into the centre 
 of the kingdom itself. They seemed to wish the 
 French to understand that they must esteem them- 
 selves lucky to be quits at such a cost. All this 
 was very little worthy of the integrity of the king 
 and of the power of Prussia. Nevertheless, after 
 this first explosion, the forms of intercourse began 
 to soften down a little, not only because it was a 
 part of the Prussian plan to become more mode- 
 rate, but also because the surprising success of 
 Napoleon had inspired in all courts very serious 
 reflections. 
 
 All that had passed at Berlin had been carried 
 to Pulavvi with the rapidity of lightning. Alex- 
 ander, who had desired much to see Frederick- 
 William before the grievances took place which 
 France had afforded to Prussia, wished much more 
 to see him afterwards. He was in hopes to find 
 the king disposed to be swayed by any species of 
 influence. Therefore, far from fixing a place of 
 meeting in such a mode that each should travel 
 the same distance, Alexander made the whole 
 journey, and proceeded immediately to Berlin. 
 
 Frederick -William, learning the arrival of the 
 czar, was sorry he had made so much noise 
 about the matter, and thus drawn upon himself a 
 visit which, however flattering, might compromise 
 him. Napoleon had commenced the war in a 
 fashion so decisive, that there was little encou- 
 ragement to support his enemies. At the same 
 time, it was impossible for the king to deny 
 himself to the attentions of a prince to whom 
 every one said he was so affectionately attached. 
 Orders were given for the reception with all 
 appropriate ceremony. Alexander entered the 
 Prussian capital on the 2oih of October, amidst the 
 
 thunder of cannon, between the ranks of the royal 
 Prussian guards. The young king ran to meet him, 
 and embraced him with cordiality, amid the ap- 
 plauses of the people of Berlin, who, after having 
 been in the first place favourable to the French, 
 now began to suffer themselves to be drawn in by 
 the example of the court, and by the allegation, a 
 thousand times repeated, that Napoleon had vio- 
 lated the territory of Anspach, out of contempt 
 for Prussia. Alexander promised himself he should 
 employ, under existing circumstances, every means 
 of seduction he possessed to secure the court of 
 Berlin in his interests. He did not fail in making 
 the attempt, and he commenced his task with the 
 beautiful queen of Prussia, whom it was very easy 
 to gain over, because, being of the house of Meck- 
 lenburg, she partook in all the passions of the Ger- 
 man nobility against the French rcvelution. Alex- 
 ander paid her a sort of chivalrous and respectful 
 worship, which might be taken at will for a simple 
 homage rendered to her merits, or for a sentiment 
 of a much warmer character. Although greatly 
 taken up at that time with a distinguished lady of 
 the Russian nobility, Alexander was the man anil 
 prince to simulate at a proper time a sentiment 
 adapted to be useful to his objects. There was 
 nothing, besides, in those attentions capable of 
 offending decorum, or the mistrustful susceptibility 
 of Frederick- William. He had not been two days 
 at Berlin before the court was full of him, con- 
 tinually boasting of his courtesy, his understand- 
 ing, and generous ardour in the common cause of 
 Europe. He overwhelmed with his attentions all 
 the relations of the great Frederick ; he visited 
 the duke of Brunswick and marshal Mollendorf, 
 in them honouring the chiefs of the Prussian army. 
 The young prince Louis, the king's nephew, who 
 had made himself notorious for his violent hatred 
 of the French, and an ardent passion for glory, 
 already attached to the cause of Russia, showed 
 more of this strong feeling than was usual. A 
 species of general enchantment seemed to bind the 
 court to Alexander. Frederick- William perceived 
 the effect which was thus produced around him, 
 and began to take alarm. He waited with painful 
 anxiety the propositions to which all this enthu- 
 siasm would not fail to give birth, and he was 
 silent out of fear of accelerating the moment of 
 explanation. It has been already said that, in his 
 extreme of embarrassment, he had sent for his 
 former councillor, M. Haugwitz, whose mind, too 
 subtle for his own, sometimes made him uneasy 
 from its very superiority ; but whose policy, 
 adroit, evasive, ever tending to neutrality, was per- 
 fectly suitable to his views. They both deplored 
 the fatal course of things, which, under the ambi- 
 tious and unequal management of M. Hardenberg, 
 had conducted Prussia to a real standstill. M. 
 Hardenberg, at first the friend and creature of 
 M. Haugwitz, and soon the rival, jealous of that 
 statesman, had commenced by following his line of 
 policy, which consisted in keeping Prussia neuter 
 between the two European parties, and in getting 
 the most out of them that was possible ; but he bad 
 done this with his ambitious character, turning 
 sometimes to one side, sometimes to another, 
 favourable to the French when Hanover was the 
 subject agitated, so far as to give himself up wholly 
 to the French ; and since the event of Anspach, so
 
 1S05. 1 
 October. J 
 
 Negotiation of M. 
 Haugwitz. 
 
 AUSTERL1TZ. 
 
 Language of Alexander 
 to Prussia. 
 
 drawn in by the general predisposition, that he 
 was ready to go halves with Russia in making war 
 upon France. M. Haugwitz, censuring, but with 
 ti ad mess, an ungrateful fullower of his own, said 
 that he had beeu too French a few months before, 
 and that he was now too Russian, Put how was 
 hi- to escape from his embarrassment, how escape 
 from the shackles of the young emperor ! The 
 difficulty become greater hour by hour, its solu- 
 tion «ouhl be impossible by iucessantly eluding 
 it. Time was precious with the young emperor, 
 because every day that passed saw a further Btep 
 of Napoleon upon the Danube, and a new danger for 
 Alexander, as well as for the Russian armies arrived 
 on the Inn. lie therefore addressed the king <>f 
 Prussia immediately, as well as through his minis- 
 ter for foreign affairs, the able and astute count 
 Haugwitz. The subject which they developed, 
 Loth one and the other, is easy to be deduced from 
 what has preceded. Prussia, they said, could not 
 separate herself from the cause of Europe. She 
 could not contribute by her inactivity to the tri- 
 umph of the common enemy ; she was spared by 
 him for the moment, and even that very little, to 
 judge after what had passed at Auspach ; but she 
 would he soon crushed, wlnn, delivered from Aus- 
 tria and Russia, he should have nobody else with 
 whom to settle accounts. It was true that Prussia 
 was placed in a position much exposed to the 
 blows of Napoleon ; hut then 80,000 men were 
 marching to her assistance, and they would not 
 have approached so near to her but for that object. 
 This army united at l'ulawi on the frontier of 
 Silesia was not a threat to Prussia, but a generous 
 attention on the part of Alexander, who would not 
 Voluntarily draw a friend into a serious war with- 
 out putting the mi- ins into his hands of daring its 
 perils. Besides, Napoleon had plenty of enemies 
 on his hands ; he would be in great danger on the 
 Danube, if, whilst the Austrians and Russians in 
 union should oppose a solid barrier to him, Prussia 
 should throw herself on his rear by Francouia ; he 
 would then be placed between two fires and infal- 
 libly succumb. In this case, which was very pro- 
 bable, the common deliverance would be owing to 
 Prussia, and then every thing should be done for 
 her that had been promised hi r by Napoleon ; all 
 that he never intended to perform should tlieu be 
 given to her, even Hanover, that complement of 
 territory, with which he had flattered the ambition 
 of the house of Brandenburg. Letters had, in 
 (act, been already written to London to decide 
 Bugland to make that sacrifice. It would be much 
 better to receive so fine a gift from the hinds of 
 tile legitimate | the price of the general 
 
 safety, than h receive it from a usurper, who 
 
 would be giving away the propeiiy of aiiotk 
 the reward of treason. 
 
 To these entreaties were joined a new influi 
 
 in the preseni I the archduke Antony, sent in all 
 
 baste from Vnnna to Berlin. Tnis prince arrived 
 to relate the rapid progn s-> of the French, the fall 
 of Ulm, and to stale the perils which endangered 
 the Austrian monarchy, too gnat not to be common 
 to all Germany ; he solicited earnestly, and at any- 
 cost, tie re onciliatioii of the two principal <i'i 
 man powers. 
 
 Tuis diplomatic machination wan too well inter- 
 woven for the unhappy king ol Pro lia to escape 
 
 it. Still both the king and M. Haugwitz resisted 
 it obstinately, as if they had some pies, ntiment of 
 
 the reverses which were soon to overtake the 
 Prussian monarchy. There were many discus- 
 sions, many disputations, and many bitter com- 
 plaints. The king and his minister declared that 
 they would brin^ about the ruin of Prussia ; that 
 they would to u certainty undo her, because entire 
 Europe, were it united, would he incapable of re- 
 sistance to Napoleon ; that if they yielded it would 
 he doing violence to their reason, their prudence, 
 and their patriotism, and they would not fail to 
 recriminate against a scheme which had been pro- 
 jected to draw them in, either by their own good 
 will or by force, a scheme of which the Russian 
 army then united on the frontier of Silesia was to 
 he the instrument. 
 
 To this the emperor Alexander replied by giving 
 up his minister, prince Czartoryski. Yielding to 
 his natural inconstancy of character, he had al- 
 ready begun to listen much to the counsels of the 
 Dolgoroukis, who went about every where declar- 
 ing that prince Czartoryski was a perfidious min- 
 ister, treacherous to his emperor on account of 
 Poland, of which lie wished to become king him- 
 self, and only on that account endeavouring to 
 place Russia against Prussia. Alexander, who 
 had not sufficient firmness of character for the 
 plan which had been proposed to him, was him- 
 self affrighted at the idea of inarching upon 
 France by passing over the body of Prussia, if the 
 crown of Poland were to be the price of the teme- 
 rity. M. Alopeus enlightening his mind, and ex- 
 cited by the Dolgoroukis, he said that they bad 
 tried to make him commit a gnat fault, and he 
 even warmly reproached prince Czartoryski, whoso 
 grave and austere character began to lie disagree- 
 able to him, because, with the freedom of a friend and 
 of an independent minister, he Sometimes blamed 
 his sovereign for his weaknesses and fickleness. 
 
 By application, disavowals, hut above all by ae- 
 ry influences, such as the entreaties of the 
 queen, the words of prince Louis, and the exclam- 
 ations of the young Prussian stall', tiny finished by 
 quieting the king, overcoming M. Haugwitz, and by 
 making both enter into the designs of the coalition, 
 lint persuaded as Frederick- William had been, 
 
 he reserved to himself a last resource to escape 
 
 from bis new engagement, and under the counsels 
 of.M. Haugwitz, he adopted a plan, which appeared 
 
 to hold out something illusive to his deluded pro- 
 bity. This consisted in a design for a mediation, 
 a grand piece of hypocrisy then employed by all 
 the powers to disguise a coalition against France. 
 
 It was the form which Prussia had thought of 
 employing three months before, when she agitated 
 
 the questu fan alliance with Napoleon at the 
 
 price of Hanover. It was the form which she 
 
 employed at this tine wh< n she was considering of 
 an alliance with Alexander, and unfortunately for 
 Inr honour, agaiu at the pru-e of Hanover. 
 
 It was agreed that Prussia, alleging the impossi- 
 bility of living in peace between adversaries so 
 
 obstinately bent against each Other, who did not 
 
 even respect her territory, should decide to offer 
 an intervention, in order to bring about a peace by 
 force. So far there was nothing but what was 
 good; but linn what were tin C litions of litis 
 
 tobel That Involved the whole question.
 
 54 
 
 Prussia protracts 
 action. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The treaty of 
 Potsdam. 
 
 f 1805. 
 \Novemier. 
 
 If Prussia conformed herself to the treaties she had 
 signed with Napoleon, by which she had guaranteed 
 the existing state of the French empire, in ex- 
 change for what she had received in Germany, 
 there was nothing to be said. But she was not 
 firm enough to stay herself at this limit, which was 
 that of good faith. She agreed to propose as the 
 conditions of the peace, a new line of demarcation 
 for the Austrian possessions in Lomhardy, which 
 must carry buck that of the Adige to the Mincio 
 (a step that must lead to the dismemberment of 
 the kingdom of Italy), an indemnity for the king 
 .of Sardinia ; and besides these, the conditions 
 commonly admitted by Napoleon himself, that in 
 case of a general pacification, Naples, Switzerland, 
 and Holland, should be independent;. This was a 
 formal violation of the reciprocal guarantees that 
 Prussia had stipulated with France, not in plans of 
 alliance unfulfilled, but in authentic conventions, 
 signed on the occasion of the Prussian indem- 
 nities. 
 
 The Russians and Austrians would have desired 
 more; but as they knew that Napoleon would never 
 consent to these conditions, they were sure, even 
 with what they had so far obtained, to draw Prus- 
 sia into the war. 
 
 There was another difficulty which they passed 
 over, in order to throw over all obstacles. Fre- 
 derick-William would not present himself to 
 Napoleon in the name of all his enemies, par- 
 ticularly that of England, after having exchanged 
 with him against that power so much of overflowing 
 confidence. He expressed the desire therefore 
 that not a single word relative to Great Brit" in 
 should be pronounced in the declaration of media- 
 tion, not having the intention, he said, to mingle 
 himself with any question but the peace of the 
 continent. The}' consented here again, always es- 
 timating that there had been enough done in that 
 which had been agreed upon to plunge Prussia 
 into war. Finally, he exacted a last precaution, 
 the most captious and the most important, that, 
 was the postponement for one month of the term 
 at which Prussia should be compelled to act. On 
 one part, the duke of Brunswick, always consulted 
 and always heard without appeal from him, when 
 the discussion was upon military affairs, declared 
 that the Prussian army would not he ready before 
 the first days of Decemher ; on the other, M. 
 Haugwitz counselled delay, in order to see how 
 things would pass on the Danube, between the 
 French and Russians. With such a leader as Na- 
 poleon, events could not be long protracted, and in 
 gaining only a. month, they had the chance to es- 
 cape the embarrassment they were in, by some 
 sudden and decisive circumstance in that quarter. 
 It was agreed, that at the expiration of a month, 
 to be dated from the day when M. Haugwitz, 
 charged with the task of proposing the mediation, 
 should have quitted Berlin, Prussia was to be un- 
 derstood as expected to take the field if Napoleon 
 should not have given a satisfactory reply. It 
 was easy to add some days to the month, by re- 
 tarding the departure of M. Haugwitz under dif- 
 ferent pretexts, and moreover Frederick- William 
 relied upon his negotiator, upon his prudence and 
 his address, that the first words exchanged with 
 Napoleon should not be such as to render a rup- 
 ture inevitable and immediate. 
 
 These conditions, unworthy, of Prussian good 
 faith, for they were contrary, it may be repeated, 
 to formal stipulations of which Prussia had received 
 the price in five territorial accessions, contrary 
 above all to an intimacy which Napoleon had 
 no doubt believed sincere — these conditions were 
 inserted in a double declaration signed at Potsdam 
 on the 3rd of November, 1805. The text lias 
 never been published, but Napoleon contrived at 
 a subsequent period to become acquainted with 
 the contents. This declaration preserved the title 
 of the treaty of Potsdam. Undoubtedly Napoleon 
 had committed errors in regard to Prussia ; while 
 flattering her and doing much for her advantage, 
 lie had suffered to pass away more than one oppor- 
 tunity of binding her irrevocably. But he had 
 heaped upon her solid favours, and had always betn 
 honourable in his relations with her. 
 
 Alexander and Frederick-William inhabited 
 Potsdam. It was in that fine retreat of the great 
 Frederick, that they reciprocally raised themselves 
 to a high pitch of exaltation, and concluded a 
 treaty so contrary to the interests of Prussia. The 
 able count Haugwitz was inconsolable, and could 
 not excuse himself in his own eyes for having 
 signed it in the hope to elude the consequences. 
 The king, surprised and confounded, knew not 
 where he was proceeding. To ease his troubled 
 mind, Alexander, it is said, under an understand- 
 ing with the queen, and most probably in pursu- 
 ance of her taste for scenes of effect, expressed 
 a wish to see the little vault which contained the 
 remains of the great Frederick, in the centre of 
 the Protestant church of Potsdam. There, in this 
 vault, excavated in one of the pillars of the church, 
 narrow, simple almost to negligence — there stood 
 two coffins of wood ; one enclosing the remains of 
 Frederick -William I., the other that of the great 
 Frederick. Alexander visited it with the young 
 king, bathed in tears ; and taking his friend in Ids 
 arms, made himself, and demanded on his part, an 
 oath of eternal friendship upon the coffin of the 
 great Frederick ! Never would they separate 
 their cause or their fortunes. Tilsit soon exhibited 
 the inviolable character of this oath, very probably 
 sincere for the moment when it was taken. 
 
 This scene, related at Berlin, and published over 
 all Europe, confirmed the opinion that existed, of 
 a close alliance between those two young monarchs. 
 
 England received due notice of the change of 
 things in Prussia, and of the negotiations so f rtu- 
 nately conducted with that court, and believed that 
 she saw in it a capital event which might decide 
 the fate of Europe. She immediately dispatched 
 lord Harrowby himself, the minister for foreign 
 affairs, in order to negotiate. The cabinet of Lon- 
 don was not particular with the court of Berlin ; 
 it accepted its accession, no matter at what cost. 
 It consented that England should not itself be 
 named in the negotiations which M. Haugwitz had 
 undertaken to the camp of Napoleon, and it kept 
 the subsidies ready for the use of the Prussian 
 army, not doubting that it would take a part in 
 the war at the close of three months. In regard 
 to the aggrandizement of territory announced to 
 the house of Brandenburg, England was disposed 
 to concede much. It did not depend upon the 
 cabinet to give up Hanover, the cherished patri- 
 mony of George III. Mr. Pitt would have wil- 
 
 -4
 
 1S05. \ 
 November, i 
 
 Prussia joins the 
 coalition. 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 Conduct of Napoleon. 
 
 55 
 
 lingly sacrificed it, because it had always been in 
 the mimls of tlie English ministers to regard 
 Hanover as a 'lead weigh! upon England. But it 
 would have been easier to make George III. 
 renounce the three kingdoms than Hanover. In 
 return, an offer was made of aometliing not quite 
 as near to the Prussian monarchy, it is true ; but 
 more considerable, being no less than Holland 
 itself 1 . That Hollaud, which all the courts as- 
 serted to he the slave of France, and of which 
 they reclaimed the independence with so much 
 energy, they tiling down at the feet of Prussia, to 
 attach her to tin.- coalition and to disengage Han- 
 over! It is for the illustrious Dutch nation to 
 in Ige from that circumstance of the sincerity of 
 tin- affection which the European states feel in its 
 regard. 
 
 There were many suhjects besides to be settled, 
 at an ultimate period, between Prussia and Eng- 
 land. In the mean while, it is necessary to draw 
 from the treaty of Potsdam the essentia] result ; 
 that is to say, the accession of Prussia to the coa- 
 lition. Tli' Atistn.iiis and Russians then pressed 
 parture of M. Haugwitz ; and while lie was 
 ig ready, the emperor Alexander set out, on 
 the ."» ii of November, after ten days passed at 
 Berlin. He proceeded towards Weimar, to visit 
 there his sist> r, the grand duchess, a princess of 
 gr at merit wh > lived in that city, surrounded by 
 individuals of the finest genius in Germany, happy 
 in that noble community of feeling which she was 
 Worthy to taste. The separation of the two mo- 
 narcba was, as their first encounter at the gates of 
 15 rhu had lieen, marked by embraces and testi- 
 monies of friendship that, mi the side of one of the 
 parties, there was an evident desire to render very 
 ostentatious. Alexander set off for the army, 
 surrounded by tin- attention which ordinarily at- 
 tach s to such departures. In him they saluted a 
 
 \ ug In in, ready to meet tin- greatest dangers 
 
 to procure the triumph of the common call 
 
 During this time, M. de Laforest, minister of 
 Prance, and Duroc, grand marshal of the imperial 
 , wen- totally lelt alone. The court con- 
 tinued to treat them with the most offensive c«k>1- 
 A I though tli in >st profound secrecy had 
 ! between the Russians and Prus- 
 sians, relative to the stipulations of Potsdam, the 
 Russians, not being able to contain their satisfac- 
 tion, had suffered it to he understood by every 
 
 body thai Prussia was irrei ably engaged with 
 
 them. Their joy, indeed, told this plainly enough ; 
 and, jiiii. e military preparations which 
 
 w.re making, and the tr mble, little in unison with 
 his a."-, which the preparations gave the old duke 
 • .I Brunswick, all attested the success which the 
 nee of Alexander had obtained at Potsdam. 
 y.. Hard en berg, who shared with M. Haugwitz 
 tie- di recti in "l for ign affairs, did not show him- 
 self hut Beldom t" tin- French negotiators ; hut 
 M. Haugwitz received them more frequently, 
 [nterrogati I by them mi the importance which 
 
 lllllsl |,e attached to the i II' I'lSCfe ti"HS (if tile UllS- 
 
 sians, he defended himself fnwn all the supposi- 
 tions which w.re spread abroad ai ig 'he public. 
 
 '\ vowed a project, that he said had no novelty 
 1 It is upon authentic document* that I found thii s»ser- 
 tion. Auihor't Note. 
 
 for them — that of a mediation. When they wished 
 to know whether such a mediation would he an 
 armed one — which signified one imposed by force 
 — he eluded the question, saying that the en- 
 treaties of his court to Napoleon would he in pro- 
 portion to the urgency of the moment. When, 
 lastly, they demanded what the conditions of such 
 a mediation would be, he answered, that they 
 would he just, wise, conformable to the glory of 
 Prance, and that he could give them no better 
 proof of this, than that he was himself < rdered to 
 he the hearer of ih.ein to Napoleon. He should 
 not, the very first time that he should be in the 
 presence of that great man, expose himself to be 
 roughly treated. 
 
 Such were the explanations obtained from the 
 cabinet of Berlin. The only thing evident was, 
 that Silesia was open to the Russians, in punish- 
 ment for the passage of the French troops over the 
 territory of Auspach, and that llaniiver was about 
 to be occupied by a Prussian army. As France 
 had a garrison of 0000 men in the strong fortress 
 of Hameln, M. Haugwitz, without saving if the 
 siege of that place would he ordered or not, made 
 promises of the greatest courtesy towards the 
 French, and added, that he hoped for the same 
 from them in return. 
 
 The grand marshal, Duroc, not seeing any thing 
 more to do at Berlin, set out for the head quarters 
 of Napoleon. At this period — the end of October 
 and beginning of November — Napoleon, having 
 finished with the first Austrian army, was prepar- 
 ing to fall upon the Russians, in pursuance of the 
 plan which he had formed. 
 
 When he became acqrainted with what had 
 passed at Berlin, he was confounded with astonish- 
 ment; for it was in perfect good faith, and in the 
 belief of the existence of the old usage, that he 
 had ordered his troops to cross the provinces of 
 Anspach. He did not believe that the irritation 
 of Prussia could he sincere; and he was convinced 
 that it was only made use of to serve the weakness 
 of the court in its relations with the coalition. 
 But nothing that he was able to imagine upon the 
 Bubject was capable of shaking him; and he exhi- 
 bited on this occasion all the greatness of his 
 characti r. 
 
 The general plan of his operations has already 
 
 been made known. In the presence of four attacks 
 
 directed against the French empire, the firsl on 
 the north of Hanover, the .second on the south by 
 lower Italy, the two others on the east h\ Lorn- 
 hardy and Bavaria ; he had taken account of the 
 two last alone. Leaving to Massens the care of 
 warding off that of Loinbardy and the occupation 
 
 of the archdukes fort lew weeks, he had reserved 
 to himself that which was most important, the 
 attack upon Bavaria, Availing himself, as ha. 
 beet) Been, of the distance which separated the 
 
 Austrian! from the Russians, he had succeeded, 
 after an unparalleled inarch, in surrounding the 
 
 army of the first, and sending them prisoners to 
 Francs : now he was going to march upon the 
 
 second, and fling th. to hack upon Vienna. By 
 that movement Daly would he disengaged, and the 
 attacks prepared in the north and south ol Ian-.. pi' 
 become mere insignificant diversions. 
 
 Still Prussia was aide to cans' serious disturb- 
 ances to such a plan, by marching i Bohemia
 
 56 
 
 Napoleon's language 
 to Prussia. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Movements of 
 Massena. 
 
 f 1805. 
 \ November. 
 
 or Franconia upon the rear of Napoleon, while he 
 should be marching upon Vienna. An ordinary 
 genera], upon hearing all that had passed at Berlin, 
 would have halted all of a sudden and retrograded, 
 in order to occupy a position nearer to the Rhine, 
 in such a manner as not to be turned, and would 
 have awaited in that position at the head of all his 
 united forces the consequences of the treaty of 
 Potsdam. But in conducting himself thus, he 
 would render certain those dangers which were 
 only probable events ; lie would give to the two 
 Russian armies of Kutusof and Alexander sufficient 
 time to effect a junction ; he would give the arch- 
 duke Charles time to march from Lombardy into 
 Bavaria, to join the Russians, and to the Prussians 
 time and courage to make to him propositions that 
 were unacceptable, and to enter the lists with the 
 rest. He might have upon him in a month 
 120,000 Austriaus, 100,000 Russians, and 150,000 
 Prussians, assembled in the upper Palatinate or 
 in Bavaria, and thus he might be borne down by 
 a mass of force just double his own. To persist in 
 his plan more than ever, that, is to say, to march 
 forward, to throw back to one extremity of Ger- 
 many the principal armies of the coalition ; to 
 listen in Vienna to the complaints of Prussia, and 
 to give it his triumphs for a reply : such was the 
 wisest determination, although in appearance the 
 most full of temerity. It must be added, that 
 sucli grand resolutions are made for great men, 
 that ordinary men give way under them : that 
 more, they demand not only superior genius, but 
 absolute authority; because to possess the power to 
 advance or fall back, in accordance with the state 
 of circumstances, it is requisite to be the centre of 
 all movements, of all information, of all will ; it is 
 needful to be general and head of the empire, it is 
 necessary to be Napoleon and emperor. 
 
 The language of Napoleon to Prussia was in 
 conformity to the resolution which he had taken. 
 Far from offering his excuses for the violation of 
 the territory of Anspach, he contented himself by 
 referring her to anterior conventions, saying, that 
 if these conventions existed no longer, it would 
 have been proper to have made him acquainted 
 with it ; that in other respects they were pure pre- 
 texts ; that his enemies, he could well see, had be- 
 come uppermost at Berlin ; that it was not conve- 
 nient to him from that time to enter upon amicable 
 explanations with a prince with whom his friend- 
 ship seemed to have no value ; that he should 
 abandon to time and events the business of answer- 
 ing for him, but that upon one point alone he 
 should be inflexible, that of honour; that his eagles 
 had never suffered an insult ; that they were in 
 one of the strong fortresses of Hanover, that of 
 Hamclii ; that if tiny attempted to snatch them 
 from it, general Barbou would defend them to the 
 very last extremity, and should have succour before 
 he could be forced to surrender ; that to have all 
 Europe upon her hands was not any very new or 
 fearful thing to France; that he himself, Napoleon, 
 would soon come if his presence were called for 
 from the banks of the Danube to the shores of 
 the Elbe, and make his new enemies repent, as he 
 had made his old ones, having insulted the dignity 
 of his empire. The following order was given to 
 general Barbou, and communicated to the Prussian 
 government. 
 
 " To the general of division Barbou. 
 
 " Augsburg, 24th October, 1805. 
 
 "I am ignorant what is preparing; but whatever 
 be the power, the armies of which shall enter 
 Hanover, should it even be a power which has 
 not declared war against me, you will oppose it. 
 Not having sufficient strength to resist an army, 
 shut yourself up in the fortresses, and suffer nobody 
 to approach within cannon range of such fortresses. 
 I shall come to the aid of the troops shut up in 
 Hameln. My eagles have never suffered affront. 
 I hope that the soldiers which you command will 
 be worthy of their comrades, and above all that 
 they will know how to preserve honour, the first 
 and most precious property of nations. 
 
 " You are not to surrender the placo but by an 
 order from me, which shall be carried to you by 
 one of my aides-de-camp. Napoleon." 
 
 Napoleon went from Ulm to Augsburgh, and 
 from Augsburg to Munich, to make his dispo- 
 sitions for the march. Before following him in 
 the long and immense valley of the Danube, over- 
 passing all the obstacles that opposed him from 
 winter and the enemy, it is necessary to cast the 
 eyes for a moment upon Lombardy, where Mas- 
 sena had been charged with the task of keeping 
 the Austrians employed while Napoleon overturned 
 their position on the Adige by advancing upon 
 Vienna. 
 
 Napoleon and Massena were perfectly well ac- 
 quainted with Italy, because both had there 
 acquired their glory. The instructions given for 
 the conduct of this campaign were alike worthy 
 both of the one and the other. Napoleon had at 
 first made it a principle that 50,000 French sup- 
 ported upon a river, had nothing to fear from 
 80,000 enemies, be they whom they might ; that 
 in any case he should only demand of them one 
 thing, which was to guard the Adige until, entering 
 into Bavaria (which forms the northern slope of 
 the Alps, as Lombardy forms the reverse on the 
 south), he should have turned the Austrian position 
 and obliged them to retrograde ; that in order to 
 do this it would be necessary to hold together on 
 the upper part, of that river, the left wing towards 
 the Alps, according to the example which he had 
 always given, to drive back the Austrians if they 
 should present themselves by the gorges of the 
 Tyrol ; or should they pass the lower Adige, to 
 suffer them to do so, only to concentrate, and thus 
 while they would be entangled in the marshy coun- 
 try of the lower Adige and the Po, from Legnago to 
 Venice, to throw himself on their right flank and 
 drown them in the lagunes ; that by resting then 
 in a mass at the foot of the Alps, there was nothing 
 to be feared, let the attack be from on high or 
 from below ; but that if the enemy appeared to 
 abandon the offensive, it would be necessary to 
 take it against him, carry by night attack the 
 bridge of Verona upon the Adige, and afterwards 
 proceed to the attack of the heights of Caldiero. 
 The campaigns of Napoleon would furnish models 
 for every mode of conduct on that part of the thea- 
 tre of war. 
 
 Massena was not a man to hesitate between 
 the offensive and defensive. The first of these 
 systems of carrying on war alone suited his mind
 
 November. 1 
 18u5. J 
 
 Massena crosses 
 the Adige. 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 Battle of Caldiero. 
 
 57 
 
 and character. He liad arrived at that degree of 
 confidi oce, that, with 50,000 French, lie did iiot 
 consider himself bound to keep to the defensive 
 before 80,000 Austrians, although they were com- 
 manded bj the archduke Charles, Inconsequence, 
 in tlie night of the 17th and 18th of October, after 
 having received intelligence of the first move- 
 ments of the grand army, he advanced in silence 
 towards the bridge of Chateau Vieux, situated in 
 the interior of Verona. This city, as is wed 
 known, is divided by the Adige into two parts ; 
 the one belonged to the French, the other to 
 the Austrians. The bridges were severed and 
 their ends defended by palisades and walls. After 
 having blown tin the wall which sto]>|>ed an ap- 
 proach tn the bridge of Chateau Vieux, Massena 
 arrived at the river bank, sent a party of brave 
 vohigeurs, in boats, some to examine whether the 
 piles of the bridge were undermined, others to 
 land on the opposite hank. Certain that the 
 piles were not undermined, he established a 
 sort of passage across with planks ; then having 
 d the Adige he fought all day on the 18th 
 against the Austrians. The secrecy, the vigour, 
 and the promptitude of the attack, were wor- 
 thy of the first lieutenant of Napoleon in the 
 campaigns of Italy. By this operation Massena 
 found he was master of the Course of the Adige, 
 and enabled in case of necessity to operate on 
 both banks ; he had little to fear from a sur- 
 prise through a passage achieved by main force, 
 because he was in a slate to interrupt such an 
 attempt on whatever point it might be tried. Be- 
 fore taking avowedly offensive operations, and 
 advancing definitively upon the Austrian territory, 
 he wished to receive from the banks of the Danube 
 some decisive information. 
 
 This di sued news arrived on the 28th of Octo- 
 ber, and filled the army of Italy with joy and 
 emulation. Massena announced it to his troops 
 by the thunder of artillery, and at once resolved 
 to march forward. The next day, being the 29tl), 
 rried three of his divisions over the A 1 1 i l. ■ • , 
 those of Gardanne, Duhesme, and Molitot, over- 
 threw the Austrians, and extended himself over 
 
 the plains of St. Michel, between tin- fortress 
 
 of Verona and the entrenched camp of Caldiero. 
 Hi- design was to attack this formidable camp, 
 although he had before him an army much supe- 
 rior in number, supported on positions that both 
 nature and art had rendered extremely strong. 
 On (he other side, the archduke, informed of the 
 wonderful success of the grand French army, 
 ming that he would be soon constrained to 
 
 grade in order to carry succour to Vienna, 
 still thought he ought nol to rive up the ground 
 as it be were vanquished. He was desirous of 
 gaining a decided advantage which would allow 
 bim to retire unmolested, and to take the route 
 
 which was lust suited to tin- situation of a gl i j. ral 
 
 connected with the coalition. 
 
 The two antagi Dials went to attack each other 
 with the greater fury, that tiny had both taken 
 a similar resolution to fight to the verj last < ntre« 
 
 lnity. 
 
 Massena had before him the last setup- of the 
 
 Alps of the Tyrol, which descend until their decli- 
 nation is gradually lost in the plain of Verona, 
 near the village of Caldiero. On his left the 
 
 heights of Colognola were covered with entrench- 
 ments regularly constructed, and defended by a 
 numerous artillery. At the centre and in the 
 plain was situated the village of Caldiero, crossed 
 by the great road through Lombardy which con- 
 ducts bv Friuli into Austria, At this point an 
 obstacle appeared in the form of grounds crossed 
 by enclosures and buildings, occupied by a great 
 part of the Austrian infantry. Finally, on his 
 right Massena saw extended the flat and marshy 
 banks of the Adige, every where crossed by ditches 
 and dikes bristled with cannon. Thus on the left 
 the mountains entrenched, at the centre a great 
 road bordered with works of defence, on the 
 right the marshes of the Adige, every where 
 covered with works appropriate to the ground, 
 lined with artillery and 80,000 men to di 
 them — such was the entrenched camp that Massena 
 was about to attack with 50.000 nun. Nothing 
 could intimidate the hero of Kivoli, Zurich, ami 
 Genoa. On the 30th in the morning he advanced 
 in columns on the great road. On his left he 
 commanded general Molitor to carry with his 
 divisions the formidable heights of Colognola; he 
 himself undertook to attack the centre with the 
 divisions of Diihesine and Gardaune along the 
 great road ; and as he judged that in order to 
 dislodge the enemy, so superior in number and 
 position, it would be necessary to make him 
 perceive one of his wings to be endangered, he 
 ordered general Verdier to proceed to the extreme 
 light of the French army, to pass the Adige there 
 with 10.000 men, to turn the left wing of the arch- 
 duke, and (hen to fall upon his rear. If this opera- 
 tion had been well executed, it was worth the 
 value of such a detachment ; but it was running 
 a hazard to confide tic passage of the river to a 
 lieutenant, and these 10.000 men, if they were not 
 very well employed on the right, would be sadly 
 missed at the centre. 
 
 At the break of day Massena, attacking the 
 enemy with vigour, overturned him at every point. 
 Geueral .Molitor, one of the most able and linn 
 of die officers of the tinny, advanced coolly as far 
 
 as the foot of the heights of Cologuola, and stormed 
 the first steeps iii spite of a terrible fire. While 
 colonel Teste, arriving at the head of the 5th regi- 
 on lit of the line, was read) to ascend them, count 
 Ih Hi garde, sallying from the' redoubts with all 
 his lorce, came in to overwhelm that regiment. 
 General Molitor, immediately appreciating the 
 serious danger impending, without numbering his 
 enemies, lell on the column of general Bellegarde 
 
 with the bth of the line, the only regiment be hail 
 tit that nioiui nt at hand. He attacked that column 
 BO violently that it was taken by surprise and 
 compelled to halt. During (his time colonel 
 Teste bad entered one of the redoubts, ami had 
 planted there (he colours of the 5lh regiment, of 
 which a ball bad carried away ibe eagle. Hut 
 \uslrians, ashamed to See themselves driven 
 fl such positions by so small a number of men, 
 
 n turned to the charge and retook the redoubt. 
 Ibe French on thai point, therefore, remained in 
 front of the enemies' entrenchments, without the 
 power to take them. It was ■ miracle to have 
 
 dared SO much with SO few nun, without sustaining 
 a complete del. at 
 
 At the centre, prince Charles had placed the
 
 58 
 
 The archduke Charles 
 retreats. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 State of the 
 Russian 
 forces. 
 
 ( 1805. 
 I November. 
 
 main body of Ilia forces. He had put at its head 
 a reserve of grenadiers, : n the ranks of which tliree 
 archdukes themselves fought. Already generals 
 Duliesrae and Gardanne had swept the liigh road 
 and captured one after another the enclosures 
 which bordered it, and they hid now arrived near 
 Caldiero. Tlie archduki Charles chose this 1110- 
 nieiit to take upon himself the offensive. He 
 repulsed the assailants, and marched on the road 
 in a dense column at the head of the best Austrian 
 infantry. This column continually advancing, as 
 of old time did that of Foiitenoy, had already 
 passed the detachments of French troops scattered 
 to the right and left in the enclosures, and would 
 have been enabled to possess themselves of Vago, 
 which was to the French that which Caldiero was 
 for the Ai'.strians, the support of their centre. 
 But Masseiia hastened to the place. He rallied 
 his divisions placed on the road, in front of the 
 enemy with all his disposable artillery, and poured 
 grape shot within point blank range upon the 
 brave Austrian grenadiers ; then he charged them 
 with the bayonet upon the flanks, and after an 
 obstinate resistance, in which he was in the midst 
 of the fire like a common soldier, he forced the 
 Column to retreat. He drove it beyond Caldiero, 
 and gained ground so far as to penetrate within 
 the first Austrian entrenchments. If at this 
 moment general Verdier had crossed the Adige, 
 or even if Massena had possession of the 10,000 
 men, uselessly sent to his extreme right, he would 
 have captured the formidable entrenched camp of 
 Caldiero, But general Verdier carrying on his 
 operations badly, had thrown one of his regiments 
 beyond the river without the means of supporting 
 it, and completely failed in his design of effecting 
 a passage. Nij;ht alone separated the combatants, 
 and covered with its shadow one of the bloodiest 
 fields of battle of the age. 
 
 It required a character like that of Massena to 
 undertake and sustain such a conflict without a 
 check. The Austrians lost 3000 men killed and 
 wounded ; and 40 of them were made prisoners. 
 The French, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, 
 had not lost more than 3000. They slept on the 
 field of battle, mingled one with the other in 
 frightful confusion. But in the night the arch- 
 duke sent away his baggage and artillery, and the 
 next day, occupying the French by means of a 
 rear-guard, he commenced his retrograde march. 
 A corps of oOOO men, commanded by general Hil- 
 linger, w is sacrificed to the interest of the retreat. 
 He had been ordered to descend the heights for 
 the purpose of alarming Verona in the rear of the 
 French army, while the archduke was getting 
 ready to march. General Hillinger had not time 
 to return from the demonstration he had thus 
 made, perhaps he had pushed it too far, and was 
 taken prisoner wish his entire corps. Thus in 
 three days Massena had lessened the number of 
 the enemy 11,000 or 12,000 men, of whom 8000 
 were prisoners, and 3000 killed and wounded. 
 
 He immediately set out to pursue the archduke 
 at the sword's point. But the Austrian prince 
 had with him the best soldiers of Austria, to the 
 number of 7". 000 men, experience, talent, winter, 
 and rivers overflown, the bridges of which he de- 
 molished as he retreated. Massena could not 
 therefore flatter himself with the hope of making 
 
 him sustain any great catastrophe ; nevertheless, 
 he occupied him sufficiently by his pursuit, so as 
 not to permit him to possess any facility of man- 
 oeuvring against the grand army at his own will. 
 
 This other part of the plan of Napoleon had 
 therefore been accomplished as exactly as that 
 which preceded it, because the archduke Charles, 
 retiring towards Austria, was obliged to fight as 
 he retreated, in order to go to the aid of a menaced 
 capital. 
 
 Napoleon had not lost a moment at Munich in 
 making his dispositions. He was desirous to cross 
 the Inn, to beat the Russians, and to disconcert 
 the intrigues at Berlin by new successes as prompt 
 and astounding as those at Ulm. The corps of 
 general Kutusof, which he had before him, was 
 scarcely 50.000 strong, upon its entering on the 
 campaign, although according to the promises of 
 Russia, it should have been much more numerous. 
 From Moravia to Bavaria this army had left on 
 the way from 50(!0 to (i000 sick or stragglers, but 
 it had been joined by the Austrian detachment of 
 Kienmayer, who had escaped the disaster at Ulm 
 before that place was invested. M. Meerfeld had 
 added some other troops to this detachment, of 
 which he had taken the command. The whole of 
 the allied strength, Russian and Austrian, might 
 be reckoned at about C5,0(i0 men. This was a 
 very small force to save the Austrian monarchy 
 from 150,000 French, of whom 100,000 at least 
 inarched in one body. General Kutusof com- 
 manded this army. He was advanced in life, 
 deprived of the sight of one eye in consequence of 
 a wound in the head, very fat, idle, dissolute, 
 greedy, but intelligent; active in mind as he was 
 heavy of body ; fortunate in war; an able courtier, 
 and capable enough of commanding in a situation 
 that demanded prudence and good fortune. His 
 lieutenants were very middling men, except three, 
 prince Bagration, and generals Doetorow and Mi- 
 ioradovich. Prince Bagration was a Georgian, 
 possessed of heroic courage, who supplied by ex- 
 perience the want of early instruction ; to him 
 was always committed, whether the advanced or 
 the rear-guard, still the post of the most difficult 
 duty. General Doetorow was a wise, modest, firm, 
 and intelligent officer. General Miloradovich was 
 a Servian, of shining courage, but wholly destitute 
 of military knowledge; of dissolute maimers, and 
 uniting in himself all the vices of civilization with 
 the vices of barbarism. The character of the 
 Russian soldiers answered well enough to that of 
 their generals. They were possessed of a savage, 
 ill-directed bravery. Their artillery was unwieldy; 
 their cavalry indifferent. As a whole, generals, 
 officers, and soldiers composed an uninstructed 
 army, but singularly formidable fn m their de- 
 voteduess. The Russian troops subsequently ac- 
 quired the art of war by making it upon the 
 French, and soon after began to join knowledge 
 with courage. 
 
 General Kutusof was ignorant to the last mo- 
 ment of the disaster at Ulm, because the archduke 
 Ferdinand and general Mack, up to the very eve 
 of this misfortune, had announced to him nothing 
 but success. The truth was only known by the 
 arrival of general Mack, who came in person to 
 announce the destruction of the principal Austrian 
 army. Kutusof, despairing then, and with i ery
 
 1805 \ 
 November. ) 
 
 Napoleon's order 
 of advance. 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 Aufrshurg made a 
 grand depot. 
 
 59 
 
 L 
 
 good reason, of raving Vienna, 'lid no! dissimulate 
 to the emperor Francis, who had come lo the 
 Russian head-quarters, that it was necessary to 
 
 make a sacrifice of that capital. He would have 
 taken himself as soon as possible out of the way 
 of the danger which threatened him, hy passing 
 over to the" left bank of the Danube, in order to 
 form a junction with the reserves which were 
 coming by way of Bohemia and^Moravia, had ant 
 the emperor Francis and his council been adverse 
 to sacrificing Vienna until the last extremity. They 
 Mattered themselves, that by retarding the progress 
 of Napoleon by all the means that a defensive war- 
 fare could otter, they would thus give time to the 
 archduke Charles to pass the Danube, and to effect 
 a general junction of the allied forces, in order to 
 give a battle, that would perhaps prove the safety 
 of the capital and the monarchy. General Kutusof, 
 in conformity to the wish ss oi his mast< r's prin- 
 cipal ally, promised to oppose to the French every 
 resistance which might not go so far as to engage 
 him in a ge era! battle, and resolved, in order to 
 slacken their movement, to make use of all the 
 rivers Ceding the Danube, that, flowing from the 
 side of the Alps, mingle their currents in that 
 great river. It was sufficient for that purpose to 
 destroy the bridges, and to hinder by strong rear- 
 guards and main force the passages which the 
 French might attempt— passages difficult enough 
 at a seasou when ad the waters were high, the 
 torrents rapid, ami full of ice. 
 
 Napoleon had disposed his order of march in the 
 following manner. He was obliged to take his 
 route between the Danube and the chain of the 
 Alps, over a road narrowed and confined between 
 the liver and the mountains. To advance with a 
 numerous army upon this narrow road rem 
 it difficult to find provisions, and was even dan- 
 gerous in the inarch ; because, 1> id< 3 the arch- 
 duke Charles, who was able to pass from Loin hardy 
 into Bavaria, and throw himself on the French 
 flank, there were in the Tyrol 25,000 men, under 
 the archduke John. Napoleon therefore took the 
 «is" pri caution to confide tin- conquest of the 
 Tyrol to : Hi directed that mar- 
 
 shal to leave the Inn, to ascend by Kempten, to 
 (rate into the Tyrol in such a manner as to 
 cut in two the troops dispersed in that long ter- 
 ritory. Those which were on the right of marshal 
 N-y would I,.- thr >wn back on the Vorarlherg Slid 
 the lake of Coii»tauce, where tin- corps of Auge- 
 rean would arrive, after crossing the entire of 
 France from Bn < to Huningen. Ney, deprived 
 
 of ill.: diviai >n ol DupOOt, winch had gone with 
 
 Murat in pursuit of the archduke Ferdinand, 
 found his fores reduced to about 10,000 men. 
 
 trusting to Ins activity and cu 
 
 and to tie- I I i)!)0 nun whom Aug) r< an was . 
 
 ing up, believed that it would be found fores 
 
 enough for the task which be luvd to fulfil. The 
 
 Tyrol th ii occupied, he designed that Bernadoite 
 
 should | netrate into the country ol Salzburg. 
 
 He enjoined upon him to set out from Munich 
 
 . i tlie Inn, and to pan over tin- river either 
 
 at Waseerburg or at Rosenheim. General Mar- 
 
 inoiit was to support Bernadotte. Thus Napoleou 
 
 red to himsell two advan tage s — o ne, of entirely 
 
 ring the aide of the Alps, and the sther, of 
 
 getting pOBSI -siou of lie BOUTM of the upper Inn, 
 
 which would prevent the An tro-Russians from 
 defending the lower part of the river against the 
 main body of the French army. In regard to 
 himself, with the corps of marshals Davout, 
 Lannes, and Soult, with the reserve of cavalry and 
 the guard, he would take in front the great harrier 
 of the Inn, with the intention of passing from 
 Miihldorf to Braiiuau. Murat had orders to set 
 out on the 26th of October, with the dragoons of 
 generals Wall her and Beaumont, the heavy cavalry 
 of general Hautpoul, and a bridge equipage, to go 
 directly to .Miihldorf, following the great road 
 from Munich by Hnhenlinden, traversing thus the 
 fields made memorable by Moreau. Marshal Soult 
 was to support him one march behind. Marshal 
 Davout to tike the route to the left by Fici- 
 singen, Dorfen, and Neu-CEttingen. Lannes who 
 had, aided with Murat, the pursuit of the archduke 
 Ferdinand, was to march yet more to the left than 
 Davout, by Laudshut. Wilsburg, and Brauuau. 
 Finally, the division ,>f Dupont, which was to 
 proceed far in the same direction, descended the 
 Danube, in order that it might go and take Passau. 
 Napoleon with the guard followed Murat and Soult 
 on the great road to Munich. 
 
 Before quitting Augsburg, Napoleon ordained 
 there a system of precautions with which he will 
 he seen more and more occupied in proportion as 
 the range of his operations increased, and in which 
 he has ever been without an equal, both in extent 
 of foresight, and the activity of his care. This s\ s- 
 tem of precautious had for its object to create upon 
 his line of operations points of support, which 
 •should serve him equally well in advancing or re- 
 tiring, in case he should be reduced to this last 
 — it v. These points of support, besides the 
 advantage of ottering a certain proportion offeree, 
 would have that of containing immense stores of 
 all kinds very useful to an army which is march- 
 ing forward, hut indispensable to one that is re- 
 tiring. He chose tor this purpose in Bavaria the 
 city of Augsburg on the Loch, which afforded cer- 
 tain means of defence and resources adapted to a 
 great population. He ordered the requisite works 
 there to place the city beyond the reach of a sud- 
 den attack, and that there should be collected within 
 them, corn, cattle, cloth, shoes, ammunition, and, 
 above all, hospitals. He ordered contracts ror cloth 
 and shoes, to be made at Nuremberg, Ratisboll, and 
 Munich, (paying for them, and requiring their rapid 
 execution, with an order that they should, when 
 completed, I"- collected there. Thus Augsburg 
 becoming the principal point in the route of the 
 army, the different detachments were to pass 
 through that place, tliat tiny might provide ill" in- 
 
 - with all of which the) stood in need. Tlnse 
 precautions adopted, Napoleon sit out to follow his 
 I i e, s, which had advanced before him 01 t two 
 
 marches. 
 
 T;ie v«ni. nts of his army were ex< CUtod as In- 
 had traced them out. The' S6tb of Octol i il 
 advanced in a body towards the Inn. The AustTO* 
 iana had not hit a single bridge standing. 
 But the soldiers every where, embarking in boats 
 
 lover in strong detachments under a fire ol 
 
 musketry and ^rape-shot, obliged the enemy to 
 
 the opposite Ii ink, and prepare lor the 
 
 •ablishinelit of lb ■ I . lv dl ItTOyed 
 
 wh illy lis the i nemy, owing to th . i. at i i
 
 GO 
 
 Braunau taken. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Passage of the 
 Traun. 
 
 f 1805. 
 \ November. 
 
 tation of their retreat. Bernadotte encountered 
 very few obstacles, and passed the Inn on the 
 28th of October, at Wasserburg. Marshals Soult, 
 Murat, and Da v out passed over at Miihlsdorf and 
 at Neu-OSttingen. Lannes proceeded towards 
 Braunau, and on finding the bridge destroyed, sent 
 a detachment to the other bank by means of some 
 boats they had taken. The detachment passed the 
 river, and appeared at the gates of Braunau. What 
 was the astonishment of the French soldiers to 
 find a place open which was in a perfect state of 
 defence, completely armed and provided with con- 
 siderable resources. They took possession of it 
 immediately, and naturally concluded from so 
 strange a circumstance that the enemy had retired 
 with a precipitation which indicated disorder. 
 
 Napoleon, delighted with an acquisition thus 
 important, went himself to Braunau that he might 
 learn the strength of the place, and the benefit 
 which it was possible he might derive from it. 
 After having seen it, he ordered the transference 
 thither of a large part of the stores which he had 
 at first wished to place at Augsburg, judging it 
 preferable for the object to which he destined it. 
 He left a garrison there, and named his aide-de- 
 camp Lauriston its commander-in-chief, he having 
 returned from the naval campaign he had made 
 with admiral Villeneuve. It was not the simple 
 government of the place alone which he thus com- 
 mitted to him ; it was a command which compre- 
 hended all the rear of the army. The wounded, 
 the ammunition, the provisions, the recruits which 
 arrived from France, the prisoners which were 
 sent there, all were to pass through Braunau under 
 the eye of general Lauriston. From the 29th to 
 the 30th of October, the army had passed the Inn, 
 quitted Bavaria, and invaded Upper Austria. It 
 was no longer a harden to its allies, but upon the 
 hereditary states of the imperial house. It marched 
 onwards, covered against a movement of the 
 archdukes by Bernadotte and Marmont at Salz- 
 burg, and by Ney in the Tyrol. Napoleon did not 
 lose a moment, wishing from the line of the Inn 
 to reach that of the Traun. From the line of the 
 Inn and the Traun, they have, as is always the 
 case in this country, the Danube to the left, and 
 the Alps on the right. It is a magnificent country, 
 resembling Lombardy, only more rough in climate, 
 because it is on the north of the Alps in place of 
 being to the south, and would be as level as a plain, 
 if a great mountain, called the Hausruck, did not 
 arise abruptly in the midst of it. This mountain 
 is peaked, detached altogether from the Alps, and 
 would form an island if the country were covered 
 with water. But the Hausruck passed, there is 
 nothing in front but a plain undulating and woody, 
 extending to the bank of the Traun, and named 
 the plain of Wels. The Traun runs over gravel 
 and among tine trees, falling into the Danube near 
 Lint/, the capital city of the province, in a military 
 point of view as important as the city of Ulm, and 
 on this account, since the great French wars, 
 bristled with fortifications constructed on a new 
 system. 
 
 Napoleon directed Lannes to march by Efferd- 
 ing upon Lintz, marshals Soult and Davout, by the 
 road from Ried and Lambach, upon Wels, along the 
 foot of the Hausruck. Murat always preceded with 
 his cavalry. The guard followed with the head- 
 
 quarters. Still fearing that the plain of Wels was 
 not selected by the enemy as a field of battle, 
 Napoleon desired Marmont to quit Bernadotte at 
 Salzburg, and to join again the main body of the 
 army, by passing behind the Hausruck, on the 
 road from Straswalcheu and W< cklabruck on Wels. 
 in such a way as to attack the Austro-Russians in 
 flank, if they should halt to fight. 
 
 The 1st chasseurs came up to them in advance 
 of Ried, charged them boldly and routed them. 
 They marched upon Lambach, which the enemy 
 made a show of defending, but merely in order to 
 get time to preserve their baggage. Davout suc- 
 ceeded in overtaking them, and had a brilliant 
 combat with their rear-guard ; but no preparations 
 for an intended battle could be discovered. The 
 enemy covered himself with the Traun on passing 
 at Wels. The French entered Lintz without firing 
 a shot. Although the Austrians had made the Da- 
 nube serve for carrying away the contents of their 
 principal magazines, they left to the French many 
 valuable resources. Napoleon came and esta- 
 blished his head-quarters at Lintz on the 5th of 
 November. 
 
 Established in that city, Napoleon carried the 
 corps of his army from the Traun to the Ens, which. 
 it was easy to do ; because the country between 
 these two feeders of the Danube, offered no posi- 
 tion of which the enemy was tempted to make use. 
 The country presented a plain a little elevated, 
 crossed by ravines, and covered with wood, having 
 two steep declivities, one in front that must be 
 climbed after passing, the other in tin.' rear which 
 it is necessary to descend in passing the Ens. Not 
 having defended the side next the Traun, the 
 Austro-Russians would not think of defending it 
 on the side of the Ens, because they would have 
 been every where commanded. The Ens was 
 therefore passed without an obstacle. 
 
 Having his head-quarters at Lintz, and his ad- 
 vanced guard on the Ens, Napoleon made his new 
 dispositions for the continuance of this offensive 
 march, executed, as already said, on a narrow 
 road between the Danube and Alps. The diffi- 
 culty of advancing thus in a long column, of which 
 the rear would scarcely be able to go to the suc- 
 cour of the van, if it had been surprised by the 
 enemy, — with the danger always to be feared of an 
 attack on the flank, if the archdukes should sud- 
 denly quit Italy to enter Austria, — increased yet 
 more by the scarcity of provisions, already de- 
 voured or destroyed by the Russians ; all these 
 things demanded the utmost precautions to be taken 
 before arriving at Vienna. 
 
 The most serious inconvenience of this march 
 would be, most assuredly, the sudden appearance 
 of the grand-dukes. The two belligerent masses, 
 which were acting in Austria and in Lombardy, 
 proceeded from west to east; the one under Napo- 
 leon and Kutusof, north of the Alps ; the other to 
 the south of those mountains, under Massena and 
 the archduke Charles. Was it not possible that 
 the archduke Charles might all of a sudden escape 
 from Massena, and leave before him a rear guard 
 as a deception, march across the Alps, joining in 
 his way his brother John and the corps of the 
 Tyrol, and penetrating into Bavaria, whether to 
 unite his army to the Austro-Russians behind one 
 of the defensive positions that are met with on the
 
 1805. \ 
 November. J 
 
 Precautions of 
 Napoleou. 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 The left batik of the 
 Danube occupied. 
 
 CI 
 
 Danube, or whether to throw himself simply on the 
 Hunk <>t' the grand French army I Though pns- ; 
 sible, tills was not at all likely. The archduke 
 Charles had two mads to take. The Hrst which, 
 by the Tyrol, Verona, Trent, anil Inspruek, would 
 have conducted him behind the Inn ; the second, 
 the furthest— that through Carinthia and Styria, 
 by Tarvis, Leoben, and Lilienfeld — would have 
 conducted him t > the p isition known as that of St. 
 Pollen, in advance of Vienna. In regard to the 
 first — supposing that the archduke had decided at 
 the moment even of Mack's capitulation, which 
 took place on the "JOth, and that waa not known at 
 Verona to the French until the 28thj which could 
 imt have been known by the Austrians before the 
 25th "f 26 n — supposing that, before quitting Italy, 
 the archduke had not Been propn- to give battle in 
 order to restrain the French army, he would have 
 had from ill ■ 25tll to the -J8th only, to traverse the 
 Tyrol and arrive on the Inn, that Napoleon hail 
 1 on the 28th and 29th. He had evidently 
 too little time for such a march. As to the route 
 through Styria. that he would have been able to 
 take alter the battle of Caldiero ; he would have 
 had to cross Friuli, Carinthia, Styria, and to make 
 a hundred leagues in the Alps, from the 30th of 
 October, the day of the battle of Caldiero, to the 
 O'th or 7th of November, the day on which Napo- 
 leon had passed the Ens to march forward. The 
 time would have been wanting to the archduke for 
 such an operation. If the archduke Charles was 
 not able to advance before Napoleon on one of the 
 defensive positions of the Danube, in order to 
 oppose to him 150,000 Austrians and Prussians 
 united, be was able, without taking the lead, by 
 simply advancing on the other hand and traversing 
 the chain of the Alps, to attempt an attack upon 
 lank of the grand army. Doubtless, with sol- 
 diers habituated to conquer, prepared for hardy 
 enterprises, capable of opening a way any where, 
 :i able to male- such an attempt, 
 an 1 to • Beet a Budden an I serious derangement in 
 the march of Napolei.ii, even, perhaps, to change 
 tin- eharaet r ot events: hut he would run himself 
 the chance of \,< ing shut in betweeu two armies — 
 that ■■! Massena and that of Napoleon — as had 
 once happened toSuvarrowin the St.<; third. It 
 would have been a most hazardous attempt; ami 
 
 such attempts are not to be made, when there 
 depends Upon them the army which is the last 
 
 ur i a monarchy. 
 
 Napoleon, however, conducted himself as if such 
 
 an attempt had been probable. The only position 
 that the . nemy was able to occupy to cover Vii ana, 
 whether tin- army of Kutosof were alone, or whe- 
 
 lh r tie- archdukes Should be with him, was that 
 
 of St Polten. This position is very well known. 
 The Styrian Alps turn tin- Danube to the north 
 uard, from Mdlk to Kreins, throwing out a spur 
 which is called the Kahleuberg, and which sub- 
 sidee only at the very verge of i he riv.-r, leaving 
 scarcely space ho- a road. The Kahlenberg oovi r- 
 ing with its mass tie- city ol Vienna, ii is nee 
 to traverse a cr oss its whole breadth to arrive In 
 
 that capital. In front of this spur, halfway up 
 
 the- side, is found a wide spread position, which 
 has received tin- name of a lar.o- village that 
 
 stands near it, called St. POlten, on which an Aus- 
 trian army m retreat would be able to deliver a 
 
 defensive battle with great advantage. From the 
 great road of Italy to Vienna, a branch is detached, 
 which, by Lilienfeld, terminates mar St. Polten, 
 and might bring the archdukes there. A vast 
 wooden bridge over the Danube, that of Krenis, 
 places this position in communication with both 
 banks of the river, and would have allowed the 
 Russian and Austrian reserves to arrive there 
 through Bohemia. It was there, in consequence, 
 that Napoleon would encounter a general union of 
 the coalesced forces, that is, if such a union of 
 forces was possible in advance of Vienna. On 
 approaching this point, therefore, he took the pre- 
 cautions of a general -who united in himself calcu- 
 lation and audacity beyond any soldier ever before 
 known. 
 
 Having upon bis right the corps of general Mar- 
 niont, he resolved to send it to Leoben by a road 
 which was passable for wheel carriages, that runs 
 from Lintz, crossing Styria. General Marmont, if 
 he heard of the approach of the archdukes, was 
 to fall back upon the grand army and become its 
 extreme right, or if the archdukes passed directly 
 from Friuli into Hungary, to establish himself at 
 Leoben in order to unite with Massena. There 
 was between this road that Marmont had taken, 
 and the great road of the Danube which was fol- 
 lowed by the main body of the army, a mountain 
 route, that by Waidhofen and St. Gaming, falling 
 upon Lilienfeld beyond the position of St. Polten, 
 and thus furnishing the means of turning it. 
 There it was that Napoleon ordered the corps of 
 marshal Davout. The corps of Bernadotte was no 
 longer necessary at Salzburg, now they had set off 
 to occupy the Tyrol. Napoleon ordered him to 
 approach the centre of the army, marching the 
 Bavarians towards the corps of Ney, which was 
 very agreeable intelligence for them, as they had 
 always a great ambition to be in possi ssion of the 
 Tyrol. lie reserved to himself, in order to attack 
 more directly the position of -St. Polten, the corps 
 of marshals Soult, Lannes, and Bernadotte, with 
 Mu rat's cavalry and the guard ; these were suffi- 
 cient, the corps of Davout being sent to turn that 
 i n. 
 
 Nap' Iron did not stop here, but wished to take 
 certain precautions on the left bank of the Danube. 
 Thus far In- had only marched by the right bank, 
 entirely neglecting the left. Then' was some ru- 
 mour of an assemblage of troops in Bohemia, 
 
 for d by the archduke Ferdinand, who had sallied 
 
 i.ut of I ' 1 1 1 1 with several thousand horse. The 
 approach of the second Kus-i : ,ii army was also 
 reported, led into Bohemia by Alexander himself. 
 It was needful, tin n-f re, lor him to guard himself 
 equally on that side. Napoleon, who had carried 
 to I'assau tin- division of Dupont, ordered him to 
 
 advance by the left bank of the Danube, keeping 
 himself always at tin- -aim- height as the army, and 
 
 sending reconnoitring parties on tin- roads into 
 
 Bohemia, i "der to place himself in possession of 
 
 all that passed. The Dutch, who had quitted Mar- 
 mont, were to be united with llupont's division, it 
 not being thought strong enough. Napoleon de- 
 tached lie- division of Gazan of the corps of I. amies, 
 and ordered it to march with Dupont's division on 
 
 tin- left bank. He placed them, both one and the 
 
 ether, under lie- Command of marshal Mortier, and 
 in order not to have them isolated from the grand
 
 62 
 
 A flotilla placed on 
 the Danube. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Skirmish at 
 Amstetten. 
 
 j 1805. 
 i November. 
 
 army that continued to occupy the right bank, he 
 managed to form out of the boats collected on the 
 Inn, the Traun, the Ens, and the D.mube, a nu- 
 merous flotilla, which he loaded with provisions, 
 ammunition, and those soldiers whom fatigue had 
 overcome; and who, descending the Danube with 
 the army, in a single hour might be thrown on 
 the right or left bank to the number of 10,000, 
 thus connecting the two banks together, and secur- 
 ing at the same time a means of communication 
 and of transport. He placed captain Lostanges 
 at the head of this flotilla, an officer belonging to 
 the seamen of the guard. 
 
 It was by such an assemblage of precautions 
 that Napoleon provided for the difficulties and 
 obstacles of this offensive march, executed in a 
 long and narrow road between the Alps anil the 
 Danube. He had thus, >>n the summit of the Alps, 
 the corps of Marmont ; at half their elevation that 
 of Davout ; at their foot along the Danube, the 
 corps of Soult. Lannes, Bernadotte, the guard, the 
 cavalry of Murat ; on the other side of the Danube 
 the corps of Mortier; and, finally, the flotilla to 
 connect all marching on both sides of the river; 
 ami to transport all by water which it was difficult 
 to convey after him on land. It was in this im- 
 posing mode that he approached Vienna. 
 
 At the moment when he was about to quit Lintz, 
 an emissary from the emperor of Austria arrived 
 at the French head-quarters. This emissary was 
 general Giulay, one of the officers taken at Ulm, 
 afterwards released, and who, having heard Napo- 
 leon speak of his pacific disposition, had informed 
 his master of it in such a way as to make some 
 impression upon him. In consequence, the em- 
 peror Francis sent him to propose an armistice. 
 General Giulay did not explain himself clearly ; 
 hut it was evident that he wished Napoleon should 
 halt before entering Vienn , and still he did not 
 offer in return any guarantee of an approaching 
 or acceptable peace. Napoleon consented to treat 
 of peace immediately, with a plenipotentiary pro- 
 perly accredited and duly authorized to consent to 
 the sacrifices necessary for that purpose ; but to 
 grant an armistice without a guarantee obtained for 
 what was due to France as an indemnification for 
 the war, was to give the second Russian army time 
 to join the first, and to the archdukes time to unite 
 with the Russians under the walls of Vienna. Na- 
 poleon was not the man to commit such an error 
 He therefore declared, that he would stop at the 
 very nates of Vienna, and not pass them, if they 
 CMine to him with sincere propositions of peace ; but 
 that, otherwise, he would march right on to his 
 olijeet, which was the capital of the empire. M. 
 (jiulay alleged the necessity there was of having 
 an understanding on the sulject with the emperor 
 Alexander, before conditions could be fixed which 
 should be acceptable to all the belligerent powers. 
 Napoleon hereupon replied, that the emperor 
 Francis, who was in danger, would be wrong to 
 make his resolutions depend upon the emperor 
 Alexander, who was not there ; that he was bound 
 to consider the safety of his own monarchy, and on 
 that account to c-me to terms with France, and 
 leave to the French army the business of sending 
 back the Russians to their own country. Napoleon 
 did not enter into any explanation of the condi- 
 tions which he should deem satisfactory, but every 
 
 body understood that he wished to have possession 
 of the Venetian states. These states completed 
 the complement of Italy ; he had not sought the 
 war for their acquirement, but the war having 
 been got up by Austria, it was natural that he 
 should require the legitimate price of his victories. 
 He gave into the hands of M. Giulay a polite mild 
 letter for the emperor Francis, sufficiently clear, at 
 the same time, to make known the terms of a 
 peace. 
 
 Before setting off, Napoleon received a visit from 
 the elector of Bavaria, who, not having been able 
 to join him at Munich, came to Lintz to express 
 to him his acknowledgments, admiration, and joy, 
 but before all his hopes of aggrandizement. 
 
 Napoleon remained only three days at Lintz, 
 that is to say, the time alone necessary to issue his 
 orders ; but his corps had not stopped their march, 
 because, having passed the Inn on the 28th and 20th 
 of October, the Traun on the 31st, the Ens on the 4th 
 and 5th of November, they had advanced the same 
 day upon Amstetten and St. Pollen. At Amstetten 
 the Ri ssiaiis determined to give battle with their 
 rear-guard, in order to gain time to save their 
 baggage. The great road to Vienna leads though 
 a forest of fir-trees. The Russians took up a posi- 
 tion in a cleared spot of this forest, which left a 
 certain space open on the right and left of the 
 road. In the midst of this space, and in front, the 
 artillery of the Russians was found supported by 
 their cavalry ; in the rear, and backed by the 
 wood, their beat infantry. Murat and Lannes, on 
 opening upon them with the dragoons and grena- 
 diers of Oudinot, perceived their dispositions It 
 was the first time they had ever encountered the 
 Russians, and they much desired to teach them 
 how the French fought. They dispatched the dra- 
 goons and chasseurs along the main road to attack 
 the artillery and cavalry of the enemy. The brave 
 French cavalry, in spile of the grape-shot, had soon 
 captured the guns, s.ibred the Russian cavalry, and 
 swept the ground. But it was requisite to rout 
 the infantry, drawn up with their backs to the 
 wood. The grenadiers of Oudinot undertook this 
 task. After a very heavy fixe of musketry, they 
 marched upon the Russiau* with fixed* bayonets. 
 These, displaying uncommon courage, fought man 
 to man, and availed themselves of the density of 
 the wood to offer resistance for a long time. At 
 length the French grenadiers forced them from 
 the position, and put them to flight, alter killing, 
 wounding, and taking a thousand men. 
 
 Murat and Lannes, advancing together, the first 
 with his cavalry, continually in march ill though 
 wearied out with fatigue, the Second with his for- 
 midable grenadiers, continued in pursuit of the 
 enemy on the Oih, 7th, and Jiih of November, 
 without being able to attack any part of iheni. 
 
 " The Russians," Lannes wrote to Napoleon, 
 " fly yet faster than we are able to pursue them ; 
 these miserable beings will not stop a moment even 
 to fight." 
 
 Bring arrived on the 8th before St. Pollen, 
 Lannes and Murat found them in order of battle, 
 making a determined front, as if they were inclined 
 to engage in a serious affair. In spite id their 
 ardour, the two leaders of the French advanced 
 guard dared not venture to run the risk of a battle, 
 without the emperor being present; moreover they
 
 1805. \ 
 November. I 
 
 rhe Russians pass 
 the Danube. 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 Muiat marches on 
 V.enna. 
 
 had not means sufficient to give it. They remained 
 in pre- mic of each ntlier the whole day of the 8tli. 
 They were near tiie fine abbey of the Miilk. This 
 rich abbey, standing cm the scarped bank <>t' the 
 Danube, and predominant over the wide stream of 
 tlie river, with its magnificent domes, appeared one 
 of tlie finesi prospeeis in tlie world. They reserved 
 it tor the head-quarters iff the emperor. It had 
 within its walls abundant accommodations, especi- 
 ally for the nick and wounded. 
 
 Mural was quartered in the castle of Mittrau 
 with a count Moutecuculli. There he found from 
 different account* that the Russians had no inten- 
 tion of making a resistance at St. Pol ten. Tiny 
 had, it ai> >eared, taken a very important resolution. 
 After having delayed tlie march of the French, 
 either by breaking down the bridges, or combating 
 with ih ir rear-guard, and having thus acceded to 
 the wi-hrs of the emperor of Austria, that they 
 should a« I nig as possible di-pute the greal road to 
 Vienna, thei tli iiighl they had done enough, and 
 began to consider their own security. They re- 
 pa-sed the Danube at Krems, at the place where 
 thai river, terminating its bend to the north, re- 
 takes its eastern direction. Tlie motive which thus 
 decided them m re than all t > this determination, 
 was the intelligence that a part or the French army 
 bad passed to the left bank of the Danube. They 
 had in fact g 'od ground to apprehend that Napo- 
 leon, by some sudden manoeuvre, carrying over 
 the main body of his forces to the left bank of the 
 river, ini^lit cut them off from Bohemia and Mo- 
 ravia. In consequence they passed the Danube at 
 Krems, and burned the bridge after they had 
 1. The works which would have setved for 
 i;s defence, and which would have secured them its 
 exclusive po-sessioii, were scarcely Commenced, 
 and they bad therefore no other resource than to 
 destroy it. They crossed over on the !)th, leaving 
 throughout the archduchy of Austria terrible 
 traces of their presence. They pillaged, ravaged, 
 even murdered, conducting themselves in fact like 
 real barbarians, and that to such a degree that the 
 French vera almost considered as the liberators of 
 ihec untry, Their conduct towards the Austrian 
 iro pS was any thing but amiable. They treated 
 t lii-ni with extreme arrogance, affecting to lay upon 
 them all the revert of the campaign. The lan- 
 guage of the Ruaxian generals and officers was in 
 this respect highly insulting, and not hI all merited, 
 be a; ustrian infantry exhibited less 
 
 firmness than the Russian, they were in all other 
 re*|i iperior. 
 
 Tli ■ Austrian* thus living on very ill terms with 
 the Russians, separated from them, and weul to 
 defend tin- bridges of Vienna. M. Meerfeld with 
 
 bis corps retired by the route of Stayer m 
 
 Leoben. He marched, followed by general Mar- 
 niont, on the road from Waidliofen to Leoben, and 
 by marshal D.wout, on that from St. Gaining to 
 Lilienfeld. The direct road to Vienna was therer 
 fore open to the French; and they bad no more 
 
 than two marches to make in order to be at the 
 
 of that capital, without having before them 
 
 any hostile force which was al puts their 
 
 entrance. 
 
 The temptation was great for Murat. It was 
 with diffic ilty that he n suited the de ire to go in 
 
 advance, and to exhibit hi .pita! 
 
 of Austria, always the most conspicuous in reviews 
 as wcil as in dangers, Never before bad an army 
 coining Irom the west penetrated to this metropolis 
 of the Germanic empire. Morean, in I lino, and 
 general Bonaparte in 1797. had both set their sig- 
 natures to armistices when they were on the point 
 of reaching it. The Turks alone bad come to tlie 
 foot of its v\ a lis without being able to pass iheni. 
 Murat could not resist the temptation; and on the 
 10. li and I I ih marched upon Vienna, urging mar- 
 shals Sou It and L miles to follow him. At the same 
 time he took care not to entir, and stopped short 
 at Bin kcrsdorf, in the mounts n defile of the 
 Kali ien berg, about two leagues from Vienna. 
 
 Tins was usel ss haste, and even daugernua A 
 change so unforeseen as that which bad thus been 
 revealed in tin- march of the enemy, made it worth 
 the trouble <>f stopping to await the orders of the 
 emperor. Besides, it was outstripping tow much 
 the corps of marshal Mortier, which was on the 
 left bank as well as the flotilla, designed to keep 
 this corps in communication with the amy, and 
 running blindly on between the Russians ci owned 
 to the other side of the Danube, and the Austrians 
 thrown upon the mountains. 
 
 In fact, at this moment danger was lowering 
 around marshal M irtier, placed on the left bank of 
 the Danube, and a riving near Sit in, in presence 
 of the Russians who bad crossed the Danube at 
 Krems. The danger of marshal Mortier was not 
 exactly imputable to .Murat, although he had con- 
 tributed to bring it about, and to aggravate it by 
 his precipitous movement upon Vienna, but to a 
 piece of negligence that was seldom or never en- 
 countered in the operations directed by Napoleon, 
 which, however, did occur on this occasion, be- 
 cause there are lapses even in the most unwearied 
 and indefatigable vigilance. 
 
 Swallowed up in a thousand cares, Napoleon 
 bad omitted one of bis most invariable eiisioins, 
 which consisted in always making himself certain 
 that the orders be bad given were afterwards 
 executed. lie had laid down in a general way the 
 junction in a single corps of the divisions ol < lazan, 
 Dnpout, and Duinouceau, the formation of a flotilla 
 
 miller captain Lostanges, to unite the columns that 
 were marching on the left hank with those march- 
 ing on the right; and he had calculated too much 
 upon his lieuieii. mis, making all move together in 
 
 cone .ril. .Mural bad advanced too quick ; Mor- 
 tier, either that he was drawn on by the movement 
 of .Murat, or that he had UOl traced with Sufficient 
 
 pn i i ciicss his iustriiciioiis to general Dupoiit, had 
 
 l<l i an interval of one march between the division 
 ol Gazail, which he bad wilh himsi II, and tl.e divi- 
 sions of Dupnnt and 1 him. mo an, which were to 
 
 join him. The flotilla, difficult to keep together, 
 remained far is the rear. 
 
 Still Napoleon, quick in discovering inexact- 
 I, went to Mhlk, and guessing, without \'t 
 
 knowing it, thedauger marshal Mortier was in, 
 stopped the corps ol marshal Soult, that Murat 
 
 had wished lo draw alter lino, and sent aid. s -de- 
 camp to Murat and Laillli . I" eider tin m lo 
 
 slack, n ili.ii movements. He feared nut only 
 
 w hat miglll happen to the corps throw the hit 
 
 hid.- ol the Danube, bill what might happen lo the 
 advanced guard itself, imprudently I mangled in 
 
 tin- d. tiles of the Kahlenberg.
 
 64 
 
 Mortier attacked 
 by the Rus- 
 sians. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Gallant conduct 
 of Mortier. 
 
 ( 18C5. 
 I November. 
 
 Faults are punished no where so quickly as in 
 war, because no where do causes and their effects 
 enchain each other so rapidly. The Russians, 
 guided upon Austrian ground by an officer of the 
 Austrian staff of the highest merit, colonel Schmidt, 
 very quickly perceived the fact of a French divi- 
 sion's being isolated on the left bank of the Danube, 
 and they resolved to overwhelm it. Encouraged 
 by the destruction of the bridge of Krems, that 
 hindered the French army from coming to the aid 
 of the division thus compromised, not discovering 
 a number of boats which might supply the place of 
 the bridge, they halted to procure for themselves a 
 triumph which seemed very easily obtained. The 
 division of Gazan numbered scarcely 5000 men ; 
 the Russians were still near 40,000 since the separ- 
 ation of the Austrians. The ground was favour- 
 able to their design. The Danube at that point 
 runs between steep banks, contracted by the moun- 
 tains of Bohemia on the one side, and by the Alps 
 of Styria on the other. From Dirnstein to Stein 
 and Krems, the road of the left bank, narrow, 
 often cut out of the rock, is shut in between the 
 river and the mountains that overlook it. The 
 road too is difficult for carriages. In consequence 
 marshal Mortier, who passed over it with Gazan's 
 division, had placed in the boats the only battery 
 of artillery he had at his disposal. The horses, led 
 by hand, followed the division. 
 
 On the 11th of November, while Murat on the 
 right bank of the river went forward almost to 
 the gates of Vienna, Mortier on the left bank 
 had passed Dirnstein, the place where the ruins 
 of the castle are met with in which Richard Cceur 
 de Lion was kept a prisoner. At this point of 
 Dirnstein, the heights withdraw a little, and leave 
 a space between their foot and the river. The 
 road led over this space ; sometimes excavated in 
 the soil, at others raised above the level by a 
 causeway. The French division, passing this part 
 of the road, perceived the smoke ascending from 
 the bridge of Krems which was still burning. It 
 soon recognized the Russians, and guessed that 
 they had passed the Danube over that bridge. 
 Without taking a sufficient account of what might 
 be before them, led away by the common ardour 
 which prevailed throughout the army, they thought 
 of nothing but pushing forward to meet the enemy. 
 
 Mortier gave the order, which was instantly 
 carried into effect. An officer of artillery, since 
 become general Fabvier, who commanded the 
 battery attached to the divisions of Gazan, disem- 
 barked the guns, and got them into position. The 
 Russians came on in a dense mass upon the French 
 division. The fire of tile artillery made the roost 
 fearful ravages in their ranks. They then threw 
 themselves upon the guns in order to take them. 
 The 100th and 103rd regiments of infantry of the 
 line defended them with the greatest courage. 
 They fought in this narrow strait a battle the 
 most obstinate possible, hand to band. The guns 
 were taken and then immediately retaken. Scarcely 
 were they out of the hands of the Russians than 
 they were fired upon them when nearly close to 
 their muzzles with a horrible carnage. The 
 French, posted upon the slightest elevations of the 
 ground, opened a fire of musketry which was not 
 less formidable than their artillery. Thus they 
 continued the combat on the same ground for 
 
 nearly half a day, and judging from the wounded 
 found the next day, the enemy must have sus- 
 tained a great loss. Fifteen hundred prisoners 
 were taken. The French at length remained 
 masters of the ground, and trusted that they might 
 be able to rest there. 
 
 They had advanced fighting as far as Stein. 
 The 4th light, spread over the heights which im- 
 pend above the river, had opened from thence a 
 fire of tirailleurs well kept up, and which moment 
 by moment became warmer. The cause was soon 
 explained, which had been at first difficult to dis- 
 cover. The Russians had turned the heights. 
 With two columns, forming a body of from twelve 
 to fifteen thousand men, they had descended in 
 the rear of Gazan's division, and had entered 
 Dirnstein, which that division had passed in the 
 morning. It was thus surrounded and separated 
 from the divisions of Dupont, which had been 
 left one march behind. There was no part of the 
 flotilla on the Danube to be seen, and in conse- 
 quence there remained very little hope of saving 
 it. Night came on ; the situation was a most 
 fearful one, and there was little doubt of the 
 division having soon upon it the whole of the 
 enemy's army. In this extremity, clear to the 
 eyes of every soldier present, it never came into 
 the mind of any body, officer or soldier, to think 
 of a capitulation. To die all of them to the last 
 man sooner than surrender was the sole alternative 
 which presented itself to these brave men, so 
 much did the spirit of real heroism animate that 
 army. Marshal Mortier thought as the soldiers 
 did, and with them had resolved to die sooner 
 than deliver up his marshal's sword to the Russians. 
 He ordered them to march in close column, and 
 to make their way with the bayonet in retiring 
 back upon Dirnstein, where they would be re- 
 joined by Dupont. It was now night. They re- 
 commenced in the midst of obscurity the combat 
 which they had with the Russians in the morning, 
 but in a contrary direction. They fought man to 
 man in that narrow road, the soldiers so close that 
 they often seized each other by the throat. They 
 gained ground towards Dirnstein, combating in 
 this fashion. Still, after having forced their way 
 through several bodies of the enemy, they de- 
 spaired of gaining their object, or of re-opening a 
 road which they continually found closed against 
 them again. Some of Mortier's officers, seeing no 
 further chance of safety, proposed to him to em- 
 bark alone, and at least withdraw his own person 
 from the Russians, that such a fine trophy as a 
 marshal of France should not fall into their 
 hands. 
 
 " No," answered the marshal, " we must not 
 separate from these brave fellows ; we must be 
 saved or perish together." 
 
 And there he remained sword in hand fighting 
 at the head of his grenadiers, and making repeated 
 attacks in order to get back to Dirnstein, when on 
 a sudden a most violent firing was heard in the 
 rear of Dirnstein. Hope was reawakened, because, 
 in all probability, it must be the division of Dupont 
 that had come up. In fact that brave division, 
 which had inarched the whole day, had learned 
 on advancing the dangerous position of marshal 
 Mortier, and had hastened to his aid. General 
 Marchand, with the 0th light, supported by the
 
 1805. 
 November 
 
 1 
 
 Napoleon rebukes 
 Murat. 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 The bridge at Vienna 
 taken. 
 
 65 j 
 
 9Gth and ."2nd regiments, the same which had 
 distinguished themselves at Haslach, plunged into 
 that gorge. Some pushed forward directly to 
 Dirnstein, following the high road; others mounted 
 the ravines which descend from the mountains to 
 force back the Russians. A battle altogether as ob- 
 stinate as that which was at the same moment fight- 
 ing by the division of Gazan began in those defiles. 
 At length the 9th light penetrated as far as Dirn- 
 stein, while marshal Mortier entered it on tlio 
 opposite Bide. The two columns met, and recog- 
 nized each other by the light of a fire. The sol- 
 diers embraced one another, full of delight at 
 escaping such a disaster. 
 
 The loss a wi re cruel on both sides, but the 
 glory was unequally shared, because 5000 French 
 had resisted more than 30,000 Russians, and had 
 saved their colours in extricating themselves. 
 These are examples worthy of being for ever 
 commended to a nation. Soldiers who are resolved 
 to die, will always have it ill their power to save 
 their honour, and often succeed in saving their 
 liberty and life. 
 
 Marshal Mortii r found again in Dirnstein the 
 1500 prisoners which he had mode in the morning. 
 The Russians had Inst in killed, wounded, and 
 prisoners, about 4000 nun. In that number was 
 colonel Schmidt. The enemy could not have sus- 
 tained a severer loss, and they had soon to regret 
 it bitterly. The French had 3000 men killed 
 and wounded. The division of Gazan had lost 
 half its effective force. 
 
 When Napoleon, who was at Molk, learned the 
 issue of this encounter, he ft It less anxious, be- 
 cause he feared the total destruction of Gazan's 
 division had happened, lie was delighted with 
 the conduct of marshal Mortier and of the soldiers, 
 and sent the most Bignal recompenses to the divi- 
 sions of Gazan and DuponL He recalled them 
 to the right bank of the Danube, in order to give 
 time for the recovery of their wounds, and desig- 
 nated II Tnadoite to Bucceed them on the left bank. 
 Il> blamed Murat for the want of connexion which 
 had marked in their march the different corps of 
 the army. The characti r of Napoleon was indul- 
 gent, I iiu his mind severe. He gave the preference 
 to simple, n if cting, solid bravery over thai which 
 
 was brilliant and duelling ; although he employed 
 
 every kind, such a^ nature presented them in his 
 
 armies. He was commonly rigorous towards 
 Murat, whose ostentation, levity, and restless am- 
 bition, he did not like, while he did justice to the 
 
 excellei ol his heart and unrivalled coinage, He 
 
 wrote him a cruel letter, which he hardly deserved. 
 
 "Ml COI'SIM, — I Cannot approve of your mode 
 
 of inarching. You go on like a hot headed fellow, 
 and do not weigh well the ord< rs which I give 
 you. The Russians, in pi. ice <,r covering V\i una, 
 have recrossed the Danube al Kreras. This ex- 
 traordinary circumstance ought to have made 
 you del that you should not act without fresh in- 
 structions. Without the knowledge what plans 
 
 the enemy may have, and without knowing what 
 were my wish s undi r this n.w order of things, 
 VOH go and draw away Illy army upon Vi( iiii.i. 
 
 YOU ha<e < Milted nothing but tllC vanity of 
 
 entering Vienna. There is DO glory but where 
 then: is danger. 'I lure is none in entering a 
 capital which is defeDi 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 Murat was here made to expiate the faults of 
 all. He bad marched too fast without doubt ; but 
 if he had continued before Krems, without bridges 
 and without boats, be could not have been of any- 
 great help to Mortier, who had above all been 
 compromised by the distance between the divisions 
 of Dupont and Gazan, and by the flotilla not being 
 present. Murat was deeply hurt. Napoleon, made 
 acquainted by his aide-de-camp, Bertrand, with 
 the mortification of his brother-in-law, corrected 
 by some kind expressions the effect of this severe 
 reprimand. 
 
 Napoleon, willing at the moment to gain some- 
 thing even by the fault of Murat, enjoined it upon 
 him, as he was in sight of the walls of Vienna, not 
 to enter, but to pass along by the walls of the city, 
 and seize upon the great bridge of the Danube, 
 thrown over that river beyond the suburbs. That 
 bridge occupied, Napoleon ordered him, besides, 
 
 to advance with all speed on the road to Bohemia, 
 
 in order to arrive before the Russians at the point 
 where the road of Krema comes to join the high 
 road to Olmiitz. If they took that bridge, and if 
 they marched on rapidly, it was possible to in- 
 tercept the retreat of general Kutusof towards 
 Moravia, and to force him to submit to a disaster 
 nearly equal to that of general Mack. Murat had 
 here the means of repairing his errors, and he 
 eagerly sought to avail himself of the opportunity. 
 
 Still it was little credible that the Austrians 
 should have been guilty of the fault of suffering 
 the bridges of Vienna to remain entire, which 
 would render the French masters of loth hanks 
 of that river; or that if they suffered them to re- 
 main, they should not have made every prepara- 
 tion tor destroying them at the first signal. No- 
 thing, therefore, could be more full of uncertainty 
 than the operation desired or wished, rather than 
 ordered by Napoleon. 
 
 The Austrians had renounced the design of de- 
 fending Vienna. That fine and great capital had 
 around it a regular rampart, being that which 
 resisted the Turks in IG1!3. As in time the city 
 extended itself too much to be confined within that 
 old limit, and as vast suburbs arose around it, the 
 whole had been surrounded with a low wall formed 
 in redans, circumscribing till the ground 'built 
 upon. All this would make but a poor defence, 
 
 because the wail that covered the suburbs was 
 easily forced ; and once masters of the suburbs, 
 it was very possible, with a few mortars, to oblige 
 the body of the place to surrender. The emperor 
 Francis had commanded the count da Wlirbna, a 
 clever and conciliatory personage, to receive tin 
 l'ri neb, and concert with them the peaceable pos- 
 session of the Capital. J til t it was decided that 
 the passage of the river should In- disputed. 
 
 Vienna is situated at some distance from the 
 
 Danube, which Hows to the left of the city, be- 
 tween wooded islands. A great w hn bridge 
 
 crosses the different arms of the river, serving as 
 a communication from one bank to the other. 
 
 The Austrians had placed incendiary materials 
 uudi r tin- flooring "I tin- bridge, and were ready 
 to blow it up the monu iii that the French should 
 
 show themselves. TIk\ kepi lie inseh es ill leaili- 
 
 ne-H on the left bank, with their artillery pointed, 
 ami a corps oi 7000 or 8000 men, command* d by 
 count Auerbbcrg.
 
 66 
 
 Surprise of the 
 Ausirians. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Napoleon arrives 
 at Schonbrunn. 
 
 / 1805. 
 (November. 
 
 Murat had drawn very near the bridge without 
 entering the city, which the situation rendered it 
 very easy to do. At this moment the rumour of 
 an armistice was circulated on every hand. Napo- 
 leon arrived at the palace of Schonbrunn by the 
 high road. It is in advance of Vienna; and he 
 had received a deputation of the inhabitants of 
 that capital there, who had come to implore his 
 kindness. He had received them with the atten- 
 tion due to an excellent people, and the civility 
 which civilized nations owe to each other. He 
 had received also, and seemed to attend to, M. 
 Giulay, who had come to reiterate the overtures 
 before made at Lintz. The idea of an armistice 
 that was likely to lead to peace had thus been 
 rapidly propagated. Napoelon, in the meanwhile, 
 had sent general Bertrand to repeat the order to 
 Murat and Lannes to take the bridge, if it was 
 practicable. Murat and Lannes had no need to 
 be quickened. They had placed the grenadiers of 
 Oudinot behind the shady plantations which border 
 the Danube, and had themselves advanced with 
 some aides-de-camp as far as the head of the 
 bridge. General Bertrand and an officer of en- 
 gineers, colonel Dude de la Brunerie, had gone 
 thither as well. 
 
 A barrier of wood closed the head of the bridge. 
 Orders were given to lower it. Behind it, at some 
 distance, was posted an hussar vidette, who fired 
 his carbine and galloped away. They followed 
 I him along the long and sinuous line of small bridges 
 thrown over the different branches of the river, 
 and arrived at the great bridge placed over the 
 principal branch. In the room of planks they saw 
 only a bid of fascines laid upon the flooring. At 
 that moment an Austrian subaltern of artillery 
 came forward with a match in his hand. Colonel 
 Dode seized and stopped him, just as he was about 
 to set fire to the train communicating with the 
 materials placed under the arches. Then they 
 proceeded as far as the other side, where they ad- 
 dressed the Austrian cannoneers, telling them that 
 an armistice was signed, or about to be; that peace 
 was negotiating ; and then demanded to see the 
 general commanding the troops. 
 
 The Austrians were surprised, hesitated, and 
 conducted general Bertrand to count Auersberg. 
 Meanwhile a. column of grenadiers advanced, by 
 order of Murat. They were not seen, owing to 
 the large trees that grew by the river, and to the 
 sinuosities of the way, which led by turns along 
 the bridges and through woody islets. While 
 awaiting their arrival, those who preceded did not 
 fail to continue in conversation with the Austrians 
 under the muzzles of their cannon. Suddenly the 
 column of grenadiers came in view. The Aus- 
 trians, now beginning to see the trick put upon 
 them, were preparing to fire. Lannes and Murat, 
 with the officers who accompanied them, rushed 
 towards the gunners, spoke to them, made them 
 hesitate anew, and thus gave the column time to 
 come up. The grenadiers threw themselves on 
 the guns, seized them, and disarmed the Austrian 
 artillerymen. In the mean time, Count Auersberg 
 came to the spot, accompanied by general Ber- 
 trand atid Colonel Dode. He was surprised and 
 pained to find the bridge in the hands of the 
 French, and a number of them thus united on the 
 left bank of the Danube. There remained still 
 
 some thousand infantry to dispute the possession 
 of what had thus been taken from him. But they 
 repeated to him all the recitals by the aid of which 
 they had already quieted the guards of the bridge, 
 and persuaded him that he ought to retire with 
 his soldiers to a distance from the river. Besides, 
 every moment fresh troops were arriving from the 
 French side, and he had no longer time to have 
 recourse to force. Count Auersberg withdrew to 
 a distance, therefore ; troubled, confounded, and 
 appearing scarcely to comprehend all that had just 
 happened. 
 
 It was through this audacious ruse, backed by 
 the unequalled courage of those who used it and 
 made it so successful, that the bridges of Vienna 
 fell into the hands of the French. Four years after- 
 wards, for the want of those bridges, the passage of 
 the Danube cost the French sanguinary encounters, 
 which were very near proving fatal to them. 
 
 The joy of Napoleon was very great on hearing 
 this piece of success. He no longer thought of 
 chiding Murat ; but immediately dispatched him 
 with the reserve of cavalry and the corps of 
 Lannes and Soult, to go by the route of Stockerau 
 and Hollabriinn, to cut off the retreat of general 
 Kutusof. 
 
 These orders issued, he devoted all his attention 
 to the police of Vienna and the military occupa- 
 tion of that capital. It was a noble triumph to 
 enter thus into the old metropolis of the German 
 empire, in the bosom of which an enemy had 
 never been seen as a master. During the last 
 two centuries considerable wars had been under- 
 taken, and memorable battles won or lost ; but no 
 victorious general had ever yet been seen to plant 
 his colours in the capitals of mighty states. It 
 was necessary to go back to the times of the con- 
 querors, to find examples of such great results. 
 
 Napoleon himself took up his residence in the 
 imperial palace of Schonbrunn. He gave the 
 command of the city of Vienna to general Clarke, 
 and left the care of the police to the city militia. 
 He ordered and made the most rigorous discipline 
 to be observed, and permitted nothing to be touched 
 except the public property, such as the chests of 
 the government and the arsenals. The great 
 arsenal of Vienna contained immense quantities of 
 stores of all kinds. There were in it 100,000 
 muskets, 2000 pieces of cannon, and ammunition 
 of all sorts. It seemed wonderful that the em- 
 peror Francis had not emptied it by means of the 
 Danube. Possession was taken of all it con- 
 tained for the use of the French army. 
 
 Napoleon so distributed his forces as to take 
 good care of the capital, and at the same time to 
 observe the route from the Alps, by which the 
 archdukes might soon be able to arrive; that of 
 Hungary, by which they might arrive later ; and 
 finally, that of Moravia, upon which the Russians 
 were in force. 
 
 It has been seen that he had ordered general 
 Marmont to proceed on the high road of Leoben, 
 to occupy the passage of the Alps ; and marshal 
 Davout on the road of St. Gaming, to turn the 
 position of St. Polten. M. Meerfeld, with the 
 principal Austrian detachment, had taken the high 
 road to Leoben. Finding himself pursued by 
 general Marmont, he had thrown himself by an 
 elevated mountain defile on the road of St. Gaming,
 
 1805. \ 
 November. J 
 
 Ney's progress in 
 tlie Tyrol. 
 
 AUSTERL1TZ. 
 
 Retreat of the archduke 
 Charles. 
 
 67 
 
 which was followed by marsli.il Davout. The 
 latter claml <i painfully the steepest mou n ta i ns , 
 across the snows and ice of an early winter, ami, 
 thanks to the devotedneea <>f his sohiiers and the 
 zeal of his officers, he had overcome every obsl 
 when, arriving near Mariazell oa tl _ road 
 
 from Leoben to St Pol ten by Lilienfeld, b 
 countered the corps of general Meerfeld flying 
 from general Marmont A combat of the same 
 kind as those in which Masseua had formerly en- 
 paged in the Alps, soon took place between the 
 French and Austrians. Marshal Davont over- 
 turned the latter, tool; from them 4000 men, and 
 drove the rest in disorder into the mountains. He 
 afterwards descended upon Vienna. General Mar- 
 mont. after having reached Leoben, almost without 
 firing a shut, halted there to await new orders 
 from the emperor. 
 
 Events were not loss favourable in the Tyrol 
 and Italy. Marshal Ney, commanded to invade 
 the Tyrol after the occupation of llm, had fortu- 
 nately chosen the opening of Scliarnitz — the Porta 
 
 of the ancients — by which to penetrate 
 into the country. It was one of the most difficult 
 of access; but it had the advantage of leading 
 directly upon Inspruck, in the midst of the troops 
 of the Austrians, dispersed about from the lake of 
 Constance as far as the sources of the Drave. who 
 were little in expectation of such an attack. Mar- 
 shal Ney had only nine or ten thousand men — 
 soldiers as intrepid as their leader, and with whom 
 lie was able to undertake any thing, lie made 
 them scale, in the month of November, the most 
 elevated : of the Alps, in spite of the rocks 
 
 that the inhabitants burled down upon their heads; 
 because the Tyroleans, strongly devoted to the 
 
 of Austria, Would not, as they had been 
 threatened they should, pass under the dominion 
 of Bavaria. Ney passed the intreuchments of 
 Scharnitz, Inspruck. dispersed before him 
 
 the surprised Austrians, and threw the one upon 
 tin; Vorarlberg and the others upon the Italian 
 ichich and the prince do 
 
 Rohan wire driven back towards the Vorarlberg, 
 and from the Vorarlberg towards the lake of Con- 
 stance, on the same road by which Augereau was 
 expected to arrive. As if it had been decided by 
 fate that none of tin: wrecks of the army of liio 
 shoul i rench, gi neral Jellacbich, who, 
 
 after the fall of Meromingen, had made his escape 
 from marshal Soult, only went to i c the 
 
 ol Auger au. Nol seeing any chance of 
 
 saving himself, he hud down his anus with a de- 
 
 tachn 60 10 men. The prince do Rohan, 
 
 I far advanced towards the Vorarlberg, had 
 time to rel eat. He made a very bold marcbj 
 cantonments i ill troops, 
 
 that. ...:• r the ti iruck, guarded the 
 
 Brenner too iv gligi ntl, ; i lud I the watchfu 
 of Loison, one of I ol division of .Ney's 
 
 corps ; pa d near Botzi n, aim r hi 
 
 and W( ■' ol \ i 118 and V< nice, while 
 
 Massena was following up tli rear ol the arch- 
 duke Charles. Ma id ordered general St, 
 Cyr, wiih the troop • fr mi Nap i », to ! 
 ade Venii . in which the archduke Charles had 
 left a strong garrison. I St. Cyr, astonished 
 at the ] • an ■ n< m) - enrpt in the r< ar ul 
 Massena, when he was already arrived at the (wot 
 
 of the Julian Alps, went with all speed, and sur- 
 rounded the prince de Rohan, who was then 
 Obliged, as general Jellacbich had been, to lay 
 down his arms. General St. Cyr took on this 
 occasion about 5000 men. 
 
 During this time the archduke Charles continued 
 his laborious retreat the whole length of Friuli and 
 beyond the Julian Alps. His brother, the arch- 
 duke John, passed the Italian Tyrol in Carinthia, 
 and followed in the anterior of the Alps a line alto- 
 gether parallel with his own. The two archdukes, 
 with reason despairing of a timely arrival upon any 
 one of the defensive positions of the Danube, and 
 tbiuking it too bold a measure to fling themselves 
 
 upon Napoleon's flank, had decided to form a junc- 
 tion at Laybach, the one by Villach, the other by 
 i'dine, in order to proceed afterwards to Hungary. 
 There they would be able to join with perfect 
 safely the Russians occupying Bohemia; and a 
 junction thus effected, they might re-take the of- 
 fensive if no error had compromised the safety id' 
 the coalesced armies, and if there remained with 
 the two emperors of Austria and Russia courage 
 .sufficient to prolong the contest. 
 
 General Marmont, placed in advance at Leoben, 
 on the crested heights that separate tlie valley of 
 the Danube from that of the Drave, saw with vexa- 
 tion the troops of the archduke Jehu file away 
 nearly under his eyes, and burned with impatience 
 to combat them '. But a precise order restrained 
 his ardour, enjoining it upon him to limit himself 
 to guarding the defiles of the Alps. 
 
 Massena, after having pursued the archduke 
 Charles as far as to the Julian Alps, had stop- 
 ped at their foot, not believing it his duty to 
 enter into Hungary at the heels of the arch- 
 dukes. He put himself in connexion with general 
 Marmont, and then awaited the orders of the 
 emperor. 
 
 All these movements were completed towards 
 tic middle of November, nearly about the saint: 
 tune that the grand army executed iis march upon 
 Vienna. Certainly if one bad conceived a plan in 
 the tranquillity of a closet, with the facilities which 
 are mi abundant lor tracing out plans upon maps, 
 nothing could have been more easily arranged. In 
 six weeks this army, passing the Rhine and the 
 Danube, interposed itself between tin- Austrians 
 posted mi Suabia, and the Russians arrived on the 
 Inn, had enveloped the one and thrown back the 
 others towards the Danube, surprised the Tyrol by 
 a di tachmeut, then occupied Vienna, and turned 
 
 the position of the archdukes in Italy, which had 
 
 d the last to seek sin Iter ill Hungary ! His- 
 tory no where offers a similar spectacle ■ in twenty 
 
 from the ocean to the Rhine, and in forty from 
 the Rhine to Vienna. Thus while the separation 
 of forces so dangerous in war. if for the most 
 pari attended onh with reverses, corps WOT 
 
 lore detached bo a greal distance, thai without 
 danger had attained their object ; because at the 
 
 i This doe Blear. If tin srcndukM J"io 
 
 : by Vlllarh and Udlrn at J 
 
 to proceed to Hungary, I ejr mint. If they weal 
 
 1 i-v [II 
 
 live, I ! for M II ' to 
 
 without reru ' 'i" 1 an ii 
 
 i nown to I the time. 
 
 i '_' 
 
 ■ ■■ —
 
 68 
 
 X Tvii s f positions THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 at Vienna 
 
 Kutusof deceives 
 Murat. 
 
 f 1805. 
 \ November. 
 
 centre there was a powerful body that struck at 
 opportune moments decisive blows upon the prin- 
 cipal forces assembled by the enemy. Thus too had 
 been imparted an impulse to which every thing had 
 given way, and the army had not left upon its rear or 
 its wings* any consequences but such as it was easy 
 to gather : in such a way that the apparent disper- 
 sion was in reality no more than an able distribu- 
 tion of accessories at the side of the principal 
 action, arranged with astonishing precision. But 
 after having admired the profound and incompa- 
 rable art which astonishes even by its simplicity 
 alone, it is impossible also not to admire in this 
 mode of action another condition, destitute of which 
 every combination, even the most able, would be 
 involved in peril ; that condition is a vigorous 
 character, of such a nature both in soldiers and 
 officers, that when they are surprised by any sudden 
 accident, they know how, by their energy, to give 
 to the chief mind which directs them time to come 
 to their aid, and to repair errors inevitable in 
 operations the best conducted. Thus it was with the 
 soldiers of Dupont at Haslach, of marshal Mortier 
 at Dirnstein, and of marshal Ney at Elchingen. 
 Repeating, that which has been before said, " there 
 must be a great leader to brave soldiers, and brave 
 soldiers must have a great leader." The glory 
 must be common between them, as well as the 
 merit clue for the great things they accomplish. 
 
 Napoleon in Vienna would not banquet himself 
 upim the empty glory of occupying the capital of 
 the Germanic empire. He was desirous of termi- 
 nating the war. If to be reproached in his ca- 
 reer with having abused fortune, he can never be 
 reproached as Hannibal was with not having known 
 how to profit by it, and with having gone to sleep 
 amidst the luxuries of Capua. He therefore pre- 
 pared to pursue the Russians, in order to fight 
 them in Moravia, before they had time to effect a 
 junction with the archdukes. Besides, these were 
 at Laybach on the 15th of November. It was re- 
 quisite for them that they should make a great 
 circuit in order to reach Hungary, to traverse that 
 country, and then reach Moravia near Olmutz. 
 This was a march yet to be executed of a hundred 
 and fifty leagues. Twenty days would not be suf- 
 ficient to compass it. Napoleon, at this period 
 already in Vienna, had only forty leagues to march 
 to be at Briinn, the capital of Moravia. 
 
 He now brought general Marmont nearer, who 
 was too distant at Leoben, and gave him a position 
 a little in the rear, on the summit of the Styrian 
 Alps, in order to guard the great road from Italy 
 to Vienna. He enjoined it upon him, in case 
 either of the archdukes should take that route, to 
 break down the bridges and tear up the roads, 
 which, in a mountain country, permits a small 
 corps to delay for some time an enemy superior in 
 force. He forbade him to allow himself to be led 
 away by the desire of fighting, unless he was 
 forced to do so. He brought .Massena near general 
 Marmont, placing one in immediate communication 
 with the other. The troops commanded by Mas- 
 sena took from that time the title of the eighth 
 corps of the grand army. Napoleon disposed the 
 corps of marshal DaVOUt all around Vienna, that 
 of general Gudin in rear of Vienna, towards 
 Neustadt, able in a little time to be in communi- 
 cation with Marmont ; another corps, that of 
 
 general Friant, was placed in the direction of 
 Presburg, to observe the openings towards Hun- 
 gary ; the third, that of general Bisson, now be- 
 come the division of Caffarelli, was in advance of 
 Vienna, on the route to Moravia. The divisions of 
 Dupont and Gazan were placed in Vienna itself, in 
 order to recover from their fatigues and wounds. 
 Finally, marshals Soult, Lannes, and Murat, 
 marched towards Bavaria, while marshal Berna- 
 dotte, having passed the Danube at Krems, fol- 
 lowed the steps of general Kutusof, and was ready 
 to rejoin by the same road taken by that general 
 the three French corps that were going to fight 
 the Russians. 
 
 Thus Napoleon at Vienna, placed in the midst of 
 a web spread around him with skill, was enabled 
 to go wherever the least agitation marked the 
 presence of an enemy. If the archdukes attempted 
 any thing on the side of Italy, Massena and Mar- 
 mont connected one with the other, having the Sty- 
 rian Alps at their back, and Napoleon sending the 
 corps of Davout towards Neustadt, was in sufficient 
 strength to sustain them. If the archdukes showed 
 themselves by Presburg and Hungary, Napoleon 
 would be able to send them the entire corps of 
 Davout and Marmont a little later, as Neustadt 
 was not far off, and in case of need could march 
 himself with the main strength of the army. 
 Lastly, if it was necessary to make head against the 
 Russians in Moravia, he was able in three days to 
 unite to the corps of Soult, Lannes, and Murat, 
 which were already there, that of Davout. easily 
 withdrawn from Vienna, and that of Bernadotte, 
 equally as easy to be brought out of Bohemia. He 
 was therefore every where prepared, and thus ful- 
 filled in the fullest degree the conditions of the art 
 of war, that, one day conversing with his lieuten- 
 ants, he defined in these terms : — "The art of di- 
 viding to subsist, and of concentrating to fght." 
 Never have been better defined or practised the 
 precepts of that redoubtable art which founds and 
 destroys empires. 
 
 Napoleon hastened to profit by the acquirement 
 of the bridges of Vienna, to carry across the 
 Danube marshals Soult, Lannes, and Murat, with 
 the hope of cutting off the retreat of general 
 Kutusof, and to arrive before him at Hollabrunn, 
 where that general, who had passed the Danube at 
 Krems, would rejoin the road into Moravia. Gene- 
 ral Kutusof took a direction towards Moravia and 
 not Bohemia; because it was on Olmutz, on the 
 frontier of Moravia and Gallicia, that the second 
 Russian army had itself turned its steps. Whilst 
 he advanced upon Hollabrunn, having prince Ba- 
 gration in the van, he was all of a sudden sur- 
 prised and alarmed in learning the presence of 
 the French upon the same high road that he 
 wished to march over, thus having the certainty of 
 being cut off. He therefore spread for Murat 
 the same snare which Murat himself had spread 
 for the Austrian*, in order to get possession of the 
 bridges of tlie Danube. He had with him general 
 Vintzingerode, the same officer who had negutiated 
 all the arrangements for the plan of the campaign. 
 He dispatched him to Murat to put off upon him 
 the trick by means of which he had duped count 
 Auersberg, and which had consisted in telling him 
 that negotiations were at Schonbrunn ready to sign 
 a peace. In consequence, the Russians proposed
 
 1S05. 1 
 November./ 
 
 Napoleon's rebuke 
 of Mural 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 The combat of 
 Hollabrunn. 
 
 69 
 
 bo Mur.it an armistice, of which the principal con- 
 ditions should be that each should halt upon the 
 ground which he occupied, in such a maimer that 
 nothing should be changed by the suspension of 
 operations. If they were to be renewed, six hours' 
 notice should be given. Murat, adroitly flattered 
 by M. Viutzingerode, sensible besides of the honour 
 lie would receive to be the first intermedi.it.' agent 
 in making a peace, accepted the armistice, with the 
 reservation of the emperor's approbation. It must 
 he added here, in order to he just to Mur.it. that 
 one consideration, which was nut without weight, 
 contributed greatly to engage him in this wrong 
 Btep. The corps of marshal Snult was not yet 
 come up ; and he feared that with his cav dry 
 and Qudinot's grenadiers, he did not possess 
 strength enough to bar the road against the Rus- 
 sians, lie therefore dispatched an aide-de-camp 
 to head-quarters with a draft of the armistice. 
 
 On the following day the commanders visited 
 each other. Prince Bagration came to see Murat, 
 and exhibited much interest and curiosity regard- 
 ing the French generals, and, above all, for the 
 illustrious marshal Lannes. This marshal, per- 
 fectly simple in his manner, without, oil that ac- 
 count, Bhowing any want of military courtesy, told 
 prince Bagration that, if he had been there alone, 
 they siiould have been actively occupied in fighting 
 in place of exchanging compliments. At that 
 moment, in fact, the Russian army, covering its 
 movement with the rear-guard under Bagration, 
 that appeared to remain immoveable, marched 
 rapidly concealed behind it, as behind a curtain, 
 and regained the road to Moravia. Thus Murat 
 became, in his turn, the dupe, having Buffered the 
 enemy to get his revenge for the affair of the 
 bridge of Vienna. 
 
 There soon arrived an aide-de-camp of the em- 
 peror, general Lemarrois, who brought with him 
 a severe reprimand to Murat for the fault which 
 he had committed ' ; and gave an order to him, 
 and to marshal Lannes, to attack immediately, 
 whatever might be the hour at which they received 
 th • communication. Lannes, however, took care 
 to send an officer to prince Bagratiun to acquaint 
 him with the Older which be had received. The 
 proper dispositions were immediately made for an 
 attack. Prince Bagration had seven or I tight thou- 
 sand men. Wishing to cover the movement of 
 KuUisif, he adopted the noble resolution of suffer- 
 
 : "TO PRINCE MURAT. 
 
 " Schiinbrunn, 25 Drumaire, an xiv. {16th November, 1805), 
 S o'clock in Ihr mnrning. 
 
 " It ii IflDJXMaible for me to find terms to express my dis- 
 pleasure. You only command my advanced guard, an I you 
 have no right to conclude an armistice without my order. 
 You have mads me lose the fruit of a campaign. Break 
 the armUtica Instantly, and march upon the enemy. You 
 v> hi declare to him. thai t tie general » bo signed the con van- 
 it not the right to do it ; thai no one but the emperor 
 of Russia po leasee such a right. 
 
 " Still, however, if the emperor of Russia would ratify this 
 convention, I would ratify it : hit it is only a trick Mar. h ! 
 destroy the EtuaeUUl army ; you arc in a poaltlon t" talc its 
 
 ■•■ .mil artillery. The aide de camp of tba emperor of 
 Russia na... Officers are nothing without powera ; this 
 
 one had none. The Austrian* suffered themselves to be 
 duped out of the passap- of the hnd^c oi Vienna) yen have 
 let yourself be duped by an aided'- camp "t UM emperor!" 
 
 ing himself to be destroyed rather than move from 
 his position. Lannes pushed his grenadiers upon 
 him. The only disposition possible to make was 
 that of two lines of infantry, one deployed in front 
 of the other, and attacking on ground very level. 
 For some time a heavy and murderous fire of 
 musketry alone was exchanged ; then they charged 
 each other with the bayonet, and that which 
 is seldom Been in war, the two bodies of infantry 
 marched resolutely one against the other, without 
 either giving way until they met. They then came 
 to combat man to man, and the grenadiers of Oudi- 
 not broke Bagration'a infantry, and cut them in 
 pieces. They then disputed by the light of the 
 flames, at midnight, for the burning village of 
 Schongrahen, which terminated by its remaining 
 in the hands of the French. The Russians bore 
 themselves valiantly. They lost upon this occa- 
 sion nearly the half of their rear-guard, about 
 3000 men, of whom more than 1500 lay ex- 
 tended on the field of battle. Prince Bagra- 
 tion, by his resolution on this occasion, showed 
 that he was worthy of rivalling marshal Mortier 
 at Dirnstein. This sanguinary combat occurred 
 
 fs „ 
 
 on the ICth of November. 
 
 The French continued to advance on the follow- 
 ing days, taking prisoners at every step, and, on 
 the 19th, they entered at length the town of Biiinn, 
 the capital of Moravia. They found the place 
 fortified and provided with abundant resources. 
 The enemy had not even dreamed of defending it. 
 Thus they left to Napoleon an important position, 
 from whence he commanded all Moravia, and was 
 able, at his ease, to observe and attend the move- 
 ments of the Russians. 
 
 Napoleon, on learning this last conflict, deter- 
 mined to go himself to Brunn, because intelligence 
 from Italy announced to him the long retreat that 
 the archdukes were making in Hungary, and he 
 now very well guessed that it was with the Rus- 
 sians he should principally have to do. He made 
 some slight changes in the distribution of the corps 
 of marshal Davout around Vienna, He ordered 
 upon Preaburg the division of Gudin, which no 
 longer seemed necessary on the route to Styria, 
 since the archdukes had retreated, lie established 
 the division of Friant, of the same corps, in ad- 
 t ranee of Vienna, on the Moravian road. The 
 division of Bisson, become, for a moment, Caffa- 
 
 | relli's, was detached from the corps of Davout, 
 and sent upon I.iiinn, to replace, in the corps of 
 
 Lannes, the division of Gazan remaining at 
 Vienna, 
 
 .Napoleon, having arrived at Hiiinn, fixed his 
 
 head-quarters' there on the 80th of November. 
 Genera] Giulay, accompanied this time by M. Star 
 dion, came again to visit him, and to speak more 
 
 s riously of peace than on his preceding visits. 
 
 Napoleon expressed, both to one and the other, his 
 
 desire to lay down his arms, and return to France, 
 but would not leave ihem ignorant of the con- 
 ditions to which he woul d agree. He would do 
 longer admit, he said, that Italy, divided between 
 Prance and Austria, should continue to !»• between 
 
 them a subject of jealousy and war. He would 
 
 have it entirely, as far as lsonzo; that is to say, he 
 
 would demand the Venetian states, tl dry part 
 
 of Italy which remained lor him to rompicr. Ho 
 gave no explanations, as to what his demands might
 
 70 
 
 Austrian negotiators 
 visit Napoleon. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 / 1805. 
 ( November. 
 
 be on account of his allies, the electors of Bavaria, 
 Wurtemburg, and Baden : but he declared, in 
 general terms, that it would be requisite to secure 
 their situation in Germany, and put an end to all 
 questions dependent with the emperor regarding 
 them, since the new Germanic constitution of 
 1803. M. Stadion, as well as M. Giulay, exclaimed 
 much against the hardship of these conditions ; but 
 Napoleon showed no disposition to depart from the 
 terms : and he then gave them to comprehend 
 that, occupied without ceasing in the duties of war, 
 he did not wish to have near himself any nego- 
 tiators, who were in reality military spies, sent to 
 overlook his movements. He therefore recom- 
 mended that they should go to Vienna to M. de 
 Talleyrand, who had just arrived there. Napoleon, 
 taking little account of the tastes of his minister, 
 who was neither fond of labour nor of the fatigues 
 of head-quarters, had first ordered him to Stras- 
 burg, then to Munich, and now to Vienna. He 
 shifted upon his shoulders those endless confer- 
 ences which in negotiations always precede serious 
 results. 
 
 During the conference that Napoleon thus had 
 with the Austrian negotiators, one of them, not 
 able to contain himself, suffered an imprudent 
 word to escape him, from which it evidently re- 
 sulted that Prussia was bound up in a treaty with 
 Russia and Austria. They had made known to 
 him something of the same nature direct from 
 Berlin; but nothing so precise as that with which 
 he had just become acquainted. This discovery 
 inspired new reflections, and disposed him still 
 more towards peace, without at the same time 
 causing him to delist from his more essential de- 
 mands. To follow the Russians beyond Moravia, 
 that is to say, into Poland, would not suit him; 
 because that would be to expose himself to the 
 risk of the archduke cutting off his communica- 
 tions with Vienna. He in consequence resolved 
 to await the arrival of M. Haugwitz, and the 
 future development of the military plans of the 
 Russians. He was equally ready either to treat, 
 if the proposed conditions were acceptable, or by 
 a great battle to sever the Gordian knot of the 
 coalition, if his enemies should offer him a 
 favourable opportunity for doing so. He, there- 
 fore, suffered some days to pass away, employing 
 his time in studying with the greatest care, and 
 making be studied by bis generals, the nature of 
 the ground upon which he then was, and upon 
 which a secret presentiment intimated to him that 
 he would be called upon to give a decisive battle. 
 In the meanwhile, he allowed his troops to take 
 rest, worn down as they were with fatigue, suffer- 
 ing from cold, and sometimes from hunger, and 
 having marched in three months nearly five hun- 
 dred leagues. From these causes the ranks of his 
 army had been much reduced, although there 
 were seen among them fewer stragglers than 
 would be found in the train of any other army. 
 Nearly a fifth of his effective force was wanting 
 since the campaign opened. All military men 
 well know that this is very little after such 
 fatigues. In other respects, whenever the army 
 halted any where, the ranks were soon filled up, 
 owing to the anxiety of the men 'who had been 
 left behind to rejoin their corps. 
 
 The two emperors of Russia and Germany on 
 
 their side, in company at Olmiitz, employed their 
 time in considering what line of conduct they 
 should pursue. General Kutusof, after a retreat 
 in which he had only sustained defeats of his rear- 
 guard, brought back with him no more than thirty 
 and a few odd thousand men, already habituated 
 to combat, but worn down with fatigue. He had 
 therefore lost 12,000 or 13,000 men in killed, 
 wounded, prisoners, or lamed. Alexander, with 
 the corps of Buxhowden and the imperial Russian 
 guard, had brought with him about 40,000, which 
 made about 75,000 Russians. Fifteen thousand 
 Austrians, formed of the wrecks of the corps 
 of Kienmayer and Meerfeld, and a fine division 
 of cavalry, completed the Austro-Russian army at 
 Olmiitz, and carried it up to a total force of 90,000 
 men '. 
 
 This is the proper place to remark how much 
 the pretensions of Russia in Europe were at that 
 time exaggerated, in a comparison with the real 
 state of her forces. She assumed to hold the 
 balance between the European powers : and here 
 are the real numbers of the soldiers which she 
 brought into the field of battle, where the destinies 
 of the world were to be decided. — She had marched 
 45,000 or 50,000 men under Kutusof ; she brought 
 40,000 under Buxhowden and the grand-duke Con- 
 stantine ; 10,000 under general Essen. If those 
 acting in the north, with the Swedes and English, 
 be reckoned at 15,000, adding to them 10,000 that 
 were preparing to act against Naples, these carry 
 up the total to 125,000 men, in reality appearing 
 in the field during this war; and only 100,000 men 
 at the utmost, if the accounts of the Russians are 
 to be credited, after their defeat. Austria had 
 assembled more than 200,000; Prussia could bring 
 into line 150,000 ; France 300,000 by herself. 
 The soldiers borne as effective on the list are not 
 here spoken of (which would make a difference 
 nearly of one- half), but soldiers present and in 
 fire on the day of battle. Although the Russian 
 infantry was steady, it was not with 100,000 men, 
 brave and ignorant, that any one could then pre- 
 tend to domineer over Europe. 
 
 The Russians, always speaking very contempt- 
 uously of their Austrian allies, whom they accused 
 of being cowardly soldiers, with incapable officers, 
 continued to commit horrible ravages in that 
 country. There was a scarcity of food in the 
 eastern provinces of the Austrian monarchy. In 
 Olmiitz, necessaries being wanting, the Russians 
 procured provisions, not with the address of the 
 French soldier (who is an intelligent, but very 
 rarely a cruel marauder), but with the brutalities 
 of a savage horde. They extended their system 
 of plunder for many leagues round, and completely 
 laid waste the country which they occupied. The 
 discipline, commonly so severe among them, was 
 very visibly affected by it, and they showed them- 
 selves little satisfied wilh their emperor. 
 
 In the Austro-Russian camp, therefore, they were 
 not likely to be well disposed towards wise deter- 
 minations. The levity of youth, conjoined with the 
 feeling of being ill at ease, made them urgent to 
 
 1 The Russians made the number much less the day fol- 
 lowing their defeat ; Napoleon, in his bulletin, much more. 
 After the comparison of a great number of testimonies and 
 authentic statements, we believe, that the most accurate ac- 
 count is that here given. Note of Author.
 
 1805. 1 
 November. J 
 
 Impolitic course of 
 Alexander. 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 Presumption of the 
 younger Russians. 
 
 71 
 
 act, no matter in what way, for a change of place, 
 if it were only for the sake of the change. It has 
 been said already, that the emperor Alexander 
 had begun to give himself up to new influences. 
 He was not content with the direction given to his 
 affairs ; because this war, in spite of the flatteries 
 with which a certain circle at Berlin bad encircled 
 him, did not seem to turn out well; and according 
 to the custom of princes, he threw with a good 
 will upon his ministers the results of a line of 
 policy, which he had himself commanded, but had 
 not known how to sustain with a perseverance 
 that could alone correct its faults. That which 
 had taken place at Berlin, had confirmed him still 
 more in his dispositions. He should have com- 
 mitted many more errors, he said, if lie had 
 list* ned to his friends. In persisting in violence 
 to Prussia, be should have thrown her into the 
 arms of Napoleon, whilst he had, on the contrary, 
 by his own personal address, brought that court 
 to enter into engagements equivalent to a declara- 
 tion of war against France. Thus the young 
 emperor would no more listen to advice, because 
 he deemed himself much mure able than his coun- 
 sellors. Prince Adam Czartoryski, honourable, 
 grave, passionate under a cold exterior, become, 
 as before shown, an inconvenient censor of the 
 weakness and inconstancy of his master, supported 
 an opinion which could not but alienate him com- 
 pletely. According to this minister, the emperor 
 had nothing to do with the army- That was not 
 his post. He had never seen service, and did not 
 know how to command. His presence at head- 
 quarters, in the midst of young men. ignorant, pre- 
 sumptuous, and thoughtless, would destroy the 
 authority of the generals, and at the same time 
 their responsibility. In a war that they entered 
 upon with a certain degree of apprehension, their 
 officers desired nothing better than to have no 
 opinion of their own, and to leave the command 
 to hot-brained youth, in order nol to be themselves 
 
 r the defeats whieli they <\p 
 
 There would thus be only the worst of commanders 
 for an army — a court. The war would be fruitful 
 iii 1. st battles. In order to sustain it perseverance 
 would be needful, and perseverance would depend 
 upon the magnitude of the means which they had 
 prepared. It was requisite, therefore, to the ge- 
 nerals, for the fulfilment of the character which 
 
 properly belonged to them at the head of the ti ps; 
 
 for the emperor himself to fullil Ids own at 
 the centre of the government, by sustaining the 
 public spirit, and administering the government 
 with energy and application, in such a manner as 
 to furnish the armies with the i seary 
 
 for a prolongation of the contest — the eole means, 
 if not to conquer, at 1< a>t to balance fortune. 
 
 It was not possible to express an opinion more 
 wise in itsell nor leas agreeable to the emperor 
 Alexander. He bad been attempting to play a 
 political character In Europe, and bad not yel 
 
 ■UCCeeded tO his mind. He saw himself drawn 
 into a contest, which would have filled him with 
 
 affright, if the distance of his empire had not re- 
 red him: he had need to stun his ears with 
 the tumult of camps j he had need for the purpose 
 of silencing the whisperings of his reason to hear 
 himself styled at Benin, Dre den, Weimar, and 
 Vienna, '-the saviour of kings." This monarch, 
 
 too, asked himself whether he had not the ability 
 in his turn to cut a brilliant figure in fields of 
 battle ; if, with his intellect, he might not have 
 loftier inspirations than the old gem rals, whose 
 experience an imprudent youth encouraged him 
 to view with too much disdain ; if, finally, he 
 should not be aide to hear a part of that glory 
 arising from arms, which is so dear to princes, at 
 that time exclusively bestowed by fortune upon 
 one man and one nation. 
 
 Alexander was encouraged in these notions by 
 the military circle which already encompassed 
 him, at the head of which appeared prince Dolgo- 
 rouki. This personage, in order the better to 
 secure the emperor to himself, wished to draw 
 him away to the army. He endeavoured to per- 
 suade him that he had talents for command, and 
 th:jt he had only to show himself to alter the for- 
 tunes of the war; that his presence would redouble 
 the courage of the soldiers by filling them with en- 
 thusiasm; that his generals were mere men of rou- 
 tine, destitute of ability; that Napoleon had tri- 
 umphed through their timidity, and their worn-out 
 knowledge : but that he would not thus easily tri- 
 umph over the young Russian nobility, intelligent 
 and denoted, and led by an emperor they adored. 
 These warriors, so new to the profession of arms, 
 ventured to assert that at Dirnstein, as well as at 
 Hollabrunn, they had beaten the French ; that 
 the Austrians were cowards; that there were no 
 brave men but the Russians; and that if Alexander 
 went to cheer them with his presence, they should 
 stop the arrogant and ill-merited prosperity of 
 Napoleon. 
 
 The cunning Kutusof ventured to say with some 
 timidity that this was not altogether correct ; but 
 too servile to sustain his opinion with courage, he 
 kept himself carefully from contradicting the new 
 possessors of the imperial favour, and had the 
 meanness to let them insult his hoary experience. 
 The intrepid Bagration, the vicious hut brave 
 Afiloradovich, the sensible Doctorow, were offi- 
 cers whose advice at least merited some attention. 
 None of these p< rsonagi a were reckoned as of any 
 account. A German, the counsellor of the arch- 
 duke John at Hohenlinden, general Wefrother, 
 had alone some real authority over the military 
 youth that surrounded Alexander. 
 
 In the last century, alter Frederick the Great 
 had beaten the Austrian army at the battle of 
 Leuthen, by attacking one of its wings, the theory 
 of the oblique order had been invented, of which 
 Ti derick had never thought, and they had attri- 
 buted to this theory all the success of that gnat 
 
 man. Since general I!' naparte hail shewn himself 
 so superior in the higher combinations of war, 
 
 since he had been seen soman] times to surprise 
 and envelope the generals who were opposed to 
 him, other commentators made the whole art of wax 
 
 to e. n-i-t in a certain manCBUvre, and talked about 
 nothing but " turning the enemy." Thej had in- 
 vented, il they Were to he hellev. d, a lleW scii lice, 
 
 and for that' science a word thin new, that if 
 ttratigie; and they made haste to offer it to such 
 princes as were willing to he led bj them. The 
 German, Weirother, had persuaded the friends of 
 Alexander that he had a fine plan, certain to de- 
 stroy Napoleon. This was a grand inan.i uvre, l,y 
 I of which tiny would turn the emperor ol the
 
 72 
 
 The Russians decide 
 on fighting. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Reasons against 
 giving battle. 
 
 f 1805. 
 I November. 
 
 French, cut him off from the road to Vienna, throw 
 him upon Bohemia, beaten, and for ever separated 
 from the troops which he had in Italy and Ger- 
 many. 
 
 The impressible mind of Alexander was given 
 up to these ideas, was entirely influenced by the 
 Dolgoroukis, and exhibited no inclination to listen 
 to prince Czartoryski, when this last advised him 
 to return to Petersburgh, in order to govern there, 
 in place of coming to fight battles in Moravia. 
 
 In the midst of this agitation of mind in the 
 young court of Russia, they did not occupy their 
 attention much with the emperor of ' Germany. 
 They seemed to make nothing of his army or his 
 person. His army, they said, had compromised at 
 Ulm the fate of the war there. As to himself, 
 they were coming to his help. He ought to esteem 
 himself happy to be thus succoured, and to inter- 
 fere in nothing. He did not intermeddle, it is true, 
 in many things, and made no effort to resist such a 
 torrent of presumption. He expected more lost 
 battles, reckoning only upon time, if he reckoned 
 then upon any thing, and he perfectly appreciated, 
 without saying so, the value of the foolish arro- 
 gance of his allies. This prince, simple and plain 
 of appearance, had two great qualities of his go- 
 vernment, subtlety and perseverance. 
 
 It is easy to divine in what manner, among such 
 vain minds, the serious question which w.s then 
 stirring would be treated, that of knowing whether 
 it was requisite or not to give battle to Napoleon. 
 Those immortal pictures which antiquity has left 
 us as a legacy, and which represent the young 
 Roman aristocracy violating by its foolish pre- 
 sumption the wisdom of Poaipey, and obliging him 
 to give the battle of Pharsalia, — those pictures 
 have nothing grander, nor more instructive, than 
 that which passed at Olmiitz in 180o, around the 
 emperor Alexander. Every one had an opinion on 
 the question of the battle, to avoid or seek it, and 
 every body expressed his opinion. The coterie, of 
 which the Dolgoroukis were the chiefs, did not 
 hesitate. Not to give battle would be cowardice 
 and a signal blunder. First, there was no more 
 living at Olmiitz ; the army was expiring of want, 
 becoming demoralized. In remaining at Olmiitz, 
 they should abandon to Napoleon, besides the 
 honour of their arms, three-quarters of the Aus- 
 trian monarchy, and all the resources in which it 
 abounded. On the contrary, in advancing, they 
 would recover at a single blow the means of sub- 
 sistence, confidence, and that ascendancy, always so 
 powerful on the offensive side. Then was it not 
 evident that the moment for exchanging characters 
 had come ? — that Napoleon, ordinarily so prompt, 
 so pressing when he pursued his enemies, had 
 stopped all at once ? that he hesitated, that he was 
 intimidated ? become fixed at Briinn, and dared not 
 come to Olmiitz to encounter the Russian army ? 
 It was that which he thought at Dirnstein and at 
 Hollabrunn ; he thought that his army as well as 
 himself was shaken. They knew and did not doubt 
 that it was worn down with fatigue, reduced one- 
 half, a prey to discontent and given to mur- 
 muring. 
 
 Such was the discourse of these youthful cour- 
 tiers, held with incredible assurance. Some wiser 
 persons, the prince Czartoryski more especially, 
 equally as young but much more reflecting than 
 
 the Dolgoroukis, opposed to them a few simple 
 reasons which would have been decisive in minds 
 that the strongest blindness had not come upon. 
 In holding as of no account the soldiers who after 
 all remained masters of the ground at Dirnstein as 
 at Hollabrunn, before whom they had always re- 
 tired from Munich to Olmiitz, — in holding as of no 
 account the general who had conquered all the 
 generals of Europe, the most experienced at least 
 of all living captains, if he was not the greatest, 
 because he had commanded in a hundred battles, 
 and his present adversaries had never commanded 
 in one, — in holding as of no account neither the sol- 
 diers nor the general, there were two peremptory 
 reasons for not being in haste. The first and most 
 striking was, that by waiting some few days more, 
 the month stipulated with Prussia would have 
 passed away, and then she would be obliged to de- 
 clare herself. Who knows in fact whether in 
 losing a great battle beforehand, she might not be 
 furnished with an occasion to escape from her 
 bargain? By leaving, on the other hand, the 
 month's delay to expire, 150,000 Prussians might 
 enter Bohemia, Napoleon would be obliged to re- 
 treat, without their having run the risk of a, battle 
 with him. The second, for deferring the battle, 
 was, that thus time would be given to the two 
 archdukes, who would arrive with 80,000 Aus- 
 trians from Hungary, and they would then be able 
 to fight against Napoleon in the proportions of two 
 to one, perhaps of three to one. It was without 
 doubt very difficult to sustain themselves at Ol- 
 miitz ; but if it was true that they could not pass 
 many days more there, they had only to march 
 into Hungary and meet the archdukes. They 
 would find bread there and 80,000 men to reinforce 
 them. In adding thus to the distance that Napo- 
 leon would have to pass over, they would oppose to 
 him the most formidable of all obstacles. They 
 had a proof of this fact in his immobility since he 
 had occupied Briinn. If he had not advanced, it 
 was not that he was afraid to do so. Military men 
 destitute of experience would alone affect to believe 
 that such a man was afraid. If he did not advance 
 it was because he deemed the distance already very 
 great. He was in fact forty leagues beyond, not his 
 own capital, but that which he had conquered, and 
 removing from it to a distance he felt it tremble 
 under his hand. 
 
 What answer can be given to these reasons ? 
 Most assuredly none at all. But upon minds full 
 of prejudice the quality of reasons has no influence: 
 evidence irritates, in place of persuading. They 
 therefore decided around Alexander, that it was 
 necessary to give battle. The emperor Francis on 
 his side agreed to it. He had every thing to gain 
 by the prompt decision of the question ; because 
 his country suffered dreadfully by the war, and he 
 was not grieved to see the Russians arrayed 
 against the French, and thus in their turn form 
 an opinion of them. It was then settled to quit 
 the position of Olmiitz, which was very good, and 
 where it would have been easy to repulse an at- 
 tacking army, however superior in numbers, for 
 the purpose of going to attack Napoleon in his 
 position of Briinn, which he had for some days 
 been carefully studying. 
 
 They marched in five columns, on the road from 
 Olmiitz to Briinn, in order to approach the French
 
 1805. * 
 December. / 
 
 General Savary sent 
 to Alexander. 
 
 AUSTERL1TZ. 
 
 Dolgorouki sent to 
 Napoleon. 
 
 7* 
 
 army. Having reached Wisehan on the 18th of 
 November, one day's march from Biiinn, they 
 surprised an advanced guard of cavalry and a 
 weak detachment of infantry, placed in that village 
 
 by marshal Soult Tiny employed 3000 horse to 
 surround them, and then, with a battalion of in- 
 fantry, they penetrated into Wisehan itself. They 
 took there a hundred French prisoners. The aide- 
 de-camp Dolgomuki performed the greater part 
 of this exploit. They had persuaded the emperor 
 Alexander to be present, and that this skirmish 
 was war, and that his presence had doubled the 
 courage of his soldiers. This slight advantage 
 completely turned the young heads of the Russian 
 stall', and the resolution to fight became from that 
 mom. nt irrevocable. Some fresh remarks of 
 prince Czartoryski were received very ill. Gene- 
 ral Kutusof, under whose name the battle was to 
 be fought, DO more commanded, and yet had the 
 culpable weakness to accept resolutions of which 
 he disapproved. It was then agreed that they 
 should attack Napoleon in his position of Brunn, 
 following the plan traced for them by general 
 Weirother. Tiny made another march, and then 
 established themselves in advance of the castle of 
 Austerlitz. 
 
 Napoleon, who possessed rare sagacity in guess- 
 ing at the designs of an enemy, saw well enough 
 that the coalesced armies were endeavouring to 
 bring him to an engagement, and was highly satis- 
 fied at it. Still he was pre-occupied with the 
 designs of Prussia, that the recent news from 
 Berlin represented as definitively hostile; as well 
 as with the movements of the Prussian army that 
 advanced towards Bohemia. He had no time to 
 lose : it was necessary either to fight an over- 
 whelming battle, or to conclude a peace. He had 
 DO doubt of the result of a battle; but still peace 
 would be the most secure of the two. The Aus- 
 trians proposed it with a certain air of sincerity; 
 but they always made a reference to the Russians 
 as regarded the conditions. Napoleon was desirous 
 of knowing the mind of Alexander, and he sent to 
 the Russian headquarters general Savary, his 
 aide-de-camp, to compliment that prince, enter 
 into conversation with him, and discover exactly 
 what it was lie d< sired. 
 
 General Savary set out immediately, presented 
 
 a Hag of truer- to the advanced posts of the 
 .ins, hut had some trouble to arrive in the 
 nee of the emperor Alexander. While he 
 awaited the moment of introduction, he was en- 
 abled to judge of the dispositions of the young 
 .Muscovite aristocracy, of the blindness of its folly, 
 and of its desire to take a pari in a great battle. 
 It pretended to nothing less than heating the 
 French, and sending them back beaten to the 
 
 frontiers of Prance. Genera] Savary listened to 
 
 this kind of conversation with inoeli ealmness ; at 
 be penetrated to tin- emperor's presence, and 
 
 repeated to him the words oi I 1 v master ; be found 
 
 him mild and polished in manner, but evasive, and 
 
 not at all in ■ state t.> appreciate the chances of 
 
 actual warfare. On the reiterated assurance that 
 
 Napoleon was animated by the most pacific dispo- 
 sitions, Alexander demanded upon what conditions 
 
 peace would be possible. General Savary was not 
 in a position to answer thai question, and wished 
 to persuade the emperor to dispatch one of his 
 
 aides-de-camp to the French head-quarters, to 
 have a conference with Napoleon. He asserted 
 that the result of such a proceeding would be most 
 satisfactory. After much conversation, in which 
 general Savary, in the excess of his zeal, said more 
 than he was authorized to say, Alexander sent 
 with him prince Dolgorouki himself, the principal 
 personage of that new coterie which disputed the 
 favour of the czar with Czartoryski, Strogonoff, 
 and Nowosiltzoff. Prince Dolgorouki, although 
 one of the most violent declaimers of the Russian 
 staff, was still flattered in an extraordinary man- 
 ner to be charged with a commission from his 
 master to the emperor of the French. He set out 
 with general Savary, and was presented to Napo- 
 leon at the moment when he had achieved a visit 
 to his advanced posts, not having in his costume 
 or attendants any thing imposing for a vulgar 
 mind. Napoleon listened to this young man, 
 wanting as he was in discretion and tact, who, 
 having gathered here and there some of the ideas 
 with which the Russian cabinet fed itself, and 
 which have been before stated in explaining the 
 project for a new European equilibrium, expressed 
 them without relation to each other, and out of 
 season. It was requisite that France, if she de- 
 sired immediate peace, should give up Italy ; and 
 if she continued the war unsuccessfully, she would 
 be required to restore Belgium, Savoy, and Pied- 
 mont, in order to constitute defensive barriers 
 around and against her. These ideas, awkwardly 
 explained, appeared to Napoleon the formal de- 
 mand of an immediate restitution of Belgium, 
 ceded to France by so many treaties — provoking 
 in his mind a deep irritation, which, however, he 
 repressed, not believing that his dignity would 
 permit him to let it forth in presence of such a 
 negotiator. He therefore sent him away, drily 
 remarking that they should arrange otherwise 
 than in diplomatic conferences, the differences 
 that existed in the policy of the two empires. 
 Napoleon was exasperated, and had only one 
 thought, which was that of giving battle to the 
 utmost extremity. 
 
 Since the surprise at Wisehan, he kept back his 
 army in the rear, in a position marvellously well 
 selected for a field id' battle. lie exhibited in his 
 movements a kind id' hesitation, which strongly 
 contrasted with the aeeush.ined boldness of his 
 
 measures. This circumstance, joined to the mis- 
 sion of general Savory, contributed yet further to 
 excite the weak understandings which governed 
 the Russian Staff. There was soon only one gene- 
 ral cry for war around Alexander. "Napoleon 
 draws back," tln\ said ; "lie is in full retreat ; it 
 
 is necessary to fall upon and crush him." 
 
 The French soldiers on their side, who were not 
 wanting h) intelligence, saw very plainly that they 
 should have to do with the Russians; and their 
 
 delight was great. On both sides they began to 
 
 make preparations for a decisive battle. 
 
 Napoleon, with that military tact which he ha. I 
 received from nature, and which he had so much 
 improved by experience, had adopted, among all 
 the positions which lie was able to OCCUpy near 
 Brunn, that which should assure him the most 
 important results. Under the notion that he should 
 b* attacked a notion that had now become a cer- 
 tainty.
 
 74 
 
 Napoleon chooses 
 his ground. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Dispositions of 
 the French. 
 
 f 1805. 
 \ December. 
 
 f 
 
 The mountains of Moravia, which join the 
 mountains of Bohemia to those of Hungary, drop 
 lower in succession towards the Danube to such an 
 extent that, near that river, Moravia appears only 
 as oue extensive plain. In the environs of Brunn, 
 the capital of the province, these mountains have 
 no more than the height of lofty hills, and are 
 covered with sombre firs. Their waters, retained 
 for want of channels to drain them, form there 
 numerous pools, and these empty themselves by 
 different streams in the Morava, or March, and by 
 the Morava into the Danube. 
 
 These characteristics of the country are all 
 united in the position between Brunn and Auster- 
 litz, that Napoleon has rendered for ever so cele- 
 brated. The high road, of Moravia, in taking its 
 course from Vienna to Brunn, rises in a straight 
 line towards the north; then, to go from Brunn to 
 Oltniitz, drops abruptly to the right, or east, de- 
 scribing a right angle with its first direction. It 
 is in that angle that the position now spoken of is 
 found. It commences on the left, towards the 
 Olmiitz road, having heights studded with fir trees; 
 it is afterwards prolonged to the right in an ob- 
 lique direction towards the Vienna road, and after 
 sinking by little and little, it terminates in pools of 
 water, which in winter are very deep. Along this 
 position, and in front, runs a rivulet, which bears 
 no name in the maps, but which in one part of its 
 course is called the Goldbach by the people of the 
 country. It flows through the little villages of 
 Girzikowitz, Puntowitz, Kobelnitz, Sokolnitz, and 
 Telnitz; sometimes confined in channels, it finishes 
 its course in the pools already mentioned, that are 
 called the pools of Satschau and Menitz. 
 
 Concentrated with all his forces on this ground 
 — resting on one side upon the woody hills of 
 Moravia, and more particularly upon a rounded 
 eminence that the Egyptian soldiers denominated 
 the Santon; resting ou the other side upon the 
 pools of Satschau and of Menitz ; covering also, 
 with the left the road to Olmiitz, and with the 
 right the road to Vienna — Napoleon was ready to 
 receive with advantage to himself a decisive battle. 
 Still he did not intend to limit himself to merely 
 defending his position; because he had been in the 
 habit of calculating upon most important results. 
 He had penetrated, as if he had read them, into 
 the designs planned at great length by general 
 Weirother. The Austro-Russians, having no 
 chance to take from him the point of support 
 which he had found for his left in the high wooded 
 hills, would therefore be tempted to turn his right, 
 which did not exactly connect itself with the pools, 
 and thus to take from him the Vienna road. They 
 had enough to tempt them to this step, because, 
 that road taken from him, he would have no other 
 resource than to retire into Bohemia. The rest of 
 his forces in front towards Vienna would be obliged 
 to ascend isolated along the valley of the Danube 
 The French army, thus fractured, would find itself 
 forced to make an eccentric retreat, dangerous, 
 and even disastrous, if it encountered the Prus- 
 sians on its way. 
 
 Napoleon comprehended perfectly that such was 
 the plan of the enemy. Thus, after having con- 
 centrated his army towards the left and the heights, 
 he abandoned towards his right, in other words, 
 towards Sokolnitz, Telnitz, and the pools, a space 
 
 L 
 
 that was scarcely guarded at all. He thus seemed 
 to invite the Russians to carry out their plans. 
 But it was not exactly there that he prepai-ed for 
 them the mortal blow. On his front the ground 
 offered an inequality from which he hoped to draw 
 a decided advantage. 
 
 Beyond the rivulet that ran along the front of 
 the French position, the ground at first presented, 
 opposite the left, a plain slightly undulating, which 
 crossed the Olmiitz road, next opposite to the 
 centre, it arose successively, and formed in face of 
 the right an elevated plain, called that of Prat- 
 zen, from the name of a village situated about 
 midway up, in the hollow of a ravine. This ele- 
 vated plain terminated on the right in rapid slopes 
 towards the ponds, and opposite it subsided gently 
 on the side of Austerlitz, of which the castle was 
 seen at some distance. 
 
 There considerable forces were to be seen, and 
 there, at night, there was observed the blaze of 
 numerous fires, while by day there was discovered 
 a great movement of men and horses. Napoleon, 
 upon seeing this, had no longer any doubt about 
 the designs of the Austrc-Russians '. They had 
 an evident intention of descending from the height 
 which they occupied, and of crossing the rivulet of 
 Goldbach, between the pools and the French right, 
 cutting them off from the Vienna road. For this 
 reason he resolved to take the offensive, in return 
 to cross the rivulet by the village of Girzikowitz, 
 and of Puntowitz, climb to the summit of the 
 table land of Pratzen, while the Russians should 
 be quitting it, and take possession of the ground 
 himself. If he succeeded, the enemy's army would 
 be cut in two parts. One portion would be thrown 
 to the left, on the plain, crossed by the Olmiitz 
 road, another part to the right, in the pools. The 
 battle could not, in that case, fail to be disastrous 
 for the Russians. But in order to that end, it 
 would be necessary that they should not half com- 
 mit the fault. The prudent, apparently timid atti- 
 tude of Napoleon exciting their foolish confidence, 
 would lead them, no doubt, to commit the whole 
 blunder. 
 
 In accordance with these ideas Napoleon made 
 his dispositions. Expecting for two days to be 
 attacked, he had ordered Bernadotte to quit Iglau, 
 on the frontier of Bohemia, to leave there the 
 Bavarian division which he had taken with him, 
 
 1 There has appeared recently a work by M. Leon Narisch- 
 kine, translated from the Russian, containing a great num- 
 ber of incorrect assertions, although published by an author 
 in a position to have had better information. In that work 
 it is stated, that Napoleon had received a communication 
 of the plan of general Weirother, before the battle of Auster- 
 litz. This allegation is wholly erroneous. Such a com- 
 munication would evidently imply, tl at the plan communi- 
 cated a long time before to the commanders of the different 
 corps was liable to be divulged.- It will he seen, hereafter, 
 from the report of an eye-witness, that it was only in the 
 night preceding the battle that the plan was communicated 
 to the commanders of the different corps. For the rest, all 
 the details of orders and correspondence prove, that Napo- 
 leon foresaw, and did not know in any otl.er mode what was 
 the enemy's plan. Our resolution bein-; to avoid all dis- 
 putes with contemporary authors, we limit ourselves to the 
 redress of this error, without noticing many others contained 
 in the work in question, of which, besides, we acknowledge 
 the real merits, and up to a certain point, the impartiality. 
 Nnle of the Autlwr.
 
 1S05. 1 
 December. J 
 
 Extraordinary march 
 of Friant. 
 
 Al'STERLITZ. 
 
 Napoleon addresses 
 the army. 
 
 75 
 
 and to set out by forced marches for Briiun. He 
 had ordered marshal Davout to carry the division 
 of Friant, and, if possible, the division of Gudin, 
 towards the abbey of Gross-Raigern, placed en 
 the Vienna read to BrUnn, as far as the ponds, [n 
 consequence of these orders, Bernadotte had Bet 
 out on his march, and had arrived there on the 
 1st of December. General Friant alone appeared 
 in time, because genera] Gudin was placed further 
 off towards Presburg; he had inarched immediately, 
 and in forty-eight hours had gone over thirty-six 
 leagues which separate Vienna from Gross-Raigern. 
 The soldiers sometimes fell on the road overcome 
 with fatigue ; but, at the least noise, believing they 
 heard the sound of cannon, they rose with ardour 
 to run to support their comrades, engaged, they 
 sail, in a bloody battle. On the eve of the 1st 
 of December, they halted for the night at Gross- 
 Raigern, one league and a half from the field of 
 battle. Never did troops on foot perform a march 
 so wonderful, since it was a march of eighteen 
 leagues a day for two successive days. 
 
 On the 1st of December, Napoleon, reinforced 
 by the corps of Bernadotte, and the division of 
 Friant, was able to reckon upon G.'>,000 or 70,000 
 men present under arms, against 'J0,000 Russians 
 and Austrians likewise under arms. 
 
 Upon his left he placed Lannes, in whose corps 
 the division of Caffarelli had replaced that of 
 Gazan. Lannes, with the two divisions of Suelut 
 and Caffarelli, were to occupy the road to Olmiitz, 
 and to combat in the undulating plain which ex- 
 1 on both sides of the road. Napoleon gave 
 him, besides the cavalry of Murat, comprising the 
 cuirassiers of generals Hautpoul and Nansouty, the 
 dragoons of generals Walther and Beaumont, and 
 'iasseurs of generals BAilhaudand Kellermann. 
 The level configuration of the ground led him to 
 :i that spot, a prodigious engagement of 
 cavalry. On the mound orSanton which overlooked 
 of the ground, and that was sur- 
 mounted by a chap I. called the chapel of Bose- 
 nitz, he place! the 1 7 l1 i light, commanded by gene- 
 ral Claparede, with a pieces of cannon, and 
 mad- iiim Bwear to defend the position to the last 
 at of life. This mound was, in fact, the point 
 of support to the left of the army. 
 
 At the centre, behind the rivulet of Goldbach, 
 
 he arrang I the divisions of Vandamme and St. 
 
 Milaire, belonging to the corps of marshal Soult. 
 
 These he designed should pass the rivulet by the 
 
 villag rzikowitz and Puntowltz, and take 
 
 i of the table ground, or elevated plain of 
 
 Pratzen, when tin proper moment should arrive. 
 
 A little further off, behind the marsh of Kobelnitz 
 
 and the castle of Sokolnitz, he placed the third 
 
 division of marshal Soult, commanded by general 
 
 :el. He reinforced it with two battalions of 
 
 tirailleurs, known under the denomination of the 
 
 r>| ih> I'o. and of ili. Corsican chasseurs, 
 
 and with a detachment of light cavalry, under 
 
 general MargarDIL, This division was only to have 
 
 the 3rd of the line, and the Corsican chasseurs at 
 
 tz, the point nearest to the pools, where 
 Napoleon wished to attract the Etu ians Far in 
 the rear, about a league and a half distant, was 
 stationed the division of Friant. al QrosS'Raigern, 
 Having ten divisions of infantry, Napoleon did 
 not therefore place more ilian si\ m float Bi hind 
 
 marshals Soult and Lannes, he kept in reserve 
 Oudinot's grenadiers, separated on this particular 
 occasion from the corps of Lannes, the corps of 
 Bernadotte, composed of the divisions of Drouet 
 and Kivaud, and, lastly, the imperial guard. He 
 thus kept under his own hand a mass of 
 25,000 men, to lead wherever they might be 
 wanted, more particularly on the heights of Prat- 
 zen, in order to carry those heights at any cost, if 
 the Russians should not have sufficiently cleared 
 them. He himself passed the night in the middle 
 of this reserve. 
 
 These dispositions terminated, he was so full of 
 confidence, as to announce them to the army in a 
 proclamation full of the greatness of the events 
 which were preparing. This is the document, as 
 it was read to the troops on the evening preceding 
 the battle. 
 
 '• SoLDlBBS, — The Russian army is before you, 
 come to avenge the Austrian army of Ulm. These 
 are the same battalions that you have beaten at 
 llollabrunn, and that since then you have con- 
 stantly pursued to this place. 
 
 '• The positions that we occupy are formidable ; 
 and while they are marching to turn my right, they 
 will present to me their flank. 
 
 " Soldiers, I will myself direct your battalions. 
 I shall keep out of the fire, if with your accus- 
 tomed bravery you carry confusion and disorder 
 into the ranks of the enemy. Bui if the victory 
 be for one moment uncertain, you will see your 
 emperor expose himself the foremost to danger ; 
 because victory must not hesitate an instant to- 
 day, when, above all, the honour of the French 
 infantry is concerned, which bears with it the 
 honour of the whole nation. 
 
 " Under the pretext of carrying off the wounded, 
 do not weaken the ranks ; but let every one be 
 wall impressed with the thought that we are bound 
 to vanquish these hirelings of England, wdio are 
 animated with such a bitter hatred against our 
 nation. 
 
 '• This victory will finish the campaign, and we 
 shall lie able to take up our winter quarters, where 
 we shall be joined by the new armies which are 
 forming in France; and then the peace which 1 shall 
 make will be worthy of my people, of you, and of 
 myself. .\ LPOLEON." 
 
 The same day he received M. Haugwiti, who 
 had at last reached the French bead-quarters. 
 lie discovered from his flattering conversation all 
 
 the duplicity of Prussia, and felt, more than ever 
 
 the importance of gaining a brilliant victory, lie 
 received the envoy of Prussia in the most gracious 
 manner, told him that he was going to fight the 
 
 next day, that he would Bee him after the battle 
 
 was over, if he was not take n oil' by a cannon shot, 
 
 and tlcre would be time enough then to arrange 
 with the cabinet of Berlin, lb- advised him to 
 
 set out that same night for Vienna, and gave him 
 
 an introduction to .M. Talleyrand, having taken 
 
 care that he should be conducted across the field 
 of battle at I lollal.runn, which presented a horrible 
 
 gp ( ctacle. u It is well,'' he « rote to M. de Talley- 
 rand, "that this Prussian should learn through 
 
 his own eyes in what manner we make war." 
 
 Having passed the evening at the bivouac with 
 
 his marshals, he determined to visit the- soldiers, 
 and judge himself of their moral disposition. It
 
 7C 
 
 The Russian plan 
 of battle. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 General Wei rother's / 1805. 
 instructions. (December. 
 
 was the evening of the 1st of December ; the 
 evening of the anniversary of his coronation. The 
 coincidence of the dates was singular. Napoleon 
 had not sought it; because he received and did 
 not offer battle. The night was cold ;md gloomy. 
 
 The soldiers who first saw him wished to light 
 him along his way, and taking up the straw of 
 their bivouac, they formed with it lighted torches, 
 which they placed in the ends of their muskets. 
 In a few minutes the example was followed by 
 the whole army, and over the vast front of the 
 French position, this singular illumination was 
 seen to blaze along. The soldiers accompanied 
 the steps of Napoleon with shouts of " Long 
 live the emperor!" promising on the morrow to 
 show him they were both worthy of him and of 
 themselves. Enthusiasm filled every rank. They 
 went, as it is necessary to go to meet danger, 
 with hearts full of satisfaction and confidence. 
 
 Napoleon retired in order to oblige his soldiers 
 to take rest, and awaited in his tent until the dawn 
 of a morning, the day of which was to be one of 
 the greatest in his lite — one of the greatest in 
 history. 
 
 The fire and shouts had been very easily dis- 
 tinguished from the heights occupied by the 
 Russian army, and had produced there, among a 
 small number of intelligent officers, a sinister 
 presentiment. They asked each other whether 
 such were symptoms of a crestfallen and retreating 
 army. 
 
 During these proceedings, the commanders of 
 the Russian corps, assembled at general Kutusof 's, 
 in the village of Kreznowitz, received their in- 
 structions for the next day. Old Kutusof was 
 sound asleep, and general Weirother, having 
 opened a map of the country before the eyes of 
 those who listened, read with emphasis a memoir 
 containing all the plan for the battle '. This has 
 
 1 We think it will be of use here to quote a fragment of 
 the manuscript memoir of general Langeron, an ocular wit- 
 ness, since he commanded one of the corps of the Russian 
 army. The following is the recital of that officer. 
 
 "We have seen that on the 19ih of November (the 1st of 
 December) our columns did not arrive at this destination 
 until nearly ten o'clock at night. 
 
 " Towards eleven o'clcick all the commanders of the 
 columns, except prince Bagration, who was too far away, 
 received an order to assemble at Kreznowitz, at the house 
 of general Kutusof, in order to hear read the dispositions for 
 the battle of the following day. 
 
 " At one o'clock in the morning, when we were all assem- 
 bled, general Weirother arrived. He displayed on a large 
 table an immense map, exactly drawn, of the environs 
 of Briinn and Austerlitz, and he read to us the dispositions 
 in an elevated tone of voice, and with an air of self-suffi- 
 ciency which spoke his intimate persuaxion of his own 
 merit, and that of the incapacity of his hearers. He resem- 
 bled the professor of a college, reading a lesson to his young 
 students. We were, perhaps, effectively his scholars, but 
 he was far from being a good professor. Kutusof sitting, 
 and half asleep when we arrived at his house, finished by 
 falling entirely asleep before our departure. Buxhiiwdeii, 
 in a standing position, listened, but evidently did not com- 
 prehend a single word, Miloradovich held his tongue; 
 Pribyschewski kept in the rear, and Doctorow alone ex- 
 amined the map with attention. When Weirother had 
 finished his lesson, I was the only one who spoke I said to 
 him, ' My general, all this is very well ; but if the enemy 
 take the lead, and attack us near the Pratzen, what are we 
 then to do?' 'The case is not foreseen,' he replied ; 'you 
 
 been explained beforehand, in relating the dispo- 
 sitions of Napoleon. The right of the Russians, 
 under prince Bagration, faced the French left, and 
 would advance against Lannes, from both sides 
 of the Ohniitz road, take the Santon, and march 
 directly on Briinn. The cavalry, assembled in 
 one solid mass, between the corps of Bagration 
 and the centre of the Russian army, was to occupy 
 the same plain where Napoleon had placed Murat, 
 and connect the left of the Russians with their 
 centre. The main body of the army, composed of 
 four columns, commanded by generals Doctorow, 
 Langeron, Pribyschewski, and Kollowrath, es- 
 tablished at the moment on the table level of 
 Pratzen, were to descend, cross the marshy rivulet 
 of which mention has already been made, take 
 Telnitz, Sokolnitz, and Kobelnitz, turn the French 
 right, and advance in their rear to take from them 
 the possession of the Vienna road. The union of 
 all the corps was fixed under the walls of Briinn. 
 The grand-duke Constantine, with the Russian 
 guard, 9000 or 10,000 strong, would leave Aus- 
 terlitz at daybrealc, to come and place himself in 
 reserve behind the centre of the combined army. 
 
 When general Weirother had finished his read- 
 ing in presence of the commandants of the Russian 
 corps, of whom only one paid attention, general 
 Doctorow, and one was inclined to contradict, 
 general Langeron, this last ventured to make 
 some objections. General Langeron, a French 
 emigrant, who served against his country, was a 
 good officer, but a grumbler; and he asked general 
 Weirother, if he believed that all would occur as 
 he had written it, showing that for his own part 
 he was much inclined to doubt it. General 
 Weirother would admit of no other idea than that 
 believed by the Russian staff, which was, that 
 Napoleon would retreat, and that in such a case 
 the instructions were excellent. But general 
 Kutusof put an end to all further discussion upon 
 the subject, by sending the commanders of the 
 corps to their quarters, and ordering that copies 
 of the instructions should be sent to them. This 
 experienced officer knew how to consider such a 
 mode of imagining and ordering plans of battle; 
 and still he suffered it to be done, although it was 
 under his own name that the whole affair took 
 place. 
 
 At four in the morning Napoleon left his tent, 
 in order to judge, by his own observation, if the 
 
 well know the boldness of Bonaparte. If he had been able 
 to attack us, he would have done it to-day.' ' You do not 
 believe him strong then,' I remarked. 'It is much if he 
 his 10,000 men.' ' In this case he goes to his own destruc- 
 tion, by awaiting our attack ; but I believe him too skilful 
 to be imprudent; because, if as you wish and believe, we cut 
 him off from Vienna, he will have no other retreat than the 
 mountains of Bohemia; but I consider that he has another 
 object. He has extinguished his fires ; much noise is heard 
 in his camp.' ' That means he is retiring, or that he is 
 making a change of position ; and even supposing he takes 
 that of Turas, he spares us much trouble, and the disposi- 
 tions remain the same.'" 
 
 Kutusof having then awoke, dismissed us, ordering us 
 to leave an adjutant to copy out the dispositions that lieu- 
 tenant-colonel Toll, of the staff, was going to translate from 
 German into Russian. It was then near three o'clock in the 
 morning ; and we did not receive the copies of these famous 
 dispositions until it was ntar eight o'clock, when we were 
 already on the march. Note of Author.
 
 1805. \ 
 December. / 
 
 Battle of Austerlitz. 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 The Russians attack 
 the French right. 
 
 77 
 
 Russians hail committed the fault in which he had 
 so adroitly encouraged them. He descended as 
 far as tin- village of Puntowitz, Bituated on tlie 
 border of the rivulet which separated the two 
 armies, when he perceived the Russian tires to be 
 nearly extinguished on the heights of l'ratzen. 
 A very evident noise of cannon and horses in- 
 dicated a inarch from left to right, towards the 
 pools, the very place where he wished the Rus- 
 sians should march. He was overjoyed to find 
 his foresight so well borne out in tact ; he re- 
 turned to place himself on the elevated ground 
 where he had passed the night, and from whence 
 his Bight mil. raced the whole extent of the field 
 of battle. His marshals were on horseback at his 
 side. The day began to dawn. A wintry fog 
 covered the face of the country to a great distance, 
 and only permitted the view of the loftier points 
 of ground, which arose above the mist like islands 
 out of the sea. The different corps of the French 
 army were all in movement, descending from tile 
 u they had occupied during the night, in 
 order to cross the rivulet which separated them 
 trim the Russians. But they were halted at the 
 bottom, where (hey wire hidden by the fog, and 
 retained by the order of the emperor until the 
 opportune moment for the attack. 
 
 Already a very heavy lire was heard at the ex- 
 tremity of the line towards tin; pools. The move- 
 ment of the Russians against the French right 
 was now declared. Marshal Davout went oft' in 
 all haste to direct the march of Friant's division 
 from GroSB-Raigern upon Telnitz, to support the 
 3rd of the line anil the Corsican chasseurs, who 
 were about to have upon their hands a considerable 
 portion of the enemy's army. Marshal Lannes, 
 Murat, and Soult, with their aides-de-camp, sur- 
 rounded the emperor, awaiting the orders to com- 
 mence the battle at the centre and left. Napoleon 
 moderated their ardour, willing to leave the Rus- 
 sians on the French tight sufficient time to com- 
 plete the error they had committed, in so far as 
 that they should not be able to return back any 
 more from the bottoms into which they were now 
 seen entering. At length the sun broke forth, and, 
 dissipating the fog, illuminated in full splendour 
 
 that vast field of battle. It was the sun of Ams- 
 
 t'Hitz — that sun of which the remembrance has 
 
 In ■ n BO often recalled in the present generation, 
 
 and that wii! never be forgotten by the generations 
 
 which are to Come. The table elevation of Prat/.eii 
 
 was seen denuded of troops. The Russians, exe- 
 cuting the plan agreed upon, had di scended into 
 tin- bed of tin- Goldbach, in order to carry the 
 
 villages of Telnitz and Sokoluit/., situated oil the 
 edge of that stream. Napoleon then gave the 
 signal for the attack, and his marshals Bet oil' at a 
 
 gallop to place themselves each at the head of his 
 respective corps. 
 
 The three Russian Columns ordered to attack 
 Telnitz and .Sokolnitz, had moved at Seven o'clock 
 
 in the morning. They wen under the immediate 
 
 command of generals Doctorow, Langei , ami 
 
 Pribyschewski, and under tin- superior orders of 
 general Bnxhdwden, an inactive ami Indifferent 
 officer, inflated with favours for which he was 
 
 indebted to a court marriage, Commanding as little 
 
 the hft of the Russian army as Kutusof com- 
 manded tin- whole together. He marched in 
 
 person with the column of general Doctorow form- 
 ing the extreme left of the Russian line, and the 
 first to he iii the conflict. He seemed to care 
 nothing about the other columns, nor the con- 
 cert which should have governed all their motions : 
 this was very fortunate for the French, as, if they 
 hail acted together and assaulted in one body the 
 positions of Telnitz and Sokolnitz, the division of 
 Friant not having yet arrived at that point, they 
 would have gained much ground on the French 
 right, much more indeed than it would have been 
 convenient to give up to them. 
 
 The column of Doctorow had passed the night 
 with the Others Oil the table grounds of Pratzen. At 
 the toot of these heights, in the low bottoms which 
 si parated them from the French right, is a village 
 eaiied Augezd, and in that village was an advanced 
 guard under the orders of general Kienmayer, 
 composed of live Austrian battalions, and foiir.e. Q 
 Austrian squadrons. This advanced guard was 
 to clear the plain between Augezd and Telnitz, 
 while the column of Doctorow descended from the 
 heights. The Austrians, anxious to show the Rus- 
 sians that they could tight as well as themselves, 
 assaulted the village of Telnitz with great resolu- 
 tion. It was necessary to pass at the same time 
 the rivulet runuing here in ditches, and then a 
 height covered with vineyards and houses. The 
 French had here besides the 3rd of the line, the 
 battalion of Corsican chasseurs, covered behind 
 the inequalities of the ground. These clever tirail- 
 li UTS, taking cool aim at the hussars that had 
 been sent forward in advance, brought down a 
 great number of them. They welcomed in the 
 same mode the infantry regiment of Szeckler, and 
 in one half hour stretched a part of that regiment 
 on the earth. The Austrians, tired of a murderous 
 conflict productive of no result, assaulted the 
 village of Telnitz in a body of live united bat- 
 talions which did not succeed in penetrating into 
 it owing to the firmness of the 3rd of the line, which 
 Vi ceil ed them with the courage of well tried troops. 
 While the advanced guard of Kienmayer wasted 
 its strength in these fruitless efforts, the column of 
 Doctorow, twenty-four battalions strong, appeared, 
 
 conducted by general lluxhdwdcn an hour alter 
 the time expected, and came up to aid the Aus- 
 trians iii talcing Telnitz, that the- 3rd line was no 
 
 longer sufficient to defend. Tic bed of the rivu- 
 let was passed, ami general Kienmayer sent his 
 fourteen squadrons upon the plain beyond Telnitz, 
 against the light cavalry of general Margaron. 
 
 Th- French general bravely sustained several 
 charges, but could not hold out against such a 
 mass of cavalry. The division of Friant conducted 
 bj marshal Davout, not having yet arrived from 
 ( ; ross- Raigern,the French right found itself entirely 
 overpowered. Hut general Buxhifwden, after hav- 
 ing long wailed lor by the Austrians, was himself 
 
 obliged to wait for the second column commanded 
 
 by general Lailgeron. The las: had been di laved 
 
 by a singular accident. The main body of the 
 cavalry designed to occupy the plain which was 
 on the right of the Russians ami upon the French 
 left, had mistaken the order which directed them 
 
 to lake that position; it had come to place itself 
 
 at Pratzen, in the midst <»i the bivouacs of Lan> 
 
 geron'a column. Having recognized their error, 
 
 cavalry, in order to OCOUp) its intended posi-
 
 78 
 
 Conflict at Telnitz. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The Russian 
 centre at- 
 tacked. 
 
 f 1805. 
 \ December. 
 
 tion, had cut across and retarded for a long time 
 the columns of Langeron and of Pribyschewski. 
 General Langeron arrived at last before Sokelnitz, 
 and commenced an attack upon it. In the mean- 
 while general Friant had arrived in haste with his 
 division, composed of five regiments of infantry 
 and six of dragoons. The 1st regiment of dragoons, 
 attached for this occasion to the division of Bour- 
 cier, was sent in full trot to Telnitz. Already the 
 Austro -Russians, victorious at this point, had com- 
 menced to cross the Goldbach, and to press upon 
 the 3rd of the line as well as upon the light 
 cavalry of Margaron. The dragoons of the 1st 
 regiment, approaching the enemy at a gallop, 
 drove back upon Telnitz all who had attempted 
 to issue from it. Generals Friant and Heudelet 
 arriving with the first brigade composed of the 
 ]08th of the line, and the voltigeurs of the 15th 
 light, entered Telnitz with the bayonet at the 
 charge, and drove out the Austrians and Russians, 
 pushing them pell-mell beyond the ditches that 
 form the bed of the Goldbach, and thus remained 
 masters of the ground, having covered it with 
 killed and wounded. Unfortunately the fog, although 
 dissipated nearly every where else, still covered 
 the low bottoms. It enveloped Telnitz, where all 
 was wrapped in a sort of cloud. The 26th light of 
 Legrand's division, coming to the succour of the 
 3rd of the line, perceiving but indistinctly bodies 
 of troops beyond the rivulet, and not distinguishing 
 the colour of their uniform, fired on the 108th 
 believing it was firing on the enemy. This un- 
 expected attack alarmed the 108th, that fell back 
 under the fear of being turned. Profiting by this 
 incident, the Russians and Austrians who were 
 twenty-nine battalions strong on this point retook 
 the offensive, and drove out of Telnitz the brigade 
 of Heudelet, while general Langeron, attacking 
 with twelve Russian battalions the village of Sokol- 
 nitz, situated on the Goldbach a little above Tel- 
 nitz, succeeded in penetrating into it. The two 
 enemies' columns of Doctorow and Langeron com- 
 menced next to come out, the one from Telnitz, 
 the other from Sokolnitz. At the same time the 
 column of general Pribyschewski had attacked 
 and taken the castle of Sokolnitz, placed above 
 the village which bears its name. At the sight 
 of this, general Friant, who in this battle as in 
 every other, conducted himself heroically, threw 
 general Bourcier with his six regiments of dra- 
 goons on the column of Doctorow at the moment 
 when this last was deploying beyond Telnitz. The 
 Russians presented their bayonets to the French 
 dragoons ; but the charges of their horsemen, 
 rep'oated with extreme vigour, prevented them 
 extending themselves, and supported the brigade 
 of general Heudelet which was opposed to them. 
 General Friant placed himself afterwards at the 
 head of the brigade of Lochet, composed of the 
 48th and 111th of the line, and fell upon Lan- 
 geron's, which had already passed the village of 
 Sokolnitz, repulsed it, entered, expelled it from 
 thence, and drove it beyond the Goldbach. Sokol- 
 nitz being occupied, general Friant committed it 
 to the keeping of the 48th, and marched with his 
 third brigade, that of Kister composed of the 33rd 
 of the line and of the 17th light, to dispute with 
 the column of Pribysciiewski for the castle of 
 Sokolnitz. He succeeded again in forcing it to 
 
 fall back. But while he was engaged with the 
 troops of Pribyschewski before the castle of Sokol- 
 nitz, the column of Langeron re-attacking the 
 village dependent on the castle, was nearly over- 
 whelming the 48th, that retired into the houses of 
 the village and defended itself with admirable 
 courage. General Friant returned and disengaged 
 the 48th. This brave general and his illustrious 
 chief marshal Davout went incessantly from one 
 point to another on the line of the Goldbach, thus 
 warmly disputed and fought with 7000 or 8000 
 infantry and 2800 horse, against 35,000 Russians. 
 In effect, the division of Friant, owing to the 
 march of the thirty-six leagues which it had per- 
 formed, was reduced to (JO0O men at most, and 
 with the 3rd of the line did not make more than 
 7000 or 8000 combatants. But the men remained 
 in the rear, arriving every moment at the sound 
 of the cannon, filling successively the void spaces 
 which the enemy's fire made in the ranks. 
 
 During this obstinate combat towards the French 
 right, marshal Soult in the centre had attacked the 
 position upon which the issue of the battle depended. 
 At a signal given by Napoleon, the two divisions of 
 Vandamme and St. Hilaire, formed in close co- 
 lumns, had marched with a rapid step up the decli- 
 vities to the table ground of Pratzen. The division 
 of Vandamme had taken the left, that of St. 
 Hilaire the right of the village of Pratzen, which is 
 deeply sunk in a ravine that terminates at the ri- 
 vulet of Goldbach, near to Puntowitz. While the 
 French proceeded in advance, the centre of the 
 enemies' army, composed of the Austrian infantry 
 of Kollovvrath, and the Russian infantry of Milora- 
 dovich, twenty-seven battalions strong, commanded 
 by general Kutusof and the two emperors, had 
 come and deployed on the level of Pratzen, in order 
 to take the place of the three columns of Bux- 
 hbwden descended into the bottoms. The French 
 soldiers, without returning the fire which was 
 directed upon them, continued to climb the heights, 
 surprising by their firm and active step the ene-. 
 mies' generals, who expected to find them in re- 
 treat l . 
 
 Arrived at the village of Pratzen, they passed it 
 without halting. General Moraiidat the head of the 
 10th light, went and formed upon the summit. 
 General Thie'bault - followed, him with a brigade, 
 composed of the 14th and 36th of the line, and 
 while he advanced received suddenly from the 
 rear a discharge of musketry, which proceeded 
 from two Russian battalions, concealed in the ra- 
 vine, at the bottom of which the village of Pratzen 
 is situated. General Thie'bault then halted for a 
 moment, returned within half musket shot the 
 volley which he had received, and entered the 
 village with one of his battalions. He dispersed Or 
 took the Russians who held it ; then returned to 
 sustain general Morand, already formed upon the 
 table ground. The brigade of Vare', the second of 
 the division of St. Hilaire, passing to the left of 
 
 1 Prince Czartoryski, placed between the two empcror3, 
 remarked to the emperor Alexander the decided and active 
 step of the French, as they climbed the plateau, without re- 
 turning the Kussian lire. The prince, at the Bight, felt the 
 confidence fail him, which he had before indulged up to 
 that moment, and conceived a sinister presentiment, which 
 did not leave him throughout the action. Author's Note. 
 
 - The same who is recently dead.
 
 ISO.i. I 
 December./ 
 
 The Russian array 
 cul in two. 
 
 AUSTERL1TZ. 
 
 Cavalry combats 
 on the left. 
 
 79 
 
 the village, had come and ranged itself in face of 
 the enemy, while Vandamme with the whole of 
 his division, extending himself vet more to the left, 
 took up a position near a small mound called 
 Stari-Winobradi, that overlooked the elevated level 
 of Prat/en. The Russians had placed <>n this 
 mound five battalions and a numerous artillery. 
 
 The Anstrian infantry of Kollowrath, and the 
 Russian infantry of Miloradovich, were disposed 
 in t»o lines. Marshal Soul t, without losing time, 
 carried in advance the divisions of St, Hilaire and 
 Vandamme. G tend Thie"bault, forming with his 
 ide the rijit of the division of St. Hilaire, had 
 a battery of twelve guns. He charged them with 
 hall and grape-shot, and c immenced a ruinous fire 
 upon the infantry which was opposed to him. This 
 tire, directed with precision and rapidity, soon 
 spread disorder through the Austrian ranks ; they 
 at first retrograded, theu threw themselves con- 
 fus -«lly on then verse of the high level of Pratzen. 
 Vandamme at once assailed the enemy in his 
 front. His brave infantry advanced with cool- 
 ness, halted, gave several destructive discharge s. 
 and then marched upon the Russians with the 
 bayonet. It overturned their first line upon the 
 second, and obliged them to take flight, both one 
 and the other, upon the reverse of the elevation of 
 Pratzen, abandoning their artillery. In this move- 
 ment Vandamme had in the rear upon his left the 
 mound of Stari-Wiuobradi, ('.'fended by several 
 Russian battalions and bristling with artillery. 
 He went hack there, and ordered it to he turned by 
 general Schiner with the 24th light, he mounting 
 it himself with tie- 4th of the line. Despite a 
 plunging tire, he climbed the mound, overthrew 
 the Russians who guarded it, and took their 
 cann >n. 
 
 Thus in less than an hour the two divisions of 
 the corps of marshal Soult had rendered them- 
 - of the level of Pratzen, and pursued 
 tie- Russians and Austrian* who were living pell- 
 mell down those slopes of the table land, which in- 
 cline towards the castle of Austerlitz. 
 
 The two emperors of Austria and Russia, wit- 
 nesses of this rapid action, end) avotired in vain to 
 rally their soldiers. They were little heard or re- 
 garded in the middle of the confusion, and Alex- 
 ander was already able to perceive that, the pre 
 reign wasiet of equal value in such 
 circumstaii'-' s with that of a good general. Milor- 
 adovich, always brilliant amid the fire, roil" over 
 th • field of battle ploughed with bullets, and at- 
 
 ily the fugitivi G leral Kutusof, 
 
 wounded by a ball in the cheek, saw realized the 
 disaster which he had hut which he had 
 
 not the firmness to prevent. He hastened to call 
 around him the imperial guard, which had pi 
 the night in advance of Austerlitz, in order to rally 
 behind it the centre in a state of rout If the 
 chief of the Austro-Russian arm), whose merit was 
 limited to much astute d< u conci tit d under 
 indolence-, hid been capable ol c ad prompt 
 
 lutions, he would i i that case have h 
 his left, engaged at that moment with the French 
 right, extricated tie- three columns of Buxhtfwden 
 ti ii the low bottoms in which tie y wen- 1 ngulphed, 
 brought tie m hack to th-- lev.l of Pratzen, and, 
 with 50,000 men reunited, attempted bj a da 
 effort to re-take a position where his army wi 
 
 in two. If even he had not succeeded, he would 
 at hast have been enabled to retire upon Auster- 
 litz by a safe road, and net have abandoned his 
 left, hacked into an abyss. But content to ward 
 off the only evil of which he was an eye-witness, 
 he limited himself to rallying upon his centre the 
 imperial Russian guard, 1)000 or 10,000 strong ; 
 while Napoleon, on the contrary, his eyes ever 
 fixed upon the level of Pratzen, brought up to sus- 
 tain marshal Soult, already victorious, the corps of 
 Bernadotte, the guard and the grenadiers of Oiuii- 
 uot, 26.000 chosen men. 
 
 While the French right thus disputed the line 
 of the Groldbach with the Russians, and their 
 centre took from them the level of Pratzen, Lannes 
 and Murat on the left were fighting with prince 
 Bagration, and with till the cavalry of the Austro- 
 Russians. 
 
 I, amies, with the divisions of Suchet and of C'af- 
 farelli, deployed on both sides of the road to ()1- 
 miitz, was to inarch straight before him. On the 
 left of the road, the same where the Santon arose, 
 the ground approaching the woody heights of Mo- 
 ravia, was very unequal, sometimes hilly, some- 
 times hoi! .wed into deep ravines. It was there 
 that the division of marshal Suchet was placed. 
 To the right, the ground more level was connected 
 by gentle ascents with the level summits of the 
 Pratzen. Caffarelli marched on that side, pro- 
 tected by the horse of Murat, against the mass of 
 the Austro-Russian cavalry. 
 
 They expected on that point a sort of Egyptian 
 battle, because there were seen here eighty-two 
 squadrons, Russian ami Austrian, ranged in two 
 and commanded by prince John of Lichten- 
 Btein. For this reason, the divisions of Suchet and 
 of Caffarelli were drawn up in several deployed 
 battalions; and behind the intervals of these bat- 
 talions otlur battalions were in close column, to 
 support and flank the first The artillery was 
 spread over the front of the two divisions. The 
 light cavalry of general Kellermann, as also the 
 divisions of dragoons, were placed on the right 
 upon the plain; the heavy cavalry of Nansouty and 
 Hautpoul in reserve in the rear. 
 
 In that imposing order, Lannes moved as soon 
 as he heard the cannon on the Pratzen, and 
 marched at a foot pace, as il' he had been on a 
 
 review- ground, over that plain, lighted up by a 
 brilliant « inter's sun. 
 
 Prince John of Lichtenstein had arrived very 
 late iii consequence of the mistake which hail 
 caused tin Austro-Russian cavalry I use- 
 
 lessly from the right to the left of the field of 
 batth. The imperial guard of Alexander had 
 supplied the void hich his absence had 
 
 hit between the centre and right of the combined 
 army. When he at last arrived, he perceived the 
 
 movement of the corps of marshal Lannes, and 
 sent the Uhlans of the grand-duke Constantino 
 upon tie- division of Caffarelli. -These hardy l> 
 men dashed upon thai division before which Kel- 
 lermann was placed with his brigade of light h 
 General Kellermann, one of the most able of the 
 French cavalry officers, foreseeing that he might 
 
 be flung upon the French infantry in his rear, and 
 
 that be might, in such a ca e, throw it into disordi r, 
 il he received in an immoveable position this for- 
 midable charge, drew i mi iking
 
 80 
 
 Russian Uhlans 
 repulsed. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Gallant ronduct 
 
 of Lannes. 
 
 f 1805. 
 i December. 
 
 tliem pass through the intervals of Caffarelli's in- 
 fantry and go to re-form on the left, in order to 
 seize a favourable opportunity for a charge. The 
 Uhlans, arriving at a gallop, met none of the light 
 cavalry, but encountered in their place a line of 
 impregnable infantry, that, without even forming 
 in a square, received them with a murderous fire 
 of musketry. Four hundred of those horsemen 
 were soon stretched on the earth in front of the 
 division. The Russian general, Essen, was mor- 
 tally wounded fighting at their head. The rest 
 scattered themselves in disorder on the right and 
 left. Seizing the exact moment, Kellermann, who 
 had re-formed his squadrons on the left of Caffa- 
 relli, charged the Uhlans, and sabred a great num- 
 ber. Prince John of Lichtenstein sent a fresh 
 number of his squadrons to the succour of the 
 Uhlans. The French line of dragoons, moving in 
 their turn, for some moments nothing was per- 
 ceived but a frightful affray, in which every man 
 engaged fought hand to hand. 
 
 This cloud of horse finally dispersed, each party 
 rejoined its line of battle, leaving the ground 
 covered with dead and wounded, the greater part 
 Austrians and Russians. The two masses of 
 French infantry then advanced with a firm and 
 measured step up the ground which the cavalry 
 had abandoned. The Russians opposed them with 
 forty pieces of cannon, which launched forth a hail- 
 shower of projectiles. One discharge took off the 
 entire group of drummers of Caffarelli's regiment. 
 This furious cannonade was answered by the fire 
 of the French artillery. In this battle with can- 
 non, general Valhuhert had his thigh broken by a 
 ball. Some soldiers wished to carry him to the 
 rear. <: Remain at your post," cried the general, 
 " I shall know how to die by myself. It will not 
 do for the sake of one mail to take away six." 
 The French marched immediately upon the village 
 of Blaziowitz, which was on the right of the plain, 
 just there where the ground begins to elevate 
 itself towards Pratzen. This village, as with all 
 those of that country, was situated deep in a ra- 
 vine, and was only rendered visible by the flames 
 that were consuming it A detachment of the 
 Russian imperial guard had occupied it in the 
 morning, awaiting there the cavalry of prince John 
 of Lichtenstein. Lannes ordered the 13th light to 
 take it. Colonel Castex, who commanded the 
 13th, advanced with the 1st battalion in a column 
 of attack, and when he arrived at the village was 
 struck with a ball in the forehead. The battalion 
 dashed forward, and avenged the death of its 
 colonel with the bayonet. They took Blaziowitz, 
 and gathered up there a number of prisoners whom 
 they sent to the rear. 
 
 At the other wing of the corps of Lannes, the 
 Russians, led by prince Bagration, endeavoured to 
 take the little eminence, called the Santon. They 
 had descended into the valley which is along the 
 foot of that mound, and had taken there the village 
 of Bosenitz, exchanging their shot to no purpose 
 against the numerous artillery that was planted on 
 the heights. But they did not feel inclined to 
 brave the musketry of the 17th of the line, too 
 will situated for them to venture a very close 
 approach. 
 
 Prince Bagration had firmed the rest of his 
 infantry on the road to Olmutz, in front of the 
 
 division of Suchet. Forced to fall back, it retired 
 slowly before the corps of Lannes that marched 
 without prec : pitation, but witli an imposing con- 
 densation, and continually gained ground. 
 
 Blaziowitz taken, Lannes ordered the villages of 
 Holubitz and Kruch, situated along the Olmutz 
 road, to be carried as well, and then he arrived 
 close to the infantry of prince Bagration. At the 
 same moment, he broke the line formed by his two 
 divisions. He sent the division of Suchet obliquely 
 to the left, and that of Cafl'arelli obliquely to the 
 right. By this diverging manoeuvre, he separated 
 the infantry of Bagration from the cavalry of 
 prince Lichtenstein, threw back the first to the left 
 of the Olmutz road, and the second to the right, 
 towards the slopes of the table land of Pratzen. 
 
 The cavalry now resolved to make a last attempt, 
 and flung itself, in one entire mass, upon the divi- 
 sion of Caffarelli, which received the charge with 
 its ordinary firmness, and stopped it by its mus- 
 ketry. The numerous squadi-mis of Lichtenstein, 
 at first dispersed, were then rallied by their officer, 
 and brought back upon the French battalions. 
 Then, by the order of Lannes, the cuirassiers of 
 generals Hautpoul and Nansouty, which followed 
 Caffarelli's infantry, filed at full trot behind the 
 ranks of their infantry, formed upon its right, de- 
 ployed, and put itself to the gallop. The ground 
 trembled beneath the feet of those 4000 horsemen, 
 clad in steel. They flung themselves, sabre in 
 hand, upon the re-formed men of the Austro- 
 Russian squadrons, overturned them by the shock, 
 dispersed them, and obliged them to take flight 
 upon Austerlitz, where they retreated to appear no 
 more during the battle. 
 
 In the mean while the division of Suchet had 
 attacked the infantry of prince Bagration. After 
 having directed upon the Russians those cool- 
 aimed and sure vohies that the French troops, 
 equally intelligent and accustomed to war, exe- 
 cute with the utmost precision, the division of 
 Suchet marched upon them with the bayonet. The 
 Russians, giving way before the impetuosity of the 
 French battalion, were retiring, but without break- 
 ing their order, and without surrendering. Lannes, 
 now no longer embarrassed by the eighty-two 
 squadrons of prince Lichtenstein, had hastened to 
 recall the heavy cavalry of general Hautpoul from 
 the right to the left of the plain, and had thrown 
 it upon the Russians to decide their retreat. The 
 cuirassiers charging on every side upon that obsti- 
 nate infantry, which retreated in large platoons, 
 obliged some thousands of them to lay down their 
 arms. 
 
 Thus, on the left, Lannes had given a real battle 
 himself, and had taken 4000 prisoners. The 
 ground around him was covered with 2000 dead or 
 wounded Russians and Austrians. 
 
 But on the table ground of Pratzen, the contest 
 was renewed between the enemy's centre and the 
 corps of marshal Soult, reinforced with all the 
 resources which Napoleon had brought up in per- 
 son. General Kuiusof, in place of considering, 
 as has been already said, about bringing up the 
 three columns of Doctorow, Langeron, and Pribys- 
 chewski engaged in the bottoms, had only thought 
 of rallying his centre upon the Russian imperial 
 guard. The sole brigade of Kamenski, belonging 
 to Langeron's corps, hearing in its rear a very
 
 1805. \ 
 December. / 
 
 Extrication of Thitbault's 
 brigade. 
 
 AUSTERL1TZ. 
 
 Gallant londu-.t of Rapp. 
 
 81 
 
 brisk firing, had baited, and then fallen back spon- 
 taneously, in order to remount to the table-ground 
 of Pratzen. General Longeron, being apprised of 
 
 tins, had come and put himself at the head of the 
 brigade, leaving in Sokolnitz the rest of his column. 
 
 The French, on the renewal of the battle in the 
 centre, were on the point of finding themselves 
 engaged with the brigade of Kamenski, the in- 
 fantry of Kollowrath and of Miloradovich, and 
 with the imperial guard. The brigade of Thie- 
 bault, occupying the extreme right of marshal 
 Soult, and separated from the brigade of Vare" by 
 the village of Pratzen, found itself in the centre 
 of a square of fire ; since it had in front the 
 re-formed Austrian line, and in return, on its right, 
 a part of the troops of Langeron. This brigade, 
 composed of the 10th light, the 14th and 3lith of 
 the line, was for a moment exposed to the most 
 serious peril. As it deployed and formed its-elf 
 into a square to face the enemy, adjutant Labadie, 
 fearing that his battalion might be shaken in its 
 movements under a fire of musketry and grape- 
 shot at thirty paces' distance, seized the colours, 
 and placing himself at the staff, cried, "Soldiers, 
 here is your line of battle !" The soldiers de- 
 ployed with perfect coolness. The others, imitat- 
 ing the example, the brigade took up its position, 
 and during some moments exchanged, at llclf- 
 musket shot, a very destructive fire. Still these 
 three regiments would have very soon sunk under 
 the mass of cross-fire, if the combat had been 
 prolonged. General St. rlilaire, much admired 
 in the army for his chivalrous bravery, was in 
 conversation with generals Thie'ljault and Morand 
 on what was best to be done, when colonel Pouzet, 
 of the 10th, said to him, " We must advance with 
 the bayontt, or we are lost." "Yes — forward !" 
 replied general St. Hilaire. They quickly crossed 
 bayonets, and throwing themselves to the right 
 upon the Russians of Kant nski's division, and in 
 front upoii the Austrians of Iv'llowrath, th«*y over- 
 threw the first into the low bottoms of Sokolnitz 
 and Telnitz, the second on the reverse of the plain 
 of Pratzen towards tic Auxterlitz road. 
 
 While the brigade of Thic'hault, left for some 
 
 time alone, extricated itself with such g I fortune 
 
 and courage, Vare's brigade and the division of 
 
 Vandainme, placed on tl ther side of the village 
 
 of Pratzen, had not near the same trouble to 
 repulse the offensive attack of the Austro-Rus 
 
 sians, and had very soon driven them to the loot 
 of the ascent to the plain, which they endeavoured 
 
 in vain to climb. In the ardour which inspired 
 
 the French troops, the 1-t battalion "I the 4tli of 
 the line, belonging to the division of Vandainme, 
 had been carried away by the desire to pursue the 
 Russians over inclined grounds covered with vine- 
 yards. Tin- grand-duke Constantine had imme- 
 diately sent a detachment of cavalry of tin- guard, 
 which, surprising tin- battalion in the midst of the 
 vineyards, had overwhelmed it before it could 
 form itself lot" a square. In this confusion the 
 colour-bearer of the regiment had been killed. A 
 sub-officer, wishing to recover tin- eagle, bad been 
 killed in his turn. A soldier had taken il from the 
 
 hands of the sub-officer, and was himself struck 
 down, not having been able to present the horse 
 of Constantine from carrying of their tropin. 
 
 Napoleon, who had arrived to reinforce the 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 centre with the infantry of the guard, the whole of 
 Pernadotte's corps, and the grenadiers of Oudinot, 
 perceived, from the high ground where he had 
 placed himself, the rashness of the battalion. 
 "There is disorder there," he said to Rapp ; "it 
 must lie repaired !" Rapp, guiding at the head of 
 the Mamelucks and horse-chasseurs of the guard, 
 flew to the aid of the battalion that had been com- 
 promised. .Marshal Bessierea followed Rapp with 
 his horse-grenadiers. The division of Drouet, of 
 the corps of Pernadotte, formed of the 94th and 
 05th regiments, and of the 27th light, advanced 
 in a second line, led by colonel Gerard, aide-de- 
 camp of Pernadotte, an officer of great energy, in 
 order to oppose the infantry of the Russian guard. 
 
 Rapp, as sum as he had shown himself, drew 
 upon him the enemies' cavalry, who were sabring 
 the French infantry as it lay on the ground. This 
 cavalry then turned upon him with four unhar- 
 nessed guns. Despite a discharge of grape-shot, 
 Rapp dashed on and broke the imperial cavalry. 
 He then pushed forward, and passed beyond the 
 ground covered with the wrecks of the 4th bat- 
 talion. At once the soldiers of that battalion got 
 up, and formed in order to avenge the check they 
 had received. Rapp, on arriving as far as the 
 lines of the Russian guard, was attacked by a 
 second charge of cavalry. These were the horse- 
 guards of Alexander, who, under the command of 
 their colonel, prince Repnin, there fell upon him. 
 The brave Morland, colonel of the chasseurs of the 
 French imperial guard, was killed, and the chas- 
 seurs were driven hack. Put at that moment the 
 French horse-grenadiers arrived at lull gallop, led 
 on by marshal Pessieres, to the succour of Rapp. 
 These superb horsemen, mounted upon lofty horses, 
 were eager to measure their strength with the 
 horse-guards of Alexander. An intermingled af- 
 fray of some minutes took place. The infantry of 
 the Russian guard, who were witnesses of this 
 desperate combat, dared not fire lest they should 
 kill their countrymen. Finally, the horse-grena- 
 diers of Napoleon, who wen' old soldiers tried in a 
 hundred engagements, triumphed over Alexander's 
 \oung horsemen, dispersed them after having ex- 
 tended a number of them on the earth, and returned 
 victors to their master. 
 
 Napoleon, who saw this engagement, was much 
 pleased to see the Russian youth thus punished for 
 
 their boasting. Surrounded by his stall', he re- 
 ceived Rapp, who returned wounded and covered 
 with blood, followed by prince Repnin, a prisoner, 
 
 and gave him high testi nials of his satisfaction. 
 
 In the interim, tin- three regiments of Drouet'a 
 division, brought back by colonel Qerard, pushed 
 
 the infantry of the Russian guard up' n the village 
 ol Kreznowitz, took it, and made a good manv pri- 
 soners. It was now an hour after in ; the 
 
 rictory wna no more doubtful, because Lannea 
 
 and Murat were masters of the plain on the I. It; 
 marshal Soult, supported by all the reserve, was 
 
 master of the table-plain of Pratzen. No more 
 remained to be done but to go and attack on the 
 
 right, .and fling into lie- pools the three Rut 
 columns of BuxhHwden, which with so much vain 
 obstinac) attempted to oul off the French from 
 
 the road to Vienna. Napoleon, leaving then tor.' 
 
 the corps of Bernadotte upon the level of Prat- 
 zen, and turning to the right with the son 
 
 G
 
 82 Flight of Buxhowden. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Utter defeat of the f 1805. 
 Russians. \ December. 
 
 marshal Soult, the guard, and the grenadiers of 
 Oudinot, desired to gather up himself the fruit of 
 his profound combinations, and went by the road 
 which had been followed by the three columns of 
 Buxhowden in descending from the table-level of 
 Pratzen, to attack them in the rear. It was full 
 time he arrived there, because marshal Davout 
 and his lieutenant, general Friant, marching with- 
 out ceasing from Kobelnitz to Telnitz, to prevent 
 the Russians from crossing the Goldbach, would 
 have ended by succumbing. The brave Friant 
 had had four horses killed under him during the 
 contest. But while he was making his last efforts, 
 Napoleon suddenly appeared at the head of an 
 overwhelming force. A fearful confusion then 
 took place among the astounded and despairing 
 Russians. Pribyschewski's wliole column and one 
 half of the column of Langeron remained before 
 Sokolnitz, and saw themselves surrounded and 
 without any hope of safety, because the French 
 had arrived by the rear on the road which tliey 
 themselves had gone over in the morning. These 
 two columns then dispersed ; a part were taken 
 prisoners in Sokolnitz ; another part fled towards 
 Kobelnitz, and got entangled among the marshes 
 of the same name; a third, lastly, going off towards 
 Briinn, was forced to lay down its arms near the 
 Vienna road, where the Russians had fixed their 
 rendezvous when they promised themselves the 
 victory. 
 
 General Langeron, with the wrecks of the Ka- 
 menski brigade and some battalions which he had 
 drawn from Sokolnitz before the disaster, had 
 sought a refuge towards Telnitz and the pools, 
 near the place where Buxhowden was with the 
 column of Doctorow. The inexpert commander 
 of the Russian left wing, proud of having twenty- 
 nine battalions and twenty-two squadrons to dis- 
 pute with them for the village of Teinitz against 
 five or six French battalions, continued immove- 
 able, awaiting the success of (he columns of Lan- 
 geron and Pribyschewski. He bore on his visage 
 — so testified an eye-witness — the signs of excess 
 to which he habitually delivered himself up. Lan- 
 geron, proceeding to that place, recounted to him, 
 with some warmth of tone, what had taken place. 
 " You see enemies every where," Buxhowden bru- 
 tally answered him. "And you," replied Lan- 
 geron, " are not in a fit state to see them any 
 where." At this moment the corps of marshal 
 Soult appeared on the turning of the slope from 
 the plain towards the pools, advancing upon the 
 column of Doctorow for the purpose of pushing it 
 into the pools. It was not longer possible to 
 doubt the danger. Buxhowden, with four regi- 
 ments which he had from his unskilfuhtess left 
 inactive near him, endeavoured to regain the road 
 by which lie had come, which passed by the village 
 Autrezd, between the foot of the table- land of 
 Pratzen and the pool of Satschau. He marched 
 there in all haste, ordering Doctorow to save him- 
 self as he could. Langeron joined him with the 
 remainder of his column. Buxhowden went 
 through Augezd at the same moment that Van- 
 damme's division, descending from the heights, 
 arrived there on his side. He encountered in his 
 flight the tire of the French, and succeeded in 
 placing himself in safety with a part of his troops. 
 The larger part followed the wrecks of Langeron's 
 
 corps, and was cut short in its flight by the divi- 
 sion of Vandamme, now master of Augezd. Then 
 altogether they flew towards the frozen pools, and 
 attempted to make themselves a road there. The 
 ice which covered them, weakened by the heat of 
 a fine day, was unable to resist the weight of men, 
 horses, and cannon. It broke, in some places, 
 under the Russians, who were thus engulfed be- 
 neath it ; in others it kept firm, and formed a 
 retreat for the fugitives who crowded across it. 
 
 Napoleon, arrived on the slopes from the level of 
 Pratzen on one side of these pools, perceived the 
 disaster happen for which he had been so well pre- 
 pared. He ordered a battery of the guard to fire 
 ball on those parts of the ice that were strong 
 enough to resist the weight upon them, and thus 
 completed the destruction of those who had taken 
 refuge there. Nearly 2000 found their deaths 
 under the broken ice. 
 
 Between the French army and these inaccessible 
 pools yet remained the unfortunate column of 
 Doctorow, of which one detachment had saved it- 
 self with Buxhowden, and another had perished 
 under the ice. General Doctorow, abandoned in 
 this cruel situation, conducted himself with the 
 noblest courage. The ground on approaching 
 these pools arose in such a manner as to offer a 
 point of support. The general placed his back to 
 this elevation of the ground and formed his troops 
 in three lines ; he placed his cavalry in the first, 
 his artillery in the second, and his infantry in the 
 third. Thus deployed, he opposed to the French 
 a firm countenance, during which he sent some 
 squadrons to find out a road between the pond of 
 Satschau and that of Menitz. 
 
 A last and very severe struggle took place on 
 this ground. The dragoons of the division of Beau- 
 mont, borrowed from Murat, and brought from 
 the left to the right, charged the Austrian cavalry 
 of Kienmayer, that, after having done its duty, 
 withdrew under the protection of the Russian ar- 
 tillery. These remaining unmoved at their guns, 
 poured grape-shot upon the dragoons, who in vain 
 endeavoured to take them. The infantry of mar- 
 shal Soult marched upon this artillery in turn, 
 despite of a fire close to the muzzles, took it, and 
 pushed the Russian infantry upon Telnitz. On 
 that side, marshal Davout with the division of 
 Friant entered Telnitz. From this circumstance 
 the Russians had no place to escape but by a nar- 
 row passage between Telnitz and the pools. Some 
 rushed pell-mell upon them, and met with their 
 deaths like those who preceded them. Others 
 found a mode of escape by a road which had been 
 discovered between the pools of Satschau and 
 Menitz. The French cavalry followed them in this 
 causeway, and harassed them in their retreat. 
 The sun had thawed the clayey soil of that part of 
 the country, converting the ice into a thick mud, 
 which sank under the feet of men and horses. 
 The artillery of the Russians stuck fast. Their 
 horses better made for the saddle than to draw, 
 could not disengage the guns, and they were obliged 
 to abandon them. The French cavalry made 
 amidst this confusion 3000 prisoners, and took a 
 number of cannon. " I had already seen," said 
 one of the actors in this frightful scene, general 
 Langeron, "some battles lost; but I never had 
 an idea of such a defeat."
 
 1803. 1 
 December./ 
 
 Flight of the two 
 emperors. 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 Prodigious loss of the allies. 
 
 8.'{ 
 
 In fact, from one wing of the Russian army to I 
 the other, do part of it was in order, except the | 
 corps of prince Bagration, which Laiines had not 
 dared to pursue, being in ignorance of what was 
 passing on the right of the army. All the rest 
 was in fearful disorder, uttering wild cries, and 
 pillaging the villages upon their route to procure 
 provisions. The two sovereigns of Russia and 
 Austria rled from the field of battle, over which 
 they heard the shouts resound, " Long live the em- 
 peror !" Alexander was deeply despondent. The 
 emperor Francis, more calm, supported the disaster 
 with much composure. In the common misfortune 
 he had one consolation at least : the Russians 
 were no longer able to pretend that the cowardice 
 of the Anstrians conferred upon Napoleon all his 
 glory. The two princes retreated in great haste 
 over the plains of Moravia, amid the deep obscu- 
 rity of the night, separated from their house- 
 holds, and exposed to be insulted through the 
 barbarity of their own soldiers. The emperor of 
 Austria, seeing all was lost, took upon himself to 
 send prince John of Liehtenstein to Napoleon, to 
 ask an armistice, with the promise that in a few- 
 days he would Bign a peace. He ordered him to 
 say besides to Napoleon, that he requested to have 
 an interview with him at the advanced posts. 
 
 Prince John, who had on that day well fulfilled 
 his duty, was thus enabled to appear with honour 
 pe the victor. He proceeded in all haste to 
 the French head-quarters. Napoleon, now vic- 
 torious, was employed in going over the field of 
 battle, in order to have the wounded carried away. 
 He would not take rest before he had seen given 
 to the soldiers that attention to which they had so 
 much right. Obedient to bis orders, none of them 
 had quitted the ranks to carry the wounded to the 
 rear. Thus it was that the ground was strewn 
 with them for a space' of more than three leagues. 
 Above all it was covered with Russian carcases. 
 The field of battle was frightful to behold. Hut 
 this touching spectacle did not at all affect the old 
 soldiers of the revolution. Habituated to the hor- 
 rors of war, they regarded wounds and death as 
 the natural consequences of battles, and as things 
 of little- moment in the bosom of victory. They 
 wi re intoxicated with delight, and raised loud ac- 
 clamations when they perceived the group ofoffi- 
 whicfa indicated the presence of Napoleon, 
 return to the head-quarters, which hail been 
 fixed at the post-house of Pusoritz, offered to the 
 sight the appearance of a triumphal procec ion. 
 
 The smil in Which BUch bitter sorrow was one 
 
 ( ].. IV i tasted at that mo. 
 
 meni the delights of tin lagnificentand well- 
 
 merited success, because if victory is often obtained 
 by pore hazard, it was here the resull of admirable 
 combinations. Napoleon, in effect, diviniug with 
 
 the penetration of genius that the RussiaUM had the 
 
 intenti m of cutting him off from the Vienna 
 and that they would then place themselves between 
 
 lino and the pools, had cv< n by bis attitude ell- 
 
 i them to make the sttempl ; thi h weak 
 ening bis right and reinforcing his a litre, he bad 
 
 g | with tli" main body ol his army Upoll the 
 
 table-land of Pratzen abandoned by the K> 
 
 themsi Ives; he bad cul them in two, and pri 
 tated them into s gulf, out of which they were 
 i more able to extricate thi in Tie- 
 
 larger part of his troops, kept in reserve, had 
 scarcely been brought at all into action, so much 
 did a single just conception make his position 
 strong, as well also as that the valour of liis sol- 
 diers allowed him to present them in a number in- 
 ferior to the enemy. H may be asserted, that out 
 of <J5,000 French", 40,000 or 45,000, no more, had 
 been engaged, because the corps of Beruadotte, 
 the grenadiers, and the infantry of the guard, had 
 exchanged no more than a few musket-shots. 
 Thus 45,000 French had been victorious over 
 90,000 Austro- Russians. 
 
 The consequences of the battle were immense : 
 15,000 dead, wounded, or drowned ; about 20,000 
 prisoners, among whom were ten colonels and 
 eight generals. An immense number of horses 
 were taken, with 180 pieces of cannon, artillery- 
 carriages and baggage. Such were the losses of 
 the enemy and the trophies of the French. These 
 last had to lament a loss of about 7000 men killed 
 and wounded. 
 
 Napoleon, being at his head-quarters ofPosoritZ, 
 received there prince John of Liehtenstein. He 
 received him as a conqueror, full of courtesy, and 
 agreed to an interview with the emperor of Austria 
 at the advanced posts of both armies for the next 
 day but one : but an armistice was not to take 
 place, until after the two emperors of France and 
 Austria had seen each other-, and had entered into 
 explanations. 
 
 On the following day Napoleon transferred his 
 head-quarters to Austerlitz, a seat of the family 
 of Kaunitz. He there established himself, and 
 from the name of the Beat gave that of the bat lie, 
 which his soldiers had already denominated that of 
 the three emperors. It has since borne the name 
 of Austerlitz, and will bear to future ages the 
 name that it received front the immortal captain 
 who gained it. lie then addressed to his soldiers 
 this proclamation. 
 
 "Austerlitz. 12th Frimaire. 
 " Soldiers, — I am satisfied with you : you have 
 
 in tin- battle- of Austerlitz justified all that 1 ex- 
 
 peeted from your intrepidity. You have decorated 
 your eagles with immortal glory. An army of 
 100,000 men, commanded bythe einpen rs.t Russia 
 
 and Austria, has in less than four li ins be. u cut 
 in two and dispersed. That part which escaped 
 your sword is drowned in the lakes. 
 
 '• Forty colours, the standards of the Russian 
 
 imperial guard, 120 pieces of cannon, twenty 
 generals, more than 30,000 oris iters 1 , are tin- 
 resull of this ever celebrated battle. That in- 
 fantry so boasti d, and in numbers so superior, 
 
 has not been able lo resist your shock, ami hence- 
 forth you have no rivals to encounter. Thus in 
 two months this third coalition has bei n van 
 
 . pushed ami dissolved. Peace cnnnol now be far 
 off; but, a- I promised my people before I passed 
 the Rhine, I »ill only make ii a p ■<<■<■ that shall 
 
 give us guaralil' 08, and BeCUXe rec ne leUStt I" our 
 
 allies. 
 
 '• Soldiers, win n all which I di cure 
 
 the happiness mid prosperity of our countrj shall 
 
 compliahed, 1 will carry you Imck to Frs ■ ; 
 
 there you will be the object of my warmest soliei- 
 
 i Thi ixael numlx n irsri »"t. n« yet, accurately known. 
 a 'J
 
 84 
 
 Napoleon and Francis 
 meet. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 An armistice agreed f 1805. 
 upon. \ December. 
 
 tude. My people will see you return with joy ; 
 and it will be sufficient for you to say, ' I was at 
 the battle of Austerlitz,' for them to answer, 
 ' There is a valiant man ! ' Napoleon. " 
 
 It was necessary to pursue the enemy, whom 
 all the reports represented as in a state of com- 
 plete disorder. In this confusion, Napoleon, de- 
 ceived by Murat, had believed that the fugitive 
 army had retreated towards Olmiitz ; and he had 
 dispatched on that point the cavalry with the 
 corps of L;mnes. But on the following day, the 
 3rd of December, information more correct, 
 gathered by general Tliiard, made it known that 
 the enemy had gone by the Hungary road towards 
 the Morava. Napoleon upon this hastened to 
 call back his columns upon Nasiedlowitz and 
 Goding. Marshal Davout, reinforced with the 
 whole of the division of Friant and by the arrival 
 in line of Gudin's division, had lost no time, by 
 favour of his position nearer to the Hungarian 
 road. He set out in pursuit of the Russians, and 
 pressed them close. He wished to come up with 
 them before they made the passage of the Morava, 
 and thus cut off a part of their army. After 
 having ma relied on the 3rd he found himself on 
 the 4th in the morning in sight of Goding, ready 
 for the attack. The greatest confusion reigned 
 in Goding. Beyond this place was a chateau of 
 the emperor of Austria, that of Holitsch, where 
 the two allied sovereigns had sought an asylum. 
 The trouble there was as great as it was in 
 Goding. The Russian officers continued to hold 
 their unbecoming language against the Austrians. 
 They laid the blame of their common defeat upon 
 others, as if the}' ought not to have attributed it 
 to their own presumption, the incapacity of their 
 generals, and the thoughtlessness of their govern- 
 ment. The Austrians also bore themselves fully 
 as well as the Russians on the field of battle. 
 
 The two vanquished monarchs showed towards 
 each other great coolness. The emperor Francis 
 wished to confer with the emperor Alexander 
 before he attended the interview agreed upon with 
 Napoleon. They both settled that it was neces- 
 sary to denvand an armistice and peace, because 
 it was impossible to fight any longer. Alexander, 
 without avowing it, was anxious to save himself 
 and his army as soon as possible from the conse- 
 quences of an impetuous pursuit such as there 
 was reason to fear from Napoleon. In regard to 
 the conditions, he suffered his ally to regulate 
 them as he might see fit. The emperor Francis 
 having to bear solely the costs of the war, the 
 conditions ui>on which they should agree to a 
 peace belonged to him exclusively. Some time 
 before, Alexander pretending to be arbitrator for 
 Europe, would have said that the conditions of the 
 peace concerned him as well. His pride was less 
 exacting alter the battle of the 2nd of December. 
 
 The emperor Francis left, therefore, for Nasied- 
 lowitz, a village about midway to the castle of Aus- 
 terlitz, and there near the mill of Paleny between 
 Nasiedlowitz and Urschitz, among the French and 
 Austrian advanced posts, he found Napoleon who 
 awaited him before a bivouac fire lighted by li is 
 soldiers. Napoleon had the politeness to be first 
 on the spot. He went to meet the emperor 
 Francis, received him as he descended from his 
 carriage, and embraced him. The Austrian mon- 
 
 arch, encouraged by the welcome of his powerful 
 enemy, held with him a long conversation. The 
 principal officers of the two armies stood at a dis- 
 tance, regarding with no small degree of curiosity 
 the extraordinary spectacle, of a successor of the 
 Caesars vanquished and asking for peace of a 
 crowned soldier that the French revolution had 
 raised to the summit of human greatness. 
 
 Napoleon made his excuse to the emperor Fran- 
 cis for receiving him in such a spot. " These are 
 the kind of palaces," said Napoleon, " that your 
 majesty has forced me to inhabit for these three 
 months past." " You have done so well in your 
 dwelling," replied the Austrian monarch, " that 
 you have no ground to bear me ill-will on account 
 of it." The conversation then turned upon the 
 existing situation of affairs, Napoleon asserting 
 that he had been driven into the war in spite of 
 himself, and at the moment when he least expected 
 it, and when he was exclusively occupied with 
 England. The emperor of Austria asserted that 
 he should not have been brought to take up arms 
 except on account of the designs of France upon 
 Italy. Napoleon declared that upon the condi- 
 tions already stated to M. Giulay, and that he 
 might dispense with repeating anew, he was ready 
 to sign a treaty of peaee. The emperor Francis, 
 without any explanations upon this part of the 
 subject, wished to know what Napoleon was dis- 
 posed to do in relation to the Russian army. Na- 
 poleon at first demanded that the emperor Francis 
 should separate his cause from that of the emperor 
 Alexander ; that the Russian army should retire 
 by stated marches out of the Austrian states ; and 
 he promised on this condition to grant an armis- 
 tice. In respect to a peace with Russia, he added, 
 that they could regulate that afterwards, because 
 the peace regarded him alone. "Believe me." 
 said Napoleon to the emperor Francis, " Russia 
 alone can now only make imaginary war in Europe. 
 Vanquished she retires into her deserts, and you — 
 you pay with your provinces the cost of war." 
 
 The pointed expressions of Napoleon but too 
 well delineated the true situation of things in 
 Europe between that great power and the rest of 
 the continent. The emperor Francis gave his 
 word of honour as a man and a sovereign no 
 more to recommence the war, and, above all, no 
 more to yield to the suggestions of powers who 
 had nothing to lose in the contest. He agreed to 
 an armistice for himself and Alexander, an armis- 
 tice the condition of which was, that the Russians 
 should retire by daily and fixed marches, and that 
 the Austrian cabinet should send to Brunn imme- 
 diately negotiators empowered duly to sign a sepa- 
 rate peace with France. 
 
 The two emperors quitted each other with re- 
 peated marks of cordiality. Napoleon handed into 
 his carriage the monarch whom he had styled his 
 brother, and mounted his own horse to return to 
 Austerlitz. 
 
 General Savary was sent to suspend the march 
 of Davout's corps. He went first to Holitsch, in 
 the suite of the emperor Francis, in order to know 
 whether Alexander acceded to the proposed con- 
 ditions. He saw the last emperor, about whom 
 all appeared much changed since the mission 
 which he had fulfilled to him a few days before. 
 " Your master," said Alexander to him, "has
 
 1805. \ 
 December. J 
 
 Negotiations for peace. 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 Napoleon and Talleyrand 
 settle tnc bases. 
 
 85 
 
 shown himself a very great man. I acknowledge 
 all the power of his genius. As for myself, 1 shall 
 retire, since my ally is satisfied." 
 
 General Savary conversed some time with the 
 young e/.ar about the last battle; explained to him 
 how the French army, inferior in number to the 
 Russian, had still appeared upon all points supe- 
 rior, in consequence of the art of manoeuvring 
 which Napoleon possessed in so high a degree. 
 He courteously added, that, with experience, Alex- 
 ander would become in his turn a man skilled in 
 war; but that an art so difficult could not be 
 acquired in a day. Alter this flattery to a van- 
 quished monarch, he sit out lor Gb'ding, in order 
 to stop the inarch of marshal Davout, who had 
 refused all the propositions for a suspension of 
 arms, and was ready to attack the rest of the 
 Russian army. They had vainly asserted to this 
 marshal, in the name of the emperor of Russia 
 himself, that an armistice was then negotiating 
 between Napoleon and tin- emperor of Austria. 
 He would on no consideration abandon his prey. 
 But genera] Savary stopped him with the formal 
 order of Napoleon. These were the last shots 
 fired in this immortal campaign. The troops of 
 each nation then separated to take up their winter 
 quarters, and await the decisions of the negotiations 
 between the belligerent powers. 
 
 Napoleon went from the castle of Austerlitz to 
 Brttnn, where he had ordered M. de Talleyrand to 
 regulate the conditions of the peace, which could 
 not henceforward be doubtful, since Austria was 
 exhausted of resources, and Russia, eager to ob- 
 tain an armistice, was withdrawing her army in 
 all haste into Poland. Whilst the war of the first 
 coalition had lasted for five years, and that of the 
 second two, the war which had been raised by the 
 third had endured three months, so irresistible 
 had become the power of revolutionary France, 
 Concentrated in a single band, and so prompt and 
 able was it to strike those whom it wished to 
 reach. The run of events had been such precisely 
 as Napoleon had traced out in advance in bis 
 cabinet at Boulogne. He had taken the A US- 
 trians at L'lm almost without striking a blow ; he 
 crushed the Ruse is at Austerlitz; disengaged 
 Italy by tin- offeni ve march alone of his troops 
 upon Vienna, and i. duced to acts of mere' impru- 
 dence the attacks ip"ii Hanover aud Naples. This 
 List, particularly alter the battle of AustorlitZj be- 
 came only a pi ■■'• of folly disastrous for the bouse 
 
 of Bourbon. Europe was at tin- feet of Napoleon; 
 
 and Prussia, drawn in for a moment by the coali- 
 tion, now found hem If at the mercy of ibo captain 
 whom she liad offended and betrayed. 
 
 It still demanded great skill to negotiate! because 
 if bis enemies recovered from their present terror, 
 and abusing the engagements into which they 
 wished Prussia to enter, obliged her to intervene 
 in the negotiations, tiny would I"- able still, three 
 to one, to dispute the conditions of the peace, and 
 take from the conqueror a part of tie- advantages 
 
 of his victory. Tims it was that Napoleon would 
 
 have the negotiations to take place at Brttnn, far 
 from .M. Haugwitz, whom In- had sen) to Vienna, 
 and obliged to remain there, by promising to give 
 
 him a meeting in tli-il capital. 
 
 While they had bee gaged '" fighting at 
 
 Austerlitz, M. Giulay and .M. Stadioo bad had 
 
 conferences at Vienna with M. de Talleyrand, and 
 bad requested to negotiate in common for Russia 
 and Austria under the mediation of Prussia Since 
 the arrival of M. Haugwitz, they bad summoned 
 him politely, but with earnestness, to execute the 
 treaty of Potsdam ; judging, if Prussia were com- 
 prised in the negotiation, she would be obliged 
 either to establish the conditions of peace made 
 at Potsdam, or to become an associate in the war. 
 M. Haugwitz refused to treat in that manner, 
 founding his refusal upon the nature of his niis- 
 si n, which made it obligatory upon him not to 
 sit in a congress, but to treat directly with Napo- 
 leon, to bring him over to the views adopted by 
 the Prussian cabinet. Moreover, M. de Talleyrand 
 cut short these pretensions, by declaring that Aus- 
 tria alone would be admitted to the negotiation. 
 He made known this resolution at Vienna, on 
 the 2nd of December, the day the battle of Auster- 
 litz was fought. 
 
 The battle being gained, and the armistice re- 
 quested and granted at the bivouac of the victor, 
 the separate negotiation was a condition accepted 
 in advance. Napoleon demanded that it should, 
 as already said, commence immediately at Brttnn, 
 with M. de Talleyrand. He made known that he 
 had no objection that M. Giulay be admitted to 
 treat, but not M. Stadion, formerly ambassador 
 from Austria to Russia, filled with the prejudices 
 of the coalition, and raising, even from the nature 
 of his mind, difficulties continually renewed. He 
 indicated as a negotiator prince John of Lichten- 
 stein, who had much pleased him by his frank and 
 military manners. The last was instantly sent to 
 Briiun with M. Giulay. The emperor Francis 
 being at Hulitsch, they were able in a few hours 
 to communicate with him, and to understand him 
 with sufficient promptness of reply upon any con- 
 tested points referred to him. The negotiation, 
 therefore, was opened at Brttnn between M. de 
 Talleyrand, M. Giulay, and prince John of Lich- 
 
 tenstein. Napoleon having settled the bases, de- 
 termined to go immediately to Vienna, to extract 
 
 from M. HailgwitZ an avowal of the weakness and 
 faNeness of Prussia, and make him bear the pain 
 of them. 
 
 Hut what were to be the bases of the peat- '. 
 It was these which were to be discuss, il at Brttnn 
 
 bj Napoleon and M. de Talleyrand, and that be- 
 came there the subject of frequent and profound 
 
 conversations between them. 
 
 The moment was ;t dangerous one for the saga- 
 city of Napoleon. Victorious in three months 
 oxer a powerful coalition, having seen fly before 
 his soldiers, interior in numbers, the toes: i. 
 
 nowned of the soldiers of the continent, was it not 
 probable he would acquire, Irom the knowledge 
 
 of this power, an exaggerated sentiment, and view 
 
 with cont.nipt all European resistances 1 Under 
 the consulate, when he wished to reconcile Prance 
 ami Europe, h<- had been seen, within Fn e, 
 
 indulgent to the different parlies ; without, for 
 bringing Austria round by his victories, Iviissia 
 
 by his flatteries and caresses, Prussia by the 
 
 adroit use of the German Inde ities employed as 
 
 a bait. England by the siat.- ol Isolation to which 
 
 be bad brought her, thus pacifying the world in 
 
 a manner almost miraculon j and to display the 
 most admirable of all ability, that of strength
 
 86 
 
 Talleyrand's advice to 
 Napoleon. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Policy of Napoleon f 1805. 
 
 erroneous. 
 
 (.December. 
 
 which knew how to restrain itself. But he had 
 been seen, as has been already shown, irritated 
 by party ingratitude, no longer keeping terms 
 with parties, and inflicting a cruel blow upon 
 them by the death of the duke d'Enghien. He 
 has been seen irritated against the provoking 
 jealousy of England, to throw her the gauntlet, 
 which she had taken up, and collecting every 
 human means of overwhelming her. Now, the 
 powers of the continent having, without a suffi- 
 cient motive, turned him away from his contest 
 with England, and drawn defeats upon themselves, 
 which were real disasters, would he not, with 
 those as with his other enemies, put aside that 
 circumspection and management indispensable 
 even to force, which composes the whole art of 
 politics ? A man who is able to draw from his 
 genius and the bravery of his soldiers such an 
 event as the battle of Marengo or Austerlitz — 
 need he render an account to any one upon 
 earth ? 
 
 M. de Talleyrand, of whom the character and 
 the part he played in this reign have been before 
 traced, attempted again, under the present circum- 
 stances, to moderate Napoleon, but without much 
 success. More attached to pleasing than contra- 
 dicting, having on the part of European politics 
 inclinations rather than opinions ; incessantly given 
 to the support of Austria, rendering Prussia ill 
 offices, through an old tradition of the cabinet of 
 Versailles, he rendered himself suspected of com- 
 plaisance towards the one and of aversion towards 
 the oilier, he had not with his sovereign the cre- 
 dit that a mind convinced and firm would have 
 obtained. For the rest, if, in the present as on 
 other occasions, he had not the merit of making 
 moderation prevail, he had that of counselling it. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand, the day after the battle of 
 Austerlitz, gave that advice to the intoxicated con- 
 queror of Europe. 
 
 It was necessary to show, according to him, mo- 
 deration and generosity towards Austria. This 
 . power considerably diminished within the two last 
 centuries, must be much less than formerly an 
 object of French jealousy. A new power should 
 take her place in French prepossessions — that 
 power was Russia : and against this new country, 
 Austria, far from being dangerous, was a useful 
 barrier. Austria was a vast assemblage of people 
 unknown to each other, such as Austrians, Sclavo- 
 nians, Hungarians, Bohemians, and Italians. She 
 might easily fall to pieces of herself. If the tie were 
 enfeebled, already so weak, that enchained the 
 heterogeneous elements of which it was formed, 
 the wrecks would have a stronger tendency to 
 attach themselves to Russia than to France. It 
 was proper, therefore, to forbear striking such 
 blows at Austria ; she should even be indemnified 
 for the losses which she underwent — indemnified 
 in a manner useful to Europe, a thing not only 
 possible, but easy of fulfilment. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand proposed an ingenious combi- 
 nation, premature, however, in the existing state 
 of Europe. This was to give to Austria the banks 
 of the Danube, that is to say, Wallachia and Mol- 
 davia. These provinces, he said, worth more than 
 Italy itself, would console Austria for her losses, 
 alienate her from Russia, and render her in this 
 respect the safeguard of the Ottoman empire, as 
 
 she was already that of Europe. These provinces, 
 after having embroiled her with Russia, would 
 embroil her with England, and from that circum- 
 stance constitute her the ally of France. 
 
 In regard to Prussia, it was not requisite to be 
 troubled much, and France was at liberty to treat 
 her as she pleased. It was decidedly a false, fear- 
 ful-hearted court, on which it was impossible ever 
 to rely. In order to please it, France ought not 
 again to make an enemy of Austria, the ouly ally 
 of whom she could think in future. 
 
 Such were the opinions of M. de Talleyrand on 
 the present occasion. The advice to humour Aus- 
 tria, to console her, even to indemnify her with 
 equivalents, well chosen, was excellent ; because 
 the true policy of Napoleon should have been to 
 conquer, and then to be moderate towards the con- 
 quered, the day following the victory. But the 
 advice to treat Prussia lightly was unhappy, and 
 partook of a false system of policy, which has 
 already been designated. It had certainly been 
 desirable for France to have had it in her power 
 to give the provinces of the Danube to Austria, 
 and to make her consider them as an indemnifica- 
 tion sufficient for her losses in Italy ; but it is 
 doubtful whether she should have lent herself to 
 such a combination, because Wallachia and Mol- 
 davia, in alienating Austria from Russia and Eng- 
 land, would have placed her in dependence upon 
 France. It is, besides, very doubtful if it was at 
 that moment as possible to distribute the European 
 territory as freely as it was done at Tilsit two years 
 subsequently. But, however that may be, it was 
 necessary to resign herself, in wishing to be domi- 
 nant in Italy, to the encounter of an enemy in 
 Austria, in whatever way it might be attempted 
 to deal with her ; and then what ally would there 
 be to choose ? It has been said already, more than 
 once, that embroiled with England through the de- 
 sire of equality on the seas, with Russia from the 
 desire to be predominant on the continent, unable 
 to draw any benefit from Spain so completely dis- 
 organized, what remained but Prussia— Prussia, 
 vacillating it is true, but more through the scruples 
 of its sovereign than the natural falseness of its 
 cabinet ; Prussia having no interest against France, 
 when she had not yet obtained the Rhenish pro- 
 vinces, already compromised in the French system, 
 having her hands full of the spoils of the church 
 received from France, not asking any thing better 
 than to receive more, and ready to accept that 
 conquest which would for ever bind her to the 
 policy of France. 
 
 It was a serious error, therefore, not to treat 
 Austria with lenity, and also to think that it would 
 be possible to attach her surely and strongly, so 
 much so that there would have 
 ill-treating or neglecting Prussia. 
 
 Napoleon did not share in the errors of M. de 
 Talleyrand, but he committed others from that 
 passion for domineering, which the hatred of his 
 enemies and the prodigious success of his armies 
 began to excite in him beyond all reasonable 
 limits. 
 
 He had not sought a continental quarrel ; they 
 had, on the contrary, to divert him from his great 
 enterprise against England, declared war against 
 him. Those who had commenced this war, and 
 had sustained the worst of it, ought, according to 
 
 been no danger in
 
 1805. \ 
 December. ( 
 
 Sacrifices made by 
 Austria. 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 Napoleon seeks German 
 alliances. 
 
 87 
 
 him, to suffer the consequences. He determined, 
 
 therefore, by this peace to obtain tlie complement 
 of Italy, that is to say, the Venetian states actually 
 in the possession of Austria, and further the defi- 
 nitive settlement of the Germanic questions for 
 the advantage of his allies, Bavaria, Baden, and 
 Wnrtemb 
 
 Upon these two points Napoleon was absolute in 
 his determination, and be was not wrong to be so. 
 Venice was necessary to him, Friuli, [stria, and 
 Dalmatia, in a word, as far as the Julian Alps and 
 the Adriatic, with its two shores, which secured to 
 him an influence upon the Ottoman empire. In 
 
 1 to Germany, he wished to confine Austria 
 to her natural frontier, the Inn and Suiza, taking 
 from her the t> rritories which she pons seed in 
 Suabia. and which had been qualified under tin- 
 title of ** Exterior Austria" — territories which 
 
 . on h r part, only a means of annoying the 
 German allies of Prance, and enabling her to make, 
 when she pleased, her military preparations upon 
 the Upper Danube. He would take from her the 
 communications of the Tyrol with the lake of Con- 
 
 • and Switzerland, or, in other words, the 
 
 Vorarlberg. 11 • even wished, if it were possible, 
 
 to take from her the Tyrol, which gave her pi 
 
 sion of the Alps, and always a free passage into 
 
 tut this last point was difficult to obtain, 
 
 • Tyrol was an old pose ssion of Austria, 
 
 it- to her Affections as useful to her interests. 
 It was making Austria submit to the loss of 
 4.000,000 of her subjects out of 24,000,000, and of 
 15 <> 10,000 out of 103,000,000 of revenue. These, 
 
 fore, were cruel sacrifices to demand of her. 
 With all which he took from Austria in Ger- 
 many, Napoleon prepared to complete the patri- 
 mony of the three German states which had 
 his auxiliaries, Bavaria, Bad«n, and Wurtemberg. 
 llis intention was to manage by these three - 
 
 to have an influence on the diet, a road to the 
 libit, in a declared manner, that 
 
 liance was beneficial to those who had em- 
 
 i it. 
 lie thus intended to settle favourably for those 
 the question of the immediaf 
 bility, ar.d to abolish that nobility which e? 
 them enemies in their own dominions. He equally 
 li the questions of sovereignty, 
 and to suppress by that means a number of these 
 of a feudal character, very slavish ami very burden- 
 ■ for the Germani 
 
 ■ n prepared finally to attach to hi. 
 
 utliern Germany, and t 
 to a bond of benefit that arising from the tie of 
 ma t ri m o n y. Princes and princesses were ■ 
 
 in order to unite with the members of his 
 •v. lb- reek I upon finding them in Ger- 
 many, and en thus uniting to princely establish- 
 
 influence of family alliane 
 prirj . uharnow was dear to his 
 
 heart lb- had made bim viceroy of Italy; be 
 
 1 t , find hon a wife. He BMl I H 
 upon tie- d lUglll r of lie- elector of I a re- 
 
 markable princt SS, ami worthy of him for whom 
 ■he was destim d. As he n served the larger part 
 
 f t), ile I Which the 
 
 situation and tie- danger* of that electorate fully 
 .1, lie wished that tins part, of the spoils 
 
 should be the sett], limit of th« Fr> ncfa priic 
 
 But the princess Augusta was promised to the 
 heir of Baden, and her mother, the electress of 
 Bavaria, the violent enemy of France, alleged this 
 engagement in order to repel an alliance which was 
 repugnant to her prejudices. General Tiiiard 
 having contracted intimacies with several petty 
 German courts, when he served in the army of 
 Conde', had been sen! to Munich and Baden, in 
 order to remove the obstacles which opposed the 
 projected unions. This officer, a clever negotiator, 
 had made the countess of lloehberg of service to 
 him ; she had been united by a left-handed mar- 
 riage with the reiening elector of Baden, and she 
 therefore had need of the services of France in 
 getting her children acknowledged. By the influ- 
 ence of this personage, he had obtained of the 
 court of Baden a very delicate proceeding, which 
 consisted in getting it to refrain from all further 
 dffrigns on the hand of the princess Augusta of 
 Bavaria. This being done, the elector and elect- 
 of Bavaria remained without a pretext for 
 refusing an alliance, which brought them a settle- 
 ment in value so great as that of the Tyrol and a 
 pari of Suabia. 
 
 This was not the only German union contem- 
 plated by Napoleon. The heir of Baden, from 
 whom the princess Augusta of Bavaria had been 
 taken, now remained to be married elsewhere. 
 Napoleon designed Stephanie de Beauhamois for 
 him, a lady gifted with grace and intellect, and 
 whom he was about to create an imperial princess. 
 He ordered general Thiard to conclude this second 
 marriage. Finally, the old duke of Wurtemberg 
 had a daughter, the princess Catherine, of whom 
 since that time misfortune has displayed the noble 
 qualities. Napoleon wished to obtain her for his 
 brother Jerome. But the tie' contracted by him 
 in America, without the authority of his family, 
 was an obstacle which it had not yet been possible 
 to remove. It was needful therefore to wait some 
 time longer before this last establishment could be 
 formed. To all these aggrandizements of territory 
 that he prepared tor the houses of Bavaria, Wur- 
 temberg, and Baden, Napoleon designed to add 
 the title of king, leaving to these houses the 
 places they possessed in tin- Germanic confedera- 
 tion. 
 
 These w ire the advantages which Napoleon 
 wished to draw from his last victories. To exact 
 tie- whole o! Italy was on Ins part a natural 
 
 quence. To seek in the Austrian | ma in 
 
 Suabia tie- means . i aggrandizing the prinoee his 
 
 was well arranged; because in keeping back 
 
 Austria behind the Inn, the alliance of France 
 manifestly rendered useful. To take the Vor- 
 arlberg from Austria to give it to Bavaria was 
 still (I ' "as thus separated from Swit- 
 
 zerland. But to take from it the Tyrol, alt!] 
 in regard to Italy this was a good combination, it 
 
 was but. to accumulate in the In ait of Austria im- 
 placable resentments ; it was to reduce her to 
 despair, concealed at the moment onlj to bural 
 forth soon r or Ian r ; it «as from that to con- 
 demn oneself more than ever to a cautious policy, 
 skilful in finding and keeping alliances, since the 
 principal power ol the continent bad been thus 
 made an irreconeileable enemy. To settle the 
 question of the imm ed ia t e nobility, and several 
 
 Other feudal questions, infill have been a U
 
 88 
 
 Impolicy of the German 
 alliances. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Cessions of Austria. 
 
 / 1805. 
 1 December. 
 
 simplification relative to the interior organization 
 of Germany ; but to aggrandize in an extraordi- 
 nary manner the princes of Baden, Bavaria, and 
 Wurtemberg, to ally them with France to such a 
 point as to make them be regarded with suspicion 
 in Germany, was to create for them a false posi- 
 tion, from which they would one day be tempted to 
 break away, by becoming unfaithful to their pro- 
 tector. It was to make enemies of all the German 
 princes not so favoured ; it was to wound Austria 
 in a new mode, already wounded in so many places, 
 and what was still more vexatious, to disoblige 
 Prussia herself ; finally, it was to mingle much 
 more than was suitable, or becoming, in the affairs 
 of Germany, and to prepare for oneself great jea- 
 lousies and petty ingratitudes. Napoleon ought 
 not to have forgotten that he had pointed cannon 
 against the gates of Stuttgard in order to get 
 them opened ; that it was requisite for him to ob- 
 tain the aid nearly at the same moment of a strange 
 woman to obtain a marriage with Baden; and al- 
 most to snatch his daughter from the elector of 
 Bavaria, who had been only obtained by presenting 
 him the keys of the Tyrol in one hand, and the 
 sword of Fiance in the other. 
 
 Napoleon therefore overstepped the true measure 
 of French policy in Germany, by creating allies too 
 far detached from the German system, and unsafe, 
 because their position was false. But it is difficult to 
 be moderate in victory; and then he was a new 
 monarch. He was an excellent head of a family, 
 and he wanted alliances and marriages. 
 
 Such were the ideas that served for the founda- 
 tion of the instructions left for M. de Talleyrand for 
 the negotiation carrying on with M. Giulay and 
 prince Lichtenstein. Napoleon added one condi- 
 tion to the advantage of the army, which to him 
 was not less dear than his brothers and nieces ; he 
 demanded 1 00 000, 000 f., for the purpose of form- 
 ing a provision, not only for the officers of all 
 ranks, but also for the widows and children of 
 those who had fallen in battle. Without loss of 
 time he signed three treaties of alliance with Ba- 
 den, Wurtemberg, and Bavaria. He gave to the 
 house of Baden the Ortenau and a part of the Bris- 
 gau, several towns tin the shore of the lake of Con- 
 stance, that is to say, 113,000 inhabitants, which 
 increased one-fourth the territories of that house. 
 He gave to the house of Wurtemberg the rest of 
 Brisgau and considerable portions of Suabia, in 
 other words, 183,000 inhabitants, which formed an 
 augmentation of one-fourth, and carried up the 
 principality to nearly a million of inhabitants. He 
 gave lastly to Bavaria, the Vorarlberg, the bishop- 
 rics of Eichstiidt and of Passau, recently attri- 
 buted to the elector of Salzburg, all Austrian 
 Suabia, the city and bishopric of Augsburg, or in 
 other words, 1,000.000 of inhabitants, which raised 
 Bavaria from 2,000,000 to 3,000.000, adding a 
 third to her possessions. The march of the nego- 
 tiations with Austria did not allow of any mention 
 being yet made of the Tyrol. 
 
 To these princes was also attributed all the rights 
 of sovereignty over the immediate nobility, and 
 they were freed from certain servile feudal obliga- 
 tions to which the emperor of Germany asserted 
 a right over portions of their territories. 
 
 The elector of Baden having the modesty to 
 refuse the title of king, as too superior to his re- 
 
 venues, he retained his title of elector : but the 
 title of king was immediately conferred upon the 
 electors of Bavaria and Wurtemberg. 
 
 In return for these advantages, these three 
 princes engaged themselves to make war in con- 
 cert with France at any time she would have to 
 sustain it in support of her actual state, and in any 
 that might result from the treaty about to be con- 
 cluded with Austria. France on her side engaged 
 herself, whenever found needful, to take up arms 
 to support these princes in their newly-acquired 
 position. 
 
 These treaties were signed on the 10th, 12th, 
 and 20th of December. General Thiard took them 
 when lie took his departure to negotiate the pro- 
 jected marriages. 
 
 A portion of the territories of Austria had thus 
 been disposed of in advance, without any agree- 
 ment with Austria. But the disposer of them 
 gave himself no great concern about the conse- 
 quences to which the act might expose him. 
 
 Napoleon, after attending to his wounded, and 
 after sending off to Vienna those at least who were 
 capable of being removed there, after having sent 
 off to France the prisoners and the cannon taken 
 from the enemy, quitted Briinn, leaving to M. de 
 Talleyrand there the task of debating the condi- 
 tions agreed upon with M. Giulay and prince Lich- 
 tenstein. He was impatient to reach Vienna, in 
 order to have a long conversation with M. Haug- 
 witz, and to penetrate wholly into the secret of 
 Prussia. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand entered immediately into con- 
 ferences with the two Austrian negotiators. They 
 loudly remonstrated when they became acquainted 
 with the pretensions of the French minister ; and 
 he had not yet explained himself in regard to the 
 Tyrol. He had said nothing, but of the desire to 
 keep Austria from Switzerland and Italy, in order 
 to cut short all causes of rivalry and war. 
 
 The prince of Lichtenstein and M. de Giulay 
 made known, on their side, the conditions upon 
 which Austria was ready to consent. She clearly 
 saw she must relinquish the states of Venice, the 
 possessions which she had in Suabia, and the liti- 
 gious pretensions between the empire and the Ger- 
 man princes. She consented, therefore, to cede 
 Venice and the terra firma as far as the Izonzo ; 
 tut she wished to keep Istria, Albania, and to gain 
 Ragusa, as outlets necessary to Hungary. They 
 were, besides, the last remains of the acquisitions 
 obtained by the reigning emperor, and he made it 
 a point of honour to hold them. 
 
 As to the Tyrol, she was almost disposed to give 
 that up, by the transference of it to the actual 
 elector of Salzburg, the archduke Ferdinand, who 
 had been indemnified for Tuscany in 1303, by the; 
 bishopric of Salzburg and the provostship of Berch- 
 tolsgaden. She wanted Salzburg and Berchtols- 
 gaden in exchange ; and she further required that 
 the Vorarlberg, Lindau, and the borders of the 
 lake of Constance, should belong to the same duke, 
 as appendages of the Tyrol. 
 
 By this arrangement Austria would have ac- 
 quired the Tyrol with the Vorarlberg in the per- 
 son of one of the archdukes. 
 
 For the rest she consented to cede her pos- 
 sessions in Suabia with the Ortenau, the Bris- 
 gau, and the bishoprics of Eichstiidt and Passau.
 
 1805. \ 
 December. I 
 
 Austria demands 
 Hanover. 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 Napoleon negotiates 
 with Prussia. 
 
 89 
 
 But she demanded for the princes of her house, 
 that thus lost their possessions, a great indemnifi- 
 cation, which will appear singular enough in iis 
 
 conception, and sufficiently proves what were the 
 sentiments which animated one towards the other, 
 the members of the European coalition. She de- 
 manded Hanover ! 
 
 Thus the patrimony of the king of England, 
 that they had blamed Napoleon for offering to 
 Prussia, and Prussia for accepting of Napoleon, — 
 that Russia herself had ottered to Prussia to de- 
 tach her from Prance, — Austria, in her turn, 
 demanded for an archduke. 
 
 If. de Talleyrand, overjoyed at hearing such de- 
 mands made, uttered no remonstrance when (hey 
 were spoken, but promised to communicate them 
 ipoleon. 
 
 Lastly, as to the 100,000,000f. of contribution, 
 Austria declared the impossibility of her paying 
 lO.O(l(),000f., so much was she reduced. She 
 ottered as a compensation for that sum, to deliver 
 over the immense materiel in arms and ammuni- 
 tion of every kind which were in the Venetian 
 states, and which she would have a right to bring 
 away, if she had not stipulated to leave them. 
 
 After warm discussions, which lasted only three 
 or four days, seeing on all sides that it was very 
 desirable to conclude the negotiation, it was agreed 
 that the prince of Lichtenstein should proceed to 
 the chateau of Holitsch, in order to receive fresh 
 instructions, those of which he was the holder not 
 authorizing him to subscribe to the sacrifices de- 
 manded by Napoleon. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand was to remain at Briinn until 
 bis return, it was a great fault in the Auatrians 
 thus to lose time, because that which passed at 
 Vienna between Napoleon and M. Haugwitz, went 
 to n nder their situation still worse. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand, who corresponded daily with 
 Vienna, had made known to Napoleon, that he 
 was not near the conclusion of the Austrian 
 negotiation-. This resistance, which would have 
 merited W rious attention if it had been com- 
 bined with the resistance of Prussia, annoyed 
 Napoleon. The archdukes were drawing near 
 Vienna with 100.1)00 men. The Prussian troops 
 mbling m Saxony ami Franconia ; the 
 Anglo-Russians advancing on Hanover. These 
 united circumstances did not dismay the victor of 
 Austerlitz. He was ready, it it was necessary, to 
 fight the archdukes at Presburg, and then to throw 
 bimsell upon Prussia by Bohemia. But this would 
 recommence war with coalesced Europe, this 
 
 time entire, and WOU d in itself be a VI ry danger- 
 ous game ; and it would not be w ise to expose him- 
 self thus for a few square leagues of territory, 
 more or leas. Although the situation of Napoleon 
 
 was thai of a conqueror all powerful, il did not the 
 
 h-s behove him to conduct himself like an able 
 
 politician. It was PnUMM lhat bis political skill 
 
 was most interested to Keep in view, because by 
 
 profiting from the terror with which be had in- 
 spired her by the later events of the war, he would 
 be able to detach her from the coalition, bind hi r 
 
 again to France, and add to the victory of Abater- 
 
 lit/, a diplomatic victory not less decisive. He was 
 thus naturally impatient to see and confer with 
 M. Haugwitz. 
 
 M. Haugwitz, who had come to propose term to 
 
 Napoleon, under the false appearance of an officious 
 mediation, found him triumphant and nearly master 
 of Europe. Without doubt, with character, union, 
 and constancy, it had been possible still to make 
 head against the French emperor. But the Russians 
 had passed from the delirium of their pride to de- 
 spondency at their defeat ; Austria, struck down, 
 was undi r the feet of her vanquisher ; Prussia 
 trembled only at the idea of war. And then all 
 the coalesced powers wore ill distrust of the others, 
 and communicated little together. M. Haugwitz 
 visited without ceasing and exclusively the French 
 legation, pushing his flattery so far as to wear every 
 day in Vienna the grand cordon of the legion of 
 honour 1 . He never spoke of Austerlitz but with 
 admiration, as well as of the genius of Napoleon, and 
 was not without feeling all this time a strong degree 
 of anxiety about the welcome he should receive. 
 
 Napoleon arrived at Vienna Oil the 13th of De- 
 cember, and the same evening sent for M. Haug- 
 witz to Schonbrunn, and gave him an audience in 
 the cabinet of Maria Theresa. He did not yet 
 know of all which had taken place at Potsdam ; he 
 knew more, however, than when he last saw M. 
 Haugwitz at Briinn, the evening before the day of 
 Austerlitz. He had been informed of a treaty 
 signed on the 3rd of November, by which Prussia 
 engaged herself to take ultimately a part in the; 
 coalition. He showed warmth, and was quickly irri- 
 tated, but he often affected more anger than he really 
 felt. Trying on this occasion to intimidate his visitor, 
 he reproached M. Haugwitz that he had — he, the 
 minister and friend of peace, he who placed his 
 glory upon the system of neutrality, who had even 
 wi.-hed to convert that system of neutrality into 
 a scheme for an alliance with France — he re- 
 proached him for having the weakness to ally 
 himself at Potsdam with Russia and Austria, and 
 with having contracted with these powers engage- 
 ments that could do no other than lead to war. 
 He complained bitterly id' the duplicity of the 
 Prussian cabinet, of the hesitation of the king, of 
 the influence of women in his court; and gave 
 M. Haugwitz to understand, that now being dis- 
 embarrassed of the enemies he had upon his 
 hands, he was able to do what he liked with 
 
 Prussia. Then, with vehemence, he demanded 
 
 what the Prussian cabinet desired, which system 
 it reckoned upon following ? and appeared to re- 
 quire upon all these questions, explanations com- 
 pli te, categorical, and immediate. 
 
 \1. Haugwitz, at first agitated, soon recovered 
 
 himself, because he possessed as mtiell coolness 
 BS inli lligence. In the midst of all this rude 
 
 ii, he thought he could perceive that Napo- 
 leon, at the bottom, wished for an accommodation, 
 ami that if In- broke very quickly the > ngagementa 
 entered into with the coalition, this victor, In ap- 
 
 pi arance so angry, would consent to lie appeased. 
 
 M. Haugwitz then gave adroit, specious, fawn- 
 ing explanations, in relation to the circumstances 
 which had governed and draw n away Prussia ; spoke 
 
 of those who had the weakness to he mastered by 
 pure accident, so tar as to abandon the System 
 
 which was most convenient for their country ; and 
 
 finished by insinuating; eh arh enough, (hat if Na- 
 poleon Wished if, all OOUld be quickly repaired, 
 
 1 It wan M. ile Talk M.iiul wlm recounted these detnils in 
 loi. letters to Napoleon. Author** Nott* 

 
 90 
 
 Base conduct of 
 Prussia. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Stipulaions of the 
 Prussian treaty. 
 
 / 1805. 
 1 December. 
 
 and that even the alliance which had so frequently 
 failed, it was possible might become the instanta- 
 neous price of an immediate reconciliation. 
 
 Napoleon, looking into the soul of M. Haugwitz 
 with one of his penetrating glances, recognized 
 that the Prussians demanded nothing better than 
 to turn round and come back to him. To all the 
 blows he had already struck Europe, he was de- 
 lighted to add a stroke of clever maliciousness. 
 He instantly offered to M. Haugwitz the proposal 
 which Duroc had been ordered to make at Berlin, 
 that is to say, the formal alliance of France with 
 Prussia, on the condition so many times renewed 
 of the territory of Hanover. This was most assur- 
 edly to trespass deeply upon the honour of the 
 Prussian cabinet, because Napoleon proposed to 
 it, for the sake of money it may be said, to abandon 
 the ties recently contracted at the tomb of the 
 great Frederick ; he made the proposal, after 
 Prussia had at Potsdam deserted France for the 
 advantage of Europe, that at Vienna she should 
 desert Europe for France. Napoleon did not 
 hesitate ; and while announcing the proposition, he 
 kept his eyes a long while fixed upon the counte- 
 nance of M. Haugwitz. 
 
 The Prussian minister showed himself neither 
 indignant nor surprised. He, on the contrary, 
 appeared enchanted to make his report of a 
 French alliance and Hanover, which was the 
 system for which he had a predilection. It is 
 proper to remark, as an excuse for M. Haugwitz, 
 that leaving Berlin at the moment when he flat- 
 tered himself that Napoleon had not arrived as 
 far as Vienna, he had seen, even under this sup- 
 position, the duke of Brunswick and marshal Mol- 
 lendorf uneasy at the consequences of a war against 
 France, and insisted that it should not be declared 
 before the end of December. But Napoleon had 
 conquered Vienna, crushed the coalesced powers at 
 Austerlitz, and it was then only the 13th of Decem- 
 ber. M. Haugwitz had good ground to fear that 
 Napoleon might, being a conqueror, fling himself 
 upon Bohemia, and fall like a thunderbolt upon 
 Berlin. He was therefore fortunate in his own 
 mind to terminate by a conquest a situation which 
 threatened to end in a disaster. As to his fidelity 
 towards his colleagues, he had only treated them 
 as they had treated one another. It is requisite 
 too, above all, to attribute the conduct which he 
 held at Vienna less to him than to those who in 
 his absence had led the Prussians into a strait 
 without an outlet. He accepted, therefore, the 
 tender of Napoleon without taking any further 
 time for consideration. 
 
 Napoleon, satisfied to find his idea realized so 
 fully, said to M. Haugwitz, "Very well; it is a 
 thing decided — you shall have Hanover. You 
 hand over to me in return a few points of territory 
 of which I have need, and you will sign with 
 France a treaty of offensive and defensive alliance. 
 But on your arrival at Berlin you will impose silence 
 on the court circles ; you will treat them with 
 the contempt tiny merit — you will make the policy 
 of the minister predominate over that of the court." 
 
 These allusions of Napoleon were in reference 
 to the queen, prince Louis, and those around them. 
 He enjoined it upon Duroc to confer with M. 
 Haugwitz, and to get ready immediately the draft 
 of the treaty. 
 
 This arrangement was scarcely concluded, when 
 Napoleon delighted with his own work, wrote to 
 M. de Talleyrand to enjoin him to settle nothing 
 yet finally at Briinn, to draw out the negotiation 
 at least for some days longer, because he was cer- 
 tain of finishing with Prussia, which he had over- 
 come at the price of Hanover, and he had nothing 
 more to make him thenceforward uneasy, neither 
 the menaces of the Anglo-Russians against Hol- 
 land, nor the movements of the archdukes on 
 the side of Hungary. He added that he would 
 now retain the Tyrol peremptorily, the war con- 
 tribution more resolutely than ever ; and that for 
 the rest he, Talleyrand, must leave Briinn and 
 come to Vienna. The negotiation was too far off 
 from him at Biiinn, he wished it to be nearer, as 
 for instance at Presburg. 
 
 It was on the 13th of December that Napoleon 
 saw M. Haugwitz. The treaty was ready drawn 
 out on the 14th, and on the 15th signed at Sehon- 
 brunn. The following are the principal conditions : 
 
 France, considering Hanover as her own con- 
 quest, ceded it to Prussia. Prussia, in return, 
 ceded to Bavaria the marquisate of Anspach, that 
 same province which it was so difficult not to pass 
 over when there was war with Austria. She ceded 
 to France, further, the principality of Neufchatel, 
 and the duchy of Cleves containing the fortress of 
 Wesel. The two powers guaranteed to each other 
 all their possessions, which signified that Prussia 
 guaranteed to France its existing limits, with the 
 new acquisitions made in Italy and the new ar- 
 rangements concluded in Germany ; and that France 
 guaranteed to Prussia her actual state, with the 
 additions of 1803 and the new addition of Hanover. 
 
 It was a true treaty of alliance, offensive and 
 defensive, which also bore the formal title — a title 
 repudiated in all the anterior treaties. 
 
 Napoleon had wanted Neufchatel, Cleves, and, 
 above all, Anspach, which he intended to exchange 
 for the grand-duchy of Berg, in order to have 
 some endowments to distribute amongst his most 
 meritorious servants. These were small sacrifices 
 for Prussia, and to him valuable means of recom- 
 pense; because, in his vast designs, he wished not 
 to be great without making all around him great — 
 his ministers and generals, as well as his relations. 
 This negotiation was a master-stroke of policy ; it 
 covered the coalesced powers with confusion J it 
 placed Austria at the discretion of Napoleon; and, 
 above all, it secured to France the sole desirable 
 and possible alliance, the alliance of Prussia. But 
 it contained a serious engagement — that of sepa- 
 rating Hanover from England — an engagement 
 which, some day, might prove very burdensome; 
 because it might be apprehended that, at some 
 future time, it would prevent a maritime peace, if, 
 in any time, more or less distant, circumstanses 
 rendered such a peace possible. 
 
 Napoleon wrote soon after to M. de Talleyrand, 
 that the treaty with Prussia was signed, and that 
 he must quit Briinn if the Austrians did not accept 
 the conditions which he intended to impose upon 
 them. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand, who wished the peace had 
 been already concluded, and who before all things 
 was repugnant to the ill-treatment of Austria, was 
 very deeply mortified. As to the Austrian nego- 
 tiators, they were struck down. They brought
 
 1805. \ 
 December./ 
 
 The Neapolitans break 
 t.'ieir treaty with 
 Frmnee. 
 
 AUSTERLITZ. 
 
 Territorial stipulations 
 with Austria. 
 
 91 
 
 from Holitsch fresh concessions, but not so exten- 
 sive as those which were demanded. They knew 
 that Prussia, in order to secure Hanover, expi Bed 
 
 them to the ko8a of the Tyrol J and. despite the 
 
 danger of BtiU farther delay, and of seeing Napo- 
 leon make new demands — a danger of which M. 
 do Talleyrand endeavoured to make them sensible 
 — they were obliged to refer to their sovereign. 
 
 They separated, therefore, at Briinn, to give 
 each other the meeting again at l'resburg. An 
 abode at Briinn was become unhealthy, from the 
 exhalations arising from the ground tilled with 
 bodies, and a town crowded with hospitals; 
 
 M. de Talleyrand returned to Vienna, and found 
 Napoleon inclined to renew the war if the Aus- 
 trians did not yield. He had in fact commanded 
 general Songis to repair the mat&rul of the artil- 
 lery, and to increase it at the expense of the 
 arsenal of Vienna. He had even sent a severe 
 reprimand to Fouehe*, the minister of police, for 
 having prematurely announced peace as certain. 
 
 One circumstance of very recent occurrence 
 had contributed to make him yet more angry. He 
 had been informed of the events that had passed 
 at Naples. That insensate court, after having 
 stipulated a treaty of neutrality — it is true, by the 
 advice of Russia — had on a sudden thrown off the 
 mask, and taken up arms. In learning the battle 
 of Trafalgar and the engagements contracted by 
 . Prussia, queen Caroline had believed that Napo- 
 leon was lost, and decided to call in the Russians. 
 On the 19th of November, a naval Bquadron had 
 landed on the coast of Naples 12,000 Russians and 
 W000 English. The court of Naples engaged itself 
 to join 40,000 Neapolitans to the Anglo Russian 
 army. The design was to raise up Italy in the 
 French rear, while Massena was at the foot of the 
 Julian Aips and Napoleon near the frontiers of 
 ancient Poland. This court of emigrants had 
 yielded to the ordinary weakness of emigrants, 
 which is, to believe all tiny wish to be true, and 
 nduct themselves accordingly. 
 
 Napoleon, when he became acquainted with this 
 scandalous breach of a solemn pledge, was at 
 once irritated and satisfied. His determination was 
 taken : the queen of Naples should pay with her 
 realm for the conduct she had punned, and 
 a Crown vacant which would he very will 
 
 of the Bonaparte family. No one 
 in Europe would he able to charge with inji 
 
 ign act which struck at tliis branch of 
 the house of Bourbon ; and as to its natural pro- 
 tector ■ and .V: liia, there was wry little 
 need to care about a reckoning with th m. 
 
 Still at Briinn, the Austrian negotiators had at- 
 tempted to g' t inserted in the treat) of |" ace some 
 article which should shield the court of Napli 
 which it hi-ld the secret, but of which Napoleon 
 ben ignorant, lint be, being (-nee informed 
 of it, gave an order to af. do Talleyrand to listen 
 
 to nothing upon tin- subject. "1 shall he too • 
 
 said he, '• if l bear the outrages of this miserable 
 court of Naples. You know with what generosity 
 I conducted mj elf towards it; but that is now 
 fiver. Queen Carol ins ceases to reign in Italy. 
 Whatever may happen you will not sneak of it in 
 
 tin- treaty. It is my absolute will." 
 
 The negotiators "awaited If. dS Talleyrand at 
 
 Presburg. He proceeded there. They no go ti s t sd 
 
 at the advanced posts of two armies. The arch- 
 dukes had approached Presbnrg. They were two 
 inarches from Vienna. Napoleon had united the 
 larger part i>\' his troops. lie hail brought up 
 .Massena by the route of Styria. Near 200,000 
 French were concentrated around the capital 
 
 of Austria; Napoleon, extremely angry, had deter- 
 mined to commence hostilities. But to suffer this 
 
 would have 1 n too great a folly on the part 
 
 of the court of Vienna, before all, after the defection 
 of Prussia, and in the existing state of despondency 
 of the Russian cabinet. However gnat were the 
 sacrifices exacted, the Austrian cabinet, although 
 at first affecting to repel the idea, was resigned to 
 submit to them. 
 
 It was then agreed, that Austria should abandon 
 the states of Venice, with the provinces of the 
 terra firma } such as Friuli, [stria, and Dalmatia. 
 Tims Trieste and the mouths of the Cattaro would 
 to France. These territories were to be 
 united to the kingdom of Italy. The separation of 
 the crowns of France and Italy was stipulated 
 anew, but with a vague mode of expression, which 
 I ; the faculty of deferring that separation until a 
 general peace, or as long as to the death of Na- 
 poleon. 
 
 Bavaria obtained the Tyrol, the object of its in- 
 cessant wishes, the German Tyrol as well as that 
 of Italy. Austria, in return, received the princi- 
 palities of Salzburg and of Berohtolsgaden, given 
 in 1803 to the archduke Ferdinand, the former 
 duke of Tuscany, Bavaria indemnified the arch- i 
 duke with the ecclesiastical principality of Wiirz- 
 burg, which she had equally received in 1803, in 
 consequence of the secularizations. 
 
 The territory of Austria was thus better marked 
 out ; but she lost with the Tyrol every influence 
 over Switzerland and Italy, while the archduke 
 Ferdinand, transferred to the midst of Franconia, 
 ceased to lie under her immediate influence. The 
 state, which was granted to that prince, was no 
 more as before a complete annexation to the Rus- 
 sian monarchy. 
 
 To this iml mnity, found in the county of Salz- 
 burg, was added, for Austria, the secularization of 
 th" possessions of the Teutonic order, and their 
 Conversion into hereditary property, in behalf of 
 any of the archdukes whom she might designate. 
 
 importance of tie Baions consisted in 
 
 a population of 190,000 inhabitants, and a revenue 
 of 160,000 florins 
 
 The electoral title of the archduke Ferdinand, 
 with his vote in tin- college of electors, was main- 
 tained, and transferred from the principality of 
 Salzburg to the principality of WUrzburg. 
 
 Austria, recognizing the royalty of the electors 
 of vVurtemberg and Bavaria, consented that the 
 prerogatives of the sovereigns of Baden, of W nr- 
 temberg, and Bavaria, over the immediate nobility 
 
 of their states, should be the same as tlm e of the 
 
 emperor over the immediate nobility of hi-. This 
 
 jo fact, the suppression of this nobility in 
 
 those states In question ; I 
 
 the emperor over that nobility being complete, 
 
 those o| the time princes bees SO iii an equal 
 
 if gree. 
 Finally, the imperial chancery renounced all 
 of feudal origin ovi r the if: favoured 
 
 by France.
 
 92 
 
 Enormous loss 
 of Austria. 
 
 Interview of Napo- 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, leoi. and the 
 
 archduke Charles. 
 
 1806. 
 January. 
 
 The approbation of the diet, however, was for- 
 mally reserved. France effected in this way a 
 social revolution in a large part of Germany; since 
 she centralized power there for the advantage of 
 the territorial sovereign, and made to cease all 
 dependence upon external feudality. She con- 
 tinued also the system of secularization; because 
 with the Teutonic order there disappeared one of 
 the two last ecclesiastical principalities then sub- 
 sisting, and there remained none but that of the 
 prince-archchancellor, the ecclesiastical elector of 
 Ratisbon. Conformably to tliat which had been 
 done before, this secularization was also effected 
 for the advantage of one of the principal German 
 courts. 
 
 Austria, definitively excluded from Italy, de- 
 spoiled, by losing the Tyrol, of the dominant 
 position which she had in the Alps, thrown be- 
 hind the Inn, deprived of all her advanced posts 
 in Suabia, and of the feudal ties which held the 
 southern states of Germany in subjection to her, 
 had, at the same time, sustained an enormous loss 
 both materially and politically. She lost, as be- 
 fore mentioned, 4,000,000 of subjects out of 
 24,000 000, and J 5,000.000 florins in revenue out 
 of 103,000,000!. 
 
 The treaty was well calculated for the repose of 
 Italy and Germany. There was but one objection 
 which could be made against it, and this was, that 
 the vanquished, too severely treated in it, would 
 not submit sincerely to its conditions. It remained 
 for Napoleon, by great skill and well-managed 
 alliances, to leave Austria without hope or means 
 of revolt against the decisions of the victor. 
 
 At the moment for signing such a treaty, the 
 hands of the plenipotentiaries hesitated. They 
 resisted upon the questions, the war contribution 
 of 100,000,000f., and Naples. Napoleon had re- 
 duced the contribution to 50.0000,0001'., on account 
 of the sums which had already been taken from 
 the Austrian chests. In regard to Naples, he 
 would not hear it mentioned. 
 
 They conceived, in order to overcome him, a 
 measure lull of courtesy, and that was, to send to 
 him the archduke Charles, a prince whose charac- 
 ter and talents he admired, and whom he had 
 never met. They requested him to receive the 
 archduke at Vienna, and he consented readily, 
 but was resolved to give up nothing. They ex- 
 pected that this prince, one of the first generals in 
 Europe, laying open to Napoleon the state of the 
 resources of which the Austrian monarchy was 
 possessed, expressing to him the opinions of the 
 army, ready to sacrifice itself to repel a humiliating 
 peace, adding to such generous protestations adroit 
 remonstrances, he might perchance move Napo- 
 leon. Thus when M. de Talleyrand urged the 
 negotiators to complete the treaty, they replied 
 that they should be charged with having betrayed 
 their country, if they put their signatures to the 
 treaty before the archduke had seen Napoleon. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand, however, having taken upon 
 himself to give up 10,000,0001'. of the war contri- 
 bution, they signed, on the 2Gth of December, the 
 treaty of Presburg, one of the most glorious that 
 
 1 The population of Austria in 1840 was 36,000,000, and 
 her revenue 140.000,000 florins, convention money. Her 
 debt seven times her revenue. Translator. 
 
 Napoleon ever concluded, and certainly the best 
 conceived; because, if France subsequently obtained 
 more territory, it was at the expense of arrange- 
 ments less agreeable to Europe, and on that ac- 
 count less durable. The Austrian negotiators 
 limited themselves to recommend, by a letter 
 signed in common, the reigning house of Naples 
 to the generosity of the conqueror. The archduke 
 saw Napoleon on the 27th, in one of the emperor's 
 residences, and was received with the respect due 
 to his rank and his renown. They conversed upon 
 the art of war, which was natural between two 
 captains of such high merit ; and the archduke 
 retired without saying a word about the affairs of 
 their respective empires. 
 
 Napoleon disposed every thing immediately after- 
 wards for quitting Vienna. He commanded that 
 the 2000 cannons and 100,000 muskets taken in 
 the arsenal of Vienna should be embarked on the 
 Danube ; he sent 150 pieces of cannon to Pahna- 
 Nova, for the defence of that important fortress. 
 He regulated the retirement of his troops in such 
 a manner that it should be performed by short 
 inarches, because he did not wish that they should 
 return as they had come, at a running pace. The 
 necessary dispositions were made upon the route, 
 that they might have an abundance of food. He 
 distributed 2,000,0001'. in gratuities to the officers 
 of every rank, in order that each might enjoy the 
 fruit of his victories immediately. Berthier was 
 ordered to watch over the return of the army to 
 the French territory. It was to leave Vienna in 
 five days, and to repass the Inn within twenty. 
 It was stipulated that the fortress of Braunau 
 should remain in the hands of the French until 
 the completion of the payment of 40,000,000f. 
 
 This done, Napoleon set out for Munich, where 
 he was received with transports of joy. The 
 Bavarians, who were one day to betray him in 
 his defeat, and reduce the French army to fight 
 its way through them at Hanau, now lavished 
 upon him their applauses, pursuing with ardent 
 curiosity the conqueror who had protected them 
 from invasion, constituted Bavaria a kingdom, and 
 enriched them with the spoils of vanquished Aus- 
 tria. Napoleon, after having attended the mar- 
 riage of Eugene de Beauharnois with the princess 
 Augusta, and after having enjoyed the happiness 
 of a son whom he loved, the admiration of a 
 people eager to behold him, and the flatteries of 
 an enemy in those of the electress of Bavaria, set 
 out for Paris, where the enthusiasm of France 
 awaited him. 
 
 A campaign of three months, in place of a war of 
 several years, as was at first feared, the continent 
 disarmed, the French empire carried to those limits 
 which it never ought to have passed, a dazzling 
 glory added to her arms, public and private credit 
 miraculously re-established, new prospects of re- 
 pose and prosperity opened to the nation, under a 
 government powerful and respected by the world; 
 this is what the people thanked him for, by a thou- 
 sand shouts of "Long live the emperor!" He 
 heard those shouts even at Strasburg, on crossing 
 the Rhine, and they accompanied him to Paris, 
 which he entered on the 2rith of January, 1806. 
 It was a return again from Marengo. Austerlitz 
 was, in fact, that for the empire which Marengo 
 had been for the consulate. Marengo had con-
 
 1S0G. \ 
 January. I 
 
 Results of ihe 
 pcaie to 
 France. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Reflections on Napoleon's 
 success. 
 
 93 
 
 Enned the consular power in the hand of Na- 
 poleon ; Ansterhti fixed the imperial crown upon 
 his head. Marengo had made Prance pass in one 
 d.iy from a threatened pneition to one which was 
 tranquil and great ; Auaterlitz, in crushing in one 
 day a formidable coalition, did not produce a less 
 important result. For reflecting and calm minds. 
 
 if there remained any in 1 1 1 « - presence of such 
 events, there was but one Bubjecf of dread, and 
 
 that was the will-known inconstancy of fortune, 
 and what was still more formidable, the weak- 
 ness of the human mind, that sum, times supports 
 adversity without giving way, but rarely sustains 
 prosperity without committing great errors. 
 
 BOOK XXIV. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 RETURN OP NAPOLEON TO PARIS. — PUBLIC JOT. — DISTRIBUTION OP THE COLOURS TAKEN FROM THE ENEMY. — 
 DECREE OF THE SENATE ORDERING THE ERECTION OF A TRIUMPHAL MONUMENT. — NAPOLEON GIVES HIS FIRST 
 i VRE TO THE FINANCES.— THE COMPANY OF UNITED MERCHANTS IS ASCERTAINED TO BE INDEBTED TO THE 
 TREASURY, IN THE SUM OF ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-ONE MILLIONS. — NAPOLEON DISCONTENTED WITH M. DE 
 KBOIS, PLACES M. MOI.LIEN IN HIS POST. — RE- 1 STA B LI SH M ENT OF CREDIT. — A FUND FORMED WITH THE 
 i oNTRIBUTIONS LEVIED IN CONQUERED COUNTRIES.— ORDERS RELATIVE TO THE RETURN OF THE ARMY, TO 
 THE OCCUPATION OF DALMATIA, AND TO THE CONQUEST OF N A PLES. — SKull EL OF PRUSSIAN AFFAIRS.— THE 
 
 RATIFICATION OF THE TREATY OF SCIION I1IIUNN GIVEN WITH RESERVATIONS. NEW MISSION OF M. HAUG- 
 
 \»1TZ TO NAPOLEON.— THE TREATY OF SCHOSBRUNN IS RE-DRAWN AT PARIS, WITH FURTHER OBLIGATIONS AND 
 LESS ADVANTAGES FOR PRUSSIA. — M. DE LUCCIIES1SI SENT TO BERLIN TO EXPLAIN THESE FRESH CHANGES. — 
 THE TREATY OP SCHOSBRUNN BECOMES THE TREATY OF PARIS, IS FINALLY RATIFIED, AND M. HAIGWITZ 
 RETURNS TO PRUSSIA. — THE ASCENDANCY OF FRANCE PREDOMINANT. — ENTRY OF JOSEPH BONAPARTE INTO 
 NAPLES. — OCCUPATION OF VENICE. — DELAYS IN RELATION TO THE DELIVERY OF DALMATIA. — THE FRENCH 
 ARMY SALTED ON THE INN, IN WAITING FOR THE DELIVERY OF DALMATIA, AND QUARTERED IN THE GERMAN 
 PROVINCES MOST CAPABLE OF SUPPORTING IT.— SUFFERINGS OF THE COUNTRIES OCCUPIED. — SITUATION OF THE 
 COURT OF PRUSSIA AFTER THE RETURN OF H. IIAUGWITZ TO BERLIN. — THE DUKE OF BRUNSWICK SENT TO ST. 
 PETERSBURG!!, TO EXPLAIN THE CONDUCT OP THE PRUSSIAN CA III NET.— STATE OF THE RUSSIAN COURT. — DIS- 
 POSITIONS OP ALEXANDER AFTER AUSTERLITZ. — RECEPTION GIVEN TO THE DUKE OF BRUNSWICK— USELESS 
 EFFORTS OP PRUSSIA, TO MAKE THE OCCUPATION OF HANOVER APPROVED BY RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. — ENGLAND 
 DECLARES WAR UPON PRUSSIA. — DEATH OF PUT, AND ACCESSION OF FOX TO THE MINISTRY. — HOPES OF PEACE. 
 —COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN MR. FOX AND M. DE TALLEYRAND. — LORD YARMOUTH SI NT TO PARIS, IN THE 
 CHARACTER OF A CONFIDENTIAL NEGOTIATOR. — n.ASIS OF A MARITIME PEACE —THE AGENTS OF AUSTRIA, IN 
 PLACE OF DELIVERING THE MOUTHS OF THE CATTARO TO FRANCE, DELIVER THEM TO THE RUSSIANS. — THREATS 
 OF NAIOLE'iN TO THE (HURT OF VIENN A, THE RUSSIAN ENVOY, M. OUBBIL, I BUT 10 PARIS, WITH THE COM- 
 MISSION TO PRIAI.ST A MOVEMENT 01 THE FRENCH ARMY AGAINST AUSTRIA, AND TO PROPOSE PEACE. — LORD 
 YARMOUTH AND M OUIIRIL NEGOTIA1I. lONJoINII.Y AT p aims —possibility OF A GENERAL PEACE. — CALCU- 
 LATION OP NAPol.l.oN TENDING ro PROTRACT TBS NEGOTIATION.- -ISTKM OF Till I'll I N , II EM FINE, llssw. 
 ROYALTIES, GRAND DCCHIKS AND DUCHIES— JOSEPH, KING OF NAPLES.- Lulls, Els,. ,H Moll l N II DISSOLU- 
 TION OB THE GIRMINIC EMPIRE.— 'CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE.— MOV I 111! FRENCH ARMY.— 
 INTERIOR ADMINISTRATION.— PUBLIC WORKS. -THE COLUMN 01 THE PLACE VF.~-1MI.MK, THE l.nl \ III , 111 1 . lit It 
 IMPIUIAI.I, Till Hull Of I II I l.lol I i:. — ROADS AND CANALS.— COUNCIL Of STATE.— CREATION OF THE isi 
 VERS1TY. — BUI, GIT Of 1806. — II E EST A 11 I.I S II M ENT OF THE SALT DUTY.— NEW sasiem Of TBI IIIMM'KV.- RK- 
 OBOABISATIOM Of THE rink of i r \ riVUATIOB Of rBI BEUOTIATIONI N I Til BUSSIA LBS BMOLAMO, 
 
 — TREATY OF PI ICB Willi RUSSIA, MG'.II, OS Till 20TH Of JULY HY M. OU II II I I..— I II I. SIGNAII 111 ,,l III! 
 TREATY HECHES LORD V.lllMIII III T, PROD, IE HIS P, , \A 1: 11 S — I.O II II L A C I, I. R I) I 1. 1. IS JOINED WITH LORD 
 
 aakmoitii DIfflCOLTIBS OF TBI RBOOTIAT10B WITH England.- some IBDIBCBBT10BI committed iiy mi i 
 
 •.OTIATORS, on THE SUBJECT Of Tin: BBSTITUTIOB 01 KABOVIB, give BIRTH TO 0B1 i 
 NESS AT BERLIN. — FALSE REPORTS, Willi II I Mill. I II 1. COUBT Of PRUSSIA. — NEW DELUSION Of THE MINDS 
 I II I PI GPL P. AT BERLIN, AND I 111 II 0L1 HOB 10 ARM. si II pill SI. AND HIS I 111 SI Ol •• 1 loll ON. B1 
 
 muM,, to nun v Tin. TBI ATT signed iiy M, oiiiril. and fBOPOBBI irisii , ,,s ditions- n , p,,i i .,s 
 
 EBFUSES TO ADMIT THEM— G I •. I II I I. T I N I, I N ( V TO W A R. — Til I. KING OF PRUSSIA DE M A S DS Til AT Til E I 111 SI 11 
 
 ARMY BB WnllKHAWS NAIOI.ION BEI'LIIS, II V Till. DEMAND Ol I WIT l.AAVll. Of TBI fBUISIAM ARMY. 
 
 PRO long I D »l 1.1 ■' D I'll iillll.ll -THE TWO I0VBBBIOHI | BOB llll II MA WAR 
 
 1,1 , I. ARID 11 El "■ I I s FBI I 1 A AM, I II I 
 
 \S'im. i: Napoleon stayed a few days at Munich, to 
 celebrate the marriage ol Bogene Beaiiharnoie with 
 the princess tuguataof Havana, while he hailed 
 one day atStnttgard and another da* :«' CHrbtrohe, 
 to receive the congratulations of his new allies, 
 
 and to conclude family alliances thi re, the people 
 
 of Paris awaited llim impatiently in order in 
 
 testify towards him their delight and admiration. 
 Pnuiee, highly satisfied mill lha progress of public 
 affairs, although taking no part in them, seamed
 
 94 
 
 Joy in the French 
 capital. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Napoleon re-enters 
 Paris. 
 
 r 1806. 
 I January. 
 
 to have found again the liveliness which it displayed 
 on the first days of the revolution, in order to 
 greet with applause the wonderful exploits of her 
 armies and of its chief Napoleon, who to the 
 genius for great things joined the art to make 
 them taking, and had sent on before him the 
 colours captured from the enemy. He had ordered a 
 distribution of them very skilfully calculated. He 
 had divided them between the senate, the tribunate, 
 the city of Paris, and the old church of Notre 
 Dame, the witness of his coronation. He had 
 given eight to the tribunate, eight to the city of 
 Paris, fifty-four to the senate, and fifty to the 
 church of Notre Dame. During the last cam- 
 paign he had constantly informed the senate of 
 all the events of the war, and the peace being 
 signed, he hastened to communicate to it by a 
 message the treaty of Presburg. He thus repaid 
 by his continual attentions the confidence of that 
 great body, and in acting in this mode, he was 
 in harmony with his policy, because he supported 
 in a high rank the old authors of the revolution, 
 that the new generation discarded willingly when it 
 was furnished with the means of doing so through 
 the elections. This was his own peculiar aristocracy, 
 and he hoped to mingle it by little and little with 
 the ancient. 
 
 These colours passed through Paris on the 1st 
 of January 1806, and were borne triumphantly 
 through the streets of that capital, to be placed 
 under the roofs of the edifices which were to 
 receive them. An immense crowd attended to 
 view the spectacle. 
 
 The sagacious and impassive Cambaceres says 
 himself in his grave memoirs, that the joy of the 
 people was like intoxication, — and when should 
 they rejoice if not under similar circumstances ? 
 400,000 Russians, Swedes, Austrians, and English, 
 marched from all the points of the horizon against 
 France ; 200,000 Prussians promised to join with 
 them; suddenly 150,000 French, leaving the shores 
 of the ocean, traverse in two months a part 
 of the European continent, taking the first army 
 that opposed them without fighting, striking the 
 others with redoubled blows, entering into the 
 astounded capital of the old Germanic empire, 
 passing Vienna, and going to the frontiers of 
 Poland to break in a great battle the tie of the 
 coalition ; sending back the vanquished Russians 
 to their frozen plains, and chaining to their fron- 
 tiers the disconcerted Prussians ; the apprehen- 
 sion of a war which it was believed would be of 
 long duration, terminated in three months ; the 
 peace of the continent suddenly re-established, ma- 
 ritinie peace justly hoped for ; all the prospects of 
 future prosperity given to delighted France, placed 
 at the head of the nations — wherefore should 
 the people be sensibly moved, it is repeated, if not 
 fur such marvellous things ? And as no one was 
 able to foresee the end too nearly approaching 
 of this greatness, and as in the fruitful genius 
 which produced it, there was no possibility of yet 
 discerning the too ardent genius which was to 
 iinnpromise it, the public happiness, it was per- 
 fectly easy to enjoy, without any mixture of sinis- 
 ter presentiments. 
 
 The men who are bound more particularly to 
 the material prosperity of states, the merchants 
 and dealers in money, were not less affected than 
 
 the rest of the nation. The greater commercial 
 men who in victory applauded the approaching 
 return of peace — these were delighted to see ter- 
 minated in a day the double crisis of public and 
 private credit — and to have it in their power to 
 hope again for that profound tranquillity which the 
 consulate had enabled France to enjoy for five 
 years. The senate, after having received the 
 colours which were designed for them, ordered by 
 a decree that a triumphal monument should be 
 erected to Napoleon the Great. Conformably with 
 the wish of the tribunate, this monument was to 
 be a column surmounted with the statue of Napo- 
 leon. His birthday was placed among the national 
 festivals, and it was decided moreover that a large 
 edifice should be constructed in one of the public 
 places of the capital, to receive with a series of 
 sculptured works and of paintings dedicated to the 
 glory of the French arms, the sword that Napoleon 
 wore at the battle of Austerlitz. 
 
 The colours destined for Notre Dame were 
 handed over to the clergy of the metropolis, by 
 the municipal authorities. " These colours," said 
 the venerable archbishop of Paris, "suspended 
 from the roof of our chui-ch, will attest to our 
 latest descendants the efforts of Europe against us, 
 the noble deeds of our soldiers, the protection of 
 heaven over France, the astonishing success of our 
 invincible emperor, and the homage which he does 
 to God of his victories ! " 
 
 It was in the midst of this universal and pro- 
 found satisfaction that Napoleon re-entered Paris, 
 accompanied by the empress. The heads of the 
 bank, willing that his presence should be the signal 
 of public prosperity, had awaited the eve of his 
 return to make their payments again in specie. 
 Since the recent events renewed confidence had 
 made specie plentiful in their chests. There re- 
 mained no trace of the temporary difficulties en- 
 countered during the month of December. 
 
 With Napoleon the joy of success never inter- 
 rupted labour. His indefatigable spirit knew how 
 to enjoy and work at the same time. Arrived in 
 Paris on the 26th of January, in the evening, lie 
 was on the 27th, in the morning, wholly occupied 
 with the concerns of the government. The arch- 
 chancellor Cambaceres was the first personage of 
 the empire with whom he entered into conversation 
 on that day. After a few moments given to the 
 pleasure of receiving his felicitations, and of seeing 
 his prudence confounded by the prodigious events 
 of the late war, he spoke to him regarding the 
 financial crisis so promptly and fortunately termi- 
 nated. He trusted with reason to the correctness 
 and fairness of the reports of the archchancellor 
 Cambace'res, and wished to hear them before those 
 of any other individual. He was much irritated 
 against M. de Marbois, whose seriousness had 
 always imposed upon him, and whom he had be- 
 lieved incapable of carelessness in business. He 
 was very far from suspecting the high integrity of 
 that minister ; but he was unable to pardon him 
 for having delivered over the resources of the 
 treasury to adventurous speculators, and he was 
 resolved to display great severity. The archchan- 
 cellor succeeded in tranquillizing him, and in de- 
 monstrating to him, that in place of exercising 
 rigor, it was much better to treat with the united 
 merchants, and obtain the resignation of all their
 
 180(3. \ 
 January J 
 
 M. de Marbois 
 removeii 
 from office. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 The contractors made to 
 disgorge their effects. 
 
 95 
 
 effects, in order to settle tliis strange business 
 with the least possible loss. 
 
 Napoleon immediately summoned a council at 
 the Tuileries, ami desired that they should lay 
 re him a detailed report on the operations of 
 the company, which were still a mystery to him. 
 He summoned there all the ministers, and M. Mol- 
 lien also, the director of the sinking fund, whose 
 management satisfied him, and to whom he attri- 
 buted, much more than to M. de .Marbois, the skill 
 nary to manage extensive money affairs. He 
 sent a command to M. Desprcz, M. Vaulerberghe, 
 and If, Ouvrard to attend at the Tuileries, and 
 as , to the clerk, who bad been accused of having 
 deoeived the ministers of the treasury. 
 
 All the individuals present were intimidated by 
 the presence of the emperor, who did not conceal 
 his resentment. M. de .Marbois began to read a 
 report of considerable length which he had drawn 
 up upon the subject under discussion. Scarcely 
 had he read any of it before Napoleon, interrupt- 
 ing him, said, '• I see how it is — it was with the 
 treasury funds, and with those of the bank, that 
 the company of united merchants wished to do the 
 business of France and Spain ; and as Spain had 
 nothing but promises of dollars to give, it was with 
 the money of France that the wants of both coun- 
 tries were met. Spain was indebted to me in a 
 subsidy, and it is 1 who have furnished her with 
 one. Now Messieurs Desprez, VanlerberL'he, and 
 Ouvrard, must give over to me all of which they 
 are in possession, Spain must pay me what it 
 to them, or I shall imprison these gentlemen 
 in Vincennes, and send an army to Madrid." 
 
 Napoleon exhibited himself cold and austere to- 
 wards M. de Marbois. " I esteem your character," 
 he said to him, '• but you have been the dupe of 
 people against whom I gave you notice to be upon 
 your guard. Yon have delivered to them all the 
 - in the portfolio of which you should have 
 better overlooked the employment. I see myself, 
 with regret, obliged to withdraw from you the 
 administration of the treasury, because, after what 
 has passed, I cannot any longer leave it with you." 
 
 Napoleon next ordered the members )f the com- 
 pany, whom he hal commanded to attend at the 
 Tuileries, to be introduced. Messieurs Vanler- 
 he and Desprez, although the least blameable, 
 melted into tears. Ouvrard, who had compro- 
 mised the company by his adventurous specula*; 
 tions, remained perfectly calm. He set himself 
 to perenade Napoleon, that it was ne c es sar y to per- 
 mit him to settle himself the very complicated ope- 
 rations in which he had involved his associates, 
 and that he should draw from Mexico, by the way 
 of England and Holland, very considerable sums, 
 much superior to those which Prance bad ad- 
 vane 
 
 It is probable, in fact, that he could himself have 
 better arranged the settlement <>f the affair than 
 any other person; but Napoleon was too much Irri- 
 tated, and too pressing to clear himself from the 
 hands of such speculators, to pot trust in the pro- 
 mises of Ouvrard. He placed Ouvrard and h.° 
 iates between the alternative of a criminal 
 prosecution, or the immediate abandonment of all 
 
 tle-y possessed in goods, securities, Immoveables, 
 and pledges received from Spain. The; 
 
 themselves to this hard sacrifice. 
 
 This was certain to be a ruinous winding up for 
 them; but they had exposed themselves to it by 
 their abuse of the resources of the treasury. M. 
 Vanlorberghe hail most to complain of the three; 
 for he, without mingling himself in the speculations 
 of his associates, had limited himself to carrying 
 on, actively and honestly, throughout all Europe, a 
 corn trade for the service of the French armies 1 . 
 
 After the dismissal of the council, Napoleon 
 detained M. Mollien, and, without waiting for a 
 single observation on his part, or for his assent, 
 said to him, " You will take the oath to-day as 
 minister of the treasury." M. Mollien, intimi- 
 dated, although flattered by such a piece of confi- 
 dence, hesitated to reply. '"Is it that you have 
 any dislike to be a minister I" added Napoleon; 
 and the same day required him to take the oath. 
 
 1 1 was requisite to get clear of the embarrass- 
 ments of all kinds created by the company of 
 united merchants. M. de Marbois had already 
 withdrawn the service of the treasury from the 
 hands of the company, and had consigned it for 
 some days to M. Desprez, who had from that mo- 
 ment continued it on the state account. He had 
 finally confided it to the receivers-general, on mode- 
 rate hut temporary conditions. It had not yet 
 been determined what definitive resolution should 
 he taken upon the subject; nothing had been ar- 
 ranged but the determination not to commit to 
 speculators, however wise or prudent they might 
 he. a service so vast and so important as the gene- 
 ral negotiation of the funds of the treasury. 
 
 This service, as has been said, consisted in dis- 
 counting the "obligations of the receivers-general," 
 the " bills at sight," the "customs' bills," and those 
 styled "coupes de bois;" paper which had all a 
 term of "twelve, fifteen, and eighteen months to 
 run. Until the creation of the company of united 
 merchants, they were limited to the making par- 
 tial and fixed 'discounts for sums of 20,000,000f. 
 or :W,000,0O0f. at one time. In exchange for the 
 effects themselves, they received immediately the 
 moneys proceeding from the discounts. It was by- 
 little and little, under the increasing rule of neces- 
 sity, which soon supplants confidence, that this 
 service had been successively and entirely aban- 
 doned t<> a single company, and the portfolio of the 
 
 treasury delivered over in a certain way to its dis- 
 cretion ; and the infatuation became so gnat that 
 :iesls of accountable persons were placed at 
 its disposal. If the minister hail limited himself 
 lie ri Iv to the transfer of ti\i d stuns in paper, for 
 sums of equivalent value in specie, having it to 
 receive, at their time of payment, the amount of 
 the effects discounted, contusion could not have 
 happened between the affairs of the company 
 and these of the state. Hit t there had been 
 handed over to the united merchants as much B4 
 
 47O,OO0,O0Of. at on,, time of "obligations of. the 
 receivers-general," " bills at sieht," and " customs' 
 
 1 This Ktntetncnt I borrow from the most authentic 
 hfiiirces. Pint! tniMi lbs iiieiniurs of pT) 
 
 then from the Interesting snd iii ami live in, Minus of count 
 
 Mollien. th.it arc not )et published ; Slid, lastly, fiinii the 
 an hives ot the treasury. I have held, ami read myself With 
 
 (real attention, ihs pep i "i tie p r oceedings, and, above nil, 
 a long ami Interesting report, that tin- minister of the to a 
 
 Mu> ilrew up tm ilu i inpi mr. I advance nothing then hut 
 
 upon official and Incontestable evidence, .luihor't Nutt.
 
 9S 
 
 Causes of the conduct 
 of M. de Marbois. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Enormous debts 
 due to the 
 treasury. 
 
 ( 1806. 
 t January. 
 
 bills," of which they had obtained the discount, 
 either by the bank or by foreign or French 
 bankers. At the same time, for greater conve- 
 nience, they had been authorized to take directly 
 from the chests of the receivers-general all the 
 funds which entered them, to he accounted for 
 subsequently ; in such a mode that the bank, as 
 has been seen, when it presented the paper it had 
 discounted, and of which payment was due, had 
 found nothing in the chests but the receipts of M. 
 Desprez, showing that he had already received 
 them in payment. But it was not here that these 
 strange facilities had stopped. When VI. Desprez, 
 acting for the united merchants, discounted the 
 effects of the treasury, he gave the value, not in 
 crowns, but in a paper that they had allowed him 
 to introduce, and that was denominated " the bills 
 of M. Desprez." In this manner the company ha I 
 heen enabled to fill with its own bills the chests of 
 the state and of the hank, and to create a circu- 
 lating paper, by the aid of which it had for some 
 time kept up its speculations, as well with France 
 as Spain. 
 
 The true error of M. de Marbois had been, the 
 lending himself to this confusion of affairs, by 
 which it became no longer possible to distinguish 
 the state property from that of the company. Join 
 to this abusive compliance the dishonesty of a 
 clerk, who alone possessed the secret of the port- 
 folio, and who had cheated M. de Marbois in exag- 
 gerating incessantly to him the necessities of the 
 united merchants — and it is possible to obtain an 
 explanation of this incredible financial adventure. 
 The clerk had received for himself a million, which 
 Napoleon made to be thrown into the common mass 
 of the assets delivered over by the company. The 
 dread imposed by Napoleon was so great, that 
 those implicated avowed every thing and restored 
 every thing. 
 
 Still, in order to be just towards every one con- 
 cerned, it must be said, that Napoleon had himself 
 been partly a cause of the faults committed under 
 the circumstances, in obstinately leaving M. de 
 Marbois under the weight of enormous pecuniary 
 charges, and in deferring for too long a time the 
 creation of extraordinary means. It would have 
 been necessary, in fact, that M. de Marbois should 
 provide for the first arrear resulting from anterior 
 budgets and the insolvency of Spain, which country, 
 by not liquidating his subsidy, was the cause of a new 
 deficiency of 50,000,000f. 'it was under the weight 
 of these different charges that this upright, but too 
 inconsiderate, minister had become the tool of spe- 
 culating men, who had rendered him some service, 
 and who would have rendered him even very great 
 ones, if their calculations had been made with more 
 precision. Their speculations effectively reposed 
 upon a real foundation ; this was the Mexican 
 dollars, which really existed in the chests of the 
 captains general of Spain. But these dollars were 
 not to be brought to Europe with so much facility 
 as M. Ouvrard had hoped; and it was that which 
 had brought on the embarrassment of the treasury 
 and the ruin of the company. 
 
 What proves the confusion which prevailed 
 there was, the difficulty that was found even to 
 establish the amount of the debt of the company 
 towards the treasury. It was at first supposed to 
 be 73,000,0001'. A fresh examination raised it to 
 
 8i,000,000f. Finally, M. Mollien, wishing, upon 
 entering on his duty, to state in the most accurate 
 manner the situation of the finances, discovered 
 that the company had managed to possess itself of 
 the sum of 141,000,000f., for which it remained 
 the state's debtor. The following is the mode in 
 which this enormous sum was made up. The 
 united merchants had directly received from the 
 chests of the receivers general as much as 
 5o,000,000f. at once ; and, by their various 
 repayments, their debt to these accountable 
 persons was reduced to 23,000,000f. on the day 
 of the catastrophe. They had in hand, for 
 73,000,000f. of bills of M. Desprez, a kind of 
 money that M. Desprez had given in place of 
 crowns, and which had been current as long as 
 his credit sustained by the bank was good in the 
 market, but that from henceforth was not of more 
 worth than any other valueless paper. The com- 
 pany owed 14,000,000f. on account of the bills 
 of the central cashier (these have been already 
 noticed elsewhere as being effects created to facili- 
 tate the movements of the funds between Paris and 
 the provinces). These 1 4,000,000f. token from the 
 portfolio, had not been followed by any payment, 
 neither in the bills of M. Desprez, nor in value 
 of any other kind. M. Desprez, for his personal 
 management during certain days of his own parti- 
 cular service, remained a debtor of 17,000,000f. 
 Lastly, among the commercial effects that the com- 
 pany had furnished to the treasury for different 
 payments made at a distance, there were found 
 13,000,000f. or 14,000,0001. in. bad paper. These 
 five different sums, of 23,000,000f. taken directly 
 from the accountable persons ; of 73,000,000f. in 
 bills of M. Desprez, worth nothing ; of 14.000,000f. 
 in bills of the central cashier, of which no equi- 
 valent had been given ; of 17,000,0001*. of personal 
 debt of M. Desprez ; and, finally, the 14,000,000f. 
 of bills of exchange protested, composed the 
 141.000,000f., the total debt of the company. 
 
 However, the state was not to lose that import- 
 ant sum, because the operations of the company, as 
 has just been said, had a solid foundation in the 
 commerce in dollars, that exactness in the returns 
 had alone made it err in its calculations. It had 
 furnished contracts to the French army and navy 
 to the extent of a sum of 40,000,0001'. The house 
 of Hope had bought about 10,000,000f. in these 
 famous Mexican dollars, and was at that moment 
 transmitting the amount to Paris. The company 
 possessed besides in immoveable property, Span- 
 ish wool, corn, some good credits, in all to an 
 amount of about 30,000.0001'. These various sums 
 included real property to the value of 80,000,0001'. 
 Thus there were yet G0,000,000f. to be raised to 
 liquidate the debt. An equivalent to this sum hail 
 a bona fide existence in the portfolio of the com- 
 pany in the shape of credits upon Spain. 
 
 Napoleon, after having made the united mer- 
 chants deliver up to him all which they possessed, 
 demanded that the French treasury should be 
 placed in regard to Spain exactly in the same place 
 as the company. He ordered M. Mollien to treat 
 with a particular agent of the prince of the Peace, 
 M. Isquierdo, who had been for some time in Paris, 
 and filled the functions of an ambassador much 
 more than M. Azara or M. Gravina, who merely j 
 bore the title. The court of Madrid had no refu-
 
 1806. \ 
 January. J 
 
 Public credit 
 
 re-established by 
 
 Napoleon. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Disposal of 
 
 the captured 
 
 treat lire. 
 
 A7 
 
 sal to give to the conqueror of Austerlilz ; besides 
 it was in truth a debtor to the company, and in 
 consequence to France herself. Negotiations 
 were tlit refore entered into with lier to secure the 
 repayment of the 60,000,000f., which not only re- 
 presented the subsidies still unpaid, but the provi- 
 
 - which had be< a furnished to her forces, and 
 the com which had been supplied to her people. 
 
 The treasury was therefore shout to be entirely 
 repaid, thanks to the 40,000,000f. of anterior con- 
 tracts, to the I0,000,000f. which were to come from 
 
 and, the good-, existing in the warehouses, the 
 immoveables seized, and to the eugiigements that 
 Spain ha«l made, and of which the house of I I>«pe 
 offered to discount a part. But it remained stiil 
 10 rill up immediately a double void, providing for 
 the old arrear of the budgets, which has been 
 I at from 80,000,0001'. to UO.OOO.OIMV. in value, 
 and of resources which the company had absorbed 
 f.ir its own use. But now all this was become easy, 
 since the victories ot' Napoleon, ami since the peace 
 which had been its fruit. The capitalists, who had 
 ruined the company by exacting one-and-a-half per 
 cent, per month, that is to say, eighteeu per cent, 
 per annum, to discount the treasury paper, offered 
 now to take it at three-quarters per cent., and soon 
 ca ne to dispute among each other at half per cent., 
 -• to say, at six per cent, per annum. The 
 bank, that had withdrawn from circulation a 
 part of its notes, since it had done with M. Desprez, 
 and that besides saw flow into its chests the metals 
 which it had purchased all over Europe during die 
 tune of di-tress, the bank was in a state to discount 
 all that was wished at a moderate rate, sufficiently 
 advantageous to itself. Although there had been 
 alienated in advance, for the use of the company, 
 a certain sum of the effects of the treasury belong- 
 ing to 1800, the greater part of the effects corre- 
 spondent to this service remained intact, and Were 
 about to be discounted on the best terms. But 
 victory had not only procured credit lor Napoleon, 
 it had procured lor him material riches as well. 
 lie had imposed upon Austria a contribution of 
 iOftOOflOOt., adding to this sum 30,000,000f. which 
 ok directly from the chests of that power, 
 the whole sum which the war had brought in to 
 him amounted to WftOOflOOt. Of this 20,000,000f. 
 had been expended on the Fpot for the mainte- 
 nance of the army, but at tin- expense of the 
 
 urv, with which Napoleon intended to make 
 
 ^illation, whose ess. nee and conditions will 
 
 : ,!• d. There remained, therefore, 
 .".(Minii.iMMii.. which was on the w.,\, partly in gold, 
 (tartly in nlvi r. conveyed in the artillery waggons, 
 and a part in good bills "f exchange on Frankfort, 
 Leipsie, Hamburg, and Bremen. The garrison of 
 Hameln, that was about to enter France in pur- 
 
 Miain i the cession oi Hanover to Prussia, ua*. 
 
 ordered to bring with the English stores from 
 Hanover the amount of the bills of exchange due 
 at Hamburg and Bremen. An impost ol 4,000,000f. 
 had be, ii laid upon the city of Frankfort, in place 
 
 of the contingent which it was bound to furnish, 
 
 like Baden, wurtemberg, and Bavaria. Prance 
 was, therefore, about to receive, baddes effet 
 considerable value, no in< nderable quantif 
 
 ;ne precious metals; and in reaped to hard 
 
 as ill all other thillgB, abunda was going to BUO- 
 
 cced to the momentary distress, that tie 
 roL. ii. 
 
 alarms of commerce and the affected alarms of 
 jobbers had produced. 
 
 Napoleon, whose genius for organization would 
 leave nothing to the character of accident, and 
 continually endeavoured to change all things into 
 lasting institutions, had conceived a noble and 
 benevolent project, grounded on the most legiti- 
 mate benefits of his victories. He resolved to 
 create with the contributions of the war a treasury 
 for the army, which should never be touched from 
 any motive in the world, not even for his own use; 
 because his civil li-t, administered with exact care, 
 was sufficient for ail the expenses of so magnificent 
 a court, and even for the creation of a particular 
 fund. It was from this treasure, constituting an 
 army fund, that he purposed to make endowments 
 for his generals. !.!< officers, and soldiers, and for 
 their widows and children. He wished not to enjoy 
 his victories alone, but was desirous that all those 
 who served France and his vast designs, should not 
 only acquire glory, but live in prosperous circum- 
 stances ; and that those who had arrived, by 
 strength of heroism, to have no care about them- 
 selves in the field of battle, should have none re- 
 garding their families. Finding in the inexhaus- 
 tible fecundity of his own mind the art of increas- 
 ing the utility of things. Napoleon had invented a 
 combination which rendered this treasure as pro- 
 fitable to the finances as to the army itself. What 
 had been until now wanted was a lender, to lend 
 to the government upon good terms. The treasury 
 of the army would become such a lender, of which 
 Napoleon would himself regulate the demand upon 
 the state. The army was to have 50,000,0001'. in 
 gold and silver, besides 20 000,0001'. owing to it 
 from the budget lor pay in arrear ; and, further, a 
 war materiel of great value, which the army had 
 taken. The artillery waggons were bringing from 
 Vienna 100,000 muskets, and 20(11) pieces of can- 
 non. The entire of this materiel and contributions 
 
 reached in value a sum of 80,000,000 f., of which 
 the army was the proprietor, and which it could 
 lend to the stati . Napoleon intended that all 
 which was disposable should be paid into the sink- 
 ing fund, which should keep of it a separate ac- 
 count, and employ this sum in discounting the 
 
 "bills of the receivers-general," of the "hills at 
 sieht,"' and the "customs' bills," whenever tho 
 capitalists exacted more than six percent.: or iii 
 purchasing up the national property when i: was 
 at a low price; or even in taking interest from the 
 
 funds, if it was thought necessary to borrow to 
 make up the arrear. 
 
 This combinitti □ therefore had the double utility 
 of procuring advantageous interest tor the money 
 
 belonging to the army, and of supplying th 
 vernmeul with all the capital it might require, 
 
 at a rate of inh i- si that would not be UMiriou-. 
 
 .Napoleon ordered several import. mi measures 
 to be immediately effected by means of the m y 
 
 at In-- disposition. One of these "as tie- collection 
 
 of adozeu millions in specie at Strasburg, in case 
 military operations should again occur: for though 
 Austria had sr md a peace, Ku- is bad not begun 
 n.ite, PruiMii bad not _\et sent the ratifica- 
 tion of tie treat) of ScliBuhrunn, and England had 
 not ceased to be Hctive in lor diplomatic intrigues. 
 He ordered besides thai some millions should be 
 kept in reserve in the sinking fund, and that the 
 
 II
 
 98 
 
 Orders issued for 
 the return of 
 the army. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Massena marches 
 upon Naples. 
 
 ( 1806. 
 \ January. 
 
 number of those millions should not be made 
 known, but be employed suddenly, whenever 
 the speculators showed themselves extortionate. 
 He thought that the treasury should impose upon 
 itself this sort of expense, as an individual lays up 
 in a spare granary in seasons of abundance to 
 guard against a dearth ; and that the interest lost 
 by this species of hoarding would be a useful 
 sacrifice, not to be regretted. Finally, the moneys 
 which were brought in, being required to be coined 
 into those of France, he commanded them to be 
 divided among the different mints, in proportion to 
 the scarcity of money in each locality. 
 
 These primary dispositions commanded by the 
 moment being terminated,- Napoleon wished his 
 ministers should, without delay, occupy themselves 
 with a new organization of the treasury, and a 
 new constitution of the bank of France: and he 
 trusted this double duty to M. Mollien, now be- 
 come the treasury minister. M. Gaudin, who had 
 kept the portfolio of the finances, because it must 
 be remembered that at this period the treasury 
 and the finances formed two distinct ministries — 
 M. Gaudin received the order to present a plan 
 for the liquidation of the arrears, for- placing the 
 receipts and expenses definitively upon a level, 
 under the double hypothesis of peace and war, 
 though he should, in order to effect it, have re- 
 course to a new creation of taxes. 
 
 After thus taking care of the finances, Napoleon 
 emph^ed himself in bringing back the army to 
 France, but slowly, in such a manner as that the 
 men should not march more than four leagues 
 a-day. He ordered that the sick and wounded 
 should be kept until the spring in the places where 
 they had received the earliest medical attention, 
 and that proper officers should remain with them 
 to watch over their cure ; and for this essential 
 purpose he dipped into the chests of the army. 
 He had left Berthier at Munich, with the com- 
 mission to superintend all the details, and to pre- 
 side over the exchanges of territory, always so 
 difficult among the German princes. Berthier 
 was to act in concert with M. Otto, relative to this 
 last object, as being the French representative at 
 the court of Bavaria. 
 
 Napoleon next considered of the steps which he 
 should take in regard to the kingdom of Naples. 
 Massena, taking with him 40,000 men, drawn out 
 of the forces in Lombardy, received the order to 
 march by Tuscany and through the southern part 
 of the Roman states to the kingdom of Naples, 
 without regarding any proposition for a peace or 
 an armistice. Napoleon, uncertain whether Joseph, 
 who had refused the viceroyalty of Italy, would 
 accept the crown of the Two Sicilies, only gave 
 him the appellation of lieutenant-general. Joseph 
 was not to have the command of the army; it was 
 Massena only who held that commission, because 
 Napoleon, in making a sacrifice to his family of 
 political interests, would not so easily sacrifice to 
 them the interests of his military occupations. 
 But Joseph being once introduced into Naples by 
 Massena, would then take possession of the civil 
 government of the country, and exercise there all 
 the powers of royalty. 
 
 General Molitor was in the mean time sent 
 towards Dalmatia. He had general Marmont to 
 support his rear. The last was charged to receive 
 
 Venice and the Venetian states from the hands of 
 the Austrians. Prince Eugene had orders to go 
 to Venice, and to take the government of the con- 
 quered provinces, without yet joining them to the 
 kingdom of Italy, although that junction was to 
 take place at a later period. Before this junction 
 was definitively pronounced, Napoleon desired to 
 conclude with the representatives of the kingdom 
 of Italy, different arrangements, that an immediate 
 union would have prevented. 
 
 Napoleon wishing, in the last place, to raise the 
 spirits of his soldiers, and communicate the excite- 
 ment to the whole of France, ordered that tlte 
 grand army should be assembled at Paris, in order 
 to be welcomed there at a magnificent festival, 
 which should be given by the authorities of tile 
 capital. The idea of the nation giving a fete to 
 the army could not be better exhibited, than by 
 committing it to the citizens of Paris to receive in 
 this mode the soldiers of Austerlitz. 
 
 While he occupied himself thus in administering 
 the government of his vast empire, and making 
 the cares of peace succeed those of war, Napoleon 
 had fixed his eyes, at the same time, upon the 
 sequel of the treaties of Presburg and Schonbrunn. 
 Prussia, more particularly, had yet to ratify the 
 treaty wholly unforeseen by herself, that M. Haug- 
 witz, who went to Vienna to dictate conditions, 
 had, on the contrary, submitted to receive ; and 
 in place of imposing a constraint upon Napoleon, 
 had taken back with him a treaty offensive and 
 defensive, the whole, it is time, compensated by 
 the rich present of Hanover. 
 
 The surprise of Europe it would indeed be diffi- 
 cult to imagine, as well as of the different feelings 
 and opinions, the satisfaction and mortification, 
 the avidity gratified, and all the confusion, which 
 were experienced in Prussia upon learning the 
 treaty of Schonbrunn. It had frequently got out 
 to the public at Berlin that the electorate of 
 Hanover had been offered to Prussia, at one time 
 by France, at another by Russia, which, besides 
 the advantage of rounding off the ill-defined ter- 
 ritory of Prussia, had that of securing to her the 
 command of the Elbe and Weser, as well as a 
 decisive influence over the Hanseatic towns of 
 Bremen and Hamburg. This offer, so often an- 
 nounced, was now a realized acquisition — a perfect 
 certainty. It was a matter of great satisfaction 
 for one of the most ambitious countries in Europe. 
 But to compensate for this gift, what confusion — 
 the word must be plainly spoken — what shame 
 would await the conduct of the court of Prussia'! 
 While in yielding against her will to the entreaties 
 of the coalition, she had engaged to unite with it, 
 if in a month Napoleon did not accept the media- 
 tion of Prussia, and submit himself to the con- 
 ditions of peace which she offered to impose upon 
 him, which was equivalent to a declaration of war 
 against him. Then, on a sudden, finding Napoleon 
 in Moravia, not at all embarrassed, but all power- 
 ful, she had turned to him, accepted his alliance, 
 and received at his hand the fairest of the spoils 
 of the coalition, Hanover, the ancient patrimony of 
 the kings of England. 
 
 It must be averred that there is no longer 
 honour in the world, if such things are not pun- 
 ished with the most marked reprobation. Thus 
 it was that the Prussians, they must have that
 
 1806. \ 
 January. J 
 
 The Prussian court 
 dissatisfied. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Cold reception of 
 M. Haugwitz. 
 
 99 
 
 justice done them, were sensible how much such 
 a line of conduct was to be condemned ; and not- 
 withstanding the value of the present brought by 
 M. Haugwitz, received it with mortification at the 
 heart, and humiliation on the brow. However, 
 the disgrace would have been effaced from the me- 
 mory of the Prussians, and would only have given 
 room for pleasure at the acquisition, if other feel- 
 ings had not come to mingle with that of remorse, 
 and to poison the satisfaction which they must 
 else have experienced. Although highly jealous 
 of the Austrians, the Prussians, in seeing them 
 n, fell that they were Germans, and as the 
 Germans are Dot less jealous of the French than 
 the Russians or English, they viewed with chagrin 
 the extraordinary triumphs of France. Their pa- 
 triotism began to revive in favour of the Austrians, 
 and this sentiment, joined to that of remorse, filled 
 the nation with great uneasiness. The army was, 
 of all classes, that which more openly manifested 
 this disposition. The army in Prussia is not im- 
 ve as in Austria; it reflects the national cha- 
 r with extreme vividness; it represents the 
 nation much more than the army represents it in 
 any of the other countries of Europe, France ex- 
 cepted; and it thus represented a nation, the opi- 
 nion of which was already very independent of its 
 sovereigns. The Prussian army, which felt to a high 
 degree the sentiment of German jealousy, that had 
 hoped a moment that the career of combat would 
 be opened before it, and that suddenly saw it closed 
 by an act difficult of justification, blamed the cabi- 
 net without any concealment. The German aris- 
 tocracy, that saw the Germanic empire ruined by 
 the peace of Presburg, and the cause of the imme- 
 diate nobility sacrificed to the sovereigns of Bava- 
 ria, Wurtemberg, and Baden, — this German aris- 
 tocracy, filling all the higher military ranks, con- 
 tributed much to excite discontent in the army, 
 and carried back the exaggerated expression of 
 this discontent either to Berlin or Potsdam. These 
 ins broke out more than all around the que< n, 
 and convert* d ber own circle into a scene of loud 
 Opposition. Prince Louis, who reigned supreme 
 ! forth strong' r than ever his chivalrous 
 declamations. All is not effected in the alliance 
 of two countries when- their interests agree ; it is 
 -ary that the self-love of both should do so 
 II; and this last condition is not the < asiest 
 
 ii/.'-. Tin Prussians were at, that time the 
 only people in Europe whose policy would have 
 
 ! with that of Prance; but it would ba\ 
 quired much humouring to manage tin- excessive 
 
 firide of the bean of the great Frederick; and on- 
 i.ippily the weak, ambiguous, and sometime! 
 
 t conduct of this cabinet did not attract the 
 ••I that this susceptibility requiri d. 
 
 N ipol i, after six years of unproductive inter- 
 
 ■ with Prussia, had brought himself into a 
 ig of no consideration towards her. He had 
 
 1 that recently, by passing through ■ f 
 
 i><-r provinces, authorized i' i ■ tin.- by precedent, 
 without even giving bet notice of his intention. 
 II bid proved it yet further, by showing himself 
 so little hurt by her wrongs, that after the conven- 
 tion of Potsdam, when be had just ground I 
 indignant, In- had given her Hanover, treating her 
 ily tit t,i i,.- pup ha d. She wne and ought 
 to be much mortified at men a proceeding. 
 
 The consdeno - "t men feel all the- reproaches 
 which they merit, more especially when they are 
 spared them. The language to which she ex] 
 hers.lf on the part of Napoleon, Prussia bell 
 he had really spoken. They were certain at Ber- 
 lin that he had said to the Austrian negotiators, 
 when they expressed a sir ng reliance upon the 
 support of Prussia, "Prussia! she will go to the 
 best bidder: I will give her more than you, and 
 she will arrange herself on my side." He had 
 thought this perhaps; and said as much to M. de 
 Talleyrand; but he di dared he had neversaid so to 
 the Austrians. However that may be, at Berlin 
 they repeated this conversation as if it were cor- 
 rect. The error of Prussia was, amidst all this, 
 not to have merited the respect that she would 
 otherwise have obtained; that o! Napoleon, not to 
 have granted it to her, although she did not de- 
 serve it. No one can have allies, any more than 
 friends, except by humouring their pride as well 
 as their interest, upon the condition, in perceiving 
 their errors, even in feeling them strongly, of not 
 committing similar errors in regard to them. 
 
 M. Haugwitz, although he arrived with his 
 hands full, was in consequence received with dif- 
 fering sentiments; with anger by the court, a mix- 
 ture of content and confusion by the public, and 
 by no one with complete satisfaction. As to 
 M. Haugwitz himself, he appeared without embar- 
 rassment before all his judges. He had brought 
 back from Schonbrunn that which he had invaria- 
 bly advised, the aggrandizement of Prussia founded 
 upon the alliance of France. His only fault had 
 been a momentary obedience to the empire of cir- 
 cumstances, which exposed him to the vexatious 
 contrast of being now the signer of the treaty of 
 Schonbrunn, after having been but a month before 
 the subscriber of the treaty of Potsdam. But to 
 these circumstances, it was his unskilful successor 
 and ungrateful disciple, M. Hnrdciiberg, who had 
 given birth, and thus rendered complicated the 
 relations of Prussia in a few months, so that she 
 was unable to escape from her complications ex- 
 cept by clashing contradictions, M. Haugwitz 
 besides, if he had for a moment been drawn in, 
 
 had been less BO than anybody else- ; and, after all, 
 he came to preserve Prussia from the abyss into 
 
 which sin- had been very nearly precipitated. It 
 is not to be forgotten further, that at Potsdam, se- 
 duced as they had all been by the presence of 
 Alexander, it had been forcibly recommended to 
 M. Haugwitz not to draw Prussia into the war 
 
 with Prance before the end of December; and 
 
 thai the 2nd of December had found him victo 
 
 lions and irresistible whom they had wished to 
 control or light. He had been placed between tin 
 danger (if an unfortunate war and a contra I') conch i 
 sinii; richly remunerated, what did tiny wish him to 
 have done 1 r*or the rest, In said, nothing was com- 
 promised. Taking his ground on tie- unforeseen and 
 extraordinary nature of the rituation, be had only 
 entered with Napoleon into conditional engagement*, 
 more expressly submitted than cuetomarj to tin 
 tincatiou of the court Things were therefore still 
 
 entire. Tiny were able, il the, Were as bold as 
 
 they boasted tie m to I our, as 
 
 little awal.e to intert -'. a- thej pn tended to I 
 they were able to refuse the ratification of the 
 
 treaty of Sehonbrnnn. He bad forewarned Na- 
 il .:
 
 100 
 
 Reasoning of 
 M. Haugwitz. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 A Prussian 
 council called. 
 
 f 1806. 
 I January. 
 
 poleon; lie had told him, tlmt treating without in- 
 structions he had treated without pledging himself. 
 They might choose between Hanover or war with 
 Napoleon. The position was yet the same as it 
 had been at Schonbruim, except that he had gained 
 the month that they had declared to be necessary 
 for the organization of the Prussian army. 
 
 Such was the language of M. Haugwitz, one 
 only point exaggerated, that js, where he asserted 
 that he had been placed between the acceptance 
 of Hanover or war. He would in fact have been 
 able to reconcile Prussia with Napoleon without 
 the acceptance of Hanover. It is true that Napo- 
 leon would have seen this half-reconciliation with 
 distrust, and that from distrust to war there was 
 no great distance. The enemies of M. H.iugwitz 
 reproached him on another account. In keeping 
 himself at Vienna, they said to him, less distant 
 from the Austrian negotiators, in making common 
 cause with them, he would have been better able 
 to resist Napoleon, and to desert less ostensibly the 
 European interests espoused at Poisdam, or not to 
 desert them without the consent of all. But that 
 implied a collective negotiation; and Napoleon was 
 so averse to it, that it would have been only an- 
 other manner of leading to war by the insisting on 
 such a p:iint. It was therefore war, only war, with 
 a fearful adversary, before the term fixed, the end 
 of December, against the known wish of the king, 
 and against the positive well known interests of 
 Pi'ussia, that M. Haugwitz asserted had faced him 
 at Sehonbrunn. 
 
 The embarrassment of this situation was there- 
 fore much greater for others than for himself; and 
 besides, he possessed imperturbable firmness, min- 
 gled with tranquillity and mildness, which would 
 have sufficed to sustain him in presence of his ad- 
 versaries, if he had committed tli3 errors which 
 he had not. 
 
 Thus M. Haugwitz, without being disconcerted 
 by the clamours which resounded on every side, 
 without even insisting upon the adoption of the 
 treaty, as a negotiator attached to the work of his 
 own hands might have done, did not cease the re- 
 petition of the fact that the cabinet was free, that 
 it was able to make its choice; but that it well 
 knew the choice must lie between Hanover and 
 war. He left to others the embarrassment arising 
 out of the contradictions in the policy of Prussia, 
 and kept for himself only the honour of having 
 brought back his country into the path from which 
 she ought never to have deviated. Happy had 
 this minister been iiad he remained in this line, if 
 he had not himself subsequently spoiled this situa- 
 tion by inconsistencies which ruined himself and 
 did not fail to ruin his country! 
 
 The highfliers of Berlin, those sincere and af- 
 fecting to be so, said that this gift of Hanover was 
 a perfidious gift, which would keep Prussia in 
 eternal war with England, and destroy the com- 
 merce of the nation; besides, it was purchased by 
 the abandonment of the fine provinces for so long 
 a time attached to the monarchy, such as Cleves, 
 Anspach, and Neufchatel. They maintained that 
 Prussia, which, ceding Anspach, Cleves, and Neuf- 
 chatel, had ceded a population nf 300,000 inhabi- 
 tants in order to have one of 900,000, had made a 
 bad bargain In their view, if they had obtained 
 without giving up any thing, without the loss either 
 
 of Neufchatel, Anspach, or Cleves, and had ac- 
 quired perhaps something more, as the Hans 
 Towns for example, then they would have had 
 nothing to regret. The defection thus remune- 
 rated would have been worth the trouble ; but 
 Hanover, that was nothing, since they had it. In 
 any case, they added that Prussia was dishonoured 
 and covered with infamy in the sight of Europe. 
 Germany, the common country, was given up to 
 strangers. These last reproaches were specious; 
 but it might have been answered, that worse things 
 than that had been done in the last partition of 
 Poland, and nearly as bad as that in the recent 
 partition of the German indemnities ; but nobody 
 had cried out at the lime that they were a scan- 
 dal and shame. 
 
 The moderate persons, numerous among the rich 
 citizens of Berlin, without the repetition of all 
 these complaints, feared that England would make 
 reprisals upon the commerce of Prussia, felt for 
 the light in which Prussia would be viewed, and 
 experienced real mortification at the triumph of the 
 r'rench armies over those of Germany ; but they 
 dreaded above all a war with France. 
 
 Such were the sentiments of the king at bottom, 
 who with the heart of a good, patriotic, moderate 
 German, hesitated between contradictory conside- 
 rations. He was tormented with regret when think- 
 ing of the fault which he had committed at Potsdam, 
 and which placed him under the necessity of being 
 disgracefully inconsistent, the only objection which 
 it was possible to alhge against the fine present of 
 Napoleon. Then too, though he did not want per- 
 sonal courage, he dreaded war as the gi\atestof 
 misfortunes ; he saw in that the ruin of the trea- 
 sure of Frederick, prodigally wasted by his father, 
 carefully replaced by himself, and again trenched 
 upon by the late armament ; he saw in it, above 
 all, with the sagacity often imparted by fear, the 
 ruin of the monarchy. 
 
 Frederick-William begged count Haugwitz to 
 clear up this prospect by his own views of the 
 subject, and count Haugwitz never ceased repeat- 
 ing to him, not knowing what to say besides, that 
 they had the choice between Hanover and war; 
 and that in his opinion, any war against Napoleon 
 would be followed by disaster; that the Russian 
 and Austrian armies were of equal worth, what- 
 ever might be said, with the armies of Prussia, which 
 would not do better than they had done, perhaps 
 not so well, because they were at that moment 
 much less accustomed to active warfare. 
 
 A council was called, at which the principal 
 personages of the monarchy were summoned — M. 
 Hardenberg, M. Haugwitz, M. Schullemherg, and 
 the two most illustrious representatives of the 
 army, marshal Mollendorf and the duke of Brims 
 wick. The discussion was very lively, although 
 without any mixture of the passions of the court ; 
 and yielding to the infliction of the eternal argu- 
 ment of M. Haugwitz, that consisted in repeating 
 that they could refuse Hanover, if they chose to 
 make war, the council ended in adopting a middle 
 course ; in other words, that which was the worst 
 that could have been adopted. They decided to 
 adopt the treaty with modifications. M. Haugwitz 
 strongly resisted this resolution. He said that he 
 bad profited by circumstances at Schonbruim, and' 
 that he had obtained of Napoleon that which he
 
 1806. 
 January. 
 
 Nature of the* 
 
 iiii.iolic.tions. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 M. Haugiriti sent 
 again to Napoleon. 
 
 101 
 
 shoild be unable to obtain again ; that he would 
 s< e in the modifications made in the treaty, a last 
 a iccess of the party inimical to France ; that he 
 
 woulil finish by no longer reckoning in any way 
 upon the Prussian alliance; that he would regulate 
 his conduct accordingly, and that holding himself 
 
 free by a ratification given with reservations, ho 
 would place Prussia between worse conditions and 
 war. 
 
 M. Haugwitz was not attended to. It was urged 
 that the modifications introduced, good or bad, 
 rved the honour of Prussia ; because they 
 proved that they did not draw up treaties under 
 the dictation of Napoleon. This reason, of so little 
 worth, made an impression upon those who had 
 Some need to deceive themselves ; and the treaty 
 was adopted, alter several alterations had been 
 made in it. 
 
 The first of those changes clearly indicated the 
 notions of those who had proposed them, and the 
 nature of their embarrassment. They suppressed 
 in the treaty the qualification of " offensive" and 
 " defensive," given to the alliance contracted with 
 France, in order to be able to present it to Russia 
 with less confusion. They explained in comments 
 in what cases they believed themselves obliged to 
 make a common cause with France. They de- 
 manded information regarding the latest arrange- 
 ments projected in Italy, which were to be com- 
 prised in the reciprocal guarantees stipulated in 
 the treaty of Sclionbrunn ; because they held 
 themselves as not formally approving that which 
 was about to be consummated in Naples — in other 
 words, the dethronement of the Bourbons, ihe 
 clients and proteges of Russia. 
 
 These modifications signified, that though she 
 was obliged to enter into the policy of France, 
 Prussia would not enter into it frankly ; that she 
 would not, above all, enter into it so far as not to 
 In: able to explain her conduct at St. Petersburg!) 
 and Vienna. This intention was too visible to be 
 favourably interpreted s f Paris. To these modifi- 
 cations there were added some others less honour- 
 able- still. Tiny wcr not written, it is true, in the 
 now treaty ; but the commission was given to M. 
 HaUgwitZ to pro; .; them verbally. It was 
 wished, while ^;ii g Hanover, not to cede Ans- 
 pach, which was tin- sole concession of importance 
 that Napoleon required, and which formed the 
 I'r.iiiconiau patrimony of the house of Branden- 
 burg. Prussia desired, too, tin- junction of the 
 Hanse towns, a precious gain for ber commercial 
 
 import! ; and ill thus Satiating the greediness 
 
 of tin- Prussian nation, the government flattered 
 
 itself it should stifle at hone- the cry of honour, 
 and disarm public opinion. 
 
 This done, M. ill- Laforest, tie- minister of 
 France, charged with the exchange of the ratifi- 
 cations, was summoned. He knew bis sovereign 
 too well to allow himself to ratify a treaty in which 
 such changes had been made. He refused at the 
 commencement to do so ; but he was so pressed 
 
 by the solicitations addressed tO him, and M. 
 
 jwitz represented to him so strongly the 
 sity of chaining do«n tin- court of Berlin, to 
 
 prevent its continual Variations, and tO snatch it 
 
 from the suggestions of the enemies of Prance, 
 that M. de Laforest 1 tented to ratifj the - 
 
 difil (I treaty, J r.tti, a precaution us. ,1 in 
 
 diplomacy, when it is desirable to reserve the will 
 of the sovereign. 
 
 It was therefore necessary to return to Paris to 
 gain the approval of these new tergiversations of 
 the court of Prussia. M. Haugwitz having ap- 
 peared to succeed best with Napoleon, they con- 
 sidered him the best individual to be sent to 
 France to quiet the storm which it was foreseen 
 would arise. M. Haugwitz for a long while de- 
 clined such a mission ; but the king pressed him 
 so earnestly, that he was obliged to resign himself 
 to go, and to brave a second time the crowned and 
 victorious negotiator, with whom he had treated 
 at Schonhrunn. He set out, having made the 
 most obsequious and mild communications precede 
 him, in order to manage a reception lor himself 
 less unfavourable than that which he had reason 
 to dread. 
 
 Napoleon, in learning these last miserable shifts 
 of the Prussian policy, saw in them that which it 
 was impossible not to see, new weuknessi a t .wards 
 his enemies, and new efforts to remain in a good 
 understanding with them, while at the same time, 
 so managing to turn him to some account. He 
 felt, in consequence of this policy, less considera- 
 tion than before; and, what was a great misfortune 
 for Prussia and for France, he despaired altogether 
 at this period of any Prussian alliance. Joined to 
 this, he was sorry, upon reflection, for what he 
 had granted at Sclionbrunn. The gift of Hanover 
 had, in fact, been granted with too much precipi- 
 tation ; not that it could be better placed than in 
 the hands of Prussia ; but to dispose of it defi- 
 nitively, was rendering more obstinate the struggle 
 with England; it was to add to irreconeileable 
 interests at sea, irreconeileable interests on land; 
 because the old George HI. would have sacrificed 
 the richest colonies of England sooner than his 
 German patrimony. Doubtless, if it were known 
 that England would for ever be implacable, and 
 not be brought to peace but by force, there 
 would then In grounds to act in any way towards 
 
 her, and Hanover would be very well employed in 
 cementing a powerful and sincere alliance, proper 
 to render continental coalitions impossible Rut 
 none of these suppositions appeared to be actually 
 correct Then- were rumours of great discourage- 
 ments in England : the approaching death of .Mr. 
 Pitt, the probable accession to power of .Mr. Fox, 
 
 and an immediate Changs Of system. Thus in 
 learning the last acts of Prussia, Napoleon was 
 disposed to replace all with her upon the former 
 footing, that is to say, to restore her Anspach, 
 
 Cleves, and Neufch&tel, anil to take Hanover back 
 
 to In- kept iii reserve. At tin- point to which 
 things bad arrived, whether by the fault of men 
 
 or that of events, the best course to be taken was, 
 in fact, to return to g 1 relations without close 
 
 intimacy, and to take back what each had given 
 tin- otlnr. Napoleon in recovering Hanover would 
 
 have in bis hands ■ means of treating With Rng- 
 
 land, and of seizing th dy occasion which might 
 
 offer I" terminate an unhappy war, tin- permanent 
 cause of one that was universal. 
 
 This was his first idea, and would to Heaven he 
 
 hail realized it! lie issued instructions in this 
 
 spirit to M. de Talleyrand. lie desire, 1 (hat he 
 
 should be represented t" M. Haugwiti as more 
 
 irritated than he was at tin- liberties taken with
 
 102 
 
 Instructions of 
 Napoleon to 
 
 Talleyrand. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 A second treaty- 
 drawn up. 
 
 f 1806. 
 1 February. 
 
 France ; that France should be declared to be 
 completely free, and that she would keep herself 
 so, either taking back Hanover in order to make 
 it a pledge of peace with England, or placing 
 every thing on a new basis with Prussia, to con- 
 clude with her a more enlarged and solid treaty l , 
 
 M. Haugwitz arrived in Paris on the 1st of 
 February. He displayed, whether towards M. de 
 Talleyrand or the emperor, all the artfulness of 
 which he was in possession, and his art was very 
 considerable. He made much of the embarrass- 
 ment of his government, placed between Frauce 
 and coalesced Europe ; leaning more particularly 
 towards the first, but drawn sometimes towards 
 the second by the passions of the court, which it 
 was necessary to comprehend and excuse. He 
 
 1 We cite the following letter, which exactly represents 
 the idea of Napoleon under the circumstances : — 
 
 " Paris, February 4th, 1806. 
 " To M. de Talleyrand.— The English ministry is en- 
 tirely changed since the death of Mr. Pitt ; Mr. Fox has 
 the portfolio of foreign affairs, I wish you to give me this 
 evening a note grounded on this idea : — 
 
 " ' The undersigned minister for foreign affairs has re- 
 ceived the express order of his majesty the emperor to 
 make known to M. Haugwitz, at his first interview, that his 
 majesty cannot regard the treaty concluded at Vienna as 
 existing, from the defect of its ratification within the time 
 prescribed ; that his -majesty cannot acknowledge in any 
 power, and less in Prussia than in any other— because ex- 
 perience has proved that he must speak clearly and without 
 circumvention — the right tu modify and to interpret, ac- 
 cording to its interest, the different articles of a treaty; that 
 it is not to exchange ratifications to have two varying texts 
 of the same treaty, and that the irregularity appears yet 
 greater if the three or tour pages of memoir added to the 
 ratilications of Vienna are considered ; that M. de Laforest, 
 minister of his majesty, charged with the exchange of the 
 ratifications, would he culpable, if he had himself ob-erved 
 all the irregularity of the proceedings of the court of Prussia ; 
 hut that he had not accepted the exchange, but with the 
 condition of the emperor's approbation. 
 
 " ' The undersigned is therefore ordered to declare that 
 his majesty does not approve it, from the consideration due to 
 the faith of treaties. 
 
 " ' But at the same time, the undersigned is charged to 
 declare, that his majesty always is desirous that the differ- 
 ences arixing out of the later circumstances between France 
 and Prussia should be amicably terminated, and that the 
 former friendship which existed between them should exist 
 as before ; he even desires that the treaty of alliance, offen- 
 sive and defensive, if it he compatible with the other en- 
 gagements of Prussia, should subsist between the two 
 countries, and ensure their connexion.' 
 
 "This note which you will present to me this evening, 
 shall b: given to morrow in the conference; and not on any 
 pretext whatever do I leave you the choice of omitting it. 
 
 " You comprehend yourself that it has two objects : to 
 leave me at liberty to make a peace with England, if, in a few 
 days from thi^, the news which I receive is confirmed, or to 
 conclude a treaty with Prussia on a wider basis. 
 
 "You will be stern and clear in the wording; but you 
 will add in conversation all the modifications, all the soften- 
 ings, all the illusions, which will make M. Haugwitz be- 
 lieve that it is a consequence of my character, that I am 
 piqued at this form, but that at bottom I am of the same 
 sentiment as ever towards Prussia. My opinion is, that in 
 the present circumstances, if Mr. Fox is really at the head 
 of foreign affairs, we shall not be able to cede Hanover to 
 Prussia, except under a comprehensive system, which is 
 sufficient to guarantee us against a continuation of hos- 
 tilities." 
 
 I 
 
 showed the Prussian government obliged to go 
 back with pain from the fault committed at Pots- 
 dam, having need on that account to be sustained 
 and encouraged by the aspect of the French 
 government ; he depicted himself so well as the 
 individual who was contending aione at Berlin to 
 bring back Prussia to France, and as having a 
 right, from this circumstance, to be aided by the 
 kind offices of Napoleon, that Napoleon gave way, 
 and unhappily consented to renew the treaty, of 
 Schonbrunn, but on conditions a little more 
 onerous still than those which the king Frederick- 
 William had decided on refusing. 
 
 " I do not wish to constrain you," said Napoleon 
 to M. Haugwitz; " I offer you still to place things 
 upon their former footing, that is to say, t<> take 
 back Hanover, and return you Anspach, Cleves, 
 and Neufchatel. But if we treat, and I cede 
 Hanover to you anew, I will no more cede it upon 
 the same conditions ; I shall exact from you be- 
 sides that you promise me to become the faithful 
 ally of France. If Prussia is frankly, publicly, 
 with me, I shall have no more European coalitions 
 to fear; and without a European coalition on my 
 hands, I shall soon come to a settlement with 
 England. But it, is necessary that 1 have nothing 
 less than this certainty to make you the gift ol 
 Hanover, and to have a conviction that I act 
 wisely in giving it to you." 
 
 Napoleon was right save on one point, which 
 was, to make Prussia pay for Hanover by new 
 compensations, and in not, on the contrary, dV - 
 liveriug it to her upon the most advantageous 
 conditions ; because there are no good allies but 
 those who are fully satisfied. M. Haugwitz, who 
 was sincere in his desire to unite France with 
 Prussia, promised Napoleon all that he wished, 
 and promised it too with all the appearance of the 
 most entire good faith. He added to ilia promises 
 some very adroit insinuations on the slighting 
 conduct which Napoleon had shown tawai 
 Prussia ; on the necessity there was to humour 
 the dignity of the king ; first, on account of the 
 king himself, because his timidity did not prevent 
 his being, at bottom, susceptible and irritable; and 
 also on account of the nation and army, that were 
 identified with the monarchy, and took very ill all 
 that appeared to be wanting in respect for him. 
 M. Haugwitz said that the violation of the ter- 
 ritory of Anspach, particularly, had produced in 
 that respect an effect to be greatly regretted, and 
 placed half the nation, with the court, in the 
 state of excitement which had brought about the 
 deplorable treaty of Potsdam. 
 
 These observations were just and striking. But 
 if Prussia had need to be respected, Napoleon had 
 a right to be satisfied with her, before he respected 
 her, and to have a proof cf her esteem before he 
 exhibited his own. There was here a double diffi- 
 culty, that thus far had not been successfully bur- 
 mounted — would they succeed better alter this 
 new accommodation I This was unhappily very 
 doubtful. 
 
 They drew up a second treaty, more stringent 
 and explicit than the former. Hanover wa8 given 
 to Prussia, as Formally as at Schonbrunn, but on 
 the condition of occupying it immediately, and 
 under the title of sovereignty. A new and serious 
 obligation was the price of the gift : it consisted in
 
 1806. \ 
 February, t 
 
 Conditions of 
 the treaty. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 March of the 
 French upon 
 Naples. 
 
 103 
 
 clo.-in;* the Elbe and Weser against the English, 
 and closing these rivers as firmly as the French 
 had done while they were in the occupation of 
 Hanover. In exchange, Prussia granted the same 
 cession of territory as at Schiinbrunn ; she gave 
 up the Franconiaii principality of Anspach, the 
 lvmainder of the duchy of Cleves situated to the 
 right of the Rhine, and the principality of Neuf- 
 chatel, forming one of the cantons of Switzerland 
 One advantage promised to the king of Prussia in 
 the treaty of Sehonbrunn was here withheld, to 
 the advantage of the kiiist of Bavaria. According 
 to the first treaty, the Franconian principality of 
 Barenth, contiguous to that of Anspach, and pre- 
 served to Prussia, was to be hounded in a more 
 regular manner, by taking from that of Anspach 
 a district containing a population of 20,000. There 
 was now no further question alxmt this dis- 
 trict. Finally, the obligations imposed upon 
 Prussia were extended. She was constrained to 
 guarantee, not only the French empire as it was, 
 with the new* arrangements concluded in Germany 
 and Italy, but she was still further bound to 
 guarantee explicitly the future results of the war 
 commenced against Naples, that is, the downfall 
 of the house of Bourbon, and the establishment, 
 as then presumed, of a branch of the lloiia- 
 parte family on the throne of the Two Sicilies. 
 This was the most disagreeable, ei rtainly, of the 
 recent conditions imposed upon Prussia^ shice it 
 rendered the situation of the king towards the 
 emperor Alexander more difficult than ever, be- 
 cause of the avowed protectorate of Russia in 
 1 to tlf Bourbons and Naj 
 
 It is not necessary to remark that the guarantees 
 were reciprocal, and that France promised t» sup- 
 port the Prussian armies with its own, and to Beeure 
 to Prussia all her past and present acquisitions, 
 Hanover among them. 
 
 This second treaty was signed on the 15th of 
 February. 
 
 Thus all that Prussia gained by wishing to 
 modify the treaty of .Sehonbrunn, was to 1 
 prived of the additions of territory which were at 
 first to be added to Bareuth; to he compelled to ■>, 
 
 very dangerous act, the closing of thi- Elbe and 
 
 •■; in line, to be obliged to avow publicly that 
 
 which was about to be consummated in Napli b. 
 
 The only result was, in fact, more obligations and 
 
 ad vantages. 
 M. Haugwitz would not have b en able to do 
 be could have placed things iii their 
 , which • uredly would have 
 
 p ref erable, because ho would in thai 
 have- been spared the embarrassing ments 
 
 of a re- patched and insincere alliance. It is true, 
 ia would then have been deprived of tie- pw s- 
 ti_'.- of a brilliant acquirement, rery useful at that 
 moment to cover all the meanness of Prussian 
 policy. However this may he, M. Haugwitz would 
 not carry to Berlin himself the sad fruit of the 
 tergivi :■ itions of his court; and he determined to 
 ■end thither If. Lucchesini, tha minister ol Pi 
 
 in Paris. It was not COUVl no Dl for him to solicit 
 
 the adoption of a spoiled won,, and to assume 
 himself alone tie ibility of the resolution 
 
 which he had thus proposed to be taken. He 
 would leave to his king, to Ins colleagues, and to 
 the royal family, which had Intervened in to in- 
 
 discreet a manner in state affairs, the business of 
 choosing between the treaty of Sehonbrunn, made 
 much worse, or war ; because it was evident this 
 time that Napoleon, poshed to the utmost by a new- 
 rejection, if he did not kindle immediately on ac- 
 count of a rejected alliance, would treat Prussia 
 in such a mode under every European arrange- 
 ment, that war would soon become inevitable. 
 
 He therefore sent -M. Lucchesini to Berlin, being 
 his superior, and occupied for some days the place 
 of minister at Paris. He charged him to carry 
 the treaty to his court ; to depict to it the exact 
 state of things in France ; to represent to it the 
 real disposition of Napoleon, Who was ready to be- 
 come, according to the manner in which it con- 
 ducted itself, either a powerful and sincere a'.iy, 
 though embarrassing through his spirit of enter* 
 prise, or a formidable enemy, if he was forced to 
 see in Prussia a second Austria. ML Haugwitz 
 did not give the commission to M. Lucchesini to 
 solicit in his name the adoption of the new treaty. 
 He wished for nothing more, because he was al- 
 ready disgusted with a task become too ungrate- 
 ful, and the fatigue of a too vexatious responsi- 
 bility. 
 
 lie remained therefore in Paris, treated with 
 pert at courtesy by Napoleon, Studying with cu- 
 riosity that extraordinary man, and every day 
 persuading himself more and more of the justice 
 of his own policy, and of that present and future 
 which Prussia and France equally com promised by 
 not knowing how, to understand each other. 
 
 In the rest of Europe all went on according to 
 the wish of the fortunate conqueror of Austerlitz. 
 The army which had been sent to Naples under 
 the apparent command of Joseph Napoleon, and 
 under the real command of Maesena, marched 
 straight to its object. The queen of Naples again 
 endeavouring to disperse the storm she had raise d 
 by her faults, implored till the courts, and des- 
 patched Buccessisely cardinal Ruffo, and the 
 heir apparent to the crown, to meet Joseph, to 
 try and conclude a treaty, whatever might be the 
 conditions. Joseph, bound by the imperative or- 
 ders of his brother, refused cardinal Ruffe, l'e- 
 
 ceived with respect the solicitations of prinee Fer- 
 dinand, but did not halt, an instant in his march 
 upon Naples. The French army, 40,000 nun, 
 I Garigliano on the <lth of February, 
 
 and advanced, Conned in three corps, one, that 
 of the right, under general Reynier, went t>. 
 blockade Gaeta ; the other, that of the centre, 
 under marshal Masaena, marched upon Capua ; 
 the third, that of tiie left, under general St. Cyr, 
 
 marched by Apulia and the Ahruz/.i towards the 
 gulf of Taivntuni. At this news, the English em- 
 barked with such precipitation, that they uearh 
 
 In ght tie- Russians, their allies, into danger. 
 
 Tin- former Bed to Sicily ; the lael to Corfu. 
 court of Naples took refuge at Palermo, after hav- 
 ing entirely emptied the public eh< '-, and even 
 
 those Of the hank. The prince royal, with t] 
 
 who remained of the besl troops of the Neapolitan 
 
 army, marched into the Calaluias. Two Neapo- 
 lita hletnell Were sent to Capua to treat lor the 
 
 ■urreuder of the capital. A eonveatian was 
 •igned, and Joseph, I by the oorpaofMasi 
 
 s'-na, presented bimaell before Naples* lie en- 
 tered the city on the l.'ith ol I '. binary, without
 
 104 
 
 Joseph Bonaparte 
 enters Naples. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Berthier ordered . . „„. 
 to halt at /„ '. 8 
 
 Braunau. \ February. 
 
 the public peace being disturbed, the population 
 of the lazzaroni making no resistance. 
 
 The fortress of Gaeta, although included in the 
 convention of Ca(>ua, was not surrendered by the 
 prince of Hesse- Philippstadt, who was the com- 
 mandant. He declared that he would defend him- 
 self to the last extremity. The strength of the 
 place, a species (if Gibraltar, only connected by an 
 isthmus with the main land of Italy, rendered it 
 capable of a long resistance. General Reynier 
 carried the exterior positions with great boldness, 
 and tried to shut up the enemy in the place quite 
 close, until he should be able to obtain the neces- 
 sary materiel for undertaking the siege regularly. 
 
 Joseph, master of Naples, \v;is only at the com- 
 mencement of the difficulties which he had to 
 overcome. Although he as yet took no more than 
 the quality of the lieutenant of Napoleon, he was 
 not less in the siyht of all there the king intended 
 for the new kingdom. He had not a ducat in the 
 chest; all the military stores had been carried 
 away ; the principal functionaries had gone away. 
 It was necessary to create at once finances, and an 
 administration. Joseph had sense, mild manners, 
 but not any portion of that prodigious activity with 
 which his brother Napoleon was endowed, and 
 which was so necessary here to lay the foundation 
 of a government. 
 
 He, nevertheless, went to work. The grandees 
 of the kingdom, more enlightened than the rest of 
 the nation, as generally happens in one a little 
 civilized, had been ill-treated by the queen, who 
 reproached them with being inclined to liberal 
 opinions, and made them live in continual fear of 
 the lazzaroni, ignorant and fanatical, that she un- 
 ceasingly threatened to turn loose upon them ; 
 the ordinary conduct of royalty, that ever supports 
 itself upon the people against the nobles when re- 
 sistance shows itself in the last. The grandees, 
 therefore, gave a good reception to the new govern- 
 ment, from which they hoped to have a wisely re- 
 forming administration, decided to protect every 
 class in the same degree. Joseph, seeing them 
 animated with favourable sentiments, devoted 
 himself to drawing them still more towards him- 
 self, and restrained the lazzaroni through the fear 
 of severe executions. Moreover, the name of 
 Massena made the public disturbers tremble. A 
 gale of wind drove into Naples a Neapolitan frigate 
 and corvette with several transports. There were 
 recovered in this mode some military stores and 
 other things of considerable value. They armed 
 the forts, levied contributions, and a very able 
 native of Corsica, M. Salicetti, sent by Napoleon 
 to Naples, was placed at the head of the police. 
 Joseph requested the assistance of his brother in 
 money to enable him to get over his first diffi- 
 culties. 
 
 Eugene, viceroy of Upper Italy, had received 
 the Venetian states from the hands of the Aus- 
 trians. He entered Venice to the great satisfac- 
 tion of the inhabitants of that ancient queen of the 
 seas, who found in their junction with an Italian 
 kingdom a certain compensation for their ruined 
 independence. The corps of general Marmont, de- 
 scended from the Styrian Alps into Italy, had pro- 
 ceeded to the Izonzo, and formed a reserve ready 
 to penetrate into Dalmatia, if such an addition of 
 force should become needful. General Molitor 
 
 with his division had marched rapidly towards 
 Dalmatia, to take a country to which Napoleon 
 attached so great a price, because it bordered on 
 the empire of Turkey. That general had entered 
 Zara, the capital of Dalmatia. But there re- 
 mained still a great extent of coast to be passed 
 over before they should arrive at the celebrated 
 mouths of the Cattaro, the most southern and most 
 important of the positions of the Adriatic; and be 
 hastened, in order to restrain by the fear of his 
 approach the Montenegrins, who had for a good 
 while been in the pay of Russia. 
 
 For the rest, the court of Vienna, longing for 
 the retreat of the French army, was disposed to 
 execute faithfully the treaty of Presburg. That 
 court, wasted by the last war, which was the third 
 since the French revolution, terrified by the blows 
 it had received at Ulm and Austerlitz, without 
 doubt did not renounce the hope of retrieving 
 itself some d;iy, but for the present had resolved to 
 restore some sort of order to its finances, and to 
 let a few years pass away before again trying the 
 fortune of war. The archduke Charles, become 
 again minister of war, was desired to seek a new 
 system of military organization, that should pro- 
 cure, without too great a reduction of force, the 
 savings that were no longer able to be deferred. 
 They were pressed therefore to execute in every 
 point the last treaty of peace, to pay the contri- 
 bution of 40.000,000f., either in specie or bills of 
 exchange, and to second the removal of the can- 
 non and muskets taken at Vienna, that the suc- 
 cessive retreat of the French troops might be 
 accomplished as soon as possible. This retreat 
 was to terminate on the 1st of March, by the 
 evacuation of Braunau. 
 
 Napoleon, who had left Berthier at Munich to 
 watch over the return of the army, a return which 
 he wished to make slow and easy, had prescribed 
 to this faithful executor of his commands to stay 
 at Braunau, and not to restore that place until 
 after lie should have received positive news of the 
 giving up of the mouths of the Cattaro. He had 
 established marshal Ney, with his corps, in the 
 country of Salzburg, to live there as long as pos- 
 sible at the expense of a province destined to 
 become Austrian. He had established marshal 
 Soult's corps on the Iun, upon both banks in the 
 archduchy of Austria and Bavaria, living upon 
 both. The corps of marshals Lannes, Davout, and 
 Bernadotte, being too great a burden to Bavaria, 
 the inhabitants of which had begun to be weary of 
 it, were marched towards the countries newly 
 ceded to the German princes in alliance with 
 France ; and as there had been no terms fixed for 
 the delivery of those countries, which depended 
 yet upon litigious arrangements, there was a pre- 
 text found for their sojourning there some time. 
 The corps of Bernadotte was therefore transferred 
 into the province of Anspach, ceded by Prussia to 
 Bavaria. It there had space to extend itself, and 
 to subsist. The corps of marshal Davout was 
 transferred into the bishopric of Aichstedt, and 
 into the principality of GLttingen. The cavalry 
 was divided among the different corps. Those 
 which had not sufficient room to supply themselves 
 with subsistence, had permission to scatter them- 
 selves among the lesser Suabian princes, of which 
 the treaty of Presburg made the existence pro-
 
 1806. 1 
 February. ( 
 
 State of the 
 army. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Rapacity of the German 
 princes. 
 
 105 
 
 blematical, by causing new changes in the Ger- 
 manic constitution. The troops of Lannes, di- 
 vided between marshal ftfortier and genera] Oudi- 
 not, were quartered in Suabia. The grenadiers of 
 OuJinot were inarched through Switzerland to- 
 wards the principality of Neufchatel, in order to 
 take | l of it. Finally, the corps of Auge- 
 
 reau, reinforced by Dupont's division and the 
 Batavian division of general Dumonceau, was can- 
 1 around Frankfort, ready to march on Prus- 
 sia, if the last arrangements concluded with that 
 state had not brought her back to sincere and 
 definitive intentions. 
 
 These different corps were in the best state. 
 They had begun to feel the effect of the rest 
 which had been granted to them, and tliey were 
 recruited by the arrival of the young conscripts 
 that continually left the banks of the Rhine, where 
 the depots had been united under marshals Le- 
 febvre and Kellermann. The soldiers were, if pos- 
 sible, better for active warfare than before the last 
 Campaign, and particularly proud of their recent 
 victories. They showed themselves humane to- 
 wards the people of Germany, a little noisy it is 
 true, and given to boast of their exploits ; but this 
 1 away ; they were social to the highest 
 point, offering a singular contrast in this re- 
 spect to their German auxiliaries, who were much 
 harder in dealing with their countrymen than the 
 French were themselves. Unhappily, Napoleon, 
 in a spirit of economy useful to the army, but 
 injurious to his policy, only paid the soldiers a 
 certain proportion of their pay, retaining the re- 
 mainder for their advantage, to be accounted for 
 with them when they should re-enter France. 
 He required that provisions should be furnished 
 the troops by the countries in which they were 
 encamped, in place of that portion of their pay 
 which he retained from them; and this was a heavy 
 grievance for the inhabitants. If the provisions 
 had been paid for, the presence of the troops, in 
 place of being a burden, would have been an ad- 
 vantage, and Germany, which knew that they had 
 been brought upon its soil through the coalition, 
 would have had towards them only the kindest 
 feeling. It was therefore an ill-judged economy, 
 and the benefit which resulted from it to the 
 army was not worth the inconveniences which 
 arose out of it to the countries tlms occupied. 
 Napoleon also retained the expenses of the new 
 clothing of the soldiers, in order that they might 
 receive it when they had repassed the Rhine, and 
 had OOme to participate in the festivities which he 
 
 was preparing for them. They, on their par:, 
 were of the same opinion, and gave tbemsetvea up 
 cheerfully to wear their old garments, and to re- 
 ceive bnt little money, ■tying to themselves, thai 
 
 on their return to I rane, , they should have new 
 clothes, and an abundance of pay to sp ( nd. 
 
 For the ret, tin people complained heavily of 
 
 the prolongation of the stay of the troops: the 
 
 had, at hast, invoked their pi • 
 
 as a benefit, because nothing could be compared 
 to the violence and spoliation that w r mmitted 
 
 bv the German gOTSnUMOf aall) by those 
 
 which were strong. Tin- grand-duke of Baden and 
 
 the king of Bavaria had laid their hands on the 
 i BfionS of the Immediate nobility ; and al- 
 
 though they acted without any feeling oi OOnsldeT- 
 
 ation, their precipitation was humanity itself 
 compared to the violence of the king of Wurtem- 
 
 berg, who pushed his rapacity to siuh a length as 
 to take possession of anil to pillage .nil the lb Is. as 
 it was in France during the time of the cry, " War 
 with the mansions, pence with the cottagt s." His 
 
 b ps entered upon the domains of the primes 
 
 enclosed in his kingdom, under the pretext of 
 seizing upon the goods of the immediate nobility. 
 Not having a rij;ht but to a portion of the Brisgan, 
 of which the larger part was destined for tie- 
 house of Baden, the king of Wurtcniberg had oc- 
 cupied it almost wholly. But for the French 
 troops, the Wurtembergers and the troop 
 Baden would have come to blows. 
 
 Napoleon had made M. Otto, minister of France 
 at Munich, and Berthier. major-general of the 
 grand army, arbitrators of the differences, which 
 he foresaw would arise between the German 
 princes, great and small. These last had all made 
 haste to .Munich, where the diet of Ratisbon ap- 
 peared to have transferred its seat, and there they 
 solicited justice from France, and even the pre- 
 sence of the French troops, however onerous it 
 might be. Inextricable disputes were seen to 
 arise on all sides, which it did not seem possible to 
 assuage but by newly recasting the German con- 
 stitution. In the mean time, detachments of 
 French soldiers kept possession of the places in 
 dispute, and every thing was given over to the 
 arbitration of France and its ministers. Further- 
 more, Napoleon did not make those disputes serve 
 for the stay of his troops in Germany, because he 
 was impatient for the return of the army, that it 
 might unite at Paris around himself ; and he only 
 waited for that purpose until the entire occupation 
 of Dalmatia, and the definitive answer of the 
 Prussian court. 
 
 This court, obliged to declare itself for the last 
 time upon the modified treaty of Sehonbrunn, at 
 length came to a decision. It accepted the treaty, 
 thus become much less advantageous since its 
 double remodelling at Berlin and Paris, and it 
 received, with confusion on its own front, and with 
 ungratefulness at heart, the gift of Hanover, which 
 at any other time would have overcome it with 
 delight. What was to be done '. There was now 
 no oil" r c tune to adopt than that of finishing by 
 an adherence to the propositions of France, or to 
 resign itself at once to war to a war for which 
 the Prussian army called aloud, and that its com- 
 manders, better judging, (above all, the kin^ him- 
 self,) mistrusted, as an unfortunate experiment! 
 
 To Choose war, it was meet to have decided 
 upon it when Napoleon had quitted llm to shut 
 
 himself up in the long valley of the Danube, and 
 
 to have fallen upon his rear, while the Ausiro- 
 
 o , e.inei ■utrated at Olmlits, were drawing 
 
 him into Moravia. But the Prussian army was 
 not then ready ; and alter the '2nd ol December, 
 when M. HaUgwitS had convened with Napoleon, 
 it was too late. It was much too late, now the 
 
 French, united in Suabia and Franoonla, bad not 
 
 more than a single atop to mal.e to invade Prussia; 
 now too that the RuSSUUU were in Poland, and 
 
 tin- Austrians coinpli tely disarmed, 
 
 'I'd accept tin- ^ilt ol Hanover on the conditions 
 
 whieli were attached to it by Prance was the only 
 possible resource. But this was a siu^ular mode
 
 106 
 
 M. Haugwitz's reception 
 at Berlin. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Prussian apologies / 1806. 
 to Russia. \ February. 
 
 of commencing an intimate alliance. The treaty 
 of the 15th of February was ratified on the 24th, 
 and M. de Luechesini immediately set out for 
 Paris with the ratifications. M. Haugwitz, on his 
 side, quitted Paris to return to Berlin, perfectly 
 well pleased with the personal treatment which 
 he had received from Napoleon, promising him 
 again the faithful alliance of Prussia, but awaiting 
 trials sufficiently painful, at the. view of all the 
 difficulties which swarmed in Germany, — at the 
 sight, above all, of the lesser German princes 
 prostrate at the feet of France, to preserve them- 
 selves from the exactions- with which they were 
 borne down by the more powerful and more 
 favoured princes. On arriving at Berlin, M. 
 Haugwitz found the king very melancholy at his 
 position, and very deeply afflicted at the diffi- 
 culties opposed to him by the court, now more 
 excited and intemperate than ever. The boldness 
 of the malcontents was pushed so far, that during 
 the night the windows of the house of M. Haug- 
 witz were broken by rioters, that it was generally 
 believed belonged to the army, and that they said 
 publicly, but falsely, were agents of prince Louis. 
 M. Haugwitz affected to treat these manifestations 
 of feeling with disdain, which, very insignificant 
 in free countries, where they pass over, while 
 despising them, the excesses of the multitude, 
 were singular and serious in an absolute monarchy, 
 above all, when they came to be imputed to the 
 army. The king considered them as a serious 
 thing, and publicly announced his intention to 
 treat them with severity. He gave formal orders 
 for the discovery of the offenders, whom the police, 
 whether powerless or accomplices, did not succeed 
 in discovering. The king, pushed to extremities, 
 showed a firm and determined will, which awed 
 the discontented, and particularly the queen. He 
 gave the last to comprehend that he had takfen up 
 the ground that the safety of his monarchy had 
 required him to take, and that it was necessary 
 that every body around him must assume the 
 attitude conformable to his policy. The queen, 
 who for the rest was devoted to the interests of 
 the king her husband, held her peace; and for 
 a moment the court presented a becoming aspect. 
 
 M. Hardenberg quitted the ministry. This per- 
 sonage had become the idol of the opposition. 
 He had been the creature of M. Haugwitz, his 
 partisan and imitator, and the most ardent sup- 
 porter of the French alliance, above all, in 1805, 
 when Napoleon, from his camp at Boulogne, 
 offered Hanover to Prussia. Then M. Harden- 
 berg regarded it as the brightest of his glories, 
 to secure this aggrandizement for his country, and 
 complained himself to the French ministers of his 
 king, too slow, he said, in attaching himself to 
 France. Afterwards, having seen the failure of 
 his design, he had thrown himsejf, with the im- 
 petuosity of an intemperate character, into the 
 arms of Russia, anil not having been able to re- 
 cover from that error, he declaimed loudly against 
 France. Napoleon, made acquainted with his con- 
 duct, had committed one fault respecting him, 
 which he more than once renewed, — it was that 
 of speaking about him in his bulletins, making 
 an offensive allusion to a Prussian minister se- 
 duced by English gold. The imputation was 
 unjust. M. Hardenberg had not been more se- 
 
 duced by the gold of the English, than M. Haug- 
 witz was by the gold of the French. It was most 
 indecent in an official act, and too strongly be- 
 spoke the license of the soldier-conqueror. It 
 was this attack that had given to M. Hardenberg 
 the vast popularity which he enjoyed. The king 
 granted him leave to retire, with testimonies of 
 consideration, which took away from his retire- 
 ment all the character of a political disgrace. 
 
 But while he sent away M. Hardenberg, Fre- 
 derick-William joined a second minister to M. 
 Haugwitz, who was worth little more than he; this 
 was M. Keller, whom the court regarded as one of 
 its own creatures, and who gave himself out pub- 
 licly as an inspector over his superior. This was 
 a species of satisfaction granted to the party 
 inimical to France; because, in absolute 'govern- 
 ments, it is as often obliged to yield to the opposi- 
 tion as in free governments. Frederick-William 
 did more yet ; he attempted to be on good terms 
 with Russia, and to explain honourably the in- 
 terested inconsistencies which he had committed. 
 
 Since Austerlitz' they had been cautious of com- 
 munications with St. Petersburg. After all the 
 boastings of Potsda'm, Russia could not but be 
 in confusion at her defeat ; and Prussia, at the 
 maimer in which she had kept the oath taken on 
 the tomb of the great Frederick. Silence was at 
 that moment the only convenient relation between 
 the two courts. Russia however had broken it 
 once, to declare .that her forces were at the dis- 
 position of Prussia, if the treaty of Potsdam being 
 divulged, should draw a war upon her. Since 
 then she had held her tongue, -and Prussia the 
 same. 
 
 It was necessary at last to have-an explanation. 
 Tlie king pressed the old duke of Brunswick to 
 go to St. Petersburg, to place his glory against 
 the reproaches that the conduct followed at 
 Schonbrunn and continued at Paris could not fail 
 to provoke. This respectable prince, devoted to 
 the house of Brandenburg, set out- therefore, 
 despite his age, on a journey to Russia.- He went 
 not to declare frankly that Prussia had finally 
 espoused the French alliance, which, difficult to 
 do, would have been still preferable to *$,• con- 
 tinuation of ambiguities, already very unfortunate ; 
 he went to say, that if Prussia had taken Hanover, 
 it was to prevent its being left in the hands of 
 France, and to spare herself the mortification and 
 danger of seeing the French re-appear in the north 
 of Germany ; that if. she had accepted the word 
 "alliance/' it was to avoid war, and by the use of 
 the word it was desired that neutrality alone 
 should be understood ;- that neutrality was the 
 most valuable both for one and the other ; that 
 Russia and Prussia had nothing to gain by war ; 
 that by becoming obstinate in the system of im- 
 placable war against France-, they aided the com- 
 mercial m> nopoly of England, and it was not quite 
 certain whether they did not also help forward the 
 continental domination of Napoleon. 
 
 Such was the language which the duke of Bruns- 
 wick was to hold at St. Petersburg. 
 
 We must now go back to the young emperor, 
 who, drawn into the war by vanity, and against 
 the secret promptings of his reason, had at Auster- 
 litz served so sad an apprenticeship to arms. He 
 had given little ground to be spoken of during the
 
 1S06. \ 
 February. I 
 
 Divisions at St. 
 Petcrburjr. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. Conduct of Alexander. 
 
 107 
 
 last three months ; and he hid in the distance of 
 bis far on° empire the confusion arising from his 
 defeat. 
 
 V general cry arose in Russia against the young 
 men, who, it was said, had governed and e in- 
 promised the empire. These young men, placed, 
 one party in the cabinet, and the other in the amy, 
 disputed among each other. The party of Dol- 
 gorouki accused the party of Czartoryski, and re- 
 proached it with having lost all by its bad conduct 
 towards Prussia. They would have done violence 
 to her, said the Dolgorouki party : they had thus 
 driven her away, in place of drawing her nearer, 
 and her refusal to take a part in the coalition had 
 prevented its success. It wus in a particular in- 
 terest that they had acted in this way : it was to 
 take the Polish provinces from Prussia, and to 
 istitute Poland — a mischievous dream, for 
 which the Polish prince Czartoryski had evidently 
 betrayed the emperor. 
 
 Prince Czartoryski and his friends maintained, 
 with much more of reason, that it was those pre- 
 sumptuous soldiers, who could not wait at Olmiitz 
 for the expiration of the term fixed for the inter- 
 vention of Prussia, who had wished to give a 
 premature battle, and to oppose their twenty-five 
 years' experience to the service of the most con- 
 summate general of modern times ; that they were 
 those presumptuous and incapable soldiers who 
 were the true authors of the Russian reverses. 
 
 The old discontented Russians condemned both 
 those youthful parties ; and Alexander, ace 
 of having suffered himself to be led E 111 times by 
 the one, and sometimes by the other, had become 
 at this period an object of little consideration for 
 his subjects. 
 
 He had been much discouraged during the first 
 that followed his defeat, and if prince Czar- 
 i had not recalled him several times to the 
 sentiment of his own dignity, he would have too 
 plainly exhibited the deep dejection of his mind. 
 Prince Czartoryski, although he shared a part of 
 the inexperience common to the young men who 
 governed the empire, had, nevertheless, c 
 teney and seriousness in his views. He was the 
 principal author of fell • > of European av- 
 
 ion which had caused Russia to take up arms 
 against France. Thai system, which with Etus- 
 
 men was at bottom only a mask thrown 
 
 the national ambition, was with the young 
 
 idea, frankly I. He wished 
 
 .ml r to J in it; and if it was a 
 
 imption in men so young to wish to dictate t • 
 
 Europe, above all, in pi il the powers 
 
 which were then disputing its empire, it v. 
 
 much greater levity still to abandon so qnickly 
 which had been undertaken with so much 
 
 : ity. 
 
 Prince Czartoryski had addressed to the young 
 
 emperor, formerly his friend, and beginning to 
 oe hia m »ble and respectful remon- 
 
 strances, that would have done honour t> the 
 
 minister of a frea country, and which must honour 
 him much more in a country when ice to 
 
 power is an act of rare dsrvotedneSB, and destined 
 
 1 1 remain unknown. Prince Cmrtoryski, retracing 
 to Alexander his hesitations and weslmiasaa, said 
 to him, '• Austria is brought down, but abe di 
 b r conqueror; Prussia is divided between two 
 
 parties, but she will terminate by yielding to the 
 German predominating sentiment. Learn in ma- 
 naging these powers to let the moment arrive 
 when one or another will be ready to act. Until 
 then you are out of the reach of attack ; you 
 will be able to remain a certain time without 
 peace or war ; and thus wait until circumstances 
 permit you either to take up arms or to make 
 peace with advantage. Do not cease your alliance 
 with England, and you will oblige Napoleon to 
 concede to you that which is your due." 
 
 Feeling deeply the greatness of Napoleon, since 
 he had encountered him o'l the field of battle at 
 Austerlitz, Alexander replied to prince Czarto- 
 ryski, " When we attempt to fight this man, we 
 are lint as children combating against a giant." 
 He added, that without Prussia it would not be 
 possible to renew the war, because without her 
 there was no chance of sustaining it successfully. 
 Alexander had imbibed a singular esteem for the 
 Prussian army, from the sole reason that Napoleon 
 had not yet beaten it. This army was at that 
 time, in effect, both the illusion and hope id' Eu- 
 rope. With that Alexander was quite ready to 
 renew the contest, but not without it. As to 
 England, he did not hope there for any efficacious 
 support. He feared that after the death of .Mr. 
 Pitt, announced as certain, and that after the ac- 
 cession of Mr. Fox to power, announced as an 
 approaching event, the hatred of France would be 
 extinguished, if not in the hearts of the English. 
 at least in their policy. Still the remonstrances 
 of prince Czartoryski, in stimulating the pride of 
 Alexander, had elevated his spirit, and he re- 
 solved, before he delivered his sword to Napoleon, 
 to keep him waiting for it. But although useful, 
 the lessons of this young censor were disagreeable 
 to him, and reached in this respect SO far as to 
 induce him to search among tin; more aged per- 
 sonages of his empire a complaisant dependant 
 without capacity, who, under the cow r of his age, 
 should execute with due submission his personal 
 will. It has been already stated that his favour 
 was fixed upon general Bndbi Fg. 
 
 The conduct advised by prince Czartoryski was 
 not the less exactly followed. Russia placed her- 
 self anew in relations with Austria J she app 
 to have forgotten the coolness of Holitsch ; she 
 testified to that com-: a g re a t interest in its mis- 
 fortunes, and great consideration for the power 
 winch it stid possessed : she undertook evt n to 
 ! ite in Loudon for the payment to her of a 
 sub- ids, although the war had only lasted 
 
 three mon ia, she avoide 1 all that 
 
 could possibly wound d, at the same tune keeping 
 in approval of its acts. 
 The duke of Brunswick arrived in tin- fast days 
 of tin- month of March. They gave him the 
 reception; tiny covered him with their attentions, 
 widen appeared add: sed t" his person, to bis 
 
 age, ami to bis military glory, and not to the 
 
 court of which he was the representative, He 
 waa leas welcomed when he began to confer upon 
 political affairs. They told him that Russia could 
 not approve of the acceptanc bj Prussia ol Hano- 
 ver, Irom tic bands of the common enemy of 
 Europe ; that for the rest, the peace which she 
 
 had made with Prance WS peace, little 
 
 solid or durable ; that Prussia would soon bo
 
 108 
 
 Disgraceful conduct 
 of Prussia. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 England declares 
 war against 
 Prussia, 
 
 180(3. 
 Febiuary. 
 
 forced to adopt a resolution too long deferred, and 
 to draw at last the sword of the great Frederick. 
 " Then," said the emperor Alexander to the duke 
 of Brunswick, " I shall serve under your orders, 
 and I shall glory in learning the art of war in 
 your school." 
 
 However, they attempted to draw the old duke 
 into a negotiation designed to remain in profound 
 secrecy. Under the pretext that the conditions 
 of the alliance would not be faithfully observed 
 by France, they proposed to him the conclusion 
 of a sub-alliance with Russia, by means of which 
 Prussia, if she were discontented with her French 
 ally, would be able to have recourse to her Rus- 
 sian ally, and would have at her disposal all the 
 forces of the Muscovitish empire. What was 
 thus offered was no less than treachery towards 
 France. The duke of Brunswick, wishing to 
 leave at St. Petersburg dispositions that were 
 favourable to Prussia, consented, — not to the con- 
 clusion of such an engagement, because he had 
 not been authorized, but to make the proposition 
 to his king. It was agreed that this negotiation 
 should remain open, and that it should be con- 
 ducted in secrecy as regarded M. Haugwitz, by 
 the intermediate aid of M. Hardenberg, the same 
 minister who had in appearance been disgraced, 
 and who, underhand, continued to treat upon the 
 most important affairs of the monarchy. 
 
 Whilst Prussia sought thus to explain her con- 
 duct to Russia, she attempted also to make her 
 excuses in London for the occupation of Hanover. 
 Nothing could be more singular than her mani- 
 festo to the Hanoverian people, and her des- 
 patch to the court of London. She told the 
 Hanoverian people that it was with pain she took 
 possession of that kingdom, a possession for which 
 she paid a bitter sacrifice, that of the provinces 
 of the Rhine, of Franconia, and Switzerland ; but 
 that she had thus acted to insure the peace of 
 Germany, and to spare Hanover the presence of 
 foreign armies '. After having addressed to the 
 Hanoverian people these words, alike destitute of 
 frankness and dignity, she said to the English 
 cabinet, that she had not taken Hanover from 
 England, but that she had received that country 
 from Napoleon, whose conquest Hanover was. 
 She received it, she added, against her will, as 
 an exchange which was imposed upon her for pro- 
 vinces which were objects of her deepest regret ; 
 that it was one of the consequences of that impru- 
 
 1 Of this curious document tlie following is an extract. 
 It is dated April I, 180C, signed by the king of Prussia, 
 Schulenberg, and Haugwitz. It first refers to a previous 
 document, dated January 27, 1806, which stated that Hano- 
 ver had been first occupied to keep it during the war. in 
 order to preserve the peace of the norlh of Germany ; but 
 that since " in consequence of the exchange of the elector- 
 ate of Hanover, ill consideration of the cession of three of 
 the provinces of our monarchy, and for the permanent tran- 
 quillity of our subjects and the neighbouring slates, we have 
 found it indispensably necessary to enter into and conclude 
 a convention with his majesty theemperorof the French and 
 king of Italy; and as the electoral states of :he house of 
 Brunswick situated in Germany were obtained by the em- 
 peror Napoleon by right of conquest, we hereby declare that 
 the rightful possession of the territory of that house has 
 parsed over to us, in consideration of the cession of three 
 of our provinces, and is now subject to our power only," &c. 
 Translator 
 
 dent war which Prussia had always blamed; that 
 had been undertaken against her advice, and of 
 which they must impute to themselves the con- 
 sequences; because they had elevated that colossal 
 power by attacking it unseasonably, that power 
 which took from one and gave to another, and did 
 violence to those whom it favoured with its gifis, as 
 well as to those whom it despoiled 2 . 
 
 England was not to be repaid with reasons 
 similar to these. She replied by a manifesto in 
 which she heaped invectives upon the court of 
 Prussia, declared it was miserably subjugated to 
 the yoke of Napoleon, unworthy of attention, and 
 as contemptible for greediness as dependence. 
 Meanwhile, the British cabinet, not wishing lo 
 appear in the sight of the nation as if it sought to 
 bring another enemy upon its hands, for an in- 
 terest exclusively connected with the royal family, 
 said that it might have suffered this new invasion 
 of Hanover, the inevitable result of a continental 
 war, if Prussia had limited herself to the simple 
 occupation of the country; but that this power, 
 having given notice of the closing up of the rivers, 
 had committed an hostile act, an act superlatively 
 injurious to the commerce of England, and that 
 in consequence she declared war against Prussia. 
 
 The ascendancy of the battle of Marengo had 
 brought back England to Napoleon. The ascen- 
 dancy of that of Austerlitz had brought her back 
 
 2 Perhaps dishonesty, treachery, and meanness were 
 never before carried so far by any crown as by that of Prus- 
 sia at this time, well meriting every misfortune th.a ;>ftrr- 
 wards befell her : the history of no modern state affords a 
 parallel to her greedy and unprincipled conduct. England 
 replied with a spirit that, if Frederick-William and his 
 ministry could feel shame, must have made them blush 
 deeply. The replicatnry declaration was signed by George 
 III., and dated Windsor, April 20, 1806. It first noticed all 
 the hollow and lying declarations that Prussia had put 
 forth in excuse ; protested against such an annexation by 
 a friendly power; showed whence arose its eagerness to 
 occupy the country in 1801, and its subsequent conduct 
 after the French evacuated the electorate; the violated 
 treaty of Potsdam ; the request she made of a subsidy from 
 England, intending to act contrary to the interests for 
 which it was required ; the secret treaty signed, in violation 
 of all principle, with Duroc, by M. Haugwitz, on the 15th 
 day of December, 1805; that when Prussia was to declare 
 against France in a month, in case the French rejected the 
 propositions taken by M. Haugwitz to Vienna, M. Haug- 
 witz signed the acceptance of Hanover as an annexation. 
 As late as the 27th of January, the king of Prussia hoped 
 that the "administration I have taken upon me will 
 turn out to the happiness of the country and its inhabitants; 
 and be by that means satisfactory to his Britannic majesty, 
 to whom I desire nothing more than to give, in this in- 
 stance as in all others, all the proofs of consideration, of 
 deference, and of friendship, which circumstances may put 
 in my power!" The document too well exposed Prussian 
 greediness, duplicity, and abandonment of honour. It ap- 
 pealed to German connexion and family alliance, and 
 wound up the just declaration against Prussian perfidy, by 
 protesting, as the sovereign of Hanover, against the an- 
 nexation s ) basely effected. " Prussia should not speak of 
 her sacrifices at the moment when her only aim is to ag- 
 grandize herself." " All," it concludes in nearly the last para- 
 graph, " all must agree, that the act committed against a 
 sovereign united to his Prussian majesty by the ties of 
 blood, and until now by those of friendship, places the 
 safety of Europe in greater danger than any other act of 
 hostility on the part of a power with which one might be at 
 open war." — English Stale Papers. Translator.
 
 1806. 
 March. 
 
 Affairs in England. CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. Death of Mr. I'itt. 
 
 109 
 
 ■ 'lid time; because the victories of tlie French 
 armies were a mean full as sure for disarming 
 lier, although lesa direct. The first of these 
 victories had produced the retirement of Mr. Pitt; 
 the second caused his death. This great minister 
 entered again into the cabinet in August, lf!0:5, 
 only fur two years, appearing there but to drink 
 deep of bitterness. Returning to oi'rice without 
 Mr. Wyndham or lord Grenville, his old colleagues, 
 without Mr. Fox, his recent ally, he had had to 
 combat in parliament his old and his new friends, 
 and in Europe, Napoleon, who was become em- 
 peror, and more powerful than ever. At his 
 voice, so well known to the enemies of France, the 
 cry of anus resounded from all sides, the third 
 coalition was formed, and the French army bad 
 been turned from Dover upon Vienna. Rut this 
 third coalition once dissolved at AuBterlitZ, Mr. 
 1'itt had seen his designs miscarry, Napoleon free 
 to return to Boulogne, and the keen anxieties of 
 England about to be renewed. 
 
 The idea of seeing Napoleon return to the shores 
 of the Channel had occupied all minds in Eng- 
 land. They always reckoned, it is true, on the 
 great difficulty of the passage ; but the world 
 began to fear that there was nothing impossible 
 for the extraordinary man who thus shook the 
 globe* and people inquired if it was worth while 
 to risk such chances to acquire an island, more or 
 less, when they had already the whole of India, 
 when they had the Cape of Good Hope and Malta, 
 in such a manner that they could not be die- 
 ted of them. They said that the battle of 
 Trafalgar had definitively assured to England her 
 superiority upon the ocean; but that the European 
 continent remained to Napoleon, that he was 
 about to shut up all its outlets, that this continent 
 alter all was the world, and that they could not 
 live eternally separated from it; that naval \ ie- 
 of the most brilliant kind might not hinder 
 Napoleon from profiting some day by an accident, 
 trorn leaving the continent to invade England. 
 The system of war to the last was therefore dis- 
 , credited among reasonable Englishmen; and al- 
 ■ though the system succeeded at a later period, 
 , yet they thus felt the danger, that was grant, too 
 at, for the advantages which could be gather* I 
 
 from a prolonged route t. 
 
 Hut as men are the slaves of fortune, and 
 willingly take for eternal bar caprices of momen- 
 tary Juration, they were erne! towards Mr. I'itt ; 
 
 they forgot the services of more than twi uty yean 
 
 that the- minister had rendered to Ins country, 
 
 tie- degree of greatness to which he had carried 
 it, by tin- energy of his patriotism, and by his par- 
 liamentary talents, through which be bad subdued 
 the house of commons. 'Ihey considered him 
 vanquished, and treated him as a conquered man. 
 Hi, enemies censored his policy and the results 
 
 which had followed it. They imputed to him the 
 
 faults of general alack, the precipitation of tin- 
 
 ,nis on entering upon tin- campaign without 
 
 waiting for the Russians, ami tin- baste of the 
 
 ! *n* to give battle without waiting for tits 
 
 Prussians. Tiny imputed all this to the impale nt 
 
 eagerness of Mr. I'm ; tiny affected to feel a 
 great interest in behalf of Austria; they accused 
 
 Mr. I'itt of having ruined it, and of having mined 
 
 iii her the only real (Hand of E ng la n d. 
 
 Mr. Pitt was, notwithstanding, a perfect stranger 
 to the plan of the Campaign, lie it was who had 
 been foremost in combining it. and by combining 
 it, he had prevent* d the Boulogne expedition — 
 but people gave him no good will even for this. 
 
 One singular circumstance rendered the effect 
 of the last victory of Napoleon more painful. On 
 the morrow of Austerlitz, as on the morrow of 
 Marengo, they maintained, for an instant or two 
 before the truth was known, that Napoleon had 
 lest in a great battle 27,000 men and all his ar- 
 tillery. Soon more accurate information had 
 arrived, and the members of the opposition had 
 the French bulletins translated and printed, and 
 then sent them to be distributed at the doors of 
 Mr. Pitt and of the Russian ambassador. 
 
 In order to enjoy bis full glory. Napoleon would 
 only have had to pass the strait-, and to listen to 
 what was said of him, his genius and his fortune. 
 Sad vicissitudes of this world ! That which Mr. 
 Pitt bad to undergo at this period, Napoleon had 
 to undergo at a later time, and with a greatness 
 of injustice and of passion proportioned to the 
 greatness of his genius and his destiny. 
 
 Twenty-five years of parliamentary contests — 
 contests that consume soul and body — had ruined 
 the health of Mr. Pitt. An hereditary malady, 
 which his fatigues, toils, and later mortifications 
 rendered mortal, was the cause of his premature 
 end on the 2."ird of January, 180G. He died at 
 the age of forty-seven, alter having governed his 
 country for more than twenty years, with as much 
 power as can be exercised under an absolute 
 monarchy ; and nevertheless he lived ill a free 
 country, he did not enjoy the favour of his sove- 
 reign, and he hail to command the votes of the 
 most independent assemblage on the earth. 
 
 If we admire those ministers who in absolute 
 monarchies are possessed of the ability to enchain 
 for a long time the weakness of the prince, the 
 instability of the court, and to reign in the name 
 of their master over an enslaved nation, what ad- 
 miration ought not to be felt for a man, whose 
 power, established over a free nation, had endured 
 for twenty wars! Courts are exceedingly capri- 
 cious, without doubt ; they tire Dot more so than 
 
 great deliberative assemblies. All the caprices of 
 
 opinion, excited by the thousand stimulants of the 
 daily press, and reflected in a parliament where 
 the\ take upon then selves the national sovereignty, 
 compose the moveabl ■ will, by turns servile and 
 despotic, which la necessary to captivate in order to 
 reign over thai multitude of heads which pretends 
 to reign ! It is ne cessa ry to govern, besides the art 
 of flattery, which procures such success in courts, 
 di |„,. S e-s thai or) diffi rent art of public speaking, 
 sometimes vulgar, sometimes sublime, which is 
 iiidi-pen-al.le to secure a hearing from an as- 
 semblage oi men : it i* necessary, again, to p. 
 
 that winch is not an art but a gift, the character 
 
 that succeeds in braving and controlling tie 
 cited iiassioits. All these qualities Mr. Pitt pea> 
 
 i in tin- bigbi st degree. Never in modern 
 
 limes was then found a RIOTS able baibr of a 
 
 popular assembly. Bxpieed during a quarter of 
 a century to the veh< menl imp' tuo itj "I Mr. Pox, 
 and to tin- poignant aarca ma ••• Mr. Sheridan, he 
 hebl bis way whIi imperturbable coolness, spoke 
 
 Continually, with justness, t- iiipi lately, and to the
 
 110 
 
 Character of 
 Mr. Pitt. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 English ministerial 
 changes. 
 
 f 1806. 
 \ March. 
 
 purpose; and when the resounding voices of his 
 adversaries came to unite with the still more 
 powerful voice of events, when the French re- 
 volution incessantly disconcerted the best states- 
 men and generals in Europe, flinging before him 
 in his progress, Fleurus, Zurich, or Marengo, he 
 ever knew how to restrain, by his firmness and by 
 the appropriateness of his replies, the excited 
 mind in the British parliament. It was for that, 
 above all, that Pitt was so remarkable, be- 
 cause he had not, as has been said elsewhere, 
 either the genius that organizes, or the knowledge 
 of the profound statesman. With the exception 
 of financial institutions of contested merit, he 
 created nothing in England ; he often deceived 
 himself about the relative strength of the European 
 powers, and upon the progress of events, but he 
 joined to the talents of a great political orator, an 
 ardent love of his country, and a passionate hatred 
 of the French revolution. It is necessary to the 
 genius of passion, that it should possess power. 
 Representing in England, not the titled but the 
 commercial aristocracy, which lavished its trea- 
 sures upon him in the way of loans, he resisted 
 the greatness of France and the contagion of de- 
 magogical disorders with invincible perseverance, 
 and maintained order in his country without 
 diminishing liberty. He left it burdened with 
 debt, it is true, but the quiet possessor of India. 
 He used and abused the power of England ; but 
 she was the second country of the earth in power 
 when he died, and the first eight years after his 
 death. And what would the strength of nations 
 be good for, if not to attempt to domineer over 
 each other ? Vast dominations are among the 
 designs of Providence. That which a man of 
 genius is to a nation, a great nation is to humanity. 
 Great nations civilize and enlighten the world, 
 making it advance in all ways more rapidly. It 
 is only necessary to counsel them to unite that 
 prudence to force, which makes force successful, as 
 well as the justice which confers honour upon it. 
 
 Mr. Pitt, so fortunate during eighteen years, 
 was unfortunate in the last days of his life. They 
 were avenged, the French, upon that cruel enemy; 
 since he had reason to believe they would ever be 
 victorious, and, doubting the excellence of his own 
 policy, to tremble for his country in the future. 
 It was one of the most mediocre of his successors, 
 lord Castlereagh, who was destined to enjoy the 
 disasters of France. 
 
 Amidst the most varied and most violent ac- 
 cusations, Mr. Pitt had the good fortune not to 
 see his integrity assailed. He lived upon his 
 emoluments, which were considerable; and without 
 being poor, he was reported to be so l . When 
 
 1 This is very incorrect : Pitt died on the 23rd of January; 
 on the 27th Mr. Lascellcs proposed that he should be buried 
 at the public expense, and that a monument should be 
 erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey. This motion 
 was opposed by the leaders of the opposition, and by Mr. 
 Fox, on the ground that one whose measures had been so 
 unfortunate for his country, was not entitled to public 
 honours; but when the motion for payinu' his debts, amount- 
 ing to 40,000/., was made on the following 3rd of February, 
 that motion was supported by the opposition, indeed, car- 
 ried iitm. con.; because every one who knew Pitt, admitted 
 that he was most disinterested as a man, and notoriously 
 destitute of private fortune. M. Thiers might have known, 
 
 his death was announced, one of the members of 
 the old ministerial majority proposed the pay- 
 ment of his debts. This proposition, presented 
 to parliament, and received with respect, was re- 
 sisted by his old friends, become his enemies, and 
 particularly by Mr. Wyndham, who had been for 
 so long a time the minister's colleague. His noble 
 antagonist, Mr. Fox, refused to support the motion, 
 but with sorrow : " I honour," he said, in accents 
 that moved the assembled house of commons ; 
 " I honour my illustrious adversary, and I regard 
 it as the glory of my life, to have been sometimes 
 called his rival. But I have for twenty years 
 fought against his system of policy ; and what 
 would the present generation say of me, if it saw me 
 welcome what was intended to be the best and most 
 distinguished homage to that policy, which I have 
 believed and still believe to be prejudicial to Eng- 
 land ?" Every body understood the character of 
 Mr. Fox's vote, and applauded the nobleness of 
 his language. 
 
 Some days afterwards, the proposition having 
 taken another character, parliament voted unani- 
 mously 50,0007. sterling (J,250,000f.) for the pay- 
 ment of Mr. Pitt's debts. It was decided that he 
 should be buried at Westminster. 
 
 Mr. Pitt left vacant the offices of first lord of 
 the treasury, of chancellor of the exchequer, of 
 lord-warden of the cinque ports, of chancellor of 
 the university of Cambridge, and some others less 
 important. 
 
 It was very difficult to replace him, not in those 
 different offices, for which numerous ambitious 
 persons were ready to dispute, but in that of 
 prime minister, which had something awful in 
 presence of Napoleon, the conqueror of the Euro- 
 pean coalition. One idea had engrossed all minds 
 from the renewal of the war in lo'03, and at the 
 sight of the feeble minister, Addington, who then 
 ruled : it was to unite all the men of great talents 
 and even of contrary opinions, such as Pitt and 
 Fox, to meet the difficulties of the contest which 
 had commenced with Napoleon. The concerted 
 opposition of Pitt and Fox against the cabinet 
 of Addington rendered this union of talents both 
 more easy and more natural. Pitt wished for it, 
 but not strongly enough to overcome George III. 
 He entered into his ministry without Fox, and 
 by a sort of compensation he entered upon it 
 equally without his more decided friends under 
 the old tory system Grenville and Wyndham, 
 whom he had found too ardent to associate again 
 with himself. . 
 
 Those thus omitted by Pitt had drawn nearer 
 and nearer to Fox in the path of opposition, al- 
 though by the nature of their opinions they were 
 more distant from him than they had been from 
 Pitt himself. A common struggle of two years 
 had contributed to unite them, and few differences 
 divided them when Pitt died. A general opinion 
 called them to the ministry together, to replace by 
 the union of their talents the great minister whom 
 they had lost ; to endeavour to make peace by 
 
 further, that the new ministry had not yet come into office. 
 Mr. Fox did not take the onths of office and his seat until 
 fourteen days afterwards; the tories being in office when 
 both motions, th.it respecting the funeral and the debts of 
 Mr. Pitt, were made. — Translator'
 
 1806. 1 
 March. ( 
 
 Proceetiinps of Ihe 
 English ministry. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Magnanimous conduct 
 of Fox. 
 
 Ill 
 
 means of the amicable relations between Fox and 
 Napoleon; and to carry on the contest with all the 
 known energy of Grenville and Wyndham, if they 
 should not succeed in coming to an understanding 
 with I ranee. 
 
 If, in 1803, George III. had taken Pitt, whom 
 he did not like, in order to pass Fox by. whom he 
 liked still less, he was constrained, . liter the death 
 of Pitt, to yield to the empire of opinion, and to 
 assemble together, in the same cabinet. Fox.Gren- 
 ville, Wyndliam, and tluir friends. Grenville held 
 the office of first lord of the treasury, — that is to 
 of prime minister ; Wyndham, that which he 
 had ever occupied, the war-ministry; Fox. the 
 office of foreign affairs, and Grey the admiralty. 
 The, other departments were distr buted among 
 the friends of these political personages, but in 
 such a manner that P'ox numbered the largest 
 body of supporters in the new ministry. 
 
 The cabinet thus funned obtained a large ma- 
 jority, despite the attacks of the expelled colleagues 
 of Pitt, Castlereagh and Canning. It immediately 
 employed itself with two essential objects, — the 
 organization of the army, and the relations of the 
 country with France. 
 
 Afl to t lie army, it was not possible to leave it in 
 the state in which it had been since 1803, — that is 
 to say, composed of an insufficiency of regular 
 forces, and of 300,000 volunteers as expensive 
 as ill-disciplined. This was an organization of 
 urgency, devised at a moment of danger. Wynd- 
 liam, who had incessantly railed at the volunteers, 
 and had maintained that nothing efficient could be 
 done without regular armies, which had given him 
 an opportunity of speaking of tin- French armies 
 in magnificent terms, could less than any other 
 support the existing organization. He therefore 
 proposed a sort of disguised disbanding of the 
 vo unteers, and certain changes in the troops of 
 the line, which would facilitate the recruiting of 
 these last. It has been already seen, that the 
 English army, as with all mercenary armies, had 
 been recruited by spontaneous enlistments. These 
 enlistments were for life, and this rendered the 
 recruiting difficult. Wyndham proposed to eon- 
 vert these into limited terms of enlistment, from 
 i to twenty years, and to add to them very 
 derable advantages in the way <>f pay. He 
 thus contributed to procure a much more powerful 
 organization for the English army ; but be had to 
 fight against the prejudice that permanent armies 
 raise in all free nations, against the favour the 
 volunteers had acquired, and, above all. against 
 the iirten tod by their institution, because 
 
 ii had bet n requisite to form a corps of officers 
 for the volunteers, that tin- government was now 
 obliged to dissolve. Tiny attempted to place 
 
 Wyndham at variance with bis new colleague l'o\, 
 
 who, partaking in the popular prejudices of hi 
 party, bad formerly shown a greater leaning to- 
 wards the institution of the volunteers than the 
 
 extensi if the regular army. In spite of these 
 
 ides, the ministerial plan was adopted, a 
 augmentation was voted to the regular army, 
 that, until tin.' entire developmenl of tie- new 
 system, was to of 26*7.000 men, 76,000 ■: 
 
 which were home militia, and 192,000 troops of the 
 line, distributed through the three kingdoms and the 
 
 colonies. The total < XpeOBl lof the budget amount- 
 
 ed for that year to 83,000,000/. stilling,— that is to 
 say, to more than two thousand millions of francs 
 (2,000,000,000^), made up by taxes to the amount 
 of l,500,000,000f., and a loan of J00.000,000f. to 
 be contracted lor during the course of the year. 
 
 It was with these, powerful resources that Eng- 
 land desired to present itself to Napoleon for the 
 purpose of negotiation. There wire expected from 
 Fox, his situation, his friendly relations with the 
 emperor, facilities which no one besides could pus- 
 si ss for holding out pacific overtures. A fortunate 
 chance, for which that honest man was indebted to 
 providence, furnished him with an honourable and 
 very natural opportunity. A miserable man, judg- 
 ing of the new English administration by that 
 which preceded it, introduced himself to Fox, with 
 the offer to assassinate Napoleon. Fox ordered 
 him, with indignation, to be taken into custody by 
 the proper persons, and handed over to the Eng- 
 lish police. He wrote' immediately to M. de Tal- 
 leyrand a very noble letter, denouncing the odious 
 proposal which he had just received, and offering 
 to place at his disposition every means for the 
 prosecution of the author, if the man's design 
 appeared to have in it any tiling serious. 
 
 Napoleon was touched, as he should be, upon a 
 proceeding so generous, and ordered .M. de Talley- 
 rand to give Mr. Fox such a reply as lie merited. 
 '• 1 have laid," wrote M. de Talleyrand, '•your > \- 
 cellcncy's letter bi fore his majesty. He sail, 
 ' There I recognize the principles of honour and vir- 
 tue which have always distinguished Mr. Fox. 
 Thank him, on my part,' lie added, 'and tell him, 
 that whether the policy of his sovereign makes us 
 continue at war for a long time yet, or whether a 
 quarrel useless to humanity shall terminate as 
 speedily as the two nations can desire, I rejoice at 
 the new character that, from this proceeding, the 
 war has already taken, and which is the best presage 
 of that which maybe expected from a cabinet, of 
 the principles of which 1 am pi ased to judge by 
 those of Mr. Fox, who is one of those I, est fitted 
 to feel, in every thing which i^ excellent, what is 
 truly great.' " 
 
 M. de Talleyrand said no more, but that was 
 
 enough to cause a continuation of communications 
 vo nobly begun. Mr. Fox answered immediately 
 
 in a frank and cordial letter, in which he offered 
 
 I" act , without circumlocution or diplomatic shuffle, 
 
 ii| safe and honourable Conditions, and by means 
 
 as simple as they wen- prompt. The bases of the 
 
 treaty of Amiens were much changed according to 
 
 Mr. PoX ; they were so changed through the very 
 advantages that France and England had obtained 
 
 on the two elements which were tl dinary 
 
 of their sure it was. therefore, 
 
 ek new conditions, which should not 
 
 hurt the pride of either nation, and which should 
 
 procure for Europe guarantees of a tranquil and 
 
 safe i ut ui i . These conditions were not difficult) to 
 
 be found, if tllOy chose to be n.i OUablfl both one 
 
 side and the other. In accordance with anterior 
 treaties, England was unable to negotiate sepa- 
 rately from Russia; but in waiting until this fast 
 power could be consulted, it might be permitted 
 for each to consign to chosen agents the busim 
 of discussing the interests of the belligerent 
 powers, ami of preparing matter, for adjustment. 
 
 Mr. Fox offend to appoint at unci- tie- persons
 
 112 
 
 Explanations of Napo- 
 leon's views. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Communications of 
 Mr. Fox. 
 
 1806. 
 April. 
 
 wbo should be charged with tliis commission, and 
 the place where they should meet. 
 
 This proposal delighted Napoleon, who in reality 
 wished for a reconcilement with England, since 
 from her every war proceeded like water from its 
 source ; and he had few direct means of over- 
 coming her, one alone excepted, very decisive, but 
 very hazardous, and practicable for him alone, — 
 invasion. He felt great pleasure at this frank 
 overture, and embraced it with the greatest good- 
 will. 
 
 Without explaining the conditions in any way, 
 lie gave it to be understood in his reply, that the 
 conquests made by England, France would not 
 dispute much (she had retained Malta, as may 
 be remembered, and had taken the Cape) ; that 
 France, on her side, had spoken her hist word at 
 the treaty of Presburg, and that she claimed 
 nothing beyond that; that the bases would, there- 
 fore, be easy to lay down, if England had not par- 
 ticular and inadmissible views relative to com- 
 mercial interests. " The emperor is persuaded," 
 said M. Talleyrand, " that the true cause of the 
 rupture of the peace of Amiens, was nothing more 
 than the refusal to conclude a treaty of commerce. 
 Be well assured that the emperor, without re- 
 fusing certain commercial arrangements, if they 
 are possible, will not admit of any treaty that can 
 be injurious to French industry, which he means 
 to protect by all the duties or prohibitions which 
 may tend to their development. He insists on 
 having liberty to do at home all that he wishes, 
 all that he believes useful, without any rival nation 
 having a right to censure him." 
 
 As to the intervention of Russia in the treaty, 
 Napoleon declared positively that he would not 
 permit it. The principle of his diplomacy was 
 that of separate peace, and this principle was as 
 just as it was ably conceived. Europe had always 
 employed against France the means of coalitions ; 
 it would have been showing them favour to admit 
 of collective negotiations, because that would be 
 lending one's self to the essential principle of every 
 coalition which forbids its members to treat sepa- 
 rately. Napoleon, who in war endeavoured to 
 encounter his enemies separately, the one from the 
 other, in order to beat them in detail, wished in 
 his diplomacy to seek his encounters with them in 
 the same position. Thus he had opposed decided 
 refusals to every offer of a collective negotiation, 
 and he was right, save in departing from this prin- 
 ciple of conduct, in case Mr. Fox should have been 
 tied down by engagements which did not permit 
 him to treat without Russia. Napoleon, after 
 having laid down the principle of separate negoti- 
 ations, desired it to be intimated besides, that he 
 was ready to choose for the place of negotiation, 
 not Amiens, which recalled the bases of the peace 
 formerly abandoned, but Lisle, and to send there 
 immediately a minister plenipotentiary. 
 
 Mr. Fox replied immediately, that the first con- 
 dition which had been agreed upon at the com- 
 mencement of their communications was, that the 
 peace should be equally honourable for both na- 
 tions; and that it would not be so for England if 
 she treated without Russia, because she had for- 
 mally agreed by an article of the treaty (that 
 which constituted the coalition of 1805) not to 
 conclude a separate peace. This obligation was 
 
 absolute according to Mr. Fox, and could not be 
 evaded. He said, that if France had a principle, 
 that of not authorizing coalitions in her manner of 
 negotiating, England had another, — that of not 
 suffering herself to be excluded from the conti- 
 nent, by lending herself to the dissolution of her 
 continental alliances ; that in England, people 
 were as jealous upon this point as they could well 
 be in France upon the article of coalitions. 
 
 Mr. Fox, who to each of his official despatches 
 added a private letter, full of frankness and 
 honour, an example followed by M. de Talleyrand 
 on his own si 'e, terminated by saying, that per- 
 haps the negotiation would be stayed by an abso- 
 lute obstacle that lie most sincerely regretted, but 
 that the war would at least be honourable, and 
 worthy of the two great nations which waged it. 
 He added these remarkable words : " I am in the 
 fullest degree sensible, as I ought to be, to the 
 obliging expressions which the great man whom 
 you serve has used in relation to myself. Regrets 
 are useless ; but if he could see with the same eye 
 that I do the true glory which he would have a 
 right to claim by a moderate and just peace, what 
 happiness would not result from it for France and 
 for all Europe ! C. J. Fox. 
 
 " London, April 22, 1806." 
 
 In the midst of this obstinate, it may be almost 
 said ferocious contest, when the sanguinary scenes 
 which signalized it are recalled to recollection, the 
 mind gratefully reposes upon that noble and bene- 
 volent intercourse which a man as generous as he 
 was eloquent, originated for an instant between 
 two of the greatest nations of the globe, and the 
 soul is tilled with sorrowful inconsolable regret. 
 
 Napoleon was himself deeply affected at the 
 language of Mr. Fox, and he was sincerely de- 
 sirous of peace. M. de Talleyrand, though deceiv- 
 ing himself in regard to the system of French 
 alliances, never erred on the point of the policy 
 essential to the time; and he never for one day 
 ceased to believe that peace, in the degree of 
 greatness to which France had arrived, was her 
 first interest. He found the courage which he had 
 not ordinarily found to say this; he warmly press- 
 ed Napoleon to seize the unique occasion offered 
 by the presence of Mr. Fox at the head of affairs 
 to negotiate with Great Britain. He had no trou- 
 ble for the rest in gaining a hearing, because Napo- 
 leon was not less disposed than himself to profit by 
 this occasion, equally fortunate and unexpected. 
 
 Moreover, circumstances lent themselves to 
 overcome the obstacle which seemed to stay the 
 negotiation at the outset. There was more than 
 one reason to believe, from reports arising from 
 the duke of Brunswick and the consul of France 
 at St. Petersburg, that Alexander, disquieted 
 about the consequences of the war, mistrusting the 
 silence of the British cabinet in his regard, and the 
 personal dispositions of Mr. Fox, wished for the 
 re-establishment of peace. The consul of France 
 had sent the chancellor of the consulate to relate 
 what he had learned, and every thing seemed to 
 give birth to the hope of opening a direct negoti- 
 ation with Russia. In such a case, Mr. Fox would 
 no longer insist upon the principle of a collective 
 negotiation, when Russia had herself set the ex- 
 ample of its renunciation. 
 
 It was, therefore, resolved to continue the nego-
 
 180G. \ 
 April. ) 
 
 Release of English 
 prisoners 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Position of Hanover 
 and Prussia. 
 
 113 
 
 tiations commenced by Mr. Fox, and to serve this 
 object through an intermediate agent: a fortunate 
 chance presented itself. To the generous words 
 exchanged with Mr. Fox wire joined proceedings 
 not less generous. Ever since the arrests of the 
 English ordered by Napoleon, at the period of the 
 rupture of the peace of Amiens, in reprisal for the 
 seizure of French vessels, many members of the 
 highest English families were detained at Verdun. 
 Mr. Fox had requested the release of several of 
 t'n. in upon parole. The request had been met in 
 the most frieudly way ; and, though not daring to 
 insist upon all to the same extent, he had classed 
 them according to the interest with which they 
 inspired him. Napoleon resolved to grant him all, 
 and the English designated by him had been, with- 
 out exception, releaoed. In return for this noble 
 act, Mr. Fox had chosen, for the purpose of re- 
 turning them, the most distinguished prisoners 
 taken in the battle of Trafalgar, the unfortunate 
 Villencuve, the heroic commander of the Redoubt- 
 able, captain Lucas, and many others, equal in 
 number to the released English. 
 
 Among the prisouers returned to Mr. Fox, was 
 one of the richest and cleverest of the English 
 nobles, lord Yarmouth, afterwards marquis of 
 Hertford, a decided Tory ; but, though a Tory, an 
 intimate friend of Mr. Fox, and a decided partizan 
 of peace, which would permit him to enjoy tile life 
 and pleasures of the continent, of which the war 
 had deprived him. This young lord, well known 
 to the more brilliant of the Paris youth, in whose 
 dissipation lie was a partaker, was also well known 
 to M. de Talleyrand, who was fond of the English 
 nobility; above all, of those who had mind, ele- 
 gance, and dissoluteness. Lord Yarmouth was 
 designated to him as in intimate connexion with 
 Mr. Fox, and as \\<ll worthy the confidence of 
 both governments. He sent for him, declared to 
 
 htm that the emperor sincerely desired peace; that 
 they would set on one side the ceremonies of diplo- 
 macy, and come to a frank understanding upon the 
 conditions acceptable ou both sides; that the con- 
 ditions would not be very difficult to find, when 
 they could no more dispute with England about 
 
 what she had Conquered, lh.it is to say, about 
 
 Malta and the Cape; that the question alter that 
 was reduced to a few islands of little importance; 
 that in what regarded France, she declared herself 
 directly and clearly ; she desired, besides her pa 
 tttral territory of the Rhine and the Alps, that no 
 one would ever think more of contesting with her 
 the entire of Italy, the kingdom of Naples in- 
 cluded, and her alliances in Germany, on the con- 
 dition "I granting their independence to Switzer- 
 land and Ik. land Bfl Boon as the p. -are should he 
 
 signed; that there wa . con equently, no serious 
 obstacle t'> an immediate reconciliation between 
 tie- two countries, win □ on one pari and the other 
 they must be disposed to concede the things that 
 were thus annouu I; that in regard to the diffi- 
 culty arising out of the form of the negotiation, 
 
 collectively or separately, they would i fiud a 
 
 solution, thanks to the inclination which I; 
 showed to treat dire, iiy w ih France. 
 
 There was OIIS capital object U|HIII whiidl on c\- 
 
 planation was giv-n, but regarding which France 
 gave it to be lerstood that she would, in the 
 
 end, tell the becret, and that it should he told in a 
 vol. it. 
 
 maimer which would satisfy the royal family of 
 England, and that was Hanover. 
 
 Napoleon had actually determined to restore it 
 to George III., and it was the recent conduct of 
 Prussia which had provoked him to this serious 
 resolution. The hypocritical language of this 
 court in its manifestoes, tending to represent itself 
 to the Hanoverians and to the English as an op- 
 pressed power, which hail been made to accept a 
 fine kingdom by the sword at its throat, had tilled 
 him with rage. ll<- wished at the moment to tear 
 the treaty of the 15th of February, and to oblige 
 Prussia to replace every thing in its former state. 
 But fnr the reflections that time and M. Talley- 
 rand had impressed upon him, he would have 
 made a noise. Another more recent circumstance 
 contributed to detach him wholly from Prussia; 
 that was, the publication of the negotiations of ; 
 1805, by lord Castlereagh and the colleagues of 
 Mr. Fitt, who had retired from office. They were 
 bent on avenging the memory of their illustrious 
 leader, byshowing that lie hail remained a stranger 
 to the military operations, while he had taken the 
 largest share in the formation of the coalition of 
 1805, which bad saved England by causing the 
 breaking up of the camp oi Boulogne. But in 
 
 order to defend the memory of their leader, they 
 had compromised most of the courts. Mr. Fox had 
 reproached them for it in the house of commons 
 with great vehemence, and had attributed to them 
 the alteration of all the relations of England with 
 the European powers. There was in effect a uni- 
 versal outcry against English diplomacy in the 
 cabinets which saw themselves denounced to 
 France by this imprudent publication. The con- 
 duct of Prussia had received from this circum- 
 stance a most vexatious clearness. Her hypo- 
 critical and recent declarations i<> England on the 
 subject of Hanover, the hopes which she had held 
 out in th'. coalition, before and after the events at 
 Potsdam, all were divulged. Napoleon, without 
 complaining, had these documents inserted in 
 tin- Moniteur, leaving to every one the ear.- of 
 guessing that which he ought to think respecting 
 them. 
 
 Rut the opinion of Napoleon respecting Prussia 
 was formed He no longer deemed her worth the 
 trouble of a prolonged contest with England; he 
 
 had decided !•• restore II. mover tu England, and 
 ill offering Prussia one of two things, either an 
 equivalent for Hanover taken in Germany, or the 
 
 restitution of what he had received from her, 
 Anspich, ('. ms. and Neufchali 1. The cabinet of 
 li.rlin would reap that allien it had sown, and 
 
 in. . i with no more fidelity than it had iisdf ex- 
 hibited. Napoleon was still ignorant of the hidden 
 negotiations carrying on with Russia through the 
 intermediate agency of the duke ol Brunswick and 
 M. I [urdenberg ! 
 
 Without explaining fully, it was given to lord 
 
 ') armouth tu understand, that peace would not ba 
 
 withheld on account ol Hanover, and he departed 
 
 from Paris promising to return soon with the 
 
 t oi the intentions ol M i\ Fox. 
 
 A singular event, which for some days gave to 
 
 the aspect of things n strong appears! of the 
 
 renewal of war, contributed, mi the contrary, to 
 
 make things turn tow uK peace, and to hasten the 
 
 lutions of tin- Kn- lan cabinet. The French 
 
 I
 
 114 
 
 The Russians land 
 in Dalmatia. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Negotiation of 
 Russia. 
 
 { 
 
 1806. 
 .April. 
 
 troops ordered to occupy Dalmatia, had hastened 
 their march towards the mouths of the Cattaro, 
 in order to guaranty them from the danger which 
 threatened. The Montenegrins, of whom the 
 bishop and the principal chiefs supported them- 
 selves on the largesses of Russia, were much 
 troubled at learning the approach of the French, 
 and had called admiral Siniavin to their aid, the 
 same officer who had carried from Corfu to Naples, 
 and from Naples to Corfu, the Russians intended 
 for the invasion of the south of Italy. This ad- 
 miral, informed of the opportunity that offered 
 itself to secure the mouths of the Cattaro, hastily 
 embarked some hundreds of Russians, joined them 
 to a troop of Montenegrins, descended from the 
 mountains, and presented himself before the forts. 
 An Austrian officer who occupied them, and a 
 commissary, charged by Austria to deliver them 
 over to the French, declaring themselves con- 
 strained by a superior force, gave them up to the 
 Russians. This allegation of a superior force had 
 no foundation, because in the forts of Cattero 
 there were found two Austrian battalions, very 
 capable of defending them, even against a regular 
 army, which should have the means of besieging 
 them, but of which the Russians were destitute. 
 This perfidy was principally the act of the Aus- 
 trian commissary, the marquis of Ghisilieri, a very 
 cunning Italian, afterwards blamed by his govern- 
 ment, and put upon his trial for this dishonourable 
 action. 
 
 When this fact, transmitted to Paris by an ex- 
 traordinary courier, became known to Napoleon, 
 he became very angry, because he held the mouths 
 of the Cattaro of infinite importance, less on ac- 
 count of their own advantages, in themselves real, 
 from their maritime position, than as a place 
 of vicinity to Turkey, over which they fur- 
 nished a means to make his actions felt either 
 protectively or repressively. But he was angry 
 alone with the cabinet of Vienna, because it was 
 that cabinet which should deliver over to him the 
 Dalmatian territory, and which was, in his regard, 
 the only debtor. The corps of marshal Soult was 
 on the point of repassing the Inn, and of evacua- 
 ting Braunau. Napoleon ordered him to halt upon 
 the Inn, to arm Braunau again, to establish him- 
 self there, and to create it a real place d'armas. 
 At the same time, he declared to Austria that the 
 French troops should retrace their route, that the 
 Austrian prisoners, already on the inarch home, 
 should be retained, and that, if it were necessary, 
 things should be pushed to the renewal of hos- 
 tilities; at least, until one of these two satisfactions 
 was given him, — either the immediate restoration 
 of the mouths of the Cattaro, or the despatch of 
 an Austrian military force to retake them from 
 the Russians in conjunction with France. This 
 second alternative was not that which would have 
 been the least displeasing to him, because it would 
 set Austria at differences with Russia. 
 
 When these declarations, made in the peremp- 
 tory tone which was common to Napoleon, reached 
 Vienna, they caused real consternation there. 
 The Austrian cabinet had no share in the unfaith- 
 fulness of an inferior agent. The last had actod 
 without orders, thinking to please his own govern- 
 ment by his treachery toward the French. In- 
 stantly despatches were sent from Vienna to St. 
 
 Petersburg, to make Alexander acquainted with 
 the new dangers to which Austria found herself 
 exposed, and to declare that, not willing to see, at 
 any cost, the return of the French to Vienna, they 
 should sooner submit to the painful necessity of 
 attacking the Russians in the forts of Cattaro. " 
 
 Admiral Siniavin, who had thus taken possession 
 of the mouths of the Cattaro, had acted without 
 orders, as well as the marquis Ghisilieri, who had 
 delivered them up. Alexander was grieved at 
 the position in which they had placed his ally the 
 emperor Francis ; he was grieved too at the posi- 
 tion in which he was placed himself, between the 
 embarrassment of restoring and of giving up. He 
 was always more and more annoyed at the solicit- 
 ations of his young friends, who spoke unceasingly 
 to him about perseverance of conduct ; he was 
 disquieted about the negotiations carrying on with 
 Napoleon by England; and although this last 
 country had finally broken the silence which she 
 had observed during the ministerial crisis, he mis- 
 trusted his allies, and was inclined to follow the 
 general example, and to approximate towards 
 France. In consequence, he seized the occasion 
 of the mouths of the Cattaro being taken, that 
 seemed in itself sooner an occasion for war than 
 peace, to enter upon a pacific negotiation. He 
 had at hand the former secretary of the Russian 
 legation at Paris, M. Oubril, who had conducted 
 himself there to the satisfaction of the two govern- 
 ments, and who had the still further advantage of 
 knowing France well. They ordered him to pro- 
 ceed to Vienna, and there to demand passports for 
 Paris. The ostensible pretext was to be matters 
 relating to the Russian prisoners ; but the real 
 mission was, to treat of the affair of the mouths of 
 the Cattaro, and to comprehend in one general 
 settlement all the questions which had caused the 
 difference between the two empires. M. Oubril 
 had an order to retard as long as possible the re- 
 stitution of the mouths of the Cattaro; but, still, to 
 give them up, if there were no other means of 
 hindering the renewal of hostilities against Aus- 
 tria; and to manage, above all, the re-establish- 
 ment of an honourable peace between Russia and 
 France. It would be deemed honourable, they 
 informed him, if something, no matter what, were 
 obtained, for the two usual protege's of the Rus- 
 sian cabinet, Naples and Piedmont ; because, for 
 the-rest, the two empires had nothing to contest 
 one with the other, and were only making a war 
 of influence. Before leaving, M. Oubril had a 
 conversation with the emperor Alexander, and it 
 was manifest to him, that this prince inclined very 
 visibly towards peace, much more so than the 
 Russian ministry, which was besides in a tottering 
 state, and about to be dismissed. He set out, 
 therefore, inclining to that side of the question to 
 which he saw his master inclined. He carried 
 double powers, the one limited, the other complete, 
 and embracing all the questions which it was pos- 
 sible could arise to be resolved. He had orders 
 to concert with the negotiators of England, relative 
 to the conditions of the peace, but without exacting 
 a collective negotiation, which removed, in fact, 
 the difficulties that had arisen between France 
 and England. 
 
 M. Oubril departed for Vienna, and by his 
 presence restored calmness to the emperor Fran-
 
 1806. \ 
 April. J 
 
 If. Oubril goes 
 to Paris. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Negotiation with 
 England. 
 
 1J5 
 
 cis, who feared either the return of the French 
 upon him, or that lie should have to combat the 
 Russians. The second alternative frightened him 
 much less than the rirst. That prince had directed 
 an Austrian corpa towards the mouths of the 
 Cattaro, with an order to second the French 
 troops if necessary. M. Oubril encouraged him, 
 by showing his powers, and applied for passports 
 through count Rausmousky, in order to arrive 
 as soou as possible at Paris. 
 
 Napoleon wished that without delay, and favour- 
 ably, a reply should be given to the demand of 
 M. Oubril ; but in the mean while he had taken 
 care to distinguish the affair of the mouths of the 
 Cattaro from that of the re-establishment of p 
 The affair of the mouths of the Cattaro, according 
 to what was said on hLs part, could not be the 
 subject of any negotiation, when it related to an 
 engagement of Austria that remained unexecuted, 
 and in regard to which France had nothing to do 
 with Russia. As to the re-establishment of peace, 
 the French government was ready to hear with 
 the utmost good will the propositions of II. 
 Oubril, because, in frankness, it wished to ter- 
 minate a war without an end, as without an in- 
 terest, for the two countries. The passports for 
 M. Oubril were immediately forwarded from Paris 
 to Vienna. 
 
 Napoleon saw that Austria, exhausted by three 
 wars, endeavoured to avoid all new cause of hos- 
 tility with France ; Russia, disgusted by an enter- 
 prise too lightly undertaken, was decided to pro- 
 long it no further ; England, satisfied with her 
 naval successes, did not believe it was worth while 
 to expose hers -if anew to any formidable expedi- 
 tion ; Prussia, in line, no longer regarded, not 
 having the slightest respeet in the sight of any 
 one ; — in this state of circumstances, the whole 
 were desirous to kepp or to obtain peace, on con- 
 ditions, it is true, which were not yet clearly de- 
 fined, but which, whatever they might be, would 
 leave France the rani: of the first power in the 
 universe. 
 
 Napoleon deeply enjoyed this situation of things, 
 and had no desire to compromise it, even to obtain 
 new victories, lint be contemplated vast designs, 
 which he believed he was able to work out na- 
 turally and immediately from the treaty of 1'ivs- 
 burg. Tii d to him so generally 
 
 n, that upon the solo condition of accom- 
 plishing tlii-iii instantly, he hoped to gel them 
 comprehend 1 in the doub which he was 
 
 negotiating with England and Russia. 'lien his 
 empire, such as he had conceived it in his vast 
 mind, would find its. i: .|. fuiitively constituted and 
 rted by Europ obtained, he 
 
 regar I'll peace as the nt and ratification 
 
 of his work, as the Ins labours and ' 
 
 of his people, and as I npliahment of his 
 
 i ! man, as he had 
 
 already said to Mr. Fox, far from being insensible 
 to the charms of repose. With t is powerful 
 mobility of his mini, h ana a » woll disposed to 
 taste tie sweets of p e sea and the glory of the 
 useful arts, as to betake li [ain to fields of 
 
 battle, and to bivouac in the midst of hi 
 upon the snow. 
 
 Lord Yarmouth had returned from London with 
 a private letter from Mr. Fox, which alt' .ted that 
 
 he enjoyed the en; ire confidence of that minister, 
 and that he might be spoken to without reserve. 
 This letter added, that lord Yarmouth would re- 
 ceive powers as soon as there should be some 
 well-founded hope of coming to an arrangement. 
 M. de Talleyrand had then informed him of the 
 communications opened with Russia, and had thus 
 proved to him the uselessness of demanding a col- 
 lective negotiation, when Russia lent herself to a 
 separate one. As to the pretension of England 
 not to be excluded from the affairs of the conti- 
 nent, M. de Talleyrand offered lord Yarmouth an 
 official recognition of an equal tight fur both / 
 of intervention and guarantee in continental and 
 maritime a fair.; '. 
 
 Thus the question of a separate negotiation 
 seemed to be one no longer, and tin- conditi 
 the peace no more appeared to present of them- 
 selves any insoluble difficulties. England wished 
 to preserve Malta and the Cape ; she also showed 
 a desire to keep the French establishments in 
 India, such as Chandernagore and Pondicherry, 
 the French islands of lobago and St. Lucia, and, 
 above all, the Dutch colony of Surinam, situated 
 on the American continent. Between these dif- 
 ferent possessions, that of Surinam was ale: 
 any importance, because Pondicherry was only a 
 vain wreck of the old French power in India ; 
 Tobago and St. Lucia had not sufficient value to 
 cause a refusal. Relative to Surinam, England 
 did not show herself as positively insisting. As 
 to the continental conquests of France, much more 
 important than those maritime conquests, she Has 
 ready to concede all without reserve, not excepting 
 Genoa, Venice, Dalmati.i, or Naples. Sicily alone 
 appeared to create a difficulty. Lord Yarmouth, 
 explaining himself confidentially, said that they 
 were tired of protecting the Bourbons of Naples, 
 — that imbecile king and mad queen ; but still, 
 since they possessed Sicily in fact, as Joseph had 
 not yet conquered it, they should be obliged to 
 demand it for them, but that this would become 
 a question dependent upon the result of the mili- 
 tary operations actually undertaken. In ease Sicily 
 should be taken from them, lord Yarmouth added, 
 that an indemnity must be found for them some- 
 where. It was secretly understood, that as the price 
 of these various concessions, Hanover would be re- 
 
 : to Kie'laiid ; but both on OUi side and the 
 
 other it was a thing reserved from formal mention. 
 
 Sicily was then the sol.- s.-ii.ais difficulty; and 
 
 yel the immediate eunquest of the island, save as 
 
 in an indemnity, bowev* r insignificant it might be, 
 
 would ' -liable all to be arranged. PaSBDOCtS were 
 sent to .M. Oubril ; it was not known what the 
 pretensions were be might put forward, bat they 
 
 could not be \e|-y different from those of England. 
 Napoleon saw clearly that by not precipitating 
 
 the ni guthvtiona, and, on the contrary, accelerating 
 bis own designs, he should attain his double object, 
 of constituting bis empire according to his wishm, 
 
 and of confirming what he established by the 
 
 general pi ace. 
 
 Originally, in preferring the title of emperor to 
 thai "i king, he had conceived a vast, system of 
 
 empire, upon winch vassal royalties should ds 
 p. iid, in imitation of the Germanic i moire, at 
 
 ' The text ol tch. 
 
 au
 
 116 
 
 Vast designs of 
 Napoleon. 
 
 THIERS" CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Disputes with the 
 Pope. 
 
 180G. 
 April. 
 
 empire so weakened that it only existed in name, 
 and which gave birth to the temptation of re- 
 placing it in Europe. The later victories of Na- 
 poleon had excited his imagination, and lie 
 dreamed of nothing less than up-raising the em- 
 pire of the West, of placing the crown on his 
 head, and of thus re-establishing it to the advan- 
 tage of France. The new vassal royalties were 
 all formed, and they were to be distributed be- 
 tween the members of the family of Bonaparte. 
 Eugene de Beauharnois, adopted as his son, be- 
 come the husband of the princess of Bavaria, was 
 already viceroy of Italy, comprehending the most 
 important half of the Italian peninsula, since 
 it extended from Tuscany to the Julian Alps. 
 Joseph, the elder brother of Napoleon, was de- 
 signed to be king of Naples. It only remained for 
 him to procure Sicily in order to possess one of 
 the finest kingdoms of the second order. Holland, 
 which governed itself with difficulty as a republic, 
 was under an absolute dependence upon Napoleon, 
 and he believed himself able to attach it to his 
 system, by constituting it a kingdom under his 
 brother Louis. That made three kingdoms, those 
 of Italy, Naples, and Holland, to place under the 
 sovereignty of his empire. Sometimes when he 
 extended yet more the dream of his greatness, 
 he thought of Spain and Portugal, which every 
 day gave him symptoms, Spain of concealed hos- 
 tility, Portugal of open animosity. But this was 
 yet placed afar in the vast horizon of his imagina- 
 tion. It was necessary that Europe should force 
 him to some new and brilliant act like Austerlitz, 
 to decide him upon the complete expulsion of the 
 house of Bourbon from the continent. It is never- 
 theless certain that this expulsion commenced to be 
 with him a systematic idea. Since he had been 
 brought to proclaim the downfall of the Bourbons of 
 Naples, he had considered the family of Bonaparte 
 as destined to replace the house of Bourbon on all 
 the thrones in the south of Europe. 
 
 In this vast hierarchy of vassal states depend- 
 ent on the French empire, he designed a second 
 and a third rank, composed of great and petty 
 duchies, on the model of the fiefs of the Germanic 
 empire. He had already constituted, in favour of 
 his elder sister, the duchy of Lucca; that he pro- 
 posed to aggrandize by adding to it the principality 
 of Massa, detached from the kingdom of Italy. 
 He projected the creation of another, that of 
 Guastella, by detaching it also from the kingdom 
 of Italy. These two dismemberments were very 
 insignificant, in comparison with the magnificent 
 addition of the Venetian states. Napoleon had 
 obtained from Prussia, Neufchatel, Anspach, and 
 the remainder of the duchy of Cleves. He had 
 given Anspach to Bavaria, to procure for himself 
 the duchy of Berg, a pleasant country, situated on 
 the right of the Rhine, below Cologne, and com- 
 prehending the important fortress of Wesel. 
 " Strasburg, Mayence, and Wesel," said Napoleon, 
 "are the three bridles of the Rhine." 
 
 He had got in Upper Italy Parma and I'la- 
 centia ; in the kingdom of Naples Ponte-Corvo 
 and Benevento, fiefs disputed between Naples 
 and the pope, which at the moment gave him the 
 most serious grounds of discontent. Pius VII. 
 had not gone from Paris with the satisfaction he 
 expected. Flattered by the attentions of Napo- 
 
 leon, he had been deceived in his hopes of terri- 
 torial indemnity. Further, the invasion of the 
 whole of Italy by the French, now that they had 
 extended themselves from the Julian Alps to the 
 Straits of Messina, had appeared to complete the 
 dependence of the Roman states. He was in 
 despair, and exhibited it in all manner of ways. 
 He would not organize the German Church, which 
 remained without prelates and without chapters 
 since the secularizations. He admitted none of 
 the religious arrangements adopted for Italy. On 
 the occasion of the marriage of Jerome Bonaparte, 
 contracted in the United States with a protestant, 
 and that Napoleon wished to have abrogated, the 
 pope opposed an insincere resistance, but obstinate, 
 thus employing spiritual arms in default of tem- 
 poral ones. Napoleon had signified to him that 
 he held himself to be the master of Italy, Rome 
 included, and that he would not suffer a concealed 
 enemy there ; that he should follow the example 
 of those princes who, while remaining in the faith 
 of the Church, had known how to rule it ; that 
 he had been to the Church a real Charlemagne, 
 since he had re-established it, and that he ex- 
 pected to be treated as such. In the interim he 
 expressed his displeasure by taking possession of 
 Ponte-Corvo and Benevento. This was the la- 
 mentable commencement of an unhappy misunder- 
 standing, to which Napoleon then believed he 
 should be able to assign the limits which he 
 pleased to impose, for the interest of religion and 
 the empire. 
 
 Then, besides sevex-al thrones to distribute, he 
 had Lucca, Guastella, Benevento, Ponte-Corvo, 
 Placentia, Parma, Neufchatel, and Berg, to divide 
 among his sisters and his more faithful servants, 
 under ihe title of principalities and duchies. In 
 giving kingdoms, as Naples to Joseph ; augmen- 
 tations, as the Venetian states to Eugene ; he 
 thought of creating further a score of minor 
 duchies, destined as well for his generals as for 
 his best servants in civil life, to form a third rank 
 in the imperial hierarchy, and recompense in a 
 signal way the men to whom he owed his throne, 
 and to whom France owed her greatness. 
 
 Since in placing the imperial crown upon his 
 head, he had adjudged to himself the prize of the 
 marvellous exploits accomplished by the present 
 generation, he had raised ambitious desires in the 
 minds of the companions of his glory, and they 
 also aspired to obtain the reward of their labours. 
 Unhappily, they did not any longer imitate the 
 sober wishes of the generals of the republic, and 
 often tuck that which he did not hasten to bestow. 
 In Italy, and more particularly in the states of 
 Venice, they had committed grievous exactions, 
 which Napoleon determined to repress with the 
 utmost severity. He had, with almost incredible 
 watchfulness, discovered the clue to these secret 
 exactions, called before him those who had been 
 guilty of them, torn from them the secret of the 
 sums thus misused, and exacted the immediate 
 restoration of their value, commencing with the 
 genera 1-in-chief, who was obliged to pay a con- 
 siderable amount of money into the chest of the 
 army. 
 
 But he intended not to impose rigorous in- 
 tegrity upon his generals, without recompensing 
 their heroism. " Tell them," he had written to
 
 1806. 
 AprL. 
 
 New schemes of Na- 
 poleon. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 A new empire of the 
 west. 
 
 117 
 
 Eugene and to Joseph, about whom were then em- 
 ployed several officers whose bad conduct he bad 
 corrected; "tell them that I will give them all 
 much more than they can ever take themselves ; 
 that what they would take will cover them with 
 shame, that what I shall give will do them honour, 
 and will be an immortal testimony to their glory ; 
 that in paying themselves by their own hands they 
 will aggrieve my subjects, making France the ob- 
 ject t>f the maledictions of the conquered, and 
 that, on the contrary, what I shall give them, ac- 
 cumulated through my foresight, will not be from 
 the spoliation of any one. Let them wait," he 
 added, '"and they will be rich and honoured, 
 without having to blush Cor any acts of extortion." 
 
 Profound ideas, as is Been, mingled themselves, 
 in appearance, with his vainest conceptions. He 
 was therefore resolved to satisfy among his gene- 
 rals the desire of enjoyment, but to direct it 
 towards noble recompenecs, legitimately acquired. 
 Under the consulate, when all tilings had still the 
 republican form, he had devised the legion of 
 honour. Now- that all took around him the mo- 
 narchical form, and that he was visibly growing 
 greater, he wished that all around him should 
 grow great as well as himself. He meditated the 
 creation of kings, of grand dukes, of counts, and 
 the like. M. de Talleyrand, a staunch advocate 
 for creations of this nature, laboured much with 
 Nanoleon during the last campaign, and had con- 
 versed with him on the subject as well as upon the 
 arrangements of Europe, that he was ordered to 
 negotiate at Presburg. They had both conceived 
 an extension of vassalage, comprehending dukes, 
 grand dukes, kings, under the sovereignty of the 
 emperor, and possessing not empty titles, but real 
 principalities, either in territorial domains or in 
 rich revenues. 
 
 The new kings, the more to conform with the 
 Germanic empire, were to preserve, on the thrones 
 which they should occupy, their rank of grand 
 dignitaries of the French empire. Joseph was to 
 remain grand elector ; Louis, constable ; Eugene, 
 archchancellor of state ; Mural, grand-admiral, 
 when they should become kings or grand-dukes. 
 Supplementary dignitaries, — such as a vice-con- 
 stable, a vice grand elector, and the like, — taken 
 from among the principal personages of the state, 
 filled their functions doling their absence, and 
 would, in this way, multiply the offices for di-iri- 
 liutioii. The kings, remaining dignitaries of the 
 French empire, were to reside frequently in 
 France, and to have a royal establishment in the 
 Louvre appropriated for their usage. They were 
 to form the council of the imperial family, and 
 there to fulfil certain special functions during their 
 minorities, and even to elect the emperor, in ease 
 the male line should become extinct, which some- 
 times occurred among reigning families. 
 The assimilation with the Germanic empire was 
 
 Complete ; and that empire, fallen into ruins on all 
 
 sides, ever e; po ed to disappear at any ti by a 
 
 Simple effort of the will of Napoleon, tin- French 
 
 empire would be found in Europe ready to replace? 
 it. The empire of the Pranks would again, it was 
 possible, return to what, it had been under Charle- 
 magne, the empire of the west, and even take the 
 
 same title. It was the last desire of that immense 
 ambition, the only one that it did not realize, that for 
 
 which it tormented the world, and for which, per- 
 haps, it perished. M. de Talleyrand, who, in even 
 advising peace sometimes flattered the passions 
 which led to war, often presented this idea to 
 Napoleon, knowing the profound emotion which it 
 excited in his mind. Every time he spoke of it to 
 him, he saw in the flash of his eyes, radiant with 
 genius, all the fire of ambition. Influenced, how- 
 ever, by a species of modesty, on the eve of the 
 day when he took the supreme power. Napoleon 
 dated not avow the whole extent of his wishes. 
 The archchancellor, Cambaceres, with whom he 
 was more open, because lie was more secure of his 
 perfect discretion, had been made acquainted, in 
 half confidence, with his secret desires, and had 
 kept himself from encouraging them, because with 
 him his devoteduess did not silence his prudence, 
 but it was evident that, having arrived at the 
 summit of human greatness, at a point Alexander, 
 Caesar, and Charlemagne, had not overpassed, the 
 uneasy and insatiable soul of Napoleon wished for 
 something more, a d that was the title of Emperor 
 of the West, that for a thousand years had not 
 been borne in the world. 
 
 There exists between the people of the south 
 and west, with the French, Italians, and Spaniards, 
 all children of Roman civilization, a certain con- 
 formity in genius, manners, interests, sometimes 
 of territory, that is not found beyond the Channel, 
 the Rhine, and the circle of the Alps, among the 
 English and the Germans. This conformity is the 
 indication of a natural alliance, that the house of 
 Bourbon, by uniting under its royal sceptre Paris, 
 Madrid, and Naples, sometimes Milan, Parma, 
 and Florence, had partly realized. If it was that 
 Napoleon intended, when master of France, — of 
 that France which terminated at the mouths of 
 the Mouse and of the Rhine, and at the summit of 
 the Alps, — if master of entire Italy, having it in 
 his power to become soon master of Spain, he 
 wished for nothing but to reconstitute the alliance 
 of nations of Latin origin, and giving them the 
 symbolical form, sublime from its rec< llectionB of 
 the empire of the west, the nature of things, how- 
 ever forced, would still not have been outraged. 
 The family of Bonaparte replaced the house of 
 Bourbon, to reign in a more- perfect manner over 
 that extent of the countries that their ancient 
 
 house had aspired to govern, for the purpose of 
 attaching them, by a simple bond of sovereignty, 
 
 to the head of the family,— a bond which left to 
 each of these BOUtliern countries its independence, 
 
 by rendering more strong the useful bond of their 
 alliance. With the genius of Napoleon, by trans- 
 ferring to his policy the prudence which he dis- 
 play, I in war, and with a very long reign, this 
 
 ci nception it would not, perhaps, have been impos- 
 sible to realize. But the very nature of things, 
 that always cruelly avenges itself on those who 
 
 treat it With slight, was foolishly violated, when, 
 amid his ambition, Napoleon ceased to respect the 
 limit of the Rhine, when he wished to unite the 
 Germans with the Gauls, to subject the people of 
 the north to the people ol the south, to place 
 French princes in Germany, despite the invincible 
 
 antipathies in manie n J and he then made appear, 
 
 before all eyes, the phantom of that universal 
 monarchy that Europe feared and detested, — that 
 the bad combated, and will do well to combat
 
 118 
 
 Dissolution of the Ger- 
 manic empire. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Con ^ n t h ° f u t s h c e , Ger - {}${. 
 
 incessantly, but to which she will, perhaps, be 
 some day subjected by the nations of the north, 
 having refused it from the hands of those of the 
 west. 
 
 A chain of unforeseen events, even by the vast 
 and foreseeing ambition of Napoleon, led, at this 
 moment, to the dissolution of the Germanic em- 
 pire, and was about to make vacant the noble title 
 of the emperor of Germany, — that had replaced, 
 with the successors of Charlemagne, the title of 
 emperor of the west. This was a new and fatal 
 encouragement for the projects which Napoleon 
 nourished in his mind, without yet venturing to 
 produce them. 
 
 In considering, in his last treaties with Austria, 
 how to recompense his three allies of Southern 
 Germany, the princes of Bavaria, Wurtemberg, 
 and Baden, and to put an end to every ground 
 for collision between them and the head of the em- 
 pire, by the solution of certain questions remaining 
 undecided in 1303, Napoleon had pronounced, un- 
 awares, the approaching dissolution of the old Ger- 
 manic empire. A providential instrument, some- 
 times involuntary, almost always misinterpreted, 
 of that French revolution which should change the 
 face of the world, lie had prepared, without know- 
 ing it, one of the greatest of European reforms. 
 
 It will be remembered how, in 1803, France had 
 been called to mingle herself up with the internal 
 government of Germany ; how the princes who 
 had lost all or part of their estates by the cession 
 on the left bank of the Rhine, had resolved to in- 
 demnify themselves for their losses by secularising 
 the ecclesiastical principalities. Not able to agree 
 about the partition of the principalities, they had 
 called Napoleon in to aid them, in order to appor- 
 tion in the divisions that equity and decision with- 
 out which it was impossible to be effected. Prussia 
 and Austria had received the possessions of the 
 Church with only one dissatisfaction, that they did 
 not obtain more. The suppression of the eccle- 
 siastical principalities had caused the modification 
 of the three colleges composing the diet. They had 
 come to an understanding about the college of 
 electors, but not about that of the princes, in which 
 Austria claimed a greater number of catholic votes 
 than had been granted to her. They had come to 
 an agreement also in regard to the college of cities, 
 reducing their number to six, and destroying nearly 
 all their influence. They had settled nothing in 
 relation to a new organization of the circles charged 
 witli maintaining due respect for the laws in each 
 great German province ; nothing respecting a new 
 religious organization, become needful since the 
 suppression of a crowd of sees, and postponed inde- 
 finitely, owing to the ill will of the pope. Finally, 
 other serious questions, respecting the immediate 
 nobility, had not been arranged, because it inte- 
 rested the whole of the German aristocracy, and, 
 above all, Austria, that had in that nobility vas- 
 sals, dependents of the empire, besides territorial 
 princes, rendering her much service, of which the 
 recruiting upon their estates was not the least. 
 
 The mediating powers, France and Russia, tired 
 of this King mediation, drawn off elsewhere by 
 other events, had scarcely withdrawn their hands, 
 leaving Germany half reformed, when anarchy in- 
 vaded that unhappy country. Austria, under the 
 pretext of claiming a right of fiefs, had usurped 
 
 the dependencies of the ecclesiastical property 
 given as indemnities, and had deprived the indem- 
 nified princes of a considerable part of what was 
 due to them. These princes, on their side, wished 
 to seize upon the property of the immediate nobi- 
 lity, and had availed themselves of the uncer- 
 tainties of the- last recess for that purpose. 
 
 The war of 1805 having brought back Napoleon 
 beyond the Rhine, he had availed himself of the 
 occasion to turn to the advantage of the princes, 
 his allies, the questions remaining undecided, — and 
 he had thus cx-eated in the countries of Baden, 
 Wurtemberg, and Bavaria, a species of dissonance 
 with the rest of Germany. But the greediness of 
 these same allies had given birth to difficulties 
 which affected the whole of Germany. The king 
 of Wurtemberg, keeping within no bounds, had 
 usurped the lands of the immediate nobility, as 
 well those who had that quality as those who had 
 not. He arrogated to himself more than the 
 rights of a territorial sovereign, and he had seized 
 many of the mansions of the nobility, as if he had 
 been the true proprietor. All the rights of feudal 
 origin that Austria had wished to exercise in Sua- 
 bia, and of which the practice was dangerously 
 arbitrary, he declared himself the new possessor 
 of, in the right of possession of certain feudal 
 places that the partition of Austrian Suabia had 
 procured for him, and he commenced this exer- 
 cise with more rigour than the chancellery of 
 Austria itself. The houses of Baden and Bavaria, 
 molested by him, and authorized by his -example, 
 committed the same excesses in their own territo- 
 ries. This contempt of right had been pushed so 
 far as to penetrate into the sovereign principalities 
 inclosed in the territories of the three princes, 
 under the pretext of searching for the domains be- 
 longing to the immediate nobility, which could not, 
 in any case, appertain to them ; because if these 
 domains belonged to any others than that nobility 
 themselves, it must be to the sovereign prince, on 
 whom they were immediately dependent. 
 
 Napoleon had ordered M. Otto, his minister at 
 Munich, as arbitrator, and Berthier as head of the 
 executive force, to settle all the differences between 
 Wurtemberg, Baden, and Bavaria, arising out of 
 the division of the Austrian territories in Suabia. 
 These difficulties becoming more involved, Napo- 
 leon added general Clarke to aid them in clearing 
 the chaos. Both the one and the other despaired 
 of coming to any end. The princes, who had been . 
 wronged, first presented themselves at Ratisbon ; ) 
 but the ministers at the diet, neither having cou- 
 rage nor authority, since Austria no longer con- 
 ferred it upon them, avowed themselves powerless 
 to repress the. disorder increasing on every side. 
 Austria herself had neatly reduced them to this 
 state of feebleness, of which they complained, by 
 refusing, the preceding year, to authorize any 
 serious deliberation, as long as the college of 
 princes was not reconstituted agreeably to her 
 will, and the number of catholic votes which she 
 churned was not added to it. Now definitively 
 vanquished, occupied only with her own safety, 
 she achieved the annihilation of the diet, by show- 
 ing that she was not to be relied on further for 
 any efficient help. The diet was, therefore, a body 
 completely destroyed, merely receiving the com- 
 munications made to it, scarcely giving an ac- 
 
 _
 
 1806 
 April 
 
 S. 1 
 U.J 
 
 Th s!iu e trprri P s rinCeS CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Proposals made to Napo- 
 leon. 
 
 119 
 
 knowledgment of their reception, but never deli- 
 berating upon any subject. 
 
 At this view, the petty sovereign princes, and the 
 immediate nobles, exposed to .-ill kinds of usurpa- 
 tions, the free cities reduced from six to five by 
 the gift of Augsburg to Bavaria, the ecclesiastical 
 princes secularised, whose pensions were no longer 
 paid, ali hastened to Munich, to M. Otto and gene- 
 rals Berthier and Clarke, in order to request the 
 protection of France. These agents, indignant at 
 the spectacles of oppression of which they were the 
 witnesses, had at first formed a species of congress 
 that should conciliate all interests, and prevent, 
 under the shadow of France, the committal of such 
 iniquitous actions. M. Otto conceived a plan of 
 arrangement that France might submit to the 
 principal oppressors, the sovereigns of Bavaria, 
 Baden, and Wurtemberg. But he had soon dis- 
 covered that ho had made a new plan for a Ger- 
 manic constitution ; and further, the agents of the 
 king of Wurtemberg, when he had presented his 
 plan to them, had warmly spoke against it, and 
 had declared that their master would never con- 
 sent to the concessions proposed. It might have 
 been said, that this prince, who had just been 
 made a king by France, his estates augmented, his 
 sovereign prerogatives doubled, had been plun- 
 dered by her, because she demanded of him some 
 respect for the rights of property, and some regard 
 as a neighbour lor the more feeble of his neigh- 
 bours. Not knowing what more to do, M. Otto 
 sent all together to Paris, those who complained 
 and those complained against, together with the 
 plans of arrangement which he had devised with 
 the intention of doing justice. This reference took 
 place at the end of March. 
 
 From this period the oppressed and oppressors 
 were at the foot of the throne of Napoleon. It 
 became plain that the sceptre of Charlemagne had 
 passed from the Germans to the Franks. 
 
 It was this which had been said and written 
 under all forms by the prince archchancellor, the 
 last ecclesiastical elector preserved by Napoleon, 
 and transferred, as it will be remembered, from 
 Mayrnce to Ratisbon. This prince, of whom the 
 amiable, unsteady character has been elsewhere 
 traced, with his' sumptuous inclinations, seeking 
 sin ngth when; it was to 1>" found, never ceased to 
 I «b Napoleon to take in his hand the sceptre 
 of Germany; and if any one had made the danger- 
 ous name of Charlemagne resound in the ears of 
 Napoleon, it was Certainly him. " Von are Charle- 
 magne/' he said to him ; " be then tin- master, the 
 regulator, the mviour of Germany." If this name, 
 which was not that uhieh most pleased the pride 
 of Napoleon, because he had in Alexander and 
 
 i r rival more worthy of his (.'cuius, but which 
 
 was particularly pleasing to his ambition, because 
 it established further tin- r< lations with his .1. signs 
 
 upon Europe, — if that name was always found 
 mingled with his own, it was I ss his own deed 
 
 than through the act of those who sought for bis 
 protective power. When the Church wished to 
 
 obtain any thing of him, she said to him, " You 
 are Charlemagne : give us that which hi' would 
 
 have bestowed upon us." When, the German 
 
 princes of all the state, were oppressed, they said 
 to him, " You are Charlemagne : protect us as le 
 would have done I" 
 
 They had thus, therefore, inspired him with the 
 ideas which his ambition might not have so quickly 
 conceived if it had been slow in its desires. But 
 the necessities of nations and his ambition then 
 marched together. 
 
 At all periods, the princes of Germany, besides 
 the Germanic confederation, a legal authority, and 
 acknowledged by them, had formed particular 
 leagues to defend such rights or interests as had 
 been before common to some of them. All that 
 remained belonging to those leagues addressed 
 themselves to Napoleon, and besought him to in- 
 tervene for their advantage, as well in the character 
 of author as guarantee of the act of mediation of 
 1803, and as executor and signer of the treaty of 
 Presburg. The one proposed to him to form new 
 leagues under his protection ; the others to form a 
 new Germanic confederation under his imperial 
 sceptre. The princes whose possessions had been 
 usurped, the immediate nobles whose estates had 
 been seized, the free towns menaced with suppres- 
 sion, proposed different plans, but were ready, pro- 
 vided they were protected, to adopt that plan which 
 should be approved by the larger part. 
 
 The prince archchancellor, who feared that his 
 ecclesiastical electorate, the last escape of the 
 weak, might perish in this new tempest, conceived 
 a scheme to preserve it ; this was, to form a new 
 German confederation, summoned to deliberate 
 under his presidency, and to comprehend all the 
 German estates except Prussia anil Austria. 
 Finally, with a view- to interest Napoleon in such a 
 creation, he devised two means. The first con- 
 sisted in creating an electorate attached to the 
 duchy of Berg, that it was known was designed for 
 Murat; and the second, to appoint immediately a 
 coadjutor for the archbishopric of Ratisbon, and to 
 choose him out of the imperial family. This co- 
 adjutor, being designed for the future archbishop 
 of Ratisbon, and future archchancellor of the con- 
 federation, would place the new diet in the hands 
 of Napoleon. The member of the Bonaparte 
 family designed for this post of coadjutor was 
 clearly pointed out by his ecclesiastical profession, 
 and was cardinal Feseh, archbishop of Lyons, am- 
 bassador at Rome '. 
 
 • The curious document addressed to Napoleon is here 
 
 cited. 
 
 " Ratisbon, April 19, 1S0G. 
 
 I 111 . 
 
 " The genius of Napoleon does not limit itself to creating 
 
 ■ ppiness of France | Providence gives the luperiai 
 
 di tin- univerie, The eithnable German nation suffers 
 
 under the miseries of political and rellgtoui anarchy; be 
 
 you, sire, the regenerator of its constitution I Here are 
 
 certain il( sires dictated by the state ot cin umstances | Id 
 
 ike of Clevcs become an elector; let him obtain the 
 
 i the Rhine on all the right bank; let cardinal Penh 
 
 IV my coadjutor ; let the Incomes n ttl< d on twelve states of 
 
 the empire be realized bom lomeothei foundation. Your 
 
 I :i and roj evil] judge, in your subliml 
 
 it be advantageous to the genual good torei Ideal 
 
 If soirm Idealogical error deceive me upon this matter, my 
 DC ,,, .., i, to ni" the purity of mj Infc ntl 
 
 " i am. with Inviolable attachment and mo I profound 
 i. sire, et your Imperial and royal majesty, the very 
 
 humble and all devoted admirer, 
 
 " Ciiahlks, elector nnd arihchanci llor. 
 
 "The Germanic nation needs that 111 constitutions should
 
 ■.nn Letter of Charles, elector 
 archchancellur. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The confederation of < 
 the Khijic. ', 
 
 1806. 
 April. 
 
 Without waiting the proposal of siicli a plan, its 
 discussion and acceptation, the archchancellcr, 
 eager to assure himself of the preservation of his 
 see by an adoption that rendered its destruction 
 impossible, unless Napoleon wished to injure the 
 interests of his own family, which that family 
 ■would not peaceably allow, and he was not fond of 
 doing, the archchancellor, without consulting any 
 body, to the great astonishment of his co-estates, 
 chose cardinal Fesch for the coadjutor of the arch- 
 bishopric of Ratisbon, and wrote a letter to Napo- 
 leon, in order to acquaint him with his choice. 
 
 Napoleon had no ground to be fond of cardinal 
 Fesch, a vain, obstinate personage, who was not 
 the least troublesome to him among his relations, 
 and he had no very great desire to place him at 
 the head of the Germanic empire. He permitted, 
 however, this singular appointment, without ex- 
 planation. It was a striking symptom of the dis- 
 position of the oppressed German princes to place 
 in his hands the new imperial sceptre. 
 
 be regenerated : the major part of its laws show words 
 alone, divested of meaning,— since the tribunal, the circles, 
 the diet of the empire, no longer have the means needful to 
 support the rights of property and the personal security of 
 the individuals that comio.se the nation, and since those in- 
 stitutions are no longer able to protect the oppressed against 
 the assaults of arbitrary power and cupidity. Such a state 
 is one of anarchy ; the people support the civil expenses of 
 the state, without enjoying the principal advantages, — a 
 disastrous position for a nation thoroughly estimable lor its 
 loyalty, industry, ;ind primitive energy. The Germanic 
 constitution cannot be regenerated but by a head of the 
 empiie of great character, who will restore vigour to the 
 laws by concentrating in his hands the executive power. 
 The states of the empire will the better enjoy their domains, 
 when the wishes of the people shall be expressed and dis- 
 cussed in the diet, the tribunals better organized, and jus- 
 tice administered in a more efficacious manner. His ma- 
 jesty, the emperor of Austria, Francis II., would be an indi- 
 vidual much to be respected for his personal qualities; but 
 in real fact the sceptre of Germany is escaping from him, 
 because he has now the majority of the diet against him ; 
 because he has failed in his capitulations by occupying 
 Bavaria, and introducing the Russians into Germany ; be- 
 cause he has dismembered parts of the empire to remune- 
 rate the faults committed in the private quarrels of his 
 house. Let him he emperor of the east, to resht the Russians, 
 and lei the empire of the west he reiii ed in the empire of Na- 
 poleon, such as it icas under Charlemagne, composed of Italy 
 France, and Germany! It does not appear to be impossible 
 that the evils of anarchy may make the majority of the 
 electors feel the necessity of such a regeneration : it was for 
 that they chose Rodolph of Hapsburg, after the troubles of a 
 long interregnum. The means of the archchancellor are 
 very limited; but it is at least with a pure intention that he 
 calculates upon the intelligence of the emperor Napoleon, 
 particularly in respect to the subjects which it is likely may 
 agitate the south of Germany more peculiarly devoted to 
 that monarch. The regeneration of the Germanic consti- 
 tution has at all times been the object of the wishes of the 
 archchancellor elector : he neither asks nor would accept 
 any thing for himself; he thinks, that if his majesty, the 
 emperor Napoleon, could meet personally the princes who 
 are attached to him, lor a lew weeks yearly at Mayence, or 
 elsewhere, the germs of the Germanic regeuerati n would 
 soon develop themselves M. Hedouville has inspired the 
 perfect confidence of the archchancellor elector, who would 
 be delighted if he would be pleaded to submit these ideas, in 
 all their purity, to his maje-ty the emperor of the French, 
 I and to bis minister, M. oe Talleyrand. 
 
 " Charlks. elector archchancellor." 
 
 Napoleon had no desire to take that sceptre 
 directly from the house of Austria. It was an 
 enterprise which appeared to him too great for the 
 moment, although there was little since Austerlitz 
 that would have put him in fear. But he was 
 clear as to how far he would be able to venture in 
 Germany, and fixed about what it was convenient 
 to do. For the present he wished to dislocate and to 
 enfeeble the German empire in such a manner that 
 the French empire should alone shine in the west. 
 In consequence, he resolved to unite the princes 
 of southern Germany, situated on the banks of the 
 Rhine, in Franconia, Suabin, and Bavaria, and to 
 form them into a confederation under his avowed 
 protectorate. This confederation declared its ties 
 broken with the Germanic empire. As to the other 
 princes of Germany, either they might vest under 
 the old confederation and under the authority of 
 Austria, or, as was most probable, leave it, and 
 group themselves at will, some round Prussia, 
 others around Austria. Then the French empire 
 having under its formal sovereignty Italy, Naples, 
 and Holland, perhaps one day the Spanish peninsula, 
 and under its protectorship the south of Germany, 
 would comprehend very nearly the states which 
 had belonged to Charlemagne, and would hold the 
 peace of the empire of the west. To give him this 
 title was no more than an affair of words, serious, 
 however, because of the jealousies of Europe, but 
 to be realized on some day of victory or of suc- 
 cessful negotiation. 
 
 To accomplish such an object there was but little 
 to be done, because Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and 
 Baden, were at this time treating in Paris, for the 
 purpose of arriving at some sort of regulation of 
 their situation, aggrandized, but uncertain. All 
 the other princes applied to be included, no matter 
 under what title, or under what condition, in the 
 new feudal system, which was foreseen and felt to 
 be inevitable. To be designated in it was to live; 
 to be omitted to perish. It was not, therefore, 
 necessary to negotiate with others, but only with 
 the sovereigns of Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Baden, 
 and care was had to consult them only to a cer- 
 tain extent, and to exclude all but them from the 
 negotiation. It was proposed to present the treaty, 
 drawn out, to those of the princes they were de- 
 sirous of retaining, and to admit them to sign 
 purely and simply. The new confederation was to 
 carry the title of the Confederation of the Rhine, 
 and Napoleon that of Protector. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand was charged, together with the 
 very able first clerk, M. de Labesnardiere, to 
 draw up the scheme of the new confederation, and 
 afterwards to submit it to the emperor '. Such was, 
 as is seen, the chain of circumstances that twice led 
 France to intermeddle in German affairs. The 
 first time the inevitable partition of the ecclesi- 
 astical properties threatening Germany with being 
 overturned, the princes came to ask Napoleon 
 himself to make the division, and to add the 
 changes to the German constitution that were to 
 be its result. The second time Napoleon, called 
 from the borders of the ocean to the banks of the 
 Danube by the irruption of the Austrians into 
 
 1 It was from M. de Labesnardiere himself, the sole con- 
 fidant of this important creation, that all these details were 
 derived, supported, besides, upon a numerous mass of au- 
 thentic documents.
 
 1806. 
 April 
 
 .} 
 
 Errors of Napoleon 
 in Germany. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Royalties instituted. 
 
 121 
 
 Bavaria, obliged to create allies for himself in 
 the south of Germany, to recompense, aggrandize, 
 and restrain them at the same time when they 
 desired to abuse his alliance, was again obliged to 
 intervene to regulate tin- situation of the German 
 princes, who, in a geographical sense, were in- 
 teresting to France. 
 
 If lie had in all that he did on this occasion any 
 personal view, it was to render vacant an august 
 title by the dissolution of the Germanic empire, 
 and not to suffer t'> exist in the sight of nations 
 any other empire than that of Prance. Neverthe- 
 less, the essential causes of his intervention were 
 no other than the violence of the strong, the cry 
 of the feeble, and the double desire, perfectly 
 allowable, to repress injustice committed in his 
 name, and to reform Germany in a manner more 
 commensurate with the views of his own good 
 . when he could no longer refrain from 
 interfering. 
 
 It was not less a serious fault on the part of 
 Napoleon, that this intervention in the affairs of 
 German; was pushed beyond certain limits. Wish- 
 ing to exercise a predominant influence over the 
 south of Europe, over Italy, even over Spain, was 
 consistent with the policy of France at all times, 
 and, however extended this ambition might be, 
 great victories might justify its magnitude. But 
 to attempt the extension of his power in the north 
 of Europe, that is to say, in Germany, was to push 
 to the extremist point the secret despair of 
 Austria ; it was to instil into Prussia a kind of 
 jealousy with which France had not yet inspired 
 it. It was to take on his own shoulders the difficul- 
 ties arising out of the divisions of all the petty 
 princes between themselves; to pass for the sup- 
 porter and accomplice of oppressors when he was 
 the defender of the oppressed ; to set against him- 
 self those who were not favoured, without securing 
 to himself those who were; since these expressed 
 themselves already in a manner to cause it to be 
 foreseen, that after they had been enriched by 
 France, they were capable of turning against her, 
 in order to purchase the preservation of what they 
 had acquired. As to the assistance which he b - 
 lieved he should derive from their troops, it was a 
 daiige r ,,| ls deception to rely as auxiliaries upon 
 soldiers ever ready, when occasion offered, to turn 
 traitors. It was a fault yet greater still to alter 
 the old combinations of Germany, which made 
 
 Prussia ever the jealous rival of Austria, and con 
 
 m qnently the ally of Prance, an. I to make of all the 
 prinoesofl lennany rivals, envious of each other, and, 
 in future, clients of the French policy, from which 
 they would Reek rapport. If Prance had added 
 something to the influence of Prussia, and re« 
 trenched something from that of Austria, this 
 would have been doing sufficient for a century ; in 
 it was all that Germany required. Beyond 
 ibis, tin re was nothing but an oversetting of the 
 European policy, more injurious than useful. If 
 
 iiad hei n pushed so far as to render 
 
 Prussia all-powerful, it mi only displacing the 
 danger, to transfer to Berlin the enemy whom 
 Prance always bad at Vienna If tiny bad gone 
 
 BO far as to destroy PrUSSlfl and Austria, the, would 
 
 be to arouse all Germany; and a- to the petty 
 si ites, all that was carried beyond a just pro. 
 tectum lor certain princes of the §i cond order, m 
 
 Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Baden, ordinarily allies 
 of France, all that went beyond a reasonable price 
 given after the war for their alliance, was a 
 dangerous intervention in the affairs of others, a 
 gratuitous acceptance of difficulties which did not 
 belong to France, and, under an apparent violation 
 of foreign independence, a signal of dupery, There 
 only remained one greater fault to be committed, 
 and that was to found French kingdoms in Ger- 
 many. Napoleon had not yet arrived at that de- 
 gree of power and of error. The old Germanic 
 constitution, modified by the recess of 1803, with 
 some aditional solutions, neglected thus by the 
 recess, with the old influences modified only in 
 their due proportion, was that which was most 
 
 fitting for France, Europe, and Germany. France 
 
 undertook more for the benefit of Germany than 
 for her own; and Germany nurtured in return toi- 
 ler a deep rancor, and she awaited the moment of 
 the French retreat to fire upon the rear of the 
 soldiers borne down by numbers. Such is the 
 price paid for errors. 
 
 Napoleon leaving M. de Talleyrand and M. de 
 Labesnardiere to regulate in secret the details of 
 the new plan for the Germanic confederation, with 
 the ministers of Baden, Wurtemberg, and Bavaria, 
 had begun to proceed to the execution of his 
 general plan, above all, in relation to Italy and 
 Holland, in order than the English and Russian 
 negotiators, treating each on his own side, should 
 find consummated and irrevocable the resolutions 
 relative to the new royalties which he wished to 
 create. 
 
 The crown of Naples had been designed for 
 Joseph, that of Holland for Louis. The institution 
 of these royalties was for Napoleon, at the same 
 time a political calculation and a heartfelt satis- 
 faction. He was not only great, he was good, and 
 sensible of the affections of blood, sometimes even 
 to weakness. He did not always gather the re- 
 ward of his excellent feelings, because tin re is 
 nothing so exacting as an upstart family. There 
 was not a single one of his relations who, acknow- 
 ledging that it uas the conqueror of Rivoli, of the 
 Pyramids, and of Austerlitz, that had founded the 
 greatness of the Bonapartes, still would nol be- 
 lieve but that h<- himself was something, and did 
 not think himself treated in an unjust manner, 
 hardly, and disproportionately to his merits. His 
 mother repeating incessantly, that she bad given 
 him to the- li-ht of day, complained that she uas 
 
 not surrounded with a sufficiency of homage and 
 
 N peCt J and sin- was, of the whole of the females 
 Of the family, the most moderate and the least in- 
 toxicated. Lucien Bonaparte having placed, as he 
 said, the crown upon the bead >•( bis brother, be- 
 cause In- all had been unshaken on tin- With <■( 
 
 Brumaire, for tin- reward of this service lived in 
 
 exile. Joseph, the meekest and RlOSt sensible of 
 all, said in bis turn, that In- was the eldest, and 
 that tin- deference due to that title was not shown 
 towards him. Me was not without a certain incli- 
 nation to believe thai tic- treaties of Luneville, 
 
 Amicus, and the Concordat, that Napoleon had 
 
 eompluisantly charged bun wub tin- duty of signing, 
 to the disadvantage of M. de Talleyrand, were the 
 work of bis own personal ability, rather than the 
 
 high exploits of Ins brother. I.oni . w itll ill health, 
 mistrustful, full of pride, affecting virtue, pre-
 
 122 
 
 Conduct of the im- 
 perial family. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Naples bostowed 
 on Joseph. 
 
 \ 
 
 180G. 
 April. 
 
 tended himself sacrificed to an infamous office, that 
 of covering, by marrying her, the weaknesses of 
 Hortense de Beauharnois for Napoleon, an odious 
 calumny invented by the emigrants, repeated in a 
 thousand pamphlets, and regarding which Louis 
 did the wrong of showing himself prepossessed, for 
 the purpose of having it supposed that he gave 
 it credit. Each of these believed himself, there- 
 fore, the victim of something, and ill paid for the 
 part which he had contributed to his brother's 
 greatness. The sisters of Napoleon, not venturing 
 to put forth such pretensions, were restless around 
 him, and caused trouble to his spirit by their rival- 
 ries, sometimes by their discontent, while he was a 
 prey to so many other uneasinesses and cares. 
 Caroline solicited him without ceasing in behalf of 
 Murat, who, with all his thoughtlessness, at least 
 paid for the benefits of his brother-in-law with a 
 devotedness that did not permit his future conduct 
 to be thus augured, though, it is true, any thing 
 may be expected from thoughtlessness. Eliza, the 
 eldest, transferred to Lucca, where she endeavoured 
 to acquire personal glory by well managing her 
 little state, and who, in fact, conducted it with great 
 ability, wished for an augmentation of her duchy. 
 
 In all this family Jerome, as the youngest, and 
 Pauline, as the most dissipated, were exempt from 
 those exactions, rancours, and jealousies which 
 troubled the interior of the imperial family. Je- 
 rome, whose youthful irregularities had frequently 
 provoked the severity of Napoleon, saw in him 
 more a father than a brother, and received his 
 kindnesses with a heart full of unalloyed gratitude. 
 Pauline, given up to her pleasures, like a princess 
 of the family of the Caesars, beautiful as an an- 
 tique Venus, sought in the greatness of her brother 
 only the means to satisfy her dissipated tastes, and 
 desired no higher title than that of Borghese, of 
 which she bore the name, and was disposed to pre- 
 fer fortune, the source of enjoyments, to greatness, 
 the satisfaction of pride. She so loved her bro- 
 ther, that when he was at war, the archchancellor 
 Cambace'res, charged with the government of the 
 reigning family of the state, was obliged to send to 
 this princess news of him the moment when he 
 received it, because the least delay threw her into 
 the most painful anxieties. 
 
 It was the dread of seeing the children of the 
 Beauharnois family preferred to themselves, that 
 pushed on the Bonapartes to be enemies to Jo- 
 sephine. In this they did not spare even the heart 
 of Napoleon, but in a hundred ways tormented 
 him. The precocious greatness of Eugene, become 
 viceroy, and the designated heir to the fine king- 
 dom of Italy, singularly obscured their glory, and 
 nevertheless the crown had been offered to Jo- 
 seph, who had refused it, because it placed him too 
 immediately under the power of the French em- 
 peror. He wished, he said, to reign in an inde- 
 pendent manner. It will be seen, at a later period, 
 that the taste for independence, common to all the 
 members of the imperial family, combined with the 
 tendencies of the people over whom they were 
 called to reign, was destined to bring difficulties on 
 the government of Napoleon, and add new causes 
 of misfortune to the misfortunes of France. 
 
 It was among all the members of this family 
 that he was to distribute the kingdoms and duchies 
 newly created. The crown of Naples insured to 
 
 Joseph a situation notoriously independent, and 
 was, besides, sufficiently noble to be accepted. Some 
 surprise must be felt at such language being em- 
 ployed for characterizing the sentiments with which 
 these fine kingdoms were received by princes born 
 so far from a throne, and so far even from that 
 greatness which particular persons sometimes owe 
 to birth or fortune. But it was one of the singular- 
 lties of the fantastic spectacle afforded by the 
 French revolution, and by the extraordinary man 
 that it had set at its head, that these refusals, 
 these hesitations, nearly these disdainings of anti- 
 cipated satiety, should be testified before the finest 
 crowns, by personages who, in their youth, never 
 could have expected to wear them. Napoleon, who 
 had seen Joseph disdain at one time the presidency of 
 the senate, at another the vice-royalty of Italy, was 
 not sure whether he would accept the throne of 
 Naples, and had at first only conferred upon him 
 the rank of his lieutenant l . Assuring himself after- 
 wards of his acceptance, he inscribed his name 
 in the decrees destined for presentation to the 
 senate. 
 
 In regai'd to Holland, he had designed Louis, 
 who has since stated to all Europe in an accusing 
 book against his brother, how much he was.offend- 
 
 1 The following letters show how Napoleon gave crowns 
 away, and how they were received : — 
 
 " Munich, January flth, 1806. 
 " To the Minister at War. 
 "Send off general Berthier, your brother, with the decree 
 which nominates prince Joseph commandant of the army of 
 Naples. He will keep it a profound secret, and he will not 
 deliver the decree until the prince shall arrive. I say, he 
 must observe the most profound secresy, because I am not 
 certain that prince Joseph will go there, and on this account 
 I desire that nothing may be known." 
 
 "Stuttgard, January 12th, 1806. 
 "To Prince Joseph. 
 
 " My intention is, that during the first days of February 
 you should enter into the kingdom of Naples, and that I be 
 informed that in the course of February my eagles float over 
 the capital. You will make no suspension of arms, no capi- 
 tulation. My intention if, that the Bourbons shall cease 
 to reign in Naples, and I desire to seat on the throne a 
 prince of my house ; you, in the first instance, if it suits you ; 
 another if it suits you not. 
 
 "I reiterate to you, not to divide your forces; that all 
 your army pass the Apennines ; and that your three corps 
 d'armee be directed right upon Naples, in such a manner as 
 to be able to reunite in one day upon the same field of 
 battle. 
 
 "Leave a general, depots, provisions, and some artillery 
 at Ancona to defend that fortress. When Naples is taken, 
 the extremities will fall of themselves ; all that shall be 
 in the Abruzzi must be taken in reverse; and you will 
 send a division to Tarentum, and one on the side of Sicily, 
 to complete the conquest of the kingdom. 
 
 " My intention is to leave under your orders in the king- 
 dom of Naples, during the year, until I have made new 
 dispositions, fourteen regiments of French infantry, com- 
 plete to the war complement, and twelve regiments of 
 French cavalry, also complete. 
 
 " The country will furnish you with provisions, clothing, 
 re-mounting, and all which is needful, in such a manner 
 that it shall not cost me a sous. My troops of the kingdom 
 of Italy will only remain as long as you shall judge neces- 
 sary, alter which they shall return home. 
 
 " You will levy a Neapolitan legion, into which you will 
 only permit Neapolitan officers and soldiers to enter, who 
 are willing to attach themselves to my cause."
 
 1806. 
 April. 
 
 Holland made a 
 kingdom. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Discontents of 
 the pope. 
 
 123 
 
 ed, because he was scarcely consulted in the mat- 
 ter. In fact, Napoleon, without giving himself 
 any concern about Louis, whose will did not ap- 
 pear to him tn be any obstacle to foresee and over- 
 come, bad intimated to some of the principal Dutch 
 citizens, more especially to admiral Verhnel, the 
 brave and able commandant of the flotilla, to dis- 
 pose Holland to renounce, finally, its ancient re- 
 publican government, and constitute itself a mon- 
 archy. This i- another trait of the picture that 
 is here sketching forth, that the French revolu- 
 tion, having commenced by wishing to convert all 
 monarchies into republics, applied itself now to 
 convert all the older republics into monarchies. 
 The republics of Venice and of Genoa became pro- 
 vinces of different kingdoms; the free towns of 
 Germany, absorbed in different principalities, had 
 already marked this singular tendency. The roy- 
 alty of Holland was the last and most striking 
 phenomenon. Holland, after having thrown itself 
 into the arms of France, to escape the stadtholder, 
 was discontented to see itself condemned to con- 
 tinual war, and failed in gratitude to Napoleon, who 
 had made at Amiens, and who renewed daily, the 
 greatest efforts to secure to it the restitution of its 
 colonies. The Dutch, half-English in religion, 
 manners, and mercantile spirit, although enemies 
 of England, in consequence of their maritime in- 
 terests, had no sympathy either with the government 
 of Napoleon, or his greatness, exclusively con- 
 tinental as it was. The least victory at sea would 
 have been more seducing than the most brilliant 
 victory on the land. They exhibited enough of 
 disdain for the semi-monarchical government of 
 the grand pensionary, that Napoleon had induced 
 them to receive, when he instituted a sort of first- 
 consul in all the countries that had submitted to 
 the influence of France. The grand pensionary, 
 who was M. Scnimmelpenninck, a good citizen and 
 an honourable man. was only in this view a French 
 prefect, charged with extorting money, because he 
 tided imposts and loans, in order to meet the 
 expen tea of a state- of warfare. The distaste in- 
 spired by this government of a grand pensionary, 
 was the sole facility that the situation of Holland 
 1 to make- a king acceptable. Although 
 affected by that lassitude, that at the end of 
 revolutions render, .very thing indifferent, the 
 Dutch experienced a painful feeling in seeing their 
 republican system taken away from them. Still 
 the assurance, that their laws would be left to them, 
 — above all, their municipal laws, — the favourable 
 ants they had heard of Louis Bonaparte, of the 
 regularity otitis manners, of bis love of economy, 
 of the independi dc "t his character, and, finally, 
 the ordinary resignation to things long seen be- 
 forehand, decided the principal representatu 
 Holland to adopt tie- in-t itnt ion of royalty. A 
 treat} was to eonvi it the new situation of Holland, 
 in its relations with France, into an alliance be- 
 tween state- and state. 
 
 The Venetian provinces thai Napoleon bad not 
 united immediately to the kingdom of Italy, in 
 
 order to be more lice to Study their n MrarO s, and 
 t . employ them in consonance with bis designs, — 
 
 the Veie tian provinces, comprising Dalmatia, were 
 added to the kingdom of Italy, under the condition 
 of granting Massa to the Prineess Eliza, that it 
 
 might be added to the duchy of Lucca, and the 
 
 duchy of Guastalla to the Princess Pauline Borg- 
 bese, who had not as yet received any thing through 
 the munificence of her brother. She would not re- 
 tain the duchy, but sold it back to the kingdom of 
 Italy for some millions of francs. 
 
 It was now time, perhaps, to think of the pope, 
 ami of the real cause of his discontents. In the 
 moment when Italy was a twelfth-cake divided by 
 a cut of the sabre, it would have been an easy thing 
 to reserve a share for St. Peter, and to endeavour 
 to gain by some temporal advantages this spiritual 
 power, with which disputes have been so vexatious, 
 even in the present days of doubting faith, that is 
 more indeed to be dreaded when it is oppressed 
 than when it oppresses. These new monarchs 
 should have been very happy to receive their es- 
 tates (Ven with a province the less; and Tins VII., 
 indemnified, would have been content to suffer with 
 more patience his complete investiture by French 
 power, as was the case since the establishment of 
 Joseph at Naples. In every ease. Napoleon had 
 yet Parma and Placentia to give, ami he could not 
 have made a better use of those territories than by 
 employing them in consoling the Roman court. 
 Hut Napoleon began to feel less uneasiness at physi- 
 cal or moral resistances alter the battle of Auster- 
 litz. lie was extremely discontented with the 
 pope for his hostile practices against the new king 
 of Naples ; and he felt himself more disposed to 
 reduce than augment the patrimony of St. Peter. 
 Besides, he reserved Parma and Placentia for an 
 object which also had its merit ; he thought to 
 make them an indemnity for some of the princes 
 protected by Russia or England, such as the sove- 
 reigns of Naples and Piedmont, old dethroned 
 kings, to whom he intended to throw some mites 
 from the rich feast around which the new kings were 
 seated. This idea was assuredly good ; but the 
 fault remained of leaving the pope discontented, 
 ready to make a noise, whom it would have been 
 easy to satisfy, without any great damage to the 
 kingdoms recently instituted. 
 
 It was necessary to provide for Murat, the hus- 
 band of Caroline Bonaparte, and who had at hast 
 deserved in war that which was done for him on 
 the score of relationship. But he also had his de- 
 mands, which were rather his wile's than his own. 
 Napoleon had thought of giving them the princi- 
 pality of Neufchatel, which neither the wife nor the 
 husband would accept The archchancellor Cam- 
 
 baccrcs, who ordinarily interposed between Na- 
 i Inn and his family, with that conciliating pa- 
 tience which appeases reciprocal irritations, who 
 
 heard all, but did not repeat aught but that which 
 was good to be told, -the .■ireliehancellor ('.im- 
 
 baceros bad in confidence the knowledge of their 
 great displeasure. They deemed themselves treated 
 
 with; (equality that hurt them. Napoleon then 
 
 tllOUght of the duchy of Berg lor them, eeded to 
 
 Prance by Bavaria m exchange for Anspach, yet 
 increased by the remainder of the duchy of Cleves, 
 
 a tine country, and happily situated on the right ol 
 
 the Rhine, containing 820,000 inhabitants, pro- 
 ducing 400 000 Burins of revenue, all the expenses 
 of the government paid, allowing an establishment 
 
 of two regiments, and calculated to procure tor its 
 posse or.i certain importance in the m-w confedera- 
 tion. The fertile imaginations of Mural and his 
 wife did not, in fact, nil to dream of some vcrj
 
 124 
 
 Conduct of Cam- 
 baceres. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 New duchies 
 given away. 
 
 1806. 
 
 April. 
 
 considerable character, externally decorated with 
 a revived grand title of the Holy Empire. 
 
 The provision for the reigning family was made. 
 But the brothers and sisters of Napoleon were not 
 all whom he loved. There remained his com- 
 panions in arms and his fellow-labourers in his civil 
 labours. His natural benevolence here agreed vyith 
 his policy, pleased to pay the blood of the one and 
 the watchings of the others. He wished them to 
 be brave, laborious, and upright, and for this he 
 thought it was requisite to recompense them fully. 
 To see the smile on the countenances of his servants, 
 the smile not of gratefulness, upon which he in 
 general reckoned but little, hut of content, was one 
 of the greatest pleasures of his noble heart. 
 
 He consulted the archchancellor Cambaee'res 
 upon the distribution of the new favours, and he, 
 seeing that however great might be the booty to be 
 divided, the extent of the services and of the am- 
 bitions was greater still, guessed the embarrass- 
 ment of Napoleon, and began to put an end to any 
 embarrassment as far as he was himself concerned. 
 He prayed Napoleon not to consider him for any of 
 the new duchies. No man knew so well, that when 
 he is arrived at a certain degree of good fortune, to 
 preserve is better than to acquire ; and an empire 
 of which he directed the policy, and Napoleon di- 
 rected the administration and the armies, would 
 remain the greatest of all things after it had be- 
 come so. The archchancellor wished only for one 
 thing, that was to retain his actual greatness, and 
 the certainty of keeping that which appeared to 
 him preferable to the finest duchies. The certainty 
 he obtained upon this occasion. At one time he 
 feared seeing Napoleon exact that the new kings 
 should preserve their French dignities ; that his in- 
 tention was to have kings exclusively for digni- 
 taries of the empire, and that the title of arch- 
 chancellor which was his own, and of archtreasurer 
 which was enjoyed by prince Lebrun, would soon 
 pass to one of the monarchs newly created, or to be 
 created. Wishing to discover the ideas of Na- 
 poleon upon this point, he said to him, " When you 
 have a king quite ready to receive the title of arch- 
 chancellor, you will let me know, and I will give in 
 my resignation." " Be tranquil," replied Napoleon, 
 " I must have a man of law for that office, and you 
 will keep it." In fact, in the midst of the crowned 
 heads formerly composing the German empire, he 
 had three places for simple prelates, the electors of 
 Mayence, Treves, and Cologne. In the same man- 
 ner, in the midst of the kings, dignitaries of bis 
 empire, it pleased Napoleon to reserve a place for 
 the first and gravest magistrate of his time, called 
 upon to introduce into his councils that knowledge 
 which could not always enter them with kings. 
 
 There was nothing more requisite fully to con- 
 tent the prudent archchancellor. From that time 
 neither desiring nor asking any thing for himself, he 
 very usefully helped Napoleon in the difficult parti- 
 tion which he had to make. They were both in 
 agreement about the first individual who should be 
 highly recompensed ; this was Berthier, the most 
 laborious, exact, and enlightened perhaps of all the 
 lieutenants of Napoleon, who was always near him, 
 amidst the fire, and who supported, without any 
 appearance of displeasure, a life, the dangers of 
 which were not above his great courage, but the 
 fatigues of which began to grow distasteful to him. 
 
 Napoleon felt a real satisfaction in being able to re- 
 ward him for his services. He granted to him the 
 principality of Neufchatel, which constituted hint a 
 sovereign prince. 
 
 He had one servant, who in Europe occupied a 
 rank more elevated than any other, M. de Talley- 
 rand, who served him much more by his skill in treat- 
 ing with the foreign ministers, and by the elegance 
 of his manners, than by his wisdom in the council ; 
 however, he had still the merit of always leaning 
 towards a moderate policy. Napoleon did not like 
 him, and regarded him with distrust ; but it was 
 painful to him to see the foreign minister discon- 
 tented, and M. de Talleyrand was discontented be- 
 cause he had not been comprised in the number of 
 grand dignitaries. Napoleon, to indemnify him, 
 conferred upon him the fine principality of Bene- 
 vento, one of the two which had been taken from 
 the pope, as being inclosed in the kingdom of 
 Naples. 
 
 Napoleon had still that of Ponte Corvo, also in- 
 closed in the kingdom of Naples, and, as the pre- 
 ceding, taken from the pope. He wished to give 
 this to a personage who had not rendered him any 
 considerable service, who had treason in his heart, 
 but was brother in law of Joseph ; that was marshal 
 Bernadotte. Napoleon was forced to do violence to 
 himself in granting that dignity. He decided upon 
 it through expediency, family 7 feeling, and forgetful- 
 ness of injuries l . 
 
 It was doing little to give recompenses to three 
 or four only of his servants, if Napoleon had not 
 considered others numerous and better meriting re- 
 ward, Berthier excepted, that he had around him, 
 and who awaited their share of the fruits of victory. 
 He provided for what related to them by means of 
 an institution very cleverly imagined. In giving 
 kingdoms away, he granted them to the new kings 
 on one condition, which was to institute duchies, 
 with rich revenues, and to deliver to them a certain 
 part of the national domains. Thus, in adding the 
 Venetian states to the kingdom of Italy, he re- 
 served the creation of twelve duchies, under the 
 following titles, Dalmatia, Istria, Friuli, Cadore, 
 Belluno, Conegliano, Treviso, Feltre, Bassano, 
 Vicenza, Padua, and Rovigo. These duchies con- 
 ferred no power, but they insured an annual in- 
 come, which would be taken from the reserved 
 fifteenth of the revenue of the country. He gave 
 the kingdom of Naples to Joseph, ou condition of 
 the reserve of six fiefs, of which the two princi- 
 palities already mentioned, of Benevento and Ponte 
 Corvo, made a part, and that were completed in 
 number by the four duchies of Gaeta, Otranto, 
 Tarentum, and Reggio. In adding to the princi- 
 pality of Lucca that of Massa, Napoleon stipulated 
 for the creation of the duchy of Massa. He in- 
 stituted three others in the counties of Parma and 
 Placentia. One of the three was given to the arch- 
 treasurer Lebrun. Among all the titles just cited, 
 there are seen figuring those which were soon borne 
 
 1 This was in 1806: our author has not stated any pre- 
 vious injuries indicted by Uernadotte on Napoleon. ]n Fe- 
 bruary this year, the corps of Bernadotte, after serving on 
 the I) inubc and Austerliiz, was quartered at Anspach, wait- 
 ing orders to return home. It served afterwards in Prussia. 
 The defection of Bernadotte was subsequent. If so, to what 
 injuries does the author refer ?— is he not anticipating ?— 
 Translator.
 
 1806 
 June 
 
 . } 
 
 Endowment of new 
 dignities. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Confederation of the 
 
 Rhine 1 1. aU i. 
 
 125 
 
 by tlie most illustrious servants of the empire, and 
 that are borne to-day by their children, the latest 
 and living testimony of the past greatness of 
 
 France. All these duchies were instituted upon 
 the same conditions with the twelve which had 
 been created in the Venetian states, without any 
 power, but with a fifteenth of the revenues. Na- 
 poleon intended that there should be rewards for 
 all ranks, and he had secured to himself, in each 
 of these countries, national goods and funds, in 
 order to create endowments. Thus he secured 
 .'{0,000,009f. of national property in the state of 
 Venice, and an inscription of stock giving l,200,000f. 
 in the great book of the kingdom of Italy. He re- 
 served to himself, for the same purpose, national 
 property in Parma and Placentia ; stock giving a 
 million in the kingdom of Naples, four millions of 
 national property in the principalities of Lucca and 
 M issa. The whole formed twenty-two duchies, 
 34,000,0001'. in national property, and 2,400,000f. 
 From stock, and joined to the treasure of the army, 
 which a first new contribution had already raised 
 t > 70,090,000f., and that new victories were about 
 to increase indefinitely, would serve to distribute 
 endowments to every rank, from the private to the 
 marshal. The civil functionaries were to have 
 their part of these endowments ; Napoleon had al- 
 ready discussed with M. de Talleyrand a plan for 
 the recoiistitntion of a nobility, because he found 
 that the Legion of Honour and the duchies did not 
 suffice. He proposed to create counts and barons, 
 believing in the necessity of social distinctions, and 
 wishing that with him each should be great in 
 proportion to his merits. But he intended to cor- 
 rect the deep vanity of titles in two modes, by 
 making them the price of great services, and by 
 attaching to them revenues which should be se- 
 cured in future to their families. 
 
 These different resolutions were successively pre- 
 sented to the senate, to be converted into constitu- 
 tional articles of the empire, in the months of 
 April, May, and June. 
 
 The 15th of March this year, l!i0(i, Murat was 
 proclaimed grand duke of Cleves and of Berg. On 
 tie- SOttl of March, Joseph was proclaimed king of 
 Naples and of Sicily; I'auline liorghi'se, duchess 
 ofGuaatella; and Berthier, prince of Neufchatel. 
 
 It was only on the 5th of '.June that Louis was pro- 
 claim -d king of Holland, the negotiations with Hol- 
 land having caused a delay; M. de Talleyrand, 
 prince of Benevento ; and Bernadotte, prince of 
 I '<.n t • Corvo. People might have imagined they 
 
 hail returned to the times of the It an empire, 
 
 when a simple decree of the senate took away or 
 
 conferred croWBS. 
 
 This series ol extraordinary acts was terminated 
 by tin' definitive creation of a new confederation of 
 the Rhine. The negotiation secretly passed |,,-- 
 
 tween M. de Talleyrand and the ministers of Ba- 
 varia, Baden, an l Wurtemberg. Prom the agitation 
 visible among the German princes, nu one doubted 
 but that another new constitution was preparing for 
 Germany. Those who by the geographical situa- 
 tion of their states could be included in the new 
 constitution, requested that they illicit he admitted 
 into it, iii order to preserve their existence. Tliosa 
 
 who were in all probability to h<; limited hy it, en- 
 
 deavoured to penetrate into the secret of this con- 
 stitution, in order to know what would he their re- 
 
 lations with this new power, and asked nothing 
 better than to enter it under certain advantages. 
 Austria, regarding for some time before the empire 
 as dissolved, and in future useless to herself, saw 
 the spectacle with apparent indifference. Prussia, 
 on the contrary, that saw in the fall of the old Ger- 
 manic confederation an immense revolution, that 
 would at least have wished to partake with Franco 
 the imperial power, of which the house of Austria 
 was deprived, and to have the clicntry of the north 
 of Germany, while France arrogated to herself 
 that of the south — Prussia listened to know what 
 was going forward. The manner in which she had 
 taken possession of Hanover, and the despatches 
 published in London, had made Napoleon so cool in 
 her regard, that he did not. even give himself the 
 trouble to acquaint her with affairs that ought not 
 to have been transacted but in concert with her. 
 Independently of being excluded from the affairs of 
 Germany, which were her own, there were a thou- 
 sand reports circulated of changes of territory, 
 changes according to which provinces were taken 
 from her, in order to bestow them upon others, 
 always less in extent than those which were taken 
 away. 
 
 Two German princes, the one as old as the 
 other was oew, gave origin to these reports, through 
 their impatient ambition. The first was the elector 
 of Hesse Cassel, a cunning prince, avaricious, rich 
 from the product of his mines, and the blood of his 
 subjects sold to foreigners, endeavouring to humour 
 England, with whom he had placed a great amount 
 of capital, and Prussia, of which he was a neigh- 
 bour and one of the generals, and lastly, France, 
 which built ut> or overturned at the moment the 
 fortunes of all the sovereign houses. There was 
 no cunning device he did not use with M. de Tal- 
 leyrand to be comprised in, and derive advantage 
 from, the new arrangements. Thus he offered to 
 join himself to the projected confederation, and to 
 place, in consequence, under Prenoh influence one 
 of the most important portions of Germany, that is 
 to say, Hesse, but on one condition, which was that 
 of delivering over to llim a great part of the terri- 
 tory of the house of I [esse Darmstadt, which he de- 
 tected with that hatred of the direct branch of a 
 collateral house so frequent with the German 
 
 families. I le dwelt strongly upon this point, and he 
 
 proposed a very extended and very detailed plan 
 for the purpose. At the same time he wrote to tho 
 king of Prussia to denounce to him what was 
 
 scheming in Paris, and to tell him that a confedera- 
 tion was preparing which would ruin as much tho 
 influence of Prussia as that of Austria, and that 
 they wer ■ eniplov iug e\ ery kind of means to induce 
 him to enter into it. 
 
 The new German prince, Murat, acted differ- 
 ently. Not content with the fine duchy of Berg, 
 
 which included, as already slated, a population of 
 320,000 inhabitants, and produced 400,000 florins 
 
 in revenue, wliich furnish. i! him with the means of 
 BUptlorting tWil regiments, and placed in his hands 
 
 the important fortress ol Wesel, he wished to be- 
 come the agent al least to the sovereigns of Wur- 
 t. mberg and Baden ; and he desired that to become 
 
 so, there should he en at. d lor llim in Westphalia, 
 
 a state with a millioii.it' Inhabitants, With this 
 view be besieged M. de Talleyrand, who was al- 
 ways very anxious to please the members ol the
 
 126 
 
 Schemes of Murat. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Details of the con- 
 federation. 
 
 f 1S06. 
 I June. 
 
 imperial family, and he devised plan upon plan in 
 order to make a territory for him. Prussia natu- 
 rally furnished the materials out of Munster, Osna- 
 bruck, and East Friesland. It was meditated, it is 
 true, to give this power in exchange for the Han- 
 seatic towns, which would be a fine indemnifica- 
 tion, if not in territory, at least in riches and im- 
 portance. 
 
 All these plans, prepared without the knowledge 
 of Napoleon, were disapproved of by him as soon 
 as he had a knowledge of them. He had not so 
 much the wish to satisfy the ambition of Murat as 
 to effect new dismemberments in Germany ; he 
 was decided, above all things, not to incorporate 
 the Hanseatic towns in any great European state. 
 His last combinations had made Augsburg disap- 
 pear, and was about to make Nuremberg, cities 
 through which the commerce of France passed with 
 the centre and south of Germany. The French 
 commerce with the north passed by Hamburg, 
 Bremen, and Lubeck. Napoleon took care to pre- 
 vent the sacrifice of cities, the independence of 
 which interested France and Europe. The wines 
 and cloths of France penetrated into Germany and 
 Russia, under the neutral flag of the Hanseatic 
 towns, and under the same flag the naval stores, 
 and sometimes grain, when the state of the crops in 
 France demanded it. To enclose these cities within 
 the customs of a great state, had been to enchain 
 both their own and French trade. It was full 
 enough to be deprived of Nuremberg and Augs- 
 burg, which sent in their merceries and hardware 
 to France, and took back wines, stuffs, and colonial 
 produce, which they distributed afterwards over 
 the whole south of Germany. 
 
 Napoleon determined not to sacrifice the Hanse- 
 atic towns, and repelled every combination which 
 should tend to bestow them upon any slate what- 
 ever, great or small. He therefore showed no 
 favour to any of Murat's schemes. As to the 
 elector of Hesse, he detested that false greedy 
 prince, who concealed under a species of exterior 
 indifference, an implacable enmity to France, and 
 intended to repay him when occasion offered for 
 the sentiments which he bore towards that country. 
 Napoleon would not, therefore, bind himself to any 
 thing in his regard, by introducing him into the 
 confederation which he was organizing, because it 
 would have rendered impossible a future plan for 
 bringing about the approaching and well-merited 
 ruin of that prince. If France were brought to 
 restore Hanover to England, it would be needful to 
 find an indemnification for Prussia, and Napoleon 
 had determined to offer her Hesse, which she would 
 most assuredly have accepted, as she had accepted 
 the ecclesiastical principalities and Hanover, and 
 as she would have accepted the Hanseatic cities, 
 for which she every day applied. This design, 
 which remained a secret from European diplomacy, 
 and which was the price of the continual intrigues 
 of the house of Hesse Cassel with the enemies of 
 France, was the cause, the inexplicable cause, of 
 the refusal, in opposition to the requests of the 
 elector, to be admitted into the new confederation, 
 and of the false fidelity towards Prussia of which 
 he soon made a boast. 
 
 Every thing being agreed upon with the princes 
 of Baden, Wurtemberg, and Bavaria, the only ones 
 who were consulted, the treaty was given to the 
 
 other princes who were comprised, at their own 
 request, in the new confederation, but without con- 
 sulting their opinion on the nature of the act which 
 constituted it. This treaty was dated the 12th of 
 July, and contained the dispositions which follow. 
 
 The new confederation was to carry a title re- 
 stricted, but well chosen, that of the " Confederation 
 of the Rhine," a title which excluded any preten- 
 sion of including Germany in it entirely, and which 
 applied exclusively to the states that were neigh- 
 bours of France, having incontestable interests in 
 relation with her. The title corrected, therefore, 
 a little the fault of the institution. The princes 
 who signed it formed a confederation under the 
 presidency of the archchancellor, and under the 
 protectorate of the French emperor. Every dis- 
 pute among them was to be settled in a diet sitting 
 at Frankfort, and composed only of two colleges, 
 the one called the college of kings, the other of 
 princes. The first answered to the old college of 
 electors, that had nc meaning now, when there was 
 no longer an emperor to elect ; the second, by the 
 title and its own nature, was the old college of 
 princes. There was no longer a college answering 
 to the former college of cities. 
 
 The confederated princes were to be in a state of 
 perpetual alliance, offensive and defensive, with 
 France. Every war in which France or the con- 
 federation should be engaged, was to become com- 
 mon to both. France would- furnish 200,000 men, 
 and the confederation (13,000, thus divided : Ba- 
 varia 30,000, Wurtemberg 12,000, the grand duchy 
 of Baden 8000, the grand duchy of Berg 5000, that 
 of Hesse Darmstadt 4000, leaving the petty states 
 4000 among them all. At the death of the prince 
 archchancellor, the emperor of France would have 
 the right to nominate his successor. 
 
 The confederates declared themselves for ever 
 separated from the German empire, and were to 
 make an immediate and solemn declaration to that 
 effect to the diet of Ratisbon. They were to govern 
 themselves in their relations with each other, and 
 in relation to German affairs, by the laws that the 
 diet of Frankfort would be speedily called to de- 
 liberate upon. 
 
 By a special article, all the German houses had 
 the faculty of adhering, in the sequel, to the treaty, 
 upon the condition of a pure and simple adhesion. 
 
 For the_present, the confederation of the Rhine 
 comprehended the kings of Bavaria and Wurtem- 
 berg, the prince archchancellor, the archbishop of 
 Ratisbon, the grand dukes of Baden, Berg, and 
 Hesse Darmstadt, the dukes of Nassau-Usingen and 
 Nassau-Weilberg, the princes of Hohenzollern- 
 Heehingen, of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, of Salm- 
 Salwi, and Salm-Kirburg, of Isemburg, Aremburg, 
 Lichtenstein, and Leyen. 
 
 The Hohenzollernsand Salms were admitted into 
 the new confederation on account of the long resi- 
 dence of many members of the family in France, 
 and of the attachment they professed for its in- 
 ter, sis. The prince of Lichtenstein obtained his 
 admission, and thus preserved his quality of a 
 reigning prince, although an Austrian prince, on 
 account of the treaty of Presburg, which he had 
 signed. To his principality, and to several others 
 which were maintained, covetous demands had been 
 made and rejected by France. 
 
 The geographical circumscription of the Confe-
 
 1306. \ The mediatized 
 
 July. J priuces. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE 1UIINE. 
 
 Declaration made 
 
 to Prussia. 
 
 127 
 
 deration of the Rhine embraced the territories 
 situated between tlio Sieu, Lalm, Mem, Necker, 
 Higher Danube, Isar, and Inn ; that is to say, 
 the countries of Nassau, Baden, Franconia, Suabia, 
 the Upper Palatinate, and Bavaria. Every prince 
 within this circumscription, it' he was not named 
 in the constituent act, took the quality of reigning 
 prince. II • was "mediatized," an expression bor- 
 rowed from the ancient law of Germany, which 
 signified that a prince ceased to depend " imme- 
 diately " on the chief of the empire, and depended 
 only "mediately ;" so that he fell, in consequence, 
 under the authority of the territorial sovereign in 
 the states in which he was enclosed, and thus saw 
 his own sov. reignty disappear. 
 
 The princes and courts " mediatized " preserved 
 certain princely rights, and only lost those of 
 sovereignty, which were thereby transferred to 
 the prince of whom they became the subjects. The 
 rights transferred to the sovereigns, were those of 
 legislation, of supreme jurisdiction, of the high 
 police, of taxation, and of recruiting. The lower 
 and mid lie justice, the forest police, the rights of 
 fishery, the chase, pasturage, the working of mines, 
 and all the dues of a feudal character, without 
 reckoning personal property, composed the prero- 
 gatives left to the " mediatized." 
 
 They preserved the right to be judged by their 
 peers, named Austriguei in the ancient German 
 constitution. The immediate nobility was incor- 
 porated definitively. The "mediatized," reduced 
 from the state of reigning princes to that of privi- 
 leged subjects, were very numerous ; and would 
 have been more so, but for the intervention of 
 France. Then; were counted in the number, the 
 princes of Wurtemberg devoted to the house of 
 Austria, of Hohenlohe to that of Prussia, the prince 
 of Tour and Taxis, who was despoiled of the 
 monopoly of the German posts, the princes of 
 
 Liiwelistein-Wertllei'n, of Linange, Of Loos, of 
 
 Schwartzenberg, of Solms, of Wittgenstein-Perle- 
 
 boorg, and certain others. The house of Nassau- 
 
 Fulda, that of the former stadtholder, lost some 
 portion of its domains inconsequence of the con- 
 tiguity of its territory with the new confederation. 
 The court of Berlin, independently of the serious 
 uneasiness that a similar confederation could not 
 fail to excite, loom 1 in it two causes for personal 
 mortification, in th I ndergone by the houses 
 
 of Nasaan-Fulda and of Tour and Taxis, whose 
 
 near relationship to the Prussian royal family has 
 ben before • uplainad. 
 
 To these fundami ntal dispositions, the treaty 
 added the regulations of the territory that were 
 •ai y to place it in agreement with the sove- 
 reigns of Wurtemberg, Baden, and Bavaria, co- 
 partakers irreconcilable in Austrian Suabia, in the 
 domains of the immediate nobility, and the domains 
 
 belonging to tie- '• uediatized " princes. 
 
 The. free eity of Nuremberg, the Mate of which 
 
 it was not l>n e.vu how to !•■ gulate, between an 
 
 measy population of citizens that agitated it, and 
 a patrician nobility that mined it by ■ most expen- 
 sive administration, was given I ■ Ba\ iria, as well 
 as the city of Rutiabon, being the. price paid for 
 some cessions made in the Tyrol to the kingdom of 
 Italy. The princ • nrclichancellor found in the oil ■• 
 and the territory of Frankfort ■ rich indemnil 
 was in Frankfort that the new diet was to be held. 
 
 The celebrated treaty of the confederation of the 
 Rhine put an end to the old Germanic empire, 
 alter an exist nee of 100G years, from Charlemagne, 
 crowned in 800, down to Francis II., dispossessed 
 in lo'Od. It furnished the new model on which 
 modern Germany was to be constituted ; it was 
 for this reason its social reform, and for the pre- 
 sent placed under the temporary influence of 
 France the estates of the south of Germany, leav- 
 ing those of the north to wander among those pro- 
 tectors whom they might be pleased to choose. 
 
 This treaty, published on the 12th of July with 
 great form, did not occasion any surprise, but com- 
 pleted in all eyes the European system of Napo- 
 leon. Holding all the south of Europe under his 
 imperial sovereignty through the royalties of his 
 family, having the princes of the Rhine under his 
 protection, he wanted nothing more of the empire 
 of the west than the title. 
 
 It was necessary to announce the result to those 
 who were interested, that is to say, to the diet of 
 Ratisbon, to the emperor of Austria, and to Prus- 
 sia. The declaration to the diet was simple, merely 
 notifying to it that it was no longer acknowledged 
 by the confederation. To the emperor of Austria 
 a note was addressed, in which, without dictating 
 the conduct which he had to pursue and which 
 was foreseen, the German empire was spoken of 
 as an institution as much used up as the republic 
 of Venice, falling into ruin on all sides, and no more 
 giving protection to the feeble states, nor influence 
 to those that were strong ; neither answering the 
 necessities of the time, nor the relative proportions 
 of (In 1 German estates with each other; nor, finally, 
 procuring more for the house of Austria itself than 
 a vain title, that of emperor of Germany, a title of 
 which the actual head of the house had foreseen 
 the decay in proclaiming himself the emperor of 
 Austria, which had freed the court of Vienna from 
 all dependence ill regard to the electoral houses. 
 The confederation, therefore, appeared to hope, 
 without demanding it, that the emperor Francis 
 would abdicate a title which would cease in fact 
 over a large portion of Germany, or in all that 
 comprising the confederation id' the Rhine, and 
 
 which would no more be recognized by France. 
 
 As to Prussia, she was congratulated on being dis- 
 engaged from the ties of that German empire com- 
 monly under thecontroul of Austria; and in order 
 to indemnify her, France having taken the south 
 of German) under its dependence, she was invited 
 
 to place the north under the like dependence. 
 " The emperor Nnpoleon," wrote the French cabi- 
 net, "will see without dislike, and even with plea- 
 sure, Prussia range under her influence, by means 
 of a similar confederation to that of the Rhine, all 
 th- i tates of the north of Germany." The princes 
 
 were not designated, in Consequence none were 
 exclude, I ; but the number could not, be great, ami 
 
 their importance was not greater. They were, 
 •Caasel, Saxony, with its different branches, 
 
 the two liou es of Mecklenburg, and finally, the 
 petty priu,-. s of th,' north, useless, |,, enumerate. 
 
 A promise was givi n not to throw any impediment 
 in the wa\ of a Confederation of that nature. 
 
 Napoleon bad not ventured on such things with- 
 out inking energetic and extensive precautions, 
 Surveying, with his ordinary activity, what pa Bed 
 at Naples, Venice, and Dalmatla, without relaxing
 
 128 
 
 State of the French 
 arm v. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Public works 
 in France. 
 
 1806. 
 July. 
 
 in the cares given to the interior administration of 
 the empire, he had applied himself to put the grand 
 ax'iny on a formidable footing. This, spread out, 
 as has been seen, in Bavaria, Franconia, and 
 Suabia, lived in good cantonments, had rested, 
 and was ready to inarch again, whether it must 
 return by Bavaria, towards Austria, or whether it 
 must throw itself, by Franconia and Saxony, upon 
 Prussia. Napoleon had turned into the ranks the 
 two reserves formed at Strasburg and Mayence, 
 under the marshal senators, Kellerman and Le- 
 febvre. This was an increase of 40,000 men, 
 levied a year, perfectly disciplined, instructed, and 
 prepared for fatigue. Some of the men even, who 
 belonged to the reserves of former years, had 
 acquired the age of full strength, that is to say, 
 twenty-tour or twenty five years. The army, 
 weakened in consequence of the last campaign 
 20,000 men, of which a fourth part had re- 
 entered the ranks, found itself, therefore, thanks 
 to this reinforcement, augmented and invigorated. 
 Napoleon, profiting by the circumstance that a 
 part of his soldiers were supported in a foreign 
 country, had carried up the total force of France 
 to 450,000 men, of which 152,000 were in the 
 interior (the gendarmes, veterans, invalids, and 
 depots, were comprised in this number), 40,*'00 
 at Naples l , 50,000 in Lombardy, 20,000 in 
 Dahnatia, G000 in Holland, 12,000 in the camp 
 at Boulogne, and 170,000 ill the grand army. 
 These last, united in one mass on the complete 
 war footing, counted 30,000 cavalry, 10,000 artil- 
 lery, and 130,000 infantry ; and were arrived at 
 the highest degree of perfection that it was pos- 
 sible to attain through discipline and the practice 
 of war, under the conduct of one of the greatest 
 captains. It is necessary to observe, that of this 
 army had been detached, — General Marmont into 
 Dahnatia, the Dutch into Holland, and that it no 
 longer numbered the Bavarians in its ranks, which 
 explains why it was not more numerous after the 
 junction of the reserves. 
 
 In this imposing situation, Napoleon was able to 
 await the effect produced at Berlin, and in Vienna, 
 by the result of his plans, and the sequel of the 
 negotiations opened at Paris with England and 
 Russia. 
 
 For the rest, he had no inclination to prolong 
 the war, if he were not obliged to do so for the 
 execution of his designs. He was impatient, on 
 the contrary, to unite bis soldiers around him at 
 the magnificent fete that the city of Paris was to 
 give to the grand army. It was a happy and fine 
 idea, to let that heroic army be feted by that noble 
 capital which so sensibly feels all the emotions of 
 
 1 It was on the 4th of this month of July, that this force 
 was nearly one-fourth annihilated by the British under 
 General Stuart. The Fiemh ge eral, Itegnier, who com- 
 manded one of the corps of the army of Joseph Bonaparte 
 at Reggio, having previously taken (iaeta, beard of a dis- 
 embarkation of the English at St. Euplieniia, and marching 
 to meet them, they met at Maida 'I he British force was 
 47U5 men, the French in the province numbered 90< 0, of 
 whom 7000 were in the action. The loss of the French in 
 tr>e battle, in the surrender of Crotona, and l>y the armed pea- 
 santry who cut off the stragglers, was nearly 0000 men: 
 700 French were buried on the field of Maida. ;ind above 
 1000 taken prisoners there. The loss of the British was 
 only about 400 killed and wounded. 
 
 France, and which, if it does not feel them in a 
 warmer manner, at least gives them out more 
 rapidly and energetically, thanks to the power of 
 number and the habit of taking the lead in all 
 things, and of speaking on all occasions for the 
 country. 
 
 Carried on to greatness by nature, and also by the 
 success which exalted his imagination, Napoleon, in 
 the midst of negotiations so vast and so varied, 
 and of these military cares extending from Naples 
 to Ulyria, from lllyria to Germany, from Germany 
 to Holland, gave himself with ardour to immortal 
 creations of art and public utility. Having visited, 
 during the short times ol leisure that were left him 
 by the war, nearly all the places of the capital, he 
 did not see one of them without being seized at the 
 same instant with some great thought, moral or use- 
 ful, of which the result is observed this day realized 
 upon ihe soil of Paris. He had been at St. Denis, 
 and finding that ancient church in an afflicting 
 state of dilapidation, above all, since the violation 
 of the royal tombs, he ordered, by a decree, the 
 repairs of that venerable monument. He decided 
 that five sepulchral chapels should be built; three 
 for the kings of the first races, and one for the 
 princes of his own dynast} - . Marbles carrying the 
 names of the kings once entombed there were to 
 replace these dispersed remains. He instituted a 
 chapter of ten old bishops, to pray perpetually in 
 that funeral asylum of the royal races. 
 
 After having visited St. Genevieve, he ordered 
 that fine temple to be finished, and opened for 
 worship; but preserving the destination that the 
 constituent assembly had assigned it, that of re- 
 ceiving the illustrious men of France. The chap- 
 ter of the metropolitan cathedral, increased, was to 
 chant the service there daily. 
 
 A triumphal monument had been ordained by 
 the senate on the proposition of the tribunate. 
 After many rejected plans, Napoleon fixed upon 
 the idea of elevating on the finest place in Paris, 
 a column of bronze, resembling in form and di- 
 mensions the column of Trajan, consecrated to the 
 'M'and army, to trace in a bas-relief, spirally en- 
 circling its magnificent shaft, the exploits of the 
 campaign of 1805. It was decided, that the can- 
 non taken from the enemy should supply the 
 material. The statue of Napoleon, in imperial cos- 
 tume, was to surmount the capital. It is that 
 same column in the Place Vendome, at the foot of 
 which pass, and will pass, the present and future 
 generations, the subject of a generous emulation 
 for them so long as they shall preserve the love of 
 national glory; the subject of eternal reproach if 
 they should be ever capable of losing that noble 
 sentiment. 
 
 Napoleon subsequently settled upon the place of 
 a triumphal arch on the Place Carrousel, the same 
 which this day exists. This arch enters into the 
 plan for the completion of the Louvre and the 
 Tuileries. He proposed to unite these two palaces, 
 and to form but one of them, which would be the 
 most extensive that had ever been seen in any 
 country. Placing himself one day under the 
 portal of the Louvre, and looking towards the 
 Hotel de Ville, he conceived the idea of an im- 
 mense street, which should be uniformly con- 
 structed, as broad as the Rue de la Paix, to be 
 prolonged as far as the Barrier du Trone, in such
 
 1S06. 
 July. 
 
 •} 
 
 Improvements 
 iu Paris. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Change in the council 
 of &tate. 
 
 129 
 
 a manner that the eye might be able to penetrate 
 one way as far as the Champs- Eliseos, on the other 
 as far as the tirst trees of Vincennes, The taunt 
 of this street was to be the " Rue Imperiale." A 
 monument had long ago been decreed on the Place 
 of the old Bastile. Napoleon wished that it should 
 be a triumphal arch large enough to afford a pas- 
 sage through the centre portal, to the great pro- 
 jected street, placed at the intersection of that 
 street and of the canal of St. Martin. The archi- 
 tects having declared the impossibility of such a 
 construction upon a parallel base, Napoleon re- 
 solved to transfer the arch to the Place de l'Etoile, 
 that it should face the Tuileries, and become one 
 of the extremities of the immense line which he 
 would trace through the bosom of his capital. The 
 present generation has finished the greater part 
 of the monuments that Napoleon had not time to 
 complete. It has, however, not finished the Lou- 
 viv, nor created the magnificent street of which he 
 conceived the plan. 
 
 He did not limit to these works his cares for the 
 embellishment of the city of jParis. He esteemed 
 it not worthy the prosperity of the empire, that the 
 capital should want water, while in its very bosom 
 ran a fine and clear river. The fountains were 
 only opened in the day-time: lie ordered works to 
 be commenced immediately at the pumps of Notre 
 Dame, of the Pont Neuf, of Chaillot, and of Gros- 
 Chaillot, in order that the water might run day 
 and night. He ordered, besides these, the erection 
 of fifteen new fountains. That of the " Chateau 
 d'Eau" was comprised in this creation. In two 
 months a part of these orders were executed, and 
 the water thrown up, night and day, from the 
 sixty-five old fountains. On the site of those re- 
 cently decreed, limited channels distributed the 
 water, until the fountains themselves could be 
 erected. The public treasury found the money 
 necessary to meet the expense. 
 
 Napoleon ordered the continuation of the quays 
 of the- Seine, and decided that the bridge of the 
 Jardiu des Plantes, then constructing, should bear 
 the glorious name of AusteriitZ. Lastly, having 
 ived, i" visiting the ''Chain]) de .Mars," to 
 settle the [dan of tie- fetes which were preparing 
 there, that a communication was indispensable on 
 
 the point between the two banks of the Seine, he 
 ordered tin- establishment there of a bridge of 
 stone, which should he (he finest in the capital, and 
 which has since borne the name of the bridge of 
 
 Jena. 
 
 The departments of the empire the most distant 
 also shared in his munificence, lie this year de- 
 
 creeil the canal of the Khone and Rhine, and of 
 
 the Scheldt and Rhine, and ordered the survey 
 for the canal from Nantes to Brest lb- devoted 
 funds for the continuation of tin- canals of Ourq, 
 of St. Quentin, and of Burgundy. He prescribed 
 the construction of a great road, of the length of 
 sixty leagues, from nfetz to Mayenoe, passing 
 through the valley oi tie- Moselle, lie liad the 
 road begun from Roanne to Lyons, where there ia 
 the fine descent of Tarare, nearly worthy of the 
 Simplon ; and the celebrated road ui the Corniche, 
 going from Nice to Genoa, attached to the Hanks 
 of the Apennines, between the summits of the 
 mountains and the sea. He had that <>f the 
 Simplon continued, alread) nearly finished; that 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 - 
 
 of MontCenis, of Mont Gencvre, and finally, that 
 along the banks of the Rhine. Napoleon ordered, 
 besides, new works in the arsenal at Antwerp. 
 
 It seemed as if victory had made his mind fruit- 
 ful, since the larger part of his great creations date 
 from this memorable year, placed between the first 
 half of his career that was so glorious, when wis- 
 dom marly always guided his steps, and that 
 second half, so extraordinary and so melancholy, 
 when his g< nius, excited by success, leaped over 
 all the limits of the possible to terminate in an 
 abyss. 
 
 The legislative body, which had assembled peace- 
 ably, adopted the plans desired by Napoleon, and 
 discussed in the council of state. The stormy 
 scenes of the revolution were DO more witnessed, 
 nor yet the scenes of a free parliament. The 
 assembly was seen adopting with confidence that 
 which it knew to be as well devised as it had been 
 explained. A new code was presented, this year, 
 the result of long conferences between the tribunes 
 and the councillors of state, under the direction of 
 the archchancellor Cambaceres. This was the 
 code of civil procedure, regulating the manner 
 to proceed before the tribunals, by reason of their 
 new forms and the simplification of the laws. This 
 code was adopted without difficulty; the questions 
 to which it might have given rise having been 
 arranged in advance, in the preparatory discus- 
 sions of the council of state and of the tribunate. 
 
 A remarkable improvement was made in the 
 organization of the council of state. Until now 
 that body examined the intended laws, discussed 
 great measures of the government, such as the 
 concordat, the coronation, the journey of the pope 
 to Paris, and the serious diplomatic question of 
 St. Julien's preliminaries not ratified by Austria. 
 Initiated into all the affairs of state, it was more a 
 council of tl;e government than a council of ad- 
 ministration. But every day these high epicstions 
 became rarer in its bosom, and gave place to 
 questions purely administrative, that the progress 
 of the time, and the enlarged extent of the empire, 
 unceasingly multiplied. 'I lie councillors of state, 
 important personages, almost equal to the minis- 
 ters, were too elevated in rank, ami loo few in num- 
 ber, to charge themselves with the burden uf all 
 the reports. W'niie the quantity of business in- 
 creased, anil they took a eluuacter exclusively ad- 
 ministrative, another necessity became manifest, 
 that oi forming individuals for the council of state, 
 creating a ladder for them to climb up to it, and, 
 above all, for employing the youth of high rank, 
 that Napol i wished to draw towards him by 
 
 every de at once, of war and civil functions. 
 
 After having conferred with the archcliaiieellor, 
 
 be created masters of requests, occupying an inter- 
 
 mediate rank between the auditors and tbet n« 
 
 cillors of state, charged with the greater number 
 of the reports, having the facultj ol deliberating 
 ■ ■ii the questions on winch they had reported, and 
 enjoying a salary iii proportion to die importance 
 ot their attributions, M. Portalia, jnn., M. Mold 
 and .M. Pasquier, young also, and immediately nomi- 
 nated masters ot ri qui -Is, indicated the ulililji and 
 
 intention of the place. Napoleon loved the merit 
 to which recollections were attached, without 
 eluding the merit thai did not recall any. 
 To this wiso innovation, which linn created a 
 
 K
 
 130 
 
 The university 
 established. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Views of Napoleon 
 in educat.on. 
 
 / 1806. 
 I July. 
 
 nursery of able administrators, Napoleon at once 
 added another. There was no jurisdiction for the 
 contractors who treated with the state, whether 
 they executed public works, furnished stores, or 
 contracted financial engagements. It was the 
 affair of the "United Merchants" which had re- 
 vealed this want, because Napoleon, not knowing 
 to whom to defer it, had considered a moment 
 about sending it before the legislative body. This 
 jurisdiction could not be attributed to the tri- 
 bunals, as much on account of the special know- 
 ledge which it required, up the nature of the mind 
 which it demands— a mind that should be adminis- 
 trative rather than judicial. It was from this 
 knowledge that all the bargains which the govern- 
 ment made were referred to the council of state. 
 This was the principal origin of its contentious 
 attributions. Hence there were created at the 
 same time " advocates to the council," whose duty 
 was to defend in written memorials the interests 
 of those who were to be called before this new 
 jurisdiction. 
 
 To all these creations Napoleon added yet an- 
 other, the finest perhaps of all his reign, the Uni- 
 versity. It has been seen what system of edu- 
 cation was adopted in 1802, when he laid the 
 foundations of the new French society. In the 
 midst of the old generations that the revolution 
 had made enemies, of which some regretted the 
 old system of things, and some were disgusted with 
 the new, without wishing to go back to the old, he 
 proposed to form, through education, a young 
 generation, made for and by the new institutions 
 of France. Ill place of the central schools, that 
 were public courses of lectures, to which the young 
 persons brought up in their families or in private 
 boarding schools might attend, and in which they 
 heard professors teach at the beck of their own 
 caprice, or according to the caprice of the time, 
 the physical sciences much more than letters, 
 Napoleon instituted, as has been seen, houses 
 where youths, lodged and fed, received from the 
 hands of the state instruction and education, and 
 where letters had taken the place, which they 
 ought never to have lost, without the sciences 
 losing the place which they had acquired. Napo- 
 leon, well foreseeing that prejudice and malevolence 
 would be raised against these establishments that 
 he had thus instituted, had founded six thousand 
 bursaries, and had thus composed by authority 
 (but by ihe authority of benefit) the papulation of 
 the new colleges denominated Lyceums. Some 
 were newly opened, others were only old houses 
 transferred, presenting already in 180b" the spec 
 t.icJ • of order, of good manners, and of sound 
 studies. There were twenty nine of th se. Na- 
 poleon wished to extend the number, and to carry 
 it up to a hundred. Three hundred and ten 
 secondary schools established by the communes, 
 an equal number of secondary schools opened by 
 private persons — the former bound to follow the 
 regulations of the lyceums, the others to send their 
 scholars there, — completed together the whole of 
 the new establishments. This system had suc- 
 ceeded p rlectly. The masters of private schools, 
 the par nts full of the old prejudices, the priests 
 dreaming of the conquest of the public system of 
 education, calumniated the lyceums. They said 
 that nothing was taught in them but mathematics, 
 
 because the government only wished to bring up 
 soldiers in them; that religion was neglected there; 
 that the manners there were corrupt. Nothing 
 was less true, since the government had the ex- 
 press intention to make letters honourable again, 
 and had gained the end proposed. Religion was 
 taught there by the chaplains as seriously as the 
 wish of the author of the Concordat had been able 
 to procure it should be taught, and with the full 
 success that the spirit of the age admitted. Finally, 
 a hard life, almost a military one, and continual 
 exercises, secured youth from precocious passions ; 
 and, under the head of manners, the lyceums were 
 certainly preferable to the private houses. 
 
 For the rest, despite the slanders of the inter- 
 ested and the partisans of the past, these establish- 
 ments had made a rapid progress. The youth, 
 attracted by the benefit of the bursaries, and by 
 the confidence of parents, began to attend them in 
 great numbers. 
 
 But, in the idea of Napoleon, the work was yet 
 scarcely begun. It was not all to attract scholars, 
 it was requisite to give them professors ; it was 
 necessary to create a body of teachers. This was 
 a great question upon which Napoleon was fixed 
 with that firmness of mind which he displayed in 
 every thing. To hand over education to the 
 priests was, in his eyes, inadmissible. He had re- 
 established public worship; and he had done so 
 with the deep conviction, that in every society 
 religion is necessary, not as an additional means of 
 policy, but as a satisfaction due to the more noble 
 wants of the human soul. Still he would not 
 abandon the care of forming the new state of 
 society to the clergy, that in their obstinate pre- 
 judices, in their love of the past, and hatred of the 
 present, and their terror of the future, could only 
 prolong in youth the sad passions of the gene- 
 rations that were depaiting for ever. It was 
 necessary that youth should be formed on the 
 model of the society in which it was destined to live; 
 it was needful that it find in the college the family 
 spirit, in the family the spirit of society, with purer 
 morals, habits more regular, and more sustained 
 Iibours. It was requisite, in one word, that the col- 
 lege be society itself ameliorated. If there be any 
 difference whatever between one and the other ; 
 if youth hear masters and relations speak dif- 
 ferently ; if it hear one praise what the other 
 blames — a vexatious contrast is created which 
 troubles his mind, and makes him dispraise his 
 masters if he has more confidence in his relatives, 
 and his relatives if he has more confidence in his 
 masters. The second sta-ie of life is then em- 
 ployed in crediting nothing of that which has been 
 taught in the first: religion itself, if it be imposed 
 with affectation, in place of being professed with 
 respect in presence of youth, is no more than a 
 yoke, from which the young man, once become 
 free, hastens to escape as from all the yokes of the 
 college. Such were the considerations which re- 
 moved from the mind of Napoleon all idea of 
 delivering the youth over to the clergy. A last 
 reason completed this decision. Was the clergy a 
 proper body to educate Jews or Protestants ? 
 Most assuredly not. Then it was not possible to 
 educate Jews, Protestants, and Catholics together, 
 in order to compose of them an enlightened, tolerant 
 youth, loving their country, fit for every career 
 
 -I
 
 1S06. \ 
 
 July. / 
 
 Qualification of 
 teachers. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Financial opera- 
 tions. 
 
 131 
 
 in life — one, in tine, tl;;it was needful for new 
 France. 
 
 Still if the clergy bad not tlie qualities necessary 
 for this task, they had some that were very valu- 
 able, and which should, if possible, be borrowed of 
 them. A regular, laborious, sober, modest life, 
 was a condition indispensable for the education of 
 youth, because it was not proper to be content, lor 
 such a change, with the first comers, formed by 
 the chances of the times, and in a dissipated 
 society. But was it impossible to jjive to laymen 
 particular qualities belonging to the clergy ? Na- 
 poleon did rrnt so think: ami experience has proved 
 that he was right A studious has more than one 
 analogy with a religious life : it is compatible with 
 regularity of manners and mediocrity of fortune. 
 Napoleon believed himself aide, by regulations, to 
 create a body of teachers, that, without observing 
 celibacy, might carry into the education of youth 
 the same application, the same perseverance, and 
 the same constancy of vocation as the clergy. 
 There is annually, in the generations that arrive 
 at an adult estate, like the harvests growing on the 
 laud arriving at maturity, a portion of the young 
 minds that have a natural taste for study, who be- 
 long to families destitute of fortune. To collect 
 together these minds, to submit them to the pre- 
 paratory proofs, to one common discipline, to draw 
 and retain them by the attraction of a moderate 
 but certain provision, — such was the problem to be 
 resolved ; and Napoleon did not regard it as in- 
 snlvable. He hail faith in the etprit de oorpt, and 
 loved it. One of the phrases which he most com- 
 monly repeated, because it expressed one of the 
 with which he was most frequently struck, 
 was, that "society was in the dust." It was 
 natural that he should experience this sentiment 
 at the view of a countrv which had no looser either 
 a nobility, clergy, parliament, or corporations. He 
 said unceasingly to the men of the revolutions : 
 " Know how to constitute if you would defend your- 
 selves; for see how the priests and emigrants de- 
 fend themselves, animated by the last breath of the 
 
 greal bodi I" Ho wiuhed there fore to 
 
 remit to a body that lived and would defend itself, 
 the care of educating the future generations, lie 
 i. and succeeded. 
 Napoleon established tin- university on the fol- 
 lowmg pi i \ special education for the mi n 
 
 led to tiil professorships; preparatory ex- 
 amination becoming professors; the entry 
 after such examinations into a vast body, without 
 the judgment of winch their career could neither 
 be interrupted nor terminated, and in which tiny 
 should rise by time and m tit; at the bead of their 
 corps a superior council, composed of prof< 
 who should be distinguished by their talents, 
 applying the rules and directing the instruction; 
 finally, t!'" prb public education attributed 
 exclusively to the new institution, with an endow- 
 ment in the state funds, which would add to the 
 
 energy of the ■ • rpt the rgy of the 
 
 spirit of property; such were the ideas under which 
 Napoleon wished tliat the university should be 
 organized. But he was too experienced lo ii 
 all th'se dispositions in one law, making use of the 
 public confidence with that deep intelligi uce which 
 allowed him to pre* nt verj general laws, which be 
 completed, subsequently, b\ decrees tu the i 
 
 that the necessity of the case demanded; be charged 
 M. Foiircroy, the administrator of public cducn: in 
 under the ministry of the interior, to draw up the 
 outline of a law that should be included in three 
 articles only. By the first it was stated, that he 
 would form under the name of the "Imperial Uni- 
 tertity". a body of teachers, charged with public 
 education throughout the whole empire. Bv the 
 second, that the members of the corps of teachers 
 should contract "obligations civil, special, and 
 temporary " (this word was employed to exclude 
 the idea of monastic vows). By the third, that the 
 organization of the corps of teachers, altered ac- 
 cording to experience, should be converted into a 
 law in the session of 1810. It is only with this 
 latitude of action that great tilings are achieved. 
 
 This outline of a law, presented on the Gth of 
 May, w;is adopted, like all the others, in silence 
 and confidence. The adoption, in this manner, of 
 laws is not advisable, but when there shall be such 
 a man, similar acts, and, what is yet more deter- 
 minate, such a situation. 
 
 This short and fruitful session was terminated 
 by the financial laws. Napoleon regarded the 
 finances, with reason, as a foundation as indis- 
 pensable as the army to the greatness of an em- 
 pire. The last crisis, although past, was a serious 
 notice to decree finally a complete system of 
 finance, to elevate the resources to the level of the 
 necessities, and to establish a service of the trea- 
 sury which should dispense with any recurrence to 
 money-making capitalists. 
 
 As to the creation of the necessary resources to 
 suffice for the expenses of the war, Napoleon per- 
 sisted in not contracting a loan. In effect, even in 
 the midst id' the prosperity which lie made France 
 enjoy, the five per cent, stock had never risen above 
 sixty. If a loan had been announced, it would 
 have descended lower yet, probably to fifty, and 
 there would have been a perpetual interest at ten 
 per cent, tu support. Napoleon had no care to 
 n cur to such means. Still it was necessary to 
 Cover the deficiency of the last outlay, and to place 
 
 the resources definitively in relation with a state of 
 war, thai for fifteen years seemed to have become 
 the ordinary state of France. 1 1 was a bold i 
 which had never been realized, to defray the ex- 
 penditure of an obstinate contest with permanent 
 laves. .Napoleon had not renounced it, and he 
 had the courage to propose it to the country, and 
 
 Boon to impose in it the charges which would 
 
 the means of attaining that result. 
 
 The arrear of the last budgets might be liqui- 
 
 •iated with 60,000,000f. ; the debt to the sinking 
 
 fond being still deficient. This debt consisted, 
 
 as will be remembered, in securities which had 
 
 In i n disposed of, and m the products of the sale of 
 
 national properties that the treasury had absorbed 
 fur its use, although they appertained to the chest 
 of the sinking fund. It wna needful, therefoi 
 
 provide for ilus 60,000,000r., for the debt i- 
 
 tracted with the sinking fund, and for an annual 
 
 • t, that, after the expi < ience of 1806, had not 
 
 arisen to less than 700 oun.nnm. during the war 
 
 OOO.OOOf. with the expen* 1 ol collection). 
 
 Ilere are the means devised Fur the purpi 
 
 ! the sinking 
 
 ■ II very advantageously the property, 
 
 lion of which had been entrusted to it ax 
 
 K 2
 
 132 
 
 Resources for the 
 budget. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Estimates of a war 
 establishment. 
 
 f 1806. 
 I July. 
 
 an experiment. Then, in place of selling for itself 
 the 70,000,000f. that the law of Ventose, year ix, 
 had attributed with the view of indemnifying it for 
 the stock created at that period, and for which it 
 was to be paid at the reasonable rate of 10,000,000f. 
 per annum, those properties had themselves been 
 delivered over to them. As to the securities for 
 reimbursement, it was decided to pay them to the 
 same amount of value, in proportion, upon the con- 
 dition that it should alienate them with the same 
 necessary precautions as had before so happily suc- 
 ceeded. This same observation had led Napoleon, 
 who was the inventor of this system of liquidation, 
 to find the means of covering the 60,000,000f. of 
 arrear. 
 
 He had endowed the senate, the legion of honour, 
 public instruction, and certain other establish- 
 ments, with the remainder of the national domains. 
 In thus acting, his intention had been to preserve 
 them from the waste of bad alienations. But on 
 one part it had been perceived, that the alienations 
 could be effected in an advantageous manner by 
 entrusting them to the sinking fund ; and, on the 
 other, there had been found in that system of en- 
 dowments the vice attached to property in mort- 
 main, of which the condition is to be ill cultivated 
 and produce but little. Napoleon resolved to re- 
 take the property of the senate and of the legion of 
 honour, and to furnish them with an equivalent, by 
 creating 3,000,000f. of stock at five per cent, for 
 the capital of G0,000,000f. If stock delivered to 
 the public should be threatened with immediate 
 depreciation, assigned as endowments to perma- 
 nent public bodies, that would not alienate it, this 
 would be unattended by any of the disadvantages of 
 loans ; it would not have any fall in the market, 
 and would even procure an advantage to the public 
 establishments which received it, as it would in- 
 sure them a revenue of five, in place of two and a 
 half or three per cent., which were yielded by the 
 national domains. These last, transferred to the 
 sinking fund, which would alienate them by little 
 and little, would procure the G0,000,000f. required. 
 
 These 60,000,000f., it is true, would be immedi- 
 ately necessary to payoff the arrears of the an- 
 terior budgets. They imagined the creation of 
 temporary effects, carrying six or seven per cent, 
 according to the time of their reimbursement, to 
 be paid at a fixed term payable to the sinking 
 fund, at the rate of a million per month, from the 
 first of July, 1806, to the first of July, 1811, mort- 
 gaged upon the capital of the fund, which would 
 have, with that which it already possessed and that 
 it was about to acquire, nearly 130,000.0001'. of na- 
 tional properties, which joined to this immoveable 
 property a well-established credit. 
 
 These effects carrying an advantageous interest, 
 but not an usurious one, and repayable at fixed 
 and short terms, could not fall like stock, because 
 their monthly and certain expiration at the end of 
 five years would tend to elevate them, by the cer- 
 tainty of recovering the capital entire from month 
 to month. This was a combination which has since 
 succeeded several times, and which was excellent. 
 
 The process for liquidating the arrears consisted, 
 therefore, in taking back the property assigned to 
 the great bodies, and in giving them stock in its 
 place, which for them had the advantage of an im- 
 mediate augmentation of revenue ; to cause this | 
 
 property to be sold by the sinking fund, which it 
 could execute with success in five years, and in 
 realizing the value in advance by means of the 
 effect of paper at a fixed term of liquidation, which 
 could not be depreciated, — thanks to a reimburse- 
 ment certain and not distant, — thanks, in fine, to an 
 interest of six or seven per cent. 
 
 The sole and not very serious difficulty in this 
 combination was, that the sum of the stock, com- 
 posing the public debt, would be increased to 
 51,000,060f. in place of 50,000,000f. as anterior 
 laws had prescribed. But the infraction here was 
 of little importance, and the law was satisfied by 
 establishing a more rapid extinction of the extra 
 million. 
 
 There still remained to provide for the future 
 budgets by the creation of sufficient resources, 
 whether for peace or war. Napoleon made to the 
 legislative body and to Europe a bold, and at the 
 same time a very wise declaration in a financial 
 point of view. He wished for peace, because he 
 said proudly, that he had " exhausted military 
 glory ;" he wished for peace, for he had given it to 
 Austria. He was ready at that moment to con- 
 clude one with Russia, and he was occupied in 
 negotiating with England. But the powers had 
 become accustomed to consider treaties merely as 
 truces, that they would be able to break at the first 
 signal from London. It was needful, until they 
 were brought to respect their engagements, and to 
 resign themselves to the greatness of France, — it 
 was needful to be ready to meet the expenses of 
 the war, for as long a time as it might be necessary. 
 Great Britain claimed to meet the war by loans ; 
 she was free to do it while she had that resource in 
 her hands. France was bound to provide other- 
 wise, with the means that were adapted to herself, 
 that is to say, by taxes, — a resource very different, 
 durable, and that left no charge behind it. In 
 consequence, he declared that it was necessary to 
 have 600,000,000f. in time of peace,and 700,000,000f. 
 in time of war; or 720,000,000f. and 820,000,000f. 
 including the expenses of collection. The budget 
 of France in the most peaceful year of the existing 
 government, that of 1802, had been comprised in 
 an expenditure of 500,<l00,000f. But since 1802, 
 the increase of the debt, the development given to 
 works of public utility, the endowment of the clergy, 
 which followed the Concordat, the re-establish- 
 ment of the monarchy, which had caused the cre- 
 ation of the civil list, carried up to G00,000,000f. the 
 expenses fixed for the peace establishment. The 
 ordinary resources arose much beyond that sum. 
 As to the expenses of a state of war, that it was re- 
 solved to sustain as long as it should be needful, 
 they made the amount of the budget rise to 
 700,000,000f. At this rate 1 30,000,000f. could be 
 devoted to the navy ; about 300,000,000f. to the 
 army, to have fifty sail of the line armed, and 
 450,000 men always ready to march. France, on 
 this looting, was in a state to face all dangers ; she 
 was able now, without injuring herself, to impose 
 this weight, because her ordinary revenues already 
 returned more than 600,000,000f. The kingdom 
 of Italy furnished about 30,000,000f. for the French 
 army which guarded it, and it was easy to obtain 
 60,000,0001. or 70,000,000f. more, through the 
 ordinary imposts. 
 
 After this bold declaration, Napoleon had the
 
 18C6. \ 
 July. { 
 
 Additional duties 
 levied. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Re-oreanization of the 
 Bank of France. 
 
 133 
 
 courage to develope the great resource of the in- 
 direct contributions, which he had already restored 
 to the country, and to create a new resource, not 
 less useful, not less productive, and which had no 
 other inconvenience than that of affecting the 
 generality of the people, but of affecting them 
 slightly, — the tax on salt. In consequence, he pro- 
 posed, besides the impost upon liquors, (a duty 
 levied upon the maker and original proprietor at 
 the moment of removal, called the droit d'inventaire,) 
 another duty on the trade by wholesale, and on 
 that by retail, and for that object the exercise, that 
 is to say, the superintendence of liquors upon the 
 roads, and the admission of the agents of the ex- 
 cise into the cellars of wine-dealers. The indirect 
 taxes, which already produced 2">,000,000f., would 
 produce more than 50,000,000f. in consequence of 
 this extension. 
 
 As to the duty upon salt, its re-establishment 
 was caused by the removal of another tax which 
 had become insupportable, — the turnpike toll on 
 roads. This tax was so little in harmony with 
 French habits and feelings, and so much incom- 
 moded agriculture, that all the councils-general 
 had requested its abolition. It brought in no more 
 than 15,000,000f., which was insufficient for the 
 maintenance of the roads of the empire, and which 
 cost the state an additional or supplementary sum 
 of 10,0OO,O00f. per annum, and still without the 
 roads being kept in the state that was desirable ; 
 for it was estimated that 35.000,000f. at least would 
 be the sum necessary to keep them in a proper 
 condition. By imposing a very light tax, that of 
 two decimes per kilometre, or two sous per pound 
 on salt, to be levied at the salt marshes, by the 
 officers of the customs who were placed around 
 them, nearly all being situated near the frontier, it 
 was hoped that a return of 35,000,0001'. would be 
 realized, that is to say, enough to keep the roads in 
 a good state of repair, and to relieve the treasury 
 of an expense of l0,000,000f. This tax was of a 
 totally different nature from the ancient Qabetta, 
 that were unequally levied, aggravated in the 
 burthen by the collection, and sometimes making 
 the price of salt rise to fourteen sous the pound ; a 
 price which was exorbitant for the poorer people. 
 
 With the product of these new taxes annually 
 increasing, and with some accidental resources 
 that permitted the waiting for their complete de- 
 retopement, Prance would And herself in a situ- 
 ation to support a state of war, however long it 
 might endure, ami, as soon as it was concluded, to 
 
 make tin? benefits of peace be fell by the people of 
 
 the empire, in the diminution of the land tax — the 
 
 only impost that was truly burdensome. 
 
 Napoleon by this creation completed the re- 
 establishment of tin- French finances, that the sup- 
 ion of the indirect contributions in 17H'J had 
 ruined; and he showed Europe a discouraging pic- 
 ture for his enemies, that is to say, titty sad of tin: 
 line, and 460,000 men, supported without a loan, 
 and that during a time of war. 
 
 The budget >if mot; was therefore fixed at 
 700,00o,ooof. of receipts and expenses, or 
 H20,ooo,ooof. with the expenses of collection. An 
 
 accidental circumstance, that of the re-establish- 
 
 menl of the Gregorian calendar, from .January 1st, 
 
 lo"0b", raised the- budget to a supply for fifteen 
 months in place of twelve, ami to 'J00,000,000f. in 
 
 place of 700,000,000f. In effect, the preceding 
 budget, that of the year XIII, being stopped on the 
 21st of September, 1805, it was requisite, in order 
 to reach January 1st, lttOO, to add about three 
 months' Bupply, which would carry the budget of 
 1800 to tin, en' months, an I to 900,000 OOOf. 
 
 There remained yet one task to fulfil, that was 
 to organize the treasury and the bank of France. 
 Enlightened by recent events, Napoleon wished to 
 reform both t ' l(> " lu * : ""' l ' ie °ther. 
 
 It has already been repeated several times in the 
 course of this history, that the value of the taxes 
 had been returned into the treasury in the form of 
 "obligations" at a certain date, or id' '"bills at 
 sight," signed by the receivi rs-general, and paid 
 monthly at their offices. The discount of this 
 paper procured money when there was a necessity 
 for the anticipation of the advances. The aban- 
 donment of this discount to a company had suc- 
 ceeded very badly. They had then entrusted it 
 anew to an agency of the receivers-general, which 
 acted at Paris for the entire body. Since the re- 
 storation of credit, capital was abundant, and the 
 receivers-general could procure for the state, by 
 the discount of their own engagements, all the 
 funds of which it had need. Still it was a good 
 while discussed before Napoleon, in the council of 
 finance, whether this service should not be assigned 
 to the bank, which was much more powerful than 
 the agency of the receivers-general could ever be. 
 At first Napoleon thought, that whether for this 
 service and for others the bank was not consti- 
 tuted with sufficient strength. He resolved, there- 
 fore, to double its capital, and to raise the shares 
 from 45,000 to 00,000, which at. 1000t. a share 
 would make a capital of 00,000,000!'. He deter- 
 mined, besides, to give to it a monarchical organ- 
 ization, by converting the elected president, who 
 was at its head, into a governor nominated by the 
 emperor, who would direct it for the double in- 
 terest both of commerce and the treasury ; to place 
 three receivers-general in its council, in order to 
 bind it more to the government, and, finally, to 
 suppress the disposition according to which it pro- 
 portioned its discounts to the number of shares 
 possessed by the presenters of effects, and to re- 
 place it by another and a wiser regulation, con- 
 sisting in proportioning the discounts to the ac- 
 knowledged credit of the commercial men who 
 demanded them. These changes, framed into a 
 
 law, were adopted by the legislative body; and 
 
 under this strong and clever constitution, the bank 
 
 of France is become one of the most solid esta- 
 blishments in the world ; for it has been seen, in 
 recent limes, helping the bank of England itself, 
 and getting through the greatest political diffi- 
 culties without shrinking. 
 
 Even alter having thus extended it, Napoleon 
 would not Confine, in a constant and definitive 
 manner, the service of the treasury to the hank of 
 France. He Intended to make it serve in OUM of 
 DOed and incidentally that new power which In- 
 had thus insured to it, to discount such or such a 
 
 sum of the " obligations of the receivers-general," 
 or of " bills at sight," but he could not bring him- 
 self to decide upon handing over to it definitively 
 
 the portfolio of the treasury. It was a company of 
 commercial nun deliberating; it WM, too, under a 
 president named by himself but placed out of his
 
 134 
 
 New syitem of keeping 
 the accounts. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 State of the nego- 
 tiations with Eng- 
 land and Kussia. 
 
 f 1806 
 t July 
 
 government; and he would not, he said, deliver up 
 to tliem the secret of his military by committing 
 to them the secret of his financial operations. " I 
 wish," he observed, " to be able to move a body of 
 troops without the bank knowing it, and ifr must 
 know it if it has a knowledge of my pecuniary 
 wants." 
 
 For the rest, he made an attempt, but an attempt 
 only, at a new system for the payment of the pub- 
 lic money, by those who were accountable for its 
 returns. Although the system of " obligations " 
 had rendered important services, it was not the 
 final term towards perfection in the way of paying 
 in. It happened that the receivers-general had 
 often considerable sums in hand, of which they 
 made a profit while awaiting the term for the dis- 
 charge of their obligations. Furthermore, these 
 obligations gave origin to very active jobbing. 
 A simple account-current established between the 
 state and those who were accountable, by means 
 of which every sum that entered their hands be- 
 longing to the treasury, bore interest in its favour, 
 and every sum paid out carried interest to the 
 advantage of the accountable party who had issued 
 it, — an account-current thus regulated was a much 
 more simple system, more correct, and did not 
 hinder the receivers-general from having conceded 
 to them thuse advantages which it was believed 
 necessary they should enjoy. But beforehand a 
 system of keeping the accounts was required which 
 did not admit of error ; it was requisite, in the 
 accountability of the treasury, to admit the intro- 
 duction of the double entry used in commerce. 
 M. Mullien proposed the account-current and dou- 
 ble entry. Napoleon consented at once, but he 
 wished the system should be first tried with some 
 of the receivers-general, to judge of its merits by 
 experiment. 
 
 Such were the civil labours of Napoleon in the 
 memorable year 1806, the finest year of the em- 
 pire, as that of 18,02 was the finest of the con- 
 sulate, — years made fruitful, the one by the other, 
 under which Francs was constituted a dictatorial 
 republic in 1802, and a vast federal empire in 
 J806. In this last year Napoleon founded at once 
 vassal crowns for the heads of his brothers, 
 duchies for his generals and servants, rich endow- 
 ments for his soldiers, suppressed the Germanic 
 empire, and left the French empire to fill the west 
 by itself. He continued making roads, bridges, 
 canals, the works already begun, and undertook 
 the most important, such as the canals of the 
 Rhone and the Rhine, of the Rhine and the 
 Scheldt, the roads uf the Corniche, of Tarare, and 
 of Metz to Mayeuce. He projected the great 
 monuments of the capital, the column in the Place 
 Vendome, the arch of the Etoilc, the completion 
 jof the Louvre, the street to be called the Rue 
 Imperiale, and the principal fountains of Paris. 
 He commenced the restoration of St. Denis ; he 
 ordered the completion of the Pantheon ; he pro- 
 mulgated the code of civil proceeding, completed 
 the organization of the council of state, created 
 the • university, liquidated the financial arrears, 
 completed the sy.-tem of taxes, re-organized the 
 bank of France, and prepared the new system of 
 the French treasury. All this, undertaken in 
 January l!!i)G, was terminated in July the same 
 year. What mind ever devised more objects, 
 
 vaster, profounder, and realized in so little time ] 
 It is true that this approaches the height of {hat 
 prodigious reign, a height of elevation without 
 equal, and of which it may be said, while contem- 
 plating the whole picture of human greatness, that 
 none surpasses if any has equalled it. 
 
 Unfortunately this incomparable year, in place 
 of terminating in peace, as there was reason to 
 hope, finished in the midst of war, half by the 
 fault of Europe, and half by that of Napoleon him- 
 self ; and further, through the cruel stroke of 
 death, which carried off Mr. Fox in the same year 
 that had already carried off Mr. Fitt. 
 
 The negotiations proceeding with Russia and 
 England had continued during the works of all 
 kinds of which the features have just been traced. 
 Lord Yarmouth, with whom the conferences had 
 been voluntarily prolonged, had held to the same 
 proposals. England intended to keep the larger 
 part of her maritime conquests, and therefore con- 
 ceded her continental ones to France, Hanover 
 always excepted; and she confined herself to an 
 inquiry about what should be done to indemnify 
 the king of Naples. As to the new royalties, or 
 the confederation of the Rhine, she did not appear 
 to care about them. Napoleon, who had no more 
 any reason for differing about the terms of the 
 negotiation, his principal objects being accom- 
 plished, pressed Lord Yarmouth to procure his 
 powers in order to bring matters to a conclusion. 
 Lord Yarmouth had at last received them, but 
 with the order not to produce them until he should 
 perceive the possibility of coming to an agreement 
 with France, and after lie should have come to an 
 understanding with the Russian negotiator. 
 
 M. Oubril had arrived in June with powers in 
 due form, and with the double instruction, just 
 to gain time about the mouths of the Cattaro, and 
 thus to spare Austria the military execution with 
 which she was threatened ; secondly, to terminate 
 all the existing differences by a treaty of peace, 
 if France would accede to conditions which should 
 preserve the dignity of the Russian empire. One 
 circumstance had confirmed M. Oubril in the idea 
 of finishing by a treaty of peace. During the time 
 he was upon his journey the Russian ministry had 
 been changed. Prince Czartoryski and his friends 
 having wished that they should ally themselves 
 more closely to England, not precisely for the pur- 
 pose of continuing the war, but in order to treat 
 with more advantage ; Alexander, tired of these 
 remonstrances, and fearing engagements too deep 
 with the British cabinet, had, finally, accepted the 
 resignations offered him, and had replaced Prince 
 Czartoryski by General Budberg. This last had 
 been formerly the emperor's governor, the friend 
 of the empress mother, and had neither the 
 power nor inclination to oppose his master. M. 
 Oubril, who had seen the emperor more inclined 
 to peace than his ministers, thought he was au- 
 thorized by this change to incline more towards 
 a pacific conclusion. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand had no trouble in persuading 
 M. Oubril, when he maintained that there was 
 nothing of serious interest between the two em- 
 pires to dispute upon, that it was neither less nor 
 more than a question of influence to consider 
 about, on account of the two or three petty powers 
 that Russia had taken under its protection. But
 
 1806. \ 
 July. J 
 
 Conduct of the Rus- 
 sian negotiation. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Signature of the Rus- 
 lian treaty. 
 
 l.-io 
 
 as to those last, Russia beaten at Austerlitz, and 
 little disposed to re-commence since Austria had 
 given up the sword, since Prussia was dependent, 
 and England seemed tired, — Russia had nothing of 
 any moment to require. She wished alone to pre- 
 serve her pride from any rude shock. Thus she 
 was ready to pass by all the new arrangements 
 made in Germany, and all relative to the union of 
 Genoa and the Venetian states ; she was even 
 decided to be silent about the conquest of Naples, 
 because the taking up of arms by the Neapolitans, 
 after a convention of neutrality, justified all the 
 severity shown by Napoleon. Still, in regard to 
 Piedmont and the Bourbons of Naples, Russia had 
 written engagements, and she was unable to do 
 less than to demand something for them, however 
 little it night be. The engagements in regard to 
 Piedmont began to be old, but those which had 
 been contracted in regard to queen Caroline, by 
 pushing her into an abyss, were too recent and too 
 authentic for abstaining from interference in her 
 favour. 
 
 Thus this was the essential and difficult ques- 
 tion to resolve between ML de Talleyrand and M. 
 Oubril. This last had wished to preserve some 
 indemnification, however little it might be, for the 
 king of Piedmont, to insure Sicily to the Bourbons 
 of Naples, and to introduce into the treaty certain 
 points of expression which would manage to give 
 Russia the appearance of an intervention useful 
 and honourable in the affairs of Europe. Although 
 Napoleon had wished at first to have a dry and 
 empty treaty, which purely and simply re-esta- 
 blished peace between the two empires, in order 
 the better to show that he did nut recognize in 
 Russia that influence which she claimed to arro- 
 gate, this rigorous i « 1 • a had fallen before the 
 possibility of ;m immediate peace, which, by a 
 counter-blow, would bring England to treat upon 
 reasonable conditions. Napoleon therefore per- 
 mitted M. de Talleyrand to concede all the sem- 
 blance possible of influence that would save the 
 dignity of the Russian cabim t. Thus this minister 
 was authorised, in the patent treaty, to guaranty 
 the evacuation of Germany, the integrity of the 
 Ottoman empire, the independence of the republic 
 of Ragusa, to promise the good offices of France 
 
 BOOeils Prussia and Sweden, and finally to 
 
 accept the good offices of Russia for the re* 
 establishment of peaee between Francs and Mug- 
 land. There was sufficient in this to form a treaty, 
 
 insignificant than that which Napoleon had at 
 
 first wished, and consequently more flattering to 
 the pride of Russia. But it was necessary to hare 
 boom sort of c omp e ns ation for the kings of Pied- 
 mont and Naples. As to the king ol Piedmont, 
 Napo'eon gave aa absolute refusal, and that was 
 obliged t> l>" given up. In regard ta Naples, be 
 would not eonsenl even to cede Sicily, and In- 
 exacted that this island should DO restored t > tip- 
 kingdom of Naples, actually in possession of Jo- 
 seph. By the labour of searching out a combination 
 to conciliate opposite interests, a middle term was 
 found, which consisted in giving the Balearic 
 Islands to the prince n.yal of Naples, and a pecu- 
 niary indemnity i" tin- dethroned king and queen. 
 
 Tin- Balearic 1 -lands belonged t" Spain, it was true; 
 but Napoleon had wherewith to furnish her with 
 an equivalent, by aggrandizing the little kingdom 
 
 of Etruria with some fragments of the duchies of 
 Parma and l'l.icentia. He had. further, a good 
 and highly moral lesson to urge upon the court of 
 Madrid, which was. that tin- prince royal of Na- 
 ples hail become the son-in-law of Charles IV. 
 the same day that the princess of Naples had 
 espoused the prince of Asturias. To complete his 
 excellent reasons, Napoleon held power : he had 
 it therefore in view to enter into a serious en- 
 gagement in respect to the Balearic Islands. 
 
 This combination conceived, it became necessary 
 to finish the affair. M. Oubril had placed him- 
 self in communication with lord Yarmouth, who, 
 while professing very kind sentiments towards 
 France, found still, he imagined, that it would betray 
 weakness to concede to M. de Talleyrand all that 
 he demanded. Good Englishman as he was, In- 
 would have wished that Sicily should have been 
 left to queen Caroline; for all that was preserved 
 to tliis* queen was given to England. He did not, 
 therefore, fail to insist, with II, Oubril, that he 
 must prolong the resistance of Russia. 
 
 But M. de Talleyrand had a means that Napo- 
 leon suggested to him, and of which he cleverly- 
 availed himself, that was, to threaten Austria with 
 an immediate movement unless the mouths of the 
 Cattaro were given up. Napoleon, as has been 
 observed, coveted the mouths of the Cattaro, in 
 consequence of their happy situation in the Adria- 
 tic, and. above all, on account of their vicinity 
 to the Turkish frontiers ; it was, therefore; deter- 
 termined to insist upon their being restored, and 
 it was the easier for him to threaten because he 
 had the resolution to act. He had, besides, only 
 a single step to take, because his troops were upon 
 the Inn, occupying Brauuau. In consequence, 
 M. de Talleyrand declared to M. Oubril, that it 
 was needful to conclude and to sign the peace 
 which included the remission of the mouths of the 
 Cattaro, or to quit Paris; after which Austria 
 would be attacked, unless she united her efforts to 
 those of France to retake the position so faithlessly 
 delivered up to the Russians. 
 
 M. Oubril, intimidated by this peremptory de- 
 claration, communicated his i inl.arr.i-stnent to lord 
 Yarmouth, stating that he had instructions to pre- 
 Sl rve Austria from immediate constraint, and that 
 he was obliged to conform himself to them ; that 
 
 for the rest, in the actual situation of tilings, no- 
 thing would be gained by waiting with such a cha> 
 
 BS that of Napoleon ; because iv- ry day he 
 
 committed some m-w act. that he would afterwards 
 
 hold fa i a decided thing, if one did not wish to 
 break with him ; that if the negotiation had been 
 
 begun before the month of April, Jost no Bona- 
 parte would not have been proclaimed king of 
 Naples ; that if he had been treated with before 
 the month of June, Louis Bonaparte would not 
 have become king ol Holland ; that, finally, If be 
 had been negotiated with before the month of 
 duly, the Germanic empire would not have bean 
 Ived. M. Oubril, therefore, decided upon his 
 
 own part, and sign) d on July 20th, in spite of the 
 remonstrances ol hud Yarmouth, a treaty of | 
 
 with Prance. 
 
 In the patent articles were stipulated, as has 
 
 been already indicai. d, tin- evacuation ol < Jermanv , 
 
 tin- iudependi n< f the Raguaan n public, and the 
 
 integrity of the TurLi h empire. In the same
 
 136 
 
 English negotiation 
 resumed alone. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Lord Yarmouth ex- 
 hibits his powers. 
 
 1806. 
 July. 
 
 articles, the good offices of both contracting parties 
 were promised to terminate the differences which 
 had arisen between Prussia and Sweden ; and 
 France formally accepted the good offices of Russia 
 towards the establishment of peace with England, 
 — all things which preserved to Russia the semblance 
 of the influence which she had no wish to lose. 
 The independence of the Seven Islands, and the 
 immediate evacuation 'of the mouths of the Cattaro, 
 were promised anew. In the secret articles, the 
 Balearic Isles were given to the prince royal of 
 Naples, but on the condition that the English were 
 not to be admitted there in time of war ; a pension 
 was insured to his mother and father, and the pre- 
 servation of Swedish Pomerania to Sweden, in the 
 arrangements which were to be negotiated between 
 Prussia and Sweden. 
 
 This treaty, in the situation of Europe, was ac- 
 ceptable on the part of Russia; unless, for the sake 
 of the queen of Naples, she preferred war, which 
 could only bring her reverses. 
 
 M. Oubril, after having concluded the treaty, 
 set out for St. Petersburg, in order to obtain the 
 ratification by his government. He believed he 
 had fulfilled his task satisfactorily ; for if the peace 
 which he had concluded were rejected by his own 
 cabinet, he would have delayed, at least for six 
 weeks, the execution with which Austria was 
 menaced. Under this head, there is reason for 
 thinking, that the peace was not signed with per- 
 fect sincerity. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand had now no other affair upon 
 his hands than that with lord Yarmouth, who was 
 much weakened since the departure of M. Oubril. 
 The French minister knew how to avail himself of 
 his advantages, and to draw from the advantage of 
 the Russian treaty the obligation of lord Yar- 
 mouth to produce his powers, which he had al- 
 ways refused doing. M. de Talleyrand told him 
 that it was impossible to prolong such a species of 
 comedy as that of a negotiator who was accredited 
 and yet would not exhibit his powers ; that if he 
 deferred this exhibition much longer, he should be 
 justified in thinking that he did not possess them, 
 and that his presence in Paris had only a delusive 
 object, — that of gaining the bad season, to hinder 
 France from acting either against England or 
 against her other enemies. These enemies were 
 not designated, but some movements of troops to- 
 wards Bayonne might give ground to fear that 
 Portugal was of the number. M. de Talleyrand 
 added, that he must immediately take his choice, to 
 quit Paris, or give the negotiation a serious cha- 
 racter by producing his powers, because they had 
 awakened at length the mistrust of Prussia, which 
 had requested some satisfactory declaration re- 
 specting Hanover ; that, unwilling to lose such an 
 alliance, they were ready to make the declaration 
 demanded, and that, once made, it would be im- 
 possible to go back from it ; that the war would 
 then be eternal, or that the peace must be con- 
 cluded without the restoration of Hanover ; that, 
 for the rest, nothing could be gained by new de- 
 lays, and that two or three months later it would 
 be requisite for England, perhaps, to consent to the 
 conquest of Portugal, as she had consented to the 
 conquest of Naples. 
 
 Overcome by these reasons, by the signature 
 which had been given by M. Oubril, by the love j 
 
 of peace, and also by the very natural ambition of 
 inscribing his name at the foot of a similar treaty, 
 lord Yarmouth determined to exhibit his powers. 
 This was the first advantage that M. de Talley- 
 rand wished to gain, and he made haste to render 
 the act irrevocable, by naming a French plenipoten- 
 tiary to negotiate openly with lord Yarmouth. Na- 
 poleon selected general Clarke, and conferred upon 
 him the patents and formal powers. From this mo- 
 ment, the 22nd of July, the negotiation was officially 
 opened. 
 
 General Clarke and lord Yarmouth met in con- 
 ference, and, except in regard to Sicily, the two 
 negotiators were in accordance. France granted 
 Malta, the Cape, the conquest of India ; she in- 
 sisted that the factories of Pondicherry and of 
 Chandernagore should be returned to her, con- 
 senting to limit the number of troops which she 
 would keep there ; she equally demanded that 
 St. Lucia and Tobago should be given up to her, 
 but she did not absolutely hold to the restitution 
 of any colony save the Dutch colony of Surinam, — a 
 point on which the instructions of the English 
 negotiator were not peremptory'. The only serious 
 difficulty still consisted in Sicily; that lord Yarmouth 
 was not authorized formally to give up, above all, 
 for an indemnity so insignificant as the Balearic 
 Isles. Napoleon wished to procure Sicily for his 
 brother Joseph, for reasons of great weight. Ac- 
 cording to him, w(iile queen Caroline resided at 
 Palermo, Joseph would be but weakly established 
 at Naples; the war would be continual between the 
 two portions of the former kingdom of the two 
 Sicilies; the Calabrias would be always liable to 
 secret excitement; and, what was more serious, queen 
 Caroline, confined to Palermo, not being able to 
 support herself in the island but by means of the 
 English, would deliver herself up to them entirely. 
 This would be to insure the enjoyment of Sicily to 
 the English rather than giving it to the Bourbons, — 
 a consequence infinitely pernicious to the Mediter- 
 ranean. 
 
 On the other hand, lord Yarmouth, in spite of 
 his wish to conclude, dared not venture. But 
 soon a new obstacle arose to chain up his good 
 will. 
 
 The British cabinet, on hearing of the conduct 
 of M. Oubril, was much irritated, and sent off 
 couriers in a hurry to St. Petersburg, to complain 
 that the Russian had abandoned the English 
 negotiator. It did not restrain itself here, but 
 blamed lord Yarmouth, its own negotiator, for having 
 produced his powers. Fearing even influences, to 
 which lord Yarmouth was exposed by his personal 
 intimacies with the French diplomatists, it made 
 choice of a whig, lord Lauderdale, a personage 
 of a difficult character to please, to be joined in the 
 negotiation. They made this second plenipoten- 
 tiary set off immediately with precise instructions, 
 but still with certain facilities relative to Sicily, 
 with which lord Yarmouth had not been furnished. 
 Lord Lauderdale was an exact and formal diplo- 
 matist. He had an order to request the fixing of 
 a base of negotiation the vti possidetis which 
 covered the maritime conquests of England, and 
 more especially Sicily, which had not yet been con- 
 quered by Joseph Bonaparte. It is true that this 
 base also excluded the restitution of the kingdom 
 of Hanover; but that kingdom was out of the dis-
 
 1806. 
 July. 
 
 I rd Lauderdale sent 
 to Paris. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Great alarm of 1'ruisi* 
 about Han-iur. 
 
 137 
 
 cussion, the English having always declared that 
 they could not suffer that to become even a con- 
 tested point. The basis being admitted, lord Lau- 
 derdale was to argue that the uti possidetis should 
 be applied in an absolute manner, and more par- 
 ticularly as regarded Sicily ; but that this isle 
 might be abandoned for a compensation. Thus a 
 sacrifice of Dalmatia, added to the Balearic Isles, 
 might furnish a mode of accommodation. 
 
 Lord Lauderdale arrived without delay at Paris. 
 He was a whig, and, consequently, more a friend 
 than an enemy to peace ; but he had been cau- 
 tioned t<> guard himself against the seductions of 
 M. de Talleyrand, which it was feared that lord 
 Yarmouth was not capable of resisting. 
 
 Lord Lauderdale was received with politeness 
 and coolness, because it was guessed in Paris that 
 he was sent to serve as a corrective for the temper of 
 lord Yarmouth, thought to be too easy. Napoleon, 
 in reply to the mission of lord Lauderdale, named 
 M. de Champagny as the second French negotiator. 
 There were from that moment two against two, 
 general Clarke and M. de Champagny against lords 
 \ armouth and Lauderdale. 
 
 As soon as the conference had begun, lord 
 Lauderdale presented a long absolute note, in 
 which he recapitulated the confidential and official 
 negotiations, and demanded the admission, before 
 going further, of the principle of the uti 2>ossidetis. 
 Napoleon wished frankly for peace, and believed 
 he had it secure, since he had guided the hand of 
 If. Oubril to the signature of the treaty of July 
 20th. But it was not right to provoke his suscep- 
 tible and impatient character. He had the reply 
 delayed, as the first sign of his discontent. Lord 
 Lauderdale did not consider himself worsted, and 
 repeated his declaration. Then he obtained a re- 
 ply in an energetic and dignified despatch, in which 
 lit- was told, that so far the negotiation had pro- 
 ceeded with frankness and cordiality, and without 
 all those pedantic forms which the new negotiator 
 desired to introduce into it ; that if the intentions 
 were changed, that if all this diplomatic pageantry 
 concealed the secret intention to break off the 
 treaty after having obtained a few documents to 
 produce to the parliament, lord Lauderdale had 
 only to take his departure, because the French 
 
 court was not disposed to hud itself to the par- 
 liamentary calculations of the British cabinet. 
 Lord Lauderdale had no wish to occasion a rup- 
 ture; he was only a little awkward, and that was 
 all. Matters were explained It was understood 
 
 that the production of the note of lord Lauderdale 
 I men formal thing, which, at the bottom, ex- 
 cluded none of the preceding conditions adroitb d 
 by lord Yarmouth; that even the abandonment of 
 
 Sicily, providing an indemnity more extensive than 
 
 the Balearic Isles, had become clearer since the 
 arrival of lord Lauderdale; and they then set them- 
 selves to confer upon Poiidicln-rry, Surinam, To- 
 bago, and St. I.ucia. 
 
 The English aegotiaton seemed to be penuadi d 
 
 that Russia, affected by tin- representations of the 
 British cabinet, would not ratify the treaty of 
 
 M. Oubril. Napoleon, on the contrary, could not 
 
 believe that ML Oubril would have advanced to 
 the conclusion of ■ similar treaty, if his instruc- 
 tions had not authorized him to do as much ; and 
 In was still less able to believe that Russia would 
 
 venture to destroy an act which she had authorized 
 her representative to sign. He thought, there- 
 fore, that it would be for his advantage to await 
 the news of the Russian ratifications, which ap- 
 peared to him so certain, and that then England 
 would be reduced to submit to the conditions which 
 he had it so much at heart that she should accept. 
 In consequence, he ordered the two French nego- 
 tiators to gain time, in order to await the day when 
 the answer from St. Petersburg should arrive in 
 Paris. M. Oubril had left on the 22nd of July ; 
 the answer might be expected towards the end of 
 August. 
 
 Napoleon deceived himself ; and this was one of 
 those very rare occasions in which he had not 
 penetrated to the thoughts of his adversaries. 
 Nothing, in effect, was mere doubtful than the 
 Russian ratifications ; and, besides, the health of 
 Mr. Fox was then greatly threatened, — a new 
 danger for the negotiation. If that generous friend 
 of humanity should succumb under the cares of 
 government, to which he had been for a long while 
 unaccustomed, the war party might overcome the 
 party for peace in the British ministry. 
 
 But at this moment a serious circumstance 
 placed the peace in peril much more than the 
 temporizings that Napoleon had ordered. Prussia 
 had fallen into a moral state extremely despondent. 
 Since the occupation of Hanover, and the com- 
 munications with England published in London, 
 Napoleon, as already stated, had finished by not 
 holding her of any further consideration, and by 
 treating her as an ally from whom he had nothing 
 to hope. Thus every body knew in Europe that 
 he was occupied in organizing the new Germanic 
 body, and that Prussia was as little informed about 
 tin- matter as the smaller German powers. All the 
 world knew that he was negotiating with England; 
 that, in consequence, Hanover must become a 
 question for discussion, and she had not received 
 upon the subject a single communication capable 
 of relieving her anxiety. King FreOeric William 
 was obliged to appear acquainted with that of which 
 he was ignorant, in order not to make too visible 
 the state of isolation in which he was left. Al- 
 though Keeping up secret and not honest relations 
 with Russia, he was treated by that power with no 
 great consideration ; and he was well abb- to per- 
 
 ceive that she considered less of him every day, in 
 
 proportion as she returned towards peace with 
 Frame. In a state of coolness w iih Austria, which 
 
 in \. r pardoned him for abandoning her on the day 
 
 after the battle of AuBterlitZ ; at war with Eng- 
 land, that had seized three hundred of the com- 
 mercial v. vsi Is of Prussia; be saw himself alone in 
 
 Europe, and so little regarded, that the king of 
 Sweden himself had not feared to give him the 
 
 most serious offence, Winn tin- Prussian ti pa 
 
 had presented themselves lot- the occupation of tint 
 
 dependencies of Hanover bordering upon Pome- 
 
 rania, the king of Swi d< n, who kepi them, he said, 
 on account of the king of England, his ally, bad 
 
 di fi nded himself tin re, and bad Bred upon the 
 
 troops sent. This "as tie- last degree of humi- 
 liation to be thus treated by a prince-, who had no 
 
 other strength than his Insanity, protected by bis 
 alliani 
 
 This situation inspired the Prussian cabinet with 
 reflections equally painful and alarming: Russia 
 
 J
 
 138 
 
 Various rumours about 
 the designs of France. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Imprudences of the 
 French military. 
 
 / 1S06 , 
 \ July. 
 
 England itself, all taking steps towards Fiance at 
 that moment, the coalition would soon find itself 
 dissolved, and, as Prussia had only been consulted 
 because she formed the necessary complement to 
 such a coalition, what would become of her under 
 the general disarming ? Would she not be de- 
 livered over, without defence, to Napoleon, who, 
 highly discontented at iier conduct, would treat her 
 in that respect as he thought proper, either to pur- 
 chase a peace with England and Russia, or to 
 aggrandize such states as it pleased him to con- 
 stitute ? However it might happen, too, he was 
 certain to have no one in Europe who would dis- 
 approve of his conduct, because nobody existing 
 took the least interest in behaif of Prussia. 
 
 The strongest rumours confirmed these despond- 
 ing reflections. The idea of giving up Hanover to 
 England, in order to procure a maritime peace, 
 was so simple and natural, that it arose in every 
 mind at the same moment. Prussia was so slightly 
 esteemed in spite of the virtues of her king, that it 
 was not deemed amiss if Napoleon should act in 
 this way towards a court that neither knew how to 
 be the friend or enemy of any one. The allies of 
 France, Spain before all, that had suffered cruelly 
 by the war, loudly said, that Prussia did not de- 
 serve to have the evils of war prolonged upon her 
 account for a single day. General Pardo, ambas- 
 sador of Spain at the court of Berlin, repeated this 
 so publicly, that on all sides people asked what 
 could be the cause of such bold language being 
 used. Thus, without being in possession of in- 
 formation upon the subject, everyone related cir- 
 cumstances as they were passing in Paris between 
 lord Yarmouth and M. de Talleyrand. 
 
 Then came the malevolent, who to the semblance 
 of truth added the improbable, and were pleased 
 to publish the most mischievous inventions. Some 
 pretended that France would reconcile herself 
 with Russia, and reconstitute the kingdom of Po- 
 land for the grand-duke Constantine, and that for 
 this object the" would retake the Polish provinces 
 ceded to Prussia under the last partition. Others 
 asserted that they were going to proclaim Murat 
 king of Westphalia, and that it was in agitation to 
 give him Munster, Osnaburg, and East Fries- 
 land. All rumours are usually composed of a 
 mixture of truth and falsehood, and there always 
 mingles in the medley a sufficiency of truth to ob- 
 tain credit for the falsehood. This may be per- 
 ceived on the present occasion, where correct but 
 disfigured facts had served for the foundation 
 of the falsest rumours. Napoleon considered in 
 reality about giving up Hanover to England, since 
 Prussia no longer appeared to him an ally upon 
 whom he could place any dependence, but only on 
 insuring to her an indemnity, or in restoring to 
 her all that he had received from her. The de- 
 sign to take from her the Polish provinces, had ex- 
 isted for a moment, but only among the Russians, 
 not the French. Finally, the pretended kingdom 
 of Murat had been an invention of the officials of 
 M. de Talleyrand, from endeavouring to flatter the 
 imperial family; and Napoleon had only thought of 
 this upon the condition of giving Prussia the Hanse- 
 atic cities which she eagerly desired. In fact, 
 Napoleon had never wished to hear such a design 
 spoken about. 
 
 But it is not with such scrupulous accuracy that 
 
 newsmakers concoct their inventions. To rail at 
 those whom they suppose to be cheated, and to play 
 an indignant part in respect to those whom they sup- 
 pose the cheats, are sufficient for their malevolent 
 idleness : these are a species of individuals not 
 more rare in the diplomatic circles than in the 
 curious and ignorant public. of great capitals. 
 
 Military imprudence added to all these reports a 
 certain degree of probability. Murat kept in his 
 duchy of Berg a sort of soldiers' court, where the 
 strangest conversation was in use. Berg was, said 
 his soldier comrades, metamorphosed into courtiers, 
 a very small state for a brother-in-law of the em- 
 peror. Without doubt, he would soon be king of 
 Westphalia, and they might compose him a fine 
 kingdom at the expense of that wicked court of 
 Prussia, which betrayed all the world. Those who 
 surrounded Murat were not all who spoke in this 
 way. The French troops, returned into the country 
 of Darmstadt, into Franconia and Suabia, had but 
 a step to take for the invasion of Saxony and 
 Prussia. All the military who were desirous of 
 continuing the war, and who lent the same desire 
 to their master, flattered themselves that it would 
 soon recommence, and that they should enter Ber- 
 lin as they had entered Vienna. The new prince 
 of Ponte-Corvo, Bernadotte, established at An- 
 spach, conceived schemes ridiculous enough, which 
 he openly promulgated, and that were attributed 
 to Napoleon. Augereau, considering still less 
 what he said, drank at table, with his staff, to the 
 success of the approaching war against Prussia. 
 
 These extravagances of idle soldiers, related at 
 Berlin, naturally caused there the most mischievous 
 feelings. Repeated at court, they were afterwards 
 transmitted to the whole population, and they ex- 
 cited the pride, always ready to kindle, of the 
 Prussian nation. The king, more especially, felt 
 their effect on account of the operation they must 
 produce upon public opinion. The queen, affected 
 deeply at what had occurred to the princess of 
 Tour and Taxis, her sister, who had been obliged 
 to submit to the "mediation,'' was silent, having 
 for some time before taken upon herself to be so, 
 and feeling besides well enough, that she had no 
 claim upon Napoleon to interfere in favour of her 
 family. But her silence was significant. M. Haug- 
 witz was more discouraged than he dared avow 
 to his master. The faults committed in his ab- 
 sence, and contrary to his adviee, had in fact pro- 
 duced their irresistible consequences. Neverthe- 
 less, lie was censured for all the events that oc- 
 curred, as if he had been their true cause. The 
 seizure of three bundled vessels, so injurious to 
 the commerce of Prussia, was a fault laid upon his 
 shoulders. The minister of finance had reproached 
 him for it in a full council and with the greatest 
 bitterness. A noted general in the army, general 
 Ruchel, had pushed his unpoliteness so far as to 
 insult him. Prussian opinion arose higher against 
 M. Haugwitz hour by hour, who had done nothing 
 wrong but having entered again into public 
 business at the request of the king, at a time when 
 his system of alliance with France was so com- 
 mitted, that it was become impossible. The senti- 
 ment of German patriotism was joined to all the 
 other causes to hasten a crisis. Certain book- 
 sellers of Nuremberg having published pamphlets 
 against France, Napoleon had ordered that they 
 
 .
 
 1806. \ Misrepresentations 
 August./ of Hesbe Ca>sel. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Extraordinary sensations 
 created in Prussia. 
 
 139 
 
 should be arrested, and applying to one of them 
 the rigour of the military laws, that treat as an 
 enemy any one whatever who endeavours to raise 
 uj) the people of a country against the army which 
 occupies it, had caused liim to be shot. This 
 deplorable act had animated general opinion 
 against the French and their partisans. 
 
 King Frederick William and It, Haugwitz had 
 reckoned upon a successful movement for tranquil- 
 lizing the public mind ; they hoped that a confed - 
 ration of the German powers in the north, under 
 the protection of Prussia, would serve as a counter- 
 balance to the confederation of the Rhine. Na- 
 poleon himself had suggested the idea to them. 
 An aid-de-camp of the king had been sent to Dres- 
 den with a view of deciding the king of Saxony to 
 enter into the confederation ; and the chief minister 
 of the elector of Hesse Cassel had himself come to 
 Berlin to confer on the same subject. But these 
 two courts exhibited extreme coldness in regard 
 to the proposition Saxony, the more honest of 
 the German powers, had an instinctive distrust of 
 Prussia ; and if it resolved to join any confederacy, 
 it would have been more inclined to choose Austria, 
 which had never desired to possess its territory, 
 than Prussia, which surrounded it on every side, 
 and was still visibly coveting it. Saxony, therefore, 
 was not disposed to accede to what was thus de- 
 manded, and made her conduct subject to that of 
 the other powers of the north of Germany. Hesse — 
 discontented with Prussia, which in 1803 had occa- 
 sioned the territory of Fulda to be given to the house 
 of Nassau-Orange, — dissatisfied with France, that 
 had excluded Iter from the confederation of the 
 Rhine, and at the same time refused her aggran- 
 disement, deceiving besides all those with whom 
 she had treated, — would not decide for Prussia 
 any more than Franc-, because the danger seemed 
 to her equal. To excuse herself with Prussia, to 
 whom she was indebted at least in a seeming at- 
 tachment, she had invented an odious falsehood, 
 and pretended that France had thrown out, in a 
 secret way, the greatest threats if she joined the 
 northern confederation. This was not true ; for 
 the most secret despatches of the French govern- 
 ment 1 ordered its agents, on the contrary, not to 
 throw any obstacle in the way of such a confedera- 
 tion, but to be silent on the matter, and, if ^in- 
 sulted, to state that France Would see it without 
 the slightest displeasure. It was the Hanseatjc 
 cities alone that Prance wished to interdict upon 
 this point, out of purely commercial reasons ; and 
 this -Ik; bad not COnces 
 
 The Hessian minister, therefore, carried the 
 I statements to Berlin ; ami all his sovereign 
 bad demanded of Prance, when oil', ring to join the 
 confederation of the Rhine, lie asserted that Prance 
 had offered, to draw him away from the confedera- 
 tion of the north, lie even ac cu sed .M. Bignon, 
 the Preach ministers! Cassel, of language tha !*■ 
 had never held, and that he most energi tically de- 
 nied using. It was possible, that M. Bignon, bo- 
 fore the confederation of the north was medii 
 and when all the German diplomatistawere making 
 
 1 I have read all thaea tapetrhaa with the greateal 
 
 Hon ; and U { tell the truth in regard to nil the OOUTta, Rrcat 
 and small, I should nay it in regard to Hesae, «- t 
 truth favourablo to Hesse and unfavourable to 
 Note of Author. 
 
 the confederation of the Rhine a matter of con- 
 versation, had spoken highly, in general terms, 
 of the advantages of being allied to France ; that 
 even in his language lie might have exceeded his 
 instructions, out of an indiscreet zeal. A proof 
 that he acted without orders was, that Napoleon 
 had prescribed it to M. de Talleyrand, by letter, to 
 
 refuse the adhesion of the elector of Hesse 2 . 
 
 Nevertheless, the minister of the elector of Hesse 
 was sent extraordinarily to Berlin, wishing to jus- 
 tify an unexpected refusal, and also sent to report 
 in the fullest manner the pretended threats and pre- 
 tended offers, between which France had placed 
 the little court of Cassel. 
 
 At this false relation of matters, the king of 
 Prussia believed he saw in the conduct of Napoleon 
 the blackest treachery towards himself ; he held 
 himself played with, trampled on, and gave way to 
 violent irritation. While these reports of the 
 court of Cassel were coining to his ear, a dispatch 
 from Jl. de Lucchesini was received from France. 
 This ambassador, a man of intellect, but insincere 
 and unsteady, living in Paris with all who were 
 enemies of the government, and yet being one of 
 the most assiduous courtiersofM.de Talleyrand, 
 had heard for some days rumours circulated re- 
 garding the fate reserved lor Prussia. A hint in 
 confidence gained from the English negotiators in 
 relation to Hanover, of which the restitution had 
 been tacitly promised, appeared to him to complete 
 all the threatening circumstances of the moment ; 
 and as in his ambiguous conduct, by turns the ad- 
 versary or partisan of the system of M. Haugwitz, 
 he had. quite recently, supported the system of the 
 15th of February, which he had even carried to 
 Berlin, he believed his own responsibility seriously 
 involved if the last attempt at an alliance with 
 France should turn out badly. He therefore ex- 
 aggerated in his reports in a mode the most im- 
 prudent possible. An agent ought not to conceal 
 any thing from his government, but he ought to 
 weigh his assertions, to add nothing to the truth, 
 to retrench nothing from it,— above all, when mis- 
 chievous resolutions may result f-om it. 
 
 The courier, leaving Palis on the 29tl) of July, 
 arrived at Berlin on the 5th or 6 h of August. 
 He caused an extraordinary sensation there. A 
 second, carrying despatches dated the 2nd of 
 Aii-ust, who arrived on tin- iith, only added to tin' 
 effect produced by the first, Tie- explosion was 
 instant. Like a heart, lull of feelings a long while 
 
 restrained, bursts ad of a sudden if a last impres- 
 sion comas to increase (he pro-sure it has sus- 
 tain, d, the king ami his ministers broke out into 
 a sudden passion against Prance. Both squalled 
 in weir exterior demonstrations tha naosl violent 
 
 members of the war party. M. HaugwitS, ordi- 
 narily so e ,hn, eould certainly, in returning to ami 
 
 examining lbs past, and In n calling the faults com- 
 mitted by tie- court of Berlin, a out to himself 
 
 for the c sequence! of those faults upon tin- irri- 
 table mind of Napoleon— understand (rem that 
 time the nagleol with which he repaid an unfaith- 
 ful alliance reduce thus to their real value the 
 pretended schemes with whiefa Prussia »:>s threat- 
 ened, and await more aeeurato accounts before 
 tie Prussian cabinet formed an opinion OT Settled 
 i •[->. data in 'I ■- aepdl of the secretary of state- in 
 
 tin- Lout !••■
 
 140 
 
 The Prussian army placed 
 on the war footing. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Bad conduct of Pruwla ( 1806. 
 towards France. \ Auguit. 
 
 upon a line of conduct. Here it was that the true 
 faults of M. Haugwitz commenced. Crediting 
 only a part of what was related to him, but wish- 
 ing to cover his responsibility, and, above all, flat- 
 tering himself that he could control the violent, 
 party by placing himself at the head of the mili- 
 tary demonstrations, he assented to all proposed 
 in that moment of agitation. His system being 
 thus reversed, he should have retired and aban- 
 doned to others the chances of a rupture with 
 France, which he foresaw would be disastrous. 
 But he yielded to the general movement of the 
 popular mind; and all the partisans that he had 
 about the king, M. Lombard in particular, labo- 
 riously imitated him. It will be seen, that there 
 is no need of a free government for nations to offer 
 the spectacle of the most inconceivable popular 
 excitements. 
 
 A council was called at Potsdam. The old gene- 
 rals, such as the duke of Brunswick and Marshal 
 Mollendorf, were part of it.. When these men, 
 who had so far shown themselves discreet, saw the 
 king and M. Haugwitz himself consider the trea- 
 chery as possible and even true, which was attri- 
 buted to France, they showed hesitation no more; 
 and proposing to place the whole Prussian army 
 upon the war footing, as it had been six months 
 before, the resolution was adopted unanimously. 
 The majority of the council, the king in the num- 
 ber, regarded this as a measure of safety, M. 
 Haugwitz as the reply to all those who asserted 
 that Prussia was delivered up to Napoleon. 
 
 All on a sudden the rumour was spread through 
 Berlin, that the king had determined to arm, that 
 great difficulties had arisen between Prussia and 
 France, that they had even discovered concealed 
 danger — a sort of premeditated treachery, that 
 explained well enough the presence of the French 
 troops in Suabia, Franconia, and Westphalia. 
 The opinion often agitated, but always restrained 
 by the example of the king, in whom the people 
 had placed confidence, was now violently pro- 
 nounced. The hearts of the subjects overflowed 
 like that of their prince. We have good grounds 
 for saying, they cried on all sides that France 
 would not be more sparing to Prussia than Aus- 
 tria ; that she wished to invade and ravage all 
 Germany ; that the partisans of the French alli- 
 ance were either dupes or traitors ; that it was not 
 M. Hardenberg who was sold to England, but M. 
 Haugwitz to France ; that it was well to discover 
 it at last, only that the discovery was too late ; 
 that it was not to-day, but six months before, on 
 the eve or the morrow of Austerlitz, that it was 
 their duty to have taken arms; that, besides, it was 
 of little moment; that, though late, they must 
 defend themselves or perish ; that England and 
 Russia would, no doubt, hasten to the help of any 
 one who would make head against Napoleon; that, 
 after all, the French had vanquished the Austrians, 
 who were without energy, and the Russians, who 
 were without instruction, but that they would not 
 find it such an easy task to rout the soldiers of the 
 great Frederick. 
 
 Those who saw Berlin at this period have said, 
 that they never witnessed such an example of 
 excitement and popular ferment. Already had M. 
 Haugwitz perceived with fear, that lie had been 
 pushed far beyond the end which he had proposed 
 
 to attain, since he had only wished for simple de- 
 monstrations, and the country demanded war. 
 The army called for it aloud. The queen, prince 
 Louis, the court, recently restrained by the express 
 desire of the king, broke out beyond all bounds. 
 According to them, they were not Germans, they 
 were not Prussians, until that day ; they heard at 
 last the call of interest and of honour ; they had 
 escaped the illusions of a perfidious and disho- 
 nourable alliance ; they were worthy of them- 
 selves, of the founder of the Prussian monarchy, 
 of the grand Frederick ! Never had there been a 
 similar infatuation, save where the multitude leads 
 the wise, or where courts rule feeble monarchs. 
 Yet what was it that had passed to justify such 
 an outbreak ? Prussia, on the point of signing a 
 treaty of close alliance with France in 1805, under 
 the false pretext of a violation of the territory of 
 Anspach, had given way to the solicitations of the 
 European coalition, to the call of the German 
 aristocracy, and to the caresses of Alexander; and 
 had signed the treaty of Potsdam, which was a 
 species of treachery. Finding France victorious 
 at Austerlitz, she had suddenly changed sides, and 
 accepted Hanover of Napoleon, having but a few 
 days before accepted it of Alexander. Napoleon 
 had wished in sincerity to attach her to himself 
 by such a gift, and he awaited this last proof, to see 
 if he could place faith in her. But this gift, ac- 
 cepted with confusion, Prussia had not ventured to 
 own to the world ; she had almost made an excuse to 
 the English for the occupation of Hanover; she had 
 not taken between Napoleon and his enemies that 
 frank position which she should have taken, to 
 inspire confidence. Disgusted with the connexion, 
 Napoleon had formed the secret design to take 
 back Hanover, in order to obtain from England a 
 peace which he had no more the hope to impose 
 upon it through the means of a Prussian alliance. 
 But he had thought of an indemnification, he had 
 prepared it in his mind; only he had remained silent, 
 hesitating to open the subject with a court for which 
 he had no longer the slightest esteem. Was that 
 a proceeding comparable to the conduct of Prussia, 
 remaining in secret relations with Russia through 
 M. Hardenberg, in the face of the treaty of alliance 
 signed at Schonbrunn, and renewed at Paris on the 
 15th of February ? Most assuredly not. The fault 
 of Napoleon was confined to a want of respect in 
 regard to Prussia that he should not have permit- 
 ted himself to show, but that the equivocal conduct 
 of Prussia excused, if it did not justify. 
 
 In reality, Prussia was humiliated at the cha- 
 racter she had played, was fearful of the state of 
 isolation in which she must find herself if England 
 and Russia were reconciled with Finance, and was 
 confounded and troubled at the treatment she 
 would then be liable to be forced to bear from 
 Napoleon, without having an individual to whom she 
 could complain; and in this state she was disposed 
 to take for true reports of the falsest and most im- 
 probable nature. There was only one thing in all 
 that passed at Berlin that was correct and ho- 
 nourable ; that was, the German patriotism, humi- 
 liated at the success of France, breaking out on the 
 first pretext, whether well or ill founded. But this 
 feeling broke out at a wrong time. It ought to 
 have appeared in 1805, when Napoleon quitted 
 Boulogne. Prussia ought then to have declared
 
 1806 
 September 
 
 ! 
 
 M. Haugwitz de- 
 sires some conces- 
 sion to Prus>ia. 
 
 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 
 
 Russia refuses to ratify 
 Oubrii's treaty. 
 
 141 
 
 openly fur France, and told the motives upon which 
 she acted, and engaging Prussian honour in tliis 
 
 sense, or to have pronounced herself at that time 
 against France, and fought, against her when Rus- 
 sia and Austria were under arms. Now she was 
 going to her ruin by a route that was not even 
 honourable. 
 
 The despatches of M. de Lucchesini had been 
 intercepted by the police of Napoleon, and he was 
 acquainted with their nature. Indignant at them, 
 he immediately ordered M. de Laforest to be written 
 to, that be might be apprised of the sending of 
 such despatches, to desire him to give a contra- 
 diction to all the allegations of the Prussian minis- 
 ter, ami to demand that he be recalled. Unfor- 
 tunately it was too late, for the impulse already 
 given to Prussian public opinion, could not then 
 be controlled. M. Haugwitz, besides, ertibarrassed 
 by the different parts that for above a year he had 
 been forced to play, had no longer the courage of 
 good resolutions. He neither dared venture to 
 see the minister of France, nor to declare to the 
 fools whose folly he hail flattered, that he should 
 quit them once more, to join himself to the wise, 
 who were then so rare in Berlin. 
 
 M. de Laforest found him under constraint, 
 avoiding explanation. Nevertheless, after several 
 attempts, he saw him at last, am! asked him how 
 he could be wanting upon the present point in his 
 customary self-possession ; how he could possibly 
 believe the false tales invented at the court of 
 Hesse, the thoughtless conversations gathered up 
 by M. de Lucchesini ; how lie did not wait or seek 
 for more correct information before taking resolu- 
 tions so serious as those which were publicly an- 
 nounced. M. Haugwitz, troubled in proportion as 
 the light, an instant obscured by the darkness that 
 overshadowed his mind, began to shine anew, ap- 
 peared deeply sorry for his conduct, candidly 
 avowed the rapidity of the torrent which had borne 
 aloncr the king, the court, ami himself, and declared, 
 finally, that if no one came to their aid, they should 
 be thrown, perhaps to perish, upon the rock of 
 war; that nothing was lost yet, if Napoleon would 
 make any kind of satisfaction to the pride of the 
 multitude, to be to the prudence of the cabinet a 
 Round of encouragement; that the removal of the 
 
 French army, for some time accumulated on the 
 
 roads leading to Prussia, would fulfil this double 
 
 Object; that they would he aide then to counter- 
 mand the armament*, alleging, .as a reason for 
 having armed, the re-union id' the French troops, 
 and, as a reason for disarming, their retreat beyond 
 tin- Rhine. M. Haugwitz added, thai to faci- 
 litate the explanations, they had recalled M. de 
 Lucchesini, and sent to Paris .a discreet and safe 
 mail, .M. de Knobelsdorf. 
 
 Napoleon would have been enabled to consent to 
 the step demanded without compromising his 
 glory, because be had never thought of invading 
 Prussia. He had only taken certain precautions 
 when the) had refused to ratify tin- treaty of 
 Schoubrunn. Bui since then he had only thought 
 of Austria ami the mouths of the Cattaro, he had 
 though! only of getting them restored by some 
 menace; he had even, since the treaty signed with 
 M. Oubril, disposed every thing for bringing his 
 troops into France, lie had ordered a vast, camp 
 
 to be made at Meudon, then to unite the grand 
 
 army; and in September to celebrate magnificent 
 fetes. The orders for this purpose were already 
 sent. But a serious and unforeseen event hap- 
 pened, tn render this stop difficult upon his part. 
 Against his expectations, the emperor Alexander 
 had refused to ratify the treaty of pence signed by 
 M. Oubril. He had adopted this resolution at the 
 warm remonstrances of England, who had set a 
 value upon the fidelity of Russia, ami recalled her 
 recent refusal to treat with. ail that power, de- 
 manding, as the price of that fidelity, that a treaty 
 should he rejected thus hurriedly concluded, and 
 upon conditions evidently disadvantageous. The 
 emperor Alexander, although he much dreaded 
 the consequences of a war with Napoleon, dreaded 
 it somewhat less on seeing England much slower 
 than he had believed she would be in throwing her- 
 self into the arms of France. It appeared, too, 
 as if something lnul already transpired relating to 
 the agitations of the court of Prussia, and the pos- 
 sibility of drawing that court int.) a war. Finally, 
 the knowledge recently acquired of the dissolution 
 of the Germanic empire, added to the jealousy of 
 Russia, as well as that of all the other powers, 
 making a redoubled hatred against Napoleon fore- 
 seen, Alexander decided uut to ratify the treaty of 
 M. Oubril. Still he answered, that he was ready 
 to resume the negotiations, hut in concert with 
 England ; that he even charged the latter with 
 powers for treating, on condition that there should 
 be left to the royal family of Naples, not only 
 Sicily, but the entire of Dulmatia, and that the 
 Balearic Isles should be given to the king of 
 Piedmont. 
 
 The courier-bearer of this intelligence arrived in 
 Paris on the 3rd of September, at the same mo- 
 ment when the armaments of Prussia occupied the 
 attention of all Europe, and when it was requested 
 of Napoleon to draw M. Haugwitz and the king 
 Frederick William out of their < luharrassinent, by 
 marching back the French troO| B. Napoleon now 
 in his turn felt the deepest mistrust, and imagined 
 he was betrayed. The rem. mbrance of the con- 
 duct of Austria the preceding year, the recollection 
 
 of her armament, so often and obstinately denied, 
 when even the troops were on the march, — I his 
 
 recollection returning to his mind, persuaded him 
 
 that it would be the same thing this time ; that the 
 
 sudden armaments of Prussia were only a perfidy, 
 and that he ran the danger of being surprised in 
 September, 1806, as he had very marly been ill 
 September, 1805. He was, therefore, little die- 
 posed to drau his troops out of Franooiiift, a \ ■ ry 
 
 important military position, as will be s i seen, 
 
 for a war against Prussia. Another circumstance 
 
 led him to think there was a coalition. Mr. Fox 
 had dud after an illness of |v\.. months. Thus, in 
 
 tin- same \ear, the fatigues of long official power 
 had killed Mr. Pitt; and the flrsl trials of Mr. Fox, 
 
 in an office tiiat had Incline a novelty to him, had 
 hastened his end. Mr. FoX boW With him tin 
 
 peace of the world, and the possibility of a fertile 
 ahiance between Franc.- ami Eugland. If I 
 laud had sustained a great I. ss in Mr. Pitt, Bui 
 
 and humanity had sustained an immense loss in 
 
 Mr. Fox, Tliis mini ter dead, tie- war party might 
 triumph over the party of peace in the heart of 
 the British cabinet. 
 
 Still this cabinet could not venture upon making
 
 142 
 
 Napoleon explains to 
 Prussia. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The king's depar-1 
 ture for Magdeburg j 
 the signal of war. J 
 
 1806. 
 September. 
 
 any important change m the conditions of peace 
 already sent to Paris. Lord Yarmouth had given 
 up the negotiation through disgust. Lord Lauder- 
 dale remained alone. He was ordered from the 
 court of London to present the demands of Russia, 
 consisting in a claim to Sicily and Dalmatia for the 
 court of Naples, and the Balearic Isles for the 
 king of Piedmont. Lord Lauderdale, in presenting 
 these new conditions, acted in the name of the two 
 courts, and as having powers both from one and 
 the other. Thus, by waiting for the effect of the 
 ratifications of St. Petersburg, Napoleon had missed 
 the decisive moment for peace. These mistakes 
 happen to the greatest minds in the field of poli- 
 tics, as well as in the field of war. 
 
 Napoleon, on this account, felt a species of irri- 
 tation, that led him the more to suppose the 
 existence, of a European conspiracy. He was, 
 therefore, much more inclined to appeal to arms 
 again than to give way. Heat this moment received 
 M. Knobelsdorf, who, in all haste, had come to re- 
 place M. de Lucchesini. He gave him an obliging 
 personal reception ; assured him most positively 
 that he had had no design against Prussia; that he 
 could not understand what it was they would have 
 of him, since he desired nothing of her but the 
 fulfilment of treaties; that he had no thoughts of 
 taking any thing from her, all that had been pub- 
 lished in this respect being utterly false; and he 
 alluded in these words to the reports of M. Luc- 
 chesini, who had that same day presented his let- 
 ters of recall. Then, with a candour worthy of his 
 greatness, he added, that there had been, in these 
 false rumours that were circulated, one only thing 
 that was true, — it was what had been said about 
 Hanover; that, in effect, he had listened to Eng- 
 land upon the subject; that, seeing the peace of the 
 world hanging upon the Ojuestion, he had had the 
 design of addressing himself to Prussia, of laying 
 before her the situation of things in their full truth, 
 of giving her the choice between a general peace, 
 purchased by the restitution of Hanover, with an 
 indemnification, or the continuance of the war 
 against England; but a war to the full extreme, 
 after an explanation, nevertheless, on the degree of 
 energy which Frederick William intended to exert 
 in carrying it on. He, besides, affirmed, that in no 
 case should he have taken any resolution with- 
 out explaining himself openly and frankly with 
 Prussia. 
 
 So candid an explanation should have banished 
 every doubt. But more was necessary for Prussia; 
 she required some act of deference, which should 
 save her dignity. Napoleon would, perhaps, have 
 lent himself to this, if he had not been at the 
 moment full of distrust, anil if he had not believed 
 in the existence of a new coalition, which did not 
 yet exist, but which was very soon to do so. But 
 in the excitement of mind, provoked by events, it 
 is not always possible to judge correctly of that 
 which passes among adversaries. In consequence, 
 he enjoined it upon M. de Laforest to hold himself 
 reserved, to tell M. Haugwitz, that Prussia would 
 not have any other explanations than those which 
 he had given to M. Knobelsdorf and M. Lucchesini; 
 
 that as to the demand made relative to the armies, 
 he replied by a demand exactly similar ; and that 
 if Prussia countermanded her armaments, he would 
 engage to make the French troops repass the 
 Rhine immediately. He ordered M. de Laforest, 
 afterwards, to be silent and await events. " In a 
 simi'lar situation," he wrote him, "we ought not to 
 believe protestations, however sincere they may 
 appear. We have been deceived too often. Facts 
 are necessary; let Prussia disarm, and the French 
 shall repass the Rhine, but not before." 
 
 M. de Laforest faithfully executed the orders of 
 his sovereign, and had no trouble in convincing 
 M. de Haugwitz, who had been already convinced, 
 but overruled by events, and then he was silent. 
 It was not enough for the Prussian cabinet to be 
 clear upon the intentions of Napoleon; a palpable 
 explanation was wanted to satisfy public opinion, 
 and facts also were required, but facts clear and 
 positive, as the retirement of the French, for 
 example. But even then the excited imaginations 
 of the Prussians would have been with difficulty 
 appeased even under such an act of assurance. 
 Prussian pride claimed some satisfaction. There 
 is as much, even more, need of satisfaction with 
 those who are wrong, than with those who have 
 right on their side. 
 
 The king and M. Haugwitz suffered some days 
 more to pass over, in order to see if Napoleon 
 would come to any explanation more explicit or 
 satisfactory. "This silence loses all," M. Haug- 
 witz repeated to M. de Laforest. But the die was 
 cast : Prussia, by ter iversations which had alien- 
 ated from her the confidence of Napoleon; France, 
 by proceedings too slighting towards her, were led, 
 the one and the other, into an unfortunate war, the 
 more to be regretted, because in the existing state 
 of the world, they were the only two powers of which 
 the interests were reconcileable. The silence 
 ordered to be kept by M. de Laforest was invariably 
 observed by him ; but the sadness in his counte- 
 nance, an expressive sadness, was sufficiently sig- 
 nificant, if the court of Prussia had desired to 
 understand it and to guide its conduct by what it 
 indicated. But it was not thus either with King 
 Frederick William or his minister. Every day 
 regiments marched through Berlin, singing patri- 
 otic airs, that were repeated by the people, who 
 gathered in crowds in the streets. From all parts 
 it was asked when the king would depart for the 
 army, and if it was true that he would remain at 
 Potsdam, with the intention of returning to his 
 original determination. The outcry became so great, 
 that it was necessary to obey the public opinion. 
 The unfortunate Frederick William departed on the 
 21st of September for Magdeburg. This was the 
 signal of the war that was expected in Germany, 
 and which Napoleon awaited in Paris. From that 
 day it was inevitable. In the next book will be 
 seen the terrible vicissitudes, and the disastrous 
 consequences for Prussia, and the glorious results 
 for Napoleon— results which would inspire satis- 
 faction without alloy, if the policy had been in 
 agreement with the victory.
 
 1806. \ 
 September, j 
 
 Imprudence of 
 Prussia. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Fallacies in judgment of ■!■> 
 Napoleon's enemies. 
 
 BOOK XXV. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 SITCATION OP TIJE FRENCH EMPIRE AT THE MOMENT OP THE PRUSSIAN WAR — AFFAIRS OF NAPLES — OF DALMATIA 
 AND HOLLAN [>. — MEANS OF DEFENCE PREPARED EY NAPOLEON IN CASE OF A GENERAL CO A L1TION.— PLAN OF TIIF. 
 CAMPAIGN — NAPOLEON QUITS PARIS AND GOES TO WURTZBL'RG. — THE ('"CRT OF PRUSSIA A I SO PROCEEDS TO Til E 
 ARMY — THE KIMi, lil'EEN, PRINCE LOUIS, DUKE OF BRUNSWICK, AND PRINCE OP II Oil EN I.OH E — FIR^T MILITARY 
 OPERATIONS — COMBATS OF SCHI.EITZ AND SAALFIELD — DEATH OF PRINCE LOUIS. — (ON FUSION OP M I N D OF THE 
 PRUSSIAN STAFF.— THE DUKE OF BRUNSWICK I) EC I DES TO RETI RE TO T II E CLUE AND (OVER HIMSELF WITH Till: 
 SAALE. — PROMPTITUDE OP NAPOLEON IN OCCUPYING THE DEFILES OF THE BAALS. — MEMORABLE BATTLES OF JENA 
 AND AWERSTADT. — ROUT AND DISORGANIZATION OF TIIF. PRUSSIAN ARMY. — CAPITULATION OF ERFURT. — TIIF corps 
 DE RESERVE OP THE PRINCE OF WIRTEMBERG SURPRIZED AND I'.EATFN AT HALLE — DIVFRGENT AND PRECIPITATE 
 RETREAT OP THE DUKE OF WEIMAR, OP GENERAL BLUCHER, or TUT. PRINCE OF mill F.N LOII E, AND MARSHAL 
 KALKREUTH. — OFFENSIVE MARCH OP NAPOLEON.— OCCUPATION OF LRIP8IC. WITTENBERG, AND DESSAU. — PA-SAOE 
 OF THE ELBE. — IN VESTMENT OF MAGDEBURG. — TRIUMPHAL ENTRY OF NAPOLEON INTO BERLIN — HIS DISPO- 
 SITIONS RESPECTING THE PRUSSIANS. — PARDON GRANTED TO THE PRINCE OP IIATZFIELD. — OCCUPATION OP THE 
 LINE OF THE ODER— PURSUIT OP THE WRECKS OF THE PRUSSIAN ARMY BY THE CAVALRY OF MVRAT AND THE 
 INFANTRY OF MARSHALS LANNES. SOULT, AND BERNADOTTE. — CAPITULATION OF PRENZLOW AND LUBEC. — REDUC- 
 TION OF THE FORTRESS S or MAGDEBURG, STETTIN, AND CUSTRIN. — NAPOLEON IN ON E MONTH MASTER OP ALL 
 THE PRUSSIAN MONARCHY. 
 
 It was a great imprudence on the part of Prussia 
 to enter into a contest with Napoleon ;it the mo- 
 ment when the French army, returning from Aus- 
 terlitz, was still in the heart of Germany, and better 
 capable than any army had ever been of immediate 
 action. It was above all a great piece of rashness 
 to precipitate herself alone into war, after not ven- 
 turing to engage in it the preceding year, when 
 she would have had for allies Austria, Russia, 
 England, Sweden, and Naples. Now, on the con- 
 trary, Austria, weakened by her last efforts, irri- 
 tated at die indifference which had been shown 
 towards her, was in her torn resolved to remain a 
 peaceable spectator of the misfortunes of others. 
 Russia found itself replaced at its natural distance 
 by the retreat of its troops on the Vistula. Eng- 
 land, provoked at the occupation of Hanover, had 
 declared war against Prussia. Sweden had fol- 
 lowed the example of England. Naples no longer 
 existed. It is true tint every friend nf Ft 
 become her enemy, might certainly count noon the 
 prompt return of England and the auxiliaries it 
 
 held in pay. Bui ii was n Bsary lo enter into 
 
 explanations with the British cabinet, and to com- 
 mence fir I by the n itoration of II. mover, which, 
 without being compensated, could have no result 
 for the bad understanding that would follow with 
 Franc R in, although awakened from her first 
 dreams of glory, was still disposed to attempt 
 •gain the fortune of war in companionship with 
 
 th • I'm -ian troops, the only soldiers that inspired 
 
 Europe with confidence. B ,r some mouths wire 
 ay before her troops cnnld i nter the 
 field ; and bet i trj that sli should 
 
 move them as great a distance as in 1806. Pi 
 was therefor.- for some time exposed al me b< lore 
 Napoleon. She l, ininter him In October, 
 
 1806, in the midst of Saxony, as Austria had en- 
 countered him in October, 1805, in the ml 
 Bavaria, with this very disadvantageous difference 
 
 for herself, that he had no longer to overcome the 
 obstacle of distance, when, in place of being en- 
 camped on the borders of the ocean, he was in the 
 bosom of Germany, having only two or three 
 inarches to make to reach the Prussian frontiers. 
 
 It could only be the most fatal illusion that 
 could explain I lie conduct of Prussia ; but such is 
 party spirit, such are its incurable self-deceptions, 
 that on every side this war was regarded as offer- 
 ing unforeseen chances, and opening to vanquished 
 Europe a new futurity. Napoleon had triumphed, 
 it was said, through Austrian feebleness and Rus- 
 
 si.in ignorance ; but he would this time be seen in 
 
 presence of the scholars of the Great Frederick, 
 
 le heir, of real military tradition ; and p i- 
 
 haps, in place of AnSterlitZ, a Rosharh would be 
 
 disclosed! On the strength of repeating similar 
 sentiments, people had almost concluded with that 
 belief, and the Prussians had themselves assumed 
 the most singular confidence. Wiser mind-, still 
 
 knew what was til be thought of Mich foolish I: 
 and at Vienna there w;is fell B mixture nf surprise 
 and satisfaction on seeing the Pro shuts, so boast- 
 ful, in their turn put to the proof, and oppi Bed to 
 that captain who had only obtained his glory, they 
 were assured, from the degeneracy of the Austrian 
 army. It was therefore ■> moment of joy with the 
 enemies of France, who believed that the time of 
 
 was concluded. This time was un- 
 happily to arrive, but not so soon, and only after 
 
 faults of which none luvd al this time been com- 
 mitted. 
 
 Napoleon had hot himself the I ., i anxiety on 
 the subject of the approaching war. lie did not 
 know tiie I'n ■ le- had d it encoun- 
 
 tered them oil the Held of battle. Hut he 
 
 to himself that th lana, to whom all the 
 
 merit was attributed since they had becom 
 adveranrii s, had obtained against the inexperii i 
 French, in 1702, still It i raeeess than tin v
 
 144 
 
 Ideas of Napoleon 
 about the war. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 French policy in \ ,g n - 
 regard to Naples \ s tember . 
 questionable. ) * 
 
 trians, and that if they had not been able to prevail 
 over volunteers levied in haste, they would not 
 prevail more over an experienced army of which 
 he was the general. He wrote to his brothers at 
 Naples and in Holland, that they need not feel any 
 anxiety ; that the contest would be yet more 
 promptly terminated than that which preceded it 
 had been ; that Prussia and its allies, whatever 
 they might be, would be crushed ; that this time 
 he would finish with Europe, and reduce his enemies 
 to such a state of feebleness that they should not be able 
 to stir for ten years. These expressions are ver- 
 bally contained in the letters to the kings of Hol- 
 land and Naples. 
 
 A commander as prudent as he was bold, he 
 took as much pains to secure success as if he had 
 to contend with soldiers and generals equal or su- 
 perior to his own. Although he did not think of 
 the Prussians all that he affected to publish regard- 
 ing them, he adopted towards them the truly pru- 
 dential precept that advises to value at a just price 
 the known enemy, hut to value higher still the 
 merits of the enemy unknown. To this considera- 
 tion there was added another to stimulate his active 
 foresight : he was resolved to push the contest 
 against the continent to the utmost, and despairing 
 of maritime means, to vanquish England through 
 her allies, by pursuing them until he had made 
 their arms drop from their hands. Without being 
 certain of the extent and duration of this new war, 
 he conjectured that he would have to advance far 
 towards the north, and that perhaps he should 
 have to go and seek the Russians as far as upon 
 their own territory. Astonished at the later acts 
 of Prussia, — not having been able, at the distance 
 of Paris from Berlin, to disentangle the various 
 and complicated causes which had caused her to 
 act, — he believed that in September, 1806, as in 
 September, 1805, a great coalition, secretly pre- 
 pared, was ready to explode ; that the unaccus- 
 tomed audacity of king Frederick William was no 
 other than the first symptom ; and he expected to 
 see all Europe fall upon him, comprising Austria, 
 in spite of her pacific protestations. The very 
 natural mistrust with which the aggression of the 
 preceding year had inspired him, nevertheless 
 deceived him. A new coalition would certainly 
 result from the resolution that Prussia had taken ; 
 but it would be the effect in place of being the 
 cause. Every body in Europe was as surprised as 
 Napoleon at what passed in the court of Berlin, 
 because they will only believe calculation to be 
 the moving principle of cabinets, and never pas- 
 sion. They have passions notwithstanding ; and 
 those sudden irritations, that in private life often 
 come upon a couple of men and place them oppo- 
 site sword in hand, are fully as often, much oftener 
 than an interest which reflects, the cause which 
 precipitates two nations one upon the other. The 
 moral uneasiness of Prussia, having birth from her 
 faults, and the treatment those faults had occa- 
 sioned on the part of Napoleon, was much more 
 than any meditated treachery the real cause of her 
 sudden, unintelligible fits of anger, for which no- 
 body was able to account. 
 
 Believing then in a new coalition, and willing to 
 pursue it this time to the bottom of the frozen 
 regions of the north, Napoleon proportioned his 
 preparations to the circumstances that he had fore- 
 
 seen. He provided not only the means of attack 
 against his adversaries, — means which he found 
 all prepared in the grand army reunited in the 
 heart of Germany, — but the means of defence for 
 the vast states that he must leave behind him, 
 during the time that he transported himself upon 
 the Elbe, the Oder, perhaps upon the Vistula and 
 the Niemen. In proportion as his dominion ex- 
 tended, it was necessary that his cars should also 
 extend with the increasing limit of his empire. 
 He had to occupy Italy, from the strait of Messina 
 to Izonzo, and even beyond, when Dalmatia be- 
 longed to him. He had to take care of Holland, 
 because it was a state allied to the family royalty. 
 It was needful to provide and to guard these nu- 
 merous countries, and yet more their governments, 
 since his brothers reigned in them. 
 
 It must not be disguised, that in placing in his 
 family the crown of the Two Sicilies, Napoleon had 
 added as much to his difficulties as to his power. 
 In examining closely the cares, the expenses of 
 men and money that the new establishment of his 
 brother Joseph at Naples cost him, one is led to 
 believe, that in place of pursuing the Bourbons 
 from Southern Italy, he had perhaps done better 
 to leave them there submissive, trembling, pun- 
 ished for their last treachery by heavy war con- 
 tributions, by reductions of territory, and by the 
 hard obligation of excluding the English from the 
 ports of Calabria and Sicily. It is true that he 
 would not thus achieve the regeneration of Italy, 
 to snatch that noble and fine country from the 
 barbarous system under which it was oppressed, 
 to associate it completely with the social and poli- 
 tical system of France ; it is true that he would 
 always have had in the courts of Naples and Rome 
 two concealed enemies ready to call in the English 
 and the Russians. But those reasons which were 
 assuredly powerful, and which justified Napoleon 
 to undertake the conquest of the Italian peninsula, 
 from Izonzo to Tarento, became therefore decisive 
 reasons not to limit his undertakings in the south 
 of Europe, but to limit them in the north, because 
 Dalmatia demanded 20,000 men, Lombardy 50,000, 
 Naples 50,000, in other words, 120,000 men for 
 Italy alone ; and if he needed still 200,000 or 
 300^000 on the Danube and Elbe, he had to fear 
 that he would not be able to support such charges 
 for any long time, and that he would succumb in 
 the north from having extended too far in the 
 south, or in the south from having attempted too 
 much in the north. On this point there may be 
 repeated what has already been said, that to limit 
 himself in some part, it was better worth to limit 
 himself in the north, because the family of Bona- 
 parte endeavoured to extend itself in Italy or in 
 Spain, as had been done by the ancient house of 
 Bourbon, acting in the true sense of French policy, 
 much better than in labouring to create for itself 
 establishments in Germany. 
 
 Joseph, heartily welcomed by the enlightened 
 and rich part of the population that queen Carolina 
 had ill used, even applauded a moment by the 
 people as a novelty, above all in the Calabrias, 
 that he had gone over,— Joseph had soon been able 
 to perceive the enormous difficulty of the task he 
 had to perform. Having neither materiel in the 
 magazines and arsenate, nor funds in the public 
 chests, because the last government had not left a
 
 Sepumber J 
 
 Napoleon rebukes 
 Joseph. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Plan for the defence 
 of Naples. 
 
 14.1 
 
 ducat behind, obliged to create all he wanted, and 
 fearing to burden with taxes a people for whose 
 attachment lie Bought, Joseph was thrown into a 
 terrible perplexity. To demand its money of a 
 country when he had demanded of it its affections, 
 was perhaps to make it refuse both the one and 
 the Other. It was necessary, however, to admi- 
 
 . to the wants of the French army that Napo- 
 leon bad not been in the habit of paving when it 
 was employed out of France, and Joseph drew 
 drafts on the imperial treasury which he beseeclied 
 his brother to honour. Incessantly he requested 
 subsidies and troops, and Napoleon replied, that he 
 bad all Europe upon his bands, secretly or openly 
 conspired; that he was not aide to pay, besides the 
 army of the empire, the armies of the allied king- 
 doms ; that it was full enough to lend his soldiers 
 to his brothers, but that he was not yet able to 
 lend them his finances ; nevertheless, the events 
 occurring in the kingdom of Naples had obliged 
 Napoleon to refuse no longer that which was soli- 
 cited of him. 
 
 Gaeta, the strongest fortress of the Neapolitan 
 continent, was the sole place of the kingdom which 
 had not surrendered to the French army. This 
 fortress, constructed at the extremity of a promon- 
 tory, bathed by the sea on three sides, was only 
 connected to the land by one, and that side com- 
 manded the surrounding ground ; defended besides 
 by regular works, with three tiers of guns, it was 
 very difficult to besiege. It retained before its 
 walls a part of the French army, occupied in 
 making the approaches that it was often necessary 
 to execute in the rock. Another part of the 
 army guarded Naples ; the rest were dispersed in 
 the Calabrias to restrain the revolt ready to break 
 out, thus presenting every where only a scattered 
 strength. The end of summer, so fatal in Italy to 
 strangers, had decimated the French troops, and 
 they were not able to unite GOOO men upon the 
 same point. 
 
 Napoleon, whose correspondence with his brothers 
 
 :ne monarchs, merits to be studied as a series 
 of proband lessons in the art of ruling, sometimes 
 rebuked Joseph with a severity which bis reason 
 not his heart prompted. He reproached him with 
 being feeble, inactive, given over to all the illusions 
 of a benevolent, vain character. Joseph dared not 
 
 ronton to levy taxes, and yet wished to compose 
 
 an armv of Neapolitans ; he aspired to form a 
 royal guard ; he retained around him, lor bis own 
 p e r so na l security, a great part of the troops placed 
 at his disposition ; In- directed the siege of Gae'ta 
 badly, and finally, he made no preparations for the 
 
 invasion of Sicily. 
 
 That which yon OWS to your people, Napoleon 
 
 mole him, is order in the finances ; but you are 
 
 unable io spare them the charges of the war; there 
 
 must be taxes to pay the public force. Naples ought 
 
 to furnish hHMKMI.OIXII.. and of this I 00,000,0001 . 
 
 iOfiOOflOOf. would suffice to pay 40,000 men. 
 (Letter, March 6th, 1800.) Hope not to make 
 yourself beloved tin-. ugh your weakni is, above all 
 by Neapolitans. They tell yon that quae < 
 
 line is odious, and that already your mildness ren- 
 ders you popular— a chimera of your flatfa 
 If to-morrow I lost a battle on the [sonzo, you 
 would learn what would be thought oi your popu- 
 larity, and of the pretended unpopularity of qui an 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 Caroline. Those men arc low. cringing, submis- 
 sive only to strength. Suppose a reverse (which 
 is always possible to happen to me), and you will 
 see the people rise in an entire body to cry " Death 
 to the French ! Death to Joseph ! Long live 
 Caroline !'" You would come to my camp ! (Let- 
 ter of the 9th August, 1806.) " lie is but a sot of 
 a persona^, a king ailed, and <i vagabond." It is 
 needful to rule with justice and severity ; to sup- 
 press the abuses of the former rule, to establish 
 order every where, to prevent the dilapidations of 
 the French as well as of the Neapolitans, to create 
 finances, and to pay my army properly by which 
 you exist. (Letter of 22nd April, 1806.) As to 
 the royal guard, it is a luxury, worthy at the 
 utmost the large empire which I govern ; and this 
 appears to me even too costly, if 1 was not bound 
 to make sacrifices to the majesty of that empire 
 and to the interests of my old soldiers, who find a 
 means of well-being in the institutions of a chosen 
 body of troops. As to composing a Neapolitan 
 army, take care to think about that. It would 
 abandon you on the first moment of danger, and 
 betray you for another master. Form, if you will, 
 three or four regiments, and send them to me. 
 I will make them acquire that which is only to be 
 acquired in war, discipline, bravery, the sentiment 
 of honour, fidelity, and I will send them back 
 worthy to form the kernel of a Neapolitan army. 
 For the interim take Swiss, for I shall not long be 
 able to leave you 50,000 French, were you in a 
 condition to pay them. The Swiss are the only 
 foreign soldiers who are faithful and brave. (Let- 
 ter, August !hh.) Have in the Calabrias some 
 moveable columns composed of Corsicans. They 
 are excellent at that kind of warfare, and will be 
 full of devotion for our family. (Letter, 22nd 
 April, 1806.) Do not disperse your forces. You 
 have 50,000 men ; it is much more than is i 
 sary if you know how to manage. I would with 
 'J5,000 only guard every part of your kingdom, and 
 on the day of battle lie stronger than the enemy on 
 the field of battle. The first care of a general 
 should consist in distributing his forces in such a 
 manner as to be every where ready. But, added 
 Napoleon, it is the real Secret of the art, that no 
 one possesses, no one, not even Massena, so great 
 when in peril. 
 Napoleon wished that Joseph should confine 
 
 himself (o guard Naples with two regiments ol 
 Cavalry and some batteries of light artillery ; that 
 he should then dispose the army ill tcktlont from 
 Naples as far as the bottom of the Calabrias, with 
 
 a strong detachment placed in fai I Sicily, from 
 
 whence it was possible for an English arinv to 
 arrive, and that he should hold himself in such a 
 
 manner as to be able to unite ■> considerable corps 
 
 in three inarches, whether :>t Naples or in the 
 Calabrias, or on the presumed point of disembarka- 
 ii n. He wished, above all, that the siegi 
 should be pushed ; which siege absorbed a pan ol 
 the disposable force ; that after the termination of 
 the siege, tin- king should occupy himself with the 
 
 traction ol a strong place, that should sen 
 a point of support to tie- new kingdom, that should 
 be situated even in tie- centre of the kingdom, in 
 which the king of Naples should be able to throw 
 
 himself with his treasure, his archiv. . the V 
 
 litans faithful to his cause, and the wreck of bin 
 
 L
 
 146 
 
 Castellamare made 
 a fortress. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 General Rtynier f 
 defeare.. at Maida. \ 
 
 1806. 
 September. 
 
 armies, and to resist six months a besieging force 
 of 60.1100 Anglo- Russians. ( Letter 2nd September, 
 1806.) Napoleon did not think that the position 
 of Naples was proper for such a disposition of 
 things ; besides, according to him, a strange king 
 was not able, without danger, to place himself in 
 the midst of a numerous population necessarily 
 inimical. He wished that such a strong place 
 should have an action upon the capital, upon the 
 sea, and upon the interior of the kingdom. After 
 an examination, after having discussed different 
 points, particularly Capua and Naples, he pre- 
 ferred Castellamare, because of its vicinity to 
 Naples, its maritime site, and its central position. 
 The choice made upon the map. he ordered studies 
 upon the ground to decide the nature of the works. 
 You ought, he added in his letters, to devote 
 5,000,0001'. or 6,000,000f. per annum to this great 
 work ; to continue this during ten years, but in 
 such a manner that, at each expenditure of six 
 mi. lions, there should be Some degree of strength 
 obtained, and that, at the second or third year, 
 you should already be able to shut yourself up in 
 this large fortress, because neither you nor i know 
 what may come to pass in two, three, or four 
 years. " The future is nut ours!" and it' you are 
 energetic, you will be able, in such an asylum, to 
 hold out a sufficient period to brave the rigours of 
 fortune, and to await the return ! 
 
 Napoleon wished, finally, that they should pre- 
 pare, by little and little, the means to pass the 
 strait of Mi-ssina with 10,000 men, a force in his 
 opinion sufficient to conquer Sicily, and most easily 
 transportable in feluccas, in which the Italian sea 
 abounds. In consequence he had recommended 
 the undertaking at once at Sc\ 11a or at Messina, 
 of defensive works to unite there in security the 
 small naval force which would be needful. But 
 before all he Urged the siege of Gaeta, which would 
 render disposable half of the army. He conjured 
 his brother to divide his forces in another manner, 
 "because," he repeated to him without ceasing, 
 "you will have before long a descent and an insur- 
 rection, anil you will not be more in a situation to 
 repulse the one than repress the other." 
 
 Joseph comprehended this profound advice, 
 complained sometimes of the language in which it 
 was given, and followed it to the extent of his 
 talents, surrounded by several of the French, his 
 personal friends, M. Roederer, who was actively 
 employed in administrative and financial reforms, 
 and general Dumas, who applied himself with 
 ability to the organization of the public force, and 
 did his best to form a government and to regene- 
 rate the fine country committed to his care. The 
 Corsican Salicetti, a man sensible and courageous, 
 directed the police with the vigour demanded by 
 the circumstances. But while Joseph attempted 
 to fulfil the royal duties, ihc English, justifying the 
 foresight of Napoleon, had profited by the length 
 of the siege of Gaeta, that divided the army, and 
 the fevers that decimated it, to disembark in the 
 gulf of St. Euphemia, and appeared there to the 
 number of (5000 men, under the orders of general 
 Smart. General Reynier, placed at Cosenza, was 
 scarcely able to assemble 4000 French, and 
 much boldly to the place of disembarkation. 
 This officer, — clever and brave, but unfortunate, — 
 that Napoleon had consented to employ at Naples, 
 
 despite the recollection of the faults he had com- 
 mitted in Egypt, was not more favoured by fortune 
 upon this occasion than he had formesly been in 
 the fields of Alexandria. Attacking general Stuart 
 in the midst of marshy ground, where it was im- 
 possible to make his 4000 men act with that union 
 which should compensate for their numerical in- 
 feriority, he was repulsed and constrained to retire 
 into the interior of the Calabrias. This want of 
 success, although it could not be considered as a 
 lost battle, still had the same consequences, and 
 occasioned the rising of the Calabrias in the rear 
 of the French '. General Reynier had obstinate 
 combats to sustain, to reunite his scattered detach- 
 ments, saw his wounded basely assassinated without 
 the power of succouring them, and was obliged, in 
 order to make his way, to burn the villages and to 
 put the insurgent population to the sword. For 
 the rest he conducted himself with energy and ce- 
 lerity, and knew how to maintain himself in the 
 midst of a frightful combustion. General Stuart 
 on this occasion su, ported a conduct which merits 
 to be cited with honour. The assassination of the 
 French was so general and so horrible, that he was 
 revolted. Endeavouring to supplant by the love of 
 money the humanity wanting to those ferocious 
 mountaineers, he promised six ducats for each sol- 
 dier, and fifteen for each officer, brought to him 
 alive ; and he treated those whom he succeeded in 
 saving with the respect which is due among civi- 
 lized nations to each other, when condemned to 
 make war. 
 
 These events, which so well proved the wisdom 
 of Napoleon's counsels, became an active stimulus 
 for the new Neapolitan government Joseph acce- 
 lerated the siege of Gaeta, in order to be able to 
 carry back the entire army into the Calabrias. 
 He had Massena with him, whose name alone made 
 the Neapolitan population tremble. He had con- 
 fided to him the task of taking Gaeta ; but in de- 
 ferring to send him until the day when the works 
 approached their completion, he would display 
 greater vigour The generals of engineers, Campre- 
 don and Vallongue, were charged to direct the 
 operations of the siege. They followed the plans 
 prescribed by Napoleon, who wished that they 
 should reserve the use of the heavy artillery for 
 the moment when they should arrive near the 
 body of the place. Obliged to open the trenches 
 in a soil where stone was continually encountered, 
 they made their approaches slowly, and supported 
 without answering it the fire of an enormous quan- 
 tity of cannon and mortars. The besiegers re- 
 ceived 120,000 balls and 21,000 bombs, without 
 having once replied to this mass of projectiles. 
 Having at last arrived at a convenient distance to 
 establish the breaching batteries, they commenced 
 a destructive fire. The strong walls of Gaeta, 
 founded on the rock, alter having at first resisted, 
 finished by falling all at once, and presented two 
 large and practicable breaches. The soldiers de- 
 manded to be led to the assault, with entreaties, as 
 the price of their long labours ; and Massena 
 having formed two columns of attack, was about 
 to grant their request, when the besieged offered 
 to capitulate. The fortress was delivered np on 
 the 18ih of July, with all the which it 
 
 1 See page 12S, note.
 
 1806. \ Gaeta furrenders 
 September. / to .M.'»;ni. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Affairs of Holland — 
 financial liieusUic. 
 
 147 
 
 contained. The gmnriaon embarked fur Sicily, 
 after having engaged to serve no more against 
 king Joseph. The siege cost 1000 men to the be- 
 siegers, Bad as many to the besieged. General 
 Vallongue of the engineers, one of the most distin- 
 guished officers of the corps, lost his life ; the 
 prince of Hesse Phillipstadt, governor of the place, 
 was seriously wounded. 
 
 .Massena immediately departed with the troops 
 which the siege of Gaeta had rendered disposable, 
 passed through Naples on the 1st of August, and 
 hastened to the succour of general Reynier, who 
 maintained himself at Cosenza in the midst of the 
 revolted Calabrians. The reinforcement Massena 
 brought amounted to 12,000 or 14,000 men, the 
 principal body. It was more than was necessary, 
 without counting on the ^presence of Massena, to 
 drive the English into the sea. They so much ex- 
 pected him, that, at the news of the approach of 
 the illustrious marshal, they embarked on the 5th 
 of September. Massena had only the insurgents 
 to fight. He found them more numerous and more 
 obstinate than he had at first supposed. He was 
 reduced to the necessity of burning several towns, 
 and of destroying with the sword the troops of bri- 
 gands that assassinated the French. He employed 
 on this occasion his accustomed vigour, and suc- 
 ceeded in a few weeks in sensibly reducing the 
 flame of insurrection. At the time when the 
 grand events commenced in Prussia that are about 
 to be recounted, tranquillity was restored in south- 
 ern Italy, and king Joseph was enabled to believe 
 himself established, for some time at least, in his 
 new kingdom. 
 
 At the same epoch serious events took place in 
 Dalmatia. The Russians continued to hold the 
 mouths of the Cattaro. Napoleon, certifying him- 
 self as to their conduct upon this point, and above 
 all as to their manner of obtaining possession of 
 Corfu, had resolved to take the little republic of 
 Ragusa, which separated Cattaro from the rest of 
 Ddmaiia. His sent Ins aidede camp, Lauristou, 
 with a brigade of infantry, that be might establish 
 himself there. Lauristou soon saw himself but- 
 
 r uled by the revolted Montenegrins and by a 
 
 Ru-siaii corps of some thousand nun. Blocked 
 up by the English on the hide of the sea, besieged 
 on the land side- by the ferocious mountaineers and 
 by a regular Russian force, lie found himself in 
 real danger, to which, however, Im showed a bold 
 front. Fortunately general Molitor, bis comrade 
 iii arms, as true as Im was a firm and aide officer 
 in presence of M enemy, Bew to Ins Bid. Tins 
 m Den!, not following the example too frequent in 
 ill army of the Rhine,— to leave in peri! s neigh- 
 b wr whom he did not like,— moved upon Ragusa 
 spontaneously, by forced marches, with ■ coriis of 
 41100 men, resolutely attacked the camp of the 
 iaiis and Montenegrins, carried it although it 
 was strongly entrenched, and thus disengaged the 
 French who were in the pl.ee. He pul to die 
 hword a gnat Dumber of Monteni grins, and for a 
 Ion'; time discouragi 1 them from making u cur 
 -i- us* into Dalmntia. 
 
 It was not without titrable, as has be. n 
 that the French dominalSmi was established iiver 
 these distant countries. It had required great 
 battles to obtain tin ra of Europe; it requin d 
 combats to secure the inhabit) 
 
 extremity of the empire, the foundation of a second 
 royal family, that of Holland, offered difficulties of 
 another kind, but fully as serious. The grave and 
 peaceable Dutchmen were not a people to rise in 
 insurrection, like the mountaineers nl Calabria and 
 illyria ; but they opposed their inertia to king 
 Louis, and caused him no less embarrassment than 
 
 the Calabrians caused Joseph. The government 
 of the stadtholder had left many debts m Holland; 
 the governments that succeeded had in their turn 
 contracted very considerable ones, in order to meet 
 the charges of the war, to such an extent that king 
 Louis, on his arrival in Holland, had found a bud- 
 get composed of 78,000,000 of florins and a revenue 
 of 35,000,000. In this 78,0011,000 tif expenses the 
 interest of the debt alone figured for 35,000,000 of 
 florins. The rest had been expended in the service 
 of the army, the navy, and the dikes. In spite of 
 this situation of things, the Dutch would neither 
 hear of new taxes nor of any reduction in the in- 
 terest of the debt ; because these money lenders 
 by profession, accustomed to lend their capital to 
 every government, foreign or national, regarded 
 the debt as the most sacred of till property. The 
 idea of a contribution levied upon the interest of 
 stoek, — which they had been brought to consider 
 because that interest was in Holland the most ex- 
 tensive and most important of property, and con- 
 sequently the largest basis for taxation, — the very 
 idea made them revolt. It had been necessary to 
 renounce it. They were therefore threatened, not 
 with an insurrection, as at Naples, but with an 
 interrupti n of all the public payments. The 
 Hollanders were not hostile to the new sovereignty 
 through hatred of monarchy or attachment to the 
 house of Orange ; but they ardently wished for a 
 maritime peace, regretting the loss of that which 
 was the source of their wealth still more than the 
 republic or the stadthoiderate. Having connexions 
 of great interest with the English, and a conformity 
 of manners not less considerable, liny would have 
 leaned towards them, had not the English noto- 
 riously coveted their colonies. Vainly was it said 
 to them that, without the difficulty arising out of 
 these same colonies, peaee would be more easily 
 made by one half; that thwr participation in the 
 expenses nf the war was the just price ol the efforts 
 made by France in till the negotiations to recover 
 tlnir maritime possessions ; and that it would be 
 righl to abandon them if they would not contribute 
 to support the contest ;— vainly was all this said 
 to th< in : they replied thai iln-\ were ready to re- 
 nounce their colonies to obtain peaee. Tiny spoke 
 ihu~, while ready to raise a just clamour if France 
 had treated on such a base. It is p ixsible to judge 
 n| the questii u to-daj bj the wealth ol Java, « hi ther 
 
 it was a conn i interest thai France defended in 
 
 defending their colonies. King Louis acted t li.- 
 
 part thai In- tl ght easiest, which wb« to enter 
 
 into the views ol the Dutch people, and tn attach 
 iin in to linn by acceding to their »is|ns. Without 
 dnqbt, on accepting the government nl ■ country, 
 
 .lie ih bound to i i se it-, interests ; but • 
 
 ,,n to distinguish i>. twei n durable and fiue- 
 Ittatillg interest ., it is i to serve the 
 
 to place oneseii above the others j ami if any one 
 becomes king ol a foreign country through the 
 
 means of the arms ol his own, il i iy to 
 
 re I in> '" '" U ' A ; 
 
 i. '-•
 
 148 
 
 State of the Dutch 
 budget. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE 
 
 State of the French 
 forces. 
 
 r 1806. 
 
 L September. 
 
 either the one or the other. King Louis was not 
 under this hard necessity, because the true policy 
 of the Dutcli would have consisted in uniting 
 strongly with France against the maritime supre- 
 macy of England. To the triumph of that supre- 
 macy they owed the loss of the liberty of the seas, 
 upon which they passed their lives, and of their 
 colonies, without which they were unable to subsist. 
 Endeavouring sooner to please them than to serve 
 them, king Louis accepted a system of finance 
 conformable to their monetary views. To the 
 35,000,000(1. of revenue there were added about 
 15,000,000fl. of new contributions, which carried 
 up the total revenue to 50.000,0008. ; and to bring 
 back the expense of 78,000,000ft. to 50,000,000fl. 
 they reduced the army and navy proportionally. 
 The king of Holland wrote to Paris, that he would 
 abdicate the crown if these reductions were not 
 assented to. Napoleon thus found with his own 
 brothers the spirit of resistance of the allied people, 
 that he had believed he should attach more 
 strongly to himself by the institution of royalty in 
 his family. He was deeply hurt at it, because, 
 under this spirit of resistance, much ingratitude 
 was concealed, as much on the part of the people 
 that France had emancipated as on the part of the 
 kings she had crowned. However, he did not let 
 these sentiments escape ; he replied, that he con- 
 sented to the proposed reductions, but that Holland 
 must not be astonished if, in the present or future 
 negotiations, it were abandoned to its own means. 
 Holland had truly, he said, the right to refuse its 
 resources ; but France had as well the right to 
 refuse her support. 
 
 The closest secrets are soon penetrated by the 
 malice of enemies. By a certain attitude of king 
 Louis, they guessed his resistance to Napoleon, and 
 he became extremely popular. This monarch 
 affected further a severity of manner, which was 
 to the taste of a wise and economical government, 
 and thence he became yet more agreeable to the 
 Dutch people. Still, while affecting simplicity, 
 this same king wished for the expenses of a corona- 
 tion and of a royal guard, hoping by this double 
 means the better to assure to himself the posses- 
 sion of the throne of Holland, to which he clung 
 more than he was willing to avow. Napoleon cen- 
 sured the institution of a royal guard, for the rea- 
 sons already given to Joseph, and opposed himself 
 peremptorily to the ceremony of a coronation at 
 the instant when Europe was to be encircled by 
 the flames of a general war. Thus, in these early 
 days, the difficulties inherent in the family roy- 
 alties were seen to discover themselves, the royal- 
 ties that Napoleon, from affection and from system, 
 had thought to establish. Independent allies would 
 have certainly been worth more to his affection 
 and to his power. 
 
 Such was the general progress of things through- 
 out the vast extent of the French empire, at the 
 same moment a9 the rupture took place with 
 Prussia. Independently of the troops of the con- 
 federation of the Rhine and of the kingdom of 
 Italy, Napoleon had about 500,000 men, among 
 which must be comprehended the Swiss serving in 
 virtue of agreements; in addition some Valaisins, 
 Poles, and Germans, entered into the French ser- 
 vice. After the ordinary deduction of the gen- 
 darmes, veterans, and invalids, there remained 
 
 450,000 efficient men. In this number there were 
 comprized 130,000 beyond the Alps, including 
 depots; 170,000 in the grand army, quartered in 
 the high palatinate and in Franconia ; 5000 left in 
 Holland ; 5000 on board the vessels, and finally, 
 140,000 spread over the interior. These last com- 
 prehended the imperial guard, the regiments not 
 employed without the country, and the depots. Ex- 
 cept some regiments of infantry, which were four 
 battalions, all the others had only three, of which 
 two were for service destined for the field, and one 
 in depot, generally placed on the frontier. The 
 battalions of depot of the grand army were ranged 
 along the Rhine, from Huninguen as far as Wesel, 
 some were in the camp at Boulogne. Those of the 
 army of Italy were in Piedmont and Lombardy. 
 Napoleon carried the extreme of care into the 
 organization of the depots. He wished the con- 
 scripts to be there a year in advance, in order that 
 during the year they might be instructed, disci- 
 plined, habituated to fatigue, and become capable 
 of replacing the old soldiers, that time or war had 
 removed. The conscription of 1805, called out 
 entire at the end of 1805, and half of that of 1800, 
 called out at the commencement of 1806, had tilled 
 up the squares with men fit for service, of which 
 a good number already trained had been sent into 
 Italy and Germany. Napoleon, besides, had the 
 second half of the class of 1806 called out, qualified 
 with the title of Reserve in the laws of that day. 
 The annual contingent furnished those 60,000 men, 
 really proper to be incorporated ; and a thing 
 worthy of remark, they avoided yet to apply the 
 conscription law in seven or eight departments of 
 Britany and La Vendee. There were then 30,000 
 men more that might go to fill up the squares. 
 The departure of men already trained produced 
 a sufficient vacancy in which to place the new- 
 comers. Napoleon, besides, wished to direct a 
 great part of these last towards Italy. He took in 
 regard to the conscripts destined to pass the Alps 
 very particular precautions. Even before their in- 
 corporation, he made them depart in large detach- 
 ments, conducted by officers, and clothed in uni- 
 form, in order not to show beyond the borders of 
 the empire, isolated men marching in peasants' 
 clothing. 
 
 After having provided for the increase of the 
 army, Napoleon divided with consummate ability 
 the entire of his forces. 
 
 Austria protested her pacific intentions. Napo- 
 leon replied by similar protestations; but he ltad 
 nevertheless resolved to take measures, lest profit- 
 ing by his own distance, she should think of throw- 
 ing herself upon Italy. General Marmont occu- 
 pied Dalmatia with 20,000 men. Napoleon en- 
 joined it upon him, after having placed some 
 detachments en echelon, from the centre of that 
 province, as far as Ragusa, to keep the strength 1 of 
 his forces at Zara itself, a fortified city and capital 
 of that country, to collect there provisions, arms, 
 ammunition, and to make it, in fine, the pivot of 
 all his operations, defensive or offensive. If he 
 were attacked, Zara would serve him for a point of 
 support, and allow him to make a long resistance. 
 If, on the contrary, he should be obliged to concur 
 in the operations of the army of Italy, lie would 
 have in that fortress a safe place to deposit his 
 materiel, his wounded, all, in short, that was not
 
 1806. 
 
 Stptember. 
 
 Provisions for the de- 
 fence of Italy. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Precautions taken in 
 Bavaria. 
 
 149 
 
 •anted in active warfare, and all that he could not 
 take with him. 
 
 E igene, viceroy of Italy, and the confidant of 
 Napoleon's ideas, had an order tn leave nothing in 
 Dalmatia that was not absolutely necessary there, 
 in men and m lUriel, and to unite all the rest in the 
 Btrong fortresses. These fortresses since the con- 
 qnest of the Venetian states had been the object of 
 a new classification, ably calculated, and they were 
 covered with labourers who constructed the works 
 proposed In- general Chasseloup, and ordered by 
 Napoleon. The principal among them, and that 
 most advanced towards Austria, was Palma Nova. 
 It was, after the famous citadel of Alexandria, that 
 of which Napoleon pushed the works most actively 
 because it commanded tile plain of Friuli. Then 
 came in order, a little to the left, Osopo ; next on 
 the Adige, Legnago; on the Mincio, Mantua; and, 
 finally, Alexandria on the 'J'anaro, the essential 
 base of the French power in Italy. The order 
 had been given to shut up in these places the artil- 
 lery, which amounted to more than 800 pieces of 
 cannon, and not to leave beyond their walls any 
 tiling whatever, cannon, musket, or projectile, that 
 was possible to be taken by the enemy under a 
 surprise. Venice, of which the defences were not 
 yet perfected, but having the lagunea on her side, 
 was added to this classification. Napoleon chose 
 for the commander an officer of rare energy, gene- 
 ral Miollis. He had left it to him to execute in 
 all haste the works necessary to take advantage of 
 the site, while awaiting the construction of regu- 
 lar works that would render the place impreg- 
 nable. It was in these redoubts of Osopo, Palma 
 Nova, Legnago, Venice, Mantua, and Alexandria 
 that Napoleon distributed his depots. Those which 
 belonged to the armies of Dalmatia and of Lom- 
 bardy were divided in the fortresses, from Palma 
 
 to Alexandria, finally, to keep garrison there, 
 and U be trained. Those which belonged to the 
 army of Naples were united in the legations. It was 
 towards those depots that they were to direct the 
 15,000 or -JK.OOO conscripts destined for Italy. 
 Napoleon repeating incessantly, that on the care 
 bestowed upon the battalions in depot depended 
 the quality and the durability of an army, had 
 
 sd the necessary measures by which the 
 health anil the instruction of the men would be 
 equally taken care of. The battalions would always 
 be abb.- to furnish, besides the regular recruiting of 
 the war battalions, the garrisons of the fortresses; 
 and more than that, one or two divisions of rein- 
 
 iient ready to direct themselves on points 
 where there might occur an unforeseen necessity. 
 The defence of the fortresses being thus insured, 
 tin- active army became entirely disposable. It 
 
 ited for Lombardy of 16,000 n spread 
 
 over Friuli, and of 24,000 in ichelon from Milan 
 to Turin, the one and the other ready to march. 
 
 There remained the army of Naples about 60,000 
 strong, of which a great part wi re in a state to act 
 immediately. Massens was ovi l- these positions ; 
 if tie- war broke out with Austria, he was instructed 
 to proceed to Upper Italy with 30,000 men, and to 
 
 join them to the 40,000 that OCCUpi d Pi' diiionl 
 
 and Lombardy. 'I'll' re was no Austrian army 
 capable of forcing the obstinate Unseens, disp 
 of 70,000 French, having besides such points of 
 
 support as Paluia Nova, Osopo, Venice, Mantua, 
 
 and Alexandria. Finally, in that ease, general 
 Marmont himself would play a useful character, 
 In cause if lie were blockaded in Mantua, he was 
 certain of retaining before him 30. odd Austrians 
 at least; and it he were not blockaded, he would be 
 able to throw himself on the Hank or the rear of 
 the enemy. 
 
 Such wer- the instructions addressed to prince 
 Eugene for the defence of Italy. They terminated 
 in the following recommendation: "Read these 
 instructions every day, and deliver an account in 
 the evening of that which yon would have exe- 
 cuted in the morning, but without bustle, without 
 effervescence of head, and without imparting alarm 
 any where." (St. Cloud, 18th September, 1JI0<J.) 
 
 Napoleon, always preoccupied with what might 
 
 tempt Austria while he should be in Prussia, 
 
 ordered similar precautions on the side of Bavaria. 
 He had enjoined it upon marshal Souk to leaV( 
 a strong garrison in Braunau, a fortress of Borne 
 importance because of its situation on the Inn. 
 He had recommended the execution there of the 
 most urgent works, anil the accumulation of the 
 wood that descended from the Alps by the Inn, 
 saying, that " with arms and timber it was pos- 
 sible to make a place Btrong, where before there 
 was nothing existing." He placed in garrison at 
 Braunau, the 3rd of the line, a tine regiment of 
 four battalions, of which three were of war, 500 
 artillerymen, 500 cavalry, a Bavarian detachment, 
 numerous officers of artillery, the whole composing 
 a force of about 501.0 nun. lie had collected pro- 
 visions for eight months, a large quantity of am- 
 munition, and a considerable Bum of money ; he 
 added to those precautions the choice of an ener- 
 getic commandant, giving liim instructions worthy 
 to serve as a lesson for all tin- governors of be- 
 Bieged cities. These instructions contained an 
 order to defend himself to the utmost, not to SUT- 
 render, except in case of absolute necessity, and 
 
 after having supported three repeated assaults 
 
 upon the body of the place. 
 
 Napoleon decided, besides, that a part of the 
 Bavarian army, which was at his own disposal in 
 virtue of the treaty of the Confederation of the 
 Rhine, should be united on the borders of the Inn. 
 He had ordered the formation of a division of 
 16,000 men of all arms, and to place tie in under 
 the cannon of Ilrauuau; With such forces, if they 
 were ii"t able to support a campaign, they were still 
 
 a prune obstacle opposed to an enemy opening of 
 a sudden, and a point of support ready prepared 
 for the army that would come to tin- sue, -our of 
 
 Bavaria. Napoleon, in effect, however advanced 
 he was in Germany, would always be aide, after 
 having distanced tin- Russians and Prussians by a 
 \ ictor) . 10 lace about, and throw himst If by .'silesia, 
 or by Saxony, upon Bohemia, and to punish \u 
 tria severely if she dared to venture upon a fresh 
 •ion. After having put himself on Ins guard 
 
 against Austria, In- ( Bidered those parts of the 
 
 empire that tin- English threatened with a di 
 barkal ion. 
 
 lb- p roscri bed t" bis brother Loots to form a 
 camp at Utrecht, composed "f 19(000 or 16,000 
 Dutch, and of 6000 French remain ins in Holland. 
 He united about tie- fortress of Wesel, a new 
 French acquirement, since the Duchy of Berg had 
 b mi conferred upon Murat, a lunch diviaion
 
 150 
 
 ^Tieucrof^fce.'' 18 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Protection of the 
 coasts. 
 
 j 1806. 
 \ September. 
 
 of 10,000 or 12,000 men. King Louis would 
 move upon Wesel, take the command of this divi- 
 sion, and joining the troops of the camp of Utrecht 
 to it, feign with 30,000 men an attack upon West- 
 phalia. He even recommended him to spread the 
 report of a union of 80.000 men, and to make some 
 preparations of materiel proper to give belief to the 
 report. Napoleon, for reasons soon to be under- 
 stood, much desired to draw the attention of the 
 Prussians to that side, but in reality he wished 
 that king Louis should not withdraw himself too 
 far from Holland, and should always hold himself 
 ready either to defend his kingdom against the 
 English, or to ally his movements with the French 
 corps placed on the Rhine or at Boulogne. Be- 
 sides these seven corps of the grand army, of 
 which the duty was to make war at a distance, 
 Napoleon resolved to form an eighth, under mar- 
 shal Mortier, that should have for its duty to 
 pivot about Mayence, to watch Hesse, to encou- 
 rage by its presence the confederated Germans, in 
 fine, to give the hand to king Louis towards 
 Wesel. This corps, taken from the troops of the 
 interior, would be 20,000 strong. It demanded all 
 the industry of Napoleon to bring it to that num- 
 ber, because, of 140,000 men stationed in the in- 
 terior of France, retrenching the depots and the 
 imperial guard, there remained very few that were 
 disposable. Independently of the eighth corps, 
 marshal Brune was this year charged, as he had 
 been the preceding, to guard the flotilla of Bou- 
 logne, employing there the seamen and some bat- 
 talions of depot that amounted to about 18,000 
 men. Napoleon would not use the national guards 
 but with extreme circumspection, because he feared 
 to agitate the country, and to lay, above all, on too 
 great a part of the population the weight of the 
 war. Calculating, nevertheless, upon the warlike 
 spirit of certain frontier provinces, he was not 
 repugnant to levying in Lorraine, Alsace, and 
 Flanders some detachments, not numerous but 
 well selected, mated with the companies d' elite, 
 that is to say, with the grenadiers and voltigeurs, 
 and paid up to the moment of their being dis- 
 placed. He fixed the number for the north at 
 6000, and 600U for the east. The 6000 national 
 guards of the north, assembled under general 
 Rampon, stationed at St. Omer, organized with 
 care, but at a small distance from their homes, 
 pres nted a useful reserve, always ready to pro- 
 ceed to marshal Brune, and to furnish him the 
 aid of their patriotism. The 6000 national guards 
 of the east were to assemble at Mayence, to form 
 the garrison of that fortress, and thus to render 
 more disposable the troops of marshal Mortier. 
 
 Marshal Kellerman, one of the veterans whom 
 Napoleon was in the habit of placing at the head 
 of reserves, commanded the depots stationed along 
 the Rhine, and while watching over their instruc- 
 tion, would be able, by using the soldiers already 
 trained, to form a corps of some value, and if any 
 danger threatened the Upper Rhine, to transfer 
 himself rapidly thither. 
 
 Thanks to this union of means, there was where- 
 with to face all chances. If Hesse, for example, 
 excited by the Prussians, created uneasiness, mar- 
 shal Mortier, departing from Mayence, was in a 
 state to move there with the eighth corps. King 
 Louis, placed en echelon, would bring him a part 
 
 of the corps of Utrecht and Wesel. If danger 
 threatened Holland, king Louis and marshal Mor- 
 tier had orders to unite. Marshal Brune himself 
 would come there on his side. If, on the contrary, 
 it was Boulogne that was in danger, marshal 
 Brune would have recourse to king Louis for suc- 
 cour, his instructions commanding him to go, in 
 case of need, towards that part of the froutiers of 
 the empire. By this system of echelons, calculated 
 with rigorous precision, all the points exposed to 
 any accident whatever from the Upper Rhine as 
 far as Holland, and from Holland to Boulogne, 
 it would be possible to succour in proportion, and 
 as rapidly as might be needed by the march of the 
 most expeditious enemy. 
 
 There remained to protect the coasts of France 
 from Normandy to Britany. Napoleon had left 
 several regiments in these provinces, and, following 
 his custom, he had assembled the companies d'e/ite 
 in a flying camp at Pontivy to the number of 
 2400 grenadiers and voltigeurs. General Buyer 
 had charge of their command. He had at his 
 disposal secret funds, spies, and detachments of 
 gendarmes. He was to patrol suspected places, 
 and if a disembarkation threatened Cherberg or 
 Brest, to throw himself there with the 2400 men 
 that he had under his orders. Napoleon only kept 
 at Paris a corps of 8000 men, composed of three 
 regiments of infantry and some squadrons of 
 cavalry. These regiments had received their con 
 tingent of conscripts. Juwot, governor of Paris, 
 had special orders to watch their instruction with- 
 out ceasing, and to consider this as the first of his 
 duties. These 8000 men were a last reserve ready 
 to go every where that their presence might be 
 required. Napoleon had conceived a means to 
 make troops travel post, and he had employed it 
 to transport the imperial guard in six days from 
 Paris to the Rhine. The troops designed to travel 
 in this mode, executed on the day of their depar- 
 ture a forced march on foot, then they were placed 
 in cars or charrettes ' that carried ten men, and 
 that were ranged in echelons of ten in ten leagues, 
 in such a manner as to go over twenty leagues 
 a day. These cars were paid five francs the collar, 
 and the farmers required to perform the service 
 were far from complaining. Napoleon had this 
 arrangement prepared for the roads of Picardy, 
 Normandy, and Britany, with the object of trans- 
 porting in four, five, or six days to Boulogne, 
 Cherberg, or Brest the 8000 men left in Paris. 
 The capital would in that case have been left to 
 itself. " It is requisite," said Napoleon to prince 
 Cambaeeres, who expressed uneasiness upon the 
 subject, " it is requisite that Paris should no longer 
 be used to see such a great number of sentinels at 
 every corner of a street." There would only re- 
 main in Paris the municipal guard, then amount- 
 ing to 3000 men. The name of Napoleon, and the 
 tranquillity of the time, dispensed with the neces- 
 sity ot a larger amount of force to be the guard of 
 the capital. 
 
 As to the ports of Toulon and Genoa, Napoleon 
 had left in them sufficient garrisons. But he well 
 knew that the English were not ill-advised enough 
 to make an attempt upon places so strong. He 
 had no serious fears except in relation to Boulogne. 
 
 ! Charreites are carts having only two wheels. Translator.
 
 1806. 
 S*Dteniber, 
 
 > Piov.sions respecting 
 . J Austria. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Napoleon's personal know- 
 ledge of the aimy. 
 
 151 
 
 Tims in the great circle which Ms foresight 
 embraced, lie had warded off all possible danger. 
 If Austria, carrying t<> Prussia that aid which she 
 had not Iris, It received^ took a part in the war, 
 the army of Italy, concentrated under MaSseua, 
 and supported upon fortresses of the first order, 
 such as Palma Nova, Mantua, Venice, ami Alex- 
 andria, was able to oppose 70000 nun to the 
 Austrian*, whilst, with 1 2,000 »r 16,000, general 
 liarmont threw himself on their Bank by way of 
 Da l m a ti a. The Inn, Braunan, and the Bavarians 
 would suffice in the first moment for the defence 
 of Bavaria ; marshal Kellerman had the depots 
 with which to cover the Upper Rhine ; marshal 
 Mortier, king Louis, and marshal Brune, by a 
 movement one on the others, were in a state to 
 unite 50.000 men on nay point threatened, From 
 liayenee as far as the Helder, and from the 
 Hel.ler to Boulogne. Finally, Paris, in a pressing 
 moment of peril, would b<> able to reduce itself to 
 the troops of the police, and to send a corps of 
 rve to the coasts of Normandy and Britain-. 
 These different combinations, reduced to a 
 striking lucidness, with the care of the most minute 
 details, had been communicated to prince Eugene, 
 to king Joseph, to marshals Kellerman, Mortier, 
 and Prune, in a word, to all iln.se who were to 
 concur in their execution. Each of them knew 
 what was necessary to acquit himself of his task. 
 The arch-chancellor Cainhaceres, placed in the 
 centre, and charged to give orders in the name of 
 the emperor, had alone received a communication 
 of the entire plan. 
 
 Twenty- four or forty-eight hours sufficed Napo- 
 leon to arrange his plans and order the details 
 when he had resolved to act. He then dictated, 
 during one or two days, almost without stopping, 
 as many as one or two hundred letters, which have 
 all been preserved, and all of which remain ever- 
 _■ models of the art of administration to 
 armies and empires. Prince Berthier, the habi- 
 tual interpreter of his will, having remained at 
 Munich on account of the affairs of the Confedera- 
 tion of the Rhine, he sent for general Clark, and 
 devoted the 16th and 10th of September to dic- 
 tating his order-, to him. Napoleon foresaw that 
 twenty days Would Still pass away in vain explana- 
 tions with Prussia, alter which war would inevit- 
 ably commence, kx cause explanations were thence- 
 forth powerless in t' rminaiing such s qoarrel. He 
 would, thi i mploy those twenty days in per- 
 
 / the grand army, and in providing all that 
 yel teemed ni ci ssary for that nurpt 
 
 It is not in twenty days that it is possible to 
 
 place a i erous army on a war footing, if the 
 
 regiments thai compos e d it iihould each be on its 
 own side completely organised. The distribution 
 into brigades and divisions, forming its stall', pro- 
 ring parks, equipagen, and materiel of all Kinds, 
 still demands a sequ< I of \">m and complicated 
 operations. But Napoleon, surprised the preceding 
 _\. a i- by Austria, at the moment hs was about t • 
 on r to England, and tins year by Prussia on 
 kin return from Auaterlitz, had his army all ready, 
 
 and at this tune enuri ly transported to the theatre 
 of war when it was in tin- 1'pp'r Palatinate and 
 Franconia. It had nothing wanting under any 
 In ad. Discipline, training, the habit of warfare 
 ree, ntly renewed in an immortal i-amp.i: 
 
 refreshed by a rest of some months, perfect health, 
 ardour for combat, love of glory, devotion to its 
 chief beyond limit, it lacked nothing. If it had 
 lost something of that regularity in manoeuvring 
 which distinguished it on quitting Boulogne, it had 
 replaced that quality more apparent than solid, by 
 a confidence and freedom of movement which can- 
 not he acquired but upon fields of battle. Its 
 clothing worn, but suitable, added to its martial 
 appearance. As has been said elsewhere, it had 
 not wished to draw from the depots either pay or 
 new clothing, reserving to itself the enjoyment of 
 nil this during the l£tee that Napoleon had pre- 
 pared for it in September; fetes superb, but, alas ! 
 chimerical ! as the million of promises made for- 
 merly by the convention ! This heroic army, de- 
 voted henceforth to continental war. was to know 
 no more any other fetes than battles, entries into 
 conquered capitals, anil the admiration of the 
 vanquished. It was much if any of those brave 
 nun that composed it were destined to regain their 
 homes and to die amid the calm of peace ! Even 
 if such there were, in growing old they were con- 
 demned to see their country invaded, dismembered, 
 and deprived of the greatness that it owed to the 
 effusion of their generous blood ! 
 
 Still, however well an army may be prepared, 
 it is never so to such a point that it has no need 
 of any thing more. Napoleon, to his great expe- 
 rience in the organization of troops, joined a 
 personal knowledge of his army truly extraordi- 
 nary. He knew the sojourn, state, and strength of 
 all his regiments. H knew what was wanting to 
 each in men or in materiel, and if they had left 
 some detachment which weakened it, he knew 
 where to find it. His first care always was to 
 warm the soldier, and to protect him from cold. 
 He immediately sent off shoes and great coats. 
 II" would have every man with a pair of shoes on 
 his feet and two pair in his knapsack. One of the 
 
 two pairs was given as a present to all the corps ■ 
 
 the pay of the soldier is so moderate that the 
 smallest gift is not without its value. He ordered 
 the purchase in France and in foreign countries of 
 all the saddle and draft horses that could be pi o- 
 eured. The srmj had not actually need of them ; 
 
 but in his solicitude about Ifce depots, he wished 
 
 that horses should not be wanting any more than 
 men. II*- afterwards ordered three or four hun- 
 dred men per regiment to leave the depots, which 
 could be n filled with conscripts, in ord< r to carry 
 up the war lattahons to an effe* live force of ■ ight 
 or nine hundred mi a each, knowing that after two 
 months in the field they would be reduced to 
 
 that of six or seven hundred. The Strength of the 
 
 grand army would be augmi oted 90,000 mi n, and 
 it then became possible to discharge the soldiers 
 
 w ut with fatigue ; since for this army of the 
 
 revolution then bad not until now been any t. riu 
 
 to its devoteduess, save wounds or death. '1 lure 
 
 U,|-e seen ill the HI 1 1 Iv S eld soldi. Is. attached to 
 
 th.ir regimeutH as to a family; free of everj 
 vice, but always ready in danger to diapla) their 
 former bravery; pivoting bj their leisure to 
 i, cunt t,. their young ore the marvellous 
 
 exploits in which tiny had borne a part. There 
 Wl re, more lb. m all, in the rank of Captain, officer! 
 
 who were no longer in a st:,- Napoleon 
 
 ordered that there should bt takeu from thi niili-
 
 152 
 
 Organization of the 
 army conveyances. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Formation of new / 1806. 
 
 corps. \ September. 
 
 tary schools all the young men that by their age 
 were fit for active warfare, in order to form them 
 into officers. He appreciated highly the subjects 
 furnished by these schools : he found them hot 
 only instructed, but brave; because education ele- 
 vates the courage as well as the mind. 
 
 After having thus taken means to perfect the 
 army, he directed himself to the organization of the 
 equipasres. He wished them to be increased in 
 expedition and to be little encumbered with bag- 
 gage. Experience did not permit him to pass by 
 the magazines, as has sometimes been pretended ; 
 for he did not overlook any kind of provision, and 
 not more the necessary provision than the for- 
 tresses. But the offensive system of war, which 
 he preferred to every other, did not permit him to 
 create magazines to any extent ; because it would 
 have been necessary to do this upon the enemy's 
 territory, which he had been accustomed to invade 
 at the commencement of operations. His system 
 of supplying provisions consisted in living every 
 day upon the country occupied ; to extend himself 
 sufficiently to acquire food, but not enough to be 
 dispersed ; and then to bring along after him bread 
 for several days' consumption. This last provision, 
 managed with care and renewed when he halted, 
 served in case of extraordinary concentrations 
 which preceded or followed battles. In order to 
 carry it out, Napoleon had calculated that two 
 caissons would be wanted for a battalion, and one 
 for a squadron. In adding to them the carriages 
 necessary for the wounded and sick, four or five 
 hundred would suffice for the entire wants of the 
 army. He expressly forbade that any officer or 
 any general should use for his own purposes the 
 conveyances belonging to the army. The convey- 
 ances of the army were then executed by a com- 
 pany, which let out to the state the caissons ready 
 harnessed. Having discovered that one of the 
 marshals, favoured by the company, had several 
 carriages at his own disposal, Napoleon reproved 
 this infraction of the regulations with the utmost 
 severity, and made prince Berthi'T responsible for 
 the fulfilment of his orders. The army was then 
 exempt from the abuses that time and the increas- 
 ing wealth of its chiefs soon introduced. 
 
 Napoleon afterwards commanded great collec- 
 tions of corn to be made along the Rhine, and an 
 immense supply of biscuit. These provisions were 
 to be united at Mayence, and from Mayence for- 
 warded by the navigation of the Mein to Wurtz- 
 burg. Situated in Upper Franconia, quite near 
 the defiles that open in Saxony, and commanded 
 by an excellent citadel, Wurtzburg was to be the 
 base of operations. Napoleon therefore endea- 
 voured to discover if, in the neighbourhood, there 
 might be yet other fortified posts. The officers 
 sent to reconnoitre secretly, having designated 
 Kronach and Foivheim, he ordered them to be 
 armed, and that there should be placed in those 
 places the provisions, ammunition, and tools, of 
 which he had ordered the collection. 
 
 Wurtzburg had belonged for some months to 
 the archduke Ferdinand, who had been successively 
 grand duke of Tuscany, elector of Salzburg, and 
 finally, since the last peace with Austria, duke of 
 Wurtzburg. This prince solicited his junction 
 with the Confederation of the Rhine, in the midst 
 of which his new states were, enclosed. He was 
 
 mild, intellectual, and as well disposed towards the 
 French as it was possible for an Austrian prince 
 to be ; and they were certain to obtain from him 
 all the facilities that could be desired for the ('re- 
 parations that they wished to make. Wurtzburg 
 therefore became the centre of the assemblages of 
 men and materiel ordered by Napoleon. 
 
 Money had no more been wanting since the 
 financial crisis of the preceding winter. Napoleon 
 besides had in the treasury of the army a precious 
 resource. Without expending this treasure, ex- 
 clusively dedicated to endowments for his soldiers, 
 he made loans from it, which were reimbursed by 
 the state afterwards, that paying the interest and 
 capital of the sums borrowed. Napoleon had sent 
 much money to Strasburgh, and confided these 
 funds to prince Berthier, to overcome by the 
 influence of ready money the obstacles that 
 might be encountered in the execution of his 
 desires. 
 
 The imperial guard had travelled post, as has 
 been seen — thanks to the relays of cars prepared 
 on the road. They had thus forwarded 3000 gre- 
 nadiers and foot chasseurs. Not being able to use 
 this mode of transport for the cavalry and artillery, 
 they were sent by the ordinary way, the gienadiers 
 and horse chasseurs forming nearly 3000 men, as 
 well as the park of artillery of the guard, consist- 
 ing of forty pieces of cannon. This was a reserve 
 of 7000 men, proper to ward off all unforeseen 
 accidents. Napoleon, as prudent in the execution 
 as hardy in the conception of his plans, made a 
 great point of reserves, and it was before all 
 other objects for creating one that he had insti- 
 tuted the imperial guard. But prompt to discover 
 the inconveniences attached to the best things, he 
 found the support of this guard too expensive, and 
 in recruiting that it impoverished the army of its 
 select men. The Velites, a species of troops volun- 
 tarily engaged, of which he had conceived the 
 creation, to augment the guard without weakening 
 the army, had appeared to him as too costly and 
 not sufficiently numerous. He ordered therefore 
 the composition, under the title of fusilcers of the 
 guard, of a new regiment of infantry, of which all 
 the men should be selected in the annual contin- 
 gent, the officers and sub-officers of which should 
 be taken into the guard, wear its uniform, serve 
 with it, and only be treated as a young body of 
 troops; that is to say, be less spared under fire, 
 enjoy a slight augmentation of pay, and soon ac- 
 quire all the qualities of the guard itself, without 
 costing as much and without depriving the army 
 of its best soldiers. In awaiting the result of this 
 ingenious combination, Napoleon had recourse to 
 the means used to extract from the corps and to 
 unite in battalions the companies of grenadiers 
 and of voltigeurs. It was thus that he formed, in 
 1804, the grenadiers of Arras, that afterwards 
 became the grenadiers of Oudinot. He had taken 
 at that moment the companies of grenadiers of all 
 the regiments which were designed to make a part 
 in the expedition from Boulogne. After the battle 
 of Austeriitz, several of those companies had been 
 sent to their regiments. Napoleon ordered to be 
 joined to those which remained together, the gre- 
 nadiers and voltigeurs of the depots and regiments 
 stationed in the 25th and 26th military divisions, 
 the country comprised between the Rhine, the
 
 180«. 
 Scptembe 
 
 .} 
 
 Composition of the 
 grand army. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Orders of movement 
 issued to the army. 
 
 153 
 
 Meuse, and the S;i ml >iv ■ ; to organize them into 
 battalions of six companies each, and to march 
 them to Mayence. Tins was a new corps of 7000 
 men, that joined to the imperial guard would carry 
 the reserves of the army to 14.000 men. He 
 added to them 2400 choseu dragoons, formed into 
 battalions of four companies or squadrons, which 
 s rve, whether on foot or on horseback, always at 
 the side of the guard. These dragoons, drawn 
 from Champaign, Burgundy, Lorraine, and Alsace, 
 to be transported to the Mein in twenty 
 daj s. 
 
 Those reserves of which the composition is thus 
 described, added to the conscripts taken from tin- 
 depots, went to augment considerably the force 
 ready to inarch against Prussia. The grand army 
 was composed of seven corps, of which six only 
 were in Germany, the second being in Dalmatia 
 under the orders of marshal Manumit. The com- 
 manders of these corps remained the same. Mar- 
 shal Bernadotte commanded the first corps, 20,000 
 in n Btrong ; marshal Davout commanded the 
 third, 27,000 strong ; marshal Soult was at tin- 
 head of the fourth, of 32,000 men ; marshal 
 Lanncs, always devoted, but always sensitive and 
 irritable, hail for a moment quitted the fifth corps, 
 in consequence of some passing discontent. He 
 now came to retake the command, on the first ru- 
 mour of the war. His corps amounted to 22,000 
 men, even after the grenadiers of Uudinot no 
 longer made a part of it. .Marshal Ney continued 
 to command the sixth, of which there remained an 
 effective force of 2", 000 men under colours. The 
 seventh, under marshal Augereau, reckoned 17.000. 
 The reserve of cavalry dispersed to forage in a 
 fertile country was able to muster 28,000 horse- 
 men. Mur.it, always charged with this command, 
 had received orders to quit the duchy of Berg. 
 He hastened with delight to recommence a Bpecies 
 of war which he conducted so well, and to get a 
 glimpse, as the price of his exploits, uo more of a 
 duchy, but of a kingdom. 
 
 These six corps, with the reserve of cavalry, 
 did not present leu than 170,000 combatants. In 
 adding to it the guard, tin- picked troops, tin- stall', 
 and the park of reserve, it might be sail that the 
 grand army amounted to about 190,000 men. It 
 was to be presumed that in the first days of the 
 campaign tiny would not be entirely assembled, 
 because of tin: guard ami the chosen companies 
 there bad only arrived tin- foot guards. But 
 170 out) men sufficed, and beyond, lor tin- com- 
 mi ncement of tin- war. Tin- corps were comp 
 
 of the- same di\ isimis, of tin- Same brigades, and of 
 
 inn- regiments, as in the last campaign ; a 
 
 disposition, because soldiers ami officers had 
 
 leaned to know saeh other, ami were proud each 
 
 of the other. As to tin- general organization it 
 continued to be tin- same. It was that which 
 Napoleon had substituted for tin- organization of 
 the army of tin- Rhine, ami of which In- had 
 proved tin- excellence in the Austrian campaign, 
 the first of all where 200,0110 men had been 
 marching under only one chief. Tin- army was 
 always divided into corps which were complete in 
 
 infantry and artillery, but which bad not in fact 
 any cavalry, except 1 me chasseurs ami hussars t,, 
 
 guard them. Tin- great maSS of tin- cavalry was 
 always concentrated under -Murat, and placed 
 
 directly under the hand of Napoleon, from motives 
 "Inch have been explained elsewhere. The guard 
 and the chosen companies formed a general reserve 
 of every arm, never quitting Napoleon, ami march- 
 ing near him, not to watch over his person, but to 
 carry out his ideas more rapidly. 
 
 The orders for movement were given in such a 
 manner as to be executed during the first days of 
 October. Napoleon enjoined it upon marshals Ney 
 ami Soult to meet in the country of Bareuth, in 
 order to form the right of tin- army. He ordered 
 marshals Davout and Bernadotte to unite around 
 Bamberg, to form the centre ; and marshals 
 I.annes and Augereau to join in the environs of 
 Coburg, to form the left. He thus concentrated 
 his forces upon the frontiers of Saxony, in a mili- 
 tary view of which the extent ami profundity will 
 soon be appreciated. Murat hail ordered the 
 cavalry to assemble at Wurtzburg. The foot 
 guard, in six days transported to the Rhine, 
 marched towards the same point. The different 
 Corps were to he at their posts on tin- 3rd or 4th 
 of October. He expressly recommended them not 
 to pass the frontiers of Saxony. 
 
 All being prepared, whether for the security of 
 the empire or for the active- state of warfare he 
 was going to undertake, Napoleon resolved to quit 
 
 Paris. He looked for nothing new in his relations 
 with Prussia. The minister M. do Laforest had 
 kept the silence prescribed to him by Napoleon; 
 hut he sent word that the king, governed by the 
 passions of the court and of the young aristocracy, 
 being gone to the army, he had no more hope of 
 preventing war, except the two monarebs, present 
 tit their head quarters, should exchange some 
 direct explanations, which should cause such a 
 deplorable misunderstanding to be put an end to, 
 
 ami thus satisfy tin- pride <>l the two governments. 
 Unhappily such explanations were ground for little 
 hope. M. de Kuobelsdorf, remaining at Paris, 
 protested the pacific intentions of his cabinet. 
 Utile- initiated in the secret of affairs, not par- 
 taking nor comprehending the passions which 
 carried away his court, In- played near Napoleon 
 baracter of a reap* cted hut useless person- 
 
 The intelligence from tin- th represented 
 
 Russia as pressed to respond to tin- wishes of 
 
 Prussia, and to be entirely occupied with its armies. 
 
 The news from Austria represented In r as en- 
 feebled, full of rancour in regard to Prussia, and 
 as not giving France any ground for fear, unless 
 in ease of a great reverse. As to England, Mr. 
 
 Fox on had, the war party, thenceforth trium- 
 phant, had resumed iis pretensions and unaccept- 
 able propositions ; such as the concession of the 
 Balearic isles, Sicily, and Dalmatia, to tin- Itoiir- 
 
 hons of Naples — that is to say, io the English 
 themselves propositions that Lord Lauderdale, 
 himself a friend to peace, supported methodically, 
 and witli a simple ignorance ol the real intentions 
 
 of his cabinet. VipoLoii would not dismiss him 
 
 huffingly ; hut In- addressed a reply to him which 
 equivalent to tie- mission of his pas. ports. 
 lb- afterwards pn cribed a communication to the 
 senate, which should i xposs tin- long negotiations 
 of France with Prussia, ami tin -.el conclusion 
 to which they had bet n brought, lb- ord< rid the 
 communication to be deferred until tin- war 
 in - \ oeably declared between tin- two courts. Still,
 
 154 
 
 Napoleon leaves Paris 
 for the army. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Interview with the 
 duke of Wurtzburg. 
 
 I 180fi. 
 \ October. 
 
 as it was necessary to ascribe a motive for his de- 
 parture from Paris, lie caused it to be announced, 
 that, at the moment when the powers of the north 
 took a threatening attitude, he believed it neces- 
 sary to place himself at the head of his army, in 
 order to be in a slate to meet all chances. He 
 held a last council, to explain to the dignitaries of 
 the empire their character and duties under the 
 different aspect of affairs which might present 
 itself. The arch-chancellor Cambaceres, the man 
 for whom he reserved all his confidence, even 
 when he left at Paris his two brothers, Joseph and 
 Louis, would possess much more when he left there 
 none of the princes of his family. Napoleon in- 
 trusted to him the most extensive powers, under 
 the different titles of president of the senate, presi- 
 dent of the council of state, and president of the 
 council of the empire. Junot, one of the men 
 most devoted to the emperor, had the command of 
 the troops quartered in the capital. There only 
 remained in Paris the women of the, imperial 
 family. Yet Josephine, fearful to see Napoleon 
 exposed to new dangers, demanded and obtained 
 permission to follow him to the banks of the Rhine. 
 She hoped, by establishing herself at Mayence, to 
 be sooner and more frequently informed of what 
 might occur to him. Besides the government of 
 the empire, the arch- chancellor had that of the 
 imperial family. It was committed to him to ad- 
 vise and to restrain the individuals of that family, 
 who were wanting in any thing, or in that pro- 
 priety and in those regulations traced by the 
 emperor himself. 
 
 Napoleon departed in the night of the 24th and 
 25th of September, accompanied by the empress 
 and M. de Talleyrand, stopped some hours at Metz 
 to inspect the fortress, arid then proceeded straight 
 to Mayence, where he arrived on the 28th. He 
 was apprised there that a courier from Berlin, who 
 would deliver him the last explanations of the 
 court of Prussia, had crossed him on the road, and 
 continued his journey to Paris. He was not, there- 
 fore, able to obtain, except by advancing into 
 Germany, the definitive explanations which he 
 awaited. He saw at Mayence marshal Kellerman, 
 spoke about the organizations of the depots, and 
 marshal Mortier charged with the command of the 
 eighth corps. He explained to them anew how he 
 wished them to conduct themselves, in case of any 
 unforeseen event. He caused the provisioning of 
 Mayence to be completed ; some modifications to 
 be made in the armament of the fortress ; pressed 
 the departure of the young soldiers drawn from the 
 depots ; the transportation of the provisions and 
 ammunition designed to pass from the Rhine into 
 the Mein, then to remount by the Mein as far as 
 Wurtzburg. A troop of officers under orders 
 went in all directions, one presenting himself every 
 instant to render an account of the messages which 
 he hail fulfilled, habituated to affirm nothing that 
 he had not seen with his own eyes ; thus they 
 went and came without cessation, in order to make 
 Napoleon acquainted with the true state of things, 
 and the point to which the execution of his orders 
 had arrived. At Mayence, Napoleon sent back his 
 civil household, in order to keep with him his mili- 
 tary household alone. He was not able to restrain 
 himself from a momentary emotion on seeing the 
 tears of the empress flow. Although he was full 
 
 of confidence, he finished by giving way to the 
 general uneasiness, that gave birth around him to 
 the prospect of a long war in the north, in regions 
 far away, against new nations : he therefore sepa- 
 rated with some pain from Josephine and M. de 
 Talleyrand, and advanced beyond the Rhine, soon 
 distracted by his own vast thoughts, and by the 
 spectacle of immense preparations, from a kind of 
 emotion that he willingly expelled from his heart, 
 more willingly still from his imperious and calm 
 countenance. 
 
 A great influx of generals and German princes 
 waited at Wurtzburg to offer him their homage. 
 The new duke of Wurtzburg, proprietor and sove- 
 reign of the place, had preceded all the others. 
 This prince, whom he had known in Italy, recalled 
 to Napoleon the first days of his glory, as well as 
 the most amicable relations, because he was the 
 only one of the Italian sovereigns that he had not 
 found employed in doing mischief to the French 
 army. Thus he had not been brought, without 
 pain, to oblige him to submit to his share of the 
 general vicissitude. Napoleon was received in the 
 pa lace of the ancient bishops of Wurtzburg, a mag- 
 nificent palace, little inferior to that of Versailles, a 
 pompous monument of the riches of the German 
 church, formerly so powerful, and so largely en- 
 dowed, now so poor and shattered. He had with 
 the archduke Ferdinand a long conference on the 
 general situation of things, and particularly on the 
 disposition of the court of Austria, of which this 
 prince was a near relative, when he was brother of 
 the emperor Francis, and of which he had a per- 
 fect knowledge. The duke de Wurtzburg, the 
 friend of peace, having the intelligence of the Aus- 
 trian princes educated in Tuscany, wished, for 
 the interest of his own repose, for a good under- 
 standing between Austria and France. He took 
 occasion of the last events to speak to Napoleon 
 upon the serious questions of alliances, to decry to 
 him that of Prussia, and praise that of Austria. 
 He suggested to him some of the ideas that had 
 prevailed in the last century, when the two cabinets 
 of Versailles and Vienna united against that of 
 Berlin, were, at the same time, allied by marriage 
 and a war in common. He reminded him that this 
 alliance had been the brilliant epoch of the French 
 navy, and endeavoured to demonstrate to him that 
 France, powerful on the continent more than she 
 had any need to be, actually wanted the maritime 
 power necessary to re-establish and protect her 
 commerce, ruined during the preceding twenty 
 years. This discourse was nothing novel to Napo- 
 leon, because M. de Talleyrand had daily made it 
 resound in his ears. The duke of Wurtzburg ap- 
 peared to believe that the court of Vienna would 
 voluntarily seize this opportunity to draw towards 
 France, and to create in her a point of support, in 
 place of an enemy that unceasingly threatened her. 
 Napoleon, disposed under present circumstances to 
 welcome similar ideas, was so much touched by 
 them that he wrote himself to M. de la Rochefou- 
 cauld, his ambassador, and ordered him to make 
 amicable overtures at Vienna, overtures sufficiently 
 reserved that his dignity should not be hurt by 
 them, but sufficiently significative for Austria to 
 know, that it depended upon hex-self to form closer 
 relations with France l . 
 1 The following letter is quoted, -written by Napoleon to
 
 1808. 1 
 October. J 
 
 Napoleon turn* to an 
 Austrian alliance. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 The king of Wirtemberg 
 visits Napoleon. 
 
 155 
 
 However powerful and confident Napoleon might 
 be, he began to believe tli.it without a great conti- 
 nental aliianee, he should he always ex|i seil ti> the 
 renewal of coalitions, turned away from his contest 
 with England, and obliged to expend upon land the 
 resources that it would have been needful to expend 
 exclusively npon the sea. The alliance of Prussia, 
 which he had cultivated unhappily with too little 
 care, had now escaped from him, and he was natu- 
 rally conducted to the idea of an alliance with Aus- 
 tria. But this idea, very recent with him, was the 
 illusion of a moment, little worthy his former 
 clear-sightedness. Undoubtedly, if he had desired 
 all at once to pay the sacrifice of his new alliance, 
 and to return to Austria sutne of the spoils which 
 
 M. de la Rochefoucauld as a proof of the dispositions that 
 are ascribed to him at that moment. It is not needful to 
 attribute the violent expressions of which he makes use in 
 regard to Prussia to any tiling but the irritation wnich at 
 that moment inspired him at the unexpected conduit of 
 this court in his regard. It was not in these terms that he 
 ordinarily expressed himself, above all towards the king of 
 Prussia, for whom he never ceased to feel and to profess a 
 real esteem : — 
 
 " To M. de la Rochefoucauld, my embassador with the 
 emperor of Austria. 
 
 " Wurtzburg, October 3, 1806. 
 
 " I have been at 'Wurtzburg since yesterday, which has 
 caused me a long conference with his royal highness. I 
 have made him acquainted with my firm resolution to break 
 all the bonds of alli,inoe which attach me to Prussia, what 
 ever may be the resu.t of ex suns; affairs. According to my 
 last intelligence from Berlin, it is possible that war may 
 not take place ; but I am resolved not to be the Blly of a 
 power so versatile and so despicable. I shall douhtless 
 remain at peace with her, because I ha^e not the right to shed 
 the blood of my people upon vain pretexts. Nevertheless. 
 the necessity of turning my efforts towards my navy renders 
 an alliance on the continent necessary for me. Circum- 
 stances have led me to an alliance with Prussia; but this 
 power is to-day that which it was in 1740. and at all times, 
 contemptible and destitute of honour. I have esteemed 
 the emperor of Austria, even in the midst of his reverses, 
 and of the events which hnve separated us. I b lieve him 
 constant and faithful to his word. You ». ill explain yourself 
 in this sense, still without giving to it too much of a mis- 
 placed earnestness. My pos lion and my Strength an 
 
 need have no apprehension of any one ; but. in fact, 
 all these efforts are a weight upon my people; of the three 
 powers of Russia, Prussia, and Austria, one is roqul 
 me as an ally. In any case one cannot trust Prussia; there 
 only remains Russia and Austiia. The liavj formerly 
 flourished in France, through the benefit we received from 
 an alliance with Austria. This | has need or 
 
 remaining in a state of tranquil ity. I sentiment in which I 
 share with all my heart. An alliance founded OB the ml 
 pendente of tin- Ottoman empire, on Itu guarantee of our 
 states, and on tin- reconeUements which will oonsolldate the 
 repose of Europe, and enable me, al tba same nine, tool 
 v clfo ts on the side of my navy, would be convenient 
 tome. The bo . having often mad.- me In 
 
 slnuations, the actual moment, if she knows ho v to profit 
 
 by it, is the most favourable of all 1 need not say more to 
 you. I have made rm sentiments known more In detail to 
 the prince of !'■ '" not be wanting loglve 
 
 you instructions, lor the rest your duty is fnlhlh-l. the 
 moment you have made known, in the slightest « 
 sibie, that I am not far distant fiom mi adherenof to n sy« 
 tern which may strengthen my lies with AutlrU Do not 
 
 fail to have an eye upon Moldavia ami Wall h I in order 
 
 to make me acquainted with the I ' 
 
 against the Ottoman .in, .ire. 
 
 he had taken from her, the accordance might have 
 been possible and sincere ; God knows it ! But 
 how demand of Austria, deprived in ten years of 
 the Low Countries, of Lombardy, of the duchies of 
 afodena and Tuscany, of Suabia, the Tyrol, and the 
 Germanic crown — how ask her to ally herself to 
 the conqueror who had taken away so much of her 
 territory and power ? It was well to he able to 
 hope for neutrality, after the promise given at the 
 bivouac of Urschitz, and under the influence of the 
 recollections of Rivoli, Marengo, and Austerlitz ; 
 but to bring about an alliance was a chimera of 
 M. de Talleyrand and the duke of Wurtzburg, one 
 yielding to his personal tastes, the other governed 
 hy the interests of his new position. This tendency 
 to seek out a now impossible alliance, well showed 
 what fault had been committed in so slightly treat- 
 ing the alliance of l'ru-sia, which was at the timo 
 possible, easy, and founded upon great common 
 interests. Furthermore, this approach towards 
 Austria was an essay, which Napoleon attempted 
 in a passing way, in order not to neglect a useful 
 idea, hut of which he did not regard the success as 
 indispensable, in the high state of power to which 
 he was carried. He hoped, in effect, in spite of all 
 that had been said of the Prussians, to beat them 
 :*> quickly and completely, that he would soon have 
 Europe at his feet, and in place of an ally, the ex- 
 haustion of his enemies in default of their good 
 will. 
 
 The king of Wirtemberg, an important member 
 of the confederation of the Rhine, was seen again 
 arriving at Wurtzburg, formerly a simple elector, 
 now actually a king by the hand of Napoleon, a 
 prince known by his passionate character and by 
 liis mental penetration. Napoleon had to regulate 
 with him the details of a marriage already agreed 
 upon, between prince Jerome Bonaparte and the 
 princess Catherine of Wirtemberg. Alter employ- 
 inn himself in this family affair, Napoleon came to 
 an und rstaudiug with the K i 1 1 lc of Wirtemberg on 
 ih concurrence of the confederation of the Rhine, 
 that, altogether t would furnish about 4(1,000 men, 
 independ< ntly of 15,000 Bavarians concentrated 
 around Braunau. The German auxiliaries wen 
 found ill inclined to serve under marshal Berna- 
 dotte, during the Austrian campaign. The Bava- 
 rians, above all the rest, requested .as a special 
 favour not to be any more in obedience t < • that 
 marshal. It was decided that all the German aux- 
 iliaries should be united into one body, and that it 
 
 should be placid after the grand army, under the 
 
 orders of prince Jerome, who had quitb d the na> al 
 service for that of the land. This prince being 
 designed to marry a < lerman princess, and probably 
 in receive his down hi Germany, it was wise to 
 familiarize him with the Germans and the <h rmana 
 with him. 
 
 The conversation of the French emperor and the 
 Gt rman monarch afterwards turned upon the courl 
 of Prussia. The king "l Wirtemberg was able t" 
 give Napoleon useful information, because ha had 
 
 Lis hand-, lull of letters wn:t. n I i Berlin, which 
 
 painted with vivacity the excitement that had ear- 
 ned away all heads, even those thai mighl have 
 been supposed the ' sane. The duke oi Bruns- 
 wick, whom his age and his sound r e ason should 
 have preserved from the general impulse, had 
 himself ceded to it ; and he had written to the
 
 156 
 
 Plan of the 
 campaign. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Description of the 
 Prussian territory. 
 
 / 1S06. 
 (.October. 
 
 king of Wirtemberg, threatening him soon to place 
 the Prussian eagles in Stutgard, if that prince did 
 not abandon the confederation uf the Rhine. The 
 lung of Wirtemberg, little intimidated by such 
 kind of threats, showed all these letters to Napo- 
 leon, who turned them to purpose, and conceived 
 against the court of Prussia a double degree of 
 irritation. Napoleon obtained much information 
 respecting the Prussian army and its real merits. 
 The king of Wirtemberg praised to him beyond 
 measure the Prussian cavalry, aud represented it 
 as so formidable, that Napoleon, struck by what 
 he thus came to understand, in speaking himself to 
 all his officers, took care to prepare them for this 
 kind of encounter. Recalling to their recollection 
 the manner of manoeuvring in Egypt, he said to 
 them, with that vivacity of expression which was 
 his own, that it would be needful to march upon 
 Berlin " in a square of 200,000 men." 
 
 Although Napoleon had not received from the 
 court of Prussia any definitive declaration, he de- 
 cided, on the sole fact of the invasion of Saxony by 
 the Prussian army, to consider war as declared. 
 The preceding year he had qualified as an act of 
 hostility the invasion of Bavaria by Austria ; this 
 year he qualified equally as an act of hostility the 
 invasion of Saxony by Prussia. This manner of 
 placing the question was able, because he did not 
 appear to intervene in Germany but for the pro- 
 tection of the German princes of the second order 
 against those of the first. On these grounds the 
 war was completely declared that moment, because 
 the Prussians had passed the Elbe, on the bridge 
 of Dresden, and already bordered on the extreme 
 frontier of Saxony, as the French bordered upon it 
 on their side in occupying the Franconian terri- 
 tory. 
 
 It is not possible to comprehend the plan of the 
 campaign of Napoleon against Prussia, one of the 
 finest and greatest that was ever conceived and 
 executed, if a regard is not had to the general con- 
 figuration of Germany. 
 
 Austria and Prussia divide between them the 
 territory of Germany, as they divide its riches, 
 domination, and policy, leaving between them a 
 certain number of small states, that their geogra- 
 phical situation, the laws of the empire, and French 
 influence have maintained to this time in their 
 independence. Austria is at the east of Germany, 
 and Prussia on the north. Austria occupies and 
 fills nearly in entirety that line valley of the Da- 
 nube, long, sinuous, at first bound in between the 
 Alps and the mountains of Bohemia, then opening 
 below Vienna, and becoming wide to the extent of 
 a hundred leagues between the Carpathian moun- 
 tains and those of Illyria, embracing in those vast 
 tracts the kingdom of Hungary. It is at the bot- 
 tom of this valley that it is requisite to go to find 
 Austria, in passing from the Upper Rhine between 
 Strasburg and Basle, in traversing afterwards the 
 defiles of Suabia, and in descending by a perilous 
 march the course of the Danube, as far as the 
 basin in the midst of which Vienna rises and domi- 
 neers. Prussia, on the contrary, is established in 
 the vast plains of the north, of which she occupies 
 the entrance. It is for that reason Prussia was 
 formerly called the " March of Brandenburg." 
 To reach her it is not necessary to mount the 
 Upper Rhiue to Basle, but to pass it towards the 
 
 middle of its course at Mayence, or to descend it 
 as far as Wesel, and also pass over it, or turn the 
 mountainous centre of Germany. Scarcely is one 
 arrived beyond the mountains, little elevated, of 
 Franconia, of Thuringia, and of Hesse, when an 
 immense plain opens, where successively flow the 
 Weser, Elbe, Oder, Vistula, and Niemen, that ter- 
 minate to the north in the Northern Ocean, and to 
 the east in the Oural mountains. It is this plain 
 which is styled Westphalia, Hanover, Prussia for 
 the whole length of the Noutji Sea, Poland in the in- 
 terior of the continent, and Russia as far as the 
 Oural mountains. On the slope of the mountains 
 of Germany by which it is reached, — that is to say, 
 in Saxony, in Thuringia, and Hesse, — it is covered 
 with solid vegetable earth, and along the borders 
 of the rivers with a rich alluvial soil. But in the 
 intervals which separate the rivers, and, above all, 
 along the sea, it is constantly sandy : the waters, 
 without drainage, form there an innumerable quan- 
 tity of lakes and marshes. For land it only offers 
 sandy downs; for the sole vegetation, pines, birches, 
 and some oaks. It is serious and melancholy as 
 the sea, of which it often recalls the image ; as the 
 vegetation, pointed and sombre, with which it is 
 covered; as the sky of the north. It is very fer- 
 tile on the banks of the rivers, but in the interior 
 cultivation is thin, developing itself here and there 
 in the midst of cleared spaces in pine forests ; and if 
 sometimes it offers the spectacle of abundance, it 
 is where numerous cattle have fertilized the soil. 
 But such is the power of economy, perseverance, 
 and courage, that in these sands a state of the first 
 order has been formed, if not rich, at least easy 
 in circumstances, — Prussia, the hardy and patient 
 labour of a great man, Frederick II., and of a 
 succession of princes, who, before and after Fre- 
 derick II., without having his genius, were ani- 
 mated with the same feeling. Such is also the 
 power of civilization, that from the bosom of these 
 marshes, surrounded with sandy hillocks, shady 
 with pines and birches, the great Frederick made 
 the royal house of Potsdam proceed, the Versailles 
 of the north, where the genius of the arts lias 
 known how to stamp with grace aud elegance the 
 melancholy of these sombre and cold regions. 
 
 The Elbe, the first great river that is encoun- 
 tered in this plain when we descend from the 
 mountains in the centre of Germany, is the prin- 
 cipal seat of the Prussian power, the bulwark that 
 covers it, and the vehicle that carries its produce. 
 In its upper course it waters the fields of Saxony, 
 traverses Dresden, and bathes the foot of the for- 
 tress of Torgau, formerly Saxon. Afterwards it 
 passes through the midst of Prussia; surrounds 
 Magdeburg, its principal fortress ; protects Berlin, 
 its capital, beyond which it is placed, at an equal 
 distance from the Elbe and the Oder, between 
 lakes, sandy downs, and canals. Lastly, before 
 falling into the North Sea, it forms the port of the 
 rich city of Hamburg, which introduces into Ger- 
 many, by the waters of that river, the productions 
 of the universe. The ambition of Prussia to pos- 
 sess its entire course will be comprehended by this 
 simple trace of the course of the Elbe ; and its 
 desire to absorb Saxony on one side, and on the 
 other the Hanseatic towns and Hanover, — an am- 
 bition which at this day only slumbers, because all 
 the European powers, glutted at the expense of
 
 ISO*. •» 
 October. , 
 
 Modes of attacking 
 Pruss a. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Reason of Napoleon's 
 choice of movement. 
 
 157 
 
 France in 1015, appear to slumber for the time. 
 But at the period of which the history is now re- 
 traced, the movement among the different states 
 had Bet all thi ir desires in a flame, and in open 
 day Prussia had demanded the Hanseatic towns 
 of France. As to Saxony, she had never dared 
 to demand other than dependence under the 
 tide of the northern confederation ; and it is natu- 
 ral that Napoleon should experience on the occa- 
 sion of Saxony all the jealous) 1 that he had expe- 
 rienced about Bavaria, when he committed the 
 fault to be j' alons of Prussia 
 
 The Elbe, therefore, is the river that it was 
 needful t<> reach ami pass when making war upon 
 Prussia, as the Danuhe was that of which it was 
 necessary to descend the course when making war 
 upon Austria, As soon as the passage of the Elbe 
 was forced, the defences of Prussia fell, because 
 Saxony was taken, Magdeburg was annihilated, and 
 Berlin was no longer protected. Even the roads 
 of traffic were occupied by the assailants, which 
 would be a serious thing if the war should he pro- 
 longed. Thus, while obliged, in regard to the 
 Danube, after having arrived towards its source, 
 to descend it towards Vienna, in regard to the 
 Elbe it sufficed to pass it to attain the principal 
 object ; and to conceive the vast designs of Napo- 
 leon, it thus became necessary to march to the 
 Oder, to interpose between Prussia and Russia for 
 the purpose of intercepting the aid of one to the 
 other. It was requisite to advance even as far as 
 to the Vistula to beat Russia in Poland ; and, hav- 
 ing so much resentment against her, to follow the 
 example of Hannibal, which went to establish the 
 war in the enemy's Italian provinces, groaning 
 uider the ill fixed yoke of ancient Rome. Such 
 is the scale of this immense march towards the 
 north, that only a single man has until now at- 
 tempted — Napoleon. Will this march ever be 
 attempted again ? Of that the universe remains 
 ignorant, — ignorant if it is the intention of Provi- 
 dence that there shall be at least one serious at- 
 tempt for the advantage of the liberty and inde- 
 pend nee of the West. 
 
 lint to attempt this northern plain, at the en- 
 trance ,,f which Prussia is situated, it is needful to 
 traverse the mountainous country which forms the 
 
 centre of Germany; or to turn it in proceed- 
 ing to gain the even country, that under the name 
 
 ol Wtwtphalia extends between the mountains and 
 
 the North Sea. 
 
 This country, which closes the entrance of 
 Prussia, is composed of a group of woody heights, 
 long and broad, which on one side join Bohemia, 
 
 una on tl ther ascend north, us far us the plains 
 
 of Westphalia, in the midst of which it t' inn 
 rising again for a moment to form the summits of 
 
 the Hart/., so rich in metals. This niountamo:, 
 
 group, which separates the waters of the Rhine 
 from those of the Kibe, covered in its upper part 
 
 nidi forest'-', throws into tin' Rhine the Waters of 
 
 the Mcin, the Lahn, the Sieg, the Ruhr, and the 
 Lippe ; and into the Elbe, the Bister, the Saal< , 
 th" [Instruct, and, in fact, directly into the North 
 Sea, the Ems and the W< at r. 
 
 Different 1 tea offer themselves to be travi 
 
 towards Prussia. First, it is possible in leaving 
 Mayence, to go to the right, remount the sinuous 
 valley of the Main, us far as above Wurtzburg, 
 
 and even as far as its sources. There, in the envi- 
 rons of Coburg, the wooded summits are encoun- 
 tered, that, under the name of the forest of Thu- 
 ringia, separates Franconia from Saxony, and from 
 which the Mein escapes on one side, and the Saale 
 on the other. They are traversed by three defiles: 
 
 those of Bayreuth to Hof, of Kronaoh to Schleitz, 
 of Coburg to Saalfield, there descending into 
 Saxony by the valley of the Saale. This is the 
 first route. To the left of the wooded summits 
 that form the forest id' Thuringia, the second route 
 is found. To fedlow it, the Mein is remounted from 
 Mayence as far as Hanau; there it is left to plunge 
 into the valley of the Werra, or the Fulda country; 
 the forest of Thuringia is left to the right; it de- 
 scends by Eisenach, Gotha, and Weimar, into the 
 plains of Thuringia and Saxony, and arrives on the 
 borders of the Elbe. This last road has always 
 been the great German road, that of Frankfort to 
 Leipsic. 
 
 The third road, finally, consists in turning the 
 mountainous centre of Germany, and ascending 
 towards the north, so far as to attain the plain of 
 Westphalia, which is done by following the course 
 of the Rhine as far as Wescl; in passing Wcscl, in 
 proceeding afterwards to traverse Westphalia and 
 Hanover, the mountains to the right, the sea to the 
 left. This way the Ems, the Wosor, and finally 
 the Elbe, are found in the track ; the last, at this 
 extremity of its course, becomes one of the most 
 considerable rivers of Europe. 
 
 Of these different modes of penetrating into the 
 plains of the north, Napoleon had chosen the first, 
 or that which led from the sources of the .Mein to 
 those of the Saale, in traversing the defiles of Fran- 
 conia. 
 
 The reasons of his selection were deep. First, 
 he had his troops in Upper Franconia ; and if he 
 had transported them northward to gain West- 
 phalia, he would be exposed to travel doubly or 
 triply as much road, and to unmask his movement 
 by the length of his march alone. Independently 
 id' the length, and of the disclosure of his designs, 
 he would have to encounter the Ems, the "\\ 
 and the Elbe, and would be obliged to cross those 
 rivers in the lower pnrt of their course, when they 
 had become formidable Obstacles. These reasons 
 
 left no choice bat between two things; either he 
 must take the central road nj Germany which went 
 by Frankfort, Hanau, Fulda, Gotha, and Weimar 
 
 to I,, ipsic, and pass to the hit of the forest of 
 
 Thuringia, or remount the Mein as far as its 
 source, and throw himself from the valley of the 
 Mein into thai of the Saale, which consisted in 
 passing to the right of the forest of Thuringia 
 Still, between these two routes the second was the 
 mosi in be prefi rred, for the reason that it kept to 
 
 the i rai plan of Napoleon and his system of 
 
 warfare. The more he passed to the right, be had 
 the ehanca of turning the Prussians i>y their left, 
 to gain upon them, by quickness, on the Elbe, by 
 separating them from Saxony, taking from them 
 >. our© i and soldiers, ] • Elbe in the part 
 
 of its noun a ni' • t easy in cross, to render himself 
 master of Berlin ; and Anally, having outstripped 
 tie Prussians on lh< I lb< . to cut them off from the 
 
 Oder, by Which way the Russians would arrive to 
 llo. raid. I I Napoleon ga d tllia ol.j.et, hi' would 
 
 [nothing like that which he had accomplished
 
 158 
 
 Napoleon masks his 
 point of attack. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Disposition of the 
 Prussian forces. 
 
 / 1808. 
 I October. 
 
 the preceding year, in turning the Austrian general 
 Mack, in isolating the Russian succours, and cut- 
 ting in two the forces of the coalition, in such a 
 manner as to beat one portion after the other. To 
 be the first on the Elbe and the Oder, was, there- 
 fore, the grand problem to resolve in this war. In 
 order to that, the defiles conducting from Franconia 
 into Saxony, passing to the right of the forest of 
 Thuriugia, were the true route that Napoleon would 
 prefer, without reckoning that his troops were 
 already transported there, and that lie had only to 
 depart from the point where they then found them- 
 selves, to enter into action. 
 
 But that to which it was above all necessary he 
 should apply himself to succeed, was to place the 
 Prussians in doubt of his real object, and to per- 
 suade them that be should take the road to Fulda, 
 Eisenach, and Weimar, that is to say, the Central 
 road of Germany, that which passed to the left of 
 the forest of Thuriugia. With this end, he had 
 placed a part of his left wing, composed of the fifth 
 and seventh corps, under the orders of marshal 
 Lannes and Augereau, towards Hildburghausen, 
 on the Werra, giving it out to be believed, that he 
 would move into Upper Hesse. And, in fact, he 
 had there, in this respect, what would place them 
 in error. Napoleon had not held by this demon- 
 stration alone ; he bad wished to increase their 
 uncertainty, by ordering other demonstrations to- 
 wards Westphalia. The march of the king of 
 Holland, preceded by false rumours, had had this 
 object. Still it had not deceived the Prussians, as 
 far as regarded their belief that Napoleon would 
 attack by Westphalia. Besides the presence of the 
 French army in Franconia, an accessory circum- 
 stance had sufficed to enlighten them. The division 
 of Dupont, always separately employed as in the 
 combats of Haslach and of Albeck, had been sent 
 upon the Lower Rhine in order to occupy the 
 grand duchy of Berg. The war approaching, he 
 had been recalled upon Mayence and Frankfort. 
 This movement of the left to the right carried a 
 real resemblance of an offensive operation on the 
 side of Westphalia, and led to the belief that the 
 attack would be made, either by the territory of 
 Fulda or by Franc >nia, whether to the right or left 
 of the forest of Thuriugia. But which of these 
 two passages Napoleon would prefer, that was the 
 doubt which this profound calculator kept up with 
 infinite ease in the minds of the Prussian generals. 
 
 Nothing can convey an idea of the agitation that 
 existed among those unhappy Prussian officers. 
 They were all assembled at Erfurt, in the rear 
 of the forest of Thuriugia, with the ministers, the 
 king, the queen, and the court, deliberating in a 
 species of confusion difficult to describe. The Prus- 
 sian forces, re-assembled at first in each military cir- 
 cumscription, had been afterwards concentrated in 
 two masses, the one in the environs of Magdeburg, 
 under the duke of Brunswick, the other in those of 
 Dresden, under prince rlohenlohjB. The principal 
 army, transferred from Magdeburg to Nuremburg 
 on the Saale, then to Weimar and Erfurt, was at 
 that moment around the last city, ranged behind 
 the forest of Thuringia, its front covered by the 
 length of the forest, and its left by the scarped 
 banks of the Saale. The duke of Weimar, with a 
 strong detachment of light troops, occupied the 
 interior of the forest, and pushed his reconnoitring 
 
 parties beyond. General Ruchel formed the right 
 of that army with the troops of Westphalia. 
 
 The force of this principal army might be es- 
 timated at about 93,000 men, comprehending the 
 corps of general Ruchel. The second army, orga- 
 nized in Silesia, had been directed towards Saxony, 
 to draw in, half by persuasion, half by fear, the 
 unhappy elector, who had neither taste for, nor 
 interest in, the war. Yielding, finally, after many 
 hesitations, he promised 20.000 Saxons, sufficiently 
 good troops, and to deliver up the bridge of Dres- 
 den to the Prussians, on condition that they should 
 cover Saxony, and place there one of the two acting 
 armies. The 20.000 Saxons were not ready, and 
 made the prince of Hidienlohe wait, who remounted 
 the Saale slowly, to take up a position over against 
 the defiles which lead from Franconia into Saxony, 
 in front of the assemblage of French troops. The 
 Prussian contingent of the country of Bayreuth, 
 under the command of general Tanenzien, had re- 
 tired upon Sehleiiz at the approach of the French, 
 and thus formed the advance-guard of the prince 
 of Hohenlohe. The prince, with the 20.000 Saxons 
 who awaited him, and the 30,000 and some odd 
 Prussians of Silesia, would have under hand a corps 
 of more than 50,000 men. 
 
 Such were the two Prussian armies. For every 
 reserve, they had at Magdeburg a corps of about 
 15,000 men, placed under the orders of the prince 
 of Wirtemberg, at variance with his family. It is 
 requisite to add to this enumeration, the garrison 
 of the fortresses on the Oder and the Vistula, that 
 amounted to about 25 000 men. Thus the Prus- 
 sians, comprising 20,000 Saxons, had not more than 
 180,000 or 100,000 soldiers at their disposal, not 
 properly counting more thau IG0,(J00 or lb'5,000 
 men '. 
 
 They were, therefore, about to oppose 180,000 
 Germans to 190.000 French, that 100,000 more 
 were soon to follow from France, equally well 
 trained, and capable of being presented against 
 them in the proportion of one against two, or 
 even one against three to them or the best Eu- 
 ropean troops. Nothing is said of the weight 
 cast into the balance by the genius and presence of 
 Napoleon. The folly of such a contest on the part 
 of the Prussians was, in consequence, very great ; 
 without reckoning the political fault of a war be- 
 tween Prussia and France — a fault, it is true, equal 
 on both sides. For the rest, the Prussians were 
 brave as the Germans always were ; but since the 
 end of the war of seven years, that is to say, since 
 
 1 Here is a statement of the Prussian forces, the most 
 correct : 
 
 Advance-guard under the duke of Weimar 10,(K0 men. 
 
 Principal c»rps under the dukeof Brunswick 66,000 
 
 Westphalian troops Ibrmuur, under gene- 
 ral Ruchel, the right of the duke of> 
 Brunswick 
 
 ;r gene-\ 
 iuke of | 17,0 
 
 Total of the principal army . .93.000 
 Corps of prince Hohenlohe, comprising Saxons 50,000 
 Reserve under the prince of Wirtemberg . . 15.000 
 Garrisons of the Oder and the Vistula . . .25.000 
 
 To'.al 
 
 183,000 
 
 They may still be reckoned at 185,000, brcanse the corps 
 >>f the prince Hohenlohe was in general ektimated at above 
 50,00u men.
 
 1806. \ 
 October. I 
 
 Confusion of the 
 Prussian council. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Differences among the 
 Prussian leaders. 
 
 159 
 
 1763, they had not marie a figure in any serious 
 war, because their intervention in 1/92, in the con- 
 test of Europe against the French revolution, had 
 neither been very long nor very obstinate. Tims 
 they had not participated in any of the changes 
 made for fifteen years in the organization of the 
 European troops. They made the art of war con- 
 sist iii the regularity of their movements, which 
 serve better for field-days manoeuvring than for 
 fields of battle ; they were followed by a quantity of 
 baggage, sufficient of itself alom to destroy an 
 army by the obstacles it opposed to marchiug. 
 Furthermore, pride, which is a great moral 
 strength, was extensive among the Prussians, — 
 above all, among the officers ; and it was accom- 
 panied in them with a yet more noble sentiment, 
 an ardent though unreflecting patriotism. 
 
 This army did not err less in the confusion of 
 its counsels than in the quality of the troops. The 
 king had confided the direction of the war to the 
 duke of Brunswick, out of deference for the old 
 renown of that nephew and scholar of the gnat 
 Frederick. There are established reputations that 
 are sometimes destined to ruin empires. It is not 
 possible to refuse them the command ; and when 
 deference is paid to them, the public, that per- 
 ceives the deficiency under the glory, censures the 
 choice it has imposed, and renders it more vexa- 
 tious and more infirm by criticizing the moral 
 authority of the command, without which the phy- 
 sical authority is nothing. So it came to pass with 
 the duke of Brunswick. The choice was generally 
 lamented among the Prussians, and they expressed 
 themselves upon it with a hardihood of which it 
 was impossible to find another example ; it even 
 seemed as if in this nation freedom of thought and 
 language would have their birth in the heart of the 
 army. The duke of Brunswick, gifted with an 
 extensive intelligence, an advantage which is not 
 al w a y s possessed by men of whom renown exagge- 
 t lie merits, judged himself that he was not 
 adopted for wars so active and so terrible as those 
 ■if that time. He accepted the command through 
 the weakness of an old man, in order not to sustain 
 the chagrin of abandoning it to rivals ; ami he Felt 
 crushed under the burden. Judging others as well 
 a-^ lie judged himself, be appreciated as it merited 
 the folly of the court, and that of the young mili- 
 tary nobility ; and he was not less fearful of his 
 own insufficiency. By the side of the duke nf 
 Brunswick was found another remnant of the reign 
 of Frederick : this was the old field-marnlml 
 M'dleiidorf, also weight d down with years, but 
 modest, devoted, exercising no authority ; and alone 
 
 called to give his advice. heeauso the king, Unset- 
 tled in all things, dared not venture to lake the 
 command ; and no! able to resolve upon confiding 
 it entirely to anybody, wished to take counsel on 
 
 the subject of each of the resolutions of bis stall', 
 
 and to judge every order before permitting its 
 execution. To the weakness of old men the) joined 
 the presumption of the young, convinced that to 
 
 them alone belonged the talent and the right to 
 
 make war. The principal among them was the 
 
 prince of llohenloh' , the Commander of the second 
 
 army, and one of the German sovereigns des|ioili <l 
 
 of their estate bj tin new eonfederati i the 
 
 Rhine. Full i»f pride and paxeion, lie owed to 
 
 some fortunate boli in the wan ol I7:>- the 
 
 reputation of an able and enterprising general. 
 This reputation, little merited, had been sufficient 
 for him, having ambition, to make himself inde- 
 pendent of the generalissimo, and to act upon his 
 own personal inspirations. He had made the de- 
 mand of the king, who, not venturing either to 
 ticcede to or resist his wishes, had suffered by 
 the side of the commander-in-chief a secondary 
 command, ill defined, tending to make officers 
 stand alone, and to promote insubordination. Wish- 
 ing to attract the war towards himself, the prince 
 of lloheiilohe established the theatre of the princi- 
 pal operations upon the Upper Saale, where he 
 then was ; while the duke nf Brunswick wished to 
 fix it. behind the forest of Thuringia, where he had 
 placed himself. From this sad difference the most 
 vexatious consequences wire soon produced. Then 
 came the declaimers like general Ruche), who had 
 permitted himself to insult M. llnugwitz, and prince 
 Louis, who had so much contributed to urge on 
 the court, deciding the one and the other onlv'to 
 favour the plan, which rested upon taking the 
 offensive immediately, through the fear of a return 
 towards pacific ideas, and an accommodation be- 
 tween Frederick -William and Napoleon. Among 
 these generals, and contrasted with them, marshal 
 Kalkreuth made himself remarked ; less advanced 
 in years than one, less young than the others : 
 superior to all by his talents ; still able to bear the 
 fatigue, although he had taken a glorious part in 
 the campaigns of the great Frederick; enjoying 
 the confidence of the army, ami meriting it ; pro- 
 nouncing the war extravagant, the chief who had 
 its direction incapable ; speaking his opinion with 
 a boldness that contributed to shake deeply the 
 authority of the generalissimo, — it was by him that 
 the army would have wished to be commanded; 
 although in the presence of the soldiers of Napo- 
 leon he had not done better than the duke of 
 Brunswick himself. To these military men were 
 to be added divers civil personages, M. Haugwitz, 
 first minister ; M. Lombard, secretory of the king; 
 M. Lucchesini, minister of Prussia in Paris ; and 
 further, a number of German princes, among others 
 
 the elector of Hesse, whom they vainly endeavoured 
 to draw into the war. Finally, completing the 
 medley, the queen, with several of her ladies, 
 mounted on horseback, and showing themselves to 
 the troops, who saluted them with iheir acclama- 
 tions. When sensible people asked what that 
 
 august personage did there, who by her rank and 
 
 sex seemed so out of place at the head-i|Uartei-\ 
 they were answered that her energy was useful; 
 tli.it she alone sustained t he king, prevented him 
 
 from showing weakness ; and thus tiny alleged to 
 excuse her pre se nce a reason not less unseemly 
 
 lhail that presence itself. 
 
 M. HaUgwitB, U. Lombard, and nil the old f'.ir- 
 
 ti/.uis oi French alliance, endeavoured to obtain 
 their pardon bj a disavowal little honourable to 
 
 their anterior < duct. M. Ilangu it/, and If. Lom- 
 bard -who had intellect enough to judge of what 
 was pas-dug Qllder their own eves, and should I 
 
 retired when the policy of peace was beco im- 
 
 , !,-, to leave to \1 Hanlenburg tin- cot 
 queneesof the warpolicj affected, on the eonti 
 the greatest warmth of sentiment, in order that thi 
 sincerity of their return to it might be credited. 
 They pushed then weukm to far astocaluin-
 
 160 
 
 Conduct of 
 M. Haugwitz. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Over-confidence of 
 the Prussians. 
 
 f 1806. 
 \ October. 
 
 mate themselves, by insinuating that their attach- 
 ment to the French alliance had been on their part 
 no more than a feint to deceive Napoleon, and to 
 defer a rupture that they foresaw, but of which the 
 king, always the friend of peace, had imperiously 
 commanded them to delay the term. They gave 
 themselves the character of being cheats before, 
 for the purpose of passing for sincere men now, 
 which was not very clever, nor very honourable 
 conduct. All that M. Haugwitz gained by con- 
 ducting himself in such a manner was to lose in a 
 day the merit of the wise policy which had attached 
 to him, in order to assume the responsibility of a 
 policy as disastrous as it was singular. 
 
 There was then in Germany a pamphleteer, witty 
 and eloquent, the ardent enemy of France, and 
 whose patriotic passion, although sincere, was not 
 entirely disinterested, because he received from 
 the cabinets of Vienna and London the price of his 
 diatribes. This pamphleteer was M. Gentz. It 
 was he who for many years wrote the manifestoes 
 of the coalition, and rilled the journals of Europe 
 with virulent declamations against France. M. 
 Haugwitz and M. Lombard had sent for him to the 
 Prussian head-quarters, that he might draw up the 
 Prussian manifesto. They made to this writer of 
 libels, prayers, caresses, and excuses, loading him 
 with civilities and marks of distinction so far as to 
 present him to the queen herself, and manage in- 
 terviews for him with that princess. After having 
 denounced him to France as an incendiary sold to 
 England, they supplicated him at this moment to 
 inflame against this same France all the German 
 courts. They charged him besides to show to 
 Austria the caution of their sincerity, excusing 
 themselves for combating the common enemy at so 
 late a period by the assurance that they had ever 
 detested him. 
 
 It was in the midst of this strange union of mili- 
 tary men, princes, ministers, men, and women, — all 
 mingling and wishing to give advice, to approve 
 or blame, — that they discussed politics and war. 
 M. Haugwitz, who endeavoured to prolong his illu- 
 sions, as he had eudeavoured to prolong his power, 
 tried to persuade every one that ail would go on 
 well, very well, much better than they could have 
 been able to hope. He boasted that they had 
 found in Austria dispositions exceedingly friendly, 
 and even spoke of secret communications which 
 presaged the approaching concurrence of that 
 power. He celebrated the generosity of the em- 
 peror Alexander, and published as certain the news 
 of the immediate arrival of Russian troops upon 
 the Elbe. He gave out as an acquisition the ad- 
 hesion of the elector of Hesse, and the addition to 
 the Prussian army of 30,000 Hessians, the best 
 soldiers of the confederation. Finally, he an- 
 nounced the sudden reconciliation of Prussia with 
 England, and the departure of a British plenipo- 
 tentiary for the Prussian head-quarters. M. Haug- 
 witz could not himself believe the truth of this 
 news notwithstanding, because he knew that Aus- 
 tria, keeping the recollection of the conduct shown 
 in her own regard, would only join Prussia on the 
 day that Napoleon was vanquished, that is to say, 
 when she had no more need of her ; that the Rus- 
 sian troops would arrive upon the Elbe in three or 
 four months, that is to say, when the question 
 would be decided : that the elector of Hesse, always 
 
 shrewd, awaited the result of the first battle before 
 he would pronounce his decision ; that England, of 
 which the reconcilement with Prussia was in effect 
 certain, was only able to furnish money, while sol- 
 diers would have been necessary to oppose to the 
 terrible soldiers of Napoleon. He knew that the 
 question consisted always in vanquishing with a 
 Prussian army, reduced to its own strength, ener- 
 vated by a long peace, commanded by an aged 
 man, the French army, constantly victorious for 
 fifteen years, and commanded by Napoleon. But 
 to endeavour to deceive others, and to cheat him- 
 self, one day, one hour more, he disseminated ru- 
 mours which he did not believe, and tried to cover 
 in shadow the precipice close to which he trod. 
 
 They were not in the best disposition for discuss- 
 ing the plans of the campaign. All that they had 
 concluded from the grand lessons in the military 
 art given by Napoleon to Europe was, that it was 
 necessary to adopt the offensive — beat the French 
 with their own arms ; that is to say, by boldness 
 and celerity ; and as Prussia was not capable of 
 supporting for a long while the expenses of so great 
 an armament, to hasten and finish, by delivering a 
 decisive battle with all the united forces of the 
 monarchy. They persuaded themselves seriously, 
 even after Austerlitz, even after Hohenlinden, and 
 a hundred other regular battles, that the French, 
 quick and adroit, were adapted before all things 
 for a war of posts, but that in a general action, 
 where grand masses would be engaged, the solid 
 and skilful tactic of the Prussian army would have 
 the advantage over their inconsistent agility. That 
 which was above all pleasing to this agitated 
 people, to be heard with favour, was to speak of 
 offensive war. Whoever proposed a plan of de- 
 fensive warfare, however well founded in reason 
 such a plan might be — whoever appealed to the 
 eternal maxims of prudence — would have ventured 
 to say that, to an enemy of deep experience, singu- 
 larly impetuous, until then invincible, it was neces- 
 sary to oppose time, space, natural obstacles well 
 chosen, and knowing how to wait upon that occa- 
 sion which fortune does not concede to those who 
 have not the temerity to advance, nor to the timid 
 who fly, but to the able who seize it when it pre- 
 sents itself, — whoever had given this advice would 
 have been treated as a poltroon, or as a traitor 
 sold to Napoleon. Whilst the Prussian army was 
 not then able to face the French army, the plainest 
 good sense counselled the presentation to Napoleon 
 of other obstacles than the breasts of the soldiers. 
 These obstacles — such as they were already able 
 to foresee, and such as experience soon revealed — 
 were the distance, the climate, the junction of the 
 Russians and Germnns in the deep ice of the 
 north. It was not necessary then to proceed in 
 advance, to spare Napoleon half the distance, to 
 carry the war into a temperate climate, and to 
 give him the advantage of fighting the Prussians 
 before the arrival of the Russians. It was not, 
 necessary, above all, before an enemy so prompt, 
 so adroit, so well able to profit by a false move- 
 ment, to expose oneself by taking a position too 
 far in advance, and to have the line of operation 
 cut, separated from the Elbe or the Oder, and en- 
 veloped, annihilated, at the very commencement of 
 the war. The Austrians, who had been so much 
 to blame the preceding year, should have served
 
 1806. \ 
 October. J 
 
 Military error of 
 the Prussians. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Opinion of the duke 
 of Brunswick. 
 
 1GI 
 
 as a lesson, and hindered, by the remembrance of 
 this misfortune, the giving for a second time a 
 spectacle of Germane surprised, beaten, disarmed, 
 before the arrival of their northern auxiliaries. 
 
 Thus prudence taught that it was necessary, in 
 place of advancing as far as the woody mountains 
 
 that separate the valley of the Elbe from that of 
 the Rhine, to keep themselves simply in a mass 
 behind the Elbe, the sole harrier which could stop 
 the French, disputing the passage the best way 
 they were able ; then, on their passing the Elbe, to 
 retire upon the Oder, and from the Oder upon the 
 Vistula, until they should have been joined by the 
 Russians : attempting only to engage in partial 
 actions, without c mpromising any thing, this would 
 have made the Prussians accustomed to warfare — ■ 
 a habit they had for a long time lost. It was when 
 they should be able to unite 150,000 Prussians 
 and 150,000 Austrians in the plains of Poland, 
 by turns miry and frozen, that serious difficulties 
 would have e >mm meed for Napoleon. 
 
 It was not genius, it must be repeated, but 
 simple good sens • only that was required to con- 
 ceive such a plan. Besides a Frenchman, a great 
 general, Dumonriez, who had formerly saved 
 France from the same duke of Brunswick, and 
 who since, depraved by exile, set himself to advise 
 the enemies of Fiance, without being listened to, 
 — Dtimouriez sent memoirs on memoirs to the 
 European cabinets, to teach them that they should 
 retire, opposing distance to Napoleon, climate, 
 hunger, and a ruined country, as the certain means 
 Of combating him. Napoleon himself believed this 
 so firmly, that when he was informed the Prus- 
 sians had advanced beyond the Elbe, he at first 
 refused to credit it '. 
 
 It is true that, by the adoption of such a plan, 
 the concurrence of Hesse and Saxony would have 
 been [oat ; the finest provinces of the monarchy 
 abandoned, without a struggle, to the enemy ; the 
 resources iii which those provinces abounded, the 
 capital, in fact the honour of arms, compromise d 
 by a retreat bo hasty. I3ut these objections, with- 
 out doubt serious enough, were more specious than 
 solid. Hesse, in effect, would not give herself up 
 (0 those who already wore the stamp of defeat 
 
 1 Mere is the fragment of a letter which explains the 
 mod ■ ■ 'in in this respect : 
 
 " To M. the mar.-hal, prince of Neufchatel. 
 
 ■•si. cinud, StfUmber MM, 1806. 
 
 " My cousin, — I Mild }ou tie- eopjf <>( the ordi-i of ni'oe 
 ment of tie army, which I bad addressed to you ti 
 
 current, in the morning; and that I was vexed not t» hava 
 sent t r» alter the departure of my courier of 1 he 
 
 id h <>f Beptemb r ii causa it might hue been Inten 
 
 Nuw 1 have no ground to far it. Y'u wi.l have t • 
 
 on tin- 24th, at DOOn, "f the JOth, win n I ha 
 
 t shall arrive, which, without doubt, will take place 
 
 on the 27th. Order* will have hern given to marslial - 
 they will be leal »n tin- 28th ; and as In' will require thn •• or 
 
 four da>s' march to reach Amberg, he will !><• able to !»• 
 
 there on the Oth, although he hat not the order to I"- tie re 
 until tie- 3rd. fOU ' r i"'r on the 
 
 27th, in order that you ma I •• movement of 
 
 ai Soi.lt /' import* i/"'t if ''■''/ "i ii»- 
 
 btrg. iceimj Hint thr rnemij U tti // ' "' mwtnvagmuu "f 
 
 which I did not betitot htm eapabU, thinking that hi would 
 remain on ih* dtfenttM along tht Slot. 
 
 "Signed, Napoliio 
 
 vol. II. 
 
 on their forehead. Twenty thousand Saxons were 
 not worth the sacrifice of a good war system. The 
 provinces, that they thus made a BCTUple of aban- 
 doning, would be lost, either by will or force, by 
 an offensive movement of Napoleon ; and when 
 they had seen him go over Austria at a giant's 
 
 pace, without being stopped by mountains or 
 rivers, it was puerile to reckon upon space with 
 him. The lines of the f. rest of Thuringia, of the 
 
 Elbe, and of the < >der, that they fear d to d< liver 
 
 up, tluv were certain to Bee taken by a single 
 manoeuvre of Napoleon, without the power to 
 make the successive steps of a well-calculated 
 retreat; losing, besides the provinces contained 
 between those lines and the army itself, in other 
 words, the monarchy. Lastly, in regard to the 
 honour of arms, it was requisite to make little of 
 appearances : a retreat that could be placed to the 
 account of B calculation would never commit the 
 reputation of an army. 
 
 Furthermore, none of these ideas had been dis- 
 cussed in the tumultuous council where king, 
 princes, generals, and ministers deliberated upon 
 the operations of the approaching war. There 
 reigned there such ardour, that there was no dis- 
 cussion but upon offensive plans; and these plans 
 all tended to carry the Prussian army into Fran- 
 conia, into the midst of the cantonments of the 
 French army, to surprise it, and throw it on the 
 Rhine, before it had time to concentrate itself. 
 
 The plan which had best agreed with the pru- 
 dence of the duke of Brunswick had been, to 
 remain squat down behind the forest of Thuringia, 
 and to await in that position until Napoleon opened 
 out on one or the other Bides of that forest by the 
 defiles of Francoiiia in Saxony, or by the central 
 road of Germany which goes from Frankfort to 
 Weimar. In the first case the Prussians — their 
 right on the forest of Thuringia, their front covered 
 by the Saale— had only to Buffer Napoleon to ad- 
 vance, [f he wished to attack them bn/ore going 
 further, they might oppose hiin on the banks of 
 
 the Saale. nearly impossible to cross in pros, nee of 
 
 an army of 140,000 men. If be wenl to the Elbe, 
 they would follow him, always covered by the same 
 
 banks of the Saale. If, on the contrary,— that 
 which was l.-ss probable, seeing the place chosen 
 for the assemblage of Ins troops,-- Napoleon tra- 
 versed all l'raneonia and gained the central r ad 
 
 of Germany, the march was so long, that they 
 
 would have had time tO unite in a nia-s and to 
 
 choose the ground most convenient for them to 
 
 L-ive him battle at the moment when he issued 
 
 from the mountains. Certainly, by not originally 
 adopting the line i f the Elbe for the first theatre 
 of a defensive war. they had dm better to do than 
 to place themselves behind the foreel of Thuringia, 
 as the duke of Brunswick had disposed of himself 
 
 there. 
 
 Cut though this w s his advice, he did not ven- 
 ture to propose it. Yielding to the general i 
 
 I onceived ■ plan for offensive war. The prince 
 
 of Hobenluhe, fiie ordhiarj contradictor, had oon> 
 ,., j v , ,| another. 1 o take the pwdtl n that they 
 occupied, the duke of Brunswick lind lefl Magde- 
 burg, and the prince of Holrenlohe Dresden ; the 
 
 first ascending the lefl hunk, ihe set I the right 
 
 bank of the s.iale. Itwa , in the svetera 
 
 of offensive warfare, to lias been already 
 
 M
 
 162 
 
 Different plans of the 
 commanders. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Frederick -'William 
 misled by M. Luc- 
 chesini. 
 
 ) 18C6. 
 ( October. 
 
 said, by the one or the other side of the forest of 
 Thuringia, or to ascend the Upper Saale and tra- 
 verse the defiles which connect Saxony with Fran- 
 conia, before which the French army was then 
 assembled ; or, as well, to carry themselves to the 
 opposite side, to traverse Upper Hesse, and march 
 by Eisenach upon Fulda, Schweinfurt, and Wurtz- 
 burg. The prince of Hohenlohe, wishing to play 
 the principal character, proposed leaving the duke 
 of Brunswick where he was, to ascend the Upper 
 Saale, to pass the defiles of Franconia, to throw 
 himself upon the Upper Mein, to surprise the 
 French scarcely assembled, and to drive them 
 back upon the Mein, Wurtzburg, Frankfort, and 
 Mayence. Once a retreat commenced, the duke 
 of Brunswick would join him, no matter by what 
 road, to achieve the route of the French with the 
 whole mass of the Prussian forces. 
 
 The duke of Brunswick had the idea of acting 
 on the opposite side ; to go in advance by Eise- 
 nach, Fulda, Schweinfurt, and Wurtzburg, that is 
 to say, by the central road of Germany; to fall 
 upon Wurtzburg itself, and thus cut off from 
 Mayence all the French who were in Franconia. 
 This project was assuredly much better ;. because, 
 while the prince of Hohenlohe, ill proposing to open 
 on the Upper Mein, wouid have thrown back the 
 French on the Lower Mein, from Cobnrg upon 
 Wurtzburg, and would have tended to rally them 
 as they fell back, the duke of Brunswick, on the 
 contrary, in marching upon Wurtzburg itself, 
 would have separated the French who were on 
 the Upper Mein from those who were on the Lower 
 Mein ; would interpose himself between Wurtz- 
 burg, which was the centre of their assembling, 
 and Mayence, which was the base of their opera- 
 tions. Furthermore, lie would have acted with 
 140,000 men together, and have attempted the 
 offensive with the mass of the forces which it was 
 needful to devote to the purpose when he ventured 
 to undertake it. But whatever was the plan he 
 adopted, and that it had chances of success, it was 
 necessary first, that the Prussian army should be, 
 if not equal in quality to the French army, at 
 least capable to support an encounter with it ; 
 secondly, that it should advance before Napoleon, 
 and surprise him before he had concentrated all 
 his forces upon Wurtzburg. But the duke of 
 Brunswick had given his orders of movement for 
 the 10th of October, and Napoleon was at Wurtz- 
 burg on the 3rd, at the head of his assembled 
 forces, and in a measure to show a front to every 
 event. 
 
 While they disputed thus about offensive plans, 
 all founded in the ridiculous idea of surprising the 
 French on the 10th of October, when Napoleon 
 was already, on the 3rd, in the midst of hi.-> united 
 troops, they were apprised of his arrival at Wurtz- 
 burg, and began to have a glimpse of his disposi- 
 tions. They understood from this that they had ill 
 calculated in measuring his activity by that which 
 they themselves possessed ; and the duke of 
 Brunswick, who, without possessing the glance, the 
 resolution, or the activity of a great general, was 
 still endowed with an experienced judgment, felt 
 in a most sensible manner the d insjer of going to 
 », encounter the French army already formed and 
 
 ('having Napoleon at KB head. He from that mo- 
 ment renounced offensive plans, conceived out of 
 
 ! 
 
 condescension to others, and attached himself 
 more and more to the defensive position taken be- 
 hind the forest of Thuringia. He obliged himself 
 to demonstrate to all those who were around him 
 the advantages of that position, because lie re- 
 peated to them without cessation, if Napoleon 
 passes by Kcenigshofen, Eisenach, Gotha, and Er- 
 furt, which would but bring him into Germany by 
 the grand central road, it was possible to take him 
 in flank at the moment when he issued from 
 among the mountains. If, on the contrary, be 
 presented himself by the defiles bordering upon 
 Franconia in Saxony, on the Upper Saale, occu- 
 pying the course of that river, they might await 
 iiim with a firm footing on the scarped banks. 
 Other reasons that the duke of Brunswick had not 
 avowed inspired him with a decided preference for 
 this position. At bottom he censured the war, 
 and looked with pleasure upon any chance to avoid 
 it. If the reports of spies were to be believed, 
 Napoleon had caused defensive works to be exe- 
 cuted towards Schweinfurt, on the same road from 
 Wurtzburg to Koenigshofen and Eisenach. It was 
 true that Napoleon, in order to cheat the Prussians, 
 had ordered works in different directions, princi- 
 pally in those of Schweinfurt, Kcenigshofen, Hild- 
 burghausen, and Eisenach. The duke of Bruns- 
 wick concluded, not that Napoleon considered about 
 presenting himself by the great central road from 
 Frankfort to Weimar, but that he would establish 
 himself about Wurtzburg, and then take up a de- 
 fensive position. His conferences with M. Luc- 
 chesini contributed equally to this persuasion. 
 That ambassador, who had so unfortunately irri- 
 tated his cabinet two months before by exaggerated 
 reports, mingling now a little truth with much that 
 was false, affirmed that Napoleon at bottom did 
 not wish for a war ; that he had without doubt 
 treated Prussia slightingly, but that he had never 
 nourished against her any aggressive design ; and 
 that it was very possible he had placed himself at 
 Wurtzburg, to await there, behind good entrench- 
 ments, the last word of king Frederick-William. 
 
 It was full late to venture to produce this truth, 
 and the instant was chosen to produce it, when it 
 ceased to be correct. If Napoleon, in effect, before 
 quitting Paris, had been little inclined for war, and 
 well disposed to finish affairs with Prussia by 
 means of some amicable explanations; now that he 
 found himself at the head of his army, and that his 
 sword was half out of the scabbard, he would draw 
 it out entirely, and act with that promptitude which 
 was natural to him. Nothing was less in agree- 
 ment with his character, than the plan to establish 
 himself in a defensive position before Wurtzburg. 
 But from this project, falsely ascribed to Napoleon, 
 and the- reports of M. Lucchesini, the duke of 
 Brunswick concluded with secret pleasure, that it 
 was possible* to avoid war, — above all, if they had 
 the precaution to remain behind the forest of Thu- 
 ringia, and to have between the two armies this 
 obstacle to their encountering. 
 
 The king without saying so partook in this sen 
 timent. There was a last council of war convoked, 
 therefore, on the 5ih of October at Erfurt, which 
 was attended by the duke of Brunswick, the prince 
 of Hohenlohe, and marshal Mollendorf, many offi- 
 cers of the staff, the heads of corps, the ministers, 
 and the king himself. The council lasted for two
 
 18C6. \ 
 October. J 
 
 Query nf the king to 
 the council ul war. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Xapoleun addresses 
 hit a. my. 
 
 1C3 
 
 entire hoars. The duke proposed the follow in,' 
 query : " Is it prudent to go and nek Napoleon in 
 au uuattackable position, where we have not, aa in 
 the ti st project for the offensive, the hone of 
 taking him by surprise I" They disputed long and 
 with violence on this point. The prince of Hohen- 
 lolie raided again, by means of the chief uf his staff, 
 the idea of operating upon the Upper Saale, and of 
 passing the defiles, at the opening of which > 
 leon had assembled his troops, (.in the side uf the 
 duke of Brunswick they combated ihis idea, and 
 made to be felt anew the advantages of the position 
 taken behind the forest of Thuringia. The two 
 generals-in-ehief thus sustaining an obstinate con- 
 test through the intermediate agency of their staff 
 officers ; for the r st, there was an agreement in 
 nothing. While the duke of Brunswick was in 
 lively dispute with the prince of Hohenlohe, M. 
 Haugwitz sustained with M.. Lucchesinia discourse 
 on the pacific dispositions given to Napoleon, upon 
 which there was no longer time to reckon. To the 
 shock of ideas succeeded the shock of passions, and 
 general Rachel allowed himself to be guilty of a 
 fresh insult to M. Haugwitz. Each party carried 
 away from this discussion only greater confused - 
 
 of mind and deeper bitterness of heart. The 
 king alone, who sought in good faith to enlighten 
 himself, who dared not trust to his own knowledge, 
 and who felt the imminence of the danger, had his 
 spirit wounded. In the impossibility of deciding 
 its If, the council, finding the necessity there was 
 now for knowing better the real resolutions of 
 Napoleon, proposed the design of a general recon- 
 noitring, executed simultaneously by the three 
 principal corps of the army — of the prini 
 Hohenlohe, of the duke of Brunswick, and of . 
 ral kuchcl. The king bad this singular resolution 
 modified, and reduced the three to a single recon- 
 noitring, which should be directed by a colonel, an 
 
 ■of the staff of the duke of Brunswick, on this 
 same road from Eisenach U> Sehweinfurt, towards 
 which Napoleon seemed ton pr. p. rations 
 
 for defence. An order was given for the prii 
 Hohenlohe to continue tin- concentration of the 
 army of Silesia on the Upper Saale, lea> ing general 
 'J .hi nzien with the detachment of Bareuth, in ob- 
 servation towards the defiles of l'raueoiiia. To 
 this military measure was added a political one, 
 which was to send to Napoleon a d< liuitive note, to 
 him the irrevocable resolutions of the 
 uf Prussia. Theyetated in thisuote the kind 
 
 ms which had existed between the two courts, 
 
 >he bad returns with which France had paid the 
 
 good offices uf Prussia, the obligation that existed 
 
 inet of Berlin to easel an explanation 
 
 : all its in Strife. This was t,. 
 
 be pr '•■ ded by ■ su p gii ing aaaura to all 
 
 many, thai is i" say, tie immediate retreat of the 
 French troops beyond the Rhine. This r treat was 
 demanded fur a fixed day, and tliey desired it 
 should eommenee ou i of ttober. 
 
 M . t a« ur« dly if thej had wished f r | 
 
 still, the projected note waa a raeani rent ill < - 
 
 1 to maintain it, because it was to niiseonceive 
 
 Strang* ly the character of Napol , to address 
 
 him a summons to retire by a fixed day. Bui 
 
 whilst, the duke of lirunswiek and the king I 
 
 voured to managi chance 
 
 of peace, in remaining behind tie- forest of Thu- 
 
 ringia, they were forced to content those who were 
 furious for pushing on the war, and make some ap- 
 parent demonstration of haughtiness, submitting 
 themselves thus to the caprici s of an army which 
 had transformed itself into a popular multitude, 
 and which shouted, demanded, decreed, as a multi- 
 tude does when it holds the reins. 
 
 This is the mode in which the Prussians had 
 disposed of the time that Napoleon employed on 
 his side in preparations so active and well conceived. 
 Not Stopping at Wurtzhurg, he had gone to Bam- 
 herg, where he deferred his entry into Saxony 
 until the last wards of Prussia should press upon 
 her, and not upon him, the wrong of the nggression. 
 His right, composed of the corps of marshals Soult 
 and Ney, was in advance of Bayreutli, ready to 
 open by the road from Bavreuth to II of, on the 
 Upper Saale. His centre, formed of the cor 
 marshals Bernadotte and Uavout, preceded b) the 
 cavalry reserve, and followed by the foot-guard, 
 was at Kmnach, < uly waiting to advance by Leber- 
 stein on Saalburg and Schleitz. His left, consisting 
 ul the corps of marshals Lannes and Aug' 
 making towards Hildeburghausen deceptive demon- 
 strations, was at the first signal to proceed from 
 hit to light, from Coburg towards Neustadt, in 
 order to open by GralVnthal upon Saalfield. These 
 two columns had to march through the narrow de- 
 files, bordered with wood and locks, which place 
 Franconia in communication with Saxony, ami abut 
 on the Upper Saale. Thus far the frontier of 
 Saxony had not been passed, and they kept them- 
 selves on the 1'iaticoiiian territory, the toot ready 
 lilted to step out. The imperial guard had not, it 
 is true, as yet wholly joined ; it wanted the cavalry 
 and artillery of the guard, that had not been able 
 to travel by p st as the infantry had done ; it 
 wanted also tin- companies d'ellU, and the grand 
 park, lint Napoleon had under hand 1/0. (too men, 
 and this was more than he Deeded to crush the 
 Prussian tinny. 
 
 On receiving the note of Prussia on the 7'h, h« 
 waa extreme! j angry. Major-general Berthier waa 
 with him. " Princ .'" Bahl he to him, "we shall 
 be i (tact to the rendezvous ; on the 8th, in place of 
 being in France, we will he in Saxony." lie im- 
 mediately addressed the followiug proclamation to 
 his army : — 
 
 - ihli'TB : 
 
 '■ '11 rder for your re-entrance into France 
 
 bad departed ; you had already approached it 
 .1 marches; triumphant fetes awaited 
 
 there ! But when we ahalldolied ollls. Ives to this 
 
 too confident security, new plots were woven i 
 the mask ol friendship and alliance, I ri< id war 
 
 heard in Berlin. The same veri 
 that by favour of onr intestine die ensions i n- 
 
 I fourtet v the Prussians into ih<» 
 
 middle of the plains of Champagne, still doml 
 in their councils. If it is no more Paris thai 
 ui h to overturn to its foundations, to da] 
 
 vaunt themselves tO plant their colours in lie 
 ttils of our allies j our laurels they would : 
 
 our brow .. Phi j d< ire thai we should 
 
 German) •■» i • army ! 
 
 ; a not one ol you m ' by 
 
 any ii I than I \ ■ We tO 
 
 not to enter that under trium- 
 
 M 2
 
 164 
 
 Napoleon enters 
 Saxony. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Murat engages 
 the Prussians. 
 
 f 1806. 
 \ October 
 
 phal arches. Have we then braved the seasons, 
 the seas, the deserts, vanquished Europe, several 
 times coalesced against us, carried our glory from 
 the East to the West, to return to-day to our coun- 
 try, as deserters, after having abandoned our allies, 
 and to have it understood and said, that the French 
 eagle had fled terror-stricken at the aspect of the 
 eagles of Prussia? Evil then to those who provoke 
 us ! Let the Prussians suffer the same fate that 
 they experienced fourteen years ago ! Let them 
 learn that, if it be an easy thing to acquire an in- 
 crease of territory and power with the friendship 
 of a great people, its animosity is more terrible 
 than the ocean tempest !" 
 
 The following day, the 8th of October, Napoleon 
 gave the order for the whole army to pass the fron- 
 tier of Saxony. The three columns of which it was 
 composed moved at once. Murat, who preceded 
 the centre, entered first at the head of the light 
 cavalry and 27th light, and sent out his squadrons 
 by the middle defile, that of Kronach to Leben- 
 heim. Scarcely arrived beyond the woody heights 
 which separate Franconia from Saxony, he sent 
 on the right towards Hof, and on the left towards 
 Saalfield, several detachments, in order to clear 
 the mouths of the openings by which the other 
 columns of the army would penetrate. Afterwards, 
 he marched right from Lebenstein on Saalburg. 
 There he found posted on the Saale a troop of 
 infantry and cavalry belonging to the corps of 
 general Tauenzien. The enemy made a face at 
 first, as if he would defend the Saale, which is a 
 feeble obstacle in that part of its course, and fired 
 several rounds of cannon at the cavalry. He was 
 answered with some pieces of light artillery ordi- 
 narily attached to the reserve of cavalry ; then 
 several companies of the 27th light infantry were 
 exhibited. He defended neither the passage of the 
 Saale nor Saalburg, and retired towards Schleitz 
 at some distance from the place of the first en- 
 counter. On the side of Hof, on the right, the 
 cavalry discovered nothing that could annoy the 
 march of marshals Soult and Ney, sufficiently 
 strong of themselves to make their way. At the 
 left, on the contrary, towards Saalfield, there was 
 perceived at a distance a strong body commanded 
 by prince Louis. The two corps of general 
 Tauenzien and prince Louis made a part of the 
 army of prince Hohenlohe, who, in spite of the 
 formal order he had received to pass to the left 
 bank of the Saale, and to go and support the duke 
 of Brunswick, deferred obedience, and remained 
 dispersed in the mountainous country which the 
 Saale traverses from its source. 
 
 The three columns of the French army continued 
 to advance simultaneously by the defiles indicated ; 
 those of the left, however, remaining a little in the 
 rear, because they had to carry themselves from 
 Coburg upon Grafenthal, which obliged them to pass 
 over twelve leagues by roads scarcely practicable 
 for artillery. For the rest, no serious obstacle 
 stopped the march of the French troops. The 
 spirit of the army was excellent ; the soldiers ma- 
 nifested the utmost gaiety, and did not appear to 
 hold as of any account some degree of suffering 
 inevitable in a sterile and difficult country. The 
 victory which they did not doubt was with them an 
 indemnity for every evil. 
 
 On the following day, the 9th of October, the 
 
 centre quitted Saalburg, and advanced upon 
 Schleitz, after having passed the Saale. Murat, 
 with two regiments of light cavalry, and Berna- 
 dotte, with Drouet's division, marched at the head. 
 They arrived before Schleitz about the middle of 
 the day. Schleitz is a little village or burgh, situ- 
 ated on a small watercourse called the Wiesenthal, 
 which falls into the Saale. At the foot of a height 
 beyond Schleitz and Wiesenthal, they perceived, 
 ranged in order of battle, the corps of general 
 Tauenzien. He was backed by that height, his 
 infantry formed, his cavalry disposed on his wings, 
 the artillery in his front. He appeared to possess 
 a strength of 8000 infantry and 2000 cavalry. 
 Napoleon, who had slept in the environs of Saal- 
 burg, and had gone over the ground from the morn- 
 ing, at the sight of the enemy ordered an attack. 
 Marshal Bernadotte directed some companies of 
 the 27th light, commanded by general Maison, 
 upon Schleitz. General Tauenzien, aware that 
 the main body of the French army followed this 
 advance-guard, did not dream of defending the 
 ground which he occupied. He contented himself 
 with reinforcing the detachment which guarded 
 Schleitz, in order to gain, by a slight combat of his 
 rear- guard, the time to withdraw himself. Gene- 
 ral Maison entered Schleitz with the 27th light, 
 and repulsed the Prussians. At the same moment 
 the 94th and 95th regiments of the line, of Drou- 
 et's division, passed the Wiesenthal, one below 
 Schleitz, the other at Schleitz itself, and contri- 
 buted to hasten the retreat of the enemy, who be- 
 took himself towards the heights behind Schleitz. 
 He was pursued rapidly on the heights, upon 
 arriving at their summits, and in descending on the 
 reverse side afterwards. Murat, accompanied by 
 the 4th hussars and the 3rd chasseurs, (this last 
 remained a little in the rear,) pressed hard upon 
 the enemy's infantry, which was escorted by 2000 
 horse. On seeing the small strength which Murat 
 possessed, some Prussian squadrons threw them- 
 selves upon him. Murat, foreseeing it, charged 
 them, sabre in hand, at the head of the 4th hussars, 
 and repulsed them. But falling back soon before 
 a more numerous body of cavalry, be ordered up 
 in all haste the 5th chasseurs, as well as the light 
 infantry of general Maison, that had not yet been 
 able to join. He had in the interval to sustain 
 several charges, and sustained them with his ac- 
 customed courage. Happily the 5th chasseurs 
 arrived at a gallop, rallied the 4th hussars, and 
 gave in its turn a vigorous charge. But general 
 Tauenzien, wishing to get rid of these two regi- 
 ments of light cavalry, sent upon them the red 
 Saxon dragoons, as well as the Prussian hussars. 
 At that moment there arrived five companies of 
 the 27ih light, conducted by general Maison. That 
 general, not having time to form a square, halted 
 on the spot in such a manner as to cover the flank 
 of the French cavalry, and then made his men give 
 so effective a fire, almost at musket-end distance, 
 that he overturned two hundred red dragoons on 
 the spot. Then all the Prussian cavalry fled. Mu- 
 rat, with the 4ih hussars and 5th chasseurs, pur- 
 sued them, and drove intermingled into the woods 
 the cavalry and infantry of general Tauenzien. 
 The enemy retired with all haste, throwing down 
 on the roads many muskets and hats, and leaving 
 in the bauds of the French 400 prisoners, inde-
 
 180C. \ 
 October. / 
 
 Combat of Schleitz. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Napoleon resolves to 
 give battle. 
 
 16.5 
 
 pendently of 300 killed or wounded. But the 
 moral effect of this combat was far greater than 
 the physical ; and the Prussians were able to see 
 from that with what soldiers they wire engaged. 
 If Murat, as Napoleon, who himself made the re- 
 mark, hail had under band but a tew more cavalry, 
 he would not have been obliged to expose his own 
 person so much, and the results would have been 
 more consi lerable '. 
 
 Napoleon was extremely well satisfied with this 
 first combat, which proved bow little the Prussian 
 cavalry, although well mounted, and able in the 
 management of their horses, was to be feared 
 by solid infantry and his own hardy cavaliers. He 
 established his hi ad-quarters at Schleitz, in order 
 to await the rest of the column of the centre, and, 
 above all, to give to bis rig! it, conducted by mar- 
 shals Ney and Soult, and bis left, led by marshals 
 Lannea and Angereau, time to pass the defiles, and 
 to come and take on his wings a position for battle. 
 After what he hail seen, and alter what the spies 
 bad reported, who had found the country covered 
 with detached columns, he judged that he had sur- 
 prised the enemy in a movement of concentration, 
 and that he was causing him much trouble. By 
 reports from the right wing, scut by marshals 
 Soult and Ney, he learned that they had nothing 
 before them, and that they had seen scarcely more 
 than a few detachments of cavalry, that withdrew 
 afar at their approach. On the contrary, news 
 from the left spoke of a corps at Saaltiekl, before 
 which marshal Lannes would arrive the following 
 day, the 10th. Napoleon concluded, therefore, that 
 the enemy had retired towards the Saale, and left 
 open the great road to Dresden. He was resolved 
 
 1 "To the grand duke of Berg and of Cleves at Schleitz, 
 at the imperial and royal head quarters. 
 
 " Octuber 10, 1806 ; 5 o'clnck in the morning. 
 "General Rapp has made known to me the fortunate re- 
 sult of last evening. It appears to me that you have not 
 sullicient cavalry united under hold, lly scattering them 
 about, not enough have remained with you. You have six 
 reg merits. I have recommend ed you t" have at least four 
 m h oid. I did not see more than two with you yesterday, 
 connoitring on the right becomes to day uf much, 
 aportance. Manna] Soult arriving at Plauen, it is on 
 k an I on BaaUl id thai it is necessary to make itrong 
 
 to know what passes there. .Marshal Lannes 
 arrived on the Dili at Grafenthal, in the evening. II'- will 
 attack Saallield t . morrow. You know of how much Im- 
 portance it is to me to know, during t lie day, of the move- 
 ment upon Baameld, to the end that ii tin- enemy have 
 
 united more than 28,000 men, I may be able to move 
 
 reinforcement! then- by Poeebeim, and take then >« queut. 
 
 given an order to tic of Dupont ami 
 
 moot to march upon Bcbleltf, li i- necessary in all i 
 to reconnoitre a line position in advance of Schleitz. that 
 will serve for a field of battle for more than 80,000 men 
 That need not p revent you from profiting at the break of 
 day to push strong reconnoitring parties upon Auma and 
 Poineck, and to make them In- supported by tin- division 
 of Drouet. The first division Oi 11..11 ■ li.il DavOUl will be at 
 
 Baalburg, the t»o other divisions will be m advance neai 
 Oberadorf, and his l ghl cavalry in front. I hue given the 
 order to marshal Ney to go to T.nin a. Your great business. 
 to-day should be, at first, to take adva ■ • I the Combat 
 of yesterday, to collect more pti One) , lad to gather all the 
 intelligence possible ; Sadly, to reconnottri Auma and S. 
 h.ld in order to know positively what are the movements of 
 the enemy. Nai-ui.i 
 
 not to engage himself there before he had beaten 
 the Prussians, but to fight them without delay, 
 whether they came to the encounter to bar the 
 road Bgaiust him, or whether it was requisite to go 
 
 and search for them behind the scarped banks of 
 the Saale 2 . 
 
 2 The following letter is cited, to show what the idea of 
 Napoleon was at that moment : — 
 
 "To marshal Soult at Plauen. 
 
 " Obersdorf, Oct bcr 10, ISOG ; 8 o'clock in the morning. 
 
 " We routed yesterday the S000 nun who fiom Hof had re- 
 tired to Schleitz, where they expected reinfoi cements during 
 the night. The cavalry has bi en cut down, and a colonel has 
 been taken. More than 21)00 muskets and caps have been 
 found on the field of battle. The Prussian infantry did not 
 stand. We have not taken more than 200 or 300 prisoners, 
 because it was night and they were scattered in the wood. 
 I reckon on a good number in the morning. 
 
 " This seems to me very clear : that it appears the Prus- 
 sians have the design to attack ; that their i< ft will open to- 
 morrow by Jena. Saallield, and Coburg ; that the prince of 
 Sob oi-. he his his headquarters at Jena, and prince Louis 
 at Saallield. The other column op ns by Meinengen upon 
 l'u. da. In this way I am led to think that >ou have nobody 
 before you, p rliap-. not a thousand men, as far as Dresden. 
 If you are able to crush a corps, do it : the following are my 
 - for to day. I am not able to march; I have too 
 many things lett in arrear. I shall push my advance-guard 
 to Auma. 1 shall recognize a good field of battle in advance 
 of Schleitz for SO, 000 or 100, 0DO men. I shall march marshal 
 Ney toTaima ; he will lind himself two leagues from BchleiUI. 
 Yourself from Plauen are not so far as not to be able to 
 come up in twenty four hours. 
 
 " I he 5th ; the Prussian army made again a movement on 
 Thuringia, of such a sort that 1 believe will cause the delay 
 of a great number of days. My junction with my left is 
 not yet made, except by cavalry posts, which signify nothing. 
 
 " Marshal Lannes only arrives to day at Saallield, at least 
 if the enemy be not there in considrrable strength. Thus 
 the days of the 10th and llth will be lest fur marching for- 
 ward. If my junction is made, I shall push as far as N ca- 
 st idt and Triplitz. After that the enemy will do something: 
 if be att.u ks me, 1 shall be enchained ; if he lets himself lie 
 attacked, I shall not be wanting. If he tiles by Magdeburg, 
 you nil] be before him at Dresden. I much desiie a battle. 
 If the enemy has determined to attack me, it is that he 
 has great confidence in nil lories, it is not impossible then 
 that he attacks, and thus he will do that which is 
 
 tola to me. After the battle l shall be before bin 
 
 in Dresden and in Berlin. 
 
 • I wait Impatient!) my boreeguard, flirty pieces of artil- 
 lery, and 8000 hoise, as theM oe red to he slighted, \ oil 
 
 tually my designi foi 1 1 day and to morrow, foil are 
 i oi yourself to do as you Intend, bul procure yourself 
 
 that, If you come ta join me, yOU ma] have enough 
 
 oe il IJ s. 
 
 •• li you And any th t the enemy s march 
 
 from you, do it boldly. Establish small pots of cavalry 
 to correspond lapidly lioni BchleitS to I'laucn. Up to this 
 
 hour it si r-ios to me the campaign oommenoei undsa the 
 
 bappleit auspices. 
 
 •■ i Imagine you an al Plauen. it is very convenient thai 
 you possess it. 
 
 " Let me know what yon believe \ on h.iv e in front ol yOU. 
 
 Nothing of what was at iiof has retired b) Draadi n. 
 
 "P.8. 1 have received this instant your deapati h of the 9th, 
 at six in tin- evening. I approve ol the d u sou 
 
 have made. The Intelligence that the 1000 horn that wen 
 
 .,t n., i. ii have retired to Oera, leaves ma no doubt that 
 
 (,, ii is not the pent of union id the enemy's army. I 
 
 dOUbl that be Will he alee lo Ho I entirely | 
 
 I shall he united. I'd the rest, during the day, I shall
 
 160 
 
 Marshal Lannes attacks 
 Prince Louis. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Combat of Saalfield: / 1806. 
 Prince Louis slain. (.October. 
 
 The prince of Hohenlohe, always of opinion that 
 lie alone divined the projects of Napoleon, — that he 
 alone knew the true means to beat him at his own 
 game, by proposing to advance before him in the 
 defiles of Franconia, — floated among a thousand 
 different ideas. Now he was inclined to execute 
 the orders of the duke of Brunswick, and repass 
 the Saale ; now he formed the foolish resolution to 
 proceed towards Mittel-Pollnitz, to give battle 
 there ; and he thus gave to his troops, little pre- 
 pared to march, loaded with baggage, orders and 
 counter-orders, so that they were in despair. Upon 
 these doings Prince Louis, impatient to meet the 
 French, and wishing at any price to become the 
 advance-guard of the Prussian army, obtained 
 leave to be left at Saalfield, where he yet was on 
 the 10th of October in the morning. 
 
 It was towards this point that the French co- 
 lumn of the left was to march as soon as it issued 
 from Grafenthal. Arrived on the 9th at Grafen- 
 thal, Lannes, who formed the head of that column, 
 directed himself on Saalfield on the morning of the 
 10th. He reached it at an early hour. The woody- 
 slopes which commonly border the Saale separate 
 at this place from its bed, and leave a marshy 
 plain, in the midst of which stands the little town 
 of Saalfield, surrounded with walls, and built on 
 the edge itself of the river. Arrived at the sum- 
 mit of the heights where they plunged down to- 
 wards Saalfield, Lannes perceived in advance of 
 the town the corps of prince Louis, that consisted 
 of 7000 infantry and 2000 cavalry. The prince 
 had taken a very unmilitary position. His left, 
 composed of infantry, rested upon the town and 
 the river ; his right, composed of cavalry, extended 
 itself on the plain, Commanded in his front by 
 the circle of heights, from whence the French ar- 
 tillery was able io pour down grape-shot, lie had 
 in his rear a little marshy brook, the Schwartza, 
 which falls into the Saale below Saalfield. His 
 retreat, therefore, was very ill secured. If he 
 had been capable of showing wisdom, and less 
 obliged by his anterior bravado to show his teme- 
 rity, he would have retired as soon as possible, and 
 descended the Saale as far as Rudolstadt or Jena. 
 Unhappily it was not in his character, nor in the 
 part he played, to retire at the first encounter with 
 the French. Lannes had not under hand either 
 the corps of Augerean, forming witli his own the 
 column of the left, nor even his own corps entire. 
 He was reduced to the simple division of Suchet, and 
 to two regiments of light cavalry, the 9th and 10th 
 hussars. He did not the less commence the attack 
 immediately. He disposed at first of his artillery 
 on the heights which commanded the line of battle 
 of prince Louis, and opened a vigorous cannonade. 
 Then he threw on his left a part of Sachet's divi- 
 sion, with the order to file along the woods which 
 crowned the heights, and to turn the right of prince 
 Louis by descending on the banks of the little 
 stream of the Schwartza. In a few moments the 
 movement was executed. Whilst the artillery, 
 placed in battery in the front of the Prussians, 
 occupied itself in killing their men, the French 
 marksmen, gliding across the wood, commenced in 
 
 receive other intelligence and shall have more precise ideas. 
 Yourself at Plauen, the intercepted letters by the post will 
 furnish you with the same." 
 
 their rear an unforeseen fire with murderous exact- 
 ness. Lannes then made his infantry descend in a 
 mass upon the plain to overturn the enemy's in- 
 fantry. Prince Louis, even if he had had the 
 experience in war which he wanted, had not in 
 such a position any -safe part to take. He com- 
 menced by betaking himself towards his infantry, 
 in order to sustain the shock of Suchet's division. 
 But, after efforts of bravery worthy of being better 
 employed, he saw his battalions broken, and pushed 
 confusedly under the walls of Saalfield. Not know- 
 ing where to give his attention, he hastened to his 
 cavalry to charge the two regiments of hussars 
 which had followed the movement of the French 
 tirailleurs. He charged them with impetuosity, and 
 succeeded at first in repulsing them. But these 
 two regiments rallied, and returned vigorously to 
 the attack, breaking his numerous cavalry, and 
 pursuing them with such ardour as reduced them 
 to the impossibility of reforming, when he threw 
 them in disorder into the marshes of the Schwartza. 
 The prince, dressed in a brilliant uniform, decked 
 with all his orders, conducted himself in the fray 
 with the valour that belonged to his birth and his 
 character. Two of his aides-de-camp were killed 
 by his side. Soon surrounded, he wished to save 
 himself ; but his horse got entangled in a hedge, 
 and he was obliged to stop. A mareschal of the 
 lOih hussars, believing he had an affair with an 
 officer of elevated rank, but not with a prince of 
 royal blood, rode up to him, saying, " General, sur- 
 render !" The prince answered this summons l>y 
 a blow of the sabre. The mareschal then gave 
 him a thrust in the centre of the breast, and he 
 fell dead from his lmrse. They surrounded the 
 body of the prince, who was recognized, and de- 
 posited, with all the respect due to his rank and 
 misfortunes, in the town of Saalfield. The troops, 
 Prussian and Saxon, because there were at this 
 point both the one and the other, deprived of their 
 commander, enclosed in a cut-throat place, escaped 
 as they were best able, abandoning to the French 
 20 cannon, 400 killed and wounded, and 1000 pri- 
 soners. 
 
 Such was the commencement of the campaign. 
 The first blows of the war, as Napoleon said the 
 next day in the bulletin of this battle, caused the 
 death of one of its authors. They were so near the 
 one to the other, that Napoleon at Schleitz heard 
 the cannon at Saalfield, that the prince of Hohen- 
 lohe heard it on his side on the heights of Mittel- 
 Pollnitz, and that towards Jena, on the side occu- 
 pied by the grand Prussian army, they distinctly 
 perceived the distant detonations. All the men of 
 sense in the Prussian army trembled at it as a 
 signal which announced tragical events. Napoleon, 
 discovering the point front whence these detona- 
 tions proceeded, sent a reinforcement to Lannes, 
 and a crowd of officers to learn the news. On his 
 own side the prince of Hohenlohe rode up and 
 down without giving any orders, questioning the 
 comers and goers upon what was passing. A sad 
 spectacle to see so much incapacity and imprudence 
 in a contest with vigilance and genius. 
 
 Some hours afterwards the fugitives taught, the 
 two armies the result of the first encounter, and 
 the tragic end of prince Louis, — an end little wor- 
 thy of his life, in the double relation of imprudence 
 and courage. The Prussians were able to judge 
 
 J
 
 1S0G. 
 
 October 
 
 } 
 
 rnation of 
 the Prussians. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Uhe Prussians unite 
 theil forces. 
 
 107 
 
 of what would necessarily attend their learned tac- 
 tics, opposed ti> the manner of acting, simple, prac- 
 tical, and rapid, of the French generals* 
 
 Consternation spread from Saalfield to Jena and 
 Weimar. The prince of Hohenlohe, already in- 
 formed by his own eyes of the discouragement 
 that had taken hold of the troops of general 
 Tauenzien. his spirit struck by the rash enterprise 
 of Saalfield, went to Jena, and gave the order in 
 every sense to retrace the road towards the Saale, 
 in order to cover that river ; as if, however, after 
 so many contradictory movements, lie could flatter 
 himself to arrive there in time ! It was the third 
 counter-order given to his unhappy nun, who 
 knew not what was wanted of them, and were not 
 in the habit, as the French were, of making many 
 marches in a day, and of living upon what they 
 procured SB their march. Some fugitives of the 
 corps beaten at Saalfield flew towards Jena, and 
 tiring without any reason, as soldiers straggling at 
 random, were taken for French tirailleurs. A: 
 their appearance an unspeakable terror spread 
 itself among the troops that were marching upon 
 Jena, and among the numerous conductors of the 
 themselves to Right in disorder, 
 Hew towards the bridges of the Saale, and from the 
 bridges into the streets of Jena. In a few mo- 
 ments all was frightful confusion — an unhappy pre- 
 sage of the events which were to follow. 
 
 Napoleon, made acquainted with the combat at 
 Saalfield, and pressed to recal his wings towards 
 his centre in such a manner that he could pass out 
 of the defiles by which he had entered Saxony, 
 ordered Lannes not to descend the Saale, which 
 would have been at too great a distance from him- 
 self an 1 too near the enemy, but to make a move- 
 ment to the right, and to go by Posneck and 
 towards Auma, when; he fixed bis head- 
 quarters. Augereau was to fill the void left be- 
 i the Saale and the corps of Lannes. Order- 
 ing on his right the same movement of concentra- 
 tion, Napole n had directed marshal Souk upon 
 W. ida and Gera, along the Elsler; and he oi 
 marshal N y to occupy Auma whin the head- 
 quart 1 have departed. In that way he 
 h.ol 170,000 men under bin hand, at the distance 
 of seven or eight li agues, « ith the power of uniting 
 l<llt 000 in I few hours, and all tin- while concentra- 
 ting himself as he advanced, ready to pass the Saale 
 if it was necessary to force there the position of the 
 
 enemy, or to march upon the Elbe if it was requi- 
 site to outstrip him there, for the rest la- had 
 
 bat little more than four or five leagues a-day, 
 in older to give t > his corps the time to rej >in him; 
 beean as wen yel behind, particularly 
 
 the artillery and eavalry of tie- guard, as well as 
 the battalions d'ilit*. Although In- knew, sines 
 tin- two combats of tie- preceding days, what br- 
 ought to think of tin- Prui ian troop-, lis marched 
 with all the prudence of tie' 1 iptains in 
 
 ',■ of an army which could oppose to him 
 
 130,000 or 140,000 men united in one ma . On 
 
 the 13th, in ih h.- quitted Ann 
 
 Gera. 
 
 The cavalry, moving about in use in the 
 
 midst of the baggage of th.- unfortunata Saxons, 
 made a greal and rich booty. They took at one 
 blow 500 carriages, The eavalry, thus Napoleon 
 
 wrote, was ''sewn up in gold.'' In lino, the inter- 
 
 cepted letters and the reports of spies began to 
 correspond, and to represent the grand Prussian 
 army as changing its position, and advancing 
 through Erfurt upon Weimar, in order to approach 
 the banks of the Saale. It was. possible it would 
 go there under one of the two intentions following; 
 either to occupy the bridge of the Saale at Nun m- 
 
 over which passes the grand central road of 
 Germany, in order to retire on the Elbe, covering 
 Leipsic and Dresden ; or to approach the course 
 of the Saale, to defend the banks against the 
 French. Ill the face of this double event, Napo- 
 leon toolc a first precaution, and that was, to march 
 marshal Davont on Naumbnrg with an order to 
 bar the bridge with 26,000 nun of the 3rd corps. 
 He sent Murat with the cavalry along the banks 
 of the Saale, to examine its course and push his 
 reconnoitring as far as Leipsic. lb- directed mar- 
 shal Bernadotte upon Nuremberg, with the order 
 
 pport marshal Davont. Ho sent marshals 
 Lannes and Augereau upon Jena itself. His object 
 was to take possession immediately of the two prin- 
 cipal passages of the Saale, — those of Naumbnrg 
 and Jena, — whether to stop the Prussian army if 
 
 it wished to pass over Mid retire upon the Elbe, 
 or to go and examine on the heights which border 
 the river whether it would remain on the defensive. 
 As to himself, he kept with marshals Ney and 
 Soult within leach of Naumburg and Jena, 
 ready to march upon one or the other point 
 according to circumstance a 
 
 On the 13th, in the morning, more circumstan- 
 tial intelligence apprised him that the enemy 
 approached definitively to the Saale, with the 
 resolution yet uncertain to give upon its banks a 
 defensive battle, or to pass and proceed upon the 
 Elbe. It was in the direction of Weimar to Jena 
 that he exhibited the largest assemblages of troops. 
 
 Without losing a moment, Napoleon mounted bis 
 
 to L,'o to Jena. He himself gave his instruc- 
 tions to the marshals Soult and Nov, and ordered 
 tin m to be at Jena in the evening, or at the 
 
 in the night, lie ordered Murat to draw back his 
 cavalry towards Jena, and marshal Bernadotte to 
 take tit Doroberg an intermediate position betwi en 
 Jena and Naumburg. He sit out immediately, 
 sending officers to stop all thai were in march 
 towards Gera, .and to make them march upon 
 Jena. The d^y before, in the evening, marshal 
 Davont had entered Naumburg, having occupied 
 the bridge of the Saale, and taken considerable 
 magazines with a fine bridge equipage. Marshal 
 Bernadotte was ready to join him. Murat had 
 sent the light cavalry as far as Leipsic, snd sur- 
 prised the gates of thai great commercial city. 
 Laniii 1 bad gone upon J< na, a Bmall city and uni- 
 v, situated on the same banks of theSuale, 
 and there bad repelled in confusion the enemy's 
 troop-, remaining on that side of the rivi r, as well 
 as the baggage thai encumbered the road, lb 
 
 p 1 I • It oi Jena, tool soon pu hi d Ins 
 
 advanced posts to the heights which command it. 
 prom ih. is hi ights he tan tie- army ol prince 
 Hohenlohe, that, after liavii ra the Saale, 
 
 encamped betwei n J' na ami Weimar : and be bad 
 ground to suspect that a grand assemblage was m 
 pri paration at that place. 
 
 I,, ,|foet, the Pru lien army was there united, 
 and ready to take Its anal detenninationa. The
 
 168 
 
 Disordered minds of 
 the Prussian staff. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Determination of the / 1806. 
 duke of Brunswick. \ October. 
 
 prince of Hohenlohe had decided to obey the or- 
 ders of the duke of Brunswick, and to repass the 
 Saale, to join the great Prussian array. He had 
 attained the position in the best order, and without 
 losing his baggage, if he had obeyed it sooner. 
 His troops were confusedly assembled there, and, 
 destitute of provisions, knew not where to procure 
 them, vainly demanding them of the main army, 
 which only possessed just enough for itself. The 
 Saxons, whose conduct had been honourable, but 
 whom the chance of events caused to appear in 
 the two first encounters, and who saw their country 
 delivered without defence to the French, com- 
 plained bitterly of being little regarded, ill fed, 
 and drawn into a war that commenced in the 
 worst manner. They did their best to quiet them, 
 and this time they were established in the second 
 line behind the Prussians. 
 
 Still, in spite of these sad commencements, they 
 had assembled along the forest of Thuringia, 
 having the Saale to stop the French if they wished 
 to pass, or to descend in security towards the Elbe 
 if they hastened to march there. It was proper 
 in such a case, when such a value was attached to 
 this position, to persevere in the idea that had 
 been promulgated, and to profit by the advantages 
 it offered. The Saale in fact, though fordable. ran 
 in a bed which presented a continual strait. The 
 left bank, on which the Prussians were encamped, 
 was covered with abrupt heights, the foot of which 
 the river bathed, while a succession of wood clothed 
 the summit. Beyond were found undulating levels, 
 very proper to receive an army. In descending 
 from Jena to Naumburg, the obstacles to a passage 
 became greater than any where besides. There 
 were between Jena and Naumburg only three 
 openings by which it was possible to penetrate, — 
 those of Lobstadt, Dornbcrg, and Camberg, — 
 distant two leagues from each other, and difficult 
 to defend. If, in place of establishing themselves 
 behind the Elbe, they had wished to go and en- 
 counter the French and fight in a body, there was 
 not any site more advantageous than the left bank 
 of the Saale to engage in a general action. They 
 were deprived, it is true, of 10,000 men composing 
 the advance-guard of the duke of Saxe Weimar, 
 sent to reconnoitre beyond the forest of Thuringia; 
 they had lost 5000 or GU00 in killed, wounded, and 
 fugitives, in the combats of Schleitz and Saalfield ; 
 but there yet remained 50.000 men to the prince 
 of Hohenlohe, 00.000 to the duke of Brunswick, 
 and 170.10 or 18,000 to general Ruchel ; that is to 
 say, 134,000 men— very formidable behind a posi- 
 tion like that of the Saale from Jena to Naumbur;r. 
 Placing strong detachments before the principal 
 openings, and the mass a little in the rear, in a 
 central position, in such a manner as to be able to 
 run in force to the point attacked, they would be 
 in a state to give the French army a dangerous 
 battle for itself, and if not to snatch the victory, at 
 least to dispute it, so that retreat would become 
 easy and the issue of the war uncertain. 
 
 But the disorder of mind only increased among 
 the Prussian staff. The duke of Brunswick, who 
 had shown until then a sufficient justness of reason, 
 and who had appeared to appreciate the advantages 
 of the situation he occupied, in the different cases 
 that were possible ; the duke of Brunswick, now 
 that one of these cases, that most to be foreseen, 
 
 was realizing itself, seemed to have suddenly lost 
 his mind, and wished to decamp in all haste. The 
 movement of marshal Davout upon Naumburg had 
 let in upon his mind a ray of light. He concluded 
 from the appearance of the marshal at Naumburg, 
 that Napoleon wished not to give battle, but to 
 hasten his march towards the Elbe, and cut off the 
 Prussians from Saxony, and even from Prussia, as 
 he had cut off general Mack from Bavaria and 
 Austria. The fear to be enveloped, as general 
 Mack had been, and reduced like him to the neces- 
 sity of laying down his arms, troubled the com- 
 monly right mind of this unhappy old man. He 
 therefore wished to depart at that moment to gain 
 the Elbe. In Prussia they had railed with so little 
 justice and so little pity against the unfortunate 
 Mack, that he lost his reason at the mere idea of 
 finding himself in the same position, and to avoid 
 it exposed himself to other situations which were 
 not better. Still the actual position of things was 
 far from resembling that of the Austrian general. 
 The duke of Brunswick could be passed separated 
 from Saxony, by a rapid movement of Napoleon 
 upon the Elbe, perhaps outstripped upon Berlin, 
 but it was impossible that he could be enveloped 
 and obliged to capitulate : whether he lost a battle 
 on the Saale, or whether he was cut off from the 
 Elbe, he had a certain retreat towards Magdeburg 
 and the Lower Elbe, although he was exposed to 
 arrive there in a bad state. He could not be taken 
 in the vast plains of the north, as the Austrians had 
 been in the dangerous valley of the Danube. Be- 
 sides, the army of general Mack counted at the 
 utmost 70,000 men, that of the duke of Brunswick 
 counted 144,000 on recalling the duke of Weimar; 
 and it is not easy to envelope such an army, at least 
 to reduce it to the point of laying down its arms. 
 But when they had wanted to eombat so much, 
 hail so much desired to encounter the French, 
 thinking even of passing the mountains in order to 
 go and seek them in Franconia, wherefore, when 
 they encountered them finally upon their own ter- 
 ritories, excellent for themselves, very difficult for 
 the French, wherefore not establish themselves in 
 a body, in order to precipitate them into the deep 
 and rocky bed of the Saale, at the instant when 
 they attempted to ascend the heights ? But all 
 this coolness was gone, since the enemy they had 
 braved from afar was so near, since at Schleitz and 
 Saalfield the quality of the Prussian army had 
 shown itself so superior to that of the Russians and 
 Austrians ! 
 
 The duke of Brunswick, impatient to escape the 
 fate of general Mack, took the precaution of imme- 
 diately decamping, to carry himself to the Elbe by 
 forced marches, covering himself with the Saale, 
 which drew on the abandonment of Leipsie, Dres- 
 den, and all Saxony to the French. The prince of 
 Hohenlohe, after having so tardily decided to repass 
 the Saale, encamped on the height of Jena. The 
 duke of Brunswick enjoined it upon him to remain 
 there to close the opening, while the principal 
 army, filing behind the army of Silesia, went to 
 join the Saale at Naumburg, and then descended 
 as far as the Elbe. 
 
 The duke of Brunswick ordered general Ruchel 
 to remain at Weimar the time required to rally the 
 advance-guard, engaged in a useless reconnoitring 
 beyond, in the forest of Thuringia ; and as to him-
 
 1806. \ 
 October. ) 
 
 The Prussians 
 retreat. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Napoleon discovers the 
 Prussian army. 
 
 icy 
 
 self, taking the five divisions of the principal army, 
 he resolved to decamp on the 13th, to follow tin- 
 great mad from Weimar to Leipsic, as far as the 
 bridge of N mmburg, to have at this bridge three 
 divisions to guard it, while with two others he went 
 to assure himself of the passage of the Unstrut, 
 one of the tributaries of the Saale ; then, this 
 obstacle cleared, to recal the three divisions poste 1 
 at Naumburg, to call in to himself the prince of 
 Hohenlohe and general Ruchel left in the rear, and 
 thus to proceed along the banks of the Saale as far 
 as the junction of that river with the Elbe, to the 
 environs of Magdeburg. 
 
 Such was the plan of retreat adopted by the duke 
 of Brunswick, and such was the trouble he took 
 to quit the defensive line of the Elbe, from which 
 he ought never to have gone away, to rejoin it so 
 soon and amidst such great dangers. 
 
 In consequence, the principal army received the 
 order to set itself in movement on the same day. 
 the 13th of October. The prince of Hohenlohe 
 received orders to occupy the heights of Jena, and 
 to close the passage, while the five divisions of the 
 duke of Brunswick, quitting Weimar, went to halt 
 in the evening at Naumburg. The five divisions 
 were to follow at a league's distance tin; one from 
 the other, ami to make good six leagues in the 
 day. It is not thus that the French march when 
 they have an important end to obtain. Weimar 
 evacuated, general Ruchel was immediately to 
 occupy it. All these dispositions being arranged 
 and communicated to those who were charged with 
 their execution, the army of the duke of Brunswick 
 set out on its march, having the king at its head, 
 the princes, and the queen herself, followed by 
 such a mass of baggage as rendered all manoeu- 
 vring impossible. The cannon being heard so 
 near, it was not possible to suffer the queen to be 
 at head-quarters. Her presence, after having been 
 an inconvenience, became a peril for her and a 
 subject of uneasiness to the king. A formal in- 
 junction was necessary to decide her departure. 
 She went away at last, her eyes filled with tears, 
 not doubting, since the eoinbats of Schleitz and 
 Saalfield, of an unhappy sequel to a policy of which 
 she was the unfortunate instigator. 
 
 While tin duke ot Brunswick marched thus upon 
 Naumburg, the prince of Hohenlohe remained 
 upon the In ighta ol Jena with .'il).(llll) men, having 
 for a rear-guard general Ruchel with 18,000, ' m- 
 ploying himself in re-establishing a little order 
 
 among his troops, beating up the country with his 
 
 car» in order to collect provisions, -above all, to 
 procure some sustenance for the Saxons, whose dis- 
 content was extreme. Partaking the opinion <>i 
 
 the duke of Brunswick, that the French Were gone 
 towards Leipsio anl Dresden, to In- tie first upon 
 the Elbe, hi concerned himself little about the town 
 
 of Jena, and took little care of the h< ighl I situati d 
 in the- rear of that town. 
 
 During this same afternoon of the LStfa of Octo- 
 ber, .Nap' leon, as has In on seen, rapidly trans: 
 himself from QeTO upon Jena, and ordered himself 
 
 to be followed by all his forces, lb- arrived tie re 
 
 in person about the middle of tie- day. .Mai h.ii 
 Lannes, who bad preceded him, awaited him with 
 
 impatience. Without losing a moment, they both 
 
 mounted tluir horses to go and reconnoitre tie' 
 place. At Jena itself, the valley of the Saale 
 
 begins to enlarge. The right bank on which tiny 
 travelled is low, humid, and covered with meadows. 
 The left bank on the contrary, that occupied by 
 the Prussians, presented scarped heights, which 
 commanded in a peak the town of Jena, climbed 
 by narrow defiles, tortuous, and covered with wood. 
 To the left of Jena, a gorge more open, and less 
 abrupt, which they called the Muhlthal, was the 
 passage across which tin- great road from Jena to 
 Weimar had been made. This road at first fol- 
 lowed the bottom of thi' Muhlthal, then arose in 
 the form of a volute, and opened on the elevated 
 level in the rear. A dangerous assault would have 
 been necessary to force this passage: more open in 
 truth, but guarded by a great pari of the Prussian 
 army. Thus this was not the point by which they 
 were able to ascend to the elevated ground inordi r 
 to give battle to the Prussians. 
 
 But another resource i tiered. The hardy timil- 
 leurt of Lannes, engaging in the ravines that are 
 encountered in having Jena, had succeeded in 
 ascending to the principal height, and had per- 
 ceived all at once the Prussian army encamped on 
 high ground of the right bank. Soon followed by 
 some detachments of Suchet's division, they main- 
 tained their place, repulsing the advanced posts of 
 general Tauenzien. Thus, thanks to the boldness 
 of the soldiers, the heights which commanded the 
 left bank of the Saale were conquered, but unhap- 
 pily by a road little accessible to artillery. It was 
 there that 1. amies conducted Napoleon, in the 
 midst of a fire of tirailleurs that did not cease, and 
 rendered reconnoitring exceedingly dangerous. 
 
 The principal of the heights which command the 
 town of Jena, is called the Lainlgrafcnhcrg, and 
 since the memorable events of which it has been 
 the theatre, it has received the name of Napoleons- 
 berg. It is the most elevated of the country round. 
 Napoleon and Lannes, on contemplating from this 
 height the surrounding land, the back towards 
 Jena, saw on their right the Saale running through 
 a sinuous gulley, deep and wooded as far as Naum- 
 burg, which is six or seven leagues from Jena. 
 Tiny saw before them the undulating high ground 
 extending itself far away, and inclining by an in- 
 sensible slope towards the little valley of the llm, 
 at the bottom of which the town of Weimar is 
 
 situated. Tiny perceived on their left the grand 
 
 road from Jena to W( imar, rising by B succession 
 
 of snaky windings from the gorge of MUhlthal to 
 the | lam above, and running in a right line t<> 
 Weimar. These windings, which exhibit in form, 
 
 as has been said, a sort of snaky winding, bad re- 
 ceived the German name, and is called SohtUCke. 
 
 On the same road from Jena to Weimar was seen 
 in IchtUon the Prussian army of prince Hohenlohe, 
 
 without their being able to judge if the pi 
 
 number. Ac to the corps of general Ruchel po 
 
 at Weimar, the distance del not permit them to 
 di COVer that. It WSJ the same with the grand 
 army of the duke of Brunswick, which, inarching 
 from Weimar to Nuremberg, w:is hid in the 
 depths of the valley ol the llm. 
 
 Napoleon having before bun I mass of troo| 
 
 which be was not well able to judge the strength, 
 supposed that the Prui ian arm) had chosen that 
 
 ground as the field of battle, and at unee made Ins 
 
 dispositions in such a manner as to open with his 
 army on the Landgrafenberg, before the enemy
 
 I - n Napoleon occupies the 
 * '" heights of Jena. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Error of Princs 
 Hohenlolie. 
 
 f 1806. 
 \ October. 
 
 should come in a body to push liim down the pre- 
 cipices of the Saale. It was necessary to hasten, 
 and to avail himself of the space conquered by his 
 tirailleurs, to establish himself op the height. They 
 only held the summit, it is true, because at a few 
 paces' distance only was the corps of gene- 
 ral Tauenzien, separated from the French by a 
 slight bend of the ground. This corps was sup- 
 ported on two villages: one on the French right, that 
 of Closewitz, was surrounded by a small wood ; the 
 other on the left, that of Cospada, was surrounded 
 equally by a wood of some extent. Napoleon 
 wished to leave the Prussians quiet in this position 
 until the following d;iy, and in the meanwhile con- 
 duct a part of his army to the Landgrafenberg. 
 The space which he held was sufficient to contain 
 the corps of Lannes and the guard. He ordered 
 them to be brought up immediately by the scarped 
 ravines which serve to mount from Gera to the 
 Landgrafenberg. To the left he placed the divi- 
 sion of Gazan; to the right, that of Suchet ; in the 
 middle and a little in the rear, the foot guard. He 
 made these encamp in a square of 4000 men, and 
 established his own bivouac in the centre of the 
 square. It is since then that the inhabitants of 
 the country have called this height the Napoleons- 
 berg, and mark by a heap of rough stones the 
 place where this personage, every where popular, 
 even in the places where he only showed himself 
 terrible, passed that memorable night. 
 
 But it was not all to bring infantry upon the 
 Landgrafenberg ; it was necessary to transport 
 thither artillery. Napoleon, going off at a horse pace, 
 found a passage less steep than the rest, by which 
 artillery, drawn by great efforts, might pass. Un- 
 happily the way was too narrow. Napoleon com- 
 manded a detachment of soldiers of the engineers 
 to enlarge it by cutting away the rock, he himself 
 in his impatience directing them with a torch in 
 his hand. He did not retire until the night was 
 far advanced, when he had seen wheeled by the 
 first pieces of cannon. It required twelve horses 
 to draw each artillery carriage to the summit of 
 the Landgrafenberg. Napoleon proposed to attack 
 general Tauenzien at break of day, and to gain, by 
 pushing forward briskly, the space necessary for 
 the formation of his army. Fearing, however, to 
 open by a single outlet ; wishing also to divert the 
 attention of the enemy, he ordered on the left, that 
 Augereau should enter the gorge of Muhlthal, and 
 carry on the road to Weimar one of hi3 two divi- 
 sions, and gain with another the reversa side of 
 the Landgrafenberg, in order to fall on the rear of 
 general Tauenzien. On the right he ordered 
 marshal Soult, whose corps, having Gera, would 
 arrive in the night, to climb the other ravines, that 
 by Lobstadt and Dornberg, open upon Closewitz, in 
 order to fall also upon the rear of general Tauen- 
 zien. With this double diversion, left and right, 
 Napoleon did not doubt to force the Prussians in 
 their position, and to procure himself the space 
 which was necessary for his army to form. Mar- 
 shals Ney and Murat were to ascend to the Land- 
 grafenberg by the route that Lannes and the guard 
 had taken. 
 
 The day of the 13th of October passed away, 
 and a profound obscurity enveloped the field of 
 battle. Napoleon had placed his tent in the centre 
 of the square formed by his guard, and had only 
 
 suffered a few fires to be lighted. But the Prus- 
 sian army had lighted all theirs. The fires of the 
 prince of Hohenlolie were seen along the whole 
 extent of the high ground; and at the bound of the 
 horizon, on the heights of Nuremberg that sur- 
 mounted the old castle of Eckartsberge, those of 
 the army of the duke of Brunswick became all on 
 a sudden visible to Napoleon. He thought that, 
 far from retiring, all the Prussian forces had come 
 to take a part in the battle. He sent his aid-de- 
 camp with fresh orders to marshals Davout and 
 Bernadotte. He commanded marshal Davout to 
 keep securely the bridge of Naumburg, and even 
 to pass it if it was possible, to fall upon the rear of 
 the Prussians while they should be fighting in front. 
 He ordered marshal Bernadotte, who was placed 
 intermediately, to concur in the projected move- 
 ment, whether in joining himself to marshal Da- 
 vout, if he were near him, or in throwing himself 
 directly upon the Prussian flanks, if he had already 
 taken up at Dornberg a situation more approxima- 
 tive to Jena. Finally, he enjoined it upon Murat 
 to arrive as soon as he was able with his cavalry. 
 
 While Napoleon made his dispositions, the prince 
 of Hohenlolie was in complete ignorance of the fate 
 that awaited him. Always persuaded that the main 
 body of the French army, in place of halting before 
 Jena, had gone on Leipsic and Dresden, he sup- 
 posed all he should have, more or less, would be 
 some affair with the corps of marshals Lannes and 
 Augereau, that, having passed the Saale after the 
 combat of Saalfield, had in his opinion shown 
 themselves between Jena and Weimar, as if they 
 were descended from the ht-ights of the forest of 
 Thuringia. Under this idea, not dreaming of 
 making front towards Jena, he had not disposed on 
 that side any corps except that of general Tauen- 
 zien, and had arranged his army along the road 
 from Weimar to Jena. His left, composed of the 
 Saxons, guarded the summit of the Schnecke ; his 
 right extended as far as Weimar, and there con- 
 nected itself with the corps of general Ruchel. 
 Still the fire of tirailleurs that was heard on the 
 Landgrafenberg caused a. sort of sensation ; and 
 general Tauenzien demanding succours, the prince 
 of Hohenlolie made the Saxon brigade of Cerrini, 
 the Prussian brigade of Sanitz, and several squa- 
 drons of cavalry, take arms and go towards the 
 Landgrafenberg to drive away the French, that he 
 believed scarcely established there. At the mo- 
 ment when he was about to execute this intention, 
 colonel Massenbach brought him from the duke of 
 Brunswick the reiterated order not to engage in 
 any serious action, to confine himself to guarding 
 securely the passages of the Saale, and, above all, 
 that of Dornberg, which filled him with anxiety, 
 because there had been some liylit troops perceived 
 in that quarter. The prince of Hohenlolie became 
 the most obedient of lieutenants, when he was not 
 required to be so, and stopped all of a sudden at 
 these injunctions from head-quarters. It was, 
 nevertheless, singular to obey an order not to en- 
 gage in a battle, and yet to abandon the inlet by 
 w ich he was on the morrow to receive so disas- 
 trous a one. However that may be, renouncing 
 the retaking of the Landgrafenberg, he contented 
 himself with sending the Saxon brigade of Cerrini 
 to general Tauenzien, and placing at Nerkwitz, 
 in front of Dornberg, under the orders of general 
 
 L
 
 1S0C. 
 October 
 
 } 
 
 The French attack the 
 Prussian outposts. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Tauenzien's advance- 
 guard routed. 
 
 171 
 
 Holzendorf, the Prussian brigade of Sanitz, tlie 
 fusiliers of Pelet, a battalion of Schimmelpfenig, 
 and, in fact, Beveral detachments of cavalry and 
 artillery. II- - at Bome light horse to Dornberg 
 itself, to know what was passing. The prim 
 Holienlohe kept himself to these dispositions : he 
 returned to his head-quarters at Capellendorf, near 
 Weimar, Baying to himself that with 50,000 men, 
 and even 70,000, counting the corps of Ruche), 
 guarded towards Dornberg by general Holzendorf, 
 towards Jena by general Tauenzien, showing front 
 towards the road from Weimar to Jena, he should 
 punish the two marshals, Lannee and Augereau, 
 tor their audacity, if they dared to attack with 
 SOyOOO or 40,000 French, of which ho was well able 
 to dispose, and re-establish the honour of the Prus- 
 sian arms, so seriously compromised at Schleita 
 and Saalfield. 
 
 Nap.leon, Btirring before daylight, gave his last 
 instructions to his lieutenants, and made his sol- 
 diers get under arms. The night was cold, the 
 country covered with a thick fog, like that which 
 covered for several hours the battle-field of Aus- 
 terlitz. Escorted by men carrying torches, Napo- 
 leon went down the front of the troops, spoke to 
 
 tfioers ami soldiers, explained to them the 
 
 in of the two armies, demonstrated to them 
 that the Prussians were as much committed as 
 the Austrians had been the preceding year ; that, 
 vanquished now, they would be cut off from the 
 Elbe and the Oder, separated from the Russians, 
 and reduced to the necessity of delivering over to 
 the French the Prussian monarchy entire ; that, 
 in such a situation, the French corps that should 
 suffer it-self to be beaten would make the greatest 
 
 i miscarry, and dishonour itself for ever. He 
 strenuously engaged them to guard against the 
 in cavalry, and to receive it in square 
 with their ordinary firmness. The cries, " For- 
 ward ! Long live the Emperor !" every where 
 i.-d his words. Although the fog was thick, 
 even through its density the advanced posts of the 
 enemy perceived the light of their torches, heard 
 the cries of joy of the soldiers, and weal to give 
 genera] Tauenzien the alarm. The corps of Lame a 
 moved at that moment at Napoleon's signal. The 
 
 .11 of Sachet, divided into [lire.- brigadl 
 venced '!• '1'!"' brigade of Claparede, com- 
 
 I of the 17th light and a battalion d 
 marched at the lead, formed in a single line. 
 
 On the wings of this line, and t<> guard against 
 dry, the 34th and 40th regiments, 
 fanning a second brigade, were disposed in a close? 
 column. The brigade of Vedel, opened out, closed 
 this sp. ciea of square. To the l< ft of Sachet's 
 division, but a Kttle in the rear, came the division 
 ol Gazan, ranged in two lines, and preeeded by its 
 artillery. They advanced groping through tb< i" ■■ 
 Tin- division of Sachet was directed towards tie 
 village of Clos< witz, which was to the right, The 
 division of Gazan wen! upon the village of Oospoda, 
 which was to the left The Saxon battalions of 
 Frederick- Augustus and -»l Reehten»and the Pro - 
 sian battalion of Zw< if< I, peret ived a mass in move- 
 ment crossing through the fog, and tired ad toge- 
 ther. The 17th supported Itaelf against the fire, 
 and immediately returned it. They wen- thus both 
 
 engaged for several moments, seeing the light, 
 hearing the noise of the musketry, but without 
 
 being able to distinguish one another. The French, 
 in moving onward, finished by discovering the 
 
 little wood that surrounded the village of Close witz. 
 General Claparede threw himself forward upon it 
 quickly, and at the sequel of a combat hand to 
 hand very soon carried it, as well as the village of 
 Closewitz itself. After having deprived of this 
 support the line of general Tauenzien, the French 
 continued to inarch under the balls which were 
 projected from amidst this thick log. The divisii n 
 of Gazan, on its own side, carried the village of 
 Cospoda, and established itself tin re. Between 
 two villages, but a little further off, was found 
 a small hamlet, that of Lutzenrode, occupied by 
 the fusiliers of Ericsen. Tin; division of Gazan 
 captured that as well, and then was enabled to 
 form with more ease. At this moment the two 
 divisions of I. amies received fresh discharges • f 
 artillery and musketry. This was from the Saxon 
 grenadiers of the brigade of Cerrini, which, after 
 having rcccivi d the advanced posts of general Tau- 
 enzien, carried themselves forward, and executed 
 their battalion-firing with as much compaotni 
 if it had been on a field-day. The 17lh light, 
 which had kept at the head of the divisions o| 
 Suehet, having expended their cartridges, went 
 round to the rear. The 34th took its place. 
 changed the fire lor some time, then met the Saxon 
 gr» nadiers With the bayonet, and broke them. 
 The entire corps of general Tauenzien having been 
 soon put to the route, the divisions of Gazan and 
 Suehet took about twenty cannon and many of the 
 fugitives. On parting from the Landgrafenberg, 
 the undulating levels on which the troops hail 
 formed went, as has been said, in an inclination 
 towards the little valley of the Ihn. They marched, 
 therefore, quickly upon Bloping ground, and at the 
 heels of an enemy in flight. In this rapid move- 
 ment they fell in with two battalions of Cerrini, as 
 well as the fusiliers of Pelet, remaining in the en- 
 virons of Close witz. These troops were thrown 
 back lor the rest of tin- day towards general Hol- 
 zendorf, to whom was committed the day 1 
 the- guard of the outlet of Dornberg. 
 
 Tie- action hail not endured two hours. It was 
 now nine o'clock, and Napoleon had realized the- 
 first part of his plan, which consisted in possessing 
 himself of a space n. ci sear) tor the drawing up 
 his army. His instructions were executed at the 
 same moment on every point with remarkable 
 
 punctuality. Towards tie' I' It, marshal Auger, an, 
 
 after having directed the' divi en ■! rleudelet,as 
 will as Ins cavalry and artillery, into the bottom of 
 tin- Miihlihal, < 11 tie road to Weimar, 
 
 climbed with the division of Detriardina tin- 1 . \ . r 
 of the- Landgrafenbi rg, and formed upon tie 
 vated level on the hit of the division of Gazan. 
 Towards the right, marshal Soult, ouly one of 
 whose divisions bad arrived, that of genert 
 Hilaire,-— ascended from Lobstadl in the rear of 
 
 I witz, ill tin; face' Of tll« position-, of Ml ll.wilz 
 and Allen 1, , oeeiipieil by lie' wrecks of 1 1 1 « • 
 
 corps of Tauenzien and b) tin' detachment of 
 general Holzendorf. Marshal Ney, impatient to 
 aid in tin- battle, had detached hum his corps a 
 battalion 'if voltigeurs,a battalion of grenadii 
 26th light, ami two region tits ol cavalry, ami with 
 this s.leet bodj had taken tin- advance, If en 
 
 teredJenaal tin- same hour that the first ait of
 
 172 The battle recommences. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Gallant conduct 
 marshal Ney. 
 
 of 
 
 f 180C. 
 \ October. 
 
 the contest had concluded. Murat, returning at a 
 gallop with the dragoons and cuirassiers from his 
 reconnoitrings executed at the bottom of the 
 Saale, remounted towards Jena, out of breath. 
 Napoleon resolved therefore to halt some moments 
 on the conquered ground, to leave his troops time 
 to arrive in line. 
 
 Of these proceedings the fugitives of general 
 Tauenzien had given the alarm to the entire camp 
 of the Prussians. At the sound of cannon prince 
 Hohenlohe had gone to the Weimar road, where 
 the Prussian infantry was encamped, not yet be- 
 lieving in a general action, and complaining of that 
 which was thus fatiguing the troops by useless 
 fighting. Soon undeceived, he took his measures 
 for giving battle. Knowing that the French had 
 passed the Saale at Saalfield, he had expected to 
 see them appear between Jena and Weimar ; and 
 he ranged his army along the road which led from 
 one of these towns to the other. This conjecture 
 was not realized : it was necessary to change his 
 dispositions, and lie did this with promptitude and 
 resolution. He sent the main body of the Prussian 
 infantry, under the orders of general Grawert, to 
 occupy the positions abandoned by general Tauen- 
 zien. He left towards the Schnecke, which formed 
 his right, the division of Niesemeusehel, composed 
 of the two Saxon brigades of Burgsdorf and 
 Nehroff, of the Prussian battalion of Boguslawski, 
 and of a numerous artillery, with an order to de- 
 fend to the last- extremity the terraces or steps by 
 which the road to Weimar ascended to the levels 
 above. He gave, to second them, the brigade of 
 Cerrini, rallied and reinforced by four Saxon bat- 
 talions. In rear of his centre he placed a reserve 
 of five battalions, to support general Grawert. He 
 made rally at some distance from the field of 
 battle, and provided with ammunition, the wrecks 
 of the corps of general Tauenzien. As to the left, 
 he directed general Holzendorf to go forward, if 
 he were able, to fall upon the right of the French, 
 while he himself endeavoured to stop them in 
 front. He addressed to general Ruchel an account 
 of what had passed, and beseeched him to accele- 
 rate his march. Lastly, he went personally with 
 the Prussian cavalry and the artillery harnessed, 
 to encounter the French, in order to restrain 
 them, and to protect the formation of the infantry 
 of general Grawert. 
 
 It was about ten o'clock, and the action of the 
 morning, interrupted for an hour, commenced 
 again with vivacity. Whilst on the right marshal 
 Soult, issuing from Lobstadt, climbed the heights 
 with the division of St. Hilaire, — while in the centre 
 the divisions of Suchet and Gazan, under marshal 
 Lannes, formed on the level conquered in the 
 morning, and that on the left, marshal Augereau, 
 ascending from the bottom of the Miihlthal, had 
 gained the village of Iserstedt, Marshal Ney, in 
 his ardour to fight, had advanced with his three 
 thousand chosen men, concealed by the fog, and 
 had taken his place between Lannes and Augereau 
 in face of the village of Vierzehn-Heiligen, which 
 occupied the middle of the field of battle. He 
 arrived at the same moment that the prince of 
 Hohenlohe went to place himself at the head of 
 the Prussian cavalry. Finding himself all cf a 
 sudden face to face with the enemy, he engaged 
 before the emperor had ordered the resumption of 
 
 the action. The artillery of the prince of Hohen- 
 lohe was already placed in battery ; Ney sent the 
 10th hussars upon this artillery. This regiment, 
 taking advantage of a small clump of wood to form, 
 issued forth in a gallop, ascended by the right to 
 the flank of the Prussian artillery, sabred the can- 
 noneers, and took seven pieces of cannon, under 
 the fire of all the enemy's line. But a mass of 
 Prussian cuirassiers fell upon this regiment, and 
 obliged it to retire precipitately. Ney then sent 
 out the 3rd hussars. This regiment manceuvered 
 as the 10th had done, profited by the clump of 
 wood to form itself, ascended on the flank of the 
 cuirassiers, then, breaking suddenly upon them, 
 threw them into disorder, and forced them to retire. 
 They were not enough, however ; two regiments of 
 light cavalry having to make head against thirty 
 squadrons of dragoons and cuirassiers. The French 
 chasseurs and hussars were soon obliged to seek 
 shelter behind their infantry. Marshal Ney then 
 carried to the front the battalion of grenadiers and 
 that of vohigeurs which he had brought, formed 
 into two squares, then placing himself in one of 
 them, opposed them to the charges of the Prussian 
 cavalry. He suffered the enemy's cuirassiers to 
 approach as far as within twenty paces of his bay- 
 onets, and terrified them at the aspect of an im- 
 moveable infantry reserving its fire. At his signal 
 a close discharge covered the ground with dead 
 and wounded. Several times attacked, these two 
 squares remained unshaken. 
 
 Napoleon, from the heights of Landgrafenberg, 
 had been astonished to hear the fire recommence 
 without his order. He learned with further asto- 
 nishment that marshal Ney, whom he supposed still 
 behind, was engaged with the Prussians. He has- 
 tened very discontentedly, and, arriving near Vier- 
 zehn-Heiligen, perceived from that height marshal 
 Ney defending himself in the midst of two feeble 
 squares against all the Prussian cavalry. This 
 heroic countenance of things was calculated to dis- 
 sipate all dissatisfaction. Napoleon sent general 
 Bertrand with two regiments of light cavalry, all 
 he had in the absence of Murat, to contribute to 
 disengage marshal Ney, and ordered Lannes to 
 advance with his infantry. The intrepid Ney, 
 waiting until he was disengaged, did not suffer 
 himself to be disconcerted. While he renewed 
 with four regiments of hoi'se the charges of cavalry, 
 he sent the 25th light infantry to the left, in order 
 to support itself in the wood of Iserstedt, that Au- 
 gereau attempted to reach on his side ; he made 
 the battalion of grenadiers advance as far as to the 
 little wood which had protected the chasseurs, and 
 flung the battalion of voltigeurs on the village of 
 Vierzehn-Heiligen, to take it. But at the same 
 instant Lannes, coming to his succour, placed in 
 the village of Vierzehn-Heiligen the 21st regiment 
 of light infantrv ; and putting himself in person at 
 the head of the* 100th, 103rd, 34th, 04th, and 88th 
 of the line, opened and formed in face of the Prus- 
 sian infantry of general Grawert. This last formed 
 before the village of Vierzehn-Heiligen, with a 
 regularity of movement due to long practice. His 
 troops, arranged in battle order, commenced a fire 
 of musketry regular and terrible. The three small 
 detachments of Ney suffered cruelly ; but Lannes, 
 ascending on the right of the infantry of general 
 Grawert, endeavoured to break it, despite the x - e-
 
 1506. \ 
 October. ) 
 
 Vain efforts of prince 
 Huhenlohe. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Overthrow of ceneral 
 Ruchel. 
 
 173 
 
 peated charges of the cavalry of prince Hohenlohe, 
 wiio assisted him on his march. 
 
 Prince Hohenlohe supported his troops bravely 
 
 in the middle of every danger. The regiment of 
 Sanitl broke, and he re-foriued it under the lire. 
 He afterwards ordered the village of Vierzehn- 
 Eleiligen to be attacked by the regiment of Zastrow 
 With the bayonet, hoping by that to decide the vic- 
 tory. Still they announced to him that others of 
 the enemy's columns began to appear ; that gene- 
 ral Holzendorf, contesting with superior forces, did 
 not find himself in a state to second him ; that 
 nevertheless general Ruchel was near joining with 
 his corps. He judged, therefore, that it was best 
 to await his powerful aid, and had the village of 
 Yierzehn-Heiligen shelled, wishing to attack it by 
 flames before attacking it with the bayonet. He 
 in the meanwhile sent officer upon officer to gene- 
 ra] Ruchel, to press him to come up, promising him 
 the victory if he arrived in useful time, because in 
 his opinion the French were on the point of draw- 
 ing back. Vain illusion of a boiling but blind 
 valour! At that hour fortune had decided other- 
 wise. Augereau opened out finally to traverse the 
 wood of Iserstedt with the division of Desjardins, 
 disengaged the left of Ney, and began to exchange 
 musket-shots with the Saxons that defended the 
 Schtucke, while general Heudelet attacked them in 
 column on the great road from Jena to Weimar. 
 On the other side of the field of battle the corps of 
 marshal Soult, after having chased from the wood 
 of Closewitz the remainder of the brigade of Cer- 
 rini, as well as the fusiliers of Pelet, and Hung back 
 to a distance the detachment of Holzendorf, made 
 his camion heard on the flank of the Prussians. 
 Napoleon, seeing the progress of his two wings, and 
 learning the arrival of the troops remaining in the 
 rear, no longer feared to engage all his force pre- 
 sent on the ground, the guard included, and gave 
 the order to move in advance. An irresistible 
 impulse wan communicated to tin- whole line. They 
 pushed before them the broki n Prussians ; they 
 overturned them upon the inclosed ground that 
 oda from Landgrafenberg towards the valley 
 of the Ihn. The regiment of Hohenlohe, and the 
 grenadiers of 1 1 aim of the division of < Irawert, were 
 almost entirely destroyed by the fire or the bayonet. 
 General Grawert himself was seriously wounded 
 while directing his infantry. No corps held toge- 
 ther again. The brigade oi ( Yrrini, attacked with 
 grape-shot, fell back on the reserve of Dyherrn, 
 
 which Opposed in vain its five battalions lo the 
 
 movements of the French. Soon uncovered, this 
 
 .v itself outflanked, enveloped on all side,, 
 
 and obliged to disperse. Tie- corps of Tauenzien, 
 
 rallied for an instant, and brought again into tire 
 bv prime Hohenlohe, was drawn with the others 
 
 into the general rout. The Prussian hone, pro- 
 fiting by the absence of the French besvy cavalry, 
 charged often, to eoi er its broken infantry ; but the 
 French chasseurs and bussara made lead against 
 it. and, although many times driven back, returned 
 without ceasing to the charge, sustained ami in- 
 toxicated by the victory. A frightful oarnagc f"l 
 lowed this diordered retreat. Prisoners were made 
 at every step, and artillery was taken in entire 
 batteries. 
 
 In this great (peril cams at last, too late, gent ral 
 Ruchel. He inarched in two line, oi inlantry, 
 
 having on tie- hit the cavalry belonging to his 
 corps, and on the right the Saxon e a \ airy com- 
 manded by the- brave general Zeechwitz, which had 
 spontaneously come to take that position. He as- 
 cended the slope inclining from Landgrafenberg to 
 the Ilm. While be mounted, there descended like 
 a torrent about him the Prussians and French, the 
 
 one pursuing the other. He was thus received by 
 
 a sort of tempest from the time of his appearance 
 on the field of battle. While he advanced, his 
 heart torn at the view of the disaster, the French 
 threw themselves npou him with all the impe- 
 tuosity of victory. The cavalry which covered his 
 left flank was first dispersed. The unfortunate 
 general, the unwise friend, but the ardent lover of 
 his country, exposed his person in the first shock. 
 He was struck by a ball in the centre of the breast, 
 and borne off dying in the arms of his soldiers. 
 His infantry, deprived of the cavalry that covered 
 them, was attacked in flank by the troops of mar- 
 shal Soult, and threatened in front by those of 
 marshals Lannes and Ney. The battalions placed 
 at the extreme left of tin' line, seized with fear, 
 broke, and drew away in their flight the rest of 
 that corps of the army. To crown their misfor- 
 tunes, the French dragoons and cuirassiers arrived 
 at a gallop, under the command of Murat, impa- 
 tient to take a share in the battle. They sur- 
 rounded these unfortunate broken battalions, sabred 
 those who attempted to resist, and pursued the 
 others as far as the hanks of the 11m, where they 
 made a great number of prisoners. 
 
 There remained on the field of battle only the 
 two Saxon brigades of Burgsdorf and of Nehroff, 
 which, after having honourably defended the 
 Schnecke against the divisions of Heudelet and 
 Desjardins of the corps of Augereau, had been 
 forced from their position by the address of the 
 French tirailleur*, and were effecting their retreat 
 disposed in two squares. These squares presented 
 three faces of inlantry and artillery, this last 
 forming the rear face. These two Saxon brigades 
 retreated, halting by turns, firing their cannon, and 
 then resuming their march. The artillery of Au- 
 gereau fi Unwed them, and suit it-, balls among 
 t lulu. A cloud of French tvraHleurt succeeding, 
 harassed them with musketry. .Murat, who came 
 
 from overturning the remains of the corps of gene- 
 ral Ruchel, threw himself Upon these two SaXOU 
 
 brigades, and charged them I te with his dra- 
 goons and cuirassiers. The dragoons attacked them 
 
 the first tune without penetrating J but they re- 
 turned to the charge, penetrated, and broke them. 
 General Hautpoul, with the cuirassiers, attacked 
 the second brigade, broke it, and committed upon 
 it the ravage thai victorious cavalry exercises over 
 broken infantry. These unfortunate men had no 
 other resource than to surrender themselves pri- 
 soners. Tin- Prussian battalion of Boguslawaki 
 was broken in turn, and treated like the rest The 
 brave general Zeachwiti, who had hastened with 
 
 the Saxon cavalry te the succ ' of his infantry, 
 
 made vain efforts to support i Ikiii ; In- was driven 
 back, and forced to yield to the genera] rout 
 Murat rallied bis squadrons, and went towards 
 \\ • imar, to gather fresh trophies. At some dis- 
 tance from thai city detachments "f infantrj 
 valry.and artiller) were mingled pell mell upon the 
 summit of the great road, on a descent long and
 
 174 
 
 Results of the battle 
 of Jena. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Position of the 
 duke of Bruns- 
 wick's army. 
 
 1806. 
 October. 
 
 rapid, where it goes down to join tlie valley of the 
 Ilm. These troops, confusedly accumulated, were 
 supported on a little wood called the wood of We- 
 bicht. All on a sudden appeared the brilliant hel- 
 mets of the French cavalry. Some discharges of 
 musketry took place instinctively from this last 
 crowd. At that signal the mass, seized with ter- 
 ror, threw itself on the descent which terminates 
 in Weimar ; infantry, cavalry, and artillery all 
 flung themselves, the one upon the other, into the 
 gulf: a new disaster, and well deserving pity. 
 Murat sent forward a part of his dragoons, who 
 pressed with the sword's point this frightened co- 
 lumn, and pursued it as far as the streets of Wei- 
 mar. With his other men he made a circuit, and, 
 passing Weimar, cut oft" the retreat of the fugitives, 
 who surrendered by thousands. 
 
 Of 70,000 Prussians who appeared on the field 
 of battle, there was not a single body that remained 
 entire, nor a single one that retreated in order. 
 Of the 100,0110 French composing the corps of 
 marshals Sotilt, Lannes, Augereau, Ney, Murat, 
 and the guard, about 50,000 had been engaged, and 
 were sufficient to rout the Prussian army. The 
 greater part of that army, struck by a kind of 
 vertigo, threw away its arms, recognizing neither 
 colours nor officers, and fled upon all the roads of 
 Thuringia. About, 12.000 Prussians and Saxons, 
 dead or wounded, and about 4000 French, dead or 
 wounded, also covered the ground from Jena to 
 Weimar. There were seen extended on the plain, 
 in a more than common number, a quantity of 
 Prussian officers, who had nobly expiated with 
 their lives their foolish passion. Fifteen thousand 
 prisoners and 200 pieces of cannon were in the 
 hands of the French soldiers, intoxicated with de- 
 light. The howitzer-shells of the Prussians had 
 set fire to the town of Jena ; and from the level 
 where they had fought columns of flame were seen 
 rising from amid the depth of the obscurity below. 
 The balls of the French howitzers furrowed the 
 city of Weimar, and threatened it with a terrible 
 fate. The cries of the fugitives, who traversed it 
 in flight ; the noise of the cavalry of Murat, that 
 passed through the streets at full gallop, sabring 
 without mercy all that were not prompt in flinging 
 down their arms, had filled with terror this charm- 
 ing city, the noble asylum of letters, the peaceable 
 theatre of the finest mental communion that was 
 then in the world. At Weimar, as at Jena, a part 
 of the inhabitants had fled. The conquerors, as 
 masters, disposing of the town, nearly abandoned, 
 established their magazines and hospitals in the 
 churches and public places. Napoleon, returned 
 to Jena, employed himself, according to his cus- 
 tom, in having the wounded collected, and hearing 
 the cries of '• Long live the emperor !" mingle with 
 the groans of the dying. Terrible scenes, of which 
 the aspect would be intolerable, if the genius, the 
 heroism displayed, did not redeem the horror ; 
 and if glory, that light which embellishes every 
 thing, did not envelope it in its dazzling radi- 
 ance. 
 
 But, however great were the results thus obtained, 
 Napoleon did not yet know all the extent of his 
 victory, nor the Prussians the entire extent of their 
 misfortune. While the cannon resounded at Jena, 
 it was also heard at a distance to the right, in the 
 direction of Naumburg. Napoleon had frequently 
 
 regarded that side, saying to himself, the marshals 
 Davout and Bernadotte, who had between them 
 50,000 men, had little to fear from the rest of the 
 Prussian army, of which he believed he had the 
 larger part upon his own hands. He had renewed 
 his orders several times, to suffer themselves to be 
 slain to the last man sooner than abandon the bridge 
 of Naumburg. The prince of Hohenlohe, who re- 
 tired, his heart filled with sorrow, had also himself 
 heard cannon on the side of Naumburg, and felt in- 
 clined to go there himself, attracted and repelled 
 by turns according to the news received from 
 Awerstadt, the place where the duke of Bruns- 
 wick had encamped. Some couriers asserted that 
 his army had gained a complete victory ; others, on 
 the contrary, that it had sustained a disaster more 
 striking than that of the army of Hohenlohe. The 
 prince soon learned the truth. Here follows what 
 took place on that memorable day, marked by two 
 sanguinary battles fought five leagues the one from 
 the other. 
 
 The royal army set out the day before in five 
 divisions on the great road from Weimar to Naum- 
 burg, inarching over the high grounds, that, undu- 
 lating like the waves of the sea, mark the soil of 
 Thuringia, and terminate its abrupt hill-sides to- 
 wards the banks of the Saale. It had halted at 
 Awerstadt, a little in advance of the defile of 
 Kosen, a well-known military position. The divi- 
 sion had marched five or six leagues, and that was 
 thought a great deal for troops little inured to 
 the fatigues o'f war. It had therefore passed 
 the night of the 13th in front and rear of the 
 village of Awerstadt, and was very badly provi- 
 sioned for want of knowing how to subsist without 
 magazines. The duke of Brunswick, like the prince 
 of Hohenlohe, seemed to give little attention to the 
 defiles by which it was possible the French might 
 surprise him. Beyond Awerstadt, and towards 
 the bridge of Naumburg on the Saale, a sort of 
 basin is formed, tolerably large, traversed by a 
 brook, which after several windings rejoins the 
 Ilm and the Saale. This basin, the two slopes of 
 which incline towards each other, seems a complete 
 field of battle expressly formed to receive two 
 armies, opposing nothing to their encounter beyond 
 the slight obstacle of a brook easily overpassed. 
 The road from Weimar to Naumburg goes en- 
 tirely through it, descending first towards the 
 brook, which it crosses by a little bi'idge; it then 
 ascends the opposing slope, and traverses a village 
 called Hassenhatrsen, which is the only point of 
 support existing in this open country. Passing 
 Hassenhai'.scn, the road, having reached the outer 
 ridge of the basin thus described, ceases all at once 
 in that direction, and leads by rapid descents down 
 to the banks of the Saale. These form the defile of 
 Kosen. Below is a bridge known as the bridge of 
 Kosen or of Naumburg. 
 
 Since the French were known to be on the other 
 side of the Saale at Naumburg, it appeared na- 
 tural and wise to take up u position, at least with 
 one division, on the height above Kosen, not to 
 open a passage, which it was only requisite to 
 mask, but to defend its access from the French, 
 while the other divisions, covered by the Saale, 
 were pursuing their retreat. But there seemed no 
 precautionary spirit in the Prussian staff. It was 
 thought enough to send some patrols of cavalry to
 
 1806. 1 
 October. J 
 
 Conduct o r Davout 
 and liernadotte. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Davout stops tlie Prus- 
 sians at NaumlmiL'. 
 
 175 
 
 reconnoitre, who retreated after cxelian^in^ a few 
 pistol-shots with marshal Davout's advanced posts. 
 From these pat rob they learned that the French 
 had not established themselves in the defile of 
 i, and they believed themselves in safety. 
 Tiie next day three divisions, "ii crossing the basin 
 we have describi 1, were to occupy the precipitous 
 I 9 leading down to the banks of tin- Saale; and 
 the other two divisions, under marshal Kulkreuth, 
 marching in rear of the Brut three, had orders to 
 in-. Ives of the bridge of Freybourg over 
 the Uhstrut, to secure for the army the passa 
 that tributary of the Saale. 
 
 In war it is useless to think of many things, and 
 not of all ; for, unless ail are thought of and pro- 
 vided for, the point forgotten is suiv to be that by 
 which the enemy may cause a surprise. To neglect 
 the defile of Kosen at this moment was as grave 
 a fault as to have abandoned the Landgrafeuberg 
 to Napoleon. 
 
 Marshal Davout, whom Napoleon had stationed 
 at Naumburg, united to a most correct judgment 
 extraordinary firmness and inflexible severity. He 
 was stimulated to watchfulness as much by his love 
 of duty as by the consciousness of a natural in- 
 firmity, which consisted in a very great weakness 
 of sight. This illustrious warrior was thus in- 
 debted to a physical defect for a moral quality. 
 Discerning objects with difficulty, he applied him- 
 self to a close observation of them: when he had 
 himself seen them, he obliged others to examine 
 them; he incessantly questioned those around him, 
 took no rest, and permitted none to others, till he 
 thought himself sufficiently informed, and would 
 never resign himself to that state of uncertainty in 
 which so many generals are content to slumber, 
 trusting their own glory and the lives of their sol- 
 to chance. In the evening he had gone him- 
 self in person to reconnoitre what was passing in 
 the defile of Kitoen. \\<- learned from Bom 
 soners, made at the end of a skirmish, that the 
 grand Prussian army, led by the kin lt. tie- princes, 
 and the duke of Brunswick, was approaching. He 
 had immediately despatched a battalion to the 
 bridge "f Kosen, and dir< cied that his troops should 
 be on the march in the middle of the bight, so as to 
 occupy the heights which overl toked tie- Saale he. 
 fore tiie enemy could do it. Marshal Beroadotte 
 
 was then posted a' Nnumburg, with orders to re- 
 main there, where it was thought he would !.• 
 
 ful, and, above all, to -< id marshal Davout, if the 
 
 latter had Deed of his aid. Marshal Davout then 
 repair 1 to N lumburg, acquainted marshal Berua- 
 with what he had just learned, and proposed 
 that tiny should fight together, offering t • place 
 himself under his command, as tin- 46,000 men 
 which formed their joinl force were not too 
 many to make head against the 80,000 men 
 which n port gave to the Prussian army. Marshal 
 Davout pressed most strongly these wi ighty point-. 
 
 If marshal Lauie-v or any other, had been m the 
 
 of marshal Beroadotte, no time would have 
 been lost in fruitless explan itiona. Th 
 
 eing the enemy in front, wool. I have 
 embraced even a det I, and would have 
 
 (ought with unflinching ardour. But mai B r- 
 pad itte, putting th- raise I hit* rpretatioit i on the 
 emperor's order , obstinately persisted in quitting 
 Naumburg to throw hiinsell upon Dornberg, where 
 
 the enemy had not shown himself 1 . What could 
 have induced so strange a resolution ! It pro- 
 d from that detestable feeling, which so often 
 Sacrifices the blood of men and the safety of states 
 to hatred, to envy, or to vengeance. Marshal Ber- 
 oadotte entertained a deep dislike to marshal Da- 
 conceived from the most frivolous motives. 
 He set out, leaving marshal Davout to his own 
 Strength alone. The latter remained wkh three 
 divisions of infantry and three regiments id' light 
 cavalry. Marshal Bernadotto even took with him 
 a division of dragoons, which had been detailed 
 from the cavalry reserve to second the first and 
 third corps, and which he had no authority to dis- 
 pose of exclusively. 
 
 In the mean time marshal Davout did rot hesi- 
 tate as to the part he was about to take. He 
 resolved to block up the road of the enemy, and to 
 fall with the last man of his corps, rather than 
 have open a route which Napoleon fixed so | 
 an importance on closing. In the night between 
 the 13th and 14th he was in march towards the 
 bridge of Kosen, with the three divisions under 
 Gudin, Friar, t, and Morand, forming 26,000 men 
 under his standard, the greater part infantry, hap- 
 pily the host in the whole army ; for the discipline 
 was perfectly iron under the inflexible marshal. 
 It was with these 26,000 men that he prepared to 
 combat 70 000, according to some— 80,000, accord- 
 ing to others— hut in reality 66,000. As to his 
 soldiers, they were not accusl me i to count their 
 enemies, however numerous they might be. Vnd. r 
 every circumstance they felt themselves ob 
 and certain to conquer. 
 
 The marshal, after getting his troops under arms 
 long before daylight, passed the bridge of Kosen, 
 which he had taken care to occupy the evening 
 before, clambered the steeps of Kosen with Friant'a 
 division, and opened about six o'clock in the 
 morning upon the In i^hts, which form on 
 the sides of the basin of Hassenhausen. A few 
 instants after, the Prussians appc ared on the oppo- 
 
 ide, so that the two armies might have been 
 ived at the two extremities of this kind of 
 
 amphitheatre, if the fog, which at that hoar 
 
 ' The following is a letter from the SrapeTOt to tin- princ 
 of Ponto Carvo, written after, the battli which 
 
 confirms all the 1 .men [tavln las dissatis- 
 
 fac ion which Napoleon fit k : i : 1 mora aUoaglj than he 
 
 1 : — 
 
 the prince of Ponto C 
 
 •' Will, m> 
 
 •• I have your letter. lam net in tin- 1 erlml 
 
 ,11 the fa 1 -ii' 
 
 I mi the Held ef battle, and that might have boon 
 
 ; ial op 111 -. Howewi r. after a vi r, y»u 
 
 ought in have 1, ,ri .11 Pi rnb f, a hi : rhe prta 
 
 ., tl, ,1 marshal 
 Lannt - 1, g bed Jen >, marshal ft.u ■■ re ui K.ii 1, 1 id d 
 Hum,! N lumburg, Having railed to fulfil 
 lie night 10 dl 
 ■ Naumburg, you were bound to march to 
 
 out. Vou arera al Naumburg when 
 ,1 . 11 «.,s communicated to you, ai 
 
 ti p .,r return 
 , b) which you wi • the Bald of 
 
 battle, and roai had to bear, and did bear, the 
 
 principal efforts ol the enemy. All thai is eertatalr nasi 
 unfortunat. N ""''»» ; '
 
 176 
 
 Disposition of the 
 Prussian forces. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Battle of Awerstadt 
 and Naumburg. 
 
 1806. 
 October. 
 
 enveloped the battle-field of Jena, had not also 
 shrouded that of Awerstadt. The Prussian divi- 
 sion (Sehmettau's) marched in front, preceded by 
 an advance-guard of 600 horse, under the orders 
 of general Blucher. A little in the rear was the 
 king, with the duke of Brunswick and marshal 
 Mollendorf. General Blucher had descended as 
 far as the muddy brook which traverses the basin, 
 had passed the little bridge, and was ascending the 
 high road, when he encountered a detachment of 
 French cavalry, commanded by colonel Bourke 
 and captain Hulot. Pistol-shots were fired by both 
 parties through the fog, and on the French side a 
 few prisoners were made. The French detachment, 
 after this bold reconnoitring executed in the 
 middle of a thick mist, threw itself back under 
 cover of the 25th of the line, which marshal 
 Davout was leading on. He immediately ordered 
 up some pieces of artillery on the roadway itself, 
 which, pouring in grape-shot on general Blucher's 
 COO horsemen, soon put them in disorder. A horse 
 battery, which followed these 600 cavalry, was cap- 
 tured by two companies of the 25th, and carried 
 to Hassenhausen. This first rencontre revealed 
 the importance of its situation to each party. A 
 great battle was on the eve of taking place. Never- 
 theless the uncertainty produced by the fog could 
 but retard the engagement; for neither party dare 
 attempt any serious movement in presence of an 
 enemy that might be termed invisible. Marshal 
 Davout, commit from Naumburg to obstruct the 
 retreat of the Prussians, turned his back on the 
 Elbe and on Germany. He had the Saale on his 
 left, on his right some wooded heights : the Prus- 
 sians, coming from Weimar, had the contrary 
 position. Marshal Davout — thanks to the delay 
 caused by the fog — had time to post advantage- 
 ously Gudin's division, which arrived first, and 
 which consisted of the 25th, 85th, 12th, and 21st 
 of the line, and of six squadrons of chasseurs. 
 He placed the 85th in the village of Hassenhausen, 
 and as he found, a little in advance of the right of 
 Hassenhausen (on the French right), a small wood 
 of willows, he dispersed in this wood a strong force 
 of skirmishers, who opened a murderous fire on 
 the Prussian line, which they now began to dis- 
 cern. The three other regiments were disposed to 
 the right of the village ; two of them deployed, and 
 drawn up so as to present a double line ; the third 
 in column, ready to form in square upon the flank 
 of the division. The ground to the left of Hassen- 
 hausen was appropriated to the troops of general 
 Morand. As for those of general Friant, their 
 position was to be determined by the circum- 
 stances of the battle. 
 
 The king of Prussia, the duke of Brunswick, 
 and marshal Mollendorf, who had crossed the 
 brook with Sehmettau's division, halted on dis- 
 covering the dispositions which they perceived 
 made in advance of Hassenhausen, and deliberated 
 about attacking immediately. The duke of Bruns- 
 wick wished to wait for Wartenaleben's division, 
 so as to act together; but the king and marshal 
 Mollendorf were of opinion not to defer the battle. 
 Besides, the firing had become so hot, that it was 
 necessary to reply to it, and engage immediately. 
 They formed therefore, with Sehmettau's division, 
 in front of the ground occupied by the French, 
 having behind tin m Hassenhausen, which, ill the 
 
 middle of this open country, was thus becoming 
 the pivot of the battle. They tried to dislodge the 
 French skirmishers posted among the willows, 
 but without success ; for, besides their address, 
 these skirmishers were well in cover ; and then 
 they bore a little to the right of Hassenhausen, 
 (the right of the French, and the left of the Prus- 
 sians,) so as to assure themselves of a plunging 
 and murderous discharge. Sehmettau's division ap- 
 proaching the lines of French infantry to pour their 
 fire into it, and the fog beginning to clear, it dis- 
 covered Gudin's division of infantry ranged to the 
 right of Hassenhausen. General Blucher, on sight 
 of this, rallied his numerous cavalry, and, making 
 a circuit, came on to charge Gudin's division in 
 flank. But the latter did not allow him time. 
 The 25th, which was in the first line, threw its 
 right battalion instantly into a square ; the 24th, 
 which was in the second line, followed the ex- 
 ample ; the 12th regiment, which was in the rear, 
 formed its two battalions into one single square ; 
 and these three masses, with bayonets bristling, 
 waited with quiet boldness the charge of general 
 Blucher's squadrons. The generals Petit, Gudin, 
 and Gauthier had each taken post within a square. 
 The marshal rode from one to the other. General 
 Blucher, distinguished by his reckless daring, exe- 
 cuted the first charge, taking care to direct it in 
 person. But his squadrons arrived not at the 
 bayonets ; a shower of bullets stopped their way, 
 and forced them to a hasty retreat. General 
 Blucher had had his horse killed under him ; he 
 mounted that of a trumpeter, and three times led 
 his men again on to the charge ; but each time 
 without success ; and he was at length himself 
 hurried away in the rout of his cavalry. The 
 French squadrons of chasseurs, carefully kept in 
 reserve under the protection of a little wood, darted 
 on the rear of this fugitive body, and compelled 
 it to disappear still more quickly, killing some 
 of its men. 
 
 Up to this point the third corps had kept its 
 ground without any unsteadiness. Friant's divi- 
 sion, which had behaved so well at Austerlitz, 
 appeared at this instant on the place of combat. 
 Marshal Davout, seeing that the efforts of the 
 enemy were directed on the right of Hassenhausen, 
 moved Friant's division towards that place, and 
 concentrated Gudin's division around Hassen- 
 hausen, which, according to all appearance, was 
 about to sustain a most violent attack - . He sent 
 orders at the same time to general Morand to 
 hasten his movements, so as to place himself on 
 the left of the village. 
 
 On the part of the Prussians, the second divi- 
 sion, that of Wartensleben, arrived quite breath- 
 less, retarded, as it had been, by the incumbrance of 
 the baggage, which had pressed upon its rear. The 
 division of Orange also arrived with loss of breath, 
 having been detained by the same cause. The 
 want of expertness in the habits of war rendered 
 all the movements of this army slow, unconnected, 
 and embarrassed. 
 
 The moment was now come when the struggle 
 was to be entered on with fury. The division of 
 Wartensleben directed its efforts towards the left 
 of Hassenhausen, while that of Sehmettau, boldly 
 'leaded by the Prussian officers, advanced even be- 
 fore Hassenhausen itself, and then spread its wings
 
 1806. ■» 
 October. J 
 
 The duke of Brunswick 
 
 mortally wounded. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Marshal Davout 
 wounded 
 
 177 
 
 around the village, so as to Burround it. Fortu- 
 nately three of general Gudin's regiments had 
 thrown themselves there. The 85th, which occu- 
 pied the front of it, behaved on that day with heroic 
 valour. Forced back on the interior of the village, 
 it defended all entrance into it with invincible firm- 
 ness, replying with a continuous and well-directed 
 fire to the frightful weight of the Prussian vollies. 
 This regiment had already lost half its effective 
 strength ; still it held firm without tottering. In- 
 the meanwhile Wartensleben's division, profiting 
 from Morand's division not having as yet occupied 
 the left of Hassenhausen, threatened to turn the 
 village, jircceded by an immense force of cavalry. 
 On the sight of this, general Gudin had formed the 
 fourth of his regiments, the 12th, on the left of 
 Hassenhausen, to prevent his being outflanked. It 
 was evident to all eyes that in this open field, the vil- 
 lage of Hassenhausen, being the only hold of the one, 
 and the only obstacle to the others, it would be dis- 
 puted with the greatest obstinacy. The brave 
 general Schmettau,at the head of his foot soldiers, 
 received a wound which obliged him to retire from 
 the contest. The duke of Brunswick, seeing the 
 obstinate resistance of the French, felt a secret 
 despair, and believed that the catastrophe was ap- 
 proaching of which the presentiment bad haunted 
 his troubled soul for a month previously. This old 
 warrior, hesitating in the council, but never in the 
 held, would put himself at the bead of the Prussian 
 grenadiers, and conduct them on to the assault of 
 Hassenhausen, following a bending of the ground 
 which was beside the causeway, by which the 
 village might be more securely reached. While he 
 was exhorting his men and leading them on the 
 way a shot struck him in the face, and inflicted a 
 mortal wound. He was led off, after a handker- 
 chief was thrown over him, that the army might 
 not recognize the illustrious wounded. The news, 
 however, spread, and a noble rage seized the 
 Prussian staff. The worthy MoUendorf resolved 
 Dot to survive the day : he advanced, and in his 
 turn was mortally struck. The king and the 
 princes shared danger with the lowest of the sol- 
 diery. The kin.; li.id a hone lulled, and remained 
 under fire. The division of Orange at length ar- 
 rived. It was divided into two brigades: one was 
 directed to reinforce Wartensleben's division on 
 the left of Hassenhausen (the French left), and 
 endeavour to destroy that position, by turning it ; 
 the other was to fill I on the right which 
 
 Sehmettau'a division had left vacant, to throw itself 
 
 on Hassenh , d. Thi ond brigade was, above 
 
 all things, to stop Friant's division, which was be- 
 ginning t » gain -round on the Hank of the Pi U 
 
 army. 
 
 Marshal Davout, incessantly present where dan- 
 ger was greatest, pushed to the right ol Friant's 
 division, which exchanged a warm fire of musketrj 
 with the brigade of the Orange division, that was 
 opposed to it. In the centre, even at II. 
 
 Dj he clu ■ n d all by the announcement of 
 Moraud's arrival. On the left, where Morand^ at 
 length appeared, he ran to bring into line this divi- 
 sion, not the braveal ol the three, for all thn e w< re 
 equally so, but the most numerous. The intrepid 
 Morand led five regiments, the 13th light infantry, 
 and the <;ist, .".1 '. SO li, and 17th of the hue. 
 These five regiments presented nine battalions, the 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 tenth having been left in guard of the bridge of 
 Kbsen. They approached to occupy the level 
 ground to the left of Hassenhausen. The Prussians 
 
 bad levelled along this ground a mum runs artillery, 
 ready to thunder on the troops that might show 
 themselves. Each of the nine battalions, after 
 having gained the steeps of Kbsen, had to open 
 out on the plain under the grape-shot of the enemy. 
 They formed nevertheless, one following the others 
 in succession the instant they arrived in line, in 
 spite of the repeated discharges of the Prussian 
 artillery. The lath li^ht infantry appeared first, 
 formed, and bore rapidly forward; but, being too 
 much in advance, it was obliged to fall back on the 
 other regiments. The (list, which came si j > after 
 these, received as the 13th had been, was, however, 
 not shaken. A soldier, whom his comrades had 
 named " the emperor" on account of some resem- 
 blance to Napoleon, perceiving in his company 
 a little wavering, ran forward, placed himself in 
 front, and cried out, " My friends, follow your i m- 
 perorl" All followed him, and closed up under 
 this shower of grape. The nine battalions finished 
 their formations and marched on in columns, hav- 
 ing their artillery in the intervals between one bat- 
 talion and another. Marshal Davout, leading on 
 these battalions, received a shot in bis head, which 
 pierced his hat as high as the cockade, and carried 
 away his hair without breaking in upon the skull. 
 The nine battalions placed themselves in face of 
 the enemy's line, aiid forced back Wartensleben's 
 division, as well as the brigade of Orange, which 
 had come to its relief. They spread out on gaining 
 the ground flanking Hassenhausen, and obliged 
 Sehmettau'a division to call in its wings again, 
 which were extended around the village. After .i 
 sufficiently long firing, Moraud's division saw a 
 fresh storm gathering on its head : this was an 
 enormous mass of cavalry, which was collected in 
 the rear of Wartensleben's division. The royal 
 army led with it the beat and the greatest portion 
 of the Prussian cavalry. It could present 14.0(10 
 or 15,000 horsemen, mounted in a most superior 
 manner, and drilled to manoeuvre by long ex< raise. 
 
 The Prussians determined, with this mass of 
 
 cavalry, to make one desperate effort against 
 Morand'a division. They hoped, upon the level 
 ground which separates Haaaenhausen from the 
 Sanle, to crush them under then- horses' feet, or to 
 drive them headlong, from top to bottom, down the 
 steeps of Kbsen. If they should succeed, the left 
 of ibe l'r. ih'Ii army b< ing overthrown, Haasenban- 
 sen surrounded, anil Gudin taken in the- village, 
 Friant's division could onlj beat a hurried retreat. 
 But general Morand, on the' aspect of this collect- 
 ing cavalry, dispe.s el seven oj his battalions in 
 squares, and left two of them still in line, so as to 
 keep up bis communication with Haasenhausen. 
 lb' established himself in <-ne- eel the' squares, mar. 
 tlial Davout took post in another; ami they pre- 
 pared to receive with firm root tin- him i ol t nemi< i 
 that was ready to thunder down upon them. AH 
 ; ,t once the ranks of Wartenaleben's Infantry 
 opened, ami shot forth tin' torrents ol Prussian 
 cavalry, which upon this point could not count leas 
 
 than 10,000 men, conducted bj pr William. 
 
 They continued making a succession of cha 
 that wen renewed after each repulse. Each 
 time- our Intrepid soldiery, waiting with perfect 
 
 N
 
 178 
 
 Tha Prustiam resolve 
 to retreat. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Dreadful loss on 
 botk sides. 
 
 f 1806. 
 \ October. 
 
 coolness the orders of their officers, suffered the 
 enemy's squadrons to approach within thirty or forty 
 paces of their lines, then poured in their fire with 
 such precision and deadly effect, that they brought 
 down hundreds of men and horses, forming thus 
 for themselves a complete rampart of dead bodies. 
 In the intervals of their charges, general Morand 
 and marshal Davout passed from one square to 
 another, to give to each the encouragement of their 
 presence. The Prussian horse repeated these rude 
 assaults with the utmost fury, but never arrived 
 even up to the bayonets. At last, after a frequent 
 repetition of this tumultuous scene, the enemy, dis- 
 couraged, retreated behind the ranks of its infantry. 
 General Morand, then breaking his squares, formed 
 them in columns of attack, and pushed down upon 
 the division of Wartensleben. The Prussian in- 
 fantry, attacked with such vigour, recoiled before 
 the French soldiers, and retreated downwards to 
 the bank of the brook. At the same time, general 
 Friant, on the right, forced the first brigade of the 
 Orange division to retire ; and in consequence of 
 this double movement, Schmettau's division, de- 
 prived of its supports, horribly decimated, was 
 obliged to give way, and retire from the village 
 of Hassenbausen, disputed with so much violence 
 with Gudin's division. 
 
 The three Prussian divisions were thus with- 
 draw]) beyond the marshy brook which ran through 
 the field of battle. The French army paused an 
 instant to take breath ; for the unequal combat 
 had lasted from six o'clock, and the soldiers were 
 expiring with fatigue. Gudin's division, charged 
 with the defence of Hassenhausen, had sustained 
 enormous loss ; but Friant's division had not suf- 
 fered so much ; Morand's division, little ill-treated 
 by the cavalry, as all infantry is which has not 
 been broken, had suffered more from the artillery, 
 but found itself notwithstanding in good fighting 
 condition ; and all three were ready to recommence, 
 if needful, in order to make head against the two 
 Prussian divisions of reserve that had remained 
 spectators of the combat upon the opposite bank of 
 the basin in which the battle had taken place. 
 These two divisions of reserve, Kuhnheim's and 
 d'Arniin's under marshal Kalkreuth, were await- 
 ing the signal to enter the line in their turn, and to 
 mew the struggle. 
 
 Meanwhile deliberations were going on around 
 the king of Prussia. General Ulucher advised re- 
 uniting the entire mass of the cavalry to the two 
 divisi ins of reserve, and making one desperate 
 onset upon the enemy. The king was inclined at 
 first to share in this opinion ; but others per- 
 suaded him that if he would put off the attack for 
 only one day, he would be rejoined by prince 
 Hohenlohe and by the corps of general Ruchel, 
 and might crush the French by means of this 
 junction of forces. The supposition was not well- 
 founded; for if he was permitted to calculate on 
 the accession of the corps of Hohenlohe and of 
 Ruchel, the French, who were then in his front, 
 might also be joined by the grand army. No 
 chance then could be worth that which they might 
 find in a last effort, attempted at once, and with 
 the determination to conquer or to die, though 
 that chance itself was not very great, in regard to 
 the condition of Friant's and Morand's divisions. 
 However, a retreat was ordered. The king had 
 
 shown consummate bravery, but bravery is not 
 character. Besides, those around him were most 
 deeply depressed. 
 
 In the afternoon they commenced their move- 
 ment in retreat. Marshal Kalkreuth advanced to 
 cover it with his two fresh divisions. General 
 Morand had profited by the accident of some 
 ground called the Sonnenberg, which was situated 
 to the left of the field of battle, to place there some 
 batteries which could open a most inconvenient 
 fire on the right of the Prussians. Marshal 
 Davout moved up his three divisions, and led 
 them quickly beyond the brook. They marched 
 on notwithstanding the fire of the divisions of 
 reserve, followed them up within gun-shot, and 
 forced them to fight during their retreat, without 
 disorder, it is true, but most precipitately. If 
 marshal Davout had had the regiments of dra- 
 goons which had been carried away the evening 
 before by marshal Bernadotte, he would have 
 made thousands of prisoners. He took, as it was, 
 more than three thousand, besides one hundred 
 and fifteen pieces of cannon, an enormous capture 
 for a corps which itself possessed but forty-four. 
 Being arrived on the other side of the basin in 
 which they had encountered, he caused his infantry 
 to halt, and, perceiving in the environs of Apolda 
 the troops of marshal Bernadotte, he invited the 
 latter to fall upon the retreating enemy, and to 
 pick up the vanquished, as his own corps, worn 
 out with fatigue, could no longer follow them. 
 The soldiers of marshal Bernadotte, who were eat- 
 ing their soup around Apolda, were very indignant, 
 and asked what they should do with their courage 
 at such a moment. 
 
 The Prussian army had lost 3000 prisoners, 
 9000 or 10.000 men killed or wounded, besides the 
 duke of Brunswick, marshal Mollendorf, genera! 
 Schmettau, mortally wounded, and, above all, tin 
 immense number of officers, who had bravely done 
 their duty. The corps of marshal Davout had 
 suffered most cruel loss. Of 2fi,000 men he counted 
 7000 killed and wounded. Generals Morand and 
 Gudin were wounded; general de Billy was killed; 
 half the generals of brigade and colonels were 
 dead, or suffering dreadful wounds. No such mur- 
 derous day since Marengo had stained with blood 
 the armies of France, and never has so great an 
 example of heroic firmness been given since by a 
 general and his soldiers. 
 
 The royal army retreated under the protection 
 of the two divisions of reserve in command of 
 marshal Kalkreuth. The rendezvous appointed 
 for all the corps disorganized by the battle was 
 Weimar, in the real' of the prince of Hohenlohe, 
 win. was believed to be still safe. Thither the 
 king marched, sadly no doubt, but calculating, it 
 not on a return of fortune, at least upon a retreat 
 in good order,— thanks to the/0,000 men under 
 prince Hohenlohe and general Ruchel. He eon- 
 tinned his route, accompanied by a strong detach- 
 ment of cavalry, when he discovered the troops of 
 marshal Bernadotte on the skirts of the field of 
 battle of Jena. On thus perceiving the enemy, he 
 no longer doubted that some misfortune had be- 
 fallen prince Hohenlohe's army. He quitted pre- 
 cipitately the road to Weimar, to throw himself 
 towards the right on that of Sommerda. But 
 the truth soon became fully known ; for prince
 
 1806. \ 
 October. J 
 
 Precipitate flight of 
 the Prussians. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Conduct of Bernadotte 
 severely censured. 
 
 17» 
 
 Hohenlohe, with his force, was at the same ino- 
 ment seeking; near the king's army that support 
 which the king's army was seeking from him. 
 Tiny both soon fell in with detached bands that 
 wen fleeing in all directions, and each learned 
 from the other that he had been vanquished. The 
 disorder which at first was not great in the king's 
 ranks, because they were not pursued, at this news 
 reached its height. A sudden terror seized all 
 minds ; they began to fly on every road, seeing 
 the enemy everywhere, and talcing fugitives as 
 full of fright as themselves at the victorious 
 French. To add to their misfortune, they found 
 the roads blocked up with an enormous m.. 
 baesTtSe, which the Prussian armies, enervated bv 
 a long peace, carried in their train, and in a like 
 mass such a quantity of royal baggage as was not 
 c .nsistent with the personal simplicity of Frederick- 
 William, but which the presence of the court ren- 
 dered necessary. 
 
 Pressed to escape from danger, the soldiers of 
 the two Prussian armies regarded these obstacles 
 to the rapidity of their flight as a calamity. The 
 cavalry turned" aside, and, fi\ in g across the country, 
 sived itself by single squadrons alone. The in- 
 fantry broke their ranks, laying every thing waste, 
 overturning the impeding baggage, leaving the 
 care of pillaging it to the conqueror, anxious only 
 t. secure their safety. The two divisions of mar- 
 shal Kalkreuth, which last alone remained in good 
 order, soon became infected with the general de- 
 spair, and, in spite of the energy of their chief, 
 began to disperse themselves. The ranks were 
 deserted hourly, and the soldiers who had not 
 shared in the ardour of their officers, found it 
 more easy to get rid of the consequences of the 
 defeat by throwing away their arms, and hilling 
 themselves in the woods. The mads were strewed 
 with pouches, muskets, and cannon. In this man- 
 ner tin? Prussian army n treated acroBS the plains 
 of Thuringia, and towards the Hart/, mountains, 
 itiii^' a very different spectacle from that 
 which it had offered oidy a lew days before, when 
 it promised to conduct itself in presence of the 
 French quite differently from the Austrians and 
 Russians '. 
 
 The amy of Hohenlohe fled partlyto the right 
 towards S .mmerd.i, partly to the left towards 
 Brfort beyond Weimar. A moiety of the royal 
 mo., that which had fir-t quitted the field of 
 
 • with orders to r t re on Weimar, finding 
 
 • iwn in the hands ui the enemy, passed on In 
 Kriuit, carrying with it ths duke id Brunswick, 
 inaralud Mollendnrf, and general Scl itau, its 
 
 mortally wounded. The rest ol the royal 
 army marched towards Sotnmerdaj not thai it had 
 been ordered to do i \ bni became Sommerda and 
 Erfurt were" the to nm m*t with in the rear ol the 
 
 Country in which the battle had taken place. No 
 
 ,,,,,. bad b en able to give directions til the 
 
 madness of terror had thus noised <>n all ranks. 
 Tlie king himself, surrounded by some eat dry, 
 
 marched towards Sommerda. The prii i Ho- 
 
 heulohe, who had drawn off 1900 or I6O0 hone, 
 had but 200 when be arrived neat day on the 
 
 i We here only reproduce the picture drawn by ihr Prus- 
 rise oaesn themselves iii the dMbrant raeUali which they 
 
 liave published. 
 
 morning of the loth at Tcimstiidt. He sought 
 intelligence of the king, who also Bought for tidiugs 
 of him. None of the commanders knew where the 
 others might be found. 
 
 During this terrible night the conquerors Buffer d 
 no less than the conquered. They had only the 
 hare earth for their bed, reposiug there through 
 the coldest night, having scarcely any thing to eat 
 at the end of a day of battle, from its character 
 little likely to be productive of food. Many of 
 them, more or less grievously hurt, lay on the 
 ground by the side of their wounded enemies, 
 mingling their groans together. The best or- 
 ganized means of transport could not in so short 
 an interval suffice for 12,000 or 15,000 wounded 
 men. Napoleon, from kindness as much as from 
 calculation, had, during several hours, personally 
 watched their being carried off the field, and had 
 at length retired to Jena, where he found an accu- 
 mulation of good news, in the announcement of a 
 second victory, more glorious still than that which 
 had just hi en gained under his own eyes. Heat 
 first refused to believe all that was told him, 
 because marshal Bernadotte, to excuse his unpar- 
 donable conduct by a lie, told him that marshal 
 Davout had scarcely 0000 or 10.0J0 men m his 
 front. Captain Trnbriand, an officer attached to 
 marshal Davout, having come to acquaint him 
 that he had had 70,000 men to fight against, lie 
 would not credit this report, and replied to him, 
 " Your marshal saw double." But when he knew 
 all the details, he expressed the liveliest joy, and 
 loaded with praises, and Soon after with rewards, 
 tile admirable conduct of the third corps. He was 
 indignant against marshal Bernadotte, and greatly 
 surprised. At the first moment he del' rmined to 
 punish him openly, and even thought of ordering 
 a court martial on him. But their relationship, 
 and a sort of foible for punishing only by seven; 
 reproaches, soon caused his resolutions of severity 
 to degenerate into a dissatisfaction « Inch he thence- 
 forth took no pains to conceal. Marshal Bernadotte 
 got over it with severe letters from prince Bertbier 
 
 and Napoleon himself; letters which must have 
 
 rendered him deeply mortified, if he had had ih • 
 heart of a citizen and a soldier. 
 
 The next day marshal Duroo was despatched to 
 Naumburg. He was tlie bearer ol ■ letter from 
 the emperor to marshal Dav ut. and brilliant 
 acknowledgments of satisfaction for all the eor| ■ of 
 Ins army. u If our soldiers and yourself, marshal," 
 a .el Na|M>lenn, " have ettablitdied eternal claims to 
 my esteem and gratitude." Duroc had orderl to 
 repair to the hospitals, to vi-it the wounded, to 
 eomey to them the promise ol splendid rewards, 
 and to distribute money to all those who were in 
 need ol it. The lettt r of the em|>emr was read In 
 tin- rooms in which the wounded win- crowded ; 
 and these union una to m. n, i-ryiog, " Long live the 
 emperor I" expressed their desire of recov< ring life, 
 only that they might again devote it to him. 
 
 Napoleon, in. in the very next day, the 10 h 0o- 
 tob r, set aboul reaping the fruits »t Ins victory 
 
 with that activity which no captain of ancient or 
 
 modern tine s h ever < quslli d. Ha Brsi ordered 
 
 that marshals DaVoUt, Laiines. ami A uc,ercaii, 
 
 whose corps li f Ij Buffi red In the day of 
 
 the Mth, should take two or three days' r 
 Nauniburg, at Jena, and at Weimar. But mar- 
 M 3
 
 180 
 
 Napoleon offers peace 
 to the Saxons. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The French take pos- 
 session of Hesse. 
 
 < 1806. 
 '(.October. 
 
 shal Bernadotte, whose soldiers had not fired a 
 gun ; marshals Soult and Ney, who had had only 
 a part of their troops engaged ; Murat, whose 
 cavalry had had only fatigues to encounter ; — 
 these were all ordered in advance, to harass the 
 retreating Prussians, and to gather the spoils, easy 
 enough to capture in the state of disorganization 
 into which the vanquished had fallen. Murat, who 
 had slept at Weimar, had orders to march with 
 his dragoons upon Erfurt on the morning of the 
 15th, and Ney to follow him immediately. Mar- 
 shal Soult was to follow the enemy's army by way 
 of Sommerda, Greussen, Sondershausen, and Nord- 
 hausen, and to pursue it across Thuringia, towards 
 the mountains of the Hartz, where it seemed that 
 it would in its disorder seek a refuge. Marshal 
 Bernadotte was enjoined that very day to direct 
 his march upon the Elbe, keeping towards the 
 right of the army by Halle and Dessau. It is to 
 be observed that Napoleon, so careful to concen- 
 trate his force on the eve of a great battle, the 
 very next day, when he had defeated his enemy, 
 spread his corps like a vast net-work, so as to 
 intercept all who were in retreat ; thus skilful in 
 modifying the application of the principles of war 
 according to circumstances, and always with that 
 exactness and design which assures success. 
 
 These orders being given, Napoleon applied 
 himself to political affairs. The direction that 
 the Prussians were taking in their retreat was dis- 
 tancing them from Saxony. Napoleon, moreover, 
 had now in his power a good portion of the Saxon 
 troops, who, although they had fought honourably, 
 were but little satisfied, not only with the war 
 having been carried into their own country, but 
 with other injurious proceedings of which they 
 conceived they had cause of complaint against the 
 Prussians. Napoleon therefore assembled the 
 officers of the Saxon troops in one of the halls of 
 the university at Jena. He addressed them in 
 words which were immediately translated by an 
 individual of the Foreign Office, who was placed 
 near him. He told them he knew not why he was 
 at war with their sovereign, who was a prince at 
 once wise, peaceful, and worthy of respect ; that 
 he had even drawn the sword to rescue their 
 country from the humiliating dependence in which 
 it was held by Prussia, and that he did not see 
 why the Saxons and the French, with so few mo- 
 tives for hatred between them, should persist in 
 fighting against each other ; that, for his part, he 
 was ready to give the first proof of his friendly 
 disposition, by restoring them to their liberty, and 
 by respecting Saxony, provided they would pro- 
 mise, on their side, no longer to bear arms against 
 France, and that the principal among them should 
 go to Dresden, there to propose and cause peace 
 to be made. The Saxon officers, seized with ad- 
 miration at the sight of the extraordinary man 
 who spoke to them, and moved by the generosity 
 of his propositions, replied by unanimously swear- 
 ing that neither they nor their soldiers should 
 serve any longer during the war. Some offered 
 immediately to start for Dresden, with an assur- 
 ance that before three days should elapse they 
 would bring him the consent of their sovereign. 
 
 By this clever proceeding Napoleon sought to 
 undermine the spirit of German patriotism, which 
 had been so strongly excited by the solicitude of 
 
 Prussia, and, in thus treating with kindness a 
 prince who was justly respected, to acquire for 
 himself the right, of treating with rigour a prince 
 who was esteemed by no one. This last was the 
 elector of Hesse, who had contributed by his false- 
 hoods first to provoke the war, and then, when war 
 had commenced, to bargain for his adhesion, re- 
 solving to give himself to whichever of the two 
 powers might be favoured with victory. He was 
 a secret enemy, devoted to the English, among 
 whom he had deposited his wealth. Napoleon 
 took care, in advancing on Prussia, not to leave 
 such an enemy in his rear. While the principles 
 of war impelled him to get rid of such, those of 
 upright policy did not forbid his doing so ; for this 
 prince had been a faithless neighbour to both 
 Prussia and France. Immediately, and without 
 proceeding further, he ordered the eighth corps to 
 quit Mayence and to repair to Cassel, though this 
 corps did not number more than 10,000 or 12,000 
 men. He directed his brother Louis to march by 
 Westphalia upon Hesse, and to join marshal Mortier 
 with 12,000 or 15,000 men, in order to concur in car- 
 rying out the consequences of the victory. Never- 
 theless, not judging it politic to charge one of his 
 brothers with so rigorous a commission, he advised 
 king Louis to send his troops to marshal Mortier, 
 and to give up to him the task of carrying out the 
 expropriation of the house of Hesse with that 
 obedience and honesty which characterized him. 
 Marshal Mortier was to declare that the elector of 
 Hesse had ceased to reign, (in the form already 
 employed in regard to the house of Naples,) to 
 possess himself of his territory in the name of 
 France, and to disband his army, offering employ- 
 ment in Italy to those of the Hessian soldiery who 
 still chose to remain on service. These were, for 
 the most part, robust men, well disciplined, accus- 
 tomed to bear arms out of their own country for 
 the cause of those who paid them, especially for 
 the cause of the English, who had employed them 
 in India with great advantage 1 . The Hessian 
 army was composed of 32,000 soldiers of all arms. 
 It was a most important point not to leave such a 
 formidable force behind him ; above all, with the 
 intention that Napoleon entertained of proceeding 
 so far to the northward. 
 
 With these divers orders, Napoleon sent to the 
 Rhine the news of his brilliant success — news 
 which should dissipate the hopes of his enemies, 
 the fears of his friends, and increase among the 
 soldiers remaining in the interior the zeal for 
 rejoining the grand army. According to his cus- 
 tom, he added to it a multitude of instructions for 
 the levy of conscripts, for the organization of 
 depots, for the departure of detachments destined 
 to recruit the battalions, and for the regulation of 
 civil affairs, which, under his reign, never suffered 
 from the more busy occupations of war. 
 
 From Jena Napoleon repaired to Weimar. He 
 there found all the court of the grand-duke, and 
 the grand-duchess, the sister of the emperor 
 Alexander. The grand-duke himself was alone 
 wanting, charged as he was with the command of a 
 
 1 How wholly untrue! England hired them in the Ame- 
 rican war from the "shambles" of this prince, according to 
 Lord Chatham's phrase, to destroy her own colonists, but 
 never to serve the East India Company. Tramlalor.
 
 13)6. \ 
 October, j 
 
 Ruse of peneral 
 Blucher. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Conduct of the king 
 of PrusMa. 
 
 181 
 
 Prussian division. This polished and learned 
 court had made Weimar the Athens of modern 
 Germany; and under its protection Gb'the, Schiller, 
 and Wit-land lived honoured, rich, and happy. 
 The grand-duchess, who was accused of having 
 contributed to the war, rushed into the presence 
 of Napoleon, and. troubled by the tumult which 
 reigned around her, cried as she approached 
 him, " Sire, I recommend to you my subjects !" 
 " Madam, you see what war is," replied Napoleon 
 coldly to her. Beyond this he took no other venge- 
 ance. He treated this hostile but lettered court 
 as Alexander had treated a city of Greece ; he 
 ■bowed himself full of courtesy to the grand- 
 duchess, expressed to her no displeasure at the 
 conduct of her husband, ordered the city of 
 Weimar to be respected, and that every needful 
 care should be provided for the wounded generals, 
 with which the town was full. From Weimar he 
 turned to the right, and directed his course to 
 Naumburg, that he might himself congratulate 
 marshal Davout, whilst bis lieutenants were pur- 
 suing to the utmost the Prussian army. 
 
 The indefatigable Murat had, during this inter- 
 val, gone with the, squadrons to Erfurt, and in- 
 vested the place, which, although not of much 
 strength, was nevertheless surrounded with tole- 
 rably good walls and provided with considerable 
 supplies. It was over-tilled with the wounded and 
 fugitives. Marshal Mollendorf bad been trans- 
 ported there : to him Napoleon had recommended 
 most especial attention. Murat summoned Er- 
 furt, and backed his summons by marshal Ney's 
 infantry. There were none among the Prussian 
 fugitives at all capable of making head against 
 the French, and of replying with any energetic re- 
 sistance to the impetuosity of their pursuit. Be- 
 sides, 14,000 or 15.000 runaways, of whom 6000 
 were wounded, the greater part dying, and un- 
 heard-of disorder, could scarcely be the elements 
 of defence. The place capitulated on the evening 
 of the 15th. Besides the 6000 wounded Prussians, 
 the victors captun d !)000 prisoners and an im- 
 mense booty. Murat and Ney set out immediately 
 from thence, to follow the main body of the 
 Prussian army. 
 
 Murat bad s.-ut Kb in's dragoons toWeissensee to 
 intercept tie- corps which was flying insulated from 
 the rest. This town was between Sommerda, where 
 the king had passed the first night, and Sonders- 
 hansen, wbi re be was to pass tie- second. Gene- 
 ral Klein there outmarched the Prussians. Gene- 
 ral Blucher, arriving with bis cavalry, was greatly 
 surprised <•< meet already on bis road Murat a dra- 
 goons. Having demanded a parley, he entered on 
 a sort of negotiation with general Klein ; and re- 
 ferring to a letter written by Napoleon to the king 
 of Prussia,— a letter containing, it is said, off) 
 p eacei — he affirmed, on bis word, thai an armistice 
 bad just been signed. General Kb in believed 
 general Blucher, and placed no further obstacle to 
 his retreat. This raw saved tin- wreck of the 
 Prussian army. General Blucher and marshal 
 Ealkreuth wore thus enabled to reach Gn i 
 
 But marshal Soult was still following tins corps by 
 
 the same route. The nexl day, the 16th, in the 
 
 morning, he came up with marshal Kalknuib's 
 rear-miard at Greussen, who, willing to gain time, 
 tried in his turn the story of the ai mistier. Mar- 
 
 shal Soult would not allow himself to be taken in 
 by it ; he declared he did not credit the existence 
 of an armistice ; and, after having employed some 
 moments in parleyings, so as tii rive ins infantry 
 time to rejoin him, he attacked Greussen, carried 
 it by main force, and again picked up more pri- 
 soners, horses, and artillery. The 17th, the day- 
 following, the pursuers ami pursued made their 
 way on towards Sonderohauseu and Nordhausen, 
 the latter abandoning to the former their baggage, 
 cannon, and whole battalions. These had already 
 taken upwards of 200 pieces of cannon upon the 
 different roads of retreat, and several thousand 
 prisoners. 
 
 The king of Prussia having arrived at Nord- 
 hausen, there found the prince of Hohenlohe. Con- 
 fiding still in the talents of this gent ral, who bad 
 
 been beaten as well as the duke of Brunswick, but 
 who had, in the eyes of the army, the merit of 
 having disapproved of the plans of the general- 
 issimo, he gave him the chief command. lb' 
 nevertheless left the command of the two divisions 
 of reserve to old Kalkreuth, who had also the 
 credit of having blamed all that had been di 06. 
 This was the sob- step that the king took after this 
 great disaster. Sad, silent, with a severe counte- 
 nance towards the blockheads who had so coun- 
 selled for war, but sparing them those reproaches 
 which they might have retorted on him, — for if 
 their fault bad been that of folly, his had been that 
 of weakness, — he made bis way towards Berlin at a 
 moment when his presence with the army would not 
 have been too much to raise their drooping, di\ ided, 
 exasperated spirits, and to form from these remains 
 a corps which might retard the passage of the Elbe, 
 might cover Berlin for some time, anil, retiring 
 upon the Oder, might obtain from the Russians a 
 reinforcement of known valour. 'Ibis departure 
 was a grievous fault, and little conformable with 
 the personal courage that Frederick-William hail 
 displayed during tin' battle. To tin- nomination of 
 prince Hohenlohe this monarch added but one 
 
 other aet ; this was to write to Napoleon to ex- 
 press to him his regret at being at war with 
 
 France, and to propose opening immediate nego- 
 tiations. 
 
 The kincr having quitted head-quarters without 
 giving any military directions to his generals, the 
 
 latter acted without ibe leSSl i eert. The prince 
 
 of Hohenlohe reunited the wreck of the two armies, 
 
 except tin- ic serve confided to marshal Kalkn nth, 
 
 and formed of them three detachments, two of 
 
 troops maintaining some organization, a thud com- 
 prising tin- mass of tin- fugitives, lie din 
 
 tie in all tlin e, by a mow nn nt to (be right, on the 
 
 Elbe, ordering their march m three different lines, 
 but pointing in the same direction, from Nord- 
 hausen to Magdeburg. There wold have been 
 1 i i tit- advantage in throwing himself on tin- Harts; 
 
 for, In sides the want of resources iii provisions, this 
 
 mountainous chain did not offer enough i steal or 
 depth to serve as an asylum for the fugitive army. 
 They would have been pursued there b) the 
 
 I'n neb, very active iii the mountains, and per- 
 haps, i In - chain traversed, the) might have bee n 
 found still beyond, blocking up the road of the 
 Elbe. It was therefore a well-conceived resolu- 
 tion to turn to bis n^bt, and !■• bl ar din Ctlj upon 
 the Kibe and on Magdt burg. In the mean time be
 
 182 Th ! t ?Xd°bVD— erg THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 attacked by Dupont 
 
 The Prussians 
 driven back. 
 
 f 1806. 
 \ October. 
 
 carried with him a park of heavy artillery, which ' 
 much impeded his march. It was suggested to 
 entrust it to general Blucher, who, turning the 
 mountains of the Hartz on the opposite side, by 
 Osterode, Seesen, and Brunswick, might descend 
 into the plains of Hanover without being followed 
 by the French ; for it was to be presumed that 
 these would throw themselves in a mass on the 
 retreating footsteps of the grand Prussian army, 
 and would not leave them to run after a mere de- 
 tachment across the difficult roads of Hesse. Ge- 
 neral Blucher, in consequence, with two battalions 
 and a large body of cavalry, undertook the escort 
 of the great park. The duke of Weimar, who had 
 plunged with the advance-guard into the forest of 
 Thuringia, was soon brought back by the report of 
 the two lost battles. He skirted the foot of the 
 mountains, keeping as far as he could from the two 
 French and Prussian armies. He received inti- 
 mation in time of the movement which general 
 Blucher was about to execute, and he resolved to 
 join him at Osterode or Seesen. Marshal Kal- 
 kreuth, after having sojourned some hours at 
 Nordhausen to cover the retreat, directed his steps 
 straight to the Elbe, below Magdeburg, preferring 
 to march alone, and dissatisfied with having passed 
 successively under the orders of two generals whom 
 he thought little of, while he thought, not without 
 reason, that he had himself deserved the chief 
 command. Marshals Ney, Soult, and Murat set 
 themselves to follow up the grand Prussian army, 
 obliging it to be continually on the march, and car- 
 rying off prisoners and munitions at every step. 
 But the road from Nordhausen to Magdeburg was 
 not long enough to give them time to gain on the 
 Prussians by swiftness. Still they attained their 
 principal object, in not allowing them a day's rest, 
 and thus depriving them of every means of organi- 
 zation, and of forming on the Elbe any gathering 
 of importance. 
 
 During this time marshal Bernadotte had 
 marched upon Halle to pass the Saale, and to gain 
 the Elbe by Barby or Dessau. Halle is on the 
 Lower Saale, below the point where this river re- 
 ceives the Elster, and above the point where it 
 unites itself with the Elbe. At his departure from 
 Weimar, in order to retire upon the Elbe by cover- 
 ing himself by the Saale, the duke of Brunswick 
 had ordered prince Eugene of Wirtemberg to re- 
 pair to Halle, and there meet the grand Prussian 
 army. This prince had come there with a corps 
 of about 17,000 or 18,000 men, forming the last 
 resource of the monarchy. He had established 
 himself in a good position there to receive the 
 beaten army. But it did not direct its course to- 
 wards him, since it had taken the road to Magde- 
 burg, and in its stead a detachment of French 
 troops made their appearance on the morning of 
 the 17th October. This was Dupont's division, 
 which was for that time attached to the corps of 
 Bernadotte. Scarcely arrived in sight of Halle, 
 general Dupont, who had orders to attack, hastened 
 himself to reconnoitre the position of the enemy. 
 The Saale divides itself into several streams in 
 front of the town of Halle. It is passed by a very 
 long bridge, which traverses at once inundated 
 meadows and several branches of the river. This 
 bridge was furnished with artillery, and in front 
 was stationed a body of infantry. On the islands 
 
 which separated the river into its several branches 
 batteries had been disposed, so as to command the 
 road by which the French should advance. At 
 the extremity of the bridge the town presented 
 itself, the gates of which were barricaded. In fine, 
 beyond, on the heights which crown the course 
 of the Saale, was perceived the corps of the prince 
 of Wirtemberg ranged in order of battle. It was 
 necessary, therefore, to clear the bridge, to force 
 the gates of Halle, to penetrate into the town, tra- 
 verse it through, and carry the heights in the rear. 
 This was a train of almost insurmountable difficul- 
 ties. At sight of this, general Dupont, who had 
 fought so gallantly at Harlach and Dirnstein, made 
 up his resolution instantly. He dtcided to over- 
 throw the troops posted at the avenue of the bridge, 
 then to carry the bridge itself, the town, and the 
 heights. He returned, drew off his division from 
 under marshal Bernadotte, which the latter had 
 injudiciously dispersed 1 , and disposed it in the fol- 
 lowing manner : — He placed the 9th light infantry 
 in column on the road, upon the right the 32nd, 
 (the regiment which was so famous in Italy, and 
 which colonel Darricau had always commanded,) 
 then the 96'th in the rear to support the whole 
 movement. That done, he gave the signal; and, 
 leading his troops himself, darted at full charge 
 on the infantry post established at the head of the 
 bridge. They suffered horrible discharges of mus- 
 ketry and of grape ; but they arrived with the ra- 
 pidity of lightning, they drove back on the bridge 
 the troops who guarded it, and pursued them on 
 it, in spite of the fire which was kept up on all 
 sides, and which reached French and Prussians. 
 After a fray of some instants the other extremity 
 of the bridge was gained, and the town was entered 
 pell-mell with the flying enemy. There a hot filing 
 was kept up in the middle of the streets with the 
 Prussians ; these were, however, driven from the 
 town, and the gates shut upon them. 
 
 General Dupont had sustained loss ; but he had 
 taken nearly all the troops that defended the 
 bridge, as well as their numerous artillery. The 
 work was notwithstanding not finished. The corps 
 of the prince of Wirtemberg still kept his position 
 ou the heights in the real", on the other side of the 
 town. Thence it was necessary to dislodge him, if 
 it were intended to remain masters of Halle and 
 the bridge of the Saale. General Dupont gave his 
 troops a short time to fetch breath ; then, opening 
 the gates of the city, he led his division towards the 
 foot of the heights. The three French regiments, 
 consisting of not more than 5000 combatants, were 
 received by the fire of 12,000 men advantageously 
 posted. Nevertheless they advanced in several 
 columns, with the vigour of troops unaccustomed 
 to give way in presence of any obstacle. At the 
 same time, general Dupont, placing one of his bat- 
 talions on the flank of the position, turned it ; and 
 then, perceiving the effect this manoeuvre had 
 produced, ordertd forward his columns of attack. 
 His three regiments rushed on in spite of the 
 
 1 We reprat here the assertion contained in the memoirs 
 of general Dupont. We can affirm that in these memoirs, 
 yet in maim cript and very interesting, general Dupont is 
 not the detractor of marshal Jiernadotte. He treats him 
 as a friend, as all those who triumphed in 1815, when 
 France fell.
 
 1K06. 
 
 October. 
 
 Napoleon visits the 
 field of Kosbach. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 English merchandise 
 confiscated. 
 
 1C3 
 
 enemy's fire, scaled the heights, sad, arriving at 
 
 tlie summit, thence dislodged tlie Prussians. Upon 
 the ground beyond, a fresh com but ensued with the 
 whole corps of the duke <>f Wiriemberg ; but 
 Drouet's division coming up at the moment, his 
 nee, taking all hope from the enemy, put an 
 end to their efforts. 
 
 This brilliant achievement cost the French COO 
 killed and wounded, and the Prussians about a 
 thousand. The duke of Wirteinberg retired in 
 disorder on the Elbe, by way of Dessau and Wit- 
 temberg, hastening to destroy all the bridges. One 
 of liis regiments, that of Tresoow, which had come 
 from Magdeburg to join him by the left bank of the 
 Saale, Was Surprised and almost wholly carried off. 
 Tims even the reserve ..f the Prussians was in 
 Hi^ht, and as disorganized as the remainder of their 
 army. 
 
 Napoleon arrived at Naumburg to see the field of 
 the battle of Awerstii it, and to compliment marshal 
 DavuUt and his corps tor their brilliant conduct ; 
 but he scarcely stayed there a moment, rc| airing to 
 burg. On bis road lie found the spot cele- 
 brated for the battle of Rosbach having taken place 
 Weil versed in military history, he knew 
 with precision all the details of this famous action, 
 and he sent genera] Savary to seek for the monu- 
 ment which had been erected in memory of tlie 
 battle. General Savary discovered it in a harvest- 
 fi -Id. It was a column of only a few feet in height. 
 The inscriptions on it were effaced. Some of 
 Lannes' corps, who were passing the place, carried 
 it away, and place! the fragments of it en an am- 
 munition waggon, which was despatched on the road 
 to Pram 
 
 Napoleon then proceeded to Halle. He could 
 not refrain from admiring the feat of arms per- 
 formed by Dupont's division. On tin- field still 
 ,1,10 of the dead of this division, which there 
 hid not been time to bury, who wore the uniform 
 
 of the 32nd regiment. "What! the 32nd still!" 
 cried Napoleon. " So many of them were killed in 
 Italy, that I thought none could have remained." 
 He loaded the troops of general Dupont with his 
 
 prai- 
 
 1 he movements of the enemy's army began to 
 
 discover themselves. Napoleon directed the pur- 
 suit conformably to his general plan, which con- 
 i m overwhelming the Prussians, in reaching 
 tin- Kile-, and the Oder before them, and in placing 
 
 til I and the Rus si a n s , so as to 
 
 nt their junction. He ordered marshal Ber- 
 nadotte to descend the Sanle down to tie- Elbe, and 
 to pass this river by a bridge of boats mar Barby, 
 
 not far from tin- BOIlflui lice of the Saale and Elbe, 
 
 ills Lannes and Augerean, who had had two 
 or three days \a reernil Uiemselves, were enjoin* d 
 to pass the Saale by the bridge of Hall.-, and the 
 Elbe by the bridge of Dessau, re-establishing the 
 latter, il il wi re found destroyed. He had already 
 
 ribed to marsfa .1 Davoul to leave all Ids 
 wound 1 at NuUtllbttrg, and to repair wiih his 
 
 corps to Leipsic, and from Leipsic to Wittenberg, 
 and to possess himself "f the passage of the Elbe 
 at this latter point. Becoming master in timeol 
 the eooree of tie- Elbe, from Witu nb< rg as far as 
 Barby, be had the greatest ehanoe of being first t«i 
 
 reach Berlin and the (Id, r. 
 
 In the way, as Leipsic belonged to the elector of 
 
 Saxony, Napoleon ordered marshal Davout to carry 
 out rigorous measures against the merchants of 
 that place, who were the principal dealers in Ellg- 
 lish merchandise in Germany. Napoleon, with a 
 view id' punishing Great Britain through her com- 
 merce for the war she was carrying on against 
 France, was determined to intimidate the trading 
 cities of the north, such as Bremen, Hamburg, 
 Lubcck, Leipsic, and Dantzic, that endeavt ured to 
 open the continent to the English, while he strove 
 to shut it against them. IK' therefore enjoined 
 every merchant to declare what English merchan- 
 dise he possessed, adding, that if such declaration 
 should appear false, its statement should be Verified 
 by visits, and false allegations punished by the 
 severest means. All the declared merchandise 
 was to be confiscated for the benefit of the French 
 army. 
 
 Luring this time the troops continued their 
 march towards the Elbe. Marshal Jiernadotte 
 passed the river at Barby, but less promptly than 
 he had orders to do. Napoleon, who had con- 
 strained himself after the battle of Awerstadt, 
 gave way this time to his discontent, and caused 
 prince Berthier to address to him a letter, in which, 
 speaking of his tardy passage of the Elbe, be re- 
 called most bitterly to his recollection his precipi- 
 tate departure from Naumburg on the day of the 
 two battles of Jena and Awerstadt 1 . However, 
 as it happens when one follows the dictates of the 
 heart more than the rules of cold justice, Napoleon, 
 too indulgent the first time, was too severe tlie 
 
 1 The following is this letter, which is still in the War 
 Office : 
 
 " .Marshal Berthier to marshal Bernadotte. 
 
 ••Halle, October 21, 180(5. 
 
 " Monsieur le Mari-chal, I am charged by the emperor to 
 acquaint you thai he is very dissatisfied at your not saving 
 executed tlie orders you received to repair yesterday to 
 Ca.be, ami throw a bridge over the month of the Saale at 
 Barby. You ought to be aware that all the dispositions of 
 the emperor are coral h 
 
 "His majesty, who is very angry al your not having exe- 
 cuted bis orders, recals, on this dm as inn, to your mind that 
 you were not at the baitls of Jena which might have com- 
 promised the fate of the army, and defeat, d the gr, at 
 binatlons ol bis majesty, which rendered thai battle doubt- 
 ful and very bloody, when it should have been much less 
 10, Deepl] affected a, the emperor lias I u fell 
 
 unwlllll "' nilnr ng jour 
 
 former services, be (eared it might afflict ><m, and tin cod 
 •(deration in which he holds you impelled him to be - 
 
 but ill this BSSe, where you have failed to repall to I 
 
 and have not attempted the passage of ths Elbe, eithei .it 
 Barby, or at the mouth of the Basle, the emperor Is resolved 
 to nil you his opinion, because he is not socustomed to 
 see bis operations sacrificed to the vain etiquette ol com 
 
 loan, I. 
 
 " i he emper o r, M. la kfarieh A, slso charges me to s| i 
 y, a on s less Important matter : thai i*. thai In i| Its ol tie- 
 order you n terday, you havi tenl three 
 companies here to conduct your prisoners, Then rrmains 
 si Halle JAOO without any escort The impcror, M. le 
 ,, t , orders you to send Immediate!) s staff-officer at 
 
 the lead "f thi' B rnn.pl, f- COID] ". I" 
 
 t all the prUow rs thai are al Halle to Erfurt There 
 remains here onlj tht unpen., I guard, and ths smperoi »i,l 
 not Mitr, r them to e., on th( pri oni ■> taken by youi i 
 
 look, ami there i- do appearsnos of the 
 
 three cotnp. I »hi< h wru required of you )c»lcrday."
 
 Precautions of Napoleon Wittenberg for- 
 
 184 for bis future opera- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. lined by the 
 
 tions. French. 
 
 f 1806. 
 (.October. 
 
 second ; for the delay of marshal Bernadotte in 
 crossing the Elbe was much more the fault of the 
 elements than liis own. Lannes threw himself 
 upon Dessau, and thence on the bridge across the 
 Elbe, which the Prussians had half-destroyed. He 
 hastened to re-establish it. Marshal Davout, ar- 
 rived at Wittenberg, found the Prussians equally 
 occupied with destroying the bridge over the Elbe 
 there, and ready to blow up a magazine of powder 
 a little distance from the town. The inhabitants, 
 who were Saxons, and already aware of Napoleon's 
 wish to spare Saxony from the consequences of the 
 war, hastened themselves to save the bridge of 
 Wittenberg, to snatch away the matches, and to 
 assist the French in preventing an explosion. It 
 was on the 20ih of October that marshals Davout, 
 Lannes, and Bernadotte passed the Elbe, six days 
 after the battles of Jena and Awerstadt. It will be 
 seen that not a single hour had been lost. Two great 
 battles, and one of the warmest conflicts at Halle, 
 had only occupied the time of fighting them, and 
 the march of the columns bad not been suspended 
 for an instant. The Prussians themselves, although 
 their flight was so rapid, only reached the Elbe on 
 the 20th October, and they passed it at Magdeburg 
 on the same day that marshals Lannes and Davout 
 crossed it at Dessau and Wittenberg. But they 
 arrived in a state of increasing disorganization, in- 
 capable of defending its lower course, and not even 
 having the hope of reaching the line of the Oder 
 before the French, a condition on which their 
 safety depended. 
 
 Napoleon, notwithstanding his impatience to ar- 
 rive at Berlin, so as to direct his troops upon the 
 Oder, stayed one day at Wittenberg to take pre- 
 cautions for their march, which it was bis care to 
 multiply in proportion to the greater distance he 
 was carrying on the war. We have already seen 
 him, when he penetrated into Austria, form his 
 points of support at Augsburg, at Braunau, and at 
 Linz. In the equally long expedition that he this 
 time undertook, he established places of refuge for 
 his men who were fatigued or sick, for the recruits 
 which were sent him from France, and for the ma- 
 gazines in munitions of war and provisions, which 
 he proposed to re-unite. Erfurt being taken, he 
 had changed his line of communication, and instead 
 of its passing through Franconia, by which pro- 
 vince he had entered Prussia, he restored it to its 
 natural direction, passing along the ordinary and 
 central grand road of Germany by Mayence, 
 Frankfort, Eisenach, Erfurt, Weimar, Naumburg, 
 Halle, and Wittenberg. Erfurt was provided 
 with tolerably good defences, and possessed consi- 
 derable stores. Napoleon made it the first relay 
 on the military road which he was forming across 
 Germany. Wittenberg possessed old fortifications 
 half-ruined. From this motive, but, above all, in 
 consideration of the bridge crossing the Elbe, Na- 
 poleon ordered this place to lie put in condition, at 
 least so far as it could be in two or three weeks. 
 He entrusted a large sum of money to general 
 Chasseloup to employ and pay 6000 or 7000 work- 
 men, who, in default of regular works, should con- 
 struct field-works of great extent. He dug out the 
 old ditches, deepened such as required it, and, 
 where time would not admit of the use of masonry, 
 he directed the stone to be replaced by wood, which 
 was very plentiful in the neighbouring forests. 
 
 Immense palisades were fixed, and he formed, in 
 some measure, a Roman camp, such as the ancient 
 conquerors of the world formed in the midst of 
 Gaul and Germany. Napoleon, in this city of 
 Wittenberg, built bakehouses, collected grain, and 
 manufactured biscuit. He desired also the large 
 park of artillery to be collected in that place, and 
 that repairing workshops should be established. 
 
 He took possession of the public places and edi- 
 fices to form hospitals capable of containing the 
 sick and wounded of a numerous army. In short, 
 upon the hastily constructed ramparts of this vast 
 depot he ordered more than a hundred pieces of 
 cannon of great calibre, which he had gathered in 
 his victorious march, to be placed in battery. Ge- 
 neral Clark he had appointed as governor of Erfurt ; 
 he named general Lemarrois, one of his aides- 
 de-camp, governor of Wittenberg. The wounded, 
 divided into those slightly, and those severely 
 wounded, that is, those who were not so wounded 
 but that they might be enabled to return to the 
 ranks in a few days, and those to whom more time 
 would be requisite to restore them, were distributed 
 between Wittenberg and Erfurt. The slightly 
 wounded remained at Wittenberg, so that they 
 might join their corps immediately ; the others 
 were sent to Erfurt. Each regiment, besides the 
 principal depot which it had in France, had thus 
 also a campaigning depot at Wittenberg. In this 
 latter, the men who were fatigued or slightly 
 sick were to be left, so that with the care of a few 
 days they might resume their march without en- 
 cumbering the roads, and without presenting the 
 spectacle of a sick and powerless fag-end of an 
 armj', which was the more prolonged in proportion 
 to the rapidity of the movements and the dura- 
 tion of the war. The detachments of conscripts 
 departing in bodies from France bad orders to 
 stop at Erfurt and at Wittenberg, that they might 
 be there passed at review, furnished witli whatever 
 they were in want, become re-established, and di- 
 rected to their respective regiments. In fine, to 
 these same depots, but particularly Wittenberg, 
 Napoleon ordered immense numbers of fine horses, 
 which were collected throughout Germany, to be 
 sent. All the regiments of cavalry were to pass 
 through these places in turn, so that they might be 
 remounted. The dragoons, who had come from 
 France on foot, were by the same order to have 
 horses there. There they were to find those horses 
 which they could not obtain in France. Thus Na- 
 poleon concentrated on these points, in an asylum 
 well defended, all the resources of the conquered 
 country, which he had the tact to carry off from 
 his enemies and convert to his own use. While 
 victorious and marching forward there were relays, 
 abundantly furnished with provisions, with ammu- 
 nition, and stores, and placed on the roads of the 
 corps that came to reinforce the army. If obliged 
 to retire, they were points of support and means of 
 recruit placed upon the line of retreat. 
 
 After having seen all, and ordered all himself, 
 Napoleon quitted Wittenberg and proceeded on 
 the road to Berlin. Destiny had decreed that, in 
 the space of one year, he should visit Berlin and 
 Vienna as a conqueror. The king of Prussia, who 
 had written to him to ask for peace, sent M. de 
 Lucchesini to him, to negotiate an armistice. 
 Napoleon would not receive M. de Lucchesini, and
 
 1806. •> 
 October. J 
 
 Anecdote of Napoleon. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Davout enters Berlin. 
 
 1 
 
 185 | 
 
 entrusted marshal Duroc with the care of making 
 known to the minister of king Frederick-William 
 the reply which circumstances demanded. To 
 grant an armistice was, in fact, only ti> give time 
 to the Russians to assist the Prussians. This 
 military reason permitted no reply, unless formal 
 powers were presented by Russia and by Prussia, 
 to treat immediately for peace on such terms as 
 Napoleon, after his late victories, was in a condi- 
 tion to prescribe. He therefore despatched orders 
 to all his corps to march upon Berlin. Marshal 
 Davout was to set out from Wittenberg by the 
 direct road from that place to Berlin, that of 
 Jiiterbock; Lannesand Augereau by that of Treuen- 
 brietzen and Potsdam. Napoleon, with the guard, 
 foot and horse, which were now united, and re- 
 inforced moreover by 7000 grenadiers and light 
 horse, marched between these two columns. As 
 a reward for the day of Awerstadt, he wished to 
 allow marshal Davout to enter first into Berlin, 
 and receive from the hands of the magistracy the 
 keys of the capital. As for himself, lie intended, 
 previous to his entry into Berlin, to sojourn at 
 Potsdam, in the retreat of the great Frederick. 
 Marshals Soult and Ney had orders to invest 
 Magdeburg. Murat was to remain for some days 
 hovering around that strong place, so as to inter- 
 cept the bands of stragglers who were throning 
 themselves into it in crowds. " It is a trap," said 
 Napoleon, in writing to him, " in which you will, 
 with your cavalry, catch all the detached corps 
 that seek a safe place for crossing the Elbe." 
 Mnr it was afterwards to join the grand army at 
 Berlin, thence to march upon the Oder. 
 
 After letting his corps go on a little in advance, 
 he himself set out on the 24th of October, and 
 passed by Kropstadt to reach Potsdam. Marching 
 on horseback, he was overtaken by a violent Btorm 
 — the more so, as the weather had continued to be 
 very fine from the commencement of the cam- 
 paign. It was not his habit to be stayed by such 
 a circumstance. However, he was offered Bhelter 
 in a boose situated in the midst of woods, and be- 
 longing to an officer of the chacc of the Saxon 
 court He accepted the offer. Some women, who 
 appeared, from their language and dress, to be 
 persons of rank, received round a large tire the 
 group of French officers, whom, from Gear as 
 much as from politeness, tiny win- careful to 
 receive will. They seemed to be ignorant which 
 
 was the chief of these officers, around 'whom 
 the others crowded with respect ; when one of 
 them, stiil young, seized with warm emotion, cried 
 Out, '" That is tie- emperor !" '• How do y..u know 
 
 me ?" said Napoleon drily to her. "Sire," replied 
 
 she, " I was with your majesty in Egypt" " And 
 what were you doing in Egypt 1" " I was tie- 
 wife of an officer who die. I in your sen ice. I 
 
 hare since applied for a pension for myself and 
 
 my son ; but I was a foreigner ; 1 could not obtain 
 
 one: and I am now living with the mistress of this 
 
 bouse, who has been kind enough to receive DM 
 
 and to entrust me with the education «.f her chil- 
 
 dn n." The stern look of Napoleon, displeased at 
 first on being recognized, softened down at once. 
 " Well, madam," said he, " you shall have a pen- 
 sion ; and as for your son, I will take upon myself 
 the charge of his education." 
 
 The same evening he Stamped these resolutions 
 
 with his own signature, and said, smiling, " I never 
 before had an adventure in a forest at the end 
 of a storm ; here is one, anil one of the best." 
 
 »>n the evening of the 86th of October, be arrived 
 at Potsdam. He immediately set about visiting 
 the retreat of the great captain and the great 
 king, who called himself the philosopher of ScUM 
 SoMOl ; and with some reason, for he seemed to 
 carry the weight of the sword and of the sceptre 
 with indifference and raillery, making game of all 
 the courts of Europe, and, one might even add, of 
 his own subjects also, if he had not displayed so 
 much care to govern them well. Napoleon ran 
 through the gnat and the little palace of Potsdam, 
 had the works of Frederick shown to him, loaded 
 with the notes of Voltaire, sought in the library to 
 discover with what studies this exeat mind was 
 nourished, and then went to see in the church of 
 Potsdam the modest resting-place in which the ; 
 founder of Prussia reposes. At Potsdam was kept 
 the sword of Frederick, his belt, and his cordon of 
 the black eagle. Napoleon seized these, exclaiming, 
 '•Here is a fine present for the Invalidee,— above 
 all, for those who have formed pari of the army of 
 Hanover ! They will no doubt be glad to see in 
 our possession the sword of him who conquered 
 them at Rosbach." Napoleon, possessing himself 
 of these precious relics with such respect, could 
 not assuredly offend either Frederick or the Prus- 
 sian nation. But how extraordinary, how deserv- 
 ing of reflection, is that mysterious chain which 
 binds, which confounds, which separates, which 
 draws together the things of this world ! Frederick 
 and Napoleon were here met together in a very 
 strange maimer. This philosopher king, who, 
 though he was doubtless unconscious of it, had 
 placed above the throne one of the promoters of 
 the French Revolution, now lay in his coffin, 
 receiving the visit of the general of that revolu- 
 tion, and who, becoming emperor, was the con- 
 queror of Berlin and of Potsdam. The conqueror 
 
 of Rosbach was receiving the visit of the comparer 
 ol Jena ! What a spectacle ! Unfortunately these 
 reverses of fortune were not the last. 
 
 While the head-quarters were at Potsdam, mar- 
 shal Davout entered Berlin on the 25th of October 
 
 at the head of his corps. The king l-'rederick- 
 William, on retreating, had given up the govern- 
 ment of the city to the municipality, presidi d over 
 by a considerable personage, the prime of 1 latzfeld. 
 
 The deputies of the municipality offered marshal 
 
 Davont the keys of the capital, which he returned 
 to them, telling them that they belonged to a 
 
 greater one than himself, that is to say, to Napo- 
 leon, lb- left a single regiment in the city to pre 
 Serve order in conjunction with the city militia ; 
 he thin went to establish himself at a place fur: lor 
 on, at Friederichsfeld, in a strong position, with 
 his right on the Spree, and Ins left on the w Is. 
 
 By order of Napoleon he encamped in a military 
 manner, his artillery pointed, a portion of his 
 ■oldiery kept in camp, tl tlnr portion visiting 
 
 alternately with them tin' capital they had con 
 quered by their exploits. Barracks of reed and 
 willow wire constructed, so that tin' troops might 
 
 be sheltered from the rigour of the season. There 
 was no mid to recommend discipline to marshal 
 Davout; with him it was nnl\ «siry to re- 
 press his severity. Marshal Davoul promised the
 
 186 
 
 Napoleon's triumphal 
 entry. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Bulletins issued 
 from Berlin. 
 
 1806. 
 October. 
 
 magistrates of Berlin to respect person and pro- 
 perty, as all civilized conquerors should, on con- 
 dition that lie obtained from the inhabitants uncon- 
 ditional submission and provisions during; the very 
 short time that the army had to pass within their 
 walls, which, for such a city as Berlin, could not 
 constitute a very heavy charge. 
 
 For the rest, on the next day after the entrance 
 of the French into Berlin the shops were open. 
 The inhabitants paraded the main streets of that 
 capital peacea'ily, and even in greater numbers 
 than in ordinary. They seemed at once chagrined 
 and curious, — natural impressions among a people 
 patriotic but quick, enlightened, struck with all 
 that is great, and desirous of knowing the most 
 renowned general and soldiers that the world then 
 possessed. Moreover, they disapproved of their 
 government for having undertaken a mad war, and 
 this disapprobation tended to diminish the hatred 
 they might have borne to the provoked conquerors. 
 Marshal Lannes was sent on Potsdam and Spandau. 
 Marshal Augereau followed marshal Davout in 
 passing through Berlin; and Napoleon, alter having 
 sojourned at Potsdam on the 25th and 26 ill, and 
 at Charlottenliurg on the 27th, fixed the 28ih for 
 his entry into Berlin. 
 
 This was the first time that it had happened to 
 him to enter a conquered capital in triumph, like 
 an Alexander or a Csesar. He had not thus entered 
 Vienna, which lie had scarcely visiteu, residing 
 always at Schoenbninn, far from the observation of 
 the Viennese. But now, whether from the pride 
 of having overthrown an army ot invincible repu- 
 tation, or the desire of striking Europe with a 
 brilliant spectacle, or perhaps from the intoxica- 
 tion of victory mounting higher in his head than 
 usual, he chose the morning of the 28„h to make 
 his triumphal entry into Berlin. 
 
 The whole population of the city was on the 
 alert to give effect to this grand scene. Napoleon 
 entered, surrounded by his guard, and followed by 
 the fine cuirassiers of generals Hautpoul and Nan- 
 souty. The imperial guard, richly apparelled, was 
 on this day still more imposing than ever. The 
 grenadiers and chasseurs on foot in the van ; in 
 the rear the grenadiers and chasseurs on horse- 
 back; the marshals Berthier, Duroc, Davnit, in 
 the middle ; and in the bosom of this group, iso- 
 lated from respect, Napoleon himself, in the simple 
 costume that he wore at the Tnilleries and on 
 fields of battle, — Napoleon, the main object of ob- 
 servation to this immense but silent crowd, over- 
 whelmed at once with sorrow and admiration. Such 
 lie spectacle offered in the long and wide street 
 of Berlin, which leads from the Charlottenliurg 
 gate up to the palace of the kings of Prussia. The 
 populace was in the streets, the rich citizens at the 
 windows. As for the nobility, they had fled, filled 
 with fear, and covered with confusion. The women 
 of this Prussian city seemed eager to behold the 
 show that was passing before them : some shed 
 tears, but none uttered either cries of hatred or 
 cries of flattery for the conqueror. Happily Prussia 
 was not to be divided, but to maintain its dignity 
 even in disaster. The entry of an enemy was 
 not for her the ruin of one party and the triumph 
 of another, anil she had not within her bosom any 
 unworthy faction, animated by an odious joy, ap- 
 plauding the presence of foreign soldiers. We 
 
 Frenchmen, mere unfortunate in our reverses, 
 have seen such an execrable joy ; for we, in this 
 age, have all seen the extremes of victory and of 
 defeat, of greatness and of humiliation, of the most 
 noble devotion and of the blackest treason. 
 
 Napoleon received from the magistrates the keys 
 of Berlin ; he then repaired to the palace, where 
 he gave audience to all the public authorities. He 
 preserved a friendly and assuring language towards 
 them ; promised order on the part of his soldiers, 
 on condition of order being kept on the part of the 
 inhabitants ; showing severity in his terms only to 
 the German aristocracy, who, he said, were the au- 
 thors of all the evils from which Germany was suf- 
 fering, who had dared to provoke him to battle, and 
 whom he was resolved to chastise, by reducing 
 them to beg their bread in England. He esta- 
 blished himself in the king's palace, received there 
 the foreign ministers of the friendly powers, and 
 sent for M. de Talleyrand to Berlin. 
 
 His bulletins, recitals of all that the army was 
 daily accomplishing, often also forcible replies to 
 his enemies, collections of political reflections, les- 
 sons to kings and to people, were rapidly dictated 
 by himself, and generally corrected by M. de Tal- 
 leyrand before they were published. In each he 
 related the progress he was making in the enemy's 
 country; he even reported in them what he learned 
 (jf the political causes of the war. In those he 
 published in Prussia, he affected to load with 
 homage the memory of the great Frederick, and 
 his unfortunate successor with marks of esteem, 
 by always tinging them with pity for his weakness, 
 and the most cutting sarcasms against queens who, 
 meddling with state affairs, thereby exposed their 
 husbands and their country to frightful disasters : 
 treatment scarcely generous towards the queen of 
 Prussia, sufficiently overcome by her faults and 
 her misfortunes to be spared the addition of affront 
 to calamity ! These bulletins, in which the license 
 of a conquering soldier was blazoned forth with too 
 little restraint, cost Napoleon more than blame in 
 the midst of the cries of admiration which his tri- 
 umphs extorted from his enemies themselves. 
 
 In his anger against the Prussian party which 
 had promoted the war, he received with austerity 
 the envoys of the duke of Brunswick, who had 
 been mortally wounded at the battle of Awerstadt, 
 and who, before he expired, had recommended his 
 family and his subjects to the conqueror's mercy. 
 " What would those say," replied Napoleon to them, 
 — " what would those who send you say, were I now 
 to submit the city of Brunswick to that destruction 
 with which it threatened, fifteen years ago, the 
 capital of that great people whom I command ? 
 The duke of Brunswick hud disavowed the sense- 
 less manifesto of 17!)2: it might have been thought 
 that the age of discretion would have cooled down 
 his passions ; but nevertheless he had just lent the 
 authority of bis name anew to the follies of the 
 giddy youth who had lost Prussia. To hint it 
 belonged to put women, courtiers, and young offi- 
 cers each in their proper places, and to impose 
 upon all the authority of his age, his experience, 
 and his position. He has not had strength to do 
 this; the Prussian monarchy is fallen, and the states 
 of Brunswick are in my power. Tell the duke of 
 Brunswick that I entertain towards him the respect 
 due to an unfortunate general, justly famous, struck
 
 1806 \ Attention of Nanoleon 
 October. / to tlie royal family. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Treason and pardon of 
 prince Hatzfi-ld. 
 
 1«7 
 
 down by a blow th.it may reach us all, but that 1 
 cannot see a sovereign prince in a geueral of the ! 
 Prussian army." 
 
 Tlii se words, published by the ordinary mode of 
 bulletin, showed clearly that Napoleon would not 
 treat the sovereignty of the duke of Brunswick any 
 
 r than that of the elector of Hesse. In short, 
 if he showed himself severe to some, he was bene- 
 volent and generous to others, taking care to vary 
 his treatment according to the participation of each 
 in the war. His expressions with regard to the 
 old marshal Mollendorf were full of concern. 
 Prince Ferdinand, the brother of the great Frede- 
 rick ami father of prince Louis, was at Berlin, as 
 well as the princess his wife. There were also the 
 widow of prince Henry, ami two sisters of the king 
 there, one in childbed, and the other ill. Napoleon 
 went to call on these members of the royal family 
 with all the signs of real respect, and impressed 
 them by these attentions from so high a quarter, 
 for there was then no sovereign whose attentions 
 had bo great a value. In the situation which he 
 had now attained, the least proofs of his regard or 
 of his severity were estimated accordingly. Avail- 
 ing himself of the right which all generals have, in 
 time of war, of intercepting correspondence, in 
 order to discover the intentions of the enemy, he 
 
 ■ I a letter from the prince of Hatzfeld, in 
 which he indicated the position of the French army 
 around Berlin to the prince of Hohenlohe. The 
 prince of Hatzfeld, as chief of the municipal go- 
 vernment established at Berlin, had promised on 
 oath not to undertake any thing against the French 
 army, and to occupy himself only with the p 
 security, and well-being of the capital. This was 
 an engagement of fidelity towards the eonqueror, 
 who had consented, for the sake of the conquered 
 country, to allow ail authority to sulisist which he 
 might have abolished. The fault might, nevi r- 
 theless, he well excused, since it sprang from the 
 most honourable of feelings — patriotism. Napo- 
 leon feared lest other burgomasters might follow 
 this example, and that all his movements might be 
 thus hourly revealed to the enemy. Here-solved 
 to intimidate the Prussian authorities by an extra- 
 ordinary act of rigour; and he was no' sorry thai, 
 or should fall upon one of tin- prin- 
 cipal members of tin- nobility, accused of being a 
 warm partisan of the war,— a fal ation, for 
 tie- prince of Hatzfeld was of the number of Prus- 
 sian nobles who possessed moderation, because 
 they were enlighten l. Nip"! on Bent for prince 
 Berthier, and charged marshal Davout, upon w 
 severity he <• mid di pend, to form a military < i- 
 
 .n, which should investigate the conduct of 
 tin- prince of Hal irding to the usages of 
 
 war against spies. Prince Berthier, on learning 
 ntion thai Napoleon had taken, tried in 
 vain to <! him from it. Generals Rapp, 
 
 Caulincourt, and Savary, not daring to us.- remon- 
 strances, which could only well come from the 
 mouth of the maju : . were alarmed. As 
 
 they knew no other means to have recourse to, 
 they hid the prince even in tie- palace, under pn 
 text of arresting him, and they then acquainted 
 the princess of M itzfeld, an interesting personage, 
 and who was with child, of the danger with which 
 her husband was threatened. Bhe flew to the 
 palace, it was time t<» do so, for the assembled 
 
 commission had already asked for the articles of 
 charge. Napoleon, on his return from a ride in 
 Berlin, had just dismounted from his horse ; the 
 guard had left ; and lie had crossed the threshold 
 of the palace, when tin- princess of Hatzfeld, con- 
 ducted by Duroc, presented herself, Lathed in 
 tears, before him. Thus surprised, he could not 
 refuse to receive her ; he gave her an audience in 
 
 his cabinet. She was overcome with terror. Na- 
 poleon, affected, desired her to approach, and gave 
 her the intercepted Letter to read. li Well, ma- 
 dam," said he, "do you recognize your husband's 
 handwriting I" The princess, trembling, knew not 
 what to reply. But, soon removing her fear, Na- 
 poleon added, " Throw that paper into the fire, and 
 the commission will be deprived of all proof of 
 guilt." 
 
 This act of clemency, which Napoleon could not 
 refuse after having seen the princess of Hatzfeld, 
 nevertheless cost him dear, as it interfered with his 
 intentions of intimidating the German nobility, and 
 more particularly the magistrates of towns, who 
 might reveal the Secret of his operations to the 
 enemy, lie afterwards became acquainted with 
 the prince of Hatzfeld, appreciated bis character 
 and bis spirit, and felt pleased with himself for 
 not having given him up to military justice. Happy 
 those governments where wise friends are to be 
 met with, who may delay their more rigorous mea- 
 sures ! The delay need not be very great to ex- 
 tinguish the desire of acts which are at first cun- 
 ceived with much vehemence. 
 
 Napoleon iu this interval had not ceased to direct 
 the movements of his lieutenants against the wn-.l. 
 of the Prussian army. Himself at Berlin with his 
 principal force, he cut the Prussians off from the 
 direct road from the Elbe to the Oder, and only 
 left them the attainment of this latter river by long 
 roads almost impracticable, and easy to be int. r- 
 1. Berlin, iu fact, is situated between the 
 and die Oder, al equal distances from both 
 rivers. Tin- plains of sand, which we have alivadv 
 described, on approaching the Baltic towards 
 
 Mecklenburg, rise into downs, and present a suc- 
 cession of lakes of all si/.es, parallel to the sea, and 
 
 to which, as they are so numerous, no names can 
 be given. The discharge of these lakes, opposed 
 by the chain of downs, instead of flowing directly 
 
 towards tin- s. a, runs upon the country within by 
 
 an inconsiderable and slow stream of water, the 
 Havel, which takes its course towards Berlin, 
 where it meets with tin- Spree, coming from an 
 
 opposite direction, that is, from I.usatia, a province 
 that separates Saxony from Silesia. The Havel 
 
 and tin- Spree, united mar Berlin, spread them- 
 selves around Spandau and Potsdam, forming fre li 
 
 i h.re, w 1 1 i<-li I be band of tbe great I 'r. dc-rick 
 
 took car.- t hellish, and by a movement to the 
 
 left join tin- Elbe, They ihus describe a tr 
 v. raid line, which on one side unites II. rlin to the 
 Elbe, and on the other, continued by the canal of 
 Pillow, joins that capital to the Oder. Across this 
 
 country, intersected by natural or artificial waf 
 covered with lakes, forests, and sands, it was thai 
 lb.- wandering remnant of the I'm Lu arm) had 
 to pursue their flight. 
 
 Napoleon, established since the 26th of October 
 at Potsdam and at Berlin, was iu position to op- 
 pose them in every direction. The corps of Lanmw
 
 188 
 
 Spar.dau taken and 
 fortified. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Continued retreat of 
 prince Hohenlohe. 
 
 ( 1806. 
 \Octuber. 
 
 he kept at Spandau, the corps of Augereau and Da- 
 vout at Berlin itself, Bernadotte's corps still beyond 
 Berliu ; all were ready to march on the first indi- 
 cation of the direction which the enemy might 
 take. Napoleon had despatched the cavalry around 
 Berlin, Potsdam, and on the x-ivers Havel and Elbe, 
 to gather information. 
 
 Spandau had already yielded. This place, situ- 
 ated close to Berlin, in the midst of the waters of 
 the Spree and the Havel, strong from its position 
 and its works, might have offered a long resistance. 
 But such had been the presumption and negligence 
 of the Prussian government, that they had not even 
 fortified the place, although the magazines with 
 which it was provided contained considerable stores. 
 The 25th, the day marshal Davout entered Berlin, 
 Lannes appeared under the walls of Spandau, and 
 threatened the governor with the severest treat- 
 ment, if he did not surrender. The guns were not 
 upon the walls ; the garrison, sharing the fear with 
 which all hearts were possessed, insisted on capi- 
 tulating. The governor was an old soldier, whom 
 age had deprived of all energy. Lannes saw him, 
 terrified him by the recital of the disasters that had 
 befallen the Prussian army, and drew him into a 
 capitulation, by virtue of which the place was im- 
 mediately delivered up to the French, and the gar- 
 rison declared prisoners of war. The improvidence 
 of a government which had neglected to arm this 
 fortress, and the demoralization which reigned 
 around, are at once necessary to account for so 
 strange a capitulation. 
 
 The emperor went to Spandau in person, and 
 resolved to make it his third depot in Germany. 
 This new acquisition offered still more advantages, 
 inasmuch as it was situated three or four leagues 
 from Berlin, encompassed by water, completely 
 fortified, and filled with an immense quantity of 
 grain. Napoleon ordered the arming of it imme- 
 diately, and that bakehouses should be constructed, 
 stores collected, and hospitals established; in short, 
 that similar establishments should be formed as at 
 Wittenberg and at Erfurt. He directly sent off 
 there all the artillery, guns, and warlike stores that 
 he had captured at Berlin. In that capital he had 
 found 300 pieces of cannon, a hundred thousand 
 muskets, with quantities of powder and shot. This 
 great armament, joined with a considerable mass 
 of provision, was in some degree a pledge against 
 any attempt of the population of Berlin, a people 
 who were actually quiet and peaceable, but whose 
 submission might be changed into revolt by a re- 
 verse, in case the French arms might meet with 
 any. 
 
 While occupied by these measures of precaution, 
 the uninterrupted incursions of the light cavalry 
 had discovered the march of the Prussian army. 
 The eleven days which had elapsed since the battle 
 of Jena — those eleven days which had been em- 
 ployed by the French in gaining the Elbe, in mak- 
 ing themselves masters of it, and in occupying 
 Berlin, — had been equally employed by the Prus- 
 sians in gaining the Elbe, there uniting their dis- 
 persed forces, and in inarching thence towards 
 Mecklenburg, in order to reach, by a detour to the 
 northward, the line of the Oder. This movement 
 towards Mecklenburg being unmasked, Napoleon 
 despatched Muratupon Oranienburg and Zehdenick 
 to follow the banks of the Havel and the canal of 
 
 Finow. Along these military lines, and protected 
 by them, it was that the prince of Hohenlohe had 
 to direct his march. Napoleon ordered these to be 
 skirted by Murat, so as to keep himself always be- 
 tween the enemy and the Oder ; and when he 
 should have outflanked the Prussians, to endeavour 
 to surround them, so as to capture every man. 
 Marshal Lannes was to follow on the steps of 
 Murat, with advice to keep up with the cavalry. 
 Marshal Bernadotte's orders were to keep in the 
 rear of Lannes. Marshal Davout, after the three 
 or four days' rest which he was so much in want 
 of, was to proceed to Frankfort-on-the-Oder. Mar- 
 shal Augereau and the guard were to remain at 
 Berlin. Marshals Ney and Soult were, as we have 
 said, entrusted with the investing of Magdeburg. 
 
 The unfortunate prince of Hohenlohe had actu- 
 ally taken the resolution which had been foreseen. 
 Pursued by the French to the utmost, he had 
 reached Magdeburg, there hoping to find rest, pro- 
 visions, and stores, and, above all, time sufficient 
 to re-organize his army. A vain hope ! The want 
 of precaution in case of a reti-eat, that might so 
 easily have been provided for, was apparent every 
 where. At Magdeburg there were no other pro- 
 visions than were absolutely needful for the garri- 
 son. The old governor, M. de Kleist, after having 
 provided for the first wants of the fugitives, and 
 having given them a little bread, refused to main- 
 tain them any longer, from fear of diminishing his 
 own resources, in case of his being besieged. In 
 the interior of Magdeburg the baggage was in such 
 confusion and quantity that the army could not be 
 lodged there. The cavalry had been obliged to be 
 established on the glacis, and the infantry in the 
 covered ways. The continual harassings of the 
 French cavalry, which carried oft' whole detach- 
 ments under the guns of the place, soon obliged 
 the Prussian troops to pass to the other bank of 
 the Elbe. M. de Kleist, at length, frightened at 
 the disorder which prevailed within and without 
 Magdeburg, earnestly pressed the prince of Hohen- 
 lohe to continue his retreat to the Oder, and to 
 leave him to the liberty he needed of providing for 
 his defence. The prince of Hohenlohe thus had 
 but two days to re-organize his army, which was 
 so composed of wrecks that it was necessary to 
 unite several battalions in order to form one. 
 Marshal Kalkreuth being, moreover, recalled by 
 the king into Eastern Prussia, the prince of Ho- 
 henlohe was charged with collecting the two divi- 
 sions of reserve, and ordered to join them on the 
 Lower Elbe, much below Magdeburg. 
 
 In the midst of these embarrassments the prince 
 of Hohenlohe put himself in march in three co- 
 lumns. On the right, general Schimmelpfennig 
 was, with a detachment of cavalry and infantry, to 
 cover the army on the side of Potsdam, Spandau, 
 and Berlin ; coast along the banks of the Havel, 
 and then, when he should have got up high enough 
 to turn Berlin, along the canal of Finow, thus to 
 flank the retreat as far as Prenzlow and Stettin ; 
 for by reason of the position of the French there 
 was no way of joining the Oder but towards its 
 mouth. The main body of the infantry, marching 
 in the centre at about equal distance between ge- 
 neral Schimmelpfennig and the Elbe, would pass 
 by Genthin, Rathnau, Gransee, and Prenzlow. 
 'I'he cavalry, which was already on the banks of 
 
 .
 
 1806. 
 October. 
 
 I 
 
 Direction of the Prui- 
 tians in flight. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Slurat pursue:, prince 
 Hohenlohe. 
 
 189 
 
 the Elbe, where it enjoyed plenty of forage, was to 
 follow that river by Je'richow and Havelberg ; 
 afterwards to quit it, bear away to the north. 
 and open out by Wittstock, Mirow, Strelitz, and 
 Prenzlow, to the common point of Stettin. 
 
 The corps of the duke <•( Weimar, and the great 
 park of artillery led by general Butcher, had for- 
 tunately turned the Hart/, by Hesse and Hanover 
 without being disturbed by the French, who had 
 h a s t en e d to secure the Elbe. The duke of Wei- 
 mar, by means of a pretty clever manoeuvre, hail 
 succeeded in deceiving marshal Soult. Feigning 
 at first to attack the lines of investment round 
 .Magdeburg, and then suddenly stealing away, lie 
 had suddenly crossed the Elbe at Tangermunde, 
 and thus gained the right bank. He had 12,000 
 or 14.000 men with him. General Blucher had 
 passed the river further down. The prince of 
 Hohenlohe appointed a convenient rendezvous for 
 the duke of Weimar at Stettin, which he himself 
 had to reach by traversing Mecklenburg ; and he 
 e tieired on general Blucher the command of the 
 troops that were beaten before Halle, which troops 
 had pawed from the hands of the duke of Wirtem- 
 burg into those of general Natzmer. General 
 Blucher was charged to form with these troops 
 the rear-guard of the Prussian army. 
 
 If these forces should happen to escape the 
 French and to reach Stettin, they would be able, 
 after they were re-organized, and joined with tin- 
 contingent of Eastern Prussia, to form an army of 
 some strength behind the Oder, and unite with the 
 Russians to some purpose. The prince of Hohen- 
 lohe had still kept 25,000 men together at the least. 
 The corps of Natzmer, with the other remains of 
 Blucber's force, might reckon about 9000 or 10,000. 
 The duke of Weimar's troops might mount up to 
 I3,00d or 14,000. There was, consequently, aito- 
 r a total force of about 50,000 men, who, 
 being joined to 20,000 of the troops in Eastern 
 Prussia, might still present 70,000 combatants, 
 and, combined with the Russians, might yel per- 
 form some important service. There remained 
 22,000 men to defend Magdeburg, The Saxons, 
 ning to take advantage of Napoleon's cle 
 mency in regard to themselves, had returned to 
 their homes. 
 
 The prince of Hohenlohe had to effect his retreat 
 iii the midst of a poor country, difficult to traverse, 
 and in the face of the numerous squadrons of the 
 French cavalry. These latter, at first wary In the 
 ace of the Prussian cavalry, w hose merits had 
 been so highly extolled, had now, intoxicati d with 
 success, I" come so audacious, that as simple light 
 
 horse they did Hot liar to encounter i hi- cuiras- 
 siers. 
 
 Tin- prince set out on his route on the 22nd 
 of October by the appointed roads, the flanking 
 I. dies of general Schimmelpfennig proceeding upon 
 Plane, the infantry upon Genthin, and the eavalrj 
 upon Je'richow. Tin (r inarch was slow, on account 
 of the sands, tin- exhausted state "t the men and 
 horses, and their being little accustomed to fatigue. 
 
 Seven or eight leagues a day was the utmost these 
 troops could perform, while the I p och infantrj 
 could, in case of need, gi t over as manj as fifteen, 
 A very great want of discipline had, moreover, 
 been introduced into the ranks. Misfortune, which 
 sours men's minds, had diminished theii i • I" it 
 
 for their leaders. The cavalry, in particular, 
 marched on in confusion, without obeying orders. 
 The prince of Hohenlohe was obliged to cause the 
 army to halt, and to address them most severely, to 
 bring them back to their sense of duty. He even 
 liailotu horseman shot who had wounded his officer. 
 It must be confessed, however, that this is the ge- 
 neral effect of great revi rees, and Bometimes also 
 of great successes ; for victory has its disorders as 
 well as defeat. The French, greedy of booty, ran 
 about in all directions like the Prussians, without 
 conforming themselvi s to the orders of their chiefs ; 
 and marshal Nev wrote to the emperor, that if he 
 were not authorized to make some examples, the 
 
 lives of his officers would be no longer in safety. 
 
 Extraordinary consequences of the overthrow of 
 
 states ! The precipitate movements to which such 
 overthrows give rise disorganize both the conquered 
 and the conqueror. The French had reached the 
 perfection of the most noble warfare, and had 
 already almost trenched upon the limit, when it 
 becomes only an immense contusion. 
 
 The 23rd the Prussian infantry was at Rathnan, 
 and their cavalry at Havelberg. lint the haste 
 with which they had destroyed the bridges stepped 
 the march of the right corps, that of Schim- 
 melpfennig, and they were obliged to approach the 
 Elbe by wheeling round to the left, in order to 
 avoid the numerous streams of water which they 
 
 met with between the Havel and the Elbe. Tiny 
 wheeled thus as far as Rhino w. On the 24th they 
 were at Kiritz with the cavalry, their infantry at 
 Neustadt, and the corps of Schimmelpfennig at 
 Fehrbelin. Natzmer's corps, here transferred to 
 general Blucher, replaced the principal body, of 
 which it formed the rear-guard at Rhinow. 
 
 This point being reached, the prince of Hohen- 
 lohe had to deliberate on the march that he should 
 henceforth pursue. 'Ihey wire now very far ii]i tu 
 the northward of Berlin, Spandau, and Potsdam. 
 The army became more and more disorganized at 
 each step. The stali'-eolonel .Massenhach was of 
 opinion that they should give the troops a day's 
 rest, s . that they might he p-i njanized, and he at 
 least in a condition to figbl in case they might fall 
 
 in with tin- French. The prince of Hohenlohe 
 
 replied, with some reason, that one, two, or even 
 three da\s would not suffice to tv nr^uiizi' the 
 
 army, and might give the French time to cut them 
 off from Stettin ami the (tiler. According to cus- 
 tom, tiny took a middle course, and fixed a common 
 rendezvous at Gransee, where the troops might 
 
 undi rgo a general n \ ii w , and w lure orders might 
 
 he addn ssed to them to recal them to their duty. 
 They were to continue then- march beyond that 
 without intermission. This rendezvous at Gransee 
 
 was fixed lo take place on the 26th. 
 
 But tin- Freneli were already informed of this. 
 
 Mural's cavalry were marching towards Fehrbelin 
 
 on i ride, and towards Zehdenick on tl ther. 
 
 Lannes, alter entering Spandau on the 26th, put 
 
 hims. II in march on lie SV( ning of the 86th, with 
 
 Ins Infantry, to support Murat Marshal Soult 
 
 ii| he track ot tin- duke of Weimar, while 
 
 marshal Ney was investing Magdeburg. Mai 
 Bernadotte was in the meanwhile advancing !"• 
 
 tWSen marshals Soult aid l.aiuo '.. Thus three 
 corps of the I'm mil army, hi sides .Mural's cavalry, 
 e.\e, pting alwayl tie 0U WhO were retained
 
 190 
 
 Hohenlohe's corps 
 overtaken. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Capitulation of the 
 Prussians. 
 
 ( 1806. 
 lOctober. 
 
 at Berlin, were at this moment in pursuit of the 
 Prussians. On the 2Gth, the prince of Hohen- 
 lohe's infantry were at Gransee, at the appointed 
 rendezvous, drawn up round their general, listening 
 to his exhortations, entertaining hopes of being 
 soon at Stettin, and being able to take repose 
 behind the Oder. But at the same instant Murat's 
 dragoons were surprising Schemmilpfennig's corps 
 at Zehdenick, overthrowing his cavalry, killing 
 300 horsemen, and taking 700 or 8C0 prisoners, 
 and obliging the infantry of this flanking division 
 to take refuge in the woods. 
 
 This news, brought by the peasantry and fugi- 
 tives into Gransee, induced the prince of Hohenlohe 
 to decamp immediately, and to turn once more to 
 the left towards Fursteiiberg, instead of marching 
 to Templin, which was the direct road to Stettin. 
 He thus hoped to rally the cavalry around him, 
 and at the same time to increase his distance from 
 the French. But, while he was performing this 
 detour, Murat directed his course by a shorter 
 road upon Templin ; and Lannes, stopping neither 
 day nor night, always kept in view of the squadrons 
 of Murat. 
 
 The prince of Hohenlohe slept in the evening at 
 Furstenberg, and his infantry passed the night 
 there, while marshal Lannes was employed in 
 marching the whole of that same night. French 
 and Prussians continued to advance to the north- 
 ward towards Templin and Prenzlow, the common 
 point on the road to Stettin; making their way- « 
 few leagues apart, and only separated by a fringe 
 of wood and of lakes. They had to go over a 
 dozen leagues to reach Prenzlow (seven miles). 
 The 27th, in the morning, the prince of Hohenlohe 
 set out for Boitzenburg, leaving word for the 
 cavalry to join him, and for the rear-^uard, 
 commanded by general Blucher, to quicken its 
 march. 
 
 He marched all the day, having no sustenance 
 for his troops but such as the patriotism of the 
 villagers could furnish, who placed masses of bread 
 ;iiid kettles of potatoes on the road. Boitzenburg 
 was approached towards evening, and the seigneur 
 of the place, M. d'Arnim, came forth to announce 
 that he had prepared bivouacs, abundantly fur- 
 nished with provisions and drink, around his castle. 
 This was delightful news for men expiring from 
 fatigue and hunger. But on :ippro;iching Boitzen- 
 burg, reports of musketry destroyed this hope of 
 rest and food. The light horse of Murat, having 
 already arrived at Boitzenburg, were devouring 
 1 he provisions destined for the Prussians. Too 
 lew in number, however, to make head against 
 these latter, they quitted Boitzenburg. The un- 
 fortunate soldiers of the prince of Hohenlohe 
 consumed what remained ; but the presence of the 
 French horse warned them to make haste. They 
 started the same night, still making a turn to the 
 left, to avoid the French, and to reach Prenzlow 
 before them. They marched all night, hoping to 
 gain on them by their speed. At daybreak they 
 began to discern Prenzlow ; hut upon the right, 
 across the woods and lakes which were parallel to 
 the road, some cavalry were seen hastening on. 
 The mist did not permit of recognizing tiie colour 
 of their uniform. Were they French, or were they 
 Prussians? This question was asked with anxiety. 
 Some believed they could perceive the while 
 
 plumes of a Prussian regiment ; others thought, 
 on the contrary, they beheld the helmets of Mu- 
 rat's dragoons. At last, in the midst of these 
 conjectures of hope and fear, they arrived in sight 
 of Prenzlow, feeling assured that the French had 
 not yet appeared. They penetrated into one of 
 the suburbs, as far as a quarter of a league. Half 
 the Prussian army had already thus far advanced, 
 when all at once the cry of " To arms !" was heard. 
 Ihe French dragoons, coming up at the moment 
 when part of the Prussian army had reached the 
 town, attacked them in the rear, and drove them 
 into the town itself. They charged them on all 
 sides, and then rushed into the streets of the place. 
 The dragoons of Pritwitz, pushed by the French 
 dragoons, fell back on the Prussian infantry and 
 overthrew them. It became a frightful confusion, 
 the tumult and danger of which was increased by 
 fear. The Prussian army, cut to pieces, fled 
 beyond Prenzlow, and took up the best position 
 it eorrld on the road to Stettin. It was soon sur- 
 rounded, and Murat sent to summon the prince 
 of Hohenlohe to surrender. The prince, struck 
 with grief, but rejecting with horror the idea of 
 capitulating, refused what was proposed to him. 
 " Well," said Murat to the officer who carried the 
 refusal, "you will be all sabred if you do not sur- 
 render." One last hope still survived in the heart 
 of the prince of Hohenlohe. He thought that 
 Murat had only cavalry with him. But the in- 
 fantry of Lannes, which had marched day and 
 night from Spandau, stopping only to eat and 
 drink, arrived at the same instant. Colonel Mas- 
 senbach, of the staff, affirmed that he had seen it. 
 From that time there was no more chance of 
 safety remaining. Murat requested an interview 
 with prince Hohenlohe. This soldier, now become 
 a prince, and being as generous as he was intrepid, 
 comforted the Prussian genera), promised him an 
 honourable capitulation, the most honourable he 
 was able to grant, keeping within the limits of the 
 instructions given by Napoleon. Murat demanded 
 that all the soldiers should remain prisoners; but 
 he consented that the officers should have their 
 freedom and keep their own property, on condition 
 of not serving again during the continuance of the 
 war. He consented also that the soldiers should 
 be spared the humiliating spectacle of piling their 
 arms and tiling off before the French troops. 
 Such was the difference in their misfortunes that 
 distinguished them from the troops of the Austrian 
 general Mack. The prince of Hohenlohe, finding 
 he could not obtain better conditions, feeling, too, 
 that Murat had no power to grant better, returned 
 to his officers, made them assemble round him in 
 a circle, and, his eyes full of tears, laid before 
 them the real state of things. He was among 
 those who had declaimed against any kind of capi- 
 tulation ; but he now acknowledged that there was 
 no other resource — not even that of honourable 
 combat, because ammunition was wanting, and the 
 spirits of the soldiers had reached the uttermost 
 degree of despondency. No one had an expedient 
 to propose; the conference broke up with the 
 utterance of maledictions and the demolition of 
 their arms. 
 
 The capitulation was then signed by the prince; 
 and in the course of that day, the 2o"th of October 
 — a year after the catastrophe of general Mack —
 
 1806. 1 
 October. / 
 
 Surrender of Stettin. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Reply of Napoleon to 
 Lannes. 
 
 191 
 
 14 000 infantry and 2000 cavalry rendered them- 
 selves prisoners of war. The conquerors were 
 intoxicated with d< light ; and what pleasure could 
 be batter founded ? So much boldness of man- 
 oeuvre, so much patience in supporting privations, 
 (equal at least to those which the vanquished had 
 supported,) so much spirit in performing marches 
 still more rapid than theirs, merited well sucli a 
 reward. There were unhappily some disorders in 
 l'renzlow, caused by the eagerness of the soldiers 
 to secure the booty, which they considered as the 
 lawful fruit of their victory. But the French offi- 
 cers displayed the greatest firmness in protecting 
 those of Prussia. The German writers themselves 
 have rendered them this justice. In 1815, the 
 departments of the north of Trance could not 
 make the same admission with justice in behalf of 
 t..e Prussians. 
 
 The French had still more trophies to gather : 
 a certain number of Prussian squadrons and bat- 
 tal. litis that had not entered Preaziow had marched 
 further north, upon l'assewalck. The light cavalry 
 of general Milhaud overtook them. Six regiments 
 of cavalry, several battalions of infantry, a park of 
 horse artillery, here laid down their arms. In 
 the mean time, general Lasaile, with his hussars 
 .•■id chasseurs, inarched to Stettin, followed by the 
 infantry of Lannes. Wonderful to relate, an officer 
 of light cavalry dared to summon Stettin to sur- 
 render, a fortified place with a numerous garrison 
 and an immense artillery. General Lasaile saw 
 the governor, and talked to him with so much confi- 
 denee of the entire ruin of the Prussian army, that 
 the governor, surrendered the place, with all it con- 
 Uiiued, and gave up as prisoners a garrison of 6000 
 men ! Lannes made his entry into it the next day. 
 Nothing surely can better give an idea of the de- 
 moralization of the Prussians, and the terror that 
 tie- French inspired, than this fact, as strange as it 
 was novel in the annals of war. 
 
 all tin- Prussian army there only remained 
 ral Binder and the duke of Weimar to be 
 taken, accompanied by 20,000 men. This only 
 remnant taken, they could then say that 1G0.0D0 
 men had been destroyed or made prisoners iii fif- 
 teen days, without one having repassed th Oder. 
 General Blucber and tin- corps of the duke oi 
 
 Weimar were- pursued b) marshals Suult and Ber- 
 
 llndotte. Tiny were almost within reach of .Murat, 
 
 and they found themselves cut off from the Oder, 
 
 since Ldumea occupied Stettin. They had therefore 
 but little chance ol succour. 
 
 Napoleon, on learning this new-, evinced the 
 must lively satisfaction. He wrote to Murat, 
 " Since your chasseurs an <■ ipabie of taking places 
 of strength, I have nothiug to do but to set at 
 
 liberty my main body and melt down my lleMV) 
 
 artillery." In the bulletin he only mentioned the 
 ••avalry, and omitted the infantry of Lannes, who 
 had notwithstanding contributed to the capitulation 
 
 ,1 Pi - much as the cavalry itself. This 
 
 oini-sion wis owing tO Murat, who, being anxious 
 to render an account of the fi -ats of anus of hia 
 cavalry, had < ntirely forgotten to make mention of 
 th.- cori>s commanded by Lannes. " My devotion 
 
 to y. air person," 1m- wrote to Napoleon, ** places 111" 
 
 above all injustice; but my brave soldiers, whom I 
 
 made l> inarch night and day Without rest, without 
 food, what shall I say to them < What m , 
 
 can they hope for, if not to see their name pub- 
 lished by the hundred voices of that renown which 
 you alone can confer |" This grand emulation, 
 this anient jealousy of glory, which only evinced 
 itself in this instance by a high-minded sorrow, 
 was one of the sijjus not the least remarkable of 
 that heroic enthusiasm which thin animated every 
 soul. 
 
 Napoleon, deeply touched by the representation 
 of Lannes, answered him. '• Yi u and your soldiers 
 are children. Do you think that I do not know till 
 that you did to second the cavalry ? There is 
 glory for all. Another day it will be your turn to 
 till with your name the bulletins of the grand 
 army.'' Lannes, delighted, assembled his infantry 
 in one of the public squares of Stettin, and ordered 
 to be read to the ranks the letter ol Napoleon. As 
 rejoiced as he, his soldiers received it with re- 
 peated cries of '' Long live the emperor!" Some 
 even made heard the Btrange cry oi " Long lire the 
 emperor of the WOtl" This singular appellation, 
 which responded so entirely to the secret ambition 
 of Napoleon, arising out of the exultation of the 
 army, proved how much he had already filled the 
 nest with his power and glory. 
 
 Lannes, ill the eftu&ii n, not of flattery, hut of 
 joy, — lor, satisfied himself, he wished his master to 
 be B0 too, — wrote to Napoleon, "Sire, your soldiers 
 cry, • Long live the emperor of the west !' Ought 
 we nut henceforth to address you by this title 1 I " 
 
 1 Some of the letters of marshal Lannes are here cited, to 
 make known the spirit of the French troops at this epoch. 
 They may serve to give to these prodigious events their true 
 character. 
 
 " Marshal Lannes to H.M. the emperor. 
 
 "St'ltim, 2nd Nov. 180G. 
 
 "Sire.— I have received the letter that your majesty has 
 
 n.e the honour to write; it is impossible for me to 
 
 express the pleasure it has afforded me I desire nothing in 
 
 ti e world hut lo be certain that your majesty knows that I 
 
 do all in my power for your glory. 
 
 " I have made known to my c rps all that your majesty 
 has kindly wished me to say to it. It would he impossible 
 to convey to your majesty the complete satisfaction it 
 evinced. A single word from jou is sufficient to render the 
 soldiers happy. 
 
 '• Ihrec hussars had wandered from (tartr, and found 
 themselves in the midst of a equsdron <>t the enemy. They 
 ran towards It, levelling their yleoco; add the commandant 
 
 thai tli y were surrounded by a FeglmeBtl tli.it I.-- 
 
 better surrender Instantly. The commander of this squa- 
 dron dismounted and gave up his arms to these three hussars, 
 v. iii. remind! d i lie squadron hare pi win i ■ of ear. I could 
 
 ■ k now i he in lent ions of your msjl Sty, il I shall brine; 
 
 I edlvisl if Buobel to Hargnrd, aid the cavalry in ad- 
 vance, li v ihaSS means we roulil econ m ze the piovisions 
 
 oi Btettln, winch bowevi i as ft ' i have not ti ached I 
 ■odlei sred lit the environs, and live In ths ! 
 
 of th- Inhabitants. I have made ths tour of lb 
 dsy with genets! Chsassloupi he finds li »orj bad) I also 
 ti.ink ih t u would requlri i to put it la s 
 
 ,,, . u/e have been lo D unm . u is •■ sups i> natural 
 
 i, only massed by s oausewsy a league and s half 
 
 long, noon whrh ar. found si lea t forty bridges, l think 
 
 if \nnr inai to gO forward. tli.it position could tic 
 
 I am o.ld Ibal the kin* has ti 
 
 i ths gentlemen by whom he was surrounded, who 
 
 had adi Ised him to make war; dial he hud MVS1 licen seen 
 
 ■o enraged! thai be had t-.ni them iheyhad lost him his 
 
 crown, ami lh.it SO BODS tem.uned lor linn but to go and
 
 192 Napo ^° f n the y wes E t mper0r THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. ""^ES^' to { 
 
 1806. 
 October. 
 
 Napoleon made no reply ; and this tide, which 
 had sprung from the enthusiasm of the soldiers, 
 was not adopted. In the mind of Napoleon it was 
 but deferred. Of the grandeurs of which he had 
 dreamed it was the only one that could not be 
 realized even for a moment. Again, if lie had not 
 the title of " Emperor of the West," he had the 
 vast domination. Yet human pride enjoys the 
 title of power almost as much as power itself. 
 
 The prince of Hohenlohe once taken, there 
 remained only general Blucher, with the rear- 
 guard and the armed force of the duke of Weimar. 
 This last force had passed to the command of gene- 
 ral Vinning, since the duke of Weimar, accepting 
 the treaty granted by Napoleon to all the house of 
 Saxony, had quitted the army. There were still 
 22,000 men to make prisoners ; after which there 
 
 seek the great Napoleon, and that he must count upon his 
 generosity. I am, with the most profound respect, &c. 
 
 " Lannes." 
 
 " Passewalck, 1st Nov. \S0G. 
 
 " Sire, — I had the honour yesterday to announce to your 
 majesty thirty pieces of cannon, sixty caissons, as many 
 waggons loaded with ammunition, all drawn by eight or ten 
 horses each, and 1500 cannoniers of light artillery. In fact, 
 sire, I never saw any tiling more magnificent than these 
 men. It is a superb park of artillery. I caused it to depart 
 from here this morning, and directed it towards Spandau. 
 Almost all the cannoniers are mounted, and march in the 
 most perfect urder. Your majesty can, if you will, have 
 them conducted into Italy. I am persuaded that, by placing 
 with them some officers who speak German, these men 
 would serve well. I should wish that your majesty would 
 see this convoy, and that would decide its being sent into 
 Italy. The grand duke of Berg writes to me that lie expects 
 to meet the enemy, the chief corps of the duke of Weimar 
 and of Blucher, with the prince of Monte Corvo during the 
 day to-morrow. He has already made some prisoners in the 
 rear of the column Acting upon this intelligence, I recalled 
 all the light cavalry I had sent on to Boitzenburg, and 
 I intend to assemble the whole of my corps at Stettin. 
 
 " They found in this place more than 200 pieces of cannon 
 mounted on the carriages, and many others to remount, a 
 quantity of powder, supplies, and stores. 
 
 " I shall throw all my cavalry on the right bank of the 
 Oder. I will collect all the corn and flour I can obtain, to 
 increase our stores. I shall order ovens to be constructed, 
 and as many biscuits haked as possible. 
 
 "The garrison of Stettin consisted of 6000 men. I had 
 them escorted towards Spandau by a regiment of the divi- 
 sion Gazan. There only remains one regiment with this 
 general. The division Suchet has furnished a great number 
 of men for the escort of the prisoners, so that my corps is 
 reduced to a small number. 
 
 " If Stettin contains sufficient means to clothe the soldiers, 
 I shall avail myself of them. They are perfectly destitute. 
 An inventory being taken of all that is in the place, I shall 
 send it to your majesty. In the mean time I pray your 
 imperial majesty to make known to me your intentions as 
 soon as possible. My quarter-master general will be at 
 Stettin this evening. 
 
 " 1 yesterday ordered to he read the proclamation of your 
 majest) at the head of the troops. The last words it con- 
 tained sensibly touched the hearts of the soldiers They 
 cried unanimously, 'Long lire the emperor of the {Vest!' 
 It is impossible for me to tell you how much these brave 
 men love ; truly they have never loved mistress as much as 
 they have done you. 1 beg of your majesty to inform me 
 whether I may in future address my despatches to the 
 1 Emperor of the West.' I ask it in the name of my army. 
 I am, with the most profound respect, &c. 
 
 " Lannes." 
 
 would not exist a single detachment of Prussian 
 troops from the Rhine to the Oder. Napoleon 
 ordered that they should be pursued without inter- 
 mission, in order that they might be taken to the 
 last man. Lannes established himself at Stettin, 
 with the intention of occupying this important place 
 and giving his soldiers rest, of which they stood in 
 great need. Murat, marshals Bernadotte and 
 Soult, sufficed to achieve the destruction of 22,000 
 Prussians, worn out with fatigue. It only re- 
 quired marching, in order to take them, at least as 
 long as they did not succeed in reaching the sea, 
 and obtaining sufficient vessels to transport them 
 to Eastern Prussia. Murat directed his route in 
 great haste towards the shore, to prevent their ap- 
 proach to the sea. He pushed towards Stralsund ; 
 whilst marshal Bernadotte, leaving the neighbour- 
 hood of Berlin, and marshal Soult the banks of the 
 Elbe, marched towards the north, to throw the 
 enemy, as it were, into a net of the French cavalry. 
 General Blucher had taken at Waren, near the 
 lake Muiitz, the command of the two. Prussian 
 corps. To take refuge in Eastern Prussia by the 
 Oder was impossible, since the banks were guarded 
 in every direction by the French army. Access by 
 the shore and Stralsund was already intercepted by 
 Murat. There remained to him no other resource 
 than to return towards the Elbe. Blucher formed 
 this project, hoping to be able to throw himself into 
 Magdeburg, to augment its force with his own, and 
 to convert the garrison into a formidable support, 
 so as to enable this great fortress to offer a brilliant 
 resistance. He marched accordingly towards the 
 Elbe, with the intention of passing it near Lunen- 
 burg. 
 
 These illusions were of short duration ; he soon 
 became convinced, by the patrols of the enemy, 
 that he was entirely hemmed in. At his right was 
 stationed Murat, lining the shore ; at his left, mar- 
 shals Bernadotte and Soult closed up the access to 
 Magdeburg. Not knowing what course to adopt, 
 he marched straightforward for some days, or to- 
 wards the Lower Kibe, — the course a French corps 
 would have taken in returning to France by Meck- 
 lenburg and Hanover. Every moment lie was 
 weakened ; for the soldiers either fled into the 
 woods, or preferred rendering themselves prisoners 
 to supporting any longer fatigues that had become 
 intolerable. He lost a great number besides in 
 the skirmishes of his rear, that, thanks to the 
 natural difficulties of the country, were not always 
 completely defeated, but constantly ended by the 
 abandoning of the disputed ground, and by the 
 sacrifice of some men, either made prisoners or 
 disabled. He marched thus from the 30th of 
 October to the 5th of November. At a loss where 
 to direct his steps, he conceived an act of violence, 
 that necessity, however, mu. t justify. He had on 
 his road the town of Lubeck, one of the last free 
 cities preserved by the German constitution. Re- 
 maining neuter, it ought to have been a stranger 
 to all hostility. Blucher resolved to throw in his 
 forces, and possess himself of the great resources 
 it contained in provisions and money, and, if he 
 could not defend himself there, to seize all the ves- 
 sels of commerce that he should find on the water, 
 to embark his troops, and convey them to Eastern 
 Prussia. 
 
 Consequently, on the Cth of November he made
 
 180C. \ 
 
 November./ 
 
 Blucher taken at 
 Lubeck. 
 
 JENA. 
 
 Surrender of 
 MogUebuig. 
 
 193 
 
 a forced entry into Lubeck, in spite of the protes- 
 tations of the magistrates. The ramparts of the 
 town had been imprudently converted into public 
 walks, and lost their original strength. Besides, 
 the town had been so impoverished of its garrison, 
 that Blucher had no difficulty to encounter. He 
 lodged his soldiers among the inhabitants, where 
 they took all they required, and exacted besides of 
 the magistrates a large contribution, Lubeck, as 
 is wed known, is situated on the frontiers of Den- 
 mark. A detachment of Danish troops guarded 
 this frontier. General Blucher signified to the 
 Danish general that if he allowed it to be violated 
 by the French, he would, in his turn, break through 
 it to take refuge in llolstein. The Danish general 
 having declared that he would suffer himself and 
 his corps to be cut in pieces sooner than he would 
 admit of an infringement of his territory, Blucher 
 shut himself up in Lubeck, with the certainty of 
 Dot being dislodged by the French, if the neutrality 
 of Denmark were respected. But whilst he was 
 hoping to enjoy some security in Lubeck, protected 
 by what remained of the fortifications, and relieved 
 by the abundance of a large commercial city from 
 the privations of a difficult retreat, the French ap- 
 peared. The neutrality of Lubeck no longer ex- 
 isted for them, for they had a right to pursue the 
 Prussians. Arrived on the 7th, they attacked on 
 the same day the works that protected the gates 
 called Burg-Thor and Miihlen-Thor. The troops 
 under the command of Bernadotte took one, and 
 those under Soult the other, scaling the walls under 
 a fire of grape-shot with great audacity, works 
 which, though weakened, yet presented many diffi- 
 cult obstacles to overcome. An obstinate combat 
 took place in the streets. The unfortunate inhabi- 
 tants of Lubeck beheld their opulent city converted 
 into a field of carnage. The Prussians, cut to 
 pieces or surrounded, were obliged to fly, after 
 baling left more than 10(10 dead in the place, 
 nearly fiOOO prisoners, and the whole of their artil- 
 lery. Blucher quitted Lubeck, and took up his 
 position between the territory, nearly inundated, in 
 the environs of Lubeck and the Danish frontier. He 
 Stopped there, having neither ammunition nor pro- 
 visions. This time he was obliged to surrender. 
 After having severely censured general Mack for a 
 whole year, and prince rlohenlohe for eight days, 
 
 he followed then- example. Blucher capitulated 
 On the 7th of November, with his whole force, on 
 
 the same conditions, as prince rlohenlohe. In 
 
 capitulating he wished to add a lew words. Murat 
 
 permitted him to do so in consideration of his mis- 
 fortunes. The words added were, that he surren- 
 der d from want of arms. This capitulation pro 
 cured for the French 1 4,000 prisoners, that, joined 
 to those they had already taken in Lubeck, in- 
 icd the Dumber to 20,000. 
 
 At the end of this day there was not. to be found 
 
 a single Prussian corps from the Rhine to the 
 Oder. The 10,000 mea who had sought to gain 
 il,e Oder were dispersed, killed, or made prisoners, 
 
 Whilst these events were pas-ill"; III M ecUeiiblirg, 
 the important fortress of Custrin,OD the Oder, sub- 
 mitted to some companies of infantry commanded 
 by General Petit. Four thousand prisoners, con- 
 siderable magazines, and the second position of the 
 
 Lower Oder, were the reward of this new capitula- 
 tion. Thus the French occupied on the Oder the 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 two positions of Stettin and Custrin. Marshal 
 LanneS was established at Stettin, and Marshal 
 
 Davout at Custrin, There stid remained on the 
 
 Elbe the great fortress of Magdeburg, which con- 
 tained 2-2,000 men in garrison, and vast supplies. 
 Marshal Ney undertook its investment. Having 
 procured some mortars in default of besieging ar- 
 tillery, he several times menaced the place with a 
 bombardment, a threat he took good care to exe- 
 cute. Two or three bombs thrown into the air 
 intimidated the population, which surrounded the 
 governor's hotel, demanding with a great outcry 
 that he would not expose them to useless ravages, 
 since the Prussian monarchy was henceforth inca- 
 pable of defending them. The moral sense among 
 the Prussian generals was SO d< ficii nt that this 
 reasoning was admitted as go dj and consequently, 
 on the day after the capitulation of Lubeck, gene- 
 ral Kleist delivered up Magdeburg, with 22,000 
 prisoners. Thus, since the opening of the cam- 
 paign, the Prussians had repeated at Erfurt, 
 Prenzlow, Lubeck, and Magdeburg, what they had 
 so much reproached the Austrians with doing once 
 at Uim. This remark has not for its end the in- 
 tention to reflect on their misfortune, since so well 
 repaired; but to prove that they ought a year pre- 
 viously to have respected the misfortune of others, 
 and not to have pronounced the Austrians so cow- 
 ardly, from the pitiful intention to make the French 
 appear less brave and less skilful. 
 
 Out of 160,000 men, that had composed the 
 active force of Prussia, not a remnant was left. 
 Discarding the exaggerations that, in the astonish- 
 ment at such success, were spread over Europe, 
 it is certain that nearly 25,000 men had been killed 
 or wounded; 100,000 made prisoners; and wf 35,000 
 others, not one had re-passed the Oder. Those 
 who were Saxons had regained Saxony; those who 
 were Prussians had thrown down their arms and 
 fled over the country. One may say, with perfect 
 truth, that there no longer existed a Prussian 
 army. Napoleon was absolute master of the mon- 
 archy of the great Frederick. It was only neees 
 sary to except Bome places in Silesia, incapable of 
 
 resistance, and Eastern Prussia, protected by dis- 
 tance- and by the vicinity of Russia. Napoleon 
 
 had carried off all the stores of Prussia, in cannon, 
 guns, and ammunition ; he had acquired stores of 
 provisions to support Ins arm) during a campaign, 
 20.000 horses to mount his cavalry, and sufficient 
 colours to fill all the edifices of Ins capital. All 
 
 this was accomplished in one mouth ; because, 
 
 since the llth of October, Napoleon had received 
 the capitulation of Magdeburg, which was the 
 last, and made on the Jbh of November. It was 
 this rapid annihilation of the Prussian power that 
 rendered so wonderful the campaign we have just 
 related. That 160,000 Fr» nch, brought to mili 
 tary perfection by fifteen years' war, should have 
 vanquished 160,000 Prussians, enervated by ■ long 
 peace, the miracle was not great. Bui it is ■ 
 prising event, that bj this oblique march of the 
 
 French army, combined in such a manner that the 
 Prussian army, constant!) incrensed during s re- 
 treat of 2<io leagues from Hoff to Stettin, should not 
 
 arrive at the Oder until tin- vciv dav on which 
 
 thatriverwas occupied, should then bo destroyed or 
 
 taken to the last man, ami that in one month lin- 
 king of a great monarchy, the K oond su c cesso r of 
 
 o
 
 194 
 
 Cause of the Prussian 
 disasters. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Effect of these re- 
 sults on Europe. 
 
 / 180e. 
 1 November. 
 
 the great Frederick, should see himself without 
 soldiers and without a state ! It is a surprising 
 event, when one reflects that it was not the Mace- 
 donians fighting ignorant and cowardly Persians, 
 but one European army beating another, each well 
 disciplined and brave. 
 
 As to the Prussians, if the secret of this un- 
 heard-of rout must be told, by which armies and 
 places submitted themselves to a few hussars, or 
 to some companies of light infantry, it will be found 
 in the moral deficiency which generally follows 
 presumptuous folly. After having denied, not the 
 victories of the French, which were undeniable, 
 but th. ir military superiority, the Prussians were 
 so struck by it at the first encounter that they 
 never attempted a resistance, or thought it pos- 
 sible ; they fled and threw down their arms. They 
 
 were overwhelmed, and Europe along with them. 
 It trembled after the battle of Jena, still more 
 than after Austerlitz ; for after the battle of Aus- 
 terlitz, confidence at least in the Prussian army 
 remained among the enemies of France. After 
 Jena the entire continent appeared to belong to 
 the French army. The soldiers of the great 
 Frederick had been the last resource looked for- 
 ward to. These soldiers vanquished, nothing 
 remained to envy but this resource, — alas ! the 
 sole resource that never fails, — to predict the 
 faults of a genius become irresistible, to pretend 
 that against such success no human resource can 
 stand ; and it is unhappily but too true, that 
 genius, after having provoked envy by its suc- 
 cesses, affords it a consolation by its faults. 
 
 BOOK XXVI. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 THE EFFECT PRODUCED IK EUROPE BY THE VICTORIES OP NAPOLEON OVER PRUSSIA. — TO WHAT CAUSE THE EXPLOITS 
 OP THE PRESCH ARE TO BE ATTRIBUTED. — ORDINANCE OF KING PRE2ERICK-WILLI AM TENDING TO EFFACE 
 THE DISTINCTIONS OF BIRTH IN THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — NAPOLEON DECREES TH E CONSTRCCTIOS OF THE TEMPLE 
 OF THE MADELEINE, AND GIVES THE NAME OF JENA TO THE BRIDGE OVER AGAINST THE MILITARY SCHOOL. — 
 IDEAS WHICH HE CONCEIVED AT BERLIN IN THE INTOXICATION OF HIS MILITARY TRIUMPHS. — THE IDEA OF 
 CONQUERING THE SEA BY LAND SYSTEMATIZES ITSKLF IN HIS MIND, AND HE REPLIES TO THE MARITIME BY 
 THE CONTINENTAL BLOCKADE. — DECKKES OF BERLIN. — RESOLUTION TO POSH THE WAR TOWARDS THE NORTH 
 UNTIL THE SUBMISSION OF THE ENTIRE CONTINENT. — DESIGN TO MARCH UPON THE VISTCLA, AND TO RAISE 
 POLAND. — THE POLES FLOCK TO NAPOLEON — UMBRAGE TAKEN AT VIENNA BY THE IDEA OP RECONSTITUTING 
 POLAND.— NAPOLEON OFFERS AUSTRIA SILESIA IN EXCHANGE FOR THE GILLICIAS — REFDSAL AND CONCEALED 
 ENMITY OF THE COURT OP VIENNA — PRECAUTIONS OF NAPOLKON AGAINST THAT COURT.— THE EAST MINGLED 
 UP WITH THE WEST IN THE QUARREL. — TURKEY AND SULTAN SELIM. — NAPOLEON SENDS GENERAL SEBASTIANI 
 TO CONSTANTINOPLE TO ENGAGE THE TURKS TO MAKE WAR UPON THE RUSSIANS — DEPOSITION OF THE HOS- 
 POD * RS 1PSILANTI AND MARUZZI.— THE RUSSIAN GENERAL MICHELSON MARCHES UPON THE PROVINCES OF THE 
 DANUBE.— NAPOLEON PROPORTIONS HIS MEANS TO THE GRANDEUR OF HIS PLANS. — CALIS OUT IN 1806 THE 
 CONSCRIPTION OF 1807. — EMPLOY OF THE NEW LEVIES. — ORGANIZATION OF THE REGIMENTS DESIGNED AS 
 REINFORCEMENTS TO MARCH TO THE GRAND ARMY. — NEW CORPS DRAWN FROM FRANCE AND ITALY. — THE 
 ARMY OF ITALY SET ON THE WAR FOOTING. — DEVELOPMENT GIVEN TO THE CAVALRY. — FINANCIAL MEANS 
 CREATED WITH THE RESOURCES OF PRUSSIA — NAPOLEON, NOT HAVING BEEN ABLE TO COME TO AN UNDER- 
 STANDING WITH KING FREDERICK-WILLIAM UPON THE CONDITIONS OF AN ARMISTICE, MARCHES HIS ARMY 
 UPON POLAND. — MURAT. DAVOUT, AUGEREAU, AND LANNES, MARCH UPON THE VISTULA AT THE HEAD OF 80,000 
 MEN. — NAPOLEON FOLLOWS THEM WITH AN ARMY OF THE SAME STRENGTH, COMPOSED OF THE CORPS OP 
 MARSHALS SOULT, BERNADOTTE, NEY, THE GUARD, AND THE RESERVES. — ENTRY OP THE FRENCH INTO POLAND. 
 — ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY AND SKY. — ENTHUSIASM OF THE POLES TOWARDS THE FRENCH. — CONDITIONS LAID 
 TOWN BY NAPOLEON FOR THE RE-CONSTITUTION OF POLAND — SPI RIT OF THE HIGH POLISH NOBILITY. — ENTRY 
 OF MURAT AND DAVOUT INTO POSEN AND WARSAW.— NAPOLEON ESTABLISHES HIMSELF AT POSEN. — OCCUPATION 
 OP THE VISTULA FROM WARSAW AS FAR AS THORN.— THE RUSSIANS UNITE WITH THE WRECKS OF THE PRUSSIAN 
 ARMY OCCUPYING THE BANKS OF THE N AREW. — NAPOLEON WISHES TO THROW THEM BACK UPON THE PREGEL, 
 IN ORDER TO WINTER MORE TRANQUILLY ON THE VISTULA. — FINE COMBINATIONS TO OVERTHROW THE PRUS- 
 SIANS AND RUSSIANS. — COMBATS OP CZNARNOWO, GCLYMIN, AND SOLDAU. — BATTLE OF PULTUSK.— THE RUSSIANS 
 DRIVEN BEYOND THE NaREW WITH GREAT LOSS, BUT NOT POSSIBLE TO BE PURSUED ON ACCOUNT OF THE 
 STATE OF THE ROADS. — EMBARRASSMENT OF THE CONQUERORS AND CONQUERED AMID THE BOGS OF POLAND. — 
 NAPOLEON ESTABLISHES HIMSELF IN ADVANCE. OP THE VISTULA, BETWEEN THE BUG, THE NAREW, THE 
 OREZYC, AND THE UKRA. — HE PLACES THE COPPS OF MARSHAL BERNADOTTE AT ELBING, IN ADVANCE OF THE 
 LOWER VISTULA, AND FORMS A TENTH CORPS UNDER MARSHAL LEFEBVRE TO COMMENCE THE SIEGE OF DANTZICK. 
 — ADMIRABLE FORESIGHT FOR THE PROVISIONING AND SAFETY OP HIS W1N1EP. QUARTERS. — WORKS OF PRAGA, 
 MODLIN, AND SIEROCK. — MORAL AND PHYSICAL STATE OF THE FRENCH ARMY. — GAIETY OF THE SOLDIERS IN
 
 1806. 
 November 
 
 } 
 
 Public feeling on the 
 French victories. 
 
 KYLAU. 
 
 Reflections of 
 Prussian officers. 
 
 l'J5 
 
 THE MIDST OF A COUNTRY SO NEW TO THEM. — PRINCE JEROME AND GENERAL VANDAMME, AT THE HEAD OF 
 THE GERMAN AUXILIARIES, BESIEGE THE FORTRISS OF SI LESI A.— BRIEF JOY AT VIENNA ON THEIR BELIEF 
 FOR A MOMENT OF THE RUSSIAN SUCCESSES. — A MORE EXACT APPRECIATION OF THE FACTS RESTORES THE 
 COURT OF VIENNA TO ITS ORDINARY RESERVE. — GENERAL BENNINGSEN, BECOME GENERAL [R- CHIEF OK HIE 
 RUSSIAN ARMY, WISHES TO RESUME HOSTILITIES IN THE DETTH OF WINTER, AND MARCHES UPON THE CAN- 
 TONMENTS OF THE FRENCH ARMY IN FOLLOWING THE SHORE OF THE BALTIC. — HE IS DISCOVERED BY MARSHAL 
 NEY, WHO GIVES THE ALARM TO ALL THE CORPS. — FINE COMBAT OF MARSHAL BEI.NAUOITK AT MOHRCNGEN. 
 DEEP COMBINATION OF NAPOLEON TO DRIVE THE RUSSIANS INTO THE SEA.— THIS COMBINATION IS REVEALED 
 TO THE ENEMY THROUGH THE FAULT OF AN OFFICER, WHO SUFFERS HIM TO GET POSSESSION OF THE DE- 
 SPATCHES. — THE RUSSIANS RETIRE IN TIME. — NAPOLEON PURSUES THEM TO THE I IMosi. — COMBAT OP WAL- 
 TERSDORF AND OF HOFF. — THE RUSSIANS, NOT ABLE TO FLY LONGER, HALT AT EYLM . RKsiiLVED TO GIVE 
 BATTLE. — THE FRENCH ARMY, DYING OF HUNGER, AND REDUCED ONE-THIRD BY ITS MARCHES, DRAWS HEAR 
 THE RUSSIAN ARMY, AND GIVES AT EYL.VU A SANGUINARY BATTLE. — COOLNESS AND ENERGY OF NAPOLEON. — 
 HEROIC CONDUCT OF THE FRENCH CAVALRY. — THE RUSSIAN ARMY RETIRES NEARLY DESTROYED, BUT THE 
 FRENCH ARMY ON ITS OWN SIDE BUFFERS CRUEL LOSSES. — THE CORPS OF AUGEREAU IS SO MALTREATED THAT 
 IT IS NECESSARY TO DISSOLVE IT. — NAPOLEON PURSUES THE RUSSIANS AS FAR AS KlllN IGSBERG ; AND WHEN HE 
 IS CERTAIN OF THEIR RETREAT BEYOND THE PREGEL, RETAKES HIS POSITION ON THE VISTULA. — CHANGES 
 EFFECTED IN THE PLACE OF HIS QUARTERS. — HE QUITS THE UPPER VISTULA TO ESTABLISH HIMSELF ON THE 
 LOWER, AND BEHIND THE PASSARGE, IN ORDER THE BETTER TO COVER THE SIEGE OF DANTZICK. — THE CARE 
 OF REVICTUALLING DOUBLED FOR WINTER QUARTERS. — NAPOLEON, PLACED HIMSELF AT OSTERODE IN A SPECIES 
 OP FARM, EMPLOYS THE WINTER IN NOURISHING HIS ARMY, IN RECRUITING IT, IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF 
 THE EMPIRE, AND IN RESTRAINING EUROPE. — TRANQUILLITY OF MINI) AND INCREDIBLE VARIETY OF THE 
 OCCUPATIONS OF NAPOLEON AT OSTERODE AND AT F1NKENSTE1N. 
 
 Napoleon had in a month overturned the Prussian 
 monarchy, destroyed its armies, and conquered the 
 largest part of its territory. A province and 
 2.3,000 men alone remaiued to king Frederick- 
 William. In truth, the Russians, called with 
 earnestness by the court of Berlin, which had 
 taken refuge in Koenigsberg, came as quickly as 
 the distance, the season, and the wilfulness of 
 a barbarous administration permitted. But the 
 Russians had been seen at Austerlitz ; and in 
 spite of their bravery, it was not to be expected 
 of them that they could change the destiny of the 
 war. The cabinets and aristocracies of Europe 
 were plunged in the deepest consternation. The 
 people vanquished, divided between patriotism and 
 admiration, were not able to prevent themselves 
 from the acknowledgment in Napoleon of the 
 child of the French revolution, tile propagator of 
 i- ideas, the glorious applier of the most popular 
 of all things, equality. They saw a striking ex- 
 ample of this equality in the French generals, that 
 they no longer designated under the na a for- 
 merly so well known of Berthier, Biuret, and Ber- 
 
 nadotte, but under the titles of the prince of 
 Noul'cliatel, the grand duke of Berg, the prime of 
 1'onte Corvo ! Endeavouring to explain the un- 
 paralleled triumphs that have been related over 
 ih ■ Prussian army, they attributed them not only 
 to tie ir courage and to their experience in war, 
 but to the principles on which the new French 
 society rested. They explained the incredible 
 spirit of the French soldiers by the extraordinary 
 a ubitioii that they bad known was excited in thi ir 
 miii Is on tli" opeuing of the vast career, in which 
 they might enter peasants like Sforza, and might 
 become marshal, prince, Ling, emperor! It is 
 true that the last lot stood sloue "i its kind in the 
 
 Bow urn of fortune ; but if they bud but one em- 
 peror, b seems so at the price "i b s sxtraordinary 
 and prodigious genius, there wire dukes and 
 
 princes, whose superiority over their companions 
 
 in arms was not of a nature to make any one de- 
 spair of its attainment. 
 The intercepted letters of the Prussian officers 
 
 were in this regard lull of strange reft ctions. One 
 of them, writing to his family, said, '• If it was only 
 
 necessary to serve with one's arms against the 
 French, we should soon be victors ; they are little 
 and mean men. One of our Germans would beat 
 four of them. But they become, under fire, super- 
 natural beings. They are carried forward by an 
 irrepressible ardour, of which we see no trace 
 among our own soldiers. What can you do with 
 peasants led into fire by nobles, with whom they 
 partake the dangers, without ever sharing their 
 passions or their rewards ' !" 
 
 Thus was found in the mouths of the vanquished, 
 with the praise of French bravery, the praise of 
 the principles of the French revolution. The king 
 of Prussia, in effect, a refugee at the confines of 
 his kingdom, prepared an ordinance to introduce 
 equality in the ranks of bis army, and to efface all 
 distinct! mis of birth and class. A singular example 
 of the propagation of liberal ideas, carried to the 
 extremity of Europe by a conqueror that they often 
 represented as a giant who would siifie all ideas. 
 He had re presse d many in good truth, but the 
 most social among them have made as much way 
 in bis train as his glory itself. 
 
 Always led to give every thing the brilliancy of 
 
 his own imagination, Napoleon, who bad planned 
 
 the column of the Place Vend^ the day after 
 
 the battle of Austerlitz, the triumphal arch of the 
 Ktoi.e, and the grand Rue Imperiale, decreed, in 
 
 the midst of his Prussian i [ui st, the t reotion of 
 
 a i umeiit which has siuue beootue una of the 
 
 grandest of the capital, the Temple of the Made- 
 leine. 
 
 On the site which this temple at present occu- 
 pies, and which forms with die Place Coiieurde so 
 magnificent a whole, they were sboul to ereot the 
 new exchange. Napoleon judged the spot too 
 Knely situated for the erection of a temple to 
 
 Mammon, and resolved, in i sequence, to build 
 
 tie re ih.- temple ul glory. He determined thai 
 another quarter should be fi uud for the construo- 
 
 i ion oi ilte new exchange, and thai on 01 t the 
 
 lour pomis of view ironi tbe middle oi the Pises 
 
 ' Tliin is the sense BOpird faithfully from a quantity of 
 latter*, the originals of which sra pn srvtd smong the 
 
 inliunicl able |iaj/cl» of N.'i|"i.,,n in Hie I. mure. 
 O J
 
 196 
 
 Napoleon builds the 
 Madeleine. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Ideas of Napoleon 
 for an edifice. 
 
 r 1806. 
 t November. 
 
 de la Concorde there should be erected a monument 
 dedicated to the glory of the French arms. He 
 desired that the front of this monument should 
 bear the following inscription : " The emperor 
 Napoleon to the soldiers of the grand army." 
 Upon tablets of marble there were to be inscribed 
 the names of the officers and soldiers who had 
 taken a part in the grand events of Ulm, Auster- 
 litz, and Jena ; and on tablets of gold, the names 
 of those who had died in these battles. Immense 
 bas-reliefs were to represent, grouped the one by 
 the side of the other, the superior officers and 
 generals. Statues were to be given to those mar- 
 shals who had commanded corps d'armee. The 
 colours taken from the enemy were to be sus- 
 pended from the roof of the edifice. Napoleon 
 finally designed a fete every year, of a character 
 as antique as the monument, that should be cele- 
 brated in honour of the warlike virtues. He 
 ordered a competition of designs, reserving it to 
 himself to choose from among those presented that 
 which seemed to himself the most proper. But he 
 determined beforehand the style of architecture 
 which he wished to use in the new edifice. He 
 desired, he said, to have a temple of Greek or 
 Roman form. " We have churches," he wrote to 
 the minister of the interior, " but we have no 
 temple, like the Parthenon for example ; it is re- 
 quisite to have one of this kind in Paris." France 
 then had a love for the arts of Greece, as a little 
 while before she loved the arts of the middle 
 ages ; and it was a present altogether new to offer 
 the capital an imitation of the Parthenon. At the 
 present time this Greek temple, become a Chris- 
 tian church (which cannot be a subject of regret), 
 offers a contrast to its new destination, and to the 
 arts of the existing epoch. Thus pass away our 
 tastes, passions, and ideas, as rapidly as the 
 caprices of that fortune which had devoted this 
 edifice to usages so different from those to which 
 it was at first dedicated. However, it "occupies 
 majestically the place which was originally as- 
 signed to it, and the public have not forgotten 
 that this temple should be that of glory l . 
 
 1 Some letters of Napoleon on this subject are here cited, 
 which will be found worthy of being reproduced. 
 
 " To the Minister of the Interior. 
 
 "Posen, December 6, 180G. 
 
 " Literature has need of encouragement : you are its 
 minister. Propose to me some means to give a forward 
 impetus to all the different branches of the belles lettres, 
 which in every age have made nations illustrious. 
 
 " You have received the decree which I have made upon 
 the monument of the Madeleine, and that which reported 
 the establishment of the exchange upon that spot. It is 
 necessary, however, to have an exchange in Paris. My in- 
 tention still is to have an exchange built which shall cor- 
 respond with the greatness of the capital, and with the 
 weight of business which will be transacted there. Men- 
 tion to me a convenient place. It is necessary that it 
 should be large, in order to have a walk, around it. I 
 should desire that it be isolated. 
 
 " When I assigned a sum cf 3,000,000f. for the construc- 
 tion of the monument of the Madeleine, I only intended to 
 speak of the building, and not of the ornaments, for which, 
 in due time, I am willing to employ a much larger sum. I 
 desire, in the first place, that the surrounding yards should 
 be purchased, in order to make a large circular site, in the 
 midst of which the monument should stand, and around 
 which I would have houses built upon a uniform plan. 
 
 The flatterers of the day, knowing the weak- 
 nesses of Napoleon, even went beyond themselves 
 
 "It would not be out of the way to name the bridge of the 
 military school the bridge of Jena. Prepare me an ordi- 
 nance for giving the names of the generals and of the 
 colonels who have been killed in this battle, to the different 
 new streets. Napoleon." 
 
 " To the Minister of the Interior. 
 
 " Finkenstein, May 30, 1807. 
 
 "After attentively examining the different plans for the 
 monument dedicated to the grand army, I was not a 
 moment in doubt. That of M. Vignon is the only one 
 which fulfils my intentions. It was a temple that I re- 
 quired, and not a church. What can be done, in the way 
 of churches, able to vie with St. Genevieve, even with 
 Notre Dame, and, above all, with St. Peter's at Rome ? 
 The design of M. Vignon has, among many other advan- 
 tages, that of agreeing better with the palace of the legis- 
 lative body, and of not crushing the Tuileries. 
 
 " I will have nothing in wood. The spectators should be 
 placed, as I have said before, upon steps of marble, forming 
 the amphitheatre intended for the public. Nothing in this 
 temple should be moveable and changing ; every thing, on 
 the contrary, should be fixed to its place. If it were pos- 
 sible to place at the entrance of the temple the Nile and 
 Tiber, which have been brought from Rome, that would 
 have a very good effect. It is requisite that M. Vignon 
 endeavour to introduce them into his definitive design, as 
 well as the equestrian statues that should be placed with- 
 out, for they would be really had withinside. It is neces- 
 sary also he should designate the place where the armour of 
 Francis I., taken at Vienna, should be introduced, and the 
 four-horsed chariot from Berlin. 
 
 " It is requisite there should not be any wood in the con- 
 struction of this temple. Granite and iron should be the 
 materials of such a monument. It will be objected that 
 the existing columns are not granite; but this objection 
 will not hold good, since in the course of time the columns 
 might be renewed without injuring the building. Still, if it 
 prove that the employment of granite entails too great an 
 expense, and a long delay, it must be renounced ; because 
 the principal condition of the design is, that it should be 
 executed in three or four years, or at most in five. This 
 monument, bound up in some respect with political matters, 
 is from that circumstance among the number of those which 
 should be speedily executed. It is, nevertheless, proper to 
 search out granite for the other monuments which I have 
 decreed, and which, by their nature, would permit thirty 
 forty, or fifty years, to be given to their construction. 
 
 " I suppose that all the interior sculptures will be in 
 marble, and that there will not be proposed to me works of 
 sculpture proper only for the drawing and dining-rooms of 
 the wives of the Paris bankers. That which is frivolous is 
 neither simple nor noble. That which is not calculated for 
 long duration, should not be employed in this monument. 
 I repeat it, there must not be any species of furniture, not 
 even curtains. 
 
 " As to the design which has obtained the prize, it did 
 not attain my object ; it was the first I discarded. It is true 
 that I gave as a basis the preservation of the building of the 
 Madeleine that now exists ; but this expression is an 
 ellipsis. It was on the understanding that as much as pos- 
 sible of that building should be preserved, otherwise there 
 would not have been need of the programme,— there would 
 have been nothing to do but to limit all to following the 
 original plan. My intention was not to have a church, but 
 a temple ; and I did not wish the whole to be destroyed nor 
 the whole to be preserved. If these two propositions were 
 incompatible, to wit, to have a temple or to preserve the 
 existing constructions of the Madeleine, it was easy to 
 keep to the definition of the temple : by the temple I 
 understood a monument such as they had at Athens, 
 and such as is not in existence in Paris. There are 
 many churches at Paris ; they have them in every village.
 
 1806. \ 
 November. J 
 
 Napoleon's ambition 
 expands. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 New measures 
 against England. 
 
 197 
 
 in their baseness ; they proposed to him to change 
 the revolutionary name of the PUue <!■■ la Concorde, 
 into another name more monarchical, borrowed 
 from the imperial monarchy. He replied to 
 M. Champagny by this very brief letter: "The 
 name which it has must be left to the Place do la 
 Concorde. Concord ! — it is that which makes 
 France invincible!"' (January, 1807.) Put a 
 magnificent stone bridge, recently ordered and 
 constructed over the .Seine, opposite the military 
 school, had not yet received a name. Napoleon 
 desired that the fine name of Jena should be given 
 to it, which this bridge has preserved, and which, 
 at a later period, would have been fatal to it, if an 
 honourable action of Louis XVIII. had not, in 
 1814, saved it from the brutal rage of the Prus- 
 sians. 
 
 These attentions given to monuments of art, in 
 the midst of conquered capitals, were with Napo- 
 leon no other than accessary thoughts, at the side 
 of the vast ideas which occupied him. The glori- 
 ous event of Austerlitz had already inspired an 
 excessive feeling of his Btrength, and given fresh 
 stimulants to his gigantic ambition. The battle of 
 Jena filled the measure of his confidence and his 
 desires. He believed every thing possible, and he 
 desired every thing, after this complete and prompt 
 destruction of the military power the most esteemed 
 in Europe. His enemies, to depreciate his former 
 triumphs, having repeated to him, without ceasing, 
 that the Prussian army was the only one which it 
 was necessary for him to keep in account, the sole 
 one which it was difficult for him to vanquish, he 
 had taken them at their word, and having van- 
 quished it — better than vanquished, annihilated it 
 in one month — he thenceforth perceived no limit to 
 his power, and set no bounds to his will. Europe 
 appeared to him a field without a master, in which 
 he should be able to build up whatever he pleased, 
 — all that he might find great, wise, useful, or 
 brilliant. Where would he encounter resistance ? 
 Austria disarmed by a single manoeuvre, that of 
 
 Uhn, was quaking, worn out, incapable of taking 
 
 arms. The Russians, although judged so brave, 
 
 had been brought back, with the bayonet in thl IT 
 reins, from Munich to Olmutz ; and if they had 
 halted for an instant at llollabrumi, or at Auster- 
 litz, it was to sutler the most crushing defeats. 
 finally, the Prussian monarchy had been de- 
 stroyed in thirty days. What obstacle, it may be 
 
 repeated, could he foresee to his intentions ? The 
 
 wricks of the Russian army, rallied in the north 
 with 95,000 Prussians, could not offer a danger 
 
 calculated to appal linn. He wrote thus to the 
 
 chancellor Cambacerea : "All this is child's play, 
 
 to which it i-. needful to put an end, and to take my 
 enemies this time in BUeh a fashion, that I shall 
 
 soon finish with all.'' He determined, therefore, 
 
 to push the war so far, that he should be able to 
 force peace upon all the powers, and tO lore.: one 
 from them as durable as brilliant. It was not, it 
 is true, so difficult to force from the courts of the 
 
 I have not, rn.st assuredly, founil SflOBOOUl thl ar«-hi 
 text's observation, that there was a contradiction bet 
 the idea of having ■ temple, and the intention to pn 
 the work begun tor s church. The ant was the principal 
 
 idea, the second was the SCO - BIT. bf. Virion lias, there- 
 fore, guessed that which I should wi-.li observed. 
 
 " N.woi.i 
 
 continent, but only from England, that, defended by 
 the ocean, had alone escaped the yoke with which 
 
 Europe saw itself threatened. Napoleon had 
 already said to himself that he would govern the 
 sea by the land, and that if the English would 
 close the ocean, he would close up the continent. 
 Arrived at the Elbe and Oder, he was more than 
 ever confirmed in this idea: he systematized it in 
 
 his mind, and he wrote to his brother Louis in 
 Holland: "I go to reconquer the colonies by 
 land." In the fermentation of spirit, that his ex- 
 traordinary suceeea against Prussia produced, he 
 conceived the most gigantic ideas that bad ever 
 
 birth in his mind. At first he proposed to himself 
 to keep in deposit all that he had conquered, and 
 all that he should yet conquer, until England had 
 restored to France, Holland, and Spain, the colo- 
 nies she had taken from them. The continental 
 powers were at bottom only subsidized auxiliaries 
 of England ; he resolved to hold them all as bonds- 
 men for the policy of England, and to place it as a 
 principle in the negotiation, that he would not re- 
 store to any of them what he had taken from them, 
 as long as England continued to withhold the sur- 
 render of all or a part of her maritime conquests. 
 Two Prussian negotiators, M. de Liieehesini and 
 
 M. de Zastrow, were at Cbarlottenburg, seeking an 
 
 armistice and peace. He answered them through 
 Duroc, who remained the friend of the court of 
 Berlin, that as to a peace, it was not to be thought 
 about until they should have brought England to 
 more moderate views; and that Prussia and <i. r- 
 many would remain in his hands as a pledge for 
 that of which England had deprived the maritime 
 powers : that as to an armistice, he was ready to 
 grant one on condition that they should deliver up 
 to him immediately the line on which he wished to 
 winter, and which he intended to make the point 
 of his departure for future operations, the line of 
 the Vistula. In consequence, he require. I that 
 they should instantly abandon to him the for- 
 tresses of Silesia, such as Breslau, < rlogau, Schweid- 
 nitz, Glatz ; and all on the Vistula, as Dan trick, 
 
 ( iraudenz, Thorn, and Warsaw ; because it they did 
 not deliver them, he should go and conquer them, 
 lie said, in a few da\ . 
 
 With this intention t oquer the sea by the 
 
 land, in depriving Great Britain of all her allies, 
 and in shutting upon her all tin' porta of the conti- 
 nent, the Brat thing to do was to interdict to her 
 all access to the vast shores occupied by the 
 French armies. Already Napoleon had by himself, 
 or through Prussia, clo* d the mOUtlll of the fans, 
 Wiser, and Kike. It was there a natural and legi- 
 timate right of conquest, because conquest confers 
 
 all the rights of the sovereign, and particularly the 
 righi to eloM the porta, or OCCUpj tie- roads of the 
 
 conquered country, without such a rigorous mea- 
 sure- pasting for the violation of the righi of any 
 persons whatsoever, Hut to forbid an entrance 
 into the fans, Kibe, and Weser, was a on insuf- 
 ficient measure to attain the < ml thai Napoleon 
 proposed to himself; because, in spite ol the most 
 exact superintendence of the coasts, English mer- 
 chandize was introduced by smuggling, not only 
 into Hanover, but into Holland, of which the 
 government was under the direct influence of 
 France, and into Belgium, which had become a 
 French province. Besides the Etna, Wiser, ami
 
 TO o England placed in a 
 *■''" state of blockade. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Ordinance of 
 blockade. 
 
 J 1806. 
 \ November. 
 
 Elbe closed, merchandise entered by the Oder 
 and by the Vistula, and re-descended from the 
 north to the south. It was rendered dearer, it is 
 true ; but the necessity of disposing of it, brought 
 the English to deliver it at a price which compen- 
 sated for the expense of smuggling and carriage. 
 It was, therefore, necessary to employ more rigor- 
 ous means against English merchandize, and Napo- 
 leon was not the man to interdict himself the use 
 of them. 
 
 England herself had authorized every excessive 
 proceeding against her commerce, by taking the 
 extraordinary measure, and one of the most un- 
 justifiable that can be imagined, that which was 
 called a blockade upon paper. Thus, as has been 
 several times explained, it was the principle with 
 the greater part of the maritime nations, that 
 every neutral, that is to say, every flag that was a 
 stranger in a war existing between two powers, 
 had the right to sail from the ports <>f one power 
 to those of the other, to transport any kind of mer- 
 chandize, even that of the enemy, except the con- 
 traband of war, that consists of arms, ammunition, 
 and the stores especially made for the use of the 
 military. Tiiis liberty of commerce only ceases 
 when it has to do with a maritime place, blockaded 
 by a naval force, so that the blockade shall be 
 effective. In that case, the blockade being noti- 
 fied, the power of entering into the place blockaded 
 is suspended as regards neutrals. But if in the 
 restrictions imposed upon the right of navigation, 
 they do not stop at this certain limit of the pre- 
 sence of an effective force, there is no more a 
 reason why there may not be placed under inter- 
 dict the entire coasts of the globe, under the pre- 
 text of a blockade. England had already endea- 
 voured to pass beyond the limits of a real blockade, 
 by pretending, with a few sail, insufficient in num- 
 ber tT> close the access of a maritime place, that 
 she had a rijiht to dtclare it in a state of blockade. 
 But she had, in fine, admitted the necessity of the 
 presence of some sort of force before the blockaded 
 port. Now she no longer stopped at this limit, 
 already so vague ; and at the time of her momen- 
 tary rupture with Prussia, occasioned by her 
 taking possession of Hanover, she had ventured to 
 forbid all commerce to neutrals with the coasts of 
 France and Germany, from Brest as far as to the 
 mouths of the Elbe. This was an abuse of strengih 
 pushed to the utmost excess ; and, henceforth, a 
 simple decree of England would suffice to lay under 
 an interdict every part of the globe that it pleased 
 her to deprive of commerce. 
 
 This incredible violation of the common law 
 furnished Napoleon with a just pretext to allow 
 himself to follow in regard to English commerce 
 the most rigorous measures. He conceived a for- 
 midable decree, which, all excessive as it. may 
 seem, was no more than a just reprisal for the 
 violence of England ; and that had yet more the 
 advantage of perfectly answering the views which 
 he had adopted. This decree, dated from Berlin, 
 on the 21st of November, applicable not only to 
 France, but to the countries occupied by her 
 armies, or in alliance with her, that is to say, 
 France, Holland, Spain, Italy, and all Germany,, 
 declared the British Isles in a state of blockade. 
 The consequences of this state of blockade were the 
 following : — 
 
 All trade with England was absolutely forbidden. 
 
 All merchandize, proving to be of the manufac- 
 ture of England, or of the English colonies, was to 
 be confiscated, not only on the coast, but in the 
 interior, among the merchants with whom it might 
 be deposited. 
 
 Every letter coming from England, or going 
 there, addressed to an Englishman, or written in 
 English, was to be stopped at the post-office and 
 destroyed. 
 
 Every Englishman seized in France, or in the 
 countries subjected by its arms, was detained a 
 prisoner of war. 
 
 Every vessel, having only touched at an English 
 colony, or at one of the ports of the three kingdoms, 
 was forbidden to enter the ports of France, or 
 those subject to France ; and if it made a false 
 declaration upon this subject, it was declared to be 
 a good prize. 
 
 One half of the confiscations were intended to 
 indemnify the French merchants or their allies, 
 who had suffered from English spoliation. Lastly, 
 the English fallen into the power of France were 
 to serve for the exchange of Frenchmen or of their 
 allies made prisoners. 
 
 Such were the measures, assuredly inexcusable, 
 if England had not taken care to justify them before- 
 hand by her own excesses. Napoleon did not 
 dissimulate about their severity ; but in order to 
 bring England to abandon the tyranny of the se;i, 
 he employed an equal tyranny upon land : above 
 all, he wished to intimidate the agents of British 
 commerce, and principally the men of business in 
 the Hanseatic towns, that, enjoying the profits of 
 the orders given on the Elbe and the Weser, 
 circulated in all parts of the continent the pro- 
 hibited merchandize. The threat of confiscation, 
 a threat soon followed by the effect, made them 
 tremble ; and if it did not close, at least it strait- 
 ened greatly the clandestine openings to British 
 commerce. 
 
 Napoleon said that all commercial countries were 
 interested in the resistance which he opposed to 
 the iniquitous pretension of England, and concluded 
 therefore that they would be resigned to the incon- 
 veniences of a contest become necessary ; he 
 thought that these inconveniences, bearing more 
 particularly upon the speculators of Hamburg, 
 Bremen, Leipsic, and Amsterdam, smugglers by 
 profession, it was not worth the trouble to limit 
 the means of reprisal, out of respect to such 
 interests. 
 
 The effect of this decree upon European opinion 
 was very great. Some saw in it the excess of a 
 revolting despotism ; others the deepest policy ; 
 all an extraordinary action, proportioned to a con- 
 flict that the giants, England and France, sustained 
 against each other ; the first daring to seize the 
 empire, of the seas, which had until then been the 
 common road of nations, in order to interdict all 
 commerce to her enemies ; the second undertaking 
 the entire occupation of the continent with armed 
 hands, to answer the closing of the sea by that 
 of the land ! Strange spectacle ! without example 
 in the past, and probably in the future, of the 
 unchained passions of the two greatest people of 
 the earth. 
 
 Scarcely was this decree conceived, and drawn 
 up by Napoleon himself, and by him alone, without
 
 1806. \ 
 November, t 
 
 Napoleon resolves 
 tu attack Kussia. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 Obstacles to a 
 northern march. 
 
 "1 
 
 iyy 
 
 the participation of M. dc Talleyrand, scarcely was 
 this decree signed before it was sent by extra- 
 ordinary couriers to the governments of Holland, 
 Spain, and Italy, with orders to the one, and 
 summonses to the others, to put it into immediate 
 execution. Marshal Mor tier, who had already 
 invaded Hesse, was ordered to march in all haste 
 upon the Hanseat e towns, Bremen, Hamburg, and 
 Lubeck, and to take possession nut only of these, 
 but of the ports of Mecklenburg and Swedish 
 Pomerania, as far as the mouths of the Oder. He 
 was commanded to occupy the rich deposits of 
 the Hanseatic towns, to seize the merchandize 
 of British origin, to arrest the English merchants, 
 and to do all this wiih punctuality, exactness, and 
 probity ; because he hoped, from marshal Mm tier, 
 more than from any other person, an execution 
 equally rigorous and upright. He ordered him to 
 bring into Germany a certain number of seamen, 
 drawn from the Boulogne flotilla, tu cause them to 
 cruise at the places of disembarkation at the 
 mouths of the Elbe and Weser, to arm all the 
 s of the river with cannon, and to sink every 
 suspected vessel that shewed an attempt to force the 
 blockade. 
 
 Such was the continental blockade, by which 
 Napoleon answered the paper blockade conceived 
 by England. 
 
 But to make the continent submit to his policy, 
 
 it was necessary that Napoleon should push the 
 
 war much further than he had yet done. Austria 
 
 had been for six months in his powerful hands ; 
 
 she could yet only be that which he wished she 
 
 should be. Pr.issia was actually so. But Russia, 
 
 always repelled when she appeared in the regions 
 
 of the West, still escaped his blows, and withdrew 
 
 l£ beyond the Vistula and the Niemen. She 
 
 was the sole ally that remained to England, and it 
 
 was necessary to beat her as completely as he had 
 
 . and Prussia, to realize- in its whole 
 
 e\t.-nt the policy of " vanquishing the sea on the 
 
 land." Napoleon had therefore resolved to ascend 
 
 towards the north, and to go and encounter the 
 
 ians, in the midst of the plains of Poland, 
 
 at his appearance. Never had a 
 
 soldier departing from the Rhine yet touched the 
 
 la, still 1 • ■ ^ s the Niemi n. But he who had 
 
 made the tricolor float on the hanks of the Adige, 
 
 the Nile, the Jordan, the I'o, the Danube, and the 
 
 Kibe, wa-s able, and must execute this audacious 
 inarch. Hi-. | , too, in the regions uf the 
 
 north, would raise np in a moment a great Euro- 
 pean question, the re-establishment of Poland. 
 The Poles had always said, '• Prance is our friend, 
 but she is far away I" When France approached 
 Poland, as far as tit" Oder, eould the idea of a 
 
 great reparation escape becoming with one a 
 
 ■object of the fondest hope, with til" other the 
 
 subject of reflected design I The unfortunate 
 
 so frivolous in their conduct, us in 
 
 their feelings, raised the cry of enthusiasm on 
 
 learning the ristoriea of Fra ; and a crowd of 
 
 smissari - came to Berlin, conjuring Napoleon to 
 march upon the Vistula, promising bun their 
 property, their arms, their lives, to aid him in the 
 reeonstitution of Poland. This design, so seducing, 
 so generous, if it had been practicable, was one of 
 enterprises with which the quick imagination 
 of Napoleon would be smitten at that mom- nl, and 
 
 one of the imposing spectacles which it was con- 
 sonant with his greatness to give to the world. In 
 inarching into the midst of Poland, he added, it is 
 true, to the difficulties of the actual war, the graver 
 difficulties of all, those of the climate and distance ; 
 but lie took from Russia and Prussia the resources 
 of the Polish provinces, resources very considerable 
 in men and grain ; he sapped the basis of the 
 Russian power ; he essayed rendering Europe the 
 service the most signal that lie had ever rendered 
 her ; he added new pledges to those of which he 
 was already possessed, which would serve him to 
 obtain from England maritime restitutions by 
 means of continental ones. The vast countries 
 placed on the road from the Rhine to the Vistula, 
 the causes of weakness with an ordinary general, 
 would become, under the greatest of soldiers, 
 abundant resources uf the things most necessary 
 in the war : he would go to draw, thanks to an 
 able administration, provisions, ammunition, arms, 
 horses, and money. As to the climate, so for- 
 midable in those countries in November and 
 December, he no doubt considered it; but he had 
 resoKed in this campaign to halt on the Vistula. 
 If they gave it to him under the proposed armistice, 
 he had the design to establish himself there ; if, 
 on the contrary, they contested it with him, he 
 would conquer it in a few inarches, anil encamp 
 his troops there during the winter, feed them with 
 the corn of Poland, warm tln-m with the wood of 
 its forests, recruit them with the new soldiers 
 coming from the Rhine, and, in the following 
 spring, depart from the Vistula, to go deeper into 
 the North than any man had before ever dared to 
 g<>. 
 
 Excited by success, pushed by his genius and 
 his fortune to a greatness of thought to which no 
 head uf an army or an empire had yet arrived, he 
 did not hesitate a moment on the part he should 
 take ; and he disposed every thing lor advancing 
 into Poland. The idea had entered into his desires, 
 on passing tin- Rhine, of an audacious march to 
 the North, but vaguely. It was at Berlin, after 
 
 his rapid ami striking success obtained over Pj nssia, 
 that In- adopted the idea seriously. 
 
 Still there was. beyond the perils inherent in 
 the enterprise itself, a particular danger which 
 Nap ■lion nid not dissimulate ; tin- impression felt 
 
 that Austria, although vanquish, d, and that 
 
 to weakness, might nevertht less be tempted to s< ize 
 the opportunity to throw herself upon the French 
 r. ar. 
 
 Tin- existing conduct of this court was of a 
 nature to inspire more than a single fear. To the 
 offers of alliance that NapoleOU had made to her 
 
 himself, after the interview with the duke of 
 Wnrtzburg, she had n plied by affected demon- 
 strations of good feeling, feigning at Aral not to 
 comprehend the overturi ■ of the French amba 
 
 j and when lie had explained himself in a 
 ■ I, up r in. inn r, alleging then, that an approach too 
 
 inar to France would ent.nl on lor part a rupture 
 with lin i.i and Prussia, and th.it on the morrow 
 of a long contest, commend d threi timi i in fifteen 
 
 . she was no longer capable of making war for 
 
 ,mst an} power whatever. 
 To tinse evasive words she added actions more 
 
 significant. Sin- had ass. mhleil 60,000 men in 
 Bohemia, that, placed at first along HaValia and
 
 200 
 
 Conduct of Austria. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Napoleon offers 
 Austria Silesia. 
 
 ( 1806. 
 j November. 
 
 Saxony, were actually sent towards Gallicia ; 
 following, in some sort, behind her own frontiers, 
 the movements of the belligerent armies. Inde- 
 pendently of these fiO,000 men, she had directed 
 fresh troops towards Poland, and she displayed 
 extreme activity in forming magazines in Bohemia 
 and Gallicia. When questioned on the subject of 
 these armaments, she replied by commonplace 
 reasons, relating to her personal security, saying 
 that, exposed in all parts to the contact of the 
 hostile armies, that were in a state of warfare, 
 she could not permit any the violation of her 
 territory, and that the measures, relating to which 
 an account was required of her, were no more than 
 measures of pure precaution. 
 
 Napoleon was not to be the dupe of language so 
 insincere. The necessity of an alliance, since he 
 had lost that of Prussia, had for a moment directed 
 his mind towards the court of Vienna ; but it was 
 easy enough for him to discover that the power 
 from which the French had, in fifteen years, taken 
 the Netherlands, Suabia, the Milanese, the Venetian 
 States, Tuscany, the Tyrol, Dalmatia, and, in fact, 
 the Germanic crown, could be no otherwise than 
 an irreconcileable enemy, dissimulating her deep 
 resentments from policy, but ready to make them 
 break out upon the first occasion. He perceived 
 very clearly that the fears of Austria were feigned ; 
 because none of the belligerent parties had any 
 interest in provoking her by a violation of territory ; 
 and he knew that if she armed, it could only be 
 with the perfidious intention to fall upon the rear 
 of the French army. Not attaching more impor- 
 tance than he need to do to the word of the man 
 and the sovereign, by which Francis II. bound 
 himself at the bivouac of Urchitz, no more to make 
 war upon France, he nevertheless thought that the 
 recollection of that word, solemnly given, ought to 
 be an embarrassment to that sovereign, and that 
 to break it he must have some very specious 
 pretext: he formed two resolutions very well con- 
 sidered ; the first was not to give Austria any 
 pretext to interfere in the existing war, the second 
 to take his precautions as if tiie interference would 
 be certain, and to take them in an ostensible 
 manner. His language was conformable to these 
 resolutions. He complained, in the first place, 
 with perfect frankness, of the armaments making 
 in Bohemia and Gallicia ; and in such a mode as 
 to prove that he comprehended their object. Then 
 with the same frankness, he announced the pre- 
 cautions which he thought himself obliged to take, 
 and which were of a nature to discourage the 
 cabinet of Vienna. He affirmed anew that he 
 would not provoke a war, but that he would make 
 it prompt and terrible, if they had the imprudence 
 to recommence it. He declared that, not willing 
 to give any pretext for a rupture, he would not 
 lend himself to the rising of those parts of Poland 
 possessed by Austria ; that the rising of Prussian 
 and Russian Poland was an act of hostility, impu- 
 table exclusively to those who had wished for the 
 war ; that he did not conceal the difficulty of 
 restraining the Poles who were dependents of 
 Austria, when the Poles dependent upon Russia 
 and Prussia were in a state of agitation ; but that 
 if in Vienna they thought in this respect as he did, 
 they must be convinced of the enormous fault that 
 they had committed in the last century, by destroy- 
 
 ing a monarchy which was the bulwark of the 
 West ; he offered a very simple means of repairing 
 that fault in the reconstitution of Poland, and in 
 offering, beforehand, to the house of Austria, a 
 rich indemnification for the provinces of which 
 she would have to make a sacrifice. This indem- 
 nification was the restitution of Silesia, snatched 
 from Maria Theresa by Frederick the Great. 
 Silesia was certainly worth the Gallicias, and it 
 would be a striking reparation of the evils and 
 outrages that the founder of Prussia had made the 
 house of Austria endure. 
 
 Most assuredly, in the situation in which Napo- 
 leon was placed, nothing was better calculated 
 than a similar proposition. Brought back by the 
 course of events to destroy the work of the great 
 Frederick, in humbling Prussia, he was not able 
 to do better than to destroy that work completely, 
 by giving Austria that which Frederick had taken 
 away from her, and in retaking that which 
 Frederick had given. For the rest, he tendered 
 this exchange without the pretence of imposing it. 
 If such a proposition, which would formerly over- 
 whelm Austria with joy, awoke her ancient feelings 
 in regard to Silesia, he was quite ready, he said, 
 to give it the proper conclusion ; if not, he must 
 consider it as not coming to pass ; and he reserved 
 it to himself to act in Russian and Prussian 
 Poland as events might direct him, solely obliging 
 himself to undertake nothing that might affect the 
 rights of Austria. While taking every care not to 
 furnish any pretext for complaint to the court of 
 Vienna, Napoleon nevertheless repeated that lie 
 was entirely prepared, and if she wished for war, 
 she would not take him unawares. Although satis- 
 fied with the services of M. de Rochefoucauld, his 
 ambassador, he replaced him with general An- 
 dreossy, who, being a military man, and knowing 
 Austria perfectly well, would be able to observe 
 with a more certain eye the nature and extent of 
 the preparations of that power. 
 
 Napoleon, in this extraordinary moment of his 
 reign, wished to make the East serve to aid the 
 success of his projects in the West. Turkey was, 
 at this moment, at a crisis by which he hoped to 
 profit. This unfortunate empire, threatened since 
 the reign of Catherine, even by its friends, who, 
 seeing its provinces on the point of being detached 
 from it, hastened to seize them, that they might 
 not be left to their rivals (witness the conduct of 
 France in Egypt), — this unfortunate empire had 
 been sometimes drawn towards Napoleon, by the 
 instinct of a common interest ; sometimes estranged 
 by the intrigues of England and of Russia, that 
 ever recalled before the divan recollections of the 
 Pyramids and of Aboukir. Entered again into 
 peace with France at the period of the Consulate, 
 got cold since the creation of the empire that it 
 had refused to acknowledge, the Sultan Selim had, 
 by the battle of Austerlitz, been definitively led 
 towards an approximation, that had soon become 
 an intimacy. It had granted to Napoleon the title 
 of Padisha, at first denied ; and it had sent to 
 Paris an extraordinary ambassador, to carry with 
 him the act of acknowledgement, congratulations, 
 and presents. Sultan Selim, in thus acting, had 
 yielded to the real bias of his inclinations, which 
 drew him towards France, despite the intrigues 
 with which he was assailed, and of which the
 
 1806. 1 
 November. ) 
 
 Napoleon's conduct 
 towards Turkey. 
 
 EYLAL'. 
 
 New conscription 
 culled out. 
 
 201 
 
 increase attested the sad decadence of his empire. 
 This prince, mild, sage, enlightened as a European, 
 loving the civilization of the West, not from the 
 fantasy of a despot, bat through a lively feeling of 
 the superiority of that civilization over the manners 
 of the East, had from his youth, when he was 
 buried in the voluptuous obscurity of the seraglio, 
 maintained, through ML Ruftin, a personal and 
 I correspondence with Louis XVI. After- 
 wards, mounted on the throne, he had preserved 
 for France a marked preference, and he was happy 
 to find in her victories a decisive reason for giving 
 it to her. The Russians and English wished to 
 overcome this preference, even by main force. 
 An occasion occurred to prove their influence at 
 Constantinople ; it was the choice of the two hospo- 
 dam of Wajlachia and Moldavia. The hospodars 
 Ipsilanti and Maruzzi, devoted to England and to 
 Russia, to whomsoever wished for the ruin of the 
 Turkish empire, because they were the real pre- 
 cursors: of the Greek insurrection, showed them- 
 selves in this administration the declared accom- 
 plices of the enemies of the Porte. Things had 
 come to such a point that the Porte had seen 
 itself obliged to recall agents so unfaithful and 
 
 dangerous. Russia b i made general Michelson 
 
 march towards the Dniester with an army of 
 60,000 men, and England had directed a flotilla on 
 the Dardanelles, to exact, by means of this union of 
 force, the replacement of the deposed hospodars. 
 The young emperor Alexander, who had only come 
 upon the world's stage to endure the memorable 
 defeat of Austerlitz, said to himself, that in the 
 midst of the sanguinary commingling of all the 
 European nations, he would profit by the circum- 
 stances to advance upon Turkey, and that whatever 
 were the chances of fortune between the Rhine 
 and the Niemen, all that he took in the East 
 would perhaps be left to him to recompense him for 
 that which others might take from him in the West. 
 This calculation was not wanting in correctness. 
 But having Napoleon on his hands, lie acted with 
 little prudence in depriving himself of b'0,000 men, 
 to Bend them on the Pruth. The proof of this 
 fault was even in the joy itself that Napoleon 
 exhibited when he learned that a rupture hail 
 broken out between ROSAS and tin- Porte. It 
 was the foresight of this had made him hold on so 
 
 strongly to occupy Dalmatia, which permitted him 
 
 to keep an army on the frontiers of Bosnia, and 
 
 gave him the facility of succouring or making the 
 . according to the demands of his 
 policy. On seeing this crisis approach, that be 
 desired more ardently as event-, became more 
 serious, he had chosen for bis ambassador at 
 
 tantinople, a military man, born, like himself, 
 in Corsica, joining to experic in war a rare 
 
 political sagacity, general Sehastiani, before em- 
 ployed in a mission to Turkey, where he had 
 acquitted himself with perfect satisfaction. Napo- 
 leon had given him express instructions to excite 
 
 the Turks against tin- Russians, and to employ all 
 his efforts to provoke a war in the West. He had 
 authorized him to draw from I'aliuatia officers of 
 
 artillery and engineers, ammunition, and even the 
 36,000 men of genera] Marmont, if the Porte, 
 pushed to an extremity, should desire the pn 
 
 of a French army. The battle of Austerlitz having 
 reattached Sultan Selim to Napoleon, the- battle ..l 
 
 Jt na would be sufficient to embolden him as far as 
 war. Napoleon wrote to this prince to offer him 
 an offensive and defensive alliance; to engage him 
 to seize that occasion to raise up the crescent, and 
 to announce to him that he would render to the | 
 Turks the gn at) Bt service which it was possible to 
 render them, and make up for the greatest check to 
 which they had ever been subjected by attempting 
 the re-establishment of Poland. Orders were given 
 to general .Marmont to keep ready all the succour 
 which might be demanded from him at Constanti- [ 
 tinople; and to general Sehastiani to neglect nothing 
 to kindle a conflagration, which should extend from 
 the Dardanelles to the mouths of the Danube. In 
 setting the Russians and the Turks at odds. Napo- 
 leon proposed to himself the double end, that of 
 dividing the forces of Russia, and of throwing 
 Austria into terrible perplexities. Austria, there 
 was no doubt, hated France; but, when she saw 
 the Russians invade the shores of the Black Sea, 
 she would suffer an uneasiness which would be a 
 very powerful diversion of her hatred. 
 
 This immense quarrel, carried on for fifteen 
 years between Europe and the French revolution, 
 had thus extended itself from the Rhine to the 
 Vistula, from Berlin to Constantinople. Engaged 
 in a contest to the utmost, Napoleon took means 
 proportioned to the grandeur of his designs. His 
 first care was to levy a new conscription. He had 
 called out, towards the end of 1805, the first half of 
 the conscription of 100fi, and had called out the 
 second half at the moment of his entrance into Prus- 
 sia. He resolved to act in the same manner with the 
 conscription of 1807, and he called it out imme- 
 diately, although it was only at the end of 1806 : 
 to give the young men of that class a year tor 
 instruction, to strengthen themselves, and to break 
 them in to the fatigues of war. With the spirit 
 that reigned in the regiments, they were all that 
 was required to form excellent soldiers. This 
 new levy of men would, besides, procure to the 
 effective Strength of the army an important aug- 
 mentation. That effective strength, which was, in 
 
 1806, the period of the departure for Boulogne, 
 
 160,000 men, and that was raised, by the conscrip- 
 tion of 1806, to 603,000, would be carried, by the 
 conscription of I 807, to 680,000. The annual free- 
 doms given were interdicted during the war; the 
 army was thus augmented at each conscription, 
 because battles or sickness did not diminish the 
 
 effective fori I the Dumber of men proportioned 
 
 to the amount of the levies. The campaign of 
 
 Austria ha I not cost more than 20,000 men ; that 
 
 ot Prussia had nol cost thai number yet. It is 
 true thai the war was every day found to be 
 carried to a greater distance, and into ruder 
 climates ; and the quality of the troops lessened 
 in proportion, while, as the recruits replaced the 
 old soldiers of the revolution, the toss would toon 
 become more sensible, lint these were yt 
 
 small importance, and the army c posed of tried 
 
 soldiers, resuscitated, rather than enfeebled, bj 
 
 the arrival, to the WST battalions, of a certain 
 portion of Conscripts, had attained its utmost state 
 
 of perfection. 
 
 Napoleon wrote, tier, fore, to M . I. acme, that 
 he Should call out tie- class of 18<>7. M. de Fa- 
 cile. v\as then charged with the appeals of the war 
 ministry, lie was an accomplished functionary,
 
 202 
 
 Message to the 
 senate. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Dispositions to 
 increase the 
 aciive force. 
 
 {k 
 
 1806. 
 ov ember. ■ 
 
 devoted to the emperor, ;md resolute to surmount 
 the difficulties attached to a very ungrateful task, 
 under a reign that caused so great a consumption 
 of men. Although he was not minister at war, 
 Napoleon corresponded directly with him, feeling 
 the necessity to guide, support, and excite him by 
 direct communications. — r* You will see," he wrote 
 him, " by a message addressed to the senate, that 
 I call out the conscription of 1807, and that I am 
 not willing to lay down my arms until I have 
 peace with England and with Russia. I see by 
 the statements, that, on the 15th of December, 
 all the conscripts of 1806 will have marched. 
 You will have no need to await my order for their 
 partition among the different corps. I have not 
 lost many men ; but the design which I have 
 formed is greater than any I have ever before 
 conceived; and from that it is necessary that I 
 should find myself in a position to meet every 
 event." (Berlin, 22 November, 1806. Depot of 
 the Secretary of State.) 
 
 Napoleon, following the custom that he had 
 adopted the preceding year, to reserve for the 
 senate the vote of the contingent, sent a message 
 to that body, to demand from it the conscription 
 of 1807, and made known to it the extension given 
 to his policy since he had crushed Prussia. In 
 that message, in which the energy of the style 
 equalled that of the thought, he said that thus far 
 the monarchs of Europe were playing upon the 
 generosity of France ; that one coalition van- 
 quished, another was soon seen to have birth ; 
 that the coalition of 1805 scarcely dissolved, he 
 had had to combat that of 1800 ; that he must be 
 less generous for the future ; that the states con- 
 quered would be detained until a general peace on 
 land and sea ; that England, forgetting all the 
 rights of nations, striking with a commercial inter- 
 dict a part of the world, they should strike with 
 the same interdict, and render it as rigorous as 
 the nature of things permitted ; that, in fine, it 
 was better worth, when they were condemned to 
 war, to plunge themselves into it altogether, than 
 to engage in it half way ; that it was the means to 
 terminate it more completely, and more solidly, 
 by a general and durable peace. His style ren- 
 dered, with the utmost vigour, the thoughts of 
 which it was foil. Pride, exasperation, and con- 
 fidence, equally shone out in it. He demanded, in 
 the sequel, means proportioned to his views; these 
 were, as has been announced, the conscription of 
 1807, levied at the end of 1806. 
 
 The precautions, so ably taken by Napoleon, 
 have been before explained, on the double hypo- 
 thesis of a long war in the North, and of a sudden 
 attack on any part whatever of his vast empire. 
 The third battalions of the regiments of the grand 
 army, forming the depot, were, as has been seen, 
 ranged along the Rhine under marshal Keller- 
 mann, or in camp at Boulogne under marshal 
 Brune. These third battalions, already fitted out 
 with the conscripts of 1806, soon with those of 
 1807, carefully exercised and equipped, would be 
 able, in case of need, to join the 8th corps, com- 
 manded by marshal M order, to cover the Lower 
 Rhine ; or equally well to unite under marshal 
 Brune with the king of Holland, to cover either 
 Holland, or the coasts of France as far as the 
 Seine. Those regiments, which were neither in 
 
 Germany nor Italy, united in the interior at St. 
 L6, Pontivy, and Napoleonville, formed in small 
 camps, were designed to march upon Cherburg, 
 Rochelle, Brest, or Bordeaux. Detachments of 
 national guards, not numerous, but well selected, 
 one at St. Omer, one in the Seine Inferieure, and a 
 third in the environs of Bordeaux, would contur 
 in the defence of the points threatened. Some 
 corps concentrated at Paris would be able to travel 
 by post. 
 
 The same system had been adopted, as has been 
 seen, for the army of Italy. The third battalions 
 of that army, spread over upper Italy, were 
 devoted to the instruction of the conscripts, and, 
 at the same time, furnished the garrisons of the 
 fortresses. The war battalions were for the three 
 acting armies of Naples, Friuli, and Dalmatia. 
 
 Napoleon resolved, at first, to draw from the 
 depot the reinforcements necessary for the grand 
 army, to fill with the new conscriptions the void, 
 which that course would produce, and, as that 
 void would be filled and beyond, by the contingent 
 of 1807, to profit by the surplus to carry the 
 battalions of the depot to 1000 or 1200 men, and 
 the regiments of cavalry to an effective of 700 men 
 in place of 500. He also resolved to augment the 
 effective of the companies of artillery, having per- 
 ceived that the enemy, to make up for the quality 
 of his troops, added greatly to the number of his 
 guns. The battalions of depot, being carried up 
 to 1000 or 1200 men, there would always be an 
 extra, besides the recruiting of the active army, 
 of 300 or 400 men, the most instructed, to send 
 any where that might be demanded on an unfore- 
 seen emergency. 
 
 Napoleon had already sent from the depots 
 12,000 men, who had been conducted in strong 
 detachments from Alsace into Franconia, to fill up 
 the void produced in the regiments by the war : 
 7000 or 8000 had arrived, 4000 or 5000 were yet 
 on the march. This was not altogether an equiva- 
 lent for what he had lost,— many more through 
 fatigue than in battle. Pre-occupied above all by 
 the distance to which the war was about to be car- 
 ried, he planned a system profoundly conceived, to 
 bring the conscripts from the Rhine upon the Vis- 
 tula ; to bring them there in such a manner that 
 they should not run any danger during the length 
 of the journey, that they should not scatter on the 
 road, and that, the route completed, they should 
 be able to perform service in the rear of the 
 army. These detachments, drawn from each bat- 
 talion in depot, would form one or many compa- 
 nies, according to their number ; these companies 
 would be afterwards united into battalions, and 
 these battalions into provisional regiments of 1200 
 or 1500 men. They were to have given them for 
 the route, officers momentarily taken from the 
 depots, and organized as if they had been to form 
 definitive regiments. Departing with this organiza- 
 tion, and with their complete equipments, they had 
 orders to halt in the places which were on the 
 French line of operation, such as Erfurt, Halle, 
 Magdeburg, Wittenberg, Spandau, Custrin, and 
 Frankfort on the Oder ; to rest themselves there 
 if they required it ; to keep garrison if it was 
 needful for the security of the French rear ; and 
 when they halted to proceed to military exercises, 
 in order not to neglect the instruction of the men 

 
 1806. \ 
 November./ 
 
 Corps ordered from 
 Paris and I lie 
 French coast. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 Naval mechanics 
 organized. 
 
 203 
 
 during a journey of several months. They thus 
 covered the communications of the army, disposed 
 to become weakened by too great a number of 
 garrisons left in the rear, and augmented in some 
 Bort its effective force before having been able to 
 join it. 
 
 Arrived at the theatre of war, they were to be 
 dissolved by each detachment being sent to its 
 corps, and the officers were to return post to their 
 depots, in order to seek other recruits. 
 
 The same organization was applied to the 
 cavalry, with some particular precautions de- 
 manded by the nature of that arm. 
 
 In all the places converted into grand depots, 
 such as Wurtzburg, Erfurt, Wittenberg, and 
 Spandau, orders were given to collect, through the 
 resources which the country presented, shoes, 
 arms, and provisions in abundance. It was given 
 in orders to the commandants of those places, to 
 inspect every provisionally regiment that passed ; 
 to provide arms and clothes for the men that 
 wanted them, and to retain such as had need of 
 rest. The corps that passed at a later period, 
 were to collect the men left on the road by those 
 vyho had preceded them; and finding as many men 
 and horses as they lost themselves, they were 
 always sure to arrive complete at the theatre of 
 war. Napoleon, assiduously reading the reports of 
 the commandants of the places traversed by the 
 provisionally regiments, compared them continually 
 between each other, rectified the least negligence, 
 and by that means kept all on the alert. It re- 
 quired no less than such combinations, supported 
 by such vigilance, to preserve entire so great an 
 army separated by such vast distances. 
 
 Napoleon would not only maintain the corps to 
 the effective strength which they had when enter- 
 ing on the campaign ; he was for drawing new 
 corps towards the grand army. He had left, as 
 has been seen, three regiments at Paris, in order 
 to form arc-serve, which might be transported post 
 to the coasts of France if they were threatened. 
 He believed he might dispose of two of those regi- 
 -, the fifty-eighth of the line and the fifteenth 
 light, thanks t<> th I rable augmentation of 
 
 the conscripts at the depots. There were at Paris 
 six third battalions, which belonged to regimi ate 
 of four battalions. The conscription would carry 
 each of them up to I Btp Dgth of 1000 men each. 
 Junot, governor of I'.iris, had the order to pass 
 
 mem in review himself several times a week, and 
 to make them manoeuvre under his own i 
 
 There was a reserve of 6000 men always ready to 
 
 set out post, for Boulogne, Cberburg, or Brest, 
 
 which permitted him to dispose, without iiii - 
 
 renience, of th ighth of the line and the 
 
 fifte nth light. Th i intents, that were 
 
 accounted among the finest of the army, were 
 
 sent forward on the Elbe by Weed and West- 
 phalia. 
 
 It will be remembered, that Napoleon had re- 
 solved to convert the velit< i into fusileers of the 
 
 guard. Thanks to the prompt execution of what 
 
 be had ordered, a regiment ol two battalions, raised 
 to 1400 men, of which the soldiers had been selected 
 with care from the annual contingent, and the 
 officers and sub-officers of which had been taken 
 from the guard, had been already completed. 
 Napoleon ordered them to be retained exactly the 
 
 time necessary for their instruction, and that then 
 they should be sent post from Paris to llayence. 
 
 The guard of the capital was as now entrusted 
 to a municipal force, two regiments strong, known 
 under the name of the "Regiments of the Guard 
 of Paris." Napoleon had recommended the utmost 
 possible augmentation of the effective Btrengtb of 
 these two regiments, while enforcing the last con- 
 scription. Receiving the price of his foresight, lie 
 was able now, without too much stripping Paris, to 
 take two battalions, which presented a regiment of 
 1200 or 1300 men of an excellent bearing and qua- 
 lity. He ordered them to march for the army, 
 thinking that troops intended to maintain order at 
 home, should not be deprived of the power to con- 
 tribute to the greatness of their country abroad, 
 and that they would return better and more re- 
 spected. 
 
 The workmen at the ports were without employ, 
 mentand without food, because the naval construc- 
 tions languished in the midst of the immense de- 
 velopment given to the continental war. Napoleon 
 found for them pay and a useful occupation. He 
 Composed of them battalions of infantry, that wire 
 charged with guarding the ports to which they be- 
 longed, with the promise that they should not be 
 made to leave them. They were able to be relied 
 upon, because they had an affection for the esta- 
 blishments committed to their vigilance, and they 
 further partook of the warlike spirit of the navy. 
 Napoleon was indebted to this idea for the power 
 of taking into active service from the coasts, three 
 fine regiments, the nineteenth, fifteenth, and 
 thirty-first of the line, which were at Boulogne, 
 Brest, and St. L6. Tiny wire, as the other batta- 
 lions, carried up to 2000 men for the two batta- 
 lions, and sent forward to the grand army. 
 
 There were, therefore, seven new regiments of 
 infantry, able to furnish the foundation of a fine 
 corps d'armie, that Napoleon had the art to draw 
 from France without too much weakening the in- 
 terior. To these regiments was to be joined the 
 legion of the north, full of Poles, that already was 
 in march towards Germany. 
 
 That which before all things seemed desirable 
 
 to Napoleon, and of which he fully appreciated the 
 
 Utility, perhaps even to exaggeration, at the mo- 
 ment when he went from the plains of Prussia and 
 
 entered upon those of Poland, was the cavalry. 
 
 Ho called lor that force pressingly upon all the 
 administrators of the army, lie had drawn from 
 May nee Mini marched on foot, part towards Hesse 
 
 and part towards Prussia, all the cavalry they had 
 instructed in th.' depdtS there. He desired that 
 they should have their horses in Prance, to give 
 
 them those which had been collected in Germany. 
 
 Marshal Mortier, on entering into the states of the 
 elector of llesso, had broken up the army of that 
 
 pin They had taken 4000 or . r iii(io excellent 
 
 , ol' which a part had served ti nut on 
 
 pot looo French horsei and the others 
 
 had I n m nl forward to Potsdam. Then ' \isted 
 
 at. Potsdam vast stables, constructed by the great 
 Frederick, who often amused himself by seeing a 
 great number of squadrons manoeuvre together in 
 
 that line n treat, where the km:,', philosopher, and 
 
 soldier then lived. Napoleon created under the 
 
 cannon of Spamlau an immense establishment for 
 
 th.- accommodation of his cavalry. He united
 
 204 
 
 Additions made to the 
 cavalry. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Total strength of 
 the grand army. 
 
 / 1806. 
 \ November. 
 
 there all the horses taken from the enemy, and a 
 great quantity more bought in the different pro- 
 vinces of Prussia. General Bourcier, who had 
 left the active army after most honourable ser- 
 vices, was placed at the head of the depot, with 
 the recommendation not to be absent for a mo- 
 ment, and to take care, under his own eyes, of the 
 numerous horses that they had assembled there ; 
 to mount on these horses the cavalry coming on 
 foot from France ; to halt them, marching through 
 Prussia ; to pass them in review ; to replace the 
 tired horses, or those which were not in a state to 
 serve ; and to retain as well the men who might be 
 sick, in order to send them with the regiments 
 which should follow. The workmen of Berlin, re- 
 maining idle by the departure of the court and 
 nobility, were to be employed for pay at this depot, 
 in saddlery work, harness, shoes, and carriage- 
 making. 
 
 It was, above all, in Italy that Napoleon had 
 recourse to procure his cavalry. In no place were 
 they less useful. At Naples they had nothing to 
 do, except with the Calabrese mountaineers, or 
 the English disembarked from their vessels and 
 destitute of horse. There were at Naples sixteen 
 regiments of cavalry, of which some were cuiras- 
 siers, and the finest in* the army. Napoleon 
 ordered ten to march back towards Upper Italy. 
 He left there six only, which were all light cavalry, 
 and of which he was able to carry the effective 
 force to 1000 men each, thanks to the great num- 
 ber of conscripts sent beyond the Alps. They 
 would, therefore, present a force of 6000 men, 
 furnishing 4000 cavalry always ready to mount on 
 horseback, and fully sufficient for the service of 
 observation which they had to perform in the 
 kingdom of Naples. 
 
 The channelled plains of Lombardy, in which 
 the canals, the rivers, and the long avenues of 
 trees, rendered the movements of cavalry so diffi- 
 cult, did not constitute a country where cavalry 
 was highly necessary. Besides ten regiments of 
 this species of force, brought from the south to 
 the north of Italy, permitted the detachment of 
 some to be directed towards the grand army. 
 Napoleon drew thence a division of cuirassiers, 
 forming four superb regiments, that rendered 
 themselves illustrious afterwards under the com- 
 mand of general Espngne. He further drew of the 
 light cavalry, and made, successively, depart for 
 Germany, the nineteenth, twenty-fourth, fifteenth, 
 third, and twenty-fourth regiments of chasseurs, 
 which made, with the four regiments of cuirassiers, 
 nine regiments of cavalry borrowed from Italy. 
 This was a force of 5000 cavalry at least, march- 
 ing part with their horses and part on foot ; these 
 last were intended to be remounted in Germany. 
 
 Napoleon employed himself at the same time in 
 placing the army of Italy upon the war footing. 
 He had had the care to send it 20,000 men of the 
 conscription of 1800, and he had recommended it 
 to prince Eugene to give to their instruction conti- 
 nual attention. Ready to plunge into the north, 
 leaving in his rear Austria, more alarmed, but 
 more hostile since the battle of Jena, he desired 
 that they should proceed, without retardation, in 
 the formation of the active divisions, in such a 
 manner that they would be in a state to enter im- 
 mediately upon a campaign. Already he had in 
 
 Friuli two divisions organized. He ordered the 
 completion of the artillery to twelve pieces for 
 each division. He ordered to be placed upon a 
 war footing a division at Verona, one at Brescia, a 
 third at Alexandria, each nine or ten battalions 
 strong, to prepare their artillery, to compose their 
 equipments, and to nominate their staff. He acted 
 the same towards the cavalry. He enjoined it 
 upon them to render complete, in men as well as 
 in horses, the regiments of dragoons drawn from 
 Naples, and to provide them besides with a divi- 
 sion of light artillery. These five divisions counted 
 together 45.000 infantry and 7000 cavalry, in all 
 52,000 present under arms. This force, increased 
 in case of need by the corps of Marmont and a 
 part of the army of Naples, would suffice, in the 
 hand of such a man as Massena, to stop the Aus- 
 trians, above all supported on such fortresses as 
 those of Palma-Nova, Legnago, Venice, Mantua, 
 and Alexandria. Napoleon ordered the establish- 
 ment in Venice of eight battalions of depot of the 
 army of Dalmatia ; in Osopo and Palma-Nova the 
 seven corps of Friuli ; in Peschiera, Legnago, and 
 Mantua, the fourteen of the army of Naples. Each 
 of those battalions already included more than 
 1000 men, since the contingent of 1806, and was 
 about to contain 1100 or 1200 by the arrival of the 
 contingent of 1807. It therefore became easy to 
 draw from them companies of voltigeurs and gre- 
 nadiers, and to compose with these excellent 
 active divisions. Such was the fruit of a vigilance 
 which never relaxed. Napoleon ordered further, 
 that the provisioning of the fortresses should be 
 completed without delay. 
 
 Thus in limiting himself to the development of 
 the vast precautionary plan adopted at his de- 
 parture from Paris, Napoleon placed France out 
 of the reach of all insult on the part of the Eng- 
 lish, guaranteed Italy from any sudden hostility 
 on the part of the Austrians, and, without dis- 
 organizing the means of defence, either of the one 
 or the other, he drew from the first seven regi- 
 ments of infantry, and from the second nine regi- 
 ments of cavalry, independently of provisionally 
 regiments, that, continually departing from the 
 Rhine, would secure the recruiting of the grand 
 army and the security of his rear. 
 
 The reinforcements that in one month went to 
 increase the grand army, might be estimated at 
 50,000 men. With the corps which had already 
 joined since its entrance into Prussia, and which 
 had carried it to about 190,000 men, with those 
 that were preparing to join with the German 
 auxiliaries, Dutch, and Italians, it would be raised 
 nearly to 300,000 men : but such is the inevitable 
 dispersion of troops, even under the direction of 
 the most able general, that in deducting from these 
 300,000 men the wounded and sick, become more 
 numerous in winter and in distant climates, the 
 detachments on the march, the garrisons left on 
 the road, and the corps placed in observation, it 
 was impossible to flatter himself with placing more 
 than 150,000 under fire. So much was it neces- 
 sary that the resources should surpass the neces- 
 sity foreseen, in order to suffice only for the real 
 need. And if this observation be extended to the 
 whole of the forces of France in 1806, it will be 
 seen, that with a total army, which would be raised 
 for the whole empire to 580,000 men, to 650,000
 
 1806. 
 November. 
 
 Financial resources 
 of the aruiv. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 Contributions levied 
 on Prussia. 
 
 205 
 
 with the auxiliaries, 300,000 at most could be pre- 
 sent on the theatre of war between tlie Rhine and 
 the Vistula, 150,000 on the Vistula itself, ami 
 80 000, perhaps, <>n the fields of battle, where the 
 late of the world was to be decided. Still never 
 had so many men ami horses marched, so many 
 cannon been wheeled along, with Buch a Btrength 
 ol aggregation, towards the same object. 
 
 It was not all to unite the soldiers, financial re- 
 sources were necessary in order to provide for 
 them all <>f which they stood in need. Napoleon, 
 having succeeded, as lias been seen, in carrying to 
 700,000,000 (820,000,000 with the expense oi col- 
 lection) Ins war-budget, had the means in his 
 power of maintaining an army of 460,000 men. 
 But he would soon have to pay 000,000. He re- 
 solved to draw from the conquered countries the 
 resources which were necessary for the purpose of 
 paying his new armaments. Possessor of Hesse, 
 Westphalia, Hanover, the Hanseatic cities, Meck- 
 lenburg, and Prussia itself, he was able, without 
 the charge of inhumanity, to raise contributions on 
 these different countries, lie had left the Prus- 
 sian authorities every where in existence, and 
 placed at their head General Clarke to administer 
 the policy of the country, and M. Darn the busi- 
 of the finances. The last, capable, upright, 
 and attentive, was endowed with the financial 
 business, and knew it as well as the best 1 russian 
 officials. The monarchy of Frederick-William, 
 composed at this period of Eastern Prussia, that 
 extended from Koenigsberg to Stettin ; of Prus- 
 sian Poland, of Silesia, Brandenburg, the provinces 
 to the left of the Elbe ; of Westphalia, and of the 
 territory inclosed in Franconia, was able to return 
 to its government about 120,000,0001'. The ex- 
 's of collection wereacquitted in the productions 
 themselves ; the greater part of the army satisfied 
 by means of local duties ; the maintenance of the 
 loads secured by certain impresses imposed upon 
 the farmers of the domains of the crown. In this 
 1 20 ooo,000f. of revenue, the forced contributions 
 figured for 35,000,000f. or 3fi,000,000l'.; the 
 farming of the domains of the crown for 
 1 il.ooo ooof. ; the produce of the excise, which 
 c insisted in duties upon liquors, and on the transit 
 of merchandize, for 60,000,000f., and the monopoly 
 of salt for 9fl00fl00f. or I0,000,000f. ; different ae- 
 ry imposts c pleted the sum of 12ooo0,000f. 
 
 Official persons, united in provincial committees, 
 under the name of u the Chambers of the Domains 
 ami of War," managed these imposts and revenues, 
 
 watching over their assessment, thl ir Collection, 
 and the farming of the numerous domains of the 
 crown. 
 
 Napoleon decided thai this administration should 
 con ti uue even with its abuses, which M. Dam soon 
 ivered, and which he pointed .ait to the Prus- 
 sian government itself to aid in their correction ; 
 
 that near each provincial administration then 
 should be a French agent, ordered to hold in hand 
 the collection of the revenue, and turn it over into 
 the central ch< si of the French army. II. Daru 
 would watch over these agents, and centralize 
 tlnir operations. Thus the finances of Prussia 
 were to be administered on account of Napoleon 
 
 • The revenue of Primala, in 1840, wai about I09,000,000T., 
 an increase of 7J,u00,000f.— Tr»xhah/h. 
 
 and to his profit. Henceforth they foresaw that 
 the annual produce of I20,000,000f. would fall to 
 70.000.(1001. or 80,000,000f. in consequent f ex- 
 isting circumstances. Napola n, using his right of 
 conquest, did not content himself with the ordinary 
 imposts ; he decreed besides a war contribution ; 
 that for the whole of Prussia would amount to 
 2n0.000.000f. : it would be collected by little and 
 little, during the time of the occupation, and above 
 the ordinary imposts. Napoleon also levied a war 
 contribution upon Ibsse, Brunswick, Hanover, and 
 the Hanseatic towns, indepeudeutly of the seizure 
 of English merchandize. 
 
 At this rate the army would be able to provide 
 for itself, and consume nothing without paying Ear 
 it. Tin- numerous purchases of horses, immense 
 orders for clothing, shm >, harness, and artillerv- 
 carriages, made in all the towns, but more particu- 
 larly in Berlin, with the view of occupying the 
 workmen, and to provide for the necessities of the 
 French army, all were paid for out of the product 
 of the ordinary and extraordinary contributions. 
 
 These contributions, no doubt very heavy, were 
 still the least vexatious mode of exercising the 
 right of war, which authorized the vanquisher to 
 live upon the conquen d country, since for the 
 waste made by the soldiery the regular collection 
 of taxes was substituted. For the rest, the most 
 severe discipline, the most perfect respect for pri- 
 vate property, save the ravage committed on fields 
 of battle, happily reserved for a very few placi a, 
 compensated these inevitable severities of war. 
 and, most assuredly, on looking into the past, it 
 will be seen that never did armies comport them- 
 selves with less barbarity and with so much 
 humanity. 
 
 Napoleon, disposed from political motives to 
 temporize with the court of Saxony, had offered it 
 an armistice and peace after the battle of Jena. 
 This court, timid and honest, had accepted with 
 joy such an act of clemency, and delivered itself 
 over to the discretion of the conqueror. Napoleon, 
 being agreeable to admit it into the new Rhenish 
 confederation, changed into the title of king that 
 ctor which its BOVen ign had before borne, 
 
 on the condition of a military contingent of 20,000 
 men. reduced this time to 0000, in consideration 
 
 of particular circumstances. This extension of the 
 
 confederation of the Rhine presented the greatest 
 advantages, because it insured to the French army 
 a free passage across Germany, and the possi 
 
 of all the line of the l.il.e. To compensate the 
 
 charges "i a military occupation, which were span d 
 
 n\ bj tins treaty, she promised to pay a 
 
 contribution of 2o,000,000f. in metal, or in bil 
 
 exchange at a short date. 
 
 Napoleon was able to dispose, therefore, for the 
 
 pen, d ol the war. of :t(IO 0110.0001. at hast. Car- 
 rung his foresight to the longest term, be would 
 not permit the administration of his treasury at 
 home to rest quiel on trust of thi n 'inc.- found 
 in Germany, There was due to the grand army 
 24,000,000f. oi arrears ol pay. Napol l< : - 
 
 maiided that this mud should be deposited in 
 
 specie, a part atStrasburg and a part at Paris; 
 because I"- was not willing that at any pi> 
 
 moment they should I bliged to run alter the 
 
 money which would hue been locked tip lor a 
 time more or Josh long, lie thus left it in deposit
 
 20G 
 
 The king of Prussia 
 refuses the armistice. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Arrival of the 
 Kussians. 
 
 J 1806. 
 (_ November. 
 
 at Paris and on the Rhine, safe for later use ; and 
 he provisionally had the arrears of the troops paid 
 out of the revenues of the conquered countries, 
 in order that the soldiers might have the money 
 owing, while they were still in the Prussian towns, 
 and that they might be able to procure the enjoy- 
 ments which they could only find in the midst of a 
 large population. 
 
 All these dispositions terminated, General Clarke 
 left at Berlin to administer the political govern- 
 ment of Prussia, and M. Daru that of the finances, 
 Napoleon moved his columns forward to enter 
 Poland. 
 
 The king of Prussia had not accepted the 
 ■armistice proposed, because the conditions were 
 too rigorous, and also because he had been made 
 to wait too long. Rejoined by Duroc at Osterode 
 in Old Prussia, he replied, that in despite of his 
 si icere desire to suspend the course of a disastrous 
 war, he could not consent to the sacrifices de- 
 manded of him ; that in requiring, besides that 
 part of the territory already invaded, the province 
 of Posen, and the line of the Vistula, he was left 
 without territory and without resources, and, above 
 all, Poland was delivered at once to inevitable insur- 
 rection ; that he, therefore, was resigned to a con- 
 tinuance of the war ; that he acted thus from 
 necessity, and also from a fidelity to his engage- 
 ments,— because, having called in the Russians, it 
 was impossible to send them back alter the appeal 
 which had been addressed to ihem,and which they 
 hail answered with the utmost cordiality. 
 
 Vainly did M. Haugwitz ai.d M. Lucchesini, 
 who had for a moment partaken in the general 
 vertigo of the Prussian nation, ami been brought 
 back to reason by misfortune, vainly did they unite 
 their efforts to have the armistice accepted, such 
 as it was, by saying, that if it was refused, Napo- 
 leon would go and conquer it in fifteen days ; that 
 they would lose the occasion to arrest the war and 
 its ravages ; that if they treated now, they should 
 lose, beyond a doubt, the provinces situated on the 
 left of the Elbe ; but that, if they treated later, they 
 would lose with those provinc s Poland itself. Vainly 
 did M. Haugwitz and M. Lucchesini give this advice; 
 their tardy wisdom obtained no credit. In reach- 
 ing Kcenigsberg, the court had approached Rus- 
 sian influence ; the misfortune which had calmed 
 the wiser heads, had, on the contrary, exalted 
 those devoid of reason ; and the war party, in 
 place of imputing to itself the reverses of Prussia, 
 attributed them to the pretended treasons of the 
 party that was for peace. The queen, irritated 
 by her grief, insisted more than ever that they 
 should tempt the fortune of arms anew, with what 
 remained of the Prussian forces, with the support 
 of the Russians, and with the favour of distance, 
 which were a great advantage for the vanquished 
 and disadvantage for the victor. M. Haugwitz and 
 M. Lucchesini, deprived of all influence, pursued 
 l>y unjust accusations, and sometimes assailed with 
 outrage, demanded and obtained their dismission. 
 The king, more equitable than the court, granted 
 it with great regret, above all for M. Haugwitz, of 
 whom he had not ceased to appreciate the judg- 
 ment and to feel the long services, and whose 
 ci misels he was sorry he had not followed. 
 
 The Russians were, in fact, arrived upon the 
 Niemen. A first corps of 50,000 men, commanded 
 
 by General Benningsen, had passed the Niemen 
 on the first of November, and had advanced to the 
 Vistula. A second, of equal force, conducted by 
 General Buxhoewden, followed the first. A reserve 
 was organized under General Essen. A part of 
 the troops of General Michelson ascended the 
 Dneister to enter Poland. Still the imperial 
 guard had not yet quitted Petersburg. A cloud 
 of cossacks moved out of the desert preceded 
 the regular troops. Such were the forces of this 
 vast empire, actually disposable, for the second 
 time showing that their -resources were not yet 
 equal to their pretensions. Joined to the Prus- 
 sians, and waiting the reserve of General Essen, 
 the Russians were able to present themselves upon 
 the Vistula only to the number of 120,000 men. 
 There was nothing in that to embarrass Napoleon, 
 if the climate had not given to the soldiers of the 
 north a formidable aid. By the climate, must not 
 be understood alone the cold, but the soil, the dif- 
 ficulty of marching, and of living in those immense 
 plains, alternately muddy or sandy, and covered 
 more with woods than cultivation. 
 
 The English, it is true, promised a powerful co- 
 operation in money, materiel, and even in men. 
 They announced disembarkations on different points 
 of France and Germany, and more particularly an 
 expedition into Swedish Pomerania, in the rear of 
 the French army. They had effectively a spot of 
 ground very commodious for such a purpose in the 
 inundated fortress of Stralsund, situated on the 
 last point of land of the German continent. That 
 point was guarded by the Swedes,-and quite pre- 
 pared to receive the English troops in an asylum 
 well nigh inviolable. But it was probable that the 
 desire to seize the rich colonies of Holland and 
 Spain, badly defended at that moment, on account 
 of the prior occupations of the continental war, ab- 
 sorbed the attention and forces of the English. A 
 last resource, much more vain still than that which 
 was founded on the expectation of the English, 
 formed the complement of the means of the coali- 
 tion, that was the supposed intervention of Austria. 
 They flattered themselves, that if a single success 
 crowned the efforts of the Prussians and Russians, 
 Austria would declare itself in their favour ; and 
 they almost counted in the effective of the belli- 
 gerent troops, the 80 000 A ustrians, actually united 
 in Bohemia and Gallicia. 
 
 All this gave N;ipoleon little uneasiness, who hnd 
 never been more lull of confidence and pride. The 
 refusal of the armistice had neither surprised nor 
 annoyed him. " Your majesty," he wrote to the 
 king of Prussia, "has declared to me that you 
 have flung yourself into the arms of the Russians : 
 the future will make known whether you have 
 chosen the best and most efficacious side : you 
 have taken the box and play the dice, — the dice 
 will decide the g;mie." 
 
 The following were the dispositions of Napoleon 
 for penetrating into Poland. He had nothing im- 
 mediate to dread on the side of the Austrians ; his 
 general preparations in France as in Italy, and his 
 oriental diplomacy , stopped all that he had reason 
 to dread in those directions. The disembarkations 
 of the English and the Swedes in Pomerania, tend- 
 ing to raise Prussia, already humiliated and suffer- 
 ing, in bis rear, presented more serious danger. 
 However, be did not even attach auy great im-
 
 1S06. I 
 November. / 
 
 Napoleon's precau- 
 tionary measures. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 French movement on 
 Poland. 
 
 207 
 
 porta nee to that danger, because lie wrote his 
 brother Louis, who importuned him with his 
 alarms, that the English had a better thing to do 
 than to disembark in France, Holland, or Pome- 
 r.uiia. They loved better to pillage the colonies 
 of all nations, than to attempt descents from which 
 they could draw no other advantage than that of 
 being shamefully driven into the sea. Napoleon 
 believed, more or less, one thing — that the Swedes 
 had 12.000 or 15,000 men at Stralsund. In any 
 the eighth corps, confided t<> Marshal Mor- 
 tier, was ordered to provide for such events as 
 might occur. This corps, which had had for its 
 first mission to occupy Hesse, and unite the grand 
 army with the Kliine, had, now that Hesse was 
 disarmed, to keep down Prussia, and guard the 
 • if Germany. It was composed of four divi- 
 sions ; one Dutch, become vacant by the return of 
 king L-iiiis to Holland ; one Italian, marching by 
 Hesse towards Hanover ; and the French, which 
 were completing with a part of the regiments 
 newly drawn from France. A part of these troops 
 were to besiege the Hanoverian fortress of Hainehi, 
 remaining in the hands of the Prussians, another 
 to occupy the Hanseatic towns. The remainder, 
 established in the direction of Stralsund and Ank- 
 laui, was designed to drive back the Swedes into 
 Stralsund, if they came out, or to march upon 
 Berlin, if, in an access of despair, the people of 
 that capital should revolt. 
 
 General Clarke had orders to concert with mar- 
 shal Mortier, in order to meet all these accidents. 
 There was not a single musket left in Berlin ; all 
 the military tnaterid having been transported to 
 Spandau. Sixteen hundred burgesses furnished 
 the guard of Berlin with eight hundred muskets, 
 whieii were transmitted to them, not having on 
 gaard but eight hundred men at a time. General 
 Clarke, if he encountered a movement of any 
 importance, would withdraw into Spandau, and 
 there await marshal Mortier. The vast depot of 
 cavalry, established at Potsdam, could always 
 furnish HUM bene to serve as patrols, and to seize 
 the Solitary men that wandered up and down the 
 country since the dispersion of the Prussian army. 
 This foresight had been carried so far as to Search 
 the woods in order to collect the camion that the 
 P russia ns had hidden in their flight, and to secare 
 them in the strong fertr The oorps of mar- 
 
 shal Davout, which had entered Berlin before all 
 
 the others, had had time to rest itself. Napole. a 
 
 marched it first upon Custrin, and from Cost no upon 
 the capital of the grand duchy of I'osen. The corps 
 of marshal Augereau, that reached Merlin second, 
 and was also sufficiently rested, was sent in 
 Custrin nud Landsln-rg on the Netze, tie- road to 
 tie- Vistula, with the order to march to tie- left of 
 
 marshal Davout. More to the left still marshal 
 
 I, nines, who had been stationed at Stettin siuce 
 tie- capitulation of Prenzlow, having refreshed his 
 tro ips a little in th it place, reinforced by the 28th 
 
 lig it, provided with great COatS and shoes, had 
 
 orders to carry provisions for eight days, to cro I 
 
 tin: Oihr, to pass by Slirgard an I SeltneidmUltl, 
 ami to unite with Augereau on tie .Net/,'. Ii need 
 not lie ob serv e d that he was not to quit Stettin 
 without having put that fortress into a State of 
 
 defence. Tin- indefatigable Murat, Anally, leaving 
 
 ins cavalry to return by short marches from 
 
 Lubeck, had orders to go in person to Berlin, and 
 there to take command of the cuirassiers, which 
 had been resting during the time that the dragoons 
 had been pursuing the Prussians; to join to the 
 cuirassiers the dragoons of Beaumont and of Klein, 
 that had been less advanced than the others in 
 pursuit of the enemy, and besides were remounted 
 with fresh horses from the depot at Potsdam. 
 Mnrat, with this cavalry, was to join marshal 
 Davout at Posen, to precede him towards Warsaw, 
 and to place himself at the head of all the troops 
 directed towards Poland, until Napoleon came to 
 command them himself. The Russians were yet 
 very far from the Vistula ; Napoleon had time to 
 forward his numerous affairs at Berlin, and thus 
 left to his brother-in-law the task of commencing 
 the movement in Poland, and sounding the insur- 
 rectional disposition of the Poles. No one could 
 be more proper than Murat to excite their enthu- 
 siasm, and to partake it himself. 
 
 While the French army, passing the Oder, 
 advanced upon the Vistula, Prince Jerome, having 
 the Wirteiuberghers and Bavarians under his 
 command, seconded by an able and vigorous 
 officer, general Vandamme, was to invade Silesia, 
 and besiege the fortresses, to carry a part of the 
 troops as far as Kaliseh, and thus to cover, against 
 Austria, the right of the corps which marched 
 upon Posen. 
 
 The troops directed upon Poland might amount 
 to about 80,000 men, among which the corp^ of 
 marshal Davout numbered -23 000, that of marshal 
 Augereau 17,000, that of marshal Lannes 18,000; 
 the detachment of Prir.ce Jerome, sent to Kaliseh, 
 14,000; and, finally, the reserve of cavalry of 
 Murat, 9000 or 10,000. It was more than would 
 be needful to face the Russian and Prussian forces 
 that they were exposed to encounter at the first 
 moment. 
 
 In this interval, the corps of marshals Soult and 
 Bernadotte were on the march from Lubeck upon 
 I'm rim. They Were to Sojourn some time in that 
 
 capital to refresh themselves, and to be provided 
 
 with what might be wanting Marshal N'ey was 
 to come there after the capitulation of Magdeburg, 
 and prepare himself to march upon the Oder. 
 Nnpoleon, with the imperial guard, the division of 
 grenadiers, and voltigeurs of general Oudinot, with 
 the rest of the reserve ol cavalry, which was at 
 
 Berlin, adding the three corps ol marshals Soult, 
 
 Hern nlotte, and Ney, would make a second army 
 of 60,000 men, at the head of which he would 
 himself march into Poland, to sustain I lie movement 
 of the first. 
 
 Marshal Davout, first directed upon Poland, 
 
 was a firm, re flec ting man, from whom there was 
 no imprudence to be apprehended, lie had been 
 instructed as to the rial idea ol N ipoleon, n lative 
 to Poland. Napoleon had frnukly resolved to 
 
 repair the serious injury that tin' abolition of that 
 
 ancient kingdom had caused to Bun pej but he 
 did not dissimulate the e minis difficulty of re- 
 constituting a state destroyed; above all, with a 
 people whose anarchical spirit was as notorious as 
 their bravery, lie would not therefore engage in 
 such an enterprise, but upon conditions which 
 
 should render tin- lUOOeSS, ll DOl certain, at least 
 
 sufficiently probable, It was n , at first, 
 
 to have striking triumphs in advancing among tho
 
 208 
 
 Davout advances 
 upon Posen. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Character of the 
 country. 
 
 ( 1806. 
 \ November. 
 
 plains of the North, where Charles XII. had met 
 his ruin ; it was necessary for him, afterwards, to 
 have a unanimous feeling, on the part of the Poles, 
 a concurrence in his triumphs, and thus an 
 assurance of the solidity of the new state that he 
 should found between those powerful enemies, 
 Russia, Prussia, and Austria. " When I shall see 
 the Poles all up," he said to marshal Davout, 
 "then I will proclaim their independence; but not 
 before." He had a convoy of arms of all kinds 
 carried after the French troops, in order to arm 
 the insurrection, if, as announced, it should become 
 general. 
 
 Marshal Davout, advancing the corps d'armee 
 which was to depart from the Oder, set himself in 
 movement during the first days of November. It 
 marched with that order, that severe discipline, 
 which he had been accustomed to maintain among 
 his troops. He had announced to his soldiers that, 
 in entering Poland, they entered into a friendly 
 country, and that it was necessary to treat it as 
 such. There had got, as has been already said, 
 a certain want of discipline into the ranks of the 
 light cavalry, which takes the larger part and 
 contributes most to the disorders of war. Two 
 soldiers of this army having committed certain 
 excesses, marshal Davout ordered them to be shot 
 in the presence of the third corps. 
 
 He advanced upon Posen in three divisions. 
 The country between the Oder and Vistula much 
 resembles that which extends from the Elbe to 
 the Oder. Generally, the road lies over sandy 
 plains, in the midst of which wood springs up 
 easily, above all resinous wood, and particularly 
 the pine ; and below this bed of sand, lies a 
 soil proper for cultivation, sometimes drowned 
 beneath the sand itself, sometimes rising to the 
 surface. There are also encountered, in the 
 midst of pine forests, vast places cleared, tolerably 
 cultivated, and in these cleared places a scanty 
 population, poor, but robust, sheltered by the 
 wood and cottage. To this soil succeeds a clay, 
 in which all sinks deeply where the water has 
 penetrated, and the whole is changed, after a few 
 days' rain, into one vast sea of mud. Men perish 
 there, if they are not taken out, and as to horses, 
 cannon, and baggage, they are carried into the 
 abyss without the chance of being saved, even by 
 the strength of a whole army. Thus war is not 
 practicable in this portion of the northern plain, 
 except in summer, when the ground is entirely 
 dry, or in winter, when a frost of many degrees of 
 cold has given to the soil the consistency of stone. 
 But every intermediate season is fatal to military 
 combinations, above all, to the most able ones, 
 which, as it is well known, depend upon ra- 
 pidity of movement. 
 
 These physical characters do not show them- 
 selves in union until the Vistula is approached, 
 and, above all, beyond it, between the Vistula and 
 the Niemen. Still they begin to be visible near 
 the Oder. One phenomenon, peculiar to these 
 vast plains, that has already been pointed out, and 
 which is found here, is that the sands, elevated in 
 downs along the sea shore, throw back the waters 
 towards the interior of the country, where they 
 form numerous lakes, discharging themselves in 
 small streams, that then unite into larger ones, till 
 these again accumulate, and become vast rivers, 
 
 such as the Elbe, Oder, and Vistula, capable of 
 opening an outlet across the sandy barriers. In 
 Brandenburg and Mecklenburg, that is to say, 
 between the Elbe and the Oder, the country that 
 had been the theatre of the pursuit of the Prus- 
 sians by the French army, peculiarities of this 
 nature have been already remarked. They become 
 more striking between the Oder and the Vistula. 
 The sands rise, and retain the waters, that by the 
 Netze, and the Warta, seek an outlet towards the 
 Oder* The Netze comes to the left, the Warta to 
 the right, in marching from Berlin to Warsaw; 
 and after having circulated both one and the 
 other, between the Vistula and Oder, they unite in 
 a single bed, and join the Oder together towards 
 Custrin. The country along the sea forms that 
 called Prussian Poinerania, and is German in 
 inhabitants and feelings. The interior, watered 
 by the Netze and the Warta, is marshy, clayey, 
 well enough cultivated, and Sclavonian, in regard 
 to inhabitants. This is Pomerania, of which Posen 
 is the capital, a town of some importance, situated 
 on the Warta itself. 
 
 This was that province in which the Polish 
 spirit displayed itself with the most ardour. The 
 Poles, become Prussians, seemed to support more 
 impatiently than the others the stranger's yoke. 
 At first the German race and the Sclavonian, who 
 encountered on this frontier of Pomerania and the 
 duchy of Posen, had for each other an instinctive 
 aversion, naturally more strong on the limit where 
 they came in contact. Independently of this 
 aversion, the common result of vicinity, the Poles 
 never forgot that the Prussians had been, under 
 the great Frederick, the first authors of the scheme 
 for the partition of Poland; that since they had acted 
 with the blackest perfidy, and completed the ruin of 
 their country, after favouring the insurrection. 
 In fine, the sight of Warsaw in the hands of the 
 Prussians, rendered them the most odious of the 
 co-partners in the iniquity. These sentiments of 
 hatred were pushed to such a point, that the Poles 
 would have nearly regarded it as their deliverance 
 to escape from the king of Prussia, and belong to 
 the emperor of Russia, who, uniting under the 
 same sceptre all the Polish provinces, would 
 proclaim himself king of Poland. The inclination 
 to revolt was therefore more clearly pronounced in 
 the duchy of Posen thati in any other part of 
 Poland. 
 
 Such was, under all relations, physical and 
 moral, the country which the French taversed at 
 that moment. Transported under a climate so 
 different from that of their birth, so different, 
 before all, from the climates of Egypt and Italy, 
 where they had lived for so long a time ; they 
 were, as usual, gay, confident, and found, even in 
 the novelty of the country which they overran, the 
 subject of piquant pleasantry, more than of bitter 
 regret. Besides, their good reception by the 
 inhabitants indemnified them for all their troubles; 
 since, on all the roads and in the villages, the pea- 
 sants ran to encounter them, offering them the pro- 
 visions and liquors of the country. 
 
 But it is not in the country, it is among the con- 
 gregated population, that is to say, in the heart of 
 the cities, that the vivacity of patriotic enthusiasm 
 is most striking. At Posen the different moral 
 dispositions of the Poles manifested themselves in
 
 1806. I 
 November. / 
 
 The Poles armed 
 by Davout. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 Lannes discourages the 
 insurrection. 
 
 209 
 
 a more lively manner tlian elsewhere. This city, 
 which contained 15,000 souls, now contained nearly 
 double that number, by the influx of inhabi- 
 tants fnun the neighbouring provinces, who had 
 come in advance of those who were to render them 
 free. It was on the 9th, 10th, and 11th of No- 
 vember, that the three divisions of the corps of 
 Davout entered Posen. They were received with 
 such transports of enthusiasm, that even the stern 
 marshal was affected, and he himself yielded to 
 the idea <>t the re-establishment of Poland ; an idea 
 popular in the mass of the French army, but very 
 little bo among its chiefs. Then it was he wrote 
 to the emperor letters strongly impressed with the 
 sentiments that broke forth around him. 
 
 He told the Poles that, in order to reconstitute 
 their country, it was needful for Napoleon to have 
 the certainty of an immense effort on their part at 
 first, to aid in bringing about great successes, 
 successes without which he would not be able to 
 impose upon Europe the re-establishment of Po- 
 land ; successes necessary, afterwards, to inspire 
 him with some confidence in the duration of the 
 work which he went to undertake, a work very 
 difficult, when it concerned the restoration of a 
 state destroyed for forty years, and degenerated 
 for more than a century. The Poles of Posen, 
 more enthusiastic even than those of Warsaw, 
 promised, with full consent, all that seemed to be 
 desired of them. Nobles, priests, and people, ex- 
 pressed their wish with ardour to be delivered 
 from the German yoke, antipathetic as it was to 
 their religion, manners, and race ; and at this 
 price there was nothing which they were not 
 ready to do. .Marshal Davout had not yet more 
 than 3000 muskets to give them ; he immediately 
 distributed these among the people, who were de- 
 manding to have them by thousands, and affirming 
 that, whatever was the number, there would be 
 arms found to carry them. The people formed two 
 battalions of infantry, tin- nobles and their vassals 
 squadrons of cavalry. In all the towns situated 
 between the upper VYarta and the upper Oder, the 
 population, at the approach of prince Jerome, 
 drove away the Prussian authorities, and would 
 not have riven them even the favour of life, but 
 that the French troops every when prevt oted 
 violences ami i From Glogau to Kaliscb, 
 
 the route- of prince Jerome, the insurrection was 
 
 ral. 
 There was a provisional authority established at 
 
 n, with which measures were concerted for 
 the sustenance of the French army during its 
 passage. Jt could not become- a question to im- 
 war contributions upon Poland. It was 
 in:' nded that it should be held (dear of the charg< ■ 
 imposed upon conquered countries, on condition 
 
 that it should join its strength to that of the 
 ■h, and that it should grant them a pari of 
 the grain with which it was so abundantly pro- 
 vided. The new Polish authorities concerted with 
 marshal Davout the construction of ovens, the 
 collection of coin, forage, and cattle. The seal of 
 the people, and some funds seized iii the Prussian 
 coffers, sufficed for the firsl preparations. All 
 was thus disposed to receive the mam body of the 
 French army, and, above all, its chief, whom 
 they awaited with lively curiosity and ardent 
 hopes. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 About the same time marshal Augereau had 
 marched on the border which separates Posnia 
 from Pomerania, leaving the Wart a to the right, and 
 keeping himself to the left, the length of the Netze. 
 lie passed by Landsberg, Driesen, and Sclmeid- 
 miihl, across a country, melancholy, poor, very 
 moderately peopled, and unable to give very ex- 
 pressive signs of liveliness. Marshal Augereau 
 encountered nothing calculated to raise his imagi- 
 nation, had much trouble to march at all, and 
 would have had yet more trouble to exist, without 
 a convoy of caissons, which transported the bread 
 for his men. In the environs of Nackel, the 
 waters cease to run towards the Oder, and begin 
 to run towards the Vistula. A canal joins the 
 Netze with the Vistula, departing from Nackel, 
 and ending at the town of Bromberg, which is 
 the entrepot of the commerce of the country. The 
 corps of Augereau found there some comforts after 
 their fatigues. 
 
 Marshal Lannes advanced by Stettin, Stargard, 
 Deutsch Krone, Schneidmtihl, Nackel, and Brom- 
 berg, flanking the march of the column of Auge- 
 reau, as he, in turn, flanked the march of the corps 
 of Davout. He thus also passed along the limits of 
 the German and Polish countries, and over ditlicult 
 ground, yet more melancholy than that which had 
 been marched over by marshal Angereau. He saw 
 theGermans hostile, the Poles timid, and, comparing 
 the impressions which he received from a savage 
 and desert country, with the intelligence he gathered 
 relating to the Poles, in a country that was not 
 favourable to them, he was led to regard it as a 
 work of temerity, and even folly, to attempt the 
 re-establishment of Poland. This officer has been 
 already spoken of, as veil as his rare qualities, and 
 his defects. He must be spoken of yet of'tener, 
 in the history of a period during which he lavished 
 so much of his noble life. I. amies, impetuous in 
 
 his feelings, on that account unequal in character, 
 
 inclined to ill humour, even towards the master 
 he loved, was among those whom the sun, by 
 hiding or showing himself, depressed ami elevated 
 by turns. lint, never losing his heroic tempera- 
 ment, he found again, amid danger, that calm 
 Strength, of which Buffering and contrariness had 
 for a moment deprived him. Cue should not lie 
 just towards this superior soldier if it were not 
 added here, that a grand f( umlalioii of good st use 
 
 was joined in him t<> an inequality ot temper; 
 which made him censure in Napoleon a spirit of 
 immoderate enterprise, and he often uttered sinis- 
 ter prophecies, in the midst ol the most glorious 
 triumphs of the French. After the success of the 
 war with Prussia, he had a strong wish that they 
 
 should stop upon the Oder, and he did not im- 
 pose the least restraint upon the expression of 
 
 Ins opinion. Reaching Bromberg after a painful 
 march, he wrote to Napoleon, that he had gone 
 over a sandy, sterile country, without inhabitants, 
 
 comparable, save in the iky, to the desert that 
 
 must be crossed to go to Egypt from Syria ; that 
 
 the soldiery was on lanehol \ , attacked with fever, 
 OWing to the W( tin SB of tic sod and the humidity 
 
 of tin- season j that the Poles were little disposed 
 
 to revolt, and trembled under the yoke ol' their 
 masters ; that he must not judge ol their dispo- 
 sitions by the factitious enthusiasm of some of the 
 nobles, drawn to Posen bj the low of tumult and 
 
 P
 
 no 
 
 Napoleon awaits 
 results. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 upon Warsaw. (November, 
 
 {] 
 
 novelty; that at bottom they were always frivolous, 
 divided, anarchical, and that, in wishing to recon- 
 stitute the body of the nation, the French would 
 uselessly waste their blood in a work without 
 solidity and without endurance. 
 
 Napoleon remained at Berlin until the last days 
 of November, received without being astonished 
 the contradictory reports of his lieutenants, and 
 awaited until the result of the movement produced 
 by the presence of the French had gone abroad 
 into all the Polish provinces, in order to form an 
 opinion himself in regard to the re-establishment 
 of Poland, and resolve himself either to traverse 
 that country as a field of battle, or to elevate upon 
 its soil a grand political edifice. He made Murat 
 depart, after having anew specified to him the 
 conditions that he intended to make in the resto- 
 ration of Poland, and the instructions that he 
 desired should be followed in marching upon 
 Warsaw. 
 
 The Russians had arrived upon the Vistula, and 
 had taken possession of Warsaw. The last Prus- 
 sian corps which remained to Frederick William, 
 placed under the orders of general Lestocq, an offi- 
 cer as wise as brave, was established at Thorn. having 
 garrisons :it Graudenz and Dantziek. Napoleon 
 desired that, in approaching Warsaw, the different 
 corps of the French army should close up one to 
 the other, in order that, with a mass of 80,000 
 men, a force greatly superior to all that the 
 Russians were able to unite at the same point, his 
 lieutenants should be beyond the chance of any 
 check. He recommended them not to seek and 
 not to accept battle, at least not unless they were 
 very superior to the enemy ; to advance with 
 great precaution, and all to support themselves 
 on the right, and thus cover themselves with the 
 Austrian frontier. At this period the Pilica, on 
 the left bank of the Vistula, and the Narew on the 
 right bank, both emptied themselves into the 
 Vistula n<-ar Warsaw, forming the Austrian fron- 
 tier. In keeping up, therefore, to the right, de- 
 parting from Posen, as they approached the Pilica 
 and Narew, they were covered on every side by 
 the neutrality of Austria. If the Russians wished 
 to take the offensive, they could not do it but by 
 passing the Vistula on the French left, in the 
 environs of Thorn, and then, in drawing them- 
 selves back on the left, they obtained one of these 
 three results, either to throw them on the Vistula, 
 force them back to the sea, or push them with the 
 bayonet upon the second French army in march 
 towards Posen. It must be added for the rest, 
 that if Napoleon, contrary to his custom, did not 
 present himself this lime in one sole mass before the 
 enemy, which would have cut short all difficulties, 
 it was because he knew that the Russians were not 
 50.000 together, and because the extreme fatigue of 
 a part of his troops, having gone as far as Prenzlow 
 and Lubeck, obliged him to form two armies, one 
 composed of those who were able to march imme- 
 diately, the other of those wdio had need of some 
 days' repose before they could be sent on the 
 march. It is thus that circumstances entail 
 variations in the application of the most uniform 
 principles. It is the tact of the great general to 
 modify this application with safety and at the 
 suitable momi-nt. 
 
 Napoleon therefore enjoined it upon marshal 
 
 Davout to carry himself to the right, as he com- 
 manded the road from Posen to Warsaw; to pass 
 by Sempolno, Klodawa, Kutno, Sochaczew, and 
 Blonie; and to send his dragoons directly on the 
 Vistula to Kowal, in order to give a hand to 
 marshals Lannes and Augereau. Lannes, after 
 compensating himself, in the midst of the abun- 
 dance of Bromberg, for the privations of a long 
 route across the sands, had taken his steps towards 
 Augereau. He had orders to ascend the Vistula, 
 and by his right to carry himself from Bromberg 
 to Inowraclaw, Brezesc, and Kowal, defiling under 
 the cannon of Thorn, and going to join himself to 
 the corps of marshal Davout, of which he was to 
 form the left. Marshal Augereau followed him a 
 little after, and taking the same road, came up to 
 form the left of Lannes. 
 
 On the 16th of November and the following 
 days, marshal Davout, preceded by Murat, marched 
 from Posen, where he left every thing in com- 
 plete order, upon Sempolno, Klodawa, and Kutno. 
 Lannes, after having quitted Bromberg, defiled in 
 view of Thorn, and covering himself with the Vis- 
 tula, found himself again entangled in the sands 
 which generally prevail in that part of the course 
 of this river, encountering, for the second time, 
 sterility-, dearth, and the desert, not at all more 
 favourable than before for the war which they 
 were going to undertake. He went by Kowal and 
 Kutno to support the corps of marshal Davout. 
 Augereau followed his track, partaking his im- 
 pressions, as often happened, because he had with 
 Lannes more analogy of character, although in- 
 ferior in talent and in energy. 
 
 Murat and Davout, little tempted to give battle 
 without the emperor, having besides orders to 
 avoid it, advanced with great precaution as far as 
 the environs of Warsaw. Ou the 27th of Novem- 
 ber, his light cavalry drove back from Blonie a 
 detachment of the enemy, and showed themselves 
 as far as the gates even of the capital. Every 
 where they found the Russians in retreat, occupied 
 in destroying the provisions, or transporting them 
 to the right bank of the Vistula. In retiring they 
 passed through Warsaw, which no longer appeared 
 to them a place of security, in consequence of the 
 approach of the French having made every heart 
 there alive. They therefore repassed the Vistula, 
 to shut themselves up in the suburb of Prague, 
 situated, as is well known, on the other bank of 
 the river. In repassing, they destroyed the 
 bridge of Prague, and sunk to the bottom, or took 
 with them, all the boats which could serve to form a 
 means of passage across. 
 
 On the following day, Murat, at the head of a 
 regiment of chasseurs and of the dragoons of 
 Beaumont's division, entered Warsaw. On leaving 
 Posen the people of the country and the small 
 towns showed fewer demonstrations than at Posen, 
 because they wire constrained by the presence of 
 the Russians. But with a large population the 
 emotions are proportioned to the feeling of strength. 
 All the inhabitants of Warsaw ran out beyond the 
 walls of the town to meet the French. For a long 
 time the Poles, by a secret instinct, regarded the 
 victories of Fiance as the victories of Poland itself. 
 They had leaped with joy at the news of the battle 
 of Austerlitz, gained so near the frontier's of 
 Gallicia; and that of Jena, which seemed gained
 
 laoc. i 
 
 November.) 
 
 Enthusiastic re- 
 ception of the 
 French. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 Conduct of the Polish 
 nobility. 
 
 211 
 
 on tlie road to Wat-saw, the entrance of the French 
 into Berlin, and the appearance of Davout on the 
 Oder, had rilled ihem with hope. They saw, in 
 fact, the French, bu renowned, thus expected, and 
 at their head that brilliant general of cavalry, 
 to-day a prince, to-morrow a kin ir, who conducted 
 their advanced guard with so much boldness and 
 eclat. They praised with transport his good 
 bearing, his heroic countenance on horseback', and 
 saluted him with cries a thousand times repeated, 
 of " Long live the emperor! Long live the French!" 
 There was a general delirium among all classes of 
 the people. This time the resurrection of Poland 
 might be considered a little less chimerical, on 
 seeing appear the grand army, that, under the great 
 captain, had vanquished all the armies of Europe. 
 The delight was lively, deep, and without reserve, 
 among this unhappy people, so long the victim of 
 the ambition of the northern courts, anil the taint- 
 heartedness of those of the South ; it told them 
 that at last the hour was come when the emperor 
 of the French would make up for the feeblem 
 the kings of France! The Russians had destroyed 
 the provisions every where, hut the impulse of the 
 Poles supplied them. Tiny disputed with each 
 other for the lodging and feeding the French 
 officers and soldiers. 
 
 Two days alter, the infantry of marshal Davout, 
 which had not been able to keep up with the 
 cavalry, entered Warsaw. There were the same 
 enthusiasm, and the same demonstrations, at the 
 appearance of those old hands of Awerstadt, Aus- 
 terlitz, and Marengo. All appeared glorious at. that 
 first moment, when every foresight of the diffi- 
 culties was, as it seemed, stifled in joy and hope. 
 
 'oleon thought with sincerity, as has I 
 already stated, of the restoration of Poland. It 
 was, in bis idea, one of tlie most useful means, and 
 the- best intended, to renew that Europe of which 
 he bo desired to change the face. When in effect 
 he created new kingdoms, to form a support to his 
 young empire, notion.' was more natural than to 
 reinstate the most brilliant and the mosl 
 of the kingdoms destroyed. But besides the diffi- 
 culty of exacting great uacrifio itory from 
 :.i and Pi it was not possible 
 to impose upon them without heating them utterly 
 and entirely, — there was with this another diffi- 
 culty, in taking the Galliciafl from Austria ; and if 
 these provinces were left out,— if he were content 
 to renew Poland, with two-thirds of the aiicienl 
 territory, — he ran -tiil the serious risk of inspiring 
 the cabinet ol Vienna, by tins reounstitntiun of 
 Poland, with a redoubling of its jealousy, its 
 hatred, and its ill will, and perhaps ol bringil 
 
 Aus rian army upon tlie nar of the French. Na- 
 poleon, therefore, would only make conditional 
 engagements with the Poles ; and it was decided 
 ie : to proclaim their independence until they 
 should hare merited it by a unanimous effort,— by 
 great /.• al to s e c o n d, and by tm • m rgetic resolution 
 to defend the new country winch should have been 
 red to them. Unhappily, the higher Polish 
 nobility, ■> in than the people, discouraged 
 by the different insarrectioiis which had been at- 
 tempted, and ft aring to be abandoned after compro- 
 mising themselves, hesitated to throw tl i 
 
 into the arms of Napol I, and foUIld in their 
 
 actual situation something better to do than to 
 
 revolt, and receive from the French an existence 
 independent indeed, but destitute of Support, t x- 
 posed to all kinds of perils, between Prussia, Aus- 
 tria, and Russia. This hie.li nobility, fallen with 
 Warsaw itself under the yoke of Prussia, felt for 
 that court the aversion that was felt for all the 
 Poles become Prussians. Tlie larger part of the 
 members of the Polish nobility would have re- 
 garded it as a happy change of fortune to become 
 
 subjects id' Alexander, on condition of being 
 rec ustituted in a national body, and of enjoying, 
 under the emperor of Russia, the character that 
 the Hungarians enjoyed under the emperor of 
 Austria. To he united in one and the same 
 people, and transferred from a German to a 
 Sclavonic master, seemed to them a lot much to 
 i red,— the only one, tit hast, to which they 
 were able, in existing circumstances, to aspire. 
 This w.is, in the eyes of many of them, secretly 
 influenced by Russian intrigues, the only recnu- 
 stitution of Poland that was practicable, — because 
 Russia, they said, was near them, and in a state to 
 sustain its own work, when once undertaken, — 
 while an existence that should depend upon France 
 would be precarious, ephemeral, and would vanish 
 when the French tmnies should be at a distance. 
 Doubtless there were some prudential reasons to 
 give a value to this idea of tlie semi constitute n of 
 Poland, born of a semi patriotism ; but those who 
 framed this wish forgot, that if the existence which 
 Poland might receive from France was exposed to 
 peri] when tlie French should repass the Rhine, 
 that which the Russians would give them was ex- 
 posed to another danger, certain and near at hard, 
 — that of being absorbed into the rest of the em- 
 pire, — to submit, in a word, to complete assimila- 
 tion, — a result to which Russia would unceasingly 
 tend, and which she would not fail to realize on the 
 first opportunity, as events have subsequently 
 proved. It was, therefore, necessary to renounce 
 I i ing Polish, or to devote themselves to Napoleon, — 
 t'l devote themselves wholly, at any sacrifice, at all 
 risks, with all the uncertainty attached to such an 
 enter prize, the day when the powerful reformer of 
 Europe- appeared at Warsaw. Certain less elevated 
 motives acted open a portion of the nobility, that 
 
 red with coldness the deliverance of Poland 
 at the hands of tin- French ; this was tin- jealousy 
 that inspired it of the Polish generals, found in the 
 
 French armies, arriving with the reputation, the 
 
 ia, and an exaggerated feeling >( their 
 merits. These varied motives did not still hinder 
 
 the generality of the nobility from feeling a lively 
 pleasure tit the siejit of the French ; they only 
 rendered them more prudent, aid led them to 
 make conditions with a man to whom patriotism 
 Counselled ihem al that moment, not to make any. 
 
 -, more unanimous, less restt n 
 flection, in such a moment better, becau it 
 i moment, one moment only, when- reasi 
 
 . valuable as tie intliu m I the passim 
 
 that moment when evi n a blind devotion i 
 
 condition ol safety lo a people. 
 the masses wished to throw themselves into the 
 French and propel all with them, — 
 people, noble », and prie 
 
 l)iv nicting i entiments, 
 
 grandees ol Warsaw i I Mm at, 
 
 coming to submit to him their wishes, uot under 
 
 p a
 
 212 
 
 Murat proposes a king 
 for the Poles. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Conduct of Kosci- 
 usko toward* 
 Napoleon. 
 
 f 1806. 
 \Novernbfx. 
 
 colour of necessity, but under that of advice, and 
 with the end, they said, of producing among the 
 Polish people a universal revolt. These wishes 
 consisted in a demand that Napoleon should imme- 
 diately proclaim the independence of Poland, and 
 not limiting himself to that act, should select a 
 king from his own family, and place him, with due 
 solemnity, on the throne of Sobieski. This double 
 guarantee being given to them, they added that 
 the Poles, no longer doubting of the intentions of 
 Napoleon, or of his firm resolution to sustain 
 his own work, would deliver themselves to him 
 body and goods. The king to be taken from the 
 imperial family was already designated, — it was 
 the valiant general of the cavalry, so well formed 
 to be the monarch of a nation of horsemen, Murat 
 himself, who, in fact, cherished in his heart the 
 ardent desire of a crown, and particularly of that 
 which, offered at such a moment, because it agreed 
 so well with his heroic inclinations, as well as his 
 frivolous and vain-glorious tastes. He had already 
 accommodated his costume to this new character, 
 and had brought from Paris a number of idle 
 adornments which gave to his French uniform 
 some resemblance to that of the Poles. 
 
 The passion to govern since he had espoused the 
 sister of Napoleon, devoured Murat. This passion, 
 which, at a later period, became fatal to his glory 
 and his life, had redoubled under the excitement 
 of his wife, who was yet more ambitious than he 
 was, and capable, in order to attain the object of 
 her wishes, to draw her husband into the most 
 culpable actions. At the aspect of the vacant 
 throne of Poland, Murat was no longer able to 
 restrain his impatience. He had, therefore, no 
 trouble to partake in the ideas of the Polish nobi- 
 lity, and to take upon himself to communicate 
 them to Napoleon. The commission was, never- 
 theless, difficult to accomplish ; because Napoleon, 
 without underrating the brilliant and generous 
 qualities of his brother-in-law, had an extreme 
 contempt notwithstanding for the frivolity of his 
 character, and often showed himself a severe and 
 hard master towards him. 
 
 Murat guessed truly what reception Napoleon 
 would give to ideas that contravened his own 
 policy, and would besides have the appearance of 
 an interested proposition. Thus he took care about 
 speaking of the monarch designated by the Poles : 
 he contented himself with explaining their ideas in 
 a general manner, and with making known their 
 wish to see the independence of Poland immediately 
 proclaimed, and guaranteed by a king of the Bona- 
 parte family. 
 
 Napoleon, during the march of his corps d'armce 
 upon Warsaw, had quitted Berlin, and arrived at 
 Posen on the 25th of November. There it was he 
 received the letters of Murat. He had only need 
 to be told the state of things, to comprehend 
 them. Even through the most able dissimulation, 
 he discovered the secret minds of others, and the 
 dissimulation of Murat was not of such a nature 
 as to require much trouble to penetrate it. He 
 soon discovered the ambition which possessed the 
 heart at once so valiant and feeble. He felt as 
 much discontent against him as against the Poles. 
 He saw in that which they proposed to him, calcu- 
 lations, reservations, and conditions, a half move- 
 ment, and, in what concerned him, dangerous 
 
 engagements, without a powerful co-operation as 
 an equivalent. By a singular concurrence of cir- 
 cumstances, he received, the very same day, dis- 
 patches from Paris, relative to the celebrated 
 Kosciusko, whom he had wished to draw from 
 France, to place him at the head of renewed 
 Poland. That Polish patriot, whom a false direction 
 of mind hindered at that period from serving his 
 country usefully, lived in Paris in the midst of the 
 discontented, but of small number, who had not 
 yet pardoned Napoleon for the eighteenth of Bru- 
 maire, the concordat, and the re-establishment of 
 the monarchy. Some senators and members of 
 the old tribunate, composed this honest but vain 
 society. Kosciusko was guilty of the error of op- 
 posing his intemperate contradictions to the only 
 man who was then able to save his country, and 
 who had really that intention. Besides previous 
 engagements, demanded by the nobles of Warsaw, 
 and impossible to enter into in the face of Austria, 
 Kosciusko exacted other political conditions, alto- 
 gether puerile, in a moment when it was the ques- 
 tion to upraise Poland, before knowing what con- 
 stitution should be given to it. Napoleon, seeing 
 himself thwarted at the same time by the Poles 
 become idealists at Paris, and by other Poles be- 
 come Russian at St. Petersburg, thence conceived 
 towards them mistrust and coldness. 
 
 In that which regarded Kosciusko, he replied to 
 the minister Fouche, whom he had charged to 
 make him propositions : " Kosciusko is a simple- 
 ton, who has not in his own country all the import- 
 ance that he believes he has, and whom I shall 
 very well pass by in establishing Poland, if the 
 fortune of arms seconds me." He addressed a dry 
 and severe letter to Murat. " Tell the Poles," he 
 wrote him, " that it is not with such calculations 
 and such personal precautions, that they can free 
 their country, fallen beneath a foreign yoke. That 
 it is, on the contrary, by a general rising alto- 
 gether, headlong, without reserve, and with the 
 resolution to sacrifice fortune and life, that they 
 can have, not the certainty, but the simple hope of 
 delivering themselves. I am not come hither," he 
 added, " to beg a throne for my family, because I 
 do not want thrones to bestow : I am come in the 
 interest of the European equilibrium, to attempt a 
 most difficult enterprise, in which the Poles have 
 more to gain than any one else, since it is their 
 national existence that is the business in hand, at 
 the same time as the interests of Europe. If to 
 the strength of their devotion they second me, so 
 that I shall succeed, I will give them independ- 
 ence : if not, I shall do nothing, and shall leave 
 them under their Prussian and Russian masters. 
 I do not encounter here at Posen, in the nobility <if 
 that province, the measured views of the nobility 
 of the capital. I find here frankness, warmth, 
 patriotism, — that which is necessary, in fact, to 
 save Poland, and all that I vainly seek among the 
 grandees of Warsaw." 
 
 Napoleon, discontented, but not on that account 
 renouncing the design of changing the face of the 
 north of Europe by the re-establishment of Poland, 
 took the resolution of not going to Warsaw, but of 
 remaining at Posen, where he was the object of 
 extraordinary enthusiasm. He contented himself 
 by sending a Pole to Warsaw, whose spirit he 
 much appreciated, M. Wibiski, a gentleman better
 
 1S06. 1 
 November. ) 
 
 The question of Polish 
 independence. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 Resources of the 
 Freiicn. 
 
 213 
 
 versed in the science of law and politics, than of 
 war, bul who knew the country to the bottom, and 
 was animated with the Binceresl patriotism. Napo- 
 leon laid open to him the difficulty of his position, 
 in presence of the three old partinoners of Poland, 
 of whom two were in arms against him, and a 
 third ready to declare itself; and the necessity he 
 was in of a careful management, and of finding, in 
 a spontaneous and onanimous movement of the 
 Polea all at once, a pretext to proclaim their 
 independence, and succour sufficient to sustain it. 
 His language, perfectly rational and Bincere, per- 
 suaded M. Wibiski, who went to Warsaw, to 
 endeavour to make his countrymen there, the 
 more distinguished by their positi n and know- 
 ledge, partake in his own convictions. 
 
 This singular contest, between the Poles wishing 
 that Napoleon should commence by proclaiming 
 their independence, and Napoleon wishing that 
 they should commence by meriting it, ought not to 
 !"• a cause of blame either towards them or him, 
 but rather a proof of the difficulty of the enter- 
 prize. The Poles avowed that they believed an 
 existence would be little solid placed at so great a 
 distance from the protector who had given it to 
 them; and they demanded of him an assurance, 
 besides a solemn engagement in the ties of blood. 
 Napoleon, on his side, avowed that, sufficiently 
 powerful to change the face of Europe, bold 
 enough to dare carrying the war as far as the 
 Vistula, he hesitated to proclaim the independence 
 of Poland, having two of the partitionists to face, 
 and the third upon his rear. If, however, there 
 must absolutely be reproach against any, it will be 
 against the Poles ; at least against those who 
 calculated after such a mode. Napoleon, in fact, 
 owed nothing to the Poles, save on the ground of 
 what tiny would do for Kurope, of which he was 
 the representative; whilst they owed all to their 
 country, even an imprudent confidence, which 
 confidence might draw alter it the aggravation of 
 their sufferings. vVh< o Napoleon was prudent, 
 he did his duty; when the Poles pretended to be 
 prudent, they were wanting in theirs, because, in 
 the situation in which they found themselves, their 
 duty was not to be prudent, but to be devoted even 
 to perishing l . 
 
 Napoleon, established at Posen, in the midst of 
 the nobility of the grand duchy, that had assem- 
 bled entire about him, employed himself in creating 
 one of those military establishments with which he 
 
 in the habit of studding his route, in order 
 that he might carry the war to the greatest 
 
 distance. I le bought grain, forage, above all, cloth, 
 becaase Posen had an important manufacture 
 of that article; be organized the preparation of 
 
 provisions and of hospitals, of all, in a word, that 
 
 ' Marshal Davout, a strong advocate for the rc-ciitablish- 
 ment of Poland, wrote under data of tin '-'1st of Dtoomber: 
 
 " Tie- lives of men arc made very easily, but persons BIS 
 
 wanted capable of directing their organisation ami Instruc- 
 tion. They also want m islets. lie- ipll t in Warsaw is 
 excellent; bat the grandees make use ol theb influence to 
 calm the ardour which is general In the middle olssses. 
 The uncertainty of the future frightens them, and the? 
 sufTer it to be well < tiough understood thai they will not 
 openly declare themselves, unit they do declare 
 
 their independence, a tacit engagement shall be taken to 
 guarantee it." liartaw, Duct ruber I, 1800. 
 
 he should want, in order to have a vast place of 
 depot in the centre of Poland. That place, it is 
 true, was not fortified like Wittenberg or Spandau, 
 it was open like 15 rlin. But it had for deli nee the 
 affection of the inhabitants, devoted from the heart 
 to the French cause. 
 
 Napoleon afterwards directed the movements of 
 the army conformably to his plan of invasion. 
 .Marshal Nov bad arrived at Posill. Marshals 
 
 Soult ami Bernadotte were moving there by short 
 inarches, after having taken, at Berlin, the repose 
 ot which thoir troops had need. The guard and 
 the grenadiers marched to Posen to be round the 
 emperor. Prince Jerome sent the Bavarians upon 
 Kalisch, and, with the W'irtembtir^hers, com- 
 menced by Ulogau the investment of the fortresses 
 in Silesia. 
 
 Napoleon sent marshal Ney from Posen to Thorn, 
 that he might attempt to take it, and surprize the 
 passage of the Vistula. He ordered Augcreau to 
 continue his movement by the right along the 
 Vistula from Thorn to Warsaw. He ordered mar- 
 shal Lannes, who had already executed the same 
 movement, to enter Warsaw, and replace marshal 
 
 Davout, while he would re-establish the bridges of 
 the Vistula, that united the town of Warsaw with 
 the suburb ol' Prague. In ordering marshals Ney 
 
 and Davout as soon as possible to cross the Vis- 
 tula, over the two bridges of Thorn and Warsaw, 
 he recommended it to them to assure themselves 
 of a permanent passage by constructing strong 
 works at the bridge ends. He adjourned his 
 ulterior movements until the moment when tin so 
 two bases of operation should be solidly established, 
 and while waiting thus, he made advance leisurely 
 the corps of marshals Soult and Bernadotte, in 
 order that they should enter in line at the head of 
 all his united forces. During this interval, Murat, 
 with the reserve of cavalry, and marshal Davout, 
 with his corps installed at Warsaw, endeavoured 
 to execute the emperor's orders. The Russians 
 had employed the tune of their residence in the 
 city in carrying away or destroying the provisions, 
 in sinking all the boats, ami, in fact, in leaving 
 
 neither means of subsistence nor a passage of the 
 
 river. Thanks to the zeal of the Poles, it supple d 
 a great part of what was wanted. On the autho- 
 rity of Napoleon, who did not husband the money 
 with which he was provided, a bargain was e, in- 
 cluded with the commercial Jews, who showed 
 themselves exceedingly adroit and able at drawing 
 
 from tluir vast country the grain with which it 
 abounded. An Austrian cordon, drawn along the 
 
 length of Oallicia, hindered the exportation of 
 
 provisions. Put the Jews were charged to get 
 
 over this difficulty by paying well the Austrian 
 revenue officers, and for the money paid them, 
 
 and for the abandonment to them of all tin- salt 
 found in the Prussian magazines, they promised to 
 
 convey by the Pilica, into the Vistula, and by the 
 Vistula into Warsaw, wheal and oats, and to bring 
 
 there besides a considerable quantity of live cattle. 
 They then considered about the passage of the 
 
 Real river, which cut the capital in two parts. 
 
 The weather, alternately rainy or rold, remained 
 
 Uncertain, which was the very worst slate of the 
 
 atmosphere in inch a country, because the \ istaks, 
 without being frozen, carried along enormous 
 
 masses of ice, which did not permit thu throwing
 
 214 
 
 The Russians abandon THIERS> C0NS ULATE AND EMPIRE. ^.fXal Wa'rsaw. { I 18 ° 6 ' 
 
 Prague. 
 
 I December. 
 
 over a bridge, or passing upon the ice itself. 
 Detachments of light cavalry had been sent along 
 the banks of the river, to secure the boats that 
 the enemy had not had time to sink, and in this 
 manner a certain number had been collected in 
 Warsaw. Not able yet to throw a bridge over 
 because of the icebergs that the current carried 
 along violently, some detachments were attempted 
 to be sent over in boats. The hardihood that 
 success had inspired in the French soldiers and 
 generals was necessary in attempting such an 
 operation, because the detachments transported 
 * across one after the other, might be cut off before 
 ■ a sufficient number had passed to defend them- 
 selves. But the Russian general who commanded 
 the advanced guard, having seen the commence- 
 ment of the passage, took the alarm, abandoned 
 the suburb of Prague, and withdrew upon the 
 Narew, a military line of which the direction will 
 presently be seen, and which is found several 
 leagues from Warsaw. They hastened to avail 
 themselves of that event, passed the whole of one 
 division of the corps of Davout beyond the Vis- 
 tula, took Prague, and advanced as far as Jablona. 
 The Vistula appeared a little less loaded with 
 icebergs, the bridge of boats was re-established, 
 thanks to the intrepidity of the marines of the 
 guard, and the zeal of the Polish boatmen. In a 
 few days, the construction of the bridge of boats 
 being achieved, marshal Davout was able to pass 
 over, with all his corps, to the right bank, esta- 
 blish himself at Prague, and even beyond, in a 
 strong position on the Narew. The corps of 
 Lannes came to indemnify itself in Warsaw for 
 the privations it had met with in ascending the 
 Vistula. Marshal Augereau replaced him, and 
 took up a position below Warsaw at Utrata, 
 opposite Modlin, that is to say, over against the 
 confluence of the Narew and the Vistula. His corps 
 suffered much there, and had nothing to eat except 
 the bread that Lannes and Murat sent him from 
 .Warsaw, in the kindness of good fellowship. 
 
 While the passage of the Vistula was effecting 
 at Warsaw, marshal Ney directed himself upon 
 Thorn, by Gnesen and Inowraclaw. The Prns- 
 'sian corps of Lestocq, which remained 15,000 
 strong, after having furnished garrisons to Grau- 
 •donz and Dantzick, occupied Thorn with a detach- 
 ment. Marshal Ney approached that city, which 
 is in a situation quite the contrary to that of 
 Warsaw, being upon the right bank of the Vistula, 
 and having on the left bank only a simple suburb. 
 A vast bridge, resting upon wooden arches, and 
 supported upon an island, united the two banks; 
 but the enemy had nearly destroyed it. Marshal 
 Ney advanced with the head of a simple column, 
 and made, in company with colonel Savary, the com- 
 mandant of the 4th of the line, an observation of 
 the banks of the Vistula. Thorn is upon the 
 frontier which separator, the Sclavonic from the 
 German country. The two populations, at all 
 times inimical, were then much more so, and 
 showed themselves ready to come to blows, on the 
 arrival of the French. The Polish boatmen aided 
 the troops of marshal Ney, and brought them 
 boats in a sufficient number to transport some 
 hundreds of men across. Colonel Savary, with a 
 detachment of his regiment, some companies of 
 the GUth of the line and of the 6ih light, placed 
 
 themselves in the boats, and ventured in the 
 broad bed of the Vistula, navigating across among 
 enormous icebergs, and having in their presence 
 on the other bank the enemy awaiting them. As 
 they approached the musketry commenced, and 
 became the more annoying as the icebergs, thicker 
 towards the banks than in the middle of the river, 
 did not at first permit the boats to reach the land. 
 The German boatmen were disposed to join their 
 efforts to the obstacles of the position, to hinder 
 the disembarkation of the French. But at this 
 appearance of things the Polish boatmen, more 
 hardy and numerous than those of Germany, 
 threw themselves upon the Germans, repulsed 
 them, and, entering the water up to the middle, 
 drew the boats to the shore under the fire of the 
 Prussians. The four hundred French, quickly on 
 land, ran towards the enemy. Very soon the 
 boats sent to the other side of the Vistula brought 
 over new detachments; and the troops of Ney 
 became numerous enough in Thorn to make them- 
 selves masters of the place. After this audacious 
 action, so fortunately accomplished, marshal Ney 
 employed himself in forming an establishment in 
 Thorn, for himself and for the corps which he 
 expected to join him. He was first pressed to 
 repair the bridge, which was not very difficult, 
 seeing that the destruction of it had been very 
 incomplete. He discovered a great number of 
 boats, because the navigation is more active in the 
 Lower Vistula, and he collected many there, and 
 sent them up to Warsaw and the intermediate 
 points, particularly Utrata, where they were much 
 required by marshal Augereau, for the transport 
 of his provisions. Next he employed himself in 
 making Thorn, as had been already done at Posen 
 and Warsaw, a place for creating a manufacture of 
 provisions, hospitals, and establishments of all kinds. 
 Bromherg, which is situated on the canal of Nackel, 
 at a little distance from Thorn, was able to turn 
 over there a part of its vast resources, which was 
 executed without delay by means of the navigation. 
 Ney arranged the seven regiments of his own corps 
 around Thorn, disposing them as rays around a 
 centre, and placing his light cavalry at the circum- 
 ference, in order to secure himself from the Cos- 
 sacks, who are very active and inconvenient scouts. 
 
 When Napoleon had been apprised that through 
 the zeal and hardihood of his lieutenants he was mas- 
 ter of the course of the Vistula, on the two principal 
 I'ointsof Thorn and Warsaw, he delayed immediately 
 his plan of operation until the close of autumn. He 
 knew enough of the state of the country and the 
 action of the rain on that clayey soil, to decide 
 him to take up his quarters for the winter. But 
 before he did so, he wished to strike a blow at the 
 Russians, if not decisive, at least sufficient to 
 throw them back as far as the Niemen, and 
 permit him to take up his winter quarters quietly 
 along the Vistula. In order the better to effect the 
 movements he meditated, it is necessary to have an 
 exact idea of the places, and of the position 
 occupied by the enemy. 
 
 The king of Prussia, repelled from the Oder, 
 had carried himself to the Vistula, and had retired 
 on the I'regel at Koenigsberg. Arrived at this 
 extremity of his kingdom, he remained there to 
 defend, in concert with the Russians, the space 
 comprized between the Vistula and the Pregel.
 
 1806. \ 
 December. J 
 
 Position of Hie Prus- 
 sians and Russians. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 Combinations adopted by 
 the all.es. 
 
 215 
 
 The soil presented here the same character as 
 between the Elbe and the Oder, and between the 
 Oder and i he Vistula, that is to say, a long chain 
 of downs, parallel with the sea, retaining the 
 waters, and causing a succession of lakes, which 
 extended from the Vistula to the Pregel. These 
 lakes found their outlet, Bome directly towards the 
 sea, through the small rivers that fall into it, 
 of which the principal is the Passarge; the others 
 in the interior of the country, by a multitude of 
 water-courses, such as the Omulew, the Orezye, 
 and the Ukra, which (lowed into tbe Narew, and 
 by the Narew into the Vistula. This singular 
 country, comprised between the Vistula and the 
 Pregel, had therefore two directions; one turning 
 towards the sea, which is German, colonized for- 
 merly by the Teutonic order, and very well culti- 
 vated; the other turned towards the interior, scan- 
 tily peopled, little cultivated, covered with thick 
 forests, and in winter almost impenetrable. On 
 approaching the sea resources arc found ; all is 
 full of obstacles, and living difficult, npon penetra- 
 ting into the interior. At the mouth of the Vistula, 
 and at that of the Pregel, two great commercial 
 towns are met with, Dantzick on the first, Kuanigs- 
 bergon the last, full, at the time now spoken about, 
 of immense resources, as well those drawn from the 
 country, as those that the English had brought, 
 and continued to bring, every day. Dantzick, 
 strongly fortified, provided with a numerous garri- 
 son, could not fall hut after a long siege. It was 
 for the Prussians and Russians a point, of support 
 of great importance on the Lower Vistula, and 
 
 red precarious the French establishment on 
 the Upper Vistula, by always placing it En the 
 ]iower of the enemy to pass the river on the 
 French left, and to threaten their rear. Koenigs- 
 berg, badly fortified, but defended by its distance, 
 enclosed the last resources of Prussia, in tnaterid, 
 Btorefl, money, soldiers, and officers; it was the 
 principal depot of the enemy, and his means of 
 communication with the English. Between Dant- 
 zick and Koanigsberg tbi Frische Huff extended, 
 
 I lagoon, similar to the lagoons of Venice and 
 
 of Holland, owing to the cause that bad produced all 
 
 th" phenomena of the soil, to the accumulation of 
 sands, that ranged in a long bank parallel with the 
 a rated the river waters from the 
 
 the ocean, and thus funned an intermediate sea. 
 It was the same phenomenon that is remarked at 
 the outlet of tic Oder, under the mime of the 
 1 Half, and at the mouth of the Niemen, 
 
 under the name of the (Jnrische Had". Indepen- 
 dently of Dantzick and Koenigsberg, other com* 
 to' ratal town«, bfarienburg, Elbing, and Brauns- 
 I, ■!'», an ritnan d around tie- Frische 1 1 all', pr 
 
 ing a girdle of rich and populous cities. It was 
 
 there the last wrecks of the Prussian monarchy 
 remained to Frederick William, This monarch, 
 
 personally placed at K i;, bad bis tMopa 
 
 spread between Dantzick, 1 tbnt placer joineo to 
 
 tin- Russians on the side ol Thorn. Tie \ thu der- 
 fended the slope towards the i a whh 30,000 no u," 
 Comprising the garrison . 'lie- Russians hail 
 100,000 o r-.!|.; in:' the intei ior sl<>| i d by 
 
 thick fore i . and I by the Narew and 
 
 Ukra, riwrs which unite before railing into the 
 Vistula, describing an angle, of which the point 
 rested upon the hu a little b< low Warsaw. 
 
 Two Combinations were p. ssiblo on the part of 
 the coalesced power& They were able to unite in 
 a mass towards the sea, to profit from the nume- 
 rous points of support which they possessed on the 
 shore, above all at Dantzick; ami, passing the 
 Lower Vistula, to oblige tbe French to repass the 
 higher, if tiny would avoid being turned; and they 
 were yet aide, abandoning to the Prussians the 
 care of guarding the sea, and communicating 
 between them by some detachments placed on the 
 line of the hikes, to carry the Russians in advance 
 of the region of the forests, in the angle described 
 by the I'kra and the Narew, to form (bus a sort of 
 corner, and to direct the p. int Upon Warsaw. 
 Napoleon was prepared for either the one ease or 
 the other. If the Prussians and Russians operated 
 in a body/towards the sea, his design was to ascend 
 
 tbe Narew, by tin- roads that passed through ihe 
 
 interior region, and then drawing back to the bit, 
 to throw the enemy into the sea, or into the 
 Lower Vistula. If, on the contrary, leaving the 
 sea, between Dantzick and Kaciligsberg, tbe Rus- 
 sians advanced along the Narew, and from the 
 Ukra upon Warsaw, then penetrating by Thorn 
 between the one and the other, Napoleon decided 
 to pivot on the right, the extremity listing upon 
 Warsaw, and to ascend by his hit, in such a man- 
 ner as to separate, by this change of movement, 
 the Prussians from the Russians, and drive back 
 these last upon the chaos of marshes and woods in 
 the interior. He should thus deprive them of 
 their resources by sea, and of succour from Hol- 
 land, and oblige them, flying in disorder, to pass 
 across a frightful labyrinth. This separation com- 
 pleted, the maritime region defended by some 
 thousand Prussians it was easy to conquer, ami 
 with that would be captured all the rich materiel of 
 the coalition. 
 
 Between tin- two combinations thus described, the 
 
 COsJl BCed powers seemed to have adopted t he second. 
 The Prussians occupied the maritime regi ami 
 
 joined themselves to the Russians by a detachment 
 
 (placid in the environs of Thorn. The Russians 
 
 wen- arranged in a mass in the interior region, on 
 the Narew aud its t ibutaries. Genernl Benning- 
 sen, who commanded the first Russian army, 
 composed of four divisions, had fallen back from 
 the Vistula on the Narew, at the approach of tbe 
 French, and had taken up a position in the interior 
 of the angle tunned by the I'kra and the Narew. 
 
 General Buxhoeden, with the second army, also 
 
 four divisions strong, was in the rear, on the 
 
 Upper Narew and Omulew, in the environs of 
 
 • l-tn.lenka. ( lem ral Fssen, with tllS two 'in 
 
 of reserve, had not yel arrived on the theatr of 
 war. In the desire to Batter the p • I the 
 
 old Russian soldiers, they bad given them for n 
 
 eolninamler-in chief general Kamenski, the former 
 lieutenant (if Suwarrow, possessing the energetic 
 rudeness of thai illustrious Musrovitish soldier, 
 
 I. lit none of bis talent. Alter having at first 
 
 retrograded before the French, the Ru wans, re- 
 gretting their lust ground, would have red in 
 
 advance. Pot at the aspect ul ilia French army, 
 so well prepar.il for their reception, the) bad 
 
 retaken their last position, D< bind the I l.ia and 
 the Narew. 
 
 Informed of the situation of the Prussian! and 
 Ru tans, the first established along the sea, the
 
 216 
 
 Dispositions of the 
 French army. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Napoleon fortifies 
 Prague. 
 
 / 18D6. 
 (.December. 
 
 second assembled in the interior region, the one 
 and the other weakly connected together towards 
 Thorn, Napoleon resolved to apply towards them 
 the manoeuvre he had adopted for such a circum- 
 stance, that is to say, to issue from Thorn with his 
 left reinforced, to separate the Prussians from 
 the Russians, and to throw the last into the 
 inextricable difficulties of the interior. He had 
 already directed marshal Ney upon Thorn; he 
 marched marshal Bernadotte there again with the 
 first corps, and the division of Dupont. He 
 carried the corps of marshal Soult intermediately, 
 by Sempolno upon Plock, ordering him to pass 
 the Vistula between Warsaw and Thorn, and 
 recommending it to him to join himself by 
 his left with marshals Ney and Bernadotte, and 
 marshal Augereau with his right. The dragoons, 
 mounted at Potsdam, having rejoined the army, 
 Napoleon united tliem to a portion of the heavy 
 cavalry which had rested at Berlin, and composed 
 of it a second cavalry reserve, which was entrusted 
 to the command of marshal Bessieres, taken for a 
 moment from the command of the imperial guard. 
 He sent this second reserve to Thorn. This was 
 a force of 7000 or 8000 horse, which, joined to the 
 corps of marshals Ney and Bernadotte, would 
 compose, on the extreme left of the French army, 
 a column of 40,000 or 45,000 men, fully sufficient 
 to operate in the change of movement he had 
 proposed. Marshal Soult, at the head of 25,000 
 men, formed the centre; the marshals Augereau, 
 Davout, and Lannes, formed the right, designed 
 to support itself upon Warsaw. All these corps 
 were drawn near enough to each other to co- 
 operate, and present, in a few hours, 70.000 
 men assembled upon that point, wherever it might 
 be that the enemy was encountered in force. 
 Napoleon proposed then that his left should ad- 
 vance itself by rapid marches, whilst his right 
 pivoted itself slowly, he would thus be able to drive 
 the Russians together while on the march, and, 
 after separating them from the Prussians, throw 
 them back from the Ukra on the Narew, and from 
 the Narew on the Bug, far from the sea, and 
 ruined, into the interior of Poland. If the weather 
 favoured these designs, and rendered marching 
 easy, it was possible that the Russians would be 
 driven so far from their base of operations, and 
 the country where they obtained provisions, that 
 their retreat would prove a real disaster. 
 
 Wishing to pivot on Warsaw, but wishing also to 
 hare the power of withdrawing himself, if needful, 
 if he should be obliged to follow the movement of 
 the left, and advance with that, Napoleon ordered 
 great outworks to be executed around the suburb 
 of Prague. He ordered it to be first fortified by 
 means of earth ramparts, provided with a wood 
 revetement, which would serve for an escarpment 
 in masonry. This suburb, thus fortified, would 
 answer for a defence of the end of the bridge 
 towards Warsaw. He ordered marshal Davout, 
 who had gone from the Vistula upon the Narew, to 
 establish a bridge upon this river, and to place it 
 in a state of defence. He prescribed to marshal 
 Augereau, who was preparing to pass the Vistula 
 at Modlin, to establish there, in like manner, a 
 permanent bridge, and to render it unattackable 
 on both banks. He ordered general Chasseloup to 
 trace out the works ordered. He recommended 
 
 it to him to employ wood and earth exclusively, 
 and to place upon the works the heavy artillery 
 taken from the enemy; and to attract thither 
 for pay a great number of Polish workmen. 
 Napoleon wished that the fortifications of earth 
 and wood, raised to the value of permanent 
 defences, should suffice of themselves, leaving 
 there the Poles newly levied, and some French 
 detachments, while the army advanced, if the 
 consequences of the operations undertaken should 
 come to demand it. 
 
 The orders of Napoleon were always punctually 
 executed, at least short of absolute impossibility, 
 because he watched their execution with continual 
 attention, and an inflexible pressing forward of his 
 objects. General Chasseloup pushed on the work 
 very actively, but he had great trouble to procure 
 workmen. The outrages committed by the Rus- 
 sians, making them fear the same violence on the 
 part of the French, had caused the peasantry to 
 fly with their families, their cattle, and all their 
 means of carriage, into Austrian Poland, of which 
 the frontier, nigh at hand, and closed to the two 
 belligerent armies, offered a near and safe asylum. 
 Entire villages had fled, with their priests leading 
 them, in order to get away from the horrors of 
 the war. Even with high payments it was not 
 possible to procure many hands. They had obtained 
 nearly all in Warsaw, but the construction of 
 ovens, the organization of the military establish- 
 ments, which were to be proportioned to an 
 army of 200,000 men, absorbed nearly all these, 
 and there remained no others to be employed. 
 They were therefore made up of soldiers; unfor- 
 tunately these had begun to suffer from their 
 fatigues, but above all from the influences of the 
 season, that had so far been more wet than cold. 
 They suffered also from privations. The provi- 
 sions ordered in Gallicia were yet awaited, and 
 even in Warsaw they found some difficulty to live. 
 Marshal Lannes was encamped there with his two 
 divisions. Marshal Davout was encamped beyond, 
 that is to say, on the bank of the Narew, which 
 falls into the Vistula a little below Warsaw. There 
 was from Warsaw to the Narew a distance of 
 about eight leagues, much heath, and little of 
 culture or habitation. The soldiers of Davout, 
 reduced to eat pork, for want of beef and mutton, 
 were attacked with dysentery. They had no bread 
 but what was sent to them daily. Marshal Davout 
 had his head-quarters at Jablona, and the head 
 of his column on the same side of the Narew 
 towards Okunin, opposite the confluence of the 
 Ukra and Narew. Marshal Davout, despite the 
 advanced guard of the Russians, had passed 
 the Narew, thrown a bridge over that river, by the 
 aid of some boats which he had collected, and had 
 set to work to complete the defences at the two 
 extremities of the bridge. He would then be able 
 to manoeuvre on both banks of the Narew. Still 
 he had only passed below the point where the 
 Ukra unites with it, and it remained to cross that 
 river higher up, or even to pass the Ukra itself, to 
 penetrate to the angle occupied by the Russians. 
 But they were numerous there, and solidly in- 
 trenched on elevated ground, woody, and defended 
 by artillery. It was not possible to go and attack 
 them without passing the Ukra in full strength. 
 To attempt it would be to engage in a contest which
 
 1806. \ Difficulties of the 
 December. J French army. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 Napoleon enters 
 Warsaw. 
 
 217 
 
 could not be undertaken save under the eyes of 
 Napoleon himself. 
 
 The workmen of marshal Davout had nearly 
 reached tho* >f marshal Augereau, who were 
 actively employed in his establishment on the 
 Vistula, towards Modlin, at the point where the 
 Vistula and the Narew mingled. But he was 
 deprived of all necessaries; the Russians having 
 wasted every thing as they retired. Twelve boats, 
 collected above and below Modlin, had served him 
 for sending over that river one detachment after 
 another. He laboured to construct a vast bridge 
 at Modlin, with defensive works on both banks. 
 His troops, in the midst of the sands which pre- 
 vailed in this part of the country, lived yet worse 
 than those of marshal Davout He hastened to 
 carry himself to Plonsk, beyond the Vistula, oppo- 
 site Ukra, in a more fertile country. Marshal 
 Soult had executed the marches ordered by the 
 emperor, and had begun to pass at Block, from 
 whence he was in a state either to join marshal 
 Augereau at Plonsk, or to unite with marshals Ber- 
 nadotte and Ney at Biezun, according to circum- 
 stances. As to the corps which had Thorn for its 
 base of operation, that wanted for nothing. 
 
 Those rapid conquerors, who had so promptly 
 invaded Austria the preceding year, and Prussia 
 in the preceding month, found themselves suddenly 
 stopped in their triumphant march, by a climate 
 melancholy and humid, by a moving soil, alter- 
 nately sand and mud, and by the dearth of provi- 
 sions, that became more rare in proportion as the 
 population and culture disappeared. They were sur- 
 prised, not downcast; they had a thousand suitable 
 jokes on the attachment of the Poles for such a 
 country, and only demanded that they might en- 
 counter the enemy of Austerlitz, to avenge upon 
 him the discomforts of the soil and the heavens. 
 
 On seeing the Russians advance and retire by 
 turns, then withdraw a last time with all the 
 appearance of a definitive retreat, Napoleon be- 
 lieved that they would ultimately withdraw on tin.' 
 Pregel, there to take up their winter quarters. He 
 
 therefore ordered Murat and Bessieres to pursue 
 
 them at the bead of 25,000 hone, the one issuing 
 
 from Warsaw with the first reserve of cavalry, the 
 
 other from Thorn with tin- second. But I i 
 
 more BXaet accounts from marshal Davout, who, 
 
 placed at tin- <■ influence of the Narew and Ukra, 
 saw the Russians solidly established behind these 
 two rivers, the reports of marshal Augereau, and 
 
 of marshal N> y above all, who had tin; habit of 
 observing the enemy very close', undeceived him, 
 and proved that he had time to march upon the 
 ins, and that be even must do so, if he 
 would not have him to winter m a position too 
 
 near to tin- French army. Besides, thebridgi 
 the Vistula, which ho proposed to make points of 
 support, were completed, provided with die com- 
 mencement of defensive works, and capable of 
 a sufficient iiniistsnrr, it some troops won- placed 
 in tin in. 
 
 Napoleon left Posen, therefore, in tin- night of 
 the loth and lb*th of Decemb r, after remaining 
 there nineteen days, papains by way of Kutao and 
 Lowiez, every where ordering provisions and 
 ambulances, in case of a retrograde movement, 
 little ) robable, hut always contemplated by his 
 prudence; watching, in line, the march of his 
 
 columns on Warsaw, and employing himself, above 
 all, in urging the arrival of the guard and grena- 
 diers of Oudinot '. 
 
 He entered the capital of Poland in the night, 
 in order to avoid any boisterous demonstrations, 
 because it was not agreeable to him to repay 
 popular acclamations by Imprudent engagements. 
 The Pole Wibiski had preceded him, and bad 
 employed all his efforts to persuade his compatriots 
 that they must devote themselves before exacting 
 that Napoleon should devote himself for them. 
 Many of them were convinced by the sound reasons 
 which he gave them. Prince Poiiiatowski, nephew 
 of the last king, a young prince brilliant and brave, 
 a species of hero slumbering in effeminacy, but 
 ready to awaken at the first clash of arms, was of 
 the number of those who had offered to second the 
 views of Napoleon. Count Potocki, the old Mala- 
 kouski, marshal of one of the last diets, and others, 
 came to Warsaw, and united themselves around 
 the French authorities, to concur in forming a 
 government. They had composed a provisional 
 administration, and all had begun to go on 
 smoothly, except in the inevitable differences 
 among those of small experience, much inclined 
 to be jealous. They levied men, and they orga- 
 nized battalions, both at Warsaw and Posen. 
 Napoleon, in order to aid the new Polish govern- 
 ment, had acquitted it of all contributions for 
 furnishing provisions, so urgently wanted. For 
 the rest, the higher class of society in Warsaw 
 showed towards him an extraordinary excitement. 
 All the Polish nobility bad quitted their mansions, 
 eager as they were to see and to salute the great 
 man, as well as the liberator of Poland. 
 
 Arriving in the night of the 18th and 19th, 
 Napoleon wished to mount his horse on the last- 
 mentioned day, to go and reconnoitre himself the 
 situation of marshal Davout on the Narew. lint a 
 thick fog hindered him. lie made his dispositions 
 to attack the enemy from the 22nd to the 23rd of 
 December. "It is time," he wrote marshal Da- 
 vout, "to take up our winter quarters; but that 
 cannot take [dace until we have driven back the 
 Russians." 
 
 The four divisions of general Beiiningsen first 
 
 ' The following letter is cited, well Indicating his situation 
 at the moment in Question in this recital 
 
 "To general Clarke, 
 "Lowleu, Dtetwtbtr in, 1806 ■ ">g. 
 
 "j bsva arrived at Lowtcs. i write you to take away 
 every species of dlaqulatuda from >tur mind. Than is 
 
 DOthlng new hi re. Tin- Brinies ar>' in presence of rai Ii 
 other. The Etuasleni air mi llie ri;;ht hank (if QUI Narew, 
 
 and we mi the left. Independent v ol Pi igue, we have two 
 
 tilt* (if punt : one at Modlin, the other on the Narew, at the 
 
 entrance of the Ukra. We bava Thorn, and nn army 
 
 twenty leagues In advance, that manoravm upon the 
 enemy. All the Intelligence ll in our lavour. It i-. pottlble 
 
 that with n i Ighl dayi there will happen an aasii that will 
 ii n i-.ii the campaign. Take your precautions, that they 
 have net ■ musket, slthei In Berlin oi the country; that 
 Bpandau and Custrin !>•• kept In a good itsta of defenoe, ami 
 thai every wh< re proper duty i"- 1 erfbrmi 1 
 
 "Writs to tfayence and Parte, solely to say that you 
 write that there le nothing new i tbie ibould in- dene In 
 general every day, wl I myeourien docs not pan 
 
 by ; that will allay false rumours. 
 
 " Napoleon."
 
 218 
 
 Bad combination of 
 the Russians. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The French force 
 the river. 
 
 J 1806. 
 1 December. 
 
 presented themselves. The division of count Tol- 
 stoy, posted at Czarnowo, occupied tlie summit of 
 the angle formed by the union of the Ultra and the 
 Narew. The division of general Sedmaratzki, 
 placed in the rear towards Zebroszld, guarded the 
 banks of the Narew. That of general Saken, 
 placed also in the rear towards Lopaczym, guarded 
 the banks of the Ukra. The division of prince 
 Gallitzin was in reserve at Pultusk. The four 
 divisions of general Buxhoewden were at a great 
 distance from those of general Benningsen, and 
 little in a condition to support him. Two, can- 
 toned at Popowo, observed the country between 
 the Narew and the Bug. Two others were en- 
 camped yet further off, at Makow and Ostrolenka. 
 The Prussians, repelled from Thorn, were on the 
 superior course of the Ukra, towards Soldau, 
 connecting the Russians with the sea. As has 
 been said, the two divisions of reserve of general 
 Essen were not yet arrived. The total mass of the 
 coalesced troops designed to enter into action was 
 115.000 men. 
 
 It is easy to discover that the distribution of the 
 Russian troops was not happily combined in the 
 angle of the Ukra and the Narew, and that they 
 had too little concentrated their forces. If, in 
 place of having one sole division at the point of 
 the angle, and one on each side, at too great a 
 distance from the first, in fact, five out of bear- 
 ing, they had distributed them with skill over a 
 ground so favourable for acting upon the defensive, 
 and they had strongly occupied at first the conflu- 
 ence of the two rivers, the Narew from Czarnowo 
 to Pultusk, and the Ukra from Pomichowo to 
 Kolozomb; that they had placed in reserve, in a 
 central position, at Nasielsk, for example, a prin- 
 cipal mass, ready to go to the threatened point, 
 they would have been enabled to dispute the ground 
 to advantage. But generals Beuningsen and 
 Buxhoewden, not having much love for each other, 
 did not seek each other's vicinity, and the old 
 Kamenski, arrived near his end, had neither the 
 spirit nor the will necessary to prescribe to them a 
 different disposition from that which they had 
 adopted, in each following his own inclination. 
 
 Napoleon, who only saw the Russian position 
 from without, judged rightly that those troops 
 were entrenched behind the Narew and Ukra to 
 guard the banks, but without knowing how they 
 were established and distributed, lie thought it 
 was first necessary to possess himself of the point 
 of confluence, where it was probable that they 
 would defend -themselves with energy, and that 
 point carried, proceed to the execution of his plan; 
 that consisted in throwing the Russians, by a 
 change of movement from the left to the right, 
 into the marshy and woody country of the interior 
 of Poland. In consequence, after having reiterated 
 to marshals Ney,Bernadottc, and Bessieres, forming 
 his left, the order to carry themselves rapidly from 
 Thorn to Biezun, on the upper course of the Ukra; 
 to marshals Soult and Augereau, forming his 
 centre, the order to march from Pluck and Modlin, 
 to reunite at Plonsk, on the Ukra; he placed him- 
 self at the head of his right wing, composed of the 
 corps of Davout and Lannes, of the guard and 
 reserves, and resolved immediately to force the 
 position of the Russians at the confluence of the 
 Ukra and Narew. He left in the works of Prague 
 
 the Poles of the new levy, with a division of 
 dragoons, a force sufficient to guard against acci- 
 dent, the army not being about to proceed far 
 from Warsaw. 
 
 Arrived in the morning of the 23rd of December 
 at Okunin on the Narew, in humid weather, over 
 muddy roads nearly impassable, Napoleon went to 
 the ground, to watch in person the dispositions 
 for the attack. That general, who, according to 
 some critics, while directing an army of 300,000 
 men, knew not how to lead a brigade into fire, 
 went himself to reconnoitre the enemy's positions, 
 and to place all the troops on the ground, even to 
 the companies of voltigeurs. 
 
 They had already crossed the Narew at Okunin, 
 below the confluence of the Ukra and Narew. In 
 order to penetrate into the angle formed by the 
 .two rivers, it was necessary to pass either the 
 Narew or the Ukra, above their point of union. 
 The Ukra being the least broad, it was preferred to 
 attempt to cross that river. They had availed them- 
 selves of an island, which divided it into two arms, 
 near its mouth, in order to lessen the difficulty. They 
 had established themselves in that island, and it 
 remained to pass the second arm, and to land on 
 the point which the Russians occupied between 
 the Ukra and Narew. This point of land, covered 
 with tree, thicket, and marsh, was very dense. 
 Beyond that point the wood became a little cleared; 
 then the ground arose, and presented a scarped 
 front, which extended from the Narew to the 
 Ukra. At the right of this natural steep, the 
 village of Czarnowo on the Narew was seen, and 
 to the left the village of Pomichowo on the Ukra. 
 The Russians had advanced guards of tirailleurs 
 in the underwood, with seven battalions and a 
 numerous artillery on the elevated part of the 
 ground, two battalions in reserve, and all their 
 cavalry in their rear. Napoleon, reaching the 
 island, mounted the roof of a farm-house by a 
 ladder, and with a glass having studied the position 
 of the Russians, ordered immediately the following 
 disposition. He spread a great number of tirail- 
 leurs all along the Ukra, much above the point of 
 crossing. He ordered them to engage briskly, and 
 to make large fires of wet straw, to cover the bed 
 of the river with a cloud of smoke, and thus give 
 the Russians fear of an attack above the conflu- 
 ence, towards Pomichowo. He even directed to 
 that side the brigade of Gauthier, of Davout's 
 corps, in order the more to attract there the 
 attention of the enemy. While these orders were 
 executing, he united together at the close of the 
 day all the companies of the division of Morand on 
 the point designed for crossing, and ordered them 
 to fire from one bank to the other, across the tufts 
 of wood, to drive away the enemy's posts, while 
 the marines of the guard brought up the boats 
 collected in the Narew. The 17th of the line and 
 the 13th light were in column, ready to embark by 
 detachments, and the rest of Morand's division 
 was in a body in the rear, with the object of 
 passing when the bridge should be established. 
 The other divisions of the corps of Davout waited 
 at the bridge of Okunin the moment to act. 
 Lannes advanced at a great pace from Warsaw 
 upon Okunin. 
 
 The marines of the guard soon brought up some 
 boats, and by their aid several detachments of
 
 1S06. 1 
 December. ) 
 
 The Russians driven 
 from the Ukia. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 Forward movement 
 of [lie French. 
 
 2iy 
 
 voltigeurs were carrieil from one bank to the other. 
 These plunged into the wood, to drive off the 
 enemy, while the pontonniers and the marines of 
 the guard wore employed in throwing over, with all 
 speed, a bridge of boats. At Beven o'clock in the 
 (vening the bridge was practicable, and the 
 division of Morand crossed in close column, and 
 marched in advance, preceded by the 17th of the 
 lino, the 13th light, and a cloud of tirailleurs. 
 They advanced, covered by the woods and the night. 
 The sappers of the regiments opened through 
 the thick underwood a passage for the infantry. 
 Scarcely had they overcome these first obstacles, 
 than they found themselves in front of the elevated 
 ground, which extended from the Narew to the 
 Ultra, and which was defended either by abattis, or 
 by a numerous artillery. The Russians, in the 
 obscurity of the night, opened upon the French 
 columns a well-sustained fire of grape and mus- 
 ketry, which did some mischief. While the volti- 
 geurs of Morand's division and the 13th light 
 advanced as tirailleurs, colonel Lanusse, at the 
 head of the 17th of the line, formed a column of 
 attack on the right, to take the Russian batteries. 
 He had carried one, when the Russians, sending 
 a body of men on his left Hank, obliged him to 
 retrograde. But the rest of Morand's division, 
 arriving to sustain the two first regiments, the 
 13th light, having emptied its cartridge-boxes, was 
 replaced by the 30th, and it marched anew, by 
 the right, to attack the village of Czarnowo, 
 whilst, towards the left, general Petit went, with 
 400 chosen men, to assail the Russian entrench- 
 - placed against the Ukra, opposite Pomichowo. 
 In spite of the night, they manoeuvred in the most 
 perfect order. Two battalions of the 30th, and 
 one of the 17'h. attacked Czarnowo; the one 
 ding along the hank of the Narew, the two 
 others climbing directly ii|> the height on which 
 the village is situated. These three battalions 
 carried Czarnowo, and. followed by the olst and 
 61st regimi nts, formed on the summit of the 
 ground, and repulsed the Russians as far as the 
 plain which extends itself beyond. At the same 
 instant general Petit assailed the extremity of the 
 enemy's mtrenehments towards the Ukra, and, 
 
 led by the tire of the artillery thai the brigade 
 ofGauthier opened from the opposite bank, they 
 
 taken. At midnight the Fn nch were m 
 of the position of the Russians from the Narew to 
 
 the i i;ra. Hut from the slowness of their retreat, as 
 far as it was p tsible to w • in the obscurity, it was 
 
 red that they would return to the charge 
 from this motive marshal Davout sent a* succour 
 
 iters] Petit, who was the moat exposed, the 
 second brigade of Gudin's division. As had bei n 
 
 Ru isns, during the night, ret* 
 three linos to tin- charge, with the intention of 
 
 retaking the position which they had lo-t, and of 
 
 driving the Fit nch t . the bottom of the elevation, 
 towards that woody and marshy point on which 
 they had disembarked. Three times they were 
 suffered to approach within thirty paces, and three 
 times their attack was answered by a Are clo e 
 up, which stopped them, and then they attacked 
 wiih the bayonet, and were repulsed. Finally, the 
 
 night being far advanced, tiny Ml t lone . Ives in 
 full retreat Upon NasioFk. NeVe* was a night 
 
 combat supported with more ordi r, pn oiaion, and 
 
 boldness. The Russians left in dead, wounded, 
 and prisoners, about 1800 men, and much artillery. 
 On the side of the French there were 600 wounded 
 and about 100 killed. 
 
 Napoleon, who had not quitted the place of 
 combat, congratulated general .Morand and mar- 
 shal Davout on their fine conduct, and hastened 
 directly afterwards to draw his consequences from 
 the passage of the Ukra, giving the orders which 
 the circumstances demanded. The Russians, de- 
 prived of the point of support which they possessed 
 at the confluence of the Ukra and Narew, would 
 not attempt to defend the Ukra, of which the line 
 had been forced at the mouth. Rut in the igno- 
 rance which the French found themselves of the true 
 situation of the Russians, it was to be feared that 
 they were in force at the bridge of Kolozomh, on 
 the Ukra, opposite Plonsk, the point towards which 
 they would encounter the corps of marshals Soult 
 and Augereau. Napoleon ordered the reserve of 
 
 cavalry, commanded by general Nansouty in the 
 
 al w nee of Murat, who had been i.iken ill at War- 
 saw, to ascend the Ukra on both banks, to beat up 
 ihe shores as far as Koloznmb, to give a band to 
 marshals Augereau and Soult, and aid them in 
 passing the Ukra if they found any difficulty in 
 doing it; in fine, to eonneel them with marshal 
 DaVOUt, who had marched in advance, traversing 
 iii its centre the country comprised between the 
 Ukra and Narew. He ordered marshal Davout to 
 march directly upon Nasielsk, and supported him 
 with the guard and reserve. Finally, he gave in- 
 structions to marshal I, amies to cross the Ukra, 
 were he even obliged to force a passage, and to 
 ascend to the right of the corps of Davout in fol- 
 lowing the Narew as far as Pultusk. This town 
 became a place of great importance, because the 
 Russians, driven from the Ukra on the Narew, had 
 only the bridges of Pultusk by which to cross this 
 last river. The order was already sent to 
 
 shals Soult and Augereau to march upon Plonsk, 
 there to pass the Fkra ; the order to marshals 
 Ney, Bernadotte, and Bessien -. to advance rapidly 
 on Biezun, towards the sources of the Ukra, was 
 naturally confirmed. 
 
 Napoleon, continuing to keep himself near mar- 
 shal Davout, would march the same morning of the 
 '_'4th upon Nasielsk, in spite of the fatigues of the 
 
 night. lb' had only taken the precaution to place 
 
 ai the bead of all tlte division of Priant, in order 
 
 to procure some hours ol r. poi e tor Morand's di\i- 
 
 sion, fatigued with the combat of Czarnowo, They 
 
 arrived, towards the Close Of the day, at Nasielsk, 
 and they found there in position the division of 
 Tolstoy, the same which they had driven from 
 Czarnowo. It showed .an iutention to op] 
 
 .nee, i.i order to give tho detachments sent 
 upon the I kra time to rejoin. 
 
 It has been said, that ihe four division I 
 gl 1 H I.i I F ingSl II were ihe div isj I Tolstov at 
 
 Czarnowo, to defend the confluence of the two 
 
 rivers; the division of Salon, at Lopsczym, lo 
 
 watch over ihe Fkra ; ihe divi ion of Si dinaraizLi, 
 
 at Zebroszki, to guard tin- Narew ; and. Anally, 
 
 the divisi f Galiitiin, a( Pultusk, I there 
 
 as the reserve, although very far away from the 
 
 Ukra, having also upon that river a strong ad- 
 vanced guard, commanded by gi di rsl Barklay do 
 Tolly; tin- whole was a mixed and confused dh>
 
 220 
 
 Augereau passes the 
 Ukra. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The Russians fall 
 back on Pultusk. 
 
 ~n 
 
 f 180fi. 
 \ December. 
 
 position, denoting a very feeble direction of the 
 operations of the Russian army. The natural 
 movement of these divisions, surprised by a vigor- 
 ous attack on the Ukra, was to recall their detach- 
 ments, to withdraw them upon the Narew. This 
 was in effect the movement to which they had 
 yielded, and which their general-in-chief left to be 
 executed before he ordered it. Count Tolstoy 
 commanded the division fallen back upon Nasielsk, 
 holding on there until the moment when he should 
 see return the detachment set as a guard over the 
 Ukra towards Borkowo, which was pursued by 
 the French cavalry reserve. Still, general Friant, 
 having formed his division in face of the Russians, 
 and having marched upon them, obliged them to 
 retire in haste. The dragoons started after them, 
 killed or took several hundred men, and gathered 
 up cannon and baggage. 
 
 On this day, the 24th, marshal Augereau, having 
 arrived on the banks of the Ultra, wished to force 
 his passage over. He ordered the bridges of 
 Kolozomb and of Sochoczyn to be attacked at 
 once. The 4 4th of the line, under colonel Savary, 
 the same who had crossed the Vistula at Thorn 
 on the 6th of December y , threw himself on 
 the wrecks, scarcely repaired, of the bridge of 
 Kolozomb, and passed heroically across under a 
 horrible fire of musketry. This brave officer fell 
 on the other bank, pierced with many thrusts of a 
 lance. At Sochoczyn, the attack of the bridge 
 not having succeeded, they directed themselves 
 towards a neighbouring ford, and there operated a 
 passage. The corps of Augereau found itself thus 
 transferred, on the 24th, to the other bank of the 
 Ukra, and advanced, pushing before it the detach- 
 ments of the different Russian divisions left to 
 guard that river. The reserve of cavalry, under 
 the orders of general Nansouty, pursued them as 
 well. They inarched on Nowemiasto, in the 
 direction from the Ukra to the Narew, in such a 
 manner as to connect themselves with the corps of 
 marshal Davout. At the left of the corps of Au- 
 gereau, marshal Soult disposed himself so as to 
 pass the Ukra towards Sochoczyn. The left, under 
 Ney, Bernadotte, and Bessieres, continued to 
 ascend, by a rapid movement from Thorn, upon 
 Biezun and Soldau. 
 
 The 25th, in the morning, Napoleon directed 
 his columns upon Strezegocin. The weather 
 had become frightful for an army which had to 
 manoeuvre, and, above all, to execute numerous 
 
 1 Those readers who remember to have seen the 14th 
 of the line figure with its colonel, Savary, at the pas- 
 sage of the Vistula at Thorn, under the orders of marshal 
 Ney, will have difficulty to explain how this same regiment 
 should be found, on the 24th of December, under mar- 
 shal Augereau, at the passage of the Ukra at Kolozomb. 
 The explanation is easy; it is, that this regiment, left at 
 Bromberg by marshal Augereau, when he ascended the left 
 bank of the Vistula from Thorn as far as Moulin, remained, 
 for a moment, at the disposal of marshal Ney, and operated, 
 under his orders, the passage of the Vistula at Thorn. 
 
 We should not add this note, which might appear useless, 
 if some critics, little attentive, little instructed, had not ac- 
 cused us of making corps figure in different actions that took 
 no part in them. These are attacks which can give but little 
 concern ; still, out of respect to the impartial reader, we feel 
 bound to prove to him, that we have neglected nothing to 
 secure the most rigorous exactness. — Nule of Author. 
 
 reconnoitrings, in order to discover the enemy's 
 intentions. A complete thaw, accompanied by 
 sleet and rain, had so broken up the ground, that 
 in some places they sank up to their knees. Some 
 men had even been found half buried in the soil 
 suddenly changed into a marsh. It was requisite 
 to double the artillery draught, to draw along a 
 few pieces. There were gained, it is true, the cap- 
 ture, at every step, of cannon and baggage belong- 
 ing to the Russians, many of the laggers behind, 
 and wounded, — and, finally, a good number of 
 Polish deserters, who voluntarily remained in the 
 rear, in order to deliver themselves over to the 
 French army. But there was lost the inappre- 
 ciable advantage of celerity, the concurrence of 
 artillery, which could not be longer conveyed, and 
 the means of information, which are always pro- 
 portioned to the facility of communication. It is 
 but to imagine immense plains, by turns covered 
 with mud, or thick forests, commonly very ill peo- 
 pled, — worse still, since the general emigration of 
 the inhabitants, — armies searching for each other, 
 or flying in, this desert of mire ; and an idea may 
 be had, scarcely exact, of the spectacle that the 
 French and Russians exhibited at this moment in 
 that part of Poland. 
 
 Napoleon, finding it difficult traversing a flat, 
 woody country, to discover the movements of the 
 enemy, was unable to acquire the information he 
 could not obtain by means of increased recon- 
 noitrings, and was thrown into the most embar- 
 rassing uncertainty. It appeared to him, that the 
 Russian columns in retreat went in a direction 
 from his left to his right, — from the Ukra towards 
 the Narew. Thus he had sent Lannes towards 
 Pultusk, and, having thought that he perceived a 
 part of the enemy proceeding after Lannes, he 
 detached the division of Gudin, of the corps of 
 Davout, to follow it, and prevent its attacking 
 Lannes in the rear. But a large assemblage was 
 discovered before him in the direction of Golymin. 
 It announced the presence there of numerous 
 forces come to that point from the rear of the 
 Russian army. It was said that a corps of 20,000 
 men retreated from the Ukra upon Ciechanow and 
 Golymin. In the midst of this chaos, Napoleon, 
 wishing to proceed immediately towards the 
 nearest point that the enemy had approached, 
 towards which, besides, all the others seemed to 
 converge, left Lannes, escorted by the division of 
 Gudin, to march right upon Pultusk ; and as to 
 himself, he went directly upon Golymin, with two 
 of the three divisions of Davout, with the entire 
 corps of Augereau, with the guard, and the reserve 
 of cavalry. He further ordered marshal Soult, 
 who had passed the Ukra, to go himself to Ciecha- 
 now. He prescribed to marshals Ney, Bernadotte, 
 and Bessieres, departing from Thorn, to continue 
 their movement of conversion by Biezun, Soldau, 
 and Mlawa, which would carry them on the flank, 
 and nearly on the Russian rear. 
 
 They thus marched, with great labour, all the 
 day on the 25th, and the morning of the 26th. 
 Sometimes they took two hours, sometimes three, 
 to go over a league of ground. 
 
 Still the different corps of the Russian army had 
 not taken the exact direction that Napoleon sup- 
 posed. The four divisions of general Benningsen 
 had nearly fallen back entire upon Pultusk. The
 
 1806. 
 December. 
 
 The Russians concen- 
 trate at Huitusk. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 Lannes attacks general 
 Benningsen. 
 
 221 
 
 division of Tolstoy, repelled from Czarnowo to 
 Nasielsk, and from Nasielsk to Strezegocin, had 
 followed the route that divided in the middle the 
 country between the Ultra and the Narew. Arrived 
 at Strezegocin, it was driven to the right towards 
 Pultusk, where they had been aide to rally their 
 scattered detachments. The division of Sedma- 
 ratski, placed the preceding days at Zebroszki, on 
 the bank of the Narew, having only a short dis- 
 tance to pass to gain Pultusk, had immediately 
 proceeded there. The division of Gallitzin, that 
 having its head quarters at Pultusk, had posts 
 up "ii the Ukra, was concentrated at Pultusk. But 
 the detachments of this division which guarded the 
 Ukra, divided by the French cavalry from each 
 other', had sought a refuge in Golymin. Finally, 
 the division of Saken, which more particularly 
 guarded the Ukra, and had its head quarters at 
 Lopaezym, pursued by the French cavalry, had 
 retired part to Golyruiri and part to Pultusk. 
 Tims the two divisions of Gallitzin and Saken in 
 part were found on the 26th at Pultusk. The re- 
 mainder of the divisions of Gallitzin and Saken 
 taking refuge at Golymin, had met there one of the 
 divisions of Buxhoewden, the division of Doctorow, 
 which had been carried in advance, and had thus 
 given ground for the rumour of an assemblage of 
 troops in the rear of the Russian army. Lastly, 
 the Prussians, in flight before marshals Ney, Ber- 
 nadotte, and Bessieres, had abandoned the Ukra, 
 and retired by Soldau on Mlawa, endeavouring 
 continually in their retreat to connect themselves 
 with the Russians. 
 
 On the 26th, in the morning, Lannes arrived in 
 sight of Pultusk. He discovered there a mass of 
 force very superior to that of which he was able to 
 dispose. The four Russian divisions, although two 
 were incomplete, did not count less than 43,000 
 men '. Lannes, with the dragoons of general 
 Becker, did not possess much above 17,000 or 
 18,000. There arrived on the left 5000 or 6000 
 men, of the division of Gudin. But Lannes was not 
 very clearly made acquainted with it ; and in the 
 state of the roads, this reinforcement, although at 
 a very inconsiderable distance from Pultusk, was 
 not able to reach the field of battle until very late. 
 Lannes was not a man to be intimidated. Neither 
 be DOT his soldiers feared to front the Russians, 
 whatever Blight DS their number, ami however 
 
 tried their bravery. Lannes arrayed his little 
 
 army in battle order-, having taken care to send to 
 marshal Darout information of the unexpected 
 encounter which he was about to have at Pultusk, 
 
 which would place linn in a Very Critical situation. 
 
 A va-i forest covered tin- environs of Pultusk. 
 In passing out of this forest, an . . | > ' t i space of 
 
 ground was discovered, here and there marked 
 with thickets of wood, broken up by the rains, like 
 all the rest of the country, and rising, by little and 
 
 little, to the form of table-land, and then termi- 
 nating all at once in a sudden slope upon Pultusk 
 
 and the Narew. General Benningsen had drawn 
 
 up his army on this ground, having his hack turned 
 upon the town, one of his wings supported on the 
 river, the other on a clump of wood. A strong 
 
 ' The hutorian Plotho, an officer of tin- EtOMUtn army, 
 and an eve witness himself sanction! the total of 43, mm. — 
 Author' $ Note. 
 
 reserve served to sustain his centre. His cavalry 
 was placed in the intervals of his line of battle, 
 and a little in advance. Although they had losl a 
 part of their artillery, the Russians carried with 
 them so great a quantity after the campaign of 
 Austerlitz, that it sufficed to cover the front of 
 their line with guns, and to render access to that 
 front extremely formidable. 
 
 Lannes had not more than a few pieces of light 
 calibre to oppose to them ; these he had drawn 
 through the mud, with great effort, by applying to 
 them all the artillery horses. He disposed the 
 division of Suchet in the first Hire, and kept the 
 division of Gazan in reserve on the border of the 
 forest, in order to have wherewith to meet events, 
 which threatened to become serious with the un- 
 certainty in which every body was plunged. A 
 few men, well conducted, would suffice to hold that 
 position, having the advantage of presenting a less 
 mark to the formidable Russian artillery. Lannes, 
 therefore, opened from the front with the sole divi- 
 sion of Suchet, formed irr three columns, — one to 
 the right, under general Claparede, composed of 
 the seventeenth, and the light cavalry of general 
 Treilhard : the one in the centre, under general 
 Vedel, composed of the sixty-fourth of the line, and 
 of the first battalion of the eighty-eighth ; that to 
 the left, under general Reille, composed of the 
 second battalion of the eighty-eighth, of the thirty- 
 fourth of the line, and of the dragoons of general 
 Becker. The design of general Lannes was to 
 attack by his right, and towards the Narew ; be- 
 cause if he succeeded in pern (rating as far as the 
 town, he should make the whole position of the 
 Russians fall at a blow, and even place them in a 
 very disastrous situation. 
 
 He took his three columns in advance, boldly 
 coining out id' the wood, and ascending to the level 
 ground above, under a shower of grape. Unfor- 
 tunately, the ground, softened and slippery, did 
 not permit that impetuosity of attack which would 
 have redeemed the disadvantage of want of num- 
 bers and a good position. Still, all advancing with 
 
 difficulty, they joined with the enemy, and repulsed 
 
 him towards the abrupt slopes that terminate the 
 ground in a species of fall on the side of the iNaivw 
 and of pultusk. They marched with ardour, going 
 to throw into the river the Russian troops of gene- 
 ral BagOWOUt, when the ^iiieral-iii chief, Banning- 
 sen, sent with all speed a part of his reserve to the 
 
 aid of general Bagowout, and made air attack on 
 the Hank of the brigade of Claparede, which formed 
 the load of the French column of attack. Lannes, 
 
 who was in tin- thickest of the battle, answered this 
 
 manoeuvre bj earn ing his centre towai da the right 
 of the brigade of Vedel, < iposed, as already 
 
 Stated, of the sixty-fourth, and the first battalion of 
 
 the eighty-eighth, lie himself took in Hank the 
 
 Russians who had come to tin; aid of general 
 BagOWOUt, and pushing them one and tin- other 
 towards the Narew, In' would have terminated the 
 
 contest of this point, and perhaps the battle, if, in 
 
 the midst of a storm of snow, tin- battalion of the 
 eighty-eighth, surprised by the Russian cavalry 
 
 before being able to place itself in a square, bad 
 not been broken and overturned, lint tins brave 
 
 battalion rallied in 'li.it' ly by one of the offi- 
 cers, of whom the danger disclosed the character, 
 named Voisin, immediately recovered, and availing
 
 222 
 
 Arrival of Gudin'i 
 division. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Pultusk. 
 
 December. 
 
 itself in turn of the embarrassment of the Rus- 
 sian cavalry, killed with the bayonet the horsemen, 
 plunged, as well as the infantry, into a sea of 
 mud. 
 
 Thus at the right and centre, the combat, al- 
 though less decisive than it might have been, 
 nevertheless turned to the advantage of the 
 French, who left the Russians driven back to the 
 extremity of the ground, and exposed, at a danger- 
 ous descent, towards the town and river. At the 
 left, the third column, composed of the thirty- 
 fourth of the line, of the second battalion of the 
 eighty-eighth, and of the dragoons of general 
 Becker, had to dispute with the enemy the dense 
 thicket which supported the Russian centre. The 
 thirty-fourth, led by general Reille, and received 
 by unmasked batteries on a sudden, suffered cru- 
 elly. Still he carried the wood, seconded by the 
 charges of the dragoons of general Becker ; but 
 some battalions of general Barclay de Tolly re- 
 took it. The French made themselves masters of 
 it again, and sustained, during three hours, an 
 obstinate and unequal combat. Finally, on that 
 point as on the others, the Russians, obliged to 
 give way, were reduced to back themselves nearer 
 the town. Lannes, disengaged from the contest 
 on the right, then went to the left, to encourage 
 his troops by his presence. If at that moment he 
 had been less uncertain of what passed elsewhere, 
 and more sure of being supported, he would have 
 been able to make the division of Gazan act, and 
 then the Russians would have been undone, preci- 
 pitated down the steep from the high ground, and 
 drowned in the Narew. But Lannes saw beyond 
 his left, and at the extremity of the Russian right, 
 the division of Tolstoy, on the border of the ravine 
 of Moczyn, forming a bend in the rear to cover 
 the extremity of the position. He believed it, 
 therefore, wiser not to engage all his troops ; and 
 by his order the brave division of Gazan remained 
 immovable on the edge of the forest, receiving at 
 three hundred paces' distance the enemy's balls, 
 but doing the service of re-training the Russians, 
 and preventing them besides from engaging with 
 all their forces. 
 
 The day was closing when the division of 
 Gudin at length arrived upon the French left, 
 hid from that army by the woods, but seen by 
 the cossacks, who Boon informed general Ben- 
 ningsen of it. Of all its artillery, the division 
 of Gudin only brought two pieces painfully 
 dragged to the place of combat. It was planted 
 against the extreme right of the Russians, 
 and on the point of the angle that their retired 
 line presented. General Daultanne, who that day 
 commanded the division of Gudin, after several 
 rounds of cannon formed in echelons by the left, 
 and marched resolutely upon the enemy, and thus 
 acquainted marshal Lannes of his entrance into 
 action. His attack had a decisive effect, and 
 forced the Russians to fall back. But this division, 
 already separated by the wood from the corps of 
 Lannes, increased in advancing the interval that 
 divided them. A gust of wind, that carried the 
 rain and snow into the faces of the French sol- 
 diers, blew at the instant. The Russians, through 
 a superstition of the people of the north, who saw 
 in the storm a favourable augury, ran forward 
 with savage cries. They threw themselves into 
 
 the interval left between the division of Gudin and 
 the corps of Lannes, forcing back one and out- 
 flanking the other. Their cavalry dashed into the 
 opening ; but the thirty-fourth, on the side of 
 Suchet's division, and the eighty-fifth on that of 
 Gudin, formed into a square, and cut short this 
 charge, which was more, on the part of the Russians, 
 a demonstration to cover their retreat than a serious 
 attack. 
 
 The French had, therefore, on all the points, 
 conquered the ground which commanded Pultusk, 
 and there only remained to them a last effort to 
 precipitate the Russians into the Narew, when 
 general Benningsen, availing himself of the cover 
 of the night, drew off his army, and led it over the 
 bridges of Pultusk. While he gave his orders for 
 a retreat, Lannes, full of ardour, and re-assured 
 by the arrival of the division of Gudin, deliberated 
 whether he should immediately make a second at- 
 tack, or defer it until the morrow. The time ad- 
 vanced ; the difficulty of communicating in the 
 chaos of mud, rain, and obscurity, decided him in 
 postponing the combat. On the following day, the 
 sudden retreat of the Russians took from the 
 French the merited prize of their audacious and 
 obstinate conflict. 
 
 This obstinate battle, in which 18,000 men had 
 been the whole day in presence of 43,000, might 
 certainly be called a victory. Thanks to their 
 small number, and to the superiority of their 
 tactics, the French had scarcely lost 1500 men, 
 killed and wounded : this is spoken after authentic 
 statements. The loss of the Russians, on the con- 
 trary, rose, in killed and wounded, to more than 
 3000. They left behind 2U00 prisoners, and an 
 immense quantity of artillery. 
 
 Nevertheless, general Benningsen, re-entering 
 Pultusk, wrote to his sovereign that he had gained 
 a signal victory over the emperor Napoleon, com- 
 manding in person three corps d'armee, — those of 
 marshals Davout, Lannes, and Suchet, — and, fur- 
 ther, the cavalry of Murat. But there was not, as 
 lias been seen, any corps d'armee of marshal Suchet, 
 than general Suchet commanding simply a divi- 
 sion of marshal Lannes' corps. There were upon 
 the ground at Pultusk two divisions of marshal 
 Lannes, one only of marshal Davout, none of the 
 cavalry of prince Murat, and, still less, the em- 
 peror Napoleon commanding in person. 
 
 They have often spoken of the lying bulletins of 
 the empire, — more correct, however, than any of 
 the European publications of that period ; but 
 what must be thought of such a mode of recount- 
 ing their own actions ? The Russians were, most 
 assuredly, brave enough to tell the truth. 
 
 On the same day, the 26th, the two divisions re- 
 maining with marshal Davout, as well as the two 
 divisions composing the corps of marshal Auge- 
 reau, arrived in front of Golymin. This village 
 was surrounded by a girdle of wood and marsh, 
 intermingled with some hamlets, behind which the 
 Russians were established, with a strong reserve 
 even in the village of Golymin. 
 
 Marshal Davout opening out by the right, that is 
 to say, by the road to Pultusk, ordered the road to 
 be attacked that formed on his side the obstacle to 
 be overcome to enter Golymin. Marshal Augereau 
 opening on the left, that is, by the road of Lopac- 
 zym, had to cross the marshes, studded with
 
 1S06. 1 Diflerent corps engage 
 December./ the Russians. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 The Truss ians de- 
 feated at Soldau. 
 
 223 
 
 clumps of wood, and in the midst of them a village 
 to carry, that of Ruekovo, by which ran the only 
 practicable read. The brave infantry of marshal 
 Davuut repelled, but mil without loss, the Russian 
 infantry, consisting of detached corps from those 
 of Sakeo and Gallitgiu. Aftt r a lively lire of mus- 
 ketry, they met them with the bayonet, and con- 
 strained them, by a contest body to body, to aban- 
 don the wood upon which they supported them- 
 selves. At the right of the wood thus disputed, 
 marshal Davout forced the road from Pultusk to 
 Golymin, and sent upon the Russians a part of the 
 cavalry reserve under die command of Rapp, one 
 of his intrepid aides de-camp, that Napoleon kept 
 under his hand to employ upon trying occasions. 
 Rapp overthrew the Russian infantry, turned the 
 woods, and overcame every obstacle that covered 
 Golymin. But exposed to a hot fire, he had his 
 arm broken. On the left, Auj;ereau crossed the 
 marshes, in spite of the enemy's force placed upon 
 that point, carried the village of Ruskovo, and 
 inarched on his Bide upon Golymin, the common 
 object of the continual attacks of the French. 
 They penetrated into the place towards the end of 
 the day, and made themselves masters of it, alter 
 a very warm engagement with the reserve of Doc- 
 torow's division. As at Pultusk, the French took 
 a good many pieces of artillery, some prisoners, 
 and strewed the ground with Russian bodies, lor, 
 fighting against the Russian-', the French made 
 fewer prisoners of their enemies, but killed m< re. 
 
 This day, the 20th, the French columns were 
 every where engaged with the Russian, over a 
 space of twenty-five leagues. Through the effect 
 of a chance impossible to guard against when the 
 Communications are diliic ili, while Lanncs had 
 before him two or three times more; Russians than 
 he had of French, the other corps scarcely en- 
 countered their own equivalent, for marshals Auge- 
 reau and Davout at Golymin had no enemy to 
 combat, as was theoase with marshal Soult in his 
 march on Ciechanow, and marshal Bernadotta in 
 his march on Biezun. However, marshal Bes- 
 sieres, endeavouring to k< i p clear the left wiug 
 with the second cavalry reserve, had met the 
 ians at Biezun, and had made a good numbt r 
 of prison n. Marshal Ney, who formed the ex. 
 trams left of the army, bad marched from - 
 
 borg to Soldau and .\liawa, pushing before him the 
 
 corps of Lestocq. Reaching Soldau on the 26th, 
 at tin- -.tin" moment Latinos was fighting at 1'ul- 
 when marshals Davout and Augereau were 
 fighting at Golymin, he hid given a direction to 
 the division of Marehand on Mlawa, in order to 
 turn the position of Soldau,- a necessary precau- 
 tion, because there might be discovered there diffi- 
 culties that were insurmountable, In fact, the 
 town of Soldau was situated in tie- midsl of an im- 
 practicable marsh, that lid bo CroBBSd by one 
 
 way only, 600 or 7110 rati is long, carried 
 
 sometimes on the ground, umetimeson the bridge, 
 which the enemy had taken care to cul down : 
 6000 I'm 'h conn guarded tin- cause- 
 
 way. One battery swept along its whole length, 
 ami a second, fixed upon a ipol in the marsh, well 
 chow ,1, commanded it angularly. Ney, with the 
 
 60th and 76lh, marched rapidly ; tin. w beams of 
 
 timber over the portions ol the bridges cul away, 
 
 l batteries as they w.nt on ; overturned with 
 
 j the bayonet the infantry arranged in column upon 
 the causeway, ami entered with the fugitives into 
 the town of Soldau. There a warm action took 
 place with the Prussians. It was necessary to 
 take Soldau house by house. The French did not 
 succeed until alter unequalled efforts at the close 
 ol day. lint the brave general Lestocq rallied his 
 columns behind Soldau, and made his soldiers 
 swear to retake the post lost. The Prussians, 
 treated by the Russians after Jena as the Aus- 
 trian* after Ulm. desired to avenge their honour, 
 and prove that in bravery they were inferior to 
 none : they kept their word. Four times, from 
 seven o'clock in the evening until midnight, they 
 attacked Soldau with the bayonet, and four times 
 they were repulsed. Their courage had all the 
 rage of despair. They finished at. last by retiring 
 tiller an immense loss in killed, wounded, and pri- 
 soners. 
 
 Thus in this day. for a space of twenty-live 
 leagues, from Pultusk as far as Soldau, there had 
 1m i n obstinate fighting; and the Russians, every 
 where defeated where they had attempted to re- 
 sist, were only saved by abandoning their artillery 
 and baggage. Their army was weakened 20,000 
 men out of 115,000. Many of tin in were wound- 
 ed, killed, or prisoners. A great number of old 
 Poles had deserted. The French had taken eighty- 
 pieces of caiui n of heavy calibre, and a consider? 
 able quantity of baggage. The French had not 
 lost a single prisoner, nor had one dest iter, but 
 the fire of the em my had killed or wounded from 
 •1000 to 5000 m. n. 
 
 The design of Napoleon, intended to separate 
 the Russians from the sea, ."id to throw them, by 
 a change of movement, from the I'kra upon the 
 Narew, — from the rich shore of Old Prussia, into 
 the woody, marshy, uncultivated part of Poland, 
 had succeeded on every point; although on none 
 had he fought one of his great battles, which will 
 ever In- a striking sign of the skilful manoeuvres of 
 
 that immortal captain. The heroic acti I Lanitea 
 
 .-it Pultusk was a defeat for the Russians,- but a 
 defeai free from disaster,— which was as novel a 
 thing for them as for the French. Still, if there 
 had been a means of marching the next day,OT the 
 next day but one, the Russians would have been 
 obliged to deliver up the trophies, which they were 
 not able to. dispute verj longwith French braver) 
 and skill. Thrown beyond the Uhra, the Orezyc, 
 and Narew, into an impenetrable foresl of more 
 
 than fifteen or even twenty leagues in extent, in- 
 cluded iii the space between Pultusk, Ostroleukn, 
 and Ortelsburg, their complete destruction had 
 been the inevitable effect . t the profound combina- 
 .! Napoleon, and of the nullified or unlucky 
 combinations ol their generals. Pot ii wai impot 
 sible to march a step without falling into inextri- 
 cabli embarrassment Some ol the nun remained 
 buried to the middle in those frightful quagmires, 
 an' 1 were nut able to < stricate themselves but win u 
 others came to In Ip them out ; many dud in such 
 
 places lor want ol help. 
 
 .Napoleon, whose plans had never he. n hotter 
 
 conceived, whose had never bet n mure 
 
 brave, was obliged to bait, aftt r having made one 
 
 or two marches in advance, in order to be well 
 
 assured ol the route ol tin Pus ians and of their 
 
 flight towards tin- Pregel. A great loss of men
 
 224 
 
 Obstacles to the decisive 
 success of the French. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Disposition of the 
 French army. 
 
 f 1807. 
 \ January. 
 
 and guns caused to the enemy, and winter quar- 
 ters ensured in the centre of Poland, terminated 
 worthily this extraordinary campaign, commenced 
 upon the Rhine and terminated upon the Vistula. 
 The state of the heavens and of the ground suffi- 
 ciently explains why the results obtained near its 
 conclusion had neither the greatness nor the rapi- 
 dity to which Napoleon had accustomed the world. 
 Doubtless, the Russians, surprised not to have 
 succumbed as quickly as the Prussians at Jena, 
 the Austrians atUlm, and they themselves at Aus- 
 terlitz, grew puffed up with pride at a defeat less 
 prompt than customary, and dilated with fable 
 on their pretended success. They should not boast 
 here. They had not been more fortunate this time 
 than at Austerlitz, if, as at Austerlitz, the lakes 
 had been found frozen in place of impracticable 
 sloughs. But the season, altogether unusual, that 
 in place of a frozen soil offered one of mud, saved 
 them from disaster. It was a caprice of fortune, 
 which had, so far, too much favoured Napoleon, 
 for him not to have pardoned her for this slight 
 inconstancy. But he would have gained by what he 
 reflected upon there, and by all of which he at- 
 tained a knowledge. Moreover, his soldiers en- 
 camped upon the Vistula, his eagles planted in 
 Warsaw, were an extraordinary spectacle with 
 which he was satisfied ; for Europe remained 
 peaceable, Austria affrighted and restrained, and 
 France confident. 
 
 He remained two or three days at Golymin, with 
 the intention to procure some little rest for his 
 army ; and on the 1st of January, 1807, he re- 
 turned to Warsaw, in order to arrange the esta- 
 blishment of his winter quarters. 
 
 If one would better appreciate the situations 
 of which he made choice for the cantonment of 
 his troops, it is needful to retrace the site of the 
 places beyond the Vistula. That succession of 
 lakes, of which mention has several times been 
 made, and which here separates Old Prussia from 
 Poland, or the Slavonic from the German coun- 
 try, the region rich and maritime from the re- 
 gion interior and poor, turns the greater part of 
 the water-courses towards the interior of the coun- 
 try, by a succession of rivers, such as the Orau- 
 lew, Orezyc, and Ukra, which fall into the Narew, 
 and by the Narew into the Vistula. And while by 
 the Omulew, the Orezyc, and the Ukra, the Narew 
 receives the waters of the lakes which are not 
 able to empty themselves in the sea, descending 
 from the west, it receives by the Bug the waters 
 which descend from the east and from the centre 
 of Poland, it confounds itself with the Bug at 
 Sierock, and, swelled by all these influxes, takes 
 its course, in a single bed, to the Vistula, which it 
 joins at Modlin. 
 
 The Narew offers then a common trunk, which 
 supports itself on the Vistula, and around which 
 the Bug to the right, the Ukra, Orezyc, and Omu- 
 lew to the left,are attached, like so many ramifica- 
 tions. It is between these different ramifications, 
 and by supporting itself on the principal trunk to- 
 wards Sierock and Modlin, that Napoleon distri- 
 buted the different corps of his army. 
 
 Napoleon quartered Lannes between the Vis- 
 tula, the Narew, and the Bug, in the angle formed 
 by the water-courses, guarding Warsaw at the 
 same time with Sachet's division, Jablona, the 
 
 bridge of Okunin, and Sierock by the division of 
 Gazan. The head quarters of Lannes were at 
 Sierock, at the confluence of the Bug and Narew. 
 The corps of marshal Davout was quartered in 
 the angle described by the Bug and the Narew, 
 his head quarters being at Pultusk, and his posts 
 extending as far as Brok on the Bug and Ostro- 
 lenka on the Narew. The corps of marshal Soult 
 was established behind the Orezyc, having his 
 head quarters at Golymin, uniting with his corps 
 the reserve of cavalry, and having thus the means 
 of covering the vast extent of his front by the 
 numerous squadrons placed at his disposal. The 
 corps of marshal Augereau was lodged at Plonsk, 
 behind marshal Soult, occupying the angle opened 
 between the Vistula and Ukra, having his head 
 quarters at Plonsk. The corps of marshal Ney 
 was placed at the extreme left of Augereau, to- 
 wards Mlawa, at the head of the Orezyc and Ukra, 
 near the lakes, protecting the flank of the four 
 corps that radiated around Warsaw, and connect- 
 ing himself with the corps of marshal Bernadotte, 
 who defended the Lower Vistula. Bernadotte, can- 
 toned very near the sea, in advance of Graudenz 
 and Elbing, had the task of guarding the Lower 
 Vistula, and of covering the siege of Dantzic, which 
 it was indispensable to undertake to ensure the 
 position of the army. This siege was, besides, 
 destined to form the interlude of the campaign 
 which was about to finish, and that which was 
 to open in the spring. 
 
 At the first appearance of an enemy each corps 
 had orders to concentrate itself, that of marshal 
 Lannes at Sierock, of marshal Davout at Pultusk, of 
 marshal Soult at Golymin, of marshal Augereau at 
 Plonsk, of marshal Ney at Mlawa, and that of 
 marshal Bernadotte between Graudenz and El- 
 bing towards Osterode; the four first ordered to 
 defend Warsaw, the fifth to connect his quarters 
 on the Narew to those of the sea-shore, and the 
 last to protect the Lower Vistula and the siege of 
 Dantzic. 
 
 To this able disposition of his cantonments were 
 joined the precautions of an admirable forecast. 
 The soldiers, not having ceased to bivouac from the 
 commencement of the campaign, that is, from the 
 preceding month of October, were at last to be 
 lodged in the villages, and to live there, but in 
 such a manner as always to be able to unite at the 
 first moment of danger. The light cavalry of the 
 line, and heavy cavalry, arranged one behind the 
 other, and supported by some detachments of light 
 infantry, formed a curtain in advance of the canton- 
 ments, to keep away the Cossacks and prevent 
 surprises, by means of frequent reconnoitrings. 
 The troops devoted to this very hard service 
 during the winter, were sheltered by cabins, of 
 which the timber, so abundant in Poland, furnished 
 the materials. 
 
 Orders were given to ransack the country to 
 discover the corn and potatoes, hidden under- 
 ground by the inhabitants who had taken flight, 
 to collect the dispersed cattle, and to create maga- 
 zines with what could be gathered up, which, esta- 
 blished near each corps and regularly delivered 
 out, would thus prevent all spoliation and waste. 
 The corps, which were not advantageously placed 
 in regard to alimentary resources, were to receive 
 from Warsaw supplies of grain, forage, and meat. 
 
 J
 
 1807. \ 
 January./ 
 
 Commissariat provision 
 for the arm) . 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 Amelioration of the 
 soldiers' position. 
 
 L 
 
 This, when it was sent to them, embarked upon 
 the Vistula, descended that river as far as the 
 point which approached nearest each corps, and was 
 there landed and carried on by the army waggons, 
 or l>y those organized in the country. Napoleon 
 had ordered all the services to be paid for in 
 money, either on account of the Poles, whom he 
 wished to manage, or on account of the inhabit- 
 ants, whom he hoped to bring back through the 
 expectation of profit. 
 
 It must be observed, that each corps being 
 quartered in a manner so as to be able to carry 
 itself rapidly to the place of danger, had a base on 
 the Vistula or on the Narew, in order to avail 
 itself of water carriage. Thus marshal Lannes at 
 Warsaw, marshal Davout at Pultusk, marshal 
 Augereau at Wyszogrod, marshal Soult at 1 lock, 
 marshal Ney at Thorn, and marshal Bernadotte 
 at Marienbourg and Elbing, had each a base on 
 this vast line of navigation. It was upon the 
 different points that they were to find their de- 
 pots, their hospitals, their manufactures of food, 
 and the workshops lor repairs, because it was there 
 that they were able to bring with the most facility 
 all the materials necessary to such establishments. 
 
 There is only seen in the ordinary recitals of 
 war, armies formed and ready to enter upon ac- 
 tion; no one imagines what it costs in labour to 
 place at his post the man armed, equipped, fed, 
 instructed, and, in fact, cured, if he has been sick 
 or wounded. All these difficulties increase in 
 proportion as the climate changes, or he is re- 
 moved from the point of departure. The greater 
 part of generals or governments neglect this species 
 of care, and their armies melt away in the twink- 
 ling of an eye. Those alone who apply themselves 
 with steadiness and ability succeed in preserving 
 their numerous troops in good order. The opera- 
 tion that is here described is the most admirable 
 example of this kind of difficulty completely con- 
 quered and surmounted. 
 
 Napoleon wished, that after having chosen the 
 places proper lor each cantonment and collected 
 the necessary stoics, or brought from Warsaw 
 those which were wanting, they should construct 
 ovens ami n pair tin- mills destroyed, tie ordered 
 
 that when 1 1 1 • • y had ensured the regular provisions 
 
 for the troops, and that they rami- to surpass ill 
 the confection of food, the quantity indispensable 
 
 for tli^ daily consumption, they should form a 
 
 ■.'■ -tor.- of bread, biscuit, and spirit, not in 
 the place where tin- dep6t was fixed, but in the 
 place named tor the assemblage ol each eorpi 
 d'armit, in case of attack. His motive was easily 
 divined. He desired that if a sudden appearance 
 of the enemy obliged them to tali each 
 
 corps should have enough to support itself during 
 a march of seven or eighl days. There was not 
 more time necessary in u" neral to accomplish a 
 great operation and to decide a campaign. 
 
 With the money contributions collected in Prus- 
 sia, that were united at firsl on tin- Oder, ami 
 afterwards transported to the Vistula by means of 
 the artillery cars, Napoleon furnished the pay 
 duly, and more, ho granted extraordinary aid to 
 tin: masses of the regiments. By the 
 understood the portions of tin- pay devoted in 
 common to feed, clothe, ami warm the soldier. 
 It was a mode of adding to the support of the 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 troops, proportioned to the difficulty of living, or 
 to the more rapid consumption of the objects of 
 equipment. 
 
 The first days of their establishment in the midst 
 of the marshes and forests of Poland, and during 
 the rigour of winter, were painful. If the cold had 
 been sharp, the soldier, warmed at the expense of 
 the Polish forests, had Buffered less from the frost 
 than from that penetrating humidity, that softened 
 the ground, rendered carriage nearly impossible, 
 the fatigues of service greater, saddened the si^ht, 
 mollified the body, and abated the courage. There 
 could not be in such a country a worse winter than 
 a rainy one. The temperature varied without 
 ceasing from frost to thaw, never reaching more 
 than one or two degrees of cold, and falling soon 
 towards the humidity and softness of autumn. 
 Thus frost was wished for here, as in the finer 
 climates they wish for the sun, or the verdure of 
 spring. 
 
 However, in a few days their situation became 
 better. The corps lived in the villages abandoned 
 by the inhabitants ; the advanced guards con- 
 structed cabins of pine-branches. They found a 
 good many potatoes, and a sufficiency of animal 
 food ; but they longed for bread, being soon tired 
 of potatoes. By little and little they discovered corn 
 concealed in the woods, and collected it into the 
 magazines. They also received, by the Vistula 
 and Narew, those stons which the activity of the 
 Jews contrived to embark and Bend down to 
 Warsaw, across the military cordon of Austria. 
 A shrewd corruption, practised by those able 
 traders, set to sleep the vigilance of the guardians 
 of the Austrian frontier. The contractors, well 
 paid either in salt taken from the Prussian stores, 
 or in hard cash, executed the ordns given with 
 sufficient punctuality. The ovens ami mills de- 
 stroyed were re-established. Magazines of re- 
 Si rve began to be organized. The wine necessarv 
 for the soldier's health and good humour, drawn 
 from all the towns of the north, where trade had 
 attracted it in abundance, and transported by the 
 Oder, the W'.irla, ami the NetZO, as far as the 
 Vistula, arrived as well, though brought with 
 more difficulty. Every corps did not enjoy the 
 same advantage. The corps of marshals Davout 
 and Soult, more advanced in the woody country, 
 
 ami far away from [lie navigation ol the Vistula, 
 suffered most from privation. The corps of 
 marshals Lanni s and Auger an, established nearer 
 the great river of Poland, suffered lesa The 
 indefatigable Ney opened iibum ant resources by 
 Ins iuduatry ami hardihood, He was very close- 
 to the Germanic part of the Prussian territory, 
 winch was extremely rich, and In Further adven- 
 tured himself as far as the hanks of tin Pregel. 
 There he made hold expeditions, setting his sol- 
 diers at work when the ground got hard fro/en, 
 and thus he foraged as far as the e,ales of Kirnigs- 
 berg, which atone linn lie could lam have surprised 
 and taken. 
 
 Tin- corps of Bernadotte being on the Vistula, 
 
 was well placed for obtaining provisions. lint the 
 
 vicinity of the Prussian garrisons •! Graudens, 
 
 Dantzick, ami Elbing much inc modi d him, ami 
 
 prevented his enjoying the resources of the coun- 
 try so much BJ lie might have done without their 
 vicinity. 
 
 Q
 
 Napoleon's statement 
 226 of his situation to 
 
 Fouche. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Arrangements for 
 the hospitals. 
 
 / 1807. 
 \ January. 
 
 After several encounters with the Cossacks, tliey 
 were forced to leave the French cantonments in 
 peace. It was found that the light cavalry was 
 sufficient to keep watch, and that the heavy 
 cavalry. suffered greatly in the advanced canton- 
 ments. . Thus Napoleon, enlightened by an expe- 
 rience o;f some days, made a change in his dis- 
 positions. He recalled the heavy cavalry towards 
 the Vistula. The cuirassiers of general Hautpoul 
 •were cantoned about Thorn; the dragoons of all 
 the divisions from Thorn as far as Warsaw ; the 
 cuirassiers of general Nansouty, behind the Vis- 
 tula, between that river and the Pilica. The light 
 cavalry, reinforced by some brigades of dragoons, 
 remained at the advanced posts ; but it came 
 alternately, two regiments at a time, to refresh 
 upon the Vistula, where forage was abundant. 
 The division of Gudin, of Davout's corps, the most 
 ill-treated of the whole army, because it had taken 
 part in two hard-fought battles, those of Auerstadt 
 and Pultusk, was sent to Warsaw, to indemnify 
 itself there for its past fatigues and combats. 
 
 Most assuredly the army was not as well treated 
 at the very .bottom of Poland as it had l>een at 
 Boulogne camp, where all the means of France 
 had be^n devoted to provide for its wants. But 
 it had what was necessary, and sometimes more. 
 Napoleon answered Fouche', the minister, who 
 made known to him the rumours spread abroad by 
 the malevolent, concerning the sufferings of the 
 soldiers, in this way — " It is true that the maga- 
 zines of Warsaw are not well provisioned, and 
 the impossibility of collecting there, in a short 
 time, a great quantity of grain, has rendered food 
 scarce; but it is as absurd to think that corn, wine, 
 meat, and potatoes can be wanting in Poland, as it 
 would be to say they were wanting in Egypt. 
 
 "I have at Warsaw a manufacture which gives 
 me 100,000 rations per day ; I have also one at 
 Thorn ; 1 have magazines at Posen, at Lowiez, on 
 the whole line ; I have enough to feed the army 
 for more than a year. You will remember that, 
 during the expedition to Egypt, letters from the 
 army said that they were dying of hunger. Let 
 articles be written to this effect. It is plain 
 enough that the army might have wanted some- 
 thing at the moment when it expelled the Rus- 
 sians from Warsaw, but the productions of the 
 country are such, that there is no reason for any 
 fear upon the subject." (Warsaw, Jan. 18, 1807.) 
 
 There were, however, a considerable number of 
 sick, more than was accustomed to be seen in this 
 brave army. They were attacked with fevers and 
 severe pains, in consequence of their continual 
 bivouacs, in a cold atmosphere, and upon wet 
 ground. It was easy to judge of this by what 
 occurred to the chief officers themselves. Several 
 of the marshals, and those in particular denomi- 
 nated the '' Italians," and the " Egyptians," be- 
 cause they had served in 1 taly and Egypt, found 
 themselves seriously indisposed. Murat could not 
 join in the later operations on the Narew. Au- 
 gereau, suffering from the rheumatism, had been 
 obliged t<> exclude himself from contact with that 
 cold and humid air. Lannes, fallen ill at Warsaw, 
 had been obliged to separate from the filth corps, 
 which he was no longer able to command. 
 
 Napoleon completed the general c;ire of his 
 soldiers by the particular care, not less pressing, 
 
 for the sick and wounded. He had COOO beds 
 prepared at Warsaw : he also had a number got 
 ready proportionably considerable at Thorn, Posen, 
 and the rear between the Vistula and Oder. They 
 took, at Berlin, the wool from the domains of the 
 crown, and the tent-cloth, in order to make mat- 
 tresses for the hospitals. Having Silesia at his 
 disposition, which prince Jerome had occupied, 
 and which abounded in cloth of all kinds, Napoleon 
 ordered a large quantity to be bought and con- 
 verted into shirts. He specially confided the 
 direction of the hospitals to M. Dam, and pre- 
 scribed himself a particular organization for these 
 establishments. He determined to have in every 
 hospital an infirmary governor, always provided 
 with ready money, ordered, under his own respon- 
 sibility, to procure for the sick all of which they 
 had need; and they were watched over by a Ca- 
 tholic priest. This priest, at the same time that 
 he exercised a spiritual ministry, would also exer- 
 cise a species of paternal vigilance, giving an 
 account to. the emperor, and making him ac- 
 quainted with the least negligence towards the 
 sick, of whom he was thus constituted the pro- 
 tector. Napoleon desired that this priest should 
 have a regular appointment, and that each hos- 
 pital should in some sort become a moving cure, 
 following after the army. 
 
 Such were the endless cares to which that great 
 captain gave his mind, that the hatred of party 
 spirit represented at the time of his fall as a 
 barbarous conqueror, pushing men forward to 
 butchery, without making himself anxious about 
 food for them when they marched, or about the 
 cure of those whom he had led to mutilation when 
 they were wounded; caring no more for them 
 than for the animals that drew his cannon and 
 baggage. 
 
 After having thus been employed in taking care 
 of his men, with a zeal which was not less noble 
 for being interested, because there were not want- 
 ing generals and sovereigns, who abandoned to 
 misery the soldiers who were the instruments of 
 their power and their glory, Napoleon directed 
 his attention to the works undertaken on the 
 Vistula, and to the punctual arrival of his rein- 
 forcements, in such a manner that in the spring 
 his army would present itself to the enemy more 
 formidable than ever. He had ordered, as has 
 been seen, the works at Prague, wishing that 
 Warsaw should be aide to support and defend 
 itself, with a simple garrison, in case he should 
 place himself in advance. After having examined 
 all with his own eyes, he resolved to establish 
 eight redoubts, closed at the gorge, with scarp and 
 counterscarp, faced with wood, (a species ofrevete- 
 ment of which the siege of Dantzic soon made the 
 value appreciated.) and thus enclose within their 
 circuit the large suburb of Prague. He added a 
 work, that, placed in the rear of these eight re- 
 doubts, and in advance of the bridge of boats 
 which connected Prague with Warsaw, should 
 serve, at the same time, as a support to this 
 species of strong fortress, as well as a ttte de pont 
 to the bridge of Warsaw. He commanded at 
 Okunin, where they had thrown bridges over the 
 Narew and Ukra, a series of works to cover them, 
 and guarantee their exclusive possession to the 
 French army. The same thing was ordere'i at
 
 1807. 
 January 
 
 I 
 
 Reinforcements drawn 
 fr.ni Fiance and 
 
 Italy. 
 
 KYLAU. 
 
 GIorau besieged by 
 mime, and 
 
 taken. 
 
 227 
 
 the bridge of M all'm, which had been thrown over 
 at the confluence of the Vistula ami Narew ; 
 making use of an island upon which to place the 
 materials for the passage and for the construction 
 of an offensive work of the greatest strength. 
 Thus, between the three points of Warsaw, Okuniti, 
 and Ifodlin, where it was necessary to carry so 
 much over such great water-courses, Napoleon 
 
 Secured all the passages for himself, and inter- 
 dicted them to the Russians, iu such a manner 
 that these great natural obstacles, converted into 
 facilities for himself, and into insurmountable 
 difficulties for the enemy, became, in his p 
 sinn, powerful means lor manoeuvring, am!, above 
 all, able to take care of themselves, if the n, 
 
 if the war should oblige him to ascend towards 
 the north yet more than he had yet done. Na- 
 poleon completed his system by a work of the 
 same kind at Sierock, at the confluence of the 
 Narew and Bug, with the timber that abounded in 
 those places ; tor with the ready money which he 
 had at his disposal, lie was certain to have, at the 
 same time, m id hands to use them. 
 
 Napoleon had drawn from Paris two regiments 
 of infantry, the 15th light and 58th of the line, a 
 regiment of fusileers ol the guard, and a regiment 
 of the municipal guard ; he had drawn a second 
 regiment from Brest, and one each from St. L6 
 and Boulogne. These seven regiments were on 
 the march, as well as the provisional regiments in- 
 tended to conduct the recruits of the battalions of 
 depot to the battalions of war. Two among them, 
 the 15th light ami 58th, had advanced before the 
 others and joined the corps of marshal Mortier, 
 that, raised up to i I lit French regiments, inde- 
 pendently of the Dutch and Italian regiments, 
 completed his effective force. Napoleon, profiting 
 by this reinforcement, which at that moment went 
 
 u 1 tlii- necessary strength of the 8th c 
 
 thus far, no undertakir i likely-to 
 
 threaten the s the Baltic, detached from it 
 
 the 2nd and 15th light, forming 4000 goi 
 infantry. He added to these tin- Baden conti I 
 ami the eight Polish battalions raised at Posen, — 
 the l< gion of tin- north, lull of old Poles, for a long 
 time ■ in lb,- French service, — tie' four Rue 
 
 -arrived from Italy,— and, 
 hi aily, two of the five regiments of light cavalry 
 that had also arrived from thence— the 19th and 
 23rd ' He en nposed a nei 
 
 with these tro lich be gave the name ol 
 
 the | Oih c rps, — the German . who wen- in S 
 under prince Jerome, bavin 1 .' already received the 
 title of the 0th corps. II" gave the command of 
 the l(t;b corps to old marshal Lefebvre, whom he 
 had brought with him to the grand army, 
 placed, for the tune, at the bead of the infantry of 
 lard, lie ordered him to invest Colberg, and 
 commence the Dantzick. Thi ) was 
 
 of great importance, imm its relation to the 
 
 tion which it occupied on the thaati f war. It 
 
 cm anded the Lower Vistula, protected the arri- 
 val of the enemy by sea, and contained immense 
 resources, winch would afford abundance to the 
 army if tln-y were able to make themselves musters 
 of it. Besides, wlien it was dot taken, any offen- 
 sive movement of the enemy towards ib, 
 pushed beyond the Lower Vistula, would oblige 
 the French to quit the Higher \ istula, and retro- 
 
 grade towards the Odi r. Napoleon was, therefore, 
 determined to make the siege of Dantzic the great 
 operation of the w inter. 
 
 Napoleon, thus devoting the bad season to 
 taking the fortress B, wished not only to besiege 
 those of the Lower Vistula, which were placed on 
 the left, but also those of the Higher Oder, which 
 lay upon the right. His brother Jerome, seconded 
 by general Vandamme, as has been seen, bad to 
 
 achieve the submission of Silesia, by acquiring 
 successively the fortresses of the Oder. These, 
 constructed with can by the great Frederick, to 
 ensure completely that precious conquest which 
 was the glory of his reign, presented great diffi- 
 culties to surmount, not only by the extent and 
 beauty of the works, bui by the garrisons to which 
 their defence was committed. The reduction of 
 Magdebourg, Custriu,and Stettin, had covered with 
 shame the commandants, who had delivered them 
 up under the influence of the general want of 
 moral feeling. This soon produced a reaction iu 
 Prussian army, at first so much discouraged 
 
 'he battle of Jena. Indignant honour bad 
 appealed to the hearts of all the military, and they 
 determined to die honourably, even when 
 destitute of the hope of conquering. The king bad 
 threatened with terrible punishments the governors 
 who gave up the fortresses committed to their 
 care, before having done all that, according to the 
 regulations of tie- art of war. constitutes an honour- 
 able defence. Before all they had began to under- 
 stand, that the strong towns remaining on the left 
 and light of Napoleon had acquired a real import- 
 ance, because they were so many points of support 
 that were wanting to his hold line of march, and 
 that seconded the resistance of his enemies. The 
 resolution to defend themselves Bliergi tically was, 
 therefore, well taken by all the governors of the 
 Prussian garrisons. 
 
 l'iv te had with him only the Wirtcm- 
 
 bi rghera ami Bavarians, ami with these auxi 
 troops, :i Bingle French regiment, the I3tli of the 
 
 line, with some French squadrons of light cavalry 
 
 German auxiliaries hoi not yel ac- 
 ! the military value which they exhibited 
 
 afterwards en more than one occasion. Hut e,. in'- 
 ral Vandamme, commanding the ninth corps under 
 
 Jerome, get al Muntbrun commanding 
 
 the cavalry, and tin I a young French 
 
 Staff full of ardour, inspired them, in a little lone, 
 with ihe spirit which then animated the French 
 
 army, and communicated to all the troops in con- 
 i ih it. Vandamme, who liad never directed 
 
 ned none ol the kuowle Ige ol an en- 
 
 : officer ; but In- supplied all by a happy iu- 
 
 Btinot for war, ami undertook to make ihori work 
 
 n i'.h those places in Silesia, although In- km w that 
 
 the goven determined to make a 
 
 defence. " < mploy the n 
 which hie' debonrg, - that ol inti- 
 midating tin inhabitants der to dispose tin m 
 
 to sum nder in spue >•• iaous. I le I 
 
 Willi Clog 'he 
 
 Lower. Oder, and tl: • military routes followed by 
 the French troo| , Tl not iiume- 
 
 lizatiou vailed is 
 
 uiidamm< num- 
 
 ber ol cannon aud mortal ■ ol ' >• .-■ calibre, ami 
 alter s,, m ,. threats, followed up effi ctivi i\ , brought 
 ij 9
 
 228 
 
 Capture of Breslau. 
 
 The Hessian levies 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. »now dissatisfac- 
 tion. 
 
 r 1807. 
 1 January. 
 
 the place to capitulate on the 2nd of December. 
 They discovered there great resources in artillery, 
 and warlike stores of all kinds. Vandamme then 
 ascended the Oder, and commenced the invest- 
 ment of Breslau, situated on that river, about 
 twenty leagues above Glogau. 
 
 It was with the Wirtemberg soldiers that 
 Glogau had been taken. They were not numerous 
 enough to besiege Breslau, the capital of Silesia, a 
 town of 60,000 souls, provided with a garrison of 
 6000 men, with numerous and solid works, and a 
 good governor. Prince Jerome, who had pushed 
 as far as the environs of Kalisch, while the French 
 army made its first entrance into Poland, had re- 
 turned on the Oder ; since Napoleon, firmly esta- 
 blished on the Vistula, had no more need of the 
 presence of the ninth corps towards his right. Van- 
 damme, therefore, to undertake the siege of Bres- 
 lau, had the Wirtemberg force, two Bavarian divi- 
 sions, with some French engineers and artillery, 
 besides the 13th regiment of the line. To execute 
 the approaches of so extensive a fortress by a 
 regular siege, seemed to him long and difficult. 
 In consequence, as at Glogau, he endeavoured to 
 intimidate the population. He selected in the 
 suburb of St. Nicholas a place to establish incen- 
 diary batteries. A warm fire, directed at the in- 
 terior of the town, did not attain the proposed ob- 
 ject, owing to the vigour of the commandant. Van- 
 damme, therefore, began to consider about a more 
 serious attack. Breslau had for its principal 
 means of defence a bastioned outwork, having a 
 deep ditch filled with water from the Oder. But 
 the French engineers perceived that this work had 
 not every where a revetement, and that in some 
 places it only showed a scarp of earth. Vandamme 
 conceived the idea of assaulting the work, — that 
 not consisting of a wall of masonry, but a simple 
 grassy slope, could bo scaled by intrepid soldiers. 
 It was necessary, first, to pass on rafts over the 
 ditch inundated by the Oder. Vandamme pre- 
 pared all that was necessary for this bold enter- 
 prise. Unfortunately, the preparations were dis- 
 covered by the enemy, — an inconvenient moon- 
 light shone on the night of the execution of the 
 design, and from different causes the attempt 
 failed. In the interim, the prince of Anhalt-Pless, 
 who commanded the province, having united de- 
 tachments from all the fortresses, and raised a 
 levy of peasantry, which procured him altogether 
 about 12,000 men, gave the garrison reason to 
 hope for succour from without. Nothing could 
 have happened more fortunately for the besiegers, 
 than to have to settle in the open country the 
 question of the capture of Breslau. Vandamme 
 attacked the prince of Anllalt with the Bavarians 
 and the 13th of the French line, beat him twice, 
 and put him completely to the rout, and then re- 
 turned before the fortress, deprived of all hope of 
 succour. In the mean while a strong frost took 
 place, and he resolved to pass the ditch upon the 
 ice, and afterwards to scale the earthworks. The 
 commandant, seeing himself exposed to a cap- 
 ture by assault, — a fearful danger for a rich and 
 populous city, — consented to treat, and gave 
 up the place on the 7th of January, after a re- 
 sistance of a month, on the same conditions as 
 Magdebourg, Custrin, and the other Prussian for- 
 tresses. 
 
 This conquest was not only brilliant, but singu- 
 larly useful in the resources which it procured for 
 the French army, — and, before all, by the com- 
 mand it assured the French of Silesia, the richest 
 province of Prussia, and one of the richest in 
 Europe. Napoleon congratulated Vandamme, and 
 after Vandamme his brother Jerome, who had ex- 
 hibited the intelligence of a good officer, and the 
 courage of a brave soldier. 
 
 Some days afterward, the ninth corps made 
 again a conquest, — that of Brieg, a place above 
 Breslau, upon the Oder. All the centre of Silesia 
 being conquered, there only remained to be taken 
 Schweidnitz, Glatz, and Niese, which closed the 
 doors of Silesia on the side of Bohemia. Napoleon 
 ordered the siege of one after the other, and deter- 
 mined on a rigorous act, conformable to the rights 
 of warfare, which was to destroy the works ; and 
 in consequence, he ordered that the fortifications 
 of those already in his power should be blown 
 up. He acted thus for a double reason — one of 
 the present, the other of the future. He did not 
 then wish to disseminate his troops by multiplying 
 posts around him which it would be necessary to 
 guard ; and, in respect to the future, no more rec- 
 koning upon Prussia as an ally, and perceiving 
 every day that he must not flatter himself about 
 attaching Austria to his cause, he had nothing to 
 hope from the misunderstanding that divided those 
 two courts. Silesia, dismantled on the side of 
 Austria, would become an object of uneasiness to 
 Prussia, a cause of expense, and a reason why she 
 should be enfeebled as much as possible. 
 
 Thus, in the rear of the army, on the left as 
 well as on the right, the visible progress of the 
 French operations attested that the enemy had it 
 not in his power to trouble them, because of his 
 suffering them to be completed. Some partizans 
 alone who sallied out from the fortresses of Col- 
 berg and Dantzic, recruited by the Prussian pri- 
 soners, infested the roads. Several detachments 
 were employed in their pursuit. A slight accident, 
 which had nothing in it serious, for an instant, 
 however, caused some fear for the tranquillity of 
 Germany. Hesse, of which the sovereign had 
 been dethroned, the fortresses dismantled, and the 
 army disbanded, was naturally the most ill-disposed 
 towards France of all the German provinces. 
 30,000 unlicensed men, idle, deprived of pay and 
 the means of living, were, although disarmed, a 
 dangerous leaven, that prudence counselled not to 
 leave in the country. It had been thought wise to 
 enlist a part of them, without stating where they 
 would be made to serve. The intention was to 
 employ them in Nuples. The secret having been 
 divulged through some indiscretion committed at 
 Mayenee, the newly enrolled men rose, saying that 
 they were going to send the Hessians to perish in 
 the Calabrias. General Lagrange, who commanded 
 in Hesse, had very few troops at his command. 
 The insurgents disarmed a French detachment, 
 and threatened to make all Hesse revolt. But the 
 foresight of Napoleon had provided the means to 
 balance this vexatious event. Provisional regi- 
 ments, sent from the Rhine, an Italian regiment 
 marching to join the corps of marshal Mortier, the 
 fusileers of the guard drawn from Paris, and one 
 of the regiments of chasseurs coming from Italy, 
 were not far away. They were marched in all
 
 1807. ■» 
 January. / 
 
 The court of Vienna 
 deceived by Ben- 
 ningsan. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 Movements of the Rus- 
 sian army. 
 
 229 
 
 haste towards Cassel, and the insurrection was im- 
 mediately quelled. 
 
 The immense country which extends from the 
 Rhine to the Vistula, and from the mountains of 
 Bohemia to the North Son, had, therefore, sub- 
 mitted. The fortresses surrendered one after ano- 
 ther to the French troops, and their reinforcements 
 marching peaceably, did the duty of police as they 
 1 towards the theatre of war to recruit the 
 grand army. 
 
 The Russian general, Benningsen, had showed 
 so much audacity in styling himself victorious, 
 that the emperor Alexander at Petersburg, anil 
 the king of Prussia at Kosnigsberg, had received 
 and accepted congratulations. Although the mate- 
 rial results, such as the retreat of the Russians to 
 the Pregel, the tranquil establishment of the 
 French on the Vistula, and the Biegea undertaken 
 on the Oder, should have been an answer to all 
 these wild fancies of an enemy who believed Ben- 
 ningsen was victorious, because he had not under- 
 gone a disaster as complete as that of Austi rlitz or 
 Jena, such persons affected the exhibition of a cer- 
 tain degree of pleasure. This pleasure broke out 
 more particularly at Vienna, in the heart, of the 
 imperial court. Emperor, archdukes, ministers, 
 grandees, — all equally congratulated each other on 
 the event. Nothing was more natural or lejjiti- 
 mate. It is only needful to return to the language 
 held by the cabinet of Vienna in its recent commu- 
 nications with Napoleon, — language which, per- 
 haps, surpassed the limits of dissimulation per- 
 mitted under any circumstances. For the rest, 
 the error which caused sucli pleasure to the ene- 
 mies of the French was not of long duration. 
 M. Lucchesini, who had quitted the court of Prus- 
 sia at the same time as M. Haugwitz, passed 
 through Vienna, to return to his native country of 
 Lucca. He was no longer under any illusion him- 
 self, nor had he any interest in prolonging the 
 illusion of others, and he in consequence told the 
 truth respecting the sanguinary conflicts of which 
 the Vistula had b e come the scene. The quagmires 
 of Poland, he said, had paralysed victor and van- 
 quished, ami permitted the Russians to withdraw 
 themselves from the pursuit of the French. Bui 
 the Russians, beaten every where out and out, had 
 do chance of keeping ground against the formidable 
 Boldiera of Napoleon. It was necessary to wait 
 until the spring, perhaps only till the iir>t frost, 
 when be would make an irrupti in upon the Pregel, 
 and terminate the war by some striking action. 
 
 The French .army was not, added M. Lucchesini, 
 
 either demoralized or deprived of resources, as it 
 was pretended ; it lived well, accommodating itself 
 
 to the humid cold climate of Poland, as it had for- 
 merly accommodated itself to tie dry and burning 
 
 sky of Egypt ; it had, in faet, a blind faith in tin- 
 genius and fortune of its chief. 
 
 This information, from a calm, disinterested ob- 
 server, led the delusive joy of tie- Austrians. 
 
 Tin- court of Vienna, as inm-h to obviate tin- 
 doubts of Napoleon by an amicable movement, as 
 to have from tie- French head-quart r correct in- 
 formation, requested authority to tend tie- baron 
 Vincent to Warsaw. Tin- ministers of th.- foreign 
 courts, who had wished tn follow M. ile Talleyrand 
 to Berlin, some even to Warsaw, had been politely 
 refused, as it was inconvenient, and they wire often 
 
 false-speaking. It was agreed, however, to receive 
 XI. Vincent, for the purpose of Bliowing a wish of 
 accommodating Austria, and of furnishing her with 
 a direct means to become acquainted with the 
 
 truth, which the French had more interest in 
 letting her know than in concealing. The baron 
 Vincent arrived at Warsaw towards the end of 
 January. 
 
 Napoleon employed the month of January, 1807, 
 either in consolidating his position on the Vistula 
 and Oder, in increasing his army by reinforce- 
 ments from Italy and France, or in endeavouring 
 to raise up tin- cast against Russia. He held him- 
 self ready to meet an immediate attack, but did 
 not much believe tin- Russians were preparing one 
 yet more formidable in spit.- of the severities of the 
 season. After the affair of Pultusk, general Ben- 
 ningsen, beaten, although he bail not -aid it, be- 
 cause people do not retire in all haste when they 
 are victorious, had passed the Narew, and found 
 himself in that country of heath, of marsh, and of 
 wood, which extends itself between the Narew and 
 the Bug lie had received two of Blixhoewden's 
 divisions, uselessly left by him at PopoWO, on the 
 
 Bug, (luring the last engagementa lie ascended 
 
 the Narew with these two divisions, and thai 
 the army which had fought at Pultusk. At the 
 same moment, the two demi-divisions of general 
 Benningsen, which had not been able to rejoin 
 him, joined the two divisions of general Buxhoew- 
 den, which were at Golymin and Makow, and re- 
 mained on the other bank of tin.- Narew, the 
 bridges of which had been carried away by the 
 ice. The two portions of the Russian army, thus 
 reduced to the impossibility of communicating with 
 each other, ascended the banks of the Narew, easy 
 enough to have been destroyed, thus isolated, if 
 the French had known their situation, and if the 
 state of the roads, in addition, bad permitted them 
 
 to be overtaken. But a knowledge of every thing 
 in war is not to I"- reached easily. The most able 
 general is he, who, by the aid of his own sagacity, 
 
 attains the point of a little less ignorance than cus- 
 tomary of an enemy's designs. In ovi ry other cir- 
 cumstance, Napoleon, by Ins prodigious activity, 
 and with bis art <-f profiting by a victory, would 
 
 have i d scovered the perilous situation of the 
 
 Russian army, and would infallibly have destroyed 
 the portion which he pursued. Rut plunged into 
 tin- sloughs, deprived of bread and artillery, ho 
 was reduced to tie- most complete immobility. 
 Having brought his sol. Hers from tin- extremity ol 
 Europe, In- considered it a sort of cruelty to try 
 their devotion bj longer proof. 
 
 General Benningsen and general Buxhoewden 
 made some attempts to unite ; but tin- brid 
 
 si viral times n placed, WON M often carried 
 
 away, and they found themselves obliged lo ascend 
 tin- Narew slowly, living as they were best able, 
 
 endeavouring to form a junction by retching some 
 
 spot when it should in- practicable. Howi 
 they succeeded in having a personal interview, 
 meeting at Novogorod. Although little disposed to 
 some to an understanding, thej settled upon a 
 
 plan, which was nothing less than to continue hos- 
 tilities in spite ol tin- ^t it'- of the OOOntty and the 
 season. Qi n< ral 11^ nningsen, who by tin strength 
 of styling himself victorious at Pultusk bad eon- 
 eluded by believing it, absolutely desired to umb-r-
 
 230 
 
 Benningsen made sole 
 commander. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Sche-me of the Bus- 
 siansagainot Ber- 
 nadotte." 
 
 f 1807. 
 \ January. 
 
 take the offensive, and by his influence decided 
 the question of an immediate continuation of mili- 
 tary operations, and of following a march altogether 
 different, from that which had first been adopted. 
 In place of skirting the Narew and its tributaries, 
 placing the woody country at their backs, which 
 fixed the point of attack upon Warsaw, they re- 
 solved to take a great circuit, to turn, by a rear 
 movement, the vast mass of forest ; to traverse 
 afterwards the line of lakes, and to march towards 
 the maritime region by Braunsberg, Elbing, Ma- 
 rienburg, and Dantzic. They were certain of pro- 
 visions while operating on this route, owing to the 
 richness of the soil along the sea-shore. They be- 
 sides flattered themselves that they should surprise 
 the extreme left of the French cantonments, per- 
 haps rout marshal Bernadotte, who was posted on 
 the Lower Vistula, pass that river easily on which 
 they had so many points of support, and, by march- 
 ing beyond Dantzic, at a single blow destroy the 
 position of Napoleon in advance of Warsaw. In 
 casting the eye on the line that is described by the 
 Vistula and Oder, in their course towards the Bal- 
 tic, it will be remarked, that they run at first to 
 the north-west, the Vistula as far as the environs 
 of Thorn, the Oder to the vicinity of Custrin, — and 
 that they turn back suddenly afterwards to run to 
 the north-east, — thus forming a marked elbow, the 
 Vistula towards Thorn, and the Oder towards Cus- 
 trin. From this direction it results, before all in 
 what concerns the Vistula, that the Russian corps 
 that passed the river between Graudenz and Thorn, 
 found itself much nearer Posen, the base of the 
 French operations in Poland, than the French 
 army encamped at Warsaw. The difference was 
 nearly one-half. It was, therefore, a design well 
 conceived to pass the Vistula between Thorn and 
 Marienburg, supposing the perfect execution of the 
 operation, upon which always depends the fate of 
 the best plans. It has been already effectively de- 
 monstrated, more than once, that without exact- 
 ness in the calculation of distance and time, with- 
 out promptitude in marching, vigour in encounters, 
 and firmness in following up an idea to its perfect 
 accomplishment, every bold manoeuvre would be- 
 come as unfortunate as it might have been happy. 
 Here in particular, if it failed, they were over- 
 reached by Napoleon, separated from Koenigsberg, 
 driven back upon the sea, and exposed to a real 
 disaster, — because, to repeat another truth, already 
 elsewhere expressed, people run, in every great 
 combination, into as much danger as that which 
 they would cause to an adversary. 
 
 The two Russian generals were scarcely in 
 agreement on the plan to be followed, when a 
 resolution, taken at St. Petersburg in conse- 
 quence of the false statements of general Benning- 
 sen, conferred upon him the order of St. George, 
 nominated him general-in-ehief, and freed him 
 from the military .supremacy of old Kametiski, and 
 the rivalry of general Buxhocwden. These two 
 officers were, by the same resolution, recalled 
 from the army. 
 
 General Benningsen remained alone at the head 
 of the Russian troops, and naturally persisted in 
 carrying out his own plan, hastening to put it in 
 execution. He ascended the Narew as far as 
 fykoczyn, passed the Sober, near Goniondz, at 
 the same place where Charles X 1 1 hail crossed a 
 
 century before, traversed the line of lakes, near 
 the lake of Spirding, by Arys, Rhein, Rastenburg, 
 and Bischoffstein. The names of the places indi- 
 cate that he had reached the German country, in 
 other words, oriental Prussia. On the 22nd of 
 January, a month after the last actions atPultusk, 
 Golymin, and Soldau, he arrived at Heil.-berg on 
 the Alle. It was not at this rate he should have 
 marched to surprise a vigilant enemy. Neverthe- 
 less, concealed by that impenetrable curtain of 
 lakes and forests which separated the two armies, 
 the movement of the Russians remained entirely 
 unperceived by the French. 
 
 At this time general Essen had at last brought 
 up his two divisions of reserve, so long before an- 
 nounced, which carried up the total number of 
 divisions of the Russian army to ten, independ- 
 ently of the Prussian corps of general Lestocq. 
 These two new divisions, composed of recruits, de- 
 signed to guard, besides the Bug and the Narew, 
 the position that the two divisions of general Bux- 
 hoewden had occupied before them, remained 
 strangers to the operations of December. The 
 division of Sedmaratzki was posted at Goniondz, 
 on the Bober, to watch the line of lakes, to main- 
 tain the communications with the corps of general 
 Essen, and to make the French apprehensive on 
 the right. Of ten divisions general Benningsen 
 only kept seven, to carry with him to the sea- 
 shore and the Lower Visiula. After the losses of 
 December, they might represent a force of 80,000 
 men, and of 1)0,000 ', at least, with the Prussian 
 corps of Lestocq. 
 
 It has already been remarked, that the waters of 
 the lakes run some inwards by the Oinulew, Orezyc, 
 and Ukra, into the Narew and the Vistula, — that 
 others run outwards, by small streams going directly 
 to the sea, of which the principal is the Passarge, 
 which falls straight into the Frische-Haff. The 
 French corps spread, the right over the Narew 
 and its tributaries, and the left over the Passarge, 
 covered the line of the Vistula from Warsaw to 
 Elbing. Marshals Lannes and Davout had their 
 cantonments, as already said, along the Narew, 
 from its entrance into the Vistula as far as Pultusk 
 and above, forming the right of the French army, 
 and covering Warsaw. The corps of marshal Soult 
 was established between Oinulew and Orezyc. from 
 Osirolenka to Willenberg and Chorzellen, giving 
 a hand on one side to tiie troops of marshal Da- 
 vout, and on the other to those of marshal Ney, 
 and thus forming the centre of the French army. 
 Marshal Ney, more in advance, at Hohenstein, on 
 the Upper Passarge, connected himself with the 
 position of marshal Sotdt at the sources of the 
 Omulew, and with that of marshal Bernadotte be- 
 hind the Passarge. This last, protected by the 
 Passarge, occupying Osterode, Mohrungen, Preuss- 
 Holland,and Elhing, formed the left of the French 
 army towards the Frische-Haff, and covered the 
 Lower Vistula as well as Dantzic. 
 
 1 This is the statement of the narrator, Plotho himself, 
 who, to enhance the merit of the Russian army, dimi- 
 nishes that of his government by always endeavouring to 
 reduce the amount of the forces employed. It was strarg", 
 in tact, not to be able, upon his own frontier, to present to 
 an enemy who came so lar more than 90,000 men capable of 
 fighting.
 
 i8or. \ 
 
 January. J 
 
 Marshal Ney dis- 
 covers the Rus- 
 sians. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 Encounter of lierna- 
 dotte and Benning- 
 sen. 
 
 231 
 
 Marsha! Ney, who had the most advanced posi- 
 tion, added again to the distance which separated 
 him from the main hod)- of the army by the hardi- 
 hood of his expeditions. When the frost began to 
 render the soil of some consistence, he placed his 
 light troops in carriages, and went as far as the 
 environs of KoBnigsberg t<> search for provisions 
 for his soldiers. He had in this way made some 
 lucky captures, which had singularly contributed 
 to the comfort of his corps. The Alio, the shores 
 of which he scoured to its sources, near those of 
 the Passarge, in a croup of hikes between Hnhcn- 
 stein and Allenstein, then separatee at a right 
 angle, and while the Passarge runs towards the sea 
 or Frische-Haff, the Alio runs direct towards the 
 Pregel, in such a manner, that the Passarge and 
 Alle, the Pregel and the sea, present, so to 
 four sides of a lon<j square. Marsha] Ney, placed 
 at Hohenstein, at the summit of the angle that the 
 Alle and Paaearge d. icribe before they separate, 
 having to his right, in the rear, the cantonments 
 of marshal Soult ; to his left, in the rear, those of 
 marshal Bernadoite, descending and ascending by 
 turns the water of the Alle in its course as far as 
 the Pregel, could not fail to encounter the Russian 
 army in its movement 
 
 Napoleon, fearing that he would compromise 
 himself, had several times reprimanded him, hut 
 the bold marshal persisting in going further than 
 he had been authorized, encountered the Russian 
 army, which had passed the Alle, going to pass the 
 Passarge, at the environs of Deppen. It advanced 
 in two columns, that of the two which was to cross 
 the PaBsarge at Deppen was ordered to penetrate 
 towards Liebstadt, to approach the Lower Vistula, 
 and surprise the cantonments of marshal Beraa- 
 dotte. 
 
 Marshal Ney, whose (intractable temerity had 
 at least the advantage of giving his friends timely 
 notice, an advantage which should not encourage 
 disobedience, because it has rarely such fortunate 
 
 results, — marshal Key haste 1 to fall hack to 
 
 acquaint marshal Bemadotte on his left, and mar- 
 shal Soult on Ins right, of the danger which 
 threatened them, and to send intelligi nee to the 
 head-quarters at Warsaw of the sudden appear- 
 ance of the enemy. He took at Hohenstein a 
 well chosen post, irom whence he was able to go 
 either to succour the cantonments of marshal 
 Soult at Omulew, or of marshal Bemadotte bi - 
 hind the ! He indicated to the last the 
 
 situation of Osterode, a fine position on tin 
 level ground, behind the woods and the 
 whip- the Brat and sixth corps united, wonld be 
 in a state to present themselves about 80,000 
 strong to the Russians, on n she nearly impreg- 
 nable. 
 
 But the troop-, of marshal Bemadotte, scattered 
 as far as Elbing, near the Frische-Haff, had great 
 distances to march in order to assemble ; and it 
 general Benningsen had marched rapidly, be 
 would have- been able to surprise and <l 
 
 them before they could concentrate tin in 
 
 Marshal Bemadotte aenl orders t<> the troops 
 on his right to marsh directly upon Ostei 
 and to the troops of his left U) unite on the com- 
 mon point of Mohrungen, which is on the n 
 
 Osterode, a little in the rear of Liebstadt, that is 
 
 to say, very near the Russian advanced guard. 
 
 The danger was pressing, because, the evening 
 before, the advanced guard of the eliemv had Very 
 
 roughly treated a French detachment left at 
 Liel.sta.lt. General Ifaxkoff, with about 10,000 
 Or 16,000 men, formed the head of the right 
 Russian column. It was the 25th of January, in 
 the morning, at Pfarrers-Feldelun, having three 
 battalions in the village, and in the rear a Strong 
 
 of infantry and cavalry. .Mar-dial Bema- 
 dotte arrived on the spot, a short distance from 
 Mohrungen, towards mid-day, with his troo] B, 
 that, departing in the night, had already accom- 
 plished ten or twelve leagues of distance. He 
 made his dispositions immediately, and threw a 
 battalion of the 9lh light into' the village of 
 Pl'arrers-Feld.hen, to take from the < iiemv that 
 first point of support. This brave battalion en- 
 tered with the bayonet at the charge, under a • 
 fire of musketry from the Russians, and sustained 
 an obstinate conflict in the interior of the village. 
 In tln> midst of the Struggle the enemy crlpfuivd 
 an eagle, but it was soon retaken. Oilier Rrfl 
 battalions came up to join those which wen- fight- 
 ing, and marshal Bemadotte sent two battalions to 
 the aid of the 9lh, that, after a contest of extreme 
 violence, remained masters of Planers Feldchen. 
 Beyond he saw, upon elevated ground, the main 
 column of the enemy, supported, the one side on a 
 wood, the other on the lakes, and his front pro- 
 
 1 by a numerous artillery. Marshal Bema- 
 dotte, after having formed in line of battle the 
 8th, !)4th of the line, and the 2Jtli light, marched 
 straight to the Russian position, under a murder- 
 ous fire. He approached them boldly j and the 
 Russians defended themselves With firmness. 
 Fortune willed that general Dnpont, arriving 
 from the hanks of the Frisohe-Haff, by the road of 
 Preuss-Holland, showed himself with the 32nd 
 and 96th, across the village of Georgenthal, on the 
 Russian right. The lasl were not able t.> resist 
 
 this double attack, and abandoned the field of 
 battle, covered with dead bodies. This combat 
 est them 1500 or 1600 m< n killed and taken. It 
 the French C(I0 or 700 killed or wounded. 
 The dispersion of the troops and a great number of 
 sick, were the cause thai marshal Bemadotte was 
 
 not able to unite at Mohrungen more than 1KIIIO or 
 0000 men, to fight 15,000 or 10,000. 
 
 This first encounter bad lor a result to inspire 
 the Russians with extreme circumspection-, and to 
 rive t.. the troops of marshal Beruadottc] t i r . 
 
 nble at ( (-teri.de, a position in which, joined 
 with tin- troops of marshal Ney, they had nothing 
 
 r. The 26th and 27th of .January, in fact, 
 
 marshal Bemadotte reached Osterode, and closed 
 
 with marshal Ney, awaiting with a final loot the 
 ulterior enterprises of the enemy. General Ben- 
 ningsen, whether he was surprised al the resist- 
 ance opposed to his march, or whether be winhod 
 to < cen;i.,i. his army, united the whole at Lieb- 
 stadt, and there halt! d. 
 
 It was the 26ih or °.7ih of January, thai Na- 
 poleon, at ely informed, by tidings from 
 different points, of the movement of the Russians, 
 . aware ol their inn ntions. I Is had 
 
 at first tlwnght the expeditiona of marshal Ney 
 
 had tempted the Russian commander to make 
 
 reprisals, ami at the first moment he expressed 
 
 ; discontent. Hut he was .-non enlightened as
 
 232 
 
 French plan of 
 operation. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Precautionary mea- 
 sures of Napoleon. 
 
 J 1807. 
 I January. 
 
 to the real cause of the appearance of the Rus- 
 sians, and could not mistrust its being, upon their 
 side, an effort at some serious enterprise, having a 
 very different object than that of disputing about 
 their cantonments. 
 
 Although this winter campaign interrupted the 
 rest of which the troops had need, Napoleon passed 
 rapidly from regret to satisfaction, above all when 
 he considered the new state of the temperature. 
 The cold had become severe. The great rivers 
 were not yet frozen, but the standing waters were 
 entirely covered with ice, and Poland showed itself 
 one vast frozen plain, in which cannon, horses, 
 and men no more ran any risk of being ingulfed. 
 Napoleon had recovered the freedom of ma- 
 noeuvring, and conceived an idea of terminating 
 the war by striking a decisive blow. 
 
 His plan was taken at the instant, and was 
 conformable to the new direction followed by the 
 enemy. When the Russians threatened Warsaw, 
 following the banks of the Narew, he had thought 
 of opening out by Thorn with his left, reinforced in 
 order to separate them from the Prussians, and to 
 throw them into the chaos of woods and marshes 
 presented by the interior country. This time, on 
 the contrary, seeing them determined to follow the 
 sea-shore to pass the Lower Vistula, he adopted 
 the opposite course, that was, to ascend the Narew, 
 which they abandoned, and, inarching sufficiently 
 high to overreach them, to return sharply upon 
 them, in order to push them to the sea. This 
 manoeuvre, in case of success, was decisive ; be- 
 cause, if, in the first place, the Russians fell back 
 again towards the interior of Poland, they were 
 exposed in a very difficult and dangerous situation; 
 in the second case, thrown back towards the sea, 
 they would find themselves, as the Prussians were 
 at Prenzlow and Lubec, reduced to capitulate. 
 
 In consequence, Napoleon resolved to assemble 
 his whole army on the corps of marshal Soult, 
 taking that corps for the centre of his movements. 
 While marshal Soult, uniting his divisions on those 
 of the left, should march by Willenburg on Passen- 
 heim and Allenstein ; marshal Davout, forming the 
 extreme right of the army, was to go to the same 
 point by Pultusk, Myszniec, and Ortelsburg; mar- 
 shal Augereau, forming the rear-guard, would come 
 there from Plonsk by Neidenburg and Hohenstein; 
 marshal Ney, forming the left, would come there 
 by Osterode. At the town of Allenstein, taken by 
 Napoleon as thecommon rallying-point, the Passarge 
 and Alle approaching each other, for a moment 
 begin to separate. Once arrived at this point, if 
 the Russians persisted in endeavouring to pass the 
 Passarge, they were already upon their flank, and 
 nearly passing beyond them. It was, therefore, at 
 the town of Allenstein, that it was of moment to 
 bring up in time the four corps of marshals Davout, 
 Soult, Augereau, and Ney. 
 
 Murat was scarcely recovered from his indis- 
 position, but his ardour supplied his want of 
 strength. He mounted his horse the same day, 
 and, after having received the verbal instructions 
 of the emperor, he immediately assembled the light 
 cavalry and dragoons, in order to lead at the head 
 of marshal Soult's corps. The heavy cavalry, 
 quartered on the Vistula towards Thorn, was as 
 soon as possible to rejoin him. 
 
 Napoleon, informed of the presence of general 
 
 Essen on the Bug and Narew, consented to send 
 towards him the corps of marshal Lannes, which 
 was the fifth; and ordered him to place himself at 
 Sierock, to make a front to the two Russian di- 
 visions posted on that side, and fall upon them, on 
 the first movement they might attempt to make 
 upon Warsaw. Marshal Lannes being wholly 
 incapable of taking the command of the fifth corps, 
 on account of the state of his health, Napoleon re- 
 placed him by his aide-de-camp Savary, in whose 
 intelligence and resolution he had entire con- 
 fidence. 
 
 He directed his foot and horse-guards upon the 
 rear of marshal Soult, and as to the reserve of 
 grenadiers and voltigeurs, that had taken up its 
 quarters behind the Vistula, between Warsaw and 
 Posen, lie deprived himself of it this time in 
 order to make it occupy the environs of Ostro- 
 lenka, and form an i termediate echelon between 
 the grand army and the fifth corps, left upon the 
 Narew. This reserve was charged to succour the 
 fifth corps, if the divisions of General Essen should 
 threaten Warsaw ; in the contrary case, it would 
 rejoin the head -quarters. 
 
 These dispositions, arranged towards the right, 
 Napoleon took on the left precautions still more 
 deeply calculated, which showed the vast bearing 
 which he hoped to give to his movement. He 
 ordered marshal Bernadotte, who was at Osterode, 
 to fall back slowly on the Vistula, in case of need 
 even to fall back as far as Thorn, in order to draw 
 the enemy there ; then to steal away, covering 
 himself with an advanced guard as with a curtain; 
 and to go, by a forced march, and connect himself 
 with the left of the grand army, in order to render 
 the manoeuvre more decisive, by which he would 
 fling back the Russians upon the sea and the 
 Lower Vistula. 
 
 Yet Napoleon did not confine himself alone to 
 these precautions. Fearing that the Russians, if 
 he succeeded in turning them, would imitate the 
 example of general Blucher, who, separated from 
 Stettin, had retreated upon Lubec ; and that they 
 would betake themselves from the Vistula to the 
 Oder; he provided for this danger by an able 
 employment of the tenth corps. This corps, de- 
 signed to undertake the siege of Dantzic, under 
 the command of marshal Lefebvre, was not en- 
 tirely assembled, marshal Lefebvre having only the 
 loth of the line and the 2nd light regiments, the 
 cuirassiers of general d'Espagne, and the eight 
 Polish battalions of Posen. Napoleon ordered 
 him to remain with his troops along the Vistula, 
 above Graudenz. The fusileers of the guard, the 
 regiment of the municipal guard of Paris, the 
 legion of the north, two of five regiments of the 
 chasseurs of Italy, already arrived in Germany; 
 finally, the corps of Baden, that were to unite at 
 Stettin under general Menard, and to ascend to- 
 wards Posen, were to join marshal Lefebvre, who 
 would go to them or leave them to come to him, 
 according to circumstances, in such a manner as to 
 fall all together on the Russian corps that should go 
 from the Vistula to the Oder. Finally, marshal 
 Mortier had orders to quit the blockade of Stral- 
 suud, placing there, in good lines of circumval- 
 lation, the troops indispensably necessary to the 
 blockade, then to join with the remainder of his 
 troops those assembled under general Menard,
 
 1807. I 
 Januaiy. / 
 
 Strength of the hos- 
 tile armies. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 The French manoeuvre 
 against Benningsen. 
 
 233 
 
 and, taking the command, if this assemblage, in 
 place of ascending as Car as the Vistula to reinforce 
 marshal Lefebvre, should, by the circumstances 
 attendant upon the pursuit, be remanded towards 
 the Oder. 
 
 Napoleon left Duroe at Warsaw, in order to have 
 a person there in whom he felt confidence. Prince 
 Poniatowski had organised some Polish battalions. 
 Those which were must advanced in their organi- 
 zation were, with the provisional? regiments ar- 
 riving from France to guard the works of Prague, 
 under the orders of general Leroarrois. Napoleon 
 ordered away from Prague all the carriages which 
 he had at his disposal laden with bread and biscuit, 
 hoping that the tro>t would facilitate the trans- 
 port, and thus his soldiers be in want of nothing. 
 In virtue of these orders, issued on the '27th, 28th, 
 and 29th of January, the army would be united at 
 Allenstein on the 3rd or 4th of February. It must 
 be remarked, that the reinforcements, brought with 
 so much foresight out id' France and Italy, wire 
 still on their march ; that the 2nd light, the loth 
 of the line, and the four regiments of cuiras- 
 sier., borrowed from the army of Naples, were all 
 yet arrived on the Vistula ; that the other corps 
 had not reached the line of the Elbej that Napo- 
 leon had scarcely received the first detachments 
 of the recruits drawn from the depots on the day 
 after the battle of Jena, which bad procured a few 
 more or less than 12.000 nun, which was insuf- 
 ficient to fill up the void produced by the fire of 
 aemy or the diseases of the season; that the 
 greater part of the corps were reduced a third ora 
 quarter; that those of Lannes, Davout, Soult, 
 Augereau, Ney, and Bernadotte, adding to them 
 the guard and the division of the grenadiers of 
 Oudinot and the cavalry of .Murat, did not make 
 more than a few thousand beyond 100,000 men 1 ; 
 
 and that, leaving Lannes and Oudinot mi the right, 
 having only a very uncertain chance of bringing 
 Bernadotte towards the left, he would have re- 
 maining about 7.">,000 men, more or less, to give 
 battle to general Benningsen, who, with the Prus- 
 sians, had 90,000. 
 
 In despite of this numerical superiority, Napo- 
 leon, calculating upon his soldiers and the road, 
 which seemed to admit of rapid concentration, 
 
 entered upon the Campaign, bis heart full of hope. 
 
 He wrote to the archchanoellor, Cambaceres, and 
 
 1 The rral utrcngth oftheoorpt was as follows, established 
 tiy comparison with numerous authentic returns : 
 
 Marshal I.anncs 
 ,, Davoul 
 
 „ Soult 
 
 Augereau 
 
 ,. 
 
 , Ben 
 
 i r.il Ouilinot . 
 
 '. . ,i r«t 
 i eiy of Murat . 
 
 men. 
 . 13,000 
 
 . 20,110(1 
 . |n. ooo 
 . 10,000 
 
 0,000 
 
 . 1(1,000 
 
 :, lot, ooo 
 
 If there be lubttactad from the total of 104,000 men 
 )2,ooo with Lennee and 8000 under Oudinot, left In tin- 
 environ- of Wai er with 12,000 muter Bernadotte, 
 which would remain b et w e en Thorn ami Qraudeng, the 
 
 ■ um id 80,000. There would thus he left 71,000 disposable 
 troops, united under the immediate orders of Napoleon. 
 
 to M. de Talleyrand, that he had broken up his 
 quarters, " to profit by a fine frost and good 
 
 weather; - ' that the roads were excellent ; that he 
 must say nothing to the empress," in order not to 
 cause her any useless anxiety;" but that lie was in 
 full movement, and " that it should cost the Rus- 
 sians dear if they did not change their minds." 
 
 I. laving Warsaw on the 30th, Napoleon was in 
 the evening, at l'rasznitz, and on the .'{1st at Wil- 
 lenberg. Murat. having moved forward, had as- 
 sembled in all haste his regiments of cavalry, 
 
 except the cuirassiers dispersed along the Vistula, 
 and formed the advanced guard of marshal Soult, 
 already concentrated <m Willenberg. -Marshal 
 Davout had performed forced marches to reach 
 Myszniee, and marshal Augereau to reach Neiden- 
 burg. During this time marshal Ney had assi in- 
 bled his divisions at Hohenstein, ready to carry 
 himself in advance, while the main body of the 
 army had passed bis right. Marshal Bernadotte, 
 slowly retrograding, had established himself in the 
 rear to the left of Ney, at Lot ban, then at Stras- 
 burg, and finally, in the environs of Thorn. Thus 
 far, all had passed as was desired. The enemy 
 
 had, with his right column, followed step by step 
 tin- movement of marshal Bernadotte, and by that 
 of his left was little advanced towards Allenstein. 
 An unwarrantable state of inaction retained him 
 
 some days in this position. Genera] Benningsen, 
 
 full of hardihood when he conceived a great m;i- 
 noavre on the Lower Vistula, hesitated now, when 
 it became a question to engage in the audacious 
 movement, which it was very much above his 
 capacity and that of his army to perform. It is 
 necessary, in order to run a hazard in such enter- 
 prises, to possess the confidence inspired by the 
 habit of being victorious, and furthermore, tile 
 experience of different and sudden chances, in 
 front of which one is condemned to pass before 
 
 arriving at success. General Benningsen, who 
 
 had neither this confidence nor this experience, 
 floated amid a thousand uncertainties, alleging to 
 others and to his own mind pretexts altogether 
 false, t'i cover his irresolution, sometimes saying 
 that he awaited provisions and ammunition, some- 
 times affecting tO believe, perhaps really believing, 
 
 that the retrograde movement of Bernadotte was 
 common to the whole French army, and that they 
 had obtained the result desired when Bonaparte 
 got ready to quit the Vistula For the rest, his 
 tation, although ridiculous enough after the 
 \aiu glorious announcemi ntof a vast offensive ope- 
 ration, secured his Safety, because the more he 
 
 might have i himself upon the Lower 
 
 Vistula, the deeper he Would go into the ah\^ s 
 in which he was falling. However, tliis hesita- 
 tion itself, being still prolonged to three or four 
 
 days more, would ruin him as certainly a-- a 
 
 more decided movement, because, in that interval, 
 
 Napoleon Continued to ascend upon the lilt flank of 
 
 the Russian army. 
 
 <in the 1st .if February Murat and marshal Soult 
 were at Passenheim, marshal Davoul advanced 
 upon Ortelsburg, Augereau and Ney approached 
 
 by Hohenstein t" the main body of the army. 
 
 Napoleon was with the guard at Willenberg, In 
 twenty four or fortj eighf houri more the] were 
 about to be, to tin- number of 70,000 men, upon 
 the left dank of the Russians. Napoleon, alwaytj
 
 234 
 
 Marshal Soult takes 
 Bergfried. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The Russians dis- 
 cover the plans 
 of Napoleon. 
 
 f 1807. 
 \ February. 
 
 careful to direct liis lieutenants step by step, had 
 addressed to Bernadotte a new despatch, in order 
 to explain to hin), for the last time, the character 
 he was to play in this great manoeuvre; indicating 
 the mode in which he was to steal away promptly 
 from the enemy and rejoin the army, which would 
 render the effect of the actual combination more 
 decisive and certain. This despatch had been 
 entrusted to a young officer recently appointed to 
 the staff, who had orders to go with it in all haste 
 towards the Lower Vistula. 
 
 They marched on the 2nd and 3rd of February. 
 The 3rd, in the evening, alter having passed 
 Allenstein, they opened upon an elevated position, 
 which extended from the Alle to the Passarge, well 
 flanked right and left by these two rivers, and by 
 woods. This was the position of Jonkowo. Napo- 
 leon, who had pushed on the 3rd as far as Gett- 
 kendorf, not far from Jonkowo, went to the ad- 
 vanced guard to reconnoitre the enemy. He 
 found them in greater force than he expected, and 
 drawn up on the ground as if they wished to give 
 battle. Napoleon made his dispositions for en- 
 gaging the next day in a general action, if the 
 enemy persisted in awaiting him at Jonkowo. 
 
 He pressed forward the arrivals of marshals 
 Augereau and Ney, who were nearly ready to join 
 him. He had already under hand marshal Soult 
 at Gettkendorf, the guard, Murat, and, at some 
 distance on his right, marshal Davout, who 
 hastened his steps in order to reach the borders of 
 the Alle. Wishing to,ensure success on the day 
 following, Napoleon ordered marshal Soult to tile 
 to the right, along the course of the Alle, to follow 
 the sinuosities of that river, to enter an angle 
 which it formed behind the Russian position, and 
 to pass with full strength to the bridge of Berg- 
 fried, whatever resistance he might encounter. 
 This bridge taken, the French possessed an open- 
 ing upon the rear of the enemy, by which he would 
 be placed in the utmost peril. Two of the divisions 
 of marshal Soult were directed upon that point, in 
 order to render the result infallible. 
 
 The evening of that same day marshal Soult 
 executed the order of the emperor, and had the 
 village of Bergfried carried by the division of 
 Leval, and then the bridge over the Alle, and the 
 heights beyond. The combat was short, but warm 
 and sanguinary. The Russians lost 1200 men, the 
 French 500 or COO. The importance of the post 
 merited such a sacrifice. In the course of the 
 evening, the cavalry of Murat and the corps of 
 marshal Soult gave each other the hand along the 
 Alle. They were in presence of the Russians, 
 who were deprived of a support on their left, 
 threatened even in their rear, and only separated 
 from the French by a small stream, a tributary of 
 the Alle. The following day was awaited as one 
 of importance; and Napoleon asked himself how it 
 was possible that the Russians should be already 
 assembled in so great a number, and concentrated 
 so opportunely upon that point. He had difficulty 
 to explain this to his own satisfaction, because, after 
 calculating the distance and time, they could not 
 have been so well instructed in the movements of 
 the French army as to take so prompt a deter- 
 mination, little in accordance with their first 
 design to march offensively upon the Lower Vis- 
 tula. In any case, whatever was the motive that 
 
 had united them there, they were in danger of 
 losiug a battle, and of losing it in such a manner 
 as to be cut off from the Pregel, if they only waited 
 until the day following. On that day, in fact, the 
 French troops, full of ardour, advanced upon the 
 position. They had hopes in an instant of meeting 
 the Russians; but they saw by little and little their 
 lines move and disappear. Soon they perceived 
 that they had before them only an advanced guard, 
 placed like a curtain to delude them. Napoleon at 
 that moment would have had ground to regret his 
 not having attacked them the evening before, if his 
 army had been then assembled, and sufficiently 
 early in possession of the bridge of Bergfried. 
 But the concentration, which was completed on 
 the 4th in the morning, was not so in the evening 
 of the 3rd ; he had not therefore to blame himself 
 for any delay. It only remained for him to march 
 and penetrate into the secret of the enemy's reso- 
 lutions. 
 
 That secret soon became known to him, because 
 the Puissians, in their joy to have been miracu- 
 lously saved from certain ruin, made it known them- 
 selves on their route. The young officer sent to mar- 
 shal Bernadotte had been taken by theCossacks with 
 his despatches, which he had not the presence of 
 mind to destroy. General Benningsen, aware by 
 these despatches forty-eij;lil hours sooner than he 
 would have been if the movement of the French 
 army had possessed time to concentrate it behind 
 Allenstein, and seeing the prepara lions of Napoleon 
 at Jonkowo, had decamped in the night of the 3rd 
 or 4th, either judging it imprudent to fight in a 
 position where he ran the hazard of being turned, 
 or that it did not enter into his views to accept a 
 decisive battle. Thus this enterprising general, 
 who would, by a single manoeuvre, take Warsaw 
 and Poland from the French, was already on his 
 retreat towards Kcenigsburg. He took the road 
 towards the Pregel, by the way of Arensdorf and 
 Eylau, parallel with the course of the Alle. 
 
 But Napoleon, whom fortune, twice inconstant 
 in a very short space of time, had deprived of the 
 fruit of the finest combinations, would not quit his 
 cantonments at a complete loss of labour, and 
 without making those repay him for their bold 
 attempt, who had thus broken in upon his rest. 
 The frost, although not very strong, was sufficient 
 to make the road hard, without rendering the 
 temperature insupportable. He therefore deter- 
 mined to put the celerity of his soldiers to the 
 proof, and again to attempt to outflank the Rus- 
 sians, in order to give them, in a well-selected 
 position, a battle that should terminate the war. 
 In all haste he took the road to Arensdorf, march- 
 ing in the centre and principal road with Murat, 
 marshal Soult, marshal Augereau, and the guard, 
 having on his right towards the Alle the corps of 
 marshal Davout, and on his left towards the 
 Passarge the corps of marshal Ney. Foreseeing, 
 with marvellous sagacity, that the Russians, al- 
 though united so successfully by a fortunate acci- 
 dent, had si ill been acting too much without due 
 calculation, not having left detachments in their 
 rear, he pushed marshal Ney a little on the left 
 towards Passarge, and ordered him to destroy the 
 bridge of Dcppen, which foretold to him he should 
 make a good prize of them if he were able to get 
 possession of the roads which led from the PaB- 
 
 _J
 
 1807. 
 February 
 
 .} 
 
 Ney beats the Prus- 
 sian rear-guarJ. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 The Russians driven 
 from Laudsberg. 
 
 23") 
 
 Barge to the Alle. He finally ordered marshal 
 Bernadotte to quit immediately the banks of the 
 Vistula, and when lie had finished hi.-; nue with 
 the enemy, t<> rejoin the grand army as soon as 
 
 ble. 
 
 He advanced to carry out the order given as 
 
 above. On the same day, the 4th of February, 
 
 the Russians halted for a moment at Wolsdorf, at 
 
 an equal distance between the Alle and the Pas- 
 
 . in older to obtain a little rest, and see if the 
 Prussian corps of general Lestocq, which had been 
 delayed on its march, could Bucceed in rejoining 
 them. But that corps was as yet too far of}' to he 
 able to form a junction; and, pressed by the 
 French, the Russians continued their march, 
 abandoning Guttstadt, the resources which they 
 had collected there, their sick, wounded, and 500 
 men who were made prisoners. 
 
 On the following day, the 5tli of February, they 
 marched in the same order, the French having 
 their right upon the All", and the Russians their 
 left; the one endeavouring to outvie the other in 
 speed. During this time Ney advancing by the 
 bridge of Deppen beyond the Passarge, in 
 to delay the retreat of tin- enemy's troops, encoun- 
 
 1 the Prussians upon the road to Liebstadt, 
 
 ral Lestocq, not hoping for an outlet by pars- 
 ing through the corps of Ney, resigned himself to 
 a sacrifice which had become necessary, lie 
 
 nted to the French a strong rear-guard of 
 3(100 or 4000 men, and whilst he gave that over to 
 th< ir attack, he endeavoured to effect his escape 
 by descending the course of the Passarge, in 
 to c ro on it lower down. This calculation, which is 
 often one of the cruel necessities of warlar . saved 
 70(1(1 or 8000 Prussians by the sacrifice of 3000 or 
 4000. .\cy attacked those who opposed him at 
 Waltersdorf, sabred a part ami took tin 
 
 . At the close "i tin- action 2600 pri- 
 soners remained in his hands. The ground was 
 
 •d with 1000 killed and wounded, a numerous 
 
 artillery, and an immense quantity of bag 
 Napoleon, who attached much more value to 
 
 ig the Russians with ad bis united forces than 
 
 in prisoners on the road, reeum- 
 
 DMaded marshal Ney not to be too persevering in 
 
 Ins pursuit of general I. rt cq, and to take care be 
 
 did not separate himself from the grand army. In 
 
 queues of these Instructions, marshal Ney 
 abandoned the pursuit of the Pr ussians , and 
 thenceforth only took ears t" keep them in sigh', 
 in order to impede their junction with the 
 hians. 
 On the 6th of February, the i; by a 
 
 l march, reached Laadsberg, unceasingly 
 by tie- French, abandoning on the Alls 
 the little town of Heilsberg, where they still bad 
 i lines, i ick, and wearied dm u. Their rear- 
 guard having attempted to support itself there, 
 
 mar-: tit pushed it warmly, and, as he 
 
 advanced, occupying the two hanks of tb* Alle, 
 the division ot in .at encountered tins rear' 
 i, which escaped by the right bank, hut he 
 or killed lome hundr. da of Us mas, and 
 
 | d it. 
 
 The Kii-sians wi bed l0 halt during the night 
 
 between the 6th and ?t" !lt Landaberg. Tbey 
 covered them--' Ives, in consequence, by a large 
 detachment placed at II. df. In the moist of an 
 
 irregular country, a strong mass of infantry having 
 
 a village on its right, and a w 1 on its left, and 
 
 protected by a numerous cavalry, barred the route. 
 Murat, the first who came up, charged with his 
 hussars and chasseurs, and sent his dragoons upon 
 the Russian cavalry, that was at once overthrown, 
 hut he was not able to break the solid Rurmian 
 infantry. The cuirassiers of general Hautpoul, 
 arriving at tin. moment, were ordered to the attack 
 in their turn. The first regiment charged, hut in 
 vain, its shock was weakened in the midst of 
 
 its charge by one from the Russian cavalry. 
 Murat linn rahied the di\ isi. n ol Cuirassiers and 
 flung it entire upon the Russian infantry. A cry 
 of " Long live the emperor !'' hurst from the 
 ranks, accompanying and exciting the movement 
 of these brave horsemen. They broke the enemy's 
 
 line, and sabred a great number of the Russian 
 infantry that got under the feet of their horse-. 
 At the same moment L< grand's division of the 
 corps of marshal Soult appeared. One of his 
 regiments marched upon the village on the hit 
 and captured it. The Russians, attaching much 
 Value tn that position, which would have ensured 
 
 them quietness for the night, made an effort to 
 retake the village. Surprised in the midst of their 
 contest with the French infantry by a new eh 
 of the cuirassiers, they were finally routed, and 
 tx at their retreat alter the loss ol 2000 men, sacri- 
 ficed in this rear-guard combat. 
 
 General Benningsi n, pursued in this way, could 
 not think that ho was secure passing the night in 
 the village of Landaberg, and retreated upon 
 Kylau, which he entered during the day on the 
 
 7th of February. 
 
 He drew up a numerous rear-guard upon a level 
 which they call the plain id' ZiegelbofF, the front of 
 which is reached upon leaving the woods with 
 which the road from Landaberg to K\lau is cover- 
 ed. Generals Bagowont and Barclay do Tolly 
 weri- drawn up in order of battle upon the plaUL 
 ready to renew the Combat of the preceding SVI n- 
 illg. Gem ral BenningSen, Will aware that he was 
 too closely pros-, d to < vade giving battle, made a 
 point of occupying a level upon which he would be 
 able to reci ive the French army at an Advantage, 
 as ii issued from among the woods. He was yet 
 
 induced to hold that ground, in order to pro- 
 teol tie- arrival Ol hkl h avy artillery, which he 
 had ordered to male' a circuit. from all I 
 moth open that point would pio- 
 
 bably be most obstinate 
 
 Tin cavalry of Murat, seconded by the infantry 
 of marshal Soult, issued from the woods with their 
 
 aCOUSt I boldm >, and advanced u| the plain 
 
 of Ziegelhoff. The brigade of la vassqur, composed 
 of the Kith and 28th regiments ol the line, follow* d 
 them resolutely, while the brigade ol Vivies, filing 
 to tin- tight, endeavoured to cross the frown lakes 
 to turn the position. The brigade "l Levai our, 
 
 that tin- fin ol a iiiiini roiis artillery . lotted to a 
 
 brisk attack, hastened forward. The 1st Una of 
 the enemy's infantry was repulsed with the bayo- 
 net, Hut tie- Russian cavalry, charging at the 
 
 moment upon the hit ol the hi igudo, ■ 
 turned the 28th before It had time to form into a 
 square. It sabred a great number of the French 
 infantry, and captured an eagle. 
 'fin- combat, oon renewed, was continued with
 
 236 
 
 Napoleon prepares to 
 give battle. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Strength of the two 
 armies. 
 
 / 1807. 
 \ February. 
 
 obstinacy on both sides. Still the brigade of 
 Vivies, having outflanked the Russian position, 
 the enemy quitted it in order to retire to the very 
 town of Eylau itself. Marshal Soult penetrated 
 into it at the same time as he did. Napoleon 
 did not wish that they should keep the town of 
 Eylau in the uncertain but probable case of a 
 great battle. The French therefore entered the town 
 with bayonets at the charge. The Russians de- 
 fended it street by street. The town was turned, 
 and one of their columns was found stationed in a 
 burying-ground, that afterwards became renowned 
 for terrible recollections, situated beyond the town 
 on the right hand. The brigade of Vivies took 
 this burying-ground after a rough contest. The 
 Russians then fell hack further beyond Eylau. Of 
 all the conflicts of the rear-guard this had been 
 the most sanguinary, and had caused considerable 
 loss to the corps of marshal Soult. It caused 
 some disorder too in the town of Eylau, the sol- 
 diers dispersing themselves for quarters, and find- 
 ing in the houses a good many Russians, who had 
 not time to save themselves by flight. 
 
 The first idea that Murat conceived, and which 
 he transmitted to Napoleon, was, that the Rus- 
 sians, having lost Eylau as a point of support, 
 would go to seek one further off. But some officers, 
 who had gone furthest in the confusion of the skir- 
 mish, had perceived the Russians drawn up a little 
 beyond Eylau, and lighting their fires in order to 
 pass the night there. This observation, confirmed 
 by new reports, did not permit a doubt as to the 
 importance of the following day, the 8th of Fe- 
 bruary ; and it did, in fact, acquire an import- 
 ance which assured it an immortality in future 
 ages. 
 
 It became evident, that the Russians, thus halt- 
 ing after the conflict of the evening, and not avail- 
 ing themselves of the night to march onwards, had 
 resolved to fight a general battle the next day. 
 The French army was harassed with fatigue, much 
 reduced in number by the rapidity of its marches, 
 pained with hunger, and benumbed with cold. 
 But it was necessary to give battle, and it was not 
 on such an occasion that the soldiers, officers, and 
 generals, had been accustomed to feel their suffer- 
 ings. 
 
 Napoleon hastened on the same evening to dis- 
 patch several officers to marshals Davout and Ney, 
 to recall them, the one to his right and the other to 
 his left. Marshal Davout had continued to follow 
 the course of the Alle to Bartenstein, and he was 
 thus found no more than three or four leagues off. 
 He replied, that he should arrive about the break 
 of day towards the right of Eylau (the right of the 
 French army), ready to fall on the flank of the 
 Russians. Marshal Ney, who had gone to the left 
 in such a mode as to keep the Prussians at a dis- 
 tance, and to be able to fall upon Kcenigsberg in 
 case the Russians should throw themselves behind 
 the Pregel, was in march upon Kreutzburg. He 
 was sent after, but without the expectation of his 
 being brought up in time to the field of battle, in 
 the same way as marshal Davout was about to ap- 
 pear on the opposite side. 
 
 Deprived of the corps of Ney, the French army 
 amounted to about . r )0,000 men, or a few thousand 
 more, although the Russians raised it in their 
 statements to 80,000, and a French historian, in 
 
 I ordinary cases worthy of credit, to 68,000 '. The 
 corps of marshal Davout, the effective force of 
 which at Awerstadt amounted to 26,000 men, sen- 
 sibly diminished by the subsequent combats, by 
 the sick, by the last march from the Vistula to 
 Eylau, and by detachments left on the Narew, was 
 about 15,000 strong. The corps of marshal Soult, 
 the most numerous in the army, equally reduced 
 by dysentery, marches, and conflicts with rear- 
 guards, could not be estimated at more than 
 16,(100 or 17,000 men. That of marshal Augereau, 
 enfeebled by a number of lingerers and marauders, 
 who had dispersed themselves to subsist, did not 
 count more than 6000 or 7000 at the bivouac of 
 Eylau on the evening of the 7th of February. The 
 guard, better provided for, and more restrained by 
 discipline, had left no one behind. However, that 
 did not amount to more than 6000 men. Lastly, 
 the cavalry of Murat, composed of one division of 
 cuirassiers and of three divisions of dragoons, did 
 not show more than 10,000 men in line. This was, 
 therefore, a total force of 53,000 or 54,000 com- 
 batants, capable of every thing, it is true, although 
 worn down with fatigue and spare with hunger. 
 If marshal Ney arrived in time, it would be pos- 
 sible to oppose 63.000 men to the enemy present 
 under fire. It was not possible to expect the 
 arrival of Bernadotte, who was at a distance of 
 thirty leagues. 
 
 Napoleon, who during the night slept scarcely 
 three or four hours in a chair at the house of the 
 postmaster, placed the corps of marshal Soult in 
 Eylau itself, a part within, and portions to the 
 right and left of the town, the corps of Augereau 
 and the imperial guard a little in the rear, all the 
 cavalry on the wings, waiting until daylight ap- 
 peared to make his dispositions. 
 
 General Benningsen had, in fact, determined to 
 give battle. He found himself on a plain, or on 
 what was very nearly a level, being excellent for his 
 infantry, which were little capable of manoeuvring 
 but extremely firm, and also well adapted for his 
 numerous cavalry. His heavy artillery, which he 
 had made to take a circuitous movement, that it 
 might not impede his movements, had rejoined 
 him. It was a precious reinforcement, the more 
 as he found himself closely pursued, and saw him- 
 self forced to interrupt his march in order to make 
 head against the French. It is necessary for any 
 army that beats a retreat to be a little in advance, 
 in order that it may be able to eat and sleep. It is 
 also necessary that it have not the enemy too close; 
 because to suffer an attack on the route, with the 
 back turned to the foe, is the most dangerous 
 mode of receiving battle. Such, therefore, is the 
 moment when he who is wise will choose his ground, 
 and halt upon it to fight, and such was the resolu- 
 tion taken by general Benningsen on the 7th, in 
 the evening. He halted beyond Eylau, resolved to 
 support an obstinate conflict. His army, which 
 had been raised to 78,000 or 80,000 men, and with 
 the Prussians to 00,000, on the resumption of hos- 
 tilities, had suffered considerable losses in the later 
 combats, but very few on the march ; because an 
 
 1 In presence of the false statements, both of foreign 
 and French historians, this would not be ventured as truth, 
 had it not been sustained upon the most authentic docu- 
 ments. — Author's note.
 
 1807 
 February 
 
 } 
 
 Russian order of 
 battJe. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 The cannonade begun by 
 the Russians. 
 
 237 
 
 army retiring without confusion, is kept together 
 by the army in pursuit, — while the pursuing army, 
 not having the same motives to keep in compact 
 
 order, always Leaves a portion of its effective force 
 in the rear. In reckoning the losses sustained at 
 Hohrnngen, Bergfried, VValtersdarf, Hoff, Heils- 
 
 berg, a. nl even at Eylau itself 1 , it might be safely 
 said the army of general Benningsen was reduced 
 to 80,000 men, or thereabouts, ol which there were 
 72,000 Russians and 8000 Prussians. Thus await- 
 ing the arrival of general Lestocq and marshal 
 72,000 Russians had to fight 54,000 French. 
 The Russians had the must formidable artillery, 
 reckoned at 400 or 500 pieces of cannon. The 
 French amounted only to 200, comprising that of 
 the guard ; but it is true that the French was su- 
 perior to every European artillery, even to that of 
 the Austrian-. General Benningsen, therefore, de- 
 termined to make the attack at break of day. The 
 character of his soldiers was as energetic as that 
 of the French, hut conducted by very different 
 moving causes. There was not with the Russian- 
 either that confidence of success or that love of 
 glory which the French exhibited, hut they dis- 
 played a certain fanaticism of obedience which 
 prompted them blindly to brave death. As to the 
 •■ of intelligence belonging to the one and 
 the other, it is unnecessary to make any comment 
 upon the difference. 
 
 When they reached Eylau, the face of the coun- 
 try appeared level and open. The little town of 
 Eylau, itself situated upon a small eminence, and 
 surmounted by a Gothic spire, was the sole salient 
 point upon the ground. To the right of the church, 
 the ground declining a little was occupied in one 
 place by a cemetery. In front it sensibly arose ; 
 and on this rise, marked by some mounds of earth, 
 the Russians were seen in a deep mass. Several 
 lakes, filled with water in the' spring, dry in the 
 summer, frozen in winter, and now actually effaced 
 by the snow, were in no way distinguishable from 
 the rest of the plain. A very few farm- houses 
 united into hamlets, and barrier-fences serving to 
 fold the cattle, formed a point of support, or an 
 obstacle, on that in' lancholy held of battle. 
 grey sky, concealed at intervals by a thick snow- 
 shower, added its sadness to that of the (.lace, — 
 a sadness which struck all eyes and hearts, as the 
 break of day, very tardy at thai season, rendered 
 
 objects visible. 
 
 The Russians were ranged in two lines very 
 n<ar the one to the other, their front covered bj 
 ,'{(io pieces of cannon, which had been disposed ol 
 along the projecting points of the ground. In 
 tlnii- rear two close columns supporting, like two 
 buttresses, this double line of battle, seemed de- 
 signed to sustain and to hinder them from giving 
 way, under the shock of the French attack, a 
 
 strong reserve Ol artillery was plan d at some dlS- 
 tance. The Cavalry was partly in tie- liar and 
 
 partly in the wings. Tie- cossscks, commonly scat- 
 tered, were at this time attached to the body of the 
 army. It was evident, that to tie- . m rgy and dex- 
 terity of the French, tin- Russiani wish* d, pen 
 
 uncovered ground, to oppose a compact mass, de- 
 
 • The KiMiians had lost at kfohrungtO 1.100 mm; at 
 rled, 1000; it Ws h \i Bolt, : : ooo; at 
 
 berg, 1000; and at Eylau, (00 in all 9000 men. 
 
 fended in front by a numerous artillery, strongly 
 supported in the rear.— in fact, a real wall, pour- 
 ing forth a shower id' fire. Napoleon, on horse- 
 hack, at the break ol daj placed himself in the 
 cemetery on the right of Eylau. There, scarcely 
 protected by some trees, he saw the Russian posi- 
 tion perfectly well, while they had already com- 
 menced the battle, opening with a heavy can- 
 nonade, which every m. tin nl became more lively. 
 It was to be foreseen that artillery would be the 
 arm most used on that terrible day. 
 
 Thanks to the position of Eyian, which was pro- 
 longed in front of the Russians, Napoleon was thus 
 able to give less depth to his line of battle, and, in 
 consequence, offer a less mark tor the enemy's artil- 
 lery. Two of tht' divisions of marshal Scull were 
 placed at Eylau, the divisii not' Legrand in advance, 
 and a little to the left ; the division of Leva! was 
 
 placed partly on the left of the town, and partly on 
 an eminence surmounting a mill, and somewhat to 
 the right of the cemetery itself. The third divi- 
 sion of marshal Soult, that of St. Hilaire, was 
 placed yet more to tin: right, at a considerable dis- 
 tance from the cemetery, at the village of Rothe- 
 nen, which formed the prolongation of the position 
 of Eylau. 1" the Interval which separated the 
 village of Rotheuen from the town of Eylau, an 
 interval was left open for lie- rot of the army to 
 form. The corps of Augereau was drawn up in 
 two lines, consisting of the divisions of Desjardina 
 and Heudelct. Augereau, tormented with t 
 his eyes red and inflamed, but forgetting his suf- 
 ferings at the sound of the camion, mounted his 
 horse to place himself at the head <>f his troops. 
 Further, in the rear of the same opening, were the 
 infantry and cavalry of the imperial guard, and the 
 divisions of tie- dragoons and cuirassiers, ready, 
 
 both the one and the other, to attack the enemy 
 
 by the same outlet, and. while waiting, a little 
 sheltered from the Russian cannon by the sinking 
 of the ground. Finally, at the extreme right of 
 the fold of battle, beyond ami in advance of 
 
 Rothenen, at the hamlet of Serpallen, the corps of 
 marshal DaVOUi would enter into action in such a 
 
 manner as to attack the fiai k ol the Russians, 
 Napoleon had his army, therefore, fornx d En an 
 
 order slight in depth, and his line had the advan- 
 tage of hi ing eov, pi d oti tin* hit by the buildings 
 
 ol Eylau, and on the right by those of Rotheni n ; 
 the conflict of artillery, by which he wished to 
 demolish the ipecii i ol living wall which the Rus- 
 sians opposed to him, was, therefore, much Ism 
 
 formidable tor him than lor them. He had drawn 
 from the different corps, and placed in activity, all 
 the camion of bis army, and had joined to them the 
 
 forty pi( «'. , belonging to the guard, and thn 
 
 plied to tin' formidable artillery of tie Ru ana l>\ 
 on artillery verj inferior in number, hut very sups- 
 
 i tor in skill. 
 
 The Russians commenced the lire. Tin French 
 an s wered ii nearly as soon bj a violent cannonade, 
 
 given at half cam shot distance. The earth 
 
 trembled under tin- terrible detonation. The 
 I rench artillery nun, not only more adroit, but 
 
 firing into the living ma— for a taiget. cans, d (In- 
 most dreadful ravages, 'lie French balls took off 
 entire file-. The ball- of the Russians, on the con- 
 trary, -hot with less o rreotnen ol aim, striking 
 
 oid not cause an injury eipial to that
 
 238 
 
 Davout assails the 
 Russian left. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Napoleon orders a j 1807. 
 general attack. 1 February. 
 
 which the enemy sustained. Very early the town 
 of Eylau took fire, and the village of Rothenen. 
 The light of the flames added their horrors to the 
 horrors of the Carnage. Although there fell many 
 less of the French than the Russians, still there 
 fell enough, above all in the ranks of the imperial 
 guard, that remained immoveable in the cemetery. 
 The projectiles passing over the head of Napoleon, 
 and sometimes very close to him, pierced the walls 
 of the church, and broke off the branches of the 
 trees, at the foot of which he had placed himself 
 to direct the operations of the battle. 
 
 This cannonade lasted a long time, and both 
 armies supported it with heroic tranquillity, not 
 making the least movement, and confining them- 
 selves to closing up in their ranks the vacancies 
 made by the cannon-shot. The Russians first ap- 
 peared to exhibit symptoms of impatience 1 . De- 
 siring to hasten the result by the capture of 
 Eylau, they mined forward to take the position of 
 the mill, situated on the left of the town. A part 
 of their right formed into column and came to the 
 attack. The division of Leva], composed of the 
 brigades of Ferey and Vivies, boldly repulsed 
 them, and by iis bearing forbade the Russians any 
 hope of success if they renewed their efforts. 
 
 As to Napoleon, he attempted nothing decisive, 
 and would not compromise himself by carrying in 
 advance the corps of marshal Soult, which did suf- 
 ficiently well to hold Eylau under such a frightful 
 cannonade ; he would not risk either the division 
 of St. Hilaire or the corps of Augereau, against 
 the enemy's centre, because it was exposing them 
 to be shattered against a burning rock. He awaited 
 before acting until marshal Davout, whose corps, 
 arrived upon the right, should make himself felt 
 upon the Russian flank. 
 
 This lieutenant, as punctual as he was intrepid, 
 had, in fact, arrived at the village of Serpallen. 
 The division of Friant marched at its head. It 
 formed first, encountered thecossacks, whom it soon 
 drove back, and occupied the village of Serpallen, 
 with some companies of light infantry. Scarcely 
 was the division established in the village and the 
 ground to the right, when one of the masses of 
 cavalry that were placed on the wings of the Rus- 
 sian army detached itself to come to the attack. 
 General Friant, using with coolness and judgment 
 the advantages that the chances of the position 
 offered, arranged the three regiments of which his 
 division was composed, behind the long and solid 
 wood fences employed to fold the cattle. Sheltered 
 behind this natural entrenchment, he fired, at 
 musket length, upon the Russian squadrons, and 
 obliged them to retire. They very soon returned 
 upon him, accompanied by a column of infantry of 
 9000 or 10,(100 men, — one of the two columns 
 which served to buttress the Russian line of battle, 
 and that hail now marched to the left for the pur- 
 pose of retaking Serpallen. General Friant had 
 not 5000 men to oppose to them. Continuing 
 sheltered behind the wooden barriers which co- 
 vered him, and able to form without fear of the 
 cavalry, he received the Russians with .1 fire so 
 well directed and sustained, that he caused them 
 very considerable loss. Their squadrons wishing 
 
 1 The expression of Napoleon, in the recital which he 
 himself gave of the battle. 
 
 to turn his position, he formed the 33rd into a 
 square, and stopped them by the unshaken counte- 
 nance of his infantry. Not being able to make use 
 of his cavalry, which only consisted of some chas- 
 seurs, he supplied their place with a cloud of tirail- 
 leurs, that, availing themselves with much address 
 of the unevenesses of the ground, attacked the 
 Russian flanks with a fierce fusillade, and obliged 
 them to retire towards the heights in the rear of 
 Serpallen, between that place and Klein-Saus- 
 garten. On retiring upon these heights, the Rus- 
 sians covered themselves with a numerous artil- 
 lery, of which the plunging fire was, unhappily, 
 most murderous. The division of Morand, in its 
 turn, had arrived oh the field of battle. Marshal 
 Davout; taking the first brigade, that of general 
 Ricard, placed it below, and to the left of Serpal- 
 len ; then he disposed of the second, composed of 
 the 51st and (Jlst, on the right of the village, in 
 such a manner as to sustain either the brigade of 
 Ricard or the division of Friant. The last had 
 gone to the right of Serpallen, towards Klein- 
 Sausgarten. In the same moment the division of 
 Gudin hastened its steps to enter the line. Thus 
 the Russians, by the movement of the French 
 right, had been forced to throw back their left 
 from Serpallen upon Klein-Sausgartdn. 
 
 The effect upon the flank of the enemy's army 
 waited for was thus produced. Napoleon, from 
 the position which he occupied, had distinctly Been 
 the Russian reserves direct themselves towards 
 the corps of marshal Davout. The time for acting 
 had arrived, — because if he did not interfere, the 
 Russians would be enabled to throw themselves in 
 a mass upon marshal Davout, and thus crush him. 
 Napoleon instantly gave orders to the division of 
 St. Hilaire, which was at Rothenen, to proceed in 
 advance, in order to give a hand towards Ser- 
 pallen to the division of Morand. He ordered the 
 two divisions of Desjardins and Heudelet, of the 
 corps of Augereau, to open out by the interval 
 which separates Rothenen from Eylau, to join the 
 division of St. Hilaire, and the whole together to 
 form an oblique line from the cemetery of Eylau 
 to Serpallen. The result of this movement would 
 be to overthrow the Russians, flinging back their 
 left upon their centre, and thus beating, com- 
 mencing at the extremity, the long living wall 
 which they had before them. 
 
 It was ten o'clock in the morning. General 
 St. Hilaire moving, quitted Rothenen, and formed 
 obliquely on the plain under a terrible fire of artil- 
 lery,— his right at Serpallen, his left towards the 
 cemetery. Augereau moved at the same time, not 
 without a sad presentiment of the lot reserved for 
 his corps, which he saw was exposed to be broken 
 against the Russian centre, solidly supported upon 
 several elevations. While general Corbineau deli- 
 vered him the orders of the emperor, a ball pierced 
 the side of that brave officer, the first-born of an 
 heroic family. Marshal Augereau immediately 
 marched. The two divisions of Desjardins and 
 Heudelet came out between Rothenen and the 
 cemetery in close columns ; then, the defile passed, 
 they formed in order of battle, the first brigade of 
 each division deployed, the second in square. As 
 they advanced, a gust of wind and snow suddenly 
 blew in the faces of the soldiers, and deprived 
 them of all view of the field of battle. The two
 
 1807. \ 
 February. / 
 
 Dreadful slaughter in 
 Augereau's corps. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 The French cavalry 
 break the Russian 
 centre. 
 
 239 
 
 divisions, in the midst of this species of cloud, 
 missed the proper direction, giving a little to the 
 left, and leaving at their right a large space be- 
 tween themselves and the division of St. rlilaire. 
 The Russians, little incommoded by the snow 
 which fell on their larks, and seeing the two divi- 
 sions of Angereau advancing towards the mounds 
 upon which they supported their centre, suddenly 
 unmasked seventy- two pieces of cannon which 
 they had kept in reserve. The grape vomited by 
 this formidable battery was so thick, that in a 
 quarter of an hour halt the corps of Augereau was 
 destroyed. General Desjardins, commanding the 
 1 division, was killed; general Heudelet, com- 
 manding the 2nd. received a wound which was 
 nearly mortal. Soon the whole staff of the two 
 divisions was placed hora di '•■mint. 'While they 
 sustained this terrible and destructive fire, obliged 
 to form again while marching, so much were their 
 ranks thinned, the Russian cavalry threw itself 
 into the spaee which separated them from the divi- 
 sion of Morand, and fell upon them in a mass. 
 • brave men, however, still resisted, hut they 
 were obliged to fall back towards the cemetery of 
 Eylau, giving ground without breaking, under the 
 repeated attacks of numerous Bquadrons. All of a 
 sudden, the Bnow e using to fall, permitted a view 
 of the melancholy spectacle. Of b'000 or 7000 
 combatants, about 40(10, killed or wounded, were 
 stretched upon the earth. Augereau, himself 
 wounded, but more affected at the disaster of 
 his corps than at tlte danger to himself, was car- 
 ried into the cemetery of Eylau to the feet of 
 Napoleon, to whom he complained, not without 
 bitterness, of not having been succoured in time. 
 
 A sullen Badness prevailed on tie' visages of the 
 imperial stall'. Napoleon, firm and calm, imposing 
 upon others that iiupaMsiveness which he had im- 
 posed upon himself, addressed some words of con- 
 solation to Augereau, and then Bent him to the 
 rear, taking measures to repair the mischief which 
 had been done. Sending on at first the cha 
 
 of the guard, and s Bquadrons of drag b 
 
 which were within reach of his orders, to drive 
 back tie- cavalry of the en. my, he ordered Murat 
 to be called, and requested him to make a di i 
 attempt on the line ,,f infantry that formed the 
 re of tie- Russian army, and that profiling by 
 the disaster of Augereau, had begun to move in 
 advance. At the first order .Mural came up at a 
 pallop. " What," said Napoleon to him, •' will yon 
 abandon us to In- swall >wed up by these gentry I" 
 lie then orderi d this heroic chiel of his cavalry to 
 unite the chasseurx, dragoons, and cuirassierx, and 
 to fall upon the Russians with eighty squadrons ; 
 to attempt till that was possible with the shock of 
 such a mass of cavalry, charging with fury ;m in- 
 fantry that was reported immoveable. The cavalry 
 of the guard «as carried in advance, ready to join 
 its shock to that of the other cavalry of the army. 
 The moment \ ! the Russian 
 
 infantry was not stopped il migbl carry the ceme- 
 tery, the c. utre of tie i not Napoleon 
 had no more than six infantry battalion-, of the 
 
 imperial guard '■> deft "'' ''• 
 
 Murat departed at a gallop, and having united 
 his squadron*, mad.- them nasi between the 
 cemetery and Ruthenen, o the very same 
 
 opening by which the corps ol Augereau hail 
 
 already marched to nearly certain destruction. 
 The dragoons of general Grouchy charged fust to 
 clear the ground and drive off the menu's ca- 
 valry. That brave officer, dismounted under his 
 horse, got up, and placing himself at the head of 
 the 2nd brigade, succeeded in dispersing the 
 groups of horse that preceded the Russian in- 
 fantry. To overturn the last, it was necessary to 
 have no less than the squadrons of general llaut- 
 poul, all clad in iron. That officer, who had dis- 
 tinguished himself by consummate ability in the 
 art of managing a numerous cavalry, presented 
 himself with twenty-four squadrons qf cuirassiers, 
 followed by the whole mass of dragoons. The cui- 
 rassiers were formed in si vera! lines; they moved 
 forward and precipitated themselves on the Rus- 
 sian bayonets. 'I he first lines, Btopped by the lire, 
 
 could not penetrate, but fell hack right and idt, 
 and reformed behind those that followed, in order 
 to charge anew. Finally, one of these lines charg- 
 ing with more force, overthrew at one point the 
 enemy's infantry, and opened a breach across 
 which cuirassiers and dragoons penetrated in emu* 
 laiion of excelling each other. As a river which 
 has commenced breaking the dike that confines it, 
 sonn sweeps it entire!} away, so the mass of the 
 French squad rous, having once trot in among the 
 Russian infantry, in a few moments achieved the 
 overthrow id' their first line. The French cavalry 
 then dispersed to sabre their enemies, and a 
 dreadful scene took' place between them and the 
 Russians. They rode backwards, forwards, and 
 on all sides, hewiug down that obstinate infantry. 
 While the first line of infantry was thus routed 
 and cut up, the second fell back upon a wood, 
 which lay Inwards ihe bottom of the field of battle. 
 There remained a last reserve of artillery on that 
 spot, and the Russians placed it in battery, .and 
 find confusedly upon their awn men and upon the 
 French, giving themselves little uneasiness whe- 
 ther they poured their grape-shot upon friends or 
 ;.. . provided they could but get rid of those for- 
 midable horsemen. General (iautpoul was mor- 
 truck by a "rape shot. While the French 
 
 cavalry was thus engaged with the second line of 
 
 the Russian infantry, some portions of the first 
 
 nd there pri pared to r< new their fin . Si B» 
 
 ing this, the horse-grenadiers of the guard, led en 
 
 neral 1/ pic, <> f the heroes of the army, 
 
 moved forward in their turn to set 1 the efforts 
 
 of Murat. They set off at a gallop, charging the 
 different groups of infantry, which they perceived 
 collecting round about, and, in i ins the 
 
 ground, thus completing the destruction of the 
 
 ci ntre of lie- I in- mii army, of which the wreck* 
 
 succeeded in Hying towards the woody clomp* 
 
 Which served (In in lor an asylum from the hoi 
 
 During this scene ill ilui a branch de- 
 tached 1 1- tin. vaal line of infantry had ad- 
 vanced n earl j up to the cemetery. Three or four 
 thousand Russian grenadiers, marching 
 before them, with tin- blind courage of a b'»dy 
 
 more brave than intelligent, came up to shipv. 
 
 themselves upon the church oi Eylau, threatening 
 
 the Ceilli lei \ occupied b\ the imperial stall. The 
 
 •uanl, which until ilnn had remained there 
 immoveable, had sustained tits cannonade without 
 returning the Are with a single musket. It was 
 with -aii-lacti. ii til*) tiny sa*J aii occasion arise to
 
 240 Complete success of the THIERS > CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. ^S'e'd? ""^ { February. 
 
 join in the combat. One battalion was called for, 
 and two disputed the honour of marching. The 
 first in orders, led by general Dorsenne, obtained 
 the advantage of measuring their strength with 
 the Russian grenadiers; they came up to them 
 without firing a musket; they met them with the 
 bayonet, they drove them back one upon the other; 
 while Murat, perceiving what was going forward, 
 sent upon them two regiments of chasseurs, under 
 general Bruyere. The unfortunate Russian grena- 
 diers, compressed between the bayonets of the 
 grenadiers of the guard and the sabres of the 
 chasseurs, were nearly all taken or killed under 
 the eyes of Napoleon, and but a few paces from 
 him. 
 
 This action of the cavalry, the most extra- 
 ordinary perhaps in the greatest wars of the 
 French, had for its result the overturn of the 
 Russian centre, and its being repulsed to a good 
 distance. It would have been needful to have 
 had at hand a reserve of infantry, in order to com- 
 plete the defeat of a body, that, after having laid 
 itself on the ground, arose again to commence its 
 fire. But Napoleon would not venture to part 
 with the troops of marshal Soult, reduced to one 
 half of their effective force, and necessary for the 
 protection of Eylau. The corps of Augereau had 
 been nearly destroyed. The six battalions of the 
 foot-guard alone remained for a reserve ; and in 
 the midst of the varied chances of that day, very 
 far yet from its close, it was a reserve which it 
 was needful to preserve as precious. On the left, 
 marshal Ney, marching for several days parallel 
 with the Prussians, might yet be able to advance 
 or was now advanced near the field of battle, and 
 80CO or 10,000 men, brought up to either of the 
 two armies, would perhaps be a decisive reinforce- 
 ment. On the right, marshal Davout found him- 
 self engaged with the left of the Russians in an 
 obstinate conflict, of which the result was yet 
 unknown. 
 
 Napoleon, immoveable in the cemetery, where 
 the dead bodies of a great number of his officers 
 had accumulated, more serious than ordinary, his 
 countenance tranquil and as much under com- 
 mand as his mind, the guard behind him, and 
 before him the chasseurs, dragoons, and cuirassiers, 
 re-formed read}' to show their devotion anew, — 
 Napoleon awaited events before he took a definitive 
 determination. Never had he himself or his sol- 
 diers been in an action so contested. 
 
 But the time of defeat had not yet come; and 
 fortune, rigorous for a moment to this extra- 
 ordinary man, still treated him as her favourite. 
 At that moment, general St. Hilaire with his divi- 
 sion, and marshal Davout with his corps, justified 
 the confidence which Napoleon reposed in them. 
 The division of St. Hilaire, received, as the corps 
 of Augereau had been at the same moment, by a 
 terrible fire of grape and musketry, had also cruelly 
 suffered. Blinded, too, by the snow, it had not 
 perceived a mass of cavalry coming upon it at full 
 gallop; and a battalion of the 10th light, assailed 
 before it had the power to form, had been over- 
 turned under the feet of the horses. The division 
 of Morand, on the extreme left of Davout, un- 
 covered by the accident which had happened to 
 the 10th light, was forced two or three hundred 
 paces to the rear. But Davout and Morand soon 
 
 brought it forward again to the front. During this 
 interval, general Friant sustained an heroic com- 
 bat at Klein-Sausgarten, and seconded by the 
 division of Gudin, he finally occupied that ad- 
 vanced position upon the Russian flank. He had 
 even pushed detachments as far as to the village of 
 Kusehitten, situated in their rear. It was at that 
 moment when, the day being nearly over, and the 
 Russian army one half destroyed, that the battle 
 seemed to terminate decidedly in favour of the 
 French. 
 
 But the event, of which Napoleon had an 
 apprehension, was realized. General Lestocq, 
 pursued to the utmost by marshal Ney, appeared 
 upon the field of carnage with 7000 or 8000 
 Prussians, zealous to avenge themselves for the 
 contempt which the Russians had exhibited to- 
 wards them. General Lestocq was in advance of 
 the corps of marshal Ney scarcely more than an 
 hour or two, having just had time to strike a blow 
 before being smitten himself. He entered upon 
 the field of battle at Schmoditten, passed behind 
 the double line of the Russians, now broken by the 
 fire of the French artillery, and by the sabres of 
 their cavalry, and placed himself at Kusehitten, in 
 front of Friant's division, that, passing Klein- 
 Sausgarten, had already driven back the left of the 
 enemy upon his centre. The village of Kusehitten 
 was occupied by four companies of the 108th and 
 by the 51st, which had been detached by Morand's 
 division in order to sustain the division of Friant. 
 The Prussians rallied the Russians around them, 
 fell impetuously upon the 51st and the four compa- 
 nies of the 108th, and, not succeeding in breaking 
 them, forced them back far in the rear of Kusehit- 
 ten. The Prussians, after this first advantage, 
 advanced beyond Kusehitten, in order to retake 
 the positions held in the morning. They marched 
 in two lines. The Russian reserves rallied, forming 
 upon their wings two close columns. A numerous 
 artillery preceded them. Thus they advanced up 
 the rear of the field of battle in order to regain 
 the lost ground, and force back marshal Davout 
 upon Klein-Sausgarten, and from Klein-Sausgarten 
 upon Serpallen. But generals Friant and Gudin, 
 having marshal Davout at their head, hastened 
 forward. The divisions of Friant entirely, the 
 12th, 21st, and 25th regiments, belonging to the 
 division of Gudin, placed themselves in advance, 
 covered by all the artillery of the 3rd corps. 
 Vainly the Russians and Prussians endeavoured to 
 overcome this formidable obstacle ; they were 
 unable to succeed. The French, supported on the 
 woods, the marshes, and hillocks, here formed in 
 line, there dispersed as tirailleurs, opposed an 
 invincible resistance to the last efforts of the allies. 
 Marshal Davout went along the ranks down to the 
 close of the day, saying to them, " Those who are 
 wanting will die in Siberia, the brave will die here, 
 men of honour!" The attack of the Russians, thus 
 rallied, was arrested; the ground lost upon their 
 flank was not reconquered. The corps of marshal 
 Davout remained firm in the position of Klein- 
 Sausgarten, from whence it threatened the rear of 
 the enemy. 
 
 The two armies were worn out with fatigue. 
 The day so sombre became every moment more 
 gloomy still, and hastened its termination in a 
 dark and frightful night. The carnage had been
 
 1807. \ 
 February. I 
 
 Eenningsen orders 
 a retreat. 
 
 eylau. 
 
 Dreadful appearance 
 of the battle-field. 
 
 241 
 
 horrible. Nearly 30,000 Russians, struck down by 
 the projectiles or sabres of the French, were 
 stretched unon the earth, pari dead, and th< 
 wounded more or less grievously. .Many of their 
 soldiers began to go off straggling 1 . General 
 Benningsen, surrounded by his lieutenants, delibe- 
 rated whether or not they should resume the 
 offensive, and make a new effort. But of an army 
 of 80.000 men, there remained to him no more 
 than 40.000 in a state to renew the conflict, the 
 Prussians included. If he succumbed in such a 
 desperate engagement, he would not have had 
 means to cover his retreat. Nevertheless, he 
 hesitated, until a Berioua and last event was an- 
 nounced to him. Marshal Ney, who had so 
 closely followed the Prussians, arriving in the 
 evening on the French left, as marshal Davout had 
 arrived in the morning npon the right, had at 
 last appeared towards Althof. 
 
 Thus the combinations of Napoleon, retarded by 
 the weather, had not the less brought upon both 
 the Russian flanks the troops that were to decide 
 ih'« victory. The order to retreat could not, from 
 that circumstance, be deferred, because marshal 
 Davout, having kept his ground at Klein-Sausgar- 
 ten, would have had little to do to meet marshal 
 Ney, who had advanced as far asSclimoditten,and 
 the junction of those two marshals would have 
 exposed the Russians to be enveloped. The order 
 to r.. treat was given at that same instant by general 
 Benningsen. However, in order to secure his 
 at, he wished to restrain marshal Ney, and 
 endeavoured to take the village of Schmoditten. 
 The Russians marched upon the village in the 
 night with great silence, in order to surprise the 
 troops of marshal Ney, arrived late on the field of 
 battle, and which they had Scarcely had time to 
 discover. But they were upon their guard. 
 General Marchand, with the 0th light and the 
 30th of the line, Buffered the Russians to approach, 
 
 and then receiving them with a fire, when at the 
 muzzles of their pieces, stopped them at once, ami 
 attacking them with the bayonet, made them give 
 up every serious attempt, from that instant they 
 
 set themselves to retreat in good earnest. 
 
 Napoleon seeing from the direction of the fires 
 of marshals Davout and Ney, the KflJ State of 
 things, knew himself to be master of the field of 
 battle, but Rt ill ho was not certain ho should not 
 have a second baffle to figbl in the night or on the 
 morrow, lb- occupied the plain, slightly elevated, 
 which extends beyond Eylau, having before him 
 and towards the centre his cavalry ami his guard, 
 to the left, in advance of Eylau, the two divisions 
 
 • !" I. < grand and Level, of lie- COTpS of marshal 
 
 Soult, and to tbo right the division of St. Hilairo, 
 which was connected with the corps ol marshal Da- 
 vout, earried beyond Klein-Sausgarfc n. Thel renoh 
 army thus described an oblique line on the ground 
 
 which tin- Russians had poss.s-ed in lie- i •ning. 
 
 Much beyond, on the left, marshal Ney, isolated, 
 
 was stationed in the rear of the position the 
 
 enemy was abandoning in all bl 
 
 Napoleon, certain of being victorious, but Ins 
 heart melancholy, remained in fchemidsl of ins 
 
 soldiers; be ordered 'hat they should light tir.s, 
 and should not quit the ranks SVI n to go In search 
 
 i It it the assertion of their own narrator. Plotho. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 of so . a little bread and brandy was 
 
 distributed to them, and although there was not 
 
 enough, they were not heard to complain. Less 
 joyous than at Austerlitz or Jena, they were still 
 full of confidence, proud of themselves, and ready 
 to recommence the terrible contv st. u the Russians 
 had the strength and courage to do so. Whoever 
 at that moment could have supplied them with the 
 
 bread and brandy which the} needed, Would have 
 
 fi iiini them as gay as usual. Two artillerym* n of 
 the corps of marshal Davout, having been abe nt 
 from their company, and arriving too late to take 
 a part in the battle, their comrades assembled in 
 
 the evening at the bivouac tire, passed judgment 
 upon them, and not admitting their excuses, in- 
 flicted upon them on the frozen and gory ground 
 the burlesque chastisi nieiit winch the soldiers »all 
 the .wtnr/c' 2 . 
 
 There was nothing to be found in great abun- 
 dance but ammunition. The service of the artil- 
 lery, executed with unexampled activity, bad 
 already replaced tin- ammunition consumed. The 
 service of the ambulances wae executed with no less 
 zeal. They had collected a great number of the 
 wounded, and had administered aid to others npon 
 
 the ground, awaiting tin ir turn as s. on as it was 
 
 possible to remove them. Napoleon, worn down 
 with fatigue, bestirred himself every where, over- 
 looking the attention paid to Ins s. Idlers. 
 
 In the rear of the army there was no such 
 appearance of a bold countenance. Many of the 
 luggers behind, who had lien wanting from the 
 effective force in the morning in consequence of 
 the rapidity of the marches, having heard the 
 sound of this frightful battle, Inning also heard the 
 hurras of some of the Cossacks, had fallen bad, 
 and spread over the roads the most vexatious 
 news. The bravest men hastened to arrange 
 themselves by the siih a of their comrades, the 
 others went back in the different directions over. 
 
 which the army bad pass, ,|. 
 
 The following day. when the light dawned, this 
 
 dreadful field oi battle WS8 disclosed to tin- \iew. 
 
 Napoleon himself was deeply movi d, and to such a 
 
 pitch as to let it appear hi flic bulletin which bo 
 published. Upon this frOZ n plain, thousands of 
 dead and ihine, lay cneHy mutilated; thousands of 
 
 boisis siimk down ; an innumerable number of 
 dismounted cannon ; carriages broken ; scattered 
 missiles; and hamlets in flames; '"ail this detach 
 in:,' its.lf from a foundation of snow .' presented 
 a picture striking and terrible. "Thai spectacle," 
 
 exclaimed Napoleon, "is given I spire princes 
 
 with the love of peace and a horror of war I" n 
 singular reflection in his mouth, sincere at the 
 moment wb< n hi' allowed it to escape bun. 
 (tin- peeuliai ity struck all eyi s. Whether from 
 
 an inclination to return to bygone things, winder 
 
 out of ei my, it bad been wished to give the 
 
 troops the white uniform. The attempt bad been 
 made with several regiments, but tin- sight of 
 blood upon the white unifoi in letth d the question. 
 Napoleon, full of distaste and horror at the sight, 
 
 dl I l.i nd that In- would niih ha\e lie blue uniloi m. 
 
 w lint- \< r it might i 
 
 I 'thin incident ii borrowed from till military memoirs 
 and manuscript* of marshal Davout AutMo '• sola 
 i , : bis bulltluu. 
 
 R
 
 242 
 
 Losses of the hostile 
 armies. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The French pursue ]a( ._ 
 
 the Russians to f- , '• 
 Kcenigsberg. \February. 
 
 The aspect of this field of battle abandoned by 
 the enemy gave the army the consciousness of its 
 victory. The Russians had retreated, leaving 
 upon "the ground 7000 dead and more than 5000 
 wounded, that the generosity of the victor hastened 
 to upraise with his own men. Besides the 12,000 
 dead or dying abandoned at Eylau, they took away 
 with them about 15,000 wounded, who were more 
 or less seriously injured. They had had therefore, 
 in consequence, 26,000 or 27.000 men put hors dc 
 combat. The French made 3000 or 4000 prisoners, 
 and took 24 pieces of cannon and 16 stand of 
 colours. Their total loss, therefore, was about 
 30,000 men. The French had about 10,000 put 
 hors de combat, of which number 3000 were killed 
 and 7000 wounded 4 , a loss very inferior to that of 
 the Russians, which explains itself by the position 
 of the French troops, arranged in an order of little 
 depth, aud by the aptitude of their artillerymen 
 
 * It is rarely that it is possible to state the loss sustained 
 in a battle with so much precision as we are enabled to give 
 that of the battle of Eylau. I have given myself up, in 
 order to succeed, to an attentive examination of facts, and 
 the following is the truth, as much so at least as it is 
 possible to attain it in a similar case. The inspector of 
 hospitals stated the sameevening at Eylau, the existence of 
 4500 wounded, and on the morrow having made the ro-.ind 
 of the neighbouring villages, he carried the number up to 
 7094. His report has been pre-erved. The reports of the 
 different corps presented, on the contrary, a cipher mmh 
 more considerable, which made the total amount to 13, COO 
 or 14,000, the number of men injured more or less griev- 
 ously. This difference explains itself by the manner in 
 which the authors of those reports unders ood the word 
 "wounded." The commanders of corps reckoned even the 
 slightest contusion as a wound, each of them naturally 
 endeavouring to make the most or the sufferings of his men. 
 But one half of the men designated as wounded di.t not 
 consider it needful to apply for surgical aid, and the proof is 
 in the report of the director of the In Bpitals. Besides, a 
 mon-h afterwards, a very curious controversy took place by 
 letter between Napoleon and M. Daru. The last found no 
 more than 6001 wounded in the hospitals of the Vistula. 
 Tnis arpeared to Napoleon a statement to lie contested, for 
 he belie ed there were more, above all, reckoning in this 
 number the wounded in 'he battle of Eylau and those of the 
 i ombats which had preceded it, since they had broken up 
 from quarters. Nevertheless, after a careful examination, 
 they could not find more than 6000 and some hundreds, and 
 less than (iOOO for Eylau itself, which, reckoning the intrr- 
 veoing deaths, agreed perfectly with the statement of 701)4 
 famished by the director of hospitals. AVe believe, there- 
 lore, that we are correct in stating 3000 killed and 7000 
 wounded as the French loss in the battle of Eylau. Napo- 
 leon, in speaking in his bulletin of 21 00 dead and 5"00 or 
 OooO wounded, had, as has been seen, little altered the fact 
 in comparison with that which the Russians did. It may 
 he supposed, too, on the evrnmg of the battle, it was 
 founded on his supposition that the loss was no greater. As 
 to the loss of the Ru-sians, I have adop;ed their own totals 
 and those that were stated by the French. These la*t found 
 7000 bodies, and in the surrounding places 5o00 wounded. 
 The Russians had taken away a much greater numbf r. 
 T e German, Both, said that they brought back 14,900 
 wounded to Koenig-berg, nearly all of whom died from the 
 cold He admits besides, that they had 7000 dead, and left 
 0o0 wounded on the field of battle Add to these 31.00 or 
 tlOO prisoners, anil there is a total loss of 30,000 men, 
 which cannot be easily disputed. General Benninestn, 
 n vhi e act, avowed in his own report a loss of 20,000 men. 
 — Note of Author. 
 
 and soldiers. Thus, on that fatal day, nearly 
 40,000 men, including both sides, had been injured 
 by tire or iron.. This is the entire population of a 
 large city destroyed in one day ! Melancholy 
 consequences of the passions of nations ; those ter- 
 rible passions which, while it is requisite to direct 
 aright, it would be improper to endeavour to ex- 
 tinguish ! 
 
 Napoleon, on the 9th, in the morning, carried 
 his dragoons and cuirassiers in advance, in order 
 to follow the Russians, throw them upon Kcenigs- 
 berg, and compel them to remain for the whole 
 winter behind the Pregel. Marshal Ney, who had 
 taken little part in the battle of Eylau, was ordered 
 to sustain Murat. Marshals Davout and Soult 
 were to follow at a short distance. Napoleon 
 himself remained at Eylau, to look after the 
 wounds of his brave army, to feed it, and to place 
 every thing in order in the rear. This was of 
 more importance than the pursuit, that his lieu- 
 tenants were as well capable of managing them- 
 selves. 
 
 In marching in pursuit, there was a yet more 
 complete conviction acquired of the disaster sus- 
 tained by the Russians. In proportion as the 
 French advanced, they found the towns and vil- 
 lages of Eastern Prussia filled with wounded; they 
 learned, too, the disorder, confusion, and finally 
 the bad state of the entire fugitive army. Still the 
 Russians, in comparing this battle to that of 
 Austerlitz, were proud of the difference. They 
 admitted their defeat, but they indemnified them- 
 selves .for the avowal by adding that the victory 
 had cost the French dear. 
 
 They did not halt, except on the banks of the 
 Frisching, a small river which runs from the line 
 of the lakes to the sea : and Murat pushed on his 
 squadrons as far as Kcenigsberg. The Russians 
 took refuge in all haste, part beyond the Pregel, 
 and part at Kcenigsberg itself, making a counte- 
 nance of defending themselves there, and levelling 
 from the walls a very numerous artillery. The 
 inhabitants, alarmed, demanded whether or not 
 they were to share the late of Lubeck. Happily 
 for them, Napoleon wished to put an end to offen- 
 sive operations. He had sent the horse of Murat 
 as far as the gates of Kcenigsberg, but he had no 
 intention of Conducting his army there himself. 
 It would not have required a less force than the 
 whole army, to altempt, with hopes of success, an 
 attack by main force upon a city, provided with 
 defensive works to some extent, and defended by 
 all that remained of the Russian and Prussian 
 forces. An attack, even if it turned out a fortunate 
 one, upon this rich city, was not worth the risk to 
 be run under the chances of the miscarriage of the 
 attempt. Napoleon having pushed forward his 
 corps as far as the borders of the Frisching, deter- 
 mined to remain there some days, in order to give 
 good proof of his being victorious, and then he 
 thought of retiring in order to return to his old 
 quarters. He had not obtained, it cannot be 
 denied, that immense result which he had flattered 
 himself he should obtain, and which would most 
 assuredly not have escaped him, if un intercepted 
 dispatch had not revealed his design to the Rus- 
 sians; but he had driven ihein fighting for fifty 
 leagues, had destroyed 9000 o their men in rear- 
 guard combats, and finding them at Eylau formed
 
 i8or. i 
 
 February, J 
 
 Decided conduct of 
 Napoleon. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 Napoleon modifies h\p .a 
 
 base of operations. " 
 
 in a compact mass, covered with artillery, reeolnte 
 even to despair, strong, for they numbered with 
 the Prussians 80,000, upon a ]>laiti where nia- 
 uuuavimg was impossible, he had attacked them 
 with 54,000. had destroyed them with cannon-shot, 
 ami had repaired all the accidents of tile day, with 
 unshaken coolness, while his lieutenants [iruaod 
 Forward to rejoin him. The Russians, on that 
 day, had every thiag they could desire for rea- 
 lizing their own peculiar advantages, their firm- 
 ness, and immoveable character under fire. Na- 
 poleon had not all his upon his side, for he was 
 up 'ii ground where it was impossible to manoeuvre; 
 but he had opposed to their tenacity invincible 
 courage, and a moral force above the horrors 
 of the most frightful carnage. The spirit of his 
 soldiers had shown itself that day as great M bis 
 own. Most assuredly he might have been proud 
 of that proof of it. Besides, for 12,000 er 18,000 
 men, whom he had lost during those eight days, he 
 had destroyed 30,000 of the enemy. But it is 
 necessary to recollect that, at this mom nt, the 
 influence of the climate, of the soil, and of distance 
 was such, that, possessing in Germany more than 
 300,000 men, he had not been sole to unite more 
 than 54,000 on the spot of decisive action. Alar 
 such a victory, it became needful to make grave 
 reflections, to reckon more with the elements and 
 fortune, and to calculate for the future upon tin: 
 invincible nature of circumstances. He made 
 such reflections, and tiny inspired him, it will be 
 soon easy to judge, with the best calculated action 
 and the most admirable foresight. Would to 
 Heaven that they had but remained constantly 
 engraved upon his memory ! 
 
 Although victorious and secure for many months 
 to come from any attempt upon his cantonments, he 
 still had one thing of which to lie apprehensive. 
 This was the lying Statements of the Russians, and 
 their effect upon Austria, France, Italy, Spain, 
 in a word, upon all Europe, that, seeing in the 
 n| ac<* of three months, bis march twice stayed, 
 whether by the mud or by the frost, would bo led 
 to believe" him less irresistible, less fatally fortu- 
 
 '.vould bo holding as doubtful a victory the 
 able, tin- most painfully effective, 
 and would finally be tempted to uudervahi 
 fortunes. 
 
 He resolved, therefore, to show that character 
 which he bad displayed during the day of Kylau, 
 and, certain of In* strength, to Wall until Europ 
 
 v .-li as In- .Inl himself. After having |mi I 
 some days a< Frisching, tin- enemy not moving <>ul 
 i.f his lines, be determined to retire in order to 
 enter bis former cantonments. The temperature 
 of the atmosphere was always eld, but without 
 
 nduig more than two ..r tin degrees below 
 
 the freezing point. He availed himself id this in 
 
 order to carry bis w led in carriages. More 
 
 than 0000 submitted withou ile degree 
 
 of suffering to tins singular journey of forty or 
 fifty leagues, I Hie Vistula. An extreme 
 
 ,1,.^,, robing all the surrounding 
 
 villages, allowed a cornet -t .l.-ni.iit "I the number 
 
 to be taken. It was onnformsble Ul Mint which 
 ,,lv been given. When all bad bit, 
 wounded, siek, prisoners, and artillery taken fmm 
 lb- enemy, Napoleon commenced bis inarch on the 
 17 tl i of February, upon bis ■'■ movement 
 
 Marshal Ncv, with the (Jib corps, and Murat with 
 the cavalry forming the rear guard. The other 
 corps preserved their accustomed position in the 
 order of march, marshal Davout on the right, 
 
 marshal Soull in the centre, marshal Angereau on 
 
 the left ; lastly, marshal Beruadotte, who bad 
 rejoined, formed the extreme left along the 
 Frische-Haff. 
 Napoleon having ascended tin- Alle so far as 
 
 to approach the lakes, whence that river flows, and 
 
 whence aha the Passarge derives its origin, he 
 changed bis direction, and in place of taking the 
 route of Warsaw, he took that of Thorn, Mafien- 
 burg, and Filling. He wished thenceforth toVup- 
 port himself upon the Lower Vistula. The recent 
 events bad modified his ideas as to the choice ol 
 his base of operations. The following are tile mo- 
 tives of this modification. 
 
 The position between the branches of the Ukra, 
 of the Narew, and of the Hug, which he had at 
 first adopted, was ;l conscijuence of the occupation 
 
 of Warsaw. It had the advantage of covering \ 
 that capital, and if the enemy | roceeded along the 
 
 sea-shore, it permitted him to outflank them, tO 
 turn them, and to drive them into the sea, winch 
 Napoleon bad attempted, and which he would 
 have certainly executed but for the ca ture of bis 
 despatches. But this manu'iiviv once discovered, 
 
 it was not probable that the Russians, aware of it, 
 
 should expose themselves to a danger troin which 
 they had escaped by a sort of miracle. The position 
 chosen in advance of Warsaw did not, therefore, 
 
 possess the same advantage, and it had a Berious 
 inconvenience, that of obliging the army to extend 
 itself beyond proper limits, in order to cover the 
 siege of Dantzick, a siege which had become an 
 operation of the utmost necessity, and to which 
 it was necessary to devote the leisure from active 
 operations which the period ol winter afforded. 
 Ill effect, by placing himself at Warsaw he bad 
 
 been obliged to leave the corps of Beruadotte at a 
 great distance, with but a small chance of joining 
 
 ii to the main body of the army ; and if it march- 
 ed in advance, he was forced besides to leave tin' 
 
 5th corps, that of Latmes, to guard Warsaw. Ha 
 therefore acted without two oorpa of his army. 
 The distant f the corps of BeniadoRe would be- 
 come in future more to be lane Jltod, in that be 
 
 should be constrained to add more tnsipa tu Ins 
 
 existing forces, in order lO second and cover the 
 
 i Dantzick. 
 
 Napoleon, therefore, resolved to keep at i dis- 
 tance (p. in Warsaw, to confide the security of that 
 capital to the rub corps, to tin Poles, and to the 
 
 lians, the submission of the fortresses of 
 
 Silesia rendering the la t-mwtio I troops dls- 
 
 pi. sable, and he determined with the larger part 
 nf In tablish buns. Ii in ad\ auce ni the 
 
 r Vistula, behind the P issnrge, hat in- Thorn 
 
 upon his right, Klbing on his left, Dantzick in bis 
 
 . ins centre al 0«ti rode, and his adva 1 
 
 belWl Ml lie i and llie Alle. In this 
 
 position be bini'i II com red tin ■ ■• ,,i Dai 
 
 it being under the necessity ol iwaj 
 
 nny pari ol In i troop for tlial pui if in 
 
 ibe Ru iai , wishing to sue. our Dantzick, 
 should come to seek battle, ha should be able to 
 oppose lie in with "II bis united corps, comprising 
 that ill !:■ ruadul ai d even a part ol the 
 
 It -•
 
 244 
 
 Singular attitude of 
 Napuleon. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The corps of Auge- 
 reau dissolved. 
 
 f 1807. 
 t February. 
 
 troops of Lefebvre, that nothing could hinder him 
 from drawing to his main body in any pressing 
 conjuncture ; just as he did in 170G, when he 
 raised the siege of Mantua to proceed against the 
 Austrians. There would not be wanting to him 
 on the day of battle any of his forces but the 5th 
 corps, which in whatever manner he might operate, 
 was indispensable on the Marew, in order to de- 
 fend Warsaw. This new position, besides, gave 
 room for clever combinations, pregnant with great 
 results, of which the enemy would be ignorant, 
 while those which would have Warsaw for their 
 base were known to them. Quartered behind the 
 Passarge, Napoleon would be only fifteen leagues 
 from Koenigsberg. On the supposition that the 
 Russians, drawn by the apparent state of isolation 
 in which Warsaw had been left, would advance 
 upon that capital, the French could make a forced 
 march in their rear upon Koenigsberg, capture 
 that city, and then, drawing back by a movement 
 to the right upon their rear, throw them upon 
 the Narew or the Vistula, among the marshes of 
 the interior country, with as much certainty of de- 
 stroying them as in the case of their movement 
 being towards the sea. If, on the contrary, they 
 attacked the front of his cantonments on the 
 Passarge, he had, as has been said, besides the 
 natural strength of the cantonments, the entire 
 mass of the army to oppose to them. The position, 
 therefore, was excellent for the siege of Diintzick, 
 and excellent as well for future operations, be- 
 cause it gave birth to new combinations, of which 
 the secret was not discoverable. 
 
 It is, assuredly, both an instructive and an im- 
 posing spectacle, to find that impetuous general, in 
 a way not natural to himself, tell his detractors, 
 that to the offensive war carried at one rebound 
 only from the Rhine to the Vistula, halting sud- 
 denly before the difficulties of localities and sea- 
 sons, shutting himself up in a narrow space, carry- 
 ing on the war there, coldly, slowly, and methodi- 
 cally, — disputing, foot to foot, the smallest rivers, 
 after having passed the largest without stopping ; 
 reducing himself finally to cover a siege, and placed 
 at a vast distance from his own empire, in presence 
 of Europe astonished at this new manner of pro- 
 ceeding, on which doubt had begun to take hold, 
 preserving an invincible firmness, not being se- 
 duced even by the desire to strike a blow that 
 should make a sensation, knowing how to adjourn 
 that blow until the nature of things rendered it pos- 
 sible and certain. This is, it may truly be said, a 
 spectacle worthy of attracting interest, surprise, and 
 admiration ; it is a valuable occasion for the study 
 and the reflection of all who are able to feel and 
 comprehend the combinations of great men, and 
 have a pleasure in making them a subject of medi- 
 tation. 
 
 Napoleon then placed himself between the Pas- 
 sarge and the Lower Vistula. The corps of mar- 
 shal Bernadotte to the left on the Passarge, be- 
 tween Braunsberg and Spanden ; that of marshal 
 Soult the centre, between Liebstadt and Mohrun- 
 gen ; the corps of marshal Davout on the right, 
 between Allenstein and Hohenstein, at the point 
 where the Alle and the Passarge approximate the 
 closest ; the corps of marshal Ney as the advanced 
 guard, between the Passarge and the Alle, at 
 Guttstadt ; the head-quarters of the guard at 
 
 Osterode, in a central position, where Napoleon 
 would be able to unite all his forces in a few 
 hours. He placed general Oudinot at Osterode, 
 with the grenadiers and voltigeurs, forming a 
 reserve of infantry of 6000 or 7000 men. He 
 spread the cavalry over his rear; between Osterode 
 and the Vistula, from Thorn as far as Elbing, — a 
 country which abounded in all kinds of forage. 
 
 In the enumeration of the corps quartered be- 
 hind the Passarge, that of Augereau has not been 
 included. Napoleon had declared for its dissolu- 
 tion. Augereau had quitted the army, annoyed at 
 what had happened at the battle of Eylau, im- 
 puting preposterously his own check there to the 
 jealousy of his comrades, who, according to him- 
 self, had not the desire to give him support, 
 styling himself fatigued, ill, and worn out. The 
 emperor sent him back to France, with testimonies 
 of his satisfaction which were of a nature to afford 
 him consolation. But fearing that in the 7th corps, 
 one-half destroyed, there might remain something 
 of that discouragement which its chief had mani- 
 fested, he ordered it to be dissolved, after having 
 loaded it with recompenses. He divided the regi- 
 ments of which it was composed between marshals 
 Soult, Davout, and Ney. Of the 12,000 men of 
 which the 7t'i corps was composed, there had been 
 7000 present in the battle of Eylau, and of that 
 7000, two-thirds had been put hors de combat. The 
 survivors, joined to those who had remained be- 
 hind, would furnish 7000 or 8000 men, to reinforce 
 the different existing corps of the army. 
 
 Napoleon placed the 5th corps on the Omulew, 
 at some distance from Warsaw. Lanues being 
 continually ill, he had recalled, with regret to de- 
 prive Italy of his services, but with great satisfac- 
 tion to possess him in Poland, that first of all his 
 generals, Massena, who was not able to keep upon 
 a good understanding with king Joseph. To him 
 Napoleon gave the command of the 5th corps. 
 The sieges in Silesia advanced, owing to the 
 energy and fertility of mind of general Vandamme. 
 Schweidnitz having been taken, Neisse and Glatz 
 alone remained to take. Napoleon availed himself 
 of this circumstance to bring upon the Vistula the 
 Bavarian division of Deroy, about 6000 or 7000 
 strong, and tolerably good troops, which were 
 quartered at Pultusk, in the position of the 5th 
 corps on the Omulew and in Warsaw. The Polish 
 battalions of Kalisch and Posen had been sent to 
 Dantzick. Napoleon assembled those of Warsaw, 
 organized by prince Poniatowski at Neidenburg, in 
 such a manner as to maintain the communication 
 between the head-quarters and the troops en- 
 camped on the Omulew. They were under the 
 orders of general Zayonscheck. He commanded 
 besides that a corps of cavalry should be or- 
 ganized, consisting of Poles, to the number of 
 1000 or 2000, in order to follow up the Cossacks. 
 These different Polish troops, designed to connect 
 the position of the grand army on the Passarge 
 with that of Massena on the Narew, were not 
 capable, it is clear, of stopping a Russian army 
 which should take the offensive, but they were 
 sufficient to prevent the Cossacks from penetrating 
 between Osterode and Warsaw, and of keeping a 
 continual and active watch over all that vast extent 
 of surface. Concentrated thus behind the Pas- 
 sarge, and in advance of the Lower Vistula, cover-
 
 1807. 
 February 
 
 .} 
 
 Vast number of strag- 
 glers from the army. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 Bernadotte captures 
 Uraunsberg. 
 
 245 
 
 ing in an unassailable position the siege of Dant- 
 zirk, which was about finally to commence, — being 
 able, by threatening Kosnigsberg, to stop everj 
 offensive movement upon Warsaw, Napoleon was 
 in a situation in which lie bad nothing to appre- 
 hend. Rejoined by the tardy soldiers who hud 
 been left in the rear, and by the corps of Berna- 
 dotte, reinforced by the grenadiers and voltigeurs 
 of Oudinot, be was able in forty-eight hours to 
 assemble 80,000 men upon one of the points of the 
 Passarge. This situation was imposing, above all, 
 if it were compared to that of the Russians, who 
 would not have been able to place 50,000 men in 
 line. But it is a remark worthy of repetition, 
 although made here before, that an army of more 
 than 300,000 men, spread from the Rhine as far as 
 the Vistula, and managed with a degree of ability 
 that no captain hail ever equalled, found it impos- 
 sible to furnish more than 80,000 combatants on 
 the same field of battle. There were 80,000 or 
 90,000 men capable of acting offensively between the 
 Vistula and Passarge, 24,000 on the Narew, from 
 Ostrolenka to Warsaw ; comprehending in these the 
 Poles and Bavarians, 22,000 under Lefebvre before 
 Dantzick and Colberg, 28,000 nuder Mortier, 
 Italians, Dutch, and French, spread out between 
 Bremen and Hamburg, as far as Stralsund and 
 Stettin ; 15,000 in Silesia, Bavarians and Wer- 
 temberghers ; 30,000 in the fortresses from Posen 
 as far as Erfurt and Mayenee ; 7000 or 8000 em- 
 ployed in the artillery parks ; 15,000 wounded at 
 different times from the commencement of the 
 campaign ; b'0.000 sick or marauding ; lastly, 
 30,000 or -10,000 recruits on the march to join. 
 This would make very nearly 330,000 men belong- 
 ing to the grand army, of which number 270,000 
 were French, and about 60,000 auxiliaries, Ita- 
 lians, Dutch, Germans, and Poles. 
 
 That which in the present case appears singular, 
 is the enormous Dumber of 00,000 siei; or maraud- 
 ing, — a number, it is true, only approximating to 
 the real faet , difficult to settle, but worthy the 
 attention of statesmen who study the secret re- 
 sources of national Strength. There were not in 
 these 60,000 absentees rated as sick, one-half in 
 
 the hospitals, the Others were marauding. It has 
 been Observed already, that many of the soldiers 
 
 were wanting from the ranks iii tin- battle of 
 
 Kylau, in conseque i of tin- rapidity of the 
 
 marches ; and that the impressions produced by 
 this terrible battle spread so Ear, that the cowards 
 
 and servants belonging to the army Bed at lull 
 
 speed, crying out that the French were routed. 
 
 Since then others wen- added to tie- number of the 
 
 ping, who, under the pretext of slight wounds, 
 
 requested to < titer the hospitals, hut to.. I, ears not 
 
 to go to the in, because there they would he de- 
 tained, watched over, and attended upon, even until 
 it was wearisome to themselves. Tiny passed the 
 
 Vistula, and lived in the villages to the right and 
 
 left of the high road, in • uch a mai ' as to . 
 
 the general superintendence which was ■ 
 
 by order in all parts ol the army. They lived thus 
 
 at the expense of the- country, which tiny did not 
 spare, — some real cowards, of which every army, 
 
 » The emperor could never fix the numlier exactly, In 
 
 consequence of the continual movement "■ il '" ttW BSft 
 
 of ihe diffluent corps. 
 
 even the most heroic, has always a certain num- 
 ber in its ranks ; others, on the contrary, brave 
 enough, hut plunderers by nature, fond of lioenee 
 and disorder, hut ready to return to their corps 
 
 when they heard of the resumption of operations. 
 Napoleon, aware of this state of things from the 
 difference between the number of men reported to 
 be in the hospitals and those who were really 
 there, gave his most serious attention to the 
 abuse. He employed lor its repression the police 
 of the Polish authorities, and then the select gen- 
 darmerie of his guard, the only body which was 
 sufficiently respected to exact ol. edit nee. Still 
 they could never completely destroy this leprosy 
 afflicting great armies open tbe line of operations. 
 Moreover, the army which behaved thus was that 
 of the camp of Boulogne, — the most solid. \«>t 
 disciplined, and bravest that ever existed] In the 
 campaign of Austerlitz, marauders were scarcely 
 
 sei n ;it all. But the present rapidity of move- 
 ment, the distance, climate, season. Slid, lastly, the 
 carnage, relaxed the bonds ol discipline. Tin se 
 
 vermin, the sad effect of their sufferings among a 
 
 great body of men, began to increase. Napoleon 
 met it this time by amazing foresight, and by the 
 victories which he soon obtained. Through in- 
 ducing evils of a similar nature, defeat is capable, 
 in a few days only, of causing the dissolution of an 
 army. Thus amidst the hue yet terrible campaign 
 of 1807, some of the symptoms appeared id' the 
 campaign of 1812,- — a campaign lor ever fatally 
 memorable. 
 
 The return of the Frencli army to winter quar- 
 ters was signalized by certain movements on the 
 part of the Russians. Their ranks had been sin- 
 gularly thinned, not more than 5(1,(1110 men re- 
 maining who were capable of active service. 
 
 Nevertheless, general Benningsen, arrogant at not 
 having lost his last man at Bylau, according to his 
 
 Custom called himself the conqueror, and wished 
 
 to give his boast the semblance- of truth. He 
 
 therefore quitted Kosnigsberg as •. i ;,s he heard 
 
 that the French army was returning towards the 
 
 Passarge. lie exhibited strong columns along 
 
 that river, above all on its superior course towards 
 GuttBtadt, in front ol the position of marshal N.v. 
 
 Rut he managed very ill ; since ibis intrepid mar- 
 shal, deprived of the honour ..t ■ ngaging at Bylau, 
 and impatient to indemnify him ■ .i tor his ab- 
 sence, gave a vigorous reception to the corps 
 which advanced upon him, and caused it consider- 
 able loss. At (he same I nut, the corps of mar- 
 shal Bernadotte, wishing to establish iuielf on the 
 
 Lower Passarge, and on that account finding it 
 
 necesaarj to occupy Braunsberg, took that town, 
 where it made 9000 Prussians prisoners. It was 
 
 to the division of Duponl that the merit of this 
 
 brilliant exploit belonged. The Russians, notwith- 
 standing, continued in motion, appearing desirous 
 of gaining the I'pper I'assarge. Napoleon, in the 
 
 beginning ol March, deteri <l to undertake mi 
 
 offensive movement on the Lower I sons 
 
 io make general Benningsen uneasj for the safety 
 ol KoBiiigsberg. It was with regret that In 
 eided on such a movement, b e ca us e it revealed to 
 tin Russians the danger the) ran in ascending 
 upon hie left to threaten Warsaw. Well knowing 
 
 that an mume-lo'l iiiainriivrc is a lost resource, 
 Il on did not wish to act upon it ut all, or else
 
 246 
 
 The Russians retire after THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, 
 advancing. 
 
 Provision made 
 tor victualling 
 the army. 
 
 r 1807. 
 \Match. 
 
 to act in a decisive manner by marching to Koe- 
 nisrsbers with nil his forces. But on the one side 
 he was necessitated to oblige the enemy to remain 
 quiet, that he might be himself at peace in his 
 winter quarters, and, on the other, he had neither 
 provisions nor ammunition to carry out so long an 
 operation. He therefore limited himself to a 
 simple movement, executed on the 3rd of March 
 by the corps of Soult and Bernadotte, who passed 
 the river, while marshal Key, at Guttstadt, rudely 
 repulsed the 'enemy's troops directed upon the 
 Upper Passarge. The Russians lost in these simul- 
 taneous movements about 2000 men, and finding 
 their line of retreat on Koauigsberg compromised, 
 they hastened to retire, and thus gave tranquillity 
 to the French quarters. 
 
 Such were the last acts of that winter's cam- 
 paign. The cold, long retarded, began to be felt ; 
 the thermometer had fallen eight or ten degrees 
 below the freezing point. They were about to ex- 
 perience in March the weather which had been 
 expected in Decern her and January. 
 
 Napoleon, who had decided in spite of himself 
 to order the last operations, wrote to marshal 
 Soult : " It is one of the inconveniences that I 
 have felt under existing movements, that I en- 
 lighten the Russians on their position, but they 
 press too much upon my right. Resolved to suffer 
 the bad weather to pass away, and to organize the 
 sustenance of the troops, I am not otherwise an- 
 noyed at this lesson given to the enemy. Under 
 the presumption with which I see he is animated, 
 I believe it only requires patience to make him 
 perceive his great errors." — {Osterode, March 6.) 
 
 If Napoleon at that moment had possessed suffi- 
 cient provisions, and means of transporting enough 
 in order to support the army for some days, he 
 would have immediately terminated the war, hav- 
 ing to oppose an enemy sufficiently ill-conducted to 
 come and throw himself on the right of his quar- 
 ters. Thus the whole question consisted, in his 
 eyes, of raising the necessary supplies which 
 should permit him to recruit his soldiers, weak- 
 ened hvprivation, and to assemble them for some 
 days without being liable to see them die of hun- 
 ger, or to leave half of them behind, as he had 
 been compelled io do at Eylau. The towns on the 
 sea-coast, particularly that of Elbing, might fur- 
 nish hini'with provisions for the first moments of 
 his establishment, hut such resources were not 
 sufficient. ' He wished them brought in great 
 quantities, and to be made to descend from War- 
 saw, by 'the Vistula, to the different quarters of 
 the army 1 on the Passarge. He gave the most 
 precise orders to amass directly at Bromberg and 
 Warsaw the supplies needful, and for creating the 
 means of transport which should serve to termi- 
 nate the conveyance from the Vistula to the bor- 
 ders of the Pasoarge. His intention was to begin 
 by furnishing daily the entire rations to his sol- 
 diers, and then to form at Osterode, the centre of 
 his cantonments, a general magazine, which should 
 inclose some millions of rations in bread, rice, 
 wine, and brandy. He wished to make the z< al 
 of the Poles serve to produce this effect. They 
 had then rendered him few military services, and 
 he wished at least to draw from tin in some minis- 
 tering assistance. As M.Talleyrand was at Warsaw, 
 he desired he would confer with the provisionary 
 
 government that directed the affairs of Poland ; 
 and he therefore wrote him the following letter, 
 giving him full power to conclude the different 
 bargains, at whatever price they might cost. 
 
 " Osterode, March 12th, 10 p.m. 
 
 "I received your letter of the 10th of March at 
 3 P. m. I have 300,000 rations of biscuit at War- 
 saw. It will take eight days to bring them from 
 Warsaw to Osterode. Perform miracles, that you 
 may send me daily 50,000 rations. Try also to 
 send me daily 2000 pints of brandy. At present 
 the fate of Europe and the greatest calculations 
 depend upon provisions. To conquer the Rus- 
 sians, if 1 have but bread, is mere child's play. 
 I have millions. I do not refuse to give them. 
 All that you do will be well done ; but it is abso- 
 lutely necessary that, on the receipt of this letter, 
 you convey to me by land, and by Mlawa and 
 Zakroczin, 50,000 rations of biscuit and 2000 pints 
 of brandy. It is the work of eighty carriages a 
 day, paying in sterling gold. If the patriotism of 
 the Poles cannot make this effort, they are not 
 good for much. The importance of the business 
 with which I here charge you is greater than all 
 the negotiations in the world. Call the contractors, 
 the governors, general Letnarrois, and the most 
 influential men in the kingdom, give them money, 
 and I will approve all you do. Biscuit and brandy 
 is all we require. In these 300,000 rations of bis- 
 cuit, and these 18 000 or 20,000 pints of brandy, 
 you behold that which will derange the combina- 
 tions of all the powers." 
 
 M. de Talleyrand assembled the members of the 
 Polish government, for the purpose of endeavour- 
 ing to obtain the victuals and the carriages of 
 which they stood in need. Provisions were not 
 scarce in Poland, for with ready money given to 
 Jews they were sure to have sufficient, but the 
 means of transporting them were difficult to or- 
 ganize. They first proposed procuring them in 
 the same country by paying an immense price ; at 
 last they ended by bming carts and horses, and 
 thus they were enabled to establish relays from 
 the borders of the Vistula to those of the Passarge. 
 The provisions were conveyedvin boats on the Vis- 
 tula, and disembarked at, Warsaw, Plock, Thorn, 
 and Marienw eider, whence they were transported 
 to Osterode, the centre of the cantonmtnts, 
 either in the waggons belonging to the regiment, 
 in the vehicles of the country, or in those they 
 had themselves bought and provided with horses. 
 They sought for cattle throughout Silesia, and, 
 paying for them, had them driven on foot to War- 
 saw. They endeavoured to procure wines and 
 spirits from the northern coasts, where they were 
 brought in large quantities for trade, and of supe- 
 rior quality. They were obtained at Berlin, Stet- 
 tin, and Elbing, and brought by water to Thorn. 
 Napoleon much wished to procure 200,000 or 
 300.000 bottles of wine to stimulate the hearts of 
 his soldiers. He had near him a valuable resource 
 if this kind, but it was inclosed in the town of 
 Dantzick, which contained many millions of bottles 
 of excellent wine, sufficient to supply the army for 
 several months. This was not a mean stimulant to 
 the taking of that fortress. 
 
 These active measures for providing the army 
 with food could not produce an immediate effect ; 
 but in the interval they lived on the Nogath, ou
 
 1S07. \ 
 March. / 
 
 Arrival of the provisionary 
 regiments. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 Letler of Napoleon to 
 king Joseph. 
 
 247 
 
 Elbing, and even 00 the districts they occupied, 
 and the industry of the soldiers supplied what was 
 wanting, having succeeded in procuring them- 
 selves necessaries. Many hidden stores of provi- 
 sions had been discovered, and thus they were 
 enabled to await the regular arrivals from the Vis- 
 tula. They were lodged in the villages, and no 
 longer bivouacked, which was a great relief to 
 troops which had done this for five succeeding 
 months, from October to February. As to the 
 advanced guard and outposts, they lived in bar- 
 racks, the materials for which the forest country 
 furnished in abundance. Some wine and a little 
 brandy met with at Elbing, even rendered the sol- 
 diers gay. The first days passed, they were far 
 better off, and healthier, than on the Narew ; the 
 country was better, and they hoped, at the return 
 of the fine season, to recompense themselves for 
 present troubles, and terminate in one day's battle 
 the terrible work of carnage in which they were 
 engaged. 
 
 The provisionary regiments designed to bring 
 the recruits began to arrive on the Vistula. Many 
 among them, already at the theatre of the war, 
 had been reviewed, and placed in the regiments 
 for which they were allotted. Thus the soldiers 
 b- held their ranks filling, heard of the numerous 
 reinforcements preparing on the background of 
 the army, and confided more and more in the 
 supreme vigilance which foresaw and provided for 
 all their wants. The cavalry continued to be the 
 object of the most anxious solicitude of Napoleon, 
 who had formed foot detachments of all the dis- 
 mounted horsemen, and had sent them to Silesia 
 eh horses, with which that country abounds. 
 
 Immense works were executed on the Passarge 
 and the Vistula, for the purpose of securing the 
 position of the army. All the bridges on the Pas- 
 sarge had been destroyed, two excepted, — one for 
 the use of the corps of marshal Bernadotte at 
 Braunsberg, the other for the convenience of mar- 
 shal Soult at Spanden. Two vast defences were 
 added to each bridge end, so that they should be 
 able to pass over. Napoleon constantly repeated 
 to his lieutenants, that a line Was not easy of de- 
 fence but when it was in a state to be passed in 
 turn, in order to adopt the offensive against the 
 attacking party '. 
 
 Two bridges over the Vistula, one at Marien- 
 burg, the other at Marienuerder, made a sale 
 communication with the troops of marshal L 
 febvre, who was charged with tin' siege of Dant- 
 
 zick. They were thus able to join his Tones, or 
 
 summon them to their own aid, presenting every 
 where t<> tie' enemy a oompact mass. .Marshal 
 Lefebvre approached Daiitsick. lie only av 
 the- heavy artillery from different towns in Si lei is 
 to commence 'hat liich was to be the 
 
 occupation and ill'- glory of the winter. The 
 works of Sierock, Praga,and Modliu, destined t<> 
 
 i " No river, nor any lint- whatever," he wrote tn Berna- 
 dotte (March 6tta, Osterode). " will ho able to di fi ■"! I • II 
 without offensive poliiU ; because when it can <l» nothing 
 but defend it-ell', i' runs c e risk of obtaining noadvan- 
 liut when it i ; i combine ■ defensive with 
 
 an offensive movement, the enemy is made t'i run 
 
 hazard than ha CM make thime run whom In- ait. el. v 
 Work, therefore, day and night, at the titei de jmnt of 
 Spanden and Uraunslierg." 
 
 consolidate the position of Warsaw, continued to 
 proceed equally well. 
 
 It was from the little town of Osterode that 
 Napoleon commanded all. His soldiers, provided 
 with bread, potatoes, meat, brandy, thatch to 
 cover them, and wood to warm themselves, no 
 longer suffered. But the officers, who were only 
 able to obtain the food and lodging of a common 
 soldier, even with their regular pay, were exposed 
 to many privations. Napoleon, wishing to give 
 tin in an example of resignation, remained with 
 them. The officers of each corps sent to Osterode 
 were able to say that they had not found Napoleon 
 better housed than the meanest in rank among 
 themselves. Thus it was, that, replying to his 
 brother Joseph, who complained of the sufferings 
 of the army at Naples, he rallied him on his com- 
 plaints, censured his feebleness of soul, and painted 
 to him the following picture : — 
 
 " The staff officers have not undressed for a 
 period of two months, and some not for four. I 
 myself have not taken off my boots for a fortnight, 
 We are in the midst of snow and clay, without 
 wine, without brandy, and without bread ; eating 
 potatoes and meat, making long marches and 
 counter-marches without any sort of indulgence, 
 generally fighting at the bayonet's point, or under 
 grape-shot, the wounded obliged to be withdrawn 
 in sledges, in the open air, for fifty miles." (Here 
 he alluded to the march which followed the battle 
 of Eylau, for at Osterode they were better lodged.) 
 " It is, then, but a sorry joke to compare the place 
 where we are to the lovely country of Naples, 
 where you have wine, bread, covering for your 
 beds, society, and even woman. 
 
 "After having destroyed the Prussian monarchy, 
 we fight the rest of the Prussians, the Russians, 
 the Calmoucks, the Cossacks, and all the colonies 
 of the north, who in ancient times invaded the 
 Roman empire. We make war in nil its energy 
 and all its horrors. In the midst of these gnat 
 fatigues, every one has been, more or less, ill ; as 
 to myself, I was never stronger, I have grown 
 stout. — i eh 1st." 
 
 The situation of which Napoleon here draws the 
 picture, was already much ameliorated at Osterode, 
 at least for the soldiers. Hut if the French suf- 
 fi nd much, tin- Russians Buffered more, for they 
 endured the greatest misery. Their battalions, 
 which at the commencement of operations con- 
 tained 600 men, were gradually reduced to 300, 
 200, and 160. 'I'hev could muster ten ballalions 
 
 together thai, presented only the last, number, If 
 th« Russians had continued to make head against 
 Nnpoleon, it would have been followed with the 
 
 destruction of all their army ; thus they would not, 
 linve been able in appear again iii the open liehl. 
 'I'hev bad communicated with St. Petersburg in 
 the name of all the generals, to the effect, thai if 
 
 the forces which remained were net doubled at 
 
 leant, tiny could do nothing thenceforth hut fly 
 l.ef,, re the French. As to the rest, all the Rus- 
 sian officers, tod of admiration for the French 
 
 army, feeling that in the end they fought much 
 
 more for England and Prussia than for Russia, 
 
 desired peace, And even loudly demanded it in 
 
 presaing terms. 
 
 Their troops, which were not supplied with pro- 
 visions like those of Napoleon, through a superior
 
 248 
 
 Rumours of ths French 
 ill success. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Uneasy feeling in 
 France. 
 
 r 1807. 
 \March. 
 
 forecast, perished <>f hunger, and, weary of war, 
 had ceased to fight with the French. They met 
 the latter very near on marauding parties without 
 attacking. It seemed, indeed, as if there was an 
 instinctive agreement not to add to the sufferings 
 of each other in such a situation. It sometimes 
 happened that the unfortunate Cossacks, pressed 
 by hunger, asked bread by signs of the French 
 soldiers, avowing, that for several days they had 
 found nothing to eat ; and the French soldiers, 
 always open to pity, had given them potatoes, of 
 which they had a great abundance, — a singular 
 spectacle, this relapse into humanity in the midst 
 of the cruelties of war ! 
 
 Napoleon was well aware, that if he had sus- 
 tained great loss, he had caused much greater loss 
 to his enemies. But he had to combat false re- 
 ports, in this regard, that were believed at War- 
 saw, at Berlin, and, above all, at Paris. His pro- 
 digious glory alone repressed the independent 
 spirits of France, as well as the ill-disposed 
 throughout Europe ; and he could already divine 
 that, on his first serious reverse, he should see 
 both fall off from him. He had, in consequence, 
 never such great efforts to make, nor required 
 greater energy of character than now, in order to 
 govern public opinion. Young auditors, sent from 
 Paris to bring the reports of the different minis- 
 ters to head quarters, and little accustomed to the 
 scenes they witnessed, officers discontented, or 
 more than ordinarily affected by the peculiar hor- 
 rors of this war, wrote letters to France filled with 
 exaggerations. " Arrange with M. Daru," said 
 Napoleon to M. Maret, in one of his letters, "for 
 the auditors to quit this, as they are useless, only 
 lose their time, and, being little accustomed to the 
 events of war, only write nonsense to Paris. For 
 the future I will have all reports brought to me 
 by the officers of the staff." As for the recitals 
 emanating from particular officers, relative to the 
 battle of Eylau, and which the minister Fouche 
 pointed out to him as the source of the false re- 
 ports spread in Paris, Napoleon replied, that he 
 must believe nothing of them. " My officers," said 
 he, " know what is passing in my army just as 
 much as the loungers who walk in the garden of 
 the Tuilleries know of what is discussing in the 
 cabinet l j besides, exaggeration pleases the human 
 
 mind The darkened pictures which have 
 
 been drawn of our situation to you, have the bab- 
 blers of Paris for their authors, who are adepts at 
 description. The position of France was never so 
 fine, never so grand. As for Eylau, I have said, 
 and I repeat it, that the bulletin had exaggerated 
 our loss ; and what are 2000 or 3000 men killed in 
 a great battle ? When I lead back my army to 
 France and to the Rhine, it will appear that not so 
 very many will be wanting off its roll. At the 
 time of our expedition to Egypt, the correspond- 
 ence of the army, intercepted by the British cabi- 
 net, was printed, and caused the expedition of the 
 English, which was stupid, which ought to have 
 miscarried, which succeeded only because it was 
 in the course of fate that it should succeed. It 
 was then said that we were in want of every thing 
 in Egypt, the richest country in the universe ; it 
 was said that the army was destroyed, and yet I 
 
 i April 13th. 
 
 brought back to Toulon eight-ninths of them ! . . . 
 The Russians claim the victory, so did they also 
 after Pultusk, after Austerlitz. On the contrary, 
 they have been driven, at the sword's point, close 
 up to the cannon of Kcenigsberg. They have had 
 fifteen or sixteen generals killed. Their loss has 
 been immense. We have made a perfect slaughter 
 of them." 
 
 Some fragments of letters from major-general 
 Berthier had been printed, in which he spoke of 
 the dangers Napoleon had run. " They publish," 
 he sent word to the archchancellor Cambaceres, 
 " that I command my outposts, which is folly . . . 
 I have desired nothing to be inserted in the Aloni- 
 teur but the bulletins. If there be, you will hinder 
 me from writing any thing, and then you will have 
 greater uneasiness .... Berthier writes in the 
 midst of the field of battle, fatigued, and not ex- 
 pecting that his letters will be printed — 
 
 (Osterode, March oth.)" 
 
 Napoleon was thus unwilling that his personal 
 courage should be vaunted, for such courage would 
 become a danger. It was discovering too openly 
 that this military monarchy, without as yet a past 
 or a future, was at the mercy of a cannon-ball. 
 
 From the transports caused in France by the 
 wonders of Austerlitz and of Jena, the people had 
 fallen into a sort of disquietude. Paris was sad 
 and deserted ; for the emperor, the chiefs of the 
 army, of whom great part of the higher society of 
 this reign was composed, were absent. Industry 
 suffered. Napoleon enjoined it on his sisters, the 
 princes Cainbace'res, and Lebrun, to give fetes. 
 He wanted them thus to fill the void caused by his 
 absence. He ordered that surveys should be made 
 of the moveables of the crown at Fontainebleau, 
 Versailles, Compiegne, and St. Cloud, and that se- 
 veral millions, saved out of his own personal in- 
 come, should be devoted to the purchase of the 
 manufactures of Lyons, Rouen, and St. Quentin. 
 The assistance granted in this way he directed 
 should be proportioned, not according to the neces- 
 sities of the imperial residences, but to the wants 
 of the manufacturing classes. Although he in ge- 
 neral strove to restrain the taste of the empress 
 and of His sisters for extravagance, he now recom- 
 mended prodigality to them. He desired that a 
 million a month should be dedicated from the sink- 
 ing-fund, — that is to say, the treasury of the army, 
 — to loans to the principal manufacturers, upon de- 
 posits of merchandize, and he formed a project so 
 as to convert this accidental measure into a perma- 
 nent institution, having for its object, not, as he 
 said, a fund for the assistance of bankrupts, but 
 one destined to sustain those manufacturers who 
 employed a great number of workmen, and who 
 might be obliged to discharge them, unless they 
 could be furnished with facilities for paying their 
 wages. 
 
 He conceived in the end an extraordinary means 
 of drawing capital to commerce, by bringing about 
 a considerable improvement in the management of 
 the finances. The sum total of the taxes was then, 
 still more than at present, behind-hand in receipt 
 within the year. The bonds or obligations of the 
 receivers-general which represented the taxes, did 
 not fall due, in part at least, for three or f< ur 
 months after the year had run out, — that is to 
 say, in the March, April, or May of the following
 
 1807. \ 
 March. J 
 
 Financial expedient 
 of Napoleon. 
 
 EYLAU. 
 
 The emperor's active 
 surveillance. 
 
 •249 
 
 year. It was, therefore, necessary to discount 
 them, — a task, in undertaking which the managers 
 of such business contrived to give themselves up 
 to very active stock-jobbing. It was the floating 
 debt of that day, which was met by the obligations 
 of the reeeivers-genera], instead, as at present, by 
 royal bonds. This discount required on the part of 
 the capitalists of Paris a principal of 80,000,0001'. 
 Napoleon's idea was to establish, in 1808 for ex- 
 ample, that the portion of the obligations which 
 would not fall due till 1809, should be applied to 
 the service of 1809 itself, and so on for the future, 
 so that each service should have for its use only 
 the obligations falling due in the same year. It 
 remained to provide for 1808 the deficiency an- 
 swering to the portion of obligations which would 
 be thrown in upon 1809. There was thus a sum 
 of 80,000,000f. to procure. Napoleon proposed to 
 furnish this by means of a loan, which the state 
 treasury should make to the army chest, at a 
 moderate interest. " By this means," he wrote, 
 li my obligations would all become due in twelve 
 months; the public treasury would save 5,000,000f. 
 or 6,000,000f. in the expense of negotiation ; our 
 manufactures and our commerce would gain im- 
 mensely, since 80,000,000f. which lay unemployed 
 in the treasury would be applicable to the uses of 
 trade." — (Osterode, April 1st. Note to prince Cam- 
 baceres.) 
 
 In Paris itself he ordered the manufacturing of 
 considerable quantities of shoes, boots, materials of 
 harness, and artillery-carriages, to employ the 
 workmen of the capital. The articles made in 
 Paris were of a better quality than those made 
 elsewhere. The only point was how to transmit 
 them to Poland. Napoleon had invented an ex- 
 pedient for this end as simple as it was ingenious. 
 At this epoch a company had contracted for the 
 transport of all army stores, and furnished, at a 
 fixed price, the chests which carried the bread, 
 the baggage, and, in short, all that must be car- 
 ried in the rear of troops, even of those most lightly 
 equipped. 
 
 Napoleon had been struck in the midst of the 
 bogs of Pultusk and of Golymin, with tin: want of 
 zeal in these carriers, enrolled by private parties, 
 and with their want of courage in danger; and as 
 he had organized the drivers of artillery in a mili- 
 tary manner, so he determined also to organize 
 these baggage drivers, thinking that as tin- danger 
 was nearly equal for all those who contributed to 
 the various services of an army, so should all be 
 drawn within tin- same bond of honour, and treated 
 as soldiers, in order to impose the duties of sol- 
 diers upon tin in. lie had, then-fore, ordered bat- 
 talions of the train to be- successively formed in 
 
 Paris, charged with the management of stores, to 
 
 ruct eaissons, to boy draught-hors< s, Slid, 
 
 when the ]„;rs<>nii'-i and unit, rit I of their battalions 
 
 should be organized, tO set them on the road to- 
 wards the Vistula. Instead of travelling empty, 
 new military equipages were to carry the 
 articles of equipment manufactured at Paris. 
 These things might arrive in time, as only two 
 months was necessary for their transport, and it 
 was possible the war might still last live or six. 
 By this course of measures Napoleon proposed to 
 remedy the momentary stagnation of commerce, 
 and to apply the sinews of war in this way to the 
 
 wants of peace. One, in fact, consumes no less 
 than the other; and when money is not wanting, 
 a clever government can furnish workmen with 
 that work to which peace always helps them, 
 and thus husband the means of gaining their 
 livelihood in the midst even of the difficulties of 
 war. 
 
 Such was the multitude of objects with which 
 he occupied himself in the town id' Osterode, living 
 in a sort of barn, from whence he restrained 
 Europe and governed France. But a more conve- 
 nient dwelling was found for him at Finkenstein, 
 which was a country-house belonging to one of the 
 officers of the crown id' Prussia, in which he with 
 his staff and military household could be lodged. 
 There, as at Osterode, he was in the centre of his 
 cantonments, and ready to repair to wherever his 
 presence might be necessary. The portfolios of his 
 several ministers were sent to him weekly, and he 
 devoted his attention to the least as well as the 
 greatest affairs. Even the theatres at this distance 
 did not escape his active surveillance. Some 
 verses and music had been composed in honour 
 of him which he thought bad. By his order 
 others were composed instead, in which he was 
 less lauded, but in which more elevated senti- 
 ments were expressed in more suitable language. 
 The authors of these were thanked and rewarded 
 by his order, and these fine words addressed to 
 them in his name : " The best manner of praising 
 me is by writing such things as will inspire the 
 nation, its youth, and the army, with heroic senti- 
 ments." He read attentively the public journals, 
 and following up the sittings of the French Aca- 
 demy, directed the bad tendencies of the writers 
 to be corrected, and that the discourses delivered 
 at the Academy should be watched. He consi- 
 dered the attacks which the " Journal de l'Em- 
 pire" and the " Mercure de France" made against 
 the philosophers as hurtful. "It is necessary," 
 said he, " to have a clever man at the head of 
 these journals. These two affect religion even to 
 bigotry. Instead of attacking the excesses of the 
 exclusive system of some philosophers, they attack 
 philosophy and human knowledge. Instead of 
 keeping within bounds the productions of the age 
 by a healthy criticism, they discourage them, de- 
 preciate and disparage them ... I speak not of 
 political opinions ; one need not be extraordinarily 
 cunning to see, that, if they dared, theirs would 
 not be more sound than those of the ' Courrier 
 Francais.' " 
 
 The French Academy had held a sitting for tho 
 
 reception of cardinal Maury, who was recalled to 
 France, and replaced in possession of the chair he 
 had formerly occupied. The abbd Sicard, on re- 
 ceiving cardinal Maury, had expressed himself in 
 unbecoming terms in relation to idirabean. The 
 replaced cardinal hail replied in the same strain, 
 and this academical sitting had become an occa- 
 sion for a sort of declamation against the revolu- 
 tion and revolutionists. Napoleon, unpleasantly 
 affected by this, wrote to Folic he tin- minister : " 1 
 recommend to you that there should be no reaction 
 
 of opinion. Let Mirabeau bespoken of with praise. 
 
 Many things in tin' sitting id" the Academy do not 
 please me. When shall we become wise? . . . 
 When shall we be animated with true Christian 
 charity, and when will our actions cease to have
 
 250 
 
 Ideas on female 
 education. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Napoleon's advice to 
 his brothers. 
 
 f 1807. 
 (March. 
 
 for their aim the humiliation of others ? When 
 shall we abstain from reviving remembrances 
 which go to the hearts of so many people?" — 
 (Finkenstein, May '20th.) 
 
 Another time lie learnt from his correspondence 
 of all kinds, for which he paid liberally, and which 
 he read carefully, that the management of the 
 opera was divided by intestine quarrels ; that one 
 of the machinists was persecuted for some change 
 of decoration that had failed. " I will have no 
 trickery any where," he writes to M. Fondie" ; " I 
 
 will not allow Mods. to be the victim of an 
 
 unavoidable accident ; it is my custom to assist 
 the unfortunate ; whether the actresses appear in 
 the clouds or not, I will not allow that to be an 
 occasion for intrigues." — (April 12th.) 
 
 He evinced at the same time the most extreme 
 solicitude for the establishments of education, and 
 particularly for that of Ecouen, where the daugh- 
 ters of poor snldiers were brought up. He wrote 
 to M. de Lacepede that he desired they should be 
 made artless and chaste women, worthy of being 
 united to men who may have served him well 
 either in the army or the government. In order 
 to render them so, it was necessary, according to 
 his idea, that they should be brought up with feel- 
 ings of solid piety. " I have only attached a se- 
 condary importance," said he, " to religious insti- 
 tutions for the school of Fontninebleau. There 
 young officers are to be formed ; but at Ecouen it 
 is quite another thing. There women, wives, mo- 
 thers of families are to be reared. Let us make 
 believers rather than reasoners of such. The 
 weakness of brain in women, the instability of 
 their ideas, their destination in social order, the 
 necessity of inspiring them with constant resigna- 
 tion, with sweet and yielding charity, all tends to 
 render the yoke of religion indispensable for them. 
 My wish is, that virtuous rather than agreeable 
 women may be brought out thence, that their qua- 
 lities be those of the heart rather than of the 
 mind." He consequently recommended that they 
 should be taught history and literature, be spared 
 the study of ancient languages and of the deeper 
 sciences, taught enough of physics to enable them 
 to dissipate from around them popular ignorance, 
 instructed a little in common medicine, botany, 
 music, and dancing, — but not that of the opera; 
 that they be taught cyphering, and all sorts of 
 useful work. " Their apartments," adds he, 
 " should be furnished with the work of their own 
 hands ; they should make their own chemises, 
 stockings, gowns, and caps, — and be able, as 
 occasion requires, to prepare the baby-linen for 
 their children. I wish to make of these young 
 girls useful women, assured that in so doing I 
 shall make them agreeable. If I aim only at 
 making them agreeable women, I shall have them 
 Boon become petites mattresses." — (Finkenstein, May 
 15th.) 
 
 This prodigious activity was sometimes changed 
 from that beneficent watchfulness to the dark mis- 
 trust which cannot but obtain under a new and ab- 
 solute ruler. Napoleon, applying himself to affairs 
 of police, knew who entered and who went from 
 Paris. He had learnt that Mad. de Stnel had re- 
 turned there ; that she had already visited at 
 several country-houses in the environs, and had 
 held more than one hostile discourse. Upon pre- 
 
 tence that if he did not interfere she might coin- 
 promise good citizens, whom he should afterwards 
 have to punish, he had ordered, in spite of many 
 solicitations to the contrary, that she should be ex- 
 pelled Paris. As he distrusted his minister Fouclie", 
 who treated influential persons tenderly, he pre- 
 scribed to him to oblige her to depart instantly, 
 and recommended the archchancellor Cam ba ceres 
 to see to the execution of this order (March 20th). 
 At the same time he was informed that the police 
 had sent out of Paris an old member of the con- 
 vention named Ricord. For this latter no one had 
 solicited, no great personage had interfered on his 
 beli;ilf, for reaction had taken place with every 
 body ; there was neither favour nor humanity for 
 those who were called " revolutionists." "Why," 
 writes Napoleon to his minister Fouche, " drive 
 out of Paris the conventionalist Ricord ? If lie 
 is dangerous, he ought not to have been suffered 
 to re-enter it contrary to the law of the year 
 VIII. But since he has been permitted to return, 
 he ought to be left undisturbed. What he has for- 
 merly done matters little. He conducted himself 
 under the convention like any man wishing to live; 
 he merely fell in with the times. He is in easy 
 circumstances ; lie will not throw himself into any 
 bad affairs for the sake of subsistence. Let him be 
 tolerated then in Paris, at least till strong reasons 
 arise for hindering his remaining there," — (March 
 6th.) 
 
 By this same care of acquainting himself with 
 every thing, he learnt from Messrs. Monge and 
 Laplace, that a scholar, whom he honoured 
 and loved in a particular degree, M. Berthollet, 
 had experienced some reverses of fortune. " I 
 learn," he writes, " that you are in want of 
 150,000f. I have given orders to my treasurer to 
 place this sum at your disposal, glad to find this 
 opportunity of being useful to you, and of giving 
 you a proof of my esteem." — (Finkenstein, May 
 1st.) 
 
 He then addressed fresh advice to his brothers, 
 Lonis and Joseph, on the art of government, one 
 at Naples the other in Holland. He reproached 
 Louis for favouring, from the vanity of an upstart 
 monarch, the party of the ancient regime, the 
 orange party ; for creating marshals without 
 having an army ; for instituting an order which 
 he distributed to all comers, to Frenchmen whom 
 he knew not, and to Dutchmen who had not ren- 
 dered him any service. He reproached Joseph for 
 weakness and negligence ; for being more busied 
 with specious reforms than with the submission of 
 the Calabrians ; for preceding the suppression of 
 the monks, — a measure which he strongly ap- 
 proved, — by a preamble which seemed concocted by 
 philosophers, and not by statesmen. "Such a pre- 
 amble," said he, " ought to have been written in 
 the style of an enlightened pontiff, who was sup- 
 pressing the monks because they were useless to 
 religion and burdensome to the church. I enter- 
 tain a bad opinion of any government, the actimis 
 of which are directed by the folly of wits." — (April 
 14th.) "You live too much," said he to him, 
 " with lettered men and scholars. They are co- 
 quettes, with whom one may keep up an inter- 
 course of gallantry, but among whom one must not 
 think of choosing a wife or a minister." He re- 
 proached him for cherishing illusions as to his
 
 1807. i Correspondence with the 
 March. J king of Naples. • 
 
 FR1EDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Concluding reflec- 
 tions. 
 
 251 
 
 situation at Naples, for flattering himself that lie 
 was beloved, when lie had only, at most, reigned 
 there one year. " Ask yourself," said he to him, 
 "what would become of you, if there were no 
 longer 30,000 French at' Naples ? When you 
 have reigned twenty years, and have made your- 
 self feared and esteemed, then you may believe 
 your throne consolidated." He then painted to 
 him the situation of the French in Poland. " You 
 are now eating green peas at Naples, and perhaps 
 are already seeking the shade : we, on the contrary, 
 are still as if in the month of January. I have 
 opened the trenches before Dantzick. A hundred 
 pieces of cannon, and 200,000 lbs. of powder, are 
 beginning their business there. Our works are 
 but sixty toises from the place, which has a garri- 
 son of 0000 Russians and 20,000 Prussians, com- 
 manded by marshal Kalkreuth. 1 hope to take it 
 in a fortnight .... Rest easy about what may 
 follow." — (Finkenstein, April 19th.) 
 
 Such, in the midst of the snows of Poland, were 
 the various occupations of this extraordinary ge- 
 nius, embracing all things, watching over every 
 thing, aspiring to govern not only his soldiers and 
 his agents, but even men's minds ; wishing not 
 only to act, but to think also for every body ; car- 
 ried geuex-ally towards good, but sometimes, in his 
 
 incessant activity, allowing himself to be drawn 
 into evil, as must happen to any one who is all 
 powerful, and finds no obstacles to his own im- 
 pulses ; preventing by turn reactions and persecu- 
 tions, and then, in the blaze of his greatest glory, 
 sensible to the shafts of an unfriendly tongue, so 
 far as to descend from his greatness to persecute a 
 woman, even on the same day that he could defend 
 a member of the convention from the momentary 
 spirit of reaction. Let us, then, congratulate our- 
 selves that we are at last become subjects to the 
 law, — a law equal for every one, — and which does 
 not expose us to dependence on the good or bad 
 emotions of the souls even of the greatest and 
 most generous. Yes, the law is by far more worth 
 than any human will, be it what it may ! Let us, 
 however, be just towards the will which knew how 
 to accomplish such prodigious things, — which did 
 accomplish them by our hands, — which employed 
 its fertile energy to re-organize French society, to 
 reform Europe, to carry our power and our prin- 
 ciples throughout the world, and which of all it 
 effected for us, if nothing remains to us of power 
 which passeth away, has at least left us glory 
 which passeth not away j and glory sometimes 
 brings back power. 
 
 BOOK XXVII. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 EVENTS OP THE EAST DURING THE WINTER OF 1S07. — THE SULTAN SELTM, AFFRIGHTED BT THE THREATS OF 
 RUSSIA, RE-ESTABLISHES THE 1IOSPODARS IP8ILANT1 AND MARCZZI. — THE RUSSIANS CONTINUE THEIR MARCH 
 XEVERTHELESS TOWARDS THE TURKISH FROSTIER — ON LEARNING THE VIOLATION OF HIS TERRITORY, THE 
 PORTE, EXCITED BY GEN I R.\L SERA -TIANI, SENDS HIS PASSPORTS TO THE RUSSIAN MINISTER, M. 1TALINSKI — 
 THE ENGLISH. I:: AGE! EMENT Villi THE RUSSIANS, DEMAND THE RETURN OF M. ITALINSKI, THE EXPULSION 
 OF GENERAL SEI'.ASTI A N I, AND AN IMMEDIATE D ECL A RATION OF WAR AGAINST FRANCE. — RESI ST ANl E OF THE 
 PORTE, AND RETIKEM I NT OF T ." Ml MINISTER, MR. CHARLES AHUOTIISHT, ON BOARD THE ENGLISH 
 
 FLEET AT TENEDOS. — ADMIRAL DUCKWORTH, WITH SEVEN SAIL OF THE LINE AND TWO FRIGATES, FORCES 
 THE DARDANELLES WITHOUT SI SI \ I '. I • '. ]>\MAGE, AND DESTROYS A TURKISH NAVAL squadron AT CARE 
 NAGARA.— TERROR AT CONSTANT I N o I I.I. Mil. Tl It K I s 11 GOVERNMENT, DIVIDED, IS A ROUT TO YIELD. — GENERAL 
 SEBASTI ' ::V'.l: SULTAN SEI.I.M, AND EN«. vol BIM N I I. 'c.\ A ;. l.i.o , | .\TIOS" IN ORDER TO AFFORD TIME 
 
 TO ARM IK CONSTANTINOPLE. — THE ADVICE ol Tin; I III N( II A M II ASSA HOR IS FOLLOWED, AND CONSTANTINOPLE 
 IS ARMED IN A ir.W DAYS WITH THE HELP OF FRENCH o I 1' 1 { I. US. — (ON FERENCES CARRIED ON BETWEEN THE 
 PORTE AND Til!. BRITISH MIUADHON MOORED AT prince's ISLANDS. — THE CONFERENCES END BY A REFUSAL 
 TO CONCEDE Till. DEMANDS OP THE I'M. I II ILLATION. — ADMIRAL DUCKWORTH PROCEEDS TO CON8TANTI- 
 ■LE, FINDS THE CITY DEIINIiED BY .'iOO PIECES OF CANNON, AND DECIDES UPON REGAINING THE DAIIDA- 
 
 LLKS, II .1 AGAIN, HIT WITH MUCH DAMAGE TO HIS SQUADRON. GREAT llll'T PRODUCED IN 
 
 I.I ROPE BY TIMS EVENT, To 1111. POLITICAL ADVANTAGE OF NAPOLEON. — ALTHOUGH VICTORIOUS, NAPOLEON, 
 STRUCK WITH THE DM I KILT: I MINT NAT! 1:1. OPPOSES TO II I M IN POLAND, RETURNS TO THE IDEA OF A 
 
 GRAND I' VI. ALLIANCE.— HE MM.ES NEW I.IEORTS TO PENETRAiE 1 N Til THE SECRET OF THE AUS- 
 
 TRIAN POLICY. — THE CODR1 "I I'. REPLY TO HIS QUESTIONS, OFFERS HER MEDIATION WITH THE 
 
 BKLI.IGI RENT POWER ■.— NAPOI..' ■ IN THIS OFFER A MODI. Of HER INTERMEDDLING IN THE QUARREL, 
 
 AND OF BBS PREPARATION FOR WAR. — HE IMMEDIATELY CALLS OUT A THIRD CONSCRIPTION, DRAWN FROM 
 THE NEW FORCES OF FRANCE AND ITALY, CREATES WITH EXTRAORDINARY PROMPTITUDE AN ARMY OF 
 RESERVE 01 100,000 MEN, AND MAKES A COMMUNICATION ou Ills MEASURE-, TO A I SIR I A.— FLOURISH ING STATE 
 OP THE FRENCH ARMY ON THE LOWER VISTULA AND PASSARGE. — WINTER, FOR A LONG TIME RETARDED, IS 
 SHARPLY FELT. — NAPOLEON PROFITS II Y THE TIME OF INACTION TO UNDERTAKE TnE SIEGE. OF DANTZICK. —
 
 252 
 
 Affairs of Turkey. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Aid proffered to 
 Sultan Selim. 
 
 f 1807. 
 \Maroh. 
 
 MARSHAL LEFEBVRE CHARGED WITH THE COMMAND OF THE TROOPS, AND GENERAL CHASSELOUP WITH THE 
 DIRECTION OF THE ENGINEERS. — LONG AND DIFFICULT LABOURS IN THAT MEMORABLE SIEGE. — THE TWO SOVE- 
 REIGNS OF PRUSSIA AND RUSSIA DECIDE UPON SF.NDING POWERFUL SUCCOURS TO DANTZICK. — NAPOLEON ON HIS 
 SIDE DISPOSES OF HIS CORPS IN SUCH A MANNER AS TO BE ABLE TO REINFORCE MARSHAL LEFEBVRE AT ANY 
 
 MOMENT. FINE COMBAT UNDER THE WALLS OF DANTZICK. — LAST WORKS OF APPROACH. — THE FRENCH ARE 
 
 READY TO GIVE THE ASSAULT. — THE CITY IS SURRENDERED. — IMMENSE RESOURCES IN CORN AND WINE FOUND 
 IN DANTZICK. — MARSHAL LEFEBVRE CREATED DUKE OF DANTZICK. — THE RETURN OF SPRING DECIDES NAPO- 
 LEON ON RESUMING THE OFFENSIVE. — THE RENEWAL OF OPERATIONS FIXED FOR THE 10TH OF JUNE, 1807. — 
 THE RUSSIANS PRECEDE THE FRENCH, AND ON THE 5lH OF JUNE MAKE A GENERAL ATTACK AGAINST THE 
 FRENCH CANTONMENTS ON THE PASSARGE. — MARSHAL NEY, AGAINST WHOM TWO-THIRDS OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY 
 PRESSES, MAKES HEAD AGAINST THEM BETWEEN GUTTSTADT AND DEPPEN WITH HEROIC INTREPIDITY. — THE 
 MARSHAL GIVES TIME TO NAPOLEON TO CONCENTRATE THE WHOLE FRENCH ARMY ON DEPPEN. — NAPOLEON IN 
 HIS TURN TAKES A VIGOROUS OFFENSIVE MOVEMENT, AND PRESSES THE RUSSIANS CLOSELY. — GENERAL BEN- 
 NINGSEN RETIRES PRECIPITATELY TOWARDS THE PREGEL, DESCENDING THE ALLE. — NAPOLEON MARCHES IN 
 SUCH A MANNER AS TO INTERPOSE BETWEEN THE RUSSIAN ARMY AND KCENIGSBERG. — THE ADVANCE OF THE 
 FRENCH ARMY ENCOUNTERS THE RUSSIAN ARMY ENCAMPED AT HEILSBERG. — SANGUINARY CONFLICT ON THE 
 10TH OF JUNE. — NAPOLEON, REACHING HEILSBERG IN THE EVENING WITH THE MAIN BODY OF HIS FORCES, 
 PREPARES TO GIVE A DECISIVE BATTLE ON THE MORROW, WHEN THE RUSSIANS DECAMP. — HE CONTINUES TO 
 MANCSUVRE IN SUCH A MANNER AS TO CUT THEM OFF FROM KCENIGSBERG. — HE SENDS THE LEFT, UNDER 
 MARSHALS SOULT AND DAVOUT, UPON KCENIGSBERG, AND WITH THE CORPS OF MARSHALS LANNES, MORTIER, 
 NEY, BERNADOTTE, AND THE GUARD, HE FOLLOWS THE RUSSIAN ARMY ALONG THE ALLE. — GENERAL BEN- 
 NINGSEN, FEARFUL OF THE FATE OF KCENIGSBERG, WISHES TO HASTEN TO THE SUCCOUR OF THAT PLACE, AND 
 IN HASTE PASSES THE ALLE AT FRIEDLAND. — NAPOLEON SURPRISES HIM ON THE 14TH, IN THE MORNING, AT 
 THE MOMENT WHEN HE PASSED THE RIVER. — MEMORABLE BATTLE OF FRIEDLAND. — THE RUSSIANS, BEATEN, 
 RETIRE UPON THE NIEMEN, AND ABANDON KCENIGSBERG. — TAKING OF KCENIGSBERG. — ARMISTICE OFFERED BY 
 THE RUSSIANS AND ACCEPTED BY NAPOLEON. — MOVEMENT OF THE FRENCH HE AD-QUARTERS TO Til SIT. — 
 INTERVIEW BETWEEN ALEXANDER AND NAPOLEON, ON A RAFT PLACED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIEMEN. — 
 NAROLEON INVITES ALI XANDER TO PASS THE NIEMEN, AND FIX HIS SOJOURN AT TILSIT. — A PROMPT INTI- 
 MACY TAKES PLACE BETWEEN THESE TWO SOVEREIGNS. — NAPOLEON MASTERS THE MIND OF ALEXANDER, AND 
 OBTAINS HIS ACCEPTANCE OF HIS VAST DESIGNS, WHICH CONSIST IN CONSTRAINING EUROPE TO TAKE ARMS 
 AGAINST ENGLAND, IF SHE WILL NOT CONSENT TO AN EQUITABLE PEACE. — THE PARTITION OF THE TURKISH 
 EMPIRE WAS TO BE THE PRICE OF ALEXANDER'S COMPLIANCE. — CONTEST ON THE SUBJECT OF CONSTAN- 
 TINOPLE. — ALEXANDER FINISHES BY ADHERING TO ALL THE DESIGNS OF NAPOLEON, AND APPEARS TO CON- 
 CEIVE FOR HIM A WARM FRIENDSHIP. — NAPOLEON, OUT OF CONSIDERATION FOR ALEXANDER, CONSENTS TO 
 RESTORE TO THE KING OF PRUSSIA A PART OF KIS DOMINIONS. — THE KING OF PRUSSIA COMES TO TILSIT. — 
 HIS CHARACTER BETWEEN ALEXANDER AND NAPOLEON. — THE QUEEN OF PRUSSIA ALSO VISITS TILSIT, TO 
 ENDEAVOUR TO OBTAIN FROM NAPOLEON SOME CONCESSIONS FAVOURABLE TO PRUSSIA. — NAPOLEON, RESPECTFUL 
 TOWARDS THIS UNHAPPY QUEEN, REMAINS INFLEXIBLE. — CONCLUSION OF THE NEGOTIATIONS. — PATENT AND 
 SECRET TREATIES OF TILSIT. — SECRET CONVENTIONS REMAINING UNKNOWN IN EUROPE. — NAPOLEON AND 
 ALEXANDER AGREE ON ALL THE POINTS, AND QUIT, GIVING EACH OTHER STRIKING TESTIMONIES OF FRIEND- 
 SHIP, AND MAKING EACH OTHER PROMISES TO MEET AGAIN SOON. — RETURN OF NAPOLEON TO FRANCE, AFTER 
 AN ABSENCE OF NEARLY A YEAR. — HIS GLORY AFTER TILSIT. — CHARACTER OF HIS POLICY AT THIS PERIOD. 
 
 While Napoleon, quartered on the Lower Vistula, 
 was awaiting in the midst of the snows of Poland 
 for the return of fine weather to permit him to re- 
 sume the offensive, and was employing the time of 
 this apparent inaction in besieging Dantzick, in 
 recruiting his army, and governing his vast domi- 
 nions, the east, recently drawn into the quarrels of 
 the west, brought useful aid to his side, and pro- 
 cured a brilliant triumph for his policy. 
 
 The sultan Selim, the nobleness of his charac- 
 ter, and his mental acquirements, have already 
 been made known ; also the embarrassment of his 
 situation has been shown between Russia and 
 England that he disliked, and France, which from 
 taste, instinct, and foresight, he loved ; for he 
 knew well enough that the latter, even in her 
 wildest ambition, would never covet Constantino- 
 ple. It remains for us to detail what happened 
 while the French army fought in December the 
 battle of Pultusk, and in February that of Eylau. 
 
 The sultan Selim, it has been seen, had begun 
 by deposing the hospodars of Wallachia and Mol- 
 davia, Maruzzi and Ipsilanti, notorious partisans 
 of Russian policy. But M. d'ltalinski, shortly 
 threatening him with an immediate rupture, if he 
 did not re-establish them in their governments, he 
 had yielded to the threats of the Russian repre- 
 
 sentative, and had given up the government of the 
 provinces of the Danube to these two avowed ene- 
 mies of his empire. Russia had, to force this con- 
 cession, urged the treaty of Cainardgd, which gave 
 her a certain right of interference in the govern- 
 ment of Moldavia and Wallachia. Scarcely had 
 the sultan obeyed, more in deference to the will of 
 his ministers than his own, than he wrote to Napo- 
 leon, to solicit his indulgence, and to assure him 
 that the act to which he had allowed himself to be 
 driven, was not an abandonment of the French 
 alliance, but rather a measure of prudence en- 
 forced by the frightful disorganization of the 
 Turkish forces. Napoleon had replied to him 
 forthwith ; and, far from discouraging him by any 
 manifestations of discontent, pitied, flattered, and 
 revived him, offering him the double assistance of 
 the French army of Dalmatia, which could operate 
 through Bosnia upon the Lower Danube, and of 
 the French fleet at Cadiz, which was ready to sail 
 from the coasts of Spain towards the Dardanelles. 
 This fleet, as soon as it had passed the Bosphorus, 
 being protected by the straits, would become mis- 
 tress of the Black Sea, and give from thence great 
 support to the Turks. While in expectation of 
 this assistance, Napoleon had dispatched several 
 artillery and engineer officers from Dalmatia, to
 
 1807. \ The Russians invaJe 
 March.) Turkey. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Perplexity of the 
 Turks. 
 
 253 
 
 second the Turks in their defence of Constan- 
 tinople and the Dardanelles. 
 
 General Se'bastiani, making skilful use of the 
 means at his disposal, had incessantly stimulated 
 the sultan and his divan, so as to bring them to 
 declare war against the Russians. He vaunted to 
 them the prodigious success of Napoleon in the 
 plains of the north, his daring march beyond the 
 Vistula, his grand project for the re-establishment 
 of Poland ; and he promised, in the emperor's 
 name, that if the Porte would take up arms, he 
 would procure for her the revocation of those trea- 
 ties which placed her in dependence on Russia, and 
 perhaps even the restitution of the Crimea. 
 
 The sultan Selim would have willingly followed 
 the counsels of general Se'bastiani, but his minis- 
 ters were divided ; half of them, bought over to 
 the Russians and the English, were openly trai- 
 tors ; the other half trembled at the consideration 
 of the powerless state into which the Ottoman 
 empire had fallen. Although this empire still 
 counted more than 300,1)00 soldiers, for the 
 greater part barbarians, and some half-civilized, 
 and a fleet of fcwi nty sail, well enough for show ; 
 these forces, as badly organized as they were 
 badly officered, could scarcely be opposed to the 
 Russians and the English, unless, indeed, French 
 officers, being admitted into the ranks of the 
 Turkish army, were at length to communicate 
 European tactics to the troops, who were, doubt- 
 l.rave enough, hut whose fanaticism, cooled 
 by time, could not, as formerly, he opposed to the 
 resources of military science. While the Porte 
 was involved in these perplexities, the Russians 
 put an end to all uncertainty by crossing the 
 Dniester, even after the re-establishment of the 
 two hospodars. The invincible attraction which 
 drew them on towards Constantinople had silenced 
 all considerations of prudence. It was, in fact, a 
 great fault to employ 50,000 men against the 
 Turks, while they had upon their hands the 
 French army, to which they could scarcely oppose 
 '2(10,000. But in the course of the vicissitudes of 
 tins age, the idea of profiting by any opportunity 
 to take what was convenient to it, seems to have 
 hern the predominant idea of every government 
 The Russians, therefore, conceived, that the mo- 
 ment was come when they might possess them- 
 selves ofWallachia and Moldavia. The English 
 on their side wen- not sorry of any pretext for 
 again making their appearance in Egypt. If nei- 
 ther of them as yet contemplated immediately 
 
 dividing the Turkish empire,— a subject which 
 might appear very difficult tor them to agree upon, 
 
 —they were at hast agreed on snatching the Porte 
 from the influence of Prance, and tearing her 
 
 away from this influence by force. The Russians 
 
 were to pass the Dni'-st. r, and the English the 
 
 Dardanelles. At the same time a fleet was to 
 
 attack Alexandria. 
 
 This explains how tin- Russians could have 
 
 l tie- Dniester, even after the re-establish- 
 ment of the hospodars. They had marched in 
 three bodies, — one directed on Chocsim, another on 
 
 Render, and tin: third upon Yassi. Th. ir project 
 was to advance upon Bucharest, there to j .in the 
 revolted Servians. Their active forces amounted 
 to 40,000 men, and to 50,000, reckoning the re- 
 serves left behind. 
 
 While the Russians were in action on their 
 side, the English admiralty had ordered vice- 
 admiral Louis to betake himself with three vessels 
 towards the Dardanelles, to pass them without 
 committing any hostile act, which he could do, as 
 the Turks at that epoch permitted the passage of 
 armed vessels belonging to Russia and to England, 
 simply to take observations of the places, to gather 
 the families of the English merchants who might 
 wish not to remain at Constantinople during the 
 events with which it was threatened, and after- 
 wards return to Tenedos, and wait for two divi- 
 sions, one that admiral sir Sidney Smith was 
 bringing from the Levantine seas, and the other 
 that admiral Duckworth was bringing from Gib- 
 raltar. The three divisions, eight ships in strength, 
 with several frigates, corvettes, and bomb-vessels, 
 were to be placed under the command of admiral 
 Duckworth, and to act upon the requisition of 
 Mr. Arbuthnot, the ambassador of England at 
 Constantinople. 
 
 When this display of forces by land and by sea 
 was known to the Turks, both by the march of the 
 Russians beyond the Dniester, and the appearance 
 of vice-admiral Louis at the Dardanelles, they 
 looked on war as inevitable, and they accepted it, 
 some with enthusiasm, others with terror. Al- 
 though Russia protested strongly that her inten- 
 tions were harmless, and declared that her troops 
 were about to take peaceable occupation of the 
 Danubian provinces only to insure the execution 
 of treaties, the Porte would not suffer itself to 
 be deceived, and furnished passports to M. d'lta- 
 linski. The two straits were immediately closed 
 to the armed flag of all powers. The pachas situ- 
 ated in the frontier provinces received orders to 
 unite their troops ; and Mustapha Bara'ictar, at 
 the head of !10,000 men, was charged to punish the 
 Russians for their contempt of the Turkish army, 
 since it was so far shown as that they had in- 
 vaded the empire with less than 50,000. 
 
 M. d'ltalinski had departed, but Mr. Charles 
 Arbuthnot, the English minister, remained at Con- 
 stantinople, as it was not as yet resolved to dismiss 
 him, since no act of hostility had been committed 
 by the British forces. Mr. Arbuthnot, in his turn, 
 assumed a menacing attitude, and demanded the 
 racal of [talinski, the expulsion of general Se'bas- 
 tiani, the immediate adoption of a hostile policy 
 towards 1'" ranee, a renewal of the treaties by which 
 tie- Porte was bound to England and Russia, and, 
 in short, the tree passage of the straits to the British 
 flag. 1 1 was not possible under the existing state 
 of tilings to push the arrogance of language fur- 
 ther. Mr. Charles Arbutlinol even declared, that if 
 his conditions were not instantly accepted, his with- 
 drawal should follow close upon that of M. d'lta- 
 linski, and that he should repair on hoard the Eng- 
 lish Squadron, then united at Tenedos, to bring it 
 ill full force Under the walls of Constantinople. 
 This threat, cast the divan into the most profound 
 consternation. The Turlvs could scarcely reckon 
 upon the fortifications of the Dardanelles, for so long 
 a time neglected, and the Dardanelles passed, they 
 shuddered at the idea of an English sipiadron, in 
 
 possession of tin - sea oi Marmora, overwhelming 
 with its tin- tin- seraglio, St. Sophia, and the arse- 
 nal of Constantinople. 
 
 Thus the inclination to yield was general. But
 
 'J54 
 
 The English minister 
 quits the Porte. 
 
 THIERS* CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The Dardanelles 
 described. 
 
 f 1807. 
 \ March. 
 
 the skilful ambassador -who then represented France 
 at Constantinople, and who had the advantage of 
 being at once a soldier and a diplomatist, sustained 
 the failing courage of the Turks. He pointed out 
 to them all the bad results which would in sucli 
 circumstances attend a pusillanimous conduct. He 
 brought before their eves the coincidence of the 
 projects of England and of Russia ; the agreement 
 of their endeavours to invade the Ottoman terri- 
 tory by land and by sea ; the approaching junction, 
 under the very walls of the capital, of a Russian 
 army and an English fleet; the danger of a total 
 partition of the empire, or at least of its partial 
 dismemberment by the simultaneous occupation 
 of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Egypt. He exalted 
 highly the name of Napoleon, his victories, his 
 presence on the Vistula, and the advantages which 
 they must find in his alliance. He announced the 
 sendinz of considerable assistance with the least 
 delay, and promised the restoration of the ancient 
 Ottoman power, if the Turks would but for a 
 time display their wonted courage. These exhorta- 
 tions reaching the sultan and divers members of 
 the government, sometimes by direct and some- 
 limes by well chosen indirect means, seconded 
 besides by the evidence of danger, and by news 
 arriving from time to time of the triumphant 
 march of Napoleon, produced the effect which 
 might have been looked for; and the divan, after 
 numberless alternatives of better or worse terms, 
 terminated the negotiation by refusing to accede 
 to the demands of Mr. Charles Arbuthnot, and 
 showing the long deferred determination of letting 
 him depart. 
 
 The English minister quitted Constantinople on 
 the 29th of January, and embarked on board the 
 Endymion to join the squadron commanded by sir 
 Jnlm Duckworth, which was moored at Tenedos, 
 without the Dardanelles. Mr. Charles Arbuthnot 
 did not for a whole fortnight cease to threaten the 
 Porte with the thunders of the British squadron, 
 and thus employed iu negotiation the time that 
 admiral Duckworth was employed in waiting for 
 a favourable wind. On his part, general Se'bas- 
 tiani, after having brought the Porte to an ener- 
 getic resolution, had a still more difficult task to 
 fulfil towards her, to awaken her from apathy, to 
 conquer her negligence, to induce her, in short, to 
 raise batteries, both on the straits and at Constan- 
 tinople. This was no easy matter with an incapa- 
 ble government, long since fallen into a sort of im- 
 becility, and paralyzed at that moment much more 
 by the fear of the English vessels tlnm by that of 
 the Russian armies. However, pressing by turns 
 the sultan and his ministers, and assisted by his 
 aides-de-camp M. de Lascoms and M. Coigny, he 
 got them to commence an armament, which, though 
 very imperfect, yet, nevertheless, caused some ap- 
 prehensions to the English admiral, who wrote to 
 his government, that the operation, without bi ing 
 impossible, would jet be much more difficult than 
 was supposed in London. 
 
 At length, all the correspondence bet veen Mr. 
 Arbuthnot and the reis-effendi having led to no 
 end, and the long wished for wind from the south- 
 ward beginning to blow, admiral Duckworth set 
 sail, on the morning of the lthh of January, to- 
 wards the castles of the Dardanelles. 
 
 There is no position in the world better known, 
 
 even to men the least versed in geographical know- 
 ledge, than that of Constantinople, situated in the 
 middle of the sea of Marmora, which is a close 
 sea, and to which there is no access but by forcing 
 the Dardanelles or the Bosphorus. On approaching 
 from the Mediterranean, it is necessary to go up 
 the strait of the Dardanelles for a do^en leagues,— 
 a strait which, from its close shores and continual 
 current, resembles a large river, and through it, to 
 open out into the sea of Marmora, twenty leagues 
 in width and thirty in length. There, seated on a 
 fine promontory, washed on one of its sides by the 
 sea of Marmora itself, and on the other by the 
 river, is seen the immortal city which was Byzan- 
 tium under the Greeks, Constantinople under the 
 Romans, and under the Turks Stamboul, — the 
 metropolis of Islamism. Seen from the sea, it 
 presents an amphitheatre of mosques and of 
 moorish palaces, among which are distinguished 
 the domes of St. Sophia; and all at once, at the 
 end of the promontory which it occupies, the 
 seraglio is seen, where the descendants of Maho- 
 met, plunged in effeminacy, slept beside the dan- 
 gers of a bombardment, since their cowardly inca- 
 pacity no longer knew how to defend the Bospho- 
 rus and the Dardanelles, those two gates of their 
 empire which it was so easy, nevertheless, to keep 
 shut. 
 
 When the Dardanelles are cleared, the sea of 
 Marmora traversed, and the promontory passed 
 upon which Constantinople is seated, a second 
 strait discovers itself more narrow and more de- 
 fensible than the Dardanelles, only seven leagues 
 long, the shores of which so closely approach each 
 other, that a squadron would be certainly de- 
 stroyed if it were well defended. This strait is 
 that of the Bosphorus, and leads into the Black 
 Sea. The Dardanelles are for the Turkish empire, 
 the gate opening on the side towards England, the 
 Bosphorus the gate opening towards Russia. But 
 if the Russians have against them the narrow 
 dimensions of the Bosphorus, the English have the 
 tide against them, for it continually runs from the 
 Black Sea towards the Mediterranean. 
 
 Admiral Duckworth, having under his command 
 the two vice -admirals Louis and sir Sidney Smith, 
 with seven vessels of the line, two frigates, and nu- 
 merous corvettes and bomb-vessels, ascended, in 
 olie column, the straits of the Dardanelles. They 
 had the night before lost a vessel, the Ajax, by 
 fire. The wind favourable, they soon passed the 
 first part of the channel, which flows from the 
 west to the east, and which is so extensive that the 
 inhabitants of the surrounding shores never thought 
 of defending it. From Cape Barbierre to Sestos 
 anil Abydos, the channel deviates to the north, 
 and then becomes so straight that it is extremely 
 hazardous to encounter the cross fire from the 
 shore. It there turns again to the east, and pre- 
 sents an elbow, on which are two formidable bat- 
 leries, the fire from which takes vessels longi- 
 tudinally (rakes them), in such a manner that a 
 squadron sufficiently bold to attempt forcing the 
 passage is exposed right and left to the batteries 
 of Europe and Asia, and in front to those of Sestos, 
 while sailing, for more than the space of a league. 
 It is at the entrance and the end of this straight 
 elianiel that the castles of the Dardanelles, pro- 
 perly so called, are situated, constructed of old
 
 1807. 1 
 March. I' 
 
 The English fleet passes 
 the strait. 
 
 FIIIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Napoleon writes to 
 the Porte. 
 
 255 
 
 masonry, and armed witli targe, heavy, and almost 
 
 unmanageable artillery, which discharges enor- 
 mous masses of stone, and was anciently the 
 terror of Christian mariners. 
 
 The English fleet, despite the efforts made by 
 general Sebastiani to excite the Turks to the de- 
 fence of the Dardanelles, had not much danger to 
 encounter. Not one of their masts was destroyed. 
 Their only misfortune was a few torn sails, and 
 ahout sixty men killed or wounded. Arrived at 
 Cape Nagara, at the entrance to the sea of Mar- 
 mora, they came upon a Turkish squadron at 
 anchor, which was composed of a vessel of sixty- 
 four guns, four small frigates, and two corvettes. 
 It was impossible to place this division in a worse 
 position, or more unserviceably than there. It 
 could not have been useful, miles--', well placed and 
 well directed, it had joined its force to that of the 
 batteries on shore. But inactive during the pas- 
 sage and after it, confined to an anchorage without 
 defence, it was a prey spared to the English to 
 indemnify them for the fire they had been forced 
 to endure without being able to make a return. 
 Sir Sidney Smith was ordered to destroy it, which 
 was not difficult, as the greater part of the orew 
 were on shore. In a few moments the Turkish 
 vessels ran aground. The English followed them 
 in their boats, and not being certain of taking 
 them back, on their return they chose rather to 
 burn them immediately, with the exception of a 
 single corvette, which was left at anchor. This 
 last operation, nevertheless, cost them thirty men. 
 
 On the morning of the 21st of February they 
 appeared before the city of Constantinople, the 
 inhabitants of which were terrilied at beholding 
 an enemy's fleet, from whose fire they could not 
 remove nor offer it resistance. One part of the 
 trembling population demanded an agreement with 
 the terms of the English, the other half, indignant, 
 exclaimed with rage against such a measure. The 
 women of the seraglio, who were the first to be 
 exposed to the bullets of admiral Duckworth, 
 troubled with their waitings the imperial palace. 
 The alternatives of weakness and courage re- 
 appeared in the bosom of the divan. The sultan 
 Seliin wished to resist; but the clamours with 
 which he was assailed, the counsels of some un- 
 faithful ministers, brought forward to induce him 
 to yield, a want of resources, of which they were 
 themselves the guilty authors, — all contributed to 
 shake the resolution of a heart more noble than 
 energetic. Hut the French ambassador Hew to 
 Selim, made him, his ministers, and all the e who 
 surrounded him, blush at the idea of surrendering 
 
 to a fleet which was possessed of no land forces, 
 ;illd which COUld at most burn a few houses, or 
 
 iiierce the roof of an edifice, and which would soon 
 lie obliged to retire after committing useless and 
 odious ravages. He advised them to resist the 
 English, to gain time by means of a feigned nego- 
 tiation ; to send the women, the court, all who 
 trembled, all who lamented tin: stale of things, to 
 
 Adrianople, and to make use of the courageous 
 
 portion of the people for raising batteries at the 
 ft-raglio point, and, that done, to treat with the 
 
 British fhet protected by their own guns. 
 
 The pretensions of the English were of a nature 
 to sustain, by their severity and arrogance, the 
 counsels of general Sebastiani. Mr. Arbulhnot, to 
 
 whom the admiral found himself subordinate in all 
 political matters, had wished to address a previous 
 summons to the Porte, demanding the expulsion 
 of the French legation, an immediate declaration 
 of war against France, the entire surrender of the 
 whole of the Turkish fleet, and the occupation of 
 the forts of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles by the 
 English and Russians. To grant such requests 
 was to place the empire, its navy, and the keys of 
 the capital, at the discretion of their enemies by 
 sea and land. Whilst awaiting the answer, the 
 English cast anchor at the Prince's Isles, situated 
 near the coast of Asia, at some distance from Con- 
 stantinople. 
 
 General Sebastiani did not fail to point out to 
 the sultan and his ministers the shame and danger 
 to which they would expose themselves in submit- 
 ting to such conditions. Happily, a courier from 
 the borders of the Vistula arrived at the very mo- 
 ment, bringing a letter from Napoleon full of warm 
 expostulations with the sultan. " Generous Selim," 
 lie wrote, '• show yourself worthy the descendants 
 of Mahomet. The hour is at hand for freeing 
 yourself from treaties which oppress you. I am 
 near you, occupied with the reconstitution of 
 Poland, your friend and ally. One of my armies 
 is ready to descend the Danube, and to take the 
 R issians in the flank while you attack them in 
 front. One of my fleets is about leaving Toulon to 
 guard your capital and the Black Sea. Courage, 
 then, for never will you find a similar occasion of 
 raising your empire, and making your memory 
 illustrious!" These exhortations, although not 
 new, could not have arrived at a more fitting time. 
 The heart of Selim, reanimated by the words of 
 Napoleon, and the pressing solicitations of general 
 •Sebastiani, was filled with the noblest sentiments, 
 lie spoke energetically to his ministers. He con- 
 voked the divan and the ulemas ; he communicated 
 to them tin; proposals of the English, which filled 
 the hearts of all with indignation, and it was una- 
 nimously resolved to resist the English fleet, what- 
 ever attempts it might make, hut always to observe 
 the aide advice of general Sebastiani, — that is to 
 say, to endeavour to gain time by conferences, and 
 to employ the time gained in raising formidable 
 batteries around Constantinople. 
 
 They instantly commenced by replying to Mr. 
 Aihuthnot, that without examining the grounds of 
 his proposals they would not. hear them, unless the 
 English fleet should lake up a less threatening 
 position, as it did not suit the dignity of the Porto 
 to ili liberate Under the cannon id' the enemy. A 
 
 day at least was necessary to reach the Prince's 
 
 Isles from Constantinople and to return. A few 
 slight communications sufficed, therefore, to gain 
 the desired number of days. When the reply of 
 
 the Porte arrived, Mr. Arbuthnot had been sud- 
 denly taken ill, but his influence continued to pre- 
 
 l lerate among the stall' of the English fleet. 
 
 The admirals felt as he did, thai to bombard Con- 
 stantinople was a barbarous enterprise, as having 
 
 no land forces, they WOttld be nbligi d, should the 
 Turks resist, to retire alter Committing useless 
 ravages ; still more, that they Would be obliged, in 
 
 retreating -again, to force the Dardanelles with a 
 
 Heel pei baps disabled, and to pass batteries most 
 probably better defended the second .time than 
 they had been the fust. They therefore judged it
 
 256 
 
 Constantinople 
 fortified. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The English repass 
 the Dardanelles. 
 
 f 1807. 
 (.March. 
 
 wisest to endeavour to obtain by intimidation, 
 without attempting a bombardment, all or part of 
 their demands. The remission of the Turkish fleet 
 was the trophy which they the most desired. In 
 consequence, admiral Duckworth, replacing Mr. 
 Arbuthnot on account of the indisposition of the 
 latter, replied to the Turks that he was ready to 
 remove to a place better fitted for negotiations, 
 and he demanded the immediate appointment of 
 one, in order that he might send an officer there. 
 The Porte did not hasten to answer this communi- 
 cation ; and the next day, Kadikoi, the ancient 
 Chalcedon, was proposed, situated above Scutari, 
 and opposite Constantinople. In the state of exas- 
 peration in which the Turks then were, that place 
 was neither the most secure nor the most conve- 
 nient for the English officer who should be charged 
 with the duties required. Admiral Duckworth re- 
 marked this, and claimed another spot, menacing 
 them with instant action if they did not speedily 
 open the negotiation. 
 
 Several days had been gained by means of these 
 illusory conferences, and they had been employed 
 at Constantinople in the most active manner. 
 Some officers of artillery and of engineers detached 
 from the army of Dalmatia had arrived. General 
 Se'bastiani, seconded by them, encamped himself in 
 the midst of the Turks. The entire legation had 
 followed. Those belonging to it versed in the lan- 
 guage served as interpreters. With the concur- 
 rence of the population and the French officers, 
 formidable batteries rose, as by enchantment, at 
 the point of the seraglio, and that part of the city 
 which coasts the sea of Marmora. Nearly 300 
 cannon, drawn by an enthusiastic people who at 
 that moment looked upon the French as saviours, 
 were placed on the batteries. The sultan Seiim, 
 delighted at the sight of the preparations so 
 promptly executed, ordered a tent to be pitched 
 for himself beside that of the French ambassador, 
 and commanded his ministers to place themselves 
 each in one of the batteries. Constantinople ap- 
 peared every hour more imposing, while the Eng- 
 lish saw fresh embrasures opening, in the midst 
 of which the muzzles of cannon were exhibited. 
 After seven or eight days spent in this manner, 
 the fear that at first restrained the English, that 
 of a useless devastation, perhaps a dangerous one, 
 followed by a second passage of the Dardanelles 
 more difficult than at first, appeared every instant 
 better founded. Perceiving that he gained no- 
 thin" by waiting, admiral Duckworth sent a last 
 summons, in which, taking care to reduce his de- 
 mands, and increase his threats, he contented him- 
 self with exacting the remission of the Turkish 
 fleet, and declared that he would bring the English 
 fleet before Constantinople if they did not immedi- 
 ately appoint a fit place for negotiation. At this 
 time, the preparations being nearly terminated at 
 Constantinople, they returned for answer to the 
 English admiral, that in the existing state of 
 affairs they did not know a single place sufficiently 
 secure to guarantee the life of the negotiators that 
 might be sent there. 
 
 After such an answer, nothing remained but to 
 commence the cannonade. But admiral Duck- 
 worth's squadron only numbered seven vessels and 
 two frigates : he beheld levelled against him a 
 fearful mass of artillery, and he was warned that 
 
 the passes of the Dardanelles, owing to the care of 
 the French, bristled with cannon. He had, there- 
 fore, the certainty of committing upon Constan- 
 tinople a barbarous act without any object or 
 excuse, and to arrive, with a disabled fleet, before 
 straits become much more dangerous to pass. In 
 consequence, after remaining eleven days in the 
 sea of Marmora, he weighed anchor on the 2nd of 
 March, presented himself in battle order under 
 the walls of Constantinople, ran his broadsides 
 almost within cannon-shot range, and after having 
 found that he did not intimidate the Turks, well 
 prepared to defend themselves, he cast anchor at 
 the entrance of the Dardanelles, intending to pass 
 them on the morrow. If vexation and confusion 
 reigned on board the English fleet, the most lively 
 joy pervaded Constantinople at the sight of the 
 enemy's sails disappearing on the horizon in the 
 direction of the Dardanelles. The French and 
 Turks congratulated each other on the happy re- 
 sult of a courageous moment with all the enthu- 
 siasm of success. The Turkish fleet, which had 
 been promptly equipped, wished to set sail and 
 follow the English. General Se'bastiani endea- 
 voured in vain to prevent this imprudence, which 
 might furnish occasion to admiral Duckworth for 
 rendering his retreat brilliant by the destruction 
 of the Ottoman fleet. But the cries of the people 
 and the animation of the crews were such, that 
 the government was as incapable of resisting the 
 effects of courage as it had been those of cow- 
 ardice, and was obliged to consent to its depar- 
 ture. The captain pacha weighed anchor, whilst 
 the English, hastening their retreat, were, without 
 being aware of it, leaving behind the triumph 
 which was seeking them. 
 
 The next day, the 3rd of March, the English 
 fleet arrived in the narrowest and most dangerous 
 part of the Dardanelles. The few French officers 
 which it had been possible to send there, had 
 aroused the zeal of the Turks with as much success 
 as at Constantinople. The batteries were repaired 
 and well served. Unhappily, the artillery, heavily 
 mounted on bad carriages, was very unmanageable 
 in the hands of clumsy artillerymen. Notwith- 
 standing, they discharged a number of marble 
 blocks, more than two feet in diameter, upon the 
 English fleet, which, had they been well directed, 
 might have done great mischief. The English, 
 thanks to the north wind, were only an hour and 
 a half in passing the straight part of the chan- 
 nel, from Cape Nagara to the Cape Barbierre. 
 They behaved with the valour common to their 
 navy, but they received great damage. Some of 
 their ships were pierced by these immense mis- 
 siles, which would certainly have sunk them had 
 they been hollow and charged with powder, as those 
 used in similar circumstances are now. The 
 greater part of their vessels, on leaving the strait, 
 were in a state that required prompt repairs. 
 This second passage cost the English more than 
 900 men dead or wounded, a small loss compared 
 to the carnage of great land battles, but not 
 without importance if put in comparison to that 
 usual in sea-fights. While the English division 
 was leaving the Dardanelles, admiral Siniavin 
 arrived at Tenedos with a Russian squadron of six 
 vessels. He made the most pressing entreaties to 
 admiral Duckworth to induce him to recommence
 
 1807. \ 
 March. / 
 
 Effect of the battle of 
 E>lau. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Negotiation* with Pruuia. 257 
 
 operations. But after the cheek lie had just 
 received, a new attempt would have been extra- 
 vagant; for six Russian vessels would not have 
 sensibly changed the situation of affairs, nor les- 
 sened the difficulty '. 
 
 Such was the end given to this enterprise by the 
 insufficiency of means and the scruples of humanity, 
 then very uncommon in English politics. England 
 appeared singularly affected by the result. Napo- 
 leon experienced a very natural joy, as, inde- 
 pendently of the moral effect produced in Europe 
 by this affair of Constantinople, which was all to 
 his credit, the contest his enemies were engaged 
 in with the Turks became a most useful diversion 
 to his arms. 
 
 Europe was at that time much excited by the 
 terrihle battle of Eylau, commented upon in such 
 diverse ways. Some applauded those who were 
 able to resist the French for an instant, others 
 were terrified at the condition which had produced 
 such a resistance, though only for an instant, — a 
 terrible condition, as they had been obliged to 
 give the French an army for their prey, by placing 
 it before them as a material for destruction. 
 For the first time, it is true, the success obtained 
 by the French had not been so decisive as usual, 
 ahove all in appearance ; but the Russian army 
 on that bloody day had not lost less than a third 
 part of its effective force, — and, if general Ben- 
 ningsen, to cover his defeat, made some presump- 
 tuous movements in face of the winter-quarters of 
 the French, he found it impossible to attempt any 
 thing of moment, or to make a single effort to op- 
 pose the sieges undertaken before his eyes. Napo- 
 leon, who now began to be joined by his reinforce- 
 ments, had to oppose to the Russians 100 000 
 men under arms, without counting the French 
 troops and allies, that, protected by the grand 
 army, executed on the left the siege of Dantzick, 
 and on the right the c< n quest of part of Silesia. 
 The only obstacle which hindered Napoleon from 
 terminating a campaign already so prolonged, was, 
 as has been seen, that of the difficulty of transport. 
 If it had frozen hard the carriages could have 
 travelled, and the French been able to carry with 
 them sufficient food to nourish the army during an 
 offensive operation But the constant freezing and 
 thawing rendered it impossible to carry provisions 
 eTen for a lew days. It was, therefore, necessary 
 to wait for different weather. M. de Talleyrand, 
 who remained at Warsaw, had been obliged i" 
 employ solicitations, promises, and threats, to 
 secure the transportation of tin- necessary provi- 
 sions even from the Vistula to the Passarge, 
 
 In this situation, which was to he prolonged for 
 some months, there was time lor negotiation, — 
 since natural obstacles had been felt by Napoleon, 
 and, ahove all, since he had observed Poland more 
 
 closely, and found that the intoxication which hail 
 accompanied him upon tin- Vistula was a little dis- 
 sipated. He had discovered, that the bluHsians, 
 little formidable to the French soldiers, if they 
 did not seek them above the Danube and the 
 Elbe, would become, aided by the climate, an 
 
 1 From entering the Dardanelles to clearing them on 
 their return, Itoriiilng so ne at the hnttorien included, the 
 EhrIMi lovkes wi-re, 42 killed, 235 wi.in did, and 4 nnss.- 
 ing — Tramlator. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 enemy difficult and requiring time to subdue. 
 Struck with the enthusiasm manifested at Posen, 
 Napoleon had fancied that the Poles would furnish 
 him at least with 100,000 men. He soon perceived 
 that the country people little cared about a change 
 of dominion, which would leave them, as before, 
 the slaves of the soil under any master. He saw 
 them flying into Austrian Poland to avoid the 
 horrors of war. The people of the cities were en- 
 thusiastic, and ready to devote themselves without 
 reserve, but the nobility, more cautious, sought 
 conditions which could not be accepted without 
 imprudence. The Polish officers who had served 
 in the French army agreed badly enough with the 
 nobles who had not quitted their chateaux ; each 
 by their susceptibility added to the difficulty of the 
 military organization of the country ; even the 
 levies which should have amounted to 100.000 
 men. were reduced to 15 ; 000 young soldiers, or- 
 ganized in twenty battalions, and destined one day 
 to cover themselves with glory under the brave 
 Poniatowski, but they were as yet little accustomed 
 to war, and provoked the merriment of the French 
 soldiery. Napoleon had seen all this, and he was 
 less ardent to reconstitute Poland, and less dis- 
 posed, since he became personally acquainted with 
 it, to overturn the c< ntinent for its re-establish- 
 ment. Without, doubting his own power, he enter- 
 tained, from the obstacles which nature could op- 
 pose to the most heroic army, a more just idea, 
 and a less favourable opinion of the work which 
 called him to the plains of the north. He was, 
 therefore, a little more inclined to listen to pro- 
 posals of peace, without on that account departing 
 from any of his pretensions, because he was con- 
 vinced, on the return of the fine season, of the 
 facility of passing over all the obstacles that might 
 oppose him. He only saw in a treaty which had 
 peace for its aim an economy of time and blood, 
 because, as for perils, he believed himself capable 
 of surmounting all, whatever might be their cha- 
 racter. 
 
 Since the battle of Eylau, several negotiators 
 had come from Koenigsberg to Osterode. Under 
 the impression produced by the battle, Napoleon 
 had, through general Bertram!, announced to 
 Frederick-William that he was ready to render 
 him back his territory, but only as far as the 
 Elbe,— an arrangement which would cost him one- 
 quarter of his dominions, but at the same time 
 secure to him the restitution of the other three 
 parts. Napoleon had added, that, full of personal 
 
 esteem for the monarch that reigned over Prussia, 
 lie would rather make him this restitution through 
 himself alone than by the intervention of Russia. 
 
 The unfortunate Frederick- William, though the 
 
 sacrifice was great, and bis soldiers bad conducted 
 themselves honourably at the battle of Eylau, 
 although he found himself considerably raised in 
 the sight of his allies, yet did not In the least de- 
 ceive himself. This battle of Eylau, which the 
 
 Russians were nearly calling a victory, was to him 
 only a sanguinary defeat, of which the sole differ- 
 ence from Jena and Amlerlitz, < sistcd in its 
 
 costing the French more blood, and, thanks to the 
 
 Season, not showing such derisive results, lie was 
 firmly persuaded that, in the ensuing spring the 
 French would put a speedy ami disastrous termi- 
 nation to the war. But the queen and the war
 
 258 
 
 Varying feelings of Napo- 
 leon towards Prussia. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Mysterious policy of 
 
 Austria. 
 
 / 1807. 
 (March. 
 
 party, excited by the last military events, and by 
 the influence of the Russians, to whom they un- 
 happily approximated too much at Kcenigsberg, 
 did not appreciate the situation of things with as 
 impartial a judgment as the king, and by dictating 
 an evasive answer to the amicable message that 
 general Bertrand had been commissioned to trans- 
 mit, prevented their profiting by the disposition of 
 Napoleon, for the moment pacifically inclined. 
 
 Thus the obstinacy of the conflict with Russia 
 had for an instant drawn Napoleon towards Prus- 
 sia. It had been fortunate if, returning to her 
 entirely, he had given her, not only her provinces 
 below the Elbe, but all he had taken, and had 
 Bought to attach her definitively to his cause, by 
 an* act as generous as it would have been politic. 
 But finding king Frederick-William feeble, un- 
 stable, and governed by his ministry, he was con- 
 vinced anew of the impossibility of counting upon 
 Prussia, and from that day thought of her only to 
 disdain, ill treat, and render her harmless. Still, 
 a little less intoxicated than after the battle of 
 Jena, he was more assured that to govern the 
 continent, to exclude the English influence, and 
 also to vanquish the sea by the land, he must have, 
 not only victories, but a strong alliance. He 
 believed it after Marengo and Hohenlinden ; he 
 believed it after Austerlitz and before Jena; the 
 day following Jena, without less belief in it, he had 
 only ceased to think of it for a moment, but he again 
 saw its necessity after Pultusk and Eylau : thus, 
 always meditating upon his situation, in the midst 
 of the dangers and difficulties of the war, he 
 sought for whichever alliance lie could secure. 
 Prussia put aside, there remained Russia, with 
 which he was engaged in hostilities, and Austria, 
 that, under the appearance of neutrality, assembled 
 armies in his rear. Although the court of Peters- 
 burg, excited by the suggestions of England and 
 by the boasting of general Benningsen, appeared 
 more animated than ever, its generals, officers, 
 and soldiers, who supported the weight of this 
 fearful war, and were reduced one half by the 
 days of Czarnowo, Pultusk, Golymin, and Eylau, 
 and who, thanks to a barbarous commissariat 
 administration, lived upon a few potatoes, dis- 
 covered under the snow by the use of their 
 bayonets, differed greatly in opinion and ex- 
 pressed far other sentiments than those of the 
 courtiers of St. Petersburg. Full of admiration 
 for the French army, not entertaining towards it 
 any of the national hatred which neighbourhood 
 or even a common origin sometimes inspires in a 
 people, they demanded why their blood was re- 
 quired for the profit of the English, who did not 
 hasten to their assistance, and of the Prussians, 
 who could not. 
 
 The idea, that France and Russia, at the dis- 
 tance they are placed from each other, could have 
 nothing about which to dispute, presented itself 
 to the minds of those of the Russian soldiery 
 who reasoned among themselves, and was heard 
 in all their conversations. Many of the French 
 officers who were made prisoners and had been 
 exchanged, had gathered upon this subject the 
 most significant phrases, even from the mouth of 
 the bravest of the Russian generals, prince Bagra- 
 tion, who by turns commanded the Russian ad- 
 vanced or rear-guard; the advanced guard when 
 
 attacked, the rear-guard when fighting in re- 
 treat. 
 
 These details, carried to Napoleon, caused him 
 much reflection. He thought, even in the midst 
 of the horrors of the present war, that it would be 
 Russia in the end with which he must finish all 
 by coming to an understanding that should enable 
 him to shut the ports and cabinets of the con- 
 tinent against England. But if such an alliance 
 could be thought about, it was not between two 
 battles, when they were obliged to communicate 
 with the advanced posts through a trumpeter, that 
 means could be found to prepare and conclude such 
 a treaty. The actual impossibility obliged him to 
 turn towards Austria. Remembering the words 
 of the archduke Ferdinand to himself at Wurtz- 
 bourg, he was still more strongly induced to think 
 of an alliance with the court of Vienna, in spite 
 of the armaments with which she menaced him, 
 knowing that he had the power of doing what a half 
 century before would have filled her with joy, of 
 returning her Silesia, that Lombardy of the north, 
 of which she had so regretted the loss, and which 
 she had made so many efforts to recover, con- 
 ditionally becoming, for thirty years, the ally of 
 France. Removed from the bivouac of Osterode 
 to the chateau of Finkenstein, there scouring his 
 encampments on horseback, riding thirty leagues a 
 day, corresponding with his agents in Poland about 
 the provision for his army, with his ministers at 
 Paris upon the administration of the affairs of 
 Europe, and in the midst of the long nights of the 
 north ruminating upon plans of general politics, he 
 ended, after having considered of every alliance, 
 by confining himself to two, and determining that a 
 choice must be made between Austria and Russia. 
 In corresponding with M. Talleyrand at Warsaw, 
 who directed from thence the exterior relations of 
 France, he wrote thus : " All must finish by a 
 treaty with Austria or Russia. Think well of it, 
 and oblige Austria to explain herself definitively 
 towards us." 
 
 But Austria had covered herself with an im- 
 penetrable veil. Whilst general Andreossy, the 
 French ambassador at Vienna, related every day 
 hostile actions on the part of Austria, such as 
 levying men, purchasing horses, and forming 
 magazines, Baron Vincent, on the contrary, sent 
 to Warsaw by the court of Vienna, constantly 
 affirmed, with the greatest appearance of frank- 
 ness, that Austria, so crushed as she had been, 
 was incapable of making war ; that she was deter- 
 mined not to break the peace, unless she received 
 such treatment as was impossible to be supported ; 
 that if she Book some little precautions, they were 
 not to be looked upon as preparations hostile or 
 menacing to France, but as measures of prudence 
 demanded by a frightful war, which embraced the 
 entire circle of her frontiers, and, above all, by the 
 state of Gallicia, so much agitated by the rebellion 
 of Poland. M. Talleyrand allowed himself to be 
 so far persuaded that he censured general An- 
 dreossy incessantly to Napoleon as a dangerous 
 agent, observing and judging ill of all that passed 
 around him, and capable, if attended to, of in- 
 flaming the two courts by false and injurious 
 reports. 
 
 Napoleon, who, though he was as easily led as 
 others to believe what gave him pleasure, and was
 
 1807. \ 
 March. j 
 
 Instructions of the emperor 
 to Talleyrand. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 State of Austrian 
 politics. 
 
 259 
 
 
 fond of thinking that Austria could not recover 
 the losses sustained at Ultn and Ausu-rlitz, that she 
 would never dare to break her word given him at 
 the bivouac of Urchitz; yet Napoleon, enlightened 
 by the danger, gave more credit to the words of 
 general Andre'ossy than to those of Baron Vincent. 
 "Yes," he wrote to M. Talleyrand, '-general 
 Andre'ossy is an obstinate spirit, an indifferent 
 observer, probably exaggerating what he sees; but 
 you are cretlul us, as much inclined to be led by 
 others as to lead them. It is sufficient to Hatter in 
 order to deceive you. M. Vincent abuses you by 
 his courtesies. Austria tears, but she also hates 
 us; and she arms herself to profit by any reverse 
 on our part. If we gain a great victory in the 
 spring, she will conduct herself as M. d'HaugwitZ 
 did the day following Austerlitz, and you will be 
 right; but if the war is only doubtful, we shall see 
 her in arms in our rear. We must make her 
 explain herself. She is in fault not to come 
 directly to an understanding with us, not to profit 
 by the moment when we are masters of Prussia, to 
 recover by our bands that of which Frederick has 
 deprived her. She can, if she will, retrieve in one 
 day all that she has lost in half a century, and 
 restore the fortunes of the house of Austria, so 
 much weakened at one time by Prussia, at another 
 by France. But it is necessary that she explain 
 herself. Does she require indemnities for her 
 losses ? I offer her Silesia. Does the state of the 
 East make her uneasy ? 1 am ready to make her 
 easy about the fate of the Lower Danube by dis- 
 posing according to her wishes of Moldavia, and 
 Walachia. Is nur presence in Dalmatia a subject 
 pf offence to her J I am ready to make sacrifices 
 in this respect by means of an exchange of terri- 
 tory. Or, lastly, is this a war that she is preparing 
 in order to try for the last time the power of her 
 arms, profiting by the union of the continent 
 against u> i Be it so; I accept this new adver- 
 sary. But let her not hope to surprise me. Only 
 women or children can imagine that I am going to 
 bury myself in the deserts of Russia without having 
 taken due precaution. She will find in Saxony, in 
 Bavaria, and in Italy, armies ready to oppose her. I 
 She will see me, by a retrograde march, fall upon 
 her with all my force, bear lor down, and treat 
 her worse than any of the powers 1 have before 
 vanquished. I will makea terrible example of her 
 
 breach of faith, nf which the actual state of Prus- 
 sia nn give her no idea. Let her then explain 
 herself, that I may know what to think of hex 
 intentions." 
 
 Napoleon recommended M. Talleyrand to allow 
 M. Vincent no repose, and to sound again and 
 
 again the depths of Austrian polities. M. Talley- 
 rand, stimulated by the emperor, divided his time 
 between exhortations to the Polish government to 
 obtain provisions and carriages, and conversations 
 with M. de Vincent to obtain from him, by trying a 
 hundred different means, the secret of the Austrian 
 court. 
 
 IT- sought for this secret in the least significant 
 words of the Austrian envoy, and in the s 1 1 l' ! ' t < ■ <- 1 
 movements ol Ins countenance. At one moment 
 
 he was confiding in and humouring him, Irving to 
 
 provoke his frankness by an unbounded openness 
 of conduct; at tin- next he endeavoured to surprise 
 and agitate him by rudely, and in feigned anger, 
 
 presenting him with the pictures of the armaments 
 received from Vienna. M. de Vincent, whether 
 from artfulness or sincerity, always repeated the 
 same words, that at Vienna they could not and 
 would not make war, and that they were contented 
 with defending themselves, without thinking of 
 attacking others. Notwithstanding, when M. Tal- 
 leyrand went further, and spoke of Silesia, of the 
 provinces of the Danube, and of Dalmatia as the 
 price of her alliance, the Austrian minister replied 
 that he had not instructions for such important 
 affairs, and begged to refer to his court, which he 
 did by communicating directly to M. de Stadiuu 
 the overtures of M. Talleyrand. 
 
 M. de Stadion managed the foreign affairs of 
 Austria in a feeling still more hostile to Frame 
 than that of M. Cobentzel ; but, to do him 
 justice, concealing those hostilities less under an 
 appearance of cordiality. For the rest, although 
 entertaining great hatred towards France, he knew 
 how to hold back his opinions, and to observe a 
 convenient silence. The secret of M. Stadion and 
 his court it was easy to discover, provided agree- 
 able appearances were laid aside, in order to 
 return to those which were not quite pleasing. 
 Austria permitted herself to profit by the reverses 
 of the French, which, on her part, was but 
 natural; and it was a great error to suppose that 
 the most brilliant offers could attach that vindic- 
 tive power to the cause of France. She was in 
 reality animated by a hatred which prevented her 
 proper appreciation of the real and solid advan- 
 tages offered to her ; in good reason insufficient 
 advantages, because a portion of Silesia, Moldavia, 
 and Dalmatia were but inferior advantages ob- 
 tained, compared to her losses for the preceding 
 fifteen year.-. But she might doubtless have 
 accepted them, insufficient its they were, if she 
 had believed that in the existing state of the 
 world any thing solid and durable could be given. 
 But in the continual disturbances of the European 
 states, she believed nothing to be stable, and was 
 not disposed to take as a recompense lor hereditary 
 provinces anciently attached to her house, pro- 
 vinces tendered through the views of momentary 
 policy, perhaps to be retaken with as little con- 
 sideration as they were given, and which she would 
 in t.ic, i to i,m at the price of a war against her 
 
 usual aili s. to the profit of one whom she accused 
 ;vs the author of all her misfortunes. Thus, on 
 the side of Napoleon, there was nothing to attiaet 
 or inspire tin- C lifidence of Austria, lb r ii fusal, 
 therefore, of all offers emanating from him was 
 very certain. But, pressed by questions, she 
 
 C uld not bold back, either by maintaining tin 
 absolute sib nee. or giving a general refusal to 
 listen to each proposition. She' then thought of a 
 pro© 'ding which furnished her with a i wn'unt 
 
 reply, and assured her besides the means of 
 profiting by alter events, whatever they might be. 
 Her idea ill cons (ponce was to offer France her 
 
 mediation with tin- belligerent powers. Nothing 
 could be better calculated lor the present and 
 future. For the present she proved that she 
 desired peace by working for it herself. For the 
 
 future' slu- COIlltJ labour frankly for peace, taking 
 care- to have' i 1 1< • conditions in a sense conformable 
 
 tei her own peiiitics if Napoleon were fortunate. 
 
 If, on the contrary, Napoleon were vanquished, 
 S2
 
 260 
 
 Diplomatic conferences 
 with Austria. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Napoleon accept* 
 the Austrian 
 mediation. 
 
 r 1807. 
 (March. 
 
 or only half victorious, she could pass from a 
 modest to an imposing mediation. She could 
 moderate or burthen it according to circumstances. 
 She gave herself, in a word, the power of entering 
 into the quarrel at will, and, when once entered, of 
 conducting herself as fortune might direct. 
 
 M. de Stadiou ordered M. Baron Vincent to 
 reply to M. Talleyrand that they had a full sense 
 at Vienna of the value of the offers of the emperor 
 of the French, but that, advantageous as those 
 offers were, they could not accept tliem, as they 
 would necessarily involve a war either with the 
 Germans, whose compatriots they were, or the 
 Russians, with whom they were allied ; and that 
 they did not desire war under any circumstances, 
 nor with any power, for they declared themselves 
 incapable of sustaining one (not a very dangerous 
 avowal when Austria was making the most im- 
 posing military preparations) ; that they sought 
 peace and peace only, which they preferred to the 
 greatest acquisitions; that, as a proof of their love 
 for peace, they offered to interfere for the nego- 
 tiation of it, and that, if France consented, they 
 would bring the cabinets of Berlin, St. Petersburg, 
 and London, to assent ; that already M. de Bud- 
 berg, minister of the emperor Alexander, con- 
 sulted upon the subject, had welcomed the good 
 offices of the court of Vienna, and that at London, 
 another cabinet having taken the direction of 
 affairs (that of Castlerengh and Canning), there 
 was a chance of finding pacific dispositions in these 
 new representatives of English politics, who would, 
 in all probability, be delighted at the opportunity 
 of making themselves popular by giving peace at 
 their accession. M. de Stadion added, that they 
 should esteem themselves happy if the all-powerful 
 emperor of the French saw in this offer a pledge 
 of the sentiments of disinterestedness and concord 
 which animated the emperor of Austria. 
 
 The all-powerful emperor of the French had not 
 less penetration than power ; and from the time 
 this reply from Warsaw reached him at Finken- 
 stein, he no more deceived himself. He seized 
 its meaning with the promptitude which he would 
 have employed to discover the movements of a 
 hostile army on the field of battle. " This," he 
 replied instantly to M. de Talleyrand, "is the first 
 step of Austria; the beginning of an interference in 
 events. Resolved not to mix in the conflict 
 sustained by England, Russia, Prussia, and 
 France, she will not even risk compromising 
 herself in bearing the messages of one to the 
 other. Her offer to become a mediatrix is pre- 
 paring herself for war, is managing for herself a 
 decent means of taking a part in it; a means which 
 she requires after the declarations from cabinet to 
 cabinet, after the oaths from sovereign to sove- 
 reign, by which she promised to remain for ever 
 neuter. It is unfortunate for us," added Napo- 
 leon, " as it presages to us the presence of an 
 Austrian army on the Oiler and tlie Elbe; whilst 
 we shall be on the Vistula. But to refuse this 
 mediation is impossible; it would be a contradiction 
 to our general language, which has ever consisted 
 in showing ourselves disposed for peace. It 
 would, above all, dispose us to hasten the deter- 
 minations of Austria by a peremptory refusal, 
 which would wound her, and force her to take 
 an immediate resolution. We must therefore gain 
 
 time by replying that the offer of mediation is too 
 indirect to be positively accepted ; but that in all 
 cases the good offices of the court of Vienna will 
 be ever received with gratitude and confidence." 
 
 M. Talleyrand, directed by Napoleon, made 
 the answer which had been prescribed, to M. de 
 Vincent, and showed a slight disposition to accept 
 the mediation of Austria ; but, at the same time, 
 appeared to doubt whether this offer of mediation 
 was serious. M. de Vincent affirmed that it was 
 perfectly sincere, and declared besides that he 
 would refer to the court of Vienna. He therefore 
 wrote to M. de Stadion, who, on his side, did not 
 allow his answer to wait. In a very few days the 
 court of Vienna announced that it was ready to 
 pass simple conferences for a formal proposal, and 
 that it was certain of having their mediation 
 accepted at Petersburg and London ; that further- 
 more, it addressed the offer at the same time as 
 much to Fiance as to Russia, Prussia, or England; 
 and that it awaited the precise intentions of the 
 emperor Napoleon on the subject. 
 
 This prompt and clear answer, strengthened by 
 armaments which could no longer be doubted, 
 appeared to Napoleon an extremely serious act, 
 the meaning of which it was impossible for him to 
 misunderstand, and to which, unhappily, they could 
 givenoother reply than an acceptance; though it was 
 needful for him to provide against the consequences 
 by means of immediate and imposing precautions. 
 He wrote in this sense to M. Talleyrand, and sent 
 him from Finkenstein the draft of a note, of which 
 the following is a copy. He told him at the same 
 time that he was about to add to this note new 
 preparations more formidable than ever, and of 
 which Austria must be immediately informed, that 
 she might know in what manner her intervention 
 would be received, amicable or hostile, diplomatic 
 or warlike. 
 
 The answer to the offer of mediation was couched 
 in these terms : 
 
 "The undersigned, minister of foreign affairs, 
 has laid before his majesty the emperor and king, 
 the note which he received from M. de Vincent. 
 The emperor accepts for himself and his allies the 
 amicable intercession of the emperor Francis II. 
 for the re-establishment of peace, so necessary to the 
 happiness of all the nations. He has but one fear, 
 which is, that the power which, until now, appeared 
 to have made itself a system to found its strength 
 and greatness on the divisions of the continent, 
 may endeavour to find, through these means, fresh 
 sources of bitterness and new pretexts for dissen- 
 sion. Nevertheless, any method which may lead 
 to a hope of a cessation of bloodshed, and carry 
 consolation among so many families, ought not to 
 lie neglected by France, that, to the knowledge of 
 all Europe, was drawn against her wishes into the 
 last war. 
 
 " The emperor Napoleon finds besides in this 
 circumstance a natural and favourable occasion 
 lor testifying to the sovereign of Austria the 
 confidence he reposes in him, and the desire lie 
 feels to see those; bonds strengthened between the 
 two nations which, in earlier times, contributed to 
 their mutual prosperity, and which would now, 
 above all things, tend to consoldiate their tranquil- 
 lity and happiness." 
 
 These conferences had occupied the whole of
 
 JS07. \ 
 March. J 
 
 A fr«h conscription 
 l«Ti«l. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Declarations made to 
 Austria. 
 
 2G1 
 
 the month of March. The season had n»w set in 
 •with severity. The cold weather, which had been 
 expected during the winter, showed itself in the 
 spring. Military operations were, therefore, of 
 necessity, still further adjourned. Napoleon re- 
 solved to profit by the delay, and to give to his forces 
 such an immense development as should be not 
 less formidable in appearance than reality. His 
 intention was, without weakening Italy or France 
 too much, to increase his active army by one-third 
 at least, and to form on the Elbe an army of re- 
 serve of 100,000 men, so as to be prepared to 
 crush both the Russians and Prussians in the 
 very commencement of the campaign, and in case 
 of necessity to turn upon Austria, should she 
 decide on taking part against him in the war. 
 
 To attain this double result he resolved on 
 culling out a fresh conscription, that for 1803, 
 although it was only now March, 1807- Already 
 had he called out that of 1807 in 1806, and that of 
 180G in 1805, with the intention of giving the 
 young conscripts twelve or fifteen months appren- 
 ticeship, and keeping his depots always full. The 
 effective strength of the French army, which had 
 been carried up from 502,000 to 580.000 men, by 
 the conscription of 1807, would be raised to 
 about 650,000 by that of 1808, without including 
 the allies. By the skill with which he husbanded 
 his resources, Napoleon found means, from this 
 increase of his strength, of providing for all his 
 wants, and of being ready to face all contingencies. 
 
 But there might be some difficulty, after having 
 called out in November, 1800, die conscription for 
 1807, in calling out so early as March, 18<>7, that of 
 18J.fi. It was making two levies in five months, 
 and raising 150,000 men at once. Napoleon 
 himself drew out the decree, and sent it imme- 
 diately to the arch-chancellor Cambaceres, that he 
 might transmit it to the head of that branch of 
 the government, M. Laciiee, who was charged 
 with the levies; and he wrote to both, that he 
 knew and foresaw the objections to which such 
 measures would give rise, but that there must be 
 no hesitation about it ; for a single objection, 
 started in the council of state or in the senate, 
 would bring Austria on his hands, and that then 
 they would find themselves obliged to decree not 
 one or two conscriptions, but three or four, 
 perhaps uselessly, and finish by being conquered. 
 "It will not do," continued he, "to look at tilings 
 in a single point of view, but in an extended light ; 
 above all, tlo-y must be regarded in their political 
 
 bearings. A conscription declared and resolved on 
 without hesitating, a conscription that I may not 
 perhaps call out, and which I certainly shall not 
 
 send to nit active army, for I do not mean to Carry 
 on war by means of children, will at once Strike 
 hex arms out of the hands of Austria. The least 
 
 irresolution, on the contrary, will encourage her to 
 resume them, and make use of them against as. 
 
 No objections," hfl repeated, " an immediate and 
 punctual execution of the decree I send you, is 
 alone the means of attaining a peace, and of pro- 
 curing one early and honourable." 
 
 After having dispatched this decree to Paris, 
 Napoleon acquainted M. de Talleyrand with it at 
 Warsaw, and desired him to communicate it to 
 
 M. de Vincent, with the express recommendation to 
 unfold to the latter the new display of force which 
 
 was preparing in France, and to lay before him 
 the picture of the consequences that would result 
 from it to all the belligerent powers, and to 
 Austria in particular; to declare to him without 
 disguise, that he had divined the motive of the 
 mediation, that he had accepted this mediation, 
 knowing well what it intended; that to offer peace 
 was all very well, but that peace should be offered 
 with the olive-branch in hand; that the arma- 
 ments of Austria, no longer possible to be denied, 
 was an accompaniment little in accordance with 
 an offer of mediation; that for the rest, he ex- 
 plained himself with this frankness, to prevent 
 misfortunes, to spare Austria herself from them ; 
 that if she would send Austrian officers into 
 France and Italy, he would undertake to show 
 them all our depots, camps of reserve, and divi- 
 sions on the march; and that they would see that, 
 independent of 300,000 Frenchmen already in 
 Germany, a second army of 100,000 was about 
 crossing the Rhine to repress any hostile move- 
 ment on the part of the court of Vienna. 
 
 These communications were made in good sea- 
 son. M. de Vincent could not conceal his emotion 
 at hearing of the new increase of the French forces, 
 and still protested a thousand times the most pa- 
 cific intentions on the part of his government. 
 The movement of troops of which complaint was 
 made, were only, he said, the symptoms of a work 
 of reorganization undertaken by the arch-duke 
 Charles, to render the Austrian army less ex- 
 pensive, and to introduce into it certain improve- 
 ments borrowed from the French armies. If 
 some corps appeared to be approaching the fron- 
 tiers of Poland, it was but on account of precau- 
 tions to be taken in regard to Gallicia, which was 
 much agitated by what was occurring in its 
 neighbourhood. The offer of mediation ought not 
 to be looked upon as other than a proof of a 
 desire to put a stop to the war which was deso- 
 lating the world, and in it ought not to be seen any 
 desire of being mixed up in that war, but a free 
 and hearty wish of putting an end to it. In short, 
 that the French would be able to judge from the 
 results, ami would then be assured of the sincerity 
 of Austria, by her persisting in remaining neuter. 
 
 The demands of Napoleon at Paris diil not 
 come less out of season than his communications 
 at Vienna. Although his star still shone in all 
 its glory, although the wonders of Austerlitz and 
 of Jena had not yet lost any of their prestige, 
 though all were sensible, as they must be, of the 
 grand and prodigious spectacle of a French army 
 wintering quietly on the Vistula, certain detractors, 
 obsequious enough in Napoleon's presence, but 
 willing gainsayen in his absence, whispered many 
 
 bitter observations upon the bloody carnage of 
 
 Bylan, and the difficulties of earning on a war 
 at such a distance. It. might be possible, too, for 
 some minds, always ready in France to seize the 
 weak side of things, to go on substituting blame for 
 the continued admiration of which Napoleon had 
 never ceased to be the object, since he had held 
 
 in his hands the destinies ol France. The prudent 
 
 Cambaceres perceived such symptoms, and, in 
 shielding the imperial government from all that 
 might injure it, would have disarmed such cen- 
 sures by Sparing the country these new charges. 
 M. LacuOe, taking a meaner view of the matter,
 
 2G2 
 
 Arrival of new corps in 
 Prussia. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Increase of the French f 1 807. 
 cavalry. \ March. 
 
 and only seeing the physical sufferings of the 
 people, feared that two requisitions of 80,000 men 
 made immediately on each other, one in November, 
 1S0G, the other in March, 1807, above all, after 
 those which had preceded in 1805, requisitions 
 which called men forth to the army, without 
 returning one back, would produce an injurious 
 effect, by depriving agriculture of its labourers, 
 and families of their support. Cambaceres and 
 Lacuee were thus both disposed to present objec- 
 tions, and to ask for at least some delay in regard 
 to these levies. The feelings were honest and 
 wise which inspired in them this desire. It would 
 •have been desirable that Napoleon had found 
 many more 6uch with courage to make him listen, 
 before he fell, to the cry of desolate mothers; a cry 
 which was certainly not yet threatening, but 
 which at times, on the news of some great 
 carnage, like that of Eylau, arose secretly in their 
 hearts. However, in telling Napoleon the truth, 
 as a profitable lesson for the future, the better 
 course for the moment was to execute his will, for 
 nothing could be more useful for the interests of 
 peace itself, than the fresh display of power which 
 he had just decreed. The objections, therefore, of 
 Cambaceres and Lacue'e, sent in writing to head- 
 quarters, but soon nullified by subsequent letters, 
 one after another, did not cause any delay in 
 the presenting, adopting, or executing the decree 
 which called out the conscription of 1808. 
 
 Napoleon hastened to make use of the new re- 
 sources, which were thus necessary to his vast de- 
 signs. He had, as has been seen, drawn from France, 
 since his entrance into Poland, seven regiments of 
 infantry; from Paris the 15th light infantry, the 
 58th of the line, the first regiment of fusileers of 
 the guard, and a municipal regiment; from Brest 
 the 15th of the line; from Saint L6 the 31st; from 
 Boulogne the 19th. From Italy he had drawn 
 five regiments of chasseurs a ckeral and four regi- 
 ments of cuirassiers. The greater portion of these 
 corps had just arrived in Germany. The 19th, 
 15th, and 58th of the line, and the 15th light in- 
 fantry, were approaching Berlin, and going to 
 co-operate in the siege of Dantzick. The first 
 regiment of fusileers of the guard and the regiment 
 of the municipal guard were on their march. The 
 four regiments of cuirassiers from Italy were 
 already on the Vistula, under the orders of an 
 officer of the highest merit, general d'Espagne. 
 Of the five regiments of chasseurs, two, the 19th 
 and the 23rd, had joined general Lefebvre before 
 Dantzick. The 15th were remounting in Hanover. 
 The two others were arriving with all speed. 
 
 The provisional or marching regiments had 
 already traversed Germany to the number of 
 twelve of infantry and four of cavalry. They had 
 been passed in review on the Vistula, dissolved, 
 and sent to the corps encamped on the Passarge, a 
 most satisfactory result at all times for the army, 
 which thus saw its ranks filled up, and was hear- 
 ing daily reports of the numerous reinforcements 
 that were coming up to join it. Whilst in the 
 earlier days of the establishment on the Passarge, 
 from 75,000 to 80,000 men were all that the 
 French could command at that point, they could 
 now oppose 100.000 to any sudden attack. The 
 provisions brought from all points to the Vistula, 
 and transported thence to the different canton- 
 
 ments by means of carriages constructed on the 
 spot, sufficed for the daily rations, and they began 
 to form stores in reserve, in case of any unforeseen 
 movements. The army, well supplied with food 
 and fuel, was in an excellent mood of body and 
 spirit. The heavy cavalry and the cavalry of the 
 line had been conducted to the lower Vistula, to 
 take advantage there of the abundance of forage 
 which was to be obtained towards the mouths of 
 that river. The regiments of light cavalry left in 
 observation in front of the encampments, went by 
 turns to take rest and enjoy plenty on the banks of 
 the Vistula. Napoleon, who wished, in the first 
 instance, to increase the cavalry from 54,000 to 
 G0,000, and then to 70,000, had just issued orders 
 to augment it to 80,000 horsemen. The campaign 
 had already used up 1G,000 horses, for 3000 or 
 4000 troopers put hors de combat. Besides the 
 horses which had been captured from the Prussian 
 and Hessian armies, Napoleon had purchased 
 17,000 in Germany, and he now directed the pur- 
 chase of 12,000 in France, to recruit the depots. 
 The works of Prague, of Modlin, and of Sierock, 
 entirely finished, presented wooden fortifications 
 as solid as those of masonry. The cantonments on 
 the Passarge were provided with strong tCtes de 
 font, which admitted of repulsing or assaulting 
 an enemy, as the case might require. The position 
 was not only secure but good, at least as much so 
 as the country and the season allowed it to be. 
 
 The corps on march, thanks to the depots of 
 infantry and cavalry which were established on 
 the route, in which those horses and men which 
 were fatigued were left behind, and others that 
 had been left behind previously by preceding corps 
 were taken forward in exchange, these corps on 
 march thus numbered at the end of their route the 
 same strength as at its commencement. The regi- 
 ments of cuirassiers from Naples had arrived 
 entire upon the Vistula. For the troops which 
 were coining from Italy, Parma, Milan, and 
 Augsburg ; for those coming from France, May- 
 ence, Wurtzburg, and Erfurth, and for both, Wit- 
 temberg, Potsdam, Berlin, Custrin, Posen, Thorn, 
 and Warsaw, had relays where they might find all 
 they were in need of, provisions, arms, and accou- 
 trements, manufactured every where at Paris as 
 well as at Berlin, in the conquered alike as in the 
 conquering capital, for Napoleon desired to main- 
 tain the people of both. It was at the price of his 
 continual watchfulness that the providing of neces- 
 saries, and the maintenance of strength at 400 or 
 500 leagues distance was supplied to a regular 
 army of 400,000 men, a chimerical number where 
 antiquity gives it to us (at least when it does not 
 apeak of an emigrating population), never even 
 alleged to be equalled in modern history, and 
 reached, and even exceeded, for the first time, at 
 the epoch of which the remembrance is now re- 
 traced. 
 
 Profiting by the presence of the numerous con- 
 scripts in the depots, Napoleon busied himself in 
 bringing from France and Italy fresh troops, with 
 the double intention, as has been said, of augmenting 
 his active army on the Vistula, and of creating an 
 army of reserve on the Elbe. Able to draw from 
 the depots conscripts thoroughly drilled, he ordered 
 marshal Kellermann to bring up the number of 
 provisional infantry regiments to twenty, and that
 
 1307. \ 
 March. I 
 
 Corp; drawn from France 
 and Italy. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Foundation of a second 
 army. 
 
 2G3 
 
 of the provisional cavalry regiments to ten. But 
 only those conscripts who wore perfectly taught 
 and disciplined were to enter these regiments. He 
 conceived another method of making use of the 
 conscripts whose military education had scarcely 
 commenced, which was by organizing battalions, 
 called garrison battalions, composed of men not 
 yet taught, and not even in uniform, and sending 
 them to Erfuith, Cassel, Magdeburg, Hameln, and 
 Custrin, where they would have time to be drilled, 
 and render available the old troops left in those 
 ptoses. He fixed the total strength of these batta- 
 lions at about 10,000 or 12.000 men. 
 
 After having occupied himself with the provi- 
 sional regiments destined to recruit the corps 
 established on the Vistula, Napoleon wished to add 
 some other regiments to the seven of infantry and 
 the nine of cavalry, already drawn from France 
 and Italy, which was only possible by having 
 recourse to many combinations, of which he alone 
 was capable. There was in garrison at Braunau a 
 superb regiment, the 3rd of the line, reckoning 
 three war battalions, and three thousand four 
 hundred men under arms. This Napoleon directed 
 upon Berlin, replacing it at Braunau by the 7th of 
 the line, borrowed from the garrison of Alexandria, 
 and replacing the 7th at Alexandria by two regi- 
 ments of Naples, which had been beaten at Saint 
 Eupheinia, and were in need of re-organization. 
 Desiring to leave only dragoon regiments in Italy, 
 he ordered the 14th chasseurs a chetal, which was still 
 there, to set out thence. This would bring up to ten 
 the number of regiments of cavalry taken from Italy. 
 He ordered the formation at Paris of a second 
 regiment of fusileers of the guard, which could be 
 done, as they could choose the picked men of two 
 conscriptions, that of 1807 and that of 1808. He 
 withdrew the 5th light infantry from Saint Lo, 
 which was not absolutely indispensable there. He 
 directed a regiment of dragoons of the guard, then 
 in camp at Meudon, to march from Paris to the 
 Rhine, intending them to come on to Potsdam. 
 He gave the same orders relative to the 26th 
 ehasseurs, which was at Saurrrur, and which the 
 profound tranquillity of La Vendee rendered dis- 
 posable. He commanded a battalion of the marines 
 of the guard to be put in march, as they would he 
 very useful for the navigation of the Vistula. 
 Then; were consequently three French infantry 
 and three French cavalry regiments, besides a 
 battalion of marines, drawn from Fiance and Italy, 
 and destined either to complete the existing corps, 
 or to form a new corps for marshal Lannes. This 
 
 marshal, falling ill at Warsaw, had been replaced 
 
 by Masscna in the command of the fifth Corps, hut 
 
 was now recovering. Napoleon, the siege of 
 Dantzicb being finished, wished with a portion of 
 liMM troops that had taken it, and the new regi- 
 ments brought out of France, to form a corps of 
 re, which he proposed to give to Lannes, and 
 to attach to the active army. The 8th corps, 
 under marshal Mortier, composed of Dutchmen, 
 
 Italians, and French, spread anion',' the I lanscatic* 
 
 towns to Stralsund, ami from Stralsund toColberg 
 had hitherto been employed in guarding the ooastt 
 of Germany. The Dutch division in the Hans 
 
 eatie towns, one of the two French division! 
 
 showing front to the Swedes at Stralsund, and the 
 other at Stettin, were ready to concur either in tli 
 
 blockade of Stralsund or in the siege of Dantzick. 
 The Italian division was blockading Colberg. 
 When these sieges were concluded, Napoleon re- 
 solved to unite all the troops that were French 
 in this 8th corps, and to join it to the active army. 
 Besides the corps of Masseua on the Narew, and 
 the corps of marshals Ney, Davuut, Soult, Ber- 
 nadotte, and Murat, on the Passarge, he would thus 
 have two new corps under Mortier and Lannes, 
 placed between the Vistula and the Oder, connect- 
 ing him with the second army which he proposed 
 to organize in Germany. 
 
 The elements of the second army he formed in 
 the following manner. In Silesia, under Prince 
 Jerome and general Vandamme, a part of the 
 Bavarians, and all the Wirtemburghers were em- 
 ployed on the sieges of Silesia. Upon the shores 
 of the Baltic were the Dutch, belonging actually 
 to the corps of Mortier, and the Italians, equally 
 belonging to his corps, the one established, as has 
 been just observed, in the Hanseatic towns, and 
 the other before Colberg. These were firm allies, 
 faithful to France hitherto, and beginning to learn 
 warfare in the French school. Napoleon sought 
 to increase the number of these auxiliaries, and to 
 give them, as means of support, forty thousand 
 good and old French troops, so as to form upon 
 the Elbe an army of more than a hundred thousand 
 men. 
 
 Founding his demand upon the suspicious arma- 
 ments of Austria, he first required of the confede- 
 ration of the Rhine a new portion of the contingent 
 which he had a right to exact, and which, though 
 to the extent of twenty thousand, might procure 
 him fifteen thousand men. This might be dis- 
 pleasing to the German governments, the allies of 
 France, but actual war, if such should result from 
 the intervention of Austria, would put their recent 
 acquisitions in so much danger, that France might 
 feel authorized to demand of them such an effort. 
 Besides, it was much more the people than the 
 governments that would be dissatisfied, and This 
 consideration alone rendered such an exigence the 
 more to be regretted. Napoleon determined also 
 to demand from tin; new kingdom of Italy two of 
 its regiments of infantry and two of cavalry. It 
 was not in Italy that the Italian troops were likely 
 to find any opportunity of learning war, but in the 
 north, in the school of the grand army; and if the 
 Germans might, in some certain degree, complain 
 ni' being calli I en to serve interests that were 
 
 foreign to their own, the Italians could have 110 
 complaints of that nature, for the interests of 
 Prance were especially those of Italy, and, in 
 teaching them to light, they were teaching them 
 how to defend, at a future time, their national 
 ii lependenee. 
 
 Napoleon conceived another idea, which .at the 
 
 hue had much the appearance of malice, it ua- to 
 demand troops from Spain. On the eve of the 
 battle of Jena, the prince of Peace, always in 
 treason, secret or open, had published a proclama- 
 tion, by which he called the Spanish nation to 
 
 arms, under the strange pretext tint the indepen- 
 dence of Spain was menaced. It was asked in 
 Spain, in Fiance, and throughout BurODe, by 
 
 whom this independence could be threatened '. Tin; 
 answer was easily made. The prince of l'eace had 
 trusted, as all the enemies of France had done, in
 
 264 
 
 Auxiliary forces 
 enumerated. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Internal defence of 
 France. 
 
 r 1807. 
 IMarch. 
 
 the superiority of the Prussian army ; he had 
 expected from that army the destruction of what 
 was termed the common enemy. But the victory 
 of Jena having disappointed him, he had dared to 
 aver that his proclamation had only for its object 
 the raising the Spanish nation, and conducting 
 it to the assistance of Napoleon, in case he should 
 he in need of it. The falsehood was too gross to 
 blind any one. Napoleon had contented himself 
 with smiling at it, and had deferred that quarrel 
 for a future time. All along the Pyrenees lay 
 some thousands of good Spanish troops, who could 
 have nothing to do there if they were not destined 
 to act against France. There were also some 
 thousand Spaniards at Leghorn, to guard that 
 place in -the kingdom of Etruria, who were 
 more likely to give it up to the English than 
 to defend it. Napoleon pretended to take in 
 earnest the explanation that the prince of Peace 
 had given of his proclamation, thanked him for his 
 zeal, and asked him to furnish him with a fresh 
 proof of it by assisting him with fifteen thousand 
 men, quite useless either at the Pyrenees or at 
 Leghorn. Napoleon added, that he proposed 
 to put into their hands Hanover, a territory 
 of England, as a pledge for the restitution of 
 the Spanish colonies. Reasons so skilfully arranged 
 were not in truth wanting for the baseness of the 
 Spanish government of that epoch. Scarcely had 
 the despatch of Napoleon reached Madrid, than 
 the order to inarch was sent to the Spanish troops. 
 About 9000 or 10,000 men set out from the Py- 
 renees, and 4000 or 5000 from Leghorn. Napoleon 
 forwarded the necessary instructions every where 
 for their reception, as well in France as in the 
 countries dependent upon his arms, in the most 
 amicable and hospitable manner, and that they 
 should be furnished abundantly with provisions, 
 clothes, and even money. 
 
 He was about to have upon the Elbe Germans, 
 Italians, Spaniards, and Dutchmen, to the number 
 of 60,000 men at least. The Bavarians and Wir- 
 temburghers, united with the new contingent 
 required from the confederation of the Rhine, 
 would form about 30,000 men. The Dutch, in- 
 creased by some troops, would be 15,000, the Spa- 
 niards 15,000, and the Italians 7000 or 8000. That 
 these auxiliaries might become good troops, it 
 would suffice that they were joined by a certain 
 amount of French. Napoleon devised means of 
 procuring 40,000 such, of the best, by still draw- 
 ing from Italy and France. A long time before 
 he had taken the precaution of ordering the army 
 of Italy to be placed on its war footing. Five 
 divisions of infantry were fully organized in Frioul 
 and in Lombardy. Napoleon resolved to call from 
 Brescia and from Verona, the two divisions of 
 Molitor and Boudet, excellent divisions, worthy of 
 their leaders, who afterwards proved what they 
 were capable of at Esling and at Wagram. These 
 presented a force of 15,000 or 16,000 men, almost 
 all old soldiers of Italy, recruited with some con- 
 scripts of the late levies. These divisions received 
 orders to pass the Alps, and to repair, by way of 
 Augsburg, one to Magdeburg, and the other to 
 Berlin. A month and half would suffice for this 
 n arch. 
 
 Napoleon was thus weakening himself in Italy, 
 hut Italy was then of far less importance than 
 
 Germany. Well protected in his rear while he 
 remained in Poland, certain of the power of 
 throwing himself by Silesia or Saxony upon Bohe- 
 mia, and of prostrating Austria by a single back- 
 handed blow of his sword, he was always assured 
 of disengaging Italy, in case she were invaded 
 unexpectedly. He therefore calculated very skil- 
 fully in preferring to render himself strong in 
 Germany rather than Italy. Besides, it was not 
 without some compensation that he weakened the 
 latter, for he had prescribed that 20,000 of the 
 conscripts taken from the classes of 1807 and 1808 
 should be sent there, and he ordered, moreover, 
 that the picked companies of the battalions in 
 depot should be selected to form two new active 
 divisions in Lombardy, which his foresight ren- 
 dered the more easy by keeping the depots in 
 Italy, as well as those in France, always filled 
 and well drilled. He would therefore soon have, 
 as heretofore, 60 000 men on the Adige, 72,000 
 with the corps of Marmont, and 90,000 by moving 
 a strong detachment from Naples towards Milan. 
 
 But 15,000 French were not sufficient on the 
 Elbe to serve as a bond and support to the 60,000 
 auxiliaries which he was about to unite there. 
 Napoleon still thought of drawing away from 
 France a valuable resource. He had formed at 
 Boulogne, St. L6, Pontivy, and Napole-onville, four 
 camps, composed of a certain number of his oldest 
 regiments, of those which were in need of rest and 
 recruiting, and he had abundantly provided them 
 with every thing that could be necessary in men 
 and material. These regiments presented a force 
 of nearly 36,000 men. They were, as has been 
 seen, to be seconded by some detachments of 
 national guards, of which 6000 men were at 
 St. Omer, 3000 at Cherburg, 3000 between 
 Oleron and Bouideaux, 10,000 marines of the 
 Boulogne flotilla, 3000 artificers embodied at Ant- 
 werp, 8000 at Brest, 3000 at Lorient, 4000 at 
 Roehfort, 12,000 coast-guard, and 3000 of the 
 gendarmerie, who were at any time to unite by 
 calling out on any given point this militia for 
 twenty-five leagues around. Here was a force of 
 nearly 90,000 men along the coast, of which 
 25,000 or 30,000 men could be brought upon any 
 part of the coast which might be attacked. Napo- 
 leon thought of replacing the regular troops in the 
 camps of Boulogne, St. L6, Pontivy, and Napoleon- 
 ville, by a new creation. He ordered the forma- 
 tion of five legions, composed of officers taken 
 from the army, and conscripts drawn from the 
 two last conscriptions, commanded by five se- 
 nators, each legion six battalions, and 3000 men 
 in strength, the five forming thirty battalions, and 
 30,000 men. These would acquire their practice 
 by being stationed upon the sea-coasts. The per- 
 manent state of warfare France had been in from 
 1792, had furnished such a quantity of officers, 
 that a staff' was never wanting for the formation 
 of new corps. The elements of these five legions 
 could not, it is true, be assembled for two or 
 three months, which would bring on the end of 
 May or the beginning of June, but the troops in 
 the encampments were not immediately to quit 
 the shores. If in May or June the English were 
 not found directing their attacks on the French 
 coasts ; but if, on the contrary, they were found 
 making sail towards the coasts of Germany, 25,000
 
 1807. I 
 
 March./ 
 
 Total amount of the 
 French forces. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 The Swedes defeat general 
 Grandjedii. 
 
 2C5 
 
 of the old soldiers of these camps were to follow 
 the movements of the English squadrons, to pass 
 at the same time along the borders of the Channel, 
 the North Sea, and the Bahie, by way of Nor- 
 mandy, Picardy, Holland, Hanover, and Mecklen- 
 burgh, and unite themselves in Germany with the 
 two divisions of Boudet and Molitor. They had 
 orders to execute tliis march the sooner if tlie con- 
 duct of Austria should render it necessary ; and in 
 any case they were to leave behind them the five 
 new legions, whose presence would be useful even 
 before their organization could be accomplished. 
 
 By means of this combination Napoleon was 
 about to have, with the divisions of Boudet and 
 Molitor, with the 25,000 men drawn out of Nor- 
 mandy and Britain-, and with the 60,000 or /0,000 
 German, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch auxiliaries, a 
 second force of more than 100,000 men upon the 
 Elbe, independently of the two corps of marshals 
 Mortier and Lannes, whose task would be to con- 
 nect this army of reserve with the grand active 
 army of the Vistula. Endowed with the admirable 
 talent of moving his large masses, he could, by 
 bringing up his rear to his front, or by moving his 
 front back on his rear, by throwing his left towards 
 his right, or his right towards his left, bring the 
 main body of his forces in advance upon the Nie- 
 m n, or in the rear upon the Elbe, towards his right 
 upon Austria, or his left towards the sea-shore. 
 With all those he had just brought up, and those 
 th.it were still to come up, he would not reckon 
 less than 440,000 men in Germany, of which 
 360,000 were French and 80,000 "their allies. 
 Never before had such means been collected to- 
 gether with equal power, vigour, and promptitude. 
 
 Of all these reinforcements, there were as yet 
 arrived only the new regiments drawn out of 
 France and Italy, the provisional regiments which 
 were coming up daily tc recruit the ranks of the 
 grand army, the Bavarians and Wirtemburghera 
 who were acting in Silesia, the Dutch on the 
 Baltic, and Mortier'fl troops that were spread 
 about around Stralsund, Colberg, and Dantzick. 
 Orders had been dispatched for Boudet and Moli- 
 tor's divisions, and for the other Italian, German, 
 and French troops. 
 
 .Marshal Brune, who commanded in chief in the 
 camps at Boulogne, and of whom the recollections 
 
 of the Holder were a sufficient recoi endation, 
 
 was called to Berlin, to be put at the head of the 
 second army thus assembled in Germany. 
 
 The sieges were all this time carrying on. But 
 before relating the vicissitudes of the most im- 
 portant of all these sieges, .and of that which filled 
 the winter with memorable events, it will be proper 
 to mention a circumstance "Inch might have seri- 
 ously compromised the security of the French 
 
 rear. Marshal Mortier co auded the 8th corps, 
 
 and having, after the departure of king Louis, four 
 divisions under his orders, one Dutch, one Jia- 
 
 lian, and two French, — had posted the Dutch divi- 
 sion towards the mouths of the Elbe, leaving the 
 French division of Grandjean before Stralsund, and 
 the French dii iaion of Dupaa at Stettin, the I talian 
 division he had stationed before Colberg, to restrain 
 
 the inconvenient incursions which the garrison of 
 
 that place made between the Vistula and the 
 
 Oder. It must be observed, that of the six regi- 
 ments composing his two French divisions, four 
 
 had been called away, — the 2nd light infantry to 
 assist before Dantzick, the 12th lip,ht infantry had 
 been dispatched to Thorn, and the 22nd and 65th 
 of the line to reinforce the army on the Passarge. 
 To compensate for these, the 58th, arrived from 
 Paris, had been put under marshal Mortier, and 
 several of the regiments which were coming from 
 France were besides intended for his corps. He, 
 however, had only been able to leave with general 
 Grandjean two French regiments, the 4th liejit in- 
 fantry and the 58th of the line. He had with him- 
 self the 72nd in support of the Italians in front of 
 Colberg. 
 
 At this moment the Swedes chose to make an 
 attempt on the French rear. They were in occu- 
 pation of Stralsund, a maritime place of import- 
 ance in Swedish Pomerauia, which was their 
 ordinary place of disembarkation in Germany. 
 This place would have been worth a siege, if Dant- 
 zick had not better deserved a conquest of that 
 nature. The king of Sweden, whose mind was but 
 ill regulated, and who lost the throne for his family, 
 and Pomerauia and Finland for his country, had 
 undertaken to move out from Stralsund with an 
 army composed of Russians, English, and Swedes, 
 and, like another Gustavus Adolphus, to make 
 essay of a brilliant descent on the continent of 
 Germany. But Napoleon, being wholly master of 
 that continent, had obliged the Swedish forces to 
 shut themselves up in Stralsund instead, where 
 they found themselves as completely blockaded as 
 if in a ttte de pont. The king of Sweden, as quick 
 with his friends as with his enemies, showed great 
 dissatisfaction with Russia, and, above all, with 
 England, which did not send him a single soldier, 
 and only doled out to him her subsidies very parsi- 
 moniously. Thus shut up in person within his own 
 territories, since he was restrained from overrun- 
 ning the continent, he lived on at Stockholm, sad 
 and isolated, leaving general Essen at Stralsund 
 with a body of 15,000 excellent troops. General 
 Essen, informed of what was going on before him, 
 could not resist the temptation id' forcing the line 
 of blockade which the French were now keeping 
 up with too few forces. He sallied forth in the 
 very beginning of April, at the head of his 15,000 
 Swedes, against general Grandjean, who had 
 scarcely 5000 or 0000 men to oppose to him, and 
 of which only half at most were French. General 
 Grandjean, after valiantly defending himself before 
 
 the place, finding himself in danger of his flanks 
 being turned, was obliged to fall back, first upon 
 Alicklam, and then on Uiikermunde and Stettin. 
 He effected his retreat iii good order, seconded by 
 the bravery of the French and Dutch, and lost 
 
 only a lew of bis men on the field of battle, but he 
 lost a great Quantity of military stores, and some 
 isolated detachments which could not be called in, 
 particularly those on the islands of (Jsedora and 
 Wollin, which closed the G rosso- 1 laff. 
 
 This surprise produced some excitement in the 
 
 rear of the army, particularly at Berlin, when' an 
 adverse population, deeply chagrined, and looking 
 
 eagerly forward to events, sought to feed their 
 
 hopes on every unforeseen circumstance. Hut the 
 fortune of franco, as y. t BO da/./.ling, only allowed 
 Inr enemies a brief success. At, that moment some 
 
 of the regiments arrived from France, among them 
 the 15th of the line and several of the provisional
 
 2G6 
 
 Marshal Mortier repulses 
 the Swedes. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Investment of 
 Dantzick. 
 
 i 1807. 
 ( March. 
 
 marching regiments, had reached the Elbe and the 
 Oder. General Clarke, who governed Berlin with 
 wisdom and firmness, instantly dispatched the 15th 
 of the line to the assistance of general Grand jean 
 at Stettin. He united with these a provisional re- 
 giment and some squadrons of cavalry, which were 
 available from the grand depot at Potsdam. .Mar- 
 shal Mortier, on his side, put himself in march, at 
 the head of the 72nd, and of several Italian de- 
 tachments from before Colberg. These troops, 
 being joined to Grandjean's division, would suffice 
 to punish the Swedes for their attempt. Marshal 
 Mortier distributed them in two divisions, under 
 generals Grandjean and Dupas, ranged the 72nd, 
 the 15th of the line, and the Dutch, in the first, 
 and the 4th light infantry, the 53th of the line, 
 and some Italians in the second, left the provi- 
 sional regiments to cover his left and rear, and 
 inarched towards the enemy with that quiet reso- 
 lution that characterized him. He drove the 
 Swedes from position to position, chased them to 
 the Peene, passed that river in spite of them, and 
 drove them back into Stralsund with a loss of 
 many hundreds killed and 2000 prisoners. The 
 career of the Swedes, which began with the com- 
 mencement of April, was finished by the 18th of 
 that month. General Essen, fearing that the 
 whole of Pomerania would soon be torn from him, 
 now sought to save himself by an armistice. An 
 envoy was sent on his behalf to marshal Mortier, 
 offering to suspend all hostilities, and to declare 
 the province neuter. Since it was impossible for 
 the French to besiege Stralsund, nothing could suit 
 them better than to shut up this inlet, by which 
 the English might penetrate into Germany, and at 
 the same time to render disposable for the siege 
 of Dantzick those troops which must otherwise be 
 left in Swedish Pomerania. Marshal Mortier, 
 aware of the intentions of Napoleon on this sub- 
 ject, consented to an armistice, by virtue of which 
 the Swedes promised to observe a strict neutrality, 
 not to open Pomerania to any enemy of France, 
 and not to furnish assistance either to Dantzick or 
 to Colberg. Any resumption of hostilities was to 
 be preceded by ten days' notice beforehand. The 
 armistice was then sent to Napoleon for his ap- 
 proval. 
 
 Napoleon could not reason otherwise than his 
 lieutenant had done, for the same motive which 
 had already made him reduce the troops before 
 Stralsund to the least possible number, disposed 
 him to the acceptance of an armistice which nulli- 
 fied Stralsund without employing any portion of 
 his troops in its blockade. He therefore agreed 
 to the armistice, on condition that the notice for 
 resumption of hostilities should be extended from 
 ten days to a month. 
 
 General Essen signed the armistice thus modi- 
 fied, and sent it to Stockholm for the royal ratifi- 
 cation. Marshal Mortier in the meanwhile re- 
 mained on the Peene with his forces, and after- 
 wards transported them towards Colberg, Stettin, 
 and Dantzick, leaving behind only the Dutch in 
 observation of the neutralized province. 
 
 At the same time, if the Swedes had served 
 French interests by adopting this armistice, they had 
 not the less benefited themselves by so doing, lor the 
 French forces kept accumulating at Berlin. The 
 3rd of the line, drawn from Braunau and 3400 
 
 strong, four or five provisional regiments on 
 march from the Rhine to the Elbe, the 15th chas- 
 seurs having been remounted in Hanover, and the 
 19th of the line from the camp at Boulogne, were 
 just preparing to fall on Pomerania. The Swedes, 
 by their complete destruction, would have dearly 
 paid for the lost time they might have caused the 
 French troops. 
 
 Amidst all this, Dantzick had been invested and 
 the works of the siege had commenced. Napoleon 
 at first thought of only blockading this place. The 
 war being prolonged, he resolved now to employ 
 the winter in its capture. It was worth the trouble. 
 Dantzick, in fact, commands the Lower Vistula, 
 and all the fertile plains through which that river 
 flows towards its discharge ; it incloses a spacious 
 harbour, and then contained the wealth of all the 
 northern trade. Once master of Dantzick, Napo- 
 leon could be no longer assailable in his position 
 on the Lower Vistula ; he would deprive the coali- 
 tion of the means of turning his left, and would 
 obtain possession of an immense depot of corn and 
 wine, sufficient to maintain his army for more than 
 a year. It was, therefore, impossible to make use of 
 the winter better than by effecting this conquest. 
 But it would require a long siege, as much owing 
 to the works of the place as the strong garrison 
 charged with its defence. If, in the commence- 
 ment of the campaign, Napoleon could have under- 
 taken such a siege, it is possible that the defences 
 of Dantzick, which were of earth, and had been 
 neglected, might have yielded to a sudden attack. 
 But Napoleon had then no disposable troops or 
 heavy artillery, and found himself reduced merely 
 to the blockading of Dantzick with some Ger- 
 man and Polish auxiliaries, supported by a single 
 regiment ol French, the 2nd light infantry. The 
 king of Prussia, being thus put on his guard, 
 had therefore found time to put into a good state 
 of defence a place which was the last bulwark of 
 his kingdom, the greatest depot of his wealth, and 
 which, while in his possession, must be a serious 
 danger to Napoleon. He had placed 18,000 men 
 in garrison there, of which 14,000 were Prussians 
 and 4000 Russians. The celebrated marshal Kal- 
 kreuth, who at that time was idling and reviling at 
 Kcenigsberg, was appointed governor, and he was 
 well qualified for such a command. There was no 
 fear that this old warrior, who had just condemned 
 to death the governor of Stettin for having yielded 
 the post confided to his keeping, would offer only 
 a feeble resistance to the French. Marshal Kal- 
 kreuth had scarcely arrived, when he completed 
 the conflagration of the rich faubourgs of Dantzick 
 that his predecessor had begun to give up to the 
 flames ; he then set himself to repairing the worke, 
 and raising the spirits of the garrison, and intimi- 
 dating whoever might be tempted to surrender. 
 
 Dantzick, by March, 1807, was no longer a 
 ruined and neglected place, which it was possil/e 
 to take by surprise. Besides having an excelh i t 
 governor, a powerful garrison, and immense and 
 solid works, it presented a site extremely difficult 
 of access. Like all great rivers, the Vistula has 
 its delta. A little below Mewe, at about fiftei n 
 leagues from the Baltic, it divides itself into two 
 arms, which inclose a rich and fertile country 
 called the island of Nogath. One of these arnu, 
 that to the right, proceeds, under the name of tl e
 
 1807. 1 
 March. J 
 
 Description of 
 Danuick. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Lefebvre besieges the 
 fortress. 
 
 267 
 
 Nogath, to throw itself into the gulf called Frische- 
 Haff ; the other, that to the left, which retains the 
 name of the Vistula, flowing directly to the north, 
 to within a league of the sea, there suddenly meets 
 a bank of sand, turns to the west, and after having 
 skirted this bank of sand for seven or eight leagues, 
 turns again to the northward, and at length falls 
 into the Baltic. At the mouth of this last arm of 
 the Vistula, in the midst of a level country, ex- 
 tremely fertile, often inundated, and at the loot of 
 some sandy heights the city of Dantzick is situated, 
 at some thousand paces from the sea. 
 
 The long bank of sand in front of which the 
 Vistula turns to flow westward, is called the 
 Nehrung. At one end it ceases before Dantzick ; 
 at the other, after stretching for twenty leagues, 
 and forming one of the shores of the Frische-Haff, 
 it would join Koenigsberg unbroken, except for an 
 opening at Pillau, a natural gap, which the waters 
 of the Nogath, of the Passarge, and the Pregel, 
 have caused in order to discharge themselves out 
 of the Frische-Haff into the Baltic. In short, it is 
 by Pillau that the Baltic is reached from the 
 Frische-Ilaff, and by which the navigation of the 
 important town of Koenigsberg passes. 
 
 Provided, therefore, that the narrow strait at 
 Pillau could be crossed, it would be possible to 
 communicate by land from Keenigsherg to Dant- 
 zick by following this bank of sand. The Nehrung 
 is a league wide at most, but much less for the 
 greater part, and about twenty-five leagues in 
 length, without a tree, except just close to Dant- 
 zick, and only dotted here and there with fisher- 
 men's huts. 
 
 Dantzick, situated on the left arm of the Vis- 
 tula, that which preserves its name, is 2300 toises 
 from the sea, that is, about a league. The fort of 
 Weichselmunde, regularly constructed, closes the 
 mouth of the Vistula. In order to shorten the 
 
 >ge from the place to the sea, a canal, called 
 the canal of Laake, has been cut. The ground 
 between the river and this canal presents an 
 island which is called the Holm. Numerous re- 
 doubts on this island command the river and the 
 canal which form the two outlets to the sea. In 
 short, the place itself, situated on the hanks of the 
 Vistula, traversed by a small rivulet, the Motlau, 
 surrounded by their joint waters, and inclosed 
 within a fortified wall, presenting twenty bastions 
 on its face, is of the most difficult approach, for it 
 is subject to inundation all around, not artificially, 
 but naturally ; so as that the befliegen cannot Stop 
 it by drains, and that even tin; inhabitants cannot 
 
 i 1 themselves from it at certain times of tin; 
 day and periods of tip- year. Dantzick thus in- 
 closed to tin; north and east, anil with the land 
 
 under water to the southward, where iii) trenches 
 can l>e opened, would be then unassailable hut for 
 
 mdy heights which command it, and which 
 just cease by rapid descents at the foot of its walls 
 
 towards the western face, of course possession of 
 heights was not wanting t < aid in its defence, 
 and they were crowned by a series of works which 
 presented a double fortified line. By these heights 
 it is that Dantzick has been generally attacked. 
 In fact, the double line of fortification which occu- 
 pies their summit once taken, the city might lie 
 overwhelmed with such a destructive fin; as it 
 would be scarcely possible to withstand. Of course 
 
 this double enceinte can but be most difficult to at- 
 tack. The works of Dantzick are of earth, pre- 
 senting, instead of escarpments of masonry, slo- 
 pings of turf. But there was found at the foot of 
 these slopes a range of the strongest palisading, of 
 enormous dimensions (fifteen inches in diameter), 
 close together and deeply sunk into the earth. 
 Shot might rend them, and sometimes break off 
 the tops, but could not altogether tear them away. 
 On the slopes behind, enormous beams, suspended 
 by ropes, could at a moment of assault be rolled 
 down from top to bottom upon the besiegers. 
 Moreover, at all the receding angles of the enceinte 
 strong wooden block-houses had been constructed, 
 covered with earth, and rendered almost impene- 
 trable to builet or to bomb. The timber of the 
 northern plains, of which Dantzick is the great 
 entrepot, had been profusely used, in all its forms, 
 to fortify it ; and its defensive properties, not then 
 duly appreciated, were soon evident after the 
 execution of this memorable siege. Munitions of 
 war in immense quantity, provisions enough to 
 support the whole population and the troops also 
 for more than a year, continual communication 
 with Koenigsberg, either by sea or by the Neh- 
 rung, — communications which gave the besieged 
 garrison assurance of assistance, and the means 
 of retreat when they might choose, — all added to 
 the chances of defence, and to the difficulties of 
 attack. 
 
 Marshal Lefebvre, charged with the command 
 of the troops that were to carry on the siege, pos- 
 sessed none of the knowledge requisite for such an 
 operation. There was not in the whole army a 
 more ignorant nor a braver soldier. To all the 
 questions of skill raised by the engineers, he never 
 could offer any solution but that of rushing on to 
 the assault at the head of his grenadiers. If, in 
 spite of this insufficiency, Napoleon still chose 
 him, it must have been either with the view, as 
 has been elsewhere seen, of employing the senators, 
 or that he did not care to leave such an old soldier 
 in Paris, who, though submissive and devoted 
 enough, still could not control his tongue ; in 
 short, it might have hi en that, Ik; wished, without 
 confiding to him a corps d'atmie, to afford him 
 some opportunity of earning a rich reward. The 
 brave Lefebvre, who redeemed his ignorance by 
 a little natural sense, could do himself justice, and 
 exhibited real fear on Learning the task Napoleon 
 had just imposed on him. Napoleon had reassured 
 him, promising to send him every resource he 
 could need, and to direct him himself from his 
 camp at Finkenstcin. "Take courage," he said to 
 bun ; "you ought, as well as I hi; rest of us, when 
 we return to France, hi hare something to relate in 
 ill. halls of the senate." 
 
 Overcome by these gracious words, the marshal 
 hastened to obey. Napoleon had appointed two 
 
 officers of the first merit to direct him, — Chassc- 
 loup, of the engineers, and the artillery general 
 Lariboissiere, -knowing that it is by these two 
 arms of engineering and artillery that the walls of 
 the Strongest places are to In- knocked down. It 
 is true they are likely to differ in their counsels ; 
 for one is charged with the determining what and 
 how attacks shall be made, the other with the car- 
 rying by cannon-ball such attacks into execution, 
 and they are too closely brought into contact toge-
 
 2G8 
 
 Strength of the be- 
 sieging corps. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Opening of the 
 
 siege. 
 
 f 1807. 
 \ March. 
 
 ther in this difficult work not to frequently contra- 
 dict each other. The part of the general-in-chief 
 is to reconcile these differences. But Napoleon 
 was within thirty or forty leagues of Dantzick ; he 
 could always resolve difficulties by his daily corre- 
 spondence, and dispatch one of his aides-de-camp, 
 general Savary or General Bertram!, to put an 
 end in his name to any differences which marshal 
 Lefebvre might be incapable of comprehending 
 and judging of. This he did more than once 
 during the siege. 
 
 Napoleon had resolved to begin the first works 
 with his auxiliaries and one or two French regi- 
 ments borrowed from the corps of marshal Mor- 
 tier, and then, as the regiments coming up from 
 France should pass near the Vistula, to keep them 
 momentarily under the walls of Dantzick in sup- 
 port of the besieging troops. Marshal Lefebvre, 
 therefore, had at his commencement 5000 or G000 
 Poles, lately levied and scarcely drilled ; 2500 
 men of the legion of the north, composed of Poles, 
 German and Russian deserters, having spirit 
 enough, but no steadiness, for want of sufficient 
 organization ; 2200 Baden troops, little accustomed 
 to fire or the fatigue of trenches ; 5000 Saxons, 
 good soldiers enough, but who, having fought by 
 the side of the Prussians at Jena, might not be 
 very well affected towards the French ; and 3000 
 French, — that is to say, the 2nd light infantry, the 
 23rd and 19th regiments of chasseurs arrived from 
 Italy, and f>'00 engineers, an incomparable body, 
 who, furnishing every thing that was wanting 
 during this famous siege, covered themselves with 
 glory. It appears, then, that with 18,000 men at 
 the utmost, of which only 3000 were French, they 
 were about to undertake the regular attack of a 
 place which contained a garrison of 18,000 men. 
 
 The heavy artillery, of which at least 100 pieces 
 would be needed, with an immense provision of 
 powder and projectiles, could only be brought from 
 the arsenals of Silesia. The transport by water 
 being interrupted, the French were obliged to 
 drag them with great labour, over very bad roads, 
 from the Oder to the Vistula. These were ex- 
 pected in March. But before beginning to bom- 
 bard the place, the first thing to be done was to 
 shut it up, so as to deprive the garrison of the re- 
 inforcements and encouragement they were receiv- 
 ing from Koenigsberg. To succeed in this, it was 
 necessary on one hand to cut it off from the fort 
 of Weichselmiinde, and on the other to intercept 
 the communication by the Nehrung, this long bank 
 of sand which extends, as has been said, all the 
 way from Kcenigsberg to Dantzick, except at the 
 single opening at Pillau. 
 
 Being arrived by the sandy heights which com- 
 mand Dantzick on the west, in front is the out- 
 ward enceinte constructed on these heights, below 
 is the city, the Vistula on the left throwing itself 
 into the Baltic, beyond the works of the fort of 
 Weichselmiinde ; on the right the vast extent of 
 ground inundated by the Motlau, and opposite, as 
 far as the eye can reach, the Nehrung, bathed on 
 one side by the sea, and on the other by the Vis- 
 tula, and burying itself in the horizon in the direc- 
 tion of the Frische Haft". Here was a circuit of 
 seven or eight leagues, which it was impossible to 
 embrace with 18,000 men. True, the investment 
 might be sufficient by the occupation of certain 
 
 points. Thus, by taking post on the Vistula, be- 
 tween the fort of Weichselmiinde and Dantzick, the 
 communications by sea would be interrupted. By 
 establishing a position on the Nehrung, all com- 
 munication by land would be cut off. But to gain 
 possession of these principal points, it would be 
 necessary first to crown the heights, and then to 
 descend to the left and carry the works of fort 
 Weichselmiinde on both banks of the Vistula ; and 
 failing in this operation, at least to bar that river, 
 cross over to the island of Holm, and take posses- 
 sion of the canal of Laake. It would be further 
 necessary, after having thus descended on the left, 
 to descend also towards the right, into the inun- 
 dated plain, to traverse it by the dykes, to cross 
 the Vistula above Dantzick as it had been crossed 
 below, to enter the Nehrung, to entrench there, 
 and to cut off the road by land as well as by sea. 
 These first difficulties overcome, the trenches 
 might be opened before the place. But to do that, 
 the besiegers ought to possess 8000 or 10,000 of 
 the best troops, and the French had not such. 
 By the advice of the engineer in command, Chasse- 
 loup, it was thought best to choose between the 
 divers preliminary operations that which seemed 
 most urgent and least difficult. To pass the Vis- 
 tula below Dantzick, between the city and the fort 
 of Weichselmiinde ; to penetrate into the island of 
 Holm under the fire of its well-armed l-edoubts, 
 this in spite of sorties which might be made 
 either from Weichselmiinde or Dantzick, seemed 
 too dangerous. It was therefore resolved to pass 
 above Dantzick, a league or two higher up, to- 
 wards a place called Neufahr, there to form a 
 small encampment, and thus to intercept the Neh- 
 rung, so as to obtain means of reinforcing this 
 encampment, and to approach Dantzick for the 
 purpose of aiding the troops which would be 
 subsequently charged with the passage of the 
 Vistula, between the place and the fort of Weich- 
 selmiinde. 
 
 This operation was confided to general Schramm, 
 with a body of about 3000 men, composed of a 
 battalion of the 2nd light infantry, of some hun- 
 dreds of Saxon grenadiers, a detachment of Polish 
 infantry and cavalry, and a squadron of the 19th 
 chasseurs. On the morning of the 19th of March, 
 these troops were embarked as high up as Neufahr, 
 two leagues above Danizick, on board some boats 
 that had been procured, and crossed the Vistula, 
 which is narrower here, since it divides itself into 
 several branches, assisted as they were in this 
 operation by an island situated near the opposite 
 bank. General Schramm reaching the Nehrung 
 in consequence of this passage, divided his little 
 force into three columns ; one on the left, to fall on 
 the hostile troops which defended the position on 
 the side of Dantzick ; one on the right, to repulse 
 those who might, approach from the side of Kcenigs- 
 berg, and the third in reserve. At the head of 
 each of these columns he had placed a French 
 detachment to show them an example. 
 
 Scarcely had the troops of general Schramm 
 disembarked, led by the battalion of the 2nd light 
 infantry, than, turning to the left, they encoun- 
 tered and overthrew sonie Prussians, in spite of a 
 very warm fire. While the principal column, 
 taking to the left, pursued these towards Dantzick, 
 the second remained in observation on the road to
 
 1S07. ) 
 March, t 
 
 Combat on the 
 Nehrung. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 The Hagelsberg 
 attacked. 
 
 269 
 
 Kcenigsberg. The third, kept in reserve, served 
 to reinforce the first. The enemy, taking advan- 
 tage of the obstacles of the ground to renew their 
 resistance, — for the Nehrung, as it approaches 
 
 Dantziok, presents hillocks and woods, — the first 
 column, with the support of the third, again re- 
 pulsed them, killed some, and took several pri- 
 soners. The Saxons on this occasion rivalled the 
 French. Both together drove hack the enemy to 
 the glacis of the fort of Weiehselmiinde, from 
 whence the troops had come out to the defence of 
 the Nehrung. 
 
 The affair seemed over, when towards seven 
 o'clock in the evening, a column of 3000 or 4000 
 Prussians was seen to march out from Dantzick, 
 and up the Vistula, with drums beating, and 
 colours flying. The 2nd light infantry, by a true 
 ami well-sustained fire, stopped this column, then 
 charged it with the bayonet, and drove it back 
 upon Dantzick, into which it hurried, to secure 
 itself. This day, by which the French obtained 
 possession of a passage across the Vistula, above 
 Dantzick, and a position which intercepted the 
 Nehrung, cost the enemy 200 or 300 men put fwrs 
 de combat, and 500 or COO prisoners. Captain 
 Girod, of the engineers, who directed the expedition, 
 distinguished himself by his intelligence and self- 
 possession. The operation being effected, he cut 
 down some timber, threw up breastworks, and 
 established a bridge of boats across the Vistula, 
 with the accompaniment of a strong ttte-de pont. 
 The French troops were lodged behind these 
 defences, and guarded by means of cavalry posts, 
 which on one side extended nearly to the glacis of 
 the fort of Weiehselmiinde, and on the other 
 along the Nehrung, in the direction of Kceuigs- 
 berg. 
 
 General Schramm, who commanded this detach- 
 ment, endeavoured on the succeeding days to 
 descend as far as Heubude, to invest the place 
 more closely, and to possess himself of a sluice, 
 that materially influenced the inundation. But 
 this sluice, surrounded by the water, was inac- 
 cessible on every side. To obtain possession of it 
 was therefore given up, and the French were 
 contented with advancing a bridge of boats as far 
 down as Heubude. Tins post on the Upper 
 Vistula, however, even after it was carried down 
 to Heubude, had still to keep up six leagues of 
 communication with the head-quarters, across 
 overflowed grounds and along dykes. By desiring 
 to cut off the communications of th.' besieged, the 
 French were thus themselves exposed to the loss of 
 their own communications. 
 
 On the 26th of March the enemy attempted two 
 sallies, om: from the place itself, by way of the 
 
 gates of Schidlitz and Oliva, on the French ad- 
 vanced posts, with the intention of fully completing 
 the burning of the faubourgs, and the other from 
 the exterior works of WeichselmUnde, din cted 
 towards the left of the French head-quarters, by 
 way of Langenfurth. Both wew warmly repulsed. 
 
 An officer of the Polish cavalry, captain Sokol- 
 niki, distinguished himself great! v on this occasion, 
 
 by his bravery and skill. Tin; baron of Kakow, 
 
 a celebrated Prussian partisan officer, was taken 
 prisoner. 
 
 The French troops, in following up the enemy to 
 the very foot of their works, approached the place 
 
 nearer than they had hitherto done, and were able 
 bett r to make out its configuration. General 
 Chasseloup settled the plan for attack with the 
 glance of an engineer, as intelligent as he was 
 skilful. 
 
 The exterior works, constructed on the confines 
 of the heights, presented two lines, which, though 
 connected with each other, were still distinct, and 
 separated by a small valley, in the bottom of which 
 sto d the faubourg of Schidlitz. The first line, 
 that on the right ( t lie right of the besieging army), 
 was called Bischoffsberg, and the second, that 
 to the left, Hagelsberg. This latter it was that 
 general Chasseloup chose for the object of his 
 principal attack, reserving to himself tiie making a 
 feint attack upon Bischoffsberg. The motives 
 which decided him were as follow '. 
 
 The works of Hagelsberg seemed less carefully 
 guarded than those of Bischoffsberg. Hagelsberg 
 was confined and little calculated for the movement 
 of troops, either for the besieged to make sallies 
 or to repulse assaults, while Bischoffsberg, being 
 large and well laid out, would allow of 3000 or 
 4000 men being ranged in battle array, and thrown 
 out in mass upon the besiegers. Hagelsberg 
 could be attacked on its rear by way of Scolzenberg, 
 one of its outward positions; Bischoffsberg could 
 not be so from any quarter. Hagelsberg was 
 reached by continually undulating ground. In 
 approaching Bischoffsberg a deep ravine was met 
 with, through which it was not easy to force away, 
 and into which the risk of being precipitated was 
 to be incurred by any who might attempt clearing 
 it to make an assault. Besides that Hagelsberg 
 was more easy of capture than Bischoffsberg, its 
 position after it was taken was the better of the 
 two. From one, as well as the other, the place 
 was equally commanded, and it might be over- 
 whelmed by the liiing of artillery. But if this 
 firing did not suffice to reduce it, and the French 
 were obliged to descend from the heights to force 
 the second enceinte, on coming down from Hagels- 
 berg, a salient front from the bastion of Heilige- 
 Leichnams to the bastion of Saint Elizabeth would 
 be found, which, not being flanked from any 
 other side, would offer but small difficulty to the 
 besiegers. <*n the contrary, on descending from 
 Bischofisberg from the bastion of Saint Elizabeth, as 
 far as the bastion of Saint Gertrude was to hi; found 
 a receding angle, Bunked on all sides, and exposed, 
 moreover, to the lire of several cavaliers still 
 higher up. In fact, reasons thus drawn from the 
 general situation existed to decide upon the attack 
 on Hagelsberg. This attack would be nearer to the 
 principal point of the French strength on the 
 Lower Vistula, and it was, in fact, by the Lower 
 Vistula that the besiegers proposed investing the 
 
 place, by drawing upon this point the detached 
 
 corps of general Schramm, and by assisting him to 
 
 1 We have thought (it to relate, with some detail, the 
 siege of Dantzick, beCBUM i' was a line specimen of a 
 regular liege, and ihe most remarkable of our age ; because 
 examples ot regular sieges, whleb were so frequent and to 
 
 perfect under Louis XIV., have heccme very rare in late 
 
 timet, because thai of Dantzick had the signal honour of 
 being covered by Napoleon himself, at the head of 200,000 
 men ; and became it forms the Decenary episode which 
 bindt together the campaign of the winter with that of the 
 tummer, in the Immortal warfare of Poland.— ./fuf/iur'j iwie.
 
 270 
 
 Modes of attack 
 adopted. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 taken and retaken. 
 
 u 
 
 April. 
 
 cross over into the island of Holm, thus to cut 
 Dantzick off from the fort of Weichselmiinde. 
 These reasons were convincing, and convinced 
 Napoleon himself. General Kirgener, commanding 
 under general Chasseloup, had formed the idea of 
 fixing the point of attack still more to the left, 
 towards the gate of Oliva, in the low ground lying 
 between Hagelsberg and the Vistula, over against 
 the island of Holm. This idea was not adopted, 
 for the French would have had to carry the first 
 enceinte under the fire on the left of the island of 
 Holm, and then to attack the second, sustaining 
 on the right the fire of Hagelsberg. Such a mode 
 of going to work was inadmissible. 
 
 General Chasseloup being called away for some 
 days to Thorn, in order to project some defensive 
 works there, left, on his setting out, his plan of 
 attack, and orders for the commencement of the 
 works. 
 
 There was no longer any excuse for delay, as 
 marshal Lefebvre had just received part of the re- 
 inforcements which had been promised him. The 
 44th of the line, taken from the corps of Augereau, 
 arrived at this time from the banks of the Vistula ; 
 it consisted of but 1000 men, but of the very best 
 kind. The 19th, that had set out from France two 
 months before, also arrived at Stettin, with a train 
 of artillery in its escort. These were sufficient, 
 while waiting for the other appointed regiments, to 
 ! commence the works, and to set the example to 
 the auxiliary troops. 
 
 Without being versed in that noble science 
 which immortalized Vauban, every one knows the 
 precautions with which approaches must be made 
 to fortified towns. It is by burying oneself in the 
 earth, by opening trenches, and throwing to the 
 side of the enemy the contents of those trenches, 
 that advances are slowly made under the fire of 
 heavy artillery. Thus are the lines traced which 
 are called parallels, because they are in fact 
 parallel to the front to be attacked. These are 
 then armed with batteries, so as to reply to the 
 fire of the besieged. After having traced a first 
 parallel, they approach, working underground by- 
 zigzags, to the distance where it is judged fit to 
 trace a second parallel, which is armed in battery, 
 like the first. They arrive successively at a third, 
 from whence they reach the bank of the ditch, in 
 which 13 what is called the covered way. Thence 
 they descend into the ditch with fresh precautions, 
 overthrow, by breaching batteries, the escarp- 
 ments, fill up the ditch with the ruins, and upon 
 these ruins mount up to the assault. Sorties of 
 the enemy, to destroy these difficult works, constant 
 firing of heavy artillery, and mines by which both 
 besiegers and besieged are blown up into the air, 
 add animated scenes, and often terrible ones, to 
 this frightful subterranean warfare, in which 
 science disputes with heroism in the attack or 
 defence of great cities, whose riches or geographical 
 position, or whose military strength, render them 
 worthy of such efforts. 
 
 These complicated methods must, be resorted to 
 when a place cannot be suddenly captured. That 
 was the case in this instance, for the reasons before 
 adduced, and in the night between the 1st and 2nd of 
 April the trenches were opened in front of Hagels- 
 berg, which was the point designed for the attack. 
 They had taken position on the plateau of Zigan- 
 
 kenberg. According to custom, it was endeavoured 
 to conceal this first operation from the enemy, and 
 at daybreak the French soldiers were covered by 
 a breastwork of earth for an extent of 200 toises. 
 The besieged directed a very warm fire on them, 
 but they could not hinder them from finishing the 
 work during the following day. In the night 
 between the 2nd and 3rd of April, they moved 
 forward from the first parallel by the transversal 
 trenches called zigzags, and thus gained ground. 
 While part of the French soldiers were busy in this 
 manner, they endeavoured to carry a work which 
 would soon become annoying to their progress. 
 
 This was the redoubt known by the name of 
 Kalke-Schanze, situated on their left, on the very 
 bank of the Vistula, and consequently in the low 
 land through which the river flowed. Besides, 
 being placed below the point they were gaining by 
 their works, it enfiladed the trenches, a sufficient 
 motive for seeking to get rid of it. Some soldiers 
 of the legion of the north, a bold body, as has been 
 remarked, but not very steady, threw themselves • 
 bravely into the work, and carried it. During the 
 same night the enemy made a sortie upon the 
 first trenches, and upon the redoubt which had 
 just been taken from him. He was at first re- 
 pulsed, but he retook the redoubt of Kalke-Schanze, 
 whence he drove out the soldiers of the legion of 
 the north, as well as the Badenese. He had 
 scarcely established himself in it, before he filled 
 all the ditches with the waters of the Vistula, sur- 
 rounded the earthen escarpments with strong 
 palisading, and rendered himself almost impreg- 
 nable there. The French were therefore compelled 
 to continue their approaches, notwithstanding this 
 inconvenient neighbour, from which they were 
 obliged to protect themselves by traverses, a sort 
 of breastworks of earth, opposite to the fires on 
 their flank, and which, by imposing so great an 
 increase of works, could but prolong the operations 
 of the siege. 
 
 During the nights and the days which followed, 
 from the 4th to the 7th of April, the French pur- 
 sued the works of approach, under the fire of the 
 place, without being able to reply to it, the heavy 
 artillery not having yet come up. They had only 
 some field pieces placed iu redoubts, with which 
 they could pour grape on the enemy in case of 
 sortie. The works presented greater difficulties 
 than the generality of regular sieges. The soil in 
 which they were working was a fine sand, loose 
 and shifting, crumbling away at the stroke of the 
 balls; and the wind, becoming violent at the ap- 
 proach of the equinox, blew it into the faces of the 
 soldiers. The weather was bad, snowy and rainy 
 by turns. In fact, the only good labourers were 
 the French, who were few in number, and overcome i 
 with fatigue. 
 
 During the night from the 7th to the 8th of April, 
 the French opened a parallel opposite Bischoffsberg, 
 with the double motive of distracting the atten- 
 tion of the enemy by a false attack, and of esta- 
 blishing batteries to take Hagelsberg in reverse, 
 and even of firing on the city itself. On the | 
 following days the works were continued, as well 
 for the real as for the false attack. The besieged, 
 on their side, had undertaken works of counter- 
 approach, intending thereby to possess themselves 
 of a mound, from whence they could command the
 
 1807. \ 
 April, J 
 
 The French finally suc- 
 cessful. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Dantzick completely 
 invested. 
 
 271 
 
 French trendies. In the night between the 10th 
 and 11th, general Cbasseloup, who had returned to 
 the eamp, made the necessary dispositions for the 
 destruction of these works. At 10 o'clock at night 
 four companies of the 44th of the line, with l'?0 
 soldiers of the legion of the north, commanded by 
 the chief of battalion Rogniat, crossed a kind of 
 ravine which s parated the left of the first parallel 
 from the position occupied by the Prussians, sprung 
 upon them, overthrew them, took thirteen prisoners, 
 and obliged the others to take to flight, throwing their 
 muskets away. The soldiers of the north imme- 
 diately set to work filling in, with their shovels, 
 the trenches the besieged had begun. But this de- 
 struction of. the enemy's works was carried on at 
 forty tuises' distance from the place, and under a 
 murderous fire of grape and howitzer shot. The 
 workmen of the legion of the north, after standing 
 this for some time, at length took to flight one 
 after another, and the Prussians were enabled to 
 regain their abandoned works before they could be 
 completely destroyed. At one o'clock in the 
 morning, general Cbasseloup and marshal Lefebvre, 
 perceiving the return of the enemy, resolved to 
 drive them away again. Four hundred men of 
 the 41th darted in upon the works, and, finding a 
 strong detachment of Prussian grenadiers there, 
 attacked them with the bayonet, killing or wound- 
 ing fifty of them, making nearly as many prisoners, 
 and capturing many muskets and tools. A com- 
 pany of Saxons remained until daybreak filling in 
 the enemy's trenches with shovels, but, by that 
 time, although seconded by the French riflemen, 
 they could no longer withstand the firing from the 
 place, and were obliged to retire. 
 
 The Prussians reoccupied the works in the 
 course of the day of the 12th, and they erected, in 
 great haste, a sort of redoubt of palisades on the 
 mound, to the possession of which they had at- 
 tached such value. It was not possible to suffer 
 them to remain thus peaceably established on the 
 left of the trenches. It was resolved that on the 
 following night this position should be carried for 
 the third time, ami that it should be connect) 'I 
 with the second parallel which had been opened 
 dining the day. On the 12th, at nine o'clock in 
 the evening, the chief of battalion, Rogniat, ami 
 general Puthod, at tin: bead of 300 Saxon grena- 
 diers of Bevilacqua, a company of carbineers of 
 the legion of the north, and a company of grena- 
 diers of the 4 lli, c manded by the chief of 
 
 battalion, Jacquemard, assaulted tin- work with 
 determination. The resistance of the enemy was 
 most obstinate. Under cover of the palisades, 
 they kept up such a lire as caused a momentary 
 iii. 11; among the French troops. Hut the 
 grenadiers of the 44th man-bed straight forward 
 
 to the palisadl -, while the Saxon grenadiers of 
 
 Bevilacqua, led on by a brave drummer, finding a 
 way of turning the work by the left, gained en- 
 trance, and decided tie- success. The French 
 
 remained masters of tie- redoubt, and hastened to 
 connect it with the second parallel. 
 
 In the mean tiim-, daylight appearing, the 
 enemy resolving to dispute to the last a position 
 
 which must have stopped the approaches il he liad 
 succeeded in retaining it, attempted a grand 
 
 sortie, and directed a strong column upon the 
 
 point that was so warmly contested. Tin- whole 
 
 fire of the place supported their efforts. They 
 threw themselves upon the redoubt in which the 
 Saxons remained; overwhelmed them by numbers, 
 notwithstanding the most courageous resistance on 
 their part; and, having conquered the work, they 
 marched resolutely towards the trenches, to at- 
 tack and destroy them. They had already en- 
 tered, when marshal Lefebvre, who, at the fust 
 noise of this sortie, had promptly assembled a 
 battalion of the 44th, sprung upon the Prussians, 
 sword in hand, and, in the midst of a shower of 
 bullets, hurled them out of the trenches, driving 
 them at the bayonet's point as far as the glacis of 
 Hagelsberg. But, arrived there, he was forced to 
 retire under a storm of grape. The Prussians lost 
 in this action about 300 men. It cost the French 
 fifteen officers and 100 soldiers, as well Saxons as 
 French. 
 
 From this time, the mound on the left was 
 abandoned by the enemy. It was finally con- 
 nected with the French trenches, and they then 
 proceeded with new works beyond the second 
 parallel. Their labours were continued in the 
 same way on that traced out in front of BischoH's- 
 berg, the object of which has already been pointed 
 out. 
 
 These three days of fighting had greatly retarded 
 the works of the siege, inasmuch as the trenches 
 being incessantly threatened, they were forced to 
 employ their best soldiers in guarding them. The 
 following days were occupied in finishing the 
 second parallel, in enlarging it, establishing in it a 
 ■place d'armes for the lodgement of the troops on 
 guard, and preparing for fixing the batteries, 
 while waiting the arrival of the heavy guns ; and 
 the same cares were bestowed on the parallel for 
 the false attack undertaken in front of Bischuffs- 
 berg. Two fresh regiments having come up by 
 order of Napoleon, were very attentive to the 
 operations of this great siege. These were, one 
 the regiment of the municipal guard of Paris, ami 
 the other the 12th light infantry, which had been 
 momentarily detached from Thorn and sent to 
 Dantzick. At the same time, Napoleon had 
 commanded marshal Mortier, who had just, termi- 
 nated the affair of the armistice with the Swedes, 
 to lead Ins troops on by Stettin to Dantzick, and he 
 was to unite in the island of Nogath the elements 
 of the infantry reserve, which was to be under 
 command of marshal LanneB, There was thus 
 every expectation of strong support. 
 
 The besieging army being provided with two 
 new French regiments, it was now able to invest the 
 place completely, ami to continue the projected 
 operations on the Vistula, by moviug general 
 Schramm forward from tic heights of Heubude to 
 tie- i- land of Holm, which was becoming the more 
 urgent, as the enemy communicated daily through 
 the fort of WeichselmUnde with tie- sea, ami 
 thereby received supplies of men and stori . 
 Consequently, on the 15th April, general Gar- 
 danne, who had assumed tin command of the 
 troops posted on tie- Nehrung, descended the 
 course of the Vistula with these troops and some 
 reinforci ments which had been sent to him, and 
 took up a |. -uioii alongside the canal of Laake 
 between Dantzick and the fort of Weichselmuude, 
 at 700 toines' distance from the glacis of that 
 fortress, lb- was posted in such a manner as to
 
 272 Sally of the Prussians. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The siege interrupted 
 by a Unipest. 
 
 / 1807. 
 \ April. 
 
 intercept at once the navigation of the canal and 
 that of the Vistula itself somewhat later, when the 
 troops at head-quarters should join their fire to 
 his, on coming down by their left, along the bank 
 of the river. At first this operation met with no 
 opposition, except from the redoubts on the island 
 of Holm. But marshal Kalkreuth, soon per- 
 ceiving the importance of the enterprise, resolved 
 to make the utmost efforts to keep up his commu- 
 nications with the sea. The 16ih April, 3000 
 Russians with 2000 Prussians sallied out at the 
 same time, the former from the fortress of Weiehsel- 
 mUude, and the latter from Dantziek, to the attack 
 of the French troops, who had not yet had time to 
 establish themselves firmly in the Nehrung and at 
 the entrance of the canal. A most vehement struggle 
 commenced on the side of WeichselmUnde with 
 the Russians, and fortunately a little before the 
 Prussians had issued from Dantziek. They were 
 driven back to the glacis of the fort, after sustain- 
 ing considerable loss. Scarcely bad the French 
 finished with these than they had to begin afresh 
 with the Prussians, which was neither a long nor 
 difficult task ; for the French auxiliaries behaved 
 most valiantly. The enemy lost in all 500 or b'00 
 men killed or prisoners. The besiegers losing 
 about 200. 
 
 After the battle, the French establishment upon 
 the Lower Vistula and in the Nehrung seemed 
 secured. They nevertheless applied themselves in 
 consolidating it. They raised a double breastwork 
 of earth, so as to shelter themselves at once from 
 the fort as well as the place, and extended it so 
 far as to join it on one side to the river, and on 
 the other to the woods which covered this part of 
 the Nehrung. Large stockades rendered these 
 woods almost inaccessible. A strong blockhouse 
 was placed in the midst of the French intrench- 
 ments. To these precautions was added a guard 
 of small vessels on the canal and on the river, 
 which was to obstruct any embarkation of the 
 enemy, either for ascending or descending the 
 Vistula. While these works were in execution on 
 the right bank, (he troops at bead-quarters on the 
 left bank, coming down from the heights to the 
 banks of the Vistula, had constructed some re- 
 doubts there, so as to cross their fire with that of 
 the troops established in the Nehrung. On this 
 side they were protected by a bulwark of gabions 
 200 toises in length. A brave officer, named 
 Taidiville, was posted with 100 men in a house on 
 the bank of the Vistula, and maintained himself 
 there, in spite of the projectiles of the enemy, with 
 such obstinacy, that the bouse went by his name 
 during the whole of the siege. It remained now 
 to conquer the island of Holm, in order to render 
 the investment complete and final. But in the 
 meanwhile the enemy's ships came up as far as 
 Dantziek only with difficulty. Several barks had, 
 in fact, been captured, and a corvette having tried 
 to come up the Vistula, was stopped by the fire 
 from both banks. The soldiers, led on by an 
 engineer officer, Lesecq, had leaped the intrench- 
 inents, openly showed themselves on the river's 
 bank, and by pouring in on her their musketry 
 fire, compelled her to retire. Captain Lesecq had 
 bis sword carried away by a shot, without being 
 struck himself. 
 
 The 20th of April had arrived. The French 
 
 had now been six weeks before the place, and the 
 trenches bad been opened for the last twenty 
 days. The heavy artillery bad just arrived, part 
 from Breslau, part from Stettin, and part from 
 Thorn and Warsaw. Ammunition in sufficient quan- 
 tities was still wanting. The French were, however, 
 able to open a fire from the batteries of the first and 
 second parallels. Every thing was arranged for 
 commencing on the 20th, when a frightful equi- 
 noctial gale, bringing torrents of snow, filled the 
 trenches and interrupted the works. Two days 
 were necessary to get rid of this, and the soldiers 
 obliged to bivouac in the open air in so rude a 
 climate, rendered more than usually so by the 
 long winter, had to undergo great suffering. At 
 last, on the night of the 23rd, fifty-eight pieces of 
 cannon, consisting of mortars, howitzers, and twenty- 
 four and twelve pounders, opened their fire at once, 
 and continued to play upon the place during 
 the whole of the 24th. The enemy's artillery, 
 which had reserved itself to make head against 
 the French, replied briskly and with accuracy. 
 But after some hours of this mutual cannonading, 
 that of the French being directed in a superior 
 manner by general Lariiioissiere, a great number 
 of the enemy's embrasures were ruined, many of 
 his guns dismounted, and a violent conflagration,, 
 caused by the howitzer shot from the batteries of 
 the false attack, broke out in the interior of the 
 city. Columns of smoke, rising to the height of the 
 largest edifices, gave evidence of the sad ravages 
 the French had made. Marshal Kalkreuth, 
 nevertheless, succeeded in extinguishing the fire 
 by means of the water with which the city was 
 abundantly supplied. lie did not appear in the 
 least daunted. Next day, the 25th, marshal 
 Lefebvre, to sound bis intentions, gave notice that 
 he was about to fire with red-hot shot. To this no 
 answer was given. The fire was then recom- 
 menced from all the guns with greater energy, and 
 another fire was kindled, but again extinguished 
 by the efforts of the garrison and the inhabitants. 
 The violent fire from the artillery drawing upon 
 itself nearly all the enemy's projectiles, had pro- 
 duced a diversion favourable to the works of 
 approach, which, becoming thus more easy, ad- 
 vanced more rapidly. By dint of the devotion of 
 the corps of engineers, digging away the sand in 
 the midst of the balls, which were overturning the 
 sappings and carrying away the gabions and bags 
 of earth, they pushed the zigzags as far as the 
 third parallel, and at length opened their flying 
 sap in the night between the 25th and 2Cth. 
 
 On that between the 26th and 27th a great 
 portion of this last parallel was traced under cover 
 of the combat going on between the batteries. 
 Unfortunately, the French did not possess a suf- 
 ficiency of cannon and ammunition. They were 
 scarcely firing 2000 shot a day, while their adver- 
 saries were discharging 3000. They had many 
 iron pieces, which were nobly handled by the 
 artillerymen, and did as much injury as the 
 enemy's projectiles. The soldiers, however, made 
 up all their inferiority by the accuracy of their 
 aim. The enemy, on the 27th, again resolved on 
 the offensive by making sallies. Taking advantage 
 of the still unfinished state of the third parallel, 
 he determined to destroy those works; and all at 
 once, towards seven in the evening, he ceased his
 
 JS07. \ 
 April, f 
 
 A suspension of arms for 
 two hours. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Impatience of Le- 
 febvre. 
 
 273 
 
 1 
 
 fire. This indicated to the French some under- 
 taking on the side of the besieged. Several compa- 
 nies of the 12th light infantry, which had recently 
 joined, were posted to the right and left behind 
 breastworks which concealed them. Six hundred 
 Prussian grenadiers, followed by a working party 
 of 200 men, advanced upon the parallel, still 
 imperfect as it was, and easy of access. A picquet 
 couched on the ground, having perceived them, 
 retired so as to surfer them to advance into it. 
 The companies of the 12th light infantry then 
 sprang upon them suddenly, charged them with 
 the bayonet in the ditch, and engaged in a hand- 
 to-hand combat. The struggle was a murderous 
 one ; but they were driven out, 120 of their num- 
 ber remained on the ground killed or wounded, 
 some were taken prisoners, and the remainder 
 driven at the point of the bayonet to the very 
 glacis of the place. 
 
 Marshal Kalkreuth demanded a suspension of 
 arms for two hours, to carry off his killed and 
 wounded. Marshal Lefebvre granted this by the 
 advice of the engineers and artillery, who were 
 glad of this suspension of arms, as it would enable 
 them to make some reconnoissances. Generals 
 Lariboissiere and Chasseloup immediately repaired 
 beneath the walls of the place to look out for 
 positions from which they might with more cer- 
 tainty destroy the works of the besieged. Their 
 observations being finished, they again went to 
 work, and busied themselves in establishing new 
 batteries on the points they had made choice of, 
 taking care to connect them with the trenches. 
 
 On the night from the 28th to the 29th, the 
 enemy made another sally with a column of 
 2000 men divided into three detachments. As on 
 the evening before, he marched right upon the 
 third parallel, the works of which he seemed 
 resolved at any rate to interrupt. Two companies 
 of the 19th of the line, at sight of the first detach- 
 ment, threw themselves on it with the bayonet, and 
 drove it close up to the glacis of Ha^elsberg; but 
 being received there by a very brisk fire from the 
 covered way, and being surrounded by the second 
 detachment, which they had not perceived, they 
 lost forty men. Nevertheless, they were supported 
 and fortunately rescued in time. The enemy, on 
 being driven back, left 70 killed and 130 pri- 
 soners. 
 
 These strong attempts on the third parallel did 
 not hinder the besiegers from finishing the work, 
 prolonging it to the right ami to the left, and 
 mounting the batteries upon it. Fresh convoys, just 
 arrived, enabled diem to place more than twenty- 
 four pieces of heavy calibre in batfa iv. Thence- 
 forth the lire of the artillery was redoubled, ami at 
 length outlets wire commenced from the third 
 
 parallel so as to bear on the salient angles ol 
 
 rLigelsberg. This work was composed of two 
 
 bastions, between which was a hall moon. The 
 approach was made towards tin- hit hand bas- 
 tion, and towards the projection of the half mi on. 
 
 The works of advance were now become dread- 
 fully murderous. 'J'hc enemy, who hail reserved 
 the great) 1 t resources of his artillery lor tin- end 
 of the sii go, directed the larger part upon the 
 works. The engineers saw their sappiiigs over- 
 turned, and the loose sand which ihev threw up 
 driven back into the trenches by the force ol the 
 VOL. II. 
 
 numerous projectiles hurled against them. Their 
 constancy, working in the midst of all these 
 dangers, was invincible. The infantry, on their 
 side, underwent great fatigue; for the nearer they 
 approached the place, the more requisite it 
 became to guard the trenches by the most expe- 
 rienced soldiers. Of every forty-eight hours they 
 passed twenty-four either in working themselves 
 or in protecting those ak work. The besiegers, 
 therefore, advanced at this period with great 
 slowness. Marshal Lefebvre, who began to lose 
 patience, found fault with every one ; with the 
 engineers, whose combinations he did not under- 
 stand, with the artillery, whose efforts he did not 
 appreciate, and, above all, with the auxiliaries, 
 who rendered him much less service than the 
 French did. The Saxons fought well enough, but 
 did not evince much good-will, particularly at 
 work. The Badenese were neither good at work 
 nor under fire. The Poles of the new levies had 
 zeal enough, but no warlike habits. The soldiers 
 of the legion of the north were ready enough in 
 any attack, but quailed at the least resistance. 
 As all these auxiliaries were inclined to desertion, 
 care was taken to provision them from the maga- 
 zines at head-quarters, so as not to allow them to 
 stray into the neighbouring villages ; by which 
 means they were necessarily much better fed than 
 the French, although they were far from being 
 equally serviceable. Marshal Lefebvre spoke of 
 them in most outrageous terms, declared inces- 
 santly they were fit for nothing but to eat, and 
 treated the arguments of the engineers as gib- 
 berish, averring that he could do more with the 
 shoulders of his grenadiers. He wanted abso- 
 lutely to put an end to the siege by means of a 
 general assault. 
 
 This project was rash, for the French were still 
 far from the works of the place, and in leaping 
 into the ditch they would have to encounter those 
 redoubtable palisades which at Dantzick took 
 the place of escarpments of masonry. The en- 
 gineers, as is common in sieges, did not accord 
 with the artillery. They accounted for the tardi- 
 ness of their approaches by the shifting nature of 
 the soil, the insufficient protection they received 
 from the artillery, and the small number they 
 had of good workmen. The artillery rejoined that 
 they had too few guns, and were too short of 
 ammunition to equal the fire of the enemy, and 
 that they could not do better than they did. The 
 marshal, consequently, in order to put them all 
 into agreement together, proposed to finish it by 
 making an assault, 1 ven before the completion of 
 the works of approach. The engineers, who had 
 lost many men in these works, replied, that if the 
 artillery would, by a ricochet battery, overthrow a 
 certain portion of these palisades, they would 
 willingly lead the infantry to the assault of Hagels- 
 bl rg. lint as the Russians had, by their impa- 
 tience, in 1724, lost .")()()() men in an attempt of the 
 -anie kind, before Dantzick, no one dared rashly 
 to risk any similar undertaking without the orders 
 ol the emperor. 
 
 lie was, fortunately, thirty leagues away, and 
 his reply could not reach in less than forty-eight 
 hours. He might even have gone to give it in 
 person, had not tin- presence ol the king of Prussia 
 and die emperor of Russia, at their head-quarters
 
 274 
 
 Napoleon rebukes 
 Lefebvre for 
 impatience. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The island of Holm 
 taken. 
 
 /ISO?. 
 \May. 
 
 at Bartenstein, given him cause to apprehend 
 some enterprise on their parts against his winter 
 quarters. As soon as he received the letter of 
 marshal Lefebvre, he hastened to moderate the 
 ardour of that old soldier by addressing him a 
 strong reprimand. He reproached him keenly for 
 his impatience, and his contempt of a science he 
 was ignorant of, and for the bad terms in which he 
 had spoken of the auxiliaries. " You only know," 
 he wrote to him, "how to complain, to abuse our 
 allies, and to change opinion with the taste of 
 every new-comer. You want troops : I have sent 
 vou some. I am preparing to send you more, and, 
 ungrateful as you are, you keep complaining, 
 without ever dreaming of thanking me. You 
 treat the allies, particularly the Poles and the 
 Badenese, without any consideration. They are 
 not accustomed to fire, but that usage will come to 
 them. Do you think we were as brave in 1792 as 
 we are at present, after fifteen years of war ? 
 Feel, then, old soldier as you are, some indulgence 
 for young soldiers, just breaking in, who have not 
 yet learned your coolness in the midst of danger. 
 The prince of Baden, who is with you, (this prince 
 had put himself at the head of his troops, and was 
 assisting at the siege of Dantzick,) has quitted the 
 luxuries of his court to lead his troops to battle. 
 Show regard, therefore, towards him, and let him 
 see you appreciate a zeal which but few of his 
 equals imitate. The breasts of your grenadiers, 
 which you want to exhibit every where, will not 
 throw down walls. You must leave that to your 
 engineers, and listen to the counsels of general 
 Cha^seloup. who is a clever man, and from whom 
 you should not withdraw your confidence upon the 
 report of the first little critic who presumes to 
 meddle with what he cannot comprehend. Reserve 
 the courage of your grenadiers for the moment 
 when science points out that it can be usefully 
 employed, and in the mean time learn to have 
 patience. The loss of a few days, which I cannot, 
 besides, at this time make any use of, are not equal 
 to the loss of some thousands of men, which 30U 
 would cause, and whose lives should be economized. 
 Show that calmness, reflection, and steadiness, 
 befitting your age. Your glory is to be found by 
 capturing Dantzick; take that place, and you shall 
 be satisfied with me!" 
 
 More than this was not necessary to calm the 
 marshal. He therefore resigned himself to letting 
 the operations of the siege be continued according 
 to the rules of art. Although the encampment 
 hail been advanced from the Nehrung to the Lower 
 Vistula, and the passage of the canal and of the 
 river had been barred, yet the investment could 
 not be complete but by taking the island of Holm, 
 and it was also by the capture of that island alone 
 that a crowd of redoubts could be destroyed, 
 particularly that of Kalke-Schanze, which took the 
 French trenches in reverse, incommoded them 
 with its fire, and slackened their progress, on 
 account of the traverses which they were obliged 
 to add to their works. Without having such a 
 sufficiency of troops as was desirable to push the 
 siege on rapidly, the French had nevertheless 
 enough to make an attempt on the island of Holm. 
 The night of the Cth of May was dedicated to this 
 undertaking. Orders were given to general 
 Cardan nu to concur on his side, by bearing 
 
 towards the canal of Laake, and passing it on 
 rafts. Eight hundred men, coming down the 
 banks of the Vistula from the left of the head- 
 quarters, would have to cross the river twice, and 
 to execute the chief attack. At ten o'clock at 
 night twelve barks were brought opposite the 
 village of Schellmiihl, without being descried by 
 the enemy. At one o'clock at night, these barks, 
 carrying detachments of the regiment of the 
 guard of Paris, of the 2nd and 12th light infantry, 
 with fifty engineers, quitted the left bank, and 
 landed on the island of Holm. The enemy di- 
 rected several discharges of grape upon this 
 embarkation. Notwithstanding the fire, the troops 
 jumped on shore. The grenadiers of the guard of 
 Paris sprang on the nearest redoubt without 
 discharging a musket, and carried it from the 
 Russians, who defended it. At the same moment 
 100 men of the 2ud light infantry and 100 of the 
 12th, darted in like manner up to two other 
 redoubts, one constructed on the point of the 
 island, and the other a house called the White 
 house. They stood a first discharge, but then 
 marched up so quickly, that in a few minutes the 
 redoubts were conquered and the Russians taken. 
 The French sprang with similar rapidity on the 
 other works, and, in half an hour, occupied half 
 the island, and had made 500 prisoners. Whilst 
 this operation was thus quickly achieving, the 
 twelve barks employed in the passage of the 
 Vistula brought over a second column, composed of 
 the Badenese and the soldiers of the legion of the 
 north, which took to the right and bore away for 
 that part of the island that looks over against the 
 city of Dantzick. These troops, animated by the 
 example just given them by the French, threw 
 themselves boldly on the enemy's posts, surprised 
 them, disarmed them, and carried oft" in an instant 
 200 men and 200 horses of the artillery. General 
 Gardanne, on his part, had crossed into the island 
 by clearing the canal of Laake. Thenceforth this 
 important conquest was certain. 
 
 There was now a favourable opportunity for 
 possessing that very troublesome redoubt, Kalke- 
 Schanze, which had been taken and lost in the 
 commencement of the siege. This redoubt, sur- 
 rounded by water, opening by a cut towards the 
 side of the island of Holm, owed its chief strength 
 to the support it received from that island. At 
 the same moment that two French columns were 
 invading the island of Holm, a detachment of 
 Saxons and of soldiers of the legion of the north, 
 led by the chief of battalion, Roumette, entered 
 the ditches of the redoubt with the water up to 
 their armpits, threw themselves on the palisades, 
 cleared them, and, in spite of a warm fire, re- 
 mained masters of the work, in which they took 
 1C0 Prussians, 4 officers, and several p'ieces of 
 cannon. 
 
 This course of sudden attack gave COO prisoners 
 and 17 guns to the French, and cost the enemy 
 COO in killed and wounded, and, above all, pro- 
 cured possession of the island of Holm, relieving 
 the trenches from that destructive fire. Thanks to 
 the rapidity of the execution, the French loss was 
 very insignificant. 
 
 The works of approach were now arrived at the 
 projection of the half moon. A circular trench 
 had been opened which embraced this projection,
 
 1807. \ 
 May.) 
 
 The French storm the 
 covered way. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Difficulties of an 
 assault. 
 
 275 
 
 and faced it as well to the right as to the left. 
 The moment was come for giving orders for the 
 attack on the covered way. By this name is 
 known the inner edge of the ditch along which the 
 besieged pass and defend themselves under cover 
 of a range of lower palisades. In the night 
 between the 7th and 8th, a detachment of the 
 19th of the line and of the 12th light infantry, 
 preceded by fifty engineers, armed with axes and 
 shovels, and under the command of the engineer 
 officers, BarthClemy and Beaulieu, and the infantry 
 chief of battalion, Bertrand, issued forth by the 
 two extremities of the circular trench, and ad- 
 vanced sharply on the covered way. A hail-storm 
 of bullets welcomed this detachment. The en- 
 gineers, marching at their head, threw themselves, 
 axe in hand, upon the palisades, and cut away 
 some of them. The foot soldiers, penetrating after 
 them into the covered way, traversed it under the 
 showers of grape which poured from the walls of 
 the place. They then made for the strong block- 
 houses, which had been constructed in the re- 
 ceding angles of the wall. But they sustained 
 here so brisk a fire of musketry that they were 
 forced to retreat to the projection of the half 
 moon. The covered way did not, however, the 
 li u remain in their possession. During this time 
 the miners had been running about on all sides to 
 discover if any mines had been commenced, and, 
 according to custom, so disposed as to blow up the 
 ground acquired by the besiegers. A sergeant of 
 engineers having, in fact, perceived the shaft of a 
 mine in the projection of the half moon, threw 
 himself into it, sabre in hand, found a dozen 
 Prussians working in the branches, and, taking 
 advantage of the terror which his sudden appear- 
 ance caused them, made the whole of them 
 prison! is. He then destroyed all their work. 
 The name of this brave man, which deserves to be 
 recorded, was Chopot. 
 
 The assault of the covered way, which is always 
 one of the most sanguinary operations of regular 
 sieges, cost 17 killed and "]\\ wounded, a large 
 loBMj when the small number of men employed on 
 BO confined a space of ground is considered, 
 Become masters of tin; covered way of the half 
 moon, the French wire established on the bank of 
 the ditch. They had still to descend afterwards 
 to overthrow the range of large palisades, and 
 then to carry by assault the turfed slopes which 
 stood in place of escarpments of masonry. These 
 were by no means easy tasks. They had, 11 
 over, to execute, at the projection of the left 
 bastion, the same operation as had just been 
 carried out on that of the half moon, so that they 
 might not have grape shot ponn d in upon them 
 from this bastion, when they should attack the 
 half moon itself. 
 
 Being Mine established in the ditch, they covered 
 
 themselves by precaationa in tie- ordinal*} ma <r, 
 
 and continued their underground ways towards the 
 left, to approach the projection of tie- bastion. 
 'lh.; Kill, 9th, 1 0th, I lth, 12th, and IS I. days ol 
 May wite employed in this labour, which wns 
 become fearfully dangerous, lor, at 1 eh a proxi 
 
 Ditty, tin; halls of the enemy overturned the 
 
 Baupings, penetrated tin; trenches, carried away 
 
 men, and often crushed them "ilh the verj 
 breastworks they had so laboriously raised. Mus 
 
 ketry was scarcely less terrible at this distance 
 than artillery. The sand the soldiers threw out 
 was scattered every moment, and they had re- 
 peatedly to recommence the same works. The 
 nights becoming shorter in May, as every body 
 knows that the nearer an approach is made to the 
 pole the longer are the nights in winter and the 
 shorter in sunimer, they were at length left 
 scarcely four hours for working out of the twenty- 
 four. Marshal Lefebvre increasing in his im- 
 patience, instantly demanded that the assault 
 should be rendered practicable by the demolition 
 of the line of palisades in the bottom of the ditch. 
 The engineers said, that that was the business of 
 the artillery by their ricochet firing. The artil- 
 lery, fearing lest the ground should be undermined, 
 replied, that there was not space enough for their 
 batteries. The difficulty met with here was a 
 proof of the defensive properties of timber, for, 
 having reached the bank of the ditch, if they had 
 found in front a wall of masonry instead of a range 
 of palisades, they might have established a breach- 
 ing battery, have battered down such a wall in 
 forty-eight hours, filled the ditch with its wreck, 
 and mounted to the assault. But ball merely 
 shattered the tops of some of these palisades, often 
 scarcely splintered them, and never uprooted one. 
 The decisive moment' was approaching, and ex- 
 treme was the impatience displayed. The be- 
 siegers had reached that period of a siege when 
 the besieged are making their last efforts at re- 
 sistance, and when the besiegers, to put an end to 
 it, are disposed to attempt the most daring attacks. 
 But on a sudden news was spread among the 
 besieged as well as the besiegers that a Russian 
 army was coming to the relief of Dantzick. In 
 fact, this assistance had long since been promised, 
 and it was only to be wondered at that it had not 
 arrived. The sovereigns of Prussia and Russia, 
 then together at their bead-quarters, knew what a 
 danger Dantzick was in. They were not ignorant 
 of what, importance it was to them to hinder its 
 conquest ; for so long as they could hold this 
 place, they were keeping the left of Napoleon in 
 check, and were rendering his position on the Vis- 
 tula precarious, obliging him to deprive himself of 
 the assistance of '_'">.()(>() men, employed either in a 
 blockade or siege, and, in fact, shutting out from 
 him the greatest depot of sustenance which existed 
 
 in the north. If they intended, sooner or later, to 
 resume the offensive, it was worth while to hasten 
 the accomplishment of its relief from so important 
 a motive. There Wl re fcWO direct means by which 
 they could relieve Dantzick; one by attacking 
 Napoleon upon the PaSSarge, so as to deprive him 
 of tin- positions he occupied to cover the siege ; 
 
 the other was to dispatch a considerable corps, 
 either by land, Following along the Ni lining, or by 
 sea, embarking their troops at Kosnigsberg, ami 
 disembarking them at the fortress of Woichsel- 
 
 IllUnde. 'Iheri' was besides a third method, hot 
 which did not depend on them, this was the 
 landing of 26,000 English, -a landing whicb had 
 been a hundred times promised, and as many 
 times announced, bul never executed. It is cer- 
 tain, that, if tin English had kept fnilli with their 
 
 allies, and instead of keeping one 1., rthffl of their 
 
 Fi rees iii England, to show lace against the en- 
 campment at Boulogne, and sending another to 
 T 2
 
 276 
 
 Attempt to relieve 
 Dantzick. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The besieging army 
 strengthened. 
 
 J 1807. 
 \May. 
 
 Alexandria to lay hands upon Egypt, and a tliird 
 to the banks of La Plata, tliere to seize the 
 Spanish colonies ; they had landed an army either 
 at Stralsund or at Dantzick, while there were 
 scarcely three or four French regiments dispersed 
 about Pomerania, they might have changed the 
 course of events, or at least have caused the 
 French great embarrassment. Napoleon would, 
 in short, have f>und himself forced to detacli 
 20,000 men from the grand army ; and if he bad 
 been attacked at that moment on the Passarge, be 
 would have been deprived of an important portion 
 of his forces necessary to make head against the 
 principal Russian army. 
 
 But the English did not care about coming to 
 the assistance of their allies. Setting foot on the 
 continent frightened them too much. To employ 
 their troops in the capture of colonies was more 
 convenient to them. A change of ministry be- 
 sides, of which we shall show the causes and 
 effects, rendered all resolutions uncertain at the 
 court of London. The only assistance sent to 
 Dantzick was that of three corvettes laden with 
 ammunition, and commanded by intrepid officers, 
 who were ordered to pass up the Vistula, and 
 penetrate into the place at all risks. 
 
 Any efficacious assistance to Dantzick could 
 therefore only be relied on from the Prussian and 
 Russian troops. The two sovereigns, united at 
 Bartenstein, there deliberated with their generals, 
 and found the greatest trouble in bringing them to 
 terms of agreement. One reason, the want of pro- 
 visions, opposed that prnject, which would have 
 been otherwise most suitable, and which consisted 
 in immediately resuming active operations. The 
 spring was not as yet sufficiently advanced for the 
 earth to afford sustenance for men or horses. 
 They had few magazines ; at the very utmost 
 they could furnish corn and meat for the men, but 
 as for the horses, they were reduced to give them 
 the thatch from the peasants' huts in Old Prussia 
 for provender. It was determined, therefore, to 
 wait till the grass was enough grown to feed the 
 horses. It was the same cause which kept Napo- 
 leon on the Passarge. But he bad no important 
 place to save ; every day, on the contrary, was 
 bringing him fresh strength, that would permit 
 him to make another step towards Dantzick. 
 
 In this situation the two allied sovereigns 
 adopted the most paltry plan of assistance, and 
 resolved on sending about 10,000 men, half by 
 the tongue of land of the Nehrnng, and half by 
 sea and the fortress of Weichsehniinde. The pro- 
 ject was to force the line of investment, to carry 
 the French camp on the Nehrnng, and opening 
 upon that encampment either from the fort of 
 Weichselmiimle or from the Nell rung itself by the 
 road from Koenigsberi;, to penetrate thence into 
 the island of Holm, to re-establish communications 
 with Dantzick, to enter the place, and, succeeding 
 in all these operations, to make a general sortie 
 against the besieging forces, to destroy their 
 works, and compel them to raise the siege. For 
 all this much more than 10,000 men would be 
 necessary, and, above all, they must be skilfully 
 conducted. 
 
 A corps of Prussians and Russians, composed 
 in great part of cavalry, under the conduct of 
 colonel Bulow, were to cross in boats the strait of 
 
 Pillau, to land on the point of the Nehrung, and 
 make way along this narrow bank of sand for the 
 twenty leagues which separated Pillau from Dant- 
 zick. Eight thousand men, for the greater part 
 Russians, were embarked at Pillau, on board 
 transport vessels, and escorted by English men of 
 war as far as the fortress of Weichselmunde. 
 They were under the orders of general Kamenski, 
 the son of that old general who had for a time 
 commanded the Russian army in the beginning of 
 the winter campaign. Being arrived on the 12th 
 of May at the mouth of the Vistula, they were 
 disembarked upon the outer jetties under the pro- 
 tection of the guns of Weu hselmiinde. At the 
 same time demonstrations had been made against 
 the French winter-quarters. The passage of the 
 Bug in front of Massena was affected, as if they 
 were desirous of acting at the other extremity of 
 the theatre of war. Numerous patroles were sta- 
 tioned all round in front of the French canton- 
 ments on the Passarge. At length the corps 
 destined to march along the Nehrung fell rapidly 
 upon the detached posts which the French had at 
 one extremity of this bank of sand, and compelled 
 them to fall back. 
 
 The assembling of the two corps at Pillau, 
 which were by different routes to march to the 
 assistance of Dantzick, was become known. Re- 
 ports from the besieged place had confirmed the 
 news from Pillau, and that was enough to throw 
 marshal Lefebvre into the greatest anxiety. He 
 hastened, without even having recourse to the 
 emperor, to call to his aid general Oudinot, who 
 was in the island of Nogath with the division of 
 grenadiers, which was to form part of the corps of 
 reserve intended for marshal Lannes. He at the 
 same time wrote on every side for assistance from 
 the chiefs of the troops posted in his neighbourhood. 
 
 But Napoleon, to whom twenty-four hours were 
 sufficient to dispatch a courier from Finkenstein to 
 Dantzick, bad beforehand provided for all this. 
 He reprimanded marshal Lefebvre, though gently, 
 for this mode of acting. He re-assured him by 
 news of early aid, which, being prepared long be- 
 fore, could not fail to arrive in time. Napoleon 
 was but little affected by the puerile demonstra- 
 tions on his right ; for he knew too well how to 
 discern between the feints and real objects of war- 
 fare to be deceived by them. He had besides soon 
 learnt from certain sources that they were all con- 
 fined to directing a strong detachment upon Dant- 
 zick, either by land or sea, and lie had propor- 
 tioned his precautions to the magnitude of the 
 danger. 
 
 Marshal Mortier, become wholly disposable by 
 the defensive conclusion of the armistice with the 
 Swedes, had received orders to hasten his march, 
 and for a portion of his forces to precede him to 
 Dantzick. In consequence of this order, the 72nd 
 of the line had just arrived at the camp of mar- 
 shal Lefebvre, at the lime of his greatest agitation. 
 The reserve of marshal Lannes, prepared in the 
 island of Nogath, was beginning to form itself, 
 and, in the mean time, the fine division of Oudi- 
 not's grenadiers, which was its nucleus, had 
 been posted between Marienburg and Dirscbau, 
 two or three marches from Dantzick. The 3rd of 
 the line, drawn from Braunau, 'MOO men strong, 
 was also stationed iu the island of Nogath. The
 
 1807.1 
 
 May./ 
 
 The Russians attack the 
 besiegers. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 The French repulse 
 the enemy. 
 
 277 
 
 resources were therefore fully sufficient. Napoleon 
 ordered one of the brigades of general Oudinot to 
 march upon Furstenwerder, there to throw a 
 bridge over and hold itself in readiness to cross that 
 arm of the Vistula which separates the island of 
 Nogatli from the Nehrung. The cavalry being 
 principally spread about the pasturages of the 
 Lower Vistula, in the environs of Elbing, he 
 ordered general Beaumont to take a thousand dra- 
 goons, and repairing to Furstenwerder, to permit 
 the enemy's corps, which was marching along the 
 Nehrung, to proceed, and to cut it off when it 
 should have passed Furstenwerder, taking as 
 many prisoners as he was able. He enjoined mar- 
 shal Lannes to march upon Dantz'ck with Oudinot's 
 grenadiers, and not to fatigue his troops by em- 
 ploying them in the works of the siege, but to keep 
 them in reserve, to fall upon the Russians the 
 moment they should attempt to set foot on the land 
 in the neighbourhood of Weichselmunde. 
 
 These dispositions, made in good time, thanks to 
 a foresight that was always prepared, had brought 
 around Dantzick more troops than were necessary 
 to lace the danger. The Russians had begun their 
 disembarkation on the 12th of May. From the 
 sandy heights which the French occupied, they 
 could distinctly see them on the landing-places of 
 the fortress of Weichselmunde. They were not 
 entirely landed and assembled before Weichsel- 
 munde till the evening of the 14th. Repeated 
 despatches, addressed in the interval to marshal 
 Lannes, made him hasten his march; and on the 
 14th he arrived under the walls of Dantzick with 
 Oudinot's grenadiers, except the two battalions left 
 at Furstenwerder. The 72nd was already in the 
 camp. Marshal Mortier, with the rest of his corps, 
 being a march in the rear. 
 
 Marshal Lefebvre, assured by these reinforce- 
 ments, had sent to general Gardanne, who com- 
 manded the encampment of the Lower Vistula, in 
 the Nehrung, the regiment of the municipal guard 
 of Paris; and was waiting, before he dispatched 
 him further assistance, to see the intentions of the 
 Russians more clearly unfolded, for they might 
 yet issue forth from the fort of Weichselmunde by 
 "the right bank, to attack the camp of general 
 Gardanne, or by the left bank, to attack the French 
 head-quarters. 
 
 On the 15th of May, at three o'clock in the 
 morning, the Russians came out, to the number of 
 7000 or 8000 men, from the fortress of Weichsel- 
 munde, and marched to the attack of the French 
 positions on the Nehrung. These positions com- 
 menced at the point of the island of Holm where 
 the canal of Laake joins itself to the Vistula, and 
 extended, in the form of a palisaded breastwork, 
 as far as tin: wood which covered this portion of 
 the Nehrung, being protected i" that place by 
 numbers of felled trees, and ending in the downs 
 of sand along the sea shore. General Schramm, 
 being now under tlw orders of general Gardanne, 
 
 defended this line with a battalion c.r the '2nd light 
 
 Infantry, a detachment of the regiment of the 
 
 guard of Paris,* Saxon battalion, a parly of the 
 
 19th chasseurs, and some Polish horse, under 
 
 captain Sokolniki, who, it has been already Bel D, 
 
 distinguished himself at this siege. General Gar- 
 danne continued in the rear With the remainder 
 of his troops, that he might repair cither to the 
 
 assistance of the corps in defence of the entrench- 
 ments, or ward off any sortie that might be 
 made from the place. Marshal Lefebvre, perceiv- 
 ing from the heights of Zigaukenberg, the move- 
 ments of the Russians, had sent him early in the 
 morning a battalion of the 12th light infantry. 
 Shortly alter marshal Lannes had himself set out, 
 with four battalions of Oudinot's division, and had 
 made his way along the dykes that traversed the 
 flat country situated to the French right, the engi- 
 neers not having yet been able to establish abridge 
 towards the left, to communicate directly with the 
 camp of the Nehrung, by the Lower Vistula. 
 
 The Russians advanced in three columns, one 
 directed along the Vistula, in front of the French 
 redoubts, the second against the woods and stock- 
 ades which secured the access to them, and the 
 third, composed of cavalry, destined to skirt 
 the sea shore. A fourth remained in reserve, to 
 render assistance to any of the three that might 
 need it. The English corvettes, arrived at the 
 same time, were on their side to sail up the Vis- 
 tula, to destroy the bridges supposed to exist across 
 it, to take the French works in reverse, and to 
 second the movements of the Russians by the fire 
 of GO pieces of large cannon. But the wind was 
 against this arrangement, and the corvettes were 
 detained at ihe mouth of the Vistula. 
 
 The Russian columns marched vigorously up to 
 the attack of the French positions. The soldiers 
 posted in rear of the earthen entrenchments 
 awaited them with coolness, till they could pour 
 their fire close in upon them. The Russians were 
 not broken, and approached the very foot of the 
 redoubts, but without being able to clear them. 
 As each attempt was repulsed the French leaped 
 over the entrenchments, and pursued the Russians 
 with the bayonet. The column which had directed 
 itself on the stockades of felled timber, having 
 a less compact obstacle to surmount, endeavoured 
 to penetrate into the wood, and to establish it- 
 self there. It was stopped, however, like the 
 other, but returned to the charge, and kept up a 
 series of combats hand to hand with the French. 
 The struggle at this point wan long and obstinate, 
 The column of horse, which was to skirt the 
 sea shore, remained in observation of the French 
 detachments of cavalry, without making any im- 
 portant movement. The action continued during 
 several hours, ami the French troops employed in 
 
 the defence of the works not numbering above 
 
 2(100 men, in the face of 7 m ><» or 8000, for general 
 Gardanne was obliged to guard against any sallies 
 from the place with the rest, were quite exhausted, 
 
 and must have ended by yielding to these reiter- 
 ated attacks, bad not a battalion of the guard of 
 Paris, sent by general Gardanne, and the batta- 
 lion of the 12th light infantry, dispatched from 
 head-quarters, brought them decisive aid. These 
 
 brave battalions, directed by genera] Schramm, 
 fell upon the Russians and repulsed them. The 
 others, reanimated by this example, rushed on 
 
 them again, and they were driven back to the 
 \er\ glacis of the fortress <d' Weiehselmttnde. 
 In the mean time, general Ksmenski had given 
 
 orders that the ut st endeavours should be made 
 
 for the relief of Dantzick. He was resolved not to 
 shut himself up in the fort without making a last 
 attempt. To the troops which hail just como from
 
 278 
 
 Dantzick left to its 
 fate. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Renewed impa- 
 tience of Le- 
 febvre. 
 
 J 1807. 
 I May. 
 
 the battle, he united the reserve, which had not 
 hitherto been engaged, and he advanced anew 
 towards the French entrenchments, which had 
 been before so warmly but so fruitlessly attacked. 
 It was, however, too late. Marshal Lannes and 
 general Oudinot had brought up a reinforcement 
 of four battalions of grenadiers to general Schramm. 
 One single battalion of these was enough to put an 
 end to the contest. General Oudinot placed himself 
 at the head of this battalion, rallied around him 
 the mass of the troops, and, leading them on, over- 
 threw the Russians, once more driving them back, 
 at the bayonet's point, as far as the glacis of 
 the fortress of Weichselmiinde, into which he 
 compelled them to shut themselves up definitively. 
 This action was, as it well might be, the last. 
 
 The Russians left 2000 men on the field of battle, 
 the greater part killed or wounded, and some priso- 
 ners. The French loss was 300 men put liors de 
 combat. General Oudinot had his horse killed by a 
 shot, which, passing between him and marshal 
 Lannes, nearly killed the latter. The moment, how- 
 ever, had not then come, in which this illustrious 
 marshal was to fall, under such repeated exploits. 
 Fate, before striking him down for ever, still had 
 seme brilliant days in store for him. 
 
 Thenceforth marshal Lefebvre felt no further 
 uneasiness, and marshal Kalkreuth no more hope. 
 The commanders of the corvettes sent from Eng- 
 land to the relief of Dantzick, however, still endea- 
 voured to fulfil their instructions. The place being 
 in great want of ammunition, the captain of the 
 Dauntless resolved to take advantage of a strong 
 breeze from the north, to come up the Vistula. 
 But he had scarcely passed the fortress of Weich- 
 selmuude, when he was assailed with a violent 
 discharge of artillery. The troops, marching out 
 of their entrenchments, and joining the fire of 
 their musketry to that of the cannon, soon put 
 the English corvette in such a condition, that she 
 was beyond management. She ran aground upon 
 a sand-bank, and was compelled to strike her flag. 
 She contained a large quantity of powder, and dis- 
 patches for marshal Kalkreuth. 
 
 The place was now left entirely to itself. The 
 opei'ations of the siege unfortunately became day 
 by day more difficult. The French had obtained a 
 lodgment on the very bank of the ditch, and had 
 already decided on undertaking its descent, but 
 the nature of the ground, which crumbled away 
 incessantly, and the immense force of artillery at 
 the disposal of the enemy, which permitted his 
 overwhelming the trenches with his shells, ren- 
 dered the work as slow as it was dangerous. At 
 any cost, however, the bottom of the ditch was now 
 to be reached, so as to go, with axe in hand, and 
 cut away a sufficient range of the palisading to 
 admit of the passing through of the columns of 
 attack. The French began, therefore, to descend 
 the ditch by making use of blinded passages, that 
 is, advancing under frames covered with earth and 
 fascines. The bombs of the enemy several times 
 burst through these blinds, and crushed those who 
 were beneath. But nothing could discourage the 
 corps of engineers. Out of GOO men of this arm, 
 nearly 3(10 had fallen. Half its officers were 
 either killed or wounded. Among the number of 
 cbstacles to surmount was the blockhouse, con- 
 structed in the retreating angle which was formed 
 
 by the half moon with the bastion. It was deter- 
 mined to blow this up by mining, as it resisted 
 shot. A mine, which had not been driven suffi- 
 ciently close to the blockhouse, was sprung, and 
 buried it with earth, but rendered it still more 
 difficult to destroy. The French then established 
 themselves in the tunnel of the mine, threw out 
 the earth with which the blockhouse was sur- 
 rounded, under fire of the enemy, and then set it 
 on fire, by which means they at last succeeded in 
 getting rid of it. 
 
 Having reached the bottom of the ditch, several 
 of the engineers endeavoured to advance, even 
 under the strong fire of the place, and cut down 
 the palisades. It took them half an hour to cut 
 down three. The operation was thus becoming 
 still longer and more murderous. The 18th of 
 May had arrived. For forty-eight days the 
 trenches had been opened. Not the least re- 
 proach could be attached to the engineers, who had 
 conducted themselves with the utmost devotion. 
 Some slanderers were willing to lay the blame of 
 the slow progress of the siege on general Chasse- 
 loup. General Kirgener, who was second in 
 command in the works, and who had formed other 
 ideas as to choosing the points for attack, did not 
 cease repeating to marshal Lefebvre that Hagels- 
 berg had been ill chosen, and he declared that 
 was the only cause of all the deli'y which they 
 had experienced. He repeated this so often that 
 marshal Lefebvre ended by believing him, and 
 wrote to the emperor, complaining of general 
 Chasseloup, and attributing the prolonged resist- 
 ance of the place to the ill choice made for the 
 point of attack, adding that Bischoffsberg would 
 have presented fewer difficulties. 
 
 Complaint at this time could not have remedied 
 any thing, even had it been as well as it was ill- 
 founded. But Napoleon, who never ceased watch- 
 ing the siege, did not withold his instant reply. 
 "I thought you had," he writes to marshal 
 Lefebvre, " more character and more opinion. Is 
 it at the end of a siege that you will suffer yourself 
 to be persuaded by inferiors ? if you change the 
 point of attack, you discourage the army thereby 
 and condemn your own judgment. Hagelsberg is 
 well chosen. By Hagelsberg it is that Dantzick 
 has always been attacked. Give your confidence 
 to Chasseloup, who is the most skilful and most 
 experienced of your engineers. Take the advice 
 of him and of Lariboissiere, and drive away from 
 your presence all petty critics." 
 
 Marshal Lefebvre was thus obliged to persist in 
 the first choice, and await the slow but sure efiects 
 of a science to which he was a stranger. The 
 engineers, so persevering, had reached on one side 
 the bottom of the ditch of the half moon, and on 
 the other that of the ditcli of the bastion, and were 
 forced, from the narrow space in which they were 
 working, to continue their labours under the fire 
 of bombs, and themselves to defend the works 
 against the sorties of the place. At length, in the 
 front of the left bastion, which they attacked at 
 the same time as the half moon, they had, by 
 means of burning with fascines, blowing up with 
 bags of powder, as well as with their axes, de- 
 stroyed the palisading to the extent of ninety 
 feet. This was enough to give a passage to the 
 columns of attack. The moment was impatiently
 
 1807.\ 
 May./ 
 
 Marshal Kalkieuth 
 surrenders. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Losses of the besieged 
 garrison. 
 
 279 
 
 waited for by the troops. The evening of the 21st 
 of May was fixed on for the assault. Several 
 columns, to the number of 4000 men, were led into 
 the ditch, and conducted in succession to the foot 
 of the earth-slope, which rose beyond the palisades, 
 so that they might perceive beforehand the work 
 they had to scale and be taught the mode of 
 climbing it. Filled with enthusiasm at the view, 
 they demanded with loud cries to be permitted to 
 rush on to the assault. Three enormous beams, 
 suspended by ropes at the top of the earthen 
 slopes, were read}' to roll down upon the assail- 
 ams. A brave soldier, whose name history gives 
 as Francois Valle, a chasseur of the 12th light 
 infantry, who had on several occasions assisted the 
 working engineers in tearing away the palisades, 
 offered to go and cut the ropes which kept up 
 tiiese beams, so that their fall might take place 
 previous to the assault. He seized an axe, 
 climbed up the turfy slope, cut the ropes, and was 
 only struck by a ball just as he completed this 
 heroic act. Let us add that he was not struck 
 mortally. 
 
 At length the hour of assault approached, when 
 all at once it was learnt with regret that marshal 
 Kalkreuth had asked leave to capitulate. 
 
 In point of fact, colonel Lacoste bad presented 
 himself as envoy, to deliver to marshal Kalkreuth 
 the letters addressed to him which had been found 
 on board the English corvette recently captured. 
 His arrival was ju^t in time to give an honourable 
 opportunity to the great Frederick's lieutenant of I 
 proposing a capitulation which was now become 
 expedient. The marshal consulted with the colo- 
 nel, acknowledged the necessity of surrendering, 
 but claimed for the garrison of Dantzick the same 
 conditions which the garrison of Maycnco bad for- 
 merly obtained from him, of not delivering them- 
 9 up as prisoners of war, but of marching out 
 of the place without grounding their arms, and 
 only under tin- engagement of not serving against 
 France for one year. Marshal Lefebvre sub- 
 scribed to these condition-, for he feared :my 
 further prolongation of the siege; but he demanded 
 time to consult Napoleon. The latter was in no 
 such hurry; for he was keeping the Russians in 
 check upon the Pat "Id nave will- 
 
 ingly sacrificed a few days more for the purpose of 
 
 making prisoners of a whole eorpa d'amie, rather 
 mistrusting the engagement of the eni my's troops 
 
 riot to serve again tor a year, lie express- d, there- 
 a certain degree of regret, but consented to 
 the proposed capitulation, ordering marshal Le- 
 febvre to acquaint marshal Kalkreuth, that it was 
 out of consideration for him, tor his age, for his 
 glorious services, and lor the courteous manner in 
 which he hail treated the French, that be granted 
 him such easy term-. The ea|itulalion was signed 
 and execute d en | i, 26th. 
 
 On tie- morning of the 26th, marshal Lefebvrfl 
 entered the place. lb- had offered marshal 
 
 Lannes,and also marshal .Moi tier, who had arrived 
 Some days, to enter with bun ; but the two latter 
 
 would not dispute an honour which belonged to 
 him, and which he had gained, if not by his 
 knowledge, at hast by his eoorage ami his perse- 
 verance in living for two months in these for- 
 midable trenches. He therefore made- his entry 
 at the head of detachments from all the troops 
 
 that had been engaged in the siege. That of the 
 engineers naturally took the lead. This distinction 
 they were in every respect entitled to, for out of 
 COO men of their body, about half had been put 
 hors de combat. Napoleon himself published im- 
 mediately the following order of the day : — 
 
 "Finkenstein, May 26, 1807. 
 
 "The city of Dantzick has capitulated, and our 
 troops entered it this day at twelve o'clock. 
 
 " His majesty expresses his satisfaction with the 
 besieging troops. The sappers have covered them- 
 selves with glory." 
 
 This memorable siege was a long one, for the 
 place had stood out fifty-one days after the 
 trenches had been opened. Many causes contri- 
 buted to the length of its resistance. The form of 
 the place; its vast extent; the strength of the be- 
 sieged garrison, nearly equal to that of the besieg- 
 ing army ; the tardy arrival of the heavy artillery, 
 and its insufficiency, which allowed the enemy to 
 reserve his fire up to the moment of the later ap- 
 proaches ; the small number of good workmen in 
 a similar proportion to the small number of good 
 troops ; the nature of the soil, constantly crumbling 
 under the projectiles ; the defensive properties of 
 the timber which could not be destroyed by 
 breaking, and which was obliged to be torn away 
 axe in baud ; these, with frightful weather as 
 variable as at the equinox, changing from frosts 
 to torrents of rain, — all these causes repeated, con- 
 tributed to prolong the siege, which was equally 
 horrible for the besiegers and besieged. Marshal 
 Kalkreuth led forth from his garrison but few of 
 his soldiers. Of 18,320 men, only 7120 came out 
 from Dantzick '. There had been 2700 killed, 
 3400 wounded, 800 prisoners, and 4300 deserters. 
 The old pupil of Frederick had shown himself in 
 this instance worthy of the great school of warfare 
 in which he had been brought up. 
 
 Marshal Lefebvre by his bravery, general 
 Chasseleup by his skill, Napoleon by his wonderful 
 foresight, and the troops of the engineering corps 
 by their incredible sacrifices, had all procured this 
 important conquest tor the' army. Although there 
 was a want of heavy artillery, it was still mira- 
 culous, that at such a prodigious distance from the 
 Rhine, and in such a season too, there should have 
 been drawn out of Silesia, out of Prussia, and out 
 of Upper Poland, the materials sufficient for so 
 gnat a siege. Doubtless it might have been easy 
 for Napoleon to have put an earlier termination to 
 the resistance of Dantzick, by detaching ens of his 
 
 irjM dCa/rmii from the I'assarge or from the Vis- 
 tula. Rut he could only have gained such an 
 acceleration at the price of great imprudence; 
 for, according to all probability, he would have 
 bi i n attacked during the siege by the Russian and 
 
 Prussian armies, and had he been so, the 20,000 
 
 men detached to Dantzick would have greatly 
 weak) m d him. One cannot too much admire tin; 
 tact with which he chose this position on the I'as- 
 BBrge, from whence he could at once cover tho 
 Dantzick, and make head against the 
 combined armies which might at any instant 
 present themselves ; the tact, moreover, with 
 which he took advantage as well of the troops on 
 
 1 These numbers are taken from statements found in 
 the town
 
 gon Genera] Rnpp m^rie go- 
 vernor of Dantzick. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Napoleon prepares for 
 active operations. 
 
 J1S07. 
 \May. 
 
 march as of tliose returning from Stralsund, and 
 of those of the infantry reserves preparing on tlie 
 Lower Vistula, to l;eep up around Dantzick a suf- 
 ficient force for the operations of the siege ; and, 
 above all, the tact with which he quietly awaited 
 the result which he might have compromised in 
 trying to hasten, and which, besides, he had no 
 great interest in advancing ; for, not intending to 
 act offensively before June, it mattered little to 
 him that the conquest of Dantzick should not be 
 achieved till the end of May. 
 
 The capture of Dantzick, however, was not all 
 that had to be accomplished. The mouth of the 
 Vistula was to be occupied, and the approaches of 
 the sea-shore, in other words the fortress of Weich- 
 selmiinde was to be taken, which, if well defended, 
 might have required a regular attack, and occa- 
 sioned a great loss of time. But the moral effect 
 of the conquest of Dantzick caused the surrender 
 of the fortress of Weichselmiiude forty-eight hours 
 afterwards. Half the garrison having deserted, 
 the remaining half delivered up the fort, only ask- 
 ing to capitulate on the same terms as the garrison 
 of Dantzick. The road to Nehrung, as far as Pil- 
 lau, served both for their return to Kcenigsberg. 
 Besides the advantage of assuring to himself a 
 firm basis for operations upon the Vistula, Napo- 
 leon acquired an immense quantity of provisions in 
 the city of Dantzick. With much wealth, this 
 city was found to contain 300,000 quintals of 
 grain, and several million bottles of wine of the 
 first quality, which could not but prove to the 
 army in that dull climate as much a subject of re- 
 joicing as a source of health. Napoleon instantly 
 sent his aide-de-camp Rapp, upon whose fidelity he 
 could rely, to take the command at Dantzick, and 
 to prevent the misapplication of these valuables. 
 He himself followed immediately, and passed two 
 days at Dantzick, desirous of judging with his own 
 eyes of the importance of 'lis conquest, of the 
 works which it would be necessary to add so as to 
 render it impregnable, and, in short, of the re- 
 sources which he might draw from thence for the 
 maintenance of the army. 
 
 He at once transported 18,000 quintals of wheat 
 to Elbing, to recruit the exhausted magazines of 
 that city, which had already furnished 80,000 
 quintals of grain. He dispatched 1,000,000 bottles 
 of wine to the quarters at the Passarge. He in- 
 spected all the besieging works, approved what 
 had been done, praised highly general Chasseloup 
 and the attack by Hagelsberg, distributed brilliant 
 rewards to the officers of the army, and promised 
 to indemnify them soon by magnificent gifts for 
 the plunder of which he had so wisely and nobly 
 deprived them in confiding the government of 
 Dantzick to general Rapp. He resolved to create 
 marshal Lefebvre duke of Dantzick, and to annex 
 to the title a handsome estate. He wrote to M. 
 Mollien, ordering him to purchase from the trea- 
 sury of the army an estate, with proper residence, 
 that should bring in 100,000 livres of clear rental, 
 which should form the appendage to the new 
 dukedom. He moreover commanded M. Mollien 
 to make purchase of some twenty chateaux, belong- 
 ing formerly to ancient families, and situated as 
 much as possible to the westward, in order that be 
 might present thorn to those generals who had 
 shed their blood for him ; endeavouring by this 
 
 means to renew the aristocracy of France, as he 
 was renewing the dynasties of Europe, by the 
 blows of his sword, which was become in his 
 hands a sort of magic wand, from whence sprang 
 glory, wealth, and diadems. 
 
 He gave the necessary orders for repairing 
 forthwith the works of Dantzick. He placed the 
 44th and the 19th regiments of the line, which 
 had so much suffered during the siege, in garrison 
 there. He desired that all the provisionary batta- 
 lions, which should not have time to join the army 
 before the re-commencement of offensive opera- 
 tions, should be assembled together there. To the 
 legion of the north, whose devotion and fatigue had 
 been most extreme, he assigned the custody of the 
 fort of Weichselmiinde. He distributed a portion 
 of the German troops in Nehrung. The Saxons, 
 who were good soldiers, but who wanted to serve 
 in the French ranks to make them attached, he 
 directed should rejoin the corps of marshal Lannes, 
 already returned to the Vistula ; and the Poles, 
 whom he was desirous of inuring to war, he dis- 
 patched to join Mortier's corps, which was also 
 destined for the Vistula. The Italians were left 
 to the blockade of Colberg, the remainder of the 
 Poles to that of the little citadel of Graudentz, 
 points of little importance, but of which he had 
 yet to gain possession. 
 
 Napoleon, on his return to Finkenstein, disposed 
 every thing for resuming offensive operations with 
 the beginning of June. The astute negotiations of 
 Austria had only terminated in rendering a solu- 
 tion by arms inevitable. The offer of mediation 
 made by this court, accepted with mistrust and re- 
 gret, but with a good grace, by Napoleon, had been 
 reported immediately to England, to Prussia, and 
 to Russia. The new cabinet in England, although 
 its policy was far from showing any inclination for 
 peace, could not at its outset exhibit a too strongly 
 marked preference for war. Mr. Canning, in his 
 character of minister for foreign affairs, replied, 
 that Great Britain would willingly accept the me- 
 diation of Austria, and follow in the negotiation 
 the example of the allied courts of Prussia and 
 Russia. 
 
 The answer of the latter was the least amicable 
 of the three. The emperor Alexander had re- 
 moved to the head-quarters of his army at Bar- 
 tenstein, upon the river Alle. He had been there 
 joined by the king of Prussia, who had come from 
 Kcenigsberg to confer with him. The imperial 
 guard, recently set out from St. Petersburgh, with 
 numberless recruits drawn from the more distant 
 provinces of the empire, had brought a reinforce- 
 ment of 30,000 men to the Russian army, and 
 thus repaired the Josses of Pultusk and Eylau. 
 The ridiculous exaggerations of general Benning- 
 sen, carried beyond what even the desire of raising 
 the fame of his soldiers, his country, or his sove- 
 reign should permit, had deceived the young czar. 
 He almost fancied that he had been the conqueror 
 at Eylau, and he was carried away by the wish of 
 again trying the fate of arms. On the contrary, 
 the king of Prussia, who had, from private com- 
 munications with Napoleon, carried on through the 
 intermediation of Duroc, been enlightened as to 
 the intentions, somewhat softened down, of the 
 conqueror of Jena, seemed inclined to treat, on 
 condition of the greater part of his kingdom being
 
 1X07. \ 
 May. J 
 
 Course of the Austrian 
 intervention. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Russia and Prussia 
 renew the contest. 
 
 281 
 
 restored to him. He could not be blinded by any 
 successes obtained by the coalition. He had seen 
 the principal place of his territories % nquered by 
 the French in the very face of the Russian army, 
 reduced too much to oppose it, and he could not 
 persuade himself that it was politic to bring back 
 Napolenii upon the Vistula and the Oder '. He 
 TO8, therefore, inclined for peace. But the em- 
 peror Alexander, infatuated by his pretended ad- 
 vantages, to which the taking of Dantzick, never- 
 theless, gave the most emphatic contradiction, 
 assured king Frederick- William, that before long 
 he should be restored to his whole patrimony with- 
 out the loss of a province, and that the independ- 
 ence of Germany moreover should be established : 
 that to this end a single battle gained would be 
 enough, for such a victory would decide Austria in 
 their lavour;and thus the destruction of Napoleon, 
 and the deliverance of Europe would be effected. 
 Frederick-William allowed himself to be led away 
 by these and other suggestions, similar enough to 
 those by which he had before been seduced at 
 Potsdam ; and the mediation of Austria was in 
 reality declined, though apparently accepted. 
 They replied, that they would be delighted to see 
 peace restored to Europe, and so restored by the 
 obliging endeavours of Austria; but they desired 
 to know in the first place upon what basis Napo- 
 leou proposed to treat with the allied powers. 
 This evasive answer left no longer any doubt of 
 the continuance of the war; and it gave great dis- 
 pleasure to Austria, who thereby lost the oppor- 
 tunity of making such an interference in the dis- 
 pute as should terminate it to her own advantage, 
 either by the intervention of her own arms, if Na- 
 poleon should sustain any reverse, or by a peace of 
 which she might be the dictatress in case of his 
 continuing successful. She would not, neverthe- 
 less, abandon her mediation so as to appear foiled ; 
 she communicated the replies she had received to 
 Napoleon, and called upon him to clear away the 
 doubtful points which seemed to prevent the belli- 
 gerent powers from opening negotiations. M. do 
 Vincent was charged with the conduct of these 
 conferences ; but he could only do so by waiting : 
 for while he remained at Warsaw, M. de Talley- 
 rand hail rejoined Napoleon at F inkenstcin. 
 
 This denouement satisfied Napoleon, who had re- 
 garded the mediation of Austria with miieli appre- 
 ion. Still persisting in not taking upon him- 
 self the refusal of peace, he replied, that he was 
 ready to enter on a course of concessions, provided 
 equivalent restitutions to such as he was willing to 
 make were also made to his allies, Spain, Holland, 
 and Turkey. He added, that tiny had only to fix 
 upon some place for the a--' milling of a congress, 
 to which In- would dispatch plenipotentiaries with- 
 out any delay. 
 
 But mediation was useless ; for it would take 
 
 1 It is very difficult to know exactly what paused between 
 these monarchs, living continually trir iiliie, and scarcely 
 to be expected to disclose their MCrel oi.iiiinns.even to those 
 arout d them. But much of wi.at km pa st i ng at head 
 quarters was evolved in the communication* from the court 
 of Prussia to several of the pelty (o rmaii court! ; and the 
 statements here made are drawn besides from the recital of 
 the queen of Prussia herself to one of the most noted diplu 
 matists of the age. 
 
 months to bring such conferences to any termina- 
 tion whatever ; and lie hoped, after a few days of 
 fine weather, to put an end to the war. 
 
 In fact, all was ready, on both sides, to resume 
 hostilities with the greatest energy. The two 
 sovereigns, assembled at Bartenstein, had con- 
 tracted the most solemn engagements towards 
 each other, and had promised never to lay down 
 arms till the cause of Europe was avenged, and 
 the Prussian states wholly restored. They had 
 subscribed a convention at Bartenstein, by which 
 they obliged themselves to act in concert together, 
 and not to treat with the enemy but by mutual 
 consent. They asserted, that the object of their 
 endeavours was not the humiliation of France, but 
 the deliverance of the groat and petty powers 
 which had been humbled by France. They were 
 going to combat for the evacuation of Germany, 
 Holland, and even Italy, if Austria should join 
 them ; to re-establish on the ruins of the ancient 
 Germanic confederation a new federative constitu- 
 tion, which should guarantee freedom to all the 
 German states, and a reasonable influence for 
 Austria and Prussia in Germany. Furthermore, 
 the extent of the projected restitutions was to 
 depend on the success of the coalition. Other 
 conventions were signed, as well with Sweden as 
 with England. The latter, more interested in the 
 war than any other, and which had hitherto pro- 
 fited from the efforts of the powers without making 
 any herself, now promised subsidies, and also dis- 
 embarkations of troops. Her avarice, when the sub- 
 ject of subsidies was touched on, had so disaffected 
 the king of Sweden, as almost to disgust him with 
 the crusade that he had always dreamt of against 
 France. However, by the assistance of Russia, a 
 million sterling had been drawn from England for 
 Prussia, an annual allowance for the Swedes em- 
 ployed in Pomerania, and an undertaking to send 
 a body of 20,00(1 English to Stralsund. Prussia, 
 on her part, promised to send from 8000 to 10,000 
 Prussians to Stralsund, which, being united to the 
 20.000 English and 15,000 Swedes, would form a 
 respectable force on the rear of Napoleon, and, 
 what was more to be feared by him, would shelter 
 itself under cover of the armistice signed with 
 marshal Mortier. 
 
 These conventions, though communicated to 
 Austria, did not, however, draw her into them. 
 The capture of Dantzick betides, which proved 
 the real weakness of the Russians, sufficed with 
 all that was known at Ye una of the relative situa- 
 tions of the belligerent armies to chain this court 
 
 to its system of expectant policy. 
 
 Alexander and Frederick- William wore there- 
 fore e pi lied to struggle against the French 
 
 with the wreck of the Prussian forces, which con- 
 Bisted of about 80,000 men, for the st part pri- 
 soners who had escaped from the hands of the 
 French, with the Russian army newly recruited, 
 with the Swedes, and a promised body of English 
 
 in Pomerania. General Benningsen's soldiery were 
 
 already in cruel misery ; and while Napoleon could 
 draw from an enemy's country most abundant sup- 
 plies, the Russian commissariat, in the midst of a 
 friendly stale, and w itfa considerable means of navi- 
 gation, could not obtain wherewith to appease the 
 ravenous hunger of its army. This miserable army 
 siilbr' d and complained; but on beholding its
 
 282 
 
 Strength of the opposing 
 forces. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Positions of the French 
 army. 
 
 / 1807. 
 
 IMay. 
 
 young sovereign at Bartenstein, its acclamations 
 of love were mingled with the cries of pain, and 
 he was deceived by such acclamations, promising 
 him more than it was possible could be done for 
 the policy and the glory of the Muscovite empire. 
 Ignorant though they were, they judged of the 
 uselessness of this war ; but they desired to be 
 led onwards, if only to obtain food. Thus the two 
 sovereigns, on the one returning to Tilsit and the 
 other to Koenigsberg, whither they repaired to 
 await the issue of the campaign, had given orders 
 to their generals to take the offeusive as soou as 
 possible. 
 
 General Benningsen was posted on the upper 
 course of the Alle, at Heilsberg, where, in imita- 
 tion of Napoleon, he had formed an entrenched 
 camp, established some magazines but very ill 
 supplied, and had prepared his ground so as to 
 give defensive battle if Napoleon should first come 
 into action. He might, perhaps, number under his 
 command about 100,000 men. Independently of 
 this large mass, he had on his left a body of 18,000 
 men upon the Narew, at first put under the com- 
 mand of general Essen, and afterwards under that 
 of general Tolstoy. On his right he had about 
 20,000 men, composed of Kamenski's division re- 
 turned from WeiehselmUnde, and of the Prussian 
 corps of Lestocq. He had also some depots at 
 Koenigsberg, which made up in all 140,000 men 
 spread from Warsaw to Koenigsberg, of which 
 100,000 were collected on the Alle, in front of the 
 French cantonments at the Passarge. General 
 Labanof was bringing up a reinforcement of 
 30,000 men, troops drawn from the interior of the 
 empire. But these troops could not be brought on 
 the theatre of war until after operations had been 
 recommenced. 
 
 Although this army might with confidence be 
 opposed in front of any enemy whatsoever, it could 
 not fight with any chance of success against the 
 French army of Austerlitz and of Jena ; to which 
 besides it had become far inferior in number, since 
 Napoleon had had time to draw from France and 
 Italy the fresh forces of which so long an enu- 
 meration has been given before. 
 
 Napoleon was now in reality about to reap the 
 fruits of his incessant cares, and of his admirable 
 foresight. His army rested, well fed, and re- 
 cruited, was in condition to front all his enemies, 
 as well those who had declared as those who were 
 ready to declare themselves such on the first 
 event. In his rear, marshal Brune was, with 
 15,000 Dutch collected in the Hanseatic towns; 
 with 14,000 Spaniards from Lisbon, Perpignan, 
 and 13a vonne, in march towards the Elbe ; with 
 the 15,000 Wirtemberghers recently employed in 
 conquering places in Silesia; with 16,000 French 
 of the divisions of Boudet and Molitor, actually 
 arrived in Germany ; with 10,000 men of the gar- 
 rison battalions, occupying Hameln, Magdeburg, 
 Spandau, Custrin, and Stettin ; with the new con- 
 tingent called from the confederation of the Rhine, 
 marshal Brune had an army of about 80,000 men. 
 This army might, in case of need, be reinforced by 
 25,000 old soldiers from the coasts of France, 
 which would have brought it up to 100,000 or 
 110,000 men. 
 
 Those French troops that were fatigued, and 
 ihe allied troops on whom they could least rely, 
 
 were holding Dantzick, or continuing the block- 
 ade of Colberg and Graudentz. Two new corps 
 compensated for the disbanding of Augereau's 
 corps on the Vistula ; these were, as has been 
 seen, those of marshals Mortier and Lannes. 
 Marshal Mortier's was composed of the 4th light 
 infantry, of the 15th and 58th of the line, of the 
 municipal regiment of Paris forming the Dupas 
 division, and of a part of the newly-levied Polish 
 regiments. The corps of marshal Lannes con- 
 sisted of the famous Oudinot grenadiers and volti- 
 geurs, of the 2nd and 12th light infantry and the 
 3rd and 72nd of the line, forming the division of 
 Verdier. The Saxons were to constitute the third 
 division of the corps of Lannes. These two bodies 
 were posted on the different branches of the Lower 
 Vistula, one at Dirschau and the other at Marien- 
 burg. That of Mortier might perhaps furnish 
 11,000 or 12,000 men for actual battle; that of 
 Lannes 15,000. Their nominal effective force 
 being, however, considerably greater. 
 
 Beyond the Vistula, and in front of the enemy, 
 Napoleon possessed five corps, besides the guard 
 and the cavalry reserves. 
 
 Massena at once occupied the Narew and the 
 Omulew, having his right near Warsaw, his centre 
 at Ostrolenka, his left at Neidenburg, keeping the 
 extremity of one line with 30.000 men, of which 
 24,000 were available for action. In this number 
 o'OOO Bavarians were reckoned. 
 
 A body of Poles recently raised, that of Zayons-_ 
 ohek, about 5000 or C000 strong, great part 
 cavalry, belonging nominally to Mortier's corps, 
 filled up the interval between Massena and the 
 cantonments of the Passarge, and kept constant 
 patrole, whether in the woods or in the marshes of 
 the country. 
 
 At length the old corps of marshals Ney, 
 Davout, Soult, and Bernadotte, were found all 
 encamped in quarters behind the Passarge. 
 
 The Passarge and the Alle have been already 
 described, rising near each other from the nume- 
 rous lakes of the country, but the first flowing 
 on the French left, right down to the sea, the 
 second before them, straight away to the Pregel, 
 both thus forming an angle, of which the French 
 occupied one side and the Russians the other. 
 Each of the two armies was ranged in a different 
 manner upon the sides of this angle. The French 
 rested on the Passarge throughout for about 
 twenty leagues, from Hohenstein as far as Brauns- 
 berg. The Russians, on the contrary, in order to 
 face them, were concentrated in the upper course 
 of the Alle, near Heilsberg. 
 
 Marshal Ney, established on the point of this 
 angle, irregular, as most natural angles are, at 
 once held the Alle and the Passarge, by Guttstadt 
 and by Deppen, with a corps of 25,000 men, fur- 
 nishing 17,000 combatants, an incomparable body, 
 and well worthy of their chief. As far upwards, 
 but a little in the rear, was marshal Davout, like 
 marshal Ney between the Alle and the Passarge, 
 between Allenstein and Hohenstein, flanking 
 marshal Ney, and preventing the army being 
 turned, and the enemy from finding any outlet by 
 way of Ostero.de towards the Vistula. His corps, 
 a model of discipline and of firmness, in which 
 the image of its commander was reflected, could, of 
 40,000 men, bring 30,000 into battle. He of all
 
 1807. \ 
 May J 
 
 Enumeration of the 
 French corps. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Splendid cavalry scene at 
 Elbing. 
 
 283 
 
 the marshals it was, who, hy his vigilance and 
 vigour could at all times carry the best men into 
 battle. Marshal Soult, stationed to the left of 
 marshal Ney, guarded the course of the Passarge 
 at Liebstadt, having intrenched posts at the 
 bridges of Pittehnen and Lomittcn. He had 
 43,000 men under him, and 30,000 or 31,000 
 under arms. Marshal Bernadotte defended the 
 Lower Passarge from Spanden to Braunsberg with 
 36,000 men, of which 24,000 were ready to march. 
 Dupont's fine division occupied Braunsberg and 
 the shores of the sea towards the Frischc- 
 Ilaff. 
 
 There, between the Passarge and the Vistula, 
 in a region covered with lakes and bogs, lay the 
 head-quarters of Finkenstein, where Napoleon 
 himself was encamped in the midst of his guard, 
 which of 12,000 men could reckon 8000 or 9000 
 combatants. A little more in the rear, and towards 
 the left, in the plains of Elbing, was spread the 
 cavalry of Murat, comprehending all the cavalry of 
 the army, except the hussars and chasseurs left to 
 each of the corps as a means of security. Of 
 30,000 cavalry, there were 20,0G0 ready at a 
 moment to take horse. 
 
 Such were the forces at the command of Napo- 
 leon. From the Rhine to the Passarge, from 
 Bohemia to the Baltic, he could reckon more than 
 400,000 soldiers, French or allies. Either on 
 march, or already arrived upon the theatre of war, 
 troops guarding his rear or ready to take the 
 offensive, soldiers in health as well as the sick and 
 wounded, including all. If we consider only those 
 that were about to come into action, if even wo 
 leave out Massena's corps, which was to guard the 
 Narew, we might still say there were six corps at 
 his command, those of marshals Ney, Davout, 
 Soult, Bernadotte, Lannes, and Mortier, besides 
 the cavalry and the guard, which would altogether 
 compose a force of 225,000 men ', of which but 
 lo"(),000 were fighting men. Such are the diffi- 
 culties of the offensive. The further they ad- 
 vance the more does fatigue, dispersion, and the 
 ity of leaving guards diminish the strength 
 '.fannies. Let us suppose these 400,000 men led 
 hack to the Rhine, not from having been defeated, 
 hut by the prudence of calculation, and every man, 
 t the sick, would have furnished a com- 
 batant. On the contrary, upon the Vistula less than 
 half only were in a situation to be aide to light. 
 Suppose they were advanced 200 Leagues farther, 
 .and not more than one quarter could have faced an 
 enemy. And, nevertheless, he who conducted 
 these masses was the greatest master of military 
 
 nizatiOD that ever existed ! Let the world he 
 
 
 Ileal force. 
 
 Present i 
 
 '•'"/ 
 
 2.'>,0u0 
 
 17,nim 
 
 It.lVOUSt 
 
 40,000 
 
 30,000 
 
 BouM . 
 
 43,000 
 
 81,000 "i 
 
 ■lotto 
 
 86,000 
 
 21,000 
 
 Murat . 
 
 0,000 
 
 L'o.oi 
 
 Thi (iuard 
 
 12,000 
 
 8,000 or 9,000 
 
 
 20,000 
 
 18,000 
 
 IfOXttei 
 
 1 J 000 
 
 10,000 
 
 221,000 188,000 
 
 By adding the Poles undei Z.e.onnchek, 5000 for Ins 
 7000 or 8000, we have 160,000 cooilj.it. mis out of an 
 effective total of 226,000 men. 
 
 thankful for the order of things which renders 
 attack so much more difficult than defence ! 
 
 But the lCO.OOOmen which Napoleon had at his 
 disposal, after having sufficiently covered his flanks 
 and rear, were all to be found in the ranks. Had 
 the same mode of reckoning been applied to the 
 Russian army, it would most assuredly not have 
 numbered 140,000. Napoleon's soldiers were com- 
 pletely refreshed, abundantly fed, commodiously 
 clad for warfare, that is to say, with great coats 
 and trousers, and well provided with arms and 
 ammunition. Above all, the cavalry, renewed in 
 the plains of the Lower Vistula, mounted on the 
 finest German horses, and having practised its 
 exercises for two months, presented a very superb 
 aspect. Napoleon, desirous of seeing them all 
 aesembled on one single plain, repaired to Elbing, 
 that they might pass in review before him there. 
 Eighteen thousand horse, an enormous host, di- 
 rected by a single leader, prince Murat, manoeuvred 
 before him during a whole day, and made such an 
 impression on his sight, accustomed, nevertheless, 
 as he was to great armies, that in writing an hour 
 afterwards to his ministers, he could not help 
 boasting to them of the magnificent spectacle that 
 had just struck him on the plains of Elbing. 
 
 By a foresight for which he had much cause to 
 be pleased with himself, Napoleon had required 
 that by the 1st of May all the corps should come 
 out from the villages in which they were cantoned, 
 and encamp in divisions within reach of one 
 another, on well-chosen ground and under pro- 
 tection of good earth-works. This was a certain 
 method of not being surprised, for the examples of 
 all armies that have been suddenly assailed in their 
 winter quarters have been furnished by troops 
 that were scattered abroad for lodging and suste- 
 nance. An army briskly attacked in such a situa- 
 tion, may, before there is time to rally, lose not 
 only half its strength in number, but provinces 
 and even kingdoms in territory. It was diflicult 
 to reconcile the officers and soldiers to the precau- 
 tion of encampment, infinitely wise as it was, for 
 they had to quit good cantonments, in which each 
 man had contrived to establish himself according 
 to his taste, and to look forward alone thenceforth 
 to the magazines for the provisions, which were 
 found more readily on the spot. Napoleon, how- 
 ever, required it; and in ten days or a fortnight 
 the different corps were encamped under barracks, 
 
 protected by earth-works or by strong palisading, 
 exercising daily, and regaining, by force of their 
 assembling in mass, all the energy of military 
 spirit ; cm I'gy which varies infinitely, and is ex- 
 cited or depressed, not only by victory and defeat, 
 
 but by activity ox repose, in short, by all those 
 
 circumstances which, like a Spring, brace or relax 
 the human mind. 
 
 Nature herself invites man to action when the 
 sun returns and gives both light and life to these 
 climates, which, though so gloomy during the 
 winter, are still not wholly deprived of their 
 
 beauty. Abundant pastures afford keep for 
 horses, anil admit of the employment of every 
 
 means of transport for the subsistence of man. 
 'I'lo- two armies thus found tin nisi Iv. s in presence 
 of each other within cannon-shot distance, mau- 
 OBUvruig sometimes within each other!! Bight, 
 reciprocally serving as shows to each other, and
 
 284 
 
 Offensive operations 
 commenced. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The Russians attack 
 marshal Ney. 
 
 / 13f7. 
 \Juiie. 
 
 abstaining from firing only because they felt 
 certain they should pass quite soon enough from 
 this peaceable activity to a very bloody struggle. 
 Both sides were looking forward to the near 
 approach of offensive operations, and kept strict 
 watch in order to prevent surprise. On a certain 
 day, on the side of Braunsberg, a post occupied by 
 the division of Dupont, a confused noise of voices 
 was heard towards nightfall, which seemed to 
 announce the presence of a numerous force. The 
 officers ran forward, thinking that the attack of 
 their quarters was at length about to commence, 
 and that the Russians were making a beginning. 
 But on reaching the place whence the noise 
 proceeded, they perceived a multitude of wild 
 swans that were sporting in the waters of the 
 Passarge, the shores of which they haunt in 
 numberless flocks '. 
 
 Napoleon, in the meanwhile, having returned 
 from Dantzick and Elbing, and having all his 
 strength concentrated between the Vistula and the 
 Passarge, resolved to commence his movement on 
 the 10th of June, by skirting the Alle in its course 
 downwards, and thereby cutting off the Russians 
 from Kcenigsberg, taking that place before them, 
 and throwing them back on the Niemen. He 
 ordered that, by the 10th, each corps of the army 
 should have fourteen days' provision in bread or in 
 biscuit, four in the soldiers' knapsacks and ten in 
 the caissons. But while he was thus preparing for 
 the recommencement of hostilities, the Russians 
 determined on taking the initiative, and accele- 
 rated the movement of the French army by five 
 days. 
 
 It might be understood why they should brave 
 all the dangers of the offensive while the relief of 
 Dantzic was yet an object in view. But now that 
 there was no very pressing interest to hurry them 
 on to dare an attack upon Napoleon, in positions 
 long determined on and carefully fortified, and 
 that only because the fine weather had set in, this 
 would seem only the act of a general operating 
 without reflection, and obeying vague instincts 
 rather than enlightened reason. He ought also to 
 have been well assured, which he could not be, 
 that his operations would be well executed in 
 opposing Russian troops to French, and to have 
 had a good plan for the offensive against Napoleon, 
 established as he was on the Passarge. To make 
 an attack by the sea-side, to endeavour to carry 
 Braunsberg upon the Lower Passarge; afterwards 
 to go and run his head against the Lower Vistula 
 and Dantzick, which the French were occupy- 
 ing, could be nothing but a succession of stupid 
 acts. To attack on the opposite side, that is to 
 say, to re-ascend the Alle, to cross between the 
 sources of that river and those of the Passarge, to 
 turn the French right, and cross between marshal 
 Ney and Massena's corps, into the space guarded 
 by the Poles, was just what Napoleon himself 
 wanted, for in such a case he could move off by his 
 left, throw himself between the Russians and 
 Koenigsberg, cut them off from the basis of their 
 operations, and fling them into inextricable diffi- 
 culty in the interior of Poland. In taking the 
 
 1 These details are taken from the military memoirs of 
 general Dupont, which are still in manuscript, and full of 
 the strongest interest. 
 
 offensive, therefore, they had nothing but dangers 
 to run, without having one single advantageous 
 result to follow. To have waited for Napoleon on 
 the Pregel, with their right on Koenigsberg and 
 their left at Vehlau, to have well defended this line, 
 and, if it were forced, to fall back in good order ok 
 the Niemen, to have drawn the French into the 
 heart of their empire, by avoiding pitched battles, 
 to have thus opposed to them the most difficult of 
 obstacles, that of distance, and to have withheld 
 from them all the advantages of brilliant victories, 
 would have been the only reasonable conduct on 
 the part of the Russian general, and the oidy 
 course of which experience since, unfortunately 
 for France, showed the wisdom. 
 
 But general Benningsen, who had promised his 
 sovereign that he would still draw brilliant conse- 
 quences from the battle of Eylau, and soon procure 
 for him an ample equivalent for the capture of 
 Dantzick, could not prolong any further the in- 
 action that had been kept during the siege of that 
 place, and felt himself compelled to take the lead. 
 He had, moreover, formed the project of throwing 
 himself on marshal Ney, whose very advanced 
 position offered a greater chance of surprise than 
 that of any other marshal. Napoleon, with a view 
 of commanding not only the Passarge up to its 
 sources, but also the Alle itself along the higher 
 part of its course, so as to occupy the summit of 
 the angle described by these two rivers, had 
 posted marshal Ney at Guttstadt on the Alle. 
 The latter seemed quite unconscious, and as 
 though he knew not the precautions that had been 
 taken to remedy the apparent inconveniences of his 
 situation. But every arrangement for a ready 
 concentration had been matured and prepared 
 beforehand. Marshal Ney had his line of retreat 
 upon Deppen pointed out to him; marshal Davout 
 upon Osterode; marshal Soult on Liebstadt and 
 Mohrungen; and Bernadotte upon Preuss-Holland. 
 The enemy pushing on these different divisions, they 
 were by another march to find themselves rejoined 
 at Saalfeld by the guard, by Lannes, Mortier, and 
 Murat, amid a labyrinth of lakes and forests, of 
 which Napoleon alone knew the outlets, and where 
 he had prepared disaster for any imprudent enemy 
 that might come thither in search of them. 
 
 Without having penetrated into any of these 
 combinations, general Benningsen resolved to 
 capture marshal Ney's corps, and adopted dispo- 
 sitions which at first sight seemed likely to suc- 
 ceed. He directed on marshal Ney the main body 
 of his forces, contenting himself with making some 
 faint demonstrations against the other marshals. 
 Three columns, or rather four, reckoning the 
 imperial guard, accompanied by all the cavalry, 
 were to re-ascend the Alle, and assault marshal 
 Ney on his front by Altkirch, on his left by Wolfs- 
 dorf, and on his right by Guttstadt, while Platoff, 
 the 1 1 • -t m:iii of the Cossacks, scouring with iiis 
 horse the space which separated the French from 
 the Narew, and forcing with his light infantry 
 the Alle above Guttstadt, should strive to slide in 
 between the corps of Ney and Davout. During 
 this time the imperial guard, under the graud- 
 duke Constantine, was to place itself in reserve, in 
 rear of the three columns charged with the attack 
 on marshal Ney, and give assistance where it 
 might be needed. A column composed of two
 
 3807. 1 
 June. J 
 
 Prince Ba^ration at- 
 tacks Ney. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 The French retreat suc- 
 cessful. 
 
 285 
 
 divisions under general Doctorow, h:id orders to 
 come from Olbersdorf to Lomitten, to attack the 
 bridges of marshal Soult, and hinder him from 
 giving aid to marshal Ney. Another column <>f 
 Russians and Prussians, under generals Kanienski 
 and Rembow were directed to make a strong 
 demonstration upon the bridge of Spanden, which 
 was guarded by marshal Bernadotte, so that thus 
 the whole course ol the Passarge should be threat- 
 ened at once. The Prussian general, Lestocq, 
 furthermore had directions to show himself before 
 Braunsberg, in order to increase the uncertainty 
 of the French as to the general plan upon which all 
 these attacks were made. 
 
 It remained to be seen if these dispositions of 
 the Russian general, apparently so well calculated 
 upon, would be executed with the necessary pre- 
 cision to ensure success to such complicated opera- 
 tions, and whether they would not be met by the 
 French, as equally prepared and as equally re- 
 solved, so that it would be impossible to surprise 
 them and to force their position. The movement 
 of these numerous columns, hidden by the forests 
 and lakes of this concealed couu ry, escaped the 
 French generals, who, while they were in doubt as 
 to the Russians being ready, felt ready themselves, 
 expecting orders to march every instant, and ex- 
 perienced neither surprise nor fear at the sight of 
 these preparations of the enemy. 
 
 It may here be perceived that foresight is all- 
 powerful in warfare. This formidable attack, di- 
 rected against marshal Ney, must have infallibly 
 succeeded, if the troops, while scattered in the 
 villages, had been surprised, at.d obliged to fall to 
 the rear in order to rally. But it was not so ; for, 
 thanks to the orders of Napoleon, disagreeable as 
 they were to the corps, and the execution of which 
 he had made most stringent, the troops encamped 
 in divisions, covered by earth-works ami palisades, 
 were so posted that they could defend themselves 
 tor a long time, and could render assistance to 
 one another, before they could be driven to give 
 ground. 
 
 By break of day on the 5th of June, the Russian 
 advanced guard, led by prince Bagration, fell 
 
 rapidly and at once on the position ol Allkirch, one 
 of those which marshal Ney occupied with a divi- 
 sion, neglecting all the small French posts spread 
 through the woods, so as to carry them afterwards 
 oi repassing them. The French, who from being 
 encamped lay in battle array, rather delighted 
 than astonished at the sight of the enemy, full of 
 
 coolness, and exercised daily, poured in a inurder- 
 rtllS tire on the advancing Russians, and quickly 
 brought them to a stand. The 89th, posted in 
 fron( of Allkirch, did not retire until they had 
 Ntrewed with the dead the foot of their entrench" 
 is. During this, the attacks directed upon 
 
 Wollsdorf on the left ami 00 Quttstadl upon the 
 
 riielit, and still more to the right on Bergfried, 
 made with great vigour, but, Fortunately, 
 without any concert, and in such a manner as to 
 irive marshal Ney time to effect liis retreat. 
 Placiug himself at the bead of his troops, he per- 
 ceived that the Chief effort of the Russian army 
 Was directed against himself, and that it was time 
 to lake the road towards l).-ppen, assigned to him 
 
 for his line of retreat by the foresight of Napoleon. 
 
 He had one of his divisions in front of Quttstadt at 
 
 Krossen, and the other in rear of it at Glottau. 
 He united these, and allowing time to collect their 
 artillery, baggage, and the detached posts in the 
 woods, led them all off in safety, with the exception 
 of 200 or 300 men, who were left in the most ex- 
 treme advance in the forest of Anit-Guttstadt, 
 He took the road from Guttstadt to Deppen by 
 Quctz and Ankendorf, slowly traversing the small 
 space comprised between the Alle and the Pas- 
 Barge, stopping now and then with singular sang- 
 froid to pour in his fire in double ranks, some- 
 times charging at the bayonet's point those of the 
 enemy's infantry that were pressing most closely, or 
 forming in square and firing in upon the numerous 
 Russian cavalry, inspiring even his enemies with 
 an admiration which they themselves expressed a 
 few days afterwards 1 . He would not yield all the 
 space of four or five leagues, which at this place 
 separates the Alle and the Passarge, and he halted 
 at Ankendorf. In this affair he had opposed to 
 him 15.000 foot, and the like number of horse ; 
 and if the two columns of prince Bagration and 
 lieutenant-general Saken had acted together, and 
 the imperial guard had been joined by them, it 
 would have been impossible for him, in front of 
 00,000 men, not to have sustained a frightful dis- 
 aster. He lost 1200 or 1500 of his men in killed 
 and wounded, but he had destroyed more than 
 3000 of the Russians. At three o'clock in the 
 afternoon the attacks of the enemy ceased, appa- 
 rently without cause, as happens when the move- 
 ments of great masses are not directed by some 
 firm and reasoning mind. 
 
 On the same day, the Hetman Platoff, with his 
 cossacks, had crossed the Alle at Bergfried, and 
 had overrun the marshy and woody country that 
 separated the grand army from the posts of mar- 
 shal Massena. Bat it was in nowise likely that 
 he would dare to encounter the 30,000 men under 
 marshal Davout. The latter, hearing at a distance 
 the noise of artillery, hastened to unite his troops 
 between the Alle and Passarge, and took the road 
 to Alt-Ramten, which permitted his rendering 
 support to marshal Ney while he was nearing 
 Osterode. By a successful nite-deguerre, he dis- 
 patched one of his officers in the direction of the 
 
 1 Tin: account of Plotlio describes thus the retreat of 
 marshal Ney to Deppen : — 
 
 " The French, adepts in the art of war, on this day solved 
 t tie difficult problem of undertaking, in face of a much 
 stronger enemy who were preulng them closely, a retreat 
 that was become Indispensable, and rendering it as Utile 
 prejudicial as possible. They extricated themselves with 
 
 the Utmost skill. The CHlmileSS, the order, and at the 
 
 lame time the rapidity with which Ney*a corps assembled 
 
 on the Signal of line- cannon slims ; the taiitj-froid and the 
 
 attentive circumspection with which he set about his re- 
 treat, during which he had to oppose a renewed resistance 
 
 .il every sl»- [►, and to struggle Cul the mastery of every posi- 
 tion, all demonstrated the talent ol the captain who com. 
 manded the French; and that the practice of war was car- 
 ried among them to the highest perfection, as much as the 
 Onset dispositions and the moat clever execution of them 
 in oTensive operations onuld possibly do. To attack suc- 
 cesu'ully, as well as to oppose a regular and steady resist- 
 ance during a retreat, though vry ran- qualities, are needed, 
 and are very difficult qualities to bs practised, yet, notwl li- 
 st. Hiding, it is necessary that all these should lie found 
 united in the same person in oider to form a great war- 
 rior."
 
 286 
 
 Sonlt and Bernadotte re- 
 pulse the Russians. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The Russian attacks 
 renewed. 
 
 f 1807. 
 (June. 
 
 lenemy, so that he should be taken with dispatches 
 which announced Davout's march, at the head of 
 50,000 men, to succour marshal Ney. Upon the 
 opposite side, to the left of marshal Ney's corps, 
 the projected attacks on marshals Soult and Ber- 
 nadotte were carried into effect, in concurrence 
 with the plan agreed on. Lieutenant-general Doc- 
 torow, advancing with two divisions by Wormditt 
 and Olbersdorf, upon the tctes de punt guarded by 
 marshal Soult, found in front of the Passarge 
 numerous defences of felled timber and stakes, 
 from behind which riflemen kept up a continual 
 and well-directed fire. He was compelled to fight 
 for several hours following, to overcome the obsta- 
 cles by which the approaches of the bridge of 
 Lomitten were defended. Scarcely had he suc- 
 ceeded in clearing part of these defences, than the 
 reserve companies threw themselves on his troops, 
 and drove them back at the point of the bayonet. 
 Some detachments of Russian cavalry having 
 crossed at various fording-places of the Passarge, 
 were driven back again by the French light horse. 
 The course of the Passarge was still at all points 
 (in possession of the valiant troops of marshal 
 Soult. In the end, nothing had been abandoned 
 to the Russians but the half-burnt defences which 
 were in advance of the bridge of Lomitten. Gene- 
 ral Doctorow ceased his assaults at the close of 
 day, worn out with fatigue, and despairing of con- 
 quering similar obstacles when defended by such 
 soldiers. The Russians, in openly attacking their 
 well-sheltered enemies, had had more than 2000 
 men put hors de combat, while the French had not 
 lost 1000. Generals Ferey and Vivies, of St. Cyr's 
 division, with the 47th and 50th of the line, and the 
 24th light infantry, covered themselves with glory 
 at the bridge of Lomitten. 
 
 An action somewhat similar had taken place at 
 the bridge of Spanden, which was in charge of 
 marshal Bernadotte. An entrenchment of earth- 
 work covered the bridge. The 27th light infantry 
 guarded this post, having in its rear the two bri- 
 gades of the division of Villate. In the beginning 
 of the action marshal Bernadotte received a wound 
 in the neck, which obliged him to give up the com- 
 mand to his chief staff-officer general Maison, one 
 of the most intelligent and most energetic officers 
 in the whole army. The Russians, joined here by 
 the Prussians, cannonaded the ttte-de-pont for a 
 long time; and when they supposed the troops that 
 defended it were shaken, they advanced to take it 
 by storm. The soldiers of the 27th light infantry 
 had received orders to lie down on the ground, so 
 as not to be perceived. They allowed the assail- 
 ants to approach the very foot of the entrench- 
 iment, and then, by firing close in upon them, they 
 •killed 300, wounding several hundreds more. The 
 Russians and Prussians, struck with terror, left 
 the ranks, and fell back in disorder. The 17th 
 ■ dragoons appearing at the instant from the tCtrs dc 
 •pont, charged them at full gallop, and sabred a 
 great number. 
 
 The attack was not pushed any further at this 
 point. It had not cost the enemy less than GOO 
 or 700 men, while the French loss was incon- 
 siderable. 
 
 This vigorous reception of the Russians all 
 along the Passarge, caused them a surprise that 
 may be readily conceived, and induced an in- 
 
 creasing hesitation in their plans, already too little 
 reflected upon to be followed up with perseverance. 
 The Russian and Prussian columns, under generals 
 KamensUi and Rembow, repulsed at Spanden, now 
 waited for ulterior orders before they undertook 
 any further enterprise. Lieutenant-general Doc- 
 torow, foiled at the bridge of Lomitten, re-ascended 
 the Passarge, in order to approach the main body 
 of the Russian army. General Benningsen, sur- 
 rounded at Quetz by the greatest portion of his 
 troops, not having been able to capture the corps 
 of marshal Ney though he had forced it to re- 
 treat, and not reckoning upon all the obstacles 
 which he was about to meet, resolved upon a fresh 
 effort for the next day, against the same corps, the 
 object of his most vigorous attacks. 
 
 Six or seven hours after these simultaneous 
 attempts upon the line of the Passarge, Napoleon 
 received intelligence of them at Finkenstein, for 
 he was scarcely a dozen leagues from the farthest 
 of his lieutenants, and he had taken previous care 
 to prepare the means of correspondence, so as to 
 be informed of the least accidents with the greatest 
 dispatch. His orders, which had been issued for 
 the 10th of June, were only precipitated by five 
 days. He was not, therefore, to be found in an 
 unprepared state. His ideas were formed for all 
 circumstances, without hesitation, and so perfectly 
 that no loss of time could affect his dispositions. 
 He approved of the conduct of marshal Ney, ad- 
 dressed him the praises he so deserved, bid him to 
 retire in good order upon Deppen, where, if he 
 could not defend the Passarge, he was to wind 
 through the labyrinth of lakes, first to Liebemiihl, 
 and then to Saalfeld. He ordered marshal Davout 
 to bring his three divisions together immediately 
 upon the left flank of marshal Ney, and to bear 
 towards Osterode, which, as has been seen, was 
 already executed. Marshal Soult was enjoined to 
 persist in the defence of the Passarge, with orders, 
 that if he were forced in his position, or either of 
 his neighbours should be in theirs, he should re- 
 treat on Mohrungen, and from Mohrungen upon 
 Saalfeld. Similar directions were sent to the corps 
 of marshal Bernadotte, and the road by Preuss- 
 Holland to Saalfeld was indicated for its line of re- 
 treat. 
 
 While Napoleon was thus bringing back upon 
 Saalfeld his lieutenants who were posted in ad- 
 vance, he was also bringing up to that point his 
 lieutenants posted in the rear. He ordered mar- 
 shal Lannes to march from Marienburg to Christ- 
 burg and Saalfeld, and marshal Mortier, who was 
 at Dirschau, to follow the same route, and one as 
 well as the other to bring as much provisions as 
 possible along with them. The light horse were to 
 rendezvous at Elbing, the heavy cavalry at Christ- 
 burg, ami to direct their march thence upon Saal- 
 feld. The three divisions of dragoons which were 
 encamped on the right at Bischoffswerder, Stras- 
 burg, and Soldau, had orders to rally round the 
 corps of Davout upon Osterode. They were all to 
 bring their provisions by means of carriages, which 
 had been prepared beforehand. Only forty-eight 
 hours were required for the effecting of these 
 divers concentrations, and for the assembling of 
 lf»0,000 men between Saalfeld and Osterode. 
 Napoleon besides marched his own guard from 
 Finkenstein to Saalfeld, and prepared for quitting
 
 1807. \ 
 June. ) 
 
 Gallant conduct of marshal 
 Ney. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Genera'. Benningsen re- 
 treats. 
 
 L'87 
 
 Finkenstein himself tlie next day, the (it!), when 
 the movements of the enemy should be more de- 
 cided, and their intentions more clearly apparent. 
 His household he sent back to Dantzick, as well 
 as M. de Talleyrand, who was but little fitted for 
 the fatigues and Hangers of head-quarters. 
 
 In fact, on the 6th the Russian columns, charged 
 with panning the attack commenced against the 
 corps of marshal Ney, were more concentrated in 
 consequence of their offensive movements of the 
 evening before, and the marshal was about to have 
 on his hands 30,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry. 
 After the loss he had sustained the preceding day, 
 he had but 15.000 men that he could oppose to the 
 enemy. But he had provided beforehand for every 
 thing. He had sent his wounded and baggage be- 
 yond Deppen, so that the road should be clear, 
 and that his corps might not find any obstacle on 
 their march. Instead of decamping hastily, mar- 
 shal Ney proudly waited for the enemy. The bri- 
 gades which formed his two divisions were drawn 
 up in echellons which rested on each other. Each 
 echellon before retreating poured in its fire, and 
 even often charged with the bayonet, after which 
 it fell back, and left the next echellon to the same 
 care of keeping the Russians in check. In an open 
 country, with troops less firm, such a retreat ninst 
 have become a perfect rout. But, thanks to his 
 skilful choice of positions, and thanks to the extra- 
 ordinary firmness of his soldiers, marshal Ney was 
 enabled to employ several hours in yielding a 
 space which was less than two leagues of ground 
 Every moment multitudes of horsemen rode up in 
 ma-s upon the very bayonets ; but all their efforts 
 were in vain against these immoveable squares. 
 Being arrived near a small lake, the enemy com- 
 mitted the fault of dividing, so as that part of them 
 passed to the right and the others to the left. 
 The intrepid marshal, seizing the occasion with as 
 much resolution as presence of mind, halted, re- 
 sumed the offensive against the divided enemy, 
 charged them with vigour, repulsed them for some 
 distance, and contrived thus to gain time tOT'ach 
 quietly the bridge of Deppen, beyond which he 
 would be sheltered from any attack. On reaching 
 that spot, he disposed his artillery advantageously 
 in front of the Passarge-, and as soon as the enemy 
 again showed themselves, he received them with 
 cannon-shot. 
 
 This day, while it cost the Frencli some hun- 
 dreds of men, caused two or three- times their loss 
 to tli" enemy, and added still more to the admira- 
 tion with which both armies were inspired by the 
 intrepidity <>f marshal Ney. Upon the French left, 
 along the Lower Passarge, the Russian eohirnns 
 remained immoveable, awaiting the result of the 
 engagement between Guttstadt and Deppen. <>n 
 the Preneh right, marshal Davout's corps, in 
 
 march from the previous evening, had 1. tl 
 brought, without accident, upon the Hank of mar 
 shal Ney, where it could either support him or 
 gain Osterode. 
 
 With such lieutenants and such soldiers, the 
 condonations of Napoleon had, besides the merit of 
 
 their conception, the advantage of an almost un- 
 failing execution. Oa the evening of the Bth, 
 
 Napoleon, after having directed every thing from 
 
 the rear upon Saalfeld, repaired there in i 
 
 to judge of events with his own eyes, to receive his 
 
 lieutenants there in case of their repulse, or to 
 direct the mass of his troops upon one of them 
 should they have succeeded in maintaining their 
 ground, so that he could take the offensive in his 
 turn with a crushing superiority of force. On 
 reaching Saalfeld, he learnt that complete quiet 
 had reigned during the day upon the Lower Pas- 
 sargej that on the Higher Passarge the undaunted 
 Ney had effected the most successful retreat upon 
 Deppen, and that marshal Davout was already on 
 inarch upon the right Hank of marshal Ney, to- 
 wards Alt-Uamteii. Nothing could have occurred 
 better. 
 
 The next day, the 7th, Napoleon resolved to go 
 himself to the advanced posts at Deppen, and he 
 left orders for all the corps which were marching 
 upon Saalfeld to follow him to Deppen. On the 
 evening of the 7t't he reached Alt-Reichau, and 
 finding that every thing there remained quiet, he 
 betook himself on the morning of the 8th to Dep- 
 pen. There he congratulated marshal Ney, as 
 well as his troops, on their noble conduct, and 
 saw the Russian army inactive, like an army 
 whose general is undecided, not knowing what 
 part further to take. He directed a strong demon- 
 stration to be made, in order to judge of the real 
 designs of the Russians. The Russians repulsed 
 it in such a manner as proved that they were more 
 inclined to retreat than to persist in their offensive 
 march. 
 
 In fact, general Benningsen, seeing the inutility 
 of the attempts made against Ney's corps, the 
 little success which had been obtained on the 
 other points of the Passarge. and, above all, the 
 rapid concentration of the French army, quickly 
 perceived that any more decided movement upon 
 Warsaw with Napoleon on his right flank, could 
 only lead him on to destruction. He determined, 
 therefore, on a halt. After having passed the day 
 of the 7th at Guttstadt, in the natural perplexity 
 arising from such serious circumstances, he re- 
 solved on repassing the Alle, throwing himself 
 into Heilsberg, and taking up there a defensive 
 position, which he had long since prepared by 
 means of good field-works. On the 7th, in the 
 evening, he issued orders for the first movement 
 of his army in retreat as far as Quetz. On the 
 8th, hearing of the march of the greater part of 
 the French corps upon Deppen, he was confirmed 
 in his determination of retreating, and enjoined all 
 his divisions to direct their marc!) upon lleilsln irg 
 by descending the Alle. That portion of his troops 
 which was most in advance between Guttstadt and 
 Deppen, was to decamp forthwith, to repass the 
 
 Alle, and to gain Heilsberg by the right bank of 
 that river. four bridges were ihrown across the 
 Alle to render its passage more easy. Prince 
 
 Bagration was charged to cover this retreat with 
 
 his division and with the coflBncks. The other 
 
 columns, which were less engaged in this direction, 
 
 -imply to reach the position of Heilsberg by 
 
 l.aunau, and by the left hank. The farthest off of 
 
 Mn Russian columns, that of general Eamenskij 
 which had attacked the bridge at Spanden in con- 
 ee. i with the Prussians; had orders to retire by 
 
 way of Mehlsak, which would ohligc it to pass 
 over tin: hase of a triangle formed by Spanden, 
 Heilsberg, and (iulNtadt. This column took with 
 it the Prussian cavalry, only having the Prussian
 
 288 
 
 The French pursue 
 the Russians. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The Russians halt 
 at Heilsberg. 
 
 f 1807. 
 [June. 
 
 infantry with general Lestocq. Lestocq was to 
 remain in the rear to cover Koenigsberg, and in 
 great danger of being cut off from the Russian 
 army, as, following the sea-shore while general 
 Benningsen followed the banks of the Alle, he 
 was about being separated from the latter by a 
 distance of from fifteen to eighteen leagues. 
 
 By the evening of the 8th the Russian army was 
 in full retreat. On the 0th they cleared the Pas- 
 sarge about Guttstadt, when the French followed 
 them. In fact, a considerable portion of the 
 French had already assembled around Deppen. 
 Lannes, who had set out from Marienburg, the 
 guard from Finkenstein, and Murat from Christ- 
 burg, all arrived at Deppen on the evening of the 
 8th, and formed with the corps of marshal Ney a 
 mass of 50,000 or 60,000 men. They pursued the 
 enemy closely. Murat's cavalry, by swimming the 
 Alle, followed the steps of prince Bagration. The 
 cossacks put on a better face than usual ; they 
 pressed in mass around the Russian infantry, and, 
 for partisans, most bravely received the fire of 
 the French light artillery. 
 
 Marshal Soult in the meanwhile crossing the 
 Passarge at Elditten by orders of Napoleon, fell in 
 with the corps of general Kamenski near Wolfs- 
 dnrf, overthrew one of his detachments, and took 
 many prisoners. Marshal Davout facing about, 
 since instead of retreating there was a general ad- 
 vance, had approached Guttstadt. Napoleon had 
 thus immediately under his hands the corps of 
 marshals Davout, Ney, Lannes, and Soult, besides 
 the guard and Murat, who never left him, and 
 marshal Mortier, who followed a march in the 
 rear. Here was a strength of 120,000 men l , with- 
 out comprising the corps of Bernadotte, which re- 
 mained on the Lower Passarge, and which was to 
 remain there for two or three days to watch the 
 conduct of the Prussians. But the Prussians once 
 left in the rear by the French advance, Napoleon 
 could always bring up to himself the corps of mar- 
 shal Bernadotte, and thus have 150,000 fighting 
 men at his command, being only deficient of the 
 corps of Massena, which was indispensable on the 
 Narew. General Benningsen, on the contrary, 
 separated like Napoleon from his corps left on the 
 Narew (18,000 strong), and forced in descending 
 the Alle to separate himself from Lestocq (also 
 18,000 strong), could only bring into contest with 
 Napoleon the central mass of his strength, that is 
 to say, about 100,000 men, weakened by G000 or 
 7000 killed or wounded, and left lying at the feet 
 of the French entrenchments. 
 
 Napoleon's plan was soon brought into full 
 operation, for this plan was but the consequence 
 of all lie had foreseen, wished, and prepared 
 during the last four months. In fact, since, by 
 the skilful disposition of his cantonments between 
 the Passarge and the Lower Vistula, by the occu- 
 pation in strength of Braimsberg, Elbing, and 
 
 Davout 
 
 Ney 
 Lannes 
 Soult . 
 The guard 
 
 Murat . 
 Mortier 
 
 30,000 
 15,000 
 15,000 
 30,000 
 8,000 
 18,000 
 10,000 
 
 126,000 
 
 Marienburg, and by the capture of Dantzick, he 
 had rendered himself invincible upon his left 
 towards the sea, he had compelled the Russians to 
 attack his right, that is, to ascend the Alle and 
 threaten Warsaw. Thenceforth his manoeuvre 
 was fully developed. In his turn he pushed him- 
 self in advance, hanging on the right of the 
 Russians, cutting them off from the sea, throwing 
 them back upon the Alle and the Pregel, and, by 
 preceding them to Koenigsberg, hoping to take 
 that valuable depot before their eyes, in which the 
 Prussians had shut up their last resources, and to 
 which the English had sent their promised aid to 
 the coalition. The more he found the Russians 
 engaged on the upper course of the Alle, the 
 greater would be the result of this manoeuvre. It 
 is true, they had just suddenly paused to re- 
 descend the Alle by the right bank . But Napo- 
 leon was about to descend it by the left bank, with 
 almost a certainty of gaining on them in speed, of 
 arriving as soon as they could at the confluence of 
 the Alle and the Pregel, and of inflicting on them 
 some great disaster on the way, if they should 
 attempt to repass this river before he did, in order 
 to march to the relief of Koenigsberg. 
 
 Views so deeply formed, and for so long a time 
 previously, could easily be changed into active 
 dispositions, and without the loss of a single instant 
 in deliberation. Napoleon by the 9th had directed 
 marshal Davout to join immediately the right of 
 the army. Marshal Ney, to take a day's rest at 
 Guttstadt after his severe struggles, and to join 
 afterwards; marshal Soult, who was somewhat to 
 the left near Launau, to keep the course of the 
 Alle and to reach Heilsberg, preceded and followed 
 by Murat's cavalry ; marshal Lannes to accom- 
 pany marshal Soult; and marshal Mortier to 
 quicken his march, in order to form a junction 
 with the main body of the army. He himself 
 followed the movement with the guard; and 
 marshal Bernadotte's corps, under the temporary 
 command of general Victor, was ordered to con- 
 centrate itself on the Lower Passarge, so as to 
 throw itself beyond, as soon as the projects of the 
 enemy upon the French left should be more clearly 
 unfolded. 
 
 In consequence, the army marched by the left 
 bank of the river Alle on the 10th June upon 
 Heilsberg. It was necessary to clear a defile near 
 a village called Beweruikeu. There they found a 
 strong rear-guard, which was soon driven in, and 
 they then opened out in sight of the positions 
 occupied by the Russian army. 
 
 After so many boastful demonstrations, the 
 enemy's general could not withstand the tempta- 
 tion to retreat less fast, and at length to stay and 
 fight, above all in a position where so many pre- 
 cautions had been taken to render the chances of a 
 great battle less disadvantageous. But there was 
 little wisdom in this; for time was becoming pre- 
 cious, if lie did not wish to be cut off from 
 Koenigsberg. Pride prevailing, n»vertheless, above 
 reason, general Benningsen resolved to await the 
 French army before Heilsberg. 
 
 Heilsberg is situated on the heights around 
 which the Alle flows. Numerous redoubts had 
 been constructed on these heights. The Russian 
 army occupied them, divided on both sides the 
 Alle. This rather serious inconvenience was
 
 1807. \ 
 
 June. ) 
 
 The French and Russians 
 engage. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Indecisive combat of 
 Heilsberg. 
 
 2S9 
 
 redeemed by four bridges, established in the more 
 sheltered points, permitting the transport of the 
 troops from one bank to the other. As, according 
 to all appearances, the French would arrive by the 
 left bank of the Alle, on that side had been 
 accumulated the larger portion of the Russian 
 troops. General Benningsen had only left the 
 imperial guard in the redoubts on the right bank, 
 and Ba<;ration's division, which was fatigued from 
 the fighting in which it had been engaged on the 
 preceding days. Batteries had been so disposed 
 as to command both banks of the river. Upon 
 the left bank, by which the French were about to 
 make the attack, was to be seen the main body of 
 the hostile army under the protection of three 
 redoubts, bristling with artillery. General Ka- 
 lneuski, who had rejoined on the 10th, was in 
 advance of these redoubts. In rear and a little 
 above, was the Russian infantry drawn up in two 
 ranks. The first and third battalions of each 
 regiment, fully opened out, composed the first line. 
 Each second battalion formed in column behind 
 the first in thf intervals, composed the second line. 
 Twelve battalions, posted a little further off, were 
 destined to act as a reserve. At the extremity of 
 this line of battle, and forming a curve to the 
 right of the rear, was the whole of the Russian 
 cavalry, reinforced by the Prussian, presenting a 
 mass of squadrons beyond all ordinary proportion. 
 Further still to the right, towards Konegen, were 
 the Cossacks in observation. Some patches of 
 wood, spread here and there in advance of the 
 position, were occupied by detachments of light 
 infantry. The French, on reaching Ileilsberg, 
 therefore, had to sustain the fire of the redoubts 
 of the right bank of the river on their flank, and 
 tbafj of those on the left bank on their front, 
 s the attacks of a numerous infantry, and 
 the charge of a still more numerous cavalry. 
 But led on by the ardour of success, persuaded 
 thai the enemy thought of nothing but flight, and 
 in baste to snatch some trophies from them before 
 they had time to escape, they neither took numbers 
 nor position into account. This spirit was common 
 to both soldiers and generals. Napoleon not being 
 then to restrain their ardour, prince Murat and 
 marshal Soult, in opening upon Heilsberg, fell ill 
 
 with the Russians before they were followed by the 
 remainder of the- army. Prince Bagration, posted 
 at first on the right haul;, had been speedily 
 earned across to tin; left to defend the defile of 
 Bewerniken, and general Benningsen had ordered 
 up general Uwarow to his support with twenty- 
 five squadrons. Marshal Soult, after having 
 forced the defile, took care to place thirty-six 
 ■ of cannon in battery, which greatly facili- 
 tated the deploying of his troops. The division of 
 Cam St. Cyr was the first to present itself in 
 column by brigades, and drove back tin- Eti 
 infantry beyond a ravine which runs down from 
 tin- village of Lawden to tin- Alle. Under cover 
 of this movement Hunt's cavalry was able to . pi n 
 
 out ; but harassi (1 by fatigue, not being wholly 
 formed, and assailed tit the moment tiny wen 
 
 forming by tin- twenty-five squadrons of general 
 
 Uwarow, tiny gave ground, and fell back to 
 
 re-form in the rear, whence tin y charged . 
 
 ami regained their advantage. The division of 
 
 Cam St. Cyr lined the ravine beyond the point to 
 VOL ir. 
 
 which it had driven the Russians. Cannonaded 
 in front by the redoubts of the left bank, and in 
 flank by those of the right, it could not but suffer 
 most severely. The division of St. Ililaire came 
 to take its place under fire, passing in close 
 column across the intervals of the French line of 
 battle. This brave division of St. Ililaire cleared 
 the ravine, drove back the Russians, and followed 
 them up to the foot of the three redoubts which 
 covered their centre, while the cavalry of Murat 
 fell upon that under Bagration, cut it to pieces, 
 and killed its general, Koring. During these 
 feats, marshal Soult's third division, under Le- 
 grand, had come up and taken post on the French 
 left in front of the village of Lawden. It had 
 driven in the enemy's riflemen from the clumps cf 
 wood scattered between the two armies, and had 
 also reached the very foot of the redoubts which 
 formed the strength of the Russian position. 
 General Le<?rand immediatelv detached the 2Gth 
 light infantry to attack that of the three redoubts 
 which he found within reach. This undaunted 
 regiment dashed on in double quick time, entered 
 it in spite of the troops of general Kamenski, and 
 remained masters of it after a bloody combat. 
 But the officer who commanded the enemy's artil- 
 lery carrying off Ids guns at full gallop, placed 
 them rapidly in the rear upon ground which 
 commanded the redoubt, and phed the 2Cth with 
 grape-shot so as to cause it enormous loss. At 
 that same moment the Russian general, Warnek, 
 perceiving the unfortunate situation of the 26th, 
 fell on them at the head of the regiment of Ka- 
 louga, and retook the ndoubt. The 55th, which 
 formed the left wing of St. Hilaire's division, and 
 which was close to the 2Cth, flew to their assist- 
 ance, but was unable to recover the lost ground, 
 and obliged to fall back on its own division, after 
 sustaining the loss of its eagle. The French 
 soldiers thus remained exposed to the fire of a 
 numerous and powerful artillery, but without the 
 least shrinking. General Benningsen now re- 
 solved on making use of his immense cavalry, and 
 several charges were made upon the divisions of 
 l.i grand and St. Ililaire. They received the 
 charges of the Russian horse with admirable tang 
 
 /mill, tin d gave the French cavalry time to form in 
 
 their nar, and charge in their turn the Russian 
 squadrons. .Marshal Soult, who was posted in the 
 middle of one of the squunc, in which French and 
 
 Russians were ming ed pell mell, wounded in- 
 fantry and dismount.il cavalry, kept everyone to 
 Lis duty by the firmness and energy of his atti- 
 tude. Napoleon, who was yel far fnm the scene 
 
 nl' combat, had, as soon as he heard the cannon, 
 placed the young fusiliers of the guard under 
 general Savary, that he might repair to the 
 
 BUCCOUr of the corps which had so rashly i ngaged. 
 
 Genera] Savary with the utmost ■-pied took up a 
 
 position between the divisions of St. Ililaire and 
 
 ami. Formed in square, he withstood for a 
 
 long time tin- charges of the Russian cavalry, 
 
 which the horrible hie from the redoubts would 
 have rendered ruinous il the mi n had been less 
 linn .and not well commanded, The brave general 
 
 RoUSSel, who with sword in hand was in the midst 
 of the fusiliers of the m r . ha. I his head carried 
 
 away by s cannon hall. This impradent action, 
 
 in which 30,000 French without tmy cover fought 
 
 U
 
 / 
 
 290 
 
 Losses of both 
 armies. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Movements of 
 Napoleon. 
 
 i 
 
 1807. 
 June. 
 
 against 90,000 Russians, who were well protected 
 by redoubts, continued pretty far into the night. 
 Marshal Lannes appeared at length on the extreme 
 right, and merely reconnoitred the position of the 
 enemy, but would not undertake any operation 
 without the orders of the emperor. The cannon- 
 ading soon ceased to be heard, and each party 
 endeavoured, throughout a rainy night, to obtain 
 a little rest by sleeping on the ground. The 
 Russians, more numerous and denser in their 
 ranks than the French were, had sustained a 
 greater loss. They might reckon 3000 killed and 
 7000 or 8000 wounded. The French had 2000 
 killed and 5000 wounded. 
 
 Napoleon arrived late; for he had not supposed 
 that the enemy would have halted so soon to offer 
 resistance. He was well satisfied with the energy 
 of his troops, but much less so with their extreme 
 haste to engage; and he resolved to wait till next 
 day, and then give battle with his whole united 
 strength, if the Russians should persist in defend- 
 ing tue position of Heilsberg, or to follow them to 
 the utmost if they should decamp. He bivouacked 
 with his troops on this field of carnage, on which 
 lay 18,000 dead, dying, and wounded Russians and 
 French. 
 
 General Benningsen, a prey to severe bodily 
 suffering, and in the deepest perplexity, passed the 
 night in his bivouac, wrapped up in his cloak '. 
 A strong mind is wanting to brave at once physical 
 pain and mental suffering. General Benningsen 
 was capable of bearing up against both. Divided 
 between the satisfaction of having made head 
 against the French, and the fear of having the 
 whole of them to withstand the next day, he waited 
 for daybreak to decide on the part he should 
 take. The French troops, for their part, were 
 under arms by four o'clock in the morning, collect- 
 ing the wounded, and exchanging shots with the 
 advanced posts of the enemy. The corps d'armte 
 successively took up their positions. On the 
 evening previous, marshal Lannes had posted 
 himself to the left of marshal Soult, the corps of 
 marshal Davout began to show itself to the left 
 of marshal Lannes towards Grossendorf. The 
 guard, both cavalry and infantry, deployed upon 
 the heights in the rear, and every thing denoted a 
 decisive attack with formidable masses. This 
 appearance, but, above all, the sight of marshal 
 Davout's corps, which at Grossendorf skirted the 
 Russian army, and seemed even to be directed on 
 Kcenigsberg, determined general Benningsen on 
 a retreat. He resolved not to lose a day and a 
 battle at once, nor expose himself to the chance of 
 reaching Kcenigsberg too late, and perhaps half 
 destroyed. General Kamenski was to commence 
 the march in time to gain the road to Kcenigsberg, 
 and to join the Prussians, with whom he had been 
 in the habit of acting. Alter taking from Heils- 
 berg all that it was possible to carry off, general 
 Benningsen placed himself in march with his 
 army by the right bank of the Alle, on the 11th 
 of June. He marched in four columns upon 
 Bartenstein, the first post beyond Heilsberg, and 
 where his head-quarters had been long established. 
 
 1 The Russian historian, Plotho, says, that general 
 Benningsen was at that moment afflicted with the disease 
 of the stone. 
 
 Napoleon had employed part of the day in 
 observation of this position, and he did not set 
 about attacking it with his accustomed promptness; 
 for be was in no hurry to give battle on such 
 ground, and he did not doubt but that in pushing 
 forward his left he should oblige the Russian army 
 to decamp by a simple demonstration. Things 
 came about exactly as he had foreseeu; that same 
 evening he entered Heilsberg, and established 
 himself there with his guard. He found tolerably 
 considerable magazines, and many of the Russian 
 wounded, of whom he directed the same care 
 should be taken as of the French. The number 
 proved that the enemy's army must have lost the 
 day before 10,000 or 11,000 men. 
 
 The day of Heilsberg had not at all changed the 
 plans of Napoleon. He was constantly endeavour- 
 ing to outflank the Russians, to cut them off from 
 Kcenigsberg, and to avail himself of the first false 
 movement on their part to regain that important 
 place, which was their basis of operations. They 
 had not presented themselves this time in such a 
 situation as to enable him to overwhelm them, but 
 he only waited for the favourable opportunity 
 which could not be long in offering itself. For 
 such an occasion to have failed, it would have been 
 essential that general Benningsen, in the difficult 
 situation in which he was placed, should not 
 commit a single fault. 
 
 The better to attain his end, Napoleon modified 
 his march a little. On leaving Heilsberg, and the 
 same at Launau, the Alle turns to the right, 
 describing a thousand windings, and offers a very 
 long route, if its course be followed; a route, be- 
 sides, which leads further away from the sea and 
 from Kcenigsberg. General Benningsen needing 
 the Alle for his protection, was obliged to follow it 
 in all its windings. Napoleon, on the contrary, 
 who only sought to find his enemy deprived of 
 support, and who above all things wanted to gain 
 an intermediate position between Kcenigsberg and 
 the Alle, from whence he might dispatch a detach- 
 ment upon Kcenigsberg, without placing it at too 
 great a distance from himself, could quit the banks 
 of the Alle not only without inconvenience, but 
 even with advantage. He consequently deter- 
 mined on taking an intermediate road, over which 
 he had already passed during the winter previous, 
 that from Landsberg to Eylau, which runs, in a 
 direct line towards the Pregel. On this road, 
 beyond Eylau, that is to say, at Domnau, on the 
 left, an army would find itself within two marches 
 of Kcenigsberg, and on the right, within a single 
 march of the Alle and the town of Fried land; 
 because the Alle flowing again westward alter its 
 numerous turnings, is at Friedland nearer to 
 Kcenigsberg than in any other part of its course. 
 On that spot it was, that with good fortune and 
 skill, the best chances weie to be found for cap- 
 turing Kcenigsberg with one hand and defeating 
 the Russian army with the other. 
 
 With this idea Napoleon directed Murat with a 
 part of his cavalry upon Landsberg. These he 
 followed up by the corps of marshals Soult and 
 Davout, destined to form the left wing of the 
 army, and to extend themselves towards Kcenigs- 
 berg, or to fall back on the centre, if they were 
 wanted to give battle. Napoleon left upon the 
 Alle the remainder of his cavalry, composed of
 
 1807.] 
 June.' 
 
 Napoleon revisits 
 Kylau. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Latinos marches upon 
 Frieiiland. 
 
 291 
 
 chasseurs, liussars, and dragoons, so as to thread 
 the banks of that river and follow up the track of 
 the enemy. Upon Eylau, by way of Landsberg, 
 he threw the corps of Lannes, which was imme- 
 diately under himself ; that of Ney, which had 
 remained for a day's rest at Guttstadt; and that 
 of Mortier, which was a march in the rear: and 
 each of these he ordered to advance by different 
 routes, so as to avoid any encumbering of each 
 other, but so as that they might join in a few 
 hours. The Prussians in retreat upon Kcenigs- 
 berg not requiring further attention, the corps of 
 Bernadotte, which had been left provisionally on 
 the Lower Passargc, had orders to rejoin the army 
 immediately by way of Mehlsack and Eylau. 
 
 These dispositions and many others relative to 
 the magazines, ovens, and hospitals which he wished 
 to organize at Heilsberg, relative also to the rich 
 stores at Dantzick, over which he never ceased 
 to watch, and to the navigation of the Frische- 
 Haff, of which he took care to possess himself by 
 closing the passage of Pillau, and on which he 
 desired the seafaring men of the guard to be kept 
 cruising in the vessels of the country; these dispo- 
 sitions detained Napoleon during the whole of the 
 12 h at Heilsberg. During that interval his corps 
 were on their march, and it was easy enough for 
 him to join them on horseback in a few hours. 
 
 On the morning of the 13th he repaired to 
 Eylan. It was no longer a vast plain of snow, 
 with that sad and gloomy aspect, as it was seen 
 covered with blood on the 8th of February : it was 
 now a smiling and fertile country, covered with 
 \ rdant woods, with beautiful lakes, and peopled 
 with numerous villages. The cavalry and artillery 
 pi rceived with astonishment that in the great 
 battle of Eylau they had galloped over the surface 
 of lakes, then completely frozen. The indications 
 that could be picked up as to the march of general 
 Benningsen were uncertain, as also were the plans 
 of that general. On the one hand the light 
 cavalry had followed the main body of the Russian 
 army along the Alle, and had been Been between 
 Bartenstein and Schippenbeil ; on the other hand, 
 Itments of the enemy w< re thought to be 
 directing themselves towards KcenigHberg, and 
 desirous, according to appearand ■-, to j in gem ral 
 Lestocq, and to defend that city. These things 
 put together, it might be fairly concluded thai the 
 Ruaaiau army was inclined to bear away towards 
 Kcenigsberg, for which it would quit the Alle, and 
 in which movement it would be encountered at 
 Doornail. Napoleon forthwith pushed on marshals 
 
 Soult and Murat witii half the cavalry upon 
 
 Kreutzburg, and ordered them t arch upon 
 
 Koauigsberg, and fall upon it while unprepared, 
 lie followed these up by marshal Davout, whom 
 lie ordered to take up such an inter diate posi- 
 tion as would enable him in a few hours eithi r to 
 
 join marshal Soult or the main body, i 'din 
 
 circumstances. He dispatched marshal I. amies 
 immediately on the road from Eylau to Domnau, 
 snd reinforced him with a portion of the cavalry 
 and the dragoons of Grouchy, with ordet 
 out parties as far as Friedland to ascertain what 
 
 tt netny were doing, and assure liimw It whether 
 
 they were quitting the Alle or Dot, and whether 
 they were or were not on the march to relieve 
 Kueuigsberg. Marshal Mortier, having reached 
 
 Eylau, was forthwith dispatched to Domriau, so as 
 to arrive there some hours after marshal Lannes. 
 At the same moment, marshal Ney with his corps, 
 and general Victor with that of Bernadotte, were 
 entering Eylau. Napoleon awaited intelligence as 
 to the real march of the enemy from the fresh 
 reports of the light cavalry, before he would 
 direct these corps with the guard and the main 
 body of the cavalry, either upon Donmau, upon 
 the footsteps of marshal Lannes, or upon Kce- 
 nigsberg, upon those of marshals Davout and 
 Soult. 
 
 By the evening of the 13th, the reconnoissances 
 of the day no longer left any doubt on the 
 subject. General Benningsen had descended the 
 Alle, and seemed to take the road to Friedland, 
 either for the purpose of continuing from thence 
 his march along the Alle, or for quitting its banks 
 so as to reach Kcenigsberg. At Friedland, in fact, 
 he would be most tempted to abandon the Alle, 
 because it was at that point that the river ap- 
 proached nearest to Kcenigsberg. From that 
 moment Napoleon was no longer in hesitation. 
 He sent on all that part of the cavalry which hafl 
 not followed Murat to Lannes and Mortier, giving 1 
 the command of it to general Grouchy. lie 
 directed Lannes and Mortier to repair to Fried 5 
 land, and to possess themselves of that town and of 
 the bridges across the Alle, if they were able to do 
 so. He ordered Ney and Victor to advance upon 
 Domnau, and to follow the track of Lannes and 
 Mortier nearer to Friedland, more or less accord- 
 iug to events. His guard he also put in march, 
 and resolved at break of day to set out himself on 
 horseback, to be, on the next day, the 14th June, 
 at the head of his assembled troops. This day, 
 the 14th of June, the anniversary of the battle of 
 Marengo, while recalling to his remembrance the 
 most fortunate day of his life, filled him with a 
 secret and happy presentiment. He had not 
 ceased to believe in his good fortune, and this 
 belief was still well-founded] * 
 
 Lannes, who arrived at Domnau some horn's 
 before marshal Mortier, had hastened to send the 
 9th hussars in reconnuissai.ee on Friedland. This 
 regiment had penetrated into the town, but being 
 
 soon assaulted by more tl thirty squadrons of 
 
 the enemy, who carried with them a number of 
 lighl guns, they had been \er\ roughly handled! 
 and obliged to fly to Georgeneau, a position be- 
 tween Domnau and Friedland. On the news of 
 
 this, Lannes dispatched the lighl horse and the 
 Saxon cuirassiers to the assistance of the !)th 
 hussars, and put. himself in march to capture 
 Friedland, to drive back the enemy's cavalry 
 beyond the Alle, and to shut up the pasBugetiy 
 which the Russiau army seemed to intend carry- 
 ing their assistance to Kcenigsberg. Towards one 
 o'clock in the morning of the 14th he repaired 
 thither; but fancying he perceived, through the 
 shades of the night, a conniderahle quantity of 
 troops, he halted at the village of Poatln nen, aflei* 
 dislodging an enemy's detachment which gnat 
 that village, lie was not ill sufficient strength to 
 occupy friedland itself, a \erv fortunate circum- 
 stance, for by so doing he would have prevented 
 general Benningsen from committing a very 
 serious error, and would have snatched from 
 Napoleon one of his greatest triumphs. 
 U 2
 
 292 
 
 The Russians advance 
 by Friedland. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Lannes resists at 
 Posthenen. 
 
 1B07. 
 June. 
 
 In fact, at this moment, the whole Russian army 
 was approaching Friedland, preceded by thirty- 
 three squadrons of horse, of which eighteen were 
 of the imperial guard, by the infantry of this 
 guard, and by twenty pieces of light artillery. 
 The main body of the army would enter in a few 
 hours. General Benningsen, feeling that he must 
 hasten on to save Kcenigsberg, or at least to save 
 himself behind the Pregel, had marched the whole 
 of the night between the 11th and 12th, in order 
 to reach Bartenstein, had there given several 
 hours 9 rest to his men, had again put them in 
 march upon Schippenbeil, which he had reached on 
 the 13th, and then, learning that the French had 
 appeared at Domnau, had hastened to reach Fried- 
 land, a point where the Alle, as we have just said, 
 approaches nearer to Kcenigsberg than in any 
 other part of its course. He had taken care to 
 send forward a very strong advanced guard of 
 cavalry. 
 
 Lannes, established at Posthenen, was unable 
 until daybreak to appreciate the importance of the 
 event, which was in embryo. Twilight in those 
 countries approaching the poles commences in the 
 month of June at 2 o'clock in the morning. The sky 
 was entirely cleared by 3 o'clock. Marshal Lannes 
 shortly saw the nature of the ground, the troops 
 in occupation of it, and those who were crossing by 
 the bridges of the Alle to dispute with the French 
 the road to Kcenigsberg. 
 
 The course of the Alle, at the place where the 
 two armies were about to meet, exhibits numerous 
 sinuosities. It is approached by wooded hills, on 
 quitting which the ground slopes gradually down 
 to the banks of the river. At this season of the 
 year the country is covered by crops of rye of 
 great height. On the French right was seen the 
 Alle running far into the plain in many windings, 
 then turning round Friedland, coming back towards 
 the French left, and thus tracing an angle open on 
 the French side, and of which the little town of 
 Friedland formed the further extremity. By the 
 bridges of Friedland placed over this portion of 
 the Alle, the Russians were seen advancing to open 
 upon the plain opposite to the French. The last 
 could very distinctly see them pressing towards 
 the bridges, traversing the town, emerging from 
 its suburbs, and ranging themselves in battle array 
 opposite the heights. A brook called the Mill- 
 brook (Miihlen Fluss) flowing towards Friedland, 
 there formed a small pond, and thence ran on to 
 join the Alle, after having divided the plain into 
 two unequal parts. The part that was to the 
 French right was the least extensive. On that 
 was seen Friedland, between the Mill-brook and 
 the Alle, at the extreme point of the angle just 
 described. 
 
 Marshal Lannes, in the hurry of his march, had 
 only led on with him the grenadiers and light in- 
 fantry of Oudinot, the !Kh hussars, Grouchy's dra- 
 goons, and two regiments of Saxon cavalry. He 
 had not more than 10,000' to oppose to the van- 
 guard of the enemy, which, being successively re- 
 
 1 Oudinot ...... 7000 
 
 Grouchy . . . . . .1800 
 
 9th hussars, light horse, and Saxon cuirassiers 1200 
 
 10,000 
 
 inforced, was already triple that number, and 
 would soon be followed by the whole Russian 
 army. The nature of the ground was fortunately 
 such as presented numerous resources to the cou- 
 rage and skill of that illustrious marshal. In the 
 centre of the position which he had to occupy to 
 stop the progress of the Russians, was a village, 
 that of Posthenen, through which flowed the Mill- 
 brook on its way to Friedland. A little in the 
 rear of this rose an elevated spot of ground, from 
 whence the plain of the Alle was commanded. 
 There Lannes placed his artillery, and several 
 battalions of his grenadiers, in order to protect it. 
 On the right, a thick wood, that of Sortlack, jutted 
 out, and divided the space comprised between the 
 village of Posthenen and the banks of the Alle. 
 Lannes posted there two battalions of light in- 
 fantry, that, being scattered as riflemen, might be 
 able for a long time to keep back an}' troops that 
 were not both very numerous and very resolute. 
 The Otli hussars, Grouchy's dragoons, and the 
 Saxon horse, made up a body of 3000 cavalry 
 ready to attack any column that might endeavour 
 to pierce through this curtain of riflemen. To the 
 left of Posthenen, the line of wooded heights ex- 
 tended itself, descending as far as the village of 
 Heinrichsdorf, through which ran the high road 
 from Friedland to Kcenigsberg. This was a point 
 of great importance, since the Russians, in wishing 
 to reach Kcenigsberg, would surely dispute the 
 passage with obstinacy. This side of the field, 
 moreover, being open, was naturally the most diffi- 
 cult to defend. Lannes, as yet without sufficient 
 troops to establish himself there, had taken ad- 
 vantage of the woods and heights, and placed upon 
 his left the remainder of his battalions, thereby 
 approaching, without being able to occupy, the 
 houses of Heinrichsdorf. 
 
 The firing commenced at three o'clock in the 
 morning, and all at once became very warm. The 
 French artillery, posted on the elevated ground of 
 Posthenen under the protection of the grenadiers 
 of Oudinot, kept the Russians at a distance, and 
 inflicted on them a heavy loss. To the right, the 
 French light troops, scattered along the skirts of 
 the wood of Sortlack, kept back the Russian in- 
 fantry by an incessant discharge of musketry, and 
 the Saxon horse, led on by general Grouchy, exe- 
 cuted brilliant charges against their cavalry. As 
 the Russians were threatening Heinrichsdorf, 
 general Grouchy moved himself from the right to 
 the left, repairing thither at full gallop, hi order to 
 dispute with them the road to Kcenigsberg, which 
 was the important point for the possession of 
 which such streams of blood were about to be 
 shed. 
 
 Although marshal Lannes at this early moment 
 had but 10,000 men to oppose to 25,000 or 30,000 
 of the enemy, he maintained his ground by means 
 of his skill and energy, and the skilful concurrence 
 of general Oudinot commanding the grenadiers, 
 and general Grouchy, who was in command of the 
 cavalry. But the enemy was reinforced hourly ; 
 and general Benningsen, arrived at Friedland, had 
 suddenly determined on giving battle, — a very rash 
 design ; for it would have been much more politic 
 in him to continue the descent of the Alle, as far 
 as its junction with the Pregel, then to cover him- 
 self by the Pregel, and to take up a position be-
 
 1807. •> 
 Jane./ 
 
 Disposition of the 
 Russians. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Lannes is rein- 
 forced. 
 
 293 
 
 hind that river, with his left at Wehlau and his 
 ri^'ht on Koenigsberg. It is true that this would 
 have made him a day longer in l-eaching Koenigs- 
 berg ; but he would not have risked a battle 
 against an army superior to his own in number, 
 in quality, in command, and in a very bad situa- 
 tion for him, since he had a river at his back, and 
 he might probably be driven into the angle of the 
 Alle by that overpowering vigour of which the 
 French army was so capable. But after having 
 lost so much time in reaching Koenigsberg, that 
 general now seemed extremely impatient to arrive 
 there. It is said he was stimulated to this by 
 the emperor Alexander, who had promised his 
 friend Frederick-William to save this last wreck 
 of the Prussian monarchy. The road by Fried- 
 land was besides much shorter, and he moreover 
 believed he should find there only an isolated 
 French corps, without support, and fancied he 
 might crush that corps before lie entered Koenigs- 
 berg. He persuaded himself that here was an un- 
 expected favour of fortune, by which it was his 
 duty to profit, and he resolved not to allow it to 
 escape him. 
 
 In consequence, he hastened to throw three 
 other bridges across the Alle, one above and two 
 below Friedland, so as to accelerate the passage of 
 his troops, and also to serve as a means of retreat. 
 He lined the right bank of the river, by which 
 lie arrived with artillery, in order to command the 
 left bank ; and nearly the whole of his army 
 being opened out, he disposed it in the following 
 manner. In the plain round about Heinrichsdorf, 
 on his right, but on the French left, he placed 
 four divisions of infantry under lieutenant-general 
 Gortschakow, and the best part of the cavalry 
 under general Uwarow. The infantry was formed 
 in two lines. In the first two battalions of each 
 regiment were seen drawn up in line, and a third, 
 ranged in close column behind the two others, 
 closing the interval which separated them. In the 
 second line, the field of battle narrowing as it 
 drew towards the angle of the Alle, one battalion 
 only was opened out, and two drawn up in close 
 column. The cavalry, being posted on the sid-- 
 and somewhat to the front, flanked the infantry. 
 To the left (the French right), two Russian divi- 
 sions, of which the imperial guard formed part, 
 collected from different detachments <d' c ha ss e urs, 
 occupied that portion of the ground between the 
 Mill-brook and the Alle. These wen; drawn up in 
 two lines, but very near together for want of 
 
 space. Prince Bagration commanded them. The 
 cavalry of the guard was there under genera] Kol- 
 logribow. Pour flying bridges bad been thrown 
 over the .Mill-brook to facilitate the communication 
 between tie- two wings. The 14th Russian divi- 
 sion had been left on the other side of the Alle, on 
 the commanding ground of the right bank, to re- 
 ceive and rally the army in ease of any misfor- 
 tune, and to push forward and decide tin- victory 
 
 in ease of a nittwsafiil beginning. The R u ss i a ns 
 reckoned more than 5NM pieces of cannon in their 
 front, independently of those they bad in reserve 
 or in battery on the right bank Their army, re- 
 duced to 80,000 ..r 82,000 BMW after the battle of 
 
 Heilsberg, and on this 'lay separated from tin? 
 corps under Kamenaki, and some detachments of 
 cavalry sent to vYehlau to guard the bridges of 
 
 the Alle, nevertheless mounted up to from 72/4)0 
 to 7">.000 men. 
 
 General Beimingsen sent forward, in the order 
 we have just described, the mass of the Russian 
 army ; so that in emerging from the confined 
 Bpace formed by the course of the Alle, it might 
 open its ranks, extend its fire, and profit from the 
 advantage of numbers which it possessed at the 
 commencement of the conflict. 
 
 Lannes' situation was become dangerous. He 
 was about to have upon him the whole Russian 
 army. Fortunately, the time that had elapsed had 
 brought him some reinforcements. The division 
 of heavy cavalry of general Nansouty, which was 
 composed of 3500 cuirassiers and carabineers ; 
 Uupas' division, which was the first of Mortier's 
 corps, and reckoned 6000 foot ; and, at length, 
 Verdier's division, which numbered 7000, and 
 which formed the second of Lannes' corps, being 
 put in march successively, had reached the ground 
 in iireat haste. These made a force of 20,000 or 
 27,000 men l to struggle against 75,000. It was 
 now seven o'clock in the morning, and the Rus- 
 sians, preceded by a cloud of Cossacks that ex- 
 tended their incursions up to the very rear of 
 the French, advanced towards Heinrichsdorf, 
 where they already had some infantry and guns. 
 Lannes, appreciating the importance of this post, 
 directed thither the grenadiers of Albert, and 
 ordered general Grouchy to possess himself of it 
 at any price. General Grouchy, just reinforced 
 by the cuirassiers, repaired there on the instant. 
 Without taking the difficulty into account, he 
 flung Milet's brigade of dragoons upon Heinrichs- 
 dorf, while Carriers brigade turned the village, and 
 the cuirassiers advanced in support of this move- 
 ment. Milet's brigade traversed Heinrichsdorf at 
 full gallop, drove out the Russian infantry with the 
 sabre, while CarriCs brigade, coming round, took 
 or dispersed all those who had succeeded iu 
 escaping. They captured four pieces of cannon. 
 At this moment the enemy's cavalry, come to the 
 assistance of their infantry driven out of Hein- 
 richsdorf, fell upon the French dragoons and 
 drove them back. But Nansouty's cuirassiers 
 charged them iu turn, and threw them back upon 
 the Russian infantry, who in the midst of this 
 in' dley could not make any use of their fire-arms. 
 Tie- French thus remained masters of Heinrichs- 
 dorf, in which the grenadiers of Albert's brigade 
 established themselves. 
 
 While this was going on, the division of Dupas 
 entered into line. Marshal Mortier, whoso horse 
 was shot under him at the moment he appeared on 
 the held of battle, posted this division between 
 
 Heinrichsdorf and Postbenen, ami opened upon 
 the Russians a lire of artillery, which, directed 
 
 from elevated ground upon close masses, made the 
 most dreadful havoc in their ranks. The arrival 
 of Dupas' division placed at disposal the battalions 
 of grenadiers that had at first been drawn up on 
 
 ' Oudinot 
 
 VrlllilT 
 
 Cavalry of Lannes 
 Dupas 
 Nansouty . 
 Grouchy 
 
 7000 
 7000 
 1200 
 C000 
 3500 
 1800 
 
 2G.S0S
 
 294 
 
 Russian attack upon 
 Lannes. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Arrival of Napo- 
 leon. 
 
 u 
 
 IS07. 
 une. 
 
 the left of Posthenen. Lannes brought them nearer 
 himself, so as'to oppose their close ranks to the at- 
 tacks of the Russians, either in front of Posthenen 
 or in front of the wood of Sortlack. General Oudi- 
 not, who commanded them, taking advantage of 
 every accident of the ground, sometimes of the 
 clumps of wood spread here and there, sometimes 
 of the marshes and water which the rains of the 
 preceding days had left, and sometimes even of the 
 height of the corn, disputed the ground with as 
 much skill as ardour. By turns he concealed or 
 showed his soldiers, dispersed them as sharp- 
 shooters, or opposed them as one bristling mass of 
 bayonets to all the efforts of the Russians. These 
 brave grenadiers, in spite of their inferiority of 
 number, were obstinately maintaining their front, 
 sustained by their general, when, happily for them, 
 Verdier's division came up. Marshal Lannes di- 
 vided it into two moving columns, so that they 
 might be brought alternately to the right or to the 
 left, to the centre, — every where, in short, in which 
 danger required them. It was at the 3kirts of the 
 wood of Sortlack, and the village of that name on 
 the Alle, where the dispute now raged with the 
 most fury. The Russians finished by remaining 
 masters of the village ; the French by holding pos- 
 session of the borders of the wood. On the Russians 
 endeavouring to penetrate into the wood, Lannes 
 brought out of it on a sudden a brigade of Ver- 
 dier's division, and repulsed them to some distance. 
 Frightened by these sudden appearances, and fear- 
 ing that Napoleon might be hidden in this myste- 
 rious wood with his army, the Russians no longer 
 dared to approach it. 
 
 The enemy, unable to force the French right 
 between Posthenen and Sortlack, now made a most 
 vigorous attempt on their left in the plain of Hein- 
 richsdorf, which presented fewer obstacles. The 
 nature of the ground had led them to direct the 
 major part of their cavalry to that side. They 
 had there more than 12,000 horse, opposed to the 
 5000 or 0000 under general Grouchy. That gene- 
 ral endeavoured to compensate for his inferiority 
 of numbers by the excellence of his dispositions, 
 and drew out into the plain a long line of cuiras- 
 siers ; and on the flank of this line, behind the 
 village of Heinrichsdorf, he placed his dragoons, 
 the brigade of carabineers and his light artillery 
 in reserve. These dispositions being effected, he 
 put himself at the head of the line of cuirassiers, 
 advanced upon the Russian cavalry as though he 
 were going to charge them, then all at once coming 
 about, he feigned a retreat at full trot before the 
 mass of the enemy's squadrons. By this means 
 he enticed them on so far after him, that in passing 
 beyond Heinrichsdorf, they exposed their flank to 
 the troops that were concealed in the rear of the 
 village. Then halting and retracing his steps, 
 Grouchy again led his cuirassiers upon the Russian 
 cavalry, charged it, overthrew it, and obliged it to 
 pass under Heinrichsdorf, whence a shower of 
 grape shot poured upon it, and whence the dra- 
 goons and carabineers in ambuscade rushed out 
 upon it, and finished by putting it into disorder. 
 But the encounters of cavalry are not always so 
 murderous as to prevent their renewal. The Rus- 
 sian cavalry returned to the charge ; and the same 
 manoeuvre was repeated every time ; general 
 Grouchy drawing them beyond Heinrichsdorf, and 
 
 taking them as before, both in flank and rear, as 
 soon as they had cleared that village. After several 
 similar contests, the plain of Heinrichsdorf re- 
 mained in the possession of the French ; covered 
 with the dead bodies of men, horses, dismounted 
 troopers, and glittering cuirasses. 
 
 Thus, although on one side the resistance that 
 the infantry of the Russians met with on the bor- 
 ders of the forest of Sortlack, and on the other 
 the attacks in flank which their cavalry suffered 
 whenever they passed the village of Heinrichsdorf, 
 still kept them at the foot of the French positions ; 
 yet Lannes was not in a situation to prolong the 
 struggle between 26,000 and 75,000 men until mid- 
 day. It was time that Napoleon should arrive with 
 the remainder of the army. 
 
 Lannes, desirous of informing the emperor of 
 all that was passing, had sent to him almost all bis 
 aides-de-camp, one after another, ordering them to 
 kill their horses, but to find him. They met him, 
 coming at a gallop towards Friedland, joy visible 
 in his countenance. " To day," said lie to those 
 he met, " to-day is the 14th of June, the anniver- 
 sary of Marengo ; it is a fortunate day for us !" 
 Napoleon being on horseback, in advancing faster 
 than the troops, passed successively, with speed, 
 the long files of the guard, the corps of Ney, and 
 that of Bernadotte, all in full march for Posthenen. 
 He had saluted as he passed, Dupont's fine divi- 
 sion, which, from Ulm down to Braunsburg, had 
 never failed to distinguish itself, but always hitherto 
 out of his presence. He now expressed to them 
 the pleasure he should have in witnessing their 
 valour under his own eyes. 
 
 The presence of Napoleon at Posthenen filled his 
 soldiers and generals with fresh ardour. Lannes, 
 Mortier, and Oudinot, who had been there since 
 the morning, and they who had just come up, sur- 
 rounded him in high satisfaction. The brave 
 Oudinot, hastening forward, his clothes pierced with 
 balls, and his horse covered with blood, said to the 
 emperor, '• Make haste, sire, my grenadiers can do 
 no more ; only give me a reinforcement, and I 
 will drive these Russians into the water." Napo- 
 leon, sweeping over the plain with his telescope, 
 where the Russians, pent up in the angle of the 
 Alle, were vainly endeavouring to extend them- 
 selves, soon judged rightly of their dangerous situa- 
 tion, and the singularly favourable situation which 
 fortune presented to him — governed, it must be 
 confessed, by his genius, because the Russians 
 committed the fault at this moment, (which it may 
 be said he led them into committing.) by pushing 
 them to the other side of the Alle, and thus 
 reducing them to the necessity of passing in his 
 front, in order to succour Koenigsberg. The day 
 was already far advanced. It was not possible to 
 Collect the French army together under several 
 hours. Some of Napoleon's officers thought it 
 would be better to delay giving battle until the 
 next day. " No, no," observed Napoleon, " we do 
 not surprise an enemy twice in a similar error." 
 He immediately made his preparations for the 
 attack, and they were worthy of his marvellous 
 perspicuity. 
 
 To drive ihe Russians into the Alle was the 
 point that every one, down to the lowest soldier, 
 saw was the main object of the battle. The ques- 
 tion was how to manage it so as to procure that 

 
 1807.1 
 June. / 
 
 Ney attacks Fried- 
 land. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Arrangements of 
 
 Napoleon. 
 
 295 
 
 result, ami render it as complete as possible. At 
 the bottom <>f the elbow formed by the Alle, in 
 which the Russian army was engulphed, there 
 was a decisive point to be gained and kept pos- 
 session of. This point was the little town of Fried- 
 hmd, situated on the rij^ht of the French, between 
 the Mill-brook and the river Alle. The four 
 bridges, which formed the only means of retreat 
 for the Russian army, were situated there ; and 
 Napoleon, in consequence, purposed to direct all 
 his efforts against that point. He appointed the 
 corps of Ney to fulfil the glorious but difficult task 
 of penetrating into this gull', and of carrying 
 Friedland at any cost, despite the obstinate resist- 
 ance which the Russians would be certain to oppose 
 t<> any attempt at seizing their bridges, and thus 
 cutting them off from every means of securing their 
 safety. In the meanwhile he resolved, during the 
 time' he was acting with vigour on his right, to 
 suspend all efforts upon his left ; to occupy the 
 attention of the Russian army there by a feigned 
 attack, and not to press the enemy until the bridges 
 on the right should be secured ; he would then be 
 certain, by a Strung effort, of forcing the enemy to 
 retreat to where there was no outlet. 
 
 Surrounded by his officers, he explained, with 
 the force and precision of language to which he 
 wis accustomed, the part which each had to take 
 in the approaching combat. Seizing marshal Ney 
 by the arm, he pointed out Friedland, with the 
 bridges, and the Russians crowded in advance of 
 them. " There," said he, " is your object ; march 
 there, and think of nothing that is going on around 
 you. Penetrate into that dense mass, whatever 
 be the price you pay. Enter Friedland, take the 
 bridges, and regard not what may pass on your 
 right, your left, or in your rear ; the army and I 
 will watch over that." 
 
 Ney, boiling with ardour, and proud of the for- 
 midable task assigned to him, Btarted oil' in a 
 gallop, in order to array his troops before the wood 
 of Sortlack. Napoleon, struck with his martial 
 bearing, and addressing marshal Mortier, said, 
 '• That man is a lion >." Napoleon had his arrange- 
 ments written down on the sp.,t, from his own 
 dictation, in order that all his generals might have 
 them in their minds, and none he liable to commit 
 a mistake. II'- placed the corps of marshal Ney 
 on the right, in such a manner that La s, bring- 
 ing back the division of Verdier upon Posthenen, 
 would present two strong lines with that and the 
 grenadiers, lb- placed Bernadotte's corps, at that 
 mom. nt under Victor, between Ney and Lannes, a 
 little in advance of Posthenen, partly concealed 
 
 by the inequalities of tli- ground. The line divi- 
 sion of Dupont formed the van of this corps. On 
 the level behind Posthenen, Napoleon placed 
 the imperial guard, the infantry, in three 
 columns, tin- cavalry, in tw.. lines. Between 
 Posthenen and Ueinrichsdorf was the corps "' 
 marshal Mortier, posted as it was in the morn, 
 ing, but more ciieentrated ; augmented, too, 
 
 with the young fusiliers of tin' imperial guard. 
 
 A battalion of the fourth light infantry, and 
 
 i I had these details from marshal Hornet himself, whom 
 I had the honour of knowing, and who often related them 
 to me. — Author'! note. 
 
 the regiment of the municipal guard of Paris, 
 had replaced in Heinrichsdorf, the grenadiers of 
 Albert's brigade. The Polish division of Dom- 
 browski had rejoined that of Dupas, and guarded 
 the artillery. Napoleon left to general Grouchy 
 tin: task of which he had already so well acquitted 
 himself — that of defending the plains of Heinrichs- 
 dorf. lie added to the dragoons and cuirassiers, 
 which that general commanded, the light cavalry 
 of generals Beaumont and Colbert, to help in keep- 
 ing him clear of the Cossacks. Finally, having 
 two other divisions of dragoons to spare, he placed 
 that of general Latour Maubourg, reinforced by 
 fie Dutch cuirassiers, behind the corps of marshal 
 Ney ; and that of general La Hnussaye, reinforced 
 by the Saxon cuirassiers, behind the corps of 
 Victor. The French, in this imposing array, were 
 not lets than eighty thousand men 1 . The order 
 
 • Nothing is more difficult than to reckon with rigorous 
 exactness the strength of an army on the day of battle. 
 T ere are rarely any authentic statements; and, when state- 
 ments are procurable, it is sr ill a more rare circumstance 
 for them to agree with the real facts. M. Dei ode, in an ex- 
 cellent description of the battle of Friedland, has used a 
 statement extracted from the work of general Ma' hew 
 Dumas,— a statement which, although it was taken from 
 the papers in the war-otlice, is incorrect upon several 
 points. In the offices of the minister in Paris, there are 
 Statements which do not always correspond wiih 'he facts 
 which took place on the Vistula. There exist in the Louvre, 
 in the rich depository of the Napoleon papers, memoran- 
 dum-books which he made himself, had always at hand, 
 and that, renewed monthly, contained an accurate descrip- 
 tion of each of the corps acting under his orders. These 
 books have writing only on one side of the leaves and on 
 the other side there are sometimes noted in red ink the 
 changes that happened during the month. It is in these 
 small books, not taking them for a proper groundwork, and 
 upon the condition of continually modifying the data so 
 given, that an approximation to the truth must he looked 
 for. I have not found those for May, June, and July, 1807, 
 and have in consequence been forced to take those for 
 March and August, though that for March is incoi 
 since the army had not then rtce ved the reinforcement! 
 which were id .1 to it in May and June, and that for 
 August is, on the contrary, too lull, as at that period a con- 
 i- number of troops upon the march during the 
 
 events which took place ia June bad joined. Hut by using 
 
 itatementij and comparing them together, and above 
 all rectifying them bj Napoleon's correspondence, and fur- 
 ther, by gaining information in regard to the battle of 
 Friedland by a note in his own handwriting, which gives 
 
 iiith of sever, il of tie- corps th.it wen in that battle, 
 
 the following computation! which, (here is reason to believe, 
 
 is vn near the truth, is airived at. 1 WOnld add. that this 
 
 approximation to the iruth v. Ill ■ uiiice, because, to judge of 
 
 a great event like l-'i ledland 01 An I. i lit/., it is of very 
 
 small impoitai.ee to discover whether eighty or elghty-»wo 
 
 thousand men were engaged. Two or three thousand light- 
 II n, more or less, make DO Change either in the cha- 
 racter of tin' event it-elf, or in the combinations which 
 decide it. If It is the duty ol tie hist, nan n i lo spare any 
 
 pains to arrive al the real truth, it is because he ought to 
 
 make it habitual, in order that he n av never sudor his 
 
 s. rupulou res ird foi truth le re] i\ i bul the tl 
 
 here is the general character, not the ininuto 
 
 details. 
 
 'lie- most cor- .t, therefore, of the force of the 
 
 French army in the balth- OZ* "'.us to be as 
 
 follows : 
 
 The guard, though increased to 9000 men, bad not with 
 
 it either the seamen or dragoons, and had lufiexedaoonal-
 
 296 
 
 Numbers of the French 
 army. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Russian error dis- 
 covered. 
 
 /June. 
 \1807. 
 
 was repeated to the left not to advance, but simply 
 to restrain the Russians until the success of the 
 
 derable loss in fusiliers. There were present 
 at most ...... 
 
 The note of Napoleon above mentioned com- 
 putes Oudinot's grenadiers at . 7000 
 Verdier's division . . . 8000 
 The Saxon infantry . . . 4000 
 The 9th hussars . . . .400 
 
 The Saxon cuirassiers . . . 600 
 
 The Saxon light horse . . .200 
 
 Making for the total corps of Lannes 
 
 But the Saxons had been left at Heilsberg-, 
 except three battalions, which, according 
 to some accounts, were at Friedland. Ver- 
 dier's division had suffered great loss at 
 Heilsberg, and finally the troops had 
 marched very fast. I think, therefore, it 
 will be pret'.y nearly correct to set down 
 the corps of Lannes as follows : 
 
 Oudinot 7000 
 
 Verdier 6500 
 
 Saxons 1200 
 
 Cavalry 1200 
 
 The artillery is included in the divisions 
 
 of infantry ..... 
 
 The corps of marshal Ney amounted to 16,000 
 or 17,000 men present under arms at the 
 moment of taking the field, proved by a 
 letter from Ney to Napoleon. He had not 
 lost fewer than from 2000 to 2500 men, 
 killed, wounded, and prisoners, in the 
 combats of Guttstadt and Deppen. Taking 
 his marches into the reckoning, he had for 
 his corps, say more or less . 
 
 Marshal Mortier, according to the note of Na- 
 poleon already mentioned, had in Dupas' 
 division .... 6400 
 
 In Dombrowski's division . . 4000 
 
 He had a detachment of Dutch horse, 
 the description of which in the 
 note is uncertain . . . 1500 
 
 7500 
 
 20,200 
 
 11,900 
 Knowing from marshal Lefebvre's letters how 
 the Poles acted, and how steadily they fol- 
 lowed their colours, the corps of marshal 
 Mortier canuot be counted at more there- 
 fore than ..... 
 The corps of marshal Bernadotte, commanded 
 by general Victor, had in the month of 
 March, without the division of dragoons, 
 about 22,000 men present under arms. It 
 was afterwards recruited, but as it left 
 several posts behind it, if it amounted to 
 25,00 i men, it could not have taken to 
 Friedland above .... 
 The cavalry included general Nansouty's cui- 
 rassiers, from which must be excepted the 
 losses on the march, those at Heils- 
 berg, &c. . . . . 3500 
 Grouchy's dragoons . . . 1800 
 La Houssaye's dragoons . . 1800 
 Latour Maubourg's dragoons, six regi- 
 ments . . . . 2400 
 Light cavalry of generals Beaumont 
 
 and Colbert .... 2000 
 
 15,900 
 
 14,000 
 
 10,000 
 
 22,000 
 
 11,500 
 
 Thus there stands for the total army 80,900 
 It may be said, therefore, that the French army was 
 
 attack on the right should he decided. The signal 
 for which Napoleon ordered the troops to wait, 
 before the firing recommenced, was from a battery 
 of twenty pieces of cannon, placed above Post- 
 henen. 
 
 The Russian general, struck at observing the 
 mode of the French formation, discovered the error 
 which he had committed in imagining he had to do 
 with the corps of marshal Lannes alone. Surprised, 
 he very naturally hesitated, and his hesitation 
 produced a species of relaxation in the action. 
 Occasional discharges of artillery alone indicated 
 the continuance of the battle. Napoleon, who 
 wished to have all his force in line, rested for a 
 full hour. Abundantly supplied with ammunition, 
 he was not pushed to make a commencement ; and 
 he resisted the impatience of his general officers, 
 well knowing, that in the existing season in that 
 country, the light continued until ten o'clock, and 
 that he should have time to make the Russian 
 army undergo the disaster which he had in pre- 
 paration for it. At length the moment which 
 appeared auspicious arrived, and he gave the 
 signal. The twenty pieces of cannon at the battery 
 of Posthenen fired all at one time ; the artillery of 
 the army answered along the whole line ; and at 
 the signal, till now impatiently expected, marshal 
 Ney moved off his corps to the attack. 
 
 The division of Marchand issued from the wood 
 of Sortlack in echellons ; that division first, to the 
 right, and Bisson's division second, to the left. 
 Both were preceded by a cloud of sharpshooters, 
 who, on approaching the enemy, turned about and 
 re-entered the ranks. The whole marched reso- 
 lutely upon the Russians, and took the village of 
 
 about 80,000 men at Friedland, of whom, it will be seen, 
 25,000 never fired a shot. There was, in addition, the corps 
 of marshal Davout, which had not fought, and which 
 amounted to 29,000 or 30,000 men at the commencement 
 of the campaign, but to 28,000 if allowance is made for 
 those left behind on the march ; marshal Soult's, which had 
 lost about 5000 men at Heilsberg, and could scarcely ex- 
 ceed 27,000; lastly, Murat, with about 10.000 men. The 
 whole would make the total of the army in movement at 
 the moment — 
 
 At Friedland .... 
 
 Before Koenigsberg, or on march J 
 
 there 
 
 . Soult . 
 v Murat 
 
 80,000 
 28,000 
 27,000 
 10,000 
 
 145,000 
 
 This total of 145,000 men in action would well agree with 
 the force existing on the 5th of June, and with the probable 
 losses sustained since that date in various actions. Calcu- 
 lating those losses at 12,000 or 15,000 men, in killed, 
 wounded, prisoners, or skulkers, the 160,000 men at the 
 commencement of the campaign are thus accounted for. 
 Although these numbers are borrowed from the sole docu- 
 ments worthy of credit, modified by a daily correspondence, 
 they must be regarded as an approximation to the fact, and 
 nothing more. If we have gone into the details, it was to 
 give some idea of the difficulty of arriving, in things of a 
 similar kind, at a rigorous exactness. But it must be re- 
 peated, if the historian, that he may not swerve from his 
 duty, would aspire after correctness, posterity, which reads 
 him, judging by his efforts to obtain it, will content itself 
 with the general fact as to details and numbers. It is this 
 general truth which is of importance to him, and which 
 suffices him, because it is this which constitutes the real 
 character both of things and circumstances.— Author's note.
 
 June 
 1807. 
 
 The French re- 
 pulsed. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Nty captures Fried- 
 land. 
 
 297 
 
 Sortlack, so long contested. Their cavalry, in 
 order to stay the offensive movement, charged 
 Marehand's division, when the dragoons of Latour 
 Maabourg, and t'ne Dutch cuirassiers, passing 
 through the intervals of the French battalions, 
 charged this cavalry in their turn, drove it back 
 upon the infantry, and pushing the Russians close 
 to the Alle, precipitated a great number into the 
 bed of the river, down the steep and high bank. 
 Some saved themselves by swimming, but a great 
 many were drowned J. Having his right once sup- 
 ported upon the Alle, marshal Ney slackened its 
 march, and carried forward his left, composed of 
 Bisson's division, in such a manner as to throw 
 back the Russians into the narrow space comprised 
 between the Mill-brook and the river Alle. When 
 he arrived at this point, the fire of the Russian 
 artillery redoubled. Besides the batteries which the 
 Russians had in front, he had to sustain the fire of 
 those which were upon the right bank of the Alle, 
 and which it was impossible for him to get rid of 
 by capture, because they were separated from him 
 by the river itself. The French columns, assailed 
 in front and flank by cannon balls, supported, with 
 admirable coolness, that horrible convergence of 
 fire. Marshal Ney, galloping from one end of the 
 line to the other, sustained the fortitude of his sol- 
 diers by his heroic countenance. Still, entire files 
 were swept away ; and the fire became so hot, that 
 the bravest troops could not have much longer 
 supported it. At this appearance of things, the 
 cavalry of the Russian guard, commanded by 
 general Kollogribow, charged at a gallop, in order 
 to throw into confusion the infantry of Bisson's 
 division, which appeared to him to be wavering. 
 For the first time shaken, that valiant body of 
 infantry lost ground, and several battalions gave 
 way to the rear. General Bisson, who from his 
 height of stature looked over the lines of his soldiers, 
 endeavoured vainly to restrain them. They retired, 
 grouping around their officers. The situation of 
 things became of the most serious character. For- 
 tunately, general Dupont, placed at some distance 
 on the left of Ney's corps, observed the commence- 
 ment of the confusion ; and without waiting for an 
 order to march, moved his division, passed him- 
 self along its front, recalled to it the memory of 
 Ulm, Dirnstein, and Halle, and then led it to en- 
 counter the Russians. It advanced in the finest 
 attitude, under the balls of that frightful artillery ; 
 while the dragoons of Latour Maubourg, returning 
 to the charge, threw themselves on the Russian 
 cavalry, which had dispersed in pursuit of the 
 French infantry, and was successful in forcing it 
 back. Dupont s division continued its movement 
 over the open space, and supporting its left <>n the 
 Mill-brook, obliged the Russian infantry to halt. 
 Its pretence restored confidence and joy to the 
 
 soldiers of Ney. The battalions of Ihsson re- 
 formed ; and the- whole French line restored, re- 
 commenced its march forward. It was absolutely 
 
 iweessarv to answer the formidable artillery of the 
 
 enemy ; that of iNey, consisting of too few guns, 
 was scarcely able to remain in battery before that 
 of th<; Russians. Napoleon ordered general Victor 
 to bring together all the cannon of his divisions, 
 
 ' Marshal Key, in his report, stated the numbers to he 
 2000. — Author'i naif. 
 
 and to range them in battery in front of Ney. The 
 intrepid and able general, Senarmont, commanded 
 that artillery. He led it forward at full trot, joined 
 it to that of marshal Ney, took it several hundred 
 paces in advance of the French infantry, and 
 placing himself audaciously in front of the Rus- 
 sians, opened upon them a fire, rendered terrible 
 from the number of pieces, and the accuracy of 
 direction. Pointing against the enemy on the right 
 bank of the river one of his batteries, he soon 
 silenced those which the enemy had on that side ; 
 then pushing forward his line of guns, he gradually 
 approached within grape-shot distance, and firing 
 into the deep masses, which accumulated and 
 retrograded into the elbow of the Alle, he made 
 frightful ravage among them. The French line of 
 infantry followed the movement, and advanced 
 under the protection of the numerous artillery of 
 general Senarmont. The Russians, always more 
 and more crowding back into the gulf, felt a species 
 of desperation, and made an effort to disengage 
 themselves. The Russian imperial guard, sup- 
 ported on the Mill-brook, and half concealed in the 
 ravine, which served for the bed of the stream, 
 issued from their retreat, and marched, with the 
 bayonet, upon the division of Dupont, which was 
 also placed along the rivulet. The last did not 
 wait for the Russian guard, but went straight 
 towards it, and charging with the bayonet, repulsed 
 it, and drove it back to the ravine. The Russians 
 threw themselves, some beyond the ravine, and 
 others upon the suburbs of Friedland. General 
 Dupont, with a part of his divisions, passed the 
 Mill-brook, drove before him all whom he en- 
 countered, and thus found himself in the rear of j 
 the right wing of the Russians engaged with the 
 French left, in the plain of Heinrichsdorf. H</ 
 turned Friedland, and attacked it by the Kcenigs- 
 berg nmd ; whilst Ney, continuing his direct 
 march, entered it by that of Eylau. A dreadful 
 conflict ensued at the gates of the town. The 
 Russians were pressed on all sides by the French, 
 who penetrated into the streets in pursuit, and 
 drove them on the bridges of the Alle, which the 
 artillery of general Senarmont, that remained out- 
 side, enfiladed with his howitzers. The Russians 
 threw themselves upon the bridges to find a refuge 
 in the ranks of the fourteenth division, left in 
 reserve on the other side of tho Alle by general 
 Benningscn. This unfortunate general, filled with 
 grief, had hastened to this division, in order to 
 march to the hank of the river, to the aid of his 
 army in its perilous situation. Scarcely had some 
 of the wreck of his left wing passed the bridges, 
 when they were destroyed, having been set on fire 
 
 by the French, and by the Russians themselves, in 
 
 their efforts to prevent it. Ney and Dupont 
 having executed their task, met in the centre of 
 
 Friedland in flames, and felicitated each other on 
 their glorious successes. 
 
 Napoleon had not ceased to follow with his eves 
 
 the operations of this grand spectacle, from where 
 
 he had placid himself in the centre id' the divi- 
 sions which he had kept in reserve. While ho 
 contemplated them attentively, a shell passed above 
 the bayonets of the soldiers, and one of them, by 
 an instinctive movement, stooped his head. "If 
 that shell was destined for you," Napoleon said to 
 him with a smile, "you might have concealed
 
 208 
 
 The Russians de- 
 feated. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. ^T^Lm™*' &£ 
 
 yourself a hundred feet under ground, it would 
 have searched you out ! " It was thus he wished 
 to inculcate the useful belief, that fate strikes 
 alike the coward and the brave ; and that the 
 cowardice which seeks safety by concealment dis- 
 honours man uselessly. 
 
 Seeing Friedland occupied, and the bridges over 
 the Alle destroyed, Napoleon, lastly, poshed his 
 left in advance upon the right wing of the Rus- 
 sian army ; deprived of every means of retreat, 
 from having in its rear a river without bridges. 
 General Gortschakoff, who commanded that wing, 
 perceiving the danger which threatened him, would 
 fain avert the storm by making an attack upon 
 the French line, which extended from Posthenen 
 to Heinrichsdorf, formed by the corps of marshal 
 Lannes ; by that of Mortier, and by the cavalry of 
 general Grouchy. But Lannes, with his grenadiers, 
 made head against the Russians. Marshal Mortier, 
 with the fifteenth regiment, and the fusiliers of the 
 guard, opposed to them a barrier of iron. The 
 artillery of Mortier above all, directed by colonel 
 Balbois and by an excellent Dutch officer, M. Van- 
 hrienen, caused them incalculable losses. Finally, 
 Napoleon, desiring to profit by the remainder of 
 daylight, carried his whole line in advance, infantry, 
 cavalry, and artillery, moving forward at the same 
 time. General Gortcshakoff, while he saw himself 
 thus pressed, learned that Friedland was occupied 
 by the French. He wishing to retake it, di- 
 rected a column of infantry upon the gates of the 
 town. This column penetrated into the place, and 
 for a moment drove back the soldiers of Ney and 
 Dupont ; until these in their turn repulsed the 
 Russian column. A new contest thus ensued in 
 the middle of an unfortunate. city, devoured by the 
 flames, the possession being disputed by the light 
 of the fire which consumed it. The French finally 
 remained masters, and drove back the corps of 
 Gortschakoff upon the plain, destitute of outlet, 
 which had before served for the field of battle. 
 Gortschakoff 's infantry defended itself bravely, and 
 sooner than surrender, threw itself into the Alle. 
 A part was fortunate enough to find fordable places 
 and safety; another part, not so fortunate, perished 
 in the river. All the Russian artillery remained 
 in the hands of the French. One column, that 
 which was farthest on the Russian right, under 
 general Lambert, fed, descending the river to- 
 gether with a part of the cavalry. The obscurity 
 of night and the disorder inevitable under a vic- 
 tory, facilitated their retreat, and they succeeded 
 in escaping. 
 
 It was half-past ten at night. The victory was 
 complete on the left and rigl>t. Napoleon in his 
 vast career had never obtained one more splendid, 
 lie had for the trophies of his success, eighty pieces 
 of cannon ; but few prisoners it is true, because the 
 Russians had shown they would rr.ther drown 
 themselves than surrender ; hut 25,000 men killed, 
 wounded, or drowned, covered will] their remains 
 both the banks of the Alle. The right bank, to 
 which great numbers had dragged themselves, 
 presented almost as frightful a spectacle as the 
 left. Several columns of Hanie, rising from Fried- 
 land and the neighbouring villages, cast an ominous 
 light over the place ; the scene of sorrow for one 
 party, and of joy for the other. The French 
 had to regret upwards of 7000 or 8000 men killed 
 
 and wounded. Of nearly 80,000 French, 25,000 
 had not fired a .single round. The Russian army, 
 weakened by 25,000 fighting men, deprived be- 
 sides of a great number who had wandered out of 
 the way, was incapable of continuing the campaign. 
 Napoleon owed this noble triumph as much to the 
 general conception of the campaign as to the plan 
 itself of the battle. In taking the Passarge as the 
 base of operations for many months before, and in 
 assuring himself thus in advance, and in any case 
 of the means of separating the Russians from 
 Kcenigsberg, by marching from Guttstadt to Fried- 
 land, in such a manner as to outflank them, he bad 
 reduced them to commit a serious imprudence in 
 order to gain Koenigsberg, and merited of fortune 
 the lucky chance of finding them at Friedland, 
 and of encountering them with their backs to the 
 Alle. Always disposing his troops with rare 
 skill, he had known, while he sent sixty a"nd odd 
 thousand men upon Kcenigsberg, how to present 
 80,000 to the enemy at Friedland ; and, as has 
 been seen, he did not need so many to overwhelm 
 the Russian army. 
 
 Napoleon slept upon the field of battle, sur- 
 rounded by bis soldiers, as joyous upon this occa- 
 sion as tiiey had been at Austerlitz and Jena, 
 crying, " Long live the Emperor !" while they had 
 at the same time nothing to eat, but a morsel of 
 bread brought in their knapsacks ; content with 
 the noblest enjoyment of victory — that of glory. 
 The Russian army, cut in two, descended the Alle 
 on a char, transparent night, its spirit in despair, 
 although it had fulfilled all its duty. Fortunately 
 for that army, Napoleon had not at that moment 
 under hand but a moiety of his cavalry. If he 
 had had the other half, with Murat himself, the 
 Russian corps which had descended the Alle, 
 under general Lambert, would have been all taken. 
 
 The retreat of the Russians was so rapid, that 
 on the following day. June 15th, they bad reached 
 the Pregel, at Wehlau. They cut away all the 
 bridges, and on the 16th, in the morning, they 
 were established a little beyond the Pregel, at 
 Petersdorf, only waiting in order to retire upon the 
 Niemen, until the detached corps of generals 
 Kamenski and Lestocq, incapable of defending 
 Koenigsberg against the victorious French army, 
 should rejoin them, in order to operate a retreat 
 together. 
 
 Napoleon, the day after the battle of Friedland, 
 did not lose an instant in drawing from bis victory 
 every possible advantage. After having, according 
 to his custom, visited the field of battle, shown the 
 strongest interest for the care of the wounded, 
 announced to his soldiers the rewards that his 
 great good fortune permitted him to promise and 
 bestow, he set out for the Pregel, preceded by the 
 whole of his cavalry, which went in pursuit of the 
 Russians, descending both the banks of the Alle. 
 But the Russians were twelve hours in advance. 
 It had been impossible not to give some repose 
 to soldiers who had marched ail the preceding 
 night to arrive on the field of battle, and who were 
 fighting all day afterwards, from two in the morn- 
 ing until ten at night. The Russians had thus 
 gained the advantage of some hours, and, retreating 
 with the speed of an army which was only able to 
 find safety in flight, it was not possible for the 
 French to flatter themselves that they could reach
 
 June. | Russians evacuate 
 1S07. J Kcenigsberg. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 The Russians retreat to 
 the Niemen. 
 
 399 
 
 the Pregel before them. When they arrived there 
 all the bridges were broken down. Napoleon 
 hastened to restore them, and ordered the neces- 
 sary dispositions to be ma<lc for securing between 
 the Pregel and the Niemen all captures which 
 there had not been time to make between Fried- 
 land and Wehlau. 
 
 During the time he was occupied with the 
 Russian army at Friedlanrl, marshals Soult and 
 Davout, preceded by Murat, had marched upon 
 Kcenigsberg. Marshal Soult had encountered the 
 rear-guard of general Lestocq, had taken from him 
 an entire battalion, and, near Kcenigsberg itself, 
 had surrounded and taken a column of twelve or 
 fifteen hundred men, who had nut retreated quick 
 enough from the environs of Braunsberg. He 
 appeared, on the 14th of June, under the walls of 
 Kcenigsberg, too well defended to render the cap- 
 ture possible by a brisk attack. On that side, 
 Davout and Murat, having received orders to 
 return upon Friedlaud, in case the battle should 
 last more than one day, had both, the one and the 
 other, quitted marshal Soult to proceed to the 
 right upon Wehlau. A new order had met them 
 on their way, and, having apprised them of the 
 victory of Friedland, and the retreat of the Rus- 
 sians, they were directed on the Pregel, at Tapiau, 
 an intermediate point between Kcenigsberg and 
 Wehlau. After having got together the means for 
 passing the Pregel, they crossed it in order to 
 intercept as many as they could of the Russian 
 troops who were in flight. 
 
 At the intelligence of the battle of Friedland, 
 the Prussian and Russian detachments which 
 guarded Kcenigsberg did not hesitate to evacuate 
 that place, which was not in a state to sustain a 
 siege like that of Dantzick. Already had the court 
 of Prussia taken refuge in the small frontier town 
 of Memel, the last of the kingdom founded by the 
 great Frederick. Generals Lestocq and Kamen- 
 ski therefore retired, abandoning immense stores, 
 as well as the sick and wounded of the two armies 
 that had accumulated in Kcenigsberg. A battalion, 
 left to stipulate the terms of capitulation, delivered 
 the city to marshal Soult, who was able to enter 
 it immediately. There were found in Kcenigsberg 
 wine, corn, a hundred thousand muskets sent by 
 
 England, and still on board the ships which had 
 brought them; and, lastly, a considerable number 
 of wounded, who bad been there since the battle of 
 Eylau. The villages around contained several 
 thousands. Generals Lestocq and Kamenski bring- 
 ing back their troops in all haste by the road from 
 
 Kcenigsberg to Tilsit, were able to throw them- 
 selves into the forest of Baum before marshal 
 Davout and prince Murat had intercepted the 
 road from Tapiau to Labiau. Still they were 
 unable to join general Benuingsen, without leaving 
 
 three' thousand prisoners lO the hands of marshal 
 
 Davout. 
 
 Napoleon arrived at Wehlau, ami continued the 
 pur llit of the Russian army without relaxing. He 
 laid traps for detached corps SOUS to capture those 
 
 which might be still behind. He kept marshal 
 Soult at Kcenigsberg, to establish himself there, 
 
 ami immediately COI once the attack of 1'illau. 
 
 This little fort taken, the garrison of Kcenigsberg 
 
 could give the hand, by the Nehruug, to the apt- 
 riuou of Dantzick, and close the rriscbe naff 
 
 against the English, of which the seamen of the 
 guard held the navigation. Napoleon sent his 
 aide-de-camp Savary to take the command of the 
 citadel of Kcenigsberg, as he had sent Rapp to 
 Dantzick, with the intention of preventing the 
 waste of the stores taken from the enemy, and of 
 creating a new depot. Marshal Davout was or- 
 dered to march upon Labiau, the point where all 
 the interior navigation of the neighbouring pro- 
 vinces terminates in the Baltic Sea, and gave him 
 a corps of several thousand cavalry under general 
 Grouchy to capture the Russian detachments left 
 behind. He sent off Murat with the main body of 
 the cavalry on the direct road from Wehlau to 
 Tilsit, and detached after him immediately the 
 corps of Mortier, Lannes, Victor, and Ney. The 
 corps of Davout was in case of necessity to unite 
 itself with the army by a single march. Napoleon 
 was thus in a position to crush the Russians, if 
 they had the presumption to halt again for the 
 purpose of fighting. Upon the right he threw out 
 2000 light cavalry, hussars, and chasseurs, for the 
 purpose of remounting the Pregel and barring the 
 road to all that might seek to retire on that side, 
 wounded, sick, convoys, or stragglers. 
 
 These able dispositions caused the capture of 
 several thousand prisoners and of divers convoys 
 of provisions, but they were not sufficient to cause 
 a fresh battl# with the Russians. Hastening to 
 take refuge behind the Niemen, they arrived there 
 on the 18th of June, passed that river on the 19th, 
 and destroyed all the means of passage for a con- 
 siderable space up and down the river. On the 
 10th the French scouts, having pursued some Kal- 
 muck troops armed with bows and arrows, which 
 highly amused them, not accustomed to that species 
 of enemy, pushed forward to the Niemen, and saw 
 the Russian army on the other side of that river, 
 encamped behind that bulwark of the empire which 
 it had been so impatient to reach. 
 
 There was to terminate the bold march of the 
 French army, which departed from the camp of 
 Boulogne in September, 1805, traversed the con- 
 tinent of Europe through its greatest breadth, and 
 in twenty months vanquished all the armies of 
 Europe. The new Alexander was about to rest at 
 last, not through the fatigues of his soldiers, who 
 
 were ready still to fellow wherever he might de- 
 sire to lead the in, but by the exhausted slate of 
 bis enemies, incapable of longer resistance, and 
 obliged to ask of him the peace which but a few 
 days before they had had the imprudence to 
 
 refuse. 
 The king of Prussia had left at Memel the queen, 
 
 his consort, the afflicted instigator of that unhappy 
 
 war, in order to join the emperor Alexander en 
 
 the banks ol the Niemen. The modest Frederick 
 
 William, although he did not partake of the foolish 
 Illusions to winch the battle of Eylau had given 
 birth in bis young ally, suffered himself, notwith- 
 standing, to be drawn into a refusal of a peace, 
 and foresaw that be should have to pay for it with 
 the greater part of bis dominions. Alexander was 
 dispirited as much as he was the day after the 
 battle of Austerlitz. lie was annoyed, on account 
 of recent events, with general llenningsen, who 
 had promised what he was unable to fulfil ; and he 
 fell that In- no lunger had strength to continue the 
 war. His army, too, called loudly for peace. It
 
 300 
 
 Discontent of the Russians 
 and Prussians. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 The allied sovereigns 
 ask a peace. 
 
 f June. 
 11807. 
 
 was not dissatisfied with itself, because it had the 
 consciousness that it had conducted itself well at 
 Heilsberg and Friedland, but it considered itself 
 unable to resist the army of Napoleon, now united 
 together since the capture of Kcenigsberg, and re- 
 inforced by Massena, who had at Durczewo re- 
 pulsed Tolstoy's corps. The French were thus 
 able to oppose 170,000 men to the 70,000 Russian 
 and Prussian troops which were still left. The 
 Russian army demanded for what purpose the war- 
 was carried on ; was it for the Prussians, who 
 could not defend their own country ? for the Eng- 
 lish, who, after having so often announced succour, 
 sent none, and thought only of conquering colo- 
 nies ? The contempt thus shown for the Prussians 
 was unjust, because they had bravely borne them- 
 selves in the late affairs, and done all which their 
 small numbers permitted them to attempt. The 
 Prussians in their turn complained of the bar- 
 barity, of the ignorance, and of the devastating 
 ferocity of their allies. They both agreed upon the 
 subject of the English. The English might, in 
 effect, have been able, in landing either at Stral- 
 sund or Dantzick, to have brought useful aid, and 
 perhaps have changed, or at least retarded, the 
 march of events. But they had shown no activity 
 except in sending expeditions to the Spanish co- 
 lonies, and in the subsidies themselves, that in 
 place of armies constituted their sole co-operation ; 
 they had chaffered and haggled, until the king of 
 Sweden grew cool, and became sickened of the 
 war. It is a consolation under misfortune to have 
 the resource of complaint left ; and at this moment 
 both the Russians and Prussians exclaimed loudly 
 against the British cabinet. The Russian officers 
 especially spoke out, and declared that it was for 
 the English, and on account of their miserable am- 
 bition, that brave men were set to quarrel who 
 had no reason for hating each other, nor even for 
 being jealous; since, after all, Russia and France 
 had nothing for which to be envious of one another. 
 
 The two vanquished monarchs partook in the 
 rancour of their soldiers against England, and the 
 more because they felt the necessity of separating 
 from her, •in order to obtain peace immediately. 
 The king of Prussia, who could have wished it 
 earlier, and who foresaw how dearly he should pay 
 for having delayed it, was of the opinion, that 
 without any complaining they should ask it of Na- 
 poleon ; and he left to the emperor Alexander the 
 care of negotiating it. He hoped that his friend, 
 who had alone desired this unfortunate prolonga- 
 tion of the war, would support his cause in the 
 negotiations better than in the field of battle. It 
 was in consequence agreed that they should pro- 
 pose an armistice, and that when it was obtained 
 the emperor Alexander should manage to obtain 
 an interview with Napoleon. It was known by 
 experience how sensitive lie was on the morrow of 
 his victories to the consideration of sovereigns who 
 were enemies ; and the recollection of all that which 
 the emperor Francis obtained of him at the quar- 
 ters of Urschitz, gave the hope of a peace less 
 detrimental than there was ground to fear ; if not 
 for Russia, which had nothing but considerations 
 to lose, at least for Prussia, which was entirely in 
 the hands of the conqueror. 
 
 In consequence, on the 19th of June prince 
 Bagration conveyed to Murat at the advanced 
 
 posts a letter written to him by general Ben- 
 ningsen, commander in chief, in which, deploring 
 the miseries of war, he offered an armisiice as the 
 means of putting an end to it. This letter, de- 
 livered to Napoleon at the moment of his arrival 
 at Tilsit, was very favourably received, because, as 
 has been observed, he began to perceive how much 
 distance increased the difficulty of military opera- 
 tions. It was nearly a year that he had been away 
 from the heart of his empire, and he felt the ne- 
 cessity that existed for returning to it, to assemble, 
 before all things, the legislative body, of which he 
 had deferred the assembling, and which he was 
 unwilling to convoke in his absence. He was led 
 to think finally in receiving the proposal of the 
 Russian army, that he might, perhaps, find in 
 Russia that ally of which he felt the necessity, in 
 order to close the continent continually against 
 England. 
 
 Napoleon, therefore, gave an amicable reply, 
 which consisted in saying that, after so many 
 labours, fatigues, and victories, he only desired a 
 sure and honourable peace ; and that if the pro- 
 posed armistice should be the means of obtaining 
 it, he was ready to consent. On receiving this 
 answer, prince Labanoff went to Tilsit, saw Napo- 
 leon, acquainted him with the feeling which was 
 manifested on all sides by those about the emperor 
 Alexander ; and after having received the assur- 
 ance, that on the side of the French the wish 
 for peace was not less strong, although not de- 
 manded by necessity, he agreed to an armistice. 
 Napoleon demanded that the Prussian fortresses in 
 Pomerania and Poland, which yet held out, should 
 be delivered up to him, such as Colberg, Pillau, 
 and Graudentz. But the consent of the king of 
 Prussia, then absent from the Russian head-quar- 
 ters, was necessary for that purpose. On his part, 
 it was feared some resistance would be made to 
 the proposal of giving up the last fortresses that 
 remained in his hands. A particular armistice 
 was therefore stipulated for between the French 
 and Russian armies, which was signed on the 22nd 
 of June, by prince Labanoff and by the prince of 
 Neuchatel, and, being carried to the head-quarters 
 of Alexander, was instantly ratified. 
 
 Marshal Kalkreuth then appeared, to treat in 
 behalf of the Prussian army. Napoleon received 
 him with great respect ; told him that he was the 
 distinguished soldier, and above all, the courteous 
 officer, who, among all his countrymen, had treated 
 the French prisoners well ; that he received and 
 granted an armistice for that reason, without insist- 
 ing that the Prussian fortresses should be delivered 
 up. This was a pledge which it was generous to 
 leave in the hands of Prussia, and which could not 
 make the French army uneasy. That was too solidly 
 established upon the Vistula by Warsaw, Thorn, 
 and Dantzick, on the Pregel, by Kcenigsberg and 
 Vehlau, to have any thing to fear from such points 
 as Colberg, Pillau, and Graudentz. The armistice, 
 therefore, was signed by marshal Kalkreuth, as it 
 had been before with prince Labanoff. The line 
 of demarcation which separated the two hostile 
 armies, was the Niemen, as far as Grodno, and 
 then returning in the rear to the right, the Bober, 
 as far as the entrance into the Narew ; and finally, 
 the Narew, as far as Pultusk and Warsaw. 
 
 Napoleon never relaxed in his customary vigi-
 
 June. 
 1807. 
 
 Napoleon addresses his 
 army. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 The emperors meet on the 
 Niemen. 
 
 301 
 
 lance, but organized himself behind this line, as 
 if he should soon continue the war, and move upon 
 the centre of the Russian empire. He drew near 
 liim the corps of Massena, and established it at 
 Bialistok. He entrenched the Poles of Dom- 
 browski and Zayonsehek in a single corps of 
 10,000 men, which was to connect Massena with 
 marshal Ney. He placed the last at Gumbinen, 
 on the Pregel. He united, at Tilsit, marshals Mur- 
 kier, Laones, Bernadotte, Davout, and the cavalry 
 and the guard. He left marshal Soult at Koenigs- 
 berg. He prepared, at Wehlau, an entrenched 
 camp, where, in case of need, he might concentrate 
 his whole army. He gave orders, at Dantzick and 
 Koenigsberg, to withdraw a part of the immense 
 stores found in those places, and to transport them 
 on the Niemen. He finally ordered general Clarke, 
 at Berlin, and marshal Keilermann, at Mayence, to 
 continue the direction of the marching regiments 
 on the Vistula, just as if the war had not met with 
 any interruption. Of the different measures which 
 be had taken to augment his forces in the spring, 
 he did not suspend but one, and that was the 
 calling out of the second part of the conscription 
 of 1808. He wished this intelligence, accom- 
 panied by that of his triumphs, should afford 
 Fiance another reason for rejoicing, and applaud- 
 ing his virtues. 
 
 In this imposing attitude, Napoleon awaited the 
 opening of the negotiations ; and he invited M. de 
 Talleyrand, who had gone to Dantzick to find a 
 little security and quiet, to come immediately to 
 Tilsit, to afford him the aid of his address, and his 
 patient skilfulness. According to his cus L "iu, 
 Napoleon addressed a proclamation to his army, 
 borrowed from the doubled greatness of his soul 
 and of his circumstances. It was conceived in the 
 following language : — 
 
 •■ Soldiers ! The 6th of June we were attacked 
 by the Rti-sian army in our cantonments. The 
 enemy mistook the causes of our inactivity. He 
 juivi ived, too late, that our repose was that of the 
 lion ; he repents of disturbing it. 
 
 " In the battles <>f Guttetadt, of Heilsberg, in 
 that of Friedland ever-memorable, in a campaign 
 of ten days, we have taken 120 pieces of cannon, 
 seven colours; killed, wounded, or made prisoners, 
 Ml 000 Russians ; taken from the enemy's army 
 all his magazines, hi-- hospitals, his ambulances, 
 ile- fortress of Koenigsberg, the 300 vessels in that 
 port, loaded with all kinds of stores, and 160,000 
 
 muskets, that England had sent to arm our ene- 
 mies. 
 
 '• Prom the shores of tin- Vistula we have 
 caret red to those of the Niemen with the flight of 
 an eagle. Yon celebrated, at Ansterlitz, the anni- 
 iy of the coronation; you have tins year 
 worthily celebrated the battle of Marengo, which 
 linisic d the war of the second coalition. 
 
 " Frenchmen ! you have proved worthy of your- 
 selves and me. xou will re-enter Prance, covered 
 wih laurel, .alter having obtained a glorious peace, 
 winch carrii i with it the guarantee of its endur- 
 ance. It is tine- that our country should live in 
 
 . sheltered from the malignant influence ol 
 
 England. My l» ties shall prove to you my 
 
 acknowledgment, and all the extent of tin- affection 
 I have towards you. 
 " Tue imperial camp at Tilsit, June 22, 1807." 
 
 The two conquered sovereigns were still more 
 eager than Napoleon to open the negotiations. 
 The prince de Labanoff, one of those Russians who 
 most sincerely wished for harmony between France 
 and Russia, came back to Tilsit on the 24th, to 
 obtain an audience of Napoleon. It was instantly 
 granted. This Russian nobleman expressed the 
 strong desire which his master had to terminate 
 the war ; the extreme disgust which he had for the 
 English alliance ; the impatience which he felt to 
 see the great man of the age, and explain himself 
 cordially with him in a frank and open manner. 
 Napoleon asked nothing better than to meet this 
 young sovereign, of whom he had heard so much 
 spoken ; whose intellect, grace, and seductive 
 manners, had been so much boasted. He felt 
 considerable curiosity, and but little fear on this 
 account, because he was more certain to win than 
 to be won, when he entered into communication 
 with other men. Ile accepted the proposed inter- 
 view for the next day — the 25th of June. 
 
 Napoleon determined that a certain degree of 
 pomp should mark this meeting of the two most 
 powerful princes of the earth, about to terminate 
 their sanguinary quarrel. He ordered the gem ml 
 of artillery, Lariboissicre, to place a large raft in 
 the middle of the Niemen, at an equal distance 
 from, and in view of both banks of the river. With 
 all that could be procured of rich stuffs in the little 
 town of Tilsit, they constructed a tent, or pavilion, 
 on one part of the raft, to receive the two mo- 
 narchs. On the 25th, at one o'clock in the day, 
 Napoleon embarked on the river, accompanied by 
 the grand duke of Berg, the prince of Neuchatel", 
 marshals Bessieres and Duroc, and the grand 
 equerry Caulaincourt. At the same moment, Alex- 
 ander quitted the other bank, accompanied by the 
 grand duke Constantine, generals Benningsen and 
 Ouwarow, the prince of La hanofT, and count Lieven. 
 Both parties reached the raft at the same time ; and 
 
 the first movement of Napoleon and Alexandi r on 
 disembarking, was to embrace each other. This 
 testimony of a frank reconciliation, seen by the 
 numerous spectators that wire on the banks of the 
 river, (for the Niemen at this place is not wider 
 than the Seine,) excited the loudest applause. The 
 two armies, jn fact. U ere ranged along the Niemen ; 
 the Bemi-savage people of the neighbouring country 
 
 bad joined them ; and the witnesses of this grand 
 
 -'•■lie, little versed fa political secrets, on seeing 
 their masters embrace, believed that peace was 
 
 Concluded, and the effusion of tin Ir blood was from 
 
 that time to cease. 
 
 \lier this first demonstration, Alexander and 
 
 Napoleon entered the pavilion which had been 
 prepared for their reception '. " For what cause 
 
 1 It if very difficult to know exactly what passed during 
 tin- long Inten i'» i thai Napoli on and Alexander bad 
 iIkt .-it Tihii. Ail Europe hai reiounded with diiputed 
 ■tstementt upon tl t, and no) onl) have chimerical 
 
 eonvmatlom been Invented, but then bave been published 
 a number of treatlei purporting t" be wen t artielei of the 
 trealj of i art abaolutel* Mis. The English, 
 
 above a I. in order to Juetify therii after conduct toward* 
 
 put forth a crf.it man; preU nded 
 articlae of Tilsit, tome conceived aft. r the event by the col- 
 lectors <>f treaties, oilier* really communicated at tin- time 
 by diplomatic spies t<> the cabinet oi London, who on thii 
 occasion gamed the money luviilicil upon tliem very wrong-
 
 302 
 
 Napoleon and Alexander 
 treat of peace. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Arguments of 
 Napoleon. 
 
 I 
 
 June. 
 1807. 
 
 have we made war ?" they asked one another, on 
 commencing the conference. Napoleon, in fact, 
 
 fully. Thanks to the authentic and official documents 
 •which I have had it in my power to consult, I shall give, 
 for the first time, the true stipulations of the treaty, as well 
 those which are public as the secret ones. I shall, above 
 all, make known the substance of the conversations between 
 Napoleon and Alexander. To this end, I shall make use 
 of a very curious collection, condemned, it is probable, still 
 to remain yet a long time secret, but from which 1 am 
 enabled, without committing myself, to extract what 
 relates to Tilsit. I allude to the private correspondence 
 tf Savary and Caulaincourt with Napoleon, and that of 
 Napoleon with them. General Savary lived some months 
 at St. Petersburg as an extraordinary envoy ; M. de Caulain- 
 court dwelt there many years with the t.tle of ambassador. 
 The devotedness of the one, and the veracity of the other, 
 do not permit a doubt as to the care which they took to 
 make known to Napoleon the complete truth, and I am 
 bound to say that the tone of sincerity in this correspond- 
 ence is honourable to both. Fearful of substituting their 
 own judgments for that of Napohon, at d wishing to place 
 him in Ue situation to judge for h mself. they took up the 
 habit of attaching to their despatches a minute, in question 
 ant! answer, of their private conversations with Alexander. 
 Both one and the other saw him almost every day tttea- 
 tete. in tie greatest familiarity, and in reporting, word for 
 word, what he said, they traced, without pretending to do 
 so, the most interesting, and certainly the truest portrait of 
 him. Many individuals, and move particularly many Rus- 
 sians, in order to excuse Alexander for his intimacy with 
 Napoleon, place it to the account of policy, and mak ng him 
 more profound than he was, say that he deceived Napoleon. 
 This strange excuse would not have been even attempted if 
 the correspondence alluded to had been perused. Alexan- 
 der was a dissembler, but he was open to impression, and 
 in these conversations he is perceived to be free at times 
 and without restraint, saying all that lie thought. It is a 
 fact that he attached himself for some time, not to the 
 person of Napoieon, which ever inspired him with a certain 
 degree of apprehension, but to his policy, and that he very 
 actively served it. He had a very natural ambition in his 
 mind, that Napoleon suffered to grow, flattered for a time, 
 and then finished by deceiving. It was thus that Alex- 
 ander detached himself from France, detached himself 
 before he avowed it, which for a moment constituted that 
 dissembing which the Russians think they do luin honour 
 to ascribe to him, but which was hardly such, because it was 
 e isy to discern in his language, and his involuntary move- 
 ments, the change in his disposition. 1 si oultl anticipate 
 in the recital the account of later times, if I said here what 
 was the ambition of Alexander, whicn Napoleon (lat'ered, 
 and finished by not satisfying. That which 1 can explain 
 at the present moment is, how the long sequence of the 
 conversations of Alexander with general Savary and M de 
 Cau aincourt enable me to clear up the mystery of Tilsit. 
 Here is the mode in which I succeeded. Alexander, full of 
 the recollection of Tilsit, recalled incessantly to Savary and 
 Caulaincourt, all which he said and did at that celebrated 
 interview, and often related the conversations of Napoleon, 
 the expressions by turns piquant or profound, which tame 
 from his lips, and, above all, the promises which he said he 
 had received. All this, faithfully committed to paper the 
 same day, was sent to Napohon, who Bometimes disputed, 
 at other times visibly admitted, as not to be contested, that 
 which was thus recalled to his recollection. It is from the 
 contradictory reproduction of these recollections that I am 
 enabled to furnish the details, of which the authenticity 
 cannot be doubted. I have also obtained from a foreign 
 source, equally authentic and official, the communication of 
 very curious despatches, containing the conversations of the 
 queen of Prussia, on her return from Tilsit, with an old 
 diplomatist, worthy of her confidence and iriendship, It is 
 
 had only attacked Russia as the ally of England ; 
 Russia, on her part, although rightly uneasy at the 
 continental domination of France, served the in- 
 terests of England much more than her own, by 
 obstinately continuing the contest as she had done. 
 '" If you have a ground of animosity against Eng- 
 land, and her alone," said Alexander to Napoleon, 
 " we shall easily come to an agreement, because I 
 have as much ground to complain of England as 
 you have." He then recounted his grievances 
 against Great Britain ; the avarice and selfishness 
 which it had shown ; the false promises with which 
 he had been enticed, and the state of abandonment 
 in which it had left him ; all this, with the resent- 
 ment he felt, excited by an unfortunate war, that 
 he had been obliged to support with his forces 
 alone. Napoleon, seeking what might be in his 
 interlocutor the feeling most necessary to flatter, 
 very quickly perceived that two feelings were pre- 
 dominant : in the first place, an ill humour with 
 his allies, that either weighed upon him like 
 Prussia, or were selfish like England ; and in the 
 next place, pride, sensitive and deeply wounded. 
 He therefore attempted to prove to the young 
 Alexander, that lie had been duped by his allies ; 
 and on the other hand, that he had conducted 
 himself with nobleness anil courage. He endea- 
 voured to persuade him that Russia deceived her- 
 self in wishing to patronise ungrateful and jealous 
 neighbours, like the Germans ; or in serving the 
 interests of greedy merchants, like the English. 
 He laid this mistake to generous sentiments, pushed 
 to excess, and to misapprehensions, to which in- 
 capable, or corrupt ministers had given birth. 
 Finally, he praised the bravery of the Russian 
 soldiery, and told the emperor Alexander, that if 
 they were to unite the two armies, that had fought 
 so bravely against each other at Austerlitz, Eylau, 
 and Friedland, but which having both borne them- 
 selves in these battles as true giants, combatting 
 blindfolded, that they would be able to master the 
 world between them, for its benefit and its repose. 
 Then, but with great discretion, he insinuated to 
 him, that making war with France was of the 
 greatest injury to Russia, because she received no 
 compensation ; while, if she united with France to 
 govern the East and West, by land and sea, she 
 would obtain as much glory, and more profit. 
 Without explaining himself further, he appeared 
 to take upon himself to make the fortune of his 
 young antagonist, much better than those who had 
 engaged him in a career, in which, so far, he had 
 encountered nothing hut defeat. Alexander hail, 
 it was true, some engagemi nts with Prussia ; and 
 it was necessary, on account of his honour, that he 
 should come sale out of them. Napoleon, there- 
 fore, gave him to understand that he would restore 
 some of the Prussian dominions, which would be 
 necessary to disengage him from his allies with 
 honour ; after which the Russian cabinet would 
 be at liberty to give itself up to another political 
 system — the only true and profitable one, resem- 
 bling that, in every thing, of the great Catherine. 
 
 by the aid of these different materials that I have composed 
 the statement which Z am about to give to the reader, and 
 which I believe to be the only true one, of all those wh ch 
 have affected to trace out the memorable scenes of Tilsit. — 
 Aullwr's nole. _
 
 June. 
 180] 
 
 :•} 
 
 Alexsnder and Napoleon 
 seuarate. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 The king of Prussia visits 
 Nauuleun. 
 
 303 
 
 This conference which endured for more than 
 an linur, and which had touched upon all ques- 
 tions without going far into them, deeply moved 
 the emperor Alexander. Napoleon had opened 
 to him new views, such as always please a fickle 
 mind, and, more than all, one that is discontented. 
 More than once, besides, Alexander in the midst of 
 his defeats, was fully sensible of the inconvenience 
 of this obstinate war into which he had been led 
 against France, and of the advantages of a system 
 of union with her ; and had said to himself some 
 portion of what Napoleon had said ; but not 
 with that clearness, that force, and more than all 
 that seduction on the part of a conqueror, who 
 presents himself to the conquered, with the hands 
 filled with gifts, and the mouth full of enticing 
 words. Alexander was seduced ; Napoleon saw- 
 it well, and promised himself that he would soon 
 render the seduction complete. 
 
 After having flattered the monarch, lie deter- 
 mined to flatter the man. " We shall understand 
 each other better," said he, "in treating directly, 
 than in employing our ministers, who often deceive 
 us, or do not comprehend us, and we shall advance 
 our affairs more in one hour, than negotiators will 
 in many days. Between you and myself then' is 
 no necessity for a third person. It was not possi- 
 ble to flatter Alexander in a manner which was 
 more agreeable, than by attributing to him a supe- 
 riority above those who were round about him ; a 
 superiority similar to that which Napoleon hail the 
 right to attribute to himself over all his servants. 
 In consequence of this, Napoleon proposed to the 
 emperor to quit the hamlet in which be bad 
 lodged himself, and to live in the little town of 
 Tilsit, which should be neutralized for his recep- 
 tion ; there they might, being by themselves, treat 
 of their affairs, personally at any hour. This pro- 
 position was accepted with eagerness, and it was 
 agreed that M. Labanoff should come to Tilsit, 
 during the day, to regulate the details. It still 
 remained to speak of the unfortunate king of Prus- 
 sia, who was at the bead-quarters of Alexander, 
 waiting to know what should be done with llimsi It' 
 and Ins kingdom. Alexander offered to bring him 
 to the raft 00 the Niemen, to present him to 
 Napoleon, who might address to him a lew consola- 
 tory words. Before passing from one system of 
 policy to another, it was necessary Alexander 
 slioiifl, if Ik; would avoid dishonour, save something 
 belonging to the crown of his ally. Napoleon bad 
 dy settled matters upon this point, and feeling 
 
 ih.it a was necessary to make certain c session*, 
 
 to place in security the honour of Alexander, lie 
 consented to r< he king of Prussia the next 
 
 day. The two sovereigns now lefl the pavilion, 
 
 an I parsing Iran serioUS DUI D to matters ol ] 
 
 courtesy, complimented their followers. Napol 
 
 ■ i in tie- most nattering manner the grand 
 duke Constantino and General Benningaen, Alex- 
 ander congratulated Murat and BertluV r, as being 
 the worthy lieutenants id' the greatest captain el 
 in times. The two emperors then separated, 
 
 giving each other new marks of friendship, and 
 embarked in the view, and in tin- mid : of the 
 applauses, of the numerous spectators who wile 
 
 assembled on the banks of the Niemen. 
 
 Prince Labanoff came in the afu rnoon to the 
 
 French head-quarters, to regulate all that w..s 
 
 required in relation to the removal, and the esta- 
 blishment ot the emperor Alexander in the town 
 of Tilsit. It was agreed that the town should be 
 neutralized ; that the emperor Alexander should 
 occupy one half, and the emperor Napoleon the 
 other : that the Russian Imperial Guard should 
 pass to the left bank to do duty near its sovereign ; 
 and that the change should take place on the fol- 
 lowing day, after the presentation of the king of 
 Prussia to Napoleon. 
 
 On the next day, the 26th of June, the two 
 emperors went, as on the' day before, to the mid- 
 dle of the Niemen, observing the same etiquette, 
 repaired to the pavilion, where the first interview 
 passed. Alexander brought the king of Prussia. 
 This prince had received no graces from nature, 
 while grief and misfortune could not be supposed 
 to have added any. He was an honest man, 
 modest, sensible, and awkward. He did not hum- 
 ble himself before the conqueror ; he was melan- 
 choly, dignified, and awkward. The conversation 
 could not be prolonged, because he was the con- 
 quered of Napoleon, the ward of Alexander ; and 
 if there appeared any disposition to restore to 
 him a part of his dominions (which had become 
 probable, without being certain, after the conver- 
 sation of the day before,) it was the policy of 
 Napoleon, which granted the restitution for the 
 honour of Alexander. Nothing was done for the 
 king of Prussia's sake, and nothing was expected 
 of him, therefore there were no explanations to 
 give him. The interview consequently was short, 
 and could not but be so. Still the king of Prussia 
 appeared to attach great importance to proving 
 that he had done no wrong to Napoleon, and that 
 if after having been for so long the ally of Prance 
 he had become its enemy, it was the effect of cir- 
 cumstances, and not through any breach of fai'h, 
 which might make an honest man blush. Napoleon 
 affirmed, on the other side, that he had nothing 
 with which to reproach himself; and, too generous, 
 too manly, to wound a humbled prince, he confined 
 himself to telling him that the cabinet of Berlin, 
 often advertised to guard against the intrigues of 
 
 England, had committed the fault of not listening 
 
 to friendly counsel, and that he must impute to 
 this cause alone the misfortunes > f Prussia. Na- 
 poleon added, for the rest, that France, victorious, 
 did not pretend to draw the last consequences from 
 her victories ; and that in a few days they should 
 
 probably be happy enough to comprehend the con- 
 ditions of a solid and honourable peace. 
 
 The three sovereigns separated alter an inter- 
 view which bad scarcely lasted for half tin hour. 
 
 It was agreed that the king of Prussia should 
 
 also come at. a later period to take up his re- 
 sidence at Tilsit, with his ally, the emperor of 
 Ru -ia. 
 
 The same day, at live , /clock, Alexander passed 
 
 tin- Niemen. Napoleon wenl to meet him at the 
 oi' the river, conducted him i" the quarters 
 
 which were destined tor him, and received him at 
 
 dinner with tin- mot delicate attention. From 
 
 lay it was fixed that ll mperor Alexander, 
 
 not having bis household establishment with him, 
 
 bhould take all bis repasts with the emperor Napo- 
 leon. They passed the evenings together, talked 
 
 a long time in the I Confidential manner, and 
 
 their new-born intimacy manifested itself on both
 
 304 
 
 Napoleon's defective 
 policy. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 An alliance necessary 
 for France. 
 
 fi 
 
 June. 
 807. 
 
 sides by a familiarity at the same time gracious 
 and dignified. 
 
 On the next day, June 27th, they mounted their 
 horses to pass in review the French Imperial 
 Guard. Those old soldiers of the Revolution, by 
 turns the soldiers of the republic and of the empire, 
 and ever the heroic servants of France, exhibited 
 themselves proudly to the sovereign whom they 
 had vanquished. They had not to display before 
 him the high stature and the regular and measured 
 march of the soldiers of the north, but they dis- 
 played that ease of movement, that assured attitude, 
 that intelligence of countenance, which explained 
 their victories and their superiority to all the 
 armies of Europe. Alexander complimented them 
 greatly. They replied to his flatteries by repeated 
 cries of "Long live Alexander!" "Long live 
 Napoleon !" 
 
 It was forty-eight hours since the two emperors 
 had met for the first time, and already they had 
 arrived at such a degree of confidence that they 
 permitted each other to speak their sentiments 
 freely. Napoleon confided to the surprised ears of 
 Alexander the designs in which he wished to 
 associate him ; designs which recent circumstances 
 had suggested. 
 
 The situation of Napoleon at that period was an 
 extraordinary one. While exhibiting the great- 
 ness of his genius conspicuously, and the prodigious 
 height of his fortune, it discovered at the same 
 time the weak sides of his policy, a policy variable 
 and extravagant as the passions which inspired it. 
 
 The alliances of France at that period have 
 often been spoken about ; it has often been said 
 that at least to realize that frightful phenomenon, 
 happily impossible, of a universal monarchy, it was 
 needful that Napoleon should have endeavoured 
 to reckon in Europe something besides enemies, 
 publicly or secretly leagued against him, and that 
 he should endeavour to make there at least one 
 friend. It has been said that Spain, the most 
 ancient ally of France, and the most natural, was 
 completely disorganized, and, until her entire rege- 
 neration, destined to be a burden to those who 
 formed an alliance with her ; that Italy was to be 
 created ; that England, then uneasy about her 
 possession of India, alarmed to see the French 
 established in the Texel, at Antwerp, Brest, Cadiz, 
 Toulon, Genoa, Naples, Venice, Trieste, and Corfu, 
 as proprietors, or as masters, was irreconcileable 
 with France ; that Austria would be implacable as 
 long as France had not restored or made her forget 
 Italy ; that Russia was jealous of France upon the 
 continent, as England was upon the ocean ; that 
 Prussia alone, the natural rival of Austria, a neigh- 
 bour threatened by Russia, a protectant power, inno- 
 vating, and enriched with the spoils of the church, 
 was the only power of which the political interests 
 and moral principles were not absolutely incom- 
 patible with those of France ; and that in her was 
 to be sought the friend, strong and sincere, by 
 whose means all coalitions might be rendered 
 incomplete or impossible. But it has been seen 
 that Prussia, placed between the two parties that 
 then divided the world, uncertain and hesitating, 
 had committed faults arising from weakness; Na- 
 poleon, errors of strength, that a deplorable rupture 
 had followed, that Napoleon had the immense 
 military glory, the immense political misfortune to 
 
 destroy in fifteen days a monarchy that was the 
 sole ally of France possible in Europe ; that, finally, 
 the Russians, having come to the succour of the 
 Prussians in Poland, as they had come to the 
 succour of the Austrians in Gallicia, they had been 
 crushed at Friedland as they were at Austerlitz. 
 
 Conqueror of the entire continent, surrounded 
 by powers successively beaten, the one two days 
 before, at Friedland, the other eight months before 
 at Jena, the third eighteen months before at 
 Austerlitz, Napoleon saw himself at will to choose, 
 not among sincere friends, but among personages 
 obsequious, submissive, and officious. If^ by a 
 chain of circumstances nearly impossible to break, 
 the moment for attempting, in its turn, a Russian 
 alliance, had not then arrived for him, he would 
 have been able at this moment to control his 
 destiny in a certain degree, to enter into the path 
 of sound policy, not again to depart from it, and 
 have found there with less strength in appearance, 
 more real power, and perhaps an eternal duration, 
 if not for his own dynasty, at least for the great- 
 ness of France, which he loved fully as much as 
 his own dynasty. To that end it was needful to 
 conduct himself like a generous conqueror, and by 
 a sudden act, by no means odd, though unexpected, 
 to have raised fallen Prussia, strengthened her, 
 made her more extended in territory than before, 
 and said to her, " you have committed a great 
 fault, you have been wanting in candour towards 
 me, I have punished you ; forget your defeat and 
 my victory ; I will aggrandize you in place of 
 diminishing you, that you may become my con- 
 stant ally." It is certain that Frederick William, 
 who held war in aversion, who censured himself 
 every day for having been drawn into it, and who, 
 in 1813, when Napoleon, half conquered, appeared 
 a prey easy to devour, hesitated to profit by the 
 return of good fortune, and did not take up arms 
 until his people did so in despite of him, that king, 
 covered with benefits after the battles of Jena and 
 Friedland, forced to be grateful, would not have 
 made a part in any coalition, and Napoleon, having 
 only to combat Austria and Russia, would not 
 have been overwhelmed. If Napoleon wished a 
 German crown for one of his brothers, — an unfor- 
 tunate and unwise desire, — he had Hesse, that 
 Prussia would have been but too happy to abandon 
 to him. He would have had Hanover in hand, 
 ready to give to England as the price of peace, 
 or to Prussia for that of an intimate alliance. As 
 to the emperor Alexander having nothing to take 
 from him or restore to him, Napoleon would have 
 been left without a single complaint in reconsti- 
 tuting Prussia on the morrow of the joint defeat 
 of the Russians and Prussians. He would have 
 forced her to admire her conqueror, to sign the 
 treaty of peace without a word, without speaking 
 of Italy, Holland, or Germany, the usual pretexts 
 at that time for disputes between France and 
 Russia. 
 
 What is thus imagined was, no doubt, a Utopia, 
 not of generosity, — because Napoleon was perfectly 
 capable of such a dazzling and sudden generosity, 
 which sometimes springs from a great heart eager 
 after glory, — but a Utopia in relation with the 
 combinations of that moment. Then, in fact, the 
 course of events which lead men, even the most 
 powerful, conducted Napoleon to other determina-
 
 June 7 
 
 iso7. 3 
 
 Napoleon's meditated 
 alliances. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Revolt in Constan- 
 tinople. 
 
 305 
 
 tions. Regarding alliances, he had, although only 
 in the middle of his reign, tried already every kind 
 
 of them. No sooner had he arrived at the consul- 
 ship, the period for good, wise, and profound 
 thoughts, because they were the first that the 
 si^ht of things inspired him with, a long time 
 before the corruption which grew out of prolonged 
 power, he had turned to Prussia and made an ally 
 of her. For an instant, and as an expedient, he 
 had thought of allying himself with Russia under 
 Paul I. For a moment, during the peace of 
 Amicus, he had thought of an alliance with Eng- 
 land, seduced by the idea of the advantage of join- 
 ing the power of the sea with that of the land, but 
 all this in a mere passing way, and Prussia had 
 not then ceased to be his intimate confidant, his 
 accomplice in the affairs of Europe. Embroiled 
 suhsequently with Prussia so far as to declare war, 
 feeling his insulation, he had addressed overtures 
 to Austria, which would have done little honour to 
 his penetration, if the necessity of having an ally, 
 even in the midst of his victories, had not justified 
 him in seeking that which was least probable. 
 Soon aware of the perfidious armaments of Austria, 
 intoxicated with the brilliant victory of Jena, he 
 imagined he was able to dispense with any alli- 
 ance. Transported into Poland, and surprised 
 after the battle of Eylau with the obstacles which 
 nature can oppose to heroism and genius, he had 
 ■gain thought of an alliance with Prussia. But 
 annoyed at the replies of that power, — replies less 
 earnest than he h;ul a right to expect from her, — 
 and having found himself as victorious as ever at 
 Friedland, while desiring to put an end to a dis- 
 tant war, he was necessarily brought, in turning 
 the matter incessantly in his thoughts, to that 
 which had not before seen the day, and which 
 so many present circumstances favoured, to the 
 thought of an alliance with Russia. Definitively 
 alienated from Prussia, which had not taken the 
 instant of a favourable return of feeling towards 
 herself, irritated in the highest degree at the cun- 
 ning conduct of Austria, discovering Russia <lis- 
 1 with allies that had seconded her BO ill, 
 believing that there would be more sincerity with 
 Russia than with Prussia, because there wa 
 ambiguity of position with her, seduced, finally, by 
 that novelty which, in a certain degree, deceives 
 even the firmest minds, Napoleon imagined he 
 could make an ally of Alexander, and a friend, by 
 gaining an influence over his mind, by tilling his 
 head with ambitions notions, and by offering to his 
 dazzled sight images which it was easy to create, 
 to foster for a time', but not to make perpetual, 
 without they were renewed hy gratifications the 
 most dangerous. The Fast naturally offered itself 
 as the resource from whence the young Alexander 
 might procure those gratifications, very easy to be 
 Conceived, much leH to realize, hut suddenly be- 
 er, me more facile hy a P cent accidental cirruin- 
 s-;anee. Thus true is it, that when the moment for 
 a thing is OOme, it Seems that every thing favours 
 
 it, even the most unforeseen accidents. 
 
 Napoleon had engaged the Turks in his quarrel, 
 by exciting them to dispute the provinces of the 
 Danube with the conquerors of the Crimea, and 
 Egypt with the possessors of India. He had pro- 
 mised to aid them by land against the Russians, 
 by sea against the English ; and lie had com- 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 menced by helping them, through his officers, to 
 defend the Dardanelles. He had engaged not to 
 Bign a treaty of peace but in common, and that it 
 should be advantageous to the Ottoman empire. 
 But the unfortunate Selim, odious to the Ulemas, 
 whose power he wished to reduce, and to the Janis- 
 saries, whom he wished to bring into submission to 
 the European discipline, had expiated, by a sudden 
 fall, his wise and generous designs. The Ulemas 
 had for a long while shown a deep mistrust of his 
 conduct. The Janissaries saw with a species of 
 rage his new troops known as the " Nizam-djedid ;" 
 and both the one and the other only awaited an 
 occasion to satisfy their resentments. The sultan 
 having required that the Janissaries in garrison in 
 the castles of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles 
 should wear the dress of the " Nizam-djedid," the 
 revolt broke out among them, and was propagated 
 with lightning speed among the companies of Ja- 
 nissaries, whether in Constantinople or in the 
 towns bordering on the capital. All went to Con- 
 Btantinople, assembled tumultously in the place 
 called At-Me'i'dan, the ancient Hippodrome, with 
 their camp kettles reversed, the common signal of 
 revolt, which indicated that they refused the Food 
 of a master who had become odious to them. The 
 Ulemas uniied themselves together on their side, 
 declaring that a prince who had reigned seven 
 years without having posterity, under whom the 
 pilgrimage to Mecca had been interrupted, was 
 unworthy to govern. The Janissaries having been 
 assembled several days, had successively demanded, 
 obtained, and, in some eases, taken the heads of 
 the ministers of the Porte, who were accused of 
 favouring the new system of improvement ; and, 
 at last, the revolt becoming more alarming, the 
 mufti had proclaimed the deposition of the sultan 
 and the elevation of Mustapha to the throne. The 
 unfortunate Selim, shut up in the seraglio, might 
 have hoped, it is true, for the aid of the army 
 commanded by a devoted subject, the grand vizir, 
 Baraictar. Put this aid would bring great ha- 
 zards, because it was to be feared that the ap- 
 pearance of the grand vizir at the head of the 
 faithful soldiery would cause the dethroned sultan 
 to be assassinated before they were able to succour 
 him. Such were the news that Napoleon received 
 at his head-quarters at Tilsit on the 24th of June. 
 According to all appearance the new government 
 of Turkey woull prove inimical to France, only 
 because the government overthrown had been its 
 
 friend. It was also certain that the anarchy which 
 undermined that unfortunate empire placed it, with 
 Spain, in the number of those allies from which 
 more trouble than service was to be expected, the 
 more when this ally, placid at the distance which 
 separates Constantinople from Paris, could not be 
 advised without difficulty nor succoured without 
 
 delay. Napoleon, with whom the revolutions of 
 
 ideas Operated with tie- vivacity natural to his 
 
 genius, saw all at once the events iii the Bast in a 
 new light. It had been a long while that the 
 statesmen of Europe c sidered the Turkish ,.,,,. 
 
 pile as on the eve "i being dismembered, and it 
 
 was in this view that Napoleon had wished to 
 
 seize beforehand a share tor l'ra by occupying 
 
 Egypt, lie had loi a moment abandoned the idea, 
 when in 1802 In- thought to reconcile Prance with 
 all the powers, lb- n turned strongly to the snme
 
 306 
 
 A mutual alliance 
 proposed. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Peace to be tendered 
 to England. 
 
 / Jane. 
 \ 1M)7. 
 
 idea when he saw what passed in Constantinople, 
 and said to himself, that if the Turkish empire 
 could not be kept alive, it was better to profit by 
 the spoils, for the better arrangement of the affairs 
 of Europe, and, above all, for the humiliation of 
 England. He had with him the vanquished but 
 still the formidable sovereign, whose young head it 
 was easy to excite by showing him the mouths of 
 the Danube, the Bosphorus, and Constantinople. 
 He thought that with some of the Turkish spoils, 
 which sooner or later could not fail to devolve upon 
 Russia, he might obtain, not only peace, which at 
 that moment was not doubtful, but a devoted, in- 
 timate alliance, by means of which he should over- 
 come England, and accomplish in the thrones of 
 the West the revolutions that he meditated. 
 
 Thus having daily at his side the emperor 
 Alexander, whether at his reviews, or in long rides 
 on the banks of the Niemen, whether in his writing 
 cabinet, where the map of the world was spread 
 out, and where he often shut himself up with 
 Alexander after dinner, he acquired such an in- 
 fluence over the mind of that prince, that he com- 
 pletely overturned it by proposing to him, in a 
 conversation almost continual for several days, the 
 following views. 
 
 " A dispensation of Heaven," he said to Alexander, 
 " has just disengaged me from all obligations to the 
 Porte. My ally and friend, Sultan Selim, has been 
 hurled from his throne, and is in confinement. I 
 believed once that it was possible to make some- 
 thing of these Turks, to give them some energy, to 
 teach them how to use their natural courage, but 
 it is all an illusion. It is time to put a term to an 
 empire which cannot longer subsist, and to prevent 
 the spoils from increasing the power of England." 
 Upon this Napoleon unfolded to the view of Alex- 
 ander the new designs which he had conceived. 
 Did Alexander desire to be the ally of France, — a 
 solid and sincere ally, — nothing w 7 as more easy, 
 nothing could be more useful to himself and his 
 empire. But it was necessary that this alliance 
 should be entire, without reserve, followed by a 
 complete devotion to the mutual interests of the 
 two powers. In the first place, this alliance was 
 the only one convenient for Russia. Of what, in 
 fact, was France accused ? — of domineering in 
 Italy, Holland, perhaps in Spain ; of wanting to 
 create a new system on the Rhine, which should 
 lower the old preponderance of Austria in Ger- 
 many, and stay the new-born ascendancy of 
 Prussia there ? But what concern had Russia 
 about Italy, Spain, and Holland ? Germany her- 
 self, was not she at the same time the jealous and 
 secret enemy of Russia ? Was it not rendering 
 Russia a service to enfeeble the principal German 
 powers ? Of what, on the contrary, was England 
 accused ? — of wanting to govern the seas, which are 
 the property of all nations ; of oppressing neutral 
 flags, of which the Russian was one ; of possessing 
 herself of the commerce of all nations, to dupe 
 them by delivering to them colonial produce at the 
 price she may alone fix ! to place her foot upon 
 the continent, in Portugal, Denmark, and Sweden ; 
 to take, or to threaten, the dominant points of the 
 globe, the Cape, Malta, Gibraltar, and the Sound ; 
 to impose laws upon the commerce of the uni- 
 verse. Even at that moment, in place of aiding 
 her allies, she was endeavouring to conquer Egypt; 
 
 and recently, if she had seized upon the Darda- 
 nelles, what would she have done with them ? 
 But of these English desires, it cannot be said, as 
 about the pretensions imputed to France, — what 
 does it matter to Russia % It was the opinion of 
 the great Catherine, and of Paul I., that such 
 desires were of very great importance to Russia, 
 when both had declared war against England for 
 the rights of the neutral flag. The English en- 
 grossed the commerce of nations to such an extent, 
 that they had secured that of St. Petersburg, all 
 the capital of which they held, so that it became, 
 in their hands, a formidable means of influence 
 over Russia ; because, by only withholding ready 
 money, they could excite murmurs, and even the 
 assassination of the emperors. A French army, 
 conducted by a good officer, might be able to 
 come as far as the Vistula or even the Niemen, — 
 could it reach to the Neva ? An English squa- 
 dron, on the contrary, could force the Sound, burn 
 Kronstadt, menace Petersburg, or, after having 
 forced the Bosphorus, destroy Sevastopol and 
 Odessa. An English squadron could shut the 
 Russians up in the Baltic and in the Black Sea, — 
 keeping them prisoners in those seas as within a 
 lake. But France and Russia, not clashing at any 
 point, having the same enemies, the English on the 
 sea and the Germans on the land ; having further 
 a common and pressing object of solicitude, the 
 Turkish empire ; should understand each other, and 
 act in concert, and if they chose to do that, they 
 were of sufficient power to govern the world be- 
 tween them." 
 
 To these extensive views Napoleon added a sys- 
 tem of means still more enticing than the general 
 ideas which he had thus developed. He was ac- 
 cused of being fond of war for the sake of war 
 alone. It was not so, and he could prove it at 
 that moment. " Be you," said he to Alexander, 
 " my mediator with the cabinet of London. That 
 character will agree with your position as the old 
 ally of England and the future ally of France. I 
 think no more of Malta. Let Great Britain keep 
 that island, as a compensation for what I have 
 acquired since the rupture of the peace of 
 Amiens. But let her give up in her turn the 
 colonies taken from Spain and Holland, and at that 
 price I will restore Hanover. Ai'e not these con- 
 ditions just — equitable perfectly ? Can I accept of 
 others ? Can I abandon my allies ? When I sacri- 
 fice my conquests upon the continent, a conquest 
 like that of Hanover, to recover the distant posses- 
 sions of my allies, is it possible to dispute my good 
 faith and moderation ? " 
 
 Alexander agreed that these conditions were 
 perfectly just, and that France could not accept 
 others. Napoleon continuing, brought that prince 
 to acknowledge that, if England was obstinate after 
 such propositions, it was necessary to force her to 
 submit, because the world could not be for ever 
 troubled on her account ; and he proved to Alex- 
 ander, that they had the means to make her submit 
 by a simple declaration. " If," said he, " England 
 refuse peace on these conditions, proclaim yourself 
 the ally of France ; announce that you are about 
 to unite your forces to hers, to secure a maritime 
 peace. Let England know, that, besides a war 
 with France, she will have a war with the entire 
 continent ; with Russia, Prussia, Denmark, Swe-
 
 June.l 
 1807./ 
 
 Finland given to 
 Russia. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Alexander tempted 
 with Turkey. 
 
 307 
 
 Jen, and Portugal, which must obey when we 
 signify our will to them ; even with Austria herself, 
 she will be obliged to speak out in the same sense, 
 if you and I declare that she shall have war with 
 us, in case she does not choose to have war with 
 England on the conditions we have announced. 
 England then exposed to a universal war, il she 
 will not conclude an equitable peace ; England will 
 lay down her arms. All this," added Napoleon, 
 '• should be communicated to each cabinet, and the 
 time assigned for decisions should be short, and 
 the terms precise. If England will not yield, 
 we will act in common, and will find indemnities 
 sufficient to repay us for the continuation of 
 the war. Two very important countries, one of 
 the two, above all, so to Russia, will perhaps resist. 
 Portugal and Sweden, whom their maritime posi- 
 tion renders subordinate to England. 1 will arrange 
 with Spain relative to Portugal," observed Napo- 
 leon. " You will take Finland as an indemnity for 
 the war, which you will be obliged to wage with 
 Sweden. The king of Sweden, it is true, is your 
 brother- in-law and ally ; but when he is your 
 brother-in-law and ally, he must follow the changes 
 in your policy, or else submit to the consequences 
 of bis own wrong will. Sweden," Napoleon often 
 repeated, ''is perhaps a relation, a momentary ally, 
 but it is a geographical enemy l . Petersburg is 
 too near the frontier of Finland. Tit? fair Russians 
 of Petersburg must no wore hear from their palaces 
 tlie cannon of the Swedes." 
 
 After assigning Finland to Alexander, as the 
 price of the war against England, Napoleon showed 
 him something still more brilliant on the side of 
 the East. " You must act as mediator with England 
 and me, and as an armed mediator who imposes 
 peace. I shall perform the same character for 
 you with the Porte. I shall signify to it my 
 mediation. If it refuses to treat upon conditions 
 satisfactory to you, which can hardly be hoped in 
 tate of anarchy into which Tin key has fallen, 
 I will join you against the Turks, as _\oii will be 
 allied with me against the English, and then we 
 can make a suitable partition of the Ottoman 
 empire." 
 
 II re it was above all that the field of hypothesis 
 became immense, and that the imagination of the 
 two sovereigns wandered into infinite combina- 
 tions. Tin: primary wi-h of Russia was to obtain 
 at once, whatever might result from a negotiation 
 with the Porte, some portion of tie- Danubian 
 provinces. Napoleon consented, in return for the 
 
 assistance which Ru-sia was to lend him in the 
 
 affairs of the East. Still, as it was probable that 
 the Turks would cede nothing, war would ensue, 
 and after the war the partition. Bui what parti- 
 tion 1 Russia might have tx B rabia, Mol- 
 davia, Wallachia, Bulgaria, as far as the Balkan. 
 Napoleon would naturally desire the maritime pro 
 v i ii es, as Albania, Thesaaly, the ktorea, and ( landia. 
 In Bosnia, and Servia,some indemnities might he 
 found for Austria, either ceded to In r in lull, or 
 making part of a U rritOrial appanage of an arch- 
 duke. That they Would endeavour to console her 
 
 for those convulsions of the world, fr m which t>hc 
 
 1 These were the words of Napoleon literally, repeated hy 
 Alexander, in relating t<> loJaUMMUt WDM had 
 
 passed at Tilsit. — Authoi't nute. 
 
 had come out every time lessened, and her rivals 
 aggrandized. 
 
 Let the young Czar be imagined, humbled as 
 he was the day before, coming to demand a 
 peace in Napoleon's cant]), having, there is little 
 doubt, no gnat uneasiness about his own dominions, 
 that were saved by distance from the desire of 
 the conqueror, but expecting to lose a considerable 
 portion of the territory of his ally, the kin;; of 
 Prussia, and to retreat defeated from the war ; — 
 1> t it be imagined that the young Czar felt sud- 
 denly transported into a Bpecies of world at once 
 imaginary and real — imaginary by grandeur, real 
 by possibility ; seeing himself on the day after a 
 striking defeat on the way to conquer Finland and 
 a part of the Turkish empire, and to receive from 
 an unfortunate, more than was formerly acquired 
 by a successful war ; as if the honour of having 
 be n conquered by Napoleon, was well-nigh equi- 
 valent to a victory, and could produce the fruit of 
 one ; — let the young Czar be imagined, greedy of 
 glory, seeking it every where for seven years past ; 
 sometimes in the precarious civilization of his 
 empire, sometimes in the creation of a new Euro- 
 pean equilibrium, and meeting nothing but immor- 
 tal defeats ; then on a Budden finding the glory so 
 SOUghl after in a system of alliance with his con- 
 queror, an alliance, which would introduce him 
 into the partition of the dominions of the world, 
 below, but at the side of the great man who 
 wished to partake it with him, worth to Russia the 
 fine conquests promised by Catherine to her suc- 
 cessors, fallen since Catherine's time into the 
 kingdom of chimeras; — let the young Czar be 
 imagined passing so quickly from so much dejec- 
 tion to such high hopes, and it is easy to compre- 
 hend without trouble his agitation, his intoxication, 
 his sudden friendship for Napoleon, a friendship 
 
 which immediately took the form of an enthusiastic 
 affection, assuredly sincere, at hast during the 
 first moments of its existence. 
 
 Alexander, who was, as has been already said, 
 mild, humane, intelligent, but as wavering and 
 
 fickle us his father, thus threw himself at onco 
 into the new path laid open before him by his able 
 
 seducer. He did not quil Napolet nee without 
 
 expressing an admiration beyond all limit. '• What 
 
 a great man!" said he incessantly to those who 
 cane- near him ; " what genius ! what extension 
 
 of Men ! what a soldier! what a statesman I O 
 
 that I had hut known him sooner, what faults I 
 should have been span d committing ! what great. 
 things we might nave accomplitdted together 1" 
 Hi-, ministers, w bo bail rejoined him, his generals 
 around him, all perceived the influence exercised 
 
 over bim ; and they did not regret it, because they 
 
 saw bim netting out of ft vwy bad position with 
 advantage and honour, judging at least from the 
 satisfaction which was displayed on his counte- 
 nance. 
 
 During this time the unlucky king of Pn 
 had c«me to Tilsit, and brought with him his mis- 
 
 fortunes, his melancholy, his plain , and 
 
 i sense. The intoxicating secret con- 
 ference* which so enraptured Alexander, were not 
 created for him. Alexander represented his inti- 
 macy with Napoleon as the on ans of obtaining 
 huge restitutions in favour ol Pnii ia. But he 
 concealed from him the new alliance which was 
 .\ I
 
 308 
 
 Secret conferences of Napo- 
 leon and Alexander. 
 
 THIERS' 
 
 nnvciTT a mt-t i tvttx rumur Alliance between France f June. 
 CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. and Russia . \ 1807 . 
 
 I 
 
 preparing, or suffered him only to become ac- 
 quainted with the smaller part of the secret. It 
 appeared strange in effect that one of the two con- 
 quered sovereigns should obtain such fine acquisi- 
 tions, when the other was about to lose half of his 
 kingdom. Frederick William, treated with infi- 
 nite respect by Napoleon, was still left to himself. 
 On horseback, at the head of his troops, he had 
 none of the brilliant grace of Alexander, nor of 
 the tranquil ascendancy of Napoleon. He re- 
 mained generally in the rear, as insulated as he 
 was unfortunate, making his crowned companions 
 wait when he mounted on horseback or dismounted ; 
 an object, in short, of little notice, and even of less 
 esteem than he merited, because the French be- 
 lieved, after the gossip of the imperial court, that 
 Napoleon had been betrayed by Prussia, and the 
 Russians repeated incessantly that the Prussians 
 had fought ill. As to Alexander, all attention was 
 directed towards him. When he returned from 
 long excursions, Napoleon kept him, lent him even 
 furniture and linen, and would not suffer him to 
 lose time to go to his quarters to put on another 
 dress. A superb dressing-case of gold, which 
 Napoleon used, appearing to please him, was 
 offered instantly and accepted. After dinner, 
 which the three sovereigns took together, and 
 which was always at the quarters of Napoleon, 
 they separated early, and the two emperors went 
 and shut themselves up in private, while Frederick 
 William was excluded — a privacy that was ac- 
 counted for ever in the same maimer, as caused by 
 the efforts of Alexander with Napoleon to recover 
 the largest part possible of the Prussian monarchy. 
 
 But it was not upon that subject that these long 
 private conferences took place, but about that 
 immense system, by which they were going to hold 
 the dominant power over Europe in common. The 
 possible partition of the Turkish empire was the 
 continual subject of conversation. The first par- 
 tition had been discussed, as we have seen, but it 
 seemed incomplete. Russia was to have the banks 
 of the Danube as far as the Balkan. Napoleon, 
 the maritime provinces, such as Albania and the 
 Morea. The inland provinces, as Bosnia and 
 Servia, were allotted to Austria. The Porte re- 
 tained Roumelia, or the country south of the 
 Balkan, Constantinople, Asia Minor, and Egypt. 
 Thus iu this project, Constantinople, the key of the 
 seas, and in all men's imagination the true capital 
 of the East — Constantinople, so long promised to 
 the descendants of Peter the Great by universal 
 opinion, an opinion formed on the hopes of the 
 Russians, and the fears of Europe — Constantinople, 
 with St. Sophia, was to remain with the barbarians 
 of Asia. 
 
 Alexander touched upon this point more than 
 once, and about a more complete partition, which 
 should give to Napoleon, besides the Morea, the 
 islands of the Archipelago, Candia, Syria, and 
 Egypt ; but Constantinople to the Russians would 
 have pleased him more. Napoleon, however, who 
 believed that he hail done enough, or too much, to 
 attach the young emperor to himself, would not go 
 so far. To give up Constantinople, no matter to 
 whom, even to a declared enemy of England, and 
 thus let any one make, while he was alive, tht most 
 splendid acquisition that could be imagined, did 
 not suit Napoleon. He was able, in obedience to 
 
 the natural tendency of things, to resolve many 
 European difficulties, and to give himself a powerful 
 alliance against England. He would permit the 
 torrent of Russian ambition to dash against the 
 foot of the Balkan, especially in the desire to divert 
 that torrent from the Vistula, but he could not let 
 it pass those tutelary mountains. He would not 
 consent that the most striking work of modern 
 times should be accomplished by any one before 
 his face, or at his side. He was too jealous of the 
 greatness of France — too jealous of solely occu- 
 pying the imagination of mankind, to consent to 
 such an infringement upon his own glory ! 
 
 Thus, in spite of the desire to seduce his new 
 friend, lie would never lend himself to any other 
 partition, than that which took from the Porte the 
 provinces of the Danube, ill attached to that 
 empire, and Greece, already too much awakened 
 to submit much longer to the Turkish yoke. 
 
 One day the two emperors, on their return from 
 a long ride, shut themselves up in the cabinet of 
 Napoleon, where there were numerous maps spread 
 out. Napoleon, in appearance in a brisk conversa- 
 tion with Alexander, asked M. Meneval for the 
 map of Turkey, opened it, then renewing the con- 
 versation, and placing his finger suddenly on Con- 
 stantinople, said several times, without regarding 
 his being heard by the secretary, in whom he had 
 perfect confidence, — " Constantinople ! Constan- 
 tinople ! never ! It is the empire of the world '." 
 
 Still Finland, the Danubian provinces, as the 
 price of the concurrence of Russia in the designs of 
 France, offered a perspective view quite enough 
 to intoxicate Alexander, because his reign would 
 be equal to that of the great Catherine, if he 
 obtained only those vast territories. 
 
 It was agreed, in consequence, that France and 
 Russia should form a close alliance from that 
 moment — offensive and defensive ; and should have 
 in future the same friends and the same enemies ; 
 and upon every occasion should direct towards the 
 same end their united forces by sea and land. 
 They promised each other to regulate, at a later 
 time, by a special convention, the number of men 
 and vessels to be employed in each particular case. 
 At the moment, Russia was to offer her mediation 
 to the British cabinet for the re-establishment of 
 peace with France ; and if this mediation was not 
 accepted according to the conditions fixed by 
 Napoleon, she was bound to declare war against 
 England. Immediately afterwards, all Europe 
 was to be constrained, including Austria, to declare 
 war against the same power. If Sweden and Por- 
 tugal, as it was easy to foresee, should resist, a 
 Russian army was to go and occupy Finland, and 
 a French army Portugal. As to the Turks, Napo- 
 leon engaged to offer his mediation, to place them 
 in a state of peace with Russia. If they refused 
 the mediation, it was stipulated that the war be- 
 tween them and Russia should be in common with 
 France ; and that the two powers should then do 
 with the Ottoman empire that which they judged 
 fit, only that they should stop in the dismember- 
 
 1 I had tliese particulars from M. Meneval himself, an 
 ocular witness; and besides the veracity of so respec tab.V a 
 witness, I have for a guarantee of their exactitude the cor- 
 respondence of Savary and Caulaincourt, which proves that 
 the limit ot the Balkan was never pasted, despite all the 
 efforts of Alexander. — Author '» note.
 
 June.i 
 1807. J 
 
 Prussia loses half its 
 domains. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Erroneous policy of 
 Nanoleon. 
 
 J09 
 
 merit at the limits of the Balkan, and the gulf of 
 Saloniea. 
 
 These resolutions, once adopted in substance, 
 Napoleon undertook to draw u]>, under his own 
 hand, the treaties, patent and secret, which should 
 include them. It was requisite, too, that they 
 should come to some understanding in reference 
 to that unfortunate Prussia, which Napoleon had 
 promised not utterly to destroy, but for die honour 
 of Alexander, to suffer to subsist, ;it least in part. 
 There were two fundamental conditions that 
 Napoleon laid down, and from which he would not 
 wander ; one was, to take, for the purpose of dif- 
 ferent combinations, all the German provinces that 
 Prussia possessed on the left of the Elbe, and also 
 the Polish provinces that she had received in the 
 different partitions of Poland. This was not less 
 than half of the Prussian state, in territory and 
 population. With the provinces of Westphalia, 
 Brunswick, Magdeburg, and Thuringia, anciently 
 or recently acquired by Prussia, Napoleon wished 
 these to be united, together with the Grand Duchy of 
 Hesse, to compose a German kingdom, which he 
 would call the kingdom of Westphalia, and which 
 he proposed to give to his brother Jerome, to intro- 
 duce one of his family into the confederation of the 
 Rhine. He had already crowned two of his bro- 
 thers, of which one reigned in Italy and one in 
 Holland. He would thus establish a third in Ger- 
 many. As to Hanover, which bad belonged tor a 
 moment to Prussia, Napoleon intended to keep it 
 as a pledge of peace with England. In regard to 
 Poland, his intention was to commence its restora- 
 tion by means of the provinces of Posen and 
 Warsaw ; these he would constitute an independent 
 state, in order to repay the services of the Poles, 
 who nad as yet been of little service to him, but 
 might become of greater, when they joined to their 
 natural courage the advantage of organization — in 
 fine, to abolish also, in overturning the principal 
 labour of the great Frederick, the most damnatory 
 of his works — the partition of Poland. Napoleon 
 did not then know that the time would come that 
 would permit him to take from Austria, by ex- 
 change or by force, tie- Polish provinces retained 
 by that power. Meanwhile he revived the king- 
 dom of Poland by the creation of a Polish stat- ol 
 
 considerable extent and importance. In order to 
 
 facilitate this restoration, lie had the idea of return- 
 ing to another thing of the past, and of giving 
 Poland to Saxony. Thus, in destroying Prussia, 
 
 one of the great monarchies of Germany, he would 
 
 substitute two new allied monarchies, Westphalia, 
 composed of fragments, for the benefit of his 
 younger brother; and Saxony, aggrandized almost 
 double, and destined both, acooruiiig to all appear- 
 ances, to remain faithfully attached to him. lie 
 intended, in this mode, to re-form a sort of nnw 
 
 German equilibt imn, and replace, bj two alliances, 
 the powerful allian >e "f Prussia, which he had lost. 
 lie assigned, therefore, for the limits of tie- eon 
 federate, n of the l( imie, t he inn towards Austria, 
 the Elbe towards Prussia, and the Vistula on the 
 side of Russia. 
 
 Russia had not many objections to make against 
 these combinations when she had once determined 
 
 to ally herself with the policy of fiance. Except 
 
 in the sacrifices imposed u| Prussia, and the re- 
 storation of Poland, she had little interest in 
 
 creations, these dismemberments of German states. 
 But the sacrifices imposed upon Prussia were em- 
 barrassing for the emperor Alexander ; above all, 
 when he recalled the oaths sworn on the tomb of 
 the great Frederick, and the avowals of chivalrous 
 devotion lavished upon the queen of Prussia. The 
 nine millions and half of inhabitants of the Prussian 
 monarchy reduced to five millions, and a hundred 
 and twenty millions of francs in revenue reduced 
 to sixty-nine millions, it was impossible Alexander 
 could consent to, on the part of an ally, without 
 some objections. He ottered them to Napoleon, 
 who only listened to them coolly. Napoleon an- 
 swered that it was only out of consideration for 
 him that he left Prussia so many provinces as ho 
 did leave ; that but for the wish to please him, he 
 would have reduced her to a third-rate power. 
 He would have taken as far as Silesia from her, 
 and given it either to Saxony, for the purpose of 
 imparting to that power all the consequence that 
 Prussia had possessed, or have given it to Austria, 
 in order to obtain the Gallicias. 
 
 This double combination would have certainly 
 been the better of the two. The determination to 
 sacrifice Prussia once taken, it was better at once 
 to destroy her altogether, than to do it by halves. 
 In nil cases it is a bad system to overturn old 
 states in order to, create new ones, because the old 
 are apt to revive, the new ones to die, unless the 
 action be operated in a manner consistent with the 
 march of things and events. The march of events 
 had progressively augmented Prussia, and pro- 
 gressively destroyed Poland and Saxony. All that 
 was done in this sense had the chance of being 
 durable, while that which was done in a contrary 
 sense had little chance of lasting. To give some 
 consistence to the new work, it was necessary to 
 render Prussia so feeble, and Poland and Saxony 
 so strong, that the first should have but a small 
 chance of being renewed, and that the other two 
 states should have the means of sustaining them- 
 selves. Thus in not entirely reconstituting Prussia, 
 a reconstruction which would have be< n every way 
 preferable, Napoleon had better to have destroyed 
 it entirely. He himself thought as much, and said 
 
 so to tin' emperor Alexander. He went so far as 
 
 to offer him a part of the spoils of the house of 
 
 Brandenburg, if he could lend himself to his design 
 of the now complete re estnblishmi ut of Poland. 
 
 Put Alexander refused, beCUU8e it was clearly 
 
 impossible for him to accept of the spoils ol Pi ussia. 
 It was pretty well already not to have defended her 
 cause better, and to In couie through interest the 
 ally of the conqueror who had despoiled her. 
 Independently of the fate inflicted upon Prussia, 
 
 Alexander could Hot seewiih pleasure the resto- 
 ration of Poland. Put Napoli on tried to denioll- 
 
 ■trate that Russia ought i" stop towards the west, 
 
 St the Niemen ; and thai in passing it to approach 
 the Vistula, as she had clone ill the last partition of 
 
 Poland, she had rendered herself suspected and 
 distasteful to the rest ol B irope, gained subjects, 
 
 a long while, perhaps for ever in-iihordinu'e, and 
 
 d herself, through insecure conquests, in de- 
 pendence upon the neighbouring powers always 
 ready to fermenl an insurrection in her dominn 
 that it was needful n> seek her aggrandizemi nt 
 elsewhere; that sin- should obtain it in the north, 
 towards Finland, or In the east, towards Turkey ; 
 
 L
 
 310 
 
 Frederick William and 
 Napoleon negotiate. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Magdeburg refused to 
 Prussia. 
 
 {, U,y 
 
 807. 
 
 in the last direction, above all, she opened to her- 
 self a road to true greatness — greatness without 
 limit, when India itself was in the perspective ; 
 that in seeking to aggrandize herself upon that 
 side, she would encounter on the European con- 
 tinent friends and allies, France particularly, and 
 she would have no adversary but England, which 
 power, reduced to that of its navy, would not be 
 able to dispute with her the banks of the Danube. 
 The reasons of Napoleon were powerful ; but, bad 
 they been otherwise, Alexander was in no con- 
 dition to contradict them. It was necessary to 
 choose, either to have no part nor to aggrandize 
 himself upon any side, without being able to prevent 
 the renewal of Poland, the fall of Prussia, or to 
 take the great aggrandizement pointed out by 
 Napoleon. Alexander did not hesitate. Moreover, 
 he was so seduced, so charmed, that he had not 
 need of force to decide upon the matter. But he 
 was anxious to know how to render his misfortune 
 endurable to Frederick William, who, in seeing 
 the two emperors so intimate, bad flattered himself 
 tbat he was the cause of this intimacy, and should 
 obtain the advantage of it. Alexander took upon 
 himself, however embarrassing the character, to 
 make the first overtures ; and after having com- 
 municated to Frederick William the resolutions 
 which concerned him, to leave to him the task of 
 making himself directly understood by the supreme 
 arbitrator, who traced out the frontiers of every 
 power. Frederick William received coolly the 
 overtures of Alexander, and promised to confer 
 upon the subject with Napoleon. The unhappy 
 king of Prussia, whom fortune favoured so little, 
 but whom she afterwards so amply compensated, 
 was incapable of treating himself about hi* own 
 affairs. He was neither skilful nor imposing ; and 
 if sometimes his mind, shaking off its weight of 
 unhappiness, gave itself up to some involuntary 
 movements, those movements were splenetic and 
 testy, little fitting a monarch without a state and 
 without an army. The town of Memel, where the 
 queen of Prussia passed her nights and days in 
 tears, and tbe 10,00!> or 15.000 men under general 
 Lestocq, were all tbat remained to the sovereign 
 of Prussia. Tbe monarch, in consequence, bad a 
 long explanation with Napoleon, and as at the first 
 interview, he endeavoured to prove to him tbat be 
 had not merited his misfortune, because the origin 
 of the difference with Fiance went back to the 
 violation of the treaty of Anspach, and that in 
 traversing the province, Napoleon had violated the 
 sovereignty of Prussia. That question was of 
 small importance at the point to which things were 
 then arrived ; but upon tbat subject Napoleon bad 
 a conviction as powerful as that of the king him- 
 self. In traversing the province of Anspach, he 
 had acted with perfect good faith, and he was as 
 anxious to appi ar as right upon this point as if he 
 had not then been tbe stronger party. The two 
 sovereigns grow warm, and the king of Prussia, in 
 his despair, delivered himself over to a loss of 
 temper to be regretted, on account of bis dignity, 
 not at all useful to his cause-, and embarrassing to 
 Napoleon. Importunate in bis complainings, Na- 
 poleon referred him to his ally Alexander, who 
 had induced him to continue the war, when, on 
 the day after the battle of Eyiau, peace would 
 have been possible and advantageous for Prussia. 
 
 " For the rest," said Napoleon, " the emperor 
 Alexander has the means of indemnifying you, — 
 namely, to sacrifice for you his relations the 
 princes of Mecklenburg and Oldenburg, whose 
 estates would be a fine indemnity for Prussia 
 towards the north and towards the Baltic. He 
 can thus also give up to you the king of Sweden, 
 from whom you may take Stralsund and the por- 
 tion of Pomerania of which he makes so bad a use. 
 Let the emperor Alexander consent to these acqui- 
 sitions in your behalf, not equal to the territories 
 taken from you, but better situated, and I will 
 make no objection." Napoleon had good reasons 
 for sending Frederick William to Alexander, who 
 could have effectually procured those compensa- 
 tions for Prussia. But Alexander was already in 
 sufficient trouble through the grievance of his 
 Prussian allies, without adding to them complaints 
 from his own family, reproaches, and stern visages. 
 Frederick William would not dare to make such a 
 proposal, and he took the offer as a mere evasion. 
 He was, therefore, obliged to resign himself to the 
 sacrifice of one half of his kingdom. Still it was 
 possible to afford him some slight consolation in 
 his sorrow, which had, in a certain degree, less- 
 ened his chagrin. They had left him old Prussia, 
 Pomerania, Brandenburg, and Silesia, but they 
 had taken from him the provinces on the left bank 
 of the Elbe ; and it was necessary, in taking away 
 these large portions of his estates, not to insulate 
 him too much from those which remained. It was 
 by successive encroachments on Poland, that Fre- 
 derick had joined together old Prussia, Pomerania, 
 Brandenburg, and Silesia. It now became the 
 question, what portions of Poland should be left to 
 Prussia to bind these provinces to themselves ; 
 and, finally, and before all, it was needful to settle, 
 whether, in assigning to Prussia the frontiers of 
 the Elbe in Germany, she should be granted the 
 fortress of Magdeburg, which is on the Elbe, 
 more important still than tbat of Mayence or of 
 Strasburg on the Rhine. 
 
 Napoleon consented that the limits of Poland 
 should be traced in such a manner as to unite her 
 as much as possible with old Prussia, Pomerania, 
 Brandenburg, and Silesia ; but in conceding the 
 lower Vistula to Frederick William, he would re- 
 serve Dantzick and constitute it a free town, like 
 Bremen, Lubeck, and Hamburg. As to Magde- 
 burg he was inflexible. Mayence and Magde- 
 burg formed the main points of his power in the 
 north, and it was not possible for him to renounce 
 it. lie was, therefore, most decided in his resolu- 
 tions regarding Dantzick and Magdeburg. 
 
 The king of Prussia was n signed to the loss of 
 Dantzick, but be still clung to Magdeburg, be- 
 cause it was situated in tbe bosom of Germany, 
 ami was a considerable point of support, as well as 
 the key of the Elbe, which bad become his frontier. 
 He valued it the more, not from a political motive, 
 hut from old affection. In fact, the inhabitants of 
 the duchy of Magdeburg, spread over the right 
 and leit of tbe Elbe, were of the number of the 
 older subjects and the most attached of the mo- 
 narchy. Still he gained nothing by this argument. 
 As he was very pressing, sometimes with Na- 
 poleon, sometimes with Alexander, the latter con- 
 ceived the idea of operating upon Napoleon by 
 bringing the queen of Prussia to Tilsit, that she
 
 July.J 
 1S07. J 
 
 The queen of Prussia 
 
 arrives. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Articles of the peace of 
 Tih.it. 
 
 311 
 
 might make an effort upon the conqueror of Europe 
 by the influence of her spirit, her beauty, and her 
 misfortunes. The calumnious reports to which the 
 admiration of Alexander for this princess had given 
 birth, had prevented her from making her ap- 
 pearance at Tilsit. Still recourse was now had to 
 her intervention as a last means, not to move the 
 passions of Napoleon, but to touch his most deli- 
 cate feelings by the presence of a queen handsome, 
 accomplished, and unhappy. 
 
 It was rather late to attempt such a resource, 
 because the ideas of Napoleon were definitively 
 settled, and for the rest it was not very likely that 
 Napoleon would sacrifice a part of his designs 
 under the influence of any woman, however in- 
 teresting she might be. 
 
 Frederick William, therefore, invited the queen 
 to Tilsit. She agreed to comply, and the nego- 
 tiation, which had already lasted twelve days, 
 was run out in order to give the princess time to 
 arrive. She came on the 5th of July. An hour 
 after her arrival, Napoleon anticipated her, and 
 paid her a visit. The queen of Prussia was then 
 thirty-two years old. Her beauty, formerly so 
 brilliant, appeared to be slightly affected by age, 
 but she was still one of the finest women of her 
 day. With a superior mind she joined a certain 
 habit of business, which she had learned from 
 taking an indiscreet part in it, and with this a per- 
 fect nobleness of character and attitude. Still a 
 too evident desire to produce a successful effect 
 upon the great man on whom she was dependent, 
 was injurious to her success. She spoke of the 
 greatness of Napoleon, of hie gi nius, of the tm- 
 happiness of having mistaken him, in terms that 
 were not simple enough to affect his feelings. But 
 the energy of her character, and the strength of 
 mind she displayed in conversation, soon appeared 
 to such a degree as to cause Napoleon some em- 
 barrassment, who, while lavishing upon her his at- 
 tention and respect, was very cautious not to let 
 one word escape him by which he might commit 
 himself. 
 
 She came to dinner with Napoleon, who received 
 her at the door of the imperial resilience. During 
 dinner, she set herself to overcome him, to draw 
 from him at least one word from which she could 
 obtain hope, above all in regard to Magdeburg. 
 Napoleon, on his side, always respectful, court 
 but evasive, made her despair by a resistance 
 which seemed a perpetual flight. She perceived 
 the tactics of her powerful adversary, and lamented 
 much in parting, that he would not leave in his 
 mind a recollection which permitted her to join to 
 hi r admiration for the great man, an inviolable 
 
 attachment for the- generous conqueror. Perhaps, 
 if Napoleon, less pre-oeenpied with the care to 
 aggrandize ungrateful royalties, or to on ate ephe- 
 meral kingdoms, had yielded upon the pn 
 occasion, he would not only have conceded that 
 
 which was thus demanded, but what he would have 
 been able further to grant without prejudicing his 
 
 other objects; perhaps be might have attached to 
 
 himself the ardent heart of this epieen and tin: 
 honest heart of her husband, lint lie resisted the 
 solicitations of the princess by opposing to them 
 an invincible respect. 
 
 Embarrassed at this contest with one against 
 whom it was difficult to hold out, pressed to termi- 
 
 nate his new work, and to enter his own territory, 
 Napoleon desired to terminate all within twenty- 
 four hours. He had fixed with his immutable will 
 all that l'elated to Prussia, Poland, and West- 
 phalia. He had consented to a line of demarcation 
 between Poland and Pomcrania, which, following 
 the banks of the Netze and the canal of Bromberg, 
 would join the Vistula below Bromberg. He made 
 the concessions, regarding Magdeburg, that in case 
 Hanover remained with France, from peace not 
 being concluded with England, or whether it was 
 concluded without giving up Hanover, there should 
 be given up to Prussia on the left bank of the 
 Elbe, and in the environs of Magdeburg, a territory 
 of 300,000 or 400,000 souls, including the restitu- 
 tion of the fortress itself. 
 
 Napoleon would grant nothing more. M. de 
 Talleyrand had orders to confer with M. Kourakin 
 and prince Labanoff, and to terminate all the dis- 
 pute d points on the 7th of July, in such a way that 
 the queen, ordered to Tilsit to ameliorate the fate 
 of Prussia, only accelerated the result which she 
 endeavoured to prevent through the embarrassment 
 which she caused to Napoleon, by the success that 
 she had nearly obtained by her solicitations, at 
 once delicate and persevering. The Russian and 
 Prussian negotiators, seeing themselves ordered to 
 consent or refuse in a peremptory manner, ended 
 by giving way. The treaty, concluded on the 7th, 
 was signed on the 8th of July, and had the title, 
 which remains so celebrated, of the " Treaty of 
 Tilsit." It had three kinds of stipulations : — 
 
 A patent treaty of France with Russia, and 
 another between France and Prussia. 
 
 Secret articles added to their double treaty. 
 
 Finally, an occult treaty of alliance, offensive and 
 defensive, between France and Russia, which both 
 parties were to keep a perfect secret, until both 
 should agree to its publication. The two treaties 
 between France and Russia, and Russia and Prus- 
 sia, contained the following stipulations : 
 
 The restitution to the king of Prussia, in con- 
 sideration of the emperor of Russia, of old Prussia, 
 Pomerania, Brandenburg, and Upper and Lower 
 Silesia. 
 
 The abandonment to France of all the provinces 
 on the left lank of the Elbe, to compose with the 
 grand duchy of Hesse a kingdom of Westphalia, 
 tor the advantage of the youngesl brother of Na- 
 poleon, prince Jerome Bonaparte. 
 
 The abandonment of the duchies of Posen and 
 Warsaw, to form a Polish state, which, under the 
 title of the grand duchy of Warsaw, should he 
 
 bestowed on the king of Saxony, with a military 
 
 road across Silesia, affording a p from Ger- 
 
 many into Poland. 
 
 The acknowledgment by Russia and by Prussia, 
 oi Louis Bonaparte as king of Holland ; of Ji • 
 Bonaparte a king oi Naples; of Jerome Bonaparte 
 as king of Westphalia ; of tie- confederation of 
 the Rhine, and in general of all ti< ■ ated 
 
 by Napoleon. 
 
 The p-, talilishmeiit in their sovereignty s, of 
 the prinoea of Oldenburg and Mecklenburg, 
 
 but the occupation of their t' rritorv by Fn neb 
 troops, for the execution of the continental 
 
 blockade. 
 
 'fie mi diation of lie - ibliah a | 
 
 twee ii France and England.
 
 312 
 
 Secret articles of 
 Tilsit. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Ratifications of the 
 treaty. 
 
 (July. 
 11807. 
 
 The mediation of France to establish peace be- 
 tween the Porte and Russia. 
 
 The secret articles contained the following stipu- 
 lations : — 
 
 The restitution of the mouths of the Cattaro to 
 France. 
 
 The abandonment of the Seven Islands, which 
 were in future to belong entirely to France. 
 
 The promise in regard to Joseph, already re- 
 cognized as king of Naples, in the patent treaty, to 
 acknowledge him also as king of the two Sicilies, 
 when the Bourbons of Naples should have been 
 indemnified by means of the Balearic Isles or 
 Candia. 
 
 The promise, in case of the union of Hanover to 
 the kingdom of Westphalia, to restore to Prussia 
 on the left bank of the Elbe, a territory with 
 three or four hundred thousand of inhabitants. 
 
 Lastly, life annuities secured to the dispossessed 
 heads of the houses of Hesse, Brunswick, and 
 Orange-Nassau. 
 
 The occult treaty, the most important of all 
 signed at that time, and which it was promised 
 should be kept inviolably secret, contained the 
 engagement between France and Russia, to make 
 a common cause under all circumstances, to unite 
 their forces by sea and land in every war in which 
 they might engage ; to take arms against England, 
 if she would not subscribe to the conditions which 
 have been before mentioned, and against the Porte 
 if it should not accept the mediation of France, 
 and in the last case of the non-acceptance of the 
 mediation, to " withdraw" so the text stated, 
 " the provinces of Europe from the vexations of 
 the Porte, except Constantinople and Roumelia." 
 The two powers engaged to summon in common, 
 Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, and Austria herself, 
 to concur in the designs of France and of Russia, 
 that is to say, to shut their ports against England, 
 and to declare war against her '. 
 
 The two states were unable to ally themselves in 
 a more intimate and complete manner. The change 
 of policy on the part of Alexander could not be 
 more sudden nor more extraordinary. 
 
 The signature given by the Russians deciding 
 that of the Prussians, produced among the last the 
 strongest feeling. The queen of Prussia desired to 
 depart immediately. After dining, as was cus- 
 tomary, with Napoleon, on the 8th of July, and 
 addressing him some complaints full of haughti- 
 ness ; and some to Alexander full of bitterness, 
 she went away, accompanied by Duroc, who had 
 never ceased to feel a strong attachment towards 
 her ; and threw herself weeping into her carriage. 
 She departed for Memel, where she went to 
 grieve over her past imprudence, her political 
 passions, the mischievous influence they had exer- 
 cised in public affairs, and the fatal confidence 
 which she had placed in the fidelity of the heads of 
 empires, in their word, and their friendship. For- 
 tune was to change for her country and her hus- 
 band ; but this unfortunate princess died before 
 she could see that change take place. 
 
 Alexander, having got rid of his unhappy friends, 
 whose sadness annoyed him, delivered himself up 
 
 1 I am not giving the text, but a strict analysis of the 
 treaty, the precise words' of which have continued unknown 
 to this day. — Author'* not*. 
 
 I entirely to enthusiasm about his new projects. He 
 was vanquished, but his armies were honoured ; 
 and instead of sustaining losses as the consequence 
 of a war in which lie had met with nothing but 
 reverses, he quitted Tilsit with the hope of soon 
 realizing the great designs of Catherine. The 
 thing depended upon himself, for he could turn to 
 peace or war the mediation of Russia with the 
 British cabinet, and the mediation of France with 
 the divan. The one would procure him Finland ; 
 the other, all, or part, of the Danubian provinces. 
 He was enchanted with his new ally. They pro- 
 mised inviolable attachment to each other ; to 
 conceal nothing from one another ; to meet again 
 soon, and to continue those direct relations which 
 had brought forth such good fruit. Alexander did 
 not venture to propose to Napoleon to come and 
 see him so far as the bottom of the North, in the 
 capital of an empire yet too young to merit his 
 notice ; but he would go to Paris, to visit the 
 capital of the most civilized empire in the world ; 
 where the spectacle was offered to him of the 
 grandest government succeeding the most perfect 
 anarchy, and where he hoped, he said, to learn, in 
 attending the sittings of the council of state, the 
 great art of reigning, that the emperor of France 
 exercised in so superior a manner. 
 
 On the 0th of July, the same day with the sig- 
 nature of the treaties, there took place the solemn 
 exchange of the ratifications, and the separation of 
 the two sovereigns. Napoleon, wearing the grand 
 cordon of St. Andrew, went to the quarters of 
 Alexander. He was l-eceived by that prince, who 
 wore the grand cordon of the Legion of Honour, 
 and who had around him his guard, under arms. 
 The two emperors, having exchanged the ratifi- 
 cations, mounted on horseback, and went to show 
 themselves to their troops. Napoleon requested 
 that they should order out of the ranks the bravest 
 soldier of the imperial Russian guards, and he 
 bestowed upon him himself the cross of the Legion 
 of Honour. Then, after a long conference with 
 Alexander, he accompanied him towards the Nie- 
 meii. They embraced each other for the last time, 
 in the midst of the applauses of the surrounding 
 spectators, and then separated. Napoleon remained 
 on the banks of the Niemen, until he had seen his 
 new friend disembark on the other side. He only 
 then retired ; and after having bid adieu to his 
 soldiers, who by their hei*oism had rendered so 
 many miracles possible, he departed for Kcenigs- 
 berg, where he arrived the next day, being the 
 10th of July. 
 
 Napoleon regulated in that city all the details for 
 the evacuation of Prussia, and ordered prince 
 Berthier to make them the subject of a convention, 
 which should be signed with M. de Kalkreuth. The 
 banks of the Niemen were to be evacuated on the 
 21st of July ; those of the Pregel on the 25th ; 
 those of the Passarge on the 20th of August ; those 
 of the Vistula on the 5th of September ; those of 
 the Oder on the 1st of October ; and those of the 
 Elbe on the 1st of November ; on the condition 
 that the contributions due from Prussia, as well 
 ordinary and extraordinary, should be wholly paid 
 in specie, or in bills accepted by the intendant of 
 the army. The amount was five or six hundred 
 millions, imposed on the Hanseatic towns, on the 
 German estates of the dispossessed princes, en
 
 July. 
 180/. 
 
 ) 
 
 Napateon returns to 
 France. 
 
 FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT. 
 
 Political reflec- 
 tions. 
 
 313 
 
 Hanover, and lastly, on Prussia, properly so called. 
 In this sum was at the same time included, what 
 the French troops, or their allies, had consumed in 
 kind, and what was to be paid in money. The 
 treasury of the army, begun at Austerlitz, would 
 thus receive a considerable augmentation, and 
 possess resources sufficient for recompensing the 
 devotion of heroic soldiers to the most munificent 
 of all masters. 
 
 Napoleon divided the army into four commauds, 
 under marshals Davout. Soult, Massena, and 
 Brune. Davout, with the third corps, the Saxons, 
 Poles, and several divisions of dragoons and light 
 cavalry, would form the first command, and occupy 
 Poland until the country was organized. Marshal 
 Soult, with the fourth corps, the reserve of in- 
 fantry, which had belonged to marshal Lannes, a 
 part of the dragoons, and light cavalry, would form 
 the second command, occupying old Prussia, from 
 Koenigsberg to Dantzick, and take upon himself 
 the details of the evacuation. Marshal Massena, 
 with the fifth corps, with the troops of marshals 
 Ney and Mortier, and with the Bavarian division 
 of Wrede, would form the third command, and 
 occupy Silesia, until the general evacuation. Lastly, 
 marshal Brune, forming the fourth command, 
 with all the troops left in the rear, was ordered to 
 watch the coasts of the Baltic, and if the English 
 appeared there, to receive them as he had for- 
 merly done at the Helder. The guard, and the 
 corps of Victor, formerly Bernadotte's, were 
 marched upon Berlin. 
 
 Napoleon left Koenigsberg on the 13th of July, 
 and went straight to Dresden, to pass some days 
 with his new ally, the king of Saxony, created 
 grand duke of Warsaw, in order to concert with 
 him about the constitution to be given to the Poles. 
 This good and wise prince, little ambitious, but 
 flattered, as well as his people, at the greatness 
 conferred upon his family, received Napoleon with 
 transports of joy and gratitude. Napoleon left 
 him to go to Paris, which impatiently awaited 
 him, and which he had not seen for nearly a year. 
 He arrived there on the 27th of July, at six o'clock 
 in the morning. Never did more lustre surround 
 the name and person of Napoleon ; never had 
 greater power been apparently obtained for the 
 imperial sceptre. From the Strait of Gibraltar to 
 the Vistula, from the mountains of Bohemia to 
 the North Sea, from the Alps to the Adriatic, he 
 ruled, directly or indirectly, cither by himself or 
 by the princes, that were some his creatures, others 
 his dependants. Beyond, were allies or enemies 
 subdued — England alone excepted. Thus the en- 
 tire continent was under his direction ; because 
 the Russians, having for a moment resisted him, 
 now adopted his plans warmly ; and Austria found 
 herself constrained to see them accomplished, and 
 was even threatened to be made to concur. Lastly, 
 England, secured from this vast domination by the 
 ocean, was just about to be placed between the 
 aeeeptance of peace or war with the universe. 
 
 Such was the external appearance of this gi- 
 gantic power, which had sufficient about it to 
 dazzle the world, and did in effect dazzle it, but of 
 which the reality was less solid than it was bril- 
 liant. A moment of cool reflection would be sui- 
 ficieut to have shown this. Napoleon, turned from 
 his contest with England by the third coalition, 
 
 drawn from the shores of the ocean to the banks 
 of the Danube, had punished the house of Austria 
 by taking from it, in consequence of the campaign 
 of Austerlitz, the Venetian states, the Tyrol, and 
 Suabia, and had thus completed the Italian terri- 
 tory, aggrandized the allies of France in the south 
 of Germany, and thrown the Austrian frontier to a 
 distance from France. So far it was well, because 
 to achieve the territorial freedom of Italy it was 
 necessary to cultivate friends in Germany. To 
 place new spaces between Austria and France was 
 assuredly conformable to a 60und policy. But in- 
 toxicated by the astonishing campaign of 1805, to 
 change arbitrarily the face of Europe, and in place 
 of limiting himself to modify the past, which is the 
 greatest triumph given to the hands of man, will- 
 ing its destruction ; in place of continuing, to the 
 advantage of France, the old rivalry between 
 Prussia and Austria, by advantages granted to one 
 over the other, to snatch away the sceptre of Ger- 
 many from Austria without giving it to Prussia ; 
 to convert their antagonism into a common hatred 
 against France; to create, under the title of the 
 Confederation of the Rhine, a pretended French 
 Germany, composed of French princes with an 
 antipathy to their subjects, of German princes 
 little thankful for French favours, and after having 
 rendered by this unjust displacement of the limit 
 of the Rhine a war with Prussia inevitable, — a 
 war as impolitic as it was glorious ; to suffer him- 
 self to be drawn on by the torrent of victory as far 
 as the shores of the Vistula ; arrived there, to at- 
 tempt the restoration of Poland,and having on the 
 rear Prussia vanquished but fuming, Austria se- 
 cretly implacable : all this, admirable as a military 
 undertaking, was, as a political undertaking, im- 
 prudent, extravagant, and chimerical. 
 
 By the aid of his genius Napoleon sustained 
 himself in these perilous extremities, triumphed 
 over all obstacles of distance, climate, mud, cold, 
 and achieved on the Niemen the defeat of the con- 
 tinental powers. But, at bottom, he was anxious 
 to put an end to so audacious a course, and all his 
 conduct at Tilsit exhibits this as his situation. 
 Having for ever alienated the heart of Prussia, 
 which he had not the sound idea of attaching to 
 himself by a noble act of generosity ; enlightened 
 respecting the sentiments of Austria, proving, 
 however victorious he might be, a necessity for 
 making an alliance, he accepted that of Russia, 
 which offered itself at the moment, and conceived 
 a new political system, founded on the sole prin- 
 ciple of the concurrence of two ambitions, a French 
 and Russian ambition, to do as they pleased in the 
 world ; an unhappy concurrence, because it be- 
 came France not to permit Russia to do every 
 thing, and, above all, not to permit herself to do 
 
 every tiling. After having added, by ,no treaty of 
 Tilsit, to the deep dissatisfaction of Germany, by 
 
 creating in her territory a French loyalty, which 
 must cost a heavy expense in men, money, and 
 an animosity to overcome, vain counsels, all that 
 of Holland ami Viples had already cost; 
 after having reconstituted one-half of Prussia, in 
 
 place of destroying or restoring it entirely; after 
 having reconstituted half of Poland, and done all 
 in an incomplete manner, because at these die- 
 
 tancee time pre s'-d, and strength began to fail, 
 Napoleon acquired enemies never to be reconciled,
 
 314 
 
 Summary of achieve- 
 ments. 
 
 THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 
 
 Consummation of mili- 
 tary skill. 
 
 {J* 
 
 807. 
 
 and doubtful or powerless friends; elevated, in short, 
 an immense edifice, one in which all was new from 
 the base to the summit, an edifice constructed with 
 such haste, that the foundation had not time to 
 settle, nor the mortar to harden. 
 
 But if every thing is to be censured, in our 
 opinion, in the political work of Tilsit, however 
 brilliant it may appear, all, on the contrary, in 
 the military operations is most admirable. That 
 army of the camp at Boulogne which carried from 
 the Strait of Calais to the sources of the Danube 
 with incredible dispatch, enveloped the Austrians 
 at Ulm, drove back the Russians upon Vienna, and 
 succeeded in crushing both one and the other at 
 Austerlitz, rested afterwards some months in Fran- 
 conia, recommenced soon again its victorious 
 march, entered Saxony, surprised the Prussian 
 army in its retreat, broke it with one blow at Jena, 
 followed it in retreat without ceasing, turned it, 
 and took it to the last man on the shores of the 
 Baltic ; that army which, turning from North to 
 East, went to meet the Russians, drove them back 
 on the Pregel, and did not stop until impracticable 
 bogs restrained them ; that army then gave the 
 unexampled spectacle of a French force encamped 
 quietly on the Vistula. Troubled on a sudden in 
 its quarters, it sallied forth to punish the Russians, 
 reached them at Eylau, fought, though perishing 
 with cold and hunger, a sanguinary battle'; re- 
 turned after the battle to its quarters, and there 
 encamped anew upon the snow in such a manner 
 th*t even in its repose alone it covered a great 
 
 siege, fed, and recruited during a long winter, at 
 distances which set all administration at defiance ; 
 it took arms in the spring, and this time, nature 
 aiding genius, it placed itself between the Russians 
 and their base of operation, and reduced them, in 
 order to reach Kcenigsberg to pass a river before 
 it, threw them into it at Friedland, terminating 
 thus by an immortal victory, and on the shores of 
 the Niemen, the longest and boldest of expeditions, 
 not an expedition through Persia or India, like 
 that of the army of Alexander, but across Europe, 
 covered with brave and disciplined soldiers ; here 
 was that operation unexampled in the annals of 
 ages, — here was that work worthy of man's ever- 
 lasting admiration, — here was that combining all 
 qualities, promptitude and slowness, audacity and 
 prudence, the art of fighting and that of marching, 
 the genius of war and of administration ; and these 
 things so diverse, so rarely united, always ready at 
 the moment when they were needful to secure suc- 
 cess. Every one will be inclined to inquire, how 
 it was possible to display so much prudence in war 
 and so little in politics ? The answer is easy, it is, 
 that Napoleon in war was under the guidance of 
 his genius, — in policy, of his passions. 
 
 It may be added, in conclusion, that the colossal 
 edifice raised at Tilsit might, perhaps, have en- 
 dured for some time, if new weights accumulated 
 on its over-burthened foundations had not hastened 
 its ruin. The fortune of France, although com- 
 promised at Tilsit, was not therefore inevitably 
 lost, and her glory was immense. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Oi 
 
 BIL11JTG ARD SOUS, PB INTERS, GUILDFOBD, 8UBEEY.
 
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